The true master of kill or be killed is right there in the sea. Fine-tuning her hunting skills, the beast swims around looking for meat that will fill her up. She gets bored with the same catch every day. She seeks something else. Calmness does not arouse her sense of inquisitiveness. Curiosity brings her towards her next destination.
Moreover, with her fines senses tuned into every motion in the ocean, she catches a certain something worth investigating. She uses her thrusters to move forward to where the commotion is. The lights attract her attention and it draws her closer like a moth to a flame. Looks like good eating there.
She approaches with that hunger in her belly. Not that she is famished, mind you. But it's that insatiable need to taste new meat. Something that she can sink her beak into. Since she first made her arrival in the Pacific, the Beast of Fukushima has had a smorgasbord of succulent meals. The problem is that most of them are too small to satisfy her.
Latterly, there has not been much of a fight out there in the deep blue sea. The closest she came was another whale that passed her by. Maybe it was the same whale she encountered before. On the other hand, perhaps the word got out not to mess with her. She thought about approaching the whale to make it a mid-day snack. However, she has never had good experiences with those creatures. They fight back.
Yet, she still needs a challenge. One that will fight back, but not so much that it would mean her demise. She is well aware of a new group of creatures that habitat the harbor. What strange pale creatures. They have some sort of outer layer to them. She cannot figure out sure if it's some sort of camouflage. Whatever they are, they do not seem to stay in the water for too long until they exit for parts unknown.
What kind of meat is this? Will it taste good? This pale creature will be her next challenge.
****
The real test of a person' mettle is how they react when life throws you a curveball. Some are good at hitting them. Others wait for the fat, fastball they can hit out of the park. However, the kind of pitch thrown at Adam and Ashley was a spitball with so much movement on it, they were not able to pick up the fact that the ball changed directions on them until it was too late.
At this time in his life, Adam was not interested in another conflict. Even though it's been almost two years since then, the stress he went through over his old newspaper was too much for him to handle. It caused him so much grief he could not work for a solid year. He could not even look at his computer or anything that had to do with writing.
When he stopped sulking, he thought maybe writing a novel was safer. But, he soon got bored with it. Too much leeway with the process. He did not have to worry about facts because he could play God. However, he enjoyed figuring out a puzzle and testing hypothesis to see if he guessed correctly. To him, being an investigated reporter was a thrill that challenged his soul.
And now he got that old feeling back and he can dig for real stories with depth, then all of happens with his Nest Egg. He diligently filed away all of his paperwork on everything he does. Thumbing through the paperwork for the Nest Egg frustrated him. He exhausted himself searching from end to end to find them.
After finding them, he had the papers subdivided. Ah, the Money Market Fund… here at last. He read through the agreement to make sure should be correct. He calls Phil back from the bank. Once he gets him on the phone, he confronts him about the error.
Ashley stands by pacing around. Humming to herself no tune in particular. Adam looks at her. She stops the pacing. Then the humming faded just as quick after it started.
Tapping his finger on the table, he stopped when Phil got on the call. Adam's eyes opened so wide, it looked it was going to fall out. "Are you sure?" he asks. He is a loss for words.
Phil says, "According to our records, you never had an IRA account."
"That's impossible." Adam says.
Ashley looks at him and throws her hands in the air in frustration. She mouths, "What?" Adam repeats back what Phil told him. He puts the call on speaker so Ashley can hear.
"We show that the money you deposited was a regular FDIC passbook account."
"Are you kidding?" He turns to Ashley. All of the gains I thought I was getting is not there?" His voice shakes. "What we have instead is a regular account at the low passbook rate." The tenure of his voice raises. He turns away and covers his mouth.
Adam is furious. "Because he is not in an IRS account but a simple passbook account," bank manager Phil tells him. "Your funds was not immune to court orders."
Adam sinks deep into his chair. Without his knowledge, a judgment creditor froze his account. He pulls his knees up to his chest. Then circles his knees with his arms. "Who is forthcoming to this error?" he asks Phil. Phil has no answer. "After all, the mistakes of the many should not screw over the ignorance of the few."
Ashley looks at him with a puzzled expression. Adam continues. "So, what are we to do now?" He puts the phone directly to his mouth. "Where is justice for those on the bottom?" He is just not making sense. With his right hand, he wipes his brow, but is does no good as sweat is just pouring down profusely.
Ashley takes the phone from him. "Mr. Belfort is not feeling well, he'll call you back later." She hangs up the phone. "Adam dear, maybe you should take a moment to think it over."
"Sure, take their side," Adam snaps back. Then he yells out, "Et Tu Brute!"
"Now, that's Shakespeare," she said.
"No kidding Sherlock. Gees, do you read anything other than the rags at the grocery store?" He pulls away from the conversation. He rubs his hands through his hair. After a few swipes, he stops part the way, then releases his grip on a handful of hair. He stares out into space as if he is in a trance. Not aware of his surroundings, Adam's chest tingles.
