Valhalla Rising (57 page)

“I can’t believe this could happen in America.”

“Many nefarious things go on behind the scenes of business and government that the public doesn’t know about,” said Loren.

Rader stared apprehensively at the thick report on the table in front of him. “I hope I’m not biting off more than I can chew.”

“I’ll give you every assistance from the congressional end,” Loren promised him.

“Our first priority,” said Sandecker, pressing a series of buttons on a remote and lowering a monitor with a display of San Francisco Bay, “is to stop that oil tanker from wiping out half of San Francisco.” He turned and looked at Dover, Garnet and Jacobs, who had remained quiet during the discussion. “This is where you gentlemen come into the picture.”

“The Coast Guard will stop the
Pacific Chimera
from entering the bay,” Dover stated flatly.

Sandecker nodded. “Sounds simple, Amos. You’ve stopped thousands of ships carrying everything from drugs to illegal immigrants to smuggled weapons. But stopping one of the world’s largest super oil tankers will take more than firing a shot across its bow and a command through a bullhorn.”

Dover smiled at Garnet and Jacobs. “Is this why we have the Navy SEALs and Marine Recon at the table?”

“You will, of course, be in command of the operation,” said Sandecker. “But if the captain of the tanker ignores your commands to heave to and continues on his course into the bay, we don’t have a whole lot of avenues open to us. The ship must be stopped outside the Golden Gate, but to fire on her and risk causing a monstrous oil spill is out of the question. As a last resort, a combat team will have to be air-dropped by helicopter onto the vessel itself and neutralize the crew.”

“Where is the
Pacific Chimera
now?” asked Dover.

Sandecker pressed another button on the remote and the map enlarged to show the ocean to the west of the Golden Gate. The chart showed a small image of a ship heading toward the coast of California. “Approximately nine hundred miles out.”

“That gives us less than forty-eight hours.”

“We only received the devastating news from Ms. Morse and Congresswoman Smith in the early hours of the morning.”

“I’ll have Coast Guard cutters waiting to intercept fifty miles out,” said Dover solidly.

“And I’ll have a boarding team in the air as backup,” Jacobs assured him.

“My SEAL team will stand ready to board from the sea,” Garnet added.

Dover looked at Garnet dubiously. “Your men can board a supertanker from the water while it’s under way?”

“An exercise we’ve rehearsed many times,” said Garnet, with an almost imperceptible grin.

“
That
I’ll have to see,” said Dover.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen,” Sandecker said quietly, “this is as far as NUMA can go in this project. We’ll help in any way we’re asked, and will supply the evidence we’ve accumulated pertaining to the fire and cover-up sinking of the
Emerald Dolphin
and the near-tragedy of the
Golden Marlin,
but we are a scientific oceanographic agency and not authorized to act as an investigative agency. I leave it to Wes and Loren to assemble a trusted team of patriots to launch the first phase of an undercover investigation.”

“We have our work cut out for us,” Loren said to Rader.

“Yes,” replied Rader quietly. “Some of the people on this list are my friends. I’ll be a lonely man when this is over.”

“You won’t be the only outcast,” said Loren, with a dry smile. “I have friends on the list, too.”

Dover pushed back his chair and stood and looked down at Sandecker. “I’ll keep you informed every hour on the status of the operation.”

“I appreciate that, Amos. Thank you.”

One by one, they filed out of the locker room. Pitt and Giordino, along with Rudi Gunn, were asked by Sandecker to remain. As he left, Yaeger put his hand on Pitt’s shoulder and asked him to drop by NUMA headquarters after he left there and come to the computer floor.

Sandecker relaxed in his chair and lit his big cigar. He stared at Giordino with an annoyed look, waiting for him to light up one of his special cigars, too, but Al merely stared back with a patronizing smile. “It looks as if you boys are sidelined for the rest of the game.”

“I’m sure you and Rudi won’t let us sit on the bench for very long,” said Pitt, as he stared from Sandecker to Gunn.

