“Here we are, Ma’am,” the orderly said. “Nurse said you can stay as long as he stays awake; then you gotta leave.”
Diane nodded to the orderly, and looked down at the battered figure on the bed.
“Hey, sailor,” she said gently, trying not to cry.
Mike’s normally large features looked small underneath the biggest bandage dressing she had ever seen on his head. He was hooked up to various machines via tubes and wires on both arms. An ugly drain tube ran out from under his head bandage. She noted that his heartbeat seemed strong and regular on the oscilloscope above his bed. His feet were elevated on a stainless steel contraption and bandaged heavily. His puffy eye was less swollen than when she had first seen him, and the skin of his face was pale but clean. A bronze band of Betadine stained his forehead. She sat down in the single metal chair provided with each bed. He looked at her, and then she saw a tear forming in each eye.
“Oh, Mike,” she said, reaching for his hand. “It’s OK. It’s OK. Don’t cry.” She found herself weeping now.
“All those guys,” he whispered. “Everybody beat to hell. Ship all beat to hell. All my fault.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he opened them and focused on her face.
“Did they get the ship back?”
“Yes, they got the ship back. She’s in Mayport, and everyone’s safe. And it’s not all your fault. The Navy should never have sent you out there all by yourself.”
He gave a small laugh, and winced.
“Navy didn’t send me out. Matter of fact, Navy said stay in and forget about it. Commodore and I did this one all by ourselves. Where is he, anyway—nurse said he was outside.”
“He went home. We had a talk. He told me some of what happened out there. And the Navy is very damned glad you did go out. They know you saved the carrier. They know there was a submarine out there, too. But—” She hesitated.
“Yeah, but,” he continued for her. “Lemme guess. Nobody ever found the submarine. And we’re gonna hear very little in the future about a submarine.”
He closed his eyes again. She wondered if he’d gone back to sleep. She did not want to leave. But then he opened his eyes again.
“He talk to you? The Commodore?” he asked. His voice was getting weaker.
“Yes. We talked for quite a while outside before they let me come in.”
“And he didn’t come in, so you must be the designated messenger, the bringer of the ‘deal,’ right?”
Diane held her breath. She was suddenly afraid of how Mike might react, that he might feel she was one of them, arrayed against him and not with him. Even in his sedated state, he caught her anxiety. But he also seemed to know what was coming. He squeezed her hand.
“As long as you and I walk out of this mess together,” he said. “I love you, Diane.”
Diane felt a rush of warmth in her heart. She wanted to hug him but was afraid to even touch him. Such a big man, and yet he looked eggshell fragile lying in the ICU bed. She put both her hands to her lips, and laughed and cried at the same time.
“And I love you, Mike. Nothing’s going to change that.”
“Look,” he said, “there’s gonna be shit all over the walls over this one. I suppose they’re offering me a graceful exit as long as I keep my mouth shut about the submarine. They’ll take care of the crew, hand out some medals, some good assignments, and spin some tale to explain what happened out there. Am I close?”
He actually tried to sit up, but she gently pushed him back into the bed covers.
“Yes,” she said. She watched him carefully, saw the small spasms in his face as the pain reached for him. She pressed her fingers along his brow, but then felt him frown.
“But there’s more, isn’t there?” he whispered. “I keep my mouth shut, and they let you exit gracefully. That’s the other club. The sonsabitches—”
He tried again to sit up, but gave it up with a grunt of pain as soon as his head moved.
Shsshh,” she whispered. “We don’t have to do anything right now. You have to rest—”
He lay back in the bed, seeming to shrink a little. His eyes stayed closed for a few minutes while she stroked his arm. Then he was looking at her again.
“Your call, Diane. You’re the one who’s going to see the really ugly stuff, getting snubbed by everyone on the base, listening to other wives. They won’t do anything to the crew, and my career no longer exists anyway. But they can walk all over you. You say the word, and I’ll turn my back on the whole bunch.”
She gave him a long look. “I think I’m made of stronger stuff than that, Michael,” she whispered.
“Then we’ll tell ’em no,” he said in a fierce whisper. “Tell ’em I promise not to talk to anybody about a submarine except Sixty Minutes, Twenty-Twenty, the BBC, NBC, ABC, Dan Rabid—”
She grinned, putting her finger to his lips.
“Why don’t you,” she said, “tell the Navy nothing at all?”
He stared at her.
“They’re going to want to know if I’m going to play along,” he warned. His voice was raspy and weak.
“Don’t tell them,” she said. “And you don’t talk to the press. You’re the Captain. If you say nothing at all, your silence is going to get very loud. Every time a reporter asks you a question you just give him an enigmatic smile. The longer that goes on, the more pressure there’ll be on the Navy to come clean. With a ship broken, and all these people hurt, the press will shake this thing like a terrier with a rat. They’ll talk to other people on the ship, on those helicopters. The Admirals aren’t fools—they’ll see pretty quick that a cover up is going to fall of its own weight. They’ll eventually have to come out with it, and that really is the best outcome, because then they’re going to have to decide how to keep it from happening again.”
