Pitt idly noticed the steward was Asian, probably Mongolian if he was serving on a Russian ship. He brushed past and continued to his cabin.
The steward stared at Pitt curiously. Then his expression turned to blank astonishment as he watched Pitt walk away. He was still standing there gawking when the door closed and the elevator rose without him.
Pitt rounded the corner of the passageway and spied a ship's officer with several crewmen waiting outside a cabin three down and across from his. None of them displayed their usual shipboard conviviality. Their expressions looked deadly earnest. He fished in his pocket for the cabin key while watching out of the corner of one eye. In a few moments, a stewardess came out and said a few words in Russian to the officer and shook her head. Then they moved toward the next cabin and knocked.
Pitt quickly entered and closed the door. The tiny enclosure looked like a scene out of a Marx Brothers movie. Loren was perched on the upper pullman bunk while Moran and Larimer shared the lower. All three were ravenously attacking a tray of hors d'oeuvres that Giordino had smuggled from the dining-room buffet table.
Giordino, seated on a small chair, half in the bathroom, threw an offhand wave. "See anything interesting?"
"The Cuban connection arrived," Pitt answered. "They're drifting alongside, standing by to exchange passengers."
"The bastards will have a long wait," said Giordino.
"Try four minutes. That's how long before we'll all be chained and tossed on a boat bound for Havana."
"They can't help but find us," Larimer uttered in a hollow voice.
Pitt had seen many such washed-out men-the waxen skin, the eyes that once blazed with authority now empty, the vagrant thoughts.
Despite his age and long years of self-indulgent living amin the political arena, Larimer was still a powerfully built man.
But the heart and circulation were no longer up to the stress and dangers of staying alive in a hostile situation. Pitt didn't require an internship to recognize a man who was in dire need of medical treatment.
"A Russian search party is just across the hall," Pitt explained.
"We can't let them imprison us again," Moran shouted, springing to his feet and looking around wildly. "We must run!"
"You wouldn't make the elevator," snapped Pitt, grabbing him by the arm as he would a child throwing a tantrum. He didn't much care for Moran. The Speaker of the House struck him as an oily weasel.
"There's no place to hide," said Loren, her voice not quite steady.
Pitt didn't answer her but brushed past Giordino and went into the bathroom. He pulled back the shower curtain and turned on the hot water. Less than a minute later clouds of steam billowed into the cramped quarters.
"Okay," Pitt directed, "everybody in the shower."
Nobody moved. They all stared at him, standing wraithlike in the mist-filled doorway, as though he was from another earth.
"Move!" he said sharply. "They'll be here any second."
Giordino shook his head in bewilderment. "How are you going to get three people in that stall shower? It's hardly big enough for one."
"Get your wig on. You're going in too."
"The four of us?" Loren muttered incredulously.
"Either that or a free trip to Moscow. Besides, college kids cram entire fraternities in phone booths all the time."
Giordino slipped the wig over his head as Pitt re-entered the bathroom and turned the water to lukewarm. He placed a trembling Moran in a squatting position between Giordino's legs.
Larimer pressed his heavy body against the far corner of the stall as Loren climbed on Giordino's back. At last they were jammed awkwardly into the stall, drenched by the flow from the shower head.
Pitt was in the act of turning on the hot water in the sink to increase the steam cloud when he heard a knock on the door.
He hurried over and opened it so there was no suspicious hesitation. The ship's first officer bowed slightly and smiled.
"Mr. Gruber, is it? Very sorry to bother you, but we're Making a routine inspection of the fire sprinklers. Do you mind if we enter?"
"Why, sure," Pitt said obligingly. "No problem with me, but my wife's in the shower."
The officer nodded to the stewardess who eased past Pitt and made a show of checking the overhead sprinkler heads. Then she pointed to the bathroom door. "May I?"
"Go on in," said Pitt good-naturedly. "She won't mind."
The stewardess opened the door and was enveloped in a cloud of steam. Pitt went over and leaned in the bathroom. "Hey, luv, our steward lady wants to check the fire sprinkler. All right with you?"
As the cloud began dissipating through the door, the stewardess saw a huge stringy mop of hair and a pair of heavy browed eyes peeking around the shower curtain.
"All right by me," came Loren's voice. "And could you bring us a couple of extra towels when you think of it?"
The stewardess simply nodded and said, "I'll be back with the towels shortly."
Pitt casually munched on a canape' and offered one to the first officer, who gave a polite shake of his head.
"Does my heart good to see you people so interested in the safety of the passengers," said Pitt.
"Merely doing our duty," said the first officer, looking curiously at the half-eaten stack of hors d'oeuvres. "I see you also enjoy our shipboard cuiside."
"My wife and I love appetizers," said Pitt. "We'd rather eat these than a main course."