As he processes all that transpired, his thoughts scramble as he fails to understand why did this happen. The motor nerve fibers in Adam's brain relays a signal to his gut. As it churns through his stomach, he feels sick.
Being the type that always finds the logic in everything, his mind races to search for a solution. His body tenses up as he makes an effort to get things done to correct this. He was not sure if he heard everything correctly. He reaches for the phone, but he just now notices that it is on the receiver.
As he reaches for the phone, his head turns from side to side to release tension. Must get a hold of yourself Adam. Got to find a way out of this. He drops his hand and thinks that it is best that he come armed with more information.
He goes back to the files with the paperwork. Adam turns to Ashley, "It was a good thing I didn't throw the paperwork out like you wanted to when we moved." Always nagging him to get rid of things. As Adam goes the paperwork, he thinks to himself, I already went through this. What will I find out by looking again? Where can it be? Ah, it is under "Nest Egg". Duh!
Adam skims through the contract as his fingers goes up and down the page. It runs through every paragraph searching for the right information. He goes so fast, it is as if he wants the information all at once.
The pit in his stomach grows and sends a message to him that it is not there. He takes a deep breath. Calm… calm… calm. Now that he is relaxed, he can read through the contract and not skim through it this time. He reads every paragraph as if he is an editor at his newspaper. It finally sinks in to him. "This can't be." Ashley stands by his side. "I know what I signed. I am an investigated journalist for God's sake. I went through that with diligence."
"What is it Adam?"
"It's not there. But, my initials are on each paragraph." Adam knows he has not lost his mind. He has that feeling that he has been bamboozled. He hates to be cheated. This gets the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. "I will not let this rest. I will investigate this and get to the bottom of how I can be told one thing and be presented with a completely different contract."
"So, what do we do now?"
"Well, I need to keep the cash flow coming while figure all of this out."
"What does that mean?"
"My blog is still bringing in money. As long as I give them a good story, I will get clicks which should sustain us for a while." The Kraken story has grown bigger than the beast itself. "Everywhere I go, that's all anyone is talking about is the squid. This is the story that will get us out of this mess."
"Do you think so?" says Ashley.
"I want the name of Adam Belfort forever connected to the Kraken!"
To clear his mind, Adam leaves. This time alone. If you want to do a story about a fish, you cannot do it on the land. You might as well learn as much as you can about the creature by living in her environment. He runs into Conrad who offers to give him free scuba lessons. "Why not," Adam says. "No time like the present."
****
It seems that lately when Karl Jensen pulls up his crab traps, the selection has been slim. He is not certain what the reasoning is, but to make ends meet, he needs to work harder. Start promptly in the day and come back as late as he dares. Going out in the dark causes its own problems. And his eye sight is not what it used to be.
A few days later, Jensen makes up his mind to get an early start. He times it just when the twilight hits. That sweet spot when the atmosphere is partially illuminated by the sun. It is neither totally dark nor completely lit. He gets his equipment ready so he can pull the boat and head west while the sun is rises in the east. There is no time for socializing these days.
His attention is so focused on the task on hand, he doesn't notice anything or anyone in front of him. Therefore, when he turns around he sees Adam approaching. Damn, he does not have time for idol chit-chat. He likes the guy, but it seems lately all he wants is info. He wants him to talk about his feelings just like his ex-girlfriend Maxine.
When he jumps on the dock, he is surprised that Adam is helping him load the boat. "When you go out to sea, what do you do with Nikita?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, does she stay with someone here?"
"No, she rides along."
"She doesn't get sea sick?"
"No, she loves it," said Jensen. "Can you hand me those traps over there?"
"Sure. Wow, a regular sea dog." Adam reaches down and pets her. "I would love to go out with you someday."
"Sure any time. But, not today, I'm very busy."
"Oh, I understand." Jensen walks towards him and almost runs him over. He dodges out of the fisherman's way.
Jensen bends down to pick up another box. Then he stops and looks up. "You're up early Adam."
"I've been taking scuba lessons with Conrad."
"Ah, Conrad Cartwright. He is a good guy. Not like the rest of us here."
"How do you mean?"
"He is a regular guy who doesn't have a bad thing to say about anyone. You are lucky that he is giving you his free time like that. So how are you doing?"
"I'm just learning the basics right now."
"I don't see you out in the ocean. Where are you diving at?"
"At the pool," Adam says. "The office lets us use it when there are no people around."
Jensen chuckles, "Afraid of a little squid are you?" He pokes Adam in the ribs.
Defensive, Adam replies, "No, Conrad thinks it's best to start slow to prevent accidents."
Jensen stacks one crab cage on top of each other until they are as tall as him. Then he picks up the stack balancing them as if he was a circus performer. He pushes past Adam.
