The next speaker walked up to the podium and began describing the aquarium’s newest projects. Listening with one ear, Claire wandered over to the large windows overlooking Elliott Bay. She lifted her finger and traced the outline of Whidbey Island far off in the distance.
Wyatt.
Her stomach fluttered at the thought of him: tall, dark, with a body that made women drool. Was he at the base or had he been deployed to some war-torn country? She prayed for his safety and hoped to see him again soon. Even though they could never have a future together. She’d learned that the first time he’d left for work, only to show up on her doorstep six long months later.
Six long months during which she’d received exactly one two-minute phone call that was so filled with static she’d barely been certain it was Wyatt.
Six long months during which she’d woken up in tears, her mind plagued with visions of his death.
Six long months during which she’d come to realize that Wyatt was not the man who could give her the future and the family she so desperately desired. She’d been twenty-eight, ready to settle down, ready to be more than just another ship in his port. And the worry for his safety had almost killed her. When he’d returned ready to pick up where they’d left off, no explanations, no excuses, he’d cemented her decision.
Eighteen months later, she still missed the twinkle in his eyes when he’d teased her and his deep voice when he’d whispered her name. Those low tones never failed to make her shiver. Try as she might, she couldn’t put the man out of her mind. Was that why she’d accepted the position with the University of Washington? To be nearer to Wyatt? She rubbed at her temple to soothe the dull pounding. How pathetic was she to have rearranged her entire life just for the chance to cross paths with him, even while rejecting his advances every time they did meet? She was thirty years old. Too old to act like a teenager. Too old to pursue dead-end paths.
When the presenter finished his speech, her father broke away from the sea of microphones and cameras to join her by the window. “That was a brilliant presentation, Claire. You’re bound to have drummed up some substantial donations for the aquarium.” He smiled and squeezed her arm.
“I’m not sure I did as good a job as you. Your re-election fund must be approaching epic proportions by now.”
His brow furrowed. “Is something wrong, honey?”
She waved it away. “That’s just the way things are. People are far more interested in politics than in saving wildlife.”
“I’ll bring it up in every speech I make.”
“I’m sure you will.” She gave him a hug. “And thank you for coming out to see me. I know how busy you are.”
“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t have missed this even if the President himself had summoned me. I’m so proud of you, Claire.”
She looked out over the milling crowd, fighting the quiver in her lips. “I only wish…”
He caressed her cheek with a gentle hand. “Your mother was always so proud of you. She knew you could do anything you wanted, and you’ve proven her right.”
Before she could respond, one of the resident veterinarian assistants ran up to her. “Dr. Montgomery, Dr. Jane would like to consult with you about one of the harbor seals.”
The panic on the young woman’s face put Claire instantly on alert. “Is something wrong?”
“I don’t know for sure, but Kirby… he’s not well.”
She nodded to the assistant and used her best reassuring tone. “I’ll be right there.” After the woman left, Claire turned to her father. “Dad, I’m sorry.”
“You go on. I’ll be fine.”
“Don’t leave, okay?”
He laughed. “You promised me dinner at Elliott’s Oyster House. I’m not running out on that.”
“I love you, Dad.” Rising on her toes, she kissed his smooth cheek, then ran out the back doors and over the bridge to the harbor seal habitat.
Jane, the aquarium’s head veterinarian, was kneeling on the haul-out space, examining one of the male seals, who lay so trusting and unmoving. Jane and her staff had done an excellent job of training him.
At the sound of Claire’s heels clacking on the deck, Jane looked up. “I’m sorry to take you away from the festivities, Claire. I left you some boots and rubber gear on the bench.”
Claire chuckled. “Believe me, I’m much happier out here with the animals. What seems to be the problem?” She put on the waterproof pants and jacket, then stepped out of her shoes and into the rubber boots.
“There’s something here I’d like you to take a look at.” Jane gently pulled the seal’s fore flipper away from his body, revealing a small lesion. More worrisome was the extensive deep tissue bruising and swelling that extended across the seal’s upper back. The skin appeared stretched.
