** This story follows Family
Forgotten.**
Journey into the Unknown
By JSRobertson
Dear
Diary,
It’s been a very difficult and
emotional time for me so I wasn’t ready to write. But I thought I better catch
up.
******
Seaview returned from a charting mission early Tuesday morning
and as usual, everyone had left the boat except the admiral, Chip, Lee and
I. For once we didn’t have any
missions scheduled for a couple of weeks and no planned upgrades to her, just
routine maintenance. After being
gone for several weeks we all knew there would be plenty of work to keep us busy
at the institute which is why we probably all lingered on the boat once we
docked.
******
Riley and I did get the
inventory finished which took the majority of the charting mission. Thank goodness we got it done; Chip was
practically foaming at the mouth for the data. I put everything on a spreadsheet so we
could now easily track when anyone took a part, nut, bolt, screw, or anything
from stores. I created a form they
needed to fill out and Chief would collect the slips and bring them to me for
input in the new system. Hopefully we won’t have to take a total ship inventory
again for quite awhile. I couldn’t
believe all the stuff on that boat.
The only items we didn’t inventory were Cookie’s food items and Jamie’s
sick bay. They both kept tabs on
what they need themselves.
I’m glad I was busy; it kept my
mind off the death of my parents. I couldn’t believe they were ONI operatives
and killed during one of their missions. I guess I come by all this intrigue and
spy stuff honestly. Poor Lee, he
had to put up with a lot of crying and swearing. I was missing them and mad at
them at the same time; I suppose its all part of the grieving process. He was so supportive; I don’t think I
would have gotten through this without him. God, I love him. Eventually the crew found out
about their passing and was very sympathetic as I knew they would
be.
Since we docked early in the
morning, we went to our offices to check in and to tackle all the work that had
accumulated while we were gone. I
knew I would have a ton of mail to go through; Chip’s and Lee’s alone would keep
me busy for the rest of the day.
I did manage to get through the
mail by the end of the day. I’ve
never seen so many resumes for people wanting to work for NIMR. Chip got all of those, plus a few
marriage proposals. Lee got all the
requests from vendors wanting to do business with NIMR and no marriage proposals
in this batch. Wanda told me that
before Lee married me she and Angie would keep a tally by the week to see who
got more Lee or Chip. She said Lee
won almost every week.
At the bottom of the pile I
found an envelope from ONI for me. I went to Lee’s office with the letter in my
hand.
“Do you know what this could
be?” I asked Lee as I handed him the letter.
“I don’t know,” he
replied. “I never get letters from
ONI. Why don’t you open it and find
out,” he told me gently.
“I’m afraid of what is in it,”
I said tentatively. “Will you
please open it for me and let me know what it says?”
“Sure,” he replied as he opened
the letter. Taking a deep breath he
read me the condolence letter regarding the death of my parents and their last
paycheck.
“Sweetie, there’s a check in
here for quite a bit of money.”
“Lee, I don’t want it. Can we please give it to a charity?” I
replied softly.
“Sweetheart, whatever you want
to do with it is fine with me,” he said taking me in his
arms.
I signed the check and gave it
to Angie. She knew of a charity
that NIMR sponsored and they would use the money for college scholarships.
******
Lee and I finally got home
around
We woke the next morning and
got ready for work. Grabbing some
coffee and a frozen bagel we ran out the door. I was running a little late this morning
much to the annoyance of my husband, I’m never late but this morning I just
couldn’t get it together. We made
it in plenty of time, but he just likes to be there early.
******
Lee and Chip were meeting with
the admiral to discuss some upgrades to Seaview after we complete her
next mission. Her computer system
was due to be upgraded and Chip was explaining to them what needed to be
done. The admiral trusted Chip to
do what was best for Seaview when it comes to the computers and
technology; he always reading and researching what new items were out there and
ensured she was always riding the crest of the wave when it came to computing
power.
While they met I was busy in my
office when a call came through on Lee’s line. “Commander Crane’s office, Janet
Crane speaking, can I help you.” I answered politely.
“Good Morning, Mrs. Crane,”
Admiral Johnson said nicely.
“I’m sorry Admiral, but Lee is
with Admiral Nelson right now, do you need to talk to him right now or can I
have him call you back?” I asked with my fingers crossed hoping he didn’t need
him right away.
“No I actually need to talk to
you. Your parents had an apartment
in
“Yes, Admiral, I’ll get it done
before the beginning of next week,” I told him. “I will need the
address.”
Admiral Johnson gave me the
address and said he was sorry this needed to be taken care of on such short
notice.
I hoped the admiral would let
me and Lee go to
It was almost lunchtime by the
time Lee and Chip were finished meeting with the admiral. They were going to have lunch at the
cafeteria and Lee came in my office to ask me to join them for lunch. As soon as
he laid eyes on me he could tell something was up. I told him that Admiral Johnson had
called and that I needed to go to
“Do you think the admiral will
let us go?’ I asked hopefully.
“I can’t go by myself. I
know its short notice but we have been gone for almost two weeks after your
mission was completed.”
“Sweetie, I don’t expect you to
go alone. Let’s go check with him
and see what he has to say.” Lee
said taking my hand as we went to the admiral’s office.
Lee knocked on the admiral’s
door and we were beckoned inside.
“Sir, Janet received a call from Admiral Johnson requesting that she go
to
The cloud that formed on the
admiral’s face at the first mention of Admiral Johnson’s face melted away as Lee
explained why he asked me to do this personally. His features softened into a
sympathetic smile. “Of course Lee, no problem. Janet go over and take care of what you
need and why don’t you both take a few extra days to just relax and look
around. Mind you this is not a
vacation; I think we’ve all learned that you two can’t take a vacation together
since that leads to all kinds of trouble when you do.”
“Thank you so much for
understanding Admiral, you don’t know how much I appreciate this,” I
replied.
“Think nothing of it my
dear. Go, take care of business and
get some rest as best you can. I’ll
see you when you get back,” the admiral replied.
Lee made reservations for us to
leave early on Thursday morning, we would fly to
“Have you ever been to
“Yes one time for an ONI
assignment. I needed to pick up
some information from another agent. Linkeroever is a suburb of
Well at least I had one day to
finish up any work I had to do and still have time to pack. I felt bad that I had to leave Angie and
Wanda again. I told them about my
parents and they both were sorry at what happened. I hated dumping my work on them but Chip
volunteered to sort through the mail while I was gone to lighten their load a
bit. I know he doesn’t mind helping
out under the circumstances, but the rest of the work will have to wait until I
get back.
******
Lee and I were packed and ready
to leave on Thursday morning. We
left the house at
We had an hour layover in
After eating we decided we
better find my parent’s apartment and get this over with. We asked the woman at the desk where the
address was and she told us it was a few blocks away and how to get there. It was close enough that we could walk
as taxis are very expensive here.
We were walking hand in hand down the street looking at the different
buildings; they were all older and had a lot of interesting architecture.
******
We arrived at the address of
the building and went into the store to get the key.
“Hi, I’m Lee Crane and this is
my wife Janet,” he told the older lady by the counter. “We’re here to get a key from you for
the
“Hello, I was expecting
you. I’m Mrs. Graystone. I’m so sorry to hear about them. They were such a nice couple. They lived
here for a long time. Come on I
will take you upstairs,” she said leading us out the door of the store and to
one next door that led to the apartment.
