"Chief Toynbee?" Captain Lawless was standing in the doorway to the sonar shack. "When you're through with your dissertation, I would appreciate some work from you for a change. We're supposed to be listening to noise here, not making it."
"Sir. Yes, sir."
"You other gentlemen squared away all right?"
"Yes, sir," Grossman said. "Can't hear shit out there, though. Harbor crap."
"Understood. But keep a close watch anyway. Once we get under way, we might have some interest from the harbor patrol, if nothing else. And I want you to be especially sharp on the lookout for other subs. This is the perfect place for us to pick up a tail."
"Could a sub follow us submerged in here, Captain?" Queensly wanted to know.
"I don't know, Queensly. I wouldn't want to try it if I didn't know the channel well and have some damned good charts. But we can expect that the Chinese have just that, and I don't want to be surprised."
"We're going to have the devil's own hell of a time picking up a tail in that clutter, sir," Toynbee pointed out. "And the channel's so narrow, we won't be able to clear our baffles."
"I know. Do your best. I don't expect miracles out of you people. Just magic."
"Aye aye, sir."
When the skipper had left, Toynbee let out a whoosh of pent-up breath. "Man. He does not sound happy."
"Would you be, Chief?" Grossman pointed out. "You're in command of the most expensive submarine in the U.S. fleet, and your bosses tell you to take it into a potentially enemy harbor just as sweet as if-you-please. Then some of your people screw up and get the locals mad, and you have to get out before things turn ugly. How would you feel?"
"Yeah. I see what you mean."
"Kind of like steering a brand new Rolls-Royce into a demolition derby, huh?" Juarez said with a grin. "Or the local megamall at Christmas rush!"
"Submariners need blue water," Toynbee said philosophically. "And lots of it. Let's see what we can hear out there for the skipper, guys."
"Man, it is so good to hear your voice," Garrett said, pressing the telephone handset against his ear. "Thanks for making the call."
At the other end of the line, Kazuko laughed. "I'm just sorry our good-byes were so…abrupt!"
The line crackled with static. Kazuko had put the call through from a phone on board the JAL jetliner that was at this moment passing out of Chinese airspace and over the South China Sea. The call was being routed to the U.S. Consulate and then to the Seawolf by a ship-to-shore line, and the numerous connections made for bad hearing.
Still, it was so good to hear her voice.
"I'm just glad to know you're off the ground and on the way home, hon."
"Yes. My office put me on the first plane back to Tokyo. I'm flying as a passenger, no less! I feel like a queen!"
"You are one, love."
"Flatterer. Anyway, there's talk of them giving me some time off, with pay, because of what happened."
"I'm jealous."
"So… when are you getting out of Hong Kong?"
"I… don't know." It was a lie, of course, the typical submariner's secrecy reflex. There was no telling who might be listening in on this line, even if it was supposed to be secure. "Pretty soon, I imagine." In another two hours or so, in fact.
"I was hoping we could pick up on unfinished goodbyes back in Tokyo."
"You know I'll call as soon as I get in, hon. As soon as I can. But I don't know when that will be."
"I know." He heard the sadness in her voice. "I know. I've been listening to the news. Have you?"
"They have CNN going on a box in the wardroom."
"The negotiations are going pretty well, they say. Maybe there won't be a war after all."
"That," he said with heartfelt warmth, "would be wonderful." He'd read, once, that no one loved peace more than the warriors who had to do the fighting. He could not have agreed with that sentiment more.
"I'm looking out the window now," she told him. "We're above the ocean. I'll be home in a few hours. I'll… be waiting for you, Tom."
"And I'll be with you just as quick as the situation permits, love."
"What did you say?" Her voice was very far away, thick with static.
"I said I love you!"
"I'm having trouble hearing you, Tom… and this call is really expensive. I'd better go. I love you."
"Love you!" he practically shouted. And then she was gone.
He hung up the handset and turned to find Captain Lawless standing in the passageway outside. "Your girl okay, Commander?"
"Yes, sir."
"I, ah, didn't mean to eavesdrop on a private conversation."
"It was hardly that, sir. Not when I have to shout to be heard."
"I just wanted to be sure she was squared away and safe."
"Thank you, sir. Her airline is flying her out. She's in the air now, in fact."
"I'm glad. That sounded like a hell of a bad experience you two had last night."
"It wasn't fun, sir," he said, lightly touching the gauze wrapped around his head. His body ached all over. "I feel like I've been through a meat grinder."
"And you look worse."
"Thank you, sir, so very much. That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me all day."
"Well, let me say something else nice… and that will be my quota for the month. You did good, getting our people out of that Kowloon jail. Well done, Tom."
"Thank you, sir. Just doing my job as XO."
"A boat's executive officer has the responsibility of looking after the men of his command, of seeing to the discipline, morale, training, and smooth functioning of all personnel on board," he agreed, as though reciting from a naval officer's textbook. "Absolutely correct. But a lot of XOs would have let the COB take care of bailing the men out of jail. They wouldn't have bothered to get their hands dirty."
"I was close to the police station, sir. And I'd already talked with one of the cops. It just seemed like the right thing to do."
"Well, I appreciate it. If we'd waited and tried to go through channels, God knows how long we would have been tied up here in port."
"Yes, sir."
"Do you have recommendations for disciplinary action?"
"Sir, from the sound of it, our people were being hustled. If you want a captain's mast—"
"I want to know what you think should be done."
"Captain," he said formally, "it is my opinion that ignoring the whole incident will not have an adverse effect on the discipline of this vessel."
"I'm not sure we can ignore the incident. They were drunken and disorderly, and we had to damn near hijack three port authority trucks to get them out of there. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to explain sending an armed shore party into Kowloon on my report."
"Yes, sir. But the days of Americans letting themselves get shoved around by the rest of the world just because we're Americans, because we're supposed to be the good guys, are over. And a damned good thing, too, if you ask me. Sir."
Lawless nodded, and sighed. "Agreed. Well, I'll take that under advisement. I do want a complete report from you on what happened to you and your friend at the hotel last night, and another report on what happened at the police station. I will also expect you to debrief the men involved, get their official versions of the story down on hard copy."
"Yes, sir."
"God knows what CINCSUBPAC is going to make of this mess."
Garrett grinned. "With luck, sir, there'll be a war, and no one will care."