Frank chortled. “Well, there was no prewarning shocks and no aftershocks – a single event, pinpoint, and then our ocean-based surge buoys detected tsunami movement. We put out a standard alert to all the coastal communities of Alaska, Canada and even Russia. But the surge dissipated pretty quickly, with no damage.”

“Interesting,” Cate said. “Anything since?”

“Nada. Been quiet as a tomb since.”

Cate’s mind worked. “Doctor Hennie, was there anything out of the ordinary that you can remember?”

Frank exhaled and then sipped again. “There was one thing. We have surge buoys dotted throughout the oceans. They monitor everything from wave surge to climate conditions. At the time of the seismic event, the buoys in the Bering Sea all registered a temperature spike of over twenty degrees.” He snorted. “It was as if someone had emptied a jug of hot water into a cold bathtub.”

“Shit,” Cate breathed.

“Like I said; weird. Well, that’s all I got Professor Granger. Was there anything else?” Frank was moving back into bored mode now that he’d finished talking.

“No, no, thank you. You’ve been very helpful.” Cate cut him off and looked again at the picture of the rotting fish. She tapped her chin; she was going down to see Jack again in a few days, and she’d love to get his opinion. She hit the print button on her computer, sending the data to the printer. She felt a little better knowing she’d have her sounding board after all, and also just the thought of spending time with her Captain Jack lifted her spirits. She missed him all the time now, bad, and sometimes thinking of him made everything else seem unimportant.

Get a grip, girl; you’re not a teenager anymore, she tried to tell herself. She sighed. Love makes everyone a dumb kid, she knew. She remembered an old saying that went something along the lines of: the human brain works twenty-four hours a day, from the time you are born until the day you die… and only ever stops working when you’re in love.

“Just a pair of old dummies in love then.” She grinned, and picked up the printed pages.

CHAPTER 28

CHAPTER 28

“Let’s bring her round for another coastal sweep. We’ll start the next run from Big Sur and round it out up at Santa Cruz.” Senior Chief Petty Officer, Vincent Kelly, lowered the field glasses and felt his breast pocket to assure himself he had his sunglasses ready to pull on. The horizon was just beginning to glow as the sun was about to poke its head up. Once it came over the rim, then the glare would reduce surface visibility to near zero without polarizing lenses.

“Okay, got a slight onshore breeze picking up now, so any floating debris should be pushed towards the shore.”