Ghost Net by Pauline
I
have had this story on the backburner for some time and am happy to have
finally finished it. With thanks to Helen for her help.
“Damn it, Lee, what the hell happened to you?”
“Does it look as bad as it feels?” Lee Crane croaked, his voice hardly above a
whisper.
A moment before his executive officer, Chip Morton,
had stepped in front of Lee’s car, ready to greet his friend and CO with a
smile. Instead, he was staring in horror
at the man’s battered face. Lee had two
black eyes, a split lip and a large bruise on his right cheek. The bruise was mottled purple, with green and
yellow tendrils extending up to his hairline.
It was not a pretty sight.
Chip moved immediately to the driver’s side door as
Lee pulled his car into his marked spot.
The window rolled down and Lee stuck his head outside, a move that
brought a grimace to his face followed by his muttered question.
“It looks pretty bad. Nobody called me last night to tell me we had
an intruder on the grounds. So no bad
guys that I know of. You run into an
irate boyfriend or something?”
“Don’t make me laugh, it hurts too much,” Lee
answered. “I wish it was something as
exciting as all that. Truth be told, I
slipped and fell coming out of my kitchen.”
“Whaaat?
Here, let me give you a hand.”
Chip opened the door and took hold of Lee’s arm, then helped him
gingerly step out of the car. “I’ll get
your briefcase. How the hell do you fall
in your kitchen?”
“I don’t know how it happened, I sure don’t remember
spilling anything last night. I had just
shut the door of the ‘fridge and turned around, when I stepped in a puddle of
water. My bare foot went into it, and
whoop, I did a nice swan dive right into the wall. I put up my arms to block my fall, that’s how
I got the black eyes, slammed right into my hands. I’m damned lucky I didn’t break both
wrists. As it is,” he rotated one wrist
and then the other, “they’re sore as hell, too.”
They were walking side by side, Lee taking his time,
Chip matching his normally long stride to his boss’s slower motion. Chip couldn’t imagine how Lee had managed to
get into his uniform, but he’d done it, even brought his briefcase in, heavy
and full of papers as usual.
They had passed a couple of people now, each one
trying not to look dismayed as they muttered a quick ‘good morning.’ This would be all over the Institute in a few
minutes.
“Why’d you bother to come in? We could have postponed the pre-sail for a
day or two.”
“The admiral’s pretty gung ho to test out this new
piece of equipment. He’s like a kid in
the candy shop when something new comes in, you know that. I didn’t want to disappoint him.”
“Twenty four hours wouldn’t have been a disaster,
Lee.”
Lee smiled, and then grimaced again, touching the
tear in his lip. “Yeah, I suppose
not. I just don’t like being the cause
of a delay. Especially since getting
this new spectrometer has taken forever.
And then there was that little electrical problem….”
“Which I haven’t been able to duplicate.”
The ‘problem’ that Lee referred too had happened a
week ago, on a routine sail out of Santa Barbara to San Diego. The return trip had been marred by a complete
malfunction of Seaview’s navigational
system. Sonar and hydrophones had all
gone down at the same time, necessitating an emergency blow and a few tense
minutes while they rose to periscope depth and Lee could sweep the horizon for
anything in their way. Luckily the sea
lanes had been clear. Once on the
surface, the systems had spontaneously returned to operation. Chip had spent a week now trying to figure
out what had gone wrong, with no result.
“We need to take her out again, same depth, speed
and direction, and see if anything happens,” Lee said.
He waited while Chip pushed opened the swinging
glass doors of the office reception area, then took a deep breath and
entered. With the reception desk
blocking the entrance to the private offices, there was no way he’d be able to
duck the security guard seeing the condition he was in. He fervently hoped it wouldn’t be one of the
female employees working the desk; he could do without the ‘mother hen’ routine
today.
Luckily Tom Gallagher was on the desk today; ex-Navy
chief with 30 years of service behind him before he’d taken the job at
NIMR. He’d seen it, and in some cases
probably done it, or at least knew which of his young charges had. So when he saw Seaview’s skipper enter the building looking like somebody had
worked him over, his eyes got only moderately large. Another ONI mission gone bad? He was glad that Admiral Nelson hadn’t gotten
to his office yet; he knew what the admiral thought about Commander Crane’s
‘alter ego.’ Tom hoped his shift would
be over before Nelson made it in.
“Morning, sirs!” Tom boomed. “Might I say that I’d sure hate to see the
other guy, Commander Crane?”
Lee laughed, even though it hurt. “Nothing quite that good, Tom,” he said,
taking the pen that Gallagher was holding out and signing the check-in
sheet. “My kitchen floor’s got it in for
me, that’s all. I zigged when I should
have zagged.” He held the pen out to
Chip, who quickly scribbled his name.
“Give me a holler when the admiral shows up, please. I want to see him before he sees me.”
“You got it, sir.”
“One more thing.
Where’s Dr. Jamieson today?”
Gallagher stepped back and flipped through a file on
his desk. “You’re safe, Commander. The Doc’s doing his rounds at the University
clinic, won’t be back until the end of the week.”
Lee blew the air out of his cheeks. “Great, that saves me a truckload of
explaining. Not to mention a trip to
Sick Call.”
The grin on Tom’s face matched that of the other
men. Lee Crane’s aversion to anything
medical was legendary. Will Jamieson was
chief medical officer for the Nelson Institute of Marine Research. He fought a never-ending battle to ensure
that Seaview’s command team and crew
came through their missions in one piece.
With Lee’s all too often seconding to the Office of Naval Intelligence
for missions that were fraught with danger, it was a near thing sometimes for
the man to come through in one piece.
