AN: Hi everyone. Sorry it's been such a long time since I last updated, especially when it was on a cliffhanger. One of my research supervisors passed away very suddenly and tragically, and since this story is meant to incorporate a real science research component based on what I actually do - it's just been too hard to write. Thank you for everyone who messaged me with concern and everyone who PM'd me with questions, I will try to get back to you all now.

Thank you for all these kind and lovely reviews, if it hadn't been for you I don't think I would have come back to this story at all. I really struggled writing this chapter, I'm still not 100% happy with it but I've decided to move on - I think the rest of this story still has promise and I'm keen to get past this. I think it will be therapeutic to move on. This is a really long chapter, so I hope it helps to make up for all the waiting you guys have had to do.

One good thing that has come out of my long silence is that I survived "living below the line". I lived on $2 AUS a day for food for 5 days to raise awareness for those living in poverty. While I was doing so, I raised an enormous $1097 for education projects in Timor-Leste, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea. That's enough to fund 20 kids through high school, or send 4 people to university and it's absolutely incredible. If you want to find out more about my projects, please PM me or check out the link on my profile.

My beta queried the realism of this chapter. Just to clarify, I based the injuries and treatment on a case study we did in one of my own Biomed courses. You can actually see a short video of the survivor's perspective that I can link you if you want (pm/review and mention it). So while the trauma is severe, it has been previously survived. Grab a teddy while you read, I myself tried writing while listening to the Jaws theme and it became too intense and had to have a good cuddle (ironically) with my fluffy shark, Jacques.

Finally, RIP Martin, we all miss you.

A/N EDIT: It has become apparent that there are some people I cannot message with thanks. Thanks to all the beautiful guests who have reviewed and said so many kind things - if you leave some sort of name I will respond to you individually in the A/N.

Guest who wanted Finnick rescues - your wish is my command ;)

Guest who likes titles - thank you! they amuse me and I hope people get the references haha!

Odesta Lover - no promises :( you'll have to read on!

Guest who loves this story - thank you sweetheart! your review really made me smile, I obsessively check my favourite fanfics as well so for someone to do that with mine is pretty much a dream!

SmileySara96 - aww, thank you lovely! your review made me smile so much! I'm absolutely stoked and flattered that you like this story so much! I will have to do my best to live up to your expectations ;) Perhaps I should try my hand at a book! I do have a few original story ideas written down ... Hmm... ;)

guests discussing cliffhangers, IN CAPSLOCK or otherwise - better pack your rock climbing gear lovelies, because cliff hangers are going to be a regular thing ;) thanks for your kind words!

guest who thinks I am unique - thank you, I like to read quirky original fanfics so that was my aim! mission accomplished!

And I think/hope that's everyone! Please review, it fuels my writing like nutra grain fuels iron men (can you tell I'm 'strayan yet?).

Love, astonmartin177.

Annie's fingertips grazed the ocean surface, but it was wrong.

It should be blue sky seen through dappled sunlight and clear waves. Like Annie loved. But not today. Today it was red. Churning and frothing in a frenzy.

And something was tugging on her. The slight chewing sensation was gone—replaced by an immense, bone-crushing pressure. Annie groped down for her right leg, feeling tattered wetsuit and was that—flesh?

Pain and panic hit Annie simultaneously. She looked down with bile rising in her throat. A grey wedge shaped snout with dark stripes was in the place of where her lower leg should be. Annie would know that flattened nose and stripes anywhere: Galeocerdo cuvier:Row upon row of wickedly curved serrated teeth that could slice through turtle shells like butter. Teeth powered by six hundred kilograms of muscle and sinew driven by millions of years of evolutionarily honed instinct—the need to feed. And that instinct was fixated on her. Annie's sea green eyes locked with the shark's own dull, black orbs. They were expressionless, lifeless—like doll's eyes. Annie might have wondered if it was even alive—if it wasn't currently tearing through her leg.

Annie shoved at its head with her hands—bubbles escaping her mouth as she tried to scream underwater. The shark started to shake her, gyrating from side to side, dragging her through the water as though she weighed no more than a feather. Annie began kicking with her free leg and pounding the shark with all her strength, scratching the snout with her nails. The shark refused to let go, carrying her into the depths with a few swipes of its enormous sickle tail. Her beating fists became weaker, until they almost rested on the snout in defeat. Warm blood was pulsing over her hip in a crimson plume, colouring the ocean red as far as Annie could see. Annie was wracked with fear and nausea and an all consuming need for air.

