"I haven't mastered that feat yet, but I am making progress at parting the Red Sea."
Seagram gestured to an empty chair. "Won't you sit down?"
"Thank you."
"I'd offer you a drink, but my waiter apparently has a fear of lightning."
"The worst of it is passing," Pitt said, looking skyward. The voice was quiet and controlled.
"How did you find me?" Seagram asked.
"A step-by-step process," Pitt replied. "I called your wife in Washington, and she said you were on a business trip to Leisure World. Since it's only a few miles from here, I checked with the guard at the gate. He told me he had admitted a Gene Seagram who was okayed for entry by a Mrs Bertram Austin.. She in turn mentioned she had recommended the Balboa Bay Club when you stated a desire to postpone your flight back to Washington and lay over until tomorrow. The rest was easy."
"I should feel flattered by your persistent style."
Pitt nodded. "All very elementary."
"A fortunate circumstance that we happened to be in the same neck of the woods," Seagram said.
"I always like to take a few days off and go surfing about this time of year. My parents have a house just across the hay. I could have contacted you sooner, but Admiral Sandecker said there was no hurry."
"You know the Admiral?"
"I work for him."
"Then you're with NUMA?"
"Yes, I'm the agency's special projects director."
"I thought your name sounded vaguely familiar. My wife has mentioned you."
"Dana?".
"
Yes, have you worked with her?"
"Only once. I flew in supplies to Pitcairn Island last summer when she and her NUMA archaeological team were diving for artifacts from the Bounty. "
Seagram looked at him. "So Admiral Sandecker told you there was no hurry to contact me."
Pitt smiled. "From what I gather, you rubbed him wrong with a middle-of-the-night phone call."
The black clouds had rolled seaward and the lightning was stabbing at Catalina across the channel.
"Now that you have me in your sights," Pitt said, "what can I do for you?"
"You can begin by telling me about Novaya Zemlya."
"Not much to tell," Pitt said casually. "I was in charge of the expedition to pick up your man. When he didn't show on schedule, I borrowed the ship's helicopter and made a reconnaissance flight toward the Russian island."
"You took a chance. Soviet radar might have picked you up on their scopes."
"I took that possibility into consideration. I stayed within ten feet of the water and kept my air speed down to fifteen knots. Even if I had been spotted, my radar blip would have read as a small fishing boat."
"What happened after you reached the island?"
"I cruised the shoreline until I found Koplin's sloop moored in a cove. I set the copter down on the beach nearby and began searching for him. It was then I heard shots through a wall of swirling snow that had been kicked up by a gust of wind."