‘Jamie’ would have had the young skipper down in Sick Bay as soon as he
could get him there, with Lee protesting every step of the way. Luckily that wouldn’t be happening today.
Lee put a shoulder into the inner door and held it
open for Chip this time, then followed him into the secondary lobby area. Branching off from this space were doors
leading into offices for the Institute’s senior research staff, conference
rooms and libraries. They could hear the
buzz of conversation as they headed for the elevator that would take them up to
the second floor of the compact office building, the floor reserved for Seaview’s command team.
Both men were silent as they entered the open
elevator. Chip held his figure over the
button, not quite ready to punch it and send the elevator on its way.
“You trying to figure out a way to explain this to
Angie?”
Angie was the Office Manager and Admiral Nelson’s
secretary. Lee knew he would have to
have a good explanation for her.
“I’m just going to tell the truth. That I’m a clumsy oaf.”
“For once, you’ve got that right!”
“Give me a few minutes, then bring in a cup of
coffee and we’ll put our heads together.
I’d like to go over the maintenance records on the navigation
equipment.”
“No problem, Lee.
Maybe you’ll see something I haven’t.
It’s got me baffled so far.”
“Something simple, Chip, you know it’s gonna be
that.”
Chip put his hand on the button and pushed. “That’s what I keep telling myself. It’s just taking longer to figure it out than
I’m used to.”
Chip Morton was not about to tell Lee that it wasn’t
the only thing on Seaview that had
gone haywire over the last few weeks.
He’d had trouble with computer programs that were working one minute and
refusing to open the next, while several simple, preventative maintenance
checks on equipment throughout the boat had revealed issues that hadn’t been
present at the last maintenance cycle.
Worst of all, there had been a couple of flare-ups among the crew that
had had to be dealt with. They had all
been working very hard, making everything ready for some new equipment that the
admiral had ordered, and sometimes, tempers ran a little raw. He hadn’t brought any of it to Lee’s
attention yet, hoping that everything was just some kind of crazy, one-off
thing that would sort itself out quickly.
But for it to all happen without a space of a couple of weeks, and now,
Lee’s ‘accident,’ that was just too weird, Chip thought to himself. He’d keep an eye out for black cats and
ladders, and avoid them all.
The elevator door opened, and Chip Morton’s face
beamed out his famous smile. “I don’t
envy you, Commander Crane.”
“Thanks for nothing, Commander Morton.”
xxxxxx
Nelson stepped out of the elevator and made his way
to his office. He was in good spirits
and looking forward to a favourable report on the new equipment being installed
aboard Seaview when he met with Lee
and Chip this morning.
“Morning Admiral,” Angie smiled pleasantly. “Captain
Crane is waiting for you in your office.”
“Thank you, Angie.”
He returned the smile. He really shouldn’t be surprised that his
work-a-holic captain had beaten him in.
Entering the office, he found Lee Crane sprawled in a chair, holding an
ice pack to his face. “Lee! What
happened? Are you all right?” Nelson
hurried across for a closer look at his friend.
“Morning, Admiral,” Lee sat up straighter. “I
slipped over at home, nothing serious.”
“Uh-huh, have you been to see Jamie?”
“That’s not necessary, Admiral. I’m fine.”
Nelson shook his head in disapproval, but didn’t
push Lee on the subject. Lee was
stubborn and would only dig his heals in.
Moving around the desk, Nelson sat down and regarded his friend across
the desk. “You know Lee, contrary to
what you seem to think, the institute can survive without you for a day or
two.”
Lee’s head went from side to side, mimicking
Nelson’s action. “I’m anxious to take Seaview out for a shakedown cruise, to
see if we can track down the mysterious malfunction in the navigation system.”
Before Nelson could say anything further, they were
interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
Angie entered.
“Commander Morton’s here, sir.”
“Morning, Admiral,” Chip entered, carrying a tray
with three coffees, doughnuts -- and a bottle of aspirin.
“Morning, Chip.”
Nelson watched the blonde place the tray down on the
desk and pass the meds to Lee.
Lee glared at him, but took the bottle and shook out
two, while Chip passed him a cup of coffee to wash them down with.
“Right, gentlemen, let’s get down to business.” Nelson reached for his own cup. “Has the new
spectrometer been installed and tested?” The instrument would not only be
useful in monitoring the air quality inside the sub, but would also speed up
the analysis of any samples they collected.
“Yes, sir,” Chip replied.
“Good. Is there anything else? I know that Captain
Crane is keen to take Seaview out for
a shakedown cruise.”
Lee grimaced as he took a sip of his coffee and
returned the cup to its saucer. “Chip and I have already discussed the pre-sail. I’d like to go over the maintenance logs for
the navigation system, but I don’t think there is anything to stop us from
sailing.”
Nelson again turned his attention to Lee. “Are you
sure you’re up to this?”
Lee nodded. “Yes, Admiral, I’m fine.”
“At least take the day off. Go home and take things easy.”
“Thank you, Admiral, but that isn’t necessary. Besides, I want to do a full inspection of
the boat before we sail.”
“Very well,” Nelson conceded. “That’s all gentlemen,
thank you.”
It was no use arguing with Lee. Nothing short of a direct order was going to
make him back down, and Lee was probably safer aboard Seaview with his watchdogs keeping an eye on him.
xxxxxx
Lee and Chip spent the morning going over the
maintenance logs and had drawn a blank.
“There’s just nothing to account for the
malfunction,” Chip said.
Lee rested back in his chair and put down his pen. “I
wonder if it’s pressure related.”
