Rogue Justice (18 page)

TAXONOMY

Kingdom—ANIMALIA

Class—Mammalia

Order—Cetacea

Suborder—ODONTOCETI

Family - Delphinidae

Genus—Orcinus

Species—orca

Common Names: Killer Whale, orca, blackfish

Zora stared mindlessly at the chart for several moments, then turned back to Katrina. She loved the woman's passion and devotion to her work. There was nothing the least bit phony or pretentious about her. She had met Katrina two years earlier during a brief vacation on the Galapagos Islands. They had teamed up to save a stranded sea lion and quickly struck up a friendship over dinner and several bottles of wine, a friendship that had only strengthened with time. Katrina phoned and e-mailed regularly, and she'd been a tower of strength during Zora's darkest hours, times when she felt as if she could no longer cope with her mother's illness.

After scribbling a few more notes, Katrina slipped off the headset and waved Zora over. She pulled up a stool on the opposite side of the table and sat down.

Katrina seemed lost in thought. "Hey, do you remember me mentioning a Canadian scientist named Michael Bigg last time you were here?
Dr.
Mike, we called him."

"Vaguely," Zora said. "What about him?"

"Back in 1970, he devised a new technique to study killer whales called photographic identity. He matched the photos of some three hundred fifty orcas and found that he could distinguish them by the shape of their dorsal fins and gray saddle patches. It was—and still is—our most important research tool in the field. Led to passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act two years later. And that put an end to orca captures in U.S. waters. Prohibited their importation, too. It's because of Dr. Mike's foresight that we understand so much about killer whale biology today."

"Now I remember," Zora said. "He died quite young, didn't he?"

"Yes, fifty-one, leukemia. I was in high school at the time, but had been lucky enough to land an internship with him the summer before he died. Anyway, I got a call earlier this morning from a guy I interned with. He's now working for Nat Geo. They're planning a documentary on the evolution of killer whales and he wants to hire me as a consultant."

"That's great, Katrina."

"Uh-huh. That's not why I mentioned it, though. We got to reminiscing about Dr. Mike's memorial service. He had asked that his ashes be scattered over Johnstone Strait and..." Katrina looked off for a moment, her eyes moist. "Sorry. I always lose it when I talk about this."

"It's okay," Zora said. "What happened?"

"Well, it was the fall of 1990, early afternoon, gorgeous day. I'll never forget it. We all gathered on a cliff above the shore, huge turnout from all over the world. Then, just as the ceremony was about to begin, this pod of orcas showed up. Maybe thirty or so. The most amazing thing I've ever seen. And the whales stayed in that exact same spot for the entire service. When it ended, they circled Dr. Mike's ashes, then dropped out of sight and disappeared, just like that."

Zora smiled. "Wow! That
is
amazing."

"Yeah, their powers of cognition are extremely complex. And this colossal new species takes that complexity to a whole new level. If we humans weren't playing second fiddle on the evolutionary scale
before
, we sure are
now
. I guess that phone call was a reminder." Katrina grabbed the headset off the table, handed it to Zora, and fiddled with a few knobs on the recording device. "And then there's this," she said. "I've been monitoring cameras and hydrophones strategically situated throughout Puget Sound as part of my work. Here, give a listen."

Zora placed the headset over her ears and concentrated, trying to makes sense of what she was hearing. Nothing but static. Then... an explosion of sound that nearly knocked her off the stool. It was like stepping into an opera house with everyone singing at once. She listened for several moments before removing the headset. "Jesus! That's really intense. What's going on?"

"To be honest, it's baffling," Katrina said. "Like I stated in the TV interview, I'm almost certain the rogue whales are transients, not residents. And transients are expert stalkers, masters of stealth."

"So that's what you think is going on? They're chasing down dinner?"

"Exactly, only here's the thing. Both residents and transients possess laser-beam echolocation, but transients
rarely
vocalize while hunting. Instead, they use a sophisticated call and counter-call system to lock on to prey, and typically hide their vocalizations in the general ocean noise."

"Okay," Zora replied, a bit unsure of where this was all going.

"Here, take a look at the camera feed." Katrina hit a button on the monitor, did the same with the remote.

Murky gray waters... then movement.

"What you're looking at is a school of dolphins. Now, watch what happens when I switch to the surface camera."

Zora leaned forward to get a better look. The noisy images coalesced into a landscape of jagged bluffs rooted in algae-slick rocks. An instant later, it was mass chaos. The dolphins began hurling themselves onto the rocks in a noisy, suicidal frenzy. "They're freaking out," she said, her ears still ringing.

Katrina hit the "pause" button on the remote. "I've watched that tape at least twenty times and I still don't believe it. Dolphins instinctively flee from orcas but not like this. Their behavior is completely out of character."

"Any sign of the whales when you switched back to the underwater cameras?"

"No," Katrina replied. "But it explains the piercing sounds. These animals are so friggin' powerful, they don't
need
to stalk their prey. They take what they want when they want it. I'd say at least half a ton of food every day, probably more. And you know something else?"

Zora stared into Katrina's unblinking brown eyes. "What's that?"

"I think the whales
knew
we were watching. I feel it right here," Katrina said, tapping her chest with a clenched fist. "And if I'm right, we're not only dealing with the largest predator
ever
, we're also dealing with the most intelligent. Man
or
animal."

