Jaws of Love

Chapter 6

Samantha stood behind Hooper, watching as he panted on the ground. He had just emptied the sharks digestive track and found lots of weird objects.

But no Alex Kintner.

"That's it." Hooper breathed.

"I've got to close the beach, call the mayor." Martin sighed.

"You got a bigger problem than that, Martin. We've still got a hell of a fish out there." Samantha groaned.

"Yeah, with a mouth about this big." Hooper agreed, holding his hands up to show the size of the mouth.

"How do we confirm that by morning?"

"If he is a rogue, and there's any truth to territoriality at all, we've got a good chance of seeing him near cape Scott and south beach." Hooper began packing everything up.

"Where you going?" Martin asked as Samantha and Hooper began to walk away.

"We're gonna find him right now, he's a night feeder." Hooper said.

"On the water?" Martin panicked.

"Well we're not gonna find him on the land." Samantha said sarcastically, sending her brother a look.

"Yeah but I'm not drunk enough to go out on a boat." Martin countered.

"We didn't say you had to come. Just the two of us will be fine." Samantha shrugged.

"You can't go out there, Sam." He shook his head.

"Yes I can."

"No you can't."

"Yes I will."

Samantha found herself sitting beside Hooper on her boat that she occasionally took out on her own.

"Where'd you get all this sonar stuff?" Hooper was geeking out over her equipment.

She laughed as he stared at her screens. "I pay for it mostly myself. The government helps with some though. It's all classified as 'work related'."

Hooper nodded, shoving some more pretzels into his mouth. "We're right in the stretch where he's been feeding."

They sat in silence for a moment before Samantha stood up, recognizing a boat a few yards away.

"That's Ben Gardners boat." She muttered.

"You know him?" Hooper asked.

"Yeah I know him, he's a local fisherman. What the hell is his boat out here this late for?" Samantha furrowed her brows as she looked out over the ocean.

"Stay here." Hooper told her. "I'm gonna go check it out."

She looked at him like he was crazy. "You mean you're gonna go down there?"

He nodded, going into the lower compartment to find his wetsuit. "Yeah."

"No." She shook her head. "Absolutely not. No way. No." She grabbed his arm as he ignored her.

"Sam..."

"Don't 'Sam' me." She scoffed. "Matt you're not going down there by yourself."

He sighed. "I'm not going with you either."

She crossed her arms. "Then I guess you're not going."

Hooper rolled his eyes. "Don't be like that. I'm going down there."

"Matt I'm not gonna let you go down there and get eaten-."

"Damn it Sam! You're not my girlfriend anymore you can't just stop me from doing things!" Hooper realized what he had said as soon as the words left his mouth.

"Fine." Samantha spat, turning away from him.

"Sam you know I didn't mean to say that..." He tried to touch her shoulder but she shrugged him away.

"I said fine."

"If you don't want me to go then I won't." He pushed.

She turned back to face him. "You made it very clear that I can't stop you from doing things." She glared at him. "I'll be watching my sonars."

Hooper watched her as she climbed back up to the top of the boat. "Damn." He muttered.

She watched as he slipped into the water, scowling to herself the whole time. She was very confused as to why that comment hurt her so bad.

"I hope the bastard gets eaten." She muttered.