Chapter 1

She opened her eyes slowly. Light streamed through a small window above and to the right of where she lay. A soft smile lingered on her lips as she felt a fluttering movement. Her hand went unconsciously to her bulging belly as she felt the form of her baby move against it. Contentment flowed through her as she felt the slow rocking of the waves. Her mind drifted in the twilight sea of sleep as the tune of La Mer wafted through her dreams.

A voice interrupted her reverie. "Happy anniversary, my dear."

She stretched slightly and opened her eyes. Her eyes crinkled with delight. "You are awake." She rolled over and stared amorously into eyes that glimmered with guile. "What are you up to?"

He sat up and threw his legs over the side of the bed as he reached for his shirt. "Whatever makes you think I am hiding something, my dear?"

"Oh I know you cannot be trusted," she said with mock seriousness as she sidled up to him and kissed his neck.

"My dear," he said as he turned his head to catch her eye. "I could never hide anything from you. You know that." She kissed him again for his confession. "I have something for you, " he stated as if changing the subject. She rolled her eyes and pulled the blanket around herself as he stood and opened a drawer near the bed.

He pulled a box out of the drawer and placed it on the small table near the bed. A grin enveloped her face as she opened the box and pulled a music box out of it. She opened the box to reveal a petite statuette of a ballerina spinning gracefully to pretty music. He stood with a satisfied look in his eyes as she admired the gift. "It's lovely, Robert," she gushed.

"Well, I'm glad you like it!" he said with satisfaction.

"I love it!"

"We should be back in Tahiti in about three days and when we get there, I've got something else in store for you."

"You spoil me."

Robert sat on the edge of the bed again and took her hand. "Well, with the baby on the way we really need to get you back to a more comfortable existence. I don't know how you talked me into bringing you on this latest expedition."

She pushed him playfully with her free hand. "You think I wanted to stay at home pregnant while you sailed the ocean without me? What if you shipwrecked? Our child would never know her father."

Robert laughed, "You have a point there and you're always right!" He kissed her. "I better go to the bridge and make sure the crew doesn't have us sailing off the edge of the ocean."

"I'll be up in a moment," she promised as she watched him stand and leave the room. She rewound the music box and watched dreamily as the ballerina twirled on its miniature stage.

She opened the door to the wheelhouse and stepped inside carefully sipping her coffee. Robert was distracted enough not to notice her entrance. He and Montand were huddled over the chart table studying the map. "There is nothing there," Robert was saying emphatically.

"Listen, I'm just saying we should have a look. It shouldn't delay us more than a day." Montand straightened up and folded his arms as if had been decided. Robert noticed her standing just inside the door. She smiled at her and he smiled back. Montand followed Robert's gaze to her. "Bonjour, Danielle."

"So what did you find, Montand?" Danielle asked.

"We came across an anomalous signal this morning. I'm trying to convince Robert that we should investigate. Robert doesn't want to delay our transit to Tahiti." Montand raised his eyebrow at Robert.

Robert shifted uneasily not wanting to appear overprotective of Danielle. "I don't see the value in it. What would we accomplish? It means nothing. Besides, why postpone our arrival in Tahiti?"

"Well, what kind of signal are you talking about? Was it a distress signal?" Danielle asked, ignoring Robert's agitation.

"It was a voice message repeating a series of numbers on a continuous loop. Listen to this." Montand moved toward the radio and flipped a switch.

"8 . . . 15 . . . 16 . . . 23 . . . 42 . . . 4 . . . 8 . . . 15 . . . 16 . . . 23 . . . 42 . . 4 . . . 8 . . . 15 . . . 16 . . . 23 . . . 42 . . . 4 . . . 8 . . . 15 . . . 16 . . . 23 . . . 42 . . ."

"What does it mean?"

"I don't know." Montand noted some interest in Danielle's question and pounced on it. "It is intriguing though, isn't it? A mysterious message coming from an uncharted sector of ocean."

Robert could see that Danielle was mulling it over and recognized the look in her eyes. She had always been one for adventure and he had always felt guilty for being overprotective of her. He wanted her to be happy. But he also didn't want to see her get hurt. He walked a fine line. His instinct was to keep her confined in the safety of his arms. But he knew in his heart that if he tried to hold her back, she would be miserable. Robert also realized that Montand was aware of this dynamic and felt frustrated when he used it to manipulate the situation. "I just have a bad feeling about it," Robert finally said in defeat. Montand really was incorrigible.

"You were saying it would only delay us by about a day?" Danielle asked setting her coffee on the table. Montand nodded. "I don't see the harm in it, Robert," she said in an earnest voice.

Robert's acquiescence was complete. "If it is something you want to do, then I guess it will be alright, my dear."

Montand could see that he had won and smiled with some swagger. "Let's change course then." He clapped his hands together and turned to make it so.

Robert and Danielle's eyes met and she flashed a smile at him. He figured it would be okay. It really wouldn't delay them that much and it would make Danielle happy. Robert smiled back at her.

Robert and Danielle met at the University of Quebec in 1985. Danielle had transferred from The University of Rijeka in Croatia to Canada to pursue her doctorate. Robert was a research associate with his office at the oceanography center at Rimouski, Canada. It didn't take long for her to catch his notice. There was something intriguing about her, something that the other women he had dated didn't have. The adventurous spirit she held in her eyes drew him in. She was independent, but also vulnerable.

