CHAPTER 51

Tintin clenched his fist as he put on a black coat and his small satchel that the Professor had given to him. He took out his utility belt which the Captain had mistakenly demonstrated in the lab. He reviewed the contents making sure that he knew each item and its use so he could is it in a moment's notice. Thoughts were flashing in his mind about what could play out even though he fought hard to keep his mind clear. Tintin was nerves were gnawing at his iron will. The HM Custom Guardsmen were closely watching the ships ahead and trying to navigate as close as possible without them noticing. Even Snowy began whining a bit sensing his master's anxiety.

"Tintin? Is everything ok?" Chang whispered to him with concern.

"Yes…I'm fine…" Tintin said absent mindedly still seeing images in his mind of a not so good outcome.

Snowy continued whining and tried to jump up on Tintin.

Tintin ignored Snowy as he had one hand on his gun and the other on the belt of his satchel staring directly ahead.

"Snowy! What's wrong?" Thomson said picking up Tintin's little friend.

Snowy responded by whining a little licking Thompson directly on the nose.

"Now Snowy! You know that…tha—ah—ah aacchhooooo!" Thompson sneezed.

"For Pete's sake Thompson!" Thomson said taking Snowy, but Snowy gave Thomson a kiss on the nose as well.

"Snowy…boy…you know…ah-ah ahhh choooo!" Thomson sneezed as well.

"Here Chang! Take him!" Thomson began frantically searching for a handkerchief.

"What's wrong Snowy?" Chang asked sensing Snowy's concern.

"Tintin, I think Snowy is trying to tell you something" Chang said handing Snowy to Tintin.

"Hehehe! Both of you aren't allergic to my poor Snowy are you?" Tintin laughed briefly.

"I think Chang is right Tintin! Aaachoo!" Thomson sneezed again.

"Maybe we are allergic to his kisses…ah-ah!" Thompson started to sneeze but found a handkerchief and blew his nose hard.

"Hey Thompson! Don't be so greedy with the hanky now will you!" Thomson scolded.

"Why Detectives, you've been close to Snowy like this before and you never sneezed like that" Tintin was amused.

"Well Tintin… I don't think it's Snowy so much you see…" Thomson started.

"Not so much Snowy…but the kisses on the nose…" Thompson finished wiping his nose handing Thomson the used handkerchief as Thomson gave him a disgusted look. Thomson blew his nose as one would a trumpet.

"I think Snowy accomplished what he sat out to do" Chang smiled.

"I'm sorry everyone… I will try to be a better…" Tintin said petting Snowy.

Officer Riley looked at the four of them and sighed, "What a hapless bunch you are".

"Perhaps we are Riley, but we are the only 'hapless' bunch that will deal with these criminals" Tintin replied calmly.

"Suspected criminals, we didn't actually see them get on the ship" Officer Jenkins corrected.

"Fine, we'll do our job" Tintin didn't want to argue.

"We'd better slow the ship down. Perhaps with this fog we won't even be noticed" Officer Jenkins replied.

"I see the ship we've been following, it looks like it's come to a stop" Officer Riley commented.

"Tintin! Up ahead just through the fog—that's…the Sea Serpent" Chang whispered pointing at the lights ahead.

"Great Snakes!" Tintin whispered just able to see the outline of the ship.

The wind picked up a bit and the waves became just a bit choppier. The boat began rocking more even at their slow speed.

"That's strange, for the weather to begin changing so quickly" Thomson observed glancing through the front.

"Indeed it is, one can never predict what the sea will bring" Thompson agreed.

"I think this is as close as we should get" Tintin suddenly suggested as they were now somewhere in between the cargo ship they were tailing and the Sea Serpent.

"I can see both ships silhouettes and their lit areas, I wonder if they can see us?" Officer Riley said a bit concerned.

"Chang, let's step outside to see if we can see and hear better. Officer Riley, can I use your binoculars?" Tintin asked quickly.

"Sure, just be careful" Officer Riley said taking them off from around his neck. Tintin and Chang quickly stepped out near the front of the boot as Tintin tries to focus on what's going on up ahead.

A couple of smaller boats went speeding by towards the Sea Serpent which was lit up on the opposite end. The boats stop barely visible next to the Sea Serpent. Voices shouting can be heard over the waves but not loud enough to be understood. Chang waits patiently next to Tintin trying to listen and watch. Tintin can't see the railing so well, but sees something or someone being thrown overboard.

"Huh?" Tintin suddenly reacted a bit taken back.

