missed this for the world.' Then he vigorously shook Barnum's hand. 'A magnificent job, Captain. All NUMA is proud of you and your crew.'
'It was a team effort,' Barnum said humbly. 'Without the heroic transfer of the mooring cables by Pitt and Giordino, the
Sandecker spotted Pitt and Giordino and walked over to them. 'Well,' he said testily, 'another day, another dollar. You two never seem able to stay out of trouble.'
Pitt knew that was the finest compliment the admiral would pay him. 'Let's just say that we were lucky to have been on a project off Puerto Rico when Heidi Lisherness called from our hurricane center in Key West and described the situation.'
'Thank God you were able fly to the scene in time to help avert a major tragedy,' said Gunn. He was a short little man with thick horn-rim glasses, blessed with a friendly disposition, a man whom everyone immediately liked.
'Luck played a major role,' Giordino said unpretentiously.
Dirk and Summer approached and were greeted by Sandecker. 'You two seem fit after your ordeal.'
'If Dad and Al hadn't gotten us out of
Sandecker's smile seemed cynical, but his eyes were filled with pride. 'Yes, it seems that good-deed-doer's work never ends.'
'Which brings me to a request,' said Pitt.
'Request denied,' replied Sandecker, reading his mind. 'You people can put in for a restful vacation as soon as you finish the next project.'
Giordino stared sullenly at the admiral. 'You're an evil old man.'
Sandecker ignored the slur. 'Soon as you all get your things together, Rudi will drive you to the airport. I have a NUMA jet waiting to fly you to Washington. It's pressurized, so Dirk and Summer shouldn't have any complications from their recent decompression. We'll all meet in my office at noon tomorrow.'
'I hope you have beds on the airplane, because that's the only sleep we're going to get,' Giordino came back.
'Are you flying with us, Admiral?' asked Summer.
He grinned craftily. 'Me? No, I'll follow on another plane.' He motioned toward the waiting reporters. 'Somebody has to sacrifice himself on the altar of the news media.'
Giordino pulled a cigar from his breast pocket that looked suspiciously like one of Sandecker's private brand. He gazed cagily at the admiral as he lit the end. 'Make sure they spell our names right.'
Heidi Lisherness sat staring unseeing at the array of monitors showing a dying Hurricane Lizzie. After swinging southeast and causing havoc with ships traveling through the Caribbean, she slammed into the east coast of Nicaragua between Puerto Cabezas and Punta Gorda. Fortunately, her strength had dropped by half and there were few inhabitants living along the coastline. Before Lizzie traveled fifty miles across the lowland swamps and into the foothills, she had sputtered and finally died, but not before eighteen ships were lost with all hands and three thousand people had been killed, with another ten thousand injured and homeless.
She could only imagine how the death toll might have mushroomed if her forecasts and warnings hadn't been sent out soon after Lizzie was born. She was sitting there, slouched at her desk that was littered with photos, computer analysis reports and a forest of paper coffee cups, when her husband Harley approached through the empty office that looked as though Lizzie had swept through it, leaving an absolute mess for the cleaning people.
'Heidi,' he said as he gently placed his hand on her shoulder.
She looked up through reddened eyes. 'Oh, Harley. I'm glad you came.'
'Come along, old girl, you've done an extraordinary job. Now it's time to let me take you home.'
Wearily, thankfully, Heidi came to her feet and leaned on her husband as he walked her out of the paper- strewn offices of the Hurricane Center. At the door she turned and took a last look, focusing on a large strip of paper pinned on one wall that someone had written on. The block lettering read: IF YOU KNEW LIZZIE LIKE WE KNOW LIZZIE, OH, OH, OH WHAT A STORM.
She smiled to herself and switched off the lights, sending the big storm center room into darkness.
PART TWO
What Now?
15
The air was hot and damp with humidity that hung heavy without a breeze. The sky was cobalt blue with white clouds marching across it like a herd of sheep. Except for the tourists, the city simmered at a slow pace in the middle of summer. Congress used any excuse for a recess to escape the heat and soggy air, holding sessions only when it thought it was either absolutely necessary or when it polished its members' image, as busy bees in the voters' eyes. To Pitt, as he stepped off the NUMA Citation jet, the atmosphere was little different from the tropics he'd come from. The private government airport a few miles north of the city was empty of other aircraft, as Giordino, Dirk and Summer followed him down the boarding stairs to the black asphalt that felt hot enough to fry Spam.
The only vehicle waiting on the aircraft parking strip was a prodigious 1931 Marmon town car with a V-16 engine. It was a wondrous vehicle with style and class, technically superior in its time, noble and elegant. One of only 390 Marmon V-16s built, it was magically smooth and silent, its big engine putting out 192 horsepower with 407 foot-pounds of torque. Painted a dusty rose, the coachwork was perfectly in tune with Marmon's advertising as 'The World's Most Advanced Motor Car.'
Every bit as lovely and stylish as the car was the woman standing beside it. Tall and captivating, cinnamon hair glinting in the sun and falling to her shoulders, framing a soft beautiful face with a model's high cheekbones that were enhanced by soft violet eyes, Congress-woman Loren Smith stood cool and radiant. She was wearing a white lace patch blouse cut to show off her natural curves over matching asana pants cut loose with flared legs that dropped slightly over white canvas sneakers. She waved, smiled and ran over to Pitt. She looked up at him and kissed him lightly on the lips. Then stood back.
'Welcome home, sailor.'
'I wish I had a dollar for every time you've said that.'
'You'd be a rich man,' she said with a cute laugh. Then she hugged Giordino, Summer and Dirk. 'I hear you all had a big adventure.'
'If not for Dad and Al,' said Dirk, 'Summer and I would be wearing wings.'
'After you settle in, I want you to tell me all about it.'
They carried their luggage and duffel bags to the car, threw some in the humpbacked trunk and the rest on the floor of the rear seat. Loren slipped behind the wheel that sat in the open air while Pitt moved into the passenger's side. The rest shared the enclosed rear compartment behind the divider window.
'Are we dropping Al off at his condo in Alexandria?' she asked.
Pitt nodded. 'Then we can head for the hangar and clean up. The admiral wants us in his office by noon.'
Loren looked down at the clock on the instrument panel. The hands read: 10:25. Frowning as she expertly, smoothly, shifted through the gears, she said caustically, 'No time to relax before going back to work? After what the four of you have been through, isn't he crowding you a bit?'
'You know as well as I that beneath his sandpaper exterior beats the heart of a considerate man. He
