"How many illegals are coining into the Unites States each year?" asked Pitt.

"There is no way to achieve an accurate count," answered Sandecker. "Estimates run as high as two million aliens who poured in last year from China and Central America alone."

Pitt stared out the window at the calm waters of Puget Sound. The rain had passed, and the clouds were becoming scattered. A rainbow slowly formed over the docks. "Has anybody a clue to where it will all end?"

"With a hell of a lot of people," Sandecker said. "The last census put the U.S. population at roughly two hundred and fifty million. With the coming increase in births and immigration, legal and illegal, the population will soar to three hundred and sixty million by the year twenty fifty."

"Another hundred million in the next fifty years," said Giordano dolefully.

"I hope I'm gone by then." Gunn said thoughtfully, "Hard to imagine the changes in store for the country."

"Every great nation or civilization either fell by corruption from within or was altered forever by foreign migration," said Sandecker.

Giordino's face registered indifference. The future was of little concern to him. Unlike Pitt, who found pleasure in the past, Giordino lived only for the present. Gunn, contemplative as ever, stared down at the floor, trying to picture the problems a population increase of fifty percent would bring with it.

Pitt said dryly, "And so the President in his infinite wisdom expects us to plug the dike with our fingers."

"Just how are we supposed to conduct this crusade?" asked Giordino, carefully removing a huge cigar from a cedar wrapper and slowly, very slowly, rolling the end over the flame from a lighter.

Sandecker stared at the cigar, his face reddening as he recognized it as one from his private cache. "When you arrive in Manila at the international airport, you will be met by a man named John Smith—"

"That's original," Giordino muttered. "I've always wanted to meet the guy whose signature I see above mine on motel registers."

To a stranger sitting in on the discussion, it would seem none of the NUMA men had the slightest respect for one another, and that there was a cloud of animosity hanging over them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Pitt and Giordino had nothing but total and unabridged admiration for Sandecker. They were as close to him as to their own fathers. Without the slightest hesitation, they had on more than one occasion risked their own lives to save his. The give-and-take was a game they had played many times over the years. The apathy was a sham. Pitt and Giordino were too wildly independent to accept instructions without a display of rebellion. Nor were they known to jump up and salute before dashing out the door to do their duty with an overabundance of fervor. It was a scene of puppets pulling the strings of puppets with an underlying sense of humor.