Thank
you Christy for all your help and suggestions.
When Dreams Come True
By JSRobertson
It had been a busy day at
NIMR, more so than most with a lot of work that had to get done. Looking at the stack of documents still
requiring his attention Admiral Harriman Nelson sighed discouraged. In addition to that load he still needed to
meet with his command team to discuss upgrades to his research submarine
Seaview. Knowing that this topic would
require more time to discuss than was allotted in his schedule he called Chip
and Lee to his office ahead of schedule.
“I know we were going to meet
later this afternoon regarding some upgrades to Seaview,” the admiral
said looking at his watch, “It’s already 1600 hours, I still have a few
important phone calls to make and I think our discussion is going to take
longer than we planned. Can we meet at
1900 hours for dinner at Rafaela’s? I
know its short notice but I really want to get your opinion on these upgrades,”
he asked them.
“Yes sir,” they both replied.
“Will that be a problem with
Janet?” the admiral wondered.
“No sir. I’ll tell her to go
home and make dinner for herself,” Lee told the admiral.
“Thanks men. I really appreciate it.”
Leaving the admiral’s office,
they headed down the hall to Janet’s office so he could break the news to her. “Sweetie, the admiral wants to meet with Chip
and me regarding some upgrades to Seaview tonight at dinner. We’ve been so busy today that we didn’t have
a chance to meet during the day. We’re
meeting at 1900 hours. You can take the
car and I’ll have Chip drive me home after the meeting.”
Looking up from her computer,
“Okay, no problem. I’ll make something
to eat when I get home,” she said smiling at her husband. “I’ll stop by before I leave. Don’t work too late.”
((()))
Rafaela’s was a fairly new
restaurant and pretty crowded for a weeknight but they were able to get a table
in the back where it was a little quieter.
Chip and Lee ordered a beer while the admiral had a Glenlivet
whiskey. When the waitress returned with
their drinks they ordered their meals then sat back to relax and enjoy each
other’s company while waiting for their dinner and getting down to business.
Between bites of his steak
Lee asked, “Admiral what did you want to talk to us about?”
“I want your opinions on
whether Seaview can handle new radar and sonar systems along with a new
radio system. The Navy is launching a
new destroyer that is practically run by computers. The SecNav asked me if we would like to test
those same devices out on Seaview.
I’m not sure she can be configured to take on all the computers and
software needed to run them,” the admiral said. Seeing the looks of concern on their faces he
added quickly, “Now I’m not thinking of replacing any of our crew with these devices,”
Wiping his mouth with a
napkin Lee responded, “I think we would have to see the schematics and data
before we can make that decision.”
“There’s a little room for
new hardware and software but it depends on how much space is needed,” Chip
replied eagerly cutting his steak and putting a piece in his mouth. He was the IT guru on Seaview and
would like nothing better than to try out the Navy’s new equipment. The admiral looked at the two men and could
see they were excited about testing the equipment.
“Let me see how much
information and data I can get from the Navy before we commit to doing the
testing,” the admiral commented finishing up his drink.
They continued to discuss the
pros and cons to the new equipment as they finished their meal. As the waitress returned to remove their
plates she put a dessert menu on the table.
“Gentlemen, can I interest
you in some dessert? Rafaela’s is known
for their homemade cheesecakes,” she boasted.
After looking over the menu
they took the waitress’s advice and all three ordered cherry cheesecake and
coffee. When she returned with their
coffee and cheesecake the admiral and Chip noticed Lee’s piece was a lot larger
than theirs.
“I’ve got more stars and bars
and she didn’t even care,” the admiral said looking at his piece.
“Well it looks like she took
a liking to you, Lee” Chip said with a frown as his piece was also smaller than
Lee’s.
Smiling broadly Lee took a
bite of the cheesecake. He knew he
wouldn’t be able to eat the whole piece so he would take what he didn’t eat
home to Janet. It was at least some
small consolation for having to eat at home alone tonight.
They finished up their
desserts and the admiral paid the bill. Then walked out to their cars where Lee and
Chip said goodnight to the admiral.
((()))
Chip stopped in front of
Lee’s garage door, letting him out with his piece of cheesecake. He was hoping he would forget it so he could
eat it when he got home.
“Night Chip, thanks for
driving. See you tomorrow.”
“No problem Lee,” Chip
answered as he put the car in drive and headed down to his house.
Entering the house, Lee hung
up his coat and put his cover in the closet.
He could hear the television and it had a football game on but he also
heard something else.
“Please help him. Don’t let him die,” Janet said talking in her
sleep as she slept on the couch.
Lee put the bag with the
cheesecake on the table, went over to her, knelt down along side the couch and
gently shook her awake. She woke up
surprised to see Lee at her side. “Sweetheart
its okay, you were dreaming,” Lee said as he kissed her on the forehead.
“When did you get home?” she
asked not fully awake.
“Just now. Are you okay...you were talking in your
sleep...who needs help?” Lee asked as he sat alongside her and put his arm
around her.
“I don’t know. I didn’t see a face,” Janet replied sitting
up on the couch and rubbed his hand.
“Calm down sweetie.” He could
tell she was upset by the dream.
“Sorry Lee. I have no idea what or who I was dreaming
about.”
“Did you eat dinner?” he
asked as sometimes she wouldn’t eat if he wasn’t home.
“Yes, I took the leftover
chicken put it on the salad and ate that for dinner. What’s in the bag?” she asked seeing it on
the table.
“Leftover cheesecake. The admiral and Chip were mad because the
waitress gave me a bigger piece than them but I don’t understand why.”
Shaking her head as he could
be so naive, “Honey, she gave you a bigger piece because she was trying to pick
you up,” she told him looking at him. He
was one handsome man and he was all hers.
Blushing slightly he laughed,
“Do you want to eat it now?”
“No I don’t feel like it
now. I’ll keep it until tomorrow. I’m still tired let’s go to bed.”
He took her hand and helped
her up off the couch. He turned off the television, lights and went upstairs to
their bedroom. Janet took her make up
off, washed her face and slipped into bed next to Lee who was already there
waiting for her so he could wrap his arm around her. He fell asleep but she
laid there for awhile trying to figure out who was in her dream.
((()))
Janet woke up at 0430 the
next morning. Lee was still sleeping so
she carefully un-wrapped his arm from her and got up. She put on her robe and went downstairs. She made some coffee and while she waited for
it to finishing brewing she looked outside and could see it was just starting
to get light. When the coffee was
finished, she grabbed a cup along with the leftover cheesecake and went outside
on the patio. She sat on the lounge
chair drinking the coffee and eating the cheesecake still trying to figure out
who and what she was dreaming about. Maybe
a character in the book I’m reading, she thought.
When Lee woke up at 0500, he reached
for his wife and found she wasn’t there.
He got up, put on a pair of shorts and went to the bathroom to see if
she was in there. He didn’t hear the
shower running but took a peek in to see if she was in there drying off, but it
was empty. He went downstairs and looked
in the kitchen. He could see she made a
pot of coffee but he hadn’t noticed her outside. He went to his office but she wasn’t there.
He went back upstairs and looked in her office; she wasn’t there either. He was getting worried, Where is she,
he thought. He went downstairs again
and back to the kitchen, then looked outside and saw her sitting on the lounge
chair. He grabbed a cup of coffee and
went out to join her.
“Sweetie, what are you doing
out here it’s barely light out. Are you
okay?” he said worriedly as she drew her knees up so he could sit down with
her.
“Yes, I’m fine. I woke up early and couldn’t fall back to
sleep so I decided to come out here.
It’s quiet and I love to listen to the ocean.”
He noticed the empty cheesecake container on the patio. “Cheesecake for breakfast is not exactly the
breakfast of champions,” he laughed.
“I know I shouldn’t eat it
for breakfast, but it looked good,” she laughed back.
Putting his hand on her knee
and giving it a squeeze he asked, “Is that dream stilling bothering you?”
“Yes I can’t figure out who
I’m talking too and what’s it about.”
“Please don’t worry it was
just a dream.”
They sat there looking at the
ocean as it got lighter. Lee got up,
helped her to her feet and gave her a kiss as he wrapped his arms around her
waist and pulled her close.
“How about we skip work
today? I’ll call and tell the admiral we would like the day off. We can sail down to
“As much as I would have love
to be alone with you for the weekend,” she answered, “We can’t, we have the Jenkins’
wedding tomorrow and you and Chip have a golf date on Sunday.”
“I forgot about the wedding
but I know Chip wouldn’t mind if I cancelled our golf date. How about we go next weekend?”
“If you’re here,” she replied
sullenly.
Lee had been on a six month
leave of absence from ONI Admiral Johnson was forced to give him and the time
was up this Sunday. They both knew that
Admiral Johnson would waste no time calling Lee for an assignment and that he
would probably pay for that leave by getting all the difficult missions.
Lee gently eased her away
from him replying, “Sweetie, I know the leave is up this weekend. Maybe Johnson doesn’t have any missions for
me.”
“Lee, be serious, I’m sure
he’s chomping at the bit to call you for a mission. Do you still want to work for ONI after being
off?” she asked with her fingers crossed behind her back hoping he would say
no.
Looking her straight in the
eye he said softly, “I’m not ready to give it up just yet. Is that okay with you?”
Wrapping her arms around his
neck, “I promised you I would accept your need to work for ONI and I will keep
my word. I may not like it but I will
live with it,” she replied unhappily.
“Thank you, sweetie. Do we have time for some...?” Lee asked as he
kissed her again.
“Sure, we have time but I
think we better go in the house. I don’t
think Chip would appreciate looking out his window and see what we’re doing.”
“I guess you’re right,” he
replied as she took her arms away from his neck. He opened the patio door for her as they went
in the house.
They walked upstairs to the
bedroom and climbed back into bed. They
got up a little while later and knew that if they didn’t hurry they would be
late for work. Lee turned the water on
in the shower while Janet got her clothes out.
They quickly showered together and then finished getting ready for the
day.
“I’m going to get another cup
of coffee and a bagel,” Lee told her before he went downstairs, “Do you want a
bagel too?”
“No, I’m fine the cheesecake
filled me up. I’ll be down shortly,” she
said from the bathroom.
“Take your time we still have
a few minutes before we have to leave,” he told her as he ran down the stairs.
Janet came downstairs about
twenty minutes later ready to go to work.
Lee looked at her and smiled. She
was wearing a short black dress with a pink jacket.
“Sweetie, you look lovely
today as usual.”
“Thanks honey. You don’t look
too bad yourself,” she replied looking him over from head to toe before
grabbing his tie and pulling his mouth down to hers so she could give him a
kiss.
After finishing breakfast and
cleaning up, they went out to the garage and got in Janet’s SUV, no cobra today
as it looked like rain.
((()))
They arrived at the institute
just as Chip was getting out of his car.
He waited for them before going in.
“Good morning, Lee, Janet,”
Chip greeted them.
“Morning, Chip,” they
answered back as they walked into the institute and took the elevator up to
their floor.
When they arrived upstairs
they were the first ones there so Janet made the coffee and went to her office.
She would be very busy today as she had a lot of reports and letters to type
up. As soon as the coffee was finished
brewing, Lee and Chip grabbed a cup and went to Lee’s office to talk about the
new upgrades the admiral was proposing.
“Do you think there is enough
room for all the equipment?” Lee asked taking a sip of his coffee.
Sitting on the edge of Lee’s
desk Chip replied, “Maybe but I’m going to have to see how much room it’s going
to take, we don’t have a lot of room in there.”
“Well we’ll know when the
admiral gets the information.”
Chip left Lee’s office,
grabbed another cup of coffee and went to his office to tackle all the
paperwork on his desk. Lee’s desk wasn’t
much better. His in box was filled and
falling onto the desk. He needed to
finish all his work by the end of the day.
He would get it off his desk and onto Janet’s desk so she wasn’t going
to be very happy with him.
Angie had gotten in a few
minutes after Chip, Lee and Janet. She
was waiting for the admiral as he had quite a bit of work to do and she wanted
to make sure he got it to her before they left for the day. When he arrived he stopped at Lee’s office
before going to his.
“I’m going to
“That’s good, Chip and I are
anxious to see what space is needed.”
((()))
Lee woke up at 0500 on
Saturday morning and laid there looking at his wife who was still sleeping. She woke up and found him staring at her.
“Is there something wrong?”
she asked sitting up on one arm.
“No just looking at you,” he
told her kissing her gently.
They decided to go out for
some exercise, a run for Lee and a walk for Janet. When they got out on the patio, it was a
beautiful sunny day but they could tell it was going to be little warmer than
it had been during the week. As they
were walking down to the beach, they ran into Chip who was going for a run too
so Lee and Chip ran while Janet walked.
They would run about five miles to her two mile walk. They met up a few blocks from their
houses. As they walked back Janet heard
Chip’s stomach growl.
Giggling Janet said, “Come on
up, I’ll make pancakes for breakfast.”
“Thanks I’m really hungry,”
he replied gratefully.
Lee made the coffee while
Janet got the batter ready for the pancakes and Chip set the table. They sat down and ate the pancakes.
“These are really good
today. Almost a good as Cookie’s,” Chip
exclaimed while he took two more.
“He gave me his recipe,”
Janet told him smiling. “We made a deal,
he gives me the recipe and I stay out of the galley while he cooks.”
Lee almost choked on his
pancakes. “He’s bribing you to stay out
of the galley?”
“Yes after I got back from the
admiral’s house I wanted to help him. He
didn’t want me in there so I get the recipes I want to stay out.”
Both Chip and Lee
chuckled. Cookie didn’t like anybody in
his galley. He barely let the mess
specialists in there to help him.
“Well I better get
going. Have to make sure I’m ready on
time for the wedding,” Chip said after he put his dishes in the
dishwasher. “See you later and thanks
for breakfast.”
“Okay bro, see you later.”
Lee helped Janet clean up the
rest of the dishes. She went upstairs to
make sure her dress or Lee’s shirt didn’t need pressing while Lee left to go
get a haircut and would pick up his and Chip’s cleaning. He came back an hour later after dropping
Chip’s cleaning at his house. Janet was
out on the patio watering the plants in the planters.
“Sweetie, who’s going to take
care of these plants while we're away?” Lee asked while he picked up one of the
flowers.
“I asked Sergio, the
institute gardener, to look after them while we’re gone.”
“I’m actually surprised they’re
still alive,” he said as he nuzzled her neck. “How much time do we have?”
Giving him a dirty looked
after his comment about the flowers she checked her watch and replied, “Not
enough time to do what you’re thinking.
I have to start getting ready; you know it takes me a lot longer than
you.”
“Okay, I’ll take a rain
check.”
They went into the house and
upstairs. Janet turned on the shower and
jumped in while Lee got the rest of his service dress blue uniform out of the
closet. Janet had bought a new dress for
the wedding and hadn’t shown it to Lee. It was a dress with navy, pale yellow
and white stripes. After she did her
hair and make up, she stepped into the dress, and sat on the bed to put on her
shoes. Lee came out of the bathroom as
his wife stood up. He couldn’t believe
how gorgeous she looked and would cash in his rain check when they got home.
((()))
Chip picked them up for the
wedding and made his way to the admiral’s house. He was waiting outside for them when Chip
pulled up. He climbed in the front seat
while Lee hopped in the back with Janet.
They found where the country club was with no problem, sat down and
waited for the wedding to start. Lee and
Chip smiled at each other when they saw Jenkins’ come down the aisle. They could see he was very nervous more
nervous than when he took over the conn Seaview for the first time. It was a beautiful ceremony but they only
served finger sandwiches so Chip was hungry when they left. They stopped at the
diner on the way home for some real food.
Chip dropped the admiral off
at his house and before he left the car, Lee said, “Have a safe trip to
“Thanks, Lee. I’ll see what information Jiggs has for
me. Enjoy the rest of your weekend,” the
admiral answered as he got out of Chip’s car.
When Chip got to Lee and
Janet’s house she asked, “Chip, why don’t you stay for dinner after your golf
game tomorrow. We’ll barbecue some
steaks.”
“Sounds good, see you
tomorrow morning,” Chip said as he drove away.
((()))
Lee was up early and quietly
got out of bed. Janet was still sleeping
and he didn’t want to wake her. He took
a shower, put on his shorts and a collared shirt for his golf game with Chip. He went to kiss Janet goodbye when she woke
up.
“Sorry sweetie I didn’t want
to wake you up but I needed a kiss for luck,” he told her kissing her temple.
“I’m glad I woke up. If you win the golf game today, I’ll....” she
whispered the rest in his ear.
“That’s all the incentive I
need to win,” he declared as he gave her another kiss.
“See you later,” she replied
smiling as he walked out the door and downstairs.
She could hear him making
some coffee. He wouldn’t go anywhere
without a cup of the strong brew. As he
waited for the coffee to brew, he went to the garage, got his golf clubs and
put them by the front door. He took a
travel mug, filled it with coffee and was just walking out the door when Chip
pulled in the driveway and noticed the coffee mug.
“Do you have any more
coffee?” he asked. “I didn’t have time
to make any.”
“Sure take this, I’ll get
another mug.”
Lee found another travel mug
and filled it up. Janet would have to
make another pot if she wanted some as he emptied the one he made. He put his clubs in the back of Chip’s SUV
and climbed in the front seat.
“Ready to lose,” he quipped
taking a drink of his coffee.
“I won’t lose,” Chip answered
back. He usually wins when they play
golf so he figured today wouldn’t be any different.
“We’ll see,” Lee chuckled.
Chip pulled out of the
driveway and headed to the golf course wondering why Lee was so sure he was
going to win today.
((()))
Janet lay in bed for a few
more minutes. She finally got up, took a shower and got dressed. She went to the
store to get some groceries. There
wasn’t too much in their pantry so she needed to stock up on supplies plus buy
something for dinner. She bought steaks,
potatoes, and fixings for a salad. It would be too early to cook dinner so she
bought some snacks from them to eat when they got back. She also bought the ingredients to make
chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
She unloaded the car and put
all the groceries away. She went to the coffee pot and it was empty. Sighing she made some coffee and ate a bagel. She still had a couple of hours before Lee
and Chip would be back so she made the dough for the cookies and put the first
tray in the oven. While they were
baking, she scrubbed the potatoes and made the salad. She had another recipe from Cookie for a
marinade he used on steaks. She was
going to try it out so she put those ingredients together and put the steaks
in. The cookies were finished and
cooling on a rack. Everything was ready
to go as soon as Lee and Chip got home.
She knew Chip would be hungry after eighteen holes of golf especially if
he didn’t eat breakfast.
Janet still had about
forty-five minutes before the ‘boys’ would be home. She went upstairs and got the laundry. She also grabbed the cleaning from the
closet. She saw Lee’s blue uniform and
put it in the cleaning bag after taking off the medals and insignias. She knew he would want it to be cleaned
after sweating in it yesterday at the wedding.
She would have to take it all to the cleaners after work tomorrow.
Finally finished with all the
chores she went outside on the deck to read the newspaper. She took Lee’s laptop and logged on to the
Santa Barbara News-Press. She read what
she wanted, turned off the computer and closed her eyes soaking up the warm
sun. Before too long she dozed off. She had the same dream as the other night and
woke herself up yelling in her sleep but she still didn’t know who she was
talking to and didn’t know what it was about.
Shaken she got up, went inside and got a glass of water. She went back outside, picked up Lee’s
laptop, put it back in his office and went to the kitchen. She was still bothered by the dream when Lee
and Chip came in the door. Lee came in
the kitchen and could see she was upset about something.
“Sweetie what’s wrong...are
you okay...what happened?”
“Nothing I fell asleep
outside and had that dream again.”
“Please don’t worry about
it,” he told her as Chip came in the kitchen.
“Worry about what,” Chip
asked grabbing a cookie from the cooling rack.
“Janet’s been having this
dream and she doesn’t know who’s in it or what it’s about. All she says is ‘Please help him. Don’t let
him die’.”
“That’s very strange. I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” he said
sympathetically grabbing another cookie.
“Who won?” she asked changing
the subject.
“I won,” Lee said proudly.
“He beat me on the last hole,
last stroke. I still can’t believe it,”
Chip said sullenly. “It’s like he had an
incentive to win,” Chip continued looking a Janet with a smirk.
Janet went over to Lee and
gave him a kiss. “I’ll expect my reward
later,” he whispered in her ear.
“Yes sir,” she replied with a
gleam in her eye.
Lee went to the refrigerator,
grabbed two beers and handed one to Chip.
“It’s too early for dinner so
I bought some chips and dip to snack on,” Janet told them as she put them in a
bowl.
“Why don’t we go outside?”
Lee suggested, “It’s a beautiful day.”
Janet took her coffee outside
while Lee and Chip took their beers and snacks.
They sat at the table talking.
“What did you do this morning
besides go to the grocery store?” Lee asked curiously.
“Nothing too much, laundry,
read the paper and got dinner ready.” After
talking for about an hour Janet asked, “Lee, how about you start the
grill. I’m getting hungry as I just had
a bagel earlier this morning.”
“Sure sweetie. I’m surprised Chip hasn’t said something
already.”
“Actually I filled up on the
snacks,” he replied looking at the empty chip bowl, “but I still have room for
dinner.”
Lee went into the house,
grabbed the lighter for the grill, along with two more beers. He went back
outside and handed Chip a beer.
“Janet do you want a glass of
wine? I’ll get it for you I just
couldn’t carry it all.”
“I’ll get it. I’m going to
get the potatoes so you can put them on the grill as soon as it’s hot.”
Janet went in the house,
poured a glass of wine and got the potatoes. As she walked past the counter
Lee’s cell phone rang. She put all the
stuff down and picked up the phone. She
didn’t recognize the number and there was no name listed.
“Commander Crane’s phone,
Janet Crane speaking.”
“Hello, Janet. It’s Admiral Johnson, is Lee there?”
“Yes sir. He’s outside please hold on while I get him,”
she told him unhappily.
“I’ll wait,” he replied
tersely.
Janet went outside with his
phone. Lee and Chip both saw the look on
her face and knew something was up. She
handed him the phone. “It’s Admiral
Johnson.” He took the phone from her and went in the house.
“We knew it had to end
sometime,” Chip told her sadly.
Looking at Chip Janet said, “I
know. I asked him if he still wanted to
work for ONI and he said he’s not ready to leave just yet.”
“I asked him too. I was hoping since he was gone for awhile he
wouldn’t want to go back and he told me the same thing,” Chip lamented.
Janet went back in the house
and brought out the potatoes and her glass of wine. Lee was still on the phone pacing back and
forth in the kitchen as he talked to Johnson.
“The grill is hot enough, so
give me the potatoes and I’ll put them on to cook,” Chip told her.
Janet handed him the potatoes
and then took a big gulp of wine. Lee
came out of the house a few minutes later not looking too happy.
“We have to leave on an ONI
mission by Tuesday morning,” Lee said seriously.
“We?” Chip asked. “As in Seaview?”
“Yes, Seaview will be
taking me and another man named Wayne Kimball to the small island country of
Venoco just off the coast of
“Who’s Wayne Kimball?” Chip
inquired.
“A top expert in explosives,
supposedly the best in the country,” Lee said repeating what Admiral Johnson
had told him.
“Is he a SEAL...has he worked
for ONI before...do you know him?” Janet wanted to know realizing her husband’s
life could depend on him.
“I don’t know anything about him,”
Lee sighed. He was always leery about
working with civilians on ONI missions.
“Why can’t we just blow up
the compound using the missiles on Seaview,” Chip wondered.
“There are a few villages
around the compound and they want to minimize the damage to the villages and
the area. That’s why they built the compound there. They knew if someone was going to blow it up
they would have to come on the island if they didn’t want to hurt the
villagers.”
“Does the admiral know about
the mission?” Chip questioned as he took a drink of his beer.
“Johnson was calling him as
soon he got off the phone with me. We
better call Sharkey and have him recall the crew. We need to leave no later than Tuesday
morning and we also have to stop in
“I’ll call Sharkey and tell
him round up the crew,” Chip said pulling out his cell phone.
As Chip was calling Sharkey,
Lee’s phone rang. Recognizing the
number, “Hello Admiral. I assume you
just got off the phone with Admiral Johnson?”
“Yes Lee. That’s a tight timetable he’s got.”
“I know. It should take about five days running at
full speed to get there,” Lee replied as he did the calculations in his head.
“What about the crew?”
“Chip is calling Sharkey now
and having him call them back. Hopefully
everyone is in town and can make it.”
“I’ll be back later
tonight. Jiggs did give me some of the
details on the new systems they want us to test.”
“Admiral, does Admiral Starke
know anything about a Wayne Kimball?
He’s the demolition expert I’m going to be working with?”
“Let me check and I will let
you know when I return,” the admiral told him as he tapped a pencil on his
briefcase.
Sighing he answered, “Thanks
Admiral.”
Before the admiral hung up he
asked cautiously, “Lee, do you still want to work for ONI after being off?”
“Yes sir. I’m just not quite ready to quit. Sorry sir.”
“Just thought I’d ask,” he
replied frowning. Damn, he
thought.
“We’ll see you first thing in
the morning. Good bye Admiral.”
Lee disconnected his call
from the admiral. Janet had gone in the
house to get the steaks to barbecue.
They still had to eat dinner so she brought the steaks to Chip who put
them on the grill while Lee was talking with the admiral. She went back in the house and brought out
the plates, silverware, the bottle of wine and another beer for Lee and Chip. She set the table while Lee and Chip talked
about getting the crew back to Seaview.
“Sharkey’s going to let me
know who on the crew is not available to sail on Tuesday. I called Jamie and he will be ready to go
too. Who’s going to replace Jenkins?”
“Replace Jenkins? He’s not doing anything important right now,”
Lee said with a wry grin teasing his wife.
“Lee Crane...you’re kidding
right?” Janet exclaimed looking at her husband not seeing his grin.
“Yes sweetie, just trying to
lighten the mood a bit,” he replied tenderly.
Chip stood there and shook
his head saying, “Lee who are we going to get?
With you gone we’ll need someone besides Bobby and me.”
Rubbing his forehead Lee thought
about it for a few seconds, “Why don’t we put Scott Taper in for Jenkins? I’ve had him in the control room taking over
the conn a couple of times. He seemed to do alright.”
“Okay Lee. I agree with you. Let’s give him a chance.”
