Austin handed each person a mug of coffee and herded them to a round, teakwood table on the deck. Austin could have called the meeting at his office in the green-tinted tower in Arlington that was the center of NUMA's operations. But he wasn't ready to answer questions or share his thoughts with anyone outside his innermost circle until he had gathered more facts. He pulled up a chair and gazed longingly at the sun-sparkled river where he usually spent his morning rowing for exercise, then glanced around the table and thanked everyone for coming. He felt like Van Helsing calling together a strategy meeting to battle Dracula, and was tempted to ask if anyone brought the garlic.

Instead, he got right to the point. “Something very odd has been going on in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,” he began. “The sea is being stirred up like eggs in a bowl. These disturbances have sunk one ship, and possibly two, that we know of, nearly sank another, and have scared a year's growth off some of the people seated around this table, including yours truly.” He turned to Adler. “Professor, would you be kind enough to describe the phenomena we've witnessed, and hold forth with some of your theories.”

“I'd be glad to,” Adler said. He recounted the disappearance of the “unsinkable” Southern Belle and the successful search for the lost ship. He described the satellite evidence confirming the existence of giant waves in the ship's vicinity. Last, and with slightly less enthusiasm, he talked about his theory that the disturbances may not have been of natural origin. As he explained his thoughts, he looked from face to face as if he were searching for a hint of doubt. To his relief, he saw only seriousness and interest.

“Normally, we might attribute all this strange ocean activity to King Neptune kicking up his heels, but for a couple of things,” he said. “Satellite imagery suggests that other areas of the oceans have been similarly disturbed, and that there is an unusual symmetry to the disturbances.” Using Austin's laptop, he showed the satellite images of the killer wave concentrations.

Austin asked the Trouts to describe their descent into the maelstrom. Again, there was silence as Gamay and Paul took turns telling about being sucked into the vortex and their last-minute rescue.

“You say there was lightning at the time this whirlpool first materialized?” Hibbet said.

Gamay and Paul nodded.

Hibbet's reply was succinct. He only said, “Ah.”

Zavala picked up the story thread, and told the group about boarding the resurrected ship. Hibbet was keenly interested in his description of the power plant and the damaged electrical framework on deck.

“I wish I could have been there to see it,” he said.

“I can do the next best thing,” Zavala said. Moments later, the digital photos he had taken of the mystery ship were displayed on the computer screen.