Bloodstorm

33

Third Platoon of SEAL Team Seven had been back at base for three days. The jet lag was over. Their weapons had been scrubbed, cleaned, repaired, oiled, and readied. Those who wanted them were off on a three-day liberty, and Murdock was trying to find Ardith Manchester at her office in D.C. She wasn’t in, and her secretary didn’t know where she was or when she would be back. “But then, sir, it is Friday at two and some of the offices around here don’t do much work on Friday afternoons.”

Murdock left a message. He was home. Call him.

Jaybird stood near the Coronado public library at a telephone booth. He had called Senior Chief Dobler’s home twice now. Once the chief had answered, and Jaybird had hung up without a word. The next time, ten minutes later, Mrs. Dobler had answered, and Jaybird had mumbled something about a wrong number.

Did he dare call again hoping that Helen would answer? He’d been trying to get up nerve to call her since they came home. Just before they left for Athens, he’d had two delightful meetings with her. The one at the library had been delicious and thrilling, and he had to admit, he’d never even seen a girl like Helen Dobler, much less had the fun of talking with her and trying to get to know her.

Yeah, the big problem. Her old man was his top chief in the platoon. Senior Chief Dobler could make life so miserable for Jaybird that he would want to ask for a transfer. He’d seen a senior chief chase one guy out of the platoon, not because the kid didn’t belong there, and wasn’t good enough. No, the chief had just taken a dislike for the guy, and in two months the poor sod was begging to get transferred to another platoon.

What the hell could he do now?

Another call?

He took a deep breath, walked up the block and back down, taking his time, getting up his courage. Facing enemy fire was child’s play compared to this. He stopped at the phone and reached for the handset. He hit the first three numbers, then the last four. Before the instrument could ring, somebody pushed down the turnoff button.

“She isn’t home,” a voice said close behind him.

He still held the phone and turned.

“Helen!”

“Yep, me, gonna stay that way all day. When I heard the second phone call was a wrong number, I just knew it was you. So I came to the library. Want to look in the stacks for some books?”

“Oh, yeah. I love those stacks. Let’s go look there first.” He held her hand as they walked into the library and into the tall shelves of books all in a row. In the far corner they stopped and looked at each other. There were books all around them. Nobody could see them unless they came right into the aisle. She moved closer to him until their thighs touched, then their chests, almost. He reached out and brushed her lips with his, then came back and kissed her firmly. Their hands were at their sides.

When their lips parted, Helen let out a sigh. “Oh, my,” she said. “Wow, I mean, I’ve never felt anything like that before.”

“That wasn’t your first kiss, Helen, was it?”

“Well, no. I mean I’ve kissed boys lots of times.” She hesitated. “Just not… just none of them felt as wonderful as that time.”

“One more,” Jaybird said.

Helen smiled and backed away. “No, not right now. I think we better find two books I can take home.”

They found the books and checked them out, then went back to a reading room and sat and stared at each other for a minute. The talk came then, both anxious to learn more about each other.

“So, on my fifteenth birthday I got a new portable CD player and ten CDs. But I’ve never even tried to play them. Some kind of a package deal and the discs were gloppy. I have my own set of CDs I play. You have a CD player?”

The talk went on until she checked her watch and they hurried the six blocks toward the Dobler house. Half a block before they came to the house, a big liquidambar tree shadowed the sidewalk from the streetlight nearby. They stopped in the darkness and kissed gently, then again with more feeling.

“Oh, oh, yes, but that is fine, Jaybird. But no more. You stay here until I get in the front door. When you call me, try to make it at five o’clock. Daddy isn’t home yet and Mom is getting dinner and I can usually answer the phone first.”

“Done,” Jaybird said, watching her walk away. What a fine little body, so neat, compact, so… just right. Jaybird turned to walk the mile and a half back to the apartment he shared with another SEAL.

Oh, yeah! Only now he had to major in sneaky. One slip and the senior chief would simply fillet him and hang his two slabs of meat out to dry in the California sun.

The next three days they had training exercises as if they were just off the boat and hitting BUD/S for the first time.

Jaybird’s dislocated shoulder had become strong again. He was second fastest on the OC rope climb. Canzoneri had full use of both his lungs now, and showed no ill effects from the last mission when he’d nearly drowned.

Ron Holt was still in Balboa Naval Hospital there in San Diego. They set up a schedule so at least one of the platoon went to see him every day they had enough time off. Usually it was in the evening. They all knew that Ron would never get back in the SEALs, not with his bad wound.

