Page 2 of Shallow Remains

English. No accent.

Before she could process that, a firm hand closed on her shoulder. “Maddy, it’s me.”

The low voice was urgent. Familiar.

Blaine? She didn’t trust her ears.

“It’s okay now, you’re safe. I’ve got you.” He started to untie her wrists.

“Hurry,” a flat male voice said from behind her. “We need to move.”

Her numb arms fell to her sides the instant her hands were free. Someone tugged the blindfold off.

She squinted down at the man crouched in front of her in the dim light, afraid to believe her eyes. But no. Blaine was there. Dressed in tactical gear as he undid the rope around her ankles. Behind him, the bodies of the men who had taken her captive lay strewn across the floor, pools of blood spreading over the concrete.

She sucked in a shaky breath. Choked back a sob as a hot rush of tears scalded her eyes. “B-Blaine…”

He looked up at her. Gave her a reassuring smile, but his hazel eyes burned with rage. “Yeah, Mads, I’ve got you.”

He scooped her up in his arms and stood. Held her against his chest as he strode for the door. “Now let’s get you the hell out of here.”

ONE

There was something suspicious happening around Skeleton Island. Maddy knew it in her bones. She just couldn’t prove exactly what it was yet.

Seated in the cozy work nook she’d set up for herself in her friend Blaine’s downstairs suite where she currently lived, Maddy reviewed the latest video footage on her computer screen while Loreena McKennitt’s magical voice and harp music played through her headphones.

She studied the one segment that intrigued her the most, isolating it frame by frame. She’d hacked most of the footage from various cameras posted up and down that specific area of the west coast, close to here at Cedar Point. It was tricky work because of lack of coverage, as so many areas around the island were still uninhabited and had no surveillance cameras whatsoever.

This particular view showed the area a little bit north of where the orca strandings had happened a few weeks ago, just over an hour before the first animal had been reported on the beach. She paused on a frame, zooming in to examine it with a critical eye.

It was faint, but there was a definite shadow moving just beneath the clear green surface of the water. Not large. Smaller than she would have expected given her suspicion. Whatever it was moved from north to south through the frame.

The military still denied any activity in the area at that time, but she didn’t believe they were being honest. All the evidence she and Blaine had managed to find thus far seemed to confirm that something manmade had been moving under that water.

It had to be some sort of a submarine. Maybe a new prototype the military was keeping under wraps? Something small and more maneuverable that could avoid detection more easily.

Xanthe was a world-renowned marine biologist specializing in cetaceans. She said it was unusual for orcas to strand, let alone for them to be involved in a mass stranding event.

The necropsy report on the dead female orca known as Onyx showed some toxic chemicals in her bloodstream at the time of death, but the levels weren’t high enough to be the cause of death. There was no sign of disease. Her stomach contents had been minimal but normal, and there were no signs of entanglement or blunt force trauma from a boat strike.

Xanthe was convinced the strandings must have been caused by a strong underwater sonar signal that had disoriented the experienced matriarch. A loud sonic event could have stunned and confused Onyx. Too weak to fight the currents in her emaciated state, she had washed ashore with two of her pod members following.

Given all the information at her disposal, Maddy was just as convinced that she was staring at the source of it. And something told her the explanation behind it was even more sinister than they realized.

A light tap on her shoulder made her yelp. She yanked off her headphones and whirled in her seat to find Xanthe standing next to her, wide-eyed.

“Sorry,” Xanthe said, holding her palms up as she stepped back.

Maddy put a hand to her galloping heart and closed her eyes for a second as her nervous system grappled with the sudden spike of terror. She couldn’t respond yet because her airway seemed to have shut off.

Because it had been just like Syria. Exactly the same, barring the gentle tap.

Stop it. You’re not in Syria now. You’re fine.

Her nervous system didn’t agree.

She dragged in a shaky breath. Leaned over the desk as the shakes took hold. Shit.