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Page 189
hunting party in Ukovo as a guest of Admiral Aleyev after Orgonev's funeral and before visiting the reconstruction work on the Dneiper Dam. As regards the dam, I will expect a full report from you on the terms the World Bank intends to levy on us before the Eurocon Organization agrees to assist us in completing the work.
More to the point, I want to see you the moment you return from Ukovo. I must know what those old wolves are up to and why they have chosen to invite you into their lair.
I have also notified the Foreign Ministry that I wish to see our ambassador to the United Nations, Nathan Abramov, immediately that he arrives in Moscow, rather than to wait until he briefs the Executive Council on the current status of events at the UN.
President Cherny hesitated a moment, then scrawled across the bottom in his own handwriting,
DoviThank you, my friend, for doing me this favor, even if there is some danger involved. You are a clever man; see with your own eyes what they are up to, get at least a hint of what they plan to doif anything. You see, I am still not quite convinced that Soyuz is the menace you think it is. In return, I will see Abramov, and I promise to listen carefully to whatever he tells me.
When Cherny had finished, and had read over the memorandum, he folded it carefully and put it into a plain envelope. "Deliver this by hand," he said to his most trusted aide, Ivan Gagarin, who stood by his desk. As Gagarin accepted the envelope, he added anxiously, "To no one but the Minister, himself,"
"Be assured that I will do as you ask," Gagarin said.
"Thank you, Ivan," Cherny said, sinking back into his

 
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