Vertigo Effect: The Eighth Jonathan Shade Novel Read online

  “Untie us,” I said.

  I knew we were supposed to let the engine warm up a bit, but we didn’t have time. I slipped on a pair of goggles and donned headphones to try and protect my hearing. Kelly did the same.

  Kelly untied the boat from the cleats on the dock and pushed off. I stepped on the accelerator and played around with the stick. Pushing forward made us turn right. Pulling backward turned us to the left. Centering the stick was straight ahead. So the stick controlled the rudder.

  There were no brakes, of course, and while it sounds easy enough in theory to drive the boat, it was trickier than I thought once we got going. I guided us down a canal that shot between mangroves. The engine revved and I adjusted the stick. We scraped a stand of sawgrass. Ahead of us, the water looked like raindrops plunking into it.

  “Is it sprinkling?” I said holding out my hand.

  Esther shook her head. “Baby shrimp,” she said pointing ahead.

  I tried to look down to see, but from my vantage point the water was too murky from the boat passing over and the prop wash. Minnows breached the water and jumped here and there. Birds cawed and chirped.

  It was late afternoon.

  The sun sank toward the horizon, so we needed to catch up to the other boat quickly. I steered us down the canal, which opened into a wider area.

  The Everglades isn’t really a swamp. It’s fresh water, so essentially, it’s a ninety mile wide river that feeds into the Gulf of Mexico.

  I knew the airboat could handle any of the water whether it was six inches deep or eighteen inches deep. The Everglades didn’t get much deeper than that.

  If this had just been a vacation, driving that airboat would have been a blast. We cruised along, wind in our hair, and scanned the trails cut into the flora ahead. Alas, we were on the trail of a killer, so the fun aspect didn’t register as much as I’d like.

  I checked the app on my phone. We were catching up.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  We turned out of a canal into an open area, and passed a stand of mangrove trees. Terrell waded through the water toward his own airboat with an alligator in tow. Meghan and Bill sat in the front seat, while a tour guide perched in the driver’s seat. Airboats are loud so there was no way to sneak up on anyone.

  Terrell stood in knee-deep water and had hold of an alligator’s tail. The gator thrashed, but he popped it between the eyes and kept moving toward the boat.

  “If he gets that heart, we’re going to lose,” I said, and stomped on the accelerator.

  Terrell tossed a grin my way, and clambered into the boat. He, Bill, and Meghan dragged the alligator into the boat with them. Terrell waited for the gator to snap at him, then clamped its mouth shut.

  The guide stomped on the accelerator and their airboat screamed and shot forward. He yanked back hard on the stick and the boat swirled to the left casting a wave of water in its wake.

  I raced toward them. Kelly leaned forward in her seat. “Hurry, Jonathan!”

  They were weighed down by four people and an alligator, while our boat held only Kelly and myself since Esther didn’t add any weight.

  “Get us alongside,” Kelly yelled. “I’ll jump over.”

  I tried to steer us to go to the left, but the tour guide shoved the stick forward and spun hard to the right. He expertly maneuvered them down a narrow canal lined on either side by mangrove trees. I smacked against the damn trees, and careened over to crash into the trees on the opposite side.

  “Try going down the canal,” Kelly said.

  “I am trying.”

  “You’re trying my patience.”

  “Ha ha,” I said, but not loud enough for her to hear with the headphones on, and got us straightened out. I stomped on the accelerator and we raced after them.

  The narrow canal opened into a wider expanse of water, and they veered right. I followed, and the propeller noise drowned out the sound of birds taking flight around us.

  We cruised along, and I tried to catch up. The prop-wash sent water, air, and mud flying at us. I steered to the side a bit and pressed the accelerator down to try and come up beside them. The chop made it difficult to navigate, and water poured into the boat as we crossed those waves. I didn’t know how to operate the trim tabs, so we had to deal with a bouncy ride.

