There
should probably be some sort of warning for this story. Maybe PG 14 given the sophistication of the
modern child. (In other words they know
a heck of a lot more than I did at that age, back in the Neolithic Era) Some might view it as +18. Nothing graphic, but tons of innuendo,
suggestive scenes and one very suggestive scene, bit of language here and
there. One bit of blood but not grossly
so. Tiny bit of violence, but not
described in detail, and anyway the Admiral had it coming. P.S. sorry for all the references but I can
never figure out what I do and don’t need to explain.
Thunder
Rolls - DizzyDolphin
“Admiral I won’t do it.”
Lee couldn’t believe he’d just said that to Admiral Jones of ONI. He couldn’t believe he was refusing a
mission.
“Excuse me COMMANDER CRANE, I’m sure I didn’t hear you
correctly.”
Shit he looks pissed. “Sir, I respectfully refuse the mission.”
“YOU ‘RESPECTFULLY REFUSE THE
“I’m not in the Navy, Sir. I’m a reservist.”
“Oh that can be remedied Mister, yes indeed it
can. I’LL HAVE YOUR SORRY ASS BACK IN THE
REGULAR NAVY SO FAST YOUR HEAD WILL SPIN.”
“WELL BETTER MY ASS BACK IN THE NAVY THAN WHERE
YOU WANT ME TO PUT IT...SIR.”
*****
Some of Lee’s ONI buddies were crouched outside of Admiral
Jones’ closed door. “This is going to be
the stuff of legends,” Daniel snickered.
“You wouldn’t think it was so funny it was your ass in
there.” However, Mike was grinning just
as much as Daniel was.
“Quiet you two, I don’t want to miss a word of this,” Gerry
hissed at them.
“How could you possibly miss hearing a thing? They’d put a thunder storm to shame!” Mike was darned good and sure he’d never have
the nerve to raise his voice to Jones, but Lee didn’t seem to have any
reservations.
*****
Lee continued in a more controlled voice, “Admiral Nelson
will not let you recall me.”
He knew it was a long shot, he wasn’t certain that Nelson
would be able to stop him from being recalled.
He was, however, certain that if the Admiral knew what he was being
asked to do, that he’d support his stand.
Well he hoped so. The Admiral had
a weird sense of humour sometimes.
“It just so happens Commander that Admiral Nelson has
already been informed that you may be recalled to active duty on a matter of
national security. There isn’t a bloody
thing he can do about it. One other
thing Commander...if I do have to resort to that, you won’t be going back to
reserve status, ever. You can
kiss NIMR and the Seaview goodbye.” I’d love to know who the NSA (National
Security Agency) agent is that’s handed me this opportunity, I’d give him or
her a big kiss.
Jones was hoping Crane would stay dug in on this, he wanted
him in ONI full-time. He would have to
fight Admiral Starke over it; Starke would love to get Crane back on a Navy
sub. While Admiral Starke might not be
overly thrilled in some ways with Crane, he still knew quality when he saw it,
and they didn’t come any better than Commander Lee B. Crane.
Man Jones is playing dirty. These assignments are supposed to be ‘requests’
not orders. Of course Lee knew that in real life there
wasn’t much of a difference between the two.
“There has to be some other cover I can use, Sir.” Lee was aware that he’d basically just caved. He simply couldn’t risk losing Seaview, or
the Admiral.
“There is nothing wrong with the cover Commander. You’ve got a good singing voice, and as far
as I’m aware there’s nothing wrong with your body. Anything I should be aware of in that
regard?”
“No Sir,” Lee replied miserably. He was wondering if he could somehow break a
leg, he certainly seemed to get enough injuries when he didn’t want them. Now that he wanted one he’d probably stay in
perfect health.
“Glad we could resolve your reservations Commander. You’ll start training tomorrow.”
“Training Sir?”
“Training Commander, unless you already know how to do
this.”
“No Sir.” At any rate not the way you want it done.
Lee certainly didn’t live a monastic
lifestyle, but what he did for certain girlfriends was a far cry from what the
cover required.
“Didn’t think so. I
gather it’s fairly demanding physically.
You’ll also be instructed in, ah, body care.”
“Sir?”
“No body hair Commander.
Smooth and soft as a baby’s bottom.”
“How about you just put a bullet through my head,” Lee
mumbled.
“Didn’t quite catch that Commander.”
“Nothing Sir.”
“Dismissed Commander.”
Lee would have snapped to attention but his body was already
ramrod straight, a position he’d maintained throughout the entire meeting. He saluted, turned smartly and exited.
Jones smiled, well he’d almost gotten Crane on
insubordination, it was still possible the Commander would refuse to go through
with it. The look on Crane’s face when
he’d mentioned the ‘body care’ was priceless.
Sort of makes me wish I taped
these meetings, Jones chuckled to himself.
*****
As Lee closed Admiral Jones’ door he heard someone give a
wolf whistle, followed by a rendition David Rose’s ‘Stripper’, in harmony.
Daniel, Gerry and Mike were leaning against the far wall
grinning at him.
“Well you obviously know all about it,” Lee looked like
someone had just run over his dog.
“Don’t look so sad pal.
It won’t be that bad. A few hip
swivels, pelvic thrusts,” Gerry matched movements to his words then he and the
other two broke out laughing.
“You think it’s so f-ing funny you do it.”
“Whoa, language Lee!”
That, more than anything else, told them how badly their friend was
taking this assignment.
“Come on Lee, you don’t have to think about this again until
tomorrow. Let’s hit a pub or two,” Mike
suggested. “We three are off to
His friends were already in civvies, Lee had a locker at ONI
where he kept spare clothes, and other assorted items, every agent had one,
even those not full-time. While not
normally a big drinker, he thought he might make an exception tonight.
He changed into black stonewash, low-rise boot-cut jeans,
they had zippered pockets, chains dangled here and there. He pulled on a black t-shirt, it had a rather
gruesome skull, snake and sword design on it.
Lee didn’t care, it was going to be a pub crawl, not a fashion
event. He didn’t want to wear his
uniform shoes, the only ones he had in his locker were his black and red Nike
Air Max Turbulence trainers, they’d do.
Grabbing his black hoodie out of the locker he slammed the door shut,
twirled the combination lock and joined his pals.
*****
Nelson was not a happy Admiral. He, Lee and Chip had travelled to
Their meetings over the Admiral and Chip headed back to the
hotel.
“Did Lee say when his meeting would be over, Sir?”
“No, but I imagine he finished before we did. I told him when we’d likely be done and that
if he’d meet us in the lobby we’d all go out for dinner.”
Arriving at the hotel they looked around the lobby, no sign
of Lee. Chip went over to the desk and
asked them to ring Lee’s room, no answer.
The desk clerk didn’t recall seeing Lee come back to the hotel.
They left word that they would be at the Capital Hill
Grille, just in case Lee had forgotten the plan. Not that it was likely he would, Lee had a
mind as sharp as any Nelson had ever met. His big worry and Chip’s, was that ONI hadn’t
already sent Lee off on whatever mission they had planned. It could sometimes happen that fast.
Dinner passed pleasantly enough, Nelson was getting to know
Chip better and Chip was beginning to relax around him. It helped that they had the common ground of
Lee to fuss over. Chip knew some of the
more ‘classified’ stories from Lee’s former sub command and after a drink or
two would sometimes share a story.
“They were hauling some Marines to somewhere or other and
there had been some ‘friction’.” Nelson
nodded, he knew what that could be like.
“Lee had been speaking to the Control Room shift about ‘taking the high
road’ and not letting any comments lead to improper behaviour, i.e.
fights. When he finished he realized his
XO, Davey, wasn’t there anymore. Lee
decided he’d better go find him. His
little talk had been as much for his XO as anyone, Davey had already butted
heads several times with the Marine sergeant.
Lee didn’t get to far when he heard Davey dressing down a crewman. Seems one of the Marine’s had asked for
instructions on using the head, the crewman told the guy that when he was done
he needed to open the red valve...and then the flapper.”
Nelson laughed, it wasn’t the first time he’d heard of this
type of misdirection. Of course the red
valve opened the boat’s air connection.
The flapper still being closed the contents of the bowl would have
exploded out and over any hapless person in the head.
“I imagine Lee wasn’t overly pleased by this,” Nelson
smirked.
“Nope, in addition to the dressing down from the XO the crewman
got to clean the head, and give a lecture to the Marines, complete with
diagrams, on the correct way to use the head onboard a sub.”
“Yes, that would be Lee, never misses a teaching
opportunity,” the Admiral chuckled. I really have to socialize more with Chip,
I’m sure there are a lot more stories and I’ll never get them out of Lee. I wonder if I could get Chip to let me in on
some of the things that he and Lee get up to, on and off Seaview.
Dinner was over and still no sign of Lee, they finished
their drinks and took a cab back to the hotel.
It was getting on toward 2200 by the time they arrived.
Their cab pulled up at the hotel; there was a cab ahead of
them that was discharging passengers.
They heard a bit of a commotion from the front cab.
“Come on buddy ol’ pal, this is your stop.”
Nelson thought he recognised the voice and looked over to
see a man swaying on his feet trying to help someone out of the cab.
Chip had been observing the scene as well and tapped the
Admiral on the shoulder, “Ah Sir, isn’t that one of Lee’s ONI friends?”
“Ah huh, I believe so.”
The Admiral had a good idea, as did Chip, just who was
getting helped out of the cab, and why.
Lee crawled out and stood, unsteadily, holding on to Gerry
for support, just as Gerry was also using him to stay upright. They both overbalanced and began using the
cab to keep themselves upright. This
seemed very funny to them and they started to laugh.
“I think I’m really gon..na regret this tomorrow,” Lee
slurred between laughs and trying not to fall down.
“Ah buddy, I think yous gonna gret it now,” Gerry slurred
back. He had spotted Nelson and Chip
approaching.
Lee looked in the direction Gerry indicated, “SHIT.”
“Four star Admiral approachin’ Lee, straighten up.” Gerry tugged on Lee’s arm, Lee tried to come
to attention, and did, if you didn’t count the 25o angle to the
side. That lasted about 10 seconds
before he started to topple. Chip hurried
forward and grabbed his arm.
“OK Lee, just hang onto me.”
“Well at least he isn’t in uniform,” Nelson remarked to no
one in particular. He wasn’t quite sure
what to make of the ‘chain’ jeans and gruesome T-shirt. Lee also appeared to have a black hoodie tied
around his waist.
“Hey Admiral,” came from inside the cab. “Could you pour Gerry back in here. We’ll leave ‘Gyspy Rose Lee’ in your capable
hands.”
At that remark Gerry doubled over in laughter and Lee tried
to pull away from Chip and get back into the cab, apparently intent on mayhem.
“I’ll Gypsy Rose, you,” he sputtered.
Chip took a firmer grip on Lee and moved him away from the
cab. The Admiral took charge of the
situation. Gerry was shuffled back
inside the cab where Mike and Daniel still sat.
Mike felt, for Lee’s sake, that the Admiral should be given
some sort of story.
“Nice to see you again Admiral Nelson, I’m sort of the
designated ‘find the right door’ guy tonight.”
Nelson could tell that Mike had been drinking as well, but
obviously not as much as the others had.
“We invited Lee along for a night on the town since we’re
all ‘busy’ as of tomorrow. He needed a
little R&R before...well can’t tell you why, but just take my word for it,
Lee needed a night out.”
Nelson nodded. He
knew there were some things Lee couldn’t share with him about his ONI
work. He had an understanding with the
men in the cab about Lee. Anything they
could tell him to keep Lee safe, they would.
Apparently, whatever this was about hadn’t yet escalated to life
threatening.
He satisfied himself that the occupants would be able to
make it to wherever they called home in D.C. and the cab departed.
He still couldn’t help but wonder, What the hell went on at Lee’s meeting with Admiral Jones? This is totally out of character for
Lee. Even if he had been recalled to
active duty he wouldn’t have gotten this plastered.
“Well Chip, seems we have a friend to put to bed.”
“At the moment Sir I’d settle for getting him through the
door and into his room.”
They both had to chuckle at the standard, “I’m fine” that
Lee mumbled in their direction.
“Sure you are Lee, you’re just peachy keen. How about you try putting one foot in front
of the other, I’ll let you know when to stop.”
Chip tried to steer Lee towards the door.
“Chip I told you, I’m fine.”
Chip looked over at the Admiral, who simply stood there
observing. It appeared that he was going
to leave it up to him to handle Lee.
“Uh huh. Let’s just
test that hypothesis out shall we.” Chip
let go of Lee and to Lee’s credit, he did get halfway to the door before
veering off course.
Lee was muttering as he went, “Damn him. Should resign.”
The Admiral had been keeping pace with his two officers, he
now took Lee’s left arm while Chip regained Lee’s right. Both men had heard what Lee was saying. Chip looked at the Admiral, “What could be so
bad that he’d think about resigning?
Does he mean ONI or the Navy?”
“Let’s get him inside and pour some coffee down him, then
maybe we can find out.”
They guided Lee through the entrance, got him up to his room
and Chip started the coffeemaker.
Lee was still muttering to himself, “rather be pumped full
of bullets. Nothing wrong with a little
hair.”
Nelson untied Lee’s hoodie and dropped it on a chair, then
he propped Lee up on the couch and removed his shoes. What
the hell could the mission be? Bullets,
hair?
“Coffee will be ready in a couple of minutes Admiral.” Nelson nodded, looking worriedly at his
closest and dearest friend slouched on the couch. Nelson knew that Lee had been through hell
and back on numerous ONI missions, even upon occasion, during Seaview missions. None had elicited this type of response.
There was a groan from the couch, “Gonna be sick.” Lee lurched up off the couch, not sure of his
surroundings or which way he needed to go.
Nelson took hold of him and got him to the facilities just
in time. Lee dropped to his knees in
front of the toilet and emptied his stomach. Nelson knelt to Lee’s left, he placed his left
hand against the tank and wrapped his right arm across Lee’s back and under
Lee’s right arm, bracing Lee against him so he could support some of Lee’s
weight and steady his balance.
“Easy lad, it’ll be over soon,” Nelson soothed.
When things seemed to have taken their course Chip handed
the Admiral a mug of tap water.
“Lee here’s some water, rinse your mouth lad.” Lee obeyed and rinsed several times. Oh
isn’t my life just wonderful. Drunk,
puking my guts out while a 4 star Admiral hangs onto me to I don’t fall in the
toilet. What really bothered Lee was
that it was Nelson he had just made a total fool of himself in front of, worse
than a total fool. What must he think of me? I
can’t even explain why.
The Admiral and Chip assisted Lee onto his bed, where they
stripped off his pants and t-shirt. Not
much point in trying to get coffee down him now, what he needed was sleep. They got him under the covers and tucked them
in around him. He was sound asleep
before they finished.
Chip was worried about Lee, it was not like him to drink to
excess. Yes, he would have a drink or
two and over the years Chip had seen him pretty ‘relaxed’, but nothing like
this. He was sure that Lee would want to
crawl into a hole and pull it in after him when he woke up tomorrow and
remembered just who he’d been drunk, and then sick, in front of.
I should have found some way
to get the Admiral out of here before Lee got sick. Sure, Morton, as if the Admiral would leave
Lee when he was in this condition.
Chip knew that Lee and the Admiral were close, really
close. Seeing the Admiral holding Lee in
the bathroom and trying to comfort him, Chip realized it was a lot more than
just friendship that the two had. As
deep and abiding as his and Lee’s friendship was, there was something more
between Lee and Nelson.
“Admiral if you want to head back to your room I’ll sit with
Lee for awhile, to be sure he’s ok.”
As much as the Admiral wanted to stay, he knew that it would
be better for Lee if he wasn’t there when he woke up. No son liked his father to witness certain
lapses in judgement, and Nelson, while never having told Lee, felt very much like
a father towards this exceptional young man.
“Ok Chip, if he needs anything call me, and Chip...”
“Yes Sir.”
“This never happened.
When he wakes up, if he doesn’t remember my being here, leave it that
way.”
Chip nodded his understanding. It reminded him of one time with his own
father, when he’d not been at his best. His
father never mentioned it, never let on he knew a thing.
Before leaving Nelson reached down and tucked one of the
blankets in a bit snugger around Lee. In
sleep the years and cares fell away from Lee, he looked like Nelson imagined he
would have as a child at rest, innocent and carefree. He placed a gentle hand on Lee’s cheek giving
it a quick stroke, “Sleep well lad.”
Harry looked over at Chip, who had settled himself in the
recliner and was carefully examining the wall to his left. Harry walked over to him and rested his hand
on Chip’s shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze.
“Good night Chip, call me if you need anything.”
Chip nodded, realizing that his relationship with Nelson had
moved up a level or two. Nelson was
trusting him with a very caring, private side of himself that Chip doubted few
ever saw.
*****
Harry rolled over in bed, not sure if he was awake yet or
not. Bam, bam, bam . What the devil! Who was knocking on his door that loudly.
The morning fog immediately cleared from his mind. He quickly checked the bedside clock as he lept
out of bed. On the way to the door he
pulled on his robe. 0800, he’d been more
tired that he’d thought. Then again he
hadn’t fallen asleep until 0300.
As he expected it was Chip at the door.
“He’s gone Admiral.”
“What do you mean Lee’s gone?” Only one person it could be.
“I fell asleep in the chair, when I woke up a few minutes
ago he wasn’t there. I checked the room;
all his things except for his uniform are gone.
I found a note.”
Chip handed the Admiral a creased piece of paper.
Sorry
about last night, can’t explain. Please
take my uniform back to NIMR. Where I
hope I will still have a job when I get back. -
Lee
PS Take good care of ‘my Lady’, and the Admiral
while I’m gone.
“Not a man of many words our Captain.”
“No Sir. I don’t
understand how he could be up and functional after last night.” Chip was feeling guilty that Lee had managed
to get his stuff packed and clear out without his having heard a thing. “I don’t even have a clue what time he left.”
“It’s not your fault he slipped out Chip. I wouldn’t have expected Lee to be functional
yet either. You know how quickly he can
metabolize any sedation Jamie gives him, likely he does the same with alcohol. The clerk downstairs should be able to tell
us what time Lee checked out. While Lee
may not be telling us much, Admiral Jones had better have an explanation to
offer.”
The Admiral was indeed correct about the hotel clerk,
according to him Lee left around 0630.
It happened that one of the coffee shop staff was just
getting off work and she overheard them ask the clerk about Lee Crane. She had seen the men together before and had
served them once.
“Excuse me, I couldn’t help but overhear you ask the clerk
about your friend.”
“Yes, that’s right, was there something you wanted to
add?” Nelson asked hopefully.
“Lee, uh, Mr. Crane came through the shop early this morning,
he asked for a coffee, ‘black as hell, strong as death, sweet as love’.”
Nelson recognized the Turkish proverb about coffee. Out of curiosity, he asked her what she had
served Lee.
“A shot of café cubano1 and an extra large double espresso to go.”
Chip whistled softly. “That’s a fair slug of caffeine even for
Lee.”
“Well he certainly looked like he
needed it. I have to go now, I hope you
find him.” With that comment, the young woman
left.
“Chip I don’t think we are going
to find out anything more here. I’m
going to ONI, you’re welcome to come along if you want to.”
“Yes Sir, I want to.”
Nelson smiled, he knew Chip would
not rest until they had found Lee, or at least made sure he was ok.
As it turned out, they did get
one more piece of intel as they left.
The door attendant remembered Lee, and to both Nelson and Chip’s
surprise told them that Lee hadn’t wanted a cab, said he preferred to walk.
Once inside their cab Chip turned
to the Admiral. “Sir if Lee didn’t take
a cab, then he must still be in D.C.”
“I don’t think we can make that
assumption Chip. Lee is a highly trained
agent and he’d know we’d try and trace him.
It may be that he simply went around the corner to another hotel and
took a cab from there to the airport or wherever.”
Nelson didn’t want Chip to get
his hopes up, it could well be as Chip suggested, or equally, as he suggested.
*****
Lee felt marginally better
physically after walking to ONI. The
coffee had definitely helped. He picked
up his briefing package from his locker, where he had dumped it the night before. He left the building and hailed a cab, he was
to begin training in ½ hour.
Lee read quickly through the
package. He would be joining an
established all male revue in Vegas, seems one of their members had some sort
of accident and they needed a replacement quick. Lee wondered, not for the first time about a
mission, if ONI had arranged the ‘accident’ in order to insert an agent where
they wanted one. There has to have
been a better cover than this! Hmmmm seems
ONI decided that my cover name ‘Lee Glen’ is still usable. He knew it was always best to keep as close
to an agent’s real name as possible, or at least one the agent has used
before. It helped to avoid slip-ups.
Lee Crane mulled over ‘Lee
Glen’s’ bio. Male dancer for the last
10 years, single, straight. Well thank
you Admiral Jones for small mercies!
Not that Lee was prejudice, to each their own. This is going to be hard enough without
also trying to appear to be ‘playing for the other team’. Hmmm, I’ve performed in Europe of late, just
got back to
His cab came to a stop outside a modern
looking building. Lee paid the driver
and went in. No one was at the entrance
to meet him; he could hear music coming from further inside. He headed toward the source of the
music. Going quietly into the dance
studio he watched while a very attractive and obviously talented female dancer
practiced. It was a contemporary piece
and she danced flawlessly. When the
music stopped, from off to his left side Lee heard someone clapping. He looked over and was surprised to see
Stephen sitting on the floor.
The dancer did a little bow to
Stephen and then walked over to Lee.
“I take it you must be Commander
Lee Crane. Let’s see what I’ve got to
work with.” She circled him, looking him
up and down. Lee looked over at Stephen
who just shrugged his shoulders. Lee was
in plain black jeans, solid black T-shirt and his old black leather jacket.
“Can’t really tell much, but at
least you’re tall and relatively good looking.”
Lee was a little miffed at the ‘relatively’ part.
The dancer knew what she was doing
though; she’d been warned that she was likely to meet with resistance, more so
from ‘tall, dark and handsome’ than from ‘tall, sandy and adorable’. So she had started the conditioning right
away, a little poke at the male ego. As
well as teaching them the moves and routines they’d need she’d also have to do
some breaking down of mental barriers.
Being Navy officers there was the whole ‘Officer and a Gentleman’ they
needed to get beyond. While male
strippers could certainly be gentlemen, their occupation usually didn’t bring
that thought immediately to mind. Lee
and Stephen needed a new mind-set about their bodies and how to use them. Although maybe not ‘beachboy’ so much but
‘man in black’ here certainly looks every inch the proper officer, even out of
uniform.
“My name is Yvonne, I’m your
instructor. We have a lot of work to do
so let’s get at it. Lee if you’d put
your stuff over there with Stephen’s, and then the two of you strip out of your
shirts, shoes and socks.”
Not much for chitchat apparently,
Lee thought to himself, which was fine with him, he didn’t really want to talk
anyway. He hadn’t left his bag at ONI,
he didn’t plan on returning there. He
had a room booked at the hotel agents used when in town. He walked over to where Stephen was still
sitting on the floor and dropped his bag and jacket with Stephen’s.
“What’s your story?” he
asked. “I thought you were out of the
country.”
“I made the mistake of coming
back. Jones hauled me into his office,
figured you needed company, and it happened that another spot had opened up as
a backup. Don’t worry Lee, you’re still
‘first string’. With any luck I won’t
have to take the stage.”
Lee scowled at Stephen, “Fine
with me if you want to take the lead on this one.”
“When pigs fly buddy.”
“OK you guys, enough dawdling,
get your stuff off and your butts over here.”
Lee and Stephen exchanged glances
as they stripped down, their look said it all, I’ll break your leg for you
if you’ll break mine.
Yvonne had them stand about four
feet apart and looked them over. Oh
ya, plenty of good material here to work with.
Very nice backs, shoulders, chests and abs on both of them. Well get to it girl, have to have them ready
in two weeks.
She stopped and stood in front of
Stephen, nice and close and slowly roved her eyes over him until he started to
fidget and turn red, then she did the same with Lee.
“Oh for pity sakes you two, you
can’t tell me you’ve never been ogled before.
If you can’t take it with your pants on, how are you going to do when
they come off? Speaking of which, drop
em. Let’s see what else you’ve got.”
Yvonne thought Lee was going to
stalk out at that point. He’d gone
ramrod straight and was making no move to remove his pants. Stephen didn’t look any more pleased but at
least he was unsnapping and unzipping.
The Hell I’m dropping my pants in front
of her, Lee thought to himself, but said “I was expecting a
male instructor.”
“Well guess what sweet cheeks,
you’ve got me, and I said ‘drop em’.” Yvonne had moved to stand about 4 inches from
Lee’s face. The tone of command in her
voice was such that Lee almost reached for his pants.
“No.”
“So you prefer dropping your
pants in front of a guy huh.”
Stephen had paused in shedding
his pants, and decided that he would like another few feet between himself and
Lee. Hell he’d like a few miles.
Holy Shit Lee’s going to .....
Lee closed the four inches
between himself and Yvonne, he dropped his voice to a predatory growl, “When I
drop my pants in front of a woman, hers are already off and the only dancing
going on is the ‘horizontal mambo’.
“You don’t say,” and before Lee
knew what had happened he was flat on his back gasping for air and Yvonne was
hauling his pants off.
“What the hell!,” he yelled when he could.
“Oh, I may have failed to mention
that I’m not just a dance instructor, my regular job is as a Navy Seal2. Well look at you Commander, a tighty-whitey
guy, somehow I was thinking more leopard print.”
Stephen backed away some more,
Oh lordy that woman has a death wish, and Lee wants to kill right about now.”
Yvonne turned to look at Stephen.
“Pants almost off lady. Uh funnily enough, leopard print.”
“That’s no ‘lady’ Stephen,” spit
Lee.
Yvonne looked down at him, “Sticks
and stones Commander, now if you’d get your ass up off the floor and line up.”
Yvonne was by no means sure Lee
would comply; in fact, she was rather surprised that he hadn’t decked her. It had been a big gamble that she would get
her blow to his diaphragm in without him blocking it and sending her sprawling
to the floor in a leg hook like the one she’d used on him in combo with her
punch.
Lee was plenty pissed, mostly at
himself. Damn I should have decked
her when I saw the punch coming. She’s a
hell of a lot stronger than she looks.
Navy Seal, isn’t that just wonderful.
Serves you right Crane, next time hit her.
He rubbed the back of his head,
it had hit the floor with a pretty big bang.
Don’t suppose I’m lucky enough to have a concussion. Where’s Jamie when I need him.
Stephen walked over and extended
his hand to give Lee a little moral support, and help him up from the floor.
“We having fun yet?” he asked.
Yvonne did another of her circles
around the two men. Stephen noticed that
she was keeping a little further away from Lee than before.
“Nice legs on both of you, strong
well shaped thighs.” She stopped behind
Stephen and stepped close, he could feel her breath on his back and then her
hands on his butt, squeezing. He took a
deep breath and held it.
“Relax Stephen, breath,” she
stroked his ‘cheeks’ up and down. “Get
used to it; you’ll have a lot less on than your ‘leopard print’ on stage.”
“Actually Lee is probably the one
that’s going to be on stage.”
“Really, oh well.”
She didn’t approach Lee, and
oddly he couldn’t decide if he was relieved or disappointed.
The rest of the session was less
traumatic for Lee. Yvonne put on some
music and had them do rhythm exercises in their skivvies. Some days I really love my job!
Lee gritted his teeth through it
all and just told himself that he had swimsuits that showed more than his
underwear did, so no big deal. He’d do
what he had to do, but he wouldn’t put any effort into it.
*****
Nelson and Chip arrived at ONI
and went directly to Admiral Jones office.
Harry didn’t slow at Jones’ secretaries desk, he went straight through
the reception area, flung the door open to the private office and stormed
in. Chip hesitated, not sure if he
should follow the Admiral into the office or not. Nelson had obviously not remembered he had
Chip in tow. Jones’ secretary motioned for
Chip to take a seat as she got up and closed the door to her boss’s
office. “Trust me Lieutenant Commander,
you do not want to be in there with those two.
