Molly, who had changed into a more comfortable khaki blouse and shorts, sat nearby in a small tent, manning the communications and fielding any problems that arose during the dismantling operation and transportation of parts to the loading dock. She stepped out of the tent and handed Gunn a cold bottle of beer.
“You look like you could use a little something to wet your tonsils,” she said.
Gunn nodded thankfully and rolled the bottle across his forehead. “I must have consumed twenty liters of liquid since we got here.”
“I wish Pitt and Giordino were here,” she said sadly. “I miss them.”
Gunn stared absently at the ground. “We all miss them. I know the admiral’s heart is torn out.”
Molly changed the subject. “How’s it look?”
He tilted his head toward the half-dismantled antenna. “She’s fighting us every step of the way. Things are going a little faster now that we know how to attack her.”
“A shame,” she decided after a thoughtful survey of the thirty men and four women who struggled so long and hard to tear apart and move the antenna, their dedication and tireless efforts now seemingly wasted in a magnificent attempt to save so many lives, “that all this may very well come to nothing.”
“Don’t give up on Jim Sandecker,” said Gunn. “He may have been blocked by the White House in securing the Roosevelt, but I’ll bet you a dinner with soft lights and music that he’ll come up with a replacement.”
“You’re on,” she said, smiling thinly. “That’s a bed I’ll gladly lose.”
He looked up curiously. “I beg your pardon?”
“A Freudian slip.” She laughed tiredly. “I meant ‘bet.’”
At four in the morning, Molly received a call from Sandecker. His voice showed no trace of fatigue.
“When do you expect to wrap up?”
“Rudi thinks we’ll have the final section loaded on board the Lanikai—”
“The what?” Sandecker interrupted.
“The Lanikai, a small interisland freighter I chartered to haul the antenna to Pearl Harbor.”
“Forget Pearl Harbor. How soon before you’ll be out of there?”
“Another five hours.” replied Molly.
“We’re running tight. Remind Rudi we have less than sixty hours left.”
“If not Pearl Harbor, where do we go?”
“Set a course for Halawa Bay, on the island of Molokai.” answered Sandecker. “I found another platform for deploying the reflector.”
“Another aircraft carrier?”
“Something even better.”
“Halawa Bay is less than a hundred kilometers across the channel. How did you manage that?”
“They who await no gifts from chance, conquer fate.”
“You’re being cryptic, Admiral,” Molly said, intrigued.
“Just tell Rudi to pack up and get to Molokai no later than ten o’clock this morning.”
She had just switched off the portable phone when Gunn entered the tent. “We’re breaking down the final section,” he said wearily. “And then we’re out of here.”
“The admiral called,” she informed Gunn. “He’s ordered us to take the antenna to Halawa Bay.”
“On Molokai?” Gunn asked, his eyes narrowed questioningly.
“That was the message,” she said flatly.
“What kind of ship do you suppose he’s pulled out of his hat?”
“A fair question. I have no idea.”
“It’d better be a winner,” Gunn muttered, “or we’ll have to close the show.”
There was no moon, but the sea flamed with spectral blue-green phosphorescence under the glint of the stars that filled the sky from horizon to horizon like unending city lights. The wind had veered and swept in from the south, driving the Marvelous Maeve hard to the northwest. The green-and-yellow beech-leaf sail filled out like a woman’s tattooed breast, while the boat leaped over the waves like a mule running with thoroughbreds. Pitt had never imagined that the ungainly looking craft could sail so well. She would never win a trophy, but he could have closed his eyes and envisioned himself on a first class yacht, skimming over the sea without a care in the world.
The swells no longer had the same hostile look nor did the clouds look as threatening. The nightly chill also diminished as they traveled north into warmer waters. The sea had tested them with cruelty and harshness, and they had passed with flying colors. Now the weather was cooperating by remaining constant and charitable.
Some people tire of looking at the sea from a tropical beach or the deck of a cruise ship, but Pitt was not among them. His restless soul and the capricious water were one, inseparable in their shifting moods.
Maeve and Giordino no longer felt as though they were struggling to stay alive. Their few moments of warmth and pleasure, nearly drowned by adversity, were becoming more frequent. Pitt’s unshakable optimism, his contagious laughter, his unrelenting grasp of hope, his strength of character sustained and helped them face the worst that nature could throw at them. Never did they perceive a bare hint of depression in his perspective, whatever the situation. No matter how strained he appeared as he sighted his sextant on the stars or warily watched for a sudden change of the wind, he was always smiling.
When she realized she was falling deeply in love with him, Maeve’s independent spirit fought against it. But when she finally accepted the inevitable, she gave in to her feelings completely. She continually found herself studying his every move, his every expression as he jotted down their position on Rodney York’s chart of the southern sea.
She touched him on the arm. “Where are we?” she asked softly.
“At first light I’ll mark our course and figure the distance separating us from Gladiator Island.”
“Why don’t you give it a rest? You haven’t slept more than two hours since we left the Miseries.”
“I promise I’ll take a nice long siesta when we’re on the last leg of the voyage,” he said, peering through gloom at the compass.
“Al never sleeps ‘either,” she said, pointing at Giordino, who never ceased examining the condition of the outriggers and the rigging holding the boat together.
“If the following wind holds and my navigating is anywhere near the mark, we should sight your island sometime early morning on the day after tomorrow.”
She looked up at the great field of stars. “The heavens are lovely tonight.”
“Like a woman I know,” he said, eyes going from compass to the sails to Maeve. “A radiant creature with guileless blue eyes and hair like a shower of golden coins. She’s innocent and intelligent and was made for love and life.”
“She sounds quite appealing.”
“That’s only for starters. Her father happens to be one of the richest men in the solar system.”
She arched her back and snuggled against his body, feeling its hardness. She brushed her lips against the mirth lines around his eyes and his strong chin. “You must be very smitten with her.”
“Smitten, and why not?” he said slowly. “She is the only girl in this part of the Pacific Ocean who makes me mad with passionate desire.”
“But. I’m the only girl in this part of the Pacific Ocean.”
He kissed her lightly on the forehead. “Then it’s your solemn duty to fulfill my most intimate fantasies.”
“I’d take you up on that if we were alone,” she said in a sultry voice. “But for now, you’ll just have to suffer.”
“I could tell Al to take a hike,” he said with a grin.
She pulled back and laughed. “He wouldn’t get far.” Maeve secretly sensed a flow of happiness at knowing no flesh-and-blood woman stood between them. “You’re a special kind of man,” she whispered. “The kind every woman longs to meet.”
He laughed easily. “Not so. I’ve seldom swept the fair sex off their feet.”