He lay dead and floated in the water for nearly an hour. Finally, a small swell slapped at his face and he unwittingly inhaled a few drops of salt water. He snorted, dispelling the discomfort, and again became aware of his bodily sensations. Without watching his progress, he effortlessly backstroked toward the shore. When his hands arched and touched the dense sand, he stopped swimming and drifted onto the beach like a piece of flotsam. Then he dragged himself forward until he was only half out of the water, letting it swirl around his legs and buttocks. The warm Aegean surf rose out of the dim light and flooded up the beach, caressing his skin, and he dozed off.

* * *

The stars were beginning to blink out one by one with the pale light of the approaching dawn when an inner alarm sounded in Pitt's brain, and he suddenly became alert to a presence. Instantly he was awake, but he made no movement, other than peering through half open eyes. He barely could make out a shadowy form standing over him. Focusing and straining his eyes in the faint light, he tried to distinguish a detailed shape. Slowly, an outline materialized. It was a woman.

"Good morning," he said and sat up.

"Oh my God," the woman gasped. She threw a hand to her mouth as if to scream.

It was still too dark to see the wild look in her eyes, but Pitt knew it was there. "I'm sorry," he said gently. "I didn't mean to startle you."

The hand slowly dropped. She just stood there looking down at him. Finally she found her voice. "I…I thought you were dead." She stammered the words softly.

"I can hardly blame you. I suppose if I stumbled on someone sleeping in the tide at this time of morning, I would think the same thing."

"You gave me quite a frightful shock, you know, sitting up and talking like that."

"Again, my sincere apologies." It suddenly occurred to Pitt that the woman was speaking English. Her accent was decidedly British, but it had a trace of German. He rose to his feet. "Please allow me to introduce myself; my name is Dirk Pitt."

"I'm Teri," she said, "and I can't tell you how happy I am to see you alive and healthy, Mister Pitt." She didn't offer her last name, and Pitt didn't press for it.

"Believe me, Teri, the pleasure is all mine." He pointed to the sand. "Won't you join me and help raise the sun?"

She laughed. "Thank you, I'd like that. But then again, I can hardly see you. For all I know you might be a monster or something." There was a note of whimsy in her tone. "Can I trust you?"