When Obsession Takes Over
By JSRobertson
Diana Parker was a
receptionist at the Office of Naval Intelligence in
I’m good enough to fill in
but not good enough to be a secretary,
Diana thought as she was once again passed over for a promotion of secretary;
this time it was for Admiral Kingston.
The admiral had quite a few
appointments scheduled that afternoon so she couldn’t leave before
((()))
Before Diana boarded her
flight, she called her brother. “Terry,
someone may call looking for me. Please
tell them you haven’t talked to me,” she begged. “I have something that could make us very
rich.”
“Diana, what’s going
on...where are you...what about your job?” Terry asked confused.
”I’ll explain when I get out there. I’m
stopping in Vegas for a few days before coming to
“Okay,” he replied jotting
down the number. Oh, Diana, what have
you done now? Her brother thought as he hung up the phone.
Walking past a trash can,
Diana threw her phone in it.
((()))
Seaview had been in port for two weeks. She would be in port another two weeks before
heading out on quite a few missions with only enough time in between to restock
the boat. The admiral had decided along with Dr. Jamieson that all the
executive officers would take a vacation.
Lee and Janet Crane had just returned from a stay at a bed and breakfast
in
Lee sat on the corner of
Chip’s desk as Chip told him what needed to be done. Chip was in charge of
procuring all the supplies and items needed for Seaview. “Here are the inventory sheets and I’ve
check everything over. You just need to
order a few items for the next cruise.
If you have any questions, just ask Janet. She knows as much about the inventory as I
do.” He also handed him a few reports
that needed to be completed but Lee was still looking at the inventory.
“Chip, are you sure the
quantity on these valves is correct?” Lee questioned and handed the sheet back
pointing to the item he was talking about.
Chip looked at the item and
frowned. He picked up the phone and
dialed Janet’s extension, “Janet, can you come here please?”
“Yes sir,” she replied
promptly. “Is there something wrong?”
she asked when she got to his office door.
She didn’t know Lee was there with Chip.
“Hi honey,” she said happily
to Lee and went to the other side of Chip’s desk.
“Is this figure correct?”
Chip asked showing her the inventory figure on the valve. “That quantity seems too low. We’re always replacing those valves for some
reason so we should have more in stock.”
“Yes, I thought it was wrong
too and that maybe they wrote down the wrong part number but I went down to the
boat and checked it myself. We only have
two of those so I put in a requisition.
I knew you were leaving so I put it the folder for Lee to order and sign. I hope that was okay? Since we need these items right away, I would
order them but the manufacturer will give you or Lee a better shipping date
than he would give me. I think your
titles frighten them,” she laughed.
Lee smiled at her, “No
problem, I’ll take care of it when I get back to my office.” Janet left Chip’s office with the letters she
had put on Chip’s desk earlier to sign.
“I guess putting her in charge of inventory was a good idea on your
part.”
“Yes, she has learned a lot
about the parts we use on Seaview, almost as good me,” Chip replied with
a grin as he went back to explaining the rest of the work to Lee. “Are we still on for dinner and you driving
me to the airport?”
“Whenever you’re ready to
have dinner is fine with me.”
Looking at his watch, Chip
replied, “How about in an hour. I should
have everything done by then and it will still leave us plenty of time for
dinner and to get to the airport. I’ve
got the last flight out of LAX for Vegas.”
Lee left Chip’s office so he
could finish up what he needed to do.
Lee found the folder with the requisitions and noticed there were quite
a few of them so he would be busy for the next few days. He also had a lot of reports of his own to
finish and now a few from Chip plus there were a lot of new proposals for him
to check over.
((()))
Before leaving, Chip changed
into a pair of jeans and collared shirt.
Chip, Lee and Janet were ready to leave for dinner by 1700 hours. Chip packed his suitcase the night before and
put it in Lee’s car that morning so they wouldn’t need to return to his house
to pick it up. They were going to the
diner for a quick meal before leaving for the airport. It would take them quite awhile to get there
especially on a Thursday evening but the roads to LAX weren’t too congested and
they made it in plenty of time for Chip to make his flight. He gave Janet a quick kiss as she moved to
the front seat while Lee took his suitcase out of the back.
“Please be careful and have a
good time,” Janet told him. “Hopefully
you’ll get lucky and win some money.
Please give our love to your mom and dad and say hi to the rest of your
family from us.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not a
trouble magnet like some people,” he quipped.
“And yes I will make sure to give them a kiss from you.” Chip’s mother and father had become surrogate
parents to both Janet and Lee since they didn’t get to see or talk to Lee’s
mother too often. Chip’s family was
always calling him to check up on the three of them.
“Just don’t find a girl and
get married at ‘A Little White Wedding Chapel’,” Lee teased.
“Please, be serious,” Chip
laughed as he took his suitcase from Lee, gave it to the sky cap and headed
into the terminal.
Lee quickly got back in the
car before the police came and gave him a ticket for being there too long. The ride home took longer than the ride to
the airport as there was a lot of traffic leaving town. Lee and Janet arrived home, looked at the
mail and headed upstairs for bed. It had
been a long day and they were tired.
((()))
Chip boarded his flight for
“Thank you. I’m sorry I
wasn’t looking where I was going,” she apologized as she stared into Chip’s
blue eyes.
He let go of her arm. “Are
you alright?” Chip asked, “I didn’t see you.”
He stared back at her looking her over before helping her pick up her
purse and suitcase.
“I’m fine,” she replied
taking the items from him and walked outside the terminal and hailed a
taxi. As she got into the taxi, she
looked back at Chip and thought, He’s one good looking man. Maybe I’ll run into him again.
Chip stood there watching her
walk away. Man, she’s one good
looking woman, he thought as he walked out the door and got a cab too.
((()))
“Where to?” the cab driver
asked as he put Chip’s suitcase in the trunk.
“
“I have a reservation under
Chip Morton.”
“Yes, sir,” the clerk told
him. “You’re right down the hall from
the rest of your family. Enjoy your
stay.”
“Thank you,” Chip responded
as he took his suitcase and headed for the elevator. It was already 2400 hours and he was very
tired as it had been a long day. He went
into the room, put his suitcase in the dressing area and got ready for
bed. He pulled back the covers on the
bed and climbed in where he fell asleep right away.
((()))
When
“I don’t know,” Ellen
answered tersely. “She didn’t show up
and there’s no one but me to answer the calls until they can get a
replacement. It looks like she
left. There’s nothing in or on her desk
and her ID tag is here.”
“She didn’t say she was
leaving,”
Puzzled she went into her
office, put her coat and purse away and took the files out of her desk
drawer. She noticed one of them was
missing. The missing file had the names
of all the operatives in the field and where they were located. Admiral Johnson had given it to her to update
the current status of the operatives.
Normally he would do it but because of all the meeting he had scheduled
he gave it to her for updating. She
hunted around her desk, the admiral’s desk and the locked drawer where they
kept it and it wasn’t there. She hoped
maybe the admiral had taken it to a meeting.
When he walked in with his coat on and cover in his hand she knew he
wasn’t at a meeting.
Shit, she mumbled loud enough that Admiral Johnson
heard.
“Did you say something
“Sorry sir but the ‘Location’
file is not in my desk where I left it yesterday. Did you put it away?” she asked praying he
had taken it.
“No, I didn’t take it,” he
replied nervously as he too helped her look around the office. “Where did you put it?”
Near tears, “I put it in my
desk before I left yesterday. It was
with the rest of these files,” she replied showing him the files. He too went through each of them looking for the
‘Location’ file.
“Where’s Diana? She was the only one in this office
yesterday.”
“It looks like she left,”
“Damn,” Johnson swore. “We have to find that file or every operative
on a mission will be compromised if it gets into the wrong hands.” They kept the information in a file instead
of on the computer afraid the computer would get hacked and the hackers would
then have the information.
“I’m so sorry, sir,”
Patting her on the shoulder
he told her, “I’m not going to ask you to leave. We’ll just have to find that file. Does Diana have any relatives we can
contact?”
“She has a brother in
“I’ll take over from here,”
Johnson told her. “We’ll get it back,”
he reassured her.
“Yes sir,” she replied and
left his office shutting the door with tears in her eyes.
Admiral Gerald Johnson sat
down at his desk and ran his hand through his hair. He would have to get in touch, if possible,
with all the operatives he could. He
realized some of them were unreachable.
He remembered that some of the current missions were nearing completion
so they might be safe. He knew that they
were going to have to find another way of keeping track of the operatives. He was going to need help in finding Diana
Parker so he picked up the phone and dialed Lee Crane’s number. He needed his help and hoped that Dr.
Jamieson would release him to return to duty.
((()))
Chip woke up the next morning
to knocking on his door. He quickly
pulled on a pair of sweatpants, looked out the peep hole to find his mother and
father standing at the door. He opened
the door after running his hand through his hair.
“Good morning Chip.” his
mother said cheerfully giving him a hug and kiss. His father gave him a hug when his mother was
finished.
“Good morning, Mom, Dad,” he
replied hugging his dad back and giving his mom a kiss on the check. Checking his watch he noticed it was only
“Sorry, we forgot you got in
late last night. But your mother was
anxious to check on you,” Chip’s father said looking affectionately at his mom.
Smiling at Chip’s dad she
replied, “Yes, that’s right. He wanted
to call you last night to make sure you got here okay.”
Chip gave his mother another
kiss and hugged both of them again.
“That’s from Lee and Janet,” he told them grinning. His mother grinned back. “Thanks for that. I miss them. It’s too bad they couldn’t come too. You all work to hard.”
“Don’t worry about them. They just got back from a vacation so they
are fine,” Chip said smiling. “Why don’t
you let me get ready and I’ll meet you at the buffet in a few minutes. We can talk before the rest of them get
there.”
Opening the door, Chip’s dad
replied, “Okay son, we’ll see you in a few minutes.” He held the door so his mom could walk out.
Chip took out a pair of jeans
and shirt and took a leisurely shower before heading down to the buffet. He found his parents and saw they had a pot
of coffee on the table. He poured
himself a cup just as his sister and her husband along with his brother and his
wife walked in the restaurant. They went
over to Chip and give him hugs, kisses and a couple of slaps on the back. It has been quite a while since he had
visited
They all stopped talking and
started to laugh. It was just like when
Chip would come home from the
“I’m a growing boy,” he
laughed as he took a bite of the French toast.
Pouring more coffee in her
cup Chip’s sister asked, “What are we going to do today? We would like to see the Shark Reef.” The rest of them nodded their heads in
agreement; everyone but Chip.
“I know you would like to see
it but that reminds me of work. How
about I meet you for a late lunch? Say around
“We’ll let you pass on this
excursion,” Chip’s brother said, “but it’s the only one. The rest of the weekend you have to do what
we want,” he teased.
“Agreed,” Chip said. “I’ll meet you in the lobby for lunch.”
Chip’s dad picked up the tab
for breakfast and they all left the restaurant.
Chip headed back to his room and change into his swim trunks. It was warmer than normal so he knew the pool
would be open and made his way down there.
There weren’t many people in the water but quite a few were enjoying the
sun. He found a lounger and sat
down. He laid there closed his eyes and
soaked up the sun. If nothing else he
could get a tan. He had been laying
there for awhile when all of there was a shadow in front of him. He opened his eyes and saw someone was
standing at the bottom of his lounger blocking out the sunlight. He raised his sunglasses and saw the woman
from the airport standing there in a bikini that left nothing to the
imagination.
“Well we meet again,” she
said as she looked over Chip.
Sitting up, Chip removed his
sunglasses and replied, “At least this time I’m not knocking you down.” He stood up and extended his hand. “Chip Morton.”
“Diana,” she said not wanting
to give him her last name shook his hand back.
“Hi Diana. Care to join me?”
Chip asked as he pulled over another lounger.
She sat down next to Chip.
“Would you like a drink?” Chip asked as he signaled the waitress.
“Yes, a mimosa please” she
told the waitress.
“I’ll have the same,” Chip
said as they both sat down.
Diana spoke up, “What are you
doing in Vegas?”
“A family reunion...how about
you?” Chip asked as the waitress came over with their drinks and signed the
slip charging it to his room.
“Meeting a few friends for
the weekend,” she replied taking a sip of her drink. “What kind of work do you do?”
“I work for the Nelson
Institute of Marine Research out of
“I’m sorry I never heard of
it,” she lied. She heard of NIMR because
she knew Lee Crane, an occasional and very good looking ONI operative, worked
there as she heard him tell
They continued talking for
the next couple of hours before Chip looked at his watch and noticed he had
about thirty minutes to get ready for lunch.
“I’m sorry but I have to
leave. I’m meeting my family for lunch
and probably dinner. Can I meet you
later tonight at the Ri Ra Pub?”
Smiling, she replied, “That
sounds great around
“It’s a date,” Chip replied.
“Peters?” he asked as he got up.
“My last name just in case
you need to call me,” she said as she gave him her phone number.
Chip gave her one of his
famous smiles and walked back to his room.
Diana sat a little longer at the pool before returning to her room. She took out her cell phone and type in
‘Nelson Institute of Marine Research’.
She found their webpage and saw Chip’s picture along with Admiral
Nelson’s and Commander Crane’s. She was
surprised to learn that Chip was the Lt. Commander on a submarine named Seaview. She finished reading the information on the
website and returned to her room. Once
in her room, she changed, and left the hotel to check out the
((()))
Lee and Janet Crane had just
arrived at work and were getting a cup of coffee when Lee’s cell phone
rang. He quickly picked it up
recognizing the admiral’s number. He
went to his office to take the call while Janet went to her office. She booted up her computer and took out the
reports Chip had completed so she could finish processing them. The phone rang indicating there was a call
for Lee. She answered the phone not sure
who was calling as no number showed on the phone.
“Commander Crane’s office,
Janet Crane speaking. How may I help
you?”
“Good morning, Mrs. Crane,”
Admiral Johnson said. “Is Lee available?”
“No sir, he’s on the phone
with Admiral Nelson right now. Can I
take message?”
“Please have him call me as
soon as he can,” Johnson asked politely.
“I need his help.”
“I’ll have him call you as
soon as he’s available,” she replied softly. Lee hadn’t been cleared by Jamie to return to
ONI so why was Johnson calling, she thought.
“Thank you,” he answered, “Is
there anyway you can transfer me to Dr. Jamieson?”
“Yes sir, hold on
please. I’ll try his phone but I don’t
know if he has come in yet.”
“I’ll leave a message if I
have to.”
Janet dialed Jamie’s
extension and he answered the phone, “Dr. Jamieson.”
“Hi Jamie,” Janet said, “I
have Admiral Johnson on the phone for you.
I don’t know what he wants but can only assume he needs Lee.”
Hesitating for a moment,
Jamie replied, “I knew he would be calling soon. Janet, there is no reason he can’t return to
ONI. It’s been four months and he is
fully healed.”
“I know Jamie,” Janet said
discouragingly. “Now if we could only
convince him to quit.”
“Sorry, I’ve tried to make
him quit so you’re going to have to persuade him. Put Johnson through.”
“Yes sir,” Janet said as she
hung up the phone. “Damn.”
Lee walked in her office and
heard her. Smiling, “Problems already?”
“Sorry honey. No not really but Admiral Johnson called and
would like you to call him.”
He could see she was upset at
his call. “Sweetie, I know we talked about
this. I am going to try and cut down on
the missions I take but I still need…”
Janet stopped him before he could continue, “I know, I know.” He went behind her desk, put his hands on her
shoulders squeezing them gently and gave her a quick kiss on the top of her
head. The phone rang as he finished
kissing her. “Janet Crane,” she
answered.
“Janet, is Lee there? I need to talk to him before he calls Admiral
Johnson,” Jamie asked. Whispering to him
it was Jamie, Janet handed the phone to Lee.
“Yes Jamie,” Lee said. “I assume Johnson wanted to know if I was
cleared to return to duty.”
“That’s correct. I told him there was no reason why you
couldn’t return. I’m sending him the
return to duty form now.”
“Thanks Jamie.” Lee hung up the phone and called Admiral
Johnson from Janet’s office. If he
needed to go on a mission, she would find out about it anyway so she might as
well know what it is right away.
Admiral Johnson answered
Lee’s call and explained to him what had transpired. He needed him to come to
“I’ll be there later today,”
Lee told Johnson. “Damn.”
Cautiously Janet asked, “That
bad?” Lee explained to her why Johnson
needed him. “Well, I guess it could be worse,” she said thankfully, “you could
be on a mission and have your identity compromised.”
Giving her a wry grin, “I
need to call the admiral and let him know what’s taking place. Do you know who’s on Seaview right
now?”
Taking the schedule out of
the file on her desk, Janet responded, “Kowalski and Chief Sharkey.”
Lee radioed down to Seaview
and Chief Sharkey answered, “Chief, I need you and Kowalski to prepare FS-1 for
immediate launch.”
“Yes sir,” Sharkey
answered. “We’ll have her ready in
fifteen minutes.”
“Thanks, Chief.” When he was finished with
that call he called the admiral and explained to him that he needed to go to
“If Chip calls, tell him
what’s going on,” Lee said. “But tell
him no need to rush back. I’m sure that
you, Angie and Wanda can run the institute while we’re gone. If you run into a problem, just call the
admiral.”
“Yes Lee.” Reaching the sub pen, they went down the
gangway to the sail hatch and down the ladder to the control room where
Kowalski and Chief Sharkey were waiting for Lee. They took the briefcase from Janet and Lee’s
bag from him and Kowalski put them in FS-1.
“All checked out and ready to
go, Skipper,” Chief reported. “Would you
like one of us to accompany you?”
“No thanks,” Lee
replied. “I’m meeting with Admiral
Johnson.”
Both Sharkey and Kowalski
looked at him frowning which Lee ignored.
He gave Janet a kiss and hug before he went down the ladder into
FS-1. “I’ll be back soon,” he told
them. He ascended into the hatch and
Kowalski secured it as Chief did the pre-flight check off. Lee noticed the
briefcase on the seat next to him. He
was smiling as he took off ten minutes later.
Kowalski and Chief Sharkey made
sure Janet got off of Seaview before returning to work. Janet walked back to the office and continued
on with her work. Angie, Wanda, and
Janet would go out for dinner so she wouldn’t be alone for at least part of the
night.
((()))
Chip met his family at the
front desk. They were going to take the
tram from
As they walked back to the
Excalibur to pick up the tram, Chip’s dad said, “I’m bushed. I haven’t walked that far in ages. I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m going
to bed.” They all agreed with him as
they waited from the tram to arrive.
“What’s on the agenda for
tomorrow after our golf game?” Chip’s brother asked.
“I would like to go on the
rides at the Stratosphere hotel. They
are supposed to be the world’s tallest rides,” Chip replied as the boarded the
tram.
“Not for us,” his mother
answered, “but all of you go and have a good time. Your father and I will find something to
do. But I would like to go to
“Okay mom,” Chip answered,
“we’ll do that tomorrow night.”
They departed the tram and
walked down the stairs to the hotel where they returned to their rooms. Chip changed his clothes putting on a pair of
jeans and a white shirt rolling up the sleeves.
He left his room at
((()))
Lee made good time flying
across the country as there were no storms and he had a strong tail wind so he was
cleared to land at
Smiling he answered, “Hi
sweetie. I just landed. I’ll call you later and let you know how long
I’ll be here. Hopefully just a day maybe
two at the most.”
“Okay. Please be careful.”
“See you soon.” He hung up
the phone, grabbed his coat, cover, the small bag he packed and left FS-1
setting the numeric code with his fob. He left the briefcase in the sub for
now. He didn’t have to wait too long
before a car was there to pick him up.
He climbed in the opened door and was at Admiral Johnson’s office thirty
minutes after he landed. While they were
driving he called and made a reservation at the hotel he always stayed at when
he was in
When he got to the admiral’s
office, he removed his cover and stopped by
“No sir. I’ve looked everywhere. Diana had to have taken it,”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get it
back,” Lee reassured her as he waited to see Admiral Johnson.
“Commander, you need to find
Diana Parker,” Johnson stated emphatically as he handed Lee her personnel file.
“As you can see there isn’t too much information there. We know she has a brother but have no idea
where he lives.
“Looking at his phone number,
it’s a
“Commander, do whatever you
need to do to find her. I know I don’t
have to tell you how important that file is.”
“Yes sir. Let me call her brother again and I’ll try
and get into her apartment. Maybe I can
find something there,” Lee replied.
“First, I’m going to talk to Sandy and anyone else that worked closely
with her.”
“Thanks, Commander,” Johnson
said and stood up dismissing Lee.
Lee walked out to
“Commander, I don’t think she
had a boyfriend or a roommate. We didn’t
go out to often together so I really don’t know if she like some place
special. She kept to herself.”
“Is there anyone else here
that might know her better or have more information?”
“Ellen, the other
receptionist, was friends with her but I don’t know how close they were.”