Chip’s stomach growled and he looked at his watch. “Let’s
go grab some lunch. We can continue this later.”
Lee laughed and then grimaced, tentatively touching
a finger to his split lip. “Okay. I wouldn’t
want you to starve to death on my account. I still want to do a personal
inspection this afternoon, maybe that will turn something up.”
Chip grinned. Lee could never resist getting ‘hands
on’ and wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, especially when there was a
mystery to be solved.
Lee pushed to his feet. “Let’s use the cafeteria,
that way we won’t have to leave the grounds.”
“Fine with me,” Chip grabbed his jacket and preceded
Lee to the door, holding it open for his CO. “You feeling okay?” Chip asked while they
waited for the elevator to arrive. He’d had noticed Lee flexing his fingers a
couple of times and guessed that his wrist was probably paining him.
Lee nodded. “I’m fine.”
“Where do you
want to start your inspection?” Chip asked, changing the subject. The more he
pushed Lee on the subject of his health, the more he would dig his heels in.
The elevator arrived and Lee stepped inside. “Let’s start with the battery connections to
the receiver/amplifier in the conning tower.”
Okay.” Chip followed Lee into the car and pressed
the button, resolving to not let his accident prone friend out of his sight for
the rest of the day. He didn’t add that
he had already checked and double checked.
Maybe Lee would find something they had missed.
xxxxxx
Lee sat at the sonar station with the top open,
using a voltmeter to test the circuits.
He’d sent Chip down to the circuitry room to check things out down
there. He knew that the technicians had already inspected all the wiring, but
just maybe he could find something that they had missed. It was no secret that
he had an almost telepathic connection with the Seaview.
Come on girl,
tell me what’s wrong.
He suddenly had the feeling that he was being
watched. He turned, expecting to find
Chip, but there was no-one there. Coming to his feet, he did a quick walk-around
the control room, checked the radio shack and conning ladder, but there was no
sign of anyone. Jumping at shadows. He shook
his head and was on his way back to the sonar station when Kowalski stepped
through the rear hatch.
“Kowalski, what are you doing here?”
“Mr Morton sent me up here to give you a hand,
skipper.”
Lee knew that Chip hadn’t been happy with the idea
of leaving Lee alone in the control room, especially when he was into the
wiring. However, on the boat, Lee was
his CO and you didn’t question orders.
But that didn’t stop him sending someone else to keep an eye on
him. Lee closed the sonar panel. “All
right, there’s nothing here. Let’s check out the hydrophones.”
“Yes, sir.”
xxxxxx
Feeling a little weary, Lee made his way to his
cabin. He was spending the night on the
boat, something he often did when they were due to sail. They had been over every inch of Seaview and found nothing. Lee had finally sent Chip off to have dinner
with Lindsay; the two of them did not get much time together. No formal meal for Seaview’s skipper; he’d gotten a sandwich
sent down from the cafeteria, along with a bag of chips. He hadn’t felt up to doing anything else.
Unbuttoning his shirt, Lee made his way to the head
to prepare for bed. In the two years
since he’d taken command, Seaview had
become his second home. He spent nearly
as much time aboard as he did ashore.
Unlike the navy, he didn’t have to share her with another captain. Lee smiled to himself; Chip might dispute
that, the amount of time he spent as acting captain while Lee was off the
boat. But at the end of the day, Seaview was his command.
Sometime later, Lee woke, unsure of what had
disturbed his sleep. It took him a
moment to register that the videophone screen was lit up, although there was
no-one there. Throwing back the covers,
he swung his legs to the floor and padded across the short distance to the
desk. Frowning, he stood scrutinising
the screen and pondered what had caused this latest apparent anomaly. Finally
he reached out and turned it off before grabbing his robe and pulled it on
while he slipped his feet into his slippers and headed out.
“Captain Crane, is something wrong, sir?” the guard
in the control room asked as Lee entered.
“I don’t know,” Lee moved aft to the radio
shack. There was no-one manning the
radio and the equipment was turned off. There were just too many unexplained things
happening for his liking. Sighing, Lee turned and headed back to the spiral
staircase. Hopefully he could get a few hours sleep, without any further disturbances.
Returning to his cabin, Lee couldn’t shake the
uneasy feeling he had. Going to the desk, he pulled open the drawer and reached
in for his service revolver. Checking the clip, he placed the gun under his
pillow before shrugging out of his robe and sliding beneath the covers.
xxxxxx
“We’ve cleared the breakwater. Proceeding at standard,” Chip reported from
below in the control room.
“Very well, Chip – standby to dive,” Lee turned and
headed below as Chip gave the order to clear the bridge. The lookouts followed him below and secured
the deck hatch.
“Bridge clear, hatch secure.”
“Take her down, make depth 200 feet,” Lee ordered.
“Aye, sir – 200 feet.”
As Seaview’s
ballast tanks flooded she sank below the pacific. Lee watched the water close
over the observation nose and artificial lighting replace the sunlight in the
control room. Thanks to her air
revitalisation plant, Seaview could
stay submerged for long periods for time, but that wouldn’t be necessary this
trip. It should only take them five hours to reach the area, with any luck they
would be home in time for supper.
“200 feet, trim satisfactory,” Chip confirmed,
joining Lee at the plot table.
“Right, Chip, set course for the area where we
experienced the malfunctions.”
“Aye, sir.”
While Chip moved to helm control, Lee glanced around
the control room. All instrumentation seemed
to be functioning normally; he hoped they would remain that way. He decided to
do a walk through the boat while they headed for the co-ordinates. “Chip, you have the con. I’m going walk about.”
