His footsteps echoed loudly on the tiled floors as James hurried down the hall towards the security office. He threw open the door, which crashed against the wall with a loud bang. He paused for a moment to properly button his lab coat – which he’d hastily shoved on while hurrying out the door. Dr. Patron was already in the room, his cheeks puffed up and bloated into an unpleasant pomegranate hue. He was leaned over a young woman who was whiter than a sheet and had shrunk down in her chair, shouting at her.

Auldon sighed and took his glasses off his nose, taking a moment to fish a cloth out of his pocket to wipe the lenses down. Only once the frames had been replaced on his face did he bother to speak. His tone was calm, but firm, with the lingering trace of anger he was struggling to suppress. “What do you mean, they’re gone?”

The woman in the chair started at his statement, but quickly spun her chair around, rose, and scurried over to him. She was clearly eager to be out from beneath Patron’s hovering presence. “I don’t know, Sir,” she simpered breathlessly. “I was on duty with a colleague all night. Nothing showed up out of the usual on the cameras, but then the alarms linked to heat sensors went off. It’s designed to do that if the mermaids’ heat signatures aren’t picked up by the computer for more than fifteen minutes. We do it that way because sometimes the signatures aren’t immediately detected, especially when they’re in the cave; this way we give the system time to scan and find them to avoid false alarms.”

“But the cameras don’t show anything?”

The woman shook her head. “I’ve been back through the footage around that time twice. There’s nothing.”

“Imbecile!” Dr. Patron hissed as he stomped over. The other scientist was seething, based on the shade of his face – which had managed to darken further – along with his bared, grit teeth and the pulsing vein that was bulged out across his forehead like a fat snake. His hand swiped out and knocked a holder full of pens off the desk.

The woman flinched as the container and the pens clattered noisily to the floor. Dr. Patron thrust his face into hers and snarled. “How could you possibly lose two fish in a high security environment? They did not simply get up and walk away!”

The woman whimpered. Her lip quivered and her soft brown eyes began to glisten with tears. James felt pity for her. She was clearly new staff, and just a monitor tech; she was not equipped to deal with the situation and the furious scientist wasn’t helping matters any.

James stepped up and placed a hand on Patron’s shoulder, forcibly pulling the other man back a step. “Let’s just relax for a moment,” he prompted before turning to the worker. “What’s your name?”

“Ashley Higgens, Sir. I just started two weeks ago,” she responded.

“Can you show me the footage, Ashley?” Auldon inquired.

Her short brown hair bobbed around her face as she nodded. She hurried back to her chair and James followed her. There were several screens in the room, but she pulled the footage up on three of them in front of her directly. “These three are the cameras around the tank. The two top floor views and the bottom one.”

James was silent as he studied the screens, time stamped at eleven pm. “The alarm was triggered at eleven forty-five, you said?”

“Yes Sir,” Ashley confirmed.

“Speed up to twenty minutes prior. Then let it play through normally,” he ordered.

There was some noisy typing on the keyboard as Ashley followed through with the command. The camera footage began to speed through – showing nothing unusual for most of it – and then abruptly halted at eleven thirty.

Behind him, James heard Richard Patron muttering to himself and pacing back and forth. James ignored him. He remained focused on the footage with pursed lips. He watched the guard on the screen walk by the tank on his rounds. James knew the man – recognized him by the spiked haircut – he had worked as a guard for at least the last five years. Jonathan Finley. James spoke to him from time to time when leaving the office late.

As he watched Jonathan make another round around the tank about ten minutes later, something else occurred to James. Jonathan took Wednesday nights off; he’d started doing so about three months ago when his wife had to start working late those days for her job.

“Ashley – who was on duty last night?” he asked.

“Umm,” she paused and began typing something into the computer in front of her, clearly pulling up the schedule. “Daniel Weston was the guard on duty last night.”

“This is not the footage from last night,” Auldon reported. “The guard there is Jonathan Finley; he doesn’t work on Wednesdays.”

“What do you mean that’s not the footage from last night?!” Richard snarled as he stomped back over and jabbed a finger at the screen. “Look at the timestamp!”

Auldon sighed and sunk into the chair beside Ashley. It was true; the date and time were indicative of last night. “Is there any chance there’s more footage?” he asked Ashley. It was unlikely, and he knew that – they all knew that – but he still waited patiently as the woman scanned the video files. “No,” she finally reported. “Not unless the timestamps were swapped, but that could take weeks to sort through and confirm.”

“Then get started!” Richard shouted as he slammed a hand down on the desk. “This is inexcusable; I refuse to lose those rotten little demons!”

“Don’t bother,” James interjected. “If someone was skilled enough to scramble the footage, they likely just replaced it altogether. Last week’s footage is clearly being played on a loop. I doubt the cameras were even functional.”

