01 Pacific Vortex by Clive Cussler

Author:Clive Cussler [Cussler, Clive]
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

Pitt stared at the drink in his hand. His face was devoid of expression but his eyes were tired and red. The brilliant tropical sunset threw its final rays of the day through a porthole and sparkled off the ice floating in the Scotch. Pitt rolled the glass over his forehead, mingling the condensation with his perspiration. He had finished giving Boland the whole story. And now, when he should have relaxed, he somehow sensed that the terrible events of the past hour were only the beginning of something even more sinister.

“You’re not to blame yourself for March’s murder,” Boland said earnestly. “If you had become trapped in the escape chamber, and if he’d drowned, then it would have been on your hands. But God only knows there was no way you could have foreseen a pair of killers roaming the Starbuck!”

“Come off it, Paul,” Pitt said wearily. “I forced that boy to enter the sub. If I hadn’t been so eager to prove a point he’d be alive now.”

“Okay. A life has been lost, but the staggering importance of what you found more than offsets a single life. If it cost me every man in this crew to return the Starbuck safely to the security of Pearl Harbor, I wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice them all, and that includes you and me.”

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Paul,” said Pitt.

Boland smiled. “I’m a nice guy because of your influence with admirals. Beyond that, I think you’re a pretty shrewd operator. I believe your insane act of flooding the forward torpedo compartment has a Machiavellian scheme behind it. Got an explanation?”

“Simple,” Pitt said briefly. “I sabotaged the Starbuck to keep her on the bottom for a few days.”

“Go on,” Boland said. There was no smile now.

“To begin with, there were two armed men down there, and Seaman Farris, who was starved and mistreated. The Starbuck was his prison. He couldn’t escape because there was no place to go. Even the guards came on in shifts. From where, I can’t guess, but they didn’t live on the sub.”

“How can you say for sure?”

“The epicurean in me. I checked the galleys in the crew’s mess and the officer’s wardroom. There wasn’t a hint of groceries. The guards had to eat. Even Farris couldn’t last six months without food. Either there’s a McDonald’s in the neighborhood we don’t know about, or those guys go home for lunch. I strongly suspect the latter. Whoever they are and wherever they come from, they’re lurking around down there right now, waiting for an opportune moment to grab the Martha Ann. If we disappear like the rest, the Navy Department can kiss off the Starbuck for good. That’s why I flooded the torpedo compartment. If our mystery pals get wise to the Martha Ann’s real intent, it stands to reason they’d move the Starbuck the hell out of the area before the Navy steamed over the horizon.”

“We could airlift a crew here inside of three hours.”

“Too late.

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