“Aye, sir,” Chip grinned.
xxxxxx
Exiting the control room via the aft hatch, Lee made
his way down the corridor, past sick bay and the crew’s quarters. Coming to the mid-ship storage locker, he
opened the hatch and checked inside, everything was secure. Closing the hatch, he continued aft. He stopped at the circuitry room and had a
few words with the men on watch there. The crew were used to seeing him walking
the boat.
Stepping back into the corridor, he felt his skin
prickle. The corridor suddenly seemed to
be full of shadows and he again felt that someone was watching him. He paused and looked around, but apart from
the sound of a hatch closing close by, there was nothing or no-one else in
sight. Get a grip, Crane. Shaking his head at his discomfort, he
straightened and continued with his tour of the boat.
Turning his thoughts to other things, he realised
that he’d hardly seen Nelson since they sailed.
The admiral was ensconced in the lab, playing with his new toy. Lee made a note to stop by and visit on his
way back to the conn.
xxxxxx
Chip looked up from the charts as Lee approached.
“We’re in the area where we experienced the
malfunctions,” Chip reported.
“Very well, Chip. Let’s try some manoeuvres. Twenty degrees right rudder.”
“Aye, sir.
Twenty degrees right rudder.”
Lee waited while Seaview
turned onto the new heading, alert for any malfunctions. When after several
minutes, nothing happened, Lee ordered another course change. “Twenty degrees
left rudder, bring us back on course.” As his order was carried out, Lee walked
over to stand behind Kowalski at the sonar station. “Anything, Kowalski?”
“No, sir.”
“Hydrophones?”
“Functioning normally, sir.”
Lee stifled a sigh.
He knew he should be pleased that everything was functioning and he
shouldn’t wish for trouble, but he didn’t like mysteries; better that any
malfunctions happen now, than when they were on an important mission. “How much
water below us?”
“Four thousand, two hundred feet.”
“Take us down another five hundred feet. Slow and steady.”
“Aye, sir.”
Lee kept an eye on the sonar screen as Seaview descended through the depths. There wasn’t much to see beyond the
observation windows. It was dark, cold
and inhospitable with pressure at 303.46 psi at their final depth of seven
hundred feet. However, this was no-where near Seaview’s crush depth.
“Excuse me, sir.” The duty electrician approached
him with a clipboard. “I’ve checked out the videophone in your cabin, it seems
to work fine. I couldn’t find any reason
for it turning itself on,” he reported apologetically.
Lee accepted the clipboard. “Very well, carry on.” He felt the deck level as Chip approached. “Seven
hundred feet, trim satisfactory.”
Lee nodded. “We’ll hold this course for thirty
minutes and then take her back up to ninety feet.”
xxxxxx
In Seaview’s
observation nose, Lee Crane stood watching the pattern of light refraction
outside the large windows. The attempt
to duplicate the earlier problems had taken many hours, but at last they were
headed home, everything had gone smoothly and there had been no reoccurrence of
the navigational problems. Lee planned on taking advantage of Seaview being in port to get in a game
of golf or tennis with Chip. Jamie, Seaview’s
CMO, was always telling him he should take more leave and relax. And for once, there were not piles of
paperwork waiting for him on his desk at NIMR, although there had probably been
a few materialize while they had been out today.
Chip called to Lee from where he stood next to the
radar operator. “Captain, blip on radar.
Something on the surface, fifteen degrees off to port.”
Lee pulled his gaze away from the view and walked
over to join Chip at the radar station.
Taking the headset he listened for a moment. “It’s a small boat of some
kind.”
“Seems to be drifting,” Chip observed, watching the
radar screen.
“Riley, what are you getting on the hydrophones?”
Lee asked.
“Nothing, sir – no sound at all.”
Lee reached out and unclipped a mic from the
periscope mount. “All Stop.”
“All Stop, Aye.”
“Chip, take us up to periscope depth,” Lee ordered
as he handed the headset back to the crewman.
“Aye, sir,” Chip turned. “Ten degrees up
bubble. Make depth ninety feet.”
“Aye, sir – ninety feet.”
Lee stepped up to the periscope and pressed the
button. It rose smoothly up in front of
him. Turning the scope he searched the
surface until he spotted a sea going cruiser about two hundred yards away. He ran the periscope from side to side,
observing the craft with a practised eye.
She was about forty feet long, with the trim, streamlined appearance of
the modern, personal sport fishing boat.
There were no rusty streaks on the side, no derelict bumpers torn from
hitting the dock in port. The after
cabin was covered by a brightly stripped awning, and also looked practically
unused, with no sign of unsightly, faded patches from the sun. It could be that whoever had taken the boat
out for a spin was taking a nap on the deck, but somehow, Lee didn’t have a
feeling that that was the case. They
were miles and miles away from the California coast, far outside normal
shipping lanes, certainly further than this, albeit good-sized, pleasure craft
should be, especially one with no one at the wheel. This didn’t feel right. “Sparks, there a cruiser our port side, try
and raise here.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lee headed for the radio shack. “Anything, Sparks?”
“No, sir. No
answer to my hail on any channel.”
“Keep trying.”
Turning away, Lee walked back to join Chip at the conn. “Take us up,
Chip. Have a boarding party stand by.”
“Aye, sir. Surface, surface! Deck detail, stand by to crack the hatch,”
Chip ordered.
“Lee, what’s going on?” Nelson asked, arriving in
the control room down the spiral stairs from officer’s country.
“There’s a small pleasure cruiser drifting on the
surface. We haven’t been able to raise
her. I’m going to take a boarding party
to investigate.”
“All right, Lee.
