The sum of all fears - Tom Clancy [289]
"Yes, sir," his yeoman responded.
Mancuso closed his eyes and dozed for the rest of the ride. Nothing like a catnap to clear the mind. It had always worked on USS Dallas.
Hospital food, Cathy thought. Even at Hopkins, it was still hospital food. There had to be a special school somewhere for hospital chefs. The curriculum would be devoted to eliminating whatever fresh ideas they had, along with any skills they might have with spices, knowledge of recipes About the only thing they couldn't ruin was the Jell-O.
"Bernie, I need some advice."
"What's the problem, Cath?" He knew already what it had to be, just from the look on her face and the tone of her voice. He waited as sympathetically as he could. Cathy was a proud woman, as she had every right to be. This had to be dreadfully hard on her.
"It's Jack." The words came out rapidly, as though by a spasm, then stopped again.
The pain Katz saw in her eyes was more than he could bear. "You think he's "
"What? No - I mean - how, why did you ?"
"Cathy, I'm not supposed to do this, but you're too important a friend for that. Screw the rules! Look, I had a guy in here last week, asking about you and Jack."
The hurt only got worse. "What do you mean? Who was here? Where from?"
"Government guy, some kind of investigator. Cathy, I'm sorry, but he asked me if there - if you had said anything about trouble at home. This guy was checking up on Jack, and he wanted to know if I knew anything that you were saying."
"What did you say?"
"I told him I didn't know anything. I told him that you're one of the best people I know. You are, Cathy. You're not alone. You have friends, and if there is anything I can do - that any of us can do - to help you, we will help you. Cathy, you're like family. You're probably feeling very hurt, and you're probably feeling very embarrassed. That is stupid, Cathy, that is very stupid. You know it's stupid, don't you?" Those pretty blue eyes were covered in tears, Katz saw, and in this moment he craved the chance to kill Jack Ryan, maybe do it on a table with a very sharp, very small surgical knife. "Cathy, being alone doesn't help. This is what friends are really for. You are not alone."
"I just can't believe it, Bernie. I just can't."
"Come on, let's talk in my office, where it's private. Food's crummy today anyway." Katz got her out of there, and he was sure that no one noticed. Two minutes later they were in his private office. He moved a stack of case files from the only other chair and sat her in it.
"He's just been acting different lately."
"Do you really think it's possible that Jack is fooling around?" It took half a minute. Katz watched her eyes go up and down, finally staying down as she faced reality.
"It's possible. Yes."
Bastard! "Have you talked to him about it?" Katz kept his voice low and reasonable, but not dispassionate. She needed a friend now, and friends had to share pain to be useful.
A shake of the head. "No, I don't know how."
"You know that you have to do that."
"Yeah." Not so much a word as a gasp.
"It's not going to be easy. Remember," Katz said with gentle hope in his voice, "it could all be a mistake. Just some crazy misunderstanding." Which Bernie Katz didn't believe for a moment.
She looked up, and her eyes were streaming now. "Bernie, is there something wrong with me?"
"No!" Katz managed not to shout. "Cathy, if there's a better person in this hospital than you, goddamn if I've ever met them! There is nothing wrong with you! You hear me? Whatever the hell this is, it is not your fault!"
"Bernie, I want another baby, I don't want to lose Jack-"
"Then if you really think that you have to win him back."
"I can't! He isn't, he doesn't -" She broke down completely.
Katz learned then and there that anger has few limits. Having to keep it in, being denied a target, didn't help, but Cathy needed a friend more than she needed anything else.
"Dutch, this whole conversation is off the record."