Free Raise the Titanic! by Clive Cussler

NUMA.”
    â€œI have over two thousand people under me. I can’t memorize all their names.”
    â€œCould you check him out? It’s imperative that I talk to him.”
    â€œSeagram,” Sandecker grunted irritably, “you’re a monumental pain in the ass. Did it ever occur to you to call my personnel director during normal working hours?”
    â€œMy apologies,” Seagram said. “I happened to be working late and—”
    â€œOkay, if I dig up this character, I’ll have him get in touch with you.”
    â€œI’d appreciate it.” Seagram’s tone remained impersonal. “By the way, the man your people rescued up in the Barents Sea is getting along nicely. The surgeon on the First Attempt did a magnificent job of bullet removal.”
    â€œKoplin, wasn’t it?”
    â€œYes, he should be up and around in a few days.”
    â€œThat was a near thing, Seagram. If the Russians had cottoned on to us, we’d have a nasty incident on our hands about now.”
    â€œWhat can I say?” Seagram said helplessly.
    â€œYou can say good night and let me get back to sleep,” Sandecker snarled. “But first, tell me how this Pitt figures into the picture.”
    â€œKoplin was about to be captured by a Russian security guard when this guy appears out of a blizzard and kills the guard, carries Koplin across fifty miles of stormy water, not to mention stemming the blood flow from his wounds, and somehow deposits him on board your research vessel, ready for surgery.”
    â€œWhat do you intend to do when you find him?”
    â€œThat’s between Pitt and myself.”
    â€œI see,” Sandecker said. “Well, good night, Mr. Seagram.”
    â€œThank you, Admiral. Good-by.”
    Sandecker hung up and then sat there a few moments, a bemused expression on his face. “Killed a Russian security guard and rescued an American agent. Dirk Pitt…you sly son of a bitch.”

11
    United’s early flight touched down at Denver’s Stapleton Airfield at eight in the morning. Mel Donner passed quickly through the baggage claim and settled behind the wheel of an Avis Plymouth for the fifteen-minute drive to 400 West Colfax Avenue and the Rocky Mountain News . As he followed the west-bound traffic, his gaze alternated between the windshield and a street map stretched open beside him on the front seat.
    He had never been in Denver before, and he was mildly surprised to see a pall of smog hanging over the city. He expected to be confronted with the dirty brown and gray cloud over places like Los Angeles and New York, but Denver had always conjured up visions in his mind of a city cleansed by crystal clean air, nestled under the protective shadow of Purple Mountain Majesties. Even these were a disappointment; Denver sat naked on the edge of the great plains, at least twenty-five miles from the nearest foothills.
    He parked the car and found his way to the newspaper’s library. The girl behind the counter peered back at him through tear-shaped glasses and smiled an uneven-toothed, friendly smile.
    â€œCan I help you?”
    â€œDo you have an issue of your paper dated November 17, 1911?”
    â€œOh my, that does go back.” She twisted her lips. “I can give you a photocopy, but the original issues are at the State Historical Society.”
    â€œI only need to see page three.”
    â€œIf you care to wait, it’ll take about fifteen minutes to track down the film of November 17, 1911, and run the page you want through the copy machine.”
    â€œThank you. By the way, would you happen to have a business directory for Colorado?”
    â€œWe certainly do.” She reached under the counter and laid a booklet on the smudged plastic top.
    Donner sat down to study the directory as the girl disappeared to search out his request. There was no listing of a Guthrie and Sons Foundry in Pueblo. He thumbed to the