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"Maybe But I do know that if she crushes the steaolin is gone"

IN THE PILOTHOUSE of the towboat a burst of fire fros of the co the rudder controls Captain Pujon had no option but to reduce speed and steer by jockeying the throttle levers

Lee Tong did not spare hi orders over the radio to the co a wary eye on the ing steamboat

Finally he turned to Pujon "Can't you'regain our top speed?"

"Eight ht course"

"How far?" he asked for the tenth time that hour

"According to the depth sounder, the botto to drop off Another two miles should do it"

"Two htfully "Time to set the detonators"

"I'll alert you by blowing the airborn e come over a hundred fathoms," said Pujon

Lee Tong stared across the dark sea, stained by the runoff fro research ship was only a few hundred yards away froh the brittle sides of the Stonewall Jackson He could hear the haunting wail of the calliope drifting with the wind He shook his head in disbelief, wondering as responsible for the old riverboaes sudden appearance

He was about to leave the pilothouse and cross over to the barge when he noticed one of theaircraft overhead abruptly sline out of formation and dive toward the sea

A ghost-white F/A21 Navy strike aircraft leveled off two hundred feet above the wave tops and unleased two anti-ship missiles

Lee Tong watched in numbed horror as the laser-controlled warheads skimmed across the water and sla her dead in her tracks with a blast that turned the entire upper works into a grotesque tangle of shattered steel

Then caer explosion that enveloped the ship in a ball of fla suspended as if locked in time

Lee Tong stood tensed in despair as the broken vessel slowly rolled over and died, falling to the floor of the gulf and sealing all hope of his escape