Valhalla Rising (Dirk Pitt 16)

She shook her head. "Dad was a very secretive man. He always said that explaining his work to anyone other than a scientist or engineer would be impossible. The only time he lectured me on his work was on board the Emerald Dolphin. He was quite proud of his engineering concepts for the ship's engines, and he explained their mag-netohydrodynamics principle to me over dinner one night.

"That's all he ever told you?"

"After a few martinis in the lounge, he did say that he had created the breakthrough of the ages." Kelly shrugged wistfully. "I thought it was the gin talking."

"Then Mary was the only person aware of his activities."

"No." She looked up as if seeing someone. "Josh Thomas."

"Who?"

"Dr. Josh Thomas was my father's friend and sometimes his assistant. They went to MIT tog

ether and received their doctorates, Dad in engineering and Josh in chemistry."

"Do you know where you can get in touch with him?"

"Yes," she answered.

"Where is your father's laboratory?" Pitt asked.

"At his home not far from Gene Taylor Field."

"Can you call Dr. Thomas? I would like to meet him."

"Any particular reason?"

"You might say I'm dying to find out what the breakthrough of the ages is all about."

26

Admiral Sandecker stood at a podium and fielded questions thrown at him by the news media. If there was one thing the admiral was not, it was a media narcissist. Though he always had good relations with press and TV reporters and often enjoyed their company on a one-to-one basis, he simply was not at home in the spotlight, nor was he comfortable evading or dancing around probing inquiries. There were times when Sandecker was simply too honest and outspoken for bureaucratic Washington.

After forty minutes of hard questions about NUMA's role in the investigation of the tragic loss of the Emerald Dolphin, Sandecker was thankful that the news conference was winding down.

"Can you tell us what your people found inside the wreck during their probe with the submersible?" asked a nationally recognized female TV reporter.

"We believe we have found evidence suggesting that the fire was deliberately caused," replied Sandecker.

"Can you describe the evidence?"

"What looks like an incendiary material was found in the area where the ship's crew reported the fire started."

"Have you identified this substance?" asked a reporter from the Washington Post.

"It's over at the FBI lab as we speak," Sandecker hedged. "They should have results shortly."

"What can you tell us about the terrorist hijacking of your survey vessel, the Deep Encounter'?" This from a reporter with CNN.

"Not much that you already don't know from previous reports. I wish I could tell you why criminal elements hijacked a NUMA ship, but unfortunately none of the pirates responsible lived to tell the tale."

A woman in a blue suit from ABC News raised her hand. "How did your NUMA crew manage to destroy the pirate ship and everyone on board?"

The question had to come, and Sandecker had prepared himself for it. As much as he hated to, he lied to protect the NUMA scientists and ships' crew from being labeled killers. "As near as we can tell, one of the hijackers guarding the entrance to the lagoon fired a missile in the dark at the Deep Encounter. He missed and the missile struck the pirate ship."

"What happened to the guard?" the woman persisted. "Didn't he live to be arrested?"

"No, he accidentally died during a struggle with my special projects director, who was attempting to stop him from firing a second missile at our survey ship."