Odessa Sea (Dirk Pitt 24)

Summer gazed out the bridge of the Iberia and smiled. “Rudi didn’t mess around, did he?”

Dirk nodded. “After our ordeal in London, he promised us a shadow. Guess he’s still got some pull in the Navy.”

“Do you think Mansfield is on that ship?”

“It’s possible. Captain Myers researched the vessel and found it’s been seen all throughout the Mediterranean, flying flags of different countries. A home port in Russia is probably a good bet.”

“Thank goodness for the Newport News. Of course, at this point, the Russians can have the wreck.”

A crewman approached from belowdecks. “You have a call from a Mr. Perlmutter via satellite. There’s a speakerphone in the conference room.”

Summer looked at Dirk. “Julien’s not one for high technology.”

They followed the crewman to the main deck and into the conference room, which was little more than an empty cabin with a small table in the center. Dirk and Summer sat down and spoke into the speakerphone.

“Julien, are you there?” Summer asked.

“Yes, I’m calling from Charles’s residence.” Perlmutter’s voice boomed. “How goes the search for the Sentinel?”

“Good and bad,” Summer said. “We found the wreck last night. She’s in good shape, lying intact in twelve hundred feet of water. We spent the day investigating her. We were able to access the forward hold and one of the stern holds, but we’ve seen no sign of the gold.”

“It hasn’t been salvaged, has it?”

“No, she doesn’t appear to have been disturbed. Her cargo appears to be rifles, not gold.”

“We thought as much,” Perlmutter said.

“Do you know something we don’t?” Dirk asked.

“Charles and I have spent the past few days digging through the Archives and we located an intriguing nugget today. Tell them, Charles.”

Trehorne’s voice joined the call. “We searched for everything related to the Sentinel, although a few of the ship’s documents were missing. Fascinating vessel, actually, with an interesting wartime record. Did you locate any evidence of her sinking?”

“Yes,” Dirk said. “She has a large breach near the waterline off the starboard bow. It would appear consistent with damage from striking a mine.”

“Indeed. If you took any video recordings, I would love to see them. As I was saying, we examined the ship, crew, and squadron data—and finally stumbled upon something curious in the fleet records. During World War I, the Royal Navy regularly ran guns across the Mediterranean to General Allenby in Egypt in support of the Arab Revolt. We found note of a shipment of Lee–Enfield rifles delivered by steamer from England to Gibraltar, then sent on to Alexandria. Only the shipment never made it.”

“Let me guess,” Dirk said. “The guns were transported aboard the Sentinel.”

“Precisely correct.”

“So the Sentinel didn’t rendezvous with the Pelikan and take on the Romanov gold?” Summer asked.

“That’s the key question,” Trehorne said. “The time line proved problematic at first glance, but Julian and I have a hypothesis. You see, the Sentinel was supposed to meet the Pelikan on February twenty-seventh near Chios. We found evidence which indicates the Sentinel was in Gibraltar on March second, taking on the shipment of rifles. The cruiser’s top speed was twenty-five knots, so that would have been a challenging feat, given the distance between the two.”

Summer rubbed her eyes. “So the gold remained on the Pelikan?”

“We don’t think so. What we believe happened, my dear, is that the Sentinel and the Pelikan had their rendezvous a day or two earlier. If we go back to the original letter from Hunt to Admiral Ballard, he requested the Sentinel be at the meeting point by February twenty-seventh. It turns out the Sentinel was in Athens the week before. As she was already in the vicinity, we believe she arrived on-site ahead of that date, and the Pelikan was early as well. That would have allowed plenty of time for the Sentinel to take the gold on board and arrive in Gibraltar by March second.”

“We found no orders rescinding the rendezvous instructions,” Perlmutter said, “so there’s no evidence that the Sentinel was pulled away before Pelikan’s arrival.”

“If that was the case,” Summer said, “what became of the gold?”

There was a long pause. “We don’t know,” Perlmutter said, “but the answer would seem to lie in Gibraltar. Charles has some contacts there, along with a strong suspicion. We intend to fly down and do some sniffing about. If you’re finished with the Sentinel, why don’t you forget about the Pelikan for the moment and meet us there?”

“Absolutely.” Summer perked up. “I’ve had a bad feeling about the Sentinel since we got here.”

The group made plans to meet and said their good-byes. After the call ended, Dirk shook his head with a grimace.