Auction of Revenge
By JSRobertson
Every year the Nelson
Institute of Marine Research held a charity auction where crewmen and officers
would be auctioned off to the highest bidder for a date. This year was no exception even though it was
scheduled a little later this year due to Seaview’s many missions. This year’s auction would benefit the women’s
shelter and food bank in
Edith Nelson was always in
charge of the auction. She chose the
theme and made sure everything was taken care of. Anyone involved in the auction was told what
to do and where to go. She also picked
who would be auctioned off.
Lee and Chip always got the
highest bids but since Lee being married was unavailable for the obvious reason,
Edith needed another headliner.
She was in Angie’s office
meeting with her, Wanda and Janet discussing the auction with them.
“This year’s theme is
This was Janet’s second
auction. The year she started at NIMR they held the auction early that year and
she missed it. The poor girl who won Lee
for a date had to wait a few months before he could take her out and by that
time he was engaged to Janet. Lee did
show her a nice time but she was a little disappointed it wouldn’t go any
further.
Last year was her first year
to attend and she didn’t realize how formal the event was. Everyone dressed to
the nines. The people of
She was also surprised at how
upset the women were that Lee was no longer up for bidding. She knew he was very relieved he didn’t have
to be auctioned off.
“Who’s going to be auctioned
off this year?” Janet wondered as she sat on the corner of Angie’s desk while
Wanda and Edith sat in the chairs facing the desk.
“Well,” Edith paused, “I think
we’re going to have a few more men and new this year a few women.”
“Which women,” Janet
questioned knowing there weren’t too many available.
“Angie, Wanda and Trish have
graciously volunteered to be auctioned off.”
“Aren’t you afraid of whom
you’ll have to go out with? You don’t
know who they are,” Janet asked cautiously.
“We won’t let them pick us
up. We meet them where we have set up
the date. They also don’t get our phone numbers unless we give it to them,”
Angie told her. “Thanks for your concern,”
she said giving Janet’s knee a pat.
“Who are the men besides
Chip, Kowalski, Patterson and Riley,” Wanda asked curiously. Since she had attended the auction in
previous years she knew that they would always be up for bids.
“Chief Sharkey and Will
Jamieson are going to do it.”
“Chief?” all three women
asked at once laughing.
“Yes, I asked him and he
agreed,” Edith laughed too. “I was very
surprised when he said he would.”
“It’s great that Jamie’s
going to do it too,” Janet said happily.
“He’ll be a wonderful date for someone.”
“You’re still short one
man. O’Brien can’t do it this year as
he’s now married,” Angie remarked.
“I have a surprise man left,”
Edith said mysteriously. “He will be the
last one auctioned off and no one will know who it is but us for now.”
The three women sat there
trying to figure out who was left when the admiral walked out of his office. Three pair of eyes looked at him and then
they looked at Edith. The admiral had no
idea what was happening and left his office just staring at the four of them. Once he left the office they all burst out
laughing.
“You actually got him to
agree to be auctioned off,” Angie asked grinning.
“He wasn’t too thrilled; I
kind of badgered him into doing it.
Since Lee’s no longer available I needed another officer. He’s the surprise of the night.”
“This should be the best
auction ever,” Wanda confirmed with a grin on her face.
The four of them continued to
make plans. Edith as usual would take care of getting the decorations, advertising,
food, drinks, and getting an emcee. She already had the tickets printed up and
knew she would have no problem selling them as the event sold out every
year. She loved doing charity work here
in
((()))
In a hotel room in downtown
“It’s imperative you get
tickets to that auction,” David stressed.
“You have to be there for my plan to work.”
“Tickets sell out very
fast. How do we get them?”
“Don’t worry about that,”
Claudia told them smugly. “They’re only
sold through the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce and I have a friend that
works there. She has already reserved
three tickets for me. I’m going to pick
them up and pay for them when we’re done here.”
“Good work,” David replied
very pleased. “Do we know who’s going to
be auctioned off?”
“I will find out when I get
the tickets.”
“We will meet here again
tomorrow at
“Yes sir,” they replied
leaving him alone.
He sat in the chair in the
suite tapping his fingers together. He
was very happy with the way things were going.
There was a knock on the door. He
slowly walked over to the door and opened it knowing who it was.
“Hello. Were you busy at the
institute today?”
((()))
It was two weeks before the
auction and Edith planned a meeting in Janet’s office after work so she could
discuss some details with the ladies.
“All the tickets have been
sold out,” Edith announced joyfully. “We
should have a full house.”
“Do you have everything arranged,”
Janet asked not knowing what was expected of her.
“Yes, but your husband won’t
do the emceeing,” Edith told them unhappily.
“He felt he wouldn’t to the job justice so I got the Dale Heart, the
mayor to do it.”
“Sorry Edith. He told me that you wanted him to be the
emcee but he’s just not comfortable in that type of position.”
“I know he can be a little
shy. I’ve assigned him another job. He’s going to escort the women on stage when
it’s their turn to be auctioned off.”
“Does he know this?” Janet
asked since Lee didn’t say anything to her.
“No, can you tell him? He won’t tell you no.”
“Yes, I’ll tell him but Edith
but you know he will do almost anything for you too,” Janet replied
softly. She knew Lee had a soft spot for
Edith.
“Yes, I can get almost
anything out of him just by batting my eyes at him,” she snickered.
Who’s going to escort the men
out?” Angie wondered.
“That’s Janet’s job.”
“Yeah, lucky me.”
“Have you made a decision on
what uniforms the men will be wearing?” Wanda asked.
“I think they will wear their
dinner dress blue uniforms.”
“Have you told them? I know Lee and Chip don’t mind wearing those
uniforms,” Janet mentioned.
“All of them will do what I
tell them or else,” Edith chuckled. “We’ll meet again next week to go over the
final details. I’ve got to find Harry, we have dinner plans with some friends
tonight and I don’t want to be late.”
((()))
Angie and Wanda got their
coats and were waiting for the elevator when the admiral, Lee and Chip came up
from the sub pen. They said goodnight to
the men and left for the day. Edith and Janet were waiting for the admiral and
Lee to come back before they could leave.
“Oh good, I don’t have to go
and get you,” Edith told Harry grabbing her coat as he went to his office to
get his jacket and cover.
“I told you I would be here
on time, Edith,” the admiral said from his office putting on his jacket and put
his cover under his arm, locking the door to his office and Angie’s as he
walked towards her.
“Yes, but how many times are
you really on time?” she answered as Lee helped her with her coat.
The four of them stood there
looking at the admiral. He knew she was
right. Most of the time he was late when
they were going out.
“Good night, Janet, Lee,
Chip. Have a good evening,” Edith told
them smiling as they walked to the elevator her arm linked in the admirals.
Lee, Chip and Janet stood
there as the elevator doors closed.
“Well, what are we going to
do for dinner?” Chip wondered as his stomach grumbled loudly.
“How about we try that new
barbecue place? I have a taste for barbecued ribs,” Lee suggested.
Janet could see their mouths
were already drooling for ribs. “Fine with me,” she replied laughing.
Lee and Chip went to their
offices to get their jackets and covers.
Lee gave Janet a kiss as they waited outside Janet’s office for
Chip. She returned his kiss just as Chip
came out of his office.
“Geez,” Chip remarked. “You act like you haven’t seen each other for
a week.”
“Sorry Chip,” Janet replied
sheepishly. “Since you were on Seaview
most of the day, I didn‘t get a chance to see him so I had to make up for it.”
Lee took Janet’s hand as they
waited at the elevator. When they got
off the elevator they said goodnight to the security guard on duty.
“Have a good evening Mrs.
Crane, Captain and Mr. Morton,” Howard told them.
Since it was raining, Lee and
Janet waited in the lobby while Chip brought the car to the front door. Lee held the back seat door for Janet while
she climbed in. He hopped in the front
seat just getting the door closed before Chip took off.
They enjoyed their dinner at
the barbecue place and the food was good.
Chip ate his whole meal and part of Janet’s. She still couldn’t figure out where he put
all the food he ate and didn’t gain any weight.
“See you tomorrow,” Chip said
as they got out of the car quickly as it was still raining. “I’ll drive again tomorrow.”
“Thanks Chip,” they replied
and went into the house.
After making sure everything
was locked up they went upstairs to get ready for bed.
“Edith asked me to tell you
what your job is going to be at the auction.
She wasn’t too happy you didn’t want to be the emcee,” Janet remarked as
she brushed her hair.
“I know but I’m sure she has
something real nice for me to do,” he said laughing. He knew she was disappointed he wouldn’t be
the emcee.
“Actually it’s not that
bad. You get to escort Angie, Wanda and
Trish out for the bidding.”
“I can do that with no problem.
They’re all very nice looking women so they should bring in a lot of money.”
He grabbed Janet by the waist
and pulled her up against him and kissed her goodnight. They fell asleep with
Lee’s arm wrapped around her.
((()))
Claudia went to the Chamber
of Commerce the next morning to pay her friend, Renee, for the tickets. Renee had also decided to go to the
auction. The tickets were expensive but
the money went to worthy causes so she didn’t mind the cost. They were reading the brochure on who would
be auctioned off. It not only listed
their names but had pictures of them also.
“They sure have quite a few
good looking men working there. I
wouldn’t mind going out with any of them,” Renee stated. “Who do you like?”
“I’m looking for an older man
because they treat you better. You go to
nice places for dinner and maybe they take you dancing,” Claudia replied as she
leaned on the counter next to Renee.
“Well the only older man on
here is Dr. Will Jamieson. He’s not bad
looking and a doctor.”
“It says there’s a surprise
date. Do you have any idea who the
surprise man is? Have you heard
anything?” Claudia asked hopefully.
“Well the rumor I heard is
its Admiral Nelson. He’s never
participated in the auction before but since his Captain got married and he was
the biggest draw, he agreed to do it.”
“I’m going to bid on
him. He’ll probably cost me a year’s
salary but I bet he knows how to treat a woman.”
“I’ll have to settle for a
crewman. I don’t have that much money
for an officer,” Renee pouted.
“I’ve got to go. I’ve got a meeting a 10:00. I’ll look for you at the auction,” Claudia
said as she grabbed the brochure, tucked it in her purse with the tickets and
walked out the door with a huge smile on her face knowing David would be very happy.
((()))
Claudia went to David’s hotel
room and knocked on the door. Curt
answered the door while David sat tapping his fingers on the table waiting for
her to show up.
“It’s about time,”
“Of course I got them,” she
replied crossly glaring at him. She
didn’t like
She handed David the brochure
to look at. He calmly looked at the
people being auctioned off and didn’t see Nelson’s name but saw there was a
blank place for a photograph and a question mark underneath it.
“Who’s the surprise date?”
“If the rumors are correct
none other than Admiral Nelson himself.”
“Excellent. You must win the bid. It will make my plan so much easier.”
“Roy and Curt you must make
sure you get the dates with Nelson’s secretary, Angie, and Trish the
communications director.”
“Mr. Pepin, how are we going
to pay for these dates? I don’t have much
money,”
“Don’t worry about it. The brochure states you have a week to pay
for your bid. I’ll give you cash to put
in your accounts. You’ll get a bank
check with your name on it so they won’t be able to trace it back to me. You can make up any excuse as to where you
got the money. Tell them a relative died
and it’s your inheritance. I really
don’t give a damn what you tell them,” he said impatiently.
Curt asked curiously, “How
much money do we have to spend?”
“Just get those dates all of
you. Money is no object,” he replied
tersely.
“Yes sir,” they replied.
“Go. I will talk to you again after the auction,”
David said dismissing them with a wave of his hand.
The three of them left
David’s suite heading down to their cars.
He was still seated at the table with an evil grin on his face. He was
very pleased with the way things were going, very pleased indeed.
((()))
Seaview had been gone so much lately Janet didn’t have a
chance to go out and buy a dress. She
along with Angie and Wanda were going out after work to find her one. They would take her SUV as it’s easier to get
into then Wanda’s and Angie’s compact cars. After they finished shopping they
were going out for dinner to Giovanni’s.
Edith and Trish had other plans so they weren’t able to go with the
three women.
“I better find a dress,”
Janet lamented, “I only have the blue one from last year and I don’t want to
wear that again.”
“We’ll find you one,” Angie
reassured her as they got out of the car.
They went to the store where
Angie and Wanda found their dresses.
There were a lot of black ones but Edith said no one could wear black
but her. Angie was wearing a dark blue
gown; Trish had a red one and Wanda a dark green one. As they perused the racks Janet was getting
discouraged when she spotted a purple one.
She wasn’t sure she liked the fact that it was strapless but they
insisted she try it on. When she came
out of the dressing room, they were amazed at how good the dress looked on her.
“You better take that one,”
Wanda told her smiling.
“You look great in that
color,” Angie nodded her approval.
“Okay, I’ll take it,” Janet
said with relief. She wasn’t too sure
about it but it would do. She would show
it to Lee tonight and see what he thought.
If he didn’t like it, she could maybe leave work early tomorrow and look
for another one
After paying for the dress,
Janet laid it carefully in the back of the car while Angie and Wanda climbed in
for the short drive to Giovanni’s for dinner.
Janet left the car with the valet to park.
“Good evening ladies. No gentlemen tonight?” he asked welcoming
them as they walked in the restaurant.
“Girl’s night out,” Angie
said laughing. “After working with them
all day we needed a break.”
The ladies didn’t mind
working with the admiral, Lee or Chip but for some reason they all were grumpy
and short tempered today so they were glad they could relax, enjoy a glass of
wine and a delicious dinner without them.
Unknown to the three women,
David Pepin was also having dinner at the same time and recognized two of the
women from the auction brochure. He
tried not to stare at them as they ate but he was curious as to who the third
woman was.
When they were finished with
dinner, Giovanni had the valet get Janet’s car and walked them out as David was
leaving too. Giovanni opened the car door for Janet while the valet opened the
doors for Angie and Wanda.
Mrs. Crane, please get back
to the institute safely,” Giovanni told her as he closed her car door.
“Thank you, I will,” she
replied softly.
While David waited for his
car to be brought around, he had a big smile on this face when he found out who
she was.
Janet dropped the ladies off
at the office so they could get their cars.
She waited from them to leave the institute before she would drive home.
She only had a short ride to her house on the NIMR grounds.
((()))
Lee was watching TV in the
living room as he waited for Janet to get home. He heard the garage door open
and met her at the door as she walked in and laid the dress on the chair.
“Did you find a dress?” Lee
asked as he helped her off with her coat and gave her a hug and kiss.
Returning his kiss and hug, “Yes,
would you like to see it?” she replied.
She took it out of the bag
and showed it to him. She didn’t know by
the look on his face it he liked it or not.
“Why don’t you try it on,” he
suggested, “it will look better on you than on the hanger.”
