The only ‘accidental’ discharge or ignition of an atomic device on U.S. soil in the history of nuclear weaponry had come to be blamed on me. Not the United States Navy, which was present; not ex-Navy Seal Marcinko, who was present; and not my control...
The distance from the bar to the wharf was not that far, although the rough surface of the port area was difficult to negotiate, as the habit patterns of the Inuits, who were the dominant Eskimo tribe endemic to the area, cast aside anything used or unusable without...
I learned from Don, my bunkie and fellow de-frocked PhD, that the ship was never referred to as the “MS World Discoverer,” which was painted in black across her white prow and in white across her black stern. Unlike most ships, because of seafaring lore about...
The bar on the Lido deck is where I settled in for the afternoon run out toward the Diomede Islands. Passengers were drinking like proverbial fish and talking like magpies, so it didn’t take long to learn that our speed approached nine knots. That put our...
The washroom door swung open. Felipe stepped through the entrance, dropped a pile of dry clothes on the floor, and then looked at my nakedness. I had nothing to hide anything with. He stared for a few seconds, looking openly at the roadmap of my career. His eyes met...
I moved through throngs of passengers populating the corridors of the ship. Murmurs of “doctor” came from some of them, as they reacted to my surgical scrubs. I had removed my coat. The temperature maintained inside the vessel hallways was always high,...
Instead of going to my own cabin, I headed directly down to Botany Bay’s number 36. There was something about the way in which the Basque woman had looked at me earlier, which was drawing me back. Don had stayed behind to consult with the passengers. He had...
Two Filipinos came into the locker. They began to haul our tanks, and B.C.’s down to the waiting Zodiac. Dutch started to follow, but I stopped him by putting my arm across the door. “Dutch, this is the kind of dive that guys get killed doing. Pay...
I took in the contents of the Zodiac as fully as I could, at least what I could see. “Don,” I finally said, “Grab the canvas sack out of the boat. Dutch, get the top off the outboard. We’re going to need the cover if we want to heat...
“Damn,” Don said, they didn’t try to take the Zodiac.” He turned to face me. “They couldn’t have missed our tracks. They didn’t take the valuable boat because they’re afraid we’re up here, armed, and watching...
Filipe brought the Zodiac close in toward the steel hull. Three adventurers — dirty, disheveled and nearly naked — half-lay in the bottom of the craft. My watch, the canvas bag, and my jockey shorts were all I had saved from the island. Don and Dutch...