Not
Your Normal Cruise
By
R. L. Keller
A light
rap on the door frame of his office had Chip glancing up from his computer
screen, then instantly starting to rise as he realized it was his boss, Admiral
Harriman Nelson, standing in the open doorway.
But Nelson
indicated with his still raised hand for Chip to stay seated, and ambled
unhurriedly into his XO’s office at NIMR.
“Just wanted to touch base with you on a couple of things,” Nelson said
as he took a seat across from the desk.
He sent Chip a quick nod at the puzzlement that briefly crossed the
blond’s face; the Admiral didn’t come to the XO, it was the other way
around. “Bored,” the older man
admitted. “Can’t remember the last time
I was actually not trying to run in 14 directions at the same time.”
Chip
unsuccessfully smothered a snort, then sent Nelson a sheepish nod. “I’m just finishing the supply orders for the
fourth next cruise. Have all the other
lists done except for any last-minute additions.”
Nelson
didn’t even try to bury the chuckle that admonition produced, and held up a
hand holding several folders. “Swiped
these off of Lee’s desk. Didn’t think
he’d mind.”
That
caused Chip to finally grin. “Next on my
list as well,” he admitted.
“There’s
still plenty there,” Nelson told him, and they both grinned.
Cdr. Lee
Crane, Nelson’s captain and Chip’s best friend, had been gone for nearly a
week, on assignment for his part-time employer, the Office of Naval
Intelligence. Neither Nelson or Chip
liked that Lee still ran ‘errands’ for ONI, but Lee always said that it was
part of his duty to and for his country.
“Still no
word when he’ll be back, sir?” Chip asked.
He was fairly sure that Nelson would have told him, but… He asked anyway.
Nelson
frowned. “Thought that I might call
Robert this afternoon,” he mentioned Admiral Jones, head of ONI, “and see if he
has anything new to tell me.” The frown
deepened. “With Seaview not scheduled
out for another two weeks I couldn’t raise too many objections to Lee’s
going. Not that it would have done much
good,” he admitted almost sadly.
“Lee and
his blasted sense of duty,” Chip muttered.
“Sir,” was added slightly self-consciously.
That
caused a small smile. “I understand,
Chip. Believe me.” The last two words came out firmly. Chip nodded.
“But,” Nelson’s voice became philosophical, “Lee will always do what he
feels he must.”
“Yes,
sir.” Chip’s voice was still glum. “Any idea where he even is?”
“One of
the things I intend to find out.” Nelson’s
voice was once more firm. “Normally
Robert keeps me somewhat informed. This
time he was more circumspect than usual, merely sent for Lee and told me that
Lee would be briefed when he got to D.C.
I didn’t question it at the time because Lee didn’t. We were in port for several weeks and Robert
didn’t indicate an extended assignment.”
“Understood,
sir,” Chip nodded.
“But it’s
been long enough that Robert should be able to tell me something.”
“Yes,
sir,” Chip agreed wholeheartedly. The
blond’s tone caused Nelson to smile softly; Chip made no bones about his
dislike for ONI.
* * * *
“You want
me to do what?” Lee all but growled.
“Sir,” was definitely an afterthought, and not particularly respectful.
Under the
circumstances Admiral Jiggs Stark, who Lee discovered in Admiral Jones’ office
when he reported there after his flight from the west coast, let it slide. Stark was ComSubPac, and also an old friend
of Admiral Nelson’s. He’d never been one
of Lee’s favorite people in the world to begin with, and the feeling was
mutual. Although, after a recent trip to
Belize* the pair had settled into a fairly
respectful truce.
Jones
jumped into the conversation he’d so far stayed carefully out of. “This is only a request, Commander,” he told
Lee. “You’re being asked because you’re
extremely good at keeping your mouth shut.
At least, that’s a substantial part of it.” He sent a quick, quirky glance at Stark.
“What’s
that got to do with it…sirs?” Only a
slight pause this time, and definitely more under control.
Jones’
smile increased as Stark’s frown did likewise.
“If Miss Temple finds out what her uncle is doing, scratch one
ComSubPac.”
“Got that
right,” came from Stark, barely loud enough to be heard.
Lee
momentarily closed his eyes, took a couple of deep breaths, and let them out
slowly before once more sending a look between the two admirals. “Details?” he asked somewhat dejectedly,
accepting his fate at least long enough to get a clear picture of the
assignment. Jones nodded at Stark.
It was
that admiral’s turn to take a deep breath.
“My niece, Jennifer Temple, her mother is my wife’s sister, just
graduated from USC. She says she wants
to be a veterinarian so took a bunch of pre-med courses, but now she’s
waffling. Wants to take the summer off
to ‘find herself,’ whatever the hell that means, before she enters Vet school
at UC-Davis.”
“I
understand that it’s one of the finest Vet schools in the country,” Jones
offered helpfully. Stark sent him a
glare and he shut up.
“Harrumph,”
Stark growled. Lee carefully controlled
his expression. “As a graduation
present, Gerald and Emily, that’s her parents, wanted to give her a
Mediterranean Cruise. She rejected it;
wants to go to the Baltic Sea instead.”
“Did she
say why, sir?” Lee’s voice was back
under control. Almost.
“Because
her boyfriend, Sergei Gregorov, is from Estonia,” was practically shouted
back. Stark gave himself a shake. “She wants to see his part of the world.”
“He’s
traveling with her?”
“NO!”
Stark did shout that out. “At least,”
his voice now a bit more under control, “not that we’ve been able to
confirm. He flew home as soon as he
finished classes. He’s here studying to
be a lawyer. He says,” came out in
another growl.
“You don’t
believe him, sir?”
Stark
glared at him. “Education in Estonia is
free – well, if you’re smart enough to keep your grades up. And apparently this kid is. So why would he pay through the nose to
attend USC when he didn’t have to?”
Jones cleared his throat, earning another glare from Stark, but also a
nod. “And his parents are not
unknown in certain circles as having been against Estonia’s independence. While they seem to be living a quiet life now
in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, they’ve definitely had ties to Moscow in the past. And may still.”
“Espionage,”
came quietly from Lee. “What do Mr. and
Mrs. Temple do for a living, if I may ask, sir?”
This time
Stark’s glare was aimed in his direction.
“Gerald’s involved with global banking, Emily’s in corporate law.”
“Rich,”
Lee said softly, almost to himself.
“But not
political,” Stark told him firmly.
“Wouldn’t
need to be, if banking is involved,” Jones added. “All kinds of implications if the kid is so
inclined.”
“Which is
why I want Jennifer watched.” Stark was
back to shouting. “That close to
Russia…” He stopped, his face a dark
mask.
“The
cruise makes a stop in St. Petersburg,” Jones told Lee, “as well as half a
dozen other countries besides Estonia.”
Lee turned
back to Stark. “You’re afraid this
Sergei Gregorov will try to abduct Miss Temple?”
“Or she’ll
go willingly; follow her ‘lover’,” and he left no doubt concerning his feelings
about that relationship. “No telling
what kinds of lies he’s fed her since they met.”
“When was
that, sir?”
“Beginning
of their senior year,” came out still gruffly.
“So, about
nine months ago,” Lee interpreted. He
still hesitated, then asked carefully, “Is she that impressionable, sir?”
Stark’s
glare was dangerous. “You mean, is she
that naïve?” came out a bit more under control.
“Yes,
sir,” Lee answered, his voice and expression controlled.
Stark blew
out a breath. “I want to answer no,
she’s a smart girl. But…” He didn’t finish.
“If she
thinks she’s in love…” Lee didn’t
finish, either.
“Which is
precisely why I want her watched!” Stark
was once more all but shouting. “I do
not trust this kid!”
Lee took a
deep breath. “What indications are there
that he’s not what he claims to be; that he’d just like the opportunity to show
Miss Temple where he’s from, sir?”
When Stark
merely glared at him, Jones answered.
“At this point, none.” Stark sent
the glare Jones’ way. “Which is why this
whole thing has to be handled discreetly.”
He sent Lee an almost smile.
“Think of it as simply a vacation.”
His smile increased as Lee frowned.
“I’m fully aware that what’s being asked is unusual,” he admitted.
“Again,
sirs,” and Lee included Stark with a glance, “why me?”
Jones looked
at Stark, but again that admiral remained silent. “You don’t look like a bodyguard.” Jones grinned when Stark mumbled something
too low to be heard clearly. “You speak
Russian, a language still used in former Soviet Union countries. You have a knack for blending in, no matter
where you are. And, if push comes to
shove and the you-know-what hits the fan, you get the job done no matter
what.” His turn to frown. “Even though I don’t always approve of your
methods,” came out stiffly. Lee ducked
his head but he couldn’t totally cover a quick grin; his solutions to
assignment problems weren’t always in line with accepted practices. The fact that his success rate was so high
kept him out of hot water with his bosses.
Mostly.
Resigned
to his fate Lee asked, “When and where, sir?”
Jones took
his own deep breath. Lee got the feeling
that that admiral had been somewhat prepared for Lee telling him precisely
where he could shove this assignment. “I
have everything you need here,” and he pushed a large manila envelope across
his desk toward Lee. “Boarding passes
for both flights and ship, a list of Miss Temple’s booked shore excursions that
you will be on as well…”
“Won’t she
get suspicious if she keeps seeing me everywhere?”
Jones
shrugged. “I have no doubt that you’ll
figure out a way to make it work,” he told Lee.
That drew a snort from Stark.
“Jennifer
has always expressed a bit of distaste for my job,” he now told Lee, “and for
the military in general.”
“So best
not to admit that I’m in the Navy,” Lee nodded.
“Would she know about NIMR?”
“Best to
avoid that, too. Just in case.”
“Yes,
sir.” He took a quick look inside the
envelope. “Everything in my own name?”
“We
discussed that,” Jones now told him.
“Jiggs doesn’t feel that there’s any reason Miss Temple should recognize
your name, or in any way associate it with him.
It’s a common enough name, and as long as you don’t mention the Navy or
NIMR there should be no problems.”
“And if
another passenger or crewman should make the connection, sirs? It’s a big ship with a lot of people on
board.”
“I’m sure
that you’ll think of something,” Stark growled, causing Lee to once more duck
his head.
“Another
reason to have things in your own name,” Jones added. “Just in case.”
“Yes,
sirs.”
* * * *
Thirty-six
hours later measured with time zone changes – actual time made it closer to
twenty-four, but Lee’s body told him differently – Lee joined the masses
boarding the Regal Princess cruise ship in Copenhagen, Denmark, seriously
sleep-deprived. He’d not dared examine
the contents of the folder on the long flight so he was forced to spend most of
his night’s stay in a Copenhagen hotel reading and memorizing as much of the
background intel one – or both – of the admirals had included. They’d provided a fair amount of history on
Gregorov but it still wasn’t anywhere near complete. To all outward appearances he was exactly as
advertised, with nothing standing out to mark him even the least bit
questionable.
The intel
on Jennifer Temple was rather obviously biased toward innocence, no doubt by
her uncle, and Lee could only shake his head.
Not that he was expecting her to turn out to be some kind of home-grown
terrorist, but Admiral Stark had definitely been heavy-handed labeling her as a
total innocent. Family, Lee
muttered softly to himself with a smile, re-read both bios and carefully
destroyed that part of the folder, leaving only the travel documents to carry
aboard ship.
