Sea Cruise - by Dizzy Dolphin

Some mildly suggestive scenes.

As missions went, this one didn’t sound bad, not bad at all. A little time on a cruise ship, keep an eye on the mark, do a little pilfering and back home again. As ONI, Admiral Jones had said, it would be more like a vacation, of sorts. Therein lie the rub, yes he’d be on a cruise ship, but as staff, not a guest...

*****

Lee read the bio over again, thinking to himself that they couldn’t have picked a cover more unlike his own personality.

OK, I’m Leon Grus¹, someone in ONI has a warped sense of humour. Appears I’m a bit of a renaissance employee, Dive Instructor, Singer, and Dancer.

Lee read on...

‘You are going in as an entertainer and dive instructor. This will enable you to mingle freely with the passengers and allow you to go off ship without suspicion.

Employees in the entertainment department deal with anything related to entertaining passengers. They must be enthusiastic extroverts, used to a busy social life.

Oh ya, that’s me alright, NOT.

Dive Instructors - guide passengers on diving excursions and provide diving instructions in the onboard swimming pool. All diving instructors are required to hold NAUI², SSI² or PADI² certificates, as well as CPR² and First Aid certificate. You will also be required to give basic swimming lessons.

OK, no problems there.

Singer / Vocalist - As this position requires extensive previous experience in performing on stage your media pack references Las Vegas, Reno, Chicago and Paris - Le Scopitone.

I can sing, or so I’m told, not sure it’s the caliber expected though.

Dancer - perform on stage and help cruise staff in entertaining passengers off the stage as well. Experience in performing in front of the public is required.’

Rather not think of where I learned some of my moves.³

The orientation package finished up with intel on the vessel herself.

The ship was registered out of Panama. Her gross tonnage was 113,300, Net 86,000 and she had a cruising speed of 19.6 knots. Overall length 952 feet, maximum draft 27 feet 3 inches, beem 116 feet 5 inches and keel to mast top 236 feet 3 inches. She carried a crew of around 1,167.

*****

Lee arrived at LAX with two pieces of blue luggage, a medium sized rolling suitcase, and a large backpack. Being used to traveling with only a duffle bag or backpack, he felt a little strange pulling the case through the airport. He stopped at the shuttle desk and bought a ticket for the shuttle to the World Cruise Center.

Outside he easily found the waiting area, the shuttle wasn’t there yet, but he had been assured it would be along in about 5 minutes. He watched the people milling around, some hailing taxi’s others being met by friends or hotel shuttles. He pulled his joining instructions out from the pocket of his jeans and read it over, not that he didn’t know it by heart. He would take the shuttle to the Center, then go to Berth 93, check in at the booth marked for the crew and pickup his ID badges. He’d be assigned to his cabin as well, then he’d board, stow his gear and report to the Theatre for a briefing.

*****

His cabin was what he’d expected, small, fortunately he only had to share with one other person. The cabin had narrow bunk beds, a folding chair, TV, small bookshelf up by the top bunk, full-length mirror on the wardrobe. He opened the wardrobe, it was divided into two spaces, both empty. His roomy hadn’t arrived yet. There was storage under the bottom bunk, it was necessary to flip the mattress up to get to it. A ladder hung on the wall to get into the top bunk, privacy curtains were mounted on each bunk. The Head was basic, toilet, sink, mirror and shower.

Lee quickly stowed his clothes and shaving essentials. He’d wait to see which bunk the other guy wanted, he wasn’t particular about which one he ended up in. That done he pinned his ID badge on and headed out to take a quick look around before the briefing. The only people on board were crew; the passengers wouldn’t arrive until the next day.

There were 13 decks, numbered 1-12, then 14. He wasn’t too concerned about the stateroom only decks but took a quick look, they were all laid out along the same lines. He’d be spending most of his time on decks 9, which had the main pool where he’d give swimming and Scuba lessons, deck 3 where the theatre and the lounge were and deck 5 where the dance clubs were.

He supposed that as cruise ships went, she was a very nice one, but it didn’t feel much like being on a ship to him, more like a hotel with a lot crammed into it.

He passed through the casino on deck 5 and took the elevator down to deck 3, the Lobby. People in uniforms or in civvies wearing badges were going through the doors to the theatre.

*****

The Welcome Aboard speeches were the usual ‘rah rah’ stuff. Most of the crew knew each other from working on this ship before or other ships from the same Cruise Line. The entirely new crew, such as Lee, were invited up on stage and introduced. They then had to give a 2 minute rundown on their ship working experience or lack thereof and how thrilled they were to be there. A couple like Lee had never worked a cruise before but the rest were coming from other Lines and knew the drill.

Lee was buddied up with the same person he’d be sharing the cabin with. Jake was in the orchestra and on his second tour with the ship, he would make sure that Lee didn’t get lost for the first couple of days until he found his way around. Lee didn’t need the help, he’d memorized the deck plans and his quick walk-a-bout had solidified everything in his mind. Still he didn’t want to appear to competent so accepted the help with the proper amount of gratitude.

*****

“Look at all those people,” Lee mumbled as he looked over the railing down onto Berth 93 the next day. Jake was beside him and gave a small laugh.

“Quite the sight isn’t it Leon. We have a full load this cruise, even some college kids, I think a couple of football teams and cheerleaders, or something like that, things are going to be very lively!”

Lee knew from the briefing that they were expecting 3,299 guests but seeing the mass of people below lining up at the check-in booths was almost frightening. He was thankful that he had a name to go with the picture of his target, he wasn’t at all sure he’d be able to lay eyes on the man himself while on the boat. Well maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll book a SCUBA or dance lesson. Ya sure Crane, what enemy agent wouldn’t while on a cruise!

Jake looked at his watch and gave Leon a nudge. “Just about time for rehearsal, we’d better get going.”

Lee nodded and moved away from the railing

*****

Rehearsal went well; Lee was amused that one of the performances was a tribute to Irish Pub songs. Anything to encourage the guests to bend the elbow he guessed. He wondered what Admiral Nelson would think if he knew he would be warbling Whiskey in the Jar, The Wild Rover, Gypsy Rover and Muirsheen Durkin, not to mention the group numbers. The whole thing certainly did establish a very jovial mood. The dancing in the routines was not difficult and his natural grace and previous dancing experience stood him in good stead. His partners weren’t hard on the eyes or arms either. The contemporary show was a little more demanding in the dance sequences but he only floundered a couple of times and quickly caught on. He wasn’t expected to be in all the shows as for some of them he’d be performing in the lounge during the show time or just back from taking out a dive group.

During the day, he’d either be rehearsing, giving swim/SCUBA lessons or dance lessons. It was a gruelling schedule, 12-14 hours a day. If he wasn’t actively performing or giving a lesson he was expected to be circulating amongst the guests, making recommendations for activities they might enjoy either on-board or at one of the stops, Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

The ship pulled away right on schedule, 16:30, for tonight all that was scheduled in the Theatre was staff introductions and orientation to the ship and it’s amenities for the guests. There would be 3 sessions offered. Of course the entire staff wouldn’t be introduced, just the heads of the departments and individual instructors, which of course included Lee. The first session went reasonable well, there were a few whistles and ‘oh help me I’m drowning’ from the audience when Lee was introduced. The second session was attended by a lot more guests, mostly College hotties, and there was a much larger reaction when Lee came out on stage. Obviously word was spreading to check out the hunky swim/dance instructor. After the boisterous third session Lee took a lot of ribbing from the other crew.

“Good heavens Leon, I think we may have to get you your own personal body guard for the cruise.” joked Jake.

“Don’t worry about me, I can handle them.” Lee answered back.

“Figuratively speaking I’m sure Mr. Grus,” the head of the entertainment department commented. “I’m certain you recall from the staff briefing of yesterday that while we are friendly with our guests, we do not get, ahhhhh, physically friendly, get my drift?”

“Yes sir, would never do that.”

“Just be sure you remember it, some of the guests will have other ideas.”

Lee blushed furiously, while used to being attractive to the female population this would be the first time he’d had to cope with a shipload of hot young things on permanent party mode and likely over indulging in alcoholic beverages.

As Lee and Jake headed for dinner Jake started to chuckle.

“Did I miss something? Lee asked.

“No, just thinking about some of the questions from the audience, funny how a few of them always get asked every cruise, I especially love, ‘How far are we above sea level?’”

Lee had to admit that he’d cracked up at that one himself, he’d also wondered about the question concerning the toilets,’ was it fresh water or sea water?’ The emcee had looked at the person and replied, ‘either way I wouldn’t drink from them’. Then there was, ‘which elevator do I take to the front of the ship’, ‘does the crew sleep on the ship?’ and not least of all ‘does the ship make its own electricity?’

Lee was rather surprised at the emcee getting away with some of his answers, ‘at this time our elevators only operate vertically’, ‘no we helicopter the crew off the ship every night and back in the morning’, ‘no, we have a really really long extension cord’. The audience seemed to accept the answers in the spirit they were given.

Both men were laughing when they sat down to their meal.

*****

Lee almost refused to leave his cabin to give his first swimming lesson. It turned out that he wasn’t allowed to wear the swim trunks he’d brought but was expected to wear an extremely skimpy, hip hugging, not so hidden assets pair supplied by ship’s uniforms. He looked at the extremely small bit of cloth with a baby blue background and an abstract design in assorted colours printed on it, it had been on his bunk when he came out of the head. Jake had said that housekeeping had dropped it off. There was no place to tuck his pride but right out in front and in his case, there was a considerable amount to be proud of.

Heaving a huge sigh, he put the item on and pulled his ship jersey and shorts on. A James Bond quote popped into his mind, ‘Oh the things I do for England’, or in my case ONI. Grabbing an oversized towel, he headed for the pool. He’d been informed that all his classes were full, including the individual private ones.

As he arrived he saw six very attractive, well endowed females waiting for him, in bikinis that made his suit look positively modest. OK Lee, you’re on assignment, get your eyes back in your head.

“Good Morning, ladies.”

“Good Morning, Leon,” they chorused back.

“Have any of you done any swimming, even if just paddling around?”

“No,” they replied in unison. “We’re all kind of afraid of the water, you’ll have to hold on tight,” one giggled which started the others off.

Ya, my ass you are. I wonder if there’s any way I can do this lesson without actually getting in there with them?

Lee noticed that some of the staff were hovering around the pool and smirking at him while they pretended to be working. Jake wasn’t even pretending, he was leaning against a pillar, with a huge grin on his face.

Lee started to get a bad feeling, he was being setup but wasn’t exactly sure how.

