'I'm glad you did,' Jeffrey said distractedly. 'We'll get you started on settling in later this afternoon.' 'Good- bye,' Kathy said to Ilse. Kathy left.
'Urn,' Jeffrey said. 'Sorry, Ilse, I, I, I sort of lost my whole train of thought there.'
'I don't know, Jeffrey. I'm still so, so confused about how I feel, about what I did back there, that bad place we both went to.'
Jeffrey nodded reluctantly, remembering the lab, those scientists, the A-bomb. 'War makes good people have to do terrible things sometimes. That doesn't make you a bad person, Ilse. You helped stop something evil.'
Ilse opened her mouth to reply, but a messenger from Challenger dashed up, escorted by an armed guard Jeffrey had never seen before.
'Sir,' the messenger said. 'This.' He handed Jeffrey the slip and Jeffrey read it to himself, first looking over his shoulder again. A Virginia-class fast-attack boat had been badly damaged in an engagement with two Axis- crewed Rubis-class SSNs near the Azores. Both ex-French boats were assessed destroyed, but the American sub had been forced to bottom on a seamount barely higher than her crush depth. The engineering spaces were flooded and the surviving crew were sheltering forward, without much power or air, and more German subs were closing in. Challenger was ordered to put to sea at once and render all possible assistance to the stricken American boat, including an attempt to rescue the crew using the ASDS, something never tried before in combat.
'What about Captain Wilson?' Jeffrey said to the messenger.
'The neurologist wouldn't allow him out of his room, sir,' the messenger said. 'He called the Shore Patrol and used his medical authority.'
Jeffrey looked at Ilse. He knew she could see it in his eyes. 'I have to go,' he said. 'Now.' Ilse simply stood there. Tears began to stream down her face.
'I, uh. ' Jeffrey trailed off, his chest aching from how beautiful she looked.
'Sir, come on,' the messenger said, tugging Jeffrey's sleeve. 'A car's waiting.' Not knowing what else to do, Jeffrey reached and took Ilse's hand. She just held his limply, her lip trembling.
'I'll try to find you,' Jeffrey said. 'Somehow' Ilse tried to speak but couldn't. She pressed his hand and then turned her back. Jeffrey tore himself away and started for the patio, chiding himself that even after all these years good-byes were still so hard.
Another messenger dashed over breathlessly. Jeffrey held out his hand, but the youngster said he needed Miss Reebeck. Jeffrey grabbed the slip and skimmed it as both messengers kept eyeing their wristwatches. Jeffrey brought the slip to Ilse.
'Let's go,' he told her insistently. 'You've been assigned to my boat.'
