“Two hundred and fifty million years ago another asteroid, much larger, struck East Antarctica and wiped out ninety-nine percent of the life-forms on the planet. The impact crater was discovered beneath the ice sheet in Wilkes Land, which is about six hundred miles to the south.”

“Is there anything you don’t know, Dr. Wallace?”

“Yeah, I don’t know where True is.”

“He arrived topside eight minutes ago and is in the capable hands of my assistant, Ashlynn.”

“That’s my boy.”

“Captain, six-point-five kilometers due east of your location is the entrance to a bay. Enter the waterway and return control of your vessel to our pilot. There’s one last thing we need you to investigate before we guide you to the northern basin.”

I glanced over my shoulder at Ben. “Can you give us a clue here, Colonel?”

“You’ll be briefed at the appropriate time. Stand by.”

The three of us remained silent for the next fifteen minutes as we made our way east, three hundred feet below the surface. Ming seemed especially distracted. Perhaps she had regrets about giving herself to Ben, or maybe she knew what the Colonel’s “last thing” was.

Leaning back in my seat, I gazed out into the dark waters with my night glasses, listening to the distant chirps of the Miocene seals over my headphones. For the third time in my life, I had escaped almost certain death—the fourth time, if I included my final encounter at Loch Ness. While each circumstance had been different, I realized there was a common thread that ran through them: ultimately I had chosen to place myself in danger.

This realization made me ponder whether I had a death wish.

A strange sensation of déjà vu made me think of Joe Tkalec.

When was the last time I had spoken to him? Three years ago… a few days after my near-death experience in the Sargasso Sea.

My mind was adrift as I nonchalantly stared at the blip now appearing on my sonar screen. Joe had chastised me for pushing the dive limits of our three-man submersible just so I could lure up a giant squid.

“Yo, Doc? Are you seeing this?”

Was it my fault the pilot had died? Should we have surfaced the moment the biologic blooped in my headphones? If only we had gone active on sonar… realized their size and numbers—

Without thinking, I pressed the red button marked ACTIVE.

Ping.

“Zachary, what are you doing?”

“Huh? Sorry. There’s something out there, I just thought … ” My eyes widened as data compiled on my screen. “It’s a biologic. Range: 1.4 kilometers to the east. Depth: 833 feet. Geez, this thing is big.”

“Another crocodile?”

“No, Ming. These waters are way too cold for Purussaurus.

Ben swore. “Any good news?”

“The good news is it isn’t coming after us.”

“Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn’t have let it know we’re here.”