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"We've seen all we're going to see," said Pitt. "Time to meet up with Rudi and the Marine Denizen."
He made a sweeping turn and set the Skyfox on a course down the Atchafalaya River toward Sweet Bay Lake. The research ship soon came into view, and he lowered the flaps and dropped the floats in preparation for landing. He flared the aircraft, allowing it gently to kiss the calm water and throw up a light sheet of spray from the floats. Then Pitt taxied alongside the research ship and killed the engines.
Giordino raised the canopy and waved up to Rudi Gunn and Captain Frank Stewart, who were standing at the railing. Stewart turned and shouted an order. The boom from the ship's crane swung around until it was hovering over the Skyfox. The cable was lowered and Giordino attached the hook and lines to the lifting rings on the top of the aircraft's wings and fuselage before catching guy ropes from the crew. A signal was given and the crane's engine shifted into gear and hoisted up the Skyfox. Water fell in cascades from the hull and floats as the Coast Guard crew manning the guy ropes pulled the aircraft into the proper attitude. Once clearance was achieved, the crane swung the aircraft over the side and lowered it onto a landing pad on the stern deck next to the ship's helicopter. Pitt and Giordino climbed from the cockpit and shook hands with Gunn and Stewart.
"We watched through binoculars," said Stewart. "If you had circled Sungari any lower you could have rented a headset and cassette and taken a self-guided tour of the place."
"See anything interesting from the air?" asked Gunn.
"Odd that you should mention that," said Giordino. "I do believe we just might have viewed something we weren't supposed to."
"Then you've seen more than we have," muttered Stewart.
Pitt gazed at a pelican that folded its wings and dove cleanly into the water, emerging with a small fish in its scooplike beak. "The admiral told us that you failed to find any openings in the landfill casings under the docks before their security snatched your AUV."
"Not so much as a crack," admitted Gunn. "If Qin Shang is planning on smuggling illegal aliens through Sungari, it isn't from a ship through underground tunnels to the warehouse terminals."
"You warned us they could be cagey," said Stewart. "And, we found out the hard way. Now NUMA is out an expensive piece of equipment and we don't dare ask for it back."
Gunn said bleakly, "We've accomplished nothing. All we've done for the last forty-eight hours is stare at empty docks and vacant buildings."
Pitt placed a hand on Gunn's shoulder. "Cheer up, Rudi. While we stand here feeling sorry for ourselves for acting deaf, dumb and blind, a boatload of illegal immigrants from China was offloaded at Sungari and are now on their way inland to a staging center."
Gunn stared into Pitt's eyes, startled, and saw them twinkle. "So tell us what you saw."
"The towboat and barges that left Sungari a short time ago," replied Pitt. "Al observed a couple of men on board the barges who were carrying weapons. When we passed over them they tried to hide."
"Nothing shady about a towboat crew carrying arms," said Stewart. "It's a fairly common practice if they're transporting valuable cargo."
"Valuable?" Pitt said, laughing. "The cargo was trash and garbage thrown off the ship that had accumulated after a long voyage across the sea. Armed men weren't on the barge to protect trash, they were there to keep their human cargo from escaping."
"How could you know that?" asked Gunn.
"A process of elimination." Pitt began to feel good. He was on a roll. "At the present time, the only way in and out of Sungari is by ocean ships and riverboats. The ships smuggle in the immigrants, but there is no way to secretly transport them to a staging area for dispersion around the country. And you've proven they're not herded from the ships through hidden passages under the docks and warehouses. So they must be carried inland by barges."
"Not possible," stated Stewart flat out. "Customs and immigration agents come on board the minute the ship docks and search it from bow to stern. All cargo must be offloaded and stored in the warehouses for inspection. Every bag of trash is examined. So how do Qin Shang's people deceive the inspectors?"
"I believe the illegal immigrants are secretly housed in an underwater craft beneath the hull of the merchant ship that transported them from China. After the ship comes into port, the submerged craft is somehow transferred under the barge tied alongside to receive the trash and garbage. While this is going on, the customs and immigration agents do their job but find no evidence of illegal immigrants. Then, moving to a landfill up the Atchafalaya River to dispose of the trash, they make a stop at some out-of-the-way place to disembark the aliens."
Gunn looked like a blind man whose sight had suddenly been restored by a faith healer in a revivalist tent. "You figured that out by simply flying over a garbage barge?"
"A theory at best," Pitt said modestly.
"But a theory that can easily be verified," pointed out Stewart.
"Then we're wasting time talking," said Gunn excitedly. "We put a launch over the side and follow the towboat. You and Al can keep an eye on them from the air."
"Worst thing we could do," cut in Giordino. "We've already put them on guard by buzzing the barge. The towboat captain will know if he's being tailed. I vote we lay low temporarily and play inconspicuous."
"Al's right," said Pitt. "The smugglers are not dumb. They have calculated every option. Their uncanny intelligence sources in Washington may have already given the Sungari security force photographs of everyone on board the Marine Denizen. It's best we take our time and keep any scouting expedition as discreet as possible."
"Shouldn't we at least notify the INS?" inquired Steward seriously.
Pitt shook his head. "Not until we can show them hard evidence."
"There's another problem," Giordino added. "Dirk and I are prohibited from working your side of the street."