The girls were waiting for him, “so when do you start the lesson, Leon?”

There was nothing for it, he pulled his jersey off then turned his back to them to take off his shorts, which wasn’t really much help as he heard one of the girls comment to the others, “oooo my, nice tight butt.”

He turned to enter the pool and six pairs of eyes snapped to his crotch. At least six that he saw, he didn’t want to know what people around the pool were looking at. The girls were wearing big grins, and between giggles were muttering, “oh very nice, very very nice swim suit.”

He noted that Jake was doubled over with laughter and the other staff were in much the same shape.

As soon as he was in the water and before he could do anything he had six bodies clinging to him with hands groping, he managed to defend his territory but ended up being dunked under the water. He came up sputtering and looked straight into the face of.....Admiral Jiggs Starke and not far behind him, Admiral Harriman Nelson.

“AND JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING, MR?” Starke bellowed.

Damn, he’s going to blow my cover, such as it is!

There was quite a crowd around the pool now, most highly amused at all the attention the swim instructor was getting and obviously trying to avoid.

Lee floundered over to where Starke stood at the edge of the pool. He needed to shut him up, somehow.

“I’m the swimming instructor, Sir. Just starting a lesson.”

The girls had followed him and a couple of them grabbed him from behind. Trying to keep his balance he reached up and snagged Starke’s left pants leg. As the girls pulled him back he pulled on Starke, who fell forward into the pool, arms flailing. The girls beat a hasty retreat, figuring that causing an old geezer to end up in the pool could land them in trouble.

As Starke surfaced Lee tried to avoid letting him blow things. “I’m so sorry, Sir. My name’s Leon Grus. Let me help you out.” Lee turned towards the sniggering staff, “Get some towels, lots of them,” he ordered. Turning back to Starke he whispered hurriedly into his ear as he helped him up the pool steps, “ONI”.

Starke was purple with rage, he would bet the entire Pacific Fleet that Crane had done that on purpose. Harry rushed up to his friend, leading him away from Lee and helping dry him off and wrap him up. “Well Jiggs, that’s quite a way to start our holiday, but accidents, will happen.”

“Accident my ass, he pulled me in on purpose!!!

“Of course not, you were just too close to the edge. I’m sure the staff here does not go around pulling guests into the pool. Isn’t that right, young man?” Harry looked back at Lee.

“Yes, Sir. It was an accident, lost my balance and didn’t realize I’d grabbed his leg. I’m so sorry, Sir.”

The girls in the pool started calling for Leon to come back and give them the lesson they’d paid for.

“You go back to your lesson, I’ll take care of my friend. No harm done, lad.”

Lee saw the smile that Nelson was trying to conceal.

“Thank you, Sir. That’s very understanding and generous of you.”

“Yes, isn’t it just,” growled Starke, sending Lee a glare that plainly told him that this wasn’t finished with.

Starke hadn’t been all that keen on going on a cruise vacation in the first place but since he’d won a trip for two in a contest he had no recollection of entering, he’d decided to go and bring Harry along. His staff was very supportive of his decision, rumour had it that they’d entered him in the contest. No one was admitting anything.

*****

The rest of the swim lesson went off without any more high seas drama. While the girls still crowded him, they didn’t try any more frontal or rear assaults.

When Lee got out of the pool there was a message that the Activities Coordinator wanted to see him, NOW. It wasn’t entirely unexpected.

*****

“That’s the whole story, it was an accident.”

“I see, and you don’t think that the, ah, bathing suit you wore might have contributed to the events?”

Lee was confused, “It’s the one you provided, well ship’s stores. It was on my bunk when I got out of the shower.”

Jake, who had accompanied Lee but remained quiet until now, cleared his throat.

“I thought you might have something to add, right about now.” The co-ordinator sat back and scowled at Jake.

“Yes, well, sir, it was just a bit of fun, you know, new guy stuff.”

Lee had already figured out that he’d been set up with the swim suit, but that knowledge had come just a little bit too late.

A stern reprimand to Jake and a ‘you should know better’ one to Lee and they left the office.

“Sorry about that Leon, it went according to plan right up until that old guy got on your case, to bad about that. We were just having a little fun with you. Wasn’t even sure you’d wear the thing.”

“Yes, well I’ve worked wearing less³.”

“Gotta tell me that story some time.”

“Don’t hold your breath.”

“Still friends?”

“Depends, you planning on pulling any more crap like that?”

“No, Strathmore made it pretty clear I’ll be looking for a new job if I do, he has no sense of humour, and I like you, you’re ok. You haven’t punched me out.”

“Yet, then yes, still friends.”

In that manly fashion, they punched each other in the shoulder and carried on. Lee’s had a little more ‘punch’ to it than Jake’s did but Jake wisely didn’t say anything.

*****

Starke exited the Head in their cabin; he glanced over at Harry, who was sitting on his bed sipping a scotch.

“Feeling better now, Jiggs?”

“Well dryer. You know he did that on purpose Harry. Young pup needs to be taught his manners. He’s even worse off of Seaview.”

“Looked like an accident to me,” well I have my doubts but I’m not letting you know that. “It also looked like you were about to blow his cover, tell me you weren’t about to call him Commander Crane.”

“Did you see that bathing suit he was almost wearing, and those girls? Is that any way for a US Navy Commander to behave?”

“Lee can’t be held responsible for what the girls did. I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation for the, ah, suit. He’s not a Navy Commander right now, he’s an ONI agent on assignment, and that means he could be called upon to act in all sorts of ways that he wouldn’t normally in uniform or out. You know that Jiggs.”

“Don’t you ever get tired of defending that boy, Harry?”

“Don’t you ever get tired of attacking him, Jiggs?

Starke sipped the drink Harry had left for him on the table.

“So Harry, what do you think he’s up to for ONI?”

“No idea. Just knew he’d been tagged for a mission for a week. ONI assured me there was minimal chance of him getting hurt.”

“Unless you count aggressive females.”

“I don’t think their intent was to hurt him.” Harry couldn’t help but smirk.

“Humph!” grumbled Starke.

Harry had to wonder at the fickle hand of fate that would put him and Starke in Lee’s path during a mission. What where the odds, he wondered, of Starke winning a trip on the same ship and at the same time as Lee’s mission? Astronomical he was sure. He wasn’t going to complain, at least he could keep a watchful eye on Lee, from a discreet distance. Not that Lee could get that far away on a cruise ship at sea. He chuckled softly. Starke gave him an inquiring look that went unanswered.

*****

Damn, damn and double damn, what in the 7 seas are they doing on board a cruise ship? And why this one? Lee scruffed his hand through his hair and shook his head. He had to smile remembering his ‘accidental’ dunking of Starke and how Starke had looked like a chubby drowned rat getting out of the pool. He was pretty sure that he could successfully defend his action as having been necessary to protect his cover. Since Starke hadn’t dressed him down poolside Lee figured that his message that he was on an ONI mission had penetrated Starke’s thick skull. He wasn’t worried about Admiral Nelson, although he wasn’t real thrilled to have him on board either.

Lee sighed, they’d make their first port tomorrow, things would be what they would be.

*****

Lee concentrated on the computer screen, reviewing the guests signed up for his first off-ship dive expedition. The booking was full but the name he was looking for wasn’t listed in either the morning or the afternoon dive. He hadn’t really expected it to be as these dives were for beginners. Most of the people he’d met in the pool already, having given them diving instruction and verifying that he was comfortable with their level of competence. The ones he hadn’t met yet had PADI certification and had presented it when they signed up for the dive. Lee would speak to them briefly before they left the ship to get a reading on what type of personalities he’d be dealing with.

Lee loved to dive but riding herd on an assortment of beginners would be stressful. He called up the next day’s dive schedules, full again. Bingo, there on the last dive roster, for divers holding at least the PADI Adventure level, was the name he’d been waiting for, Brent Carmichael.

ONI had been sure that the item Carmichael was after was at one of the dive sites that cruises used, placed there by a local agent to be retrieved. Since guests could only dive with the ship’s instructor, they reasoned that Lee should have no trouble keeping an eye on the agent. Lee, not for the first time, wished ONI thought these things through a little better. He really didn’t know how he was supposed to wrangle the other dive guests while keeping an eagle eye on Carmichael. He was entrusted with the safety of the entire group and he couldn’t let anyone run into trouble, assignment or not. Granted he had a capable local dive partner but the prime responsibility was his and he took it very seriously. It was a break that the agent was in the final dive; it would be a smaller group and wouldn’t require quite as much supervision as they were all well qualified, experienced divers. Lee’s eyes continued to scan the list, they locked on the last two names. He heaved a huge sigh and rubbed his forehead, well nothing can be as bad as when they turned up in my Samba class. Another one I’m going to pay for when this is all over.

Lee thought back to the dance class....

“Ok ladies and gentlemen this morning we’re going to learn the basic steps for the Samba.” Lee wasn’t surprised to find that his class was heavy on the ‘hot young chicks’ category and rather lean on male dance partners. He was horrified to note that two of the very few males were Admirals Nelson and Starke.

“I’d like to introduce my dance partner and class assistant, Mariana. We are quite fortunate to have her joining us as she is from Brazil, where the Samba dance originated.”

Lee heard one of the male observers on the sidelines comment, “Bet he enjoys more than a Samba with that babe.”

It irked Lee but he ignored the rude comment, there was a lot he was finding that he had to ignore to keep his cover intact. It was a bit harder to ignore Starke’s glare that translated quite plainly into ‘you’d better only be dancing with her’. Admiral Nelson merely looked amused.

He continued the lesson, “The samba is an immensely popular Brazilian dance first popularized in the United States in the 1940s, though its roots can be traced to 19th-century Brazil. A simple box step on a 1-2 count and repeated to the front or back, is known as basic and reverse steps. For example for the man, counting "one-uh-two," step forward on the left foot at the count of "one." Lift up the right foot on "uh," and place it next to the left on "two." Do a weight change to the ball of the right foot. Going back, the same step is repeated, change weight back to the left foot and place the right foot back on "one," left foot up at "uh," and placed next to the right on "two." Ladies, you mirror the man’s steps, so you step back with your right foot at the count of ‘one’. Lift up the left foot on ‘uh’ and place it next to the right on ‘two’. Weight change to the ball of the left foot. Going back, repeat the sequence, change weight back to the right foot and place the left foot back on ‘one’, right foot up at ‘uh’ and place next to the left on ‘two’. You should appear as one mirrored image in movement. It looks like this.” Lee and Mariana demonstrated the steps a couple of times. “Ok, now we have more ladies than gentlemen, happy circumstance for the men.” There was a general chuckle from the group. “If you came with a partner both of you please step over to my right.” There was a short shuffle as that was accomplished. Lee then proceeded to match up the remaining dancers as best he could. He took a bit of delight in pairing Starke with an older, grey haired lady that was amply proportioned. Nelson he paired with a cute as a button, about 16, curly haired redhead. He and Mariana would be at the front demonstrating the steps and then would circulate amongst the dancers giving helpful pointers.

