Page 24 of Clive Cussler Desolation Code

On-screen, Yaeger saw Kurt grinning. “Outstanding,” he announced. “Where’s it headed?”

Max accessed the data and displayed it on Yaeger’s screen, leaving it to him to deliver the bad news. “You’re not going to like this,” Hiram said finally. “TheSoufriereis on its way to the breakers. It’s marked to be broken down for scrap on the beach at Alang, India.”

“That’s not good,” Kurt said. “When is she scheduled to arrive?”

Max replied. “AIS data shows her already in the bay, waiting to be run aground.”

In the hotel room in Saint-Denis, Kurt found himself torn. He wanted to go search for the cause of the mass stranding. A task that he expected would be dangerous, considering the lengths someone had already gone through to cover up that cause. On the other hand, it seemed impossible that the text messages could be a prank.

Normally one to go on a hunch, he decided some statistical analysis might help. “Max,” he said. “What is your analysis of the texter’s method of communication, choice of words, and lack of detail? In other words, why all the cloak-and-dagger? Why not just tell us what he or she wants and who he or she is?”

“No conclusion possible,” Max admitted. “But the pattern is suggestive of a party attempting to communicate surreptitiously. Whoever it is, they’ve taken substantial and highly technical steps to avoid detection. Had you not taken the screenshot of the image, even I would have been unable to find a trace of the information on your phone. The vague phrasing also supports this conclusion. As if the sender is relying on the human ability to infer information that isn’t present in the actual text, hoping you can read between the lines, so to speak. That makes it something of a code. A human code.”

That made sense to Kurt, and considering the mystery person was obviously familiar with NUMA and the work he and Joe were doing, he found it impossible to believe it was a prank.

“What’s the probability of these events being related?” he asked.

“Impossible to determine with any accuracy,” Max said. “But the timing and location of the stranding and the beacon’s track suggests it’s more likely than not.”

“You’d be a good gambler,” Kurt said, complimenting Max.

He turned to Paul and Gamay. “I think we need to follow both leads. Joe and I will head to India and try intercepting the tanker. Can you handle the waterborne search for the cause of the stranding?”

“That’s why we came here,” Gamay said.

“Be careful. You’re looking for an answer that someone doesn’t want you to find.”

Gamay offered a knowing smirk. “Don’t kid yourself,” she replied. “So are you.”

Chapter 14

Vaughn’s Island

The Overseer was back on the island, resting on a hospital bed, with an IV hooked up to each arm. With his shirt off, a series of scars could be seen running up and down and all across his chest. Some of them were ragged: the type made by shrapnel, burning metal, and fire. Others were surgical. Where Vaughn and his doctors had repaired him and given him a new lease on life. One by one his internal organs had been replaced. A new heart, new lungs, a new liver, and both kidneys. He had endured countless operations. And grown stronger each time. There was one drawback. Embedded within each organ were a series of microchips. They were linked to the computer TAU, as it sought to learn more about human physiology.

Initially, the idea disgusted him, but he’d been given no choice in the matter, having been pulled from a prison hospice and put on Vaughn’s operating table without even being aware of it.

Waking up alive and changed was different than rejecting the change in the first place. Too weak to do anything about it initially, by the time he grew strong enough, he wanted more. If communing with a machine was the price to pay, so be it.

An alarm started beeping as the IVs emptied. He pulled the needles out himself and reached for his shirt. By the time the doctor came in, he was clothed. “Vaughn wants to see you,” the doctor announced. “He’s in the control room.”

A look of disgust appeared on the Overseer’s face. He detested Vaughn. Hated him the way only those who are completely dependent on another individual can hate someone.

Whether it was true or not, Vaughn insisted he could turn the Overseer’s organs off, shutting down his heart or lungs with nothing more than a word to his all-seeing computer.

The Overseer stood and left the hospital room without a word. Hate-filled or otherwise, he’d been called.

Chapter 15

The Overseer found Vaughn alone in a circular room in the depths of his compound. This room was lined in black metal panels, perforated with tiny holes to allow air in and out. A row of high-definition screens on one side that continuously projected views of the outside world as if they were windows. It was the only view of the outside world Vaughn would get down here, as the room was six stories belowground.

The floor was made of thick plastic. It looked black until the lights came up, at which point it was revealed to be scuffed but translucent. It hid secrets in the space beneath. An odd smell filled the room. Pungent, organic, and contrary to the otherwise machine-like feel of the place, while the hum of computer fans competed with the soft whir of a pump moving liquids below them.

The Overseer had never encountered Vaughn anywhere else but this room. As far as he knew, Vaughn never left it. A complexion as pale as bone suggested he hadn’t been outdoors in years.

Vaughn bid the Overseer to come closer. “You should see this,” he whispered. “You might appreciate it.”

The Overseer stepped closer to Vaughn and looked at the screen in front of him. It displayed an operating room where a team of doctorsassisted by medical robots were performing surgery on a partially sedated individual.

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