The
By JSRobertson
“Mayday! Mayday!” the pilot
yelled over the radio fighting for control of the crippled aircraft. “We’re going down,” he shouted to the
passengers on board. “Hold on.” Through the fog he spotted an aircraft on the
ground on an island in the Aleutian Chain. He was hoping there was a place to
land there. He was going to have to try
and land as severe icing was forcing them down.
Right before he touched down, he realized the aircraft he spotted
earlier was one that had already crashed.
Shit, the pilot thought. He didn’t have enough power to go around
and check it out as he had to land now. As he touched down, the right landing
gear was sheared off causing a ground loop forcing the right wing into the
dirt. The plane cart wheeled out of
control rupturing the gas tank causing the wing to burst into flames. The five men on the plane needed to get out
very quickly before the flames spread to the rest of the plane. They were afraid that the other tanks would
catch fire and explode.
((()))
Two weeks earlier
It had been a long day at
NIMR. The admiral, Lee and Chip had just
wrapped up their weekly Thursday meeting which took longer than usual because
they were leaving for their annual required reserve training on Saturday. The admiral had them go over everything that
would need to be done while they were away.
Lee and Chip left the admiral’s office noticing that Angie, the
admiral’s personal assistant, had already left for the day. The admiral packed up his briefcase as he had
another meeting to attend in downtown
Standing by the door at
Chip’s office, Lee asked, “What are you doing for dinner? Janet and I are going to Giovanni’s, want to
join us?”
Hesitating Chip replied,
“Thanks but I’ve made plans. It’s my
turn to pick up the cleaning.”
“Since when are you turning
down dinner to pick up cleaning? Okay
bro, what’s up,” Lee said as he gently nudged Chip into his office. “You never want to get the cleaning so who is
she?” Lee laughed.
Breaking into a smile, Chip
answered, “Okay, you’re on to me. You
remember Julie Bates? She’s the
detective that worked with Aaron Thompson on Janet’s kidnapping case.”
Standing in Chip’s office
with his arms crossed, “Yes, I remember her.
Dark hair, about five nine, long legs, brown eyes,” Lee replied.
“I hope it’s the spy in you
that remembers all that or you’re going to be in trouble if Janet finds out
you’re checking out other women,” Chip teased.
“It’s the spy,” Lee
deadpanned. “Get on with it.”
“I met her picking up our
cleaning two weeks ago. She was there
picking up her cleaning and we started to talk as we waited in line. I asked her out to dinner that night and we
hit off,” Chip explained. “We’re going
to her favorite Mexican restaurant tonight.
I’d ask you to come with but...”
“No problem, Chip. I’m glad you’re seeing someone. But I’m a little hurt you didn’t tell me
sooner,” Lee complained.
“Just wanted to make sure it
was going to last longer than one date,” Chip admitted.
“Have a good time,” Lee told
him patting him on the back as he walked out of Chip’s office and ran into his
wife who was just coming to get both of them.
“Who’s having a good time,”
Janet asked innocently. “Are you two
ready to go? I’m hungry.”
Lee took her hand in
his. “I’ll tell you later,” Lee
replied. “Chip has other plans so it’s
just you and me tonight. Are you sure
you want to go out? We could go home and
have dessert first,” Lee said deviously.
“Dinner then dessert,” Janet
chuckled as Lee went into his office, taking his jacket and cover out of the
closet. They walked back to Janet’s
office where she took her purse out of her desk and Lee got her coat and helped
her put it on. They waited for Chip who
was just coming out of his office and walked with him to the elevators.
“Good night Chip,” Janet said
as Lee held the car door for her and she got in. Lee got in the car and before he could start
the engine Janet asked, “Who’s the woman?”
Laughing he started the car
and pulled out of the parking place.
“Nothing gets past you.”
“No, you and your spy stuff
are wearing off on me,” she grinned.
“The woman is Julie
Bates. She’s the detective that worked
on the case when you were kidnapped.
They’ve only been dating for a couple of weeks so he wants to be alone
with her.”
“I remember her. She was very nice and good looking too. I know what it’s like to be newly
dating. I remember when we first started
dating you didn’t want Chip to come with either,” Janet said as she grabbed
Lee’s hand and held it as they drove to the restaurant.
((()))
Chip drove to Julie’s condo
which was in the northern part of
“I’m going to have the
chicken chimichanga and an iced tea,” Julie said closing her menu.
“I’ll have the same thing,”
Chip replied and ordered for the two of them when the waitress returned to take
their order. “No wine tonight?”
“Sorry, I’m on call tonight.
We’re short handed in our department as Aaron had to go out of town on another
case. Is that a problem?”
“No, unless your phone
rings,” Chip teased. Julie smiled at him
knowing he would understand if she had to leave.
After the waitress brought
their iced tea, Julie asked Chip, “Does Seaview have any cruises coming
up?”
“No, not for a month but Lee
and I have to attend a two week training session back East,” Chip told her.
“You’re going to be gone for
two weeks?” Julie remarked unhappily sipping her iced tea.
“Yes, since I’m in the Naval
reserves I have to go every year,” he responded noticing she wasn’t pleased he
would be leaving and was happy to know that.
“I’m leaving on Saturday.”
When the waitress brought
their dinners, Julie finished hers much to Chip’s disappointment as he was used
to taking home leftovers. They were
enjoying dessert when Julie’s phone rang.
“Julie Bates,” she
answered. “Okay I’ll be right
there.” She hung up the phone and looked
at Chip. “Sorry, but I have to go. There’s been a kidnapping.”
“No problem,” Chip replied
signaling the waitress for their check.
He quickly paid it, leaving the tip on the table and they left the
restaurant. When they got to her condo,
he walked her to the door and gave her a long kiss.
Catching her breath, “I’ll
call you as soon as I can,” she said.
She quickly got in her car
and drove to the station. Chip got back
in his car and drove home. Damn, he thought as he unlocked his door, now
I know how my dates feel when I have to leave them. He shut the door, put his keys on the
counter, went to the refrigerator, grabbed a beer and sat down on the couch.
((()))
Lee and Janet arrived at
Giovanni’s and he was glad to see them as they hadn’t been there for awhile.
“Good evening, Mrs. Crane, Commander,” Giovanni said to them as he led them to
a circular booth in the back.
“Hi Giovanni,” Lee answered
as he let Janet get in the booth first before following her in sitting next to
her.
Giovanni handed them
menus. “Your server will be right
over. Enjoy your meal,” he told them
signaling the waitress to come over to the table. She was a new waitress and had never served
the Crane’s before but did notice right away how good looking Lee was.
“Hello, I’m
“Hi
“Yes sir,” she said walking
away but not before glancing back to look at Lee again.
Grinning, “Well, you’ve
managed to charm another one,” Janet remarked taking a piece of bread, put some
butter on it and took a bite.
“Are you jealous?” Lee asked
playfully grabbing himself some bread.
“Why of course,” Janet teased
giving him a kiss.
Janet took a drink of her
wine, “Do you have everything packed for the next two weeks?” she asked softly.
”Yes, I’m all ready to go,” Lee replied knowing Janet was upset that he had to
go as he took a drink of wine. He
changed the subject and asked, “Did we get in all the parts for the overhaul on
FS-1?”
“Most of them, but the rest
of them should be in on Monday, so they’ll start when they get them. Sharkey doesn’t want to begin until all the
parts have come in,” Janet answered finishing up her glass of wine.
“Good idea,” Lee answered
emptying his glass and refilling both of theirs.
Janet replied, “No everything
is fine.”
Lee and Janet ate their
dinner and were too full for dessert.
Janet as usual didn’t finish her meal and would take a doggie bag home
to eat while Lee was gone.
“I just might be too full,”
Janet teased as she took his hand.
Lee pulled the car in the
garage and opened the door for Janet.
They both hung their jackets in the closet and Lee put his cover on the
shelf. He went into the kitchen and noticed
a light on at Chip’s house. He’s home
early, Lee thought; I hope everything went okay with his date. Janet had already gone upstairs to get ready
for bed. Lee made sure all the lights were off and went upstairs too. When he got upstairs Janet was just coming
out of the bathroom. He wrapped his arms
around her waist while she wrapped her arms around his neck. He lowered his head down and kissed her
gently on the lips, deepening his kiss when she responded back. She went to the bed, pulled the blankets back
and covered them up when Lee slid under.
She ran her hands down Lee’s body stopping only when she reached her
intended goal. Lee moaned softly as he
gently placed his hand on Janet’s breast.
They lay sated and sexually happy in each other’s arms as they fell
asleep.
((()))
Janet and Lee woke up the
next morning and got ready for work.
They were running late so they didn’t have a chance to get
breakfast. When they got to NIMR, they
met Chip parking his car so they waited for him so they would walk in together.
“Good morning Janet, Lee,”
Chip said as he held the door for them.
“Hi Chip,” Janet replied as
they walked to the elevator and pushed the button. They rode the elevator up to the second floor
in silence. Lee decided to talk to Chip
later about his date.
The three of them would be
very busy today. Wanda was going on
vacation and would be gone the same two weeks as Lee and Chip. Janet would take over her duties besides
doing hers, Lee’s and Chip’s. They went
over to the waiting area where Janet made the coffee and went to her office
while Lee went into Chip’s office.
“Morning Lee,” Chip said
unhappily knowing Lee what he was going to ask.
“How was your date?” Lee
asked cautiously. “I noticed your light
was on when we got home...everything okay?”
“Yes, we were having a good
time and she got called on a kidnapping case.
Now I know how my dates feel when I have to leave them,” he lamented.
“Sorry bro,” Lee replied,
“can you see her tonight?”
“I don’t know. She going to call and let me know.”
They just finished talking
when Janet was at the door with three coffees and a folder full of letters that
needed to be signed and another with notes she needed to review with them. She
handed each of them a mug of coffee. “Is now a good time to talk to both of you
or do you want me to come back later?” she asked looking at the two of them
knowing something was up and would find out later what the problem was.
Chip sat down at his desk,
“Now is a great time. The phones aren’t
ringing and no one else is here. What do
you have,” he asked looking at the bulging folders. She and Lee sat down in the
chairs in front of Chip’s desk. She took a quick sip of her coffee, opened the
folder and handed each of them some letters to sign. The two of them looked them over, signed them
and handed them back to her. “Lee, I
have quite a few proposals that need to be addressed. Look over what you can today, give the rest
back to me and I’ll have the admiral check out the ones you don’t get to.
Okay?”
Smiling, “Yes ma’am,” he
replied as he took the folder from her.
“Chip, I already told Lee
that all the parts are not in for the overhaul on FS-1. I checked with the manufacturer and they should
be in on Monday. Sharkey doesn’t want to
start until he has all the parts. If I
don’t get the parts by Monday, is it okay if I threaten to pull the contract on
them. This is the second time we’ve had
an issue with some of their parts.”
“Do whatever you need to do,”
Chip responded surprised that Janet would suggest that as she was usually pretty
easy going. “What parts are we talking
about?” Janet opened up her folder and
took out the parts sheets and pointed to the ones they didn’t have. “No problem about threatening them, we have
another company that could supply those parts if we needed. They’re a little more expensive but if this
company can’t fulfill the order, by all means contact the other company and get
prices and lead times.”
“Thanks,” Janet
answered. “I have nothing more to
discuss with either of you right now. Do
you have anything for me?” After waiting
a couple of minutes and neither one of them said anything Janet got up, “Well
if you have nothing. I’ve got plenty of
work to do. See you both later.” She took her cup of coffee and walked out the
door.
Lee and Chip looked at each
other realizing they had just been dismissed by Janet. “Well, I’m glad I didn’t have anything to
give her,” Chip snorted. “I don’t think
she would’ve have been too happy.” Lee
stood up, took his coffee mug and walked to the door, “I do have some things
for her but wasn’t sure I wanted to mention them,” Lee chuckled. “She doesn’t need any more work right
now.” Lee left Chip’s office, stopped to
get some more coffee and went into his office.
He looked at the folder of work he needed to give Janet and sighed. I better put this on her desk when she’s
not looking, he thought as he sat down at his desk and opened the folder of
proposals Janet handed him.
By the time the three of them
had finished their meeting, the admiral, Angie and Wanda had come in. The admiral already had Angie in his office
laying out the plans for the day. Wanda
and Janet were by Wanda’s desk so she could go over with Janet what needed to
be done while she was away.
After reading proposals for
an hour, Lee needed more coffee. He went
to the waiting area and saw that Janet wasn’t at her desk but could hear her
and Wanda talking. He quickly went back
into his office, grabbed the folder he had for her. He walked into Janet’s office and put the
folder on her desk. As he went back to
his office he thought, I’ll make it up to her later.
Janet finished up with Wanda
and went back to her office where she saw the folder on her desk, frowning she
wondered where it had come from until she opened it up and knew Lee had put it
there. He’ll pay later, she
thought and sighed as she sat down at her desk and went through it.
The day went by very
fast. It was 1700 hours when they all
decided to leave for the day. Janet and
Angie went to Wanda’s desk, “Have a good vacation,” they told her giving her a
hug goodbye. The admiral, Chip and Lee
also wished her a good trip. Angie and
Wanda went to the elevators and left for the day.
Lee and Chip had cleared
their desks. Lee gave the proposals he
didn’t get a chance to look at back to Janet.
He also gave her the ones he had gone through. There were a few of interest but most of them
he didn’t think they would take on so Janet would send out letters to them. Since none of them had time for lunch they
were deciding what to do for dinner.
Standing in the doorway of
Janet’s office, “Since we’re going to be gone for two weeks and they never
serve pizza, I vote we get that,” Chip announced.
Lee and Janet looked each
other and nodded their heads in agreement.
The admiral walked to her office, “Have fun,” the admiral said to Lee
and Chip. “Don’t worry about Janet, I’ll
take care of her,” the admiral told Lee.
“Thank you sir,” Lee said
gratefully. He and Janet weren’t
thrilled when the admiral made them move to NIMR property but they had to admit
it was working out. When Lee was on ONI
missions he knew Janet would be safe and it was also nice to have the admiral
around to look after her when both he and Chip were gone.
Janet rolled her eyes at Lee,
“I can take care of myself. I don’t need
to be watched,” she replied stubbornly.
“I know but I still feel
better knowing someone is watching out for you,” Lee remarked squeezing her
hand.
“Admiral would like to join
us for pizza,” Chip interjected quickly before Janet could say anything more
remembering the last time Lee wanted someone to watch Janet.
“Sure, I’ve got nothing
planned for the evening,” he replied as they headed to the elevators. They got in their cars and drove to the pizza
place a few miles from the institute where they ordered three pizzas and a
couple pitchers of beer. Chip kept
checking his cell phone hoping to get a message from Julie. Lee noticed and decided not to say anything
but it didn’t get by the admiral or Janet.
“Chip, you keep looking at
your phone. Is there a problem?” the
admiral asked with concern. He was close
to Chip as he was one of the first people he hired when he started building the
institute and Seaview and was afraid something was wrong.
“No just waiting for a message
from someone.”
“Anyone we know,” the admiral
continued taking a swig of his beer.
“I’m dating Julie Bates. She was going to let me know if I could see
her tonight,” Chip told the admiral. He
didn’t normally like to talk about who he was dating but the admiral asked.
“Isn’t she the detective from
Janet’s kidnapping case? Nice choice,”
the admiral said as he poured them some more beer.
Chip never did get his phone
call but they did enjoy the rest of their evening. “Be careful,” the admiral
told Lee and Chip as they walked to their cars after dinner.
“Yes sir,” they replied.
Before Lee and Janet left,
Lee said to Chip, “Be at our house by 0600 and Janet will take us to the
airport. Sorry you couldn’t hook up with
Julie before we left.”
“Thanks, and I’ll be there at
0600,” Chip answered walking to his car and driving away.
Lee and Janet got in their
car. “You are in deep trouble, Lee
Crane,” Janet said when he started to drive away.
He knew why he was in trouble
and grinned, “Sorry I put all that work on your desk when you weren’t looking.
I promise I’ll make it up to you when we get home.”
“You sure will,” Janet
quipped as she sat back thinking about how much she was going to miss her
husband.
((()))
When Lee and Janet got home,
they quickly made sure everything was locked up for the night and went
upstairs. Lee helped Janet undress while
she helped him. Before long they were in
bed enjoying each other. Lee fell asleep
when they were finished but Janet laid there watching her husband sleep. When she put her head on his chest, he woke
up briefly, wrapping his arm around, gave her a kiss on her temple and fell
back to sleep. Sighing, I’m going to
miss sleeping with him, Janet thought as she finally fell asleep.
Both were awake before the
alarm went off. Lee went into the
bathroom and turned on the shower. He
got in and stood there as the water ran over him when Janet joined him a few
minutes later. Lee gave her a deep
passionate kiss which led to other activities.
They finally got out of the shower when the hot water ran out.
Lee put on his service blue
uniform. Janet took one look at him and
almost dragged him back to bed. They walked downstairs Lee stopping briefly to
pick up his bag. Lee put it by the front
door and went into his office to get his computer while Janet made the coffee.
She made enough for her, Lee and Chip.
By the time it was done brewing, Chip as at the door with his mug.
“Is it ready yet,” he asked
with a grin. He looked just as handsome
in his uniform too.
“Just finished,” Janet replied
as she filled his mug and filled one for Lee and herself. They each took a bagel that Janet had taken
out of the freezer and put in the toaster.
She knew Chip would never make it to the airport without something to
eat. She cleaned up while Lee pulled the
car out of the garage and Chip stowed his gear in the car along with
Lee’s. Lee would drive to the airport
and wouldn’t worry about Janet driving back as she had gotten quite familiar
driving to and from the airport.
Chip got in the front and
Janet hopped in the back. “Chip, did you
ever get a hold of Julie?” Janet asked after she put her seat belt on.
“No,” he said
discouraged. “I’ll try calling or
e-mailing her when I get there.”
They would be able to call
and e-mail the first week they were there but not sure about the second week as
they maybe out to sea. Traffic wasn’t
too bad on the freeway going to the airport and they got there in plenty of
time. Lee pulled the car to the curb and
got out going to the back and opened the hatch.
Chip and Janet both got out of the car.
Janet gave Chip a quick kiss on the cheek before he went back to get his
gear. She met Lee at the back as he took
his gear out of the car and gave him a long deep kiss.
“I’m going to miss you,” she
told him giving him a hug.
“I’m going to miss you too,”
he replied returning her hug. “I’ll call
you when we land,” he told her as he closed the hatch while Janet got into the
car. They had to walk in front of the
car to get to the sky cap and she noticed quite a few women staring at the two
of them as they went into the terminal building. They sure are a handsome
pair, she thought. Sighing deeply, Janet made sure no cars were coming and
pulled out into the road and drove home.
It took her almost three
hours to get home as traffic was terrible and there was an accident. By the time she got home she was hungry so
she took out the leftover tortellini and put it in the microwave. She took it
out the deck and sat at the table as it was a beautiful sunny day. It would have been a great day to go scuba
diving. Now that she was a certified
diver, they hadn’t had any time to go out and enjoy it. She ate her lunch, cleaned up and was
contemplating going to the institute to work.
Lee took his computer with him so she wouldn’t be able to work from
home. Janet tried calling the admiral’s
direct line to see if he was there but he didn’t answer. She wasn’t allowed to be there by herself so
she wouldn’t be able to go into work.
Janet decided to frame the pictures she found in the garage and hung
them in her office. When that was done
she cleaned up the house and did laundry.
She went for a walk on the beach but had to turn back when it started to
rain. She managed to keep herself busy
the rest of the afternoon. She was reading
a book when the phone rang.
“Hello,” she said quickly.
“Hi sweetie. We just got here and settled in our room,”
Lee told her. “I’ll call you when I can,
love you.”
“Love you too,” Janet
responded as she heard Lee hang up. At
least I know where he’s at and he can’t get hurt, I hope. Janet thought.
After making and eating
dinner, she watched an old movie but fell asleep missing the ending so she got
up and went to bed. The rest of the
weekend went by pretty fast as she shopped, baked, and read some more. She was
actually looking forward to going to work on Monday as it would give her
something to do.
((()))
Janet was ready for work
early Monday so she left right after she finished breakfast. The admiral was just pulling into his parking
place so Janet waited for him and walked with him into the building.
“Lee and Chip get to
“Yes sir. Lee said he would call when he could,” she
replied pressing the button on the elevator after saying good morning to
Howard.
“I remember going to those
training sessions. Sometimes they were
very informative and other times boring, but you didn’t hear that from me,” he
grinned.
((()))
It was early Tuesday morning
when Janet’s phone rang. “Hello, Janet
Crane,” she answered.
“Hi Mrs. C,” Janet smiled
recognizing Sharkey’s voice. “We have a
problem. We never received the missing
parts for FS-1 that we’re waiting for,” he told her.
“Chief, those were due
yesterday. Let me call and find out where they are,” she said. “I’ll call you back.” Damn.
Janet immediately called
Norton Manufacturing and talked to a George Gray. He informed her that the parts might not be
shipped until Thursday.
“Mr. Gray, I was told by Dale
Horner that we would have those parts yesterday,” Janet told him looking at her
notes making sure she had the correct name.
“Your company is holding up a very important overhaul,” she told him
sternly. “If you can’t get those parts
out by tomorrow, I’m going to cancel your contract with NIMR. This is the second time I’ve had a problem
with a delivery. I expect a phone call
from you telling me those parts have been shipped.”
“I’ll make sure they get out
tomorrow. Please accept my apology for
the delay,” Mr. Gray told her.
Janet hung up her phone quite
forcefully. “Damn,” she said out loud.
“Is there a problem?” the
admiral asked startling her as she didn’t notice him standing in the doorway.
“Sorry sir I lost my
temper. They just make me so mad. They
promised me the parts and then can’t deliver.”
“You’re going to
cancel their contract,” he laughed.
“Well, I did talk to Chip and
he said I could tell them that as there is another company we could get the
parts from. They’re a little more
expensive but they guaranteed we would have the parts when we needed them. Sorry if I overstepped the line. It’s just that it tees me off.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve never seen you so upset over not getting
parts. I’ll check with you tomorrow and see if we got them. If need be, I will contact the president
directly.”
