Chloe had refused to speak to him or anyone else until they had refueled and were on their way. Only after the Wanderer had left the Indian naval base behind did she finally tell him. Ethan was initially skeptical since he had never heard the intercepted recording, but he continued to trust in her implicitly, and so he went ahead with an alternate plan.
Owens sat in his high captain’s chair, just a few meters behind the helm controls. Both men had been silent for several hours now as the ship continued on a southwesterly course. Owens was studying something on his laptop with a studious look on his face.
Ethan could tell the other man was puzzled when he ordered the Wanderer to change her course, away from the designated search grid for the missing US Navy submarine. But just like him, the captain remained loyal to Chloe, and he appreciated it.
A young man with a goatee poked his head into the bridge. “We’ve got a Lieutenant Chafee from the Navy on the radio.”
“I’ll take it,” Ethan said as he wheeled around and walked into the adjacent radio room. Picking up the microphone, he identified himself and exchanged a quick greeting.
“My skipper wants to know your position relative to the search grid, over,” Chafee said.
Here we go, Ethan thought. I’m going to have to lie a little to the US Navy. “Uh, negative on that, Lieutenant. You see, our radio… received a distress call from a diving support vessel to the southwest of us and we are proceeding to investigate, over.”
There was a momentary pause on the other end. “Say again, Wanderer, over.”
“I say again, we received a possible mayday from a diving support vessel, the Skandi Aurora, about a few hours ago, so we are heading to her last probable location, over.”
“Understood, Wanderer. Please be advised, none of the other ships in the vicinity have received any distress calls. Can you confirm, over?”
“We…uh, can’t confirm it at this point, but we are investigating and will update you once we’ve spotted anything, over.”
“Copy that, Wanderer. Please advise us when you get an update. Over and out.”
Ethan let out a deep breath as he handed the microphone back to the radio operator. “I guess I’m not cut out to be a good liar. I hope this won’t ruin my relationship with them.”
The young man gave a confident nod. “Chloe did a lot for me, so I’m with her all the way.”
“So am I,” Ethan said, smiling. “Stick close to the radio, and tell me if you hear anything else.”
“Will do, Mr. Riis.”
Turning around, Ethan headed back into the bridge. He could see that Owens had activated the flat-screen monitor by the starboard wall, and the display showed a recently updated satellite image of the area around them.
Ethan walked over and stood beside him. “What have you got there, Deke?”
“Just got an email from one of my friends who knows another guy who’s affiliated with C-SIGMA. After calling in a lot of favors, he managed to get me a series of images from the past forty-eight hours of the entire sea.”
“C-SIGMA? What are they?”
“It’s short for Collaboration in Space for International Global Maritime Awareness,” Owens explained. “It’s a multinational initiative based in Ireland, and it consists of satellite owners who continuously share maritime traffic information to keep track of shipping.”
Ethan was impressed. “Jeez, Deke, I never knew you had all those contacts before.”
The Wanderer’s captain gave a mocking hiss. “O ye of little faith. Back when I started out working for your father, he always told me to network with everyone you meet, because you never know when you can use their help in the future.”
Ethan threw his hands up in a gesture of peace. “Hey, I’m not making fun of you. I know I’m putting us all out on a limb here, but Chloe totally believes that her brother’s work boat is in some kind of trouble.”
“Based on these satellite images, I think she’s right.”
Ethan’s eyebrows shot up. “What? Could you explain?”
Using a remote control, Owens shifted back and forth between two nearly identical images. “These photos we’re looking at were taken within twenty-four hour intervals,” he said, pointing to what looked like a white object in the bluish expanse before switching to the next picture. “You notice that the object I was pointing to is no longer there in this last image?”
Ethan bit his lip. “You think that white blot you showed me is the Skandi Aurora?”
Owens nodded. “Oh yeah. Any vessel that weighs more than three hundred tons has to have an AIS on her. Maritime regulations demand it.”
“AIS?”
“Automatic Identification System,” Owens said. “These transmitters are like aircraft transponders, and they signal a ship’s registered name, tonnage, length, speed, position, and course. I double checked this with C-SIGMA, and I’m pretty sure that the object on the previous image we got was the Skandi Aurora.”
“But with a one day interval between satellite imaging, isn’t it possible that she just moved somewhere else?”
Owens pointed to the newest image on the screen. “Have a look.”
Ethan squinted, but he failed to find the object. “I can’t see her anymore.”
“Right,” Owens said. “So she might have been sunk.”
Ethan took a few steps back. “Jesus H Christ.”
Owens walked back to the helm console. “According to her AIS information that I crosschecked with C-SIGMA, the Skandi Aurora’s position hadn’t changed for almost two weeks, so that means she must have been holding steady doing a deep dive construction job. Now that we’ve got information on where her last position was, we can start looking for her.”
“How long till we get there?”
“Give or take, another twelve hours, maybe.”
“Okay, full speed ahead.”
“We’re already doing twenty-five knots,” Owens said. “We’ve been going at flank speed ever since we left Sydney.”
Ethan nodded as he began to head towards the exit. “Okay, Deke. Just keep her together, that’s all I ask.”
“You want to be the one to tell Chloe about this new development?”
“I guess I’d better,” Ethan said before he opened the door and left.
31
AS HE MADE HIS WAY down the stairs to the middle decks of the Wanderer, Ethan’s satellite phone started ringing. After glancing at the incoming caller ID number, he moistened his dry throat before answering it. “Hi, honey. How are things?”
“Both your daughters have been wondering where their daddy went since he was supposed to come back three days ago,” Colleen said.
“Yeah, about that,” Ethan paused before he continued. “Listen, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to Sally’s birthday.”
The voice on the other end of the line quickly turned serious. “What’s going on?”
“It’s about Chloe’s brother,” Ethan said softly. “His ship’s gone missing, and we’re heading south along the Arabian Sea to try and find him.”
“Oh my god.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you alert the authorities? How come I haven’t seen anything on the news or on the net?”
“I think the company her brother is working for is trying to hide it from the public.”
“B-but that’s illegal, isn’t it?”
“We don’t know the full details yet. The only information we have is that the ship in question is missing on the updated satellite images we’ve received,” Ethan said. “Once we get to the area and make some sort of confirmation, then I’m going to make sure the whole world knows about what’s happened.”