It was as if a vise had been removed from my heart. I squeezed my wife’s hand, suddenly anxious to end the meeting. “Dr. Liao, gentlemen, while I appreciate the offer, I’m afraid I’ll have to pass.”

3

Brandy had felt certain I would abandon my family, accept Dr. Liao’s offer, and end up in her arms. In turning the offer down, I had placed the needs of my loved ones ahead of my own. Or as my wife put it, “I had changed the energy in our marriage from negative back to positive.” In turn, Brandy could now leave Drumnadrochit in good conscience to join me in Cambridge.

Maybe she was right. Having rendered my decision I felt uplifted, as if my life had meaning again.

Dr. Ahmed looked shocked. “Perhaps you need a few days to think this through?”

I assured him my mind was made up, sending Dr. Liao into a ten-minute diatribe about my obligation to the scientific community and how this expedition could affect everything from our knowledge of how life began to climate change and its threat to the planet. When I still refused her call to duty, she argued that some major investors had threatened to withdraw their support if I passed on the mission and that if it was simply a matter of money, perhaps she could manage to up the offer another ten to fifteen percent. When I assured her my objection had nothing to do with money, she interpreted my response as one of fear. Challenging my manhood, she again assured me that there’d be no risk, certainly nothing on par with what had happened to me two years ago at the bottom of Loch Ness.

“Trust me, Dr. Wallace, I wouldn’t be making the descent if I had any doubts as to our safety. As for water creatures, I sincerely doubt we’ll find anything larger than a salmon. There is no food supply.”

She was baiting me to oppose her statement, which dismissed an entire chemosynthetic food chain. The bizarre thing was Brandy’s reaction; the more I held my ground against Liao, the more turned on she became. At one point she interrupted the conversation to remind me that Willy’s nanny was due to leave soon and that we really needed to get back to our room.

And then she winked!

That was all the prompting I needed.

Ending the meeting, I shook my guests’ hands and said goodbye—unaware that Liao had one final card to play.

“It’s late, Zachary. Rather than drive back to Inverness for our return flights in the morning, may we stay in the resort for the night? I’m sure there are vacancies.”