  Terrell held the alligator’s mouth closed, and Bill held the body. The way the gator fought, I expected to see Bill fly overboard, but he maintained his balance in spite of the swerving of the boat. The tour guide kept veering around trying to catch us in the prop-wash again, but I steered away as much as I could.

  We raced down trails, water spraying behind us. We navigated narrow canals, wider tributaries, and even crossed a few stands of sawgrass, which were fortunately not thick. Their driver was an expert, so whenever we encountered obstacles, we lost ground. When we had straightaways, we gained the ground right back because our boat was faster.

  On one straightaway, we caught up to them. I edged us closer, and their driver suddenly shoved his stick forward, cutting hard to the right. A huge plume of water sprayed over us and nearly flipped the boat. I yanked back to go left. We spun all the way around, sending waves out, too. We took on a lot of water, but the bilge pump seemed to be working well enough, and I gunned the engine to try and plow through the waves letting the bow split them. Facing the waves worked a lot better. The turn cost us a lot of distance, but the channel they chose was another long and wide canal.

  “Let’s try that again,” I said, and raced after them.

  We shot down the canal at top speed, bouncing in their wake. Their driver was too good. He swerved this way and that, creating choppy water. I found that taking those waves at a forty-five degree angle helped a lot. We bounced along, cutting through the waves as I tried to gain on them. As he kept changing directions and sending waves, our only hope was for them to run out of gas.

  I tried to keep up. We needed an advantage.

  “Esther!” I yelled.

  Esther moved up beside me, standing inside the battery. She pushed her face through the headphones right up to my ear. “What can I do?”

  “I want you to appear before their driver. See if you can scare that son of a bitch into slowing down.”

  “I’m on it,” she said and popped away.

  Sure enough, she appeared in front of the driver and threw her arms out wide. She probably yelled, “Boo!” but he wouldn’t be able to hear her over the engine noise. He did see her, however.

  He yanked back on the stick, swerving to the left toward another channel.

  Esther popped back to me and smiled. “That was the cat’s pajamas!”

  “Terrell is cutting out the heart!” Kelly yelled.

  As they turned, I saw she was right. Terrell jammed a huge Bowie knife into the alligator’s chest. We couldn’t let him eat that heart, but I couldn’t close the distance that fast. I pulled my Glock, and fired off four quick shots. I missed, but the tour guide tried to duck and cover, probably thinking I was aiming at him. His foot came off the accelerator and his airboat slowed too fast and they took on water.

  Terrell dropped the gator to try to get lower too. Meghan and Bill flattened themselves against the seat, and that alligator kept struggling, the tail whipping back and forth.

  I steered right at the airboat. We plowed through the water, and crashed into the side of the other boat. Kelly was ready for the impact and she jumped at Terrell, kicking him in the head. I flew forward with the sudden loss of speed. I was ready for it too, so I braced myself enough to not fall from the seat stand.

  The tour guide flew from the boat, splashing into the water. Our boat flipped up and fell back. As it went up, I felt almost weightless. Bill and Meghan rolled into the water. The bow of our boat splashed down and I tried to hang on to the seat to keep from falling, but the collision was too much and I bounced off, hitting one of the seat benches. I fell between the seat benches into the water that the bilge pump hadn’t handled, and tried to pull myself
up to see what was happening. Kelly and Terrell landed in the glades. We scraped off to the side and hit the water hard. Backwash swamped the airboat and it started to sink. The propellers slowed and stopped, casting silence around us.

  Baby alligators swam to the right, and I saw their mother slide into the water to head in our direction. A male alligator slid into the muck and also glided toward us. I knew he was male because of his thick neck, and based on the distance from his nostrils to between his eyes, I estimated him to be a good ten feet long. One inch equals one foot of alligator. Who says you can’t learn anything on TV?

  Of course, I also knew that alligators can attack men and I didn’t want to be killed then stashed away under a rock so the gator could save me for a midnight snack. My instinct was to get the hell away from the oncoming gators.

  But Kelly was facing off against Terrell, and with Bill and Meghan behind her, she needed my help.

