Page 77 (1/2)

"Do we tackle the Manhattan Li chart "Or the Empress of Ireland?" He refaced the roo table

"Which one should take priority?"

Heidi Milligan, whose face showed the fatigue of a long flight fro, but held back

"Ladies first," Al Giordino said, grinning

"I'e," she said hesitantly "But I believe the ship offers the best chance of finding a readable treaty"

"Care to state your reasons?" asked Sandecker

"Before the days of air travel," Heidi explained, "it was standard procedure for diplomatic couriers who sailed across the oceans to seal docuainst water dae I recall one incident where in Office courier when his body washed ashore six days after the Lusitania sinking" Sandecker sood woiven us our first ray of hope"

Giordino yawned He had spentbriefed on the project by Pitt, and it was all he could do to stay awake "Perhaps Richard Essex wrapped his copy of the treaty in oilcloth too"

Heidi shook her head "Most likely he would have carried it in a leather traveling bag"

"Little chance of that surviving," Sandecker acknowledged

"My vote still goes to the train," said Giordino "The Empress lies in a hundred and sixty-five feet-well below the safe depth for air diving The train, on the other hand, can be no deeper than forty feet After seven decades the shipin from the St Lawrence Gulf The train would be better preserved by fresh river water"

Sandecker turned to a se pair of horned-rilasses "Rudi, how do you see it?"

Rudi Gunn, NUMA's director of logistics, looked up from a pad filled with scribbles and unconsciously scratched one side of his nose Gunn rarely gales He dealt his cards froes

"I favor the ship," he said quietly "The only advantage of salvaging the Manhatt

an Liround However, the current of the Hudson River is three-and a-half knots Far too strong for divers to ith any level of efficiency And, as Al suggested, chances are, the engine and coaches are buried in the silt This calls for a dredging operation The worst kind"