Run into Trouble

were both intent on chewing mouthfuls of food and hadn’t seen Slick approach the table. Drake almost choked on his fish. Melody put her napkin to her mouth to hide the fact that mayonnaise was dribbling down her chin. She recovered first. “We thought you’d fallen off the dock and drowned.”
    “No such luck.”
    Slick sat down next to Melody and smiled at the waitress who had bustled over to the table. He ordered a Coke. When the waitress asked whether he wanted to order dinner, he took a look at Drake’s and Melody’s plates and declined. He sat there perfectly at ease, not apologizing, watching them eat.
    Drake said, “Who called this meeting?”
    Slick fished around in an attaché case he had with him and pulled out some photographic prints.
    “Interesting developments from Melody’s pictures, pun intended. Blade wanted me to show you these, especially one.” He took his time selecting a print from the pile. To Melody he said, “You’re a pretty good photographer, shooting under less than ideal conditions—poor lighting and, of course, you didn’t have all day to compose these. This one’s a little fuzzy, but if you look at it through this magnifying glass…”
    “I’ll take all that as a compliment.”
    She took the print and magnifying glass from Slick. She studied the print for a few seconds.
    “I took this on my knees because I saw something near the floor—near the deck, I mean—that caught my eye. It was in a shadow; I didn’t know if it would turn out.”
    “It’s good enough so we can tell what it is. It’s the Giganticorp logo.”
    Melody recognized it now because it was on their running shirts: a caricature of a giant inside a letter G. She almost forgot to keep her voice down.
    “My God. Are you telling me that Giganticorp built the sub?”
    Drake had been impatiently waiting his turn. He reached across the table and more or less grabbed the photo and the magnifying glass from Melody. He peered through the glass until he had it focused on the photo.
    “Unless someone’s playing games, that’s the Big G logo, all right.”
    Slick smiled smugly, now that he had their attention. “Some things are coming together. We’ve been able to get our hands on plans for a similar rig that Big G is supposedly just now developing, and there is an amazing resemblance to the description you all gave me.”
    A thought occurred to Melody. “The military have been studying the sub. Surely they must have seen the logo, too.”
    Drake said, “Surely they must have. Surely they and Big G are in bed together. It isn’t unknown for us to sell weapons to our enemies. We’ve done it before.”
    Slick smiled. “You two must have used some kind of leverage on Casey to get him to give you the tour. I’m sure he didn’t volunteer to do it. Either he forgot about the logo or figured he’d whisk you around so fast you wouldn’t have a chance to see it.”
    Melody was still trying to figure out what happened. “Do you think Casey and his brass sold it to the bad guys without permission? What are they trying to do, start a war?”
    Slick gave a head movement that was almost a nod. “That’s difficult to substantiate, but we’re working on it.”
    Drake asked, “Is Casey in hot water?”
    “The president has requested that Casey go to D.C. for a little chat. He’s flying tonight on the red-eye.”
    “Is there anything we can do?”
    “Keep your eyes open. I suspect we don’t know the whole story yet. Not everything jives.”
    Drake had been thinking about that. “Such as the disappearance of the crew of the sub without leaving behind any evidence as to who they were or where they went. They didn’t get picked up by a larger ship, and they made no effort to scuttle the sub so it wouldn’t be found. Besides, if there are no mechanical problems with the sub, why did they leave it behind?”
    Slick did a full nod. “Good questions all. Thinking makes me hungry. I’m going to order a big piece of apple pie a la mode.”

    CHAPTER 30
    Today’s run goes from the intersection of Del Monte Avenue and Route 1 in Sand City to the Pajaro River at the Monterey County/Santa Cruz County line. Suggested route is Del Monte Blvd. to the Fort Ord Bike Path. Pick up the path where Del Monte crosses Route 1 again. Take the bike path to Marina, and then follow Route 1 through Castroville. Exit Route 1 at Jensen Road. Take Bluff Road, Trafton Road, and then McGowan Road across the river. There are no big