"Look Chang!" Tintin whispers handing him the binoculars as the waves make it increasingly difficult to get a steady view.

"They just threw something overboard!" Chang exclaimed.

"Again?" Tintin asked bit worried.

"Yes…oh! Another!" Chang replied with a bit of disgust in his voice.

"Did you just see that?!" Thomson said a bit startled by the sudden movement.

"Indeed I did Thomson! What in blazes?!" Thompson echoed his sentiment.

"Shh…not so loud Detectives… if we do have any element of surprise we need to keep it. What did you see?" Tintin scolded.

"Oh sorry Tintin" Thompson nodded.

"Sorry we are Tintin we saw a bright bolt of lightning in the sky" Thomson frowned as he was trying to see what Chang was looking at.

"Chang give us a look" Thompson said holding his hand out for the binoculars.

"Ok but be careful not to drop them" Chang warned.

Thompson looked through noticing a couple of crates were being loaded onto the Sea Serpent. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary.

"They seem to be loading some cargo of some kind" Thompson strained to look.

"It's hard to tell what could be in those crates" Tintin commented.

"Give me a look now will ya Thompson!" Thomson said reaching to take the binoculars from Thompson.

"Now just wait a minute!" Thompson snapped.

After a few moments the boats began to speed back to the other cargo boat, and it was at that point Thompson noticed something odd as a wave caused him to look into the water near the Sea Serpent.

"Now ain't that strange!" Thompson gasped.

"What do you see?" Tintin asked curiously.

"For a moment there I thought I saw someone swimming in the water, I looked again and they were gone" Thompson said with a perplexed look on his face.

"Who?! Could you see what they looked like?" Tintin asked a bit panicked.

"I couldn't tell… it looked like they dived under water?" Thompson answered a bit confused.

"What are you talking about Thompson? It's my turn now! You've had them long enough!" Thomson said impatiently.

"Wait! I'm not finished yet!" Thompson snapped back moving the binoculars out of Thomson's reach. At that moment big wave came by rocking the boat a bit more than usual causing both of them to lose their balance as a result of their horseplay.

"Whoa!" both of them shouted grabbing onto each other about to fall into the water.

"Detectives!" Tintin whispered loudly.

Having only a moment to react, Tintin and Chang quickly reached out and grabbed both Detectives keeping them from falling into the water.

"Oh no! The binoculars!" Chang panicked as Thompson let go of them.

"You are a hapless bunch! The lot of ya!" Officer Riley scolded quickly snatching the binoculars in the air as Thompson dropped them.

Tintin and Chang didn't even hear Officer Riley come out of the steering room.

"All of you are making enough noise out here to scare a ghost away! Now be still! The lot of ya!" Officer Riley continued to scold them as he took his binoculars back into the steering room.

"What's wrong with him?" Thomson frowned.

"Yea, he needs to calm down a bit" Thompson agreed as Tintin and Chang made sure both Detectives had their balance back.

"No Detectives, he's right! We may as well forget about the element of surprise now for sure" Tintin said a bit agitated.

"We're your boss Tintin!" Thomson retorted back.

"Precisely, you should show us a bit more respect" Thompson nodded.

A surge of anger really came over Tintin as his face began to turn a shade of red.

"Respect!?" Tintin almost bellowed but caught his self.

"Tintin please" Chang interjected quietly.

Tintin took a deep breath after hearing Chang's voice of reason.

"Listen Detectives, you do have my respect, but since you are both my boss it's high time the both of you start acting like it!" Tintin said in a low voice.

Both Thompson and Thomson looked at Tintin in dismay as he walked back to the steering room.

"Come on Detectives you can do better than this, you must be more careful" Chang said tactfully.

"You see Chang a subordinate does not treat his boss like that" Thomson complained.

"I understand Mr. Thomson, but you must also understand not only do we have a mission, but for Tintin this is much more personal as we believe his brother is also a captive on board this ship" Chang quietly explained patiently.

"Tintin was very upset, what do you think Thomson?" Thompson noticed Tintin speaking to the HM Customs Guards.

"I wouldn't say upset Detectives, just nervous and needs you to do your best—" Chang paused looking over the boat sensing the sudden change in the air. Then Chang noticed a feint peculiar smell.

"Best what Chang?" Thomson questioned a bit annoyed knowing Chang was right.

"Shhh!" Chang quietly began looking around the edges of the front of the boat as it rocked around the waves.

Chang ducked down on his hands and knees grabbing a life saver with a rope attached.

"Is someone drowning?" Thomson whispered.

