“Jesus, that stuff is making my eyes water.” He turned away as Jack layered some over his head and neck. “It stinks.”

“Sure does, but not of human being,” Cate said, smearing more on his cheeks. “This should mask your scent. Even though the whale carcass Milo will be dragging away should overpower anything else for miles, let’s take no chances.”

“No argument here,” he said. Vincent turned, arms out to a sullen looking Regina. “Hug for luck?”

Her eyes narrowed. “If you survive this, I’m still gonna kill you.” She turned and stormed away.

Cate gave him a crooked smile. “She’ll get over it. And you are mad, but… thank you.” She leaned forward to kiss him.

They walked him to the stern, and stopped at the gunwale. New netting had been lowered, creating another rope ladder to the water line that was now only a dozen feet from the surface.

“Not far to the water, that’s the good news…” Jack said. “…and also the bad news. It means the propeller is now an extra ten feet down. And you don’t have air tanks.”

“I know.” Vince went to spit inside his facemask, but just a little sticky foam came out of his mouth. He still rubbed it onto the glass. “I can swim a lap of an Olympic pool underwater.” He swallowed dryly, and patted a makeshift toolkit around his waist that held two sharp knives, wire snips and iron bolt cutters. “If it can be cut, then I’ll damn well cut it.”

He looked over the side into the dark water. Cate knew the man was nervous, and at that moment, realized how glad she was that Jack wasn’t attempting it.

Vincent turned back. “Jack, just… just try and keep that freaking big thing away from me, okay?” He sucked in a deep breath and then swung a leg over the rail. He paused for a moment to give a small mirthless laugh. “For some reason, I feel cold all over.”

Above them the small yellow chopper rose, and went to the rear of the ship. The down-lights made it impossible to see much of its shape as it edged closer to the open back of the whaler. Some of Drago’s men leaned out to grab the trailing cable, and quickly attached it to the Minke whale’s tail, and then gave a thumb’s up. The chopper moved backwards and the stinking whale slid free.

The small chopper wasn’t powerful enough to lift the twenty-foot whale above the water, and all the chopper could hope to do was drag it. It swung away, and Cate saw Jack quickly check the signal tracker for a few moments. He began to nod and then grin. “It’s working – the Megalodon is following.”

“The whale or the chopper’s vibrations?” Cate asked.

“Does it matter?” Vincent asked.

“No.” Jack straightened, and looked into his friend’s eyes.