Deep Six (Dirk Pitt 7)

Oates pulled an envelope partway out of his inside breast pocket.

"I have it right here."

"Keep it!" Moran snarled. "I won't give you the satisfaction of bowing out gracefully. Ten minutes af

ter I take the oath I'm holding a press conference. Besides assuring the nation of a smooth succession. I intend to announce that you and the rest of the President's Cabinet planned a conspiracy to set up a dictatorship, and my first order as chief executive is to fire the whole rotten lot of you.

"We expected no less. Integrity was never one of your character traits."

"There was no conspiracy and you know it," Simmons said angrily.

"The President was the victim of a Soviet plot to control the White House."

"No matter," Moran replied nastily. "By the time the truth comes out, the damage to your precious reputations will have been done.

You'll never work in Washington again."

Before Oates and Simmons could retort, an aid rushed up and spoke softly in Moran's ear. He dismissed his enemies with a snide look and turned away. Then he stepped to the center of the room and raised his hands for silence.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he announced. "I've just been informed that the Senate has voted for conviction by the required twothirds.

Our beleaguered President is no longer in office and the Vice Presidency is vacant. The time has come for us to put our house in order and begin anew."

As if on cue, Chief justice Nelson O'Brien rose from a chair, smoothed his black robes and cleared his throat. Everyone crowded around Moran as his secretary held what was dubiously touted as his family Bible.

just then Sam Emmett and Dan Fawcett came through the doorway and paused. Then they spied Oates and Simmons and approached.

"Any word?" Oates asked anxiously.

Emett shook his head. "None. General Metcalf ordered a communications blackout. I haven't been able to reach him at the Pentagon to find out why."

"Then it's all over."

No one replied as they all turned in unison and stood in powerless frustration as Moran raised his right hand to take the oath of office as President, his left hand on the Bible. ' "Repeat after me," Chief justice O'Brien intoned like a drum roll. "I, Alan Robert Morando solemnly swear "I, Alan Robert Morando solemnly swear "' ' ' that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States," O'Brien droned on.

Suddenly the room behind Oates went quiet. The prompting of the oath by the Chief justice went unanswered by Moran. Curious, Oates turned around and looked at the crowd. They were all staring in frozen wonder at Vice President Vincent Margolin, who walked through the doorway preceded by Oscar Lucas and flanked by General Metcalf and Admiral Sandecker.

Moran's upraised arm slowly fell and his face turned ashen. The silence smothered the room like an insulating cloud as Margolin stepped up to the Chief justice, the stunned audience parting for him. He gave Moran a frigin look and then smiled at the rest.

"Thank you for the rehearsal," he said warmly. "But I think I can take over from here."

August 13, 1989

New York City SAL CASIO WAS waiting in the vast lobby of the World Trade Center when Pitt came slowly through the entrance. Casio looked at him in stark appraisal. He couldn't remember when he'd seen any man so near the edge of physical collapse.

Pitt moved with the tired shuffle of a man who had endured too much. He wore a borrowed foul-weather jacket two sizes too small. His right arm hung slack while his left was pressed against his chest, as if holding it together, and his face was etched in a strange blending of suffering and triumph. The eyes burned with a sinister glow that Casio recognized as the fires of revenge.

"I'm glad you could make it," Casio said without referring to Pitts haggard appearance.

"It's your show," said Pitt. "I'm only along for the ride."

"Only fitting and proper we be together at the finish."

"I appreciate the courtesy. Thank you."

Casio turned and guided Pitt over to a private elevator. Pulling a small push-button transmitter from his pocket, he punched the correct code and the doors opened. Inside was an unconscious guard who was bound with laundry cord. Casio stepped over him and opened a polished brass door to a circuit panel with the words LIFTONIC ELEVATOR Qw-607

engraved on it. He made an adjustment in the settings and then pushed the button that read "100."