  I yanked off my headphones, vaulted out of the boat, and splashed down in the knee-deep water. I still wore the goggles. Kelly kicked Terrell in the teeth as she drew her sword. His head snapped back, and he yelled. He trudged through the water toward her, and she lopped off his right hand. I knew she’d make quick work of him. The injured alligator crawled out of the boat, blood trailing behind it.

  “Bill!” I yelled, and Bill spun around.

  I punched him in the face and he sat down hard.

  Meghan turned and screamed at me. She moved toward me, but she couldn’t move fast in the water, so I was ready. I caught her wrist, turned and thrust my hip outward so I could flip her into the water.

  Bill recovered from the punch and scrambled to his feet. The baby alligators moved around him, swimming for their mother, but she was swimming to us.

  Bill started toward me. I pointed at the gator. “Look out!”

  “I’m not falling for that shit,” he said and clenched his fist.

  The gator clamped on his calf and jerked him off his feet.

  The male gator wasn’t far away, but I didn’t see him.

  I moved to help Bill.

  I punched the gator in the head, and it released him so it could snap at me. Bill fell away and clutched at his leg. At least he wasn’t in any shape to attack me. I avoided the first snap and pounded on the gator’s head. She came at me again, but I dodged to the side and punched her in the left eye. She veered off and swam away.

  The male gator surfaced not too far from us, but shot toward the injured alligator instead of us.

  I grabbed Bill and tried to drag him toward shore. He struggled.

  “Don’t fight me,” I said. “I’m trying to save your sorry ass.”

  “I don’t need saved. I’m Chike Okonjo’s right hand man.” He opened his mouth and shark teeth extended out and down from his gums to cover his human teeth.

  “No you don’t,” I said and adjusted my grip from his underarms to his neck. I applied pressure to close off his carotid artery. Eight seconds later, his eyes rolled back and he passed out. I released my grip. His body went into muscle spasms, but he would be all right. I set him down on the shore.

  Meghan moved toward me, while Kelly and Terrell exchanged blows farther out beside the boats. Kelly no longer had the sword, and somehow Terrell had grown back his hand. Not a good sign.

  “You killed Bill!” Meghan shouted.

  “I think Uma Thurman did that,” I said.

  She bared her teeth and as with Bill, shark teeth slid out of her gums. It looked like a cheap effect in a low-budget horror flick, but I knew those teeth could do serious damage.

  Bill stirred behind me. The choke-out worked great, but wouldn’t last long. Fortunately, I knew he’d be groggy. Meghan saw him moving, and didn’t attack me. Instead, she raced to Bill.

  “Oh, baby,” she said. “Are you all right?”

  She cradled his head against her.

  I waded back into the water, keeping an eye out for more gators. Kelly dodged an attack from Terrell, and did a quick move to duck under his arm. She grabbed the arm as she went, then spun and snapped it at the elbow over her shoulder.

  Terrell didn’t seem to notice. He pulled free and the arm dangled for a moment then suddenly straightened and healed as quickly as it broke.

  “Jonathan, stay back,” Kelly said. “I’ve broken his neck twice and he’s still coming.”

  “Where’s your sword?” I called.

  “Somewhere underwater.” She did a wicked scissor kick, wrapped her legs around Terrell’s neck, gave a savage twist, breaking his neck a third time, and took him down into the water. She held him under. He struggled and shoved her up. She landed on her feet with a splash, and spun to kick him in the face as he got up. He fell backward again.

  “He heals from mortal wounds instantly,” I said.

  “He re-grows limbs in a heartbeat, too, and I think he breathes underwater,” Kelly said.

  “Why didn’t you cut off his head?”

  “She tried,” Terrell said, smiling with those ugly shark teeth. “I’m having fun. How about you?”

  “Loving every minute of it,” Kelly said and attacked again.

  I looked around and saw the tour guide cowering behind a tree on shore. He wasn’t with their crew, so I suspect they’d threatened to kill him. Maybe he’d been there when the clerk was murdered back at the dock. I didn’t know, but I could see he wasn’t going to be a problem.

