Nucflash

EPILOGUE

“So what happened after I passed out?”

His voice still sounded funny, chirping like the voice of a cartoon chipmunk. The recompression chamber had been charged with heliox, to avoid the complications of high-pressure nitrogen.

He looked around, taking in his surroundings. Johnson and Roselli stared back from bunks on the other side of the claustrophobic chamber, grinning like maniacs. A Navy corpsman, wearing a mask so that he could come and go in the high-pressure environment without having to decompress himself, was taking a blood pressure reading on Johnson. Roselli’s arm was swathed in bandages. Murdock was still feeling groggy after the effects of nearly drowning. His chest hurt; his throat felt raw and dry. The last thing he remembered was his vision going, just as he’d tied off the knot.

He’d awakened here.

“Here” was one of several recompression chambers in service aboard the BGA oil platform, kept ready for just such emergencies with the commercial divers on the facility.

MacKenzie was peering in through the porthole at him. “You can thank Skeeter for saving your ass. He parked the bus, climbed out, double-checked on your boatswain’s mate skills, you’ll be glad to hear, and then dragged you back to the sub. Stuffed you in the cargo compartment and drove you straight to the surface.”

“The bomb?”

MacKenzie jerked a thumb upward. “Already safe on board. The NEST and EOD guys are giving it the fine-tooth treatment. Unless one of them sneezes or something, I think we’re going to be okay.”

“Ha ha.”

“Don’t sweat it, L-T. They told me it was a very simple detonator, easily disarmed just by jamming a piece of wood through the firing device. You might be interested, though, to know that the water depth when they started hauling it up was two hundred forty-six feet. I’m real glad you remembered your knot-tying lessons from boot camp.”

“I didn’t go to boot camp.”

“OCS then.”

Murdock didn’t even want to think about what would have happened if the line had parted.

“So how long have I been out?”

“About twenty-four. It was touch and go there for a while. Cold water, though, can keep a man’s brain on ice. They say you were probably clinically dead for several minutes. Any memories of heaven?”

“Nothing. I must’ve been out and missed it all. Damn.”

“Maybe next time.”

“What about Roselli?”

“Aw, enlisted men don’t rate a chauffeur, L-T. You know that.”

“Sterling and I were already on our way down,” MacKenzie said. “Met him at about eighty feet and brought him the rest of the way up.”

“His arm’ll be fine,” the corpsman said, his voice muffled by the mask. “But I do recommend against his trying to armwrestle submarines in the future.”

“Hey, I’ve sworn that off,” Roselli said. “From now on, I’m sticking to mermaids.”

“Them you might be able to handle,” Murdock said, grinning.

“Speaking of which,” MacKenzie said, “there’s someone here who wants to talk to you. In fact, she threatened to shoot anyone who got in her way… ”

A familiar face framed in blond hair filled the porthole.

“Inge!”

“Hello, SEAL,” she said. “I thought you said they drownproofed you guys.”

“They do.” He patted his bare shoulders and chest experimentally. “I’m still here, right?”

“I’m glad you are,” she told him. “I just wish I could be in there with you.”

“Are you okay? What happened?”

She grimaced. “They say the bullet went right through. I’m all bandaged up now, and they put five quarts of blood in me, but they say I’ll be okay. I… wouldn’t let them medevac me.”

“She’s right, L-T,” MacKenzie’s voice added. “This lady’s dangerous. Hell, she shouldn’t even be up! The doc here’s been trying to keep her in bed, but she threatened to bring the place down if they didn’t let her in to see you.”

“I’ll show you dangerous.” Her head turned in the window; Murdock heard a thump and MacKenzie’s loud “Ouch!”

Inge… she was okay!

And Murdock was just beginning to realize that he was in love.

He’d never been able to picture himself as being able to love anybody else, since Susan.

“Anyway,” Inge told him, her face appearing once more in the porthole, “I wish I could join you in there, but they won’t let me.”

Murdock glanced again at Roselli and Johnson. Their grins, if anything, were larger, and Roselli waggled his eyebrows meaningfully. “Hey, don’t mind us, L-T. If you want to party, we won’t get in the way.”

“Sure,” Johnson said. “But we’d love to watch.”

“That’s right. SEALs do everything together!”

Murdock groaned. “Doc? How long am I stuck in here with these assholes?”

“About a week, Lieutenant.”

“A week! Damn it, whatever happened to bachelor officers quarters? I want a room of my own!”

“Of our own,” Inge added.

Johnson and Roselli laughed and, after a moment, Murdock joined in. “You just wait, lady,” he told Inge. “When I get out of here, I’m going to teach you a lesson. I thought I told you to stay in your quarters.”

“You forgot,” she said primly, “to leave an army behind to guard me.”

“I’d say, L-T,” Roselli said, “that you’ve got a real armful there.”

“Not yet,” Murdock said, laughing. “Not yet! But in about one week I will!”