"Arm yourselves Detectives and be ready" Chang said more serious than usual. Thomson and Thompson looked at each other confused but got down on their hands taking out their guns. None of the Detectives saw anything suspicious but decided maybe Chang could be right.

XXXXXXXXX

"Can all of you get us to the other side of the ship somewhat quietly?" Tintin asked.

"As long as it doesn't get much foggier or the waves much choppier we should be able to" Officer Jenkins replied.

"Then let's do it" Tintin said as they began slowly maneuvering closer to the opposite side of the Sea Serpent.

"One of the Detectives said they swore they saw someone in the water" Tintin commented.

"Maybe it's the fog affecting their minds" Officer Riley dismissed as they slowly went around the big ship.

"We're going to have to use torches because it is getting darker as clouds are starting to cover the moon completely" Tintin watched as the light was slowly diminishing.

Suddenly Snowy began looking towards the door growling with his ears perked up and tail sticking straight out.

"We have some in the box by the corner of the wall…what's gotten into your dog all the sudden?" Officer Jenkins asked while carefully trying to get a little closer to the ship.

"Snowy? What is it boy?" Tintin asked looking at him as he kept backing away from the door. Tintin looked up suspiciously, but didn't see anything far beyond since most of the boats lights were turned off.

"Time to shed some more light on the situation…ah, here they are" Tintin said picking up two turning one on as it shot a beam of light straight ahead revealing someone standing up on the back of the boat. It wasn't either of the Detectives or Chang.

"Great Snakes!" Tintin gasped loudly holding the torch behind them.

"What did we tell you about—" Officer Riley turned around to see what Tintin saw.

When Tintin first shined the light at this intruder, it looked like it could have been a person, until he noticed the green scaled skin and bugged out eyes. The creature stood over five feet tall and looked around as if it was trying to smell the air. Its webbed hands had claws at the end of each of its digits. As soon as the light hit it, it shielded its eyes and ran for the steering room.

"What the Hell is that!?" Officer Jenkins blurted out as soon as he saw it. The creature slammed itself against the door began trying to force it open.

"I don't know what it is but this will light up its life" Officer Riley said taking out his gun.

"So much for surprises, looks like we're the ones getting surprised" Tintin said taking out his gun as the door flew open. Snowy backed behind Tintin barking.

Officer Riley fired his gun immediately at the alien looking creature that reminded him of something that came from the black lagoon. Tintin kept his flashlight and gun trained on the creature as it was knocked back being hit in the shoulder. It screamed out showing its razor sharp teeth growling menacingly.

"Fire!" Officer Riley shouted at Tintin firing again snapping Tintin out of his initial shock. The creature was hit in the leg this time. Black ooze seeped out of the wound. Tintin fired his gun at the creature hitting one of its arms. It ran at all three of them with arms flailing wildly.

"That thing isn't human!" Officer Jenkins declared.

Despite the injuries this creature had, it took a couple wild swipes at all three of them sending them flying for cover. The creature closed in on both Officer Jenkins and Riley growling as they were trying to take another shot, but suddenly a life saver was thrown over the creature's head. Tintin was suddenly got a surge of adrenaline looking back as the creature spun around with an open clawed hand and swung at whoever was behind it. Chang easily dropped and tumbled toward Tintin.

"Now Detectives!" Chang shouted.

The creature suddenly was yanked by its neck out the door as it reached around trying to take off the life saver.

"Bravo Chang! Detectives!" Tintin praised.

"Don't praise us yet!" Chang said as the creature turned around to face both Detectives holding the rope.

"Oh dear Thompson!" Thomson started to panic.

"It's looking and coming right at us!" Thompson said frightfully.

"Move!" Tintin shouted as both Detectives ran to the opposite side of the boat.

The growling green scaled creature swatted at both where they just stood moments ago.

"I think he's trying to kill us Thompson!" Thomson exclaimed.

"I do believe you're right!" Thompson said as the creature paused a moment to decide which one of them to finish. Everything was happening so quickly that both of the Detectives clumsily dropped their guns as they ran. The creature eyed Thomson first then decided to go after Thompson instead.

"Oh no you don't!" Tintin shouted firing another shot hitting the creature in the leg again this time causing it to trip towards Thompson. Black ooze splashed out on both Detectives as it was hit, but it still continued relentlessly crawling.

"Your canes Detectives!" Tintin shouted.

"What are they going to do?!" Thomson shrieked.

"Fire those tranquilizers at it!" Tintin quickly answered.

"Oh!" Thompson remembered crawling away from the creature as it quickly crawled towards him.

