The opposite lid slowly raised like a window shade, revealing the matching eye. "Just to set the record straight," Giordino said wearily. "These tired old eyes were glued to the night glasses from the time you got into your packing crate to the time you came ashore and started playing in the sand."

"My apologies old friend." Pitt laughed. "I suppose that doubting your unflagging vigilance will cost me another drink?"

"Two drinks," Giordino murmured slyly.

"Consider it done."

Giordino sat up, blinking in the sun. He noticed the ants and casually brushed them off his arm. "How'd your swim go?"

"Robert Southey must have had the Queen Artemisia in mind when he wrote 'No stir in the air, no stir in the sea, the ship was still as she could be.' You might say that I found something by finding nothing."

"I don't get it."

"I'll explain later." Pitt lifted the diving gear and loaded it in the truck bed. "Any word from Zac?"

"Not yet." Giordino trained the binoculars on von Till's villa. "He and Zeno took a platoon of the local gendarmerie and staked out von Till's baronial estate. Darius stayed on the radio at the warehouse, traversing wave lengths in case there was any transmission between the shore and ship."

"Sounds like a thorough effort, but unfortunately a waste of time." Pitt toweled his black hair, then ran a comb through it. "Where can a man find a drink and a cigarette around here?"

Giordino nodded toward the truck cab. "I can't help you on the drink, but there's a pack of Greek cancer sticks on the front seat."

Pitt leaned in the truck cab and removed an oval-shaped cigarette from a black and gold box of Hellas Specials. He'd never tried one before and was surprised at the mildness. After his ordeal of the past two hours, rolled seaweed would have tasted good.

"Someone kick you in the shins?" Giordino asked matter-of-factly.

Pitt exhaled a cloud of smoke and peered down at his leg. There was a deep red gash below the right knee and blood was oozing slowly along its entire length. For two inches in every direction the skin was a colorful combination of green, blue and purple.

"I had a bit of bad luck, a run-in with a bulkhead door."

"I'd better fix that for you." Giordino turned and pulled an Air Force–issue first aid kit from the glove compartment. "A minor operation like this is mere child's play for Doctor Giordino, the world renowned brain surgeon. I don't mean to brag, but I'm rather good at heart transplants too."

Pitt tried to suppress a laugh, but failed. "Just make sure you put the gauze on before, not after the tape."

Giordino feigned a pained expression. "Such a terrible thing to say." The sly look returned. "You'll change your tune when you get my bill."