The guard had regained consciousness, and Gamay had to threaten him with his gun to quiet him down, but other than that there had been no incident.

“What did you find?” she said.

“Nothing. And that's what's so interesting. My guess is that the other ships are stripped down too.”

They dragged the guard from the car and left him in the shadows. He had started struggling against his makeshift bindings. With a little more effort, he would be able to free himself. About a hundred feet from the guardhouse, they tossed his guns into the harbor.

There was little chance that he would raise the alarm once he got free. His employers would not be pleased if they learned he had fallen down on the job. He would have enough trouble explaining what happened to his weapons.

On the drive back to the hotel, Trout described his search of the ship and the surprising results.

“But why? And what did they do with all that stuff?”

Trout shook his head, picked up his cell phone and punched out a number from the directory.

“We'll let Kurt figure that one out.”

NUMA 6 - Polar Shift

40

AUSTIN REACHED INTO HIS desk drawer, extracted a dart from a board game and had his hand poised to throw it at the chart of the Atlantic Ocean pinned to the wall when the telephone rang. He picked up the receiver. It was Paul Trout calling from Rio.

“Hope I'm not interrupting anything important,” Trout said.

“Not at all. I was bringing my scientific training to bear on a knotty puzzle. How's the girl from Ipanema?” Austin said.

“Gamay is fine. But there's something strange going on with the transmitter ships. I snuck on board one a few minutes ago. It's been stripped of its turbines and the electromagnetic antenna. I suspect someone has done a similar housecleaning with the other ships.”

“Empty?” Austin raced through the possibilities in his mind. “They must have done the housecleaning when the ships were in the Mississippi boatyard.”

“We should have figured that something funny was going on. The ships are just sitting there, tied up to the dock. No preparations. Nothing to indicate that they're going to sea anytime soon. Only one ship has left the dock since we've been here, and that was an ocean liner.”

Austin was deep in thought and only half listening to Trout. “What's that you said about a liner?”

“The Polar Adventure. It was tied up next to the transmitter ships, but it left earlier today. Is it important?”

“Maybe. Joe says a liner left the shipyard in Mississippi about the same time as the transmitters.”

“Wow! Think this is the same vessel we saw?”

“It's possible,” Austin said. “They move the transmitters into the liner. Then, while we're watching the decoys, the liner sneaks away with the payload in broad daylight.”

“So much for the navy's plans to tail the ships with a submarine.”