  Terrell caught Kelly and lifted her into the air.

  I drew my gun and shot him three times in the face.

  He dropped Kelly.

  She splashed down and pushed herself to her feet in no time.

  I kept shooting Terrell in the face and head. He staggered backward with each shot, but no sooner had a wound opened than it sealed itself closed. There are times when I absolutely hate magic. What the hell kind of spell had the bastard used? Immortality, sure, but he needed the alligator heart to pull that off.

  It suddenly occurred to me that he’d already eaten an alligator heart, and that the animal he’d stabbed in the boat was for Bill or Meghan.

  “You completed the ritual,” I said.

  “How sweet of you to notice.”

  “You’re not Terrell,” I said. “So who are you again?”

  “As I told you before, I am Chike Okonjo, lord of the Vodon, but does that truly matter to you?” he asked and trudged toward me.

  “Well, Cheeky, it won’t matter for long.”

  “Chike,” he said.

  “Whatever.”

  I was out of bullets, so I put the gun away and backed up.

  “Time to kiss your ass goodbye,” he said.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Kelly jumped between us, grabbed Terrell’s outstretched arm, and did a spin kick that caught him upside the head. He staggered to the side, allowing her to get a better grip. She elbowed him in the ear, and planted him in the water.

  “Find the sword!” she yelled.

  “Esther, can you help?”

  Esther frowned. “I can’t see it.”

  “I can’t either.” I waded around, but between the airboats, alligators, and the melee, the water was brown and murky and impossible to see through to the bottom. There was no way to find the sword until the mud and silt settled. “Keep searching,” I said, “but I have an idea.”

  Terrell threw Kelly off and she did a cartwheel flip to land on her feet. When Terrell started to get up, I tackled him.

  “Jonathan, no!” Kelly yelled. “He’s too strong for you!”

  I drove Terrell into the water. He rose up, laughing. “Nice tackle,” he said, but he grabbed my injured shoulder. Throughout the day, it had just been a dull throb, and easy to ignore, but he drove his fingers into the wound, ripping it open. I gritted my teeth, and smashed his hand away. I fell backward into the water, and the wound flared in agony.

  The injury hurt a lot, but I pushed myself up, letting water and blood drip down to the glades. The trick to handling pain was to compartmentalize it. I shoved
it behind a door in my mind and closed that door. I was still aware of it, but I could function well enough provided I didn’t try to do anything that would put too much stress on the wound.

  Terrell reached for me, and I slapped him away then kicked him hard in the balls. Immortal Vodon lord or not, I figured it would slow him down.

  I was wrong.

  “Are you a eunuch?” I said.

  He punched me in the face, but I pulled back and turned away with it so it didn’t hurt much. He knocked the goggles off and they splashed down five yards away. I spun around, planted my foot and threw myself up and over to kick with extra force right to the back of his head.

  He went down, but rose immediately.

  “Damn,” I said.

  “My sentiments exactly,” Kelly said, joining me.

  “Get him to the back of the boat,” I said pointing at the airboat.

  Kelly smiled. “My pleasure,” she said.

  As he spun, she kicked him in the chin. She grabbed him, hauled him up high, and brought him down hard dropping to plant one knee down with the other up so she could break his back over her thigh.

  The crack reverberated against the mangroves.

  I hurried to the boat, rolled into it, and climbed into the elevated seat stand. I started the engine and revved up the propeller. I eased off the accelerator when the boat started to move. It drifted and I adjusted the rudder with the stick so the back of the boat faced Kelly and Terrell.

  “Say when!” I shouted. The prop was louder without headphones, but mine were in the other boat.

  The airboat bumped against the other boat, and rotated a bit in the water.

  Kelly punched Terrell in the face over and over. He tried to swing back, but she ducked and pummeled him some more. She was fast, and he was slow. His advantage was that he couldn’t be stopped and magical engineering or no, sooner or later, Kelly would get tired and slow down.