Sea of Shadows

worn my whites to a shipyard,” he said.

He looked up. “But this is an official visit, so it seemed appropriate.”

He retrieved the folder from under his arm and held it out to Captain Bowie. “Do you know what’s in here?”

Bowie accepted the folder but didn’t open it. “My orders, sir?”

The admiral smiled. “I like you, Jim. But I wouldn’t have bothered to trot my fat carcass down here to deliver an ordinary set of orders.”

Captain Bowie started to open the folder and then stopped himself.

“I’m not being transferred, sir?”

The admiral shrugged. “That’s up to you, son.” He nodded toward the folder. “What you have there is what amounts to a blank check. They’re orders all right. Signed by the Secretary of the Navy himself.”

The captain looked puzzled. “Where am I going, sir?”

“Anywhere you want,” the admiral said. “You can take your pick of any O-5 billet in the Navy. And I have it on the highest authority that, if your dream billet is taken, the bureau will move somebody to make room. You think about it for a while and then get back to me when you’ve made up your mind.”

“I don’t need to think about it, Admiral. I already know where I want to go.” He pointed into the dry dock where cascades of welding sparks were falling. “Right there. I want to do another CO tour aboard the Towers.”

The admiral grinned. “You just won me fifty bucks. I told my chief of staff to pencil you in for the Towers. He said I was nuts.” The admiral reached out and shook Bowie’s hand. “You’re a good man, Jim. And Towers is a hell of a ship. I envy you. And on that note, I’ll have to take my leave. There’s a stack of reports on my desk a foot high, and my name is on every damned one of them.”

Captain Bowie and Chief McPherson came to attention and saluted.

The admiral returned their salutes and then turned on his heel and walked briskly back up the pier.

Captain Bowie radioed the quarterdeck and shortly afterward they were treated to a 1-MC broadcast announcing the admiral’s departure.

When the speakers had faded to silence, Captain Bowie turned to Chief McPherson with a grin. “What do you think, Chief? Are you ready to do it again?”

EPILOGUE

WASHINGTON, DC

FRIDAY; 22 JUNE

3:07 AM EDT

The phone woke President Chandler on the third ring, but it took him five rings to grope for it and get the receiver to his ear.

“Mr. President, this is Lieutenant Feinstein in the Signals Office. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs is requesting your presence in the Situation Room, sir. Something has come up.”

The president turned on the bedside lamp and did a quick check to make sure it wasn’t shining in Jenny’s face. “What kind of something?”

“Sir, it’s China.”