Sharkey called Chip back with
the news on the crew just before they were going to eat dinner.
“Mr. Morton I’ve contacted
all the crew and all will be on board except for Jenkins,” Sharkey reported to
Chip.
“Thanks Chief. Could you do me a favor and call back Scott
Taper and ask him to come to the institute tomorrow morning at 0900?”
“Yes sir. I’ll let him know.”
The steaks and potatoes were
done so Lee put them on a plate while Janet went into the house and got the
salad.
“Everything looks delicious,”
Chip said hungrily. “Let’s eat.”
They each took a steak,
potatoes and salad. Chip had grilled the
steaks to perfection. Janet got them
another bottle of beer and poured more wine in her glass. In spite of what was ahead of them, they
enjoyed their meal and had a good time talking about the golf game. When dinner was finished, Lee and Chip helped
carry in the dishes and put them in the dishwasher while Janet made some coffee
to go with the cookies.
“I think I’ve had a little
too much wine today. You’ll like the
coffee; it’s going to be nice and strong.
I lost count on how many scoops I put in,” Janet giggled.
“Sweetheart how many glasses
of wine did you have?” Lee asked with a grin.
“Oh about three or four, I
think, on an empty stomach.”
Chip stood there watching her
and had to laugh. She was drunk. He took
the cups out of the cabinet along with the sugar and got the milk out of the
refrigerator. He and Lee drank their
coffee black but Janet liked it with milk and sugar. He took a cookie and put the rest of them on
the table outside. He came back in for
the coffee, sugar and cream.
Lee could tell she did have a
little too much wine so he went over to his wife and gave her a hug. Janet was right the coffee was very strong but
Lee and Chip didn’t mind they thought it tasted great. After taking a sip Janet knew it was too
strong but she needed to sober up so she drank it without cream and sugar.
It was getting late and they
had to be at the institute early tomorrow to prepare for the mission. “Goodnight and thanks for dinner. I’ll beat you the next time we play golf,”
Chip told Lee.
“We’ll see. Maybe the tide has turned and I’m going to
start winning,” Lee laughed as he patted Chip on the shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”
“Good night Janet,” Chip said
with a grin as she sat outside in the lounge chair.
“Night Chip,” Janet replied
taking a sip of her coffee as Chip walked down to his house shaking his head
and smiling as he had never seen Janet drunk before.
((()))
After Chip left, Janet came
in the house and sat on the couch while Lee cleaned up the rest of the dishes
and the kitchen. He joined her on the
couch where she rested her head on his shoulder and before too long she was
sound asleep.
Waking her up Lee said
smiling, “Come on sweetie, you need to go to bed.”
“Okay Lee, let’s go. I’m really tired,” she replied with a yawn.
Lee helped her up the
stairs. She was still feeling the
effects of the wine but managed to get ready for bed by herself. By the time he got into bed, she was sleeping.
So much for my reward for
winning, he thought as he put his arm
around her. Maybe tomorrow morning.
((()))
Janet woke up at 0500 with a
terrible headache. Lee was already in
the shower so she slowly got up and joined him.
“Please don’t ever let me
have more than one glass of wine,” she begged him, “I have a terrible
headache.”
He smiled as she stood there
with the water running over her. “No problem.
You were pretty out of it last night,” he joked.
Embarrassed she asked, “What
did I do...I didn’t do anything silly...did I embarrass myself in front of
Chip?”
“No you didn’t do anything
embarrassing. You just made the coffee a
little too strong and fell asleep on my shoulder before I could collect my
reward for winning the golf game. Do we
have time for my reward,” Lee asked deviously.
“Oh, sorry, I forgot about
that,” she said softly. “Probably not but so we’re a little late,” she replied
turning off the water and grabbing his hand.
They went back to bed where Janet kept her promise and rewarded him for
winning the golf game. They had to take
another shower and now they were running late so they wouldn’t have time for
any coffee or breakfast. Before they
left for work, Janet took a couple of acetaminophen for her headache.
((()))
When they arrived at the
institute, Chip was already there and had made the coffee. Lee made a beeline for the pot while Janet
went to her office to hang up her coat.
“Good morning Chip. Thanks for making the coffee,” Lee told him
as he drank the stout brew.
Looking over at Janet as she
came out of the office, Chip replied, “No problem. How’s Janet this morning. I think she had a little too much wine
yesterday.”
“Yes she did. She made me promise to let her have only one
glass from now on. She has a headache
this morning and we were running late so she didn’t get any coffee either.”
Going over to the coffee pot,
Janet poured herself a cup, “Chip, this coffee is very good,” she said as she
drank it black with no cream and sugar.
“Not feeling up to par this
morning?” Chip laughed surprised that she liked the coffee.
“Not really, too much wine
yesterday. I’ve got a lot of work to do
to get ready to leave tomorrow so I’m going to let the two of you just stand
around and do nothing,” she grinned as she went back to her office.
The admiral came in a few
minutes later along with Angie and Wanda.
“Good morning,” the admiral said to Lee and Chip, “how about we meet in
my office at 0930 and I’ll show you the information Jiggs gave me on the
systems the Navy wants us to test and then we can go over the details for the
mission we’re undertaking.”
“Yes sir,” they replied.
“Admiral since Jenkins is not
on this mission, Chip and I have decided to put in Scott Taper in his
place. He’s been at the conn
before. He just needs some more
experience and confidence,” Lee told him.
“Sounds good Lee,” the
admiral answered nodding his head in agreement.
The admiral went into Angie’s
office, “Good morning Angie,” he said, “I need to meet with you at 0900. We’re leaving on a mission and I want to make
sure you know what is going on and clear up any work that hasn’t been finished
before we leave.”
“Yes sir,” Angie replied as
she turned on her computer and waited for it to boot up as she needed to print
out a couple of letters for the admiral to sign.
The admiral went to his
office, put his briefcase down and hung up his jacket before sitting down at
his desk. He opened the briefcase and
took out the information Jiggs had given him about the new systems. He wanted to look over the papers before Lee
and Chip came in.
((()))
Scott Taper was at the
institute office at 0845. Wanda let Lee
know he was there. He was in the waiting area when Lee came out of his office.
“Hi Scott,” Lee said
pleasantly, “don’t look so scared.
There’s nothing wrong.”
Relaxing a little Scott
replied, “Good morning sir. Thank
goodness. I’ve been up most of the night
thinking I’ve done something wrong.”
Chip came out of his office
when he heard Lee talking to Scott. The
three of them went to Lee’s office where Lee sat at his desk, Chip sat on the
corner and Scott on the couch.
Lee began, “We would like you
to take over for Jenkins in the control room.
He’s not available for this mission because he’s on his honeymoon. Both Mr. Morton and I feel you’re ready to
assume some more duties and take over the conn.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ve enjoyed the few times I’ve been up there
working with you and Mr. Morton. I’m
glad you have the confidence in me to take over for Jenkins.”
Lee continued, “To start out
we’ll put you in charge when Mr. Morton or myself are there. We’ll see how you do and put you on the delta
watch. We’ll be heading for an island in
the Pacific near
“I’ll do my best sir,” Scott
assured them.
“Thanks for coming in. We’ll
see you in the morning,” Chip said as he got up along with Scott.
Just as Scott left Lee’s
office, Janet came out of hers and gave him the thumbs up. He smiled and walked to the elevators.
((()))
At 0930 Lee and Chip grabbed
another cup of coffee and went to the admiral’s office. “Go
right in. He’s expecting you,” Angie
said without looking up from her typing.
Lee knocked on the door
anyway. “Come,” the admiral said as Lee
and Chip walked in, “let me show you what Jiggs gave me regarding the systems.”
The admiral had the sheets
spread out over the top of his desk. Chip and Lee stood behind the desk with
the admiral.
Looking at the data sheets
and schematics Chip said, “It doesn’t look like it’s going to take up too much
room. We might be able to squeeze an
extra computer or two in there.”
“I think we should be able to
reconfigure the sonar and radar stations without too much trouble. The radio looks a little smaller than what is
in there now. This might work out for us
to test,” Lee commented as he ran his finger over the schematic drawing.
“Well we’ll worry about this
after we get back from Venoco,” the admiral told them rolling up the
information and putting it under his desk.
“Admiral, did Admiral Starke
know anything about Wayne Kimball?” Lee asked rubbing his forehead.
Sitting down at his desk the
admiral replied, “Not too much other than he’s the best demolition expert in
the country. He’s known for imploding buildings in places that no one else
would take on.”
Chip and Lee sat down in the
chairs in front of the admiral’s desk as Lee asked, “Does he know anything
about undercover work?”
Inhaling deeply the admiral
answered, “No. Nothing at all.”
“Damn,” Lee swore. “Why pick him? There must be a SEAL that has his
expertise. Hell I could do it.”
“According the Johnson, since
the PR took over they have added more chemical producing capabilities,” the
admiral said looking at the notes he got from Admiral Starke. “They want to
take no chances on any of the biological weapons killing the people in the
villages or being released into the atmosphere.”
Sighing Lee said, “Thanks
admiral for checking. I guess I’ll have
my work cut out for me.”
Standing up, “Well I still
have some things to get done. I’ll see
you later,” the admiral told them.
They left his office and went
to Chip’s. They didn’t shut the door all
the way and Janet was outside the door as she needed to have Chip sign a letter
and heard what they were talking about.
“Lee I’m not thrilled with
the fact you’re going to be working with someone who knows nothing about
undercover work. How about I come with
the two of you? You can get us in there;
you and Kimball can plant his explosives where they need to go while I watch
your backs.”
“Thanks Chip, but I’m not
going to put you or anyone else in harm’s way.
Besides that I don’t think the admiral or Johnson would go for it. I’ll take my chances.”
Janet left the doorway before
Lee came out. She was afraid of what was
going to happen on this mission.
“Lee...” Chip tried to
continue but Lee cut him off. “I’ll be
fine.”
Lee left Chip’s office and
went to his to get what he needed for this mission. He took his 45, extra ammo and put it in his
backpack. As he was zipping up the
backpack Janet came in his office. She
went over to him and gave him a hug. He wrapped his arms around her and
returned her hug. He could tell she was
already worried.
“Please don’t worry,” he told
her softly rubbing her back.
“I heard what you told Chip
about this
“It’s okay sweetie. I was going to tell you anyway. I know what I’m doing. I’ve worked with people without experience
before.”
“I will always worry,” she
said as tears formed in her eyes but he didn’t see them because she had her
face buried in his chest. “I better get
back to work. Chip still has to sign the
letter so I can get it out.”
She went to Chip’s office and
gave him the letter to sign. He could
see she was upset. “I tried to make him
take me with but he won’t,” Chip told her quietly.
“I know I heard you talking
before,” she replied softly, “thanks for trying.”
Giving her a weak smile, Chip
signed the letter so she could get it out today.
((()))
Lee, Chip and Janet finished
their work at the institute right after lunch.
They were going down to the sub pen to check on how the loading of Seaview
was progressing. Lee took his backpack
while Janet grabbed his briefcase. They
met Chip by the elevator and went down together. They got in their cars and drove to Dock A
where Seaview was berthed. There
was a lot of activity on the dock as the crew loaded the supplies they would
need for the mission. Janet saw Jamie by
the sail hatch with John and Frank. They
had boxes of supplies in their hands and Jamie had a cooler. Janet was wondering what was in the
cooler. Lee was talking to Chief Sharkey
so Janet went over to Chip.
“Chip what does Jamie have in
the cooler? I’ve never seen him bring it
aboard before,” she asked curiously.
Hesitating he replied, “He
has medications that need refrigeration, plasma and blood.”
“Blood and plasma?”
“Yes, knowing Lee is going on
an ONI mission and with his rare blood type, he always brings some with him in
case of an emergency.”
“I see,” Janet sighed heavily
hoping he wouldn’t need to use the blood or plasma.
Chip could see she a little
unnerved by what he told her. Lee
finished talking with the Chief and they went down the gangway to the sail
hatch. One of the men on duty took Lee’s
backpack and the briefcase from Janet so they could go down the ladder into the
control room. Chip was right behind
them. Chip went down the ladder followed
by Lee who waited for Janet at the bottom and helped her down.
“I’ll take it to our cabin,” Janet
told Lee so he could make sure everything was ready for sailing first thing
tomorrow morning.
“Thanks,” he said giving her
hand a squeeze before handing her the items.
She went to their cabin put
the backpack in the closet and briefcase on the desk. They would be staying on Seaview
tonight so they could get an early start in the morning but they would need to
go home so she could pack what they needed. She looked to see if Lee’s fatigues
were in the closet. He had one set there
but would probably need another one so she would pack one for him along with
some more uniforms.
She opened the briefcase,
took her work out and put the briefcase under his desk. There wasn’t too much to be done from the office
but there was always paperwork to do on Seaview. Whatever they entered into the log book in
the control room, she entered into the computer too plus duty rosters and
inventory. She would be kept busy but
would also pack her reader in case she had some free time. After taking the work to her office she came
back to their cabin, sat down at the desk and waited for Lee.
((()))
Lee came into the cabin and
saw his wife at his desk staring into space.
“Ready to go? They’ve got almost
everything loaded so we’ll be ready to sail in the morning,” he said softly not
wanting to startle her.
She turned to look at him, “Yes,
just checked to see what we needed to pack.”
They walked back down the
passageway to the spiral staircase.
Janet went down first with Lee following close behind. Chip was waiting for them in the control room
and looked at his watch. “How about we
go to dinner before we come back for the night?”
“Sure I’m a little hungry,”
Lee remarked and looked at Janet, “You didn’t have any lunch either aren’t you
hungry too.”
Lying Janet said, “Yes, I’m
hungry what are we going to eat?”
“Let’s go to the barbecue
place. They have take-out so we can get
it quickly, eat and pack so we can be back on Seaview by 2000 hours,”
Lee suggested.
“I’ll pick up dinner while
you and Janet pack. I’ve got my gear
already to go just need to pick it up from the house. We’ll eat at your house and leave from
there. Okay?”
“Works for us,” Lee
responded, “thanks Chip. See you back at
the house.”
((()))
Janet took their duffle bags
out of the closet and began putting her clothes in one while Lee put his
clothes in the other.
“You only have one set of
fatigues on Seaview,” she mentioned as he was putting in some uniforms.
“Thanks sweetie,” he told her
as he grabbed two more sets. He could
see she was upset about something.
“What’s wrong?” he asked
going over to the closet where she was taking clothes off the hangar so she
could pack them.
“Nothing just a little
nervous about this mission but I know everything will be fine,” she told him
trying to convince herself as she walked over to the bed and put her clothes in
the duffle bag.
He gave her a kiss and was
going to do a little more when the doorbell rang. Chip was back with dinner. “To be continued later,” he smiled at her and
she returned his smile.
He took both their duffle
bags downstairs as Janet let Chip in.
They ate dinner and as Lee and Chip cleaned up, Janet watered her plants
before they left. Chip walked down to
his house, took his duffle bag and put it in the car with Janet and Lee’s. Lee took the car keys out of his pocket
while Janet and Chip got in and drove back down to the sub pen.
((()))
Bobby O’Brien and Scott Taper
were already aboard checking in the crew.
When Lee and Chip came down the gangway they saluted both of them. “Good
evening sirs,” they said. “Good evening
Mrs. Crane.”
“Good evening,” they replied.
“Has all the crew checked
in?” Chip asked.
“Yes all but Riley. He called and said he would be a little late
but would be here by 2200 hours.
Something about a surfboard and a contest.”
“Okay thanks for letting us
know,” Lee replied smiling. Lee, Chip
and Janet went to the sail hatch and down the ladder in the control room. Two crewmen had taken their duffle bags and
put them in their cabins. Chief Sharkey
was in the control room waiting for Riley to board. The admiral came down the ladder into the
control room right after them.
“All on board except for
Riley,” the admiral stated to Sharkey after he checked with O’Brien and Taper
on deck.
“Yes sir. We’ll be ready to shove off at 0500,” Sharkey
answered quickly.
“Great job of getting
everything and everybody on board in such short notice Chief,” the admiral told
him.
“Thank you sir.”
“Since we’re leaving pretty
early I’m going to my cabin for the night.
Good night, all.”
“Goodnight sir,” they all
replied as the admiral headed up the spiral staircase.
“That sounds like a good
idea,” Lee said as he looked at Janet.
“Fine with me,” she replied
with a smile.
All three of them went up the
staircase to their cabins.
((()))
Lee and Janet went to their
cabin and got ready for bed. Janet
climbed in first and waited for Lee to come in.
He could see the worry etched on her face.
“I’ll be fine,” he reassured
her again as he climbed in the bunk and wrapped his arm around his wife. She snuggled a little closer to him that
night.
((()))
Lee and Janet woke up at 0400
and got ready for the day. They would
have breakfast after Seaview cleared the breakwater and was in open
sea. Since Lee was going to let Scott
take over the conn while he ate breakfast, Janet would meet him in the
wardroom. Lee went to the control room and knew Chip was already in the conning
tower telling the dock crew to remove the gangway and prepare to shove
off. Lee climbed the ladder up to the conning
tower.
“Hi Chip,” Lee said quietly.
“Good morning Lee,” Chip
replied. “We’re ready to shove off any
time you give the order.”
“Well let’s get underway.”
“Prepare to shove off. Clear the deck,” Chip said over the mic.
“You’re pretty quiet this
morning,” Chip commented as they stood in the conning tower watching the dock
detail pull up the gangway and untied the lines holding Seaview to the
dock.
“Just thinking about what’s
ahead. I’m not too thrilled about working with a civilian,” Lee replied back
looking at the dock detail stow the lines.
“My offer still stands,” Chip
answered softly.
“No I need you here in case
something does happen,” Lee explained.
“Do you expect anything to
happen?”
“No just have an uneasy
feeling,” Lee answered looking away from the dock and into the channel.
Chip gave the orders to shove
off. “Engine room, all back, dead slow.”
“Engine room, aye.”
They both stayed in the
conning tower as Seaview slowly backed out of her berth and into the
channel. Once she cleared the breakwater
and was in open sea they would dive the boat.
It would take them two hours to reach the
“You have the conn Mr. Taper,”
Lee said noting the change in the log book.
“Aye, sir.”
“Mr. Taper please dive the
boat,” Lee ordered.
“Secure the deck detail,
prepare to dive,” he said into the mic and pressed the button sounding the
klaxon.
“All green, Tim?”
“Yes sir all green,” Tim
replied promptly.
“Dive, dive, dive,” Scott
said into the mic.
Seaview slowly glided under the water. Once underwater, Lee and Chip checked the
course Taper had set.
“Good job Mr. Taper,” Lee
commended him, “Please set the course and speed.”
“Helmsmen set a course of
“Aye sir,” the helmsmen
replied,
Clicking the mic, “Engine
room all ahead standard.”
“Aye sir."
“Nicely done Mr. Taper,” Lee
said as he patted him on the shoulder.
He could feel him relax just a bit.
“If you have any problems,
please call us immediately. We’ll be in
the wardroom,” Lee told Scott.
“Aye sir.”
((()))
Janet went to the wardroom
and saw the admiral and Jamie were already enjoying their breakfast. She sat down next to Jamie to wait for Lee
but she didn’t have to wait to long when he and Chip walked in the wardroom.
“Good morning, Lee, Chip,”
the admiral said. “Everything okay
leaving NIMR?”
“Yes sir. We’ve put Taper in charge of the conn until
we get close to
Chip took a tray and handed
one to Janet as Lee grabbed one for himself.
Cookie put some eggs, sausage and toast on all their trays. Janet looked at all the food on her plate and
knew she would never eat it all. They
went back to the table and sat down. Lee
went to the sidebar and got three cups of coffee.
“Lee, when we get to
“Yes sir. We’ll be ready to shove off as soon as you’re
back on board,” Lee responded taking a bite of his toast.
The admiral and Jamie left
the wardroom while Lee, Chip and Janet finished their breakfast. Janet ate most of it but what she didn’t eat,
Chip did.
“After all the barbecue ribs
you ate last night, the breakfast you just ate you still have room for more,”
Janet asked amazed at how much food he could eat.
Chip looked her grinning, “That
was a long time ago. I was hungry.”
They finished their breakfast
and Lee took all their trays and put them in the dish bin. He got another cup of coffee as Cookie was
taking the dirty dish bin away. Janet
was still sitting at the table with Chip drinking her coffee.
“Good breakfast this
morning,” Lee told Cookie. “Still
bribing Janet with recipes to stay out of the galley?”
“Thank you sir. Yes now don’t
get me wrong she would probably do a good job but I don’t want anyone in here
with me,” he told Lee softly so Janet wouldn’t hear.
“Don’t worry you’re secret is
safe with me,” he said to Cookie with a grin.
He went back to the table and
sat down to finish his coffee. He didn’t
want to go back to the control room too soon.
He wanted Scott to continue at the conn for a little while longer. He would have to go back there when they got
close to
Holding his coffee cup in his
hand, “Where are you going from here?” Lee asked Janet.
“To my office as I have some
work to catch up on plus I have to type up the duty rosters Chip just gave
me. I see they’ve put quite a few
inventory tickets on my desk that I need to enter into the computer.”
“Do you want to watch us dock
in
Janet didn’t normally get to
be in the conning tower when they docked; usually only at NIMR and
“We should be docking in an
hour,” he said as he got up and put his coffee cup in the bin.
“I’ll be there.”
Lee and Chip left the
wardroom and went back to the control room to make preparations for docking in
“I’ll take over the conn Mr.
Taper,” Lee said to Scott after checking the instruments and seeing they were right
on schedule.
“Aye sir.”
“Good job Mr. Taper,” Lee
told him.
“Thank you sir,” he replied
but stayed near the plotting table to watch what Lee and Chip were doing.
About fifty minutes later,
Janet could feel Seaview slow down so they must be close to the
harbor. She turned off her computer,
grabbed the duty rosters she typed up and went to the control room. She gave Chip the duty rosters to look at
before he had Lee sign off on them. He noticed that Scott was on the roster for
Delta Watch which is what he wanted.
“Glad to see you put Mr.
Taper on the Delta watch,” Lee remarked to Chip.
“I thought he could handle
it. It should be quiet but he’ll need to
take care of any problems should they arise.”
Lee signed off on the rosters and handed them to Janet for posting.
Chip headed up the ladder to
the conning tower when they were finished.
Lee waited for Janet to go up the ladder and followed her up. Lee was right there were a lot of boats
and ships, Janet thought.
“Dead slow,” Lee told the engine
room.
“Aye sir.”
Lee gave orders to maneuvering
slowly bringing the huge submarine into the largest berth in the harbor. Once Seaview was in place the deck
crew threw the lines to the men on the dock to tie her off and place down a
gangway. The admiral was in the control
room waiting for the word that she was secure so he could meet Admiral Starke
on the dock along with Wayne Kimball.
Janet came down the ladder into the control room and the admiral was
surprised to see her.
“He let you up to watch him
bring her in?” the admiral asked with a smile.
“Yes sir. It’s amazing to watch him get her into a
harbor without hitting another vessel or the dock,” she replied grinning.
“Yes it is pretty amazing how
they manage to get her here. But I’ve
got the best there is,” he said as Janet nodded her head in agreement.
Lee and Chip came down the
ladder as they finished docking the boat. “Is there a problem sir? I know I shouldn’t have let Janet on the
conning tower but it’s a nice harbor to see when you’re docking.”
“No problem Lee,” the admiral
replied. “Did you see Admiral Starke and
Mr. Kimball at the dock?”
“His car was just pulling up
to the berth when we came down,” Lee reported.
“Let’s go up and meet them,”
the admiral stated. “This way we can get
out of here before ‘rush hour’ starts,” he laughed. Being the largest base on
the
The admiral and Lee made
their way up the ladder to the sail hatch and down the gangway as Admiral Starke
and Wayne Kimball were exiting the car.
Lee saluted Admiral Starke and the admiral shook his hand.
“Admiral Nelson, Commander
Crane, this Wayne Kimball,” Starke said as they shook hands with
“Thank you sir,” Lee and
Wayne replied.
“Thanks, Jiggs. We’ll see you in a week or so.”
Chip was in conning tower
waiting for the admiral, Lee and Mr. Kimball to come aboard so they could leave
port as soon as possible. On the dock
were Patterson and Kowalski waiting for them.
Lee walked over them, “Mr.
Kimball, this is crewmen Patterson and Kowalski. They will take you gear below.”
“Thank you Commander. Please be very careful with the blue bag, it
has the explosives needed for blowing up the compound. The other bag is my gear.”
“Kowalski take the blue bag and
put it in the arms locker,” Lee told him.
“Aye sir,” Kowalski answered
and gently picked up the blue bag and went down the gangway to the sail hatch.
“I’ll take my own bag down
just show me where to go,” he said to Lee as he grabbed his bag.
Patterson followed Kowalski
to the sail hatch and held the bag while he went down the ladder into the
control room. He carefully handed Kowalski
the bag who took it to the arms locker.
Patterson went down the
ladder followed by the admiral and Mr. Kimball while Lee continued up the
ladder to the conning tower.
“Secure the deck detail,
prepare to shove off,” Chip ordered as soon as the men entered the sail hatch.
The harbor detail undid the lines
that held Seaview to the dock took the gangway away while the crew
grabbed the lines and stowed them before going down the ladder.
Lee called the engine room, “All
back dead slow.”
“Aye, sir,” they replied and Seaview
gradually left the dock.
After they were away from the
dock Lee ordered, “All ahead 1/3.” Seaview slowly made her way out of
the harbor.
The admiral and Mr. Kimball
made their way to the observation nose after coming down the ladder, “I heard
Commander Crane was one of ONI’s best agents and a Navy SEAL but I didn’t know
he was also the captain of Seaview,” Mr. Kimball remarked.
“That is correct,” the
admiral replied as they walked past the plotting table.
“I also understand that he’s
a no nonsense kind of guy; get in and get out in one piece.”
“Yes he knows what needs to
be done and how to get it done.”
Janet was in the observation
nose watching Seaview leave when Mr. Kimball spotted her. “I didn’t know there was a woman on board,”
he said to the admiral making a beeline for her.
“I’m Wayne Kimball and you
are?” he asked grabbing her hand and winking at her.
