“That's for public consumption. What they really want is to kick Ryan's butt out of the Faroes and make sure he never shows his face here again. They don't want him to get on his soapbox, because it might scare away companies that are thinking about investing in the Faroes. Sorry if this messes up Ryan's martyrdom plans.”

“I won't deny that Marcus was hoping to make this a cause celebre.”

“Isn't that a risky strategy? If he pushes the Danes too far, they may be forced to convict him and toss him into jail. He doesn't strike me as a reckless guy.”

“He isn't reckless at all, but Marcus will take a calculated risk if he thinks the stakes are worth it. In this case, he would have weighed going to jail against a chance to stop the grind.”

Austin extracted the camera cassette from the computer and pre- sented it to Therri. “Tell Becker that I will testify to what I saw and verify that I took these pictures. I'll run a check on the manufacturer of this antenna, but it's possible that it was put together out of stan- dard parts and won't tell us anything.”

“I don't know how to thank you,” Therri said, rising from her chair.

“My standard fee is acceptance of a dinner invitation.”

“I'd be more than pleased to-” She stopped short and glanced across the room past Austin's shoulder. “Kurt, do you know that man? He's been staring at you for some time.”

Austin turned, and saw a balding, long-jawed man in his sixties, who was now making his way to the table.

“It's Kurt Austin ofNUMA, if I'm not mistaken,” the man said in a booming voice.

Austin stood and extended his hand. “Professor Jorgensen, nice to see you. It's been three years since we last saw each other.”

“Four, actually, since we worked on that project in the Yucatan. What a wonderful surprise! I saw the news of the miraculous rescue you performed, but assumed you had departed the Faroes.”

The professor was tall and narrow-shouldered. The ample tufts of hair flanking his freckled pate resembled swan wings. He spoke English with an Oxford accent, which was not surprising, since he had spent his undergraduate years at the famed English university.

“I stayed on to help Ms. Weld here with a project.” Austin intro- duced Therri, and said, “This is Professor Peter Jorgensen. Dr. Jor- gensen is one of the foremost fisheries physiologists in the world.” “Kurt makes it sound far more glamorous than it is. I'm simply a fish physician, so to speak. Well, what brings you to this far-flung out- post of civilization, Ms. Weld?”

“I'm an attorney. I'm studying the Danish legal system.”

Austin said, “How about you, Professor? Are you doing some work here in the Faroes?”