Gunn grinned perceptively. "Admiral Sandecker told me. You're AWOL from a government safe house in Maine."
"They've probably got an all-points bulletin out on me for fleeing across state lines," Giordino said, laughing.
"So what do we do to keep busy?" asked Stewart. "And for how long?"
"Keep the Marine Denizen anchored right where she is for now," Pitt ordered. "After Qin Shang's security people stole your AUV, any cover you had as an innocent NUMA research project was blown. Maintain observation of Sungari as close as you can anchor."
"If they're onto us, wouldn't it be better to move the ship further downriver toward the Gulf?"
Pitt gave a negative shake of his head. "I don't think so. Stay in close. I'm betting they're overconfident and think their smuggling tactics and strategy are undetectable and foolproof. Qin Shang believes he is untouchable. Let him go right on thinking Chinese are artful and crafty devils while Americans all attend village-idiot school. Meanwhile, Al and I mount a little clandestine operation of our own upriver and pinpoint the staging center. Immigration agents will want to know where the smuggled aliens are unloaded and held before boarding buses or trucks for circulation around the country." Pitt paused. "Any questions, any comments?"
"If you've pegged Qin Shang's modus operandi," Stewart said happily, "we're halfway home."
"Sounds like a good plan to me," said Gunn. "How should we proceed?"
"Subterfuge will be the order of the day," explained Pitt. "Al and I will move into Morgan City, merge in with the locals and charter a fishing boat. Then head up the Atchafalaya and search out the staging center."
"You'll probably need a guide," Stewart suggested. "There are a thousand inlets, sloughs and bayous between here and the canal locks above Baton Rouge. Not being familiar with the river could cost you much time and wasted effort."
"Good thinking," agreed Giordino. "I do not wish to go off and perish in a quagmire and become a mystery like Amelia Earhart."
"Little danger of that," Stewart said, smiling.
"Detailed topographical maps should be the only guide we'll need." Pitt nodded at the Ma
rine Denizen's captain. "We'll keep you apprised of location and any progress over my satellite phone. You alert us to the next departure of the barge and towboat from the next ship to hit port."
"Won't hurt for you to pass on the information regarding the United States too," added Giordino. "I'd like to be around when she docks at Sungari."
Gunn and Stewart exchanged confused looks. "The United States isn't bound for Sungari," said Gunn.
Pitt's green eyes narrowed and his shoulders stiffened slightly. "I've heard nothing from Admiral Sandecker. Where did you get that bit of information?"
"The local newspaper," answered Stewart. "We send a launch up to Morgan City once a day for any needed supplies. Whoever volunteers for the trip always brings back a newspaper. The story has been big news around Louisiana."
"What story?" Pitt demanded.
"You haven't been told?" asked Gunn.
"Haven't been told what?"
"The United States," Gunn muttered quietly. "She's heading up the Mississippi to New Orleans, where she's going to be remodeled into a hotel and gambling casino."
Both Pitt and Giordino looked as if they had been told their life's savings had vanished. Giordino twisted his mouth in a wry grimace. "It seems, old buddy, that we have been led down the garden path."
"That we have." When Pitt spoke again his voice carried a windchill factor of minus twenty, and he smiled a grim smile that seemed to portend something. "But then, things aren't always what they seem."
30
LATER THE SAME AFTERNOON, the Coast Guard cutter Weehawken moved easily over the low, breeze-ruffled waves and slowed as the order came down from the wheelhouse to the engine room to reduce speed. Captain Duane Lewis peered through his binoculars at the big container ship that was approaching from the south less than a nautical mile away. His expression was calm and relaxed, his cap tilted slightly back over a thicket of sandy hair. He lowered the glasses, revealing deep-set ivory brown eyes. He turned and smiled thinly at the woman standing beside him on the bridge wing who was dressed in the uniform of the United States Coast Guard.
"There's your ship," he said in a bass voice, "sailing as smugly as a wolf in sheep's clothing. She looks innocent enough."
Julia Lee gazed over the railing at the Sung Lien Star. "A deception. God only knows the human suffering that's being endured hidden within her hull."
She wore no makeup, and a fake scar ran across her chin. Her beautiful long black hair had been cropped short and styled like a man's, and was covered by a ship's baseball cap. In the beginning, she had second thoughts about clandestinely switching roles with Lin Wan Chu, but her burning hatred of Qin Shang, along with an unyielding confidence that she could succeed, made her more determined than ever to make the attempt. She felt a surge of optimism at knowing that she was not alone in this mission.
Lewis turned and aimed the binoculars toward the flat green shoreline and the mouth of the lower Atchafalaya River only three miles away. Except for a few shrimp boats, the water was empty. He gestured at a young officer standing at his side. "Lieutenant Stowe, signal her to come to a stop and stand by for a boarding inspection."