“Ok, we’ll go through the steps again, first without music, then when you’re familiar with how it goes, we’ll try it with music.” Lee and Mariana again demonstrated the basic step while calling the beat and the couples tried to follow, with varying success. Lee noted that Admiral Nelson and his partner were doing just fine. ‘Well the Admiral has done this before’, Lee thought. Starke was another matter altogether, whether he knew how to Samba or not Lee had no idea, his partner certainly had two left feet, which meant that Starke was being trampled. Lee tried to feel sorry for him but couldn’t quite make it.

As they continued to call the beat, Lee and Mariana moved to the couples having the most difficulty and tried to help them out. Lee assisted two couples before arriving at Starke and his partner. In a way, it was a bit of a relief as the women he’d helped so far tended to have a wandering hand, or at the least, try to dance in closed position with him. At least he thought it would be a relief, turned out that Starke’s partner’s left hand also had a tendency to slip downward and need replacing. After taking her through the steps very slowly and managing not to be trod upon or squeezed, Lee turned to Starke. “Would you like to move through the steps with me, Sir?” Lee offered.

Starke’s mouth fell open then snapped shut, “If you think I’m dancing with you, you’re out of your mind Co......Leon!”

“Well we could but it wasn’t what I had in mind. It would be side by side so you could follow my steps.”

“That’s quite alright, I can manage just fine without help from you.”

Lee noticed Nelson approaching and wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Oh go on Jiggs, let the young man help you out, you looked like you could use it and he appears to be very capable.” Harry’s eyes were full of mirth.

In the end, with Harry’s needling, Starke ended up with a quick lesson from Lee, scowling at Lee the entire time.

A few minutes later, after helping a couple of other femme fatales that called him over, Lee went back to the front, joined shortly by Mariana.

“OK, now let’s put this together with some music.”

Lee nodded to the soundman who hit the required buttons and Chica Chica Boom Chic, started to play.

As often happens, the addition of the music threw some of the dancers off so after a couple of bars Lee and Mariana circulated, helping out again. They then partnered up and gave a demonstration of what the Samba should look like, complete with traveling Voltas, and Bota Fogas, earning them ‘ohs and ahs’ from the group.

*****

Lee shook his head, trying to dispel the memory. Starke had stomped off the dance floor when the lesson concluded, giving Lee a ‘just wait until I get my four star hands on you’ look.

*****

Lee was off the ship for most of the day with his dive groups, it went well and he found himself enjoying the underwater scenery just as much as his ‘charges’. It also gave him an excellent opportunity to get the ‘lay of the land’ before he had to divide his attention. The ‘newbies’ were diving the same general area as the experienced group would, but staying shallow. There was still lots to see at the North Wall, which was their first stop, the rock covered slope went from 15 to 70 feet but they went no further down than 30 feet. Lee pointed out Moray eels, Puffer and Porcupine fish, Flute fish, Scorpion fish, assorted Lobsters and delicate Seahorses to his group.

The next dive site was Neptune’s Finger, composed of two coral reefs, a beautiful vertical wall and the largest sandfall of the Cabo San Lucas Marine park. The top of the reef was 15 feet down but the vertical wall, which they would not dive, dropped down to more than 500 feet. Turtles, Groupers, Machetes, Goatfish and a lot of other tropical fish swam about as well as big fish like Manta Rays, schooling Devil Rays, Yellowtails and Amber Jacks. Lee even spotted and pointed out a Mola Mola (sunfish).

*****

Lee was flaked out in his cabin, sprawled haphazardly across his bunk when Jake came in after the first evening performance.

“You looked wasted Lee.”

Lee gathered his dangling extremities onto the bunk and rolled onto his side.

“It’s a beautiful place to dive Jake, but four dives in one day does tend to sap the energy a mite.”

“Oh I feel your pain, all I had to do was work my ass off on the ship all day and do the theatre shows tonight, at least you get them off.”

“Only until we leave port, then it’s back to the ‘make em happy and keep em that way’ grind.”

“You’ve got what? A beginner dive tomorrow early in the morning and then the advanced group?”

“Yep, the advanced dive group goes mid morning and we’ll be out all day, going to start at Land’s End, play with the Sea Lions and take a look at the shipwreck. It has a lot of sea life as the Pacific converges with the Sea of Cortex in that area. Then we’ll get back on the boat have a long lunch and head over to the Middle Wall, jump back in the water check the area out continue along to connect up with Pelican Rock. The last bit will be at night, supposed to be good for watching the Manta Rays.”

“Uh huh. Doesn’t mean that much to me, not being a diver but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. The two old geezers were looking for you tonight. Well maybe only one of them.”

Lee cringed inside, “Looking for me?”

“They were at the show, happened to pass by me on their way out, heard the geezer you knocked into the pool mention to his ‘friend’ that he was surprised you weren’t in the show and that his friend must be disappointed. Apparently he ‘missed’ you.”

Lee hadn’t ‘missed’ the accent that Jake put on certain words. He decided to pursue it a bit, even though he had a sinking feeling he knew what it meant.

“So what. There something I should know about them?”

“Not really, the general crew opinion is that they are ‘special friends’ and that one of them has taken a liking to you and the other one is a bit jealous.”

Oh Lordy, Starke hears about this and he’ll blow for sure.

“I’m guessing that it’s not the guy who accidentally fell in the pool that’s a fan of mine.”

“Nope the other, much nicer one. Don’t worry about it, the guys are just having a little fun about you getting the girls and the guys. Nothing left for them.”

Lee sighed and plunked the pillow over his head. Jake laughed and smacked Lee’s pillow, “What’s the matter, cruise ship life not exactly what you thought it would be?”

Lee threw the pillow at Jake, “Don’t you have something useful you are supposed to be doing?”

“Not until the next show but I can take a hint. I’m going to have dinner, wanna come with me, or would you like me to bring something back to your exhausted self?”

Lee thought, not for the first time, that he was lucky to have Jake as his roommate, they got along much as he and Chip did. While he wouldn’t have minded skipping dinner he decided that he needed the meal, with a full dive day done and another tomorrow. He rolled off the bunk and tidied himself up so that he was presentable in public. Always had to look good for the guests.

“Lead on Jake.”

“Mongolian Grill alright with you?”

“Sounds fine.”

*****

An hour and a half later Lee was heading back to his cabin and Jake to the second show of the evening. Dinner had been a continuous round of females dropping by their table to say ‘Hi’ and the divers from that day telling Lee how much they truly enjoyed the experience and what a great guide he was. Many of them tried to give Lee money, which he declined telling them that ships policy wouldn’t permit him to accept tips, not that he would have anyway. While Lee ate in hurried, interrupted mouthfuls, Jake enjoyed his meal, pretty much uninterrupted, and tried very hard not to laugh outright at Lee and his ‘fan club’.

At one point, when Lee was engaged with another one of his admirers, Jake saw the two ‘geezers’ pass through the Grill area. The taller one poked his friend in the ribs, scowled and nodded his head towards Lee, who was talking to a willowy blond that was doing her best to flirt with him. The smaller man said something to his friend, grabbed his arm and hurried him along.

Hmmm, I wonder if there really is some interest in Leon there. Jake was pretty sure that Leon wasn’t so inclined, judging by the way his eyes tracked some of the more voluptuous, scantily clad ladies on board. He looked, but like a good little employee, he toed the company line and didn’t touch. Didn’t mean that the guests didn’t try though.

*****

“Harry, you want to dine in one of the restaurants again tonight?” Jiggs asked his friend.

“If you don’t mind, I’d just as soon be informal tonight, maybe try out one of the Grills.”

“Don’t mind at all, was sort of hoping you’d suggest that.”

Harry doubted that Jiggs was any more enamoured of cruising than he was. The two of them being ‘salty old dogs’, they both would have preferred spending their time on something that wasn’t, basically, a floating city. Harry imagined that Lee felt the same, even more so as he seemed to be the centre of attention everywhere he went onboard. Harry’s thoughts wandered to his captain, best loved friend, and honorary ‘son’. Lee I bet you’re going crazy on this mission, and if it wasn’t bad enough, Jiggs and I have to stumble into the middle of it.

Harry suddenly realized that Jiggs was talking to him again.

“Harry, you paying attention, wake up! You thinking about that upstart captain of yours again? Just wait until I get ahold of him when we finish this cruise.”

“You leave him alone Jiggs. It was an accident.”

“Accident my six. I suppose sticking me with that elderly woman who stomped all over my feet in the dance class was an accident too. I noticed you got a pretty little thing.”

Nelson wasn’t too sure that either events had been accidents but he wasn’t going to admit that to Jiggs.

“Jiggs I’m old enough to be her grandfather, Lee was just seeing that she had a ‘safe’ dance partner.” At this point Harry decided to live a little dangerously. “Lee probably thought you’d enjoy a dance partner more along your....ah size and age.” Harry ducked quickly for the door, opening it as he heard Jiggs draw in a large breath preparing for a full bellow, that he judiciously let die as a couple strolled down the corridor in front of the cabin door. The couple nodded a greeting as Jiggs joined Harry.

“Let’s try the Mongolian Grill,” Harry suggested and started for the elevators before Jiggs could say anything.

They had just started to look around for a table when Jiggs poked Harry and muttered “morals of an alley cat, need to teach him what ‘officer and a gentleman’ mean”, Jiggs growled.

Harry followed Jiggs’ gaze and saw a young woman in an extremely low cut dress, leaning well over a table, talking to Lee. She moved in such a way as to try and draw Lee’s eyes to her obvious, straining to be free, attributes. Harry noticed with great satisfaction, that Lee’s eyes remained resolutely locked on the temptresses face. He also noted that Lee’s friend sitting with him at the table was practically giving himself a hernia trying not to laugh. He deduced that this was likely not the first such visitor they’d had to their table.

Harry took Jiggs’ arm and pushed him back towards the walkway and in sotto voice said, “You know damn well he’s a fine officer and gentleman. Not his fault if the female population strongly encourages him to be otherwise.” Jiggs huffed in response.

They settled on the Steak and Seaford Grill, about midway through the meal Jiggs dropped his bombshell.

