Sea of Fire

on the top and a receiver on the side. The keypad was for writing codes. Hawke had done that before sailing.

'We rescued someone from the sampan.'

Nothing the American had said after that really registered. Darling's answers had come from some independent, automatic-functioning part of his brain. Kannaday and Hawke had done more than suffer a setback in the Celebes Sea. They had permitted a security breach that led an investigator here. More than one, probably. Darling suspected that the woman who had come with them was with the Singaporean navy. Now that he thought about it, she had that stiff-necked, feet-wide-apart posture of a seaman.

An American and a Singaporean. With Australian officials probably hanging to the rear because they did not want to tangle with Jervis Darling. Not until they had evidence. It made sense. Fortunately for Darling, whatever Mr. Herbert was doing at the study telephone would have netted him nothing. Not R. Clayton Herbert nor the people he worked for, whoever they were. That did not even matter. Any group ferreting around in Darling business was unwelcome. He would find out who they were, and they would be stopped. First, however, Darling had to make sure there was nothing to find. Starting with the Hosannah.

As Darling input the yacht's number, he burned inside. He wanted to strike out in all directions simultaneously. He was angry at Kannaday and Hawke. Their ineffective-ness caused this security breach. He would deal with Kannaday now, Hawke later. He also wanted to punish Herbert for invading his home. Darling would find a way to punch a hole in his life. And he would end the career of the fire captain who had assisted Herbert. They had not paid their dues on the world stage. Darling would not allow these wage slaves to question or delay him, let alone stop him. He would take this hit and move on.

Marcus was asleep when his uncle reached him. The elder Darling asked to speak with Hawke immediately. Marcus went to the security chief's cabin and got him.

'Yes, sir,' Hawke said when he came on.

That was John Hawke. Called to the radio late at night for something that was obviously out of the ordinary. Yet his voice was the same flat instrument it always was.

'I want you to do the following as quickly as possible,' Darling said. His voice was not as composed. 'Destroy the lab completely and then the radio room. None of the equipment must survive. Then take the yacht to sea and sink it in deep water. There has to be a fire. Start it in the galley. Is there sufficient dinghy space for the crew?'

'Yes.'

'Good,' Darling said. 'Get to it.'

'Sir, Captain Kannaday will want to know why this is being done,' Hawke said.

The devious bastard, Darling thought. Hawke had to be curious as well. Once again, the security chief wanted to keep Peter Kannaday between himself and Darling. Unfortunately, that was not going to be possible. Hawke was about to take two punches.

'Tell the captain that his security team failed to kill all of the men on the sampan,' Darling said. 'One of them was recovered.'

The radio went stubbornly silent. That had been punch number one.

'It would be best if the captain were lost with his ship,' Darling went on. 'I do not want the accident to be perceived as an insurance scam. We do not need additional investigations.'

That was punch number two. Hawke now knew just what the security lapse had caused.

'I will see to all of it,' Hawke replied.

There was no hint of humility in the security chief's voice. Just determination.

Darling preferred that. He wanted results, not repentance.

Darling hung up the phone. He pushed it away and sat back.

Jervis Darling had spent a lifetime building corporations, amassing wealth and power, and, most importantly, evolving a worldview. He realized that only businessmen had the resources to move the world forward. Governments were too partisan and slow. Armies were too bestial and rigid. Only he and his kind had the vision to motivate the masses. First, however, they had to make themselves indispensible. They had to use mercenaries like John Hawke to surgically strike targets around the world. They would target factories, transportation centers, financial districts, and power plants. Existing governments and terror groups would take the blame. Especially since he would be hiring many of their members. And covering the events in his media outlets. Darling and his colleagues would eliminate competition to make their own resources more valuable. They would use that base to build de facto political power. From there, nothing was off limits.

Darling was still angry. But he was relatively unconcerned about the project or his goals. He had never undertaken a business or political operation that did not experience a few bumps. This was the first one the current action had suffered. He was confident that the undertaking would survive and move forward.

As confident as he was that R. Clayton Herbert would soon be wishing he had gone somewhere else this evening.

Chapter Fifty-One

Cairns, Australia Sunday, 12:00 A.M.

'I blew it,' Bob Herbert said over the phone.

'What do you mean?' Hood asked.

'I gave a world-class, standing-room-only performance of how not to gather information.'

'You're being way too rough on yourself, Bob,' Hood said. 'You did the best you could under extremely adverse circumstances.' He was speaking softly but firmly.

'Paul, I created the friggin' adverse circumstances!' Herbert went on. 'You want a list of do-nots that I would have reamed a newbie for? I did not case the site. I went to the wrong phone. And I gave the subject an overview of what we know without getting anything back except a vague confirmation that our suspicions were correct.'

'This isn't lab science,' Hood pointed out. 'You took a huge risk against staggering odds.'

'That's what the best is supposed to do, and my job title says I'm supposed to be one of the best,' Herbert replied. 'The best are also supposed to do one thing more. They're supposed to succeed.'

'This is just one battle in the war,' Hood replied. 'And I'm not so sure we lost it.'

'I've won battles before,' Herbert shot back. 'This is not what victory feels like.'

Herbert was calling from his cell phone in the Humvee. FNO Loh and Paul Leyland had found the koala. They met Herbert in front of the mansion where they helped him down the stairs. The group left the grounds after conferring with Jelbart by phone. Herbert agreed with the warrant officer's assessment. Jelbart felt that Darling's armed guards would be unusually aggressive after what happened. They unanimously decided that the best thing to do was return to the observation base and regroup. Herbert and Loh were sitting in the back. Leyland was driving. Little Maluka was asleep in the passenger's seat.

'Bob, right now it doesn't matter how we got here,' Hood said. 'Let's look at where we are and what we're up against.'

'All right,' Herbert said and took a breath. That seemed to calm him somewhat. 'We're facing a world-class thug who knows he's been found out. He also knows that at least one of his partners has been identified. And he knows that we have someone who may be able to ID the boat they used to carry the stolen nuclear material. He cannot be happy with any of that information.'

'Agreed. So what does he do?'

'First, he has to make his own involvement deniable,' Herbert said. 'His phone records and financial transactions are probably clean. I'm betting it's the same with bin Dahman and whoever else is involved. Darling has to assume the pirate is heavily guarded and that we already took from him whatever information we want. So he probably won't bother going after him. The only place our boy's immediately vulnerable is the boat.'

'We haven't been able to find the other vessel involved in this transaction,' Hood said. 'What chance do we have of finding this one? It may already have been hidden.'

'That's very possible,' Herbert agreed. 'But I want to find it. I really want to find it.'