The stewardess came out of the bathroom and said something to the first officer. The only word Pitt made out was "nyet."
"Sorry to have troubled you," said the first officer courteously.
"Any time," replied Pitt.
As soon as the door lock clicked, Pitt rushed to the bathroom.
"Everybody stay just as you are," he ordered. "Don't move." Then he reclined on a bunk and stuffed his mouth with caviar on thin toast.
Two minutes later the door suddenly popped open and the stewardess burst through like a bulldozer, her eyes darting around the cabin.
"Can I help you?" Pitt mumbled with a full mouth.
"I brought the towels," she said.
"Just throw them on the bathroom sink," Pitt said indifferently.
She did precisely that and left the cabin, throwing Pitt a smile that was genuine and devoin of any suspicion.
He waited another two minutes, then opened the door a crack and peered into the passageway. The search crew was entering a cabin near the end of the passageway. He returned to the bathroom, reached in and turned off the water.
Whoever coined the phrase They look like drowned rats must have had the poor souls huddled together in that pocket-sized shower in mind. Their fingertips were beginning to shrivel and all their clothing was soaked through.
Giordino came out first and hurled his sopping wig in the sink.
Loren climbed off his back and immediately began drying her hair.
Pitt helped Moran to his feet and half carried Larimer to a bunk.
"A wise move," said Pitt to Loren, kissing her on the nape of the neck. "Asking for more towels."
"It struck me as the thing to do."
"Are we safe now?" asked Moran. "Will they be back?"
"We won't be in the clear till we're off the ship," said Pitt.
"And we can count on their paying an encore visit. When they come up dry on this search, they'll redouble their efforts for a second."
"Got any more brilliant escape tricks up your sleeve, Houdini?" asked Giordino
"Yes," Pitt replied, sure as the devil. "As a matter of fact, I do."
THE SECOND ENGINEER MOVED ALONG a catwalk between the massive fuel tanks that towered two decks above him. He was running a routine maintenance check for any trace of leakage in the pipes that transferred the oil to the boilers that provided steam for the Leonin Andreyev's 27,000-horsepower turbines.
He whistled to himself, his only accompaniment coming from the hum of the turbo-generators beyond the forward bulkhead.
Every so often he wiped a rag around a pipe fitting or valve, nodding in satisfaction when it came away clean.
Suddenly he stopped and cocked an ear. The sound of metal striking against metal came from a narrow walkway leading off to his right. Curious, he walked slowly, quietly along the dimly lit access.
At the end, where the walkway turned and passed between the fuel tanks and the inner plates of the hull, he paused and peered into the gloom.
A figure in a steward's uniform appeared to be attaching something to the side of the fuel tank. The second engineer approached, stepping softly, until he was only ten feet away.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded.
The steward slowly turned and straightened. The engineer could see he was Oriental. The white uniform was soiled with grime, and a seaman's duffel bag lay open behind him on the walkway. The steward flashed a wine smile and made no effort to reply.
The engineer moved a few steps closer. "You're not supposed to be here. This area is off limits to the passenger service crew."
Still no answer.
Then the engineer noticed a strange misshapen lump pressed against the side of the fuel tank. Two strands of copper wire ran from it to a clock mechanism beside the duffel bag.
"A bomb!" he blurted in shock. "You're planting a damn bomb!"
He swung around and began running wildly down the walkway, shouting. He'd taken no more than five steps when the narrow steel confines echoed with a noise like twin handclaps in quick succession, and the hollow-point bullets from a silenced automatic tore into the back of his head.
The obligatory toasts were voiced and the glasses of iced vodka downed and quickly refilled. Pokofsky did the honors from the liquor cabinet in his cabin, avoining the cold, piercing gaze of the man seated on a leather sofa.
Geinar Ombrikov, chief of the KGB residency in Havana, was not in a congenial mood. "Your report won't sit well with my superiors," he said. "An agent lost under your command will be considered a clear case of negligence."
"This is a cruise ship," Pokofsky said, his face reddening in resentment. "She was designed and placed in service for the purpose of bringing in hard Western currency for the Soviet treasury. We are not a floating headquarters for the Committee for State Security."
"Then how do you explain the ten agents our foreign directorate assigned onboard your vessel to monitor the conversations of the passengers?"
"I try not to think about it."
"You should," Ombrikov said in a threatening tone.
"I have enough to keep me busy running this ship," Pokofsky said quickly. "There aren't enough hours in my day to include intelligence gathering too."
"Still, you should have taken better precautions. If the American politicians escape and tell their story, the horrendous repercussions will have a disastrous effect on our foreign relations."
Pokofsky set his vodka on the liquor cabinet without touching it.
"There is no place they can hide for long on this ship. They will be back in our hands inside the hour."