Lee came down the ladder
jumping down past the last two rungs while Chip stayed in the conning tower
until they cleared the breakwater. Before
Janet or the admiral could answer Lee came up behind him and tersely replied,
“Mrs. Crane.”
“Sorry Commander. I didn’t realize she was your wife.”
“If you’ll excuse me I need
to make sure we get out of the harbor,” Lee told him and walked back to the
control room as Chip came down the ladder.
“All clear Skipper. We can dive anytime you’re ready,” Chip told
Lee.
“Mr. Morton please dive the
boat,” Lee ordered.
With his usual efficiency
Chip issued the orders to dive. “Dive,
dive, dive,” he said over the mic and pressed the button on the klaxon.
“All green Mr. Morton,”
“Thank you Peters. Take her
down to ninety feet. Helmsmen set a course of
“Aye aye sir,” they replied.
Janet and Mr. Kimball watched
as the water passed over the observation nose windows and Seaview slowly
submerged into the ocean.
“What a fantastic view,” Mr.
Kimball remarked.
“Yes it is,” Janet replied as
Lee and Chip came back in the observation nose after Seaview reached her
depth and course.
“Mr. Kimball this is Seaview’s
Executive officer, Chip Morton. If you
should need anything, please let him or me know,” Lee said as Chip shook hands
with Mr. Kimball.
Speaking freely, “My father
was in the Navy and I’m aware of formalities but can we do away with them
unless we’re in front of your crew? So
please call me Wayne.”
Lee replied, “Yes that will
be fine. Lee and Chip will work. My wife’s name is Janet.” Lee continued, “Chip,
please show
“Yes Lee I understand.”
Chip and
“I thought the cabins on
submarines were the size of a matchbox but this is pretty spacious.”
“Well Seaview is not
your ordinary submarine as you can see,” Chip told him. “She can be a little
confusing but you’ll figure it out.”
“Well let’s go back for my
tour. I’m very interested in seeing what
else is on this boat,”
Chip and
As they made their way back
to the observation nose Lee remarked, “They put your explosives in the arms
locker room. They’ll be safe in
there. Do you have any questions?”
“No sir. You have a very impressive submarine. I was on a submarine with my father once and
it sure didn’t look anything like this,”
“Thank you but this is all
Admiral Nelson’s. He designed it and
built it,” Lee replied proudly.
They returned to the
observation nose where the admiral was waiting for them to come back. “Chip
you have the conn,” Lee said as he moved to the controls for the crash doors.
“Aye sir.”
Once Chip had moved to the
control room Lee closed the doors between the control room and observation nose
giving them the privacy they needed to discuss the mission.
((()))
The three men sat down at the
table where the admiral had laid out the latest intel he got from Admiral
Starke.
Lee began, “
“Yes, that is correct. I work for a private company that does
demolition all over the world and I’m the best demolition expert in the
world. That’s why I was picked to do
this job. Lee, just like you know your job, I know mine.”
“In order for us to get in
there and do what needs to be done, it is imperative you do exactly what I tell
you. Our lives depend on it. Here’s a drawing of the building you’re going
to implode. As you can see there are a
few villages surrounding it. That’s why
we need your expertise. We don’t want to
harm any villagers if possible. We also need to remember there are some very
dangerous chemicals and biological weapons located in there.”
“I understand Lee. I’ve
looked over the drawing and know where I need to place my explosives. I realize as a SEAL you are familiar with
them but just as undercover work is your forte, explosives are mine and you
will have to do what I tell you when it comes to that.”
“I understand,” Lee conceded
as they continued to discuss the mission making sure everything was in order.
After three hours Lee looked
at his watch and his duty as well as Chip’s was over thirty minutes ago. He was hungry and promised Janet they would
have dinner together. “How about we go and get some dinner, we’ve been at this
for quite a while. Cookie is making
chicken parmesan tonight with brownies.
One thing you will enjoy while on Seaview is the food. Our cook is the best.”
Surprised at the time
Lee opened the crash doors and
found Bobby O’Brien at the plotting table.
“Good evening Mr. O’Brien.
Everything okay?”
“Yes sir. We’re on course and schedule.”
“Good. This is Wayne Kimball. He’ll be with us on this cruise. This is Lt. Bobby O’Brien.”
“Nice to meet you Mr.
Kimball,” O’Brien said.
“Same here,” Wayne said
extending his hand as O’Brien shook it.
“Is Mr. Morton in the
wardroom?”
“Yes sir. He left about thirty minutes ago.”
The admiral, Lee and Wayne
left the control room and went to the wardroom where they found Chip and Janet awaiting
their arrival. They made their way to
the line and everyone got a heaping helping of chicken parm and pasta. Chip lead the way to their table and they all
took a seat.
“How do you like being on a
submarine?” Janet asked
“So far so good. Seaview is a very interesting
submarine though. I went on one with my
dad a long time ago and as I told Mr. Morton it sure wasn’t like this.”
“Well most submarines aren’t
like this,” the admiral commented.
“She’s one of a kind.”
They sat there in the
wardroom room eating their dinners and talking about Seaview. When they were finished, Janet took their
trays to the dish bin; she also got their coffee cups and refilled them.
“You were right about the
food. That was the best chicken parmesan
I’ve ever had,”
“Thank you,” Cookie replied
as he put a plate of brownies on the table in front of Lee.
They all took a brownie
except Janet. She was too full to eat
one but knew Cookie would save her one for later.
As Lee was eating his brownie
he said, “
“Just let me know when Lee,”
“How about 1100 hours
tomorrow. We’ll meet in the observation nose.”
“Sounds good to me, I’ll be
there,”
They finished their brownies,
cleaned up their dishes and left the wardroom.
Lee, Chip and the admiral were heading back to the observation nose for
a meeting on the upgrades. Cookie would
bring them a fresh pot of coffee for their meeting and another plate of
brownies.
As they were leaving
Janet answered, “I’ll show
you. She can be quite confusing. When I first started, I was always getting
lost and the crew had to show me where to go.”
“Thanks I appreciate it.”
Janet and Wayne left the
wardroom and headed down the passageway to the nearest stairway and went up to
“A” deck and Officer’s Country.
”How long have you been on Seaview,”
“Just over three years. I’m considered one of the crew and I have a
job to do just like the rest of them.”
“How long have you and Lee
been married?” he asked sensing it couldn’t have been too long by Lee’s
reaction in the observation nose when he first came aboard.
Smiling Janet replied, “Not
quite three years. Lee and I got married
a few months after I was hired for the job on Seaview and the institute. I enjoy working with him as well as Admiral
Nelson and Mr. Morton.”
“It must be hard when he
leaves for his missions,”
“Yes it can be difficult but
I know he’ll be back as soon as he can.
I understand you’ve never done anything undercover before?”
“You got that right. I’m not sure I want to now,” he replied as
they got to his cabin door.
Turning to face him, “
“I’ll do my best,” he
reassured her. “Thank you for showing me
to my cabin.”
“No problem. See you in the morning,” she replied as she
walked to her cabin around the corner.
((()))
Standing at the table in the
observation nose, Lee sipped his coffee and munched on a brownie while they
looked at the drawings Admiral Starke had given them.
“After checking the
dimensions on this drawing with the technical room layout, it will be tight but
we should get a couple of computers in there,” Chip told the admiral and Lee as
he grabbed a brownie and cup of coffee.
“We can reconfigure the radio
room with no problem as well as sonar and radar. I think we should tell the Navy we can do
it,” Lee said confidently.
“I’m okay with what needs to
be done. When we get back I’ll call
Jiggs and let him know. Lee, what do you
think of
“I’m not sure. He seems confident but maybe too
confident. Check with me tomorrow after
our meeting.”
“All right, I don’t know
about you two but I’m bushed. It’s been
a long day. I’ll see you in the
morning,” the admiral told them.
“Good night sir,” they said
to the admiral.
Lee and Chip stayed in the
observation nose a little while longer drinking their coffee. They had eaten all of the brownies.
“Lee, are you sure you don’t
want me to come with?” Chip asked again.
“Thanks Chip but I really
need you to be here just in case there is a problem. You can get Seaview out of there
safely,” Lee told Chip rubbing his forehead.
Chip looked Lee in the eyes,
furrowing his brows and said, “Do you expect any problems?”
Lee sighed, “No but you know
I always like to be prepared for anything.”
They left the observation
nose and went up the spiral staircase to their cabins. Janet had fallen asleep
while waiting for Lee to return. When
Lee got to his cabin Janet was sitting up in their bunk shaking, covered in
sweat and tears running down her face.
Lee ran over to her, “Sweetie, what’s wrong,” he asked urgently, “Was it
the dream again?” Unable to speak, she
nodded her head. Lee went to the head,
ran a towel under cool water, returned to their bunk and gently wiped her face.
Tears running down her
cheeks, “There was a guard...he had a gun...shot someone...still don’t know
who,” she cried, “I can’t see a face.”
He wrapped his arms around
her holding her close stroking her hair, “Its okay, sweetie, its okay.”
He left her sitting in the
corner of the bunk, tears still running down her cheeks as he quickly got ready
for bed. He climbed in bed and lay down
next to her and wrapped his arms tightly around her as she was still shaking.
((()))
At 1100
Lee seeing
Looking up from the plotting
table Chip answered, “Aye sir,” as Lee put his pencil down and pressed the
button closing the crash doors. He walked
over to the desk and took out the plans, maps and intel they had from ONI.
“Seaview will be
sitting about two hundred yards off the island,” Lee said pointing to the area
on the map, “There’s a small harbor on the eastern side of the island but we’ll
be coming in from the western end. From
what I saw when I was there and the new intel, it doesn’t look like they have
any radar tracking abilities but we can’t take a chance on bringing her any
closer. We’ll be going in before dawn
and taking a zodiac to the island which will return to Seaview once
we’re on the island. It’s a two mile
hike to the compound and the first mile is dense jungle. It becomes a little better the closer we get
to the compound. There are villages on
the northern and southern sides of the island about a half a mile away in each
direction. Hopefully we won’t see any of
the villagers. Any questions, so far.”
“No but how do we get in the
compound?”
“Once we scope out the area
and make sure there are no cameras or tracking devices we’ll head down to the
compound. There will be guards so we’ll
have to take them out. Do you have any
experience in knocking out someone?”
“Yes I can do that,”
“Good. We’ll then take their uniforms and put them
on. We need to make sure that even
though we’re dressed as guards we aren’t seen.
Do you have a gun and can you use it if need be?”
“Lee of course I can use a
gun, what man can’t.”
“Kimball,” Lee said angrily,
“I need to know everything about you, your capabilities and if you can follow
an order. Our lives depend on what you
can or can’t do so I need you to be honest with me.”
“Commander, how long do you
think I would last in my line of work if I didn’t follow orders,” he sniped
back. “I’ll do my best at whatever you
tell me to do. I want to get out of
there alive too.”
Taking a deep breath Lee
continued, “Alright sorry I got a little angry.
Once we have the uniforms we’ll go to the areas where you need to place
the explosives. Do you have a weapon?”
“Sorry I got a little testy
too. No I don’t have one.”
“I’ll see that you’re issued
one before we leave.”
“What if we’re spotted?”
“We’re going to tell them
that we’re helping the technicians layout the cable for the monitoring system
they’re installing. Hopefully the guards
won’t know any better.”
“Okay that makes sense,”
Looking at the blueprints
“How are you going to make
sure the vault isn’t just damaged and releases the chemicals and biological
weapons out in the open?”
“By placing the C-4 in the
laboratory and the other three rooms, the walls will cave in around the vault
sealing it from all sides and the concrete ceiling along with the dirt on top
of the compound will collapse on top of it burying it under the rubble.”
“You’re sure about that?” Lee
questioned.
“Positive provided my charges
are placed in the proper locations. This
placement is the most important one,”
“Then we have to make sure we
get it in position,” Lee assured him.
“We’ll be using an electrical
detonator. The wires will lead out of
the building. Using your camera
monitoring system cover we can pretend to be tying them into the cameras
outside the building. Have you ever used
C-4 and an electrical detonator?”
Lee nodded, “C-4 yes but the
electrical detonator no.”
“If something should happen
to me, here’s how the detonator controller works. It’ll have two buttons, one
labeled “charge” and one labeled “fire”.
Toward the end of the countdown, you’ll press and hold the “charge”
button until the indicator light comes on.
This builds up the intense electrical charge needed to activate the
detonators. After the detonator-control
machine is charged, and the countdown is completed, you’ll press the “fire”
button but still need to hold down the charge button. This releases the charge
into the wires so it can set off the blasting caps.”**
“I understand,” Lee replied
rubbing his forehead.
“When will we be arriving at
the island?”
“We should be there by late
Friday night. We’ll leave for the island
at 0400 Saturday morning just before dawn.
If we have no problems we should be back on board Seaview by
1900. Any questions?”
“No I think you’ve cover
everything,”
“I’ll have radio contact
directly to her. As soon as we blow up
the compound, I’ll call and have them send out the zodiac to pick us up. We
should be at the pickup point by the time they’re there.”
“Okay for now. If I have any questions...”
“Please ask anytime. Sorry about earlier. How about we get some lunch?” Lee suggested.
“I can tell you’re very
passionate about your job but so am I,”
Lee opened the door between
the observation nose and control room.
Chip was as the plotting table waiting for Lee.
Putting his pencil down Chip
asked, “Lee do you want to have lunch first or do you want me to go?”
Picking up a pencil, “Chip,
why don’t you go. I told Janet I would
meet her at 1300 hours,” Lee replied checking their position on the map.
.
((()))
Chip came back to the control
room after his lunch and went over to Lee at the plotting table. “Sounded like your meeting got a little
heated,” Chip mentioned softly.
“Yes, I lost my temper. He seems a little cocky to me but I actually
think he might work out,” Lee replied, “I’ll be back in thirty minutes.”
“Take your time. I’m not going anywhere,” Chip joked.
“Thanks, Chip,” Lee smiled
back patting him on the shoulder.
Janet was in the wardroom
when Lee came in. They went over to the
sideboard and got a sandwich.
“Sorry Skipper, Mr. Morton
ate all the potato salad. I can give you
potato chips instead,” Cookie sighed.
“No problem Cookie, chips are
just fine,” Lee told him smiling as they sat down at the table.
“He would have eaten the rest
of the cookies if I didn’t put four of them aside for you and Mrs. C.”
“Thanks Cookie.” Lee took the cookies from him and gave two of
them to Janet.
“How did your meeting go,”
Janet asked as she put a potato chip in her mouth.
“We both got a little angry
but he’s just as passionate about his job as I am. Everything should work out okay,” he
reassured her. He got them another cup
of coffee to go with their cookies. They finished up lunch and Lee headed back
to the control room while Janet went back to her office.
((()))
“Remind me next time to go to
lunch first,” Lee joked to Chip when he returned to the control room and went
over to him at the plotting table.
Chip looked at him
sheepishly, “Sorry I ate all the potato salad.”
“No problem we got
chips. What’s our status?”
“Still on course and about
fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.”
Picking up a pencil from the
plotting table and rolling it between his hands Lee asked, “Good. Chip regarding those tests on the new
equipment, about how long do you think it will take to install everything?”
“If we get the computers from
the Navy and software fairly quick, maybe a couple of days. It might take longer to refit sonar, radar
and the radio but I think it all can be done in a week to ten days.”
“Sounds good,” Lee replied
smiling as they returned to their normal routine about the control room.
((()))
The next two days were
uneventful and Seaview was about an hour ahead of schedule. Thursday night Lee wanted to take an early
walk around the boat but he got a late start.
Janet tried to stay awake until Lee returned from his walk but after not
getting much sleep the last few nights she fell asleep while reading her book.
He opened the door and heard
her crying in her sleep. He went over to
the bunk and gently shook her awake.
“Sweetie, wake up. What’s wrong?” he asked putting his arms
around her as she opened her eyes and saw him. As she put her arms around his
neck, she was sobbing hysterically. “Was
it that dream again? Did you find out
who it was that needed help?”
“No but Jamie had to operate
to save them and they nearly died anyway.
Lee I’m afraid the person is you,” she replied frantically.
“Sweetheart, it was just a
dream. Please calm down,” Lee said as he
wiped away her tears.
Still clinging to him she
cried, “Lee I’m so worried about this mission. I’m convinced something is going to go
wrong. Can you postpone it or get a real
agent?”
“Sorry sweetie.
They sat on the bunk holding
each other for about an hour. Janet
finally fell asleep in his arms. He laid
her in the bunk while he got ready for bed and climbed in next to her. When Lee got into the bunk, Janet woke up
again and clung to him the rest of the night.
They both finally fell asleep around 0200 hours neither one of them getting
much sleep.
((()))
Lee and Janet woke the next
morning a little later than normal by Lee’s standards as it was 0530 instead of
0500. As they got ready for work, Lee
went over to her as she sat on the bunk watching him put his uniform on,
“Sweetie everything will be alright.
Please relax. I need to know
you’ll be okay while I’m gone.”
“I will be fine just like I
promised so please don’t worry about me.
Just do what you need to do and get back here safely.”
Janet wasn’t quite ready to
go for breakfast so she would meet Lee down there in a few minutes. She went into the head to put on her
makeup. It was very difficult to do with
tears running down her face. She finally
was ready and went to the wardroom.
((()))
The admiral, Jamie and Chip
were eating breakfast when Lee arrived. “You’re
a little late this morning,” Chip said looking at his watch.
“Sorry,” Lee replied. “Remember that dream Janet told us about
where someone needed Jamie to help them?”
“Yes, did she figure out who
it was?”
“No,” he told Chip. “She’s very frustrated and upset that she
doesn’t know who it is.”
“What dream?” Jamie asked.
“Janet’s been having this dream where she wakes
up asking someone to help him and not let him die. Besides that she’s worried about this mission
and the fact that
“If she needs something to
help her sleep…” Jamie offered.
“Thanks Jamie, but you know
she doesn’t react very well to sleeping pills.”
“Do you think he can do the
job?” the admiral wanted to know as he hadn’t talked to Lee since his meeting
with
“Yes. He knows his job and I think he’ll do what I
tell him.”
While Lee was talking Janet
came into the wardroom. She went to the
sideboard and took a couple of pieces of toast.
She wasn’t very hungry this morning in fact she had a stomachache. She got a cup of coffee. “Anyone else want coffee?” she asked before
she sat down. All of them held up their
cups. Smiling she grabbed the coffee pot
and filled them all up then joined them at the table.
“Just toast?” Jamie asked
looking at her and could tell she hadn’t slept much.
“Not feeling well this
morning.”
They all looked at her. She knew what they were thinking, “No it’s
not that. Just worried but I’ll be fine.”
They finished up their
breakfast. Chip and the admiral went to
the control room while Jamie went to sick bay.
Lee stayed a few minutes more with Janet.
“Sweetie, are you sure you’re
alright?”
“Yes Lee. You better go to the control room before Chip
reports you late for duty,” she smiled weakly.
((()))
Chip was in the control room
and relieved Taper from duty. He was
doing a good job on delta watch. Lee
came in and saw Chip checking the log.
“Everything in order Chip,”
Lee asked.
“Yes sir. We’re still on course and schedule.”
“Good. Have you seen
“He’s in the observation nose
looking at the prints,” Chip replied nodding his head in that direction.
“Thanks,” Lee said and went
over to him.
“Everything okay?” Lee asked,
“Missed you at breakfast.”
“Not hungry and just wanted
to make sure where I’m placing the explosives. I like to double check
everything.”
“No problem,” Lee answered
and headed back to the control room.
“Chip, take the conn for
awhile. I’ve got some paperwork to
finish up and I have everything I need for tomorrow.”
“Yes sir,” Chip replied as he
went back to his work at the plotting table.
Lee went to his cabin,
finished up some paperwork and put it the folder on his desk for Janet. He pulled his backpack out of the closet,
checked his gun, ammo, and canteen and got out his fatigues. When he had everything ready, he left the
cabin and went to the arms locker, took a gun and some ammo for
He had already left for the
control room before Janet got to their cabin to look for him. She saw he had his gear packed and
sighed. She left their cabin, taking the
reports Lee had finished and went to her office. She still had some inventory to enter and now
some reports to type up when the admiral called her on the phone.
“Janet, could you please come
to my cabin?”
“Yes sir, I’ll be right
there.” She got up from her desk and
walked to the admiral’s cabin and knocked on the door.
“Come in,” the admiral
answered as he sat at his desk.
Standing in front of the admiral’s
desk, “You wanted to see me sir?” Janet asked.
He looked up at her as he
handed her a file of work, “I’ve got some letters I would like you to type up
and have ready to go when we return to the institute regarding some proposals
I’ve been looking over.”
“No problem. I will have them done tomorrow,” Janet told
him with a wry grin.
“Okay,” he said smiling.
“Sir, are you trying to keep
me busy tomorrow while Lee is gone? Lee completed
a lot of reports today, you have these letters and I bet Chip will have some
reports for me tomorrow too along with the duty rosters.”
“Yes you’re on to me. I didn’t know about Lee or Chip but that was
my intention.”
“Thank you sir,” she said
walking out the door.
((()))
The rest of the day went by
very fast. Bobby O’Brien relieved Lee
and Chip in the control room when their watch was over. Chip went to his cabin to do the duty rosters
and also finish up some reports so Janet could type them up tomorrow. He wanted to keep her busy most of the day. Janet was in her office when Chip came in with
a folder bulging with paperwork.
“I see you’re trying to keep
me occupied all day too,” she said showing him what the admiral and Lee had
given her.
“Guilty as charged,” he
smiled.
“Thanks for doing it. I’ll need to be kept busy. Do you know where Lee is?”
“Right here,” he replied
standing behind Chip and heard her tell him about all the work, “I’m guilty
too.”
“Now that I’m going to be
very busy tomorrow, how about we eat dinner?
I didn’t have lunch as I was too busy entering the inventory. Running this submarine sure generates a lot of
paperwork.”
Chip, Lee and Janet met the admiral, Jamie and Wayne in the wardroom for dinner.
“
“Yes sir as ready as I can
be. I reviewed the prints again and know
exactly where I need to place the charges.”
“Lee I assume you’re ready
also?”
“Yes sir already to go,” Lee
replied. Getting up from the table after
finishing dinner Lee said, “Admiral, if
you’ll excuse us, I have some last minute packing to do.”
“Sure Lee,” he winked as he
and Janet left the wardroom.
They rest of them sat there
for a few more minutes before retiring to their cabins. All of them would be up early tomorrow when
Lee and Wayne left for the island.
((()))
Lee and Janet walked back to
their cabin. When they arrived at the
door Lee opened it and let Janet go in first.
He shut the door and locked it.
He didn’t want to be disturbed for the rest of the night. He had other plans besides packing. He walked over to Janet as she stood by his
desk. He took her by the waist and drew
her close.
“Sweetheart, please don’t
worry,” he whispered as he rubbed her back, “I’ll be fine.”
“I know but all I think about
is that dream,” she replied softly resting her head on his chest.
“It was only a dream. Let’s go to bed. I want to make sure you forget about that
dream tonight,” he told her as he unbuttoned her shirt and removed it along
with rest of her clothing. She helped
him take off his clothes and they climbed in the bunk where their bodies intertwined
in love. As she lay close to him, he watched her sleeping peacefully...no
dreaming tonight, so far, he thought.
Before he fell asleep, he
reviewed in his mind what would take place in the morning, getting to the
island, into the compound, blowing it up and getting out of there. He hoped
“Janet, wake up,” Lee said as
he gently shook her awake. She opened
her eyes and found her husband looking at her with a concerned look on his
face. She wiped away her tears and took
a big sigh.
“Same dream again?” he asked
rubbing her hands.
“Yes, but there’s more
details than before,” she answered shuddering. “I still can’t see who’s in
trouble and needs help but now there’s someone else there and he has an
envelope he keeps trying to hand me. He
keeps telling me to take it and open it and somehow I know if I do something
horrible is going to happen.”
((()))
Lee and Janet finally fell
back to sleep for a couple of hours before Lee woke up and prepared to
leave. He went to the head and showered,
when he came out he saw Janet sitting up in the bunk, “Sweetie, you don’t have
to get up, it’s pretty early,” he said as put on his fatigues, grabbed his
backpack, canteen and Wayne’s gun and ammo and prepared to walk out the cabin
door.
“Lee Crane, are you
crazy? I’m not letting you out of my
sight until you’re on that zodiac,” she quipped as she quickly jumped in the
shower and got dressed. He put the gear
down and waited for her.
They walked out of their
cabin and went to the wardroom so Lee could meet up with
“Here skipper, I made some
ham sandwiches for you and Mr. Kimball.
You might get hungry. Give me
your canteens so I can fill them with water,” Cookie told them.
“Thanks Cookie,” Lee replied
when he handed the filled canteens back to them.
“Lee I’ll need to get into
the arms locker the get the blue bag with the C-4, wire, detonator, and
blasting caps,”
“We’ll pick it up on the way
to the control room. Chip is the zodiac
ready?”
“Yes Lee. Kowalski and Patterson have it ready and will
take you to the island.”
“All right then, let’s get
this show on the road,” Lee replied as he shouldered his gear.
Leaving the wardroom, Chip
and the admiral went straight to the control room while Lee, Wayne and Janet went
to the arms locker and got
((()))
Chip and the admiral arrived
in the control room where Mr. Taper was waiting for them. “We’re stationed at two hundred yards off the
coast and ready to surface the boat, sir,” he reported to Chip.
“Surface the boat Mr. Taper.”
“Aye sir.” Taper gave the order and Seaview
slowly made her way to the surface.
“Good job, Mr. Taper,” Chip
told him smiling. He was doing a good
job. They had made the right choice when
they picked him to fill in for Jenkins.
“Thank you, sir.”
Kowalski and Patterson along
with the deck crew made their way up the ladder to the service hatch to launch
the zodiac. They had it ready to go in
ten minutes just as it was starting to get light.
“Mr. Morton the zodiac is
ready to be launched,” Kowalski reported from the deck.
“Thank you, Ski.”
Lee, Wayne and Janet arrived
in the control room and heard Kowalski’s report.
“Please don’t worry,” he
whispered as he gave Janet a kiss and hug.
“I’ll try not to,” she
whispered back returning his hug and kiss.
“Take care, Lee,
“Be careful,” Chip said
patting them both on the shoulder.
