The Sentinel by Jeremy Bishop Read Free Book Online Page A

like some dear family member is being tortured in front of them. The terror strikes everyone, except for McAfee. He’s looking out the bridge’s front window.
    At me , I think.
    When he turns back toward the camera, I see a glimmer of a smile for a split second. Then it’s gone and he finally registers the meat on the side window. He curses loudly, almost like he knows it’s what’s expected of him, but his mind is elsewhere.
    And that’s when I arrive. The camera turns toward me as I burst onto the bridge looking pissed and a little arrogant. I look a little bitchy , I think.
    Jenny chuckles next to me when she sees herself step onto the bridge behind me and cross her arms. “I was doing my best Andre the Giant impression,” she says, and I wonder how someone so young knows who Andre the Giant is. But I think she’s from one of the southern states, so maybe she has a brother who’s into wrestling. Then again, maybe she’s into wrestling.
    The scene plays out as I remember it. McAfee goes manic. I’m sarcastic. As we get close to the explosion, I feel Jenny and Peach both tense up next to me. We all know it’s coming.
    Mr. Jackson offers his thirty-second warning.
    And nearly thirty seconds later, McAfee shouts, “No time!”
    Then it happens—the telltale sign that sent me into action.
    McAfee covers his ears and ducks. I pause the image.
    “Holy shit,” Jenny says.
    “He knew ,” Peach adds. “That son-of-a-bitch knew!”
    “But why did he have you record it?” Jenny asks.
    “Because he wanted to frame someone else for it,” I say. “Someone he had collected, or fabricated, evidence against. Someone they’d been watching. Someone who wasn’t who she said she was.”
    “You,” Peach says.
    I nod. “I’m his scapegoat.”
    Jenny has a hand over her mouth. “That’s why he said those things about you when you came on the bridge.”
    “And I didn’t deny anything,” I say.
    “But the tape condemns him,” Jenny notes.
    “Nothing that can’t be edited out in post,” I say and turn to Peach. “Right?”
    She gives a slow nod and then surprises me by saying, “Play the rest.”
    She never stopped recording, so there could be some graphic images, but then I realize it might reveal what happened to the rest of the bridge crew. I hit play.
    The explosion happens right away and all three of us jump. The raft bobs in the water, but doesn’t come close to tipping thanks to the ballast system. The view of the bridge becomes a pixilated mess as Peach falls to the floor. The camera lands on its side. A second later, we all jump again as Garret falls into view. His eyes are wide. Blood pulses over the large shard of glass in his neck.
    We watch him die.
    It’s something I’ll never forget—seeing the life wink out of his eyes—and something I hope to never see again. As the first tendrils of smoke wisp into the picture, voices rise up. Our view is of Garret’s dead face, but the scene is easy to imagine.
    “Get up!” It’s McAfee. “Let’s go.”
    “Where’s Chase?” says someone.
    “Over here,” Chase says.
    “We need to abandon ship, right now,” McAfee says.
    Smoke comes in heavy now.
    Someone starts coughing.
    “What about the others?” Chase asks.
    “Dead,” McAfee says, and it’s hard to tell if he really believes it or if he’s just saying it to get people moving. But then, with a flurry of footsteps, they’re gone. After another minute, I hear myself coughing. Then a muffled conversation between Jenny and me. Nearly another minute passes. The smoke hangs thick in the air. And I crawl into view, my face contorting with disgust as I crawl over Garret’s body. The video shakes and bangs and becomes fairly unwatchable as I drag Peach toward the doors. The rest of the rescue plays out this way and I stop it once we’re all safe on board the life raft and Jenny whispers, “It’s pulling us in.”
    When I look up from the now black screen, Peach is crying again, but this