TITLES BY CLIVE CUSSLER DIRK PITT® ADVENTURES Celtic Empire (with Dirk Cussler) Odessa Sea (with Dirk Cussler) Havana Storm (with Dirk Cussler) Poseidon’s Arrow (with Dirk Cussler) Crescent Dawn (with Dirk Cussler) Arctic Drift (with Dirk Cussler) Treasure of Khan (with Dirk Cussler) Black Wind (with Dirk Cussler) Trojan Odyssey Valhalla Rising Atlantis Found Flood Tide Shock Wave Inca Gold Sahara Dragon Treasure Cyclops Deep Six Pacific Vortex! Night Probe! Vixen 03 Raise the Titanic! Iceberg The Mediterranean Caper SAM AND REMI FARGO ADVENTURES® The Wrath of Poseidon (with Robin Burcell) The Oracle (with Robin Burcell) The Gray Ghost (with Robin Burcell) The Romanov Ransom (with Robin Burcell) Pirate (with Robin Burcell) The Solomon Curse (with Russell Blake) The Eye of Heaven (with Russell Blake) The Mayan Secrets (with Thomas Perry) The Tombs (with Thomas Perry) The Kingdom (with Grant Blackwood) Lost Empire (with Grant Blackwood) Spartan Gold (with Grant Blackwood) ISAAC BELL ADVENTURES® The Saboteurs (with Jack Du Brul) The Titanic Secret (with Jack Du Brul) The Cutthroat (with Justin Scott) The Gangster (with Justin Scott) The Assassin (with Justin Scott) The Bootlegger (with Justin Scott) The Striker (with Justin Scott) The Thief (with Justin Scott) The Race (with Justin Scott) The Spy (with Justin Scott) The Wrecker (with Justin Scott) The Chase KURT AUSTIN ADVENTURES Novels from The NUMA Files® Fast Ice (with Graham Brown) Journey of the Pharaohs (with Graham Brown) Sea of Greed (with Graham Brown) The Rising Sea (with Graham Brown) Nighthawk (with Graham Brown) The Pharaoh’s Secret (with Graham Brown) Ghost Ship (with Graham Brown) Zero Hour (with Graham Brown) The Storm (with Graham Brown) Devil’s Gate (with Graham Brown) Medusa (with Paul Kemprecos) The Navigator (with Paul Kemprecos) Polar Shift (with Paul Kemprecos) Lost City (with Paul Kemprecos) White Death (with Paul Kemprecos) Fire Ice (with Paul Kemprecos) Blue Gold (with Paul Kemprecos) Serpent (with Paul Kemprecos) OREGON FILES® Marauder (with Boyd Morrison) Final Option (with Boyd Morrison) Shadow Tyrants (with Boyd Morrison) Typhoon Fury (with Boyd Morrison) The Emperor’s Revenge (with Boyd Morrison) Piranha (with Boyd Morrison) Mirage (with Jack Du Brul) The Jungle (with Jack Du Brul) The Silent Sea (with Jack Du Brul) Corsair (with Jack Du Brul) Plague Ship (with Jack Du Brul) Skeleton Coast (with Jack Du Brul) Dark Watch (with Jack Du Brul) Sacred Stone (with Craig Dirgo) Golden Buddha (with Craig Dirgo) NONFICTION Built for Adventure: The Classic Automobiles of Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Built to Thrill: More Classic Automobiles from Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt The Sea Hunters (with Craig Dirgo) The Sea Hunters II (with Craig Dirgo) Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed (with Craig Dirgo) CHILDREN’S BOOKS The Adventures of Vin Fiz The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy G. P. Putnam’s Sons Publishers Since 1838 An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC penguinrandomhouse.com Copyright © 2021 by Sandecker, RLLLP Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader. Ebook ISBN 9780593191231 Interior illustrations and endpaper by Roland Dahlquist Title page image: Panama Canal construction by Everett Collection/Shutterstock.com Cover illustration: Mike Heath Design adapted for ebook by Maggie Hunt This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. pid_prh_5.7.0_c0_r0 CONTENTS Cover Titles by Clive Cussler Title Page Copyright Map Cast of Characters Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 About the Authors CAST OF CHARACTERS ARGENTINA OTTO DREISSEN German industrialist HEINZ KOHL Dreissen’s valet/bodyguard MATIAS GUZMAN Argentine Foreign Minister CALIFORNIA ISAAC BELL Chief detective of the Van Dorn Agency MARION BELL Isaac Bell’s wife RENNY HART Van Dorn detective J. WILLIAM DENSMORE California Senator MAJOR COURTNEY TALBOT (U.S. ARMY, RET.) Former soldier turned adventurer ELIZABETH DENSMORE Senator Densmore’s niece JEFFERSON “KENO” WILSON San Diego police chief PANAMA GEORGE WASHINGTON GOETHALS Head of Panama Canal Authority SAM WESTBROOK Canal administrator JACK SCULLY Canal chief mechanic JEREMIAH TOWNSEND Canal archivist RINALDO MORALES Court Talbot’s driver RAUL MORALES Rinaldo’s brother FELIX RAMIREZ Owner of the Central Hotel ERNST LEIBINGER-HOLTE Swiss businessman BENEDICT “TATS” MACALISTER Hotel guest GUILLERMO ACOSTA Argentine civil engineer WHITTIER AND JULIET WEBB Hotel guests JORGE NUÑEZ Panamanian guide DETECTIVE ORTEGA Panama City policeman RUTH BUSCHMAN Nurse PROLOGUE Milwaukee, Wisconsin October 14, 1912 They gave him the gun in New York, he was pretty certain, and he thought some money too. That had allowed him to stalk his prey across eight states, often staying in the same hotels and riding the same train. Most importantly, though, they’d helped him hear the ghost once again. And the ghost gave the same command he’d given eleven years earlier, only John hadn’t the strength to act then. Today was different. John Flammang Schrank spent most of the afternoon in a bar across from the Gilpatrick Hotel, where he knew his target would eat dinner before motoring to the Milwaukee Auditorium to deliver a speech to further his unholy quest. A former bar owner himself, the Bavarian-born Schrank downed six schooners of beer but felt nothing but calm as the crowds outside the nearby hotel swelled in anticipation of getting a glimpse of their hero. Traitor, he thought sullenly, the weight of the gun tugging at his coat pocket. Traitor and murderer. He paid the barman and crossed the street. It was close to eight, and light spilled from the hotel’s windows. The air was crisp, so people wore long coats and hats pulled down low. Schrank was a portly man, round in the belly, with a friendly enough face dominated by a large, jutting chin. He had little trouble pressing his way through the happy throngs of people. How could they show such adoration? he wondered. Didn’t they know the truth? That truth had come to him shortly after his target had taken office. It was the ghost’s first appearance in a dream, a vivid dream that he’d never been able to shake. And now, with the help of his new benefactors, the dream had returned, only this time his target had been wearing the