“Chip, once Kowalski and
Patterson are back on board, dive and keep Seaview at ninety feet. We’ll keep in radio contact if possible. If we have no problems have the zodiac pick
us up at 1900 hours. If we need it
sooner I’ll call.”
“Yes Skipper.”
Lee and Wayne made their way
up the ladder to the service hatch while the admiral, Chip and Janet went up
the ladder to the conning tower. Lee and
Wayne got in the zodiac with Kowalski and Patterson. They motored to the island and helped them
unload their gear out of the zodiac.
“Skipper, you sure you don’t
want me to go with you as back up,” Kowalski asked quietly.
“No but thanks Ski. Just make sure you’re back here to get us,”
Lee replied patting him on the shoulder.
“Aye sir,” Kowalski answered
worriedly.
((()))
The admiral, Chip and Janet
were in the conning tower and watched as Kowalski and Patterson took Lee and
Wayne to the island. Lee waved goodbye
from the zodiac. Janet waved back as
tears welled up in her eyes. The admiral
saw them and gave her hand a squeeze.
“He’ll be back,” he assured
her.
“Admiral I have a bad feeling
about this mission more than any other mission he’s been on,” she replied
guardedly.
Once Kowalski and Patterson
had secured the zodiac and were back on board, the three of them left the
conning tower and went to the control room where Chip told them to dive the boat. Now the waiting had begun.
((()))
Lee and Wayne watched
Kowalski and Patterson motor back to Seaview and waited until she slowly
submerged into the water before they started their trek to the compound. The
sun wasn’t even up and it was already hot and humid. Walking through the jungle
was difficult as there was a lot of undergrowth, trees and roots to walk over
along with flies and gnats attacking them.
Even though
“Lee, how about we stop for a
minute,”
“Okay,” Lee answered, “We’re
almost to the less dense part of the jungle.
They stopped and rested
against a tree and took a drink of water from their canteens while
“Looks like I need to work
out a little harder,”
“Part of the conditioning I
need to do as a SEAL,” Lee answered taking another drink.
A few minutes later,
They came upon the back side
of the compound. Leaving a wide berth
around the compound, they slowly made their way to the front. Lee checked out the perimeter for cameras or
detection equipment while
“No cameras or detection
equipment and there are only two guards in the front. We’re going to have to knock them out and
take their uniforms,” Lee told
“Lee, take the wire and put
it in your fatigues. I don’t have any
more room in mine,”
“Where’s the detonator,” Lee
asked looking around for it.
“Under the backpack in the
brush pile about fifty yards from the entrance, it’s already to go. We just need to attach the wires.”
“Good job. That will save us time later.”
“All clear,” Lee said to them
as he and
Lee and Wayne continued
further into the compound. Their first
stop was the back of the compound where the main electrical components
were. Lee opened the door and checked to
make sure no one was in there and found one guard was on duty.
“Hey, just helping the
technicians place the wire for the new camera system,” Lee told the guard.
“Camera system?” the guard
said, “didn’t know they were installing one of those. Go ahead and do what you need to do.”
“Thanks,” Lee replied looking
a
Wayne put the C-4 explosive
and a blasting cap where he needed as he took the wire and ran it along the
wall hiding it the best he could before taking it out the door. Both of them
let out their breath and headed to the next area hiding the wire along the wall
as they went along. The next two areas
were both clear of personnel so they set up the explosives, hid the wires under
the bottom of the wall and pulled them out the door again hiding them along the
floor. They only had the laboratory
left. When they got there, only one
scientist was working. He looked up from
what he was doing.
“Just installing the wiring
for a new camera monitoring system,” Lee told him as
As they were leaving a guard
came down the hall. “Who are you and
what are you doing here,” he demanded looking at Lee and Wayne.
“Helping the technicians
install the wiring for the new camera monitoring system,”
“What the hell, I know
nothing about a camera monitoring system,” he said sharply. Before he could draw his gun on them, Lee who
had gotten behind the guard hit him on the head with his gun and knocked him
out but he already activated an alarm on his radio. A siren started blaring immediately.
“We better get the hell out
of here now,” Lee yelled as he and
Both men ducked in the brush
as the building imploded. There was very little debris flying around. When the dust cloud cleared
“Good job. I guess you do know what you’re doing,” Lee
said shaking his hand, “Let me look at your arm.”
“I’m okay, just stings a
little. Wires got tangled in the door
and he caught me as I untangled them.”
The guard, unprepared for the
implosion was knocked off his feet and temporarily disorientated.
((()))
After they left the conning
tower Chip gave the order to dive the boat.
Seaview would stay at ninety feet until Lee called to be picked
up. Kowalski and Patterson were ready
for the call.
Chip was in the control room
looking at the sonar, radar and radio shack mentally trying to figure out how
to make the changes for the upgrades.
The admiral was in his lab working on a research project he had been putting
off. Janet was in her office working on
all the reports, letters, inventory and whatever else they gave her to keep her
busy. She had gotten most of it done. She looked at her watch and couldn’t
believe it was already 1200 hours. She
was too worried to eat breakfast but now she was hungry. She left her office and went down to the
control room. Chip saw her come down the
staircase and went over to her when she got to the bottom.
“You okay?” he asked
anxiously.
“Yes, I’ve gotten most of the
work done but I need a break and I’m hungry.
Can you get away for lunch?”
“Sure. Just let me turn the conn over to O’Brien,”
Chip said surprised that she was hungry.
“Mr. O’Brien, please take
over the conn for a few minutes.”
“Aye, sir.”
((()))
Chip and Janet walked out the
aft hatch into the passageway that led to the wardroom. Jamie was there with the admiral and had just
sat down to eat. Cookie gave Chip and
Janet some homemade chicken soup with a salad and sandwich. Chip took both of them but Janet only wanted
the salad. Chip sat down next to Jamie
while Janet sat down next to the admiral.
“Everything alright Janet,”
Jamie asked suspicious that she wanted to eat lunch.
“Just fine. Why do you ask,” she replied with a smirk.
“You normally don’t eat while
Lee is gone.”
Taking a bite of her salad
she said, “Just keeping my promise I made to Lee.”
“Chip have we heard anything
from Lee?” the admiral asked nervously.
“Nothing sir. But it’s still
early,” he answered as he ate his sandwich.
They finished their lunches
and went back to what they were doing.
Janet didn’t need the computer for the work she had to do so she would
spend the rest of the day in the observation nose. She wanted to be there when Lee called to be
picked up. The admiral came down to the
observation nose at 1700 hours to wait for Lee’s call by then Janet had all her
work done was starting to pace. They
were a little worried that they had not heard from him at all.
((()))
As Lee and Wayne looked over
the destroyed compound, the guard came to his senses and saw them standing
there. Lee took the radio out of his
fatigues and was turning around to walk away from the compound when he saw the
guard taking aim at
Lee felt the searing pain as
the bullets slammed into his abdomen and chest.
He fell to the ground as
Nearly incapacitated by pain,
Lee managed to grab the radio and make contact. “Seaview.”
“Mr. Morton I have a call
from the skipper’s radio,”
Chip ran to the radio shack
followed by the admiral and Janet. “Seaview,”
Chip answered. “Lee.”
“Chip...” Lee gasped before
passing out.
“Lee,” Chip yelled again.
“Mr. O’Brien, surface the
boat.” Chip ordered immediately.
“Kowalski, Patterson, be
ready to launch the zodiac as soon as we broach the surface,” Chip said as he
went to the weapon cabinet in the observation nose and got out three guns.
While Chip was ordering the
boat to surface, the admiral called sick bay. “Jamie you better get up
here. Lee’s been shot. We don’t know how badly.”
“I’ll be right there. How soon before they get him on board?”
“Jamie it might be a least
thirty minutes or more,” the admiral sighed.
Janet just stood there
stunned at what she heard over the radio.
The admiral caught her before she fell to the floor.
“Easy girl,” he said softly,
“we don’t know how badly he’s hurt.”
He led her back to the
observation nose and sat her down. Seaview
surfaced in record time. Chip, Kowalski
and Patterson launched the zodiac and were on the way to the beach within five
minutes of
“
“We’re two miles from the
beach straight through the jungle where the zodiac left us off. You better hurry.”
“Lee, hang in there,”
Lee groaned as
As
He got half way through the
jungle when by some miracle he met up with the men from Seaview. Placing Lee down on the ground, trying to
catch his breath
Kowalski took a quick look at
Lee. He was pale, unconscious, barely
had a pulse, and having a lot of trouble breathing.
“Mr. Morton we have to get
him back now, he’s barely hanging on.
He’s bleeding pretty badly and I think his lung has been damaged,” he
reported after putting his ear to his chest.
Chip and Patterson put Lee on
the stretcher they brought with and began running through the jungle back
towards the beach. Wayne and Kowalski took
the lead clearing the trees and brush in the way. They finally made it to the beach were the
zodiac was beached. They put Lee in the
zodiac and Kowalski took off at full speed.
Chip had a difficult time holding on to the stretcher. With the
stretcher and an extra person they all wouldn’t fit in the zodiac so Patterson
and Wayne stayed behind for the next trip.
((()))
The deck detail was waiting
for them as soon as they got to Seaview.
Chip got out of the zodiac and on the deck of the boat. Kowalski handed Lee to him and Riley. They carried him to the sail hatch where Frank
and Chief Sharkey were waiting to lower him down the ladder into the control
room. They gently lowered Lee’s limp
body into the control room onto the waiting stretcher. Jamie took a quick look at him and sighed
deeply. Riley took the zodiac back to
the island to pickup Patterson and Wayne.
The admiral and Janet were
waiting by the periscope island for Lee to come down and saw he was covered in
blood when the placed him on the stretcher. Chip came down the ladder covered
in his blood. Kowalski came down next
and he too was covered in Lee’s blood. Jamie
led the way while Kowalski and John carried him out of the control room to sick
bay with Janet, Chip and the admiral not too far behind.
Once in sick bay, Jamie did a
quick assessment. He ordered Frank to
start an IV to infuse plasma expanders, a line for blood, another line for
fluids and medication and an oxygen mask.
Lee’s breathing was labored; his pulse was fast, weak and thready. His heart rate was up trying to compensate
for his severe loss of blood volume. The
admiral, Chip and Janet crowded into the examination room.
“You need to wait in my
office. I need to find out how badly he
is hurt, I will let you know what I find out,” Jamie told them as he closed the
pleated curtain that separated his office from the examination and operating
rooms.
After examining him, he found
his left lung was collapsed due to a gunshot wound to the chest. Thankfully
neither of his lungs was pierced by the bullet but he would have to put in a
chest tube to remove any air and blood in his left chest cavity allowing his
lung to re-inflate. He also found two gunshot wounds in his abdomen. He would have to do surgery to find out what
was damaged. Given Lee’s vitals, he knew
he didn’t have much time; he was barely holding on.
“Doc, do you want me to
leave?” Kowalski asked softly.
“No I could use an extra set
of hands,” Jamie said grateful that he was a trained medic.
“Tell me what I can do,”
Kowalski replied as he washed his hands.
“Help John prepare him for
surgery,” Jamie told him as he went to his office.
Kowalski and John made quick
work of cutting off Lee’s fatigues and covering him with a sheet while Jamie
went to talk to Janet, the admiral and Chip.
“I don’t have much time. His lung has collapsed; he has lost a lot of
blood, and also has two gunshot wounds to the abdomen. I need to operate to find out what has been
damaged.”
“Please help him. Don’t let him die,” Janet begged Jamie. As soon as she said the words she realized it
was Lee she saw in her dreams. Everything suddenly came into
focus as the details of her dream became clear; the guard shooting someone, her
begging Jamie to help him, Jamie operating.
The significance of the envelope immediately became clear as well and she
sat down heavily as her legs threatened to give way. The ‘letter’ that damned letter. She desperately hoped that that part of her
dream where she had to open that envelope and follow those instructions
contained in the letter didn’t come to pass.
Jamie left them standing
there while he closed the curtain again and scrubbed for surgery.
Tears running down her face,
all she could say was, “Chip my dream...it’s all coming true.”
He put his arms around her,
“He’ll be alright,” Chip told her not really sure he believed it as he tried to
comfort her.
Looking at the admiral Chip
said quietly, “I’m going to change and get Seaview underway. I’ll be back in thirty minutes. If anything...”
“Okay Chip. I’ll find you.”
Before he could leave sick
bay Wayne and Patterson came running in to check on Lee.
“Just wanted to make sure he
got here okay, Mr. Morton,” Patterson told Chip holding Lee’s backpack.
“Thanks Pat. Could you please put that in the skipper’s
cabin and report back to duty?”
“Yes sir.”
“How is he,”
Janet, Chip and the admiral
noticed he was also wounded as his shoulder was bleeding pretty badly.
“Not so good,” the admiral
told him as he made him sit down as he looked like he was going to pass
out.
The admiral took a look at
his shoulder and could see his arm was badly wounded. Janet went to the cabinet in the outer office
and got some bandages and put them on his wound trying to stop it from bleeding
the best she could.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,”
“What happened,” the admiral
asked carefully, “how were you and Lee shot?”
“We wired the building and
were getting ready to leave when a guard figured out what we were doing. Lee knocked him out but not before he set off
an alarm. Another guard shot me when I
had to untangle the wires that were caught on the door. He must have gotten out of the building
before it imploded. Lee and I were
checking to make sure that the safe room was encased in concrete and dirt. Lee turned around to radio Seaview to
come and get us and the next thing I know I’m laying on the ground and Lee was
shot. He pushed me out of the way. The guard must have been knocked out, come to
and saw us standing there. I shot him
before he could get another shot at me,” he told them softly as tears formed in
his eyes. “Why did he do that?”
Janet looked at him, “He
would never let anyone get hurt even if it costs him his own life.”
((()))
Chip left sick bay to change
and get Seaview back to
“He’s badly wounded but still
alive,” he told them as he walked over to the plotting table where O’Brien was
standing, “We need to get this boat back home now. Mr. O’Brien set a course for
“Course is already set just
waiting for your orders. Sir, we can’t
run at flank that long we’ll burn out the engines,” Bobby told him quietly.
“Run at flank during the
day. When Scott comes on duty reduce
speed to full for the night,” Chip told him knowing he was right.
“Aye, sir.”
“Mr. O’Brien can you handle
everything up here for the rest of the watch?” Chip asked running his hand
through his hair.
“Yes sir but please let us
know how the skipper is when you can?”
“Will do and thanks.”
“Don’t worry sir. We’ll get
us back home,” O’Brien assured him.
Chip left the control room
and headed back to sick bay as he heard O’Brien give the crew the course and
speed.
((()))
Feeling Seaview pick
up speed, the admiral knew Chip had given the orders to run at flank speed. Chip returned to sick bay and looked at the
closed doors. “Any news?” he asked
desperately.
The admiral shook his
head. As they sat there waiting the
phone rang on Jamie’s desk breaking the dead silence in the room.
“Morton,” Chip said softly, “Okay
Sparks, put the call in here.”
“Who is it?” the admiral
demanded.
“Admiral Johnson. He wants to talk to Lee.”
“Damn. His timing stinks,” the admiral replied as he
grabbed the phone from Chip. “Nelson,”
the admiral said tensely.
“Harry I haven’t heard from
Lee regarding the mission,” Johnson said tersely, “Everything alright?”
“No Gerald. Right now Lee Crane is fighting for his
life. We don’t even know if he’s going
to live so I don’t give a damn about your mission.”
“Is Kimball there? If so, let
me talk to him,” Johnson asked curtly. The
admiral handed the phone to
“Kimball, sir. Everything has been taken care of. The compound is a pile of rubble. The safe room was contained and is now buried
under tons of dirt.”
“Are you okay?” Johnson
inquired worriedly.
“Just a shoulder wound. I’ll tell you later what happened. I’ve got to go,”
“Harry as soon as you know
anything please let me know. Despite
what you think, I do care about what happens to Lee,” Johnson said cautiously.
“I will let you know,” Harry
replied disgustedly. He hung up the
phone and said a few choice curse words under his breath.
((()))
Jamie, Frank, John and
Kowalski had their hands full. After
they administered the anesthesia Jamie had to put him on a ventilator as he was
having too much trouble breathing. Frank put in a catheter so they could
monitor his output. They had already
given him two units of his blood type
“Frank if we need to give him
the fourth unit, go get Jenkins and Taper down here to donate blood,” Jamie
said impatiently.
Looking up from what he was
doing, “Sorry sir, only Taper is on board and he’s on duty. Jenkins is on his honeymoon,” Kowalski told
him.
“Damn,” Jamie replied
angrily.
As Jamie operated on Lee he
found that there were two bullets in his body. His abdominal area was filled
with blood. He had Kowalski suction it
out so he could see what he was doing while Frank and John helped Jamie find
where the blood was coming from. As fast
as he suctioned it out it filled up again.
Jamie finally caught a break and saw that Lee’s spleen had been ruptured
by a bullet and was damaged beyond repair so he removed it but he was still
bleeding. Kowalski suctioned again and
he saw that Lee’s liver was lacerated and his kidney was nicked. Jamie repaired his liver after taking out the
bullet and the kidney wasn’t nicked too badly so he could repair it. They had been operating on him for six hours. Jamie checked to make sure there were no
bleeders, closed him up and put bandages over the incision.
“Doc do you want us to move
him to a bunk?” John asked as they covered him with a clean sheet.
“No leave him here for
now. I don’t want to move him just yet
in case I have to go back in. Thanks
Kowalski for your help.”
“Any time Doc. Will he make it?”
“Right now I’m not sure. He’s in grave condition,” Jamie sighed
heavily.
The four of them were
exhausted as it had been a long and difficult surgery. “Kowalski, Frank, get cleaned up and Kowalski,
you’re relieved for the night. I’m sure
you have duty first thing in the morning so please get some rest.”
Kowalski was about to protest
when Jamie gave him one of his ‘I’m in charge’ looks. “I’ll
let you know if any thing happens,” Jamie told them as he patted them on the
shoulder, “Thanks men.”
((()))
Jamie opened the pleated
curtain with a grim look on his face.
Janet, the admiral, Chip and
“Is he.....” she whispered
tears streaming down her cheeks.
Going over to her he took her
hands in his, “No, but he’s in very grave condition. His lung collapsed from a bullet wound that
entered and exited his chest cavity. I
repaired the hole and it should heal.
There were two more bullets in his abdomen. One lacerated his liver and nicked his kidney
and I was able to repair both of those.
The other bullet ruptured his spleen so I had to remove it as there was
too much damage to repair. I have him heavily sedated and he is on a ventilator
to help him breathe He also has a
catheter, two IV lines, one for blood and the other for fluids allowing me to
piggy back antibiotics and inject pain medication. He’s still unconscious. The next two hours
are critical.”
Wiping away her tears Janet
asked, “Jamie, can he live without his spleen?”
“Yes, he can live without his
spleen, but he will have to be very careful about getting an infection. He’s going to be more susceptible to them
with out it and we will have to get him on antibiotics as soon as we know he
has an infection.”
Jamie noticed
“I’m fine, Doctor. I can wait.”
Jamie gave him a wry grin.
“I could have a problem
though,” Jamie continued running his hand over his head, “I’ve already given
him three units of blood. I only had
four on standby. He’s getting the last
unit now. If he needs more there’s only
one crewman on board that has type
Chip asked quickly, “Who is
it, Jamie. I’ll have him down here right
now.”
“Scott Taper and I understand
he’s on duty.”
Sighing deeply Chip replied,
“Yes he’s on duty for awhile yet. I’ll
go relieve him so he can donate.”
“Chip, you’re in no condition
to go back on duty,” the admiral stated emphatically.
Chip knew the admiral was
right but told him, “Admiral, O’Brien spent all day up there and
Pausing for a second the
admiral responded, “Check and see where we are.
See if we can go to the bottom for the night. Jamie, if we wait five hours before setting
sail again will it make a difference?”
“No Admiral. It doesn’t matter where we are. Right now there is nothing more that can be
done but wait.”
“Can we see him?” Janet asked
quietly when they finished talking.
“Yes, you can see him but
only for awhile.”
Jamie took her hand as they
walked into the operating room. Lee was
on the gurney covered only with a sheet.
Janet went over to him and kissed his forehead as tears ran down her
face. He was lying there so still and
deathly gray. All she could hear was the
ventilator hissing as it put the air in his lungs and the heart monitor softly
beeping with every beat of his heart.
She picked up the sheet and saw his whole abdomen covered in bandages.
Chip brought Janet a chair
where she put it by Lee’s side near his hand.
She took her hand and put it under his and rubbed his thumb. With all the
lines he had attached that was the only place she could safely hold his hand.
Chip went over to him and
patted his shoulder. “Come on bro, you’ve
got to pull through,” he told Lee tearing up.
“Son, we need you back here,”
the admiral said softly.
“You have to go, he doesn’t
know you’re here and the four of you look like hell. Go to your cabins. I’ll stay here tonight along with John,”
Jamie ordered them.
Refusing to leave his side, “Not
until he makes it past the two hour mark,” Janet said defiantly.
“Okay, you can stay until
then,” Jamie conceded seeing the admiral wasn’t budging either. Chip gave him a look that told him he would
be back too. John went to Jamie’s office
and retrieved two more chairs and placed them by Lee’s bedside.
((()))
Chip went to the control room
to see if they could go to the bottom to stay the night so Scott could donate
blood. Jamie wouldn’t allow him back on
duty for eight hours. When he got there
the whole crew looked at him pleading for information.
“He’s still alive. But just barely,” Chip said tiredly.
Chip went over to the sonar
station to see if they were anywhere near a plateau where they could set Seaview
down safely for the night. About one
hundred yards away was a place she would fit.
Giving instructions to the helmsmen, Chip carefully and smoothly set her
in place.
Clicking the mic Chip said, “Engine
room, stop all engines.”
“Engine room, aye.”
He could feel the engines
shut down as they rested on the bottom. “We’re
going to stay here for the night,” Chip told the control room. “Scott I need you to come with me.”
“Yes sir,” he replied
following Chip into the observation nose.
“Captain Crane may need
another unit of blood and I understand you’re the only donor available. Would you please donate a unit? I can’t force you to do this,” Chip explained
cautiously.
Without hesitation, “Tell me
where to go,” Scott said immediately.
“Let’s go to sick bay and Doc
will get you set up. And Scott.”
“Yes Mr. Morton.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem. I would do anything for him.”
As they walked out of the
control room the only sounds were the sonar and radar stations beeping.
((()))
By the time Chip and Scott
arrived back at sick bay, Jamie had taken care of
((()))
Jamie took Scott to the
examination room where he set him up to donate blood. John monitored him while Jamie went to get a
report on Lee’s vitals from Frank who was observing Lee’s condition and
constantly assessing the information given by the medical monitors and
machinery that were helping to keep Lee alive.
Frank would notify Jamie immediately if there were any significant
changes in his condition.
Jamie could see the pain in
Janet’s face because he knew she would be devastated if something happened to
Lee. He left the three of them sitting
there. He sat down in his office and
rested his head in his hands. He had
taken care of Lee Crane’s injuries for a long time but this was the worst he
had ever seen him. He didn’t think he
was going to make it. Everything now
depended on Lee Crane and his will to live.
Scott finished donating his blood and was rolling down the sleeve on his
uniform when Jamie went to talk to him before John walked him back to his
quarters.
“Thank you Scott,” Jamie said
sincerely.
“No problem doc. If you need more...,” Scott volunteered.
“Sorry you can’t give any
more,” Jamie replied with a slight grin
Sighing, “I know. I just wanted
to help anyway that I can,” Scott said dejectedly.
When John returned, Jamie
took Frank and him aside. “You’re both relieved from duty. It’s been a long day.” Jamie told them tiredly.
“Doc, if we both go now
there’ll be no one to take over tomorrow,” John said, “Frank was on duty all
day. I only came on duty when I heard the
call that the skipper was hurt. It was
only two hours before I was scheduled to come on. I can stay here for the night. This way Frank will be able to help you
tomorrow.”
Sighing Jamie replied,
“Thanks John. I wasn’t sure what I was
going to do tomorrow. That will work out
great. Frank, please report for duty at
0700.”
“Aye sir,” Frank said walking
out of sick bay dead on his feet. Jamie
went back to the operating room to check on Lee.
((()))
As Janet, Chip and the
admiral sat by Lee’s side, the alarms on Lee’s monitors started blaring and
Jamie didn’t like what he saw. His blood
pressure was dropping. His heart rate
was increasing trying to compensate for the falling blood pressure. Jamie told John to increase the flow of Lee’s
IV with a dopamine drip in hopes that this would raise his blood pressure. He was still very gray looking but there’s
nothing more Jamie could do but wait as the next forty-eight hours were crucial
to his recovery. He motioned to Chip and the admiral to follow him into his
office.
“We’ll be right back,” Chip
whispered softly to Janet.
“Okay,” she replied her eyes
never leaving Lee’s face as she continued to rub his thumb.
Rubbing his hand on his
forehead Jamie asked them, “Has Lee made any provisions of what should be done
if he dies?”
Shocked at what Jamie was asking
them Chip answered quietly, “Yes there is a letter in his office with
instructions on what we are to do. Jamie
is he really that bad?”
“Right now yes. I don’t think he’s going to make it another
hour,” Jamie said sadly.
“Jamie...” was all Chip could
say visibly shaken at what Jamie just told them.
Even though they were talking
softly Janet knew what they were talking about.
She put her hand on his leg and gave it a squeeze. “You promised me Lee
Benjamin Crane. You promised me I
wouldn’t have to use the ‘letter’,” she sobbed softly remembering his promise
from two and half years ago. “Please don‘t die,” she continued sobbing as she
rested her head on his leg. Janet
flashed back to that day over two years ago when Lee presented her with the
‘letter’.
((()))
Two and half years
earlier
The admiral, Chip, Lee and
Janet were in the control room at the plotting table when
Lee paled and then walked
over to the radio shack and took the message from
“Lee what’s wrong,” Janet,
Lee’s wife, of two months asked concerned that even with his olive skin she
could see how pale he was.
“Nothing, I’ll be right
back,” he replied as he went up the spiral staircase to his cabin to decode the
message.
“Admiral, who is Admiral
Johnson and why is he sending Lee a message in code?” Janet asked innocently.
