Herbert was calling from his cell phone in the Humvee. FNO Loh and Paul Leyland had found the koala. They met Herbert in front of the mansion where they helped him down the stairs. The group left the grounds after conferring with Jelbart by phone. Herbert agreed with the warrant officer’s assessment. Jelbart felt that Darling’s armed guards would be unusually aggressive after what happened. They unanimously decided that the best thing to do was return to the observation base and regroup. Herbert and Loh were sitting in the back. Leyland was driving. Little Maluka was asleep in the passenger’s seat.

“Bob, right now it doesn’t matter how we got here,” Hood said. “Let’s look at where we are and what we’re up against.”

“All right,” Herbert said and took a breath. That seemed to calm him somewhat. “We’re facing a world-class thug who knows he’s been found out. He also knows that at least one of his partners has been identified. And he knows that we have someone who may be able to ID the boat they used to carry the stolen nuclear material. He cannot be happy with any of that information.”

“Agreed. So what does he do?”

“First, he has to make his own involvement deniable,” Herbert said. “His phone records and financial transactions are probably clean. I’m betting it’s the same with bin Dahman and whoever else is involved. Darling has to assume the pirate is heavily guarded and that we already took from him whatever information we want. So he probably won’t bother going after him. The only place our boy’s immediately vulnerable is the boat.”

“We haven’t been able to find the other vessel involved in this transaction,” Hood said. “What chance do we have of finding this one? It may already have been hidden.”

“That’s very possible,” Herbert agreed. “But I want to find it. I really want to find it.”

“You want to get Jervis Darling,” Hood pointed out. “That isn’t the same thing.”

“It will be if we find the boat,” Herbert said. “Damn, I wish that pirate had seen something. At least we’d know what we were looking for.”

“You could have him hypnotized,” Hood suggested, half in desperate jest. “Maybe he’ll remember more.”

“That’s good for quitting smoking, not interrogation,” Herbert said.

“There is one thing,” Loh said.

“What’s that?” Herbert asked. “Paul, can you hear FNO Loh?”

“Barely,” Hood said.

Herbert held the cell phone between them. He asked the Singaporean to speak up.

“The pirates would not have attacked a much larger vessel,” Loh said loudly. “It’s night now. Small vessels tend to go to anchor.”

“How does that help us?” Herbert said. “There are probably a lot of small boats on the open sea.”