It soon becomes apparent that the Belfort's grow tired of what cable television has to offer. With its many shows, it cannot match what nature has provided just outside their window. They like to begin their mornings with their brisk walk around the Harbor Shores neighborhood. There must be a crosswind, because the ocean smells more fishier than usual. They stop to watch the boats go by. Some familiar, others new. Ashley even hears her heron making his entrance, beginning his slow motion dance to catch his breakfast.
Then they hear the usual barking sounds of the seals. They go around the bend to make sure to what they are up to today. They are beginning to learn the personalities of the seals. Some even human like.
You even see your bullies on the dock. They bunch up in a pile of blubber, with one sea lion on top of another. But, for some reason, if one is mad at the other, they will kick that sea lion off of the dock. And it doesn't matter where he goes, he will be kicked off.
This happened when Adam and Ashley watched them. This poor sea lion just could not catch a break. He hopped on part of the dock only to get kicked off. The poor sea lion swam around in circles for a while. Tired of this, he jumps on it once again. Sure enough, the group growls at this scraggler, and he is back in the water. They force him to swim around until a spot opens up.
After having enough of this show, Adam and Ashley walk down towards the pier and see the Scrimp Dancer. The first to greet them is Nikita running down the plank. They pet her as Jensen comes right behind her. They strike up a conversation with him. Ashley mentions about the rumors of some squid swimming up by the side of the harbor. "I saw it about a month ago. Right here, where we now stand."
"Not to worry. That's just octopus. Many believe them to be the same, but their body structures are completely different. The octopus usually come to the side of the harbor with the tide's flow and goes out when it ebbs away from the shore." Jensen peaks down at the edge of the pier where the rocks hold the water's edge. "Right now it's ebbing."
Adam and Ashley look down as well. "How can you tell?" Adam asks. "It looks like it's just sloshing back and forth."
"It's my job to know."
"I'm still worried," Ashley said.
"That swarm of squid that attached the paraglider, is now going out with the tide and out towards Mexico."
Somehow, this did not make Ashley feel any safer.
****
One would think that a huge animal would be hard to miss. But, because the ocean is vast the Beast of Fukushima becomes elusive. Like a good sorcerous, she makes her self-stealth like. She hides in the shadows. He large eyes can spot a foe or possibly her next meal.
She gets tired of finger food and wants something that will really fill her belly. She spots a pack of seals. This will certainly fill the bill. The beast heads towards her next conquest. Her goal, to capture her prey and see how tasty this new fish is. To her, everything is a fish. And this raft of sea lions will be no contest to her skills. After all, the baby shark she ate last week was no match and it certainly was tasty. But, here are a group of scrumptious sea meat. There is no way that this group is going to come to her. She is going to have to do some old fashion hunting.
The object of a good predator is not to get greedy. Set your target on one prey. It's not the fastest one you want to catch, but the slowest. She has her sights on a 660 pounder. She quietly stalks it in the water. She is now thirty-three feet away. With her two feeding tentacles, she shoots it out towards the unsuspecting sea lion. She reaches out and grabs the victim tightly. The sea lion screams out. The sharp-toothed suckers of the tentacles dig deep into the flesh of its prey.
The vicious predator tears the game apart. And consumes the prey while still alive. The speckled two-inch-wide tooth suckers guide the meat towards the sharp beak. The poor sea lion's flesh is torn apart into bite-size pieces. The beast directs the meat to her very sharp tongue, Kind of like a grinder. Then the meat travels down the throat region to the stomach. From there, it moves to the liver where it is absorbed for energy until she is hungry again.
****
Adam, Ashley, and Jensen are still in a deep conversation when in the background, a chorus of seals breaks it up. Though the sound of barking seals can be heard all day, this sound was unusual. Normally there is a commotion when someone fights for a spot on the rocks. But, this sound is more like panic. The sound was horrific almost like a scream.
"I don't like it." Jensen keeps Nikita behind him and runs towards the sound. Curious, Adam and Ashley follow along. They reach around the bend where they last saw the seals. When they arrive, they witness a bloody sight. The harbor is red as Indian ink.
Swimming in an arch is some kind of creature. "A shark," Adam inquires.
Jensen replies, "No, sharks don't come out this far into the harbor. Anything of great size usually do not."
As they ponder what it could be, flying into the air is a frightening sight. A giant squid of the likes never seen before, airborne about a hundred feet. As it lands back in the water, her fin folds back into place to minimize the impact.
