Deep Six (Dirk Pitt 7)

Hyping his courage by a drink of brandy from a half-pint bottle in his coat pocket and lighting a cigar he had stolen from Admiral Sandecker, he dialed a number and let it ring, almost hoping no one would answer.

Then a voice came on.

Giordino moistened his lips with his tongue and said, "Forgive me, Dirk. We were too late. She was gone."

The helicopter came in from the south and flashed on its landing lights. The pilot settled his craft into position, and then lowered it onto the roof of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. The side door dropped open and Lee Tong stepped out. He swiftly walked over to a privately guarded entrance and took an elevator down to his grandmother's living quarters.

He bent down and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "How was your day, aunumi?"

"Disastrous," she said tiredly. "Someone is sabotaging our bank records, shipping transactions, every piece of business that goes through a computer. What was once a study in efficient management procedures is now a mess."

Lee Tong's eyes narrowed. "Who can be doing it?"

"Every trail leads to NUMA."

"Dirk Pitt."

"He's the prime suspect."

"No more," said Lee Tong reassuringly. "Pitt is dead."

She looked up, her aged eyes questioning. "You know that for a fact?"

He nodded. "Pitt was onboard the Leonin Andreyev. An opportune stroke of luck. I watched him die."

"Your Caribbean mission was only half favorable. Moran lives."

"Yes, but Pitt is out of our hair and the Leonin Andreyev evens the score for the Venice and the gold."

Min Koryo suddenly lashed out at him. "That slimy scum Antonov tricked us out of one billion dollars in gold and cost us a good ship and crew, and you say the score is even?"

Lee Tong had never seen his grandmother so furious. "I'm enraged too, aunumi, but we're hardly in a position to declare war on the Soviet Union."

She leaned forward, her hands clasped so tightly around the armrests of her wheelchair that the knuckles showed through the delicate skin. "The Russians don't know what it's like to have terrorists striking at their throats. I want you to mount bombing attacks against their merchant fleet, especially their oil tankers."

Lee Tong put his arm around her shoulder as he would a hurt child.

"The Hebrew eye-for-an-eye proverb may satisfy the vindictive soul, but it never ands to the bank account. Do not blind yourself with anger."

"What do you expect?" she snapped. "Antonov has the President and the gold where his Navy can salvage it. We allowed Lugovoy and his staff to leave with the President. Years of planning and millions of dollars wasted, and for what?"

"We have not lost our bargaining power," said Lee Tong. "Vice President Margolin is still secure at the laboratory. And we have an unexpected bonus in Congresswoman Loren Smith."

"You abducted her?" she asked in surprise.

"She was also onboard the cruise ship. After the sinking, I arranged to have her flown off the Chalmette to the laboratory."

"She might prove useful," Min Koryo conceded.

"Don't be disheartened, aunumi," said Lee Tong. "We are still in the game. Antonov and his KGB bedfellow Polevoi badly underestimated the Americans' pathological devotion to individual rights. Instructing the President to close Congress to increase his powers was a stupid blunder. He will be impeached and thrown out of Washington within the week."

"Not so long as he has the backing of the Pentagon."

Lee Tong inserted a cigarette in the long silver holder. "The Joint Chiefs are sitting on the fence. They can't keep the House from meeting forever. Once they've voted for impeachment, the generals and admirals won't waste any time in swinging their support to Congress and the new chief executive."

"Which will be Alan Moran," Min Koryo said, as if she had a bad taste in her mouth.

"Unless we release Vincent Margolin."