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Morgan held his breath. Killing the timer didn't always mean that the detonation of an explosive device had been stopped. Quite often the timing device included a revenge circuit, a secondary trigger, which would set off the explosion seconds after the first timer went dead. |
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Morgan closed his eyes and waited. |
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A last time signal came from the sonobuoythen silence. |
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Morgan gasped for breath and released his weight belt from around his waist. His muscles were like water; he hadn't the strength to swim to the surface. He allowed his suit's buoyancy to carry him upward, toward the light. |
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When he reached the surface, in the wintry light he could make out the helicopter. Ave had landed it on the steepening waves. He raised his ungloved hand to wave, wondering as he did if he had killed himself because of his clumsiness. |
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Too late now to worry about it. |
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The helicopter crew was firing repeated green flares. Signals to the Trudeau. Now it moved back directly over him, lowering a sling for Morgan to fasten around his body, preparatory to being pulled out of the water. It took a few tries before he could fasten it properly. The grinning faces of the RPV crew in the helo showed their glee as they winched him up a few feet. Ave gently backed the craft toward the dock, where Morgan could see hats thrown in the air, usually staid figures capering about clumsily in excitement, mouths moving in dumb show. |
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When the helo was within a dozen feet, the RPV crew on the dock aimed their hoses at Morgan, dousing him and washing him down with heavy sprays of fresh water, sending him spinning around in the sling. A rubber boat set out from the dock to retrieve him. Morgan lay back in the sling, his mind blank, numb with adrenaline overdose, and waited to be reborn. |
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