Shades Of
Grey by Pauline
My thanks to
everyone who has helped with this story.
Hands shoved into his pockets, Nelson anxiously paced
Seaview’s observation nose, casting occasional glances out of the windows at
the depths beyond. Where the devil was Crane?
Lee had gone ashore in Kamchatskaya, Russia, on an Intel gathering mission.
The region was one of the least populated and off limits, supposedly
because of the danger from active volcanoes and boiling mud pools. This made it
the perfect location for a secret biological and chemical warfare
facility. It should have been a quick in
and out operation. The problem was that Lee was twelve hours overdue.
Pausing, Nelson turned and strode through the control
room to the plot table. “Isn’t there any word of Captain Crane?” he demanded
impatiently.
“No, sir,” Chip Morton replied, shaking his head.
Running a hand through his hair in agitation, Nelson
continued aft to the radio shack. “Sparks, have you managed to get in touch
with Mr. Baginski?”
Sparks turned from his dials and switches. “No,
Admiral.”
Nelson sighed wearily. “All right, keep trying. Let me know the moment you contact
anyone.” Turning away, he returned to the
observation nose. The region was so
remote and densely wooded, it would be impossible to find anyone without
knowing where to look. To add to their
problems, there was a Russian navy base in the area and Seaview had been forced
to play hide and seek. The whole situation was fraught with danger
for if Seaview was detected, without proof of what they suspected, it could
spark an international incident. Unfortunately for Seaview, her capability to
go deeper than any other sub, along with her Captain’s ONI training, made her
the obvious choice for the mission. “Chief Sharkey?”
“Aye, sir.”
“Prepare a shore party, I’ll lead them myself,” Nelson
ordered.
“Aye, sir,” the chief turned and hurried away.
Lee Crane woke in pain; his whole body hurt. His
eyelids felt heavy as he struggled to force them open. Except for a rough blanket, he was
naked. He started to sit up, but a wave
of dizziness sent him toppling back onto the cot that he was lying on. He couldn’t remember how he had gotten here
and just where was ‘here’? How long had
he been here? Cautiously he again tried
to sit up; his stomach cramped and
his head swam, but he managed to stay upright.
He looked around his prison; the walls and floor were grey metal and there were no windows,
just two small vents high up on each side of what looked like some sort of
cargo container. Was he on a ship? He couldn’t feel any movement or vibration of
engines. With a shiver, he turned his attention to himself
and did a quick exam. His ribs and abdomen where covered in bruises, there were
needle marks on the inside of his arms.
One of the injection sites on his left arm was bruised and tender. His wrists were rubbed raw where he had
obviously been restrained. So he’d been
drugged, but he had no memory of it. He hoped that he had not told them
anything. He probably wouldn’t still be alive if he had.
Pulling the blanket around himself, he stood unsteadily
and walked slowly around the metal box.
Apart from the cot, there was no other furniture. The container was lit by one solitary light
bulb. He listened, but could not hear any sound; no voices or movement to indicate that there was anyone
outside of the prison box. His stomach
rumbled; he was thirsty and hungry. Had he been left here to slowly starve to
death?
Returning to the cot, he sat with his back resting
against the metal wall, drew his knees up and wrapped the blanket around
himself. Closing his eyes, he tried to
concentrate. He knew who he was, so why
couldn’t he remember where he was or why?
He was just dozing when the door of the metal box
opened and two large men dressed in Russian military uniforms, came in. They had rifles slung over their shoulders. They hauled him none to gently off the cot
and dragged him out.
“Who are you?
Where are you taking me?” Lee demanded, ignoring his nakedness. Now was
not the time for modesty, but neither of them replied. His container had been inside a large, empty warehouse. Two more guards that had been waiting outside
joined them, and fell into step behind them.
Part of the warehouse had been partitioned off to make offices. He was dragged towards a brick cubicle. Fear knotted his stomach as he saw what was
inside. The walls and floor were lined
with white ceramic tiles and there was a drain in the middle of the floor. Easy to
hose down the blood, Lee thought. No! His mind screamed. The hold on his arms tightened painfully as
he resisted being dragged forward, useless as it was.
It was impossible to prevent his wrists from being
manacled. A chain was looped over a hook
and he was suspended by his arms, his feet barely touching the floor. He tried not to think of what might happen
next. Suddenly he was hit by a high
pressure jet of water that knocked his feet out from under him and the shock of
the cold water taking his breath away. He struggled to regain his footing as the
water continued to pound him.
The barrage continued for what seemed like a lifetime,
but in reality was probably only a couple of minutes. At least he had managed to swallow some of
the water and it had helped relieve his thirst.
Then the water stopped and he was left hanging there, alone, dripping
and shivering. Maybe he would catch pneumonia and die.
Suck it up, Crane, he chastised himself. You are not going to die here.
He didn’t know how long he had been hanging there when
he realized that his hands and arms were numb from the loss of circulation and
his shoulders ached. He was so cold, he
couldn’t stop shaking. He tried to shift
his weight to ease the strain on his arms.
His feet were nearly numb with cold. What did they want? They had obviously failed to get whatever
they wanted using the drugs, so were trying to soften him up by other
means. Just when he was beginning to
think that they had forgotten him, his captors returned. They took him down and half dragged him back
to his metal box. Needles of pain stung
his arms as circulation returned and his feet were so cold he could hardly feel
them.
Nelson climbed out of the dinghy onto the black sand
of the beach and looked around. The
beach was surrounded by steep rocks, with no other cover. In the distance, plumes
of steam rose into the night sky from snow capped mountain tops. Sharkey, Kowalski and Patterson quickly joined
him on the beach, pulling the inflatable out of the water.
“You two find somewhere to hide the dinghy,” Sharkey
ordered. “And be quick about it.”
While they waited, Nelson raised his binoculars and
scanned the rocks for their contact.
“Nelson, over here.”
Nelson turned to see a large, unshaven man standing
beside a rock.
“I’m Comrade Baginski,” he introduced himself. “Come,
we must hurry. They have your man. General Puzakov will not hesitate to
use him for his experiments.”