They went upstairs where she
tried on the dress. Looking in the
mirror, she still wasn’t sure she liked the dress.
“Sweetie, you look
fantastic,” he said eyeing her up and down.
He couldn’t wait for her to take it off.
“Thanks honey,” she said
grinning, “but I could wear a gunny sack and you would say I looked good. If you think it looks okay I will keep it.”
“It’s a keeper. Come on, let
me help you take it off so you don’t wrinkle it,” he told her as he took the
gown off, threw it in a heap on the chair and took his wife to bed.
((()))
The auction was three days
away. Edith has been at the lecture hall
where the auction was to be held telling the decorators what she wanted done
and where everything was to go.
The ladies were going to meet
her there after work today to go over the final details. All the men involved would be there a little
later so Edith could explain to them what they were to do. Most of them had been to the auctions before
but Edith wanted to make sure there were no slip ups. Dale Heart would also be there to find out
what to do and practice his lines since this was his first auction.
Wanda, Angie and Janet walked
into the lecture hall and were blown away at how beautiful it looked. Edith had
the decorators put white drapes up covering the brick walls and draped more
from the ceiling. Soft colored neon
lights of pale red, yellow and pink were placed in strategic places around the
room. There were two black fountains in
opposite corners of the room with water gently cascading down the sides. Palm trees were clustered together around the
backs of fountain. The tables were
placed in the center of the room covered in white tablecloths with black
napkins and chair covers. The
centerpieces would be red, yellow and pink roses with assorted greens. The stage at the front of the room wasn’t too
high and had another fountain with bubbling water in the back surrounded with
more palm trees.
“Edith the room is breath taking,”
Janet told her taking in the beautiful room.
“This isn’t the Vegas I’ve seen though.”
“I wanted the softer, calmer
and elegant side of Vegas not the glaring version.”
“You sure captured it,” Wanda
remarked looking around the room.
“I’m glad you like it,” Edith
said with pride and a fake wipe of her brow.
“Who wouldn’t like it?” Angie
replied. “It’s gorgeous.”
Trish couldn’t get away as
soon as the other ladies and was in shock when she walked in the room.
“Oh Edith it’s
beautiful. I love the black fountains
and palms trees. It’s so calming.”
Dale Heart walked in followed
by the admiral, Lee and Chip. Jamie, Chief and the rest of the crewmen came in
right after them. They stood there looking around the room amazed at what Edith
had done.
“Edith, my dear, you have
done an exceptional job,” Harry commented, “Who’d believe this was a lecture
hall with brick walls.”
The other men agreed with him
as they looked around the room.
“Maybe we should keep the
decorations; it might make the lectures more interesting,” Lee remarked
grinning at the admiral.
“Enough compliments. Let’s get started,” Edith stated in a no
nonsense voice, “Dale, you will give an opening welcome before they eat
dinner. We will be doing the auction as
they eat. If we don’t we will be here
until the next morning. The first person
out will be Riley, then Patterson, followed by Trish, Kowalski, Chief Sharkey,
Wanda, Jamie, Angie, Chip and finally Harry.”
“Janet will escort the men
out and stay with them until the winning number is announced. The winning bidders will be brought over to
my table where I will get their name, personal information and money if they
have it now.”
“Lee you will do the same
thing with the women. Do we need to
practice or can you handle it? There
will be marks on the stage where you should stand. Just one more thing, make
sure you eat before you come. I don’t need any of you passing out from no
food,” she told them looking specifically at Chip as he was always hungry. “You’ll not get dinner until the auction is
over. The caterer will have food for us
when we’re done.”
“I think we can handle this,”
Lee answered. “We’ve all been here before.”
“Good. Gentlemen, one other
detail, dinner dress blue uniforms.
Dismissed,” she said with a wave of her hand.
There were no groans from the
group of men this time. Last year they
had to wear their dress whites which none of the liked. The group left the hall and went home while
Harry and Edith went to dinner with Dale and his wife.
((()))
Lee, Janet and Chip went to
Chip’s house and ordered a pepperoni pizza.
It was his house so he got to choose the pizza. Janet didn’t really care for pepperoni but
would pick it off and give it to Chip.
While they waited Chip brought Janet a glass of wine and a beer for Lee
and himself.
“Thank goodness we didn’t
have to practice,” Chip sighed while they waited for the pizza to come.
“Sometimes she can be very
demanding,” Lee answered back taking a swig of his beer.
“Guys, I know I’ve only been
to one auction but she does have a good heart and only wants the best,” Janet
replied defending Edith on being a perfectionist. “I know a couple of men who are the same way
when it comes to one submarine,” Janet smiled as she took a sip of wine.
“You’re right. It will be a lot more fun again this year
because I don’t have to go on a date,” Lee commented looking at Chip with a sly
grin.
“Very funny,” Chip said
sarcastically as the doorbell rang with their pizza.
As they ate the pizza, Janet
had another glass of wine while Lee and Chip had another bottle of beer. After
helping Chip clean up, Lee and Janet went home and went directly to bed as it
had been a very long day and they had a little too much to drink. They don’t usually drink on week nights when
they have to work the next day. But they
made an exception for tonight as they would only have to work part of the day
due to the auction later that night.
((()))
It was early afternoon the
day of the auction and Edith was a nervous wreck. The flowers were wrong and had to be redone
but everything else was perfect. The fountains were bubbling away as the
caterers were setting the tables and bringing in the food.
The institute offices would
close early so everyone could get ready and be there on time as Edith wanted
everyone there at least two hours before it started so she could check them out
and make sure they were ready to go.
Everyone had to meet with her approval.
Lee and Chip spent most of
the day on Seaview in the missile room.
There was a big problem with torpedo tube number one. As Chip was getting ready to leave, he saw
Lee still standing by the torpedo tube.
He had been in the tube for most of the afternoon and was covered in
grease and sweat.
“Lee you better get going or
you’re going to be late. Just leave the
torpedo tube as it is. I will help you
finished it up tomorrow.”
“No, it shouldn’t take me too
much longer,” Lee told him as he climbed back into the tube.
((()))
Janet had gone home early to
get ready; she took a shower, put her on her make up and put her dress on in
thirty minutes and was waiting for Lee to get home. After waiting another
thirty minutes, she tried his cell phone but got no answer. They needed to be at the auction in an hour. She took his uniform out of the closet. Thankfully he had everything ready to
go. She drove to the institute with his
uniform hoping he was there showering in the locker room but when she got there
the door was locked so she knew he wasn’t there.
She went to his office and no
sign of him there either. Damn, she thought as she left his uniform in
the closet. She would have to go down to
the sub pen. If he was still on Seaview
he was in big trouble. She went to the
closet in her office to look for something to change into. She had nothing but a pair of shoes; she
grabbed them, putting them on before she went to Lee’s office to see if he had
anything she could wear. Finding a sweat
suit in his closet, she carefully hung up her dress after she put on the
sweats. The sweatshirt was down to her knees and the pants even tying the
drawstring as tight as she could were still far too big but she needed to move
quickly and a long dress and heels wasn’t going to work. She ran to the sub pen past the guard on duty
down the gangplank to the sail hatch holding up her pants as she ran.
“Stephen do you know where
Captain Crane is?” she asked the guard in the control room after climbing down
the ladder out of breath.
“Yes Mrs. Crane, he’s in the
missile room,” he replied smiling as she stood there still holding up her
pants.
“Thanks.” She ran to the missile room where she saw
just his feet hanging out of the torpedo tube.
“Lee Benjamin Crane what the
hell are you doing in the torpedo tube?
You’re supposed to be dressed and at the auction in forty five minutes.”
Startling him, he came out of
the tube rubbing his head.
“Sweetie I’m sorry I can’t
leave until I know it’s repaired. I need
another thirty minutes. The auction
isn’t starting for another hour.”
“Honey I’m sorry I startled
you,” she said as she rubbed his head and gave it a kiss as the crewman helping
Lee walked in saw what took place, turned around and high tailed it right back
out the hatch. Luckily there was no bump
or blood. “Please hurry Edith is going
to have meltdown if you’re not there on time.
I brought your uniform to the office.
You’ll have to unlock the door to the locker room to shower.
“Okay, don’t panic. Is that what you’re wearing to the auction?”
he said playfully.
“Lee, be serious. I changed so I could come and find you. I would never be able to get down the ladder
in that long dress without falling. I think the dress would have been a better
option, these things are huge,” she laughed still holding up the pants, “and
hurry up.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied
giving her a two finger salute and climbed back in the torpedo tube.
Janet ran back to the
institute and changed back into her dress and shoes. She checked her makeup and hair and made it
to the hall a few minutes early. The
rest of the group were already there waiting.
“Janet where’s Lee,” Edith
fumed.
“He’ll be here soon.” I hope. Janet thought.
((()))
Guests had been arriving for
the last hour. Security along with help
from Seaview’s crew was parking the cars so no one would go any further
than the lecture hall located in Building Four on
As the guests arrived, they
were given paddles with numbers on them.
They would hold them up if they wanted to bid on the person being
auctioned off. The auction was starting
and Lee hadn’t arrived yet. Edith was
fit to be tied, you could almost see smoke coming from her ears she was so mad.
“Janet, I’m going to kill
him,” Edith stated very unhappily.
“I’m so sorry Edith,” Janet
apologized profusely a little miffed at her husband too. “Can Chip escort the girls
out until Lee gets here?”
“He’s going to have to,” she
sniped.
“I’ll tell him.” Janet walked over to Chip and whispered in
his ear that he would have escort out the ladies. He frowned but nodded his head.
Dale Heart walked on stage to
a round of applause and made his opening remarks.
“Good evening ladies and
gentlemen and welcome to the Nelson Institute’s Annual Charity Auction. This year all the money raised will go to the
women’s shelter and food pantry of
Waiters and waitresses were serving the soup
as Janet escorted Riley out on stage.
“Here’s our first date for
the night, Stu Riley, would someone please start the bidding.”
There were plenty of paddles
going in the air for Riley. He was
having a great time looking at the women who were bidding on him. Paddle Number 25 won the bid. She was a petite dark haired girl, the total
opposite of Riley who seemed pleased with his date.
Next Janet escorted out
Patterson who was a little shier but still enjoyed the fun. Renee from the
Chamber of Commerce won the bid for Patterson.
Chip escorted Trish out next.
She was almost as tall as Chip in her heels and looked beautiful in her red
dress with a low cut front and back. She
got many bids and paddle number 10 won.
He was a short stocky man with blond hair. Janet noticed he was sweating profusely even
though it was cool in the hall.
“Please enjoy your salad
while we take a short break before we continue the auction,” Dale told the
crowd.
“Janet, where the hell is
Lee?” Chip asked tersely. “I don’t mind escorting the ladies out but
that was his job.”
“Yes, where is Captain
Crane?” the admiral asked very irritated as he came up behind Chip.
“He’s fixing the torpedo
tube. He told me he would be here on
time,” Janet replied warily.
“Don’t I pay other people to
do that job?” the admiral stated very unhappily.
“Yes sir but you know Lee, he
was afraid they wouldn’t be able to fix it,” Janet sighed.
The admiral and Chip also
sighed. The admiral looked over at Edith
and could tell Lee was going to be in big trouble when he did show up. No one gets a free pass when she’s upset,
even Lee.
((()))
Dale Heart went back on stage
to resume the auction as they cleared the salad course.
“Let’s continue the auction
with Paul Kowalski. Kowalski was soaking
up the attention as much as he could. He
was encouraging the women to bid on him.
Finally after a bidding war, paddle number 101 won. She was tall, thin and had long blond hair
just his type of woman.
“Being auctioned off for the
first time is Chief Francis Sharkey so let’s give him a warm welcome as the
next date up for bidding.”
Janet escorted him out and
could tell he was very nervous.
“What if I don’t get any
bids?” he whispered to Janet.
“Chief don’t worry there are
plenty of women who will bid on you.
Just wait and see,” Janet whispered back patting his hand as it was
linked in her arm.
As they were bidding on
Sharkey, Edith noticed Lee standing by the door with a sheepish grin on his
face. He stared at her with those amber
colored eyes pleading for her forgiveness that he was late. She could never stay mad at him, so she
smiled and waved him in. He went over to
her, whispered he was sorry and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He went back
stage to bring out Wanda who was next up for bidding.
“It’s about time Captain,”
Nelson said under his breath when he saw him.
“We’ll talk later.”
“Yes sir,” he sighed knowing
he was now in trouble with the admiral.
They were still bidding on
Sharkey and sure enough he had almost as many bids as Kowalski. His lucky date had paddle number 173. The
woman was Sharkey’s height and had red hair.
He smiled at her as he left the stage.
As Janet led him off the
stage she said, “See I told you someone would bid on you. She’s cute.”
“That was kind of fun,”
Sharkey replied grinning, “and yes, she’s real cute.”
Lee escorted Wanda out who
was stunning in her dark green dress with a slit up the side all the way to the
top of her leg. She saw Aaron Thompson
sitting at a table; they had been dating for awhile so she hoped he would win
the bid for her which of course he did.
Lee smiled and gave him the
thumbs up sign as he escorted Wanda off stage.
“We’re going to take one more
break before we conclude the auction for tonight. Is everyone enjoying themselves?” Dale asked
the crowd and a raucous cheer went up.
The servers had come out the with main course, stuffed chicken breasts
with saffron rice and green beans almandine.
Lee went over to Janet, gave
her kiss and looked her over. She looked
gorgeous tonight and he couldn’t wait to take her home and carry out what he
was thinking about. She forgave him as
soon as he gave her a kiss. As they were
standing there the admiral came over to him.
“I’m sorry sir. Torpedo tube number one’s blow valve and
equalizing valve weren’t working properly.
I wanted to finish it before I left. It took longer than I thought. I’m sorry if I made Edith mad.”
“She’ll get over it,” the
admiral told him smiling, “Lee, we have crewmen to do that job. You shouldn’t have to do it so please let the
crew handle it next time. Did you get it
fixed?”
“Yes sir to both questions,”
he replied realizing the admiral was right.
The only problem was that he enjoyed doing repairs himself to the boat.
He wanted and needed to know every inch of her.
While the bidding was stopped
Edith came over to the people who had already been auctioned off and gave them
the names of their dates.
“Riley your date’s name is
“Yes, we’ve been dating for
awhile,” she replied with a huge smile on her face.
“I thought so. He was very eager to pay for you.”
Edith smiled back at Wanda
and sat back down at her table so they could auction off the last four dates.
“Are you ready for the rest
of the dates?” Dale asked the crowd and they cheered loudly as Janet escorted
out Jamie.
“Next we have Dr. Will
Jamieson. Who’s going to win the bid for
a doctor tonight?”
There were many bids for
Jamie. Janet looked at him and could see
he was surprised at the number of bids he was receiving.
