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Lampedusa, including the local police station and the joint we ordered pizza from the first night we docked there.
No one is answering.
I’m not trying to sound like an alarmist, but for one reason or another that whole island has gone dark.”
    Kurt wasn’t the type to jump to conclusions, yet the woman had used the word
attack
. “Contact the Italian authorities in Palermo,” he said. “A distress call is a distress call, even if it doesn’t come from a ship. Tell them we’re going to see what we can do to help.”
    “Figured you’d want to go that route,” Reynolds said. “I checked the dive tables. Joe and Michelle can surface with you. Everyone else will have to go in the tank.”
    Kurt expected as much. He broke the news to the rest of theteam. They quickly put their tools down, switched off the lights and began a very slow ascent, meeting up with the decompression tank, as it was lowered down on cables, in which they were hauled to the surface in pressurized safety.
    Kurt, Joe and Michelle had made their way to the surface in the powered hard suits and Kurt was pulling off his gear when Reynolds gave them more bad news. Not a word had come from Lampedusa. Nor were there any military or Coast Guard units within a hundred miles of the island.
    “They’re fueling up a couple helicopters out of Sicily, but they won’t be airborne for at least thirty minutes. And it’s an hour’s flying time from Sicily once they’re airborne.”
    “We could be on the beach, finishing dessert and ordering a nightcap by then,” Joe said.
    “Which is why they’re asking us to take a look,” Reynolds explained. “Apparently, we’re the closest thing to an official government presence in the area. Even if our government is on the other side of the Atlantic.”
    “Good,” Kurt said. “For once, we don’t have to beg for permission or ignore someone’s warning to steer clear.”
    “I’ll get us pointed in the right direction,” Reynolds said.
    Kurt nodded. “And don’t spare the horses.”

4

    As the Sea Dragon closed in on Lampedusa, the first sign of trouble was a pall of dark, oily smoke rising high above the island. Kurt trained a pair of high-powered binoculars on it.
    “What do you see?” Joe asked.
    “A ship of some kind,” Kurt said. “Sitting close to the shore.”
    “Tanker?”
    “Can’t tell,” Kurt said. “Too much smoke. What I can see is burnt and twisted metal.” He turned to Reynolds. “Head toward it, let’s take a closer look.”
    The
Sea Dragon
changed course and smoke above them grew thicker and darker.
    “The wind is dragging that smoke right across the island,” Joe noted.
    “Wonder what she was carrying,” Kurt said. “If it was something toxic . . .”
    He didn’t need to finish the statement.
    “That doctor said she was trapped and running out of oxygen,” Joe added. “I had visions of the hospital having fallen down around her ears after an explosion or an earthquake, but I’ll guess she meant they’re hiding from the fumes.”
    Kurt took another look through the binoculars. The front of the ship looked as if it had been torn apart by a giant can opener—in fact, it looked like half the ship was gone. The rest of the hull was blackened with soot.
    “She must be sitting on the reef,” Kurt said. “Otherwise, she’d have gone down. I can’t see a name. Someone put a call into Palermo and let them know what we’ve found. If they can determine what ship this is, they might be able to figure out what she was carrying.”
    “Will do,” Reynolds said.
    “And Gary,” Kurt added, lowering the binoculars. “Keep us upwind.”
    Reynolds nodded. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”
    He adjusted their course and reduced speed while they called in the news. When they were five hundred yards from the freighter, a crewman called from the front deck.
    “Look at this!” the crewman yelled.
    Reynolds chopped the throttle to idle and
Sea Dragon
settled while Kurt