He went over a few paces to meet him and was surprised when Zalinsky spoke first. “Good morning,” he said in English. “It is a lie, the day she is terrible.”
Hewlitt shook hands with him again. “I hope that it will be a lot better at the other end, Mr. Zalinsky.”
“It is necessary that it be, it will be my own country.”
“Then have a happy homecoming.”
Zalinsky abruptly changed the topic. “I see that you have the Barbara girl and the other man.”
“Yes, you asked to see them.”
Zalinsky began to walk over to where they were. He addressed himself first to Barbara. “We have also women in our country,” he said, “but you are of very good quality.”
She smiled for him. “Thank you, Mr. Zalinsky.”
“It is my sad fate that it became necessary for me to drive this man here into your arms.”
“Thank you very much,” she answered him.
Zalinsky thrust his hands into the pockets of his coat. “If I had been constructed higher and less round, I might have wished it differently,” he said, “but that for me is a fairy tale.”
He paused and studied the aircraft he was soon to board. “If I insult you I am sorry,” he added.
Barbara put her hands on his shoulders. “That never insults any girl,” she told him, “and if they pretend otherwise, they’re lying. Or they don’t deserve to be called female.”
“This is enlightenment I hope for my own country,” Zalinsky said. “For us Queen Victoria is still a very young person. And now this man.”
Hewlitt did not know how to make the introduction; Percival solved it by taking a step forward and offering Zalinsky his hand. “Since you admire Barbara, we have something in common,” he said.
Zalinsky shook hands with a slight embarrassment. “You are very intelligent,” he said. “I know of you for some time.”
Percival did not comment on that point. “I’m glad that it’s all behind us, Mr. Zalinsky, and I’m glad to meet you. You have done certain things that I personally appreciate.”
“It is good that we say this and then stop,” Zalinsky answered. “Agreed. Come back with your family, as a tourist, and let me show you around. You haven’t even seen the Grand Canyon. We have quite a nice place here.”
“I do not consider that possible.”
“Mr. Zalinsky, very few things are impossible anymore as long as we are living. Things change. People are changing. If you wish it, it can be.”
Zalinsky stared at his feet, then looked up once more. “It is time for me to go home,” he said. “I leave you now here.” He pulled his right hand out of his pocket, chopped a small gesture in the air toward each of them, then turned and walked toward the aircraft.
When he was on board, Barbara said, “I’m going into the terminal for a moment,” and left them.
“Will I be seeing you again?” Hewlitt asked.
“Very possibly,” Percival answered, “especially if you accept that Senate appointment.”
“You know about that.”
“Yes, it came down through channels. Do you care for some advice?”
“Shoot.”
“Take it; I think the admiral would be pleased.”
“Him again.”
“Quite a man,” Percival said.
“By the way,” Hewlitt began on a different topic, “I don’t really know who you are.”
Percival smiled. “It must have been annoying, but you understood the reasons.”
“Absolutely. And if you don’t want to say any more, stop there. We’ve just won a skirmish, but the real war isn’t over yet.”
Percival became sober. “I’m glad you see that, Hew, because unfortunately it’s so. I wish to hell that it wasn’t, but it is. I know too much about it; the public knows too little.”
“Why don’t you tell them?”
“Maybe you can help do that — in the Senate.”
“Maybe.”
The piercing howl of awakening jet engines cut them off for a moment; they watched as the transport turned toward the taxiway and began to roll forward.
When it was far enough away, Percival said, “I’d better get back to work now, Hew, I’ve still got a lot to clear away.” He held out his hand. “The name is Mark Goldberg; I’ll drop you a line if you’d like when I have a new duty station. I’m a lieutenant commander in the Coast Guard.”
“I wouldn’t have guessed that,” Hewlitt said.
“Our service doesn’t get the publicity, but we do our job. We’re a pretty proud outfit in our own way.”
“You’re a good proof of that,” Hewlitt said.
“It’s not the man, it’s the mission.” He saw Barbara coming back. “Keep that to yourself, my ID I mean; that goes for everyone.”
“I will.”
Five minutes later Hewlitt was alone with Barbara. “I hate to see Percival go,” he said. “I like him.”
Barbara agreed. “You’ll see him again. I’d met him before. I reminded him of that, if you remember.”
He recalled immediately the scene in the safe house. “So you did,” he acknowledged. He made a mental effort at that moment to put the whole business behind him. “Come on,” he said. “I want to go somewhere and do something — anything. You name it.”
She didn’t answer him until they were in his car and he had the engine going. “Hew, I want to ask you something first. I started to make a decision, then I realized that you ought to be consulted.” “About your pregnancy.”
“Yes. Let me make something very clear — you’re not on the hook in any way,”
He rolled the car out of the slot and toward the exit driveway. “Furthermore,” she continued, “I’m not the least bit interested in the morals involved; we’ve outgrown that, I think, and you were literally forced into bed with me.”
Hewlitt took over. “I don’t want your pregnancy to enter into this. If you want it terminated, then by all means have it done with my blessing. And I demand the right to pay the bill if the Air Force disallows it.”
She laughed a little. “I did incur the problem in line of duty,” she reminded him.
He drove out of the lot and picked up the main street of the base. “I realize that you have to make up your mind, and that you can’t wait forever. Now let me explain something: I’m not going to come galloping up on a white horse, leap off with plumes flying, and then ask for your hand before the whole court assembled while you blush violently and hide your face in an ecstasy of embarrassment.” She looked at him with interest. “Why not?” she asked.
“Because there’s a drastic shortage of white horses.”
“Oh, I see.”
He waited until they had cleared the base
“Barb, this whole damn thing we’ve been through has got me off balance. I can’t quite get it into my head yet that for practical purposes it’s all over.”
She came closer to him. “Me too.”
“Now I’ve been all but offered a seat in the Senate and it has more than four years yet to run.”
“Then that answers the question,” she said.
“No, it doesn’t. If I take it, assuming that I can get it then I want you with me. And none of this we-were-secretly-married business either; I don’t like that kind of fraud.”
“No one does.”
“If I don’t go into the Senate, and do something else instead then, if you’re game, I still want you with me. But either way, If you’re willing, let’s have the baby.”
“All right,” she agreed.
He turned and looked at her. “Since that’s decided — another topic. Can you put up with me?”
“Pretty well.”
“Care to perhaps be a senator’s wife?”
“No, but if I must, I will.”
He discovered that he wasn’t watching his driving. For perhaps half a minute he carefully concentrated on what he was supposed to be doing, but his compelling interest was elsewhere. “I want you,” he said. He was glad he had put it simply; he couldn’t stand maudlin sentimentality.