Sandecker made the introduction. “Dirk, this is Mr. Peter Harper, executive associate commissioner of field operations for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.”
Harper shook Pitt's hand. “A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Pitt. It seems you had an unexpected homecoming.”
“A dubious surprise I wasn't counting on.” Pitt was not at all sure he could warm to Harper. The associate commissioner of the INS struck him as a man who spent his spare time working algebra problems. Despite the fact he carried a weapon, Harper looked benign and scholastic. “There is a van parked a short distance from the hangar.”
“We already checked it out,” said Harper. “It belongs to a \ rental-car agency. The name on the agreement is fictitious.” “Who do you suspect was behind this?” Sandecker asked. “The name Qin Shang comes to mind,” said Pitt. “I'm told he has a retaliatory nature.”
“The obvious choice,” Sandecker agreed. “He won't be happy when he finds out his assassins failed,” added Harper.
Sandecker's expression turned foxlike. “I think it only appropriate that Dirk tell him in person.”
Pitt shook his head. “I hardly think that's a sensible idea. I'm persona non grata in Hong Kong.”
Sandecker and Harper exchanged glances. Then Sandecker said, “Qin Shang saved you the trip. He recently arrived in Washington to grease his way out of any connection with Orion Lake. As a matter of fact, he's throwing a party at his residence in Chevy Chase to stroke congressmen and their staffers. If you hurry and dress, you can just make it.”
Pitt looked as if he'd been sandbagged. “I hope you're joking.”
“I was never more serious.”
“I believe the admiral makes a good case,” said Harper. “You and Qin Shang should meet face-to-face.”
“Why? So he can provide a first-hand description of me to the next team he sends out to put me in a cemetery?”
“No,” said Harper seriously. “To let Qin Shang know that despite his wealth and power he can't outclass the United States government. The man is not infallible. If your appearance can shake him up, he probably won't get the word you're alive until you walk in on him. The shock just might make him mad enough to make a mistake in the future. And that's when we step in.”
“In essence you want me to create a chink in his armor.” Harper nodded. “Exactly.”
“You realize, of course,” said Pitt, “that what you're proposing will compromise my further involvement in investigating his illegal activities.”
“Think of yourself as a distraction,” said Sandecker. “The more Qin Shang concentrates on you as a threat to his operations, the easier it will be for the INS and the other intelligence services to nail him to the cross.” “Distraction hell. You want a decoy.” Harper shrugged. “A rose by any other name.” Pitt made as if to appear uneasy with the idea despite the fact it intrigued him. He thought of the bodies strewn on the bottom of Orion Lake, and the anger rose inside him like an uncontrollable flood. “Whatever it takes to hang the murdering scum.”
Harper sighed in relief, but Sandecker never doubted for an instant that Pitt would acquiesce. The admiral had never known
Pitt to turn down a challenge, no matter how impossible. Some men were indifferent, impassive. It was difficult to tell what they were thinking. Not Pitt. Sandecker understood him like no other man except Al Giordino. To women he was a mystery, a man they could reach out and touch but never restrain. He knew there were two Dirk Pitts, one that could be tender, considerate and humorous, the other cold and ruthless as a winter storm. Unvaryingly competent to the point of brilliance, his perception of events and people was uncanny. Pitt never made a conscious error. He had a knack for doing the right thing during incredibly difficult circumstances that was almost inhuman.
Harper was unable to read Pitt. All he saw was a marine engineer who had unbelievably killed two professional assassins who had come to murder him. “So you'll do it.”
“I'll meet Qin Shang, but I wish someone would tell me how I'm going to crash his party without an invitation.”
“It's all been arranged,” explained Harper. “A good agent I always has connections with the company that prints invitations.”
“You were pretty sure of yourself.”
“I admit I wasn't, but the admiral here assured me that you never turned down free drinks and food.”
Pitt threw Sandecker a peevish look. “The admiral has mads victimization an art form.”
“I've even taken the liberty of arranging an escort for you,” Harper continued. “A most attractive lady who will back you up in case of trouble.”
“A baby-sitter,” Pitt muttered, rolling his eyes upward. “As a matter of pure optimism I have to ask if she's seen combat.” “I'm told she shot down two aircraft and saved your ass on the Orion River.” “Julia Lee.” “The same.”
Pitt's lips stretched into a wide grin. “It looks as if the evening won't turn out to be a bust after all.”
PITT KNOCKED ON THE DOOR OF THE ADDRESS GIVEN HIM BY Peter Harper. After a short wait, it was opened by Julia Lee. She stood radiant in a white silk cashmere dress that came slightly below the knees with open shoulders and back to the curve above her hips and was held up by a thin strap around the neck. Her black hair was swept back in a wrapped ponytail high on the head with spiky ends. Her only jewelry was a thin gold chain around her waist and a gold cuff necklace. Her legs were nude, her feet showing in open gold shoes.
Her eyes widened and she murmured, “Dirk, Dirk Pitt!”
“Oh, I hope so,” he replied with a devilish grin.
After her initial shock at seeing Pitt standing there resplendent in a tuxedo with vest and gold watch chain, she recovered and threw herself against him, her arms encircling his neck. He was so surprised he barely caught himself from tumbling over backward down the steps. Impetuously, she kissed him hard on the mouth. Now it was Pitt's turn for his eyes to widen. He had never expected such a spontaneous reception.
“I thought I was the one who said I'd kiss you full on the mouth when next we meet.” Reluctantly, he gripped Julia by the upper arms and gently eased her away. “Do you greet all your blind dates in that manner?”
Suddenly, she cast her dove-gray eyes to the ground shyly. “I don't know what came over me. Seeing you came as a shock. I wasn't told who was escorting me to Qin Shang's party. Peter Harper only said he arranged for a tall, dark, hand- r some man to act as my backup.”
“The dirty sneak led me to believe that you were my backup, He should have been a theatrical producer. I'll bet he's drooling in anticipation of Qin Shang's reaction when the two people who queered his operation at Orion Lake walk in uninvited to j his party.”
“I hope you're not disappointed at having to escort me. I Under all this makeup, I still look pretty awful.”
He gently lifted her chin until he could look down into her I misty eyes. He might have said something witty and clever, I but it wasn't the moment. “About as disappointed as a man who has discovered a diamond mine.”
“I didn't know you could say nice things to a girl.”
“You wouldn't believe the hordes of women my silver i tongue has seduced.”
“Liar,” she said softly as her lips broke into a smile.
“Enough of this endearing talk,” he said, releasing her. “We'd better get a move on before the food runs out.”
After Julia briefly returned inside the house to find her purse f and coat, Pitt led her to the stately and majestic machine parked at the curb in front of the townhouse where she was staying with an old sorority sister from college. She stared in open astonishment at the mammoth car with its big chrome wire wheels and wide whitewall tires.
“Good Lord!” she exclaimed. “What kind of a car are we I going in?”
“A nineteen-twenty-nine Duesenberg,” answered Pitt, “Since we've been ordered to crash a party thrown by one of the world's richest men, I thought it only fitting and proper that we arrive in style.”