The McFarland’s command center seemed far too big for its solitary row of computer consoles. Large bay windows surrounded the chamber on all four sides, looking out nine stories above the ocean. There were two men inside. The boat’s captain, a Georgia man named Jon Hudson, was at the helm. The other man sat at a chart table, studying a map of the continent.
Gray-haired and in his mid-sixties, Jonas Taylor appeared fit, but the dark circles under his eyes told a different story. Rising to meet me, he greeted me in a bear hug.
“Zachary Wallace, you look good for a guy who didn’t have a pulse an hour ago. Sorry about the way we had to bring you aboard, but you’re messing with an intelligence agency exercising a mercenary mentality. I guess that’s a necessity when dealing with extraterrestrial threats.”
“There is no extraterrestrial threat. The D.C. attack was a false flag event staged to look like an E.T. vessel.”
“Staged by whom?”
I glanced at the Captain, whose back was to us. “Is there somewhere we can speak in private?”
“Captain, how far are we from the Amery Ice Shelf?”
“Just under five nautical miles. No close contacts on sonar or radar.”
“All engines stop. The bridge is mine. Get some breakfast.”
Jonas waited until the Captain left. “For the record, I trust the Captain.”
“I have no doubt he’s a loyal employee, but we’re dealing with sociopaths. Killing is as natural to them as it is to Bela and Lizzy. If you have the information they want, they’ll get it.”
“They being MAJESTIC-12?”
“MJ-12 oversees the black ops weapon systems and the military bases. The guys calling the shots are a cartel of power brokers, bankers, and egomaniacs who think the rest of us are here to serve them. These are the same assholes that stole my Vostok generators and burned our factory to the ground. They act above the law, have no interest in improving the lives of the seven billion people on this planet, and don’t give a damn that their organizations are destroying the earth’s biosphere.
“And they kidnapped William and Brandy to force me to lead them back to Lake Vostok.”
“Why? What’s in Vostok?”
“I’d rather not say, but it’s important enough that MJ-12 designed a sub to travel beneath the ice sheet through a network of subglacial rivers into the lake. Jonas, it’s critically important I make it to Vostok before them.”
Jonas scanned his chart, using a slide rule to measure distances. “Vostok’s at least eight to nine hundred miles away. My Manta subs are equipped with Valkyries, but they don’t pack nearly enough juice to take you that far.”
“They don’t have to. MJ-12’s sub will lead me into the lake’s northern basin. Once I’m there, I’ll be able to overtake them and get to where I need to be before they do.”
“And how will making it back to Lake Vostok ahead of these guys save William and Brandy?”
“Again, I’d rather not say. The less you know the better.”
“It’ll take you twenty to thirty hours just to reach Vostok. Maybe more. Who’s your copilot?”
Angus must have been eavesdropping from the interior stairwell, for he came bursting in on cue. “I’m going with the lad.”
Jonas and I looked at one another with the same startled expression.
“Wha’s with the long faces? I can handle it.”
“Forget it,” Jonas said. “I have no interest in sponsoring a suicide mission. If this is really about saving your family, then let’s go to the authorities. I campaigned heavily for the President, and the Institute was a major donor to his election campaign. One phone call and you’ll be speaking with the national security advisor himself. ”
“I appreciate the offer, Jonas, but these guys operate outside White House jurisdiction.”
“Tell Jonas everything, lad. Him not knowing isn’t going to matter tae these people. The moment they see the Manta, they’ll realize he arranged yer escape.”
I knew my father was right. “There’s an extraterrestrial vessel in Vostok. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen. Seven years ago I was allowed access.”
“Allowed? By what?”
“An entity… a higher life-form. It shared the secret of zero-point energy with me. I need to destroy it before MJ-12 finds it. Once that threat is removed, I’ll initiate a dead-man’s trigger — a threat to expose Colonel Vacendak’s entire operation if he doesn’t release William and Brandy within twenty-four hours.”
Jonas was about to respond when a man dressed from head to toe in ECW gear entered through an exterior door, blasting us with a gust of frigid air. As he stripped away his hood and mask, I could see it was James Mackreides, Jonas’s partner at the Tanaka Institute — his most trusted friend.
Mac acknowledged me with a nod, then handed Jonas his binoculars. “The Tonga just came into view; she’s headed toward Prydz Bay.”
Jonas moved quickly to the starboard windows and focused on the dark horizon, using the night-vision glasses. “That’s her, all right. Where’s the Dubai-Land?”
“Out in front. I caught sight of her bow wake.”
“If the trawler’s out front, then David may already be in the water.”
“I don’t think so,” Mac said. “They’re using the two boats to drive the creature to the ice shelf. David won’t launch until the Tonga drops her nets into the water.”
I looked at Jonas, confused. “David? As in your son?”
Jonas let Mac answer for him. “Remember that arse marine biologist, Michael Maren? Before he croaked, he discovered the remains of an ancient sea called the Panthalassa, buried beneath the Philippine Sea Plate. After he died, his fiancée sold maps of the subterranean sea to a guy named Fiesal bin Rashidi. Bin Rashidi happens to be a first cousin to the crown prince of Dubai.”
“The guy you sold two of the Meg pups to?”
Jonas nodded. “The crown prince is constructing a new theme park called Dubai-Land. The jewel of Dubai-Land will be an aquatic exhibit featuring a dozen of the largest viewing aquariums ever conceived.”
“And what goes inside the other tanks? Creatures from this Panthalassa Sea?”
“That was the plan. David impressed the crown prince and his cousin with his ability to pilot the Manta subs. Against my wishes, he joined other trained pilots who were recruited to entice these prehistoric sea creatures out of the Panthalassa and into their nets. David and another young submersible pilot — a young woman — were trapped in a bathyscape. I used Angel to escort me down to them, where she squared off with another alpha female, a 120-foot Liopleurodon.”
“My God.”
“I managed to free the bathyscape from its anchors and float it out of the Panthalassa. Angel and the Liopleurodon followed us up. The Meg had the creature’s neck in its jaws like a bulldog. Then the crown prince’s tanker passed by, sweeping everything off the sea floor and into its wake, including the bathyscape. The two kids escaped. Unfortunately, David’s companion didn’t make it.
Mac shook his head. “David’s first love. Bin Rashidi managed to tag the creature with a homing device before it swam off.”
“David’s twenty-one,” Jonas continued. “He went through a lot. Losing someone you love in any manner is hard. The kid left California seven months ago. We found out that he and a friend rejoined bin Rashidi’s team assigned to capture the Liopleurodon.”
“That’s why you’re in Antarctica…it prefers the cold water.”
Jonas nodded, handing me the binoculars. I focused them on a set of lights growing larger on the eastern horizon, an oil tanker appearing out of the darkness.