“The Commodore is always telling me to pipe down,” Mike said with a weak grin. His eyes kept opening and closing. She stroked his cheek.
“Maybe I’ll try it,” he whispered a few minutes later. “As long as you can stand all the B.S. that’ll be coming your way. Hell, the CinC’s staff in Norfolk might even get on your case.”
Diane smiled then, knowing it was going to be all right.
“Somehow, I think I can probably handle the CinC’s staff, Mike,” she said. But Mike had drifted back off to sleep.
ST. MARTIN’S PAPERBACKS TITLES BY P.T. DEUTERMANN
The Firefly
Darkside
Hunting Season
Train Man
Zero Option
Sweepers
Official Privilege
The Edge of Honor
Scorpion in the Sea
OUTSTANDING PRAISE FOR SCORPION IN THE SEA:
“Not to be missed … A suspenseful tale that artfully combines bureaucratic politics with the fox-and-hare maneuvering of the two ships … Chock full of authentic detail.”
—Library Journal
“Scorpion in the Sea proves that the technothriller is not a passing fad. Peter Deutermann brings an excellent style to a wealth of experience in command at sea and success in warring with the bureaucracy.”
—John Lehman,
Former Secretary of the Navy
“Culminates in one of the most exciting descriptions of an antisubmarine warfare encounter this reviewer has ever read.”
—Rear Admiral M.A. McDevitt,
Proceedings, A U.S. Navy Publication
“Deutermann tells a convincing naval detective story as the Goldsborough’s crew assembles the puzzle’s pieces. The final showdown combines high-tech gadgetry and human conduct under fire in the manner made familiar by Tom Clancy.”
—Publishers Weekly
“The technology is fascinating and is clearly explained. Accurate description, authentic detail, a smooth narrative style, realistic characters, and the fresh setting combine to make Scorpion in the Sea an exciting and suspenseful first-rate thriller. It is one of the most entertaining books I’v
e read in recent years, and I hope some smart producer turns it into a movie.”
—Ormond Beach (FL) Observer
About the Author
P.T. Deutermann’s naval career spanned twenty-six years. An Annapolis graduate, Deutermann commanded a gunboat in riverine operations in Vietnam in the early sixties, and subsequently was Captain of a guided missile destroyer and Commodore of a squadron of destroyers. All of his sea service was in cruisers and destroyers; ashore he was a politico-military policy specialist in Washington, completing his service as the chief of an arms control division on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He published one text on naval operations and several professional articles during his career; Scorpion in the Sea was his first work of fiction. He has also published three other novels with St. Martin’s Paperbacks: The Edge of Honor, Official Privilege, and Sweepers.
THE FIREFLY
USA Today Bestselling Author
P. T. Deutermann
FIREFLY: a small but credible threat to national security
According to the DC cops, the fiery destruction of an upscale plastic surgery clinic and its staff is just business as usual. With the whole city on high alert because of the upcoming presidential inauguration, the Secret Service can afford to let it go. Retired agent Swamp Morgan pulls what appears to be a “firefly” case—until he digs deeper. Facts don’t add up. A German man, the clinic’s last client, has vanished. The only surviving nurse is almost killed. And a mysterious tape indicating an imminent threat against the government puts Morgan on full alert, but his handlers refuse to listen to his warnings. Fighting the odds, he’s got to shut down the brilliant plan to assassinate the incoming and outgoing presidents before America falls into total chaos—or die trying!
“A top-notch thriller from a top-notch writer. The Firefly may be Deutermann’s best novel to date—reminiscent of The Day of the Jackal.”
—Nelson DeMille
“Fascinating … Intriguing … The Firefly [is] something out of the ordinary.”
4—Washington Post
ISBN: 0-312-99481-8
AVAILABLE WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD FROM ST. MARTIN’S PAPERBACKS
F 07/04
This is a work of fiction; this particular incident did not happen. The principal ship portrayed in this book, USS Goldsborough, is named after a real guided missile destroyer, but the weapons characteristics have been changed to accommodate the plot. Other ships appearing in this book are, in general, portrayed with their real capabilities, although some adjustments have been made for security reasons. The setting for the book, the naval base at Mayport, Florida, and the north Florida fleet operating areas are described as they exist. The ocean environment and its effects on the conduct of naval Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) are accurately described. The U.S. Navy’s real ability to cope with these problems is something that anyone who wants to mount the challenge must find out for himself. Any views or opinions regarding naval or military policy expressed in the book are purely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of the Department of Defense. Any real resemblance between the principal characters of the book and real persons is purely coincidental.
SCORPION IN THE SEA
Copyright © 1992 by George Mason University Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address George Mason University Press, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030.
Published by arrangement with George Mason University Press
eISBN 9781429922296
First eBook Edition : May 2011
EAN: 80312-95179-5
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 92-30827
George Mason University Press hardcover edition published 1992
St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / March 1994
Scorpion in the Sea Page 63