“That’s clear across the continent!” Coffey declared. “Why does he need to see me?”

“We have a situation, sir,” the officer replied. “One that he needs to discuss with you face-to-face.”

“What kind of situation?” Coffey asked.

“A hot one, sir,” the caller replied gravely.

The way the MIC officer emphasized hot led Coffey to believe that he was not referring to the temperature or an imminent event. That left just one interpretation.

“There are some people I should talk to before I agree to anything,” Coffey said, glancing at Penny.

“We are a little squeezed for time,” Murphy said. “You are the first and hopefully only call I’m making about this.”

“If I decide to come, when can you arrange for transportation?”

“A P-3C patrol craft has been dispatched to Sydney Airport, Mr. Coffey,” the caller replied. “It will arrive within the hour. As I said, sir, the warrant officer would like to talk to you in person.”

Penny and Coffey exchanged looks. She tapped the Mute button.

“That doesn’t sound like an invitation,” she said.

“No,” Coffey agreed. It sounded like an order.

“What do you want to do?” she asked.

“That doesn’t seem to matter, does it?” he asked.

“Why not?” she asked. “You’re a civilian and an American. You can tell the junior seaman, ‘No thanks,’ and hang up.”

“Then I wouldn’t find out why Ellsworth recommended they call,” Coffey said. “I have a feeling the MIC is interested in talking to Op-Center, not just to Lowell Coffey.”

“What makes you say that?” Penny asked.

“I’d rather not say until I’m sure,” Coffey replied. It was not that he did not trust Penny. But he was an attorney. A cautious one. He did not like to say anything he did not believe or know to be true.

Coffey disengaged the Mute button.

“Where will the plane be waiting?” Coffey asked.

“If you go to the domestic cargo terminal, someone will meet you,” the caller said.

“All right,” Coffey said. “I’ll be there.”

“Thank you, sir,” the junior seaman said. “I’ll inform the warrant officer.”

And Coffey would inform Hood.

He apologized to Penny. She said that she understood completely. He said that he hoped he would be back soon.

In his heart, though, he sensed that would not be the case. Especially if “hot” meant what he thought it did.

FIVE - Darwin, Australia Thursday, 8:42 A.M.

FIVE

Darwin, Australia Thursday, 8:42 A.M.

Fifty-two-year-old Warrant Officer George Wellington Jelbart had seen and experienced many extraordinary things in his thirty-two years of service in the Royal Australian Navy.