Given
previous assignments, Lee was expecting a tiny inside cabin on a lower deck,
and was totally surprised to discover that he was on an upper deck, outside,
with a small balcony. Not a suite by any
means but perfectly comfortable. Once he
was settled in, he headed for a reconnaissance of the public areas on the
entire ship, ostensibly merely stretching his legs but taking note of
everything in case he needed to find a specific area rapidly. He kept an eye out for any familiar faces,
thankfully finding none. But that
actually meant little. Because of ONI
he’d always tried to distance himself from NIMR publicly, except for those
occasions when NIMR held receptions and programs for the local community,
letting Admiral Nelson’s face be the one most associated with the Institute as
well as Seaview. But there had been occasional
articles, with pictures, despite his best efforts. Not to mention that it was not inconceivable
for there to be Santa Barbara residents on the cruise. He’d cross that bridge if and when it became
necessary.
Princess
had installed a new system for keeping track of passengers; everyone was
assigned a medallion, to be worn at all times, or at least in their pockets,
when passengers were outside of their cabins, instead of the old ‘credit card’
type. The medallion opened your cabin
door, allowed the staff to identify you as you left for and returned from shore
excursions, popping your picture up on their monitor screens. Lee was totally un-thrilled, but it did have
one bonus for him – it allowed him to know where Miss Temple was located, once
all the data was input, by way of either his smart phone or locator screens
around the ship, mostly around the elevator areas. It was a rather useful tool for
surveillance. On the other hand, he’d
have to be careful that she didn’t discover what he was up to and use it on
him!
Somehow,
and no way was Lee even going to contemplate how it had been managed, Lee’s
cabin was slightly forward of the central elevators while Miss Temple’s cabin
was just aft, both on not only the same deck but the same side of the
ship. Meaning, they could quite likely
be sharing elevator time as they maneuvered around the ship. Lee would have to be careful about that. On the other hand, most elevator stations had
up to six individual elevators, depending on the level, available, so he didn’t
foresee any major issues. And if it
became one he’d simply use the stairs.
He half-grinned, half-groaned as he realized that stairs would be one
way to get in extra exercise and maybe blow off extra steam, depending on how
complicated and/or frustrating this whole assignment turned out to be.
His first
encounter with his target came at dinner; he wasn’t at all surprised to
discover that he was assigned to a table in the same dining room, at the same
time, with only one table between his and hers.
Happily, he was already seated before she ambled in, and ended up with
her back to his sideways view. Both
tables seated six, and Lee found himself in the relatively pleasant company of
two couples in their late 50’s, early 60’s, and another single gentleman in his
70’s who kept everyone entertained – sort of – with tails of his extensive list
of cruises taken. On the other hand, his
constant talking kept Lee from having to say much beyond simple introductions.
From
casual observation, Ms. Temple seemed comfortable with her own table companions. Lee had a feeling, kept carefully to himself
during his briefing with the two admirals, that the young woman, being an only
child, was not only spoiled rotten by her parents but was probably very used to
being around older adults from being exposed to her parents’ friends growing
up. His casual observations now showed
no signs of discomfort being around older people, as that’s who she was also
surrounded by, and seemed to be visiting quite easily with her table companions.
One thing
that was bothering Lee was the meal itself.
A light eater, his experiences with cruise cuisine was, they served way
too large portions no matter how simple he tried to keep his ordering from the
available choices. He’d far rather take
his meals in the always open buffet where he could pick and choose, and keep
his portions small. He figured that he
could eat there for breakfast and lunch, keeping his intake small so that he’d
be hungrier at dinner, and hope for the best.
The ship
left port just after Lee sat down to dinner.
With windows fairly close to their table, what conversation wasn’t
monopolized by the older gentleman centered around Copenhagen and the cruise
ahead; although even that was interspersed with the man’s tales of travels to
all of the ports included, and what he’d seen and done there. Lee worked hard at maintaining a neutral
expression but not so the other two couples.
He could easily read the men as quickly bored and the women – who turned
out to be sisters – as starting to get angry.
Having been to most of the port cities himself, Lee started jumping in
with his own observations, trying to get the older man to focus on him and
leave the others to visit among themselves.
For the most part he was successful, although it was obvious the man
didn’t like giving up the majority of his audience.
Between
the man talking so much, and Lee’s light appetite, he and the two couples were
done eating their main course while the man was only halfway through with
his. No way did Lee want dessert, and it
appeared that the two couples didn’t, either.
Or maybe they were just sick of the man.
For whatever reason, they ended up leaving at the same time as Lee. Once out of the dining room one of the men
let out a snort and grabbed Lee’s hand, giving it a firm shake. “Thank you, Lee did you say? You obviously
have had experiences dealing with blowhards.”
Lee
laughed out loud, memories of assorted Seaview passengers, not to mention
certain admirals, dancing in his brain.
“Had my share, I will admit, Mr. Gandus.”
“Mark,” he
insisted. “We,” he indicated the others,
“were about to ask to be re-seated.”
Lee
shrugged. “You meet all kinds on a
cruise.” The smile he sent gave no
indication of his double-meaning. “I’ve
learned to deal with it.” He chuckled,
but mostly to himself.
“Your
mother obviously raised you to be polite,” said Isobel Corwin.
Lee’s grin
spread. “Yes, ma’am.” All five ended up chuckling.
“Perhaps,”
Steven Corwin lowered his voice and glanced around before continuing, “if we
all simply ignore him and visit amongst ourselves, he’ll get the hint and go
bother someone else.” They all agreed to
give that a try the following evening, and went their separate ways.
Lee’s
first stop was to trade the lanyard his medallion was on for a wrist band it
attached to like a watch face. On the
lanyard around his neck, the medallion swung side to side as he walked, driving
him a little crazy. He wasn’t used to
wearing anything on his right wrist but that was much less bothersome than the
lanyard.
That taken
care of, he settled in the Piazza listening to a guitar trio, nursing a scotch
and keeping an eye on the dining room doorway through which Ms. Temple would exit
once her meal was over. It wasn’t a long
wait but Lee chose to stay where he was and not follow her, not wanting to show
himself and possibly antagonize her this early in the cruise. According to the ship’s daily newsletter
there was a Single Passengers Meet and Greet a bit later, but Lee chose to
ignore that as well for precisely the same reason. He wasn’t even sure she’d attend if she was
using the cruise to connect with her boyfriend.
He’d memorized Mr. Gregorov’s picture in case he was also aboard. So far he hadn’t spotted anyone even similar
so was still going to assume that they’d meet when the ship stopped in Tallinn,
Estonia. But he’d keep his eyes open,
just in case.
Suddenly
he yawned, and grinned as he realized that it was barely 2030 hours. At home he’d still be hard at work – and his
grin spread as he acknowledged ‘home’ to him was Seaview. Tonight, between all the travel, time zone
changes, and frustrations of the assignment, he was ready to crash.
* * * *
Lee’s
first full day aboard was going to be a challenging one. Not because he was busy, but precisely the
opposite! There was no port stop; the
ship spent the day at sea as she sailed toward Stockholm. One look at the daily activities schedule
left Lee totally unimpressed. Oh, there
were plenty of activities aboard to do; if he chose, he could be actively
involved in something from 0600 to well past midnight. However, Brainteaser and Sudoku Puzzle games,
complimentary acupuncture consultations, and champagne parties were not exactly
his style. Trap shooting at first
sounded promising until he realized that it wasn’t actually shooting, but used
a simulator. He did kill a little time
in the Casino, just because, but he bored easily and soon left.
The waters
of the Baltic Sea were quiet so the ship glided easily through them to the
point where even Lee, so accustomed to movement through water, barely noticed
the motion. The weather was pleasant so
he spent a couple hours walking laps outside on the Promenade Deck, then after
a light lunch changed into shorts and did laps on the upper deck jogging track,
studiously ignoring the glances he was getting from the ladies lounging around
the outdoor pool one deck down.
Thankfully,
the expenditure of energy allowed his mind to settle as well as his body. He’d kept a casual lookout all day for Ms.
Temple but hadn’t spotted her – not unusual on this large of a ship, with
something over 4000 passengers.
Tonight’s dining was Formal dress and Lee caught himself wondering what
she’d be wearing, before giving himself a wry smile. He’d been warned before leaving California to
pack civilian clothes but his wardrobe had been supplemented by Admiral Jones –
or perhaps Admiral Stark, he wasn’t sure – and included what was actually a
quite acceptable dark brown suit with a choice of shirts and ties. Tonight Lee chose a beige shirt with a
textured brown silk tie, and once more tried to ignore the looks he got as he
casually made his way toward the dining room.
The plan
he and the two couples at his table had made the previous night, to ignore the
obnoxious William Hagan, took a bit to manage, especially after he took notice
of all the feminine glances Lee was getting and decided to harass Lee about it. But Lee carefully shrugged it off and visited
intently with the Gandus’s and Corwin’s, all five tuning out Hagan as much as
possible. As different seats were taken
this evening, Lee ended up facing Ms. Temple’s table. Happily, she sat with her back to him again
so his casual glances went unnoticed. At
least by her. One of the other ladies at
the table kept trying to catch Lee’s eye – much to the displeasure of her
companion if the looks he gave Lee a couple of times were any indication. But Lee did his best to focus on his own
table companions. Four of them,
anyway. It took most of the meal, but by
dessert time Mr. Hagan had apparently gotten the hint and quit trying to
interrupt the others’ conversations.
Afterward, Lee walked a couple of times around the Promenade Deck, then
settled into one of the bars for some relaxing piano music and a couple of
drinks before heading to his cabin.
He was up
bright and early, enjoying watching the ship dock at Nynashamn, the port for
Stockholm, Sweden. He was actually
looking forward to the day’s shore excursion as it included a visit to the Vasa
Museum, built to house the 226-foot-long warship, Vasa, that sank on its maiden
voyage in 1628. Lee was always
fascinated with old maritime history, and somehow in his travels hadn’t ever
been to the museum with all of its historical exhibits. As there were several coaches handling this
particular shore excursion Lee was careful to get on the same one as Ms. Temple,
but made sure he found a seat well behind her. The tour, about six hours long, included
walking through Gamla Stan, one of the largest and best-preserved medieval city
centers in Europe, and a visit to the Royal Palace, once home to the King of
Sweden. There was time to wander past
all the shops both in Gamla Stan and the streets around the City Hall. Lee bought nothing but did actually enjoy
looking at all of the handicrafts, antiques, and art galleries. The group was allowed to scatter and visit
shops on their own for over an hour and Lee casually watched Ms. Temple as she
wandered through the square, seeming to be having a wonderful time. She had several packages with her when she
returned to the coach for the trip back to the ship, and Lee heard her tell
another passenger that she was going to have to be careful; that this was only
the first stop on the cruise and already she was going to have trouble finding
room for her purchases in her luggage.
The other woman told her not to worry, just to buy a suitcase somewhere
along the line and at the end of the trip pack it with all of her purchases and
ship it home. Lee barely contained a
snort as the woman’s husband rolled his eyes, but he saw Ms. Temple nod
enthusiastically at the suggestion. That
night at dinner Lee loitered a bit over a final coffee, but not too long as he
could tell staff wanted to start setting up for the second seating guests. Even with the day’s activities, and knowing
that he had an even longer tour the following day in Helsinki, Finland, he
spent an hour walking the Promenade, then another hour watching participants in
a Texas Hold-Em poker tournament.
Encouraged by staff to join in, he waved them off and nursed a beer as
he enjoyed the action. At one point he
noticed Ms. Temple also watching, and he used her exit to also amble away.