Thompson held the end of his cane towards the creature and pressed the button on the end of his cane sending a dart with poison on it flying and hitting the creature right in the mouth by wild chance. The creature continued crawling toward Thompson as it yanked the tranquilizer dart out of its mouth throwing it on the deck.

"Don't worry Thompson! I'll save you!" Thomson said firing one of his tranquilizers from his cane at the creature scoring a hit on its back. The creature growled loudly again, but still continued as Chang and Tintin ran outside to join them. Thomson ran over and whacked the creature over the head with his cane.

The creature grabbed the cane pulling it with amazing strength sending Thomson flying over towards Thompson landing on top of him.

"You see! I told you I would save you!" Thomson said a bit dopey after bumping his head.

The creature was only a few yards away from them, but the tranquilizer finally began to slow it down.

"Come on Chang, help me pull the rope!" Tintin acted quickly grabbing the bit of rope in the creature's wake that it had now tangled itself in while trying to crawl towards the Detectives getting a bit too close for comfort. Chang quickly grabbed the rope with Tintin.

"Now! Pull!" Tintin shouted as he and Chang pulled with all of their strength just hard enough to keep it from getting any closer to the Detectives. It reached for them just inches away. It slowly turned to glare at Chang and Tintin, but slowly began dropping to the deck and stopped breathing.

"Whew! That was a close one!" Thompson slowly stood up shaking his head.

"Precisely Thompson!" Thomson too was regaining his balance after crashing into his partner.

"What is that thing!?" Officer Riley demanded looking at the black ooze covered looking reptilian creature as lied there motionless.

"I don't know Riley, but something tells me we'd better radio for help and proceed with extreme caution" Tintin said shining his light on the deck

"Come on Jenkins, give me a hand and let's toss this freak of nature back into the water" Riley said giving the thing a disgusted look. Snowy finally came out of the steering room getting a look at the horrid creature.

The two guardsmen grabbed the creature by its arms and legs and tossed it overboard.

"I hope that thing won't come back for us" Jenkins commented.

"As many times as we shot it I doubt it will" Tintin looked as the monstrous creature sunk beneath the waves.

Officer Riley ran back to the steering room momentarily. After a couple of minutes he returned with a worried look on his face.

"The signal seems to be jammed. I can't get anything out" Riley said as it began to thunder off in the distance.

"Keep trying, we got to get on that ship" Tintin said surveying the railing.

"I do hope they don't have any more of those" Thomson crossed his fingers.

"Just make sure you're well-armed Detectives" Chang reminded them.

"Ok then, I'm going to use my gizmo to get aboard the ship and then tie this rope to the railing so the rest of you can climb your way onboard" Tintin explained.

"Ok Tintin, please be careful" Chang pleaded.

"I will, it won't take long" Tintin reassured picking Snowy up.

Jenkins shined his torch toward the railing higher up. Tintin held a torch in one hand looking for a good place to aim his cable and claw until he found a spot he was satisfied with.

"Hold on Snowy" Tintin warned.

Instantly Tintin pressed the belt release as it shot the cable belt with the claw immediately extending to its full length. It spun around the bottom rail getting a good grip.

"I sure hope the Professor's gizmo won't mess up" Tintin crossed his fingers and Snowy covered his eyes with his paws as they both suddenly were pulled up. Tintin quickly reached out grabbing the railing to keep them from slamming into it. Tintin sat Snowy down on the deck and climbed over the top bar. At that moment Tintin could feel rain drops falling. Tintin looked around the deck to see if anyone was around, but luckily no one could be seen nearby. Could it be they were still oblivious to their presence?

"Watch my back Snowy" Tintin charged his companion as he began taking the rope back out of his satchel and securing a knot. Snowy stood firmly on all fours behind his master bravely, but hoped not to see another one of those "toadmen" Snowy mentally referred to them as. The back of the ship had almost no lighting which Tintin found really odd. In the back of his mind he hoped that the enemy was not trying to lull them into a false sense of security.

Snowy looked into the shadows with his teeth barred. His doggy senses told him there was danger everywhere. Snowy knew they were being watched and could sense other presences, but could not see them. The only thing Snowy knew to do was to bark as loud as he could to warn his master should anything visibly pose a threat. He began thinking about Haddock, Lucille, and Cocoa, wondered how they were doing, and if they were ok. Snowy didn't want to stay another moment on that boat because he could feel with every fiber in his furry little body that they were now among something terribly dark.

(Again, thank all of you for your continued support from all over the world!)