One of Wolf's hefty bodyguards moved forward then as if to a.s.sault Pitt, but suddenly Giordino stepped from behind and stood toe-to-toe with the guard, blocking any movement. The guard, who outweighed Giordino by a good fifty pounds and stood ten inches taller, looked down contemptuously and said, "What makes you think you're so tough, little man?"

Giordino grinned condescendingly. "Would you be impressed if I told you that I'd just exterminated half a dozen of your fellow vermin?"

"He's not kidding," said Pitt.

The guard's reaction was amusing. He didn't know whether to be mad or wary. Wolf raised a hand and idly waved off his bodyguard. "I congratulate all of you on your escape from the Ulrich Wolf. My security forces proved most incompetent."

"Not at all," Pitt replied amicably. "They were really quite good. We were very lucky."

"From the report I received, luck had very little to do with it."

It was as close to a compliment as Karl Wolf could ever give. He came slowly out of his chair and stood facing Pitt. He was two inches taller and relished looking down at this thorn in Destiny Enterprises' side. His blue-gray eyes glinted, but their fixed stare was easily matched and returned by Pitt, who was more interested in studying his enemy than engaging in a childish game of stare-down.

"You are making a regrettable mistake in opposing me, Mr. Pitt. Surely you must be aware by now that I am dedicated to using every tool at my command to make the world as pure and as uncontaminated as it was nine thousand years ago."

"You have a strange way of going about it."

"Why did you come here tonight?"

Pitt did not back off. "I have suffered a great deal of inconvenience because of your family, and I was determined to meet the man who's been scheming to play master of the universe."

"And now that you've met me?"

"It seems to me you've bet the farm on a phenomenon that may not take place. How can you be so dead certain the twin of the comet that wiped out the Amenes will return next month and strike the earth? How do you know it won't miss, as it did then?"

Wolf looked at Pitt speculatively and smiled maliciously. It was obvious that a man of his wealth and power was not used to people who did not fear him, who did not grovel in his divine presence.

"The coming cataclysm is an established conclusion. The world, as it is known by every living creature, will no longer exist. With the exception of my family, everyone in this room, including yourself, will surely perish." He leaned forward with a wicked grin. "But I'm afraid, Mr. Pitt, that it will happen rather sooner than you think. The timetable's been advanced, you see. The end of the world ... will begin precisely four days and ten hours from now."

Pitt tried to hide his shock. Less than five days! How was it possible?

Pat didn't bother to hide her dismay. "How could you do this? Why have you gone to so much trouble to keep it a secret?" she demanded impa.s.sionedly. "Why haven't you warned every living soul on Earth so they can prepare for whatever happens? Have you and your precious sisters no conscience? Have you no compa.s.sion? Don't the deaths of billions of children torment you, like any sane person? You're just as bad as your ancestors who slaughtered millions-"

Elsie shot to her feet. "How dare you insult my brother!" she hissed.

Pitt slid his arm around Pat's waist. "Don't waste your breath on these purveyors of slime," he said, his face taut with anger. The confrontation was getting too tense. But he couldn't resist getting in one more remark. He looked at Elsie and said pleasantly, with a chilling grin, "You know, Elsie, I'll bet that making love to you and your sisters is like making love to ice sculptures."

Elsie hauled back to slap Pitt, but Pat lunged forward and grabbed her arm. Elsie s.n.a.t.c.hed it away, shocked that someone other than a family member would treat her roughly. For a moment, both Pitt and Wolf thought the two women were going to go at it, but Pat smiled brazenly and turned to Pitt and Giordino. "I'm bored. Why don't one of you gentlemen ask me to dance?"

Pitt decided it was wiser to hang around and attempt to milk the Wolfs for more information while he had their attention. He made a slight bow to Giordino. "You first."

"My pleasure." Giordino took Pat's hand and led her to the dance floor, where the orchestra was playing "Night and Day."

Pitt said to Karl Wolf, "Very clever of you, accelerating the schedule. How did you do it?"

"Ah, Mr. Pitt," Wolf said. "I must have some secrets to myself."

Pitt tried a different tack. "I compliment you on your ships. They are masterworks of marine architecture and engineering. Only the Freedom, the sea city built by Norman Nixon of Engineering Solutions, comes close to matching their magnificent scale."

"That is true." Wolf was intrigued, despite himself. "I freely admit that many of the qualities we built into the Ulrich Wolf came from those designs."

"Do you really think those immense vessels will float out to sea in the wash from the giant tidal wave?"

"My engineers have a.s.sured me their calculations are precise."

"What happens if they're wrong?"

