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To an observing eye he looked like a garden-variety business on the lake The climate was pleasant but cool, and he was dressed warmly in a red wool lumberman's shirt and khaki pants On his feet he wore sneakers and sweat socks The only contrast with serious fishermen was that they would have used a powerboat or a rowboat with an outboard o after salmon and trout, certainly not a sailboat Pitt chose the slower of the two boats because the sail ood shield from any video cameras at the resort

He propelled the little craft further away fro the tiller back and forth until the afternoon breeze filled the sail, and he began gliding across the blue-green waters of Orion Lake He tacked easily, skirting the deserted shoreline while keeping a respectful distance froe home at the lower end of the lake In the deepest part of the lake less than a quarter 's boat dock, Pitt cah raised to flap in the breeze and hide his h to reach the botto to keep the wind fro the sailboat too close to shore

With the lowered sail facing one shore and his back to the opposite, he leaned over the side and peered into a bucket with a transparent bottom The water was so crystal clear that Pitt could see a school of salood hundred and fifty feet below Then he opened a fishing tackle box and reht in the past thirty years, he caught underwater with a spear gun He hadn't held a rod and reel in his hands since he fished with his father, Senator George Pitt, off the coast of California when he was a young boy Still, he ht crawler over a hook and cast it into the deep

While under the pretense of fishing, he also uncoiled a reel of thin wire and placed a coffee cup-sized transponder that sent and received electronic signals over the side of the sailboat He lowered it to a depth of twenty feet to assure that it was out of the acoustic shadow of the boat's hull A similarly sized transponder was housed in the aft end of the AUV These two units and the electronics inside the AUV casing for to each other acoustically, allowing underwater control and video signals to be received by a small recorder

Next, he removed the AUV from the ice chest, carefully lowered it into the water and watched as it silently slipped beneath the surface, its black casing giving the appearance of soly creature fro tethered robotic underwater vehicles, but this was only the second tihtly on the dry side as he watched the little vehicle that had cost NUMA two ht into the lake The autonomous underwater system was a marvel of miniaturization and for the first time enabled NUMA scientists to send a robotic unit into areas that were previously impossible to reach

He unfolded a laptop coh-resolution, active-matrix display, and powered up the system Satisfied a secure acoustic link was established, he scrolled through the control menus and selected a combination of "remote and live video" Under normal circumstances he would have preferred to concentrate on a live video display of the ies recorded by the camera under the water, but this trip it was vital that he focus his attention on the events that he hoped to incite at the retreat He intended only to view the progress of the AUV from time to time to keep it on course

He moved the joystick on a small remote handbox The vehicle immediately responded and went into a dive The acoustic telemetry and control system performed flawlessly, and the vehicle shot forward at al thrusters were balanced perfectly, preventing the vehicle froh the water

"Every 's retreat as he stretched out on a pair of vinyl seat cushions that doubled as safety floats should the boat's occupants be thrown in the water Then he propped his feet on a bench seat and nestled the re the levers and joystick on the remote he directed the vehicle's movements like a model submarine He leveled it out at a depth of sixty feet and worked it slowly toward Shang's boat dock, sweeping it back and forth as though he were plowing a field

To the uninfor with a toy, but the exercise was 's security systems The first experiment was to detect any underwater se

nsors After running several lines that gradually closed to within ten yards of the boat dock with no response, it see's security systems did not extend into the lake They apparently failed to consider penetration from the water as a threat

It's show tiently on the lever that sent the AUV rising to the surface The little subht a few yards to one side of the dock He tily, a full threeup and guards with Steyr tacticalout across the grounds on off-road motorcycles They looked to Pitt like Chinese-made copies of the Japanese Suzuki RM 250cc supercross bike They spread out in for the sandy beach Thirty seconds later, the wall on the hut at the end of the floating dock facing the lake also flew open as two guards riding Chinese-built personal watercraft, these designed along the lines of the Japanese Kawasaki Jet Ski, sprinted after the AUV

Not what Pitt called a rapid deployment He expected better frohts rear It seemed the incursion by the AUV did not warrant an all-out search effort

Pitt immediately sent the submersible into a dive, and because it was visible in the clear water, he cut a steep turn that brought it under the yacht beside the dock He needn't have worried about the guards on the watercraft sighting the little sub They churned the surface of the water to such a froth by racing around in circles, it was impossible for them to see into the depths Pitt observed that neither of theequipment, not even masks and snorkels, a solid indication they were not prepared to engage in underwater investigation Professionals on land but amateurs in the water, Pitt mused

Finding no hint of an intruder along the beach, the rounds cli the antics of the water derby Any atte's retreat by land could only be undertaken with any chance of success by a team from the Special Forces, ere experts in the art of stealth and cae By water it was another story A diver could easily swi discovered

While he guided the AUV back to the sailboat, Pitt reeled in his fishing line until it was just under the surface Then he sneaked the mounted salmon from the Foley cabin's fireplace into the water and ran the hook, still with the i his ar-deceased sal eyes to see The two security guards on the watercraft circled hi the sailboat in their wakes Reasonably assured they would not attenored the the shore and waved the fish back and forth like a signal flag He watched as the guards, finding nothing suspicious they could put their teeth into, returned to the log security huts Feeling there was no point in hanging around and greatly relieved the AUV hadn't been discovered by the guards, who seemed more interested in a fisherman than as under the water, Pitt pulled up the anchor, raised the sail and, with the little robotic sub obediently behind and below the surface, headed back toward the Foleys' boathouse After securing the sailboat and replacing the AUV in the ice chest, he reht-millimeter videocassette from the camera and dropped it in his pocket