Valhalla Rising (Dirk Pitt 16)

"Zale made fools out of us," said Sandecker curtly. "The ship was transporting a full load of oil all right, but it was empty of explosives. None could be found on board, and the ship continued on its voyage to its scheduled mooring terminal south of the Bay Area."

Yaeger looked at Pitt. "You think it was a decoy?"

"I believe that wa

s Zale's plan. What bothered me from the beginning was the extraordinary draft of a fully loaded tanker the size of the Pacific Trojan. The bottom of the bay surrounding the city of San Francisco is too shallow for a ship that size to cross. It would have grounded long before it could have come ashore."

"So you're considering the prospect that Zale is sending another tanker into a different port city," Yaeger suggested.

They went silent as Max's feminine form materialized on her little stage. "I believe I have what you gentlemen were after."

"Did you check all supertankers entering our domestic ports?" asked Sandecker anxiously.

"There are several Very Large Crude Carriers arriving at several ports, but of the Ultra, Ultra Large Crude Carriers, there is one bound for Louisiana from Saudi Arabia, but her mooring terminal is a hundred miles from a major city. Another is headed for the offshore pumping station off New Jersey, but she isn't due until tomorrow, and finally, a UULCC bound for Long Beach, California, is still two days out to sea. That's the lot. It looks like your friend Mr. Zale has lost any opportunity of sneaking in another tanker."

"So the whole exercise was a waste," murmured Sandecker. "Zale never intended to devastate San Francisco or any other densely inhabited port city."

"Looks that way," said Pitt, dejectedly. "But if that's the case, why the subterfuge? What did he have to gain?"

"Maybe he was just testing us?"

"That's not his modus operandi."

"There are no mistakes?" Yaeger asked Max.

"I got inside the records of every port authority in the lower forty-eight states."

Sandecker made as if to leave the office and shook his head wearily. "I guess that ends that."

"Did you gentlemen ever consider a different type of vessel?" asked Max.

Pitt looked at her with interest. "What do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking on my own. An LNG ship could do far more damage than a UULCC."

The revelation struck Pitt like a hammer blow. "A Liquefied Natural Gas tanker!"

"One blew up in Japan back in the forties with nearly the explosive power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb," Max enlightened them. "The death toll ran more than a thousand."

"Did you check to see if any are bound for stateside ports?" asked Yaeger.

Max acted as if she were pouting. "You don't seem to have a high regard for my intuitive talents. Of course, I checked all incoming LNG ships."

"Well?" Yaeger prompted.

"The Mongol Invader, bound from Kuwait, is scheduled to dock in New York at ten-thirty."

"A.M. or P.M.?" asked Sandecker.

"A.M."

The admiral checked his watch. "We can eliminate her. She would have docked twenty minutes ago."

"Not so," said Max. "She was delayed by problems with her generators and had to heave to until repairs were made. She's running five hours late."

Pitt and Sandecker exchanged stricken expressions.

"That has to be Zale's plan," said Pitt. "Feint with the Pacific Trojan on the West Coast and strike New York from the east with the Mongol Invader."