“They know a good man when
they see one,” Janet whispered to him her arm linked in his.
“Thank you for the vote of
confidence,” he whispered back. His
winning paddle number was 41. She was
woman about his age with short dark hair.
He looked at her and winked. He
was surprised when she winked back.
“Now we have Angie Pearce up
for bid,” Dale told the crowd as Lee escorted her to the stage.
Angie looked divine in her
blue dress with spaghetti straps and thigh high split up the side. She barely reached Lee’s shoulder even with
her heels on.
As they were bidding on
Angie, Janet noticed how different they looked are all dressed up. Trish, Wanda
and Angie were knockouts in their dresses.
Even the men in their dinner dress blues were extremely handsome.
There was a bidding war going
on for Angie. Finally paddle number 118
won the bid. He was a tall man with dark
hair and eyes. Janet thought he looked
at little seedy.
“Ladies and gentlemen we are
down to our last two dates for the night,” Dale said as Janet escorted Chip out
on stage.
A gentleman from the crowd
yelled, “What about the woman in the purple dress? Isn’t she up for bid?”
Dale answered back, “No sir,
I’m sorry. She’s married and I don’t
think her husband would let her go on a date.”
This got a huge laugh from the crowd.
“Damn, I was willing to bid
$3,000.00 for a date with her.”
Janet and Chip stood there
stunned along with the rest of the crowd.
Edith got up from her table
and went over to Janet, “That’s a lot of money.
Would you be willing to go out on a date if Lee went with? We’ll tell them that your husband will go
too. They’ll get two for the price of one.”
“Let me check with Lee. I have no problem with it but he might even
if he goes with.”
Janet let go of Chip’s arm
and went over to Lee who was backstage.
“Honey, Edith wants to know
if you would let them bid on me but you would be able to go with.”
Sighing he replied, “I guess
I owe her that after being late. Okay as
long as I go with. You’re not going out
alone with anyone,” he stated emphatically.
Janet walked back to where
Edith was standing, “It’s okay Edith.”
Edith went up on stage and
took the microphone from Dale.
“Yes, the lady in purple is
Janet Crane and is willing to be bid on.
There is only one restriction; her husband will go on the date too. So ladies that means Lee Crane, the Captain
of the Seaview, will be going on the date so maybe you would like to bid
on him,” Edith told the crowd that brought loud shouts of approval. Edith went backstage and escorted Lee out to
the front where he stood next to his wife.
She took his hand and gave it a squeeze which he returned.
The bidding that took place
was very hard to keep track off. Finally
the man who originally wanted to bid on Janet won the bid for $5,000.00. There were several women who were bidding on
Lee and were very disappointed when they lost.
They wanted to go on a date with him even if his wife went too.
Everyone was in shock at that
bid. Chip had gone back off stage while
they were bidding on Janet and Lee.
Janet escorted him back
out. “You’ll get more than that,” Janet
told him confidently.
“Next we have Lt. Commander
Chip Morton. Come on ladies he’s very
good looking, sexy and always draws a huge bid.”
Chip groaned under his breath
and only Janet heard him. She patted his
hand and snickered.
There was very vigorous
bidding for Chip. Paddle number 169 won
the bid for $7,500.00. She was a little
shorter than Chip but had long blonde hair and blue eyes just like him. He was very interested in his date.
There was a lot of applause
for that amount of money as Chip left the stage sighing with relief that is was
over.
“Last but not least we have
our surprise date for the night Admiral Harriman Nelson up for bid,” Dale
announced. “Now ladies this is his first
time being auctioned off so let’s make it good.”
There was tremendous bidding
going on for the admiral. He was
actually a little embarrassed. As Janet stood there watching the bidding
between two women, there was something about the one women that bothered her
but she couldn’t figure out was it was. Finally after a bidding battle, paddle
number 178 won the bid for $10,000.00. The woman was younger than the admiral
but very good looking with dark brown hair and green eyes.
The admiral and Janet just stood there shocked
at what the bid was. Janet looked at the
admiral and gave him a wry smile and told him, “Sir, you’re going to have to
come back every year.”
“Yes, I might have to with a
bid like that,” he acknowledged.
“Ladies and gentlemen that
concludes our auction for tonight.
Before you leave Miss Edith Nelson would like to say a few words.
Edith stepped on stage with
tears in her eyes.
“Let’s give a round of
applause to our emcee, Dale Heart for doing a wonderful job,” she said as
everyone clapped for him.
“I can’t thank all of you
enough for attending the auction and bidding for dates. This has been the best auction to date. The women’s shelter and food bank will be
extremely happy to receive this money.
Thank you for being so generous.”
Edith left the stage to thunderous
applause.
Dale went back on stage, “One
more announcement, those who have won the bids please don’t leave we need you
to stay to have your pictures taken.
Everyone please have a safe trip home.”
While Edith was on stage,
Janet told Jamie his date’s name was Rose, Angie’s was Roy, her and Lee’s date
name was Teddy, Chip’s was Sarah and the admiral’s was Claudia.
The dates and bidders were introducing
themselves while they waited for the photographer to set up his camera to take
publicity shots as a couple and then as a group. After they were finished the winning bidders
were free to go after Edith explained to them what would take place next.
“After I receive your money,
your phone number will be given to your date, they will call and set up the
date with you. I can’t thank you enough
for attending the auction and donating to such worthy causes. I know all of you will have a good time on
your dates.”
Most of them had paid for
their dates before they left. This was
the first year most of the dates and bidders seemed pleased with who they
got. They thanked Edith for a good time
as their cars were brought to the front of the building so they could leave
right away.
The caterers had re-set some
of the tables so the group up for bids and the security men and crew parking
the cars could eat. Everyone was hungry
and looking forward to eating dinner. After everyone was seated, Edith stood up
with a glass of wine in her hand.
“Thank you to all of you who
helped make this auction a success. I
think we’re going to out do last year.”
After Edith finished, the
admiral stood up next to his sister with a glass in his hand and proposed a
toast.
“Edith you’ve done another
fantastic job. It was worth every
agonizing minute I’ve had to deal with you these last few weeks,” he laughed as
he gave his sister a hug which brought laughs from everyone.
Everyone finished eating
their dinner and left for home. It had
been a long day and they were all tired.
Before Chip left he went up
to Lee, “Remember you telling me you didn’t have to go on a date and I did,
well it looks like you got roped into going on one anyway,” he smirked.
Laughing as he looked at Chip
and Janet, “Looks like I got lassoed.”
Chip patted him on the
shoulder, gave Janet a kiss good bye and left for home.
Security was short staffed
since most of the men were parking cars, so Lee and Janet offered to stay until
the caterers finished cleaning up before they left so they could lock up the
building. Tomorrow was Saturday, so Lee
had asked a few crewmen to come back and oversee the dismantling of the
decorations. All of them were more than
happy to return and help out. As they
sat on the stage and waited for the caterers to finish Lee gave Janet a long
satisfying kiss and hug.
“I thought I was going to get
out of going on a date and now I have to go on one anyway,” he said winking at
Janet.
“I’m sorry but what could I
do. That’s a lot of money for the
shelter and food bank. Please don’t be
mad. He looks like a nice guy,” Janet
replied sheepishly resting her head on his shoulder.
“I’m only kidding,” he said
kissing her temple.
Finally the caterers were
done clearing out the hall, had everything loaded in their trucks and left the
premises. Lee locked up the building and walked to their car eager to get
home.
As soon as they got home, off
came their shoes and they went upstairs; when they got to their bedroom Lee
wasted no time taking off her dress.
((()))
Edith stayed in town for
another week. She had another charity event to work on and was anxious to get
back to
All the money for the dates
had been collected by Friday like she wanted including the money from Claudia,
Ray and Curt. She gave the dates the
phone numbers of their bidders. Most of the dates would take their bidders out
in the next two weeks in case Seaview had to leave on a mission.
Before leaving, she and the
admiral went to the women’s shelter and food bank to give them their
money. Both groups were amazed and very
appreciative at the amount they received.
Lee and Janet were one of the
last ones to go out with their date, Teddy. He was more interested in meeting
Lee than Janet who was his date. Before
going to dinner, they took him aboard Seaview. He was so excited that he
almost had a heart attack when Lee showed him the observation nose and control
room. Teddy asked many questions, but
most of them were about classified information so Lee couldn’t answer
them. He decided his tour of Seaview
was enough and didn’t want to go out to dinner.
“Honey, I’m sorry we didn’t
go to dinner,” Janet told him when returned from their date as he hung up their
coats. “I know you didn’t want to go out
on a date but he did bid a lot of money and it was for a worthy cause.”
“Sweetie, it’s okay,” he
replied as he grabbed a beer from the refrigerator, sat down on the couch and
loosened his tie.
Janet sat next to him for a
few minutes before getting up to find something to make for dinner. Lee didn’t want to go out after their ‘date’
with Teddy. She found some frozen chili
and made some noodles. Not exactly the
dinner they had planned on but Lee didn’t care, he would eat whatever she
made. He helped her clean up and they
watched TV for awhile before going to bed.
((()))
When they got to the
institute on Monday morning, Chip, Jamie, and Sharkey were comparing their
dates since they had taken them out over the weekend. They did have a nice time
with them but knew they would never go out with them again. So far Wanda was the only one who would date
her bidder again or so they thought until the admiral showed up with
Claudia. He was very anxious to take her
out so he arranged their date a couple of days after the auction.
“Good morning,” the admiral
said as he walked through the office.
“You remember Claudia from the auction.
I’m just giving some paperwork to Angie that needs to be taken care of
and then I’m going on my boat for the day. I will see you tomorrow.”
He went to his office got the
paperwork, made a few changes, gave it to Angie and walked out the door with
Claudia on his arm.
Chip and Lee stood there
looking at each other. The admiral has
never taken off to go boating during the week.
The rest of them stood in the office with surprised looks on their faces
were too.
“What just happened,” Lee asked
running his head through his hair.
“I’m not sure,” Chip replied
just staring at the door to the admiral’s office.
“Leave him alone,” Angie told
them. “It’s about time he took some time
off to enjoy himself.”
“Yes ma’am,” they replied
smiling and left to go down to the sub pen.
They were still shaking their heads as they headed for the elevator.
“Angie, what do you think of
Claudia,” Janet asked cautiously.
“I’m not sure what to think I
don’t know her that well.”
“Me either. There’s something about her. I sensed it at the auction but I can’t put my
finger on what it is.”
Angie shrugged her shoulders
and went to her office while Janet went to hers.
Lee and Chip came back from Seaview
late in the afternoon and were ready to go home. Angie and Wanda had just left for the
day. Janet was still there waiting for
Lee to come back from the sub pen.
“What are you doing for
dinner tonight Chip,” Lee asked as they exited the elevator.
“I’m going to get a hair cut
so I’m just going to grab a burger,” he told him has he took his jacket and
cover from his office.
“Okay, see you tomorrow,” Lee
responded as Janet came out of her office.
He walked back to the elevator
which hadn’t gone back down to the lobby and left for the day.
Lee went to his office, got
his coat and cover while Janet leaned up against the door frame with her back
to Lee’s office. She was lost in thought
when he came up from behind and gave her hug.
“A penny for your thoughts?”
he asked as he nuzzled the back of her neck.
“Just thinking about the
admiral and Claudia and what an interesting pair they are. I never pictured him with a woman like her.”
“What kind is that?”
“I’m not sure but she seemed
a little clingy and yet not one to be pushed around,” Janet said as they got on
the elevator.
They went home and made some
grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner which they ate on the deck. They sat there watching the waves on the
ocean for awhile before it got a little too cool so they went inside and
upstairs to bed.
((()))
The admiral and Claudia went
to the admiral’s house so he could change from his uniform into a shirt, jeans
and deck shoes. She went out on the balcony to wait for him while he
changed. You could see Seaview in
her sub pen from there. He followed her
out and put his arms around her waist.
She turned around and he gave her a very romantic kiss. They never did make it to the boat that
afternoon and she stayed the night.
((()))
Lee and Janet were up early
the next morning. Seaview was
leaving on a restocking mission to several undersea laboratories and would be
gone ten days. Lee grabbed their duffle
bags while Janet took the box she needed to take aboard along with Lee’s
briefcase and they drove to the dock.
Chip was already there with his clipboard checking off the crew members
as they arrived when Lee and Janet got there.
Jimmy took the duffle bags from Lee while Bob took the box and briefcase
from Janet. She asked him to put the items in her office.
After saluting the colors,
they walked down gangplank to the quarterdeck before going into the service
hatch.
“Has the admiral arrived?”
Lee asked Chip before entering the hatch.
“No he hasn’t. I’m surprised because he’s usually here when
I arrive,” Chip replied worriedly.
Just as they finished
talking, a British racing green jaguar pulled onto the dock and the admiral got
out along with Claudia. Janet noticed she had on the same clothes as
yesterday. Before the admiral saluted
the colors he gave her a long kiss and hug before saying goodbye.
Chip, Lee and Janet stood on
the quarterdeck and looked at each other.
They never thought the admiral would have hooked up with his date from
the auction. He watched her walk back to
her car and drive away before he saluted the colors and walked down to the
service hatch.
“Good morning sir,” they said
warily.
“Good morning,” the admiral
said cheerily. “It’s a beautiful morning
isn’t it?”
They waited for him to go
into the hatch. He descended down the
ladder into the control room followed by Chip and then Lee who jumped down the
last three rungs. He waited for Janet to
come down the ladder and grabbed her by the waist before she got to the bottom
and gently put her on the deck.
Seaview left the harbor and sailed to the first
laboratory. The admiral was in a very good
mood so far. Normally he would spend
most of the time on restocking missions in his laboratory or in his office working
on new projects. But this trip he was in
the observation nose or the control room getting in Lee’s and Chip’s way.
One day while he was sitting
in the observation nose staring out the windows Lee and Chip stood at the
plotting table looking at him. He was
actually whistling.
“Lee what’s wrong with the
admiral?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never
seen him like this.”
As Lee was talking Chief
Sharkey came up to him to sign a manifest and heard what he said.
“Sir, I think he really likes
Claudia. He’s got the ‘look’.”
“Yes Chief I think you’re
right and he’s got the ‘look’? What’s
the ‘look’?” Lee questioned.
“It’s the same ‘look’ you had
when Mrs. Crane came on board for her pilot run before we hired her.”
“I had the ‘look’? I looked like the admiral?” he asked
perplexed.
“Yes sir, everyone knew right
away Mrs. Crane was going to be hired and you would most likely get
married. You ‘looked’ happy and in
love,” Chief continued, “Just like the admiral looks now.”
“Do I still have the ‘look’?”
he asked as Janet came in the control room with some reports.
Both Chip and the Chief
nodded their heads smiling. So was Lee.
