Admiral Sandecker was waiting inside. He shook hands and led them through the cavernous cargo bay that could fit six highway buses and seat a hundred passengers. They walked past a NUMA Deep Sea Mining Vehicle that was tied down on a pair of wide stainless steel tracks. Pitt paused in his stride and ran his hand over one of the great tractor treads and stared for a moment at the huge machine, recalling his narrow escape in Big John. This DSMV was a later model and was given the nickname of Big Ben.
The two big articulated arms with the excavation scoop and claw that were normally installed on the deepsea vehicles had been removed and replaced with extensions fitted with a variety of remote manipulators for grasping and cutting through metal.
The other modification, Pitt noticed, was an immense nylon pack that rested on top of the upper body and control cabin. Heavy lines ran from the pack and were attached at numerous points around the vehicle.
Giordino shook his head sadly. "I've got that old feeling we're about to be used again."
"They aim to really stick it to us this time," Pitt said, wondering how the aircraft could lift off the ground with such a massive weight in its belly.
"We'd better get forward," said Sandecker. "They're ready for takeoff."
Pitt and Giordino followed the admiral into an officelike compartment with a desk and chairs bolted to the floor. They were connecting the buckles on their seat belts when the pilot pushed the throttles forward and sent the great aircraft and the twenty-eight wheels of its landing gear rolling down the runway. Affectionately called the Gentle Giant, the huge C-5 Galaxy lifted into the tropical air with a thundering roar and slowly climbed in an easy bank toward the north.
Giordino glanced at his watch. "Three minutes, that was a quick turnaround."
"We haven't time to throw away," Sandecker said seriously.
Pitt relaxed and stretched out his legs. "I take it you have a plan."
"The best brains in the business have put in a lot of last-minute homework on this one."
"That's obvious by this aircraft and Big Ben arriving here with less than twenty-four hours' notice."
"How much did Ingram and Meeker tell you?" Sandecker asked.
"They enlightened us on the secret history of the B-Twenty-nine resting on the seabed," Pitt answered,
"and gave a brief lecture on the geology and seismic fault system around Soseki. Meeker also claimed that by detonating the atomic bomb still inside the aircraft, the shock waves could cause the island to sink beneath the sea."
Giordino pulled out a cigar he'd already stolen from Admiral Sandecker by sleight-
of-hand and lit it up. "A cockamamie idea if I ever heard one."
Pitt nodded in agreement. "Then Mel Penner ordered Al and me to enjoy a holiday on the sandy beaches of Wake Island while he and the rest of the team flew off into the blue for the States. When I demanded to know why we were being left behind, he clammed up, revealing only that you were on your way and would explain everything."
"Penner didn't fill in the cracks," said Sandecker, "because he didn't know them. Nor were Ingram and Meeker briefed on all the updated details of Àrizona.' "
"Arizona?" Pitt asked curiously.
"The code name of our operation."
"Our operation?" Giordino questioned guardedly.
"It wouldn't, of course," Pitt said sarcastically, "have anything to do with Big Ben, or the fact that Arizona is the name of a state, or more precisely the name of a battleship at Pearl Harbor."
"It's as good as any. Code names never make any sense anyway."
Sandecker stared at his friends closely. A day's rest had helped, but they looked dead tired and worn out. He felt a gnawing sense of guilt. It was his fault they had already endured so much. And now once more he had recommended their services to Jordan and the President, knowing full well that no other two men alive could match their skills and talents in a deep-ocean environment. How terribly unfair to throw them into another deadly maelstrom so quickly. But there was no one else on God's earth he could turn to. Sandecker could taste the remorse in his mouth. And he felt guilt at knowing Pitt and Giordino would never refuse to attempt what he asked of them.
"All right, I won't hand you a lot of crap or sing Àmerica the Beautiful.' I'll be as straightforward as I can." He broke off and laid a geological chart on the desk that showed the seafloor for fifty kilometers around Soseki Island. "You two are the best qualified to make a last-ditch effort to finish off the Dragon Center. No one else has as much hands-on experience with a Deep Sea Mining Vehicle."
"It's nice to feel needed," Giordino said wearily.
"What did you say?"
"AI was wondering what exactly it is we're supposed to do." Pitt leaned over the chart and stared down at the cross marking the location of Dennings' Demons. "Our assignment is to use the DMSV to blow up the bomb, I assume.'
"You assume correctly," said Sandecker. "When we reach the target site, you and Big Ben will exit the plane and drop into the water by parachute."