Deep Six (Dirk Pitt 7)

"Tell him I'll pay for the damage to the parking lot."

"Be serious. The old guy is madder than a stepped-on rattler.

Raised hell with the Justice Department all morning, demanding they launch an all-out investigation to find out who was behind the bombing. To him, an attack on you is an attack on NUMA."

"The FBI nosing around my apartment and office?"

Giordino nodded. "No less than six of them."

"And reporters?"

"I lost count. What did you expect? The blast that disintegrated your car thrust your name in the limelight. Instant celebrity. First bomb explosion the city's had in four years. Like it or not, old friend, you've become the eye of the storm."

Pitt felt a mild elation at having seared the Bougainville interests enough for them to attempt his removal. They must somehow have learned he was nipping at their flanks, digging deeper into their secrets with each bite. But why the overreaction?

The fake announcement of his discovery of both the San Marino and the Pilottown no doubt alerted them. Yet it shouldn't have thrown them into a panic. Min Koryo wasn't the panicky typepoint demonstrated by the fact she did not respond to the doctored story.

How then did they realize he was so close?

Bougainville couldn't have tied him to the computer penetration and planned his death in such short order. Then the revelation struck him. The notion had been there all the time, but he had pushed it aside, failing to pursue it because it did not fit a pattern, Now it burst like a flare.

Bougainville had linked Men to the Eagle.

Pitt was so engrossed in thought he didn't hear Giordino telling him he had a phone call.

"Your mind must be a million miles away," said Giordino, pointing toward Cabot the bartender, who was holding up the bar phone.

Pitt walked over to the bar and spoke in the mouthpiece. "Hello."

Sally Lindemann's voice bubbled excitedly over the wire. "Oh, thank heavens I've finally tracked you down. I've been trying to reach you all day."

"What's wrong?" Pitt demanded. "Is Loren all right?"

"I think so, and then maybe not," said Sally, becoming flustered.

"I just don't know."

"Take your time and spell it out," Pitt said gently.

"Congresswoman Smith called me in the middle of the night from the Leonin Andreyev and told me to find the whereabouts of Speaker of the House Alan Moran. She never gave me a reason.

When I asked her what to say when I contacted him, she said to tell him it was a mistake. Make sense to you?"

"did you find Moran?"

"Not exactly. He and Senator Marcus Larimer were supposed to be fishing together at a place called Goose Lake. I went there but nobody else knew anything about them."

"What else did Loren say?"

"Her last words to me were 'Call Dirk and tell him I need-' Then we were cut off. I tried several times to reach her again, but there was no answer."

"did you tell the ship's operator it was an emergency?"

"Of course. They claimed my message was passed on to her stateroom, but she made no attempt to reply. This is the damnedest thing. Not like Congresswoman Smith at al

l. Sound crazy?"

Pitt was silent, thinking it out. "Yes," he said at last, "just crazy enough to make sense. Do you have the Leonin Andreyev's schedule?"