Seaview continued on her mission and the admiral was still
smiling and whistling.
((()))
A few days after Seaview
left, Claudia went to David Pepin’s hotel room to report on how her dates went
with the admiral. They had been on quite
a few before he left. Roy and Curt were
also there to report on their dates.
David had shelled out a lot of money to make sure they won the bids and
was anxious to hear what took place.
“Who would,” Claudia said
nastily.
“Now Claudia, please be
nice,” David said with a sly grin. He knew
she didn’t like
“I might be able to get in
the institute by mentioning her name.”
“Good that might be helpful.”
Curt’s date with Trish wasn’t
much better.
“She’s a beautiful and nice
woman too but if I hadn’t won the bid she would never give me the time of
day. I don’t think I could get into the
communication center so I hope we won’t need too. I couldn’t believe how tall she was.”
“No I don’t think we will but
we will need to get past security at the front gate,” David replied not really
caring about their dates. He was more
interested in Claudia’s.
“No problem, I have that
covered. Harry and I’ve had some
wonderful dates. We were together before he left. When I come to the main entrance, no one asked
me any questions at all; they recognized my car and waved me in. I should be able to get into the main office
too.”
“Wonderful but I will take
care of getting into the main office. We
will need some more help there. When
will Seaview be back?”
“If everything goes according
to schedule, Harry told me they should be back by tomorrow.”
“Marvelous we will execute
our plan on Friday so that gives us two days to get ready. Please leave all of you I have another
meeting scheduled.”
“Good bye, Uncle David,”
Claudia said as she left closing the door.
A few minutes after she left
there was another knock on David Pepin’s door.
A man by the name of Tim Weaver was standing at the door waiting for Mr.
Pepin.
“Tim, good to see you. I need some information from you.”
“Yes sir. Whatever you want.”
“How do you get into the main
office NIMR? Isn’t there security at the
front gate?” Pepin asked motioning to Tim to sit down at the table near the
window that looked out over the ocean.
“Yes sir. They have a list of the appointments for the
day. If someone doesn’t have an
appointment, they call the office and talk to Wanda Carston, the receptionist,
Janet Crane, she’s Lee Crane and Chip Morton’s administrative assistant or
Angie Pearce who’s the admiral’s administrative assistant. They will tell the guard to let them in or
send them away. Some of the time if the
officers are available and depending on what they want, they will see who comes
or let their secretary handle them.”
“At the institute main office
building is there a security guard on duty...even if you have an appointment
how do you get in to see them...where are the offices located?”
“There’s a security guard on
duty at all times at the front desk in the lobby. During the day the man’s name is Howard. I’ve been there a couple of times filling in
for him while he went to lunch. The offices are located on the first
floor. To see anyone upstairs you need
to sign in and he will call to let them know who is there. Once they know who’s coming you take the
elevator to the first floor. Wanda is
right there when you get off the elevator and will show you to the waiting area
located in the middle of all the offices.”
“Is the elevator the only way
up?”
“No there is a stairway that
goes upstairs too. As far as I know
those are the only two ways to get to the offices on the first and second
floor.”
“What’s on the second floor?”
“I believe accounting, human
resources and the legal department.
Right now there is no one on that floor.
They are remodeling all the offices and have relocated the personnel to
another building. They are waiting for
carpeting so there will be no workers there either.”
“When are you filling in for
Howard again?”
“Actually I’m going to be
there the rest of the week. They’re
training me to take over for him when he goes on vacation in a couple of
weeks.”
“Very good,” David said with
a gleam in his eye. His plans were
coming together better than he thought.
“Here’s what you’re going to do. On Friday, check and make sure everyone
is in the office. Make an excuse to get
some coffee. I want you to put this
sedative in Howard’s coffee.” David handed him a packet with some white
powder. David continued, “It will knock
him out for quite a few hours. Tie him
up, gag him then put him in the stairwell. As soon as you’ve done that call me.
When you call also let me know who isn’t in the offices. We will then proceed to the front security
gate at NIMR. Hopefully we will have no
problems getting in. Once we are in,
don’t call upstairs and let them know we are there. I want to surprise Admiral Nelson. When we arrive at the front desk, we’ll go up
the elevator and leave it there. Disable
it so it stays on the first floor. I
will let you know when to release it. Do
you understand everything?”
“Yes sir.”
“Your money will be deposited
in your account by tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you sir.”
“You can leave now. I will see you on Friday. Don’t let me down or you will be sorry,”
David threatened.
Tim quickly left David’s room. David sat at the table with a very pleased
expression on his face. Everything was
falling very nicely into place. He ordered
lunch from room service as he sat looking out the window at the ocean.
((()))
Seaview docked late Wednesday morning. After the crew was dismissed, the admiral,
Lee, Chip and Janet were getting ready to go topside when they heard a
commotion at the top of the ladder in the control room. They heard a man’s voice and a woman’s voice.
“Just go down the ladder,
ma’am and someone will be there to help you,” the crewman said.
“This is very hard to go
down. Isn’t there any other way to get
aboard this ship?” the woman sniped.
“No ma’am this is the only
way,” the crewman said with exasperation.
Lee went to the ladder and
saw a pair of legs with high heeled shoes and a skirt attempting to climb
down. Not wanting to look up her skirt
he motioned to Janet to come over to the ladder and help whoever it was down
the ladder. The admiral already knew who
it was by the voice and was very surprised to hear it.
“I’ll help her,” the admiral
volunteered as he walked over to the ladder.
By this time Claudia was almost at the bottom.
“Harry,” she said as she saw
him standing there. “You need to have
another way of getting on this ship.”
“It’s not a ship it’s a
boat,” he said giving her a quick kiss.
Claudia wanted more so she grabbed him by the hands and pulled him close
to her and gave him a very amorous kiss.
He was quite embarrassed as
Lee, Janet and Chip watched what took place.
“Why are you here?” he asked
softly. “I told you I would call and
meet you later on.”
“Harry, I wanted you to show
me around Seaview and so when I got here the ship was already here. I waited with the rest of the wives and
girlfriends but you never came up so I asked the men up top to show me how to
get down. Why does it take you so long
to leave?”
“We’re always the last ones
off the boat. We need to make sure the
crew is off, clear up paperwork and tell the deck crew what needs to be done.”
Lee, Chip and Janet could
tell the admiral wasn’t quite ready to show her around Seaview but he
didn’t know how to tell her.
Sensing the admiral was
uncomfortable Janet spoke up, “Claudia, why don’t you have the admiral show
around Seaview when you don’t have high heels and a skirt on. Seaview has many levels and stairways
along with hatches that are hard to walk over in high heels and a skirt. I always wear pants and flat shoes when I’m
on board. It’s easier to get around.”
The admiral gave Janet a look
of relief that Claudia didn’t see as her back was to him. As Claudia turned around to look back at the
admiral, Janet nodded and smiled.
“I see what you mean about
the shoes and skirt. I had a hard time
getting down that ladder. Now how am I going to get back up?”
“Don’t worry just take one
rung at a time. I will follow you up,”
Janet said with a grin. She knew that
Claudia was worried about someone looking up her skirt. When she did wear a skirt or dress on board,
Lee would always go down first or up right after Janet so no one could look up
her skirt or dress.
Claudia slowly climbed up the
ladder and finally made up to the top and out the sail hatch. Janet followed right behind her. They were followed by the rest of the men
with their gear. They all walked down
the gangplank where the men saluted the colors.
The admiral took Claudia’s arm and they walked to the parking lot to her
car. He waved to Lee, Chip and Janet as
they left.
“Well, that was very
interesting,” Chip snorted.
“He wasn’t expecting her at
all,” Lee said quietly with a frown.
“Come on let’s go home,”
Janet told them as she grabbed their arms and linked hers in theirs.
“What are you going to do for
dinner?” Chip asked as they walked to
the parking lot.
“Do you mind if we just go
home?” Lee replied looking at Janet. “I’m
not that hungry and I have a lot of work to do.”
“Fine with me,” Janet stated
seeing the frown on Lee’s face.
“Okay by me. I need to drop off my cleaning anyway and run
some errands. Do you want me to take
your cleaning too?”
“Thanks, Chip,” Lee said
handing him the duffle bag with the cleaning.
Since most of the cleaning was his uniforms, he was in charge of getting
them to the cleaners. Since Chip dropped
it off, he would pick it up.
They walked to their cars
still talking about the admiral and Claudia.
Taking his keys out of his jacket, Chip hit the key fob and unlocked his
door, put the duffle bags in the bag and drove out of NIMR. Lee unlocked the
door on Janet’s SUV and helped her inside, went to the driver’s side, climbed
in and drove home.
((()))
On the short ride home Janet
looked at Lee and could tell something was on his mind.
“Honey, are you alright? You seem a little worried.”
“I am worried and concerned
about the admiral and Claudia.”
“Concerned about what?” she
asked as they got out of the car. She
grabbed Lee’s briefcase while he took the other duffle bag and brought it in
the house.
“Doesn’t she seem too young
for him? Not that he’s old but there is
an age difference.”
“Honey, age isn’t
everything. He’s young at heart and has
the strength and stamina of a much younger man.” Janet reminded him.
“I guess you’re right.”
“Lee, you have to admit he’s
been very happy since they started dating.”
“I’m going to work in my
office for awhile, if you need anything come and get me,” he told her ignoring
her remark as he rolled up his sleeves, loosened his tie and undid the top
button of his uniform shirt.
“I’m going to do laundry and
some other chores so I will leave you alone,” she replied giving him a kiss.
She went upstairs, changed
her clothes, started the laundry and did some other chores that needed to be
done. She didn’t mind doing chores but
they were never home so how could anything get dirty.
Lee had been in his office
about two hours when she peeked in on him and saw him staring out the
window. You couldn’t see Seaview
from his office but you could see the institute offices.
“Hungry?”
“No but make yourself
something if you are,” he told her never looking at her as he continued to
stare out the window.
“I’m okay.”
Janet left his office and
decided to make some brownies. Maybe
they would help Lee’s mood. She would
make Cora’s special brownies with the amaretto.
She made two batches so Lee could take one to work tomorrow for the
admiral and Chip to have during their meeting.
She finished the first batch
of brownies and made some coffee the way Lee liked it. He liked it much too strong for her so she
would have a cup of tea. She brought him
three brownies and a carafe of coffee.
He looked up from his desk and smiled.
“Are these Cora’s brownies?”
he asked as he poured some coffee and grabbed one of the brownies.
“Yes. I made another batch for you to take to work
too.”
“Sorry I’m not much fun
tonight.”
“Don’t worry about it. I have plenty to do,” she replied wrapping
her arms around his neck and kissing the top of his head and left his office.
After she finished the
laundry and chores she checked on Lee again.
He was still working on his reports.
It was 2300 hours and she was tired.
“Honey, I’m going to bed.”
“Okay sweetie I’ll be there
shortly.”
Janet fell asleep and had no
idea what time Lee came to bed.
They took their usual shower
together the next morning and got ready for work. They had coffee and toast for
breakfast. Janet cleaned up while Lee got his briefcase. Since it was Thursday
Lee and Chip would spend the day at the institute catching up on paperwork and
meet with the admiral later in the morning to see what items he wanted to
discuss with them. They were walking out
the door and Lee forgot to take the brownies.
Janet grabbed the plate of brownies and ran to the car. Heaven forbid they get to work a couple of
minutes late.
“You forgot these and I know
you have a meeting with the admiral today.
You might need them to get through the morning.”
“I know Chip will enjoy
them,” Lee said as they drove away.
((()))
Janet and Lee arrived at the
institute and said good morning to Howard.
With Howard was another man that neither one of them recognized.
“Captain, Mrs. Crane this is
Tim Weaver. He’s going to be working
here for a few days to learn the routine.”
“Howard, you aren’t leaving
us are you?” Lee asked concerned as Howard has been there for many years and
could be trusted to do anything that was asked of him.
“No sir, just going on
vacation next week. Jeff transferred out
of security so we needed to train someone new.
I’ll still be here for quite a while.”
“That’s good. Welcome Tim.
Let us know if you have any questions or need anything,” Lee replied.
“Yes, sir I will.”
Lee and Janet took the
elevator upstairs and Janet could tell Lee wasn’t too happy that Howard wasn’t
going to be around. When Seaview was
on a mission or the men were down in the sub pen, Lee knew Howard would keep an
eye on Janet and the other ladies. There
was something about Tim that Lee felt uncomfortable about. Maybe his spy persona was working overtime.
When they arrived at their
offices Chip was there waiting for Lee.
He saw the brownies and made a grab for one of them.
“Those are for your meeting,”
Janet told him slapping his hand away before he could grab one.
The admiral came out of his
office and he saw the brownies.
“Are theses Cora’s brownies,”
he asked Janet as he took one.
“Yes sir. I didn’t have anything better to do last
night so I made them.”
“Good let’s get this meeting
over with. I’m leaving as soon as we’re
done. I’m taking Claudia out for the
day.”
“Looks like he’s going to
have better things to do than make brownies,” Chip mumbled under his breath so
that only Lee heard him.
Lee jabbed him in the ribs
and he couldn’t help but let out a groan.
“You okay, Chip,” the admiral
asked him as he grabbed another brownie.
“Yes sir,” he replied rubbing
his side while he took a brownie and followed the admiral into his office.
Lee gave Janet a kiss on the
forehead, “See you for lunch,” he said as he went into the admiral’s office
shutting the door behind him.
Angie had just arrived and
walked into her office just as Janet was leaving.
“It’s going to be a very
interesting day,” Janet told Angie. “The
admiral’s leaving as soon as the meeting is over.”
“He’s leaving again. He can’t.
I have a lot of paperwork to review with him and all these proposals to
look at,” she fretted holding a folder bulging with paper. “I guess they will have to wait unless he
wants Lee to look them over.”
“Let me know if I can help,”
Janet told her. “Angie, one more thing,
did you meet Tim the man who’s going to take over for Howard while he’s on
vacation?”
“Yes, I’ll miss Howard. I’m afraid things might get a little messed
up while he’s gone. He seemed a little
nervous.”
“I thought so too,” Janet
replied as she walked to her office and sat down at her desk that was piled
with work.
((()))
Before they started the
meeting, they each grabbed a cup of coffee and a brownie. Chip and Lee sat in the chairs in front of
the admiral’s desk.
“I only have a couple of
items to discuss. One of them is the
upgrades to Seaview’s computer system,” the admiral said munching on a
brownie. “Do we need to do them right
now?”
“Yes sir.” Chip answered
without hesitation, “We’re a little behind the times in technology right
now. If we upgrade we will be equipped
with the latest and greatest.”
“Okay go ahead and get what
you need to bring her up to date. The next
item is these proposals for new missions.
