He was looking at a plane; he could even see the cockpit. He clicked on the print icon and a few seconds later a picture rolled off the printer. He studied the image under a strong light. Part of a wing seemed to be missing. He rose from his seat and was headed for the door, intending to alert the captain to his find, when Francois burst into the lab. He was obviously agitated. The French observer usually wore an imperturbable smile, but he looked as if he had just heard that the Eiffel Tower had fallen.

“Monsieur Austin, you must come quickly to the bridge.”

“What's wrong?” Austin said.

“It's Mademoiselle Skye.”

Austin's stomach did a flip-flop. “What about her?”

An incomprehensible mishmash of Franglais streamed from the man's mouth. Austin brushed past the sputtering Frenchman and climbed two steps at a time to the bridge. The captain was in the pilothouse, talking into the radio microphone. When he saw Kurt, he said, “Attendez,” and set the mike aside.

Captain Jack Fortier was a slightly built man of French-Canadian origin who had become a U.S. citizen so he could work for NUMA. His ability to speak French had come in handy on the expedition, although some of the locals he encountered snickered behind his back at his strong Quebecois accent. Fortier told Austin that the derision didn't bother him because his language was the purer, unsullied by regional accents, as in France. Not much seemed to bother the captain, which is why Austin was surprised to see Fortier's brow furrowed with worry.. “What's happened to Skye?” Austin said, getting right to the point.

“I'm on the phone with the supervisor of the power plant. He says there has been an accident.”

A chill danced up and down Austin's spine. “What sort of accident?”

“Skye and some other people were in a tunnel under the glacier.”

“What was she doing there?”

“There's an observatory under the ice where scientists can study the movement of the glacier. It's part of the tunnel system the power company built to use water coming off the glacier. Apparently something went wrong and water flooded the tunnel.”

“Has the power plant been able to make contact with the observatory?”

“No. The telephone line is down.”

“So we don't know if they're dead or alive.”

“Apparently not,” Fortier said in a half whisper.

The news rocked Austin back on his heels. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he collected his thoughts.

Rallying, he said, “Tell the plant supervisor I want to meet with him. Tell him to have detailed plans of the tunnel system ready. And rustle up a boat to get me to shore.” Austin paused as he realized that he was barking orders at the captain. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn't mean to sound like a marine drill sergeant. This is your ship. Those were only suggestions.”