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Chapter 1

I AKAMAI

PARIS NORD

SUNDAY, MAY 2, 2004

12:00 PM

In the darkness, he touched her arm and said, "Stay here" She did notShe heard the faint gurgle of water

Then the lights cae open tank, perhaps fifty ht have been an indoor swi pool, except for all the electronic equipment that surrounded it

And the very strange device at the far end of the pool

Jonathan Marshall ca like an idiot "Qu'estce que tu penses?" he said, though he knew his pronunciation was terrible "What do you think?"

"It is lish, her accent sounded exotic In fact, everything about her was exotic, Jonathan thought With her dark skin, high cheekbones, and black hair, she ht have been a model And she strutted like a model in her short skirt and spike heels She was half Vietnamese, and her na around

"No, no," he said "It's Sunday No one is co"

Jonathan Marshall enty-four, a graduate student in physics fro for the summer at the ultra-modern Laboratoire Ondulatoirethe wave mechanics laboratoryof the French Marine Institute in Vissy, just north of Paris But the suburb wasfamilies, and it had been a lonely suood fortune at irl

"Shohat it does, this"Shohat it is you do"

"My pleasure," Marshall said He an to switch on the pumps and sensors The thirty panels of the wave machine at the far end of the tank clicked, one after another

He glanced back at her, and she smiled at him "It is so complicated," she said She came and stood beside him at the control panel "Your research is recorded on cameras?"

"Yes, we have ca, and on the sides of the tank They enerated We also have pressure sensors in the tanks that record pressure para wave"

"These cameras are on now?"

"No, no," he said "We don't need the an experiment"

"Perhaps we are," she said, resting her hand on his shoulder Her fingers were long and delicate She had beautiful fingers

She watched for ais so expensive You reat security, no?"

"Not really," he said "Just cards to get in And only one security caestured over his shoulder "That one back in the corner"

She turned to look "And that is turned on?" she said

"Oh yes," he said "That's always on"

She slid her hand to caress his neck lightly "So is so us now?"

"Afraid so"

"Then we should behave"

"Probably Anyhat about your boyfriend?"

"Hih of him"

Earlier that day, Marshall had gone frone, the caf? he went to everya journal article with hiirl had sat down at the next table, with her boyfriend The couple had proument

In truth, Marshall felt that Marisa and the boyfriend didn't seeether He was American, a beefy, red-faced fellow built like a footballer, with longish hair and wire-fralasses that did not suit his thick features He looked like a pig trying to appear scholarly

His nary with Marisa, apparently because she had spent the previous night away from him "I don't knohy you won't tell

"It is none of your business, that's why"

"But I thought ere going to have dinner together"

"Jimmy, I told you ere not"

"No, you told ht"

"So? No one o out Enjoy yourself"

"But I aiting for you"

"Ji, throwing up her hands, or slapping her bare knees Her legs were crossed, and the short skirt rode up high "I do as I please"

"That's clear"

"Yes," she said, and at that moment she turned to Marshall and said, "What is that you are reading? It looks very complicated"

At first Marshall was alar to him to taunt the boyfriend He did not want to be drawn into the couple's dispute

"It's physics," he said briefly, and turned slightly away He tried to ignore her beauty

"What kind of physics?" she persisted

"Wave mechanics Ocean waves"

"So, you are a student?"

"Graduate student"

"Ah And clearly intelligent You are English? Why are you in France?"

And before he knew it, he was talking to her, and she introduced the boyfriend, who gave Marshall a smirk and a liirl behaved as if it were not

"So you work around here? What sort of work? A tank with a ine what you say Will you show me?"

And now they were here, in the wavein the parking lot outside, sarette

"What shall we do about Ji beside Marshall while he worked at the control panel

"He can't smoke in here"

"I will see that he does not But I don't want to ry Can I let him in, do you think?"

Marshall felt disappointuess"

Then she squeezed his shoulder "Don't worry, he is busy later with other business of his"

She went and opened the door at the back of the lab, and Ji back, hands in his pockets Marisa caain, at the control panel

"He's all right," she said "No me"

The electric motors at the far end of the tank whirred, and the wave paddles generated the first wave It was a sth of the tank, to splash on a slanted panel at the near end

"So, this is a tidal wave?" she said