Sarah and Wiz went back to the aquarium to see if they could find out where, exactly, the Great White Shark had been caught up in the fishing nets.
They came back an hour later. Their new friends had been helpful, but no one kept records like that. All the aquarium staff had was a phone number for the captain of the fishing boat that had brought the shark in. Sarah and Wiz had been able to reach him straight away, but he wasn’t exactly helpful. He figured it had been in the direction of the island they were thinking of, but he pointed out with a laugh, “Sharks swim around, you know. The Pacific Ocean is a bit bigger than a holding tank at the Sydney Aquarium.”
“The direction is right,” said Data, who was convinced there was a connection. “Let’s say they executed him the same day the shark got caught. The head hadn’t been digested at all. We can presume the shark was at least in the vicinity of the island around that time. And we know that the seadragons are found there.”
“Circumstantial evidence,” said Sam. “The police would laugh in your face.”
“We need more,” Data said. “What about the video Wiz’s mother took?”
“You can barely make it out,” said Sarah. “It was shot into the sun. You can’t make out anything on the boat. No name, nothing. You can barely see what shape it is. There’s no flag – so we have no idea where they came from.”
“What about going back?” Data asked.
“How?” Andy wondered.
“What about Wiz?” Data said. “Maybe he could ask his father?”
Somehow, Wiz had talked his father into doing it. With Sarah and Travis’s help, he laid out all the evidence that the Owls had gathered – no matter how questionable it was – and asked him simply to take them back out to the island the following morning with the video camera. If the seadragon fishermen weren’t there, then they’d have to admit they were beat.
Mr. Roberts had understood. He wasn’t convinced there was any connection between the head and the seadragons, but he was convinced that his son would never forgive him if he didn’t at least try.
They met at the Mosman Bay marina shortly after breakfast. They were a smaller group this time, just Mr. Roberts, Wiz, Sarah, Travis, and Nish. Travis had worked hard to convince Nish to come. He hoped Nish might apologize to Wiz so that they could make up, but it seemed that Nish agreed to come only because he had nothing else to do.
Wiz had said nothing. He’d never mentioned the hit again. Travis envied him his endlessly sunny disposition.
The seas were as calm as they had been the first day. Mr. Roberts ran at three-quarters throttle, the sleek boat clipping over the low waves in a steady machine-gun chop that cut down on the rolling and made Travis feel sleepy. He slouched down in the sun, spread on some sunscreen, and let himself doze off.
He woke up only when he sensed the engines being cut. It took several moments for his eyes to adjust to the brightness. He blinked, and blinked again. The boat was settling, rolling and rocking as it slowed. Off in the distance he could make out the island.
Mr. Roberts had the binoculars up to his eyes. He was scanning the seas on all sides. Travis was certain he had seen something when Mr. Roberts suddenly held the binoculars steady and adjusted the focus.
He handed them to Wiz. “About two o’clock,” Mr. Roberts said.
Wiz looped the strap around his own neck and stared off in the direction of the 2 on a clock face.
“There’s something there all right,” he said after a while.
They all took turns looking. When Travis got the binoculars, it took him several moments to settle on a glimmering white object that seemed to bob and wink in the swells. It was much too far, even with the powerful binoculars, for him to make out anything on the boat. He couldn’t even tell if there were any people on deck.
“Can we get closer?” Wiz asked.
“Not without them seeing us,” said Mr. Roberts.
“But we need a photograph,” Sarah added.
Mr. Roberts nodded. “You’d get nothing from here, even with the zoom,” he said. “We’ve got to get closer – but we have to do it without alerting them.”
“How?” asked Wiz.
Mr. Roberts smiled. “Simple. We run right at ’em full throttle. By the time they see us, we’ll have your shot. Okay?”
Sarah shrieked. “Okay!”
“Let’s do it!” shouted Wiz.
“Get the camera ready,” Mr. Roberts said. “And hang on for your life!”
The big boat shuddered, reared like a horse, and bolted straight into the coming waves. As it gathered speed it rose gradually until they were planing over the waves, heading straight for the unknown boat.
Travis felt the deck shudder. He grabbed onto the handrail, the wind whipping his face as he stared straight ahead.
Nish clung to the boat’s antenna, which was bolted to the port side of the cabin area. He held fast, his flesh jiggling as the boat clipped hard over the water. Travis could barely see Nish’s face. He could see enough, however, to know that Nish was not liking this. Not liking it at all.
Up ahead, staring straight into the wind, Wiz and Sarah hung partly onto the railing, partly onto each other.
Mr. Roberts pushed the engine to full throttle, the boat roaring loudly as it seemed to rise even higher, all but flying over the low swells.
The strange boat was fast coming into view. It was difficult to tell – they would have to compare when they got home – but it looked like the one on Mrs. Roberts’ video.
Sarah had the camera. She was trying to steady herself and focus ahead on the boat, which now seemed to be rushing towards them.
Something moved on the deck!
It was a man, and he was throwing scuba equipment into a hold. Another man emerged from the tiny cabin, stared towards them, then drew his head back in.
The water began to churn at the stern of the boat, the engines firing in a cloud of blue smoke.
“They’re running!” Wiz called from the bow.
Travis took a quick glance at Nish. He was green, his eyes squeezed shut and his mouth in a painful grimace. He looked like he was about to be sick.
The first man on the unknown boat now ran to a wooden box on deck, reached in, and pulled out something long and dark.
“Get down!” Mr. Roberts yelled. “He’s got a gun!”
Mr. Roberts turned the boat sharply, sending Travis spilling across the deck. He caught himself and looked quickly back to where Nish had been.
He was still there, glued to the antenna, his eyes still shut! Travis suddenly realized how dangerously exposed his friend was.
The man levelled the gun at the approaching boat.
“NISH!”
The voice belonged to Wiz.
Wiz left Sarah, who was still taking pictures, and ran towards the antenna. He dove before he got to Nish, knocking him away from the antenna and down onto the deck, and landing hard on top!
KRRRRACK!
SSSSSMACK!
The two sounds were almost simultaneous.
The first came from the boat just ahead of them. The second came from Mr. Roberts’s antenna.
Travis turned just in time to see the antenna crash down over the railing and break off into the sea. The shot had struck it exactly where Nish had been clinging.
“Hang on!” Mr. Roberts yelled.
KRRRRACK!
Another shot, but not nearly so close.
KRRRRACK!
Again, but still farther away.
Mr. Roberts had the boat turned right around now and was racing back hard in the direction they had come.
Travis chanced a look over the railing. The other boat wasn’t following. They were free.
He heard a groan and knew it was Nish.
Had he been hit?
But there was no blood. Wiz was carefully disentangling himself from Nish, who was twisting and moaning on the deck. Wiz grabbed Nish’s hand and pulled him to a sitting position.
“What hit me?” Nish asked.
“It’s what didn’t hit you that you should be thinking about,” Wiz said, laughing.
Nish shook his head, still not understanding.
He turned and looked back at the shattered antenna.
Exactly where he would have been standing, if Wiz hadn’t taken him out.
Nish looked over at Wiz, his mouth moving helplessly.
Wiz smiled. “Hey,” he said. “I owed you one – remember?”
Sarah hurried over, breathless. She was holding the camera as if she were afraid it might break, or vanish.
“I got some great shots!” she said.
Wiz laughed. “Thank God they didn’t or we’d be one Nish short right about now!”
Nish shook his head and stared at Wiz.
He still didn’t know what had just happened.