“Ski, Patterson,” Sharkey turned and gestured to the
two men to hurry.
Nelson didn’t like the sound of that. Bastards! Lee’s assignments all too often put him in harm’s
way. If anything happened to Crane, he would have someone’s head. He nodded to the man. “All right, let’s move.”
They followed Baginski, climbing up a narrow path
carved in the steep rocks. The air was
cold and an almost full moon was rising in a virtually cloudless sky. It got pretty cold here at night. They were all breathing hard by the time they
reached the top. The landscape opened
out into a meadow of tall grass and beyond that,
dense forest.
The manacles were removed from his wrists and he was shoved
roughly into his prison. Unable to get
his feet under him, Lee fell to his knees, adding more bruises to his already
beaten body. Picking up the blanket that
had fallen to the floor, he crawled back to the cot. A tray with a bowl of some sort of stew and a
lump of bread had been left on the floor.
He picked it up and soaked the bread in the stew to soften it before
tucking in. The stew, probably out of a
can, was warm and helped fill the empty pit in his stomach. So a
least he wasn’t going to starve to death.
He felt a little better with some food inside him and wrapped in the
blanket, he lay curled up on the cot and closed his eyes; he needed to conserve
his strength if he was going to escape from wherever he was. The blanket offered little warmth and he was
soon shivering again.
Sometime later, he heard the door open. Whatever they had planned for him, he knew he
wouldn’t enjoy it. He had to get out
now, while he still had the strength to put up a fight. The same two men approached the cot. Lee moaned, rolling over and dropping an arm
over the side of the cot where he had left the now empty tray. One of the men
grabbed the blanket and pulled it off.
Lee tried not to shiver as his naked skin was exposed to the air. As the men bent to seize him, he snatched the
tray and hit the nearest man over the head with it. The sound of the metal hitting the man’s head
resounded in his prison, and the man raised both hands to his head, cursing. As the other man moved to bring his rifle to
bear against Crane, Lee grabbed it and rammed it into the man’s gut. The man
doubled over and dropped to his knees.
Lee grabbed the tray to hit him over the head, causing the man to fall
to the floor. Lee used the rifle butt to
catch the first guard on the chin. His
head snapped back and he joined the guard on the floor. Lee hurried to the door and checked outside
before quickly returning to the unconscious men to strip them of their uniforms
and quickly dress. Pulling on socks, he decided against the boots;
he could move quietly on stocking feet.
Lee staggered out of the container, leaning briefly
against the side until his equilibrium returned. Moving cautiously though the warehouse, he
tried to keep to the shadows. Warmth was
beginning to return to his body, but he was still sluggish. He
needed to move quickly, but it wasn’t easy; he must have strained every muscle
in his upper body. His shoulders and
arms hurt, his ribs hurt, his stomach hurt and his knees hurt. Aware that his escape was going to be discovered
pretty rapidly, when his escorts didn’t arrive with him when they were supposed
to, he forced himself to keep moving.
He had no idea what he was going to do once he
escaped; he didn’t know where he was or what his mission had been. Although, judging from the uniforms, he was
somewhere in Russia and, presumably, he’d missed his extraction. Easing around the corner of some racking, Lee
scanned the empty warehouse. Stepping
out of the shadows, he sprinted across the open space and colliding with the
wall, flattened himself again it, edging along it to the door. And, to his
surprise and relief, it opened.
Chip completed a circuit of the control room, ending
back behind Riley at the hydrophone station.
He had again found himself as acting captain while Lee was off the boat
playing spy. Seaview was currently
sitting on the bottom, running silent, using hydrophones to keep track of the
Russian navy without being detected themselves. They were in effect spying on them, but they
needed to know what the Russians were hiding.
Chip looked at his watch, hoping that they would not have to wait too
much longer for the return of their captain and the shore party and that Lee
would be in one piece. From the amount
of traffic in the area, it was almost certain that the Russians knew that they
were there but had been unable to locate them.
Kamchatskaya was located in the North Pacific on the ring of fire and
Seaview was playing a dangerous game. Chip
had used every technique he knew to hide Seaview
from the Russians. Unfortunately, these
techniques also made it difficult for them to detect any vessels in the
area.
“I think we lost them, sir,” Riley said softly, his
voice just above a whisper.
Chip nodded.
They couldn’t sit here forever; they would be at periscope depth to
contact the shore party. Even Seaview’s
powerful radio could not penetrate seawater below a certain depth. “Stay on it,
Riley. Sing out if you hear anything, I don’t care what it is.”
“Aye, sir,” Riley turned his attention back to his
equipment board.
Moving quietly, Chip made his way to the plot table.
Nelson was grateful when they reached the cover of the
trees, he’d felt exposed out in the meadow, even with the tall grass for
cover. The blue needled fir trees were
close together, with no discernable path, but their guide seemed to know where
he was going. Also disconcerting was the
low rumble he could here and the small tremors that he felt under his feet. Nelson glanced back at the Chief, checking
that they were still following. Sharkey
gave him a reassuring smile and nod.
They moved deeper into the forest following
Baginski. Nelson hoped that they were
not being lead into a trap. But there was nothing he could do about it; they needed to find Lee. Very little of the moonlight penetrated the
trees but Nelson’s eyes had adapted to the darkness. He couldn’t help worrying what they would
find when they reach the facility. What the hell had these bastards done to
Lee? Nelson was growing
impatient. The trek through the forest
seemed to be taking forever with no end in sight.
The trees seemed to continue down a gentle slope, the
ground was covered in a carpet of pine needles that muffled their footfalls. Baginski picked up the pace now that the
going was getting easier.
The night was cold and his breath condensed in the
cold air. Ducking behind some barrels,
Lee surveyed the area. There were
several buildings, some with lights showing.
Across the compound, some 100 yards away was a gate with a barrier
across the road. Two armed men in
uniform guarded the entrance. The
compound was surrounded by a high fence topped by barbed wire. Beyond the fence was a dense forest of pine
trees. Across from his hiding place there was a jeep parked
with two bored looking men standing talking. He contemplated what the chances
were of him overpowering them and commandeering the jeep. One thing was sure, he couldn’t stay where he
was; he needed a distraction. Turning
his attention back to the barrels he was hiding behind, he unscrewed one of the
caps and took a cautious sniff; gasoline.
