Page 35 of Hurricane Irene

Voss read it first. The skin around his mouth tightened.

“A survivor?”

“It may not be one of ours,” Calder said.

“One of ours,” Lenora repeated. “Listen to yourself.”

“Mara had dispatch training,” Voss said. “If anyone got free, it was her.”

Calder’s coffee arrived. He ignored it until the surface stopped moving, then lifted the cup with both hands.

“If Mara is alive, she is exhausted, injured, and confused,” he said. “A competent lawyer can make confusion useful.”

“A competent prosecutor can do more,” Lenora said.

The mechanic entered carrying Calder’s keys and an invoice long enough to qualify as a confession. The cooling system had been repaired, the spare replaced, the cracked windshield stabilized, and the air conditioning restored only partially.

“It will blow cool,” the mechanic said. “It will not blow cold. There is a difference, and I recommend gratitude.”

Calder paid without gratitude.

“Are we ready to order?” she asked.

CHAPTER TWENTY

“Coast Guard just reported finding five bodies in the gulf, about fifty miles out. All appear to be victims of the storm,” said Duncan. “One was a child.”

“Fuck,” muttered Luke. “A child?”

“A girl. Approximately five or six years old.”

“Shit,” muttered Eric. “Let us know when they have her identified. She might belong to a family member in the area. No one has reported a child missing but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

“It gets worse,” said Duncan. “Weather reports say that the rain won’t be delicate and it’s coming back faster than expected. It was out there over those warm damn waters just brewing itself up for us.”

“Another hurricane?” frowned Eric.

“No. Tropical storm at best but it can potentially destroy what’s left of this area.”

“Garrett? Nash?” called Luke into the sea of faces in the auditorium.

“Here,” they said in unison.

“I know we’re asking a lot but is there any way to contain this?”

“Contain Mother Nature? Doubtful if our abilities can do that,” said Garrett. “But. And this is a big ‘but’. We may be able to redirect it further south back into the gulf. The danger of that could be that it builds more strength. The non-danger is that it might disperse with enough wind.”

“I feel as though we need to try,” said Cam. “What do you guys think?”

“If we do this,” said Nash, “we need to be in the storm itself. Do you understand what we’re saying?”

“That’s too dangerous,” said Luke. “I will not authorize that.”

“Luke, we can use the submersible. It should be able to get us deep enough that it won’t be effected by the storm and still allow us to have a view of what’s happening at the surface. The challenge will be that someone has to man that damn contraption and we don’t have that skill,” said Garrett.

“Shit,” muttered Luke. “I can man it. So can most of the SEALs here. Anyone else?”

“Me,” said Montana stepping forward.