“Thank you Admiral, now I
have to tell Sharkey he’s not getting his parts,” Janet remarked. The admiral left her office with a grin on
his face. He knew that company was in
trouble if they didn’t send out those parts.
Janet called Sharkey and he too was not happy but would let her know
when they came in.
((()))
Wednesday was a blur as Janet
was very busy. She still hadn’t heard
from Lee and was a little upset but knew there was a chance he wouldn’t be able
to contact her. It was late in the day
when she received the phone call from Mr. Gray letting her know the parts were
shipped out priority shipping and she should have them first thing Thursday
morning.
((()))
Janet got to work on Thursday
morning, made the coffee and returned to her office. She had just booted up her computer and saw a
message from Lee saying they were just fine, learning some new information and
wouldn’t have to go out to sea and they would probably be home late next
Thursday. She was answering him back
when she heard someone clear his throat by her door.
Looking up from the computer,
“Good morning Chief,” Janet said. “Just
one minute, I’m answering the Skipper’s e-mail.” She hit the send button. “Okay, what brings you here so early,” Janet
asked warily seeing a box in the Chief’s hand.
“Hi Mrs. C. Everything okay with the Skipper and Mr.
Morton?”
“Yes, Chief everything’s
fine. In fact they’re coming home a few
days early. What’s in the box?”
“We finally got the part but
when I opened the box I noticed the housing was cracked. I don’t think it was done in shipping as this
thing was pretty well wrapped as you can see,” Sharkey replied showing her the
box and its wrappings.
“Damn,” Janet said out
loud. “Sorry Chief, but I’ve just about
had it with this company. I’ll call them
right now,” Janet remarked looking at her watch knowing the company would be
open as they are based on the east coast.
She quickly dialed the number and asked for Mr. Gray. Before he could say hello, she said, “Mr.
Gray, this is Janet Crane. I received
the part I needed but the housing is cracked and don’t tell me it must have
been done in shipping.”
“Mrs. Crane,” Mr. Gray
replied condescendingly, “I can’t believe we would purposely send out a cracked
part. It must have been done in
shipping.”
“Mr. Gray, I don’t care if it
was done in shipping or it left your company like that. When can I expect a replacement and it better
not take as long to get that one as it did this one,” she said tersely.
Shocked at her tone, “I’ll
see that a new one is shipped out immediately,” he replied quickly. “You’ll have it by Friday,” he assured her.
“I better. Also, I will be talking to Commander Morton
about this problem and let him decide if we should continue using your company
as a supplier for NIMR.” She hung up the
phone before he could answer
Looking at Sharkey, Janet
told him, “We should have the part by Friday.
Heaven help them if we don’t. He
sure pissed me off with his attitude.”
“Yes ma’am,” Sharkey
replied. He was very surprised at Janet
as he had never seen her angry. He knew
he better not get on her bad side. “I’ll
let you know when the part comes in.” He
walked out of her office shaking his head but smiling. I guess working for Mr. Morton has rubbed
off on her,” he thought as he walked out the institute office and back to
the hangar where FS-1 was parked.
Janet took the list of parts
that Norton Manufacturing made for NIMR and sent an e-mail to the other company
asking them to quote prices for the parts and lead time. The rest of Janet’s day did improve as she
completed quite a bit of work so Monday wouldn’t be too bad. She never did get the proposals to the
admiral as he left early to have dinner with the mayor and his wife.
((()))
Janet was at work on Monday
morning when it dawned on her that Chief Sharkey never called her to let her
know that he received the new part. She
dialed the number for the hangar.
“Sharkey,” he answered.
“Good morning Chief. Did you get the part?” Janet asked crossing
her fingers.
“Sorry Mrs. C. I was just going to call you. It didn’t come in,” he sighed not wanting to
be anywhere near her when she called that company again.
“Okay. Let me know when it comes in,” Janet
sighed. “I’m going to turn this over to
the admiral. Maybe he can get some
action from them.”
“Yes ma’am, I’ll let you
know,” Chief replied.
Janet got up from her desk
and walked to the admiral’s office.
Angie was there but noticed his door was closed.
“Is the admiral in yet?”
Janet asked Angie.
“No, he’s not due for a few
hours,” Angie replied. “He’s going over
to the laboratory. He has a meeting with
the technicians there. Problem?”
“Yes, one of our suppliers
isn’t shipping the parts they need for overhauling FS-1. I’ve tried to get them to ship it but...”
“I know,” Angie laughed,
“They act like we don’t know what were doing and only will give the answers to
the officers. I’ll let you know when he comes in.”
Shaking her head in agreement
Janet grinned back, “Thanks Angie.”
Janet went back to her office
and logged in the new batch of the proposals that had come in. She put them in the folder with the rest of
them. Hopefully the admiral would be
able to look at them so Janet could get the letters out on the ones they didn’t
want to take on.
Right after lunch, Angie
called and let her know the admiral was in his office. Janet picked up her
folder of proposals and her notes on the missing part for FS-1. She knocked on the admiral’s door. “Come in,” he replied.
“Good afternoon,
admiral. Do you have a few minutes for a
couple of items I need to go over with you?” Janet asked.
“Sure,” he replied motioning
Janet to sit down in the chair in front of his desk.
She took the folder of
proposals and put them in front of him.
“These are the proposals Lee didn’t get a chance to finish, plus I’ve
added a few more,” Janet said as she pushed the folder in front of him.
“Hmm,” he replied opening the
folder. “Looks like I have my work cut
out for me. I see some notes, what’s
going on?”
Janet explained to him about
the part for FS-1 and how she was having a hard time getting them to ship
it.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take over from here,” the admiral told
her taking the notes from her.
“Yes sir,” Janet replied as
she stood up. “Thank you.” She left the admiral’s office and returned
to hers. Looking at her desk she still
had inventory to do and some more file updating for Wanda.
((()))
On Wednesday morning the
admiral finally got a chance to look at the folder of proposals Janet left with
him. He knew they wouldn’t be able to
take on most of these but was happy to know that they were still highly in
demand. After reading them for an hour
he was tired of them. The admiral leaned
back in his chair and took a glance at a bulletin he had received regarding the
Navy’s use of Robotic sub-hunters.* He was seriously thinking of contacting
them asking if Seaview could be of assistance when his phone rang. Reaching forward he pushed the intercom
button, “Yes Angie,” he said waiting for her to let him know who was on the
phone.
“Sorry to bother you Admiral,
but Admiral Starke is on the phone and would like to talk to you. He says it’s important,” Angie told him.
“Put him through, I’ll talk
to him,” the admiral replied picking up the phone as soon as it rang. “Yes Jiggs, what can I do for you?”
“Hello Harry,” Jiggs said
brightly, “How would you like to take a tour of the new Japanese helicopter
carrier, Izumo?”
“Helicopter carrier?” the
admiral asked sitting up in his chair.
“Yes, they took delivery a few
weeks ago. They will be using it to
search and deal with submarines.
Interested? I’m going as well as
Admiral Brandon Fisher who was also invited to look it over. I thought you might like to join us. We’re going to leave on Thursday from
“Of course I’m interested,”
the admiral responded quickly. “I’ll
have Sharkey fly me to
“What Crane or Morton not
available,” Jiggs asked knowing that both of them enjoyed flying the little
sub.
“No, they’re both away for
two weeks annual training.”
“I’ll see you Thursday
morning in my office,” Jiggs stated, “Bye Harry.”
“Good bye Jiggs,” the admiral
replied. He hung up the phone and buzzed
the intercom, “Angie please call Chief Sharkey and tell him I need to see him
right away. He should be in the FS-1 hangar and cancel any appointments I have
for the rest this of the week and most of next week.”
“Yes, sir,” she answered.
Angie called the hangar and
got Chief Sharkey on the phone. “Chief,
the admiral would like to see you right away,” she told him.
“Yes ma’am. I’ll be right there,” Sharkey responded. Chief Sharkey hurried over to the institute
office and went into the admiral’s office.
“Chief, have you started to overhaul FS-1?”
Taking a deep breath he
answered, “No sir. Still don’t have all
the parts. Mrs. Crane has been trying to
get it for me. It should be here today. Sorry for the delay.”
“Good, I’m going to need you
to fly me to
“It’ll be ready, sir,”
Sharkey said as he walked out the door and drove back to the hangar.
After Chief Sharkey left,
Angie looked at the admiral’s calendar and noted he only had one appointment and
made the phone call immediately canceling it.
Standing behind his desk, the
admiral was packing his briefcase when he saw the folder of proposals on his
desk and thought about bringing them with but decided not to. He pressed the intercom button, “Angie, can
you and Janet come into my office for a few minutes?”
“Yes sir, I’ll call
Janet.” Angie waited until Janet got to
the admiral’s office before going in.
The two of them went into his office and sat down in the chairs in front
of his desk. He sat down after closing
his briefcase.
He handed Janet back the
folder of proposals, “Sorry, I won’t be able to get to these” he told her. Looking at the two of them he continued, “I’m
leaving for
“Yes sir. I’ll make sure he
checks it out,” Janet replied taking the bulletin and putting it on top of the
folder.
“Also, I didn’t get a chance
to call regarding the part that we’re missing for the flying sub. If it’s not ready when we leave on the next
mission, we’ll leave someone behind and they can fly it to us.”
“Thanks for letting me
know. I’ll check with them again.”
“When are you picking up Lee
and Chip?” he asked Janet.
“Tomorrow afternoon. Their flight arrives around 1400 hours if
it’s on time,” she replied.
“Angie, when Janet leaves to
get Lee and Chip, you are free to go. I
don’t want you here alone. Also, I’m
closing the office on Friday. The two of
you have been working very hard these last couple of weeks, you deserve a
vacation.”
“But sir, I have a lot of
work to do,” Angie protested.
”Me too,” Janet agreed.
“I’m sure the two of you can
find something more exciting to do than work.
The office is closed,” he reiterated.
“Yes sir,” they both replied
as the admiral stood up, grabbed his briefcase, cover, jacket and headed for
the door. Before he left, Angie and
Janet told him to have a safe trip.
Both of them were smiling
after the admiral left the office. Angie
spoke up, “Actually Friday off is going to work out great as I can get an early
start on my drive to
“Lee will be home and I’m
sure I can think of a few things to do,” Janet said mischievously. The two of them went back to their desks to
finish up the rest of the day.
((()))
Chief Sharkey went back to
the hangar to do the pre-flight check list on FS-1. I guess not getting the part was a good
thing after all, he thought as one of the mechanics came in the hangar and
handed him a box. Sharkey looked the
address, smiling, his missing part had finally come in. He enlisted the help of the mechanic and they
finished the pre-flight check list.
Sharkey taxied the little sub out of the hangar and waited for the admiral.
((()))
The admiral went to his
house, packed his suitcase and left for the hangar. Chief Sharkey met him at his car, took his
suitcase and put it aboard FS-1. Sharkey
strapped in the pilot’s chair while the admiral strapped into the co-pilot’s
seat. It would take them thirty minutes
to get to
Sharkey turned to face the
admiral, “Sir, are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you? I can go back to NIMR and pack my bag,”
Sharkey told him. “I’ll be back in an hour.”
“No Chief, that’s
alright. I’ll be fine,” the admiral
responded as he looked out over the garden.
“Yes sir,” Sharkey answered
as he left the admiral and walked back to the dock and FS-1. He strapped in, got clearance to take off and
returned to NIMR. When he landed, he
taxied the little sub to the hangar where they immediately began tearing her
down for the overhaul.
((()))
The admiral took his luggage,
briefcase and went to the front desk to check in and was able to get the room
over the arched doorway. He took off his
jacket, put it on the back of the chair and opened his briefcase. He took the papers he had on the Japanese
carrier and went out on the balcony, sat down enjoying the sunshine while he
read up on the Izumo. The Izumo
was constructed in a shipyard in
((()))
It was early on Thursday
morning when Janet went to work. She met
Angie in the parking lot and they walked into the building together. After greeting Howard, they took the elevator
upstairs.
“It sure is going to be quiet
around here,” Angie commented. “What
time are you leaving to get Lee and Chip?” she asked as she made the coffee.
“Probably around 1200 hours
as it might take awhile to get to the airport,” Janet replied as she poured a
cup of coffee when it had finished brewing.
“I’ll let you know when I’m ready to leave so you can go too.”
“Thanks, I hope to get most
of my work done by then,” Angie replied as she walked to her office.
Janet left the waiting area
and went to her office and looked at all the proposals. She would take them home with her. Since they were off tomorrow, she hoped Lee
would want to look at them over the weekend especially the bulletin on the
Robotic Sub-hunters. She took out the
bulletin and read it over. She knew Lee
would be interested in helping the Navy with this. Janet worked all morning and managed to get
most of her work done by the time she had to leave. She turned off her computer, took her purse
and closed her office door. She walked
to Angie’s office. “Come on, it’s time
to leave,” she said to Angie as she stood in front of her desk.
“Great timing,” she replied,
“I just finished my last report.” She
turned off her computer and got her purse out of her drawer. The two women turned off the lights, locked
the door and left for the day.
“Have fun and a safe trip to
“Be careful going to the
airport,” she said to Janet as they walked to their cars.
“Thanks, I will,” Janet
answered. She left NIMR and headed to
the airport. As she drove along the
highway, traffic wasn’t too bad so far.
She ran into a traffic jam about fifteen minutes outside the
airport. She knew she wouldn’t be able
to park the car and meet Lee and Chip.
She would have to look for them at the arrival terminal. She was sitting in traffic when her phone
rang. “Hi Lee,” she said recognizing his
number.
“Hi sweetie. We just landed and are going to get our
luggage. How soon before you get here?”
“Stuck in traffic, I’ll call
you as soon as I get to the terminal.
Wait outside and I’ll pick you up.”
“Okay, just take your
time. We’re in no hurry. Well I’m in no hurry but I think Chip is
anxious to get home,” Lee remarked smiling at Chip who gave him a dirty look.
Laughing, “I’ll be there
soon,” Janet replied and disconnected the call.
While Lee and Chip waited for
the luggage to come out, he walked over to a corner and called Julie. She answered the call on the third ring. “Hello,” she answered.
“Hi Julie, its Chip,” he
said, “We just landed and we’re waiting for Janet to pick us up. Are you free tonight?”
“Yes, I’ve been waiting all
day for you to call. I get off work at
“I should be home by
then. I’ll pick you up and we can go out
to dinner.”
“Well, I thought we could
stay in. I was planning on making
dinner.”
Grinning, Chip replied, “That
works for me. I’ll see you soon.” He pressed the disconnect button and walked
over to Lee.
“Is she going to be home?”
“Yes and she’s making
dinner,” Chip smirked knowing Lee would have to go out if he wanted to eat but
knowing him as well as he did, they would probably stay in and not eat at all.
They collected their luggage
off the carousel. Dressed in their
service dress blues, the two handsome men got quite a few offers to be taken
home as they waited outside for Janet to call.
After waiting fifteen minutes, Lee’s phone finally rang. “I’m just coming up the ramp,” Janet said, “I
see you standing there.” She stopped
along side of them and got out of the car.
Lee went to the back of the SUV and opened the hatch. Chip followed and they both put their luggage
in the back. Janet quickly gave Lee a
kiss before climbing into the back seat.
She would let Lee drive home as he would have made her very nervous if
she drove. She gave Chip’s hand a
squeeze after he got in the car.
“Welcome back,” Janet said happily.
“I missed both of you.”
“I missed you too,” Lee
answered taking a quick look at Janet and smiled.
“Me too,” Chip said.
“Are going to see Julie
tonight?” Janet asked nosily.
“Yes, I’m,” he replied
looking very happy.
Janet was glad Chip had found
someone. She didn’t mind him tagging
along with them but knew he would like to get married and start a family so she
hoped it would work out with him and Julie.
As they sat in traffic, Lee
asked, “How’s the admiral...what’s going on at work...how is overhaul on FS-1
coming along?”
“My you have a lot of
questions,” Janet laughed. “The admiral
is on his way to
“
“Yes, he went with Admirals
Starke and Fisher.”
“All the big guns are going,”
Lee joked. “Okay what else?”
Janet told them that they
just started the overhaul on FS-1 and explained about the problem she had
getting the parts and that she sent the parts list to the other company and was
waiting for them to respond. “I hope
that was okay?”
“No problem. Sorry you had to handle that issue,” Chip
replied. “I’ll call them tomorrow and
give them hell.”
“About tomorrow, the admiral
closed the office. He said Angie and I
didn’t have to come in because we worked very hard the last two weeks but he
didn’t say anything about you to slackers,” Janet teased.
“Slackers,” Lee said raising
his eyebrows. “We worked hard too.”
“Just kidding, you have the
day off too.” Janet told them everything
else that took place while they were gone.
She would tell Lee about the proposals when they got home. She was paying him back for all the work he
gave her right before he left.
They finally pulled in the
Crane’s driveway around
Lee and Janet smiled at each
other. “He’s sure in a hurry,” Janet
said as they walked into their house.
She couldn’t wait to get her hands on her husband.
“I know how he feels,” Lee
replied as he set down his luggage and took Janet into his arms and kissed her
tenderly. “I sure missed kissing you
among other things,” Lee remarked playfully as he hung up his jacket, undid his
tie and loosen the top button on his shirt.
“How would you like to
practice your undercover skills,” Janet said wickedly as she unbutton Lee’s
shirt and ran her hand down his bare chest.
“I can always use the
practice,” he replied happily as he put his arm around her waist and they
walked upstairs to the bedroom. As Lee
went upstairs he saw Chip pull out of his driveway. He sure got ready pretty
fast; he thought but knew exactly how he felt as he couldn’t wait to get
his wife into bed.
((()))
Admirals Fisher and Nelson
met in Admiral Starke’s office before for going for an early breakfast. Once
they were finished they would make their way over to Naval Airfield at
Admiral Nelson spoke up
first, “I read over the information you gave us. That’s a pretty big carrier. It’s almost as big as their Imperial aircraft
carriers.”
“They may need it as
“They can also use it for
peace keeping operations and international disaster relief,” Admiral Starke
added. “Do you know who we’re meeting
with?”
Admiral Fischer looked over
his notes, “The Japanese Defense Minster Gen Nakatani. He’s the one who invited me to look it over.”
The three men finished up their
breakfast and went outside where their car was just pulling up to take them to
the airfield. Once at the airfield they
made their way over to the tarmac where a Grumman C-2 Greyhound was waiting.
Seeing the airplane Admiral
Nelson grinned, “We’re taking that old bird?”
Hugh, the pilot, responded,
“Sorry Admiral, right now it’s the only plane available. It’s going to be a long flight as we have
several stops to make for refueling and the delivery of goods.”
The three admirals climbed
aboard the plane and sat down buckling their seatbelts as the pilot and
co-pilot prepared for take-off. The ground crew did a nice job of rearranging
the goods that needed to be delivered so the three men would have room to sit
comfortably. The first leg of the trip
would take them to McChord Air Force Base south of
The admiral pulled out a copy
of the bulletin on the robotic sub-hunters and asked Admiral Fisher, “
Admiral Fisher took the
bulletin and looked it over, “Not really Harry. There’s another admiral
involved in this but I’m not sure who it is,” he responded handing it back to
the admiral who handed it to Jiggs to look over.
“This could be a real
interesting program,” Jiggs replied looking at the admiral. “Something you might want to get Seaview
into?”
“We might want to help them
out. Maybe we can improve our detection
systems by assisting them,” the admiral admitted. He put the bulletin back in his briefcase and
continued working on his reports.
The three men were so
engrossed in their work that they didn’t realize they were getting ready to
land at McChord until they felt the pilot expertly land the plane. The three admirals unfastened their seat
belts and got out of their seats as soon as the plane stopped. When they got to the cabin door, they could
see it was raining.
“Sirs, we’ll be here for
about thirty minutes,” the co-piloted reported to them. “Just enough time for a pit stop,” he told
them with grin.
The admirals stopped in the
terminal, made their pit stop and boarded the plane for the next leg of the
trip. They were going to fly into
Elmendorf AFB in
((()))
Chip arrived at Julie’s house
after stopping at the store for some flowers and wine. She met him at the door and he handed her the
flowers.
“Didn’t know what you were
making for dinner so I brought a bottle of red and white wine,” Chip told her
holding up the two bottles as she took the flowers from him.
“Thanks for the flowers,
they’re lovely,’ she said smiling. “I’m making roast chicken, so I guess either
one will work.”
Chip followed her into the
kitchen where she took a vase from the cabinet and put the flowers in it. “Whatever you’re making smells delicious.”
“Dinner should be done
shortly. Do you want some wine now?”
Julie asked as she stood by the counter arranging the flowers.
“I can wait,” Chip replied
went over to the counter, took her in his arms and gave her a long deep
kiss. Even though she was caught off
guard, she returned his kiss with equal passion.
“How about we put dinner on
hold,” Julie said breathlessly to Chip as she went to the stove and turned off
the oven. She took Chip’s hand and led
him to her bedroom.
They slowly undressed each
other enjoying every moment as new lovers.
Julie climbed into bed and Chip followed sliding beneath the covers next
to her. Julie looked into his blue eyes
before they made love. “Oh Chip,” she
said tenderly as they laid there catching their breaths. Chip kissed Julie again as she nestled next
to him. He wrapped his arms around her
and they both fell asleep. They never
did eat dinner.
((()))
Lee and Janet quickly
dispensed with their clothes and climbed in to bed. Lee gently kissed Janet, “I sure missed you,”
he whispered as he ran his hands down her body.
“I missed you too,” she murmured back as she let her hands roam over
him. She gazed into his eyes, sparkling
with mischief and love. She felt the
press of his body against her and he lowered his head and kissed her
again. “Oh Lee,” she said breathlessly
as they joined. Wrapping his arms around
her Lee asked, “Do I need more practice on my undercover skills?”
“Maybe just a little more,”
she teased, “but how about a little later. You’ve worn me out.”
“Okay, sweetie,” Lee said
kissing her temple as they fell asleep.
((()))
Present
Nelson woke up when he heard
the pilot yelling mayday. Once the plane
stopped cart wheeling he quickly undid his seatbelt making sure that Jiggs and
Admiral Fisher had undone their belts.
