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"I slipped over the side, swam underwater until I grabbed your arm, and dragged you to the surface. The steward would have beat on me too except for the timely arrival of a Navy helicopter whose paramedics jumped into the water and helped sling us onboard."
"And Loren?"
Giordino averted his gaze. "She's listed as missing."
"Missing, hell!" Pitt snarled. He grimaced from the sudden pain in his chest as he rose to his elbows. "We both know she was alive and sitting in the lifeboat."
A solemn look clouded Giordino's face. "Her name didn't appear on a list of survivors given out by the ship's captain."
"A Bougainville ship!" Pitt blurted as his memory came flooding back. "The Oriental steward who tried to brain us pointed toward the-" "Chalmette," Giordino prompted.
"Yes, the Chalmette, and said it belonged to him. He also spoke my name."
"Stewards are supposed to remember passengers' names. He knew you as Charlie Gruber in cabin thirty-four."
"No, he rightly accused me of meddling in Bougainville affairs, and his last words were 'Bon voyage, Dirk Pitt."
" Giordino gave a puzzled shrug. "Beats hell out of me how he knew you. But why would a Bougainville man work as a steward on a Russian cruise ship?"
"I can't begin to guess .
"And lie about Loren's rescue?"
Pitt merely gave an imperceptible shake of his head.
"Then she's being held prisoner by the Bougainvilles," said Giordino as if suddenly enlightened. "But for what reason?"
"You keep asking questions I can't a
nswer," Pitt said irritably.
"Where is the Chalmette now?"
"Headed toward Miami to land the survivors."
"How long have I been unconscious?"
"About thirty-two hours," replied the doctor.
"Still time," said Pitt. "The Chalnwtte won't reach the Florida coast for several hours yet."
He raised himself to a sitting position and swung his legs over the side of the bed. The room began to seesaw back and forth.
The doctor moved forward and steadied him by both arms. "I hope you don't think you're rushing off somewhere."
"I intend to be standing on the dock when the Chalmette arrives in Miami," Pitt said implacably.
A stern medical-profession look grew on the doctor's face.
"You're staying in this bed for the next four days. You can't travel around with those fractured ribs, and we don't know how serious your concussion is."
"Sorry, Doc," Giordino said, "but you've both been overruled."
Pitt stared at him stonily. "Who's to stop me?"
"Admiral Sandecker, for one. Secretary of State Doug Oates for another," Giordino answered as detachedly as though he were reading aloud the stock market quotes for the day. "Orders came down for you to fly to Washington the minute you came around.
We may be in big trouble. I have a hunch we dipped into the wrong cookie jar when we discovered Congressman Moran and Senator Larimer imprisoned on a Soviet vessel."
