“Ask them to ask Majeska if the bombardier ejected.”
The chopper pilot spoke into his mike. In a moment he turned back to Jake. “The pilot doesn’t know, sir.”
“Tell the guys in the jets to search for the second man. And tell them to be careful. I don’t want anyone to fly into the water on a search-and-rescue.”
“I see you,” the tinny voice on the radio shouted. “I’m gonna pop a smoke.” Orbiting jets overhead had guided the helicopter toward Bull Majeska in his life raft.
“There he is!” The copilot pointed toward eleven o’clock. A trace of orange smoke was just visible rising from the surface of the water. The swells were running three to four feet, and there was enough wind to break a whitecap occasionally. From a thousand feet up you could just see the tops of the low mountains of Cyprus peeping above the northern horizon and the superstructure of the freighter, hull down to the east.
The helicopter pilot approached the little raft from downwind, flying about forty feet above the water, coming up the trail of orange smoke toward the tiny bobbing figure.
Jake moved back into the cargo compartment and watched the hoist operator run the orange horse-collar down toward the sea. The rescue swimmer in full wetsuit adjusted his goggles and leaned out the open door. He would only go into the sea if the survivor could not get into the horse-collar.
Majeska had trouble getting out of his raft, so the helicopter sagged toward the water and the swimmer slipped out of the door. In less than two minutes the crewman pulled Majeska onto the floor of the cargo area and Jake helped get the collar off him. He was so exhausted he just lay there streaming water.
“Did Reed get out?” Jake shouted.
“I don’t know.”
Jake helped Majeska out of his survival gear and wrapped him in a dry blanket. When the swimmer was back aboard, he gave him a blanket too.
“CAG,” the helicopter pilot called on the ICS.
Jake leaned into the cockpit.
“There’s no sign of the other guy and we’re running low on fuel, CAG. We’re going to have to break off and get back. There’s another chopper on its way here.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “That guy may need medical attention.”
“Has anyone spotted the wreckage?”
“An A-6 has spotted a few pieces. The destroyer will be here in about three hours and they will pick up everything they can find.”
“How come that freighter didn’t wait around until dawn and help look for survivors?”
“I don’t know.”
“Tell one of the guys upstairs to make a low pass over it and get some pictures. Then let’s get back to the carrier.” Jake went back to check on Majeska.
“Are you hurt?” Jake shouted at Majeska over the noise.
“Don’t think so.”
“What happened?” He was referring to the crash.
Bull Majeska shook his head. “Don’t know. I blacked out.”
“Did Reed eject before you did?” Since the A-6 lacked command ejection, each crewman must eject himself.
“Don’t know. I didn’t hear him on the radio when I was in the water. I called and called.”
Jake wrapped another blanket around the shivering A-6 pilot. He stood in the door and looked at the gray ocean, thinking about the bombardier and watery death. Later the crewman derigged the hoist and shut the side door.
Doctor Hartman hovered over the patient, listening to his lungs and heart. They were in a two-man room in sickbay, but the second bed was empty. Majeska had already been X-rayed and had urinated into a bottle. Now he was sitting on the side of the bed.
“So just exactly what happened?” Jake asked.
“Like I said, CAG, I don’t really know. We were making a low pass by that freighter and the next thing I knew, I was in the water. I don’t know if the ejection seat fired when the plane hit the water or whether the plane broke up on impact and tossed me out. I just don’t know! And I don’t know if Reed got out.”
“Were you in the seat when you came to?”
“No. My life vest was inflated and there were parachute shroud lines everywhere. I had to cut my way out of them and get my raft deployed. Jeez, I haven’t worked that hard in years, and I swallowed a couple gallons of salt water. I must have cut every shroud line three times.”
The life vest, Jake knew, had two carbon dioxide cartridges that automatically activated when immersed in salt water and inflated the vest. But the parachute should have deployed only if the ejection seat had fired.
“Did you see the freighter after you were in the water? They said they looked for survivors.”
“I saw it. But I was so wrapped in shroud lines I couldn’t get my flares out for a while. And when I finally did, they left anyway. At least I think they did; after the first flare burned out I spent at least a half hour trying to get into the raft, puking my guts out all the while. There were shroud lines everywhere and the raft kept getting hung up. I kept thinking the parachute might pull me under. I was flailing away with that shroud cutter and swallowing water and heaving my guts.”
“CAG,” Doctor Hartman said, “I can’t finish this examination with you two talking. Could you …”
“Come back after a bit, Doc,” Jake said. The doctor opened his mouth, thought better of whatever he was going to say, and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Jake sat on the other bed, facing Bull. “I don’t believe you,” he said.
Majeska set his jaw. “Just what the hell do you mean by that?”
“I mean I don’t believe you. I think you know a lot more than you’re telling and I want to hear it. Now.”
“You’re calling me a liar.”
“Don’t you puff up on me, you sonuvabitch. There’s one man dead and a thirty-six million-dollar airplane at the bottom of the ocean. Now I want the whole fucking truth.”
Majeska lowered his gaze. “There’s nothing we can do to bring Reed back,” he said softly.
“I want it all, Bull. Now.”
“I’ve said everything I’m gonna say to you, Jake. I’ve told you how it happened. Now I’ll tell it again to the accident board, but I’m not saying anything more to you. Sir.”
“I’m your boss, Bull. I write your fitness report. That accident report will come to me for my comment before it goes off this ship.” Jake took a deep breath. “You idiot, I’m responsible for all these airplanes and every swinging dick that gets in them. I don’t want any more people dead.” Majeska’s face was covered with a fine sheen of perspiration and he was biting his lip. “I’m not here to just chew on your ass. If you fucked up, you fucked up. But I need the truth!”
“You already have the truth, sir.” Bull Majeska said at last.
Jake rose and walked out of the room.
Will Cohen was waiting for him in the CAG office, along with Harry March.
“We checked out all the liquid-oxygen servicing equipment and the lox system in the A-6s, CAG. Couldn’t find anything wrong, except one A-6 had a leaky seal. We downed it for that. Take a couple hours to fix.”
“One leaky seal. Could a seal leak have contaminated the system?”
“No way.” Cohen shook his head.
“Do every other airplane on this ship. And have the senior parachute rigger check every oxygen mask on this boat.”
“Gee whiz, CAG. If some fighter puke has a mask that wasn’t inspected when it should have been, that doesn’t have anything to do with why Majeska crashed.”
Jake just looked at Cohen.
“You want it, you got it, Toyota,” Cohen said and made for the door.
Jake headed for his office. “What do you have, Harry?”