There are quite a few of them and I haven’t had a chance to look at
them. Lee, I would like you to look them
over and let me know which ones we should take and which to avoid.”
“Yes sir.”
“Is there anything else we
need to discuss?” the admiral asked as he shuffled the papers on his desk.
“Admiral, I know it’s none of
my business but there’s something that bothers me about Claudia. Let me do a background check on her,” Lee
asked quietly.
“You’re right it is none of
your business so I suggest you drop it,” the admiral said angrily as he stood
up.
“Yes, sir.”
“Well if that’s all there is,
I’m leaving for the day. I’ll be back on
Friday as Claudia has to go out of town that day.”
It was 1000 hours when the
admiral opened the door to his office with his cover and jacket in hand. Lee and Chip went to their offices to start
working on the items the admiral wanted them to take care off. Before he left, Angie cornered him with some
paperwork
“Sir, these items need to be
signed and I have quite a few proposals for you to look at,” she told him.
“I’ll sign what needs to be
signed and give Lee the proposals to look over.
I promise I will stay here tomorrow and finish all my work,” he told
Angie with a grin.
“Yes sir,” she replied
handing him a few letters to sign but kept the folder of proposals.
“Good bye and have a good
day, Angie.”
“You too sir.”
He walked out the door
without his briefcase and had a huge smile on his face as he waited for the
elevator.
Angie went into his office
and saw there was one brownie left. She
picked up and ate it. Damn these are
good brownies, she thought.
She shut the door to the
admiral’s office and went to Janet’s with the empty plate.
“Here’s your plate back. Those brownies were good.”
“Thanks, I’ll make some more
next week.”
She stopped at Lee’s office.
“Hi Lee. The admiral asked me to give these proposals
to you to look over and let him know what you think. I believe he wants them by tomorrow. Sorry I have to dump these on you.”
“I knew they were
coming. I’ll have them done by tomorrow
even if I have to take them home.”
“Thanks Lee.”
She left him sitting at his
desk with about fifty proposals to look over.
It was going to be a long day and night but luckily for him he still had
a couple of brownies at home.
The rest of the day went very
fast. Lee and Janet never did meet for
lunch. He spent all day in his office
finishing up some reports which he gave to Janet and then started looking at
the proposals. He would never finish
them at work so he would take them home.
Janet was also busy. Chip gave
her a few reports to type plus what Lee gave her so she wouldn’t have time for
lunch.
((()))
The admiral returned home and
changed his clothes. Just as he finished
getting ready, the doorbell rang and Claudia was at his door. Smiling he let
her in and gave her a very passionate kiss.
“I thought I was picking you
up today,” he said kissing her neck.
“I was out anyway and figured
I could come and get you. What do you
have planned for us today,” she asked as she unbuttoned his shirt.
“After a little ‘fun’ why
don’t we go sailing. It’s a beautiful
day and we can go wherever our spirit takes us.”
“Well what are we waiting
for,” she said as she took his hand leading him to the bedroom.
When they were finished, they
walked to the admiral’s car and he drove them to the dock. His crew was waiting for him on the
boat. He helped Claudia board the boat,
at least this time she was dressed for sailing.
She had on deck shoes, shorts and a very low cut shirt which was tied at
the bottom. She caught him looking at
her and smiled. They sat on the deck as
Thomas, the man in charge of the admiral’s boat, sailed out of the harbor to
“Please tell me about your
family,” the admiral asked as they lay on the blanket Claudia nestled into the
admiral’s arm.
“Not now Harry, let’s just
enjoy the peace and quiet and each other,” she said as she rubbed her hand on
his chest.
They stayed there for a
little while longer having some afternoon delight before taking a walk on the
beach holding hands. It was getting late
so they walked back the boat, and waited for the crewman to bring back the
basket and cooler before sailing back to the dock at NIMR. As Harry helped her off the boat, she fell
into his arms. He gave a kiss and long
hug. They drove back to the admiral’s
house where Claudia stayed for a few more hours before going home.
“Please stay,” the admiral
pleaded. “You can leave from here tomorrow.”
“Sorry Harry. I still have to pack. I’ll see you soon,” she replied as she left
his house with a smirk on her face.
((()))
After the admiral left, Lee
went to Chip’s office to discuss the computer upgrades for Seaview. He sat down in the chair in the front of his
desk instead of sitting on the corner like he usually did.
“Chip now that the admiral
has told you to go ahead with the upgrades for Seaview, how soon can we
get them?”
“I figured the admiral would
okay the upgrades so I went ahead and ordered them, they just need to be picked
up. I’ll do that on my way home tonight
so we will be able to install them tomorrow.
It will probably take all day to do it so I’m going to need your help.”
“No problem. We’ll plan on spending all day on Seaview. Chip, what to do you think of Claudia?” Lee
asked as he rubbed his fingertips together.
“I don’t really know her to
offer my opinion. I think the admiral
might be moving a little too quickly but you did the same thing and it turned
out fine,” Chip said with a smile, “Lee, you better let it go. You saw how angry he got with you when you
suggested a background check on her.
Maybe he’s right and there is nothing to be suspicious about. Take off your spy cap and put on your friend
cap for a change and let him have fun.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Lee
replied rubbing his forehead. He walked
out of Chip’s office and into his where he spent the rest of the day.
It was 1900 hours by the time
Lee, Chip and Janet left the institute for home and all of them were
tired.
“I’m actually too tired to go
out and eat,” Chip told them. “I’m
putting a frozen pizza in the oven for dinner.
I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“No problem. I’ve got a lot of work to do anyway. We’ll find something to eat at home too. Bye
Chip.”
((()))
Lee and Janet got home and
sat down on the couch debating on what they should have for dinner.
“How about a salad for
dinner,” Lee suggested.
“No problem. If you want to start working on the
proposals, I’ll bring it to you.”
“Thanks Sweetie. I appreciate it as I think it’s going to be a
long night.”
She went to the kitchen, took
the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and chicken leftover from the other night and
put it in two bowls. She put on the light vinaigrette he liked, brought him the
salad and some iced tea to his office.
He gave her a kiss as she left him alone. He was already deep into one of the proposals
so she knew she would have to eat alone.
She grabbed her book and read it while she ate dinner. She went to check on him an hour later with a
carafe of strong coffee and the rest of the brownies. She saw that he had
finished the salad.
“Thanks, they’re just what I
needed,” he told her pouring a cup of coffee and putting a brownie in his
mouth.
“I’ll check in on you later,”
she said as she left taking the empty bowl.
She could see he was tired but he still had a few more proposals to go
over.
She went to the couch, sat
down and continued reading her book.
((()))
She left him alone for
another couple of hours by this time it was 2200 hours and she was tired.
“I’m going to bed. Please don’t stay up too late,” she told him
with a gleam in her eye.
“I’ll be there soon,” he
answered still reading the proposal not looking at her.
Lee came to bed two hours
later. Janet was sleeping but when he
got into bed she woke up. She tried to engage him in a little intimate exercise
but he wasn’t interested. Surprised and
disappointed, she laid next to him and he wrapped his arm around her as he put
his other arm above his head.
“There’s something about
Claudia I don’t trust,” he said rubbing Janet’s arm. “She’s not who or what she appears to be.”
“Honey, are you afraid he
might love her and want to marry her,” Janet replied rubbing her hand on his
chest.
“Maybe but something is just not
right,” he said realizing that Janet had fallen back to sleep and didn’t hear
what he said. He kissed the side of her
head and laid there until 0200 hours before finally falling asleep.
((()))
Lee woke up at 0430 hours on
Friday morning. Not wanting to wake up
Janet he un-wrapped his arm from her and took her hand off his chest and
carefully got out of bed. He grabbed his
uniform and went into the bathroom shutting the door behind him. He turned on the shower and stood under the
warm water letting it flow over his body.
He was still worried about the admiral.
Janet woke up and heard the water running in the shower. Even though she was still tired, not wanting
to miss their morning shower together she got up and jumped in the shower with
him.
“Good morning. You’re up early,” she said wrapping her arms
around him and putting her head on his back.
He turned around and gave her a kiss as he rubbed her back. He turned off
the water; they quickly dried off and jumped back into bed. They finished their shower a little while
later.
“Are you feeling better this
morning?” Janet asked as she dried off again.
“A little,” he replied
smiling as he watched her dry off. “I’ll
be fine, don’t worry. Maybe it’s my
sixth sense that’s kicking in.”
“Honey, your sixth sense is
always right. Maybe you should check
into her background.”
“I suggested that to the
admiral yesterday but he got angry with me.
Chip thinks I should just leave it alone too. Maybe I’m a little
paranoid but when I get to the office, I’m going to do a background check on
her anyway,” he said watching her put on his favorite dress. “There’s something
about her...”
They went downstairs, made
some coffee and ate breakfast. It was
still too early to go to work so Lee went back to reading the last proposal
while Janet cleaned up and finished getting ready for work. She came downstairs with her sweater and put
her shoes on as Lee stood by the door ready to leave after going to his office
to get his briefcase with all the proposals.
He managed to look over all of them and found quite a few he thought the
admiral would be interested in.
“You look very nice
today. Anything special happening at the
office that I should know about?” he asked looking her over from head to toe.
“Nothing that I’m aware of is
there something wrong? You keep staring
at me.”
“No. Let’s go,” he said kissing her forehead
before he opened the door to leave.
“Since it’s going to be a beautiful day, let’s take the cobra.”
“Fine with me,” she replied
as they went to the garage where he opened the door for her. He started the car and slowly backed out of
the driveway. He put it in first gear and sped down the street using all four
gears before slamming on the brakes so he could make the turn onto the road
that led to the institute offices. Janet
could tell he was a little anxious to get to work today.
((()))
When Lee and Janet got to the
office Tim and Howard were there to greet them.
Howard signed them in the log book showing they were in the office. He would log all of them in when they came
into work. He would also log them out
when they left for the day.
“Good morning Captain, Mrs.
Crane,” they both said.
“Good morning Howard, Tim.”
They stepped into the
elevator and pushed the button for the first floor. Since they were the first ones there, Janet
made the coffee, went to her office while the coffee brewed and stood there
looking at all the work on her desk.
I’m going to be very busy
today,” she thought.
Lee went directly to the
closet where he hung up his jacket and put his cover on the shelf. He sat down at his desk and called his
friend, Anthony, at ONI. While he waited
for Anthony to the answer the phone he took the proposals out of his briefcase,
put them on the desk and the briefcase under the desk.
“Hi Anthony its Lee
Crane. I need a favor.”
“Hey Lee nice to hear from
you. Enjoying your six month leave? Johnson’s still not happy about it. Keeps grumbling about when you’re coming
back. What can I do for you?”
“I need you to do a
background check on a Claudia Hall.
Could you keep it under wraps?”
“Sure thing. Anything specific you want to know?”
“Whatever you can find out. I
just have a hunch she’s not who she says she is and I don’t want someone very
close to me to get hurt.”
“I’ll send what I find out in
your personal code to your computer as soon as I can.”
“Thanks Anthony I owe you
one.”
“Just come back so Johnson
will stop grumbling,” Anthony laughed.
“I’ll be back soon enough,”
Lee laughed too.
Lee hung up the phone just as
Chip came in his office. He could tell
Lee was up to something by the guilty look on his face.
“Who were you talking too?”
“I’m not going to tell you so
you don’t have to cover for me later.”
“Have it your way. I got the upgrades so whenever you’re ready
to go we can start installing them.”
“Just give me a minute. I need to talk to Janet about something and I
forgot to tell her we’d be on Seaview most of the day.”
“No problem. I’ll be in my office,” Chip replied as he
walked out the door and grabbed a cup of coffee.
Lee called Janet on the phone
and asked her to come into his office.
She was at his office door by the time he hung up the phone. He could never figure out how she got there
so fast. It was like she knew he would
be calling.
“Sweetie, please close the
door.”
“What’s wrong,” she asked as
she shut the door and stood in front of his desk.
“Nothing is wrong. First, Chip and I will be on Seaview
most of the day. We’re going to upgrade
the computer and who knows what problems we may run into. Second, I’m expecting a file from ONI in my
personal code. Please check my computer
as often as you to catch it when it comes in.
When it does, please call down to Seaview as I need to read it
right away.”
“Yes Lee. What....”
“Sweetie, don’t ask okay?” he
said giving her a kiss before she could finish her sentence.
“Alright I will let you
know,” she replied returning his kiss.
They walked out of the office
together. He went to get Chip and they
left for the sub pen and Seaview.
Janet went to her office but she never got a chance to check Lee’s
computer.
((()))
Claudia, Roy and Curt met
David in his hotel room at
“Claudia you’re going to
drive us to the institute in your car.
They will recognize your car and let you in but you’re going to stop at
the security gate and tell them that I’m your father and these are your
brothers and we’re surprising the admiral with our visit.”
“David, they’re going to call
the administrative office and tell the guard that we are here. He will call and let Angie know,” Claudia
told him taking a sip of her coffee.
“Don’t worry. I have Tim Weaver stationed at the front desk
to cover for us. He will call me before
we get to the institute and let me know he has taken care of the other guard. When we get to the offices, he will not call
them upstairs and let them we are there.”
“David, I didn’t know you had
someone from the institute working for you,” Claudia said warily. “How do we know he won’t turn on us?”
“Oh he won’t. I’m paying him a lot of money which he needs
to cover his gambling debts,” David assured her.
“Once we get in the
institute, how are we going to get upstairs without being discovered?”
“According to Tim there are
only two ways into the offices upstairs. One is the elevator and the other is the
stairway. We are going to get on the
elevator and go to the first floor reception area like they are expecting us. Once we are upstairs, Tim is going to disable
the elevator so it stays on that floor,” David explained to them. “I’ll go up to the receptionist and tell her
who I am. What’s her name again?”
“Her name is Wanda
Carston. She’s at the desk as soon as
you get off the elevator. She usually
shows the visitors to the waiting area and reports to either Janet Crane or
Angie Pearce who has arrived.”
“What do they do after a
visitor is shown to the waiting area?”
“When I was there the first
time, Angie, the admiral’s secretary, came out to get me and brought me to
Nelson’s office which is located along the back of the building. Angie is in an outer office and there’s
another door that leads directly into his office. The rest of the offices are on the outer
perimeter. After you get into the waiting area the first office you come to is
Janet Crane’s. The next one on that side
is Chip Morton’s. On the other side of the waiting area is Lee Crane’s office
along with one empty one. There are
chairs in the middle of the room, next to Crane’s there’s also a couch along
the wall by the admiral’s office.”
“That’s good to know. When we go in, we will put them in the
waiting area. This way no one will see us from the outside. Curt and Roy you’re to unplug their
computers, take the phone lines out of the phones and cut the ends off. This
way they will not be able to make or receive any calls or plug them back
in. Then you are to collect their cell
phones, turn them off and smash them.
