Evil's Root

Chapter 23

Heidi sighed, giving the ocean predators a final glance, before turning to the two detectives. Benlow had inched around, doing his best not to excite Rich, until he could slide the gaff hook out from under the lounge with his foot, and keeping his eyes locked on Heidi, he stood on it to hide it as best he could.

"Unfortunately, gentlemen, I am out of food for our friends, so we will have to improvise." She pointed the knife she was holding at the bandage on Benlow's leg. "I think if we take that off and give your leg a little squeeze we should have what we need."

"You're crazy!" Rich began to tug at his wrist, pulling Benlow off balance, and instead of fighting back he let him pull him over, and he fell, covering the hook with his body.

"Tut, tut, such a big brave man going to cry in front of a woman?"

Heidi gave Rich a swift chop to the side of the neck, felling him next to Allen, then she leaned down and slashed the bandage away from his leg. It was now or never. He rolled quickly onto his back and lashed out with the gaff. Heidi screamed in surprise, dropping the knife and staggering back against the rail, her hands grasping the hook where it was buried in her stomach.

Everything seemed to stop for a moment. Rich blinked groggily mouthing a stunned, oh. Benlow pushed himself up onto his haunches, his eyes wide at what he had done and Heidi looking at them both in disbelief. The moment passed and time sped up again. Benlow, dragging a shocked Rich, launched himself across the deck, hitting her in the midsection with his shoulder and toppling her over the side.

The two men gaped down at the water and Heidi's expression, first of astonishment then realization and then horror as she felt the huge jaws of the predator clamp down on her waist with excruciating pain. With a final glimpse of the two gob-smacked policemen, she disappeared below the surface. Rich immediately lost his stomach contents after her, and hung on the rail retching while Benlow sank to the deck, shaking uncontrollably.

ööööö

The woman turned on the recorder, announced her name, the name of the interviewee and the case number, then jotted some notes on her pad, crossed her legs the other way and pushed her glasses up on her nose as she contemplated the man across from her. A strand of the otherwise perfect hair looped low over the right side of her forehead, and the light from the window beside her made her glass lens opaque.

"Do you still have the dream?"

"Oh yes."

"So sleeping is still a problem then?"

"More often than not."

"Are you following the recommendations I made?"

"All of them."

"And does it help?"

"You have no idea." He tried a smile, but she shook a finger at him.

The woman made another note and tapped the pen against her teeth. "Allen, unless you can accept with certainty that things won't be as they were before, I'm going to have to recommend you be released from service. permanently."

"You'd do that?"

"It's my professional opinion, and it's for your own good. Your future."

He sighed and grappled with his fingers. "My future." He looked at her and smiled again. "I guess my future is in your hands then."

"Allen, I'm sorry it has to be this way, but in the end you'll see I was right. What you experienced can be damaging if it isn't treated properly. You should consider going away somewhere completely different from your usual environment. Maybe Greece or Italy or even Germany."