Betty came back, once again, travelling at speed. She came a little closer this time, and he could see the recognizable scars from either netting or fights with other denizens of the deep. On her back, just behind her massive dorsal fin there was a small pad with two exposed wires affixed that looked like some sort of shrimp had attached itself to the huge shark’s body. It was this that transmitted Betty’s every move to Jackson and marine biologists everywhere in the world.

Betty came back fast, her tail flicking now. The creature was obviously agitated by something, and Jackson looked up briefly at the boat to make sure someone wasn’t doing something out of the ordinary.

Philippe tried to follow her with his camera, but soon lowered it, and turned to him shrugging and shaking his head. Shit – it’d be impossible to get anything meaningful in the frame if she was going to move so quickly. And no picture, meant no twenty-five grand from Arty-Farty.

Jackson pulled out his dive knife and made a few more slits in the tuna’s body before letting it out another dozen feet, hoping that seeing the solitary fish further out might at least slow her down. Come on, he urged. The scent trail from the bleeding fish should have created a floating highway a mega predator should have found impossible to ignore.

He hit the red button, and lowered them another ten feet to hold at a depth of fifty. Then, as he hoped, Betty swam through the cloud and blood particles, and found it irresistible. Hunger and instinct overriding any other sensations she was feeling. She turned and slowed. Jackson saw Philippe was already rolling, and he grabbed and pushed Arty close to the bars so he was in the shot.

The big shark approached the tuna, and its massive mouth opened. The maw was big enough to nearly take in the three-foot tuna in one bite. He always wondered what it would be like for those teeth to clamp down on you – he guessed, like several dozen blades attached to an industrial press closing over you.

Betty’s jaws extended and she gripped the fish, and tugged at it, but immediately spat it out. Jackson’s brow furrowed behind his mask.

What the fuck is wrong with y…

The behemoth rose from the darkness, and grabbed Betty in exactly the same manner he had expected her to grip the tuna. The massive head, with possibly ten-foot wide jaws now extended forward, snapped down on Betty’s torso and first crushed and then sawed at her body as it shook its head like a massive hound.

Jackson screamed into his mouthpiece. Beside him Philippe had dropped his camera and had moved to the back of the cage. In front, Arty seemed to be doing a little dance like he was receiving an electric shock.