“That would be wonderful!’
“Yeah, and if terrorism has been defeated, it would mean that our team members could come out of hiding and turn in their nukes for destruction. That’s the ultimate goal of our mission.”
“Deep down, I know you’re right, George. But Washington was so awful. I have to pass through these layers of hatred and desire for revenge. It’s really hard.”
George shook his head in agreement. “It’s very hard, Leona. You just have to keep working on it. And don’t hesitate to talk about it and ask for help. Every one of these crewmembers has had to go through the same process, and they are more than willing to share their own personal experience. The XO and the chaplain and I have talked to them about it for months. I should have known better than to bring John Ellis aboard without providing more indoctrination. That was my mistake.”
George sat down and Leona resumed her massage of his knotted neck and shoulders. “Yeah, speaking of John,” she asked, “there’s one thing I don’t understand about what happened in the missile compartment.”
“What’s that?”
“How did Sergeant Ramirez get in position to shoot him so quickly? Didn’t you say you ordered the sergeant to stay back and hide behind the first missile silo?”
George laughed. “It’s a funny thing about marines. They’re very literal with their orders, so you have to be very careful about the way you word things. After the warhead was safed and I collapsed back against the silo, I looked at Ramirez and said, jokingly of course, ‘Sergeant Ramirez, didn’t I order you to stay at the forward end of the missile compartment, concealed behind a missile silo, until we determined Ellis’s location and state of mind?’”
“Oh, you didn’t really say that, did you?”
“Yes, I did — not really expecting an answer since he had just saved all our asses. But the sergeant looked at me very seriously and said, ‘As soon as Ellis began to talk to you, I determined his position, sir! Since he was screaming and defiant, I quickly determined his state of mind, sir! Both conditions had been met, so I moved out, sir!’”
Leona laughed. “Was he really serious? Or was that just marine puffery? Did he really say ‘sir’ like that — like he was answering a drill sergeant in basic training?”
“Oh, yes, and he was serious all right. But then he showed a little sense of humor, in a twisted sort of way.”
“How’s that?” Leona asked as she intensified the pressure on George’s tensely knotted neck and shoulder muscles.
“Ooh… aah…” George responded.
“Hey, come on, I’m going to stop unless you keep talking!”
“Okay, okay… After I studied Ellis’s lifeless body, I asked the sergeant why he shot him twice. After all, I had told them to be careful in the missile compartment because we didn’t want any stray bullets hitting any of the missiles. Anyway, he looked at me with a perfectly straight face and said, ‘Because we don’t have a doctor onboard.’”
“What?” asked Leona, puzzled about the response.
“Yeah, it took me a few seconds, too.”
Then as the realization hit her, she stammered, “You mean he didn’t want to just wound him? He wanted to make sure he killed him?”
George nodded.
“That’s sick!”
“Well, I thought so too, but as soon as I realized what he meant and looked at him with the same stunned look you’re giving me right now, he burst into laughter! Then he regained his composure and said, ‘Just kidding, sir. The man was holding an armed nuclear warhead set to go off in twenty seconds or less. I couldn’t afford to wound him and then have to waste precious time wrestling it away from him. I did what I had to do.’”
Silence filled the room for several minutes as Leona continued to work on George’s neck and shoulders.
Finally, George continued, “Sergeant Ramirez and Petty Officer MacKenzie both did great jobs under extremely trying circumstances. I think the joke about the doctor was just the sergeant’s way of releasing the tension of the moment. We were all pretty shaken, and believe it or not, I think we felt a little better after the laugh.”
“Speaking of feeling better, how have your dreams been? Are you still having your nightmare disaster dreams?”
“No. As a matter of fact, I haven’t had a single one since we left Kings Bay.”
“Hmm, so all you had to do to get rid of them was hijack a ballistic missile submarine and steal all the nuclear warheads! Not exactly the kind of therapy that just anyone could do!”
They both laughed. “You’re right. It was effective, but not very reproducible. It might come with a warning: ‘Don’t try this at home!’”
Leona laughed and moved around to the front of the chair so she could give George a hug and a long, lingering kiss.
“Hmm…” George moaned as she finished the kiss. “That kind of therapy I could try at home! What would I do without you, Leona?”
“You’d probably go blind,” she said as she pulled George over to the bed.
“Amen to that!”
Chapter 36
The Louisiana made her way down the east coast of Brazil and Argentina, headed for Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, and from there, the Pacific Ocean. She dispatched several teams with their warheads along the way. While rounding Cape Horn, sub-fighters on patrol from the Louisiana detected a task force of fast attack submarines, apparently deployed in a line to form a barrier between the Cape and Antarctica.
“How many are there?” the captain asked the pilot upon his return.
“As far as we could tell, there are at least four of them, sir. There may be more farther south.”
“Could you tell what type or class?”
“We classified them as two Virginia-class U.S. attack boats, one Russian Alpha-class, and one older Soviet-era attack boat — probably a Chinese Kilo-class.”
“A pretty formidable force, and we have no choice but to get through them,” said the captain. “What order were they in?”
“The northernmost boat nearest the cape was a Virginia-class. The Kilo was next, followed by the other Virginia-class. The Russian Alpha was the southernmost boat in the line.”
“They’re pretty smart,” noted the captain. “They’re alternating the boats so that no two boats of the same class are adjacent each other. That way, if one class has a weakness that we could exploit, it’s not spread out over half the line. Run your sonar tape through the computer and see if we can identify particular hulls for those Virginia-class boats.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
“This could be serious trouble,” said the XO, standing nearby. “Those are extremely capable attack boats, and the crews are highly trained and highly experienced.”
“That’s true, but they’re used to working against each other, not together. I’d feel more threatened by three ASW helicopters with dipping sonars, but thanks to the gale force winds up there, that’s not going to happen.”
“I’m glad you’re so optimistic, Captain, but I don’t see how we’re going to get through this one.”
“Well, I’ve got a little escape plan that just might work. Let’s go to the wardroom and brief this mission. Petty Officer MacKenzie?”
“Yes, sir?”
“You’re with us — in the wardroom for a briefing.
“Aye-aye, sir.”