“It makes no sense. He'll lose his shirt, he must know that.”

“It makes a lot of sense if Shang intends to use the United States as a cover to move illegal aliens,” said Ferguson. “The CIA also thinks the People's Republic bankrolled Shang. The Chinese have a small navy. If they should ever get serious about invading Taiwan, they'll need troop transports. The United States could transport an entire division, including then-heavy arms and equipment.”

“I fully understand that sinister threats call for urgent measures.” Sandecker paused and massaged his temples with his fingertips for a few moments. Then he announced, “The resources of NUMA are at your command. We'll give it our best effort.”

The President nodded as though he had expected that. “Thank you, Admiral. I'm sure Mr. Monroe and Admiral Ferguson join me in expressing our gratitude.”

Gunn's thoughts were already on the job ahead. “It would be most helpful,” he said, his eyes on Monroe and Harper, “if you had agents on the inside of Shang's organization to feed us information.”

Monroe made a helpless gesture with his hands. “Shang's security is incredibly tight. He's hired a top group of former Russian KGB agents to form an impenetrable ring that even the CIA has yet to infiltrate. They have a computerized personnel identification and investigation system that is second to none. There is no one within Shang's own management circles who is not under constant surveillance.”

“To date,” added Harper, “we've lost two special agents who attempted to penetrate Shang's organization. Except for one of our agents who posed as an immigrant and bought her passage on board one of Shang's smuggling ships, our undercover missions are in shambles. I hate to admit such failure, but those are the hard facts.”

“Your agent is a woman?” asked Sandecker. “Comes from a wealthy Chinese family. She's one of our best.”

“Any idea where the smugglers will put your agent ashore?” asked Gunn.

Harper shook his head. “We're not in contact with her. They could drop her and the rest of the illegal immigrants anywhere between San Francisco and Anchorage.”

“How do you know Shang's security people haven't already caught on to her as they did your other two agents?”

Harper's eyes remained fixed in space for a long time. Finally, he admitted solemnly, “We don't. All we can do is wait and hope until she makes contact with one of our West Coast district offices.”

“And if you never hear from her?”

Harper gazed down at the polished surface of the table as if seeing the unthinkable. “Then I send a letter of condolence to her parents and assign someone else to follow in her footsteps.”

The meeting finally concluded at four o'clock in the morning. Sandecker and Gunn were ushered from the President's secret quarters and returned through the tunnel to the White House. As they were driven to their respective homes in the limousine, each man was lost hi gloomy thoughts. Finally Sandecker broke the somber mood.

“They must be desperate if they need NUMA to help bail them out.”

“I'd probably call in the Marines, the New York Stock Exchange and the Boy Scouts too if I was in the President's shoes,” said Gunn.

“A farce,” snorted Sandecker. “My sources in the White House tell me the President has been in bed with Qin Shang since he was governor of Oklahoma.”

Gunn looked at him. “But the President said—”

“I know what he said, but what he meant is a different thing. Naturally, he wants the flow of illegal immigrants stopped, but he won't order any measures that might upset Beijing. Qin Shang is President Wallace's chief campaign fund-raiser in Asia. Many millions of dollars from the Chinese government were funneled through Hong Kong and Qin Shang Maritime into Wallace's campaign fund. It's corrupt influence peddling of the highest order. That's why Wallace stops short of any head-to-head confrontation. His administration is riddled with people working on China's behalf. The man has sold his soul to the detriment of American citizens.”

“Then what does he hope to gain if we nail Qin Shang's ass to the wall?”

“It won't happen,” said Sandecker acidly. “Qin Shang will never be indicted nor convicted of criminal activities, certainly not in the United States.”

“Then I gather it's your plan to push ahead in the investigation,” said Gunn, “regardless of the consequences.”

Sandecker nodded. “Do we have a research ship operating in the Gulf?”

“The Marine Denizen. Her scientific team is conducting a study on the diminishing coral reefs off Yucatan.”

“She's served NUMA for a long time,” Sandecker said, visualizing the ship.

“The oldest in our fleet,” Gunn acknowledged. “This is her final voyage. After she returns to port in Norfolk, we're donating her to the Lampack University of Oceanography.”

“The university will have to wait a while longer. An old marine-research ship with a crew of biologists should prove an ideal cover to investigate Shang's port facility.”

“Who have you in mind to lead the investigation?”

Sandecker turned to Gunn. “Our special projects director, who do you think?”

Gunn hesitated. “Asking a bit much from Dirk, aren't we?”

“Can you think of a better man?”

“No, but he took quite a beating on the last project. When I saw him a few days ago, he looked like death warmed over. He needs more time to mend.”

“Pitt is a fast healer,” Sandecker said confidently. “A challenge is just what he needs to get back into the swim of things. Track him down and tell him it's essential he contact me immediately.”

“I don't know where to reach him,” Gunn said vaguely. “After you gave him a month's leave, he just took off without saying where he was going.”

“He's in Washington State, up to his old tricks at a place called Orion Lake.”

Gunn looked at the admiral suspiciously. “How do you know that?”

“Hiram Yaeger sent him a truckload of underwater gear,” said Sandecker, his eyes glinting like a fox's. “Hiram thought he did it on the sly, but word has a funny way of filtering up to my office.”

“Not much goes on around NUMA that you don't know about.”

“The only mystery I haven't solved is how Al Giordino smokes my expensive Nicaraguan cigars when I never find any missing.”

“Did it ever occur to you that you both might have the same source?”

“Impossible,” snorted Sandecker. “My cigars are rolled by a family who are close friends of mine in Managua. Giordino couldn't possibly know them. And while we're on the subject, where is Giordino?”

“Lying on a beach in Hawaii,” answered Gunn. “He decided it was as good a time as any to take a vacation until Dirk got back in the saddle again.”

“Those two are usually as thick as thieves. It's a rare moment when they're not causing mischief together.”

“You want me to brief Al on the situation and then send him out to Orion Lake to bring Dirk back to Washington?”

Sandecker nodded. “A good idea. Pitt will listen to Giordino. You go along as backup. Knowing Dirk, if I called and ordered him to report back to work, he'd hang up the phone.”

“You're absolutely right, Admiral,” Gunn said, smiling. “That's exactly what he would do.”

JULIA LEE'S THOUGHTS, CERTAIN BELIEFS RATHER, CENTERED around an overwhelming sense of defeat. Deep down, she knew she had botched her mission. She had made the wrong moves, said the wrong things. There was a feeling of emptiness, shrouded by despair in her mind. She had learned much about the smugglers' operation. There were ashes in her mouth as she realized that it was all for nothing. The vital information she had obtained might never be passed on to the Immigration and Naturalization Service so they could apprehend the smugglers.

She felt a sea of pain from her sadistically inflicted injuries, sick and empty and debased. She was also deathly tired and hungry. Her self-assurance had gotten the better of her. She failed by not acting meek and subjugated. By using the skills taught her during her training as a special INS agent and given enough time, she could have easily escaped her captors before being submitted to a life of rape. Now it was too late. Julia was too badly hurt to make an all-out physical effort. It was all she could do to stand upright without getting dizzy and losing her balance before falling to her knees.