The next day Senior Chief Dobler interrupted their OC workout. The platoon gathered around him on the obstacle course. “We picked up some special duty. All right, I volunteered you. There’s a thirteen-year-old girl missing down on the strand. She’s been missing for four hours from a swim with her family. Her name is Janice and she’s the daughter of a SEAL, a guy in First Platoon. I know how this guy feels.

“I have a daughter, and if anything happened to her…” The senior chief looked away as his voice caught and he dabbed at his eyes. “Anyway. Any monster who attacks a thirteen-year-old girl should be eating his balls for lunch just before somebody empties a whole clip of 9mm rounds into his goddamned head. Yeah, I get emotional about this. My daughter Helen was missing for an hour once. She was with friends. Her mother and I almost went out of our minds. Hey, not so much of a problem now, she’s fifteen and damned responsible.

“Okay, give me a line of ducks. We move out to the start of the shoreline and go to a line of skirmishers, and we search every square inch of the sand and grass until we find her. Janice. Her name is Janice.”

Jaybird felt like somebody had kicked him in the head and then in the balls. He’d heard right. Senior Chief Dobler wouldn’t lie about something like that. Helen was fifteen years old. Oh, damn. How could he have missed it? She was still in high school. She didn’t have a driver’s license because she was too young. Oh, damn! He’d almost blown his whole career in the SEALs.

They jogged to the end of the sand, where the grass started along the strand, and spread out. He was near the highway and watched every blade of grass growing in the sand.

Jaybird shook his head in wonder. That was an almost. He would call her today or tomorrow at five o’clock and ease out of their little innocent affair. Friends. Yes, they could still be friends, but not kissing friends. He valued his head too much for that.

The platoon worked the rest of the afternoon. They searched their side of the road, then the other side. They sloshed along knee-deep in the edge of San Diego Bay on the other side of the strand, watching the water. Nothing.

Dobler led them back to the platoon area about 1730. Master Chief Gordon MacKenzie met them.

“Thanks for your good work, lads. We have a happy ending. The girl has just been found. She’s been with a young lady friend. The girls thought they told Janice’s mother, but evidently not. She’s well and safe, and the family thanks you one and all.”

That night Jaybird stayed home, watched TV, and read a thriller about a biological weapon attack on New York City.

In his apartment, that same night, Murdock tried to be patient. “Yes, yes, big-city girl. You can buy salsa in a half-dozen different types. But none of it is as good as the special Murdock Salsa. Watch and learn, young lady.”

Ardith Manchester leaned over the table, knowing full well what it did to the neckline of her silk blouse. Murdock saw the sagging silk material and the two marvelous revelations behind it, and chuckled.

He kissed her gently. “Lady Ardith. If you ever want to have the fabulous Mexican feast I’m fixing, you’ll have to restrain yourself.

“Salsa, for instance. First I chop up these dead ripe tomatoes into quarter-inch chunks. Then I do the same with half a medium green bell pepper. No, you don’t need to use jalapeno peppers for good salsa. Next I add an equal amount of chopped onions. Same as the tomatoes. Next a pair of pinches of finely ground black pepper, a half-teaspoon of salt, and a teaspoon of grated lemon peel. Then we top it off with two tablespoons of lemon juice. Mix well and let sit for ten minutes to blend. Then you have Murdock Salsa.”

“What about the cilantro,” Ardith asked.

“Hate the stuff. Tastes like sinkhole water. Now test this with some absolutely plain taco strips.”

She dipped one in, captured the lumps of tomato and onion, and ate it. “Yes, good. I’ll take a gallon. Now, I had a talk with Don Stroh today. He’s all excited about a new mission coming up, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was.

“I talked with my dad, and then your dad, and we have an idea what it might be. They know what’s hot out there right now.”

Murdock pushed a loaded taco into her mouth.

“Stop, stop. I don’t want to hear about it. I’m off duty now. I just want to play house with this beautiful lady I lured up here with my salsa. Do you think it’s going to work?”

Ardith unbuttoned the silk blouse. She wore nothing under it. “I don’t know about the salsa. Maybe the burritos you told me about would do it. In the meantime, between courses, let’s see what else we can become involved with.”

Murdock smiled, then chuckled as the blouse hit the floor. “Oh, yes, I do enjoy the negotiations. My first suggestion is that we move from the kitchen down a ways to that next door, the one with the king-sized bed right behind it.”

Later, Ardith Manchester decided she loved the bean burritos almost as much as the Murdock Salsa.