Dragon Clan

Chapter 3

Three

Monday, April 18

USS Bougainville

Caribbean Sea

Eva went to dinner that evening with Sarah, who stopped to speak to almost everyone they encountered along the way and seemed to know everyone’s name. She was quite the social butterfly for someone who spent most of her time in a cockpit.

Sarah led her to the captain’s wardroom, which differed greatly from the casual nature of the officers’ mess. For lunch, Eva had grabbed a quick buffet lunch of sandwiches and soup in an impersonal cafeteria; this, by contrast, was an intimate dining hall complete with dim lights, crisp tablecloths, and china.

Is this Caleb’s usual custom, or is this to impress me? Eva wondered.

As they took their seats at the captain’s table, Sarah struck up a conversation with Caleb, chattering away about how happy she was to get to bunk with Eva and how much they had in common. But they had barely settled in when Axel entered the room, and Sarah leapt from her chair, almost knocking it over.

“No way,” Sarah said. “Captain, you didn’t say he was coming too. That’s Axel Bergner!”

Axel had his headphones on and missed the proclamation. But he couldn’t fail to notice the attractive young pilot eyeing him, and he locked eyes with her as if mesmerized. Eva rose, took him by the arm, and led him to an empty seat at the table. He didn’t look away from Sarah the entire time.

They soon discovered that Sarah was a huge fan of European electronica and was one of Axel’s early YouTube followers. The two of them quickly formed their own little world at the table.

Dinner was delicious. A steward—or who the captain called a mess specialist—served well-cooked steak, twice-baked potatoes, and almondine green beans.

“We don’t eat like this every night,” Caleb said to Eva, “and in fact, I usually eat alone, but you’re a special guest. I’d like you and Axel to join me for meals. Sarah too. But I guarantee that by the end of this deployment, you’ll get tired of our food.”

As dinner concluded, Axel was telling Sarah about their dolphin research. Axel looked over to Eva.

“Would it be okay, boss, if I set up the sound system and do a demo for Sarah?” He quickly added, “And the captain, of course.”

Eva smiled. Axel was obviously smitten with Sarah. It didn’t hurt that she apparently saw him as a celebrity.

“That would be great, Axel,” she said. “Thank you.”

“Permission to be excused, Captain?” Sarah asked as she placed her napkin neatly on her plate.

“Permission granted,” Caleb replied and the two exchanged salutes. The formality of it all still astonished Eva.

Yet as Axel and Sarah rose to depart, Caleb casually said to them, “I’ll catch up with you shortly. I’m sure it’ll take some time to set up the equipment.”

The dining room was now cleared out except for Eva and Caleb, and conversation turned to the one person they both shared a history with: Thomas. Eva was curious about Thomas’s past, and she knew the two men went back a ways together in the Navy. She asked Caleb about the time they’d spent together on the USS Tarawa, when Thomas traveled with Taffy and Finn to the Baltic Sea to search for sea mines.

“Ah yes, the seas were rough on that voyage,” Caleb said. “I was a young officer on the bridge. After an unusually large wave hit us, I went down to the hold to check on the EOD teams with their dolphins and sea lions. I got down to the hold and it was chaos. Sailors yelling, water everywhere, sea lions barking, dolphins sending out those distress whistles that sound like a bomb falling. Then I saw that one of the pools had deflated. I heard someone yelling for somebody to get a sling off the Zodiac. I grabbed one and ran over. It was Thomas who yelled, and he was holding his T-shirt on a dolphin’s bloody head. Taffy, though I didn’t know her name then. I didn’t know Thomas’s either. Anyway, he’d gotten to her very quickly; there was a cot by the pool, and he slept down there. Wisely, as it turns out, because if not, she’d likely be dead. We managed to get Taffy into the sling and move her into another pool, with the wholphin, Finn. The doctor tended to Taffy’s wound, and she was okay, though it left a scar, as you know. Thomas and I have been friends ever since.”

“But the head wound,” Eva said. “How exactly did she get it?”

Caleb looked at her in slight surprise. “Thomas hasn’t told you? An unsecured axe fell onto the inflatable pool when the wave hit. It knocked Taffy in the head too.” Caleb shook his head. “Thomas blamed himself for not checking the hold better. It wasn’t his fault, he was the hero of the situation as far as I’m concerned, but you know how he can be. Hard on himself.”

Eva knew all too well. Thomas took his responsibilities seriously, and guilt had a constant grip on him. Even over things that weren’t his fault, like what had happened to her brother. He had let that guilt fester for years, so much so that he allowed Eva to blame him, rather than telling her the truth.

Eva wanted to back away from the subject of Thomas. “Are you married, Caleb? Or is there anyone in your life?” she asked.

Caleb laughed. “I’m married to this boat, and that’s as much of a relationship as I can handle. Trust me, she’s a demanding mistress.”

He gave her a look then, a long, appraising look that made Eva feel warm, and slightly uncomfortable. Then he frowned, slightly, and it made Eva sad. Perhaps Caleb, too, had had a failed relationship that still weighed heavy on him. Just like her and Thomas.