Sam looked at Matthew. “Well, I have no idea who thought to bring the old smoking battleship, but it looks like the Secretary of Defense came through with the promised reinforcements.”
“So it does,” Matthew said. “Looking at the number of reinforcements it kinda makes you question what this is all about that makes it important to bring so many uniformed men all the way down here?”
“Bring us alongside the Antarctic Solace and let’s find out,” Sam said.
Matthew nodded and over the next ten minutes slowed the Maria Helena to a stop alongside the Antarctic Solace. Sam and Genevieve quickly ran the mooring lines and Sam stepped aboard.
A uniformed Marine shook his hand. “If you come with me Mr. Reilly, she’s waiting for you on the bridge of the USS Texas.”
Sam grinned. “The USS Texas? What the hell’s a national monument doing down here?”
“She’s hunting, sir.”
“Hasn’t she provided enough service to her country?”
The marine smiled, pleased Sam knew her history. “That she has, sir. But I’ll let Madam Secretary explain why she was needed.”
“The Secretary of Defense is here?” Sam asked.
“Yes, sir.”
Sam took the next series of steps. “If she’s come down in person, it can’t be good news.”
“No, sir.”
Sam followed the marine on board the USS Texas. She’d changed since he’d last been on board. The deck was now cloaked in mat-black paint from her waterline to the top of the bridge. Her armaments were rebuilt and sailors manned the ubiquitous guns that surrounded her deck. Sam climbed the series of ladders to reach the bridge.
He stepped inside. The bridge was empty with one exception. The Marine closed the door and left without saying anything.
“Mr. Reilly!” Sam instantly recognized the almost permanent scowl of the only woman who ever truly owned him. “The next time I give you an order I expect you follow it explicitly.”
Sam ignored the reprimand and smiled, genuinely pleased to see her. “Good morning, Madam Secretary.”
Margret paused as though contemplating any further rebuke of his actions; then sat down having thought better of any further waste of her time. “As you can see, I’ve secured the Antarctic Solace.”
“That’s good.” Sam remained standing. “Is the Department of Defense looking at expanding its business to polar cruises?”
She smiled. Not quite a laugh, but definitely a positive reaction. “No. It appears you’ve stumbled on someone we’ve been searching for a long time.”
“Who?”
“His name’s Robert Cassidy,” she said. “He was once the most brilliant scientist the Department of Defense ever employed — until he disappeared.”
“We had a disagreement with what he was building?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, he lost interest in building what we wanted. Instead, he found a new project to work on. Something too dangerous for even us to muddy our hands with.”
“Really?” Sam didn’t believe her.
She grinned. “Okay, we were happy for him to build it. The problem was we had a disagreement over what we were going to use it for.”
“I see.”
“After a secret meeting with President Reagan he broke off all communications and disappeared completely.”
Sam sighed. “When did you lose him?”
“1983 — Sometime early in the year I’m told.”
Sam looked out past her and out into the crystal clear, icy waters of the Weddell Sea. “You lost him and his weapon in 1983 and you still think he’s out there?”
“Who said it was a weapon?”
Sam frowned. “Why else would the DOD been interested?”
“Robert Cassidy didn’t see its benefit as a weapon. We did. He threatened to leave. We told him wherever he went we would find him.”
“So what happened?”
“We were wrong. He left and we’ve never seen him since.” The Secretary of Defense sighed. “Since then we thought he might have gotten himself killed as he continued his research. Then we prayed he’d got himself killed. And then we had an incident in 1983 which nearly led to complete nuclear Armageddon that we believe he orchestrated. We hoped that event, at the very least, had got him killed.”
“Go on.”
“Since then small events have occurred which have made us wonder if he was still alive. Each time they were small enough that on their own, they meant little. But over time, if you collected all the pieces, you made a picture that proved undoubtedly that Robert Cassidy was still alive and that he’s still working on his Project.”
“And you think he has something to do with the disappearance of the crew of the Antarctic Solace?”
Her jaw tensed. “Yes. This is the closest chance we’ve had to capturing him in thirty years, and we won’t fuck it up this time.”
“Okay,” Sam said, pleased to see some things got to her. “We’ll get him.”
“There’s something else.” She looked directly at him. “He’s taking risks he’s never taken before; he knows he’s close to getting caught and there’s only one explanation as to why he’s become so brazen.”
“He’s nearly completed the Project?”
“Exactly,” she confirmed.
“So, where do you think he is?”
“Why, he’s at the same place where all the people from the Antarctic Solace were taken.”
Sam sighed. He hated it when she played espionage games, riddled with lies and obscurities when he wanted answers. “And where do you think that is, Margaret?”
The Secretary of Defense smiled. It was wicked and tormenting. He’d never addressed her by her name out of courtesy before, despite their close relationship. She then stared directly at him; her face rigid and unwavering. “Why, Robert Cassidy’s taken them to the Island, of course.” She slightly emphasized “the Island” as if it were something special that he should already know about.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
“A secret island?” Sam asked, skeptical. “You want me to believe the entire population of the cruise ship ended up on an island that doesn’t exist on any maps?”
“Yes.” The Secretary of Defense smiled. “Quite a coincidence really, isn’t it? The island has no name, location or existence except for the fact that we financed its development in the sixties and lost it to Robert Cassidy in the eighties.”
“So where should this island be?”
“It comes and goes. We’ve come close to finding its location a number of times over the years. The most recent of course, was in 1983. But I’m afraid since then, all signs of the god forsaken Island have disappeared completely.”
“Are you telling me in an age of satellite imaging, we can’t find an island?”
“Yes. But if it makes you feel any better, we didn’t have GPS in 1983 so we were using spotter planes. It certainly made it easier for him to get away. He never would have succeeded if he’d tried these days.”
“The Island moves?”
Margaret nodded. “I’m afraid so, Mr. Reilly. The Island was built into a large iceberg that broke away years ago. The iceberg has a large structure of volcanic rock. This allowed them to build inside it and then tow the island. The ice can be increased or decreased to serve its purpose of concealment. It remained in the northern hemisphere for years, but judging by the aerial photo you sent me of the ice structure you found blocking the entrance to the Weddell Sea, it would appear Robert worked out a way of moving it to the southern hemisphere. None of our scientists can imagine how it was done. Maybe they somehow froze the area below the rock to keep the entire thing from melting and sinking into the Pacific Ocean.”