Claudia, you and I will hold them at gun point until Roy and Curt are
finished. Then you will take over. Does everyone understand their jobs? Do you have your guns and extra ammo?”
“Yes sir,” they replied.
“Let’s get moving. Tim should be calling me in the next hour.” They got up from the table and made their way
down the elevator to Claudia’s car. Roy
and Curt helped David into the car. They
jumped in the back seat and Claudia drove to the outskirts of NIMR and waited
for Tim to call giving them the all clear.
((()))
Tim and Howard were in the
lobby of the institute offices. Tim was
happy to see that everyone had finally come in.
The admiral was a little late in arriving this morning as he was a
little tired from his excursion yesterday.
“Good morning, Admiral,”
Howard said logging him in.
“Good morning Howard, Tim,
I’m running a little late today.”
“Have a good day sir,” Howard
told him.
“You too.”
He got in the elevator and
went up to the first floor. Tim breathed
a sigh of relief. Now all he had to do
was get rid of Howard.
“Hey Howard how about I go
and get us some coffee? I forgot to
bring my mine today. As long as you’re
here it should be okay.”
“Thanks I could use a
cup. You’re going to have to remember to
bring some on Monday when you’re here alone; you can’t leave until lunch when
your relief comes.”
“I’ll remember. How do you take it?”
“Cream and two sugars.”
Tim left the office and went
to the cafeteria. While he was gone,
Chip and Lee left the institute offices and went to the lobby.
“See you later Howard. We’ll probably be gone most of the day,” Lee
told him. “Call down to Seaview if there are any problems. The admiral should be in the office all day
today along with the ladies.”
“Yes sir. Have a good day.”
Since it was a nice day Chip
and Lee left the office and decided to walk down to Seaview. By the time they got to Seaview, Tim
had returned to the lobby. On his way
back he stopped at the corner of the building and put the sedative David gave
him in Howard’s coffee. He went back to
the lobby and gave Howard the coffee.
“You did say cream and two
sugars?” Tim asked to kill time.
“You got it,” Howard replied
as he took a sip of the coffee. “I don’t
know what you did but this is a very good cup of coffee. Maybe Cookie changed the roast or something
but man this is good,” Howard said as he drank the whole cup.
Before long he was lying on
the floor sound asleep. Tim tied his
hands and feet, duct taped his mouth and dragged him to the stairwell. When he was finished he went back to the desk
and took out his cell phone.
“Mr. Pepin, the guard has
been taken care off. Everyone is in the
office today.”
Howard didn’t get a chance to
tell Tim that Lee and Chip left the office for Seaview. Since they were still on institute grounds
they didn’t have to sign out that they left the office.
“Very good Tim. We will be there shortly...alright let’s
go....the guard has been taken care of.”
Claudia put the car in drive
and headed for
((()))
Chip and Lee had been on Seaview
for an hour and it was now 0900. Lee was
wondering why Janet hadn’t called to tell him he had a message on his
computer. He called Anthony over two
hours ago.
“Lee, pay attention. What’s the computer telling me to do now?”
Chip called on the radio from the electronics room.
“Sorry Chip put in the next
disk.” Lee answered back.
This was going to take much
longer than Chip realized to get this done if Lee didn’t pay attention to
what’s going on. He had something on his
mind. While the computer was installing
the next disk, Chip went to the control room.
“Okay buddy what’s up. We’re never going to get this done if you
don’t tell me what’s happening on the computer.”
“I’m waiting for Janet to
call me and tell me I have a message from ONI.
I called Anthony at ONI this morning and asked him to do a background
check on Claudia. I know the admiral
told me to drop it but Chip something is not right and I’m worried.”
“Maybe there is nothing or
Janet hasn’t had a chance to check your computer. You know she’ll call when you get something.”
“Okay, go put the next disk
in,” he told him frowning. Before Chip
left the control room, he looked back at Lee as he sat at the computer. He knew Lee well enough to know something was
really bothering him.
((()))
Claudia pulled up to the main
gate at
“Good morning Miss Hill, how
are you today?”
“Just fine Sal.” she answered
recognizing him from her previous visits.
“This is my father and brothers.
Admiral Nelson wanted to meet my family so I brought them today. Is it okay if I go to his office?” she asked
softly batting her eyelashes at him.
“Sure Miss Hill, I will let
them you know you are on you’re way.”
“Thank you Sal,” she replied
as she drove to the main office building with a smile on her face.
“Hi Tim, Sal here, Miss Hill
and her family are here to see Admiral Nelson.”
“I’ll let them know. Thanks Sal,” Tim replied with a grin.
Claudia made the short drive
to the main office building. She got out
of the car as
“Good work Tim. Stay here and don’t let anyone in this
building. If you need to stop them us
this,” David said has he handed him a gun.
Tim went over to the door and locked it from the inside. He also went over to the stairway door and
locked it too.
“I’ll make sure no one gets
in, Mr. Pepin,” he said taking the .45 caliber gun from him and chambering the
round.
((()))
The four of them entered the
elevator and
“Good morning Miss Carston,
I’m David Pepin and I’m here to see Admiral Nelson.”
He stepped out of the way and
Claudia was standing there holding a gun on her.
“Please don’t try anything
and get up from your desk,” Claudia hissed.
Surprised that Claudia was
holding a gun, Wanda got up from her desk while
“Wanda, give Curt your cell
phone,” Claudia instructed.
Wanda recognized the two men
with Mr. Pepin as the men Angie and Trish had for dates from the auction.
“Miss Carston, I have no
problem telling Curt to search you or your desk for it. So I suggest you just give it to him,” Pepin
said sharply.
Curt walked over to Wanda but
before he could put a hand on her she took the cell phone out of her pocket and
gave it to him. He turned it off and
smashed it.
“Very good. Now take us to the waiting area,” Pepin told
her harshly.
While Claudia held the gun to
her back Wanda led them into the waiting area.
“Now sit down on the chair
over by Captain Crane’s office,” Claudia told Wanda shoving the gun in her back
and pushing her to the chair.
David and Curt walked over to
Janet’s office. She was busy on the
computer and didn’t notice them come in.
Startled she said, “Who are
you? And what do you want?”
“I’m David Pepin, Mrs.
Crane. Please push yourself away from
your computer and don’t try anything. I
have no problem telling Curt to shoot you.”
Janet also recognized him as
the man from the auction. Curt went over
to the computer pulled the cords out and took the phone line out of the phone
and cut the end off.
“Please give him your cell
phone and don’t try anything.”
Janet took her cell phone out
of her front desk drawer. Curt grabbed
the phone out of her hand before she had a chance to press the number three
button which would have sent an alarm to Lee’s phone letting him know she was
in trouble. He turned it off and smashed
it.
“Please follow me into the waiting
area and sit here,” David told her to sit in the chair that looked right into
Angie’s office. Her door was closed but
if the door to the admiral’s office was open she would be able to see him
sitting at his desk.
The doors to Lee’s and Chip’s
office were closed. The lights were off
in the offices but they didn’t notice it.
“
“Yes Mr. Pepin.”
“Mr. Pepin there’s no one in
here,” he said as he turned on the lights.
He went over to the phone and cut the line, pulled out the cords on the
computer.
“Curt, check the other
office,” David said impatiently. Curt
went to Chip’s office and found it empty too.
“Mr. Pepin there’s no one in
here either.” He went to the phone, cut
the line and pulled out the cords on the computer.
\
“Damn, where are they?” David
asked Janet sharply.
She refused to answer him so
he slapped her across the face with the back of his hand leaving a large red
mark.
As she rubbed her face he
told her, “That slap was only a warning.
Mrs. Crane let me make this perfectly clear I have no qualms about
shooting any of you. So I suggest you
tell me what I need to know.”
“They’re down on Seaview.”
“Now that’s much better Mrs.
Crane,” David said curtly.
“How long are they going to
be there?”
She didn’t want to answer the
question so she hesitated for a little while.
Curt stood along side of her with his gun pointed at her while they
waited for an answer.
“Mrs. Crane, don’t make me
hit you again. This time I will make
sure I draw blood.”
“Most of the day.”
“Good answer,” he snarled.
Hearing a commotion outside
her office Angie opened the door and came out to see what was going on. She was surprised to see Claudia there
holding a gun on Wanda and Curt standing next to Janet with a gun pointed at
her.
“Welcome Miss Pearce,” David
said arrogantly, “Claudia and I were just coming to get you and the admiral. Please
have a seat,” he told her pointing to chair, three away from Janet and closer
to Wanda. Before you sit down, please
give
She hesitated and
“Claudia, please go and get
the admiral. I’m sure he’s going to be
surprised to see you,” David smirked.
She went to the door to the
admiral’s office and opened it without knocking. Janet could see the admiral sitting at his
desk. He was surprised to see her and
went over to give her a kiss until she pulled out the gun and pointed it him.
“Harry, my dear, I’m so happy
to see you,” she purred, “Please come out to the waiting area with the rest of
your staff.”
She motioned him to move with
the gun. After he was out of the room,
“Harry, give me your cell
phone,” Claudia demanded.
When he refused she went over
to him and searched his pant pockets which she thoroughly enjoyed doing. He didn’t have it on him.
“
He found it on his desk. He turned it off and smashed it too.
“Claudia what’s the meaning
of this,” he asked sharply noticing that Angie, Wanda, and Janet had guns
pointed at them.
“Admiral Nelson, from now on
you will talk to only me. My name is
David Pepin and please sit down over here,” pointing to the couch next to the
door by Angie’s office.
“Do I know you?” the admiral
asked Pepin.
David sat down across from
the Admiral next to Wanda, “No not directly but you did know my brother Oscar
Pepin. You met him on an ONI mission
some twenty years ago in a warehouse. Do
recall that mission Admiral? You and
three other agents blew up the warehouse after you trapped my brother into
selling you a cache of heroine while you posed as members of a drug cartel.”
The admiral sat there
thinking back and recalled a mission where he did pose a part of a drug cartel.
“Your brother was selling
drugs to soldiers at various
“You see admiral I was in
that building when it was blown up. My
brother dragged me out but not before a beam fell on me and paralyzed me. He
went back to get the heroine and died in the fire that engulfed it. So now it’s your turn to suffer.”
“What does Claudia have to do
with all of this?” the admiral asked puzzled.
“Oscar Pepin was her
father. She vowed revenge on the men who
killed her father just like I did.”
“We never meant to hurt you
or your brother. We were to bring him in
unharmed to face charges. None of us
knew that building was going to explode.”
“That’s a bunch of shit. All you wanted to do was kill my
brother. Don’t worry admiral the other
three men have already paid for their part in the sting. I’ve killed all of them. You’re the last one...I saved the best for
last...Only this time I have people you care for to pay also.
“Please don’t hurt them. They know nothing of what took place twenty
years ago. Let them go.”
“Always the gentlemen, I want
you to witness someone you care about being hurt and no way to help them.”
He took aim at Wanda and
fired hitting her in the shoulder. She
screamed in pain. Janet and Angie got up
to help her but Curt and
“Ladies I strongly suggest
you sit down now or one of you will be next.”
“Angie, Janet, do what he
says,” the admiral ordered.
They sat down as ordered but
very angry that they couldn’t help Wanda.
As the admiral moved to help Wanda, David wasted no time shooting him in
the upper right side. He fell to the
floor as blood gushed from his side creating a large stain on his shirt. Janet and Angie stood up to help the admiral
horrified at what just happened.
“Sit down now,” David said
loudly as he pointed the gun at Angie.
“Don’t move or I will shoot the both of you.”
“Please let us help them,”
Janet pleaded as she and Angie watched them writhe in pain.
“No they need to suffer just
the way my brother and I did.”
Roy and Curt stood in front
of Angie and Janet with their guns pointed at them. Wanda had passed out from the pain and her
shoulder was bleeding pretty badly. The
admiral lay on the floor with his hands on his side trying to stop the
bleeding. Janet and Angie could tell he
was going into shock and before long he too lost consciousness.
David and Claudia just sat
there grinning at what just happened.
They had gotten their revenge.
((()))
It was 1000 hours and Lee was
still waiting for Janet to call him.
They were almost done with the first phase of the upgrade when Chip came
into the control room and saw Lee pacing in front of the computer.
“I still haven’t heard from
Janet. I’m going to call her and find
out if Anthony has sent anything.”
Chip rolled his eyes and
waited for Lee while he made the call.
The computer had just finished updating so the first phase was
complete. They needed a break so Lee
went to Seaview’s radio and called the institute. All the phone did was ring. He let it ring about twenty times and no one
answered. He then took out his cell
phone and pushed the number one button that connected him directly to Janet’s
phone. It went straight to voice
mail. He also tried the admiral’s number
along with Angie and Wanda’s. It too
went to voice mail.
“Chip something’s wrong. No one is answering any phones up there,” Lee
said running his hand through his hair.
“Try calling Trish in the
communication center. Maybe there’s a
problem with the phone system.”
Lee dialed the number and
Trish picked up the phone on the first ring recognizing the number.
“Hi Lee. What can I do for you?”
“Trish is there something
wrong with the phones? I’ve tried
calling the institute main office and the phone just rings. All the cell phones go directly to voice
mail.”
Lee could hear her flipping
some switches and pressing buttons.
“Lee, I see no problems with
the phone system. Could they have left
the building? I don’t see any problems
with the cell phones either.”
“No I don’t think so. I was waiting for an important message from
someone and Janet was going to call me when it came in. Let me try sending an e-mail. I’ll call IT if I don’t get any
response. Thanks for your help.”
“Let me know if you need
anything else, Lee.”
“Chip can we use a computer
to send an e-mail?”
“Sorry Lee everything is down
while we do the upgrades.”
“Damn. I’m going to call Anthony back and see if he
sent anything. Can you spare me for a
few minutes?”
“Sure we are at a breaking
pointing anyway,” Chip replied walking to the observation nose for a cup of
coffee.
As Lee was talking to Chip, Riley
came into the control room.
“Hi Skipper, Mr. Morton.”
“Riley what are you doing
here?” Chip asked surprised to see him.
“Helping the Chief with an
electrical problem on the torpedo panel.
He needs a spare part from the warehouse.”
“I need you to do something
for me.” Lee told him, “I’ll clear it with the Chief.”
“Yes sir. What do you want me to do?”
“I need you to go to the main
office and find out if there is a problem there. No one answers the phones. I don’t suppose
you have your scooter here?”
“Sorry sir not today. I’ll run there that way I won’t have to do it
later.”
“Thanks Riley.”
Riley climbed up the ladder
out of the control room and to the sail hatch and ran down the gangplank to the
main offices.
While they were waiting for
Riley to come back, Chief came into the control room muttering to himself.
“If you want something
done you have to do it yourself. What’s
taking Riley so long?”
