Ocean Blue (Sea Lab Book 1)

CHAPTER 55

ATLANTIS RESEARCH VESSEL — DAYBREAK 

Cat nudged her chair close to the conference table and tapped the enter key on her laptop. The communication program started up and linked her to Director Hardy in a matter of seconds. She transferred the incoming signal to the flat screen monitor mounted on the back wall of the cramped meeting room. The high-definition display emphasized the craggy lines feathering out from the corners of the director's eyes. She was about to watch the wrinkles grow like algae on a dying coral reef with the news she had to bear.

"What is it now?" Hardy asked. "I hope you're calling to tell me they're all aboard the Atlantis and ready to set sail."

How was she going to break this? "Something's come up."

"I can feel a gray hair sprouting as we speak. What is it?"

"It's Sarah."

The color drained from his face. She didn't need to say another word except to inform him of how severe the problem was. Cat looked down to avoid his stare, but only bumped into his fiery countenance on her laptop screen. She could tell from his arched brows, which loomed like a pair of thunderheads, that he was on the verge of hopping the next plane to Sydney.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice hollow.

"Zanderthal's chauffeur slash security chief abducted her. His name is Takeshi Ishikawa."

"What... how?" Hardy shook his head. "I don't understand. They were all at the hotel, safe, last night."

Cat rehashed the account Jake and Tony gave her of the early morning events. "Ishikawa is likely the same individual who blasted Sarah's house."

"Yeah, I know who he is, remember? I'm the one who sent you the pictures from Tahiti. I'm going to contact Zanderthal now and threaten to take his entire scheme to the media."

"That might drive him to more violence, William." Cat was the only person who called him by his first name, for reasons they liked to keep secret. "We've already got evidence linking him to three murders. What's a fourth one to him?"

Hardy opened his mouth to speak, looked at her for a moment, seemed to read her mind, and then lit into her. "Don't even tell me Jake and Tony have hatched a plan to rescue her."

Cat hesitated and wanted to glance away, but his penetrating gaze trapped her. When she found the nerve to speak, she chose her words carefully. "I've also got plans to use the security force we hired for the Atlantis."

"I take it that's not your first option."

"I'm about to send them on a mission to Zanderthal's remote compound."

"So you've already sent Jake and Tony out for recon?"

"That's correct. They've found something. A ship." She told him about the three semi trucks and the sea port thirty miles south of Sydney.

"To do it in the middle of the night means he wanted as little fanfare as possible," Hardy said with a pained face.

"They may or may not be setting sail at the moment, but regardless, Jake and Tony are on their way back to the quay to prepare for the inevitable." Cat checked her watch. "I expect them any minute."