Titanic Secret
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01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 THE 09 10 TITANIC 11 SECRET 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 S29 N30 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd i 5/22/19 5:53 PM 01 TITLES BY CLIVE CUSSLER 02 03 DIRK PITT® ADVENTURES SAM AND REMI FARGO ADVENTURES 04 Celtic Empire (with Dirk Cussler) 05 Odessa Sea (with Dirk Cussler) The Oracle (with Robin Burcell) 06 Havana Storm (with Dirk Cussler) The Gray Ghost (with Robin Burcell) 07 Poseidon’s Arrow (with Dirk Cussler) The Romanov Ransom (with Robin Burcell) Pirate (with Robin Burcell) 08 Crescent Dawn (with Dirk Cussler) Arctic Drift (with Dirk Cussler) The Solomon Curse (with Russell Blake) 09 Treasure of Khan (with Dirk Cussler) The Eye of Heaven (with Russell Blake) 10 Black Wind (with Dirk Cussler) The Mayan Secrets (with Thomas Perry) 11 Trojan Odyssey The Tombs (with Thomas Perry) 12 Valhalla Rising The Kingdom (with Grant Blackwood) 13 Atlantis Found Lost Empire (with Grant Blackwood) 14 Flood Tide Spartan Gold (with Grant Blackwood) 15 Shock Wave 16 Inca Gold ISAAC BELL ADVENTURES Sahara 17 The Cutthroat (with Justin Scott) Dragon 18 The Gangster (with Justin Scott) Treasure The Assassin (with Justin Scott) 19 Cyclops The Bootlegger (with Justin Scott) 20 Deep Six The Striker (with Justin Scott) 21 Pacific Vortex! The Thief (with Justin Scott) Night Probe! 22 The Race (with Justin Scott) Vixen 03 23 The Spy (with Justin Scott) Raise the Titanic! 24 The Wrecker (with Justin Scott) Iceberg 25 The Chase The Mediterranean Caper 26 27 28 29S 30N 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd ii 5/22/19 5:53 PM 01 02 KURT AUSTIN ADVENTURES OREGON® FILES 03 Novels from The NUMA® Files Shadow Tyrants (with Boyd Morrison) 04 05 Sea of Greed (with Graham Brown) Typhoon Fury (with Boyd Morrison) The Rising Sea (with Graham Brown) The Emperor’s Revenge 06 (with Boyd Morrison) Nighthawk (with Graham Brown) 07 Piranha (with Boyd Morrison) The Pharaoh’s Secret (with Graham Brown) 08 Mirage (with Jack Du Brul) Ghost Ship (with Graham Brown) 09 The Jungle (with Jack Du Brul) Zero Hour (with Graham Brown) The Silent Sea (with Jack Du Brul) 10 The Storm (with Graham Brown) Corsair (with Jack Du Brul) 11 Devil’s Gate (with Graham Brown) Plague Ship (with Jack Du Brul) 12 Medusa (with Paul Kemprecos) Skeleton Coast (with Jack Du Brul) The Navigator (with Paul Kemprecos) 13 Dark Watch (with Jack Du Brul) Polar Shift (with Paul Kemprecos) 14 Sacred Stone (with Craig Dirgo) Lost City (with Paul Kemprecos) 15 Golden Buddha (with Craig Dirgo) White Death (with Paul Kemprecos) 16 Fire Ice (with Paul Kemprecos) 17 Blue Gold (with Paul Kemprecos) NONFICTION 18 Serpent (with Paul Kemprecos) Built for Adventure: 19 The Classic Automobiles of Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt 20 Built to Thrill: More Classic Automobiles 21 from Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt 22 The Sea Hunters (with Craig Dirgo) 23 The Sea Hunters II (with Craig Dirgo) 24 Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed (with Craig Dirgo) 25 26 CHILDREN’S BOOKS 27 The Adventures of Vin Fiz 28 The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy S29 N30 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd ii 5/22/19 5:53 PM 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd iii 5/22/19 5:53 PM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 Title page art TK 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29S 30N 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd iv 5/22/19 5:53 PM 01 02 03 04 05 THE 06 07 TITANIC 08 09 10 SECRET 11 12 An Isaac Bell Adventure 13 14 15 16 17 18 CLIVE 19 20 21 CUSSLER 22 AND 23 JACK DU BRUL 24 25 26 27 28 G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS • NEW YORK S29 N30 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd iv 5/22/19 5:53 PM 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd v 5/22/19 5:53 PM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 G. P. Putnam’s Sons Publishers Since 1838 08 An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC 09 Penguinrandomhouse.com 10 11 Copyright © 2019 by Sandecker, RLLLP 12 Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank 13 you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any 14 part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers 15 and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader. 16 Library of Congress Cataloging‑ in‑ Publication Data [CIP Data TK] 17 18 Printed in the United States of America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 19 book design by kristin del rosario 20 21 Endpaper and Interior Illustrations by Roland Dahlquist TK 22 PUBLISHER’S NOTE This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either 23 are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, 24 companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. 