Mason swept his eyes around. He was glad to see that the ordnance expert, Joe Baron, had made it safely. Mason could handle explosives in a pinch, but Baron was a pro. The lieutenant pulled a light stick from his vest and snapped it back and forth so that the chemicals inside mixed and glowed a cold blue. He waved the light stick to let the port team know all was well. His signal was returned a second later. Radio talk would be kept to a minimum as they swept the ship from one end to the other.

Mason got on his cell phone. “Omega Three. Stern LZ secured. No assets encountered. Report in, Omega Two.”

“Omega Two. Stern secured. No one home, so we will roam.”

“This is Omega One. Proceed according to plan and cut out the lousy poetry.”

“Roger,” Louis answered, although it must have killed him not to say “Dodger.”

“Omega Three. All A-OK.”

Mason ordered the teams forward. They broke into two squads on both sides. One squad formed the base element, taking up firing positions to protect the other group as it raced forward. Then the assault team became the fire team and the other squad leapfrogged ahead in a maneuver that quickly covered ground.

Within minutes, they had rendezvoused in the bow of the ship with the port team. Mason ordered his 2IC to probe the bridge and superstructure while he took his squad to the decks below. Using the same leapfrog technique, Mason and his men made rapid progress through the storage areas and holds. They stopped in front of one door that was welded shut. Since they couldn't get in, no one could get out, so they moved on. They burst into the boiler room with guns ready. The engines were going, but there was no sign of boiler men or engineers.

A voice crackled in Mason's earpiece. “Up Squad. Gone through the crew and officers' quarters. Beds all made. No one here. Spooky as hell.”

“Boiler room. Engines are purring away. No one here either.”

The squads continued into the ship, and still they encountered no one. After a thorough search, they climbed back to the main deck.

The voice of the 2IC came onto Mason's radio. “Lieu- tenant, I think you should get up to the bridge as quickly as possible.”

Moving quickly, Mason led his team to the wheelhouse. On the way, they passed men who were stationed on the decks and wings of the bridge keeping watch.

“Anything?” Mason said to the man who carried the shotgun.

“No, sir.”

Mason made his way into the wheelhouse. The 2IC and several of his team were waiting for him. Nothing seemed out of place. “What did you want to show me?”

“This is it, sir. Nothing. There's nobody here.”