Harry, in the lead, ran to the front of the plane to check on the pilot
and co-pilot as Fisher opened the door.
When he got to the cockpit he checked on the co-pilot but discovered he
was dead. He checked on the pilot and
felt a pulse. He undid his seatbelt and
dragged him to the door. With Jiggs’ help,
they managed to get him out. He and
Jiggs’ carrying the pilot and Admiral Fisher ran as fast they could away from
the plane before it exploded hurling them to the ground. Harry lay on the ground and could feel the
heat of the flaming plane on his back.
His head hurt as did every muscle in his body. He slowly pushed himself up to his
knees. He looked around and noticed that
Fisher, Jiggs and the pilot were still unmoving on the ground. He turned to look at the plane, there was not
much left of the burning fuselage. He
noticed not to far away from the burning plane was another plane. He slowly stood up and went over to Jiggs who
started to stir.
“Jiggs,” Harry said, “are you
alright?”
Shaking his head to clear it,
“Yes, Harry, I think so,” he replied as he too slowly stood up.
Harry stooped down next to
the pilot who was unconscious. He could
tell he was badly injured. He had a bad
gash on his head and possibly a broken leg. Nelson stood up as Jiggs walked
over to Fisher who had a bad wound on his back from a jagged piece of metal he
ran into in his hurry to get out of the plane.
Jiggs knelt down next to him as he moaned in pain.
“
Grimacing in pain, “Yes,
Jiggs I hear you. My back is killing me...what
happened?”
“The plane crashed but I’m
not sure why. Just take it easy as we
get a grip on the situation.”
“Okay,” Fisher answered as he
slowly sat up.
Jiggs walked over to Nelson,
“Harry, what the hell happened,” Jiggs asked.
“Something must have happened
to the plane. I was dozing when I heard
the pilot yell mayday.”
“Me too,” Jiggs answered as
he looked at what was left of the plane.
“Now what?”
“I’m not sure,” Harry said
trying to assess where they were. He
figured they were on one of the islands in the
“Harry, do you have your SAT
phone?” Jiggs asked knowing he always had it with him.
“I did, but it’s in there,”
the admiral replied pointing to the burning plane. “It was in my briefcase. Check with
Jiggs made his way over to
Admiral Fisher who wasn’t looking to good.
“
“Sorry, no,” he replied
shaking his head. “I don’t usually carry
one of those.”
Nelson walked over to the two
men, “Right now we need to find some shelter before we get any colder and
wetter. There’s another plane over
there. I’ll check it out and see if we
can stay in there.” He had a strange
feeling come over him as he walked over to the other plane...it seemed
familiar.
((()))
Standing not to far away from
the men behind a bush a man stood watching them. He heard the plane flying very low overhead
and knew it was in trouble. He saw the plane crash and catch on fire. As he stood there, he watched some men exit
the plane and noticed some of them were hurt.
He would go and help them. He
came out from his hiding place and walked over to Nelson.
“Let me help you,” the man
said before he got to the other plane.
Startled by the appearance of
the man, Harry replied cautiously, “Okay.”
He had no idea where this man came from.
He only knew they had to get out of the elements.
The man stared at Nelson and
recognized him from long ago. He
remembered his blue eyes and voice but could tell he didn’t remember him. “Follow me,” he told them as Harry picked up
the pilot while Jiggs went over to Admiral Fisher and helped him up. They followed the man to a small cave on top
of a hill not too far from where the plane crashed. It wasn’t very big but it was warm and dry. The man helped Harry put the pilot on a small
cot. He noticed that there were items
from the other airplane in the cave.
Harry then went over to help Jiggs with Fisher. He moaned in pain as they gently put him on
the seat cushions that were laid out in a bed.
The man went to a makeshift cupboard and took out some bandages. He went to Fisher and looked at his back. It
was a jagged wound and knew it should have stitches but he didn’t have anything
to use. He covered the wound with some
gauze pads he had and wrapped some bandages tightly around him stopping the
bleeding.
“Thank you,” Admiral Fisher
told the man.
“You’re welcome,” he replied
moving on to the pilot. He wrapped his
head in another bandage. He looked at his
leg and could tell it was broken. He
went outside not to far from the entrance to the cave and broke off a few
branches from a sturdy bush. He wrapped
them around the pilot’s leg forming a splint.
He checked his eyes and could tell he had concussion and knew they would
have to just wait and hope he regained consciousness.
Harry and Jiggs watched as he
methodically took care of the two men.
When he was finished he went over to Harry, “We meet again Mr. Nelson.”
((()))
“Damn,” the air traffic
controller muttered. “Where did it go?” he said turning the dials.
“Problem?” the supervisor
asked as he walked over to the controller.
“Yes, the Grumman C-2
Greyhound disappeared off the radar,” he replied worriedly. The supervisor looked at the radar screen
and didn’t see it either. He picked up
the mic, “Grumman C-2 Greyhound 456 report.”
He waited a few seconds before calling it again. There was still no response. Taking a deep breath he said, “Hopefully they
landed on
“Sorry, no plane has landed
recently and the weather is so bad that there is no way they would be able to
land. We have hurricane force winds,
snow, and ice.”
“Thanks, Atka,” the
supervisor responded. “We better call
the USCG so they can send out the Search and Rescue unit out of Kodiak.” He looked out the control tower and could see
the weather had deteriorated in the last hour.
“Any idea where they could
have gone down?” he inquired.
Sighing deeply, “I’m guessing
somewhere near the
The supervisor called the
USCG and reported the C-2 Greyhound missing and the area where they went
down. They informed him that there was
no way they would be able to send out any aircraft tonight. The weather was too dangerous but as soon as
the weather improved they would send out the helicopters. “We better find out where the flight
originated and let them know we’ve lost contact with them,” the supervisor said
to the controller.
((()))
The communications center at
Picking up the phone Carrie
took a deep breath before dialing. She
dialed the number which she knew by heart and got Trish on the phone. Trish normally worked the day shift but was
filling in for the night shift operator while she was on vacation. “Hi Trish,” Carrie said quietly when Trish
answered.
Trish recognized Carrie’s
voice and could tell something was wrong.
Cautiously she asked, “What’s wrong Carrie?”
“I’m sorry to tell you this
but the admiral’s plane went down in the
“Have they sent out SAR?”
Trish asked anxiously.
“No, they can’t as the
weather is too dangerous. They will as
soon as they can,” she told Trish, “I’m so sorry.”
Trish answered, “Thanks
Carrie, if you get any more information, please let me know.”
“Of course,” Carrie answered
and hung up wiping tears from her eyes.
Trish hung up her phone and
sat there a few minutes as tears ran down her cheeks. She composed herself as she dialed Lee’s
number as he was in charge when the admiral was away.
((()))
Lee and Janet were asleep
when Janet heard Lee’s phone ringing. He
didn’t stir so she knew he didn’t hear it.
She reached over him and took the phone off the table by the bed. “Hello,” she whispered not wanting to disturb
Lee. “Hi Janet,” Trish said softly, “Is
Lee there?”
“Yes, he’s right here,” Janet
told Trish knowing something was wrong by the tone in her voice. “Lee, Lee,” Janet said as she gently shook him
awake.
“Sweetie, what’s wrong...are
you okay?” he asked with concern seeing Janet with his phone in her hand.
“Trish is on the phone. She needs to talk to you,” she told him as
she handed him the phone.
Lee quickly took the phone
from Janet’s hand. “Yes Trish,” he said
running his hand through his hair.
“Lee, the admiral’s plane
went down over the
“Where...when...how,” Lee
asked frantically sitting up in the bed.
“Have they sent out SAR...did you try to call his SAT phone?”
“The NCTS (Naval Computer and
Telecommunications Station) at
“No, I’ll try it,” Lee said
quickly. “Trish, activate the emergency
call system so we can get the crew back.
We’ll take Seaview and the flying sub to look for them. I’ll call
Chip.”
“Yes Lee and Lee, I’m so
sorry,” Trish told him starting to cry.
“Let’s not assume the worst
just yet,” he told her really not believing it himself and promptly got out of
bed. He dialed the number to the
admiral’s SAT phone and it went directly to voice mail. “Shit.”
“Lee, what’s wrong?” Janet
asked seeing how pale her husband looked even with his olive complexion. “Lee, tell me,” she asked again panicking.
He went back to the bed and
took her in his arms, “The admiral’s plane went down in the
“No, Lee. It can’t be,” Janet cried tears running down
her cheeks. Lee continued to hold her as
she sobbed. “Lee do you really believe he’s dead?”
“No, I would know if
something happened to him...I would feel it and I don’t have that feeling,” Lee
replied quietly. “Come on, we need to get ready,” he said as he wiped away her
tears as they both got out of bed. Janet
turned on the shower while Lee called Chip.
Lee dialed Chip’s phone and looked out the
window waiting to see if a light went on in his house. The phone rang three times before a sleepy
Chip answered. No light went on.
“Lee, you better have a good
reason for calling,” Chip remarked as he undid his arm around Julie waking her
up.
“Chip, the admiral’s plane
went down.” Lee told him somberly and explained where and that they couldn’t go
find him because of the weather. “I’ve
got Trish recalling the crew. We’re
packing now. I’ll meet you on Seaview.”
Chip had jumped out of bed
and was pacing the room as Lee told him about the admiral. Julie sat up pulling the sheet up over her
and could see how upset Chip was. “Okay
Lee. I’ll meet you on Seaview.” Chip looked at his watch, “I should be there
in forty-five minutes.” He hung up with
Lee, “I’m sorry I have to leave. The
admiral’s plane went down and we’re going to take Seaview to look for
him,” he said as he got dressed went back and knelt on the bed and kissed her
good bye.
“Can you please let me know
if you find him?” Julie asked seeing the worry in Chip’s face.
“Yes, I’ll let you know,” he
replied as he gave her a hug and ran to his car. When he got home he quickly showered, packed
what he would need and was back in the car heading for the dock. He noticed Lee and Janet’s house was dark and
figured they were already on Seaview.
As soon as Lee finished
talking to Chip, he got in the shower while Janet, who had already taken hers,
packed their bags. They were on their
way to the dock thirty minutes after Trish called.
((()))
When Lee and Janet got to the
dock they saw Chief Sharkey directing the crew on loading the supplies. Two
crewmen came over to them and took their bags and would put them in their
cabin. Cookie had raided the cafeteria
for the food supplies they would need and had the mess specialists loading
those items.
“Chief,” Lee said as he
quickly ran over to him.
“Skipper,” Sharkey replied,
“please tell me it’s not true. It’s a
mistake and they found them and they’re okay.”
“Sorry Chief. Is FS-1 ready to go...can we take her?” Lee
asked urgently.
“No skipper, I checked but
the men are going to work extra hours to get her ready but it’s still going to
take another three days.”
“Damn,” Lee said angrily.
Janet stood next to Lee
feeling helpless. It was her fault FS-1
wasn’t ready to go because she couldn’t get the part. “I’m sorry, Lee,” Janet whispered tears
welling in her eyes. “If I got the parts
in sooner, she would be ready and we could use her to find the admiral.”
Lee turned to look at his
wife and could see the guilt in her eyes.
“Sweetie, it’s not your fault,” he reassured her squeezing her
hand. “I know you did all you
could.”
While Lee, Chief and Janet
were talking Chip came running onto the dock and down to the gangway. “Any more news,” he asked impatiently as he
handed his gear over to a crewman walking down the gangway.
“No nothing more. Let’s go below and plot the course to the
“Yes sir,” Sharkey replied
and went back to hurry up the men loading the sub.
The three of them went down the
gangway, into the hatch and down the ladder into the control room. Lee and Chip went over to the plotting table
where Lee found a map of the
“They lost contact with the
plane in the area by the
“Chip, plot a course to that area and let me
know how long it will take us to get there.
As much as I would like to run at flank speed the engines wouldn’t take
it. We’ll run flank during the day and
full at night.”
“Yes, Lee,” Chip replied as
he took the scale and drew a line to the area they were headed to. He measured and calculated the distance and
course.
As Chip plotted the course,
Lee looked at the radio shack and saw
“Yes sir,”
Lee returned to the plotting
table just as Chip finished calculating the distance and time. “Lee if we run at flank and full speed, it
will take us three days thirteen hours.”
“That’s a long time,” Lee
sighed, “but I guess we have no choice.
Where’s Sharkey,” Lee asked abruptly as he wanted to set sail.
“Damn,” Lee said loudly
breaking the pencil he was holding in half.
“Thanks
“Lee, what about FS-1, I
assume she’s not ready,” Chip asked pissed at the company who supplied the
parts.
“Yes, the men are working
extra hours to finish her overhaul.”
Sharkey had just come down
the ladder into the control room.
“Skipper, everything is loaded and we’re ready to go as soon as you say
the word,” Sharkey reported.
“Chief, I would like you and
Riley to stay behind,” Lee told him.
“But Skipper...,” Sharkey
started to say but Lee cut him off mid-sentence.
“Chief, I want you here and
wait for them to finish FS-1. You and
Riley can meet up with us. There’s a lot
of ground to cover up there and we really need her. Push the men but not too hard. I want the work done but I don’t want to have
any problems with her once she’s finished.
You and Riley have flown her enough to know if there’s a problem. We’ll shove off as soon as you’re clear of
the gangway,” Lee said. “Thanks Chief for all you hard work getting Seaview
ready to sail. The admiral would be
proud.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Sharkey
replied even though he was disappointed but knew the skipper was right. Sharkey saw Riley at the radar console and
went over to him, “Riley, come with me. We’re staying behind to bring up FS-1
when she’s ready.” Sharkey said as Riley turned over the headset to Phil who
quickly sat down and took over for Riley.
Riley looked over at Lee and
nodded. Lee nodded back knowing he
understood how important FS-1 would be in locating the admiral.
Sharkey and Riley went up the
ladder and out the sail hatch and stood on the dock as Sharkey directed the
dock detail to take up the gangway as Lee and Chip made their way to the
conning tower. Lee backed Seaview
out of the dock and into the channel. They cleared the breakwater four hours
after they got the call regarding the admiral.
Lee and Chip returned to the control room where Lee directed them to
dive the boat and head for the
After making sure Seaview was
on course and at the proper depth, Janet went over to him. “Lee, we need to call Angie and let her know
that the admiral is missing. Do you want
me to call her?”
Rubbing his forehead he
replied, “No I’ll call her. I better
call Edith too.” He went to the radio
shack and asked
“Angie,” Lee said
quietly. “The admiral’s plane went down
over the
“No Lee, please tell me it
isn’t true,” Angie pleaded. “He
can’t....” she stopped unable to finish her sentence.
“None of us want to believe
it. We’ll keep in touch,” Lee told
her. “Please let us know if you should
find out any information. They will call
the institute first. Do you know if
Edith is at home? I need to call her and
let her know.”
“I’ll get to the institute as
soon as I can,” she said softly as tears ran down her cheeks. “Edith isn’t at home. The admiral told me she was going on a trip
to
“Thanks, Angie. Also, Chief Sharkey and Riley are at the
institute waiting for FS-1. If you have
any problems, let them know.”
“Yes Lee. Please find him,” she answered her voice
quivering.
Lee broke the
connection. Janet could tell by the
conversation that she was upset. She
rubbed her hand on Lee’s arm. He gave
her a weak smile before they returned to the plotting table.
((()))
Harry, Jiggs, and Brandon
stared at the man standing there before them.
He was skinny but not unhealthy looking.
He had long hair and a scraggly beard.
His clothes were tattered and worn.
The admiral spoke up, “You know me,” he questioned.
“Yes, sir. We meet many years ago when you came to get
me out of the People’s Republic,” the man continued. “I’m Vladimir Shencko.”
Harry stood there looking at
a man who had disappeared twenty years ago.
((()))
Twenty years earlier
It was early morning when Captain
Harriman Nelson’s submarine docked after a six month deployment. He was on the
quarterdeck waiting for the gangway to be put in place so he could dismiss his
crew. The dock detail has just finished
putting it down when a lieutenant approached Nelson.
“Captain, you’ve been ordered
to report to Admiral Wentworth’s office right away,” the lieutenant told him.
“I’ll be there as soon as I
dismiss my crew,” Nelson replied wondering why the head of COMSUBPAC in
“No sir, all he said was that
it was important for you to get there as soon you docked. So that’s why I’ve been instructed to escort
you to his office as soon as I contacted you.
I’ll have someone get your gear and bring it to the Admiral’s office.”
“Let’s go,” Nelson replied as
he turned to his executive officer. “Mr.
Carter, please see that the crew is dismissed and the boat taken care of. Seems I have to report to the Admiral’s
office.”
“Yes, sir,” Carter replied as
Nelson walked down the gangway to the waiting car. Nelson knew his boat and crew were in good
hands and wouldn’t worry about her as he had the best exec in the Navy.
The lieutenant held the door
for Nelson, who climbed in the back seat.
Shutting the door he got in the front and drove to the admiral’s
office. Once at the admiral’s office he
opened office door and waited for Nelson to enter. He knocked on the admiral’s door. “Come in,” Wentworth said.
“Admiral, I have a Captain Nelson
waiting in the outer office, would you like me to show him in?”
“Yes, thanks, lieutenant,”
the admiral replied as he put down the folder he was reading and waited for
Nelson to enter. Nelson saluted the
admiral who returned the salute and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.
“You wanted to see me sir?”
Nelson asked.
“Yes,” Wentworth replied as
he looked at the folder in front of him.
“You’ve been called to
Even though Nelson had done
some ONI missions before he was surprised to be called up for one as it had
been a while since he had been recruited.
“Did Admiral Archer give you any of the details?” Nelson asked.
“No sorry, nothing at
all. All I know is there is a transport
waiting to take you to
Nelson left the admiral’s
office and noticed his duffle bag was waiting next to the chair in the waiting
room. Smiling as he left, he knew his
executive officer would have taken care of packing what he needed. He walked outside where there was a car
waiting to take him to the airstrip. He boarded the plane and they took off
immediately. He had been in port for only thirty minutes before he left.
((()))
It was late afternoon when
Nelson landed in
The admiral was seated at his
desk and rose to shake Nelson’s hand after he saluted him. Already sitting front of Admiral’s Archer
desk was Patrick Grady. Nelson knew him
from a couple of previous ONI missions they had done together.
“Admiral, Patrick,” Nelson
greeted them as the admiral motioned him to sit down.
“Harry, Patrick,” Admiral
Archer said as he sat down at his desk, “We need you to go to the People’s
Republic and extract a Dr. Vladimir Shencko.
He wants to defect to the west.”
“Why does he want to defect?”
Patrick asked.
“He has the formula for a new
nerve gas they have developed that is undetectable by standard chemical
detection equipment and defeats chemical protective gear. He doesn’t like the fact that they are going
to use to subdue the people in the countries they take over.”***
“I thought the use of
dangerous gases was forbidden by several treaties,” Harry remarked.
Admiral Archer looked at
Harry over the top of his glasses, “Since when does the PR follow the rules.”
“Okay, so they don’t play by
the rules,” Harry conceded. “What are we
to do?”
“We need you to go in and
bring him out. He’s in the town of
“How soon do we need to
retrieve him?” Patrick asked. “I’m
assuming yesterday.”
Giving the two men a wry
grin, “Yes, yesterday. You’ll leave
tonight on a plane that will take you to the town of
Patrick looked at Harry, “I
have none. Do you?”
“No,” Harry replied.
“Well you better get ready to
leave. There’s a driver ready to take
you to the airport. When you have
Shencko and are on the plane, call me,” Admiral Archer said. “Also, please be careful.”
“Yes sir,” the two men
replied as they got up. Harry saluted
the admiral while Patrick shook his hand.
The two men grabbed their
duffle bags and went to the front of the ONI building where there was a driver
waiting to take them to the airport. The
two men boarded the plane that would take them to the city of
((()))
Patrick woke up at
“I’m starving,” Patrick told
Harry since they hadn’t had anything to eat since they left
“Me too,” Harry replied, “but
we’ll get something to eat after we contact Booth.”
Patrick agreed, took out his
cell phone and called the number Admiral Archer had given him for Booth. He answered the phone on the third ring.
“Tanner, this is Patrick
Grady. When and where can we meet?”
“Yes, Patrick I’ve been
expecting your call. How about we meet
at a small cafe, The Swan, down the street from your hotel? Say around
Patrick looked at his watch,
“
“How will I know it’s you?”
Tanner asked.
“I’ll have the book War
and Peace with me,” Patrick told him.
“Okay, I’ll see you soon,”
Tanner answered hanging up.
It was
Nelson chuckled, “That’s some
heavy reading you’re taking with you.
You’re not planning on reading that are you?”
Snickering too, Patrick said,
“It’s the first book I saw sitting on the shelf. No way, it’s far too long and not my type of
literature.”
The two men walked out the
hotel room and went down to the lobby.
They left the hotel and saw The Swan cafe was only seven or eight doors
away. They entered the cafe, found a
table and ordered coffee. They waited
awhile before ordering breakfast looking for Tanner to show up. It was already
As they were eating, Harry
looked at his watch, it was now
“I don’t know. I’m sure he said to meet him here,” Patrick
commented.
The two men finished up their
breakfast, paid the bill and were walking out the door when a tall man with
dark hair graying at the temples waited for them to leave the cafe. He noticed the book in Patrick’s hand.
“Patrick,” Tanner said
shaking Patrick’s hand, “Sorry I’m late but I got hung up at work. Let’s walk while we talk.”
“Tanner, this is Harry
Nelson,” Patrick said introducing Nelson.
Harry shook Tanner’s hand.
The three men walked down the
street. Tanner looked over his shoulder
a couple of times but showed no concern that someone was following them.
Harry started the
conversation, “Where is Dr. Shencko...how to do we get to him?”
“Dr. Shencko is hiding in a
safe house in Yantaxu. It’s a small town
just over the border in the People’s Republic.
It’s a three mile walk to the border from here and then another three mile
hike to the house where he’s being hidden.
We can take the road until we get near the border. The house is on the edge of town so we’ll
have to walk in the woods once we cross in the PR. It starts getting dark
around
“Alright, we’ll meet you
outside the hotel at
The two men continued walking
around the town stopping for a late lunch.
