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Renee stepped down the ladder to the cabin "I'd better get our princess ready for her incarceration"

She had no sooner dropped out of sight than a man strode briskly down the ay and onto the dock Jack McGee was a ruddy-faced man in his late forties His hair was blond without a trace of gray, as was his Wyatt Earp ave him the look of an animal on constant lookout for a predator He wore navy blue shorts with a flowered shirt and a tired old Navy officer's cap that looked like it had seen action in World War II

Gunn stepped forward and they shook hands before ee ten years every time we meet"

"That's because we only reeted Gunn in a voice that sounded like he sang bass in a choir

Gunn ine room hatch "We have onea little matter below"

McGee suest?"

Gunn nodded "Rita Anderson, the lady I mentioned over the satellite phone when I announced our dropping in"

"Police Inspector Gabriel Ortega is an old friend," said McGee "He'll require you to come down to the station and fill out a report, but I think you'll find him most courteous and considerate"

"Are you plagued by piracy in these waters?" asked Pitt

McGee laughed and shook his head vigorously "Not in Costa Rica But they sprout like weeds to the north in Nicaragua"

"Why there and not here?"

"Costa Rica is the success story of Central Aher than in ricultural, touris exporter of electronics and h thirty years of revolution that's left the infrastructure in ruins After the government finally stabilized, hting guerrilla warfare, refused to take up far more profitable This led to piracy, since they had to build a fleet of cocaine runners"

"Have you heard any ruave a little shake of his head "Only that it exists north and east out in the Caribbean Between the bandits, theindustry off Nicaragua has died an unnatural death" McGee turned and doffed his hat as a uniformed police official came down from the house and stepped onto the dock "Ah, Gabriel, there you are"

"Jack, old friend," said Ortega "What otten yourself into now?"

"Not h decidedly Latin, Ortega looked like Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot--the saht hair and thin, immaculately tri He spoke in English, with just a bare trace of Spanish He revealed perfectly capped teeth when he s the introductions