"I understand they were dancing in the corridors of the Pentagon when I left."
"Let's just say there were no tears shed at your departure." Kemper slowly reeled his lure in. "Okay, Jim, I've known you too many years not to smell a squeeze play. What do you and Mr. Seagram have on your minds?"
"We're going after the Titanic, " Sandecker replied casually.
Kemper went on reeling. "Indeed?"
"Indeed."
Kemper cast again. "What for? To take a few photographs for publicity's sake?"
"No, to raise her to the surface."
Kemper stopped reeling. He turned and stared at Sandecker. "You did say the Titanic?"
"I did."
"Jim, my boy, you've really slipped your moorings this time. If you expect me to believe-"
"This isn't a fairy tale," Seagram interrupted. "The authority for the salvage operation comes straight from the White House."
Kemper's eyes studied Seagram's face. "Then am I to assume that you represent the President?"
"Yes, sir. That is correct."
Kemper said, "I must say you have a rather strange way of doing business, Mr. Seagram. If you will give me the courtesy of an explanation . . ."
"That's why we're here, Admiral, to explain."
Kemper turned to Sandecker. "Are you in the game too, Jim?"
Sandecker nodded. "Let's just say that Mr. Seagram speaks softly and carries one hell of a big stick."
"Okay, Seagram, the podium is yours. Why the subterfuge and why the urgency to raise an old derelict?"
"First things first, Admiral. To begin with, I am head of a highly secret department of the government called Meta Section."
"Never heard of it," Kemper said.
"We are not listed in any journal on federal offices. Not even the CIA, the FBI, nor the NSA has any records of our operation."
"An undercover think-tank," Sandecker said curtly.
"We go beyond the ordinary think-tank," Seagram said. "Our people devise futuristic concepts and then attempt to construct them into successful functioning systems."
"That would cost millions of dollars," Kemper said.
"Modesty forbids me to mention the exact amount of our budget, Admiral, but ego compels me to admit that I have slightly over ten figures to play with."
"My Lord!" Kemper muttered under his breath. "Over a billion dollars to play with, you say. An organization of scientists that nobody knows exists. You stir my interest, Mr. Seagram."
"Mine too," Sandecker said acidly. "Up until now, you've sought NUMA's assistance through White House channels by passing yourself off as a Presidential aide. Why the Machiavellian Routine?"
"Because the President ordered strict security, Admiral, in the event of a leak to Capitol Hill. The last thing his administration needed was a congressional witch hunt into Meta Section's finances."
Kemper and Sandecker looked at each other and nodded. They looked at Seagram, waiting for the rest of it.
"Now then," he continued, "Meta Section has developed a defense system with the code name of the Sicilian Project . . . ."
"The Sicilian Project?"
"We named it after a chess strategy known as the Sicilian Defense. The project is devised around a variant of the maser principle. For example, if we push a sound wave of a certain frequency through a medium containing excited atoms, we can then stimulate the sound to an extremely high state of emission."
"Similar to a laser beam," Kemper commented.
"To some degree," Seagram answered. "Except a laser emits a narrow beam of light energy, while our device emits a broad, fanlike field of sound waves."
"Besides breaking a bevy of eardrums," Sandecker said, "what purpose does it serve?"
"As you recall from your elementary-school studies, Admiral, sound waves spread in circular waves much like ripples in a pond after a pebble is dropped in it. In the instance of the Sicilian Project, we can multiply the sound waves a million times over. Then, when this tremendous energy is released, it spreads out into the atmosphere, pushing air particles ahead of its unleashed force, condensing them until they combine to form a solid, impenetrable wall hundreds of square miles in diameter." Seagram paused to scratch his nose. "I won't bore you with equations and technical details concerning the actual instrumentation. The particulars are too complicated to discuss here, but you can easily see the potential. Any enemy missile launched against America coming into contact with this invisible protective barrier would smash itself into oblivion long before it entered the target area."
"Is . . . is this system for real?" Kemper asked hesitantly.
"Yes, Admiral. I assure you it can work. Even now, the required number of installations to stop an all-out missile attack are under construction."
"Jesus!" Sandecker burst out. "The ultimate weapon."
"The Sicilian Project is not a weapon. It is purely a scientific method of protecting our country."
"It's hard to visualize," Kemper said.
"Just imagine a sonic boom from a jet aircraft amplified ten million times."
Kemper seemed lost by it all. "But the sound-wouldn't it destroy everything on the ground?"
"No, the energy force is aimed into space and builds during its journey. To someone standing at sea level it would merely have the same harmless impact of distant thunder."
"What does all this have to do with the Titanic?"
"The element required to stimulate the optimum level of sound emission is byzanium, and therein lies the grabber, gentlemen, because the world's only known quantity of byzanium ore was shipped to the United States back in 1912 on board the Titanic."
