To Kill the Potemkin by Mark Joseph

Author:Mark Joseph
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Published: 1987-07-21T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

Several hours after they were underway, Lopez reported Zapata to the XO as "missing in action."

Pisaro blinked, not sure whether to laugh or show concern. The scorpion was not all that dangerous. Its sting was hardly worse than a bee's.

"How long can that thing live with nothing to eat, Chief?"

"Months, Commander. Maybe a year."

"You're shitting me."

"No, sir."

"All right. Organize a search. Give the crew something to take their minds off the collision."

Lopez drew a crude picture of a scorpion adorned with a Mexican sombrero and crossed cartridge belts and printed a wanted poster on the ship's mimeograph machine. He offered a reward of twenty-five dollars for the return of Zapata, dead or alive, and organized search-and-destroy patrols. For twenty-four hours sailors armed with flashlights and hastily constructed nets systematically ripped out every panel, emptied every locker, tossed every bunk. By the time they reached Gibraltar every cubic inch of the ship had been searched twice, but Zapata remained AWOL.

Lopez now reported Zapata's continued absence to Pisaro, who shrugged it off. "Leave him to the guys on the drydock at Rota," he said. "It'll keep them on their toes."

"I think he's still in the torpedo room, sir. I don't see how he could get out. The hatch has been closed since the collision except when someone goes in or out."

"Don't worry about it. Chief. Zapata is a survivor, I'd bet on it."

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