She opened the door and left us
alone telling us to return the key to her when we were finished. We took a deep breath and walked in.
This apartment was sparsely furnished and had nothing in it except some clothes
and toiletry items. No pictures or
knick knacks, it looked like they didn’t stay here very much either. All we had to do was pack up the
clothing and throw out the rest of the items.
Lee went downstairs to ask Mrs.
Graystone where we could get some boxes and where we could get rid of the
clothes after we packed them up.
She showed him where she had some extra boxes and told him if he brought
the boxes downstairs; she would take them to a homeless shelter she volunteered
at. As we were packing up the
boxes, Lee asked me if there was anything I wanted to take with me. After looking around there was nothing I
wanted. We packed up about ten
boxes and had a couple of bags of trash.
Lee and I carried the boxes down and put them in the store. She showed Lee where he could put the
trash. We went back to check out
the apartment one last time. Lee
put his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him. We left shutting the door on that part
of my life forever. I had no tears
this time. We gave the key back to
Mrs. Graystone and thanked her for taking care of the boxes.
******
Lee grabbed my hand as we
walked back to the hotel.
“Sweetie, are you okay/” he
asked tenderly.
“Yes, I’m fine. Can I ask you question?” I said
him. “They had two apartments with
nothing in them it was like they really didn’t live anywhere. What kind of agents were they? They obviously weren’t ‘on call’
like you so were they just in one place working undercover? I’m trying to understand why they were
never around.”
“I don’t know anything about
what kind of agents they were. You
would have to ask Admiral Johnson and he wouldn’t tell you anyway,” he
stated. “Do you want me to try and
find out? Maybe he would tell
me.”
“No, just forget about it. Why don’t we get something to eat?” I
suggested.
As we walked into the hotel
Lee’s phone rang, it was Chip. He
wanted to know how things were going.
Lee told him what we found in the apartment and that we had just finished
packing everything up and were going to eat.
“Chip, why are you
really calling,” Lee asked suspiciously.
Lee could hear Chip
sigh.
“We need you to come to back to
NIMR as soon as you can,” Chip told him.
“The Navy wants Seaview to go to the
“Casha!” Lee said a
little loudly. “That was the island
Harold Chandler was trying to take over.
I met him in
“Well, we need to check out
what is going on. Call me back when
you find out how soon you can leave.
Seaview is setting sail tomorrow morning. There will be someone there to meet you
at the airport to drive you back whenever you arrive. Sorry I can’t fly over to
“Okay, let me check and see how
fast we can leave.” He hung
up with Chip and was rubbing his forehead.
Looking at me he said, “We have
to leave right away the Navy wants us to help them out with a problem. Sorry, no sightseeing for us,” he said
with wry grin.
“No problem, find out how soon
we can leave,” I replied smiling.
Lee called the airline and
found out we could leave on the first flight out on Saturday morning. We would be back in
It was a long and tiring flight
home; we hadn’t gotten over the jet lag after arriving on Thursday only to leave
again on Saturday. Chip had someone
from the Institute pick us up at the airport. We got home very late and went right to
bed even after sleeping on the plane for a few hours.
******
Chip was waiting at the dock
for us when we arrived at
“Yes,” I replied with a tired
sigh. “We cleared out the apartment
and donated anything I didn’t want.” Chip gave me a sad smile and a hug
realizing how hard it must have been for me to deal with all that.
“Just hang in there Janet, the
pain will ease in time.” I knew he
was what a brother would be if I had one.
We finished stowing our gear
and were strapped in and ready to take off about fifteen minutes later. Lee as usual would be piloting FS-1 back
to Seaview; the man is so
proprietary about his “baby”.
As Lee eased us away from the dock and headed for open water he asked
Chip what they had found out about the island.
“The
“What do they want
Seaview and us to do?” Lee asked taking a deep
breath.
“They want us to capture
I just sat there listening to
what they were talking about. It
didn’t sound like this mission was going to be very easy.
******
As we were flying to dock with
Seaview,
“Hi Lee, welcome back,” the
admiral said. “Everything go
okay?”
”Yes, sir,” Lee
replied.
“Instead of coming directly to
Seaview, fly to the island and check it out,” the admiral told
Lee.
“Aye,
sir. I will call you back when we get
there and report to you what we find.”
“Seaview out.”
Lee changed course and headed
for the
******
We reached the island and were
checking it out when all of a sudden all the electrical components on FS-1
stopped working. The electrical
signals were being jammed by something coming from the island. Lee was having a hard time
controlling her even with Chip’s help.
We were going down.
Lee managed to land FS-1 safely and push her onto the beach without too
much damage.
“Is everyone okay,” Lee asked
as he began powering down the systems.
“I’m good,” replied
Chip.
“Shaken but not stirred,” I
responded trying to lighten the mood and hide how scared I was at our emergency
landing.
“Good to hear,” Lee answered
with a chuckle as he looked back at me and smiled in
concern.
“Really, I’m fine, to quote a
certain NIMR officer,” I said smiling back.
“Well I suppose we best find
out what damage is done and where we are,” Lee replied after a moment. “Chip crack the
hatch and let’s go see what’s out there.
Janet I want you to stay here and keep out of sight until we’ve figured
out whether everything is safe, okay,” Lee directed.
Chip got up and opened the aft
hatch to check out where we were. They stepped out onto the beach, shut and
secured the hatch with Chip’s remote numeric locking device. As the door clanked shut I noticed that
Lee left his in the flying sub.
They no sooner shut the hatch and walked to the front of FS-1 when three
men came out of the brush with their guns aimed at them.
“Well, Commander Crane, we meet
again,” the man said. Lee
recognized him as the man in the blue jacket from
“Never,” Lee spat.
He searched Lee looking for the
locking device, finding nothing he went over to Chip.
“Open it up,” he said to Chip
waving his gun in his face.
“No,” Chip stated
vehemently. As they started to
search him, he took his device and threw it in the ocean.
“That wasn’t too smart,” he
told Chip as he hit him over the head with his gun knocking him
out.
I ducked down behind one of the
seats and watched as they assaulted Lee and Chip. I couldn’t hear what they were saying
but could pretty well read their lips and saw them search Lee and Chip. I saw Chip throw something into the
ocean and then the man in the blue jacket hit him. I gasped when I saw him go down and
wanted to run out there to help them but I knew Lee would be pissed plus it was
obvious they didn’t know I was in the sub so I stayed put. I watched as they tied Lee up and then
dragged both of them off through the forest.
~~~
The three men took Lee and Chip
to a large stone and brick mansion not too far from the beach. It had been built
in the early 1700’s by Spanish colonists to serve as the governor’s house and
offices; it was one of the last remnants of their occupation. On the back side
of the house was a long building with many small rooms like prison cells running
down its length. They untied Lee put him in one of the many cells, it was
constructed of brick and mortar with a door made of metal bars that went from
the floor to the ceiling. As he looked down the long hallway he noticed there
was quite a bit of sunlight coming through the arches lining the sides. Lee sat down on the floor evaluating his
options for escape and wondered where they had taken Chip and if he was all
right. He was also concerned about
me and hoped I hadn’t left the flying sub.
Chip was barely conscious when
they shoved him into his the cell; it too was made of stone from top to
bottom. It faced the outside
looking into a glen but the metal bars with spears on top would make it hard to
escape without getting impaled. The door on the opposite side of his cell also
had a barred door preventing escape.
