Deep Six (Dirk Pitt 7)

"They can wait until I search the Chalmette for Loren."

"My job. You go to the capital while I go to Miami and play customs inspector. It's all been arranged."

Pacified to a small degree, Pitt relaxed on the bed. "What about Moran?"

"He couldn't wait to cut out," Giordino said angrily. "He demanded the Navy drop everything and fly him home the minute he was brought ashore. I had a minor confrontation with him in the hospital corridor after his routine examination. Came within a millimeter of cramming his hook nose down his gullet. The bastard didn't demonstrate the slightest concern about Loren, and he seemed downright delighted when I told him of Larimer's death."

"He has a talent for deserting those who help him," Pitt said disgustedly.

An orderly rolled in a wheelchair and together with Giordino eased Pitt into it. A groan escaped his lips as a piercing pain ripped through his chest.

"You're leaving against my express wishes," said the doctor. "I want that understood. There is no guarantee you won't have complications if you overtax yourself."

"I release you from all responsibility, Doc," Pitt said, smiling.

"I won't tell a soul I was your patient. Your medical reputation is secure.

Giordino lain a pile of Navy-issue clothing and a small paper sack in Pitts lap. "Here's some presentable clothes and the stuff from your pockets. You can dress on the plane to save time."

Pitt opened the sack and fingered a vinyl pouch inside. Satisfied the contents were secure and dry, he looked up at Giordino and shook hands. "Good hunting, friend."

Giordino patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll find her.

You go to Washington and give'em hell."

No one could have suffered from a Rip Van Winkle syndrome and awakened more surprised than Alan Moran. He remembered going to sleep on the presidential yacht almost two weeks earlier, and his next conscious sensation was being dragged into a limousine somewhere in the river country of South Carolina. The imprisonment and escape from the burning Russian cruise ship seemed a distorted blur. Only when he returned to Washington and found both Congress and the Supreme Court evicted from their hallowed halls did he come back on track and retrieve his mantle of political power.

With the government in emotional and political shambles, he saw his chance to fulfill his deep, unfathomable ambition to become President. Not having the popular support to take the office by election, he was determined now to grab it by default. With Margolin missing, Larimer out of the way, and the President lain open for impeachment, there was little to stop him.

Moran held court in the middle of Jackson Square across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House and answered questions fired by a battery of correspondents. He was the man of the hour and was enjoying every second of the attention.

"Can you tell us where you've been the last two weeks?" asked Ray Marsh of the New York Times.

" Be glad to," Moran replied gracefully. "Senate Majority Leader Marcus Larimer and I went on a fishing holinay in the Caribbean, partly to try our luck at snagging a record marlin, mostly to discuss the issues facing our great nation."

"Initial reports state that Senator Larimer died during the Leonin Andreyev tragedy."

"I'm deeply sandened to say that is true," Moran said, abruptly becoming solemn. "The senator and I were trolling only five or six miles away from the Russian cruise ship when we heard and observed an explosion that covered her in fire and smoke. We immediately ordered our skipper to change course for the disaster area. When we arrived, the Leonin Andreyev'was ablaze from stem to stern. Hundreds of frightened passengers were tumbling into the sea, many with their clothes in flames."

Moran paused for effect and then enunciated in a vivin descriptive tone. "I leaped into the water, followed by the senator, to help those who were badly injured or unable to swim. We struggled for what seemed like hours, keeping women and children afloat until we could lift them into our fishing boat. I lost track of Senator Larimer. When I looked for him, he was floating facedown, an apparent victim of a heart attack due to overexertion. You can quote me as saying he died a real hero."

"How many people do you'reckon you saved?" This from Joe Stark of the United Press.

"I lost count," answered Moran, serenely pitching out the lies.

"Our small vessel became dangerously overloaded with burned and half-drowned victims. So, rather than become the straw that might capsize it, so to speak, I remained in the water so one more pitiful creature could cheat death. Luckily for me, I was picked up by the Navy, which, I must say, performed magnificently."

"Were you aware that Congresswoman Loren Smith was traveling on the Leonin Andreyev?" asked Marion Tournier of the Associated Press Radio Network.

"Not at the time," replied Moran, changing back to his solemn demeanor again. "Regretfully, I've only just been informed that she's reported as missing."

Curtis Mayo signaled his cameramen and edged closer to Moran.

"Congressman, what is your feeling regarding the President's unprecedented closing of Congress?"

"Deeply mortified that such an arrogant deed could take place in our government. It's obvious the'President has taken leave of his senses. With one terrible blow, he has swept our nation from a democracy into a fascist state. I fully intend to see that he is removed from office-the sooner, the better."

"How do you propose to do it?" Mayo pushed him. "Every time the members of the House convene to launch impeachment proceedings, the President sends in troops to disband them."