Air… I need… to breathe…

"O. Oxygen" Professor Abernathy drew on the chalkboard, the chalk squeaking slightly as he punctuated the circle. "We need it for all the processes of life. Can anyone tell me an example of such a cellular process?" He drawled slightly and glanced at his watch irritably. It was nearly lunch time and there was a nice bottle of bourbon with his name on it tantalisingly close in his office.

Annie's hand shot up in the sea of some 400 students immediately. Without waiting to be called upon, she answered in a clear voice, "Aerobic respiration, for oxidation of nutrients to form energy."

"Well done sweetheart, you must have done just dandy in Cellular Biol 2032," he said sarcastically. The auditorium filled with snickers, and Annie's cheeks flushed crimson. She sank into her chair, embarrassed. Internally, the professor berated himself. The university made him give an annual series of lectures as part of his grant conditions and if the students weren't happy, that grant dried up. Students for seals, he reminded himself.

"Uhhh, yes. Without oxygen you're in trouble," he added hastily, running his fingers through his greasy hair. "Now, we get our oxygen through our lungs. Since this is intro to marine anatomy, how do fish obtain oxygen?"

Annie stayed mute, but another voice called out, "Gills."

"Yes, yes. That's right," Haymitch replied, drawing a series of crude straight lines on the board inside what Annie supposed, was a fish. Or perhaps a lollipop on its side.

"Now, the gills are a very sensitive part of any fish. If you block those, the fish can't breathe," Haymitch continued in a very serious voice.

Just then the bell rang, and Haymitch quickly added over the thunder of desks being pushed aside and students standing up, "Read pages 354 to 396, with particular emphasis on gill vasculature! Don't forget, pathophysiology quiz next week!"

Gills.

Gills!

Annie wrenched herself from the inky blackness of unconsciousness and groped blindly around the side of the beast's head. Her right arm strained against the limits of her tendons, fingers desperately scrabbling for purchase on sandpapery skin. Her lungs were burning, screaming at her to take a breath. Her vision was darkening again—when her fingers brushed something feathery. With adrenaline fuelled determination, she viciously jabbed her fingers into the delicate inlet.

The shark's teeth released momentarily, before clamping back down on Annie's leg. Fresh waves of searing white pain shot up her leg. Annie ground her teeth, and stuck her fingers in further, scratching the snout with her free hand. The shark thrashed in pain, churning the water and making Annie even dizzier. Suddenly, Annie burst through the ocean surface, being lifted nearly a metre into the air. She gasped for precious oxygen—only to have her mouth fill with seawater and blood as she was dragged back under—and suddenly brought back up again. She splashed frantically towards the boat, head snapping from side to side as she scanned for the shark, but she couldn't make anything out in the red cloud billowing around her.

Suddenly she let out a blood curdling shriek as she felt hundreds of razors slice down her rib and sink into her thigh. The shark shook her, slapping her from side to side on the ocean surface. Annie was screaming, a guttural cry of terror and pain as she was tossed about, her arms flailing helplessly

And then the shark was dragging her back under.

Deeper.

And deeper.

She'd hardly taken in any air during those brief seconds at the surface. Her head was pounding and her lungs were desperately trying to purge the bloody seawater she'd inhaled. Any second now she would pass out from lack of oxygen, and then she'd drown. A lonely death on the ocean floor in the jaws of a shark.

Dimly, she thought how the Crestas' had made their living on the sea for generations.

Annie wasn't about to be the first Cresta to drown!

In a last ditch effort, Annie reached for that feathery delicate inlet, inserted her hand and violently twisted ninety degrees.

The pressure on her abated instantly. The shark had let her go!

Annie saw the creamy underbelly shoot over her and into the waters beyond the reef with a few flicks of its sickle shaped tail. Her eyebrows furrowed as she saw a white tag, only slightly visible against the counter shaded belly of the beast. What was visible though, was the grey camera just below the shark's mandible.

A camera? Annie's thoughts were interrupted by her lungs painfully reminding her that she needed air.

Annie swam desperately for the surface, disregarding any thoughts of the tag or the shark returning. Her face barely broke the surface when she coughed up water and rasped in the biggest breath of her life. She knew she had to swim for the boat and get to safety, but her legs weren't working. She was slowly sinking back into the ocean against her brain's screamed commands and the shouts of—a man's voice?

