Panic Switch полностью

“Let’s get these bandages off,” Dr. Gupta said. The plastic surgery had wrapped a week before. Anthony Pacino wondered how the result would look. Would he resemble someone who’d survived a knife fight? Would the scars make him look tough? Or would there be those hideous red streaks on his skin like he’d had before Gupta took the knife to him? It occurred to Pacino that maybe the bandages and scars had made Rachel fail to recognize him. If Gupta had been able to return Pacino to his previous appearance sooner, maybe that might have brought her back.

When Gupta had cut off the bandages, he held a large hand-held mirror up to Pacino’s face.

“It looks the same as it always did, before the… before the thing,” Pacino said, rotating the mirror slightly, hoping his voice sounded happy rather than disappointed. A nice scar would have made his tale of piracy on the high seas more believable.

“You can just see the faintest ghost of the scars, Lieutenant Pacino,” Gupta said, smiling. “In the right light, you can convince a lady that you are indeed a tough guy. Too bad that nightclub lighting won’t do. You may have to carry a bright flashlight with you.”

Pacino laughed. “I’ve already got the lady, Doc, but thanks.”

But did he? Or was Rachel Romanov lost to him forever?

Lieutenant Anthony Pacino leaned on the handrail of the platform overlooking Graving Dock Number One, where the hull of the USS New England was coming together after the aft end of the Vermont had been welded to the forward end of the Massachusetts. The boat was so surrounded by scaffolding, it could barely be made out to be a submarine, the scaffolding extending all the way up the sail. The metal of the hull was a dull anti-rust green from the inorganic zinc primer sprayed on her. The intermediate and final paint coats would wait for the ship to be closer to leaving the drydock.

Despite the boat being far from ready, the crew of the New Jersey had been reassigned to the New England, assisting the shipyard in bringing her back to life. It was Monday, and Pacino was the off-going duty officer. The XO had made a new policy that after standing duty, an officer could take the next day off. Standing duty for a ship in the dock seemed stupid to Pacino, since there was not much for the duty officer to do in the shipyard. He looked at his watch, and it was 1045. He was about to cross the street and get in the car for the ride back to the Snake Ranch when a car glided to a halt behind him.

The driver’s window rolled down. It was Commander Quinnivan in a black Lincoln town car. Quinnivan grinned at Pacino.

“Get in, loser. We have a lunch date at Squadron Six.”

Pacino walked to the passenger side, but Quinnivan waved at him to get into the backseat. As he climbed in, he saw there was another passenger. It was Rachel Romanov, in uniform. She wore oversize sunglasses and her uniform ballcap, the cap featureless rather than the blue one with dolphins and the embroidery spelling USS NEW ENGLAND. Pacino looked at her.

“Hi, Rachel,” he said. He wondered, now that his head wounds were healed, would she recognize him? Would his face return her memory? But so far, she hadn’t reacted.

“Hello Patch,” she said without looking back at him, her voice neutral. Was there a coldness in her voice, he wondered, or was he just being too sensitive?

“What’s going down, XO?” Pacino asked.

“I got a phone call from Balaclava Driscoll, my opposite number on the New Hampshire. He and his captain, Gray Wolf Austin, agreed to bring you and Rachel down for a tour of their boat.”

Pacino stared at Rachel. “Really?”

“Captain Seagraves thinks it’s important that Madam Romanov reacquaint herself with the Virginia-class. I’ll be there to remind her of what’s what. You’re coming, young Pacino, since XO Driscoll and Captain Austin want to talk to you. They’ve got a slot in their wardroom opening up.”

“If it’s all the same to you, XO, I’d prefer to stay with the old Vermont crew on the New England.”

“Ah, but young Pacino, the New England will take months to get out of the dock. I figured you’d be craving action and want to get back to sea pronto.”

“Well, normally, yeah, XO, but I’m still coming down from our most recent action. I could use a nice boring month or two.”

“It may not be up to you, Patch, but let’s see what happens.”