Ever see two thunderheads collide?”
Chip nodded to her. He’d seen it in nature and he’d seen it on
Seaview. While Lee and the Admiral were
close friends, they did have differences of opinion upon occasion, and you did
not want to be in the middle when that happened.
*****
Harry stood in Jones’ office for
a moment, at first to angry to say anything.
Jones’ squared up in his chair, here we go, raise the storm flags. He had expected Harry to show up today, he’d
heard about the little R&R his men and Crane had engaged in last
night. He knew Crane would not have
breached orders and told Nelson about the assignment, but Harry was no
fool. Crane, who was not a drinker,
arriving back at the hotel in the state he had reportedly been in was all Harry
would need to put things together. He
might not know the details but he knew who the responsible party was for his
Captain’s condition.
“I seem to have missed hearing
your knock, Harry.”
Nelson moved forward, slowly,
deliberately. It wasn’t often that he
could loom over someone but since Jones had stayed sitting he took the
opportunity. He placed both his clenched
fists on Jones’ desk, leaned well forward into the man’s personal space...“What
assignment have you given to MY Captain?” he growled out slowly into Jones’
face.
“Sorry Harry, classified and all
that.” Jones knew he was stoking the
fire, but if he could get Nelson mad enough he might get something he could use
to pry Crane away from Seaview. He still
had hopes that Crane would give him that opportunity himself, but if not, maybe
between Crane’s initial refusal and Nelson’s storming in here, he could make
the Navy see that Crane should not be left on reserve status with NIMR. Waste of a brilliant officer.
As usual, Jones underestimated
his adversary. Nelson read a wealth of
information from Jones’ face as he’d thought about his plan.
“Not going to work Jones. You are not getting Captain Crane and neither
is the Navy getting him back. He’s much too
valuable right where he is.”
Jones couldn’t help but smirk a
bit at that, given where he knew Crane to be right now, and what he’d be doing.
Nelson did not like the look on
the face of Admiral Jones one bit.
“Frank, whatever assignment
you’ve given him, it hasn’t gone down well.
Given the number and type of assignments he’s taken on in the past this
one must be way out of line for him to react as he has. Lee’s put his life on the line more times
than I want to think about, been in the most horrendous of situations,
endured...”
“I know Harry, I read the
debriefs, did some of them myself.”
“So help me Frank if you don’t
tell me what’s going on with Lee...”
“You’ll what Harry? Are you threatening me? Part of the Navy deal in giving Crane to you
was that he’d be available when required.
He’s willing to do his duty,” at this point Jones couldn’t help himself,
he wanted to see Nelson’s reaction, “well not counting this mission, he did try
and refuse it.”
The sound level of the
conversation had been steadily rising, it rolled like thunder now.
“Lee tried to refuse it! Good
God man what have you gotten him into!” Harry couldn’t imagine what Jones had done,
Lee took on missions that were expected to be suicide ones without batting an
eye.
“He’s into what I say he needs to be into. I made it very clear to your precious pet
Captain just what refusing a mission would cost him. He’s grown disrespectful of his superiors,
and that Harry, is your fault. Crane
needs to be back in the Navy, we’ll set him straight about his position in the
order of things. We’ll keep him too damn
busy to be mouthing off his superiors.”
“You mean you’ll keep him too damn busy trying to stay alive. You don’t fool me Frank, you want him
full-time in ONI. Starke wants him on
one of his ‘boomers’.
“So what if we do Harry, he belongs in the Navy, the regular Navy. Not off counting seals or chasing whales.”
Harry wanted to come across
Jones’ desk and throttle the man. He
knows that on many of the Seaview’s missions if it hadn’t
been for Lee, the entire planet would have been lost. The crack about seals and whales is to bait
me, but why? Of course, so I’ll lose my
temper and maybe give him more ammo in his efforts to get Lee assigned back to
regular duty.
“If it wasn’t for the Seaview and Captain Crane, Frank, you probably
wouldn’t be alive today. None of us
would be.”
Jones had the good grace to flush
and lower his eyes at that statement. He
knew the truth of it, but he still wanted Crane.
Outside the office Chip had been
listening to the raised voices rolling back and forth like peals of
thunder. He’d almost gone into the
office when he heard Admiral Jones crack about seals and whales to tell the
Admiral a thing or two about those missions.
A courier arrived and handed the
secretary an envelope. She opened it,
read the contents and quietly said, “Lord help us all.”
“Bad news?” Chip asked her.
“Depends on which Admiral you’re
talking about.” She looked at the door
trying to decide if she should take it in now, or wait until Admiral Nelson
left.
Chip felt his stomach turn to
ice. Is Lee already in trouble on the
mission? Is he hurt?
Debra got up and went to the
door, it seemed relatively quiet in there at the moment. She looked at Chip and mouthed “Sorry,” then
knocked and went in.
“Admiral Jones, this just arrived
for you by courier, Sir. I thought you’d
want to see it right away.” She handed
him the message and quickly left.
When Debra had entered, Harry had
backed off from the desk and sat down.
He wasn’t going anywhere until he had some answers or at least more
information. He was not going to like what
he was about to learn.
As Admiral Jones read the message
a large smile formed on his face, then he laughed aloud. “Oh I’ve got your boy by the jugular now. Yes indeed I do. Not a thing you can do about it either
Harry.” He handed the message to Nelson.
In
response to your report regarding your meeting with Commander Lee B. Crane,
please be advised that if he
refuses the mission or by action or inaction deliberately jeopardizes his
cover, you are to report this immediately.
Steps will be taken to reactive Captain Crane to active status and
appropriate disciplinary action taken.
Nelson’s
hand began to shake with the fury that he was barely containing.
“You did this deliberately. You’ve assigned him something that you know
he can’t or won’t do. So help me Jones,
if any harm comes to that boy because of your petty manoeuvring, there will not
be a place on this planet that you will be safe.”
“Stow it Nelson. He’s not a
‘boy’, he’s a man, more than that he’s a highly trained Naval officer and ONI
operative. Crane’s perfectly capable of
handling the assignment. I had my
reasons for choosing him and I don’t need to justify them to you.” God you would think Nelson had given birth
to Crane or something the way he carries on about him.
“He’s Seaview’s Captain and not under your command or the Navy’s. You had no business assigning him to
anything.”
“Like I said before Nelson, part
of the deal you made to get Commander Crane was that he would be available for
special assignments when required by the Navy.”
“If you’ve read the ‘deal’ then
you know that it only applies when Captain Crane can be spared from his duties
with NIMR, or in extreme circumstances.
I also believe you’ll find that the assignments are subject to his being
willing to take them on.”
“Unless the assignment is deemed
crucial to homeland security, in which case he doesn’t get the luxury of
refusal.”
“You’re claiming that this is
that sort of assignment and no one but Captain Crane was available or capable
of taking in on?”
“I’m not ‘claiming’ anything.
I’ve assigned him a mission and he’ll bloody well carry it out or take
the consequences, and as you’ve read, I have the backing required to carry out
those consequences, Admiral!”
Nelson had never come so close to
hitting a fellow officer before. “I will
not forget this Jones. THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES ALL RIGHT, YOU
CAN BE DAMN GOOD AND SURE OF THAT!” Harry
spun on his heel and stormed out the door, slamming it shut hard enough to
rattle the walls. He stormed past Chip not
even acknowledging his presence.
Debra looked at Chip, “Well that
was one of the more explosive thunder storms between them. You’d better go look after your Admiral, I’ll
see to mine.”
Chip wished her luck and started
after his personal Thunderhead.
Debra knocked and slowly opened
the door to the inner sanctum.
“Ah Debra, come in. I think I may have pushed Nelson a little too
far this time.”
*****
Chip caught up to the Admiral
just before he got to the street door.
Nelson hesitated at the exit and
blew out a huff of air, then stepped out.
“Well Chip that could have gone
better.”
“If you say so Sir.”
“Chip, there’s not much point in
you pretending that you couldn’t hear the conversation. Lose the Navy training. You don’t need it with me.”
Chip knew that his relationship
with Nelson had changed a lot since Lee came onboard. As Lee and the Admiral became closer, it
transpired that so did Chip and the Admiral.
Definitely not in the same way, or to the same depth but Lee often
included Chip in his discussions with the Admiral. As close as Nelson and Lee where, Chip
noticed that Nelson remained ‘Admiral’ or ‘Sir’ to Lee, while Lee was ‘lad’,
‘boy’, ‘son’, or if ticked ‘Captain’ to the Admiral.
“Chip, you with me here?”
“Sorry Sir, just thinking. From what I overheard, Admiral Jones didn’t
give you any particulars about what Lee was doing or where he was.”
“No, if I’d kept my temper in
check I might have gotten something out of that pain in the ass. As I’m sure you’ve observed and Lee’s likely
remarked to you, I’m not known for my even temperament.”
“Lee may have mentioned it a time
or two, Sir.”
Nelson smiled. He was sure Lee had discussed the fact more
than a time or two with his friend and confidant. He was glad Chip and Lee were so close; they
both carried a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. Nelson had watched as Lee gave Chip more and
more responsibility in the running of Seaview, and Chip rose to the occasion
brilliantly. Some captains liked to
‘rule the roost’ as it were, but Lee trusted Chip and had no problem turning
the conn over to him while he dealt with things elsewhere. For his part, Chip obviously felt protective
of Lee, both as an XO should of their captain and as a ‘big brother’
would. Of course as brothers will, they
had disagreements and spats, but overall it worked very well, he considered
himself a very fortunate Admiral indeed to have two such fine officers in his
command.
“I want to make a couple of calls
Chip, depending on what I learn we will either stay here or head back to
Once in his room the Admiral took
out his wallet and fished out a slip of paper, he dialled the number on it.
Many miles away, in a Navy
transport plane, a cell phone chirped.
*****
Stephen was worried about
Lee. His attitude had not improved over
the last 3 days. Sure Lee was doing what
was requested but only with the barest effort.
He’d personally been very amused when Lee had shown up the second day
wearing boxers over his briefs under his jeans.
Stephen had heard about what
Jones had told Lee at their meeting. You
couldn’t expect to have many secrets in a building full of covert operatives,
especially if you were going to conduct meetings at thundering sound levels. If Yvonne reported to Jones that Lee should
be scrubbed from the mission then Stephen was certain that Jones would follow
through on his threat to get Lee back on active status with the Navy. While Stephen would enjoy working more with
Lee, he knew it would crush Lee to have to leave Seaview and Nelson.
They’d finished for today and
were getting ready to leave.
“Lee have you thought about why
you were picked for this mission?”
“Jones has his reasons, doesn’t
share them with me.”
“You know the Navy wants you back
in the fleet; you know Jones wants you for ONI.
So far neither one have been able to get you away from Admiral Nelson,
but....”
“Are you saying Jones is trying
to get me to give them a reason?”
“Can’t say for sure, but I heard
what he said would happen if you didn’t take the mission. I’m betting that goes double if you
intentionally get scrubbed out.”
Lee had to admit that his
lacklustre performance so far was probably based on the hope that Yvonne would
tell Jones he wasn’t any good at it. He also
realized Stephen was right; Jones would use it to try and get him
reinstated. Lee knew Nelson had pulled
quite a few strings and called in favours to get him permanently for Seaview’s
Captain. Was it fair to expect the
Admiral to fight for him again? He could
lose the battle this time. Was his pride
that important? It’s not really my
pride that’s the problem here, I just don’t want to parade around practically
naked in front of a bunch of women.
He began reasoning with
himself.
Well why the hell not Crane? You worried that you won’t compare well with
the other men?
Hmmm maybe a bit.
No that’s not it and you know it.
There’s going to be over 100 women
looking at me gyrating around a stage in nothing more than a couple of pieces
of string and a patch of cloth!
So what, no one is forcing them to be
there, they want to be there. You don’t
have a problem doing it in front of one woman at a time, and that’s without the
bit of cloth.
OK, so I have an unreasonable hang-up
about this. I have ‘rules’ about the way
men and women should act with each other.
So don’t be you, be your cover. Lee Crane, Captain of the Seaview, close friend of Admiral Harriman Nelson, NIMR, isn’t doing this, Lee Glen, ONI agent is.
What would the Admiral think of me doing
this?
What will he think of you being back in
the active Navy?
Lee realized his argument was
close to becoming circular, which would solve nothing. The question was, Can I do this and if I
can’t, can I take the consequences? Damn
it Lee, make your decision, and get on with it!
Stephen had stood quietly
watching the play of emotions across his friends face. He didn’t really know what had Lee so bugged
about this, it was sort of fun, once you got past the initial idea. He saw Lee’s face go calm, for better or
worse he’s made a decision.
“You go on ahead Stephen, I’ll
catch up with you later. I need to talk
to Yvonne.”
“Ok buddy, good luck, whichever
way this goes.”
Yvonne was in the little office
off the dance floor. Lee knocked on the
door and went in.
“Lee, I thought you and Stephen
would have left by now.”
He noticed that she was working
on the computer set up on the desk. He
nodded towards it.
“Progress report?”
“Yes, Admiral Jones wants one
every couple of days.”
“Well before you tell him what a
jerk I’m being I’d like to talk to you.”
“Didn’t know you were a mind
reader Commander.”
“Not hard in this instance. Could we talk out on the dance floor?”
Yvonne thought it a strange
request but didn’t have any objections to it so she got up and walked out to
the middle of the dance floor with Lee.
“Like I said, I’ve been a real
jerk and I apologize about that. I’m
still not wildly thrilled with what I have to do but I will do it.” As he was speaking to her he’d taken off his
shirt, unsnapped his jeans and pulled down the zipper. Yvonne found that she was having a little
trouble breathing as he pulled down his pants, including his boxers. He kicked off his shoes and stepped out of
his clothes. He removed his socks and
stepping up to her, he locked his eyes on hers.
He then took hold of her hands and wrapping her arms around him placed
her hands firmly on his butt cheeks. He
moved her hands up and down and around.
“I want you to know that I plan
on co-operating fully for the rest of the training.” Keeping her hands on his rear Lee began to
slowly sway his hips side to side in a very suggestive sway.
O lord, do we really want to put this up
on a stage surrounded by uninhibited women!
He positively radiates sexual intensity.
Hell I’m getting...no, I am aroused!
Yvonne didn’t know what to say,
and that was a first for her. Standing
there, looking into those incredible sea green and kelp brown flecked eyes, his
near naked body so close to her, the manly scent of him, her hands stroking and
squeezing his beautifully rounded tushy...get a grip girl, and I don’t mean
there or the other anatomical feature your mind just jumped to!
“Ah, um, yes, well.” Oh very articulate Yvonne, take a freaking
step back before you drool all over him.
Gathering what remaining
self-control she had left she took that step back and regretfully let go of
him.
“This certainly does change the
content of my report to Admiral Jones.
I’m glad you’ve decided to give this your best shot.” Oh that could have been worded
better. If the mission is to totally
immobilize the entire female population of Vegas, we’ve got it covered, or
would that be uncovered?
*****
Stephen didn’t ask Lee what had
gone on after he left, but Lee was certainly in a much better frame of mind
when they had dinner that night.
*****
Day four of training was
certainly a vast improvement over the other 3 days. Today they had trampoline work and Lee and Stephen
took to it like two kids. The bounced
and did flips passing each other in midair, challenging each other as to who
could do the most somersaults in the air.
Well I don’t need to worry about teaching
them aerial techniques! Yvonne was really enjoying teaching them
now that Lee wasn’t sulky and moody. He
had asked why the training had to be done with so few clothes. She’d explained that the movements could
easily be taught with them wearing sweats but that they needed to get used to
the feel of the movements without clothes.
“Besides, it’s more fun for me
this way,” Yvonne had added with a wink.
Lee had grinned back at her.
Lee agreed that dancing unclothed
certainly felt different than in a suit or tux.
Yvonne had wanted to see what he and Stephen knew as far as ballroom
dancing went so she had partnered each of them in a Viennese Waltz and a Pasa
Doble. Definite passing grades for both
of them, but especially for a certain Commander.
When Stephen was watching Yvonne dance
with Lee he couldn’t help but observe that ‘closed position’ was a whole lot
more ‘closed’ with Lee than with him. He
couldn’t help but grin as he remembered that not so long ago she was giving Lee
plenty of space.
I wonder if Lee even realizes what
happens when he turns on the charm, or if he even knows he does it.
*****
The two weeks were almost up and
Yvonne was more than pleased with the progress the two men had made, still she
couldn’t help but wonder just what the reaction would be to the ‘homework’ she
was about to hand out.
“Stephen, Lee, after you shower I
need to see you in the office.”
“Yes Mam” came back in stereo.
She could hear them razzing each
other as they headed to the showers.
“Told you your hip swivels
weren’t ‘swivily’ enough Lee.”
“‘Swivily’? I don’t think that’s even a word, and mine
are just fine. Now your pelvic thrusts
on the other hand....”
The door closed behind them.
Hard to believe these are the same two
guys that first walked in here.
Especially Lee, I was sure I was going to have to tell Admiral Jones
that he wasn’t going to cut it.
Twenty minutes later Lee and
Stephen walked into Yvonne’s office.
Yvonne picked up two envelopes
and handed one to each of the men. “Your
assignment for tomorrow, before reporting here.”
Lee and Stephen looked at each
other, then at the envelope in their respective hands.
“I don’t think I want to know
what’s in here.”
“I hear ya Lee, I was kinda
hoping that that part was a joke.”
Yvonne wasn’t surprised that they
knew what was in the envelopes without opening them. She reached down into a bag that was on the
floor by her desk and drew out two items, one blue, one red.
“Take your pick gentlemen. You’ll need to wear these at your appointment,
and from now on when you’re here.”
Lee and Stephen looked at each
other again and then at the two scraps of cloth Yvonne was holding up.
“They are called Male Power Ring
G-Stings.” Lee and Stephen just looked
at the items, “......oh come on, pick one.
It could be worse; at least they aren’t cock-socks.”
Yvonne was holding her breath, if
Lee was going to go sulky again, this would be the time.
Lee was having a hard time
imaging how something so small could cover anything, or how such a tiny string
could keep it in place. He didn’t want
to know what a cock-sock was, although he could imagine it. He gingerly reached out and took the red one,
which left Stephen no alternative but to take the blue one.
They both held them by their
fingertips at arm’s length.
“Oh for pity’s sake you two, they
don’t bite.”
“Should hope the hell not,” Lee
muttered.
Stephen balled his up and stuck
it in his pocket, “I’m guessing guys in male revues pack really light. Sort of makes our regular uniforms look
pretty bulky.”
Lee stood there looking at the
patch of red in his hand.
Yvonne just knew she was going to
regret what she was about to say. “You
need any instruction on how to put it on?”
That seemed to break Lee’s inertia;
he looked at her while stuffing the G-string in his pocket, “You offering to
put it on for me?”
Stephen was having a hard time
keeping a straight face and decided to stir things a bit. “You know Lee, if you want to stay behind and
get some ‘help’, I’ll just meet you at the hotel, in a couple of hours. Or do you want more time to get the fit
right?” If the look Lee just sent him
was any indication, he was going to pay for that remark. Better sleep with both eyes open
tonight! Lee’s paybacks could be a
real bitch. Trouble was you didn’t know
if he was going to get you, right away, or weeks down the road. Part of the payback was making the person
suffer waiting for it. He could remember
one time when Gerry didn’t sleep for a week wondering when Lee was going to strike.
Yvonne could feel herself
flushing, enough was enough. She picked
up two folded pieces of paper and gave them one each. “Specs on your ‘uniform’, just in case you
run into difficulties. Now get out of
here, I’ll see you tomorrow after your appointments.”
She wondered just exactly when
she’d lost control of those two. Girl
you know when, the night he stayed behind and...
*****
Saturday dawned bright and sunny,
a lovely
The interior of the Spa was very
pleasant. The open reception area was
painted in shades of white with Wedgewood blue accents around doorways and
windows. White cascading swag valances
hung from the windows, the white ceiling fans causing them to gently billow
giving the impression of fluffy clouds.
There were pots of hanging ivies and other trailing plants in the
corners and white marble statues of goddesses.
In the centre was a large round water feature with side sprays, the
reflection patterns dancing on the walls reminded Lee of the Seaview’s
observation nose. He could also detect
the faint aroma of vanilla and melon in the air. Soft classical music with nature sounds was
playing in the background, Lee thought he recognized it as being Greig’s
‘Morning Song’ from Peer Gynt.
“Nice,” he said to Stephen.
“Just trying to lull us into a
false sense of security. Rather be in a
pub.”
“I don’t think they do this sort
of thing in pubs.”
“Exactly my point.”
A very petit, attractive young
lady came out of one of the side doors and approached them. She was wearing a pale sea green, long
flowing gown, reminiscent of the sorts of gowns Lee had seen on Roman Goddesses
in movies. It had a deep V neckline with
sparkling gold piping criss-crossing her chest, accenting her breasts
wonderfully. Her hair was done up
somehow so that it fell down her back in waves and ringlets from what looked
like a loose collection on top of her head.
Lee could never figure out how women got their hair to do the things it
did. All he knew was that it usually
took hours judging from how long some of his dates took to get ready.
“Gentlemen, how may I help you?”
They handed over the vouchers
that had been in the envelopes Yvonne had given them the night before.
“Oh how wonderful, you’ve been
given gift certificates for a full-body wax, manicure and pedicure. My, isn’t someone taking good care of you.”
Stephen felt Lee tense up beside
him, “Easy Lee” he whispered as the woman worked on the computer to arrange
their session.
“Stephen why don’t you have a
look at the fountain for a minute. I’d
like to have a word with the, errr, hostess.”
“What kind of word?”
“It’s ok, I’m not going to give
her a hard time or anything.”
Stephen figured he was probably
making a mistake but did as Lee requested.
As Stephen watched out of the
corner of his eye Lee talked to the hostess for a minute then handed her his
credit card.
‘Curiouser and curiouser, cried
Lee had asked the pretty young
lady just what was included in the ‘wax job’.
Pretty much everything except for one thing, which he really felt
Stephen should have.
It wasn’t long before they were
escorted into a long draped hallway, with doors evenly spaced along it. It actually reminded Lee a bit of the spider
web tunnel he had chased a girl through once, in a land of dinosaurs and not so
friendly natives.3
Lee was taken into a room on the right, and
Stephen into one directly across from Lee’s.
Inside Lee noted a trolley that
looked very similar to the type Jamie had in sickbay. On this one were bottles of amber coloured
liquid sitting it what appeared to be heating racks judging from the blinking
red lights on the panel. There were
bottles and jars of creams and lotions and stacks of rectangular strips of some
sort. Lots of vines and ivies in here
too and a bed that again reminded Lee of Jamie and sickbay, but this one had
more pillows, not to mention satin sheets.
Playing in the background were ocean sounds, waves rolling up onto the
shore, seagulls in the distance. This
room smelled like coconut and mango to Lee.
Everything designed to relax the ‘guest’.
Lee had been instructed to remove
his clothing and lie down on the bed face up, his attendants would be with him
in 5 minutes. There was a soft, silky
loin cloth he could use to cover himself if he wanted to, or if he’d brought
something to wear that was fine, neither was required. Lee got into his ‘scrap of cloth’, and put
the loin covering over top, then stretched out on the bed.
Across the hall, Stephen, being
somewhat less modest than Lee opted to forgo either. A decision he was to later regret.
Two young women soon joined Lee. They introduced themselves as Lisa and
Chloe. Chloe asked if he was happy with
the background music or would he like something else. There was a wide choice, Reggae, Blues, Jazz,
Rock n’ Roll, Classical with or without nature sounds, Contemporary etc. Lee assured her that he quite enjoyed the
current selection. Lisa then explained
how the waxing was done and asked if he had any questions. He didn’t, he just wanted it over with but
was trying to be co-operative and pleasant, it wasn’t their fault that he was having
this done.
Chloe and Lisa had him sit up as
they looked his body over. “Well Lee
you’re going to be quick and easy to do.
Not much to do on your back at all, already nice and smooth. Legs light, chest, abs, belly, mmmm very nice.” As Chloe was speaking she and Lisa were
running their hands over his body, big smiles on their faces. “Now just relax Lee and leave yourself
totally in our capable hands. We’ll
start with your legs, it’s going to ‘smart’ a bit but you’ll love the results.”
Lisa reached for one of the amber
containers, it had a broad roll top, she ran it over a section of his leg
leaving behind a warm, wet, sticky sensation.
Chloe reached for one of the rectangles and placed it over the area pressing
it firmly down. Then in one quick
motion, she ripped it off.
‘Smart a bit’ my ass, it feels like she
just ripped my skin off.
“That wasn’t so bad was it Lee.”
“I’ve felt better things.” In the time it took Lee to respond the two
had waxed and ripped another section.
Lee gritted his teeth. Lordy,
women do this voluntarily? He
wondered how Stephen was doing next door.
*****
Stephen grinned at the two young
ladies that entered his room as he lay there in the buff. Of course they had seen it all before. Given that he was to have the works, body,
crack and sack they knew he’d be naked at some point anyway.
They made Stephen comfortable and
started on his legs. Stephen sported
more body hair than Lee so when the first strip was ripped off the reaction was
a good deal more ‘spirited’.
“My god what did you just do? Am
I bleeding?” Stephen looked at his
leg fully expecting to be missing skin and a chunk of flesh. All he saw was a good sized patch of pink
skin surrounded by a forest of hair.
“Now now Stephen, it’s not so
bad.” Susan soothed him. “We’ll have your
legs done in no time.”
Lee, buddy, I hope this mission is worth
it.
*****
True to their word Lee’s ladies
were making great progress.
“OK Lee that takes care of most
of your leg area in the front. Now we
need you to spread your legs a little more for us so we can get the inner
thighs done.”
Lisa and Chloe each took gentle
hold of a leg mid thigh and eased them further apart. Lee found it to be somewhat erotic and felt a
stirring higher up.
Thank goodness for the loin cloth.
“Oh I see you have a G-string on, that makes
things easier, we can get rid of the cloth.”
Before Lee could say anything Lisa
had removed the cloth and revealed his swollen member, held down by the
G-string but peaking out the top. Lee
couldn’t see her reaction as she was standing slightly behind him.
Lisa looked over at Chloe and
gave her a big grin and thumbs up. Chloe
tried very hard not to grin, but didn’t quite succeed.
“Don’t be embarrassed Lee, it’s a
reaction we see quite often,” Chloe said, desperately hiding a smirk. He was a gorgeous man and she and Lisa were
enjoying their job a great deal today.
As they expected and to their disappointment, things ‘settled down’ in a
minute or two.
Lee
didn’t think he could get any more embarrassed than this. I wonder what the current penalty is for
murdering an Admiral. Should be able to
make it look like an accident. Lots of
Admirals must fall out of their windows.
Lee kept his eyes focused on the
ceiling while his inner thighs were waxed, right up to and including his leg
creases. He was trying Spock’s logic,
which was also an ONI mantra, Pain is a thing of the mind. The mind can be controlled.
He did have a moment of concern,
when they were waxing his belly and hips.
They pulled down the ‘strings’ and lowered the spare bit of cloth to get
a ‘low, clean neat line’. The scissor
trim was also unexpected but given what he’d arranged for Stephen, he didn’t
feel he could object to it. Chloe had
decided that they needed the G-string all the way off to do the trim, “wouldn’t
want any accidents.”
The anterior being finished,
somewhat to the regret of Lisa and Chloe, they instructed Lee to rollover. Lee had breathed a sigh of relief when the
last strip was done on the front; he’d temporarily forgotten he’d have to go
through it all again ‘posteriorily’.
It was about that time that there
was quite a commotion across the hall.
*****
Susan and Gina had almost
finished with the waxing of Stephen’s anterior surfaces, only one area remained
before having him roll over.
Stephen figured he’d been very
‘manly’ through it all so far. It hurt
like blazes but he wasn’t going to whimper in front of his two ‘lovelies’. The armpits had been his hardest test of
control so far. OK so the worst
should be over now, how bad can the back be.
Gina smoothed some more of the
soothing lotion over the skin that had already been waxed.
