Deep Six (Dirk Pitt 7)

"Not a word. The White House is acting as though nothing happened. In fact, they're using a double for the President."

She looked at him. "How did you learn that?"

"The six o'clock news. The TV cameras showed the President boarding Air Force One for a flight to his farm in New Mexico."

"And the others?"

"They appear to have stand-ins too."

Min Koryo sipped at a cup of tea. "Seems odd that we must depend on Secretary of State Oates and the President's Cabinet to provide a successful masquerade until Lugovoy is ready."

"The only road open to them," said Lee Tong. "They won't dare make any kind of an announcement until they know what happened to the President."

Min Korvo stared at the tea leaves in the bottom of her cup.

"Still, I must believe we may have taken too large a bite."

Lee Tong nodded at her meaning. "I understand, aunumi. The congressmen just happened to be fish in the same net."

"But not Margolin. It was your scheme to misguine him onto the yacht."

"True, but Aleksei Lugovoy has stated his experiments have proven successful eleven out of fifteen times. Not exactly a perfect ratio.

If he fails with the President, he has an extra guinea pig to produce the required result."

"You mean three guinea pigs."

"If you include Larimer and Moran in the rank of succession, yes.

"And if Lugovoy succeeds in each case?" asked Min Koryo.

"So much the better," answered Lee Tong. "Our influence would reach further than we originally dared hope. But I sometimes wonder, aunumi, if the financial rewards are worth risking imprisonment and the loss of our business."

"Do not forget, Grandson, the Americans killed my husband, your father and his two brothers during the war."

"Revenge makes for a poor gambling game."

"All the more reason to protect our interests and guard against double-dealing by the Russians. President Antonov will do everything in his power to keep from paying our fee."

"Should they be stupid enough to betray us at this crucial stage, they'd lose the whole project."

"They don't think that way," said Min Koryo gravely. "The Communist mind thrives on mistrust. Integrity is beyond their comprehension. They're driven to take the devious path. And that, my grandson, is their Achilles' heel."

"What are you thinking?"

"We continue to play the role of their honest but gullible partner." She paused, thinking.

"And when Lugovoy's project is finished?" Lee Tong prompted her.

She looked up and a crafty smile cut across her aging face. Her eyes gleamed with a cunning look. "Then we'll pull the rug from under them."

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ALL inENTIFICATION AND WRISTWATCHESwere taken from the Russians when the Bougainvilles' men transferred them from the Staten Island ferry in minchannel. They were blindfolded, and padded radio headsets were placed over their ears that emitted soothing chamber music. Minutes later they were airborne, lifted from the dark harbor waters by a jet-engined seaplane.

The flight seemed long and wearisome, terminating at last on what Lugovoy judged by the smooth landing was a lake. After a drive of twenty minutes, the disoriented Russians were led across a metal walkway and into an elevator. Only when they stepped out of the elevator and were led across a carpeted corridor to their bedrooms were the blindfolds and the earphones removed.

Lugovoy was profoundly impressed by the facilities provided by the Bougainvilles. The electronics and laboratory equipment went far beyond any he'd seen in the Soviet Union. Every piece of the several hundred items he had requested was present and installed.