The expression on Wolf's face suggested that he never considered the thought. "The cataclysm will come to pa.s.s, exactly when I said it would, and our ships will be safe."

"I'm not sure I'd want to be around after the earth was devastated and most of the humans and animals became extinct."

"That's the difference between you and me, Mr. Pitt. You see it as the end. I see it as a bold new beginning. Now, good night. We have much to do." And he gathered up his sister and walked away.

Pitt desperately wanted to believe that Wolf was simply another lunatic, but this man's pa.s.sion and that of his entire family went far beyond mere fanaticism. Pitt stood there, uneasy. No man this intelligent would build an empire worth many billions of dollars to throw it away on a crackpot scheme. There had to be an underlying rationality, one that was too horrifying to envision. But what? According to Wolf's own timetable, Pitt now had only four days and ten hours to find the answer. And why was Wolf so forthcoming about the deadline? It was almost as if he didn't care that Pitt knew. Did he simply think that it didn't matter anymore, that there was nothing anyone could do about it? Or was there some other reason in that devious mind?

Pitt turned and walked away. He stepped up to the bar and ordered an anejo, 100 percent blue agave tequila on the rocks. Amba.s.sador Horn came and stood beside him. Horn, a light-haired small man, had the look of a hawk gliding in a spiral over a forest, more interested in his sovereignty than scanning for a meal.

"How did you and Karl Wolf get along?" he inquired.

"Not too well," answered Pitt. "He has his mind set on playing G.o.d, and I never learned to genuflect."

"He's a strange man. No one I know has ever gotten close to him. Certainly, there's been no indication why he would believe in this fantastic story of the end of the world. I've told my colleagues here and in Washington, and they say there's no evidence at all of such an event coming-at least so far."

"Do you know much about him?"

"Not a great deal. Only what I've read in intelligence reports. His grandfather was a big n.a.z.i who escaped Germany at the end of the war. He came here with his family and a group of n.a.z.i cronies, along with their top scientists and engineers. Soon after arriving in Argentina, they established a huge financial conglomerate within less than two years, buying and operating the largest farms and ranches, banks and corporations in the country. Once their power base was solidified, they branched out internationally into everything from chemicals to electronics. One can only guess where the original capital came from. Rumors say it was gold from the German treasury and a.s.sets stolen from the Jews who died in the camps. Whatever the source, it must have been a tremendous h.o.a.rd to have accomplished so much in so little time."

"What can you tell me about the family?"

Horn paused to order a martini from the bartender. "Mostly rumors. My Argentinian friends speak in hushed tones whenever the Wolfs come up in conversation. It's been reported that Dr. Josef Mengele, the 'Angel of Death' at Auschwitz, was involved with the Wolfs until he drowned several years ago. The stories, I admit, sound pretty outlandish. But they claim that Mengele, continuing his genetic experiments, worked with the first generations of Wolfs in producing offspring with high intelligence and exceptional athletic ability. These children then produced an even more controlled strain, which you see in the extraordinary likenesses in all the third generation of Wolfs, such as Karl and his sisters, who, by the way, all look identical to their brothers and cousins. One outlandish bit of gossip is that Adolf Hitler's sperm was smuggled out of Berlin in the closing hours of the war and used by Mengele in impregnating the Wolf women."

"Do you believe all this?" Pitt asked.

"I certainly don't want to," said Horn, sipping at his martini. "British intelligence is mum on the subject. But my emba.s.sy intelligence officer, Major Steve Miller, using a computer, has compared photos of Hitler with those of the Wolfs. As abhorrent as it sounds, except for hair and eye color, there is a marked resemblance in facial structure."

Pitt straightened and extended his hand. "Amba.s.sador, I can't tell you how grateful I am for your invitation and protection. Coming to Buenos Aires was a wild scheme, and you were very generous with your time in helping me to meet Karl Wolf."

Horn gripped Pitt's hand. "We were lucky the Wolfs showed up for the party. But I have to tell you that it was a real pleasure to see someone tell that arrogant devil where to get off. Because I'm a diplomat, I couldn't afford the luxury of doing it myself."

"He claims the timetable's moved up, that now there's only four days until Armageddon. I should think the family will soon be boarding their superships."

"Really? That's odd," said Horn. "I have it on good authority that Karl is scheduled to make an inspection tour of his mineral retraction facility in Antarctica the day after tomorrow."

Pitt's eyes narrowed. "He's cutting it pretty thin."

"That project has always been a bit of a mystery. As far as I know, the CIA has never been able to get an agent inside."

Pitt smiled at Horn. "You're certainly abreast of intelligence matters, Amba.s.sador."