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Pitt stood for several ainst the wharf pilings Not a soul could be seen The wharf looked deserted Almost, but not quite

He dropped down to his cabin in the stern, removed a small black case from his suitcase and eased back up the stairway onto the side of the deck opposite the wharf Using the deckhouse as a cover, he opened the case and removed what looked like a video caave off a h-pitched whine Next, he draped a blanket over his head and slowly rose until his eyes could peer over a pile of rope coiled on the deckhouse roof He pressed his face against the eyepiece of the night-vision monocular as the scope autohtness control and infrared illuminator Then he peered into the darkness across the wharf that was now illuht vision of an owl

The Chevrolet pickup truck he'd noticed when arriving at the Poco Bonito was still sitting in the dark The ahts a hundred yards down the wharf were now enhanced twenty thousand ti the driver of the truck as if he were in a well-lit room But as Pitt studied the driver, he saw that he was a she Pitt could tell by the way the observer swept her scope back and forth across the lit portholes of the hull that she did not suspect that she had been detected He could even tell that her hair et

Pitt lowered the scope slightly until it was focused on the pickup truck's driver's door The snoop was no professional, Pitt thought Nor was she cautious Probably a construction worker doing double duty as a spy, since the naold letters:

ODYSSEY

The name stood alone, no "Limited," no "Corporation," no "Company," after it

Below the nas outstretched It looked vaguely familiar to Pitt, but he couldn't recall where he'd seen it

Why was Odyssey interested in a NUMA research expedition?

Pitt wondered What possible threat was a teaiant organization with nothing to gain

He could not refrain fro to the wharf side of the boat and waving to the wohtscope on him Pitt held up his scope to his eyes and stared back Definitely not a professional snoop, the woman became so shaken that she dropped her scope on the seat, hurriedly kicked over the engine and roared across the wharf into the darkness, spinning her rear tires in a screech of protest

Renee looked up in unison with Giordino and Dodge "What was that all about?" asked Renee

"Someone in a hurry," Pitt said in amusement

Renee cast off the bow and stern lines while thethe pilothouse, the powerful engines sputtered and ruently shivered the deck Then Poco Bonito slipped away froh the Straits of Bluffs to the sea The course, prograation equip toward the northeast But Gunn--like most airline pilots, ould rather take off and land a commercial airliner than allow a computer to do it--took the wheel and steered the vessel seaward

Pitt descended a ladder to his cabin, replaced the nightscope in his bag and retrieved a Globalstar tri-mode satellite phone Then he returned to the deck and relaxed in a tattered lounge chair He turned and salley with a cup in her hand

"Coffee?" she inquired froalley