Landsharks

Chapter 1 - Genesys

Dear Dr Kim,

I hope this email finds you well.

There has been an incident at the laboratory. Upon arrival this morning at 07:23, I discovered that several intruders had tunneled in from underneath our building and taken the Otodus pups. Presently Ellen is coordinating a search of the surrounding area for a point of entry, but I've reviewed last night's CCTV footage and wasn't able to identify any suspicious activity in the immediate vicinity of the GeneSys complex. This appears to have been an extraordinarily sophisticated operation. As you can see in the attached photos, there are three small tunnels just in front of the destroyed aquarium, all of which have been filled in with soil and rubble by the exiting perpetrators, rendering us unable to follow their exit routes.

As of the moment, I have not reported the breach to the police, given the sensitive nature of our work. I hope you don't mind if I leave the decision of which, if any, authorities to contact up to you.

Dr Saghir stared at his computer screen, disliking the last paragraph of his email. It seemed to him to convey the defeat he felt while typing it and Dr Saghir preferred to keep his communications professional and free from extraneous emotion. Water dripped from the shattered fish tank, echoing wetly around the laboratory as Dr Saghir continued to overthink his email, which, if he was honest with himself, was absolutely fine and should, most crucially, be sent without delay. Dr Saghir was not honest with himself and with a determined furrowing of his brow he deleted the last paragraph and instead typed:

The breach is yet to be reported to the authorities, pending your further instruction.

Kind regards,

Dr. Muhammad Saghir

Head of Bioengineering

GeneSys Biotech Solutions

M: 0789 4363797

Dr Saghir moved the cursor tentatively toward the Send button and circled it a few times, perhaps hoping for sudden IT issues. No, but then he would have to call Dr Kim on the phone. Dr Saghir shuddered at the thought. Bravely, he aimed for the dreaded Send button, lifted his index finger and - with a click, the laboratory door swung open, revealing a round-faced woman in her fifties and a grey suit. The lines on her face, which had formed through several decades of being caring and empathetic, were now twisted into an expression that put the fear of God into Dr Saghir. She was furious.

'Mo!' Dr Kim bellowed.

'Hyun-Jae!' Dr Saghir exclaimed with feigned relief. 'I was just...' he gestured vaguely at his computer screen in lieu of coherent sentence completion.

'...exacerbating your anxiety disorder by ruminating over every single word in an email to me instead of simply picking up the phone?' Dr Kim offered sarcastically.

'I...' Dr Saghir began.

'Like Ellen did?' Dr Kim continued. 'Thank you, by the way, Ellen,' Dr Kim said softly, smiling kindly at the young scientist who had just entered, carrying a mop and bucket, 'for acting with a sense of urgency,' she added sharply, raising an eyebrow at Dr Saghir, whose narrowed eyes had followed Ellen from the door to the far end of the lab.

'I thought this would be best put in writing,' he protested.

'I tHoUgHt tHiS wOuLd bE bEsT pUt iN wRiTiNg,' Dr Kim mocked in the stupidest voice she could possibly muster, whilst moving her arms back and forth in a disordered manner with her wrists bent forward.

'That's offen...' -

'tHat'S oFfEnSiVe! Shut up Mo! I wouldn't have been here for another hour, had Ellen not called me. Go and feed the mole rats!"