Jonas moved quickly to the starboard windows and focused on the dark horizon, using the night-vision glasses. “That’s her, all right. Where’s the Dubai-Land?”

“Out in front. I caught sight of her bow wake.”

“If the trawler’s out front, then David may already be in the water.”

“I don’t think so,” Mac said. “They’re using the two boats to drive the creature to the ice shelf. David won’t launch until the Tonga drops her nets into the water.”

I looked at Jonas, confused. “David? As in your son?”

Jonas let Mac answer for him. “Remember that arse marine biologist, Michael Maren? Before he croaked, he discovered the remains of an ancient sea called the Panthalassa, buried beneath the Philippine Sea Plate. After he died, his fiancée sold maps of the subterranean sea to a guy named Fiesal bin Rashidi. Bin Rashidi happens to be a first cousin to the crown prince of Dubai.”

“The guy you sold two of the Meg pups to?”

Jonas nodded. “The crown prince is constructing a new theme park called Dubai-Land. The jewel of Dubai-Land will be an aquatic exhibit featuring a dozen of the largest viewing aquariums ever conceived.”

“And what goes inside the other tanks? Creatures from this Panthalassa Sea?”

“That was the plan. David impressed the crown prince and his cousin with his ability to pilot the Manta subs. Against my wishes, he joined other trained pilots who were recruited to entice these prehistoric sea creatures out of the Panthalassa and into their nets. David and another young submersible pilot—a young woman—were trapped in a bathyscape. I used Angel to escort me down to them, where she squared off with another alpha female, a 120-foot Liopleurodon.”

“My God.”

“I managed to free the bathyscape from its anchors and float it out of the Panthalassa. Angel and the Liopleurodon followed us up. The Meg had the creature’s neck in its jaws like a bulldog. Then the crown prince’s tanker passed by, sweeping everything off the sea floor and into its wake, including the bathyscape. The two kids escaped. Unfortunately, David’s companion didn’t make it.

Mac shook his head. “David’s first love. Bin Rashidi managed to tag the creature with a homing device before it swam off.”

“David’s twenty-one,” Jonas continued. “He went through a lot. Losing someone you love in any manner is hard. The kid left California seven months ago. We found out that he and a friend rejoined bin Rashidi’s team assigned to capture the Liopleurodon.”

“That’s why you’re in Antarctica…it prefers the cold water.”

Jonas nodded, handing me the binoculars. I focused them on a set of lights growing larger on the eastern horizon, an oil tanker appearing out of the darkness.