Blood Cruise: A Deep Sea Thriller Read Online Free Page A

weekend and not think of the grades I need to enter until we get back Tuesday night, cool?”
    “Cool,” Ben said. “No thinking.”
    “That’s not exactly what I said,” Maggie laughed. “Now, get off the phone and hurry your ass over here. I need to get my drink on and Nick said he’ll have a fully stocked bar waiting for me.”
    “Did he now? You must have his confidence if he’s already promising drinks,” Ben said. “See you soon.”

 
    5.
     
    Dr. Glouster stood on the main deck of the AOS ship and stared in wonder as the crane lifted the saltwater tank directly out of the center of the ship. It had taken a construction crew two hours to cut through the decks and down to the lab. It had taken another hour to make sure when they cut through the final deck no debris fell onto the tank and damaged it.
    Dr. Glouster had warned everyone, especially Wagner, that the creature would take advantage of any damage to its tank. He had learned early on when the creature was still a small adolescent that it could worry away at a small ding or crack on the thick glass until it was able to force an opening.
    Two tons of sea water was not easy to clean up.
    Neither were the lab assistants the creature had injured before it could be wrangled into a temporary tank while the main one was repaired. And that had been while it was an adolescent. Now, at full size and strength? A man would be torn apart in the blink of an eye.
    “Be careful!” Dr. Glouster yelled as the tank was jostled by a hard turn of the crane. “It could be hurt while it hides in its cave.”
    “You really went all out for that thing’s habitat, didn’t you, Doc?” Wagner asked as he came up next to Dr. Glouster. “You gave it its own hidey hole and everything.”
    “It is a shy species and does not like to be disturbed,” Dr. Glouster said.
    “Then why choose it?” Wagner asked.
    “Excuse me?”
    “Why choose it for the project? Why not a bloodthirsty shark or even some aggressive type of eel?” Wagner asked. “Seems to me you’re going against nature with this project.”
    “It was chosen for many reasons,” Dr. Glouster said. “It is a highly advanced predator, to begin with. But mainly for its intelligence and dexterity. The creature does not have bones so it can squeeze through almost any opening as long as that opening is slightly larger than its beak.”
    “Yeah, that’s freaky,” Wagner said. “Never did like the no bones thing. Hey, did you see that YouTube video?”
    “I do not watch YouTube,” Dr. Glouster said. “I have work to do.”
    “So do I, Doc,” Wagner replied. “Plenty of work. Doesn’t mean I don’t know how to unwind.”
    The two men watched the tank as it moved over the short space of open water between the two ships. The one it was being transferred to looked like a retrofitted Navy cruiser. Except the equipment on the main deck, as well as the equipment being used by the crew members, was considerably more high-tech and new looking than anything the US Navy had. Dr. Glouster didn’t recognize half the weapons being held by the men standing guard as the tank was centered over a hold hatch and slowly lowered below deck.
    With a loud thunk, the massive cables on the crane went slack. There was a lot of shouting from the men and the cables were raised back to the crane as the hold hatch was closed and locked down. Wagner patted Dr. Glouster on the shoulder.
    “You never officially answered me, Doc,” Wagner said, the pat turning into a grip which became hard as steel for a split second before easing off. “Are you staying or coming with?”
    “I would prefer to live, so I will be coming with,” Dr. Glouster said. “Plus, without me you run the risk of the creature escaping into the wild. I know its habits and how it thinks. It trusts me, I believe. If there is a problem I am the only person you can rely on to get it under control.”
    “What if it doesn’t want to be under control?” Wagner