“Thanks
Before Lee left her office
Lee patted her hand, “You’re
welcome and now you sound just like my wife, she’s very happy I’m not on a
mission too. I’ll let you know if I find
out anything. I don’t know if being passed over for a promotion has anything to
do with it but I’ll check it out.”
Lee left
“Hi Ellen, I’m Lee Crane,”
Lee said shaking her hand, “and I need your help. How well did you know Diana Parker?”
“Not too well, but how can I
help?”
“Did she have a boyfriend...a
place she liked to hang out at?
Anything you can tell me about her would help. It’s vitally important.”
“She had a boyfriend about
three months ago but they broke up because she was pushing him to get
married. They didn’t know each other
that long and he wasn’t ready. His name
was Paul Sawyer. She didn’t have any
place special she liked to go that I’m aware of.”
“This Paul Sawyer, do you
know where he lived or even a phone number,” Lee asked.
“No sir, I have no idea. Diana didn’t tell me too much about him. I’m sorry.”
“Thanks for you help. If you do think of anything, please let
“Yes sir,” Ellen replied as
she answered the phone.
Lee went back into
Damn. Seems Diana was a
very private person, Lee thought as he
left the ONI building and walked to the hotel.
He checked in at the desk and went to his room. He decided to check out her apartment
tomorrow but did call the number she had listed for her brother but a recording
told him to leave a number. He hung up
not wanting to leave a message as he would prefer to talk to him personally so
he would try later. He typed ‘Paul
Sawyer’ into his phone and found over three hundred of them. It would take too long to check them all
out. He also tried the phone number she
had listed on her personnel form but it also went to voice mail. He was hungry so he went to a small diner
down the street from the hotel and had dinner.
I wonder how Chip is doing, he thought as he ate. He finished up, paid the bill and walked back
to the hotel. Once back in his room, he sat on the bed and called Janet.
“Hi Lee,” she said looking at
the number and knew it was him.
He could hear a lot of noise
in the background. “Where are you?”
“Wanda, Angie and I went out
to dinner to a new restaurant. It’s has
live music and dancing.”
Laughing he said “I see when
the cat’s away the mice will play?”
“Lee...We’re almost done
eating and then I’m going straight home.”
“Sweetie, I’m only
teasing. I’m glad to see you’re having a
good time but no dancing with anyone but me.
I’ll be home soon. Love you.
“I didn’t dance at all. Love you too, honey.”
Lee hung up the phone, she
better not dance with anyone, Lee thought jealously. It had been a long day so he got ready for
bed, turned on the TV and fell asleep watching the news.
((()))
Chip waited outside the bar
entrance for Diana. The bar was located
outside of the hotel in the shopping area that linked
“Can I get you something to
drink?” she asked looking at Diana and stared at Chip looking him over.
“I’ll have an Irish Coffee,”
Diana said giving the waitress a dirty look.
Chip noticed the look Diana
gave the waitress. “I’ll have the same,”
he replied. “Do you want something to
eat?”
“No, I’m fine.” As they waited for their drinks, she asked,
“What do you do at the Nelson Institute?”
“I’m the Lt. Commander on the
research submarine Seaview,” he answered, “among other duties at the
institute offices.”
“Sounds interesting,” she
said as the waitress brought over their drinks.
She had already checked out the website so she knew exactly what Chip
did but wanted to see how much he would tell her.
Taking a drink of his coffee,
Chip asked, “Where are you going out west?”
“I’m going to
They sat there talking for an
hour after ordering another drink. As
they talked Diana put her hand on Chip’s but he gently took his hand away. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of
her. He could read people very well and
had a feeling she wasn’t being truthful with him.
Diana stifled a yawn and
said, “I’m sorry but I’m really tired.
It’s been a long day so I better go.”
“I’ll walk you back to your
room,” Chip told her as he paid the bill, left a generous tip and they walked
out of the bar. Diana linked her arm in
Chip’s as they walked back to the hotel. Not wanting to create a scene he left
her arm there. As they were walking
through the casino, Chip’s sister and brother-in-law saw him and Diana while
they played the slot machines.
“Hmm,” Chip’s sister
said. “No wonder he kept looking at his
watch. He had a date.”
“Let’s see who he’s with,”
her husband said heading towards the pair.
Putting her hand on his arm, “No,
if Chip wanted us to meet her he would have said something at dinner. Let’s just leave him alone,” his sister
replied looking at Chip and could tell something wasn’t right.
Chip and Diana took the
elevator up to her room on the twenty-third floor. He was relieved that he was on the twenty-eighth
floor.
“Good night, Diana. I had a nice time,” Chip said as they stood
by the door to Diana’s room.
“I did too. Would you like to come in?” she asked hopefully
opening the door.
“No thanks. I’ve got an early wake up call tomorrow,”
Chip replied.
“Could we meet later in the
day?”
“Sorry no, family obligations
all day. Going golfing with my brother and brother-in-law and then we’re all
going to the Stratosphere. My mom wants
to go to the old
“Sounds good,” she answered
disappointed that he didn’t invite her to go along with him tomorrow. “I’ll see
you on Sunday,” she said as she went into the room. Damn, she thought as she got ready for
bed. I thought we hit it off. Maybe
he’s just a little shy.
((()))
Lee was up early on Saturday
morning and quickly showered. No fun by myself, he thought, as he
finished getting dressed and went for breakfast. He
would check out Diana’s apartment as soon as he was done. He hailed a cab for the ride to the building
where she lived. He went up her
apartment and knocked on the door. As he
was knocking, a middle aged woman came out of one of the apartments.
“Can I help you?” she asked
looking him over. “I’m Mrs. Oliver, the
landlady.”
“I’m here to see Diana,” Lee
said as he walked over to the woman.
“Who are you?” she asked
suspiciously.
“Lee Edwards,” Lee
replied. “I need to make sure she’s
okay. We were supposed to have breakfast
this morning and she didn’t show up.”
“She left on Thursday. Said she wasn’t coming back...moving out
west...something about her brother,” Mrs. Oliver told Lee.
“Darn, she never told
me. Is there anyway I can get into the
apartment? We dated for a few weeks and
I left something really important in there that I need to have,” Lee asked
flashing his special smile.
Looking him over again,
“Sure, just let me get the keys.”
She came back with the keys
and opened the door and let Lee in.
“I’ll just wait out here,” she told him as he closed the door.
Lee looked around the
apartment and noticed there wasn’t too much in it. He went through all the drawers in the
bedroom and then looked in the small chest in the living room and found
nothing. He went into kitchen and
searched all the cabinets, they were all empty.
He checked the cabinet under the sink looking for a trash can. He found one but it was also empty. Just as
he was closing the door to the cabinet he saw a crumpled up piece of paper
lying on the floor under the cabinet. Un-crumpling
the paper, the only thing on it was a number but it looked like a phone number.
Lee put the paper in his pocket. He
looked around a little longer and didn’t find anything more so he want back
into the hall.
“Didn’t find what you were
looking for,” she asked noticing there was nothing in his hands.
“No she must have taken it
with her,” he replied disgustedly. Before he left he had one more question for
Mrs. Oliver, “Could I impose upon you one more time?” Lee asked softly.
“Yes, you can,” Mrs. Oliver
answered sighing deeply and thought, I would do anything for you.
“Did Diana mention the name
Paul Sawyer?”
“No, I don’t recall her
mentioning that name. I really didn’t
talk to her very much. She wasn’t like
the other tenants, she kept to herself.”
Taking her hand, Lee shook it
gently, “Thank you very much for your help.”
“You’re welcome,” she
answered watching him walk down the stairs and leave the building. She went back into her apartment rubbing her
hand.
((()))
Lee hailed a taxi and went
back to his hotel. Once back in his
room, he removed the paper from his pocket and dialed the number.
“Hello,” the person answered
gruffly. “Who the hell is this?”
“Please don’t hang up,” Lee
said quickly. “My name is Lee Crane and
I realized you have no idea who I am but I really need to talk to you. Are you the Paul Sawyer who knows Diana Parker?”
“Diana?” Paul said
curtly. “I haven’t seen her in three
months. How can I help you?”
“It’s very important that I
talk to you regarding her. I’ll meet you anytime and anyplace you want,” Lee
asked urgently.
“Is she in trouble?”
“No, she isn’t in trouble
right now but she could be. I really
can’t discuss it over the phone.”
“Okay, I’ll meet with you but
I’m not at home right now and won’t be back until Monday night. I can meet with you on Tuesday morning here
in
“Yes I do. I’ll have on a
blue shirt and light blue jacket. Thank
you for meeting me,” Lee replied breathing a sigh of relief and hung up the
phone.
Lee called Admiral Johnson
and explained to him what he had found out and would let him know how his
meeting went with Paul Sawyer. He then
called Admiral Nelson to see if he would like to go with him.
“Hi Lee,” the admiral
answered seeing Lee’s number on his phone. “Any news on the file or Miss Parker?”
“No but I’m meeting an
ex-boyfriend of hers in
“Sorry Lee, I can’t but why
don’t you bring FS-1 here and dock it at the house. I’ll let Cora and Alfred know you are
coming. They’ll be very happy to see
you. You can stay here and take Edith’s
car to the wharf. Edith has made plans
to spend a few days in
“Yes sir that will be
fine. See you soon,” Lee replied. He hung up with the admiral and called Janet
to let her know his plans. Janet was on
the patio, heard her phone ringing and ran to answer it. She picked it up just before it went to voice
mail.
“Hi sweetie,” Lee said. “Everything okay...took you a while to
answer.”
“Everything’s fine I was
outside. I miss you, are you coming home
soon?”
“Probably not until late
Tuesday or Wednesday. I’m going to
Sighing, “Lee that’s going to
be a problem. You and the admiral have
an important luncheon with the mayor and other dignitaries on Tuesday. You’ve cancelled the previous two times and
Angie guaranteed someone from the institute would be there this time.”
“Isn’t Chip due back on
Monday night? I’ll call and ask him to come in on Tuesday and represent us at
the luncheon. Maybe you, Angie or Wanda
can go with him. I don’t care which one
of you go just make sure one of you goes with him,” Lee told her.
“Okay one of us will go. We’ll draw straws,” Janet joked. “Please say
hi to Cora and Alfred and give them a kiss from me.”
“Don’t worry I will,” Lee
replied.
Janet hung up the phone with
a frown on her face as she was disappointed he wouldn’t be home for a few more
days and mad that he was going to get to visit Cora and Alfred. She missed them as they hadn’t had time to
visit them for quite awhile.
Lee packed up his gear,
checked out and hailed a taxi to the airport as he didn’t need to stay in
((()))
Chip woke up the next morning
and got ready for his golf game. Putting
on a polo shirt and a pair of shorts, he went down to the buffet where he met
his brother and brother-in law. After
eating breakfast, they headed out to the golf course. They played eighteen holes and Chip won much
to his brother’s dismay.
“For someone who spends most
of his life under the ocean, you sure play a mean round of golf.”
“I’ve been practicing,” Chip
said laughing. “Lee and I play whenever
we can.”
“Does Lee ever win?” his
brother-in-law asked with a smile.
“Only when he has an
incentive, Janet must bribe him with something,” Chip said grinning. His brother and brother-in= law grinned too.
When they got back to the
hotel, his sister and sister-in-law were waiting for them. They hailed a taxi and went to the
Stratosphere where they enjoyed all the rides.
They stopped in the bar and had a few drinks before heading back to
((()))
Lee arrived at the remote
section of the airport and did the pre-flight check list before starting
FS-1. He put on the throat mike and radioed
the tower for clearance. Air traffic
wasn’t too bad in the late afternoon and Lee knew he was lucky to get a place
in line fairly quick for take off. Once
cleared for take off, he headed east towards the ocean. Since the admiral’s house was on the ocean,
he would fly over it and avoid most of the air traffic. He would land at the dock the admiral had
placed at the house for the flying sub and his boat.
Lee landed the flying sub
with ease and saw that Alfred and Cora were waiting for him at the dock. He grabbed his bag, briefcase and jumped out
the rear hatch and made is way down the dock.
“Hello, Cora, Alfred,” Lee
said happily as he gave Cora a kiss and shook Alfred’s hand.
“Hello Lee,” they
replied. “How’s Janet...it’s been a long
time...you must be hungry,” Cora said quickly not giving him a chance to reply
as Alfred took his bag from him.
Laughing, “Janet’s fine, mad
that she couldn’t be here. Well, I could
use a cup of coffee,” Lee responded softly.
“Where’s the admiral and Edith?” he asked as they walked up to the
house.
“They left about an hour ago
for
“I’ll still be here when they
return on Tuesday. I have a meeting and
then the admiral and I are flying back to
When they arrived at the
house, they went in the side door into the kitchen. Lee knew Cora had made dinner.
“Is that meat loaf I smell?”
Lee asked smiling noticing the table was already set and the potatoes and corn
were cooking on the stove. He also saw
the plate of brownies on the counter.
“Yes, I know it’s your
favorite,” Cora answered grinning. “Why
don’t you go up to your room and get ready for dinner. It’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you Cora, but I didn’t
expect you to make me dinner,” Lee remarked as he took his bag from Alfred and
headed for the staircase and up to ‘his’ room overlooking the ocean. Lee went into the bathroom, washed his face
and hands took his clothes out of the bag and hung them up. He sat down on the bed and made a phone call
to Diana’s brother. He hoped he would
answer the phone this time. After it
rang six times, it went to voice mail.
Lee decided to leave a message this time. “Hello, my name is Lee Crane and I need to
talk to you about your sister, Diana.
Please give me a call at this number.
Thank you.” Lee hung up the phone
unhappy that he couldn’t talk to Terry Parker.
Looking at the time he knew
Cora would have dinner on the table so he went downstairs into the kitchen
where she had just finished putting out the food. The three of them sat down and talked about
why Lee was there while he enjoyed the meat loaf. After eating two helpings Lee was
stuffed. He helped Cora and Alfred clean
up before getting a mug of coffee to go with his brownie.
“Thank you Cora, that was
delicious. Janet’s meat loaf is good but
yours is always better. Please don’t
tell her I said that,” Lee asked with a wink.
Smiling Cora replied, “I’ll
never tell.”
Lee went outside to call
Janet and walked around the gardens while he talked to her, “Hi sweetie. Everything okay?”
“Yes everything is fine. Did you have dinner?” Janet asked as she sat
on the couch eating a sandwich.
“Yes, Cora made meat loaf and
brownies,” Lee replied guiltily. “What
did you eat?”
Laughing, “A sandwich,” she
answered. “Did you talk to Chip?”
“No, I’ll call him in the
morning,” Lee said, “I’ll talk to you tomorrow afternoon sometime,” Lee said
yawning. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” Janet sighed
and heard Lee hang up the phone. Lee
went in the house where Cora and Alfred were in the living room waiting for him
to return. “I’ve got some papers to look
over so I’m going to go to my room.”
“Good night Lee. It’s good to have you here,” Cora said
smiling.
Returning the smile Lee
replied, “It’s good to be here.” He
walked upstairs and into his room. He
got ready for bed and took out copies of Diana’s personnel record. He was looking for something that would tell
him where she could possibly be. Before
too long he fell asleep.
((()))
Chip showered, changed his
clothes and met his family just as they were leaving their rooms. They all rode down the elevator together and
piled into a couple of cabs for the ride to the old
((()))
Lee woke up early and decided
to go for a run before showering. He
found an old pair of sweatpants and shirt he left there the last time he
stayed. He quietly let himself out and
walked down the dock to the beach. After
stretching he started his run. He ran
about five miles before turning back. He
thought about the information in Diana’s file as he ran back to the house, she
had worked in
He went into the kitchen to
find Cora making the coffee and Alfred was setting the table. He had already brought in the newspaper and
laid it on the table.
“You’re up bright and early,”
Cora remarked, “How about pancakes for breakfast?”
Smiling Lee answered,
“Whatever you want to make is fine with me.
I’ll be down in a few minutes I just need to shower.” Lee quickly ran up stairs, showered and put
on a pair of jeans and a denim shirt. By
the time he went back downstairs, breakfast was on the table. He immediately headed for the coffee pot and
poured a giant mug of coffee, “You make the perfect cup of coffee, Cora.”
“Thanks,” she replied as she
put four pancakes on his plate.
“I can’t eat all of this,”
Lee said looking at Cora.
“Yes, you can and you
will.” She and Alfred sat down and put
three pancakes on their plates. Lee took
some more coffee and did eat all the breakfast.
They sat there talking for awhile before Cora got up and cleared away
the dishes. Lee got up to help her but
she just smiled, “I noticed you brought in your briefcase so I’m sure you have
plenty of work to do so just relax and read the paper while we clean up.”
“The briefcase was Janet’s
idea. Chip is on vacation and he left
some things for me to do so I’m sure there’s enough there to keep me busy for
awhile,” Lee responded with a grin. “Do
you think the admiral would mind if I used his study and the computer?”
“No, he told us to tell you
to use it if you needed to,” Alfred answered.
“He said you know how to log on to the computer.”
“Yes, that’s no problem. If you need help with anything, please let me
know.”
“We’ll let you know,” Cora
smirked knowing once Lee started working he would be too engrossed to even know
what time is was.
Lee took the paper along with
his cup of coffee and made his way into the admiral’s study. He knew it was still too early to call Janet
or Chip so he read the paper but didn’t find anything to interesting in it. He took the paper back to the kitchen so
Alfred could read it and saw that Cora had made another pot of coffee. Grabbing another cup of coffee he headed back
to the study, sat down at the desk, checked his e-mail messages and answered
all of them. He opened the briefcase and
found a note that Janet had left for him in her neat handwriting.
Hi
Honey,
Here
are the requisitions that need to be done and the proposals to go over. If you do have a chance to work on them could
you please do the requisitions first as we’re going to need those items for the
next mission. If you have any questions,
you know my number.
Miss
you and love you,
Janet
Smiling as he took a drink of
his coffee, he took out the requisitions and looked them over. Since it was Sunday, he would look over the
proposals and tackle the requisitions tomorrow morning. Some of the companies were on the east coast
so he would order those items first thing in the morning. The ones that were based on the west coast he
would order later on in the day. He
couldn’t understand why they didn’t give Janet the same delivery information
they would give him or Chip. It was
something he would discuss with the manufacturers when he placed the orders if
they wanted to keep NIMR’s business.
After looking over some of the proposals, he needed a break. He got up from the desk, stretched and looked
out the window and could see FS-l bobbing in the waves. Not quite his ‘gray lady’ but she would do
until he returned to her. Looking at his
watch, he decided it was late enough that he could call Janet and Chip.
Dialing Janet’s number she
picked it up on the second ring, “Hello,” she answered sleepily not realizing
it was Lee calling.
“Hi sweetie,” Lee said
worriedly, “did I wake you up?”
“Hi honey,” Janet responded,
“I just woke up, I didn’t realize how late it was.”
“Are you okay? You don’t
normally sleep this late,” he asked worriedly.
“I didn’t fall asleep until
early this morning. I couldn’t sleep
because you’re not here,” she said as she sat up in bed.
“I’m sorry,” Lee replied as
he paced in the admiral’s study. “Is
everything alright?”
“Yes, just fine.”
“I got your note and you’ll
be happy to know I’ve finished some of the proposals and will work on the
requisitions tomorrow.”
Grinning, “Thanks for taking
care of that. I thought you might have some
down time to do some work,” Janet teased.
“Have you talked to Chip?”
“Not yet. I wanted to talk to you first. I’m calling him as soon as I’m finished with
you. What are you going to do today?”
“Chores...shop...bake
brownies.”
“Sounds good,” Lee replied
wishing he was home, “I’ll call you tomorrow.
Call me if you need me. Love
you.”
“Love you too,” Janet said as
she laid back down in bed wishing Lee was home too.
Lee disconnected his call to
Janet and called Chip. “Good morning,
Lee,” Chip answered cheerfully, “I’m not in trouble...you don’t need to come
rescue me...and yes I’m having a good time.”
Chuckling Lee replied, “I
guess you’ve answered all my questions.”
“Really, I’m having a nice
time. It was good to see all of them and
it’s too bad they’re all leaving today.
They send their love and were disappointed you and Janet couldn’t come.”
“Maybe next time,” Lee said
quietly, “Chip, I’m not at home. I got
called to
“Okay,” Chip replied
solemnly. “Is there anything you need
from me?”
“No. Right now, I’m in
“Yes,” Chip said cautiously,
“what do you want me to do?”
Sighing deeply Lee answered,
“I know you’re supposed to be on vacation until Thursday but there’s an
important luncheon on Tuesday with the mayor and other dignitaries. The admiral and I were planning on going but
now this came up. Would you please go in
our place? I wouldn’t ask you but we’ve cancelled the last two times and Angie
guaranteed that someone would be there this time. I really hate to ask you to do this but it’s
important to keep them happy.”
“Yes, I’ll go,” Chip replied.