That door opened into a dark corridor and all he could see was the wall
outside his cell with no way to tell where it led. His head was swimming from
the blow he had taken on the beach leaving him with a terrible headache. With no immediate means of making good
his escape he sat down wearily on the stone bench along the cell wall and passed
out sliding limply across the seat.
******
I wasn’t sure what to do so I
tried to call Seaview but got no answer, the radio must have been knocked
out when they hit us with the jamming device. I hoped Seaview was tracking us
when we were forced down. I
couldn’t stay there forever so I decided I would go out and look for Lee and
Chip. I grabbed Lee’s numeric
device, I only hoped I remembered his code.
Hoping the men hadn’t returned,
I left the flying sub and secured the hatch. I started to walk in the direction I saw
them take Lee and Chip when I was startled to meet a young girl walking towards
me. She must have been about ten years old. Either I was in big trouble and she
would turn me in or she would help me.
“Hello, my name is Janet,” I
told her as I stooped down to her level.
“What’s your name?”
“Keiki Holikai,” she said
quietly.
“Keiki, do you live here with
your parents?”
“Yes, I do. I used to live in the house not too far
from here. My mother, grandparents
and I live where the farmer’s live now because a bad man took my father and put
him in a cell. My mother and
grandmother do the cooking and cleaning for the bad man and
lady.”
“Keiki, were you hiding in the
forest when we landed on the beach?” I asked her.
“Yes, I watched you land there
and saw the bad men take away the two men who were with you. So I followed them,” she told me.
“Can you help me find those two
men? Do you know where they
took them?”
“Yes, I will show you.” She grabbed my hand led me through the
forest to the back of a mansion.
She led me to the cell where Chip was.
“Chip...Chip, can you hear me,”
I whispered. I didn’t know if he
was still unconscious or sleeping.
He finally heard me and lifted his head.
“Janet what are you doing
here...how did you find me?” he asked rubbing his head.
“My friend Keiki Holikai led me
to you, this is her house. She saw us land and watched them take you and Lee
away,”
“Do you know where Lee is?” he
asked unsteadily.
“No, not
yet.”
“Someone is coming. Get out of here. Go back to the flying sub and stay
there. Seaview should know
where we are and will come looking for us when we don’t report
in.”
“I’ll be back.” I told him and left with Keiki leading
me back through the forest to the flying sub. I pressed the code on Lee’s numeric
device and I could hear the hatch unlock.
Phew, didn’t know what I would have done if the code was
wrong.
Before going in the flying sub,
I asked, “Keiki, can you keep a secret?”
“Yes, I can. I know a lot of secrets,” she told me
confidently.
“Please don’t tell anyone you
saw me and showed me where the man was.
It’s important the bad man doesn’t know I’m here. I need to get my friends out so we can
get the island back to your parents.”
“What are their names,” she
wanted to know.
“Chip is the man we talked
to. The dark haired man’s name is
Lee and he is my husband. We need
to find him too.”
“I won’t tell anyone you are
here. I will come by tomorrow to
help you find Lee,” she said matter-of-factly.
~~~
Seaview kept trying to call FS-1 but got no answer and we were
too far away to be on their radar.
Admiral Nelson told Lt. O’Brien to set a course for Casha hoping we were
somewhere near there. They would get there by late tomorrow
afternoon.
~~~
Harold Chandler walked down the
cell block to check out his prisoners. He stopped first at the cell Lee was in.
“Well Commander, we meet
again,” he said. “What a pleasant
surprise to learn I have you and your Executive Officer on my island. I
also have your flying sub. Give me
the code to open the door. The
People’s Republic will pay me a lot of money for that
machine.”
“I will never tell you the
code,” Lee hissed.
“Well maybe you need to learn a
lesson,” he said nastily as he punched him in the face a couple of times. “If I can’t change your mind maybe your
executive officer will give me the code.
I believe his name is Chip.
Don’t worry I’m not done with you,” he threatened. Even though Lee’s hands were untied he
couldn’t fight back as the man with the blue jacket stood next to
“Fat chance”,
Lee muttered under his breath rubbing
his face where
Lee tried to see where they
went but lost sight of them as they went around a corner. Lee spent most of the
night pacing in his cell. He hoped
I was still in the flying sub and wondered where Chip was and if he was
alright.
~~~
Chip was sitting on the bench
when
“Well, Chip since the Lee
wouldn’t give me the code, I hope you will or you will have to pay the
consequences,”
“No way will I ever tell you
the code no matter what you do to me,” Chip spat.
“You will pay for that
mistake.”
After it became obvious that
Chip wasn’t going to give up the code,
Chip glared back at
******
I eventually fell asleep in the
bunk on FS-1. I woke up suddenly
when I heard someone trying to get in the aft hatch. I found a metal bar and shoved it in the
wheel, extra insurance in case the lock failed. I hid in the corner of the bunk
as someone looked in the front windows.
I could also hear someone on top trying to open the hatch up there. I was really scared they would get in
and find me. They were there for
about ten minutes. I looked out the
window and saw they were the men that took Lee and Chip yesterday. I watched them walk back into the forest
not looking too happy they couldn’t get in.
I tried the radio again but I
still couldn’t get through to Seaview. There were some MRE’s and water so
I wasn’t hungry or thirsty. I
cautiously opened the door hoping no one was there where I couldn’t see. I really wanted a shower but I knew that
wouldn’t happen anytime soon. I
went to the beach and washed the best I could. Salt water wasn’t the best for
bathing.
I walked back to FS-1 and saw
Keiki coming from the forest. I was
happy to see her; I wanted to go back and look for Lee. She led me back through the forest to
the mansion. I needed one more trip through the forest just to make sure I knew
where I was going. We went first to the cell where Chip was.
“Chip what happened!” I asked
stunned at the way he looked. I
wanted to wipe off his face but didn’t have anything to use. I could see Keiki was also
upset.
“I wouldn’t give him the code
to FS-
“Did that bad man do this?”
Keiki asked softly.
“Yes, but I’m okay honey,” he
said gently.
“We have to get help. Please let me tell my mother about
you. Maybe she could help
you.”
“Keiki we have to find Lee,
first,” I said sighing.
“Come with me,” she said
grabbing my hand.
“Chip, we will come back.” I told him hating to leave him in that
condition.
After looking around the corner
to make sure no one was there, Keiki led me to another area where there were
more cells. I asked her how she
knew where these cells were and she said he father was in one of them and she
would go and see him. She took me
to the cell where Lee was.
“Janet, what are you doing
here?” he asked sharply. “And who
is the girl?”
“This is Keiki. She lives here with her parents and
grandparents. Her father’s family
has been on this island for generations.
Honey, what happened to you?” I asked seeing the bruises on his
face.
“
“Yes, he is worse shape than
you;
“I don’t think anything
electrical will work as the wiring is probably burnt up. The radio may work if
they aren’t jamming the signals.
Keep trying to contact Seaview. Press the red button on the front
control panel, it’s a location beacon.
Seaview will pick up the signal and find us if it works.
“I’m going find a way to get
you and Chip out.” I said with determination.
“Sweetie, please go back and
stay in the flying sub. I don’t
want
Keiki and I left and hid around
the corner. I heard a woman’s voice
talking to Lee. It sounded like Liddy Novak. She told the guard to open the cell
and let her in and then to wait outside the door. He had a gun aimed at Lee, so Liddy knew
he wouldn’t try anything.