While they
were barely into the cruise, Lee had never seen her in the company of the same
passenger twice and was having serious doubts as to Admiral Stark’s
worries. He did acknowledge that, after
Helsinki, the ship’s next stop was St. Petersburg, Russia, for two days, followed
by Tallinn, Estonia for one, and his need for vigilance in those cities would
of course increase. But nothing about
her movements or actions had so far set off his ‘radar’, that sixth sense he so
relied on. Or sonar, he teased
himself, if on Seaview. All he
saw in her was wide-eyed innocence, and a desire to experience a part of the
world that she’d never seen. He freely
admitted that he’d been fooled before, but…
From her, he detected no subterfuge whatsoever.
He
carefully controlled his expression and sent her nothing more than a polite
smile when they ended up taking the same elevator back to the deck their cabins
were on. She returned it, then ignored
him and turned aft once the elevator stopped as Lee turned forward; merely two
passengers on a huge ship. Lee sat
outside on his balcony for a bit, enjoying the pleasant evening. He was teasing himself about the ease of the
balcony as opposed to having to surface Seaview and go up to the Conning Tower
to enjoy an evening like this when his cabin phone disturbed his quiet
contemplation.
“Yes,” he
answered carefully.
“What’s
going on?” came the loud demand from an obviously angry Admiral Stark. “I told you to keep in touch and I’ve heard
nothing!”
He’d given
Lee no such order but it didn’t seem advisable to point that out. “Nothing to report, sir,” Lee told him in a
quiet but sincere tone. “So far, Ms.
Temple seems to be quite enjoying herself.
No sign of the boyfriend and she doesn’t seem to be spending time with
any one person, either aboard or on shore.”
“Harrumph!”
came loudly through the speaker, causing Lee to grin broadly.
“Tomorrow
is Helsinki, and then St. Petersburg and Tallinn. I will, of course, be especially watchful
there, sir.”
“You’d
better be,” was all but yelled back before Stark broke the connection with a
loud slamming of the phone receiver. Lee
shook his head as he hung up, among other things wondering how Stark had gotten
the call through. On the other hand,
rank did have its privileges, and communications at sea weren’t all that
difficult anymore. With a wry grin and a
shrug, he prepared for bed.
* * * *
Because of
the sheer amount of people aboard, many taking the same shore excursions, there
were always a multitude of motor coaches assigned to every tour. Lee had been fortunate the day before to
catch the same one as Ms. Temple. Today
he wasn’t so lucky, although his was only about ten minutes behind so was able
to keep tabs on her for most of the almost seven-hour tour of Finland’s
capital.
Their
first stop was Helsinki’s cultural center, Senate Square, which also held the
four main buildings of Helsinki Cathedral.
While Lee had never been much of a tourist, bored easily even when, in
his early years he’d traveled occasionally with his mother, he felt a little
stab of ‘home’ at the next stop:
Temppeliaukio, or ‘Church of the Rock’.
Not because of its Lutheran denomination but because it was built inside
one gigantic, solid, rock. Walking in,
there was just that instant sensation of ‘submarine’. Sort of, anyway, and Lee smiled to himself;
he was perfectly comfortable where others were looking a bit
claustrophobic. It didn’t feel that
closed in to him, with natural light coming in from the church’s glazed dome,
but he could easily recognize how the rough stone interiors could make one feel
uneasy. He did instantly notice how
sound was almost amplified inside and their guide pointed out that feature,
telling everyone that it made for a rather unique concert venue.
Next on
the agenda was the ancient village of Porvoo.
Founded in the 14th century, it was Finland’s second oldest
town. Because the tour guests were
allowed to spend some free time exploring the area, much of it left untouched
by time, Lee was able to spend some of it observing Ms. Temple. Once more she visited easily with this person
and that, taking copious pictures and jotting occasional notes to herself about
them. Lee just ‘happened’ to bump into
her at one point while she was writing, and was able to confirm that the notes
were nothing more than what she was taking pictures of. She gave him a quick, easy, smile at his
apology for being clumsy, seemed to have a bit of memory of seeing him in the
elevator, but didn’t try to stop him as he moved away.
On the way
back to Helsinki the coach passed the Kiasma, the modern art museum and
National Museum of Finland, but didn’t stop except for a quick description by
their tour guide. They did make a stop
at Sibelius Park and Monument, dedicated to the Finnish composer Jean
Sibelius. Lee wasn’t overly impressed
with the abstract monument. Their guide
told the group that it was meant to reflect the rugged natural beauty of
Finland, as inspired by Sibelius’ classical music piece, ‘Finlandia’. All Lee saw were what looked like over a
hundred chromed pieces of pipe, nine inches or so in diameter and all different
lengths haphazardly stuck together in an upright position, to him resembling
nothing more than a Salvador Dali or Pablo Picasso version of a pipe
organ. He very carefully kept that
observation to himself as people around him commented on the piece.
The tour’s
last stop was at busy Market Square, bustling with activity around its rows of
tents and stalls selling everything from fur clothing, jewelry, and souvenirs,
to food and so much more. Merely killing
time, and observing Ms. Temple once more making several purchases, his eye
happened to catch a smallish wooden plaque.
About nine inches long and five inches high, what first caught his attention
was the drawing of the probably 18th century schooner under full
sail on the left-hand side. He nearly
burst out laughing at what was written next to it:
Mariner’s
Barometer (hang outside)
If flag is dry – Fair
If flag is wet – Rain
If flag is swinging – Windy
If flag is wet and swinging – Stormy
If flag is frozen – Cold
In a
moment of whimsy, Lee bought it; it would make the perfect gift for Chip! Excellent retaliation for the wooden slug
Chip had given him a few years earlier as an unsubtle reminder to Lee to slow
down and relax once in a while. Chip
didn’t particularly like to sail, on those occasions when Lee would rent a
small sailboat and take off for a long weekend, preferring ‘canned’ submarine
air to surface unpredictability. Lee had
a smirky grin on his face all the way back to the ship.
Apparently,
Mr. Hagan had gotten the message from his other table companions the night
before because this night, as Lee and the others shared with each other their
day’s adventures, he mostly kept quiet.
He did ask Lee, although it came out almost a demand, if Lee was into
sailing when Lee told everyone about the plaque he’d bought as a gag gift for a
friend, and if Lee was or had been in the Navy.
Lee tactfully repeated what he’d told everyone the first night, that he
worked for a Marine research facility, enjoyed sailing on his off time, but
that his buddy preferred hiking.
“You’re
not married!” Hagan made it a statement
as opposed to a question, and the look he sent Lee made Lee feel like Hagan was
perhaps challenging his sexuality, talking about a male friend.
Lee nearly
laughed in the man’s face, but somehow managed to control his expression. “Sailing is mostly reserved lately for when
my lady and I have a free weekend at the same time.” His smile was brilliant. “She was actually supposed to come with me on
this trip but at the last minute something came up and she had to cancel.” That little lie worked to shut Hagan up
“She works
at the same place?” Lorraine Gandus asked casually.
“No,” Lee
told her. “One reason our schedules
don’t mesh all that often.” He was saved
from saying anything else by the waiter’s appearance with their dinner
selections.
Thoughts
of Becca Radiwan laying comfortably in his mind, Lee carefully followed Ms.
Temple this evening to the ship’s theater production, an around the world
musical tribute presented by the ship’s orchestra. While Lee would not have taken this cruise if
he hadn’t been practically forced into it – while he did have the option of
refusing ONI assignments because of his obligations to Admiral Nelson, this
hadn’t seemed a good time to play that particular card – he was, actually,
rather enjoying himself. He spent most
of the performance casually watching Ms. Temple, seated several rows in front
of him, wondering if Becca might enjoy it as well, and thought that he’d
perhaps bring it up the next time they talked.
He went to bed that night with the smile still gracing his face.
* * * *
The
morning brought firmly back his sense of duty and service. This day and the next they would spend in St.
Petersburg. While Ms. Temple’s boyfriend
was Estonian, and there wasn’t a lot of love lost these days between the two
countries, it still behooved Lee to be on even more alert than he had been and
he made very sure that he was on the same coach as Ms. Temple.
He almost
screwed up. Leaving the ship so far had
meant nothing more than walking off and finding the coaches assigned to his
shore excursions. Russia being Russia,
all passengers had to go through a passport check. Not a problem, really, but it took extra time
that Lee hadn’t allowed for that morning.
And especially when the guard he ended up with took extra time, all the
while glaring off and on, looking at Lee’s well-documented worldwide
travel. Lee kept a benign smile on his
face as the man thumbed through page after page of country stamps in Lee’s
passport, but finally muttered bogatyy amerikanets,** almost reluctantly
stamping Lee’s passport, and finally handing it back while waving him
through. Lee decided that letting the
man know he spoke Russian and understood the remark meant ‘rich American’ might
not be the wisest move right that moment.
He nodded and murmured a quick spasiba, figuring that as much as
he’d traveled he could easily know the Russian word for ‘thank you’, and
hurried to find which coach Ms. Temple had boarded, she having quickly passed
through one of the other guard booths.
He got
lucky and found her chatting with several other passengers, the coaches for
their tour having not yet arrived. While
the group would return to the ship briefly in the late afternoon, this
particular tour would keep them busy all day, and again that evening. They would sleep aboard the ship but continue
the same tour most of the following day.
Lee told himself firmly to make sure he was early for every departure!
The coach
finally arrived. Lee made sure Ms.
Temple was close behind, but boarded first so she wouldn’t think he was
following her. Then, as luck would have
it, since both were traveling solo and most guests were not, she hesitated at
the empty seat next to Lee.
“Mind if I
sit with you?”
Lee sent
her a smile. “Not at all. Would you prefer the window seat?” He’d automatically slid over to take that one
when he sat down.
She waved
him off. “Perhaps we can shift back and
forth during the day,” she told him.
“Don’t want to hog all the view.”
Lee
chuckled as he sent her a quick nod.
“Lee Crane,” he offered.
“Jennifer
Temple,” she returned the greeting.
“This is all so exciting!”
“Your
first time cruising?” he asked by way of conversation as the coach filled and
their tour guide got ready to make her introductory comments.
“My first
time out of the country. Ah, you are
from the U.S.?”
Another
smile. “Yes,” he confirmed. “And while I have traveled extensively, I’m
having a wonderful time as well.”
They were
both quiet as their guide welcomed them and went over the day’s itinerary, as
well as reminding everyone to please stay together as a group; that going off
on your own was strictly forbidden. She
was quick to add, with a smile, that solo travel was of course permitted in
Russia, but that it required visa’s which the ship’s passengers did not need as
long as they stayed in their pre-arranged groups.
The tour’s
first stop of the day was at the Peter and Paul Fortress. The impressive structures were built on an
island in the Neva River separated from the mainland by a small channel, and
had originally been built to protect the city from Swedish invaders. Among its other uses over the years, it had
also been a prison for political enemies of the former Soviet Union. Included in the buildings was the Peter and
Paul Cathedral, the burial place of many Tsars, including Peter the Great. The ornateness and grandeur of the buildings
were truly impressive.
As Lee
wandered about the place he made no attempt to stay by Ms. Temple’s side, nor
did she try to stay close to him. Lee,
however, was rarely more than a few feet away from her as he appeared to
casually tour the fortress with its several buildings and ramparts, the
cathedral in the center. He did have to
stop himself at one point from an outright laugh. On the river side of the island, outside the
ramparts, was a stretch of sandy beach where a fair number of people were
walking. There wasn’t really access to
the water as the river was kept at bay by a rock retaining wall several feet
high. What caused Lee his momentary
amusement was several people having what looked like a picnic. While the weather was pleasant it still
required a jacket for comfort. He
reminded himself that in Russia ‘picnic weather’ had an entirely different
meaning than in southern California.
