Beneath The Waves (bxb)

17. Operation Ice Cream

"What?"

She raised her eyebrows at me, but I just glared and forced myself to get between the gun and Mellac. The guy might be insanely aggressive and dangerous, but that's what she signed up for when she bought the damn mer! Putting my arms out to either side, I straightened my back and glared.

"You aren't killing him. Sell him to somewhere else, you can easily make a good amount of your money back."

Sure, I knew he needed to stay with Callem for his younger brother to even have a chance at surviving, but if Mellac was killed, then I had no idea how I was going to save Callem. Mrs. Smith thankfully seemed to think about what I said... right before her phone rang. I watched her put the safety on the gun and roll her eyes before flicking the phone open and pressing it to her ear.

"Curator Smith, how can I help you?"

"Yes, I have both right now."

"Actually, yes. One is for sale."

"It is because he is extremely aggressive and I just don't have the equipment to deal with it."

"No, I will not be responsible for transport."

Okay, this is my chance.

"I-I can take him."

She eyed me warily.

"How?"

"You have a transport crate, right? Even an older one will be fine and fit in the back of my truck."

She slowly nodded.

"Well, he's knocked out right now so we can just load him up, then I'll take him straight to wherever he needs to go... Of course a bit of help with gas would be nice, though."

"Hmm... alright. I have a lock you can use and we have a spare large long crate that should fit in your truck."

I turned and went back to lift Jay, and with a lot of effort managed to get him into my arms while she continued speaking on the phone about getting payment details and what not. I mouthed that I was taking him out to my truck first, and she just nodded before turning her back on me and continuing her conversation.

Hmph!

It took a few minutes to get Jayson into my truck in the back lot, mainly because he seriously needed to stop working out twice a week. He might not be as ripped as Mellac, but the guy was a bag of muscles none the less. When he was finally lying down in the backseat, I went around and pulled away the snap-on fabric I kept over the truck bed to keep it from retaining water when it rained. It would suck for Mellac to be back there in this heat, but at least he would get out of this place. Not that I wanted to leave Callem, but getting one out right now was better than none.

By the time I came back to the keeper area, her two guards were carrying out the crate, Mellac already loaded up inside. It was kind of a dog crate build but specifically for aquatic mammals... basically, seals. That forced him to be lying down in the crate, which really did not give him much room to move and definitely not sit up, but he'd deal. He was asleep right then anyway. Mrs. Smith walked over to me as her men loaded Mellac up in the back of my truck, then fastened the black cover over it.

Thank god I had an air conditioner installed in there with a grant from the research facility since I am the main person bringing in larger specimens... or at least transporting them if we don't have a truck available.

"He's going to Cal-Waves. They are three hours north and will be expecting you."

I nodded, mentally cursing that stupid facility out.