Annie felt her finger tips grazing the surface as she slipped back under the waves. It was wrong. The ocean wasn't red. But today it was.

"Annie!" Felipe shouted desperately. He abandoned the scuba gear and ran to the side of the boat closest to Annie. He could see Annie half dragging Glimmer by the life ring, only 50 yards from the boat. He wrenched off his life jacket and dove into the water, dimly aware of someone else diving in beside him. He had almost reached them when he raised his head to breathe—and saw Annie dragged under the surface of the waves.

Felipe's stomach felt like it had been slammed with a truck. And now he was torn. Did he go after Annie, his partner, like he wanted to? Or did he rescue Glimmer, who was crying and dangerously close to drowning? Felipe froze with indecision.

"Get Glimmer!" a voice answered to his left. Felipe's head snapped to see Finnick swimming past him. Felipe didn't reply. He just wrapped an arm around Glimmer and began pulling her back to the boat, trying to reassure her as best as he could. He had just reached the boat when he turned back to see Annie break the surface in a spray of ocean and blood. She was screaming and being wrenched through the water from side to side, until just as suddenly she was gone again in a cloud of red.

Felipe was going to be would remember that inhuman scream until the day he died. He dropped Glimmer unceremoniously to the deck, and jumped back in.

The ocean was a place Felipe called home, where he felt calm and at peace. But today, everything was wrong.

Finnick was a born athlete, but there was nothing he excelled quite as much at as swimming. He swam in the direction he thought the shark had taken, just in case that crazy spitfire was still alive in the beast's jaws.

Frankly, he didn't have high hopes. She had been under for what felt like hours, though in reality it must have only been a minute. Even so, she had to be losing a lot of blood.

Blood…

Suddenly, Annie burst through the surface to his right, sputtering water and simultaneously trying to breathe. The result was a horrific rasping, gargling sound, like water emptying down a drain. Finnick realised with revulsion that she was choking on a ghoulish mixture of the sea and her own blood. He turned and swam towards her struggling form, but he was too far. Finnick watched as she slipped back under the surface, gently this time. He took a gulp of air and dived beneath the surface. He couldn't see anything in the pinky waters. He groped blindly until his fingers touched something warm, and he locked on it. He had grabbed Annie's wrist. He swam back to the surface, pulling her with him. She coughed weakly and fluttered her eyelids.

"Hey there, Sparky, how you doing?" Finnick asked absently, scanning the horizon anxiously as he leaned into backstroke, pulling her to his chest.

Annie murmured something that he didn't hear. She was slipping in his grasp and her head lolled sideways.

"Annie, stay with me now," he said with alarm, swimming in the direction of the boat. "Tell me what your thesis is about."

"Study the hormones," she murmured, "Model… cycle… assisted breeding…"

"That's great!" Finnick puffed, even though he had no idea what she had just said. He was putting all of his energy into swimming for that boat as fast as he could.

His—no—their lives depended on it.

He could feel warm water pulsing over his arm.

Not water, he realised with a sickeningly feeling in the pit of his stomach, her blood. He tightened his arm around her, fingers brushing against—was that flesh?! Finnick tasted the bile rising in his mouth and swallowed it down forcefully.

Don't think about it, he urged himself. Don't look-

-He looked. Finnick gagged at the site of denuded bone and raggedy strips of skin on Annie's ribs. He switched to side stroke so he wouldn't have to watch Annie's life draining out over his fingers. Or feel it.

Suddenly, Annie's eyes widened and she screamed, "SHIT! Increase your rate of swim!" She tried unsuccessfully to kick and settled for frantically paddling with her free hand.

Finnick craned his head back and his blood ran cold. On the horizon he could see a grey fin, slicing effortlessly through the waves.

Coming straight for him and Annie.

Adrenaline surged through his veins and he powered through the water. Finnick could hear his blood pounding in his ears, but his only thought was of reaching the safety of the boat. He had never swum this fast in his entire life.

But he wasn't swimming fast enough.

He could barely hear the screams of the people on the boat urging him to swim faster over the pounding of his blood in his ears. The shark had to be gaining on him, but he didn't dare look back—it would only slow him down. Annie's ear splitting scream confirmed it only seconds later.

Any second now, the shark would catch him.

Any second now, he would feel searing pain in his legs as the teeth shredded his carefully toned muscles.