“Ok Stephen, just one more area
to do and then we’ll have you roll over.
We’ll be real quick.”
One more area? What area?
Susan and Gina knew that the best
way to do a guys sack was real quick, so he didn’t have a lot of time to focus
on what was about to happen. They had
everything ready and in just a few seconds had the first application of wax on.
Stephen caught on a second too
late. Why are they handling my .....
They pulled off the strip.
“Holy _(^$)#*$+)#$* What the
hell?”
“Just a couple more and then it’s
done Stephen.” As Susan stretched and
steadied the skin Gina ripped off the next strip.
A string of cuss words in Spanish
erupted from Stephen at significant volume.
“I don’t think I’m familiar with
those words.” Susan looked at Gina. “Nope, I don’t think I’ve ever heard them
before either.”
*****
Lee was thinking that he might
owe Stephen an apology. At the time he’d
arranged his little surprise he didn’t realize how painful body waxing
was. He didn’t want to imagine what
getting a certain anatomical feature waxed would feel like. He thought it would just be embarrassing more
than anything else. Yeah, steak and
lobster on me for sure. Sorry Stephen.
The applying of the soothing body
lotion was pleasant and relaxing, not much point in being ‘shy’ now, the ladies
had seen everything.
Chloe and Lisa took their time
applying the lotion, enjoying running their hands over his smooth body. Applying more lotion than was really
necessary.
He was shown a ‘kit’ he’d be given
when he left, it contained creams and lotions to apply to his skin to sooth it,
make it ‘baby soft’ and impede hair re-growth.
He was all for the last part, he never wanted to do this again. He did have to admit, if only to himself,
that there was a new, heightened sensitivity to his body. The silk satin robe he was now wearing over
his naked flesh felt incredible on his exquisitely sensitive skin. Every time he moved it felt like water
flowing gently over his body, soft and sensual.
Lisa and Chloe were now finishing
his manicure and pedicure, Lee was semi sitting, the bed being adjustable to
whatever position was required. He was
completely relaxed, eyes closed. Lisa
and Chloe looked at each other, then at Lee.
There was one more ‘service’ they’d like to offer, not in the package,
one of their own choice and on the house.
Lisa gently turned Lee’s manicured
left hand over and brought it, palm up to her mouth. She softly kissed it then ran the tip of her
tongue along it to his wrist. At the
same time Chloe ran her tongue along the sole of Lee’s right foot.
For a second, in his light doze,
Lee thought he was starting an erotic dream but as the sensations continued,
one up along the inside of his arm and the other along his inner thigh he
realized that it was really happening.
He knew there was a fine line between pain and pleasure, right now the
fire in his body that had flickered on and off throughout the waxing session
caught and flamed higher.
Lisa and Chloe could tell that
Lee wasn’t dozing any more, they were encouraged by the fact that he hadn’t
opened his eyes but his breathing had quickened and his body had tensed
slightly. If they needed any further
evidence that he wasn’t objecting, a quick look between his legs, where a silk
tent had appeared, provided it.
Lisa released the waist tie and pushed
aside the silk covering Lee’s chest, she ran her fingertips over every inch of
his sensitive skin. She smiled when his
abdomen quivered at her touch and then leaned down and licked him there and
proceeded to gently kiss her way up to his nipples. She suckled each strongly while continuing to
run her left hand teasingly over his abdomen.
Chloe had paused for a moment to
watch Lisa and now, spreading Lee’s legs wider apart, began to stroke his inner
thighs under the silk. She then glided
the silk covering Lee’s erection back and forth over his engorged cock, knowing
the intense pleasure the slithering silk would give him.
Lee moaned and shuddered with the
intenseness of his body’s reactions. Oh
god I shouldn’t be letting this happen!
Open your eyes and get the hell up Crane, no not that up, it’s already
up! Oh ....that feels soooo good.....
Lee fought to open his eyes, he
just wanted to lay there and let it happen but the rational part of him that
was barely holding on said he shouldn’t.
Lisa saw Lee’s eyes open, she
smiled down at him and being sure he had a good view of her, released her gown
from the shoulders, the silk fell away revealing her breasts to him.
Oh god, should have kept my eyes
closed. Such beautiful titties.
Lee managed to wrench his eyes
away from where he really wanted them to be, and looked up at Lisa. Her eyes where deep hot pools of passion and
desire.
Hell this isn’t part of the
job, she wants this every bit as much as I do.
I can’t see Chloe but, given what she’s doing down there...shit,
‘rational’ is highly overrated...
Lisa
saw a brief moment of doubt in Lee’s eyes and then consuming, burning desire. She brushed her lips to his and felt him
slightly lift his head to accept and demand more. His left hand came up and curved behind her
head, holding her in place while he deepened the kiss. His right hand moved to caress her breast and
tease her nipple. When the kiss ended
she moved so that he could reach both her breasts and after fondling them he
started to suckle first one then the other.
It was at the same time that Chloe, in one long lick traveled up Lee’s hot
cock to do her own kissing, licking and suckling.
*****
Stephen was in the lounge area,
he looked at his watch, wonder what’s taking Lee so long? I thought he’d be finished before me.
*****
The Admiral and Chip had returned
to
“He’s on assignment Sir, I think
it’s local, that is in the US of A somewhere, not overseas.... I don’t know the
particulars so can’t gage the ‘danger’ level.....I don’t believe it’s the
mission itself that has Lee upset, but the cover he’s been assigned.....No Sir,
I won’t reveal what the cover is, if Lee wants anyone to know he’ll have to be
the one to disclose it. If it helps ease
your mind Admiral, Lee isn’t alone.
Another agent was assigned with him.
Have to go now Sir.”
Now it was a waiting game, one
that Nelson and Chip were very familiar with.
Seaview was in port and most of
the crew given shore leave. It would be
awhile before they sailed again.
Nelson had mission proposals from
the
*****
Chip was fidgeting outside the
Admiral’s office; he was hoping that he wasn’t in for another all-nighter session
reviewing proposals. True to form, the
Admiral had buried himself in work, trying to forget about his worry over Lee.
Angie finally motioned Chip to go
in.
He knocked on the door and
entered.
“Chip, good, glad you’re here,
“Aye aye Sir!”
Nelson was amused and gratified
at Chip’s enthusiastic response. He had
no illusions that Chip was actually looking forward to examining filtration and
pumping systems. He’d certainly be doing
that, but Nelson would make sure that there was also lots of free time for Chip
to enjoy the other aspects of the locale.
Perhaps he’d even join Chip for a night or two on the town. If only Lee could be there with them...
*****
When Lee finally came out to the
lounge area Stephen noticed that he appeared very relaxed.
“It took you long enough. Did you give them a hard time or something?”
Lee turned bright red, “Let’s
just leave shall we.”
I’ve got to find out the story behind
that ‘colourful’ response.
As they approached the door Lisa
and Chloe appeared at the desk and called out to Lee, “Please visit us again
soon Lee, we’d love for you to come again.”
If Stephen thought Lee had burned
red before it was nothing to the intensity of the blush Lee had now.
“Thank you ladies; it was an
experience far surpassing any expectations on my part.”
Stephen could hear delighted
laughter as the door closed behind them.
“You going to leave this to my
imagination or tell me what that was all about?”
“Stephen my friend, you wouldn’t
even come close.”
Wanna bet, I only know one thing that
would make you blush like that, you lucky SOB!
*****
They were late getting back to
the studio, Yvonne didn’t seem to mind, she was rooting through a couple of
suitcases.
“There you two are, about time.”
“Don’t blame me,” Stephen told
her, “Lee was late getting out.”
Yvonne frowned, she had figured
Lee might be a bit reticent over the whole procedure but thought that he’d come
to accept his cover and all that went with it.
“Trouble Lee?” she asked.
“No, none at all. Everything came off just fine.”
Stephen smirked, “Ya, I just bet
it did.”
Looking at the two of them Yvonne
wondered what subtext she was missing.
Lee was somewhat flushed and Stephen looked like the cat that swallowed
the canary.
Stephen frowned and looked at
her. “Yvonne, I really think that the
sack wax was a little extreme, that can’t really have been necessary.”
“What sack wax Stephen? That wasn’t part of the package.” Yvonne looked puzzled, she noticed that Lee
had dropped his head as if examining the floor and had turned so that his back
was to Stephen.
“Lee, did they do you as well?” Yvonne asked him.
Lee thought frantically for a
moment. Actually, he could truthfully
say yes to that question. Yvonne hadn’t
specifically asked if he got the same wax job that Stephen did.
Man up Crane.
He turned around to face in
Stephen’s direction, “Ah no, just a trim.”
“Then why the hell did
they.....” Stephen looked at Lee, who
couldn’t quite meet his eyes. He
recalled Lee talking to the woman at the desk and giving her his credit card...
Lee you dirty....I will pay this back.
It didn’t take Yvonne any time at
all to figure out what had to have happened.
She waited a couple of minutes but neither man said anything more. Lee did finally look Stephen in the eyes and
she suspected that there had been a message for Lee in those eyes.
“Ok Gents, let’s put those new baby
smooth bodies to work. I’ve got some
stripper wear here for you, easy to learn to use since its basic feature is
that it’s easy to rip off.”
Yvonne threw Lee and Stephen
wife-beater shirts and denim break-away pants.
“OK, I see how the pants work,
Velcro tabs, but what about the shirts?”
Lee asked her.
“Just rip ‘em in two or tear them
off any way you like. They are cheap and
the ladies love catching them when you throw them to the audience. Those are the ‘basics’ of a guys wardrobe, T-bar4,
pants and wife-beaters. In addition to
that stuff, for you Lee I have a made to measure tux, also fully breakaway,
naturally.”
“Naturally,” Lee responded with a
grin.
“Stephen I’ve gone with a more
‘earthy’ look for you.” She tossed a set
of breakaway camos to him.
“Huh, just like old times,” he
joked.
“The next couple of days we’ll
polish off your individual routines. The
review will provide whatever outfits you need for the group numbers.”
“What are the revues
routines?” Lee asked.
“Pretty much what you’d
expect.” She was sure Lee was about to
say something and second guessed him, “Ya ya I know, you don’t know what to
expect.”
“Other than ripping the stuff off
and giving things a good shake and shimmy, nope.” Lee commented.
Yvonne had to smile, my but
he’s come a long way from that broody, pouty fellow of two weeks ago.
“Ever see the movie 300? Think oiled Spartan warriors. It’s not a long routine but you’ll need to
get used to manipulating a shield, sword and spear.”
Yvonne was again perplexed when
Lee and Stephen grinned.
Ok, I’m missing something again.
What she was missing was the fact
that Lee and Stephen already knew quite well how to ‘manipulate’ the items
she’d listed. It often surprised Lee
just how handy his knight skills came in.
“There’s also a quasi western
routine, you guys know the song ‘Save a horse, Ride a cowboy’?”
“Sure, Big and Rich song.” Stephen was a big fan. Lee liked them as well but right now was more
into Josh Turner, Alan Jackson, Bon Jovi, and Lady Gaga. He’d been caught one time in his cabin by
Chip singing ‘One Woman Man’ to Seaview while putting on his tie. Unbeknownst, he hoped, to the Admiral and
Chip, it wasn’t unusual for him to take off to a secluded beach with his guitar
and have a private jam session, frequently of Jimmy Buffet songs. ‘Boats to Build’ started going through his
mind, he hadn’t realized he’d started humming it until he heard Stephen say,
“Earth to Lee.”
“Ah sorry, mind wandered there
for a bit.”
“Apparently you can hum in
tune. I’ve heard you’re a decent singer
Lee, we can use that if it’s true.”
Yvonne walked over to her office and soon came out with a Washburn D10S Dreadnought
steel-string acoustic guitar.
Lee approved of her choice, he
was still making payments on his Martin D-28 Dreadnaught, the top of the line
model as far as he was concerned. He
also had a Fender American Stratocaster but that was for when he was rockin’
out with the guys.
Yvonne handed him the guitar and
a pitch pipe. Lee tested the tuning from
the bottom on up. E, A, D, G, B and
E. Lee adjusted the strings as
necessary and then softly strummed a couple of cords.
“Anything in particular you want
to hear?” he asked Yvonne.
“Surprise me.”
Stephen sat down on the floor, he
played with Lee and the other guys all the time so knew what to expect. Although they mostly played rock, Lee talked
them into country from time to time. He
thought back to one of the rare assignments where he, Gerry, Mike, Daniel and
Lee were working together. They had used
their ‘pickin’ and ‘singin’ abilities for their cover as a country band. It had been a lot of fun and a bit on the
crazy side when Lee had ended up bull-riding.
But that was then, this was now, he shifted his focus back to Lee. He recognized the intro bars to ‘Your Man’
and then Lee began to sing.
Baby lock the door and turn
the lights down low
Put some music on that's soft and slow
Baby we ain't got no place to go
I hope you understand
I’ve been thinking 'bout this all day long
Never felt a feeling quite this strong
I can't believe how much it turns me on
Just to be your man
This
wasn’t the type of song Yvonne had in mind but there was nothing on earth that
would make her stop Lee right now. Lord
who would have believed he had that singing voice! Drop dead gorgeous and he sings....heaven
help us all!
Lee
finished the song and Stephen chuckled as he watched Yvonne sitting in stunned
silence.
Yvonne
gathered her wits about her, “That was lovely Lee, I never thought you’d have
such a deep voice. Beautiful song but
not something for the Vegas revue.”
Stephen
piped up at this point, “Yvonne don’t let the baritone fool you, Lee’s vocal
range is scary amazing, he can sing tenor as well.”
A
song occurred to Yvonne, with the right choreography it would be a show
stopper.
“Lee,
I don’t suppose you know ‘Sway’, the Michael Bublé version?”
Lee
just smiled at her. He walked over and
handed Stephen the guitar, “If you’d do the honours Stephen.” Stephen happily took the guitar and started
to play the intro to ‘Sway’.
Lee
pulled off his t-shirt, he had a pretty good idea of what Yvonne had in mind
for the song. Didn’t take you long to
get corrupted did it Crane, he thought to himself with humour.
Lee
began the song:
When marimba rhythms start to
play
Dance with me, make me sway
Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore
Hold me close, sway me more
Like a flower bending in the breeze
Bend with me, sway with ease
When we dance you have a way with me
Stay with me, sway with me
While
singing he serpentined over to where Yvonne was sitting and reached down to
draw her up. He stayed well within her
personal space and undulated his body to the words, Stay with me, sway with
me. Lee had a natural grace and
rhythm and once he’d gotten over his reticence about the lack of clothing
everything combined to make him a very deadly male. Yvonne watched mesmerized like a mouse facing
a King Cobra as Lee moved his body around her.
Mmmm some nice Cuban hip movement, beautiful flowing vertical ribcage
circle with torso undulation allowing the motion to flow from his upper torso
all the way to the ground and back again.
Hip twists and thrusts, vertical and horizontal hip figure 8s, yep, Lee’s
definitely mastered the basics, with considerable style.
As
Lee started the next verse he drew Yvonne into closed dance position and he
guided her body to move with his, swaying ......
Other dancers may be on the
floor
Dear, but my eyes will see only you
Only you have that magic technique
When we sway I go weak
Stephen was grinning as he played the guitar. Hmmm,
now that is what I call closed position, you couldn’t get a feather between
them.
When Lee sang ‘When we sway I go weak’ he quickly spun Yvonne
down backwards and supported her as he straddled her in an extremely suggestive
position while rocking his hips back and forth.
The inference could not be mistaken.
I can hear the
sounds of violins
Long before it begins
Make me thrill as only you know how
Sway me smooth, sway me now
Then he brought her up back up and into closed position
drawing her left leg up to wrap around and rest on his right hip as he finished
the song.
Other dancers may
be on the floor
Dear, but my eyes will see only you
Only you have that magic technique
When we sway I go weak
He didn’t release her but held
her in place, their lips almost touching, he had thrust his hips forward and
Yvonne could feel the heat and pressure between her legs. Oh lord, if he wanted to do it right here
and now, I wouldn’t have the slightest objection! Yvonne swallowed spasmodically trying to gain
some control over her racing heart.
“Yo guys, I’ve stopped playing,
the song is over. Did you want me to
leave now or something?”
Thankfully Stephen’s comment
brought Yvonne back to reality and she pushed away from Lee, not forcefully but
enough that he let her go.
Yvonne turned and with her back
to Lee took a couple of deep breaths and gave herself a little shake. Lee couldn’t help but smirk a bit and be a
bit disappointed. Pity we don`t have
the place to ourselves.
Lee was attracted to another woman;
one that he believed was beyond his reach and always would be. However, being a healthy male and given his
present environment, it was inevitable that he would have normal, healthy
reactions to the situation. Damn good
thing neither Caitlin nor the Admiral are ever going to know about this. What would Caitlin think of me parading
around essentially naked, or the Admiral of his Seaview Captain, supposed ‘officer
and a gentleman’. Lee gave his head
a shake.
*****
The last couple of days passed
quickly, more trampoline and weight work for both he and Stephen. Lee also worked on his ‘tux’ routine and Stephen his Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch ‘Good
Vibrations’. Lee had to
admit, Stephen certainly could ‘vibrate’.
Yvonne was very impressed with
what had been accomplished in only a couple of weeks. She worried a bit about Lee, he had all the
moves down and knew his routine, but there were still moments when she could
tell he wasn’t comfortable about what he was doing. He needed to look perfectly at ease with
it. Performing in front of an audience,
no matter why, could be extremely nerve wracking and more than one performer
had found they weren’t able to do it.
Well there was one way to get a pretty good idea if Lee was going to be
able to handle it.
*****
On the last day before they were
to fly out to Vegas, Lee and Stephen were told to report to ONI headquarters at
0700, this would be their final briefing.
The fine details of a mission were always the last thing conveyed to an
agent.
Admiral Jones’ assistant waved
them in, the Admiral’s office door was already open.
Lee and Stephen entered and stood
at attention in front of the Admiral’s desk.
Jones was looking over some
paperwork and continued to do so for a couple of minutes. He felt it was good for junior officers to
stand at attention for a while, it reminded them of just who was in charge, and
Crane needed reminding, a lot, in Jones’ opinion. Granted the progress reports had been
surprisingly good, he had thought that this might just be the assignment where
Crane would finally step over the line and give him a reason to discipline him,
right back into the Navy, preferably assigned to ONI! No such luck it seemed.
“At ease gentlemen, have a
seat.” Jones nodded to the two chairs in
front of his desk. He handed the two
officers identical brown envelopes.
“Look the material over, it’s short.”
Lee and Stephen each withdrew a
single sheet of paper from their envelopes and read.
After a couple of minutes they
each looked up.
“Any questions?” Jones asked.
I’d put money on Crane having a couple.
“Yes Sir, it says that the agent
asked for me specifically and also specified the manner of the drop. Why?”
Jones had wondered the exact same
things, and he had no clue.
“Not for you to wonder why Crane. This is a joint effort and if the Director of
National Intelligence (DNI) tells us that, an agent from the National Security
Agency (NSA) wants to drop some intel to us, then we are going to make it
happen, in whatever manner. Isn’t that
right Commander Crane!”
“Yes Sir,” he doesn’t know any
more than I do about ‘why’.
Stephen kept quiet, he was not
getting in between these two, but he had the same questions.
Jones gave the perfunctory “Good
luck agents. Dismissed.”
They were due at the dance studio
at 0900, the meeting with Jones had
taken less than an hour so they had time to kill. They decided to grab a coffee at one of the
bistros. Stephen was hungry so he
ordered waffles and sausage.
“I seem to recall you having eggs
and bacon at the hotel,” Lee commented.
“Ya, but that was a couple of
hours ago.”
“More like 1 ½, you remind me of
Chip, you’re both bottomless pits.”
“Some people need more than
caffeine to get through the day. We’re
called ‘normal’.”
Lee just snorted into his second
cup of coffee. He did eat, at some point
in the day, usually. On Seaview he
didn’t have much choice, either Chip or the Admiral would practically force
feed him. When he was young it used to
worry his mother that he didn’t have much interest in food but the family
physician had told her not to worry, her boy just had a very efficient
metabolism that made the most of what he did eat. He wasn’t a junk food eater then or now, when
he did eat it was always highly nutritious.
He didn’t carry an ounce of fat, he was packed muscle, broad across the
chest and shoulders, narrowing down to a trim waist and muscular legs.
Stephen finally finished his
waffles and as he sipped his coffee asked Lee, “so any thoughts on who the
agent is that requested your participation in the drop, or why?”
“Nary a one, I only know what you
know. The agent has vital intel to
deliver to ONI, requested me as the pickup agent, cover to be male revue in
Vegas. I’m to choose the agent who’ll be
at table 5 seat 2 to be my ‘partner’ in my solo, last show Thursday night. The agent will slip the intel to me on
stage. Damn if I know how or where I’m
supposed to conceal it.”
“You’d better hope it’s before
you rip off the tux,” Stephen smirked.
“Can’t see how that would work
since I have to throw the pieces offstage.
No way I’m doing that with the intel.”
“Well then buddy there’s only one
place left to put it....”
Lee just scowled.
Stephen wasn’t going to tell Lee
but he couldn’t recall when he’d enjoyed an assignment more, well not counting
the Spa experience, he still owed Lee for that.
They arrived at the dance studio
and went in.
“Seems kind of noisy in here,”
commented Lee. “We are supposed to
report here for one last session right?”
“Yep, that’s my
understanding.” Stephen replied.
Just then Yvonne came through the
dance room doors and in her wake the ‘noise’ increased until the door shut.
“Oh good there you are, hurry up
and get changed into your solo outfits.”
Lee and Stephen weren’t slow to
figure things out. “We’ve got company,”
they said in stereo.
“Yes. Some of my friends wanted to know what I’ve
been doing so I invited them to have a look.
Don’t worry, they all have the necessary security clearance.”
Lee stood very still, “Let me get
this straight, you want us to go in there and dance naked in front of a bunch
of female Seals.”
“Of course not Lee, some of them
are from other forces, and they aren’t all female.”
Yvonne held her breath and waited
for the explosion that she could see in Lee’s eyes. Stephen appeared to be taking it just fine.
Lee’s mind was racing but not in
the direction Yvonne thought. Damn
this is my fault. She isn’t sure I can
do it so I’m getting a ‘trial by fire’.
Yvonne watched Lee’s eyes cool
down. He looked over and Stephen and
shrugged his shoulders, “you first buddy.”
Stephen just shrugged back and
grinned.
They went into the change room to
get ready. Stephen high-fived Lee as he
left for his performance.
Lee heard the room erupt with
hoots and hollers as Stephen’s music started and he made his entrance. Things didn’t get any quieter from
there. Lee could tell every time Stephen
‘vibrated’, the place went nuts.
In all too short a time the music
stopped, but the applause and whistles went on for awhile. Lee grinned, Stephen would be lapping that up
like a cat does cream.
Yvonne stuck her head into the change
room. “You ready to go Lee?”
“As I’ll ever be I guess.” Lee gave a final tug here and there to his
tux, not that it would be on him all that long.
Yvonne went in to ‘set the mood’.
Yvonne wondered where Stephen had
skittered off to, she’d thought he’d stay to watch Lee but he was gone. As she started speaking she found out. Stephen came in holding a sheet up so no one
could see Lee behind it.
Very inventive boys.
“OK ladies and gentlemen, I want
you to imagine that you are sitting in the club, the lights are all off, it’s
pitch dark, then the spotlight hits centre stage.”
As she said the last two words
Stephen gathered the sheet up with a flourish, revealing Lee in his tux with
his back to the ‘audience’. A number of
‘OOOOOs’ could be heard, as Lee snapped his head sideways and then spun to face
them.
Yvonne had recorded Stephen’s
guitar accompaniment to Lee’s song Sway and she hit the switch.
Lee began to sing and utter
silence fell. After the first verse
Yvonne could hear, and she was sure Lee could too, a great many of the women
proclaim, “Oh god I’m in love!”
At the end of the second verse
Lees jacket, which he had been sliding off as he swayed and moved back and
forth, finished coming off and was flung behind him. That’s when the whistling and other
‘encouragement’ began. Piece by piece
and gyration by gyration he gave them what they wanted, and enjoyed doing it!
He selected one of them to come
join him and as he began singing verse four, facing his partner he ripped his
pants off and wrapped his left arm around her drawing her close. He swayed and moved seductively against her
and she responded in kind. At one point
he did have to capture her right hand as it was straying where he wasn’t
prepared to have it go. Instead he
placed it firmly on his left ‘cheek’.
She got the message and was content to give him a stroke and squeeze
there.
From the audience reaction,
Yvonne wasn’t sure that Lee wouldn’t end up being mobbed at the end of his
routine.
As it turned out Stephen saved the day by coming in, fully clothed, with the
sheet. In the routine, the lights would
have been killed at the end, once again leaving the stage and audience in
darkness. In simulation Stephen held the
sheet up in front of Lee and his ‘partner’, and then turned his head towards
the audience and waggled his eyebrows.
When this routine was done for real the audience would be left for a
minute in the dark to let their imaginations run wild as to what was happening
up on the dark stage. When the lights
came back on Lee would escort his ‘partner’ back to her seat, while looking
extremely pleased with himself.
Unexpectedly, from behind the
sheet, everyone heard Lee give a sexy growl and his ‘partner’ a nervous giggle.
Stephen cracked up and dropped
the sheet. The place exploded in
applause and whistles as Lee took his ‘partner’ back to the bleachers.
As Lee headed back to the change
room he turned his head back and gave a wink and one of his own ‘vibrations’ as
he went through the door.
Yvonne couldn’t get everyone
calmed down, they kept stomping and hollering for more.
To her astonishment Lee, still in
his T-bar and Stephen, once again is his and nothing else, bounced back into
the room.
Stephen went to the stereo and
pushed a couple of buttons, Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’ began to play.
Lee and Stephen pranced past each
other and high fived. Then they gyrated
up to the women and started picking partners.
After a couple of bars they’d get another partner, the plan obviously to
hip thrust, wiggle and swivel their way through everyone there. What ended up happening was that everyone
bailed off the bleachers and started dancing, Lee and Stephen moved through the
bodies and spent a couple of minutes dancing with each person. Lady Gaga songs continued to throb through
the room.
Don’t know what the Hell I was worried
about. Yvonne smiled
widely as she joined the dancers.
*****
Chip was rather disappointed that
the plane trip to Vegas has just about over, they were on final approach. It wasn’t often that he got to fly
first-class, one of the perks of travelling with Admiral Nelson.
He had read over the report that
had arrived from
The Shark Reef had opened June
2000 it was billed as a total sensory experience and featured dangerous and
unusual aquatic species from tropical waters around the world. There were fourteen exhibits, including the
recreation of an ancient temple being reclaimed by the sea. Sort of the opposite of what we are
usually trying to do, Chip thought.
The largest exhibit was a 1.3
million gallon shipwreck with an acrylic tunnel so visitors had an almost 360
degree view. There were about 2,000
animals on exhibit, over 100 species and approximate 15 species of sharks. All this over 270 miles from the nearest ocean.
As amazing as it all was, it
wasn’t much good if the water was to murky for anyone to see anything. No amount of filter cleaning and changing had
helped, finally in desperation they had contacted NIMR. The freshwater exhibits were doing fine, it
was the saltwater ones that they were having the trouble with. Being so far from the ocean they couldn’t
pump sea water in so they treated city water.
They remove the minerals and chlorine and added a salt product called
Chip had a vague understanding of
the ongoing filtration network, it was done in three stages:
·
mechanical filtration with sand filters
·
biological filtration with Trickle Filters
·
chemical filtration with Ozone
An automated computer system
monitored all the pumps, filters, water and pH levels. That was where he came in. He would check out the computer system and
see if there were any glitches happening there, while Nelson took care of the
biological aspects.
The plane landing went smoothly and they managed to get
their bags without too much difficulty. They were expecting to hop on a
shuttle to get to the hotel and were pleasantly surprised when they saw a
driver holding up a sign with the Admiral's name.
It was a quick drive from McCarran airport down the strip to the hotel.
