Must have been. Denholm said, tentatively, I don t care much for his line of approach, sir. I don t care much for it myself, Lieutenant, especially if it s a military plane and even more especially if it s carrying bombs of any sort. If you look, you ll see that we re getting out of its way. Denholm hesitated, then said doubtfully, Well, as long as he doesn t alter course.
Dead men don t alter courses.
On the Aegean Sea, the NATO ship Ariadne picks up on radar a plane that is flying at forty thousand feet and suddenly begins plummeting towards their position. A few minutes later, they receive an SOS call from a yacht that is sinking. Lieutenant Van Gelder suspects something is wrong because of some of the things that the owner of the yacht, Spyros Andropolous, says. He and some of him men go down to the sunken yacht, look at the dead bodies and find evidence to contradict Andropolous. After the US military plane crashes, Talbot learns that there are 15 bombs on board, both atomic and hydrogen.