*A huge
thanks to Kate, for tirelessly reading and beta-ing this story. I wouldn’t have finished the story
without her help and encouragement.
Thanks too to Diane for a little reassurance when I needed it most.
A TIME FOR TRUST
By Seaspinner
“We
can’t sail without a doctor,” Lieutenant Commander Chip Morton
muttered. “
He grabbed
the phone. “Admiral, we
can’t find Doctor Jamieson.
He hasn’t reported in at the gate and nobody’s seen
him.”
“I’m
sure he’ll be here soon,” Nelson replied. “I’ll have Angie make some
inquiries just in case he’s been held up by something. I’ll see you in my office in
twenty minutes.”
“Aye,
Sir.” Chip replaced the phone
and paced back to where Sharkey was standing. “Chief, I’ll be back as soon
as I can. I’m sure
there’s a logical explanation.
He’s probably walking down the gangway right now.”
“Yes,
Sir,” replied Sharkey, his expression hopeful.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Admiral
Harriman Nelson pressed the intercom on his desk. “Angie, ring Doctor
Jamieson’s house and put him through if he’s there. Oh, and find out where that medical
convention he attended was being held.
I think it was in
“Yes,
Admiral.”
Nelson
tapped his pencil on the hardwood desk.
Jamie had never missed a scheduled sailing – for pity’s sake
the man had never even been late for a meeting. There had to be a good reason. He looked at his watch, four hours
before they set sail. He couldn’t
wait any longer for Jamie to turn up.
Lives depended on their expediency – Lee’s life depended on
it.
There was a
quick knock on his door and Angie walked in. She looked worried. “I couldn’t get in touch
with him, Sir, I even tried the gate again. Nothing.”
“Hmm,
what about the conference?”
“It
was being held at the Boston Intercontinental Hotel and Convention Centre. He gave his presentation two days
ago. That was the last time the
organizers remembered seeing him.
He checked out of the hotel yesterday morning, but nobody saw him leave
because he used the express checkout service.”
Nelson lit
up a cigarette and looked out of his window. “I want you to contact the police
and hospitals in
He looked
at his watch again. Three and a
half hours to departure. Where was
the doctor?
“What
then, Admiral? Would you like me to
file a missing persons report?”
Nelson
nodded. “Yes, do that. Oh, and get me the personnel files on
all of our current doctors. It
looks like we’ll need a temporary replacement.”
“Yes,
Sir.”
“Thank
you, Angie.”
As Angie
opened the door, Chip walked into Nelson’s office.
“Chip,
sit down. It looks like we’re
going to have to take on a replacement doctor for the mission.”
Chip
frowned. He knew that Seaview would rendezvous with Lee after
another ONI mission. No doubt he
would most likely make his way on board with injuries. Jamie knew him and despite the bickering
that went on whenever Lee was in sick bay, he trusted and respected the
doctor. That relationship had been
hard earned by Jamie. If Lee had
injuries after the mission, who knew what type of reaction he’d have to
someone new.
“Do
you have anyone in mind, Sir?”
“Not
yet, Angie’s just pulling the files on the Institute doctors.”
At that
moment his secretary knocked on the door.
She looked flustered.
“What’s
wrong Angie?” asked Nelson, a lump suddenly forming in the pit of his
stomach.
“Doctor
Barrington’s in hospital with glandular fever and Doctor McDonald’s
in
Nelson
rubbed a hand over his head.
“That does it then, we’ll have to get a temporary
replacement in to take Doctor Jamieson’s place. Angie, get me Admiral
Starke.”
“Yes,
Admiral,” she said, hurrying back to make the call.
“We
need a doctor here by fifteen hundred hours or we’ll be forced to sail
without one.”
Chip sat
quietly in the chair and watched the Admiral’s reactions. He was obviously worried, most probably
as much about Lee as Jamieson.
Nelson hadn’t wanted Lee to go on the ONI mission, but the Captain
had insisted since it had involved an old friend.
“Chip,
let Frank know that we’ll be sailing without Jamie. If worst comes to worst, he’ll
have to take over Jamie’s duties.
Let’s just hope we manage to get Lee back unscathed this time
around.”
“Yes,
Sir, but what about Jamie?”
“Do
you have any ideas where he might have gone? Did he mention anything else to you
about the conference?”
“No,
just that he was giving a talk on something, some type of new discovery, cancer
therapy, I think.”
“I
just hope he’s alright and not lying injured or dead somewhere,”
Nelson said quietly.
“Me
too, Sir.”
Nelson let
out a long sigh. “I suppose
you’d better get back to the Seaview.”
Chip
pushed himself out of the chair.
“Yes, Admiral.”
“I’ll
let you know if I hear anything.”
“Thank
you, Sir, I’d appreciate it.
If Lee…well, I just hope he comes back without a scratch.”
“So
do I, Chip, so do I.”
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Three
hours later, Nelson was pacing the deck of the observation nose. “Sparks, any word on Doctor
Schaefer?”
“I’m
sorry, Sir, nothing yet.”
Nelson
grimaced. “We can’t
find one doctor, now we’re missing another.”
“Admiral,
Doctor Barnes is requesting permission to come aboard,” said
“Who?”
“Doctor
Henry Barnes,” repeated
“Chip,
that wasn’t the doctor Jiggs was sending. Ask
“Aye,
Sir.”
Nelson
felt a growing apprehension.
Nothing had gone right since Jamie had disappeared. Now the Navy had sent a complete unknown
to replace him.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Lee
struggled aboard the FS1, half-dragging the ONI agent with
him. His own cuts and bruises would
have to wait. Peter Kellogg was a
very sick man. He’d been hiding
out in the forest cabin for more than two weeks with very little to eat. Lee thought he had pneumonia on top of
malnutrition. He quickly removed
Kellogg’s mask and diving suit and eased him onto a bunk.
“Sharkey,”
he said breathlessly as he wrapped several blankets around Kellogg. “Have Jamie stand by on Seaview as soon as we dock.”
“Uh,
I’m sorry, Skipper.
Jamie’s not onboard,” said Sharkey, powering up the engines.
“What! Where is he?” asked Lee, worried
that something might have happened to the doctor.
“He
was called away to a conference in
Lee
frowned. “Do we have someone
standing in for him?”
“Doctor
Henry Barnes. He comes highly
recommended,” said Sharkey, almost too enthusiastically.
The agent
began coughing hard, desperately trying to take a breath between the
spasms. Lee grabbed the oxygen from
the first aid locker and put the mask over Peter’s face.
“Peter,
it won’t be long. We’ll
have you on Seaview before you know
it.”
Kellogg
grabbed Lee’s arm.
“Lee…take the film, it’s in the locket around my
neck,” he panted.
Sharkey
urged the FS1 even faster towards the submarine. He didn’t like the way things were
playing out, the agent looked really ill.
“No,
you’ll give it to Johnson yourself,” Lee insisted, gently pushing
Peter’s outstretched hand away.
Another
coughing fit racked his body.
“It’s too late for me.
T…take it. Tell Claire
I love her, and I…I’m sorry.”
“No,”
the cry tore from Lee’s throat.
“Sharkey, how long to Seaview?”
“Five
minutes, Skipper. They’re
standing by.”
It was the
longest five minutes Lee had ever felt.
Peter had been a long-time acquaintance, who’d become a good
friend. Several times he’d gone
on ONI missions with Lee, once he’d even saved Lee’s life. He knew it was his turn this time to do
the same for Peter. He hoped to
hell that the new doctor was even half as good as Jamie. He held Peter’s wrist, his pulse
was getting weaker, the pallor of his skin even worse. Lee felt a small jolt as the FS1 docked.
As soon as
he had Sharkey’s green light he opened the hatch, not waiting for them to
open it from inside.
He was
greeted by Kowalski’s face.
“Ski, I need the doc down here now.”
“He’s
on his way, Skipper.”
“He’s
not here already? We radioed ahead
twenty minutes ago. You’d
better get down here and see what you can do.”
He got out
of the way to let Kowalski down the ladder, closely followed by Admiral
Nelson. Lee returned to
Peter’s side, he was in a bad way.
He seriously doubted that he’d survive the night.
“Lee?”
Lee heard
Admiral Nelson’s voice behind him.
“Yes, Sir?”
He felt a
hand on his shoulder. “Come
on lad, let Ski do his job.”
Lee
reluctantly took Nelson’s advice and stepped aside to give Kowalski more
room.
More
footsteps came down the ladder.
“Where’s my patient?”
Lee arced
up at the tone. The doctor
didn’t even sound as if he was taking the medical emergency
seriously. It was completely
different to Jamieson’s quiet, caring and efficient bedside manner.
“Where
were you, Doctor?”
Lee’s voice was full of barely controlled anger. “We gave you plenty of
notice.”
The short
skinny man shrugged as he knelt next to Peter. “I was checking my inventory, I
just forgot the time.”
Lee
stepped forward, his fists clenched at his sides. “What do you mean, ‘you
forgot the time’?”
Nelson
held him back. “Let’s
leave the doctor to his patient, Lee.”
He looked
angrily at Nelson. “This
isn’t over. If he
dies…” Without another
word he climbed out of the FS1.
You’d better pray he comes through this,
Doctor or I’ll see to it that you never work for the Navy again, thought Lee
grimly.
He left
the FS1 and went to his cabin to clean up.
Without looking in the mirror he knew that he was a sight. Three days worth of beard covered his
face, interspersed with dried mud from where he’d fallen on the track
while carrying Peter to the beach.
He gingerly removed the top half of his wetsuit and pursed his lips at
the purple bruise on his right shoulder.
When he tripped he somehow managed to maneuver Peter into a different
position so he wouldn’t be hurt.
In the end, it had been Lee’s shoulder that had borne the brunt of
the fall.
He took a
quick shower and shaved. Before he
had a chance to open the door, there was a knock. He opened it to find Admiral Nelson
standing before him.
“Admiral! I was just going up to see Peter.”
Nelson
stood where he was. “Do you
mind if I have a few words first?”
Lee
stepped back to let him step into the cabin. “What is it?”
“I’m
sorry Jamie wasn’t here, Lee.
I’m not sure where he is.”
“Sharkey
told me. No clues at all?”
The
Admiral shook his head.
“I’m worried about him.
It’s not like Jamie to disappear without a word.”
“The
new doctor, where’d he come from?”
Nelson
took out a cigarette and lit it before he replied. “I’m sorry, Lee, I tried to
get an experienced Navy Reservist, but it just wasn’t possible. He had a case of claustrophobia at the
last minute.”
“What
aren’t you telling me?”
Lee asked, his voice suddenly terse. “If he’s not Navy then what
is he?”
“I’m
afraid the only one we could get on short notice was attached as a medical
officer at the old shipyard.”
Lee could
feel his temper rising rapidly.
“When was the last time he was operational?”
“Five
years ago.”
“So
for the last five years,” he said carefully, “he’s been
treating cuts and bruises? Is that
what you’re telling me?”
“Now,
Lee,” the Admiral warned.
“Don’t make any snap judgments. You’re tired and it was a
difficult mission. Get some rest
before you go up to sick bay.”
“Is
that an order, Admiral?”
Nelson’s
face softened. “No,
it’s a suggestion.”
“Then
if you’ll excuse me, Admiral, I’m going to
The
Admiral stepped aside for him, and Lee quickly made his way aft.
When he
arrived Frank was working on Peter who was still conscious. As soon as Peter saw Lee he grabbed his
arm and pushed the locket into his hand, squeezing Lee’s fingers around
it before he could protest.
“I…”
Lee
watched as Peter began struggling for breath. Before his very eyes he began arresting.
“Frank,
where’s the doctor?” asked Lee, alarmed.
“I
don’t know, Captain. I just
slipped into the storeroom to get another IV bag and he was gone.”
Lee swung
angrily around and snatched at the microphone. “Doctor to sick bay. Medical emergency!” He turned back to Frank who had already
placed the defibrillator paddles against Peter’s chest. “What can I do?”
The
corpsman pressed a button and Peter’s body arched off the table –
there was no response. Frank shoved
a resuscitator into his hands.
“Breathe for him while I do compressions.”
Lee
quickly placed the mask over Peter’s face, making sure it was properly
fitted. He’d done all the
courses, but it had been a while since he’d taken part in an actual
resuscitation. Lee lost track of
time and how many occasions Frank had paused to let Lee give Peter a
breath. He was concentrating so
hard that he didn’t notice Frank stop the compressions. A hand fell on his arm.
“Captain,”
came Frank’s soft voice.
“Captain.”
“Lee,
he’s gone.”
He
hadn’t even noticed the Admiral was beside him. Frank gently pried the resuscitator out
of Lee’s hands and stepped back.
Lee placed his hand on Peter’s, his flesh already beginning to
feel cool, as a lump rose in his throat.
“Come
on, lad, I’ll take you to your cabin.”
Lee pulled
himself together. “I’m
fine, Admiral. Where’s the
Doctor?”
His eyes
met Nelson’s. In that brief
moment, Lee could see that the Admiral was as torn up as he was. He clenched his jaws together.
“I’m
not sure.”
Lee took
one last look at Peter’s body.
“I’m sorry, my friend,” he whispered before leaving
him to Frank.
Before
Nelson could stop him, Lee shot out the door to look for Doctor Barnes.
