Flying High

by Gwynne Forster

  * * *

  Later, while sitting alone at home on his deck in the warm evening breeze, he catalogued his chances of rising to the top. He had paid his dues and he deserved the recompense, but in the service, anything could happen. He’d been able to move ahead because nothing weighed him down. Now he had a family, and... He didn’t like the thoughts that had begun to nag him with such persistence. Thoughts of Audrey and how just knowing her added a dimension to his life, one that—if he were honest—uplifted him, especially when he was in her company.

  He got up and walked slowly into the hallway where the wall phone hung and dialed her number. He didn’t question his deed or agonize about it. He wanted to see her and she was unattached, as was he. They could do as they pleased.

  “Hello, Nelson.”

  “What? Did you install caller ID? I want you to come for a walk with me.”

  “For a... Now?”

  “Yeah. I’ll come get you.”

  “Nelson, look here.” He didn’t hear outrage, but a pleading that he suspected was born of frustration. “What are you doing to me? You swear you don’t want a relationship, yet—”

  He interrupted her. “I’m not asking for the rest of your life, just an hour so I can feel like myself again. Besides, it’s a great night and I want to walk somewhere peaceful. With you.”

  “That’s very romantic. Where would we go?”

  “What do you say we walk along the Tidal Basin?”

  “Are you serious? I’d rather walk along the Tidal Basin than anyplace else I know. I love going there, but I’ve never walked there at night.”

  “It’s my favorite spot, too. May I come for you?”

  “I’m crazy, but I’d like that a lot.”

  She didn’t invite him to come in, but met him at the door and walked with him to the car holding his left thumb in her right hand. He thought about the meaning of her holding his thumb and about how he’d been a different person ever since she picked up her phone and said hello. But he didn’t consider the implications, nor did he care about them.

  * * *

  “I think it’s weird that we both love to walk around here,” Audrey said as they left the car and started along the path nearest the water’s edge. “Imagine being here on a night like this. I’m glad you called me.”

  He stopped walking and tugged at her hand, silently urging her to step closer to him. “Be sure you mean every word you say. My head and my body are raising hell with each other, and I can’t even guess which will win. So don’t say anything that could mislead me, and I’ll try to be careful for your sake.”

  “All right. How’s Ricky?”

  “Asleep when I left. But let’s not make small talk. If you like we can walk quietly. Frankly, I’m not trying to communicate, I just want to be with you.”

  Maybe he wasn’t communicating with words, but his behavior told her more than he wanted her to know. Still, she had a sense of peace and contentment as they walked in silence, her hand wrapped in his. Shadows of the trees formed patterns like lace, knit together as only nature could. Their El Greco–like elongated shapes preceded them, and the moon traveled with them as if eager to bless their joining.

  The sound of a stone dropped into the water startled her, and she stopped walking and grasped Nelson’s arm. “What was that?”

  “Nothing to fear. Either a frog or a fish. Don’t be afraid.”

  “I didn’t think I was.”

  He stood closer and his right hand reached out and slid down the side of her face in a caress that humbled her with its gentleness.

  “It means a lot that you came down here with me. A lot.” He whispered the last two words. “I...care for you, and I’m telling you because I don’t want you to think I’m using you tonight. I’m not. I needed some peace of mind, and I knew I’d find it if you were with me.”

  She stared up at him, examining his face, softened by the moonlight. He seemed bigger and taller than ever. A strong man with the bearing of a king. Accomplished. Self-assured. Why should he need her? For whatever reason, she knew with certainty that he did. Suddenly, his left hand went to the side of his neck, and she bit back a gasp.

  “Does it hurt now?”

  He nodded. “Yes. I never get a warning. All of a sudden it pains me.”

  Her hand slid along his neck in a circular motion and pressed with increasing force into the muscles moving down to his shoulders.

  “Is that a little better?”

  “Anytime and anywhere you touch me makes me better.”

  “Nelson, don’t—”

  She was in his arms, and he swallowed her words as his tongue plunged into her and his fingers raced to find her nipple, his most able ally. Tremors shook her, and her body welcomed his gentle stroking of her breasts. She gripped his shoulder and sucked his tongue deeply into her mouth, feasting on it as though she were starved. His heat began to furl upward and around her the way steam rises from grilles on city streets. His hands rubbed and tormented her buttocks until she tried to scale his body, to fit herself to him. With a groan he lifted her, locked her to him, and let her feel his need. When she wrapped her legs around his hips and crossed her ankles, he set her away from him.

  “Listen sweetheart, I didn’t bring you down here for this, much as I needed it. You understand?” When she didn’t respond, his arm tightened around her. “Is anything wrong? Are you okay?”

  “Everything’s wrong and I definitely am not okay. I just can’t figure out why I lose my head with you. I know you didn’t plan for that to happen.” She shook her head. “It didn’t occur to me to put on the brakes. Explain that.”

  His laughter was the last response she would have expected. “If I could, I’d understand why I started it knowing how it would end. Want to head back?”

  “Sure. Are you sorry you... That we know each other?”

