The Navigator (NUMA Files 7)
“I still owe you and the young lady for your volunteer work. Where is Carina, by the way?”
“Freshening up. I’m meeting her for lunch.”
“Please give her my best regards. Now, what can I do for you?”
Austin reached into a canvas bag he had borrowed from Captain Mustapha and pulled out the latex molds of the second Navigator. “Could you make plaster of paris casts from these?”
Hanley held a mold at an angle to view the relief. “No problem. It will take a couple of hours for the stuff to dry.”
“We’ll come by after lunch.”
Hanley took the bag and its contents. “Where’s Joe?”
“Nursing his submersible. It got a bit banged up on a dive and probably won’t be of use to you.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Hanley said. “It would have helped us explore the site’s perimeter, but, as you can see, most of the excavation is dry.”
Austin said he would be back after lunch. He hailed a taxi and told the driver to take him to the TopkapiPalace. The sprawling complex of buildings, courtyards, pavilions, and parks dominated Seraglio Point, a hilly promontory at the junction of the Golden Horn, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosphorus. The Ottoman sultans and their retinues had lived at Topkapi for four hundred years during the heyday of the Ottoman Empire.
The palace grounds had been transformed into a museum. Austin strolled between the twin turrets into a park shaded by leafy trees and teeming with tourists from every part of the world. He passed the treasury, which guarded a fortune in precious jewels, and made his way to the building housing the Konyali Restaurant.
Carina sat at a table in the courtyard, gazing out at the sun-sparkled water. She had changed from the casual outfit she wore on the TurquoiseCoast and wore a long-skirted dress of dark russet that complemented her cinnamon-and-cream complexion. Austin wore tan slacks, foregoing his standard Hawaiian color riot for a more-conservative dark green polo shirt.
He pulled up a chair. “The sultans really knew their real estate. Location, location, and location.”
She greeted him with a dazzling smile. “It’s spectacular!”
“The prices are exorbitant and the food is less than five-star. The service is cafeteria-style. But the dining view is the best in Istanbul. You can’t go wrong with the salad or the kebabs.”
Austin offered to do the honors. He carried two fresh green salads and lemonades back to the table.
Carina took a dainty bite of lettuce. “An excellent recommendation. Is there any place you haven’t been?”
“I get to travel a lot in my job.”
“What exactly is your job?”
“As I said before, I’m an engineer.”
She cocked a finely arched eyebrow. “NUMA is world renowned for its study of the oceans. But you and Joe spend most of your time fighting bad men and rescuing maidens in distress, thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Austin said. “I’m also head of the NUMA Special Assignments Team. It consists of Joe and two others who investigate mysteries on, under, and above the sea, that don’t fit easily into any mainstream category.”
“And how does this mystery stack up with your past experience?”
Austin gazed off at the queue of cargo ships that stretched off into the distance.
“Looking at events objectively, I’d say that this is a case of someone wanting something, ready to destroy anything or anyone in the way. Subjectively, I’m afraid it goes deeper than that.”
“What do
you mean?”
“You get a sixth sense when you spend a lot of time under water. It’s telling me that there is more to this than what we see. There’s evil lurking behind the violence.”
“As if things weren’t strange enough,” she said with a nervous smile. “What do we do next?”
“Enjoy our lunch, savor the view and the sunshine, and then check out the plaster of paris casts Hanley is making for us.”