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"An extensive search by the Navy found nothing."
Pitt hesitated as Yaeger entered the viewing room, set a cup of coffee by the console, and silently retreated. He took a few sips and asked Hope to reshow the photo of the Cyclops. The ship materialized on the monitor's screen and he stared at it thoughtfully.
He picked up the phone, punched a number, and waited. A digital clock on the console read 11:55, but the voice that answered sounded bright and cheerful.
"Dirk!" boomed Dr. Raphael O'Meara. "What the hell is going down? You caught me at a good time.
I just came home this morning from a dig in Costa Rica."
"Find another truckload of potsherds?"
"Only the richest cache of pre-Columbian art discovered to date. Amazing pieces, some dating back to three hundred B.C."
"Too bad you can't keep them."
"All my finds go to the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica."
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"You're a generous man, Raphael."
"I don't donate them, Dirk. The governments where my finds are made preserve the artifacts as part of their national heritage. But why bore an old waterlogged relic like you. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"
"I need your expertise on a piece of treasure."
"You know, of course," O'Meara said, his tone edged with a touch of seriousness, "treasure is an unspeakable word to a respected archeologist."
"We all carry an albatross," said Pitt. "Can you meet me for a drink?"
"Now? Do you realize what time it is?"
"I happen to know you're a night owl. Make it easy on yourself. Someplace close to your house."
"How about the Old Angler's Inn on MacArthur Boulevard? Say in half an hour."
"Sounds good."
"Can you tell me what treasure you're interested in?"
"The one everyone dreams about."
"Oh? And which one is that?"
"Tell you when I see you."
Pitt hung up and gazed at the Cyclops. There was an eerie loneliness about her. He could not help wondering what secrets she took with her to a watery grave.
"Can I provide any further data?" asked Hope, interrupting his morbid reverie. "Or do you wish to terminate?"
"I think we can call it quits," he replied. "Thank you, Hope. I wish I could give you a big kiss."
"I am grateful for the compliment, Dirk. But I am not physiologically capable of receiving a kiss."
"You're still a sweetheart in my book."
"Come up and use me anytime."
Pitt laughed. "Goodnight, Hope."
