That was when Herbert phoned. Hood immediately took the call. He could not conference Rodgers in because the general’s phone was not secure. He did, however, plug the call through to Lowell Coffey. The attorney was on the bridge of the Australian corvette.

“Okay, Bob,” Hood said. “What have you got for us?”

“I talked briefly with Colonel Hwan,” Herbert said.

“I got your transcript and put some people on it. Nice work.”

“Thanks. I’ve been doing some checking myself. If you read the transcript you know that he gave me a man’s surname: Hawke, I believe with an e. And someone else’s first name, Marcus. I didn’t find any link between them. But then he mentioned the boss of the project. Hwan said that what he’d really like is one of the big man’s sisters. Now, the colonel’s not married, but I don’t think that’s what he was talking about. I found out there is an island group east of New Zealand. It’s called the Chatham Islands. North of the Chathams is an island group called the Sisters.”

“I’ve heard of those,” Coffey said. “There was some issue about native rights and fern-tree preservation on the main island. Let me ask Jelbart what he knows about them.”

Herbert chuckled when Coffey left. “And here I thought the law was boring,” he said. “I didn’t realize that the mind-swelling topic of fern trees was part of the mix.”

“A battle is a battle is a battle, whatever the prize,” Hood said.

“I guess.”

“Is that all you were able to get from the colonel?” Hood asked.

“That’s it,” Herbert said. “I pushed, but I get the feeling he gives these guys as little of his time and effort as possible.”

“Which suggests what?” Hood asked.

“That he’s doing it for the money, not for the cause, whatever that is,” Herbert said.

“Colonel Hwan is on the payroll, but his government is not part of the project,” Hood said.

“You got it.”

Coffey came back on the line. “Gentlemen, either we’re way off target, or we’ve got one hell of a bombshell,” the attorney said.

“I’m not sure which is better,” Herbert said.

“Jelbart says that none other than Mr. Jervis Darling owns several of the smaller islands in the Sisters chain,” Coffey said.

“The media big shot?” Herbert asked.

“That’s the one,” Coffey replied. “Jelbart is putting in a call to Darwin to check something else.”

“Forget it,” Herbert said. “I beat him to it.”

“I’m lost,” Hood said.

“I just went on-line and did a word search,” Herbert said. “Darling has a nephew named Marcus.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Hood said. “Why would a man with Darling’s billions and all his media holdings be involved with something like this?”

“Boredom?” Herbert suggested.

“I don’t believe that,” Hood replied.