Trojan Odyssey

Pitt knew the sinister murder machine was not quite ready to attack. The mouth was only slightly open and the lips had not pulled away from the hideous teeth. He decided that offense was the best defense and he lunged at the creature, thrusting his knife and making a slashing swipe across the shark's nose, the only tender spot on its taut body.

The shark rolled away, trailing a streak of blood, confused and angered by the sudden show of resistance from what should have been an easy kill. Then it turned, hovered for a few moments, flipped its tail fins and came at them with phenomenal speed in a movement dead silent, straight for the kill.

Pitt had only one trick left in his bag. He shined the beam of the penlight directly into the shark's right eye. The unexpected flash temporarily blinded the killer just enough to induce it to veer and roll to his right, mouth opening in anticipation of biting into flesh and bone. Pitt kicked fiercely, twisting his body to one side as the shark flashed past, using its pectoral fin to push it away. The yawning jaws clamped shut on empty water. Then Pitt lashed out with the knife and gashed the monster in its black lifeless eye.

Two things could have happened. The maddened shark could have attacked without further hesitation, provoked by pain and anger, or it could have swum away, half blinded, giving up the battle for easier prey.

Fortunately, it swam away and did not return.

'That was about as close as we ever came to being a special on a dinner menu,' Giordino said, in a vague tone still tinged with tension.

'He would probably have digested me and spit you out for tasting bad,' Pitt came back.

'We'll never know whether he enjoyed Italian food.'

'Let's get a move on before one of his pals comes nosing around.'

They continued on but with greater caution than before, feeling a sense of relief as the lights from the docks now provided them with a good thirty feet of underwater visibility. Finally, they reached the pilings under the dock and swam between them before surfacing and staring up at the wooden planking, where they floated, getting their wind and waiting to see if they had set off any security sensors. After a few minutes, no sounds of approaching security guards were heard from above.

Pitt said, 'We'll follow the dock until it reaches the shore before we surface again.'

This time Giordino moved off into the lead, with Pitt following. The bottom came up sharply and they were relieved to find a sandy beach free of rocks. Crouching under the dock and shielded from the overhead lights, they removed their dive gear and wet suits, opened their waterproof bags and retrieved their Odyssey jumpsuits and hard hats. Slipping on socks and shoes, they checked their ID badges to see they were attached in the proper position before stepping warily into the open.

A single guard sat in a small house at the edge of a paved road that passed by the entrance to the dock. He was eyeballing a TV channel that was running an old American movie in Spanish. Pitt scanned the area but saw only the single guard.

'Shall we test our presence?' he said to Giordino, face-to-face for the first time since they dove in the water.

'You want to observe his reaction when we walk by?'

'Now or never to see if we can freely move throughout the facility.'

They walked casually past the guardhouse. The security guard, wearing the male black jumpsuit, caught their movement and came out onto the road. 'La parada?' he shouted, a frown on his face.

'La parada?' Giordino repeated.

'It means halt.'

'Para que esta usted aqui? Usted debe estar en sus cuartos.'

'Here's your chance to flash your Spanish,' said Giordino, his fingers tightening around the grip of his gun beneath the jumpsuit.

'What Spanish,' said Pitt benignly. 'I forgot most of what I learned in high school.'

'Take a guess. What did he say?'

'He wants to know what are we're doing here. Then he said we're supposed to be in our quarters.'

'Not bad.' Giordino grinned. He walked up to the guard as if he didn't have a care in the world. 'Yo no hablo el espanol,' he said in a high-pitched voice in a sad attempt to mimic a woman.

'Very good,' Pitt complimented him in turn.

'I've been to Tijuana.' Giordino approached the guard and shrugged helplessly. 'We're Canadian.'

The guard frowned as he looked at Giordino. If his mind could be read, it would reveal that the woman inside the white uniform jumpsuit was the ugliest he'd ever seen. Then his frown turned to a smile. 'Oh, si, Canadians, I speak English.' He pronounced it Englais.

'I know we're supposed to be in the barracks,' said Pitt, smiling back. 'We only wanted to take a little walk before going to sleep.'

'No, no, that is not allowed, amigos,' said the guard. 'You are not allowed out of your assigned area after eight o'clock.'

Pitt threw up his hands. 'Sorry, amigo, we were talking and didn't notice we had wandered into the wrong area. Now we're lost. Can you direct us to the barracks?'

The guard came over and shined a flashlight on their badges and studied them. 'You from the dig?'

'Si, we're from the dig. Our superior sent us topside for a few days' rest.'

'I understand, senor, but you must return to your quarters. It is regulations. Just follow the road and turn left at the water tower. Your building is thirty meters to the left.'

'Gracias, amigo,' said Pitt. 'We're on our way.'

Satisfied Pitt and Giordino were not intruders, the guard returned to his little house.

Giordino said, 'Well, we passed the first test.'

'Best we hide out somewhere until daylight. Not healthy to wander around here in the dead of night. Too suspicious. The next guard who stops us might not be so friendly.'

They followed the guard's directions until they came to a long row of buildings. They moved in the shadows through the edge of a grove of palm trees, studying the entrances to the living quarters for the employees of Odyssey.

All but the fifth and last building were free of guards. That building had two guards stationed at the entrance, while another two patrolled the perimeter outside a high surrounding fence.

'Whoever lives there must not be popular with Odyssey,' said Pitt. 'It looks like a prison.'

'The occupants must be held captive.'

'Agreed.'

'Then we break into one that's open.'

Pitt shook his head. 'No, we enter this one. I want to talk to those who are held inside. We may learn more from them about Odyssey's operation.'

'No way we're going to bluff our way in.'

'Looks like a small shed next door. Let's move around, keeping the trees as cover, and check it out.'

'You never take the easy path,' Giordino groaned at seeing that Pitt's face held a remote and thoughtful expression under the glow of the lights lining the street.

'No fun if it's simple,' Pitt said seriously.

Like burglars slinking through a residential neighborhood, they moved through the trees, taking advantage of the thin curling trunks until they reached the edge of the grove. Crouched and running, they covered another thirty yards until they reached the rear of the shed. Edging around one corner, they found a side door. Giordino tried the latch. It was open and they slipped inside. Flashing their penlights around the interior, they found that it was an equipment garage that held a street sweeper.

Pitt could see Giordino's teeth spread in a smile in the dim light. 'I think we struck the mother lode.'

'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?'

'I am,' said Pitt. 'We start up the sweeper and send it down the street, but with one refinement to get the guard's attention.'

'Which is?'

'We set it on fire.'