Kane went around the table shaking hands and was greeted with hellos or smiles from everyone except a stranger who identified himself as William Coombs, representing the White House.

Kane sat down in the only unoccupied seat next to a firm-jawed man wearing the uniform of a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy.

“Hello, Max,” he said. “How was your trip from Bermuda?” His name was Charley Casey.

“Fast,” Kane said. “Hard for me to believe that a few hours ago I was a half mile under the ocean.”

“I watched the dive on TV,” Casey said. “Too bad you lost contact with the surface just when things started to get really interesting.”

“Interesting isn’t the word for it,” Kane said. “But it’s nothing compared to the craziness about the lab. Any news?”

The lieutenant shook his head.

“We’re still trying to make contact,” he said, “but there has been no response.”

“Could it simply be a foul-up in the communications system?”

Casey glanced over at Coombs.

“We have reason to believe that there is more involved than a systems failure,” Casey said.

“You might want to bring Dr. Kane up to date on the details as we know them, Lieutenant Casey,” Coombs said.

The lieutenant nodded, opened a folder, and pulled out several sheets of paper.

“We’ve pieced together a scenario based on witness statements. The situation has been confused, and reports are still coming in, but here’s what we have so far. Yesterday, at approximately 1400 hours our time, a cruise missile was launched against the Proud Mary, the lab’s support-and-security ship.”

Kane shook his head in disbelief.

“A missile? That can’t be true!”

“I’m afraid it is true, Max. The missile hit the ship on the port side. No one was killed, but at least a dozen were injured. The Mary is a tough old gal. She stayed afloat and got off a Mayday. The Navy cruiser Concord showed up within hours and rescued the survivors. Repeated attempts were made to contact the Locker. No reply.”

“Maybe the blast damaged the communications buoy,” Kane suggested.

“Negative. The cruiser checked out the buoy and found it undamaged.”

“Where was the lab’s service shuttle when all this happened?”

“A short while before the attack, the submersible had made a run down to the lab to deliver a representative from the company in charge of the Locker’s security. The sub was still on the lab when the missile came in.”

“What about the Locker’s minisubs?” Kane said. “They could be used to evacuate the lab in an emergency. The lab also has escape pods it can use as a last resort.”

“No subs or pods, Max. Our guess is that what happened to the lab was sudden and catastrophic.”