This was, indeed, a slightly disturbing aspect of his new posting, Lew thought. Oahu was far more than just a naval base, of course. It was the headquarters of the United States armed forces in the Pacific, and there were considerable army and army air force detachments there; the entire island was like an armed camp. But the most relaxed and unwarlike of armed camps that could be imagined. Security appeared to be non-existent. Anyone seemed able to walk up to any of the gates and merely say he had a message for ‘Joe’ to be waved through by the military police. That a large number of these itinerants appeared to be of Japanese origin apparently bothered no one; a large part of the population of Hawaii was of Japanese descent.
Discipline was hardly better than security. There were drills and parades and occasional manoeuvres, but the enlisted men really existed from one furlough to the next, while their officers were far more concerned with whether the bid should have been four or five no trump at the previous night’s bridge party than their duties. The Navy was fortunate in that they were able to get to sea, but not with all that regularity, and only for brief periods, and even the cruises were not taken all that seriously.
The overrelaxed atmosphere did have one supreme blessing for Lew, however: it suited May. When she first got to Oahu she was her old suspicious and stand-offish self, refusing to socialise, and devoting herself entirely to her new house and garden, and, as always, to the children. When he insisted they have a party she resisted for some time, but finally surrendered — and then appeared to enjoy herself thoroughly. Soon, in fact, she had involved them in more of a social whirl than he had anticipated. But it was a treat to see her at last becoming a part of the Navy scene, and a relief to know that during his absences at sea she was continuing to enjoy herself. While, as he had expected, Joan and Wally found the island sheer bliss, as did Clive, when he returned home the following long vacation, very grown up and speaking with an English accent.
*
The depression deepened, and with it a growing sense of frustrated alarm. There was now a full scale, if undeclared, war going on in China, where the Japanese seemed determined to conquer all of Manchuria. Letters from Hashimoto, which arrived fairly regularly, bewailed the fact that the army was now all powerful in Japan, and the once dominating navy was sinking further and further into the background — but Hash seemed more concerned by this reversal of political fortune than by the fact that his country was indulging in international brigandage on a grand scale.
The news coming out of Europe was almost as worrying, for Fascist organisations in imitation of the Italian original appeared to be springing up in almost every country, matched by equally vehement Communist groups — but in Hawaii Europe seemed a long way away, while Japanese militarism was close at hand.
In the autumn of 1932, soon after Clive had returned to school, and with all of America gripped by election fever, there were quite considerable naval manoeuvres in the north Pacific, in which the fleet undertook to intercept an unnamed enemy task force set on invading and capturing the Aleutians. The destroyer flotilla was assigned the task of acting the part of the invading fleet, and therefore put to sea two weeks before the battleships, to lose themselves in the vastness of the ocean and then see if they could sneak past the screen to be thrown up in their way. This meant an absence from Pearl Harbour of at least a month, which was far longer than usual. Lew had anticipated some problems with May over this. He had earlier anticipated problems when Clive had departed, but to his surprise, and his relief, she had not even suggested accompanying him, and now she did not seem the least disturbed at the prospect of a lengthy separation. She truly had settled in, he reflected as, accompanied by Lieutenant Cantrell from the staff as an umpire, he conned Hestor past Fort Kamehameha and into the open sea.
Captain Burns’s concept was that if only one ship could get through and moor up in Attu he would have gained the day, and he thus split his command into individual units, ordered the strictest of radio silences, and told them to get on with it. The skies were grey as Hestor plunged through a rising swell towards the north east, and for three days they saw nothing, and heard nothing either. Then the skies cleared, the sun came out, and they found themselves surrounded by smoke, which rapidly materialised into a light cruiser squadron guarding the battleship Arizona.
‘Of all the Goddamned luck,’ Pimm growled.
Lights were flashing morse code, summoning the destroyer to surrender. Lew looked at Lieutenant Cantrell. ‘We can outsteam those guys,’ he said.