But be careful and you’d better take a corpsman with you. There may be injured onboard.”
Lee nodded. “Yes, Admiral.”
xxxxxx
Lee climbed out of the Zodiac onto the deck of the
cruiser. “Patterson, Jackson, check
below. Kowalski, come with me. Grey, you stay with the Zodiac.”
There was a chorus of “Aye, sir,” in response to his
orders. Taking his gun from its holster,
Lee headed for the cockpit. There was no
sign of anyone; the wheelhouse was as deserted as the rest of the vessel
appeared to be. What had happened to the crew? Lee
returned the weapon to its holster and walked over to the chart table.
“Kowalski, check the instruments, see if the radio
is working. Patterson, anything?”
Patterson stuck his head out from the hatch.
“No, sir, she’s got one forward cabin, and there’s
an aft bunk area. The beds are all made
and the galley looks like nobody’s done any cooking for a while.”
“Any sign of anybody, then?”
“Not really, sir.”
Lee studied the course plotted on the charts. The cruiser had been headed for Marina del
Rey. Yet here they were, a hundred miles
and more off course, heading practically in the opposite direction. What had happened to her crew? Everything
appeared to be in order. Lee searched
around, looking for anything that would give them some clue as to what had
befallen those aboard.
“The radio seems to be okay, Skipper,” Kowalski reported.
Lee shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. We’ve had no reports of bad weather along the
coast. Where is everybody?” Lee walked over to the radio and tuned it to Seaview’s frequency.
“Grey, you’re back there, what’s the name of this
boat?”
The crewman, Grey had stayed with the inflatable,
tethered to the aft of the cabin cruiser, where her nameplate was affixed.
“Bounty Hunter,
sir.”
“Bounty Hunter
to Seaview, come in Seaview, over.”
“Receiving you, go ahead, Skipper,” Sparks answered.
“Everything appears to be in order, but there is no
sign of the crew,” Lee reported.
“All right, Lee.
Return to Seaview, we’ll discuss
this,” Nelson replied.
“Yes, sir.”
Lee turned the radio off.
xxxxxx
Lee climbed down the conning ladder and turned to
Nelson, waiting in the control room. “I don’t understand it. What could have
happened to them?”
Nelson shrugged.
“Could have been any number of things.”
Lee walked with Nelson to where Chip stood at the
plot table. “But the whole crew? And
there is a lot of equipment aboard, why would they leave everything?”
“Maybe there was something more valuable
aboard. We’ll radio the Coast Guard and
see if anyone has reported them missing.
In the meantime, put a prize crew aboard. If you can get the engines going, they can
sail her back to port and we’ll start a search for any survivors in the water.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lee turned to Chip. “Chip, you head up the prize crew, take Riley and Lt.
Michaels with you. Kowalski and
Patterson are still aboard. They’ll be
taking a look at the engines by now, hopefully you’ll be able to get her
underway.”
“You want me to command the prize crew?” Chip asked.
Lee smiled. “Why not? You’ve commanded Seaview enough; I think you can handle it. You’d better take someone from engineering as
well.”
“Yes, Sir,” Chip smiled “Uh, Michaels? Chip hesitated. “Can’t I have O’Brien?”
“Don’t push it, Mr Morton. With you off the boat I’ll need O’Brien,” Lee
answered jokingly.
“But you’ve got the admiral.”
Lee unclipped a mic and held it out to Chip. “Carry
on, Mr Morton.” The smile undermined the
command tone.
“Aye, sir,”
Grinning, Chip reached for the mic. “Lt Michaels, report to the control room.”
xxxxxx
The Bounty Hunter
was silent except for the sound of the waves lapping against the hull. Patterson and Kowalski stood on the aft deck
watching the Zodiac from Seaview approach.
It had only taken a few minutes to find out there was nothing wrong with
the engines; a quick reset of the circuit breakers and she’d turned over
immediately.
“So, what do you think happened to the crew, ‘Ski?”
Kowalski shrugged. “Dun’no. Maybe they thought there was more
wrong with the engines than they thought, so hitched a ride on somebody’s
else’s boat to go and get help.”
Pat looked sceptical. “You really think that’s possible? To me, it’s just plain creepy.”
“Creepy?”
“Yeah, you know, it’s like one of those ghost
ships.”
Kowalski looked at his friend. “Come on, Pat – a
ghost ship?” he laughed. “You don’t really believe all that nonsense, do you?”
“Sure I do, don’t you?” How could Ski deny the
existence of such things after all they had experienced?
As the Zodiac closed on the Bounty Hunter, the two crewmen moved to secure it and help the
occupants out. Patterson was a little
surprised to see the Exec, he’d expected Crane to command the prize crew; the
skipper was the one that usually liked to take chances and put himself in the
middle of the action. No time to
speculate on that, though. The two were
soon busy unloading the supplies sent across from Seaview. Patterson put it
out of his mind.
“All right, men, let’s get this show on the road,”
Morton ordered as the Zodiac headed back to Seaview.
“Riley, get those supplies below, you’re in charge of the galley. Kowalski, you
take first watch with me. The rest of
you get some sleep, you’re on watch in 6 hours.”
“Me, the galley, sir?” Riley asked.
“You’re all we have, try not to poison everyone,”
Morton told him.
xxxxxx
As darkness fell, a fog drifted over the sea, moving
furtively around the Bounty Hunter,
shrouding the boat in a damp, cold cloak. In the wheelhouse Kowalski glanced up
from the radar screen. “Mr Morton that fog is getting awful thick, sir. Looks like we’re going to have to slow this
boat down even more.”
