explain.”
“Bullets bounce right off it. So do grenades,” Colon said. “But when one of those creatures stages an attack, it steps right through it like a ghost.”
Sneed couldn’t fathom any explanation besides the work of those mini cyborgs that the Lagoon Watcher had described. He couldn’t admit that now. How much of a moron would he look like if he revealed that the main suspect had spilled his guts about the whole operation, and he didn’t do shit about it?
A familiar sensation of pain seared Sneed’s heart. He recognized it as a fleeting ember from the bonfire that had roasted him from the inside out when his brother had been gunned down.
As the higher ups discussed the logistics of their plan, Sneed saw an incoming call from the hospital. He knew only one person holed up in there with his direct dial. Sneed patched it into the conference call.
“Now hold on there partners,” Sneed said so loud that he cut off their jabbering. “All this strategizing won’t do us a lick of good if we don’t know what we’re up against. I’ve got somebody on this here line that had a first- hand run in with one of those mutated animals.”
“Boss?” Nina Skillings asked.
When Skillings woke up two days ago, Sneed had spoken with her briefly, but she hadn’t emerged from the post-surgery fog at that point. Hoping she had regained her senses, Sneed told her to recount her story.
“A pelican-of all things-crashed right through my windshield,” Skillings said. “I’ve got a head wrapped with bandages and this damn neck brace to prove it.”
“I wish you a speedy recovery,” Carter said. “Now let’s get back to work.”
“This officer nearly lost her life in the line of duty,” Sneed said. Sheriff Brandt actually showed some spine by nodding in agreement. Yet, he didn’t vocalize his feelings so the federal officers could hear them. “You should…”
“I can defend myself, thank you sir,” Skillings said. “But I won’t waste your time arguing whether I’m worthy of being on this phone with you. I saw what’s going on in the lagoon. If I hadn’t been struck by that damn pelican, I would have cut this mess off.”
“And how would you have done that?” Colon asked.
“That girl, Mariella, is the key to everything. She’s the sparkplug that makes it run. Right before the car chase, I got in a heated argument with Officer Williams about the girl. She got real defensive-almost to the point of shooting me. Remember how the girl drew a picture of a beheaded dog and the dog of her classmates got killed the same way? That wasn’t the only time Mariella has predicted a murder, or ordered one. She drew the marina fire that killed the teenager.”
“I appreciate your concerns officer, but that’s not a likely scenario,” Colon said.
“It explains everything,” Skillings countered. “How come an animal didn’t attack Moni before she caught the Lagoon Watcher, but a pelican saved him from me? He didn’t send that bird. The girl did. She knew I would have blown her cover so she had me taken out of the picture. She should have known that no stink’n bird could put me down for the count.”
Her story fit perfectly with what the Lagoon Watcher had said. Those little cyborgs had taken control of the girl. Skillings must still sell the story to Sheriff Brandt, who raked his fingers over his sweaty scalp before addressing her. “Officer Skillings, as much as I admire your bravery in the line of duty, we’ve got a lot of concerns that must…”
“She has it right. That’s what we’ve been missing,” interjected Sneed. “Officer Williams has been uncooperative ever since she took our key witness as a foster child. Everywhere that so-called child went, all kinds of deformed varmints followed. Moni played it up like they were victims. That’s bullshit. They were in on it the whole time.”
“Are you telling me that an eight-year-old girl has been calling the shots on the worst attack on American soil since 9/11?” Carter asked.
“This is not some little girl,” Sneed said. “After we caught the Lagoon Watcher, he told us about these things he found in the infected animals. They were like miniature robots mixed with living cells. He called them borgs or cyborgs. Anyway, they are what possessed the animals. I reckon they did the same deal with Mariella. Lord knows why Officer Williams is protecting the foul creature.”
“If that’s the case, why don’t you have a warrant out of their arrests?” Sheriff Brandt asked. “And why didn’t I see anything about cyborgs in your report on Trainer?”
“This information would have been helpful yesterday-before they detonated our bombs,” Colon said. “Why did you withhold his statement?”
“Cause I thought he was insane! I didn’t believe it until I saw the footage…” Sneed gestured to the TV screen, which showed a pier that had been tossed ashore as easily as a box of matches. The car underneath it had an old woman’s head lodged in the front window. “Will you quit blaming me and not the woman who abetted the murderer? Just because it’s not politically correct to accuse a black woman, that ain’t my fault.”
The other people on the call were silent for nearly a minute before Colon chimed in. “I wouldn’t have believed the Watcher before today either.”
“Looking back won’t help us now. There will be plenty of time for internal reviews of conduct later,” Carter said. “What’s clear is that we have a new facet to our mission. We must apprehend your Officer Williams and the girl.”
“Leave that to me,” Sneed said. “I’ve got GPS tracking on her vehicle and on her phone every time she makes a call. Last I heard she was on the beachside. No coincidence there, I’m sure.”
“What about Professor Swartzman?” Sheriff Brandt asked. “Didn’t you assign him to investigate the Lagoon Watcher’s claims?”
“That was the first thing I did,” Sneed said in an irritated tone. “Let me get him on the line.”
Sneed opened a new line and dialed Swartman’s cell phone number. It went straight to voicemail without a ring.
Where is that cocksucker when I need him?
He checked his cell phone to look up the number for the professor’s lab. Sneed discovered that Swartzman had sent him six photos about 25 minutes ago. When he opened the first one, Sneed saw a postcard from hell.
Chapter 44
Aaron ducked inside a flimsy trailer along the foot of the bridge he had taken from Merritt Island to the beachside. Letting out a grateful breath as he saw the phone, he hurried over and started dialing Moni’s number. Before he finished, Aaron heard a thunderous explosion that shook the phone from his hand. When he gazed out the window, he saw a 30-foot yacht tumbling through the air like a football in mid-kickoff. The massive yellow bubble that sprang out of the lagoon had provided the boot. Several palm trees snapped when the yacht hurtled through them. It grinded to a stop in the marina’s parking lot as a heap of shattered fiberglass and bent steel.
Most other boats were swallowed inside the bubble. They deteriorated into leaky, bare-metal skeletons as if 10,000 years had passed before Aaron’s eyes in under a minute.
Putting off breaking the news to Moni for just a few minutes so he could save his life, Aaron called his father. His parents lived five minutes away. He figured his dad couldn’t have anything more exciting going on during a Saturday morning.
“Hi dad. The world’s going to hell. I need a lift.”
His dad grumbled about Aaron not using his damn car, until he saw the pillars of black smoke rising from the lagoon. He hung up and sped over. Aaron limped down from the trailer-treading gingerly on his burned heel-and climbed into his father’s Mercedes.
“Jesus, do you have to smear my leather seats with your stinky wetsuit?” his dad asked.
“Good to see you too, dad. Don’t worry about the acid burns on my foot or the ten near death experiences I’ve had today. I won’t stain your totally righteous car.”
“You were in the lagoon?” His eyebrows arched as he saw the overturned yacht. Having never seen anything so astonishing behind his desk in the corner office, he gunned his most cherished possession out of there. “Thank God you’re alive. Was anyone with you?”