“Thanks, Chip I owe you
one. We should be back no later than
Wednesday.”
“No problem Lee. I wasn’t doing anything important anyway.”
“Call me if you have a
problem or need something,” Lee said, “Take care Chip.”
“You too Lee,” Chip replied
as he disconnected the call. He looked
at his watch and knew he had better hurry if he was going to be on time to meet
his family.
Lee went back to his
proposals. He finished most them just as
Cora knocked on the door to tell him lunch was ready. He pushed himself away from the desk and
followed her to the kitchen where she had homemade chicken soup and warm bread
waiting for them.
((()))
Chip met his family outside
the buffet. They sat down and everyone
headed to their favorite part of the buffet. Chip would head to most of them as
they were all his favorites. He filled
his plate and sat down next to his mother.
“Where do you put all that
food?” his mother asked as he took a bite of his omelet. “And stay so thin?”
“I must take after one of
you,” he answered with a smile.
They finished breakfast and
went to the lobby. His family still had
a couple of hours before they needed to head to the airport so they decided to
go into the casino and try their luck at Black Jack. The casino wasn’t crowded so the four men sat
at one table and the three women sat at a table right next to them. They would have a contest to see who would
win the most money. They sat there playing for a couple of hours before Chip’s
father looked at his watch. They knew it
was time to leave so they totaled up their winnings and the women came out
ahead. By winning the contest the men
had to hand over the money they won dividing equally between the three
women.
“I can’t wait to get home.
There’s this purse I’ve been wanting and now I can buy it,” Chip’s sister said
gloating.
His mother remarked with a
broad grin, “I saw this really nice dress I’m going to buy.”
While his sister-in-law
smirked at her husband, “I’m going to buy this pair of shoes I’ve been eyeing
for months.”
The three men groaned as they
listened to what the women were going to buy.
Chip just sat there with a smile on his face. He didn’t mind losing the money because it
made his mother, sister and sister-in-law happy. Someday he might be groaning with the rest of
them. Heading for the elevators the
group went to their rooms to get their luggage.
Chip went with his mom and dad to their room so he could take his
mother’s luggage down to the lobby. Going
to the front desk they checked out and were saying good bye. “Please come home soon,” his mother said as
he gave her a kiss and a hug. “Bring Lee
and Janet with you.”
“It might be awhile as we
have quite a few missions lined up but as soon as we’re back we’ll come and
visit. I promise.”
He kissed and hugged his
sister and sister-in-law, shook his father’s hand along with his brother and
brother-in-law’s and walked them outside to the limo waiting for them. His mother gave him one last hug and
whispered in his ear, “Love you.”
Whispering back, “Love you too,” and hugged her again. He watched as the limo drove away and went
back into the hotel. He was going to
take a trip to Hoover Dam before he would meet Diana for dinner.
((()))
Sitting in the lobby off to
the side was Diana and watched as Chip said goodbye to his family as they left
for the airport. She had followed them
into the casino and watched with envy at how much fun they were having. She wished she could have been with them.
Since it was only
((()))
Lee, Cora and Alfred finished
their lunch. “Lee would you like to come
with us to the movies and out to dinner?” Cora asked as she cleaned up.
“No thanks, but please don’t
let my being here stop you from going.
I’m sure you don’t get much of a break when Edith is here so go and
enjoy yourselves. I’ll be perfectly
fine. I’ve still have some more work to
do before I can call it a day. If I go
back to the institute and haven’t finished my work, Janet will be very upset
with me,” Lee laughed.
“Thanks Lee. There’s roast beef for sandwiches in the
refrigerator and I made some more brownies.
They’re in the pantry,” Cora told him as they put their coats on and
headed out the door.
Lee went back to the study
and checked his e-mails again. Janet
sent him one letting him know she missed him and couldn’t wait for him to come home. He replied telling her the same thing. He went back to reading the rest of the
proposals. So far only two of them had
piqued his interest. He finally finished
all of them. He needed a break so he
went outside and walked on the beach before he returned to the house. He brewed a pot of coffee, made a roast beef
sandwich piling it high with meat on the homemade bread, found a bag of potato
chips and sat down in front of the television.
He couldn’t remember the last time he sat and watched television
alone. He would rather not have been by
himself as he missed wrapping his arm around Janet as they sat watching the
television. He finished his dinner,
cleaned up his mess, poured another cup of coffee and took two brownies off the
plate. It wasn’t too cold out, so he
took his coffee and brownies and sat on the deck looking at the ocean.
((()))
Janet finally got up,
showered and went downstairs to make breakfast.
It was already
((()))
Chip enjoyed his tour of the
dam and on the way back he left a message on Diana’s phone telling her he would
meet her in the lobby by the front desk.
He arrived back at the hotel and had about an hour to kill before he
needed to get ready. He went to the
casino and played a few hands of Black Jack where he won back most of the money
he had lost earlier. He was going up to
his room when it dawned on him he had no ride home from LAX as Lee was going to
pick him up. When he got to his room he
called Lee.
“Hi Chip,” Lee answered, “Did
your family get off okay?”
“Yes, they should be almost
home by now. Uh Lee, I have a
problem. How am I going to get home from
LAX? You were going to pick me up
remember.”
“Sorry Chip,” Lee responded
running his hand through his hair. “I’ll
call Janet and have her pick you up.”
“Lee, do you think she’ll be
able to get to LAX and not get lost,” Chip chuckled.
“Yes, I let her tell me how
to get home when we dropped you off.
Give her a chance but if she gets lost, you can always tell her where to
go,” Lee snorted.
“Okay. I should land around 1400 hours on Monday.”
“She’ll be there,” Lee
reassured him and hung up. He quickly
dialed Janet’s phone. “Hi sweetie.”
“Lee...is everything
alright...I wasn’t expecting a call,” she answered anxiously.
“Everything is fine. You’re going to have to pick up Chip tomorrow
from LAX. Do you think you can do it
without getting lost?”
“Yes, I can...don’t worry...I
won’t get lost, I promise.”
“He should be landing around 1400
hours.”
“No problem, I’ll be there.
See you soon,” Janet replied softly.
Smiling, “Take care,” Lee
answered as he disconnected the call and sighed. That trip is going to be very interesting,
he thought.
He went back into the house,
took another cup of coffee and was on his way up to his room when Cora and
Alfred returned. “Did you enjoy the
movie and dinner?”
“Yes, it was a good movie and
dinner was great,” Cora replied, “did you eat?”
Shaking his head yes he said,
“Just finished up dinner and just a bit more work to do before turning in for
the night. See you in the morning.”
“Good night, Lee,” they
responded as he went upstairs.
They went to the kitchen and
sat down with a cup of tea and had some brownies before they retired for the
night.
((()))
Chip showered and changed in
to a pair of black Dockers, a gray shirt and black jacket. He took the elevator to the lobby and sat
down to wait for Diana. He enjoyed
watching all the people pass by and wondered where they were going. He had only been there for ten minutes when
Diana showed up in a short blue dress with a plunging neckline. She is a good looking woman, Chip
thought as he stood up to greet her. She
went over to him and kissed him right on the lips.
Surprised by the kiss, “Where
are we going to dinner?” he asked quickly.
Pouting because Chip didn’t
return her kiss, she replied, “How about Tender Steak and Seafood in the
“That will be fine. I’m looking forward to a good steak dinner,”
he told her. As they were walking to the
hotel, she linked her arm in his. After
seeing the look on her face when he didn’t return her kiss, he just left it
there. They walked in silence as they
passed by the shops connecting
Chip went to the hostess
station, “A table for two, please.”
Looking him over she replied,
“Do you have a reservation?”
“No, we don’t. Is that a problem?” Chip asked with a smile.
“Not at all sir, right this
way,” she responded leading them to a table in the back. Chip pulled out the chair for Diana who sat
down as the hostess handed her a menu then Chip. “Enjoy your dinner,” she told them as she
walked away turning back to take another look at Chip.
Diana saw the hostess look at
Chip again and wasn’t too happy with her.
She had all she could do to keep from slapping her. She didn’t like that she was flirting with
her date. The waiter came over and asked
them what they would like to drink. Chip
ordered a mojito and Diana ordered a cosmopolitan.
“When are you leaving,” Diana
asked as they waited for their drinks.
“My flight leaves at
“Tomorrow also but at
Chip smiled back, took a sip of
his drink, “Yes, the drink is very good.” He quickly changed the subject. “Is your brother picking you up?”
“Yes, I hope so,” she sighed,
“if not one of his drivers will be there.
Do you have a ride?”
“Yes a friend of mine is
coming.”
The waiter returned to take
their dinner order with a basket of warm bread and butter. Chip ordered the rib eye, rare, with french
fries and creamed spinach and lobster bisque soup. Diana decided on the filet, well done, mashed
potatoes and said they were going to share the creamed spinach much to Chip’s
surprise and a salad.
As she buttered a piece of
bread she asked, “What does your submarine do...don’t you get claustrophobic in
the submarine especially when you’re under the water...could I have a tour of
the ship?”
“We do research on marine
life, chart the ocean floor and other things related to the sea.” Smiling he
answered, “Seaview is a boat and
isn’t your normal submarine, she’s actually very large and sorry we don’t give
tours as there is a lot of classified equipment on board. How are you going to
help your brother?”
“Help with the books and whatever
else he needs done to keep his business running.” Looking over the edge of her glass she asked,
“Do you need any help where you work?”
“Sorry, not right now,” Chip
replied as he took a large sip of his drink.
He hated to lie and knew they were looking for help in the accounting
office but he didn’t want her around. He
still felt something wasn’t right.
As they waited for their
dinners to arrived, they talked about the weather, sports and hobbies they
had. The conversations were short and
Chip realized they didn’t have anything in common and was glad when the waiter
finally brought out their dinners. They
dug into their dinners which were delicious.
Diana didn’t finish hers and offered what was left to Chip which he
ate.
“Where to do you put all that
food,” Diana asked amazed at what he ate.
“You must have to work out quite a bit to maintain your weight.”
“I do work out but not as
much as I would like. It’s hard to
exercise when we’re at sea,” Chip explained.
“Would you like some dessert and coffee?”
“Coffee yes, but dessert
no. I have to work out a lot to keep my
shape,” she laughed.
Chip ordered their coffees
along with a piece of chocolate cake.
When the dessert came, Diana did sample a small piece. After a couple of cups coffee, they were
ready to go. Chip paid the bill and
helped Diana up from her chair.
“It’s still early so would
you like to go to the bar?” Diana suggested softly as she took Chip’s hand.
“I’m really sorry, but I’m
kind of tired. I went to Hoover Dam
today and it wore me out,” Chip replied.
Disappointed she said, “Okay,
no problem.” They walked back to
Smiling, “No thanks, I still
have to pack and I’m going to hit the sack.”
“Thanks for dinner. I really enjoyed it and the company,” Diana
said giving Chip a long kiss on the lips.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come up?
We could have some fun if you want,” she asked rubbing her hands on his
chest.
Taking her hands off his
chest he replied, “No that’s okay. Good
night Diana.” He left her at the door
and walked back to the elevators. Pissed
that he turned her down, Diana stormed into her room.
Chip decided he didn’t want
to be on that floor any longer, so rather than wait for the elevator he took
the stairs up the three floors to his room.
Once he was in his room, he breathed a sigh of relief that he would
never have to see her again.
((()))
Lee was up early Monday
morning and ran ten miles. Before
returning to the house, he checked on FS-1 and made sure everything was tight
and dry. He climbed out of the tiny sub
to find Alfred waiting for him on the dock.
“Is there a problem?” Lee
asked worriedly.
“No sir. I was just making sure you didn’t have
problem. I saw you enter the sub and
thought you might need help.”
“Alfred have you ever been in
FS-1?”
Hesitating, “No I’ve never
seen the inside.”
Lee entered his numeric code
into the fob and opened the hatch. “Come
Alfred. I’ll give you the fifty cent
tour,” Lee said with a grin.
Alfred eagerly climbed aboard
and looked around amazed at all the controls and how much room there was.
“She’s a fantastic machine,”
Alfred said. “The admiral is a genius.”
“Yes, she is fantastic and
the admiral is definitely a genius. I
guess we’re both lucky to work for him,” Lee remarked as they exited the sub,
Lee locked her up. “Some day I’ll give
you and Cora a ride.”
“Lee, I would like that very
much,” Alfred replied with a huge grin on his face, “But I don’t know about
Cora. Not a fan of airplanes.”
“Janet doesn’t like to fly
either but she doesn’t mind FS-1. So
Cora might enjoy it,” Lee said as they walked back to the house. When they entered, Lee could smell the bacon
cooking along with the coffee. “I’ll be
down in ten minutes,” Lee told Cora who was setting the table.
“Take your time, the biscuits
aren’t quite ready,” Cora told him.
“Eggs scrambled or over easy?”
“Mmm, whatever is easier for
you. Surprise me,” Lee said as he ran up
the stairs. He quickly showered, dressed
and ran back down stairs as Cora had just put the eggs in the pan.
“Scrambled okay,” she asked.
“Perfect,” Lee replied as he
took the pot of coffee and filled their mugs.
He sat down at the table while Cora finished the eggs and Alfred put the
biscuits on the table. “If I stay here
too long, I’ll have to get new uniforms or run twenty miles a day,” Lee
laughed.
“You could use a few pounds,”
Cora replied as she put some eggs on his plate along with hers and Alfred’s.
“It’s so nice to have you
here.”
Smiling Lee patted her hand,
“I’m glad to be here too.” He dove into his eggs, buttered his biscuits and
took a couple slices of bacon. He
finished up everything and started to clear the table. “I ate enough food to last me until dinner.”
Knowing Lee had a meeting
this morning, Alfred asked, “How long will you be gone?”
Drying the dishes as Cora
washed them, Lee replied, “I’m meeting Paul Sawyer at
Lee went to the study and
took the requisitions out of the briefcase.
Three of the requisitions were ordered from companies here on the east
coast. He would order the rest of them
later this afternoon since they were based on the west coast. He talked to the representatives at the three
companies, placed the orders and told them that if they wanted to continue
doing business with NIMR, they had better give Janet the same delivery dates
they would give to him or Chip if she called.
They assured him that in the future she would get the best delivery
dates they could. He finished up the
paperwork and put it back in the briefcase. Lee closed the briefcase and left
the study to find Cora or Alfred.
Lee found Cora in the library
dusting and told her, “Don’t count on me for lunch. I’ll be back later this afternoon.”
“No problem,” Cora answered,
“Here are the keys to Edith’s car,” she said taking the keys out of her pocket.
“Thanks,” Lee responded
taking the keys. “I better get
going. There’s bound to be a lot of
traffic this early.”
“Dinner’s at
“I’ll be here,” Lee stated as
he went to the garage and got into Edith’s car.
He pulled onto the street and made his way to the
He looked at his watch and it
was
“Yes,” Lee answered turning
to face the man.
“I’m Paul Sawyer,” the young man
said, “I haven’t seen or talked to Diana Parker in months so how can I help you.”
“Thank you for meeting me,”
Lee said. “I just need some information
about her and her brother Terry. Do you
know where he lives...what he does for a living...would Diana go there?”
“Mr. Crane, I knew Diana for
about three months. We both lived in
“I know it’s none of my
business but may I ask why you broke up?
People’s lives are depending on me finding out where she is.”
Sighing, “She was very
obsessive, demanding and wanted to get married.
I wasn’t ready for that and I wasn’t even sure she was the right
woman. She would get very upset if I
even talked to another woman. I had to
break it off when she threatened a woman co-worker whom I met for lunch to
discuss a meeting which we were going to attend here in
Running his hand through his
hair, Lee replied, “I understand Mr. Sawyer.
If she should get in contact with you or you think of anything that
could help me find her, please call me.
You have my number. It is vitally
important that I find her.”
“Is she in trouble, Mr.
Crane?”
“She could be in a lot of
trouble if I don’t locate her. Thank you
for your time.” Lee shook his hand and
watched him walk back down the wharf.
Lee walked back to his car, started it up and would drive to Diana’s
previous work place. Dressed in a blue collared shirt with a light blue jacket,
he had a wry grin on his face as he thought about the information Paul Sawyer
had just told him. He didn’t have any
reason not to believe him. He found the place Diana had previously worked
and parked in the lot. He locked the car
and walked into the building’s reception area.
Going to the reception desk,
“Hi Pam,” Lee said seeing her name on the front of the desk, “I’m Lee
Crane. I was hoping to talk to someone
who worked with Diana Parker. She’s
applied for a job at my company and I was in the area so I thought maybe there
was someone here I could talk to,” he said grinning at the young woman behind
the desk. Smiling back she replied, “She
was a receptionist here and I’m sorry but the gentlemen who hired her is not
available but maybe I can help. We both
worked the reception desk together.”
Flashing her a smile, Lee
asked, “Is there any way I could see her personnel file? My company does a lot of work for the
government and I need to make sure the information she put on my personnel
questionnaire is correct.”
She looked him over and
wished she could help him and maybe get a date noticing he didn’t have a
wedding ring on. “I’m sorry Mr. Crane but I don’t have access to that
information anymore. When an employee
leaves, their personnel file is erased from the computer here and sent to the
main company in
Lee went on to ask her
questions about her brother, where she lived before and why she left. The woman knew her brother lived in
((()))
He parked the car in the
garage and when into the kitchen where he could smell dinner in the oven. He was a little hungry so he grabbed a
biscuit left over from breakfast as Cora came into the kitchen.
“Don’t spoil your dinner,”
Cora said seeing Lee with a biscuit in his hand. How about some coffee?”
“Coffee would be great and I
can make it,” Lee said not wanting Cora to wait on him.
“No problem, Lee. I really don’t mind taking care of you,” she
said with a grin. “Where will you be and
I’ll bring it to you?”
Grinning back, “I’ll be in
the admiral’s study finishing up the rest of my work so when I return it will
be completed and Janet will be happy,” Lee replied as he grabbed another
biscuit and made his way to the study.
He took his phone out of his
pocket and checked to see if he had any text messages from Janet or Chip. He turned on the computer and checked for any
e-mails and found a couple from Angie regarding the admiral and was wondering
when he would return from
He didn’t want to wait any
longer to see if Janet had left for the airport to pick up Chip so he called
her cell phone. It went directly to
voice mail. Is that good or bad? Maybe she was driving and wouldn’t be able to
answer the phone. I bet she forgot her Blue tooth again, he thought as he
left her a message to call him. While he
waited for her to call, he would finish up the rest of the requisitions. He opened the briefcase and took them out
just as Cora brought in a pot of coffee and a mug. She put it down on the corner of the desk. “Thank you, Cora.” She smiled and shut the door to the study as
she left. Lee ordered the balance of the
materials from the rest of the requisitions.
He also explained to them that they needed to give Janet the same delivery
information as him or Chip if they wanted to keep NIMR’s business. They were surprised to find out that she
wasn’t getting the best delivery dates and promised it wouldn’t happen
again. Smiling as he signed off on the
last one, he put it in the briefcase and snapped it shut. He placed a call to the company Diana had
worked at in
He needed to go for a walk so
he took the briefcase with him and would put it in the flying sub. The weather had turned cloudy and it looked
like rain so he wouldn’t walk to far down the beach. He returned just as Cora was setting the
table for dinner. He took the plates
from her and finished it.
“I hope you help Janet at
home like you are doing here,” Cora remarked happily.
“Yes, I do help out. She has a lot to do so I do what I can,” Lee
replied honestly.
Just as they finished up
Alfred came in the kitchen and saw that the table was set. “Lee, did you do my job?” he asked with a
grin.
“Yes sir. Just wanted to help out as I feel guilty
you’re waiting on me.”
“That’s our job and if Miss
Edith found out we didn’t take care of you...well you know what would happen,”
Cora laughed as she put dinner on the table.
They all sat down and talked about what Lee had found out today about
Diana Parker. Finishing up dinner, they
cleaned up and Lee went upstairs to wait for Janet’s call that she had picked
up Chip.
((()))
Janet went to work on Monday
hoping Lee had completed all the requisitions.
He sent her an e-mail letting her know he had ordered the materials from
the companies based on the east coast.
She knew he was meeting with an ex-boyfriend of Diana and hoped he would
be able to finish the rest of them.
“I thought there would be
less work with the three of them gone but there is more than ever,” Angie told
Wanda and Janet as they each grabbed a cup of coffee and stood in the waiting
area.
“We have to draw straws to
see who’s going to the luncheon with Chip tomorrow,” Janet reminded them.
Angie went to her desk and
pulled out the straws they used when they had to do something none of them
wanted to do. When she returned to the
waiting room, Angie looked at Wanda and smirked, “Janet you pull first.” She pulled her straw and frowned. She knew
she had the shortest straw again. Angie
showed her the other two and they were both longer.
“Looks like you don’t have to
worry about lunch tomorrow,” Wanda teased.