‘Maybe,’ Cantrell said. ‘But you’re too close. They’d blow you out of the water before you could escape. I’m sorry, Commander, but you’ve had it.’
Lew sighed, and commanded the ensign to be lowered. His barge was put down and he went across to the battleship, where he formally surrendered, was interrogated, quite honestly confessed that he had no idea at all of the whereabouts of the rest of the flotilla, and managed to convey the impression that he had been a decoy whose duty had been to sail into the middle of the defending fleet and distract them. He was thus sent packing with orders to return to Pearl, and under no circumstances use his radio, which might alert the rest of Burns’ command as to what had happened.
‘At least we spread some alarm and despondency,’ Lew told his officers.
‘And we’ll be snug in port while they get tossed around,’ Cantrell said happily.
‘Yeah,’ Pimm said. ‘That’s just great.’
Lew reflected that certainly his early, if inglorious, return would make May happy, and he was in a good humour as Hestor nosed her way into the huge harbour, to the obvious surprise of the onlookers. He reported to the admiral, who grinned at him. ‘Some guys have all the luck,’ he commented. ‘All right, McGann, you’d better stand your ship down and take it easy.’
‘Aye-aye,’ Lew agreed. Pimm was already doing that, and as he was a bachelor he raised no objection when Lew told him he was taking the night off. It was already after nine when he finally drove out to Honolulu and took the road up to the bungalow, but to his delight there was still a light on in the bedroom, where May was probably reading. She had also left her car in front of the house instead of in the garage, and he glided to a halt beside it.
There was no movement from inside the house, but as he could hear the whirr of the air-conditioner she obviously hadn’t heard him. Feeling pleasurably sexy — as he always did when returning to May’s arms — he tiptoed up the steps to the verandah, unlocked the door, and then crossed the darkened lounge to the corridor off which the bedrooms opened. He stood outside hers, unable to hear anything above the noise of the machine, then threw the door wide. ‘Guess who...’ his voice tailed away as he gazed at the bed, on which May was lying, between two men.
Chapter Eleven
Shanghai, 1935
For a moment Lew supposed he had to be dreaming. May lay on her side, naked, facing away from the door. One man lay against her back and was obviously inside her; the other was playing with her front, and even above the air-conditioner he could hear her moans of pleasure. And the men were both Hawaiian, short, black-haired, brown-skinned and almond-eyed. One he recognised as the gardener.
The man facing May looked past her at the open door and the huge figure standing there in the gloom, made a strangled sound, and slid off the bed to the floor. The second man and May turned together, both sitting up.
‘Oh, Christ,’ May remarked.
Lew crossed the room in two strides.
‘Lewis,’ she said. ‘Lewis!’ she screamed, as Lew picked up the man from the bed, and threw him at the window. He went through it, carrying glass and mosquito screen and air-conditioner with him, uttering a shriek of pain and terror.
‘Lewis!’ May screamed, standing on the bed and backing against the headboard.
Lew reached past the bed, and closed his hands on the other man, who was just regaining his feet, his trousers in his hand. He followed his partner through the window with a howl.
‘Lewis,’ May
wailed. ‘You could have killed them.’
Lew went to the window and looked out, saw the two figures staggering down the drive. ‘I didn’t,’ he told her, and turned.
May dropped to her knees on the mattress. ‘Lewis...’
He walked across the room and stood above her. He wasn’t at all sure of his emotions. He knew he wanted to hurt her, to make her scream in agony — but he also knew that if he once did that he wouldn’t be able to stop.
May moved backwards, on her knees, and like her lover, slipped off the bed. ‘You...I didn’t expect you back,’ she said, on her knees on the floor.
‘Is that a fact?’
‘Daddy? Mommy?’ Joan and Wally were in the doorway, peering at them.
‘Go back to bed,’ Lew told them.
‘But...’ they were staring at the shattered window.
‘It was a burglar,’ May told them. ‘But Daddy came home in time to chase him away.’
‘Hooray for Daddy,’ Wally declared.
‘But you’re at sea,’ Joan said.