There were several seconds of silence as they both thought about that.

Zora finally said, "I believe it. Look, I've been out of the loop most of the day. Have there been any more sightings since all that activity yesterday?"

"No," Katrina said. "Not that I know of. But the whales are obviously still out there, so it's only a matter of time." She glanced at her watch. "Hey, time flies... it's almost four-thirty. Why don't we go over to the house where it's more comfortable? I picked up a nice bottle of wine on the way over. It's got your name on it."

Zora hesitated, reached for Katrina's arm, squeezed gently. She wasn't exactly sure what to say next, except that she needed to choose her words carefully. "Hey, before we go I need to tell you something, okay?"

Katrina looked expectantly at her.

"I wasn't entirely honest with you on the phone last night," Zora added. "Not my style. I'm sorry. The thing is, I didn't just
happen
to be in the area. A friend flew me down in his float plane. We left early this morning."

"All the way from Sitka?"

"Yeah... all the way from Sitka."

Chapter 20

31 March, 4:40 PM PDT

Sequim Bay, Washington

In the ninety seconds after King 5 TV's helicopter set down in a roped-off area next to John Wayne Marina, Jia-li Han had applied her makeup, revised a list of questions, and spoken to her boss, Ned, back at the station. Her producer and two-person crew had arrived an hour earlier in a mobile news van. They were already setting up for the heavily-promoted interview with Ted and Jenny Lagrange.

Jia-li didn't know a lot about the iconic actor whose name graced the two-story concrete structure in front of her, but after learning he was one of Ted's heroes she'd conducted a quick Internet search. It revealed that "The Duke" once frequented this spectacular bay aboard his yacht, the
Wild Goose
. Reportedly, he became so enamored with the area that he envisioned a marina on the site, and after his death, the family donated twenty-two acres of land to realize his dream. Built in 1985, the property included permanent and guest moorage, a popular seafood restaurant called the Dockside Grill, public beach access, and picnic areas. More importantly, it was from this location that the Lagranges had launched their speedboat the previous afternoon, later capturing the remarkable photos that were about to make them household names.

Nothing like returning to the scene of the crime to amp up ratings.

Before exiting the chopper, Jia-li checked her Facebook and Twitter accounts and raced around the Internet. Her story on the colossal orcas continued to generate an endless stream of postings all over the globe. Friends had shared with friends who shared with other friends, the numbers growing exponentially by the minute. It was truly one of those defining events that changed everything, like the death of JFK or 9/11.

Scientists, politicians, and philosophers weighed in on its significance and every pundit from Chris Matthews to Bill O'Reilly to Rachel Maddow to Rush Limbaugh talked about little else.
Dateline, 20/20,
and
60 Minutes
were all running promos for upcoming stories. And so it was with blogs, chat rooms, and cybercafés on every continent. Imminent scholars were calling the colossal killer whales "the greatest discovery in the history of mankind." Even the Pope issued a statement asking for calm, assuring his billion-plus flock that this was not the rapture, as some religious leaders had alleged.

Not to be denied, the fringe element also jumped in.

A Stockholm-based group called The Luminous Society issued an immediate e-blast to its small but devoted membership. The group believed spiritual elders from other worlds, known as "Celestial Masters of the Universe," had sent the giant beasts as emissaries. Several other UFO-inspired organizations quickly joined the party as well, including Captain Cody and his Cosmic Commandos. From his home base in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the captain had ordered his followers to establish "Alien Viewing Sites" on several islands in Puget Sound. Fans of the Loch Ness monster also sounded the trumpets, asserting that they'd finally been vindicated. The beasts, they proclaimed, must surely be closely related to Scotland's notorious "Nessie."

Jia-li had spoken briefly with Jenny Lagrange earlier in the day. Jenny could hardly contain herself, explaining that she and her husband were huge fans, that they trusted Jia-li like a friend, adding that they'd turned down a king's ransom from media outlets as far away as Australia to sign a modest deal with King TV. The contract called for exclusive rights to their story so long as Jia-li conducted the interview.

The trust factor was huge, something Jia-li had been careful never to betray throughout her career. In fact, trust was the lifeblood of any reputable news-gathering organization, the link to inside sources, people who could tell the story behind the story, those who could separate fact from fiction, hype, and innuendo.

Every reporter's success depended on those contacts.

Shining a light on the truth, she called it.

Now she was moments away from sharing the Lagranges' improbable story with the world, an All-American family perfectly suited for the job. Jenny was a stay-at-home mom to two young kids. She helped out at the local soup kitchen and never missed a PTA meeting. Ted was a foreman at the local Nippon Paper Mill, an avid hunter and sportsman.

Jia-li stepped from the van into a scene that verged on hysteria, fueled by an avalanche of news and speculation. It was Barnum & Bailey without the elephants or trapeze artists. A fleet of satellite trucks—their electronic masts pointed to the heavens—covered both marina parking lots. There were cops everywhere, state troopers mostly, attempting to ride herd over a flash mob of photographers, reporters, and looky-loos crowded behind a cluster of barricades. Overhead in the now-cloudless sky, a trio of helicopters hovered low and annoyingly loud. Reporters from the cable news networks, BBC, NHK, and Asian Television Network were all providing "live" updates on the festivities. Even Al Jazeera got in on the action.