“Thanks. This is the third time I got the shortest
straw. You two must rig it,” Janet
laughed.
They didn’t even have time to finish their
coffee when the phone rang. Wanda
answered it and before she could finish that call two more came in so Angie and
Janet ran to their offices to answer those calls. The morning went by very quickly. Janet looked at her watch and it was already
1030 hours. She was going to leave for
the airport at 1100 hours as she wasn’t sure how long it would take her to get
to the airport because of traffic. She
was a little nervous about picking Chip up but wanted to prove to Lee that she
could do it and not get lost.
At 1055 hours she turned off
her computer and went to Angie’s office.
“I’m leaving now to go get Chip,” she told Angie. “We should be back before you leave. I checked his flight and as of now it’s due
to arrive on time and I’m sure he’ll want to stop here before going home.”
Looking up from her computer
Angie replied smiling, “Good luck.
You’ll do fine. In case you don’t
make it back in time, don’t forget you and Chip have that luncheon and meeting
tomorrow at 1130 hours.”
“Yes I remember,” Janet
answered softly.
Wanda was on the phone when
she left and mouthed, ‘good luck’ as she walked out the door. Angie went to Wanda’s desk just as she got
off the phone. “Do you think she’ll ever
catch on that we set her up every time we do the straws,” she laughed.
“I sure hope not because I
don’t want to go to those luncheons or meetings.”
“Me either unless I’m forced
to even though the admiral says the food is good but the meeting is very
boring,” Angie replied as she returned to her office with a big smile.
Janet went out to her car,
took a deep breath and made her way out of NIMR and onto the road to the
freeway that would take her to the airport.
Traffic wasn’t too bad. As she
was driving she heard her phone ring but forgot her Blue tooth device at work
so she couldn’t answer the phone. She
arrived at the airport at 1300 hours and pulled into Parking Lot C and took the
shuttle to the terminal where Chip’s flight would arrive and went to the
baggage pickup area. Since she had some
time to wait, she found a coffee shop, got a cup of coffee with a scone and
found a place to sit down. She checked
her phone and saw that Lee had called.
She pressed the one button on her phone and waited for him to answer.
“Hi sweetie, did you leave
for the airport?” Lee asked. It was 1300
hours and was worried that she hadn’t left yet.
“Hi Lee, I’m already at the
airport. I left NIMR at 1100 hours just
in case there was a lot of traffic and got lost. I’m happy to report I didn’t get lost. I’m just waiting for the flight to arrive so
I got a cup of coffee and scone.”
Smiling he said, “I’m glad
you got there safely. Please let Chip
drive home since traffic will be a lot worse.
“Yes Lee,” she answered
laughing. “Do you know when you’ll be
leaving...did you find out anything more about Diana? I really miss you.”
“I miss you too and hopefully
if the admiral doesn’t get back to late on Tuesday, we might leave when he
returns and nothing new on Diana, only that her brother lives in California.”
“Do you want me to check on
anything for you?”
“Not just yet. I checked on the company she worked at in
“Okay just let me know if you
do. I’ll have Chip call you when we get
back to NIMR.”
“Sound good. I’m going for a walk. You’ll be happy to know I finished ordering
everything on the requisitions.”
“Thanks honey, that’s a big
help. And Lee you’ll be happy to know I get to go the luncheon with Chip
tomorrow. Enjoy your walk.” She pressed
the disconnect button on her phone and sighed wishing she was there walking
with him.
Smiling as he put his phone
in his pocket, he wondered if she would ever figure out they rig the straw
contest and left for his walk.
((()))
Janet sat there and watched the
people as they picked up their luggage.
Chip’s flight was still on time and it should be landing in ten
minutes. She needed to use the restroom
and found one not to far from the baggage area.
She went in and there was only one other woman in there with short dark
hair. Janet finished up and went back to
her seat just as the passengers from Chip’s flight were entering the baggage
area.
Diana looked for her brother
or one of his workers but didn’t see anyone so she went into the restroom. A nice looking blond with short hair came in
but she didn’t pay much attention to her.
She would wait until Chip’s flight landed as she wanted to see what
‘friend’ was picking him up. She stood
off to the side near a pole but could see the baggage area.
Chip entered the baggage area
and saw Janet there waiting for him. She
met him at the baggage carousel as he waited for his luggage to come out. He gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“Welcome back,” Janet said
with a smile. “How are your parents and
the rest of your family...did you win any money...did you have a good time?”
“Slow down. My family is fine and sends their love. Won a little bit of money; not enough to stop
working and yes I had a wonderful time?”
Janet looked around, “I see
there’s no girl so I take it you didn’t get married,” she joked.
“Please, no way. I did meet someone but I’ll tell you about
her on the way home,” he said as his suitcase came out and he picked it
up. “You didn’t get lost did you?” he
asked with a grin.
“No, I didn’t. I even parked the car and took the
shuttle. Let’s go I want to hear all
about this girl,” Janet replied as she linked her arm in his and they headed
for the shuttle station.
Diana stood there and watched
Chip and Janet. She noticed it was the woman from the restroom. She wasn’t too happy. What a creep. No wonder he didn’t want to stay with me,
she thought. He’ll be sorry.
Diana followed them out of the terminal and saw her brother waiting there for
her. She walked over to the car, gave
him a kiss on the cheek. “Let’s get out
of here,” she said tersely. Her brother
looked at her as they got in the car and drove away.
((()))
As Chip and Janet were driving
back from the airport Janet asked him about the girl he met. “Well, what was she like…name…does she live
around here…are you going out again?”
Chip was laughing at all her
questions. She reminded him of his sister as she did the same thing when they
were younger and he would go out on a date.
“Her name was Diana Peters. She
had short dark hair and moving to
“Is there a problem?” Janet
asked noticing the hesitation.
“I got the feeling she wasn’t
being honest with me,” he remarked. “And
she was very possessive. You should have
seen the looks she gave a waitress and hostess.
I really hope I don’t see her again.”
“You have the best instincts
when it comes to people,” Janet told Chip.
“Thanks for taking time from your vacation to go to that luncheon
tomorrow and I’ll be going with you. The admiral and Lee owe you big time.”
“Has Lee had any luck finding
Diana?” Chip asked as they pulled off the freeway and onto the road that would
take them to
“Nothing so far. Only that her brother lives in
“I’m hungry so why don’t we
stop at NIMR, pick up Angie and Wanda for an early dinner. We’ll go to Giovanni’s. I won some money playing Black Jack so I’m
treating.”
Chip pulled in front of the
institute and they went inside and up to their offices. Wanda was on the phone and waved to him as he
walked by. He went to his office and saw
there was very little work to be done.
He would check it over before they left for dinner. As he went to Angie’s office, Wanda had gotten
off the phone and followed him into her office.
“Hi Angie,” Chip said, “You
and Wanda are going out to dinner with Janet and me. I’ll give you thirty minutes to finish up
what you’re doing.”
“How was your trip?” Angie
asked. “But I can’t go I have all this work to do before the admiral comes
back,” Angie frowned as she showed him a pile of folders.
“You can finish it
tomorrow. They won’t be back until late
in the day.”
“He met a girl,” Janet piped
up as she walked in Angie’s office too.
“Okay, let’s go. I want to hear all about the girl,” Angie
laughed, “oh and of course the rest of your trip.”
Smiling Chip returned to his
office and looked at the work sitting on his desk. He signed the letters Janet had done, went
through his mail and answered a few e-mails. He called Lee on his phone but it
went to voice mail so he left a message saying they got back to NIMR and were
going out for dinner. After he brought
the letters to Janet, he said to them, “Ladies time is up. Pack up your things. We’re leaving and I’m the luckiest man on
earth as I get to have dinner with three beautiful ladies.”
The three ladies grabbed
their coats, purses and met Chip at the elevator. He turned off the lights to the office and
they went downstairs and out the doors after saying good night to Howard. They would each take their own car so Wanda
and Angie didn’t have to go out of their way to go home.
((()))
They got to Giovanni’s and he
wondered where the admiral and Lee were so Chip told them they were out
east. They ordered a glass of wine as
Chip told Angie and Wanda about Diana.
They agreed with Janet that Chip was a good judge of character and he
was better off with out her. They ate
dinner talking about what Chip did in
((()))
As Terry Parker drove home
with Diana he could tell she was upset about something. “How was your trip?”
“Just fine, didn’t do too
much. Laid by the pool, walked around
the strip, that’s about it,” she replied irritably.
“What’s wrong with you? You’ve been a bear since I picked you up,” he
asked sharply already tired of her attitude.
“Sorry Terry. I met this guy and I thought we hit if off
but he wasn’t interested. I couldn’t figure out why until I saw that he got
picked up by his girlfriend. Don’t worry
I’ll get over it,” Diana said. I’ll
get over it after I show him he can’t string me along and get away with it,
she thought.
“Why did you quit your
job...what do you have that’s going to make us rich...who is Sandy and a guy
named Lee Crane called twice,” Terry asked as they pulled in front building
where his catering business was located. His catering business was well known
in
Sighing Diana replied, “I
quit because I was passed over for a promotion again. I’m good enough to fill in but not good
enough to be a secretary so I got fed up and left.” As they got out of the car and walked to the
entrance to the office, she continued, “When I left I took a file with me. A file that is very valuable to ONI and
us. With your connections, we could sell
it to the right person for a lot of money and cause a lot of problems.
“No I didn’t talk to anyone
like you asked. So you’re safe for now.”
Terry and Diana walked to his
office. “Let me see this file,” he
asked. Diana pulled the file out of her
bag and gave it to him. He looked it
over and was surprised at what it contained.
“This file contains highly secure information. Who am I going to sell it to?” he said
sarcastically.
“Terry with your connections,
you must know someone who would like this information. Don’t you have your big spenders from out of
the country coming soon?”
“Yes, they will be here on
Thursday but how do I know if they’ll want it?”
“Don’t you worry about that
my dear brother, point them out to me and I will handle it from there,” Diana said
casually.
Shaking his head, “Okay, I’ll
go along with you for now,” Terry answered as he walked towards the back of the
building. “I need to make sure
everything is set for tomorrow’s catering job downtown and I’m going to need
your help setting it up. One of the
girls quit yesterday and I had to hire a few more servers.”
“No problem, that’s why I
came back to help you out.” She followed
him to the back and watched as he talked to the manager about the
arrangements. As she waited for Terry so
they could go home, she was thinking of a way to see Chip again. I could go to NIMR and ask to see him, she
thought. That wouldn’t work as he
probably wouldn’t see me. I’ve got to find him and let him know I’m not too
happy with him.
“Diana,” Terry said, “Diana,”
he repeated again as she wasn’t paying attention, “I’m ready to leave so let’s
go.”
“Okay,” she replied as they
left the building and headed for Terry’s house. I’ll think of something, she thought
as they drove home. When they arrived,
she took her suitcase and put it in her bedroom where she still had most of her
things. She shared the house with Terry
but when he had a drug selling meeting scheduled he would stay in the small
apartment above the catering business.
((()))
Lee woke the next morning and
got ready to go for a run. He looked
outside and could see the ocean was getting a little rough as FS-1 was bobbing
heavily in the water. They were calling
for a huge storm to hit the Boston area later today so he hoped the admiral
would be back early so they could leave before the storm hit. He went downstairs and Cora was already there
making coffee and breakfast. She could
see he was dressed for a run and he hesitated before going out the door.
“Go for you run,” Cora told
him with a grin, “Breakfast will be ready when you return.”
He smiled at her as he went
out the door and said, “Thanks. I’ll be
back in thirty minutes.”
Cora went back to making the
breakfast quiche after pouring herself a cup of coffee. Lee returned thirty
minutes later covered in sweat. “I’ll be
right down just need to shower,” he told Cora and Alfred who was sitting at the
table with the newspaper.
“No problem. It’s not quite done. Take your time.”
Lee ran upstairs jumped into
the shower and dressed in a pair of blue jeans and turtleneck. He went into the kitchen just as Cora was taking
the quiche out of the oven. Going over
to the coffee pot, he filled a mug for himself and refilled Cora’s and
Alfred’s. “Mmm, this is so good,” Lee
said savoring the coffee.
He sat down at the table as
Cora put a huge piece of quiche on his plate, “Looks delicious,” Lee commented.
“The admiral called while you
were on your run and said that they would be back here by lunch. He wants to have a quick lunch as soon as
they return so you can leave before the storm comes in.”
Putting a piece of quiche in
his mouth, Lee replied, “Sounds good.
That storm looks like it’s going to be a doozy.”
They finished up breakfast
and Lee grabbed another cup of coffee and read the newspaper. When he was done he went upstairs, made sure
his bag was packed, took his briefcase and went to FS-1 and stowed his
gear. He stood on the dock looking at
the ocean and could see it was even rougher than earlier this morning. He went back to the house, logged onto the
computer and checked his e-mails. He
answered the ones he could. He left
Janet an e-mail letting her know that they would be leaving early this
afternoon and would call her when they left.
He also told her to enjoy the luncheon.
He called Admiral Johnson and reported to him that he found out Diana’s
brother lived in
((()))
Janet
woke up and showered. I sure miss Lee, she thought as she
finished. Since she had to attend the
luncheon today, she took out her black suit, a white blouse and heels to wear
to work. She finished getting ready, ate a bagel and had a cup of coffee while
she waited for Chip. Janet left the front
door open and had just finished cleaning up when she heard him pull in. She took her purse, locked the front door and
got in the car.
“You
sure look nice today. Are you going someplace special,” Chip teased as he
pulled out of the driveway.
“Same
place as you and you don’t look to bad yourself,” Janet quipped back. Chip had put on his blue service uniform
today instead of the khaki one. Janet
liked the blue ones better anyway.
Neither
one of them was thrilled they had to attend the luncheon but Chip would make
sure Lee paid him back someway. Chip
pulled in front of the institute office and they went upstairs to their
offices. Wanda and Angie both looked at
them.
“You
both look very nice today,” they snickered.
“If nothing else the food should be good. It’s being catered by Lucky’s Catering. It’s one of the best in
Chip
looked at them, “If it’s going to be that good why don’t one of you go in my
place?”
“Not
going to work. They wanted the Admiral
and Lee but you’re the only officer available to answer their questions if they
have any,” Angie replied with a smile.
The
three women left Chip standing there and went to their offices. He got a cup of coffee and went to his office,
removed his jacket and hung it in the closet and put his cover on the chair. He
sorted through the mail and other items he needed to take care of. Before Janet booted up her computer, she put
her jacket on the chair in front of her desk.
As soon as her computer was up she checked her e-mail and the one from
Lee letting her know that they would be leaving today. She went to Chip’s office to discuss the work
Lee had done while he was gone and some other items. She took the folder from her desk and knocked
on Chip’s door. “Chip, do you have a
minute. I’ve got some things to go over
with you.”
“Sure
come on in,” he replied as Janet sat down in front of his desk.
“First,
Lee and the admiral are leaving early this afternoon for
“Anything
else,” Chip asked looking at all the paperwork she gave him.
“No
sir. Everything is up-to-date. Just one more thing, what time are we leaving
for the luncheon? It starts at 1130
hours.”
“We
should leave no later than 1100 hours.
Thanks for taking care of all this,” Chip said as he held up all the
papers.
“No
problem,” she replied as she got up and went back to her office.
Chip
looked over all the paperwork and filed it away. He knew Janet would take a copy of the
inventory with her when they left on the mission so he wouldn’t need to bring
one. He opened the mail and read it over
as he drank his coffee.
((()))
Diana
and Terry got to the catering business early so they could make sure all the
food was ready, the truck packed up with the tables, chairs, decorations, centerpieces,
dishes, glassware and silverware. Since
the luncheon was being held at city hall they needed to bring everything. Terry looked over the sheet and checked off
the items as they were loaded into the truck.
All the servers were accounted for and on their way to city hall. Since all the items were loaded on the truck,
Terry released it. Diana would leave
shortly in the van to help them set up.
Another van would bring the food over just before the luncheon started.
Diana
got to city hall just as they finished unloading the truck and the servers were
setting up the tables in the main meeting room.
She looked at one of the servers and thought he looked familiar but
couldn’t place him. Jason Weldon saw
Diana look at him. He was worried she
would remember him from ONI so he would stay out of her sight as much as he
could. She helped them set the tables
and put on the centerpieces. She looked
around the room and everything was perfect.
Looking at her watch she noticed it was already
((()))
Lee
looked at his watch, it was getting late.
He looked outside and could see the weather was starting to deteriorate
faster than he anticipated. He turned
off the computer and went to the living room where Alfred had just lit a
fire. He was afraid the weather would
knock out the power so he wanted to make sure they had some heat. Lee started to pace when he heard the
Admiral’s voice coming from the hallway.
“Lee,”
he called as he hung up his coat in the hallway closet. Lee went into the hallway where the admiral
was hanging up Edith’s coat.
“Hi
Lee,” Edith said as he walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the
cheek. “Everything okay?”
He
walked over to the admiral and shook his hand.
“No, I still don’t have any leads on where Diana is?” Lee sighed.
“Come
on and let’s eat. I see Cora has lunch
ready and we need to get out of here soon or we’re going to be stuck here. They’re calling for three feet of snow and
hurricane force winds. It’s going to be
a rough ride home until we clear the storm area.”
Edith
linked her arm in Lee’s as they walked to the dining room where Cora had set up
bowls of homemade barley soup, fresh bread and chocolate chip cookies. They sat down to eat talking about the visit
with their friends. Lee took two
chocolate chips cookies and some coffee.
“Cora would it be okay if I took a few more cookies and a thermos of
coffee for the flight home?”
Cora
looked at him and smiled, “I already made you a bag to take with you. I put some sandwiches in there too.”
The
admiral said taking another cookie, “Thanks Cora, what would we do without you
and Alfred?” Seeing it was 1300 hours the admiral remarked, “Well Lee if you’re
finished I suggest we get going.”
“Yes
sir. Just let me call Janet. I told her I would let her know when we
left.” Lee pressed the one button on his
phone. Janet picked up the call right
away.
“Hi
sweetie. We’re leaving right now for
“Okay
Lee, please be careful. They say there’s
a monster storm heading that way.”
“We
should be almost home by the time the storms hits here. Enjoy your lunch,” he snorted. He was glad he didn’t have to go to the
luncheon. He hated sitting there
listening to the speeches, questions, and most of the time the food was awful.
“Thanks,
I’m sure we will. You’re going to have
to think of something big to payback Chip,” Janet chuckled.
“Good
bye,” Lee said as he hung up the phone with a smile on his face. The admiral looked at him, “Why the smile?”
“Glad
I don’t have to go to that luncheon.”
Grinning
back, “Me too,” the admiral said.
Alfred
took the admiral’s suitcase and briefcase while Cora took the bag of
sandwiches, cookies, and coffee. They all walked down to the dock and could
feel the wind was already picking up.
Lee took the items from Cora and Alfred and stowed it in the locker with
his things.
“Thanks
for taking care of me,” Lee said as he gave Cora a kiss and shook Alfred’s
hand. He also gave Edith a kiss. “Sorry I couldn’t spend more time with you.”
“Don’t
worry Lee, I understand,” Edith replied returning his kiss and gave her brother
one too.
“Good
bye, Admiral, Lee. Have safe trip,” Cora
said.
The
admiral and Lee entered FS-1, Lee secured the hatch, strapped himself in the
pilot’s seat and put on the throat mike.
He had already called Trish at NIMR’s communication center and gave her
their flight plan. He would contact them when they were a little closer to
((()))
Chip
looked at his watch and it was nearly 1100 hours so he turned off his computer
and went to Janet’s office.
“Are
you about ready to leave?” Chip asked with his coat and cover in his hand.
“Yes
sir,” Janet replied with a grin as she turned off her computer and took her
purse out of her desk. She grabbed her jacket off the chair and Chip helped her
put it on. She went to Angie’s office to
let her know they were leaving.
“See
you later,” Janet said to Angie.
“Have
fun,” Angie snickered.
Chip
and Janet went to the elevator, got in the car and drove to city hall. Janet was a little nervous as she had never
been to one of these luncheons before so she didn’t know what to expect. They parked the car and walked up to the
front door, Janet was relieved to see other women there as several of them
greeted Chip.
One
nice looking blonde walked over to Chip and Janet, “Hello Chip,” she said
warmly, “Good to see you here again.
Where’s Lee?”
“He
and the admiral are out of town so I was elected to come. This is Janet, Lee’s wife,” Chip replied as
he shook her hand.
“Nice
to meet you,” she said with a smirk shaking her hand. “Please excuse me,” she asked, “there’s a
gentlemen that I really need to talk to.”
She walked away and left Chip and Janet standing there.
“Who
is she?” Janet asked softly. “She was
happy to see you and disappointed that Lee wasn’t here.”
“She’s
the representative from Allerton Valve.
She works with Tom Allerton.”
“She
must be new there as I don’t remember her when I worked there.”
