CARRIER 9: ARCTIC FIRE By: Keith Douglass

peculiarly uniform-looking arrangement. From the 0-10 level, the handcuffs

were invisible.

“Pamela’s going to be damned pissed at you for a long, long time,

Stoney,” Batman remarked. “Though I do admit the handcuffs were a nice

touch. Something in your personal life you want to share with your old

wingman?”

Tombstone shot him a wry look. “You got it all backward. If you

think Pamela’s going to stay mad at me, then you know nothing about the

media and reporters. Hell, I’ve just put her on the top of every news show

in the world. Can’t you see the headlines–Journalist Imprisoned on U.S.

ship? And ACN is going to have an exclusive.”

Batman looked doubtful. “I don’t know about that. She looked pretty

damned mad when you had that petty officer search her.”

“it wasn’t even a strip search–though now that you mention it …”

Tombstone looked thoughtful.

“I don’t think you ought to press your luck on this one,” Batman said

hastily. “Besides, it’s my ship now.”

Tombstone slapped him on the back. “Damned sure is. Now you see why

I made you wait that extra five minutes?”

“I do–and thank you. I wouldn’t have had the nerve–and I wouldn’t

have missed the expression on her face for anything.”

The two men fell silent, too tired to try to talk over the noise of

the COD taking the cat shot. Finally, as the rugged little C2 started to

gain altitude and veer away from the boat, Batman asked, “So what about the

rest of this mess? The Cossacks, I mean.”

Tombstone shrugged. “Above my pay-grade. I imagine the State

Department’s going to want a whack at them, along with every intelligence

organization in the country. They’re not going anywhere, not after sinking

that Greenpeace boat. The rest of the business will be written off to a

misunderstanding, to engineering casualties and such. Nobody’s going to

want to give up the peace dividend over the Aleutian Islands.”

Batman gazed off at the horizon. “The Cossacks–who would have

thought a splinter group like that would almost start another Russian-U.S.

conflict? Just a tiny group of extremists, when you think about it. Good

thing we don’t have that kind of ethnic conflict in the States.”

Tombstone looked sober. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Think of the

damage some of these white supremacist groups could do to our national

interests. They’ve already managed to commit one atrocity, the Oklahoma

City bombing. They’re there, and they’re dangerous.”

“Too bad the military can’t do anything about domestic terrorism,”

Batman said thoughtfully.

Tombstone snorted. “I think we’ve got enough to do already, don’t

you?”

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