“Are you saying that whoever did this just gets away with it?”

James turned to regard Richard when the accusatory statement morphed to a low hiss. The vein on his brow had become even more prominent, but James took a breath and laced his fingers together. He severely disliked Richard, but losing his temper as well would not help matters. “No. But the footage will do nothing for us. I suggest we focus on tracking the microchips. Bailey and Suzie both have them, a primary and a backup; it’s unlikely anyone would suspect a backup. Turn it on if we haven’t already and track them down.”

***

James slipped his arms into his coat and pulled it the rest of the way on. He took his time buttoning it up, preferring it closed. He tucked his hands into his pockets and rocked on his heels.

He found himself thinking back to that first day after the theft. It had been absolute chaos, and the longest day he’d endured in quite a while. He suspected today would be no different. When they’d found the footage tampered with, they’d gone immediately to the tracking chips. Of course, it hadn’t panned out and they’d found all four chips – still active – left in a Ziplock bag in the back of a silver SUV. A family travelling across the state was found inside. Mother, father, three kids and their dog. They were certainly not hiding two mermaids in the back and had been terrified when intercepted. Whoever had pulled off the heist was highly skilled, and James still didn’t know who it was that was actually responsible for it. He was sure he would enjoy the conversation with them when he finally did find them, however; he wanted to know how they had accomplished some of what they did.

He drummed his fingers on his desk for a moment, then leaned over his computer to type out a quick memo to the rest of his team. He wanted to debrief them after his own meeting – which was likely to be more unpleasant than usual – and outlined in the email that they were to meet him in exactly two hours.

He was just gathering up a few necessary folders in preparation for heading off when he heard the soft rapping of knuckles on his office door. He turned to see Miss Barnes hovering in the doorway, the door only slightly ajar. She had recently slashed her hair short and James – who tended to notice small details – still found the jaw length bob a little jarring, though he kept the opinion to himself. Her brown eyes were narrowed slightly as she stared in at him.

He waved a hand to beckon her forward. “Come in. What is it, Miss Barnes?”

“I heard there was a board meeting being assembled,” she said as she slipped into his office and pushed the door shut a little more behind her.

“You heard correctly,” Auldon confirmed as he turned back to gathering up his papers. “I’m about to head down there now.”

“So…does that mean there’s been any updates?” she prompted.

Dr. Auldon turned back to look at her and sighed, readjusting his glasses with his free hand. It wasn’t that she annoyed him, in fact she had proven herself quite the valuable member since her promotion all those months ago. He did not regret adding her on. While her methods could be a little crude and unnecessarily deceptive, she’d revealed to be a decisively dedicated worker, always willing to take on extra jobs and hours. He knew she was interested in furthering her career rather than displaying loyalty, but for the moment he didn’t care. But she had seemed to take the escape – and he did believe it to be an escape over a theft – very personally and had thrown herself into every task they’d allow her that contributed to tracking them down.

“Nothing has changed,” he stated finally. “The board is just growing a little impatient is all; they want an update.”

A frown crossed Jenny’s features and she shifted her weight, clasping and unclasping her hands a few times before finally taking a step forward. “Sir, if I may; if the board is impatient, why aren’t we moving forward with this? I’d be more than happy to go myself if you require.”

“That will not be necessary, Miss Barnes, though I appreciate the offer. At this time, my position on the matter has not changed,” James stated.

Jenny’s frown lines deepened and she held up a hand, her lips parting in the start of a protest that died with a gurgle in her throat when James shook his head. “The matter is final. If you are interested in attending the meeting, you are welcome, but you will do so as a silent observer and nothing more.”

It seemed to take her a moment to wrestle with her internal opinions, and Auldon’s frown deepened. He needed to be on his way and was growing weary with the conversation. Finally, she seemed to arrive at the conclusion that her thoughts were best kept to herself because she closed her mouth and nodded, folding her hands behind her back as she did so.

James adjusted the small pile of folders in his arm and walked past her to leave the office. She kept true to the requirements, with only the sound of her heeled boots to indicate she was still following him.

The board room was on the far side of the facility and as such, it took James almost fifteen minutes to make the trip. When he arrived, he found Richard already present, standing moodily at the front of the room with his lab coat open to show off black slacks and a knit navy sweater vest tucked into his waistband.

He looked just as annoyed as Auldon felt at being dragged away from their work for a pointless meeting to go over the exact same things that had been discussed numerous times.

Auldon shoved his disapproval away, however, and forced a polite smile. There were four of the six board members in the room, each with varying levels of displeasure scrawled across their features. James dipped his head in each of their respective directions. The first – O’Brian – nodded back, then rested his hand idly over a large coffee cup. Beside him, a woman sat clicking a pen repeatedly. And the final two had their heads bent over an open folder. James couldn’t see exactly what they were looking at, but they looked like pictures.

