“No press conferences allowed on Danish soil. There can be no at- tempts to salvage the Sea Sentinel. And the only way we will ever step foot in Denmark is if we smuggle ourselves in as guest workers. Again, I can't thank you enough for all you've done.”

“Everything comes with a price. Tell me all you know about Oceanus.”

“Of course, I'll be glad to. As I said last time, Oceanus is a multi- national corporation dealing in fish products and transport. It oper- ates fleets of fishing boats and transport vessels around the world.”

“That could describe a dozen corporations.” Austin smiled. “Why do I have the feeling you're hiding something?”

Therri looked shocked. “Is it that obvious?”

“Only to someone who's used to dealing with people who think that telling some of the truth gets them off the hook for all of it.”

She frowned and said, “I deserved that. It's an old lawyer habit. We attorneys like to keep something in reserve. SOS is very much in your debt. What would you like to know?”

“Who owns the company, for starters?”

“SOS asked itself the same question. We ran into a thicket of in- tertwining shadow corporations, paper companies and murky trusts. One name kept coming up: Toonook.”

“Huh. That name reminds me of a film I saw when I was a kid, an old documentary called Nanoo/ of the North. Is he an Eskimo?” “That's my guess. We can't confirm it, but we dug up some cir- cumstantial evidence pointing in that direction. It took an incredible amount of research. We learned that he's a Canadian citizen, and that he's very good at keeping his face hidden. That's all I can tell you about him, and that's the whole truth.”

Austin nodded, thinking about the swarthy dark-skinned guards who'd shot at him. “Let's go back to Oceanus. What first brought them to the attention of SOS?”

"They were one of the few companies that ignored our Faroes

boycott. We'd been aware offish-farming as an environmental issue, but it was the company's attempts to hide its operations that got Mar- cus interested. When he learned about the fish farm in the Faroes, he thought that he might stir things up if he focused the spotlight on the operation."

"There are two ships on the bottom of the ocean that prove he was right.

“Let me ask you something,” Therri said, leveling her gaze. “What do you know about Oceanus that you haven't told me?”

“Fair enough. While you were negotiating with Mr. Becker, I poked into an Oceanus fish farm in the Faroes.”

“Did you learn anything?”

Austin felt a twinge of pain in his chest wound. “I learned that they don't like people poking into their business. I'd advise you and your friends to give them a wide berth.”

“Now who's the evasive one?”