Sahara (Dirk Pitt 11)

"I would be honored."

Pitt looked at the driver and smiled. "What is your name, my friend?"

"Ben Hadi."

Pitt shook the driver's hand warmly. "Ben Hadi," he said softly, "you don't know it, but by saving our lives you also saved the lives of a hundred others."

ECHOES OF THE ALAMO

May 26, 1996

Washington, D. C.

"They're out!" Hiram Yaeger shouted as he burst into Sandecker's office with Rudi Gunn at his heels.

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Sandecker, his mind lost on the budget of an undersea project, looked up blankly. "Out?"

"Dirk and AI, they've crossed over the border into Algeria."

Sandecker suddenly looked like a kid who was told Santa Claus was coming. "How do you know?"

"They phoned from the airport near a desert town called Adrar," answered Gunn. "The connection was bad, but we understood them to say they were catching a commercial flight to Algiers. Once there, they would reestablish contact from our embassy."

"Was there anything else?"

Gunn glanced at Yaeger and nodded. "You were on the line with Dirk before I came on."

"Pill's voice kept fading," said Yaeger. "Algeria's desert phone system is only two steps above tin cans tied to waxed string. If I heard him correctly, he insisted that you request a Special Forces Team to return with him to Mali."

"Did he explain?" Sandecker asked curiously.

"His voice was too indistinct. Interference broke up our conversation. What little I could make out sounded crazy."

"Crazy, in what manner?" Sandecker demanded.

"He said something about rescuing women and children in a gold mine. His voice sounded strangely urgent."

"That makes no sense at all," said Gunn.

Sandecker stared at Yaeger. "Did Dirk reveal how they escaped from Mali?"

Yaeger looked like a man who was lost in a maze. "Don't quote me, Admiral, but I'd swear he said they sailed across the desert in a yacht with some woman named Kitty Manning or Manncock."

Sandecker sat back in his chair and smiled resignedly. "Knowing Pitt and Giordino as I do, I wouldn't put it past them." Then abruptly his eyes narrowed and his expression turned quizzical. "Could the name have been Kitty Mannock?"

"The name was garbled, but yes, I think that was it."

"Kitty Mannock was a famous aviator back in the twenties," explained Sandecker. "She broke long-distance speed records over half the globe before vanishing in the Sahara. I believe it was back in 1931."

"What could she possibly have to do with Pitt and Giordino?" Yaeger wondered aloud.

"I have no idea," said Sandecker.

Gunn studied his watch. "I checked the air distance between Adrar and Algiers. It's only a little over 1200 kilometers. If they're in the air now, we should be hearing from them in approximately an hour and a half."