Once more under control he ambled toward one of the bridge accesses to the
island, and their coach on the mainland, as he saw their guide gathering up her
group, and boarded a few people behind Ms. Temple, she taking the window seat
this time. Throughout the stop Lee had
kept a close eye to see if anyone seemed to be paying either her, or him, any
special notice, but saw nothing more than the usual crowds of tourists.
Their next
stop was at the spectacular Hermitage Museum.
While it would take a person upwards of a week to fully enjoy the over
three million works of artistic genius housed both inside and out, there was
still enough time for an overview of the Tsar’s former Winter palace, steeped
in opulence and splendor at every turn.
While not much of a museum lover himself – unless it had something to do
with maritime history – he did enjoy Ms. Temple’s seemingly total rapture at
what they had time to see before once more, reluctantly, boarding the coach.
At the
included lunch break Lee sat down first allowing Ms. Temple, who he was
starting to get comfortable calling by her first name, as she insisted, to
choose where she wanted. It happened to
be across from him and one seat to the left at the long table reserved for
their group. They were served a simple
meal of borsch, the traditional beetroot soup, and pelmeni, light
boiled dumplings filled with different kinds of meat or vegetables, depending
on individual tastes, and served with sour cream. A coffee drinker all his adult life, Lee
still found himself enjoying Russia’s national drink, tea. What was served was black tea with a slight
undertone of orange, an interesting variation, and he happily accepted a couple
of refills as he visited with those around him, discussing their morning’s
adventures.
The busy
day continued with a visit to St. Isaac’s Cathedral, its gold dome dominating
the local skyline. The dome, one of the
largest in the world, was covered – so their guide proudly pointed out – with
two hundred and twenty pounds of gold.
It was commissioned by Alexander I in 1818 and took more than three
decades to complete. Lee had doubts
about all that gold still being in place but kept them to himself; the
cathedral was still magnificent no matter what it was made out of.
From there
the group was dropped back at the ship to freshen up and change clothes if they
wished. Passport Control was required to
get back to the ship, and again as they left for their evening part of the
tour, but at least this time Lee didn’t get quite as grumpy a guard and passage
both ways went much faster. Their
destination tonight was a tour of the Baroque-style Catherine Palace. The group strolled past an impressive
collection of Greek and Roman heroic busts as they entered down the covered
walkway of Catherine I’s summer manor before being led through some of the
incredible interior including the restored and utterly incredible Amber Room as
well as the White Vestibule, Grand Hall and Crimson Pilaster Room. From there they were treated to a superb
Russian dinner at one of the local restaurants.
It started with blini, a sort of Russian crepe, that was served
with excellent caviar, sour cream, and honey.
Next came okroshka soup instead of the more common borsch. This soup was served cold, but still filled
with boiled meat and potatoes, radishes, cucumbers, and scallions, and served
with dill and the ever-present sour cream.
The main course was kotleti, small meat patties served with
mashed potatoes. These happened to be
made with pike, a variety of fish, and Lee found them delicious. And finally, there was medovik, a
super sweet, multi-layered honey cake.
The meal was followed by a classical music concert. Lee was so full from the heavy dinner that he
almost fell asleep, and noticed others were having the same problem, before the
late return to the ship. Between the
long, active day and the late hour Lee had no problem whatsoever falling
instantly asleep, despite the heavy meal, knowing that he had another active
day ahead.
The second
day in St. Petersburg started early with a tour of the Peterhof Palace. Jennifer apparently enjoyed his company the
previous day because she made a point to get on the same coach as he did
instead of him having to make sure he stayed with her, and they easily shared a
pair of seats. The 300-acre park and
palace were devised by Peter the Great to rival Versailles, up to and including
the incredible fountains. Lee enjoyed,
and Jennifer was enthralled by, the Grand Cascade fountain which featured
Samson prying open a lion’s jaws, releasing water to cascade down a series of
terraced steps. There were also guided
tours through the Throne Room, Portrait Room, and White Dining Room. Lee held back a broad grin as Jennifer
couldn’t resist the present-at-every-stop gift shop, making several
purchases. Because they were on and off
the same coach all day she could leave her bags on the coach and didn’t have to
pack them around with her the rest of the day.
Although, Lee wasn’t sure that would have made a difference.
Lee’s
favorite part of the visit to St. Petersburg so far came after a lunch stop and
was an hour-long trip on board an airboat through parts of the Neva River and
some of her canals, part of what gave St. Petersburg her nickname, ‘Venice of the
North’. On view were many of her ornate
bridges with their golden decorative plaques shining brightly in the sun. They passed the Yusupov Palace, one of two
surviving St. Petersburg residences of the monumentally wealthy Yusupov family,
this one on the Moika River made famous, or rather infamous, because it was the
scene of the assassination of Grigory Rasputin.
If Lee
hadn’t been so focused on why he was actually here, listening to endless tour
guides give endless speeches about – to him – endlessly boring bits of history,
he would have by now gone totally bonkers.
Too many years of seeing and dealing with the ‘other side’ of European
history fought against the beauty and splendor the tourist industry wanted their
guests to see and experience. Even summers
spent traveling with his mother, a freelance writer, had been better than this
from the simple fact that she had frequently focused on the grittier parts of
history, and how the ‘smaller fish in the ponds’ had lived their lives.
On the
other hand, he could actually see himself enjoying the cruise if Becca was with
him. That thought helped him maintain a
level of control during Ms. Temple’s increasingly more giggly excitement. “Ah…” he had to bring himself back to the
present as he realized that she’d said something to him. “I’m sorry.
What did you say?” He sent her a
smile. “I was concentrating on the
detailed decorations on that bridge we’re coming up to.”
“Aren’t
they so cool?” she told him as she snapped even more pictures. Lee decided that she must have an enormous
memory chip in the camera. Either that
or she downloaded them to a laptop every night.
“I just wondered if you were going to the lecture tonight.”
Lee
shrugged. “Haven’t looked at tonight’s
schedule. What lecture would that be?”
“It’s part
of the Baltic Voices series. Tonight is
about Tallinn. I wanted to get a head
start on tomorrow.”
“Which
tour are you taking there?” Lee asked just to be polite, even though he already
knew.
“I’m not,”
she told him, and missed his instant startle before he could regain control as
she snapped more pictures. “My friend is
meeting me right after we dock and giving me a private tour. He lives there,” and she sent him a bright
smile.
“Long
distance romance?” Lee managed to get out casually.
“We both
just graduated college and are taking the summer off.” She sent Lee a quick, almost shy, glance. “He wanted me to spend a whole month with him
here. Well, he and his family.” She paused again. “I…wasn’t quite ready…ah…”
Lee sent
her a friendly smile. “Got it,” he told
her with understanding. “The world turns
fast enough as it is; no need to rush into anything.”
“I mean, I
really like him.” She sighed. “Just…”
“If it’s
meant to be, it will survive. If
not…” He shrugged. “Best to find that out now.”
“You sound
like my folks.”
“Ouch,”
Lee shifted slightly away, although he was still smiling.
She
frowned. “I didn’t mean…” She didn’t finish as Lee started laughing.
“I
understand long distance relationships,” Lee told her by way of getting them
both back on track. “My lady friend
isn’t clear around the world, or even across the country. But still, far enough we don’t see each other
all that often.”
“Skype?”
she asked.
“Too old
fashioned for that,” he admitted. “We
still use phones.” He chuckled when she
blushed. “Do you know where all he’s
going to take you?” She frowned at the
question and he hurried to explain.
“Just thought we might run into each other at some point. I think I’m on the six-hour trip so sounds
like I’ll be all over.” Lee saw her
relax at that explanation.
“I tried
to get Sergei to go with me on that one.
My travel agent said he could probably arrange it.” She shrugged.
“He said that he didn’t want to show me just the touristy stuff but it’s
that kind of history and architecture that I’m really enjoying.” She huffed softly. “But he’s adamant that I meet his family.”
Lee had
been frantically thinking – and trying not to let her see his nervousness! “I think that the tour gets back to the ship
about…” and he had to quickly keep from saying 1500 hours, “about 3 pm,” he
corrected to civilian time. “We don’t
sail for a couple hours. That should be
plenty time to meet his family if he doesn’t live too far out of town.”
“Humm,”
she pondered that one. “I was really looking
forward to seeing Old Town.” She sent
him a quick grin. “I’ve been eating so
much that I need all the walking up and down; that part of Tallinn is hilly, I
understand from the tour description.”
“Same
here, about the eating and walking,” Lee admitted with feeling. It made her chuckle. The boat was just pulling back to the dock so
they both concentrated on following directions from their guide.
Back on
the coach their next stop, and last except for landmarks pointed out on the way
back to the ship, was the very spectacular and dramatic Church of the Savior on
the Spilled Blood. Constructed on the
site of the 1881 assassination of Tsar Alexander II, it was very much
‘Russian-style’. Restored starting in
1970, it was a masterpiece of towers topped with onion domes, both gold and
tiled. The exterior was a wonderment of
multi-patterned tiles in every color imaginable, panels of biblical paintings
inlaid in different shapes, some semi-circle, some triangular. There were square-grid panels, six panels
high and twice that wide, a different symbol in each panel; the entire building
was a brilliant mosaic no matter where you looked. While it should have been chaotic, somehow it
was absolutely stunning. Even Lee was
impressed. For whatever reason, and Lee
was perfectly willing to admit that by that time he’d quit listening to the
guide’s chatter, they were unable to go inside the church. That didn’t bother either Lee or Jennifer;
the outside was totally worth the stop!
On the way
back to the ship he did perk up when the guide pointed out a specific building
with a tall spire some 100+ feet high, on top of which sat a weathervane in the
shiny bronze outline of a three-masted frigate.
The building was called The Admiralty, and marked the location of the former
Admiralty Shipyard, construction of which started in 1704. Lee made a mental note to check it out should
he ever return to St. Petersburg with some free time.
But once
back at the ship he turned into a nervous wreck. How the blazes was he supposed to keep tabs
on Jennifer Temple without blowing his cover if she went off with her boyfriend
for the day! The only option he could
come up with was to also dump the tour and hope that he could find an amiable
taxi driver. He stopped at the tour desk
on his way to change for dinner and picked up what he hoped would be a
sufficient amount of Euros, Estonia’s currency, to handle an extended cab
ride. Having experienced the whims of
Eastern European taxi drivers in the past, Lee wasn’t overly anxious for a repeat. But there would be no way on the spur of the
moment to try renting a car. Perhaps,
he thought, if I get an overly friendly cabby I could rent his car for the
day. But almost immediately he
canned that thought. No way did he want
to draw the kind of attention that request could easily bring down on himself
if he happened to talk to the wrong person!
No, he’d
just have to wing it and play everything by ear. He was sure used to that, after too many
screwed up ONI missions. He frowned. And a few Seaview cruises, he mentally
added grumpily. Work with what you’re
given, he reminded himself, and headed for his cabin as the ship left St.
Petersburg’s port and headed for Tallinn.
He almost
didn’t answer his cabin phone when it rang just as he was about to head for the
Dining Room, assuming that it was Admiral Stark wanting, well, demanding,
Lee muttered, an update since he was in the middle of the most critical part of
the mission. He sure didn’t want to
report on what the prospects were for the following day, but he decided that
ignoring the man would only tick him off further. “Hello?” he said cautiously.
“Lee?”
came back almost as hesitantly in Admiral Nelson’s resonant tones.
Lee let
out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “Yes, sir,” he answered, back in control.
“Everything
okay?”
Lee
grinned to himself. “Yes, sir,” he
repeated. “I was sort of expecting
Admiral Stark,” he admitted, causing Nelson to chuckle.
“He’s
buried in War Game plans,” Nelson told him.
