Page 95 (1/2)

A glaze suddenly passed across the weather back to study the wall chart Then his face turned ashen "Oh Jesusthe Titanic!"

Prescott looked at him "The what?"

"The Titanic and her salvage fleet They're sitting right in the middle of the projected path of the hurricane"

"The hell you say!" Prescott snapped

The weatherman moved up to the wall chart and hesitated for several moments Finally, he reached up and drew an X just below the Newfoundland Grand Banks "There, that's the position where she was raised from the bottom"

"Where did you get this information?"

"It's been smeared all over the newspapers and television since yesterday If you don't believe ton and confirm"

"Screw the teletype," Prescott growled He rushed across the room, snatched up a telephone and shouted into the receiver "Punch ton I want to speak with someone's who's connected with the Titanic project"

While he waited for his call to go through, he peered over his glasses at the X on the wall chart "Here's hoping those poor bastards have a weatherht," he muttered to himself, "or about this ti of the fury of the sea

There was a vague expression on Farquar's face as he stared at the weather maps laid out before him on the table His mind was so numb and woolly fros he had made only minutes before The indications of temperature, wind velocity, baroether into one indistinct blur

He rubbed his eyes in a useless atteet them to focus Then he shook his head to clear the cobwebs, trying to remember what it was that he had

been about to conclude,

The hurricane Yes, that was it Farquar slowly came to the realization that he had made a serious miscalculation The hurricane had not veered into Cape Hatteras as he'd predicted Instead, a high-pressure area along the eastern coast held it over the ocean on a northerly course And orse, it had begun totoward the Titanic's position with forward speed approaching forty-five knots

He had watched the hurricane's birth on the satellite photos and had closely studied the warnings fro in all his years of forecasting had prepared him for the violence and the speed that this monstrosity had achieved in such a short time

A hurricane in May? It was unthinkable Then his words to Pitt came back to haunt him What was it he had said? "Only God can make a storm" Farquar suddenly felt sick, his face beaded with sweat, hands clenching and unclenching