  He swung their joined hands. “No way. I wouldn’t have missed you for the world. This song is still playing.”

  “You didn’t tell me about your mission. Were you successful?”

  “I was indeed. Thanks for asking.” They rode in silence back to her house in Bethesda. “I won’t invite you to come in,” she said.

  He showed his teeth in that wicked grin she found so enticing. “If you’re afraid we’ll heat up the place again, suppose you stand in the foyer while I check the house to make sure all is safe.”

  “Tell me something,” she said when he came down the stairs. “Can you go to a private neurologist for treatment of your neck?”

  He looked in the distance for a minute. “I have to trust you with this. One word of it to my superiors and I’m finished in the Marine Corps. If I went to a private physician, the report would reach the Commandant’s office before I got home. I know my neck needs treatment, but I’m going to tough it out. I’ve worked hard, endured hell and sacrificed aplenty to get ahead. It’s my goal to reach the top, and I’ll keep on till I have four silver stars on my collar.”

  “But it could cost you your health.”

  “I know, but the last words I said to my dad were ‘I promise.’ He made it to lieutenant commander in the Navy, as my brother did, and it was his dream to wear the admiral’s gold braid and stars. I always keep my promises, Audrey. If I tell you something, you can depend on it.”

  “I wish you’d tell me I’m going to survive this.”

  “I’d be happy if I could assure myself of that. I’ll call you tomorrow.” He turned and ran down the steps.

  Chapter 5

  I’m giving Audrey mixed signals, Nelson told himself as he drove home to Alexandria, and it isn’t fair. I believe she’s different, that she’s honorable, but I thought that of Carole, too.

  He parked in front of his house and leaned against the hood of the car looking up at t
he sky that seemed to surround him, at the blanket of stars and the moon hanging among them. Never before had he paid so much attention to nature and the beauty that met his eyes wherever he looked. He hadn’t taken time for life’s simplest pleasures, he realized. How often he’d walked along the Tidal Basin at evening, winter and summer, but until this night he had never seen in the water his likeness or the reflection of the Jefferson Memorial. With Audrey, his senses seemed to spring to life.

  He fixed his gaze on a sapling swaying in the breeze and thought of Ricky, a tender shoot that needed care and nurturing if he would become a man. But what of his own goals? And what about Audrey? Their attraction to each other had deepened into something more than desire, and common decency demanded that he not mislead her.

  He went inside and up to his room without turning on the lights. What he needed right then was not artificial illumination, but some insight into the course his life had begun to take, a course over which he seemed destined to have no control.

  In the office several mornings later while working at his desk, he answered his intercom and heard Marilyn’s voice. “Checkmate. Got company?”

  He bolted forward. “All clear here.”

  “On second thought,” she said, “how about a cup of coffee at Starbucks? Say, half an hour?”

  “Half an hour.”

  Now what? If she didn’t want to discuss it over the phone or the intercom, that meant she’d found something.

  She sat at a little bistro table in the corner with her back to the wall like the sleuth that she was, prepared for any eventuality.

  He joined her at the table. “Seems serious. What do you have for me?”

  “It may be serious. I’m not sure. We’ve put that house under surveillance, and we’re looking hard at four visitors.”

  “Who lives there, and who are these visitors?”

  “The house is rented to a computer scientist, who lives there with his wife and daughter, Stacey. What’s peculiar about the visitors is their timing—during working hours when the man is presumably at work, and the length of their stay. Fifteen to twenty-five minutes. Hardly time enough for infidelity on the woman’s part and unreasonable since the man doesn’t work at home.”

  He gave the waitress his order for a cup of cinnamon cappuccino and mused over what Marilyn had told him. “Perhaps the woman works at home. She could be a secretary, accountant, editor or a writer.”

  Marilyn shook her head. “If so, she doesn’t pay income tax or social security. She’s not on any local, state or national roster of employees or professionals. And she doesn’t have a bank account or any kind of investment portfolio.”

  He released a sharp whistle. If the government decided to find out about you, you needn’t try to hide. “My boy can make other friendships, but I want to know why, if that family is engaged in crime or espionage, they would choose to involve my child. Maybe it’s a coincidence.”

  She shook her head. “It isn’t. Children make perfect pawns, Colonel. You know that. Besides, your boy is not the only serviceman’s child with whom Stacey wants to be friends. So far, she’s had no luck.”

  “So what you’re saying is that someone wants me or wants something that I’m supposed to know.”

  “Looks like it.”

  “Any orders?”

  “Watch your back and—”

  He held up his hand to stop her before she said it. “I’ve sworn to give my life for my country, and I’ll do it, but I won’t risk my child’s little finger. And that is not negotiable.” He knew that with those words he may have knocked himself down a few pegs with his superiors, but so be it.

  She looked him in the eye. “Then we won’t ask you to do that. If you wish, we can put him on security watch at that school. Who takes him there and back home?”

  “My housekeeper. But from now on, I’ll do it when I’m here.”

  “Good. You’ll both get security watch. Keep this under wraps.”