Any second now…

His fingers slapped the cold metal of the ladder and he was instantly lifted into the air by four sets of hands. He and Annie were dragged over the edge and Finnick craned his head back just in time to see a large, grey fin disappear under the boat.

Suppressing a shudder, Finnick gently laid Annie down on the deck. Bandit bounded past him to whine and nose Annie's hand as the crew gathered around her. Finnick fell back onto his haunches, panting hard, and put his face in his hands. His hands didn't smell like soothing seawater—they were sticky, and smelt coppery. He pulled them away from his face and Finnick's green eyes widened—they were red. His hands were covered in blood. There was blood on his face and all over the deck. He scooted his feet back from the crimson waterline and shuffled backwards with alarm. There was so much blood. Too much blood. Everything was red. Everything was-

-Finnick felt Mags' hand on his shoulder.

"Breathe," she said quietly, "We need you." Finnick nodded shakily and took a few deep breaths as he nervously looked around at the crew.

No one was paying attention to Finnick. Felipe had launched into first aid with the air of a trained professional that belayed the anxiety he felt. He had treated shark attacks before. Only this time it wasn't an injured seal—it was his diving partner and best friend.

"I need to roll her into recovery," Felipe said calmly, belaying the true anxiety he felt for his partner. Expertly, he gently moved Annie onto her side and Annie shrieked with agony. Bandit barked in alarm, and someone none too gently pulled him back despite Annie reaching for him.

"My god… I can see her ribs," Cressida whispered, her face drained of colour. Annie dazedly looked at the warm pool of red around her and was vaguely aware of a series of gasps. When the shark had scraped her side, it had taken shreds of her flesh with it.

Someone retched to Annie's right.

"Mahogany…" Effie protested weakly, but was ignored.

Bandit nosed her shoulder and someone pulled him away. No, Annie thought, he just wants to help. I need him.

"You can see my ribs too," someone sniffed irritably.

"Shut the hell up, Glimmer!" Was that Finnick?

"Thoracic vitals intact," Felipe announced, as though that meant something to the crew.

"Good!" Effie squeaked, nodding enthusiastically.

Annie was aware of someone kneeling beside her head—Mags. She gently stroked Annie's hair and murmured soothingly to her, like Annie's mother used to when Annie was small. Annie felt better, somehow. Felipe was barking instructions as he pulled a first aid bag from the nearby cupboard and snapped on blue latex gloves.

Blue, Annie thought, like the ocean should be.

"We need to keep pressure here and here," Felipe was saying, demonstrating with gauze. "And I need someone to open this and pump it up," He added, pointing to a black bag. Two of the sound technicians quickly complied. Mags squeezed Annie's hand reassuringly as a wave of pain and nausea rolled over her.

"She's clammy," Mags said, alarm ringing in her voice. "And her pulse is really fast!"

"She's in shock," Felipe replied, "Keep her warm and secure."

Finnick shook himself, leapt up off the deck and grabbed a few of the Capitol City Resort monogrammed towels and draped them over Annie's shivering form. The expensive, snow white Egyptian cotton instantly turned pink. Annie imagined the face of the stern resort laundress and chuckled a little.

"She's delirious," Cressida gasped.

"Here, use my jacket as a pillow," Arriane suggested.

"No!" Mags and Felipe said sharply in unison.

"Keep her feet higher than her head. She's lost a lot of blood," Felipe continued. Arriane nodded meekly and she and another girl folded the jacket and placed it under Annie's feet.

By now, Felipe had wrapped Annie's side with gauze and had moved onto her leg. Castor was applying pressure to Annie's ribs while Pollux looked on, ashen but still holding a camera.

"Felipe… camera… shark…" Annie groaned weakly.

"For god's sake, turn that off," Finnick snapped, whirling around angrily. Pollux meekly complied and shrank back.

"No… no… camera… on the shark…" Annie tried again with increasing agitation.

"Shhh now," Mags soothed. "The camera's off."

Annie shook her head, feeling too overwhelmed to try again.

"You can fix her, right?" Cressida asked anxiously, wringing her hands in front of her.

"No. I can't." Felipe replied shortly as he cut away the shredded remains of Annie's wet suit leg.

"Then we have to get her back to the resort," Effie squeaked, "They have the best medical staff there. It will be fine!" The crew all chorused in agreement, the atmosphere tangibly lightening.

"She's wouldn't even make it halfway back," Felipe snapped.

