Yamada lifted the four-foot-long robo-fish and hauled it belowdecks for processing in their miniature lab. Its software was programmed for autonomous swimming, diving to specific depths at regular intervals, and recording data as it went. The young woman running his onboard IT department would handle the data download and analysis. Part of the robo-fish’s skin provided data collection — a kind of flypaper for chemical elements, including cesium-137. Samples would be drawn and analyzed by another grad student when they got back to the mainland. But for now, Yamada would subject it to a simple scan to see if any radioactivity could be detected. He wanded the robo-fish’s entire body with a handheld Geiger counter. Nothing. He began to think the whole trip out this way was a wild-goose chase. Maybe the bad guys had fed him a false lead to get him away from the real evidence he had been gathering earlier.
“Kenji, report to the bridge.” The voice on the loudspeaker was urgent — one of his grad students was piloting the boat today.
Yamada dashed up the ladder and made his way to the enclosed cabin above the main deck.
“What’s wrong?”
The bearded young man pointed to the northeast. A fishing trawler. “Been tracking him on our radar scope. Getting awfully close.”
The rusted trawler ran a parallel course. Looked like it would pass by, but with little room to spare. Their research ship was dead in the water, waiting to retrieve several other submersible sensors, including two more robo-fish.
“Did you raise him on the radio? Try to waive him off?”
“He’s not doing anything illegal, technically. I thought I’d call you first.”
Yamada grabbed a pair of high-powered binoculars. Adjusted the furled focus ring. He scanned the vessel. Booms, drums, winches. “Definitely a fishing trawler.” His glass stopped on the big red flag with the five golden stars on the fantail.
Yamada lowered the binoculars, frowning. They were out of the shipping lanes. Hadn’t seen much of any traffic the last few days.
“It’s a Chinese vessel, isn’t it?” the pilot asked.
Yamada nodded.
“You think we’re in any danger?” They had all heard about the Chinese trawler attack on the Japanese dive boat several days earlier. Yamada made sure to keep his American flag flying at all times.
“Has he altered course at all?”
“Not since I’ve been tracking him.”
Yamada scratched his head, an old nervous habit. If they moved too far off their current location, it would take them a lot more time to retrieve the other submersibles, even with their autonomous homing capabilities. If they held their position, they would be all packed up and heading back to Nagasaki for the night in less than an hour. “We’ll stay put. We aren’t in any danger unless that trawler changes course.”
Twenty minutes later, it did.
FORTY-NINE
Floodlights bathed the tarmac where Feng’s Gulfstream taxied to a stop. The stars overhead were hidden by a bank of low clouds.
Myers’s hair whipped in the brisk ocean breeze that chilled her to the bone. The cabin door opened and the stairs deployed. Her heart skipped a beat when Pearce finally emerged in the doorway. As soon as he stepped onto the tarmac, the stairs behind him were lifted and the door shut. A moment later, the turbines whined as the plane began to taxi away.
Pearce’s broad frame was only a shadow as he crossed the asphalt. It took everything in her not to run to him because that was the kind of thing only silly women did in bad Hollywood movies. The American ambassador, Henry Davis, was with her, along with a navy corpsman stationed at the American embassy.
Troy emerged out of the shadows into the light of the hangar. Myers gasped. His unshaven face was badly bruised. One of his sleep-deprived eyes was red and blackened. Dried blood stained his collar. The horrible memory of Pearce’s head wound in Algeria flooded over her.
Bad movie or not, she ran to him.
“Troy—”
She wanted to gather him up in her arms and hug him, but she was afraid to touch him. She gently laid her hands on his shoulders.
He smiled. “Hey.”
She stood back. “What did they do to you?”
“A couple of love taps. No big deal.” He lisped a little. His lower lip was swollen.
“No big deal? You look like you walked into a wall,” Myers said.
“You should see the other guy.” Pearce laughed. Winced again. Didn’t want to tell Myers the other guy was actually a middle-aged woman who used his head for a punching bag.
Myers and the navy corpsman steered him toward a bench near the hangar wall. The corpsman broke out his medical kit.
“Can I get you anything?” the ambassador asked. “What do you need?”
“A shower and a change of clothes for a start. I’m kind of ripe.”
The corpsman flashed a light in both of Pearce’s eyes.
“How’s your head? Headache? Dizzy?”
“No.” Pearce lied. His head hurt like hell, but he’d be damned if he was going to spend the night in a navy hospital.
“Anything broken?”
“No.”
“How about a belt?” The corpsman pulled a silver flask from his coat and held it up.
“Don’t tempt me.”
The corpsman pocketed the flask and pressed two fingers on Pearce’s inner wrist, feeling for a pulse, counting the beats while staring at his watch.
“How badly did they beat you?” Myers asked.
“I’ve had worse, believe me. I’m fine, really.”
“Heart rate is good,” the corpsman said. “They hit you with anything? Electric shock? Any wounds?”
“Just my ego. Honestly, I’m fine.”
The corpsman closed up his kit. “I’d like to get you to the base clinic for a full exam or even the local hospital if you’d prefer.”
“All I need is that shower. Maybe a steak, medium rare.” Pearce stood and stretched, working out the kinks.
“I’m filing a formal protest with my counterpart in Beijing first thing in the morning,” the ambassador said. “Lot of good it will do.”
“Does Lane know I’m back?” Pearce asked.
The ambassador nodded. “Called him the moment your plane landed.”
Pearce looked at Myers. “How’d you get me out of there?”
“Called a friend of yours. She was very persuasive.” Myers didn’t know the ambassador well. Even if she did, she didn’t want to admit to an official in the Lane administration that she’d instigated the kidnapping of a Chinese national on German territory by an Israeli secret agent. “I’ll fill in the details later.”
Myers turned to the corpsman and the ambassador. “I need a moment, please.” They both nodded and stepped away per their prior arrangement. When they were out of earshot, Myers took one of Pearce’s hands in hers.
“I’m okay, really,” Pearce said, smiling through the pain. Myers loved the way the corners of his eyes crinkled up when he smiled like that.
“Troy, I’ve got some bad news.”
Pearce’s smile disappeared. “What?”
“It’s your friend, Kenji Yamada.”
FIFTY
The young Japanese medical examiner carefully pulled open the refrigerated stainless-steel drawer and stepped quietly back.
Pearce took a deep breath. He pulled back the crisp white sheet. His blood pressure plunged. It felt like the floor was falling out from beneath his feet.