A
few men came over to Chip and he introduced them the Janet. One of the men, Ron Weaver, of Weaver Valves
asked, “Are you related to Lee Crane?”
“Yes,
he’s my husband,” Janet answered.
“I
want to apologize to you. I talked to
Lee earlier this week and he told me that you weren’t getting the same
information as we would give to him or Chip.
I’m very sorry that happened and have made sure that if you should call,
you will get the best dates we have.”
“Thank
you. I would appreciate it,” Janet answered
sincerely.
The
food was ready to be served, so they went in and sat down at a table with Ron
and a few other business men. Chip
introduced Janet to the ones she didn’t know.
Diana was in the back making sure the food was ready to be served. She looked out at the room and saw Chip and
Janet sitting at a table.
Damn,
she thought. “I didn’t expect him
to be here and especially with her. But
it will work to my advantage. I’ll be able to see him again. I’ll just have to
make sure he doesn’t see me.
When
the server came over to Chip’s and Janet’s table to serve them lunch and Janet
almost fell out of her chair. The server
was Jason Weldon. He saw Janet and Chip
look at him and prayed they wouldn’t say anything. They would blow his cover if they acknowledged
that they knew him. Chip looked at Janet
and both of them realized he must be on a mission and undercover. Neither one of them said anything to him. They finished eating and listened to the mayor
give his speech on how the city of
Janet
leaned over and whispered to Chip, “Now I know why Lee and the admiral don’t
want to attend these meetings. They sure
are boring.”
Chip
looked at her and smiled as he shook his head in agreement. Diana was still in the back helping the
servers pack up the food. She peeked out
from behind the curtain and saw Janet lean over and whisper in Chip’s ear. She was jealous that she got that close to
him. I should be sitting next to him
and whispering to him, Diana thought.
I will be shortly.
Once
everyone was done with their speeches, the mayor returned to the podium and thanked
everyone for coming. Chip and Janet got
up to leave but were cornered by the mayor.
“Hello,
Commander Morton,” he said to Chip.
Looking over at Janet, “I don’t believe we’ve met,” he told her as he shook
her hand and held on to it.
“Janet
Crane,” she replied removing her hand from his.
“Commander Crane is my husband.”
“Nice
to meet you, where are the admiral and commander?” he asked Chip still staring
at Janet.
“They
had some business to take care of on the east coast.”
“Pleasure
to meet you Mrs. Crane, I hope you’ll join us again.”
“Nice
to meet you too and maybe I’ll be back.”
Not if I can help it, Janet thought.
The
mayor finished talking to Chip and Janet and walked away to talk to some other
guests. Several businessmen came over to
them and Chip introduced Janet to them.
She had talked to a few of them on the phone and they were happy to put
a face to the voice. They continued talking to them about supplies NIMR ordered
from their companies and how they appreciated their business. After talking to them for another thirty
minutes, they finally got free and walked out of the city hall building.
“Sorry
that took so long. They always are trying to get us to give them more
business,” Chip apologized.
“No
problem,” Janet replied as they walked to the car. “I’ve decided Lee owes me big time too. Sorry, Chip but I hope I never have to go to
another one of those again.” It was a
warm day so Chip removed his jacket and Janet decided to take hers off too. They
both laughed as Chip unlocked the car and opened the door for Janet. When she got in she took her jacket and put
it in the back seat along with Chip’s. Diana followed them out and watched them get
into Chip’s SUV. She was ready to leave
as they had loaded the left over food in the van. She would have two of the servers come with
her to unload it once they arrived back at the company. The other servers would take down the tables
and load the truck with the rest of the items.
((()))
Diana
and the two servers, climbed in the van just as Chip and Janet drove out of the
parking lot. “Follow that SUV,” Diana
said to Roger who was driving.
“But
Miss Parker, we need to get this food back,” Roger told her.
“I
said follow it,” she said sharply. “And
when I tell you, I want you to run it off the road.”
“Run
it off the road, but M...” Roger didn’t get to finish his sentence when Diana
hissed, “Just do what I say.”
“Yes
ma’am,” Roger replied as he looked over at Justin the other server and sped up
to catch up with Chip’s SUV.
((()))
Once
Chip and Janet were on the freeway Janet spoke up. “Chip, why do you think Jason Weldon was
posing as a server?”
“I
would assume he’s undercover but for what or whom? I don’t think ONI is interested in the mayor,
maybe one of the businessmen are up to no good.”
“I’ll
ask Lee to find out when he returns,” she said looking at her watch, “They
should be back shortly.”
Chip
exited the freeway and turned on
“When
they get to the next curve, push them off the road,” Diana ordered. “If you don’t do it, I will.”
“Everything okay,” Janet
asked as Chip slowed down to let the van pass them.
“Not sure,” he replied as he
looked over to make sure Janet had her seatbelt on.
The white van came right next
to Chip’s SUV and started to push them closer to the edge of the road. The van
had dark windows so neither Chip or Janet could see who was in the car but
Janet noticed a partial name on the van. All she could make out was ‘tering’ as the
window post blocked the rest of the wording.
“Hang on,” Chip told Janet as
he turned the wheel sharply into the van trying to keep his car on the road.
The van pushed Chip’s vehicle
closer to the edge again but somehow Chip managed to keep it on the road. Chip
turned the wheel back pushing the van away from them but the driver turned his
wheels into Chip’s car scrapping it as the driver pushed Chip’s car again. This time the tire of Chip’s SUV caught the
edge of the road where there was loose gravel.
“Chip,” Janet yelled as their
car left the road. Those were the last
words he heard before the car flipped over landing on the four wheels in the
gully.
The van stopped and backed up
to where Chip’s SUV left the road. Diana, Roger and Justin exited the van and
stood there staring down at the SUV when Diana told them curtly, “Get down
there and check them out. He better not
be dead or you’ll pay dearly.”
Justin and Roger made their
way down to the gully. They approached
the car carefully not knowing if Chip and Janet were conscious. As they got closer, they could see the two of
them were unconscious as neither of them moved.
Roger checked Chip and found he had a pulse and a large bump forming on
his head as Justin checked out Janet who also had a pulse plus a bump and a
gash on her forehead.
“They’re alive,” Roger
shouted up to Diana.
“Good,” she shouted back as
she got some gloves out of the van and threw them down to the men. “Put those on and bring him up here and put
him in the van.”
Roger removed Chip’s seatbelt,
dragged him out of the car and with Justin’s help brought him up to the top of
the gully and put him in the back of the van.
Diana got back in the van and
was ready to leave when Roger asked, “Are you just going to leave her here...no
one will ever find her...it gets cold at night...she might die.”
Very irritated, she searched
Chip, found his cell phone in his pocket and dialed 911, “There’s been an accident
on
((()))
The 911 dispatcher answered
the call but Diana had hung up before she could get anymore details. She notified the sheriff’s department who
sent out a unit to look for the accident.
The patrol car drove down the road looking for it but couldn’t find
one. The officer drove by again and
finally noticed the tire tracks that led off the road. He stopped, got out of his car, looked down
into the gully and saw the SUV sitting there.
He called for the paramedics before he made his way down to the
bottom. He found Janet still strapped in
and unconscious in the SUV. She was in the
passenger seat so there must have been another person in the car. The officer
looked around the accident scene but didn’t find anyone else. He had driven up and down the street looking
for the accident and didn’t see anyone walking or another car. Where is the
other person, he thought. He heard
the woman’s cell phone ring but he couldn’t get to it to answer it. He also heard the ringing of another cell
phone but didn’t know where it was as it wasn’t in the car. He looked around the area and found it in the
bushes. Pulling a pair of gloves out of
his pocket, he picked up the cell phone and brought it over to the car but the
call had gone into the voice mail.
((()))
Lee and the admiral were an
hour away from NIMR. It had taken them a
little longer just as Lee suspected.
They ran into heavy weather just outside of
“Yes FS-1 I read you,” Trish
said quickly. “Is there a problem?”
“No, I don’t think so. I’m reporting that we should be docking with
Seaview in an hour. Could you patch me
into Angie?”
“Sure Lee, just a moment,”
Trish responded flipping the switches that would connect him with Angie.
Angie answered the phone
surprised to hear Lee on the line.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Did Chip and Janet return
from the luncheon? I tried their cell
phones and neither one of them answered.”
“No Lee they’re not back
yet. Let me check the invitation and see
when it was scheduled to end,” Angie replied pulling the invitation out of her
folder. “It was over at 1400 hours, it’s
now 1600 hours.”
“Please have one of them call
me as soon as they return,” Lee said worriedly.
“Yes, Lee I will have them
call you,” Angie answered anxiously.
“Thanks, Angie. FS-1 out,”
Lee responded, as he turned off the mike and looked at the admiral who also had
a worried look on his face. “Maybe they
got hung up with the mayor or one of the other business men. That’s happened to us before,” he said not
very convincingly.
“Maybe,” Lee answered quietly
as he continued flying FS-1 towards Seaview.
((()))
The sheriff’s officer went back
to the SUV to find out who Janet was. He
located her purse and found her driver’s license and NIMR ID. He opened the glove box and found the
registration papers showing the car belonged to Chip. He heard the paramedics pull up and went back
up to the road to help them bring down the stretcher. Another sheriff’s officer also pulled up
behind them. The paramedics carefully
un-strapped Janet from the seat belt and gently laid her on the stretcher. They put a neck brace on before they took her
back up to the paramedic unit. The
sheriff’s officer put her purse on the stretcher with her. Once inside the ambulance, they applied an
ice pack to her head and bandaged the gash on her forehead. One of the paramedics wanted to know who she
was in case she woke up.
“Her name is Janet Crane and
she works at the Nelson Institute.
That’s the big research center with the submarine,” the officer told
him.
“Okay, I know the place but
where’s the other occupant of the car?” he asked curiously.
“I don’t know. She was the only one here when I arrived on
the scene. I drove up and down the road
before I found where the car went off the road and didn’t see anyone not even
another car.”
“That’s very strange,” he
responded. “You better call the Institute and tell them what happened. We’re taking her to the hospital in
“Okay. I’ll let them know,”
he replied still puzzled as to where the driver of the SUV was.
He shut the door on the
ambulance and watched it drive away sirens blaring. He went back to his car to make a phone call
for a towing service to have the car removed from the gully. He wasn’t that far from the institute so he
would drive there and let them know about the accident. The other officer was going to look around
the area for Chip as maybe he wandered away looking for help.
((()))
Diana and the men in the van
pulled into the alley in back of the building where they would unload the food
and Chip. Terry met them at the door.
“Where the hell have you
been? You should have been back thirty minutes ago. If that food is spoiled...,” he yelled at
Roger and Justin who stood there looking at Diana.
“Relax Terry. We left a little later than I thought. The food should be fine,” she replied as she
helped them unload the van. Terry
donated all the extra food to the food pantry and they were due to arrive any
minute. He donated the food to the
pantry making him look good so no one would snoop around the building and his
business.
Roger whispered to Diana,
“What do we do with the man?”
“Just leave him in the van
for now. We’ll take care of him in a
little while.” She knew Terry was
leaving after they got rid of the food so she would take the van to the house
and put Chip in her room. The people
from the food pantry showed up and took the food. Terry didn’t leave as planned so Diana had to
leave Chip in the van longer than she wanted but she couldn’t leave without
Terry knowing she was gone. Damn,
she thought. She went out to the van and
checked on Chip but he was still unconscious. Once she got him home, she would need to keep
him under her control. She knew once he regained consciousness, he would fight
to get away so she looked for something she could chain him to the bed. She found a piece of chain and a padlock that
Terry used to lock the back door and put it in the van. Terry finally left so Diana was able to go upstairs
to find a drug she could give him. After
looking at what Terry had, she found the perfect drug. Xanax.
((()))
The sheriff’s officer arrived
at the NIMR’s security gate. Pete went
out to see what he wanted. “Can I help
you,” Pete asked.
Showing him his badge, the
officer replied, “There’s been an accident, I need to talk to someone regarding
it.”
“Just a minute,” Pete replied
as he went to the phone in the gate house and called Angie.
“Miss Angie, I have a
sheriff’s officer here at the gate. He
says there’s been an accident and he wants to talk to someone. Can I send him to you?”
“Yes, send him right over,”
Angie answered quickly.
Pete told the officer how to
get to the institute office just as the admiral and Lee berthed FS-1 on Seaview. Lee went up first and was taking their things
from the little sub when Kowalski and Patterson came into the control room and
helped them unload.
“Thanks, Ski, Pat,” Lee said
as he and the admiral made their way to the ladder where Patterson and Kowalski
helped them up with their luggage and out the sail hatch. They walked to the parking lot, where Lee
unlocked the door and put their things in the SUV. Lee drove rather quickly to the office as he
was still worried he hadn’t heard from Chip or Janet and hoped they were there.
((()))
The officer found the
institute office and went into the building where Howard had the elevator
waiting for him as Pete had let him know he was coming. Angie and Wanda met him
as soon as he came off the elevator.
“What accident...who’s
involved...are they okay?” Angie demanded.
“I’m Dylan Little,” the
officer said calmly. “A vehicle
belonging to Charles Morton was involved in a one car accident on
“Officer, I’m Lee Crane. Janet Crane’s husband,” Lee said as he
quickly went over to him. “What
happen...is she hurt...where is she,” Lee said in a panic. “Where’s Chip?”
“Mr. Crane, your wife was
unconscious when I found the car. She’s
been taken to the hospital in
“What do you mean Chip wasn’t
there...where is he...did you look around?” Lee said sharply.
“Yes sir. I saw no other cars or people on the road and
all I found was his cell phone. As I told the women, we’re going to investigate
the accident and we have men out there looking for him in case he wandered away.
We’re towing the car to the police
station for now. Sorry about your wife I
hope she’ll be alright,” Officer Little said and got on the elevator.
“Angie, call Jamie and tell
him to meet us at the hospital,” Lee said as he put his things down and waited
impatiently for the elevator to return.
“Can we come,” Wanda asked
with tears in her eyes.
Sighing deeply Lee responded,
“Would you and Angie please stay here in case Chip calls. Maybe he got a ride and went for help.”
“Yes Lee,” Wanda answered as
Angie returned.
“Jamie will meet you
there. He said not to worry he knows the
ER doctor and they will take good care of her.”
Lee and the admiral only
heard half of what she said as the elevator doors were closing. They quickly climbed in Lee’s car for the
twenty minute ride to the hospital. Lee
drove a little faster then he should and the admiral had to hold on for dear
life. “Lee slow down, we don’t want to
cause an accident and hurt someone.”
“Sorry, sir,” he said as he
slowed down a little.
The two of them had both had
worried looks on the faces not only for Janet but for Chip. They knew he wouldn’t leave Janet alone
unless he went for help but he could have called for help on his cell phone.
((()))
Diana tapped Roger on the
shoulder when she came back downstairs.
“I need your help. You’re going
with me to the house and help me bring Chip to my room.”
“But Miss Parker, if your
brother finds out I left without finishing up here, he’ll fire me,” Roger
pleaded.
“Don’t worry about him. I’ll tell him I needed your help. Now let’s go.
It’s hot in that van and I don’t want anything to happen to him,” Diana
said as she grabbed her purse and walked out the door with Roger reluctantly
following her.
Diana checked once again on
Chip and he was still unconscious but sweating profusely. They quickly got in the van and parked in the
front of the house. Diana opened the door
while Roger struggled to get Chip out of the van. Diana saw him struggling and went back to the
van to help him bring Chip in as she didn’t want the neighbors to see what was
going on. So they both put their arms
around Chip and carried him into the house and put him in Diana’s room where
they laid him on the bed. “Go get the
chain and padlock from the van,” she ordered.
While Roger was gone, Diana removed Chip’s tie and loosen the top button
of his shirt.
“Miss Parker, what are you going
to do with these,” Roger asked when he returned with the chain and lock.
“You’ll see,” she replied as
she took Chip’s wrist and wrapped the chain around it and then around the
spindle on the brass bed, put the padlock on and snapped it shut.
“Miss Parker, why are you
doing this?” Roger asked afraid of what might happen to him if they were
caught.
“That’s none of your business
and you had better not tell anyone he’s here or else I’ll make sure you won’t
be seen again,” Diana threatened. “Is
that clear?”
“Yes ma’am,” Roger answered
fearfully.
“You can go back to the shop
and finish up there. I’ll be here for
the rest of the day. Just tell Mr.
Parker I wasn’t feeling well.
Roger left the house and went
back to the store. Mr. Parker hadn’t returned
yet so no one he knew was gone. He had a
lot of work to do to set up for the big meeting upstairs in two days.
((()))
Lee and the admiral rushed
into the ER and went to the reception desk.
“I’m looking for a Janet Crane,” Lee asked frantically. “They brought her in by ambulance.”
The receptionist looked at
the list of patients as Lee impatiently tapped his fingers on the desk. “She’s in treatment room eight. Go to the door on the left and I will buzz you
in, then make a right hand turn it’s directly across from the nurse’s station.”
“Thank you,” Lee said as he
waited for her to buzz them in just as Jamie was entering the ER.
“Hello, Dr. Jamieson,” the
receptionist said as Jamie walked up to her.
“We weren’t expecting you today.”
“A friend of mine was in an
accident. Janet Crane.”
The receptionist told Jamie
where Janet was and buzzed him in. He
saw Lee and the admiral walking towards Janet’s room. “Lee,” he called softly but he was already by
her door. Jamie stopped at the desk to
talk to the nurse on duty. He asked for
Janet’s chart and looked it over before going into the room.
When Lee got to her room, he
saw the blood all over her blouse, a bandage on her head along with an ice
pack. She was still unconscious. Lee went over to her bed and kissed her
forehead. “Oh sweetie,” he said softly
as Jamie followed them into her room.
“Jamie,” Lee said when he saw
him come in. “What’s wrong with
her...will she be alright...when will she wake up?” Lee asked anxiously as he
brushed her hair away from her face.
Just as Jamie was going to
answer, the ER doctor, Greg Swanson, entered her room. “Hello Will.
Is she a friend of yours?” he asked going to the opposite side of the
bed from Lee and introduced himself.
“Yes,” Jamie replied. “This is her husband Lee Crane and Admiral
Nelson. How is she Greg?”
“She has a severe
concussion. We’ve done a CT scan and
found no bleeding. I am a little
concerned that she hasn’t regained consciousness yet. She also has small gash on her forehead which
we closed using a skin adhesive and a nice sized bump. She’s probably going to be pretty sore
tomorrow. I know she had her seat belt
on but the paramedics reported that it looked like the car had flipped over at
least once.”
“Lee, are you okay?” Jamie
asked after the doctor had finished describing Janet’s injuries as he looked a
little pale.
“I’m okay Jamie,” he replied
as he ran his hand through his hair.
“Thanks Greg,” Jamie said as
he left the room. Lee grabbed a chair
and sat next to Janet’s bed holding her hand.
“Lee, I’m going to check with
Angie and see if they’ve heard anything about Chip,” the admiral stated as he
left the room.
“What’s this about Chip?”
Jamie asked with concern.
“He and Janet were driving
back from a luncheon downtown. When the
police got there Chip was no where to be found.
We don’t know if he went for help but they found his cell phone on the
ground so he could have called for help.
They’re searching for him.” Lee sighed deeply.
With a wry grin Lee said, “Is
this what it’s like when I’m hurt and unconscious? You sit and wait for me to wake up.”
“Yes Lee, only Janet, Chip
and the admiral are there breathing down my neck for answers and willing you to
come to along with one hundred and twenty other men,” Jamie answered with a
weak smile.
“Sorry Jamie,” Lee
replied. “I knew they were always there
when I woke up but never realized how hard it must be to sit and wait and not be
able to do anything.”
Jamie patted him on the
shoulder and pulled up a chair and sat on the other side of the bed. The admiral returned to Janet’s room and
shook his head, “They haven’t found him...they searched the whole area...it’s
like he just disappeared,” he said dejectedly.
“They’re going to continue searching until dark.” He
found another chair and sat down next to Lee.
“She’ll be alright,” he told Lee as he patted his knee.
“I know. Hopefully Janet can
shed some light on where Chip is,” Lee said fearfully thinking about Chip and
what had happened to him.
((()))
Diana went to the bathroom
and ran a towel under the cold water and put it on Chip’s forehead. With a perfectly manicured nail, she ran it
down his face, “Come on honey. I need
you to wake up so we can be together,” she whispered. She got up and closed all the shades and
curtains in the room so it was pitch dark.
She didn’t want anyone looking in the windows and see him chained to the
bed. She could lock her bedroom door so
she knew Terry wouldn’t get in. She took
the file out of her bag and knew she had to find a place to hide it. She went back into the living room and buried
it in the white cabinet under the window.
When Chip woke up she would give him the Xanax to
keep him from struggling to get away.
She laid down next to him on the bed and put her hand on his chest.