Now he had a plan.
A pair of headlights appeared from around one of the
buildings and a Vector covered truck emerged, headed for the gate. Lee shouldered the rifle and darted from his
hiding place and keeping the truck between him and the guards, he ran towards
the parked jeep. Skidding to a halt, he
dropped behind a crate. He watched the
truck slow to a stop at the barrier and the driver spoke to one of the guards.
Taking aim, Lee fired at the barrels, there was a satisfying
loud explosion and the ground shook. Flame shot into the air, flooding the area
with a light. There were yells and the
sound of running footsteps. Lee looked around;
the men standing near the jeep turned and started climbing into the jeep. There was no time for subtlety now, he had to
move. Running from his hiding place, Lee
covered the short distance to the jeep and opened fire. He hit one of the men in the leg and the
other lunged for cover. Reaching the
jeep, Lee dragged the injured man out and finished him with a punch to the jaw
that laid him out. Lee climbed in behind
the wheel and started the jeep. He put
it into gear and floored the gas. The
other man got off a shot before Lee swerved, catching him a glancing blow. The shot whizzed passed Lee’s head and he
roared towards the gate. The guards on the gate opened fire as he
approached. Lee threw himself across the
front seats, hoping that the jeep’s momentum would be enough to clear the
gate. The barrier splintered as the jeep
crashed through.
As he sat up the jeep was past the barrier and moving
away. More bullets followed, hitting the
back of the jeep and Lee hoped that they wouldn’t hit the gas tank. Ahead of him, the truck was disappearing into
the night, with only its tail lights now visible. Then the jeep juddered and slewed to the
side, Lee could feel from the steering that a tyre had been hit. Veering off the road, he headed for the
trees.
The trees were starting to thin; Baginski stopped and crouched
beside one of the thick trunks. “The
facility is just on the other side of these trees,” he whispered.
“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go,” Nelson urged impatiently, anxious
to find Lee. His friend had already been
in the hands of these people too long.
They had had to wait until dusk before making a rescue attempt and the
Russians were not known for their leniency where the treatment of prisoners was
concerned.
Baginski hesitated. “If they capture you, you and your
men will suffer the same fate as Crane,”
he warned.
“I didn’t come this far to turn back now,” Nelson told
him sternly. Turning to his men, he gestured
them to follow. After a few more yards the
trees opened out onto a valley and Nelson could see lights and dark shapes of
buildings. There was no cover between
here and the fence surrounding the facility.
“What’s the plan, Admiral?” Sharkey asked, crouching
beside Nelson.
Before Nelson could answer, there was an explosion
inside the compound. The whole area
seemed to be on fire, flamed leapt into the night sky. The sound of voices and gunfire could be heard
from the facility. As they watched, a
jeep broke through the barrier and seemed to veer off the road towards
them. “Lee?” Nelson whispered, holding
his breath as things seemed to happen in slow motion. The jeep continued for some distance before
lurching to a stop and the driver stumbled out.
Nelson ran towards the man, in spite of the uniform, he was sure it was
Lee Crane. He and Sharkey grabbed Crane
and dragged him back into the trees.
“Admiral...?” Lee blinked at him in surprise.
Nelson smiled. “It’s about time, Captain.” He teased.
“Sorry, sir.” Lee apologised quietly as he sagged
against Nelson’s support.
“What happened?
Are you all right?” Nelson asked,
slipping an arm around Lee’s waist to help keep him upright. Casting
a quick eye over his young friend, looking for injuries, he worried about what
the uniform was hiding.
Lee nodded.
“Fine, Admiral.”
“Then I suggest we get out of here,” Nelson
urged. Soldiers were emerging from the
facility and headed in their direction.
“I’m picking up some sort of disturbance, sounds like
an underwater quake, sir,” the
crewman on hydrophones reported.
“Shock wave approaching, Mr Morton,” Riley called in
warning.
Chip unclipped a mic. “All hands, brace for shock
wave. Repeat, brace
for shock wave.” As the
turbulence hit, Chip clung to the plot table, while around him, crew were
thrown to the deck. The emergency lights
bathed the control room in a red glow. Sparks erupted from consoles and flames
licked from control panels.
“Fire detail, get on those fires,” Chip ordered once
Seaview settled back to an even keel.
Glancing around the room, he checked the crew. “Anyone hurt?”
A chorus of “No, sir,” responded as the crew resumed
their stations and checked their instrumentation.
Chip again took the mic from its clip. “Damage control, report.”
“Full watertight integrity, sir. Some minor damage in the circuitry room.”
“Estimated time for repairs?” Chip asked. They needed to be fully operational in case
they needed to move in to assist the landing party.
“Thirty minutes, sir.”
“Very well, carry on.”
Chip again replaced the mic and walked over to check the readout from
the seismograph and EDM equipment; anything to take his mind off of worrying
about Lee and the landing party. Chip
had been in this position too many times, left behind on the boat to wait, not
knowing what was happening; would Nelson find Lee in time?
Attaching the slip of paper to the clipboard he was
holding, Chip returned to the plot table.
The smell of burnt wiring hung in the air. With the Seaview submerged,
it would take longer for the scrubbers to clear the air, but surfacing was not
an option when they were so close to a Russian naval base.
“Surface contact, sir.
Range one thousand yards.”
Chip walked over to the sonar station and accepted the
offered headset to listen to the contact. “Russian destroyer, Mr O’Brien, takes
us down and prepare sonar decoy.”
“Aye, sir.”
Chip looked up at the overhead as the destroyer closed
on their position, listening to the sound of her propellers as she passed over
them and moved away. “What’s our depth?”
“Seven four nine feet, sir,” O’Brien reported.
Chip nodded. “We’ll remain here until repairs have
been completed.” By that time the
destroyer should be well out of the area.
He would have liked to have taken Seaview into deeper waters, but they
needed to be in range to pick up the shore party when they returned. Chip looked at his watch. How much longer?
