his laundry bag, and, stuffing the sock inside, rushed out the door.
The woman looked up from her book as Jack walked through the entryway, recognition crossing her face as she glanced down at the half-empty laundry bag in his hands, knowing instantly the motives that had brought him back. She laughed a knowing laugh, motioning Jack over, butterflies making him clutch his stomach to make sure it was still there. The washer hit the spin cycle as he got the nerve to start a conversation. The woman looked relieved when he finally opened his mouth, giving him some much needed confidence.
“Hi,” he said. “I’m Jack.”
“I’m Nadine.” She marked the page she’d been reading and set the paperback down on an empty washing machine. “I was wondering when you were going to get the nerve to ask me out,” she said. Her voice was deliberate but coy, playful even, like she had an agenda and wasn’t shy about broadcasting her intensions.
“Did I--uh--ask you out?” Jack wondered suddenly if he had blacked out and suffered short term memory loss.
“No, but you’re about to,” she said, patting the counter next to her.
Jack smiled at the memory, shaking his head in wonderment and peered over the railing, marveling at the size of the waves crashing about the surf. About a hundred yards further, on the other side of the channel, a nice sandy beach lay at the mouth of a valley cutting its way through the coastal mountain range. The sun was twenty degrees over the horizon, casting long shadows onto a small town, where it was probably quietly, slowly waking the residents.
“That’s Dillon Beach,” Adam said, motioning over his shoulder as he pried open a waterproof box he hauled out from a storage compartment in the stern. Jack squinted into the sun, making out a collection of low, two and three story buildings, a small parking lot, picnic tables and several garbage cans strewn about.
“People swim there?” Potey asked.
“Yeah, surf’s not too great across the channel, but I see people in the water all the time just fooling around.”
“And we’re looking for sharks? Right here?” Nadine asked, incredulous. She pointed to the rolling waves rocking the boat. Adam smiled, pulling a clipboard from the opened box.
“I should’ve given you these before we left the slip. The squares upstairs make all the research volunteers fill these out.”
“What are they?” Potey asked. His hands were covered in sunscreen that he was applying to his face, ears and neck.
“Liability waivers. So you can’t sue the school if you get eaten by a shark.”
Nadine snorted. “Ha. That’s awesome. Where do I sign?”
Adam winked as he passed her the clipboard and pointed to a line. “Thanks for helping me out with my research, by the way.” He spoke softly, almost sing-song like, and a grin spread across his face. “When I invited these two idiots I didn’t expect them to bring such a lovely assistant.”
Nadine smiled back and handed the form to Jack who gave Adam a disapproving look, his right eyebrow arched, his mouth crooked. Memories of Adam hitting on the study dates Jack brought back to his dorm room danced through his head as he read and signed the form.
“Bro, sign for me, will ya?” Potey asked, holding up gooped-up hands. Jack sighed, marking a giant “X” under his name. He passed the clipboard back to Adam who tossed it back in the box.
“Ok. Who wants to do what?” he asked. “Once we spot a shark, it’s all hands on deck. So listen up now, because once shit starts, we’ll need to act fast. Things go pretty quick.”
“I’ll be the shark wrangler,” Potey volunteered. “I’ll jump in with a knife between my teeth and hold it down while you shoot a harpoon in its back.”
“Potey is on chum duty,” Adam said, smirking. “It matches your personality, no?” Jack and Nadine laughed nervously, eyeing the equipment that Adam had laid out on the deck in front of them. Jack glanced down at a six-foot long harpoon lying along the port-side railing, the sharp barb attached to the homing beacon looking like it would piss off anything into which it was hurled. It lay next to a heavy iron and glass-encased underwater camera lashed to the end of a wooden pole with “PLAY” clearly printed in red ink on a large button on the side. Jack wiped his brow with his free hand, the other still clutching the railing, enabling him to keep his balance against the constant rocking motion. His stomach gurgled, releasing a bit of gas.
“Nadine, you look artsy. I’m going to need you to be my photographer,” Adam said as he took out a second camera, this one an expensive-looking SLR, and passed it to Nadine. “In addition to tagging the sharks, we’ll need to be able to identify them so we know who we’re tracking. Plus, if the Discovery Channel ever returns my call--“ He pulled a rubber mat out of the storage compartment, laying it out on the bench in front of the cockpit.
