Odessa Sea

1

July 2017

The Black Sea

A dull glow blanketed the southern horizon in a cottony glaze. Although Istanbul was more than fifty miles away, the electric blaze from its fourteen million inhabitants lit the night sky like a sea of lanterns. Churning slowly toward the light, a weathered black freighter rolled in a choppy sea. The ship rode low, catching the sporadic rogue wave that sent a spray of seawater surging across its deck.

On the wide bridge, the helmsman nudged the wheel to port, fighting a stiff breeze.

Speed?

The question came from a bearded man hunched over a chart table. His gray eyes were glassy and bloodshot, and his voice offered a trace of a slur. His sweat-stained clothes hinted at priorities other than hygiene. As the crew expected, in the two days since the ship had left port the freighter s captain had ventured well into his third bottle of vodka.

Eight knots, sir, the helmsman said.

The captain grunted, estimating the time it would take them to clear the Bosphorus Strait.

A bridge wing door opened and an armed man in brown fatigues entered. He approached the glassy-eyed captain with a mix of concern and disdain. The sea is getting rough. There is water washing over the decks.

The captain looked at the man and snickered. You sure it is not just your vomit that is soiling my decks?

Green at the gills, the armed man found no humor in the comment. I am responsible for the cargo. Perhaps we should get closer to shore.

The captain shook his head. He d had an uneasy feeling when the ship s owner phoned him minutes before they were to depart Sevastopol, instructing him to wait for a last-minute delivery. The small gang of armed men that arrived in a battered panel van only contributed to his suspicions as he watched them unload a large metal crate. He d protested when they d insisted on placing it in the engine room but muffled his complaints when he was handed a bag of uncirculated rubles. Now he

Clive Cussler is the author or coauthor of over fifty previous books in five bestselling series, including Dirk Pitt®, NUMA® Files, Oregon® Files, Isaac Bell, and Sam and Remi Fargo. His nonfiction works include Built for Adventure: The Classic Automobiles of Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt, and Built to Thrill:More Classic Automobiles from Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt, plus The Sea Hunters and The Sea Hunters II; these describe the true adventures of the real NUMA, which, led by Cussler, searches for lost ships of historic significance. With his crew of volunteers, Cussler has discovered more than sixty ships, including the long-lost Confederate ship Hunley. He lives in Colorado and Arizona. 

 
Dirk Cussler is the coauthor with Clive Cussler of six previous Dirk Pitt® adventures: Black Wind, Treasure of Khan, Arctic Drift, Crescent Dawn, Poseidon s Arrow, and Havana Storm. For the past several years, he has been an active participant and partner in his father s NUMA expeditions and has served as president of the NUMA® advisory board of trustees. Cussler lives in Arizona.

PRAISE FOR ODESSA SEA

The pages whip by as the characters, at least the good guys, survive one deadly encounter after another, and the bad guys get their comeuppances. Readers will anxiously await Dirk s next adventure. Publishers Weekly
 
Sketch out some exotic, ephemeral settings, make every villain as nasty as possible, and it's another of Cussler's cinematic-style entertainments spinning out at hold-on-to-your-hat speed. Kirkus Reviews 

PRAISE FOR THE DIRK PITT ADVENTURES

Exotic locations, ruthless villains, and many narrow escapes and derring-do. Cussler s fans come for swashbuckling [and] he delivers. *Associated Press

Another super Cussler fun read. Pitt and company are the stuff of heroic dreams. Kirkus Reviews

Teems with violence, derring-do, and perilous situations. The action runs non-stop and wham-bam, with the authors finding clever ways to spare their good guys from bad ends. St. Louis Post-Dispatch