Daniel Wyatt - The Mary Jane Mission

“I looked through the log before I threw it away and copied down the position. Approximately 200 miles off the Japan coast.”

“Yes, but was it dropped in 1945 or 1990?”

“What does that matter?”

“If it was dropped forty-five years ago, then it’s certain to be a health hazard today because the salt water will have corroded the casing.”

“There’s nothing we can do about that, general.”

“Hey, I just thought of something,” Robert said. “One of the crew members is missing?”

“Who, Bob?”

“Ainsworth, the explosives expert who armed the bomb.”

“Yeah, Four Eyes,” Cameron said.

“He’s dead,” MacDonald replied, bluntly. “Shot.”

“What!”

“He was a Russian spy, general,” MacDonald explained. “According to the crew, he tried to skyjack the Mary Jane over Japan by ordering Clayton to fly to Vladivostok. But he didn’t get too far. They overpowered him, turned his own gun on him and shot him after he fired a few shots through the fuselage. Then they dumped him out with the unarmed bomb over the ocean.”

“He probably made a good meal for the sharks,” Cameron chuckled.

“There’s something else I better fill you in on, you two. I received a cable just twenty minutes ago from Commodore Prentice in Yokosuka. Colonel Mason died of heart failure. Your son, Mr. Shilling, was lucky to find Mason when he did.”

“You’re right.”

Cameron’s thoughts quickly returned to 1945 and the Mary Jane in the jungle. The pieces were falling into place. The blood stains and glasses he found were Ainsworth’s. He was shot and dragged to the bomb bay. And the rags stuffed into the fuselage metal were not due to an enemy attack. They were from Ainsworth’s gun, fired wildly during a struggle. It all made sense now. Except for…

“I have a few questions, captain.”

“Go ahead, general.”

“When I found the Mary Jane , she was resting in jungle just inside the Agana base compound. Where was she when she disappeared in 1990?”

“The far end of one of the runways.”

“But—”

“Let me finish. I did some checking. The naval base had one of the runways, the same one Mary Jane landed on in 1990, extended some fifteen years ago. You get one guess what the engineers were forced to clear to extend it.”

Cameron smirked. “Jungle, I bet.”

“Right on, general. That’s why she was found undamaged in the jungle in 1945.”

“I see. I have another question.”

“Shoot.”

“The tail gunner—”

“Schwartz?”

“Yes, Gabe Schwartz. Did you grab the film from him?”

“You don’t miss a trick, do you? The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.” MacDonald looked through the glass to the hall and waved a young man to enter. “Here comes our man from the lab right now.”

An NCO opened the door and placed a large manila envelope in MacDonald’s hand. “Here they are, sir. Where on earth did you find 620 film? That stuff’s as old as the hills. Kodak hasn’t made it for years. I played around with the developing times a bit. Luckily, it was black and white, where there was lots of room for error. The shots are a bit on the blurry side, but not that bad, I guess.”

“Thanks.”

The NCO left and MacDonald shut the door. He, Robert and Cameron sat at the table inside. MacDonald pulled out three 8 x 10 black-and-white nose shots of an F-18 Hornet in flight, taken through what appeared to be Plexiglas.

“That’s my son’s fighter!” Robert exclaimed, catching the callsign HULK on the fuselage.

“In 1945, I found an opened box camera near the Mary Jane ’s tail gun seat,” Cameron recalled. “Just think, if Gabe hadn’t removed the film when he and the others left the Mary Jane , I would have had those same shots in my possession the last forty-five years. Amazing!”

“Now that it’s all over, for good, let’s have a cold beer to celebrate,” MacDonald said.

“There’s one other thing,” Cameron went on.

“What now?”

“The cultural shock on these guys if and when they reach the States will be tremendous. How about Crosby, for example, the radar operator? In 1945, he was married. The last time I heard his wife was alive. My wife and I exchanged Christmas cards with her. She and Mark were childhood sweethearts from a small town outside Omaha. She still lives there with her second husband. They had four kids. If Mark should meet up with her, it would be catastrophic for the both of them. The other crewmembers have brothers and sisters. What if—”

“We’ve thought of that already,” MacDonald assured the general. “I’m sure the crew will not want to jeopardize their unique situation. If we send them back to the States under assumed names they will face orders to stay away from family and friends. They will just have to cope. But they do have age on their side. They can start all over again. Make new friends, get married, start a family.”

Cameron laughed lightly. “I forgot about their ages. Do you really think it’ll work?”

“What else can we do? We can’t send them back to 1945.”

“No, I guess not. Although you did try at gunpoint.”

In a separate room, Les and Robert stood facing each other.

“I’m really proud of you, son.”

Les was surprised. “You are?”

“Of course I am. When I saw your fighter up close on the carrier deck, I suddenly realized that was your fighter. Commodore Prentice thinks very highly of you. He told me that it took guts to turn away from the Mary Jane , knowing it would drop a nuclear bomb on David and Kyoto.”

Les forced a grin. “I had my orders.”

“I feel badly for how I treated you. My silent treatments. I’ve had to live with the Mary Jane and her disappearance since the war. As crew chief, I felt responsible. I thought for sure they had been shot down. They were my friends. I hated the war. I hated the Japs. I still do. They started the war. Because of them, many of my friends never came back. I just wanted to do my job and go home. It was a difficult time. After all these years, we know what happened to the Mary Jane . Finally!”

“Dad, are you proud of David, too?”

Robert took several seconds to answer. “That’s something I’m going to have to work on.”

“Let’s face it, dad. David lives in Japan and may even marry a Japanese girl. I hope you’ll accept her into the family as graciously as you did Gail.” Les put his hand on his father’s shoulder. “When you see David and his girlfriend, just turn on the old Robert Shilling charm. Gail thinks you’re the best and can do no wrong.”

Back in the other room, MacDonald had brought in cold beer for everyone.

Nevin Brown finished his first. “Quite the cans. Kinda flimsy. Light beer, huh? By the way, colonel, I picked up a Jap radio station. It was playing the strangest song I ever heard. A band called Haley’s Comet or something like that.

“You mean Bill Haley and the Comets,” Les said.

“Yeah, that’s them. Rock Around the Clock . A bouncy arrangement. Is that the kinda music they play now?”

Les grinned. “Not really. That song is a golden oldie, as we call them. It’s over thirty years old.”

“So what do people my age listen to in 1990?”

“Well…” Les wondered how he’d answer that. Where would he begin? Michael Jackson. Madonna. Phil Collins. MC Hammer. The Rolling Stones. “You’ll have some catching up to do in that department. Maybe you should start with Elvis Presley… then take it from there.”

Les, Cameron, Tiger, MacDonald, and Robert all laughed.