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surprised by something. The shaking quickly stopped, and the shot became smooth again. The camera moved away from the rock, unhurriedly panning left. Then a huge tentacle flew at the screen and made Gabe jump back. The camera jerked away abruptly and plunged into darkness.
    “What was that?”
    “We don’t know, Mr. Robles. That’s part of why…”
    “Could…could you play it again?” Gabe wasn’t a fan of interrupting people, but he had to take another look at what he had just seen. If this wasn’t some really twisted joke, then whatever had knocked that camera away from that diver was a monster plucked straight from a horror movie.
    Suarez clicked on the tiny arrow at the bottom of the screen. The short scene played again in front of Gabe’s eyes.
    “Is there a way to slow it down?”
    “Sure thing,” replied Suarez. He clicked play again and then hit something on the keyboard the second the camera jumped a little. Gabe watched the clip again, this time in slow motion. The thing flying toward the lens resembled an octopus’ arm, but it was way too big. The meat around the suction cups was the same dirty green as everything else in the cave, but the suction cups themselves were white and stood out very clearly in the camera’s light. Gabe had nothing to compare it to, so he had no idea of its real size, but in slow motion it was clear that it was huge because as it moved closer, the entire lens was easily covered by a single suction cup which Gabe guessed was about the size of a large plate.
    “As you can see, Mr. Robles, what we have on our hands is a very…peculiar problem.”
    Gabe peeled his eyes away from the screen and saw Suarez was stretching a meaty paw his way. In his thick fingers was a piece of paper obviously ripped from a newspaper. Gabe took it and read.
    The short piece stated a fisherman from Belize City named Emilio Carrasco had gone missing, his boat found drifting between Caye Caulker and Caye Chapel. And fisherman gone missing was not huge news because the waters could get rough sometimes, and a man in his late forties out in the ocean by himself at night was not a worthy contender for the plethora of events that could happen. Gabe looked up and Suarez as he handed the paper back.
    Then it hit him.
    “Wait, you think this and what we just saw are related?”
    “Very perceptive, Mr. Robles. The short answer is yes. We have a say in what makes it into the papers. Our goal is to bring tourists in, not to scare them away. This reporter was only rehashing an official statement the police prepared with our help. In other words, the media only had the information we gave them. What we left out, and please remember that you signed a confidentiality agreement, was the fact that Emilio’s left arm was not missing. It was in the boat. Something ripped it from its socket and left it there before taking the poor man off to God knows what horrible fate. I know there are many dangers involved in night fishing, but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where a man would get his arm ripped off in an accident.”
    “Okay, so…there’s something in that cave, and it’s hunting in the surrounding waters? I guess I can understand that, but I don’t see where this Ayres guy comes in. You think he disturbed whatever was living in Giant Cave? Is that it?” Gabe was still trying to wrap his mind around the video and wasn’t even prepared to start dealing with the newspaper article and its implications just yet.
    “That’s what the Coast Guard believes. Ayres apparently did more than just explore Giant Cave. Rumor has it he opened up a few spots no one had gone through before by using underwater explosives. He would be in big trouble for that, probably thrown in jail for a few years and forbidden from diving ever again, but the man is probably dead, so that’s not our main concern right now. The project hasn’t been publicly announced yet, but the BTB is partnering with Belize Diving Services to turn