It was hanging half off from the effects of the dunk in the harbor. Austin ripped the nose off and tossed it over the side.

“Long story,” Austin said, with a shake of his head. “How's my friend?”

“Looks like the bleeding has stopped. We'll give him first aid when we get back on board.”

Music from Razov's yacht drifted across the water. Austin hoped Kaela and Lombardo were all right. He saw no sign of the chase boats and their gun-happy crews, but instinct and experience told him they hadn't gone far.

“Did anyone see the powerboats that were following us?”

“Just a glimpse. They were right on your tail, but when you got into trouble, they disappeared. We couldn't figure out why they didn't stop to help. Don't know where they went. We were busy launching the captain's gig and didn't pay much attention.”

“Lucky you were here. It would have been a long swim back to land.”

“I'll say. Normally we wouldn't be out here this late. The Constitution does one turnaround cruise a year, on the Fourth of July. We were taking the ship out on a midnight cruise. Got the master gun team, so we can fire a twenty-one-gun salute. The governor and the mayor got the okay from the Navy Department for us to do a nighttime sail-by. What happened? We saw you zipping it along, but then your boat seemed to vanish from under you.”

Austin saw no point in beating around the bush. “We were leaving the party yacht. Those boats you saw shot us out of the water and killed our helmsman.”

He stared at Austin as if he suspected his sanity. “We didn't hear any gunfire.”

“They had silencers on their guns."

“Come to think of it, we saw flashes of light that could have come from guns. We thought they were camera strobe lights. Who were those guys? Whoops,” he said, not waiting for an answer. “Going to have to excuse me for a minute.”

Slade steered them around behind the Constitution under the white eagle and ship's name emblazoned on the stem. He maneuvered the boat under the davits that projected overhead like extended wooden arms. The rowers lifted the oars out of their locks and stood them in a vertical position, then attached the lines hanging down from the davits and winched themselves up to deck level.

With help from the deck crew, Petrov was extricated from the boat. The Russian had revived and was able to walk with the help of a sailor on either side. Someone made a mattress of life jackets so he wouldn't have to lie on the hard wooden deck. Another crewman gave Austin a coat to replace his dripping jacket.