((())
Lee’s cell phone rang as he
sat by Janet’s bed. He looked at the
number and knew Admiral Johnson was calling.
“Damn,” he mumbled. “It’s Admiral
Johnson.” Lee didn’t want to leave Janet
but knew he had to take call. He left
her room and went out to the hall.
“Hello.”
“Lee, have you found Diana
and the damn file yet?” he said curtly.
“No sir,” Lee sighed. “Janet’s been in a car accident. As soon as I know she’s going to be
okay. I’ll check out all the Terry
Parker’s and look up the company she worked for here. Please admiral, I know that file is important
and lives depend on it but right now my wife is more important.”
Shocked at Lee’s frankness,
he replied, “I understand. Diana must
still have that file as so far no operatives have been compromised that we
know. But please continue your search as soon as you can. Lee, I hope Janet will be alright.”
“Thank you sir,” Lee answered
and disconnected to the call and returned to Janet’s room. Maybe I should consider giving up ONI,
Lee thought.
((()))
Janet’s
eyes fluttered a little. She opened them
up and closed them again. Jamie noticed
she had opened her eyes and stood up. He
could see she was coming to. She opened
them up again and looked around. She saw Lee and the admiral sitting next to
her bed and Jamie looking over her.
“Lee,” Janet said sitting up quickly and laid right back down. Jamie looked at her with concern. “Just moved
a little to fast and I got dizzy,” she said taking a deep breath hoping the
room would stop spinning.
“Where’s
Chip...is he okay...is he badly hurt?” Janet asked hysterically realizing he
wasn’t in the room.
“Sweetheart,”
Lee said calmly as he stood up. “You’ve
got a concussion so just take it easy.”
He didn’t know what to tell her about Chip but he knew she wouldn’t
relax until she knew where he was.
“Lee,
he was with me in the car...he was driving...please tell me the truth...he’s
not...” she couldn’t finish the sentence and started crying.
“Sweetie,
Chip’s missing. We don’t know where he
is,” Lee told her as he rubbed her hand.
Janet
closed her eyes as she still had a bad headache and was very nauseated. She laid there for a few minutes trying to
sort things out in her mind.
“Janet,”
Jamie said alarmed afraid she was unconscious.
“Yes
Jamie,” Janet replied opening her eyes.
“I was just trying to figure out what happened but nothing is clear.”
“That’s
to be expected. You might not remember
anything about the accident.”
The
nurse heard Janet talking and went to get Dr. Swanson. He went to her room and was happy to see her
awake.
“I’m
Dr. Swanson,” he told her. “I need to
check you out so I’m going to ask your husband and the admiral to step
out. I’ll let Dr. Jamieson stay.”
“Yes
sir,” she answered softly.
Dr.
Swanson did all the neurological tests they do with someone who has a
concussion. Janet passed most of them
but had hard time remembering what took place right before the accident. He
thought it was wise she stay overnight and Jamie agreed with him. Jamie left the room and motioned to Lee and
the admiral they could return. The
doctor explained everything to Lee and he was relieved she would be alright and
had no problem with her staying in the hospital.
“They
will be transferring her to a room shortly.
I know Dr. Jamieson will keep an eye on you,” Dr. Swanson said with
grin. “I’ll be back to release you in
the morning.”
“Thank
you Doctor,” Janet said as Lee shook his hand.
The
doctor no sooner left the room when Officer Little appeared at the door. Lee saw him and sighed. He knew that Janet would have to answer some
questions as to what happened so he motioned him to come in.
“Hello,
Mrs. Crane, I’m Officer Dylan Little and I need you to tell me what happened.”
“Yes
sir. I’ll try but I don’t remember too
much.” she replied quietly.
“Please tell me what you remember,” Officer
Little asked.
“All
I can remember is that the van was white and Chip was trying to keep the car on
the road,” Janet answered tears forming in her eyes.
“Is
that all?” Officer Little asked disappointed at her answers.
Jamie
spoke up tersely, “Officer, she has a severe concussion and may not remember
what took place.”
“I’m
sorry I just can’t remember anything,” Janet replied as tears ran down her
face.
“Officer Little can we continue this later?”
Lee asked as he could see Janet was fading fast.
“No
problem Mr. Crane. Where will I be able
to contact you if I have any more questions?”
Jamie
answered that question before Janet could get a word out. “She’ll be in
“And
you are?’ Officer Little asked sharply.
“Dr.
Will Jamieson, her personal physician.”
“Okay,
Doctor. Thanks for your help Mrs.
Crane. I’ll be in touch. Please call me if you remember anything more.”
Officer
Little left the room. He wasn’t too
happy but at least had a little more information. He now had to check out all the white vans.
An
orderly came into the room, “We’re going to move Mrs. Crane to a room now,” he
said as he prepared the bed for moving.
They went to the elevators and up to the second floor. Two nurses entered the room and shooed out
Lee, the admiral and Jamie as they to help Janet get into a gown and do the
necessary checks for her chart. Once they
were finished they let the men back in.
“Jamie,”
Janet said, “what’s this I’m going to
“No,”
Jamie stated emphatically. “If you’re okay, I’ll let you go home after one day
right now its two.”
Lee
was nodding his head in agreement, “Sweetie, I know you don’t want go there but
I still need to find Diana and that file so I won’t be there to watch you. So
please do what Jamie asks so I know you’ll be looked after.”
“Yes,
Lee,” Janet acquiesced yawning. “I’m
tired so I’m going to take a nap.” Lee
gently kissed her; she turned on her side and fell asleep.
The
three men sat next to her bed and watched her sleep. Before too long, Chief Sharkey, Kowalski and
Patterson showed up. Angie had called them
and told them about the accident.
Kowalski
knocked on the door, “Skipper, can you come here?”
Lee
and the admiral got up and went out into the hallway. They both smiled when they saw the rest of
the men. “Skipper, we went to the accident site and looked around for Mr.
Morton. It’s like he disappeared. No trace of tire tracks or foot prints. Is there anything else we can do?
“No
I guess not,” Lee said rubbing his forehead.
“Thanks men. I really appreciate
it. If I need you...”
“Just
call,” they replied in unison.
Lee and the admiral went back and sat down to wait for Janet to wake up again.
((()))
Chip
woke up with a killer headache and very nauseated so he knew he had a
concussion. He had no idea where he was
because the room was pitch dark. The
last thing I remember I was in my car and it was going off the road, he
thought. He realized he was lying on a
bed but when he tried to moved he couldn’t as his wrist was shackled to the
headboard. There also was a woman lying
next to him asleep with her hand on his chest.
He looked over at her but could barely make out who she was. She woke up when he threw her hand off his
chest.
“Hi
honey,” she said, “I’m so glad you’re finally awake...I’m sorry I must have
fallen asleep.”
“Diana,”
Chip said shockingly, “where the hell am I and why am I shackled to this bed.”
“Please
don’t be mad. I wanted you and you
turned me away so I had to take drastic measures. How do you feel? Sorry I had to run you off the road but I had
to get you away from your girlfriend.”
Chip
angrily replied, “She’s not my girlfriend but my best friend’s wife...we work
together...I feel like crap so let me out of here.”
“No
my love, you’re going to stay here.
Sorry I saw you with another woman and I got very jealous.”
“Is
she okay?” Chip demanded.
“Well
she was alive when we left her,” Diana answered with no emotion.
Chip
pulled on the chains that held him to the bed but they wouldn’t budge. “I need to use the facilities,” Chip stated.
Going
over to the dresser Diana opened the drawer and pulled out a gun, “You can use
them but please don’t try anything as I really don’t want to hurt you.”
She
undid the lock and chain. Chip went to
the bathroom where he vomited. He wanted to go for her but there was no way he
could. He still felt sick and any
movement made his head hurt more. He
also realized that she would shoot him if he did try to overtake her. He slowly made his way back to the bed where
Diana re-attached the chain and locked it.
Maybe in a few hours he would feel better and could try to escape.
“You
must be thirsty,” Diana said and gave him a drink of water. “Here this will help you headache,” she told
him and handed him a pill. Chip took the
water and the pill.
Diana
smiled as he swallowed the pill. It
wouldn’t take care of his headache but completely relax him and keep him under
her control. About twenty minutes after
Chip took the pill he was very tired and dizzy.
What did she give me? he thought as the room was spinning. As hard as he tried to stay awake he fell asleep
a few minutes later.
Diana
noticed that Chip had fallen asleep.
When he woke up she would give him another pill. She was hungry so she went into the kitchen
to make some dinner. Terry came home a
little while later.
“Where
were you?” he asked harshly. “I needed
your help setting up for the meeting on Thursday. Roger said you didn’t feel good but you look
perfectly fine to me. If you think
you’re to stay around here and not help out you’d better think twice. I’m not supporting you.”
“Terry,
I know that and I’m really sorry. After
we dropped off the food, I got very nauseous and dizzy. I promise it won’t
happen again,” she said sweetly. “I know
we have another catering job so I’ll be at work bright and early.”
Terry
could never stay mad at her. “I’m sorry
I yelled at you. Just take it easy
tonight. Here, let me finish making
dinner.” She set the table as he
finished cooking and they enjoyed the meal together. Diana smiled as she ate her dinner.
After
they cleaned up Diana said, “I’m going to bed.
I’m still not feeling quite right. I’ll see you in the morning.” She kiss Terry gently on the cheek, “Thanks
for letting me stay here.”
“No
problem,” Terry answered. “I’m going
back to the shop, I’ll be home later.”
“No
need to let me know you’re home. I’ll be
fast asleep.”
After
Terry left, Diana went back into her room and locked the door. Chip was still asleep so she unbuttoned his
shirt, removed it along with his shoes, socks and pants leaving on only his
briefs. She got undressed, put the covers over them and climbed in bed next to
him. She put her hand on his bare
chest. It felt so good to be close to
him.
((()))
Janet
woke up around
“Hi
sleepy head,” he said softly. “How are
you feeling?”
“I
still have a headache but I really need to go to the bathroom,” she told him as
she took her time sitting up in bed.
This time the room wasn’t spinning.
She slowly got out of bed and Lee helped her walk to the bathroom. When she finished, he helped her back and
tucked her in bed. But the time she got
back in bed she was very nauseated.
“Lee,
do you think I could get something for my headache?” she asked. “It hurts badly
enough that’s its making me sick.”
“Let
me get the nurse,” he suggested and pressed the call button. Janet told the nurse about her headache and
she brought some acetaminophen. After a
few minutes she felt better. “Lee, I
know I have to talk to you about something but I can’t remember what it was.”
“You’ll
remember. Sometimes after a concussion you won’t remember anything before the
accident. Please just go back to sleep,”
he said quietly as he once again took her hand in his.
Squeezing
his hand she replied, “Okay Lee.” She fell back to sleep a few minutes
later. He sat down in the chair thinking
about Chip. Where is he...someone
must have him...but whom? He thought.
He also knew he was going to have to tell his parents that he was
missing. He would call them tomorrow
after Janet was settled in
((()))
Chip
woke up in the middle of the night. His
head still hurt and he was still tired. He saw Diana lying next to him naked,
her hand on his bare chest and realized he had only his briefs on. Did I do something I might regret later?
He thought. He tried to move away from
her but she woke up.
“How
are you feeling?” she asked sitting up on one arm holding the blanket up with
her other hand. “I bet you’re thirsty
and hungry.
“Thirsty
but not hungry. What did you give me?”
Chip asked still very confused.
“Don’t
worry about it. Just something to relax
you,” Diana said as she got up and put her robe on that was lying on the foot
of the bed. She went to the bathroom and
got him a glass of water. She handed him
the water with another pill.
“I’m
not taking it,” Chip said sharply.
Sneering
at him she replied, “I’ll force it down your throat. And you’re in no position to
tell me what you’re going to do.”
Chip
knew he wouldn’t be able to fight her off so he took the pill and she made sure
he swallowed it. She took her robe off
and climbed back into bed with him. He
tried to move away from her but she pulled him close to her and put her hand on
his stomach
((()))
Janet
woke up the next morning and Lee was gone.
She wondered where he had gone when the door opened to her room. In walked a disheveled looking Lee with a large
cup of coffee in his hand, a two day old beard, his clothes were wrinkled and
he looked very tired.
“Good
morning sweetie,” he said when he saw she was awake. “How are you?”
“Still
have a headache but not as bad. I’m a
little thirsty, could I have a sip?”
“No,”
Lee said bluntly, “you shouldn’t have caffeine with a concussion. I’ll get you some water.” He went to the
pitcher on the table next to her bed and poured some in a cup.
Sighing,
“Thanks, Lee,” she replied as she took the water from him. “Can I eat, Dr. Lee?”
Breaking
out in a smile Lee answered, “Yes, I’ll see that you get something to
eat.” Before he could make a call to the
hospital food service, Jamie and the admiral walked in with some bagels, juice
and coffee.
Before
giving Janet the bagel, Jamie looked her over.
She told him she still had a headache but was hungry. He gave her the bagel
and juice. Just as they finished up Dr.
Swanson entered her room and shooed all of them out except Jamie.
After
examining Janet and asking her some questions he said, “I’m going to let you go
only because I know you’re going to another medical facility. Your wound is fine and the bump has gone
down. I know Dr. Jamieson will take good care of you.”
“Thank
you Doctor,” Janet replied smiling.
Smiling
back, “Give them an hour to get the paperwork ready,” the doctor said. He and Jamie left the room and went over to
Lee and the admiral. Dr. Swanson was
telling Lee that Janet was going to be released and what her restrictions were
when she did return home. Little did he
know that Lee was an expert on concussions. As they talked the admiral went back into the
room.
Going
over to her bed, he gently picked up her hand, “You okay?”
“Yes
sir. I’m feeling a little better,” she
answered, “Any word on Chip? They have to find him.”
“The
police are still looking as well as Kowalski, Patterson and Chief Sharkey,” he
told her patting her hand. “You sure had us worried.”
“I’m
sorry. I can see Lee is looking a little ragged,” she acknowledged. “If anyone can find him, those men
will.”
Lee
and Jamie walked back into the room.
“I’m going home to bring you some clothes and take a quick shower. I’ll be back by the time you’re released.”
“I’ll
stay with her until you get back,” the admiral told him.
“I’m
going back to
Lee
quickly drove home, showered, found Janet’s workout clothes along with some
underwear. When he returned the admiral left them alone. He helped her dress which was a slow process
as she got dizzy a couple of times and had to stop. Once dressed, a nurse brought in a wheelchair,
she wheeled her out and Lee helped her into the car. He drove slowly to
By
the time Janet was settled in, she was bushed.
“Lee, I’m really tired so I’m going to take a nap. I’ll be fine here. I’m not alone and you need to find Chip.”
Giving
her kiss goodbye, “I’m going to go back to the office and call his
parents. They should know he’s missing,”
Lee sighed deeply. He walked out of
((()))
Diana
was up early and noticed that Chip was still asleep. As she got out of the bed, Chip woke up. His head still hurt...he was dizzy...and
nauseated. He tried to sit up but
couldn’t move forgetting he was shackled to the bed. “Damn,” he muttered.
“Good
morning, honey,” Diana purred as she went back to bed and played with the hair
on his chest. “I’ve got to get ready for
work even though I would much rather stay home and have fun with you.”
“Please
let me go. It won’t work out,” Chip
slurred.
Pouting,
“Don’t say that my love,” Diana replied.
“I’m sure you still have a headache, so here’s your pill to help get rid
of it.” She handed the pill to Chip with
a cup of water. He didn’t want to take
the pill but didn’t have the energy to fight back.
“I’m
still tired,” Chip told her as he fell back to sleep.
“No
problem,” Diana said happily. She knew
he wouldn’t be a problem while she was at work.
((()))
Lee
made his way to his office. He noticed
that his luggage had been put in there since he had left in the lobby when he
and the admiral arrived back from
“Yes,
she can have visitors but right now she’s sleeping maybe later,” Lee sighed. He knew the three of them had gotten very
close and they would be worried about her.
“Have the police called?”
“Yes,
they called earlier and talked to the admiral,” Angie said grimly.
“Thanks,
Angie, is he in his office?” Lee asked letting out a breath.
“Yes
Lee,” she responded, “He’s not to happy right now.”
“I
don’t blame him.” Before Lee could go to
his office, he walked out.
“Janet
get settled?”
“Yes
sir. What did the police say...any
leads...?” Lee asked. “I’m going to call
his parents and want to tell them we have some news.”
“They’re
looking over the car for fingerprints but so far all they have are Chip’s, Janet’s
and yours.”
“Okay. I’ll let them know the police are looking for
him.” Lee headed into his office dreading the call he had to make. He dialed
Chip’s parent’s phone. It rang twice
before his mother answered.
“Hello,”
she answered pleasantly.
“Hi
mom,” Lee said. “How are you?” Lee being very close to Chip’s parents always
referred to them as mom and dad.
“Lee,
it’s so nice to hear from you. We missed
you in Vegas. Why are you calling?” Mrs.
Morton knew Lee didn’t usually call unless there was a problem.
Knowing
there was no easy way to tell her, he said softly, “Chip’s missing. He and Janet were returning from a luncheon
and were in an accident. We don’t know where
he is. The police are looking for him along with some of the men from the
institute. I’m sorry.”
Lee
could hear her gasped as she replied, “Oh Lee.
Is Janet okay? Where could he
have gone?” He could hear Chip’s sister
and father in the background wanting to know what was wrong and his mother tell
them that he was missing.
“Janet’s
fine,” Lee replied, “I know this is a long shot but did Chip meet anyone while
he was in Vegas? Did he go out alone?”
Hesitating,
Chip’s mom said, “I don’t think so but there were a couple of times he was
alone.” Chip’s mom relayed Lee’s
question to his dad and sister. Chip’s
sister got on the phone.
“Lee,
my husband and I were in the casino in
“Did
you talk to him...what did she look like...do you know her name?” Lee asked
excitedly.
“Sorry
Lee. I didn’t talk to him about
her. She had short dark hair about 5’ 9”
and a real nice body.”
Lee
took out a picture of Diana Parker and snapped a picture with his phone. He was
grasping at straws but right now it was the only idea he had. “I’m sending you a picture of a woman. Let me know if this was the woman Chip was
with.” Lee dialed her number and sent
her the picture. Chip’s sister opened up
the picture and replied, “That could be the girl but she now has short hair.”
“Thank
you for your help. I don’t know if she’s
involved in his disappearance. I’ll keep
in touch. Say goodbye to mom and dad,”
Lee asked and hung up the phone. Lee ran
out of his office and almost ran over Angie who was waiting for him to get off
the phone, “I was walking by your office and heard you talking to Chip’s sister
about him meeting someone. When we went
out to dinner on Monday night, he told us he met a woman but didn’t want to see
her again.”
“Did
he tell you her name?”
“Yes,
said her name was Diana. He didn’t tell us her last name at dinner but Janet
might know it.”
Giving
Angie a quick kiss on the cheek, “Thanks, Angie. She’s the woman I’m looking for and some how she
and Chip must have met in Vegas. Now all
I have to do is find out where she is.”
Lee
ran out of the office, got in his car and drove to
“Hi
Lee,” she said groggily seeing him sitting there.
Getting
up he gently kissed her on the lips, “How are you feeling?”
“Headache
not as bad but I’m still not feeling good.
Did you find Chip?”
“No,
I might have some new information but I need your help.”
“What
can I do,” Janet asked sitting up slowly.
“Angie
said when you went out for dinner, Chip told you about a girl he met in
Vegas. She said you might know her last
name. Was it Parker?”
“No
I don’t think so,” Janet replied. “Give
me a minute...I’m sorry...things are still a little foggy.”
“I
know they can be,” Lee answered sympathetically as he sat down next to her on
the bed.
Jamie
came in to check on Janet and saw Lee there.
“Any word on Chip?” he asked while taking Janet’s pulse and then took his
stethoscope off his neck and listened to her heart.
“Maybe,
but I need Janet’s help and she’s having trouble remembering.”
“Lee
you know what it’s like when you have a concussion. Give her a little time.”
“Jamie,
right now time is not on our side.”
“Peters,”
Janet said. “Chip said her last name was
Peters. I thought it was funny that you
were looking for Diana Parker and he went out on a date with a Diana Peters.”
“Thanks
sweetie. They might be the same person
but at least I can check out all the Peters.
Gotta go and look on the computer.”
He quickly gave Janet a kiss goodbye.
“I’ll be back later for dinner.”
Lee
ran out of
“Angie
and Wanda left already?” Lee said entering the admiral’s office.
“You
still here?” the admiral asked. “They
left early so they could go visit Janet.
It was too busy during the day for them to go earlier.”
“Just
leaving,” he replied and told him about Chip going on a date with Diana. “I’m checking them all out but it’s a slow
process. Would you care to join me and
Janet for dinner? I’m going to get something from the cafeteria.”