They went back to the hotel and changed into their black pants,
turtlenecks, boots and jackets. The two
men packed up their duffle bags and had them ready to go when they returned. Patrick made sure War and Peace was
put back on the shelf. They took the
elevator downstairs and went out the door where Tanner was waiting for
them. They walked three miles and ducked
into the woods before they crossed the border into the PR. The woods weren’t too dense and they made the
additional three miles before it was totally dark.
((()))
Tanner
motioned for the two men to stay out of sight while he knocked on the door to
the small cottage. A woman opened the
door and greeted Tanner with a hug.
They could see him talking to her.
She nodded her head and Tanner signaled the men to come to the
door. They quickly went inside where
Tanner shut and locked the door.
“Tess,
this is Patrick and Harry. They’re here
to take Dr, Shencko back to the
“Nice
to meet you,” Tess replied. “Dr.
Shencko’s been waiting for you.” She led
them to the kitchen where she opened up the pantry door. She reached under one of the shelves and
pressed a small button. The wall opened
up and there was a narrow staircase that led down to the cellar. Tanner, Patrick and Harry followed her down
to the small room with a dirt floor and one dim light. The room was chilly so
Shencko sat on the small cot wrapped in a quilt. He stood up when they got to the bottom of
the stairs.
Tanner
introduced Patrick and Harry to Dr. Shencko.
“These men will see that you get out of the country,” Tanner told
him. “I suggest we get going. We don’t
want to be wandering the streets in town too long after dark. There aren’t many people out after dark
around here and we don’t want to be too conspicuous.”
Shencko
gathered his small backpack. “Thank you
for taking care of me,” Shencko said to Tess.
“I appreciate your willingness to help me.”
“You’re
welcome. I don’t know why you want to
defect but I’m glad you’re on our side now.”
They
made their way upstairs where Tanner looked out the door and saw no one was
around. After Tanner gave his daughter a
kiss good bye, the four men made their way back through the forest. Just before they crossed the border back into
Lodova it stated to rain. Luckily for
them, they made it to the road and walked back into town not looking too wet
and muddy. They stopped in front of the
hotel where they bid good bye to Tanner.
“Thanks
for your help,” Harry said shaking Tanner’s hand.
“No
problem,” Tanner replied, “There will be a plane waiting for you at dawn. Good luck, gentlemen.”
The
other two men shook Tanner’s hand as he turned and walked back towards the edge
of town. Harry, Patrick and Shencko
walked into the hotel and took the elevator up to their rooms. Dr. Shencko would stay in Nelson’s
room. He was looking forward to a long
hot shower and a real bed to sleep in.
Harry let him shower first. He
thought he would never get out. Harry
jumped in the shower and by the time he was finished Shencko was sound
asleep. So much for talking to him,
Harry thought as he climbed in the other bed and fell asleep too.
((()))
It wasn’t quite light out
when Harry woke up and noticed Dr. Shencko was still sleeping. They needed to get an early start as it would
be a long flight back to the States.
Just as Harry finished his morning ablutions, Dr. Shencko woke.
Good morning,” Harry said to
him as he got out of bed. “Sleep
well?”
“Yes sir, I did,” Shencko
replied. “I’m sorry I fell asleep last
night but I didn’t get much sleep while I waited for you to come. Mr. Nelson I want you to take the documents
with the formula. I would feel better if
it were in your hands.” He handed Harry
the file with the information inside.
Harry opened it up and scanned over the documents. He would read them
more carefully on the flight home.
“Please call me Harry. I just have a few questions,” Harry asked.
“How did you develop this formula and how did the PR get it and you?”
“I worked for an independent
laboratory before it was taken over by the People’s Republic. Another scientist and I were working on
another type of gas and discovered it accidentally. He went to the man in
charge of the laboratory and told him about it.
When I found that out, I knew I had to take the formula and leave the
country. One of the workers in the plant
works for a group of people that help defectors escape to another country. They put me in contact with Mr. Booth‘s
daughter. I found out Tanner’s been
working for the underground group for many years so I knew I could trust
him. Besides I didn‘t think he would put
his daughter in danger if he wasn‘t legitimate.”
“We’re glad you did. You better get ready as we have a long plane
ride ahead of us,” Harry told him as there was a knock on the door. Harry went over to the door looked out the
peep hole and saw Patrick standing there.
When he opened the door, Patrick had three cups of coffee and a white
bag with fresh baked rolls and jam.
Breakfast was served. Dr. Shencko
quickly got dressed and joined the other two men for breakfast. They quickly finished their coffee and
rolls. Patrick went back to his room,
got his duffle bag and met the other two in the hallway where they walked to
the elevators. Patrick paid for their
rooms and the three men walked towards to airport where the plane was waiting
for them.
((()))
The airport was fairly large
and busy but they were directed to their plane in a remote section of the
airport. The two pilots were waiting for
them and helped them stow their gear.
The three men boarded the military transport plane that was sent by ONI
to pick them up.
“Welcome aboard,
gentlemen. I’m Skip, and Charlie is your
co-pilot,” the pilot told the three men as they made their way to their
seats. “We had to change our flight plan
as we’ve been ordered to take you to the west coast of the
The men settled in for the long ride. They made several stops for fuel and were
able to get out of the plane on a few of them.
Dr. Shencko and Patrick fell asleep for most of the flight. After dozing for a little while, Harry opened
the folder on the nerve gas and read the information more carefully. He knew a
little about nerve gas and how it worked but after looking at this formula and
the test results, he was glad it was in the
((()))
Their next fueling stop would
be
((()))
As they flew over the
Before too long Charlie
opened the cockpit door. “Gentlemen, hold on.
We’re going down,” he told them as they watched Skip struggle to
maintain control of the aircraft while Charlie was on the radio sending out a
mayday call. After skimming over the
tops of the tall brush they landed hard and bounced back up again. Before
making a belly landing, Skip shut off the master switch killing all power to
the aircraft so it wouldn’t catch on fire. They all sat there taking deep breaths
realizing they had made it to the ground in one piece. Skip activated the aircraft’s locating beacon
hoping it would work and send out a signal as to where they went down. Skip and Charlie un-strapped their belts and
went to checkout the condition of the aircraft and the three men. They were
happy to see none of them were hurt only shaken up. Charlie opened the door to the aircraft and
looked over what he could see of the plane while Skip looked out the window on
the other side. They both looked at the
wings checking to see if the fuel lines had been ruptured in the landing. Neither one saw any fuel leaking. Charlie looked down to the ground; if they
needed to evacuate the aircraft it wouldn’t be too bad of a jump. The weather was foggy, cold and rainy. As long as the airplane didn’t catch fire
they would be able to stay on board.
Charlie walked back to the
pilot and reported what he saw. Skip turned to the three men. “From what we can see, the airplane is intact
and no fueling is leaking from wings which means we can stay on board. I’ve activated the locating beacon so
hopefully they will find us soon. I’m
sure by now, they’ve noticed we’re no longer on their radar and will send out
the search and rescue team, so I suggest we sit back and wait for help to
arrive.”
After sitting on the plane
for a few hours, they needed to stretch their legs so they decided to leave the
aircraft. The rain had stopped but there
were plenty of low hanging clouds. Skip
and Charlie jumped out first and helped the other men out. It was good to get some fresh air as the
aircraft was stuffy and starting to smell like jet fuel. They all stayed near the plane except for Dr.
Shencko. He wandered a little further
away to relieve himself. They were
getting ready to re-board the plane when they couldn’t find him.
“Where’s Shencko,” Patrick
asked as he looked to the spot where he was last seen.
He couldn’t have just
vanished,” Harry said as they combed the area around the plane. “He was here a few minutes ago. Since no one has approached us there must be
no one on this island. Quite a few of
the
The four men separated and
looked for Dr. Shencko. The island wasn’t
very large but the brush was so overgrown in places, you couldn’t see anyone if
they were right next to you. They
continued searching when they heard a helicopter approaching. They ran back to the aircraft hoping they would
see them standing there as they waved white towels they got from the plane.
“There they are,” the chopper
pilot said to his co-pilot as he looked for a spot to land. “We’ve found them,” he reported to his base
just before setting down the chopper not to far away from the plane. Harry quickly scrambled back into the plane to
get his pack with the formula. The
co-pilot jumped out of the chopper and shook hands with Skip.
“Man, we’re glad to see you,”
Ship told the co-pilot of the chopper.
“Same here but we need to
take off right away. There’s a huge
storm heading this way. We were about to
give up and return to base when we decided to come over further south.”
“We can’t find one of the
men,” Harry told them. “We can’t leave
without him.”
“I’m sorry sir, but if we
don’t go now, it will be days before we’ll be able to get out of here. There
are hurricane force winds and snow not to far from here and heading this way.”
“Come on Harry,” Patrick said
tugging at Harry’s sleeve. “We can’t
find him. We have to go.”
Harry reluctantly boarded the
chopper along with Patrick, Skip and Charlie.
He continued to scour the island looking for
((()))
Present
Seaview had been sailing since 0700 and was making good time
as she sailed towards the
“As soon as we’re done with
dinner, let’s hit the sack. O’Brien and
Taper can take over until we come back on duty at 0700. I’m bushed,” Chip said as they finished up
and Cookie took away their plates. He
put a plate of chocolate chip cookies in front of them but none of them took
one. Cookie wasn’t upset as he could see
how tired the three of them looked.
“Me too,” Janet replied
hoping Lee would agree with them.
“I’m going to do a quick walk
around the boat. I just want to make
sure everything is running smoothly.” Looking at Janet, “I’ll be there
shortly,” he said as they left the wardroom.
Chip and Janet headed to their cabins as Lee headed in the opposite
direction.
((()))
Janet got ready for bed and
fell asleep as soon as she laid down.
She woke up three hours later and Lee still hadn’t come back. She quickly pulled on a pair of NIMR sweats
and made her way down the spiral staircase.
She noticed the crash doors between the control room and observation
nose were closed. She saw Lee sitting in the admiral’s ‘front porch’ watching Seaview
plow through the water. She walked over
to him and put her hands on his shoulders.
He jumped slightly not expecting anyone to be there as he didn’t hear
her come down the stairs. Janet walked
around to face Lee. When she stooped down to his level she could see his eyes
were wet. She pulled up a chair and sat
facing her husband. “I never realized
how much he really means to me,” Lee told her, “I can’t lose
him.”
She looked Lee in the eyes,
“He means a lot to me too,” she replied softly.
“I know he’s okay, I just feel it,” she told him taking his hands into
hers. “We’ll find him but you’re not
going to be able to help look for him if you’re exhausted. Lee, you’ve been up since 0300 and no one can
function properly on so little sleep.
Please come to bed,” she coaxed.
Reluctantly he replied,
“You’re right.” He stood up, helped Janet up and pressed the button on the
crash doors. He walked over to the plotting table where Bobby O’Brien and Scott
Taper were standing. “Bobby, Scott, if
there are any problems, please call me,” Lee instructed.
“Aye, aye, sir,” they both
replied. They returned to what they were doing without saying a word but they
could see their skipper was very worried.
Lee walked back to the staircase where Janet was waiting and he let her
go up first before going up himself taking one last look out the windows.
When they got to their cabin,
Lee got ready for bed and laid down next to Janet. He pulled her close and was asleep as soon as
his head hit the pillow. Janet laid
there watching her husband sleeping and prayed she was right and that the
admiral was okay. She finally fell
asleep about an hour later with tears running down her face.
((()))
Lee and Janet were up early
the next morning. Lee looked a little
better; the dark circles weren’t as bad as they were the night before. They quickly got ready and met Chip in the
wardroom for breakfast. Lee had downed
three cups of coffee by the time he and Chip made their way to the wardroom. Janet lingered a little longer as Jamie had
come in for breakfast. He sat down next
to her and noticed how tired Lee looked.
“Did Lee get any sleep...he
looks terrible...I can give him something to knock him out,” Jamie said to
Janet as he drank his coffee.
“Yes, he slept a few hours
after I finally convinced him to come to bed telling him he wouldn’t be any
help finding the admiral if he was exhausted.
He’s worried that they can’t search from him and they haven’t heard
anything from the plane’s transponders. Let’s wait and see if he needs
anything. You know if you give him something,
he’ll be pissed.”
“Yes, I know but...” Jamie
didn’t finish his sentence.
“I’ll try to make sure he
gets more sleep,” Janet assured Jamie as she got up, put her cup away and left
to go to the Control Room.
((()))
Lee and Chip walked into the
control room and noticed all the stations were manned with the alpha
shift. Chip pulled out the log book and
noted the change in command.
“Any problems,” Lee asked
O’Brien and Taper.
“No sir,” O’Brien
replied. “We’re right on course and on
schedule.”
“Thanks, men,” Lee said,
“you’re relieved of duty. See you
later.”
“Yes sir,” the two men
replied as they left the control room.
Both of them were exhausted and were looking forward to hitting the
sack.
“We are making good time,”
Chip commented as he checked the charts.
“Good, let’s just hope the
weather is better by the time we get there,” Lee replied as he glanced out the
windows in the observation nose. “
“Aye sir,”
“Put it over here, please,”
Lee asked as he picked up the mic on the side of the plotting table. “Chief, how’s the overhaul coming along...how
soon will she be ready?”
“Right now another four
days. One of the parts we received
wasn’t quite right. I had to have the
machine shop rebuilt it so we’re a little behind. Skipper, the men are working as fast as they
can. They’re working twenty four hours a
day. Sorry sir. Any news on the
admiral?”
“No Chief, we’re still two
days away from the islands. Thank the
men for working the extra hours. I have
a feeling FS-1 is going to be the only way we’re going to find the admiral. Keep me informed if you run into any more
problems.”
“Aye, sir,” Chief replied and
heard Lee sever the connection.
The whole control room heard what the Chief reported. Lee looked around the control room and saw
the worried looks on the men. “We’ll
find him,” he reassured them. I hope,
he thought.
Janet looked at Chip and
remarked, “I’m so pissed at that company.
I can’t wait to get back and ream that Mr. Gray out.” Chip had a surprised look on his face as he
had never seen her so angry.
“Calm down. I’ll take care of it when we return,” Chip
said with a small grin.
“Yes sir,” Janet replied, “I
sure didn’t do a good job of handling it so you better take care of it.”
Lee glanced at Janet then
Chip and gave him a smile. He too was
surprised at how angry she was but was enjoying her new feistiness.
((()))
You’re alive...where were
you...what happened to you...we searched the whole island for you?” Harry asked
Dr. Shencko shocked to learn who he was.
“Slow down, Mr. Nelson but I
don’t think I should address you as Mr.,” he replied with a smile looking at
Harry and his uniform with the four stars on his collar.
“No, it’s Admiral. When I went to bring you out of the People’s
Republic, I was working for ONI but I was actually a Captain in the Navy,”
Nelson replied. “This is Admiral Jiggs
Starke,” Nelson told him as Jiggs stood next to him. “The other man is Admiral Brandon Fisher and
the pilot’s name is Hugh.”
“Come and sit down and I will
tell what happened twenty years ago,”
“Was?” Nelson asked.
“He died three years ago,”
“His prisoner?” Jiggs questioned. “But the war was over by then.”
“I knew that but he
didn’t. He had been on this island since
World War II. The Japanese dropped him
off on this island to patrol it and forgot to come back and get him.”
“How did you find this out if
he didn’t speak any English?” Fisher asked.
“Eventually I taught him
enough English so he could tell me why he was here.”
“Why did he take only you?”
Nelson wondered.
“He was going to take the
rest of you one by one but you were rescued before he could get to you.”
“What have you been eating
for the last twenty years? This island doesn’t look like it has anything but
brush,” Admiral Starke inquired.
“Mostly fish, there are some
bushes that have berries on them but we would catch fish. Water wasn’t a problem as it rains here quite
frequently. We took whatever we could
from the plane. There wasn’t much food
or drinks on the plane but the cushions, first aid kit, towels, and clothes
that were left behind we used.”
The admiral got up from his
seat and paced around the cave. “I’m
sorry we left you behind. We did look
for you but couldn’t find you. When the
chopper came to rescue us, we had to leave as there was a huge storm coming
in.”
Chuckling softly, “Just like
the one that’s out there now.” You could
hear the wind howling and the rain and sleet hitting the covering on the
entrance to the cave.
“I hold no ill-will towards
you, Admiral,”
“I’m sure help is on the
way,” Jiggs interjected. “Harry here has
his own submarine and I’m sure that his captain and crew are on their way. Right Harry?”
Giving Jiggs a wry grin the
admiral answered, “Yes Jiggs, I’m sure Captain Crane and Seaview are on
their way but finding us might be a problem.
I’m sure they don’t know exactly where we are and there are a lot of
islands to search.”
“What about that flying
submarine you have?” Jiggs continued.
Sighing, “When I left she was
undergoing a complete overhaul. I’m sure
they’re working around the clock to get her up and running,” the admiral
replied.
“A flying submarine?”
“You should see her. It’s bright yellow, flies in the air and then
goes into the water. A marvelous
machine,” Jiggs added.
“Harry, I do have one
question. Did you get the formula to the
people in charge?”
“Yes
“Thank you,” he said
breathing a sigh. “I feel better knowing
my stay here was not in vain.”
As they sat telling
“Take it easy,” Harry said,
“you have a broken leg and a concussion.”
Looking intently at Nelson,
“The plane...Jerry...the rest of you?” he asked.
Harry sat down next him, “The
plane caught on fire. I’m sorry Jerry
didn’t make it but the rest of us are okay.”
“Damn,” he said softly. “I’m sorry sir. The wings iced up so quickly...I saw the
other plane on the ground and thought it was safe to land there until I
realized that plane had crashed and by then it was too late to abort the
landing.”
Patting him on the shoulder
Harry told, “Its okay, Hugh. Help should
be on the way. Hang in there.”
“Yes sir,” he replied closing
his eyes and fell back to sleep.
Harry walked back to the rest
of the men and sat back down. Even
though there was a fire burning, it was damp and cool in the cave because of
the weather. After eating some of the dried fish
((()))
After traveling for three
days, Seaview was thirteen hours away from the island Unalaska in the
Lee ordered Seaview to
be brought up to ninety feet. “Up
periscope,” Lee asked as Chip pushed the button and it rose out of the
well. Making a three hundred and sixty
degree sweep of the area, Lee pushed the button and lowered the periscope. “Damn,” he said to Chip. “The seas are at least twenty feet, windy,
snow and sleet. It will be tricky but we
should be able to get Seaview in the harbor and dock her.” Walking over to the radio shack, “
“Aye sir,”
“Chip, you and I will go
ashore and talk to the harbormaster.
Maybe he can help us out.”
“Yes sir,” he answered
directing one of the crewmen to get their cold weather gear.
After a quick dinner in the
wardroom, Lee, Chip and Janet returned to the control room where Bobby and
Scott had reported for duty. They would
be in charge while Lee and Chip were on shore.
Lee ordered Seaview to surface.
He and Chip donned the coats, hats and gloves while they waited for her
to broach the surface.
“Crack the deck hatch,” Chip
ordered, “and have a sea detail ready to tie her down.”
“Aye, aye sir,” the sea
detail replied.
Lee and Chip made their way
up the ladder in the control room and opened the hatch. Seaview was rocking in the gale force
winds. Lee slowly and carefully
maneuvered her into the end slip. The
deck crew quickly put out the gangway and tied her down as fast and securely as
they could under the nasty weather conditions.
The two officers made their way down the gangway.
“That wasn’t fun,” Lee
remarked as he pulled up the collar on his coat.
“I’m glad it was you and not
me,” Chip answered as he buttoned his coat up all the way.
They were met on the dock by
the harbormaster who wanted to take a look at the submarine that had just
docked in his harbor.
“I’m Captain Lee Crane and
this Lt. Commander Chip Morton. We’re
from the Nelson Institute of Marine Research in
“No sir, I’m sorry I can’t
help you. I haven’t heard of any plane
crashes but then most of the people around here have not left their houses
because the weather is so bad. I’m
surprised you managed to get that huge submarine in here with no problems. She sure is a beauty,” he said looking at Seaview.
“Thank you, yes she is,” Lee
replied. “Thanks for your help,” he said unhappily as he and Chip walked back
down the gangway and into the service hatch.
Lee and Chip went up the ladder to the conning tower and waited as the
deck detail cast off the lines and pulled up the gangway. “All ahead, dead slow,” Lee ordered once the
men were back on board. Seaview
slowly left the dock, rocking steadily.
Once they cleared the dock and were in open water, Lee and Chip made
their way down the ladder to the control room.
“Secure the detail. Prepare to
dive,” Lee ordered as they removed their gear and handed it to the crewmen who
took it away. “Damn,” Lee said as they
waited for the all green so he could dive the boat as she was rocking pretty
badly. If they stayed on the surface any
longer, Lee was worried they would have a lot of sea sick crewmen as subs
weren’t made to be on the surface during a gale. After being out in the elements on the dock,
Lee understood why SAR couldn’t fly. He
knew even FS-1 would have problems flying in the weather.
“All green,” Phil reported as
the last light on the panel lit up.
Chip keyed the mic, “Dive,
dive, dive.”
“Take her down to two hundred
feet,” Lee told Chip as he stood by the plotting table. Janet was in the observation nose and walked
over to where Lee stood as Seaview slowly glided under the water.
“Did they know anything?”
Janet asked but by the look on Lee’s face she already knew the answer.
“They didn’t hear anything
about a plane crash,” Lee told her tapping his pencil on the table deciding on
what their next move should be. He checked the list of islands again. He walked over the to radio shack and gave
“
“Aye, aye sir,”
Lee started tapping his
pencil again, a sure sign he was worried.
After he looked at the map of the islands again, he knew there was no
way Seaview could dock or even get close to most of them so they could
check them out. Lee, Chip and Janet
stood at the plotting table when Lee stopped tapping his pencil.
“How about we go out in teams
to check out some of these islands? You
and I can each head up a team as well as the other officers,” Lee said looking
at Chip. “Janet, make up a sign up sheet
and post it in the crew’s mess and wardroom asking for volunteers to go search
the islands. We’ll assign whoever signs
up to go out with us. We’ll take three
other men on each team.”
