If Deb was right about this ship being a potential terrorist target, then there had to be more than training missions. I put a red X in the center of one of the search patterns. ‹The earliest mission was here.›

‹They’ve had a lot of crew turnover, too. Seven new personnel, including four officers.›

‹What happened here?› I pointed to the most recent mission, another expanding square pattern.

‹What do you mean?›

‹If you unfold the patterns, all of the pinwheels and spirals and squares are pretty similar in length. They spent roughly the same amount of time on each mission, up until this last one.› I compared the routes and did some quick math. ‹It looks like they called it quits about twenty-five percent sooner.›

‹If these were real search missions, maybe they found what they were looking for.›

I flipped through the rest of her notes. ‹The Kagan has been docked for the past three days. It says they’re prepping for their next launch tomorrow night.›

‹That’s right.›

I highlighted the end point of that last mission. ‹Talulah, where do the Kagan’s orders originate?›

‹They came out of the Coast Guard Seventh District office in Miami, but I couldn’t tell you who issued them.›

‹Charles served in the navy, didn’t he? Could you please tell him I need to talk to him?›

She gazed past me, then nodded. ‹Done. What’s so important about that spot?›

‹It’s directly on the migratory path of one of the largest siren colonies in the Atlantic.›

TESTIMONY AND QUESTIONING OF WITNESS NUMBER 18: ISAAC VAINIO (CONTINUED)

The CHAIRMAN: As a field agent for the Porters, what rules were you bound by, if any?

Mr. VAINIO: No resurrecting the dead. No pulling living creatures from books. No—

The CHAIRMAN: What about the rules regarding relationships with nonhuman creatures?

Mr. VAINIO: I’m not aware of any such rules.

The CHAIRMAN: You’re in a romantic relationship with both Lena Greenwood and Nidhi Shah, are you not?

Mr. VAINIO: Nope.

The CHAIRMAN: Sir, please remember you took an oath to answer truthfully, regardless of—

Mr. VAINIO: I’ve been romantically involved with Lena for about a year and a half. Lena is also in a relationship with Doctor Shah. I hope you didn’t make me fly out here just to gossip about my sex life.

Mr. VAUGHN: Is there a point to these questions, Senator Keeler?

The CHAIRMAN: Simply to demonstrate the moral and ethical gulf between most Americans and gentlemen like Mister Vainio. He engages in sexual congress with a creature who isn’t even human. Who, according to our understanding, is half tree? Is this the kind of thing you want to legitimize?

Mr. VAUGHN: We’re here to talk about magic, not to finger-wag like my grandma over what consenting adults do in their own homes. Mister Vainio, have you had the chance to look over the recently proposed legislation?