“Can I get you anything, sir?”
Sieinski smiled. “You are a gentleman. Please, a cup of tea would do nicely. I am feeling a bit better. Nasty blow to the head and a bout of something else. A visit to Tallinn would also give me a chance to see a doctor and visit some family. Did you know that my mother is from Tallinn?”
Ritter smiled. “What a pleasant surprise,” he said.
“Tallinn?” Stefan exclaimed. “Why?”
Sieinski took his time replying. He sipped from his tea, smacked his lips, and then took another sip. “Tell him…” Sieinski nodded to Ritter who was crowded into the doorway with Stefan.
“The repairs we made were only temporary. It is imperative you find more permanent solutions before subjecting the Eagle to the further rigors of war. We have facilities close at hand in Tallinn to help make that happen.”
“Since when? I’ve never heard of any.”
“Then, I’m sorry to say, you are behind the times. They’ve been there since, ah, last year, I believe.” Ritter stared blankly back at Stefan, not a challenge, but not backing down either.
Stefan peered over his shoulder. “Chief, get down here.”
Chief K, who had noticed the crowd in front of the captain’s doorway and was attempting to duck into the toilet, sagged noticeably and began trudging down the passageway toward them.
“What’s the status of the repairs?” Stefan asked. “Any problems?
Chief K glanced furtively at Ritter, licked his lips, and then dropped his eyes to the floor. “Well, you see, they seem,” he drew out the last word for emphasis, “all right for now, but no guarantees that they will last.”
Stefan gave a short bark of laughter. “There are no guarantees in war or life, Chief, didn’t you know that? We could all be dead a moment from now.”
“Well, what I mean to say is… “
Time for a little push, Ritter decided. “Captain,” he interrupted, “I won’t be responsible for what may happen to this vessel when she breaks down. And she will break down, mark my words. Therefore, if you choose not to seek port and procure a permanent solution to our temporary repairs, my men and I request a life raft, if you please. We will depart the vessel immediately, and take our chances out there….”
“For chrissakes…,” Stefan bellowed, “don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t…..”
“It’s settled then,” Sieinski said calmly from his perch on his bunk. “Not that I needed your permissions. At nightfall, we surface and make best possible speed for Tallinn.”
Stefan ran his hand through his hair, bewildered by the sudden turn of events. “Estonia? Latvia is closer. It has top-notch repair facilities. I’m sure we could get what we need there. And aren’t the Estonians cozy with the Germans?”
Sieinski’s eyes narrowed. Enough. He would remember his second in command’s outbursts. It bordered on insubordination. There would be time to take care of that once they arrived in Tallinn. “Thank you, Stefan. I appreciate your advice. I really do,” he lied. “But Estonia, as you know, is a neutral country. I just verified that with headquarters. Under the circumstances, we can expect them to respect all appropriate protocols. Under international law, we will have 24 hours, I think, to get back underway, isn’t that correct?”
Stefan nodded.
“Is that enough time, chief?”
It was Chief K’s turn to nod.
“Well then, that settles that.” Sieinski chirped, looking very pleased with himself.
“I’ll notify headquarters,” Stefan said.
Sieinski waved his hand dismissively. “No need. I’ll take care of it,” he said dismissively.
Stefan eyed Sieinski. Bullshit, he was thinking. Sieinski had no intention of sending a message to headquarters.
“Anything else?
“No, sir,” Stefan said. And then he left.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“How about a tour, sailor?”
