Page 69 (1/2)

In the rearviewBehind it lay a s where he had turned the car around Ahead, the truck was closing the s deterate, she would flatten hiainst it at the end of the lane

He looked again in the mirror He had only one chance

He held steady until he was less than a hundred feet from the camera pole, then rip of its antilock brakes, but held a true line as it quickly slowed Pitt kept one eye on the fast-approaching truck and the other on the camera pole The pole arrived first

As it appeared out the side , Pitt let off the brakes and turned the wheel to the left The rear end whipped around in the same direction Pitt instantly returned to the brakes as the Mini slid backward off the road

The truck arrived a second later, traveling too fast to do anything but veer in Pitt’s direction

Pitt slid off the road, the truck kissing the front end of the Mini as it passed, ripping off its buree spin The blow saved Pitt’s life Rather than slam backward into the trees, the Mini expended its ainst the side of the truck before sliding to a halt along the road’s shoulder

As the receptionist tried to bring the truck to a rapid stop, Pitt took stock of his situation He was uninjured, the car wasHe shoved the gearshift into drive and floored the gas The tires spun on the loose soil, and the Mini darted ahead In his rearview hts as it disappeared over the hill

Pitt drove with a heavy foot down the dirt road until he reached the paved, lakeside road at Foyers As he drove slowly through the village in the growing dusk, he eyed a small stone church near the waterfront He turned down its tiny track and parked behind it Stepping to a bank of high shrubs along the side of the church, he crouched and watched the roa

d After tentraffic, he returned to his battered Mini

The shore was just down a short hill, and Pitt noticed a small dock with a skiff tied to it He studied the opposite shore and located the McKee Manor a short distance to the west It lay almost directly across the loch from the hidden facility

He leaned against the Mini’s fender, pulled out a cell phone, and dialed a Washington, DC, phone nurunted hello at the other end

“Al, do we have any NUMA submersibles available in UK waters?”

“Let y lab “You’re in luck,” he said a minute later “The Sea Ny dust on the deck of the Arctic research ship Norse The Norse is laid up in a Liverpool dry dock for the next few days to repair her thrusters”

“How’d you like to hop a plane to Liverpool, load it on a truck, and drive it up to Scotland?”

“It just so happens I have a thing for wo? Your hosts not treating you to a good time?”