Page 25 of Ruining His Smirk

Then he walked away from me leaving me standing in the corridor, vibrating with so many emotions that I didn’t even know what I was feeling anymore.

* * *

An hour later, we were all gathered in the hoity-doity data suite. The captain stood near the head of the table in the middle of the data suite. Dexter had already claimed a seat in the back, being here only to observe as a scientist-in-training. Beside the captain stood Braddock’s crewmate, a woman I hadn’t met before.

“Is this too complex for you, Mr. Landry?”

I scowled at Braddock sitting opposite me.

“Simply waiting for you to get to the actual complexity, Mr. Braddock,” I replied.

“Gentlemen, please,” the captain said.

I redirected my attention to the task at hand. I needed to stop paying the fucker any attention.

Floating above the center of the conference table was a three-dimensional projection of the recovery site. Yet again, it was clear the ship was funded by a billionaire. It grated on me after what Braddock had said to me. Entitled rich people.

I focused on the captain’s voice. “As you can see right here, we are positioned next to this iceberg. You can also see that its submerged mass extends far below the surface.” He touched the air and the projection rotated. “Now here, Mr. Landry, you can see how part of the iceberg’s bottom has melted due to warmer ocean waters.”

“Yeah. I see the overhang,” I said.

“That’s where Nate’s whale skeleton is.” He tapped the air on a menu. A new glowing object showed up on the projection. Icould trace the shape of a long skeleton. It was wedged under the iceberg. Hell of a place to end up. I could already see why they’d called me instead of trying to yank it straight up.

“Nate?” The captain turned to the man.

“Thank you, sir. As you can see, the skeleton has only recently been exposed. My guess is that the whale originally died many years ago and its body was trapped in the ice.”

“So what happened now?” I asked, proud of myself for keeping my voice steady and my mind on the technicalities.

“Warmer ocean water.” The woman answered. “Hi, I am Hillary. I’m an oceanographer.”

I stood up and tipped my hat. “Nice to meet you, Ma’am.”

Her eyes widened and a flush rose up her throat. She cleared her throat. “Well… Due to the climate warming up, the waters that pass through this area have been melting the underside of the berg.”

“Wouldn’t it melt everything?” I asked.

Hillary shook her head just as Braddock said, “That’s a good question.” He looked pleased but then his expression shuttered. As if he had just remembered who he was talking to. But in that one moment of unguarded enthusiasm, he looked very much like a passionate scientist who had possibly spent years studying whales, and nothing like the cheater I remembered.

I sat back down and let Hillary talk.

“The ocean here is very unique. The Weddell Sea lies at the intersection of different ocean currents. The one flowing under this iceberg is not the same one flowing over the top, for example.”

Huh. “So warm water below, cold water up here?”

“To make it simple, yes.” She smiled.

“I get it now. Thank you, Ma’am.”

The captain folded his arms. “So that’s where we stand. The question is how we get it out of there without turning it into a box of loose bones.”

The room fell silent. The 3D projection hovered in the air between us. This was going to be a complicated project. I wasn’t sure if it was even possible to do what they wanted to do.

“Well,” the captain said after a few minutes, “I think I’ve done enough talking. I’ll leave the capable people to argue over the details amongst yourselves. If anyone needs me, I’ll be back up on the bridge.”

He walked around the table until he stopped beside me. “Mr. Landry, I know this is outside of your work duties. I truly thank you for coming all the way from Waypoint. I owe your station chief for loaning you to us.”

I stood and shook his hand. “Happy to help, Captain.”