“I’m
sorry, Sir, I couldn’t do anything more for him,” said Frank sadly.
“It’s
not your fault, Frank. You did your
best. He didn’t get medical
treatment in time.” Nelson picked
up the microphone. “Mister
Morton to sick bay on the double.
I’ll be back soon, I have to find Captain Crane. Please inform Mister Morton of the
circumstances.”
“Aye,
Sir.”
“A
bad business,” muttered Nelson to himself as he left sick bay, hoping to
find Lee before he got to the doctor.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Nelson
watched as his Captain left the boat.
He’d wanted to debrief him a little better than Lee had allowed
him. It bothered him that he
hadn’t opened up to him about either the mission or Peter Kellogg. Not to mention the scene that had played
out when Lee had finally found the replacement doctor. Barnes had been in the officer’s
mess re-filling his coffee cup after Kellogg had passed away. Lee had told Nelson in no uncertain
terms what he’d thought of the doctor and Nelson’s decision to
allow him on board.
“I
think he just needs some time alone,” said Chip, coming to a halt beside
him.
“I
don’t think I’ve ever seen him so angry, Chip.”
Chip’s
blue eyes never left Lee as he continued up towards his office. “I don’t blame him,
Sir. The doctor was clearly
incompetent…ah, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
Nelson
shook his head. “I’m
sad to say that I have to agree with your assessment. Did Lee tell you where he was going for
his shore leave?”
“
“Hmm,
you’d best head ashore yourself and get some well-earned rest. I’ve a feeling he might need us
after he’s had time to think about things.”
“Yes,
Sir.”
“Oh,
Chip, make sure you find out exactly where he’s staying at
“Aye,
Admiral.”
Nelson
watched as Chip left the boat and hastened to catch up with his friend. He hoped Lee would turn to him if he
needed to talk. He shook his head
again and sighed. It had been a
difficult trip and he was glad it was over. Heading back below, Nelson packed his
bag and left Seaview for some shore
leave of his own.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Thirty-six
hours later Lee drove up to a quaint house in an attractive
An
attractive woman in her forties answered, her red hair cascading down around
her shoulders.
She smiled
and reached out to hug him.
“Lee, what are you doing here? What a lovely surprise. How long can you stay? Peter’s not here right now,
he’s off doing something secret again.”
Lee closed
his eyes as he returned her embrace, wondering how happy she’d be in a
few minutes. Finally he gently
shook himself free and held her shoulders.
“Claire, I’m sorry.
I’m here on official business.”
He watched
the fall of her face. The knowledge
of what he was about to do was reflected in her eyes.
Claire
Kellogg already knew that her husband was dead. She’d been at a friend’s
place when the same thing had happened.
She swallowed as a sob escaped from her throat.
“No,
please, Lee, tell me he’s alright?”
Lee caught
her in his arms as her legs gave way and carried her inside to the couch.
“How
did it happen?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
“I…let
me get you a drink first.” He
rose to go to the kitchen when Claire grabbed hold of his hand.
“No,
I need to know now. How did he
die?”
“I’m
sorry, Claire,” he said apologetically, as he felt pain in his
heart. “I can’t tell
you the specifics. Only that I was
with him when it happened.
I…I found him too late, I couldn’t do anything to save
him.”
He fought
the emotion that threatened to choke up his own throat and forced himself to
stay calm if only for her sake. The
last moments of Peter’s life were branded into his memory, the smell of
sick bay, the monitor beeping until the last beat of his heart sounded.
Her
tear-soaked face looked up into his, suddenly screwed into an angry mask. “Nothing? You couldn’t do a thing to save
him? I don’t believe
you,” she cried. “Get
out! Get out of my house. I never want to see you again.”
She pushed
him away from her so suddenly that he tripped over a small table and landed on
his sore shoulder. He gasped with
pain before struggling to his feet. “I’m sorry,
Claire. I really am,” he said
quietly as he made his way to the front door. “If there’s anything I can
do…?”
She glared
bitterly at him, still shaking with unspent emotion. “I’d never ask you for help
in a million years, Lee Crane.”
He stood
uncomfortably in the foyer, then reached for the door and left. Perhaps much later he would visit her
again. Right now her feelings were
too raw with the shock of Peter’s death. As he unlocked his car, he saw her
sister drive up.
“Lee,
how’d she take it?” asked Mary.
“I’m
glad you could come,” he said softly. “I’m afraid she’s
pretty angry with me right now.
With good reason, I didn’t bring him home for her.”
“I
know you would have done everything possible to save his life, Lee,” she
said kindly.
“It
wasn’t enough, Mary.”
He stared back at the door, deciding what to do.
Mary
reached out to him and pulled him into her arms, giving him an affectionate
hug. “She’s a strong
woman, maybe in a couple of weeks…” Her voice trailed off. “Thanks for calling me, Lee. You know they were trying for a child,
but it never happened.”
Lee’s
reply caught in his throat.
She took
his hand and squeezed it. “It
wasn’t your fault. He decided
to go on the mission, it was a choice he made.”
“I
owed him, now it’s too late.
The last thing he told me was to let Claire know how much he loved her
and that he was sorry, perhaps you would pass that on to her for me.”
“Of
course, Lee.”
He shook
away the memories and forced a smile.
“Thanks, Mary, I’ll be in touch.”
Lee got
into his car and sat for a couple of minutes until he was sure Claire would
answer the front door. He watched
in the rear view mirror as it opened and Mary pulled Claire into her arms on
the front porch. This moment had
been something he dreaded, but now it was over. His next task was to find Jamieson and
God help him if he didn’t have a damned good reason for missing Seaview’s departure.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Admiral
Nelson paced his office, pausing occasionally to stare at Seaview sitting peacefully in her pen. Unfortunately he was feeling anything
but the same as his invention. It
had been four days since Lee had requested and been granted extended shore
leave. Since then he hadn’t
seen or heard from him. He started
pacing again. He’d been
waiting for Chip to appear and was becoming impatient. It had been over an hour since
he’d left a message for him. Where the devil is he?
Nelson
turned on his heel and continued pacing until there was a knock on the
door. “Enter!”
Chip
hurried through the door.
“I’m sorry, Admiral, there were some problems loading
supplies on Seaview.”
“Never
mind that,” Nelson snapped.
“What’s more important is finding our errant Captain and our
Doctor. Have you seen Lee since we
docked?” asked Nelson.
“No,
Sir. Why?”
Nelson
rubbed his chin. “I had a
disturbing telephone call from Peter Kellogg’s sister-in-law, Mary. Apparently with ONI’s blessing,
Lee took it upon himself to tell Peter’s wife that he’d passed
away. She was distressed that
Kellogg’s wife had said some things that made Lee very upset.”
Chip sat
down slowly. “You’re
worried about him?”
“I
think we should try to find him,” admitted Nelson. “He took Kellogg’s death
badly, blamed himself and Doctor Barnes.” He sighed. “And me to a lesser extent. If I hadn’t accepted that doctor,
things might have been different. I
thought Lee was going to kill Barnes when he found him in the mess instead of
attending to Kellogg. Thank God you
made it there in time and calmed him down.”
Chip
loosened his tie. “Where do
we start?”
Nelson
handed him an airline ticket.
“Before we docked, Lee mentioned something about some time at
“Yes,
Sir.”
“For
the time being, I’d prefer to keep this low key. I doubt that Lee’s in
Chip
looked at his ticket. “I
guess I’d better pack.”
Nelson
looked at his watch. “I’ll
pick you up from your place in two hours.”
“I’ll
be ready. What do we do if
he’s not there?”
The older
man pursed his lips.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Now let’s get moving. I want to catch that plane.”
“Yes,
Sir,” Chip responded, fervently hoping that Lee would be at the ski
resort.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
At that
moment, Lee was nowhere near
Katerina
Murev leaned against the ruins, listening before she stepped through the wall. Lee followed her through to what
appeared to have been a kitchen.
“We
will wait here for a while,” whispered Katerina.
“Why?”
She pulled
out a small parcel of food and spread it out on the floor before sitting beside
it. “Eat, Lee.”
He sat
back against a wall and cradled his rifle in his arms, positioning himself so
that he had a clear view of all the entry points. “What are we waiting for,
Katerina?”
She held
out a piece of bread and cheese for him.
He sighed and took it with a grateful nod. From previous experience he knew that
there was no point trying to press Katerina into talking, she’d just clam
up.
Several
years ago he’d worked with her in the field and had been very impressed
by her professionalism. She was a
dedicated agent with the KGB, but an undercover operation to neutralize a
mutual threat had thrown them together.
They had their own ideals but both believed in the same values that drew
them together in their mission.
Nevertheless, it had been a difficult decision for him to ask for her
help to find Jamie. If he was
caught in a foreign country, that was one thing, but it would be instant death
for her if it was discovered she’d helped a westerner.
He
finished off the cheese and stood up, stretching his weary muscles. “What now?”
She rested
her long body back against the wall beside Lee. At just over six foot tall, she was
nearly as tall as him. Lee let his
eyes linger for a moment. Katerina
was trim, but she had all the attributes he liked in a woman. When he’d first met her, he had
resisted her discreet attempts to turn their working relationship into
something else. It would never have
worked. He turned his head and
brought his weapon up as a low whistle floated through the cold winter air.
“It’s
time. Follow me,” she told
him, lithely getting to her feet.
“Where
are we going?”
She gave
him a mischievous smile.
“You’ll see, my American friend.”
Lee
followed her outside the ruins and across the open space to a large
warehouse. She indicated that he
should stay where he was, and slipped off into the night. He wasn’t about to let her go off
on her own, so he ignored her order and tried to catch up as quietly as he
could. She approached a doorway
that still had two heavy metal doors attached and began to open one.
“Katerina,
wait,” Lee whispered as she eased inside.
He made it
to the doors as quickly as he could and caught a glimpse of her as she ran off
through the moon-sprinkled warehouse.
Cursing
silently he gave chase and saw her slip through a side door. He did the same, only to find himself
surrounded by men holding Kalashnikov AK-47 rifles. Each man wore dark clothing and
balaclavas masked their faces.
“You
led me into a trap,” he said bitterly slowly raising his hands as his
weapon was removed.
“Hands
against the wall,” ordered one of the men in broken English.
Lee did as
he was told as unseen hands conducted an efficient search of his clothes and
body. He was in a world of trouble
now. Here he was in the middle of
the
Katerina
stood before him, a beam of moonlight reflecting off the long blonde hair that
flowed from below her thick beaver skin hat. “Lee, it’s not what you
think.”
“What
do you mean?” he asked angrily.
She put
her hand on his shoulder.
“Trust me, Mllaya Moyna,” she replied tenderly.
Lee’s
hands were secured behind his back.
A gag was tied around his mouth and a
cloth bag pulled down over his head.
It was loosely fastened around his neck. This was a good sign, he thought. If he was going to die, it
wouldn’t matter what he saw.
Maybe there was some chance?
His instincts hadn’t told him Katerina would betray him, and his
feelings were usually right. He
relaxed somewhat and allowed himself to be guided to their destination.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Nelson
stood in front of the Copper Mountain Club
Resort Hotel, stamping his feet and rubbing his gloved hands together. It hadn’t occurred to him when Lee
had told him he was going to the resort that the ski season had just
ended. Still, there had been a late
snowfall that made him long for
“Dammit!”
snapped Chip, shoving the door as far open as its abused latches would
allow. “Nothing! He checked in but there are no clothes
or personal effects in the room. He
must have left right away. The
manager told me that he’d even paid in advance.”
“A
false trail,” muttered Nelson.
“He knew we’d come looking for him and he’s covering
his tracks.”
“What
next, Admiral?”
Nelson
stared at the snow-topped peaks and shook his head. “I don’t know, Chip. If Lee wants to disappear then he will. Maybe it’s time we focused our
attention on Jamie’s whereabouts.
There might be a clue there.”
“You
think he might go after Jamie?”
Nelson
gave him a grim smile. “What
would you do if you were in Lee’s shoes right now?”
Chip
nodded. “I’ll book us
on the next flight to
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Lee was in
a bad mood and it wasn’t getting any better. He’d tripped over rubble on the
ground a number of times and was sure he’d
cut a knee the last time he’d gone down. He had to admit that the men who’d
taken him prisoner had managed to catch him most times before he fell. They’d taken great care not to
damage him in any way, and it made him curious. Katerina had told him it wasn’t
what he thought – then what was it?
He’d been shocked when she’d led him straight into the
waiting arms of his captors. Since
they didn’t wear uniforms, he was pretty sure they weren’t
military. Perhaps some type of
mercenary group, but he didn’t think Katerina was into blackmail or
extortion.
“Stop!” Ordered one of his captors in Russian.
Lee felt
rough hands undo the hood and his hands.
He was pushed softly into a small cell, the door closing quickly behind
him. It didn’t take him long
to untie the gag. As he did, he
looked at his surroundings. The
cell was small, cold and dingy, but at least he wasn’t restrained. He sighed and sat down on the seemingly
un-infested bunk and pulled up his trouser legs. Just as he’d thought there was a
deep cut on one knee, the other was just bruised. He roughly shoved them back down and
gave a soft curse. He suddenly felt
stupid for letting himself get caught so easily. Maybe Jamie wasn’t even in
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
The next
thing he felt was a hand circling his wrist. On instinct alone he twisted the hand
and had the man down on the floor beneath him groaning with pain until he heard
the snick of a safety catch.