“Lee, how are you? I see
“How did you manage to escape?”
Lee asked surprised to see her.
“Were you working with
“I knew the guards who were
taking me to prison and
“No way,” Lee snarled as he
shoved her away.
“Too bad,” she said
snidely. “Save yourself and Chip a
lot of pain, give
“Go to hell,” Lee
snapped.
Liddy left and walked back to
the main part of the house laughing as she left.
I returned to Lee’s cell and
told him I heard everything Liddy said. I wanted to punch her out, but I knew I
would have to wait to do that. He
just smiled at me because he knew after this was over; I would probably follow
through on my threat. I let him
know I was going back to FS-1 to see if the location beacon would
work.
******
Keiki and I walked back to the
flying sub. We went in and found
the button Lee told me about. I
pressed it but I didn’t hear any noise so I didn’t know if it worked. As Keiki and I were leaving, we heard a
woman’s voice calling for her.
Keiki looked up at me and
smiled. “That’s my mother. Please let me tell her about you, I’m
sure she can help you set your friends free.”
I took a deep breath and
figured why not. “All right
Keiki, I can use all the help I can get.”
I patted her on the shoulder and we exited the flying sub to meet with
Keiki’s mother.
“Mama, this is Janet,” Keiki
said to her mother. “She needs help getting some men out of the prison. They want to help us get our island
back.”
“You are with the men?” her
mother asked cautiously.
I could see she was a little
suspicious but Keiki told her to trust me.
“Yes, one of them is my
husband, Lee. He is the captain of
the submarine, Seaview. The
other man is Chip Morton and he is the Executive Officer on the same sub. We were flying over the island when they
jammed our electrical system causing us to crash. We’re here to help get the island back
to your family.” I told her. “I hope there is more help coming soon, but I don’t
know if they got the signal I sent them. Please Mrs. Holikai I need your
help. They’ve already beaten Chip and I’m sure my husband will be next if they
don’t give them the code to this machine.
I need to come up with a plan to free them.”
“My name is Louisa and I will
help you. They turn off the radio
every day at
“Thank you Louisa, I can’t tell
you how much I appreciate your help,” I replied in relief.
“You’re welcome Janet. If you and your men are able to help us
take back our island it is well worth the risk. Come Keiki we need to return to the
mansion now before we’re late,” Louisa answered.
“I’m coming with you so I can
check on Chip and hopefully see Lee again.”
We left together to return to
the mansion, Louisa and Keiki to the main house and me to check on Chip and
maybe see Lee. When I got to Chip’s
cell, he was sitting in the corner on the bench. I could see blood all over the
seat. It looked like they had
beaten him again but this time more viciously.
“Chip,” I said softly. He didn’t answer me. “Chip,” I said a little
louder. He stirred and picked up
his head. His face was bloodier
than before and he was having hard time breathing. His right eye was swollen
shut and already turning black and blue. It looked like they hit him quite a few
times.
“Damn,” I said worriedly. “When did they do this to
you?”
“Early this morning,” he said
struggling to breath. “I think a
rib has punctured my lung.”
“I’m sorry Chip, I can’t help you right now. If I do they will know someone else is
here and beat you again to find out who helped you,” I said near tears. “I’m
sorry.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” he
said softly.
“Where have I heard that
before,” I muttered.
“Chip I found out they turn off
the radio at
“How did you find that
out,” he asked quietly.
“I
met Keiki’s mother and she’s been forced to work as a cook in the mansion for
“It figures that snake in
grass Novak would be leeched onto
“Just hold on Chip a little
while longer, we’ll be back to get you as soon as possible.”
I left him and headed towards
Lee’s cell. I almost got caught by
one of the guards and had to hide in the bush around the corner from Chip’s
cell.
I looked around the corner and
could see no one was there so I went to Lee’s cell. I told him about Chip and he was very
upset. I repeated to him what I
told Chip about the radio and Keiki’s mother helping me. He wasn’t too thrilled about that but
what could he do, we needed to get Chip some help and quickly. He grabbed my hand before I left, pulled
me close to the bars and me a quick kiss for luck.
******
After leaving Lee, I ran back
through the forest. It was almost
I moved to the electrical panel
and powered up the systems. I moved
over to the pilot’s seat and flipped on the radio and crossed my fingers. “FS-1 to
Seaview. Sparks,
please answer,” I pleaded
“This is Seaview,”
“Yes, I’m fine. Please get me the admiral. I don’t have much time to talk.” I told
him quickly.
“Yes, Janet, where are you?”
the admiral answered immediately.
“We’re on Casha. Lee and Chip were captured by
“We should be there late
tomorrow night. We ran into some
trouble with a destroyer from the People’s Republic. We have some damage so it will take us
longer to arrive,” he said soberly.
“When you get here, bring
Jamie. I’ve got to go now, they’re going to turn the jamming device back on. I will explain later. Please hurry. FS-1
out.”
”Janet...Janet wait I have
....” the admiral could tell the radio went dead again.
He ran his hand through his
hair. He was worried about all of
us. He went to the radio shack and
asked
Seaview had crossed paths with a People’s Republic destroyer.
There was some damage to the hull and electrical system. They would have
to make some temporary repairs before they could get to the island. Seaview did sink the destroyer
which they believed was delivering supplies for the missile launching
system.
******
Once I signed off with the
admiral, I went outside to wait for Louisa. I paced back and forth worried that the
radio signal would be traced.
Louisa and Keiki showed up right on time.
“Louisa, who
is building the missile launching systems?” I asked
The farmers who live on the
island are being forced to work at the site. If they didn’t work,
“We need to get our men
out of their cells. What do you
know about the security down in the cell block?” I
inquired.
“There are three guards at the
house. Whenever I bring my husband
food, one of them goes with me, to open the cell to let me take in the
food.”
“Are they armed when they
escort you down to the cells?” I
asked.
“Yes,” she answered.
“I got in touch with
Seaview but they won’t be here until late tomorrow night. Chip needs help now.”
”My father-in-law, Lokepa, is a
doctor and can help him once we got him out of the cell,” Louisa offered. “But
Janet, how are we going to get them out of their cells? They are under guard whenever someone is
there,” she asked dejectedly
“Are there any other men that
could help us besides Lokepa?”
“When the farmers aren’t
working at the site, they are on their farms. I’m sure some of them would help
us.”
“Please ask them if they will
help us,” I said hopefully. “I need
Lee to lure Ms. Novak down to his cell.
If there is a guard with her, I will knock the guard out; get his keys
and let Lee and Kona out. Then we
can get Chip out and have Lokepa look at him.”
“How are you to knock out the
guard,” she questioned.
“I don’t know yet. I’ll find something on the flying
sub.” I told her.
“How are you going to get Ms.
Novak down to the cell?” she asked with a frown.
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” I
reassured her. “If Lee calls,
she will come running, she has the hots for him.”
Louisa just smiled and nodded
knowing what I was talking about.
Liddy had tried to seduce her husband too.
Keiki just sat there and
listened to her mother and I work out a plan. “Mother I want to help too,” she
said.
“You will sweetheart, you can
help Grandpa care for Chip once we get him out,” Louisa
answered.