‘I’m home now,’ Lew said. ‘I’ll explain it in the morning. Now go back to bed.’
They hesitated. Then Wally said, ‘It’s good to have you back, Pop,’ and led his sister from the room.
Lew closed the door, and May rose to her feet. They looked at each other, and she licked her lips. ‘Would you like to beat me?’ she asked. ‘I...I won’t scream. I told you you should beat me, if I ever stepped out of line. Maybe...maybe you should’ve done that years ago.’
He stared at her; his brain seemed to have gone blank. ‘Years ago?’
‘Oh...’ she realised she had made a mistake.
‘Years ago?’ he asked again, once more moving towards her.
‘I...’ another lick of the lips.
His knees touched the mattress. He reached across it, and grasped her shoulder, threw her on to the bed, on her face. She lay there, trembling, but not attempting to move. ‘New York?’ he asked.
‘I...’ her voice was muffled.
‘How many?’ His voice grated.
‘I get...you know how I get, Lewis. Never when you’re there. But...you were away so often. I never loved any of them, Lewis. I...I paid them. It was better than drinking, Lewis.’
He looked down at that white body. At thirty-four she was probably in her prime as a woman. And she was so desperate she had bought sex. But May Gerrard had always been in her prime as a woman; she had entered her prime at fifteen, when she had first got pregnant.
When she had first got pregnant. He dug his fingers into her shoulder and rolled her on to her back. She gazed at him with enormous eyes. Eyes which had never been shallow at all; that had been an optical illusion — his optical illusion.
‘Is Clive my son?’ he asked.
‘I...I think so,’ she muttered.
‘And Wally? Joan?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Wally...there had been no one...oh, God, Lewis, don’t just stand there. For Christ’s sake, do something.’
‘Yeah,’ Lew agreed. He took a suitcase from the bureau and began to pack his civilian clothes.
May sat up. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Something.’
‘Lewis...’ she slid out of bed.
‘If you touch me,’ he told her, ‘I will break your arm.’
She sat down again. ‘What about the children?’ she asked.
‘They’re your children.’
She opened her mouth, and shut it again. Then she said, ‘I won’t stay here, Lewis, without you.’
‘You won’t stay here, anyway,’ Lew told her. ‘So you’d better start packing too.’
*
‘Holy Jesus Christ,’ Admiral Slater remarked. Lew had seen no alternative but to tell him the truth.
‘Yes, sir,’ he agreed.
‘You’ll divorce the bitch of course.’
‘I’ll need to think about that, sir.’
‘Because you’re a Roman Catholic? Well, I sure don’t feel you need to. Anyway, you got your priorities right. Kick her out of Hawaii for a start.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘So this request for a re-posting can be scrapped.’
‘No, sir.’
‘Now, look here, McGann...’
‘I cannot remain in Hawaii, sir.’ Lew had never before interrupted an admiral.
The admiral gazed at him for several seconds. ‘Holy shit,’ he remarked at last. ‘You don’t think...’
‘I don’t know, sir,’ Lew said. ‘I can never know.’
‘Yeah. Hell, what a situation. Okay, McGann, I take your point, but...appointments are hard to come by, right this minute. There ain’t nobody can snap his fingers and find a vacancy just like that. Not for a lieutenant-commander.’
‘So give me a lieutenant’s posting,’ Lew said. ‘Just get me out of Hawaii. Because if you don’t, there could be murder done.’
‘Yeah,’ the admiral agreed. ‘Yeah. I can give you a temporary posting. How about that? George Hanson has just been taken ill. How does the idea of commanding a gunboat take you? A temporary posting.’
‘That depends where the gunboat is, sir.’
‘Shanghai. Your business would be protecting American lives and property on the Chinese waterways. And they sure need some protecting. Quite apart from the Japs, the whole Goddamned country is in a state of civil war.’
‘Shanghai will suit me fine, sir,’ Lew told him.