Tired, cold and sore, Lee was only too happy to get
his butt out of the forest. He was looking forward to getting back to
Seaview and his cabin; although he probably wouldn’t be able to escape a visit
to sickbay first.
Climbing the tree covered slope, Lee’s wished that he
had taken the boots, his feet were cold and the socks did little to protect
them from any obstacles on the forest floor.
He still couldn’t remember what his assignment had been, but as Nelson
had not mentioned it he decided to let it go for now. His escape from wherever he’d been held, had
taken more out of him than he liked to admit.
The loud rumbles continued, there was no mistaking the sound of a
volcano erupting; he’d experienced it before.
“Hurry, the volcano...” Baginski urged nervously.
Lee looked at the man, there was something that made
him feel uneasy, but he couldn’t remember why.
He gave a mental shrug, assuming he was probably imagining things. While
the drugs they had used on him seemed to have cleared his system, he was still
feeling the bruising. However, determined not to slow down his companions, he
pushed himself on. He could hear voices
and knew that the soldiers were not far behind them. When they reached the top of the slope, Lee
was forced to rest against a tree to get his breath back. The adrenaline had worn off and his earlier mistreatment
and exhaustion was catching up with him.
“You okay, Skipper?” Kowalski asked as he appeared at
his side.
“I’m fine, Kowalski.
Come on, let’s keep moving,” Lee pushed himself upright; he could not
entirely suppress a shiver as a cold chill ran down his spine. The uniform jacket did little to keep out the
cold that seemed to chill him to the bone.
You’re getting soft, Crane; his body had acclimatised
to Santa Barbara’s warm climate.
The rumbling of the eruption seemed to be slowing, but
he couldn’t help worrying about how far away it was. He might be cold, but he had no wish to get
up close to hot molten lava.
When they reached the meadow, they found their way
blocked by a bubbling, crackling mass of lava, snaking its way across the
meadow, incinerating everything in its path; they could feel the heat and smell
the sulphur. Clouds of smoke and steam
obscured the landscape making it impossible to see across the meadow.
Nelson turned to Baginski. “Is there another way?”
“Yes, we can go this way.” Baginski turned and headed
back into the trees.
Given no other option, Nelson shrugged and followed
the Russian. They could do without this
delay. They needed to be back aboard
Seaview before daylight.
Baginski led them to a narrow passage through
solidified rock. “This will take us down to the beach.”
“Collapsed lava flow,” Nelson observed.
Baginski nodded.
Lee grabbed the man’s arm. “Wait a minute. How long has this volcano been dormant?”
“Is safe,” Baginski answered.
“We don’t have much choice, Lee,” Nelson intervened.
“All right,” Lee agreed reluctantly.
Nelson moved to Lee’s side. “Is there a problem, Lee?”
“I don’t know, Admiral, there is something about our
guide, I don’t trust him,” Lee replied quietly.
Nelson paused, surprised by Crane’s answer. “But he was your contact, don’t you remember?”
“I don’t remember much of anything, Admiral,” Lee
admitted softly. “I don’t know where we
are, or what I am doing here.”
Nelson frowned. “We’ll have Doc look at you when we
get back to Seaview.” He couldn’t see
his face clearly in the dark, but he was worried. What
else was Lee not telling him?
Goodness knows what he’d been subjected to while a prisoner. The sooner Lee was in Will Jamieson’s care,
the better.
“I’m fine, Admiral,” Lee turned away and moved off to
catch up with the others.
Nelson shook his head. He didn’t believe for one
minute that Lee was ‘fine’. However,
there was no use pushing it, Lee would just get obstinate and clam up. But wait until I get you back aboard.
Crane was starting to flag; his head ached and he was
so tired that it was an effort to put one foot in front if the other and he
could hardly keep his eyes open. He
would like to stop, but they couldn’t afford the luxury with the soldiers
searching for them. Suddenly his right
ankle twisted on a loose rock. He tried to catch himself, but his shoulder hit
the rock wall and he bounced off and would have fallen if Nelson hadn’t grabbed
his arm and steadied him.
“Are you sure you can manage?” Nelson looked sceptical.
Lee nodded. “Yes, Admiral, I’ll be fine.” Crane hoped
that he looked and sounded better than he felt. He wasn’t sure he could keep
going much longer.
A beam of light searched the sand and they could hear
voices speaking in Russian. They drew
further back into the rocks as the beam of a flashlight touched the rocks where
they were.
“I hope they don’t find the zodiac?” Sharkey
whispered, crouched beside Nelson.
Nelson nodded. “There was a cavern back there, let’s hole up in
there and hope that our Russian friends give up and move on.”
“We’ve got guns, why don’t we shoot our way out,
Admiral?” Sharkey asked.
“Because, Chief, we are out-numbered,” Nelson
explained. “We don’t know for sure how many of them are out there.”
“When has that ever stopped us?” Sharkey muttered.
It was difficult moving in the dark, but they managed
to find the cavern and moved inside. Lee
gratefully sat down and lent back against the rock wall, pulling his knees up
and resting his arms across them. It was
almost totally dark in the cavern with very little moonlight entering. Lee watched as Kowalski produced a flashlight
from his pack.
“Are you alright, Lee?” Nelson asked, kneeling beside
him.
Lee nodded. “I’ve been worse.”
“Here you go, Skipper,” Kowalski had produced a bottle
of water from his pack and handed it to him.
“Thanks,” Lee accepted the water gratefully. Sipping the cool liquid, it tasted wonderful.
“Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?”
Kowalski asked.
Lee knew that Kowalski was asking if he was hurt. His arm was painful, but it would mean removing
the jacket and that would reveal more than he wanted to at the moment. “No, Ski, I’m fine.” He swore that if he ever got out of there, he
would never again complain about his friends trying to feed him. Putting the bottle down, he rested his head back
and closed his eyes.
The next thing Lee knew someone was shaking him.
“Lee, wake up.”
“Huh?” He blinked up at Nelson standing over him.
“Sorry, lad, time to go.” Nelson extended a hand to
help him up.
“Sorry, Admiral. I
must have dozed off,” Lee apologised.