The admiral and Chip looked
at each other. They could tell she had no idea who Admiral Johnson was and
realized that Lee had not told her about ONI and his missions.
Chip finally spoke up,
“Janet, Lee will have to tell you who he is.”
“Okay, Chip,” Janet answered
totally bewildered at what had taken place.
Lee came back to the control
room a few minutes later and went directly to the radio shack where he handed
Sparks a piece of paper. He then
returned to the plotting table where the rest of them were still standing.
“Lee could I see you in the
observation nose for a moment,” the admiral asked unhappily.
“Yes sir,” he replied knowing
what the admiral was going to ask. They
walked to the observation nose where the admiral closed the doors between the
control room and the observation nose.
“Chip what’s going on...is
Lee okay....what was that message about?”
“I’m sure Lee will tell you
when he’s done talking to the admiral.”
“Okay,” she replied looking
very worried.
((()))
The admiral and Lee stood in
the observation nose looking out the windows, “Son,” the admiral started, “she
doesn’t know about your work for ONI and that you’re a spy does she?”
“No sir,” he replied running
his hand through his hair, “I tried to tell her a few times before we got
married but we got interrupted and I never got to finish. Then planning the wedding so quickly and Seaview’s
missions I totally forgot about it.
Johnson hadn’t called in a few months so it slipped my mind. I know that’s no excuse.”
“Well it looks like you’re
going to have to tell her now. Are you
ready to face the fact that she may not want to be married to spy and that she
may leave you?”
“Admiral I guess I’m going to
have to face it now. If she wants to
leave me I will have no one to blame but myself,” he answered sadly.
The admiral opened the doors
and looked at Janet and Chip still standing by the plotting table.
Walking over to the plotting
table, “Chip you have the conn,” Lee sighed.
“Aye sir.”
“Janet, please come with me,”
he said taking her hand and led her up the spiral staircase to their cabin.
The admiral and Chip watched
as they went up the staircase. The whole control room could see the pain in
their skipper’s eyes as they also realized his wife didn’t know he was a spy.
Sighing deeply the admiral
looked at Chip, “I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes right now.”
“Me either,” Chip replied
feeling sorry for his best friend and ‘brother’.
((()))
Arriving at their cabin, Lee
opened the door and followed her in as she entered. He led her to the bunk, sat down next to her
and took her hands in his.
“Lee what’s going on...please
tell me...who’s Admiral Johnson?” she asked softly.
Taking a deep breath Lee
started, “Besides working for the institute, I also work for the Office of
Naval Intelligence or ONI. Have you ever
heard of them?”
“No should I know of them?”
“Not necessarily. They’re similar to the CIA.”
“I heard of the CIA but what
does that have to do with you?” she asked puzzled.
Knowing there was no easy way
to tell her, Lee gently blurted out, “Sweetheart, I’m a spy and Admiral Johnson
is the man I report to when I work for ONI.
I go on missions around the world. I extract people out of foreign
countries, infiltrate countries to get information our government wants, and
apprehend people working against our government and whatever else ONI needs me
to do. I can be gone from days, weeks or
sometimes even months depending what I have to do.”
“You need to leave the
institute and Seaview?” she asked confused.
“Sweetie, yes I do. I’ve been
all over the world on these missions.”
“Is that where you got all
those scars...Are they from being shot?”
After some of the missions she’s been on since she was hired, she
figured the scars were from encounters on Seaview’s other missions.
“Yes, I’ve been shot,
stabbed, beaten up, tortured, brain washed and have broken many bones. Sometimes my life depends on other people
getting me out of these places. Seaview’s
had to rescue me from some of these missions more times that I can count. ”
“Have you ever had to kill
someone?” she asked staring at her hands.
“Yes unfortunately I’ve had
to kill people to save my life and the lives of people I’ve had to rescue.” He
continued, “I’m very sorry I never told you about this part of my life. I tried many times but never got to finish. After we got married and Admiral Johnson
hadn’t called me I just forgot.” He quickly added, “I know that’s no
excuse. I will understand if you want a
divorce or have our marriage annulled. I won’t stand in your way if you want to
leave me. But please know I love you
more than anything in this world and I’ve never been so happy.”
“Is there anything else I
need to know about?” she asked shocked at what he just told her.
“Yes, there is one more
thing,” he replied going over to his desk, opening the third drawer, digging
way in the back and pulled out an enveloped marked ‘The Letter’. “Please read this. I need you to agree to what’s in this
letter. It is very important to me that
these instructions are followed.”
He handed her the unsealed
envelope, got up from the bunk and sat at his desk tapping his fingers together
while she read the letter. As she was
reading it, he saw tears welling up in her eyes and then falling down her
cheeks.
“Lee this tells me how to
dispose of your body if something happens to you while on Seaview or on
an ONI mission that has gone wrong and they bring you back dead or you’re so
badly injured that you’ll never completely recover that no extreme measures are
to be used to keep you alive.”
“Yes it does. The sea is my
life and that’s where I want to be buried. Also if the situation is so grave that the
only way I can be kept alive is with a machine, I don’t want that type of
existence and want you to let me go. In my lines of work I needed to make sure
everything was covered and that you are taken care of. After we got married, I signed a new contract
with NIMR and have a provision in there that allows you to stay and work at the
institute if you so choose for as long as you want and you can live at our house
until you decide to move. You are the most important thing in my
life. Nothing else matters to me but
you.”
“Lee, are these missions that
dangerous?” she asked wiping the tears from her cheeks.
“Yes, they can be very
dangerous and sometimes deadly,” he replied getting up from his desk and sat
next her on the bunk
Holding the letter in her
hand she told him softly, “Lee, I need think about this before I give you an
answer.”
“I understand take as much
time as you need and I’m very sorry I didn’t tell you about this before we got
married.”
“I’m assuming because Admiral
Johnson called you have mission to go on?”
“Yes. I will need to leave in a few days. I’m going with another agent,” Lee replied
giving her a kiss on the cheek and left her sitting on the bunk. “I’ll be in
the wardroom if you need me.” He left
their cabin and walked down to the wardroom praying she wouldn’t leave him.
((()))
Still holding the letter in
her hand, Janet sat there for a few minutes trying to digest everything she
just learned. I love him so
much. He’s the best thing that has happened to me but he’s a spy...he could be
killed on a mission...can I live with him being gone and not knowing if he’ll
come back dead or alive...can I follow his instructions and bury him at sea? She
thought. After a while she couldn’t sit
anymore, so she put the letter on the desk and started to pace back and forth
in the cabin. She went over to the desk, picked up the letter and read it
again. After fifteen minutes she made her decision and left for the wardroom.
((()))
Lee went to the wardroom and
got a cup of coffee. Cookie tried to
give him some dinner but he shook his head no. He didn’t hassle him about
eating as he had heard the scuttlebutt about Janet not knowing he worked for
ONI. Lee sat down across from the
admiral and Chip who were facing the door.
“Did you tell her?” Chip
asked quietly.
“Yes I did. I also told her about ‘the letter’ too. I figured I might as well put everything out
in the open. I don’t want to have any more
secrets from her. If you saw the look on
her face when I told her about ONI and then when she read the letter...” Lee
couldn’t finish the sentence. He
continued, “After I told her about ONI, I told her if she wanted a divorce or to
have our marriage annulled I wouldn’t stop her.
I told her I wasn’t honest with her and if she wanted to leave me I
would understand.”
“I’m sorry this had to
happen,” the admiral said sadly.
“Me too, admiral, but it’s my
own damn fault,” Lee replied running his hand through his hair. “I should have told her up front but maybe I
didn’t say anything because I was afraid I would lose her and I still might
anyway. She’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. Sorry admiral even accepting the job on Seaview
takes second to marrying her.”
“I understand son. I have to admit I’ve grown to love her as a
daughter.”
The three of them sat
silently in the wardroom room drinking their coffee and waiting for what seemed
to be an eternity when Chip looked up from his coffee. “Lee, she’s standing at the door. I guess
you’ll know soon enough. Good luck bro,”
Chip told him softly.
((()))
Lee quickly got up from the
table and went to the door where Janet was standing. “I need to talk to you. Is there someplace we can go?”
Lee took her hand and led her
to the storage room next door to the wardroom.
Not the best place to talk but he cleared a spot for them to sit down on
some crates and took her hands in his.
With tears in her eyes she
told him, “Lee, I wish you had told me sooner that you were a spy. Even if you told me before we were married, I
still would have married you. I love you
too much to leave you. I will stay with you even though I have a feeling that
I’m going to be in for some very rough times.
I also signed the letter as I know you love being at sea and it’s been
your whole life. But I do have one
request, please don’t make me follow through with what ‘the letter’ asks,” she
pleaded.
Breathing a sigh of relief he
replied, “I love you too and I promise I will do my best not to make you open
that letter again.” They stood up, he
gathered her in his arms, and gave her a kiss and hug. “Thank you,” he
whispered quietly not letting her go.
“One more thing,” she asked
solemnly. “Is there anything else I need
to know about?”
“Sweetheart, you know
everything. I have no more secrets.”
“Okay,” she answered
returning his kiss while still in his arms where they stayed for a few more
minutes.
He took her hand as they left
the storage room and went back to the wardroom where the admiral and Chip were
waiting for them. They could see the
relief on both their faces and knew she was staying with him.
“She’s staying,” Lee told
them happily.
“I’m glad you’re going to
stay with him,” Chip said with a smile. “He would have been a real bear to work
with had you dumped him and taken up with me,” he teased.
“Thanks for your support
bro,” Lee grinned. Janet smiled at the
remark too. She knew he would be a bear
to work with.
“I’m glad you staying too,”
the admiral replied squeezing her hand.
“Me too,” she replied as she
looked lovingly at her husband.
((()))
Janet stood up when the three
closest men in Lee’s life came back to the room. They could see she had been crying. “I know what you were talking about,” she
said so softly they could barely hear her.
The admiral put his arm around her and she began to sob
uncontrollably. They all had tears in
their eyes too.
Finally able to control
herself Janet begged, “Jamie, please wait before you do anything, please.”
“I won’t do anything right
now. I gave him two hours and I will
wait the two hours,” Jamie assured her.
Janet sat back down and put
her one hand under his and rubbed his thumb and put her other hand on his leg. “Lee Crane you’ve got one hour to improve,”
she said softly.
The three men went back to
Jamie’s office and left the two of them alone.
((()))
Janet sat there with her hand
on his leg when suddenly the alarms on the machines started blaring again. Jamie burst into the room followed closely by
the admiral and Chip. Jamie rapidly
began assessing his patient to identify the problem; he checked blood pressure
and other vital signs and while they weren’t the best they were no worse. He next checked the electrodes attached to
his body that monitored his heart and one of them had come loose because of the
bandages. After reattaching the
electrode the monitor stopped blaring and picked up Lee’s heart beat.
The admiral looked at his
watch, “Jamie he’s made it past the two hours.”
“I know admiral. He’s still not out of the woods by a long
shot. He survived this long but the next
forty eight hours are still critical.
How long before we get to
Chip answered, “Right now
we’re on the bottom. We’ll take her up
and resume course for home as soon as O’Brien comes on duty. If we have no problems two and half days.”
“I’ll have a better answer
for you by then. But right now the three
of you are going to your cabins for some sleep.
There’s nothing you can do for him now.”
The three of them started to
protest but Jamie stood his ground.
“Please let me stay here,”
Janet pleaded, “I’ll sleep on the bunk next to the gurney. Jamie, I can’t leave him.”
“Alright I’ll let you
stay. Looking at the admiral and Chip
Jamie said, “As CMO I’m ordering you two to your cabins right now.”
The admiral looked at Jamie
and raised his eye brows, “You’re ordering us out?”
“Yes now. Chip you’re on duty in the morning. We need you to see that we get home and
besides that you look like hell. Harry,
you don’t look much better. I will call
you if there is problem.”
“Yes sir,” Chip replied. He really was beat. He had been running on adrenaline but that gave
out a couple of hours ago.
He walked over to the gurney
and gently squeezed his ‘brother’s’ shoulder.
“You’ve got to make it. I can’t
live without you.”
The admiral went over also
and gave his shoulder a pat. “Come on
son, you have a lot to live for.”
Before the admiral left he
looked at Jamie, “You could use a little of your own advice. You better hit the rack as you look pretty
ragged too.”
“I’m going to my cabin as
soon as I get Janet settled and check his vitals one more time.”
((()))
The admiral and Chip both
left
The admiral went to his cabin
and sat at his desk. He reached in the
bottom drawer and pulled out a glass and a bottle of Glenlivet and poured
himself a healthy shot of the amber liquid.
He didn’t want anything to happen to his ‘son’. He had seen him through some rough times but
never this rough, he was worried and scared.
He finished up his drink and lay fully clothed down on his bunk when sleep
finally came.
((()))
Before leaving for the night,
Jamie checked on Lee’s vitals one last time while John recorded them on his
chart. “Jamie is he any better?” Janet
whispered still holding his hand.
“No but he’s not any worse. I think that’s a good sign. Now into the bunk with you. I can tell by looking at you that you are
beyond exhausted and I can’t handle two Crane’s in sick bay.”
“Yes Jamie,” Janet replied as
she went to the bunk closest to the gurney.
She climbed in and lay on her side so she could watch Lee’s chest rise
and fall as the machine breathed for him.
“John is going to be
monitoring him, so if there’s a problem, he will call me,” he told her but she
was already asleep before he even finished.
He covered her with the blanket before giving John some last minute
instructions.
He left
((()))
Jamie was in sick bay by 0500
hours and checked in with John who was sitting at Jamie’s desk watching the
monitors on Lee. “Did the captain have
any problems?”
“His blood pressure dropped
for a little while last night but not enough to set off the alarms, just as I
was going to call you it came back up. I gave him another sedative and pain
medication a few hours ago.”
“Thanks, you can go. I’ll stay with him until Frank comes on
duty. You look a little done in,” Jamie
told John but before he could leave sick bay, Frank walked in ready to take
over.
“Frank, you’re reporting for
duty early,” Jamie said gratefully.
“Yes sir. I’ve already eaten breakfast which I’m sure
you haven’t done. I was worried and
wanted to check on the skipper.”
“Thanks Frank. I’ll get some breakfast in a little while.”
Janet heard Jamie talking
with Frank and got up from the bunk and went over to Lee. “How
is he, Jamie?” Janet asked as she took his hand and rubbed his thumb.
“He had a calm night
according to John. I was just going to
check on him.”
He checked his blood pressure
which was the same as yesterday. “He’s
still very critical but it’s a good sign he made it through the night with no
major problems.”
((()))
Chip was also up at 0500
hours. He met the admiral on his way
down to sick bay. “You’re up early,” the admiral said to Chip.
“You, too. I just want to check on Lee before I go to
the control room.”
Just as Jamie finished giving Lee his medications, Chip and the admiral came in
to check on him.
“Jamie, how is he?” Chip
asked worriedly.
“He’s still the same as last
night,” Jamie replied quietly.
“Please let me know if
there’s any change. I’ll be in the control
room for a while until O’Brien comes on duty.”
“Sure Chip.”
Chip left sick bay for the
control room while the admiral stayed with Lee. When he got to the control
room, the crew on duty looked at him for some information.
“He’s still alive but not out
of the woods,” he told them worriedly.
Before going to the plotting
table he stopped by the sonar station where Kowalski was on duty, “Everything
clear above us?”
“Yes sir. Clear all the way to the surface,” he
responded softly.
“Thanks, Ski,” he said as he
walked over to the plotting table and keyed the mic, “Maneuvering.”
“Maneuvering, aye.”
“Take us up to two hundred
feet.”
“Aye, sir.”
He felt Seaview lift
slowly off the bottom and keyed the mic again, “Engine room.”
“Engine room, aye.”
“Start the engines and bring
us up to flank speed.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Helmsmen, resume course and
heading for home,” Chip told them.
“Aye, sir.”
As he turned back to the plotting
table, he saw O’Brien enter the control room from the aft hatch. “Mr. O’Brien reporting for duty, sir.”
“You’re reporting early, Mr.
O’Brien. You weren’t scheduled to be on duty until 0700. It’s only 0600,” Chip remarked after checking
his watch.
“I know Mr. Morton but I knew
you would want to be with the skipper so I’m reporting early.”
“Thanks Bobby,” Chip answered
patting his shoulder.
The admiral was just coming
in the aft hatch and heard the conversation between Chip and O’Brien. He was proud of his men as they would all go
above and beyond the call of duty to help each other out. He entered the control room where Chip caught
sight of him and the concerned look on his face.
“Sir, did something happen to
Lee,” Chip asked frantically that didn’t go unnoticed by the men in the control
room.
“Calm down, Chip. He’s fine,”
he told him a little louder than normal as he noticed the men listening to
every word they said. He could see the
worry on their faces too. “I just came to
see if you had breakfast and when you could get away. I see that Mr. O’Brien has reported early for
duty so you’re free to go.”
“No, I haven’t had breakfast
yet and I’m not really hungry.”
The admiral looked at him and
raised his eyebrows, “You’re not hungry?
Hungry or not you’re going to eat.”
“Yes sir. Can we stop at sick bay before we go to check
on Lee?”
“Of course,” the admiral answered
patting him on the back.
“Mr. O’Brien you have the
conn,” Chip told him as he left with the admiral out the aft hatch. O’Brien noted the change in the log book
along with the time, speed and course.
((()))
Jamie needed to check Lee’s
incision and change the bandages and he knew Janet wouldn’t be up to seeing that
just yet. “Janet, I let you stay here
last night but now you’re going to go to your cabin, shower, change and go to
the wardroom for breakfast. I don’t want
to see you here for two hours.”
“Jamie, I…” she started to
say but Jamie cut her off.
“No, that’s an order. Go right now or I’ll make it three hours.”
As Jamie was telling Janet
she needed to leave sick bay, the admiral and Chip walked in to check on him
again.
“Admiral, Chip, have you
eaten breakfast this morning?” Jamie asked with determination.
“No, why?”
“Janet, is thirty minutes
enough time for you to get ready?”
“Yes sir. Good meet the
admiral and Chip for breakfast and you better eat. I will check with Cookie to make sure you
ate. If you don’t I won’t let you back
in here.”
“Jamie, please don’t do
that,” Janet begged. “I’ll eat...I
promise.” She walked over to Lee kissed
his forehead and rubbed his hand.
“Honey, I’ll be back soon.”
She walked out of
((()))
“Jamie what was that all
about,” the admiral asked surprised that he would threaten to not let Janet
back in to see Lee.
“I need to change Lee’s
bandages and it’s not going to be pretty. I’m not sure she’s ready to see how
badly he was actually hurt. So I need
someone to keep her busy at least for breakfast. She needs to get away for a little while
anyway. I need to check him out and
don’t want her around right now.”
“You know she’s going to have
to see what damage has been done and change the bandages eventually,” Chip
remarked.
“I know but by that time the
wounds won’t be so raw.”
“Harry, Chip, he is still
critical. He’s got a long road to recovery
ahead of him and they’re both going to need our help,” Jamie told them
emphatically.
“We know Jamie. I’ll go and make sure she eats breakfast,”
Chip sighed looking at his best friend lying on the gurney as the machines helped
keep him alive.
“As soon as I’m done changing
his bandages, I’ll join you in the wardroom.
I need coffee and breakfast myself as it’s going to be another long day,”
Jamie told them as he moved the sheet covering Lee and started to remove the
dressing.
Frank went to the supply
cabinet and took out all the gauze, tape, and pads they would need to apply a
new dressing to Lee’s incision. Jamie
checked out his incision and bullet wound and they did look a little redder
than he expected. Just what he didn’t
need was an infection to set in. Frank
and Jamie applied new dressings to his incision. Jamie checked his vitals, gave him another
sedative, more pain medication and an antibiotic before he left for the
wardroom.
((()))
The admiral and Chip went to
the wardroom where
“I’ll eat everything so you
won’t tell on me,” she told him with a weak smile.
“Good. Here you go Mr. Morton,” he said as he handed
Chip a plate with four pancakes and three strips of bacon and fruit.
“That’s a lot of food Cookie.
I’m not that hungry this morning,” Chip said softly.
“I understand Mr. Morton but
eat what you can,” Cookie replied knowing if Chip wasn‘t hungry he must be
really worried about the skipper.
Janet got them all coffee and
sat down along side Chip while the admiral sat down next to
“How is Lee this morning?”
“He’s hanging in there,” Chip
answered as he picked at his pancakes.
Janet watched as
“It’s fine,” he responded
which got a wry grin from Chip. “Did I
say something wrong?”
“No. It’s just that Lee says that even if he’s not
fine,” Chip answered.
As they were talking, Jamie
came in and got a tray which Cookie filled with the breakfast items. He sat down next to Janet and looked at her
plate. She’d eaten almost all of the
food but left one pancake. He looked at
Chip’s plate and was surprised he had barely touched his breakfast.
“Chip, you need to eat too,”
Jamie stressed. “I already told Janet I
can’t handle two Crane’s in sick bay and no way in hell can I handle you and Lee. I would be totally bald by the time we got
back to
“Yes sir.” Chip replied
taking another bite of a pancake.
As they sat there eating, a
call came over the radio, “Doc, we need in you sick bay right now.”
Dropping what they were
eating they all jumped to their feet and ran to sick bay. Jamie found Frank standing by the mic.
“Frank what happen...what’s
wrong...is the Captain alright?” Jamie asked out of breath from running.
“I’m sorry Doc but the
skipper’s fine. I got a call from the
missile room, Simpson got hit in the head with chain and has a head injury
that’s bleeding pretty badly. I didn’t
want to leave the skipper alone so I called you.”
After catching his breath
Jamie answered, “Go to the missile room and bring Simpson back here. I’ll stay with the skipper.”
“Aye sir. Sorry if I upset all of you.”
“No problem, Frank,” Chip
said patting him on the shoulder as he left for the missile room.
“Go back to your breakfast,”
Jamie said, “Chip, I’ll let you know how bad Simpson is.”
“Thanks Jamie.”
((()))
After breakfast Wayne and
Janet went to the observation nose.
Janet still had an hour before she could return to sick bay. They sat in the observation nose staring out
the windows as Seaview plowed through the water.
“
Looking back out the windows
“Yes he is,” she replied
tears welling up in her eyes. Being
brave may cost him his life, she thought.
Chief Sharkey came up to them
in the observation nose. “Excuse me, Mr.
Kimball, Mrs. C. but the admiral told me I’m to take Mr. Kimball back to
“Okay Chief, I’ll meet you
here in an hour.” He stood up moved in
front of Janet’s chair and squatted down taking her hand in his. “I know he
will be alright. He’s got more love here
than I’ve ever seen anywhere. Please let
me know how he is.”
“Yes I will make sure we let
you know,” she replied as she continued to stare out the windows of Lee’s ‘gray
lady’.
Janet looked at her watch and
she still had fifteen more minutes before she could go back to Lee. She sat there looking out the windows as
tears ran down her cheeks. Chip stood at
the plotting table watching the interaction between Wayne and Janet. He could tell
((()))
Finally the fifteen minutes
were up and they were the longest fifteen minutes ever. Wiping away her tears, Janet made her way
into the control room stopping by the plotting table where Chip and Bobby were
working.
“Chip, can you get away for a
few minutes?”
“Sure, I’ll be there
shortly. I just need to finish up a few
things here,” he replied patting her hand.
Janet continued on to sick
bay where Jamie was putting four stitches in Simpson’s forehead. He would send
him back to the crew’s quarters for the rest of the day and Frank or John would
check on him later. He looked at her as
she went to the back of sick bay and could see she was very worried but so was
he. Jamie had pulled the curtain that
separated the rooms so that Lee had privacy.
Before she sat down, she
kissed his forehead. He was still very pale, but not as gray looking as last
night. She picked up the sheet and saw
Jamie had changed his bandages. She also noticed the IV line giving him blood
was gone. She pulled up the chair and sat down next to the gurney, she put her
hand under his and rubbed his thumb while placing her other hand on his leg and
gave it a squeeze.
“Come on Lee, you need to
fight harder,” she said quietly.
Chip came into sick bay and
sat down on the other side of Lee. “Lee,
we need you, I need you,” Chip told him as he patted his hand.
Janet gave him a weak smile.
They had been sitting there for a while when they felt Seaview shake
slightly. Chip knew the flying sub was
leaving her berth taking
“How long are you going to
keep him sedated,” the admiral asked.
“Until we get to
((()))
The next two and half days
went by very slowly. On the second day, Chip
found Sharkey milling around the sick bay passageway.
“Chief what are you doing
here?” Chip questioned.
“Sir, it’s the men, they want
to know how the skipper is doing? They
keep asking me, if I could give them just a little bit of information...” he
asked quietly.
“Chief, I’ll make sure you
get information every day at 0800 and 1800 hours,” Chip replied knowing every
man on the boat would want to know how Lee is doing. Sighing he said, “He’s still critical and not
out of the woods but doing better than before.”
“Thank you Mr. Morton. I know the crew will appreciate the
information.” Chip patted him on the
shoulder as he walked down the passageway to the crew’s quarters.
Chip went in sick bay to
check on Lee. He was still very pale but
his blood pressure was normal. Jamie was anxious to get him in
((()))
Janet only left Lee’s side
when Jamie made her go to their cabin to shower or eat. She slept in the bunk next to his gurney
every night. Jamie decided not to move
him to a bunk as it would be too hard to get him in and out of there without
disturbing the sutures in his abdomen.
Chip spent as much time as he could but he still needed to make sure Seaview
was on course and schedule. Both Bobby
O’Brien and Scott Taper had stepped up and pulling longer shifts so Chip could
spend more time with Lee. If Chip couldn’t
be there with Lee and Janet, then the admiral was there urging his ‘son’ to
come back to him.
Before they reached
“I’ll be right back,” Jamie
told her as he rubbed her shoulder.
“Jamie, what arrangements
have you made to transport Lee to
“Mike and Jeff, the two new
corpsmen, will be at the dock with the ambulance and a Stokes litter. Once we get
him off the boat, they will take him to
“Okay, Jamie,” the admiral
replied as he stood there a little longer staring at Lee. He was afraid he was going to lose his ‘son’
and regretted he never told him how much he meant to him. He sighed as he left sick bay. He went to the control room and checked to
see how long before they would be docking.