“I called Robert,” he knew that Lee would know he was talking about
Admiral Jones, “to see if it was possible to contact you…”
“What’s
wrong?” Lee instantly demanded. “Sir,”
he quickly added.
Nelson
burst out laughing, and Lee relaxed.
“Calm down, Lee. Nothing’s
wrong. Well,” it was his turn to
hesitate, “nothing that can’t be dealt with fairly easily.” He chuckled softly. “Just wanted to know when I could expect you
back, and Robert told me how to contact you.”
There was another pause. “A
cruise?” There was true puzzlement in
his voice.
Lee smiled
to himself. “I gather Admiral Jones
didn’t explain.”
“Just that
you were doing something for Jiggs.”
“Yeah,”
Lee muttered. He thought only to
himself, and cringed when Nelson chuckled again. “Sorry, sir,” Lee instantly told his boss for
the slight faux pas.
“No
worries, Lee.” There was still a smile
in Nelson’s voice. Lee and Jiggs were
like oil and water; they did not mix well!
“Shouldn’t
be longer than six days, sir, but…”
“Understood,
Lee.” Nelson had his own experiences
with ONI missions.
“Might be
before that,” Lee told him. “But not
holding my breath.”
“Also
understood. Nothing here that can’t be
managed for at least the next week,” he assured his captain. There was a slight pause. “Under control at your end?” Actual missions wouldn’t be discussed, and
especially over unsecured phone lines.
Lee
snorted softly. “It was until about
three hours ago,” he grumbled, then sighed.
“I’ll manage,” he told his boss.
“You
always do,” Nelson told him sincerely.
“Eh,” came
out before Lee could stop it, causing Nelson to once more laugh.
“See you
when you get back, and don’t worry about anything here,” he half-ordered,
knowing that it would fall on deaf ears because Lee always worried about everything.
“Yes,
sir,” Lee nonetheless responded, and both broke the connection.
The call
made him almost late for dinner and he slid into his chair with an apology to
his tablemates and a quick smile across to Ms. Temple, who’d noticed his entry
with a raised eyebrow. The waiter was
just starting to take orders so he quickly glanced at the night’s
selections. Once the waiter left he told
the others, “Got hung up with a phone call from my boss.”
“You’re on
vacation,” Hagan growled with a glare.
“Are you that indispensable or is he just that dictatorial?”
Lee laughed
out loud. “Gonna have to take the fifth
on that one,” he told the older man with a grin before changing the topic by
complimenting Isobel Corwin on the outfit she was wearing. “I caught a quick glimpse of it as I came in
just now.”
“She sent
me off on a tour this morning,” her husband Steve complained, “while she went
shopping.” Despite the tone of voice he
was smiling, as did the rest of the table.
Lee refused to look at Hagan as Isobel stood up briefly so that he could
see the whole thing. A black
short-sleeved blouse topped a full skirt in shades of blue and gray,
screen-printed to resemble waves hitting a flat beach.
“Well,” he
told both Corwins, “it’s absolutely lovely, and quite flattering.”
“Thank
you,” Isobel told him as she sat back down, and conversation for the rest of
the meal revolved around what everyone had enjoyed about their two days in St.
Petersburg.
Lee spent
a restless evening, sorting through at least a dozen options for the following
day and discarding every one of them.
The one he really wanted to use would also be the one to get him into
the most trouble – telling Jennifer who he was, why he was here, and flat out
asking her what she and her boyfriend were planning. Admiral Stark would kill him!
On the
other hand, from the little Jennifer had told him that afternoon, it sounded
like she was already having second thoughts about the young man. Of course, if Sergei Gregorov was planning on
using Jennifer for his own motives, without her knowledge or willing
participation, that said a lot as well.
Lee had a feeling that he wasn’t going to sleep well tonight.
Five times
around the Promenade Deck in the evening air took a slight edge off Lee’s
frustration, and half a glass of Scotch in one of the bars listening to some
light jazz took his frazzled nerves down another notch, to the point where he
decided to go lay down and at least try to sleep. Fifteen minutes of tossing and turning
destroyed that attempt and he found himself sitting at the small desk, glancing
at the other tours of Tallinn just to give his hands and eyes something to do.
He
actually smiled when he came to one of the last listings. It was titled ‘Coastal Sightseeing and
Lighthouses’. Besides views of the
Baltic Sea coastline and several included lighthouse tours, something Lee
always enjoyed visiting, there was a scheduled stop in the town of Paldiski,
the home of a former Soviet Navy submarine base. He had vague memories of reading an ONI
mission report concerning the base. He
hadn’t been involved so details were sketchy, but he thought that he remembered
something had gone wrong, resulting in casualties on both sides. If he was ever back this way – thoughts of a
cruise with Becca putting a temporary smile on his face – that would be his
tour of choice.
* * * *
Lee
finally managed a couple hours of actual sleep but was up by 0500 hours,
grabbed a small, and quick, bite to eat – it was all he could manage to get
down through his continued nerves – and was one of the first people off the
ship when the gate opened at 0800. The
tour he was scheduled for left at 0900 but he needed to keep his eyes peeled
for not only Jennifer, but also anyone resembling the picture he’d been shown
of Sergei Gregorov.
So wrapped
up was he in looking for Gregorov, as well as the possibility of grabbing a
taxi if he needed to, that he nearly jumped out of his skin when someone
touched his arm. He turned so fast that
he ended up startling his ‘attacker’, who turned out to be Jennifer; he’d never
seen her leave the ship, and instantly gave himself a mental kick where it
would do the most good. They ended up
apologizing to each other at the same time, then gave each other sheepish grins
because of it.
Lee found
his voice again first. “So sorry,
Jennifer. My mind was a million miles
away.”
Her smile
turned genuine. “You did look like you
were concentrating pretty hard on something.
I probably should have said something before touching your arm.”
Lee
shrugged it off. “And I need to not get
so caught up in extraneous details that I forget where I am.” He sent her a smile. “Waiting for your gentleman friend?”
That
caused a frown. “Sort of. I really liked your idea of taking the tour
and meeting him at the end, before we come back to the ship, so I’d have a
little more time to meet his family. But
when I called him after we docked and suggested it to him he had a hissy fit.”
“Excuse
me?” Lee commiserated.
“Exactly,”
she grumbled. “He said that he’d set up
the day around his schedule, and that would be too late. I mean,” she sent Lee a serious, sincere,
look. “The original plan was to spend
the whole day with him and now he’s too busy at that point in the day? I asked him how, then, had he expected to
bring me back to the ship and he all but blew me off, saying that he’d already
arranged for a friend to bring me back.”
She stamped a foot. “I don’t
think so,” she told Lee firmly.
“I
suppose, once he got back from the States, other matters intruded on his
plans. But you’d think that he would
have been considerate enough to let you know before now.”
“Well,”
she admitted, “I didn’t exactly give him a lot of time to adjust for my change
of plans. But still, you’re right…” She sighed.
“I think it’s time to reevaluate just how close a friend I want to be.”
“None of
my business but I think you might be right.”
Several coaches started lining up.
“I think one of those is our coach…if you still want to see Tallinn.” He nearly stopped breathing as she paused,
seemingly undecided.
But then
her expression once more became determined.
“I say Tallinn.” She squared her
shoulders. “This is my trip and
if he can’t be a little accommodating to my wishes, well…”
Lee smiled
– for reasons she had no idea about – and motioned her toward the coaches, he
staying close to her side. He might just
survive this assignment after all, without ticking off either Jennifer or her
uncle.
The coach
took them from the dock, up the hill to the oldest part of Estonia’s capital,
the Medieval section referred to as ‘Upper Town’, making a quick stop on the
way at one of several war memorials dedicated to victims of the Communist
Regime. This one consisted of two long,
tall walls of black stone, built parallel to each other about eight feet apart
so the view was as if down a long corridor.
The explanatory plaque was written in half a dozen different languages,
and Lee focused on the English version.
Memorial
to Victims of Communism. The memorial to
Estonia’s victims of Communism consists of two parts – the journey and the home
garden. In order to arrive at the home
garden, one must undertake the journey.
In order to set out on the journey, one must leave the home garden. The journey is a long corridor that
symbolizes the merciless power of the Totalitarian system. The home garden is the place where dreams,
memories, and a longing for home intertwine.
The symbols of the home garden are apple trees and honeybees. A monument to Estonian officers who fell
victim to the Communist terror is part of the memorial. A wall as the place where they were executed
stands as a reminder of their fate.
Lee wasn’t
aware that he’d turned quiet, but Jennifer’s voice asking him if he was okay
finally intruded on his private thoughts.
“Sorry,” he automatically said as he sent her a small smile.
“You lost
family here?” and she indicated the memorial.
Lee shook
his head no, but added, “Too many others did, in too many other places. It’s good that we don’t ever forget.”
“I don’t
like to think about it,” she told him, starting to walk back to the coach.
“Be glad
that, because of people like these,” he indicated the memorial, “you mostly
don’t have to.” He hadn’t meant for his
voice to get hard.
She
immediately turned back. “I didn’t mean
to imply…” she started to back track, apology in her voice, but Lee stopped her
with an upraised hand and a soft smile.
“And I
didn’t mean to scold,” he told her.
“I’ve just lost too many friends to world conflicts.”
“You
served in the military.”
“Yes,” Lee
told her, but didn’t elaborate.
Thankfully she didn’t pursue the discussion and they both headed back to
the coach.
The
streets of both parts of Medieval Tallinn, divided into ‘Upper Town’ and ‘Lower
Town’, were far too narrow for modern coaches so they were dropped off outside
the walls of Upper Town and proceeded on foot the rest of the day through the
cobblestone streets. Their first stop
was Toompea Hill, site of some of Tallinn’s oldest architecture including
Toompea Castle, a massive medieval stone structure that now housed Estonia’s
current parliament. From there they
strolled a block over to Toomkirk, or St. Mary’s Cathedral, known locally as
‘The Dome Church’. It was the city’s
oldest church, founded in 1219 by Danish conquerors. From there they walked a couple of streets
over to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church that was the
dominating landmark in Palace Square, with its cupolas and golden crosses
rising high above the rooftops.
The tour
then continued down to the Town Hall Square in Lower Town. The Gothic-style Town Hall was completed in
1404, and topped by the town’s symbol, a weathervane called ‘Old Thomas’. It depicted a man dressed in armor and
holding a broadsword, who legend held was a man who had spent his entire life
in service to the city. Whether true or
not, Lee and Jennifer both decided that they liked the symbolism.
The tour
ate lunch in the Square, on their own to choose something from the several
stalls selling all sorts of local foods. Lee wasn’t hungry, still wired from the last
bunch of hours’ frustrations, but let Jennifer talk him into a vastlakukkel,
a sort of Estonian cream puff. After
that there was time to wander through the small shops and other areas of the
ancient city until they were once more gathered up and headed toward ‘Kiek en
de Kok’, one of the era’s mightiest defensive bastions along Lower Old Town’s
outer walls, some areas of the structure up to twelve feet thick.
It was as
the group was exiting Old Town, headed for where the coach had found a place to
pick them up, that Lee became aware of possible danger. Nothing overt, but he noticed several young
men seem to attach themselves to the group as they moved slowly, tired from
their day’s adventures, once more slightly uphill. Lee and Jennifer were close to the back of
the group from the simple fact that she had, once more, spent as much time as
possible browsing the shops and picking up souvenirs. Lee had graciously offered to carry several
bags but Jennifer still had others, as well as her purse, which was small and
carried cross-body on a slender strap.
Lee didn’t want to appear overly nervous by openly watching the young
men, but as unobvious as possible slowed half a step and put himself between
her and them as they started to walk faster than what the majority of the group
was moving.
