Operator B

addicted to flying; you all are—”

“No I’m not, for Christ’s sake.”

“Jack, I know a dozen other women whose husbands are all pilots—and they’re all divorced, it’s all the same.”

Wentz nodded after thinking about it. “All right, I guess it is something like that, the adrenalin and all, the rush. When you get to fly the most sophisticated aircraft in the world, it does something to your ego, and, yeah, I guess I was addicted to the thrill. But that’s behind me now.”

“Is it really? You quit the Air Force tomorrow, and what happens next week? You start flying for the airlines. Right back in the saddle.”

Was she right about this too? There was no time left to fool around. This truly was his last chance. “All right, you’re justified in saying that. I’m just going from one plane to another. So—” Wentz walked to the walnut highboy where he kept his papers. He pulled open the top drawer, withdrew his employment contract with United Airlines, and ripped it up.

“I don’t give a shit about that job,” he asserted. “It’s just busy work, and now that you mention it, it’s gonna be pretty damn disappointing trading in a $50,000,000 mach-three-plus ATF for a jumbo jet that won’t get out of its own way.” Wentz balled up the shredded contract and tossed it in the trash.

“Do you really mean that?” she asked. “That’s fine with me if you do. We don’t need this big house. We can move someplace smaller, tighten the budget, get cheaper cars—”

“We don’t have to do any of that,” he told her. “I don’t even need a job. When they promo’d me to brig general, my retirement pay went up about twenty percent. Plus…when you’re a classified test pilot, you get this thing called SOM credit. It stands for special operating missions—it’s a hazard pay bonus you get when you retire. Mine’s been building up with interest for over twenty years.”

Joyce peered at him.

“It’s…a lot of money,” Wentz admitted.

“So you’re telling me you’re never going to fly a plane again?”

“I’m not telling you, I’m promising you.”

Her eyes looked as big as cue balls. “So…what will you do?”

“Give you a break, for one thing,” he answered at once. “Drive Pete to and from school every day like you’ve been doing since kindergarten. I’ll do stuff around the house, mow the lawn, weed the beds, shovel the driveway in the winter. I’ll be a house husband—you think I give a shit? I look good in an apron. You’ve busted your tail for the last ten years, now I’ll take up the slack. I’m not kidding about this, Joyce. You quit school to put me through college, now it’s my turn. You can go back and get your degree. I’ll wash the damn dishes. You can open a crafts store like you always wanted. It doesn’t matter. Whatever you want, I’ll do whatever it takes to see that you get it.”

Joyce looked nearly shocked. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Damn fuckin’ straight.”

“Don’t cuss. Pete might hear you.”

“Hey, Dad!” Pete called out from the kitchen. “The water’s boiling!”

“I’ll be right there,” Wentz said. He put his arm around his wife, pulled her close. “You’ll see,” he whispered. “No more broken promises. And by the way…you’re fuckin’ beautiful.”

Joyce blushed. “Don’t cuss…”

He kissed her and went back into the kitchen.

“Yeah, that’s boiling,” Wentz observed of the pot. “Now I’ll show you another of your old man’s trick’s.” He opened the refrigerator, pulled out a large bottle of beer. “Once the water’s boiling, you pour in about eight ounces of a good German marzen, or something with a lot of malt. It makes the crabmeat come out of the shell easier.”

Pete watched as his father poured in some of the beer.

“What are you gonna do with the rest?” Joyce coyly asked.

“Drink it. What else? When you’re in an SOM wing, you can’t drink. They even polygraph you to make sure you’re not lying. And since I’m not doing that stuff anymore…”

Wentz took a hit off the bottle

“Wow. That’s not bad,” he said. “First beer I’ve had since Reagan was in office. A little Johnny Black would do well now…but I’m not complaining.”

“The water’s back to a boil,” Pete alerted him.

“Better let me do that, Pete,” Wentz said. “You grab ’em from the back, otherwise they’ll tear your fingers up.” One by one, then, he transferred the crabs from the box to the steamer. “Nothing personal, fellas,” he said to the crabs. “But you’d do the same to me if you had the chance.” Then he dumped in heaps of spices.

“How long does it take?” Pete asked.

“About thirty minutes, or when the trap doors come loose. Crabs this big might take a little longer.”

“I can’t wait!”

For the first time since he could remember, Joyce actually looked happy. She believes me, Wentz thought. It was a gratifying relief. They were a family again, through thick and thin. That’s all Wentz wanted, more than anything.

And now it was looking like he’d get it.

“Get the mallets and placemats out, Pete,” Wentz instructed. “And plenty of paper towels.”

“Okay, Dad.”

Wentz walked back over to Joyce, put his arm around her waist. I’m not bullshitting this time, he wanted to say, but what would be the point in that? He was determined to prove it.

I’ll show her…

Several soft thunks seemed to resound from outside. Wentz wasn’t even paying attention. But Pete heard it, and he looked out the kitchen window, pulling up the lace curtains.

“Hey, Dad. There’s Air Force guys coming up the driveway.”

The hell? Wentz went to the window, looked out. Sure enough, the first thing he noticed was the tell-tale powder-blue sedan parked at the curb. Two Air Force SP’s remained stationed at the car, while one more approached the house.

“Who the hell are these fucking bohunkers?” Wentz said.

“Jack, don’t cuss,” Joyce implored.

Wentz loped to the foyer, then brusquely opened the front door after one knock. “What do you want?”

A 1st lieutenant in summer dress stood curtly on the doorstep, built like a body builder. He wore a gunbelt and an armband which read AFSS - SP. “General Wentz?” he inquired.

“What do you want?” Wentz repeated.

“I’m Lieutenant Hamilton, Air Force Security Service Courier Detachment, and I have—”

“What do you want?” Wentz said as rudely as possible for the third time.

“I have an urgent hand-deliver-only TDY message, sir.”

Wentz impatiently snatched the yellow piece of paper from Hamilton, then frowned when he read it.

“Who the hell’s this?” he demanded. “What’s he want to see me for?”

“It’s classified, sir,” Hamilton stated the obvious.

“Tell him I’m sick.”

Hamilton just stared back, wooden-faced.

“Goddamn it! I’m cooking crabs with my kid!”

“Sir, it’s an AFSS command order,” Hamilton informed.

“I’m not coming, it’s out of the question—”

Hamilton’s brow rose. “Sir, if you don’t come with us willingly…we have orders to—”

“Damn it!”

Wentz felt an inch tall when he turned around in the foyer. Joyce stood there looking back at him, glaring.

“I’m sorry, honey, but I gotta go to the base,” Wentz said. “This muscle-rack and his goons will drag me there if I refuse.”

She didn’t say anything, but Wentz could read her lips when she said to herself: Goddamn