frightening. Captain McVay said that the submarine was out there, and he could feel that it was close.
When Jack finished his tale, he had the proud look on his face again that Em had seen a thousand times. Jack expected Em to be astonished. Em thought that Jack enjoyed being the center of attention just a hair too much. Jack just paused and waited for Em to speak.
“So what’s going to happen?” Em began. “We can’t just leave them out here. Has there been any contact at all?” He didn’t think that Jack would have an answer, but Jack surprised him again.
“I heard Captain Murphy say that things had not gone as smooth as Colonel Roth had anticipated. The last contact had been just twelve hours ago. Colonel Roth had radioed the Indianapolis that the rendezvous should occur tonight. The original plan was for the colonel, Sergeant Cannon, and Jeff and whatever cargo they were bringing to board the Indianapolis. Then they would be dropped off back in Hawaii, and the Indianapolis would proceed on to California.”
Em thought that Jack withheld information on purpose sometimes. The dramatic effect that his revelations had on Em seemed to amuse him. “You really make me angry. Couldn’t you have already told me some of this information?” Em wondered to himself if he would ever understand his friend. He knew that something drove him to push the limits on even the smallest details of his life. Em thought that his reckless abandon attitude probably had been with him most of his life. “Just once, I would like you to be straight with me. What exactly do you know for a fact? Are Colonel Roth and Sergeant Cannon and Jeff coming aboard tonight?” Em waited on Jack to answer.
“All I know is that whatever they went to get, they still don’t have. The radio operator told me that the last message he had received gave the rendezvous coordinates and estimated the time of intersection to be close to zero two hundred hours. You know that it is close to midnight now. We have to get close to the bridge and find out what’s going on.” Jack was wet from head to toe. The rain was relentless.
Em looked out across the deck and was temporarily blinded by a flash of lightning. He never heard the thunder. When he got his sight back and the ship steadied itself for a few brief moments, he looked out to see if he could see the horizon. It was so dark that he could only see a hundred feet or so from the deck. When the lightning flashed, he tried to get a glimpse of the rolling seas. He could see white foam waves rolling at least thirty or forty feet. “Even if we find them and get close to them, there is no way we can haul them aboard.” Em was not really talking to Jack. His mind was racing. He totally forgot about being sick. All he could think about was trying to align this big ship with a small fishing boat. The crew had assured them that they could get the job done; however, Em thought the storm had to affect that surety somehow.
The two of them made their way across the deck and ascended the stairs that led to the bridge. No one seemed to notice them. Jack knew his way around better than Em did. When they approached the narrow passageway that was adjacent to the bridge, they looked around for a place to conceal themselves. Neither one of them thought they would be successful. Under the stairwell that climbed to the crow’s nest was their only option. Hearing from here would be difficult, if not impossible. They would, however, be able to see who was going in and who was coming out. It did not take long for something to happen. The door to the bridge opened.
Captain Murphy came out with two other navy officers. They walked right by the two airmen hiding under the stairs and stood in the doorway that led out to the torrential rain. They spoke loudly so they could hear over the noise coming from the open doorway. “Is he crazy? There is no way we can be successful in this weather. I don’t care if we have to follow them all the way into the rising sun; we can get them aboard in the morning.”
Em had never heard the Captain so animated. Em could see through the narrow gap in the stairs. Captain Murphy continued to pace back and forth. There was only about seven feet of space in the narrow passageway. The two navy officers were careful to stay out of the captain’s way. Then one of the navy guys told Captain Murphy that Captain McVay had no intention of being near this particular location at sunrise. They tried to explain to him that the Japanese submarine was stalking them. It was only a matter of time before he found them. Em felt his stomach turn. He willed himself not to become nauseated. Once again, this talk of a submarine chasing them made him feel uneasy. He decided then and there that he wanted off this ship. He knew that he felt much safer up in the air. He never felt happier about his decision to join the US Air Corps instead of the US Navy. He honestly never wanted to be aboard one of these floating coffins again.
When Captain Murphy calmed himself down enough to reenter the bridge, Em caught a glimpse of him. He noticed that his skin was red. It was never more evident that he was Katherine’s father. No wonder he chose flying over sailing, Em thought. He could not be in the sun any more than Katherine could. Em crouched in the shadows behind the stairs and waited for the captain to pass by him. Jack was behind him and squirming. Em poked him with his left elbow. Jack let out a grunt.
Captain Murphy abruptly stopped and turned around. The two of them made a feeble attempt to crouch lower, but they were as low as they could be. Captain Murphy had not heard them; he only wanted to say one other thing to the navy officers. “When we get close enough to signal the colonel, I want to be in the radio room.” He opened the door and reentered the bridge.
The two officers remained in the passageway. One of them walked toward the bridge doorway and then abruptly stopped and turned around. “Hey, I bet we can get them aboard with the boom. We’ll just pluck them off that little nips boat and sling them up on deck. I bet the captain would go for it. We could do it in minutes, and the storm will just make it fun. There’s only supposed to be four of them. Get me close, and in twenty minutes, we’ll be on our way.” He stopped talking and waited for the other officer to reply. When the other officer just looked at him and remained silent, he continued, “I don’t know what we’re doing out here anyway. We should be back in California by now. This new captain isn’t making many friends this way. These guys are tired, and they deserve a little rest. I’m going in there and let him know my idea.”
The other officer looked at him and said, “Yeah, go ahead. That’s a great idea. Tell the new captain that he’s not making any friends. I’ll be out here.” He snickered and walked past his friend and onto the bridge.
Em watched as the two of them made their way back through the doorway. When the door was shut and Em and Jack emerged from their concealment, they just looked at each other.
“Let’s get Sergeant Barnes up,” Jack said as he walked out into the rain.
Em followed because he didn’t know what else to do. They quickly made their way to their quarters to find that Sergeant Barnes was finally out of his bunk. Em and Jack waited for him to come out of the latrine.
When the sergeant came into the room and saw them, wet and dripping on the floor, he laughed the familiar laugh that Em had learned to ignore. “What the hell are you two doin’? Ja git lost again?” He laughed again.
“We have something to tell you.” Em knew that Jack would blurt out anything that they had heard. Jack continued, “We’re close to them. We heard the captain say by two a.m.” Jack told Sergeant Barnes everything that they had heard and even added a few things about the submarine. According to Jack, the sub was on their tail, and it was going to get hairy.
Sergeant Barnes did not get too excited. He calmly put on his uniform and sat down to tie his boots. “Listen, boys. When we talked to the colonel this morning, he said that things had not gone according to plan. We would need to find a way to get this job done. I hope he knows what he’s doing. I have a feeling that he is gonna take us into the belly of the whale. He did not pick up his cargo yet. If I know him, and I do pretty well, then I know he won’t stop until he finishes. Even I don’t know what he went
