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He whispered an excuse to his wife and made his way to the aisle and then to the lobby. When Jordan recognized Meeker, his face clouded.
Though he welcomed any interruption, he was not happy that it concerned some kind of crisis.
"What's the situation?" he asked without preamble.
"We know which ship carried the bomb," answered Meeker, rising to his feet.
"We can't talk here."
"I've arranged with the manager for the theater's executive suite. I can brief you privately in there."
Jordan knew the room. He led off with Meeker trailing and entered an anteroom furnished in 1860s decor. He closed the door and stared at Meeker. "Are you certain? There is no mistake?"
Meeker shook his head solemnly. "Photos from an earlier weather bird showed three ships in the area.
We activated our old Sky King intelligence satellite as it passed over after the explosion and factored out two of the ships."
"How?"
"With computer enhancement of the radar-sonar system that enables us to see through water as though it was transparent."
"Have you briefed your people?"
"Yes.
Jordan stared Meeker in the eye. "Are you satisfied with your conclusions?"
"I haven't a doubt," Meeker replied squarely.
"The proof is solid?"
"Yes."
"You know you'll share the responsibility if you've screwed up."
"As soon as I've made my report, I'm going home and sleep like a baby. . . Well almost."
Jordan relaxed and settled into a chair beside a table. He looked up at Meeker expectantly. "Okay, what have you got?"
Meeker pulled a leather-bound file folder from a deep pocket inside his overcoat and laid it on the table.
Jordan smiled. "You don't believe in briefcases, I see."
"I like my hands free," Meeker said with a shrug. He opened the file and spread out five photographs.
The first three showed the ships on the surface with incredible detail. "Here you see the Norwegian passenger-cargo liner circling the drifting Japanese auto carrier. Twelve kilometers away, the British survey ship is in the act of lowering a submersible into the sea."
"The before shot," said Jordan.
Meeker nodded. "The next two are from the Sky King taken after the explosion, revealing two shattered hulks on the bottom. The third has disintegrated. Except for a few scattered pieces of her engines on the seabed, there is virtually nothing left of her."
"Which one was she?" Jordan asked slowly, as if anticipating the answer.
"We made positive IDs on the two that sank intact." Meeker paused to turn from the photographs and look into Jordan's eyes as if to underscore his answer. "The ship that was transporting the bomb was the Japanese auto carrier."
Jordan sighed and leaned back in the chair. "It doesn't come as a great shock that Japan has the bomb. They've had the technology for years."
"The giveaway came when they built a liquid-metal fastbreeder reactor. Fissioning with fast neutrons, the breeder creates more plutonium fuel than it burns. The first step in producing nuclear weaponry."