Adam follows him. "What do you know about diving?"
Jensen does not look away from loading the boat. "I haven't been under in years. But I guess it's like riding a bike. I do remember though that we did not go in no pool. We just jumped right in and learned the hard way. You sank… you failed… you came up to the top, you were deemed an expert."
A commotion sound interrupts them not too far away. Jensen and Adam runs to the port to see for themselves. They get there in time to see a bunch of fishermen with a big fishing rod tugging on it.
They pulled half of the fish out of the water. Adam sees the spear-like snout and says, "Is that a swordfish?" Adam asks.
Jensen told him. "No, it's a marlin."
The fishermen still struggle to pullout the rest. They are shocked at what they saw. "Look at these bites," said one.
"That's squid bites," said another.
"Nah, it can't be," replied the first fisherman.
At closer inspection of the marlin, they notice round marks. "See that? Those are from suckers created by the tentacles grabbing on to it."
"Suckers? Doesn't it clink to you?"
"That's stupid," said the third fisherman.
The second responded, "I know squid bites and that is what that is.
Jensen said to Adam, "This is a chilling sign that the beast is coming closer and closer to us."
All of the fishermen grab hold of the pole again and give a heave ho. With all of their might, they manage to bring it out of the water. Adam can tell that something is attacking their catch.
On the other end of the marlin is a grisly lucid squid with impressive tentacles reaching over to feast on a large fish strapped to the side of a boat.
In unison, the fishermen yell as the mollusk that is stealing their haul. One of them picks up a large pointed stick resembling a harpoon and tries to shoo the beast away. The others join in.
Adam asks Jensen, "What are they doing?"
Jensen explains, "They are trying to save their catch."
A crowd forms and cheers the fishermen fighting back.
Jensen seems perplexed. Adam notices it and asks him, "What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure, but… hmmm… I am not certain if that is a colossal squid or a giant squid. It is impressive. About five times as large as the fish it is trying to catch."
Some yells out from the crowd, "They got the Kraken."
Jensen nods his head. "That's not the Kraken."
Inquisitive, Adam asks him, "Do you think this is a different squid?"
"What I am saying, this is not the Kraken because the Kraken doesn't exist. Do you know how many colossal and giant squid there are out there? No, this is not the Kraken because it's all a myth to scare us."
Adam is horror-struck with the site of the creature—whatever you want to call it—tussles with the fishermen latching on to the catch the fishermen's bounty. It is just scary weird. The squid is not easily dissuaded. Adam notices something strange coming from its mouth.
"What is that thing inside of it? I think I saw something like that in a Star Wars movie."
"That's her beak."
"Beak?" Adam says. "Like a parrot?"
"Aye," Jensen responds. "And just as powerful."
The hooked fish drops back down into the water in a splash. The fishermen fight to bring it back up. "What's that?" one of them says.
"It's a vibration on the line," said another. "I'll be damn, it's trying to eat it."
Adam can see about four of them grabbing the giant fishing rod. They pull hard. With the pointed spear, the fishermen finally get the beast away and they retain their catch. The beast swims away. The crowd is visibly upset that the Kraken was not caught as well.
They finally reel in their catch. But it seems a lot lighter than normal. Out of the water is the carcass, stripped to the bone. Everyone in the crowd let out a gasp of horror. Dangling on the line is only the meaty part of the head and the tail. Everything else is skin and bones.
Someone in the crowd shouts out, "This is proof."
"Proof of what?" asks Jensen.
"Terrifying testament to the Kraken's ravenous appetite."
****
The next morning, Jensen seems to be overwhelmed with loading his boat. New bait needs to be loaded and if he wants to make it out before dusk, he has to get a move on. His is still tired from yesterday's catch.
Adam is at the docks again visiting Jensen. "Hey, Adam, do you want to go on the boat with me today? I need some help if you don't mind getting your hands dirty?"
Adam cannot believe it. He's been asking like forever. "Let me tell Ashley that I will be gone for the day."
"We don't have much time."
"That's okay, I can phone her."
After Adam tells Ashley what he is doing, he rolls up his sleeves and digs right in helping Jensen finish loading his stuff on the boat. As the boat goes out to sea, at the mast is Nikita leading the way. Adam is just amused on how well she has adapted to life on the ocean. She almost seems to enjoy it.
"This is no pleasure cruise," Jensen says to Adam. "I need help setting the traps."
Fascinated by it all, Adam quickly assist Jensen in doing whatever he says. As he sets them on the bottom of the ocean, he is puzzled that the crabs would be that stupid to climb in there in the first place.
As the Shrimp Dancer heads towards the shore, they notice a crowd by the beach. "I wonder what that can be," Adam says to Jensen.
"Something probably washed up."
"I hope it's not a dead dolphin or something like that," Adam said.
"No telling in these waters. Sometimes they get caught in a boats rudder."