It was just a split second, so Jensen could not make out what kind squid. "A cross between a Humboldt and a Giant Squid. I cannot make out her true size, but it's the biggest I have ever seen or heard about."
"How do you know it's a she?" Ashley asks.
"Anything of that size has to be female," Jensen says with his mouth still wide open. "Males just do not come out that big."
****
This feeding frenzy is fast and furious. The beast tears apart her prey into smithereens. As precise as she usually is with this technique, some of the meat gets away and floats to the top. The dead carcasses bob to the surface. Here it is discovered by a passing fishermen.
****
The fisherman Jensen and his two friends Adam and Ashley just witnessed a massive squid as it tears the rest of the seal apart in a devouring delirium.
The others in the village gather around at the horrific sight. It was as if someone opened the gates to Disneyland and released the throng. The word passed around so fast, it was like the five o'clock news.
The village is in panic about the news of a second attack by the squid. Now it seems that Louis' retelling of events have caught on. Mumblings of how big and scary the one single beast is has taken hold of the community. "It's the work of the Kraken I'm telling you."
"Yes, the Kraken is terrorizing our neighborhood!"
Jensen does not buy it. He just saw a glimpse of the beast and it is not the Kraken from Jules Verne. However, Ashley saw it too. She is scared. But, Adam seems reticent. "I know you flinch when there is even a bug crawling around our apartment," Ashley said. "How can you be so passive about this?"
Adam is in a daze, like he is in his own world. What he saw shocked him. The fact that there is such a creature hanging around the harbor just chills him to his bones. Oh, he is not far off the rails thinking it will grab people with its tentacles like in the old movies. But, if someone wants to go canoeing along the harbor like normal, they would have to worry that they might be lunch to this beast.
One of the villagers shouts out, "Someone has to hunt down the creature." As if it was rehearsed, they all looked at Jensen at the same time. Not realizing that all eyes are on him, he just stood there. One by one he felt like he was being stared at. "What are you looking at me for? I fish crustaceans that walk into my little wooden box. Not anything that fights back. I just hope that 'thing' hasn't eaten up my business."
The throng seems disappointed. "Well, someone has to get rid of it before it reaches up and grabs one of us on the pier."
Jensen gets frustrated. "Squids do not reach up and grab you like you see in the movies. It's all a myth."
Another villager voices his displeasure. "Then how do you explain what we just saw?"
As Jensen walks among the crowd, he can tell that they were ready to raise the pitchforks and riot. Except they want someone else to do the actual risk taking. "It was a hungry creature that saw a tasty morsel swimming by. It won't grab you by its tentacles."
They ask him, "How do you know that?"
"Because the Humboldt squid is not an octopus. It does not use its tentacles to grab you like hands. It opens up like a giant mouth and grabs you that way. You have to be in the water already for it to do it."
The stranger with the Saint Christopher speaks up. "Well, my suggestion is to just stay out of the water for a while."
Adam finally wakes up from his stupor. "Something must be done," he mutters.
"Oh, look who decides to join the land of the living," Ashley chimes in.
Adam continues, "I agree with the others, but we must use logic and do this properly. For now, we should take this man's advice… I'm sorry, I didn't get your name the first time we met."
The stranger introduces himself, "Conrad… Conrad Cartwright." They shake hands.
Then Adam addresses the group. "In the meantime, I will write about this on my blog and see if we can get someone who is an expert on this." Adam realizes that something needs to be done, but is not equipped to handle a man-eater like this squid mano a mano. He will have to use the power of the pen… or this case… the computer… to defeat this enemy. Besides, it should be done by someone who knows what they are doing without getting killed in the process.
****
In the background, many people are recording this on their cellphones. One man in particular looks out of place, kind of like a Secret Service agent or something. He is wearing Aviator shades and does not make any sort of emotional facial expressions. He presses a button on his phone as if he sent a video. Then he puts the phone to his ear. "Did you get that Mr. Wilcox? Good. I thought you would want to see this. Of course. Will do."
****
When one works for a big news burrow, receiving assignments is the easy part. It's someone else's job to figure out the assignments. However, in today's world with everyone being a desktop journalist, it's harder to be the one in charge of content.
So, being and independent journalist, Adam just assignment himself to dig up a story about the recent squid attack. His Spidey senses tell him to visit the very person who runs Harbor Shores. Certainly Silicon Beach Reality will be able to know how to get rid of predators like this one.
