Read Online The Charlemagne Pursuit by Steve Berry - Free Book Online

expedition mapped 5400 miles of coastline, 1400 of which had been entirely unknown. It discovered 22 unknown mountain ranges, 26 islands, 9 bays, 20 glaciers, and 5 capes, producing 70,000 aerial photographs.
    Machines were tested to the limit.
    Four men died.
     
    “The whole thing breathed life back into the navy,” Davis said. “It was quite a success.”
    “Who gives a rat’s ass?” Daniels asked.
    “Did you know we went back to Antarctica in 1948? Operation Windmill. Supposedly those seventy thousand photographs taken during Highjump were useless because no one thought to put benchmarks on the ground to interpret the pictures. They were like sheets of blank white paper. So they returned to establish the benchmarks.”
    “Edwin,” Diane McCoy said, “what’s the point? This is meaningless.”
    “We spend millions of dollars sending ships and men to Antarctica to take pictures, a place we know is covered in ice, yet we don’t establish benchmarks for the pictures while we’re there? We don’t even anticipate that may be a problem?”
    “You saying that Windmill had an alternative purpose?” Daniels asked.
    “Both operations did. Part of each expedition was a small force—only six men. Specially trained and briefed. They went inland several times. What they did is why Captain Zachary Alexander’s ship was sent to Antarctica in 1971.”
    “His personnel file doesn’t note anything about that mission,” Daniels said. “Only that he was assigned command of Holden for two years.”
    “Alexander sailed to Antarctica to look for a missing submarine.”
    More silence from the other end.
    “The sub from thirty-eight years ago?” Daniels asked. “The court of inquiry report Stephanie accessed.”
    “Yes, sir. In the late 1960s we built two highly secret subs, NR-1 and 1A. NR-1 is still around, but 1A was lost in Antarctica in 1971. No one was told about its failure—that was covered up. Only Holden went looking. Mr. President, NR-1A was captained by Commander Forrest Malone.”
    “Cotton’s father?”
    “And your interest?” Diane asked, with no emotion.
    “One of the crew on the sub was a man named William Davis. My older brother. I told myself if I ever was in a position to find out what happened to him, I would.” Davis paused. “I’m finally in that position.”
    “Why is naval intelligence so interested?” Diane asked.
    “Isn’t it obvious? The sinking was covered up with misinformation. They just let it be lost. Only Holden went to look. Imagine what 60 Minutes would do with that.”
    “Okay, Edwin,” Daniels said. “You connected the dots pretty good. Round two to you. Carry on. But stay out of trouble and get your ass back here in two days.”
    “Thank you, sir. I appreciate the latitude.”
    “One piece of advice,” the president said. “It’s true, the early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”
    The phone clicked.
    “I imagine Diane is furious,” Stephanie said. “She’s clearly out of the loop on this one.”
    “I don’t like ambitious bureaucrats,” Davis muttered.
    “Some would say you fit into that category.”
    “And they’d be wrong.”
    “You seem to be on your own with this one. I’d say Admiral Ramsey at naval intelligence is in damage-control mode, protecting the navy and all that. Talk about an ambitious bureaucrat—he’s the definition of one.”
    Davis stood. “You’re right about Diane. It won’t take her long to get into the loop, and naval intelligence won’t be far behind.” He pointed to the hard copies of what they’d downloaded. “That’s why we have to go to Jacksonville, Florida.”
    She’d read the file, so she knew that’s where Zachary Alexander lived. But she wanted to know, “Why we ?”
    “Because Scot Harvath told me no.”
    She grinned. “Talk about a Lone Ranger.”
    “Stephanie, I need your help. Remember those favors? I’ll owe you one.”
    She stood. “That’s good enough for me.”
    But