“Come
now, Commander, is that any way to greet an old friend? Please let him go.”
He looked
up at a bear-like man who held the 9mm pistol like it was an extension of his
own hand.
“Lee,”
gasped the voice below him.
“You’re really hurting me.”
Lee froze
where he was, then quickly helped the man to his feet. “Jamie?” he asked incredulously.
The man
didn’t look anything like the Will Jamieson he knew. His eyes were tired and bloodshot, a few
weeks worth of beard covered his face and he looked skinnier than Lee had ever
seen him.
“What
the hell are you doing here?” Lee growled, suddenly angry. “You should have been on Seaview when she sailed four weeks
ago.”
“That’s
enough!” yelled the man with the gun, which was still aimed in Lee’s
direction. “Come along,
Doctor. It’s obvious he needs
some time to calm down. When you
can speak with a civil tongue to Doctor Jamieson, then you will be shown some
courtesy.”
Jamieson
gave Lee an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry, Sir.
I really am.”
Without
further explanation he walked out of the cell, leaving Lee alone once
more. In hindsight, that probably
hadn’t been a wise move as Lee now felt the urge to punch something
really hard and the nearest thing was the door.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
“Yaroslav,
don’t worry, I know he’ll calm down. Right now he’s angry. I’m not sure why but there’s
always a good reason. I’ve
never seen him like this before,” said Jamie, hoping to smooth the way
for Lee. “He won’t be a
problem. I know Lee Crane. Once he sees the children he’ll do
what he can to help.”
“I
agree with the Doctor,” said Katerina. “Otherwise I would not have risked
bringing him here.”
Yaroslav
nodded. “I understand, but I
will still take some precautions until I can be certain. If the Russian Special Forces discover
us…” He ran one finger
across his neck in a scythe-like motion.
“Please,
trust our instincts,” pleaded Katerina.
“Very
well, I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Now, it’s late. Doctor, why don’t you get some
sleep? You’re tired, I can
see it,” rumbled the big man.
Jamie
nodded. He was tired. He couldn’t remember a time over
the last few years that he’d ever felt this tired. The chain
of events his abduction had set in place had far reaching ramifications. He hadn’t expected his Captain to
come looking for him in the
He stood
up and stretched.
“You’re right.
I’ll catch a couple of hours then check on the children.”
Before
Jamie even had a chance to leave the small office a trim brunette in a
nurse’s uniform hurried into the room. From the color in her face it was
obvious she’d been running.
“Doctor?”
“Yes,
Linda? What’s wrong?”
“Please,
come quickly, it’s Marisha.
She’s taken a turn for the worse.”
Jamieson muttered
a string of swear words under his breath.
If anyone from Seaview had
been listening they wouldn’t have believed it. He followed Linda quickly down the long
corridor and into a large ward. It
wasn’t a normal ward. The
walls were lined with children’s beds and cots, all full. One glance was enough to see that the
children suffered from various stages of illness. Marisha was worse, tossing and turning, a
lather of sweat on her face.
“When did you notice she was like
this?” asked Jamie, checking her heart rate and respiration.
“Not
long, maybe ten minutes,” she replied in halting English.
He picked
up the chart to check when Marisha had the last dose of medication and looked
at his watch. “I can’t
give her any more for an hour. Keep
her cool and I’ll put in an IV to keep her fluids up. Once the drip’s in, administer 2
cc of morphine to help with the pain, then I want you to get some rest.”
Linda
visibly relaxed as Jamieson spoke in his normal calm manner. “Thank you, Doctor.”
He gave
her a smile that belied the fear he felt in his stomach. “She’ll be fine.”
Once the
drip and morphine had been administered, Linda left Jamie to watch over the
girl. It was going to be a rough
night, one of many since he’d made the choice to see this through. He put his hand on the girl’s
forehead. It was still hot, but
felt like it was cooling, then he got comfortable on the chair beside the bed.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
“Lee,
if I come in there, will you be nice?” Katerina stared at him through a metal
grating in the door.
He ignored
her and lay back on the bed. Still,
he heard the door unlock and then relock behind her.
“You
weren’t very nice to your Doctor.
Why?”
Lee
continued staring at the paint peeling from the ceiling. “Why do you think?”
“What,
because you think he is a traitor?”
It was a
question that had begun to nag him and Katerina was forcing him to acknowledge
it. “No! I don’t know.”
She made a
rude sound. “Do you have any
idea how much trouble Yaroslav went to just to kidnap him and bring him
here?”
He turned
his head to meet her eyes.
“Kidnap him?”
“That’s
right. Surely you didn’t
think he would betray you or his country?” She tsked. “Lee, that’s so unlike
you. What happened to make you so
bitter?”
Had he
become bitter? He hadn’t
noticed, but he remembered the last thing he’d said to the Admiral had
been uncharacteristically harsh.
Now he was stuck somewhere in
Katerina
sat beside him. “Lee, please,
look at me. Your doctor is a very
good man. I know you’re
angry. I don’t know why,
please tell me?”
Lee
cradled his fist in his left hand and sat up. “If Jamie had been on Seaview when I’d returned from a
mission, there’s a possibility – a strong one - that one of my good
friends would still be alive.”
She stared
morosely at her feet.
“Oh.”
“Is
that all you have to say?”
“What
can I say, Lee. Once you see what he’s done here
– what he’s doing, you’ll understand.”
“And
when will that happen?”
“Now,
Commander. Since you are behaving
like a reasonable man again I will allow you some freedom,” said
Yaroslav. He’d entered unseen
behind the KGB agent.
“Katerina, why don’t you escort our guest to Doctor
Jamieson, on one condition - he must promise not to try to damage any more
doors.”
Lee
didn’t miss the wry humor in the big Russian’s voice. He sighed, defeated. “I promise,” he replied
grudgingly.
Yaroslav
called two guards into the room.
“You understand, Commander, I trust you on Katerina’s
recommendation, but I must still be cautious.”
“Of
course,” Lee replied graciously, still feeling more than a little
confused at the turn of events.
Katerina
led him down a long corridor, which was equally as dark and dingy as his
cell.
“Where
are we going, Katerina?”
“You’ll
see. I think you will have quite a
shock, my Lee.” She stopped
in front of two swinging doors and flung them open. “After you.”
The sight
before him was nothing like he’d suspected. There were children of all ages playing,
sleeping and being tended by two nurses and Jamie. His breath caught in his throat as he
realized that some of the babies had severe birth defects.
“What…?”
Jamieson
looked around from what he was doing and gave Lee a tentative smile. “How are you feeling,
Captain?”
Lee
didn’t answer, but stood where he was, staring open-mouthed at the scene
before him. Jamie motioned for one
of the nurses to finish what he’d been doing and approached Lee
cautiously.
“You
look like you need a coffee. Come
on, I’ll buy you breakfast.
How on earth did you find me here?”
He gave
Jamie a grin. “It’s
amazing how the police never bother to check with lowly maids. One of them remembered seeing you walk
from your room into the service elevator.
She thought it was strange, because she knew you were a guest attending
the convention. She gave me a good
description of the men and I might have, er… borrowed ONI resources to
track them down..”
“Figures. Anyway, I’m glad you’re
here. I was worried about the
mission you went on. It’s
nice to see you came back without any injuries.”
Lee ducked
his head so Jamie couldn’t see the expression on his face, then followed
as Jamie led him into another room, all the while being watched closely by one
of the guards.
“Where
are we?”
Jamie
poured him a cup of coffee from a steaming kettle which he replaced on an
antiquated pot-bellied stove.
“We’re
on the outskirts of a small town called Masty. This town used to house an insane asylum.” He paused. “I’m sorry I wasn’t
there for you. I don’t know
what happened.” He gently
lifted Lee’s right fist and frowned at the damage. “Why don’t you tell me about
it?”
Jamie
motioned for Katerina to hand him a first aid kit, and silently tended
Lee’s hand and wrist. He knew
something bad must have happened for Lee to turn up as he did, harboring so
much anger. It wasn’t the
Captain he knew from Seaview.
“Anything
else I need to know about?”
Lee
hesitated then lifted his trouser leg with his left hand, revealing the cut on
his knee. He was relieved when
Jamie stayed silent.
“I…I’m
sorry for the way I behaved earlier,” he admitted. “The last mission was bad. I regret to say that I unfairly put some
blame on you, and the Admiral as well.” He winced as Jamie finished bandaging
his wrist. “I guess I was a
little confused when you woke me up, too.
It was a shock seeing you like that.”
“It
wasn’t exactly the way I wanted to greet you, either. I don’t think it’s broken
– this time. Go on…” he prompted before
turning his attention to his Captain’s knee.
“Do
you remember an agent by the name of Peter Kellogg?” Even now saying Peter’s name hurt.
Jamie’s
brows knitted together in a frown as he thought. “Yes, I think you went on a camping
trip with him and his wife last July.”
Lee
swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. “He didn’t make it. I wasn’t there early enough to
save him. I got him back to the
boat but the relief doctor… the doctor wasn’t even in sick bay when
he was needed. He died on Seaview, an hour after I got him
onboard.”
Jamie
watched as Lee buried his head in his hands. He tentatively put a hand out in support
and patted him on the shoulder.
“What was it?”
“Pneumonia,
malnutrition, he was so weak when I found him,” Lee’s voice broke.
And no doubt you took it upon yourself to tell
his family in person, didn’t you, Jamie thought silently as he cleaned and dressed
Lee’s leg.
“I’m
very sorry I wasn’t there for you, Lee,” he said softly.
Lee looked
away from him briefly. When he
turned back Jamie could see he’d composed himself again.
“What
happened? Why did they take
you?” He waved his hands at
the ward behind them. “I know
it’s for a medical reason, I’m just not sure what all this
is.”
“
“Why
were you brought here? There are
doctors all over the world who could treat these kids,” reasoned Lee.
Jamie
poured himself a coffee and leaned back in the wooden chair. “I’ve been working on a cure
for thyroid cancer. It seems that
most of the cancers affecting the children are the same type. I’ve been working on a vaccine for
the better part of two years. I was
almost at trial stage when I went to the conference. Yaroslav provided me with a laboratory
second to none, even the Nelson Institute.
With his help I’ve been able to almost perfect it. I’m only days away from a trial on
three of the worst cases. This type
of thyroid cancer is highly aggressive.
It will kill most people within the first year of diagnosis.”
Lee pushed
his trouser leg down after Jamie bandaged it. He stood up and walked to the open
doorway. He stared long and hard at
the happy youngsters playing as if nothing was wrong with them. “Where are the worst cases?”
“The
more advanced patients are kept in a separate ward where they can be
monitored. It’s a twenty-four
hour job, and they only have a skeleton staff. Six nurses split between here and the
high care ward. And myself,”
he added. “The last doctor
was killed trying to cross back into
“Why
aren’t the Russian authorities involved?”
Jamie
shook his head. Lee saw a deep
sadness in his eyes.
“They’ve
swept it under the carpet. If they
admit liability then they’ll be up for all the medical costs associated with
all the victims – or survivors, depending on how you look at it.”
Lee stared
around the room. “Who pays
for all this, and the lab equipment you’ve got?”
“It
turns out Yaroslav is heavily involved in the black market.” Jamie stood up. “Don’t judge him too
harshly, Lee.”
He eyed
the two guards that remained at the door.
“Am I a prisoner?”
“No. He just kept you in the cell until he
thought you’d calmed down enough not to yell at me,” he
grinned. “They’re just
a precautionary measure until he knows he can trust you.”
“Where
is he?”
“He’s
gone out for a while. I expect
he’s selling some goods.”
Lee
frowned. “What type of
goods?”
“I’ve
never asked, and I don’t mean to either. Look at these kids Lee. Do you think they care where the money comes
from? All they know is that
Yaroslav’s providing them with a home and medical care. Hell, until I got here, their life
expectancy was about six months.
Some, even less.”
“Sorry
Jamie, I didn’t mean it like that,” said Lee, feeling somewhat put
in his place.
Jamie took
a deep breath. “I
haven’t slept much since I’ve been here. I guess I’m a bit
irritable.”
“We
need to see what we can do about getting these kids some better
facilities.”
“How? If their own government ignores them,
what hope do we have of highlighting
their struggle?”
Lee
finally gave Jamie a smile.
“If the Admiral knew about this, he’d move heaven and earth
to figure out a solution.”
Jamieson
frowned. “It’s too
dangerous, Lee. I don’t want
him or Seaview involved. The political implications would be
significant if anyone found out.”
“Do
you really think the Admiral, or Chip for that matter, would allow both their
Doctor and Captain to disappear without launching an investigation?”
Jamie
looked at him sheepishly.
“When can we expect them?”
“Last
I heard from my contact they’d booked a flight to
Jamie
suddenly looked crestfallen.
“Do you think he’ll understand?”
“That
you stayed after they gave you a chance to leave?”
“Yes.”
Lee put
his hand on Jamie’s shoulder.
“Of course he will.”
Then he grinned. “He
might take a day or two to calm down, but then he’ll understand.”
Jamie
rewarded him with a grateful smile.
