“Yes, of course.” The captain was relieved to be doing something at last. Moving with crisp efficiency, he dispatched his first mate to round up the work detail.

At Austin's direction, the grunting crewmen lifted a large wooden crate from the helicopter's storage compartment and set it down on the deck. Using a crowbar from the helicopter, Austin pried the top off the box and peered inside. After a quick inspection, he said, “Everything looks shipshape. What's the latest on the situation?”

Captain Larsen pointed to the bobbing buoy that marked the sunken cruiser. While Austin and Zavala listened intently, Larsen provided a quick summary of the collision and sinking.

It doesn't make sense,“ Austin said. ”From what you say, they had plenty of sea room."

So did theAndrea Doria and the Stockholm/' Zavala said, refer- ring to the disastrous sea collision off Nantucket.

Becker mumbled something about SOS criminals, but Austin ig- nored him and concentrated on the business at hand. “What makes you so sure the captain and his men are still alive?”

We were doing a whale population survey not far from here when we got the call for help,“ Larsen said. ”We dropped a hy- drophone over the side and picked up the sound of someone tapping an SOS on the hull in Morse code. Unfortunately, we can only re- ceive, not send, messages. However, we determined that there were thirteen men, including Captain Andersen, trapped in a pocket of air in the forward bunkroom. The air is foul, and they were in the early stages of hypothermia."

“When did you last hear from them?”

"About two hours ago. It was essentially the same message, only

the tapping has become much fainter. Toward the end, they tapped out the same word over and over.“ ”What was it?"

Desperate.

Austin broke the grim silence that followed. “Did you get any other equipment down to the ship?”

“The Faroese Coast Guard called the NATO base on Stremoy. They contacted the NATO submarine rescue network minutes after the cruiser went down. Those ships you see out there are mostly from Scandinavian countries. We've been acting as the interim mother ship. A Swedish vessel should arrive soon with a rescue ve- hicle, but like the others, it's useless in this situation. It's set up to res- cue men through a submarine rescue hatch. We've been able to pinpoint the cruiser's location two-hundred-sixty feet down, but be- yond that, for all our technical ability, we're only spectators at a dis- aster in the making.”

“Not necessarily,” Austin said.

“Then you think you can help?” Becker said with pleading eyes.

“Maybe,” Austin said. “We can say better after we see what we're up against.”