Austin glanced at his watch as he paced back and forth, wondering how long it would take Yaeger to do his job. The minutes ticked by. He feared that they would have to leave before the job was done. But after ten minutes, a big yellow smiley face wearing granny glasses that looked suspiciously like Yaeger's appeared. “Hack job done. Hiram and Max.”

They quickly disconnected the makeshift modem and replaced the parts. Austin stuck his head out the door to see if the way was clear. The corridor was deserted. Moving with haste they made their way back to the ship diagram and selected a shorter route to the moon pool. So far their luck had held out and they'd seen no one. Austin was puzzled at the lack of personnel, but wasn't about to argue with good fortune. They were hurrying along a passageway, when they passed a door and heard voices speaking in English. The accents were unmistakably American. Austin tried the door and found it locked. Again, he resorted to his lock picks.

The door opened onto a cabin with two bunks. Lounging on the bunks, with bored expressions on their faces, were Captain Logan and the pilot from the NR-1. Their conversation stopped in midsentence, and they stared at the newcomers with unbridled hostility, assuming they were guards who had come to make their life miserable.

Logan turned to the pilot and said, “Where are they getting these guys?”

“The tall one looks like he should be scaring crows in a field,” the pilot said.

“That suit on the shorter guy sure didn't come from Armani,” Logan said, with a chuckle.

“Armani was closed, Captain Logan. We had to borrow our wardrobe from the ship's crew.”

Unknown

Suspicion clouded Logan's eyes. “Who the hell are you?”

“That gentleman imitating a scarecrow is my colleague, Paul Trout. My name is Kurt Austin, but you can call me 'Shorty.' ”

The captain sprang from his bunk. “Dammit, you're Americans!”

“Told you our disguises wouldn't hold up,” Austin said to Trout. He turned back to Logan. “Guilty as charged, Captain. Paul and I are with the NUMA Special Assignments Team.”

The captain looked toward the door. “We didn't hear any fighting. Have your guys taken over the ship?”

Austin and Trout exchanged amused glances. “Sorry to disappoint you. Delta Force was busy, so we came alone,” Austin said.

“I don't understand. How - ”

Austin cut him off. “We'll explain after we get you off this ship.”

He motioned to Trout, who opened the door slightly to see if it was safe to exit. Again the hallway was clear. With a Trout leading the way and Austin taking up the rear, they moved along a corridor toward the stairway as if they were escorting the submariners.