The Charm School

his pocket.
    No one spoke for a while, and some minutes later O’Shea came back into the chart room and handed Hollis a piece of paper.
    Hollis looked at it and read it aloud: “From Charles Banks. ‘Delighted to hear from you. Congratulations on a fine job. Very sorry to hear about Seth. We’ll miss him. You’ll be met in Liverpool. Very much looking forward to seeing you all in London. Drinks are on me. Special regards to Lisa.’ Signed, ‘Charles.’”
    Hollis looked at O’Shea, Mills, Brennan, and Lisa. The radio reply was so typically Charles Banks that everyone seemed on the verge of laughter.
    Mills finally said, “What a lovable son of a bitch. I’d like to beat the hell out of him, but I can’t bring myself to do it. So we’ll have a drink with him instead.”
    Lisa added, “I always liked him. I still like him. But I don’t trust him anymore.”
    Hollis reflected that he had never trusted Banks. He wouldn’t trust him in London either.
    An elderly steward entered with a galley pitcher of orange juice and a tray of hot biscuits. He set them down on the chart table and said in an accent that reminded Hollis of a Horatio Hornblower movie, “Compliments of Captain Hughes.” He added, “The first officer extends to the lady the use of his quarters. For you gentlemen, bunks have been set up in the officers’ wardroom. The captain wishes you to know that there are no radar sightings of any note. If there’s anything further you’ll be needing, send a message to the bridge, and someone will see to it.”
    Mills thanked the steward, who left. Mills said, “Sometimes when we’re in Russia, we lose sight of what and who we’re fighting for. Then you come West on leave or business, and you run into a London cabbie or someone like that steward, and you remember the word ‘civility,’ and you realize you never once experienced it in the workers’ paradise.”
    They all sat at the chart table, and O’Shea observed, “Real orange juice.”
    They ate in silence awhile, then Brennan said, apropos of nothing, “I like London. I like the way the women talk.”
    O’Shea smiled and said, “I didn’t think helicopters could be so much fun to fly. I might try rotary-wing school one of these days.”
    Hollis observed, “School would be a good idea.”
    Mills chewed thoughtfully on a buttered biscuit, then said, “I’m anxious to debrief Burov and Dodson. That will be one hell of an interesting assignment. I wonder how they’ll relate to one another in a different environment.”
    Lisa looked around the table. “Don’t anyone laugh, but I’m going back to Russia someday. I swear I will.”
    No one laughed. Hollis said, “Me too.”
    O’Shea stood and looked at Mills and Brennan. “Why don’t we go find that wardroom and catch some sleep?”
    Mills and Brennan stood. Mills said to Hollis, “I’ll look in on the infirmary, and I’ll keep in contact with the bridge regarding radio messages or unfriendly radar sightings. But somehow, I think we’ve made it. We beat them.”
    Hollis replied, “We were due.”
    Mills took his ski mask and moved to the door. He said to Hollis, “When you were passed out in the helicopter, I noticed that you snored. So why don’t you find other sleeping accommodations?” He left the chart room.
    Lisa and Hollis looked at each other across the table. Lisa said finally, “You look sad.”
    Hollis didn’t reply.
    Lisa said, “We’re all sad, Sam. We’re happy that we’ve saved our own necks, but sad about the others.”
    Hollis nodded. “This was the ultimate betrayal. The government betrayed those men once and now again. We’ve swept the last wreckage of that war under the rug for all time.”
    “Will you try to put it behind you now?”
    “I’ll try. Once you’ve come full circle, any further movement along that route is just going around in circles. I’ll try to move on now.”
    Lisa removed a satin box from her pocket and laid it on the chart table and opened it. She stared at its contents awhile, then lifted out a string of amber beads and held them draped over her fingers. “Seth gave me these while we were waiting for you outside Burov’s house. May I keep these?”
    “Of course.” He added, “Just don’t wear them.”
    She looked at him and couldn’t tell if he was serious. She dropped the beads back in the box and closed it.
    Hollis took some crumpled sheets of paper from his pocket and spread them on the chart table, holding