Paradise Thriller

Something In The Water

Clarice flew past Alison on the other waverunner, then cut the power abruptly just as Jolene's head, for no apparent reason, disappeared under the water. A loud air horn blasted from the direction of Brogan's boat, but what he was trying to signal them to do, Alison had no clue.

In a flash she saw Clarice diving off the waverunner and cutting through water, disappearing and resurfacing a few long moments later with a sputtering, coughing Jolene. Alison turned the key again, and her waverunner blessedly kicked back into life. Clarice pulled Jolene toward her in a hold commonly used by lifeguards, and Alison drove the waverunner close to the pair, then reached down to help pull Jolene up behind her. Long strands of stringy seaweed were tangled around her ankle, and she looked dazed.

"You take her. I'm going swim over and get the other one," Clarice said, gesturing toward the waverunner that had drifted some distance away.

"Get on here now," Alison said. "There's some kind of shark over by Miranda."

She reached out her hand again and Clarice took it and climbed on the seat behind Jolene. Alison turned the waverunner around and saw that Brogan's boat was already pulling up by Miranda. He had a long, wicked looking object in his hand, and he leaned over the boat and struck at something with the end of it.

"Looks like a speargun," Clarice said, "but that's an odd way to be using it." Alison watched as Brogan's boat eased over closer to the banana float, saw him reach over and lift Miranda on board and wrap a towel around her.

Alison headed for the shoreline near the dock, clutching the handles as the breaking waves lifted them and thrust them toward the shore. She beached the waverunner, just as Brogan pulled up to the dock and helped a trembling Miranda out of the boat. Jolene stepped shakily off the waverunner, and Alison hurried onto the dock to meet the three of them. Jolene was leaning against Clarice for support, her face drained of color.

Brogan tossed Clarice a towel, and she put it around Jolene's shoulders, covering her breasts. Alison walked up on the dock to meet the three of them, then hesitated as they went past her toward the shore just long enough to hear the cameraman on the dock ask Brogan what the hell was going on out there.

Brogan made some unintelligible response, but Alison did hear the other man say "Are you crazy? Don't you remember what happened last time?"

Brogan barked an order for the guy to shut up, looking pointedly past him to where Alison was still standing on the dock. She turned away, pretending she hadn't heard, and hurried after the other contestants. As soon as they got to the shore, Jolene stumbled away and a moment later they heard her retching in the bushes.

"Well, ladies," Brogan said, pausing at the end of the dock before he got back on the boat to retrieve the remaining waverunner. "I think we've got enough for today."

Miranda was sitting on the sand with her head down against her knees, and Clarice had gone to help Jolene. Brogan was on the boat with one the other cameraman. It was now or never, Alison thought, as she put on a bright smile and approached the cameraman who'd stayed behind on the dock. The sun glinted off his bald head and he had a tattoo on the side of his neck that continued down his right arm, extending below the sleeve of his t-shirt all the way to his wrist. His age could have been anywhere from 30 to 50. He watched her through narrowed eyes as she approached.

"Hi," Alison said, continuing when she got no reaction. "I was wondering if you've filmed these shows before."

He continued to watch her, then turned to the side and spit a thin stream of tobacco juice into the crystal clear water. With effort, Alison maintained her pleasant expression, despite her disgust.