Ryan waved him over. "Thanks for coming, Kurt." Ryan turned and gazed up at the statue. TR stood with legs wide apart, fist raised high in the air. "01' Teddy up there got me into this crazy business. He put millions of acres under federal protection, saved endangered birds from the plume hunters and made the Grand Canyon a national park. He wasn't afraid to push the law to its lim- its when he thought he was acting in the public good. Whenever I have doubts about what I'm doing, I think of this guy staring down the fat cats."
Austin couldn't help feeling that Ryan was posing for a photo op. "It's hard to believe you have doubts about anything, Marcus."
"Oh I do, believe me. Especially when I think of the task I've carved out for myself: Protecting the world's oceans and the critters that live in them."
"If I recall my mythology, the sea-god position has been filled for the last few thousand years."
Ryan smirked like a guilty child. "Yeah, I guess I do sound god- like at times. But mythology also tells us that gods commonly appoint themselves to their positions."
"I'll remember that if I ever lose my job at NUMA. Therri said you wanted to talk to me about something important."
"Yes," Ryan said, looking past Austin's shoulder. "There she is now, as a matter of fact."
Therri was walking across the plaza with a young man Austin guessed to be in his early twenties. He had reddish-brown skin, a broad face and high cheekbones.
"Good to see you again, Kurt," Therri said, extending her hand. Her manner was businesslike in front of the other men, but her eyes told Austin she hadn't forgotten the goodnight kiss in Copenhagen; or at least that's what he hoped they said. "This is Ben Nighthawk. Ben is a research assistant in our office."
Ryan suggested that they move off to the side of the memorial. When he was sure they could talk out of the earshot of any wander- ing tourists, he wasted no time. "Ben has uncovered some important information on Oceanus," he said.
With a nod from Ryan, the young Indian began to tell his story.
"I come from a tiny village in northern Canada. It's pretty remote, on a big lake, and usually it's pretty quiet up there. A few months ago, my mother wrote me a letter saying someone had bought a huge tract of land across the lake from the village. Big corporation, she thought. I hope to work against overdevelopment of the Canadian wilds when I get out of college, so I got really interested when she said they were building night and day on the lake. Helicopters and float- planes were coming in at all hours. I asked my mother to keep me up to date, and the last time I heard from her was more than two weeks ago. She was really worried." "About what?" Austin said.
"She didn't say, only that it had something to do with the stuff going on across the lake. So I got worried and went home to take a look-and my family was gone."
"You're saying they disappeared?" Austin said. Nighthawk nodded. "Everyone in the village had vanished." "Canada's a big place, Ben. Where was your village located?" Nighthawk glanced at Ryan. "In good time, Kurt," Ryan said.
"Tell Mr. Austin what happened next, Ben."
"I went looking for my family," Nighthawk continued. "I found them being kept prisoner on the other side of the lake. Guys with guns were forcing the men from my village to work, clearing land around a big building."
"Do you know who they were?"
"I never saw them before. They were dressed in black uniforms." He looked at Ryan for encouragement, then went on. "It's crazy, but when we got there-"
"We?" Ryan said, "Josh Green, my next in command, went along with
Ben. Don't be afraid to tell Mr. Austin everything you saw, no mat- ter how wild it seems."
Nighthawk shrugged. "Okay, then. When we first got there, we didn't see anything but forest, except for where they were clearing. Then this huge building suddenly appeared out of nowhere." He paused, waiting for Austin to reply with disbelieving laughter.
Austin kept his blue-green eyes leveled. "Go on," he said, his face impassive.
"That's it. Instead of trees, we were looking at a giant dome. Josh and I thought it looked like an Eskimo igloo, only hundreds of times bigger. While we were watching, the top of the thing opened like this." He cupped his hands to form an open clamshell. "Turned out it was a hangar for a blimp."
Austin said, "Something like the Goodyear blimp?" Nighthawk screwed up his mouth in thought. "Naw. Bigger and longer. More like a rocket ship. It even had a name on the fin. Niet- zsche. )
"Like the German philosopher?"
"I guess so," Ben said. "We saw the thing land in the hangar, and the roof closed again, and then a bunch of guys came out the front door. My cousin was in a work gang, and he tried to run for it, and one of those bastards killed him." Nighthawk's voice became choked with emotion.
Ryan put his hand on Nighthawk's shoulder. "That's enough for now, Ben."
Austin said, "I'd like to help. But I'm going to need more details."
Ryan said, "We'll be glad to fill you in, but the information comes with a price."
Austin raised an eyebrow. "I'm a little short of change today, Marcus."
"We're not interested in money. We want SOS and NUMA to work together to bring Oceanus down. We share the information. You include us in any mission."
Austin showed his teeth in a wide grin. "You'd be better off call- ing in the marines, Ryan. NUMA is a scientific organization dedi- cated to gathering knowledge. It's not a military organization."
"C'mon, Kurt, you're being disingenuous," Ryan said, with a knowing smile. "We researched your job at NUMA. This Special As- signments Team you run has come up against some pretty hard cases. You didn't stop the bad guys by whacking them over the head with a scientific treatise."
"You flatter me, Marcus. I don't have the power to authorize a joint mission. I'd have to run it by higher-ups."
Ryan took the answer as a qualified yes. "I new you'd come around," he said triumphantly. "Thank you so much."
"Save your thanks. I have no intention of going to the head hon- chos."
"Why not?" "NUMA would be putting its reputation on the line if it worked with a fringe organization like SOS. On the other hand, you'd gain public support for the Sentinels by putting them under NUMA's um- brella of legitimacy. Sorry. It's a one-sided deal."
Ryan brushed back his hair. "We haven't told you everything, Kurt. I have a personal stake in this, as well. It wasn't just Ben's cousin-Josh Green was killed."
"It was my fault," Ben said. "I ran into the open, and he tried to stop me. They shot him."
"You did what anyone would have done in your place," Ryan said.
Josh was a brave man." "You're talking about two murders now," Austin said. "Have you reported them to the police?"
"No. We want to deal with this ourselves. And there's something olse that may persuade you to change your mind. We tracked down Ae new owner of the land around Ben's lake. It was a real estate straw corporation… set up by Oceanus."
"You're sure of that?" "Positive. Are you with us now?"
Austin shook his head. "Before you buckle on your six-shooters and ride off, let me remind you what you're up against. Oceanus has money, and worldwide connections, and as you've seen, they don't hesitate to commit cold-blooded murder. They'd swat you and any- one you brought in from SOS like a fly. I'm sorry about Ben's cousin and your friend getting killed, but it only proves what I've been say- ing. You'll be putting your people in similar danger." He glanced pointedly at Therri.