There was silence in the room. Everyone but Clark appeared skeptical.
Pitt pulled the map from under his shirt and unfolded it. He borrowed some pins from a mannikin and stuck it on one wall. He was not put off by the indifferent attitude of the group of CIA agents. His eyes showed him these men were alert, precise, and competent. He knew they possessed a remarkable variety of skills and the absolute determination of men who did not take failure lightly.
"The Amy Bigalow is the first link in the holocaust chain. Her cargo of twenty-five thousand tons of ammonium nitrate--"
"That's nothing but fertilizer," said Manny.
"--is also a highly volatile chemical," Pitt continued. "If that amount of ammonium nitrate were to explode, its force would be far greater than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They were air drops and much of their destructive power was lost in the atmosphere. When the Amy Bigalow blows at ground level, most of her power will sweep through Havana like a hurricane of molten lava. The Ozero Zaysan, whose manifest claims she's carrying military supplies, is probably crammed to the top of her holds with munitions. She'll unleash her destructive horror in a sympathetic explosion with the Amy Bigalow. Next, the Ozero Baykai and her oil will ignite, adding to the devastation. Fuel storage tanks, refineries, chemical plants, any factory with volatile materials, will go up. The conflagration can conceivably last for days."
Outwardly, Manny, Moe, and Jack appeared uncomprehending, the expressions on their faces inscrutable. Inwardly, they were stunned by the unthinkable horror of Pitt's vision of hell.
Moe looked at Clark. "He's on dead center, you know."
"I agree. Langley misread the Soviets' intent. The same results can be achieved without resorting to nuclear terror."
Manny rose and clasped Pitt's shoulders between two great clamshell hands. "Man, I gotta hand it to you. You really know where the crap flows."
Jack spoke up for the first time. "Impossible to unload those ships before the celebration tomorrow."
"But they can be moved," said Pitt.
Manny considered that for a moment. "The freighters might clear the harbor, but I wouldn't bet on getting the tanker under way in time. We'd need a tug just to shove her bows toward the channel."
"Every mile we put between those ships and the harbor means a hundred thousand lives spared," said Pitt.
"Might give us extra time to look for the detonators," said Moe.
"If they can be found before we reach open sea, so much the better."
"And if not," Manny muttered grimly, "we'll all be committin' suicide."
"Save your wife the cost of a funeral," said Jack with a death's-head smile. "There won't be anything left to bury"
Moe looked doubtful. "We're way short of hands."
"How many ship's engineers can you scrape up?" asked Pitt.
Moe nodded across the room. "Manny there used to be a chief engineer. Who else can you name, Manny?"
"Enrico knows his way around an engine room. So does Hector when he's sober."
"That's three," said Pitt. "What about deckhands?"
"Fifteen, seventeen including Moe and Jack," answered Clark.
"Th
at's twenty, and I make twenty-one," said Pitt. "What about harbor pilots?"
"Every one of them bastards is in Castro's pocket," snorted Manny. "We'll have to steer the ships clear ourselves."
"Wait just a damned minute," interjected Moe. "Even if we overpowered the security force guarding the docks, we'd still have the ships' crews to fight."
Pitt turned to Clark. "If your people take care of the guards, I'll eliminate the crews."
"I'll personally lead a combat team," replied Clark. "But I'm curious as to how you intend to accomplish your end of the bargain."
"Already done," Pitt said with a wide grin. "The ships are abandoned. I'll guarantee that the crews have been quietly evacuated to a safe place outside the destruction zone."