The attack
came with hardly any warning – other than Lee’s sixth sense. He counted four of them, although for several
seconds it almost seemed to be fourteen, as quickly as they worked. Suddenly they were running through the group
snatching shopping bags, purses, anything they could grab quickly. Lee was sure that he saw at least two knives
being used to cut through purse straps.
He instantly shoved Jennifer down and covered her as best he could with
his own body as men shouted and women screamed.
One young man made like to grab Jennifer’s arm and drag her away before
Lee could get her safely to the ground.
Over the shouting Lee heard whistles, indicating that local police
weren’t far away, although he hadn’t noticed their presence. On the other hand, he admitted to himself
that he hadn’t really not noticed them either, as he’d kept his focus on
Jennifer and her immediate surroundings all day.
As the
chaos began to calm down and the tour guide and other guests started to assess
the damage, Lee rolled to one knee and reached out to help Jennifer stand,
others around also helping. It wasn’t
until she gasped and pointed, as did others, that Lee looked down and realized
the right side of his light jacket was sliced and the shirt underneath was
starting to turn red. Not grossly so,
and Lee didn’t feel any serious damage, although he also admitted to himself
that he was still feeling the effects of an adrenaline rush. Lifting his shirt as others fussed, he
discovered that he’d suffered what was obviously a knife slash, maybe four
inches long on his side just above his waist but barely half an inch deep. The coach driver appeared with a first aid
kit as Lee tried to brush off all the worried voices.
“The guy
must have been aiming for Ms. Temple’s purse strap, trying to grab it, and got
me by mistake,” he told the now gathered members of his group. He accepted an antibiotic pad and held it
against the cut, already starting to clot and stop bleeding. One policeman had stayed with the group,
collecting information about what was taken as others chased the young
thieves. He, as well as both the coach
driver and tour guide, were apologizing profusely saying that, while
pickpockets were an unavoidable occurrence at tourist destinations, armed thugs
were most definitely not.
Lee
actively played down both the attack and the injury as the driver handed him
another antibiotic wipe and a self-sticking bandage. The tour guide was busy telling the policeman
that she’d make sure that Lee saw the ship’s doctor the instant they got
back. Lee tried to brush that off as
well but Jennifer joined the tour guide in insisting, and Lee surrendered with
an eye roll to both the driver and the cop.
Jennifer didn’t see it as she was busy pointing out to whoever would
listen that her purse strap had a steel cable insert made especially to thwart
cutting by thieves, which the policeman and tour guide both happily encouraged
travelers to have. Eventually everything
calmed down, although nothing was heard about whether or not the thieves had
been apprehended, and the group was herded back to the coach.
Lee had
his own theories about the attack, which he carefully kept to himself. While the appearance of random theft on
tourists was clear, the attempt to pull Jennifer Temple away presented a whole
different agenda. No way, of course, to
know for sure, and Lee wasn’t about to bring it up. But coupled with Jennifer’s comments about
her boyfriend’s displeasure at the change in plans had Lee leaning toward an
attempted abduction. Nothing indicated
that she was in any way involved – something that Lee had considered no matter
Admiral Stark’s insistence to the contrary.
True to
her word, the tour guide marched Lee, Jennifer on his other side, over to the
ship’s officers standing at the bottom of the boarding gangway, rapidly
explaining what had happened. Lee did
his best to counter that the injury was barely a scratch, but he might as well have
stayed quiet for all the good it did. He
was expedited through boarding security, still accompanied by Jennifer, and
straight to the ship’s Sick Bay where the wound was examined and thoroughly
scrubbed clean – that hurt worse than the cut itself, but having years of
experience with Seaview’s CMO, Dr. Will Jamison, Lee knew better than to say a
word! Several small stitches were used
to close the cut even though Lee thought them hardly necessary, followed by an
antibiotic shot in his rear and a bottle of pills pressed into his hand before
he was allowed to finally go to his cabin.
He wondered for a bit whether Jennifer would leave him on his own, she
seemed to be so concerned. But pointing
out that she was a bit grubby from Lee having pushed her down, plus needing to
put away her purchases – wonder of wonders, none of her bags had been snatched,
another reason Lee had his own ideas about the attack – finally had her heading
for her own cabin.
Tossing
the ruined jacket and shirt in the trash, the bottle of pills almost
followed. At the last minute Lee grinned
sheepishly and stashed it in his travel bag; it might come in handy on a future
mission. His jeans, while dirty, had survived
undamaged so he tossed them in with his other dirty clothes, cleaned up, and
got dressed in clothes appropriate for dinner, still a couple hours off, then
went for a walk on the Promenade Deck as the ship prepared to leave port. He knew that he should report the incident to
Admiral Stark but was perverse enough not to.
He had only his own suspicions as to the motive for the attack and
refused to listen to what he knew would be the temperamental admiral coming
unglued! Bad enough when he would hear,
probably from his sister after Jennifer at some point reported the incident,
and land on Lee for not instantly calling him.
Lee was determined to totally downplay the entire affair. Later, when he – and Jennifer – were safely
back home, he might tell Admiral Nelson about his suspicions and let the
two admirals hash it out, with Lee far out of the line of fire. For now Jennifer was safe. The ship would be at sea all the next day and
wouldn’t dock again until the day after, at Warnemunde, Germany, that city’s
port being the entry to Berlin. Lee
would be vigilant but didn’t figure that, after the failed attempt in Tallinn,
there would be any more threats to Ms. Temple.
On the other hand, Lee muttered silently, that might have
ticked off Gregorov, or whoever he worked for, enough that they’ll work extra
hard before we get back to the US.
He shrugged as he leaned against the railing, watching Tallinn disappear
as the ship picked up speed now that she was safely away from the docking
area. Crossing each bridge as he came to
it, metaphorically speaking, was pretty much how he handled every mission, be
it ONI or Seaview. He could – and did –
plan as much as possible beforehand. But
he also had to be ready to switch plans on a moment’s notice since all too often
someone else threw a monkey wrench into his game plan.
“There you
are,” interrupted his thoughts as Jennifer walked up to him. “I went by your cabin expecting you to be
resting; maybe ordering in room service.”
Lee sent
her a look of total incredulity. At
least, that’s how he had meant it, but whatever she read on his face backed her
up a step. “Why, for pete’s sake,” came
out a little more firmly than he’d intended.
“Ah…I just
thought…ah…with you hurt…”
Lee
snorted softly and finally sent her a smile.
“This?” he pointed to his side.
“I get hurt worse than this crawling…” he had to adjust what he had
almost said, “around machinery at work.
It’s nothing.”
“Someone
said that you worked in marine salvage,” she admitted softly. “I guess that can be a little dangerous.”
And
that’s how stories get twisted,
Lee grinned to himself. I say marine
research, someone else hears whatever, and it gets translated into marine salvage. I suppose that I should be grateful that it
didn’t come out marriage counselor, and he laughed out loud. “Salvage work,” and he barely controlled his
mirth at the double meaning, “can be quite…interesting,” he settled on.
“What do
you salvage?” she asked. “Finding lost
ships to recover treasure, like Mel Fisher?”
She mentioned the man who, a bunch of years ago, had located the Spanish
ship, ‘Atocha’, and he and his team recovered millions in lost gold, silver,
artifacts, and other things taken from the New World and bound for Spain.
“Nothing
nearly as exciting,” he brushed her off, not wanting the conversation to head
in a direction he didn’t want it to go.
“Were any of your purchases damaged?” he changed the subject.
“One small
figurine,” she admitted. “The rest were
scarves, and a couple of small books.”
She glanced at her watch. “It’s
almost time for dinner.”
Lee kept
from shaking his head but he wasn’t sure how.
Youth, he told himself as the pair headed inside. Point them towards themselves and they
instantly forget whatever else they were talking about.
Fortunately,
the day’s incident hadn’t yet been reported ship-wide as no one mentioned it
when Lee sat down. Unfortunately,
Jennifer couldn’t keep her mouth shut and was instantly the focus of attention
at her table, and therefore every other table within listening distance. For his part, Lee did his best to shrug it
off and refused to discuss it no matter how pleasantly Isobel Corwin and
Lorraine Gandus tried to encourage him.
Eventually they quieted, but Lee was still made uncomfortable by all the
looks he got from the neighboring tables and was glad when he could once more
escape. He found the darkest corner of
one of the more out-of-the-way bars and tried to relax over a double scotch.
Unfortunately,
the same medallion system Lee had intended to use to help keep track of
Jennifer led her to him half an hour later.
He took her concerned chatter for as long as he could, after being
somewhat forced by politeness to buy her a drink when she intruded on his
privacy, before telling her that he was sorry but that he wasn’t in the best of
moods this evening; that he was going to his cabin, and perhaps he’d see her
tomorrow at some point as the ship would be at sea all day. As he got up to leave he could see that she
wasn’t happy. But the absolute last
thing he needed was for her to get clingy.
He’d never hear the end of it from Admiral Stark if Jennifer decided
that she’d found her ‘Knight in Shining Armor,’ which was exactly what she was
exuding all of a sudden.
He did
have to smile when, after another drink in another bar, he returned to his
cabin and found a voucher from the ship toward the purchase of a new shirt and
jacket from any of the ship’s stores – an apology for the day’s misadventure,
and a rather obvious bribe to avoid bad publicity. Not that Lee would ever say anything, but
they didn’t know that. The extra scotch
having mellowed his momentary snit at Ms. Temple, he was still smiling when he
fell asleep.
* * * *
He wasn’t
smiling when the ship’s doctor tracked him down as he sat eating breakfast the
next morning upstairs in the buffet.
While both were polite – barely on Lee’s part – each was insistent. The doctor wanted Lee to come down to Medical
to have the wound checked, and Lee was adamant that there was no need for such
a tiny scratch. He told the doctor that
he understood the cruise line felt that it was liable for the injury, but
insisted that they weren’t responsible for what happened ashore while not on
cruise-supplied transportation, and he had no intention of saying anything
negative about the incident to anyone.
Neither man was overly pleased with the other but both left it at that.
He kept
waiting for Jennifer to track him down as well, and several times used the
ship’s system to locate her, mostly to stay out of her way. He also, every time he returned to his cabin,
expected to find the message light flashing on the phone. He couldn’t imagine, as much as the woman had
talked at dinner, that she hadn’t at least emailed her parents. For whatever reason, however, there were no
irate calls from Admiral Stark, for which Lee was extremely relieved. Lee wasn’t sure what he’d say anyway.
It ended
up being a perfectly pleasant day – once Lee got rid of the doctor. He did give himself a wry smile mid-afternoon
when, to make amends of sorts, he wandered down to the ship’s Sick Bay and
allowed one of the staff to admit what he already knew: the small wound was
already starting to heal nicely. He even
had an entirely pleasant smile for Jennifer when she hesitated approaching him
as they waited for the Dining Room doors to open. “Sorry for last night,” he offered as he
walked up to her.
She waved
off the apology. “I was being pushy,”
she admitted. “I realized later that, in
all the chaos, I don’t even think that I said thank you. You did, actually, push me down and away from
the idiots on purpose, didn’t you?”
Lee
shrugged. “Seemed like the logical thing
to do at the time,” he told her with a smile.
“Get low and let them run over the top.
Kids like that don’t usually want to waste time with people on the
ground.”
“What
makes you say that? I’d think they’d
prefer stationary targets.”
“Dealt
with enough idiots over the years,” Lee told her casually. “Strictly grab and run. Takes them more time to have to bend down.”
“Humm. Hadn’t thought of it that way,” she
admitted. About that time the doors
opened and they both went to their assigned tables.