“What about the weather,”
Chip asked. “Do you think we’ll be able
to launch a zodiac in the wind and high seas?”
Running his hand through his
hair Lee responded, “That’s my only worry but I’m game if you are. Since the
weather is so bad we won’t be able to stay out too long. Some of the larger
islands are populated so we may run into someone who’s heard about a plane
crash. Right now, it’s the only idea I can come up with until we get FS-1
here.”
“I’m game,” Chip answered as
he didn’t have any better ideas.
Janet quickly left the
control room and went to her office. She
already had a sheet with every crewman’s name on it. All they would have to do is put a check mark
by their name. She put a check mark by
her name and posted the sheet in the crew’s mess and wardroom.
While Lee waited for Janet to
post the lists,
“Thanks
Lee looked at the list again
and told Chip to set a course of
Chip looked at his figures
and replied, “About two hours.”
“Set a course and head there
at flank speed,” Lee told him as Chip relayed the order to maneuvering and the
engine room. He would wait until they
got to the island before checking the lists.
He didn’t want to pressure the men into signing up.
((()))
Harry and the rest of the men
woke up the next morning hoping the weather would have cleared but the wind was
still howling even louder and fiercer than before with a rain/sleet combination. After eating some more fish and a few berries
for breakfast, Jiggs and Brandon were telling
“Jiggs, Brandon,” Nelson
said, “It’s only been three days. I
figure it will take Seaview that long just to get to the
“I’m afraid we’re going to
run out of food and fire wood. I had
plenty on hand but I wasn’t expecting guests,” he said with a wry grin. “And with the weather so bad, we can’t go
fishing or get any dry wood. I’m also
running out of bandages for
“How many days of food and
wood do you think we have left?”
“I’d say about three more
days. If the weather breaks, we can fish
but if it doesn’t...”
Patting his arm Harry
replied, “Don’t worry. We’ll think of
something, who knows we could be rescued by then.”
“Harry, you’re such an optimist,”
((()))
After a quick bite to eat in
the observation nose, Lee was anxious to find out who had signed up and prepare
the teams that would go out. “Janet,
would you please bring the lists to me,” he asked as she was starting to pace.
“Yes sir,” she replied and
headed out the aft hatch. After she
left, Lee said to Chip, “Does she always pace?
She was driving me crazy.”
“Yes, when she’s worried, she
paces and it drives me crazy too,” Chip snorted. “You don’t know how many times I’ve had to
ask her to leave and go pace somewhere else especially when one certain captain
is on ONI mission,” he said sarcastically.
“Sorry, I didn’t notice it
until just now,” Lee replied sheepishly.
Janet’s first stop was the
crew’s mess. When she took the list off
the board, every man had a check next to his name. It was the same when she went to the
wardroom. She knew Lee would be proud of
his crew. She entered the control room
through aft hatch and walked over to the plotting table. “Here are the lists,” she told him as she
handed them to him and watched his face.
He looked at Janet with a huge smile and handed the lists to Chip.
“Everyone has signed up,” he
whistled, “including Janet.”
Lee looked at the list again
not noticing her name with a check next to it as he sometimes forgot she is a
member of the crew. “Sorry sweetie,
there’s no way I’m going to let you go out there.”
“But Lee, I want to help,”
she insisted.
“You can stay here and make
sure when the men come back they get warmed up with coffee and hot
chocolate. You’re not the only one who’s
not going to be able to leave the boat. Jamie,
Cookie, the engine room, maneuvering...you get my point,” Lee told her.
Sighing, “Yes sir,”
she replied a little too earnestly.
“Sorry Lee, I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.”
Squeezing her hand, “I know,
don’t worry about it. You can help us
set up the schedule.”
Lee and Chip looked over the
list and decided that he would go out first with Kowalski, Ron and Marco. Chip would go next with Patterson, Phil, and
Rodriguez. They assigned men to go out
with O’Brien and Taper. The rest of the
men were assigned to other officers depending on their watches. They would have a total of ten teams to go
out if needed. Lee had Janet post the
lists before he made another announcement.
This time he wanted to give the men the information they needed before
they headed out.
“Attention men, I want to
thank all of you for volunteering to go out and search for the admiral. Every man and woman on Seaview signed
up,” Lee said looking at Janet and smiling. “As you know some of you will have
to stay on board. But I know the admiral
would be proud of all of you. All the
following rules will be followed when you leave the boat. All men will wear waterproof winter gear
along with a life jacket whether you’re on a team leaving the boat or on the
deck helping to launch the zodiac. The weather has not abated so it will be
very difficult to launch the zodiacs. We
will only stay out for two hours or less.
If you get wet or cold, you will let your supervisor know so you can
return to the boat. Thanks again.” Lee put the mic back in the holder.
“I better get ready to
leave,” Lee said to Janet and Chip.
“Chip you have the conn. Once we
reach the island, we’ll take her up to ninety feet and look around before we
surface.”
“Yes sir,” Chip replied as
Lee and Janet went up the spiral staircase.
They stopped at
“Lee, if the seas are that
bad, do we really need to send anyone out. I’m worried about frostbite and
hypothermia,” Jamie told him. “If
someone falls into the water, they’ll be dead if they’re in there longer than
five minutes. I’ve been researching the
“Was that comment directed at
me in particular or for everyone,” Lee asked knowing Jamie was always concerned
when he left the boat. “Jamie, I’m
worried about that too, but I don’t have any other ideas. I know it’s a long shot that we may even find
him but I’ve got to try,” Lee explained.
“I know,” Jamie replied.
“Just be careful out there, all of you.”
“We will,” Lee answered.
Before leaving
“Yes, I will,” Jamie answered
knowing he was going to be in for a long couple of hours.
((()))
Once in the cabin, Janet
helped Lee get his gear out, pulling out his green sweater that he would wear
over his uniform. He removed his tie and
pulled the sweater on over his shirt. He
reached over, grabbed Janet and gave her a kiss. “I’ll be careful, I promise,” he told her as
they gathered his boots, coat, over pants, gloves and hat. They walked back to the control room where
they met the rest of his team.
Chip looked through the
periscope, “Lee, the weather is still bad.
I think once you’re away from the boat we should dive. It’s going to be too rough for us to stay on
the surface.”
“I agree. We don’t anyone to get sick.”
Chip called maneuvering and
surfaced the boat about a hundred yards from the coast. The deck detail was on the quarterdeck by the
time Lee, Kowalski and the rest of the men were out of the sail hatch. It took the deck detail a little longer to
launch the zodiac and struggled to keep is close to the boat so the men could
board it. The four men made it into the
zodiac and Kowalski skillfully maneuvered away from Seaview. The crew watched them as they made their way
to the coast. They lost sight of the
zodiac in a wave but it came back out on top and made it to shore. The deck detail went below and Chip dove as
soon as the hatch was closed. He could
see some of the men were already looking a little ill.
“Control room, this is
“Thanks, Jamie. Hopefully that will be all as we’re going
under,” Chip replied. He looked at Janet
and she didn’t look very good. “You okay?”
“No but I’m just going to sit
in the observation nose for now,” she replied sitting down not wanting to make
the walk to
Chip looked at her and shook
his head as Lee also had trouble being on the surface in a regular boat. Once they were stationed at ninety feet, the
men were looking and feeling better.
((()))
Lee and the men made it to
shore but it was a struggle to get there and they were tired but the time the
pulled the zodiac on shore. This may
not be the best way to search for the admiral after all, Lee thought as
they stopped to catch their breath. They
found the beach and walked into the interior of the island. It wasn’t very big and they quickly searched
it and found nothing. They made their
way back to the zodiac and launched it towards Seaview.
“Chip, we’re heading back,
surface the boat,” Lee said dejectedly.
By the time they motored back
to Seaview and boarded her they were exhausted and cold. The deck detail helped them out of the zodiac
and stowed it as the men made their way to the sail hatch and down to the
control room. Lee made sure all the men
were below before he went into the hatch and down the ladder into the control
room. Once on the bottom, he stood there
for few minutes. Chip and Janet walked
over to him. Janet helped him remove his
gloves and hat. She could see he was
tired. “You okay,” she asked softly.
“Yes, just tired and
cold. Chip, I don’t know if we want to
attempt this. Just launching the zodiac
and keeping it from capsizing was tiring.
The weather is brutal and the island was hard to navigate not knowing
where we were going,” Lee told Chip as he removed his life vest, coat, and
pants. He handed them to a crewman who
came up along side of him. He needed
some coffee so he walked over to the observation nose where he found a new pot
of the strong brew. Pouring himself a
cup, he wrapped his hands around it as he drank it. He finished it quickly and poured another one
drinking this one a little slower.
“Lee, I’m willing to
try. Let’s go to another island,” Chip
told him. “I think we should at least
try a couple more. Maybe the weather
will get better.”
Seaview sailed to the next closest island. Chip took his crew
out when they reached it. Lee standing
in the conning tower, gasped in horror as Chip almost fell in the water but Patterson
managed to haul him back into the zodiac. He looked up at Lee and gave him the
okay sign and they continued their trek to the island. After searching the island which was a little
bigger, they found nothing and returned to Seaview. While Lee waited for Chip to return, he
charted out the course to the next island. Once Seaview reached it they decided
to launch the zodiac in the morning. This time O’Brien and Taper would go
out. Lee and Chip had changed O’Brien
and Taper’s watches so they could lead out the next group of men. Johnson and Taylor would be in the control
room for the night. They were fairly new
to the boat but Lee was confident they could handle her. They had managed to find a plateau to set her
down on for the night. Lee told Johnson
to call him if they had any problems.
Lee and Chip were exhausted after their jaunt outside. Both of them nearly fell asleep while eating
dinner. After dinner Lee, Chip and Janet
headed for their cabins. Lee fell asleep
as soon as he got into the bunk. Janet
laid there for awhile before snuggling close to Lee.
((()))
Lee, Chip and Janet skipped
breakfast and went immediately to the control room to get ready for the next
group to leave for the island. They
grabbed a cup of coffee from the fresh pot Cookie had just put there. O’Brien’s and Taper’s team would go out
first. This island was a little larger than the ones they checked out yesterday
so Lee decided to send out two teams so the could cover more ground. Lee took the boat up to ninety feet and
looked out the periscope. He thought the weather looked a little less
challenging than yesterday. He gave the
teams some last minute instructions before surfacing the boat. Lee and Chip went topside to the conning
tower. Janet decided to wait below for
them as she was freezing there the last time she went out. While the winds were a little calmer it was
still difficult to launch the zodiacs.
Once the teams cleared the boat, Lee ordered them to take her down where
they would stay until O’Brien and Taper radioed them they were returning.
Taper’s team returned after
two hours and reported they found nothing.
Lee looked at his watch and noticed that O’Brien’s team had been gone
almost three hours. He was worried and
surfaced the boat to send out another team to look for them when O’Brien
radioed they were coming back. Lee went
to the conning tower to wait for them after surfacing. He could see one of the men was hurt as they
gently lifted him out of the zodiac and onto the deck. They quickly brought him
into the sail hatch and to
“What happen...what took you
so long to return,” Lee demanded as O’Brien removed his gear. O’Brien saw Taper waiting for him over by the
plotting table.
“We made it to the island
with no problems. We checked it out but
on the return trip Smith was hurt when he slipped into a hole. He never even saw the hole as it was covered
up by the tall grass that grows all over the island. Sorry Skipper.”
Patting him on the shoulder,
Lee replied, “Its okay. I just got a
little excited and worried when you were late.
Unfortunately most of the
“No problem, skipper. We all want the admiral back,” O’Brien told
Lee as he and Taper walked through the aft hatch carrying all their gear.
Chip went over to Lee. “Jamie says Smith has a bruised shoulder and
sprained ankle. He should be able to
return to duty in a couple of days.”
Rubbing his hand on his
forehead, Lee ordered Chip to set a course for the next island. He went into the observation nose and stood
there as he was trying to decide if they should continue the search or just
wait until FS-1 was ready. But he knew
the longer they waited the less likely they would find him and the rest of the
men.
Lee walked over to the
periscope island where Chip was standing.
He put his hand on the railing and rested his chin on his hands and
raised his eyes to meet Chip’s. “It’s
taken us two days to search three islands,
Lee and Chip did not see
Janet come down the spiral staircase.
She stood there listening to them discuss whether to call off the
search.
“Are you suggesting we give
up and wait for FS-1?” Chip asked knowing Lee well enough that he didn’t want
to make that decision by himself.
“I guess...,” Lee started to
say when Janet ran over to the periscope island where Lee and Chip stood.
“No Lee, please don’t stop
searching for him...you can’t give up...please,” she pleaded as tears ran down
her face.
Lee and Chip were surprised
to see her, “Sweetheart, it will take us too long to search all these
islands. I don’t want to give up but I
also have to consider the risks involved sending men out into that
weather. I won’t put the men in
danger. You know as well as I do that
the admiral wouldn’t want that either,” Lee told her as he took her hand in
his.
“Please, Lee, just one more day,”
she begged looking him in the eye, “Please.”
He didn’t want to give up
either, so Janet helped him make the decision.
“Okay one more day and I will lead the team out but if we don’t find
him, we’re going to wait for FS-1,” Lee told Chip and Janet. He took his
handkerchief out of his pocket and she wiped away her tears.
“Thank you, Lee,” Janet
replied as she gave him a hug and the wet handkerchief. He shook his head and put it in his pocket.
“How long before we get to
“We should be there sometime
during the night,” Chip responded after plotting the course.
“Okay set a course and I’ll
go out first thing in the morning,” Lee answered. Looking at his watch he knew Johnson and
Taylor would be on duty in thirty minutes. “Meet me in the wardroom in forty
five minutes for dinner. I just want to
make sure Johnson and Taylor know what to do,” Lee told Chip and Janet.
“Yes sir,” they replied and
walked out the aft hatch. Chip went to
his cabin to catch up on some paperwork while Janet went to the wardroom to
wait for Lee.
As soon as Lee explained what
he wanted from the officers on duty he went to the wardroom where, Chip, Janet
and Jamie were waiting. Once he sat
down, Cookie and the mess specialists brought over the dinner. Cookie had made lasagna and garlic
bread. All of them were hungry and
finished up everything on their plates much to Jamie’s surprise. Cookie put a pot of coffee on the table for
the men and went back to the galley and brought Janet a cup of tea along with
some brownies. They finished those and
retired to their cabins for the night.
Janet fell asleep wrapped in Lee’s arm.
Lee laid there hoping they would get lucky and find his ‘father’ and
mentor tomorrow.
((()))
The three of them met for
breakfast before Lee would head his team out to the island. After eating the pancakes and bacon Cookie
made Lee and Janet returned to their cabin so Lee could get his cold weather
gear and put his sweater on along with his long underwear. He was cold the last time they went out so he
wanted to be prepared this time. Lee grabbed
some of the gear while Janet got the rest and they headed to the control
room. Janet had also put on an extra
sweater so she would be warmer when she was in the conning tower. Johnson and Taylor were at the plotting table
when Chip entered the control room.
“Everything okay here?” Chip asked as he checked he log and saw they
were sitting at ninety feet about one hundred yards of the island’s coast. Looking at the two men, “Good job, thanks for
making sure we’re in position.”
“No problem, sir,”
“You’re relieved of duty,”
Chip told the men noting the change of command in the log book.
“Yes sir,” they answered
leaving Chip at the plotting table just as Lee and Janet came down the spiral
staircase.
Kowalski, Ron and Marco were
there dressed and waiting for Lee. Chip
had looked out the periscope and noticed the waves weren’t quite as high and
the wind had slackened off but it was still dangerous to launch a zodiac.
“What’s it look like up
there,” Lee asked as he finished putting on his coat, hat and life jacket.
“Not as bad as before but
still not ideal conditions,” Chip replied with a deep sigh, picked up the mic
and ordered maneuvering to surface.
“We’re going to be out a
little longer as this is the largest island in the Island of Four Mountains
chain. We should be back in four hours,”
Lee told Chip as he headed up the ladder for the quarterdeck.
((()))
The five men in the cave were
cold. The weather had not let up so they
were running short of fire wood. They
only made a fire during the morning to take away the chill and then at night
but only for a few minutes hoping the embers would keep them warm as they
slept. Their food supply was also
running low. Water was not a problem as
they caught the rain in the containers
As they sat around the
morning fire,
“Please don’t worry about
it,”
“Harry, where’s that
submarine of yours?” Jiggs grumbled loudly.
“They should have found us by now using that flying sub of yours.”
He too was wondering why the
flying sub wasn’t looking for them and assumed there was a problem with her
overhaul. “Soon Jiggs, I hope very
soon,” Harry replied.
To keep warm they would take
turns walking around the small cave but even that didn’t help so they huddled
close together next to Hugh, who was finally able to sit up, for warmth.
What I wouldn’t do for a
hot cup of coffee. I wouldn’t care if it was the instant kind, Harry thought as it was his turn to walk around. He too was getting discouraged but he knew
Lee wouldn’t give up looking for them until he had actual proof they couldn’t
be found or had died.
((()))
Once on the surface, they
launched the zodiac and Lee and his team headed for
“Yes, Lee,” Chip reported
back and ordered the boat to surface. He
and Janet went up to the conning tower to wait for them to come aboard.
“It’s freezing up here,”
Janet said to Chip as they waited in the conning tower. “Even with my extra clothes, I’m still
cold.”
“I know,” Chip answered as he
was cold too. “Why don’t you go below
and wait for Lee,” he suggested.
“No, I want to make sure he
gets aboard safely,” she replied watching the zodiac get closer to Seaview.
Once the zodiac was along
side the boat, Kowalski, Ron and Marco made their way up to the deck and were
waiting to help Lee aboard when a giant wave caught him and knocked him in to
the frigid water.
“Lee,” Janet shouted as she
saw him go under and scrambled down the ladder to the sail hatch and out on the
deck before Chip could stop her. “It’s
my fault,” he heard her say as he quickly followed her down and onto the deck
after alerting the control room that the skipper was in the water and to get
Jamie to the control room right away.
“Janet, go below,” Chip said.
“No not until I know he’s
alright,” she replied tersely. “It’s
all my fault,” she muttered to herself.
Kowalski and the rest of his
team jumped back into the zodiac grabbing at Lee trying to keep him from going
under. Even with his life jacket on,
they were having a hard time getting him out of the water. His boots, heavy pants, gloves and parka
along with his clothes and hat were dragging him under the waves. The life jacket just barely kept his face out
of the water. It took the strength of
all three men to drag Lee out of the water.
“Go below right now,” Chip
sternly ordered Janet who he had to grab by the life jacket to prevent her from
falling in after a gust of wind almost blew her off the deck. Janet knew by the tone of Chip’s voice she
had better listen to him. She walked
quickly with the help of one of the deck detail to the sail hatch and down the
ladder where she waited for them to bring Lee down. Jamie was waiting with a stretcher and
blankets to cover him as soon as he got there.
By the time they got him down
the ladder he was barely breathing...his lips were bluish-grey...and he had
stopped shivering. “Get him to
“No sir,” they replied as
they shed their wet clothing as soon as they were on the boat.
“Thanks,” Chip told them, “go
get some dry clothes on and something warm to drink.”
“Aye sir,” Kowalski
answered. “How’s the skipper...is he?”
Running his hand through his
hair Chip said, “I don’t know Ski, I’m going to
The three men went to their
quarters, changed, stopped at the crew’s mess for some hot coffee and waited
for word on the skipper.
((()))
Jamie and Frank quickly
removed Lee’s life jacket, coat, boots, hat and gloves. They cut away the rest of his clothing not
wanting to move him unnecessarily as the internal organs are sensitive to
physical shocks. They quickly covered
him with layers of blankets and covered his head leaving only his face
exposed. Jamie had taken Lee’s
temperature and found it was only eighty one degrees. Jamie put him on an IV of warm saline solution
as well as an oxygen mask with warm air.
He applied warm compresses to his neck, chest and groin to help warm him
up. If he couldn’t raise his body
temperature he would have to resort to more desperate measures which he hoped
to avoid. He also had to watch out for
“after drop” when re-warming him because the cold blood in his extremities
returns to the body core, lowering the core temperature further.****
Janet stood next to him but
out of Jamie’s way as she watched them work feverishly on Lee trying to warm
him up. “It’s my fault,” she whispered
over and over again as tears ran down her face.
Jamie was to busy to notice what she was saying but Chip who had arrived
in
“It’s not your fault,” he
told her squeezing her hand.
“If I hadn’t asked him to
continue searching for the admiral, he wouldn’t have fallen in the sea,” Janet sobbed.
“Janet, Lee didn’t want to
stop searching and needed someone to tell him to continue looking for the
admiral. If you hadn’t told him to
continue on, I would have so please don’t blame yourself.”
Wiping away her tears,
“Thanks Chip for telling me that. Also, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you when
we were on deck.”
“I almost lost my grip on
you,” Chip admitted. “Lee would have
never forgiven me if I let you fall in the sea.”
Jamie walked over to Janet
and Chip. “I think he’s going to make it
but it was close. He should wake up in a
little while. I’m going to leave him on
the gurney as I don’t want to move him to much until he’s warmed up.” Both Janet and Chip knew how close Lee had
come to dying as they both had a similar experience with hypothermia. Chip pulled over a stool to Lee’s bed so
Janet could sit next to him. He grabbed one too and sat on the other side. They had only been sitting there a few
minutes when
“Mr. Morton, I have a call
from Chief Sharkey.”
“I’ll take it in the Control
Room,” Chip answered. “I sure hope this
is good news.” He ran out of
“Yes Chief?” Chip said out of
breath.
Surprised that Chip was on
the mic, “Mr. Morton, FS-1 is ready to go.
Riley and I checked her out and are ready to depart as soon as we’re
done talking with you. Where’s the
skipper...did you find the admiral?” he asked with concern.
“Chief, I’ll tell you about
when you get here and no we haven’t found the admiral yet,” Chip responded
softly. “Be careful the weather up here
is still very treacherous. Fly her at
Mach II until you hit the bad weather and then submerge for the rest of the
way.” Chip quickly figured out in his
head how long it would take them to reach Seaview. “You should get here in about four
hours. Call us when you’re close and
we’ll send you a homing signal.”
