Top Gun (45 page)

“You’ve got to be making it sound worse than it was,” Gail insisted.

“Actually, I’m making myself sound better.” Andy smiled sadly.

“It was like the major was doing mind control on you or something.” Johnson shook his head. “It was like he knew what you
were thinking before you did—”

“Of course Major Greene knew what Andy was thinking!” Gail said impatiently.

Both men looked at her blankly. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Andy asked.

Gail rolled her eyes. “Smarten up, you two! I’ve seen it so many times, I’m sick of it! You guys always show up at Red Sky
thinking you’re something special, and then you’re dumbfounded when the instructors and Attackers are able to wax you. When
will you guys get it through your thick heads that you’re here to
learn,
not to show off! The staff here flies ACM day in and day out. There’s no way any regular-duty Air Force squadron is going
to be able to compete with them off the bat. The thing to concentrate on—assuming you lug-heads
can
concentrate on anything besides your own egos—is how much better the squadron will be doing toward the end of the training
program.”

Johnson was nodding. “That’s what Captain Bartlett told us today.”

“Well, he’s right!” Gail said adamantly.

“You think so?” Andy asked softly. He was looking into her eyes like Johnson wasn’t there. He took her hand.

Gail felt a pleasant shock at his touch. She resisted her impulse to pull away. Poor Andy had already taken enough hits to
his self-confidence on her behalf.

And anyway, it wasn’t as if she didn’t like him touching her. She liked it fine. They’d been holding hands and necking a little
since last weekend, with Andy was proving to be extremely adept at getting her over Robbie. So much so that now Gail was worried
about how she was going to get over Andy once he was gone, if she allowed herself to fall for him.

Now, studying Andy, the way he was looking at her with his dark eyes so intent, she felt her heart surrendering despite the
consequences.
He really cares what I think,
she realized.
What I have to say matters to him.

In all the time she’d been with Robbie, she couldn’t recall one time he’d actually listened to her. It was weird. The two
men—Robbie and Andy—often struck her as being two peas in a pod, but at other times the difference between them was like night
and day.

“Listen up, Leutenant Harrison,” she began. “Haven’t you learned quite a lot today?”

“Yeah, I did.” Andy nodded.

“Okay. Then you must realize that the tricks Major Greene pulled on you today he’ll never be able to pull on you again, and
he doesn’t have an unlimited bag of tricks.”

Take it from me. I ought to know,
she added to herself as she watched Andy expectantly to see if she was getting through to him.

He squeezed her hand. “I am going to beat him, Gail,” he vowed softly. “You’ll see I will—”

“That’s fine,” she murmured, feeling moved. “I think you can beat him.” She swallowed hard. Her heart was pounding. “In a
way, you already have.”

She wasn’t sure what she would have said next, if they hadn’t been so rudely interrupted.

“Well, well, isn’t this a scene right out of Norman Rockwell,” Major Robbie Greene sneered, standing with his hands on his
hips, looking down at the table.

“What do you want?” Andy demanded.

“It’s a hot night.”

What a bastard he can be!
Gail thought as she watched Robbie shrug, feigning innocence. As if he didn’t know they’d taken to hanging out here!

“I just came in for an ice-cream cone,” Robbie continued. “I didn’t expect to find you children. I would have thought it was
past your bedtime.”

He stared accusingly at Gail, or maybe she was just reading too much into his expression, but in any event, she had trouble
meeting his gaze. Here Robbie was, the same guy as always with his good looks and dreamy eyes, but tonight, looking at him
standing there in his flight suit with that red ascot wrapped around his throat and that ugly expression on his face, Gail
felt like she was gazing at a stranger.

She noticed Andy looking at her, then Robbie, and back again, trying to figure out what was passing between them. Then Andy
curtly addressed Robbie: “Haven’t you caused enough trouble? Why don’t you just get the hell out of here?”

“Easy, pal,” Johnson cautioned. “You’re talking to a superior officer.”

Robbie said, “I see the little man is having an ice-cream soda to console himself over his whipping. Are you sitting on a
pillow, little man?” He winked at Gail.

Andy warned quietly, “You’re not in an airplane now. Beat it, before I knock you flat on your ass.”

“Jesus, Andy!” Johnson gasped.