Adam went to visit Wilcox at his office. He was amazed that they let him in the building. Not beating around the bush, Adam gets right into it. "What's your feelings about the recent seal attack?
"Feelings? I have no feelings about a useless animal being part of the food chain."
"The people of Harbor Shores are concerned that the Kraken will terrorize the community."
"Kraken?"
"Yes, that's the name they are giving it."
"Don't tell me you believe in that fish story?"
Adam hems and haws because he does not want to labeled a kook. "I don't have all of the facts. I have eyewitness's reports which is just as strong."
"You don't want to be accused of being a conspiracy nut, do you?"
Adam tilts his head down. Forced to choose whether to write the story as is and protect the town or listen to Wilcox who tells him to do nothing.
"Now let's say," Wilcox continues, "That you publish this story. It gets good clicks. The Tin Foil Hat people are happy. It makes you popular. Then it turns out that there was no giant squid after all. You get connected to it. Adam Belfort, Kraken Conspirator. How will that do for your clicks?"
He makes such a good case that Adam is beginning to doubt the existence of this giant of the sea. Nervously, he pulls on his ear. The mix of illusion and reality investing in this myth drives Adam to the breaking point.
The only sound Adam can utter is a "Hmmmm" from deep into his throat.
"Excuse me?" Wilcox asks confusingly.
"What… oh… Sorry, you caught me off guard." He pulls his collar away and for the first time, he looks disheveled. He responds to Wilcox, "I agree whole heartedly." Though he said the words, his voice lacked the enthusiasm to make him convincing.
In his heart he knows the story needs to be told. His gut knows he is correct. After all, he was there and saw the giant beast. But, can he be certain that this is a mad killer on the lose? After all, Jensen did say that she did not attack the seals, she was just acting on instinct and looking for food. She is probably long out of the harbor seeking for a better feeding ground.
However, the last time he stood up for what was right, he got fired. And as a reporter, you don't want to be labeled a Conspiracy Theorist. But, facts are facts. All of this is like arguing with Ashley. He scratches his neck nervously.
If you want to ditch the facts, call something a Conspiracy Theory. They exploited it all of the time at his paper to discredit someone. It is a catchphrase used as a weapon. Utilized to give swift immorality on any dispute that they opposed. If they need to shut off the conditions of the debate, his editor Brad branded a topic a Conspiracy Theory and that would end it. It remained one of the reasons for his contempt about working for him.
Adam's gives a pensive expression to Wilcox's response. He knows what he needs to do as a journalist. But, is now gun shy because his world turned upside down the last time he went head to head with a very important story.
He looks at the smug Wilcox and Adam presses his lips together. Then he taps his index finger against his lip in a certain rhythm. Kind of the beat to "Staying Alive". The guilt eats at him. He gets that sinking feeling in his gut again.
Wilcox paces around him as if he is about to pounce on a prey. "Well, what's your decision?"
"This is uh, tough, uh decision." Adam struggles to find the right words. "I think I need more time to digest this."
"Yes, please do. Take all of the time you need." Once again, Wilcox leads him out of his office. Adam will ditch the Kraken idea for now and be on the lookout for another one to replace it. He needs to find another story angle for his newsletter. He needs to go somewhere quiet to think this over.
Later that evening, after turning in for the night, Adam has trouble sleeping. He looks over at Ashley and she is fast asleep. The clock says 2:02 am. He rolls over on the other side, but still cannot fall asleep. Slowly he slips into a twilight phase. Dreams start to play their little video for him. They start off normal, then the dreams get intense.
He replays the scene at Wilcox' office. The image morphs into his editor's office from his old paper. There are people in the room that he is familiar with, then they change into total strangers.
The dream creates this virtual reality of his editor Brad and Wilcox being the same person at the same time. Adam is with Brad, but he looks like Wilcox. He speaks to Adam. "Who are you?"
"Why, I am Adam Belfort."
"Are you now," Wilcox says.
"Sure I am… look." Adam glances into the mirror, but he does not recognize himself. His face is blurred.
He wakes up with a silent exhale. He hyperventilates a bit, trying not to make a sound. Adam sweats profusely. Checking to see if he has wakened Ashley, but she is already up. The clock reads 8:30 am. He was out for six hours, but it does not seem like he has slept a wink.
Adam's confidence is shattered. He is overwhelmed and frustrated. Ashley fixes breakfast and serves it to him. But he retreats inward. He usually shares in the house chores, but he just sits around doing nothing. He does not touch his breakfast.
"So," Ashley says, "What do you want to do today?"