******
Louisa had to get back to the
mansion and make lunch. She told me
the guard would be bringing Kona, Lee and Chip lunch at
After Louisa and Keiki left I
found a gun and extra ammo in the locker on FS-1. A gun will be better than me trying to
knock him out. I looked through the
various supply hatches for anything else that could be of use and found a cache
of large zip ties that were used to secure things in place during flight. I grabbed a handful of zip ties, they
might come in handy.
I made my way back to the
mansion with the gun, ammo and zip ties. I looked in on Chip and he
was slumped in the corner of the
cell near the front gate. He face
wasn’t bleeding anymore but he looked like hell and I could see he was having
hard time breathing. I called his name but he didn’t answer, he was
unconscious. His condition was
getting worse and I was so worried about him; we had to get him out before it
was too late. I left him and went
to Lee’s cell.
“What are you doing here
again? Please go back to FS-1 and
stay until Seaview comes,” he said a little
harshly.
“No, Seaview won’t be
here until late tomorrow night. I managed to get in radio contact with her. She had some trouble with a
People’s Republic destroyer and needs to make repairs before she can get
here. Lee, I think Chip is
unconscious, when I called to him he didn’t answer me.”
“Damn,” he said
angrily.
“Lee, here’s what I need you to
do. You need to get Liddy down here, tell her you want to get ‘together’ with
her.” I couldn’t believe what I was
telling him to do. “A guard will
come with her. We need to get both
of them out of the picture. Once
you get her alone in the cell, I will get the keys from the guard and unlock
your cell. When get that done we can lock both of them up and free Kona and
Chip. Keiki’s grandfather is a
doctor and will help Chip until Jamie gets here.
“Are you crazy,” he said
shaking his head. You want me to have Liddy come here? Sweetie, I don’t know about this,” he
said running his hand through his hair.
“And how are you going to get the guard to open the
cell?
“I have the gun and extra ammo
I found in FS-1. Do you have a better plan,” I snapped.
“No,” he admitted.
“Then get her down here
now. They will be bringing
you lunch shortly,” I told him as I left to wait around the corner for the
guard. “You will have to
figure out the plan to get
******
When the guard came down with
the lunches, I heard Lee ask him to tell Ms. Novak to come down now. He changed his mind and needed to see
her right away.
After he and Kona finished
lunch, the guard left and was back a few minutes later with Liddy. She was surprised he wanted to see
her.
“Well, well, well this is a
surprise,” Liddy cooed at Lee. “Finally come to your
senses?”
“Let’s just say I’m
reevaluating my options,” Lee replied with a slight smile.
“Smart
boy. Jake open the cell door and let me in,
then make yourself scarce for the next hour,” she told
the guard.
I couldn’t see what was going
on but I knew from past encounters Liddy would be on him in no time. As the
guard walked away from the cell door locking Liddy in there with Lee, I came up
behind him and pressed a gun in his back and kicked his feet out from under him.
I put my foot on his back while I took a zip tie and tied his hands behind his
back.
“Get up and make no sudden
moves,” I said sharply as I cocked the hammer on the gun. l grabbed his gun and the keys from his
belt.
Pressing the gun deeper in his
back, we walked back to Lee’s cell. Just as I had guessed Liddy was latched to
Lee like a leech kissing him. He
was kissing her back but I could tell by the look in his eyes he was not very
happy about it.
“Get away from him,” I yelled
as I unlocked the cell door.
“Where the hell did you come
from,” Liddy yelled back.
“That doesn’t matter,” I said
as I gave Lee the guns . Walking into the cell I hauled
off and slugged her; I watched with a certain amount of satisfaction as she hit
the back wall and slid to the floor unconscious. Lee and the guard’s eyes got as
big as serving platters amazed that I had knocked her out.
“Wow you really clobbered her,”
Lee said with an appreciative chuckle.
“Looks like that self defense class was a good idea after all. I hope I never make you that mad at me.” I looked up at him catching the twinkle
of delight in his eyes and just blushed.
He took a zip tie and made
quick work of tying up her hands.
Taking off the scarf she was wearing, he shoved it in her mouth making a
very effective gag.
He shoved the guard down the
hall to the next cell which had a solid wood door instead of bars. He opened it
up and there was Kona. Kona knew
who Lee was because Louisa slipped him a note when she saw him earlier that
morning. He and Lee shoved the
guard in the cell and locked the door. Lee gave Kona the gun I took from the
guard. Next I led them to where Chip was being held.
Lee opened the door and took
one look at Chip and knew he was unconscious and not doing well. He and Kona gently picked him up and
carried him out of the cell to where Lokepa was waiting for them. Keiki and Louisa brought him when Liddy
went down to Lee’s cell just as we planned. Lokepa directed Lee and Kona to place
Chip in the small cart they had brought with them and Keiki and Louisa helped
Lokepa move Chip down the road to Lokepa’s house where he could take care of
him.
“Janet, go with them,” Lee
ordered.
“No way,” I stated
emphatically. “We have to get
He just smiled and grabbed my
hand as we followed Kona to the main house. As we were leaving the cell area four
men from the island approached us.. Louisa and Keiki told them what we were
doing and they had volunteered to help us.
They were armed with clubs and bats.
*****
Kona led us and two of the
farmers to the back door of the house that led into the kitchen. The other two men stayed behind and hid
in the hedges by the front door. He
wasn’t sure where
“Where the hell are Jake and Liddy,” he yelled to Adam and Elmer as they
entered the room.
“She went down to Crane’s
cell. He wanted to see her,” Adam
replied. “They have been gone a
long time.”
“Damn. Elmer go down there and see what’s going
on,”
When I heard that a shiver went
down my spine.
Elmer left the living room and
went out the front door. The two
men hiding in the hedges grabbed him as he left and knocked him out. They tied him up and hauled him to the
cells and threw him in a cell. They
went back up to the main house and waited outside.
Lee sent Kona’s men to look for
the radio operator. Kona told them
where the radio room was and they took off to find him. They found him in the room just as he
was trying to send a message. They managed to grab him before he could send it
and he offered no resistance as they led him off to the cells.
Once the operator was taken
care of Lee, Kona and I walked into the living room. “What the hell is going on
here? How did you get out?”
Before he could get a shot off,
Kona shot him in the knee cap. He
fell to the floor screaming in pain.
The two men out front heard the shot and stormed in. They picked up the guard, tied him up
and took him down to a cell.
The only person left was
“Where the hell did you come
from?” he snarled.
“I’ve been here the whole
time. I was just a little smarter
than your guards. Louisa and Keiki
helped me free Kona, Lee and Chip.”
I walked up to him but before
Lee could stop me, I slapped him across the face. “That’s for beating Chip.” I wanted to hit him again but Lee
grabbed my hand. He just stared at
me and hit me with that shy little smile of his and I put my hand
down.
Kona and Lee took him down to
another cell with no metal bars, just a solid wooden door. They tied him up, shoved him in and
slammed the door shut.
“Kona, why do you have so many
cells in this part of the house,” Lee asked.
“Lee, they aren’t really
cells. They were used for keeping
animals many years ago. We don’t
have too many animals now but back when my family first came here they had to
put them somewhere so they built these little rooms for them. They didn’t want them in the dark, so
that is why the rooms have metal bars for the doors. Only a few have solid wooden doors and
those were used for storing food since they would be cooler. Unfortunately
As we were walking out of the
cell area, we passed the cell Liddy was in. She was conscious now and pissed. I
wanted to slug her again but Lee grabbed my hand and we walked away. I did enjoy seeing the shiner that was
closing up her right eye and decided an animal pen was the perfect place for
her.
