The Pandora Box by Lilly Maytree Page A

spot you. But according to Peterson’s logbook, the Siberian coast is so vast and isolated; there aren’t much but fisherman out there. One small sailboat could slip through. Especially if they knew where they were going.”
    “You sound just like Peterson.”
    “I thought you didn’t believe him.”
    “We still spent a lot of hours talking and going over his plan. Trading the things he needed for the things I needed. That’s how I got my story.” She nestled her coffee cup against the cushion again. “But it’s like I told him. What about all the modern equipment they have these days? Radar that allows air traffic controllers to work the entire West Coast from one tower in San Diego. You know they can pinpoint every plane in the sky?”
    “That’s air traffic. Not boat traffic. And definitely not something as small as a sailboat on something as big as the Pacific Ocean. Crazy as it seems, a sailboat is still a free-moving entity unto itself. Able to get in and out of places without being noticed at all.” He glanced at the sky again and then stood. “Hire a plane and there’d be papers to file and permission to get just to veer off regular tourist routes. Could end up in months of red tape. Russia’s open, but it’s not that open.”
    “Maybe they don’t know that.”
    “If they stole the chart, honey, they know.” He reached into the locker beneath the seat he had been sitting on and tossed a set of the traditional, yellow foul weather gear over to Dee, then took another out for himself.
    She felt a smattering of raindrops against her hand.
    “Better get into that gear before it really lets loose.”
    “You mean we could have been wearing these last night instead of getting wet to the skin and freezing for hours?” she accused.
    “I told you I had to see what you were made of.” He donned the jacket and stashed his book in the locker.
    “Well, I’m beginning to see what you’re made of.” She placed a yellow hat over the top of her cap and turned the wide brim up to see out from under it. “Can we at least agree to no more tricks?”
    “Don’t expect me to believe you haven’t got a few tricks lined up yourself, D. J. Parker. Something tells me you’re probably an expert on tricks.”
    “I haven’t been out-and-out deceptive like you have.”
    “You look deceptively vulnerable. Does that count?”
    “I can’t help how I look.”
    “You look pretty cute in that outfit.”
    “Let’s stick to business, OK?”
    “You got something against making friends?”
    “No, but—”
    “Then lighten up. A month is a long time to be formal, especially under the circumstances.”
    “Well…” She tightened the straps on the overalls she had just climbed into and reached for the jacket. “How would you like to be called all sorts of pet names by someone you hardly knew?”
    “Anytime, baby.” He flashed a winning smile. “Anytime.”
    “You’re incorrigible, Hawkins.”
     
     
     
     

13
     
    Under the Bridge
     
    “I know everybody was experiencing a slight weariness, though we should all have stoutly denied such a reflection on our constant companions…and gladly welcomed the change of a few hours on shore.” ~ Nellie Bly
     
    Other than wind-tossed rain and a few periods of choppy seas, the Pandora sailed past Cape Mendocino with no trouble.
    Dee found it amazing how four people squeezed into such small quarters could have so much order and solitary time on their hands. Three hour watches around the clock meant that, other than the ten or fifteen minutes one lingered in handing over their watch to the next person, everyone was either sleeping or working away at private projects during their off-watches.
    In her own free time, Dee pored over the journal and compared notes from her talks with Peterson to maps and references that indicated the location where the diamonds had been hidden. She could only generalize distances when looking at nautical charts that she came across in the