Trojan Odyssey

'Ocean Wanderer, how may I direct your call?'

'This is Heidi Lisherness from the NUMA Hurricane Center in Key West. May I speak to the director of your resort?'

'I'm sorry, but he is busy escorting the owner and founder of Ocean Wanderer on a private tour of the hotel.'

'This is extremely urgent. Let me talk to his assistant.'

'Everyone in the executive office is on the tour also.'

'Then will you please,' Heidi pleaded, 'please, inform them that a Category Five hurricane is headed in the direction of the Ocean Wanderer. It is traveling at incredible speed and could strike the hotel as soon as dawn tomorrow. You must, I repeat, you must begin evacuating your hotel. I will give you frequent updates and will stand by at this number for any questions your director may have.'

The operator dutifully jotted down the Hurricane Center's number and then answered several other calls that came in while he was talking with Heidi. Not taking the warning seriously, he waited until he was relieved two hours later before he tracked down Morton and relayed the message.

Morton stared at the message typed out by the operator's voice printer and reread it thoughtfully before handing it to Specter. 'A weather warning from Key West. They report that a hurricane is heading in our direction and suggest we evacuate everyone in the hotel.'

Specter scanned the warning message and lumbered to a large view window and gazed toward the east across the sea. The sky was free of clouds and the water surface looked quite calm, the wave crests reaching no more than a foot or two in height. 'We'll make no hasty decisions. If the storm follows the usual hurricane track, it should veer north and miss us by hundreds of miles.'

Morton was not so sure. A cautious and conscientious man, he preferred to be safe rather than sorry. 'I do not believe, sir, it would be in our best interest to risk the lives of our guests or employees. I respectfully suggest that we instruct everyone to begin evacuation procedures and arrange transportation to a safe haven in the Dominican Republic as soon as possible. We should also alert the tugboats to launch an operation to tow us from the worst of the storm.'

Specter stared out the window again at the serene weather as if reassuring himself. 'We'll wait another three hours. I do not wish to harm the image of Ocean Wanderer with stories of a mass flight the news media will blow out of proportion and compare to the abandonment of a sinking ship. Besides,' he said, throwing up his arms as if embracing the magnificent floating edifice like a balloon with long thin ears, 'my hotel was built to resist any violence the sea can throw at her.'

Morton briefly considered mentioning the Titanic, but thought better of it. He left Specter in the penthouse suite and returned to his office to begin preparations for the evacuation he was sure would come.

Fifty miles north of Ocean Wanderer, Captain Barnum studied the meteorological reports coming in from Heidi Lisherness and unconsciously stared toward the east the way Specter had. Unlike landsmen, Barnum was wily to the ways of the sea. He was aware of the slowly increasing breeze and the rising waves. He had weathered many storms during his long career at sea and knew how they could creep up on an unsuspecting ship and crew and engulf them in less than an hour.

He picked up the phone and hailed Pisces. An indistinct, garbled voice answered from under the water. 'Summer?'

'No, this is the brother,' Dirk replied humorously as he adjusted the frequency. 'What can I do for you, Captain?'

'Is Summer inside Pisces with you?'

'No, she's outside, checking the hydrolab oxygen tanks.'

'We have a storm warning from Key West. A Category Five hurricane is coming down our throats.'

'Category Five? That's a brutal one.'

'As ferocious as they come. I saw a Category Four in the Pacific twenty years ago. I can't imagine anything worse.'

'I low much time do we have before it's on us?' asked Dirk.

'The center predicted six in the morning. But updates show it's coming on much faster. We have to get you and Summer out of Pisces .and onto Sea Sprite as soon as possible.'

'I don't have to tell you about saturation dives, Captain. My sister and I have been down here four days. It will take us at least fifteen hours of decompression before we can be recompressed to ambient water pressure and come to the surface. We'll never make it before the hurricane is on us.'

Barnum was well aware of the threatening situation. 'We may have to terminate our topside support and run for it.'

'At this depth, we should be able to weather the storm comfortably,' Dirk said confidently.

'I don't like leaving you,' Barnum spoke grimly.

'We may have to go on a diet, but we have generating power and enough oxygen to last us four days. By then the worst of the storm should have passed.'

'I wish it was more.'

There was a pause from Pisces. Then, 'Do we have an option?'

'No,' Barnum sighed heavily. 'I guess not.' He looked up at the big digital clock above the pilothouse's automated ship's console. His greatest fear was that if Sea Sprite was driven far off its position by the storm, he might not get back in time to save Dirk and Summer. He feared he was faced with a no-win situation. If he lost Dirk Pitt's children to the sea, there was no telling the wrath that would explode from NUMA's special projects director. 'Take every precaution to extend your air supply.'

'Not to worry, Captain. Summer and I will be snug as bugs in a rug in our little shack down in coral gulch.'

Barnum felt uneasy. The odds were also long that Pisces could survive intact if the reef was pounded by hundred-foot waves generated by a Category 5 hurricane. He stared through the bridge windows to the east. Already the sky was filling with threatening clouds and the seas had risen to five feet.

With much regret and a deepening sense of foreboding, he gave orders for Sea Sprite to pull up the anchor and lay a course away from the predicted path of the storm.

When Summer reentered the main lock, Dirk gave her a rundown on the nasty weather coming their way over the horizon. He ran through instructions for conserving food and air. 'We should also batten down any loose objects in case high seas knock us around down here.'

'How soon before the worst of the storm reaches us?' asked Summer.

'According to the captain, sometime before morning.'

'Then you have time for a final dive with me before we're cooped up in here until the weather clears.'

Dirk looked at his sister. A lesser man, captivated by her beauty, would have fallen under her spell, but as her twin brother he was immune to her Machiavellian wiles. 'What's on your mind?' he asked casually.

'I want to take a closer look inside the cavern where I found the urn.'

'Can you find it again in the dark?'

'Like a fox to its lair,' she said, cocksure. 'Besides, you always enjoy seeing different species of fish on a night dive that you can't see during the day.'

Dirk was hooked. 'Then let's make it quick. We have a lot of work to do before the storm hits.'

Summer put her arm through his. 'You won't regret it!'

'Why do you say that?'

She stared up at her brother from those soft gray eyes. 'Because the more I think about it, I believe there is a greater mystery than the urn waiting to be found inside the cave.'

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