The President, dressed in a warm sheepskin jacket, came down the steps from the porch and greeted him. 'Admiral, thank you for coming. '
'I'd rather be here than in Washington.'
'How was your trip?'
'Slept most of it.'
'Sorry to bring you up here in a mad rush.'
'I'm fully aware of the urgency.'
The President put a hand on Sandecker's back and steered him up the steps toward the cottage door. 'Come in and have some breakfast. Dale Nichols, Julius Schiller and Senator Pitt are already attacking the eggs and smoked ham.'
'Assembled the brain trust, I see,' Sandecker said with a cagey smile.
'We spent half the night discussing the political impact of your discovery.'
'Little I can tell you in person that wasn't in the report I sent by courier.'
'Except you neglected to include a diagram of your proposed excavation.'
'I would have gotten around to it,' Sandecker said, standing his ground.
The President was not put off by Sandecker's attitude. 'You can show everyone over but.'
They broke off the conversation for a few moments as the President led him through the log-constructed house. They walked through a cozy living room decorated more for modern living than a hunting lodge. A small fire crackled away in a large rock fireplace. They entered the dining room, where Schiller and Nichols, dressed as fishermen, rose as one to shake hands. Senator Pitt merely waved. He wore a sweatsuit.
The Senator and the Admiral were close friends because of their closeness to Dirk. Sandecker caught a hint of warning from the elder Pitts somber expression.
There was one other man the President hadn't mentionedHarold Wismer, an old crony and adviser of the President who enjoyed enormous influence and worked outside the White House bureaucracy. Sandecker wondered why he was present.
The President pulled out a chair. 'Sit down, Admiral. How do you like your eggs?'
Sandecker shook his head. 'A small bowl of fruit and a glass of skim milk will do me fine.'
A white-coated steward took Sandecker's order and disappeared into the kitchen.
'So that's how you keep that wiry shape,' said Schiller.
'That and enough exercise to keep me in a perpetual state of sweat.'
'All of us wish to congratulate you and your people on a magnificent find,' Wismer began without hesitation. He stared through glasses with pink lenses. A snarled beard almost hid his lips. He was bald as a basketball; brown eyes wide to give a slight popped look. 'When do you expect to move dirk?'
'Tomorrow,' Sandecker answered, suspecting the rug was about to be pulled out from under him. He pulled a blowup of a geological survey map showing the topography above Roma from his briefcase. Then he followed it with a cutaway drawing of the hill indicating the planned excavation shafts. He laid them out on a free section of the table. 'We intend to dig two exploratory tunnels into the main hill eighty meters below the summit. '
'The one labeled 'Gongora Hill'?'
'Yes, the tunnels will enter on opposing sides of the slope facing the river and then angle toward each other, but on different levels. One or both should strike the grotto Junius Venator inscribed on Sam Trinity's stone, or, with luck, one of the original entry shafts.'
'You're absolutely sure a treasure trove of artifacts from the Alexandria Library is at this place,' Wismer said, tightening the noose.
'You have no doubts.'
'None,' asserted Sandecker in a salty tone. 'The map from the Roman stup in Greenland led to the artifacts found in Roma by Trinity. The pieces slot together nicely.'
'But could the-?'
'No, the Roman objects have been authenticated.' Sandecker cut Wismer off abruptly. This is no hoax, no attempt at fraud, no wild stunt or game. We know it's there. The only question is how extensive is the hoard.'
'We don't mean to suggest the Library's treasures do not exist,' said Schiller quickly, a little too quickly. 'But you must understand, Admiral, the international repercussions of such an enormous discovery might be difficult to predict, much less control.'
Sandecker stared at Schiller unblinking. 'I fail to see how bringing the knowledge of the ancient world to light will cause Armageddon. Also, aren't you a little late? The world already knows about the treasure.
Hala Kamfl announced our search in her address to the United Nations.'
'There are considerations,' said the President seriously, you may not be aware of. President Hasan may claim the entire trove of relics belongs to Egypt. Greece will insist on the return of Alexander's gold casket.
Who can say what claims Italy will put forth?'
'Maybe I took the wrong tack, gentlemen,' said Sandecker. 'It was my understanding we promised to share in the discovery with President Hasan as a means of propping up his government.'
'True,' admitted Schiller. 'But that was before you nailed down the location beside the Rio Grande-Now you've brought Mexico into the picture. The fanatic Topiltzin can make a case on the fact that the burial site originally belonged to Mexico.'
'That's to be expected,' said Sandecker. 'Except that possession is nine tenths of the law. Legally the artifacts
