“I was thinking the same thing,” Jerry replied. “I mean, looking is great, but this.… It’s like construction workers when a pretty girl walks by.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized a fair number of these guys might have worked construction at one time or another.

Porter eyed him. “You’ve got a fiancée back in California, don’t you?”

“That’s right.” Jerry tried not to crack up at the don’t you? Jack Porter probably knew Anna’s home and work phone numbers, what size jeans she wore, and how much she’d spent on groceries at the local Alpha Beta last week. Or if he didn’t know offhand, he could dig out a file card back in his cabin and find out.

But all the security director said was, “You must miss her.”

“Oh, maybe a little.”

One of Porter’s eyebrows jumped. Then it lay down again as he recognized irony. “Hard to be a young man away from your special girl.”

“Yeah.” Jerry nodded. “But I knew I wouldn’t get another chance like this, and that was before I found out about.…” Midlothian was itself a code word, but he didn’t say it. Too many people who might overhear weren’t cleared for it. It wouldn’t mean anything to them, not yet, but they might wonder about it.

Jack set a hand on his arm for a moment. “You’re learning the ropes, aren’t you?”

“I guess maybe I am. It’s kind of sink or swim—or maybe more like baptism by total immersion.”

“Heh!” Porter said, more appreciatively than not. “Total immersion isn’t required—or my church doesn’t think it is, anyhow. I’m Catholic.”

“Sure isn’t required for a nice Jewish boy,” Jerry said: one more thing Jack was bound to know already. He went on, “But ever since John P. knocked on my door, that’s what this has felt like. I just hope I get to come up for air one of these days.”

“Believe me, we all feel that way,” Jack said. “And John can be mighty persuasive, can’t he?”

“There’s one word. Overwhelming is another one.” Jerry could think of some more words, too. Most of them would have made the smut the crewmen were yelling at the Russian women sound like love poetry by comparison.

“It will work out all right.” Jack sounded as sure of himself as the Jesus freaks who annoyed people at UCLA by going around and asking if they were saved.

“I sure hope so,” Jerry said. “But even if it does, I’ll never be able to tell anybody I had anything to do with it, will I?”

“Doesn’t look that way right now. But never is a long time, so who knows for sure?”