“Eat up Harry, you’ll need lots of energy tomorrow.”

“Oh, and why is that?”

“Booked us into the last dive at Cabo tomorrow with ‘Leon’, the one for experienced divers.”

As he’d hoped, Harry choked on his wine.

“You did what? What the hell for?”

“The free package includes any excursion we want, figured this would be a good one. It’ll give ‘Leon’ a chance to demonstrate his diving abilities.”

“He’s not here to prove himself to you Jiggs....” Harry stopped what he was going to say, they weren’t exactly in a safe place to talk.

Jiggs took a slow sip of his wine. “Well if you’re not interested, I could go by myself.”

No way in Hades I’m turning you lose alone with Lee.

“No you won’t.”

“Fine, thought you’d see it my way.” Jiggs smiled and sipped.

*****

The 32’ Super Panga rocked gently on the surface of the Bay. It boasted a padded sundeck and lots of shade under the canopy section, a good thing too as it was going to be a scorching hot day. There was abundant room for the 6 guest divers and the crew. Lee was finishing up his orientation speech...

“....here the Pacific waters converge with the Sea of Cortez. A large colony of Sea Lions calls this nature sanctuary home and will likely check us out. We’ll see Moray Eels, Sea Bass, as well as schools of sardines, also large sport-fish have been known to swarm the area, hunting for bait fish. A shipwreck off the point has become a thriving habitat for many species and we’ll have time to explore the wreck. We’ll return to the boat for lunch and then move over to the Middle Wall. We’ll dive again there and follow the wall along it to Pelican Rock to see the Sand Falls, one Sand Fall extends to a depth of one hundred feet and is home to Gorgonians and Sea Fans. Makes for great pictures, as night falls Manta Rays will become more prominent. Please remember on all the dives that you may not collect anything, this is a Nature Preserve, look but don’t touch.” Lee had noticed a quick eye flick from Carmichael when he said the last bit.

As he hefted his tanks into position Raoul, the local diver assigned to assist Lee, leaned down close to Lee, “I see you’ve brought a Manatee along,” he bent his head briefly towards where Jiggs Starke was standing, resplendent in his grey wetsuit.

Lee almost lost it, he grinned widely, “was thinking more along the lines of ‘Hippo’ myself,” he quietly replied. Ya, barrel shaped torso, enormous mouth, grunts and bellows, attacks with no apparent provocation, ya, definitely Hippo.

Harry was adjusting one of the straps on his tanks when he noticed Lee’s assistant nod his head towards Jiggs and whisper something to Lee. Lee grinned up at Raoul and Harry thought he lip-read the word Hippo in Lee’s return comment. He moved back to where Jiggs was waiting.

“What are you grinning about Harry?”

“Nothing Jiggs, nothing, just thinking about the wide variety of animal life in the world that enjoys the water.”

Jiggs grunted at his friend, which only made Harry grin wider, Lee had heard the exchange and try as me might not to, he laughed aloud.

“What’s that idiot laughing about?”

“Don’t know Jiggs, nothing to concern yourself with I’m sure.” Harry responded

Jiggs grunted again and followed it with a wide yawn.

Lee faked dropping something on the floor to cover up his continuing mirth, going to be rolling on the floor in a minute anyway! Raoul bent down to help Lee look for whatever it was he dropped and didn’t seem to be able to find, and just happened to mention the Hippo ballet in the Disney movie ‘Fantasia’.

“We going for a dive or not,” Jiggs bellowed at the pair of men on the floor. He noticed that Crane choked off another laugh and elbowed Raoul.

“Yes, yes, sorry for the delay, just had to find something. Let’s get on our way.”

The divers positioned themselves along the rail to roll off backwards into the water. As Lee was walking past Jiggs and Harry he felt someone give him a push, he bumped into Starke who went flailing over the side. Harry quickly did a controlled roll into the water and the others, figuring Leon must have signalled a go, did the same. Lee looked to his side into the smiling face of Raoul, “O come on Leon, you know you wanted to, I just made it a little accident.” Lee couldn’t deny it, from the moment Starke had stepped on board the dive boat, in typical Starke fashion, he had criticised everything from the way the boat was handled to the equipment and refreshments provided. He’d done it in such a way that it was plain he was holding ‘Leon’ accountable for all shortcomings. Leon knew that Commander Crane would be hearing all about it. Ya,I wouldn’t have minded pushing him over, wouldn’t have done it though. Ah well, what’s done is done, not like he wasn’t about to get wet anyway! He winked at Raoul and went over the side himself, followed by a still smirking Raoul.

While keeping an eye on the group as a whole Lee kept a particular watch on Starke, Nelson and the agent.

Of course they were diving with the buddy system and Lee knew that Nelson would take care of Starke but he still ‘watched’. While having confidence in Nelson’s diving abilities he was pretty sure Starke didn’t dive much, just enough to keep his diving status. The water was lovely and clear so he and Raoul, hovering above the other divers, had a good view of things. The guests had been told that even though they were in pairs they were to stay well in sight of everyone. Lee and Raoul had signal devices to get the attention of everyone when they wanted to move them in a certain direction or call back any divers that were straying too far. Lee didn’t think that Starke would find anything to complain about, the fish were certainly abundant and colourful as was the coral and plant life. The wreck was interesting and Lee noticed Nelson carefully examining the coral growths on the surface of the decaying vessel. Probably itching to start taking samples. Lee didn’t worry that the temptation would be too much but he floated over top of Nelson anyway, for appearances sake. Nelson looked up and Lee gave him the OK signal, Nelson returned it and Lee floated on. The dive went smoothly and Carmichael didn’t try to move away from the group. As far as Lee could tell the man didn’t pick anything up.

There was a tense moment when a pair of Bull Sharks cruised through the area. Lee had mentioned to the party that there was the possibility of the aggressive sharks showing up and that he and Raoul would have spear guns. The Bull Shark favored warm, shallow water and was a large, stout shark with a nasty temperament. Lee gauged that these two were females, about 8 feet and probably weighed in at around 290-300 lbs. The males of the species were somewhat smaller.

He and Raoul took a firmer grip on their spear guns, the sharks had come in swiftly and it wasn’t safe to try and move the party back to the boat. Lee was pleased to see the divers sink to the floor and move back to back with their buddies, helped along by Nelson and Starke. The sharks circled and Lee and Raoul did their best to keep themselves between the sharks and the group. If one or both of the sharks came to close they’d try to dissuade them with a nose thumping. If worse came to worse they’d try to get their hands in the gill openings. The last thing they wanted to do was spear them and fill the water with blood.

Nelson and Starke had spotted the sharks just after Lee and Raoul. Like Lee, Nelson knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to try and head everyone up to the surface and the safety of the boat. All those waving legs and arms would likely be too much for the sharks to ignore. Standard procedure if you couldn’t get out of the water you went to the bottom if possible, providing fewer avenues of attack for a shark. Since everyone was pretty much cruising the bottom anyway he and Starke made quick work of getting everyone ‘standing’ back to back with their buddy. As they were all experienced divers there was no panic or anyone bolting for the surface. That’s not to say that they all weren’t plenty nervous. Nelson especially. He knew that Lee would place himself in front of the jaws of any shark that looked like it was headed in for an attack on any of the divers in his care, even Starke. Of course Jiggs would simply considerate it a junior officer doing his duty.

Starke watched as the sharks circled and Crane and Raoul tracked them, carefully staying in line between the divers and the carnivores. Like Harry he knew that Crane would do everything he could to prevent an attack on any of the divers, including himself. He knew he rubbed the Commander the wrong way, heck he went out of his way sometimes to do it, after all Crane was a junior officer, and the best of the best or not, needed to keep his place in the order of things. That didn’t mean he wanted to see Crane become shark bait. While he just couldn’t fathom the relationship between his friend Harry and the junior officer, he had to acknowledge its existence and that if a shark went for Crane, Harry would surely enter the fray. Hell he’d do what he could as well.

All the angst appeared to be for naught as the two sharks began to swim away from the group. Lee signaled the group to remain as they were, Harry knew Lee wanted to be sure the sharks were well on their way before relaxing his vigilance. Harry was glancing around at the other divers when everyone’s attention snapped in Lee’s direction.

Harry turned and saw that one of the sharks had returned and was making a run at Lee. Harry felt Starke grab his arm to hold him in place. Harry knew, as well as Starke did, that the last thing Lee and Raoul needed was two more divers making themselves targets, especially unarmed ones. Still, his first instinct was to head for Lee.

Raoul had moved to Lee’s side and both held their spear guns ready, not to fire but to ram. As the shark reached them Lee stuck a solid blow right to the tip of the sharks nose, a perfect bullseye. Raoul landed his strike slightly lower and his spear gun slid into the shark’s mouth, he quickly released his grip. The shark chomped down on the gun and appeared to spit it out as it turned away and headed back after the other shark. Unfortunately in its rapid turn its tail sideswiped Lee in the gut and an explosion of bubbles issued from Lee’s mouthpiece as he doubled over.

Raoul grapped Lee and signaled to the others to head up. Once back onboard the boat Raoul found he had a lot of help checking ‘Leon’ over, despite the protests.

“Look, everyone, I appreciate your concern, but I’m just fine. Only had the air knocked out of me.”

Raoul was content to take Leon’s word for it but the fellow diving with ‘hippo’, insisted that Leon take off his wetsuit so he could check out his ribs.

“I’ve seen this type of thing before and despite the fact that you think you’re ‘just fine’ there could be injuries like cracked ribs.”

Leon looked ticked and responded, “And just where did you get your medical degree?”

The look that Nelson sent him could have withered a cactus.

“No degree, just years of dealing with an obstinate, thick-headed ‘friend’ who always claims he’s ‘fine’ when he’s two steps from death’s door,” Nelson growled back.

Leon seemed about to answer back but held his tongue and allowed the older man to prod his ribs. When Nelson was through, he heard ‘Leon’ mumble to Raoul, “The things I do to keep people happy.” He knew darn well that Lee had purposely said it loud enough for him to hear it too.

It was about time for the noon break so Lee and Raoul got everyone settled on the boat and broke out the box lunches. The food was simple but tasty, the guests having stated their preference before the trip as to whether they’d like sandwiches or wraps along with a mixed fresh fruit salad. There was a cooler filled with soft drinks and juice as well as thermoses of coffee and tea.

Lee noted that Nelson had ordered the Lime Chicken Wrap⁴ and Starke the Smoked Trout Wrap⁵, both admirals seemed to be enjoying their choices.