The streets were full of people and Chip knew that when night fell it would be
even busier.
The limo pulled into the receiving area and there was a bellman waiting to take
their bags to their rooms. They were advised that all they needed to do
was sign in. Chip had been expecting to share a room with the Admiral, he
knew that when Lee traveled with Nelson they usually stayed in a suite with two
bedrooms. He wasn't sure if he was pleased or a bit disappointed to find
out he had his own room. Guess he
doesn't want to room with me.
He heard Nelson's signature 'hrrumph' as Nelson took the room cards.
"I thought we'd have a suite together," he told Chip, "guess the
hotel decided we'd prefer separate rooms. I see they are beside each
other so probably doesn't make any difference which one you take."
He threw Chip one of the cards. Chip was now happy to have his own room,
since it was the hotel's doing and not the Admiral's.
They went up to the 33rd floor, Chip opened his door and froze, this had to be
a mistake! There were floor to ceiling windows, giving him a 180 degree
view of the Strip and Mountains. The room was huge, larger than some
small houses, he figured at least 1700 sq feet. He stepped inside and
looked around, he had a 50 inch LCD HiDef TV with separate speakers in the main
room and there were two more TVs, 42 inches LCD HiDef strategically
placed. Fridge, minibar, dining area separate from the expansive living
room. He noted computer hookups and an I pod dock. Wow, there's even a 15 inch mirror LCD TV in
the bathroom! A steam shower and a dual, oh WOW! Lee's sure going
to be sorry he missed this.
He heard a noise behind him, Nelson was leaning on the door frame
grinning. “Think you can make do with the room?”
“It's got to be a mistake Sir. You could fit the entire crew in here.”
"No mistake Chip, all yours while we're here. I've got one just like
it next door. Guess we'd better really deliver for the aquarium."
“ Yes Sir, seems the least we can do.”
“ Speaking of which, there was a message
for me in my room. After we're had a bit of a rest and changed into
casual wear, the Aquarium director would be pleased to meet us in my room and take
us for dinner around 1900.”
“Ah... rest Sir, I don't really feel tired.”
“Nor I, let's change and have a stroll around, the valets will unpack for us.”
Valets....I have a valet, sweet!
Chip took a quick shower, looking forward to later when he'd try the steam
shower. He changed into dark blue pants, pale blue chambray shirt, open
at the neck and a navy blazer. He was just about to leave his room when
he heard a knock, he opened the door to find Nelson also ready to go, dressed
in charcoal pants, a moss green shirt and charcoal blazer.
As they started down the hallway they were met by a server coming in the other
direction with a tray loaded with two drinks.
“Admiral Nelson and Lt Commander Morton, I believe. Frozen passion berry
and Russian Vodka, compliments of the Hotel.” He handed each of them a
drink.
They murmured their thanks and took the drinks.
“Whoa, heavy on the Vodka and light on the berry! Perfect.” Chip
commented after taking a big sip. “Are you sure they are expecting us to
work while we're here Admiral?”
“It’s a different world here Chip, enjoy it while you
can.” Nelson smiled and took a big sip
of his own drink. Normally a straight up
scotch man he did find the drink refreshing.
They spent the next couple of hours wandering through
“It’s called Vegas Crush, sir. It’s Coral Crush and Tropical Rum.”
“I see, and the name of the one with Passion
“That would be Call Girlz.
The drinks are a specialty of our Evening Call bar sir.”
Chip had been listening but didn’t really care what they
were called, as long as they kept coming.
He wondered how many different frozen drinks the bar made and if there would
be time to work through all of them before dinner.
They wandered through the Casino and Nelson noticed that
Chip’s gaze lingered a bit on one of the poker tables. Chip and Lee played with some of the other
officers on board from time to time. The
Admiral had invited Lee to join him, Admiral Starke and another of his Admiral
friends to play poker at his place upon occasion, but Lee was always extremely busy. Nelson gave a snort thinking about it. Chip looked over, “Sir?”
“Oh nothing Chip, just thinking about poker and reluctant
players.”
Chip was on his third drink, Nelson had waved his off.
“Why don’t we sit down and play a couple of hands.”
“YES SIR!” was Chip’s enthusiastic reply.
“There’s a condition Chip.”
Chip looked at the Admiral, a puzzled expression on his
face.
“While we are here and out of uniform, I want you to call me
Harry. Not Sir or Admiral. We may be working on the Aquarium’s problem
but I also want this to be a sort of vacation.
I don’t want to be ‘Sir-ed and Admiral-ed’ while we are here.”
“Admiral I don’t think I can do that.” Chip sputtered. Hell
Lee would skin me alive if I used the Admiral’s first name. Lee never uses it and he’s a hell of a lot
closer to Nelson than I am.
Harry watched the panic cross Chip’s face and he had a hard
time not laughing. It was identical to
the expression Lee had had when Harry had suggested that Lee call him by his
first name in private. He could make it
an order. He didn’t want to, for the
same reason he hadn’t made it an order to Lee, he wanted it to be
voluntary. So far Lee hadn’t managed the
transition, but he was pretty sure he could get Chip to, at least while in
Vegas. He tried a little ‘blackmail’ to
encourage Chip along.
“If it makes you that uncomfortable Mr. Morton, we can go back to our rooms, change into our uniforms
and keep this strictly professional. Of
course that means no gambling, no more drinking and as a junior officer to
myself we should probably get your room downgraded.”
Chip took a couple of long draws on his drink, finishing it
off, before replying. He wasn’t sure
what would piss Lee off more, him calling Nelson by his first name, or messing
up the Admiral’s plans for some relaxation time in Vegas. The Admiral seemed to sincerely want him to
call him Harry. Oh bloody hell.
“That won’t be necessary S.., uh Harry.” Boy
that felt weird.
“Fine, fine Chip. At
least one of my boys can be reasonable.”
‘One of my boys’, when did
that happen? Chip felt a warmth that had nothing to do
with his three drinks.
While talking to Chip, Harry had waved off the server who
had been approaching them with more frozen concoctions but now signalled one of
them over. “We’d like a couple of
scotches.”
“Yes sir, be right back.”
They sat down at one of the poker tables and enjoyed their
scotch and cards until it was time to meet with the Aquarium Director.
*****
Lee and Stephen’s flight arrived on time in Vegas. Lee gratefully stretched while standing in
the aisle waiting to get off. It was
always a challenge to cram himself into coach class. These days when he flew it was usually
piloting FS1 or going somewhere with the Admiral, which meant blessed 1st
class leg room. You’ve been spoiled Crane.
He and Stephen wended their way to the baggage pickup and
grabbed their packs, then tried to figure out the bus system to get to the
Excalibur.
“I guess we could take a cab, I don’t see a shuttle or a bus
around.” Stephen muttered.
Lee responded, “We could walk, it’s not all that far, be
good to loosen things up a bit. We’d
need to walk around the perimeter of the airport to get up to E Tropicana Ave,
then hang a left on S Las Vegas Blvd and right on E Reno Ave. ”
“You’ve been practising your map reading again huh. So how far is that?”
“3.4 miles or so.
Shorter if we try cutting across the airstrip, but that would probably
get us arrested or something.”
“How much shorter?”
“Knocks off about half the distance. Not a great start though if someone from
Excalibur has to bail us out of jail.”
“True. Ok, 3.4 it
is. My legs could use the exercise; I
know you want to limber yours up after being
scrunched up for 8 hours.”
They each had a large cross-country backpack. It was truly amazing how much could be packed
in one of those, if you knew how, and both Lee and Stephen were long time pros
at it.
They had just starting their trek when they heard someone
yell, “Yo Glen, Barker!”
They turned to see a well built man loping up to them. “Thought it must be you, your bio pics don’t
do you justice guys. I’m Rob from the
troupe, got elected to pick you up, sorry I was a bit late. Jeep’s over yonder, let’s get your stuff in
the back and get outta here.”
Rob exchanged high fives with them, seemed to be the troupe
greeting rather than a handshake.
“Either of you been to Vegas before?” Rob asked them as he drove along
Lee answered first, “Nope, been over in
“Long long time ago, before heading overseas. Looks like it’s changed a lot.”
“I can guarantee you won’t be bored, not a lot of spare time
between one thing and another but there is some time to enjoy what’s here. Either of you guys want a girl or two for
tonight?” Rob asked.
Lee was a little surprised at the question, then spotted a
large truck rolling by on the other side of the road, emblazoned on it was HOT
CHICKS INSIDE READY FOR YOU - CALL 123-4567.
Ya, not in
Lee and Stephen assured Rob they didn’t require any company
just yet.
“OK, if you decide otherwise ask one of the guys for a
number, don’t trust what’s on the cards you’ll get handed on the street. What you see is not what you get.”
They pulled into the back of the Excalibur and piled out. Grabbing their bags they followed Rob inside
and into an elevator. They arrived on
the Castle Walk floor and Rob led them into the Showroom through the back.
As they walked in a cheer went up from the other troupe
members. “HUZZAH!”
Lee and Stephen looked at each other a bit confused,
‘huzzah’!
Rob laughed and punched Stephen in the arm, “you’ll have to
sneak into the Tournament of Kings, then you’ll get it.”
The other members of the toupe came up and high five
welcomed Lee and Stephen while introducing themselves.
The Manager, George called everyone to order, more or
less. “OK gents, we’ve got three days to
work Lee and Stephen into the numbers, being pros I’m sure they’ll catch on
fast. Stephen I know your here as a
backup but we’ve decided to include you in the shows anyway, we can always use
another hot body out there. You won’t
need to do your solo number unless we have an injury but we’ll have you
practice it anyway.”
“Works for me George.”
Stephen responded.
“Oh, one other thing, we also help out around the other
venues as well. Turns out they need two
guys for tomorrow to do the ‘meet and grope’ at the entrance, Lee, you and
Stephen are nominated. No dancing
required, just make happy with the ladies as they arrive downstairs. Ken will fill you in later. OK, let’s get to work.”
With that clothes came off and Lee and Stephen began
learning the group’s routines.
*****
Harry and Chip did reasonably well at the poker table and
before they knew it, it was time to leave to meet the Aquarium Director.
They had only been in Harry’s room a few minutes before
there was a knock on the door. Harry
opened it and the distinguished looking gentlemen standing there introduced
himself as
Brad Bailey, Director of Shark Reek Aquarium.
“I hope you gentlemen have had time to look around a
bit. I understand you did quite well at
the poker table.”
Harry grinned, he imagined there wasn’t much that went on in
any of the Hotels/Casinos that wasn’t observed one way or another and reported
to those who wanted to know.
“Yes, thank you. It’s
a very expansive establishment,” Harry responded. “I’m sure we haven’t even seen half of it yet
Mr. Bailey.”
“Brad please, we try to keep things very informal here on
the Strip.”
Chip also shook hands with Brad, “I didn’t realize that we
were being observed.”
“Oh not to worry, it’s very discreet. I’m sure you must realize that with
establishments our size and the 24/7 activities it’s necessary for safety and
security to keep an eye on things.”
“Of course,” Chip replied.
Brad continued, “I thought that for tonight we’d dine at The
House of Blues, again very informal. The
Aquarium will be closed by the time we finish dinner so we’ll be able to take a
stroll through on our own.”
“So you are still letting the public in even though there
are visibility issues?” Harry asked.
“Yes, it’s only the salt water displays that are affected,
we are offering entrance at a discount for now.
I am really hoping you can find a quick solution to our problem, but
enough shop talk, let’s have dinner.”
The House of Blues Restaurant, affectionately known as HOB
served Southern specialties, including Full Rack BBQ Basted Baby Back Ribs,
Creole Seafood Jambalaya and Pan-Seared Voodoo Shrimp. Other menu items included Cajun specialties,
burgers, salads and more.
For starters Chip and Brad ordered the Pan Seared Voodoo
Shrimp with Rosemary Cornbread and Dixie Beer Reduction, the Admiral had the
Crispy Catfish Nuggets with Sweet Potato French Fries and World Famous Spicy
Tartar Sauce.
Staying with the seafood starter theme, for his main course Chip
choose the Creole Jamabalaya with Shrimp, Chicken, Tasso Ham, Andouille Sausage
and Roasted Green Onions.
The Admiral and
Brad went with Grilled Filet Mignon with Asparagus, Cheddar Baked Potato,
Buttermilk Onion Rings and Red Wine Reduction.
To finish they all choose the Florida Key Lime Pie with
Raspberry Sauce.
Through dinner they were
entertained with live Southern blues music.
Chip couldn’t remember when he’d
had a better dinner. Of course the
bourbon flowed freely and for the life of him he didn’t see how he was going to
be able to concentrate on the aquarium issues later. Vegas was definitely an entirely different
world than the one he was used to.
*****
Rehearsal over Lee and Stephen
were exhausted. They had run through all
the numbers and while not complicated they were indeed physically demanding. The troupe members were a lot of fun to work
with and kept the energy levels pumped way up.
By way of welcome Lee and Stephen were told that they were being taken
to dinner, ‘Dick’s Last Resort’ down on the Casino level. It was apparently known as the ‘Shame O’ The Strip’. Famous for messy cuisine, zany decor, rowdy
staff, live bands and an anything goes atmosphere.
The place was packed but the guys
had reserved a table, which turned out to be a long picnic type
arrangement. Soon what was called a ‘Case
O’ King Crabs’ turned up along with endless amounts of beer followed by Ride’m
Cowboy Rib Eye steaks, Macho Nachos, Pork Bonerz, Mumbo Jumbo Chicky Wings, Buckets
O’Frys and more beer. The last item was Not-Yo-Mama’s
Cheezkake, along with more beer. All
served by very sassy staff with wise-cracks and friendly sarcasm. After the strenuous rehearsing all day Lee
found he had quite an appetite and thirst.
He noticed that Stephen was packing away the grub with great gusto and
was currently in a beer chugging contest with Damien and Clint. I guess from Stephen’s point of view this
assignment is pure heaven. Got to admit,
compared to some of them this isn’t so bad at all. The only torture involved is gonna be the headache
in the morning.
The troupe was obviously well
known in Dick’s and everyone was interested in meeting the two ‘newbies’. There was live music and guests were invited
to sing or dance. It wasn’t long before
Lee found himself volunteered to the stage as the only one of the group that
sang. He suspected Stephen instigated it
but everyone obviously felt it was a great idea. He had consumed quite a lot of beer, so to
the shouting, by now of everyone, of ‘Lee Glen, Lee Glen’ he mounted the stage.
“Ummmm, any of you band guys
trust me with your guitar?”
“Right here Lee, treat her
gentle.” The lead guitarist handed his
baby over.
Lee did a short rift, which put
the guitarist nerves at ease, obviously this Lee guy knew what he was doing.
Lee had noticed that Bon Jovi was
in Vegas, he sidled over to the band, “You guys know ‘Blame It on the Love of
Rock and Roll?”
The drummer leaned over, “In our
sleep buddy.”
Lee grinned at him, “OK, then
drummer leads off and let’s rock this place!”
The drummer spun his sticks and
beat the intro, Lee swivelled his hips and hopped forward on one leg:
First time I heard the music
I thought it was my own
I could feel it in my heartbeat
I could feel it in my bones
My momma thinks I'm crazy
My dad says I'm insane
I got this boogie woogie fever
That's burning in my veins
By the time he hit the chorus everyone was up and dancing:
It feels so good that it ought to be illegal
I got my vaccination from a phonograph needle
I'll never grow up and I'll never grow old
Blame it on the love of rock & roll
Lee and Stephen were totally wasted by the time everyone called it a night. Fortunately they had managed to get a double bed regular room at Excalibur.
They collapsed onto their respective beds after finally getting out of ‘Dick’s’.
“Man I’m going to have such a headache tomorrow,” moaned Stephen.
“It is tomorrow. I just finished promising myself no more drinking,” groaned Lee.
“How come?”
“Don’t ask.”
“I already did.”
“Shut up and say goodnight Stephen.”
“How can I do that when you just told me to shut up?”
Lee’s sweat soaked T-shirt landed square in Stephen’s face as Lee headed into the bathroom for a quick shower.
Stephen dropped Lee’s projectile to the floor and then he leaned down to remove his shoes and socks, holding his socks out he gave a short sniff in their direction. “Ewwwww”. He carefully placed one under each of the pillows on Lee’s bed. “Sweet dreams.”
*****
Dinner finished Harry, Chip and Brad strolled through the Aquarium’s exhibits. As Harry and Chip had been told, the fresh water exhibits were crystal clear, no problems there, the same couldn’t be said for the saltwater ones. Shadows loomed past the windows travelling through the murky water
Nelson remarked, “Very impressive place Brad, especially given the distance from any ocean. I see what you mean about the saltwater enclosures. It doesn’t look like an algae problem, the water isn’t green but cloudy yellow.”
“It looks like a DOC (Dissolved Organic Compounds) issue,” Chip remarked.
Harry looked over at him, the surprise evident on his face.
“Uh, been doing some reading....Harry.”
Harry smiled, he knew Chip was
never that interested in the biological aspects of Seaview’s missions, but when
it called for it, Chip was up to the challenge, even if it meant hitting the
textbooks.
“Yes, Chip I agree with you. That’s where we’ll start looking.”
Brad filled them in on what had
been done so far, “Of course we’ve done countless water samples and as you’ve
already discerned the DOC readings are very high, but our computer monitor
readouts show everything is within acceptable limits.”
Nelson immediately began to form
a theory but he wanted to run his own tests before making it known. He arranged with Brad to get started first
thing in the morning in the Aquarium’s labs.
*****
Lee rolled over in his bed with a
groan. I’m getting way too old for
this!
Stephen opened bleary eyes when
he heard Lee get up. He looked over at
the table clock, “Good lord Lee, it’s only 0700, no one in Vegas gets up, or
even wakes up, this early.”
“On Seaview this is sleeping in
my friend, and we’re not guests here, were working ‘stiffs’. Ah, pardon the pun.”
“Oh lord, I’m rooming with a
comedian, a bad one.”
“Look who’s talking! Pot, kettle and all that.”
Stephen pulled open the top
drawer of the dresser and found all his underwear tied together and his
‘fragrant’ socks weaved throughout the snarl.
They managed to harass each other
through the process of getting ‘up and at em’ and arrived for morning rehearsal
on time. The other guys were looking a
little frayed around the edges too but rehearsal went well.
Ken filled them in on the ‘meet
and grope’ that had been mentioned the day before. Lee and Stephen would be working the first
evening shift.
“It’s not complicated,” Ken told
them, “a few feet beyond the main entrance there is a picture stand. Trellis with lovely fake climbing roses
etc. You watch who’s coming in and
approach the women. Put a bead necklace
around their neck and ‘encourage’ them over to the trellis setup. If they are willing, and most of them are,
you do three poses with them. First one,
face them and take their hands and place them on your butts and tell them to
squeeze, you wrap your arms around their waist.
The photographer snaps the pick.
Then turn around and kneel down in front of them and crossing their arms
place their hands on your chests over your nipples. For the last pic, get behind them, have them
bend over, put your hands on their hips and slap a silly grin on your
face. I’m sure you get the idea.” Ken threw them some clothes. “Didn’t know what you had with you that would
fit the Excalibur theme so picked these up for you.”
Lee looked at the stuff, beige cargo
pants and brown open cut leather vest, no shirt. Lee could see the logic behind cargo pants,
allowed for easy bending at the knee and hip without uncomfortable stretching of
the fabric. The open vest made sense too
since he’d be sliding women’s hands over his bare chest all night.
“Last couple of things you should
know,” Ken continued, “light on the chest oil and if they say ‘no thank you’
accept that, we don’t get pushy about it.
There’s lots of women who say yes, you won’t be lonesome. Oh ya, don’t forget to sign the pics. Make it suggestive, ‘thanks for the great
night’, I’ll never forget what you did to me’, that sort of stuff. Any questions?”
“What time so we start?” Stephen asked.
“You start at 7 p.m. and get off
at 11 p.m.”
“What do you do if they try to
put their hands other places?” Lee
wanted to know.
“Same as in here, polite but firm
‘no’. Even if you’re OK with it the
hotel isn’t. Of course if you happen to
run into the person again when you’re off the clock....”
Stephen gave Lee a dig in the
ribs and an eyebrow wiggle.
George came over, “You guys all
set?”
“Yep got the time and the
drill.” Lee told him.
George dismissed the troupe, “OK
then, that’s it for today gents, go have some fun, see everyone back here
tomorrow for last rehearsal.”
Lee and Stephen begged off a
couple of invites to join one or another of the guys for some poker or other
activity saying that they were still tired from the plane trip and last
night. They dropped their evenings
‘costumes’ off in their room and went to get some food.
They decided to stay in the
Excalibur to eat, since for breakfast Stephen had talked Lee into the
Roundtable Buffet. For $24.99 you could
eat as much as you wanted, as often as you wanted and the wristband also gave
you preferred access, so no waiting in line.
It wasn’t a quiet place by any
stretch of the imagination so neither man was concerned about their
conversation being overheard.
“Lee I know you aren’t exactly
thrilled about our ‘job’ here, but come on, this has got to be the sweetest
deal ever. No skulking around sewers, no
one shooting at us, we don’t have to find anything. Just enjoy ourselves until Thursday when we
get the intel, do a couple more shows and gone.”
Lee forked some more of his
shrimp salad into his mouth, it was very tasty.
He had to admit that Stephen had a point about the assignment, it was
not life threatening or horribly difficult, just embarrassing, to him anyway. Stephen didn’t feel that way. Just another sign that I’m getting old I
guess. That wasn’t really the case
Lee wouldn’t have been any happier about it back in his twenties. He was always a bit shy around women, which
would have surprised his crew since among them he had quite a reputation as a
lady killer. He’d never figured out
where that came from. Sure there had
been that one time at the beach when Sharkey had come looking for him and found
him ‘occupied’ with a lovely woman6, but he hadn’t gotten anywhere
with the women that came onboard Seaview, well maybe Tracy7, sort
of. Oh, and don’t forget Melina, how
could I ever forget Melina8 .
They finished lunch and decided
to take a look at some of the other hotels.
Lee was especially interested in visiting the Shark Reef in Mandalay
Bay. Stephen agreed to that as long as
Lee agreed to go on the roller coaster with him at New York New York, 67 mph,
144 foot drop and it had a 540 degree spiral!
Stephen was still negotiating for the Big Shot at the Stratosphere, “strapped into a chair with
your legs dangling, they shoot you straight up the tower's steeple, 160 feet in
two seconds, at four G's. Then they freefall you so you get negative
G's, then shoot you up again, etc. If
this ride started at ground level it would be scary, but it starts at a fifth
of a mile from the ground, downright terrifying,” he enthused to Lee, who just
groaned and rolled his eyes.
*****
At Mandalay Bay, the tests of the Aquarium water had
produced the results that Harry had expected, high concentrations of DOC in the
water and floor bed samples. Chip was
still going over the computer’s readings.
Hmmmm, everything looks like
it’s working properly Chip
mused to himself. Flow rates, pump rates, circulation all green across the boards. He decided to walk over to the where Harry was taking more samples from the filters
themselves. As he walked in that
direction he passed one of the security stations and caught a quick glimpse of
the camera feeds on the monitors. He
stopped suddenly, naw couldn’t be, but
for a minute I could have sworn I saw Lee in the crowd. He waited and watched but the tall dark
haired man seemed to have moved into the next section and he didn’t spot him
again. He thought about mentioning it to
Harry but decided it was just his imagination or wishful thinking. He had been contemplating the fun he and Lee
could have had here together, amongst other things, challenging Lee to go on
the Big Shot with him.
*****
Lee had been disappointed with the Shark Reef display, while
the freshwater exhibits were great the saltwater ones were murky and didn’t
afford a very good view. He wondered if
the Admiral would have been able to tell what was wrong and advise the Aquarium
on how to fix it. He’d try to find a way
to mention it when he got back to Seaview.
He’d enjoyed the roller coaster and the Big Shot that he
eventually agreed to go. Some day he and
Chip would have to come to Vegas, he’d love to see Chip’s expression when he
got shot up the tower mast at 4 Gs. It
had been Stephen’s idea but Lee got the distinct impression, judging by the
white knuckles, that Stephan had had second thoughts once strapped in.
They hit a couple more casinos and then headed back to the
Excalibur to have dinner, change and head for their first work experience here.
The photographer, a woman by the name of Jenny, was already
there when they arrived and greeted them enthusiastically. Lee learned that the photographer was always
female, it was a security measure so that no false charges could be made
against the two men doing the posing.
Lee suspected it was also to help the men keep their hands from
wandering should they be tempted.
Jenny pulled a couple of bags of colourful bead necklaces
out from the drawer of the photo desk and put them on the counter. Lee and Stephen each took a couple of the necklaces.
“OK gents, camera is all ready so whenever you are it’s a
go.”
Lee and Stephen looked at each other then at the entrance
where a steady stream of guests were flowing in. Lee spotted a group of young women about
midway down the corridor, it would be a minute or so before they got to the
entrance. He nudged Stephen, “grab some
more necklaces, let’s try for that group coming down the corridor.”
“Gee buddy, you really want to take that on as our first
attempt.”
“Group dynamics Stephen, if one does it they all will. Safety in numbers and all that.”
“Whose safety?”
Stephen wanted to know, but grabbed more necklaces and handed Lee some.
As the group of 4 young women entered Lee and Stephen
approached them with big smiles and started to put necklaces over their heads,
“Welcome to the Excalibur.” The women
were taken a bit by surprise but quickly warmed to the idea, “OOOOO you’re
gorgeous,” said the second one. As Lee
put a necklace on her she reached up to muss his hair. Lee could smell something fruity on her
breath, likely one or more of the many drinks available everywhere, he had
noted that one of the women still had a drink stick in her hand, not quite
finished. Stephen had that one
‘necklaced’ already.
“If you’d like to come with us,” Stephen invited as he took
one woman on each arm and started for the trellis, Lee following with his two.
Stephen went under the trellis with both his ‘captures’, Lee
asked his to stay by the desk, telling them that he and Stephen would be right
back for them. By now the women were
getting the idea although when Lee took one from Stephen and placed her hands
on his butt she seemed a bit startled, then giggled. They did the poses then collected Lee’s two
and repeated the process. The blonde Lee
was posing with decided she wanted a bit more than just resting her hands on
Lee’s chest and started to move them up and down his torso, bending close to
whisper in his ear, “can we meet later?” Ah crap,
did this have to happen right away.
“Sorry, hotel rules, no fraternizing.”
Which wasn’t strictly true but Lee wasn’t going to tell her that. She pouted a bit and then joined her
friends. They all bought the photos and
moved on.
Stephen couldn’t let it pass, “So lover boy, got your first
proposition did you?”
“Stuff it Stephen,” Lee realized too late he’d just handed
Stephen one hell of an opportunity for a comeback. Unfortunately for Stephen he was laughing so
hard he couldn’t get it out. Seems Jenny
caught it all as well as she had tears streaming down her face while trying to
control her laughter.
The rest of their shift was basically more of the same, Lee
figured that by the end of it Stephen had been propositioned just as many times
as he had, and had just as many women unsuccessfully try to get their hands
from butt to crotch. Lee and Stephen
were both thankful for their lightening quick reflexes.
Jenny told them that
it was the highest ‘take’ she’d ever heard of for one shift. Virtually no one Lee and Stephen approached
had refused the offer and it seemed that some ladies came over looking for
them, having heard from friends about ‘two drop dead hunks’ at the entrance
offering a little ‘hands on’ opportunity.
They even had repeat business, the women wanting to switch after the
first poses to the other one of them so that they had pictures with each of
them.
*****
Harry and Chip finished for the day around 2000. Harry still hadn’t said anything but Chip
could tell that he had a theory brewing.
Well he could wait until Harry wanted to share it. Brad had come by and suggested that they all have
dinner at the Excalibur’s ‘Steakhouse at Camelot’. The Excalibur and Mandalay Bay were both
owned by the MGM group.
“Nothing against the fine dining here at Mandalay Bay but
the wife and daughter want me to pick up tickets for Thursday’s male revue show
at Excalibur, apparently they have some new talent taking the stage this week,”
Brad informed them. “We’d be pleased if
you’d join us.”
