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‘The captain even said she could stay here until we found somewhere else for her to live,’ Kirsty said.

‘Good,’ Schofield said. ‘I think it’s the least we can do.’ He gave Wendy a final pat and the little seal leapt to her feet and dashed away, heading back downstairs toward her favourite pool.

Schofield stood up again and turned to face Renshaw. ‘Mr Renshaw, I have a question for you.’

‘What?’

‘What time did the people from your station dive down to the cave?’

‘What time?’

‘Yes, the time,’ Schofield said. ‘Was it day or night?’

‘Uh,’ Renshaw said. ‘Night, I believe. I think it was somewhere around nine o’clock.’

Schofield began to nod to himself.

‘Why?’ Renshaw said.

‘I think I know why the elephant seals attacked us.’

‘Why?’

‘Remember I said that the only group of divers to have approached that cave unharmed was Gant’s group.’

‘Yeah.’

‘And I said that it was because her group had used low-audibility breathing gear.’

Renshaw said, ‘Yeah. So did we. And as I recall it, the seals attacked us anyway.’

Schofield smiled a crooked smile. ‘Yeah. I know. But I think I figure out why. We dived at night.’

‘At night?’

‘Yes. And so did your people, and so did Barnaby’s men. Your people dived at nine o’clock. Barnaby’s at around8:00p.m. Gant’s team, however, went down at two in the afternoon. They were the only dive team to go down to that cavern in the daytime.’

Renshaw picked up what Schofield was saying. ‘You think those elephant seals are diurnal?’

‘I think that’s a good possibility,’ Schofield said.

Renshaw nodded slowly. It was quite common among unusually aggressive or poisonous animals to operate on what is known as a diurnal cycle. A diurnal cycle is essentially a twelve-hour passive-aggressive cycle – the animal is passive by day, aggressive by night.

‘I glad you figured that out,’ Renshaw said. ‘I’ll keep it in mind for the next time I stumble onto a nest of radiation-infected elephant seals who want to defend their territory.’

Schofield smiled. The three of them descended the gangway. At the bottom, they were met by a middle-aged Marine sergeant.

‘Lieutenant Schofield,’ the sergeant saluted Schofield. ‘There’s a car waiting for you, sir.’

‘Sergeant. I’m going nowhere but the hospital, to check on Lance-Corporal Gant. If anybody wants me to go anywhere else, I ain’t going.’

‘That’s okay with me, sir,’ the sergeant smiled. ‘My orders are to take you, Mr Renshaw and Miss Hensleigh to wherever you want to go.’

Schofield nodded, looked to Renshaw and Kirsty. They shrugged, sure.

‘Sounds good to me,’ Schofield said. ‘Lead the way.’

The sergeant led them to a navy-blue Buick with dark, tinted windows. He held the car door open and Schofield got in.

A man was already sitting in the back seat when Schofield sat down.

Schofield froze when he saw the gun in the man’s hand.

‘Have a seat, Scarecrow,’ Sergeant-Major Charles ‘Chuck’ Kozlowski said as Schofield sat down in the back seat of the Buick. Renshaw and Kirsty got in behind Schofield. Kirsty let out a gasp when she saw Kozlowski’s gun.

Kozlowski was a short man, with a clean-shaven face and thick black eyebrows. He was wearing a khaki Marine day uniform.

The sergeant got into the driver’s seat and started the car.

‘I’m terribly sorry, Scarecrow,’ the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer in the Marine Corps said. ‘But you and your friends here represent a loose end that cannot be allowed to stand.’

‘And what’s that?’ Schofield said, exasperated.

‘You know about the ICG.’

Schofield said, ‘I told Jack Walsh about the ICG. Are you going to kill him, too?’

‘Maybe not immediately,’ Kozlowski said. ‘But in good time, yes. You, on the other hand, represent a more immediate threat. We wouldn’t want you going to the press, now, would we? No doubt, they will find out about what went on down at Wilkes Ice Station, but the media will get what the ICG tells them, not what you tell them.’

‘How can you kill your own men?’ Schofield said.

Kozlowski