been numerous irregularities in the behavior of whales in this area lately, including a major beaching at Deer Key this morning,' Carol continued. 'I want to see if I can find any pattern in their actions. I may need to do some diving so one of you will have to accompany me. I assume that at least one of you is a licensed diver and that your dive gear is onboard?'
The two men regarded her with disbelieving stares. Carol felt on the defensive. 'Really ... I'm a reporter.' she said as an explanation. 'I work for the Miami Herald. I just did a story this morning on the Deer Key beaching.'
Troy turned to Nick. 'Okay, Professor, I guess we have a live charter here. One who says she wants to look for whales in the Gulf of Mexico. What do you say? Should we accept her money?'
Nick shrugged his shoulders indifferently and Troy took it as assent. 'All right, angel,' Troy said to Carol, 'we'll be ready in half an hour. We're both licensed divers if we're really needed. Our gear is onboard and we can get more for you. Why don't you pay Julianne at the desk and get your things together.'
Troy turned and walked over to the jumbled mess of electronics at the front of the boat. He picked up one of the boxes with its housing partially removed and began toying with it. Nick pulled another beer out of the refrigerator and opened the built-in counters, exposing racks of equipment. Carol did not move. After about twenty seconds Nick noticed that she was still there. 'Well,' he said in a tone of dismissal, 'didn't you hear Troy? We won't be ready for half an hour.' He turned around and walked toward the back of the boat.
Troy looked up from his repair work. He was amused by the friction already developing between Nick and Carol. 'Is he always so pleasant?' Carol said to Troy, nodding in Nick's direction. She was still smiling but her tone conveyed some irritation. 'I have a few pieces of equipment that I want to bring onboard. Can you give me a hand with it?'Thirty minutes later Troy and Carol returned to the Florida Queen. Troy was grinning and whistling 'Zippity-Do-Dah' as he pulled a cart down the jetty and came to a stop in front of the boat. A partially filled footlocker was resting on the cart. Troy could hardly wait to see Nick's face when he saw Carol's 'few pieces of equipment.' Troy was excited by the turn of events. He knew that this was no casual afternoon charter. Reporters, even successful ones (and Troy's street intelligence had quickly informed him that Carol was not just an ordinary reporter), did not have everyday access to the kind of equipment that she was carrying. Already Troy was certain that the whale story was just a cover. But he wasn't going to say anything just yet; he wanted to wait and see how things developed.
Troy liked this confident young woman. There was not a trace of superiority or prejudice in her manner. And she had a good sense of humor. After they had opened the back of her station wagon and she had showed him the footlocker full of equipment, Troy had demonstrated to Carol that he was fairly sophisticated about electronics. He had recognized immediately the MOI insignia on Dale's ocean telescope and Troy had even guessed the meaning of the MOI-IPL acronym on the back of the large monitor and data storage system. When he had looked at her for an explanation, Carol had just laughed and said, 'So I need some help finding the whales. What can I say?'
Carol and Troy had loaded the gear on the cart and wheeled it through the parking lot. She had been a little dismayed at first by Troy's recognition of the origin of the equipment and his friendly, probing questions (which she handled adroitly with vague answers — she was helped by the fact that Troy wanted mostly to know how the electronics worked and she, in truth, didn't have the foggiest idea). But as they talked, Carol developed a comfortable feeling about Troy. Her intuitive sense told her that Troy was an ally and could be counted on to be discreet with any important information.
Carol had not, however, planned for a security check inside the Hemingway Marina headquarters. One of the primary selling points of the slips at the new marina had been