His thoughts were broken as the car rolled over the driveway in front of the tall green, solar-glassed building that housed NUMA's headquarters. The visitors' parking lot was covered with television transmitter trucks and vans, emitting enough microwaves to launch a new chicken rotisserie franchise.
"I'll run you into the underground parking area," said the driver. "The vultures were expecting your arrival."
"You sure an ax murderer isn't roaming the building?" asked Giordino.
"No, the reception is for you. The news media are starved for details of the cruise ship massacre. The Australians tried to put a tight lid on it, but all hell broke loose after the surviving passengers talked when they reached Chile. They were glowing in their praise of how you guys rescued them and saved the cruise ship from going on the rocks. The fact that two of them were daughters of diamond king Arthur Dorsett naturally excited the expose rags."
"So now they're calling it a massacre." Pitt sighed.
"Lucky for the Indians they can't blame this one on them," said Giordino.
The car stopped in front of a security guard stationed in front of a small alcove that led to a private elevator. They signed an entry form and took the elevator to the tenth floor. When the doors opened they stepped into a vast room that was Hiram Yaeger's electronics fiefdom from which the computer wizard directed NUMA's vast data systems network.
Yaeger looked up from a huge horseshoe-shaped desk in the middle of the room and smiled broadly.
No bib overalls today, but he was wearing a faded Levi's jacket that looked like it had been dragged from Tombstone to Durango by a horse. He jumped to his feet and came from behind the desk, vigorously shaking Pitt's and Giordino's hands. "Good to see you two scoundrels back in the building. It's been as dull as an abandoned amusement park since you skipped to the Antarctic."
"Always good to be back on a floor that doesn't rock and roll," said Pitt.
Yaeger grinned at Giordino. "You look nastier than when you left."
"That's because my feet still feel cold as ice," Giordino replied in his usual burlesque tone.
Pitt glanced about the room crowded with electronic data systems and a crew of technicians. "Are the admiral and Rudi Gunn on hand?"
"Waiting for you in the private conference room," answered Yaeger. "We assumed you and A1 would go there first."
"I wanted to catch you before we all sat down."
"What's on your mind?"
"I'd like to study your data on sea serpents."
Yaeger raised his eyebrows. "You did say sea serpents?"
Pitt nodded. "They intrigue me. I can't tell you why."
"It may surprise you to learn I have a mountain of material on sea serpents and lake monsters."
"Forget the legendary creatures swimming around in Loch Ness and Lake Champlain," said Pitt. "I'm only interested in the seagoing variety."
Yaeger shrugged. "Since most of the sightings are on inland waters, that cuts the search by eighty percent. I'll have a fat file on your desk tomorrow morning."
"Thank you, Hiram. I'm grateful as always."
Giordino peered at his watch. "We'd better move along before the admiral hangs us from the nearest yardarm."
Yaeger gestured to a nearby door. "We can take the stairway."
When Pitt and the others entered the conference room, Sandecker and Gunn were studying the region where the latest case of unexplained death was projected on the holographic chart. The admiral and Gunn stepped forward to greet them. For a few minutes they all stood in a tight little huddle and deliberated the turn of events. Gunn anxiously probed Pitt and Giordino for details, but they were both extremely tired, and they condensed the wild series of incidents into brief descriptions.
Sandecker knew better than to crowd them. Full reports could be written at a later time. He motioned to the empty chairs. "Why don't you sit down, and we'll get to work."
Gunn pointed toward one of the blue globes that seemed to float over one end of the table. "The latest kill zone," he said. "An Indonesian freighter called Mentawai, with a crew of eighteen."
Pitt turned to the admiral. "The vessel that exploded after another ship's crew had boarded her?"
"The same," said Sandecker, nodding. "As I told you aboard Ice Hunter, actor Garret Converse, his crew and his fancy junk were reported sailing in the same area by an oil tanker that went unscathed. The junk and everyone on board appear to have vanished."
"Nothing on satellite?" inquired Giordino.
"Too much cloud cover, and the infrared cameras won't pick out a vessel as small as a junk."
"There is something else to consider," said Gunn. "The captain of the American container ship that found Mentawai reported a luxury yacht speeding from the site. He can't swear to it in court, but he's certain the yacht closed with Mentawai before he arrived, after responding to the freighter's distress call.