Should I even consider him my leader? I’m not a tiger shark. Coby is my leader. He’s my only leader.
This led her to checking with her one true leader to see what his thoughts were on all this. He felt that, for the most part, Thane was right. If they stayed near enough to prevent Evelyn and her gang from attacking, all would be fine. As long as they weren’t spotted by the humans. If even one of their fins broke the surface, all hell could break loose.
It was Rafe who didn’t seem convinced. Sylvia didn’t envy the guy. Not only did he have to keep his boss, Keelan Kane, away from Coby, but he also had to worry about the civilians on the beach. All this while staying true to his new family in the water. He was stuck right dab in the middle and obviously didn’t want to see anyone get hurt. They’d talked about it early on the morning of the festival. She, Rafe, and Coby had been sitting out on the beach getting ready to start the patrol.
“There will be a ton of kids there,” Rafe said.
“I know,” Sylvia replied. “We’ll do everything we can to keep them safe.”
“I would die before I let a child get harmed,” Coby said. “I’ve done a lot of shitty things, but I’ve never hurt a kid.”
“Something about this doesn’t feel right,” Rafe said. “It’s too easy. If what I’ve heard about Evelyn is true, she’s too smart to bank it all on us not being in the water.”
“Maybe we should split in half,” Sylvia recommended. “Half of us in the water and half on land to make sure we can see the water from topside.”
“Good idea,” Coby agreed.
“It’s something,” Rafe said.
So their plan was set and now, with the festival at full swing, they were all in their predetermined positions. Rickshaw had stayed back at the island to keep watch over Penny, Ruby, and the kids. Rafe and Kalina were somewhere on the beach watching from dry land. Sylvia, Coby, Thane, Kino, Faith, Jagger, Hailey, Oliver, Paisley, and the three new sharks were there beyond the swimmers and partygoers, pacing back and forth underwater.
New sharks. As if I’ve been around the block a time or two.
She may have been new herself, but she didn’t feel that way. She had an old soul, and that soul seemed so at ease with the shark way of life. If these people enjoying the festival knew how close they were to an entire group of tiger sharks and great whites, they’d be screaming and swimming for their lives. It was interesting to Sylvia how she no longer thought of herself as one of them. She was one of us now. Us being her new family. The trivial things of the past no longer mattered. The struggle of paying bills and late night grocery shopping and trying to navigate the dating scene. Those were all difficulties of the past. Now, all she needed to do was go with the flow, open her mouth to eat fish, and fuck her man. Well, all those things plus babysit tourists trying to “party for life.”
Chapter 26 – Rafe
So many people were on the beach and in every nook and cranny that led to it from parking lots and hotels. Bars and restaurants were filled to maximum capacity. Tents had been constructed to house local artists. Some did live work while others had brought stuff from their studios. Stages had been erected for local bands to showcase their talent. Cops strolled the beach in droves, and Kane had brought officers from other nearby Fishery departments to assist with patrolling the water by boat.
Kids played with beach toys like shovels and plastic molds of crabs and castles. Young men and women walked up and down the coast sucking on e-cigarettes and trying not to spill their clear plastic cups full of beer. College kids hung out in bunches and more mature adults sat in lawn chairs under umbrellas.
On the water, it was a typical day at any Aussie beach festival. Music blared, bass boomed, voices laughed and shouted and sang to the tunes. The sun beat down hard on the beachgoers. With Kalina’s fingers interlaced with his, Rafe should have been the happiest man alive. Instead, he was filled with dread. One woman screamed as her boyfriend doused her with icy water, and Rafe thought he was going to have a heart attack. Then someone on the water cried out because a friend had grabbed her leg and yanked her under the water. Once, a guy even jokingly screamed, “Shark!” Innocent fun was driving Rafe crazy. Every shriek and yelp made him fear the worst.
“I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” Rafe said. “My nerves are shot.”
“It’ll be okay,” Kalina told him. “We’ve got the water covered. I don’t think she’s going to attack. Not like this. Maybe she was bluffing.”
“You didn’t see her that day in our office,” Rafe said. “She wasn’t bluffing. If it’s not here, today, then it’s somewhere else soon. Or maybe here tomorrow or the next day.”
That was the thing. Evelyn could keep them doing this every single day of the festival until they were so tired of baking in the sun and swimming back and forth all day that they’d all grow bored and lackadaisical in their duties. That would be the best time to strike. When they were all so sure she wouldn’t.
“Rafe, where you at?” Kane’s voice barked over the radio attached to his hip.
Rafe was all business today. He’d even donned his work polo. He knew he’d command more respect dressed in official attire, not that the polo made him look any more respectable than the khaki colored cargo shorts he was wearing. However, he knew it could come in handy if he needed to get through the crowd quickly.
“Over near Bugles,” he said, mentioning the name of the nearest bar.
Within minutes, Kane was pulling up next to him in an all-terrain golf cart with massive tires.
“Anything?” he asked as he hopped out.
“We’re all over the water,” Kalina said, “but nobody’s sensing anything. It’s weird.”
“She won’t attack today,” Kane said. “Not on the first Saturday. It’s too obvious. She’d want to surprise us, don’t you think?”
“She’d know that we’d think that,” Kalina replied, “which means showing up today would be the surprise.”
“Damn, this bitch is crafty,” Rafe said. “She’s so sly everything she’d do would be unexpected…because we’d totally expect it.”