The crew gasped again and Arriane burst into tears. Annie felt very left out of the entire conversation and tried to protest, only to whimper with pain as she tried to lift her arm.

"Stay still, chica." Felipe said far more gently. "Finnick, hold the radio for me,"

"Capitol City Coast Guard this is CCRV70, repeat CCRV70 over," Felipe said calmly into the proffered radio, despite the fact he was pressing gauze into the torn flesh of Annie's leg to staunch the bleeding.

"We read you CCR70, over," the radio crackled.

"Request immediate med-evac of young female suffering haemorraghic shock. Massive lacerations to thoracic region and left lower limb, over."

"Request approved. How were lacerations obtained, over?"

Felipe paused and bit his lip, "Shark attack, over."

There was an unnerving silence on the other end of the radio for what felt like minutes but was in reality, only a few seconds.

"Helicopter deployed," the radio crackled at last, "What are your co-ordinates, over?"

The crew sighed with relief as Felipe rattled off a series of longitudes and latitudes that were received by the chopper. "And her blood type is A negative, over," He added.

"Roger that, blood bag in the bird. Over and out." The radio replied.

Their relief was short lived when Felipe looked up from Annie's leg with wide eyes, his olive face pale.

"I can't find it," he whispered.

"What? Can't find what?" Finnick shouted.

"Her artery. Her popliteal artery has been severed and I can't find it to stop the bleeding." Felipe looked like he was about to burst into tears. He sat back and mopped his sweating forehead with the back of his glove, unknowingly leaving a red smear in its wake. Finnick's face turned a shade of green that matched his eyes.

"What does that mean?" Effie asked anxiously.

"It means," Felipe lowered his voice so Annie wouldn't hear, "She's going to bleed out within a few minutes. I'm surprised she lasted this long."

"Felipe, it's okay," Annie croaked. She'd done biomedical science before marine science and she knew exactly what the popliteal artery was. Bandit whimpered and someone allowed him to lie beside Annie.

"Shhh now," Mags said tenderly, "You just keep on looking at old Mags and everything will be fine." Annie smiled weakly at Mags and Bandit but she could Finnick and Felipe arguing.

"You're a doctor! Fix her!" Finnick shouted.

"I'm a marine veterinarian!" Felipe shouted back, "I'd have better luck fixing the shark than Annie!"

Annie was tiring of their shouting. Actually, she was just tiring. Her eyelids were becoming heavier… and heavier…

"No, Annie!" Mags said urgently, "Stay with me!"

"Please, find it!" Effie wailed through tears, as her thick mascara ran down her face in green rivers.

"I could make it worse," Felipe whispered, frozen with indecision. "It's deep inside her knee joint and it's shot up somewhere inside her thigh…"

"Promise you'll look after Bandit?"Annie asked quietly. A hush fell over the crowd and Effie and Cressida clapped their hands over their mouths.

"Annie, no," Felipe said tearfully.

"Promise!" She said forcefully, and coughed for her efforts. "You're no good with decisions anyway. You need your skipper."

"I promise to take care of the Bandido," Felipe whispered.

Annie merely smiled, and ran her fingers weakly along Bandit's matted fur. A wet splash landed on Annie's hand—Mags' tear.

"You have to try," Finnick urged desperately, "She's dying." There was murmured assent from the crew, most of whom also had tears running down their faces. Felipe took one last look at Annie's ashen face, audibly swallowed and nodded.

"Finnick, I need you to hold this part of her calf together," Felipe announced.

"Me?" Finnick gulped, eyeing the bloody wound nervously. Felipe nodded and placed the gauze in Finnick's hands. Finnick bit his lip and pressed it into Annie's leg, trying to keep his eyes on Mag's and ignoring the warm, sticky wetness.

Satisfied, Felipe plunged his hand back inside the wound.

Electric needles ran up Annie's leg and into her core. She screamed and tried to writhe in agony, only to be held down by unseen hands.

"Annie, hold still!" Finnick urged shakily.

"It's alright, lass! It'll be okay!" Castor agreed, though he too sounded anxious.

"Hang in there Annie," Mags said softly. Bandit snarled and turned towards Felipe, hackles raised.

"It's okay, Bandit. Here boy," Annie called with gritted teeth. Bandit padded back whimpering and nosed her hand.

