Deep Six (Dirk Pitt 7)

"Infrared night visual gear would answer your first question.

And the noise made by the equipment was muffled by the mooing of cattle."

Brogan gave a thoughtful twist of his head. "Who would have ever thought of that?"

"Somebody did," said Emmett. "They left the tape recorder and an amplifier behind with the foggers."

"It says here the only thing the security people noticed was an oily aroma to the fog."

Emmett nodded. "The fogger heats a deodorized kerosene type of fuel to a high pressure and blows it out a nozzle in very fine droplets, producing the fog."

"Let's move on to the next event," said Oates.

"0150: The small chase boat moors to the dock because of limited visibility. Three minutes later the Coast Guard cutter notifies agent George Blackowl at the Secret Service command post that a high-intensity signal is jamming their radar reception. They also apprised agent Blackowl that before their equipment went blind the only contact on their oscilloscope was a city sanitation tugboat and its trash barges that tied up to the bank to wait out the fog."

Metcalf looked up. "Tied up how far away?"

"Two hundred yards upriver."

"Then the tug was above the artificial fog."

"A crucial point," Emmett acknowledged, "which we'll come to later."

He turned to the blackboard and wrote in another time sequence.

The room fell quiet. The men seated around the long table sat in rocklike stillness waiting for Emmett to reveal the final solution to the presidential abduction.

"0200: The agents moved to their new guard posts. Agent Lyle Brock took up station onboard the Eagle after agent Karl Polaski relieved him on the pier entrance. What is most important is that during this time the Eagle was hidden from his sight. He later walked to the boarding gangway of the yacht and talked to someone he thought was Brock. Brock by now was either unconscious or dead. Polaski did not notice anything suspicious except that Brock appeared to have forgotten his next Post."

"Polaski couldn't tell he was talking with a stranger?"

questioned Oates.

"They conversed from at least ten feet away from each other in low tones so they wouldn't disturb anyone on the yacht. When the 0300 post change came around, Brock simply melted into the fog.

Agent Polaski states that he was never able to see more than a vague figure. It wasn't until 0348 that agent Edward McGrath

discovered that Brock was not at his scheduled post. McGrath then notified Blackowl, who met him on the Eagle four minutes later.

The yacht was searched and found empty, except for Polaski who had moved onboard to replace Brock."

Emmett placed the chalk back in the tray and wiped his hands together. "The rest is cut and dried. Who was alerted and when . . .

the results of a fruitless search on the river and around the grounds of Mount Vernon . . . the roadblocks that failed to produce the missing men . . . and so on."

"What was the disposition of the tugboat and trash barges after the alert?" Metcalf questioned cannily.

"The barges were found moored to the riverbank," Emmett answered him: "The tug was gone."

"So much for facts," said Oates. "The prize question is How were almost twenty men spirited off the yacht under the noses of an army of Secret Service agents and passed undetected through the most advanced security alarm system that money can buy?"

"Your answer is, Mr. Secretary, they weren't."

Oates's eyebrows raised. "How was it done?"

Emmett noticed a smug expression on Metcalf's face. "I think the general has figured it out."

"I wish someone would tell me," said Fawcett.