Vixen 03

"Sure you wouldn't like a drink?" Pitt countered.

"No thanks," Jarvis answered, appraising Pitts casual stall.

"If you know we're in the market, then you know why."

"Seismological tests on coral formations?"

Pitt nodded.

Jarvis stretched his arms out on the sofa's backrest. "When do you have the tests scheduled?"

"The last two weeks of March next year."

"I see." Jarvis gave Pitt a benign, fatherly look and then lunged for the heart. "I've talked to four seismologists, two from your own agency. They do not subscribe to your idea of dropping sixteen-inch naval shells from an airplane. In fact, they found it downright ludicrous. I was also informed that there are no seismographic tests scheduled by NUMA in the Pacific. In short, Mr. Pitt, your clever little dodge won't hold water."

Pitt closed his ayes in thought. He could lie, or simply offer no comment. No, he reasoned, his alternatives had narrowed down to zero. There was virtually no hope that he and Steiger and Sandecker could negotiate a quick return of the QD warheads from the AAR. They had carried the search as far as their limited resources could take them. The time had come, he decided, to call in the professionals.

He opened his eyes and stared at Jarvis. "If it were within my power to place in the palm of your hand a plague organism that could kill without interruption for three hundred years, what would you do with it?"

Pitt's question caught Jarvis off guard. "I don't know what you're driving at."

"The question stands," said Pitt.

"Is it a weapon?"

Pitt nodded.

An uneasy feeling gripped Jarvis. "I know of no such weapon. Chemical and biological arms were effectively and unconditionally ba

"Please answer the question," Pitt said.

"Turn it over to our government. I suppose."

"Are you certain that's the correct course?"

"Good God, man, what do you want? The case is purely hypothetical."

"Such a weapon must be destroyed," said Pitt. His green eyes seemed to burn into the back of Jarvis's brain.

There was a short silence. Then Jarvis said, "Does one truly exist?"

"It does."

The pieces were falling into place, and for the first time in all the years he could remember, Jarvis wished he hadn't been so damned efficient. He looked at Pitt and smiled thinly.

"I'll have that drink now," he said quietly. "And then I think you and I should exchange some very disturbing news."

It was past midnight when Phil Sawyer stopped the car in front of Loren's apartment building. He was what most women thought a handsome man, with a solid face and a neatly styled mass of prematurely gray hair.

Loren flashed a provocative expression at him. "Would you like to open my apartment door for me? The lock always seems to stick."

He smiled. "How can I refuse?"

They got out of the car and strolled through the garden entrance in silence. The sidewalk was wet and reflected the glow from the streetlights. Loren nestled against his body as the cold drizzle attacked their hair and clothes. The doorman greeted them and held the elevator open. At her door she fished in her purse and handed Sawyer the key. He turned the lock and they entered.

"Fix yourself a drink," she said, shaking out her damp hair. "I'll be back in a minute."

Loren slipped into the bedroom and Sawyer went over to a small portable bar and poured himself a cognac. He was on his second when Loren came back into the room. She was wearing pajamas with a silvery-gray wrap top and pants that were lace edged. As she came through the doorway, the light from the bedroom silhouetted her lithe figure through the vaporous nylon. The combination of the pajamas, her ci

"You look ravishing," he managed to say.

"Thank you." She poured a Galliano for herself and sat down next to him on the couch. "It was a lovely di

"My pleasure."

She moved closer and lightly caressed his hand. "You seem different tonight. I've never known you to be so relaxed. Not once did you mention the President."

"Six weeks and three days from now the new President-elect takes the oath and my eight-year battle with the gentlemen and ladies of the news media comes to an end. God, I never thought I would feel good about being part of a lame-duck administration. "

"What are your plans after the inauguration?"

"My boss has the right idea. As soon as he turns over the reins of office, he's sailing a forty-foot ketch to the South Pacific, where he says he's going to drink and screw himself to death." Sawyer lowered his glass and stared into Loren's eyes. "Now, me, I prefer the Caribbean, particularly for a honeymoon."

An edge of anticipation began to form inside Loren. "Anyone special in mind?"

Sawyer set down their glasses and took Loren's hands in his. "Congresswoman Smith," he said with mock seriousness. "I respectfully implore you to cast your vote in favor of marriage to Phil Sawyer."

Loren's eyes grew somber and thoughtful. Though she'd been sure this moment would eventually come, she was still uncertain of her answer. Sawyer misread Loren's hesitancy.

"I know what's going through your mind," he said gently. "You're wondering what life would be like with an unemployed presidential press secretary, right? Well, rest your fears. I have it on good authority the party leaders want me to run for senator from my home state in the next election."

"In that case," she said resolutely, "the ayes have it."

Sawyer did not see the uneasiness in Loren's eyes. He took her head in his hands and gently kissed her on the lips. The room seemed to blur and the female scent that emanated from her body closed over him. He felt strangely at peace as he buried his face in her breasts.

Afterward, when Sawyer lay spent and asleep, Loren's tears stained the pillow. She had tried desperately, with all her soul. She had loved hard; even forcing the expected animal sounds from her throat. But nothing worked. Throughout their violent love-making she found herself comparing Sawyer to Pitt. There was no way of logically explaining the difference. They both felt the same inside her, and yet Pitt turned her into a savage, demanding animal, whereas Sawyer left her empty and unfulfilled.

She pressed the pillow against her face to muffle the sobs. "Damn you, Dirk Pitt," she said silently. "Damn you to hell!"

"I'm not sure whose story comes off the craziest," Pitt said, "yours or mine."

Jarvis shrugged. "Who can say. The horror is that it's just possible your Quick Death warheads and my Operation Wild Rose might prove a match."

"An attack on a major coastal city with a battleship by South African blacks posing as terrorists of the AAR. It's lunacy."

"Wrong," said Jarvis. "The plan smacks of genius. A few bombs placed here or there, or another skyjacking, would hardly move an entire nation to see red. But an old battleship with flags flying, raining explosives on a helpless population, that's sensationalism at its best."

"What city?"

"None was specified. That part of the plan remains a mystery."

"Fortunately, the prime ingredient is missing."

"A battleship," Jarvis said.