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"About ten miles off the shore," she replied, "On the Coast Guard cutter Catawba"The Catawba," he repeated as if re

"Yes, you know of her?"

"Set a copter on her flight pad o"

"Where was that?"

"North Atlantic, near Iceland" He was gazing beyond the island now He sighed andfor a ship imbedded in an i

ceberg"

"did you find it?"

He nodded "A burned-out hulk Barely beat the Russians to it

Later we crashed in the surf on the Icelandic coast My friend was killed"

She could see histhe events The expression on his face took on a faraway sadness She changed the subject

"We'll have to say goodbye-temporarily, I mean-e land"

He shook off the past and stared at her "You're leaving us?"

"You and Al will be staying on the Catawba to search for the nerve agent's location I' to the island where the local response team has set up a data base"

"And part of my job is to send water samples from the ship to your lab?"

"Yes, bytrace levels of the contamination we Can direct you toward the surface"