*****

They cruised leisurely and roundabout, over to the next dive site, Raoul was acting as guide and giving a running commentary on the history of Cabo, the Nature Preserve, the Mid Wall and Pelican Rock dive sites as well as the other sites that they wouldn’t be diving. This allowed time for everyone to have a bit of a rest after lunch and be ready to dive again when they reached the Mid Wall. Lee was doing the steering and enjoying the respite from the scrutiny of Starke as the wheel was located in the bow. He let his mind wander.

I wonder if ONI got it right. That guy doesn’t seem like an agent, then again I’m trying really hard not to seem like one either. He hasn’t made any moves yet....what if the ‘package’ isn’t at one of the dive sites but at the ‘facilities’ stop. He’d know that Raoul and I would be watching all the divers when in the water and that we’d confiscate anything someone picked up on the dive, but at the stop we’d have no reason to eagle eye anyone. There’s a souvenir shop there, people will buy things and Raoul and I certainly won’t be doing a search. If it were me, that’s how I’d arrange things.

Lost in this thoughts Lee didn’t notice that Raoul had stopped talking and made his way forward.

“Ah, Leon, about our scheduled ‘facilities’ stop, I think some of the guests would really like it if we made that sooner rather than later.”

Lee grinned, “After all that juice and coffee I’m sure they would. In a bit of a hurry myself.” Lee rubbed his stomach for effect.

“That shark smack starting to bother you?” Raoul frowned and looked at Lee’s midsection.

“No I’m fine, just could use the ‘facilities’ break. Tell everyone to keep seated. I’ll have us there in no time”

Raoul shook his head and grinned, he knew how much Leon loved to run full throttle.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Leon has assured me that we’ll be at our scheduled shore break shortly...which means, hang on tight everyone!”

As soon as Lee heard Raoul warn the guests he waiting for a count of 5 then opened her all the way up. The boat fairly leaped forward and skimmed along the water.

Harry caught the grin on Lee’s face when Lee briefly looked back. Checking to see if he lost any of us. Harry had seen the rub Lee had given his midsection when talking to Raoul and Raoul’s frown and pointed look. He looks ok, but with him, you just never know.

Lee expertly pulled the boat up to the small dock, Raoul tossed over the fenders, hopped out and tied her bow and quarter lines to the dock cleats. They wouldn’t be here long and there wasn’t much water action so the two lines would be sufficient.

There was some straightening up to do on board but Raoul motioned for Lee to go ahead and follow the guests to the rest area. Lee nodded back, so far so good, that part of the plan worked. What he hadn’t counted on was Nelson having seen his earlier gesture to his stomach. Now, getting off he found himself suddenly becoming an Admiral sandwich, with Starke on his left side and Nelson on the right. They were obviously trying to steer him off to the side. He couldn’t have any distractions right now, he had to keep Carmichael in his sights.

He cleared his throat, knowing he was about to become unpopular with Nelson, Starke he didn’t care about, he was already in his bad books. Raising his voice slightly, “Yes gentlemen, the facilities are just over there to the far right. Afterwards you might like to browse the gift shop, all the items are handmade by the locals. There are some very nice embroidered shirts and leather belts.” With that he took a big, quick step forward and gestured the two admirals over to the right while he walked quickly away from them.

Harry scowled after his uncooperative friend. Jiggs snorted, “Why that insolent whelp, he knew darned well we wanted to talk to him, privately.”

“Yes he did, but it appears that something more important has his attention.”

“What could be more important to him than two admirals?” Jiggs huffed.

Harry shushed Jiggs and watched Lee. Lee slacked his pace as he approached the gift shop. He spoke briefly to a couple of the other guests who were also headed that way. The restroom was not a large facility, those that could wait went to the shop first. Harry noticed that while Lee appeared to have his attention on the people he was talking to, he had angled himself so that he could watch one of the other guests. Then everyone was inside the shop.

The shop wasn’t that large either and although Harry wanted to keep an eye on Lee he didn’t want to crowd things. He had a feeling that whatever Lee was interested in was happening now. He’d keep himself and Jiggs close, but not to close.

Inside the shop Carmichael browsed through some of the merchandise, he selected a couple of belts and some trinkets, paid for his purchases, then paused and spoke, to the person behind the cash register. The person nodded and pointed to the side door, indicating that Carmichael should turn to the right after going out the door.

Lee waited a few seconds then quickly bought a beaded bracelet and headed out the side door as well. He could see his quarry headed up a rocky path behind the shop.

Can’t very well follow behind him, be easy to spot me and hear me with all that crunching rock.

Lee scanned the area looking for some way to follow and still be out of sight and hearing. Nothing. Well if I can’t be stealthy then I’ll have to be innocently obvious. Lee had spotted a boy playing with a donkey⁶, he went over and spoke with the boy in Spanish. Lee was grateful that the kid had a donkey that favored the larger size of the critters.

Shortly thereafter, the boy headed into the store to show his mother all the money he’d gotten from the ‘gringo’ to rent his donkey.

Harry and Jiggs watched as Lee, long legs curled against the sides of the donkey and butt bouncing on its back, headed up the path at a trot. Harry heard Jiggs mutter “Stupid ass,” and he wasn’t sure if Jiggs was referring to the donkey or it’s rider. He didn’t ask.

*****

It wasn’t long before Lee overtook the agent.

“You’re getting a little far afield Mr. Carmichael. We won’t be stopping here long.”

“Oh I plan to be quick. I heard there was a bit of a view from the top of this hill.”

“Yes, I’d heard the same thing, decided to check it out via donkey.” Lee leaned forward and gave the beast’s ears a scratch. My butts going to be killing me for days!

“Don’t let me hold you up Leon.”

“OK, see you at the top!”

Lee gave the donkey a gentle kick, ‘Dapples’ moved on. Lee didn’t really know the name of the donkey but had decided that he’d name it after Don Quixote’s sidekick Sancho Panza’s, donkey.

As he rode along he surveyed the rocky area, looking for anything that might be a marker. He also found frequent reasons to stop and surreptitiously keep an eye on Carmichael. So far the man had just kept walking, never stopping or leaving the path.

Eventually Lee reached the top of the hill. There was a view of the bay and in the other direction sun scorched land dotted with creosote bushes. He noticed a small pile of stones against the left side of a boulder. He slid off Dapples with a groan and sat on a boulder a few feet to the right of the other one. He watched as Carmichael finished the climb.

“There is a a view but I’m not sure it was worth the climb.” Lee commented.

Carmichael nodded and parked himself on the other boulder. “Rather picturesque though.” He pulled out a small camera and took a couple of shots, including one of Lee. Oh oh, going to have to do something about that.

Reaching down to the pile of stones Carmichael picked a couple of them up and tossed them down the side of the hill. He repeated this a couple of more times, the third time he knocked over the pile and Lee was sure that he palmed something.

“Well Leon I suppose we’d better be getting back.”

He’s not wasting any time now that he has what he came for.

“Yes, I was about to suggest that myself. Would you like to ride the donkey down?” Lee’s offer wasn’t altogether altruistic, Dapples had one heck of a back bone.

“No, I don’t ride, I’ll be fine walking down.”

They both headed off, this time Lee kept pace with Carmichael. Dapples didn’t mind the slow pace in the least, or Lee didn’t think he did.

When they reached the bottom of the hill the donkey gave a shake and a buck and Lee found himself sitting in the dust. Dapples trotted over to where his boy was standing, trying very hard not to laugh at the gringo his donkey had dumped in the dirt. Lee smiled and gave him a friendly wave to show that he wasn’t angry and that all was fine. He picked himself up and dusted his rear-end off.

Lee made a hasty visit to the facitilites and was the last one back onboard the boat. Raoul gave him an odd look, “You know amigo, you are very strange.” Apparently Lee’s donkey excursion hadn’t gone unnoticed by Raoul.

Lee had released the lines from the dock as he came aboard and as Raoul pulled the fenders in Lee gunned the engine and headed for the Mid Wall.

*****

The rest of the trip was peaceful, they dived the Mid Wall and continued west along to Pelican Rock to view the underwater Sandfalls and watch the assorted Rays move graceful past them. Then it was time to head back to the cruise ship.

Harry had noticed that while Lee still kept a watchful eye on Carmichael he wasn’t quite as focused as before. OK, so whatever Lee was waiting for the man to do he’s done. I wonder what happens next...

*****

Lee hadn’t gotten a good look at what Carmichael had palmed on the hilltop. All he knew was that it was small and that he had a limited time to obtain it. Usually his missions were a little simpler, if more dangerous. Well defined targets, dodge a few bullets, or not, he did sometimes fail to avoid the flying lead, and get back.

On this one he wasn’t really sure what he was after, the direction was to get whatever this guy picked up. While Carmichael had slipped whatever it was he’d retrieved into his dive bag there was no guarantee he’d left it there when he got back aboard the cruise ship. He might keep it on him, put it in the cabin safe or hide it in any number of places. It was even possible he’d put it in a waterproof container with a locator and toss it overboard. People would be amazed if they knew what prowled beneath the waves.

OK, so the first thing I need to do is get into the cabin and search it. We’re just leaving port, if he was going to ‘toss it’ he wouldn’t have done it yet.

Lee knew Carmichael’s dining time and the restaurant he was assigned to. He tried to make himself as inconspicuous as possible while keeping an eye on the entrance. That didn’t go as well as he would have liked. Guests kept stopping to chat with him. It felt like he must have given some sort of lesson to every female on board, and they greatly loved them. As he was thanking another woman for her kind words of appreciation the object of his vigil passed by, apparently not noticing him. He’d moved slightly so that the woman was between himself and the agent. As Carmichael went into the restaurant to dine Lee excused himself and headed for deck 7.

He had hoped to find the corridor deserted. The key word being ‘hoped’, he knew the odds were against it and he didn’t have a plausible reason for cruising the corridor. As he made his way towards the target cabin he passed a family exiting theirs, fortunately they didn’t appear to recognize him or they were simply too busy trying to keep their children in view to take much notice of who else was about. Lee simply nodded and passed by, just part of the background.

Cabin reached he quickly took out a master magnetic key card. He’d liberated it from housekeeping while chatting up one of the cuties. He hoped no one would notice that it was missing before he could slip it back.

Once inside the cabin he went first to the safe. ONI had provided him with the pass code that the ship used for the onboard safes. It was changed regularly and he hoped the one he had was current. He punched in the 14 digits and was relieved to hear the whirring of the inner workings as the lock released. He peered inside; there was a wallet and airline ticket, nothing more. He went through the wallet thoroughly and then carefully replaced everything. He checked the ticket sleeve, nothing. He put the items back in the safe and locked it.

