“There is something else,” Loh said. “I don’t believe that the explosion of a diesel engine caused this wreckage.”

“How can you tell?” Ellsworth asked.

“The engine would have been located in the rear,” she said. “The curve of these planks suggests they came from the front section. Something would have had to explode close to the planks to do this kind of damage. Also, the foxing along the sides of the wood is unusual. Petrol explosions produce sharp, splintering cracks. This wood was pulverized.”

“Suggesting what?” Jelbart asked.

“That a powerful explosive device was on board,” Loh said. “There have been reports over the last few years about a band of pirates who place explosives on the hulls of ships. The pirates threaten to destroy the vessels unless they turn over their cargo.”

“Do we know anything about these pirates?” Jelbart asked.

“No,” Loh replied. “They always attacked in the dark and stayed out of range when making their demands. Any hostages they took were hooded or killed. It is conceivable they could have used a sampan for these attacks.”

“How did they collect their plunder?” Jelbart asked.

“The cash and jewelry were put in a dinghy or sometimes a bag, which one of the pirates would swim over to collect,” Loh replied.

“That would not have been a convenient way to move nuclear materials around,” Dr. Forvey noted. Carefully, she lay the heavy apron back across the battered pieces of wood.

“That assumes this was the same group of pirates,” Coffey said.

“The only way we’re going to find that out is by talking to the survivor,” Loh said. “I would like to do that as soon as possible.”

“He’s unconscious,” Ellsworth told her.

“Then we’ll have to wake him,” Loh replied.

“Officer Loh, that’s something we will have to discuss with his doctors,” Ellsworth said.

Loh glared at him. “You can discuss it with his doctors,” she suggested firmly. “I am here to find out why a sampan and one of its operators were exposed to radiation.”

“We can try to do both,” Coffey suggested diplomatically.

Loh turned and walked toward the door. There was nothing to hunt down here.

The lioness was moving on.

TWELVE - The Celebes Sea Thursday, 1:08 P.M.

TWELVE

The Celebes Sea Thursday, 1:08 P.M.

The yacht was about to cross south into the Molucca Sea when Captain Kannaday summoned John Hawke to his cabin. Fifteen minutes later, the security chief knocked and entered.

Kannaday was seated at a small rolltop desk against the port-side wall. It was an eighteenth-century piece. There were laminated charts marked with grease pencil and a laptop with nautical data. When Kannaday sat here, it made him feel like the captain of an old-time frigate or whaling ship. How many of those men also dealt in contraband? he often wondered. Back then it would have been slaves and arms and opium.