Crescent Dawn (Dirk Pitt 21)

“He’s a well-known and respected archaeologist,” Dirk said.

“Respected?” Summer hissed. “I bet he’s here searching for the galley, too.”

“One of the monks did mention he was working on a book about Helena.”

Summer was fuming by the time they reached the car. The image of Bannister taking the Manifest in the basement of Kitchener’s manor saturated her mind. She drove aggressively down the winding monastery road, her anger reflected in her driving. Entering the main highway, she never considered that the source of her wrath was in a car now following close behind.

Her temper waned as they reached the outskirts of Limassol. By the time they found the city’s commercial docks, she actually felt encouraged.

“If Bannister is here, then the galley must exist,” she said to Dirk.

“He certainly hasn’t found it yet,” he replied.

Summer nodded with satisfaction. Who knows, she thought, perhaps we’re closer than we think.

91

SHOVING OFF ALREADY?” SUMMER ASKED.

She stood on the Aegean Explorer’s bridge, watching a pair of crewmen hoist in and stow the forward mooring line. It had been less than an hour since the ship had touched the dock at Limassol, and she and Dirk had climbed aboard.

Pitt stood near the helm, sipping a cup of coffee.

“We’ve got to get back around to the western side of the Akrotiri Peninsula in order to keep tabs on Rudi’s AUV,” he said.

“I thought you were surveying with the towed sonar fish?”

“We are. We actually completed our first grid off Pissouri and started a new survey grid to the west. But Rudi reconfigured the AUV for sidescan sonar duty, so we put her to work. She’s currently running a large grid to the east of Pissouri. We’ll keep pushing west with the Explorer and cover twice as much ground.”

“Makes sense,” she replied. “How much longer will the AUV stay under?”

“She’ll be down another eighteen hours before surfacing. That will allow us a good run of our own before having to pick her up.”

“Dad, I’m sorry we didn’t come up with more promising research to go on.”

“Your fresco seems to confirm the role of the Pissouri wreck as one of the pirate ships. If the galley exists, we’ve got a good chance of being in the ballpark.”

The Aegean Explorer proceeded to steam south around the stubby Akrotiri Peninsula, then turned northwest toward Pissouri some twenty miles away. The research ship’s sensors soon made contact with a pair of floating transducer buoys, which relayed data from the AUV as it glided over the seabed two hundred feet beneath the surface. While Gunn and Giordino reviewed the AUV’s results, Pitt launched the towed sonar fish off the stern of the Explorer, sharing monitoring duties with Dirk and Summer.

It was nine the next morning when Summer stepped onto the bridge with a cup of hot coffee, ready to relieve her father in front of the screen.

“Anything new at the picture show?” she asked.

“A repeat is playing, I’m afraid,” Pitt replied, standing and stretching. “The same rock and sand that’s been rolling by all night. Outside of a small sunken fishing boat that Dirk picked up, it’s been slim pickings.”

“I just checked with Al in the survey shack,” she said, slipping into Pitt’s seat. “He said they’ve got similar results with the AUV.”

“We’re nearly at the end of this grid,” Pitt said. “Shall we keep working west?”

Summer smiled at her father. “When it comes to finding a shipwreck, I know better than to question your instincts.”

“Then west it is,” he replied with a wink.

Captain Kenfield stepped over from the helm and spread out a local marine chart across the table.

“Where exactly would you like to configure the next grid?” he asked Pitt.

“We’ll just extend the current grid, running as close to shore as we can get. Let’s run another two miles west, to this point here,” he said, pointing to a small coastal promontory on the map.