Nelson waved a dismissive hand as he glanced around
the cave. “Where’s Baginski?” he asked, looking around for the Russian.
“Gone,” Sharkey answered.
“Damn, I knew we shouldn’t trust him,” Lee grumbled as
he got to his feet.
“Well, it’s too late to do anything about him
now. Come on, let’s get out of here before
he leads the Russians to us,” Nelson encouraged.
Lee cautiously followed Nelson back towards the beach.
There was a lot of loose rock and
it was difficult to see in the deep shadows of the rock walls on either side of
the tunnel. The question of why he
wasn’t dead still nagged at Lee. He was sure that Baginski was involved in some
way. Damn,
why couldn’t he remember what had happened while he’d been held? He couldn’t help worrying that he may have
revealed something while he’d been drugged and beaten. Was
that why he couldn’t remember? Had his subconscious blocked the memory? For the first time in his career he doubted
himself. He had always been confident in
his work, whether it was commanding Seaview or carrying out an assignment. He couldn’t afford to second guess himself.
He’d had to make decisions that could be the difference between life or death,
success or failure. The crew looked to
him for leadership and followed his orders without question. Had he
betrayed that trust? Anguish seized
his insides, not again! He couldn’t live with himself if he’d allowed
himself to betray his friends, his country, everything that he believed in.
They had almost reached the beach when it hit him,
crashing into him; Lee suddenly felt as if all his strength had been sucked out
of him. A wave of heat washed over him
and he felt as if he was suffocating. He
didn’t think he could manage another step, sagging against the support of a
rock, he swallowed, forcing down the sudden nausea.
“Lee, what is it?
What’s wrong?” Nelson asked,
appearing at his side and gripping his arm.
“Need a minute,” Lee sank down onto the sand and
rested back against the rocks.
“Chief, Patterson, check the beach,” Nelson ordered.
“Aye, sir. Come on Pat.”
“Skipper?” Kowalski hunkered down beside Crane.
Lee scrubbed a hand across his face. “I’ll be okay.”
“Can you stand?” Nelson asked taking Lee’s arm to help
him up. “We need to get back to Seaview.”
“I think so,” Lee pushed to his feet, helped by Nelson
and Kowalski to the zodiac.
Surprised and a little concerned that Lee hadn’t
escaped sickbay yet, Nelson went to investigate. Entering sickbay, he found Lee asleep in a
bunk under what seemed like every blanket that sickbay had. He raised a questioning eyebrow at the doctor
as he came out of his office and approached.
Jamieson, an amused expression on his face, simply
shrugged.
Nelson followed the doctor back to his office and sat
down opposite him. “How is he, Will?”
Jamieson handed him a folder. “There are indications that he was restrained
and beaten, possibly tortured, but he doesn’t remember. It could be an effect of the drugs they used. There are no indications of any biological
agents in his blood. At least one of the
injection sites has tissued and there is some infection. He’s exhausted, dehydrated and has mild
hypothermia from being stripped and hosed with ice cold water. But considering what he has been through,
he’s not in as bad a shape as I would expect, at least physically. I’m not sure that he will ever remember all that
happened.”
Nelson was relieved that his captors had not subjected
Lee to more, but he was angry at the treatment he had received. At least that explained the blankets. Lee was always cold when he had a
temperature. “And how is he taking
it?” He knew that Lee would be beating
himself up about not being able to remember.
“He hasn’t said much.”
“Thanks Will.” Nelson’s gaze moved back to sickbay, where
Lee was sleeping.
Jamieson nodded and smiled. “He’s comfortable and warm; he’ll wake up
when he’s ready.”
Nelson heaved a sigh and rested back in the chair.
“I’m not sure how much longer I can keep doing this, Will.” He knew that there were those that said that
he was too close to Crane, and maybe they were right. But, damn it, Lee was
special. Not only was he the best Captain for Seaview, he was his friend; more
than a friend if Nelson was honest with himself. How much longer could he allow Crane to
continue to take risks? Putting his life on the line? Seaview was supposed to be a research vessel
and Lee was too valuable. Of course that
was what made him so attractive to ONI as he was good
at what he did. And who was he kidding?
He could try and stop Lee taking ONI assignments, but he knew that it would be
a losing battle. Lee had a strong sense
of duty and he couldn’t force him to make a choice between Seaview and ONI.
“Skipper, you awake?”
Lee groaned and burrowed further under the covers to
escape the unwanted intrusion into the best sleep he’d had in what felt like
weeks. “Go away, leave me alone.”
“Are you going to come out from under there so I can
check your vitals?” Jamieson smiled.
Reluctantly, Lee opened his eyes, flinching involuntarily
at the light and frowned at Jamieson. “Depends on whether you’re going to stick
sharp things in me or not.”
That response brought a grin to the doctor’s face. “If
you didn’t get yourself into these situations, I wouldn’t need to stick sharp
things into you,” he teased gently.
For a moment Lee remained cocooned in the blankets,
relishing their warmth before half-heartedly surrendering his good arm for the
doctor to check his blood pressure. “When are you going to let me out of here?”
Still smiling, Jamieson wrapped the cuff around Lee’s
arm. “Let’s see how you’re doing first.”
“I’m fine, I only need some sleep, which I won’t get
with you keep waking me up,” Lee grumbled, watching the doctor wrap the cuff
around his arm.
Jamieson worked silently, checking Lee’s blood
pressure and then removing the cuff. “Blood pressure is still a little low and
you are de-hydrated. How is the pain? Do you need anything?”
“Just my own bunk,” Lee said hopefully.
“Sorry, Skipper, not yet,” Jamieson pulled a table with
a jug of water and a glass closer. “Now, if you don’t want me sticking sharp
things in you, I need you to drink as much as possible.” He poured a glass of water and held it out to
Lee.
Lee eyed the glass with distaste. “Can’t I have
coffee?”
“Now, Skipper, you know better than that. Coffee is a diuretic, you are already
dehydrated. If you’re good, you can have
coffee with your lunch.”
Reluctantly, Lee levered himself up and took the
glass. Once he started to drink, he
realised how thirsty he was and drank half of the water before handing the
glass back to Jamieson.
