Flood Tide (Dirk Pitt 14)

"Only silence."

"Perhaps his boarding party found incriminating evidence and he has seized the ship and disposed of the crew under strict secrecy."

"No doubt that is the situation," agreed Su Zhong.

"What else do you have for me?"

"Your agents are also questioning the guard at the main gate who claimed that three men, one of them wearing the uniform of a security officer, presented stolen credentials and entered the shipyard in a Rolls-Royce. It was thought they drove directly to the United States, but this cannot be verified since all guards were ordered off the dock just prior to her sailing."

"I want answers," Qin Shang said angrily. "I want to know what organization is responsible for spying on my operations. I want to know who is behind the intrusion and the deaths of our security people."

"Do you wish Pavel Gavrovich to head up the investigation?" asked Su Zhong.

Qin Shang thought a moment. "No, I want him to concentrate on eliminating Dirk Pitt.""At last report, Pitt was in Manila."

"The Philippines?" Qin Shang said, his composure slipping away. "

itt was in the Philippines, just two hours away from Hong Kong by air? Why wasn't I told of this?"

"Word only came in from Gavrovich an hour ago. He trailed Pitt to a dockyard in Manila, where he and his partner, Albert Giordino, were observed being taken aboard an Iranian cargo ship."

Qin Shang's voice became quiet and vicious. "The same Iranian freighter that stood off the United States?""A positive match has not yet been confirmed," said Su Zhong. "But every indication suggests that they are one and the same."

"Somehow, Pitt is mixed up in this affair. As the National Underwater and Marine Agency's special projects director, it stands to reason he can operate and pilot a submersible. But what possible interest can NUMA have in my operations?"

"His involvement at Orion Lake appears to be accidental," said Su Zhong. "But perhaps he is now working with another United States investigative agency such as the INS or CIA?"

"Very possible," said Qin Shang, the latent hostility reflected in his voice. "The devil has proven far more destructive than I ever conceived." A few seconds passed in silence. Then he said, "Inform Gavrovich that he is to be given full authority and an unlimited budget to uncover and stop any covert operation against Qin Shang Maritime."

"And Dirk Pitt?"

"Tell Gavrovich to postpone killing Pitt until he returns."

"To Manila?"

Qin Shang was breathing quickly, his mouth a thin white line. "No, when he returns to Washington."

"How can you be sure he'll go straight to the American capital?"

"Unlike you, Su Zhong, who can read people from photographs, I've studied the man's history from the time he was born until he devastated my operation at Orion Lake. Trust me when I say he will return to his home at the first opportunity."

Su Zhong shuddered slightly, knowing what was about to come. "Are you speaking of the aircraft hangar where he lives with his old car collection?"

"Exactly," Qin Shang hissed like a serpent. "

itt will watch in horror as his precious automobiles go up in flames. I may even take the time and watch him burn with them."

"Your calendar does not put you in Washington next week. You're scheduled for meetings with your company directors in Hong Kong and government officials in Beijing."

"Cancel them," Shang said with an indifferent wave of one hand. "Set up meetings with my friends in Congress. Also arrange a meeting with the President. It's time I soothed any misgivings they might have about Sungari." He paused, and his lips tightened in a sinister smile. "Besides, I think it appropriate that I be on hand when Sungari becomes the premier shipping port in North America."

21

As THE SUN ROSE the Oregon bounded across a calm sea under clear skies at a speed of thirty knots. With her ballast tanks pumped dry to raise her hull out of the water to reduce drag, she made a strange sight with her stern dug deep in water thrashed white by wildly turning screws, her bows lifted nearly free of the troughs before bursting aside the crest of the next rolling swell. During the night the cargo deck had been cleared of debris while the ship's surgeon worked nonstop to bind wounds and operate on those who were seriously injured. The Oregon lost only one man, who had the misfortune of being struck in the head by fragments from the hundred-millimeter shell when it smashed into the upper section of the stern. None of the wounded were critical. The surgeon also managed to save all but six of the Chinese marines. Both officers had died and were dropped over the side with their men who had not survived.

The women who served aboard the Oregon quickly turned into angels of mercy, assisting the surgeon and tending to the wounded. Pitt's unlucky curse held tight. Instead of an attractive nurse to bandage his hip wound, his luck of the draw was the ship's quartermaster or mistress (her actual title in Cabrillo's corporate structure was supply and logistics coordinator), who stood six feet and weighed two hundred pounds if she weighed an ounce. Her name was Monica Crabtree, and she was as bright and resourceful as they

came.