Jenny had slipped in behind him, but she leaned against the wall near the doorway and remained silent.

“Dr. Auldon, now that you’re here, we can begin discussing the rather unideal standstill this project seems to have come to,” the first woman stated as she rose from her seat and set her pen aside. James knew her name was Rickenson, and he regarded her calmly. Her blue eyes were hard with displeasure and her curly auburn hair – which had been pinned back off her face – bobbed as she moved. “The board is very concerned about the return of the Lemuria mermaids. We’ve expended too much money into this project to lose them now and if word were to get out exactly where and how Bailey was acquired, it could bury us.”

“It won’t,” Dr. Auldon soothed, holding his hands up. “I assure you, no one wants them back more than I do, but the situation has to be handled delicately. It puts them in too much danger to go public with Katherine Waters’ real identity; they won’t say a thing. Besides, we know where they are; it’s just a matter of collecting them when the time is right.”

“James,” O’Brain addressed him. Auldon frowned slightly at the informality; it was rather rude. “We believe now is the right time. The board doesn’t wish to delay any longer.” He raised a hand after speaking to tussle some of his messy brown hair, then adjusted the collar of his grey suit coat.

“It’s not time yet,” James rejected with a shake of his head. “This has to be handled delicately. We know where they are, but so does Katherine’s adoptive mother. Sophie Brooks is not likely to let her go a second time; not without becoming quite the vocal nuisance.”

“There are other ways of ensuring she’s kept quiet,” the third board member – James was pretty sure his name was Rodgers – replied.

Before Auldon could respond to the ominous comment, Dr. Patron stepped forward. Surprisingly, they had been in agreement about holding off on recovering the mermaids, though James wasn’t quite sure why the other scientist was so willing to wait given how enraged he’d initially been about the loss of Suzie in particular.

“I agree with James on this matter,” he stated. “Though less out of concern for Miss Brooks; I’m sure she won’t be much of a problem when the time comes. But rather, there are other details to consider.”

“Like what?” the final woman demanded. James was unfamiliar with this particular council member. Her long black hair was pulled into a high tail and her almond eyes were framed by latte toned skin. She wore a red blazer and her frown only deepened with every passing second.

“We have discovered that Suzie and Bailey are not the only two mermaids Miss Brooks is housing.”

“Yes, yes, we know about your elusive third,” Rickenson dismissed with a wave of her hand. “As I recall, that was the excuse the first time – but that one has since returned and left again, and you still haven’t acted. We should have all three of them by now if you two incompetent fools weren’t dragging your feet about it.”

“Please reconsider, Mrs. Rickenson,” Patron continued as though unfazed by her angry retort. “There is a reason we’ve allowed them to remain in Miss Brooks’ custody for the time being. You see, as it turns out, our little blue gemstone has a family out there, a pod, and it just so happens that this third mermaid knows them. That changes things significantly. She is going out to sea to return with little Suzie’s parents. That puts not just the three mermaids in one place, but a fourth as well as a male…” Dr. Patron trailed off for a moment and James rolled his eyes at the unnecessary dramatic flare. “It also leaves us with a potentially viable breeding pair.”

This seemed to finally get the council members’ attention and they began to murmur to one another. “How do you propose we explain suddenly acquiring that many of them when they were previously considered not to exist and have since been presented as elusive and rare?”

Despite his desire to jump in, James remained silent as the board members were not looking at him, but instead at Patron – as per usual – so he reluctantly gritted his teeth and kept quiet.

“That’s simple, really,” Richard continued as if he had planned it out already. He probably had. “We can say that our mermaids were stolen and sold off to a private collector to add to their collection. We can state that the others were rescued as well and being kept through recovery. We don’t yet know what state the new ones will be in, but our third seems to show several signs of reckless behavior that would make a mistreatment story highly believable. And if they all happen to be in prime condition, it’s easy to fix – temporarily of course – which will allow us to properly present them as ill-suited to return to the wild. If we are patient and play our cards right, we could end up with a pod, rather than a pair.”

Finally, all four heads were nodding in unison and seemed to be quite pleased with this potential scenario. James was less thrilled at the idea of allowing his peer to mutilate the new creatures, but he accepted that it may be a necessary scenario to buy them more time; it would be rash to reclaim them now.

“Very well,” O’Brian agreed. “We will hold off. But I want preparations completed in the meantime, and the moment the new stock returns to Miss Brooks’ care, you are to move and tie up any loose ends. We cannot afford any more delays or mistakes. Dismissed.”

James didn’t need further prompting – he had work to do – so with a dip of his head, he turned and made his way out of the meeting room with Miss Barnes hot on his heels. He could practically feel the curiosity rolling off her and internally sighed at having to answer more questions. Katherine Waters was becoming more trouble than she was worth.