“Here. Stand on this, should be steady enough. Make sure you have the height to get the full shot of the shark in the view finder. I usually have it zoomed all the way out.”
Nadine pulled the camera strap around her neck and hoisted herself up on the bench. Adam leaned forward as she climbed up, not bothering to hide the fact that he was checking out her round, firm ass. Nadine ignored him and leaned forward with the front of her body, from her shins to her chest, pressed against the cockpit, giving herself additional balance and support. She fingered the power button and squinted through the lens.
“How big are these monsters, anyhow?” she asked. Jack was curious as well.
“Oh, about eighteen, twenty footers,” Adam answered matter-of-factly. Jack arched his eyebrows while Potey whistled. Nadine looked up from the camera.
“Wait. How big is this boat?” she asked.
“Oh, about eighteen, twenty feet.”
“Nice.” Nadine smiled nervously and continued to fiddle with the settings on the camera. Adam turned to Jack who was still clutching the side of the boat.
“Jackie, baby. I need you to do something very important.” Jack leaned forward, keeping one hand on the railing. “You’re my decoy.” Adam smiled.
Nadine snorted for the second time, raising her face to the sky with her eyes closed, still gripping the camera.
“Yeah, right,” Jack said, shaking his head. “Who do you think you’re kidding?”
“No, seriously,” Adam countered. “I really need you to be the decoy.” He turned around and hauled a dry bag out of the storage compartment, pulling out a black carpet rolled up into a ball. “I want you all to meet Sidekick. He’s the fifth member of our crew.”
The carpet unraveled at Adam’s feet, transforming into the silhouette of a four-foot-long harbor seal, flotation devices tied throughout its body. Adam fastened a line from its head to a fishing pole and handed the tackle to Jack.
“You a fisherman, Jackie?”
Jack shrugged. He’d gone out with his Boy Scout troop when he was a kid, but hadn’t touched bait since then.
“Throw him over.”
Jack picked up the dark carpet, inspecting it as he prepared to toss it overboard. It was covered in gnash marks, long tears running the length of the ragged body, stray threads hanging off in all directions. Sidekick had definitely seen better days. Jack shook his head in disbelief and tossed the carpet over the side of the boat, watching it float out behind them as he released some slack from the line.
“Let’s get him out about fifty feet behind us,” Adam said as he continued to rummage through the storage container. “We need to get some distance between us and the pissed off shark who just realized he has a mouth full of carpet.”
“Awesome,” Nadine squealed as she snapped a photo of Sidekick drifting behind the boat in the churning water.
Jack lay prostrate on the side of the boat, leg hanging over the bench, his head tilted back, eyes closed, face warmed by the summer sun. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead despite the cool off-shore breeze, and they were starting to pool, streaming down the side of his face, tickling the moist, salty skin around his temples. He could feel his eyebrows and sideburns collect the
moisture, shielding his eyes and ears from getting wet.
They’d been on the boat for more than an hour, drifting on the ocean, rocking back and forth in the waves, Sidekick faithfully floating along behind them. Waiting. Twice, Adam had started up the engine and repositioned the boat, pointing the bow toward the rocky coastline, allowing them to float over the same patch of water, an area that he claimed was full of things sharks liked to eat. Prime hunting ground.
Jack glanced at Potey, who was stretched out on his back on the other side of the boat, his eyes closed, clutching the ice pick Adam had given him to handle the chunk of baby seal meat that they were using to spread an oil slick across the surface of the ocean. Adam claimed the university had gotten the meat from a local who had found the already-dead seal washed up on shore and didn’t want it to go to waste.
Adam and Nadine were attentive, scanning the water around Sidekick for boils, a sign that something large was lurking just beneath the surface. Jack had been listening to them make small talk for more than an hour, chatting about the weather, the nightlife in San Francisco and their favorite TV shows. There was a break in their conversation, and Adam must’ve noticed Jack stirring.
“Sorry we’re not getting much action today, Jackie,” he said softly, maintaining his gaze over the horizon. “Sometimes we get skunked.”
“Just waiting for these damn sharks to appear,” Jack