“Oh hi Skipper, Mr. Morton
did Riley come through here. He was
getting me a spare part and isn’t back yet.”
“Sorry Chief I sent him to
check out something for me. He’ll get
your part when he gets back.”
“Okay skipper. I’ll just wait
here if it’s okay with you.”
“No problem.” Lee replied as
he paced up and down the control room. Chief looked at Chip as Lee continued to
pace. Sitting on the edge of the table, Chip
shrugged his shoulders as he took a drink of his coffee.
Lee decided to call Anthony
directly while they waited for Riley, he answered the phone on the first ring.
“Anthony, it’s Lee. Did you find out any information on Claudia?”
“Yes Lee. I sent that to you
over two hours ago, didn’t you get it?”
“No.” Shit, he thought.
“Lee she’s one bad lady. Her real name is Claudia Pepin. She’s wanted by various agencies in the US
along with her uncle David Pepin and two men named,” Lee could hear him
shuffling papers, “Roy Bell and Curt Taylor.
They’ve killed three men who were on a mission for ONI twenty years
ago. There was a fourth man involved it
was Admiral Nelson.”
“Damn.” Lee shouted, “What happened on the mission?”
“A warehouse was blown up
while Oscar Pepin was inside. He was
wanted for selling drugs on US bases.
The four men were sent there
as a drug cartel to flush him out.
Somehow the building exploded.
Our four men got out but David Pepin was dragged out of the building by
his brother after a beam fell on him and paralyzed him. Oscar went back in to get the drugs and died
in the explosion. All four of the men
involved swore they never set the building to blow up. We found out this information from one of the
men before he died. Even thought David
Pepin was paralyzed he’s been rehabilitated enough to get around. Lee, I don’t know who’s hooked up with her
but you better tell him before its too late.”
“It might already be too
late. Thanks Anthony.”
Lee hung up the phone and
slammed his fist on the plotting table. Startled,
Chip left his cup on the table and ran to the control room. Chip could see he was pissed.
“Lee, what did Anthony find
out?”
Lee relayed to Chip and
Sharkey what Anthony told him about Claudia and the other two men along with
David Pepin.
“Skipper, aren’t those other
two men from the auction too? I remember
Trish telling me he was a little weird and very nervous,” Sharkey told Lee.
Just as Lee finished telling
Chip and the Chief what Anthony told him, Riley came back down the ladder to
the control room.
“Skipper,” he said trying to
catch his breath. “When I got to the
offices I saw Tim Weaver sitting at the front desk with a gun. I didn’t want
him to see me so I didn’t try the door.
Is there a problem up there and why would Tim have a gun? ”
“Damn,” Lee said as he rubbed
his hand on his forehead. “Yes Riley
there is a problem. You’re sure he
didn’t see you?”
“Yes sir, I’m positive he
didn’t see me.”
“Chief, get some side arms
for Mr. Morton and myself. Give Riley
one and grab one too and meet us topside.”
“Aye, Aye sir,” Chief replied
getting the key out of his pocket to the arms locker in the control room. He
opened it up and took out four guns, handing one to Riley while he buckled one
on himself.
When Lee and Chip scrambled
up the ladder and out the hatch, they nearly ran over Kowalski and Patterson
entering the sail hatch.
“Sorry sirs,” they said.
“Go tell Sharkey you both
need side arms and meet us up here on the double,” Lee said as he paced up and
down the quarterdeck waiting for Sharkey.
“Yes sir,” they replied
running to the hatch. They met Sharkey
coming up with the side arms for Lee and Chip.
He handed them the two side arms to give them while he went down to get
two more. Kowalski handed Lee his while
Patterson handed Chip the other one.
While Lee and Chip buckled on
their guns, Chip said cautiously, “Lee, you better call the police
department. This might be a little more
than we want to handle.”
“You’re right. I’ll call Aaron and tell him to get some men
over here now. You call Hank in security
and tell him what’s going on and to wait for the police department. Tell Hank not to go to the front of the main
building but go around the back way using
Lee dialed the
“Santa Barbara Police how may
I help you?” a woman answered.
“Is Aaron Thompson
there? This is Lee Crane from the Nelson
Institute.”
“Yes sir he’s here, just a
moment.”
“Yes Lee what can I do for
you?” Aaron said quickly.
“We have a bad situation
here. I believe there are three men and
a woman at the main office holding our people hostage and the security guard is
locked in the front lobby with a gun threatening to shoot anyone who tries to
come in.”
“Lee, who’s being held
hostage?”
Sighing Lee replied, “Admiral
Nelson, Angie, Janet and Wanda.”
“I was afraid you would say
that. I’ll be right over. Give me ten minutes.”
“Aaron you better bring some
men and please don’t use your sirens or lights.
Hank will be at the security gate waiting to bring you in. I don’t want anyone to see you coming.”
Lee hung up his phone just as
Chip as disconnecting from security.
“Hank will have a couple of
men with him and wait for Thompson,” Chip reported uneasily.
Lee then dialed
“Dr. Jamieson.”
“Jamie we’re going to need
your help. The admiral and the ladies
are being held hostage at the main office.
Right now we think there are four people there plus the four of
them. You better bring everything you
got. Meet us in front of the lecture
halls. Please use the back way to get
there.”
“Lee, do we know if any of
them are hurt?”
“Jamie, right now I don’t
even know if they’re alive. Just hurry.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Jamie called his staff into
his office.
“We have a hostage situation
at the main institute offices. Frank,
John, I want you to come with me. Please
tell Mike to bring the ambulance to the front of
“Yes sir. One problem though, only
“No problem, please call her
and see if she can come in to help out.”
“Consider it done,” Hazel
replied running to the front desk to call
Mike made sure the ambulance
was equipped with any emergency supplies they would need and was waiting in the
front of
((()))
Sharkey and the rest of the
men came out of the sail hatch and down the gangplank with their side arms.
“We’re going to meet Hank from
security and the SBPD in the front of the lecture hall. I don’t want Tim to see us and alert whoever
is upstairs that we know they are there,” Lee told them as beads of sweat
formed on his forehead.
Lee, Chip and the rest of
them ran over to the front of the lecture hall and waited for Hank and Aaron to
come. Lee was pacing in front of the
lecture hall and deep in thought. Chip
knew he was working out a plan. Hank
with three men from security and Aaron with two officers pulled in front of the
lecture hall. Lee explained to them who
they were after and why.
“Lee, are we going to need a
sharp shooter?” Aaron asked standing by the car ready to radio the station.
“No I don’t think so. I’m
hoping he’s holding the hostages in the waiting area. This way he can keep an
eye on them and not worry about being seen or getting shot from any of the
office windows. The only way into the
building undetected is the fire escape ladder that leads into the admiral’s
office.* Chip, Aaron, Kowalski,
Patterson and I are going to go up the ladder into the admiral’s office. Hopefully they left the door open to his
office and the one in Angie’s office.
Chief, Hank, Riley, the security men and police officers will go in the
front door but stay out of sight.”
Lee continued outlining his
plan, “Hank, leave one of your men near
the fire escape, when he sees the last man go in the building, give us five
minutes to get into place. We need the
element of surprise and catch them off guard.
After waiting five minutes storm the front door. Please be careful as we know Tim is armed.
Those men that are going with me please turn off your phones and radios. I don’t want any noise to alert them we are there. Everyone understand their job?”
Everyone nodded their heads
and broke up into their groups and headed for their positions.
Lee climbed up the ladder
first and cautiously opened the door into the admiral’s office from the fire
escape. They were in luck as the door to
that admiral’s office into Angie’s was open and so was Angie’s door to the
waiting area. Lee could see a man
leaning against the door frame outside of Angie’s office. He could also see Janet sitting across from
the door. He waved the other men to come
up the ladder. Silently the rest of the
men climbed the ladder and went into the admiral’s office staying out of sight.
Lee stepped into the doorway
between Angie’s and the admiral’s office.
Janet caught sight of him but didn’t let on that he was there. She rubbed her nose using her forefinger and
hiding her thumb so Lee could see her four fingers. She was letting him know how many people
there were holding them. Smiling he
understood her signal and winked at her.
Now if she could only read his mind.
They needed a diversion. Just a
small one so they could get into Angie’s office and then into the waiting area.
“David, I need to go to the
bathroom please,” Janet asked. “There
are no windows in the bathroom so I won’t be able to escape. Have Curt come with me if you don‘t trust
me.”
“Alright but make it
quick. Curt, don’t take your eyes off of
her and keep your gun on her. Go into
the bathroom with her and wait until she is finished. If she tries anything, shoot her.”
“Into the bathroom with her?”
“You heard me. I don’t trust her.”
“Okay let’s go,” he told
Janet as he left the doorway pointing his gun at her.
Lee smiled at her as she
stood up. He motioned to Kowalski to
take the man by the door frame. He jumped on Curt sending him to the
floor. Janet fell to the floor laying on
top of the admiral to protect him while Angie pulled Wanda down to the floor
and lay on top of her. Lee went for
Downstairs Sharkey, Hank and
Riley and the rest of the men stormed the front door. Tim saw them coming and was shooting at them
through the door which shattered the glass.
Tim stopped shooting when he realized he was out numbered and
surrendered. A police officer grabbed
his hand cuffs from his back and put them on Tim. He led him to a chair and
pushed him into it. Riley went to the
stairway door and found Howard still sleeping and tied up. He and Sharkey untied him, carried him into
the lobby and laid him a one of the couches.
((()))
Aaron had brought zip tips
with him and he tied up Roy, Curt and Claudia.
Chip went over to Angie and
helped her up off of Wanda who was conscious.
He also helped up Wanda and could see her shoulder was bleeding pretty
badly. He went to his office, found some
towels and put it on her wound. Both
Angie and Wanda were trembling.
Lee went over to Janet who
was still laying on top of the admiral and helped her to a kneeling position so
he could check out the admiral. Looking at him, he knew the admiral was in bad
shape. His face was very pale, he
checked for a pulse and barely found one.
He could see he had lost a lot of blood looking at the carpet.
Noticing all the blood on her
and her dress he asked worriedly, “Sweetie, are you hurt?”
“No I don’t think so. This is the admiral’s blood,” she told him
even though her arm hurt. “Where’s
Jamie? The admiral needs help right
away.”
“He’ll be here shortly. He’s on his way up now,” he told her after
checking with Sharkey on his radio.
“Lee, is David dead?” Janet asked softly her
voice quivering as she looked at David lying on the carpet near the admiral.
“Yes, he is. The police need to check everything out
before we can move him.”
“Kowalski, there’s an old
blanket in my closet. Could you please bring it here?” Chip asked quietly after
hearing Janet and Lee talking.
“Yes sir.”
Kowalski brought back the
blanket and Chip covered up David so they wouldn‘t have to look at him.
Claudia was sitting there
watching them when she started to complain.
“These ties are hurting my
wrists,” she whined. “Please loosen them
up. My arms are hurting from being held
behind my back.”
Angie had enough. She stood up, walked over to where Claudia
was and punched her in the face. She
hurt her hand by punching her but it was worth it.
“Shut up. How can you complain about your wrists and
arms when two people have been shot and one killed,” Angie yelled as tears run
down her face.
“Angie calm down,” Chip told
her as he sat her back down but had a big smile on his face as did the rest of
the men. He sat next to her rubbing her
hand as it was already starting to swell.
“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t take anymore,” she said
crying.
“It’s alright Angie,” Lee
reassured her.
Aaron sitting next to Wanda was
holding a towel on her shoulder hoping it would stop the bleeding.
“You doing okay?” he asked
very concerned as she looked very pale.
“My shoulder really hurts a
lot,” Wanda whispered as tears were running down her face.
“Help will be here shortly,”
he said tenderly as he wiped away her tears.
((()))
Jamie rushed up the stairs
with Frank and John as the elevator was still holding on the first floor. He was afraid of what he might find when he
got up there. By the time they got to
the offices the elevator had been released to the lobby. Patterson and Mike took the stretcher Jamie
left in the lobby and brought it to the first floor.
Jamie ran into the waiting
area and saw the admiral lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Janet and Lee were both leaning over
him. They had put some towels on his
wound to try and stop the bleeding. He
was unconscious.
Pushing them away and making
a quick examination of his wound, Jamie asked worriedly “Janet, how long has he
been like this?”
“He was shot about an hour
ago. They wouldn’t let us help either
one of them. When we tried they
threatened to shoot us. The admiral ordered
us to do what they said so we had to sit here and watch them bleed,” she said
softly with tears running down her cheeks.
“Jamie will he be alright?”
Lee asked urgently.
“I don’t know. His pulse is weak. He has a rapid heart rate and he’s lost a lot
of blood. I’ll have to do surgery to
find out where the bullet went. Lee, I
got to go.” Jamie noticed the grave look on his face and patted him on the
shoulder, “I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will. We’ll be
there as soon as we can,” Lee told him running his hand through his hair.
Frank and John carefully put the
admiral on the stretcher, wheeled it to the elevator where Patterson and Mike
loaded him into the ambulance for the short ride to
Before leaving as Jamie
walked to the elevator he had some instructions, “Frank, stay here, take care
of Wanda, Angie and Janet. Bring them to
“Yes sir.”
The ambulance dropped the
admiral off at
Before Chip, Lee and Janet
left for
“Lee, can we go downstairs
too?” Janet asked softly. “I don’t want
to be up here with him...when can we leave to check on the admiral?”
“Sure sweetie we can go
downstairs,” he told her as he wrapped his arm around her and kissed her cheek.
We can’t leave just yet.”
Lee could see she was very
upset as she had never seen anyone shot and killed before. They took the elevator down to the lobby just
as they were loading the four people in the police cars. Aaron made sure they were read their
rights. He wanted no screw ups when this
went to trial. He saw that Chip, Lee and
Janet were the lobby and noticed that Janet was looking a little pale and
holding very tightly on to Lee.
“Sorry it’s taking so
long. I know you want to check on the
admiral. Just go to
“Of course. You know where it is.” Lee answered patting him on the arm.
Just as they were leaving
Aaron said to Lee, “Nice plan of attack.
I get the impression that you’ve done this before. Maybe we should have a talk sometime?”
“Thanks. Janet helped by signaling me how many people
there were. And she must have read my
mind and created a diversion just when we needed it,” Lee replied with a wry
grin giving Janet’s hand a squeeze.
Aaron started to go upstairs
when he saw the coroner’s van pull up in front.
He waited for him and went up with him on the elevator.
Instead of leaving out the
front door, Lee and Janet went out the side door by the stairs. Lee knew his wife was really shaken at what
had taken place upstairs and didn’t want to stress her out any more by going by
the coroner’s van. Lee helped Janet into
the car and went around to his side and got in.
Once in the car, she started to cry. She looked at him with tears
running down her cheeks.
