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“Margaret who?” Rose asked.

The woman appeared not to have heard her. “Your presentation was impressive.” She cast a glance around the tiled changing rooms as if surprised to find herself there.

“Glad you enjoyed it.” Rose’s teeth met under pressure. The chlorine from the pool was making her skin itch. She wanted a shower, to get dressed and have a hot drink and eat something. “Perhaps.” She inhaled a slow breath. “You might be kind enough to tell me what all this is about?”

Margaret swept one gloved hand over the wooden bench before sitting down and folding her hands in her lap. Her ankles peeped out from under the hem of her immaculately tailored trousers.

Gina made eye contact from the other side of the room, her eyes wide. What the hell ?

“I’ve read your most recent paper on sub-sea recovery using nano tech. Extremely interesting.” Margaret’s scarlet painted lips tugged into a smile. “Your work, Rose, has the potential to revolutionize sub-sea exploration.”

Cut to the chase . Rose arched a brow, not trusting herself to speak, Margaret’s bodyguards burning the edges of her vision with their meaty bodies and guns .

“Especially in the current climate where we are monitoring the spread of the Ceto bacteria throughout our oceans. You know of the incident in the Ceto habitat?”

Rose folded her arms. “You can’t work in marine biology and not know of it.”

Or the damage it’s wrecked on the ocean biome and the human lives it’s taken.

“Good.” Margaret plucked an invisible speck of nothing from the razor sharp crease of her pant leg. “An important…event, one that needs resolution, has arisen in the last twenty-four hours and your name was on the top of our list. Director Haverham recommended you.” She tilted her head, ready to assess Rose’s reaction.

Rose fought to keep her expression neutral. Haverham . She should have known. The man would do anything to get her off site so he could muscle in and claim MARV as his own.

“I’m flattered, but you’re wasting your time here.” Rose unfolded her arms, locked her hands on her hips.“I’m extremely busy with MARV. We are at a crucial point in development.” Rose spread her hands wide in emphasis.She wanted this woman and her threatening guards to leave right now.“I barely have time to eat and sleep. I certainly don’t have time for extra work.”

“I’m so sorry.” Margaret laughed. “Did I give you the impression this was optional?” Her expression hardened. “Because it’s not.”

Cold tile chilled Rose’s feet as the sounds of the room fell away, replaced by the heavy thud of her heart. Not optional?

Margaret snapped her fingers and one of the heavies stepped forward, removing a sleek tablet from a briefcase he placed on her lap. She waited till he had stepped out of the way before waking the screen with a sweep of one finger. She offered it to Rose.

Rose hesitated.

“It won’t bite.” A flash of too perfect teeth.

Her muscles rigid, Rose took the tablet and scanned the images scrolling across the glossy screen.

“What you are looking at is the Io Research lab, a joint project between the Oceanic Security Council and Triton Core.”

“Triton Core? The company that discovered the Ceto bacteria and tried to monetize it before it all went to hell and people died? I thought it was dissolved by the British government?”

Margaret crossed her legs.Her gaze was unblinking, the snake eyeballing its prey before a strike.“That is correct, but crucial threads of the company remain carrying out essential research. It’s not always helpful to throw out the baby with the bathwater.”

Clearly not when there’s money involved. Rose remained silent.

“Io is a pioneer in hybrid nano-robotics.”

My field.

Rose stared at the screen. Perfectly staged images of pristine labs and airbrushed models wearing heels too high and uncomfortable to work in, peering down microscopes. “I’ve never heard of them.”

“Their work is classified as is the location, the Dragon’s Breath Cave, under the Kalahari desert in Namibia.”

“What does this have to do with me?” Rose glanced at the large wall clock. Had it only been ten minutes since Margaret had arrived? Her feet ached with cold.

“Communications from Io went dark forty-eight hours ago. At first, it was assumed to be a glitch. Classified research requires the isolation that only extreme environments can offer and that brings its own hazards. Efforts to reestablish communications have failed and the shuttle link that runs from the surface to the habitat has been disabled from within Io.”

“What does any of this?—”

Margaret raised a silencing finger. “Repetition is not an attractive trait in a scientist. Don’t you agree?”

Gina gave a slow shake of her head across the room. Rose ground her teeth and waited.

“A recovery team has been arranged. Given the nature of the research on site, you willaccompany the recovery team as scientific lead. Arrangements have been made for your equipment,” she waved a hand toward the pool, toward MARV . “…to go with you. Think of it as the opportunity for a real-life test.” Her smile was insincere.

Rose made a choking sound. “What recovery team? I think you’ve made a mistake and confused me with someone else.” She handed the tablet back to Margaret. “I’m not going anywhere near the Kalahari desert or any subterranean lakes. With or without MARV.” She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

Margaret straightened as she pushed back to her feet, her heels giving her several inches of advantage.

“Failure to comply will cause your little robot gadget out there being relegated to the scrap heap, and your career with it.” Margaret grimaced. “Now we wouldn’t want that, would we?”

She checked her wrist, revealing an elegant silver watch. “Non-compliance will also result in termination of your contract of employment. You have less than six hours to prepare. I suggest you finish up here and pack what you will need. A car will collect you from your apartment at nineteen hundred hours.”

“You can’t do that,” Gina spluttered from across the room.

Margaret ignored her, her attention unrelentingly focussed on Rose. “There is no choicehere. The research being undertaken at Io is of global importance and must be retrieved safely and while the recovery teamare experts in their own field, they are not scientists. You are and your expertise in hybrid nano-robotics is vital to this mission.”

“Director Hav?—”

“Everything has already been cleared by Director Haverham.” Margaret waited while one of her bodyguards secured her tablet.

Rose shook her head, her legs leaden. Everything she had worked for over the past five years suddenly felt unsubstantial, as if it could all crumble to nothing. She firmed her jaw. She hated bullies. “You can’t make me.”

Margaret tsked, and her expression crunched in a tiny perfect wince. One of the bodyguards pressed something small into Rose’s hand.

A photograph.

A serious faced woman, her hands deep in the pockets of her white coat, long wavy hair pulled back in a style too severe for her face. A face that Rose knew only too well.

Thea.

Theworld swayed and tingles rushed down Rose’s back. She cleared her throat, fighting to appear calm. “What does my sister Thea have to do with any of this?”

“Your sister is Io’s science lead.”

“She’s down there?”

“Yes. ”

“I haven’t seen her for years.”

Margaret regarded her intently but remained silent.

Memories rushed Rose, fierce and caustic, as if Thea were still in the room with her. Except if her sister was here, would they even be able to speak to each other after the betrayal between them? Her tongue was thick in her mouth.

Margaret’s mouth compressed and for an instant there was a spark of something in her emotionless eyes. Sympathy? “Everything’s been arranged and time is of the essence. My assistant sent a list of everything you require.” She swept past Rose in a cloud of exotic perfume. “Nineteen hundred hours. Be ready.”

The men parted, and she exited the changing room, her designer heels clicking a sharp staccato. The men followed, and the doors shushed closed behind them.

Rose dropped her gaze to the photograph in her hand.

Thea.

Just when her life was finally back on track after the carnage that Thea had wreaked on everything , Thea was doing it all over again. Ripping herfrom the life she’d rebuilt to some clandestine research lab in the bowels of the earth in the middle of the Kalahari desert.

Rose crushed the photograph.

She had fought so hard, but the past had returned to claim her.