((()))
After finding out they were
still a few hours away from docking at the institute the admiral went to his
office to check in with Angie. “Hi
Angie,” the admiral said tiredly.
“Good afternoon,
admiral. How’s Lee?” she asked quickly
her voice quivering.
“Still critical but doing a
little better. We should be docking about 1400 hours.
“Please let us know if you
need anything. Admiral, how’s Janet
doing?”
“She’s very worried but
hanging in there.”
Trying not to break down
Angie said, “Please give her a hug from Wanda and me.”
Smiling at how close the
three of them had gotten he replied, “Of course.”
“Admiral, how are you
and Chip managing? It must be hard for
you and Chip to see Lee like that.”
Sighing the admiral replied,
“Thanks for your concern, we’re managing. We’ll see you soon.”
“Please let us know when we
can see Lee,” Angie implored.
“I’ll make sure you know,” he
replied.
((()))
As soon as the admiral
finished talking to Angie, he returned to
The admiral looked at his
watch. “Another two hours.
Why...problem?”
“No,” Jamie replied as he
rubbed his forehead, “just want to get him off the boat.”
“I’ll check with Chip and see
if we can’t speed her up a bit.”
Chip saw the admiral enter
the control room looking very worried, “Chip is there any way we can get a
little more out of the engines?”
“Sir, I can try. What’s wrong...is it Lee?”
“Jamie is anxious to get him
off the boat and in
Chip picked up the mic and
double clicked it, “Engine room this is the exec.”
“Engine room aye.”
“Anyway we can get a little
more speed?” Chip asked desperately.
“We’ll try Mr. Morton.”
“Thanks Chip.” The admiral walked back out the aft hatch and
returned to sick bay and stood there watching Janet talk to Lee.
“Lee Crane you better not die
on me,” Janet whispered sternly. “I’ve
invested too much of my life with you and sitting here for you to leave me
now.”
“Does it help to get mad at
him?” the admiral asked making her jump in her seat as she didn’t see him come
in.
“I don’t know sir but right
now I’m just too worried and tired at this point that I’ll try anything. He’s got to live, I don’t know what I’d do
without him,” she sighed deeply her eyes filling with tears.
“We’re almost home,” he told
as he gave her a hug, “That’s from Angie and Wanda.”
“Thank you admiral,” she
managed a small smile as she hugged him back.
“That hug was from me to you.”
The admiral went over to Lee
and squeezed his shoulder, “Please don’t leave me, son.” He walked out of
((()))
Somehow Seaview knew
her captain was in trouble and needed her help so the engine room managed to
get a little more speed and sailed past the breakwater thirty minutes earlier
than scheduled. Chip went up to the
bridge where Scott was waiting for him. Chip brought her into the channel and
berthed her in her sub pen with ease.
The dock detail tied her down and set out the gangway.
The admiral and O’Brien were
in the control room waiting for Chip to let them know everything was clear
topside before dismissing the crew. Chip
saw the ambulance with Mike and Jeff from
“Chip, let me check with
Jamie and see if he wants to bring Lee up first or wait until the crew is
gone.”
“Aye sir,” Chip
answered. “Adam, please tell the
corpsmen to wait for a minute,” Chip told the dock hand.
“Aye, sir,” Adam replied
promptly.
The admiral called to sick
bay, “Jamie, the corpsmen are here. Do
you want to take Lee of now or wait until the crew has disembarked?”
“Admiral, have them come on
down and we’ll wait till the crew has left before we bring him up. It’s going to take awhile to get him loaded
along with the gear.”
“Okay Jamie.” The admiral radioed the bridge and told Chip
to have Mike and Jeff come aboard and head on down to sick bay with the Stokes
litter.
Janet had packed their gear,
Lee’s briefcase and backpack and had them ready to go. Riley had volunteered to bring it topside for
her and to their car. She had the car
keys sitting on the desk when he took the gear out of their cabin.
Janet paced in sick bay
waiting for the corpsmen, “Jamie, will moving him hurt him any more?” she asked
anxiously.
“No that’s why we’re using a
litter. It has sides and more room so
it‘s easier and safer to tie him down,” he explained. “Don’t worry we’ll get him out safely.
Please relax,” Jamie pleaded with her.
“Not until he is safe and
secure in
He couldn’t blame her for
being nervous as he was pretty nervous himself and worried about transporting
him. He and Frank gently put some scrubs
on him, put an extra blanket on his abdomen for extra padding and then wrapped
him in a blanket.
((()))
The corpsmen made their way
to sick bay and helped Frank and John ready Lee for transport. The four men gently lifted him off the gurney
and placed him on the litter along with the IV bag. They expertly tied him down and attached the
temporary ventilator. They picked him up
and carried him to the missile room where they used the crane to gently lift
him off the boat and deposit him safely on the deck without him moving an inch
on the litter. The admiral went up the
ladder and waited at the top for Janet to come up. Chip followed her up and would be the last
one off the boat.
As they left the deck with
Lee, every inch of the quarterdeck, gangway and dock had crewmen standing at
attention waiting for Lee to leave the boat.
As Janet came out of the hatch with the admiral and Chip, she saw them
all standing there at attention and saluting him as they carried him by them to
the ambulance.
“Oh admiral,” she cried as
she gripped his hand, “I never realized how much they really do care about
him.”
“Yes, they do,” he answered
proud of every man on his submarine.
The admiral, Chip and Janet
walked to the end of the gangway as they put Lee in the ambulance for the short
ride to
Before Jamie got in the
ambulance he said, “Please wait a few minutes before you come. I need to get him settled, checked out and
reattach the monitors and ventilator.”
“Yes Jamie,” Janet replied
with tears of relief in her eyes that they got him off the boat without hurting
him.
Jamie climbed in the back and
Kowalski shut the doors then hitting the back of the ambulance door letting
them know it was okay for them to leave.
Janet stood on the dock with
the admiral as the crew of Seaview walked by them leaving on shore
leave. They all offered Janet words of
encouragement. Chief Sharkey, Patterson,
Riley and Kowalski gave her a hug.
“He’ll be up before you
know,” Chief said encouragingly.
“Thanks. I know he will too.” Janet replied looking at
Sharkey, thankful for his optimism.
“Mrs. C., I’ve put your
things in the car,” Riley told her handing her back her car keys.
“Thanks, Riley. I will make sure you all know how he is doing
and when you can come and visit him.”
They walked away hoping it
would be soon. Chip was on the dock
talking with Bobby and Scott. “Thank
you. You both did a great job. I know the captain will appreciate all your
extra effort. I know I did.”
“You’re welcome, Mr.
Morton. Please let us know how the skipper
is doing.”
They left the dock as Chip
went over to talk to the dock detail and told them what needed to be done on Seaview. When he was done with them he went to the
security detail and went over the schedule with them. The admiral and Janet waited for him before
walking to Janet’s SUV.
Handing Chip the keys to the
SUV Janet asked, “Have we left Jamie alone long enough?”
“Long enough for me,” Chip
responded as he opened the unlocked door of SUV for Janet and she climbed in.
“We’ll meet you over there,
Admiral”
“I’ll be there soon. I just want to check in with Angie before I
go to
“Yes sir,” Chip replied as he
started the car, backed it out of the parking space and headed for
((()))
Betty and Hazel had
everything ready that Jamie would need for Lee when he arrived at
“Please make sure you monitor
all his vitals. I want to be notified
immediately if there are any changes,” Jamie told them.
“Yes, sir,” they answered.
Betty and Hazel had brought in
a couple of comfortable chairs in Lee’s room.
Noticing the chairs, “Thank you for putting the chairs in here,” Jamie
said gratefully.
“We figured Mrs. Crane would
be staying with him along with Mr. Morton and the admiral.”
Sighing Jamie told them, “She
hasn’t left his side so far and I don’t expect her leave now.”
They no sooner had Lee
settled when Janet and Chip knocked on the door. Jamie opened the door and let them in, “I asked
you to give me a little time,” he chastised them.
“We did. You’ve had fifteen minutes. Jamie how is
he...any problems moving him,” Chip asked running his hand through his hair.
“He made the transfer just
fine,” Jamie replied taking a deep breath.
While Chip and Jamie were
talking, Janet went to his side and sat down.
She took his hand in hers and rubbed his thumb as Chip sat down on the
other side. The admiral came in with
Angie and Wanda about ten minutes later.
Janet got up and gave them a hug.
Both of them could tell she was very tired and worried.
“Oh my,” Angie said with
tears in her eyes as she looked at Lee and then Janet. “He’s so pale.”
“Will he get better?” Wanda
asked quietly looking at the ventilator as it breathed for him.
”Yes, I think so,” Jamie replied rubbing his forehead. “I’m going to take him off the ventilator in
the morning so I will know more tomorrow.
Why don’t you all go home and get some rest,” Jamie said hopefully
looking at Janet and Chip as well as the rest of them.
“Jamie, I’m not leaving,”
Janet told him calmly as she sat back down in her chair tucking her legs under
her.
“Me either,” Chip replied
firmly parking his six in the other chair.
The admiral, Angie and Wanda
agreed to leave but would be back tomorrow.
Angie and Wanda were going home and the admiral would return to his
office after he walked Angie and Wanda to their cars. Taking his keys out of his pocket, he opened
his car door and got in but just sat there for awhile thinking about how much
he loved Lee like a son, and he hoped he would be alright. He started his car and decided to go home
instead of the office.
Jamie left Janet and Chip to
sit with Lee while he went to the desk to check in with Betty and Hazel needing
to know if anything of importance had taken place at
“Chip, what if Lee doesn’t
breathe on his own when Jamie turns off the ventilator?” Janet asked as she
rubbed his hand. “You know as well as I
do, he doesn’t want to live on the ventilator.”
Sighing Chip replied, “I
know. We’re going to have to hope you
don’t have to make that decision.”
“Please not me…I couldn’t do
it alone...I need you and the admiral,” Janet said tears glistening in her
eyes.
“Let’s worry about that
tomorrow,” Chip told her softly not wanting to think about that decision.
The two of them sat there
watching him and his monitors. Betty came
in to check his vitals every fifteen minutes and wrote down what they were on
his chart. When she came in after the
first hour, both Janet and Chip were asleep in the chairs. Janet still had
Lee’s hand in hers and Chip had his hand on Lee’s arm. She went to the cabinet, got out two blankets
and covered them as they slept. She left the room as quietly as she came
in.
Betty headed down the hallway
to Jamie’s office, “Jamie, here are the Captain’s vitals for this hour,” Betty
said giving him the results.
“I see they’re staying the
same. That’s good. What about Mrs. Crane and Mr. Morton?”
“Sound asleep so I covered
them with a blanket. They looked pretty
tired when they came in just like someone else.
Jamie, you need to go home and rest too,” Betty chided him.
“Thanks for taking care of
them. I’m leaving now. If anything changes...”
“I will call you,” she told
him as she picked up his briefcase and showed him to the door.
((()))
Janet and Chip woke up early
the next morning and noticed they had been covered. Smiling they whispered, “Betty.”
They needed to stretch after
sitting in the chairs all night. Just as
they got up Betty came in to check on Lee.
“Thanks for covering us,”
Janet told her giving her hug, “You take such good care of all of us.”
“No problem,” she said
hugging her back, “Jamie isn’t here yet so why don’t you get something to
eat. You have to be hungry since you
didn’t have dinner. I’ll make sure Jamie
doesn’t do anything until you return,” she promised them.
Janet was about to protest
when Chip took her arm telling Betty, “We’ll be back in thirty minutes.”
Janet gave Lee a kiss on his
forehead before leaving. As they walked
out the door, Betty was taking his vitals for Jamie. She wanted to make sure everything was ready
when he turned off the ventilator and for Hazel who would take over when she
went home.
Janet and Chip went to the
cafeteria where Cookie was just setting up the breakfast buffet. As Chip headed for the coffee urn, Cookie
asked, “How’s the skipper today, Mrs. C?”
“Doc is going to try and take
him off the ventilator this morning,” she replied worriedly.
“Please let me know how he
makes out. We’re all worried about
him. The crew asks when they come in how
he is doing.”
Janet replied softly, “I will
make sure you find out so you can pass it on to the crew. Thanks Cookie.”
Chip walked over to Cookie
and Janet as they were talking. He took
a big gulp of coffee and sighed in satisfaction it tasted so good. They went over to the buffet, Chip reached
for a tray and handed it to Janet as he grabbed one for himself. Cookie took the liberty of putting three
pieces of French toast and two links of turkey sausage on Janet’s plate along
with some strawberries. Chip helped
himself to doubles of everything. He
hadn’t eaten dinner last night because he didn’t want to leave Lee so he was
very hungry.
“Cookie, there’s too much
food here,” Janet sighed heavily, “I can’t eat all of this.”
“You better eat it or I will
tell Dr. Jamieson on you. The same rules
apply here as they do on Seaview and I know you didn’t have dinner last
night.”
“You have spies all over
don’t you,” she smiled weakly.
“Yes I do,” he smiled back.
Janet took her plate and put
it on a table. She went to get some
coffee and refill Chip’s cup. She really
wasn’t hungry, she was too worried about Lee coming off the ventilator. She sat
down and ate what she could but there was still a piece of french toast and
sausage link left on her plate. While
Cookie wasn’t looking, Chip took the piece of French toast and sausage link,
ate it and winked at her.
Whispering she said, “Thank
you.”
Cookie came by to check on
her and was pleased she had eaten everything.
Chip got a cup of coffee to go and they walked back to
((()))
Jamie explained to them what
he was going to do, “I looked over his vitals and everything is in the normal
range so I’m going to turn off the ventilator.
If he spontaneously starts breathing on his own, I will keep it turned
off. I want to make sure he is able to breathe on his own for awhile before I
remove the tube. If he doesn’t start breathing on his own, I will need to turn
the ventilator back on. We can try again
later. If that doesn’t work, I will
slowly decrease the intervals the ventilator breathes for him, hoping he will
start doing it on his own. I also had Betty decrease his sedative and pain
medication the last time he was due which was about four hours ago. I’m not going to give him his next scheduled
medications but I’m still giving him antibiotics so he doesn‘t get an
infection. I want him to wake up.”
With a worried look Janet
asked, “Jamie isn’t he going to be in a lot of pain?”
“Yes, he probably will be but
I want to know how much pain. I need to
change his pain medication to something less potent. I promise he won’t be in pain for long.”
Jamie walked over to the
ventilator and turned it off. Janet
stood there with her fingers crossed behind her back praying for him to
breathe, the admiral and Chip stood there waiting for him to breathe too.
What seemed like minutes but
was actually only a few seconds, Jamie looked at them and shook his head and
went to turn on the ventilator back on.
Before he could turn it on Lee gasped and started breathing on his own.
“All right you can start
breathing again too,” Jamie told them not realizing they were also holding
their breath.
“Jamie does this mean he
won’t need the ventilator anymore?” Janet asked hesitantly.
Jamie was listening to Lee’s
chest with the stethoscope and could hear good breath sounds from his lungs.
“Yes I’m going to remove the
tube before he wakes up. His throat is
going to be sore, scratchy and he may have a hard time talking at first but it
will get better.”
The three of them relaxed
just a little as they knew he still had to wake up. Jamie gently removed the tube from Lee’s
throat. He still had the heart monitor
on but Jamie was going to remove that once he woke up. He was still going to keep the IV line for
his pain medication and antibiotics.
“Jamie, he’s going to be
alright isn’t he,” Janet asked as she sat down next to his bed, gently picked
up his hand and rubbed the top of it.
Sighing Jamie answered, “He’s
going to be okay. But he still has a long road of recovery ahead of him. His incision needs to heal and he will be
very weak for awhile so he will need to rest.
I’m afraid he won’t be able to go back to work for quite a few weeks.”
“Good luck telling him that,”
Chip said to Jamie. Chip knew Lee would
want to help with all the updates Seaview would need to test out the
Navy’s new equipment.
“He may not like it but he’s
not going to override me this time,” Jamie insisted, “and I’m going to need the
three of you to back me up.”
“Yes, Jamie,” the three of
them nodded. They knew how close he had
come to dying so they would do what Jamie asked of them.
The admiral stood at the window looking out at
Seaview bobbing in her pen. He
prayed her captain would wake up and take command of her again.
((()))
He could hear them talking. He could feel his wife’s hand rubbing the top
of his. He was in pain. He didn’t know
why but he hurt all over. He wanted to
make the pain go away so he fell into a deep sleep.
((()))
It had been three hours since
Jamie turned the ventilator off and Lee still had not woken up or even moved a
muscle. Jamie came in to check on him
worried that he wasn’t awake yet. He
went back to his office shaking his head there wasn’t much else he could do,
Lee had to wake up on his own.
“Lee Crane, you better wake
up soon, you’re getting a little scraggly looking,” Janet said as he rubbed his
cheek with its four day old beard. “Please wake up,” she whispered giving his
hand a gentle squeeze while tears formed in her eyes.
After a few minutes Janet
said softly, “I’m going out for some fresh air.
I need to figure out what to do if he never wakes up.”
After leaving his side only
when she was forced to, the admiral and Chip were surprised she would leave now
but understood she needed to think.
“We’ll find you if he wakes
up while you’re gone,” Chip said gently.
“Thanks,” Janet replied with
a sigh.
((()))
He felt her squeeze his
hand. He felt her warm hand as she stroked his cheek. He could tell she was upset as her voice was
barely above a whisper. He heard her say she was leaving. He needed to tell her he loved her. He wouldn’t leave her alone no matter how
much pain he was in his wife needed him.
Just as she started to get up
she felt him squeeze her hand. “He
squeezed my hand,” she told them excitedly.
“You better get Jamie.”
Chip jumped out the chair
almost knocking it over as he got up. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly as he ran out
of the room and down the hall to the desk.
Since Betty was going off duty, she was reviewing with Hazel the instructions
from Jamie when they saw Chip running towards them.
“Mr. Morton is there a
problem?” Betty asked quickly.
“No, where’s Jamie. Lee’s waking up.”
“I’ll get him for you,” Hazel
told him as she quickly went to Jamie’s office.
Jamie ran out of his office and
down the hall with Chip following him.
He quickly pushed open the
door and went to the bed. He began checking him over when he noticed his eyes
starting to open but closed again trying to adjust to the light. He finally opened them up and left them open. He saw Jamie standing on one side of him
while Janet stood on the other.
“Don’t go,” he said barely
above a whisper as he reached for Janet’s hand giving it another squeeze.
“Honey, I’m not going
anywhere,” she said softly as tears fell down her cheeks.
“Sweetie, please don’t cry,”
he said hoarsely. “I’m fine,” he stated
as he tried to sit up and quickly laid back down. “That hurt,” he gasped in pain.
“Welcome back, Captain,”
Jamie said calmly. “How do you feel?”
“Chest hurts…stomach
hurts…throat is sore and scratchy. Must
have been on a ventilator,” he replied weakly. He also noticed the IV line, heart monitor
and knew he had a catheter.
Janet went to the sink,
filled a cup with water, found a straw and helped Lee take a small sip. Their eyes locked as he nodded thanks. He saw
that she looked stressed and worn out.
“You’re in
“Seaview...mission...
“We’ll fill you in later,”
Chip told him as he stood next to Jamie happy to see his ‘brother’ awake but
could also tell he was in pain. The
admiral stood next to Janet on the other side of the bed.
“Son, you sure gave us quite
a scare,” the admiral sighed with relief gently squeezing his shoulder.
Clutching his hand tightly
Janet told him, “Yes, honey, you are ‘fine’ after what you’ve been through but
please don’t try and sit up again.”
“How long have I been out?”
he asked barely above a whisper.
“Four and half days,” Chip
answered. “You were shot after you and
“I don’t remember anything
after that,” Lee responded grimacing in pain.
“Enough for now,” Jamie
ordered. “I’m going to give you some
pain medication. You still need to
rest.”
“But Jamie I want to know
what happened,” he insisted.
Jamie called to the desk and
had Hazel bring in pain medication and injected into his IV. It wasn’t as strong as the previous medicine
but would still alleviate his pain. He
closed his eyes as he felt relief from the medication as it worked it’s way
through his body and went back to sleep.
“How long will he be out,”
Janet inquired as she held Lee’s hand.
“A ‘normal’ person would be
out for four to five hours but him probably three so all of you will go home
and get some rest. I’m going to change
his dressing while he’s asleep.”
“Jamie, please let me help
you,” Janet asked softly. “I’m going to
have to take care of it when he does get home.”
Rubbing his hand on his
forehead Jamie reluctantly agreed to let her help. Jamie picked up the phone, “Hazel could you
please bring me some gauze pads, antibiotic ointment, and tape so I can change
the Captain’s dressing.”
“Yes sir. I will be right
there.”
“We’ll be back later,” Chip
told Janet. “If you need anything just
call.” He gave her hand a squeeze. The admiral whispered, “He’s going to be
alright.” She nodded her head relieved
that he was going to make it.
They walked out of
The admiral seeing his
predicament said, “Get in lad, I’ll take you home,”
“Thank you sir,” Chip
accepted gratefully and got in the admiral’s car. He drove him the short distance to his house.
As Chip was leaving the car
the admiral told him, “Chip, please come to my office tomorrow at 0930. Admiral Starke is coming late tomorrow
morning with some of the plans and information regarding the new computers and
upgrades. I would like to review what
you and Lee planned on doing before we start anything.”
“That will work out
fine.” Chip said as he shut the car
door, went in his front door and sat down on the couch. He was emotionally and physically
exhausted. He went upstairs, took a long
hot shower and lay on his bed where he promptly fell asleep. He would go back to
((()))
Hazel brought in the items
Jamie requested. She was surprised that
Janet was still there.
Jamie seeing he look on
Hazel’s face told her, “She’s going to watch us change his dressing. She’s going to have to take care of it when
he gets home so she might as well learn now.”
They both washed their hands
before they touched the old dressing.
Hazel gently removed the tape holding the gauze pads down. Hazel soaked
a piece of gauze in saline solution and gave it to Jamie to help remove the
gauze that had stuck to the incision.
She took the old dressing and put it in a plastic bag. They both washed their hands again.
“Oh Jamie,” Janet said
nervously. “It’s so red and swollen.”
“That’s part of the healing
process and it will get better in a couple of days. There is no sign of infection which is
good. But I’m still going to keep him on
an antibiotic for the next few days.”
“What about the sutures...when
will you take them out...what happens after you take them out?” Janet asked
calmly.
“He has two kinds of
sutures. The sutures on the inside are
absorbable. The ones on the outside will be taken out in few days depending on
how he is healing. Janet, abdominal
surgery is very painful. He’s going to
be uncomfortable doing almost everything.
It may take four to six weeks before he really feels better.”
“Jamie you know he’s not
going to like that time frame.”
“He will be the judge of what
he can or can’t do depending on how much pain he’s in. We have to make sure he doesn’t over do it
because that will increase his healing time.
You’re going to have to really watch him.”
“Yes Jamie. I will,” she replied as she rubbed his hand
watching Jamie reapply his new dressing.
Jamie put on some antibiotic
ointment, applied new gauze pads and taped them down. They washed their hands again and Hazel
removed the plastic bag with the old bandages.
“When Lee goes home, I’m going to have Frank or John check on him
daily. They will help you change his
dressing.”
“Thank you Jamie. You’re a miracle worker,” Janet told him
kissing him on the cheek.
“No problem but you’re going
to end up in the bed next to him if you don’t go home and get some rest,” he
said with a wry grin walking her to the door.
“Okay Jamie but I think you
should follow your own advice. You look
pretty beat yourself.”
“As soon as I disconnect the
heart monitor, remove the catheter and check his vitals I’m leaving I promise.”
As Janet left
As Jamie was leaving, Angie
and Wanda walked in the front door. “Jamie,
how is Lee?” Angie asked with a worried look on her face.
“He finally woke up but is
sleeping again. You can sit there with
him. Janet, Chip and the admiral went
home for a few hours. If he should wake
up he will see some familiar faces,” Jamie told them. “If he has any problems, please call Hazel
who is at the desk.”
“Thanks Jamie,” Wanda said as
they went in Lee’s room.
((()))
Janet walked out of
She woke three hours later in
a panic. What if Lee woke up and there
was no one there. She quickly finished
getting ready and hopped in her car.
When she got to
“Sorry I fell asleep. Has he woken up again?” Janet asked
anxiously.
“No, not yet. Wanda and I have been here keeping him
company. You look like you could use
another three hours of sleep,” Angie said to Janet.
“No I’m better,” she replied
as she kissed his forehead and squeezed his hand.
“Since you’re back, Angie and
I will leave you alone,” Wanda told Janet giving her a hug. “We’ll check in with you tomorrow.”
Angie gave her a hug too and
they both said goodbye to Chip. As they
walked out the door, Jamie and Hazel came back in to check on Lee. Jamie
checked his blood pressure, took the stethoscope that was around his neck and listened
to his lungs and heart.
“Everything is fine. He should be waking up soon,” Jamie told them
as he left the room and went back to his office.
((()))
Janet and Chip had been
sitting there only a few minutes when Lee’s eye started to flutter. He opened them up and stared at his wife and
then looked over at Chip.
“Hi sweetie,” he whispered. “You don’t look nearly as worried or tired as
before.”
“No, we went home and slept
while you were sleeping. How are you
feeling?” Janet asked cautiously.
“Still hurts. Please tell me what happened,” he asked
impatiently.
Sighing Chip explained to Lee
that he was shot by one of the guards who escaped the laboratory after he
pushed
“How badly was I injured?” he
asked grimacing in pain.
Taking a deep breath and
holding his hand Janet told him, “Lee, Jamie didn’t think you were going to
live. He operated on you for six hours. He gave you the four units of blood he had on
hand. Seaview sat on the bottom
of the ocean so Scott could donate a unit of blood. He wanted to know if you had any instructions
if you didn’t make it.”
Lee looked at Janet sadly,
“Did you tell him about ‘the letter’?”
“Yes, the admiral and Chip
did,” she answered quietly. “We were so
afraid you wouldn’t make it.” Janet
continued, “You were shot three times.
One bullet went in your chest collapsing your left lung but it didn’t
hit either lung. That is why you were on the ventilator. The other two were in your abdomen. One lacerated your liver and nicked your
kidney. Jamie was able to repair them.”