Smiling,
“Thanks, Lee but I’ve got a little more work to finish up here and then I’m
going home. Sally has dinner already
made.”
“Good
night admiral,” Lee said as he walked out of the office and out to his
car. He stopped at the cafeteria and
picked up some chicken soup and rolls for dinner.
((()))
Wanda
and Angie found Janet awake when they stopped in to see her. They both gave her a hug.
“How
are you feeling...do you need anything?” Angie asked.
“I’m
okay. Just have a headache. I really want to go home but Jamie won’t let
me out until tomorrow. Anything on Chip?
Lee was going to get us dinner but he
must be involved with something,” Janet sighed.
“He
wanted the last name of the girl Chip went out with. Did you give it to him?” Wanda inquired.
“Yes,
my memory is a little foggy but I finally remembered it. Chip said it was Peters,” Janet replied with
a yawn.
The
women stayed for a few more minutes before they left. “If Lee doesn’t get here soon, he’s going to
have to eat dinner by himself. All I
want to do is sleep,” Janet told them.
They gave her a kiss good bye and left just as Lee was walking in the
door of
Angie
smile and said, “It’s a good thing you’re here now as I don’t think Janet’s
going to be awake much longer.”
“I
know I got hung up looking up all the Diana Parker’s.”
“Lee
if you need help, we’ll be happy to pitch in.
We miss Chip too,” Angie said sadly.
“Thanks,”
Lee replied as they walked out the door.
((()))
Lee
went to Janet’s room and found her with her eyes closed. “Sweetie, are you awake?”
Opening
her eyes Janet replied, “Yes Lee, just resting.
What did you bring for dinner? It smells good.”
He
put the soup and bread on the bed tray.
As they were eating dinner, Janet said, “I know I have to tell you
something but I just can’t remember what it is.
It’s so frustrating.”
“Please
don’t worry about it. You’ll
remember.” He cleaned up dinner and sat
down next to her holding her hand.
“Lee,
go home and get some rest. You look
beat,” Janet told him. “I’ll be fine.”
“No,
as soon as Jamie leaves and Betty does her last check on you, I’m climbing in
bed with you. I miss holding you in my
arms.”
“What
if we get caught,” Janet snickered.
“We
won’t,” Lee chuckled.
Jamie
came in and checked on Janet. “I’ll let
you go home tomorrow afternoon only if you promise me you’ll rest and not do
anything.”
“I
promise,” Janet replied happily.
“Jamie,
I can’t stay with her. I’m still trying
to find Chip and Diana,” Lee replied rubbing his forehead, “Are you sure she’ll
be okay by herself.”
“She’s
not like you,” Jamie snorted. “If I tell
her not to do anything, she won’t.”
They
all laughed at that remark. “Good night
and Hazel will leave the two of you alone for the rest of the night,” he
smiled.
Jamie
turned down the lights in the hallway, grabbed his briefcase and left
Once
Lee knew Jamie was gone he climbed in bed with Janet, fully dressed and wrapped
his arm around her. He really missed
her. “Good night sweetheart.”
“Good
night, honey.” Janet fell asleep after a
few minutes but Lee laid there thinking about how he was going to find Diana.
((()))
Diana
got to work and knew she would be very busy today. They had another catering job to set up and
even though she wanted to go home at some time during the day, she knew it
wasn’t going to happen. She and Terry
brought the food to the catering job.
The servers had everything set up and were just waiting for them so they
could serve the food. Diana noticed
Jason Weldon standing there. Where
have I seen him? she thought. But
she didn’t have time to think about it.
She helped the servers put the food on the trays and watched as they
served the lunch. This luncheon wasn’t
as large as yesterday’s so the clean up wouldn’t take as long. She would have to help Terry get the room
ready for his meeting tomorrow. There would
be high ranking officials from all over the world and they bought a lot of
drugs. She would take the file with her
and see if she could sell it to one of them as someone there should be
interested in ONI’s field operatives and where they were.
When
the luncheon was over Terry and Diana left with the remaining food, brought it
back to the shop and put it with the extra food Terry had the chef make. As a bonus for all the hard work the staff
had done the last few weeks, they would serve the food to the servers and other
staff who worked at the catering company.
He had the cooking staff set up tables in the front of the shop. He figured if he kept his staff happy they
would less likely to nose around in his business. After everyone had finished with lunch and
cleaned up they were free to leave for the day.
Since they had no catering jobs on Thursday, they would have the day
off. There would be no one around when
the visitors came for his meeting. Diana
went upstairs to help her brother set up for the meeting so she got home later
than she expected.
((()))
As
soon as she arrived at home she went into her room to check on Chip. She looked at him and thought he was still
asleep. She really wanted to make love
to him but she wanted him to be awake and enjoy it as much as she would.
Diana
removed her clothes and climbed in bed with him. “Wake up honey,” she said to
Chip gently rubbing his cheek. She kissed him very softly as she pressed her
body close to his while she put her hand on his stomach and worked her way down
his body.
Chip
pretending to be asleep used every ounce of self-control he had not to succumb
to her touch. Just as she was going to
remove his briefs, the telephone rang.
She ignored it as she kissed him a little harder and longer. The phone stopped ringing and she continued
to explore Chip’s body. The phone rang
again.
“Damn.
Terry better be in trouble to use our phone signal,” Diana said as she put on
her robe and took the phone out of her purse.
She walked out of the bedroom as she called Terry back.
Chip
heard her talking on the phone and took a deep breath. That was close. I don’t know how much longer I would have
lasted without giving in, he thought.
Diana ended her call and returned to the bedroom.
“Sorry
honey, we’ll have to continue our love making later. Terry has a problem at the shop and he needs
me to help him,” she said to Chip kissing him on the cheek. Chip ‘woke up’ just as she was getting ready
to leave. “I see you’re awake,” she
noticed, “I’ll be back soon.” Chip
heard the front door slam as she left.
((()))
Chip
was awake when Diana returned home. He had no idea what time it was as there
wasn’t clock in the room. He didn’t know what drug Diana was giving him. He was nauseated, dizzy and still had a
headache but knew if he wanted to escape he would have to act now. He hoped his size would have an advantage
over her and he didn’t care if he hurt her; he just wanted to be free.
Diana
removed her clothes and climbed back in bed with him. “Chip honey.”
“I’m
awake,” Chip stuttered. “I’ve been
waiting for you to come home.”
She
kissed him very softly as she pressed her body close to his. He returned her kiss. “That’s better” she purred kissing him again.
“Diana
I really want to be with you,” Chip slurred, “but it would be so much better if
you would un-chain my wrist.” Chip
kissed her again harder and longer and put his free hand on her breast. “Oh Chip,” Diana gasped.
Hesitating,
“Okay,” she said as she reached over to the night table and took the key from a
black box. She undid the lock on the
chain and put the key on the table. She
scooted back under the covers where Chip gently caressed her body as she ran her
hands down his. Distracting her with another passionate kiss, he tried to pick
up the box from the night table to hit her over the head but it fell out of his
hand. Before she could react, he grabbed
her arms pinning them behind her back but he had underestimated her strength
and his lack of coordination as she broke free, and re-chained him only both
his wrists were now shackled to the bed. She slapped him across the face the ring on
her finger putting a deep scratch his face.
“Damn
you,” Diana yelled realizing he was just using her to escape. “I should have known you really didn’t care
about me.” She got up from the bed. She
knew that he was becoming addicted to the Xanax so she wasn’t going to give him
any more pills. He would start to feel
awful as he body craved the pills.
“I’m
sorry...please let me go,” Chip pleaded.
She stormed out of the bedroom and into the
kitchen. Chip fell asleep a few minutes
later relieved he wouldn’t have to deal with her again that night.
((()))
Lee
and Janet woke up at 0600. Lee kissed
Janet good morning and hopped out of the bed.
He didn’t want to get caught in bed with her. “I’m going to go home, shower, change and
I’ll be back with some breakfast. Cookie’s making pancakes today. Sweetie, I’m afraid I won’t be able to spend
much time with you this morning. I still
have quite a few names to check out.”
“Don’t
worry about me,” Janet replied, “Just find Chip. When you come back could you please bring me
another set of clothes to wear home?”
“Sure,
I’ll be back soon,” he replied and left before anyone arrived at
Lee
was back in forty-five minutes with Janet’s clothes and breakfast. He brought her some decaf coffee, along with
three pancakes and some bacon. He had
the same amount of food as she did only he had regular coffee.
“Are
you feeding an army,” Janet asked when she saw all the food.
“Sweetie,
that should be the Navy,” he grinned as he put out the food on the table by the
window. He helped her out of bed and over
to the table. They sat at the table
looking out at the ocean while they ate breakfast.
Surprisingly
the two of them ate everything and were cleaning up when Jamie walked in to
check on Janet. He saw the empty plates
and smiled. “You must of have been
hungry as you ate everything.”
“How
do you know how much food we ate,” Janet smirked.
“Cookie
always reports to me what food is brought into
“Sorry
Jamie,” Janet replied, “You have spies everywhere.”
“I
have to stay two steps ahead of you,” Jamie grinned. “How are you feeling today?”
“Better
only have a slight headache and don’t feel as tired as before. I’m still going home this afternoon aren’t
I?”
“Yes,
as long as everything checks out normal.”
He took her blood pressure, listened to her heart and took her
pulse. “Everything looks good. But remember you still need to rest. I don’t
want you returning to work until Monday.
No reading, exercising or computer work.”
“Jamie,
I can’t just stay at home and do nothing.”
“Yes,
that is exactly what you’re going to do.” As Jamie was putting his stethoscope
back around his neck, Betty came running in.
“Jamie, there’s been an accident on the dock. One of the men fell and broke his arm. We’re going to need you in room two. He should be here any minute.”
Lee
stood up quickly and with a worried look on his faced asked, “Betty do we know
who it is?” He was always concerned when
someone whether it be a crewmen or a worker assigned to Seaview was
hurt.
“I
believe his name is Jason Newman,” Betty replied as Jamie left to prepare for
the injured man’s arrival.
”Thanks Betty. Please keep me informed on how he is doing,” Lee asked. “I’ll be
at the office all morning,”.
“Yes
sir. I’ll make sure to tell Hazel in
case I’m not around.”
“Sweetie,
I’ve got to go down to the dock and find out how he fell and broke his arm,”
Lee told Janet as he got ready to leave.
“Lee,
I remember what I needed to tell you,” Janet said excitedly. “When Chip and I were at the luncheon, Jason
Weldon was working there as a server for our table. We didn’t say anything to him as we figured he
was undercover.”
“Jason
as a server for a catering company,” Lee pondered, “I better let him know about
the stolen file so he can be prepared to pull out if his cover is blown.”
“Lee
I hope it’s not too late. I would hate
for him to be hurt because I couldn’t remember,” Janet replied softly.
“Don’t
worry. Jason’s a good agent and would
know if there was a problem,” Lee reassured her as he gave her a quick kiss
good bye.
As
Lee was leaving they were bringing in Jason Newman. Lee stopped to talk to him and told him he
would be by later to check on him. He
took his phone out of his pocket and looked for Jason’s number as he walked out
of
“Jason. It’s Lee Crane.”
“Hi
Lee, what can I do for you?” he asked not surprised that he was calling him
after seeing Janet and Chip.
“Jason,
are you on an undercover assignment?” Lee asked. “If so your cover could be in jeopardy.” Lee told him about the file being stolen and
how he was looking for Diana.
“Lee,
Diana works for her brother and he owns the catering company. She’s right here in
“Neither
one of them knew who she was as they haven’t been to ONI since she started
working there. Chip ran into her
accidentally in
“Sorry
to hear that, is Janet okay?”
“A
concussion and some bruises. She’s
coming home today,” Lee explained. “Can
you tell me why you’re undercover as a server?”
“The
catering company is a cover for Terry Parker’s drug operation. He’s well known
all over the world so there are three other agencies involved besides ONI, the
DEA, CIA, and the
“Jason,
you haven’t seen that file around there have you?” Lee asked knowing that he
would have checked out any and all the paperwork in the place.
“No
Lee, I didn’t see it. Maybe Diana has it at her house. She lives with her brother not too far from
the catering company.”
Running
his hand through his hair, “Do you have her address?” Lee asked.
“Yes,
hold on a second I’ve got to look it up.
It’s in my notes somewhere,” Jason answered as Lee could hear him
flipping through some paper. He found
the paper and gave the address to Lee.
“Do you think she’s involved in Chip’s disappearance?”
“I’m
not sure at this point. I’m going to
check out her house today. What are her
working hours?”
“She
should be at the catering company now and usually stays until
“Don’t
worry Jason. I’ll make sure to keep away
from you,” Lee replied. “Jason, good
luck and be careful.”
“Thanks,
Lee be careful too and I hope you find Chip.”
Lee
disconnected the call, unlocked the car and got in. He needed to get to Diana’s right away. He would stop at the office and tell the
admiral what he was doing in case he got into trouble. He would then go home and change his
clothes. He didn’t want anyone to see
him in uniform at Diana’s house.
((())
Once
back at the office Lee stopped at Angie’s desk before going into the Admiral’s
office. “Angie, is the admiral in?”
“Yes,
Lee,” she answered as she continued typing.
Lee
knocked on the door but didn’t wait for the admiral to answer.
Looking
up from his paperwork, the admiral asked, “Problem Lee?” Lee didn’t usually just barge into his office
unless something was wrong.
“I
might have a line on the missing file,” he told him.
“Continue,”
the admiral replied tapping his pencil on the desk. Lee told him about his conversation with Jason
about Diana and being undercover. “I’m
going to check out Diana’s house to see if the file is there. If I don’t come back at least you’ll know
where I am.”
“Please
be careful,” the admiral sighed.
Lee
walked out of the office and to his car where he went home, changed his clothes
and went to look for Diana’s house.
((()))
Diana
fell asleep on the couch and woke up the next morning with a sore neck. Terry would wonder why she was sleeping on
the couch so it was a good thing that he didn’t come home last night. She stood up and stretched, Damn him,
she thought. How could I have been so stupid? As she stood there, she realized
she had a bigger problem...what was she going to do with Chip as she knew he didn’t
want be with her. Diana knew if she kept
giving him the drugs, he would overdose on them and die. Maybe she would turn
him over to the buyer of the file. She
figured he must know a lot of information about that submarine and the Nelson
Institute. She would decide later
on. She went into the bedroom, checked
on Chip and saw he was still sleeping.
Diana stood next the bed seething, why didn’t you want me? I love you
and want you so badly, she thought.
Chip stirred and slowly opened his eyes.
He closed them quickly again and re-opened them his vision was blurry
and he saw two of Diana. He closed his
eyes again afraid to open them. Diana
just left him and went into the bathroom to get ready for work.
Since
Terry had that meeting today, Diana put on a sexy red dress and heels. She knew Terry was counting on her to coax
the men into buying a lot of drugs. She also wanted to find a buyer for the
file. Before leaving she checked on Chip
again and saw he was still sleeping. She
looked at her watch and saw she was running late. Terry wanted her there early so she could
help him set up the buffet. She quickly
shut the door to her room and ran out of the house. Chip heard her leave and breathed a sigh of
relief that he wouldn’t have to deal with her for awhile.
((()))
Lee
programmed Diana’s address into his phone.
The GPS directed him to the south side of
“Please
help me,” a voice slurred.
Lee
stopped dead in his tracks as he would recognize that voice anywhere. “Chip,” Lee said quickly. He lifted the shade on the window to let some
light in the room. He saw his best
friend and ‘brother’ shackled to the bed in only his briefs and had a large cut
on his cheek. Lee ran over to him and
knew that he had been drugged. He could
only wonder what Diana had done to him.
“Chip,
can you hear me,” Lee asked frantically.
Squinting
from the sudden light in the room, “Lee,” he replied softly. “You finally got here.”
“Chip, do you know where the key is for the
chains?”
“Black
box,” he answered.
Lee
looked for a black box and saw it on the table next to the bed. He found the key and un-locked the chains from
Chip’s wrist. He helped him sit up while
he rubbed his wrists. “Take it easy,
buddy. I’ll get you out of here.” Chip just sat there on the bed. Lee searched for his clothes and found them
in the closet. He quickly dressed
Chip. “Can you sit here for another
minute? I need to find that file.”
Chip
nodded his head. “Thirsty.”
Lee
went into the bathroom and brought him a glass of water. He saw the bottle of pills on the sink and
put them in his pocket. He knew Chip was
in bad shape but he had to find the file.
He searched Diana’s room and found nothing. “I’m going to leave you for a few minutes,”
Lee explained to Chip who had a frightened look on face. “Don’t worry bro I won’t leave you here,” Lee
assured him patting him on the shoulder.
Dressed
in a purple shirt and blue jeans, Lee went into the living room and looked in
all the drawers and chests. His last one
was a white cabinet with a brown bowl on top in front of the window with lace curtains
and flowered drapes. He stooped down and
just as he was about to open the cabinet he heard someone at the door. With a surprised look on his face, he went
back into the room with Chip and put his finger to his lips. Chip shook his head showing he understood
that Lee didn’t want him to make any noise.
“Damn,”
Diana said when she entered the house.
Lee
opened the door a crack to see who had come in.
It was Diana and she was by the white cabinet. She opened the door and rummaged through it
before pulling out the file. She was
ready to walk out the door when she came back and headed for the bedroom to
check on Chip. Lee closed the door and
hid behind it.
“What
the hell is going on here,” Diana yelled when she saw Chip was dressed and
sitting on the bed. Before she could
turn around, Lee grabbed her wrists. She
struggled trying to get away but she was no match for Lee. He dragged her kicking to the bed, wrapped
the chains around her wrists and shackled her to the bed. As much as he wanted to hit her, he kept his
self-control and picked up the file she dropped on the floor.
“Thank
you for finding the file for me,” Lee smirked.
“You’ll
pay for this,” Diana hissed.
Lee
helped Chip off the bed and wrapped his arms around his waist and practically
carried him to the car. He left Diana
screaming at the top of her lungs to let her go. Lee put Chip in the car, belted him in and
before he drove away called
Hazel
answered the phone, “Hello....”
“Get
Jamie right away,” Lee told her before she could finish talking.
“Yes
sir,” she replied recognizing the urgency in Lee’s voice.
“Yes,
Lee what is it?” Jamie said quickly.
“I’ve
got Chip and he’s in bad shape. Look’s
like he’s been drugged. I have the bottle
with me,” Lee told him. “We should be
there in twenty minutes...You better meet us outside...He can’t walk. Please call the admiral and tell him.”
“Okay
Lee,” Jamie told him. He called Hazel,
John and Frank over to the desk where he took the call. They could see whatever he had to tell them
was an emergency.
“Commander
Crane is bringing in Mr. Morton. He
should be here in twenty minutes. John
and Frank set up room two. We’ll need
blood work, IV and a drug screen.
Hazel, please call the institute office and tell whoever answers the
phone that Mr. Morton has been found and being brought here. And then tell Janet,” Jamie ordered.
“Yes
sir,” the three of them replied as John and Frank ran down to room two. Hazel picked up the phone and dialed the
institute office.
Angie
answered the phone, “Admiral Nelson’s office.”
“Angie,
this Hazel, get me the admiral,” she said quickly. Angie dialed the admiral’s office and put the
call through immediately.
“Hello,”
the admiral answered immediately.
“Commander
Crane is bringing in Mr. Morton. It
sounds like he’s in bad shape,” Hazel reported.
“Thanks. I’ll be right there,” the admiral replied
dropping his pencil and running out to Angie’s office.
“Lee
found Chip...he’s taking him to
“Where’s
he going in such a hurry,” Wanda asked Angie who was in the reception area.
Taking
a deep breath she replied, “Lee found Chip and he’s on his way to
The
two of them stood there. They only had
an hour left of work before they could leave to go to
((()))
The
admiral drove to
Lee
sped through the streets of
“Get
him in there now,” he shouted as he ran along side the gurney. The admiral and Janet got a quick glance at
him as they ran by. They noticed a bad
scratch on his face that hadn’t been taken care off. While he wasn’t
unconscious, he had a confused look on his face and was shaking.
Lee
followed him in and ran into the room with Jamie. He took the bottle of pills out of his pocket
and handed them to Jamie. “I found these
in the bathroom. I don’t know if that’s
what she’s been giving him.”
Jamie
took the pills from Lee, “Go wait outside. Let me get him stable and run some
tests to see if this is what he’s been given and as soon as I find out I will
let you know.”
Lee
was about to protest when Jamie said, “Please Lee.” Lee left the room and stood right outside the
door watching them as they inserted an IV, took some blood and cleaned up the
scratch on his face. Janet came up along
side of him and put her arm around his waist.
“He’ll be okay,” she told him tears welling up in her eyes. Lee put his arm around her waist and pulled
her close. “I sure hope so.” The admiral
stood there with them as they continued to watch Jamie and his staff work on
him.
