He caught a glimpse of her head between two waves. A second woman was with her. The orcas had surrounded the upturned Zodiac and were closing in from both sides. Their shiny black heads cut through the waves, jaws parted to reveal rows of ivory teeth. In a few seconds they would be upon the women. But Greywolf was at the wheel, steering purposefully towards them.

Anawak held out a hand to Stringer.

'Take her first,' she shouted.

Greywolf helped him drag the other woman to safety. Then Stringer tried to climb on board. She slid back into the water and the whales dived down behind her.

Suddenly she was alone. 'Leon?' She stretched out her arms, eves wide with fear. Anawak caught her right hand.

The blue-green water parted as something shot up at incredible speed. Its jaws were open, exposing white teeth. Then they snapped shut and Stringer screamed. Her fist hammered on the snout that held her prisoner. 'Get off she yelled.

Anawak's fingers dug into her jacket. Their eyes met. 'Susan! Give me your other hand!' He held on to her, determined not to let go, but the orca's jaws were clamped round her. Her mouth opened in a dull cry that become a piercing scream. With a sickening jolt, she was wrenched from Anawak's grip. Her head disappeared underwater, then her arms and her twitching fingers. For a second her orange suit shone in the water, a scattered kaleidoscope of colour that paled, faded and vanished.

Anawak stared at the water. Something glittered in the depths. A column of bubbles. As they reached the surface they popped and foamed.

Then the water turned red.

'No,' he whispered.

Greywolf pulled him away from the railings. 'There's no one here,' he said. 'Let's go.'

As the motorboat roared off, Anawak tripped and steadied himself. The woman whom Stringer had saved was lying on a bench, whimpering softly. Delaware was soothing her, voice shaking. The man stared fixedly ahead.

From across the water Anawak heard another commotion. He whirled round and saw that the Lady Wexham was surrounded by blades and humps. She was barely moving and listed dangerously to one side.

'We have to turn back!' he shouted. 'They're not going to make it!'

Greywolf was powering towards the coast. 'Forget it.'

Anawak reached over and snatched up the walkie-talkie. He tried to call the Lady Wexham. The radio crackled and hissed. 'We've got to help them, Jack! Turn back, damn it!'

'With this boat it's hopeless. We'll be lucky if we make it ourselves.' The worst thing was, he was right.

'VICTORIA?' SHOEMAKER YELLED into the phone. 'What the hell are they doing in Victoria?… Why? Doesn't Victoria have its own Coast Guard? There are people drowning in Clayoquot Sound! We've got one skipper dead and a boat going down and you're telling me to be patient?'

He strode up and down in the office, waiting for a reply. He stopped in his tracks. 'As soon as they can? Sorry, but I'm not interested in your damn excuses. Send someone else… What? Now, just you listen to me…'

The voice at the other end of the line was so loud that, metres away, Anawak heard it. The station was in turmoil. Davie and Shoemaker had been talking non-stop into radios and phones. Shoemaker dropped the receiver and shook his head.

'What's going on?' asked Anawak. Greywolf's decrepit old boat had fought its way back to Tofino fifteen minutes earlier, and since then the office had been swamped with people. The news of the attack had spread like wildfire through the town. All the skippers who worked for the station had come in and the frequencies were jammed. At first nearby sport fishermen had called in, ridiculing the inexperienced idiots 'too dumb to dodge a bunch of whales', and bragging about how they would save them. Then the calls had dried up. Anyone who tried to help had become the target of a fresh attack. All hell had broken loose – and no one knew for sure what was going on.

'The Coast Guard's run out of people to send us,' said Shoemaker angrily. 'They've all been dispatched to Victoria or Ucluelet. Apparently the Lady isn't the only boat in trouble.'

'More attacks?'

'And deaths, by the sound of it.'

'News from Ucluelet,' Davie called. He reached behind the counter and twiddled the dials on his shortwave radio. 'A signal from a trawler. She picked up a distress call from a Zodiac and went to help, but she was attacked. She's turning round.'

'What kind of attack?'

'Signal's gone. I've lost her.'

'And the Lady Wexham?

'No news. Tofino Air has sent two planes – I got hold of them just now.'

'And?' asked Shoemaker impatiently. 'Can they see the Lady?'

'Tom, they only just took off.'

'Why aren't we with them?'

'Don't be a jerk. You know perfectly well why-'

'They're our boats, for Christ's sake! We should be in those darned planes.' Shoemaker was pacing wildly. 'What's happened to the Lady?'

'We'll have to wait and see.'

'Wait? We can't wait! I'm going out there.'

'Tom-'

'We've got another Zodiac, haven't we? We'll take the Devilfish and see for ourselves.'

'Are you nuts?' said a skipper. 'Haven't you been listening to a word Leon's said? We need to leave this to the Coast Guard.'

'There is no Coast Guard!' yelled Shoemaker.

'Maybe the Lady Wexham will make it back without us. Leon said-'

'Maybe isn't good enough. I'm going out there!'

'That's enough now!' Davie held up a hand to silence them. He shot Shoemaker a warning glare. 'Enough lives have been lost, Tom. I don't want anyone taking needless risks. 'We'll wait for the pilots to report back, then we'll decide what to do.'

'Doing nothing never solved anything!'

Davie didn't answer. He was tuning his radio, trying to make contact with the seaplanes. In the meantime Anawak did his best to persuade the crowd to leave the office. His knees trembled and he felt dizzy. He was probably in shock, he thought. He would have given anything to lie down and close his eyes – but if he did, he knew he would see Stringer in the jaws of an orca.

The woman she had saved was lying semi-conscious on a bench near the door. If it hadn't been for her, Stringer would still be alive. The man they'd rescued was sitting next to her, crying softly: he'd lost his daughter, who'd been with him on the boat. Alicia Delaware was looking after him. For someone who'd only narrowly escaped death, she seemed remarkably composed. A helicopter was supposed to be on its way to take them to hospital, but right now they couldn't count on anyone or anything.

'Hey, Leon!' said Shoemaker. 'Will you come with me? You'll be able to tell me what to look out for.'

'Tom, you're not going,' snapped Davie.

'None of you idiots should go out there,' said a deep voice. 'Not ever again. I'll go.'

Anawak swivelled round. Greywolf had walked into the station. He pushed his way through the milling crowd, brushing the hair out of his eyes. The room fell silent and everyone stared at the long-haired giant dressed in suede.

'What are you talking about?' said Anawak. 'Go where?'

'I'm going back to your boat, to rescue your people. I'm not afraid of the whales. They won't hurt me.'

'That's very noble of you, Jack, it really is. But from now on maybe you should keep out of it.'

'Leon,' Greywolf snarled, 'if I'd kept out of it earlier, you'd be dead by now. You should keep out. In fact, you should've kept out in the first place.'

'Out of what?' said Shoemaker, with a dangerous edge.

'Nature, Shoemaker. You're the ones to blame for the whole damn disaster – you and your boats and your cameras. You're responsible for the deaths of my people and your own people and the people whose money you pocketed. It was always going to happen. It was only a matter of time.'