“What?” said Ingram.
Something glistened. Toliver picked it up and tossed it to Ingram. “You forgot something.”
Ingram caught it and opened his hand. It was his Naval Academy ring. “I’ll be damned.”
The memories swept through him. Graduation. His first command, the minesweeper Pelican. Corregidor: just before they escaped Corregidor, he’d given the ring to Helen to wear on a leather thong around her neck, ostensibly because he’d lost so much weight it slipped off his fingers. The real reason was that he loved her, but he was too preoccupied by the invading Japanese to realize it. There were other memories: their desperate trip through the Central Philippines, Mindanao, and on to Australia, and how brave Helen was during that horrible time when she been captured and tortured by the Japanese. During their escape through the Philippines, Ollie had saved his life. And he’d just done it again.
They all been through a lot. After regaining weight, he’d slid the ring back on his finger and returned to shipboard duty aboard USS Howell, married Helen, and more recently, skippered the Maxwell. He looked up, awestruck at the odyssey this ring had taken; half way around the world and back.
For the first time that day, Toliver smiled. “Okay?”
“Thanks, Ollie,” said Ingram. He slipped it on his finger and ran his hand over it. It felt good. “Thanks a lot.”
“Ringknocker,” muttered Landa.
Ingram stared.
“You okay?” asked Landa.
“…yeah.” Ingram slowly twirled the ring on his finger thinking of the hell he’d been through and the trip this ring had taken. He looked down at Taubman. The Korvettenkapitӓn’s mouth and eyes were wide open. Ingram wondered if he could ever forgive this man for what he’d been through. What if they’d captured him alive? Would he ever be able to forgive Taubman? Could he ever forgive Taubman for what he’d just tried to do?
National Socialism. The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Shimada. The Yakuza. Taubman had all that to deal with. How could anyone keep their sanity with such evil groups pulling from every direction?
After a moment he stooped beside Taubman’s corpse, searching the face. They’d logged many miles together and had been through a lot from allied air attacks to a near-disastrous crash dive.
But then there were quiet times under water when they played chess -- European moments as Taubman liked to say.
After all that, Ingram marveled that he really didn’t know Taubman. They never discussed family. Why? It was something Taubman avoided. Ingram too. And now he wondered, who were Taubman’s parents? Where did he live? Brothers? Sisters? Were they surviving the war? Where did he go to school? Girlfriends? Maybe a sweetheart, a wife somewhere, waiting.
He said quietly, “Martin, you old fool. I’m lucky. I have a wife and a newborn son to go home to.”
“What?” said Landa.
“Nothing,” said Ingram.
Landa headed for the door. “That about it? Anything else Ollie?”
Toliver said, “About done, sir except -- Captain Quicksilver. Could your men pack up this man’s gear and put it on our plane?”
“Be happy to, sir. Er, how about the stiff?”
“Yes, that, too, Captain, thank you,” said Toliver. He joined Landa at the door.
“Hey! Todd, you coming?” asked Landa.
“…yeah.” Ingram reached down and thumbed Taubman’s eyes closed.
He rose and walked away. Something caught his eye amongst Taubman’s gear on the bed: a cheap wooden chess set, the pieces scattered. He ran his hand through them.
“Todd?”
Ingram grabbed the black rook and dropped it in his pocket. “Yeah, let’s go Boom Boom.”
JOHN J. GOBBELL is a former Navy Lieutenant who saw duty as a destroyer weapons officer. His ship served in the South China Sea, granting him membership in the exclusiveATonkin Gulf Yacht Club.@ His thirty plus year career in executive recruiting included clients in the military and commercial aerospace sectors giving him added insight into character development for his novels. The Neptune Strategy is the fourth of four stand-alone novels in the Todd Ingram series. Altogether, he has written six historical thrillers involving the U.S. Navy – Pacific Theater -- and is currently at work on his seventh. He and his wife Janine live in Newport Beach, California. His website is at www.JohnJGobbell.com and he can be reached at [email protected].
THE NEPTUNE STRATEGY: A Todd Ingram Novel (The Todd Ingram Series Book 4) Page 40