Frank
and John were taking the gurney out of the room so they had to move away from
the door. “Where are you taking him?” Lee asked
worriedly.
“For
a CT scan,” Jamie answered patiently, “he said he had a headache and was
nauseated when he woke up. I’m just checking for a concussion.” Jamie motioned for Frank and John to continue
down the hall. When they brought him
back a little later, Jamie still wouldn’t let the three of them in his room.
Lee
explained to the admiral what took place at Diana’s house as they paced up and
down the hallway while Janet sat in a chair Lee brought from her room to the
hallway by Chip’s room.
Jamie
finally came out of the room to the anxious faces of the admiral, Lee and
Janet. “First, he does have a
concussion. Second, I got the blood
tests back and he’s got quite a bit of Xanax in his system. I’m going to have to wean him off slowly from
the drug. If I take him off to fast he could have convulsions so he’ll be here
for two to three days. If they had kept giving him that dosage for another day,
he could have gone into a coma.”
Janet
asked, “What is Xanax? I’ve never heard of it before.
Jamie
responded, “It’s a drug they use for anxiety or panic attacks. It a quick acting drug but very addictive.
It’s the most abused drug of the benzodiazepines. Whoever gave it to him would
need a doctor’s prescription to obtain it.”
Sighing
Lee said, “Diana would have no trouble getting it as her brother is a drug
dealer.”
“Why
would she give it to Chip?” Janet wondered.
“When
you first start taking the drug it could make you sleepy, dizzy, and nauseated
among other symptoms. She gave it to him
so she could control him,” Jamie explained.
“I also noticed he has chafing marks on his wrist.”
“She
had him shackled to the bed frame,” Lee replied disgustedly. “Chip will have to tell us what happened in
that room if he can remember.”
“Can
we see him now,” the admiral asked after listening to what Jamie told them.
“Yes,
you can see him for a few minutes. He’s
going to be sleepy, maybe dizzy and have a headache. Coming down is almost like getting over a
hangover.”
The
four of them went into Chip’s room. Lee
and Janet went over to one side of his bed and the admiral and Jamie to the
other. He opened his eyes and gave them
a weak smile.
“I’m
fine,” he slurred.
Smirking Lee replied, “Sure you are.”
He
saw Janet standing next to Lee and reached for her hand, “Are you okay?” he
asked vaguely recalling the accident.
“Yes,
I’m fine. Please don’t worry about me,”
Janet replied rubbing his hand holding back her tears.
“I’m
really tired,” Chip said as he closed his eyes.
“He’s
going to be sleeping for awhile,” Jamie told them, “so you can all leave. I’ll
have John or Frank stay with him.”
Janet
piped up, “I’m staying too.” She pulled
up a chair next to his bed, sat down and held his hand.
“Janet,
you need to rest too,” Jamie responded.
“I
can rest right here. Please let me
stay,” she implored.
Jamie
sighed deeply. “Just for a little while.”
He knew if he didn’t let her stay, Lee or the admiral would. So he took the lesser of two evils as he knew
Janet wouldn’t get in the way. Frank
took Chip’s vitals and recorded them on his chart leaving Janet and Jamie with
Chip.
Lee
gave Janet a quick kiss. “Sweetie, I
have a few phone calls to make. I’ll be back shortly.” She nodded her head and gave his hand a
squeeze.
The
admiral followed Lee out of Chip’s room.
Running his hand through his hair he remarked, “That was close. Thank goodness you found him when you did.”
“Admiral,
it was just luck as I had no idea he was there,” Lee replied taking a deep
breath as he explained to the admiral how he found Chip and had Diana chained
to the bed. “I’ve got to call Admiral Johnson and Jason Weldon. I don’t want to leave Diana chained there
forever. She needs to be punished for
what she did to Chip.”
The
admiral was going back to the office when Angie and Wanda ran into
“He’s
resting. Janet and Jamie are with him
but I don’t think Jamie will mind if you take a peek at him.” They quietly went into Chip’s room. They noticed the scratch on his face, how
pale he was along with being scruffy. Nothing like the clean shaven polished
Chip they’re used to seeing.
Wanda
whispered to Jamie, “Will he be alright?”
“Yes,
it’s going to be a few days but he’ll be fine.”
Janet
got up so they could sit down. Each one
of them grabbed onto a hand. Janet stood
by the window with Jamie. “Is he really
going to be alright?” Janet asked worriedly looking at Chip.
“Have
I ever lied to you,” he asked honestly.
“No,
never,” Janet replied quietly. Angie and
Wanda stayed for a few more minutes before Jamie shooed them out. Janet went out into the hall with them. “We’ll stop by before work tomorrow,” Angie
told Janet and Jamie. They gave Janet a
hug and left
((()))
Lee
went outside to make his phone calls. He
called Admiral Johnson first. “Johnson,”
he answered gruffly.
“Admiral,
it’s Lee. I just wanted to let you know
that I have the file. I found Diana
Parker here in
“Thanks
Lee,” Johnson replied gratefully. “I would
like it as soon as a possible so I’ll ask Jason to pick it up and bring it to
me. He’s going to be leaving
“Thank
you, sir.” Lee heard Johnson disconnect
the call. Good. I don’t have to go to
Lee
didn’t know what time they were going to conduct the raid on Terry’s place so he
sent Jason a text message letting him know he had the file and Chip. He called the sheriff’s department to let
them know he found Chip and that Diana was chained to the bed. He figured the police would be knocking on
his door with a lot of questions very soon.
Lee then called Chip’s parents and his mom answered the phone.
“Hi
mom, it’s Lee. We found him. He’s going to be okay.”
Lee
could hear her take a deep breath and let it out. “Where did you find him...what’s wrong with
him...can I talk to him?” she asked quickly.
“He’s
got a concussion and a few bruises. He’s
in
“Thanks
for calling Lee,” his mom replied, “Did you find that girl you were looking for
and was it the one Chip was with?”
“Yes,
I found her and it was the same girl.
Thanks for the help.”
“Anytime
and I’ll call Chip tomorrow. Bye Lee.”
”Take care, bye.” Lee hung up the phone,
went back in
“Take
care of all your calls?” she asked softly.
“Yes. I called Admiral Johnson regarding the file
but I don’t have to go to
“Is
there more?” Janet asked sensing he wasn’t finished.
Sighing,
“Yes, I also called the sheriff’s department.
I’m sure Officer Little will be here with a lot of questions.”
Letting
out a small laugh Janet said, “I’m sure you’ll handle him just fine. You always manage to wiggle out of those
situations.”
Giving
her a wry grin, “I hope so.” She pulled
her chair closer to his and laid her head on his shoulder. He kissed her gently
on the temple.
“I
also called Chip’s parents and let them know we found him and he had a
concussion and some bruises, I didn’t go into much detail. He’ll have to decide how much he wants them
to know.”
“He’s
just like you so they won’t get to many details from him,” Janet replied
honestly.
They
sat there for little while before Jamie came in to check on Chip. As he was looking him over, he woke up. “How are you feeling?” Jamie asked as he
checked his vitals
Trying
to sit up, “Crappy! I feel like I’ve got
a hangover,” Chip responded and laid back down.
“You’re
going to feel like that for a couple of days,” Jamie replied explaining to him
what would happen as he weaned him off the drugs. “You’ll be here for at least three
days.”
Lee
and Janet both chuckled when they heard him groan. “You also have a concussion. So that would have kept you here any way.”
“Janet,
I don’t remember too much after we left the luncheon on Tuesday, what
happened?”
“I
don’t recall much either only that we were run off the road by a van,” Janet
answered.
“Both
of you had severe concussions so you might not remember too much or nothing at
all. It could take few weeks to remember,” Jamie told them. “Now you both need to rest. Janet and Lee are going to go home right now
so she can rest and you can too.”
Janet
was about to protest but Lee piped up, “Come on sweetheart, I’ll take you home
get you settled. Then I’ll come back and
stay with Chip.”
“No
you won’t,” the admiral said as he walked in the door. “You need to stay home with Janet. I’ll stay
with him.”
“Nobody
needs to stay with me,” Chip said tiredly.
“I’m only going to sleep so I don’t need someone to watch me sleep,” he
yawned.
“I
agree with Chip,” Jamie agreed. “Betty
will be here and will watch over him, so all of us will go home.”
Lee
could see Janet was tired so he agreed to stay home with her. The admiral also sided with Jamie. The three of them walked out of
“Did
you call Johnson,” the admiral asked as Lee shut the car door.
“Yes
sir but I don’t need to go to
“Mmm,”
the admiral said. “Let’s hope they’ll
understand when you tell them you were working for the government on a top
secret mission.”
Grinning
Lee replied, “That might work.”
“You
better get Janet home. I think she’s
fallen asleep in the car.”
“Thank
you Admiral. I’ll see you
tomorrow.” Lee went to the driver’s side,
got in, and started the car.
“Sweetheart, are you awake?”
“I’m
awake, just resting,” Janet replied softly opening her eyes.
The
admiral watched them drive away. Taking
a deep breath he let it out relieved that everything had worked out. He got into his car and drove home looking
forward to a large glass of Glenlivet.
((()))
When
Lee and Janet got home, Lee took her bag out of the car and unlocked the door.
It seemed like ages since the two of them had been home together.
“Are
you hungry,” Lee asked looking in the refrigerator for something to eat. He looked in the freezer and spotted the
brownies. He took the package out to
thaw but would have to wait until later to eat them as he looked at his wife and
could tell she was up to no good.
“No
not really. Can we just go to bed,”
Janet replied going over to her husband, putting her arms around his neck and
gave him a passionate kiss. He returned her
kiss, took her hand and led her upstairs.
They slowly undressed each other and got into bed pulling the covers over
them. As he lay along side of her, he
kissed her gently. She returned his
kiss, spreading her lips so he deepened his kiss as he lowered himself down on
her. “Oh Lee,” she murmured as they
joined. They laid next to each other
trying to catch their breath. Janet had
her hand on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. “That was worth the wait,” he sighed
pleasantly as Janet also sighed in contentment.
Janet
fell asleep a few minutes later. Trying
not to wake her, Lee slowly un-wrapped his arms from around her and got out of
bed. He quietly put on a t-shirt and
shorts and went downstairs. He was
hungry and remembered the brownies he had left on the counter. He made a pot of coffee and sat at the table
eating a brownie when he heard Janet come into the kitchen an hour later. “Are you going to eat them all or can I have
one,” Janet asked hungrily.
After
getting her a cup of coffee, Lee handed her a brownie. “These are really good. Not the best dinner but they’ll due,” he
laughed as he took another brownie off the plate. They finished up the pot of coffee and the
plate of brownies before they went back upstairs. They climbed into bed, Lee as usual wrapped
his arm around Janet and they both fell asleep.
((()))
Lee
and Janet went to
“I’ve
never felt this bad even after drinking too much,” he remarked. “That was some bad stuff she gave me.”
“Yes,
it was,” Lee commented. “Chip, I just
want to let you know that I called your parents when you were missing. I let them know we found you. Mom wanted to
know all the details but only told her you had a concussion and bruises. You’re going to have to tell the rest if you
want to.”
“Thanks
Lee. I’m not going to tell her
everything,” Chip replied seriously.
“Just like you I never tell them the whole story. It would worry them too much.”
Smiling
Lee agreed. He continued, “I’m expecting
the sheriff’s department to send someone over to talk to us. I had to call and tell them that Diana was
chained to the bed.”
“She
sure was a strange woman. I knew she was
hiding something from me the first time I talked to her but I wanted to give
her a second chance in case I was wrong about her. I’ll tell you the whole story later on. As far as the sheriff’s concern, I don’t
remember too much.” Chip told Lee.
“We’ll
see what happens,” Lee sighed.
“Where
did Diana get the drugs and how was Jason Weldon involved?”
Lee
explained to Chip that her brother was a drug dealer and that Jason was
undercover as a server because they were going to raid the catering company and
catch him selling drugs to people from the PR and other countries.
Lee’s
phone rang so he left Chip and Janet alone while he went outside to answer the
call.
“Sorry
I got you involved in this mess,” Chip apologized.
“It’s
not your fault. You didn’t know what she
was going to do but I think from now on you should trust your judgment when it
comes to women,” Janet replied. “I’m
glad you’re going to be alright.”
Lee
returned to Chip’s room with the admiral and Jamie. Jamie checked him over and gave him his pill.
“You
should start feeling better by tomorrow.
If you’re doing okay, I’ll let you go home on Sunday,” Jamie stated.
“Jamie
that’s two days away, if I feel better let me go home on Saturday,” Chip
bargained. “When can I go to work...Seaview’s
leaving on a mission on Tuesday...will I be able to go?”
“Yes,
but only light duty for the first few days.
Janet will be able to go too and light duty also. That means no diving, flying FS-1, only
light computer work and no driving.
You’ll need rest and eat,” Jamie said directing his last comments to
Janet as he knew Chip would have no problem eating after seeing what he had for
breakfast.
“Yes
sir,” Chip acquiesced. Janet nodded her
head too.
“He
can stay with us until we leave on Tuesday,” Lee said. “I’ll make sure they take it easy, rest and
eat.”
“I
hope you feed us more than brownies,” Janet giggled softly so only Lee heard. “Lee, who was on the phone?”
“Officer
Little, he’s coming over to talk to Chip about Diana. He didn’t mention any thing about talking to
me about her,” Lee replied gratefully.
Lee’s
phone rang again. He saw the number
belonged to Jason Weldon. He left the admiral
with Janet, Chip and Jamie. “Hi Jason,” Lee answered. “Everything go okay with the raid?”
“Yes
perfectly. We got them all and the goods
as well. Just wanted to let you know I
got your message right after we raided the catering company and I sent the
“How
did you explain that?” Lee asked rubbing his forehead.
“The
“Thanks
Jason,” Lee said letting out a deep breath.
“I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of that.”
“Admiral
Johnson asked it I could bring the file back to DC so I’ll stop by your house
and pick it up from you. Will tomorrow
afternoon be okay as I’m leaving at 1800 hours?”
“Tomorrow
will be just fine,” Lee replied ending his call and was walking into
“Mr.
Crane, pardon me, Commander,” Officer Little said recognizing Lee’s rank as he
was in uniform.
“Officer
Little, I told Mr. Morton that you would be questioning him about Diana,” Lee
told him as he opened the door for him and followed him in as he led the way to
Chip’s room. Janet, the admiral and
Jamie were still in Chip’s room when Lee and Officer Little entered.
“Officer,
this is Admiral Nelson and Dr. Will Jamieson,” Lee said to him, “You remember
Janet,” he continued.
“Ma’am,
Admiral, Doctor, pleasure to meet you,” he replied removing his hat.
“I
just need to ask Mr. Morton a few questions regarding Diana Parker and I have
some information for him also,” Officer Little told them.
“Would
you like us to leave?” the admiral asked.
“No
sir, that won’t be necessary.”
“First
of all, we found the van used to run you and Mrs. Crane off the road. It belonged to Mr. Parker and was used for
the luncheon at city hall to take the leftover food back. After checking over the dents on the front of
the van and the ones on your SUV they lined up perfectly.” Checking his notes
he continued, “Also, Miss Parker had help carrying out her plan. A man named Roger ran you off the road
following Miss Parker’s instructions after she saw you and Mrs. Crane at the
luncheon. He also helped her bring you
to her house. He came forward only after they conducted the raid and told us
she threatened to kill him if he said anything. Now Mr. Morton I need you to
tell me how and where you met Miss Parker.”
Chip
explained, “I met her in
“You
didn’t see her when you returned to
“No,
I didn’t see her at the luncheon...I didn’t even know she was there,” Chip
remarked.
“Mrs.
Crane, did you see her at the luncheon?”
“No
sir, but I did see her in the restroom at the airport. I went to pick up Chi...Mr. Morton and she
was in there when I entered the restroom but I didn’t know who she was and that
Mr. Morton knew her.”
“Why
didn’t you mention this before,” Officer Little asked slightly perturbed. “Maybe we could have found her and prevented
this from happening.”
“Officer,
I’m sorry but I just remembered seeing her,” Janet answered guiltily, “My
memory is still very fuzzy from the accident.”
Lee
was getting agitated at his questioning of Janet. Jamie put his hand on his arm, “Officer
Little, both Mr. Morton and Mrs. Crane had severe concussions from the accident
so it may take some time before they can remember everything that took place.”
“I’m
sorry Mrs. Crane,” Officer Little apologized. “It’s just that we need all the
information we can get to make sure we can hold her in jail. I know the Feds are involved but that case
isn’t connected with ours. We can hold her
for running Mr. Morton’s car off the road and kidnapping.”
Turning
to Lee, Little said, “You know some people high places, Commander.”
“Just
doing what I was asked to do. I had no
idea Mr. Morton was being held there,” Lee replied solemnly.
“Officer
Little, what about my SUV?” Chip asked.
“Where is it...can it be driven?”
“In
my opinion the insurance company will probably consider it totaled. It did flip
over at least once. It’s still at the
police station but the insurance company will tow it away when we’re finished
with it. We can arrange to have someone
pick up your belongings from the car.
Just let us know when they will be coming.”
“Thanks
Officer,” Chip answered as he didn’t realize how badly damaged it was.
“Thanks
for your help, Mr. Morton and Mrs. Crane but if you do remember anything more,
please give me a call,” Officer Little asked as he handed each one of them his
card.
Lee
showed him out the door and returned to Chip’s room. “Sorry about your SUV. I guess you’ll have to get a new car,” Lee
said.
“That’s
going to have to wait. We’re not going
to be around much for the next few weeks so I won’t need one,” Chip lamented. “I’ll just have to use yours.”
Jamie
left to do some paperwork, the admiral was going to check in at the institute
with Angie, and Lee and Janet were going to stay with Chip for a little while
before Lee went to the office. Janet was
going to stay the remainder of the day and rest with Chip.
((()))
Jamie
let Chip out of
Jason
Weldon stopped by the Crane’s house for the file and was glad to see Janet and
Chip were doing better. While Lee went
to get the file out of the safe Janet asked, “Did you like being a server?”
“I’m
done with that job, it was hard work,” Jason replied smiling. “I have a new respect for waiters and
waitresses.”
Lee
handed Jason the file, “Thanks for taking this back. We’re leaving on a mission on Tuesday and I
can’t leave these two alone because they’d probably get into trouble. Who would think a going to a luncheon would
be this much of a problem,” Lee teased.
“Remember,
you were supposed to go to the luncheon,” Janet reminded him. “And you will pay us both back big time.”
Sighing
Lee replied, “I can hardly wait to see what they want.”
Grinning
Jason walked to the door and said “I’m glad it’s you and not me. Take care all of you.” Lee shut the door
behind him and looked at Janet and Chip.
“What do I have to do to pay you back?”
Chip
looked at Janet and answered, “I haven’t decided yet.” He sat back down on the
couch.
“I’ve
got a few things in mind but we’ll discuss it later,” Janet replied with a
devilish grin on her face.
After
Lee made sure Chip and Janet were comfortable, and they promised not to move,
he went to Chip’s car and removed all his belongings along with Janet’s suit
jacket. He stood looking at the
demolished car and was grateful that neither one of them was more seriously
injured or killed. He took Chip’s
belongings down to his house and brought him back some clothes. He added Janet’s jacket to the cleaning pile.
((()))
Janet
and Chip were well rested by the time Seaview was ready to depart on her
mission. Jamie had cleared them for light duty so they were able to sail with
them. The crew had just finished loading
all the supplies when the three of them walked onto the dock. Lee went over to Chief Sharkey.
“Everything
accounted for Chief?” Lee asked.
“Yes
sir. All supplies have been
received. We should have no parts
problems on this mission.”
“Very
good,” Lee answered as he went down the gangway with Janet and Chip.
They
entered to the sail hatch and went down the ladder into the control room. Lee waited at the bottom for Janet and then
Chip. A crewman took their gear and
brought it to their cabins. The admiral
came down the ladder after them.
“Ready
to shove off, Lee?” he asked handing his gear to Patterson.
“Yes
sir,” Lee replied. “Everything is loaded.”
Smiling
at him, “Then let’s go.”
Lee
headed up the ladder to the bridge and Chip started up after him when he turned
around, “Mr. Morton you haven’t been cleared to drive,” Lee snorted.
“Very
funny, Captain,” Chip answered as he went back down the ladder into the control
room.
The
admiral and Janet could barely contain their laughter. “Looks like things are back to normal,”
Janet whispered to the admiral.
“And
I wouldn’t have any other way,” he replied patting her arm.
Lee
directed the dock crew to pull up the gangway and untie the lines that held Seaview
to the dock. He slowly backed her
out of her berth, into the channel and out to the open water. He went back down the ladder jumping down the
last three rungs to find Chip at the plotting table waiting for Lee to set the
course. Smiling at Chip, he gave him the
course and told him to dive the boat.
Seaview headed out on the first of her missions.
The
End.