Clive Cussler - Dark Watch

DARK
WATCH

CLIVE
CUSSLER

With JACK DU BRUL

BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK

Clive Cussler once again opens the Oregon Files already hailed as honestly fabulous (Kirkus Reviews) and action-packed (Publishers Weekly) and delivers an all-new novel of adventure and intrigue featuring his unbeatable hero of the high seas, Juan Cabrillo

Juan Cabrillo and his ingenious crew aboard the clandestine spy ship Oregon have made a very comfortable and very dangerous living from working for high-powered Western interests. But their newest clients have come from the east the Far East to ask for Cabrillos special brand of assistance. They are a consortium of Japanese shipping magnates, and their fortunes are being threatened by brutal pirates trolling the waters of Southeast Asia.

Normally, such attacks are aimed at small ships and foreign-owned yachts. Now, giant commercial freighters are disappearing, and Cabrillo suspects that the pirates have joined forces to take down the bigger ships. But when the Oregon confronts the enemy, he learns that the pirates predations hide a deadly international conspiracy a scheme of death and slavery that Juan Cabrillo is going to blow out of the water.

Praise for Clive Cussler
and the novels of The Oregon Files

SACRED STONE

[An] action-packed page-turner.

Publishers Weekly

Ablaze with action.

Kirkus Reviews

GOLDEN BUDDHA

Readers will burn up the pages.

Publishers Weekly

Fans of Cussler will not be disappointed.

Library Journal

Praise for
Clive Cusslers NUMA series

MARVELOUSsimply terrific fun.

Kirkus Reviews

YOU CANT GET MUCH MORE SATISFYING.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Cussler and Kemprecos weave A GREAT STORY.

Tulsa World

Audacious and WILDLY ENTERTAINING.

New York Daily News

Praise for
Clive Cusslers Dirk Pitt series

BLACK WIND

[A] RIP-SNORTING ADVENTURE THRILLER.

Publishers Weekly

ANOTHER CUSSLER EPICAnother win for NUMA.

Booklist

UNABASHED, NO-HOLDS-BARRED ADVENTURE, complete with illustrations. A souped-up treat.

The Mirror (U.K.)

VALHALLA RISING

[A] NONSTOP THRILLERCussler speeds and twists through the complex plot and hairbreadth escapes [with] the intensity and suspense of a NASCAR race.

Publishers Weekly

ACTION-FILLED ADVENTUREGREAT FUN.

Library Journal

CLIVE CUSSLERIS AT TOP FORM HERE.

Kirkus Reviews

ATLANTIS FOUND

A DELIGHTFUL PAGE-TURNER that is almost impossible to put down.

The San Francisco Examiner

WICKEDLY ENGROSSING.

Publishers Weekly

BY FAR THE BEST. Atlantis Found has wonderful characters and a plot that speeds along like a comet.

Tulsa World

THE FUNNEST DIRK PITT ADVENTURE SINCE RAISE THE TITANIC!

Rocky Mountain News

ENOUGH INTRIGUE TO SATISFY EVEN THE MOST DEMANDING THRILL SEEKERSAn entertaining and exciting saga, full of techno details and narrow escapes.

The Chattanooga Times

DIRK PITT ADVENTURES BY CLIVE 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

DIRK PITT ADVENTURES BY CLIVE CUSSLER WITH DIRK CUSSLER

Black Wind

FICTION BY CLIVE CUSSLER WITH PAUL KEMPRECOS

Polar Shift
Lost City
White Death
Fire Ice
Serpent
Blue Gold

FICTION BY CLIVE CUSSLER WITH JACK DU BRUL

Dark Watch

FICTION BY CLIVE CUSSLER AND CRAIG DIRGO

Sacred Stone
Golden Buddha

NONFICTION BY CLIVE CUSSLER AND CRAIG DIRGO

The Sea Hunters II
The Sea Hunters
Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

DARK WATCH

A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with Sandecker, RLLLP

PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley trade paperback edition / November 2005
Berkley international edition / September 2006

Copyright 2005 by Sandecker, RLLLP.

All rights reserved.
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375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

ISBN: 1-4295-2782-X

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Contents

T HE aging Dassault Falcon executive jet drifted smoothly from the sky and touched down at the Sunan International Airfield, twelve miles north of Pyongyang. The MiG that had flown a tight escort from the moment the aircraft entered North Koreas airspace peeled off twin cones of flame from her engines cutting the night. A truck was sent to lead the Falcon to its hardstand, and in its bed stood a machine gunner who never took his aim off the cockpit windows. The plane taxied to an open expanse of concrete at the far side of the airport complex, and even before its wheels were chocked a squad of fully armed troops had formed a perimeter around it their AK-47s held ready for the slightest provocation. All this despite the fact that the passengers on board were invited dignitaries and important clients of the reclusive Communist country.

Several minutes after the engines spooled to silence, the passenger door cracked open. The pair of guards positioned closest shifted in anticipation. Then the door was lowered, showing the integrated steps that formed its internal side. A man wearing an olive uniform with a flat cap stood at the doorway. His features were harsh and uncompromising, with near-black eyes and a hooked nose. His skin was the color of weak tea. He stroked a finger along his dense black mustache and cast an unimpressed eye at the ring of soldiers before stepping lightly from the aircraft. He was followed by two more hatchet-faced men, one wearing traditional Middle Eastern robes and a head scarf, the other in an expensive suit.