IN LOVE WITH MY BROTHER'S WIFE

EPISODE 9

"He's got a shotgun!"

Sarah screamed the warning just as the deafening BOOM ripped through the air.

Buckshot sprayed the mud in front of our feet, kicking up a wall of wet dirt. We dove behind a stack of rusted car doors.

"Go away!" a voice screeched from the darkness. It sounded like metal grinding on metal. "No trespassers! I dug a hole for the last one! I'll dig two for you!"

We were crouching in the mud at the edge of "The Heap." It was a sprawling junkyard on the outskirts of Blackwater Bay. It was a maze of crushed cars, old appliances, and tangled wire.

And it was the home of Elias Thorne.

"Elias!" I shouted over the rain. "It's Jack! Jack Miller!"

"Don't know no Jack!" the voice yelled. Clack-clack. He was racking the slide of the shotgun. "I know a Danny! Danny is a thief! Are you with Danny?"

"Danny tried to kill me!" I yelled back. "I'm here to stop him!"

Silence. Just the sound of the rain drumming on the hollow shells of the dead cars.

"He tried to kill you?" Elias called out. He sounded interested now.

"He blew up the lighthouse!" Sarah shouted. "We just came from there!"

More silence. Then, a heavy sigh.

"Alright," Elias grumbled. "Come out. Hands where I can see 'em. If I see a badge, I shoot. If I see a gun, I shoot. If you sneeze, I might shoot."

We stood up slowly. I kept my hands high. Sarah did the same.

A figure emerged from the shadows of a converted school bus that sat in the middle of the junk pile.

Elias was a scarecrow of a man. He was sixty, maybe seventy, but he moved like a spider. He wore greasy coveralls and a beanie cap pulled down over his ears. His beard was grey and stained with tobacco juice.

He lowered the shotgun, but he didn't put the safety on.

He squinted at me with one good eye. The other was clouded over, white as milk.

"You look like him," Elias spat. "Got the same chin. But your eyes... your eyes are scared. Danny's eyes were never scared. Just empty."

"We need your help, Elias," I said. "We need a diver. And we need a mechanic who knows military tech."

Elias laughed. It was a wheezing, dry sound. "I'm retired. I collect hubcaps now. Go away."

"We're going after the Leviathan," I said.

Elias froze. The laughter died in his throat. He stepped closer, the smell of old oil and peppermint tea wafting off him.

"The container ship?" he whispered. "The black hull? Panamanian flag?"

"You know it?"

"I know what guards it," Elias said darkly. He looked around the junkyard as if the piles of trash were listening. "I tracked it on the ham radio. Strange frequencies. Bursts of data. Not human."

"The Third Diver," Sarah said.

Elias flinched. He looked at Sarah. He really looked at her.

"You've seen it, haven't you, girl?"

"I saw a video," she said. "It killed a man. It moves... wrong."

Elias nodded. He turned and walked back toward his bus. "Come inside. Before the drones pick up your heat signatures."

The inside of the bus was surprisingly clean. It was packed with electronics. computer monitors, radio receivers, and oscilloscopes were stacked floor to ceiling. Wires hung like vines.

Elias poured us cups of hot water from a kettle on a hot plate.

"The Third Diver isn't a diver," Elias said, sitting on a milk crate. "It's an Autonomous Guardian Unit. The Navy experimented with them in the 90s. Project 'Deep Blue'. They were supposed to guard underwater cables."

"What happened?" I asked.

"They worked too well," Elias said. "They learned. They started attacking friendly divers. The project was scrapped. The units were dumped in the deepest trench they could find."

"The Dead Zone," I realized. "Danny found them. He didn't just find the bio-weapon. He found the guards."

"And he woke them up," Elias said. He shook his head. "Stupid boy. You can't control them. You can only feed them."

"He's moving the Subject 8 canisters on the Leviathan," I said. "He has a head start. We need to intercept that ship before it reaches international waters."

"In what?" Elias scoffed. "A rowboat?"

"The Sea Witch," I said.

Elias snorted. "Your brother's boat? The Sheriff impounded that hours ago. It's chained up at the police dock. Armed guards. Dogs. Floodlights."

"I have a key," I said. "A master key for the marina gate."

"A key don't stop a bullet, son."