Claire snapped on a pair of surgical gloves before entering the enclosure. Kneeling beside the seal, she gently probed the area. “When was the bruising first noticed?”
“Just now. There was no sign of anything unusual when I checked him this morning. I only examined him now because one of the interns said Kirby had seemed listless at the last feeding.”
“What about the other seals? The otters? Any bruising, swelling, or distended skin?”
“I’m not aware of anything, but I’ll have the staff examine them all right away.” Jane turned her attention back to Kirby, comforting him with long strokes of her hand. Claire understood exactly how Jane was feeling. Claire hated to see any living creature ill or in pain, but seeing marine mammals in this state crushed her heart.
“Let’s start by running all the basic tests for parasites and fungal infections.”
Jane nodded and opened a med kit, laying it beside Claire. After quickly taking several swabs of the lesion, Claire took out a biopsy kit. She extracted some deep tissue samples from the lesion as well as the seal’s gums. “I should have enough here to test for viruses and bacteria.” Having studied almost every type of parasite and fungus, Claire knew in her gut this wasn’t one. If her suspicions were correct, they were dealing with a bacterial infection, a very rare and virulent form of necrotizing fasciitis.
Once she was done, Jane rinsed the area with a disinfectant. “I’ll run the fungal and parasitic tests, Claire.”
“Let’s isolate him in one of the observation enclosures and start him on a high dose of intravenous clindamycin in combination with penicillin. Until we know what we’re dealing with, the other seals that have come in contact with him need to be quarantined.”
“I’ll get the staff on it right away.”
“Excellent. We also need to make sure the water from this tank doesn’t contaminate the water in the rest of the aquarium. And as a precaution, have your staff wear gloves and masks anytime they’re near any of the animals. Until we know more, tell them to treat this as something highly contagious that has the possibility of being zoonotic.”
Jane shuddered. “Jesus. You sound like you know what this is.”
“I don’t like to jump into a diagnosis, but I think Kirby has contracted necrotizing fasciitis. You know how fast this disease progresses. If he’s not doing better in an hour, we’ll operate and debride the lesion. I’ll go break my dinner date with my father and meet you in the lab in a few minutes.”
“Darn, I forgot the senator was here. Maybe you can explain to me what needs to be done?”
Jane was a great vet, but she didn’t have the surgical training and research knowledge Claire had with her advanced degrees in veterinary medicine and microbiology. This was one time where delegating could lead to terrible consequences. Claire had to be the one to see Kirby through. She just prayed her expertise would be enough.
Chapter 2
His need to see Claire was so strong, Wyatt considered ignoring the comm signal. But if the team were being called in for a mission and the lieutenant couldn’t find him, he’d be considered away without leave. Okay, he already was AWOL, but Hadley didn’t know that and hopefully, he never would. The
specialized wetsuit Wyatt wore had sensors build into the fabric around his neck, perfectly positioned to pick up his subvocalizations. He’d spent hours training the software so that it could convert the signals to speech and send it over the communicator. Pressing a tiny button below his ear, he answered. “Black, here.”
“Wyatt, where are you? I’ve been looking all over,” Mason asked.
“Listen, about before,” Wyatt said, ignoring his friend’s question. “I don’t know what came over me. I shouldn’t have said those things.”
“I’m a big boy. I can take it.” Mason chuckled before his voice turned serious. “Truth is, I really am worried about you. Actually, not just you. All of us. Everyone’s on edge, jumpy.”
“Maybe our bodies need time to adjust to all the changes.”
“I hope you’re right. We don’t make much of a team if we’re all trying to kill each other.”
Wyatt laughed. “There is that.”
“So, I’m hearing a rumor that you’ve been restricted to base.”
Looking around at the vastness of blue water, the fish swimming in schools along the coast, he grinned. “Yep.”
Mason groaned. “You went to see her, didn’t you, you dipshit.”
“Her?”
“You really think we don’t know you’ve been chasing after her skirt for years?”
