Silent Thunder

'No.'

'The Russian government?'

'Absolutely not.' He got to his feet. 'I believe it may be a good idea for us to up anchor and take a little voyage down the coast if you want to talk. Bradworth may be nervous and send someone to check to make sure I haven't dropped you overboard.'

'How can I be sure you won't?'

'Get off and walk away.' He started the engine. 'It's up to you.'

But he knew she wouldn't do it, she realized in frustration. She could see it in his expression, the confidence in the way he moved. He was totally in control of himself and his whole damn world.

'I'm out of here. In another minute you won't have a choice,' he said. 'Make up your mind.'

'Shut up.' She got to her feet. 'I'm not going anywhere, and you know it. Get going, you arrogant son of a bitch.'

Twenty minutes later he anchored at a cove down the coast and turned to face her. 'Here we are. Deserted. Dark. Lonely. Just the place for me to ply my fiendish way with you.'

'Is that supposed to intimidate me? You sound more like a rapist than a murderer.'

He snapped his fingers. 'Foiled again. It's the nuances of the English language. There are far too many subtleties.'

'And you're neither English nor American, are you?' She stared skeptically at him. 'Henry Danforth?'

'That's what my driver's license says.'

'Papers can be easily forged. Particularly by someone with connections with government agencies.'

'You believe Bradworth furnished me with them?'

'Did he?'

'Yes.' He opened the door of the hatch. 'As well as quite a few other identities. I'm a man of a thousand passports. Well, maybe not a thousand but certainly several. Danish, French, Italian…'

'But you're Russian.'

'Oh, yes. I have a Russian passport too.'

'Under what name?'

'Nicolas Kirov.'

'And is that your true name?'

'Of course not.' He started down the steps. 'You might as well come down and let me freshen your coffee. It's chilly out here, and the security blanket factor's gone for you.'

She followed him. 'You're not going to tell me your real name?'

'I didn't say that.' He crossed the cabin and poured coffee into two mugs. 'I'll probably have to share a few items of information with you. But I'm a private man, and you mustn't expect a bonanza to pour forth in a glorious waterfall.'

'I already know Bradworth is our mutual acquaintance. But I can't see him sharing information about the way I drink my coffee.'

'No, it wasn't in your dossier. But I spent a little time observing you and probably stored it away. I don't have a photographic memory like you, but I've trained myself to remember details.' He handed her the coffee. 'You like everything plain and straightforward. Your job, your relationships… your coffee.'

'Observing me? What the hell were you doing watching me?'

'You were working on the Silent Thunder,' he said simply. 'I had to keep an eye on you.'

'Why?'

'It was possible you'd stumble across something you weren't meant to find. I had to be there.'

'To save Conner and me?'

He didn't answer.

'You bastard. You and Bradworth were sitting there waiting for something to happen, waiting for them to come. Isn't that true?'

He was silent a moment. 'Bradworth set up the job with the museum. He thought it was worth the risk to get a qualified expert down there to take the sub apart. He thought I was wrong about the sub being followed. He could have been right.'

'Followed by whom?'

'Pavski.' He sat down and sipped his coffee. 'Very ugly, very criminal, and very desirous of finding that map scrawled on the bulkhead.'

'Why?'

'It would lead him to a payload that would set him up in a kingly fashion for the rest of his life.'

'Buried treasure?'

'In a manner of speaking.'

'What kind of treasure?'

He shrugged. 'Not the kind you found on the Titanic.' He smiled. 'By the way, I admired your work there. I understand that those tiny submersibles of yours were able to show us four times more of the interior bow section than any previous expedition. And I was fascinated by those digital 3-D virtual models that your data made possible. You're the best. That's why I recommended you to Bradworth.'

'Damn you, I wish you'd been run over by a truck before you opened your mouth. Conner would still be alive.'

His smile faded. 'I can't deny it. If I'd let Bradworth bring in his naval engineers, they would have been dead instead of your brother. I never meant it to happen. I hoped it wouldn't.'

'Hope?' She stared at him incredulously. 'What good is hope? Why didn't you do something?'

'I warned Bradworth. I tried to make sure-' He shrugged. 'But you're right. I'm guilty. Bradworth is guilty. Good intentions are never enough. You have a perfect right to detest us.'

'You're damn right I do.' She was shaking with rage. 'Conner was a good man in the prime of his life. He deserved to live.'

He nodded. 'He seemed to be a fine man, and I could tell you were very close.'

'By your spying on us.'

'Yes.' He turned away. 'You're upset. I'll take you back to the dock and drop you off.'

'The hell you will.' Her hands clenched into fists. 'I'm not going anywhere until you tell me how I can get my hands on this Pavski.'

'I don't know.'

'Dammit, you have to know something about him. You knew he was following the sub.'

'I suspected it.'

'Why?'

'One of his associates was seen in Helsinki.'

'If you know where this associate is, then you can locate Pavski.'

He shook his head.

'Why not?'

'Unfortunately, his associate is quite dead.'

Frustration seethed through her. 'Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.'

'We'll talk more later. Here's my cell phone number.' He scrawled the number on the back of a napkin and headed for the hatch. 'I'll give Bradworth a chance to get the benefit of his share of the venom you're shooting at me. I'll call and tell him to meet you at the dock.'

She crammed the napkin in her pocket. 'I don't want to talk to Bradworth. Do you think I trust him either? He's told me nothing but lies since I met him.'

'But you know he works for your government. Therefore, he's accountable.'

'And you're not accountable?'

He didn't answer. 'Come back and see me after you've talked to him and had time to absorb and adjust.'

'To the little you've told me?'

'It's enough for now.'