“Aye, aye sir,” Chief replied
as he severed the connection. “Come on
Riley, we gotta go.”
“Yes sir,” Riley answered as
he quickly donned his leather jacket and handed the Chief his.
Sharkey put on the jacket and
headed to the hangar where FS-1 waiting.
The two men hopped on board using the rear hatch and did the pre-flight
check list. Sharkey turned on the engines
and taxied her down the runway. They were airborne twenty minutes after he
called Chip. They were making good time
until they got half way there when the weather turned nasty. The little sub was thrown around in the wind
so Sharkey quickly submerged and would have to fly the rest of the way
underwater.
((()))
Chip severed the connection
with Sharkey to the whoops and hollers of the Control Room. “Quiet down and back to your stations,” he
told the men with a grin on his face.
“We still have a boat to sail but maybe now we’ll have a chance at
locating the admiral.”
Chip left the control room
and ran down to
“Everything is fine. Sharkey and Riley are on their way in
FS-1. They were leaving in a few minutes
and should be here in a few hours.”
Tears of relief started
running down Janet’s face. “Now maybe we
can find him.” She leaned over her
husband and whispered in his ear, “FS-1 is on her way. Please wake up.” Chip smiled at her as she told Lee the flying
sub was coming. He sat down on the other
side of Lee and waited with her. Jamie
sat at his desk and watched as the two of them once again waited for Lee Crane
to wake up. He shook his head and
returned to his paperwork.
((()))
Harry and the four other men
were hungry, cold, tired and in desperate need of a shower. Sleeping on the cushions from the airplane
beat sleeping on the hard dirt floor but tempers were getting short. It had been six days since their airplane
crashed. The weather was still bad even
though the wind had died down some and the rain-sleet pelting the make-shift
door wasn’t as hard. They only had
enough food for one more day and wood for one more fire.
“Harry,” Jiggs shouted. “Where the hell is your boat or flying sub? I don’t want to die here.”
As much as Harry liked Jiggs
he was getting on his nerves. “I don’t
know where they are. I’m sure Captain
Crane is doing all he can to find us,” Harry said though clenched teeth.
All the men were getting
discouraged, fearing that they would never be found. Hugh’s leg was starting to hurt more the
colder he got.
Where is FS-1 and Seaview, Nelson wondered as he sat next to
“Sorry Harry,” he said
patting Harry’s arm. “I’m just so damn
cold and hungry. I’m sure Crane is doing
all he can.”
“I know,” Harry responded and
laid his head against the back of the cave and fell asleep.
((()))
Janet and Chip had been
sitting next to Lee’s gurney for a couple of hours. Their backs were getting tired from sitting
on the stools so Chip stood up and stretched.
“I’m going to check on the control room,” Chip whispered to Janet. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay Chip,” Janet replied as
she too stood up. These stools were not
very comfortable. She patted Lee’s
hand. “Come on honey, wake up. They’re going to need you to fly FS-1,” she
pleaded.
Jamie walked over to Lee and
took his temperature while Janet stood there watching him.
“His temperature is up to ninety
degrees,” Jamie told Janet, “he’s not out of the woods yet but is making
progress.” Frank came over to Lee and
replaced the cooling compresses around his neck, chest area and groin with warm
ones. Janet stood next to the gurney
while Jamie listened to his heart. Lee
started to move around trying to snuggle deeper into the blankets. He was shivering a little so Jamie got
another blanket and covered him. Jamie
went back to his desk while Janet walked around
Lee opened his eyes and
closed them again. He opened them again
and blinked a few times. He felt cold.
He realized he had no clothes on and there were heat compresses around
him. He took his hand out from under the
blanket and pulled away the covering around his head. Janet noticed his hand moving and went over
to the gurney. “Lee, leave that alone,”
she told him trying to put it back in place.
Jamie heard her and went over to him.
“I don’t like it...feels to
confining,” he said trying to sit up but Jamie gently pushed him down. “Where are my clothes...what’s going on...why
do I have all theses blankets on,” Lee asked tersely.
“Lee, you’re suffering from
hypothermia. You fell into the ocean
when you were returning to Seaview after going to look for the admiral,”
Jamie told him.
“I remember going to the
island and returning to the boat but after that I can’t remember anything,” he
replied rubbing his forehead. “The other
men...are they okay...they didn’t fall in?” he asked looking around
“No just you,” Jamie replied
as Chip walked into
“No you’re the only one who
couldn’t get back aboard the boat with no problems,” Chip teased. “But I do have some good news. FS-1 is on her way. She should be here in a couple of hours if she
doesn’t run into bad weather.”
“That’s great. When can I get out of here,” Lee asked
struggling to sit up as Jamie held him down.
“Maybe tomorrow,” Jamie
answered. “I want to make sure you have
no after effects from the cold. Lee, if
they hadn’t gotten you out of the water as quickly as they did, you’d be
dead. Your body temperature was down to
eighty one degrees. So please just stay
here. Even if I let you out, and I said
if, I’m not going to clear you to fly FS-1 for two days.”
“Jamie, we can’t wait that
long. The admiral’s been out there for
almost a week...I...we need to find him,” Lee pleaded.
“We have plenty of other
people that can fly FS-1,” Jamie reminded him.
“Okay,” Lee conceded and
turned to Chip, “Chip plot a course for FS-1 to scout the islands we haven’t
checked yet. You take the first
shift...stay out for two hours no make it three hours,” Lee said urgently.
Chip glared at him. “I’ll take care of the details. You just calm down and do what Jamie tells
you. And that’s an order as acting
captain of Seaview.”
“Yes sir,” Lee sulked. Chip went back to the control room to plot
out the flying subs course and schedule for tomorrow’s search. He would stop back on the way to his cabin
and show Lee the plans he made.
“Jamie, can I at least have
some clothes to put on and maybe I can rest in my cabin. I know what will warm me up very quickly,” he
said looking over at Janet who blushed at Lee’s remark.
“Clothes, yes, cabin no. Maybe tomorrow I’ll let you return to light
duty,” Jamie replied with a smirk on his face.
“I’ll bring you your
pajamas,” Janet volunteered as she walked out of the cabin embarrassed at what
Lee was implying. Janet went to their
cabin and grabbed Lee’s pajamas off the hook in the head. When she got back to
”How about you go to the wardroom and bring back a warm lemon lime drink for
Lee,” Jamie told Janet. “His body
temperature is still below normal and he could use something sweet to
drink. We’ll help him get into his
pajamas and into a bunk where he’ll be more comfortable.”
“A warm soda?” Janet asked,
“How about some hot chocolate?”
“No caffeine and chocolate
has caffeine in it,” Jamie told her.
“Okay but he’s not going to
like it,” Janet answered and left for the wardroom to get Lee his warm soda.
When she got there Cookie was
cleaning up from the dinner crowd. “Hi
Mrs. C, how’s the skipper. Does he want
something to eat or drink?”
“Better but only something
warm and sweet to drink like a warm lemon lime soda.”
Cookie walked into the galley, “Here you go,”
he said handing her the can and a straw.
“Thanks, Cookie. Maybe tomorrow he’ll be able to eat.” Janet left the wardroom and returned to
He stared at the can and then
at Jamie. “A warm soda?” he said
disgustingly.
“Drink it up,” Jamie
ordered.
Janet sat down next to Lee’s
bunk and watched him drink the soda. He
took a couple of sips before handing the drink back to Janet. They felt Seaview shudder and Lee knew
the docking doors had been opened up for FS-1 to dock in her berth. He smiled at Janet as Seaview shuddered
again when the doors closed. Lee let out
a sigh of relief, yawned and laid back in the bunk. “I still feel chilled,” he told Janet as he
snuggled under the blankets. Janet
reached up to the top bunk and took the blanket off and covered Lee with
it. “Thanks sweetie,” he said as he
closed his eyes and fell asleep. Janet
had been sitting there for a few minutes watching Lee sleep when Jamie walked
over to check Lee’s temperature.
“He just fell asleep,” Janet
told Jamie stifling a yawn.
“He’s going to be fine. You
can go and get some sleep,” Jamie said.
“Yes sir,” Janet replied too
tired to even argue with him. She put
the chair back and walked out of
“No problem. I’ll stay with him a while,” Chip replied
even though he was exhausted but didn’t want to leave him alone and knew Janet
must have also been extremely tired if she didn’t want to stay with Lee. He
knew she would never leave him if he wasn’t going to be all right.
Janet went to their cabin,
quickly changed and climbed into their bunk.
She fell asleep and dreamt they found the admiral.
Chip stayed for a few minutes
before Jamie kicked him out after he fell asleep in the chair. Jamie left Frank to mind
((()))
Janet and Chip were in
He quickly got out of the
bunk and told Chip, “I’ll meet both of you in the wardroom in ten minutes. Bring the course you’ve plotted and the
schedule.” He gave Janet a quick kiss
before he left for their cabin to shower and change into his uniform.
“Yes sir,” Chip answered and
left for the control room while Janet went to the wardroom.
Janet got some breakfast, cup
of coffee and sat down to wait for Lee and Chip. Chip returned with the items Lee requested
and sat down across from her after getting breakfast and a cup of coffee. Lee showed up a couple of minutes later, went
to the sideboard and grabbed some eggs and coffee. He sat down next to Janet, “Show me what
you’ve got,” Lee said taking a big gulp of coffee.
“I’ve plotted a course to
cover the rest of the
“Damn,” Lee said taking a
bite of his eggs and pushed his plate away.
“You think you can handle her?”
Chip had plenty of experience flying FS-1 but it was going to be tricky
flying in the high winds and Lee didn’t want to risk losing Chip or the flying
sub.
“Yeah, I can,” Chip assured
him as he finished up his breakfast and coffee.
Janet removed the plates to
the dish bin, took their cups and refilled them with coffee and sat back down
while Chip continued to show Lee the rest of the schedule and course. “Thanks,” they said when Janet handed them
the coffee. She smiled back and listened
to what they were saying.
“I’ve assigned Patterson to
fly with me on the first run. We’ll
check out the
“Let’s check with Sharkey and
see how she handled in the wind before we send anybody out,” Lee suggested as
he got up from the table, taking some of the papers off the table as Chip
grabbed the rest. Janet took the rest of
the dishes and put them in the bins and walked out with the two men.
((()))
The men in the control room
were happy to see their skipper back on duty.
Lee walked over to Kowalski, Marco and Ron, “Thanks men for pulling me
out of the ocean.”
“No problem, Skipper,” they
replied as Lee patted each of them on the shoulder.
Lee, Chip and Janet walked
over to the plotting table where they put down the papers. Lee picked up the mic, “Chief Sharkey please
report to the control room.”
Not a second later a reply
was heard, “Aye, aye sir.”
Lee and Chip continued to
look over the papers as they waited for Sharkey. “If Jamie clears you to fly, you and Kowalski
will fly over the rest of the
Running his hand through his
hair he said, “They probably went down in the water. So let’s plot a course around those islands
so we can search the ocean floor for anything metal.”
Sharkey had just come into
the control room and walked over to the plotting table. “Good to see you Skipper,” the chief
said.
“Good to see you Chief. Did you have any problems with the flying sub
or the winds?” Lee asked.
“She flew like a dream,”
Sharkey answered, “A little trouble with the winds. We had to submerge when we got close to the
islands as the wind was blowing her around quite bit.”
Janet was listening to
Sharkey talk about the little sub and had a question, “Chief, I heard you say
that one of the parts had to be re-worked was it the one that we had a hard
time getting?”
Sharkey looked at Chip then
Lee before he answered her. He
remembered the last time he told her about not getting the part and was afraid
of what she would do. Both Lee and Chip
nodded to Sharkey, “Yes ma’am. They sent
us the wrong part but the men were able to adapt it to what we needed.”
“Damn,” Janet said under her
breath not wanting the rest of the control room to hear her. “Sorry Chief.”
Lee, Chip and Sharkey smiled
at her response. Chip went on to tell
Sharkey the plans for taking the flying sub to look for the admiral.
“You better get ready to go
out,” Lee told Chip. “It’s going to take
you awhile to get to those islands at the end.
Chip had already informed
Patterson that he would be going out with him.
He had his jacket on and handed Chip his as he grabbed the map and
course coordinates he plotted.
“Yes, sir,” Kowalski replied
pressing the button to open the docking doors.
“All green, Skipper.”
“Launch,” Lee told him. He, Janet and Sharkey stood looking out the
windows as the flying sub cleared the Seaview and took off. Lee walked to the radio shack, “
“Yes, Skipper,”
((()))
Chip and Patterson cleared
the front of the Seaview and prepared to leave the water. Once in the air Chip headed in the direction
of the coordinates he had plotted. The
gale force wind buffeted the little sub so Chip decided to run submerged until
they got close to the islands they were going to fly over. It took them almost two hours to get to the
area. Chip took to the air and flew over
the
“Skipper, I have a call from
FS-1,”
“Seaview,” Lee
answered immediately. “Chip did you spot
anything?”
“No Lee, not a thing. We’re heading back, we should be there in an
hour.”
“Okay, Chip. We’ll be waiting,” Lee said stowing the mic
in its holder. “Kowalski, keep an eye on
FS-1 and open the dock doors when they’re close.
“Aye sir,” Kowalski replied
noticing the dejected tone in Lee’s voice.
He turned back to the observation nose and looked at Sharkey and
Janet. They were unhappy at what Chip reported. Lee felt the docking doors opening and knew
Kowalski must have FS-1 on his sonar screen and was close enough for
berthing. Lee spotted FS-1 as she went
under Seaview to dock. Sharkey
went over to the hatch and opened it up when the wheel finished turning. Chip came back on board with his tie loosened
and top button of his shirt undone. He
and Patterson both looked exhausted.
“You okay,” Lee asked them
once they were on the deck in the observation nose.
“Just tired,” Chip replied as
he removed his jacket and handed it to Patterson who would put it away for him. “The strong winds made steering her hard to
control. It was hard to see for the low
hanging clouds and fog not to mention watching out for the volcanoes.”
Lee rubbed his forehead,
“Thanks Chip. Why don’t you go to the
wardroom,” he suggested as it was 1300 hours and knew he would be hungry. “I’ll
meet you there in a few minutes.”
“Thanks Lee. I could sure use a cup of coffee,” Chip
replied as he walked through the control room, out the aft hatch and down the
passageway to the wardroom.
“Chief, be ready to leave at
1400 hours,” Lee told him as he and Janet walked to the plotting table and
turned the conn over to O’Brien.
“Aye, aye sir,” Sharkey
reported as he walked over to Riley at radar.
“Be ready to leave at 1400 hours,” he told Riley.
“Yes sir,” Riley replied
checking his watch making sure of the time.
Before leaving for the
wardroom, Lee stopped at the sonar console, “Any metal contact, Ski?” Lee asked
as they had been searching the bottom for anything metal that could come from
an airplane.
“Sorry sir, nothing,”
Kowalski replied softly removing his ear phones.
“Keep looking,” Lee said as
he walked toward the aft hatch with Janet following behind him.
“Aye sir,” Ski answered as he
put the earphones back on and tuned in a couple of the dials.
((()))
When Lee and Janet entered
the wardroom, Chip already had a grilled cheese sandwich half eaten along with
a half a cup of coffee. Lee and Janet
sat down and one of the mess specialists brought them a sandwich and some
coffee.
“The weather seems to be
clearing up. The further west we got the
weather was a little better but it’s still windy. After reading up on the
Lee put down his sandwich
after eating only half of it. Jamie came
in to check with Chip on how his flight went and saw Lee push his plate
away. He sat down and pushed it back to
him. “Eat or you don’t go out tomorrow,”
Jamie informed him.
“Jamie, I’m just not hungry,”
Lee quipped as he took a gulp of coffee and motioned for the mess specialist to
bring him some more.
“You can’t and won’t live on
coffee alone,” Jamie insisted glaring at Lee.
“Yes, Jamie,” Lee replied
taking the plate back and another bite of his sandwich smirking at Jamie as he
did.
((()))
Sharkey and Riley were
getting ready to board the flying sub when Lee, Chip and Janet entered the
control room. “Be careful and watch the
wind,” Lee reminded them as they walked to the observation nose. He made sure they had the coordinates Chip
plotted along with a map.
Sharkey went down the ladder
and was strapping in as Riley followed him down and he also strapped in. Chip closed and secured the hatch.
“Ready kid,” Sharkey said to
Riley.
“Let’s go,” Riley
replied.
Sharkey flipped the switches,
started up FS-1 and put on the throat mike.
“Ready to launch, Skipper,” Sharkey said into the mike.
Lee gave the command to
launch FS-1. Lee, Chip and Janet watched
as FS-1 sailed away from the sub. Chip
and Lee went back to the plotting table and would wait for Sharkey to report
in. Janet stayed in the observation nose
and sat down in a chair staring out the windows as Seaview made her way
in the water.
((()))
Sharkey headed for the
“FS-1 to Seaview,”
Sharkey called.
“Seaview,” Lee
replied. “Anything?”
“No sir. Nothing at all,” Sharkey replied with
disappointment. “We’ve searched all the
islands and are returning to Seaview.”
“Okay Chief,” Lee responded
still holding the mic in his hand. He
finally stowed it back in its holder and stood staring at the admiral’s ‘front
porch’.
While he stood there,
“Put it in the observation
nose,” Lee asked as he walked over to the table in there and picked up the mic.
“Hi Lee, did you find him,”
she asked anxiously.
“Sorry Angie, nothing so
far.”
“Oh Lee,” she said
softly. “I was hoping you had some good
news and were heading back.”
“Not just yet,” Lee replied,
“but I’m afraid we’ll have to come back soon.”
“You do have a mission
scheduled for next week,” she reminded him.
“The admiral wanted to make this trip to
“I remember the mission,” Lee
told Angie. “I’ll let you know when
we’re returning. Give Edith our
love.” Lee terminated the connection and
saw his wife looking at him. He sat down
next to her and took her hand in his.
They sat there for a few minutes before Kowalski said that FS-1 was
returning.
Lee stood up and Chip walked
over to the hatch and waited for Sharkey and Riley to climb out. He could see they looked tired too. “Sorry Skipper,” Riley said as they walked to
the control room. Both their watches
were over and they headed to their quarters.
((()))
While the men of Seaview
were still trying to find the admiral, the men on the island were struggling to
keep warm. They only had enough wood for
one more fire. They were arguing as to
when they should make it.
“I say tonight,” Jiggs
slurred. Brandon and Hugh were so tired,
they didn’t care. All they wanted to do
was sleep. Harry and Vladimir finally
agreed with him just to shut him up.
Harry knew they were starting
to display the symptoms of mild hypothermia.
Maybe if they got warm tonight they would stand a better chance of
fighting off the more severe form.
((()))
Chip and Lee walked back to
the control room while Janet went up the spiral staircase to their cabin to get
ready for dinner. Lee turned over the
conn to O’Brien and Taper. As he and
Chip walked to the control room Lee had made a decision he knew no one would
like.
“Chip, after Ski and I search
the rest of the islands if we don’t find anything, we’re going to have to face
the fact that he’s been lost. We’ve been
searching the bottom and can’t find any metal contact so we have to assume the
plane must have blown up and the wreckage scattered across the ocean or
islands. We’re going to have to head
home.”
Chip looked at Lee and could
tell he didn’t want to have to make that decision but they couldn’t look
forever. “I agree. We could search every island on foot and
still not find anything.”
“I’ll tell the crew after I
come back from my search but I want to tell Janet first then Jamie my decision.”
“Okay, Lee,” Chip said as
they entered the wardroom and saw Janet sitting at the table where Lee sat down
next to her. None of them were hungry
but let Cookie put some soup and crackers in front of them. The three of them took a couple of spoons of
soup before they got up to leave.
Putting their dishes away, they walked out of the wardroom. Chip headed to his cabin. Janet was going to their cabin as she knew
Lee was going to take his walk around.
“Janet, would you please come
with me on my walk around? I need to
tell you something,” Lee said as he took her hand and they walked down the
passageway towards the missile room. Lee
checked with the men in there and then they made their way to the reactor room,
engine room, and circuitry room before heading to the Admiral’s lab. While the admiral was away Lee always made
sure his fish in the specimen tanks were fed.
If he wasn’t available Janet would do it. She had no idea what most of the fish were
even though the admiral had told her the species several times. She only knew the two angel fish and named them
Bonnie and
“Lee what do you need to tell
me,” she asked softly as she watched them eat.
“If Kowalski and I don’t find
any signs of the plane crash tomorrow, we’re going to head back to
As tears streamed down her
face, she faced Lee. “I
understand.” He took her into his arms
and wrapped them around her while she cried.
He had to be strong for her and the rest of the crew but knew he would
have to accept that he had lost his ‘father’.
Lee walked Janet back to
their cabin on his way to the control room to make a final check before going
to see Jamie. O’Brien and Taper had Seaview
on a plateau at one hundred feet. “We’ll
stay here for the night,” Lee told them.
“Any problems, just call.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied as
they watched him leave the control room out the aft hatch. They looked at each other and knew their
captain had a lot on his mind.
Lee’s last stop for the night was
“Kowalski and I are going out
to search the last part of the
Jamie put his hand on Lee’s
arm. “I understand. Lee, it’s been a week and unless they’re out
of the elements...”
“I realize that Jamie but I’m
going to look at this last set of islands so I know in my heart I...we did
everything possible to find him.”
“Lee, you have done
everything in your power to find him,” Jamie reassured him.
“Thanks for the pep talk,”
Lee smiled as they stood up. “Don’t work
too much longer,” he told Jamie as he turned and walked out of
((()))
Lee entered his cabin to find
Janet sitting at his desk in her pajamas.
She was looking at the picture of the admiral, Lee and Chip taken a few
months after Lee took over command of Seaview in their dress white
uniforms. “I’ve always loved this
picture. The three of you look so happy.
You can see how proud he was you were the captain,” Janet said putting the
picture back in its place on Lee’s desk.
Lee went over to her, helped her up and held her rubbing her back. After
a few minutes Janet pushed herself away from Lee, “I’m tired, let’s go to bed.”