“Thanks, Lee.
I’ll take you for a tour.”
“After
all, I’ll be in the firing line as well. Officially the Admiral wanted me to
leave your disappearance to the authorities, but I had a suspicion that
he’d be happy just to find his CMO.” Lee looked out of the window. “Who’s that?”
A young
boy who looked to be about seven was bouncing a ball outside on what was left
of an old concrete pad. His
complexion was not dissimilar to Lee’s, except his dark hair had grown to
his shoulders and was a mass of tangled knots and curls.
“Ah,
yes, that’s Alexei.
He’s been here for about four months. He doesn’t remember much of what
happened. I don’t think he
wants to. He pretty much keeps to
himself.” Jamieson became
melancholy. “I’m afraid
I haven’t been able to get him to open up, it doesn’t help that he
doesn’t speak English and I don’t speak Russian.”
The boy
stopped bouncing the ball and stared back at Lee. The world-weary look on his face tugged
at Lee’s heart.
“I
think I’ll take that tour later, Jamie. I’m going to play some
ball,” and with that he opened the door and walked over to the boy.
The guards
made to follow him, but Jamie waved them off. “I don’t think he’s
going anywhere.”
Lee eased back
against the wall for a while, just looking at the child. He couldn’t help wondering why he
was playing outside alone in the cold.
Eventually he managed to figure out that he was playing a form of solo
basketball without the hoop.
Without saying anything Lee walked over to a pile of old junk, picked
out some items and went back inside.
He looked
at Jamie, then the guards.
“Do you have any tools here?” he asked in Russian.
The two
men gave each other a puzzled look.
“There are some, why?”
“I
want to make him,” he indicated the boy, “a basketball hoop.”
“Oh,”
said the taller guard, still looking none the wiser. “Follow me.”
The guard
took Lee to a workshop and this time left him to his own devices. Lee quickly found what he was looking for,
adding some more parts to his supply and returned to the yard. He bent down on one knee and began to
make the hoop. It wasn’t long
before his actions tweaked the curiosity of the boy and Lee found he had an
audience.
“Would
you like to help?” he asked.
The boy
nodded slowly.
“Hold
this.”
He gave
him the end of a long metal pipe and showed him how to tightly wedge it against
a lump of concrete. From there Lee
attached a roughly made hoop. He
tied rope around the middle of the pole and anchored it to the ground with rope
before stabilizing the base with concrete debris.
The boy
looked up at him, then at the hoop and gave Lee a small smile. He bounced the ball towards the hoop and
threw it, getting it in the first time.
Lee clapped his hands and gave Alexei a thumbs-up. He was surprised when he threw the ball
towards Lee.
“You
throw, too.”
Lee
stepped back, ignoring the ache in his wrist and took a long throw, missing the
goal on purpose. He held his hands
up helpless as the boy gave him a suspicious look before chasing after the
ball.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
From
inside, Jamie watched Lee’s progress with interest. It was the first time Alexei had shown
any interest in another human being.
He wondered if Lee somehow knew that. His Skipper was a very intuitive man.
“They
look good together, don’t they, Doctor,” Katerina remarked, standing beside
him.
“Yes,
they do. Perhaps this is good
therapy for both of them.”
“Hmm,
I noticed he was different this time, more…how do you say
it…isolated from me.”
“Introspective,
I think is the word you’re thinking of,” he replied. “Did he tell you what
happened?”
“Only
that his last mission ended with his friend’s death.”
“That’s
right. He still hasn’t told
me everything. Maybe in
time…”
Katerina gave
him a brief hug. “You are
both good friends. I knew that from
the last time I went on a mission with Lee. He will forgive whatever he thinks you
did wrong, or he will apologize for the way he blamed you.”
“He
already has. That’s what
makes him such a good leader and friend.”
Jamie
returned his attention to what was happening outside. By now the two were engaged in what
Jamie could only call a battle of wills.
Lee had shrugged his coat off and Alexei had pushed up his sleeves. He could see a sheen of perspiration on
both of their faces as Alexei dribbled the ball towards the goalpost.
“Should
Alexei be playing so hard?”
Jamie gave
her a smile. “It’s
probably the best medicine in the world,” he replied as Alexei laughed
heartily when Lee ended up on the ground.
“It’s Lee I’m worried about. It’d be just my luck for him to
fall on his knee again.”
“Ha! He is big and ugly enough to look out
for himself, Doctor.”
“I’m
afraid I have to concede on that point.”
“Have
you known him for a long time?”
“Yes,
Katerina. Long enough to know that
nobody ever gets to see the real Lee Crane.”
“Why
do you say that?”
Jamie
suddenly realized he’d said too much. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken about him
like that. He’s a very
private person.”
One corner
of her perfect lips lifted in a smirk.
“You forget, Doctor, I also know him well enough to understand it
takes time to earn his friendship.”
He looked
at his watch. It was time to do his
rounds. “I have to see to the
children.”
“Thank
you, for all of us,” her voice was unexpectedly thick with emotion. “These children have no parents,
they have nothing but you.”
“I…” Jamie was at a loss for words. He felt warmth rise to his cheeks and
quickly made his excuses.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
“Phew,
Alexei, I think it’s time we had a rest,” puffed Lee.
The young
boy had played hard, and Lee had found himself having to work back more times
that he could count. His knee and
wrist had already begun to ache and he knew Jamie would be upset if he had to
give him more attention.
Alexei
took his hand and tugged on it, wanting Lee to go somewhere with him.
“Where
are we going?”
Alexei
just smiled and Lee found himself tagging after the waif. They soon left the buildings
behind. Just as Lee was beginning
to worry that Jamie might miss him, Alexei veered off down a path into a deep
quarry. The quarry hadn’t
been worked in some time by the looks of it and old machinery scattered the
moon-like desolate landscape.
“In
here,” said Alexei.
Lee
stopped to look at the entrance to a tunnel. It was hard to tell whether it was
man-made or a cave that had opened up at the side of the quarry. He held Alexei back as the boy continued
to tug Lee’s hand, urging Lee to follow into the cave.
“This
could be dangerous,” Lee warned.
Alexei
frowned and shook his head vigorously.
“Show you.
Secret”
Lee looked
back towards the top of the quarry.
Nobody knew where they were if something should happen, and there was no
telling how stable the ground was.
He knelt
down so he was at eye level with Alexei.
“Not today, Alexei, it’s getting late. I have to go back to see the Doctor, and
you do too.”
He screwed
his face up. “No, want to
play.”
“Do
you think we could teach some of the others how to play basketball?” asked
Lee, hoping to distract him.
A glimmer
of interest reached his eyes.
“You teach?”
Lee stood
up. “We teach,” he said
with a grin.
Alexei
forgot the tunnel and set a grueling pace back up the quarry road. When they were almost at the buildings,
Lee found himself in trouble with Yaroslav’s guards.
“We
have been looking for you. Where
did you go?”
He noticed
both Katerina and Jamie had walked over to where he stood. “Alexei, go and play. Show the others the game.”
Alexei
looked at the guards and shook his head.
“No, you are in trouble.
I help.”
“Not
this time,” he replied gently as he gave the boy a gentle push towards
the hospital building.
It
wasn’t until Alexei had stepped through the door that Lee faced the
guards. “I did nothing wrong.”
“Yaroslav
is angry. You leave without telling
us.”
Lee looked
towards Jamie and Katerina for support, but surprisingly saw none coming from
Katerina. Jamie looked
bewildered. “I don’t
understand why you’re all so upset.”
“Where
did you go, Commander?”
Lee
hadn’t heard Yaroslav walk up behind him. He turned to face him. “For a walk.”
“Lee,
why don’t you tell them?” urged Jamie.
“If
you were so worried that I’d leave, then why didn’t your guards
follow me, Yaroslav?”
Yaroslav brandished
his weapon at Lee. “Is it
possible that you used a transmitter?”
“What? This is ridiculous. Why would I do that?”
Lee saw an
abrupt change from the kind-hearted, affable black marketeer to the cold
Russian General. “Answer my
question or you will be sorry.”
“No,
I did not.”
“Then
where were you?”
“With
Alexei,” he replied evasively, not wanting to damage the relationship
he’d formed with the boy.
“Take
him to the room,” added the Russian.
“I don’t want the children to see.”
Lee stared
at Katerina as two guards grabbed his arms and pulled out a length of cord to
tie his wrists together.
“Yaroslav,
what are you doing?” Jamieson
asked, apparently as puzzled as Lee.
“Lee, what’s going on?”
Katerina
captured his arm. “Do not
involve yourself, Doctor,” she replied in English.
“We
went to my secret place,” said a small voice.
Lee looked
down at Alexei, surprised that the child had understood that Lee was in trouble
and wanted to rescue him. He shook
himself free and bent down to scoop Alexei into his arms. “Alexei, I told you to play with
the other children,” he reverted to Russian so the child would understand
him.
Alexei
pouted. “No, you in
trouble. I help,” he insisted
again.
He wormed
his way out of Lee’s arms and ran to Yaroslav. “Come, I show you. Is a secret. Only you, nobody else.”
“Hold
him here,” Yaroslav ordered.
Once
again, Lee found himself standing before the Russian AK 47’s.
“Jamie,
what the hell happened while I was gone?” said Lee, suddenly ticked at
the mess the two Seaview men found
themselves in.
Jamie
glanced at the Russians.
“I’m not sure, Lee.
I thought they were worried about you doing a disappearing act. Now I think it’s something more
serious, but they didn’t tell me what it was.”
Katerina
scuffed her boot in the snow, not meeting his eyes. “He thinks you have used a
transmitter to call the military.”
“That’s
ridiculous!” snapped Lee.
“Why would I do that?”
He saw
Yaroslav and Alexei appear from around the corner of a building. Alexei ran up to Lee and threw his hands
around his waist. “No trouble
any more, Lee.”
“I
am sorry, Commander. I am too
suspicious of outsiders. Alexei
told me where he took you and gave me the grand tour,” he admitted. “I hope you understand.”
Lee nodded
slowly. “If I had something
as precious to protect as these kids, I’d be just as cautious.”
The
incident had served as a timely reminder of how precarious his situation was in
Belarus. Whilst Jamie was
irreplaceable, he was expendable.
“I
must contact my friends in the local military to alleviate their
concerns.” He winked at
Katerina. “I think three
bottles of Vodka for each officer should be enough. Commander, walk with me for a
moment.”
Lee gently
unhooked Alexei from his waist and ruffled his hair. “Thanks, Alexei. You were very brave.”
Alexei’s
face lit up like a Christmas tree and he ran back into the building, yelling
for the other children to play basketball.
Lee strode out to catch up with Yaroslav.
“What
is it?” asked Lee once they were out of earshot.
“Somebody
told the military we were here. I
had a radio message from one of the officers in Masty, warning me that I might
have visitors. Fortunately, he was
able to deter them from investigating what was obviously a, how you say, prank
call. I am lucky that I still have
many friends who serve their country.
If it was not you, then I have a problem.”
Lee could
see now why he’d had an unfriendly reception from Yaroslav. “Do you have any idea who it might
be?”
“Not
yet, but I will find out and when I do the traitor will wish they had never
spoken. You will come with
me.”
“Why?”
“There
is someone I would like you to see.”
“If
the military knew who Jamie and I were…”
Yaroslav
slapped Lee so hard on the back he almost felt winded. “Your identity will not be
discovered. Besides, you speak
Russian almost better than most Russians I know,” he laughed motioning
one of the guards closer. “I
think you will find this interesting.
Yuri, give him your coat, he will need it. ”
Lee
didn’t look back at Jamie, he knew the doctor would worry about him, but
it couldn’t be helped. He
wondered where the Admiral and Chip were.
But, more importantly he wondered how long it would take Jamie to
perfect his cure so they could leave this place.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Nelson sat with Chip at a small restaurant near the
plaza. They didn’t speak
until the waiter had taken their order and disappeared. It was still early in the day, so the
regular lunchtime crowd hadn’t yet arrived.
“This was the last place we know for certain he was
sighted,” said Nelson.
Chip could see he was becoming frustrated. They had been in the small town of
“Admiral!” hissed Chip. “Look, over there, it’s
Lee. He’s with that big
Russian and an Army officer.”
Nelson slowly turned in his chair, giving any casual
observers the impression that he was just taking in the view.
By the time Nelson saw the three men, only their backs were
visible. It was definitely his
Captain. Even with the trench coat
on, he would know Lee’s loping stride anywhere. The three men stepped into a building
marked Army Headquarters.
“Now what?” asked Chip.
Nelson shrugged.
“Now we order another coffee.”
The Admiral watched as Chip fidgeted in his chair. He knew the XO wasn’t good at the
waiting game, especially if it involved Lee.
“Let’s just hope we don’t have to break
him out of there,” Chip mumbled.
“Hmm, what I’d like to know is if he found
Jamie,” said Nelson, lighting up a Russian cigarette.
Nelson and Chip waited until the café became busier,
then found another down the street where they could continue to observe the
building without becoming conspicuous.
Finally to Nelson’s relief, Lee and the big Russian left the
building and walked down the street towards them. He gave Chip a look as he tugged his hat
on, pleased when the XO followed suit and turned away from Lee. Neither of them wanted to blow
Lee’s cover if he was using a pseudonym.