“Not sure it’s quite something we’d normally attend,” Harry
sputtered. He wasn’t sure just how to
refuse the invitation without looking like a prude. Chip was wondering how old Brad’s daughter
was and if she was ‘attached’. If she
liked male revue shows, well it hinted at possibilities. He wasn’t currently seeing anyone and while
Harry’s company was great and all that, a little female companionship would be
nice.
“That’s the whole point of Vegas Harry, doing things you don’t
normally do, you must have heard the saying, ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in
Vegas’. You’re coming with us, I won’t
take ‘no’ for an answer.”
So a happy Chip and a somewhat reticent Harry accompanied
Brad over to the Excalibur for dinner and ticket pickup.
As they entered Excalibur Chip noticed quite a few women
over to the right, judging by the flashing lights there seemed to be some sort
of photo op going on. The bodies parted
for a moment and for the second time that day he thought he saw Lee. It was to brief a glimpse to be sure and he
only saw the man’s back. Well they say everyone has a double. Anyway, Lee wouldn’t be in Vegas and he sure
wouldn’t be having his picture taken with some strange woman squeezing his
butt.
At dinner, Harry couldn’t help but chuckle as Brad wondered
if Chip could possible eat all the food he’d ordered.
“Oh believe me Brad, stuffed baked potato, 16 oz Rib Eye,
lobster tail and jumbo asparagus will barely hold him until breakfast. He’s well known as a bottomless pit, and he never
puts on an ounce.”
The two older men grinned and settled down to their smaller
sized but no less delicious dinners.
Afterwards as Brad picked up the tickets Chip asked the
clerk what ‘The Tournament of Kings’ was about.
He’d seen the banners advertising it and was curious.
“It’s our very popular Las Vegas dinner show. Invading armies, dancing maidens, jousting, fireworks,
and a three course meal to be eaten with your fingers! Basically a non-stop medieval melee...with
brewskies and a banquet. You should be
aware that it has horses, pyrotechnics, strobe lights, smoke and fog effects in
an enclosed arena. Guests are seated in close;
therefore, persons sensitive to horses, dust or with allergies, asthma or
respiratory conditions should attend at their own risk.”
Chip looked at Harry, “Sounds like something Lee would be
into.”
The clerk perked up, “Lee, do you mean Lee Glen?”
Harry and Chip both started and looked at the clerk, “Ummm,
do you know a Lee Glen, Miss?” Harry
asked.
“I haven’t met him but I’ve heard someone by that name is
performing here and very good looking.
Are you here to see him?”
“No, no, just met a Lee Glen once, I’m sure it’s not the
same person.”
Crap, Harry thought. If Lee is
here on an assignment then Chip and I could be treading very close to blowing
his cover. Thank God we aren’t in
uniform and the clerk doesn’t seem to know who we are. Jones had said that Lee’s assignment was ‘in
country’, but Vegas! What were the odds!
Astronomical Harry was sure.
Harry leapt to a conclusion, the wrong one. If Lee’s
here undercover, then his cover would be the Tournament of Kings, it makes
perfect sense9. Chip and I
can go to the show, in the crowd Lee will never spot us and at least we’ll be
able to see that he’s alright.
Chip’s line of thought mirrored Harry’s and they both started
to request two tickets. The clerk smiled
and happily processed two tickets for them, they would have to wait though, the
next available show wasn’t until Friday.
When they got back to their room Chip confessed to Harry
that twice that day he’d thought he’d seen Lee but had convinced himself that
it couldn’t have been him.
“If you see him again Chip don’t approach him and try not to
let him see you. I don’t know what his
assignment is but I’m sure he doesn’t need the complication of having us
around. Thank goodness you haven’t been
calling me Admiral.”
Chip nodded his understanding, he knew that their being
there could pose a danger to Lee, but was happy that he was going to get a
chance to see Lee, even if Lee never knew about it. He was puzzled as to how a hotel/casino could
have a full jousting arena in it, complete with horses, but he’d find out
Friday.
Brad hadn’t noticed anything unusual in their getting
tickets for the show and had assured them that they would enjoy it.
*****
When Lee and Stephen showed up Wednesday for the last rehearsal,
they received a standing ovation. Seems
their record take for the entrance picture gig was well known.
George seemed very happy with the rehearsals and asked both
Lee and Stephen how it was they were so comfortable in the Spartan warrior
routine. He’d thought they’d have
trouble handling the swords, spears and shields and had thought about leaving
the two of them out of that particular segment.
In order to protect their personal information Lee and Stephen couldn’t
tell him the real reason they could
handle the gear just fine. Too much personal
stuff gets out about an agent and sooner or later someone puts it all
together. So they told George that while
they were in Europe they met some guys that were into historical re-enactments
and had spent some time recreating medieval battles, with all the
paraphernalia. Their explanation
satisfied George. He did get a rather
contemplative look on his face that Lee wondered about at the time.
Thursday finally arrived, the day Lee and Stephen were going
to perform for real. There would be two
shows, 2100 and 2300. The atmosphere was
charged backstage, the guys all pumping each other up for the show and
especially encouraging Lee and Stephen.
Lee hoped he didn’t look as panicked as he felt, Stephen
smirking at him didn’t help matters any.
“Chill Lee,” Stephen sotto voiced to him, “You’ll be fine.”
Eric happened to overhear the comment. “Lee are you one of those types that always
gets ‘stage fright’ every time?”
“Sure seems that way,”
Lee replied.
“Hey, I’d tell you to picture the audience naked, but, well
doesn’t really seem to fit.” Eric and
Stephen both laughed. Eric slapped Lee
on the back, “Like Stephen said, ‘chill’, you’ve done this a million times.”
“Ya, right.” Lee
gulped back his rising panic and took several deep breaths, using his ONI
training to calm himself down. If he
could get through torture and other unspeakable situations, then he could
certainly handle this. Somehow, torture and impending death just
seem easier to handle right now.
He heard the intro music start, ok Lee Glen, the ladies are here for a show, let’s give it to them.
Lee gyrated, thrust, bounced, leapt, swivelled, strutted
down tabletops and became the darling of the ladies. He had that certain something that is referred
to as ‘presence’. He wasn’t a man that
would ever be overlooked, by either sex.
Stephen also proved very popular with the audience, whereas
Lee had the tall, dark, sexy look Stephen was all mischievous, adorable blonde
‘boytoy’, winking, wiggling at and flirting with the ladies.
Lee’s solo blew the place apart and security had to make
their presence known to discourage a stage rush.
Backstage, after the show, the praise of the fellow
performers for Lee and Stephen was effusive.
It was obvious that their addition was going to do good things for
ticket sales and anything that brought the ladies in was all right with
everyone else. George was already
contemplating doing additional shows.
Lee and Stephen were only supposed to be with them as fill-ins until the
regular guys came back in a couple of days but given the response, George
really wanted to keep them.
There wasn’t much time before the next show, everyone kept
moving so muscles wouldn’t cool down too much.
Stephen winked at Lee, “I take it your ‘nerves’ have cleared
up. You practically caused a riot out
there. No wonder you got banned in some
of the places in Europe.”
Lee wondered what Stephen was playing at.
“Hey, we never heard about that. Why did Lee get banned?” George asked on behalf of everyone.
“Oh nothing much, just tended to start orgies from to
time. Never figured out how he could
perform on stage and back and still have energy left. Of course after the last show of the night
he’d disappear with a few of them.
Wouldn’t see him again until the next day.”
I’m going to kill him for
this.
“Lee, care to fill us in?”
Eric asked with a wide grin.
“No he wouldn’t,” George interjected. “Ah Lee, don’t know what went on in Europe
but here it’s hands off out there or afterwards.”
“Don’t worry, I have no plans to do otherwise. Nothing happened in Europe. Stephen just has a very active
imagination.” If looks could kill then
the one he gave Stephen would have left him a smoking husk. Lee could tell from the amused looks he got from
some of the guys that they were believing Stephen more that they were him.
Stephen smiled innocently at Lee. Just a
little ‘payback’ Lee, I still owe you for the ‘wax job’.
Lee figured he knew what was behind Stephen’s comment,
apparently it was time to start watching his back.
*****
Harry and Chip spent Thursday pouring over test results and
computer readouts. Harry thought they
were close to solving the problem but couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
“Chip, what is the computer record for the water quality at
0900?”
Chip punched some numbers into the computer and brought up
the computer test results for 0900.
“Here you go...Harry.”
Chip wondered if he’d ever get used to using the Admiral’s first name,
he still often hesitated, fighting back ‘Admiral’ or ‘Sir’.
Harry looked at the screen then at the results of the test
he’d done manually at 0900. He passed
his written results to Chip.
“Notice anything?”
Chip looked at both just as Harry had done.
“Are you sure, S..Harry that this was done on the same water
at the same time?”
“Positive.”
“The results are quite a bit different.”
“Yes they are. I
noticed the same thing yesterday but didn’t want to say anything until I had
other samples that showed a similar disparity.”
“If the computer is adjusting the filtration requirements
according to the automatic test results, then....”
“Then it’s not adjusting correctly, it’s allowing a larger
DOP in the water and substrate.”
“So we need to locate the problem with the computer water
tests.” Chip mused aloud.
“Once we fix that we should have things under control.”
Once Chip knew what he was looking for it didn’t take him
long to find the computer glitch, although he suspected it was user error, not
really a ‘glitch’. A higher allowable
DOP had been programmed. The computer
had simply allowed the parameters to exist that it had been given.
They explained the situation to Brad.
“Either someone on your staff made an error or you’ve had a
bit of sabotage.” Harry told Brad.
“It’s not beyond possibility, things can get a bit
competitive but I find it hard to believe that any of my staff would
deliberately do this. I’ll have security
checks run on everyone just to be sure.”
“Always a good practice,” Harry agreed. “Chip and I will monitor the adjustment to be
sure that we’ve found the only issue but the water should clear after about 48
hours of constant filtering. I’d
recommend that you change or clean the filter mediums before and after.”
“Yes of course. I
really appreciate your coming to help us and how quickly you’ve found the
problem. Admiral Jones was certainly
right in his praise of you.”
Harry and Chip were both stunned at this revelation. Every warning signal they knew went off. Harry smelled a setup.
“Admiral Jones recommended you contact NIMR?” he asked.
“Yes it happened that he was here for a meeting of some sort
when we started to have the problem with the displays. When he visited the Aquarium and saw our
problem he contacted me to suggest that we ask for your help.”
This smells to high
heaven. So Jones was here when the
trouble started, I’d wager he’s somehow behind it, but why? Blast Jones what is he playing at?
The object of Harry’s thoughts was sitting at his desk back
in D.C. wondering just how far along his machinations had gotten, and if he’d
be successful.
Harry looked at Chip who appeared confused and worried. You’re
not the only one Chip.
Harry turned his attention back to Brad, “Well Brad I’ll
certainly have to thank Admiral Jones for his confidence in me.”
“Well founded confidence Harry. I’ll leave your instructions with my staff
and we can go get ready for dinner and the show tonight. My wife and daughter are thrilled that you’re
coming.”
Harry and Chip returned to their rooms to freshen up and
change. It wasn’t long before Chip heard
a knock on his door. He opened it to let
Harry in and then poured a couple of scotches from the complimentary bottle;
they each had quite a choice of beverages in their suites.
“Thoughts Sir,” Chip didn’t notice that he hadn’t used
Nelson’s first name, Harry didn’t appear to notice either.
“None of them good Chip.
Jones is playing us somehow and it worries me. You can bet that it’s something to do with
Lee.”
“He wouldn’t jeopardize a mission just to get back at you,
would he? Not that I know of any reason
he might have something against you, or Lee.”
“Don’t be coy Chip, you can figure it out. He wants Lee full-time for ONI, I stand in
the way of that. Always have, always
will, if I had my way ONI would never be able to call Lee in for missions. Makes me wonder just who’s ‘mission’ this
is.”
Chip nodded, he wasn’t a political animal but he knew that
it could get dirty and underhanded. Were
they caught in a power play of some sort?
He had faith that the Admiral would figure it out and get them out of it
intact.
*****
Stephen took a look at the crowd
as he waited for the last show to start.
Mostly women but there were a few tables that also had a man or two at
them. He looked up in the VIP section
and spotted a very interesting table. A
huge grin spread across his face. There,
front and centre in the upper section sat Admiral Nelson and Lee’s XO, Chip
Morton. They were with two women, and
another man.
Well well well, payback is a sweet sweet
thing. Stephen was
practically gibbering with anticipation.
Won’t that be something when Lee struts himself out on stage, rips it
all off and then spots his Admiral and XO.
Oh Powers that Be, thank you so very much!
He wasn’t going to leave anything
to chance on this. Sometimes you
couldn’t really get a good look at the crowd when on stage and the lights were
on you. He went over and had a word with
the guys on the spotlights, letting them know that sitting at table 15 were
some very special friends of Lee Glen’s, and would they please spotlight the
table towards the end of Lee’s solo. Lee
wouldn’t be able to miss seeing them.
They sure as hell wouldn’t miss seeing Lee, a whole lot of Lee.
When Stephen went backstage again
he was laughing so hard tears were running down his face.
“What’s so funny?” Lee asked him.
“Wouldn’t you just love to
know. Call it Karma.”
Lee would have liked to pursue
this further, he wasn’t at all comfortable with that answer, but the intro
music was playing.
Everything was going smoothly, as before Lee gave it his all
to the joy of the audience. This was the
show where the drop was to be made. He
hadn’t really gotten a good look at the agent at the table. He didn’t want to draw any attention to the
person, it had to appear to be a random pick when his solo came up. He did see enough to know that it was a woman
with long titian hair. A small alarm
went off in the back of his head; he dismissed it as absurd.
*****
Harry settled himself in a chair at their VIP table, Chip
was seated to his right, Brad’s daughter beside Chip. Brad and his wife were to Harry’s left.
They had enjoyed a nice dinner and Chip and Phoenix seemed
to hit it off right away. Harry
suspected he might not see a whole lot of Chip for their last two days in
Vegas. It was a self-serve bar and Brad
had gone to pick up drinks for all of them.
He arrived back just as the intro was starting. Harry hadn’t looked around much, just vaguely
noticed that it was mostly women at the tables but there were a few men
scattered about.
Harry had turned to say something to Brad as the
entertainers exploded onto the stage and the women applauded and hooted. What first caught his attention was Chip’s
drink falling from his hand with a bang onto the table.
“Chip, something wrong?”
Chip’s mouth was gaping and he seemed stunned as he looked
at the stage.
“Chip is having an interesting reaction to the show,” Brad’s
wife remarked.
Harry looked to the stage, his drink also hit the table as
he choked on the sip he’d just taken.
As he watched, the performers weaved around on the stage in
a complicated dance pattern and started ripping their clothes off. First vests, then shirts were hurled into the
audience. As a group they turned and
vibrated their tushies to the appreciation of almost everyone there. They then jump turned to face out as they
simultaneously ripped off their pants.
Chip recovered first and scrambled to get out his cell
phone. Nelson reacted immediately, grabbing
Chip and hauling him under the table.
Brad, his wife and his daughter looked at each other in
total amazement and confusion. They had
no idea what to make of this strange behaviour.
Under the table Nelson hissed at Chip, “put that away, you
will not be taking any pictures.”
“But Harry, he’s up there practically naked, dancing in only
a T-bar. I’ve got to take pictures!”
“You will not take pictures Mr. Morton.”
“O, so now it’s Mr. Morton is it. Seems to me, Harry, that you said this was also a vacation, we solved the
Aquarium issue, I’m on my own time, and I want to take pictures of the show.”
Harry wanted to strangle Chip.
Chip figured he’d pushed things a bit to far as he watched
the colour climb up Nelson’s neck and face.
“OK, fine.” Chip
stuck his cell back in his pocket, or appeared to.
Brad’s face appeared as he leaned down and lifted the table
cloth, “everything all right under there?”
“Ah, yes thanks, Chip dropped something, we found it.”
Chip and Harry resumed their seats, thankfully the first
number was done and the emcee was introducing the dance members. They came out one by one and did a little
shimmy, shake, shake and went offstage again.
When Lee Glen was announced and came out Harry did not notice that Chip’s
right hand held his cell phone. Chip had
his right arm around Phoenix and he was using her to shield his right hand from
view. Punch, punch went his finger on
the picture button.
Harry was thinking all sorts of thoughts about Jones. He understood Lee’s reaction to the
assignment now. He was starting to guess
at why he’d been manoeuvred here by Jones.
Jones would pay for this. If he
could get himself and Chip out of here without Lee knowing then he could reduce
the damage Jones obviously was trying to cause.
It looked like he was going to be able to accomplish that
task. The performers obviously had areas
they were assigned to; Lee was concentrating his attention to the tables to the
left of theirs.
Harry had to admit that the physical demands of the routines
were impressive and the human body was a beautiful thing, he’d just never
expected to see so much of Lee’s and certainly not in such a public way. He eventually recognized Stephen, having met
him once before. Chip seemed to be
behaving himself, which made Harry a wee bit nervous, he’d expected Chip to
make another try at getting pictures but Chip’s right arm hadn’t left its
position around his date. Odd that I can’t see Chip’s hand...
The emcee announced that Lee would be performing a solo next
and that the audience should be prepared for a real treat.
Harry took a deep breath.
The lights dimmed, then went out. A single spotlight snapped on to show Lee in
a tux, his back turned to the audience.
After a second his head snapped around, a very pouty, sexy expression on
his face, numerous ‘ohs and awes’ could be heard. The music started and Lee began his
performance. For the second time that
night Harry and Chip’s mouths dropped open.
God can Lee ever sing! What a
marvellous voice, a real gift! Harry
thought.
Lee slinked down off the stage and made his way over to
table 5. He got his first good look at
the woman in seat 2. It was almost his
undoing. Thankfully it happened at a
riff section and he wasn’t singing because he was sure he couldn’t have gotten
the words out.
NONONONONONONO it can’t be.
There sat Caitlin10 Nelson, the Admiral’s
sister.
This is table 5, seat 2. Did the agent not show up?
Caitlin smiled up at Lee, he noticed that she looked very
pleased with herself. Well he’d try the
code phrase and see what happened.
“Hello my lovely, can I convince you to join me onstage my
darling?”
“Nothing in this universe or any other could stop me you
beautiful, sexy man.”
Damn, that’s the correct
response. Does the Admiral know she’s an
agent?
Caitlin slowly came up out of her seat and leaned in close
to Lee, moulding her body against his and bringing her mouth close to his
ear. “Surprise.”
No shit! Lee thought.
He lead her up onto the stage with him. It seemed like an eternity to Lee but
everything had happened within the allotted time. He began to dance around her as only he
could.
For the second time that night Harry choked on his drink and
the glass banged to the table. Chip
looked over at him wondering just what he’d missed. Harry’s gaze was fixed on the stage, he
looked like he’d seen a ghost.
Caitlin was thoroughly delighted that her plan had worked so
well. When she picked up the intel from
her contact the perfect way to get it to ONI had occurred to her. Well, perfect for her purposes. It had been a bit dicey convincing her
handler of how she wanted to do it, but she was a good agent, able to get into
places that would be far more difficult for others. She had connections in high society, among
the old and new money. No one ever
suspected a flighty rich girl as being anything other than brainless. There were foreign assignments where no one
knew of Edith Nelson and for those she used cover names and stories, upon
occasion when ‘Edith Nelson’ was invited to some place of ‘interest’ she went
as herself. Like all good agents she
kept out of the papers so her physical appearance wasn’t that well known. This had proved quite handy a few years ago
when a foreign power tried to blackmail Harry by kidnapping her.11 So it was that the NSA did indulge her from
time to time, this was one of those times.
She had no idea that it had also created a nasty plan against her
brother and Lee.
Lee wondered at first why the other members of table 5 were
yelling ‘atta girl Caleigh’ but quickly decided that like all agents,
Edith/Caitlin had a myriad of names.
Seems she liked the Celtic variety.
Lee reached the point in his solo where he ripped his pants
off and in his T-bar made very suggestive moves, slowly sliding his body up and
down in a S motion, almost in contact with his ‘audience pick’s’ body. In fact, there was so little space that from
the audience’s perspective he did appear to be caressing her body with his.
“Hello, tall, dark,
and scrumptiously naked stranger,” Caitlin purred into his ear.
So far she had not produced a microchip or anything
else. As Lee went to take her in his
arms for the last move, she reached into her pocket, took something small out,
and then, before he could do anything, slid her hand inside his T-bar and placed
something sticky against his penis, giving it a totally unnecessary
squeeze. Two things happened at once,
the audience erupted in delighted approval and a spotlight flashed onto table
15 causing Lee to look in that direction...................
Please, someone, anyone, kill
me, kill me now! At that moment Lee meant every word of
it. There at the suddenly spot lit table
sat Admiral Nelson and Chip, stunned expressions on their faces.
Caitlin felt Lee’s entire body go suddenly rigid, which had
nothing to do with what she was doing.
She followed his gaze and likewise froze.
“Oh god Lee I’m sorry, which one of us do you think he’ll
kill first?” She whispered.
The spotlight on Lee suddenly turned off even though Lee
hadn’t given the cue. He hadn’t pulled
Caitlin’s leg up around his waist which was the signal to kill the light. The other performers weren’t sure what had
gone wrong but they knew something had.
Stephen, who at first had been delighted at the reaction when Lee saw
who was at table 15, was rapidly rethinking things. Lee being mortified, yes he had expected
that, but the agent with Lee had looked equally pole-axed. Nelson had looked like he was prepared to
slaughter both of them, or at the very least stroke out on the spot. Stephen realized he was definitely missing a
piece of the picture here.
When the lights came back up Lee had recovered enough to
escort Caitlin back to her table where she was greeted with great enthusiasm by
the other women there. All of them
wanting to know what she had got her hands on.
Caitlin just wanted out, fast.
She looked toward where her brother’s table was, she had felt his laser
eyes drilling into her. She wasn’t
wrong. Oh shit he’s getting up and heading this way. I can’t have him blow my cover and I sure as
hell don’t want to talk to him right now.
There was only one thing to do. Telling
her tablemates that nothing else could possibly top the evening and that she
needed some air, she headed for the exit.
*****
Harry wanted a word with Edith, right now, several words in
fact. He got up from the table and
started towards her but saw her go out the exit. You can
run for now Edith, but I will be speaking to you. He altered his direction and headed for the
bar and a double scotch.
Chip knew something had happened but hadn’t a clue
what. He’d thought that the Admiral had
been taking the evening’s entertainment fairly well, all things considered,
until Lee picked out that rather striking young woman he’d taken up on stage
with him. At that point, the Admiral had
started a slow burn that reached magnesium white when the woman had slid her
hand under Lee’s one bit of very spare covering. Chip was pretty sure he’d gotten a couple of good
pictures of Lee and whomever. He didn’t
think he recognized her but he’d take a closer look when he got back home and
he could download the pictures onto his computer. Actually
I think I’ll send them now while the Admiral is at the bar, just in case I get
caught. Given his current mood he’d
probably shove my cell ‘where the sun don’t shine’ if he found out I’ve been
taking pictures.
Harry came back to the table having finished his drink at
the bar. He then finished the one he
still had at the table. When the show
was over he quickly excused himself and tried to get backstage. Totally forgetting that he shouldn’t approach
Lee on an assignment. Security turned
him firmly away, “sorry no one goes backstage.”
Harry didn’t figure there would be any point in asking if
they’d send a message back to Lee Glen that someone wanted to see him. Lee was probably long gone anyway.
Harry went back to join the others and they headed back to
Mandalay Bay. It had been one hell of an
evening.
Once Harry and Chip left for their rooms Brad’s wife gave
him a quizzical look. “Well dear, I’m
not sure which was more entertaining, the show or those two men. I can’t think of what they could have been
doing under the table.”
Phoenix was a little puzzled as well, “Chip is adorable but
he seemed more interested in taking pictures of that gorgeous Lee Glen than
anything else. I’m pretty sure he was
trying to keep Harry from knowing he was doing it. I didn’t get the feeling that he was gay
during dinner but he certainly was fixated on Glen.”
“Their reactions certainly seemed ‘unusual’, but not for us
to judge. “This is Vegas, it makes
anyone act a little crazy.”
*****
Once the show was over Lee just wanted to get out.
George was having a fit at the spotlight guys, “who the hell
told you to light up table 15, that wasn’t in the show.”
“Ask Stephen what that was about, he told us the table had
friends of Lee’s seated there and to light it up during his solo.”
George and Lee both looked at Stephen, Stephen really wanted
to be somewhere else.
George was the first to speak, “Anything you want to tell us
about that Stephen?”
“Not really. My
mistake.”
This time Lee spoke or rather growled, “You have no idea how
big a one.”
“Look, whatever issues you two have I want them sorted
before the next show on Saturday,” George told them. Just then his cell phone went off and he
moved to a quieter corner to answer it.
Lee and Stephen were still glowering at each other when he
came back.
“OK you two, since you’re both so good with swords and such,
you’re filling in tomorrow night at the Tournament of King’s, they had a couple
of injuries tonight. You two can go and
bash each other to a pulp, just don’t get any bruises we can’t cover up.”
*****
Harry couldn’t get to sleep.
How had Jones gotten Edith
involved? It made no sense, he couldn’t
fit it into the picture anywhere. What
the hell had Edith been thinking to shove her hand where she had, up on a stage
no less! She had not been raised that
way. Why had Lee allowed her to? Maybe that wasn’t fair, Lee had obviously not
been expecting her to do that, probably didn’t know she’d be there, but then
why had he taken her up on stage at all?
Why, why, why, so many questions and no answers.
As he thought about it over and over again he remembered that
Edith had put her hand in her pocket just before plunging it down onto Lee’s
privates.
Had there been something in her pocket that
she was giving to Lee? Something small,
something important...............good god, was his sister an agent. Was that the assignment that he’d just
witnessed? Despite what movies showed,
most agent meetings did not take place in dark alleys or abandoned buildings,
but in as open and populated a place as possible. Lee would likely not have known who he was to
meet, he’d be given a place, time and code to use. The agent wanting the meeting would set the
parameters. Which meant that Edith had
requested this particular cover for Lee?
IF, and it was a big IF, she was in fact an agent.
More tossing and turning, no sleep, just lots of why’s and
if’s. He needed to talk to Lee, but he
wouldn’t risk doing it here in Vegas. He
realized he couldn’t talk to Edith here either, just in case she was involved
somehow. He wouldn’t do anything that
might put either one of them in danger.
Finally he fell into a fitful sleep.
*****
Once back in the hotel room Lee went into the bathroom and
rather painfully removed the item Caitlin had so enthusiastically placed on his
appendage.
What the hell kind of glue did
she use? Stuff sticks like crazy. Sorry buddy, but this is going to hurt.
Lee looked at the red area that pulling off the small square
package had left. Some of his hair was
clinging to the package.
Guess that’s a small taste of
what happened to Stephen.
He looked at the bit of plastic. Hope
you’re worth all the shit that’s hitting the fan over this. Not to mention that the Admiral is probably
writing out my pink slip right now
He opened the door and stepped out; Stephen was sitting on
the bed looking pretty uncomfortable.
“Happy now?” Lee
asked him.
“No, not especially.
Look Lee I admit I set you up by not telling you your Admiral and XO
were out there but I have no idea what went on with your contact. Nelson looked like he was going to run up
onstage and disembowel both of you.”
“That would have been the ‘best case’ scenario. I suspect it will be much worse.”
“Why, what’s the issue?
She something to him?”
“Just leave it Stephen, I can’t tell you anything. Chalk it up to really bad timing.”
With that Lee threw the bit of plastic to Stephen, “here you
take care of it, I’m liable to do something stupid to it.”
Instead Lee did something else even more stupid. As required he made contact with ONI to
report the assignment a success, no complications , yeah right. Then he asked
that the paperwork be started to reactivate him and place him with ONI
fulltime.
When he flipped his secure cell phone closed, he heard
Stephen clear his voice. He looked over
at him.
