Thurston Wentworth, Ambassador Isoka, and two officers pushed boldly into the house. Rollins and Spicer followed them, and several soldiers waited on the stairs. Thurston’s expression was devoid of its habitual joyous sneer. Now that the transfer had been debated in the family way (Todd’s audience with Thaddeus had fit this bill) and the time had come to rip from his brother’s arms his future wife, the counterlogic ate at Thurston. His sympathy for Todd, his pride in Todd, asserted themselves against his determination to carry out the deed. He wanted to ensure that no one other than he touched his brother’s mistress. He stood in the cramped room, with one of his giants on either side of him. Awkwardly, Thurston declared, "It’s time, Todd, Ms. Kout."
Todd, on the verge of climax, was still holding his crotch. He straightened up and tried to pretend nothing was wrong, though he had a terrible case of blue balls. He took Irma by the shoulders and said confidently, "The war will end soon."
"Of course."
They gazed at each other as though they were the only people in the room. The others, all for different reasons, remained respectfully quiet: Thurston out of fraternal good will; Spicer because his heart ached too much for him to speak; Isoka out of unction; and the soldiers because that is what Thurston did.
"I’ll come for you immediately. We’ll make a real life."
"It will be wonderful."
Thurston said aside to Irma’s uncle, "She will be well taken care of."
Irma turned from Todd, leaning back in the clasp of his arms; her eyes flashed. "Speak directly to me when you talk about me!" she yelled.
Though taken aback by her vehemence, Thurston replied frigidly, "You will live with your father.”
Irma hit her head against Todd’s chest. “It has to be downhill from here. Everything is so wrong.”
Isoka was surprised by how domestic this all seemed. Of course, the couple standing in a kitchen throughout accented the homeyness. He had come for a prisoner exchange and found himself in a bad quarrel in a good family. He saw that the moment would need a flexible person to balance out the utter opposition in which this family found itself. He said, "Your father’s life is good, and yours will be good. I am sorry these are evil times."
At the sound of the ambassador’s low and resonant voice, Thurston flushed. He whirled around to look at Isoka, his face red, his voice enraged. "It is you, sir, who are the evil, and would be in any time."
Isoka clasped his hands together, shrugged slightly, and looked at the others in the room as if expecting sympathetic nods for his restraint.
Thurston glared at Isoka. One of his giant guards bent down and whispered in his ear, "Sir, we are here, as you said, on a very delicate matter. Your hostility is counterproductive."
Thurston thought a moment, then nodded bitterly.
Isoka turned to Irma. "Are you ready, Ms. Kout?"
"Fuck you!" she said.
Spicer had no desire to see Irma anger the immensely powerful ambassador; he pushed forward, past Rollins and a giant. He took Irma's arm. She looked at him, her expression relaxed. He said tenderly, "Irma, you must ready yourself."
She had no breath at that moment, and she had cramps that were sharp and painful. This was different from when she was under arrest, much worse, for then she had lost only her freedom; now the young woman was bereft offreedom, love, city, and pride. She looked at Todd. He dropped his eyes. “Todd?” she said sharply.
Todd said to his brother, "Will you give us a moment alone?"
Spicer applied directly to Isoka. He wanted to show respect for the ambassador’s office and, as Kout’s brother in-law, he could lead the ambassador to think that the family sympathies were entirely with the Angelenos, thereby giving Isoka more reason to be tolerant should Irma’s temper-driven tongue be raised against him. At the same time, the Wentworths would see his obsequiousness as inevitable but harmless. "For God’s sake, man: Give them that, at least!"
Isoka held up his hand. Spicer politely fell silent. The diplomat said, "We’ll wait outside. She’ll be treated with respect in our camp." He turned to Irma and Todd. “I recognize how this injures you, and I’m truly sorry. I can’t do more than say so."
Todd said, "Keep her safe, and I’ll be in your debt. Harm her and I’ll kill you, as God is my witness."
"Fair enough," Isoka said, with a click of his heels. The ambassador turned, bent down, and went out the small blue door. Rollins, Spicer, and the giants followed. Thurston lingered, but when Todd ignored him, he bit the inside of his mouth and followed the others into the street.
When the door shut, Todd and Irma stood face-to-face. He took her hand, and she cocked her head, pushed her hair away from her face. They embraced and kissed deeply. Eventually she dropped her forehead to his chin. Her voice filled with sorrow and hope, Irma whispered, "It will end soon."
"Yes. I’ll get you as soon as it does."
"I’ll be there; I can wait." Irma pressed her face into his shoulder, then noticed his hands had stopped moving across her flanks. Irma sensed hesitation from her lover’s arms. She drew back but did not disengage from his hug. "You don’t know if you love me or if you just love the beautiful sex we have."
"Beautiful sex can only happen if you’re in love," Todd said. His words came so quickly that she believed him and pulled his thought into her heart.
"Yes, for my part, that’s true," she said.
Todd smiled paternally. "How would you know?!"
#
The sun began to rise over the rain-wet street in front of Spicer's house. Isoka, Thurston, the officers, and Spicer stood in front of a double line of soldiers. Rollins stood off to the side. The warning sirens whined in a staccato series of four-beat notes.
"Shit!" said Thurston. "Thaddeus is ready to move. Man, we need to get this over with!”
One of the giants bent down, spoke closely into Thurston’s ear (their every communication was held in conspiratorial tones). "It’s Todd that’s drawing this thing out."
The other giant followed up by saying, out of the corner of his nearly closed mouth, "It’s Todd’s fault!"
Thurston nodded. These two guards had no agenda other than his best interests. He was confident that their fates were too closely tied to his own for them to wish him anything but the best. When Helen was absent, the giant guards alone had Thurston’s ear.
He looked up at his men. "Bring her out!" he cried.
The giants reentered Spicer's home to collect Irma. Thurston turned to Isoka and eyed his calm face. The sight of the man curdled Wentworth's blood. Isoka saw this and kept quiet and to the side as much as possible without appearing diffident. Thurston pointed his thumb at the Angeleno and growled, "My brother expects this woman back at the war’s end."
Isoka spread his hands wide and smiled as though he were speaking to a distant but valued relative. "I said we are going to treat her well. You can have no better assurance."
"See that you do!" Thurston said, without any feeling of relief. His antagonist’s impenetrable serenity infuriated Thurston. He blurted awkwardly, "Rollins will stay with her for three days. If he finds there’s a problem, I’ll kill five prisoners."
Isoka smiled and nodded understandingly. "She’ll be pampered. So if such executions took place they would be unwarranted and sadistic."
Thurston signaled to two soldiers and together they reentered the house to speed up the delivery. Rollins stood stone-faced and watched the door, waiting for Irma, his ward.