With practically no overhead, she cut-rate her freight costs and built a thriving business. About twenty-five years ago, when her grandson joined the company, things really took off. A slippery customer, that one. Keeps in the background. Except for school records, his data file is almost blank. Min Koryo Bougainviue built the foundation for maritime crime that spanned thirty nations. When her grandson-Lee Tong is his name-came along, he honed and smoothed the piracy and fraud part of the organization to a fine art. I had the whole mess printed out. There's a hard copy on your desk."

Pitt turned and for the first time noticed a five-inch-thick sheaf of computer printout paper on his desk. He sat down and briefly scanned the notched pages. The incredible reach of the Bougainvilles was mind-boggling. The only criminal activity they appeared to shy away from was prostitution. nodded. "A super job, After several minutes he looked up and Hiram," he said sincerely. "Thank you."

Yeager nodded toward the printouts. "I wouldn't let that out of my sight if I were you."

"Any chance of us getting caught?"

"A foregone conclusion. Our illegal taps have been recorded on the bank's computer log and printed out on a daily form. If a smart supervisor scans the list, he'll wonder why an American oceanographic agency is snooping in his biggest depositor's records. His next step would be to rig the computer's communications line with a tracing device."

"The bank would most certainly notify old Min Koryo," said Pitt thoughtfully. Then he looked up. "Once they identify NUMA as the tap, can Bougainville's own computer network probe our system to see what we've gleaned from their data banks?"

"Our network is as vulnerable as any other. They won't learn much, though. Not since I removed the magnetic storage disks."

"When do you think they'll smoke us out?"

"I'd be surprised if they haven't pegged us already."

"Can you stay one jump ahead of them?"

Yaeger gave Pitt an inquiring stare. "What sneaky plan are you about to uncork?"

"Go back to your keyboard and screw them up but good. Reenter the network and alter the data, foul up the Bougainville dayto-day operations, erase legitimate bank records, insert absurd instructions into their programs. Let them feel the heat from somebody else for a change."

"But well lose vital evidence for a federal investigation."

"So what?" Pitt declared. "It was obtained illegally. It can't be used anyway."

"Now wait a minute. We can be stepping into big trouble."

"Worse than that, we might get killed," Pitt said with a faint smile.

An expression blossomed on Yaeger's face, one that wasn't there before. It was sudden misgiving. The game had ceased to be fun and was taking on darker dimensions. It had never dawned on him that the search could turn ugly and he might be murdered.

Pitt read the apprehension in Yaeger's eyes. "You can quit now and take a vacation," he said. "I wouldn't blame you."