Vincent’s mouth curved into a smile and he leaned forward, raising the glasses. “Hold the phone; you’re close, but no cigar, Ginny. That’s a fin whale; they’re darker and see the prominent fin on its back? Still big though, grow to eighty feet, and this guy must be near that.” He lowered the glasses. “Way off course, and shouldn’t be here this time of year. Take her down lower, there looks to be something wrong with it, and it’s not moving. If it’s a floating corpse, the last thing we want is ninety tons of whale meat rotting on some Californian shoreline somewhere.”

“No problem.” Regina’s voice held a note of excitement, and Vince knew she wanted to take a closer look, the missing Brad and Cindy momentarily forgotten.

She took the helicopter down to hover about fifty feet above the stricken cetacean. It lolled in the water, its long snout gently opening and closing. Vince knew an immobile whale might not be a sign of trouble, as the huge mammals sometimes slept on the surface. It only became a problem when they decided to do it in popular shipping routes. Running into one of these giants could sink a boat.

“This could have been what happened to the Bella Donna,” Vincent observed.

“See there, I think its been speared,” Regina said. “There’s something sticking out of its back.” She moved the helicopter a little closer and tilted it forward so the cockpit was angled downwards. She flicked on the spot light, and in the pre-dawn light, the massive creature was lit up like on a stage.

“Holy shit, that’s no spear. That’s its backbone, busted clean through its skin. That big guy has been broken in two.” Vince leaned forward, frowning. “Maybe it was hit by a boat – a big one.”

The huge creature bobbed on the downward surge from the chopper blades, and rolled slightly in the water. Regina recoiled. “Where the hell is the rest of it?”

The giant whale’s entire gut section was missing, and it looked as though someone had buzz-sawed it cleanly from the body.

“Got to be five tons of meat missing.” Vincent eased back, feeling troubled.

“Shark attack?” Regina asked.

“To take that much meat, I’d say a pack of orcas more like it.” He lifted the glasses, scanning the dark water. “And where are they?”

“Looks like a single bite to me,” Regina said, and shrugged. “All quiet. Seems the party’s over for now.”

“Take her down a bit; I want to get some photos.” Vincent turned to her. “While I’m doing it, radio base and let them know what we’ve found. They might want to come out and drag it back over the shelf and detonate it.”