“I’ve been thinking about one thing,” Bergman said.
He was having lunch with Modin and Axman inside Modin’s house at the large white dining table on the glassed-in porch. “It sure could have been American Navy SEALs working from West German bases. Perhaps western submarines were involved in the intrusions out here. NATO must have wanted to safeguard its surveillance installations in some way. I would have. They had to somehow minimize the risk that Soviet Spetsnaz units would rip out the SOSUS or sabotage it in some other way. That is if we assume that it was lying on the seabed completely open and unguarded. What do you think?”
Axman and Modin looked at each another and smiled.
“You just concentrate on your lunch, Bergman,” Modin said. “Don’t overstrain your brain with grand analyses. All that’ll get you is a headache.”
“It didn’t require much brainpower. I just thought of it as I was lying on the pier this morning. It suddenly struck me and I wanted to share it. But go ahead and start the drama, you two, with ‘the Russians are coming,’ and all that.”
They all had a good laugh. Modin fed his cat and returned to the boys at the round table.
“I want us to fill the diving tanks for deep diving,” Modin said. “Bergman, would you fill them with Trimix gas after lunch? Take Nuder with you when he’s coming. Axman and I will do a training dive here in the inlet. I have to test my ears and the equipment. It ‘s been a while since I last dove.”
Suddenly there was a burst of activity around the inlet. Diving tanks were brought out and attached to the air compressor, which was humming along in the diving shed, and the diving equipment was carried over to the pier.
Nuder glided in an hour later with the Hulk, moored at the small pier, and jumped ashore.
Miss Mona and Nuder walked toward each other on the lawn.
“You better keep a low profile,” Nuder whispered to the cat. “Things can get rowdy around here.”
Miss Mona slid down into the undergrowth and vanished in the direction of Modin’s sole neighbor.