AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Did you want salami or ham on your pizza?"
"We would prefer salami."
"It's going in the oven. We will call when our delivery boy is on his way. Thank you for calling the Leaning Pizza Tower."
Then the line cut off and a dial tone came through the speaker.
Sandecker passed a hand across his face. When he looked up, his eyes were strained and grim.
"They're inside the shipyard."
"God help them now," Little murmured softly.
"I don't understand," said Hozafel. "Was that some sort of code?" "Satellite phone calls are not immune to interception by the right equipment," explained little.
"Does this somehow have to do with the Wolfs?"
"I do believe, Admiral," Sandecker dropped his voice and answered slowly, "that it's time you heard our side of the story."
Pitt and Giordino had no sooner stepped through the door of the tool shed than a voice in Spanish hailed them from around the corner of the building.
Giordino calmly replied and made empty motions with his hands.
Evidently satisfied with the answer, the guard went back to walking his beat around the tool sheds. Pitt and Giordino waited a moment, then moved out onto the road that led toward the heart of the shipyard.
"What did the guard say, and what did you answer?" asked Pitt.
"He wanted a cigarette, and I told him we didn't smoke."
"And he didn't challenge you."
"He did not."
"Your Spanish must be better than I thought. Where did you learn it?"
"Haggling with the vendors on the beach at my hotel in Mazatlan," Giordino answered modestly. "And when I was in high school, I was taught a few phrases by my mother's cleaning girl."
"I'll bet that wasn't all she taught you," Pitt said ironically.
"That's another story," said Giordino, without missing a beat.
"From now on, we'd better lay off English when we're within earshot of the shipyard workers."
"Out of curiosity, what kind of side arm are you packing?"
"My old tried-and-true Colt .45. Why do you ask?"
"You've carried that old relic ever since I've known you. Why don't you trade it in for a more modern piece?"
"It's like an old friend," Pitt said quietly. "It's saved my tail more times than I can count." He nodded at the bulge in Giordino's coveralls. "How about you?"
"One of the Para-Ordnance 10+1s we took off those clowns at the Pandora Mine."
"At least you have good taste."
"And it was free, too," Giordino said, smiling. Then he nodded toward the main buildings of the shipyard. "Which one are we heading for?"
