The Cup

CHAPTER 59

Nick drove to Virginia and found Stephanie sitting at Elizabeth's desk. The baby was on the couch. Burps lay on the next cushion. He looked up as Nick came in.

"Mrreow."

Nick walked over and scratched him behind the ears. Stephanie got up from the desk.

"I didn't mean to take over your desk," she said.

"It's still Harker's desk," Nick said. "Did you find out anything about Athena?"

"Do you know how many references there are to the goddess Athena?"

"No. A lot."

"Sometimes I wonder how anybody figured anything out before we had computers. Without those Crays downstairs crunching data, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere."

"Does that mean you got somewhere?"

"I hope so. I made an assumption that the word 'Athena' was somehow related to the nuke ISIS obtained."

"Go on."

"We know they want to set it off here. I asked myself, how do you get a bomb here from Syria? The answer is, it has to come by ship. There isn't any other way for them to transport something like that without being detected. I looked for any ship named Athena that had recently left a port somewhere in the middle east. Guess what?"

Her voice was edged with excitement.

"Son of a bitch. You found one."

"Yes. A freighter. Athena left Turkey five days ago, headed for Savannah. She's somewhere in the Atlantic."

"Steph, that's great work."

"I could be wrong. It's all based on the assumption that the word 'Athena' and the bomb go together."

"It's a hell of a lot better than anything else we've got," Nick said. "I'll get Hood on it. If that ship's out there, we'll find it. If it's got that bomb on board, we'll sink it."

"It could just be bringing olives or dates or something," Stephanie said.

"Maybe. We've got technology that can smell a radioactive date from twenty thousand feet," Nick said. "If you're right, we'll find it."

"I'm going downstairs to feed the baby. Let me know if you need anything."

"Great work," Nick said again. "I'll call Hood now."

Hood answered on the second ring.

"Nick."

"Director, we may have something."

He explained about the slip of paper in Haddad's pocket and what Stephanie had discovered.

"It's a long shot but it's better than no shot at all."

"It makes sense," Hood said. "We're not talking about something you can carry in a suitcase."

"I'd be surprised if there wasn't some kind of radioactive signature," Nick said. "If we can find that ship, we can do a flyover and see if we can pick anything up."

"Even if we don't, we can intercept and board her. There's only one problem."

"What's that?"

"We have to find her, first."