Lee skipped
his usual evening drink and returned to his cabin shortly after dinner. The following day would be a long one and he
wanted to be well-rested and prepared for whatever the day might bring. He’d been surprised at the tour Jennifer –
and therefore he as well – was taking.
While he’d expected her to travel the three hours from the port at
Warnemunde to Berlin, he’d assumed that she’d then want to do a city tour that
included shopping. Instead, she’d
decided to immerse herself in the grittier bits of the area’s history –
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp and the Holocaust Museum. Lee wasn’t overly thrilled – he’d seen his
share of what horrors one of the world’s peoples could inflict on another. He’d surprised himself at Tallinn, how he’d
been affected by the Memorial to the Victims of Communism. But his assignment was to keep tabs on
Stark’s niece, no matter his personal feelings, so he’d go where she did. He was a little surprised that so far she
hadn’t commented on the fact that he appeared on each of her tours. Of course, with 4000+ passengers and a
limited number of shore excursions there was bound to be overlap. But even Lee was nervous about it being every
one. He was just happy that Jennifer
hadn’t seemed to notice; or, at least, wasn’t bothered by it.
* * * *
By 7 am –
he’d finally surrendered and started thinking in civilian time since everything
on the ship was posted in that form - the ship had docked and was ready for
passengers to debark. The train tracks
ran right past the dock but passengers had to walk the equivalent of about
three city blocks to where they boarded the train, which left at 7:30. Lee purposely didn’t make a point of walking
near Jennifer but was careful to board the same passenger car, her up front and
he near the rear, for the approx. three-hour ride to Berlin. Getting off before her he ambled toward the
waiting coaches, and got a jumpstart on the conversation when she approached.
“We have
similar tastes in tours?” he asked her.
“I figured that you’d go shopping.”
He sent her a particularly pleasant smile.
“My uncle
fought in World War II,” she told him.
“Not here in Europe,” she clarified.
“He served in the Pacific; he was in the Navy. I’ve never been a fan,” she admitted. “But I felt like I needed to see for myself
what it was all about. And being here…” She didn’t finish.
Lee
nodded. “I understand,” he told her, and
pointed to their assigned coach.
“I
remember your reaction to the memorial in Tallinn…” She hesitated once more.
“Sometimes
it’s good to see that no one forgets.”
He didn’t exactly answer her unasked question, but thankfully she let it
pass.
The day
was an emotional one for Lee and Jennifer, and also everyone else on that
particular tour. The coach took them
first to the remains of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp at Oranienburg,
Germany, 35 km from Berlin, one of the more notorious of the Nazi death
camps. The guided tour took them past
one of the guard towers, and the building which originally housed the laundry
but today had been turned into a chapel.
The execution chamber was especially chilling when the guide reported
that upwards of 200,000 prisoners were held there but only about 3,000 were still
alive when a division of the Russian army liberated the camp in April of 1945.
The guide
explained that the camp was also one of the main training centers for SS
officers, and a successful – to the Germans – counterfeiting operation where
the Germans produced fake British notes in several denominations, and
introduced them into the British economy.
The bank of England, unfortunately, never found them until well after
the fact, they were so perfect.
The
Soviets turned the camp into a prison of their own, with approx. 60,000 people
held there including 6,000 German officers.
By the time the camp was closed in 1950, at least 12,000 had died of
malnutrition and disease. It was a
somber group that boarded the coach for the trip back to Berlin.
Lee
figured that he wasn’t the only one, from the looks he saw within the group,
that wasn’t particularly interested in the lunch served as part of the day-long
tour. But he’d only grabbed a quick bite
before leaving the ship and knew that, since they wouldn’t get back until about
8 pm, he really needed to eat or he’d be running on empty by mid-afternoon. He settled on a large soft pretzel with spicy
mustard, and a glass of beer. He’d been
too keyed up to partake of the chocolate chip cookie snack and coffee that had
been served on the train ride in to Berlin, but he figured that this would last
him until he got back to the ship.
The first
part of the afternoon gave everyone a partial breather from the morning’s
emotions. The tour took them to the
impressive Brandenburg Gate, built originally in 1789 to celebrate the
victories of the Prussian Army. Today it
was known more for representing the separation of East and West Berlin. They also stopped at ‘Checkpoint Charlie’,
the most famous of the crossings through the former Berlin Wall, a few portions
of which still stood just west of the crossing.
The last
stop on the tour was at the Holocaust Memorial, where 2722 concrete rectangle
pillars of different heights stood as a reminder of the six million Jews
murdered by Hitler’s Nazi regime.
Underneath the memorial was a large Information Center divided into
areas: Room of Families; Room of Names; Room of Sites. The areas were very informational for people
doing research. Once more it was an
emotional group who returned to the train for the trip back to the ship.
Throughout
the day Lee had been vigilant, on the lookout for anyone – or group of anyones
– who seemed to be out of place, or perhaps was paying Jennifer any special
attention. He tried not to stay too
close to her, and she seemed not to want to hang too close to him, either. But if their eyes happened to meet each had a
nod and an easy smile for the other. Lee
had been a little concerned at one point, as the group wandered around the
Brandenburg Gate taking pictures, when several twenty-something men and women
seemed to attach themselves to the group.
But he finally decided that they’d simply been listening to the tour
guide’s spiel and made no attempt to follow as the group headed in a slightly
different direction to look at some nearby architecture.
The easy
chatter of the train ride in that morning was replaced by subdued conversation
on the way back, people putting into their own words their day’s adventures. Not all of the passengers had, of course,
dealt with the heavy emotions of Lee’s tour, they having spent their day in
other activities. But even for them it
was hard to ignore the volatile history of Germany’s capital city.
Because of
the late hour of their return, Lee ate a belated dinner upstairs at the
buffet. Then, because he wasn’t used to
eating that late, ended up making several trips around the Promenade Deck until
the food had somewhat settled before he tried to sleep. Jennifer had sat with him to eat, but claimed
exhaustion after the long day and headed for her cabin. Lee did check the ship’s locator system to
confirm that’s where she was before headed out for his walk. They would be at sea the following day, on
their way to the ship’s final stop, Oslo, Norway, before they returned to
Copenhagen to disembark for the trip home.
Lee hadn’t heard, nor been told, if Jennifer was flying home immediately
or spending time in Copenhagen before returning to the U.S. He supposed that he’d better find that out;
Gregorov could still make a move, and this time there would be no ship’s
security to be aware that she was missing.
If she did stay over Lee would have to be extremely careful that she
didn’t see him or all hell would likely break loose. On the other hand, Lee could simply tell her
that Admiral Stark had assigned him to play bodyguard and let her deal with her
uncle. That thought putting a slight
smirk on Lee’s face, he finished his walk and headed for bed.
* * * *
Lee was
forced to admit, partway through the next day as he ambled all over the ship
that he was, actually, enjoying the cruise.
But admit it only to himself; no way would he ever say it out
loud. Well, he admitted silently,
maybe to Becca, and he felt a warm, private, smile spread over his face.
“Pleasant
thoughts?” interrupted, and he turned to find Jennifer just coming to stand
next to him as he stood at the rail on one of the top decks, watching the ship
glide through the sea, bits of land visible in the distance.
Lee let
the smile continue. “Yes, actually. Just wondering if my lady friend might be
interested in some kind of cruise. She
enjoys when we can get away for a long weekend on a small sailboat but I’ve never
heard her mention larger cruise ships.
Or even seeing other parts of the world, for that matter.” He sent Jennifer a small smile and a
self-conscious shrug. “Guess I’d better
ask her.”
At mention
of Becca a slight frown hit Jennifer’s face, but she covered it quickly. Lee pretended not to notice. “One of the couples at my table was talking
the other night about a small-boat cruise line.
It had some weird name that I don’t remember at the moment. But apparently it’s based out of Seattle, WA.*** They
don’t go all over the world, mainly stay in that area, lots of Alaska, and I
think a few other places. It’s more
outdoorsy, activity-based rather than touristy.
I sort of thought that would be fun for summer vacations from
college.” She sounded wistful, like
she’d planned to ask Lee if he’d like to go with her.
Lee
decided to nip that thought in the bud.
“My lady friend lives in Portland, Oregon. I’ll ask her if she’s interested, but that
does sound like it might be something to look into.” He smiled.
“She loves hiking and being out in nature.” He turned fully to Jennifer. “Thank you,” he told her sincerely. “That’s something we’d both really enjoy, and
she’s so close she can check out all the details.” Once more Jennifer quickly covered a frown,
and Lee just as quickly covered a grin by turning back to face the water. “Do you head immediately back home after
Copenhagen?” he asked casually, not looking at her. “Copenhagen is a really cool place to just
hang out for a few days.”
“Is that
what you’re going to do?” Lee thought
that he heard hope in her voice but maintained his gaze out to sea as he shook
his head.
“Been
there a few times.”
“One of my
friends is getting married next week so I’m ticketed to fly home the afternoon
we dock. Plus, I flew in two days ahead
of the cruise. I was hoping that Sergei
would fly in from Estonia and we could do the cruise together.”
Lee nearly
stopped breathing; he was sure Admiral Stark hadn’t known about that
plan. “Can’t imagine that it would have
been easy adding him as a passenger at that late date,” he said, still trying
to control his surprise.
“Sergei
had it all worked out,” she told him easily, totally unaware of Lee’s
reaction. “He said that he had a friend
who worked on the ship. I’m not sure what
he did; one of the cabin stewards, I think.”
She shrugged. “Anyway, this guy
seemed sure that it wouldn’t be a problem, especially as Sergei would be
sharing my cabin.” Lee saw her blush
ever so slightly. “But there was some
kind of mix-up and the friend ended up not working this cruise so Sergei had no
way to get aboard.”
Lee took a
deep breath, wondering how much Admirals Stark and Jones had to do with the
‘mix-up’. But no way was he going to
touch that with either of them! On
second thought, he wondered if that’s why Stark had enlisted Jones’ help in the
first place instead of going to Lee directly.
That would, actually, explain a few things. On the other hand, why was Lee needed at all
if Jones had other agents in the area.
He shrugged. He’d learned long
ago that it wasn’t mentally healthy to question admirals. Especially one certain, auburn-haired
Admiral! He gave himself a small shake
and his smile returned. “So, it’s back
to the states, and a month or so of freedom before you head for UC-Davis and
Veterinary school.”
She
frowned. “How do you know that?” she all
but demanded.
He
shrugged, berating himself for that slip.
“You didn’t tell me?” he asked innocently. “Must have heard it somewhere else. Maybe one of the people you eat dinner
with. Or I heard you telling them. Sometimes sounds travel in the Dining Room.”
She was
silent for a bit. “Yeah, maybe,” she
admitted, but didn’t sound overly convinced.
Happily she let the subject drop, not really answering Lee’s original
question. And no way was he going to
bring it up. “Guess I’ll go see what
this afternoon’s lecture is about. I’m
kind of enjoying them when I get the chance.”
“If you
miss it,” Lee offered, “they usually broadcast them later on the ship’s TV
station in your cabin.”
“Oh,” she
seemed surprised, and again smiled shyly.
“I’ve never even turned the thing on to see what’s there. Too busy everywhere else on the ship.”
Lee sent
her an honest grin. “Have to admit that
I haven’t spent much time in my cabin, either.”
He returned his gaze seaward as she walked away.
He laughed
openly when, close to the time for him to dress for dinner, the ship’s doctor
approached as Lee ambled around the Promenade Deck. “I’m fine,” he told the man with a continuing
bright smile.