"I see." Kemper nodded. "Then salvaging the ship is your last-ditch attempt at making your defense system operational?"
"Byzanium's atomic structure is the only one that will work. By programming its known properties into our computers, we were able to project a thirty-thousand-to-one ratio in favor of success."
"But why raise the entire ship?" Kemper asked. "Why not just tear out its bulkheads and bring up the byzanium."
"We'd have to blast our way into the cargo hold with explosives. The danger of destroying the ore forever is too great. The President and I agree that the added expense of raising the hull far outweighs the risk of losing it."
Kemper tossed out his lure again. "You're a positive thinker, Seagram. I grant you that. But what makes you think the Titanic is in any condition to be brought up in one piece. After seventy-five years on the bottom, she may be nothing but an immense pile of rusty junk."
"My people have a theory on that," said Sandecker. He put his fishing pole aside, opened his tackle box and pulled out an envelope. "Take a look at these." He handed Kemper several four-by-five photographs.
"Looks like so much underwater trash," Kemper commented.
"Exactly," Sandecker answered. "Every so often the cameras on our submersibles stumble on debris tossed overboard from passing ships." He pointed to the top photo. "This is a galley stove found at four thousand feet off Bermuda. Next is an automobile engine block photographed at sixty-five hundred feet off the Aleutians. No way to date either of these. Now, here is a Grumman F4F World War II aircraft discovered at ten thousand feet, near Iceland. We dug up a record on this one. The plane was ditched in the sea without injury by a Lieutenant Strauss when he ran out of fuel on March 17, 1946. "
Kemper held out the next photo at arm's length. "What in hell is this thing?"
"That was taken at the moment of discovery by the Sappho I daring the Lorelei Current Expedition. What at first looked like an ordinary kitchen flannel turned out to be a horn." He showed Kemper a shot of the instrument taken after Vogel's restoration.
That's a cornet," Kemper corrected him. "You say the Sappho I brought this up?"
'Yes, from twelve thousand feet. It had been lying on the bottom since 1912."
Kemper's eyebrows raised. "Are you going to tell me it came from the Titanic?"
"I can show you documented evide
nce."
Kemper sighed and handed the pictures back to Sandecker. His shoulders sagged, the weary, fatigued droop of a man no longer young, a man who had been carrying a heavy burden for too long a time. He pulled a beer from the fish net and popped the tab. "What does any of this prove?"
Sandecker's mouth tightened into a slight grin. "It was right in front of us for two years-that's how long ago the aircraft was discovered-but we completely overlooked the possibilities. Oh sure, there were remarks about the plane's excellent condition, yet none of my oceanographers really grasped the significance. It wasn't until the Sappho I brought up the horn that the true implications came home."
"I'm not following you," Kemper said tonelessly.
"First of all," Sandecker continued, "ninety per cent of that F4F is made out of aluminum, and as you know, salt water eats the hell out of aluminum. Yet that plane, after sitting down there in the sea for over forty years, looks like the day it came out of the factory. Same with the horn. It's been underwater crowding eighty years, and it shined up like a newborn baby's ass."
"Have you any explanation?" Kemper asked.
"Two of NUMA's ablest oceanographers are now running data through our computers. The general theory at the moment is that it's a combination of factors the lack of damaging sea life at great depths, the low salinity or salt content of bottom water, the freezing temperatures of the deep, and a lower oxygen content that would slow down oxidation of metal. It could be any one or all of these factors that delays deterioration of deep-bottom wrecks. We'll know better if and when we get a look at the Titanic. "
Kemper thought for a moment. "What do you want from me?"
"Protection," Seagram answered. "If the Soviets get wind of what we're up to, they'll try everything short of war to stop us and grab the byzanium for themselves."
"Put your mind at rest on that score," Kemper said, his voice suddenly hard. "The Russians will think twice before they bloody their noses on our side of the Atlantic. Your salvage operations on the Titanic will be protected, Mr. Seagram. You have my iron-clad guarantee on that."
A faint grin touched Sandecker's face. "While you're in a generous mood, Joe, what're the chances of borrowing the Modoc?"
"The Modoc?" Kemper repeated. "She's the finest deepwater salvage vessel the Navy's got."
"We could also use the crew that comes with her," Sandecker pushed on.
Kemper rolled the beer can's cool surface across his sweating forehead. "Okay, you've got yourselves the Modoc and her crew, plus whatever extra men and equipment you need.
Seagram sighed. "Thank you, Admiral. I'm grateful."
"You're straddling an interesting concept," Kemper said. "But one fraught with problems."
"Nothing comes easy," Seagram replied.
"What's your next step?"
Sandecker answered that one. "We send down television cameras to locate the hull and survey the damage."
