Arctic Drift

“Admiral, this is a nice surprise,” Giordino said with his usual sarcasm. “But we could have taken a cab to the airport.”

“I was about to say that I’m glad to see you jokers alive, but I may have to rethink that,” Sandecker replied.

“It’s good to see you, Admiral,” Pitt said. “We weren’t expecting to find you here.”

“I promised both Loren and the President that I’d get you two home in one piece.”

He nodded to the driver, who exited the Coast Guard station and began driving across the city to the Anchorage International Airport.

“You promised the President?” Giordino asked.

“Yes. I caught hell when he found out that the Narwhal, with NUMA’s Director aboard, was smack in the middle of the Northwest Passage.”

“By the way, thanks for sending in the Santa Fe when you did,” Pitt said. “They’re the ones who saved our bacon.”

“We were fortunate that they happened to be in the northern Arctic and could reach the area quickly. But the President is well aware that the Polar Dawn’s crew would have been lost if you hadn’t sailed into harm’s way.”

“Stenseth and Dahlgren are to thank for saving the Polar Dawn’s crew,” Pitt replied.

“More important, you pegged the ruse of the icebreaker. I can’t tell you how close we were to a hot fight with the Canadians. The President rightly credits you with averting a major crisis.”

“Then the least he can do is fund us a replacement vessel for the Narwhal,” Giordino said.

The Lincoln motored down the rain-slicked streets, turning past Delaney Park, a wide strip of grass and trees that had been the city’s original airfield. Anchorage International Airport had been built later on a flat to the southwest of downtown.

“How did the press briefings go?” Pitt asked.

“Just as we hoped. The Canadian press is all over the story. They’re already fighting to get to Ottawa to grill the Prime Minister over his mistaken claims about the Arctic incidents. He and his party will have no choice but to face the music and retract their earlier blame against us.”

“I certainly hope this all catches up to Mitchell Goyette in a big way,” Giordino said.

“I’m afraid it’s too late for him,” Sandecker replied.

“Too late?” Giordino asked.

“Goyette was found dead in Vancouver yesterday. He apparently died under mysterious circumstances.”

“Justice served,” Pitt said quietly.

“The CIA acted that fast?” Giordino asked.

Sandecker gave him a withering stare. “We had nothing to do with it.”

The Vice President turned back to Pitt with an anxious look. “Did you find the ruthenium?”

Pitt shook his head. “Al’s got the Erebus logbook right here. The Franklin ruthenium was real, but it was obtained in trade with a whaler from South Africa. There is no ruthenium source in the Arctic, and the South African mines played out years ago. I’m afraid we came up empty.”

There was a long silence in the car.

“Well, we will just have to find another way,” Sandecker finally said quietly. “At least you found Franklin,” he added, “and put to bed a one-hundred-and-sixty-five-year-old mystery.”

“I just hope he finally makes it home himself,” Pitt said solemnly, staring at the distant peaks of the Chugach Mountains as the Lincoln pulled alongside Air Force Two.

92

Mitchell Goyette’s death did little to quell the media tempest swirling about his empire. A number of environmental reporters had already uncovered the carbon dioxide dumping associated with the Kitimat sequestration plant and the near accident with the Alaskan cruise ship. Investigators from Canada’s Environment Ministry had swarmed the facility, closing it down and removing its workers as criminal and civil charges against Terra Green were prepared. Though it took several weeks, the LNG tanker responsible for the carbon dioxide dumping was ultimately tracked down to a Singapore shipyard. Local authorities promptly impounded the Goyette- owned ship.

The mogul’s illicit activities became repeated headline news across both Canada and the U.S. It wasn’t long before the police investigation into Goyette’s years of corrupt bidding for oil, gas, and mineral rights came to light. With an immunity deal in place for Resources Minister Jameson, incriminating details began toppling forward like a string of dominoes. A series of high-dollar wire transfers made to the Prime Minister was exposed, bribes paid by Goyette to further the expansion of carbon sequestration plants across Canada. The money trail led to dozens of other underhanded deals between Goyette and Prime Minister Barrett to jointly exploit the country’s natural resources.

Opposition leaders quickly jumped on the news accounts and investigations, inciting a full-blown witch hunt against the Prime Minister. Already beleaguered by his false accusations in the Arctic incidents, the criminal allegations fell like a ton of bricks. Abandoned of all support, Prime Minister Barrett resigned from office a few weeks later, along with most of his cabinet. Publicly despised, the ex-Prime Minister would fight criminal charges for years until finally agreeing to a nonsentencing plea bargain. His reputation shattered, Barrett quietly faded into obscurity.

Goyette’s Terra Green Industries would face a similar demise. Investigators pieced together his strategy of dominating the Arctic resources by expelling the American presence, monopolizing the local transportation, and bribing his way to controlling rights. Beset by corruption fines and environmental penalties that rose into the hundreds of millions, the private company quietly fell into receivership. Some of the company’s assets, including the LNG tanker, the Victoria Club, and Goyette’s personal yacht, were sold at public auction. Most of the energy assets and the fleet of vessels were acquired by the government, which operated the properties at cost. One icebreaker and a fleet of barges were leased to a nonprofit food bank for a dollar a year. Relocated to Hudson Bay, the barges hauled surplus Manitoba wheat to starving regions of East Africa.

Among the Terra Green fleet holdings, analysts discovered a small containership called the Alberta. An astute team of Mountie investigators proved that it was the same vessel that had rammed the Coast Guard patrol boat Harp in Lancaster Strait, with a few letters in its name repainted to read Atlanta. Like the crew of the Otok, the men who served aboard the Alberta readily testified at the mercy of the court that they were acting on direct orders from Mitchell Goyette.

As moderate forces of influence regained power in the Canadian government, relations with the U.S. warmed quickly. The Polar Dawn was quietly returned to the Americans, along with a small remuneration for its crew. The ban on U.S.-flagged vessels sailing the Northwest Passage was lifted and a strategic security agreement signed a short time later. For purposes of a shared mutual defense, the agreement stated, Canada pledged that American military vessels would forever be granted unrestricted transit through the passage. More important to the President, the Canadian government opened up access to the Melville Sound gas field. Within months, major quantities of natural gas were flowing unabated to the United States, quickly suppressing the economic disruption caused by the spike in oil prices.

Behind the scenes, the FBI and Royal Canadian Mounted Police jointly reopened their files on Clay Zak. The bombings at the George Washington University lab and the zinc-mining camp in the Arctic were easily pinned on him, but his other crimes were not so traceable. Although suspicions were raised, he was never fully linked to Elizabeth Finlay’s death in Victoria. He was, however, suspected in a dozen more unsolved deaths involving known opponents of Mitchell Goyette. Even though he was buried in a pauper’s grave at the North Vancouver Cemetery, his murderous activities would keep investigators busy for years to come.

The only Goyette associate to successfully navigate the flood of judicial and media probes was the natural