“Yes, yes. Now eat.”
They all glanced up, hearing the ruckus above them. “Music to my ears,” Adler grinned.
Grant just nodded, shoving a forkful of pasta into his mouth, savoring the spicy sauce as the long strands of pasta swirled around his tongue. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he leaned closer to Adler. Pointing his fork toward Wagner, he whispered, “He’s coming home with us!”
“Shit, Skipper! We’d weigh five hundred pounds eating like this.”
“Yeah, but we sure as hell would die happy, Joe!”
Adler nodded and grinned, finally asking, “So, what have you got in mind for our friends upstairs?”
Grant twirled the last strands of spaghetti on his fork. “Only thing we can do. Return them to Falcone in Palermo.”
“Oh, I like it!” Adler laughed.
Grant turned to Moshenko. “What do you think, Grigori? Ready for another trip?”
“It would be my pleasure!”
“By the way,” Grant said, “how are your comrades doing? Did they give you any flak?”
“I believe they are truly grateful for what you and your men have done to rescue them, to keep them alive.”
“Where are they?” Grant asked, looking around.
“They have gone to their room.”
“Uh, Grigori,” Grant said, looking over Moshenko’s shoulder at the two Russians hurrying down the stairs. “Think you need to explain what all the noise is about.”
Moshenko swiveled around in his seat and held up a hand, stopping Tarasov and Rusnak in their tracks. Before he went to them, he said to Grant as he pointed, “You are being summoned.” Sam Wright was motioning for him.
Grant got up yawning, rubbing a hand over his face, feeling stubble. “What’s up?”
“Admiral Torrinson’s on the line, Captain.”
“Why don’t you go on ahead, Sam? I’ll catch up.” As Grant walked toward the building, he wondered how he was going to convince Torrinson to let him take the two Italians back to Palermo. They’d completed the mission. They rescued. They recovered. Now he’s going to tell the admiral he wants to make a “return.” He hoped he didn’t have to fill in the “dance card” until this op was really over.
Standing by Wright’s desk, Grant picked up the phone. “Grant here, sir.”
“Captain, you and your men okay?”
Grant hadn’t heard it often, but now he thought he was hearing annoyance in Torrinson’s voice. “We’re all in one piece, sir. And, sir, before you chew my ass out, I’m sorry you were left out of the loop for so long.”
Torrinson sucked on his Tootsie Pop, as he rocked back and forth in his leather swivel chair. Instead of candy, he should’ve been sucking on some Pepto. “What makes you think I was going to chew your ass out? I mean, I’ve just been sitting here waiting for information, hoping to hear from my best operator, hearing about earthquakes and volcanoes, worrying about Sarin gas!”
Grant sat down heavily on a wooden chair by the desk. Holding the phone against his ear, he leaned forward, both elbows resting on his knees. “I say again, sir, I’m sorry.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Sorry?”
“Uh, sir, I just thought… ”
“No, Grant. You misinterpreted what I was saying, or how I was saying it. Look, let’s just start this conversation over.”
“Yes, sir.”
“First, was there any damage at AFN from the quake?”
Grant was still trying to assimilate Torrinson’s words. He answered, “Uh, no, sir; doesn’t look like it. Most of it happened north, where we were. Sam’s checked everything in here; doesn’t appear to be any problem with the network, only a few broken windows in the barracks. The generators are still working.” Grant went on to explain the destruction of the cave and armament.
“So, you transported the canisters back to AFN?” Torrinson asked.
“Senior Chief Moore and the team brought them back, sir. Joe and I took care of the munitions. Right now, the canisters are stored in the hangar. We’re waiting for orders on how we’re supposed to dispose of them.”
“I’m still waiting for that answer, too, Grant. At one time it would have been as simple as ‘burial at sea’, but that was outlawed around 1974. So, we’re back to square one.”
Grant had more than one concern. Was the gas still active? Even though it seemed secure in the containers, the rough trip out of AFN and then the return trip could have weakened the inner structure. If that was the case, none of them would have a chance, unless…
Torrinson interrupted. “Is EOD going to securely close off the remainder of the tunnel?”
“Yes, sir, as soon as we’re totally under control here. By the way, sir, thanks for bringing in those marines.” Okay, he thought. Time to bring up the G2. “Sir, some of my men are running a G2 on… ”
Suddenly, the door burst open, with Moore rushing in. “Sir! You’ve gotta come with me!”
“Admiral! Something’s going down! Can I call you back, sir?”
Torrinson hated times like these. Sometimes he wished he were actually part of the ops he was in charge of, out in the field, so he wouldn’t be left out of the loop. “Go! I’ll be waiting!”
Grant and Moore ran side by side across the compound with Grant trying to find out what the hell was happening, as Moore only gave him quick response. “We got some shit from one of the Italian’s! It ain’t gonna make you happy!”
They ran inside the barracks, seeing Moshenko sitting quietly at the table, with an unlit cigar dangling from his lips.
Adler was standing at the foot of the stairs, with his hands shoved into the side pockets of his fatigues, looking none too happy.
Grant rushed up to him. “Joe! What’s happened?” The conversation was about to eliminate all military protocol, and turn into one where two friends just hashed it out.
Adler had an expression that just didn’t fit, one Grant wasn’t used to seeing. “I don’t understand how it happened. I did the inventory on everything in that tunnel. I… ”
Grant stepped closer to his friend. “What did that Italian say? Tell me!”
“He and a compadre managed to steal one of the canisters.”
Grant backed away slowly, speechless. But then his brain kicked in, and he shook Adler’s shoulder. “Joe! Listen! There wasn’t any way for you to see what they took out of that tunnel and what they finally put in the cave.”
“Yeah, and I didn’t see what was in the cave, did I? That’s where I should’ve noticed the count was wrong!”
Grant tried to drive his point home. “I say again… you didn’t see how many they took out of the truck and stashed in the cave. Did you?” Adler shook his head. “And most of that stuff was covered in tarps when we got there, wasn’t it?”
Adler finally looked up, staring into Grant’s eyes, feeling he’d failed at his job. “Still no excuse. It was my responsibility. I should’ve taken a count. Right? You know I’m right.”
Grant turned away, with his head bowed. Adler was right. It had been his responsibility. Grant’s jaw was beginning to ache from bearing down on his teeth with so much pressure. Finally, he turned to face Adler again, trying to reason. “And what the hell were we supposed to do up there in the cave even if you had noticed? We did what we had to do and as fast as we could. We didn’t have time to piss, for Christ’s sake.”
He leaned closer, poking a finger into Adler’s chest. “You wanna beat yourself up? Go ahead. But what we’ve gotta do now is we need to hunt down that goddamn canister.” Grant kept looking at his friend. “Hey! Get your head back on straight, you hear me?”
Adler took a deep breath, and with his eyebrows knitting together, he asked, “So where the hell do you think the sixth one is?”
“How the hell should I know?” Grant answered, throwing his arms up. He turned to Moore. “Ray, go get those bastards and bring ’em here.” Moore ran upstairs.