You can say that again,
Gail thought. A lowly lieutenant just didn’t speak to a major that way. She watched anxiously for Robbie’s reaction.

Robbie’s eyes met hers. “And you!” he snapped. “Tell me, what’s it like being with brand X after you’ve had the real thing?”

Andy jumped up to shove Robbie away from the table. Gail sat frozen, her hand to her mouth: Robbie looked ready to belt Andy.
But then Robbie looked around, noticing how the people at the surrounding tables were watching.

“This is not the place,” Robbie quietly told Andy. “Would you care to step outside, little man?”

“After you, Major.” Andy nodded grimly.

“Stop it! Both of you!” Gail commanded. “I won’t have this.” She realized that she would have to tell him about her previous
relationship with Robbie. It would be humiliating for her, but at least it might defuse the tension. “Andy, there’s something
you need to know—”

“Stay out of this Gail,” Andy cut her off.

Robbie’s eyes had widened as he stared at Gail. “You mean he doesn’t?”

She shook her head, realizing that Andy was so angry that he’d been totally oblivious to the admittedly cryptic exchange just
now between herself and Robbie.

“Well, are you coming, or have you chickened out. Major?” Andy demanded.

Gail felt a momentary surge of hope as Robbie shook his head. Robbie seemed to have cooled down now that he realized that
Andy was in the dark concerning the history between himself and Gail.

“I’m not going to fight you. Lieutenant,” Robbie said, turning away. “You wouldn’t stand a chance. I’m a black belt in karate.”

Thank you, God,
Gail was thinking, but then Andy had to go and say to Robbie, “What you are is a black belt in being an
asshole.”

Robbie whirled, hissing. “You just never know when to quit! Outside then! This won’t take long!”

“Will you two please stop behaving like spoiled children!” Gail began.

“Stan!” Andy interrupted. “Stay here with Gail. See that she doesn’t follow us.”

“You can’t keep me here against my will!” Gail said indignantly.

“Lieutenant,” Robbie addressed Johnson. “You will keep the sergeant here. That is an order.”

“Yes, sir, Major,” Johnson said reflexively. He turned beseeching eyes toward Gail. “I’m sorry. Please, just sit.”

“After you. Major,” Andy said evenly.

Gail watched helplessly as the two men threaded their way past the tables out of the ice-cream parlor.

(Four)

Greene lead Andrew out the ice-cream parlor’s front door. They stalked silently to the alley behind the building, where the
streetlights barely penetrated the shadows cast by the dumpsters and garbage cans arrayed against the building’s wall.

“I believe this is private enough for what we have in mind,” Greene said calmly.

“Fight’s on!” Andrew growled, hunching his shoulders and clenching his fists.

Greene brought up his own hands to defend himself as the two of them began circling. Greene was sorry things had come to this,
and sorry in the first place that he’d come to the ice-cream parlor where he’d known he could find Andrew and Gail. Greene
had come wanting to rub Gail’s nose in the fact that she’d chosen the lesser of the two men, but it had taken the wind right
out of his sails when he’d realized that Andrew knew nothing of Greene’s past relationship with Gail, and that Gail obviously
didn’t know that he and Andrew were related.

Thinking about it now, it all made sense, Greene decided. Gail was not the kind of girl to talk freely about her past, and
why would Andrew have brought the matter up? Early on in their shared history, the two half brothers had agreed on one thing:
to deny their filial existence to each other and to as much of the outside world as was possible. Greene never talked about
Andrew in terms of the kid being family, and suspected it was vice versa on Andrew’s part.

And now here the two of them were, shuffling around, eyeing each other like nervous bantam roosters newly deposited into the
cockfighting ring.
Neither one of us really wants to fight,
Greene realized.

Greene was about to suggest they knock it off when Andrew made his move. Greene had been expecting the kid to clumsily swing
at his jaw, or else try to punch him in the stomach: that’s what your average person did in a fistfight. What Greene was not
expecting was Andrew’s surprisingly adept roundhouse kick. Andrew’s torso bent sideways and his leg came around straight and
true to catch Greene square in the chest. Greene staggered back but managed to remain on his feet.

“Say, kid, you’ve had some martial-arts training, haven’t you?” Greene remarked, brushing the dirt from Andrew’s shoe from
his red ascot.

