Therri broke the tension in the pilothouse. “Captain Petersen doesn't know what a narrow escape he just had,” she said, with a grin.

“One shot and I would have dragged him into court and slapped a property lien on his ship.”

“I think he was more afraid of our garbage gun,” Ryan said. Their mirth was cut short by the sound of Mercer swearing. Ryan said, “What's wrong, Chuck?”

“Damnit, Mark.” Mercer was standing with both hands on the wheel. “You must have messed up the steering pushing this ship around like a Jet Ski.” He frowned, then stepped back. “Here, you try it.”

Ryan tried to turn the wheel. It gave for an inch on either side, but it seemed locked into place. He exerted a slight pressure, then gave up. “The damned thing is locked into place,” Ryan said, with a com- bination of anger and puzzlement.

Ryan picked up the telephone, ordered the engine room to stop and turned his attention back to the wheel. Instead of slowing down, the ship inexplicably picked up speed. Ryan swore and called down to the engine room again.

“What's wrong, Cal?” he barked. “Those engines finally made you deaf? I said cut speed, not increase it.”

Ryan's engineer, Cal Rumson, was a topflight seaman. “Hell, I know what you said,” Cal replied. The frustration in his voice was obvious. “I did reduce speed. The engines are acting crazy. The con- trols don't seem to be working.”

“Then kill the power,” Ryan said.

"I'm trying, but the diesels are work ing harder

“Keep trying, Cal.”

Ryan slammed the phone in its cradle. This was insanity! The ship seemed to have a mind of her own. Ryan's eyes swept the sea ahead of the ship. Good news. No vessels or land masses in the way. The worst that could happen would be to run out of fuel in the At- lantic. Ryan picked up the radio microphone to inform the cruiser of their predicament. But he was interrupted by a yell from Mercer.

“The wheel's turning!”

Mercer was trying to hold on to the wheel, which was gradually spinning slowly to the right, bringing the ship around toward the cruiser. Ryan grabbed the rim, then he and Mercer tried to bring the ship back on course. They used every ounce of strength they could muster, but the wheel slipped out of their sweaty hands and the Sea Sentinel moved closer to the warship.

The Danish ship had taken notice of the course change. A famil- iar voice crackled over the radio.

“Come in, Sea Sentinel. This is Captain Petersen. What is the in- tention of your course change?”

“We're having problems with our steering. The wheel is locked and we can't shut down our engines.”

“That's impossible,” Petersen said.

“Tell that to the ship!”

A pause. Then Petersen said, “We'll bear off to give you plenty of sea room. We'll issue a warning as to any ships in your way.”