Loren had just finished putting on her morning face when she heard a knock at the door.

"Who's there?"

"Steward."

She went to the door and opened it. Her cabin steward raised his hand in a casual salute. He peered self-consciously at the cleavage revealed by her loosely knotted dressing gown.

"An emergency call for you from the mainland, Congresswoman Smith," he said in a heavy Slavic accent. "They're holding it for you in the communications room."

She thanked him and hurriedly dressed. A new girl directed her to a booth and the waiting call. Sally's voice came through the earpiece as if she were in the next booth.

"Good morning, boss," she said tiredly.

"Any luck?"

"Moran's wife said he went fishing with Senator Marcus Larimer," Sally snapped out before Loren thought to stop her. "She claimed they went to a place called Goose Lake, a private reserve for the good ole boys a few miles below the Quantico Marine Corps reservation. So I hopped in my car and drove down. After bluffing my way past an outdoorsy type guarding the gate, I checked every cottage, boathouse and dock. No congressman, no senator. Then back to the capital. I called and woke up three of Moran's aides. Don't ever look for favors from his office. They backed up the fishing story. As a double-check, I tried a couple of Larimer's staff too. Same bull. In fact, nobody has seen either of them in over a week. Sorry I failed you, boss, but it looks like a smoke screen to me."

Loren felt a cold chill run through her. The second man she saw manhandled from the helicopter, could he have been Marci.is Larimer?

"Shall I stay on the hunt?" asked Sally.

"Yes, please," Loren answered.

"Do my best," Sally declared. "Oh, I almost forgot. Have you heard the latest news?"

"How could I at ten in the morning on a boat in the middle of the ocean?"

"Concerns your friend Dirk Pitt."

"Something happen to Dirk?" Loren asked anxiously.

"Persons unknown blew up his car. Lucky for him he wasn't inside at the time. Close, though. Walking toward it when he stopped to talk to a friend. According to District police, another couple of minutes and they'd have swept him up with a broom."

Everything caught up and jammed behind Loren's eyes. It was all happening too fast for her to accept. The mad events splashed behind her eyes in a complexity of color, like scraps making up a backwoods bed quilt. The seams were pulling apart in all directions. She grasped the only thread that seemed to hold.

"Sal, listen carefully. Call Dirk and tell him I need-" Suddenly a shrill buzzing sound flooded her eardrum. "Can you hear me, Sal?"

The only reply to Loren's question was the interference. She swung around to complain to the communications girl, but she was gone.