"Yes, Dr. Caldwell, a sturgeon. Look it up. It's an anadromous species, over 200 million years old, that proliferates in Loch Ness. The Baltic sturgeon looks almost like a Thresher shark, and it can grow over twenty feet in length. You think the public's going to pay good money to see a sturgeon?"

David glanced back at the provost. "It's not a sturgeon. Sturgeons don't have teeth big enough, sharp enough to do the kind of damage that happened to that Alaskan kid."

"Our point, doctor, is that you're jumping the gun with all these announcements and expenses. Why not slow down, figure out what it is first, then go after it."

David shook his head. "No. See, all you curators and monster hunters have been doing it the same way for decades. It's high time for a more aggressive approach. Isn't that right, Mr. Provost?"

Hollifield nodded. "Council's puttin' up £50,000 sterlin' for the capture o' the beast, an' National Geographic, who won the bid tae film everythin', jist added another £100,000 tae sweeten the pot. This money… an' credit for the capture, will be split by Dr. Caldwell, the Council, an' only those vessels participating in the search."

David returned to the map. "I'm dividing the Loch into three sections. The Nothosaur will cover the northern end of Loch Ness, from the Abban Water Fishery south to Urquhart Bay. The Sloans and the Galon's crew will patrol Urquhart Bay south to Foyers. Since Bill Plager has the largest and fastest of the three vessels, he'll take Foyers south to Fort Augustus. As a necessary first step, I'm asking each of you to commit to the mission by immediately collecting your own sonar buoys. You'll then redistribute them, following my technician's instructions, in a specified pattern in your assigned areas. In addition to keeping an eye on your own grid, your signals will be uploaded to a master signature management system aboard my boat, which I'll be selecting tomorrow morning from a list of local applicants."

David circled the group again like a young Patton. "In a few days, we'll be supplying your vessels with extra-heavy fishing nets, which should arrive in Inverness later this week. By then, we expect to have most of the mouth of Urquhart Bay cordoned off Once the monster is targeted by our sonar grid, all boats will converge upon its location and we'll net it."

Meghan Talley shook her head. "Simple as that, huh?"

"Look, lady, we're dealing with a big predator living in a big lake, but it's still just a lake. I mean, where else is this thing gonna go? We locate it, we net it, we pen it. It's cut-and-dried."

"What about the museum?" Dr. Shah asked.

"Once we capture the monster, we'll begin fielding applications from curators and other scientists to study Nessie."

"Applications? You expect us to apply?"