Serpent

'What a tragic loss,' Zavala said with a shake of his head. 'How'd she end up dead in a shower?'

'Her agent says he thought of Crystal when he got a call, supposedly from an independent film company that was looking for a middle-aged woman for a small role. Immediate opening with big money. My guess is that whoever hired Crystal knew she was desperate and would jump at the chance to do the part, even when she found out it wasn't what she expected and she wouldn't be playing before the cameras.'

'She was good enough to fool us,' Zavala said

'Yeah, and so was her 'husband,' Mr Wingate from Spokane.'

'The mysterious scar-faced man with the disappearing beard. Has anything turned up on him?'

'He must have worn his gloves to bed,' Austin replied with a frown. 'The lab boys even checked the handle of the shovel he was using for fingerprints. Nothing.'

'Smart move having a mole on the project;' Zavala said with unveiled admiration. 'It certainly took the stinger out of our sting.'

Look at it as a learning experience,' Austin said, his voice gaining an edge. 'We've learned not to underestimate these guys. We know they're well organized.' He tapped the photo with his finger. And that they don't like loose ends.'

'We've also confirmed the Time-Quest connection. They assign a couple of volunteers to the project, then kidnap them while they send in ringers. Time-Quest comes out clean. Pretty clever'

'Diabolically so. What do you make of Wingate's friendly wave just before the shed blew up and the offhand comment the guards told me he made?'

' 'Nice try'? You have to admit he had a sense of humor for a murderer.'

'You don't see me laughing. He was rubbing it in when he didn't have to. Why?'

'He just felt like rubbing it in?'

'Maybe.' Austin scratched his chin in thought. 'I think it was partly just plain arrogance. He was telling us he knows who we are and that he is part of something so big he can treat us as a joke.'

'Bigger than NUMA?'

'I wish I knew, Joe.' Austin replaced the publicity photo in the folder 'I wish I knew.'

Any idea where we go next?'

'No more stings. Lucky I was recuperating when that scheme as dreamed up. We'll keep looking into the hovercraft link and the murder.'

'Not exactly a well-lit highway we're following,' Zavala said. 'What if I flew down to San Antonio and checked out Time-Quest personally?'

'Might be worth a looksee. I'd be interested in Time-Quest's financial backing.

A soft knock came at the door. Trout entered, ducking his head under the jamb. He had a serious look on his face, but this was standard with Trout.

'Sorry I'm late, guys. I've been talking to the Nereus about Gamay.'

Clearly worried about his wife, Trout had called NUMA frequently as they flew across the country, to see if Gamay had checked in.

'Any word?' Austin asked.

Trout settled his lanky form into a chair and shook his head. 'They confirmed that she got a ride to shore from the ship. That she rented a Jeep. That she left word she was going to meet Professor Chi, the museum anthropologist she's been eager to. see. And that she'd be back that evening.'

'Did she and this Dr. Chi ever get together?'

Trout shifted uneasily. 'I don't know. The folks down there are still trying to get a hold of Chi. Seems he spends a lot of time out in the field, so they said. not to worry. But it's not like Gamay to stay out of touch.'

'What do you want to do, Paul?'

'I know you need me here,' Trout said apologetically, 'but I'd like to get back to the Yucatan for a few days to check things out. It's tough trying to follow Gamay's track based on second or thirdhand accounts.'

Austin nodded. 'Joe's heading down to Texas for a look at Time-Quest. I'll be in Washington working up a report on the Arizona fiasco. Why don't you take forty-eight hours to see what you can learn? If you need more time I'll 'smooth things with Sandecker.'

'Thanks, Kurt,' Trout said, brightening. 'I've lined up a flight that will get me down there early tonight. I've got a couple of hours before then I can spare for the team'

Any ideas lurking behind that broad intellectual forehead?'

Trout wrinkled his brow 'The one thing we've solidly established is that the trigger in all of these incidents is the discovery of pre-Columbian artifacts.'

'Yes, that's a given,' replied Austin, 'but we don't know why.'

Zavala murmured, 'In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.'

Austin, who'd been deep in thought, looked up with a bemused expression. 'What did you say?'

'The first line of a poem from grade school. You probably had to learn the same rhyme.'

'I did, and I don't remember the rest of it any better than you do.'

'I wasn't trying to get an A in poetry,' Zavala said. 'I was thinking. Maybe pre-Columbian isn't the key. Maybe it's Columbus.'

'Good point,' Trout said.

'It is?''Zavala replied. Even he wasn't so sure.

'Paul is right,' Austin said. 'You can't have pre-Columbian without Columbus.'

Zavala grinned. 'In fourteen hundred and ninetytwo . . .'

'Exactly. That dumb rhyme pretty much sums up what most of us know about Columbus. The date he sailed and the fact we get a three-day weekend in October because of him. But what do we really know about old Chris? Especially as it might apply to these murderous attacks.'

Trout's analytical brain was at work 'I think I see where you're headed. We know there's an indirect link between Columbus and these incidents. Ergo . . .'

'Keep on ergoing,' Zavala encouraged.

'Ergo the question: Is there a direct link?'

They exchanged glances.

'Perlmutter,' they uttered in unison.

Austin grabbed the phone and punched out a number. In a spacious Georgetown carriage house the private line gave off a ring like a ship's bell. The receiver was plucked from its cradle by a plump hand belonging to a man who was not quite as wide as a barn door. He wore plummy purple pajamas under a red and gold paisley robe. He sat in a chair reading one of the thousands of books that seemed to fill every cubic inch of every room.

'St. Julien Perlmutter here,' he said through a magnificent gray beard. 'State your business in a brief manner.'

'Christopher Columbus,' Austin said. 'Is that brief enough for you?'

'My God, is that you, Kurt? I heard you've been fighting pirates off the Barbary Coast.'

'Just a humble government servant doing my job. Somebody has to keep the seas safe for American shipping.'

'Live and learn, my friend. I was unaware: that the U.S. Navy had been disbanded in favor of NUMA.'

'We've decided to give them another chance to shape up. As you know, pirates aren't NUMA's usual business.'

'Ah, yes. So you're interested in the Admiral of the Ocean Sea? You know, it's a wonder he ever made it west of the Canary Islands.'

'Bad navigation?'

'Heavens, no. Dead reckoning was adequate for the task at hand. It would have been hard for him to have missed two continents connected by an isthmus even though that's what happened. I'm talking about the crew's food. Did you know that the basic ration was a pound a day of hard biscuit, salt meat, salt fish, and olive oil? Beans and chickpeas, of course, with almonds and raisins for dessert,' he said with horror in his voice. 'The only bright spot was the availability of fresh fish.'

Austin sensed Perlmutter was drifting off onto a dissertation on fine food and wines, his burning passion for which was equaled only by his interest in ships and shipwrecks. Perlmutter was the classic gourmand and bon vivant. Weighing in at nearly four hundred pounds, his corpulent figure was a familiar and awe-inspiring sight at the