"Did he describe survivors?"
She shook her head. "There was never talk of rescue attempts. He always said that any man who stepped foot on Gladiator Island without an invitation had a date with Satan."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, the badly injured were murdered and any able-bodied survivor was put to work in the mines until he died. No one has ever escaped from Gladiator to tell of the atrocities."
"You escaped."
"A lot of good it did the poor miners," she said sadly. "No one ever took my word over my family's.
When I tried to explain the situation to authorities, Daddy merely bought them off."
"And the Chinese laborers working the mines today? How many of them leave the island in one piece?"
Maeve's face was grim. "Almost all eventually die from the extreme heat in the bottom of the lower mine pits."
"Heat?" There was curiosity in Pitt's face. "From what source?"
"Steam vents through cracks in the rock."
Giordino gave Pitt a pensive look. "A perfect place to organize a union."
"I make landfall in about three hours," said Pitt. "Not too late to change our minds, skip the island and try for Australia."
It's a violent, unrelenting world," Giordino sighed. "Absolutely worthless without a good challenge now and then."
"There speaks the backbone of America," Pitt said with a smile. He stared up at the moon as if appraising it. "I figure we have just enough light to do the job."
"You still haven't explained how we're going to come ashore unobserved by Daddy's security guards,"
said Maeve.
"First, tell me about the cliffs surrounding Gladiator Island."
She looked at him queerly for a moment, then shrugged. "Not much to tell. The cliffs encircle the whole landmass except for the lagoon. The western shore is pounded by huge waves. The eastern side is calmer but gill dangerous.
"Are there any small inlets on the eastern shore with a sandy beach and natural rock chimneys cut into the cliffs?"
"There are two that I remember. One has a good entrance but a tiny beach. The other is more narrow but with a broader stretch of sand. If you're thinking of landing at either one, you can forget it. Their bluffs rise steeply for a good hundred meters. A first-rate professional rock climber using all the latest techniques and equipment wouldn't think of attempting that climb in the dead of night."
&nbs
p; "Can you guide us into the narrow channel with the roomy beach?" asked Pitt.
"Didn't you hear me?" Maeve said flatly. "You might as well climb Mount Everest with an ice pick.
And then there are the security guards. They patrol the bluffs every hour."
"At night too?"
"Daddy leaves no door open for diamond smugglers," she said as if explaining to a schoolchild.
"How large is the patrol?"
"Two men, who make one complete circuit of the island during their shift. They're followed by another patrol on the hour."
"Is it possible for them to see the beach from the edge of the bluff?" Pitt grilled her.