“Lee, you can’t mean that.”
“Believe me Stephen, I don’t have job with NIMR anymore.”
When Stephen started to speak Lee held up his hand, “leave
it, what’s done is done.”
Lee stripped out of his clothes and crawled into his bed; he
turned toward the wall.
*****
Friday saw the water start to clear in the saltwater
displays of Shark Reef. The adjustments were
working and the technicians were busy changing out the filters. While it was gratifying to have solved the
problem, Harry didn’t feel any joy. He’d
be glad to get out of Vegas. He thought
of suggesting to Chip that they skip the Kings Tournament show tonight and
catch a flight back but he didn’t want to ruin Chip’s fun just because he
wasn’t having any. Not to mention that
he had told Brad they would be there for two more days to ensure everything was
fine. He didn’t know when Lee might be
leaving Vegas, or for that matter if he’d already left. If last night had been the drop then there
would be no reason for Lee and his partner to stick around.
Chip was out with Phoenix seeing some of the sights of
Vegas, he and Chip would meet up at the Excalibur for the dinner show. Harry decided to go over early, you never
know he might spot Lee or Edith, and then at least he’d know if they were still
here.
He checked out the entrance area where Chip had thought he’d
see Lee before but Lee wasn’t there. He
gambled a bit but he wasn’t really interested in it. Finally it was time to meet Chip so he headed
for the ticket booth, as it happened it was next to the stairs down to the
arena area. He didn’t have long to wait
before Chip arrived. They went down the
stairs and followed the signs to the Tournament entrance. Their seats were in the Dragon section, which
turned out to be the west middle section.
Chip told Harry that he and Phoenix had spent most of the
afternoon down around Fremont Street exploring old Vegas.
Their server brought them cold flagons of beer and soon
Merlin arrived in the arena amid flames and smoke. He instructed everyone in the proper way to
cheer their favourites on, slapping the trestle tops and shouting ‘Huzzah’, not
to mention raising the flagons and quaffing the beer. It was good fun and despite himself, Harry
smiled a time or two. Merlin told a
slightly altered story of Camelot, King Arthur, his son Christopher and the
villain Mordred. Harry was pretty sure
that King Arthur did not have a son called Christopher but the show wasn’t
going for authenticity anyway. As Merlin
set the stage the food was delivered.
Chip looked positively delighted that he got an entire chicken along
with 2 roasted potatoes and shards of broccoli.
The tomato basil soup, called Dragon’s Blood, was quite good. Harry figured Chip could probably take care
of half of his chicken for him.
While they were eating the Kings were introduced, one from
France, Russia, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Austria, Hungary and the Dragon King,
who it turned out was the villain of the show.
As each country was called the ‘King’ rode in on his charger and did a
loop of the arena. They were brightly
dressed in vaguely period apparel.
“No way,” Chip exclaimed, “Harry look!”
They had just called Spain’s King in when Harry happened to
be looking down at Merlin, he looked back up and saw what had excited
Chip. Lee was coming in on a grey charger;
he waved to the crowd, saluted his country’s section then galloped out of the
arena.
“I’m pretty sure that’s Stephen riding for Hungary,” and
Chip pointed to the next rider coming in.
Harry definitely got much more interested in the show. There was a dance sequence next but the Kings
were soon back, setting up the round table and doing a drinking song and
generally having little sword fights among themselves, ‘just to get warmed up’
Merlin had informed the audience. Lee
looked like he was putting a little more energy into his sword swings than the
others did.
Harry didn’t catch all the explanation but he thought the
Dragon King was connected with Mordred somehow.
Close to the beginning Mordred had turned up shooting fire at King
Arthur and Merlin. Mordred appeared
again during the round table segment to threaten everyone, shot some more
flames but once again escaped before anyone could fight their way to him.
Then the joust was called and the table was cleared from the
arena. Harry hadn’t really expected a
real joust but as he watched things being set up he began to wonder. Soon Merlin announced that the King of Russia
and France would take the list first.
The two galloped in and took their positions at opposite ends of the
arena. Lances where given to them and as
far as Harry could tell they charged, full out at each other. They each had a shield and the impact of the
lances sounded real enough, the King of Russia went flying from his saddle, he
tucked and rolled as he hit the ground.
“Play acting or not that has to hurt, a lot,” Chip got out
between mouthfuls of food.
What Harry assumed were meant to be pages ran out and picked
up the bits of shattered lance that littered the ground.
The next two Kings were called and this time the loser got
caught up in his stirrup and dragged for a bit before the horse stopped. On it went, Stephen was the winner in his
round, finally Lee and the Dragon King were to go.
Figures Lee would get the bad
guy. Wonder who is supposed to win the
round. Chip looked over at Harry and could see the
same question mirrored in his face.
The two combatants charged, both lances hit and shattered
but both riders stayed seated. Two more
lances were brought out and the riders charged again. This time both riders came off and with bone
jarring force hit the arena’s dirt floor.
They rose to their feet and swords were provided. Merlin announced that when both riders were
unseated the contest continued on the ground.
Swords swung and clashed, sparks flew, back and forth they pushed each
other, the crowd cheering for their champion.
This posed a bit of a problem for Harry and Chip as they were seated in
the Dragon section, no way they were cheering for the guy pounding on Lee. Finally Lee spiralled his sword which ripped
the Dragon King’s sword out of his hand.
A cheer went up from Spain, their King had won. As Lee turned to acknowledge the cheer the
Dragon King picked up his sword and struck it, flat side, hard across Lee’s
back. Lee went down as Spain booed and
the Dragon section cheered. Two other
Kings rushed out and grabbed the Dragon King as he was about to skewer Lee. Merlin declared Spain the winner and the
Dragon King a very poor sport indeed.
Harry presumed that it was all scripted but he did notice
that Lee took a moment to get to his feet.
As they were walking out Lee appeared to say something to
the Dragon King who lunged at him. Lee
sidestepped and tripped him, landing him in the dirt. Spain roared its approval. Nelson and Chip just smiled. They didn’t think that was in the script.
Lee and Stephen ended up being the two that had to compete
for the win, they had defeated all their opponents. They were mounted at the entrance ready to do
battle but paused to have a brief conversation between themselves.
“OK Lee, you know I’m supposed to win this.”
“In your dreams.”
“No, in the script.”
“Every man for himself.”
“So we’re doing this for real?”
“As real as it can be with these useless hollowed, balsa
wood lances.”
They parted and took their positions.
Stephen wondered what the chances were that Lee was just
kidding him and would take the fall. Well I’ll find out in about 60 seconds.
They charged, they struck, lances splintered and no one came
off. They repeated the procedure with
the same results.
Lee rode up to Stephen for another little chat.
“You know we could do this all night with these
‘toothpicks’, what say we get off and let swords decide this,” Lee said.
Up at the tables Chip noticed that down at the arena
entrance there were conversations going on amongst the other people in the
show, and a bit of arm waving.
Harry leaned over towards Chip, “I suspect those two are
rewriting tonight’s script, without warning anyone.”
Chip nodded. Yep, Lee would do that if he felt like it.
Lee and Stephen dismounted and signalled for swords. Harry and Chip moved forward on the bench,
neither one of them had ever seen Lee in his medieval role. They had rescued him from a horrific, blood
soaked battleground once, but that was after the fact. Now they were getting to see him in action.
In the arena, the two men squared off. This sword fight was considerably different
from the one Lee had with the Dragon King.
The crowd could tell that this was a serious fight, between two men who
knew what they were about and neither one was going to give quarter to the
other.
First Lee then Stephen would seem to be getting the upper
hand, mighty strokes landing on shields.
Strokes that would have seriously injured either man if they didn’t get
their shield up in time. Sparks flew
when sword met sword. The audience grew
quiet and tense. The ragged breathing of
the ‘Kings’ could be heard throughout
the arena.
“Are they actually trying to kill each other,” Harry heard
one of the serving wenches ask another one as they paused beside him to
watch.
“Well, I heard that they got ‘volunteered’ over here to work
out some sort of issue they were having, guess this is them working it out,”
responded the other.
“Lordy, hope the paramedics are close by.”
There was a gasp from the crowd, Stephen had lost his sword
to the same manoeuvre Lee had used on the Dragon King. Lee stepped back and Stephen signalled for a
battle flail, Lee threw away his sword and did the same. The flails were a single spiked ball attached
to a handle by a chain. It provided a more
powerful hit than a mace but was harder to control.
Lee and Stephen each gave a couple of experimental swings to
get the feel of their flails, then began to circle and feint. Lee launched the first attack and scored a
solid, arm shattering hit on Stephen’s shield.
Sparks flew from the metal banding on the wooden shield and Stephen
shuddered under the blow and went down on one knee. He was dazed from the force of the strike and
his arm was numb. Shit Lee I know you’re not that mad at me, wonder who you’re
trying to pound into the dirt. Letting
Lee work out his anger was one thing, getting this severely hammered on was
another.
It was a dirty move but Stephen didn’t figure he had much
choice, he had to back Lee off. He swung
his flail low trying to catch Lee’s legs, he didn’t put a lot of power in it
because he didn’t want to break either one of his friend’s legs, just dump him
on the ground so he could get up. It was
a good plan but Lee saw it coming and easily jumped the flail. It did, however, give Stephen time enough to
get up and he was able to get in another swing.
This one overhanded and landing on Lee’s shield with a satisfying
crash. Lee responded with another
herculean blow and Stephen’s shield cracked under it, he wouldn’t be able to
take another hit on his shield. The next
strike would come straight on through.
Harry didn’t think either of the men were really trying to
kill each other, or even hurt each other, but accidents happened. Especially if one of them was angry, and
Harry could tell from Lee’s body language that he was very angry.
In the arena Stephen wasn’t quite sure what to do. He was pretty certain that Lee would not
attack again, his split shield wouldn’t protect him if Lee did and Lee knew
that. Lee had backed off, obviously
planning something but what. Perhaps Lee
was giving him the opportunity to plant a hit, at any rate they couldn’t just
dance around the arena, he had to take it on faith that Lee wouldn’t do
anything that would hurt him. He charged
forward, swung his spiked ball onto Lee’s quickly raised shield and then found
himself flat on his back with Lee’s spiked ball planted in the ground beside
his head.
Lee had waited for Stephen to attack, intercepted it on his
shield, moved quickly forward and pushed Stephen hard with his shield to get
him off balance. He then did a leg sweep
landing Stephen on his back and finished off by swinging his spiked ball into
the dirt beside Stephen’s head. It happened
so fast the crowd wasn’t sure they’d even seen it happen.
Lee reached down to Stephen to help him up. The crowd roared its approval. Stephen looked into Lee’s eyes and saw that
the black fury that had raged their earlier was gone. As Stephen regained his feet he kept his grip
on Lee’s arm and asked, “feeling a bit better now?”
“Some, thanks for the therapy session.”
Merlin walked over to the two Kings. In a voice only they could hear said, “if
you’re quite through we’d like to get on with the scheduled show, hmmm.”
Lee and Stephen grinned at him and did a fast jog out of the
arena to loud clapping.
Merlin turned his hidden mic back on, “Well it seems that
the King of Spain wins tonight’s tournament, HUZZAH!” The crowd responded in kind and also banged
the tables and quaffed more beer.
There were no more surprises for the cast for the rest of
the show. Lee and Stephen stuck to the
script. Harry and Chip did notice that
during the melee segment that anyone Lee or Stephen ended up fighting tended to
give up rather quickly.
Finally the last mouthful of beer was swigged and the final
Huzzah given. The Kings all rode into
the arena and went to greet their respective country for a few minutes. Chip and Harry watched Lee ride over to Spain
at the end of the arena, Stephen’s Hungary was beside their Dragon King
section. Quite a few people wanted to
chat with the riders and pet the horses.
The Dragon King was on a very nice Friesian, at least that’s what Harry
thought it was, Lee would know, he knew quite a bit about horses for some
reason. Another of the mysteries about Lee that one day I want to learn about,
there is so much about that young man I don’t know. Chip broke into his thoughts, he wanted to go
down to talk to the rider so Harry followed along.
“That’s some show you guys put on. How long have you and the others been doing
the show?”
Ah ha, Chip’s on a fishing
expedition, good man!
Harry patted the horse while the rider answered Chip.
“Glad you liked the show.
I’ve been involved for about 2 years now, there’s a fair turnover
between injuries and guys just moving on.
The newest members are the Kings of Spain and of Hungary. Tonight was their first show.”
Harry spoke up, “I never would have guessed, they seemed to
be old pros at it. Amazing fight
production between them.”
“Ummm, yes wasn’t it.
Not really in the script but the crowd seemed to enjoy it. I haven’t heard the background on them but
they obviously know what they are doing.”
A family with little children were waiting for their turn
with the rider and his horse so Harry and Chip moved aside.
“We didn’t learn a whole lot Chip but it did confirm that
Lee and Stephen’s fight was not scripted.”
“They weren’t playing at it either, a couple of times I was
sure one of them was going to be seriously injured. Harry, I think the King of Hungary is trying to get your
attention.”
Stephen was kibitzing with his admirers when he happened to
look over toward the Dragon section. To
his surprise he saw Admiral Nelson and Chip talking to Hank, a.k.a. the Dragon
King. He glanced over to see what Lee
was doing, Lee’s back was to him, and he was hoisting a child up into the
saddle with him so the parents could take pictures. Good,
he’ll be busy for awhile. Stephen
kept an eye on Nelson and Chip, when they moved away from Hank he rose in his
stirrups, with a quick glance at Lee to be sure he was still occupied, he waved
at them.
Harry and Chip made short work of getting over to the
Hungary section and down to Stephen.
As they approached Stephen moved his horse so that it
blocked Lee’s view of whoever might be standing to the right of him. Harry and Chip noted the movement and
approached from that side.
“Nice horse you have here, interesting show, rather intense
at times.” Nelson commented.
“Thanks, and yes, it was very intense, almost shatteringly
so.” Stephen flexed his left hand as he
made the comment, his arm still tingled.
He leaned down in his saddle, fiddling with the stirrup, it also brought
him close to Nelson, in a low voice he said, “Sir I need to talk
to you about Lee, it’s urgent. Meet me
at the Venetian’s Gondola stand in two hours.
If you’re not there I’ll assume Lee is correct.”
Something
urgent about Lee, if I’m not there he’ll assume Lee is correct? Correct about what?”
Harry couldn’t ask any
of the question racing through his mind, Stephen had straightened up and had a
new set of admirers demanding his attention.
“Let’s go Chip, we have
to be somewhere in two hours.”
Chip hadn’t heard what
had been said to Harry, but he could guess that it was about Lee. When they got back to the hotel Harry filled
him in.
Back in his own room
Chip found that there was a message waiting for him, Phoenix would like him to
call her.
Phoenix picked up on the
second ring, “Oh good Chip, I’m glad you went back to your room after the
Tournament. Did you and Harry enjoy it?”
“Yes we did, it had a
few surprises in it we enjoyed seeing.”
“Wonderful, now how
would you like me to show you a few more?
I know you’re leaving soon and there’s still so much you haven’t
seen. I’d prefer it be just the two of
us but if Harry wants to come as well I’d understand.”
“Let me talk to him and
I’ll call you right back if that’s ok.”
“Absolutely, I’ll be
waiting for your call, bye.”
Harry was quickly
changing clothes in his room, he wanted to get to the Venetian early, he
wouldn’t risk missing the meeting time, heaven only knew what conclusions Lee
might be jumping too. Obviously serious
enough ones to cause Stephen to risk talking to him at the Tournament and ask
for a meeting.
He heard a knock on his
door, hmmm Chip changes a lot faster than
I do. He opened the door as he was
pulling on a dark blue t-shirt.
“Chip, you haven’t
changed yet!”
“We have a bit of a
complication. Phoenix wants to show me more
of Vegas tonight, you’re invited as well.”
“Blast and bother
wouldn’t you just know it! Obviously I
can’t go. Chip I know you really want to
come to the meeting but I think you’re going to have to go with Phoenix and
also make my apologies.”
“Yes, that’s pretty much
what I figured.” Chip had decided that
he wasn’t going to mention that Phoenix wasn’t all that eager to have Harry
along anyway.
Harry took a guess, “I
take it that I won’t be missed all that much by the young lady concerned.”
Chip blushed and tried
to think of a tactful response.
“Never mind Chip, I was
young once. I’ll fill you in on the
meeting when you get back.”
“Thank you Harry, I’ll
try not to be too late.”
“Nonsense, we aren’t
here for much longer, make the most of it Chip, try not to worry about Lee,
whatever the problem is I’ll take care of it.
And when we get back home, I’m going to take care of that other little
problem once and for all as well.”
Chip knew Harry was
referring to Admiral Jones. He would
still have liked to be at the meeting but it was with a lighter heart that he
called Phoenix and agreed to a night out, sans Harry.
*****
Once the horses were
taken care of Lee and Stephen headed back to their room. They could have left earlier, letting the
stable hands bed the horses down, but Lee had a thing about horses, and if he
rode one then he saw to its care afterwards.
He expected Stephen to do the same.
“Any plans for the rest
of the night Lee?”
“Not really, we have the
show to do tomorrow then we’re out of here.
Thought I’d hit the rack early.
What about you? You haven’t said
much since I sort of pummelled you into the ground, you ok?”
“Pummelled me into the
ground! As if! I was just letting you burn off some of that
anger inside you. I’m sure I’ll be able
to use my arm again....some day.”
“You want me to get the in-house
Doctor?”
“No I don’t. The arm will be ok by tomorrow, you however
have some issues that need sorting. No
way you’re leaving NIMR and going full-time with ONI...”
Stephen would have
continued but Lee stopped him.
“Leave it alone. There is no way Nelson is going to want me
around, he won’t be able to stand the sight of me.”
“You’re way
overreacting; he can’t be that big a prude that a little male dancing is going
to freak him out so much that he would fire you.”
“I said LEAVE IT
ALONE. I’m not discussing it. Either go out or go to bed.” Lee stomped into the bathroom and slammed the
door.
Stephen had hated
baiting Lee, but he had to meet with Admiral Nelson and if he’d just said he
was going out Lee would want to know where and why and maybe tag along. This way Lee was happy just to be rid of him.
*****
Caitlin was feeling like
a real heel. Damn, how was I suppose to know that brother dearest would be
there. Damnation and hellfire, what is
Harry doing in Vegas let alone at the show last night?
From pictures she’d seen
at Harry’s place she was pretty sure the blond guy was Lee’s friend Chip, who
also happened to be his XO on the Seaview.
Double damn, as if Lee wouldn’t be
mad enough that I was the one who set the stage, so to speak, he gets caught by
his boss and his best friend. To top it
off I get caught in a very public
place, by my brother, with my hand wrapped around Lee’s cock. She smirked a bit at the
memory. Lee sure didn’t see that coming.
I have to talk to Lee, it won’t be that big a risk if I do it right.
Lee was just exiting the
bathroom when there was knock at the door.
He could see that Stephen had left.
“Whoever you are go
away.”
Ya,
he’s pissed.
“Sorry sir, it’s room
service I need to deliver your order.”
Weird,
I didn`t order anything. Maybe Stephen
called for something for me. Like I`m in
the mood to eat.
“Take whatever it is
back, if you can’t do that then leave it by the door.”
Great,
this couldn’t be easy could it! I’m
going to get caught out here in a minute if he doesn’t open the door.
“I’m sorry sir but I
have to bring it in, hotel policy, I can’t leave anything in the hallway.”
Lee was not in the mood
for this. “Then take it back.”
OK,
we’re doing this the hard way. Caitlin
reached into her pocket and pulled out a slim black box, she placed it against
the card reader in the door and hit a couple of buttons. It could sometimes take a minute or two for
it to find the right frequency and she had a feeling that her time was running
out. She could hear a door opening down
the corridor and voices. Just when she
thought she was going to have to come back later the light flashed green on the
door. She turned the handle and went in.
“What the hell, I told
you to take it back! Get out!” Lee barked at the dark haired woman in a hotel
uniform that had just come into his room unbidden.
Caitlin had been closing
the door and now turned to find Lee standing there with only a towel wrapped
around his waist.
The woman ignored his
demand for her to leave and put the tray she had carried in down on one of the
tables.
Lee looked closer at her
and swore, none to quietly, using one of the saltier words he knew but rarely
used. He didn’t say anything more, just
glared at her.
Hell
Nelson would wash my mouth out with soap for that one. Not that I have to worry about ever seeing
him again. Let’s see in the space of a
month, I’ve been drunk and disorderly and engaged in conduct that is unbecoming
an officer and a gentleman, not just by myself but with his sister in a public
venue. Ya, like he wants to ever set
eyes on me again.
Caitlin watched the play
of emotions across Lee’s face, saw the pain in his eyes.
“Lee I didn’t know Harry
would be there. I wouldn’t have done
that to you, or me for that matter.”
Lee really didn’t want
to hear anything she had to say but it was quite apparent that she wasn’t going
to leave until she said what she had come to say.
“Mind if I change into
some pants or should I just drop the towel so you can ‘play’ some more?” he snarled at her.
Shit
Lee don`t tempt me.
“Go ahead and pull on
some pants, I’ll try and control myself,” she answered.
Lee grabbed underwear
and his jeans and went back into the bathroom.
Caitlin pulled off the
black wig and fluffed her hair out. That feels better, I hate wigs but they do
have their uses.
When Lee came back out
Caitlin thought he looked drop dead sexy with bare torso, black jeans and bare
feet. His hair was damp from his shower
and being longer than usual was a delightful snarl of long black curls. Get a
grip girl, you’re not here for sex...yet.
She had noticed when he had headed to the bathroom to change that there
appeared a long bruise developing on his back, she wondered what had happened
but decided that now wasn’t the time to ask.
“Say what you came to
say and get out.” There were things Lee
would have liked to ask her but he was to mad at himself right now to go there.
“Like I said Lee, it
wasn’t in my plans to have Harry there, or Chip, that was Chip right? I’ve never met him but I’ve seen his
picture.”
“Yes that was Chip, my
former best friend.” Lee could practically
hear Chip yelling at him: Hell Lee is there nothing you won’t do if
ONI tells you to? The Admiral couldn’t
believe it and neither could I. That
was without Chip even knowing that Caitlin was the Admiral’s sister.
“Just tell me one thing
Edith, Caitlin or Caleigh, or whatever.
If you can be here now why the hell couldn’t you just give me the chip
now, why the whole ‘setup’? Do you have
something against me?”
No,
but I’d like to! Damn the man.
“Lee I shouldn’t be here
now, it’s dangerous. You know I can’t
tell you everything but the mission brief would have told you that I’m a NSA
agent. Harry doesn’t know, well at least
he didn’t until tonight, I’m not sure what he may have figured out.”
Lee would have
interrupted her but she held up her hand.
“Let me finish Lee. I will take full blame for the parameters of
the drop; I requested you and the manner of passing the intel.”
Lee tried to interrupt
again.
“No, let me get it all
out, then you can tell me what you think of me.
I don’t go anywhere near ONI offices or anything military, my cover
would be totally blown if there appeared to be any connection. Haven’t you ever wondered why no one other
that you has ever met me? Sure the
people at NIMR know my name, but only you and Harry’s assistance have ever seen
me. I always use Harry’s private
entrance. To the world I’m just a
flighty, spoiled rich girl who travels around the world. Yes I could have done our drop differently
but I have what Harry sometimes calls a ‘whimsical’ side when he’s being kind. I thought it would be a lot of fun and....oh
hell that isn’t totally true. Truth be
told I wanted to see you as naked as possible.
Lee I’ve been trying to get you to ask me out, since we first met. I sent every signal I knew that I was more
than a little interested in you. You
ignored me and I don’t think it’s because you find me unattractive. I think you are ‘interested’ too.” That wasn’t the speech she had planned on but
there it was, out in the open.
Lee was stunned for the
third time that night. Whoa, this isn’t what I was expecting!
“So you decided that
having me join an all-male revue in Vegas was the best way to get me to stop
ignoring you?”
“Well put like that it
doesn’t sound like so bright an idea, but look at it from my point of
view. I’m out of the country a lot, the
little I’m here I can’t get anywhere with you.
Most of the time you’re off on Seaview anyway and when I do manage to
get a dinner with you, it’s with Harry as well.
It’s extremely frustrating!”
“Geesh Caitlin, he’s my
boss, or he was and he’s an Admiral. I have a great deal of respect for him,
there`s no way I`m going to pursue his sister no matter how attracted to you I
might be.”
Well
that was something, he didn’t say he wasn’t attracted to me, actually he
implied he was. What concerned her now
was the past tense Lee had used about Harry being his boss.
“Lee what do you mean
‘was your boss’? Did Harry track you
down and fire you?”
“No, I saved him the
effort.”
“How?”
“Never mind.”
“Lee Crane you will not
leave this room until you tell me what you’ve done!”
“It’s my room, you’re
the one leaving.” How on earth did this conversation get started!
“Just try and make me
leave and I’ll dislocate every joint in your body.”
She
looks like she could too, look at those incredible green eyes spark.
True to her titian hair
and like her brother, Caitlin had a very short fuse to her temper, it had just about
run out. She marched up to Lee and poked
him in the chest, “Give, what have you done?”
None
of your business lady. “Out” Lee barked. The next thing he knew he was sailing through
the air and had landed on his bed with Caitlin straddling him at the hips and
her hands firmly planted on his shoulders.
What
is it with women tossing me around!
He was noticing a whole
lot of things he shouldn’t, blazing green eyes, her deep breathing moving her
breasts up and down, every spot where her body connected with his tingled.
OK,
no more Mr Nice Guy. Lee moved like the well trained agent he was
and before Caitlin knew what had happened he had flipped her over and now
pinned her to the bed. He used all of
his body to pin her, laying flat on top of her, his legs wrapped around hers
holding them captive, his hands held her arms slightly above her head, his naked chest rested firmly on her.
This
is sooo not a better position, Lee thought. His face was too close to hers, he should
pull back, but her beautiful eyes held him, her soft lips were slightly parted,
inviting him to come exploring. He felt
heat building in his groin, saw in her eyes that she felt it to. Damn
you Lee Crane, with everything you’ve done to the Admiral you are not going to
top it off by having sex with his sister.
Lee released Caitlin’s arms so he could to push himself up but she
looped her arms behind his head and closed that small distance between their
lips.
The kiss was deep,
passionate everything he could have wished for and it was followed by another
and another. His right hand now cupped
the back of her head, feeling the silky softness of her hair, his left stroked
down her body, over her hip and grasped the back of her thigh, urging her leg
up and over his hip. His body started to
rhythmically move against hers, she squirmed beneath him and he felt the hand
that had been stroking his back move down to the front of his jeans, undoing
the snap and pulling at the zipper. Oh
he wanted her, wanted her bad, but not this way.
With all the willpower
he possessed he stilled his body, moved his hand to capture hers and bring it
back up and then he buried his head face down in the pillow with a groan.
“Lee, Lee what’s wrong?”
“I don’t want it to be
like this Caitlin. Please
understand. I don’t want you to be a one
night romp in Vegas. I want more than
that for us. I want to get to know you
first, I’m hoping you feel that way too.
Either way I can’t let this happen tonight.”
Caitlin took a steadying
breath. She hadn’t really thought beyond
her instant and strong attraction to Lee.
Whatever time they’d had together she’d spent it trying to seduce him,
Harry be damned. Of course Lee had been
all proper gentleman in and out of Harry’s sight. Is it
just the challenge I’m interested in?
No, it’s more than that, it’s always been more than that. No matter where I am I think of him, can see
every curve of his face, the twinkle in his hazel eyes when he teases and the
fire when he’s mad, his beautiful hands, his gentle way. Is this love or infatuation? I feel so connected to him, I’ve never felt
this way about anyone else.
Lee had raised his head
and was watching Caitlin, waiting for her response. Questions came and went in her eyes, finally
they focused back on him and he held his breath.
“I can wait Lee, I want
to know you too, everything about you, every detail no matter how small. I want to learn all about Lee Crane the
person, then we can continue with Lee Crane the sexy body. I want to learn every detail about that too.”