Keiki and Louisa came up from
Lokepa’s house as we were walking to the path. Lee and I were concerned about
Chip. “Louisa, how is Chip?” I
asked anxiously.
“Lokepa says that he really
needs more advanced medical attention than he can give him without the necessary
supplies,” she answered.
Hearing what Louisa said we
hurried on our way to Lokepa’s house to check on Chip. As we walked along we were startled by a
rustling in the surrounding forest.
Lee slowly raised his gun and prepared to take on whatever might come out
of the trees. Much to our relief it
was the admiral with Jamie, Chief Sharkey and Patterson in
tow.
“Admiral! We’re
surprised to see you here so soon,” Lee said as he lowered the gun. “You
couldn’t have arrived at a better time; Chip is in desperate need of Jamie’s
services.”
“Where is he Lee,” asked
Jamie.
“He’s with Louisa’s
father-in-law at his house,” I answered.
“He’s a doctor too but doesn’t have the necessary equipment and supplies
to properly treat Chip.”
“Please come with me,” Louisa
spoke up. “I’ll take you right to
him.”
Louisa and Keiki quickly led
Jamie, Sharkey and Patterson down the trail to Lokepa’s house to check on
Chip. Jamie would get him
stabilized and then transport him back to Seaview which was sitting about
five hundred yards off the beach where the flying sub rested on the beach.
“It’s good to see you’re both
looking not too much the worse for wear.
I’m glad we were able to get here when we did for Chip’s sake,” the
admiral said once Jamie had left.
“Admiral, you said
Seaview wouldn’t get here until late tomorrow night,” I said relieved to
see him.
“When you called you sounded like you
desperately needed help. We made
only the necessary repairs to get us to the island as quickly as possible. he said.
“What is the damage to
Seaview,” Lee asked anxiously.
“There is hull damage in frames
forty five, forty seven and forty nine we made temporary repairs but we will
have to go to
As the admiral finished telling
us about their skirmish with the PR Jamie came back up the path with Chip on a
stretcher he was still unconscious and Jamie thought he had a severe
concussion. “We need to get him
back to Seaview at once, Admiral,” Jamie said, his concern with Chip’s condition
clearly written on his face.
“Patterson, Chief Sharkey, take
Jamie and Chip back to Seaview
immediately,” Lee ordered. “The
rest of us will return shortly.
“Aye, aye Skipper,” Sharkey
replied and they all made their way back towards the
beach.
******
The admiral and Lee wanted to
see how far
******
The men easily captured the
rest of the guards and quickly deposited them in the remaining open cells. Lee,
Kona and a couple of the men went to the cells to check on the prisoners and
ensure that there was no chance they could escape. Two of Kona’s men offered to stay there
to make doubly sure they didn’t escape and would rotate guards to keep a 24 hour
watch until they were transferred to the authorities. They weren’t taking any chances on them
escaping and leaving the island before a ship could take them to
******
Louisa, Keiki and I went
back to their house to wait for the men.
Louisa and Keiki were excited to be back home.
The house was beautiful. It had
lots of windows that looked out over a court yard. Keiki took me to her room to show off
all her things. It was a typical
girl’s room with posters and dolls.
She also had a beautiful view of the beach. I could see the flying sub and
Seaview from her window, believe me it was a beautiful sight as
well.
******
When the men returned from the
launching site, Lee contacted Seaview, and asked
Since there hadn’t been much
work done on the missile site, there wasn’t anything that needed to be
destroyed, and
Seaview had already sunk the destroyer with all the heavy
equipment and parts. The farmers
would be able to repair what damage had been done to the land; they were just
glad to have their lives and farms back.
******
To show their appreciation for
our help, the farmers and their families arranged to have luau that night for
the whole crew and invited us all to spend a few days on the island
relaxing. The admiral accepted
their gracious offer and sent word back to Seaview to arrange for the crew to
attend the party in shifts.
Unfortunately we were only going to be able to stay for the party as we
needed to get Seaview to
Before the luau Lee and I went
back with Kowalski on FS-1. While
Lee and the admiral took care of things on the island Kowalski had stayed with
FS-1 checking her out to see if she would be able to dock with
Seaview. He was able
to get her up and running again and back into the water. We hopped aboard and motored the short
distance out to the boat and berthed with Seaview. Once aboard, we went immediately to sick
bay.
“How’s he doing Jamie,” Lee
asked, his deep concern poorly hidden.
“Not good, Lee. He’s still unconscious and I’m afraid
he’s slipped into a coma. If he
doesn’t wake up soon I’m going to send him to the base hospital at
“As you can see I’ve bandaged
up the cuts on his face. There was
one that should have been stitched on his forehead, but it’s a little too late
for that now so I’ll try gluing it.
There will probably be a scar and if he’s not keen on that showing he’ll
just have to let his hair grow longer to cover it,” Jamie added with a smile and
a wink.
“Can we stay with him,” I
asked, not wanting to leave him alone.
“Later,” Jamie replied. “You two need to go to the luau since
its being given in your honor. I’ll be here with him the whole time. I’ll contact you by radio if there are
any changes in his condition, okay.”
We both reluctantly agreed and
left sickbay and headed to our cabin to scrape off the dirt and grime we had
accumulated during our stay on the island.
I don’t think a shower ever felt so good in my
life.
******
The farmers had volunteered to
transport the crew to the island for the luau. Their boats were bigger and
faster than our rafts and made the shuttle of men to the party much faster. Since they were providing
transportation, Lee invited Kona, Louisa, Keiki and Lokepa on a tour of
Seaview before the luau.
Aloalo, Keiki’s grandmother, was too busy with the luau to come.
Once the Holikai family was
aboard Seaview, Lee gave them a tour of the boat.
“My I’ve never seen a submarine
this big,” Kona remarked. “We’ve
been to
“She is the largest boat
around,” Lee said proudly. “The
windows are made of herculite an invention of the
Admiral’s.”
Keiki wanted to see what a
cabin looked like, so Lee took them to ours.
“It isn’t very big,” she
said. “Where do you
sleep?”
“In the bunk,” I told her
smiling.
“It’s too small,” she said as
she walked out the door. The rest
of us just smiled.
“Lee, would it be too much
trouble to see sick bay? I would
really like to know how Chip is doing.” Lokepa asked
somberly.
“No problem, Lokepa,” Lee
said. “Follow me.”
He led them to sick bay. Lokepa was impressed with all the
equipment Jamie had but was just as worried as Jamie that Chip was still
unconscious.
“Please let us know when he
wakes up,” Lokepa told Jamie. Jamie
said he would let them know as soon as he was conscious. He thanked him for the help he gave
Chip.
******
We took a boat back to the
island to help Aloalo with the luau but there was not much to do. She had almost everything done by the
time we got back. Of course Cookie
had to be involved and added some provisions from Seaview. You should have seen the two of them
cooking together. Cookie was having
a good time as he rarely ever got to get off the boat.
Everyone was there except Chip,
Jamie and a few men to keep an eye on Seaview. How they managed to get
this together for over a hundred people was amazing. The food was fantastic and we all had a
good time but were still very worried about Chip. Every time I looked at Lee he was
checking the radio.
