The report crumpled in her fist. She should have demanded to come along. On paper she was an assistant, but Sonya was one of Mironov’s personal guardians, recruited by Valery from Harvard for her mind, but then sent to Israel for bodyguard training in the Mossad combat camps. She’d excelled, and had been with him now for eight years. It was no secret that she loved him, and she’d die for him… and if need be, she wouldn’t hesitate to kill for him.

Sonya pushed thick blond hair back from her face, and continued to stare at the clocks. Her mind worked; what would they want? Money? Valery was worth billions. Influence? He was also involved in numerous business dealings in too many countries to count.

She touched her lips as her mind worked. In a way, they already had taken him hostage. So if he wasn’t dead yet, then they wanted something else. Sonya looked again at the bank of clocks on the wall. There was nothing she could do, until she knew more. Until then she must wait, listen, and watch. When they made their next move, she would act.

Her hand curled into a fist, and her stomach knotted. One thing she knew; if they harmed him, she would follow them to the four corners of the world and kill every one of them, personally.

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 11

Huge jellyfish, five feet across, their clear bells hung with bulbous, red chandeliers drifted like dirigibles in a night sky. In amongst them, scudding about was what looked like scrolled seashells, trailing small tentacles that reminded Cate of Chinese lanterns.

“There are no secrets that time does not reveal.” Mironov clasped his hands to his chin, as if in prayer.

“Well, anyone still want to ask if down here might be a dead zone?” Greg said, a grin splitting his face.

Dmitry was on his feet. “But this is impossible. How could things like this survive?”

Jack couldn’t take his eyes off the window as he leaned on Cate’s shoulder. “Life will adapt or die.”

Cate looked up at him briefly to nod and then turn back as something like a tiny shrimp stuck momentarily to the curved window. “And if the water remains warm, oxygenated, and circulating, then the life forms will thrive. Heat is all they really need to do just fine.”

“But so many… and so big.” Dmitry’s mouth gaped.

Mironov leant forward to examine the small creature. “It is unusual, but has its precedents. There’s a cave in Brazil called the Olonga-Ringa cavern that has a sunken lake; there’s a species of nine-foot eel that hasn’t been seen on the surface for twenty million years.”

Jack tapped Cate on the shoulder. “Time to go to work.” She turned and rose from the seat, and he slid back in.