MEG: Nightstalkers Read Online Free Page A

creature that had just passed beneath his kayak swam in east-west undulations, powered by its half-moon shaped caudal fin.
    Shark …
    Megalodon.
    Bela!
    Unable to speak, barely able to move, Eric reached forward with his paddle to tap Ashley. She screamed as he connected with the blue angel on her right scapula, her expression aghast in terror as she pointed.
    Ten feet in front of Nic’s kayak, poised above the choppy surface like a white buoy, was the enormous triangular head of another Meg. The shark was spy-hopping, its blue-gray left eye clearly analyzing the flotilla and its human passengers.
    The depths surrounding the forty-six-foot Megalodon glowed like a turquoise-blue island, identifying the albino monster as Bela’s sibling, Lizzy.
    Time seemed to stand still, life reduced to whitecaps and ten knot winds, the fading chuffing of the fleeing killer whales and the pounding pulses of the kayakers who shivered and waited while an inquisitive killer debated their fate.
    Nic Byron broke the silence. “Slowly and quietly, detach your lines.”
    Eric’s hand trembled as he struggled to unclip his bungee cord from the Cunningham’s kayak.
    As if sensing the disturbance, Lizzy’s head slipped below the surface.
    Now the real terror began.
    “She’ll come up beneath us!”
    “Vicky’s right; we need to go.”
    “No one’s going anywhere.”
    “You’re not in charge!”
    “Keep your voices down; it can hear you.”
    “Listen to me,” said Eric. “There are two of them; Bela, the dark one, passed under my kayak—she was after the whales. I think we need to get to that whale-watcher boat.”
    They turned in unison, locating the tourist craft a good mile to the west.
    “We’ll never make it,” Nic said from behind his binoculars. “See those ripples? Those are standing waves, five feet high inside the trowel. They’ll come right over our heads.”
    Ashley gripped the instructor by the Moby Dick tattoo covering his right biceps. “I don’t want to be eaten.”
    “No one’s being eaten,” said Natalie. “These Megs were raised in captivity. Humans aren’t on their menu.”
    “How do you know what’s on their menu?” Eric demanded.
    “I studied marine biology back in London. I think I know a little bit more about it than a food and beverage manager.”
    “Yeah? Well, Lana Wood was human and they ate her!”
    Nic searched the mile-and-a-half of sea separating them from San Juan Island’s coastline, then shoved the binoculars into a watertight compartment. “We’ll head south, working our way back to shore. Nice and easy, no splashing. You see a big shark fin—break for land.”
    They set out, paddling quietly. Hearts raced, flesh tingled. The Cunninghams prayed aloud for God to watch over their three children. The British women whispered softly.
    A shrill orca cry caused everyone to cease paddling.
    Less than a mile to the northeast the surface erupted—Bela’s upper torso rising out of the sea, a twelve-foot juvenile killer whale thrashing within her hyperextended jaws.
    Eric gritted his teeth as the impaled orca and the Megalodon flopped sideways in an explosion of bloody froth, the sharp clap reaching them on a three second delay.
    “Let’s move!” Plunging his oar into the water, Nic set out on a brisk pace which forced the other kayakers to keep up. He counted a hundred strokes to the south, then cut the rudder hard and set out on a direct beeline for shore, targeting the Lime Kiln State Park lighthouse.
    Now it was a race, every boater for themselves.
    Ashley’s shoulder muscles ached as she pulled great gouts of water, each stroke accompanied by a grunted word. “Aren’t … you.… glad … you … listened … to … me … and … picked … the … faster … kayak!”
    She was right, they were flying through the water, pulling nearly eight knots as they passed Nic Byron. Within two minutes they were thirty yards ahead of the others and had halved the distance to