Conscious that communications could be overheard, Wyatt denied leaving base, but he couldn’t deny his attraction to Claire. He was just thankful Mason hadn’t said her name. “You know me, I would never disobey a direct order.”
“I always believed that to be true of the man I knew before, but I wouldn’t put anything past this new and improved Wyatt.”
He passed through long stalks of bull kelp. “I’m just out for a walk in the woods.” See, he wasn’t a complete liar. “Maybe the fresh air and exercise will do me some good.”
“Uh-huh,” Mason said, sounding amused.
Of course Mason knew he was in his wetsuit, since he’d contacted him over the communicator. Mason was a good friend and wouldn’t report his absence. “Want to grab a beer when I get back?”
“Looking for a good ass-whipping at pool?”
“You’re on.”
Wyatt pressed the button under his ear to cut the connection. The serenity of the Sound’s water wrapped around him like a comforting blanket. With his heightened vision and hearing, sometimes human noises beat on his brain like heavy bass chords. He much preferred the susurration of fish as they foraged for food, the scratching of crabs and shrimp as they moved along the sea floor.
But what he really preferred, what made his day, was whenever he came upon the Salish Sea orca pod. These permanent residents of Puget Sound had practically adopted him into their community. While they sensed he was different, he’d learned their vocal repertoire and social system well enough that he could communicate with them and be accepted by them. Of course, he had more affinity with the bottlenose dolphins—he even had his own unique whistle identifier—but it was rare to see one in Puget Sound. The orcas felt like a second family to him, and it distressed him to see their declining numbers due to the pollution of their habitat. Claire’s work was critical to saving what was left of these beautiful animals.
Ahead of him, the waterway narrowed and he readjusted his trajectory to avoid the ferries that made their way between Edmonds on the east and the Kitsap Peninsula on the west. A half hour later, he passed West Point Lighthouse. His pulse sped up at the thought of seeing Claire again, and he had to forcefully regulate his heart rate. Breaching the surface to breathe, he inhaled as deeply as he could, then began the last part of his trek. Less than ten miles and he’d be at the aquarium. As soon as he entered Elliott Bay and passed the breakwater, his excitement took over and he sprinted the final distance. While it was great fun to speed through the bay faster than most boats, it used up a lot of his air. Still, he didn’t dare surface here; it was too public.
As he approached the coast, the temperature of the water increased steadily and the marine life all but disappeared. Grimacing, he swam through the murky darkness. The noises and vibrations from the sea vessels at the Port of Seattle terminals were hurting his ears. All he needed now was for one of those obnoxious cruise liners to park itself at the Bell Street pier and blow his ears off. No wonder nothing wanted to live here.
Finally, his sight penetrated the gloom, and he spotted the pillars on top of which the aquarium was built. Closer to the waterfront wall, he could just make out the structure that housed the otter and seal habitats and the underwater dome. He was still a half mile from Pier 59 when his skin prickled and his entire system went on high alert. Something was wrong.
Dolphin eyesight was extremely acute, but not in dark waters like these. Shit. His only recourse was to use his echolocation. The thought of the dirty water entering his mouth made him want to puke. But that wouldn’t stop him. He had to protect Claire.
He wasn’t exactly sure how his echolocation worked, since he clearly didn’t have the same physical attributes as the bottlenose dolphin who had taught him the technique, but it did work. Someday he’d ask the doctors to explain it to him. He shuddered. On the other hand, maybe he didn’t really want to know exactly what had been done to the men of MK X.
Wyatt swam to within five hundred feet of his target and after tamping down his disgust, he opened his mouth and let out a series of clicks, each about sixty microseconds long. When the sounds bounced off the pillars and the aquarium’s underwater structures, they returned to him through the bone and fat surrounding his jaw. The intense vibrations arrowed through his teeth like the screech of a knife on a ceramic plate. Within seconds, his brain provided him with details regarding the size, shape, speed, distance, direction, and even some of the internal structure of objects in the surrounding water.
