Gale Force

27

There was a Coast Guard cutter off the Salvation’s starboard quarter when Okura woke up the next morning. It was the same ship that had brought the Lion’s crew to Dutch Harbor, long and sleek and white, a single-deck gun mounted ominously on the bow.

“The Munro,” Christer Magnusson said. “They showed up last night. Hailed us while you were sleeping, asked if we’d seen any sign of a Japanese sailor. Seems one went missing back in Dutch Harbor.”

Okura sipped his coffee, tried to calm his nerves, though the Coast Guard cutter outside loomed large. “What did you tell them?”

Magnusson spat into an empty microwave noodles cup. “I told them no,” he said. “I told them I had a couple of salvage specialists going over to the ship, trying to work out the optimal towing strategy.”

“Did they believe that?”

“They seemed to.” Magnusson put down the noodle cup, looked him in the eye. “But my fee just went up, Mr. Okura.”

Okura said nothing.

“I don’t know what you’re looking for, but I know it must be valuable,” Magnusson continued. “And I won’t lie to the Coast Guard forever, not for ten thousand dollars. So whatever you’re looking for, if you intend to use this ship as a base of operations, you’ll be handing twenty-five percent over to me.”

Twenty-five percent. More than twelve million dollars. The idea made Okura feel faintly sick. But what choice did he have?

He nodded.

“Good.”

The Salvation rolled into a swell with a sickening lurch. Magnusson checked the barometer at the back of the wheelhouse. “Weather’s going to kick up,” he said. “By tomorrow, the day after, you won’t want to go far in that skiff. Better get back to searching while you still have the chance.”

The salvage master throttled up the Salvation, glanced back through the aft windows at the Lion behind them. Overnight, the team had hooked up a towline to the stern of the freighter, managed to turn her into the wind. But the little tug’s engines were working hard, and as best as Okura could tell, the tug wasn’t doing much more than keeping the freighter in place.

Where are you, Tomio? he thought, studying the ship, contemplating the vast expanse of cargo area left to be searched, the rapidly building waves outside. Where have you taken that briefcase?