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Dressed in clean shorts and T-shirt, he went into the kitchen, brewed half a pot of strong Kenyan coffee; and rustled up a pan of bacon and eggs He carried the plate through a slider to the deck overlooking the Potoo by as he ate breakfast Still enjoying the cholesterol rush, he refilled aof coffee, then went into his combination study-den He put a Coltrane CD on the stereo, settled into a black leather chair, and listened to Anton Sax's instru in voices its creator could never have drea that Austin favored progressive jazz In a way the sounds of Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, and other artists in his extensive music library reflected Austin's own personality: a steely coolness that y and drive, the ability to reach deep into his soul when superhuman effort was needed, and a talent for improvisation
The spacious room was an eclectic collection of the old and the new, authentic darkwood colonial furniture, and white walls hung with conteinals Curiously for a man as raised in and around the sea and who spent much of his life on or under the water, there were few nautical ite Kong Picasso for a China Trade skipper, a nineteenth-century chart of the Pacific, a couple of shipbuilding tools, a photo of his catboat, and a glass-encased scalehydroplane
His bookshelves held the leatherbound sea adventures of Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville and dozens of books of ocean science But the most hand worn volureat philosophers he liked to study Austin are of the dichotomy but saw no oddity in it More than one sea captain had retired inland after a career on the bounding main Austin wasn't yet ready toembrace
As he sipped his coffee his eye fell on the brace of Mantons mounted on the wail over the fireplace Austin had nearly two hundred sets of dueling pistols in his collection: Most of the pairs were stored in a fireproof vault He kept the more recent acquisitions at the boathouse He was fascinated not only by the workmanship and deadly beauty of the pistols but by the twists and turns of history that may have been launched by a well-placed ball fired on a quiet ht have fared if Aaron Burr had not killed Alexander Haht his ht! In the days he'd been hoain and again, fast-forwarding, freezing action, and rewinding like a VCR
After the battle the exertion and loss of blood caught up with Austin He had barely taken a dozen steps before he could go no farther, collapsing in slow position Captain Phelan had been the one to tell the crew all was safe They ca, scraped Austin and Zavala off the deck, and carried them on stretchers to sickbay On the way they passed the body of the assailant Austin had nailed with
a single shot fro pistol At Austin's direction they stopped, and a creith a strong stomach pulled the mask off the dead man The face was that of a man in his thirties, dark-complexioned, with a thick black mustache, his features otherwise unremarkable except for the round hole in the forehead
Zavala sat up on his stretcher and let out a lohistle "'Telltarget in the dark! If I hadn't seen it I'd say a shot like that was impossible" ,
"It is i it safe With a body shot"
As he explained to Zavala while their wounds were properly bandaged, his uncanny accuracy had nothing to do with his ai In his haste Austin had turned the s direction and set the pistol with a hair trigger Thank goodness for Manton's barrelweighted idiotproofing
A oilcoency radio call plucked the wounded men and Nina Kirov from the Nereus and dropped them off in Tarfaya Captain Phelan refused to leave his ship, and after the physician's mate had ascertained he'd be able to function on a limited basis within a few days, he stayed on to take the Nereus to the Yucatan Within hours Austin and Zavala were on a NUMA executive jet that had been diverted to Morocco on its way to the United States from Rome Nina hitched a ride on the plane to Dulles airport The painkiller Austin was given knocked hiht His recollections were vague, but he rehtly on the cheek When he awoke he was in Washington Nina was gone, having caught the shuttle for Boston He wondered whether he'd ever see her again After spending a couple of days in the hospital he and Zavala were sent hoive their bodies a chance to heal
The jangle of the phone jolted Austin out of his reverie He picked up the receiver and heard a crisp greeting "Good ?"
"I' quite well, Adh Ia little bored"
"Glad to hear that Your boredo toet to the botto Zavala in as well He's been seen around Arlington in his convertible, so I assume he, too, is bored with inactivity"
Zavala, who drove a 1961 Corvette, mostly because it was the last model with a trunk, had used his time to tinker in his basement, where he liked to restore mechanical contrivances and create new technical underwater devices As soon as he was able to ithout falling over he started working out at a boxing gym Joe was never bored when there o the ot him
Austin had talked to Zavala nu, he was itching for action Austin was telling the truth when he said, "I'et back to work, Admiral"