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Forty minutes later they were climbing the boarding ladder of the First Attempt. The deck was deserted, but a chorus of hearty male laughter accompanied by the high-pitched giggle of a woman echoed from the messroom. Pitt and Giordino entered and found Teri surrounded by the entire crew and scientific staff of the ship. She was dressed, or undressed, in a knotted makeshift bikini that looked as if it would come unfurled at the first sign of a passing offshore breeze. She perched prettily on the mess table, the center of attraction, a queen holding court, and it was obvious that she enjoyed every male eyeball.
Pitt bemusedly studied the. men’s faces for a moment It was an elementary task to separate the scientists from the professional crewmen. The latter stood quietly and gazed lecherously at the generous display of feminine skin, their minds throwing pornographic scenes on the inside walls of their skulls like movie projectors. Most of the vocal activity came from the scientists. The marine biologists, the meteorologists, the geologists, each vying with frantic zeal for Teri’s attention and behaving like schoolboys whose dormitory had just been invaded by a box office sex queen.
Commander Gu
Pitt nodded. “Ok, let’s go and read my fan mail.” He turned to Giordino. “See if you can tear our queen bee away from her ardent admirers for a few minutes and escort her to Gu
Giordino gri
“If things get too tough just flash your gun,” Pitt said sarcastically. “But don’t forget to remove the safety.”
Giordino’s mouth dropped open like a landed fish.
Before he could recover, Pitt and Gu
The radio man, a young black in his early twenties, looked up when they entered. “This one just came in for you, sir.” He handed the message to Gu
Gu
Admiral James Sandecker, NUMA, Washington.’”
“I’d say the Admiral is a bit off his usual form,” murmured Pitt. “He used ‘goddamn’ only twice.”
“Please lead me out of the dark,” Gu
Pitt pondered a moment Gu
“We may be the only hope left to destroy von Till and his empire. It may mean taking a few risks, but the stakes are high."
Gu
“Enough heroin to hop-up the entire population of the United States and Canada,” Pitt said slowly. “A hundred and thirty tons worth to be exact”
Gu
“Off hand I’d say that’s a pretty fair amount Why didn’t you tell me about this last night when you brought the girl on board?”
“I needed more time and more answers, and right now I’m still short on both. But I think I’ve run on to something that will put this whole insane puzzle into a transparent pattern.”
“I still don’t know what you expect from me.”
“We’ve got to hit von Till below the belt, way below the belt. This is an underwater show. I need every able-bodied man you can spare with scuba gear and weapons that can be carried in water; diving knifes, spear guns, anything.”
“What guarantee can you give me that no one will get hurt?”
“Absolutely none,” Pitt said quietly.
Gu
“What about the crew?’
“All good men to have on your side in a bar room brawl, but like most professional seamen, they have an unhealthy dislike for any activity below the surface. They can’t, or rather won’t, put on a face mask and dive.” Gu
“Come off it,” Pitt snapped rudely. “This isn’t the Little Big Horn and I’m not asking you to send the Seventh Cavalry against Sitting Bull and the Sioux nation. Look, not fifty miles from here a Minerva Lines freighter is churning across the Aegean with a cargo that is as lethal as any nuclear bomb. If that amount of heroin were dumped on the market in the States, our grandchildren would still be suffering from the cultural shockwaves. It’s a nightmarish thought.”
Pitt paused, letting his words sink in. He lit a cigarette and then continued.
“The Bureau of Narcotics and the Customs Department will be waiting. They’ve set a trap. If, and that’s a big if, all goes well, the heroin and the smugglers, plus half the illegal drug sellers in the States, will be neatly scooped up and salted away behind bars.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Gu
“Let’s just say I have a nagging doubt. Von Till hasn’t come within a nautical mile of being caught with the goods, so to speak, for decades. Legally, our government agents can’t board the cargo Ship until it touches the United States’ continental shelf, three weeks away. By then von Till might sense that INTERPOL is behaving overly cagey. Rather than cooperate with the good guys and sail into the trap, he’d have to reroute the ship at the last minute or else dump the heroin in the Atlantic. That leaves the narcotic agents and the customs inspectors standing around with nothing to do but play with themselves.
The only sure way, the safe way, is to stop the ship now, before it leaves the Mediterranean.”
“You’re the man who said it — legally it can’t be done.”
“There is one way,” Pitt drew on the cigarette, then slowly let the smoke trickle through his nose.
“Prove a solid case against von Till and Minerva Lines before morning.”
Gu
“There is one opportunity,” Pitt said. “The ship stops at Marseilles for fuel. INTERPOL would have to work fast If they received the necessary evidence and rushed through the legal paperwork they could seize the ship in port.”
Gu
“It has to be,” Pitt said quietly.”
“I think you’re hedging,” Gu
This was getting too damn awkward, Pitt thought. At this stage of the game he couldn’t let on that Zacynthus was very much against even the slightest harassment of von Till. Pitt had known Gu