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Page 435
glove and exposing himself to the toxic water at Soyuz Site. She had alternated between dressing him down for his stupidity and hugging him for proving that the Waymer diving suit was every bit as good as she'd argued it would be. And the experimental ligand treatment Dr. Waymer's laboratory scientists developed had leached the plutonium from his system with astonishing ease.
"I'm getting restless, Vincent. I've had an interesting offer from the nuclear gang at the Department of Energy. In the last few years, they've gone from being the nation's intellectual shield against nuclear war to being considered government surplus, like old army tents. But now they have a real mission. They've invited me to go with them to Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. There are a hell of a lot of warheads over there with the same kind of trigger to be disassembled. They found they can't move them safely." Morgan turned and surveyed Kellner. "Enough about me, though. What about you? I'd say that life in a think tank agrees with you. No regrets? No yearning for Washington?"
"I confess only to putting on weight for the first time in my life," Kellner said, patting his stomach. "I have one of those infernal machines that are supposed to substitute for regular exercise, but I never use it. But you haven't answered my question. Really, how are you?"
Morgan was silent for a moment. In a low voice he said slowly, "I still have nightmares. I can't get to the control panel in time, or I flash back to Marina Suslova with Karmann's hook in her throat. It's not a thing I'll soon forget. They've never found Karmann's body, you know. And I wonder what passed between them before they died."
"That woman was evil, John," Kellner said angrily. "I know that's old-fashioned. Judgmental. The late twentieth-century sin. But still, as God is my witness, Marina Suslova was evil."
"Did you ever find out from whom she took her orders?

 
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