He heard a light tap on his door and sighed. COS had extracted a promise that he would spend four hours on paperwork and had guaranteed no interruptions. Tombstone wondered who had managed to sneak past his gatekeeper.
“Come in,” he snapped irritably. “And it better be important!”
The door opened slowly, and Pamela slipped in. “Maybe not in the grand scale of things, but I did want to say good-bye before I got on the COD. We leave in an hour. I promised COS I’d only take up a couple of minutes of your time.”
Tombstone leaned back in his chair and tossed his pen on the desk. “So soon?” he asked. “I thought you might stay for part of the wrap-up or the transit back to California.”
“The story’s not out here anymore, Stoney. It’s back with the politicians. I’ll let someone who likes tamer stories cover that part of it. Besides, Bosnia’s flaring up again.”
“Some things never change, I guess.” For a moment, he envied her. After the challenge of dealing with the Chinese, the trip back to the States was going to be boring. Still, he might actually have a chance to fly a bit more. How much more satisfying, though, to be able to leave when things got slow.
“Some things do change. Like us. It’s been different this time,” Pamela said.
“Has it?”
“Oh, yes, I think so.” She paused, studying his reaction. “You’re different.”
“Think the stars make that much difference?”
“It’s not just the rank, Tombstone. It’s you. Seeing you here, on your ship — knowing what you do, the responsibilities you have. It makes a difference.”
“This is where I wanted to be the entire time, Pamela. I thought you knew that — what it would be like.”
“I knew but I didn’t know.”
They both fell silent. There was no point in resurrecting the perennial argument about their careers. The last time they’d met, they’d decided it would never be resolved, and they’d broken their engagement. While seeing Pamela this time had awakened all of his old feelings, he now recognized that it had been mostly reflexive nostalgia.
“Maybe sour grapes,” Tombstone suggested.
“How so?”
“Being on the ship and all. As much as I’d like to, you know there’s no way that — I mean, how can I expect the crew to — it just wouldn’t-“
“You mean making love?” she said softly.
“Yeah.”
“Tombstone, if that’s all we had, it wouldn’t be much, would it?”
“It’d be a real good start, right now,” he said reflectively. He let his eyes run over her body hungrily.
“And a real dramatic end, if you got caught.”
“There’s that. But maybe an end is in order.”
“After all these years, you’re ready to give up? Leave the Navy?”
“People do. I’ve got over twenty years in. A rear admiral’s retirement pay’s not bad. We could get married. Try living a normal life, maybe.”
“Oh, Tombstone.” Pamela studied him for a moment. “If you’d made that offer ten years ago — hell, even two years ago — I’d have taken you up on it.”
“And now?”
“And now I know better. You’d have hated me for it, in the end.”
“Now’s different. Pamela, I haven’t been in a cockpit on a regular basis for three years — longer if you count that tour of duty at the Naval War College. It’s not fun anymore.”
“Maybe that’s the payback for all those years of flying. In those years of what you call fun, you learned something. You proved that today.”
He was silent for a moment. “I’m grounded, you mean?”
“You know you are. At least, you won’t be flying as much as you used to. You can’t, Tombstone. It’s not fair to your air wing and to the crew.”
“I can’t fly, and you won’t marry me. Somehow, that doesn’t sound like a happy ending.”
“Did they ever promise you one? I thought that’s what duty was all about.”
“Duty means a lot of things. Right now, the only thing I can think about is whether I’ll ever see you again.”
“I’d count on it if I were you, Admiral,” she said lightly. “When you least expect it, perhaps.”
She touched her fingers to her mouth and then brushed them gently against his lips. “That’s permitted on board your ship, isn’t it?”
His lips tingled where her fingers had touched him. “Yes — but this isn’t.” He stood, drawing her to her feet with him, and drew her close. They paused for a split second, and then their mouths locked together, hungry, demanding release from the pressure of the last weeks. His hand caressed her neck, and started downward. He felt the jutting prominence of her collarbones, the soft upper slope of her breasts. Even as he felt his body responding, he knew it was the last time.
“Enough!” she finally gasped, and pulled away. “Any more and I’ll miss my flight. Any second now, COS will be banging on the door, shooing me out.”
“Any more and I’d be joining you on the COD. And if he thought your visit was too long, imagine how he’d feel about that,” he said raggedly.
Good-bye, Stoney,” she said softly. “See you next war.” The door clicked shut behind her.
CHAPTER 29
“Admiral?” Lab Rat asked. “I think I may have what you asked for.”
“Shoot, La — uh, Commander Busby,” Tombstone said.
Lab Rat groaned inwardly. The nickname appeared to be permanent, if even the admiral had trouble remembering his real name!
“It’s a matter of saving face, Admiral. That’s one of the most critical parts to dealing with an Asian nation. It’s something I don’t think we’ve ever understood, not completely. But I think I might have a cover story that would work.”
“I’m listening.”
“Here’s the idea.
Fifteen minutes later, Tombstone was nodding. “Get this on the wire to your spook buddies, Commander. They may not take your suggestion, but it sounds like a fine operational deception to me. If anyone in the State Department’s got a hair on their ass, they’ll pull this one off. Helluva good idea!”
If Lab Rat hadn’t known better, he would have sworn the somber admiral was even starting to smile. It was just as well he was sworn to secrecy — while his colleagues might be able to believe his plan, not a single one of them would have believed that old stone face had smiled.
“How are you holding up?” Bird Dog asked, glancing at the rearview mirror. “You ready for some aerobatics? Tell me if you’re not — you’ll be cleaning it up if you puke.”
The backseater nodded.
“Use the ICS. If I’m not looking, I can’t see you nod,” he ordered.
“Yes, sir,” the answer came finally. “I think some aerobatics would be just great!”
“Okay, Shaughnessy, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Bird Dog jammed the throttles forward, pitched the nose of the Tomcat up, and headed into an Immelmann.
She may own it on the ground, but up here it’s all mine! And the more she knows about that part of it, the better she can do her job.
He’d never been too good with words, but a highly illegal and damned well-deserved ride in a Tomcat ought to make up for a hell of a lot of mistakes!
A war whoop echoed over the ICS as he reached the pinnacle of the maneuver. He felt a grin split his own face and added his best imitation of a rebel yell to her voice.