He was a romantic at heart and felt a yearning to protect her though she didn't need protection. It was a common theme in his relationships. He was attracted to strong self-sufficient women, but he had an underlying urge to shield them from danger. This dichotomy often disrupted any long-term romances. But that wasn't the case with Danielle. She put on an air of obliviousness to his protectiveness, but deep down she respected his motives for what they were.

They were married the next year and things seemed to be going well for them. Before long Robert was selected for a professorship at the newly formed French University of the Pacific. Danielle was more ecstatic than Robert. He was thrilled with the prospect of his career taking off, but it was tempered with his natural worry for Danielle. "We will have a research vessel at our disposal and they are giving me full autonomy for picking my own research assistants," he had told her after being extended the job.

She had thrown her arms around him at the news. "I have some news of my own. You're going to be a father!"

He pulled back enough to look into her eyes and reveled with her at the news. Then he hesitated as it sank in. He was going to be moving his pregnant wife to a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and she was going to want to be involved in his research. She saw the look in his eye and smirked at him. "I'm sure they have hospitals in Tahiti," she had stated.

Robert treated it like a question. "Of course, my dear, not to worry, they have fine medical facilities in Tahiti. It is a very modern place," he had said to reassure himself more than her.

Things went smoothly in their transition to the island. They found a residence in Papeete, and she got a job working with a research group involved with non-linear physics. She had used her influence on Robert to have him include her on this latest voyage despite the fact that she was 7 months pregnant. He had learned to push his fears of losing her deep below the surface, but it was starting to get difficult to hide it anymore. He was counting the hours until they landed in Tahiti. He couldn't wait to have her safely at home. At home where he had more control over her defenses.

The storm arrived faster than any Danielle had imagined in her short time as a seafarer. It had been calm throughout the morning and early afternoon, but dusk arrived sooner than expected. The foreboding clouds in the distance gave little warning as they rushed across the sky like a torrential mountain stream after the first spring melt. The water fell in sheets that made visibility nil. The deck moved in undulating motions below her feet and made her instinctually want to move to the center of gravity of the ship.

Her cabin that she shared with Robert was on the upper deck, which exacerbated the swaying motion she felt. She was grateful that sea legs had come naturally to her. As she made her way down the passageway toward the ladder that led to the engine room, she saw Brennan. His partially concealed form was braced in the corner against the bulkhead at the foot of the ladder that led up to the bridge.

He looked his natural calm. His gray eyes were steady in the almost blank stare others that knew him were accustomed to. He noticed Danielle as she approached and he allowed a small smile to crawl across his lips. It looked to her as if he were expecting her and this piqued her curiosity even more. "Hello, Dani."

She shuddered inwardly. Brennan had always given her the creeps. She didn't know why he did. Perhaps it was the counterfeit politeness that he always showed her. His mouth smiled, but it never spread to his eyes; the cold calculating eyes that stared through her without blinking. She found her mind wandering to the primal pit of her nightmares as she stared back. She reached for the handrail. The silent deadlock of his gaze was broken as she looked at the deck. "Some storm, eh?"

The distant smile never left his lips. "This kind of thing isn't that uncommon in this part of the world." He finally allowed himself to glance up the ladder toward the bridge. "What brings you out in a storm like this?"

"I was going to the engine room to see if Girard needed assistance." It was a half lie, she was interested in how the engines were holding up. It wasn't uncommon for her to bombard the ship engineer with questions about how the equipment in the machinery spaces worked. Brennan appeared slightly bored with her answer. He bought it, she thought. Lies came easily around him. His personality seemed to foster them. She hadn't wanted to give Brennan any occasion to find a weakness in her.

The scene suddenly seemed out of place to her. Something wasn't right. Her brow creased as she forgot her qualms and ventured a searching look into his vacant eyes. It was now obvious that he was hiding something. This time when he met her gaze, his normally guarded eyes gave it away. He could tell that she saw it. He fought the urge to look up the ladder again and clenched his teeth instead. After a moment his manner changed almost imperceptibly. It was as if his mind had decided upon something. "Robert wanted me to divert you. He didn't want you to be worried what with all that is going on." He wasn't talking about the storm.

She set her jaw and pulled herself along the handrail to the foot of the ladder. In her pregnant state, she was barely able to squeeze past Brennan. His duty completed, Brennan made his way forward and abandoned his post.

Whatever worry the storm had brought was bolstered with the expectation of something far worse. The door at the top of the ladder was open and she made her way onto the bridge. What she saw stopped her in her tracks. The normal banter between the two men was replaced by a palpable hopelessness.

When Robert turned his eyes to her, the fear she saw there shook her to the very core. Montand was grim as well. "It started just before the storm hit," he began. "The compass was going haywire."

Robert returned his gaze to the window as Montand spoke. It was darker than night out there. He had a look of utter failure about him. Montand continued. "The rest of our instrumentation went out shortly afterwards. During one of the lightning flashes we saw what looked like an island. The storm is blowing up toward it."

"We are going to die," Robert interrupted. His voice seemed hauntingly detached from his lips. "If we catch our hull on a reef with the wind pushing us around like it is . . ." His voice trailed off.

Danielle opened her mouth to respond, but she never got her words out. She was startled by a loud artificial sounding howl. Her mind went to the main engines, but it didn't sound right. It sounded horribly wrong. Then the unmistakable sound of metal tearing. The ship immediately listed to starboard with enough violence to throw them all to the deck. After a beat, the lights went out.

Danielle tried to get her bearings in the pitch-blackness, but it was useless. Something heavy impacted the back of her head and she fell to the deck again. She reached her hand to her head and felt wetness there. She felt herself spinning into what seemed to be an abyss of confusion and then she felt nothing.