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"Time for us to go to work?"
"Not yet."
Pitt turned and introduced Mancuso to Loren. Giordino simply nodded and passed the newcomer a glass of wine from a newly opened bottle. Mancuso's eyes widened when he was introduced to Loren.
He looked at Pitt with an approving expression, then nodded at Loren and the Stutz. "Two classic beauties. You have excellent taste."
Pitt smiled slyly. "I do what I can."
"That's quite a car," Mancuso said, eyeing the lines of the Stutz. "LeBaron coachwork, isn't it?"
"Very good. You into old automobiles?"
"My brother is a car nut. I soaked up what little I know about them from him." He motioned up the aisle separating the line of cars. "Would you care to give me a guided lecture on all this fine machinery?"
They excused themselves to Loren, who struck up a conversation with the wife of the owner of the Hispano-Suiza. After they strolled past a few cars, Giordino grew impatient.
"What's going on?" he demanded.
Mancuso stared at him. "You'll probably hear about it from Admiral Sandecker. But Team Mercedes has been put on hold. Your project to salvage any remains of the ship that carried the bomb cars has been scrubbed."
"Any particular reason?"
"The President decided it would be best if we kept hands off for now. Too many problems. Soviet propaganda is already trying to lay the blast on our doorstep. Congress is talking about launching investigations, and the President is in no mind to explain an undercover salvage operation. He can't afford discovery of your Soggy Acres venture. That went against international laws governing mining of the seafloor."
"We only took samples," said Pitt defensively. "It was purely an experimental program."
"Maybe so, but you got the jump on the rest of the world. Third-world nations especially would howl their heads off at the UN if they thought they were being cut out of an undersea bonanza."
Pitt stopped and studied a huge open car. "I'd love to own this one."
"A Cadillac touring?"
"A Cadillac V-Sixteen phaeton," Pitt corrected. "They're bringing close to a million dollars at the auctions."
Giordino nodded. "Right up there with the Duesenbergs."
Pitt turned and looked at Mancuso steadily. "How many cars with warheads have they found?"
"Only your six so far. Stacy and Weatherhill haven't sent word of their progress on the West Coast yet."
"The Japanese must have a fleet of those things scattered around the country," said Pitt. "Jordan will need an army to nail them down."
"There's no lack of manpower, but the trick is to do it without pushing the Japs into a corner. If they think their nuclear bomb project is threatened, they might overreact and set one off man
"Nice if Team Honda can penetrate the source and snatch a map of the locations," Giordino said quietly.
"They're working on it," Mancuso stated firmly.
Pitt leaned over and peered at a Lalique crystal head of a rooster that adorned the radiator of a Pierce-Arrow roadster. "In the meantime we all sit around with our fingers in our ears."
"Don't feel left out. You accomplished more in the first four hours than the entire team in forty-eight.
We'll be called when we're needed."
"I don't like waiting in the dark for something to happen."
Giordino switched his attention from the cars to a girl walking past in a tight leather skirt and said vaguely, "What could possibly happen at a concours?"
