Chapter 14

The Russian Jewel had stopped its engines some time ago and was finally reaching a full halt. Its large mass had required some time to brake, but now that it was motionless, Pavel ordered his men to set out his lure. Under guidance of a lot of screaming, kicking and pleading, the man who had be misidentified as captain of the InGen survivors, was hauled to the bow of the ship. He was shackled with chains on the end of a construction similar to a small crane. Pavel coldly elucidated that the device was actually meant for painters, to repaint the hull of the ship when it peeled off. For the occasion, he had had the chair on the end replaced by chains. The poor soul was punched in order to remain still enough for the soldiers to bring him and the lift to the edge of the deck.

The others were so undone by this inhumane action that they were lost for words. The cruelty displayed here was crazy, no, downright insane!

"You can't be serious?!" Alan managed to produce eventually.

"Oh can't I?" Pavel laughed scornful, "Lower him… and don't forget to cut him first!"

The man was already dangling on the side of the ship when one of the soldiers bent over and made small incisions in the man's arm and face. With the blood already dripping in the water, he was slowly lowered to the surface. To hear such pitiful cries from a grown man was bone-chilling. Every inch closer to the water made the man beg harder. Ian couldn't bear it anymore.

"This is madness! This is insanity! This is -.."

"NECESSARY TO TEACH YOU WHO'S IN CHARGE!" Pavel shouted in his face.

There was no changing the man's mind. The shackled InGen worker was now waist deep in the water. He was nothing more than a piece of meat, ready to be eaten by an enormous Mosasaurus.

"Moreover" he continued, "you forced me to take drastic measures. By calling for help, you left me no choice but to rush my operation."

"You sick, twisted son of a -.."

Ian was knocked down with the rifle of one of the soldiers.

"That's life, Doctor Malcolm. You should be glad I didn't choose you to hang down there. I advise you to be careful that I will not change my mind!"

But he had no time to change his mind on anything. The man with the glasses alerted all bystanders that he had detected a shape on his scanner. From the size of it, it could only be the Mosasaur. Luckily the man constantly pictured everything he said with his hands, else none of the three non-Ukrainians would've been able to follow the conversation at all. Seemingly the animal was circling the boat. Everyone was looking over the sides, trying to spot the giant creature. Surprisingly, it had concealed itself excellently. None were able to spot it, even though it was over twelve metres in length.

"I don't like this at all…" Ian shivered.

"Why isn't it attacking? You think it senses the trap?" Alan questioned.

Arie shrugged. He had no answer either. He may have studies the bones of this long-extinct creature, that didn't tell you anything about its behaviour when it had been alive. Surely there were hypotheses and speculations, yet none of them were a hundred percent accurate. Moreover, this variety of Mosasaur made by InGen had an altered gene pool. There was no telling what effect this might have had on its way of thinking.

In a split second, everything went wrong. The Mosasaur's tail caused a roiling effect when it suddenly decided to change its course. The man that was operating the harpoon misread the splashing water for surfacing. He had seen whales do so as well and in an instant believed this creature was doing the same. He dexterously swung the cannon's barrel in the targeted location and fired the iron pin into empty water. At the same time, the Mosasaur had turned for the semi-submerged man and with a bloodcurdling scream, said man vanished behind the rows of teeth.

"Dear God…" Ian let out as a cloud of red formed in the water.

Pavel cursed his men in both Russian and English as they began reloading the weapon as fast they could, hoping to have another shot before their prey disappears again. When the weapon was operational again, only the back of the creature was still visible. Pavel pushed aside the soldier and took the matter into his own hands.

"I got you now!" he cheered.

Before he could fire however, Arie pushed against the barrel of the cannon. Consequently, the harpoon landed a couple of metres right from the Mosasaur. In his anger, Pavel lashed out at the old Dutchman, only to miss him because Alan pulled the elder away. As the outlet of his aggression was another fail, the tension he sought to release only doubled.

"I told you not to let those Americans walk around!" the man with the glasses spoke.

This was a fatal mistake. Without even looking at him, the businessman seized the guy's shirt, pulled out his gun, shot him twice in the gut and tossed him overboard. The soldier who had operated the harpoon tried to address this mistake as subtle as he could.

"But sir, if he's gone, who will control the radar?"

"Do you want to join him?!" Pavel snapped.

He frantically shook his head.

"Good, then go and find someone that knows how to work this thing."

That only had to be said once to the guy to send him running from to the bridge. Not that he was so eager to find a new technician, not at all. He simply want to get as far away from his boss, who was at his most dangerous when he had lost his temper. The sooner he was out of there, the better.

"And throw those traitors with the rest." Pavel shouted.

As they were taken away, an alarm rang across the ship. This paused the men that escorted them for a moment.

"What's that about?" Alan thought out loud.

Arie gestured at the men that leaned against the railing of the ship. They were shouting and pointing at a small figure in the distance. It was still tiny, but he and his friend knew it could only be one thing: the frigate had arrived to pick them up.

.

Down in the cargo hold the alarm was also clear to be heard. The shrieking resounded loudly through the large space waking up all its inhabitants from their dull state. Owen witnessed how it generated unrest amongst the seven guards. They argued intensively until eventually the hatch was opened from the outside and another appeared. He called out five names and much to Owen's satisfaction, the five addressed men left the room. That made overpowering them a whole lot easier. At the same time, Arie, Ian and Alan were thrown back in. What also pleased him a great deal, was that the hatch was shut, yet he didn't hear a lock. Chances were that it was left open in their rush.

He quickly went over to them, tailed by a few of his colleagues. After making sure they were alright, he asked about the missing man. Alan elaborated on the inhuman activities that have been pursued on the bow. Owen wished he hadn't asked a thing. The news that the frigate was nearing, however was the news he had been waiting for.

"Alright, if there is ever a time to escape, it is now." Owen whispered, "Two third of the guards are gone and I think the door isn't locked."

"What makes you say that?" Ian wondered.

"I think they forgot to lock it down."

"How sure are you of that?"

Owen bit his lip.

"About ninety percent."

He checked if all of the men were willing to commit to these statistics. He was glad they all nodded. His colleagues also showed, were it a smile or a wink, their agreement on the matter.

"Okay. John, Stan, you take the left guy. Arnold and I bring down the other."

The guys nodded.

"Are you sure you can take them? They've got guns." Alan pointed out.

"We've gotta try."

"You know what you need? A diversion." Ian said.

He walked over to one of the other men and pretended to tumble. As a result he collided with his target and both fell on the ground. As expected, the man responded annoyed, telling him to mind his step. Ian had foreseen this response and retorted by saying that he had and that it was not his fault. The Nelly's sailor, because that is what he turned out to be, did not like to be blamed and pushed Ian away. Ian went on by insulting his lack of strength for which he once again took a serious blow to the face.

One of the guards decided that he had to break up these two fighting prisoners. Owen and Arnold secretly moved closer to the mercenary near the door. When the peacekeeper was in front of Ian and yelled at him in Ukrainian, Stan and John dove at him, slamming the man to the ground. Simultaneously, the other guard was jumped by Owen and Arnold. In the struggle that followed, the prisoners came out on top.

Alan explained the quickest way to the lifeboats. He, Ian and Arie had seen this part of the boat before, hence they knew which way to go. Meanwhile Ian apologized to the man he had previously insulted. The sailor didn't hold a grudge and even apologized back to him for hitting him so hard. Ian said it was nothing, although his nose was bleeding heavily.

"At the end of this trip, my nose will have a different shape." he remarked when the sailor walked away.

"Better than having it bitten off, don't you agree?" Arie smiled.

End of chapter.