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Page 372
with them, but in the midst of the section in the rear of the hut reserved for the newly arrived press representatives. Although there had been room for more in the press plane, only some thirty reporters had flown in, including those from Russia, obviating the necessity for a second plane. Most of them were still complaining about the lack of a full briefing before their hasty departure for Hudson Bay.
When the American reporters, even those from television networks, had been told that much of their news was to be filtered through Ryerson, as Ryerson himself confided to Morgan before the briefing session, "The shit really hit the fan." And when they found out their stories couldn't be filed from the scene, but would have to wait until they got back to Montreal, the Canadians had a hostile, adversarial audience on their hands.
The Canadian Maritime Command officer, the media relations officer assigned to the remotely piloted vehicle team from the Trudeau, was interpreting the RPV's videotape on the monitors. Commander Amalie Hebert, a plain, solidly built young Quebecoise, spoke with a French-Canadian accent.
"You can see the deployed airlift from the deck of the Trudeau moving into position over the missile," she said. "Air Intelligence has determined that it is without question of Russian design, a modification of the Soviet SSN-18."
The members of the Russian news contingent, five men and a woman, received that statement with considerable skepticism. A young Russian representing Izvestia questioned Commander Hebert's assessment. "It seems to me that the missile could have been provided by any one of a number of nations," he argued. "China, for example. North Korea, for another. Or even Iran."
"Sorry, sir, I cannot agree. Only wait; you can see in the next sequence, when the RPV was close enough so that they could be recognized, the Cyrillic ideographs on the warhead," Commander Hebert said positively. "There, on screen now."
They all watched intently as the airlift on the RPV, a tube

 
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