Stefan looked up from his cup of coffee and can of fruit, his eyes red with fatigue. He had been thinking about a long soak in one of those big, claw-foot tubs you find in the best hotels. Water hot enough to make you gasp. Steam rising lazily from the surface like mist from a glassy sea on a cold Arctic morning. Sieinski’s suite had probably boasted one. Stefan regretted not checking the bathroom to find out. No doubt, it would have been large enough to accommodate his bulk, and a pleasant squeeze for two. What was her name? Marie. Yes, she would be a welcome addition to any tub. He would scrub her back with a coarse scrub, and then let her return the favor. Or this woman with the broken nose who had just interrupted his peace and quiet. Stefan eyed her sharply. It wasn’t hard to imagine her in a bathtub either, not that she appeared to need one right at the moment. Stefan could see his gaze was making her uncomfortable, but he didn’t take his eyes from her. She shifted her weight, crossed her arms. Of course, washing aboard a submarine was out of the question. Fresh water was much too precious to waste on something as wasteful as a bath or shower. The same with shaving, though Stefan had noticed that Sieinski managed to get around that particular rule. Prerogatives of the captain—of this captain, anyway. How had Kate managed to make herself look so, well, wonderful? Stefan wondered. Her pale skin was freshly-scrubbed, her hair, pulled back into a ponytail, gleamed in the dim light. The shirt and pants were her own, but even they looked clean.
“What’s your secret?” he said.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I mean, how do you look so, so clean while the rest of us already look and, I imagine, smell like a bunch of Neanderthals.”
Kate gave a relieved laugh. “Oh, well, thank you. I’ve been sworn to secrecy, but I suppose I can let you know. Cooky let me use leftover water to clean up a bit. I was still picking dried blood out of my hair. It was ick. He took pity on me.”
“Ick?” Stefan said, trying the English word out loud. “You know, dirty,” Kate explained in Polish.
“Oh, yes, I can see that,” Stefan said. “Ick,” he said again. “I think I like that English word.” He took the last spoonful of fruit, held the sweet flesh in his mouth before swallowing.
“That was some interesting fireworks earlier….”
“Depth charges,” Stefan said, licking syrup from his lips. “Simple but effective. Essentially barrels stuffed with high-explosives set to detonate at specific depths. Or they can be put on timers. They are delivered either via ship or plane. If they explode close enough, they sudden compression can crush our hull like a tin can.” To demonstrate, he grabbed the empty fruit can and squeezed. He slammed the crumpled remain down on the table. It was a useful reminder.
Kate tried a wane smile. “Yes, easy to forget all that, isn’t it. We are underwater, aren’t we. Are we safe?”
Stefan shrugged. “For now. We stay here until dark, and then surface.”
“I suppose you’ll go looking for a ship or two to sink.” Kate couldn’t restrain a shudder, imagining what it would be like. “Boys like sinking things, don’t they?”
Stefan didn’t smile this time. “It has to be done,” he said simply. “Though we will not hunt tonight.” His eyes darkened with disappointment.
“Really? Why not? Isn’t that what war is all about? Kill or be killed.”
Stefan combed his beard with his fingers. “Yes, that’s about right. Politicians talk and talk and talk. I suppose it makes them feel like they are accomplishing something. In this case, however, it simply gave Hitler a chance to rearm.”
“That doesn’t seem fair.”
“What gave you the idea that I’m fair?” Stefan stared at her a moment, and then continued. “And now the Polish people pay the price. And for the soldiers and sailors, our leaders point us in a direction. We go. In this case, our captain has ordered us to port—Tallinn.”
“Estonia?”
“That is correct. It is a neutral port.”
“But why?”
Stefan shrugged. “He believes the repairs our Dutch friends made to get
us out of Gdynia will not hold.”
“And you?”
Stefan’s forehead creased. For just a moment, he felt a million years old. His voice cracked with fatigue when he replied. “My job is to follow orders. There will be time enough to hunt. I daresay a day or two won’t make much difference. Repairs can’t hurt. And, of course, the benefit to you is that we will have you safely ashore by morning.” The image of Kate taking a bath flickered through his mind. “You and your friend and the three engineers. Then we fix the Eagle, and rejoin our sister ships in the battle. If we are lucky, they have left some prey for us.”
“Oh,” Kate said, blinking at the sudden turn of events. She had never really worried about what would happen to them, not until the depth charges began. And then, like the rest of the crew, she wondered if they would ever get off the ship, or if it would become their tomb. She also hadn’t considered the problem she and Reggie and the engineers had created for the crew of the Eagle. How do you get rid of noncombatants, people in the way? War wasn’t a game that allowed timeouts, let you set aside the people who didn’t want to play, and then resume the contest. “I didn’t realize you were so anxious to get rid of us.”
