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mittee for Nuclear Disinvestment. They have a willing audience." |
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Morgan looked from the Adviser to the Ambassador and back again. "There's something else. What is it?" |
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Kellner said, "The problem is this. We and the Canadians have been conducting Tomahawk X missile tests in the Northwest Territories. The CCND claim that one of our missiles went astray and downed the plane, or that we attacked the Nevilles to keep the tests secret." |
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"The Canadians believe that?" |
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"Some do, as do some American sympathizers." |
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Morgan frowned. "Why are we testing cruises in Canada?" |
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Ambassador Conroy fixed Kellner with a prosecutor's look. "Well, Vincent?" |
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"We signed a treaty with the Russians banning long-range cruise trials," Kellner said patiently. "Canada is a signatory. But the treaty has a secret protocol. It allows both powers to test existing technology. Ever since the Gulf War, we and the Russians have kept a full quiver of cruise weapons. We have used some of ours, as you know. We think the Russians have sold some of theirs, although they deny it. That's as may be. There have been Russian observers at the Northern Alberta Test Range for each flight. The range is more than twenty-five hundred miles from where the Nevilles' aircraft went down, and none of the missiles tested have that range." |
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Kellner paused thoughtfully. "Anna Neville's story is an out-and-out fabrication, John, but it is outlandish enough to appeal to the press and to the conspiracy buffs." |
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"I suppose I'm reassured about the missiles," Ambassador Conroy said slowly. "But consider this. The third world countries are very angry with Europe, the United States, and Canada because of the new laws restricting immigration. The situation in the Balkans is still explosive, and Russia's financial and ethnic troubles have to be dealt with daily. One never knows what will happen next in any of the Islamic countries. Our old world, awful as it was on many occasions, has dis- |
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