Austin noticed a picnic table and suggested they sit down. Then he laid out the situation, using the photos and drawings as visual aids. Contos sat silently through the entire explanation, his dark features growing graver with each added detail.

“So there you have it,” Austin said. “When we saw that there might be only one way in, we checked on the nearest submersible to do the job. Unfortunately it happened to be the one you were testing.”

“Why play Blind Man's Bluff?” Contos said, referring to daring covert underwater operations during the cold war. “Why not just go in?”

“First of all, the place has better security than Fort Knox. We checked on land access. The complex is surrounded by razor-wire fence rigged to set off alarms if you so much as breathe on it. The perimeter is heavily patrolled. There is only one access road in and out. It runs through dense forest and is heavily guarded. If we send a SWAT team in with guns blazing it's likely someone would get hurt. Beyond that, what if we're wrong about the whole thing, that the women are not being held there, and what's behind all those fences is perfectly legal?”

“You don't think that's the case, do you?”

“No, I don't.”

Contos gazed out at the sailboats peacefully gliding across the lake, then turned to Paul, who had joined them at the table.

“Do you think your wife is in there?”

“Yep. I have every intention of getting her out.”

Contos noted Trout's arm in its sling. “I'd say you could use an extra hand. And your friends here will need some help launching the SeaBus.”

“I designed it,” Zavala said.

“I'm well aware of that, but you haven't been the one testing it, so you don't know the quirks. For instance, the batteries are supposed to be good for six hours. They barely make it past four. From what you say, this facility is quite a way from here. Have you given any thought to how you're going to get it to the launch point?” Austin and Zavala exchanged an amused glance.

'As a matter of fact, we have already lined up a delivery system,“ Austin said. ”Would you like to see it?"

Contos nodded, and they got up from the table and walked through the parking lot to the dock. The closer they got to the water the more puzzled was the expression on Contos's face. Used to NUMA's state-of-the-art equipment, he was looking for something like a high-tech barge fitted out with cranes. There was nothing like that.

“Where's your delivery system?” he said.

“I think I see it coming in now,” Austin said.

Contos looked out at the lake, and his eyes grew wider as the old-fashioned paddle-wheel tour boat made its way in their direction. The vessel was painted red, white, and blue and deco rated with bunting and fluttering flags.

“You're kidding,” he said. “You're going to launch from that? It looks like a waterborne wedding cake.”