Pitt stepped into the fifth-floor computer center, where he found Rudi Gunn, Hiram Yaeger, and Al Giordino seated next to a half-eaten box of donuts that had fueled them since sunrise. He joined them at a curved table that faced a floor to ceiling video screen. The screen was split between a global map showing the location of NUMA research vessels and marine resources and a satellite image of an island chain that Pitt recognized as Bermuda.
Giordino slid the donut box Pitt’s way. “You’re lucky Hiram’s gone gluten-free or they’d be decimated by now.”
Pitt reached into the box. “What do you hear from Homeland Security?”
“Nothing concrete,” Gunn said. “They’re scrambling to investigate every cargo flight from Bermuda to the U.S. in the past week. They’ve reported nothing promising, but they have a lot of catching up to do.”
“What about sea transit?”
“They’ve issued alerts to the commercial port authorities and have tagged a pair of inbound container ships for inspection in New York. The Coast Guard is also initiating random searches of vessels bound for Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and the Chesapeake. Locally, the Coast Guard has established a security zone around Washington in the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. But Homeland Security analysts seem to believe the bomb was flown out of Bermuda and may in fact have been taken back to Ukraine.”
“That may be a false hope,” Pitt said. “I spoke to Ana earlier. She and her team have grilled as many cargo workers as she could round up at the Bermuda airport. Several were witness to a truck being offloaded a week or two ago with a large covered object on its bed. No one has reported seeing a similar object being shipped out.”
“A bomb of that size would be easier to load onto a ship than a plane,” Giordino said.
“That’s what Ana believes.”
“Does she have any other leads?” Gunn asked.
“She’s trying to track down the Dutch industrialist Martin Hendriks. As soon as she briefs the FBI team that just arrived, she’s headed to Amsterdam.”
“Hendriks would seem to have the funds to support the United Armed Forces of Novorossiya—or whoever is toting the bomb around,” Gunn said.
“Agreed,” Pitt said. “I think we need to take seriously the threat by sea.”
“We’ve been working it, chief,” Yaeger said. He typed into a keyboard, which brought up a data
table next to the satellite image of Bermuda. “The commercial port authorities in Bermuda have shared reports of all seagoing traffic in and out of the country the past week. This list shows ship name, registered owner, and reported destination.”
Pitt scanned the list. “I count six U.S.-bound ships.”
“We’re tracking them all.” Yaeger pulled up a map of the Eastern seaboard, with four red lights blinking at points in the Atlantic and two lights on the coastline. “One of the ships, a container vessel, has already docked in New York, and the second is due in today. Both will be searched by Homeland Security. A third ship has docked as well, an oil tanker that reached Charleston two days ago.”
“Probably not a prime suspect,” Pitt said.
“We checked some satellite photos of her and there was nothing suspicious on her decks, so we feel the same.”
“That leaves three ships in transit.”
“One is a cruise ship headed to Miami and the other two are freighters due to dock in the next two days. One is bound for Houston, the other Newark. We’ve passed the data to Homeland Security and inspectors will be waiting for all three.”
“Those are all manageable,” Pitt said. “The larger worry is an unregistered ship running silent or a smaller private vessel.”
“That’s what we’ve been focusing on,” Gunn said. “We’re limited to just satellite imagery on that front. Hiram has been busy collecting photos since last night.”
“The satellite coverage over Bermuda is worse than Bulgaria,” Yaeger said, “but I’ve pulled what I could. Unfortunately, there’s quite a few yachts and pleasure crafts visiting Bermuda this time of year. To make it manageable, I’ve dispensed with any craft under thirty feet.”
Yaeger instructed the computer to sort and scan the downloaded images, restricted to those taken of vessels in the waters west of Bermuda. The supercomputer quickly reviewed, matched, and collated the images, presenting Yaeger with a long list.
“There’s about forty,” he said. “No easy way around it, we need to take a look at them one by one.”
The group began poring over the images, noting size, type, and apparent destination of each craft. Many vessels were eliminated as pleasure boats incapable of transporting the bomb.
Gunn kept a running tally. “We’re down to a very large sailing boat that’s close to Boston and two luxury yachts aimed for Miami. Are there any other possibilities?”
“There’s one more on the list,” Yaeger said. “Visible westbound from Bermuda three days ago.”
He pulled up a satellite photo of a white speck off the Bermuda coastline. He zoomed in until it filled the screen. It was actually two vessels: an orange and white tug pulling a barge. Pitt noticed the tug was distinguished by an extended open rear deck. The picture was crisp enough to show its long hawser, secured to a trio of bollards on the enclosed barge, which was small and painted black.