Countries in the Middle East, Asia and South America had sought

his counsel and expertise. Vanderwald had only one rule-he didn't

work for free.

"YOU GOT A piece of that one," Vanderwald said easily.

A light breeze was blowing from the tee box toward the hole. The

temperature was an even eighty degrees. The air was as dry as a bag of

flour and as clear as a pane of glass.

"The breeze helped," Halifax Hickman said as he walked back to the

cart and slid his club into the bag, then walked to the front and climbed

into the driver's seat.

There were no caddies on the course, nor any other golfers. There

was just a team of security men that drifted in and out of the trees and

brush, a couple of ducks in the lake and a skinny, dusty red fox that had

scampered across the fairway earlier. It was strangely quiet, with the air

holding memories of the year nearly passed.

"So," Vanderwald said, "you must really hate these people."

Hickman stepped on the accelerator and the cart lurched forward

down the fairway to their distant balls. "I'm paying you for your knowledge,

not for psychoanalysis."

Vanderwald nodded and stared down at the photograph again. "If

44 CLIVE CUSSLER

that's what you think it is," he said quietly, "you have a gem. The radioactivity

is very high and it is extremely dangerous in solid or powdered

form. You have a variety of options."

Hickman pressed on the brakes as the cart approached Vanderwald's

ball. Once the cart had stopped, the South African climbed from his seat,

walked around to the rear and removed a club from his bag, then approached

his ball and lined up to take a shot. After a pair of practice

swings, he stopped and concentrated, then made a smooth arcing swing

at the ball. The ball blasted from the clubhead, gaining altitude as it

traveled. A little over a hundred yards distant, it dropped to the grass

less than ten yards from the green, just missing the sand trap.

"So a powdered form introduced from the air would do the trick?"

Hickman asked as Vanderwald climbed back into his seat.

"Provided you could get a plane anywhere near the site."

"Do you have a better idea?" Hickman said as he accelerated away

toward his ball.

"Yes," Vanderwald said, "striking at the heart of your enemies. But

it will cost you."

"Do you think," Hickman asked, "that money is a problem?"

SOMETIMES TEMPERATURE IS as much a state of mind as a condition.

See waves of heat rising from the asphalt and chances are that you

will think it is hotter outside than if you see the same road lined with

snow. Juan Cabrillo had no illusions as to what he was seeing. The view

out the window of the turboprop as it made its way across the Denmark

Strait from Iceland to Greenland was one that could chill a man's heart