“Thank you, Admiral.” Now was the time to mention taking a leave. “Sir …”

Admiral Whittaker said, “Something has come up, Robert.” The Admiral began to pace. When he spoke, there was a note of deep concern in his voice. “I’ve just been informed that the CIA has been infiltrated. It seems that there has been a steady leak of Top Secret information. All they know about the spy is that his code name is ‘the Fox’. He’s in Argentina right now. They need someone outside the Agency to handle the operation. The Deputy Director of the CIA has asked for you. They would like you to track the man down and bring him back. I told them the decision is up to you. Do you want to undertake it?”

Robert hesitated. “I’m afraid I’ll have to pass on it, sir.”

“I respect your decision, Robert. You’ve been travelling constantly and have never turned down an assignment. I know it hasn’t been easy on your marriage.”

“I’d like to take on this job, sir. It’s just that …”

“You don’t have to say it, Robert. My opinion of your work and dedication will always remain the same. I just have one favour to ask of you.”

“What’s that, Admiral?”

“The Deputy Director of the CIA asked to meet with you, regardless of your decision. As a courtesy. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course not, sir.”

Early the next morning Robert drove to Langley for his meeting.

“Sit down, Commander,” the Deputy Director said after Robert entered the large corner office. “I’ve heard a lot about you. All good things, of course.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The Deputy Director was a man in his early sixties, reed thin with fine white hair and a small brush moustache that moved up and down as he drew on his pipe. A Yale graduate, he had joined the OSS during World War II and then moved into the CIA when it was formed after the conflict. He rose steadily up the ranks of the most powerful intelligence agency in the world.

“I want you to know, Commander, that I respect your decision.”

“I appreciate that.”

“There is one fact, however, that I feel I should bring to your attention.”

“What’s that, sir?”

“The President is personally involved in the operation to unmask the Fox.”

“I didn’t know that, sir.”

“He regards it – as I do, too – as one of the most important assignments this agency has had since its inception. I know of your situation at home, and I’m sure the President is sympathetic, too. He’s a real family man. But your not taking on this assignment might throw – how should I say it – a cloud on ONI and Admiral Whittaker.”

“The Admiral had nothing to do with my decision, sir,” Robert said.

“I understand that, Commander, but will the President understand that?”

The honeymoon will have to be postponed, Robert thought.

When Robert broke the news to Susan, he said gently, “This is my last overseas assignment. After this I’ll be home so much you’ll get sick of me.”

She smiled up at him. “There isn’t that much time in the world. We’re going to be together forever.”

The chase after the Fox was the most frustrating thing Robert had ever experienced. He picked up his trail in Argentina, but missed his quarry by one day. The trail led to Tokyo and China and then Malaysia. Whoever the Fox was, he left just enough of a trail to lead to where he had been, but never to where he was.

The days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months, and always Robert was just behind the Fox. He called Susan almost every day. In the beginning, it was, “I’ll be home in a few days, darling.” And then, “I might be home next week.” And then, finally, “I’m not sure when I’ll be back.” In the end, Robert had to give up. He had been on the Fox’s trail for two and a half months, with no success.

When he returned to Susan, she seemed changed. A little cooler.

“I’m sorry, darling,” Robert apologized. “I had no idea it would take so long. It was just …”

“They’ll never let you go, will they, Robert?”

“What? Of course they will.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’ve taken a job at Washington Memorial Hospital.”

He was taken aback. “You’ve what?”

“I’m going to be a nurse again. I can’t sit around waiting for you to come home to me, wondering where you are, and what you’re doing, wondering whether you’re dead or alive.”

“Susan, I …”

“It’s all right, my sweetheart. At least I’ll be doing something useful while you’re gone. It will make the waiting easier.”

And Robert had no answer to that.

He reported his failure to Admiral Whittaker. The Admiral was sympathetic.

“It’s my fault for agreeing to let you do it. From now on, we’ll let the CIA handle their own damned problems. I’m sorry, Robert.”

Robert told him about Susan taking a job as a nurse.

“That’s probably a good idea,” the Admiral said thoughtfully. “It will take the pressure off your marriage. If you took on some overseas caseloads now and then, I’m sure it won’t matter as much.”

“Now and then” turned out to be almost constantly. That was when the marriage really began to disintegrate.

Susan worked at Washington Memorial Hospital as an operating-room nurse and whenever Robert was home she tried to take time off to be with him, but she was caught up more and more in her work.

“I’m really enjoying it, darling. I feel I’m doing something useful.”

She would talk to Robert about her patients, and he remembered how caring she had been with him, how she had nurtured him back to health, back to life. He was pleased that she was doing important work that she loved, but the fact was, they were seeing less and less of each other. The emotional distance between them was widening. There was an awkwardness now that had not existed before. They were like two strangers trying desperately hard to make conversation.

When Robert returned to Washington from a six-week assignment in Turkey, he took Susan out to dinner at Sans Souci.

Susan said, “We have a new patient at the hospital. He was in a bad plane crash, and the doctors didn’t think he was going to live, but I’m going to see to it that he does.” Her eyes were glowing.

She was like that with me, Robert thought. And he wondered if she had leaned over the new patient and said, “Get well. I’m waiting for you.” He rejected the thought.

“He’s so nice, Robert. All the nurses are crazy about him.”

All the nurses? he wondered.

There was a small, nagging doubt at the back of his mind, but he managed to get rid of it.

They ordered dinner.

The following Saturday, Robert left for Portugal, and when he returned three weeks later, Susan greeted him excitedly.

“Monte walked today for the first time!” Her kiss was perfunctory.

“Monte?”

“Monte Banks. That’s his name. He’s going to be fine. The doctors couldn’t believe it, but we wouldn’t give up.”

We. “Tell me about him.”

“He’s really darling. He’s always giving us gifts. He’s very wealthy. He flies his own plane and he was in a bad crash, and …”

“What kind of gifts?”

“Oh, you know, just little things … candies and flowers and books and records. He tried to give all of us expensive watches but, of course, we had to refuse.”

“Of course.”

“He has a yacht, polo ponies …”

That was the day Robert began calling him “Moneybags”.

Susan talked about him every time she came home from the hospital.

“He’s really dear, Robert.”

Dear was dangerous.

“And he’s so thoughtful. Do you know what he did today? He had lunch sent from the Jockey Club for all the nurses on the floor.”

The man was sickening. Ridiculously, Robert found himself getting angry. “Is this wonderful patient of yours married?”

“No, darling. Why?”

“I just wondered.”

She laughed. “For heaven’s sake, you’re not jealous, are you?”

“Of some old man who’s just learning to walk? Of course not.” Like hell I’m not. But he wouldn’t give Susan the satisfaction of saying so.