He slowly looked around the cabin and spotted the dive bag in a corner. He took careful note of how the bed looked and then put the bag on it. Housekeeping had been through, evidenced by the concocted towel rabbit on the bed. He didn’t want to mess that up, he knew he’d never figure out how to fold it back again, he gently lifted it and put it on the side table.

He removed all the items from the dive bag and laid them out on the bed examining each one as he did so. Coming the camera he checked the pictures on it, and deleted the one of himself. Then he looked for any hidden compartments in the bag, nothing. He glanced at his watch, not much time left, he didn’t think Carmichael would take a stroll around the boat after he’d finished eating, the agent would be back soon. Quickly and accurately placing everything back in the bag he stowed it in the corner again. Next he checked under the mattress, a bit cliché but you never knew, finally he smoothed the bedding back into place, and carefully replaced the rabbit.

There wasn’t much in the dresser drawers or taped to any out-of-the-way surface, nothing in the bar fridge other than the booze and snacks. He knew he was just killing time now, it was unlikely he’d find the item in the cabin even if it was there. No he was going to have to do this the hard way. He settled down to wait for Carmichael to return.

******

Harry was hungry and impatient for Jiggs to be ready. How long does he need to take a shower? he muttered to himself. Harry was used to submarine living, rarely exceeding 5 minutes to shower, Jiggs had been in there for 15! Not that Seaview had a water problem, there was always plenty to go around but old habits die hard and Harry still followed the ‘get in, get wet, turn it off, rinse it off’ routine. Jiggs finally emerged from the dressing room, which was attached to the Head. He noted the peeved expression on Harry’s face and correctly guessed the reason.

“Getting a little impatient are we Harry?”

“Took you long enough.”

“There no rush, some of us like to enjoy our shower and don’t consider it a timing challenge. We’re not on a sub you know.”

“I had noticed that small fact.” Harry grumped back at Jiggs.

Harry was hoping to have a word with Lee this evening, maybe find out if there was anything he could do to help with whatever was going on, now that whatever Lee had been waiting for seemed to have happened. He hated not knowing what it was all about, he was rather possessive when it came to Lee Crane, a fact that mightily puzzled and frequently annoyed his friend Jiggs.

*****

Lee tensed as he heard the key card inserted in the cabin door slot. He had moved from the main cabin area to the change area. He listened as the cabin door opened and Carmichael paused before entering. Lee knew that the agent was scanning the area, looking and listening intently for any indication that the room was not secure. Carmichael was a careful agent, Lee hoped not careful enough. He heard the door close, now the question was would Carmichael move into the cabin straight away or check the change area and Head?

*****

Harry and Jiggs finished their meal, Harry hadn’t tasted much of it, for some reason he had a bad feeling about Lee. He hoped Jiggs would amuse himself after dinner because he wanted to hunt Lee down. He wouldn’t feel easy until he’d at least set eyes on Lee. Luck wasn’t with him, Jiggs had no end of suggestions for things they could do after dinner.

*****

Luck however was with Lee, at first. Carmichael proceeded into the cabin without checking any further. Switching on the lights, he started removing his jacket. Lee had the sliding door cracked enough that he could watch Carmichael in the wall mirror. There was only a minute or two before he would likely turn and approach to hang his jacket in the closet in the change area. There was no door to hide behind so Lee was crouched under the long shelf in front of the mirrors, opposite the closet.

Carmichael slid the door open, Lee had quietly let it close all the way so as not to tip Carmichael off. Carmichael entered and reached to hang up his jacket, it was at that moment that Lee sprang and landed a well placed blow to the back of Carmichael’s neck. As Carmichael went down Lee grabbed him to ease the landing. No need to give the guy a concussion. Lee would do what needed to be done to accomplish a mission but he did try to keep the damage to a minimum, for all concerned.

A search of the man’s clothing didn’t produce the item. “Great, going to have to be a strip search, hate that.” Lee mumbled to himself

Lee started at the top and worked his way down, he was really hoping to find whatever it was before he had to proceed to far. No such luck but he didn’t have to hunt as far as he was afraid he might. Stripping Carmichael’s pants off and spreading his legs Lee found what had to be the object of his search securely taped high on the inside of Carmichael’s left thigh. Lee worked loose one end of the tape and ripped it off, winching in sympathy as he did so. He examined the small, plastic wrapped, flat rectangular object. It wasn’t much bigger than his thumb nail but undoubtedly contained more information than a set of encyclopaedias.

Still kneeling by Carmichael he glanced at his face and was stunned to see the man’s eyes open. Whether he hadn’t hit him quite hard enough or the removal of the chip had been enough pain to bring him around Lee didn’t know or care.

Carmichael brought his right leg up and pumped it forward, his foot catching Lee squarely in his gut propelling him out the doorway and slamming him into the opposite wall. Lee quickly tucked the chip into his pants pocket and met Carmichael’s follow-up lunge with a right cross that connected solidly. The fight was on, the rabbit on the bed didn’t stand a chance.

*****

Harry and Jiggs were taking a stroll about Deck 14, the highest that as a passenger you could access. They heard some sort of commotion towards the bow and quickened their pace. A small group of fellow strollers were gathered together, looking and pointing up. Following their example Harry and Jiggs raised their eyes.

“My god Harry, what on earth does he think he’s doing?”

Harry had no answer to that, but he could guess, given that Lee was being pursued by a man in skivvies.

Everyone watched as the two men climbed up into the complex radar and radio antenna tower. Harry’s stomach clenched, there was nowhere for Lee to go and a fight up there could only end with one of the men falling to his death.

“Why there Lee, why go up there?” Harry wasn’t aware that he’d spoken his question out loud.

“He’s only got one out that I can see, Harry, he’s got to go over the side.”

As Jiggs made his comment Harry watched Lee. To damn high to jump....

*****

During the cabin fight Lee had tossed Carmichael onto the bed, squashing the rabbit and bouncing the man into the plate glass doors leading to the small balcony. The glass had given way and Lee had taken the opportunity to get out of the cabin. He planned to head down a few decks before executing the next and he hoped not final part of his plan but damned if Carmichael didn’t come barreling out of the cabin in only his skivvies. Lee ducked into the first elevator with open doors and as circumstance would have it, it was going up. It didn’t stop until deck 14, which was a fair bit of luck, that and the fact that only one elevator on board went to deck 14, the others all stopped at 12.

The doors opened and Lee momentarily thought about pushing the button for deck 3, he pondered the odds of it going all the way down without stopping, not good ones, and for some reason, movies where the elevator always opened in front of exactly the wrong person flashed into his brain. He didn’t have any time to think further about it as Carmichael came racing up the stairs from deck 12. Lee bolted to the communications tower.

*****

Lee assessed his options quickly and reaching the V shaped ‘wing’ on the tower swung himself over the middle of it and down onto one of the supporting struts. Looking down he almost lost his chance as he felt an arm reaching through the supports from the other side try to grab him. Not giving it any more thought he jumped off the support and just barely made his hoped for landing. With a whopping bang he landed in the top of the water slide. Away he went, down, around the spirals, and into the pool two decks below.

Everyone rushed to the railing to look down, forgetting all about the man still clinging to the radar tower, mouth agape. Holy sh--! That guys crazy!

He watched, the passengers watched and especially Harry and Jiggs watched as Lee pulled himself out of the pool and made for the railing. Leaping up and without pausing he jumped, using the momentum to carry himself out far enough to avoid the side of the ship on his way down. Crossing his arms tightly over his chest in midair, tucking his hands under his armpits he kept his body as board straight as he could he get it and plunged feet first down into the churning water.

Jiggs turned and looked at Harry, “Well it is a survivable jump Harry.”

“Barely Jiggs, barely, it’s also a jump where a man can sustain some pretty serious injuries.”

The two men both startled when the ship sounded the ‘man overboard’ alarm and ‘Oscar, Oscar, Oscar’ filled the air. A buoy with a flashing beacon had been thrown into the water to mark the location as near as possible where Lee went over.

They watched as the crew scrambled to launch rescue boats. Harry was afraid it was going to be a useless endeavor, if Lee had wanted to be on the ship he wouldn’t have jumped. The question was, what did Lee hope to accomplish by jumping? Was whatever he had obtained from the other agent so valuable that Lee would kill himself to make sure it was out of reach of the other man. No that made no sense, Lee could have just destroyed the item. What was his plan, did he even have a plan?

Harry felt Jiggs take his arm and pull him away from the railing as the searchlights scanned the ocean surface.

“Nothing we can do now Harry. Either they’ll find the young fool or they won’t.”

Harry knew this was Jigg’s best attempt at a comforting statement but it fell far short. Still he appreciated the effort.

*****

Lee groaned inwardly as he hit the water. He wanted to go as deep as possible so he kept his body rigid until his downward motion ceased. When he’d been going down the slide he’d put the small, wrapped chip in his mouth, planting it firmly against his left cheek and clamping his teeth together hard. This accomplished two things, kept the chip safe, and prevented him from biting through his tongue when he hit the water.

He gave a slight kick to start up, he wasn’t in a hurry, he could hold his breath for an amazingly long time. As soon as he reached the surface he checked to see where the ship was.

OK, there you are off to port, hmmmm boats launching. Good thing there’s a nice swell, that will make spotting me harder. At least I hope it’s a good thing.

Lee jack-knifed in the water, grabbed and pulled off his right shoe. He twisted the heel until it came off and from the hollow interior he took out a small plastic device, clipping it securely to his shirt he twisted the top and a thin antenna extended from it.

Hope somebody is listening and not too far away. This water is mighty cold even with my dive vest on! His plan had always been to jump from the ship once he had the item, just not so soon and not from so high up. He had put the vest on under his clothes at the last minute before leaving his cabin, some inner sense telling him to be prepared for anything.

*****

“Why the hell not Jiggs? What’s the point of you being an active Naval Admiral and my having my own submarine if we can’t use that to help Lee?”

The argument had been going on for some time. Harry wanted get the Flying Sub on its way to help find Lee, and he wanted Jigg’s to call out the Navy to help search.

“For heaven’s sake Harry, you know these secret missions are to be just that ‘secret’. If you have the Navy and your flying wonder out there looking for him it’s going to make BIG news and be a giveaway that our government was involved. Right now he’s just a cruise employee that stole something then jumped overboard, news, but ‘small’ news.”

“I don’t give a Tinker’s Damn about any of that. Lee is out there, probably hurt, probably getting hypothermic and I want him found now!”

