“Gotcha.”Zavala had the same image on a computer screen in his NUMA office. “I’ll zoom in.”
A shimmering bluish white rectangle popped up on Austin’s screen, superimposing itself on a section of Atlantic Ocean. Zavala expanded the size of the square. Tiny black specks appeared. The specks grew in size and began to assume the long, slim shape of ships. The time and date in the upper-left-hand corner of the screen indicated that the picture had been taken several days before.
“How close can you go?” Austin said.
“Pick a target.”
Austin clicked his computer cursor on a blip. The camera seemed to rush at the target. Hundreds of flopping fish filled the screen. Then the camera pulled back to show a fish hold and a deck covered with the booms and winches of an oceangoing fishing boat.
“Impressive,” Austin said.
“Yeager used Max to pump some hormones into NUMASat’s normal search function. He says it can tell you the color of a sand flea’s eyes.”
Hiram Yeager was NUMA’s resident computer genius and director of the vast computer complex he called Max, which occupied the entire tenth floor of NUMA’s green-glass-faced tower overlooking the Potomac River.
“Their eyes are blue,” Austin said.
“Really?”
“Kidding. But the resolution is better than anything I’ve seen.”
“Before Yeager beefed up the system, the best we could get was one yard square in black and white and four yards in color. He’s got it down to one yard square in color,” Zavala said. “What you’re seeing on the screen has been enhanced by information coming in from other satellites and military and intelligence systems.”
“All done legally and according to Hoyle,” Austin said with a wry smile.
“ Mostly.Yeager considers it tit-for-tat, because the military relies so heavily on NUMASat. They’ve worked out a deal to blank out images when military operations are under way. I told him I didn’t want to know, and he said that was fine with him.”
“We’re in no position to criticize,” Austin said. The Special Assignments Team sometimes operated under the radar of traditional government oversight. “Have you located our friendly ore carrier?” Austin said.
“Watch!” Zavala said.
The image slowly zoomed out. The ships again were displayed as specks. Zavala outlined a target within a rectangle. Austin clicked the computer mouse. The image of a huge ship filled the screen. Austin leaned forward.
“Definitely the ore carrier we saw from the chopper,” he said. “There’s that weird bull’s-head logo on the hull.”
“I ran a check on the ship. It belongs to an outfit named PeaceCo. Their website describes them as peace-and-stability consultants.”
Austin chuckled. “That’s the new jargon for mercenaries.”
“They’re up front about the ship’s conversion from an ore carrier. They advertise it as a mobile-force platform. They claim they can have airborne forces on the ground anywhere in the world within forty-eight hours. The ship is guaranteed to arrive with the full unit within twenty-one days.”
“Who’s behind PeaceCo?”
“Hard to tell. They’ve got a roster of retired American and British military people on their board. The ownership is hidden behind layers of shell corporations in several countries of registration. I’ve got Yeager working to unravel that mess too.”
“Sounds like a lead, but what we need is a smoking gun.”
“Hell, Kurt, we’ve got a fully loaded howitzer! I’ve run a sequential album from the archives, starting shortly before the hijacking. These shots were taken at intervals, so they don’t cover every minute.”
Images flickered on the screen in a jerky stop-action mode, like pictures in a nickelodeon. Figures were moving around a cargo hatch. The cover slid back until the hold was revealed as a dark square. A platform rose from the ship’s innards of the hold like the elevator on an aircraft carrier. Two helicopters could be seen parked side by side on the platform. Men got into the helicopters and the choppers took off.
“Who says time travel is impossible?” Austin said. “That nails down our launch.”
“Next I’ll show you the containership.”
The image changed to show the deck of the Ocean Adventure.The choppers appeared as if by magic atop the containers. Figures streamed out of the aircraft. There was little change for several frames until the satellite showed one helicopter hovering above a foaming circle in the ocean where its companion had gone down. Zavala jumped back to the ore carrier. A single helicopter returned to land on the platform. Figures got out of the helicopter, it was lowered back into the ship, and the cargo hold cover slid back over the opening. One of the figures, who was taller than the others, could have been the man who shot Austin, but his back was to the camera.
“That nails it,” Austin said. “Where’s the ship now?”
“The maritime schedules I checked have her leaving New York a few days before the hijacking, supposedly on her way to Spain. She did a funny little loop around the time of the hijacking, then kept on heading across the Atlantic. I can turn this stuff over to the Coast Guard with a flick of a switch.”
“Tempting,” Austin said. “She’s in international waters, and even if the Coast Guard jumped in now at best we’d snag only the little guys. I want the brains behind the hijacking scheme.”
“I’ll keep sniffing around. How are you feeling, by the way?”
“A little stiff, but the incident taught me a good lesson.”
“That you should avoid men with guns?”
“Naw. That I should move faster.Keep me posted if you turn up anything before you leave for Istanbul.” Austin heard a knocking.” Got to go. Someone’s at the door.”
“Having company?”
“The very best kind. Ciao.”
The Italian connection dawned on Zavala. “ Ciao?Hey—”
“ Buona notte,Joe,” Austin said. He was chuckling as he hung up and went to open the front door.
CARINA MECHADI was waiting on the steps. She lifted the wine bottle in her hand. “I believe I have a dinner reservation for tonight.”
“Your table is ready and waiting, SignorinaMechadi.”
“You said casual. I hope I’m dressed for the occasion.”
Carina was wearing jeans with flowers stitched on them and a sleeveless blouse of turquoise. Her outfit emphasized her feminine curves in the most flattering way possible.
“A queen could not be more fashionably attired,” Austin said.
“Thank you,” Carina purred. She appraised Austin with equally appreciative eyes. He was wearing white shorts that emphasized his tanned, muscular legs, and his wide shoulders strained against a flowered silk shirt. “And you look quite smashing in that shirt.”
“Thanks. Elvis Presley wore the same design in the movie Blue Hawaii.Come right in.”
Carina stepped into the house, and her eyes took in the comfortable, Colonial-style dark wood furniture that was set off by white walls hung with original paintings by the local artists Austin liked to collect. There were some antique ocean charts and shipbuilding tools, a photo of Austin’s sailboat, and a scale model of his racing hydroplane.
“I thought I would see old anchors and stuffed swordfish hanging on the walls. Maybe an old diving helmet or ship models in bottles.”
Austin roared with laughter. “I used to drink margaritas in a Key West divers’ bar that fits that description.”
“You know what I mean,” Carina said with a smile. “You work for the world’s foremost oceanographic agency. I expected more evidence of your love of the sea.”
“I’ll guess that your place in Paris has little in it that would indicate to a stranger what your job is.”
“I have a few reproductions of classic artworks, but the rest is quite traditional.” She paused. “I get your point. It’s healthy to have some space from your work.”