Gunn adjusted his glasses. “We’re sending an expedition to French Frigate Shoals northwest of the Hawaiian Islands to survey and examine the widespread death of the coral. We’d like Al to head up the investigation.”

“And me?” asked Pitt.

“I hope you saved your cold-weather gear from the Atlantis Project,” said Sandecker wryly. “You’ll be returning to Antarctica in an attempt to penetrate the ice down to the vast lake scientists believe is under the ice cap.”

A shadow of dissent crossed Pitt’s face. “I will, of course, follow your directives, Admiral, without argument. But I respectfully request five days for Al and me to clear up a mystery concerning Dr. Elmore Egan.”

“The search for his secret laboratory?”

“You know?”

“I have my sources.”

Kelly, Pitt thought. The old devil had played sympathetic uncle while protecting her from harm by Zale’s henchmen. She must have told him about their search for the Norsemen and the puzzle behind the legend of the lost cave.

“I strongly believe it is a matter of national security to find out what Dr. Egan was working on when he died, before Zale gets there first.”

Sandecker looked over at Gunn. “What do you think, Rudi? Should we give these two scoundrels five days to search for an illusion?”

Gunn peered over the tops of his glasses at Pitt and Giordino like a fox eyeing a pair of coyotes. “I think we can be magnanimous, Admiral. It will take at least five days to finish equipping and supplying the survey ships I’ve scheduled for the projects, anyway.”

Sandecker exhaled a cloud of blue aromatic smoke. “That’s it, then. Rudi will inform you where and when to report on board your survey ships.” Then he dropped his gruff edge and said, “I wish you luck on your quest. I’m also curious as to what Egan was conjuring up.”

Y
aeger was slouching in his chair, feet stretched out, in front of his keyboard conversing with Max, when Pitt arrived from the football stadium. “You wanted to see me, Hiram?”

“I’ll say.” Yaeger straightened and pulled Egan’s leather case from a nearby cabinet. “You’re just in time for the next act.”

“Act?”

“Three more minutes.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Every forty-eight hours, at precisely one-fifteen in the afternoon, this case turns to magic.”

“It fills with oil,” Pitt said hesitantly.

“Exactly.” Yaeger opened the case, and waved his hand over the empty contents like a magician. Then he closed it and snapped the latches. He studied the sweep hand on his wristwatch, counting the seconds. Then he said, “To reverse the old cliché: Now, you don’t see it—and now you do.” He carefully unlatched and lifted the lid. The interior of the case was filled with oil less than an inch from the upper edge.

“I know you’re not performing black magic,” said Pitt, “since the same thing happened to Al and me after Kelly Egan gave me the case on the
Deep Encounter.
”

“It has to be some sort of trick or illusion,” said Yaeger, befuddled.

“It’s not an illusion,” said Pitt. “It’s real enough.” He dipped his finger in the oil and rubbed it between his thumb. “Feels frictionless. My guess is that it’s Dr. Egan’s super oil.”

“The million-dollar question is: Where’s it coming from?”

“Does Max have a read on it?” Pitt asked, staring at the holograph figure on the other side of Yaeger’s desk.

“Sorry, Dirk. I’m as mystified as you,” said Max. “I have a few ideas I’d like to pursue if Hiram doesn’t shut me down when he leaves for home tonight.”

“Only if you promise not to enter confidential or private sites.”

“I will try to be a good girl.” The words were there, but the delivery had a conniving tone to it.

Yaeger did not think it was funny. Max had gotten him in trouble before, going where she was forbidden to go. But Pitt could not help laughing.

“Have you ever regretted not making Max a male?”

Yaeger looked like a man who’d fallen into a sewer wearing a tuxedo. “Consider yourself lucky,” he said wearily. “You’re single. Not only do I have to contend with Max, but I have a wife and two teenage daughters at home.”

“You don’t know it, Hiram, but you’re a man to be envied.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You never let a woman into your life.”

“No,” said Pitt wistfully. “That, I never did.”

