Which they hadn’t. Jamie now knew that the American carriers had returned to the Pacific, along with other carriers and battleships. They were waiting in silence off Samoa, twenty-six hundred miles south of Hawaii.
Rochefort put down his papers and smiled like a cat. “Yamamoto is bitching that he can’t get confirmation our carriers are actually in the Atlantic and not looking over his shoulder.”
Nimitz nodded. “He will get that confirmation fairly soon.” He paused and added, “We hope.”
Jamie felt like purring. It was his idea about deception that was going to be implemented. If it worked, he would have done his best to strike back at the sons of bitches who had sunk the Pennsylvania and massacred her crew. Even if it didn’t work, he’d given it a helluva shot.
Nimitz stood. “We’ll get this to Spruance as quickly as possible.”
“What about Halsey?” Rochefort asked in surprise.
Nimitz smiled gently. “For a man who deals in secrets, you don’t know everything, do you?” he teased. “Halsey is sick and Spruance is going out to replace him.”
Jamie had heard the rumor and was not as surprised as Rochefort. He was, however, not entirely comfortable with the decision, though it wasn’t his to question. Halsey was sick, and Fletcher was missing and presumed dead. That left Spruance to command the Samoan force.
But Jamie wondered if Spruance was the right man. He’d worked for him and knew him to be extremely intelligent, and considerate of his subordinates. But were these the attributes of a battle leader? Was he aggressive enough to lead an American attack force against superior odds? Halsey wouldn’t have flinched. But Spruance?
Alexa walked the dirt path to the radio hut. It was early night, and there was no trouble seeing by the light of the myriad of stars above her. She didn’t notice the glorious display, though; she was there for a purpose.
She reached the flimsy door and knocked. “Who’s there?” came Jake’s muffled reply. She smiled. He must have been sleeping already.
“I am,” she answered and stepped in. Jake sat up in the bed and scrambled to cover himself with a sheet. He was wearing an undershirt and shorts. Poor puppy, she thought. He looks so confused.
Jake smiled and yawned. “What’s up?”
Alexa pulled the stool from beside the radio and sat down by the bed. “I want to talk. All you have to do is stay there and listen.”
“Okay.”
“Jake, do you know how evil so much of the world is, and how much of it I’ve seen?”
He reached out and took her hand. “I know what you’ve told me. I can’t begin to imagine what your ordeal was like, though. As to the rest of the world, there’s a lot of good out there too, not just evil.”
Good answer, she thought. “You remind me of Tim. He was a good man and, despite being a professional naval officer, an innocent and naive man. He saw good in the world and thought there was more of it than there was bad. He thought his job was to protect the good. I see a lot of him in you. You’re a good man, Jake, a very good man.”
Jake flushed. “Hey, Alexa, I’m far from perfect. Don’t canonize me just yet, okay?”
She laughed. “I said good, not a saint. Also, you have a sense of honor, don’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You could have left the islands and returned to California a long time ago, couldn’t you?”
“Sure, but I thought I could do some good here, maybe even do something to defeat the Japs.”
“Honor,” Alexa repeated. “There are those who say that innocence and naiveté are essential for there to be honor. I don’t know if they’re right, but I’m glad your sense of honor required you to stay instead of taking the easy way out. If you hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be sitting here alive today. If you hadn’t stayed, you wouldn’t be planning something big against the Japs, would you?”
“No secrets in this small town,” Jake said with a laugh.
“Honor,” she said again. “Will you do something for me, with me, but following my instructions to the absolute letter? It’s very important to me. Will you honor my request? Will you honor me?”
He squeezed her hand. “Of course.”
“Jake, do you love me?”
He took a deep breath. “Yes,” he said with a whisper. It was all he could manage.
She smiled gently, confidently. “Then help me. But don’t move unless I tell you to; don’t say a word unless I ask you to. I will do everything, understand? Everything.”
Jake nodded, and she pulled him to where he stood silently on the dirt floor. She looked at him for a moment, then pulled the undershirt over his head, paused, and slid his shorts off. She stared at his powerful body while his erection grew. He looked at her questioningly but made no move, no sound. Jake was a statue.
“You are going to purge me,” she finally said and touched him softly on his chest. Her fingers felt like fire to him. “You are going to remind me of how much I loved Tim, and you are going to help remove the stench of Omori from both my body and my mind. You are going to be my knight and rescue me from the dragon that eats at me. Help me, Jake.”
She undressed and stood naked in the starlight that came through the open window by the bed. Jake had never seen anyone or anything so beautiful. Her breasts were firm and full, and her belly flat. The legs that he’d admired the first time he’d seen her were as magnificent as he’d dreamed.
Jake longed to tell her, but she touched his lips with her finger and reminded him to be still and unmoving. She told him to lie down on his back in the bed. He grabbed the sides of the bed to stay in control. He understood that she needed it to happen this way, and he would not betray her.
She straddled his thighs and caressed his chest, letting her hands wander down to his belly and his erect penis. When she stroked that, he groaned and thought he would explode.
“Not yet,” she said in a husky whisper and let go of him.
She slid forward so that her breasts hung down into his face. “Take them, Jake.”
She guided her aroused and full nipples to his lips, and he devoured them with hunger and tenderness. Then she slid backward over his thighs, and he entered her easily. She rocked back and forth with her eyes closed, while he gripped the sides of the bed so tightly he thought it would break.
Finally, she threw her head back and groaned; then, seconds later, Jake exploded inside her.
He caught his breath. Her eyes were open, and she was looking at him with a strange half smile. “May I hold you now?” he asked softly.
“I used you.”
Jake held out his arms. She came down to him, and he held her tightly to his chest. “It’s okay,” he said and laughed. After a second, she laughed with him.
“I thought it would be, soldier boy,” she said as she kissed his chest and shoulder.
“I love you, Alexa. Always will.”
She lifted up and kissed him on the cheek. “Then I guess I’ll have to learn to love you, won’t I? It won’t take long at all. You’re a good teacher, and I’m an easy learner.”
Alexa pulled him out of the bed, and they sat on a mat on the dirt floor. She slid the bucket over, and they took turns sponging each other with the tepid water, joyously lingering over each other’s bodies. They let the night air dry them and returned to bed, where they made love again, this time without restraints or inhibitions. They guided each other’s hands and lips over their bodies with an eagerness that surprised and delighted both of them.
Then they fell into a deep sleep. Alexa would later recall it as the best night’s sleep she’d had in months.
“Operation Wasp?” Roosevelt said with a derisive laugh. “Why not call it Operation Cheap or Operation Shoestring? This is warfare on a totally inadequate budget, and the slightest misstep will bring disaster.”