Back checking they discovered the seaplane landed in Honlulu instead. A general alarm was put out for the pilot. Honolulu and the entire island of Oahu were combed for both him and the girl. Absolutely no trace of either were found.
Solo checked back on the pilot's record, utilizing Army service records, FBI facilities and the international records of Interpol and U.N.C.L.E.
"This man is clean," he said in a discouraged voice when he and Illya held their next conference. "There is absolutely no evidence to connect him with THRUSH or any other criminal organization. He was a good family man, an ardent supporter of the church and active in civic affairs."
"Then that means he is probably dead," Illya said. "Lupe or some other THRUSH agent hired the plane. After it flew her to a secret destination, the pilot returned here and was silenced."
"But where did she go?" Napoleon asked irritably. "She didn't leave by plane, by boat or by outrigger!"
"Maybe she swam!" Illya said.
Napoleon gave him a sour look. "It may be closer to the truth than you realized."
He turned to the telephone on the table beside the sitting room couch. He dialed jerkily and sat staring moodily out across the vista of Waikiki visible through the hotel window.
"Colonel Davis, please," he said into the phone when his call was completed. "Colonel? Napoleon Solo here. Did the okay come from Washington to cooperate with Mr. Kuryakin and me? Good! There is something most important. The Islands defense system has means of checking on any submarine penetration of this area?"
When Colonel Davis replied in the affirmative, Napoleon asked, "Would your defense patrols intercept any such undersea craft?"
"No," the army defense chief said. "Not unless it penetrated within the three mile territorial limits of Hawaii. We would mark its position and aerial patrols and antisubmarine units of the Navy would keep close watch over it just in case it might be a defense threat."
"Was one reported out around Maui yesterday?"
"There was," the colonel said.
"I see," Napoleon said. "Was the sea calm enough that a light seaplane might have landed on the water and made contact with this submarine?"
"Oh, entirely possible," the defense chief said. "Our patrols observed no such action, but when they arrived the submarine was submerged and departing."
"Do you have any indication of the sub's identity?"
"No," the colonel said. "These things happen all the time, both here, along the U.S. Pacific Coast and on the Atlantic. Foreign countries do it to test our defenses. We do the same thing in Asia and Europe. That is not unusual. However, if someone from Hawaii joined the sub, then that is not usual. We would be very much interested in a report of that to our counter-intelligence."
"As soon as I have anything definite, colonel," Napoleon sad, "I'll certainly make a full report. Thanks for your help."
He hung up and turned to Illya. "Well, wise guy, you are right for once. She swam off—in a tin fish!"
"To join the Waterloo, more than likely," Illya said. "Am I permitted to venture a small guess?"
"Don't waste time telling me she is probably going to the Waterloo to help solve the problem of why storm generation is not as successful in the Pacific as it was in the Atlantic," Napoleon said. "I'm smart too."
"While you're being so smart," Illya said with a sour grin, "go on and tell me how you intend to keep this Waterloo ship from being the Waterloo of us both?"
"I intend to depend on your brilliance," Napoleon said with a grin of his own. "You are the difference, you know. And that is an order directly from Waverly himself!"
"I wish I could," Illya said. "Never have I felt so useless on any case. We are getting absolutely nowhere, Napoleon."
"Don't I know it!" Solo said with a worried frown creasing his forehead. "I was talking to Waverly just a half hour ago. He reports there is excitement all through the THRUSH organization. Harmon reports it from Europe. April Dancer sent a similar report from South America. Mark Slate had the same story from Southeast Asia. Waverly believes THRUSH has definite hope that the girl will solve the problem. They believe it so strongly that they have alerted their cells worldwide to be ready to step in when these monstrous storms spread their destruction!"
"I don't know what we are doing wasting more time here," Illya said. "We've got to find a new lead. I think—"
He broke off when the phone rang. Napoleon, who was nearest, picked up the instrument. Illya, tensely watching his partner's face, saw Napoleon start.
"What is it?" Illya asked eagerly.
"A typhoon has been spotted outside the usual belt!" Solo said hurriedly. Then into the phone he said, "How is the storm reacting?"
He listened for a few seconds and said, "We certainly would! We'll be there as soon as a taxi can get us there!"
He jammed down the phone. "The storm acts as though it's crippled!" he said to Illya. "It builds up fury and then seems to lose its punch and then builds up again. It is sort of pulsing!"
"This could be it!" Illya said, his face flushing with excitement. "What are we going to do?"
"We are going to ride one of the typhoon-tracker planes out and see for ourselves!"
"Typhoon trackers? Those are the boys who deliberately fly into these cyclones to measure wind velocity and direction, isn't it?"
"That's right," Napoleon said. "We're going to go straight into that storm and we're not coming out without its secrets!"
ACT VIII: INTO THE STORM
An hour later Solo and Kuryakin were in a weather reconnaissance plane of the U.S. Air Force, heading into the deep Pacific out of Honolulu.
Another weather reconnaissance plane was already in the area which was east of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. The two men listened to the reports coming back.
"It is a small storm," the report said. "It covers about two hundred and fifty miles in radius. We managed to penetrate into the eye. It covers an area of about fifteen miles. There is a wall of clouds circling about the eye which holds the worst turbulence I have ever encountered. I am estimating the wind speed at close to two hundred knots—and that is some wind. The hail, rain and lightning is awful. There are times when I didn't think we would make it. Under no circumstances do I recommend you to try a penetration yourself."
The pilot called Napoleon Solo on the intercom.
"We are under your orders," he said. "We were told to do as you wished. Shall we try to penetrate the storm or not?"
Napoleon hesitated.
"What do you recommend?" he asked.
"It is getting close to night," he said. "I don't know what we could find out inside the eye that the other weather plane didn't get."
"Can you get him on the radio?" Solo asked. "Ask if he saw any indication of a ship in the eye."
"No," the answer came back across the intervening miles. "The ocean inside the eye is lashed to an awful fury. A fish would get seasick in that wild water. I don't see how any ship could keep afloat if trapped in there."
Illya Kuryakin nodded.
"You remember, Napoleon," he said. "When we were in the eye of that Atlantic hurricane, the trapped sea water inside the eye was boiling while the air above was perfectly still."
"What about on the fringes outside the circular area of the storm itself?" Solo asked. "Can you get any radar return that shows a ship or submarine might be anywhere along the fringes?"