  “You bet. By the way, how much damage have I done to myself?”

  For the first time, a smile settled on her face. “None. I have three children, and I wouldn’t sacrifice any part of them, either. There are other ways of getting the information we need, Colonel. Have a good day.”

  He was relieved but not satisfied. According to his father and grandfather, chickens had a way of coming home to roost, so he could only hope that the incident didn’t precipitate a career setback. All the same, his mood when he arrived home that evening was bright, even jocular.

  “Where’s Ricky?” he asked Lena, after greeting her.

  “Upstairs, and looks to me like he’s been up there a while. Maybe I ought to—”

  “I’m headed up there. I’ll see what he’s up to.”

  When he didn’t see the boy in his room, he had to resist alarm, as his thoughts went immediately to his conversation with Marilyn, the NSS officer whose last name was a mystery to him. However, he need not have worried. When he stepped into his own room, he found Ricky sitting on his desk dialing a phone number.

  After recovering from the surprise, he asked him, “Who’re you calling?”

  “Hi, Unca Nelson. I’m calling Audie, but I can’t talk to her. Nobody answers.”

  He walked over to the desk. “Dial it again.” He watched as the little fingers punched in numbers. “That’s a three, and you were trying to punch an eight. Who gave you her number?”

  “Miss Lena.”

  “I’ll show you.” After a brief period of instruction, Ricky punched in the number and Nelson watched the child’s eyes grow big and round as he experienced for the first time that miracle of modern technology.

  “Hi, Audie. This is Ricky. Ricky Wainwright, Audie. Can you come over? Unca Nelson showed me how to push the numbers.” He listened to her answer, his face blooming with his smile. “You will? Gee. I love you, Audie. Bye.”

  He jumped from the desk and ran to Nelson. “She’s coming to see me, Unca Nelson. Audie’s coming to see me.”

  “Wonderful.” He didn’t ask when she would be there; he had to dispose of a more pressing matter. He put the boy on his knee and told him, “Son, Stacey can’t visit you. I don’t know her parents or their visitors, so it’s best you not make friends with her right now.”

  Ricky’s bottom lip dropped in a pout, and his eyes blinked rapidly. Then he ran into his room and closed the door. Parenting was an endless job. On his way to reprimand Ricky, the telephone rang, and he rushed back to answer it.

  “Wainwright speaking. Hello.”

  “Good evening, Colonel,” the deep, masculine voice began. “I’m Rufus Meade, syndicated reporter for The Tribune and other papers and media outlets. I’ve agreed to do a piece on Afghanistan, and I understand that you served there, crashed there and were wounded. I’m not planning an exposé, but an accurate account of what’s going on there, and I’d like to speak with you. I’m told you have the facts.”

  He did indeed, but how could he prevent the reporter from observing the problem with his neck and shoulders? It amazed him that his colleagues at the office hadn’t noticed it.

  “I know who you are, and I’ve read many of your reports. If you want to write about the conflict there and not about me, I’ll speak with you, but my life is my business.”

  He heard a hint of a laugh. “That will be difficult. I can say, however, that I have no interest in documenting your private life. You can trust me on that. What do you say?”

  “Who else are yo
u interviewing, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  “You’re certainly entitled to know that. I spent an hour with a lieutenant colonel when I was in Afghanistan a few weeks ago, but I can’t say it was rewarding.”

  His body jumped to alertness. Had Holden told the reporter about his having overlooked a young marine’s serious infraction of Marine code, falling asleep while on guard duty?

  “What was the officer’s name?” he asked Meade, and held his breath for the inevitable.

  “Holden. He’s a Marine officer. When I called the Pentagon this afternoon, a lieutenant in the Commandant’s office told me to get in touch with you and gave me a bit of your service history. It surprised me that Holden didn’t mention you.”

  He allowed himself to breathe. “He’s not a fan of mine.”

  He agreed to meet with Rufus Meade, and they set a time for the first interview. He hung up, looked down and saw Ricky hugging his leg.

  “I’m sorry I was bad, Unca Nelson. Stacey doesn’t have to be my friend. I like another girlfriend at school, too.”

  He sat down and urged Ricky to stand between his knees. “I’m glad you have friends. Aren’t there any boys in your school?”

  “They’re yucky. They throw pieces of paper and make noise, and they’re not nice to the girls.”

  He pushed back a laugh. “But you are nice to the girls, I hope.”

  “Oh, yes, sir. All the time, and all the girls like me. One of them was going to marry me, but I told her I would have to ask you.”

  He poked his tongue into his left cheek to stifle a grin. “And you were right. We have to wait awhile for that. When is Audrey coming to see you?”

  Ricky placed his elbows on Nelson’s thigh, let them take his weight and looked up at his uncle. “Saturday morning. We’re going to the library near her house. A lady goes there and tells stories to the children. I love stories, Unca Nelson.”

  He wondered whether security would tail them. Marilyn hadn’t indicated full security day and night, seven days a week, and he hoped that wasn’t considered necessary. But inasmuch as it wasn’t a school day, he wouldn’t take a chance.