Annie scrunched her eyes shut and bit down until she tasted blood. She thought she had known pain with the shark, but each movement of Felipe's hand seemed to cut Annie's leg open with a white hot knife. She howled as she discovered new and exquisite forms of agony as Felipe pushed a pair of forceps in with his other hand, and pulled something out triumphantly—a gleaming white razor edged shard. A fragment of one of the shark's teeth.

Felipe cocked his head and looked at the tooth, before frowning at Annie and slipping the tooth in his pocket. Before Annie could ask what that look meant, his hands were back inside the bite.

Now she truly knew pain, and it was limitless.

"I've got it!" He cried, "I've found it!" Deep inside Annie's thigh, Felipe pinched the artery shut and held it closed with his fingers. The crew cheered with joy and Annie thought people hugged. It was hard to tell, her vision was blurring and getting dark.

"Good boy, Bandit," she murmured and closed her fingers around one paw. "Good dog."

"Bag's ready," the technicians announced hopefully and Felipe sighed with relief. He quickly zipped her in the black bag, gently extricating her fingers from Bandit's fur, to which Bandit replied with a snarl.

"It's a shock bag," he explained, "It will keep her warm and under enough pressure that she has a chance to make it back to the hospital before bleeding out." The crew marvelled at the sleeping bag looking object and praised Felipe's hard work.

"It's warm... I can feel the water moving around me," Annie said softly, her eyelids fluttering weakly.

"Annie?" Mags asked with alarm.

Annie's vision darkened, and the last thing she saw was Glimmer and Selena's faces distorting alarmingly. Glimmer's expression was one of pure, unconcealed loathing while Selena's was far more chilling: one of a predator regarding its prey.

Chills ran down Annie's spine as she fully descended into blackness.

Bandit howled.

Several kilometres away, a man stroked his elegantly shaped beard thoughtfully as he watched a series of giant screens. They cast an eerie blue light over the otherwise dark room, illuminating his sharply contoured face and his expensive suit.

"Dr Crane?" A tremulous voice to his right interrupted his thoughts. "I… I can't regain contact with—"

"Did she see it?" He asked coldly without looking away from the screen.

The man swallowed and adjusted his glasses on his thin nose, one hand nervously clicking a pen in his lab coat pocket. "I can't be sure from the footage…"

Seneca Crane's eyes narrowed as he turned towards the scientist, if there was one sound that he abhorred above anything else on this earth, it was that incessant clicking. "That shark swam right over her head. The shark that you supposedly had under control." With every word he took a menacing step towards the man in the lab coat, forcing the man to lean backwards. "So I'm asking you, Dr Auchenius, did she see anything that ties to us?"

Dr Auchenius cleared his throat slightly, "It's possible…but highly unlikely. Besides she probably died from massive blood loss."

"Probably?" Seneca repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I believe we can say with reasonable confidence that no damage was done."

"Reasonable confidence is not acceptable, Doctor," Seneca replied, "My employer deals only in absolutes, and he is rather less… forgiving than I am."

Dr Auchenius swallowed again, and the clicking increased to the clicking of a cicada in summer. "Then we will make certain. What are your orders, sir?"

"Tie up the loose ends."

"But how?" Dr Auchenius protested. "That specimen represents millions of dollars of research—"

"—Do you really believe it's worth a cent if you can't control it? You have a genius IQ doctor, try using it." Seneca sneered as he turned back to the screen. "Deal with the shark."

Dr Auchenius' face turned a mottled purple colour with rage. He was not used to his intelligence being insulted, nor his work belittled, but he fought to keep his voice steady and calm when he replied. After all, his life depended on it.

"And the girl? Even if she somehow survived how are we going to find her?"

"Do you really think that there are so many shark attacks in this area that we couldn't find her at the hospital? I'm beginning to regret hiring you, doctor. You aren't nearly as bright as they said you were."

Dr Auchenius clenched and unclenched his fist inside his coat pocket, and a purple vein throbbed alarmingly against the pale white of his forehead.

"Besides, we don't need to look. I know who she is." With that, Seneca Crane picked up his suit jacket and whirled out of the room with a flounce.

Dr Auchenius glared at his form as he disappeared and then padded over to a keypad. He rapidly typed in a series of commands and then followed Crane out the main doors.

Fifty kilometres away, a red light blinked with increasing frequency until it glowed continuously for a full three seconds. The explosive detonated with little more ceremony than a wet splattering sound and a few chips of bone spraying outwards. The four metre long tiger shark gracefully sank to the ocean floor in direct contrast to the plume of gore that trailed from the softball sized hole in its head.