5 DesertionAt around eleven-thirty, De Palma arrived at the rocky cove on the Virginia Beach coastline. It had been an uneventful drive from the air force base at Langley after the surveillance operation had been cancelled at the last minute and he hoped the rest of his day would be just as straightforward. With no moonlight to see by, he got out of his beaten up Cadillac and, with a pen torch held between his teeth, feverishly began to search the car boot. Slowly, piece by piece, the scuba equipment built up behind him on the dusty ground until at last he closed the trunk with a slam.
De Palma had more than enough money stashed away to buy a new Cadillac but that would lead to unnecessary questions and even if he had a reasonable excuse for the expenditure, he did not want to arouse curi
