“It’s settled, then,” he said. “We’ll give the freighter a couple of hours’ head start, then shove off ourselves. Make it look like we are headed back to Alaska. Once safely offshore, we’ll circle back and catch the freighter well before Bathurst.”

“Won’t be a problem,” Stenseth said. “We’ve got at least eight or ten knots on her.”

“One more thing,” Pitt said. “Until the politicians resolve the Polar Dawn situation, we are on our own. And there’s a reasonable chance we could end up with the same fate. I want only a skeleton crew of volunteers aboard. Every scientist and nonessential crew member is to disembark here as quietly as possible. Do what you can to book them rooms and flights out of here. If anyone asks, tell them they are oil company employees who have been reassigned.”

“It will be taken care of,” Stenseth promised.

Pitt set down his coffee and stared across the table with sudden unease. A painting hung on the opposite bulkhead, depicting a nineteenth-century sailing ship caught in a harrowing gale, its sails shredded and masts falling. A jagged cluster of rocks rose in its path, ready to bash the ship to bits.

Stormy weather indeed, he thought.

Chapter 51

51

THICK PLUME OF BLACK SMOKE SIFTED OUT THE A funnel of the freighter as its lines were cast and the blue-hulled ship churned slowly away from the dock. Standing on the Narwhal’s bridge, Bill Stenseth watched as the Korean ship steamed out of Tuktoyaktuk’s small harbor and entered the Beaufort Sea. Picking up a shipboard phone, Stenseth dialed the number to a cabin belowdecks.

“Pitt here,” came the response after a single ring.

“The Korean freighter is on her way.”

“What’s our crew status?”

“All nonessential personnel are off the ship. I think we filled up every hotel in town. Of course, there are only two hotels in town. Flights to Whitehorse have been arranged for everyone. They’ll have an easy time getting to Alaska from there, or even Vancouver. We’re left with a total of fourteen men aboard.”

“That’s a slim contingent. When can we leave?”

“I was preparing to cast off in another two hours so as not to raise suspicion.”

“ Then I guess we just need to notify our hosts that we are headed home,” Pitt said.

“My next order of business,” Stenseth reported.

The captain hung up, then collected Giordino for good measure and walked down to the Canadian Coast Guard station. The Canadian commander seemed less interested in Stenseth’s imminent departure than the loss of Giordino’s charity at the local seamen’s bar. With little to fear from the research ship, the Coast Guard commander said farewell, neglecting to provide an escort out of Canadian waters.

“With that kind of international goodwill, perhaps there’s a future for you in the diplomatic corps,” Stenseth joked to Giordino.

“My liver would lodge a protest,” Giordino replied.