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"Yes. I was totally mystified, and thrilled, and desperately in love with that lady. I still miss her."

"That's good. You should never forget her."

"You must know the whole story."

"Your mother told me when I asked."

"Any close calls for you and matrimony?"

"Not really. One guy thought it would be a good idea, but that was our last year of law school, and the studies just washed us away from each other."

"Sounds like confession time," Murdock said.

"Almost. I know what work you do."

"If you're not cleared, I may have to kill you," he said.

She smiled. "You're not that top-secret. Just hush-hush. Your father told me. He worries about you. How is that shrapnel wound, all healed up?"

He laughed. "You heard about that too? My major embarrassment. My men called me old Iron Ass. I'm going to have to have a long talk with my parents. Yes, yes, all healed. Not more than a pound or two of Chinese shrapnel still in my hindside."

Ardith sobered, frowned slightly, and put both her hands over his.

"You like the work you're doing with the Navy?"

He watched her closely. Was she curious, concerned, or was it something more? "Yes. I'm doing a job that needs to be done. Not a lot of people around who can do what me and my men do. For that reason, there is a great satisfaction in it."

"But it's so dangerous. Not just once, but several times, you've been in great danger."

He grinned. This was more familiar ground. "Hey, it's dangerous in this town just walking across the street. Or you could have your car hijacked and be shot dead at any intersection. Danger is where you find it. When we go into action, we are remarkably well prepared and ready for any danger we get into."

Ardith sipped her coffee and nodded slowly. "Yes, that's about what your father told me you'd say."

They sat there working on their coffee and watching each other. For a time they didn't say a word.

"We could go somewhere and get out of the weather," Ardith said.

"Like shopping or a movie?"

She shook her head. "No, I was thinking about my place. I'm not a bad cook. How about really doing something dangerous and taking a try at one of my home-cooked dinners?"

"Oh, yes, fine idea," Murdock said.

Ardith Manchester, daughter of the senior Oregon senator, smiled and said, "Good."

A half hour later, Ardith led him into the fourth-floor apartment in one of the better sections of Arlington just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. It had two bedrooms, a big bathroom, a working kitchen, a living room, and a den.

"I used to have a roommate, but last year we both could afford to have our own places, so she moved to an apartment of her own."

She dropped her coat on the sofa and went to the kitchen. He put down his coat and followed.

Ardith turned. "So, will it be coq au vin, spaghetti and meatballs, or steak and country vegetables?"

"No TV frozen dinners?"

"I save them for company I don't like."

"I'm partial to a good steak."

"I just happen to have some T-bones I've been saving. Don't worry, I love to cook, really. I usually don't have much time. I'm going to call my father and tell him I'm taking the next week off." She watched him closely. "I hear you have a two-week leave."

"True.

"I hope you'll be spending the first week here in the D.C. area."

Murdock smiled, and couldn't help but chuckle. "That's what I had in mind. Unless you'd rather I be somewhere else."

She reached up, kissed him quickly on the lips, and pulled back. "No, I want you right here. Now, go do some man thing while I cook."

The dinner was a mouth-watering success. He had watched, and helped some with the preparation. Ardith brought out the tall candles, and turned down the lights, and had just the right red wine.

"If you ever need a job as a cook, I know where there's an opening. It's in Coronado."

Ardith grinned, and passed him a special ice cream dessert topped with whipped cream and a red maraschino cherry. Beside the dish were two soda crackers.

"The crackers, in case you aren't from mid-America, are to create a delicious contrast with the sweetness of the ice cream. Try it, it's really interesting. I learned this from a little old lady in Shelby, Nebraska."

Later they started a blaze in the fireplace, and sat on the sofa watching it.

"I love watching a fire," Ardith said. "It's like discovering a small bit of the universe. Like a star going supernova, blazing up in a blinding brilliance, and then fading, and dying out to a huge ash somewhere out there in the universe where nobody can see it anymore. Look at that small stick. It blazes up, then glows red for a moment, then it's nothing but a falling line of ashes."

"A philosopher too," Murdock said.

He pulled her closer and kissed her gently on the lips. She eased away and looked at him, then returned the kiss, hard and insistent and with an urgent need.

They eased to the side until she lay on the couch and he was half on top of her. Ardith smiled, and traced one of his eyebrows with her finger.

"Hey, nice. Now please kiss me again."

The next morning, which was Sunday, Murdock made eggs ranchero for them for breakfast, and they figured out what they would do that day, which was a bit warmer than usual.

On Tuesday they called on Representative Charles Fitzhugh Murdock in the House Office Building. The congressman was in the middle of a floor fight before a roll call vote on a money bill he had been working on for two months.

He had the phone on a shoulder mount, and was working hard.

"Yes, Gunderson, I know you represent some of the people who will be affected, and that's why I say you should support the bill. It will bring stability to the area, it will mean better markets for the farmers, and more availability of raw materials for those producers in your area who need them. It's a win-win situation. Can I count on your vote at four o'clock?" The congressman paused, and waved at his son and Ardith.

"Good, Gunderson, you bet I owe you one for this. I'm a man who always pays my debts. Yes, you can put one of those damned red three-by-five cards up on your tote board. I never forget a friend or a favor. See you at four." He hung up, and turned to Blake and Ardith.

"Well, well, well. I see that picture I sent you did some good."

Blake shook his head. "It was really a bad picture, didn't do this lady justice at all." They sat down in the chairs near the desk.

"Looks like you're hard at work in the trenches, Dad."

"Roll call vote coming up on Bill 4439. I want that sucker. Working my tail off. You two want to make some calls for me?"

"Afraid I'm not all that good on a phone, Dad. Just wanted to be sure you and Mom are still on for that dinner tonight on me. I've got reservations and the whole thing."

"We'll be there. Let you know how the vote comes out." His phone buzzed, and he picked it up.

"Stan, good to hear from you. Now, about that bill I've been working so hard on."

Murdock and Ardith stood and went to the outer office.

"Is it always this way?" Murdock asked the assistant at the front desk.

"This is an easy day," she said. "He said he was glad you dropped in."

That afternoon they checked in at Senator Manchester's office and met the Oregonian. He was small and gray, older than Murdock had guessed, but with a lean, hungry appearance that told you he got things done, and done the right way. Senator Manchester was warm and gracious, and Murdock liked him at once. They made a date for dinner three days hence, and then Murdock and Ardith went back to her Virginia apartment.

The two weeks slammed past so quickly that Murdock couldn't believe it. He had a last dinner with his parents and Ardith at his parents' home, and a long good-bye with Ardith that night. The next morning he hitchhiked a ride on a MATTs plane out of Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, and set down in San Francisco.