AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Once done, Phoebe straightened from the console. “That was definitely strange.”
Normally, a polyp remained sessile and rooted into the coral, living and dying in place. While it could periodically spin off tiny medusae of itself during its life cycle, it never abandoned the coral.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Phoebe said.
“No one has.” Jazz stared wide-eyed at her. “This may not just be anotherspeciesof coral, but possibly an entirely newsubphylumof Cnidaria.”
Cnidaria encompassed a slew of different subphyla and classes, from jellyfishes to anemones, to all manner of coral, even strange parasites. If Jazz was right, they had just made an astounding discovery.
Still, she tamped down her excitement.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Phoebe warned and checked herwatch. “We’re almost at the end of our allotted time slot. We can figure outwhatwe discovered once we have it back at our lab.”
Jazz nodded and began retracting the ROV.
As the vehicle retreated away from the specimen, Phoebe stared at the screen. Distracted earlier, she had failed to note another peculiarity of the giant coral tree. The sands around it looked devoid of any other life. No corals grew within meters of the emerald-green outcropping. No fish poked about its fringes. No crabs scuttled under its bower.
She pictured the jetting polyps, the whipping sweeper tentacles.
While much remained unknown about this specimen, one aspect was clear.
Whatever it was, it was highly aggressive.
4
January 22, 10:44P.M.HKT
Hong Kong, China
Carrying his son in his arms, Gray rushed down the shaking concrete stairs toward the garage on the villa’s first floor. Dust shifted from overhead as the earthquake’s rumbling wave contorted the building.
He raced barefooted, wearing only a pair of sweatpants. He had been in the shower when the world had started shaking. He hadn’t even had time to towel off when Seichan had rushed into the bedroom. She had come to secure Jack and to alert Gray about an attack on the villa. Only after her warning had he heard the muffled popping of automatic gunfire and a few louder blasts. Seichan had quickly got them all moving downstairs.
As he leaped off the last steps and into the cavernous eight-car garage, Guan-yin waved to him from a wall to the right. She was guarded by four men with Chinese QBZ automatic rifles, all carbine variants with shorter barrels.
“This way!” Guan-yin called to them.
Seichan crowded behind Gray. “Go!”
He ran toward Guan-yin, sidling along a row of Audis, Porsches, and Aston Martins. A million-dollar Bugatti Chiron rested on a turntable. It was plainly profitable to be the Boss of Macau.
When he reached Guan-yin, one of her men hauled open a secretdoor camouflaged into the wall’s wainscotting. She pointed down the revealed ramp. “Get into the bunker.”
Gray hesitated—and not just because he was reluctant to seek shelter underground during a quake. He rocked Jack in his arms. Despite the continual stomach-churning roll of the ground, the boy remained half asleep, exhausted from the long day of excitement, dead to the world as only a two-year-old could be. Jack rested his cheek on Gray’s shoulder. But his son was not the only child in danger.
“What about Monk, Kat, and the girls?” Gray asked.
He was prepared to pass Jack to Seichan and go look for them. Monk’s family had taken up residence in a guest cabana adjoining the walled garden. The girls had insisted on being close to the koi ponds and the many ducks that floated or patrolled the grounds.
“Zhuang went to fetch them,” Guan-yin said. “He will keep them safe.”
Her confidence was proven well founded when a side door crashed open on the far side of the garage. Past that door, a breezeway connected to the gardens. Zhuang and another triad guard rushed Monk and Kat into the garage. They hurried behind the row of cars. Monk and Kat each carried one of the girls.
Through the open doorway, the sounds of the firefight erupted louder. A war was being waged out in the gardens. A sharper blast echoed above, followed by the brighter tinkle of glass. Someone had shot a grenade into the villa. The attackers had mounted a full-scale assault, likely taking advantage of the quake’s confusion to strike.
Gray knew street battles periodically broke out between the city’s aggressive triads. The clashes were often as fierce as any urban warfare, but he had thought no one would dare assault theDuàn zhiTriad, which ruled Hong Kong and Macau with an iron fist and was respected and feared throughout Southeast Asia. An open assault upon the dragonhead’s personal home was especially surprising. According to triad code, such an act was deemed dishonorable and was considered a blood sin, one that would require retribution, often spanning generations. Centuries-old feuds and vendettas were waged for far less of an affront.
From the anger shadowing Guan-yin’s features, she would use allher resources to exact her revenge. She also had pacts and oaths with a dozen other triads. Whoever had attacked the villa had lit a powder keg that would soon rip across Hong Kong and beyond.