She pulled back the blankets on the bunk and climbed in. Lee got ready for bed and climbed in next to
her. He pulled her close and could feel
her body shaking as she cried herself to sleep.
((()))
When Harry and Vladimir woke
up the next morning the wind was still howling but the sleet had changed to
rain. They were shivering as were the
other men who were still sleeping. The
fire had gone out hours ago. “Harry,
we’re going to have to go out today and find some wood to burn. If we leave it outside the smoke will stay
out there and maybe some of the heat will come in the cave. If we don’t, we’re going to freeze to death.”
“Okay, let’s see if we can
find some wood,” Harry replied knowing it was a long shot at it working. The wood would be very wet and he wondered
how they were going to keep the rain from putting it out. Lee, where are you? Harry wondered.
As hard as they tried, they
had a hard time getting up. Even though
they just woke up they were tired.
“Let’s wait a little longer,”
“Fine with me,” Harry
responded and closed his eyes resting his head on
((()))
Lee and Janet were up early
and quickly got ready. They would eat a fast breakfast so Lee and Kowalski
could get an early start on their search.
Chip and Jamie were already in the wardroom when they entered. Lee looked at Chip and knew Jamie had told
him what they talked about yesterday.
Even Janet could tell Jamie knew what Lee’s plans were if they didn’t
find the admiral today. Cookie put a
plate of pancakes in front of them. They
weren’t hungry but figured they better eat it or Jamie would have a fit. Once they finished up, the four of them made
their way to the control room. Janet had
brought Lee’s leather jacket with her so he wouldn’t have to go back to the
cabin. Lee looked over the control room
and saw every stationed manned and ready to go.
Sharkey was by the vertical plotter.
He was going to mark the islands as Lee flew over them. Patterson had replaced Kowalski at the sonar
console. Chip checked in with Johnson
and Taylor who had relieved O’Brien and Taper. Everything was in order with Seaview
as well as the log books, so Chip signed the book noting the change in
command. Taylor and Johnson were tired
but left the control room and went to the crew’s mess were most of the crew not
on duty were going to wait to see if Lee and Kowalski would find the
admiral.
Lee walked over to
“Ready Kowalski,” Lee asked
as he put on his jacket still standing by the plotting table.
“Yes sir,” he answered
putting on his jacket and stood next Lee.
Lee unrolled the map of the
“Good luck, Lee,” Chip said
as Lee headed down the ladder into the flying sub.
Lee and Kowalski strapped in
and Lee turned on the engines while Kowalski checked out the rest of the
systems.
“Everything ready to go?” Lee
asked.
“All green,” Kowalski
responded as Lee told the control room to launch the flying sub.
Chip, Jamie and Janet stood
in the observation nose and watch as the flying sub cleared the front of Seaview
and prepared to go airborne. Chip
returned to the control room while Jamie and Janet sat down in the chairs and
would wait for Lee to report in.
((()))
Once Lee was airborne, it
took all his skills to keep control of the flying due to the high winds. They managed to fly east over
Lee turned the little sub and
headed back west over
After being out for three
hours Lee called Seaview, “FS-1 to Seaview,” pressing the button
on the throat mic.
“Seaview,” Chip
answered immediately. Jamie and Janet
went over to the plotting table when they heard Lee calling in.
“We’ve spotted nothing in the
“Okay Lee. We’ll be waiting for your call,” Chip
responded softly and stood there with the mic in his hand for a few seconds
before finally replacing it. Jamie and
Janet went back to the observation nose and sat down. Cookie had just put a new pot of coffee in
the nose. Janet poured a mug and brought
it over to Chip. He nodded thanks as she
gave it to him. She then poured a cup for her and Jamie which they drank slowly
waiting for Lee to call.
Due to the low hanging
clouds, Kowalski was having a problem seeing the ground. Lee was getting more discouraged by the
minute. Kowalski put down the binoculars
just for a moment so he could re-focus his eyes.
“Kowalski, keep looking,” Lee
ordered.
“Sorry Skipper,” Kowalski
replied and picked up the binoculars.
“No Ski, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped on you. How about you fly her for awhile and give
your eyes a rest while I scan the ground,” Lee apologized.
“Thanks, Skipper.” Kowalski handed Lee the binoculars and took
over the controls of the flying sub.
They had just turned back east on their final leg of their search before
heading back to Seaview.
They only had a few more
islands to search when Lee spotted something on the ground. “Kowalski, circle back over the area you just
flew over. Kowalski quickly made a
U-turn and headed back. “Ski, look
there’s a plane down there. Can you get
a little closer,” Lee said excitedly.
Kowalski dropped down a little lower and he too saw the plane. Lee looked at the map and traced the course
he and Chip had plotted. They were near
“Skipper, I see the plane but
it looks like it’s been there awhile but did you notice the huge burnt out area
next to it,” Ski asked.
“Yes, I did. I’ll take back the controls to try and land
her. There sure isn’t much room but I’ve
got to try,” Lee said as Kowalski turned over the controls to Lee. If anyone could land FS-1 in a small area it
was Lee. He could get her to do things
she was never meant to do. While Lee was
probably the best at flying her, Kowalski wasn’t too far behind as he also had
a knack for handling the little sub. Lee
managed to land her not too far from the other plane. He and Kowalski un-strapped their belts and
went to the locker in the back where they quickly took off their shoes and put
on the boots, water-proof parkas and gloves they had stored in the sub knowing
it would be muddy and cold once they left FS-1.
They exited the rear hatch and made their way to the aircraft on the
ground.
((()))
Harry woke up and saw the
rest of the men were still sleeping. As
he tried to clear the cobwebs from his brain, he heard a familiar noise. He sat up quickly waking up Vladimir who was
resting against him.
“Did you hear that,” he asked
getting up and going to the entrance to the cave.
“Hear what,”
“It sounded like a whine of
an engine, FS-1 engines,” he answered as he opened up the door letting the wind
and cold into the cave waking up the rest of the men.
“Harry, what the hell are you
doing,” Jiggs asked looking confused as what was going on.
“I heard FS-1,” Harry
said. “I’d know that sound anywhere.”
“Come on, Harry, close the
door you’re letting all the cold air in,”
Harry shut the door after he
left the cave. The wind was still
blowing and it was raining but he didn’t care.
He knew he heard her. After
looking down into the small valley, he didn’t see her only the old plane and
the burned area of the other plane. Maybe
I was dreaming, he thought as he returned to the cave and sat down next to
Harry slowly got up, “I’m
going to check out the area by the plane,” he said going out into the bad
weather.
((()))
Lee and Kowalski walked over
the aircraft they spotted from the air.
Lee could tell that the airplane had been there awhile but was surprised
that it wasn’t overgrown by the brush that surrounded the area around the
plane. Before going into the aircraft,
they walked over to the charred spot on the ground. There were quite a few large pieces of the
aircraft that hadn’t burn. They found part of an engine, landing gear and a
wing intact laying little ways away from the main fuselage. Neither one of them
said anything as they walked around the burnt out fuselage looking for anything
to identify the people on board. They
finished searching the area around the plane and found nothing.
Sighing heavily, “I’m
thinking this was the admiral’s airplane,” Lee said to Kowalski as he turned
his back to him and walked away from the area not wanting Kowalski to see how
upset he was. “That one over there is
far too large and it’s been sitting there for awhile. Let’s check it out anyway; maybe it can give
us a clue as to how it got here.” Lee
and Kowalski entered the older plane and noticed there was nothing in it. All the seats had been removed along with
everything else that wasn’t bolted down.
“Skipper, this plane is
empty,” Kowalski said as they walked to the cockpit and noticed the gauges and
radio were gone too. “This island isn’t
habited so where did all the stuff go? This type of plane was used at least
twenty years ago.” Kowalski told Lee as he had been fascinated with planes his
whole life and knew quite a bit about them.
Shaking his head, Lee
answered, “Ski, I have no idea unless they took all the stuff with them when
they were rescued. You would think the
Navy would’ve sent someone back to salvage the plane.”
Lee stood at the rear of the
plane looking out the door at the scorched earth. “Let’s head back, I think we have our
answer,” Lee said somberly as he jumped out of the plane and starting walking
back to FS-1 wondering how he was going to tell Edith, the crew and the staff
at NIMR that the admiral was dead.
Kowalski jumped out right after him.
They walked back in silence to FS-1.
Before they got to the little sub, Lee stopped. “Did you say something Ski,” Lee asked
turning to face him as he thought he heard him call his name.
“No sir. I didn’t,” Kowalski answered quickly.
Lee removed the hood on his
parka. He heard someone calling his name
again. “Did you hear that,” Lee said.
“Yes sir, I did that time,”
Kowalski replied as he looked to where the sound was coming from.
((()))
The rain had stopped as Harry
left the cave. Before he got to the bottom of the hill, he saw the little
yellow sub sitting in the valley near the other airplane. He saw two men walking back to FS-1. He wasn’t sure who they were because of their
parkas but he would bet one of them was Lee as he was the only one who could
land FS-1 in that small area.
As he ran stumbling down the
hill he yelled, “Lee, Lee.” He lost
sight of them as he was at the bottom of the hill and the brush was too tall to
see over. He yelled again, “Lee, Lee,
stop....don’t leave...wait...we’re here.”
((()))
Lee started walking over
towards the voice. He could swear it was
the admiral’s voice he heard coming from the brush.
“Lee, Lee,” the voice yell
again as the admiral emerged from the tall brush.
Lee stood there staring at a
dirty, scraggly, and smelly man but he would know those blue eyes
anywhere. “Admiral, is it really you?”
Lee asked running over to him and embracing him. “It is you,” Lee said with tears in his eyes. Kowalski stood there looking at the admiral
with relief on his face.
“Kowalski,” the admiral said,
“I’m so happy to see you.”
“Same here sir,” Kowalski
replied as
“This is
“We’re already here,” Jiggs
bellowed as he and
“Kowalski, we need to get
them FS-l immediately,” Lee ordered as they looked like they were about to
collapse. Kowalski helped Hugh get on
board while Lee took Admiral Fisher.
Kowalski strapped Hugh into the bunk and covered him with one of the
thermal blankets they kept on board. Lee
strapped in Admiral Fisher and covered him.
Lee then helped Admiral Starke onto FS-1 and put a blanket around
him. Kowalski helped
Lee started FS-1 so the men
could warm up. He took the mic off the
side by the pilot seat, “FS-1 to Seaview. Come in Seaview.” Lee
called urgently.
“This is Seaview,”
Chip answered quickly. “Lee, are you
okay...you’re late calling and we’ve been trying to raise you for the last half
hour.” Jamie and Janet heard Lee’s voice
and ran over to the plotting table.
“Sorry Chip but we found the
admiral,” Lee replied. “We’re going to
need help...we’re on the island of Samalga...bring Seaview as close as
you can to the island.”
“You found the admiral,” Chip
asked quietly not knowing if he was alive or not.
“Yes, he’s alive,” Lee told
him. He could hear all the men in the
control room cheering and yelling.
“Calm down men and report
back to your stations,” Chip said smiling.
He looked at Janet who had tears in her eyes and relief on Jamie’s
face.
Once all the cheering stopped
Lee continued, “We have all the men from the plane on FS-1 but can’t take them
all. I’ll have Kowalski fly back three
of them. I’m sending two injured men and
Admiral Starke but tell Jamie to be prepared to receive a total of five men. I
think they are suffering from mild hypothermia.
Tell Cookie to have a lot of food and hot drinks available too.”
“Jamie’s right here and will
have
Looking at his watch and
knowing where Seaview was stationed he said, “He should be there in
thirty minutes. The admiral, one other
man, and I will wait for Kowalski to come back.
Call SAR on
“Okay Lee,” Chip answered,
“we’ll be waiting for you. Seaview out.”
Lee put the mic back in its
holder and put his leather jacket on as he let the admiral keep his parka and
gloves. He helped
“We can wait in that plane,”
Lee suggested pointing to the old plane.
“No Lee, there’s a cave up
that hill,” the admiral said pointing to the where the cave was. “We can wait there until Kowalski returns.”
“You’ve been in a cave all
this time,” Lee asked as he followed the two men up the hill to the cave.
“Yes Lee, this has been home
for the last week,” the admiral told him. “I’m sorry
“Nice to meet you,” Lee shook
his hand and said, “You’ve been here twenty years. Were you on the old plane that crashed?”
Before he could respond, “I
was too Lee,” the admiral added as Lee just stood there was a perplexed look on
his face. “It’s a long story I’ll tell
you about once we’re aboard Seaview,” the admiral said patting him on
the shoulder.
“It’s so good to see you,”
Lee said quietly, “we had just about given up on finding you. You have a lot of phone calls to make when
you get back. Edith and Angie will be
the first two.”
“You called Edith,” the
admiral asked, “I suppose she’s in
“Admiral, I had to call
her. We didn’t know if you were dead or
alive. She needed to know,” Lee
explained.
“Yes, yes, you’re right. I’m just not thinking clearly,” the admiral
said as he pulled the parka tighter around him.
“I’m sure she will along with
Angie, Wanda and Janet,” Lee grinned. “I
bet Edith won’t let you out of her sight for weeks,” he teased.
“Huh huh,” the admiral
grumbled, “but I better get cleaned up before they’ll even want to see me let
alone take care of me.”
“I know one person who isn’t
going to care how you look,” Lee said, “and will be happy to see you when you
get aboard.”
“Think she’ll give me a kiss
hello?” the admiral said with a grin knowing he was filthy and smelly.
Smiling back, Lee replied, “I
bet you get a kiss and a hug.”
“They let women on
submarines?” he asked.
“Yes they do now but even if
they didn’t since Seaview is a privately owned vessel I can do whatever
I want,” Harry stated as the three men laughed.
While they waited for FS-1 to
return,
“Yes sir,” Lee answered, “the
admiral invented her and we wouldn’t have found you if he hadn’t.” Lee
continued looking at the admiral relieved that he was alive even if he was a
mess.
They talked about the flying
sub a little while longer before they heard the whine of her engines and knew
Kowalski had come back to pick them up.
“
“No Harry, I don’t think
so. I need to start a new life so why
take the old one with me,” he said quietly, “but thank you for offering.”
The three men made their way
down the hill to the valley just as Kowalski turned off her engines. He opened the rear hatch and helped
“FS-1 to Seaview,” Lee
called while starting the engines.
“Seaview,” Chip
answered.
“We’re leaving the island
now, Chip. We should be there shortly.”
“Yes sir,” Chip responded as
he looked at the men and woman in the control room who were waiting anxiously
for the admiral to come aboard.
Thirty minutes later Lee
radioed Seaview, “Open the docking doors.”
“Aye, aye sir,” Chip replied.
After opening the docking doors, all the men left their stations and stood in a
line in the observation nose. Once FS-1
was tucked in her berth and the docking doors closed, Sharkey went over to the
hatch, turned the wheel, and lifted it open.
Lee let the admiral go up the ladder first where he was piped aboard his
submarine. He was surprised as they
wouldn’t normally pipe him aboard. Once
on deck, the crew cheered and clapped loudly relieved to have him back. Chip and Janet were standing at the front of
the line. Chip shook his hand
vigorously, “Welcome back sir.” Janet,
her eyes wet with tears, gave him a kiss and a hug said, “I’m so glad you’re
back.” The admiral looked at Lee and
smiled which Lee returned. The admiral
made his way down the line shaking all the crew’s hand before they returned to
their stations.
“Mr. Morton,” Lee said to
Chip, “set a course for home.”
“Aye, aye sir,” Chip said
promptly telling the engine room and maneuvering to get them underway.
Frank was waiting at the end
of the line, “I have orders to bring the admiral and his guest to
The admiral looked at him and
sighed, “I can’t refuse, can I?”
“No sir. Dr. Jamieson said he would drag you down
himself if you didn’t come.”
“Frank, tell Jamie I will
personally bring him down as soon as he calls his sister,” Lee told him.
“Yes sir,” Frank answered and
left for
((()))
As soon as Hugh, Admirals
Starke and Fisher were aboard, Chip made sure that they had an opportunity to
call their loved ones.
When the admiral came aboard,
Lee made sure he placed a call to Edith.
Lee checked his watch and knew she would be at the institute waiting for
him to call along with Angie and Wanda.
As soon as Lee radioed he had found them, Chip phoned the
institute.
“Harry, is that really you,”
Edith cried when she heard his voice over the video phone seeing how dirty he
was. “I’m so glad you’re alive…are you
okay? I don’t know what I would have
done without you.”
“I’m fine,” he replied his
eye getting moist with tears. He was
afraid he would never see her again.
Angie took her turn talking
to him, “Oh Admiral, it’s so good to hear you voice,” she said as tears ran
down her cheeks.
Then Wanda also talked to
him, “I’m so glad you all right,” she said her voice quivering with emotion.
“I’ll be home soon,” he
replied staunchly as the tears fell from his eyes. “I missed all of you.” He disconnected the call, wiped his eyes,
opened the crash doors and returned to the Control Room. Lee, Chip and Janet were standing at the
plotting table with
“
“I don’t think so. I had a sister in
When Janet heard that she
looked at Lee, he nodded his head letting her know it was okay to look for her
as he knew she would move heaven and earth to track her down.
((()))
As Lee, the admiral and
Vladimir walked to
“Yes Lee, the co-pilot of the
airplane was killed in the crash. We couldn’t get him out before the plane
caught on fire,” the admiral replied.
“The man with the broken leg is Hugh, the pilot,”
“I see,” Lee answered as they
walked into
((()))
Jamie was waiting for the
admiral and Vladimir to come aboard. He
had already taken care of Hugh’s leg and Admiral Fisher’s back. With the help
of Frank and John, they managed to clean up the two men and get them into some clean
scrubs. Admiral Starke just needed to
clean up and eat a good meal. He wanted
to wait in
“It’s about time you got
here,” Jamie teased with a grin on his face as he too was very happy to see his
boss and shook his hand.
“I’m fine,” the admiral told
Jamie.
“I’ll be the judge of that,”
Jamie said as he looked him over. “Why
don’t you get cleaned up and return back here so I can check you out more
thoroughly,” Jamie instructed. “I expect
you back here in thirty minutes or I‘ll send Frank to get you.”
“Jamie,” the admiral
protested but saw the look on his face, “Okay, I’ll be back,” he grumbled. “Jamie, this is Dr. Vladimir Shencko, a
chemical scientist from the People’s Republic.
I was supposed to bring him back to the
“I’m Will Jamieson, chief
medical officer of Seaview and NIMR, pleased to meet you,” Jamie said as
he shook his hand looking him over. “I understand you’re the one who took care
of Hugh and Admiral Fisher. You did a fine
job with what you had to work with.
Hugh’s leg is healing nicely as is Admiral Fisher’s back. It’s infected
but with some antibiotics he‘ll be fine.”
“Thank you, Dr. Jamieson,”
“Everyone calls me Jamie and
I want to take a look at you also. I’ll
have John bring you back here in thirty minutes.”
“I’m okay,”
“Dr. Shencko,” Lee said
smiling, “Please don’t argue with him. He going to win and will not let you
alone until he does. No one can escape
Jamie when he gets you in his clutches.”
“Please call me Vladimir,” he
said to Lee, “all right you win.”
Before Lee returned to the
control room he said to the admiral, “Chip, Janet and I will meet all of you in
the wardroom in an hour. Cookie has some
hot chicken noodle soup and fresh rolls waiting for you.”
“Fine, Lee,” the admiral said
patting his shoulder and left for his cabin grateful to be back ‘home’.
((()))
John escorted Vladimir and
Admiral Starke to their cabins where there was a change of clothes and all the
other necessities they would need to get cleaned up. “I’ll see that the laundry takes care of your
clothes,” John told them, “Just leave them by the door.”
“Thank you,” both men replied
as John returned to
Both men took longer than
normal showers as the hot water felt so good on their bodies. Both men shaved and looked a lot better than
before.
Thirty minutes later John
returned to get the men and both of them were ready and waiting for him. Just as John was about to knock on the
admiral’s door, he opened it up. “I’m
ready,” he said shutting the door to his cabin.
John brought the men to
Jamie released the admiral
along with Admiral Starke and Vladimir from
Cookie had the mess specialists
bring the two men still in sick bay large bowls of soup along with the rolls
and coffee. The men were very pleased to
get the food along with the strong hot coffee they had been craving for the
last week.
Jamie left Frank in charge of
((()))
Lee returned to the Control
Room where Chip was reviewing the course and speed with O’Brien and Taper. Janet was in the Observation Nose looking out
the windows as Seaview cruised through the water. After he finished with Chip he joined her in
the Observation Nose. “You okay,” he
asked as he could see her eyes were a little moist.
“I’m so happy you found him,”
she said to Lee giving his hand a squeeze.
She would have given him a kiss but the whole control room was watching
them. “I don’t know what I would’ve have done with out him. I do have a
question for you, what was that grin he gave you when he came aboard?”
Lee grinned as he explained, “He
didn’t think you would give him a kiss or hug because he was so dirty and
stinky.”
“Lee, I didn’t even notice, I
was just so happy to see him.”
“Me too,” he concurred. “Let’s see if Chip is done with O’Brien and
Taper so we can go to dinner.” he said as they walked into the Control Room and
stood next to Chip just as he was finishing up, “I’m anxious to hear the story
about how the admiral was on the first plane to crash there.”
“What!!” Chip and Janet said
in unison. “He was on that island
before?”
“Yes, he was bringing Dr.
Shencko to the
The three of them left the
Control Room through the aft hatch and made their way to the wardroom where the
other men and Jamie had just sat down.
Cookie and the mess specialists were bringing them huge bowls of soup,
bread and of course coffee. Janet sat
next to the admiral, Lee sat next to her and Chip across from them.
“Admiral,” Lee said, “please
tell us how and why you were on
The four men from the island
dug into their soup as the admiral explained to Lee, Chip, Jamie and Janet what
had taken place twenty years before and how they had to leave
When the admiral was done talking,
Lee piped up, “I don’t understand why the Navy didn’t go back and search for
you or salvage the plane.”
“Why did they leave Inseok
Nasaki on the island to start with,” Janet asked breaking off a piece of roll.
