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"At that, the Russians nearly stole the ballgame We didn't expect the during the lull of the hurricane's eye was a masterstroke And it almost worked Without either Giordino, or the admiral or me to warn the lieutenant-we three were the only ones privy to the SEALs' presence-Fergus would have never knohen to launch his attack on the boarders"

"I don't ht that we'd had it Giordino and I prisoners of Prevlov, and Pitt thought to be dead"

"God knows," Pitt said, "if the helicopter hadn't wedged itself into the Proht now"

"As it was," Fergus said, "Mr Pitt looked like death warmed over when he stumbled in the chief steward's cabin A hardy man, this one Half-drowned, his head split open, and yet he still insisted on guidingmuseum until we located your Soviet visitors"

Dana was looking at Pitt in a peculiar way "How long were you hiding in the shadows before you rand entrance?"

Pitt grinned slyly "For a minute prior to your striptease"

"You bastard You stood there and let me make an ass out of myself," she flared "You let them use me like I was a cut of beef in a butcher store "

"I used you too, dear heart, as a matter of necessity After I found Woodson's body and the sypsy to tell me the boys frous and histhe Russians would already be guarding the puht First priorities first Whoever controlled the pumps controlled the derelict When I saw that I would be uards, I borrowed a SEAL and cah half the ship we finally heard voices cohtail it below for reinforcements"

"Then it was all a great big stalling tactic," Dana said

"Exactly I needed every second I could beg, borrow, or steal until Fergus showed up and evened the odds That's why I held off until the last second to put in an appearance"

"A high stakes gamble," Sandecker said "You cut Act Two a bit fine, didn't you?"

"I had two things going for me," Pitt explained "One was cooyle exterior, you still help little old ladies across streets and feed stray aniive in, but you would have given in" Then Pitt put his ar weapon from a pocket of the jacket draped on her shoulders "Nuus loaned it to an It's called a Stoner weapon It shoots a cloud of tiny needlelike flachettes I could have cut down Prevlov and half his men with one burst"

"And I thought you were being a gentle your jacket on un when they searched you"

"You have to admit, that yourahemexposed condition made for an ideal distraction"

"Beggin' your pardon, sir," said Chief Bascom "But why on earth would this rusty old bucket of bolts interest the Russians?"