"That's horrible."
The commotion really builds on the beach. Curious, Jensen parks the boat by a pier. He and Adam head towards the throng to see what all of the commotion is all about. "Yeah, just as I thought," Jensen said. "Something is beached."
As they move through a group of people taking pictures with their cellphones, the crowd is stunned to see a giant squid lying dead on the beach. They murmur, "The Kraken is finally dead." Flies are all about making it difficult to get too close. Besides, they don't want to get too close anyway, because the smell is awful. Both Adam and Jensen hold their noses.
As they walk away, Jensen says to Adam, "That's the same one we saw yesterday."
"Are you sure?"
"She must have been poked with the sticks that the fishermen used to prod her away." Adam does not understand how that could have taken down the mighty beast. Jensen says, "If you get it just right…" He pantomimes jabbing motions. "…I'm mean it has to be in the soft spot right under the mantle… it will kill her." They walk back to the boat. "I don't think the fishermen did it on purpose. It was a lucky jab I'm sure."
Adam is not convinced, "The beast we saw yesterday swam away when it was prodded." They jump back on the boat. Jensen insists that it could happen. But he changes the subject as soon as they are onboard.
Later on in the day, San Diego Marine Center and Aquarium stops by the beach. "Better grab it before the birds get to it," one of them said. They pick it the beast and dump it into a large truck. Another one of the men is puzzled. "The squid lost parts of it fin."
"Hey look Sam, there is damage to its mantle. And one of the gills."
"That's not all. Look." They all gather around it. "It lost an eye." The men scratch their heads. "Something large must have attacked it."
"Maybe a whale?" the other worker responds.
"Uh, could be. I know that the Humboldt usually put up a fight before they are eaten. This one must have gotten away."
"Well," Sam says, "It's not all peaches and cream living in the ocean."
"Let's go,' says the other. "I suddenly have a taste for sushi."
After a long hard day, Adam gets back to the apartment, too tired to eat. Usually he runs to his computer, but he just passes it by. Ashely makes a comment, "That's unusual."
"What…" he looks at the computer, then her. "Oh, that. Now that the squid is dead, I can just ditch the Kraken idea. At any rate, tomorrow I will have to look for another story to replace it. Or find another way to make money… and fast."
****
Later that day. The news seems to travel fast by the oldest method known to mankind… word of mouth. It is great for advertising and terrific if you want to pass along a rumor or so. However, when word of the death of the beast everyone called the Kraken passed around the block, it trickled down to one real estate magnate, Edward Wilcox.
Rumors are known to be either half-truths or out and out one hundred percent fabrication. Wilcox is well aware of how damaging gossip can change lives if used incorrectly. So, when he heard about the death of the menace to his business, he was not going to rely on hearsay evidence.
While in his office working on the latest updates on the condo deal, his trusted office personal Suzie walks in unannounced. Wilcox chastise her, "How many times have I told you not walk in without letting me know."
Not even phased, Suzie said calmly, "I am letting you know now." She is the only one that is not scared of him. Not that Edward had not tried in the past. He conceded that he will never move that stoned face statue of a woman.
"You may want to read this." She goes to his computer, puts in the correct passcodes, then brings up a page from the local papers website. He saunters over to it. "Move, move," he harshly says to her.
His face frowns expecting the worst. He cannot tell from old stone face if the news is good or bad… for him. He plops down into his chair and opens the news feed on his computer. Then notices a story about the Kraken. When he reads that the deaths of the giant squid is indeed true, he is relieved.
"Good, good," he mumbles out load. Suzie gives him a smirk back. He surveys the page and a big grin slowly appear on that sour puss of a face. He beams like the Cheshire Cat which he cannot contain. "I cannot believe it!"
Finally, everyone will forget about a man-eating squid terrorizing the neighborhood he muses to himself. His breath is calm as he puffs out his chest. Now they can go ahead with the plans of building the condos. "I cannot believe it!" he says again.
Suzy gives a tiny smirk, which seems like a smile of sorts. "I thought you would be pleased."
He spins around in his executive chair, crosses his arms, and leans back. Kind of like a self-hugging position to contain his elation. "I knew it was just a hoax." He lets out a deep, gratifying sigh, "I told you so."
After mulling over what just happened, he sits upright and barks out, "Give me those plans on the project," he says to Suzy, "And get me Jim from the downtown office." She doesn't need him to tell her twice. She walks in a smooth gate, with no up and down motion and is out the door just as fast as she came in.
Edward gives a low, wicket laugh, "I want to rub his nose in it." Wilcox has a distain for those he considers unworthy to him. "We are moving forward with business as usual." Nothing can stop him now. He has gotten rid of that pest Belfort and now it seems that giant squid has been reduced to calamari. This long trek is finally reaching its apex. Now it is time to cash in and reap what he has sown.