*
He left three days later, in Hestor. Up to that moment, at least, no one in Pearl, save for the admiral, had any idea what had happened. The major part of the fleet was in any event still at sea on the manoeuvres. Lew sailed with sealed orders, which he was to give to Harry Pimm when they reached their destination. But as it was obvious that they were going on a long cruise, the crew were not amused; they had already just spent a month at sea. Even the fleshpots of Honolulu became paradise after a while.
That Lew should have slept on board for the three days immediately before departure seemed natural; there was a good deal to be done. And that neither May nor the children came down to see him off was not so unnatural either.
He did not return to the bungalow in the interim; much as he wanted to hold Joan and Wally in his arms a last time, he did not dare risk it. Nor did he dare see May again. The admiral had promised to see to that end of things, and have May out of Hawaii just as soon as possible. With the children. So at the end, Lew thought, he had run out on them. But to see them again was impossible. Because he had loved them so. Now he did not even know if they were his. If Clive was not his, then he had been conned into the most terrible mistake a man could make. If Joan was not his, then he had been betrayed almost the moment he had slipped the ring on May’s finger — because almost in that moment, he had been forced to leave her alone for several weeks. And when May was left alone...
And Wally. She had said Wally was his. But he would never know if she was telling the truth. Wally had certainly been conceived during the Washington Conference, but during the Conference he had been out every day all day and sometimes far into the night, leaving her alone...
That he should have been so conscious-stricken over Brenda now seemed a joke. Oh, Brenda. He was almost tempted to write her and tell her what had happened. But he was in no mood to have anything to do with any woman, save to strangle her. In any event Brenda would certainly have remarried by now.
All he wanted to do was get as far away as possible from anyone who knew anything about him.
As if that could remotely be possible, for Lewis McGann.
*
Shanghai lies towards the mouth of a tributary of the great Yangste-Kiang, the Huangpu. The approach to the mouth of the huge river was an interesting exercise in navigation, as the destroyer threaded her way between sandbanks and small islands, before entering the muddy flow itself. Here the large, seagoing vessels were anchored, out of the stream, and here Lew said farewell to Pimm and his men, handing over the sealed orders. As inst
ructed on the envelope, Pimm opened them in front of his captain, and raised his head in surprise and alarm. ‘These say I’m to leave you here, and take the ship back to Pearl.’
‘That’s correct, Harry. Do it well, and you’ll get a thick stripe.’
‘But you...’
‘I want to see action,’ Lew told him. ‘And China is the only place where there is the slightest chance of that, right this minute.’
‘Oh, hell,’ Pimm commented, obviously wishing he was staying — and equally obviously upset that his skipper had not confided in him.
Lew shook hands with every man on board, then was taken ashore by launch to the little customs port of Wu-Sung, where there was a train to be caught for the International Concession. Shanghai itself, one of the largest cities in China, or indeed in the world, was situated some dozen miles up the Huangpu; downstream from it was the Concession, where the foreign legations were situated, and where most of the foreign merchants also had their residences, for the native city was a restless place, heavily infiltrated, it was said, with Communists, and given to sudden upheavals in which the innate Chinese xenophobia was liable to reveal itself. The Concession was therefore reminiscent of a heavily armed fortress, surrounded by barbed wire defences, and accessible only by closely guarded gates, through which any Chinese could only gain access with a pass. That any nation should permit a foreign enclave, with its own laws, within its territory was incomprehensible to Lew, but in fact before he even reached the foreign quarter he was coming to realise that there was much about China that was going to be incomprehensible to him.
He had assumed, from his knowledge of Japan, that he would find China only a larger version of the same. Now, as the train chugged slowly along beside the slow-moving brown water — water on which he was going to spend the next few years — he found himself looking not at mountains but at miles of paddy fields, and not at smartly dressed, clean and busy people, but lounging peasants, sheltering beneath broad-brimmed hats, and clearly enthusiastic about neither work nor cleanliness. Even a squad of soldiers he observed marching beside the track wore nondescript khaki uniforms and carried nondescript weapons — in a most nondescript manner.
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