1633

Mike sighed. 'Oh, hell… I guess if I'm asking for confidences, I should spill one of my own. Even though Rita swore me to silence.'

Mention of Simpson's daughter-in-law caused his eyes to widen a bit.

'When the Ring of Fire hit,' Mike asked, 'what did you and your wife do? Right away, I mean. You didn't have anything left except a rental car-and we nationalized all the gas within a week-and a couple of suitcases. Every credit card in the world, I'm sure, and a wallet full of cash and the world's best wristwatch. Lot of good that was.'

Simpson stared at him. 'Well… a family took us in. Very nice people. The-'

'I know who took you in, John. The reason I know is because Rita set it up. The Wendells' son Jerry is an old friend of Rita's. Boyfriend, to be precise, back in high school. But they stayed on good terms after they broke up.'

'Your sister…'

Mike snorted, half-angrily and half-wearily. 'John, just because we West Virginia hillbillies like to brag about the fact that we won the Hatfield-McCoy feud doesn't mean we really think old Devil Anse Hatfield was a role model. So relax about your son, will you? My kid sister's got her faults, but spitefulness is not one of them.'

Simpson looked away. For a moment, the stiff wooden face seemed slightly embarrassed. And relieved.

'So, to go back to my question-why?' Mike asked again.

Simpson said nothing at all for several seconds. Then he drew a deep breath.

'I never really wanted to go into the 'family business,' ' he said. 'I don't imagine that that's something you expected to hear, but it's true. There were always two traditions in my family-business, and the Navy. There's been a Simpson in the Navy in every generation since the War of 1812. Until Tom's, of course.'

He looked away, and his tone was distant, as if he were speaking of someone else entirely.

'I loved the Navy. And I didn't start off on an engineering track, either. Not me. I was headed for a major surface command of my own one day. Sea duty-that was what I wanted, and I volunteered for river duty in Vietnam right out of the Academy. And I got it, too. I got there about the time our riverine forces were reaching their maximum size, and I fitted right in. Within six months I was the squadron XO. Another six, and I was the 'Old Man.' At the grand and glorious age of twenty-four.'

He shook his head, his eyes sad.

'You may not believe this, but in some ways, those were the best months of my life. I didn't like combat. Some people actually do, you know. I wasn't one of them. But whether I liked it or not, I was good at it. I was… effective. And my people and I were… Well, 'family,' I guess.'

He swiveled his eyes back to Mike, almost defiantly, as if he expected the other man to laugh at him. But Mike only sat there, waiting, and Simpson looked away once more, gazing back into the distance across the vista of vanished years.

'And then, one day, I found out it doesn't always matter whether or not you're good. I never did find out whether it was a communications screw-up, or an intelligence failure, or just plain stupidity, but we were ordered to move in to cover what was supposed to be the extraction of a battalion of ARVN paratroopers… and found out it was a battalion of North Viet regulars, instead.

'They blew the crap out of us. I lost three boats, almost a third of my people, and my right foot.'

Despite himself, Mike stiffened in surprise, and Simpson chuckled mirthlessly.

'Oh, yes. I do so well with my prosthesis that no one ever guesses, but it's nylon from right about here.' He leaned over and rapped his right calf just above the ankle. The sound was surprisingly loud and hollow.

'That was the end of my Vietnam tour,' he went on after a moment. 'Almost the end of my career, for that matter. They wanted to give me a medical retirement. Seemed surprised when I turned it down, actually. But the loss of the foot, coupled with the McNamara build-down and the general reductions in manpower after Vietnam, changed my plans. I went into engineering, instead, which is what led me to the Pentagon. And you know what? I was good at that, too. Very good. Had a promising future.

'And then, just about the time I was put on the captain's list, my older brother was killed in a plane accident. Thomas was the one who'd been going to take over from my father. That was why I'd been free to be the one to pursue a Navy career. But now Thomas was gone, and I didn't have any other brothers, which made me the only choice to manage the family business interests. So I resigned my commission, went home to Pittsburgh, and took over when my father retired.'

He was silent for two or three endless minutes, then shrugged.

'Sometimes,' he said softly, 'I think that's where Tom and I first got into trouble. I was so pissed off with him because he didn't want the Navy or the business. He wanted to play football, from the time he was just a kid, and I never understood. Mary did. Or, at least, I think she came closer to understanding than I did. And probably it was my fault. I was never very good at putting things into words to begin with, and I never really talked to Tom. I talked at him. I told him what I expected him to do, but I never got around to explaining why I wanted him to do it. Just like I never told him about my own Navy career, or even exactly how I came to lose my foot. I wanted… I wanted him to be like me. To realize that sometimes you have to give up a dream because you have responsibilities. To recognize how 'silly' it was to be so focused on playing a stupid game instead of preparing himself for his 'real' career. And I was so busy wanting him to do those things that I never quite got around to recognizing the sheer determination and discipline he was showing in pursuit of what he wanted to do with his life.'