“Okay, but you said there
were three bullets, what about the third one?”
Janet continued, “It ruptured
your spleen. Jamie said it was too
damaged to repair and had to take it out but you can live without it. It’s just that you have to be very careful
getting an infection. If you do, you
will need to get on antibiotics right away.”
Lee laid there not saying
anything. No wonder I’m in pain,”
he thought. “Is that all,” he said with
a wry smile.
“Isn’t that enough,” the
admiral said as he stood in the doorway and heard Janet telling him his
injuries.
“No wonder the three of you
looked like hell. I’m sorry to put you
through this,” Lee apologized. “I saw
the guard aiming at
“Yes, he had a shoulder wound
but Jamie took care of it. Sharkey
brought him back to
Jamie came in the room just
as the admiral finished telling Lee about
“My whole chest and stomach hurts
whenever I move,” Lee grimaced.
“It’s going to for
awhile. You’re going to be sore for
about four to six weeks if you don’t overdo it.
Once the swelling and redness goes away from your incision you won’t be
in much pain. I know you’ve had sutures
before but never this many and covering your whole chest. You’re going to be uncomfortable doing almost
everything as abdominal surgery is very painful.”
“When can I go back to
work? If Seaview’s in port, that
means we can do the upgrades to sonar, radar and the radio so we can test the
Navy’s new equipment.”
“Not for at least four
weeks,” Jamie told him waiting for the fireworks and Lee didn’t disappoint him.
“No, I can’t be away that
long. I need to help them,” Lee insisted
getting angry at Jamie.
“Lee, I will relieve you of
your command if you don’t follow Jamie’s orders,” the admiral threatened.
“Admiral, please don’t,” Lee
pleaded.
“Son, we almost lost you,
please do as Jamie asks,” the admiral told him wearily.
“Yes sir,” Lee acquiesced.
He saw the look of relief not
only on Jamie’s face but Janet’s and Chip’s as well as the admiral’s. He realized he was exhausted and he didn’t
even do anything. He wanted to go back to sleep and his chest area was
hurting. Jamie noticed he was getting
tired.
“All of you are not going to
stay here tonight. You will go home and
come back in the morning.”
Janet opened her mouth to
protest but before she could say anything Lee told her, “Sweetie, please go
home and get some rest. You look
tired. I’ll be fine here with
Hazel. I’m going to sleep very well I’m
sure with Jamie’s help.”
I’ve got your medication
right here,” Jamie replied injecting it into Lee’s IV.
Before Lee fell asleep he
gave Janet a kiss goodbye. She kissed
him back and rubbed his cheek. The three
of them left
“I’ll be here early tomorrow
morning,” Chip told Janet. “The admiral
and I have a meeting with Admiral Starke to go over the plans for the upgrade.”
“Okay, I’ll see you
later. Admiral, thank you for your help
with Lee. He can be so stubborn.”
Sighing the admiral replied,
“Don’t I know it. We’ll keep him abreast
of what is taking place. He needs to
know what is going on but doesn’t need to be there. If you need anything, please call me.”
“I’ll be fine,” Janet replied
as they walked her to her car. Chip
unlocked the door for her and would make sure she got home safely.
Chip followed Janet home and
made sure she got in to house. Even
though she had slept earlier, she was exhausted. She went upstairs and got ready for bed. She pulled the blankets back on the bed,
climbed in and snuggled under them. She didn’t like sleeping alone but she knew
her husband was getting better and would be home soon.
((()))
Janet was up at 0600 the next
morning. She took a shower, got dressed
and went downstairs to make some coffee and breakfast. She didn’t have dinner last night but she
still wasn’t that hungry. She made a piece of toast, drank the coffee and left
for
When she got to
I wonder where they are? She thought as she continued down to Lee’s room. She opened the door slightly and saw there
was no one with him. She quietly went
in, walked over to his bed and checked to see if he was awake.
“Sweetheart, you’re here
pretty early,” Lee said opening his beautiful amber eyes.
“How did you know it was me,”
she asked as she kissed him on the lips.
“Your smell,” he replied
kissing her back wishing he could do more but it hurt too much to move.
“My smell? I just showered,” she said indignantly.
“Yes, I recognized the smell
of your shower gel the minute you walked in,” he smiled.
She smiled back as she sat on
the edge of the bed making sure not to move it too much or bump Lee. “How are
you feeling today?”
“A little better. It still hurts but I will be fine. Frank was in a few minutes ago to check on
me. He’s going to change the dressing
and help me shave. I can’t stand this beard
any longer,” Lee told her as he scratched his face.
“Good, you’re looking pretty
rough around the edges,” she told him as she took his face between her hands
and kissed him.
She sat on the bed holding
his hand until Frank walked in. “What
are you doing here this early? Jamie’s
going to be upset if he sees you,” Frank teased.
“I know but I’ll deal with
him when he comes in,” Janet answered back grinning. “Let me help you change his dressing.”
“No problem. I noticed in the notes that you helped
before. I’ll get the items and be right
back.”
“You helped change my
dressing?” Lee asked surprised.
“I’ll have to do it when
you’re home so I figured they may as well show me what to do.”
Frank brought in the
bandages, tape and gauze pads and the two of them changed Lee’s dressing. Lee looked at it and couldn’t believe how
long the incision was. When they were
done, Janet took care of the old dressing while Frank helped Lee shave. By the time she came back they had half of
his face done. He looked pretty funny
with one side shaved and the other side still with beard. Janet sat down in the chair while Frank
shaved the rest of Lee’s face.
He looks so much better, Janet thought.
She stood up and went over to the bed after Frank left and rubbed her
husband’s cheeks.
“Feel better?” she asked
kissing him again.
“Yes but that little bit of
exertion has done me in,” he yawned.
“I’m going to take a nap. Will
you be here when I wake up?”
Gently taking his hand in
hers, “I’ve nowhere else to go,” she told him as she settled in the chair and
took her reader out of her purse and started reading.
((()))
The admiral and Chip came in
about 0800 and knew Janet was there as her car was in the parking lot. “What
time did you get here?” the admiral asked quietly noticing Lee was sleeping.
“About 0630, I couldn’t sleep
any more so I came here. Lee was awake
when I got here. Frank and I changed his
dressing and he shaved him. Just that
little bit of movement tired him out so he fell asleep.”
Jamie walked in the door to
check on Lee and wasn’t too happy to see the three of them at his bedside so
early.
“Good morning,” Jamie said
irritated. “He needs to rest.”
“He was awake when I got
here. I didn’t wake him up,” Janet
replied softly. “Sorry Jamie.”
“Don’t worry about it. How was he this morning?”
“He said he was a little
better but after changing his dressing and getting a shave he was tired, so he
went back to sleep. That was about
0700.”
Jamie would wait until he
woke up to check him over but his vitals were good so he was going to get him
up and out of bed. He would be in pain
but he needed to move.
As they were sitting there
waiting for Lee to wake up the admiral’s phone rang, “Yes Angie.”
“Sir, I have Admirals Starke
and Johnson here to see you.”
“Johnson?” he
questioned. “Starke wasn’t going to be
here until 1030.”
“They came early sir,” Angie
whispered.
“Tell them we’ll be right
there,” the admiral said as he hung up his phone.
“Admiral Starke is here early
and why is Johnson here? Looking to
recruit Lee already,” Chip said sarcastically.
Sighing the admiral said,
“Come on let’s see what they want. We’ll
come back later.”
The admiral and Chip left
Lee’s room. They each drove to the
office in their cars in case the admiral got hung up with Admiral Starke.
Lee woke up a few minutes
after they left as Jamie was checking him out.
“Lee, let’s get you out of
bed. I know its going to hurt but you
need to move. Just take your time. Janet and I will help you. Lean on us for support.”
Lee moved his legs to the
side of the bed and let them dangle there for a few minutes. Janet could see he was in pain as he moved
but he put his feet on the floor and slowly stood up. He walked gingerly to the chair next to the
bed and eased himself down.
Taking a deep breath, “That
sure wasn’t fun,” he said wiping away the beads of sweat that had formed on his
forehead.
“I can give you some pain
medication if you want it,” Jamie told him.
“Not now maybe later. I’m going to have to get use to some pain,”
Lee stated. “Jamie, when can I go home?”
“I would like you to stay at
least a week. I’ll take your sutures out before you go home. When you do go home you have to rest and going
up the stairs is going to be difficult.”
“Jamie, I will ask the admiral
if I can stay home with Lee for a couple of days until we figure out how much
he can handle. Then maybe I will work
only half days,” Janet said.
“I’ll be fine by myself,” Lee
stated.
“No you won’t stay alone.
You’ll try and do too much. I’ll have Frank or John stay or check on you when
Janet has to work.”
Sighing loudly Lee replied,
“I’m not two.”
Jamie quipped back, “Then
don’t act like it.”
“Alright, I’ll do whatever
you want so I can get back to work.”
Jamie left Janet and Lee
alone. She pulled up the other chair and
they sat there holding hands.
“I don’t think Jamie’s going
to let me get away with anything this time.”
“No Lee he’s not. You don’t realize how close he came to losing
you so please do what he asks,” she begged.
“Yes sweetheart I promise I
will,” he replied giving her a kiss as she laid her head on his shoulder.
((()))
When the admiral and Chip
arrived at the office as they exited their cars Chip said, “We never got a
chance to have our meeting. What are we
going to do?”
“We’ll take what he gives us
and work it out from there. You know the
Navy is never very quick with getting things out so we might have a little more
time before we need to leave. Hopefully
by that time Lee will be better and can make the voyage with us.”
They rode the elevator to
their floor and got out of the car. They
greeted Wanda who gave them a small grin back.
Admirals Starke and Johnson were in the waiting area drinking a cup of
coffee and eating the rolls Angie had brought for the admiral and Chip.
“Good morning Harry, Mr.
Morton,” Starke said smiling. “How’s
Commander Crane doing?”
“Better but he’s still pretty
weak and in a lot pain,” the admiral replied looking at Johnson. "Gerald
what are you doing in
“I had a meeting in
“Damn, Gerald,” the admiral
said angrily, “the man almost died. You
can’t wait until he is feeling better to do this?”
“No. I need to send some more men into the
complete the demolition of that laboratory.
I know what Mr. Kimball told me but I need Lee’s expert opinion so I
know what and who to send to finish it,” Johnson replied hotly. “Is there someone who can take me to him?”
“I’ll call down to Seaview
and see who is available, sir,” Chip told the admiral with a disgusted look on
his face that Johnson or Starke could see.
Chip went to his office and
called the radio man on duty and asked him to find Kowalski and send him up to
the office.
“You wanted to see me, Mr.
Morton...Is the skipper okay?” Kowalski asked worriedly.
“Yes Ski he’s doing
better. Could you please take Admiral
Johnson over to
“Yes sir but I didn’t bring
my car today.”
The admiral came out of his office
and heard what Kowalski told Chip.
“Kowalski, take my car to
“Yes sir,” Kowalski replied,
“this way Admiral.” Kowalski followed
Admiral Johnson to the elevators and pushed the button to the ground
floor. They rode down in silence. Kowalski opened the car door for him and
drove to
While Kowalski was leaving,
Chip called Janet’s cell phone. “Yes
Chip. Everything okay?”
Talking softly, “Admiral
Johnson is on his way to see Lee. He
wants Lee to debrief him on the mission right now.”
“Damn,” Janet said
furiously. “He’s the last person Lee
needs to see now. Thanks for the heads
up.”
After Janet got off the
phone, Lee could see she was mad. She
doesn’t get mad to often but he could almost see steam coming out of her ears.
“What’s wrong,” he asked
giving her hand a squeeze.
“Admiral Johnson is on his
way over to see you. He wants to debrief
you on the mission,” Janet said angrily.
“Sweetie, calm down. It’ll be okay,” he told her gently. “Look on the bright side, if he debriefs me now,
we won’t have to go to DC.”
“I know but he still makes me
angry.”
A few minutes later there was
a knock on the door. Janet stood up,
went to the door and opened it. Kowalski
was standing there with Admiral Johnson.
He looked in the room and when he saw Lee sitting in the chair he broke
out in a huge grin. He returned to the
lobby and sat down to wait for Admiral Johnson so he could take him back to the
institute.
Lee started to get up to
salute the admiral but Johnson could see he was in pain. “Commander, please don’t get up. I know you are recovering from a gunshot
wound. Mrs. Crane, it’s good to see you
again but I’m going have to ask you to leave while I debrief Lee. I hope you understand,” Johnson said curtly.
“Yes sir,” Janet replied tersely
as she squeezed Lee’s hand and walked out the door.
((()))
Admiral Johnson sat down in
the chair vacated by Janet and shook Lee’s hand. “How are you doing?”
“I’ve been better. It will just take time to heal,” Lee stated
grimacing.
“I’ve talked to
Lee explained to him what
they did, how they did it and the outcome of the implosion. His version wasn’t much different than
While Janet waited for Lee
and Admiral Johnson, she went to the waiting room where Kowalski was sitting. “Hi Ski.”
‘Hi Mrs. C. I see the skipper is up and out of bed. That’s a good sign. The crew has been asking how he was doing so
I can tell them he’s doing better.
They’ll all be happy. I have to
tell you, Mrs. C, the entire crew was very worried about him. They don’t want to lose another captain.”
“I know. We were very worried too. Please make sure to pass on that as soon as
he’s home and stronger they can come see him.
He’ll enjoy their company as he’s going to be ‘grounded’ for awhile,”
Janet told him.
As they were sitting there
talking, Jamie stormed over to them. “Who’s
with the skipper,” he asked impatiently knowing Janet wouldn’t leave him alone.
“Admiral Johnson,” Janet
replied grimly. “He’s debriefing him on
the mission and didn’t want me in there.
It’s not like I don’t know what happened.”
“Damn,” Jamie hissed. He left Janet and Kowalski sitting there while
he went into the room. The two of them
had smiles on their faces. They could
see Jamie was pissed and as Lee’s physician and in charge of
“Excuse me,” Johnson said
unhappily as Jamie entered the room without knocking. “Who are you and this is a private
conversation.”
“I’m Dr. Will Jamieson, CMO
of the institute and Commander Crane’s physician and he’s in no condition to be
debriefed. I should have been consulted
before you started to talk to him.”
“
Jamie barely containing his
anger said, “Admiral Johnson, he almost died from his wounds. He needed five units of blood. He had three bullets wounds I had to take
care off. He will not be able to return
to ONI for at least four to six months.”
“Dr. Jamieson that seems a
bit excessive for recovery,” Johnson stated arrogantly.
“Sorry admiral, that’s my
timeline,” Jamie replied not intimidated by Johnson.
“Okay Dr. Jamieson. Lee, I will expect a typed statement from you
in the next few weeks.”
“Yes sir,” Lee replied with a
slight grin. “Good bye sir.”
“Good bye, Lee, Dr.
Jamieson.” Johnson said as he walked out
of Lee’s room not too pleased with Jamie.
He knew his best agent wouldn’t
be back for six months after he had just returned from a six month leave of
absence. He had an important mission he
needed Lee for and now would have to find someone else to take his place. He went to the waiting room where Kowalski
and Janet stood up when he came up to them.
“Please take me back to the
office now. It was nice to see you again Mrs. Crane. I hope Lee gets better soon,” the admiral
said curtly.
“Thank you Admiral. Have a safe trip back to
Kowalski and Admiral Johnson
walked back to the car. Admiral Johnson
got in and Kowalski knew he was pissed.
They drove back to the office where Kowalski opened the door for
him. He could barely keep up with
Johnson’s pace as he got to the elevators.
Admiral Johnson headed for Nelson’s office with Kowalski following
behind. He left the admiral’s keys with
Angie and went back to Seaview.
Admirals Starke and Nelson
along with Chip were just leaving the admiral’s office after their meeting
regarding the equipment the Navy would be supplying the institute so they can
test out the new system.
“The Navy should be shipping
the computers next week. They will also
send the software programs,” Admiral Starke told the admiral and Chip.
They saw Admiral Johnson
sitting in Angie’s office waiting for them.
They could tell he wasn’t very happy.
“Gerald, was Commander Crane able
to provide you with the information you needed?” Nelson asked.
“Yes he was very cooperative
until Dr. Jamieson barged in and gave me hell for debriefing him,” Johnson
responded harshly.
“Sorry Gerald but Dr.
Jamieson’s only concern is Commander Crane.
He was very seriously wounded and is still recovering,” the admiral
replied, “had you talked to Dr. Jamieson first before your visit he might have
cleared you to speak with him.”
“He also said that he
wouldn’t clear him to return to ONI for at least four to six months. That seems a little extreme.”
Nelson who didn’t like when
Lee went on ONI missions anyway told him sharply, “Gerald, if Dr. Jamieson says
Lee needs that much time to recover you better believe it.”
Chip and Starke could tell
Johnson had pushed Nelson a little too far.
“Harry, I will let you know
when we ship the computers to you. Come
on Gerald, it’s getting late, let’s go.
I need to be back for a meeting later this afternoon,” Admiral Starke
said taking his keys out of his pocket.
“Have a safe trip Jiggs,
Gerald,” Nelson told them as he went back into his office with Chip following
him.
When the admiral got back in
his office Chip remarked, “Admiral Johnson sure looked pissed.”
“Sometimes he can be a real a...”
the admiral started to say but was interrupted by Angie who had a phone call
for the admiral. Chip left his office
with a huge grin on his face.
((()))
After Admiral Johnson left,
Janet returned to Lee’s room, Jamie was still there and not happy. She could see Lee was tired and in pain. “Lee,
let’s get you back in bed,” Jamie told him as he helped him up, settled him in
bed and gave him some pain medication.
“I can’t believe how tired I
am just from moving that small distance and sitting there talking” Lee said as
he rubbed his forehead.
“Just rest, I’ll be here when
you wake up,” Janet told him as she covered him with the blanket.
He fell asleep a few minutes
after Jamie gave him the medication; she knew he would be sleeping for about
three hours. She wanted to check in at
the office and pick up some work to do while she sat with Lee. She went to the desk to look for Jamie and
saw him sitting in his office.
“Jamie, I’ll be back before
Lee wakes up. I’m going to the office
and check out how much work there is to do.
Maybe I can bring some back to work on while I sit with Lee. Thanks for taking on Admiral Johnson. I don’t think he was too happy with you.”
“No but I was very serious
about how soon he can return to ONI,” Jamie told Janet frowning.
Janet left
“No, he’s sleeping right
now. Admiral Johnson’s visit tired him
out. I’m just checking on all the work
that needs to be done. Maybe I can do some of it while I sit there.”
Janet went to Lee’s office,
took all the mail, and put the reports aside for later. Chip heard her in his office and went to see
what she was doing. “Lee okay after
Johnson’s visit?”
“He’s just tired and in pain,”
Janet replied as she put the mail in her bag.
“I can sort through this while I wait.”
“The admiral and I will be
back later to tell him about the upgrades.
I know he wants to be kept in the loop on what’s going on.”
Looking at her watch Janet
told him “He should sleep for another two and half hours.”
Janet left Lee’s office and
went into her office to get her mail.
She filled her bag and went back to
“What happen at the meeting
with Admiral Starke,” Lee asked weakly.
Chip explained to him what
Admiral Starke told him about the equipment and when it would get there. If the Navy sent the equipment on time and the
refit on Seaview stayed on schedule, it would be about four weeks by the
time they would be ready to test it out.
“That’s cutting it close for
Lee to sail with us,” the admiral said.
“I really want Lee to be on the cruise.”
“Well Admiral you know the
Navy never ships things on time,” Lee told him with a wry grin. “Maybe they’ll be late and I can still go.”
“We’ll see,” Jamie announced
as he walked in the room and checked Lee’s vitals.
“Admiral, can I stay home
with Lee for a couple of days when he goes home? I can access my files from home using Lee’s
laptop if Chip will bring the files and reports home with him every day. Once we see how he can get along by himself,
I’ll come into work.”
“Take as much time as you
need,” the admiral told her patting her arm.
The admiral and Chip went to Seaview
to check out what would need to be done for the refit. Admiral Starke had given them more detailed
information so they were going to make sure everything would fit. Janet stayed with Lee the rest of the night,
sleeping in the chair by his bed.
((()))
After another week in
((()))
Lee had been home recovering
for two weeks, it was late Monday morning and Janet was at the store when Jamie
stopped by to check on his incision and do some blood work.
“Jamie, how long before it’s
healed,” Lee asked impatiently.
“It will take about a month
for the scabs to go away and about six months or more for the scar to fade,”
Jamie told him.
Sitting up and buttoning his
shirt Lee asked, “When can I return to work?”
“I’ll release you to return
to work next Monday,” Jamie told him, “And light duty only that means no climbing
in torpedo tubes or lying under sonar and radar consoles.”
Sighing Lee said, “That
long,” He was already bored at home and wanted to see how the refit was
progressing.
“Sorry Lee,” Jamie replied,
“you may feel better but your body is still healing on the inside, so please
just humor me this one time.”
“Okay Jaime but I have one
more question. Can I have...,” Lee asked slightly embarrassed.
“Yes Lee you can,” Jamie told
the young captain knowing what he was going to ask him. “I’ll let you know the results of you blood
work when it comes back. You still need
to take it easy and you will tire easily.”
Janet had just pulled in the
driveway and saw Jamie walking out of the house, “Is everything okay?” Janet
asked worriedly.
“Everything is fine. Just wanted to check his incision,” Jamie
assured her patting her on the shoulder.
Breathing a sigh of relief
Janet replied, “Thanks Jamie.” Once
inside the house, Lee surprised her taking her by the waist, pulled her close
and kissed her passionately taking her breath away. Catching her breath she looked at her husband
and saw mischief in his eyes. She took his face in her hands and kissed him
back just as passionately. Taking her
hand, they walked up stairs to their bedroom where they spent the rest of the
morning in bed getting re-acquainted. It
was early afternoon when they finally got up and showered.
As they finished their
shower, “Let’s go out for a walk on the beach,” Lee suggested, “I’ve been
cooped up long enough.”
“That’s a good idea,” Janet
agreed as she wanted to talk to Lee about a couple things.
They both put on t-shirts and
shorts and walked down to the beach. As
they walked hand in hand, Janet said, “Lee, remember my dream...well you were
the person I was dreaming about. When
they brought you to sick bay, I asked Jamie to please help you and not to let
you die. Those were the words from my
dream...everything in my dream happened but thankfully I didn’t have to follow
the instructions in ‘the letter”.
“I’m sorry to put you through
all of that,” Lee replied somberly as they turned around to walk back home
after walking a couple of miles.
Sighing, “There something
else,” she continued, “Lee this last mission really scared me. I thought I was going to lose you forever.
Since you survived six months without taking on any missions and Jamie isn’t
going to clear you for at least another
“Okay, Janet, I’ll think it
over,” Lee told her thoughtfully. I guess I’ve been a little selfish when it
comes to working for ONI, he thought, considering
not just her but the admiral, Chip and the crew. “I want to grow old with
you too and be around for the children we will have one day,” Lee
answered softly letting go of her hand, he put his arm around her waist and
pulled her close as they continued to walk back home.
((()))
After they got home from
their walk, Chip stopped over to report to him on how the refit was proceeding
and was staying for dinner.
“We still haven’t received
the computers the Navy is shipping but they should be here by tomorrow. We’re also running a little behind with the
refit of sonar, radar and the radio. At
this rate, you’ll be back before we’re finished.”
Breaking out in a grin Lee
replied, “Finally the Navy is working in my favor. Thanks for keeping me in loop as what’s going
on. How did Scott work out in the control room?”
“Lee, he and Bobby were life
savers. They both came on duty hours
ahead of schedule so I could be with you.
They stayed well beyond their watches.
Scott did very well for his first time out and under pressure. I would have no problem putting him in there
again.”
Janet brought out the meal
and while they were eating dinner, Chip continued to tell them about upgrades. “I’m
going to need Janet to help me with the software installation later this week
since you’re taking a break. She’ll pay
attention and not look around wondering what’s going on in the control room,”
Chip teased. “Will that be a problem?”
“No, that should be no
problem. I’ll be able to stay here by
myself,” Lee told him knowing that Janet could use a break even if it was going
to work.
Chip left a little while
later amazed at how quickly Lee was recovering.
He was actually looking forward to have him back on Seaview.
((()))
Lee had asked Chip to have Scott
and Bobby stop by on their way to work one day as he needed to talk to them and
wanted to do it before he went back on duty.
They stopped by on Tuesday morning before reporting to Chip to help with
the final details on the refit for the sonar and radar systems.
The doorbell rang, Lee
answered the door and let Scott and Bobby in showing them into the living room.
“Scott, I can’t thank you enough for donating blood. Janet told me what you did and I really
appreciate it. Mr. Morton told me both
you and Bobby went above and beyond the call of duty while I was in sick bay. I will make sure I note that in both your records.”
“Thanks Skipper. I enjoyed being in the control room,” Scott
replied smiling
“We’ll see to it that you get
more time up there.”
“Bobby thanks for taking the
lead in getting Seaview home. I know Mr. Morton appreciated your extra
help.”
“No problem, sir. I was glad to help out.”
Checking his watch Bobby said, “We better
go. We don’t want to be late. We’re helping them refit Seaview for
the new equipment and you know how Mr. Morton can get.”
“Yes, I’ve seen the look he
gives you if you’re late,” Lee grinned.
As they left Janet also
whispered thank you to both of them. All
of the crew had stopped by except Kowalski, Patterson, Chief Sharkey and
Riley. Lee figured they were busy with
the refit and hadn’t had a chance to stop by.
((()))
By Thursday afternoon, the
refit was almost complete and Seaview would be ready to sail to test out
the equipment next Monday just in time for Lee to report back to duty. Chip
finished installing all the computers but would need Janet’s help downloading
the programs needed to run the equipment.
Lee and Janet were upstairs
when Lee’s phone rang. “Hi Lee is Janet around?” Chip asked, “I need her to
report to work Friday morning about 0900 to help with the computers. She may have to work on Saturday if we don’t
finish. You’ll be happy to know that
we’re going to be able to sail on Monday and test out the equipment just in
time for you to report back.”
