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Sandecker stared back thoughtfully for a moment. Then his face took on a questioning expression. "One of our research vessels?"
"She's on a sonar mapping project of the continental slope off southern Brazil."
Sandecker nodded. "All right, I get your drift, but the Sounder is too slow to be of any help on an extensive sea search. What do you expect to accomplish with her?"
"If my father's ship can't be found on the surface, I'll hunt for her below.",
"You could be looking at a thousand square miles, maybe more."
"The Sounder's sonar gear can cut a swath two miles wide, and she carries a submersible. All I need is your permission to take command of her."
"You'll need someone to back you up."
"Giordino and Rudi Gunn. We make a good team."
"Rudi is on a deep-sea mining operation off the Canary Islands."
"He could be in Uruguay in eighteen hours."
Sandecker clasped his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling.
Deep down he felt Pitt was chasing shadows, but he never doubted for an instant what his answer would be.
"Write your own ticket," he said in a level tone. "I'll back YOU."
"Thank you, Admiral," Pitt said. "I'm grateful."
"How does the Alexandria Library project stand?"
"Yaeger and Dr. Sharp are close to a solution. They don't need Al and me getting in the way."
Sandecker rose and placed both his hands on Pitts shoulders. "He may not be dead, you know."
"Dad better not be dead," Pitt said with a grim smile, "I'd never forgive him."
"Dammit, Martin!" the President said abniptly. "Didn't your Middle East people smell a plot to hijack the Lady Flamborough?"
Martin Brogan, the CIA director, shrugged wearily. He was well insula
ted for taking the blame for every terrorist act that killed Americans or took them hostage. The CIAs successes were rarely heralded, but their mistakes were the stuff of Congressional investigations and hype from the news mecha "The ship, along with its entire passenger list and crew, was snatched from under the noses of the finest security agents in the world," he replied. "Whoever dreamed up the venture and executed it is one shrewd operator. The mere scope is far beyond any terrorist activity we've seen in the past.
"I find it hardly surprising our counterterrorist network was not tipped off in advance."
Alan Merger, the National Security Adviser, removed his glasses and idly wiped the lenses with a handkerchief. "My end struck out too," he said, backing up Brogan. "Analysis of our eavesdropping monitoring systems failed to reveal any hint of a potential cruise-liner hijacking and abduction of two foreign leaders."
"By sending George Pitt to meet with President Hasan, I sentenced an old friend to death," the President said regretfully.
"Not your fault," Merger consoled him.
The President angrily pounded the desk with one fist. "The Senator, Hala Kamil, De Lorenzo and Hasan. I can't believe they're all gone."
"We don't know that for sure," said Merger.
The President stared at him. "You can't hide a cruise liner and all the people on board, Alan. Even a dumb politician like me knows that."
"There is still a chance '
"Chance, hell. It was a suicide mission plain and simple. All those poor people were probably locked up while the ship was scuttled. The terrorists never meant to escape. They went down too."
