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He looked again at his watch. It was now 2:15 in the morning, on the seventh day of December, the anniversary of the Americans' "Day of Infamy." He was restless, ready to dive right now. The plane from Montreal was late, five hours late. I only hope, Karmann thought, that the crew coming in are capable divers, able to take over if the effort is too much for me, or rather what is left of me. |
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What had become of Captain Krasny? Karmann pictured in his mind his last glimpse of Krasny as he was dragged aboard a Cuban gunboat just as Pravda rolled into its last deep dive to the bottom of the Caribbean. One year ago, such a long year. Wherever the bastard is, Karmann thought, I wish him torment and a lingering death. No fate Karmann could imagine could be bad enough for Captain Krasny. |
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Karmann closed his eyes and with his left hand held tight the steel frame of the cot, feeling the edge press into his flesh. The prosthetic hook grated against the metal when he moved it, reminding him of that late afternoon on the Rosario Bank, where he left a part of himself in the belly of a shark. |
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Now Karmann tried to remember Ekaterina Marchenka. One of the young Canadian corpsmen had slipped him a note from her. A classmate of his all those long years ago, her message had said. He had observed her from a safe distance when she arrived, and her face had stirred his memory. If Marchenka was the girl he was thinking of, she had earned her high grades in the professors' beds. Her father had been a mid-level party functionary. Was the handsome woman with the Russian press contingent the girl he vaguely remembered? He could not recall any sign that she had had any interest in journalism, or any other academic subject. It would have been out of character for that girl to risk her life. |
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Yet she was a countrywoman and he owed her the courtesy of a meeting if she wanted one. The other Russians all looked to be wet behind the ears. None of them had requested an interview. They seemed to be more interested in when the press plane left than in talking to a sick man. Karmann tried |
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