sandbaggers: NB and Laura
NB and Laura
KettrenJ@aol.com
Fri, 22 Mar 1996 12:25:28 -0500
Several postings a while ago commented on how good Laura was for NB. I feel
that just the opposite was true. His infatuation was blinding him to his
responsibilities. He had to force himself to send her to Berlin even though
she was clearly the agent for the job. Had she returned safely, would he
perhaps have said "never again" and kept her out of harm's way? That attitude
would be disastrous for the Sandbaggers as a team, disastrous for his
relationships with the other SB's personally (including Laura) and ultimately
disastrous for himself. I also never got the sense that Laura was as
enamoured of Neil as he was of her. I think she liked and respected him well
enough, but she was ambitious and sufficiently dedicated to her career to use
him as a stepping stone, both within the service and in her personal journey
to overcome her troubled past. Had she lived, I think the relationship would
have quickly run a not very pleasant course. The profound impact it had on
Neil was more a result of romanticized hindsight and guilt than that of lost
great love.