“That’s better,” Jamieson smiled. “Hungry? You missed breakfast.”
“Not if it’s Jell-O or any of the other slop you call
food,” Lee replied guardedly.
“How about toast?”
Jamieson put the glass on the table and adjusted the pillows behind
Lee. “I don’t think that will upset
Cookie’s routine too much.”
With a nod, Lee settled back against the pillows and
pulled the covers higher. “Thanks, Jamie.”
He wasn’t really interested in eating; all he wanted was to burrow back
under the covers and sleep, but he knew that if he didn’t eat he would never
escape sickbay.
Lee
fought his way out of the cold darkness, unsure of where he was. As soon as he moved his head, dizziness hit
him. Shivering, he tried to move, only
to find that his wrists were secured to something. Cautiously, he opened his eyes and keeping
his head still, investigated his immediate surroundings. The room was in semi-darkness, with only the
area around him light. He was lying on a
gurney and apart from a rough blanket, he was naked. He tugged experimentally at the restraints
holding his wrists, but it was no use, they were firmly secured.
“So,
you’re awake at last,” a large man wearing a white lab coat moved in to Lee’s
vision. He was around 60 with an unruly
head of greying hair and a grey beard; he looked like a typical scientist Lee
thought.
“Who
are you? Where am I?”
“I’ll
ask the questions.” The man moved closer and picked up a syringe from a tray
beside the gurney. “Now, we know who you
are. Save yourself a lot of unnecessary
pain and tell us what you’re mission was?”
“I
don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Really,
Commander, you are a spy and you have no rights here. I can do as I please with you, so I suggest
you reconsider,” the man warned.
Lee
shook his head, stifling a moan as another wave of dizziness hit him. He closed his eyes.
“As you wish.”
Lee
felt the needle in his arm and then a burning pain as whatever was in the
syringe was injected. The wooziness
worsened as a the drug took effect, he felt like he was falling and he clenched
the sides of the gurney to re-assure himself that he had something solid under
him.
“The
dizziness is temporary, but you may not enjoy the effects of some of my other
drugs. Save yourself
a lot of pain, tell us what we want to know.”
“Us?”
“Yes, Commander.” Another
man in uniform stepped into Lee’s field of vision. “I’m General
Puzakov; I will be supervising your interrogation.”
Lee rolled his head and
groaned, pulling feebly at the blankets.
“Captain?” Jamieson
walked over to the bunk and bent over his patient. “Easy, Captain,” he soothed,
tucking the blankets around Crane. He
wasn’t prepared for Lee’s surprising strength as he shoved the blankets off and
grabbed Jamieson by the throat. With a
strangled cry, he threw the doctor aside and was out of the bunk before
Jamieson could pick himself up.
Lying on the deck, his
head still spinning, Jamieson could only watch as Lee wrenched the door open
and disappeared from sight. Climbing to
his feet, he lunged towards where the mic was on the wall. “Control room, this
is sickbay. Captain Crane has escaped.
He’s not himself,” Jamieson hesitated.
“This is Morton, what
do you mean the Captain’s escaped? What’s going on down there?”
Jamieson took a deep
breath. “He took off before I could stop him; he seemed to be having some sort
of psychotic episode. He probably didn’t
know what he was doing.”
“All right, I’ll
organise a search.”
Jamieson returned the
mic to its clip and massaging his throat, headed for his office. He could only wait and hope that Crane would
be found quickly.
Chip stopped outside of
Lee’s cabin and knocked. After getting no reply, he tried again. “Lee, you in there?” Still no reply.
Taking a deep breath he braced himself before trying the door. It opened into an empty and dark cabin. There was no sign that Lee had been there. Where had Lee taken himself off to? Stepping back into the corridor, he pulled the
door closed and stood trying to think of where Lee might be. Taking a few steps, he tried his own cabin in
case Lee had taken refuge there, but it was empty too.
After checking on all
of the places he could think of, including the storage compartments and ballast
pump room, Chip was getting worried. No
one had seen Lee since he’d fled Sickbay. Struck by a sudden thought, he hurried aft to
the missile room to check the dive locker.
Surely Lee would not have gone outside; they were too deep for diving. Lee might be upset, but he was not
suicidal.
“Chief, has Captain
Crane been down here?” Morton asked.
“No sir, I haven’t seen
him. Is anything wrong, sir?”
Chip shook his head.
“No, carry on.”
It didn’t make sense; he had to be aboard
somewhere. As a last resort, he stopped to use a mic on the wall. “Morton to
Crane, please report your position.”
“Chip, this is Nelson, what
now?”
“Doc reported the
patient’s missing. I can’t find him anywhere. And if he doesn’t want to be
found, he’s more than capable of giving us the run around.”
“Well, he has to be
aboard somewhere!”
“Yes, sir. I’m forming
a search party,” Chip returned the mic to its clip and headed for the crews
quarters.
Nelson stood across the
plot table from Chip. “Are you sure he didn’t go outside?”
“Well, his gear is
still in the locker and the missile room watch haven’t seen him. Lee wouldn’t go outside; he knows we’re too
deep.”
“I’m not sure he knows
anything! He’s missing a fair amount of his memory due to his capture! Nelson growled, “For all we know he could
very well be outside!”
Chip could only shrug.
“I don’t know, Admiral. Our instruments would have picked him up.”
Nelson let out a heavy
sigh. “All right, all right. Well, we’ll have to
assume that he is injured or unconscious or hiding. Is there anywhere you haven’t looked?”
Chip’s gaze fell on the
access match in the nose. “Of course,” he said and walked toward the Flying Sub hatch and quickly
descended the ladder. In the dark
interior he didn’t at first spot Lee, but headed to the open hatch and checked
the hanger. Finding nothing, he returned
to the interior of the sub. A movement
caught his attention and he saw Lee. There,
in the small space between the bunk and bulkhead, he was wedged tightly, his
knees drawn up and his arms wrapped around them with his head resting on his
knees.
“Lee what the devil are
you doing? We’ve been looking all over
for you. We thought you’d been hurt.”
