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"After the neartook evasive action They didn't know the sub's attack had been called off Swinging on a northwest arc froh Gray Strait south of the Button Islands and ava Bay It was here,"

Giordino paused to make a mark on the chart, "they discovered the oil field"

The excitement abruptly faded from the President's eyes "Then it wasn't near the coast of Newfoundland?"

"No, sir Newfoundland's provincial border ends -at a point of land at the entrance of Gray Strait The oil strike was in the waters off Quebec"

The President's expression turned to a look of disappointment He and Mercier stared at each other in stricken understanding

"Of all the places in all the northern hemisphere," the President said barely above a whisper, "it had to be Quebec"

Part III

THE NORTH AMERICAN TREATY

APRIL 1989

WASHINGTON, DC

Pitt slipped Heidi's notes on the North American Treaty into a briefcase and nodded as the airline stewardess checked to see if his seat belt was clasped and his back rest was in an upright position Hevainly to relieve a headache that had persisted since he changed planes at St John's, Newfoundland

Now that the Doodlebug's hectic sea trial were over, the little research vessel had been hoisted aboard its mother ship and transported to Boston for repairs and modifications Bill Lasky and Sam Quayle left immediately for a week's vacation with their families Pitt envied them He was not afforded the luxury of a rest Sandecker ordered him back to NUMA headquarters for a firsthand report on the expedition

The plane's tires thuton's National Airport a few minutes before seven

Pitt reers crowded prematurely into the aisles One of the last to debark, he took his ti that no e claie

He found his car, a red 1966 AC Ford Cobra, in the VIP section of the parking lot where it had been left by his secretary earlier in the afternoon A note was tucked in the steering wheel