Page 48 of Clive Cussler's Quantum Tempest

Their drinks arrived. The waiter set a cosmopolitan in front of her and a double shot of Johnnie Walker Black Label in front of Gowda.

“Your meals will be arriving shortly,” he said. “Enjoy.”

“Thank you,” the woman said with a smile. She watched him step away. “So, quickly, what’s this about?”

“Do you remember the woman from Hyderabad whom we saw practicing Bach’s fugues a few years ago? I can’t remember her name.” Gowda was making a cryptic reference to organoid intelligence via the great composer’s organ fugues and to Dr.Bose, who had conducted her pioneering research in a lab in Hyderabad, India, several years prior.

“She’s no longer with us, as I understand it.”

“No. She’s very much alive apparently, and still playing. And getting quite good.”

“How good?”

“Rumors are she might be ready for her first full concert.”

“Where?”

“Not sure. I hope to find out. That’s one concert I’d hate to miss.”

Another waiter appeared with a condiment tray. He was unfamiliar, and the sleeves of his ill-fitting serving coat were three inches too short.

“Excuse me, sir, madame. I noticed your condiment tray needed to be refreshed. May I?”

Gowda fought back a hearty laugh.Where does RAW find these clowns?

“Yes, of course. Thank you for noticing.” Gowda picked up his smartphone/interference device and pocketed it as his sister-in-law handed the RAW agent the old condiment tray.

“Thank you both. I’m sorry to have disturbed you,” the agent said as he carried the old condiment tray and his bug back to the kitchen.

Gowda thought about activating his phase inverter again so they could continue the conversation, but that would only draw suspicion. He saw the concerned look in his sister-in-law’s eyes. She fully understood the gravity of the situation. More important, she now had possession of the scant documentation he was able to download in her pendant. She would hand it off to his brother and he would pass it up through the network.

They exchanged a knowing glance just as another waiter arrivedwith their mouthwatering dishes. The RAW boys were listening hard now. Time to play the game of lovers once again, and enjoy an incredible meal together. As inept as their watchers could sometimes be, it was possible the two of them had made a mistake somewhere along the line. If so, this could be their last meal together, and his sister-in-law would be swapping out that pretty pendant for a noose around her perfect neck.

26

The Pacific Ocean

Deep in the belly of theBaktun’s combat information center, Captain Stokes studied the monitor, his bleary eyes fixed on the bright yellow triangle denoting the cargo shipAgua Linda. The errant vessel had just crossed into theBaktun’s no-go perimeter of drone buoys and needed to be turned aside. It was just past two o’clock in the morning.

Moments earlier, Stokes had been roused from a fitful sleep when the intruder alert had sounded and his first officer appeared at his cabin door. A fresh cup of hot Royal Navy “HMSBulwark” tea helped ease him out of his stupor.

According to theBaktun’s available databases, theAgua Lindawas steaming from the Port of Busan, South Korea, to Ecuador’s Guayaquil Port with a load of washing machines and other household appliances. Nothing terribly unusual other than the fact its captain had decided to take an unconventional route for unspecified reasons.

“It’s a Panamanian-flagged vessel,” Stokes’s first officer said, reading from the big display. “Captained by Diogo Neves, a Portuguese.” He sniffed. “Hard to believe that pathetic little tourist trap was the world’s first global superpower.”

Stokes’s eyes narrowed as his mind reached back into an ancient memory from his public school days. “ ‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ ”

“Sir?”

“Percy Bysshe Shelley.”

The first officer frowned with confusion.

“The poet? Never mind.” Stokes turned to his drone tech. “It’s probably a contract crew. Program your drones accordingly. Follow your protocols.”

“Aye, sir.”

With orders to keep theBaktuninvisible and hampered by his inability to power up his engines to flee, Stokes had to rely on his least-lethal means of persuasion to get theAgua Lindato change course. If he had his way, he’d simply blast them out of the water with the deadlier weapons at his disposal.