“Chip?” It was
little more than a whisper, Lee looking around in confusion and then focused on
his Exec. “What...How did I get here?” Lee shivered. He was wearing only pyjamas and nothing on
his feet.
Chip reached out and touched
his arm. “Are you okay?” He could feel
Lee trembling and he looked a little dazed.
The sound of another
person coming down the ladder took their attention and Chip turned to see
Nelson.
“Lee?”
Lee raised his head to face Nelson. “Admiral...” He
looked from Nelson to Chip. “I...errr, can’t seem to remember how I got here.”
Chip reached up and pulled the blanket from the bunk,
draping it around Lee’s shoulders.
Lee gave him a shy smile and pulled the blanket
closer.
Nelson looked from Lee to Chip questioningly as he
knelt in front of Lee. Chip shrugged, having no idea what was going on with his
friend.
“Lee, what is the last
thing you remember?” Nelson asked.
“Jamie said you went a little psychotic.
Were you remembering something?”
At that moment,
footfalls on the ladder signalled the arrival of Jamieson. “All right, give us some room here,” the
doctor ordered as he turned from the ladder.
“I’m all right,” Lee
insisted, trying to get up.
“Yeah, sure you
are. Let Doc check you over,” Chip told
him, keeping a restraining hand on Lee’s arm.
Jamieson put his bag
down on the deck and took Nelson’s place as the Admiral reluctantly moved
back. “Now Captain, you want to tell me
what’s going on? I know that you don’t
like Sickbay, but so far you’ve never attacked me to escape,” Jamieson teased.
“Attacked?” Morton
asked, shocked, “you didn’t say anything about that…only that he escaped.”
“Not now, Chip…C’mon
Skipper. Back to Sickbay.”
“Sorry, Jamie,” Lee said contrite, “I don’t
remember.”
“Will he be okay, Doc?”
Nelson asked.
Jamieson nodded. “I’m
sure he’ll be fine, given time,” Jamieson reached out to help Lee to his feet.
“Can’t I go to my
cabin?” Lee asked,
slightly unsteady on his feet.
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
“Come on, Lee,” Chip
nodded towards the rear hatch. “I don’t think you should be climbing any
ladders.”
Lee woke to find himself in his own bunk, but the
problem was, he couldn’t remember going to sleep. In fact, he remembered very little if the past
few days. He was still feeling worn out
and lethargic, whether from the effects of the drugs his captors had used or
from the lack of sleep and dehydration he wasn’t sure.
Giving up on sleeping, Lee sat up and rested back
against the bulkhead. He couldn’t help worrying about what had gone wrong with
the mission. The pain from the tissued injection site on his arm was a constant
reminder that he might have betrayed his nations’ secrets. He was frustrated that he could not remember
anything that had happened before he’d woken up in that metal box.
Jamieson had told him that he wasn’t sure if he would
ever remember what had happened. He
might regain part, or all of it, or it may be lost
forever. If that was the case, then he
needed to put it behind him and move on, only he had a nagging doubt that
whatever had happened while he’d been a guest of the Russians, it would
eventually catch up with him. With a
sigh, Lee ran a hand through his thick, black hair in a gesture of frustration. In sickbay, he’d had a fleeting flash of
being on a gurney with a man in a white coat, holding a syringe, standing over
him; now he couldn’t remember. A knock
on his cabin door interrupted his thoughts.
“Come.”
The door opened and Nelson walked in, closing it
behind him. “Hello, Lee, how are you
feeling?” He smiled as he approached the bunk.
“Much better, thank you, Admiral,” Lee replied,
starting to get up.
“Stay where you are, lad, you don’t need to get up on
my account.” Nelson perched on the edge of Crane’s desk. “I’ve sent a report to Admiral Johnson; he’ll
want to talk to you when you feel up to it.”
Lee shook his head. “I don’t know what I can tell him,
I still can’t remember.”
“Don’t worry about it now. Just relax and take things easy.”
“Admiral...”
Lee faltered. “What if...what if I’ve betrayed my country?”
Nelson came to his feet and moved closer, putting a
hand on Lee’s shoulder. “Whatever happened, it wasn’t your fault, you were
drugged and god knows what else.”
Lee bowed his head and ran a hand through his hair. “I
wish I could remember.”
“Lee, you’ve got to stop beating yourself up over
this. You’re a good agent and a damn fine
Captain, I’m proud of you.”
Lee gave him a shy smile. “Thanks, Admiral.”
“Thank you, gentlemen, that will be all,” Lee
concluded the morning briefing with the officers in the wardroom. Picking up several reports, Crane came to his
feet; he’d talked Jamieson into letting him return to duty. He’d been sitting around, feeling useless
long enough.
Chip opened the door and followed Lee into the
corridor where they both headed for the control room. Seaview was on course for Santa Barbara, and
as usual, Chip had everything running smoothly.
“Just what did you do to Doc?” Chip asked.
Lee shook his head. “I really don’t remember.”
“You sure you’re okay to return to duty?”
Lee couldn’t help smiling at his friend’s mother
henning. “I’m fine, Chip; honestly.” If he spent any more time resting in his
cabin, he’d go stir crazy. Apart from
his arm, which was still sore, he was feeling much better.
Arriving in the control room, Lee left Chip at the
plot table and went forward. After
pouring himself a cup of coffee, he settled into the observation nose to go
over the reports from the briefing and catch up on what had been happening on
his boat.
The morning passed quickly, and before Lee realised
it, Chip was telling him that it was lunchtime. After lunch with Chip, Lee spent the
afternoon doing a walk through the sub, stopping to talk to the crew as several
of them enquired after his health. It
still amazed him that the crew worried so much about him. He’d never gone out of his way to be popular,
but he did care about his crew and his boat.
Sitting at his desk in his cabin, Lee was trying to
write his report for Admiral Johnson. He
was finally beginning to remember. He knew now that he’d gone ashore as soon as
it was dark enough and had met with Baginski at the landing site as
arranged. The Russian was to help get
them both in and out. ONI had received Intel
that the installation was developing chemical and biological weapons. Lee’s instructions had been to obtain
evidence and put the facility out of action.
