A Merman's Tail

Chapter 31

Her eyes widened as they took in the room. She saw the crane, Triton turning blue on the end of it and my guilty looking face.

"Lower him, quickly!" She demanded.

I rushed to the controls and lowered the crane, Triton splashed into the water, his expression turning to one of relief as his gills did their job and he began breathing again. He unclipped himself from the stretcher and swam to the glass, watching what was happening between me and Terry.

"Scott." She said again, disbelievingly. "How?"

"How?" I replied with incredulity at the audacity of her question. "How could you do this? Don't you mean?" I stated with my entire disbelief showing as I stabbed an angry finger towards Triton.

She looked at her prize and for a moment remorse showed on her features before possessive greed stole the look I could have forgiven from her face. It shook me how much the dollar signs in her eyes changed her features from the kind woman I remembered to the cruel avarice fuelled creature before me. I knew in that instant that there was nothing she wouldn't do to stop me from rescuing Triton and returning him to the sea.

Rip had been stealthily sneaking up behind her with an old-fashioned life ring and I prayed nothing showed in my eyes as I nodded at him. Her eyes squinting with question as she frowned at the seemingly positive response when my words were all accusatory.

Then Rip shouted in triumph but also warning as he brought down the ring over her head. She tried to avoid him, but was too late. Stuck in the ring, she struggled to lift her arms overhead to remove the offending object, but Hero smacked down a wooden paddle on to the crown of her head and her eyes rolled back in her head as she was temporarily dazed and fell to the floor.

"Quickly." I shouted and we got Triton back into the sling and up in the air again. He motioned for us to hurry as we dropped him into the final tank. This aquarium was full of samples of sea life. Everything from stingrays to huge Moray Eels, but they all moved away from Triton as he swam to the far side and the fresh glimpse of freedom.

Mitch and his brothers waved furiously to their sisters out in the water and Triton followed their example when he saw them as they approached the wall of the tank. This time there was no need for the crane. There was a sluice gate and a kind of air lock between the Lab and the open ocean. It was the last thing separating Triton from the sea.

"I can't let you do this Scott." A determined voice said behind me as I froze at the cold inflection in the words.

I turned to see Terry standing behind me, holding a gun. And it was pointed directly at me.

Mitch screamed, "No!" and rushed toward her, but she didn't flinch.

She fired, and I felt something hot strike me in the chest. It was like I'd been punched really hard and I gasped as the air left my lungs in a rush. I stepped back, not from the impact, but in an attempt to get away from the pain that blossomed as my nerves finally caught up with the message that my brain had sent me. I had been shot.

"Bitch!" Mitch shouted, but backed up when the round end of the barrel swung to point at him.

Triton banged his fists on the glass and shouted something into the water. His face a picture of frustrated rage and denial at her actions in pointing the weapon at his Son. Rip and Hero stepped forwards, whether in an effort to distract her or to make her change target I'll never know. I dropped to the floor, my blood running slowly down my chest making the beginnings of a puddle underneath my suddenly numb feet.

"You should have left him alone." She said with something resembling penitence. But I wasn't fooled anymore. I knew her heart no longer beat to any kind of human drum. The only thing that fuelled her existence now was the profit she believed she would make from Triton. Public viewings were nothing compared to what secrets his blood and tissues might unveil. She'd already found unknown healing properties in his blood that she meant to exploit. To say nothing of the many other secrets he might reveal with further study.

"What the Hell's going on?" Said a loud voice behind her as one of the Security Guards finally made an appearance.

She turned and his eyes widened as he took in the gun, the results of her actions, and my injured figure on the floor. Mitch rushed to my side at the distraction and ripped off his shirt to staunch my wound. As Terry and the guard argued over what having intruders meant for the facility, not to mention the fact that she'd discharged a firearm and the police would probably be showing up at any time, Mitch and I looked at each other.

He touched my face with concern and I coughed as blood began entering my lungs.

His face crumpled and he tried to stop the bleeding as Rip and Hero dithered, torn between trying to help their brother and their Father.

"Scotty, what can I do?" Mitch asked as I held on to him for dear life.

"Be free." I said coughing again, as my strength began to fade.