Silent Thunder

"It's all right, Preston," he said as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Except for the cleanup. How are the kids?"

He nodded at the two children, who were huddled over a game table with Miriam Frey. "Playing checkers and complaining because there's no TV down here." He paused. "I'm sorry you had to be involved, Bradworth."

"I didn't do it for you. I did it for Kirov. He made me a deal." He looked at the kids. "And for them. I've got a couple kids myself that I don't get to see near enough. The helpless have more rights than the rest of us. I have no problem killing filth who go after children." He turned to go back upstairs. "I'm calling a mop-up squad and telling them to get out here and get rid of that body. It's not something the kids should see."

"Could I help?" Preston asked. "It would be good to do something besides act as babysitter."

He gave him a cool glance. "I was wondering whether I should let you do that. But I wouldn't have found you here yourself mounting guard if you were a Judas. You'd have wanted clean hands."

"I didn't like the idea of sending away those guards."

"If he'd seen we had security, it would have tipped him, and he would have called Pavski. This way we had only one scumbag to eliminate. No problem."

His lips twisted as he looked down at his hands. "Clean hands. Instead, I let you get yours dirty."

"It doesn't matter. Vermin have to be smashed." He shrugged as he started up the stairs. "And this time I got to be Superman, saving the world. That's not half-bad."

Kirov's phone rang as they were getting in the rental car waiting at the small airport at Rock Bay Harbor.

He glanced at the ID. "Bradworth." He listened for a moment. "Thanks, Bradworth. No, I won't tell you what I'm doing. Yes, I know I owe you. I'm sure you're not going to let me forget it." He hung up and turned to Ha

"Good." She added, "And if Pavski heard where the kids were being kept, then he must have bought the telephone call to Cathy. He knows where we're headed. He'll take the bait."

"I can hear him snapping now…" Kirov murmured as he started the car.

The phone rang again when he was only a block away from the airport. Eugenia. This time he put it on speaker.

"I've sent you a photo of the second statue," Eugenia said quickly. "It was a statue of Jason holding high the fleece. On the base it had the same symbol and the inscription read. Journey forth but always seek within to find the true treasure." She paused. "I'm sorry, but I didn't get Danzyl in time. He transmitted a photo of the statue to Pavski. He probably has it now. How bad could it be? That one line doesn't seem to mean much."

"I don't know. Don't worry. Get the hell out of there. You've done your job." He hung up the phone. "Let's just hope that picture doesn't trigger anything for Pavski. We don't want him distracted."

"I don't see how it could." She frowned. "Let's see. The line on the first statue was Look not for riches on the surface of life. On the second Journey forth, but always seek within to find the true treasure. Eugenia was right, it's not much to work with. I can't see how Heiser could think his father would…" She trailed off. "My God."

Kirov glanced sharply at her. "What?"

"Where are my charts I made of those plates?"

"In my duffel in the backseat. Why?"

She was on her knees and grabbing the duffel. "I need to look at them." She unzipped the duffel and rummaged until she found the tube of rolled-up stationery. "I think I may-" She broke off as she saw something in the bottom of the duffel. "Dynamite?"

He shrugged. "You can never tell when you might want to toss a few sticks at the undesirable elements we seem to be encountering."

"Where did you get it?" She answered her own question. "Niler's place. You certainly didn't limit yourself to what you needed in Florida. You must have snagged all he had."

"I figured he wouldn't need it. Though I had to use a private jet to avoid security." He changed the subject. "Why do you need the charts?"

"I need to check the third plate for the destination. Could it be close to Midia?"

"Yes. Somewhere near the Turkish-Bulgarian coast."

"That used to be Thrace, didn't it?"

He nodded.

"Then it could be…" Excitement was mounting, growing with every second. "Look, in the legend, the Argonauts had to travel to Thrace for Phineas to tell them how to get the treasure. On the back of those bulkhead plates, Heiser's coordinates lead to what used to be Thrace. What if that's where we need to go to get the location of this treasure, too? But in this case, it's the Silent Thunder that will tell us."

His eyes were narrowed on her face. "Go on."

"Think about it. Heiser was a computer genius, and you said he was a master of that navigation system. It's not too far-fetched to think that he may have buried some lines of code in there to display a message that reveals itself only when triggered by a specific event."

Kirov nodded slowly. "An event like the sub's compass registering the set of coordinates noted on the bulkhead plates?"

She nodded. "The Argo had to go to Midia to find the Golden Fleece. Heiser leaves a map next to Silent Thunder's navigational computer that leads to the exact same place." She drew a deep breath. "But he wasn't sure his father would get it. His father wasn't a sailor, he was a professor of literature. He didn't think the same way. So he dredged up those memories from his childhood to let him know that those plates weren't the answer. He was to journey forth, but he had to look within for the answer."

"Within the navigation computer."

"I think I'm right, Kirov," she said eagerly. "I think I can find it."

"If we have time." He grimaced. "I could have wished we'd figured this out before we deliberately set Pavski to follow us to the sub."

"Just get me there. I'll pull out the information, and we can make sure Pavski can't get into the computer. We can't take a chance on that happening. What if there's a screwup? What if he somehow manages to get away? You said he'd done it before." Her hands clenched. "Maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe he won't figure it out."

"You did. All you needed was that final clue to nudge you. Pavski's very smart. He has the plates. He has the inscription Danzyl sent. He's been thinking of nothing but a way to get that cradle all his life. We'd have to be damn lucky."

"I won't let him get his hands on it, Kirov," she said fiercely. "Not for a second. He killed my brother to get it. He's not going to have it."

"We've set it up so that he thinks he has a good reason to go after us now. If he knows the final answer is definitely in that computer, nothing will stop him."

"Then that's even better. Get me there, let me take it out of the computer. Just give me a little time."

Kirov stepped on the accelerator. "I'll give you what time I can. After that we do what we pla

The navigation computer.

Pavski inhaled sharply as he continued to gaze down at the photo of the statue he'd received on the helicopter ten minutes ago.

It could be what the quote meant.

It was what the quote meant. He felt it in his bones.

And if there was no fourth plate, then Kirov was luring him to the sub as a trap.

It didn't matter.

The Silent Thunder was now exactly where Pavski wanted to be. Nothing on earth or hell would keep him off that sub. He'd been pla

The cradle was there, waiting for him.

No sign of Pavski." Ha