Page 19 of Shallow Remains

Lachlan aimed the boat that way as if he’d been watching her.

“There,” she said. “The tall Douglas Fir.”

“I see it,” Xanthe said. “So we’re right in its viewpoint now.”

“Pretty much. The footage I showed you is just out there.” She pointed off the port bow, where she’d seen that strange shadow moving under the surface.

Lachlan steered them over that way.

“Can you hold us here for a bit?” Xanthe called to him.

“Wilco.” The sound of the engines dropped down to a low idle, the boat rocking gently from side to side in the low swells. “Just gonna turn us around a bit so we’re not taking the swells broadside.” He spun them slightly to point the bow toward the incoming waves.

Maddy glanced back toward the beach. “The tide’s partway out.” Looked like it was coming back in now. She peered over the edge of the boat. Saw swaying seaweed and rocks passing beneath them in the transparent green water. “It’s not very deep here.”

“No.” Xanthe turned to Lachlan. “How deep would it get here at high tide?”

He glanced around. Lifted a broad shoulder. “Forty, fifty feet maybe. Tops.”

Maddy looked at Xanthe. “That’s plenty deep for something to move through here under the surface with sonar.”

“For what to move through?” Bronwyn asked behind them.

“Oh. Orcas,” Xanthe lied, shooting Maddy a look.

Not necessary. Maddy hadn’t been about to tell the others her suspicion.

If she was right about what she’d seen on that video, there was something happening here that needed to be looked into further by intelligence professionals. Starting with Blaine so he could work the most trusted contacts within his personal network.

The fewer people who knew about it, the better. Especially if they were civilians. If this turned out to be the tip of something bad, she didn’t want to put anyone in danger.

“Heads up, eleven o’clock,” Lachlan said.

They both looked that way to see a group of dorsal fins spearing the surface of the water in the distance.

“Oh! Xanthe, who are they?” Bronwyn asked, rushing over to the bow to look through her binoculars.

Xanthe looked through her own set at the approaching orcas. “Their dorsal fins are on the smaller side and curved. See how they’re moving leisurely and pausing to do some tail slaps? They’re Southern Residents exhibiting either play or hunting behavior. I don’t see Triton’s dorsal fin… Definitely not K-pod. I think maybe J-pod.”

“I love that you know all of that from this far away,” Bronwyn murmured, watching the animals come closer.

“That’s because you’re a galactic nerd,” Willow said, standing next to her as she looked through her binos.

“Galactic? Nice. Can’t help it though. I love learning stuff.”

“It’s a scientist thing,” Xanthe said. “Our brains are hardwired that way. Yep, that’s definitely J-pod. See the flopped-over dorsal fin near the back? That’s a middle-aged male named Droopy.”

“Aww, hi, Droopy.” Bronwyn almost seemed more excited than Xanthe.

“You know, we’ve got some marine mammal skeletal collections at the research center if you’re interested,” Xanthe added.

Bronwyn whipped her head around to stare at her. “Interested? Oh, man, I would love that.”

Maddy grinned. Bronwyn’s enthusiasm was contagious. She’d never been curious about marine mammal skeletal remains before, but now they sounded kind of exciting. And who better to teach her about them than Xanthe and Bronwyn?

Lachlan cut the engines as the pod neared the legal distance limit that boats needed to stay away from them. Vessels weren’t allowed to get close to the orcas, but the orcas obviously could do what they wanted, and vessels had to respond accordingly.

Bronwyn and Willow took their phones out to record some video as the orcas passed by less than a hundred yards off the bow. They cut through the water like sleek blades, their movements effortless.