Page 42 (1/2)

"I'm flattered" Harper shook Julia's outstretched hand and was surprised at the firh tiratulations and thanks, and wishes me to say that the Service is proud of your performance"

Hea curtain call after a play, Julia thought "But for one man, I wouldn't be here to receive the compliment"

"Yes, we'll co of your lers' operation"

"We didn't mean to put you back in harness so soon," interrupted Russell in a quiet voice "A full written report of your activities can wait until you're up and about But for noe'd like you to tell us everything you've learned about the slers and their procedures"

"Frolers for passage in Beijing?" Julia asked

"Fro a tape recorder fro with your entry into China We'd like to hear it all"

Julia looked at Harper as she began "As Arthur can tell you, I traveled to Beijing, China, with a group of Canadian tourists After we arrived in the city I deserted the group during a walking tour of the city Being of Chinese descent and speaking the language, I had no proble the streets After changing intodiscreet inquiries about en country As it turned out the newspapers ran stories and advertiseration outside China's borders I answered an ad by an outfit calling thees Their offices, coincidentally, were on the third floor of aMaritiled into the United States was the equivalent of thirty thousand Ale, I was told in no uncertain terms to pay up or leave I paid"

Then Julia related the story of her terrible ordeal after boarding the outwardly luxurious cruise ship that became a hell ship She told of the inhuman cruelty; the lack of food and sanitation facilities; the brutality of the enforcers; her interrogation and beating; the transfer of the able-bodied to boats that took thely to a life of slavery ashore while those of some wealth were diverted to the prison at Orion Lake and placed in cages until they could be squeezed for , the elderly and those who could not physically endure a life of servitude were quietlyin the lake

She narrated in exacting detail the entire s every foot of theillustrations of the

s her trained skills in identification, she described the facial features and approxiler she ca whatever names she was able to obtain

She told how she, the elderly aliens and the fa cabin of the black catamaran; how they were eventually bound and their feet tied with iron weights before being dropped through an open hatch into the lake She told how a ear had miraculously appeared and cut them all loose before they drowned Then she described how he herded everyone to the temporary safety of the shore; how he comforted and fed them at his cabin and provided a lers' security force She told how that enduring man of iron killed five of the enforcers ere set on rants, how he took a bullet in the hip and acted as if it never happened She gave an account of his blowing up the dock and yacht at the retreat, the harrowing battle down the river to Grapevine Bay, her shooting the two ultralights out of the sky, and the indoe of the man at the wheel of the runabout who threw his body over the children when it was thought they were about to be blasted out of the water

Julia told the China But she couldn't explain hohy the man from NUMA came to be under the catamaran at the exact moment she and the others were dropped into the cold waters of the lake, nor could she explain why heon his own initiative She did not know his incentive It was as though Pitt's involvement was a dream sequence How else could she explain his presence and actions on Orion Lake? Finally, she ended her account by saying his na off into silence

"Dirk Pitt, the special projects director for NUMA?" Harper blurted

Russell turned to Harper, as staring at Julia in disbelief "It's true Pitt was the one who helped reveal the retreat as a prison and provided the people in our district office in Seattle with vital information to conduct the raid Without his tient Lee would have died and the one on indefinitely Thanks to hi our Seattle district office to shut it down"

Harper looked at Julia steadily "A ht underwater who is not a trained undercover agent nor a ineer with the National Underwater and Marine Agency and singlehandedly kills the crew of a murder boat and destroys a yacht and an entire dock Then he leads you through a gauntlet of sht aircraft while they're speeding down a river in a seventy-year-old boat An incredible story, to say the least, Ms Lee"