The doctor
returned it. “Have to keep up the
appearance of being busy,” he told Lee.
“It’s been a quiet cruise.”
“Thankfully,”
Lee told him, and knew that the doctor had no idea of the multiple meanings Lee
put into that one word.
“Of
course,” the man agreed. “You will see
your own physician when you return home?”
“I won’t
have a choice,” came out in a hard grumble, totally confusing the doctor, and
Lee was forced to smile. “Long story,”
he said by way of explanation. “He’s a
friend,” Lee added. The doctor was still
puzzled, but at that finally nodded.
“Perhaps
you could wander down once you are back from whatever you have planned for
tomorrow. Just to change the bandage,”
he added quickly as Lee once more almost glared at him. “The captain would appreciate my report.”
Lee smiled
and nodded, and the doctor finally left him alone. He did, as he was dressing for dinner, glance
at the wound. While he avoided taking
the pills he’d been given, his travel pack always included some sort of
antibiotic salve. He had been rubbing
that in every so often and the wound was healing nicely. He sent a bit of a snide smile westward,
toward where his medical nemesis – and one of his best friends – Dr. Will
Jamison resided at NIMR, and headed for the evening meal.
* * * *
Lee hadn’t
been paying too close attention to all the other shore excursions available at
each port he’d been assigned to since he’d not been given a choice and was
totally amazed to find, the next morning, that he was on the one he, himself,
would have chosen. Not that he hadn’t
enjoyed all the others, with the possible exception of parts of Berlin. But he wouldn’t have expected Jennifer to
have chosen the one tour that went specifically to Oslo’s three Maritime
Museums. He told her that as they met by
their coach. “I figured you for downtown
Oslo and more shopping.” He sent her a
quick smile.
She
shrugged. “Actually, when I was picking
out what I wanted to see, this sounded kind of interesting.” She paused, a thoughtful expression on her
face. “It just seemed more…history, I
guess. If that makes any sense.”
“Makes
perfect sense to me,” he told her honestly, and they boarded the coach.
The tour
started with a drive through the city, their guide pointing out this and that
along the route, but headed for Norway’s Bygdoy Peninsula. They stopped first at the Viking Ship Museum,
which housed some of the world’s best-preserved Viking ships and finds from
Viking tombs around the Oslo Fjord. It
included discoveries from the Gokstad and Tune ships plus smaller boats,
sledges, carts, tools, and household utensils.
They went next to the Kon-Tiki Museum, which showcased the expeditions
of famed Norwegian adventurist Thor Heyerdahl, who sailed the Pacific Ocean
from South America to Polynesia. The
final stop was the rather uniquely designed Fram Museum, named for the famous
polar ship of that name. Built in 1882,
the ship and her crew made several Arctic and Antarctic expeditions in the late
19th and early 20th centuries, the museum a testament to
the spirit of their discoveries.
All three
museum tours were fairly quick because they had to be back before 1:30, as
that’s when the ship was due to leave Oslo and head back to Copenhagen. Lee would have liked to spend much more time
at any – or all – of the three museums and made a mental note to find time to
come back; hopefully in the not too distant future.
Once the
ship worked its way out of the Oslo harbor, past all the multitudes of small
islands and rocky shoals that guarded the port, Lee made good on his
conversation with the doctor and wandered down to Deck 5 where the Medical Unit
was. This time the doctor himself dealt
with Lee, Lee teasing him that now he’d have a good report for the
captain. One of the nurses gave him a
dirty look, but both the doctor and Lee grinned and ignored her. Lee spent a few minutes going through his
cabin, dressing for dinner and packing up everything except what he’d need the
next morning. He grinned as he
contemplated what Stark and/or Jones would say if he returned all the extra
clothes one of them had purchased for him, and decided that was something else
not to bother either of them with. While
his version of civvies was usually jeans and a t-shirt he could, no doubt, find
uses for his new outfits.
Debarkation
times were different for everyone, depending on each passenger’s next
plans. Lee had no idea when Jennifer’s
plane – now that he was fairly sure she was going directly home – was scheduled
to leave so had no idea when she would be taken to the airport. Lee hoped that
he was scheduled for a later flight; he really didn’t want to be on hers. He was fairly sure that he’d gotten away with
his slip-up about her further schooling plans but he had noticed her giving him
a couple of curious, almost suspicious, glances that morning. Lee had done his best to wander through the
museums concentrating on the exhibits and not where she was looking, even
though he tried to keep track of her at all times – just in case. He wasn’t overly thrilled when she asked one
of the other people on the tour to take a quick picture of her with Lee at one
of the museums, but he could hardly refuse the seemingly innocent memory of her
cruise.
Because
all luggage except what passengers chose to carry off themselves had to be
outside cabin doors before bedtime, so that staff could have it unloaded and
sorted for pickup once passengers debarked, Lee was able to wander past
Jennifer’s cabin and check the tag color, giving him her departure time in the
morning. With a small bribe to one of
the stewards Lee was able to arrange his ride to the airport just shortly
before hers, even though his flight was several hours later. That way he could keep his eye on her until she
boarded her flight. He’d make very
sure he saw her but she didn’t see him.
Thankfully, Copenhagen had a busy airport!
* * * *
Lee
breathed a huge sigh of relief as he settled into his seat for the flight home
late the following afternoon. He’d been
bored stiff between the time he’d watched Admiral Stark’s niece board her
flight and the four hours until his own was ready to board, but had spent part
of it talking to Chip. Because of the
time zones his friend was at home, just getting ready for bed. Chip demanded to know where he was, what he’d
been doing, when was he coming home, and was he in one piece. Lee laughed out loud at that – Chip hated
that Lee continued to take ONI missions, mostly because Lee seemed never to
make it back without injury. “Six
stitches,” Lee told him, a broad smile both on his face and in his voice. “And I really didn’t even need them,” he
assured the blond before making a few demands of his own concerning what had
been going on with Seaview and NIMR in his absence. Chip finally chuckled as well – that was
always Lee’s first questions after being gone, and the two kibitzed happily for
some time. Lee didn’t admit where he’d
been and in truth Chip knew that he wouldn’t divulge ONI mission intel,
especially over unsecure lines. But both
heaved a huge sigh, unbeknownst to the other, once the connection was
broken. It was good to get things back
to normal!
* * * *
Chip
glanced up from his computer screen as he heard footsteps approaching his open
office door at NIMR. Expecting it to be
his best friend, Lee, he was slightly startled to discover that it was,
instead, his boss, Admiral Nelson.
Equally startling, Chip could tell that Nelson was struggling to control
his expression. In fact, he barely made
it inside the door, which he quickly pushed shut, before bursting out
laughing.
“Sir?”
Chip asked carefully, standing and coming almost to Attention.
Nelson
waved Chip back to his chair, working hard to gain control of his mirth and
finally managing it – sort of – as he also settled into one of the chairs
opposite Chip’s desk. It still took him
several moments to be able to speak coherently.
“Where’s Lee?” he finally got out between continued chuckles. “He’s not in his office and his secretary
wasn’t sure where he’d gone. She though
that he might be here; she said the last time she’d seen him was with you.”
“Not here,
sir,” Chip told him, rather unnecessarily, as he also tried to control his
expression in the face of his boss’ efforts.
“We happened to be in the hallway when Admiral Stark came up the front
steps.” He paused and sent Nelson a
raised eyebrow. “It was weird, sir. Lee got this strange look on his face; he
usually deals with Admiral Stark just fine.”
He gave his head a shake. “This
time he just about bolted in the other direction; said if anybody wanted him
he’d be on Seaview. But then he went out
the back way and would have had to walk clear around the building.” His expression only went more puzzled as
Nelson once more burst out laughing.
Chip
hadn’t really noticed anything in the Admiral’s hands but now, still laughing,
Nelson leaned forward and laid a picture in front of Chip. “That was taken on Lee’s last ONI
assignment. Which,” and he had to fight
to control his continued laughter, “wasn’t exactly for ONI after all.”
“Sir?” Lee had recently returned from a two-week
absence from NIMR on what Nelson, and therefore Chip, had been told was a
mission for his part-time employer, the Office of Naval Intelligence. Chip took a better look at the picture. It showed Lee in some place that could have
been a museum from the looks of what was in the background. He was standing next to an extremely
attractive woman at least fifteen years his junior. Chip glanced up at Nelson.
“That was
taken in Oslo, Norway, at the Viking Ship museum.” Nelson was slowly getting himself back under
control.
“He was on
vacation?” Chip’s voice was hard. “While we did three-fourths of his
paperwork?”
“Down,
Chip,” Nelson raised a hand. “A
vacation, sort of, but still on company time.
Well,” and his laughter threatened to once more spill out, “Jiggs’
time,” he told the blond.
“Sir?” Now Chip was totally confused.
“I only
knew that Lee had been sent on a civilian cruise in the Baltic Sea,” Nelson
told him. “Just got an earful from
Jiggs. The girl in the picture is his
niece. I still don’t have the whole
story.” He frowned. “Actually, I’m not sure I want it.” His grin came back. “Although, I suspect that Lee’s version would
be somewhat different from Jiggs’.” Another
chuckle slipped out. “Apparently Lee was
sent on the cruise to keep an eye on Ms. Temple; I gather that there had been
some sort of threat against her, for whatever reason, and Jiggs wanted her
watched. But she wasn’t to know that.”
“Oh, oh.”
“All’s
well that ends well,” Nelson told him, before an almost giggle escaped.
“What did
he do?” Chip all but growled. “Sir,”
came out slightly less harsh, causing Nelson to once more laugh out loud.
“Lee did
what he always does; his mission was concluded without a hitch.” He paused.
“Well, there’s those stitches in his side Will,” he referenced NIMR’s
CMO, Dr. Will Jamison, “reported.”
“Lee
refuses to discuss it,” Chip was once more calmed down. “Of course, he doesn’t usually discuss ONI
missions.” He shrugged. “So, if I may ask, if all went well, what was
Admiral Stark practically screaming about before you could get your office door
closed?”
Nelson
grinned. “Heard that, did you?”
Chip
finally smiled. “I think most of the
building did, sir.”
“Yeah,
well…” Nelson continued to chuckle. “Lee was traveling under his own name, but
apparently told anyone he had to speak to that he was in marine salvage. Seems…” he laughed again. “Ms. Temple apparently ended up, ah…”
“Oh, no,”
Chip all but laid his head on the desk, before raising it enough to look at
Nelson. “Lee and females…” Both men laughed.
“From what
Jiggs said, when he finally calmed down, anyway, Lee did nothing to encourage
her. He even brought up his friendship
with Dr. Radiwan to make Ms. Temple back off.
But once she got home, she took that picture to Jiggs and practically
demanded that, with his connections, he track Mr. Crane down; that she wanted
to stay in contact with him.”
“Help,”
Chip muttered.
“Exactly,”
Nelson agreed. “Jiggs didn’t dare tell
his niece who Lee was or why he’d been on the cruise without all you-know-what
happening.
“That
explains why Lee ducked and ran the instant he saw Admiral Stark.” Chip grinned.
“Sort of.” Nelson nodded. “What did he want from your, sir?”
Nelson
laughed again. “Mostly, someone to yell
at,” he admitted. He sent Chip a
look. “Lee’s going to ask that same question.”
“And I know
just how to answer him,” Chip told him, picking up the picture.
“Help,”
Nelson laughed as Chip, dismissed, headed for Seaview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
* See
Stark Trek by R. L. Keller
**
Translation by Google Translate
***
Un-Cruise. I highly recommend the
company to anyone who likes small-boat cruising and lots of activity – although
I’m a shining example of not having to be all that active to enjoy the cruises😊