“Come on, we’ll follow them at a
distance.”
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
As Lee and Yaroslav approached the hospital, Katerina ran
out of the door. “Lee, you
must go to the Doctor. I’ve
never seen him like this before.”
She grabbed his arm and dragged him after her.
“Katerina, what happened?”
“I don’t know. I just saw him in the laboratory, he was
very upset. Nobody could calm him
down.”
Katerina took
him to the laboratory and stood at the closed door. “I think it is best if you go in
alone.”
Lee nodded.
“Just let everyone know not to disturb us.”
He listened at the door for a moment. When he heard the sound of glass
smashing he slowly pushed it open.
“I’m so close, what am I missing. I must
find the cure,” Jamie snapped, obviously frustrated.
Lee stepped inside and silently closed the door. He was dismayed to see Jamie push a
beaker of liquid off the workbench and onto the floor.
“Jamie,” he said softly.
Jamie swung around, his eyes wild until he realized it was
Lee. “I’ve hit a brick
wall. I don’t know what to
try next,” he said, pushing his hair back from his face with shaking
hands. “I can’t let
these children die.”
Lee opened his mouth to speak, then quickly shut it. He’d never seen Jamie this
agitated. If one wrong word came
out of his mouth, he could lose him.
He decided on a diversionary tactic. “When was the last time you
ate?”
Jamie sank down onto a stool. “I…I don’t
know.”
“I’m going to get us both some coffee and
something to eat. At least
you’ll be able to tell that I’m
eating for a change,” he said with a twinkle in his amber eyes.
Lee was pleased to see Jamie’s lips lift in a small
smile. “That sounds
great.”
“I’ll be back in a minute,” he promised
the Doctor.
He turned to walk away when he saw something through the
windows. “Uh-oh.”
“What is it?” asked Jamie, turning to see what
Lee was looking at.
Two men were being walked into the yard, one was much
shorter than the other. Both had
their hands tied and both wore bags over their heads as Lee had done when
he’d first been brought to the hospital.
Jamie met Lee’s eyes. “Do you think…?”
Lee pursed his lips together. “Yes, it’s got to be Chip
and the Admiral.”
“Oh.”
Jamie’s expression was downcast.
Lee squeezed his arm.
“It’ll be fine.
I’ll smooth things over after I’ve asked Katerina to get some
coffee and food into you. In the
meantime, take a break and try to rest.
I know you can figure it out, Jamie. You’re a damned good doctor. Despite how I feel about sick bay,
it’s never had anything to do with you personally.”
“Thanks, Lee.”
Lee left Jamie and found Katerina speaking to Yaroslav. There was no sign of either the Admiral
or Chip.
Yaroslav looked up as Lee approached the table. “Commander, I did not think you
would be too far away. You know who
has just arrived?”
He nodded.
“The Admiral and Lieutenant Commander Morton if I’m not
mistaken. Are they alright?”
“They are fine, Lee,” replied Katerina. “Would you like to see
them?”
“Yes. But
first, would you mind getting Doctor Jamieson some coffee and something to eat,
Katerina?”
“Is he much better?” Her pretty eyes reflected concern.
“He just needs to get some rest.”
Yaroslav stood up.
“Come, I will take you to your Admiral and friend.”
He followed Yaroslav through the maze of small passages
until he stopped at the cell door where Lee had been imprisoned initially. He knew neither of the two men inside
would be very happy about their situation.
“Would you like to go inside? Or would you rather I left them there
for a while?” asked Yaroslav, his mouth twitching with amusement at Lee’s
discomfort.
Lee sighed.
“I think that would only make matters worse.”
Yaroslav opened the door and Lee walked through to find the
Admiral and Chip sitting unhappily on the solitary bunk bed in the room.
Chip jumped up when he saw Lee. “Lee! What’s going on?”
“Admiral, Chip, are you both okay?”
“Yes, but what the devil is going on, Lee?”
snapped Nelson.
Lee looked towards Yaroslav who nodded in silent
understanding. “You’re
free men, but there’s something you need to see before you decide what
course of action to take.”
Both Nelson and Chip looked confused. He could understand how they felt, just
five days ago he’d felt the same.
“Let me introduce Yaroslav Chuchin. He’s ex-Russian military, but now
runs a black market operation in…let’s just say for things that are
in demand.”
“I am pleased to meet you both.” Yaroslav extended his hand towards
Nelson first.
After a moment’s hesitation the Admiral took his hand
and shook it. Yaroslav did the same
with Chip, who was a little more reticent but eventually took the peace
offering for what it was.
“Perhaps it would be best if you showed them around
the hospital, Yaroslav.”
Yaroslav nodded then led the other men from the cell. Lee watched and listened to both Nelson
and Chip’s reactions as Yaroslav explained what he was doing in
Nelson took him by the arm and steered him away from the
other two. “I knew Jamie was
working on a cure. Has he found it
yet?”
“Yes, he’s very close but he’s getting
frustrated. He hasn’t been
sleeping, and I doubt he’s eaten much since he’s been here
either. It’s tearing him
apart. He feels like he’s
failing them by not figuring it out.” Lee took a chance. “I told him you’d help once
you got here.”
Nelson paused to look around him. “Lee…”
“Please, Sir, just talk to him, see what you can
do. If I had even a small bit of
medical knowledge I’d give it all I’ve got.”
Nelson shook his head.
“This is not a normal situation. If this was a western country, perhaps,
but it’s not. We’re in
a hostile land where détente is just a fancy French word. If we’re found…”
“I know that, Admiral,” snapped Lee. Nelson glared at him and he looked down
at his feet. “Sorry, Sir,
that was out of line. I know you
would do something if you could.”
The Admiral glanced around the facility once again. “I’ll speak with Jamieson,
but I’m not making any promises.
There may be someone who can help us.”
“Lee, Lee.
Are these the friends you have told me about?” cried an excited
voice.
“Alexei.”
Lee bent down to hoist the small boy onto his shoulder. “I’d like you to meet
Admiral Nelson and Chip.”
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Nelson looked on, shocked while he watched Lee pick up the young
orphan as if it was the most natural thing in the world. What had happened to the tortured soul
who’d disappeared to look for their CMO? Lee looked happy and contented. It hadn’t escaped his attention
that Lee was also favoring his right hand.
He would have noticed even without the white bandage that was barely
covered by his coat sleeve.
“What happened to your hand?”
Lee gave him a sheepish look. “When I first got here I was still
a bit angry about everything. I,
uh, took it out on the cell door.”
“Any permanent damage?”
“No, Sir.”
Lee returned his attention to Alexei. “Why don’t you show the
Admiral how well you can play basketball with the others?”
The boy’s small dark eyes stared up at Lee as the
Captain returned him to the ground.
“Will you play, Lee?”
The pleading note in his voice left Nelson with the distinct
impression that an unlikely bond had been formed between two human beings.
Lee in turn looked towards Nelson.
“Go ahead, I’ll be interested to see who
wins. After that perhaps we can get
on with the business of seeing Jamie,” he growled half-heartedly.
Nelson followed the two outside where he was joined by Chip
and Yaroslav. Chip hadn’t
said much and Nelson knew he was as stunned as he was at this turn of events.
“How long has Lee been here, Yaroslav?” asked
Chip.
“Five days.
Why?”
Chip gazed at Lee and Alexei playing basketball together
like old friends. Nelson knew what
he was thinking. “What Chip
is interested in is how quickly Lee and Alexei became friends.”
“Almost straight away, I think they are good for each
other. Alexei had not spoken a word
to anyone until the Commander arrived.”
“But when we leave here, what will happen then?”
asked Chip.
Nelson stepped in.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,
Chip.” He looked at the two
playing on the makeshift court as Alexei gave a triumphant cry.
Lee held his
hands up in defeat. “I think
I need a rest.” He knelt down
on his good knee in front of
Alexei. “I need to take my
other friends to see Doctor Jamieson for a while.”
The boy smiled.
“I will help Nurse Linda while you are gone.”
Lee watched him head back to the hospital building and
returned to the audience at the sidelines.
“Yaroslav, can I take them to see Jamie now?”
“Certainly, Commander. I will leave you, but perhaps you could
tell me where you are going before you leave the compound again?” he
reminded Lee with a smile.
Lee acquiesced.
“Yes, I will. This
way, Admiral, Chip.”
“What was all that about, Lee?” asked Chip.
“It seems he has a traitor in his ranks. He thought it was me after I left the
area with Alexei. Things got a bit
sticky for a minute.”
“That’s another complication we don’t
need,” the Admiral pointed out.
“I take it whoever it is wants to put a stop to Yaroslav’s
activities.”
Lee ran his hand through his dark crop of hair. “I’m not sure which part of
his activities they want to stop.
Katerina might have a better idea than me.”
He stopped in front of a doorway. “Jamie’s through there. Please, go easy on him, Admiral. It’s been pretty rough on
him.”
Nelson nodded.
“I won’t make any promises, Lee. I need my CMO back, and I won’t
accept second best again.”
A flicker of pain lanced through his Captain’s eyes
then was gone as quickly as it appeared.
“Admiral, about what I said back on Seaview, before I left…”
“Forget it, lad.
You’d just lost a friend.
I would have felt the same way.”
Lee never failed to marvel at Nelson’s ability to
forgive and forget when he really needed it so much. There were times when the Admiral could
be downright unmanageable and unreasonable, but he made up for those tenfold by
saying what he had just said.
The two men made eye contact briefly, something passed
between them and Lee gave him a tenuous smile.
“I guess we’d better go in and see Jamie.”
He pushed the door open and was pleased to see that Katerina
was helping to clean up the shards of shattered glass from the floor. An empty plate and half a crust sat on
the workbench to Jamie’s left, along with a still steaming cup of
coffee. Lee saw the look on the
Admiral’s face from the corner of his eye. Jamie still hadn’t shaved and wore
the same haunted look he had when Lee had first seen him here.
“Doctor Jamieson.”
Uh-oh, thought Lee, he’s using that tone of voice.
Hadn’t he heard a thing he’d said?
Jamie abruptly stopped cleaning up the glass and stood to
attention. “Yes, Sir.”
Nelson’s expression softened when he saw the depth of
Jamie’s torment. “When
did you last get some sleep?”
Lee watched as Jamie tried to figure out what should have
been an easy question to answer.
“Go and get some sleep, that’s an order. I’m sure we can clean up
what’s left of this mess.
Where’s your research?
Lee’s filled me in on most things.”
Jamie pulled together a stack of papers and shoved it
uncharacteristically into a file which he then handed to the Admiral. “All my notes are in here.”
Nelson sighed and took them. “Lee, can you make sure he gets to
bed?”
“Yes, Admiral.” Lee took Jamie’s elbow and gently
steered him out the door. “I
told you he’d help, Jamie.”
“I know, Lee, I just…I didn’t contact you
or come back when I had the chance.
I won’t blame him if he’s upset with me.”
Lee shook his head as his eyes met Jamie’s. “How long have you known the
Admiral, Jamie?”
“About ten years, why?”
He smiled.
“Don’t you know him by now?” Lee was pleased to see Jamie finally
relax a little.
“You’re right”
They arrived at Jamie’s room and Lee opened the door,
standing back to let him pass.
“Is there anything you need, Jamie?”
Jamie gave him a grin.
“Once again I feel like our roles have been reversed and
you’re the doctor.”
“Get some sleep, that’s an order.”
He laughed as Jamie gave him a mock salute and fell onto his
cot. “Aye, aye,
Skipper.”
Lee returned to the lab and perched on a stool next to
Nelson and Chip. “What do you
think, Sir?”
“I think Jamie’s right, but something just
doesn’t add up about the formula.
I need to email the information to a friend of mine in
“
Nelson gave them a sneaky look. “My favor tally doesn’t only
extend to
Lee raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
“I also need to speak with General Chuchin – alone.”
Both Chip and Lee knew better than to argue with the Admiral
when he used that tone of voice.
“I’ll go and find him, Admiral,” said
Lee. “Want to come,
Chip?”
They left the Admiral as he began re-examining Jamie’s
notes. As they rounded the
corridor, Lee found himself up against the wall with Chip’s finger poking
him in the chest.
“Okay, Lee.
What the hell did you think you were doing going off alone like
that?” he asked angrily.
Lee was taken off guard by the unexpected verbal
attack. “I needed some
space.”
“Oh, you…needed… some… space,”
his friend repeated and poked him in the chest again. “What about me? For all I knew you could have been lying
in a hospital bed somewhere – or worse.”
“I’m sorry, Chip, I didn’t
think…”
Chip’s face started going red. “No, you didn’t, and Captain
or not, I’m going to tell you some home truths. The Admiral was half out of his mind
with worry over both of you. It was
bad enough for Jamie to disappear like that, but when you went missing too it
was almost too much for him.”
“Chip, I’m sorry. What else can I say? I acted on instinct.”
The XO grunted an angry reply, then stalked off towards the
lab.
“He’s angry with you, Lee.”
Lee spun around, unaware that Katerina had been following he
and Chip.
“No kidding, Katerina.” He took a deep breath. “I guess he’s got a right to
be angry. I did my usual lone wolf
disappearing act and didn’t think about how it would affect Chip or the
Admiral.”
She hooked her arm through his. “Come on, let’s see what
Alexei is up to.”