"I don't know. I am not sure if it's really that great a day to go out. Let's make it tomorrow."
He talks so fast, it confuses Ashely. She is upset because she wanted to enjoy the surroundings. "Or at least go the beach. We haven't done that since the first day." She looks over at him and he has his hands crossed in front of his chest.
Confused, Adam gets up and paces the room, which is very unlike him. He grabs his stomach. He reaches for a Bromo. "Maybe it's that dinner you cooked last night. I told you we should have gone out."
"Fine, then you can cook the next meal."
He speaks through his teeth trying to restrain himself. "It's not the— never mind." He draws his breath in. then releases it as he says, "I give up. There is no winning with you."
He stops his pacing. Stares at Ashley. He scrunches up his face, then releases it to regain his composure. Then before saying something he'd regret, he heads towards the door. As he exits the door, he slams it.
Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Adam will tackle the problem head on. "Pull yourself together," Adam says aloud. He walks to the parking lot and jumps into the car. He knows being proactive is the only rational thing to do. Never has he felt sorry for himself before. He does not know why he is starting it now.
Adam can only imagine what Ashely is thinking. Well, it's better that he didn't spout personal frustration at her that has nothing to do with her and create a permanent situation that he would never be able to fix.
Going to the library will help ease his mind. If he can use this time to find out more information that is bothering him about Wilcox, then it will at least make him a better person to be around.
The librarian that help him last time is out and the younger ones do not know how to operate the microfilm machine. They refer him to the internet, but he mumbles something like, "I could have done that at home."
Frustrated, he heads back home and decides to hit the pavement of the complex to see if the residents know anything. The morning haze rolls in. Now he wished he brought his jacket. He approached one person that he has never seen before and asked them about Edward Wilcox. At first, Adam avoided eye contact, still lacking the confidence that Wilcox took away. He nods hesitantly. In the beginning, it was difficult to divert this person's attention away from the Kraken story. He runs his hand through his hair. But, once Adam pressed him on what he knows. This started the ball rolling.
It seemed like there was no short of people with bad things to say about Wilcox. It was as if he was the beast himself terrorizing the neighborhood. Now that he feels like his old self, he is a bit hungry. He left in such a huff this morning, he didn't eat breakfast.
He sees a lunch wagon parked in the lot of the Bayview Warf. One of the residence that Adam recognizes is talking with the man that is serving food. He is pissed off with the conditions at the Harbor Shores apartments. "I have a leak in our bathroom and nothing gets fixed. The maintenance worker fixes the direct problem, but never does any long-term solutions. Resulting in the problem reoccurring."
Curious, Adam asks him, "Why do they think this is so?"
"It's simple," the man continues, "Silicon Beach Realtors stands to make more money by not spending. Cutting corners is their way of making a profit." The man gets visibly upset. "Nothing is ever allowed to be taken from the bottom dollar."
A bystander next to the food truck replies, "You would think that with all of their withholdings, they would have plenty to invest into their properties."
The first man interjects, "You don't understand business. It's not about making the customers happy, it's about how much goes to the investors on the board."
Adam is curious. "What other holdings do they have?"
The man food order is ready. He pays for it and addresses the vendor, "See 'ya Joe." The man takes his food and leaves. Adam, who didn't get his food, follows him. The man turns around and faces Adam, "Look… this is not the place to talk about it." He walks off to the side of the building where the bathrooms are. His hands fidget as he finishes his sandwich. "How can I trust you?"
"What does that mean," Adam inquires.
A hungry Adam watches the man polish off a pulled pork sandwich. Nervously, the man tosses the half-finished sandwich in the garbage. "You never know who is listening," he says through a clenched jaw.
Adam feels that the man is just being paranoid. "It's not like this place is being bugged."
The man looks around. "There are ears everywhere." They walk towards an alley around the corner. His eyes dart back and forth. "Word might get out." The man checks over his shoulder. "What's that sound?"
"That's Mrs. McCluskey's cat." Adam sighs. "To whom? What are you afraid of?"
"Forget it. No amount of money is worth risking one's life."
"What money. I never offered you any—"
"--Isn't that what this is about?"
"No, I just need a story. I'm a reporter."
"Forget it. I ain't talking to any damn reporters."
The man leaves and Adam sits on one of the benches dejected. Adam fails to get the info he is looking for. This could be big and yet no one is forthcoming to share what they know. His journalist senses are going off big time. He suspects that there is more to the story that he first thought. He is going to have to dig deeper the old fashion way and get hard evidence.