Before we left Kona, Louisa,
Keiki and her grandparents gave us hugs and thanked us
again.
“If you are ever this way
again, please stop and see us. We
would be more than happy to have you stay with us when you go on vacation.”
Louisa told me.
The admiral raised his eyebrows
when they suggested we come and visit. He just looked at Lee and me and shook
his head. We have been permanently
banned from taking vacations.
******
Once the party was over and all
the men were back aboard, Lee ordered Seaview to get underway and set a course
for
“Jamie how is he?” I asked
frightened that he was still unconscious.
“He is still comatose,” he
answered rubbing his hand on his forehead.
Lee came to sick bay once
Seaview was well on her way and sat down by Chip.
“Hey Chip, you sure missed a
good party. You better wake up soon
or all the food we brought back is going to be gone,” Lee said quietly.
I put my hands on his shoulders as he
talked to Chip, I could tell he was really upset. He kept talking to him about
the boat, the damage she sustained in her round with PR and spending time in
******
A few hours later, Lt. O’Brien
called sick bay and told Lee they were approaching
“Chip you need to wake up. Lee is bringing Seaview into the
harbor. You need to make sure he
doesn’t scratch the paint. Please
Chip wake up,” I said with tears in my eyes. “Please.”
*******
Lee went to the conning tower
to direct the docking from there.
It was a little difficult getting her in the harbor and the dock during
daylight but at night it was even trickier. He didn’t want to lose the standing bet
with Chip that he would scratch her paint, though given Seaview’s battle scars
it would be hard to tell if he did.
Repairs would start first thing in the morning and it would take about a
week to complete the work needed to get Seaview back to
I was still in sick bay with
Chip when Lee finally came back. He
sat down next to me.
“Any change,” Lee asked looking
extremely tired.
“No,” I replied worriedly. I could see my husband was ready to
collapse.
We hadn’t gotten over the jet lag from
Jamie noticed it too and told
both of us to leave.
“You two need to leave now.
You’re both are exhausted,” Jamie insisted.
“No, we want to stay here with
Chip,” Lee and I started to protest.
“Out, both of you now,” the
admiral ordered as he walked in. “I
will stay with him while the two of you get some sleep.”
Not standing a snowflake’s
chance in hell, reluctantly we left for our cabin. We got ready for bed and no sooner
climbed in the bunk and fell asleep.
******
Lee woke up at
“Sweetie,
stay here and rest. I will meet you in the wardroom for
breakfast in a half an hour. I’m going to check on Chip,” he said gently.
“No way,” I replied quickly as
I gave him a kiss, hug and grabbed my clothes. “I will meet you there in a few
minutes.” I wanted to see how Chip was doing too and got ready in record
time.
Lee was still in sick bay by
the time I got there. Chip was
still in a coma but hadn’t gotten any worse.
“Come on, I’m meeting the
Admiral for breakfast. You both
will be joining us,” Jamie said as he grabbed our arms and dragged us to the
wardroom. “John will be here with Chip and let us know if anything
changes.”
******
After eating, I went back to
sick bay with Jamie while Lee and the admiral went to see about the
repairs. They were meeting with
Chief Sharkey in the control room to assign which crew men would do the repairs.
The crew would be given shore leave depending on which repairs were being
made. Officers would also
have time off on a rotating basis.
******
Lt. O’Brien would take charge
of the repairs this morning as Lee and I had to go to Admiral Rush’s office to
be debriefed on the mission.
Neither one of us wanted to leave Chip but had little choice. Lee of course would have his phone and
told Jamie to call if there was any change good or bad.
Admiral Rush sent a car to pick
us up at
“Commander, please tell me what
happened on Casha,” Admiral Rush asked seriously.
“Sir, I can’t tell you too
much. They had jammed all our electronics and we crashed landed near the
beach. When Mr. Morton and I went
to check the damage we were captured as soon as we exited FS-1. They were waiting for us. Janet stayed in FS-1 so they didn’t know
she was there. She and Mrs. Holikai
concocted a plan to free not only Mr. Morton and myself but her husband, Kona,
too.
“Well Mrs. Crane could you
please tell me what you did?”
“Sir, they didn’t know I was
there. I was able to sneak around
the area where Lee, Mr. Morton and Kona were being held. Mrs. Holikai and her daughter showed me
where the kept the prisoners.
I found a gun on FS-1 and was able to surprise the guard and tie him up.
I freed Lee and he freed Mr. Morton and Kona. They helped take care of Mr. Morton
while we went to find Mr. Chandler.
The men on the island helped us round up the rest of the guards. They watched them until they were picked
up by your people.”
“What about
“Sir, once he saw he was out
numbered, he just gave up.” Lee explained.
“What about the missile
launching system,?” the admiral
continued.
“They hadn’t done very much
work. They were waiting for the
ship to bring the heavy equipment to start digging. Seaview sunk it after
a little bit of trouble. She will
be in
“Mrs. Crane I’m impressed at
how you were able to out smart the guard,” he said
smiling.
“Well, the self defense class
Lee made me take helped out,” I told him
softly.
“Commander, you better watch
out, she might want to take on more missions.”
“Sir, she has already taken on
too many missions for my liking.
Please don’t encourage her,” Lee replied with a
grin.
*****
While we were there, Admiral
Rush told us that the ship had returned with the prisoners. He assured us that
the ship wasn’t docked anywhere near Seaview. He would call and make
arrangements to send them back to the main land where they would stand trial for
treason. He thanked us for our help
and we were dismissed. We stood up,
Lee saluted again and we left. I
handed him his cover which he put on, he sure looks good in his uniform, cover
and all.
******
We were driven back to
Seaview and headed directly to sick bay.
“Jamie how is he?” Lee asked as
he saw Chip was still unconscious.
“There’s no change. I’m giving him until tomorrow
morning. If there is no improvement
I’m sending him to the base hospital.
I spent the entire day with
Chip. I held his hand and talked to
him about anything I could think of.
Things he hated to talk about didn’t even help. I was getting hoarse talking to him but
I didn’t care, I just wanted him to wake up.
Lee and the admiral had to
oversee the repairs and I was more than happy to do my part keeping watch over
Chip. Some serious issues had come
up and needed their attention. The
cracks in the hull at frames forty five, forty seven and forty nine were taking
more time to repair than they planned on but it should be done in two
days.
******
Lee and I went to bed that
night after I spent most of the day with Chip. I knew Lee felt guilty that he
couldn’t spend more time with him but there were a lot of repairs to oversee and
Lee being Lee wouldn’t let anyone else help him. I woke up in the middle of the night and
he was gone.
“Where the hell is Lee,”
I panicked as I got out of the bunk.
“Damn, he didn’t leave me a note. He’s in big trouble if something
happened to Chip and he didn’t wake me,” I thought knowing he was probably
in sick bay.
I quickly put on some sweats
and ran down to sick bay. Sure
enough he was sitting there with Chip.
I grabbed another chair and sat down next to him. I took his and Chip’s hands and squeezed
them.
“Why didn’t you wake me?” I
asked quietly.
“I couldn’t stay away. I feel guilty I can’t spend more time
with him. He’s always there for
me,” he said softly.
“Honey, we will stay an hour
and then go back to our cabin. You
are about to collapse.” I said noticing the dark circles under his eyes were
worse than before.
“Okay,” he replied as he
continued to talk to Chip.
