Therri's face darkened with anger, and she spun on her heel and strode off along the path. Austin watched her until she disappeared around a curve. He shook his head. The sacrifices I make for NUMA, he thought. He started off toward the parking lot, only to stop short a minute later when a figure popped out of the woods. It was Ben Nighthawk.

“I made an excuse to get away,” Nighthawk said breathlessly. “I told Marcus I had to use the rest room. I had to talk to you. I don't blame you for not wanting to hook up with SOS. Marcus has let all Ac publicity go to his head. He thinks he's Wyatt Earp. But I saw those guys kill my cousin and Josh. I tried to tell him what he's up against, but he won't listen. If SOS goes in, my family is dead meat.” “Tell me where they are and I'll do what I can.” “It's tough to explain. I'll have to draw you a map. Oh, hell-” Ryan was striding up the path toward them, an angry expression on his handsome face. “Call me,” Austin said.

Ben nodded and walked back to meet Ryan. They became en- gaged in what looked like a heated discussion. Then Ryan put his arm around Ben and guided him back to the memorial. He turned back once, to glare at Austin, who shrugged off the evil eye and headed back to his car.

Twenty minutes later, Austin strolled into the Air and Space Museum on Independence Avenue. He took the elevator to the third floor, and was headed toward the library, when he encountered a middle-aged man in a wrinkled tan suit who had stepped out of a side room.

“Kurt Austin, as I live and breathe!” the man said.

“I wondered if I'd bump into you, Mac.”

“Always a good chance of that around here. I practically live within these walls. How's the pride ofNUMA these days?”

“Fine. How's the Smithsonian's answer to St. Julien Perlmutter?”

MacDougal chortled at the question. Tall and lean, with fine sandy hair and a hawk-nose that dominated his narrow face, he was the physical antithesis of the portly Perlmutter. But what he lacked in girth he made up for with an encyclopedic knowledge of air history that was every bit the equivalent of Perlmutter's grasp of the sea.

“St. Julien carries much more, um, weight in the historical world than I do,” he said, with a twinkle in his gray eyes. “What brings you into the rarified atmosphere of the Archives Division?”

'I'm doing some research on an old airship. I was hoping I'd find something in the library."

“No need to go to the archives. I'm on my way to a meeting, but we can talk on the way.” Austin said. “Have you ever come across a mention of an airship called the Nietzsche?”