Page 126 (1/2)

"There is one other favor," said Pitt, looking at Hecht "I'd like to see your file on Specter and the Odyssey conglomerate"

Hecht nodded "I'll have one ofit to NUMA headquarters You think there is anything in it that may prove useful to this situation?"

"I don't know," Pitt said honestly "But I aive it a hard look"

"My analysts have already studied it in depth, but no flags went up"

"Perhaps, just perhaps," said Pitt, "Ithat was missed"

r />43

Moreau, dressed in white shorts, white open shirt and high kneesocks, aiting for Dirk and Summer at precisely nine o'clock as they exited the lobby of the hotel with the duffel bags containing their dive gear The doors in the trunk and they all clile cloud in an otherwise clear blue sky The as gentle and barely fluttered the fronds of the palm trees

The drive to the wharf where Moreau had arranged for their chartered boat to beroad to the water He pulled onto a narrow stone jetty that extended froreen to a blue-green as it deepened He stopped above a boat that was nestled against the dock like a duckling to its lass hull as she dipped in the gentle waves flowing in froold letters across her stern read:

DEAR HEART

She was a pretty little sailboat, ato the top of the th with a nine-foot beam, her draft was only a few inches over four feet She had three hundred and thirty-one square feet of sail area and a sine Her cabin coalley As Moreau had promised, a Fisher metal detector and a Klein subbottom profiler were mounted and ready for operation in the cockpit Dirk dropped down a ladder to the deck and caught the bags as they were dropped by Moreau, before carrying them down to the cabin

"A safe voyage," said Moreau to Summer "I shall keep my cell phone on my person at all times Please call if you encounter trouble"

"We shall," said Summer confidently Then she slipped lithely down the ladder and joined Dirk as he started the little diesel At his signal, Moreau cast off the lines and stood on the dock, an expression of dire concern on his face as the little boat's diesel engine knocked across the lagoon and out into the sea

Once they cleared the last buoy, Dirk ran the mainsail and jib up the ainst the blue sky It flapped back and forth until set by the wind The sail puffed out and the boat began to slip s fro was scrubbed and bright Dear Heart looked to be less than a year old, her brass work and chroleamed under the sun, and her deck looked well-scrubbed

She was a sleek and s the swells like a cat running across a lawn A rando squall chopped the blue water and flecked the crests of the waves with foam Then they were out of it and into sain Beyond her bowsprit the sea stretched like a giant carpet

"How far to Branwyn?" asked Suain another knot in speed as the water seethed past her lee rail