He knew the exact number of pillars supporting the aquarium, the size and shape of the underwater portions, the location of eel grass, wood planks, and other garbage banging up against the waterfront wall. Above all that, he detected something that shouldn’t be there. A man. Careful to remain unseen, he edged his way toward the intruder. What was he doing here? This area wasn’t open to swimmers. Besides, who in their right mind would want to swim in this god-awful water? Only someone up to no good.
Peering around a pillar, he spied the telltale bubbles rising from a SCUBA tank. He inched closer and got a clear view. There was something at the man’s feet. Wyatt sent out another click-train focused on the man and the object. His brain quickly processed the new information, and in his mind, he clearly saw the explosive device on the bay floor, butting up against the aquarium’s cement wall.
Jesus Christ! Claire was in danger.
Wyatt’s military training took over. Using his tail, he put on a burst of speed and smashed into the bomber, crushing him against the wall. With the man immobilized, Wyatt glanced at the device to see what he was dealing with. A remote-controlled underwater improvised explosive device. Shit! Where was the remote—had the man already armed the UIED?
Releasing the man, he pushed over to the device, looking for an indicator LED. There. The light was not on. Relief nearly overwhelmed him until the man slammed Wyatt’s head into the wall. Tightening his jaw against the pain, Wyatt twisted his hips and surged against his opponent. The power from his tail sent them careening against a pillar. He wrapped his arms around the tango’s throat and yanked the regulator out of his mouth. The man’s eyes grew round behind his mask. Wyatt snarled at him and made sure to show all his teeth.
What kind of sick person would want to blow up an aquarium? Still pondering the question, Wyatt grabbed some zip ties from his bag, bound the bomber’s hands and feet, then shoved the regulator back in his mouth. Wyatt might be a killer, but he wasn’t a murderer. There was a difference.
Satisfied, he turned to pick up the explosive device so he could dispose of it. When he spotted the blinking indicator, his heart stopped. He spun to look at his captive. The man�
��s grin was wide, his eyes glazed with victory.
After tossing the latex gloves into a nearby waste bin, Claire stepped out of the seal enclosure and ensured that the door was secure. While Jane and her staff got Kirby started on the antibiotics, she’d say a quick goodbye to her father, then hurry down to the lab. If her suspicions were correct, it wouldn’t take long to isolate the bacteria. She hoped to God she was wrong. A case of necrotizing fasciitis in a bottlenose dolphin had been documented by a research team in Italy, but it was one of the few. And given the scarcity of documentation, there was no clear treatment regimen.
She sat on the viewing bench to remove the rubber boots Jane had lent her. A loud splash in the bay drew her attention. Had someone fallen off the deck? Hurrying to the rail, she leaned over and searched. The water was so dirty, it was difficult to see more than a foot deep. Another splash. This time, it seemed to be coming from under the pier, closer to the cement wall. She dashed to the other side of the bridge and scanned the area.
A large tail surged out of the water and just as quickly sank below the surface.
“Oh my God!” Claire couldn’t believe her eyes. The tail was too large to be that of a fish, unless it was some sort of shark. It had also seemed too large to be the hind flippers of a harbor seal. If she were being honest with herself, what had flashed out of the water had looked like the horizontal flukes of a cetacean’s tail. Had an orca or a Dall’s porpoise been separated from its pod? Without seeing the body, it was hard to tell. But try as she might, she could make out nothing below the surface.
Suddenly, the water swirled and crested. A black clad arm, the fingers curled in a fist, rose above the surface before disappearing again. Her heart skipped a beat. Was someone being attacked? Or worse, was someone attacking the animal? She couldn’t believe it. It must be someone trying to help, but clearly both were in distress.
She had to do something. Turning away, she remembered the life boat that hung from the main building where the fundraising festivities were being held. Grateful for the rubber boots she still wore, Claire raced toward the boat while tugging off her coat. She hit the lever to lower the access ramp to the water, but swore when she noticed the boat was on the other side of a security gate.
Shadows in the Mist: A Paranormal Anthology Page 28
