away from me. You did a real nice job of that in Tangiers and … since you’re a sporting lad, I thought you might be willing to try again.”
“She didn’t think a whole lot of my act, CAG. When I need something hard to pound my head against, I can always go down to my room and bop the bulkhead.”
“Hey, my wife tells me she’s a very nice lady. Now personally I find that hard to believe, but it might be true. Maybe she was just playing the role for us yokels in uniform. You know, hard-boiled political reporter looking for dirt.”
“Or playing a role for your wife.”
“Toad, are you going to respond affirmatively to this request for assistance from a senior officer?”
“Uh, yessir, I am, since you put it that way.”
“You’re a good man, Toad. There’s just not much demand for good men these days. Wear a suit and tie. Meet you at seven in the lobby of the Vittorio Emanuele. That’s a hotel. Ask a cabbie where it is.”
“You’re picking up the check tonight, aren’t you, sir?”
“Eat a couple hamburgers before you show up. That’s an order.”
“Has Majeska said anything yet?” Admiral Parker asked.
“No, he hasn’t.”
“The idiot,” Parker muttered, more to himself than Jake. He rubbed his forehead with the fingertips of both hands. “He can’t stay in command of that squadron.”
“He knows that. But the alternative, for him, seems worse.” Jake sipped his coffee.
“Do you have any ideas what happened out there?”
“I’ve got a theory. But that’s all it is. No hard evidence. In fact, no evidence at all.” Jake passed Cowboy the copies of the gripes from the lost plane’s maintenance logbook. The admiral read each of them twice. He looked at Jake quizzically.
“I think the ADI blacked out on him and he got distracted. Or he had the infrared display on the ADI and the changing aspect angles disoriented him. In any event, he quit flying the airplane, just for a few seconds. Maybe he had the radar altimeter warning set too low. Or too high. Then he realized he was going into the water.”
Jake shrugged. “I think he panicked and ejected.”
“Leaving his BN sitting there?”
“That’s the only thing that would explain his refusal to talk. He’d rather kiss his career good-bye than confess he panicked and punched out without warning his BN. I think he now believes he left Reed there in the cockpit to die.”
“Maybe there wasn’t enough time to tell Reed. Maybe if he had, they would have both died when the plane hit the water.”
“Maybe. But if Bull thought that now, he’d probably be talking.”
Parker tugged at an earlobe and read the gripes again, then passed them back to Jake. “I think you should relieve him of his command and notify Washington. Write a message requesting that he be ordered to remain aboard until the accident investigation is completed.”
“I already have, sir.” Jake passed a draft of the message to the admiral, who read it carefully.
“Have you told Majeska yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Do it. If you’re wrong, maybe he’ll set us straight.”
“What if I’m wrong and he’s really telling the truth? Perhaps he really doesn’t remember.”
“Then you’ve just made a command decision on the best information available and mistakenly cut a good man’s throat. You’ll have to live with it and so will he.”
Jake nodded and placed the message on his lap. He folded the gripe copies and put them in a shirt pocket.
The two men sat in silence. Finally Admiral Parker said, “How’s Callie?”
“Fine.” Jake chewed on his lower lip.
“Listen, Jake. Majeska has given you no choice with this. You must relieve him.”
“I know.” Jake’s features contorted and he threw the message on the floor. “God damn his fucking ass! God damn him to fucking hell! That kid Reed was going to quit flying since he was getting out of the navy in six months. And I talked him into staying in the cockpit. Damn near ordered him to.” He swore some more. “And then that fucker Majeska kills the kid and isn’t man enough to face up to it. And now I have to can his ass.” He ran out of steam. “Damn it all,” he said softly.
Admiral Parker examined a picture on the bulkhead, then studied his fingernails. “What does Callie think about your quitting smoking?”
Jake picked up the message and folded it carefully. He crossed his legs. “She says it’s about time.”
Parker grunted. “Bring her out to the ship some evening and we’ll have dinner together.”
“Sure. Which evening? Can’t do it tonight.”
“Day after tomorrow?”
“Okay.”
“Tell her I said hello.”
“Sure, Cowboy.” Jake got up to leave. “Sure. She’ll be looking forward to seeing you again.”
“Farnsworth, why the hell are you still here?”
“Uh, I had a few things still to do, CAG.” Jake knew he would not go ashore until his boss did. He dropped into the chair beside the yeoman’s desk.
“Call the A-6 ready room and ask if Commander Majeska is aboard. If he is, ask them to pass along that I would like to see him here in the CAG office as soon as possible.”
Farnsworth had typed the message in Jake’s hand, so he knew what this was all about. He dialed the phone and spoke to the A-6 squadron duty officer as Jake stood and stared at the helmet hanging upside down from the ceiling.
“He was in the ready room. He’ll be right up.”
Jake laid the message on Farnsworth’s desk and signed it. “When Majeska gets here, send him into my office. Then I want you to walk out of here with that message, lock the door behind you, and take the message to the communications center for transmission. Then you are to change clothes and go ashore. That is a direct order.” Jake stood up.
“Yessir.”
Jake tilted the helmet on the coathanger, just in case. Nothing. He gave it a little punch with his fist, then went into his office and closed the door behind him.
When Majeska arrived, Jake motioned to a chair. “Sit down.” The A-6 skipper looked exhausted, the creases in his face now deep grooves.
“I’m relieving you of your command, Bull.”
Majeska nodded and studied his hands.
“Look me in the face, Goddammit!”
Majeska’s gaze came up. His lower lip quivered.
Jake took the copies of the gripes from his pocket and unfolded them. He passed them across the desk.
Majeska read them slowly, unbelievingly, one after the other. When he finished with one sheet, he placed it under the other, and so read them again and again and again. It was as if there were six or eight sheets of paper, not just two. Finally he said, “You knew … that speech the other night to the air wing … you knew all along.”
Jake held out his hand for the copies.
Majeska’s chin sank to his chest.
“It was an accident, Bull. You didn’t mean to kill him.”
“There just wasn’t any time. We were going down so fast, the water was right there…. I
