"We are taking two movie stars, plus a movie cameraman, with us," Lennox said.
"What?"
"There are supposed to be rubber boats and outboard motors," Lennox said, ignoring the question.
"I put two rubber boats with motors in the aft torpedo room," the officer of the deck said.
"I don't know how the hell anybody will be able to move in there. For sure, we won't be able to load the tubes with the boats in there."
"And the rest of their equipment?"
"That wasn't so hard to store," the officer of the deck said.
"There were a couple of boxes maybe five feet long. Everything else is in those little boxes.
They're heavy as hell. What's in them?"
"What does it say on the boxes?"
'"Photographic Film. Do Not X-Ray."" "Then, presumably, they contain motion picture film," Lennox said.
"See the chief of the boat, and tell him we'll have one more white hat with us. The movie stars will share bunks with the officers."
"Aye, aye, Sir," the officer of the deck said.
"May I ask which movie stars?"
"Greg Hammer is one of them," Lennox said.
"The other is a guy named Whittaker. Never heard of him. An anonymous celebrity, so to speak."
"I know Hammer," the officer of the deck said.
"By the time this patrol is over, you will know him intimately," Lennox said.
"Good night, Mr. Downey."
"Good night, Skipper."
[TWO]
Ford Island, Pearl Harbor Navy Yard Oahu, Territory of Hawaii
At five minutes to six, twenty-five minutes late, CINCPAC's Cadillac limousine came onto the wharf. CINCPAC's aide, the two movie stars, and the woman from Continental Studios were in the back, CINCPAC's aide sitting on a jump seat. There was a very slight, bespectacled, very boyish-looking sailor in front with the driver.
The driver opened the door for them, and then, as they waved cheerfully at Lennox, the boyish-looking sailor took two small canvas bags from the trunk and carried them aboard.
The crew looked at the wharf in unabashed curiosity.
Capt. Whittaker suddenly grabbed Miss Chenowith and kissed her on the mouth. The crew of the Drum whistled and cheered.
Miss Chenowith freed herself, turned to It. Hammer, and kissed him on the mouth.
The crew whistled and cheered again.
Whittaker and Hammer walked down the gangplank and stepped onto the deck of the Drum. They did not salute the officer of the deck, nor ask permission to come aboard. They just walked on board and went into the conning tower as if they were boarding the Staten Island Ferry.
"Make all preparations to get under way," Commander Lennox ordered.