25 26 27 28 29S 30N 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd vi 5/22/19 5:53 PM 01 02 03 CAST OF CHARACTERS 04 05 06 07 08 NEW YORK 09 DIRK PITT Director of NUMA. 10 THOMAS GWYNN Attorney for the estate of Isaac Bell. 11 VIN BLANKENSHIP Secret Service agent. 12 13 COLORADO 14 ISAAC BELL Detective with the Van Dorn Agency. 15 JIM PORTER Manager of a Denver post office. 16 BILLY MCCALLISTER Denver Police. 17 JACK GAYLORD Denver Police. 18 BOB NORTHROP Postal investigator. 19 RUDOLFO LATANG Magician. 20 HANS BLOESER Banker and co‑ owner of the Little Angel Mine. 21 TONY WICKERSHAM Engineer and Bloeser employee. 22 WILLIAM GIBBS Reporter. 23 COLIN RHODES Van Dorn agent. 24 GREGGORY PATMORE U.S. Army Intelligence. 25 26 PARIS 27 JOSHUA HAYES BREWSTER Miner and leader of the Coloradans. 28 VERNON HALL Colorado miner. S29 WARNER O’DEMING Colorado miner. N30 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd vi 5/22/19 5:53 PM 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd vii 5/22/19 5:53 PM 01 ALVIN COULTER Colorado miner. 02 THOMAS PRICE Colorado miner. 03 CHARLES WIDNEY Colorado miner. 04 JOHN CALDWELL Colorado miner. 05 WALTER SCHMIDT Colorado miner. 06 JAKE HOBART Colorado miner. 07 FOSTER GLY Head of special security for the Société des Mines de 08 Lorraine. 09 YVES MASSARD Assistant to Gly. 10 THERESA MASSARD Yves’s sister‑ in‑ law. 11 HENRI FAVREAU BELL’S contact in Paris. 12 13 THE ARCTIC 14 RAGNAR FYRIE Captain of the whaler Hvalar Batur. 15 IVAR IVARSSON Chief engineer of the Hvalar Batur. 16 MAGNUS Crewman. 17 ARN Crewman. 18 PETR Crewman. 19 THE OTHER PETR Crewman. 20 GUNNAR Crewman. 21 22 ENGLAND 23 JOEL WALLACE Van Dorn agent. 24 DAVIDA BRYER Wallace’s assistant. 25 GEORGE DEVLIN Gangster. 26 27 28 29S 30N 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd viii 5/22/19 5:53 PM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 THE 09 10 TITANIC 11 SECRET 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 S29 N30 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd viii 5/22/19 5:53 PM 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd ix 5/22/19 5:53 PM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 [Art 1 TK] 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29S 30N 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd x 5/22/19 5:53 PM 01 02 03 PROLOGUE 04 05 06 New York City 07 April 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 he sky over Manhattan was the color of old pewter. The 15 Tclouds were so low that the tops of some of the tallest buildings 16 vanished into the mist. The air had a biting edge, while the Hudson 17 Hawk, the famed wind that blew along its namesake river, was in full 18 flight. The spring -like weather from a week earlier was but a memory 19 to the city dwellers. 20 An armored Chevy Suburban with government plates eased up to 21 the midblock curb in a downtown neighborhood. A late-twenties man 22 in a trench coat holding a furled black umbrella and obviously waiting 23 for the vehicle pushed himself from the flower box he’d been leaning 24 against and approached the big SUV as its passenger’s‑ side window 25 whispered down. 26 The driver, a thirty -year veteran in providing security for govern‑ 27 ment officials, said nothing. 28 “Greetings,” the pedestrian stammered. He peered into the backseat S29 and his mouth flattened into a line when he saw it was unoccupied. “I’m N30 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd x 5/22/19 5:53 PM 9780735217263_Titanic_TX.indd 1 5/22/19 5:53 PM CLIVE CUSSLER 01 Thomas Gwynn. I’m supposed to meet with the NUMA Director. The 02 National Underwater and Marine Agency. Dirk Pitt.” 03 Back at the beginning of his career, the driver, Vin Blankenship, 04 would have asked to see ID, but he’d checked the website of the law firm 05 where Gwynn worked and recognized the younger man from his online 06 bio. “Mr. Pitt texted me to say his meeting at the UN is running a little 07 long. He asked that I pick you up before I get him, and then we head 08 over to Queens.” 09 “Oh, sure. That’s no problem.” Gwynn let himself into the back of 10 the big truck. He loosened the belt on his coat.