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Huey gave a slight nod. "Not at all."
"I don't suppose you could make a pass over the Odyssey facility on the island?"
Huey turned fractionally and shot Pitt a look usually reserved for the insane. "You're joking. That place is guarded tighter than Area 51 at Groom Lake, Nevada. I couldn't fly within five miles without a security aircraft chasing me away."
"What goes on down there?"
"Nobody knows. The installation is so secret, the Nicaraguans deny it exists. What began as a small facility underwent vast expansion in the past five years. The security measures go beyond extreme. Huge warehouses, and what some people think are assembly areas, were constructed. Rumor has it there is a housing secti
on accommodating three thousand people. The native Nicaraguans used to grow coffee and tobacco on the islands. Alta Garcia and Moyogalpa, the main towns, were torn down and burned after the Nicaraguan government forced the people off their land and relocated them in the mountains to the east."
"The government must have a heavy investment in the facility."
"I don't know about that, but they've been extremely cooperative in allowing Odyssey to operate without interference."
"No one has ever sneaked through Odyssey security?" asked Pitt.
Huey smiled tautly. "Nobody who lived."
"It's that tough to penetrate?"
"The entire island's beaches are patrolled by vehicles equipped with high-tech surveillance gear. Patrol boats circle the island, assisted by helicopters. Remote sensors detect movement along every path and road leading to the complex. It's said Odyssey engineers perfected sensory equipment with the ability to smell a human approaching the buildings, and distinguish them from animals."
"There must be satellite photos?" Pitt persisted.
"You can buy them from the Russians, but they won't tell you what goes on inside the maze of buildings."
"There must be rumors."
"Sure, lots of them. The only one that has any substance is that it's a research and development installation. What they research is anybody's guess."
"It must have a name."
"Only what the locals call it."
"Which is?" Pitt had to prompt.
"In English," Huey finally replied, "house of the invisible ones."
"Any reason?"
"They say it's because everybody who goes in is never seen again."
"The local officials never investigate?" asked Pitt.
Huey shook his head. "Nicaraguan bureaucrats keep a hands-off policy. The word is that Odyssey management has bought off every politician, judge and police chief in the country."
"How about the Red Chinese? Are they involved?"
"They're everywhere in Central America these days. They contracted with Odyssey about three years ago to build a short canal through Lake Nicaragua's western shoreline at Pena Blanca, so deep-water cargo ships can enter and exit."
"The nation's economy should have profited."
"Not really. Most all of the ships that use the canal are from a Chinese cargo fleet."
"COSCO?"
Huey nodded. "Yeah, that's the one. They always dock at the Odyssey facility."