Lee laughed, “You have a
one track mind lovely lady.” He moved
gracefully off her and the bed and then pulled her up beside him and gave her a
not so chaste kiss.
“Yum, do that again and
I’ll just move right along to learning the body first and the man second. We do get to neck while learning about each
other, right?”
Lee mock sighed, “Like I
said, one track mind. And yes, we do,
most definitely.”
“Speaking of my ‘one
track mind’. How about starting to get
to know you by telling me why you think Harry isn’t your boss anymore.”
Lee told her what he had
done.
“Oh lordy, I feel like
Titania.”
“That another of your
cover names?”
“No my darling, think
Shakespeare.”
Lee thought for a
moment, then the penny dropped, “Ok, you may be as beautiful as a Fairy Queen
but I do not have the head of an ass.”
“Wanna bet.”
Lee sighed for real this
time. Oh ya, we’re going to have fun learning about each other, if we survive
the experience.
Caitlin continued, “Why
does it never occur to men to talk things over before doing something stupid.”
“Do you really
want to talk to Harry right now?”
“Nope, he needs a little
time to simmer down, must say that his reaction seems a little extreme to
me. Of course of the two of us he is the
one with the temper.”
Lee snorted upon hearing
that piece of intel. “Hadn’t noticed
that to be the case.”
Caitlin sent him a
glare.
They talked for a while longer;
it was going to be a sticky mess to sort out.
If Harry hadn’t figured out that Caitlin was an agent then she didn’t
want him knowing, which didn’t really give them a way to explain to Harry why
she was on stage with Lee. Lee thought
his call to reactivate himself to regular duty was still the right thing to
have done. The look on Harry’s face had
said it all; Lee was history. That’s
where they left it when Caitlin finally departed, after a long goodnight kiss.
Lee had no idea how his
relationship with Caitlin would work out, Nelson certainly wasn’t going to
approve of it, especially now. Rather
than A Midsummer Night’s Dream Lee
felt more like they were in Romeo and
Juliet:
"Romeo is banished,
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,
In that word's death. No words can that
woe sound."
"For never was a story of
more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."
To the north, another
meeting was taking place.
*****
Stephen saw Harry
standing at the booth watching the Gondola’s pass by. He didn’t know it but it brought back
memories for Harry, of a time when he’d thought Lee might be dead and the ache
in his heart that thought had brought12.
Stephen noted the look
of sadness that briefly crossed the Admiral’s face. Oh boy,
maybe Lee is right, the old man doesn’t want him around anymore. Stephen approached and held out his hand,
“Sir, good to see you again. Thank you
for coming.”
Harry looked out at the
Gondolas again. “Nice place, what say we
take a stroll while you tell me what’s on your mind.”
The two started off
along the walkway, it was late but in Vegas there are always people out,
nothing ever closes and night time was especially dramatic with all the lights
and music.
Now that he was with
Nelson, Stephen didn’t know quite how to begin.
“You don’t seem to be
saying anything Stephen.”
“Not sure where to
start.”
“At the beginning always
seems to work. Let me help you out, what
I know is that Lee did not want this assignment. In fact he tried to refuse it but pressure
was brought to bear, sufficient pressure that he felt he had no choice but to
take it on.”
“That’s essentially
correct. Although it wasn’t the
assignment that was the issue but the cover.”
At that Harry gave a
loud snort, “I’d say more the lack of cover.”
“Ah, yes Sir. Even though Lee took the assignment, and
completed it successfully things seem to have worked out the way Jones
wanted.”
They came to a bridge
and Harry stopped in the middle and leaned against the railing.
“Could you be a bit more
specific? It was my understanding that
things remained status quo as long as Lee did as Jones ordered him.”
“I’m afraid I’m to blame
for what Lee’s done.” Stephen stopped
not sure that the middle of a bridge was the safest place to be having this
conversation.
Nelson looked down at
his hands, waiting for Stephen to continue, he had a feeling he was very much
not going to like what he was about to hear.
“I was sort of ticked
about something Lee had done back in D.C.
Among the guys we often play pranks on each other, of course we know
that there will be payback, that’s half the fun.”
“I’m familiar with the
‘game’. Lee and Chip have been known to
indulge in it.”
“I saw you in the crowd
at the show. I’m the one who arranged to
have your table lit up when Lee did his solo.
He didn’t know you were there. I
sure as hell didn’t expect you to be so mad at him and I didn’t expect him to
come unglued the way he did. Why that
woman did what she did I can’t go into but it wasn’t any of Lee’s doing.”
“I see, so Lee’s upset
about my possible reaction. I’ll have a
talk with him when he gets back to Seaview, about a couple of things. At first I was going to track him down here
but I think it’s probably better handled after we get back.”
“Well that’s the problem
Sir, Lee isn’t going back to Seaview.”
With that Nelson’s head
snapped up and his eyes nailed Stephen to the spot.
Stephen took a breath
and continued, “When we got back to our room he contacted ONI about ‘something’
and also asked that he be reinstated to active status in the Navy and assigned
permanently to ONI. I asked him what on
earth he was doing but he said that you wouldn’t want him anymore, wouldn’t be
able to stand the sight of him and probably had his pink slip written out as
soon as you got back to your room. I
have to admit that the expression on your face at the time was pretty much
giving that impression.”
Looking at the storm
clouds gathering across the Admiral’s face, Stephen was wondering how many more
minutes before he found himself tossed off the bridge into the water.
Harry was furious all
right, but not at Stephen or Lee or even Caitlin. There was one man at whose feet this mess
lay, and Harry planned to have his head for it.
This was an absolute abuse of his position at ONI and Harry would not
tolerate it. He had fought off and on
with Jones about Lee but until now Jones had played by the rules, sort of. As far as Harry was concerned the gloves were
now off. How the hell Jones got Caitlin
involved Harry had no idea, but he’d find out and no way, as long as Harry drew
breath, would Lee ever be forced or tricked into joining ONI. As for leaving NIMR, he’d straighten the
young man out about that in no uncertain terms.
Harry suddenly turned
toward Stephen, and although he tried not to, Stephen couldn’t help but jump
back a bit.
Nelson raised his
formidable eyebrows, “a little nervous are you?”
“Reflexive response to
sudden movement, Sir.”
“Uh huh.” Nelson chuckled. Wouldn’t
Jigg’s love this. He has to holler and
bully them, all I have to do is look at them and they jump.
“When do you and Lee
leave Vegas?”
“We’re supposed to do
one more show tomorrow then fly out.
George, the manager, has been trying to get us to sign on with the
troupe. Of course we can’t but it has
been fun. Once Lee got over being so
damn tight assed about things he really cut loose....” Stephen paused, realizing that this might not
have been the best thing to say to the Admiral, he still wasn’t sure what
Nelson thought about it all.
“I see, so he enjoyed
himself some did he?”
Stephen saw the smile
that Nelson was trying to hold back.
“I’d say so Sir, up
until last night anyway. You should get
him to tell you some of the things that happened while we were being trained
for this.” Stephen couldn’t hold back a
laugh as he thought of Yvonne dumping Lee on his butt and stripping off his
pants. “That is Sir, assuming you’re still
talking to him and still want him at NIMR.”
“I still want him
Stephen. As I told Chip recently, I may
be old but I remember what it was like to be young. I imagine it’s a bit of an ego boost having
all the ladies drooling over you.”
“It sure appealed to me
Sir, but I think Lee tried to look at it as more of an, ah, ‘artistic’ experience.”
“Hummrph. You both have excellent physiques and the
human body is a beautiful thing. Granted
I saw more of my Captain’s that I ever expected too. Did you know that the competitors in the
ancient Olympics are thought to have competed naked and to have used olive oil
to enhance their appearance?”
Well
Lee’s old man doesn’t seem to be having much of an issue with this, so why was
he so pissed at the show? I’m not opening
that sardine can, he seems in a good mood right now, I think I’d like to keep
it that way.
“That’s very
interesting. You might want to mention
that to Lee, ah, sometime soon.”
Nelson got Stephen’s hint,
talk to Lee sooner rather than later. He
wanted that as well, knowing Lee was probably beating himself up pretty good
about something that he wasn’t responsible for.
“Would it be a problem
for your cover if I came back with you and talked to Lee now?”
“Nah, this wasn’t what
you’d call a really top secret mission.
At this hour I don’t think anyone would notice you, and no one is
looking for us anyway. Sort of odd why
the drop had to be this way, I don’t really understand it but I don’t have
to. As Jones likes to tell us, ‘shut up
and do what I tell you.’”
Another storm cloud
passed over Nelson’s face. Stephen
figured things might soon get interesting in Jones’ office.
He and the Admiral
headed to the Excalibur, it was late, but Stephen didn’t figure Lee would be
getting any sleep, to busy brooding.
“Hey Lee, I brought you
some company,” Stephen announced as he came through the door. There was no response, “Lee where are you
at?”
There wasn’t any place
to be other than the bathroom and the door was open and the light off.
“Huh, wonder where he’s
gotten too.” Stephen spotted a sheet of
paper on his bed. I’ve got a bad feeling about this. He picked it up and began reading aloud.
Stephen,
sorry buddy but I decided to head out tonight, give my regrets to the guys, I
know you can make something up. I’ve got
the ‘package’, I’ll drop it off then head to Santa Barbara to clear out my
stuff. Figured it would be quicker and
easier to do while the Admiral and Chip are
in Vegas.
I made a couple of calls and found out that they are going to be here
for 2 more days. Catch ya later
- Lee
“Admiral have you ever
noticed that Lee does the damnest things?”
“It has been remarked on
upon occasion,” Nelson replied with a
sigh. “Whatever you don’t want him to do
or wherever you don’t want him to be...odds are...”
Nelson pulled out his
cell and punched a couple of buttons.
Within a few minutes he had a private jet ready to fly him to Santa
Barbara.
“Chip won’t like it much
but he’ll need to stay here and monitor the Shark Reef for another 2 days at
least.” Nelson’s brow furrowed, “I
wonder why Lee is heading to D.C. first and then to Santa Barbara, seems an odd
choice given how close Vegas is to Santa Barbara.”
“No brainer there, after
a ‘pickup’ whichever agent leaves a completed assignment first is responsible
for getting the ‘package’ home asap.
Jones would have Lee’s liver for breakfast if he headed to Santa Barbara
first. Knowing Lee he won’t waste time,
he’ll arrange things so that he’s in and out of D.C. and on his way again in
the least possible amount of time.”
“Well no matter how fast
he does it, I’ll be there well before him.”
Nelson had thought about heading to D.C. himself and having it out with
Jones but he didn’t want to risk missing Lee.
He figured his best plan would be to get back to NIMR and park himself
on Seaview. He’d wait there for Lee to
show up. He’d take care of Jones after
that. He bid Stephen good luck with his
last show and left for Mandalay Bay.
*****
Harry wasn’t sure if
Chip would already be back and perhaps in bed but this couldn’t wait. He knocked on Chip’s door, no answer. He went to his own room and hastily scribbled
a note on hotel stationary then went back and slipped it under Chips door:
Need
to talk to you as soon as you get in, Harry.
Returning to his room he
stretched out on his bed, just for a minute, and promptly fell into a fitful
sleep. It was pushing 0400 when he was
awakened by a knock on his door. He was
thankful on two counts, one that Chip was finally back and two, that he had
interrupted a most unpleasant dream.
“Lee,
Lee, son please don’t leave me,” Harry begged as he cradled Lee’s blood soaked
body close to him. Overhead Jones leered
down at him, “He’s mine Nelson, mine” and he reached down to roughly pull Lee
out of Nelson’s arms. “No no leave him
alone,” Harry wailed, “he needs a doctor, he needs Jamie.” “Don’t you worry, I’ll get him patched up and
out on another mission in no time,” Jones’ laughter sounded like a bad track
from an old horror movie, “muahahaha” echoed all around Harry as
Jones dragged Lee from him and across the floor, leaving a trail of blood. “No No you can’t, I won’t let you,” Harry
cried out as he followed after Lee’s body, crawling on his hands and knees, slipping
in the blood trail. He caught a glimpse
of Lee as darkness started to swallow Lee and Jones. Lee raised his head and looked towards him, stretched
out his arm to him and Harry was sure he heard Lee whisper “Father” before he
disappeared into the roiling black clouds.
How often Harry had wished that was the truth, only once before had Lee
ever addressed him as ‘Father’. It had
been out on a god-forsaken frozen tundra plain when they were huddled together
for warmth. Harry wasn’t sure Lee knew
what he was saying or remembered having said it, Harry had never brought it up
but he would never, ever, forget it and the way he’d felt hearing that one word
from Lee’s lips addressed to him.
Chip knocked again, louder this
time.
Harry lurched out of the bed,
stumbled to the door and pulled it open.
Chip was taken aback, Geesh he
looks awful, whatever happened when he talked to Stephen it doesn’t look
good! Damn ONI, any time Lee gets
involved with them it’s a royal mess.
“Chip, come in,” Harry mumbled,
still trying to get control of his racing heart.
Chip entered the room, went
straight to Harry’s fridge and took out a cold bottle of water, he turned and
handed it to Harry. “No offence but you
really look like you could use this.”
What I could use is a good stiff drink,
but Chip’s idea is probably better.
Harry took the bottle, twisted
off the cap and downed half of it.
Chip wasn’t sure if he should ask
how the meeting with Stephen went or wait for Harry to say something. He didn’t have long to ponder the question.
“Chip I have to head back to
Santa Barbara right away. Lee’s already
left Las Vegas but he’s headed to D.C. first then NIMR. He plans to pack his stuff and be gone before
we’re back there.”
“I can be packed in 10 minutes
Sir.” Chip headed for the door.
“Chip I need you to stay here, at
least until tomorrow night to monitor the Aquarium.”
“Why? We found the problem, the water is already
starting to clear. They don’t need
either one of us now.”
There was no way Chip wanted to
be left behind, what if the Admiral couldn’t stop Lee from leaving. If I have to I’ll hogtie Lee and lock him
in his cabin until the Admiral and I can pound some sense into him. If it comes down to it I have pictures of Lee
on stage, I’ll threaten to release them to the press. NIMR Captain of Seaview in a T-bar, bet they would
get a wide distribution and Lee’s undercover work with ONI would go up in
smoke. Come to think of it I might just
do it anyway. I might have to kiss my
position with NIMR goodbye, and reservist or not, likely the Navy will give me the
boot, but at least Lee wouldn’t be sent on any more missions.
Harry wasn’t sure what Chip was
thinking, but he spotted a determination in his expression. I might know for sure what he’s thinking but
I can hear the gears turning.
“Chip I know things are looking
better at the Reef but one of us needs to be here to make sure no other problem
turns up. I’ll have a private jet on
standby for you at the airport, it will be at least a day before Lee can get to
NIMR, likely longer. Even leaving
tomorrow night, you might still get to NIMR before Lee does.
“Is that an order, Sir?”
“Does it have to be Chip?”
Chip sighed, “No, of course not.”
Harry was pulling out his
suitcase as he talked to Chip. “You need
to get a couple of hours sleep and I need to get going. I’ve left a message with Brad’s phone service
that I was called back for an emergency at the institute. You can make up anything you like if you need
to.”
“Harry...”
Nelson didn’t need to hear the
words, for once he did know what Chip was thinking. “Chip you know I’ll do everything within my
power and then some to make sure that Lee stays right where he belongs. Then I’m going to see to it that we don’t
ever have to deal with this type of thing again.”
From Nelson’s expression and the
bite in his last words Chip was glad he wasn’t going to be the one having a
visit from Admiral Nelson after the he got Lee safely squared away at home!
*****
Lee squirmed in his seat, he’d be
landing in Memphis soon and he’d be able to stretch his legs for an hour or so
until his connecting flight left. Even
with the stopover, he’d considered himself lucky to get a seat on the Delta
flight out of Vegas for D.C. at 0150. He
felt even luckier that it had been late leaving or he would have missed it and
then would have had to wait for a later flight.
He was drop dead tired, he felt
like he hadn’t slept in days. He had
hoped to catch a few z’s during the flight but his mind wouldn’t shut down. He felt vaguely guilty for cutting out on
Stephen, but the mission was done and he just couldn’t see getting on the stage
again. What if the Admiral and Chip
came back again! I’d be seeing them at
every table even if they weren’t there.
What a mess!
He ran his hand through his hair
and heaved a sigh.
The flight attendant stopped
beside him. “Excuse me sir, we’ll be landing shortly, would you like something
to drink before we do?” The poor man
looks so tired and unhappy.
Lee asked for some water and the
attendant brought him a ‘complimentary’ bottle.
He was pretty sure there was no such thing these days on the airlines
and he appreciated her kindness. Guess
I look a wreck. He quickly downed
the entire contents, he hadn’t realized how thirsty he was. He decided to use the facilities before landing. The tiny mirror confirmed his earlier suspicion
about how he looked. He rubbed his hand
over the stubble on his face and his bleary eyes observed the dark circles
under them, his hair, which he usually kept well groomed even when longer was
running wild, a tangled mess of curls. Guess
I’ll get a shave and haircut in
Memphis. He had been through many
airports in his life and Memphis was one of the few where he’d noticed a barber
shop. Called America’s Aerotropolis,
there wasn’t much you couldn’t find there.
Lee had no sooner regained his
seat than he heard the announcement that they were on final approach for
Memphis International. Lee buckled up, first
leg of his journey down, only three more to go and he’d be in Santa Barbara,
for perhaps the last time in his life.
*****
Admiral Nelson fidgeted in his
seat onboard the private jet. It wasn’t
for lack of legroom, he had lots of that, what he didn’t have yet was a plan on
how to deal with Lee.
Blasted stubborn, pigheaded, overachiever. Why can’t he be content with his command of
Seaview and his role at the institute?
Why does he have to personally save the world for ONI whenever they
beckon? Why the hell do I let him?
Harry knew the answers to the
questions. He knew that Lee loved Seaview,
NIMR and he dared hope, one Admiral Harriman Nelson. He also knew that Lee would never turn away
from a request to serve his country, regardless of the manner or the
danger. Yes, Lee had come close to
refusing a mission this time, but ultimately he had gone. Harry still couldn’t quite fathom why Jones
insisted that Lee take the mission. As
far as Harry could tell any agent could have done it, it did not require any of
the special skills that Lee possessed. Guess
we can add one more to that list.
Harry smiled to himself, after the initial surprise when he’d recognized
Lee he had quite enjoyed the show, up until his sister’s little stunt. Hell if she wants in his pants that badly
why doesn’t she just tell him and get it over with. Harry thought he knew the answer to that one
too, Lee would not touch Edith, she was the Admiral’s sister. Edith obviously did not consider the reverse
to be true, hands off Lee he’s Harry’s Captain.
Just as stubborn and pigheaded as Lee. She always has been a handful, drove Mom and
Dad crazy. She was a surprise right from
the start, conceived well past when they had thought I would be their only
child. Flits all around the world doing
lord only knows what. He was still
puzzled as to how Edith ended up at the show, she hadn’t called him to say she
was back in the States, he’d thought she was still in Morocco. Edith, my wayward sister, I’ll be talking
to you soon.
The co-pilot exited the cockpit
and came to speak to the Admiral. “Sir
we’ll be landing soon, please fasten your seatbelt, stow any gear you have out,
well you know the drill Sir.”
The Admiral nodded and fastened his
belt.
*****
Chip arrived at the Aquarium
earlier than expected. He hadn’t been
able to sleep so had spent the time packing and worrying. He realized that even if he had left with the
Admiral that Harry would have wanted to see Lee alone first. Hmmm, guess it’s back to ‘Sir’ or
‘Admiral’ for me again. Just when I was
starting to get used to calling him Harry, NOT!
He thought about his evening with
Phoenix. He had had a good time, a very
good time in fact, even with the ‘Lee disaster’ in the back of his mind. Nothing like a little cuddling and smooching
to take your mind off of other things, of course at that point he hadn’t known
that Lee had ‘done a runner’ on them.
He’d figured the Admiral would have things sorted out by the time he got
back from his date and he could then razz Lee unmercifully. Now I’m stuck here watching water, almost
as much fun as counting seals.
“Good morning Chip.” A happy Brad greeted him. “What have you done with Harry, his phone
message didn’t give much detail.”
“I’m afraid he sends his regrets,
he had an emergency back at NIMR and flew out early this morning.”
“Nothing to terrible I hope.”
“Me too. I’ll finish monitoring things here, then I’ll
be flying out tomorrow night.”
“Phoenix will be disappointed to
hear that, she quite enjoyed herself last night.”
OK, so how much did she share with her
father about what last night?
Chip flushed slightly, “Uh, ya, I
quite enjoyed myself as well. Better get
to reviewing the stats on the water quality.”
“Excellent, really appreciate all
the help from yourself and Harry. Things
are looking much better.”
He watched as Chip headed
off. Phoenix hadn’t shared any
particulars of her date with Chip but given Chip’s blush and his daughter’s
smug look this morning when she informed him that Chip was definitely
interested in the opposite sex, he didn’t have to apply much imagination to
figure out how she came to her conclusion.
*****
Harry’s flight from Vegas to
Santa Barbara made good time. The
Institute had a car waiting for him when he landed. In slightly less than 2 hours from the time
he’d left Vegas he was back at NIMR.
He knew there was no possible way
for Lee to have arrived at NIMR yet, nonetheless he made his first stop Lee’s
office, to assure himself that Lee’s personal items were still there. Then he went to his own office and quickly
sorted through his IN box looking for any paperwork related to releasing Lee
from NIMR, nothing. It was too early for
his admin assistant to be in so he went through the items on her desk. Bingo, something from SECNAV, they want
confirmation that Commander Lee Crane has been released from NIMR. Bloody paper pushers take months to
respond to our requests for the simplest things but this they can push through
in less than 24 hours! He noticed
that while it was SECNAV who sent the request, the response was to be sent to
an ONI number. Appears Jones is
trying to cut some corners. I’d bet the
Institute that with or without confirmation he’s going to send Lee out of the
country asap. Over my...no let’s make
that Jones’, dead body.
Nelson called the gate and told
the guards on duty to note that he wanted to be alerted when Captain Crane
arrived, likely some time tomorrow. “No,
don’t tell him I’m looking for him, don’t mention me at all, just let me know when
he gets here.”
He then placed a similar call to
Seaview, granted there would only be a skeleton crew there but there were lots
of security guards. Lee had seen to
that. He had felt that security was
lacking when he took on his first mission with Nelson. He’d been able to get past the boat’s
security and board her before being caught.
Since then there had been other times when NIMR and boat security had
been breached and each time Lee had come up with ways to tighten things
up. Theoretically, it shouldn’t be
possible for anyone to get on the grounds let alone onto the boat without being
seen. I suppose it’s possible that
Lee won’t want to be seen. If anyone can
get in here on the QT it will be Lee, he knows the security measures inside and
out, and he’s damn slippery when he wants to be.
Harry decided that the best place
to lay in wait for his wandering Captain would be Lee’s cabin.
*****
Lee’s plane touched down in D.C.
and he made straight for ONI. The
sooner I drop the damn package off the sooner I can be on my next flight.
While he had gotten a shave and a
haircut on his layover, he still felt like crap, and looked it. This wasn’t taken as unusual by anyone he
passed in the corridors of ONI, they were used to agents arriving looking like
something a cat wouldn’t bother dragging in.
These weren’t the main corridors of course. Agents had their own routes in the building to
get where they needed to be, wouldn’t want to scare any visitors that might be
around. He arrived at the drop-off
office and when he handed in his package and gave his ID he was informed that
he was to go directly to Admiral Jones’ office, now.
Aren’t I just the freaking luckiest agent
on the planet!
Lee went up the back way and into
the reception area, no one was around.
“Get in here Crane.” He heard Jones bellow. No secret how he knows I’m here, they
would have called up to tell him I was on my way and he probably watched me
come up on the surveillance cams.
“You’re back early Crane, problem
I should know about?”
“No Sir, there was just no reason
for both of us to stick around, Stephen stayed, he’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Fine, I’ve got your next
assignment ready, you’re out of here tomorrow night for the Mideast, you’ll be
going undercover as a mercenary with connections to a gunrunner, specifics are
in the file. You’ll be there for a few
days before making contact to give you time to get scruffy.”
He really only needs longer hair and to
stop shaving, he already looks like death warmed over otherwise.
“Yes Sir, but could we make
departure from here in two days. I
didn’t expect my paperwork to be through yet.
I need to go to Santa Barbara to collect my things and arrange for Vanora13
to be taken care of.”
If I’m reactivated and with ONI this fast
Admiral Nelson must have pulled some big strings. I’m sure ONI would have done its part to get
me. It hurt to
think that Nelson had dumped him this quickly.
Guess he wanted me as far away as possible as soon as possible.
Jones was speaking to him, “Don’t
worry about your stuff, we’ll handle getting it sent out here and put in
storage until you’re back.”
“Yes Sir.” Lee wasn’t about to tell Jones that he was
going to NIMR anyway, even if he didn’t have time to do anything else he wanted
to take one last walk through Seaview, to say goodbye to her. He’d read the mission briefing on the flight,
sneak onto Seaview for a farewell walkabout and then fly right back out again
in time to connect up with his flight to the Mideast. He’d get whatever sleep he could along the
way. He wouldn’t need to pack anything
for the mission, whatever he needed would be waiting for him when he landed at
his assignment.
*****
Jones watched Crane leave. Almost hated doing that to him. I did rather mislead him a bit, the paperwork
isn’t done yet, but what can Nelson do about it. Crane himself requested that he be
reactivated and assigned to ONI. Wonder
what actually happened in Vegas? I
thought I’d lost when Crane went through with the training and headed down
there. I only maneuvered Nelson down
there on the slim chance that he’d see Crane and fire him. OK, admit it Jones, you didn’t really expect
Nelson to fire Crane, you were just hoping to stick it to the old fart because
he won’t give Crane to you. Maybe
Stephen can fill me in on how things managed to go so right for me.
*****
Lee jerked awake when he felt a
hand on his shoulder.
A flight attendant was standing
beside him, “We will be landing shortly sir, please fasten your seat belt, keep
your tray locked in the upright position and make sure any personal items are in
a bag under the seat in front of you.”
Lee nodded and secured himself,
he didn’t have anything with him other than his wallet and a black jean jacket,
somewhat faded and with frayed and worn cuffs.
He’d taken a quick shower at ONI, changed into a lightweight black
pullover, black jeans, grabbed the jacket and headed out.
It didn’t take long to get from
the airport to the grounds of NIMR. Now
the fun part, getting past my own security.
I’m sure the Admiral must have alerted everyone that I’m ‘Persona non
grata’.
He parked his rental car several
blocks away and on foot approached the15 foot fencing, far to the left of the
guard station. He knew there were
surveillance cameras monitoring the fence and that inside the fenced area, for
a 10-foot radius there were motion detectors.
So the problem was how to get over the fence without being seen and land
at least 10 feet into the complex.
Lee had stopped a couple of times
on his way to the Institute and picked up a few things. There was a very tall Redwood tree a few
feet back from the fence surrounding NIMR.
He needed to get up it about 150 feet.
The nearest branch to the ground was approximately 20 feet up. He pulled a medium weight knotted line with a
grappling hook attached to its end, out of the large black canvas bag resting
on the ground at his feet. He swung it
experimentally and then flung it up towards the first good sized branch. Giving it a firm tug it slipped off, his
second attempt caught solidly. He hooked
the bag over his right shoulder and pulled himself up the tree to the branch,
after that it was just a matter of climbing the tree. He
was soon were he wanted to be, he hoped.
Lee had wondered, when he’d last reviewed the security
measures in place, about the wisdom of leaving the tree standing but Chip and
convinced him that someone would have to be totally insane to try and get onto
NIMR grounds by the method Lee was now planning to use. The Admiral had also weighed in on the discussion;
he didn’t want the tree removed.
“Redwoods blanketed much of the northern hemisphere over 100
million years ago. Ice sheets pushed the three remaining redwood species
(coast redwoods, giant sequoias and dawn redwoods) into isolated patches in
California and China. A mere 150 years ago California's western edge was
dominated by an ancient redwood forest the size of Connecticut. Less than
3% of that original forest exists. We will not remove that tree, Lee.”
