Piranha Assignment by Austin Camacho

anyone on foot would not last long. We have posted signs that say, in effect, that trespassers will be eaten.”
    Everyone at dinner chuckled at that. As the laughter died down, the door flew open. A man rushed in and stopped at the end of the table. Felicity took him in at a glance. His hair was a tousled brown mass. His tropical shirt’s sleeves were folded up over arms covered with thick tufts of the same hair that was bursting out of his shirt where the top two buttons were undone. His trousers were denim, hisexpression apologetic.
    â€œSorry I’m late everybody. Got hung up in town.”
    â€œYou’re just in time for desert,” Bastidas said with ice in his voice. “Mister Stark and Miss O’Brian, may I introduce Mister Charles Barton. He has connections with the local government which have saved me a great deal of trouble.”
    â€œCall me Chuck,” Barton said, plopping down beside Varilla. Felicity looked at his angular face and the pug nose that looked like it had been broken at least once. Then she stared into his dark brown eyes for a moment and without thinking, she licked her lips.
    â€œDown girl,” Morgan said out the corner of his mouth. “You’ll drool in your fruit cup.”
    Morgan seldom had the chance to see his partner blush, but she did at that moment. While Felicity made a point of regaining her composure, Morgan watched Bastidas slice into a wide piece of pineapple. Could this guy be the hero Roberts painted him to be? He had seemed a childish jerk in California, but in his own environment he was rather different. Dinner was good, and Bastidas was a good host with excellent manners. After his discussion with Morgan and Felicity about security, his dinner conversation touched on the areas of each of the others at the table. He showed amazing expertise in all areas, yet could express matters of physics or navigation in terms they could all understand.
    Despite himself, Morgan began to like the man. He was a born leader who dealt with all potential problems with confidence. Morgan decided to forget the affair at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. He would deal with this man as the creator of an amazing scientific advance, and leader of an inspired project the Pentagon boys could have never pulled off on their own. If Bastidas was a bit eccentric, well, Morgan supposed that was the nature of genius.
    Coffee came, along with brandy and cigars. As expected,the coffee was excellent. Morgan picked up his cigar but watched his host. Bastidas held his gold lighter poised in front of his own cigar and looked at Felicity.
    â€œExcuse us, my dear,” he said. “Do you mind if we smoke?”
    â€œNot at all,” she said with obvious surprise. He smiled at her in a possessive way, but she made it clear she wasn’t intimidated. Morgan hoped she remembered what he had said about the macho image in that part of the world. After a small sip of brandy he lit and took a puff from the best cigar he had smoked in several years.
    â€œWell, my dear, you and your partner have seen everything of importance except the reason we are all here,” Bastidas said after lighting up. “Care to take a walk in the twilight? I wish to show you both the culmination of my genius. Soon, the deadliest thing in the water. The Piranha.”

-11-
    Felicity was still a little disoriented. Standing on the docks she knew she was looking out at the Atlantic Ocean in front of her, yet the sun was half hidden by hills on her left. She whispered to Morgan standing beside her.
    â€œHow far?”
    â€œWe’re about five miles west of the main house,” he said.
    â€œIt was a better location,” Bastidas said. “I’ve purchased much of the bay for my little private enterprise.”
    A stiff sea breeze blew her hair back and tickled her neck. They moved forward until she was standing on a loading ramp, leading to the hatch of what she saw as the world’s