Chip raised the infra-red binoculars and tried
sweeping through the murky ‘soup.’ After
a moment, he lowered the binoculars and turned to where Kowalski was watching
the plotter.
“It’s impossible to see anything. At this rate we’re never going to make the Coast
Guard dock in Marina del Rey. Are you
picking up anything, Kowalski?”
“No, sir,” Kowalski, said, shaking shook his head.
“I’ll relieve you now, sir,” Lt Michaels announced
as he appeared from below, followed by Patterson. “Riley has dinner waiting for
you – it’s not half bad.”
Chip nodded. “Maintain course and keep a sharp
lookout, the fog is pretty thick. And
keep that foghorn going. We don’t want
any surprises.”
“Aye, sir,” Michaels acknowledged.
“Come on, Kowalski – let’s get below.” Whatever Riley had managed to cook up, it
wouldn’t come close to the food aboard Seaview,
but Chip hoped that it would at least be edible.
Leaving Michaels on watch, Morton headed below to
the small galley and mess. Maybe if they
reached port ahead of Seaview, they
could have some extra leave. There were
some great restaurants, serving everything from succulent seafood and steak, to
pizzas and pasta. Chip smiled to
himself, his thoughts going to Lee. If
he were here, he’d make some comment about Chip always thinking about his
stomach.
Dinner turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Cookie had sent across beef stew with chunky
vegetables and boiled potatoes, all Riley had to do was heat it up. He’d also found ice cream for dessert in the Bounty Hunter’s freezer. After dinner
was finished, Kowalski helped Riley clear up while Chip went topside to check
in with Michaels before he turned in. He wondered how the search was going
aboard Seaview, so far they had reported no luck in finding any survivors.
xxxxxx
Standing in Seaview’s
observation nose, Lee Crane glanced at his watch before turned to Nelson. The
light was fading rapidly; they were unlikely to find survivors now. They’d checked in with the Coast Guard,
obtaining permission to continue a search for survivors. The OIC had confirmed that no distress call
had been received, nor had anyone reported the Bounty Hunter missing.
“How much longer do we keep looking? Do you really think we will find anyone?”
Nelson shook his head. “We had to try, Lee.”
“Should I give the order to abandon the search?”
“Yes, let’s see if we can beat the Bounty Hunter into port and pick up our
men.”
“Yes, Sir,” Lee smiled, only too happy to give the
order. The crew had been looking forward
to shore leave before all this blew up.
He’d already plotted the course change.
“Manoeuvring, come to course 118.
Engine room, all ahead full.” As
his orders were acknowledged, Lee returned to the chart table and entered the
course change in the log. It bothered
him what had happened to the crew of the Bounty
Hunter and he would feel better when Chip and the rest of the prize crew
were safely back aboard. On a gut
feeling, he headed aft to the radio shack.
“Sparks, when did you last hear from Mr Morton?”
“Lt Michaels checked in about an hour ago, sir. He reported the fog as getting thicker, and they were barely making headway.”
Lee nodded. “We should be able to catch up with
them, then. Okay, let me know if you
hear anything else from them.”
“Aye, sir.”
Lee walked back to join Lt Williams at the con. “Mr Williams, you have the con. I’ll be in the wardroom and then my cabin.”
“Aye, sir – I have the con.”
xxxxxx
Lee picked at his dinner, trying to convince himself
that he was hungry. For some unknown
reason he felt uneasy. All his instincts
were telling him that something was wrong.
“Something bothering you, Lee? Nelson asked.
Lee put down his folk and blew out a breath. “No, Admiral --- I will just feel better when
that boat is tied up to a dock and our crew is back aboard Seaview.”
Nelson smiled sympathetically, “I’m sure they will
be fine, Lee.”
Lee nodded.
“I wish we knew what happened to the Bounty
Hunter’s crew.”
“You think the prize crew could be in danger?”
“I don’t know, Admiral,” Lee shrugged. “Something simply doesn’t feel right.”
“Well, we’re making good time; we should catch up to
them by morning.”
Lee hoped so.
Unable to sit any longer, he picked up his plate. “If you’ll excuse me,
Admiral.”
“Of course, Lee.”
xxxxxx
Lt Michaels sat at the helm of the Bounty Hunter, peering out at the fog
shrouded ocean. The boat two diesel
engines gave her a top speed of 18 knots and she was fitted with sonar, but to
be safe, they had slowed down to barely a crawl. Luckily there had been no contacts close
enough to worry about. However, that was likely to change once they neared
their destination. Glancing at the
instruments, he checked their course.
Michaels had been both surprised and pleased that
he’d been chosen to join the prize crew.
He’d only been with the boat for just over a year and would have
expected the more senior and experienced O’Brien to be chosen over him. Suddenly the engines spluttered and died,
interrupting his thoughts.
What the?
Getting to his feet, Michaels tried to restart them,
without success.
“Patterson, go and check on the engines.”
“Yes, sir.”
He thought about reporting to the XO, but decided to
wait until he had more information.
After making an entry in the log, he raised the binoculars and did a
sweep of the surrounding ocean. They
were dead in the water and did not need a collision to add to the
problems. Hearing a sound behind him,
Michaels started to lower the binoculars, but before he could turn around his
head exploded and everything turned black.
xxxxxx
Chip was woken by a loud crashing sound and at the
same time realised that the engine had stopped. Throwing back the covers, he dragged himself
out of the bunk and headed out to investigate.
As he headed aft through the galley/dinette the others were emerging
from their bunk area as well, disturbed by the noise.
“What happened Mr Morton? Did we hit something?” Riley asked, rubbing his eyes.
