'Sure. But the tugs were attacked.'

'One tug was sunk, if that's what you mean,' said the woman, politely uninterested. 'No one's said anything about whales, but I'll tell Mr. Roberts you called.'

'Tell him it's in his interest.'

'He'll call you in the next few weeks.'

Weeks?

'Mr. Roberts is out of town.'

What the hell is going on? thought Anawak. He tried again.

'Mr. Roberts also promised to send further samples of organic matter from the Barrier Queen to the lab in Nanaimo. Now, please don't tell me you know nothing about that either. I've seen the infestation. I even took a bunch of mussels from the hull.'

'Mr. Roberts would have told me if-'

'The lab needs those samples!'

'Mr. Roberts will deal with it on his return.'

'It'll be too late by then! Oh, forget it. I'll call back later.'

Annoyed, he jammed his mobile into his pocket. Shoemaker was trundling down the access road in his Land Cruiser, then turned into the car park in front of the terminal. Anawak headed over to him. 'You're not exactly a model of punctuality, are you?' he called grumpily.

'For heaven's sake, Leon! We're ten minutes late.' Shoemaker came to meet him with Delaware in tow. A young powerfully built black guy with dark glasses and a shaved head followed behind. 'Loosen up, will you? We had to wait for Danny.'

Anawak shook hands with the other man, who flashed him a smile. He was a marksman in the Canadian army and had been placed at Anawak's disposal. He was carrying his weapon, a state-of-the-art, high-precision crossbow. 'Nice island you got here,' he drawled. A piece of gum travelled across his mouth as he spoke. 'You need me to take care of something?'

'Didn't they tell you?' asked Anawak.

'Sure – that I needed my bow to shoot at some whales. Kind of surprised me, though. Never thought it was legal.'

It isn't. I'll tell you all about it in the plane. Let's go.'

'Hang on.' Shoemaker held up a newspaper. 'Have you seen this?'

Anawak scanned the headline. '"The Hero of Tofino"?'

'Greywolf sure knows how to sell himself He's all modest in the interview, but see what he says further down. It'll make you want to puke.'

' ". . . did my duty as a Canadian citizen, that's all," muttered Anawak.' "Sure, we could have died – but I had to do something to make up for the damage caused by irresponsible whale-watching. My organisation has been warning for years of the dangerous levels of stress that whale-watchers inflict on the animals, which leads them to behave in unpredictable ways." My God, he's crazy!'

'Read on.'

"Davie's Whaling Station can't be accused of dishonesty, but it hasn't been completely honest either. In dressing up a money-making tourist business as an environmental research project, the whale-watchers are as bad as the Japanese, whose flotillas prey on endangered species in the Arctic. The Japanese also talk about the scientific value of their activities, even though in 2002 over four hundred tonnes of whale meat went on sale as a delicacy in wholesale markets. DNA tests traced the flesh to the objects of their so-called scientific study."

Anawak lowered the paper. 'That bastard.'

'But he's right, isn't he?' Delaware demanded. 'The Japanese really are spouting all that crap about their research. At least, that's what I heard.'

'Of course he's right,' snorted Anawak. 'That's why it's so damn cunning. He's trying to implicate us too.'

'God knows what he hopes to achieve by it,' said Shoemaker.

'He's just attention-seeking.'

'Well, he…' Delaware's hands waved in gesture of appeasement. 'I guess, he is a hero in a way.'

Anawak glared at her. 'Oh, really?'

'Without him people would have died. It's not fair of him to lay into you like that but he was brave and he-'

'Greywolf isn't brave,' growled Shoemaker. 'That shit only ever does anything for effect. But he's screwed up big-time now. The Makah won't like it. I can't imagine they'll thank their self-elected blood-brother for his impassioned speech against whaling – right, Leon?'

Anawak didn't reply.

Danny pushed his gum from one cheek to the other. 'All set?' he said.

At that moment the pilot called to them through the open door of the plane, and waved. Anawak knew what that meant. Ford had made contact. It was time. Instead of responding to Shoemaker's comment he put a hand on his shoulder. 'Could you do me a favour when you're back at the Station?'

'Sure,' he said. 'I'm not exactly rushed off my feet.'

'Find out whether there's been anything in the papers over the last few weeks about the Barrier Queen and her accident. Maybe check the Internet too – and the TV.'

'Why?'

'I've a feeling it wasn't reported.'

'Uh-huh.'

'Well, I can't remember hearing anything about it, can you?'

Shoemaker squinted up at the sun. 'No. Just some vague stuff about shipping accidents in Asia. But that's not to say it wasn't mentioned. I haven't read the papers since things kicked off round here. But it's a good point. Come to think of it, not much has been said about the whole damn mess.'

'Exactly,' said Anawak.

AS THE PLANE TOOK OFF, Anawak turned to Danny. 'Your job is to fire the tag into the blubber. The whale won't feel a thing. Scientists have been trying for years to get tags to stick to whaleskin, but a biologist in Kiel came up with the solution – a crossbow with tags and time-depth recorders that are fitted to the darts. The tip pierces the fat, and the whale carries the device for a few weeks. It doesn't even know it's there.'

Danny looked at him. 'A biologist from Kiel?'

'You don't think it'll work?'

'Oh, sure. Just seems to me he should have asked the whale about it hurtin'. Jeez, you gotta be pretty darned accurate. How you gonna know it won't go deeper than the fat?'

'They used pork to test the darts and kept going until they knew exactly how far the tips would penetrate. It's all a question of math.'

'I'll be darned,' said Danny. His eyebrows appeared above his dark glasses.

'What happens if you fire it at a human?' Delaware piped up from the seat behind them. 'Would the dart go in part-way?'

Anawak turned to face her.

'Yes, – but deep enough to kill you.'

The DHC-2 banked, the lagoon glittering beneath them.

'It wasn't the only option available,' said Anawak, 'but the key thing was to make sure we could track the whale over a significant period. The crossbow method seemed the most reliable. The tag records information on heartbeat, body temperature, water temperature, depth, speed and other variables. Fitting the whale with a camera is more of a problem.'

'Why not use the crossbow?' asked Danny. 'Save yourself a lot of hassle.'

'There'd be no means of ensuring which way up the camera would land. In any case, I'd like to see the whale. I want to be able to watch it, and that's only possible if the camera is further away and not mounted on top of it.'

'Which is why we're deploying a URA,' explained Delaware. 'It's a new type of robot from Japan.'

Anawak's lips twitched. From the way Delaware talked, you'd think she'd invented it.

'What robot?' Danny looked around.

'We didn't bring it.'

The plane was out of the lagoon, flying close to the swell. The water off Vancouver Island was usually full of pleasure-boats, Zodiacs and kayaks, but no one was brave enough to venture out now. In the distance a few freighters and ferries passed, too big for the whales to be a problem. The coastal waters were deserted, apart from a single mighty ship. The plane headed away from the ragged coastline, straight for it.

'The URA is on the Whistler- down there,' said Anawak. 'First we need to find and tag our whale, then the robot gets its turn.'