“Harry, he doesn’t want to be found, you know that. He has his priorities straight about his mission, even if I think, well never mind what I think about how he went about it. You can’t bring your ‘toys’ into this, and I can’t call out the Navy.”

“Toys!!!! Just wait until you want to use it to for another Naval emergency.”

Harry picked up his cell phone and tried again for a signal. He knew he should be able to get one but for some reason hadn’t been able to. That’s when the argument with Jiggs had gotten serious, he wanted to access the ships communications to get through to the Nelson Institute and Jiggs was trying to stop him. Just when he’d decided that he’d punch Jiggs out if he had to in order to get to the bridge his cell phone whistled.

“About time,” he muttered and placed his call while Jiggs frowned at him.

“What do you mean it’s not there?” he bellowed into the phone. “It has to be....I see....and why is that?.....No, I can ask him myself.” He flipped the phone off and turned to face Jiggs.

Jiggs instinctively backed up a step or two, the look on Harry’s face wasn’t one he was comfortable with and didn’t know why it was directed at him.

“Well Jiggs, it seems that FS1 isn’t where it should be, seems she’s commandeered by the Navy. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

The low, growling tone and slowly enunciated words told Jiggs how much trouble he was in, even though he was innocent, at least he thought he was innocent.

“Harry I swear, I don’t know where she is or why. Something must have happened after I left the office. I’m on vacation; they wouldn’t contact me if my personal attention wasn’t needed.”

Harry mulled that over; while it was true it also wasn’t necessarily ‘true’. Jiggs would hold back information if it was ‘need to know’ only and he didn’t think Harry needed to know. He looked carefully at Jiggs and deeply into his eyes, something that made many a person squirm uncomfortably, even Lee a time or two. He didn’t see any deceit there.

*****

Lee was thinking about trying to swim further away from the searchers, even though he knew the best way to conserve body heat in water was to stay still and small. He was able to float without effort courtesy of his dive vest. He suddenly felt two quick tugs on his legs. He took in a big gulp of air just before he was pulled under.

He couldn’t see anything but was happy to feel a SCUBA mouthpiece pushed against his lips and he quickly took possession of it. Then a facemask was placed over his face and the strap slipped behind his head. He cleared it of water and could finally get a look at the diver. He was surprised to see a well-known face wink an eye at him before moving out of his line of sight. He felt something being pulled up over his body, then he was moving downward. The mouthpiece was a bit of an awkward fit with the chip also in his mouth but he managed it.

The water rapidly became colder as they dove but the ‘sack’ his body had been enclosed in was providing some protection in that the cold outer water was not in direct contact with his body so heat loss was slowed.

They stopped and the diver blinked his dive light three times, two quick and one slow, it was answered by 4 quick blinks and then the ocean lit up as a submerged vessel turned on its welcome lights.

Once inside, without any preamble or ‘by your leave’ he was stripped of his wet clothing and vest, wrapped in warming blankets and handed a hot cup of coffee. It all happened so fast he hadn’t even been able to say ‘hello’.

Chip, still in his wetsuit, and Sharkey who had been waiting in FS1 both looked at him with big grins. Lee spit out the chip, took a sip of coffee and said, “So what took you so long?” All three men started to laugh.

“Lee we’ve practically been polishing that ships props since the second day you left port,” Chip told him with a grin. “I think if Sharkey could have figured out a way he would have attached us to her.”

Lee raised his cup of coffee and saluted Sharkey, who beamed with pleasure at the acknowledgment.

“The Admiral certainly kept it all a secret. I knew the Navy was arranging to have a sub in the area to get me when I jumped, I thought it would be one of theirs.”

“The Admiral, Lee? He didn’t know anything about it and how would he have contacted you?”

“Chip, he’s on the cruise ship I just abandoned, along with Starke!”

Sharkey and Chip both let out low whistles.

“We didn’t know that Lee, we got the orders after he’d left for a trip with Admiral Starke. Seems the sub the Navy was sending broke down en route, we became the emergency backup, and happy to do so I might add. ”

Lee flashed Chip a grateful grin.

Oh fabulous, the Admiral probably figures I jumped to certain death. Nothing much I can do about that until the ship gets back to L.A.

Sharkey was on the radio reporting to the Navy that they’d picked up Captain Crane and were on their way back.

“Yes sir, I’ll let Captain Crane and Mr. Morton know that, FS1 out.”

Lee and Chip looked at Sharkey expectantly.

“Ah, Sirs, seems that Admiral Nelson got ahold of the Institute, he wanted FS1 out here ASAP. He wasn’t best pleased when he was told the Navy had requisitioned us, gave ONI an earful.”

“So he knows you were sent out here to get me.” At least I don’t have to worry about him worrying.

“Ah no Sir, ONI didn’t feel he needed to know what they wanted us for.”

Lee groaned and rested his head on the bulkhead, Chip sank to the floor beside him. Lee heard him mumble, “Just one big happy family.”

Lee was trying to think of what could be done, This is a fine kettle of fish, as the saying goes. I can’t just leave the Admiral hanging. Funny thing, he has no problem ordering me blown up⁶ or sending me on missions, but he sure gets testy when someone else does it.

Of course Lee knew that Nelson was always concerned for his safety, even when the order into a dangerous situation came from the Admiral himself. He recalled for a moment when Nelson had thought he and Kowalski dead after ordering Seaview to fire on the enemy submarine that he believed they were on⁷. It was imperative that the sub be destroyed, even at the cost of lives dear to him, one especially dear. When Lee communicated his request to come aboard Seaview, showing that against the odds he was alive, he had wondered at the time about the slight delay in getting a response, but when Nelson finally granted permission with the heartfelt words ‘with pleasure’ tacked on Lee heard the emotion in the Admiral’s voice. Later that night, in the Admiral’s cabin, he found out just how shaken Nelson had been to have had to give the order to fire the torpedoes. Nelson wasn’t a physically demonstrative man but the unexpected embrace Lee received when he entered the Admiral’s cabin said it all.

His mind snapped back to the present situation.

“Chip, what were your orders, exactly?

“To shadow the cruise ship, with the expectation that we would be picking an agent up out of the water. I think it was an afterthought that they told us who the agent was. They probably figured it would keep us more focused.” Chip chuckled. He knew, and he knew that Lee knew, that any mission they undertook would have their complete attention. Although he couldn’t argue about the fact that knowing it was Lee did lend a certain extra bit of concern to the proceedings. “We were to inform them when we had you and deliver you ASAP, radio silence otherwise.”

“Sharkey.”

“Aye Skipper?”

“How far away are the whales?” Lee hadn’t bothered to ask if there were any, this time of year the California Grey’s were migrating down from the Bering and Chukchi seas to the warm waters of the central Pacific coast. He’d spotted them from the cruise ship a number of times.

Sharkey looked at the sonar screen, “about 3 miles East, Sir.”

“OK, I want you to move us within ½ mile of them, and then surface.”

“Aye aye Skipper.”

Chip was puzzled, “Surface Lee, won’t that sort of give us away? Or.....I see, we’re a whale.”

“It’s dark, they are concentrating on finding a man in the swells. For as long as it will take me to do what I want to do we’ll look like a whale, as long as they don’t look to close, and I doubt they’ll look at all.”

“And we’re doing this because?”

Lee smiled, “Can’t get a cell phone signal out from inside FS1, especially submerged.”

“Should be an interesting call.”

Lee merely flashed that boyish grin he had.

Chip knew that they could call from FS1’s radio but Lee was protecting his men, as usual. ONI would know about any signals from FS1, but a cell phone call from a burner phone would give plausible deniability, sort of. There was always a stock of burners in FS1. Lee never carried his Institute issued cell phone on missions. This mission being a prime example of why. He wouldn’t want it found in his cabin after he jumped, and if he had it on him it might have been lost during the brief fight in Carmichael’s cabin. The name of the game on a mission was to have nothing that could identify who you really were or who you where working for on you or in your possessions.

*****

For the umpteenth time Jiggs was pulling Harry away from the railing and the crewmember sweeping the searchlight across the water’s surface. “Harry you need to leave them alone, they know what they are doing. You trying to issue orders to them isn’t helping.”

“They should have found him by now; you know very well that the longer it takes the less chance there is of recovering him.”

Jiggs couldn’t argue with that, it was true. While there was a considerable swell he did feel that Crane should have been found by now, unless....well he didn’t want to think about what that would do to Harry.

He heard Harry’s cell phone whistle its tune, he thought Harry was going to ignore it but he eventually flipped it open, frowned when he looked at the screen but took the call.

“Nelson,” Harry growled, he wasn’t in a polite mood and there was no caller ID, which was odd.

“Missing package wrapped up safe in yellow fish, will contact when you dock.”

Jiggs watched with concern as Harry grabbed the railing of the stairs he was standing next to and slowly sank down to sit, lowering his head as he flipped off his phone after having said three words into it, “understood, with pleasure”. Harry had recognized the voice instantly, and knew that Lee would understand the message inherit in the last two words he’d spoken.

Jiggs was unprepared for Harry’s next words, “Jiggs my friend, let’s go get the biggest whiskey’s this tub serves, my treat.” As they left Harry paused for a moment and looked out over the water, smiled and nodded.

Harry never told Jiggs who had called him or what was said, Harry had no doubt that Lee had probably broken or at least bent the ‘radio silence’ standard for missions. What mattered was that he was ok.

*****

Jiggs worried all the way back that Harry wouldn’t discuss losing Lee nor did he seem overly despondent. After an unsuccessful and exhaustive search the cruise ship had continued on to the next port and then home and Harry hadn’t objected. Every time Jiggs had tried to bring the subject up Harry had avoided it.

Happy to have the cruise over with they had just cleared port customs when a young man approached them.

“Excuse me but would you be Admirals Starke and Nelson?”

As neither man was in uniform they were somewhat surprised to be identified.

Jiggs spoke first, “Yes, what is it you want?”

“I was told to find you and let you know that a Navy car has been sent for you. You can find it right outside the main gates.”

*****

As they approached the car, a bearded and rather longhaired Lieutenant snapped to attention and gave them a crisp salute. Jiggs returned the salute automatically and climbed in the car, the passenger door was already open. Harry also returned the salute and climbed in.

Once settled and as the driver took his seat Jiggs, in his best ‘me Admiral, you dirt’ voice started to ream the driver out about his appearance, facial hair was not permitted in the Navy, nor the longish head hair. As he went on and on, not giving the Lieutenant time to answer the driver started the car and headed out into traffic. This annoyed Jiggs even more and he finally took a breath in order to start his next rant.