“First, I need to find Yaroslav.”
“Why?”
“The Admiral needs to speak with him.”
“About what?”
Lee turned to her, suddenly suspicious. “Something to do with
Jamie’s formula, I think.
It’s nothing too serious.”
Katerina took her arm away. “He’s in the office. I have to go back to town for a
while.”
He waited until she’d rounded the corner and followed
at a discreet distance as she left the building. The layout of the old sanitarium was
wide and sprawling. Yaroslav had
only turned the main part into the hospital, preferring to keep everything
central, where he could protect it better.
Considering Katerina had made a beeline for one of the outlying
buildings, Lee had a feeling that his hunch had been correct. Luckily for him, there were ample places
for cover but he knew Katerina almost had a sixth sense for trouble. He would have to take extra precautions
approaching the derelict structure.
As soon as she
disappeared inside the building he made his way around to the other side. All the windows were intact but
one. It was below this one that he
crouched down, patiently waiting for what he knew would be a radio call.
“Snow Leopard to base, Snow Leopard to base.”
Lee tried to brush off the disappointment he felt. He tried to reason with himself that she
was a KGB agent, and could never be trusted under any circumstances.
“Base here, go ahead Snow Leopard.”
Lee moved quickly.
He couldn’t allow her to inform anyone that the Admiral was
here. The danger to everyone
involved would be extreme. He
shoved the door aside and threw himself at Katerina. It briefly knocked the breath out of her
and bought him time to pull the microphone from the transmitter. As soon as he turned around she was upon
him, punching and kicking. He had
deflected the first few blows when one slipped through. Lee fell against the wall, dazed, but
Katerina didn’t back off. He
managed to move his head to one side before her hand punched a hole in the
plasterboard where it had been a millisecond before. Hitting a woman was something he’d
never done, but Katerina was making it difficult for him to stop her deadly
onslaught any other way. After she
landed a painful karate chop against his ribs he finally backhanded her.
She drew back and touched her lip where his ring had cut
it. “That wasn’t very
nice, Lee. I didn’t take you
for the type of man who would hit a woman.”
Lee put a hand to his ribs, grateful for the respite however
brief. “Just defending
myself, Katerina. Out of curiosity,
why are you doing this?”
They began circling one another, both were breathing
hard. Lee saw the sweat on her
forehead and felt his own begin to trickle down into his eyes. He quickly wiped it away. Katerina was dangerous and he
didn’t need anything distracting him or blurring his vision when she made
her next move.
“Why do you think?” she asked, her lips curving
into a seductive smile.
“Honestly, Katerina, I have no idea. I guess I never really knew you at
all.”
“You’re so gullible,” she yelled suddenly. “Do you really believe I care
about anyone except myself?”
Lee looked her up and down, his eyes stopping to look into
the depths of hers. “Yes, I
do, and I think it scares the hell out of you.”
Katerina lunged wildly at him, but Lee was ready for her and
stepped out of the way of her deadly blow.
He grabbed one of her arms and pulled it up behind her back, pressing
her against the wall. Her heavily
booted foot came backwards and found his injured knee. Lee gasped and loosened his hold for a
split second. It was enough for
Katerina to twist from his grasp and push him towards the centre of the
room. He tripped backwards over an
old broken ladder. She was on top
of him before he could roll away, her knees held his arms down while she raised
her hand for a final blow. Katerina
hesitated long enough for him to make his move. Lee drew his legs upwards and threw her
over his shoulders, turning the tables on her until his wrists encircled
hers. He straddled her struggling
body, barely able to hold her down.
Suddenly the fight left her and tears began to flow down her
dirt-stained cheeks.
Lee cautiously removed his hold on her and slid to one side
where he knelt next to her. He
cursed softly as his freshly split knee touched the concrete floor.
“I asked you why before. Now tell me, you owe me that.”
She tucked her knees into her chest and lay where she had
fallen, still crying softly.
“Please, Lee, no.”
He eased his bruised body into a sitting position beside
her. “Katerina, do you
remember the last mission we went on?”
“Yes,” she replied, still refusing to look at
him.
“I could have left you to die out on the steppes. Why do you think I didn’t?”
Her hand moved to the side of her stomach where he’d
seen her shot. “You helped me
because you cared.”
“That’s right. You saw what Peter’s death had
done to me when I first arrived here.” Lee brushed a damp strand of hair from
her face. “Do you really
think I could have let that happen to you when you’d been injured?”
“No,” a small sob came out. She wiped her face clean and sat
up. “Yaroslav will kill
me.”
“Please, Katerina, I want to understand,” he
coaxed.
“My mother, she’s ill. I was told that if I went on this last
mission, she would be given all the medical treatment free that was needed for
her to get better. If she
doesn’t get it, she’ll die.”
Lee nodded and got to his feet, still careful to keep his
distance. “Come back with me
now. We’ll find some way to
help your mother.”
Without having to be asked, she stood up and handed her gun
to him. “I’m sorry I
hurt you, my Lee.”
He touched her lip softly. “We hurt each other.”
“Lee, where are you? Lee?” The XO’s voice could be heard
outside the hut.
“That’s Chip, we’d better go out
there.” He waited as Katerina
left the building first.
He trusted her, but not her motives. Hell, he would do anything he could if
one of his family or friends was sick and dying. She’d had the opportunity to kill
him but she had hesitated, it gave him hope.
“Over here, Chip.”
Chip hurried over the barren land towards them. “Lee, what the…” He looked both of them over. “What happened?”
It suddenly struck Lee that the pair of them must have
looked a sight. “It’s a
long story, but I think we need to get back to Yaroslav and the Admiral.”
“That’s what I’ve come to tell you, while
you were…” Chip
struggled for words. “Doing
whatever you were doing, the Admiral left for
“He’s gone?
Katerina, we need to see Yaroslav now.”
“Yes, we do.”
Chip fell in beside Lee as they walked back to the main
hospital. “What was that all
about, Lee?”
“It’s not what you think, Chip.”
“Then what is it?
The Admiral tried to find you before he left and he wasn’t happy
that you’d gone AWOL.”
Lee ignored him and signaled to a guard. “Where’s Yaroslav? We need to speak with him
immediately.”
“He has left for Masty.”
Lee rubbed his face with his hand. “Katerina, do you have any idea
what you’ve…” He
stopped when he saw the downcast look on her face. “Yes, of course you do. Who’s your contact?”
“Captain Bobrov.
He works in the communications centre at the base in Masty. Any information I send him is passed
directly on to the KGB in
“Lee, what
is going on?” growled Chip.
He explained to his XO briefly what had passed between him
and Katerina after their fight.
Chip threw her a disgusted look.
“Hmpf, that’s why she’s got a cut lip and you’re
hobbling around like an old man.”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t know
something was up?”
“Should have known better than that,” muttered
Lee. Not much escaped his observant
XO. “That’s why I need
to see Yaroslav.” He turned
to Katerina. “What will
Bobrov do if you don’t finish your transmission?”
“He will send in the special forces,”
Lee grabbed her arm.
“Come on, let’s finish what you started. Chip, stay here and try to get one of
the guards to go after Yaroslav.
Tell them it’s urgent.”
“But Lee…” Lee was already halfway back to the
disused building and didn’t hear him. “I don’t speak
Russian,” he mumbled to nobody in particular. “I hope one of them speaks
English.”
Lee and Katerina flew into the building. The radio had already crackled into
life.
“…Snow Leopard. Base calling Snow Leopard. Phase two has been initiated. I repeat, phase two has been
initiated. Base
calling…”
“What’s phase two?”
Katerina’s face paled. “Paratroopers! They will be dropped on the outskirts of
the hospital.”
Lee swore.
“How long?”
“Within twenty-four hours.”
“I hope the Admiral makes it to his friends before
that, or we’re all in trouble.
We need to let Jamie know.
Come on.”
“Yes,” she agreed meekly.
They hurried back to the hospital.
“Why did it take you so long to tell them about the
hospital?”
“I…I did not want to hurt the children,”
Katerina finally admitted.
He herded her through the door and went to find Jamie, who
was doing his rounds through the wards.
“Lee, Katerina,” his smile quickly turned into a
frown when he saw the state they were in.
“Care to tell me what happened?”
“Jamie, there’s no time. Can we move the children, now?”
“No, the advanced cases need constant monitoring and
medication. Many of them are on IV
lines. Why?”
Lee glanced at Katerina. “The special forces have found out
the hospital’s here, along with all of us.”
“No!
How?”
He cleared his throat.
“That’s not important now, but we need to make some
preparations.” Lee stopped as
he felt a small tug at the sleeve of his jumper.
He looked down to find Alexei staring up at him. The raw fear on the boy’s face
made him take notice straight away.
“You said the soldiers are coming. Are they?”
Lee put a hand on his shoulder, but it was shrugged
off. “Everything will be
fine, Alexei, trust me.”
Alexei started to back away from them, his face twisted in
with fear. “No, it will not
be alright, I trusted before, now I will never trust again.”
He spun on his heels and ran through the doors. Lee couldn’t let him run off now,
it was too dangerous and night was falling. Without a thought, he ran after
him. Alexei knew the territory
better than he did and had a small head start, but it didn’t take Lee
long to figure out where he was headed.
As he reached the top of the quarry he caught a glimpse of Alexei
entering the old shaft. The thought
of something happening to the child made his heart pound painfully in his
chest. Lee took off down the track,
narrowly avoiding slipping over the side in his haste. He stepped into the shaft. It was so low he had to duck his head
not to hit it. There was no sign of
Alexei, but the diminishing natural light didn’t extend far enough into
the tunnel to tell. He rummaged
around in his pocket and found the small penlight he always carried.
“Alexei, where are you?”
“Leave me alone,” the small sob followed the
faint reply.
“Why are you angry with me?” asked Lee, moving
further into the shaft.
“I thought I could trust you. You told the soldiers about us.”
“No, I didn’t, it was someone else.” He tried to follow the sound of
Alexei’s voice.
Hopefully there were no passages branching off. That would make finding him difficult.
“I don’t believe you.”
Lee thought he heard some doubt in the small voice now. “Alexei, I…you mean a lot to
me. I would never hurt you.”
“What about the others?”
“I wouldn’t do anything to hurt them
either.” This time Lee
didn’t hear a reply so he tried to move more quickly.
He still had to place his feet carefully, the further he got
into the shaft the more rubble littered the ground.
“Lee?”
“Alexei, where are you?”
“I’m stuck.”
Lee swung the penlight around. He couldn’t see Alexei so he kept
walking forward. “Alexei,
keep talking until I find you. Can
you see the light?”
“No.”
He guessed that Alexei was around a bend in the tunnel. His hunch turned out to be correct as
the tunnel began to turn.
Fortunately there was a bit more head room around the corner and he
could stand upright.
“I can see your light now, Lee, please hurry.”
Finally Lee caught sight of the child. “I’m almost there,” he
reassured him in a low voice.
A few more yards and he stood beside Alexei. Straight away Lee discovered Alexei had
managed to wedge his foot between two large rocks. He put his hand on Alexei’s
shoulder. “Stay still. I’m going to see if I can find
something to lever this rock off.”
He searched for what seemed to be an eternity. Just when he thought he’d have to
go for help, Lee found the handle of an old pick axe. He tested it, and was relieved when it
appeared to be sturdy enough for the task.
Lee hastened back to Alexei.
“I’ll have you free in a moment.” Lee managed to wedge the handle far
enough under the rock to get good leverage. “Alexei, I’m going to put
some pressure on the stick. Pull
your foot out when I tell you.”
Lee pushed down hard on the handle. He felt a little give from the rock and
put everything he had into it. The
rock rolled away, freeing Alexei’s foot.
He knelt beside Alexei and carefully took his foot in his
hands. “Does your ankle hurt
anywhere?”
“No, Lee.
I’m alright.”
“Then I suggest we leave, I don’t like the looks
of this mine, it’s pretty old.”
As he said the last words a rumbling sound came from
above. Lee quickly shone the
penlight up. “Damn,
we’re under a stope hole.
Alexei, quickly, this way.”
Lee pulled Alexei to his feet and tried to make a dash
forwards as rocks and debris began to rain down on top of them.
“Lee!” cried Alexei, obviously terrified.
They had only managed to move a few feet forward when Lee
threw Alexei in between him and the wall, shielding the child from the deadly
rocks with his body. He heard him
crying beneath him, but daren’t reach out for fear of losing his grip on
the wall and letting a rock through that could hurt Alexei.
Dirt and debris of all sizes fell onto them from above. Lee cursed his bad luck that they had
been directly under the stope hole when the cave-in had come.
“It won’t be long, Alexei,” he stopped to
cough as dust went into his mouth.
“It’ll be over soon.”
A few moments later the rock-fall stopped. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, Lee.”
He twisted around to see if he could locate his penlight but
gasped when he felt a sharp pain in the top of his left leg.
“What is wrong?” asked Alexei, a tremor in his
voice.
Lee gritted his teeth, waiting for the pain to reach a
bearable level. “It’s
nothing, I probably pulled a muscle,” he lied. In reality he knew his leg had been
broken. The snap of the bone had
felt like a hot knife being stabbed into his leg. “Do you think you could feel
around for my torch?”
“Yes.”