"God only knows what you'll find-" Kemper stopped abruptly and pointed at Sandecker's jerking bobber. "By God, Jim, I believe you've caught a fish."
Sandecker leaned lazily over the side of the boat. "So I have," he said smiling. "Let's hope the Titanic is just as cooperative."
"I am afraid that that hope may prove to be an expensive incentive," Kemper said, and there was no answering smile on his lips.
Pitt closed Joshua Hays Brewster's journal and looked across the conference table at Mel Donner. "That's it then."
"The whole truth and nothing but the truth," Donner said.
"But wouldn't this byzanium, or whatever you call it, lose its properties after being immersed in the sea all these years?"
Donner shook his head. "Who's to say? No one has ever had a sufficient quantity in their hands to know for sure how it reacts under any conditions."
"Then it may be worthless."
"Not if it's locked securely in the Titanic's vault. Our research indicates that the strong room is watertight."
Pitt leaned back and stared at the journal. "It's a hell of a gamble."
"We're aware of that."
"It's like asking a gang of kids to lift a Patton tank out of Lake Erie with a few ropes and a raft."
"We're aware of that," Donner repeated.
"The cost alone of raising the Titanic is beyond comprehension," Pitt said.
"Name a figure."
"Back in 1974 the CIA paid out over three hundred million dollars just to raise the bow of a Russian submarine. I couldn't begin to fathom what it would run to salvage a passenger liner that grosses forty-six thousand tons from twelve thousand feet of water."
"Take a guess then."
"Who bankrolls the operation?"
"Meta Section will handle the finances," Donner said. "Just look upon me as your friendly neighborhood banker. Let me know what you think it will take to get the salvage operation off the ground, and I'll see to it the funds are secretly transferred into NUMA's annual operating budget.
"Two hundred and fifty million ought to start the ball rolling."
"That's somewhat less than our estimates," Donner said casually. "I suggest that you not limit yourself. Just to be on the safe side, I'll arrange for you to receive an extra five."
"Five million?"
"No." Donner smiled. "Five hundred million."
After the guard passed him out through the gate, Pitt pulled up at the side of the road and gazed back through the chain-link fence at the Smith Van and Storage Company. "I don't believe it," he said to no one. "I don't believe any of it." Then slowly, with much difficulty, as if he were fighting the commands of a hypnotist, Pitt dropped the shift lever into "Drive" and made his way back to the city.
29
It had been a particularly grueling day for the President. There were seemingly endless meetings with opposition party congressmen; meetings in which he had struggled, vainly in most cases, to persuade them to support his new bill for the modification of income-tax regulations. Then there had been a speech at the convention of near hostile state governors, followed later in the afternoon by a heated session with his aggressive, overbearing secretary of state.
Now, just past ten o'clock, with one more unpleasant involvement to reckon with, he sat in an overstuffed chair holding a drink in his right hand while his left scratched the long ears of his sad-eyed basset hound.
Warren Nicholson, the director of the CIA, and Marshall Collies, his chief Kremlin security adviser, sat opposite him on a large sectional sofa.
The President took a sip from the glass and then stared grimly at the two men. "Do either of you have the vaguest notion of what you're asking of me?"
Collies shrugged nervously. "Quite frankly, sir, we don't. But this is clearly a case of the end justifying the means. I personally think Nicholson here has one hell of a scheme going. The payoff in terms of secret information could be nothing less than astonishing."
"It will cost a heavy price," the President said.
Nicholson leaned forward. "Believe me, sir, the cost is worth it."
"That's easy for you to say," the President said. "Neither of you has the slightest hint as to what the Sicilian Project is all about."
Collies nodded. "No argument there, Mr. President. Its secret is well kept. That's why it came as a shock when we discovered its existence through the KGB instead of our own security forces."
"How much do you think the Russians know?"
"We can't be absolutely certain at this point," Nicholson answered, "but the few facts we have in hand indicate the KGB possesses only the code name."
"Damn!" the President muttered angrily. "How could it have possibly leaked out?"
"I'd venture to guess that it was an accidental leak," Collies said. "My people in Moscow would smell something if Soviet intelligence analysts thought they were onto an ultrasecret American defense project."
The President looked at Collies. "What makes you sure it has to do with defense?"
"If security surrounding the Sicilian Project is as tight as yo
u suggest, then a new military weapon emerges as the obvious theory. And there is no doubt in my mind that the Russians will soon come up with the same conclusion."
"I would have to go along with Collies' line of thinking," Nicholson concurred.
"All of which plays right into our hands."
"Go on."
"We feed Soviet Naval Intelligence data on the Sicilian Project in small doses. If they take the bait . . ." Nicholson's hands gestured like the closing of a trap, ". . . then we literally own one of the Soviets' top intelligence-gathering services."