"I know," I said. I looked at Sarah. She was sipping the hot water, her eyes focused. She nodded at me.

I reached into my pocket. I pulled out the wad of wet cash. Fifty thousand dollars. Or what was left of it.

I tossed it onto the table next to Elias’s radio.

"Fifty grand," I said. "And the Sea Witch is the fastest boat in the bay. Twin diesels. Reinforced hull. If we get her out, we can catch them."

Elias looked at the money. He didn't touch it. He looked at me.

"You're not doing this for the money," Elias observed. "Danny did it for money. Why are you doing it?"

I looked at Sarah. The firelight from the stove reflected in her eyes. I thought about the vault. The way she held me. The way she swung the flashlight to save my life.

"Because he took everything from us," I said. "And I want it back."

Elias grinned. It showed off his yellow teeth.

"Revenge," he chuckled. "Now that is a fuel that burns hot. I like it."

He stood up and grabbed a heavy tool belt.

"I'll drive," Elias said. "But if we get shot, I'm keeping the money for my funeral."

The police dock was a fortress. High chain-link fences topped with razor wire. Floodlights swept the water, turning the rain into sheets of silver.

The Sea Witch was tied up at the end of the pier. She was a beauty. Forty feet of grey fiberglass, low to the water, built for rough seas.

But there were two deputies standing by the gangway. Smoking cigarettes. Huddled against the cold.

We were watching from the roof of the marina office. Elias had picked the lock on the back door effortlessly.

"Two guards," I whispered. "We can't shoot them. If we make noise, the station is three blocks away. We'll be swarmed."

"Distraction," Sarah whispered.

"I can short the transformer," Elias offered, pulling a pair of wire cutters from his belt. "Cut the lights. But the backup generator kicks in after ten seconds."

"Ten seconds is enough," I said. "I can get to the boat in five."

"What about the deputies?" Sarah asked.

"I'll handle them," I said. "I'll go fast. Knock them out."

"No," Sarah said. She reached into her pocket. She pulled out the flare gun we had taken from the truck. "I'll draw them away."

"Sarah, that's dangerous."

"They're looking for two men," she said. "They aren't looking for a crying woman."

She looked at me. Her face was set. "Trust me, Jack."

I hesitated. Every instinct in my body screamed to protect her. To keep her behind me. But she wasn't that person anymore.

"Okay," I said. "Be careful."

She slipped away into the dark.

Elias looked at me. "That's a hell of a woman, Jack. Don't get her killed."

"Cut the lights on my signal," I said.

I crept down the roof ladder, moving into the shadows of the stacked lobster traps near the pier. I was thirty feet from the deputies.

I waited.

Suddenly, a scream pierced the night.

"Help! Please! Someone help!"

It was coming from the parking lot, away from the boat.

The deputies jumped.

"What was that?" one asked.

"Sounds like a girl," the other said.

"Help me! My car! It's on fire!" Sarah screamed.

Then—WHOOSH.

A red flare shot up into the sky from the parking lot, casting a demonic red glow over the rain. It landed in a dumpster full of cardboard.

Flames roared up instantly.

"Fire!" the deputy yelled. "Call it in!"

Both deputies ran toward the parking lot.

"Now!" I hissed into my radio (Elias had given us headsets).

CLICK. ZZZZZT.

Sparks showered from the transformer on the pole. The floodlights died. The marina plunged into darkness.

"Go, go, go!"

I sprinted.

I hit the wooden planks of the dock, my boots thudding. I ran past the empty guard post.

I reached the Sea Witch. I vaulted over the railing, landing on the wet deck.

I scrambled for the cabin door. Locked.

I didn't have the key. Danny had the key.

I grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall mount and smashed the glass of the door. CRASH.

I reached in and unlocked it.

I threw the door open and dove for the ignition panel.

Please start. Please start.

I turned the master switches. The battery banks lit up. I pressed the starter buttons.

Chug-chug-chug... VROOOOM.

The twin diesel engines roared to life. The vibration shook the deck.

The lights in the marina flickered back on. The generator had kicked in.

"Hey!" a voice shouted.

The deputies were running back. They saw me. They saw the boat rumbling.

"Stop the boat!" one of them yelled. He pulled his gun.

"Jack!" Sarah’s voice crackled in my ear. "I'm coming!"