“I don’t think so. Kowalski check out the
engine. Riley, you’re with me.”
“Aye, sir.” Kowalski headed towards the engine
compartment.
When Chip arrived in the wheelhouse, there was no
sign of Lt. Michaels or Patterson.
“What happened to Lt Michaels and Patterson,
sir?” Riley asked.
Chip shook his head.
“I don’t know.” Maybe they had
developed engine trouble and Michaels had gone down to help Patterson. “Check with Kowalski, find out what’s
happened to the engines. I’ll check
around up here.”
“Aye, sir.”
Riley headed back down the steps.
“Mr Morton, you’d better get down here, sir,”
Kowalski called from below.
xxxxxx
When Chip arrived in the engine room, he found Kowalski
kneeling beside Patterson, who was lying face down on the deck. “What
happened?” Chip asked.
“It looks like someone slugged him from behind,”
Kowalski told him.
“How is he?”
“Probably concussion, I’ll know more when he comes
round.”
Chip nodded. “Take him to the cabin and do what you
can for him, Kowalski. Riley, come with
me. We’re going to search any
compartments big enough for someone to hide in,” Chip said grimly, pulling his
gun from his holster. I think we have a
stowaway on board.”
“A stowaway, sir?
But where, we’ve searched everywhere,”
Riley asked.
Chip shrugged. “I think he was over the side,
waiting for us to search the boat and then leave. When we didn’t, he had to make any
plans. Now he’s got nowhere to go. And this fog isn’t going to help us.”
“Do you… think that’s what happened to Lt Michaels,
Mr. Morton?” Riley asked.
Chip looked away with a curt nod. “I’m afraid so, Riley. I think he plans on taking us out, one at a
time.”
He opened the door and checked the corridor.
“Kowalski, keep this door locked,” he ordered before moving out and down the
passageway. He moved cautiously down the
corridor to the end, where steps led up to the galley kitchen.
As they started pulling open storage compartments
and looking under bench cushions they were interrupted by the sound of the
engines starting. Chip bolted for the
steps, with Riley close on his heels.
They found the wheel house empty and the engines on auto-pilot – and a
smashed radio. It had been torn from the
housing and looked like someone had taken a hammer to it. There was no way they were going to be able
to repair it. No way to contact Seaview, then. They still had their small personal radios,
but they had a limited range. Chip
disengaged the auto-pilot and gripped the wheel.
Who or what the
hell were they dealing with?
Whoever it was seemed to be one step ahead of them all the time.
Knowing it would be hopeless, but knowing that it
had to be done, Chip manoeuvred the boat in a
slow circle, while Riley used the boat’s searchlight to scan the water. The fog
making it almost impossible to see, he reluctantly called an end to the
search.
If they were going to make a run for port, they would
need coffee and something to eat, to keep them all going on only a couple of
hours sleep.
Chip unclipped the radio from his belt. “Kowalski?”
“Kowalski here, sir.”
“How’s Patterson?”
“He’s come around, sir. Apart from a headache, he seems to be okay.”
“Can you move him to the galley? I need you to make enough coffee and
sandwiches to keep us going. I’m going
to make a run for port and I don’t want to leave the bridge unattended.”
“Aye, sir.”
Kowalski and Patterson arrived with flasks of coffee,
soup and sandwiches. Chip brought the Bounty Hunter up to full speed and
engaged the auto-pilot. He calculated that at top speed they should reach
Marina del Rey in just less than five hours. Turning the chair around, he
accepted a cup of coffee and ate a sandwich.
There wasn’t a lot of room on the bridge, but they
made themselves as comfortable as possible, with Kowalski and Patterson sitting
on the deck.
xxxxxx
A cool breeze ruffled Lee’s dark hair as he stood in
the sail using binoculars to search for any sign of the Bounty Hunter. The fog had
lifted and the sun was breaking through the scattering clouds, sparkling off
the water. They had had no contact with
the prize crew and Lee was growing more anxious with every passing minute. He wished now that he had commanded the prize
crew; not that Chip wasn’t capable, but...
With a frustrated sigh, Lee lowered the glasses. He could hear the muted sound of Seaview’s powerful engines and the waves
against the hull as she moved across the surface. Seaview
was not designed for running on the surface, but the sea was calm and the sub
rolled gently beneath his feet.
Unclipping a mike, he called the control room. “Mr O’Brien, anything on radar?”
“No, Sir, both radar and sonar are clear.”
“Very well, carry on.” Lee returned the mic to its clip. It just didn’t make any sense. First the crew
of the Bounty Hunter apparently
disappeared and now the boat had also disappeared, along with everyone on board. Lee turned at the sound of someone exiting
the deck hatch.
“Excuse me, sir – Sparks has a reply to your
enquiry.” Sharkey handed Lee a sheet of
paper.
“Thank you, Chief.”
He looked up and saw the chief’s expression. “What’s the matter, Chief?”
“You’ll see the message, sir. The Coast Guard says the boat is registered
to a Larry and Carissa Marston.
Apparently the Marstons made some kind of cryptic phone call to their
son, something about finding someone on board who wasn’t supposed to be there. The call was cut off before he could ask what
was going on. I guess it took a while
for the Coast Guard to be notified, the guy called the local cops first.”
Lee’s brow furrowed.
“Chief, get Sparks to raise Chip, I need to---“
“Already done, sir.
They’re not answering their radio.”
