“Hours ago; I’ve been checking on a few things, making sure that our submersible was shipshape. As you know, this investment is expensive, and I’m sure we all want to get the maximum benefit from it.” He checked his watch. “And I still have a few things to coordinate. So I’ll leave you to it.” He saluted her, and his mouth just curved into a smile as his eyes slid to Jack. Mironov nodded to the rest of team and then left. Sonya followed him out.

“So, that was the boss, huh?” Greg said as the tent flap closed.

“No,” Cate said, turning to him, and then Jack. “On this trip, I’m the boss.”

Jack also saluted. “Sir, yes sir.” He pointed back to the computer screen. “Now, about that drunken picture of yours.” Seeing her scowl, he waved her down. “Just pulling your pigtails, Cate. It’s an exciting image, especially given it’s from some sort of troglodytic species.” He straightened coming to his full six feet two inches. “There’s a lot of motion blurring, but if, as you said, this camera took the footage at fifty frames per second, then whatever that is, must have been coming at you at significant speed. Definitely a tooth though, and from the shape, I’d swear it was a Great White.”

“I knew it was a tooth.” Cate made a fist.

“Oh yeah.” Jack nodded. “Triangular shape, serrated edge, definitely an upper tooth of the Carcharodon species. This thing is used for cutting up large prey. We’ve got no perspective to judge proportions, so it could be any size.”

“Sharks don’t live in caves. So what else could it be?” Greg’s brows were drawn together.

Jack shrugged. “Something I’ve never seen, maybe. Can’t tell all that much from a few blurred frames. But, just to walk you back there, Mr Jamison, nurse, epaulette, horn, to name just a few sharks, can all live in caves, and many shark species only hunt in the dark. These things are amazing creatures. They’re very ancient, and been around for hundreds of millions of years. They can adapt quickly to changing environments – light versus dark, salt versus fresh, warm versus cold.” Jack folded his arms across his chest. “In fact, the bigger guys who hunt at great depths have to quickly adjust to changing cold, light, salt, pressure, almost instantly.”

Greg shrugged. “So do whales.”

Jack nodded. “But the sharks have an advantage – they don’t need to surface. Big ol’ whale dives deep looking for squid, instead finds a hungry Great White already down there.”

“I always wondered about that.” Abby came closer. “In the depths it’s always permanent darkness, so how exactly do they see what they’re going after? Sense of smell?” Abby tilted her head; her eyes glistened as they fixed on the tall and handsome marine biologist.