Lee Tong sat beside her watching the vineotape of the Hoki Jamoki anchored over the presidential yacht. "What puzzles me," he said quietly, "is how he discovered the wreck so quickly. It's as though he knew exactly where to search."

Min Koryo set her chin in frail bands and bowed her graying head, eyes locked on the screen, the thin blue veins in her temples PUlsing in concentration. Her face slowly tightened in anger. She looked like an Egyptian mummy whose skin had somehow bleached white and remained smooth.

"Pitt and NUMA." She hissed in exasperation. "What are those wily bastards up to? First the San Marino and Pilottown publicity hoax, and now this."

"It can only be coincinence," Lee Tong suggested. "There is no direct link between the freighters and the yacht."

"Better an informer." Her voice cut like a whip. "We've been sold out."

"Not a valid conclusion, aunumi," said Lee Tong, amused at her sudden outburst. "Only you and I knew the facts. Everyone else IS dead."

"Nothing is ever immune to failure. Only fools think they're perfect."

Lee Tong was in no mood for his grandmother's Oriental philosophy.

"Do not concern yourself unnecessarily," he said acinly.

"A government investigating team would have eventually stumbled onto the yacht anyway. We could not make the President',4 transfer in broad daylight without running the danger of being seen and stopped.

And since the yacht wasn't reported after sunrise, simple mathematics suggested that it was still somewhere on or below the river between Washington and Chesapeake Bay."

"A conclusion Mr. Pitt apparently had no trouble arriving at."

"It changes nothing," said Lee Tong. "Time is still on our side.

Once Lugovoy is satisfied at his results, all that remains for us is to oversee the gold shipment. After that, President Antonov can have the President. But we keep Margolin, Larimer and Moran for insurance and future bargaining power. Trust me, aunumi, the tricky part is past. The Bougainville corporate fortress is secure."

"Maybe so, but the hounds are getting too close."

"We're matching ourselves against highly trained and intelligent people who possess the finest technology in the world. They may come within reach, but they'll never fully grasp our involvement."

Mollified somewhat, Min Koryo sighed and sipped at her ever present teacup. "Have you talked to Lugovoy in the past eight hours?"

"Yes. He claims he's encountered no setbacks and can complete the project in five more days."

"Five days," she said pensively. "I think it is time we made the final arrangements with Antonov for payment. Has our ship arrived?"

"The Venice docked at Odessa two days ago."

"Who is ship's master?"

"Captain James Mangyai, a trusted employee of the company," Lee Tong answered.

Min Koryo nodded approvingly. "And a good seaman. He hired on with me almost twenty years ago."

"He has his orders to cast off and set sail the minute the last crate of gold is loaded aboard."