After an hour I said we had to
leave. If Jamie caught us in here
he would have a fit. He banned us
from staying the night. John was on duty tonight and promised Lee he would call
him if anything changed.
As we walked back, I grabbed
his hand. “Honey, I’m very worried about you. You are exhausted. Please let me stay with Chip while you
take care of the repairs. I know
you want to be there but you’re going to end up in sick bay with him and what
good would that be.”
“Sweetie, I know, I am very
tired. But I need to be there just to make sure he will be alright and to make
sure those repairs will hold until we get to Santa Barbara,” he said
tiredly.
“You know that Jamie will call
you if anything happens,” I said softly.
“You’re right,” he said as we
reached our cabin. He gave me
a kiss as we climbed back in our bunk.
He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. I just laid there unable to fall back to
sleep.
******
Lee and I went into sick bay
first thing the next morning to check on Chip when Jamie told us he was going to
send him to the base hospital.
“Jamie any change,” Lee asked
tiredly.
“No. I’ve made arrangements with a
neurologist to check him out this morning. He needs more sophisticated tests to see
what is going on in his brain.” Jamie said somberly.
Jamie was getting things ready
to move him when he started to stir and he moved quickly to his side and took
his vitals.
“He’s coming out of the coma,”
Jamie said as Lee and I sat down next to his bunk. I put my hand over his and he
responded by grabbing my hand.
“You owe us a dinner,
buddy. I got her into the
harbor and docked without scratching the paint,” Lee said
softly.
“I buy when I see for myself,”
Chip responded groggily. “You think
I’m going to believe you.”
“Welcome back buddy,” Lee said
relieved.
“You still need to rest, so go
back to sleep,” Jamie told him.
“Kay,” he said as he closed his
eyes and went back to sleep.
We all breathed a sigh of
relief. The admiral had just walked
in the door as Chip came around and heard the banter between the two men and had
to smile. His ‘boys’ would be back
working together very soon.
******
I spent the whole day sitting
with Chip. After no sleep last
night I dozed off while waiting for him to wake up again. Lee and the admiral would be back to
check on Chip after seeing how the repairs were coming along and then we were
going to dinner. He woke up as they
walked in. Lee told me later he’d
seen me sleeping and had to chuckle that I was the one sleeping and Chip was
awake. He’d picked me up and put me
in the bunk next to Chip’s.
~~~
“You must be pretty boring to
put her asleep.” Lee said smiling.
“You sure had us worried.”
“How long was I out,” Chip
asked as Jamie came over.
“Three days. You were about one hour away from going
to the base hospital,” Jamie replied. “How do you
feel?”
“I have a headache, my ribs
hurt when I move and my eye is swollen shut. I must have gotten a cut because
there is a bandage on my forehead, but other than that I’m fine and hungry. What’s for dinner?” Chip wanted to know
grimacing as he tried to move to a more comfortable
position.
“That’s a good sign; you’re on
the road to recovery if you’re hungry.
I’ll have Cookie bring up some dinner for us,” Lee said as he called to
the wardroom.
~~~
I was still sleeping while they
ate dinner. I found out later that
Jamie told Lee and the admiral they needed to leave; even though Chip was better
he still needed to rest. Lee was
going to wake me up but Jamie said it was alright for me to stay there for the
night. As soon as they left, Chip
still very tired from his ordeal went back to sleep.
******
I awoke the next morning to
find Chip and Lee eating breakfast.
“Good morning, sleepy head,”
Lee said as he came over to the bunk helping me up and gave me a kiss.
“How long have I been
sleeping? Chip you’re awake,” I
said surprised to see him up and eating.
I went to Chip’s bunk and gave him a gentle hug not wanting to hurt him.
“About nine hours. You fell asleep
right before Chip woke up,”
“Sorry, I fell asleep, I
couldn’t stay awake. I didn’t sleep
very well the other night. Lee, can
I have a piece of your toast, I’m starving,” I asked him.
He gave me his toast and some
of his eggs. I ate it and told him
I was going to our cabin and get ready for the day. As I was walking out the admiral and
Jamie walked in smiling, everyone was in a good mood this
morning.
******
Now that Chip was going to be
okay and the repairs to Seaview were almost finished, Lee would get to
take his day off. As a surprise, he
booked us a room at a hotel so we could rest and relax before leaving for
“How about we go swimming?” Lee
suggested.
“Okay, luckily for you I had a
suit on board,” I said laughing. I
learned early on to be prepared for anything while on the
boat.
We got ready to go down to the beach, but
after taking one look at the king sized bed, we both knew going to the beach
wasn’t going to happen. We took off
our suits and climbed in the bed, I snuggled up to Lee and we fell sound asleep.
It was
“We’ve sure had hectic couple
of weeks,” I told Lee as we walked hand in hand.
“Too hectic for me,” he
replied. “Whatever happened
to a simple research mission? I
used to hate those but right now that would be a nice
change.”
“Getting to old for the job,” I
kidded him.
“Watch it my dear,” he said
picking me up and threatening to throw me in the water. He put me down and gave me a kiss which
I gladly returned.
We walked a little farther
before sitting down on the beach and stared at the waves; too many people around
to do anything more. After watching
the sunset we went back to our room, got into bed and promptly fell asleep. We had to be back at Seaview
before 0600 so Lee could prepare to leave
We checked on Chip as soon as
we got back. He was doing much
better, but Jamie wouldn’t let him out of sick bay for a couple more days. He wasn’t too happy about that and he
complained he didn’t get to have his day off. Lee laughed and told him he had four
days off.
While Lee went to check on the
repairs, I stayed with Chip. Cookie
had brought him a breakfast tray.
He was as always very hungry.
“You have two pieces of toast
there, can I please have one,” I asked Chip hoping he would share. “We didn’t have time for breakfast
before we left the hotel. I won’t
get breakfast until Lee is done checking on the repairs and getting
Seaview out of the harbor.”
“Sure,” he said as handed me a
piece of toast and a piece of bacon.
“Thank you. I will bring you another piece of toast
and bacon when I come back,” I told him smiling.
“Don’t worry about it,” he
returned the smile. “It’s the least
I can do for you after rescuing me from the cell and sitting here with me. Yes, Jamie said you were here all the
time and had to kick both you and Lee out.”
“Where else would I be,” I said
giving him a hug.
******
Lee said I could come up to the
conning tower as he maneuvered Seaview out of the dock and into the
harbor. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed watching Lee at
work.
We went back to sick bay and I
verified that Lee did not scratch the paint. I wasn’t sure Chip believed me; he
thought I was a little prejudiced.
I would get to pick the restaurant so Chip knew he was in trouble. I always picked Giovanni’s when Lee won
a bet. It was our favorite place to
eat but we would have to wait awhile before collecting on our dinner until Chip
was feeling better.
******
After one more day in sick bay
Chip was released to his cabin. He
wouldn’t be allowed to return to duty until we got back to
Lee would oversee the repairs
to Seaview along with the admiral and Chief Sharkey. It would take a couple of weeks before
everything was completed. There
would be a lot of work for us to catch up on at NIMR. I would have a mound of mail and
paperwork to do after being gone for over two weeks but at least we were finally
home.
But who knows for how
long.
The
End.
* Used with permission from K.
Corris
** See my story, A New ONI
Agent?
*** See my story, A Watch
Doesn’t Just Tell Time
Thank you
Christy for your help.