“Until the knees gave out,” Chapman grinned. “Then it was back to school for my doctorate in environmental chemistry.”

Pitt and Gunn shook hands with Chapman. Giordino merely waved wearily from his chair. Sandecker picked up a phone and ordered breakfast from the galley.

“Might as well get comfortable,” he said briskly. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover before dawn.”

“You do have a rotten job for us,” Pitt said slowly.

“Of course it’s a rotten job,” Sandecker said matter-of-factly. He nodded at Dr. Chapman, who pressed a button on the screen’s remote control. A colored map showing the meandering course of a river appeared on the screen. “The Niger River. Third longest in Africa behind the Nile and Congo. Oddly, it begins in the nation of Guinea, only 300 kilometers from the sea. But it flows northeast and then south for 4200 kilometers before emptying into the Atlantic at its delta on the coast of Nigeria. And somewhere along its course … somewhere a highly toxic poison is entering the current and being swept into the ocean. There, it’s creating a catastrophic upheaval that is … well, incalculable in terms of a potential doomsday.”

<<11>>

Pitt stared at Sandecker, not sure if he heard right. “Doomsday, Admiral? Did I understand you correctly?”

“I am not talking off the top of my head,” Sandecker replied. “The sea off West Africa is dying, and the plague is spreading because of an unknown contaminant. The situation is rapidly developing into a chain reaction with the potential of destroying every single species of marine life.”

“That could lead to a permanent change in the earth’s climate,” said Gunn.

“The least of our worries,” Sandecker remarked. “The end result is extinction for all life forms on land, and that includes us.”

Gunn murmured accusingly. “Aren’t you overstating, your case—”

“Overstating my case,” Sandecker interrupted acidly. “The very words the cretin in Congress handed me when I began sounding the warning, when I pleaded for backing to isolate and solve the problem. They’re more concerned with maintaining their precious power base and promising the moon to get reelected. I’m sick to death of their endless, stupid committee hearings. Sick to death of their lack of guts in standing for unpopular issues, and spending the nation into bankruptcy. The two-party system has become a stagnant swamp of fraud and criminal promises. As with communism, the great experiment in democracy is withering from corruption. Who cares a damn if the oceans die? Well, by God, I do. And I’m going to the wall to save them.”

Sandecker’s eyes blazed in bitterness, his lips stretched tight by vehemence. Pitt was stunned by the depth of emotion. It was strangely out of character.

“Hazardous waste is dumped in nearly every river of the world,” Pitt said quietly, bringing the discussion back on track. “What’s so special about the Niger’s pollution?”