The Lieutenant took advantage of the opening, “Begging the Admiral’s pardon but my next assignment is with Special Forces Afghanistan and as I’m sure the Admiral is aware, facial hair and longer head hair is permitted, actually it’s a requirement of the assignment.”

That took some of the bluster out of Starke, but not for long, not acknowledging the completely logical explanation he demanded to know what the Lieutenant was doing there at all.

The driver hesitated for a moment, choking back the answer that sprang first to his lips, picking you up and giving you a ride you ungrateful Hippopotamus.

Jiggs sensing blood in the water jumped on the hesitation, “Lieutenant I asked you a question and I expect an answer a lot quicker than this.”

“Sir, yes Sir. My instructions were to pick you and Admiral Nelson up and deliver you to NIMR in Santa Barbara. I believe it was arranged for by your staff Admiral Starke.

OK, not exactly a lie, I did talk to his aid Joe and agreed to route his return through NIMR. It should give his staff an extra day or two of peace before he gets back to Hawaii.

There was something about the driver that bothered Harry but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Maybe it is just that I couldn’t see his face with his cover down like that and the beard, and he did turn his head away for some reason. He has Lee’s height.....and although there’s an accent to the voice.....

Harry stopped listening to Jiggs going on about some disciplinary issue or other and looked into the rear view mirror, angling to get a look at the face of their driver.

The hazel eyes in the mirror twinkled and one winked at him.

Oh that impudent SOB I ought to.....

Harry spotted a rest area that they were coming up on, “Driver pull in there right now.”

“Harry what are you doing?” Jiggs asked in confusion.

“Jiggs you should be a hell of a lot more observant, even when it comes to junior officers, maybe especially then.”

As Jiggs sputtered not knowing what had triggered his friends odd behavior the driver brought the car to a stop at the rest area.

In a flash Harry was out of the car, around it and pulling the driver’s door open. He started to haul the driver out practically before the man had finished unfastening his seat belt.

While not usually a defender of junior officers Jiggs couldn’t see what the Lieutenant had done wrong that would set Harry off like this. Delayed reaction to losing Crane I guess, but still.

As Harry hauled the driver out Jiggs tried to pull Harry away, “Harry get a grip on yourself, I’m all for keeping the juniors in line but what did he do?”

“Scared me half to death then has the effrontery to turn up as our driver.”

While Jiggs watched, Harry pulled the Lieutenant into a big hug, knocking the man’s cover off. Jiggs couldn’t help but notice the junior officer now, not quite as junior as his uniform would suggest.

“Crane! What the Hell?”

Harry now held Lee out at arm’s length, a firm grip on his upper arms.

“God it’s good to see you Lad!” He clapped Lee’s shoulders as he released him.

Lee laughed, “For a minute there I thought you were planning to sock me one. Good to see you too, Sir.”

Harry got a worried expression on his face, “Lee about Afghanistan...”

“No Sir, not that I know of, just couldn’t risk being recognized by anyone from the cruise ship. Then I decided to see how long it took you to figure out who I was.....ah just testing the disguise, Sir” As he was speaking he pulled the beard and mustache off.

Harry gave him a slap on the arm, which had a little more than the usual gusto to it.

“Very funny Captain Crane, speaking of you not being recognized, I suggest we get back in the car.”

Starke was halfway expecting Harry to suggest that he drive so that Lee could sit in the back with him, but they resumed their former positions.

Lee started the car and pulled out from the rest stop, he glanced in the mirror at his passengers, Harry was looking very pleased with things and Starke had on his usual stern countenance.

Ah well, might as well get it over with while I have a reason not to be standing at attention.

“Admiral Starke, Sir, how did you enjoy your cruise?” And thar she blows! Lee checked the mirror again and saw Harry grinning, Harry knew why Lee had opted to have Starke vent now rather than later. Lee had a perfectly good excuse for not giving Starke his full attention. His Captain was a sneaky one, Jiggs would be finished his ranting by the time they got to NIMR, Lee could go down to his beloved Seaview, Harry would give Jiggs a drink, send him on his way and then head down to Seaview himself. He thought that Lee would like to know that he’d been keenly missed by the passengers and crew, who by and large took his side, figuring it was all some sort of mistake and his going over the side an accident. Harry always found it fascinating how people would believe what they wanted to believe, regardless of what they may have seen. Rationalization was a wonderful thing.

*****

Harry wasn’t at all surprised to see Chip waiting as Lee pulled the car into the NIMR parking lot.

Chip opened the passenger door and the Admirals exited.

“Welcome back Admiral Nelson, Admiral Starke.”

“Good to be home, Mr. Morton.”

Starke merely returned Chip’s salute.

Turning to Lee, Chip held out the clipboard that he had in his hand, “Captain Crane there are a number of important things that need your attention aboard Seaview.”

Harry smiled to himself, rescue party, eh Chip.

Lee turned smartly to face the Admirals, “By your leave, Sirs.”

Harry responded before Jiggs could think of something else to berate his Captain over, “Of course Lee, I’ll see you aboard later.”

“Yes, Sir.” Lee beat a hasty retreat with Chip.

“You know Harry I don’t think he was really listening to me.”

“He was driving Jiggs, he couldn’t very well turn around and stand at attention.”

“I think I may just follow him down and have a few more words with him.”

“Jiggs you spent two solid hours lecturing him. Whatever you didn’t say during that time doesn’t need to be said now or ever.”

“You were uncommonly quiet Harry, I was expecting you to start defending him.”

“I think Lee and I were of the same opinion, you needed to get it out of your system without interruption.”

Jiggs mouth fell open, “Get it out of my system.....,” he sputtered.

Harry started to walk briskly towards the NIMR main building and his office. “Come along Jiggs, I hear my bottle of single malt calling to me.”

*****

As soon as he opened his cabin door Lee noted the bottle on his desk, he turned and grinned at Chip.

Chip moved forward and poured Lee a generous amount of the Black 33 OP⁸ rum along with one for himself. He raised his glass to Lee, “I thought you’d need this after the drive. Sláinte!⁹”

“Sláinte!” Lee took a large swallow and collapsed on his bunk, being careful not to spill his drink. Chip sprawled in the desk chair.

“Rough drive back?”

“Two hours of nonstop Starke.”

Lee kicked off his shoes and raised himself up on his right arm, taking another healthy slug of the rum.

*****

As he came down the corridor Harry heard laughter coming from Lee’s cabin. He gave a light knock and entered as Lee and Chip continued talking.

“You actually wore it Lee?”

“Well how was I supposed to know? Things are a little different on a cruise ship.”

The two turned their heads as Harry entered, Lee moved to get up from his bunk, and Chip started to stand.

“As you were gentlemen, you look comfortable.”

Somewhere along the way, Lee had propped his pillow against the bulkhead and was sitting against it, his long legs stretched out.

Harry noted the now half-empty bottle of rum and surmised that Lee had had enough that he was sufficiently ‘relaxed’ to be sharing cruise stories with Chip, the non-classified ones. Harry accepted a glass of the dark liquid from Chip. He took a sip, “I’m curious Lee, was it an accident that Jiggs fell in the pool?”

Chip sat up straighter in his chair, a look on keen interest on his face.

Lee grinned, “Admiral, I haven’t had that much rum yet!”

The End

¹ Grus is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the crane. A genus of large birds in the crane family.

² NAUI - National Association of Underwater Instructors, SSI - Scuba Schools International, PADI - Professional Association of Diving Instructors, CPR - Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

³ One of my previous stories, Thunder Rolls.

⁴ LIME CHICKEN WRAP

Ingredients

Serves: 10

• 675g (1 1/2 lb) skinless chicken breast fillets - diced
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 spring onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 10 flour tortilla wraps
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1/2 head iceberg lettuce, shredded
• 50g (2 oz) grated Cheddar cheese
• 10 tablespoons tomato salsa

· Prep: 15 mins | Cook: 30 mins

1.

Sauté chicken in a medium saucepan over medium high heat for about 20 minutes. Add vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, spring onion, garlic and oregano. Simmer for 10 minutes.

2.

If serving hot. Heat a heavy frying pan over medium heat. Place a tortilla in the pan, warm, and turn over to heat the other side. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Serve lime chicken mixture in warm tortillas topped with tomato, lettuce, cheese and salsa.

If cold. Let the chicken mixture cool, load the tortillas with the mix and other ingredients, roll, wrap and refrigerate.

⁵ SMOKED TROUT WRAP

Ingredients

Serves: 4

• ½ cucumber, cut into matchsticks
• 8 soft flour tortillas
• 200g reduced-fat soft cheese
• 4 tbsp low-fat natural yoghurt
• 2 tbsp snipped fresh chives
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
• 150g skinless smoked trout fillets, flaked
• 150g bean sprouts
• 125g mixed baby leaf and herb salad

· Prep: 25 mins

·

1.

Skip for cold Wraps. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 6.

Put the cucumber sticks in a bowl and sprinkle with a little salt. Mix well, then leave for about 10 minutes. (This draws out some of the moisture so that the filling in the wraps will remain crisp.)

2.

Skip for cold Wrap. Wrap the tortillas in foil and warm in the oven for 5 minutes, or according to the pack instructions.

Put the soft cheese, yoghurt, chives and dill into a small bowl and mix together. Stir in the flaked trout and season to taste with a little pepper.

3.

Separate the tortillas and spread out on 2 large boards (alternatively, you can prepare 4 at a time). Spread each tortilla with an eighth of the trout mixture.

4.

Rinse the cucumber in a sieve, then tip onto kitchen paper and pat dry. Divide among the tortillas, arranging them lengthways so the tortillas will be easier to roll up. Scatter over the bean sprouts and salad leaves.

5.

Roll up the tortillas tightly to enclose the filling. Cut each rolled tortilla in half diagonally and serve.

⁶ Donkey’s vary considerably in size, height at the withers can be from 7.3 hands to 15.3 hands, the size of a small horse (ponies are generally anything 14.2 hands and under)

⁷ The Lost Bomb - Season 3 episode

⁸ Black 33 OP, made by the Inner Circle Rum company in Australia, has won the Best Rum in the World award every year for the better part of a decade. Black, 33 Over Proof has a base alcohol content of 75.9 percent by volume. It is a pot-distilled dark rum that was first produced in the mid-19th century by the Colonial Sugar Company. No matter what your price point, there is an excellent and well-designed rum that will meet your needs. If you are interested in stepping back in history, and experiencing the liquor of the seas first hand, take the time to savor the flavor, and only drink the best.

⁹ Sláinte - a word literally translating as "health" and is commonly used as a drinking toast in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.