Glad I lost that round, I
think. Amazing what that man knows
about.
Lee had never done a B.A.S.E.14 jump, thought it
was crazy, but he had a friend who was into it so had a fair amount of
knowledge from listening to him explain the ins and outs of it while trying to
get him to try it. His friend hadn’t
been home today when Lee had stopped by, which suited Lee. He had a moment of conscience when he broke
into his friends home and took a chute but rationalized that he was only
borrowing it, he’d left a note explaining that he took it and that it could be
picked up at NIMR tomorrow.
Lee balanced on the branch, stripped off his jacket, and put
the chute on; he very carefully attached the static line to the branch above
him. He figured he was most of the 150
feet up that he very much hoped would be sufficient for the jump. He’d heard that jumps had been made
successfully from 100 feet, of course that was by people who were experienced
in B.A.S.E. jumping.
He wasn’t so much worried about the jump as he was that
someone would look up at the wrong time.
He wouldn’t actually be airborne for very long and the guards weren’t in
the habit of scanning the sky for intruders plus, this side of the complex was
fairly secluded. No office or lab
windows looked out onto it, so overall his plan should work.
Woulda coulda shoulda.15 Hope I don’t end up as an unexplainable
‘splat’ on the grass. After a couple of very large
breaths to steady his nerves he leapt from the tree, oriented his body, felt
the static line pull out his chute behind him and then detach from it.
It was over in seconds.
He’d had better landings in his life but he was down alive, and as far
as he could tell nothing was broken or sprained. Bruised, oh yes indeed!
He didn’t hear any alarms go off so he’d not been seen by
the cameras, the guards or detected by the motion sensors. Hmmm,
have to leave a note for Chip to do something about this type of
infiltration. He’ll spit bullets. Wish I could be here to see his face.
Lee quickly gathered up his chute and moved off. He soon tucked it under a handy bush, once
they started looking for it they’d find it easily enough.
He crept across the grounds, occasionally stopping behind a
building or hugging a bush to let people pass without seeing him. As the Admiral was away and most of Seaview’s
crew on leave there wasn’t a lot of activity leading into the sub area. He paused when he reached the entrance to go
down to Seaview. Odd, there aren’t many guards, there should be at least 3 more rotating
through the area so that there are always two of them with eyes on the
entrance.
Of course Lee didn’t know that Nelson was back and had
ordered a reduction in the number of guards.
Harry had anticipated that Lee might try to sneak on board and decided
to make things a little easier for him. While
the gate guards wouldn’t question Lee, any crew that spotted him would
certainly want to greet him and Nelson doubted Lee wanted to deal with that.
Thus Lee found it no trouble to slip unseen through the
entrance during one of the periods where no one was watching. A quick scamper down the stairs and he had
his boat in sight, and again too few guards.
He was almost spotted, but dodged inside the sail just in time.
Ever so carefully, he started down the ladder and then paused,
this is where he got caught the first time he boarded Seaview. He couldn’t hear any activity and so
continued to the bottom, the control room was empty, only a few lights blinking
here and there.
“You’re a wonderful sight for sore eyes,” he murmured.
Taking his time he trailed his had over each station as he
walked towards the nose. He was careful
to stay back from the windows, even though he couldn’t see anyone out there
someone could walk by and spot him. He
turned and walked back through the control room along the other side, again
running his hand along each station in passing, remembering all the incredible
missions, the superb crew, the life he so loved.
There didn’t seem to be more than a handful of crew on board
and he easily avoided detection by ducking into storage rooms or other areas if
he heard someone approaching him.
He eventually came to his cabin and was about to go in when
he changed his mind. ONI would retrieve
his things, if they were still even in there.
The cabin he wanted to spend some time in was down the corridor a bit.
Harry was blotting the water from his face when he heard his
cabin door opening. He had been in and
out of Crane’s cabin but hadn’t settled in yet for the long haul. He’d nipped back to his own cabin to shave
and pick up a couple of things. He
quickly flipped the light off and pulled the head door almost closed. He waited and watched.
Lee came in and gently closed the door. He stood for a moment just looking around the
cabin, he walked forward and placed a hand on the leather chair behind the
desk.
Even though it was his cabin Harry felt like the intruder
and it made him momentarily reluctant to move.
Not to mention the fact that he was curious to see just what Lee was
doing in his cabin.
Lee passed behind the chair and looked at the bunk, he went
over and touched it and moved on.
Harry thought he’d heard Lee mumble something. ‘...flights
of angels sing thee to thy rest’.
He’s saying goodbye to me. Harry felt his throat constrict and his heart quiver.
He continued to watch as Lee picked up a picture of himself
and Chip taken with Nelson. A smile passed
briefly across Lee’s lips. He set it
back down.
He had gone full circle, so preoccupied with his thoughts
that he hadn’t noticed that the head door was only partially closed.
He paused by the cabin door, head angled slightly down, eyes
downcast. A sense of profound sadness
radiated from him. A portrait of
introspection dressed in black.
Nelson silently opened the head door all the way, “Lee” he
called softly almost as if he was afraid to startle his friend, afraid that Lee
would bolt.
Lee didn’t move, the sudden tenseness of his body the only
sign he’d heard his name called.
Harry came out into the cabin and gently placed his right
hand on Lee’s left shoulder. He again
found himself waiting and watching. He
saw Lee close his eyes and bend his head further down and angle it away.
Harry moved his hand down Lee’s back and up again, stroking
softly, then let it rest once more on Lee’s shoulder.
“Lee, talk to me son,” the words spoken gently with a catch
in his voice.
Lee shook his head slightly, to Harry he seemed puzzled.
Harry would have liked to move Lee further back into the
room and sit him down but he suspected that if he got Lee to move he would
probably try to leave.
If the mountain won’t come to
me, then I’ll have to go to the mountain.
Harry kept his hand on Lee’s shoulder but moved himself to
stand in front of Lee, which also effectively blocked Lee from the door. He then placed his other hand on Lee’s right
shoulder. He felt a slight tremble pass
through Lee’s body.
Oh Hell, as Admiral and
Captain I’d know exactly how to handle this, but I don’t think issuing orders
is the way to go here.
Lee had no idea what to do; on the one hand he wanted to get
out and as far away as he could, all the way to the Mideast and bury himself in
the assignment. On the other hand, he
wanted to stay here more than anything else in the world. I don’t
get it, why isn’t he yelling at me or punching me out or something. It doesn’t make any sense. He certainly shed me off to ONI fast enough.
Harry tried again, “Lee, please let’s talk this out.” He started to massage Lee’s shoulders close
to his neck, if his words couldn’t get through maybe his touch could. He’s
tenser than a tightrope walker’s high wire.
There was a sudden loud knock on Nelson’s cabin door
followed by the voice of Sharkey, “Admiral, Sir, you in there?”
Nelson barked at the door, “Not now Sharkey.”
“Sir you wanted to know right away if anyone caught sight of
Captain Crane or anything unusual was reported.
A visitor reports that they thought they saw a man fall out of a tree
and land inside the fence.”
“Thank you Sharkey, that will be all.”
“Ah yes Sir. ummm
Admiral do you still want me to report any sightings of the Skipper or
anything?”
“No Sharkey, I’m aware of my Captain’s location.”
“Aye Sir.”
Harry was trying to piece together Sharkey’s bit of news
into the puzzle that was Lee Crane.
“Lee, ah, did you somehow jump out of a tree to get onto
NIMR grounds?” Though I’m damned if I see how.
“Not exactly Sir, I did a B.A.S.E. jump from the big
Redwood, the visitor failed to mention my parachute.”
“Why, in the name of all that’s holy, didn’t you just come
in through the gate? Are you hurt?”
“Just a bit bruised here and there.”
“And you didn’t come in the normal way because?”
“Figured you’d have told them to keep me out.”
Now it was Harry’s turn to be puzzled.
“Why would you think I’d do that? Lee would you at least look at me, please.”
Lee brought his head up slowly and then cautiously raised
his eyes to meet Harry’s.
Harry noted the wariness in Lee’s gaze, the uncertainty. Harry asked his question again, “Why would you
think I’d tell the gate not to let you in?”
Lee had expected to see anger and maybe even disgust in
Harry’s eyes, but like the voice Harry had been speaking to him in, Lee found
only concern, caring and not a little confusion.
“You’re not angry with me.”
It was a statement, not a question.
“No Lee I’m not, and even if I were I certainly wouldn’t
lock you out of the Institute.”
“But Jones said....”
Lee thought back, what had Jones actually said. He gave
me my next assignment but he didn’t say I was officially his, I just assumed
that I must be. Great, you know what
‘assume’ gets you Crane.
“Go on Lee, what did Jones say?”
As Lee was speaking Harry finally managed to get him into a
chair, he moved his own next to Lee so that he could keep one hand resting on
Lee’s right arm.
“As soon as I got to ONI he ordered me up to his office and
gave me my next assignment. I figured the
paperwork must be all done to reactive me and assign me to ONI.”
“I don’t recall seeing your resignation anywhere on my desk,
not that I would have approved it.”
“I didn’t think I needed to resign, figured I was fired and
that you had pushed the paperwork through in record time.”
“Fired, why the blazes would you think that I’d fired
you? So help me Lee you try the patience
of all the Saint’s in heaven.”
“You didn’t look any to happy with me in Vegas, Sir. Not to mention my behaviour before I went.”
“It wasn’t you I was pissed with in Vegas, and as far as you
being a different sort of pissed before you left, you had very good reason to
be.”
“I more or less have come to the conclusion that I
overreacted that night. The cover was
mostly a lot of fun, once I got used to the idea.”
“Mmmm hmmmm. Do you
recall an actress named Shelly Winters?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Next time you get to feeling a little embarrassed or
whatever about this particular cover or lack thereof, I want you to remember
what she had to say, to quote:
I think on-stage nudity is
disgusting, shameful and damaging to all things American. But if I were 22 with a great body, it would
be artistic, tasteful, patriotic and a progressive religious experience.”
Lee gave a small laugh, “well I’m not 22 but I get the
point.”
Leaving the matter of Jones and ONI aside for the moment Harry
decided to go for broke, “Lee was my sister your contact?”
Lee had hoped this wouldn’t come up, not realistically, but
he’d hoped none the less. He had prepared
what he felt was a plausible explanation.
“Yes and no. You know
that agent’s sometimes use civilians to run little errands. Caitlin, ah Edith, was asked to deliver an
‘item’ to the dancer who did the ‘Sway’ solo in the last show on Thursday night. She was told to sit at a certain table in a
specific chair and he’d pick her to go up on stage with him. Believe me Admiral I was as surprised as you
were to see her there.” At least it’s not all a lie, well none of it
is really, just a bit of misdirection.
Will he buy it? Have to find Caitlin and tell her what I
said before he finds her.
Nelson spotted a problem with this explanation right
away. In order for Lee to know how
Caitlin became involved he would have to have talked to her after the
fact. And just when, where and how did that happen?
“I see. I gather she
choose where to, ah, place the item.”
“Certainly wasn’t my idea,” Lee mumbled. Now was not the time to go into what happened
later.
“I’ll be having a word with her about her behaviour. For all the good it will do. To tell you the truth Lee she has always been
pretty uncontrollable. If she wants in
your pants that much I’m tempted to tell you to go ahead and do the deed, maybe
then she’ll leave you alone, though I suspect there’s not really much hope of
that, especially not once.......”
“SIR!”
“Shocked you did I, lad” Harry grinned. Harry figured he might just as well go ahead
and shock Lee again. “Oh another thing
about Vegas, if Chip can manage to call me Harry I don’t see why you find it so
impossible to use my first name.”
“He didn’t!”
“Yes he did, and I expect you to manage it as well. Not in formal situations of course but when
we’re alone and ‘baring’ our souls, so to speak, you will call me
Harry.”
“Yes Sir.”
“It’s not an order Lee, I’m asking, albeit forcefully, please
call me Harry.”
“OK...Harry. So where
does this leave things?”
“Right where they belong Lee, you back onboard Seaview,
granted out of uniform but I expect you’ll take care of that shortly.”
“I have another mission for ONI, S...arry. I can’t just not show up.”
“As far as I’m concerned you can do just that but don’t
worry, I will set Admiral Jones straight.”
Straight to Hell and lock the door
behind him.
Harry watched a shudder pass through Lee’s body. That’s
the second one.
“Lee when did you last sleep or have anything to eat?”
“I slept some on the flight here from D.C., don’t recall
when I ate last, but I’m not really hungry anyway.”
“You’re not hungry because you’re exhausted lad, physically
and emotionally. Forget the uniform, I
want you in your bunk but first eat something, whether you want to or not.”
“I’m fine Adm...Harry.”
Harry snorted at Lee’s expected reply. He got up from his chair and Lee automatically
rose with him, but then wavered slightly as a brief wave of dizziness hit him. Harry took a firm hold on his arm to steady
him.
“The adrenaline that’s kept you going is wearing off Lee,
you’re going to crash whether you want to or not. Your body has more common sense than you
do. Take your clothes off.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’d think after the last few days you’d have the knack of
it. Down to your skivvies Lee, and in my
bunk, now.”
Harry figured the food would have to wait, Lee wasn’t going
to be awake long enough to eat anything.
Lee thought about protesting and telling Harry he’d head for
his cabin and his own bunk, but another round of dizziness struck and he swayed
again.
Harry was through reasoning with Lee, holding him steady
with one hand he pulled Lee’s black pullover up and off him. When he reached for Lee’s pants Lee swatted
his hand away.
“I can manage myself, thank you very much.”
Harry had to smother a smile at that response. He stood nearby in case he had to make a grab
for Lee if he got dizzy again. Lee
kicked off his shoes and managed to get his pants off. Ordinarily standing in his briefs in front of
Harry would have him feeling very uncomfortable but after the last couple of weeks,
he thought nothing of it.
Hmmmm, tiger stripes, well
those aren’t regulation issue. Harry grinned at the
evidence of a change in Lee’s viewpoint on certain things. He pulled back the covers on his bunk and
gently shoved Lee towards it.
“In you go lad.”
“This really isn’t necessary S..arry, could’a made it to
m..abin.” Lee mumbled sleepily.
“Of course you could, you’re just humouring me. Think of it this way, it’ll take that much
longer for Chip to find you.”
“Oh no, Chip.”
“Yep, you still have him to deal with Lee.”
Harry wasn’t sure that Lee had heard his last comment as he
tucked the covers in around his soundly sleeping friend.
While Lee slept Harry made a call to SECNAV. By the time he hung up there was no question
in anyone’s mind as to Commander Lee Crane’s status at NIMR.
Lee slept through the whole thing, as Harry knew he
would. Nothing short of Seaview doing a
complete rollover was likely to wake him up for quite some time.
Harry stood beside his bunk looking down at Lee sprawled
contentedly on his stomach. Harry reached
out and gently stroked Lee’s head, “I won’t be gone long lad, rest well, you’re
home.”
He left his cabin but before heading to the Flying Sub
checked in with the corpsman in sickbay who was handling the restocking of
medical supplies.
“Jakes, Captain Crane is aboard and resting in my
cabin. I expect he will sleep for a few
hours but I’d like you to keep an eye on him.”
“Yes Sir. Anything I
should be watching for?”
Jakes was new to Seaview and the Admiral could think of
several things you should always be watching for with Lee Crane but he’d let
Jamie handle advising Jakes on the specifics of the ‘care and handling’ of
Seaview’s Skipper.
“No I don’t think so, although he did mention some
bruises.”
Yes Sir, when he wakes up I’ll see if he’d like something
for the pain.
Hmmm, should I warn him. No, besides the bruise colouring up on Lee’s
side looks like it’s really going to hurt a lot and for quite some time. He might take a painkiller; ya and pigs
really can fly!
“Fine Jakes. I’m
going to be gone for a bit, Mr. Morton will be onboard by tonight. Report any concerns to him.”
“Aye aye Sir.”
He left a sealed note for Chip with the sail watch, which
was once again fully manned.
Feed Lee, he’s in my
cabin. Go easy on him, Harry.
If Lee left the cabin by
the time Chip showed up Harry knew that Chip would track Lee down, make sure he
got some food into him, give him Hell for thinking he wasn’t wanted by Nelson and
then start wheedling Lee for ‘stories’.
Lee may not have had any siblings but Chip more than made up for that
fact.
*****
It had been a very long two
days for Chip, if he didn’t know better he’d swear that Mr. Pem was around and
playing with his time watch. Finally he
was able to sign off on everything at the Aquarium, bid Brad goodbye and
Phoenix, who had dropped in, a somewhat fonder farewell.
The Institute jet was
waiting for him when he got to the airport, since it was a private jet he didn’t
have to mess around with tickets or security.
He boarded the plane at a run and stuck his head into the cockpit, “Hi
Jack, full throttle all the way.”
“You got it Mr. Morton.”
The pilot and co-pilot
loved it when asked to fly VH16
speed. It was what their baby was built
for. With the current tail wind, this
was going to be a quick trip. Heck they
might even be able to push up to VNE16. The two grinned evilly at each other, working for NIMR had
it’s fun times.
*****
As he had expected Chip
found an Institute car waiting for him when he landed. He had hoped that the Admiral would call him
to tell him what had happened with Lee but so far no word.
He stopped briefly at
the gate to ask the guards if they had seen Captain Crane.
“No sir, but we just
came on duty let me check the log....nope, nothing here about Captain Crane
arriving Sir.”
Chip parked and dashed
into the main building. He looked in
Lee’s office, all his stuff was there but no Lee. The Admiral’s office was empty too, no one
was in the reception area. Only one more place to look.
He headed at a run for
Seaview’s berth. As he approached one of
the guards met him and handed him a sealed envelope.
“Mr. Morton, Admiral
Nelson left this for you.”
Chip was almost afraid
to open it, but he did, and then heaved a relieved sigh, smiling at the
contents of the short missive.
“Is Captain Crane still
aboard?”
“As far as we know Sir,
but to tell you the truth, we didn’t see him come aboard. Admiral Nelson advised the watch he was
here.”
If
Lee wanted onboard without anyone the wiser he would find a way, apparently
also found a way onto the grounds without anyone knowing. Have to find out what security hole he found
and plug it.
Chip scrambled down the
ladder into the Control Room and made for the Admiral’s cabin. He wasn’t sure if Lee would still be there,
he could have woken up and gone wandering.
Hopefully he hadn’t left the boat unseen.
As he approached Nelson’s
cabin he saw the new corpsman, Jakes he thought his name was, softly closing
the cabin door.
“Is Captain Crane still
inside?”
“Ah yes Sir, sorry
didn’t know you were back aboard.”
“Just.” Chip was a little concerned, why was a
corpsman checking on Lee?
“Is the Captain
injured?”
“I don’t believe so
Sir. Admiral Nelson said the Captain had
a few bruises and asked that I keep an eye on him until he woke up. So far he’s stayed asleep.”
“Very well, you are
relieved of that duty; I’ll keep an eye on him and let you know if you’re
needed.”
“Aye aye Sir.”
Chip carefully opened
the door to the Admiral’s cabin and entered very quietly. He grinned at the sight of his friend
stretched out in the bunk sleeping like a baby.
He did wonder why Lee was in the Admiral’s bunk and not his own but at
this point he didn’t care, Lee in any bunk on Seaview, was just fine by him.
He made himself
comfortable in the Admirals big chair to wait for Lee to surface. Maybe
I’ll take a little nap myself, everything seems to be under control now.
*****
Nelson did some serious
thinking as he piloted the Flying Sub to D.C.
At first he was prepared to blame Jones for Edith’s involvement in Lee’s
assignment, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out how Jones could have
managed that. Lee had indicated that
Edith was collateral damage, that the agent involved had used her to deliver
‘the item’. Wish I knew what was so all fired important about the dang thing! How did
the agent meet Edith anyway? Why were
the people at her table calling her Caleigh that night? Granted Edith was as flighty as they came,
had she chosen a new name again?
He realized that he’d
have to get the answers to most of those questions from Edith, once he tracked
her down. For now he’d deal with Jones
about Lee, but if he could ever prove that Jones had been responsible for
involving Edith, well there wouldn’t be a safe place in the universe for the
man, that is if there was anything left of him when he finished with him this
time.
It was late when Harry
arrived at ONI headquarters. This didn’t
worry Harry, Jones kept late hours, and early ones, and besides, if he wasn’t
here Harry knew where he lived and had no reservations about going to his home
to lay down the law, Nelson style.
As he entered Jones’
reception area he was met by Stephen just coming out of Jones’ office.
“Nice to see you again
Admiral. Everything ok with Lee?”
“Settled in back where
he belongs. I take it Jones is in
there?”
“Ah yes Sir, he is.”
“Have a nice evening
Stephen,” and with those words Harry swept past Stephen much as a thunderstorm
sweeps across the plains.
O
ho, I’m not going anywhere, wouldn’t miss this show for all the tea in China.
Stephen settled himself
in one of the reception chairs and crossed his legs. He figured he didn’t need to be to near the
wall to hear the thunder roll.
Harry didn’t so much
open Jones door as he smashed through it, putting a fair sized dent in the wall
as the door slammed into it and rebounded closed with a thunderous crash.
The next thing Stephen
heard sounded like a number of items hitting the floor and maybe someone being
slammed against a wall.
“NELSON, GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!”
Stephen had expected
some pretty good shouting to happen but it sounded like Nelson had gone
straight to physical. OK, maybe I don’t want to be here after
all. I don’t know the regulations around
one Admiral attacking another one but I sure as hell don’t want to be called as
a witness and I’m not going in there to try and break it up! Nelson may not be that big a man but I’m
betting he packs one hell of a punch.
Stephen chose the better
part of valour and made his exit. He
never heard the explanation as to why Jones’ office wall needed repairs, or how
Jones got a broken nose, but then, he didn’t need to.
*****
For his part, Harry was
satisfied that Jones now completely understood the circumstances under which
Lee might take on an assignment.
He had also made clear the manner in which such requests were to
be made. Jones had admitted, with a
little encouragement, that he just might have overstated the importance of the
information to SECNAV when getting their backing to bring pressure to bear to
force Lee to take the assignment.
All in all Harry figured
it had been worth a few bruised knuckles.
Harry knew that he could have forced Jones to admit that it was a plot
to get Lee back in the regular Navy and into ONI. With that and with what Harry was sure were
Jones’ machinations to get him to Vegas, he could have Jones removed from ONI
and the man’s head given to him on a platter.
Harry realized though, that mostly Jones did do a good job, he was only
trying to get the best man for himself, but that had to stop.
Harry felt he had been
pretty clear on that point. “Lee Crane is mine Jones, and he’s going to
stay mine. I hope you are crystal clear
on that because if you’re not, and you try a stunt like this again, I’ll do a
hell of a lot more than break your nose for you.”
Harry rubbed his knuckles
as he headed back to the Flying Sub. I expect it will be a very long time before
we hear from Jones again.
*****
Lee stretched and then snuggled
down under the covers again. MMMMM, I feel unusually comfy. It took a moment for him to recall just where
he was. Interesting, sort of like waking up as a kid in your parent’s bed, all
safe and warm....well that’s a stupid thought Crane, where did it come from? You’re in the Admiral’s bunk!
He opened his eyes to see
if the Admiral was around. Nope, but there’s Chip snoozing in the big
chair. So you got to call him ‘Harry’
did you! At the sound of Lee’s snort
Chip woke up.
“Hey sleepy head,
welcome back,” he greeted Lee.
“Me, I was awake before
you were.”
“You slept longer. How come you’re in the Admiral’s bunk?”
“Long story.”
“I’ve got the time, so
do you. However food first, my orders
are, to quote, “Feed Lee.” So do you
want me to order something brought here or do you want to find some clothes and
head to the wardroom?”
“Wardroom.” Lee swung his legs out over the side and got
up, he looked around for his clothes.
Chip raised his eyebrows
at the sight of Lee’s bruises and especially his tiger stripe briefs. He couldn’t help himself, as Lee gathered his
cloths up Chip started whistling ‘The Stripper’.
Lee glowered at him, “I
suppose there’s going to be a lot of that sort of thing from you.”
“Safe bet.”
“At least the bilge
tanks are fairly sound proof.”
“You planning on
spending a lot of time in them, Lee.”
“Not me Mr. Morton.”
“ ‘Harry’ will never let
you banish me to the bilges.”
Lee didn’t rise to the
bait, “On this boat the Captain gives the orders.17”
“It appears the Captain
does a lot of things.” Chip moved over
to the computer on the desk and punched a few buttons.
“Remember my showing you
my fancy new cell phone and the amazing pictures it could take?”
Chip swivelled the
computer screen around so Lee could see it, there in considerable glory, was
Lee in nothing but a T-bar. Chip had
remembered the comment made by Lee’s ONI buddies the night they brought Lee
back drunk and thought it an appropriate title for the picture. ‘Gypsy Rose Lee’ was emblazoned across the
top of the picture in twinkling red script.
I
look pretty damn good.
“And just how far along cyberspace
has this picture travelled?” He was
willing to play along, he was pretty sure that Chip wouldn’t have shown or sent
it to anyone.
“So far it hasn’t gone
anywhere, but an XO assigned to cleaning bilges might get a twitchy finger.”
“I see. You have any other pictures I should know
about?”
“Could be.”
“I’d like to see
them. There’s someone I know that would
enjoy them.”
Chip wasn’t sure what to
make of that comment, he figured Lee would want them deleted but he seemed
pretty comfortable about it all. He
really needed to find out whom it was that Lee would consider sending the
pictures to.
Lee had finished
dressing, “Ready to go Chip.”
“Ya, just let me get rid
of the picture.”
“Don’t worry about it;
it’s not something ‘Harry’ hasn’t already seen.
He might want to keep it.”
Chip choked and almost
fell out of the chair.
Lee had a sudden
epiphany. “He doesn’t know you took
pictures does he?”
“Uh, no.”
“As a matter of fact I’m
betting he told you not to take pictures.” By the way Chip blanched, he knew he was on
the money.
An evil grin spread
delightedly over Lee’s face. Oh Chip my friend, I’ve so got you by the
short and curlies.
Chip swallowed hard, Oh crap!
THE
END
or
SHAKE
SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE YOUR BOOTY
(KC
and the Sunshine Band)
1
Similar to espresso, café cubano is an extremely strong coffee that is
not sipped -- it is shot, like tequila.
2
To date there are no female Navy Seals that I am aware of, but I wanted some
and it’s my story, etc. ;o)
3
Turn Back the Clock, season one
4
G-string on a guy often referred to as a
T-bar
5
Wizard of Oz
6 And
Five of Us are Left -season 2
7
The Death Ship, season two
8
The City Beneath the Sea - season one
9 Knight - Errant - story, we find out that Lee
and his ONI pals are very adept with Medieval weaponry.
10
In
Knight Light story Edith informed Lee that while Harry calls her Edith, she
prefers Caitlin
11
The Traitor - Season one
12
Escape
from Venice, 2nd season
13
Vanora - Gaelic meaning ‘white wave’ and
the name of Lee’s sailboat
14 B.A.S. E. - Building, Antennae, Span and Earth. Extreme sport. People jump from very low altitudes off of objects, manmade or natural. Some have parachuted from the 100ft statue of Christ that overlooks Rio de Janeiro. In 1992 one leapt a similar height from the whispering gallery inside London's St Paul's Cathedral.
Base jumpers need their parachute to open very
quickly, and so do without devices used by skydivers, who travel faster and
want their parachutes to emerge more gradually.
BASE jumpers use ram-air chutes, slighted smaller that the regular
ones. For the extremely low jumps a
static line is used to deploy the chute.
15 Woulda Coulda
Shoulda - informal rendering of three conditions: would have, could
have and should have. These are considered subjunctive moods, because
they imply possible or theoretical conditions, otherwise known as wishful
thinking.
16 VH
speed - Maximum speed in level flight at maximum continuous power.
VNE Never
exceed speed.
17 Edge
of Doom - Season 4