"She found out that Petrenko didn't pick up anyone last weekend because he wasn't even in the country. He was at an estate auction in Paris from Saturday to Monday. It was a setup. A trap. No one is closing in on the boat, so it must be down there. The canisters."

"Then what the hell am I looking at?"

"What do you see?"

"Four cylinders. They appear to be welded together. There's no silt on them, so they haven't been here for long. There's no way the Silent Thunder deposited them here six years ago."

"Are they missiles?"

"No, not like in the video, but they are red. They're less than three yards from me."

"Don't do anything."

"After all this time and effort, we're just going to pack up and take LISA home?"

"It could be a trap. Pavski may have wanted us to find those cylinders."

"You really believe that? If I hadn't thought to look at the files in that music player-"

"I would have thought of it. I would have eventually gone through everything. And Pavski knows that. The information had to be hidden well enough that we wouldn't suspect a trap."

"You're giving him a lot of credit."

"He's earned it, believe me. A lot of people have died underestimating Pavski."

She stared at the cylinders. "It's so damned frustrating. They're right in front of me."

"It's not worth it, Hannah. It might be a booby trap."

"I won't go any closer. Let me at least do a sweep with the radio and sonar sensors."

Kirov paused for a long moment. "Okay, but be careful. And whatever you do, don't touch it."

She grasped a tiny joystick on the main console and focused the secondary parabolic antenna toward the canisters. She wished she were in one of her other pods, designed for salvage missions rather than the study of natural phenomena. LISA's options were limited in this type of operation.

Hannah switched on the scanner to determine if the canisters were emanating radio waves. After a few seconds, the scanner's scope lit up with a rhythmic visual pattern. "Okay, I'm getting a low-frequency pulse. Probably the GPS locator signal."

"Fine. Now get out of there."

"Not yet. I'm bouncing sonar off them, and there appears to be some dense mass there. They're not hollow."

"I never thought they were. Happy now?"

"Just another few seconds." She steered LISA over the canisters to give her sensors a clearer shot. "Okay, I'm getting some magnetic readings."

"How intense?"

"Strong… and suddenly getting stronger." She watched the readout. "The magnetic readings are going through the roof."

"Hannah, you may have triggered an explosive device. Get the hell out of there!"

Hannah hit the ballast control. "I'm on my way."

The pod didn't move.

What in the hell?

Clang.

A heavy metallic sound echoed in the small pod, and LISA listed hard to the right. Hannah looked out the observation window.

The canisters were gone.

Their imprint was all that was left on the ocean floor.

"Hannah?" Kirov shouted.

"Christ!" She struggled with the controls. "I must have activated an electromagnet in those cylinders. It's attached itself to LISA."

"Shake it off. Now!"

"I'm working on it!" She thrust the pod forward, skipping along the sea bottom. Each impact shook the pod with bone-numbing force.

Come on, LISA, hold together…

The canisters scraped along the hull, but remained affixed to LISA's underside.

Shit.

She punched the ballast control and rocketed upward. The canisters shook against the intense pressure.

"Hurry," Kirov said. "Pavski doesn't believe in long trigger sequences."

The entire pod shook. Sweat ran down Hannah's face, and her nose suddenly dripped cold and wet.

Blood. From the sudden pressure change, she realized.

"Hannah…!"

"The cylinders aren't budging. I can't shake them!"

"Don't give up. Try."

She tasted the blood in her mouth. Christ almighty.

A massive rock formation suddenly filled her front window. She pulled the control stick and spun clear.

A near miss. She'd seen it on the sonar on the way down, but thought she was farther away from-

Wait a second.

She eased off the ballast control and slowed her ascent. No time to figure all the angles on this one. She swung back and charged toward the formation.

Was she out of her mind?

No doubt. A six-inch piloting error would slam her against a rock wall.

But any port in a storm…

She gunned the engines, hurtling faster toward the craggy formation.

Study the features, pick the best spot…

At the last instant, she tilted forty-five degrees to the port side and skimmed over the formation, ramming the cylinders against its sheer face. She accelerated and pulled the auxiliary ballast tank release lever. Compressed air blasted from the pod's backside, further repelling the magnetized cylinders while LISA sped away.

She was free!

No time to celebrate, she thought. Keep moving.

Hannah pushed the engine harder. "Come on, baby. Give me some distance."

Her rearview screen suddenly lit up with a white, intense light that cast an eerily beautiful glow over the area. The underwater formation was now part of a majestic mountain range, stretching as far as Hannah could see.

The shock wave hit a moment later.

The pod violently rocked and tilted on its axis, spinning out of control as the power flickered on and off. Hannah gritted her teeth and closed her eyes as a dull roar overtook LISA.

She felt the bomb's explosive force in the hull, the equipment plates, in her bones and teeth.

No way in hell could LISA withstand this kind of force.

Then, finally, it stopped.

Total silence, except for the high-pitched whine of the emergency lamps.

Hannah opened her eyes and was startled when LISA's power systems suddenly came back online.

She checked the diagnostic readings. All critical systems functioning normally.

She took a deep breath and smiled. "Good girl."

Two hours later Hannah sat in the rental boat's main cabin, holding a mask to her face and slowly breathing the pure oxygen needed to treat the ill effects of her rapid ascension…

Kirov turned from the wheel. "How are you feeling? Still faint?"

"A little. Funny thing about hyperbaric chambers. There's never one around when you need one."

"Do you want me to radio for a helicopter?"

"You'd really do that? It would be pretty hard to hide from Bradworth after drawing that kind of attention."

"I'd find a way."

"No need. It's not that severe. I was careful coming up."

"We should be back at the Aurora by nightfall. I spoke to Captain Tanbury during your ascent, and he says no one is giving him trouble about LISA's absence yet."

"Good." Hannah pulled a blanket tight around her. "You're right about Pavski-it's not wise to underestimate him. He almost killed me down there."

"I'm the one he wants dead. Remember, if you hadn't been so stubborn, I would have been with you."

"If you'd been with me, we'd both be dead. The only reason I was able to maneuver with that bomb weighing me down was that LISA was a man short."

"Stop being reasonable. I'm not in the mood for logic." Kirov sat down next to her. "I'm mad as hell."

"At me?"

"Yes, you should have gotten out of there." He scowled. "No, I'm mad at myself. I should have seen it coming."

"Why? How could you? I sure as hell didn't."

"I know Pavski. After all these years, I should know how his mind works. He obviously knows how mine works."

Hannah studied him. "When this is over, after Pavski is dead, what will you do then?"

"You think my entire existence has been defined by a thirst for revenge? Once I lay down this last piece of the puzzle, my life will have no meaning?"