“During WWII the Japanese
attacked the islands of
“That poor man. He had been there alone all that time,” Janet
replied sadly.
“He had no idea how long he
had been there until we showed up. I
don’t know how he lasted that long,”
The group sat there in
silence for a few minutes before they finished up their dinners. The men from the island all had second
helpings of soup. The only who didn’t
was
“Is there something wrong
with the soup…I can make you something else,” Cookie asked.
“No, the soup was great. I’m just not used to eating meat. I’ve lived on fish for so long I forgot how
it tastes,” he said reassuring the worried chef.
“I can make you a tuna fish
sandwich,” Cookie offered ready return to the galley.
“No…no. Please this is fine.”
“I hope you haven’t lost your
taste for chocolate as I made brownies for dessert,” Cookie said he signaled
the mess specialists to bring over the brownies and remove the dirty dishes
from the table. They placed two huge
plates of brownies down in front of the group and two carafes of coffee. They all eagerly dived into brownies. There were enough brownies for everyone to
have two except Janet who had one but Chip ate her second one.
He whispered to the admiral,
“Does he always eat that much food.”
Noticing he also had three bowls of soup and that many rolls.
Lee and Janet overheard him
and broke out into a smile as the admiral answered, “Yes he does and we have no
idea where he puts it.” Chip just smiled
as he drank his coffee and finished up Janet’s brownie.
Vladimir and Admiral Starke
could barely contain their yawns so they excused themselves to return to their
cabins for the night. Admiral Starke
took
The admiral along with Lee,
Chip, Jamie and Janet lingered a little longer before retiring to their
cabins.
“Cookie,” the admiral called,
“I would like to have a celebration dinner in the observation nose
tomorrow. Do you have anything you can
make?”
Thinking it over for a
minutes, “Yes, I can make something special for you,” Cookie answered.
“Good, put out the good china
and wine. We do have wine don’t we?”
“Yes sir. I’ve been saving it for something special,”
he answered with a huge grin on his face.
They finally stood up after
the admiral started to yawn. Jamie
noticed it, “Admiral, you’ve had a long day.
You better go hit the rack.”
“Yes, I agree. I’m pretty tired. I can’t wait to sleep in my bunk instead of
on those airplane cushions.”
They all walked back to their
cabins. The admiral and Lee walked ahead
of Chip and Janet. Jamie made a quick
trip back to
“Lee, sometime tomorrow I
would like to talk to you about how you managed to find us. There are so many islands in the chain. I didn’t think we would ever be rescued,” the
admiral said.
“Admiral, I didn’t think we
would find you either,” Lee answered as they stopped Lee and Janet’s cabin.
“Good night sir,” Lee said,
“it’s good to have you back.” Janet and
Chip shook their heads in agreement.
They stood outside their
cabin door watching the admiral walk down to his cabin. The three of them took a deep breath and
finally relaxed.
“Good night, Lee, Janet,”
Chip said as he walked to his cabin.
Lee opened the door for Janet
and let her go in first. He took her by
the waist and gave her a long deep kiss which she returned. They were so worried about the admiral they
hadn’t had anytime for themselves. They
quickly got ready for bed and climbed in.
They managed to tune out everything and concentrated only on each other
for the next few hours.
((()))
After they all had breakfast
Lee and Chip went to the Control Room and stood at the plotting table checking Seaview’s
position and speed. She was on course
and should be home in two days. Janet
had gone to her office to finish up the duty roster when she got an idea. She went to
“Good morning, Admiral
Starke,” Janet said pleasantly. “Did you
enjoy your breakfast?”
“Yes, it was fine,” he
mumbled.
“Sir, would you like us to
have your wife meet us at the institute when we dock? I’ll make sure she’s there.” Janet asked.
“No that’s okay. She’s not in
“You sure sir? We can track her down,” Janet volunteered.
“Mrs. Crane, I told you no,”
he said tersely and scowled at her.
“Yes sir,” Janet replied and
left the wardroom. She decided she would
track her down anyway. What could he do
to her as he couldn’t fire her. Just
rant and rave but she was willing to take his gruff.
((()))
Janet left the wardroom with
the duty rosters and went to the Control Room. She handed them to Chip to look
over before she posted them. He signed
off on them and she stood there.
“Is something wrong?” Lee
asked with concern as she didn‘t leave right away.
“I’ve got an idea but I don’t
want to do anything about it without the admiral’s approval or yours,” Janet
said softly.
Lee and Chip looked at each
wondering what she was up to. “Spill
it,” Lee said with a grin.
“I already have Angie trying
to find Dr. Shencko’s sister. If she
does find her, can we fly her to NIMR? I
was also hoping we could maybe fly Admiral Fisher’s and Starke’s wife along
with Hugh’s wife to meet us when we dock. Maybe they could also stay the night
at a nice hotel? They must have been worried to death about them. I know how I feel when you return home after
an ONI mission. I know it will cost a
lot of money but…”
Before Lee could answer, the
admiral came down the spiral staircase and heard only part of what Janet had
suggested. “What costs a lot of money?”
he asked.
Lee and Chip looked at Janet,
“Sweetie, it’s your idea, you ask him,” Lee told her with a smile knowing full
well the admiral would agree to it but he wanted her to ask.
“Well,” she hesitated but got
up her nerve and explained to him what she wanted to do. If he said no, she was in big trouble as she
already had made arrangements with Angie to do it.
“That’s a great idea,” the
admiral agreed. “I don’t care what it
costs. Family is the most important
thing in a person’s life. I never
realized it until I was afraid I would never see mine again.”
“Thank you sir,” Janet
replied quickly as she ran up the staircase to her office so she could call
Angie and tell her it was okay. Damn,
she thought as she forgot to post the duty rosters. As soon as she was done with her call she
would post them.
The admiral went out the aft
hatch after giving Janet the okay to get
Lee and Chip watched as she
ran up the staircase and laughed. First
she forgot about the rosters and would have to come back to post them. Lee spoke up once she was out of earshot, “I
think she had already put her idea into motion.
I wonder what she would have done if the admiral had said no,” he mused
tapping his pencil on the plotting table.
“I think it would have cost
you and her a couple month’s salary,” Chip chuckled. “Knowing her as well as I do she would’ve
paid for it herself to get their families there.”
“You’re right,” Lee agreed
shaking his head, “but if it makes her happy, I’d gladly pay for it.” The two of them returned to their duties in
the Control Room. Lee making his rounds
checking out the equipment and men while Chip continued to monitor their
progress.
((()))
Janet called
“That’s good because I’ve
already booked the flights for Admiral Fisher‘s and Hugh‘s wife,” Angie
snickered. “They’re coming from the east coast. I’ve also made reservations at
The Pepper Tree Inn for all of them. Admiral
Starke’s wife just got back to
“Thanks Angie. Did you call the other person I talked to you
about?” Janet asked carefully crossing
her fingers.
“Yes, good to go,” Angie
replied happily.
“I’ll talk to you later,”
Janet answered severing her connection.
She did a happy dance in the cabin before running to the crew’s mess to
post the duty rosters.
((()))
After the admiral asked him
to make something special for dinner, Cookie went to the freezer to see what he
had. He forgot he put some stew meat in
the freezer. He took it out to
thaw. He checked the wine supply. He had two bottles here and knew the admiral
had a couple of bottles in the Observation Nose. He would use his bottles to make a beef in
wine dish with noodles. They didn’t have
any fresh vegetables or fruit left so he would have to use the frozen corn he
had on hand. For dessert, he could make
a couple of pies. He would make one
apple and one cherry using the canned filling but could make the crust from
scratch. They didn’t have any ice cream
for a la mode but he was sure the admiral wouldn’t mind. After they served breakfast, Cookie and the
mess specialists started cooking dinner.
The longer it cooked the tastier it would be. When it came time for lunch, the galley
smelled heavenly between the meat dish and pies. Lunch was tuna sandwiches with chips but no
one cared as Cookie was too busy with dinner.
((()))
It was an hour before dinner
and Cookie had asked Lee to close the crash doors so he and the mess
specialists could get ready for dinner.
Cookie found the admiral’s two bottles of wine in the cabinet by the
spiral staircase. Lucky for him it was
red. They brought out the good china and
set the table. Cookie had also managed
to create a few appetizers with some canned shrimp he had and some leftover
bread which he broiled making it nice and crusty.
Since all the men from the
island only had the clothes on their backs when they were rescued and as hard
as the men on laundry detail tried they couldn’t get their clothes
cleaned. The men had to wear crew’s
uniforms until they got into port. So
the admiral decided that the officers would wear their duty khaki’s for dinner.
Janet chose to wear the only dress she had on board with a pair of low
heels. Dinner was scheduled for 1800
hours. Cookie had the mess specialists
set out the appetizers and drinks for those who didn’t want the wine.
Hugh with the help of Admiral
Fisher came through the aft hatch with Jamie following behind. He hobbled on his crutches through the
control room and into the Observation Nose.
He was in awe at how big Seaview was and how much the crew thought
of the admiral as that is all they talked about when they had to come to Sick
Bay. Admiral Fisher was also impressed
with the sub. He had heard of her but
never had the opportunity to see her until now.
The admiral had given him a tour once he was released from
“To life and family. Enjoy your life as you never know when it
could be over and love your family even more,” the admiral said raising his
glass, winking at his command staff and Janet who winked back.
“Here, here,” everyone
replied as they raised their glasses.
They munched on the appetizers until Cookie brought in dinner. Everyone sat down with the admiral at one end
and Admiral Starke at the other. Lee and
Janet sat next to Admiral Fisher and Vladimir.
Chip parked himself next to Hugh with Jamie alongside of him too. Cookie put the noodles and beef in wine on
their plates with the corn and dinner rolls. They all marveled at how delicious
the dinner was.
When everyone was finished
eating, the mess specialist removed their dishes and replace them with dessert
plates and cups for coffee. Cookie
brought in the cherry and apple pies to many oohs and aahs.
“I’m glad I don’t work on
this submarine,” Hugh commented, “I’d gain twenty pounds. The food has been great.”
Everyone laughed and agreed
with him. “Thank you,” Cookie replied
graciously as he filled their cups with coffee.
They were enjoying the
evening so they lingered well into the night. Vladimir, Admiral Fisher and Hugh
couldn’t stop looking out the windows as Seaview made her way through
the water. Cookie had to make another
two pots of coffee before they decided to call it a night. Jamie helped Hugh back to
“Good night, Lee,” Chip said
when they reached his. “It’s been a long
day. I’m sure glad it all worked out.”
Lee undid his tie and
loosened the top button on his shirt.
“I’m glad Janet helped me make the decision to go out one more time to
look for him,” Lee replied. “Night
Chip.”
Lee continued on to his cabin
where Janet had already fallen asleep.
Chuckling as he watched her sleep, he knew she had a little too much
wine and whiskey. So much for my
evening plans, he thought as he got ready for bed, climbed in the bunk
laying right next to her.
((()))
Seaview made good time as Lee ran her at full speed the rest
of the way to
Janet went to the Control
Room to look for Lee. She had just gotten off the video phone with Angie. He
was there with Chip and they were discussing what needed to be done to Seaview
during her short time at the institute.
They had a mission scheduled to the southern Pacific and were scheduled
to leave on Wednesday. It was a mission that the admiral had set up a few
months back. Even though they didn’t
want go, he knew the admiral had promised his friend he and Seaview
would help him out. Since it was already
Sunday, they wouldn’t have much time at home.
Janet walked over to the plotting
table. “I’ve got some good news for
you,” she said to him smiling.
He looked at her with a
perplexed look, “Well are you going to tell me or do I have to guess?”
“First, the mission scheduled
for next week has been postponed indefinitely.
Seems the problem the admiral’s friend was having with the hatchery has
corrected itself. So we’re free for the
next month as that was the only mission scheduled until the following month
when we’re scheduled to restock one of the undersea laboratories,” she told
them happily.
“That is great news,” Lee
said with relief. “But you said first,
so what’s the other issue,” he asked sensing she needed something from him.
“When we dock, could you
dismiss the crew first before letting the men from the island off the boat. I want to surprise them after the crew has
left. All their families are going to be
there including Dr. Shencko’s sister as Angie managed to track her down. She’s hasn’t seen her brother in over twenty
years so I thought…”
“Say no more, sweetie. I’ll make sure that the crew will be the first
off. They’ll want to see their families
too.”
“Thanks honey,” Janet said
giving Lee a quick peck on the check as she walked out the aft hatch. He looked around the Control Room noticing
all the men had smiles on their faces.
((()))
It was early Sunday morning
when Seaview made it to the channel that led to her dock. Lee and Chip were both in the conning tower
as Lee skillfully berthed the huge submarine not scratching her paint much to
Chip’s chagrin. The dock detail threw
the lines to the deck crew and tied her down as the dock detail put out the
gangway. Once Seaview was docked
and tied down, Lee and Chip returned to the Control Room. “Attention all hands,” Lee said over the
mic. “You are dismissed for the next two
weeks. Enjoy your time off and I can’t
thank you enough for all the hard work you put in on this mission.” You could hear the whoops and hollers as the
men started to leave the boat. Chip standing
at the bottom of the ladder in the control room checked each one off as they
left. Kowalski, Patterson, Chief
Sharkey, and Riley were the last ones off the boat. Lee stopped them before they left the boat, “Chief,
Riley, thanks for staying behind and bringing up FS-1. We never would have found the admiral without
it,” he said as he patted them on the back.
“Kowalski and Patterson, thanks for the extra effort you put in when
searching the islands,” Lee told them giving them a pat on the back too.
“No problem, Skipper,” the
men replied.
The men went up the ladder
and out the sail hatch. Janet had asked
Sharkey to tell Angie that they were the last ones off so she could have the
families of the men stranded on the island greet their families in private.
Angie helped Dr. Shencko’s
sister out of the car. Edith and Wanda as well the other men’s wives were there
waiting too and one surprise person.
Admiral Fisher’s wife and Hugh’s wife were rather surprised at the size
of Seaview.
Jamie went up first and with
the help of Admiral Fisher got Hugh up the ladder and onto the quarterdeck
where he and Admiral Fisher spotted their wives. Hugh’s wife ran up the gangplank and greeted
her husband hugging and kissing him while Admiral Fisher ran down the gangplank
and greeted his wife picking her up and swinging her around kissing her as her
well. Admiral Starke headed up next
followed by the admiral, Lee and Janet.
Chip would be the last one off the boat today and would help up Dr.
Shencko. When Admiral Starke got to the
quarterdeck he stopped. He was surprised
to see his wife there as he had ordered Janet not to call her.
As the admiral, Lee, Janet,
Chip and Dr. Shencko walked onto the quarterdeck, Admiral Starke bellowed, “Mrs.
Crane, I see you don’t follow orders any better than your husband, do you?”
“No sir,” she snapped back
quickly. Lee was about to say something
to him but Janet put her hand on his arm.
Admiral Starke walked back to her, leaned over and gave her a kiss on
the cheek whispering, “Thank you.” He
ran down the gangplank into the waiting arms of his wife.
“What was that all about?”
Lee asked.
“He told me not to call his
wife but I did it anyway.”
Lee gave her a kiss on her
other cheek and chuckled, “I guess neither one us can follow his
orders.”
Dr. Shencko saw his sister,
Renata, standing there and broke into tears as he hadn’t seen her in over
twenty years. Janet took his arm and
walked him down the gangplank to his sister’s open arms. All of them were crying when they
hugged. “I didn’t know if you were
alive,” Dr. Shencko said to her. “Thank
you,” he said to all of them. “You’ve
made me very happy.” Everyone wiped away
their tears as Lee helped Renata into the car and Dr. Shencko climbed in the
back seat next to her and grabbed her hand.
The driver left the dock and drove them to the
Edith, Angie and Wanda ran
over the admiral and smothered him with hugs and kisses. He was embarrassed by all the attention he
was getting. “You’re not going anywhere
for awhile,” Edith told her brother as he held his hand.
Jamie and Chip had made their
way down the gangplank and were standing next to Lee and Janet. Chip wondered why there was still a car there
as all of them had brought their own cars to the institute. The door opened and out stepped Julie. Chip stood there not sure what to do. Julie ran over to him and gave him a very
passionate kiss and hug. He was pretty
embarrassed by the time she was through.
Lee, Chip and Janet normally
went out to eat when they returned from a mission. “Chip, are we going out to eat…my
treat…anywhere you want to go,” Lee teased.
“Sorry Lee,” Chip responded
quickly, “Not this time. I’ve got other
plans.” Chip threw Lee his car keys and
jumped into the car with Julie and drove off.
“Janet, I guess you’ll have
to drive our car home,” Lee laughed as he caught Chip’s keys.
Jamie was the last one left. “Jamie,” Edith said, “come over to Harry’s
house. I’ve got enough dinner for all of
us. Lee, Janet, Angie and Wanda you’re
welcome to come too,” Edith offered. She
hoped they would say no as she wanted to be alone with her brother and Jamie.
Lee spoke up, “I still have a
few loose ends to take care of here, so the rest of you go. I’m going to be awhile.”
The admiral looked at Lee and
smiled. “Okay Lee, how about we meet on Tuesday at 0830 hours?”
“Works for me admiral,” Lee
grinned.
Angie and Wanda also had
other plans and begged off dinner. The
four of them stood there watching the admiral along with Jamie and Edith drive
away. “Thanks for taking care of all the
details,” Janet said to Angie and Wanda.
“I love happy endings.”
“It was a great idea. I’m sure they’re all going to enjoy
themselves tonight.” Angie and Wanda
gave Janet and Lee a hug and walked back to the parking lot.
Lee took his wife around the
waist and gave her a very passionate kiss.
“Well Mrs. Crane, your idea was a smashing success. How about we go home
and see how I can repay you for making me go out one more day to search for the
admiral.”
“Well, what do you have
mind,” she said mischievously. Lee
whispered in her ear what he had in mind. She grabbed his hand and they ran to
the cars. Lee jumped into Chip’s car
while Janet got into theirs. They were
home in ten minutes and in bed five minutes after that.
Even
though they had Monday off, Janet got back at Lee for putting all the work on
her desk when she wasn’t looking. She
made him read over all the proposals she brought home. She gave him the bulletin on the robot
sub-hunters the Navy was testing and that one piqued his interest.
“Did
you read this,” he asked excitedly. “We
just might have to improve our detection equipment.”
“Yes,
I did and knew you would want Seaview to help out,” she replied
grinning.
It
was late afternoon and Lee was still in his office reading over the proposals
when Janet went over to him and kissed the top of head and ran her hands down
his chest. “How about you take a
break? I need some attention,” she
purred as she took the one he was reading out of his hand, put it on the desk
and sat in his lap.
“What
kind of attention,” he teased as he kissed her tenderly.
“Come
upstairs and I’ll show you,” she said taking his hand leading him upstairs
where they spent the next couple of hours lost in each other.
When
they were finished, they were hungry so Lee decided to call Chip and find out
if he and Julie wanted to go to dinner with them. Chip’s phone went straight to voice
mail. Lee chuckled as he hung up the
phone. He never did get a hold of him
for the rest of their time off. They
never went out to dinner either. Lee
made them grilled cheese sandwiches which they ate and went back to bed.
((()))
Tuesday
morning
The
admiral got to NIMR very early on Tuesday morning and was the first one
there. He walked into his office, turned
on the light and stood behind his mahogany desk. I was afraid I would never be back here
again, he thought as he gave it pat.
He sat down at the desk, looked up the phone number for Norton
Manufacturing. He dialed the number and
asked for Jacob Norton.
“Good
morning, Jacob,” the admiral said coldly when he answered the phone.
“Hello
Harry. What can I do for you this
morning,” Jacob asked warily knowing something was wrong by the tone of his
voice.
“I’m
terminating your contract with NIMR as of today. You have failed on two orders to ship the
parts needed on time and the last time a part was shipped to us it arrived
damaged. It was a desperately needed
part and had to be reworked by my men. It nearly cost me my life and the lives of
others. Good bye,” the admiral said as
he hung up the phone not giving Jacob a chance to respond. He sat back in his chair and savored the
quietness before everyone would come in.
((()))
It
was 0830 hours and Lee and Chip were in the Admiral’s office still talking over
how they searched the islands and finally find them when his phone rang.
“Okay
Angie, put him through,” the admiral said with a smile.
“Good
morning Jiggs. Did you have a nice stay
in
“Yes
Harry very nice. Thank you for bringing
“I
had nothing to do with that. Janet,
Angie and Wanda deserve the credit for bringing her here.
“Please
convey my thanks again to them,” Jiggs said softly.
“I’ll
let them know. Now what can I do for
you. I have a lot of work to catch up
on. Commanders Crane and Morton are in
the office explaining how they found us,” the admiral told him.
“Thank
you Commanders Crane and Morton for saving us.”
“You’re
welcome,” Lee replied with a smile surprised that Admiral Starke sounded so
contrite.
Jiggs
continued, “Well I just got a call from General Nakatani. He heard about what happened to us and wanted
to know if we were still interested in checking out that new aircraft
carrier. Admiral Fisher turned down the
invitation stating he had some important meetings to attend but I didn’t want
to be rude so I said you and I would be glad to look it over. I’ll check and see what kind of flights we
can get over there.”
Lee
and Chip groaned softly, rolled their eyes and shook their heads no. “Tell the General I’ll be happy to look over
his carrier but Jiggs, I’m taking FS-1 to
“Harry,
can I ride with you on FS-1?” Jiggs asked quickly.
“Sure,
I’m sure Commander Crane wouldn’t mind having you as a passenger when he flies
us over.”
“Thanks
Harry. I’ll get the date and call you
back.”
“Bye
Jiggs,” the admiral replied and hung up the phone. “Pack your bags Lee, you’re going to
“Thanks
for the invite, sir,” Lee responded with a grin.
The
End.
* Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/future-us-navy-robotic-sub-hunters-deepsea-pods-174059751.html?soc_src=copy
** Source: The National
Interest, Source URL (retrieved on
*** Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerve_agent
**** Source: www.seagrant.umn.edu
and www.mayoclinic.org
Author’s note: Cities and countries are fictional made up by the
author and any resemblance to a real country is coincidental.
All
information on the
Also, thanks to Christy for her help editing
the story and with information on the