Stefan let his breath out. “Even under the best of conditions, we live too closely together. Men, we are like rats, we adjust to it. But throw a female into the mix, even one that is supposed to bring us luck, and it can only go bad.”
“Don’t think I can handle it?” Kate said, hands on her hips, eyes hot. Well, it wasn’t me who peed her pants when this place started shaking….”
Stefan felt a wash of fatigue held up his hands in surrender. He was too tired to argue. Besides, he had never been good around women. They were too quick with their tongues. And he was always saying the wrong thing. He pushed back his chair and struggled wearily to his feet. “No, I didn’t mean that at all. In fact, I think there’s very little you couldn’t handle,” he said frankly.
On impulse, he took off his battered cap and placed it on her head. “And to demonstrate my sincerity, I dub thee Seaman Kate, the most official unofficial member of the crew with all the rights and privileges that come with that lofty status.”
Kate touched the hat and smiled. “Seawoman,” Kate corrected.
Stefan bowed deeply. “Whatever you wish, m’lady.”
“What about me?” Reggie leaned in. When he saw the hat on Kate’s head, he gave a knowing laugh.
“You can be a seawoman, too,” Kate said quickly.
Reggie elbowed her in the side.
Stefan took his time, leaned to one side to inspect the front of Reggie’s trousers and then nodded. “I suppose you pass the test, too,” he growled. “He changed them, right?”
“Probably,” Kate said with a laugh. “During the attack, he held my hand the entire time, you know, babbling like an infant.”
“I did no such thing,” Reggie protested hotly.
Kate started to hand Stefan’s hat back.
“No,” Stefan said, holding out his palms. “You keep it. A souvenir from the Eagle. Something to remember us by when you are back in comfortable New York City, U S of A.”
Kate opened her mouth but Stefan cut in before she had a chance to get going: “You said something about a tour. That is one of my duties as first officer and I have neglected it. How about I give you the official tour now? It should take five minutes or so. Not that much to see. We’ll start forward…. follow me.” He ducked through the doorway and then moved with surprising quickness down the passageway, not bothering to glance over his shoulder to see if Kate and Reggie were following. As Kate watched him from behind, he reminded her of a soccer player dribbling through a field of defenders. He quickly outdistanced Kate and Reggie. When they caught up to him a moment later, he was waiting in the torpedo room, arm draped over one of the tubes. He gestured around the cramped room. Brass pipes and fittings and valves and cables were everywhere. It looked the insides of a cathedral organ designed by Edgar Allen Poe. Even more remarkable, there were men sleeping right among the torpedoes that lined the walls. “This is about as far forward as you can go, unless you’re dead and we decided to jettison your body out one of the tubes.”
“Cheery thought,” quipped Reggie.
“As you may or may not know, there’s sixty of us,” Stefan said. “Four officers, four ensigns, three warrant officers, 15 petty officers, and 44 seamen, mechanics, engineers, techs and machinists. We’re all crammed into this iron tube about 84 meters in length.”
Reggie interrupted Stefan’s narrative with a loud yawn. Kate had paused along the way to pick up a notepad and a pencil. She stopped writing long enough to slap him on the arm. “Ouch,” he responded.
“Hope you don’t mind if I take some notes,” she said. “Please continue.”
“That tube can be looked at three ways,” Stefan continued, “as three sections, or four pressurized compartments, or seven watertight rooms. Each room has a watertight door that can withstand pressure equal to a depth of about 130 meters.”
“What happens if you’re deeper?” Kate asked.
“One hopes it never comes to that,” Stefan said dryly.
“But what if it did?”
“You pray,” Stefan said.
“Oh God,” Reggie groaned.
“Of course, the watertight compartments are designed to isolate an area with a hull breech, enabling the crew to surface the vessel and repair the problem. We’re in the torpedo compartment now. Four tubes. We carry twenty torpedoes. Extras are stowed below.” Stefan stamped on the deck. “The rest of this section includes bunks and living quarters, the captain’s room, wardrooms, sound and radio across from the captain and next to the control room. Follow me,” Stefan ordered, leading the pair back in the direction they had come.