“Perfect timing,” Lee stated
happily, “I’ll tell her about reporting to work tomorrow. What are you doing tonight?” Lee inquired as
he was getting quite bored at home.
“How about I come over this
evening and we watch tonight’s football game,” Chip replied sensing that Lee
was desperate for something to do. “Maybe
we can win our money back from Janet.
She’s been busy so she hasn’t had a lot of time to watch any games.”
“Let me ask Janet. Hold on,” Lee told Chip as he looked at Janet
in the bathroom.
“Sweetie, Chip wants to come
over and watch football tonight, is that okay with you?”
“Sure, ask him what he wants
for dinner,” Janet said to Lee, “is he trying to win his money back? If so, tell him he’s going to lose again,”
she snickered.
“What do you want for dinner?
And she says you’re going to lose your money,” Lee told Chip with a grin.
“I’ll bring over dinner so
she doesn’t have to cook today,” Chip volunteered.
“He’ll bring dinner.”
Thankful she wouldn’t have to
make dinner, Janet told Lee, “Tell him I want extra crispy chicken and potato
wedges.”
Furrowing his eyebrows he
asked, “Janet, how do you know what he’s bringing?”
“Lee, he always brings a
bucket of chicken,” she chuckled.
Lee told Chip what kind of
chicken Janet wanted. Chip laughed when
Lee told him as he was going to bring chicken.
“I’ll see you about 1900 hours,”
Chip replied with a smile.
“Chip said we’re going to
sail next Monday to test out the equipment,” he told her excitedly, “I can’t
wait to put on a uniform.” Janet just
looked at him and sighed deeply.
She went downstairs and outside
to water her plants. Lee followed her
outside and took a deep breath. The
smell of the ocean made him feel good. He missed being on Seaview
helping out with the upgrades. At least
he could see her bobbing in her pen when he looked out their bedroom
window. Janet has caught him many times staring
out the window at her when he couldn’t sleep.
“Sweetie, your plants are
looking real good. I didn’t think they
would last this long,” Lee teased.
As they went back into the
house Janet told Lee, “Honey, please just go sit on the couch. You need to rest up so I can take your
money,” she joked.
“I’m going to beat you this
time and you’re going to pay dearly,” he smirked as he walked over to the couch
and sat down.
Janet got out the plates,
silverware, and napkins while Lee turned on the TV to watch the pre-game
show. Maybe they would give him some
insight on the game so he could beat his wife.
At precisely 1900 hours the
doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” Lee told Janet as he got up off the couch and
walked to the door. Lee was very
surprised when he opened the door. There
stood Chief Sharkey with a bucket of chicken, Patterson with two bags of side
dishes, Chip with another bucket of chicken, Kowalski with a case of beer and
Riley with a tray of brownies.
“Hi Skipper,” Sharkey said
happy to see he answered the door. “Hope you don’t care we came over. Mr. Morton said you wouldn’t mind some more
visitors.”
Smiling at his crewmen Lee
replied, “Not at all. Glad you came.”
Janet was in the kitchen when
the men came in. She could see Lee was
glad to see them. She got out more
plates, and other items.
“Hi Mrs. C.,” Riley said as
he handed her the brownies, “The skipper looks real good.”
“Hi Riley,” she replied
smiling, “he does look good.” She really
liked Riley as he was always in a good mood and had lot energy. The rest of the men greeted her and gave her
the food. Chip handed her his bucket.
“Extra crispy as ordered,” he
quipped, “potato wedges are in one of the bags.”
“Thank you Chip,” she grinned
looking at Lee as he talked with his crew.
“Good idea to bring them with you.
He was wondering where they were.”
“They called and wanted to
know if it was okay for them to come over,” Chip told her. “I guess this will put a damper on our
betting this week. Don’t worry I’ll get
you next week,” Chip boasted.
“You sound like Lee. It will never happen,” Janet said with a wry
grin. “Did you invite the admiral?”
“Yes, I called him this
afternoon but he was going to visit some friends. I also asked Jamie but he’s been at medical
convention since Tuesday and won’t be back until tomorrow.”
She had put out the chicken,
sides, beer and ice tea on the table where the men could help themselves to the
food. They all filled their plates and
sat down to watch the game. Janet smiled
at Lee as he grabbed a beer. She stood
in the kitchen and watched all of them as they ate, drank and watched
football. These men were their family
and she was happy they were there. She
took her plate of extra crispy chicken and wedges and sat down at the dining
room table watching the game. The men
clearly had their favorite teams. They
would cheer quite loudly when they scored.
It’s a good thing she didn’t bet Lee and Chip today as the team she
picked was losing. She had never lost a
game to them. Both Lee and Chip looked
at her and were mad knowing they would have finally beat her.
“Sorry. Better luck next
week,” she mouthed to them with a
smirk on her face.
At half time Janet made a pot
of coffee and put out the brownies. They
finished the tray of brownies and she had to make another pot of coffee. Lee ate two brownies. He winked at her as he took the second
brownie. He had lost a few pounds so she
didn’t mind he ate two. Once the game
was over, the men helped Janet clean up.
“See you soon, Skipper,”
Kowalski said to Lee as they were leaving.
He grabbed the garbage bag as he walked out and put in the can so Janet
wouldn’t have to do it.
“Thanks, Mrs. C. for letting
us come over and watch the game,” Patterson told Janet.
“I’m glad you came. I’ll see you tomorrow, I’m working with Mr.
Morton on the computers.”
The men left but Chip stayed
for a few more minutes. “Thanks Chip for
bringing them over. I was wondering why
they hadn’t stopped by,” Lee told Chip patting him on the shoulder.
“They were pretty busy with
the refit. The four of them did most of
the work on sonar, radar and the radio shack,” Chip replied. Turning to Janet,
“You sure got lucky today,” he said sweetly.
“I know but better luck next
week. I’ll only lose once,” she told him
confidently.
“Chip, I think we might as
well give up. We’re never going to win,”
Lee piped in and winked at Chip.
“Maybe you’re right,” Chip
conceded.
“Don’t humor me. You’ll bet next week and maybe I’ll let you
win,” she teased.
Chip and Lee both
smiled. She was too competitive to give
in to them. Chip left a few minutes
later walking down to his house. He
looked back at their house and was relieved to know his ‘brother’ would be
alright.
((()))
Lee and Janet woke up at
little late since Janet didn’t have to report to work until 0900. Lee watched as Janet got ready for work. This is really funny, he thought, she’s
going to work while I stay home. Lee
went downstairs to make breakfast for Janet before she left for work. There was knock on the door, Lee opened the
door to find the admiral standing there with a box of proposals. He put the box on the dining room table so
Lee wouldn’t have to carry it.
“Good morning, Lee,” the
admiral said. “Chip said you were bored,
so I brought some proposals for you to look over while Janet’s at work. You’re
looking real good. Anxious to come back
to work?”
“Thank you sir,” Lee said
eagerly as he quickly looked in the box.
“I can’t wait to get back to work. Would you like some breakfast? I was just going to make some pancakes for
Janet.”
“No thanks. I have a meeting first thing this morning
with the accounting department. You know
how I like those meetings,” the admiral frowned as he walked out the door just
as Janet came downstairs. She came into the kitchen as Lee made the pancakes.
“Was that the admiral...why
didn’t he stay?” she asked as she took two pancakes and a cup of coffee. She
tried the pancakes and they weren’t too bad but not nearly as good as
Cookies. She noticed the box, went over
to look in it and saw all the proposals.
“He had a meeting with
accounting,” Lee told her taking some pancakes.
“He hates going to those meetings,” he laughed.
“Lee, I don’t know what time
I’ll be home,” she told him as she kissed him goodbye, “please rest a little
today.”
Kissing her back tenderly, “Don’t
worry,” he told her drinking his coffee as he went over to the box, pulled out
a proposal.
Janet knew he would be
reading those proposals all day. After
watching her drive away, he cleaned up the kitchen and took the proposal to the
couch and sat down with a cup of coffee.
He didn’t get very far into it when his phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number but answered
it anyway.
“Lee, it’s Wayne
Kimball. How are you doing?”
Surprised Lee answered, “I’m
fine,
“Are you at work?”
“No I’m at home. I’m not cleared for duty until next
week. What can I do for you?” Lee asked
wondering what he wanted.
“I’m on my way to
Lee answered, “Sure. I’ll make sure
security lets you in. You’ll have to show them your ID. What kind of car do you
have?”
Lee told him which way to go
when he got to the entrance at NIMR and then called security and gave them the
information
“Hi
Returning the hand shake, “I’m
very glad to see that you’ve recovered from your surgery. You really had all of us very worried. Is Janet around?”
Grinning Lee replied, “No I
sent her to work today.”
Looking Lee in the eye, “I
just wanted to tell you thank you in person for saving my life. I don’t know if I would have done what you
did,”
“I’m sure if the tables were
turned you would have done the same thing,” Lee remarked softly.
As they stood in the living
room
“I know I am very lucky,” Lee
replied smiling.
“I’ll keep you in mind.” Lee
replied, “I’d work with you again too.
Be safe.”
“You too. Give Janet, the admiral and Chip my regards,”
“Will do,” Lee answered as he
opened the door for
Lee stood at the door after
closing it as he was surprised he stopped to see him. He actually turned out to be a pretty nice
guy and definitely knew how to implode a building, Lee thought. He sat back
down on the couch and finished reading over the proposal. He wasn’t sure if he liked it so he put it in
the maybe pile. It was late in the
afternoon when Lee realized he hadn’t eaten lunch. He went to the kitchen and grabbed an
apple. It was too late to eat or he
wouldn’t be hungry when Janet got home. He
had one other problem what was he going to make for dinner. He went back to the living room and decided
he needed a nap so he put the proposal he was looking at on the table and
stretched out on the couch where he fell asleep.
((()))
Janet entered the parking lot
near the dock and parked in Lee’s parking space. She noticed Chip’s car was already
there. She grabbed her purse, locked her
car and walked to the sub pen.
“Hi Mrs. C.,” Patterson said
as she walked to the gangway. “Mr.
Morton told me to wait for you.”
“Thanks Pat,” she replied as
they walked down the gangway to the sail hatch.
He went down the ladder and waited for her to come down helping her when
she got to the bottom.
“Mr. Morton is in the technical
room,” Patterson mentioned as he went back up the ladder to the dock.
“Okay Pat,” Janet replied as
she walked to the technical room where Chip had all the computers booted up and
ready to download the software.
Looking up from one of the
computers he said, “Hi Janet, how’s Lee this morning?”
“He’s fine. He was reading a
proposal when I left. He even made me
pancakes for breakfast and they weren’t too bad.” Noticing all the installation
disks Chip had laid out Janet asked, “How long do you think this is going to
take?”
Breaking out in a smile he
answered, “Maybe all day if we don’t have any major installation issues. The newer computers should be no problem but
the older ones may have a fit.”
“Let’s get started,” Janet
said as she put her purse on the counter and sat down at the first
computer. Chip went over to the pile of
disks and put one in. After a few seconds it booted up and the
installation was going smoothly when all of a sudden it stopped. Sighing heavily Chip managed to get it going
again. It took over an hour to download
all the data on the new computer. They
moved to the next one and more issues.
This continued all morning when Chip finally had enough.
“Lunch time,” he
announced. “I need a break. I’m sure you
need one and these computers need one too. Where do you want to have lunch?”
“Cafeteria works for
me.” Janet grabbed her purse and walked
out of the technical room followed by Chip who grabbed his car keys out of his
jacket pocket.
They walked out to the car
and drove to the cafeteria with Chip muttering all the way. They picked up something light and ate pretty
much in silence as Chip worked through the computer problems mentally. After quickly consuming their meal, they
returned to Seaview and spent another four hours downloading the programs and
had more problems.
After hitting another snag, Chip
got up from the computer, stretched and declared, “We’re done for the day. I
can’t look at another computer screen.”
“We have another day of this?”
Janet asked as they walked down the gangway to the dock.
“Afraid so and if it takes as
long tomorrow as it did today, we could be here the next day too,” Chip
lamented.
“Goody,” Janet chuckled as
she called Lee.
((()))
“Hi Sweetie,” he answered
knowing it was her calling by the ring on his phone. “Are you on your way home?”
“We’re just leaving now. Did you make dinner?” she asked hoping she
wouldn’t have to tackle that when she got home.
“No, I’m sorry I fell
asleep. How about we go out? See if Chip wants to go too.”
“Lee I’m sorry I don’t feel
like going out. I’m really tired could
we just order a pizza?”
Surprised he said, “Of
course. I’ll do it now. Tell Chip to
come too.”
Janet looked at Chip. “We’re having pizza so come over and eat so
you won’t have to worry about dinner either.”
Chip accepted the invitation
knowing he had no desire to tackle any other problem for the day.
While they walked to their
cars Chip said, “The crew needs your help with something. Please make sure Lee doesn’t get to Seaview
before 0800 on Monday. It’s very
important and don’t ask why because I won’t tell you.”
Janet looked at Chip, “You’re
kidding right. He’s so anxious to get
back to work and on Seaview I will have all I can do to keep him from
getting there by 0500 but I will figure out some way to stall him,” she replied
shaking her head.
”Thanks, we knew we could count on you,” he told her grinning knowing she was
going to have a hard time keeping him home that long.
When they arrived, Lee met
them at the door. He had a beer in one
hand and a glass of wine in the other.
Janet grabbed the beer while Chip took the wine. Lee stared at the two of them and laughed. “I take it didn’t go very smoothly.”
“No, but I’m sure glad you’re
not there. You would have left after the
first hour saying a few choice words,” Chip grinned giving Janet the wine and
taking the beer from her. “At least
Janet has some patience.”
Lee cleared off the table and
Chip and Janet sat down exhausted after jousting with the computers all
day. As they sipped on their drinks, the
doorbell rang, dinner had arrived. Lee
got the door and paid for the pizza while Janet got out plates and napkins, grabbed
Chip and Lee another beer but only some ice tea for herself.
“I assume you need to work
tomorrow,” Lee asked taking a bite of his pizza.
“Yes and maybe the next day,”
Chip told him yawning.
“Sorry, I really miss not
being there with you,” he snickered. He
would normally have no problem being on Seaview but give him a torpedo tube to crawl in or
console to work under before doing computer work. They finished eating, and cleaned up the
dishes.
“Thanks for dinner. See you tomorrow at 0900,” Chip said as he
walked out the front door to his car for the short drive home.
“I’ll be there. Maybe we should bring a pot of coffee
tomorrow, you never know it might help,” Janet laughed.
Janet went upstairs and got
ready for bed while Lee made sure everything was locked up. By the time he got upstairs she was sound
asleep. He never got a chance to tell her
((()))
Chip and Janet worked all day
Saturday getting the downloads uploaded and the computers running smoothly so
everything would work the sonar, radar and radio properly. Chip had Kowalski, Patterson and
“Lee probably can’t wait for
Monday when he can go back to work,” Chip said as they walked to their cars at
the end of the day.
“Yes, he’s getting antsy to
get back. It’s been a month since...”
Janet couldn’t finish the sentence.
“I know. It’s hard to believe
we almost lost him,” Chip replied solemnly.
Janet shuddered at those
words. “He told me to call him when we left today.” Janet pressed the number one button on her
phone.
“Sweetie, are you on your way
home? Make sure Chip comes with you,”
Lee told her before she could say a word.
“Okay.” Lee could hear Janet asking Chip to come
too. “Yes, he’ll come. Lee what’s going on?”
“A surprise,” Lee replied
with a grin as he disconnected the call.
Janet looked at Chip and
shrugged her shoulders s she had no idea what he was up to. She parked the car in the garage and pushed
the button closing the garage door. Chip
took his car home and would walk back up to the house. She walked in the door and smelled something
very delicious. She put her purse in the
closet, took off her shoes and put them by the stairs to take up when she saw Lee
was in the kitchen wearing an apron and oven mitts.
“Lee what are you doing?”
Janet asked suspiciously just as Chip knocked on the patio door and walked
in. Chip did a double take when he saw
Lee with the apron on. He could barely
contain a chuckle.
“I’ve made the two of you a
gourmet dinner. I got tired of watching
the same TV shows, so I started watching the cooking shows that are on during
the day. I’ve made beef wellington for
us. I went to the store and got all the
ingredients. Have seat at the table,
dinner should be ready shortly. Chip,
please pour the wine while I finish mashing the potatoes.”
Chip did what he was told
still staring at Lee in the apron. “Lee,
all you need is one of those tall chef hats,” Chip teased. Lee smiled at Chip and for a minute he
thought Lee was going to put one on.
“Do you need any help,” Janet
asked going into the kitchen giving Lee a kiss.
“No sweetheart. I’ve got it covered. Just sit down and relax,” Lee said as he
shooed her out of he kitchen, “You too Chip.”
Before Janet sat down she
noticed how beautiful the table looked.
Lee had set it with her grandmother’s china and silverware and the wine
goblets they got as a wedding gift. The
china and silverware were one of the few things she brought with her when she
moved from
“Lee why are there four
places set at the table?” she wondered as Chip held the chair for her.
“The admiral is coming over
too. He should be here any minute. I invited Jamie too but he’s still not home.”
He no sooner finished telling
them when the doorbell rang. “Don’t get
up, I’ll get it,” Lee said going to the door.
“Good evening Admiral,” Lee
said as the admiral walked in and he closed the door behind him.
The admiral stared at Lee,
“Thank you for inviting me. Hello, Chip,
Janet.”
“Hello, sir,” they replied
noticing him staring at Lee as he walked over to the table.
He sat down and took a sip of
the wine. Lee had picked out a very nice
vintage to go with dinner. Not only did
the food smell divine but it looked very good as Lee put the beef wellington on
the table along with a large bowl of garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli au
gratin. Lee sat down next to Janet and
gave her hand a squeeze under the table.
“Dig in,” Lee told them as he
passed the potatoes to Chip and broccoli to the admiral. He sliced the beef wellington which was done
to perfection.
They couldn’t believe how
delicious this dinner was. He almost put Cookie to shame. They finished everything that was on the
table, much to Chip’s disappointment there would be no leftovers for him to
take home. Janet cleared the table when
they were finished eating. She would
wash the dishes by hand later as she didn’t want to put them in the dishwasher.
She looked at the kitchen and smiled, it was a disaster but she didn’t mind as
the dinner was excellent.
“Lee, maybe you should retire
as captain of Seaview and become a chef,” Chip taunted.
“No thanks. I’m exhausted. Its hard work cooking a meal like this and I
still made dessert,” he told them as he brought out the brownies and chocolate
chip cookies. Janet set out cups, saucers and dessert plates while Lee made the
coffee. They ate their desserts and
talked about the upgrades. Chip hoped
there would be no problems when they left on Monday to test them.
“Lee, that was a very good
meal,” the admiral told him as he stood up to leave. “Admiral Starke is coming in for a round of
golf tomorrow so I better get home and rest up so I can beat him this time. I ate way too much, maybe I should walk,” he
chuckled as he opened the door to leave.
“Good night Chip, Janet.” Before
he left he gave Janet a kiss on the cheek.
“Good night sir,” they
answered.
“Let’s clean up this mess,”
Chip volunteered as he started to put some of the dishes in the dishwasher as
Janet washed the china and Lee dried.
Before long the kitchen was back to normal.
“Lee, all kidding aside, that
meal was fantastic,” Chip remarked, “I’m still full.”
“Thanks, Chip, I’m glad you
enjoyed it,” Lee replied back as Chip was leaving. “See you later.”
Lee and Janet went to the
living room and sat on the couch. She
rested her head on his shoulders while he put his arm around shoulder and
rubbed the top of it. “Honey that was
one of the best dinners I’ve ever eaten.”
“Thanks, it was a lot of work
but worth it. You and Chip have been
working hard so you deserved a reward,” he replied nuzzling her cheek.
“How about I give you a
reward for that dinner,” she told him grabbing his hand and led him upstairs to
their bedroom.
((()))
After Janet worked all day
Saturday, they stayed home on Sunday and packed their duffle bags so they
wouldn’t have to worry about it on Monday morning. Jamie didn’t want Lee to
lift anything too heavy so Janet took Lee’s downstairs. For some reason his was
heavier than normal. He must have run
out of uniforms on Seaview and had to pack a few extra. She went back upstairs and brought hers down
putting it next to the door with Lee’s. Lee was like a child on the first day of
school he was so anxious about getting back to work. Janet woke up during the
middle of the night and saw Lee looking out at Seaview bobbing in her
pen. She smiled and fell back to sleep.
((()))
Even though Seaview
wasn’t leaving port until 1100 hours, Lee was up at 0630 and hopped in the
shower. Janet heard him in the shower
but didn’t want to get up just yet. She
was still trying to figure out a way to stall him so they wouldn’t get to the
boat before 0800. She pulled the covers
up when he finished with his shower hoping he would think she was still asleep.
She peaked over the covers and saw him
in his uniform and was just finishing tying his tie.
“Come on sleepy head, get up,”
Lee said as he patted the blanket Janet was hiding under before he went
downstairs to brew some coffee and get them breakfast.
She sat up in bed; it was
only 0700. Now what, she
thought. She grabbed her clothes and
headed for the shower. She washed her
hair which would need drying so that would kill fifteen minutes. She got dressed and went downstairs for
breakfast. The patio door was open and
Lee was standing next to the white
“Sweetheart, it’s going to be
a great day,” he told her excitedly but then realized she wasn’t ready to
go. “You’re not ready. I want to get there early so I can check out
the changes they made before the crew comes on board.”
“I’m sorry just running a
little behind. Let’s eat breakfast and
I’ll finish up quickly,” she said calmly.
They sat down to eat their
bagels and coffee. She lingered a little
longer than necessary eating her bagel but could tell Lee was getting
nervous. “I’ll be down in a few
minutes,” she told him as she went upstairs.
She was finished getting
ready by 0745. Fifteen more minutes
to kill, she thought as she sat on the bed tapping her foot on the floor.
“Janet,” Lee yelled sharply
up the stairs, “Come on, of all days to run behind. I don’t want to be late.”
“I’ll be right down. I got makeup on my shirt and I need to change
it,” she said quickly before he came upstairs to see what she was doing. She
had stalled as long as she could. It was 0756 by the time she went
downstairs. Lee was pacing by the front
door.
“I’m sorry Lee. I know we’re late but things just didn’t go
very smoothly this morning,” she said apologetically giving him a kiss.
Janet grabbed the duffle bags
and put them in the back of the SUV. He
got in, started the car and gunned it out of the driveway. Janet had to hold on as he drove to the sub
pen.
When they arrived at the
parking lot, Lee noticed Kowalski was waiting there. They got out of the car and Lee opened the tailgate
to get the duffle bags as Kowalski came over to the car to help them.
“What are you doing here,”
Lee snapped, “shouldn’t you be on the boat getting her ready to sail.”
Surprised at his tone
Kowalski replied, “Mr. Morton asked me to help you with your gear, sir.”
Softly Janet said, “Lee,
don’t be mad at him because I was late.
He’s only doing what he was asked to do.”
“Sorry Ski,” Lee apologized
as he helped Kowalski take the gear out of the car. Kowalski picked up both of their bags while
Janet took Lee’s briefcase and Lee locked the car.
They walked down to the dock
area and Lee stopped. Lined up on the
dock, gangway and Seaview’s deck was all one hundred and twenty five
crewmen. Chief ordered them to attention.
As Lee walked down the gangway, they
saluted him as he passed by them.
He whispered to Janet, “Is
this why you were late this morning?”
“Yes sir,” Janet answered
with a grin.
He took her hand and walked
to the quarterdeck where the admiral and Chip were standing. Chief put the men at parade rest.
Taking a deep breath Lee
asked, “Permission to come aboard, sir.”
“Permission granted,” the
admiral said with a smile. He shook
Lee’s hand as the crew started clapping.
Chip shook his hand too.
Wiping a tear from her eye, Janet
whispered to him, “This time is so much better than the last time you left Seaview;
they stood at attention as you were carried off the boat to an ambulance.”
Lee stood on the deck looking
at his crew, he was very proud to be their captain. He entered the sail hatch and climbed down
the ladder to the control room and as usual he helped Janet down the ladder. The admiral and Chip followed her down and
stood next to Lee as he looked around the control room. He could see the changes
made to sonar, radar and the radio shack.
He would check them out later after they got underway.
“Thank you Admiral. That was quite a welcome back,” Lee said his
voice filled with emotion.
“Lee, I had nothing to do
with it. It was your crew,” the admiral
replied patting him on the back. “We’re
glad you’re back.”
“I’m glad to be back,” Lee
replied as he stood at the bottom of the ladder and shook every crewman’s hand
as they came aboard. By the time he was
finished it was time to shove off. He and
Chip went up to the conning tower.
“Mr. Morton, prepare to shove
off,” Lee told Chip with a huge smile on his face.
“Aye, aye sir,” Chip answered
enthusiastically.
Chip directed the dock crew
to release the lines holding Seaview to the dock and pulled up the
gangway.
“Engine room,” Lee said over
the mic.
“Engine room aye,” they
responded promptly.
“All back dead slow,” Lee
ordered as Seaview slowly left the dock and headed down the channel to
the ocean.
Lee and Chip stayed in the
conning tower until they cleared the breakwater and were in the Pacific. They returned to the control room and as
usual Lee jumped down the last two rungs of the ladder. When he got down, Jamie and Janet were
waiting for him. Jamie had the all
important ‘return to duty’ paper with ‘light duty’ in bold type, underlined and
highlighted which he forgot to get before coming aboard.
“Sorry Jamie. We were running a little late today,” he said
smiling as he looked at Janet.
He took the paper from him
and gave it to the admiral who took the paper, initialed it and gave it to
Janet so she could put it in Lee’s burgeoning file of ‘return to duty’ forms.
“Mr. Morton let’s dive the
boat and test out our new equipment,” Lee said eagerly.
“Yes sir,” Chip replied
issuing the orders to dive and Seaview gently glided under the sea where
she would spend the next three weeks testing out the new sonar, radar and radio
systems.
All was back to normal on Seaview
for now.
The End.
*Imploding a building-Source:
en.wikipedia.org
** Electrical detonator-
Source: science.howstuffworks.com
Author’s Note: Venoco is a
fictional island made up for this story.
Thank you Nancie for all
your help with medical parts of the story.