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"Anyway, as it turns out, Specter never had any intention of du furiously for more than two years This is borne out by the port we passed, with containerships unloading as probablyequipment"

"Wasn't it I who said, 'A neat trick if he could hide millions of tons of excavated rock and muck?'"

"And you were right, it is a neat trick"

A light suddenly flashed on in Giordino's head "The brown crud?"

"The ed "Satellite photos never showed construction activity because there was none to be seen The only way to hide e tube, mix the muck ater and pump it a couple of miles offshore into the sea"

Giordino opened a Costa Rican beer and wiped the humidity-induced sith a towel across his face under the mosquito net He rolled the cold can across his forehead "Okay, o to such great lengths to cover up the project? Where is the gain if it was created and built to transport goods andsea and no one knows it's there?"

Pitt took a beer thrown by Giordino and pulled the tab "If I knew that, ouldn't be swi the wildlife"

"What do we hope to find?"

"An entrance, for one thing They can't co in and out of the tunnels"

"You think we'll find it on the jungle ride through hell on the African Queen?"

Pitt laughed "Not on, but under According to Micky's site plan, the excavation would have run under a town called El Castillo halfway up the river"

"So what's the attraction in El Castillo?"

"Tunnels of extreth require ventilation shafts to supply air to the workers, cool or heat the air as required and bleed off exhaust fumes from the excavation equipment and smoke in the event of a fire"

Giordino stared uneasily at a huge crocodile swiveling off the bank into the water Then his gaze turned to the i the north bank "I hope you don't have any plans to hike in there Maain"

"El Castillo is an isolated community on the river with no roads in or out The main attraction is an old Spanish fortress"