He was silent again, still gazing frowningly into the past. Then he inhaled sharply and gave himself a vigorous shake.

'Anyway,' he said briskly, 'that's the deep, dark secret of my naval past.'

He smiled tightly, a man uncomfortable with confidences settling back into his familiar armor, and Mike nodded in acceptance. He wondered how much of Simpson's willingness to reveal his past stemmed from Mike's own effort to help him find reconciliation with his son. A lot of it, he suspected. But not all. Perhaps not even the majority of it. No, the real source, Mike thought, was the two youthful lieutenants at Wismar. Lieutenants even younger than he had been on a muddy, bloodsoaked river three and a half decades before.

Lieutenants who, in many ways, had become almost replacements for the son from whom he had estranged himself so thoroughly.

Chapter 42

'Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time,' muttered Jeff, peering forward from the bow of the fishing boat, desperately trying to see anything in the darkness through moisture-beaded glasses. 'The damn rain doesn't help things any.'

'It is a good idea,' hissed Jimmy, crouched next to him. 'You watch and see.' Judging from the tone of his voice, Jeff's friend wasn't any too certain about the proposition himself.

Still, Jimmy-like any proper mountain boy having steeled himself for folly-pressed on, bound and determined to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. 'Besides, the rain's working for us. If we can't see the Spaniards, they can't see us either. And you can bet your sweet ass any Spanish sentry standing on a deck is going to be spending most of his time trying to keep from getting soaking wet.'

Insistently: 'It is a good idea.'

'That's what you said that time we snuck into Mr. Ferrara's lab and swiped-'

'That was your idea too,' protested Jimmy.

'I know it was,' grumbled Jeff, feeling another cold trickle of rain water starting down his back. 'Just like this harebrained scheme was my idea. But what's the point of having friends if they don't restrain you? You're as bad as Eddie and Larry, when it comes to that.'

Jimmy eyed him for a moment. Then, smirking. 'Well, yeah. But look at the bright side. The most harebrained idea you ever came up with in your life was proposing to Gretchen on the same day you met her. Ha! Had to use a dictionary to do it. And we didn't restrain you then, either. In fact, we were the only ones backing you up, right at first.'

That was true enough, of course. But, at the moment, Jeff didn't appreciate being reminded of Gretchen. Gretchen, and her warm and luscious body. Gretchen's smile in the morning-even better, late at night. Gretchen, when-

He yanked the thoughts away. Gretchen was back there, standing on the wharf and staring into darkness. He was here, in the bow of a thirty-foot fishing boat. And if he couldn't see any Spanish ship in that darkness, he could see the pitch-covered cask full of gunpowder sticking a few feet beyond the bow of the boat.

Spar torpedo, he thought sourly. Seems nifty as hell, reading about it in a book. Seemed nifty as hell, too, when we convinced a buncha crazy CoC volunteers to go in with us on the scheme. Now…

'Reminds me of that wisecrack I read once. Remember, Jimmy? You and me both thought it was funny. At the time.'

A frown came over Jimmy's face. At least, Jeff thought it was a frown. It was hard to tell, between the darkness, the falling rain-not to mention the rain on his glasses-and the shapeless hat Jimmy was wearing. But he knew Jimmy well enough to guess that he was seeing a frown of puzzlement. Jimmy was a smart enough kid, but… not fast-thinking. Nothing at all like Eddie Cantrell, that way. Jimmy could and would slowly chew his way through to a problem's right answer, but he always took some time getting there.

'What are you talking about?'

Jeff's lips quirked. 'That quote I showed you once. 'Adventure is somebody else having a miserable time someplace far away.' '

'Oh. That one. Yeah.' He chuckled. 'There was some British actor once-maybe Paul Newman-said kinda the same thing. His idea of adventure was carrying a mug of beer from one smoke-filled room to another.'

Jeff rolled his eyes. 'Paul Newman's not English. He's American. Why do you always think every classy old actor is English?'

' 'Cause most of 'em are,' came the confident reply. 'Take a look at Cary Grant. Or Katherine Hepburn. Get past Humphrey Bogart and Jimmy Cagney, that's about it. Well… I'm not sure about that Olivier guy. His accent's a little much. I think he might have been faking it. Probably came from someplace in Kansas.'

Jeff closed his eyes tightly. Partly to shelter them from the rain, which had suddenly turned into a driving, almost-horizontal sheet. Mostly to dispel the pain.

'There are so many errors in what you just said it makes my head hurt. Besides, I think it was Peter O'Toole who made the wisecrack about the smoke-filled rooms. And if I remember right, it was 'a pint of bitters,' not a mug of beer.'

'Um. Yeah, that makes sense. I figure that's why he stuck with Elizabeth Taylor so long. Sure, she's too hefty, but she's English like he is. Or maybe they're Welsh.'

Jeff stifled a groan. He started to snarl something, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw one of the fishermen who'd agreed to accompany them on this harebrained scheme.

'Push it now, ha?' the man asked, nervously. He gestured toward the torpedo.