Flood Tide

“Thank you, sir. My compliments on your astute judgment.”

“You see,” said Wallace, gri

After Sandecker, Monroe and Harper departed through the tu

“Who am I scheduled to see now?”

“Your speech writers would like a few minutes of your time to put the finishing touches on your speech to the Hispanic American College Association.”

“Yes, that is an important speech,” said the President, his thoughts coming back on line. “It's an excellent opportunity to a

It was business as usual in the executive office.

How nice to see you again,“ said Katie, standing in the open front door. ”Please come in. lan is out on the porch, reading his morning newspaper."

“We can't stay long,” said Julia as she passed into the entry way. “Dirk and I have to be on a plane back to Washington by noon.”

Pitt followed the two women into the house. He carried a small wooden box under one arm. They passed into the kitchen and out onto the porch overlooking the lake. There was a brisk breeze and a good chop on the waves. A sailboat was ru

“Dirk, Julia, thank you for stopping by,” he boomed.

“Let me bring you some tea,” said Katie.

Pitt would have preferred coffee this early in the morning, but he simply smiled and said, “I'd love some.”

“I hope you've come to tell us about the salvage project,” said Gallagher.

Pitt nodded. “The very purpose of our visit.”

Gallagher motioned for them to sit around a picnic table set up on the porch. “Take a load off your feet.”

As they gathered around the table, Pitt placed the box at his feet. After Katie returned with a pot of tea, Pitt and Julia talked about the salvage project and described some of the art treasures they had actually seen because of broken packing crates. Their only omission was any reference to Qin Shang, whom lan and Katie were not aware of anyway. Pitt told of Giordino's discovery of the bones of Peking man.

“Peking man,” Katie repeated slowly. “The Chinese people revere him as an honored ancestor.”

“Are we keeping any of the treasure?” asked Gallagher.

Pitt shook his head. “I don't think so. I've been told that President Wallace intends on turning the entire treasure over to the Chinese people after it has gone on exhibit around the United States. Peking man's bones are already on their way home.”

“Just think, lan,” said Katie, gazing fondly at her husband, “it might have been all ours.”

Gallagher patted her on one knee and gave a hearty laugh. “Where would we have put it? We've got enough Chinese junk sitting around the house to start a museum as it is.”

Katie rolled her eyes and gave Gallagher a hard slap on the shoulder. “You big mick, you love those objects as much as I do.” She turned to Julia. “You have to excuse lan. Once a roughneck always a roughneck.”

“We really should be moving along,” said Julia, reluctant to leave.

Pitt leaned down, picked up the box from the floor and presented it to Katie. “A gift from the Princess Dou Wan that I thought you should have.”

“I hope it's not a piece of the treasure,” she said, surprised. “That would be stealing.”

“Oh, but it belongs to you,” Julia assured her.

Katie slowly, somewhat apprehensively, opened the lid on the box. “I don't understand,” she said, bewildered. “It looks like the bones of some kind of animal.” Then she saw the little golden dragon that was attached to a faded red leather collar, “lan! lan!” she cried in sudden comprehension. “Look, they've brought me Fritz.”

“He's come back to his mistress,” said Gallagher, his eyes begi

Tears instantly formed in Katie's eyes as she came around the table and embraced Pitt. “Thank you, thank you. You don't know how much this means to me.”

“If he didn't,” said Julia, gazing at Pitt tenderly, “he does now.”

Gallagher put an arm around his wife's shoulders. “I'll bury him with the others.” He looked at Pitt and Julia. “We have a little cemetery that holds the pets we've owned over the years who've died.”

As they drove away, lan “Hong Kong” Gallagher stood next to Katie, who smiled and smiled and smiled as she waved goodbye. Pitt found himself envying the big Irishman. Gallagher had been right, he had found riches without salvaging the Princess Dou Wan's treasure.

“They're a wonderful couple,” said Julia, waving back.

“It must be nice to grow old with someone you love.”

Julia stared at Pitt, her eyes narrowing in wonder. “I didn't know you were a sentimental guy.”

“I have my dark moments,” he answered, smiling.

She sat back in the seat and stared out the windshield at the passing trees pensively. “I wish we could keep right on going and not fly back to Washington.”

“What's to stop us?”

“Are you mad? I have my job at INS. You have yours at NUMA. Our superiors are waiting for lengthy reports on the treasure recovery and all the other harrowing experiences we've had cutting the flow of illegal immigrants. They'll keep us so busy for the next few weeks, we'll be lucky if we get to see each other for a few hours on Sundays. And Lord only knows what the Justice Department will do to you when they learn you entombed Qin Shang on the wreck of the Princess Dou Wan.”

Pitt said nothing. He took one hand off the wheel, reached in the inside pocket of his jacket and passed two envelopes to Julia.

“What's this?” she asked.

“Two airline tickets to Mexico. I forgot to tell you, we're not going back to Washington.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You get crazier by the minute.”

“Sometimes I scare myself.” Then he gri

“But 1 didn't bring any proper clothes.”

“I'll buy you an entire new wardrobe.”

“But where are we going in Mexico?” she asked, suddenly becoming excited. “What are we going to do?”

“We,” he said with emphasis, “are going to lie on the beach at Mazatlan, drink margaritas and watch the sunset over the Sea of Cortez.”

“I think I'm going to love that,” she said, nestling against him. He looked down and smiled. “Somehow, I thought you would.”