As Alexei moved around, Lee could hear his hands searching
for the torch on the ground around them.
Suddenly he heard a triumphant cry.
“I found it!”
The light clicked on, illuminating the full extent of their predicament. Lee gently took the light from
Alexei. He shone it at every
crevice and rock face. On first
pass, it looked like they were stuck for the duration. He could only hope that Yaroslav would
figure out where they had gone before they ran out of air. Lee carefully sat down beside Alexei,
trying not to aggravate his leg any more.
“Lee?”
“Yes, Alexei?”
“I’m scared.”
The small shaky voice cut through Lee’s defenses. He put an arm around the child’s
small shoulders and drew him closer, noting how cold he felt.
“It’s alright to be scared, Alexei, but Yaroslav
knows about this place so we’ll be out of here before long.” He took his sweater off and helped
Alexei to put it on. In his hurry
to go after him, he’d made a critical error by not taking the time to
pull on a coat.
Alexei snuggled into Lee’s chest. “I am sorry, Lee.”
“Why did you run away?”
“One of the children told me that if the soldiers came
they would take me away from you.”
Lee frowned.
“Alexei, what happened to you when your parents…after your
parents were no longer able to look after you?” He felt the trembling return to
Alexei’s small frame and hugged him a little tighter. “It’s alright if you
don’t want to tell me.”
“I was left alone, I had nobody. Yaroslav found me and brought me
here.” He paused. “I was scared all the time and
hungry. I miss my Mother and
Father.”
“I know you do, Alexei, I know you do,” he
soothed.
“I ran away because I knew I would be alone
again. I didn’t want them to
find me because I would lose you too.”
Lee leaned his head against the rocky wall and sighed. What could he do? Seaview
and ONI took him away on missions all the time – frequently dangerous and
possibly deadly. Alexei deserved
better than that, even if he could take him back to the States and adopt
him. He’d felt a bond with
Alexei the moment he’d laid eyes on the boy, and now he knew that the
bond was reciprocated more deeply than he had thought.
“Alexei, what do you want from me?”
“I want you to be my father,” he replied without
hesitation, clasping Lee’s arm with his small hands.
Lee didn’t say anything. He just sat there holding Alexei in his
arms, trying to figure out what he could do.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Night fell quickly.
Chip had already searched for Lee but found no trace of either him or
Alexei. He heard a truck pull
up. Both Nelson and Yaroslav got
out.
“Admiral, am I glad to see you. Lee’s missing, and the
paratroopers will be here soon.”
Instead of seeing alarm on the Admiral’s face he was
surprised when Nelson put a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down, Chip. Where is Lee? What happened?”
“He ran off after Alexei, in that
direction.” Chip pointed
towards the quarry. “Lee
followed him. We’ve searched
for them but haven’t had any luck.
The wind’s blown away any footprints and it’ll be dark
soon.”
Yaroslav’s eyes narrowed and he nodded towards where
Chip had pointed. “That
direction, you say?”
“Yes.”
The Russian yelled some orders to his men. He turned to Nelson and Chip. “Follow me. I believe I know where they have
gone.”
“But Admiral, what about the paratroopers?”
Nelson shook his head.
“They won’t be coming now. I’ve managed to…let me say
persuade, one of my friends to help us.
The army will be coming, but to help Yaroslav, not to arrest him.”
They followed the big Russian as he ran towards the
quarry. Once at the top he
carefully walked down the steep road until he came to a pile of fresh
rubble. “No!” he
uttered softly.
Nelson stepped forward.
“What is it?”
“They have to be in there. It is the old mine shaft Alexei showed
me before. Where he took
Lee.”
“Do your men have any equipment we can use to dig them
out?”
“Some, but when the military arrive they will have
shovels.”
Once again Yaroslav calmly gave orders to his men. Nelson couldn’t help but admire
the man. “Yaroslav, we might
need Doctor Jamieson.”
Yaroslav nodded.
“I have already asked one of my men to bring him when we are close
to digging through. I do not want
to take him away from the children unnecessarily.”
“Yes, you’re right of course,” agreed
Nelson.
It didn’t take long for the men to come back. Chip grabbed a shovel off one, refusing
to stand by while his friend was in trouble. The digging took time, but eventually
they broke through. Nelson insisted
the mine be shored up before anyone went any further.
“Lee, Alexei, can you hear us?” Nelson strained his ears but
couldn’t hear any sounds.
“Perhaps there’s another cave-in further down.”
They carefully made their way into the shaft. Chip went first, but it was slow
going. Neither Yaroslav nor the
Admiral wanted to take any chances that an unstable section would collapse.
“Admiral!
You were right. This section
near the bend has caved in as well.”
“Lee! Lee,
can you hear me?” shouted Nelson.
Chip had his ear close to the rubble. He thought he heard a voice, then there
were two voices. “Admiral, I
can hear them.”
“Right, let’s start digging.”
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Lee could hear
the scraping sounds getting louder.
“It won’t be long now, Alexei, and they’ll break
through.”
“Oh.”
Lee could almost see the boy’s spirit leave him and
instinctively knew what he had to do.
“Alexei, I won’t let them take you away.”
“What do you mean, Lee?”
He took a deep breath.
Alexei wasn’t going to let him off the hook easily. “I want to take you back to
Alexei’s head moved to look at him. “To be your son?”
Lee wiped some perspiration from his brow. Phew,
this was harder than he’d thought. “Yes, but before you get too
excited, you will have to stay with a friend of mine when I’m on
missions.” He hoped his
‘friend’ would agree to the suggestion. A shiver ran through his body. It was just as well they’d been
found. Even though they
weren’t exposed, the early morning would have been very cold.
Alexei twisted and threw his arms around Lee’s
neck. “Oh, thank you,
Lee. Thank you,” he cried
happily.
A warm glow filled Lee.
It amazed him that after all Alexei had been through, he was still
capable of happiness and love. He
was a brave child with no expectation other than to be cared for.
“Lee, we’re through, we just have to put
supports in for the roof. Are you
and Alexei alright? Jamie’s
on his way.”
“We’re both alright, Admiral. I think I hurt a muscle in my
leg.” Jamie’d find out
sooner or later that it was broken, but he didn’t want to upset Alexei.
“Don’t worry, lad, we’ll have you both out
soon.”
“Yes, Sir.”
At that moment the penlight batteries finally gave out. “It’s alright, Alexei,
we’ll be safe once they fix the tunnel.”
“I am not worried, Father.”
Lee felt moisture pool in his eyes, and quickly blinked it
away. Now he knew what it would be
like to have a son. The pride he
felt when Alexei had called him Father was beyond compare to any emotion
he’d ever experienced.
The rubble from the rock-fall slowly started to disappear
and light began to filter through the growing hole. Jamie and Chip were the first to reach
their side.
“Alexei, let’s get you out of here and then
I’ll look after Lee,” said Jamie in stilted Russian, taking
Alexei’s hand.
Alexei pulled his hand away from Jamie, his panicked eyes
looking up at Lee. “No, I
stay with Lee.”
“Alexei, everything will be alright now. Go with Chip,” Lee gave the child
an encouraging smile.
“He’ll promise not to let you out of his sight, won’t
you, Chip?” he finished in Russian and English.
Chip took Lee’s cue and nodded. “Tell Alexei I’ll take him
back to the hospital and get him something to eat and a warm drink.”
After Lee had translated for Alexei, although the boy still
looked wary, he allowed Chip to help him to his
feet.
“I’ll be there as soon as I
can,” promised Lee.
Alexei gave him a long sad look then dropped his chin and
nodded. “Alright,
Father.”
Lee ignored the shock on Jamie and Lee’s faces and
watched him for as long as he could.
“I’m not going to ask what that was all about
yet. Where are you hurt?”
“Left leg, I think it’s broken at the
top.”
“Had to be broken,” mumbled Jamie. “Couldn’t be a simple
sprain. How
did it happen?”
“I was shielding Alexei, a big rock hit me. I felt it snap.”
“I’ve put some local into your leg, but this
might still hurt.
Yaroslav!”
“Yes, Doctor?”
“Could you help me with Lee’s leg?”
“Of course, what do I need to do?”
“Elevate it while I slide an inflatable cast over
it.”
Lee gritted his teeth but the pain wasn’t as bad as
he’d thought. He started to
tremble as the cast settled his leg into place.
Jamie touched his hand.
“Lee, you’re freezing.”
“Not enough time to put on a jacket, Jamie. I had to find Alexei and stop him from
running away again.”
Jamie dropped his voice. “He called you Father.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Lee cleared his throat.
Perhaps he would be able to feign unconsciousness before he had to
answer Jamie’s question.
“Jamie, what did you say?” asked the Admiral.
“Admiral, ah, I didn’t realize you were standing
there.”
Lee grimaced when he saw the set of Nelson’s
features. “I, uh…well,
I thought that maybe I could take Alexei back to the States with us when we
left.”
“Oh, you did, did you?” He rubbed a hand over his hair. “Lee, these children are sick,
Jamie may or may not have found a cure.
Apart from that, they’re Russian nationals, the red tape involved
in adopting one, would be extraordinary.
What would you do with him when you were away at sea, or on missions?”
“Admiral, please, he’s got a broken leg. I need to keep him quiet.”
“I…oh, very well. Get him settled back at the hospital and
then we’ll talk.” He
walked off irritably.
“That went well,” grumbled Lee.
“Well, you have to admit it was a bit of a shock
– for all of us. Alright,
this isn’t going to be too pleasant because we don’t have a
stretcher. A hospital, but no
stretcher, go figure.” He
indicated for one of the Russians to help Lee to his feet but Yaroslav ordered
him away.
“I will take the Commander, Doctor.”
Lee felt the vague grinding of bone on bone, then they were
out of the shaft. He felt the stab
of a needle in his arm, then nothing more.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
“How do you feel, Lee?”
Lee slowly opened his eyes. He felt no pain except for a dull ache
where the break had been. “I
feel good, Jamie. Where’s
Alexei?”
Jamie gave him a broad smile. “He’s out playing basketball
with the soldiers and the other children.
Don’t worry, Chip’s looking after him.”
Lee relaxed back against the bed. “Thanks. How long have I been out?”
“Only twenty-four hours.” Jamie continued before Lee could
protest. “I have some good
news for you. With the
Admiral’s help, I’ve perfected the cure. We’ve trialed it on the sickest
children and there was an almost immediate improvement.”
“That’s great, Jamie. What about the rest?”
Jamie finished taking his vitals and sat beside the
bed. “If I have a positive
result by the end of the week I’ll begin inoculating all of the children
– including Alexei.”
“Jamie, I think I owe you an explanation.”
The doctor slowly shook his head. “For what?”
Lee focused his attention on the window. “I told you that it wasn’t
you that I fought against whenever I was in sickbay. That part was true. The reason I don’t like doctors
is…is because I watched my brother die after he was given the wrong
medicine. My mother and father were
too busy grieving for him to remember that I was still in the room. I saw and heard everything,” he
bit out the last few words.
“Over the time I’ve known you, you’ve given me hope
that not all doctors are like him.
You really care about the people you treat, I just wanted you to know
that.”
Jamie looked at him, speechless for a moment. “It’s taken you three years
to tell me that?”
Lee grinned.
“Sorry. I trusted you
a long time before this, but seeing what you’ve done for the children,
for Alexei…” he struggled to finish.
He felt Jamie’s arm on his. “I understand, Lee. There’s someone who wants to see
you.”
Another hand fell onto Lee’s arm. “Father, are you better?”
came the solemn question.
Lee turned to look into the child’s dark brown eyes,
then his hand covered Alexei’s.
“Much better thank you.
Doctor Jamieson tells me you’ve been showing the soldiers how to
play basketball?”
“Yes, they are not like the soldiers who came to our
town. They are kind.”
“Lee, the Admiral wants to see you too.”
Lee nodded then ruffled Alexei’s hair. “I’ll see you in a little
while. I have to speak with Admiral
Nelson.”
“Do I have to leave?” he pouted.
Lee grinned.
“Just for a little while.
Now, off you go.”
Jamie disappeared behind Alexei and a few seconds later Chip
and Admiral Nelson walked into the room.
“Lee, how are you feeling?” asked Chip,
immediately sitting on the bed and shoving Lee’s injured leg over.
“Watch it, that’s the broken one,” he
yelped.
“Oh, sorry.”
Nelson cleared his throat. “Now, Lee, this business about
Alexei…”
“Admiral, I can explain-“
Nelson waved him quiet and sat in the chair that Jamie had
vacated. “It’s all
organized. My friend from Moscow
has assured me that the Army will transport the children into Masty once
they’re all well enough. Then
efforts will be made to either find their families or find them new ones who
will care for them.”
“Alexei?”
“If you would like to adopt Alexei, the Russian
authorities will not stand in the way.
I’m sure once we’re back home I can move things along
quickly.”
“Admiral, I don’t know what to say.”
“Just make sure he doesn’t interfere with your
duties,” Nelson said gruffly as he stood up. “Chip, he’s all yours. I’m going to see if I can help
Jamie.”
“Yes, Admiral.” He looked at Lee with concern. “Lee, are you sure you know what
you’re doing?”