"I do hope so," said Ombrikov acinly. "Their Navy will begin to wonder why a Soviet cruise liner is drifting around off their precious Cuban base and send out a patrol."
"They wouldn't dare board the Leonin Andreyev."
"No, but my small pleasure boat is flying the United States flag.
They won't hesitate to come aboard for an inspection."
"She's an interesting old boat," Pokofsky said, trying to change the subject. "Where did you find her?"
"A personal loan from our friend Castro," Ombrikov replied.
"She used to belong to the author Ernest Hemingway."
"Yes, I've read four of his books-" Pokofsky was interrupted by the sudden appearance of his first officer, who entered without knocking.
"My apologies for breaking in, Captain, but may I have a word in private with you?"
Pokofsky excused himself and stepped outside his cabin.
"What is it?"
"We failed to find them," the officer announced uneasily.
Pokofsky paused for some moments, lit a cigarette in defiance of his own regulations and gave his first officer a look of disapproval.
"Then I suggest you search the ship again, more carefully this time. And take a closer look at the passengers wandering the decks.
They may be hining in the crowd."
His first officer nodded and hurried off. Pokofsky returned to his cabin.
"Problems?" Ombrikov asked.
Before Pokofsky could answer he felt a slight shudder run through the ship. He stood there curious for perhaps half a minute, tensed and alert, but nothing more seemed to happen.
Then suddenly the Leonin Andreyev was rocked by a violent explosion that heeled her far over to starboard, flinging people off their feet and sending a convulsive shock wave throughout the ship. A great sheet of fire erupted from the port side of the hull, raining fiery steel debris and oil over the exposed decks. The blast reverberated over the water until it finally died away, leaving an unearthly silence in its wake and a Solid column of black smoke that mushroomed into the sky.
What none of the seven hundred passengers and crew knew, what many of them would never come to learn, was that deep aminship the fuel tanks had detonated, blowing a gaping hole half above and half below the waterline, spraying a torrent of burping oil over the superstructure in blue and green flames, scarring the victims and blazing across the teak decks with the speed of a brush fire.
Almost instantly, the Leonin Andreyev was transformed from a luxurious cruise liner into a sinking fiery pyre.
Pitt stirred and wondered dully what had happened. For a full minute as the shock wore off he remained prone on the deck, where he'd been thrown by the force of the concussion, trying to orient himself.
Slowly he rose to his hands and knees, then hoisted his aching body erect by grabbing the inner doorknob. Bruised but still functioning, nothing broken or out of joint, he turned to examine the others.
Giordino was partly crouched, partly lying across the threshold of the shower stall. The last thing he remembered was sitting in the cabin. He wore a surprised look in his eyes, but he appeared unhurt.
Moran and Loren had fallen out of the bunks and were lying in the middle of the deck. They were both dazed and would carry a gang of black and blue marks for a week or two, but were otherwise uninjured.
Larimer was huddled in the far corner of the cabin. Pitt went over and gently lifted his head. There was an ugly welt rising above the senator's left temple and a trickle of blood dripped from a cut lip. He was unconscious but breathing easily. Pitt eased a pillow from the lower bunk under his head.
Giordino was the first to speak. "How is he?"
"Just knocked out," Pitt replied.
"What happened?" Loren murmured dazedly.
"An explosion," said Pitt. "Somewhere forward, probably in the engine room."
"The boilers?" Giordino speculated.
"Modern boilers are safety-designed not to blow."
"God," said Loren, "my ears are still ringing."
A strange expression came over Giordino's face. He took a coin out of his pocket and rolled it across the hard-carpeted deck. Instead of losing its momentum and circling until falling on one side, it maintained its speed across the cabin as though propelled by an unseen hand and clinked into the far bulkhead.
"The ship's listing," Giordino announced flatly.
Pitt went over and cracked the door. Already the passageway was filling with passengers stumbling out of their cabins and wandering aimlessly in bewilderment. "So much for plan B."
Loren gave him a quizzical look. "Plan B?"
"My idea to steal the boat from Cuba. I don't think we're going to find seats."
"What are you talking about?" Moran demanded. He rose unsteadily to his feet, holding on to a bunk chain for support. "A trick. It's a cheap trick to flush us out."
"Damned expensive trick if you ask me," Giordino said nastily.
"The explosion must have seriously damaged the ship. She's obviously taking on water."
"Will we sink?" Moran asked anxiously.
Pitt ignored him and peered around the edge of the door again.
Most of the passengers acted calm, but a few were beginning to shout and cry. As he watched, the passageway became clogged with people stupidly carrying armfuls of personal belongings and hastily packed suitcases. Then Pitt caught the smell of burning paint, quickly followed by the sight of a smoky wisp. He slammed the door and began tearing the blankets off the bunks and throwing them to Giordino.