Lee picked up the mic. “Engineering, give me flank speed!” While the helm answered his command, he was
already starting down through the hatch.
xxxxxx
Chip had never been happier to see the sunrise. A breeze had picked up, helping to lift the
fog. The Bounty Hunter’s engines thrummed, driving her through the slight
swell at a steady rate of knots. Chip
sat in the pilot’s seat, wishing that there was some way to contact Seaview; he knew that Lee would be
worried. Beside him, Kowalski was
standing lookout. He said that he preferred to have something to do to help
pass the time. Patterson was stilling
sitting on the deck, dozing, while Riley had been keeping watch over the stern.
So far, their mystery stowaway had not made an appearance.
Chip’s optimism was soon shattered when the boat was
rocked by an explosion amidships, probably in the galley. Chip cut the
engine.
“Abandon ship!”
By the time they had got into lifejackets, flames
were beginning to spread out from the broken windows below, and black, oily
smoke filled the air, threatening to fill their lungs with the deadly mixture.
“Once we’re in the water, get as far away as you
can, but stay together.” Chip instructed,
fighting to get the words out. They
quickly jumped overboard, swimming to get away from the boat before the fuel
tanks blew.
xxxxxx
“Contact, bearing 145 degrees, two thousand yards.”
“Five degrees right rudder, ahead flank,” Lee
ordered, moving to stand behind the sonar operator.
“Ahead flank, aye.”
Lee waited for Seaview
to close the distance before grabbing binoculars and headed up to the conning
tower, Nelson a step or two behind. They both gasped as the sight of the
furiously burning cruiser became clearer.
“All stop.”
Lee clicked the mic to clear it. “Missile room, get a rescue party
ready, I’ll lead it myself.”
“Aye, sir,” Sharkey acknowledged.
Lee climbed down onto the deck as a team, led by
Sharkey emerged with an inflatable raft. As Lee approached, the chief handed
him a life jacket.
“Thanks, Chief.”
Lee slipped on the life jacket as he watched the men
launch the raft and climb in. He was
about to follow when there was a loud explosion and the Bounty Hunter erupted in a ball of flame as the fuel tanks
exploded, blowing what was left of the boat apart. Lee stood staring at the burning boat, frozen
in shock.
“Chip!”
The burning wreckage soon began to sink. Recovering, Lee quickly scrambled into the Zodiac.
“All right, let’s go.” He hoped that his
men had somehow escaped, but he knew inside that they would be lucky if they
could recover the bodies.
“Skipper, over there!” Sharkey pointed as the Zodiac
rapidly closed the gap between Seaview
and the wreckage.
Lee followed his directions and could just make out
people in the water. Relief washed over him, they were alive. Lee waited
anxiously while the raft changed course towards the men in the water.
“Am... I glad...to see you,” Chip greeted as he was
hauled into the Zodiac.
xxxxxx
Wearing pyjamas and his blue robe, Chip Morton sat
on his bunk with his hands wrapped around a mug of Cookie’s special coffee.
“I’m sorry about Lt. Michaels.”
Perched on the corner of Chip’s desk, Lee shook his
head. “Don’t go blaming yourself, it
wasn’t your fault.”
“Then who’s fault was it?”
“If the Coast Guard had gotten the message sooner…
it was just an unfortunate series of events, Chip. Somebody didn’t want that boat making it back
to port.”
“Well, whoever it was, he didn’t make it, either.”
Chip couldn’t quite stifle a yawn, the lack of sleep
and time in the water was catching up with him.
It was fortuitous that Seaview
had show up when she did; he didn’t want to contemplate what might have
happened.
“You should get some sleep.” Lee changed the
subject. He didn’t want to think about
what else it could have been besides a stowaway.
“How are the others?”
Kowalski and Riley should be in their racks. Frank
is keeping Patterson under observation for twenty-four hours as a precaution.”
Chip shivered and took another sip of his
coffee. He wasn’t sure that he could
sleep, as tired as he was.
Lee came to his feet. “You’re suffering from shock. Get under the covers, you need to keep warm.”
“Yes, Doctor Crane.”
Smiling at the irony of having the tables turned on
him, Chip surrendered the mug to Lee and got into bed. Once he was settled, Lee gave him back the
mug.
“Finish your coffee and then you are going to
sleep.”
Chip bit back the urge to tell Lee to stop fussing. “Aye,
sir.” He understood how Lee felt, having been in the same position himself
enough times.
Lee turned the chair around and sat down.
“What are you doing? You don’t need to hang around.”
“Chip, after all the times you have been there for
me, I think I owe you one. I’m staying,
no arguments.”
xxxxxx
Lee took the empty mug from Chip’s loose fingers and
put it down on the desk. Frank’s secret ingredient was taking effect, pulling
Chip down into much needed sleep.
Sorry, Chip.
Lee knew only too well what Chip was going through;
the guilt and anger he was feeling over the death of Michaels. Behind Chip’s cool, calm exterior, there lay
an aggressive streak to the blonde’s nature that he didn’t show very often. He
had a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later, especially where the
safety of Lee or the Seaview was
concerned.
Lee suddenly realised what was bothering Chip; the
stowaway or whatever, had gone down with the Bounty Hunter and Chip did not have a target for his anger. Lee could empathize; he was dealing with his
own demons. The memory of the moment
that he’d thought the prize crew had perished with the Bounty Hunter was still fresh in his mind. Don’t
go there, it’s over, he told himself sternly. Chip was the one who needed
his support. Besides which, Lee wasn’t
ready to let him out of his sight yet.
Exhaling a deep sigh, Lee rested back in the chair
and stretched out his long legs. After all the times that Chip had been there
for him when he’d been injured, it was the least he could do for his
friend. He’d be here if he needed him,
although Frank’s sedative should keep him down for a while.
End