Shockwave (D.13) by Clive Cussler

Author:Clive Cussler [Cussler, Clive]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Published: 1996-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

<<27>>

Maeve stared warily into the blackness as Pitt drove along a darkened dirt road on the edge of Washington's International Airport. He approached what looked like an ancient, deserted aircraft hangar. There was no other building nearby. Her uneasiness swelled and she instinctively crouched down in the seat as Pitt pulled the Allard to a stop under dim, yellowed lights on a tall pole.

"Where are you taking me?" she demanded.

He looked down at her as if bemused. "Why, my place, of course."

Her face took on an expression of womanly distaste. "You live in this old shed?"

"What you see is a historic building, built in 1936 as a maintenance hangar for an early airline long since demised."

He pulled a small remote transmitter from his coat pocket and punched in a code. A second later a door lifted, revealing what seemed to Maeve a yawning cavern, pitch-black and full of evil. For effect, Pitt turned off the headlights, drove into the darkness, sent a signal to close the door and then sat there.

"Well, what do you think?" he teased in the darkness.

"I'm ready to scream for help," Maeve said with growing confusion.

"Sorry." Pitt punched in another code and the interior of the hangar burst into bright light from rows of fluorescent lamps strategically set around the hangar's arched ceiling.

Maeve's jaw dropped in awe as she found herself looking at priceless examples of mechanical art. She could not believe the glittering collection of classic automobiles, the aircraft and early American railroad car. She recognized a pair of Rolls-Royces and a big convertible Daimler, but she was unfamiliar with the American Packards, Pierce Arrows, Stutzes, Cords and the other European cars on display, including a Hispano-Suiza, Bugatti, Isotta Fraschini, Talbot Lago and a Delahaye. The two aircraft that hung from the ceiling were an old Ford Tri-motor and a Messerschmitt 262 World War II fighter aircraft. The array was breathtaking. The only exhibit that seemed out of place was a rectangular pedestal supporting an outboard motor attached to an antique cast-iron bathtub.

"Is this all yours?" she gasped.

"It was either this or a wife and kids," he joked.

She turned and tilted her head coquettishly. "You're not too old to marry and have children. You just haven't found the right woman."

"I suppose that's true."

"Unlucky in love'?"

"The Pitt curse."

She gestured to a dark blue Pierce Arrow travel trailer. "Is that where you live?"

He laughed and pointed up. "My apartment is up those circular iron stairs, or if you're lazy, you can take the freight elevator."

"I can use the exercise," she said softly.

He showed her up the ornate wrought-iron spiral staircase. The door opened into a living room-study filled with shelves stacked with books about the sea and glass encased models of ships Pitt had discovered and surveyed while working for NUMA. A door on one side of the room led into a large bedroom decorated like the captain's cabin of an old sailing ship complete with a huge wheel as a backboard for the bed. The opposite end of the living room opened into a kitchen and dining area.

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