The skepticism slowly faded from Fawkes's eyes. 'I believe you,' he said. 'I've seen enough gas shells to recognize one.' Then he gazed questioningly into Pitt's face. 'Mind telling me who you are and how you came to be here?'
'After we find and deactivate the other shell,' Pitt said, brushing him off. 'Do you have another proj e ctile-sto rage area?'
Fawkes shook his head. 'Except for the three shells we've fired, all of which were of the armor-piercing variety, this is the lot — ' He broke off as the realization struck him. 'The turret! All guns are loaded and the breeches locked. The other plague projectile must be inside one of the three barrels.'
'You fool!' Lusana shouted. 'You murdering fool!'
The agony in Fawkes's eyes was apparent. 'It's not too late. The guns will not fire except by my order.'
'Captain, you and I will find and neutralize the other warhead,' Pitt ordered. 'Lusana, if you will be so kind as to drop this over the side.' He handed Lusana the sack bulging with the QD bomblets.
'Me?' Lusana gasped. 'I don't have the idea how to get out of this floating vaguest i coffin. I'll need a guide.'
'Keep making your way topside,' Pitt said confidently. 'Eventually you'll hit daylight. Then throw the sack in the deepest part of the river.'
Lusana was about to leave when Fawkes placed a great paw on his shoulder. 'We'll settle our business later.'
Lusana stared back steadily. 'I look forward to it.'
And then the leader of the African Army of Revolution melted into the darkness like a shadow.
At two thousand feet Steiger made a slight adjustment in pitch and the Minerva dipped over the Jefferson Memorial and crossed the Tidal Basin on a course along Independence Avenue.
'It's crowded up here,' he said, motioning to a bevy of Army helicopters hovering from one end of the Capitol mall to the other like a swarm of mad bees.
Sandecker nodded and said, 'Better keep your distance. They're liable to shoot first and ask questions later.'
'How long since the Iowa's last shot?'
'Nearly eighteen minutes.'
'Maybe that's the end of it, then,' said Steiger.
'We won't land until we're sure,' Sandecker replied. 'How's the fuel?'
'Enough for nearly four more hours' flying time.'
Sandecker twisted in his seat to relieve his aching buttocks. 'Stay as close as you dare to the National Archives building. If the Iowa cuts loose again, you can bet that's the target.'
'I wonder how Pitt made out?'
Sandecker put up an unworried front.
'He knows the score. Pitt is the least of our problems.' He turned away and looked out a side window so Steiger couldn't see the lines of worry that creased his face.
'I should have been the one to go in,' said Steiger. 'This is strictly a military show. A civilian has no business risking his life attempting a job he wasn't trained for.'
'And you were, I suppose.'
'You must admit my credentials outweigh Parts.''
Sandecker found himself smiling. 'Care to bet?'
Steiger caught the admiral's cagey tone. 'What are you implying?'
'You've been had, Colonel, pure and simple. 35
'Had? 33
'Pitt carries the rank of major in the Air Force.'
Steiger looked over at Sandecker, his eyes squinting. 'Are you going to tell me he can fly?'
'Just about every aircraft built, including this helicopter.'
'But he claimed…'
'I know what he claimed.'
Steiger looked lost. 'And you sat back and said nothing?'
'You have a wife and children. Me, I'm too old. Dirk was the logical man to go.'
The tenseness went out of Steiger's body and he sagged into his seat. 'He better make it,' he murmured under his breath. 'By God, he better make it.'
Pitt would have gladly given the last penny in his savings account to be anyplace but climbing a pitchblack stairway deep inside a ship that at any second might turn into an inferno. His brow was clammy and cold with sweat, as though he were running a fever. Suddenly Fawkes stopped and Pitt ran into him like a blind man against an oak tree.
'Please remain where you stand, gentlemen.' The voice came from the lightless landing several steps above. 'You cannot see me, but I can see enough of you both to strike your hearts with a bullet.'
'This is the captain,' Fawkes snapped angrily.
'Ah. Captain Fawkes himself. How convenient. I was beginning to fear I had missed connections. You were not on the bridge, as I supposed.'
'Identify yourself!' Fawkes demanded.
'The name is Emma. Not very masculine, I admit, but it serves the purpose.'
'Stop this foolishness and let us pass.'
Fawkes made a move up two steps when the Hocker-Rodine hissed and a bullet zinged past his neck. He froze in midstep. 'Good God, man, what is it you want?'
'I admire a no-nonsense approach, Captain.' Emma paused, and then said, 'I've been ordered to kill you.'
Slowly, unnoticed by Fawkes and, he hoped, by the man on the landing, Pitt slipped down to his stomach on the steps, shielded by the shadowy bulk of the captain. Then, fractionally, he began slithering up the stairs like a snake.
'Ordered, you say,' said Fawkes. 'By whom?'
'My employer does not matter.'
'Then why all the prattle, damn you. Why not shoot me in the chest and be done with it?'
'I do not operate without purpose, Captain Fawkes. You have been deceived. I think you should know that.'
'Deceived?' Fawkes thundered. 'Your foggy words tell me nothing.'
An alarm began to sound in the back of Emma's mind, an alarm honed by a dozen years of cat-and-mouse existence. He stood there silently, not answering the captain's question, his senses probing for a sound or a movement.
'What about the man behind me?' asked Fawkes. 'He has no hand in this. No need to murder an innocent bystander.'
'Rest easy, Captain,' said Emma. 'My fee is for only one life. Yours.'
With agonizing slowness, Pitt raised his head until he was eye level with the landing. He could see Emma now. Not in detail the light was too dim for that — but he could make out the pale blur of a face and the outline of a figure.
Pitt didn't wait to see more. He could only guess Emma would blast Fawkes in the gut during the middle of a sentence, after lulling him with idle conversation. An old but effective trick. He dug the balls of his feet into the steps, took a breath, and lunged, going for a vicious impact with Emma's legs, his hands clawing for the gun.
The silencer flashed in Pitt's face, and a stabbing pain slammed the right side of his head as he grabbed for Emma's arm. After the haze of sudden shock he swam into unconsciousness and began falling, falling. It seemed to take forever before the abysmal void swallowed him and there was nothing.
64