As he moved down the passageway, he narrated the sights like a well-practiced travel guide. “Galley, petty officer’s quarters.” When they entered the control room, he paused. “This is the heart and soul and brains of the Eagle,” he said with obvious pride, his gaze taking in the periscope, helm, compass, chart closet, valves, pipes, controls, dials, wheels, cranks, meters, and other mechanisms that controlled the ship. “And up there,” he pointed, “is the tower compartment and bridge.”
“Fascinating,” Kate said. Stefan glanced in her direction. He would take Reggie’s sarcasm, but not hers, but the bright look in her eyes and the nod she gave him indicated she meant it.
Stefan cleared his throat, tried to avoid Squeaky’s sharp gaze. He was watching the trio from the chart table, pencil tapping the enamel of his tooth. It wasn’t hard to imagine what he was thinking, Stefan thought. He’d hear all about it later, no doubt.
He waved for them to follow. “Aft section, here’s where you’ll find the motors, two diesel engines for running on the surface, and recharging batteries, two electric motors when we are submerged. There’s also one torpedo tube in case someone happens to be sniffing up our ass.”
Kate pointed to the bread in the well beneath the diesels. “Now I know why your bread tastes the way it does,” she said.
Stefan shrugged. “Not enough storage room. We find it where we can and then eat the fresh stuff in a hurry. Doesn’t take long to spoil down here.”
As Stefan lead them around a diesel motor, quiet now because they were underwater, they came across Ritter and his two comrades, Kolb and Bergen, sprawled across the deck. The two faux Dutch engineers Grimp and Grump were what the submarine crew had nicknamed them—were eating apples. Ritter was trimming his fingernails.
“What a pleasant surprise,” Ritter said, leaping to his feet, slipping his knife into his pocket, and then brushing off his grease stained khaki pants. “Finally getting the tour, I see.”
Kate nodded and Reggie nodded.
“What do you think of her?”
“Very,uh, mechanical,” Reggie mumbled.
“Amazing,” Kate said. “It reminds me of Jules Verne and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It was one of my favo
rite books when I was a girl. All my friends thought I was strange for loving it so. I just wish you had a few windows so we could see outside.”
“Yes, I read it, too,” Ritter said with a nod. “Fired the imagination. How about you, Commander? I bet not. Too serious. No time for fantastic stories….”
“As a matter of fact,” Stefan said evenly, “I’ve read it many times. An old friend recommended it. He never steered me wrong.” Stefan could almost hear the old Swedish fisherman, Westling, discoursing loudly on Verne’s inadequacies as a writer, let alone visionary of the fantastic. “Too much on the machine,” he had said. “It would be a better story if he focused more on this, the frailties of the human heart.” And then he pointed to his chest. Of course, Stefan had been mesmerized by descriptions of the Nautilus. It had sparked his interest in the navy as the only chance he might ever get to ride aboard a real-life Nautilus.
“Ah, something we all share,” Ritter exclaimed too loudly, like a young man trying too hard to impress a girl. Kate didn’t seem to notice it. “Now, is there anything I can do for you both?”
“You’ve done enough,” Stefan said, still smarting from the captain’s decision to head for Tallinn, and the part Ritter played in it. “I appreciate your help”
“Yes, Tallinn before morning, I suppose. Nice to get a bath, eh, and a fresh change of clothes.” He kneed Bergen in the side and tousled his hair. “I don’t mind building submarines, but serving on one is not my cup of tea. I do hope, Miss McLendon, you’ll let me buy you dinner when we get to port,” he said. “I would love to hear all about the news business.”
“I’m sure you would,” Kate said. “And I have made it a habit never to turn down a freebie.” She glanced at Reggie. “We’d be happy to join you.”
Ritter smiled broadly at the deft way she had maneuvered the conversation. Now it was his turn. “And what about you, commander?” he said, turning to Stefan. “Would you care to join us?”
Stefan opened his mouth ready to decline. What came out surprised even him. “Of course,” he said. “I will look forward to it.”
The Last Eagle Page 14