I looked toward the gate. Sarah and Elias were sprinting down the dock. Elias was surprisingly fast for an old man.

Bullets hit the water around them. Thwip. Thwip.

"Get down!" I yelled.

I threw the throttles into reverse. The boat lurched backward, straining against the mooring lines.

I realized I hadn't untied the ropes.

"The lines!" I shouted.

I grabbed a knife from the tackle box on the deck. I slashed the stern line. Snap.

The bow line was still tight. The boat swung wildly, smashing into the dock.

Sarah and Elias reached the boat. They jumped.

Sarah landed on the deck, slipping on the wet fiberglass. I caught her arm, pulling her upright. Elias tumbled into the cockpit, clutching his tool bag.

"Cut the line!" Elias screamed.

The deputies were at the edge of the dock now. They were firing directly at the cabin.

BANG. c***k.

The windshield shattered. Glass sprayed over the dashboard.

I ducked. I scrambled to the bow, staying low. I sawed frantically at the thick rope.

It frayed... and snapped.

The Sea Witch was free.

I ran back to the helm. I slammed the throttles forward.

The boat reared up like a wild horse. The propellers bit into the water. We shot away from the dock, leaving the deputies shouting in our wake.

We raced toward the harbor mouth, the lights of Blackwater Bay fading behind us.

Twenty minutes later, we were in open water.

The ocean was a chaotic, black void. The waves were six feet high, tossing the forty-foot boat around like a toy.

I stood at the wheel, fighting to keep her steady. The wipers slashed back and forth.

Elias was below deck, checking the engine room.

Sarah came up from the cabin. She had found a first aid kit. She had a butterfly bandage on a cut on her forehead.

She stood next to me, holding onto the grab rail.

"We made it," she shouted over the roar of the engines.

"We're not out of it yet," I said. "We have to navigate the shoals in the dark. If we hit a rock at this speed, we sink."

She didn't look afraid. She looked exhilarated.

She stepped closer. The cabin was dim, lit only by the green glow of the radar and the GPS.

"Jack," she said.

I looked at her.

"Thank you," she said. "For trusting me. Back at the gate."

"You were amazing," I said. "That fire... you really sold it."

"I pictured Danny," she said softly. "And I pictured burning everything he ever gave me."

She reached out and touched the bruise on my jaw. Her fingers were cool.

"Does it hurt?" she asked.

"Only when I smile," I said.

She smiled. A real smile. It transformed her face.

The boat hit a big wave. We both stumbled. Sarah fell into me.

I caught her. My arm went around her waist to steady her. I pulled her against my side.

We stood there, hip to hip, steering the boat together. The heat of her body soaked into mine. It was a comfort I hadn't expected.

"Jack," she whispered. "Look at the radar."

I looked down at the green screen.

A solid line swept around. Ping.

A large blip appeared at the edge of the range. Ten miles out.

"Is that the Leviathan?" she asked.

"It's big enough," I said. "And it's moving fast."

Then, a second blip appeared. Much smaller. Moving incredibly fast. Closing in on the big ship.

Then a third blip. Then a fourth.

"What are those?" Sarah asked. "Other boats?"

Elias climbed up the ladder from below. He looked at the screen. His face went pale.

"No," Elias said grimly. "Those aren't boats."

He pointed a greasy finger at the screen.

"They're moving at forty knots. Underwater."

I stared at the screen.

"The Third Diver," I said. "It's not just one unit, is it?"

"No," Elias said. "It's a swarm. The Leviathan isn't just carrying the cargo. It's being escorted."

I gripped the wheel. We were chasing a massive ship protected by a pack of killer drones. And we were in a pleasure boat with a shotgun and a flare gun.

"Do we turn back?" Sarah asked. She didn't sound like she wanted to.

I looked at her. I looked at the dark horizon where my brother was running away with a weapon that could kill thousands.

"No," I said. "We go dark. Kill the radar. Kill the lights. We sneak up on them."

"In this storm?" Elias asked. "That's suicide."

"It's the only way," I said. "We have to board that ship before they realize we're here."

I reached for the switch panel.

"Hold on," I said.

I flipped the switches.

The running lights died. The cabin lights died. The radar went black.

We were plunged into absolute, crushing darkness. The only sound was the wind and the roar of the ocean.

We were ghosts. Hunting a monster.