‘Mayday, Mayday, this is Captain Tyler, do you read me?’
‘I do, captain, this is Lieutenant Cartwright. How can I help, sir?’
‘My platoon has been ambushed by Victor Charlie just above the Dyng River, grid reference SE42 NNE71. I need a flight of Hueys with full medical back-up. I have ninety-six men, eleven of them are already down, three dead, eight injured.’
A staff sergeant came off another phone. ‘How do I reach emergency rescue?’ asked Nat.
‘Contact Blackbird base at the Eisenhower field. Pick up the white phone and give the officer of the watch the grid reference.’
Nat grabbed the white phone, and a sleepy voice answered.
‘This is Lieutenant Cartwright. We have a Mayday call. Two platoons trapped on the north side of the Dyng river, grid reference SE42 NNE71; they’ve been ambushed and require immediate assistance.’
‘Tell them we’ll be off the ground and on our way in five minutes,’ said a voice now fully alert.
‘Can I join you?’ asked Nat, cupping his hand over the mouthpiece, expecting the inevitable rejection.
‘Are you authorized to fly in U.H.I.s?’
‘Yes I am,’ lied Nat.
‘Any parachute experience?’
‘Trained at Fort Benning,’ said Nat, ‘sixteen jumps at six hundred feet from S-123s, and in any case, it’s my regiment out there.’
‘Then if you can get here in time, Lieutenant, be my guest.’
Nat replaced the white phone and returned to the red one. ‘They’re on their way, captain,’ was all he said.
Nat ran out of the ops room and into the parking lot. A duty corporal was dozing behind the wheel of a jeep. Nat leapt in beside him, banged the palm of his hand on the horn and said, ‘Blackbird base in five minutes.’
‘But that’s about four miles away, sir,’ said the driver.
‘Then you’ll have to get moving, won’t you, Corporal,’ shouted Nat.
The corporal switched on the engine, threw the jeep into gear, and accelerated out of the parking lot, lights full on, leaving the palm of one hand on the horn and the other on the steering wheel. ‘Faster, faster,’ repeated Nat, as those who were still on the streets of Saigon after curfew leapt out of their way along with several startled chickens. Three minutes later, Nat spotted a dozen Huey helicopters perched on the airfield up ahead. The blades on one of them were already rotating.
‘Put your foot down,’ Nat repeated.
‘It’s already touching the floor, sir,’ replied the corporal as the gates of the airfield came into sight. Nat counted again: seven of the helicopters now had their blades whirring.
‘Shit,’ he said as the first one took off.
The jeep screeched to a halt at the gates to the compound, where an MP asked to see their identity cards.
‘I have to be on one of those choppers in under a minute,’ shouted Nat passing over his papers. ‘Can’t you speed it up?’
‘Just doing my job, sir,’ said the MP as he checked both men’s papers.
Once both identity cards had been handed back, Nat pointed to the one helicopter whose blades were not yet rotating, and the corporal shot off towards it, skidding to a halt by an open door, just as its blades began to turn.
The pilot looked down and grinned, ‘You only just made it, Lieutenant,’ he said. ‘Climb aboard.’ The helicopter had lifted off even before Nat had been given a chance to click on his safety harness. ‘You want to hear the bad news, or the bad news?’ asked the pilot.
‘Try me,’ said Nat.
‘The rule in any emergency is always the same. Last off the ground is the first to land on enemy territory.’
‘And the bad news?’
‘Will you marry me?’ asked Jimmy.
Joanna turned and looked at the man who had brought her more happiness in the past year than she could ever have imagined possible. ‘If you still want to ask me the same question on the day you graduate, freshman, my reply will be yes, but today the answer is still no.’
‘But why? What could have possibly changed in a year or two’s time?’
‘You’ll be a little older, and hopefully even a little wiser,’ replied Joanna with a smile. ‘I’m twenty-five and you’re not yet twenty.’
‘What difference can that make if we want to spend the rest of our lives together?’
‘Just that you might not feel that way when I’m fifty and you’re forty-five.’
‘You’ve got it all wrong,’ said Jimmy. ‘At fifty you’ll be in your prime, and I’ll be a debauched husk, so you’d better grab me while I’ve still got some energy left.’
Joanna laughed. ‘Try not to forget, freshman, that what we’ve been through during the past few weeks may also be affecting your judgement.’
‘I don’t agree. I believe the experience can only have strengthened our relationship.’
‘That’s possible,’ said Joanna, ‘but in the long run, you should never make an irreversible decision on the back of good or bad news, because it’s just possible that one of us will feel differently when this all blows over.’
‘Do you feel differently?’ asked Jimmy quietly.
‘No, I don’t,’ said Joanna firmly, as she touched his cheek. ‘But my parents have been married for nearly thirty years, and my grandparents lived to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary, so when I get married I want it to be for life.’
‘All the more reason for us to get married as quickly as possible,’ said Jimmy. ‘After all, I’m going to have to live to the age of seventy if we hope to celebrate our golden wedding.’
Joanna laughed. ‘I’ll bet your friend Fletcher would agree with me.’
‘You could be right, but you’re not marrying Fletcher. In any case, my bet is that he and my sister will be together for at least fifty years.’
‘Freshman, I couldn’t love you any more if I wanted to, but remember that I’ll be at Columbia next fall, and you’ll be still at Yale.’
‘But you can still change your mind about taking that job at Columbia.’
‘No, it was only public opinion that forced the board to reverse their decision. If you’d seen the look on their faces when they delivered their verdict, you’d have realized they couldn’t wait to see the back of me. We’ve made our point, freshman, so I think it would be better for everyone if I moved on.’
‘Not everyone,’ said Jimmy quietly.
‘Because once I’m no longer around to haunt them, they’re going to find it far easier to amend the rules,’ said Joanna, ignoring his comment. ‘In twenty years’ time, students will never believe such a ridiculous regulation even existed.’
‘Then I’ll have to get myself a commuter ticket to New York, because I’m not going to let you out of my sight.’
‘I’ll be at the station to meet you, freshman, but while I’m away, I hope you’ll take out other women. Then, if you still feel the same way about me on the day you graduate, I’ll be happy to say yes,’ she added as the alarm went off.
‘Hell,’ said Jimmy, as he leapt out of bed, ‘can I use the bathroom first, because I’ve a nine o’clock lecture, and I don’t even know what the subject is.’
‘Napoleon and his influence on the development of American law,’ said Joanna.
‘I thought you told us that American law was more influenced by the Romans and the English than any other nation?’
‘Half a mark, freshman, but you’ll still need to attend my nine o’clock lecture if you hope to find out why. By the way, do you think you could do two things for me?’
‘Only two?’ said Jimmy as he turned on the shower.
‘Could you stop staring at me like a lost puppy whenever I give a lecture?’
Jimmy stuck his head back round the door, ‘No,’ he said, as he watched Joanna slip out of her nightie. ‘What’s the second?’