“I agree with Professor Granger.” Mironov continued to stare at his screens, looking relaxed as always. “I doubt the ancient sea reptiles would still exist in here, and it is more likely to be a cetacean or some such species from that time. But does it really matter?”

Greg scoffed. “Like, yeah. The less giant things down here that might eat me the better.”

“Well, I’m hoping for a whale,” Abby said. “Whales I can deal with.”

“Ah yes, the gentle bovines of the sea… but not always.” Mironov smiled. “Just remember, even if this body of water was sealed only recently, geologically speaking of course, there was once a type of ancient whale that could have burst straight from the pages of Melville’s novel, and that once hunted the oceans about fifteen million years ago. In fact, it was called the Levyatan Melvillei, after the great author. It grew to sixty feet, had foot-long teeth, and unlike todays whales, it had a fully functioning jaw that allowed it to rip free car-sized chunks of flesh. It probably preyed on other whales, and anything else it could catch.”

“Like that really helped, Valery,” Cate sighed and sat back.

The billionaire smiled back at her, seeming to enjoy the agitation he was creating.

“Okay, okay, so a hundred and fifty million years ago, bad… and fifteen million years ago, probably just as bad. But what if this place was open and closed only a few million years ago – say just two or three million?” Greg winked at Abby, looking like he was beginning to enjoy the game as well.

“Weeelll.” Jack shook his head. “That’s no better. In fact, many would say, it gets a lot worse. You see, just over a million years ago, we had the worst of the worst.” Jack’s mouth twisted as he leaned back. “Didn’t we, Cate?”

Cate’s brow was furrowed in thought as she stared at the submersible’s floor.

Jack continued. “Then, we had the largest and most fearsome predator to have ever lived in our global oceans. It ruled for about twenty million years, and then, depending on which expert you talk to, mysteriously vanished between one and two million years ago.”

“Megalodon. Of course,” Greg said softly. “The tooth, the tooth we saw.” He rocked back in his chair. “Oh, fuck.”

“We don’t know that.” Cate lunged forward, but Abby leaned around her.

“You mean the tooth? The one from the image the drone took?”

Jack folded his arms. “You told them, right Cate? Told them that’s what we think is really down here… and why we’re here?”