Lee usually preferred to work alone, but Baginski
would save Lee time in getting into the installation. As soon as they set foot inside the fence Lee
found himself surrounded by solders, cornered and
outnumbered with no chance of escape. He was marched into one of the buildings,
where he was stripped and searched.
He wasn’t sure how long the
interrogation had lasted, or how long they tried to beat the information out of
him. There was no secret facility. The information had been leaked to lure him
there. The Russians were working on a
new submarine and wanted Seaview’s secrets.
What was she made of? How could
she go so deep? A man who identified
himself as General Puzakov had told him that he would not leave there alive and
Lee had no reason to doubt him. Strung up by his wrists, he
been helpless to escape the blows to his kidneys and stomach. “I won’t
tell you anything,” he gasped.
“We’ll see about that,” His
tormentor had promised.
Lee closed his eyes and bit
his lip to stop from crying out as the punches continued. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. They’d kept it up until he’d blacked out and
he’d woken up on the gurney.
But he couldn’t remember what had happened after they
started administering the drugs. The
next thing he remembered was waking up in his metal prison.
With a sigh, Lee put his pen down and propped an elbow
on the desk, resting his head on his hand.
He still could not remember everything that had happened. He’d had fragments of memory, mostly
nightmares. Nelson had wanted him to wait before he reported
to Admiral Johnson, but Lee wanted to get it over with and put the whole thing
behind him. He planned to fly to
Washington as soon as Seaview docked in Santa Barbara.
He was about to close the report and put it away to
finish later, when a memory flashed into his mind. Baginski,
he’d been standing beside Puzakov when Lee had woken up; and he’d been smiling
coldly. Reaching for the intercom, he
called the radio shack. “Sparks, get me Admiral Johnson right away.”
“Aye, sir,” the radio operator acknowledged.
The questioning seemed to go on forever, with Admiral
Johnson grilling him about the Russian base, asking him questions he didn’t
have answers for. Also present were
Captain Ed Cramer of the technical division and Admiral Harvey from irregular
warfare. They both had an interest in
what the Russians were up to. Being under their silent scrutiny didn’t worry
Crane. He may be a reserve officer, but
he wasn’t intimidated, he was used to these psychological games. He got the
impression that they did not believe that he could not remember some of what
had happened.
Finally Admiral Johnson smiled encouragingly. “Thank you, Commander. I think we’re done
here. I’ve arranged for some sandwiches
and coffee.” Johnson picked up the phone
and spoke to his secretary.
Lee wasn’t very hungry, but it had been a long time
since breakfast and he knew that he should try and eat something.
A moment later a platter of sandwiches and pot of
coffee arrived. “Admiral, there was call from Admiral Nelson for you. He wants you to call him back as soon as
possible,” Johnson’s secretary informed him.
“Excuse me, gentlemen.
Help yourselves to coffee.”
Lee knew that he should have spoken to Nelson and Chip
before he left the boat, but they would have tried to talk him out of going and
he wanted to get this over with and try to put it behind him. So he had left the sub early that morning. The Admiral would not be happy that was for
sure.
“Are you all right, commander?” Cramer asked.
“Yes, fine, Sir,” Lee got to his feet and reached for
the coffee pot.
“I expect you’ll want to get back to Seaview?”
Lee nodded. “Yes.” Kowalski and FS.1 were waiting for
him at Andrews. He didn’t want to think
about the reception he could receive when he returned to the boat. Resisting
the urge to look at his watch, Lee sipped his coffee and took a sandwich. How much longer were they going to keep him
here? Depending on Seaview’s
position, it would take FS.1 around five hours to reach her. Returning the cup to its saucer, he walked
over to the window to look out at the surrounding grounds. He’d spent too much
time away from Seaview recently because of his commitment to ONI. He turned as
the door opened and Johnson entered.
“Commander, can I talk to you for a moment?”
“Certainly, Admiral,” Lee followed Johnson back out,
wondering what Nelson had said and what sort of trouble he was in.
Johnson stopped and closed the door. “As I am sure you
can imagine, I have had Admiral Nelson bending my
ear. It would appear that you are AWOL
from your command.”
“I’m sorry, Admiral.
Admiral Nelson had no right to take it out on you.”
Johnson waved it off. “Don’t worry about it, it’s not the first time that Nelson and I have disagreed
over your continued involvement with this office. However, there is a car waiting to take you
to your Flying Submarine, when you are ready.”
“Thank you, Sir – I’m ready now.”
“Chip,” Lee acknowledged, entering the control room
from the flying sub hatch in the nose.
“The Admiral wants to see you in his cabin,” Chip told
him.
Shrugging off his flying jacket, Lee handed it to a
crewman. “Thanks, Chip – carry on.” He
could tell from Chip’s tone and body language that he was not happy; added to
the fact that he hadn’t welcomed him aboard or asked if he’d had a good
flight. Lee headed for the stairs; he’d
talk to Chip later.
Nelson was seated at his desk when Lee entered his
cabin. “You wanted to see me, Admiral?”
“Yes, Lee – come and sit down,” Nelson indicated the
chair.
“I’m sorry, Admiral,” Lee apologised as he sat down.
Elbows on the desk, Nelson lent forward. “Lee, you
don’t have to do everything on your own.
You could have come to me; you know my door is always open if you need
to talk?”
Lee nodded. “I appreciate that, Admiral...It just
seemed easier,” Lee shrugged apologetically.
Nelson smiled.
“What you mean is, you sneaked off to avoid a
lecture.”
Lee gave him a shy, under the lashes smile. “Yes, Sir.” He admitted cagily.
“Lee, you can’t change who or what you are and I
wouldn’t want you to. However, you
should have told either Chip or myself that you were
leaving the boat. What sort of example
does it set for the crew when the Captain goes AWOL?”
Lee knew that Nelson was right; he’d expected the
Admiral to take his head off for pulling the disappearing trick. “I’m
sorry, Sir – No excuses, Sir.”
Nelson sighed. “Don’t go all formal on me; we’re not
in the navy. You can fill me in on what
was so urgent, over dinner.”
Lee suddenly realised how hungry he was since all he’d
had was half a sandwich at lunch. “I’d like that, Admiral.”