“Alexei…he’s special. The last few days have been some of the
best of my life. I can’t
imagine it without him. I
don’t want to leave him here, he’s been hurt enough.” Lee shifted restlessly in the
uncomfortable bed. “Believe
me, Chip, he means a lot to me.”
“But what about the times you’re away?”
“I’ve got that covered.”
“How?”
Lee’s eyes twinkled. “Never you mind.”
“What are you up to, Lee?”
“I’ll tell you later.” He yawned. “Right now I think I need some
sleep.”
“Don’t think you’re going to get away with
it that easily.”
“Sorry, Chip,” mumbled Lee as he drifted off to
sleep.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Lee sat on the end of the bed and slowly put some weight
onto the leg that still had the cast.
It felt a little bit strange, but he didn’t feel any pain.
“Father!”
He was almost knocked back across the bed as the little
figure launched at him from across the room. “Whoa, Alexei. What’s up?”
“Yaroslav told me we will be going home
tomorrow.” The excited look
on his face made Lee’s heart swell.
“When we get back home, there’s someone I want
you to meet. Someone who I hope
will take care of you when I’m at sea.”
“Who, Father?”
Before he could answer, Admiral Nelson walked into the
room. “Lee, I need to see
you.”
“Can it wait?”
“No.”
He sighed.
“Alexei, I need to talk to the Admiral. I’ll see you outside in a little
while.”
Alexei nodded and cast Nelson a cautious glance.
“What is it, Sir?”
“It’s Katerina, Yaroslav’s had her thrown
her into a cell.”
“What!”
He struggled off the bed and grabbed a walking stick. “Take me to her.”
“Lee…”
“Didn’t she tell him why she betrayed
him?”
Nelson shook his head.
“No lad, I’m sorry.
In this part of the world betrayals are dealt with harshly.”
“I have to see her, with or without your help,
Sir.”
“Oh, very well.
Follow me.”
Nelson led Lee to a building separated from the main
one. They rounded a corner only to
be met by Yaroslav. “Admiral,
Commander, what are you doing here?”
“I want to see Katerina,” demanded Lee.
Yaroslav’s eyes narrowed. “Why? She is a traitor.”
Lee gritted his teeth and prayed for patience. “No, she’s not. Didn’t she tell you about her
mother?”
“What does that matter?”
“Lee, remember, life means very little in this
country,” Nelson said.
Yaroslav closed the gap between himself and Nelson. “I do not think I like your tone,
Admiral.”
Lee put his hand out towards Yaroslav. “He didn’t mean anything by
that. The Admiral was reminding me
that life here can be harsh. What
will happen to Katerina?”
Yaroslav shrugged.
“She will be dealt with.”
“Meaning?”
“What is your interest, Commander?”
“She didn’t betray you because she wanted to or
was ordered to,” Lee insisted, trying to ignore the throbbing that had
started in his leg. “Her
mother’s sick. If she went on
this last mission, all her medical expenses would be paid for.”
“I don’t believe that,” said
Yaroslav. “She is a
traitor.”
“Look, can’t your contacts find out if
she’s telling the truth?”
“I suppose,” the Russian replied
begrudgingly. “It could take
time.”
“Then do it,” snapped Lee, the pain making him
impatient. “I’m sorry,
Yaroslav. I’ve known her a
long time and I believe her. I know
what she did was wrong, but I probably would have done the same thing in her
place.”
“I will see what I can find out, Commander.”
Lee leaned against the wall, relief flooding over him. “Thank you, now, can I see
her.”
He indicated to a doorway and gave Lee a key. “I will make no promises.”
“I understand.”
“Admiral, if you don’t mind, I’d rather do
this alone.”
Nelson nodded his understanding and stepped away from Lee as
he opened the lock.
“Katerina?”
The cell was dark, the light hadn’t been switched on but he could
see her slim figure sitting on the bunk, head in her hands. He stood against the door frame for a
moment, then stepped inside without bothering to lock the door. “Are you alright?”
When she didn’t answer, he sat down beside her, almost
mimicking her actions when he’d been incarcerated in the room.
“Why are you here, Commander?”
Her formality bothered him. “I came to make sure you were
alright, and to tell you that I’m going to do everything I can to help
you.”
“Leave me alone, I do not need your sympathy,”
she snapped.
“Do you really think that I would give you
sympathy?” he asked quietly.
She gave him a look of disdain but her eyes betrayed
her. “Yes. You westerners are soft.”
Lee struggled to find a way to reach her. “You said before that you
didn’t want the children to be hurt?”
A myriad of emotions crossed her face. “Why?”
“Because I know that you feel something for the
children.”
“No.”
He stared at her and saw the conflict she was
experiencing. “Katerina,
please, tell Yaroslav the truth. He
deserves that.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “Please, Lee, don’t make me
do this.”
“Why not?
What are you afraid of?”
“Yaroslav, he…he’s my father,” she
whispered before hiding her head in her hands.
“He’s what?” Lee said, shocked.
“I am so ashamed,” she replied so softly he had
trouble hearing her.
“Is that why he’s being so hard on
you?” He reached out to touch
her hair, smoothing it back away from her face.
“Yes,” she replied with a sob.
“I don’t understand. If your mother is sick, doesn’t
that make her Yaroslav’s wife?”
Her tearful eyes met his. “I…she left Yaroslav when I
was a little girl. He refuses to
recognize her.”
“Katerina, please, surely he would understand how you
feel?”
“Don’t you understand, Lee. He doesn’t know she is sick.”
Lee stared at her, open-mouthed. “He doesn’t…. How could he not know about something
like this?”
She looked at him in defeat. “I didn’t want him to
know. What I did was wrong. I did not want to use my mother’s
name as an excuse.” Katerina
turned away from him.
“I’m afraid it’s a little late for that
now,” said Yaroslav, walking into the open doorway.
“How…” She looked at Lee, her face angry. “You told him,” she said
accusingly.
”I’m sorry, Katerina, I didn’t have any
option. I wasn’t going to stand
by while you allowed yourself to walk in front of a firing squad,” he
replied firmly.
“That was my choice, not yours!” she yelled.
Lee stood up and made his way stiffly to the door. “Regardless, you two have to work
things out.” He looked
pointedly at Yaroslav.
“No Commander, she will be punished for her
actions.”
As much as Yaroslav meant what he said, Lee could tell there
was pain hidden deep inside him.
“Well, I’ll leave you two to discuss things,” he said
as he quickly shut the door from the outside and locked it. “I’ll be back in an
hour.”
“Lee!” shrieked Katerina. “You come back here. Lee!”
Nelson stood a few feet from the doorway, a smile playing at
the corners of his mouth.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Lee?”
Lee laughed.
“No, but it was the only thing I could think of on short
notice. Where’s Jamie?”
“He’s in the high care ward. I’ll come with you.” Nelson looked at the door and
grunted. “I think it would be
preferable to hearing those two arguing with each other.”
“That’s for sure,” agreed Lee, limping
down the hall on his cane, still able to hear
yelling in the room behind them.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Jamie watched as Lee said his goodbyes to some of the other
children. It had been a gift from
heaven that Lee had followed him here after the events of the past mission,
despite gaining a broken leg from the experience. Alexei clung tightly to his arm as he
and Lee followed the Admiral to the FS1 with Katerina. The pair of them were kindred spirits.
Yaroslav slapped him hard on the back. “Well, Doctor, I can never repay
you enough for what you have done for these children. If ever you are in need of anything, all
you have to do is contact me and I will be there for you.”
Jamie winced as his shoulders protested from
Yaroslav’s farewell.
“Just make sure the rest of these children are given a chance in
life and a family. Promise me
that.”
Yaroslav’s bearded face broke into a broad smile. “On that you have my life. I do not want them to be fatherless just
as my Katerina was for so many years.”
“That’s a good enough payment for me,
Yaroslav. It’s been an honor
knowing you.” Jamie held out
his hand but found himself smothered in a massive hug. “Uh, I guess I’d better go
now.”
He struggled out of Yaroslav’s bear-like grip and fell
in beside him. They were silent
until they reached the flying sub, Jamie because he was reluctant to leave the
children whose care he had been responsible for over the last month. He knew the feeling of loss would pass,
but at least Alexei was going with them.
“Lee, goodbye, and take good care of Alexei,”
said the big Russian, giving him a similar farewell to the one Jamie had been
subjected to.
Lee ruffled Alexei’s hair. “You have my word on that. Who knows, maybe I can bring him back
here one day to visit you.”
Alexei gave both Yaroslav and Katerina a hug then jumped
into the FS1.
Lee took Katerina’s hand and walked a little way from
the others. “Promise me
you’ll make him visit your mother.”
She beamed at him.
“He has already agreed to see her. Thank you – for everything you
have ever done for me, Lee.”
He gave her a shy smile as he limped back to the FS1,
stepped inside and dogged the hatch behind him.
The moment he was onboard, Alexei flew into his arms. “Are we really going to fly,
Father?”
Lee hugged him.
“Yes, so you’d better get into your seat.” Once Alexei had calmed down and sat in a
seat, Lee helped him to clasp the seatbelt in place.
Before long they had been cleared to leave Russian airspace
and had made good headway towards where the Seaview
waited for them off the coast of
“Are you okay, Jamie?” He’d noticed the doctor had been
uncharacteristically quiet.
He gave Lee a weary smile. “I guess so. It’s a bit of an anti-climax. The last month has been pretty
intense.”
Lee felt a twinge in his leg and gave it a rub.
Jamie pointed to it.
“I want you to stay off that for another week. I don’t care if it’s
crutches or the cane.”
“But Jamie…”
“No buts, don’t make me pull rank,” he
said sternly.
In spite of himself, Lee smiled. “It’s good to have you back,
Jamie.”
The medical officer ran a hand through his thinning
hair. “It’s good to be
back, Lee.”
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Claire Kellogg waited impatiently at the window. It had been four weeks since she’d
last seen Lee and she was anxious to apologize for her behavior. She realized that it had been a knee
jerk reaction to the terrible news of her husband’s death. A tear formed in the corner of her eyes,
but she quickly wiped it away.
There had already been enough tears for a lifetime.
“Mary, are you sure he said they’d be here at
two o’clock?” she asked her sister impatiently.
“Yes, Claire.
Lee definitely said two o’clock.” She looked at Claire. “Would you like me to make you a
cup of tea or coffee?”
Claire shook her head then turned back to stare out the
window. “They’re
here!” she said excitedly.
Without waiting for Mary, she opened the door and ran from
the house to meet them in the driveway.
Lee got out of the car a little awkwardly and she saw that he was
wearing a cast on one leg. From the
other side a young boy got out, she could tell that he was a little shy and
uncertain.
“Lee, it’s so good to see you,” she said,
giving him a warm hug. “And
you must be Alexei?”
Alexei nodded, but seemed to be reluctant to leave
Lee’s side. So she bent down
beside him and put her arms gently around him. “I really hope we can become good
friends, Alexei. Lee has told me so
much about you, especially about how well you play basketball.”
Lee interpreted, and she watched as Alexei’s eyes lit
up as soon as he said the word ‘basketball’.
“He’s gorgeous, Lee. Come inside. Mary’s in there and we’ve
made some lunch for everyone.”
Lee took Alexei’s hand and they followed Claire up the
steps and into the house. Once
inside she was stunned to see Alexei’s reaction. He spoke excitedly to Lee and motioned
around the house.
“Lee, what did he say?”
Lee smiled.
“He said that your house is like a palace. He lived for so long on the street, with
no parents or possessions that I’m worried that he might be a little
overwhelmed by everything.”
Before she could reply, Mary came around the corner carrying
a tray of drinks.
“Hello, Lee.
How are you?” She
handed a fruit juice to Alexei.
“Hello, Alexei, I’m Mary.”
Alexei looked up at Lee. “Mary?”
“Yes, Alexei, Mary.” He took a drink from Mary. “He’ll be coming back to my
place for another month, so by the time he comes to stay with you I’m
hoping he’ll have some English.
Although I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do about
schooling between Santa Barbara and Washington.”
Claire looked at Mary, who nodded. “Well, I don’t have much
keeping me here now, except Mary, and she said that she wouldn’t mind if
I moved out to
“Are you sure, Claire? What about your job?”
“With Peter’s insurance policy I can afford to
pay off the mortgage and buy in
“Claire, we have a few openings at the Institute. That’s if you don’t mind
working with crusty submariners and eccentric scientists,” offered Lee as
he sat next to Alexei on the couch.
Claire looked to Mary who nodded. “It would be a wonderful
opportunity, Claire.”
“I don’t know,” she said hesitantly and
looked at Alexei. “Oh, why
not, at least I would have a link to the Institute for Alexei when you’re
not in port.”
Lee turned to Alexei and told him what was going on. Alexei’s eyes began to water and
he gave Lee a tight hug before jumping up to do the same to Claire and Mary.
“Then it’s settled,” said Lee, satisfied
that both Claire and Alexei would be happy.
“Let’s have lunch and we can talk about
it,” suggested Mary.
Claire reached out for Alexei’s hand and the two of
them walked into the kitchen.
Mary turned to Lee.
“Thank you, Lee. If
you’d seen how she changed after you phoned about Alexei…It gave
her hope to keep going, to trust again that things would work out.”
Lee nodded and headed for the kitchen with Mary. “I’m glad. Perhaps for both of them it’s a
time for trust again.”
The End