Chapter 18
She was like a walking wet-dream
Afternoon, Friday, July 27th
Berber Point Naval Air Station Hospital, Hawaii
Lt. Robert Osborne....
I went upstairs. Paras saw me with the laptop case hanging from my arm and her eyes widened in terror.
"Oh, God, I forgot all about that. Thank you, thank you..."
She took the case from me as if it was made of solid gold and hugged it to her chest. There had to have been something on it much more important than just some travel photos.
I took her further upstairs to the general's room. This time, however, there were armed Marine guards posted at the door. It took several minutes of arguing and another set of phone calls until we were allowed into the room.
As we entered, there was a nurse checking the general's vital signs while various medical machines beeped, whooshed or glowed with numbers and lines bobbing up and down.
I saw the magazines on the table next to the chair and could tell that the nurse was going to be there as long as the general was.
'At least they're taking this seriously,' I had thought. 'Whatever we had been doing out there must have succeeded and now this.'
"Has there been any change?" I asked.
I glanced at Paras hoping that she was in better shape than earlier.
"Yes, Lieutenant," the nurse said. She acknowledged the Colonel... "He's physically stable now, his signs are good and we're just waiting for the drugs to wear off and he wakes up. I will be here the whole time. It will still be a couple of hours before he wakes."
I had felt so much better then. Although I did not have that much contact with him, Phelps told me that the general was, in his words, 'a stand-up guy.'
The two of them must have had some interesting conversations on the flight out to the carrier because Phelps confided in me that Crowell, in Phelps' opinion, was more important than half the Navy and Marine brass put together.
The phone in my pocket began to vibrate. I pulled it out, looked at the number and remembered it was the cute Japanese nurse's phone.
"Hello?"
"Is this Lieutenant Osborne? This is John at The Corporation in Malibu. I want to know what is happening, please... and to tell you that Miss Alessa is taking the Gulfstream to bring both the general and Colonel Paras home. Arrangements have already been made at Berbers Point."
"Well, John, we'll know more in a couple of hours when he wakes up. His condition is stable and his signs look good. I'm here with the colonel. I'll put her on."
I handed the phone to Paras who began to speak rapidly into the phone. She was beginning to take charge again which was a great relief for me.
Even though I was a fighter pilot responsible for millions of dollars of flying machine blasting through the air at impossible speeds, I was still only a lieutenant and so far down the list it had been hard to find anyone to help us out.
Several minutes later, she handed the phone back.
"They'll be here in about five-six hours which will put it into the middle of the night here. I know she'll want to come here immediately. Shoot, give me back the phone, quick."'
She punched the recall button and John answered.
"John, have they left yet? No... good... listen; make sure that she has her DOD credentials so she can get on the base. Are they bringing one of the doctors? ...good... call Father Rolli and tell him to get down here as soon as he can..."
She listened for a few minutes.
"On that, I'll call you back."
She handed the phone back again and sat down in the remaining chair.
"Lieutenant, could you get us some coffee? Nurse... I'm sorry... I don't know your name."
"Susan Wells."
"Susan, what do you want in your coffee? Bob, here's my Visa... get whatever you want and maybe some snacks... we're going to be here for quite a while."
I left the room; while making my way back to the hospital cafeteria, I decided to stop at Phelp's room and see how he was doing.
"Damn, Phelps, what the hell happened?"
I had sat down next to the bed looking at my friend. He had looked pretty banged up from the ejection and hitting the water had not helped.
"Damn bird strike, nothing I could do; they took out both engines. Is the general all right? I don't know what happened after I ejected and they're not telling me much of anything."
