"What if you're shot to pieces when you motor up to their dock?"

"Track Leviathanthe best you can and blow her to pieces, Captain."

"Just who in the hell are you people?"

"Believe me, Captain, we're no one special. We want our people back and we want Leviathanstopped."

The captain accepted Carl's answer and then looked at his chart.

"Izzy," he said aloud, "it will be dark in twenty minutes. Get the colonel and his men suited up and tell the SEALs to get ready to escort them to Saboo." Captain Jefferson looked up and held his hand out to Collins. "Colonel, I'll just say I hope you get your people out." He shook hands with Jack and then held his hand out to Everett. "But I really hope you talk some sense into the magnificent bastard that built that boat. I would hate to have to sink it andyou, too."

"Believe me, Captain, we hope the same thing," Collins said as he followed the first officer aft.

SABOO ATOLL, THE MARIANAS

In the darkness just before moonrise, USS Missouri, the stealthiest submarine in the history of the U.S. Navy, surfaced without a sound a thousand yards offshore of the volcanic atoll called Saboo. With only the topmost section of her tower out of the water, her silhouette was almost nonexistent in the darkness of the night. Even her sail numbers were a darker shade of black against the hull. Captain Jefferson popped free of the hatch, quickly brought binoculars to his face, and scanned the sea.

"Sonar, conn, what have we got?" he asked quietly, knowing how well sound carried at sea.

"Nothing on sonar. We are no longer picking up Leviathan. She must be too far distant or at a stop, and air search radar is clear, Captain."

"Okay, give me fifteen feet of air and clear the diving trunk, Izzy," Jefferson said as he scanned the sea again with his binoculars, nervous about his sonar's inability to find Leviathan.

"Aye, Captain, fifteen feet."

As Jefferson scanned the faraway beach of Saboo and the few lights there, the black sub silently rose in the water, clearing the lower escape trunk on the Missouri's sail. The hatch quickly opened and two large bundles were tossed free of the boat. The two Zodiacs quickly inflated. Ten U.S. Navy SEALs exited and took up station on the hull of the sub as they assisted the five men of the shore mission. Collins looked up at the sail before he stepped foot in the first boat and saw Jefferson looking down at him. Both men nodded, and Jefferson saluted.

"Good luck, Colonel."

Collins returned the salute and stepped into the boat with Dr. Gene Robbins in tow.

Three miles away in the darkest depths of the Pacific, Missouriwas being watched. The eyes that scanned her were merely curious.

"Bring up maximum magnification on the scope, please, Mr. Samuels," Alexandria ordered from her high station in main control.

The view on the free-floating hologram changed and flashed off for a split second. Then a three-dimensional view of the sail of Missouriappeared, but of far more interest to Heirthall were the two Zodiacs bobbing in the sea beside the sub.

"Someday you'll have to tell me how you can be so right all the time, Captain," Samuels said, as the darkened face of Colonel Jack Collins became crisp and clear.

Alexandria didn't respond at first; she just looked from the hologram to her crew as they monitored their stations. Her eyes were again dilated and she was calm, in control.

"Never underestimate a man's tenacity, James." She smiled and looked at the first officer. "Or his love for another, for that matter. Those two things make events predictable to a certain degree. Besides, with this Group Ginny surrounded herself with, I knew it would only be a matter of time before they broke our good Dr. Robbins. It was inevitable that Saboo would be compromised."

"What to you think their plan is?" Samuels asked as he left the sonar station and walked up to the high pedestal.

"I don't believe they have one, and I surely don't believe they plan on taking Saboo with fifteen men. We'll watch and see."

"The Missouri?" he asked.

"No threat there. Just monitor her. If she lingers around Saboo, we'll chase her off. As long as we don't move until she clears the area or allow our damaged surfaces to compromise us, we'll be fine. Then we'll just dive so deep that their limited technology can't detect us."

"Aye, Captain."

"Would you have Mr. Tyler escort Lieutenant McIntire to my sail observation suite and seat her outside until we bring our new guests aboard, then report to me for instructions?"

Samuels hesitated momentarily, as the captain never allowed anyone inside her private suite at the bottom of the sail tower. "Aye, Captain."

Alexandria watched as the two Zodiacs shoved off from the Missouriand silently started for the shores of her island of Saboo.

"Soon I will have everyone aboard that I need," she whispered to no one but herself.

"Captain?" Samuels asked, thinking he heard her speak.

"James, I think it time we sit down and have dinner, before I start having headaches again. Twenty-three hundred hours, my cabin?"

Samuels looked around and saw Sergeant Tyler watching them from his security station.

"We need not inform anyone. On your off-watch report, say you're inspecting the engineering damage," Alexandria said, with a quick look at Sergeant Tyler. "One other thing, James. You'll know my mood. If you discover I'm out of sorts when you arrive, mention nothing about dinner, just return to your cabin until I speak with you."

Samuels tried desperately not to be taken aback by the captain's invitation and warning. As he saw that she was done, he nodded. "Yes, Captain."

"Until twenty-three hundred, then."

Sergeant Tyler stepped away from the security station after observing the conversation between the captain and Samuels. He watched as Samuels stopped in front of him and relayed the captain's orders regarding Sarah. Then he watched Samuels move away. Tyler then approached the captain.

"Captain, as head of security, I must say this is unacceptable, bringing this man back onboard Leviathan. You yourself warned us about this Group's ability to get information, and with what he already knows about us, to allow him access--"

"Sergeant, I have been commanding this vessel long before I took you onboard her. I think I can make clear decisions without consulting you. Now, escort Lieutenant McIntire to the sail and await my orders."

Tyler looked deeply into the captain's eyes until she looked away, then he turned without comment and left the command pedestal. Although Alexandria paid the hotheaded Tyler's breach of etiquette no notice, Samuels did. He watched as Tyler gave a last look back into the control center before leaving. After the first officer turned to his duties, Yeoman Alvera followed Tyler into the companionway.

"Maneuvering, bring Leviathanshallow and let's see what our uninvited guests are up to."

Leviathanstarted to rise in the water like an ancient behemoth, slowly pushing aside tens of thousands of tons of water. She rose as a sea god would to spy an intruder.

"You are challenging the captain's judgment in front of the command crew right in the open. Do I have to remind you that we will need those people if this is to succeed?"