Flood Tide (Dirk Pitt 14)

Monroe shook his head. "Ten years ago she was sold to a Turkish millionaire who advertised that he was going to refit and put her into service as a floating university."

"Not a practical scheme," Sandecker said bluntly. "No matter how she's refitted, by today's standards she's too large and too expensive to operate and maintain."

"A deception." For the first time Monroe grinned. "The rich Turk turned out to be our friend Qin Shang. The United States was towed from Norfolk across the sea into the Mediterranean, past Istanbul and into the Black Sea to Sevastopol. The Chinese do not have a dry dock that can take a ship that size. Shang hired the Russians to convert her into a modern cruise ship."

"It makes no sense. He'll lose his shirt, he must know that."

"It makes a lot of sense if Shang intends to use the United States as a cover to move illegal aliens," said Ferguson. "The CIA also thinks the People's Republic bankrolled Shang. The Chinese have a small navy. If they should ever get serious about invading Taiwan, they'll need troop transports. The United States could transport an entire division, including their heavy arms and equipment."

"I fully understand that sinister threats call for urgent measures." Sandecker paused and massaged his temples with his fingertips for a few moments. Then he announced, "The resources of NUMA are at your command. We'll give it our best effort."

The President nodded as though he had expected that. "Thank you, Admiral. I'm sure Mr. Monroe and Admiral Ferguson join me in expressing our gratitude."

Gunn's thoughts were already on the job ahead. "It would be most helpful," he said, his eyes on Monroe and Harper, "if you had agents on the inside of Shang's organization to feed us information."

Monroe made a helpless gesture with his hands. "Sh

ang's security is incredibly tight. He's hired a top group of former Russian KGB agents to form an impenetrable ring that even the CIA has yet to infiltrate. They have a computerized personnel identification and investigation system that is second to none. There is no one within Shang's own management circles who is not under constant surveillance."

"To date," added Harper, "we've lost two special agents who attempted to penetrate Shang's organization. Except for one of our agents who posed as an immigrant and bought her passage on board one of Shang's smuggling ships, our undercover missions are in shambles. I hate to admit such failure, but those are the hard facts."

"Your agent is a woman?" asked Sandecker.

"Comes from a wealthy Chinese family. She's one of our best."

"Any idea where the smugglers will put your agent ashore?" asked Gunn.

Harper shook his head. "We're not in contact with her. They could drop her and the rest of the illegal immigrants anywhere between San Francisco and Anchorage."

"How do you know Shang's security people haven't already caught on to her as they did your other two agents?"

Harper's eyes remained fixed in space for a long time. Finally, he admitted solemnly, "We don't. All we can do is wait and hope until she makes contact with one of our West Coast district offices."

"And if you never hear from her?"

Harper gazed down at the polished surface of the table as if seeing the unthinkable. "Then I send a letter of condolence to her parents and assign someone else to follow in her footsteps."

The meeting finally concluded at four o'clock in the morning. Sandecker and Gunn were ushered from the President's secret quarters and returned through the tunnel to the White House. As they were driven to their respective homes in the limousine, each man was lost in gloomy thoughts. Finally Sandecker broke the somber mood.

"They must be desperate if they need NUMA to help bail them out."

"I'd probably call in the Marines, the New York Stock Exchange and the Boy Scouts too if I was in the President's shoes," said Gunn. "A farce," snorted Sandecker. "My sources in the White House tell me the President has been in bed with Qin Shang since he was governor of Oklahoma."

Gunn looked at him. "But the President said-"

"I know what he said, but what he meant is a different thing. Naturally, he wants the flow of illegal immigrants stopped, but he won't order any measures that might upset Beijing. Qin Shang is President Wallace's chief campaign fund-raiser in Asia. Many millions of dollars from the Chinese government were funneled through Hong Kong and Qin Shang Maritime into Wallace's campaign fund. It's corrupt influence peddling of the highest order. That's why Wallace stops short of any head-to-head confrontation. His administration is riddled with people working on China's behalf. The man has sold his soul to the detriment of American citizens."

"Then what does he hope to gain if we nail Qin Shang's ass to the wall?"

"It won't happen," said Sandecker acidly. "Qin Shang will never be indicted nor convicted of criminal activities, certainly not in the United States."

"Then I gather it's your plan to push ahead in the investigation," said Gunn, "regardless of the consequences."

Sandecker nodded. "Do we have a research ship operating in the Gulf?"

"The Marine Denizen. Her scientific team is conducting a study on the diminishing coral reefs off Yucatan."

"She's served NUMA for a long time," Sandecker said, visualizing the ship.