Driving around a bit, Adam does not know whom else he can interview. If only he get access to the libraries microfilm. He takes a chance and goes back there. He walks in and sees the same young librarian who was useless the last time. However, she does recognize him and tells him that the woman that knows how to run the machine, is in now.
Like a personal assistant, the woman brings out many things for Adam. She finds old newspaper clippings with articles about the project and its early days. She also pulls up the microfiche again that is still stored in the system. Cross-referencing takes longer than going on the internet, but Google does not have the info that is buried deep in the archives.
After reading tons of material, he finds one report that shows that the condos are not the only thing Silicon Beach Realtors has invested in. Even though California is in a drought, Silicon is under construction with some sort of manmade lake called The Estuary Restoration Project.
"Oh, this is good stuff," Adam says aloud.
The librarian responds. "Is this what you are looking for Mr. Belfort?"
"Yes, thank you. Keep them coming."
The manmade lake will hold fresh water fish and be an attraction to the property being built on it. Adam knows that this is the real story. He needs to copy all of this, but it is taking much longer than he planned. Halfway through and many coins later, Ashley calls him up on the cellphone, much to the annoyance of the others in the library.
"Where are you? I've been worried sick," she says.
"I found more info on that rat Wilcox."
"Who?" she replies.
"That guy that talked me out of the Kraken story. It seems that he does not care about the residents of Harbor Shores. He is just afraid of the bad publicity that will ruin his upcoming project."
"Adam, you are getting obsessed again."
He puts the hand with the phone over his forehead. She does not make sense. She wants me to be ambitious, but nothing kills ambition more than when she knocks his ego down a peg or two.
Adam thought the entire time that by doing this research, he was finally fulfilling the request of Ashley to be more assertive. Now he is in the doghouse with her because she thinks he is just wasting his time on the stupid newsletter.
This stuff is too good for a newsletter. He gathers what he has and puts it into his folder. He can restart his blog and this time, win over so many new viewers with the many downloads that will certainly follow.
It is late into the afternoon, and Adam finally gets back to the apartment. Ashely is quite upset. Her eyebrows draw together. "I was so worried something happened to you." She usually does not fly off of the handle like this. She hits him with one question after another, not waiting for answer until she asks throws out another one at him.
She stops for a breath. Stares at Adam. Then gives him a big hug. "I'm sorry for what I said, I didn't' mean it." She takes a deep breath. "Don't do it again."
"You know me, once I find a lead, I'm like a dog with a bone."
"You could have at least picked up the phone," spoken with a strained voice. "I was worried sick. I thought you fell into a ditch or something."
Adam faces Ashley and holds her by her arms. "I assure you, I didn't fall into a ditch… or something."
Her eyes narrowed as if confused. "Well… it's a good thing." Her mood changes to a lighter tone. "Because I don't think you would be able to climb out of it on your own."
Adam is relieved that she is joking around. That's a good sign. Now that she is more receptive, he explains to her where he was and what he was doing. "I have this great lead on Wilcox.
"The realtor guy?" she asks.
"Yes, the very same," he responds. He explains that this story is bigger than any newsletter. "I think it would be great to resurrect my blog."
"It won't bring in a fortune."
"We don't need it to. We have the Nest Egg."
"I thought we agreed not to touch that?"
"Exactly! If I can bring in just enough to cover expenses, then we can save the Nest Egg for our future like we planned before I uh—"
"—Lost your job."
"As ever the soul of tact."
"What is that?" she asks, "Don Rickles?"
"No, not really."
"Well, I can't help it. You keep setting me up lobs. I take 'em when I can."
"Maybe you should write comedy in my blog."
"Maybe you should get going and write that article." She points to the computer.
"I still need to be a good journalist and do more research."
"Delays, delays… that's all you ever do. I knew it was too good to be true." She walks away from him and goes to the kitchen.
Adam fails to get the meat of the story. He knows that he can get facts if he digs deeper, but doesn't want to go halfcocked. However, he knows she is correct. At the paper, if you have enough to go to print, you do follow-ups on the story as it comes in.
He walks into the kitchen and sees her cutting up a piece of meat. Hungry, he picks it up. She slaps his hand and he puts it back. "When is dinner?" He said. "I am starving."
"Not until you finish the story."
"I can print what I have. Then I can make a teaser out of it and say something to the effect, "…more to follow… or something like that."
"More clicks bring in more money honey."