“Some,” Andrew nodded. He was back in his guarded, semicrouch position. “What do you say? Want to quit before you get hurt?”

Greene laughed. He moved toward Andrew with his own hands slightly lowered in order to lure in the younger man. Andrew took
the bait, dancing in to throw a punch at Greene. Greene easily deflected the punch with a sweeping, outside-middle-area block,
and then countered with a punch that caught Andrew’s shoulder, followed by a side foot thrust to the side of Andrew’s knee.

Andrew’s leg folded and he fell hard against the garbage cans, sending them clattering as he sprawled to the pavement in a
pool of sticky, empty, cardboard ice-cream tubs and banana peels.

“That’s always been your problem, Andrew,” Greene taunted. “You start out okay, but then you get cocky.…” He trailed off abruptly,
feeling shaken, remembering how others had used to criticize
him
the very same way.

Andew was up on his feet, wiping as best he could the sticky, melted ice-cream residue from his uniform. He was shaking his
head, looking groggy, but he gamely advanced on Greene while executing a flurry of front snap kicks and karate punches.

Greene backpedaled, bouncing lightly on the soles of his feet with his hands on his hips, merely swaying his body from side
to side in order to avoid being struck. Andrew was totally overmatched, Greene realized as he dispassionately observed Andrew’s
karate form: the kid’s technique was perfectly good. It was just that Greene had enjoyed the benefit of many more years of
training and sparring experience. Andrew could no more touch Greene on the ground than the kid had been able to touch him
in the air.

Andrew was slowing down a bit. He was breathing heavily, his kicks were losing their snap, and his punches were growing limp.

It was no fucking wonder,
Greene thought.
The kid had been windmilling around like the guys in those kung-fu flicks when they speeded up the cameras.

Greene saw an opening and executed a lunge, driving the point of his elbow into Andrew’s solar plexus that left the kid gasping.
Greene snapped out a karate thust to Andrew’s stomach, doubling the kid over, and then moved in, feinting a left toward Andrew’s
chin. When Andrew brought up his hands to block the phony punch, Greene danced around him, turning sideways and stepping in
close in order to drive his elbow into Andrew’s kidney. As Andrew grunted, arching his back, Greene spun around to slash his
open hand against the side of Andrew’s neck.

Andrew’s eyes rolled up and he crumpled, semiconscious. Greene moved quickly to catch him so that he didn’t strike his head
against the pavement.

“You’ll be okay in a few minutes.” Green laid him down on his side in a relatively clean spot in the alleyway and then straightened
up, backing away. “Fight’s over.”

“No,” Andrew called weakly, forcing himself up on his elbows.

“Stay down!” Greene said sharply.

“I won’t lose to you,” Andrew managed, his speech slurred and his eyes still rolling. “I won’t lose! Not twice in one day!”

Greene stood transfixed, staring down at his defiant half brother. The sense of personal déjà vu, of looking in a mirror,
was awesome and overwhelming.

“Stay down,” Brody said.

“I don’t lose,” Greene replied…

This had all happened before,
Green realized, thinking back some three years to the
Mayaguez
incident, when the
Sea Bear’s
air boss had wiped the mats with him in the aircraft carrier’s gym.

Now, as Greene stared at Andrew, who was struggling to continue the fight, he remembered how he himself had been pitted against
a seemingly insurmountable foe. But there the similarities ended, Greene brooded, for Brody had shown mercy toward him, while
he’d been acting hard as nails toward Andrew. Greene recalled the valuable lesson that Brody had taught him: Life is not about
learning, but remembering. Well, wasn’t remembering what he was doing now?

“Andy,” Greene murmured.

“What?” He sounded amazed. “You know, Robbie? I don’t think you’ve
ever
called me anything but dirty names and Andrew.”

“Andy, I…” Greene was having trouble finding the right words, and then, before he could summon up what he wanted to say, he
heard noise coming from behind. He turned to see Gail Saunders come running into the alley.

“What have you done to him, you bullying bastard!” Gail cursed at Greene as she ran to where Andrew was lying.

“I’m okay,” Andrew muttered, sitting up.

“You sure?” Gail’s tanned legs flashed beneath her white dress as she knelt to put her arm around him.