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"I wish Pitt and Giordino were here," she said sadly. "I miss them."
Gunn stared absently at the ground. "We all miss them. I know the admiral's heart is torn out."
Molly changed the subject. "How's it look?"
He tilted his head toward the half-dismantled antenna. "She's fighting us every step of the way. Things are going a little faster now that we know how to attack her."
"A shame," she decided after a thoughtful survey of the thirty men and four women who struggled so long and hard to tear apart and move the antenna, their dedication and tireless efforts now seemingly wasted in a magnificent attempt to save so many lives, "that all this may very well come to nothing."
"Don't give up on Jim Sandecker," said Gunn. "He may have been blocked by the White House in securing the Roosevelt, but I'll bet you a dinner with soft lights and music that he'll come up with a replacement."
"You're on," she said, smiling thinly. "That's a bed I'll gladly lose."
He looked up curiously. "I beg your pardon?"
"A Freudian slip." She laughed tiredly. "I meant 'bet.' "
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At four in the morning, Molly received a call from Sandecker. His voice showed no trace of fatigue.
"When do you expect to wrap up?"
"Rudi thinks we'll have the final section loaded on board the Lanikai--"
"The what?" Sandecker interrupted.
"The Lanikai, a small interisland freighter I chartered to haul the antenna to Pearl Harbor."
"Forget Pearl Harbor. How soon before you'll be out of there?"
"Another five hours." replied Molly.
"We're running tight. Remind Rudi we have less than sixty hours left."
"If not Pearl Harbor, where do we go?"
"Set a course for Halawa Bay, on the island of Molokai." answered Sandecker. "I found another platform for deploying the reflector."
"Another aircraft carrier?"
"Something even better."
"Halawa Bay is less than a hundred kilometers across the channel. How did you manage that?"
"They who await no gifts from chance, conquer fate."
"You're being cryptic, Admiral," Molly said, intrigued.
Just tell Rudi to pack up and get to Molokai no later than ten o'clock this morning."
She had just switched off the portable phone when Gunn entered the tent. "We're breaking down the final section," he said wearily. "And then we're out of here."
"The admiral called," she informed Gunn. "He's ordered us to take the antenna to Halawa Bay."
"On Molokai?" Gunn asked, his eyes narrowed questioningly.
That was the message," she said flatly.