U
nknown to Pitt, his days of lonely bachelorhood would be temporarily interrupted. He returned to his hangar and observed that wily old Sandecker had sent a security team to patrol the area around him at the deserted end of the airport. He didn’t question the admiral’s concern for his safety. He didn’t feel it was necessary, despite Zale’s threats, but he was grateful all the same. The real reason did not become apparent until he entered the hangar and climbed to his apartment above the main floor.

The music coming out of his stereo system was on an easy-listening station instead of his preferred modern jazz. Then he smelled the aroma of coffee. He also detected the wisp of a fragrant feminine scent. He peered into the kitchen and found Sally Morse stirring the contents of an array of pots on the stove. She was in bare feet, wearing a sundress and little else.

Who invited you? Who said you could invade my personal domain as if you owned it? Who let you in through the security systems? All these questions ripened in his mind, but, mild-mannered marine engineer that he was, Pitt simply said, “Hello, what’s for dinner?”

“Beef stroganoff,” answered Sally, turning and smiling sweetly. “Do you like it?”

“One of my favorites.”

She could tell by the adrift expression on his face that he hadn’t expected her. “Congresswoman Smith thought I’d be safer staying here. Especially since Admiral Sandecker has placed a security ring around your hangar.”

Questions answered, Pitt opened the cabinet above his bar to pour a drink.

“Loren told me you drink tequila, so I took the liberty of making margaritas. I hope you don’t mind?”

Though Pitt preferred his expensive tequila straight over ice with a touch of lime and light salt rimming the glass, he enjoyed a well-mixed margarita. They were better made with cheaper tequila, though. To his way of thinking, it was a crime to dilute the top-quality brands with sweet mix. He looked forlornly at his half-empty bottle of good Juan Julio silver, 100 percent blue agave tequila. Just to be polite, he complimented Sally on the taste and went to his bedroom to take a shower and change into comfortable shorts and T-shirt.

His bedroom looked as if a bomb had gone off in it. Shoes and various items of female apparel littered the polished wooden plank floor. Bottles of nail polish and other cosmetics were stacked on the dresser and the bed’s end tables. Why do women always drop their clothes on the floor? he wondered. Men at least throw them over a chair. He couldn’t believe only one female could have created such chaos until he heard a voice humming in his bathroom.

The door was ajar, so he very slowly eased it half open with his toe. Kelly was standing in front of a half-steamed mirror wearing a towel around her body and a smaller one wrapped around her head. She was putting on eye makeup. She saw Pitt’s blank stare in the mirror and smiled engagingly.

“Welcome home. I hope Sally and I haven’t upset your routine.”

“It was suggested you stay here, too?” he asked.

“Loren thought it safer than her place. And the government safe houses could not be trusted because of Zale’s infiltration into the Justice Department.”

“Sorry I have only one bedroom in the apartment. I hope you and Ms. Morse don’t mind sharing the bed.”

“It’s king-size,” Kelly said, returning to her makeup as if she and Pitt had lived together for years. “We won’t mind.” Then as an afterthought: “I’m sorry, would you like to use the bathroom?”

“Don’t mind me,” Pitt said wryly. “I’ll pack some clothes and shower downstairs in the guest quarters.”

Sally had stepped from the kitchen. “I fear we have inconvenienced you.”

“I’ll survive,” Pitt said, as he began throwing some things in an overnight bag. “You ladies make yourselves at home.”

From his dry tone, Sally and Kelly could tell that Pitt wasn’t overjoyed at their intrusion. “We’ll stay out of your way,” promised Kelly.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Pitt said, sensing her uneasiness. “You’re not the first ones who have stayed here and slept in my bed. I adore women and am actually quite fond of their curious mannerisms. I come from the old school that elevates them on a pedestal, so don’t think I’m a nasty old grunt.” He paused and grinned. “Actually, it will be enjoyable having a pair of gorgeous creatures like yourselves, cooking and cleaning house for me.”

Then he walked from the bedroom and down the circular stairway to the main floor below.