“He’s got to be all right,”
she sobbed.
“He’ll be okay,” he tried to
reassure her as he took her hand on held on to it before they drove to
Chip was going to stay behind
along with Sharkey and the rest of the men from the institute. He wanted them to get started on the clean up
and needed to tell them what he wanted done.
He would be at
By the time most of the
police had left, Howard finally woke up, shook his head to clear the cobwebs
and wanted to know what happened.
Sharkey told him what had taken place. He was very upset that he fell
victim to Tim’s actions. Chip told him
not to worry about it and to go home and sleep off the rest of the
sedative. One of the security men would
make sure he got home safely.
((()))
When Jamie got to
“Damn, he’s lost a lot of blood. Hang a unit of whole blood typed and crossed
matched to the admiral’s blood type and start an IV of plasma expanders and put
him on oxygen,” Jamie ordered. “During
surgery, we will suction, filtrate and re-infuse the blood he is losing back
into him, but he will probably still need more.
Betty started the IV’s and
put the oxygen mask on him. She took his vitals again and his blood pressure
was still very low.
Jamie knew it could be risky
with his blood pressure so low but he needed to find out where the bullet was
and what damage it had done. John would assist Jamie in surgery and was
preparing him while Jamie scrubbed up.
Betty and Hazel were already in the operating room when John wheeled the
admiral in.
He operated on him and found
the bullet has lacerated his liver. They
suctioned out quite a bit of blood which they did filtrate and auto-infuse back
into him. He checked to make sure there
were no bleeders before closing him up.
They almost lost him on the table when he went into cardiac arrest. They had to defibrillate him to restart his
heart.
Luckily it was a small
laceration and the operation took three hours but he had lost a lot of blood
before he got help. He was relieved to
find an exit wound from the bullet and that no other organs were damaged.
Jamie watched John wheel him
into the recovery room where Betty and Hazel would take over monitoring his
vital signs. If he would need more
blood, he would not have a problem getting any as his blood type was
Jamie removed his bloody
gloves, gown and cap and threw them in the hamper before he left the operating
room. He no sooner left the operating
room when Lee and Janet met him in the hall.
“How is he?” Lee asked
worriedly.
“We almost lost him. His liver was lacerated and he’s lost a lot
of blood.” Jamie answered wearily. “He’s
not out of the woods yet.”
“Can we see him?” Janet
pleaded tears forming in her eyes.
“Let him stay in recovery for
at least an hour before you see him,” Jamie replied softly. “I’ll let you know when he can have
visitors. Right now I need to check on
Wanda and Angie see how they’re doing.”
He put his hand on Janet’s
arm before he walked away and felt the stickiness of fresh blood on the sleeve
of her dress.
“What happened to your arm?”
“Nothing. Why?” she answered
not realizing there was tear in her sleeve.
She was covered in the admiral’s blood and didn’t realize that her arm
was bleeding until Jamie saw it.
“Let me see your arm,” he
asked apprehensively.
Janet let Jamie take her arm
and he rolled up the sleeve on her dress to reveal a deep graze wound from a
bullet.
“You’ve been shot and you
didn’t even know it. When did that
happen?” Jamie asked shaking his head.
“Jamie I honestly don’t
know. I felt something hit my arm when I
laid on top of the admiral but with everything that was going on it didn’t dawn
on me I might have been shot. I was so
worried about the admiral and Wanda I didn’t pay attention.”
“Come on,” Jamie sighed
deeply, “I need to bandage it up and give you a shot of antibiotics.”
Jamie led Janet and Lee into
an examination room, made her sit on the gurney where he cleaned up the wound
and gave her a shot.
“You should be alright. Just keep it covered for a day or two. If it starts to get red and sore, please come
back here immediately and let me look at it,” Jamie told her as he rolled down
the sleeve of her dress. “You’re getting
to be as bad as Lee when it comes to getting hurt,” he remarked looking at the
two of them.
Jamie left the two of them in
the examination room while he went to check on Wanda and Angie. Lee helped her wash the blood off her hands
and face.
Rubbing his hand on his
forehead Lee asked, “Is there anything else that hurts before we leave?”
“No sir,” she whispered.
They left the examination
room and went to the waiting room to wait for Jamie to tell them it was okay to
see the admiral. Janet sat on a chair tapping her foot while Lee paced back and
forth. By the time they got to the
waiting room Chip was just getting there and didn’t see them at first.
“Where were you...how’s the
admiral...did something happen to him,” he asked anxiously.
“Janet got shot and didn’t
even know it. Jamie had to bandage her
arm. Right now the admiral’s hanging in there but Jamie won‘t let us see him
for at least an hour. He‘s in the
recovery room.”
“Janet you’re as bad as
Lee. You get shot and don’t even know
it,” he replied worriedly wondering how he could possibly watch over the two of
them.
“He must be wearing off on
me,” she smiled weakly looking at both of them.
“Since we have to wait to see
the admiral and it’s going to be a long night, how about I get us some coffee,”
Chip offered. “I could sure use a cup.”
“Thanks Chip but right now I
could use a stiff drink,” Janet answered surprising her husband and Chip as she
never drank.
“Sorry honey you’ll have to
make do with coffee,” he replied with a wry smile as he left for the
cafeteria. He was worried about the admiral
but needed to do something rather than just sit and wait.
((()))
As they were loading Wanda
into the ambulance Aaron went over to her, “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he
told her rubbing her hand.
“Okay,” she replied softly
not letting go of his hand. He smiled at
her and kissed her forehead.
When they arrived at
“Angie, what’s wrong with
your hand. I notice you keep rubbing
it.”
“It hurts because I punched
someone in the face,” Angie replied softly.
Frank looked at Angie’s hand;
it was badly swollen and gave her an ice pack to put on it. He didn’t think it was broken but would send
her for x-rays as soon as he was done with Wanda.
“Hi
“Sure Frank,” she replied as
she took Angie to the x-ray department while Frank stitched up Wanda’s shoulder. Angie came back a few minutes later and sat
down next to Wanda to wait for the results of the x-ray.
They wanted to find out how
the admiral was but Frank wouldn’t let them leave the examination room.
“No go. I have strict instructions from Dr. Jamieson
you were not to leave until he checked both of you out personally. Now you don’t want to get me in trouble with
him do you,” he asked with small grin.
“No we don’t,” Wanda answered
wearily.
Jamie walked into the Wanda’s
room a few minutes later and looked at her wound. After checking it out, he put it in a sling
and then went over to Angie to look at her hand.
“Nice work Frank” Jamie told
him giving him a pat on the shoulder, “You did a nice job taking care of both
of them.”
“Thanks Doc,” he replied
smiling.
But before Jamie could say
anything more Angie and Wanda wanted to know about the admiral.
“Jamie how is the
admiral...will he be okay...can we see him?” Angie asked with tears in her
eyes.
“He’s holding his own right
now. The bullet lacerated his liver and
he’s lost a lot of blood. We’re keeping
a close watch on him. As I told Lee and
Janet let him stay in the recovery room for an hour or so. I will let all of you know when you can see
him.”
“Is Janet okay? She sure had a lot of blood on her,” Wanda
asked anxiously.
“She’s fine. Just a graze wound that I bandaged. Most of the blood on her was the admiral’s,”
Jamie reassured them.
“Your wound looks good but I
would really like you to stay here tonight just so we can keep an eye on both
you. You’ve both been through a terrible
experience and I don’t want you to be alone with no one there to help you if
something should go wrong.”
“I’ll stay with her,” Angie
volunteered even though her hand was sore, she was still very shaky herself.
“No Angie, I would actually
like you to stay here too. Even though
you’re not hurt, you look like hell.
You’re very pale and I can see your hands are shaking. How about the two of you stay here together?”
“Do we have to? We just want to check on the admiral, and go
home,” Angie insisted but wasn‘t doing a good job of convincing Jamie.
“Ladies I could make it an
order.”
“Yes sir,” they replied
reluctantly.
“I promise I will let you see
the admiral before I give you both something to make you sleep.”
“Yes sir,” they answered
knowing they wouldn’t win the argument as they walked to the waiting room where
Lee, Janet and Chip were waiting. Janet and Lee were glad to see that neither
one of them were hurt too badly. Chip saw the two of them there when he
returned from the cafeteria and was relieved to see they were alright. He brought enough coffee for all of them and
gave a cup to Angie, Wanda and Janet which they gladly accepted. Chip offered Lee a cup but he turned it down
too wound up to sit and was pacing the floor waiting for Jamie to let them know
when they could see the admiral.
((()))
As they were waiting to see
the admiral, Aaron entered
((()))
Jamie went to the waiting
room about an hour after the admiral went to the recovery room. All of them were there waiting for some news
and jumped up when he entered. Lee
already standing was the first one to get to him.
“He’s out of recovery, in his
room but he’s still in critical condition.
I don’t want all of you going in there at once. Lee, Janet and Chip you can go in for five
minutes, then Wanda and Angie for five minutes.
No longer,” Jamie said sternly.
Lee, Janet and Chip quietly
entered the room. The heart monitor was
beeping softly; there were two IV’s, one with blood the other with antibiotics
and fluids. His breathing was very
shallow. Janet sat down on the chair
next to his bed and reached for his hand and gave it squeeze tears running down
her face. When their five minutes was
up, Jamie came in and ushered them out so Angie and Wanda could see him. Angie patted him on the arm and so did
Wanda. Jamie came in and told them they
had to leave. Both of them had tears in
their eyes as they left.
“All right ladies, back to
your room.”
“Jamie why are they staying
overnight, I thought they were okay?” Janet asked anxiously.
“Just a precaution. I just want to make sure they’re
alright. You should also stay but since
you’re won’t be home alone, I’ll let you go home, but I want to check on you
tomorrow morning too.”
“I’m staying here tonight
anyway. I want to stay with the
admiral,” Janet insisted.
“No, he’s going to be out all
night. You need to rest. You’re very pale too and your hands are still
shaking just like Angie’s and Wanda‘s. I
bet none of you have eaten all day. I’m
going to get something from the cafeteria for Angie and Wanda. You’ll go home, eat something and you can
come back tomorrow morning and that’s an order,” Jamie told all of
them.
Lee was going to protest but Jamie gave him a look that would melt steel so he
knew better than to fight him.
“Okay Jamie, you win this
time,” Lee said defeated.
Jamie smiled and walked Angie
and Wanda to their room three doors down from the admiral’s. He would check on them later and make sure
they ate. Before going back to check on
the admiral, he asked
Chip, Lee and Janet were
still in the waiting room when Jamie came back after seeing that Wanda and
Angie were settled in their room.
“Lee, please go home. We’ve all had a very long day. I will stay here tonight and sleep in my
office on the couch just in case he has a problem. If there are any issues you know I will call
you. Janet needs to go home. She’s about ready to collapse.”
“Jamie, I will....” Lee
started to say but Jamie cut him off.
“Lee, she needs you tonight,”
Jamie told him quietly. “Look at her.”
Lee looked at his wife and
could tell she was ready to break down.
Nodding his head he took her hand and walked out of
((()))
Janet was very quiet on the
short ride home. When they got home Lee
wasn’t sure what to do first. Feed her,
help her clean up or just leave her alone.
“Sweetheart are you
hungry...let me make you something to eat,” Lee said concerned as he looked at
her. She was very pale and still a
little shaky.
“No I’m not hungry. I just want to take off this dress and take a
long hot shower,” she replied with tears falling down her cheeks.
“Alright come on I’ll help
you,” he said tenderly.
He took her hand and they
went upstairs. She took off her dress
and handed it to him.
“Could you please throw this
in the garbage? I couldn’t wear it again
even if I got all the blood out. I’m
sorry I know this was your favorite dress.”
“Sweetie, don’t worry about
it. I’ll find another one,” he told her
as he turned on the shower for her and helped her take off the rest of her
clothes. He left her alone in the shower
while he threw out the dress.
While she was in the shower
she started sobbing and sat down on the floor of the shower with the water
running over her. Lee came back and
found her sitting there. He turned off
the water, helped her up, dried her off and put her in bed where she snuggled
under the blanket. He lay next to her on
top of the blanket where she laid in the crook of his arm.
“Lee, what if he dies. It will be my fault I didn’t try to help
him,” she sobbed.
“Sweetie you did what you
could. The admiral would never forgive
himself if something happened to you, Wanda or Angie,” he told her as he rubbed
her arm.
“Lee should we call Edith and
tell her. She might want to come out.”
“Let’s see how he is in the
morning. If Jamie thinks she needs to be
here, I’ll have Kowalski and Chief take FS-1 and pick her up.”
“Okay,” was the last thing
she said before she fell asleep.
Lee kissed her temple. He got
up took a quick shower and went back to bed lying close to Janet. He laid there for a long time thinking how
horribly bad this day could have been.
((()))
Janet woke up the next
morning to find Lee was not in bed. She
didn’t hear the water running in the shower.
She jumped out of bed and put on her robe.
“Lee, Lee where are you,” she
yelled frantically as she ran down the stairs worried that something had
happened to the admiral and he left to go to Med Bay.
“I’m right here,” he said
from the kitchen as she ran into the living room. “Just making some coffee and pancakes.”
“I was afraid something
happened to the admiral and you left without me,” she replied in a panic.
“Sweetie I wouldn’t do that
to you. Please calm down,” he told her gently.
“We’ll have some breakfast and then go to
“Not hungry.”
“I don’t care if you’re not
hungry. You’re going to eat these
pancakes I made,” he said gently but firmly.
“Yes sir,” she replied
reluctantly sitting down at the table.
Lee put three pancakes on her
plate and three on his. He ate his right
away. He watched her eat one pancake and
half of another. She just pushed the
rest of it around her plate.
“Please eat some more,” Lee
begged.
“No I can’t eat any
more. Here take the one I haven’t
touched. You can eat it.”
Lee took her pancake and ate
it not too happy that she didn’t eat any more.
They both cleaned up the kitchen and went upstairs to get dressed.
They were ready to leave by
0800 and saw Chip leaving his house so they decided to ride together. He could see Janet looked a little better
this morning than she did last night but was still very worried.
((()))
Chip dropped them off at
“Sweetie, I need to talk to
Chip about something. Go in and find out
how the admiral is. I will be in
shortly,” he told her as he gave her a kiss.
“Please don’t be long,” she
said worriedly.
“I promise I won’t,” he said
with a frown she didn’t see.
“Lee, she seems a little on
edge. She okay?”
“No she blames herself for
what happened to the admiral because she didn’t do anything to help him.”
“What could she have
done? They weren’t armed and you know as
well I do that he would never forgive himself if something had happened to any
of them.”
“I told her that. Maybe once he’s better, she’ll feel better,”
he replied running his hand through his hair. “What did you need to tell me?”
“I told Sharkey to have
maintenance repair the front door yesterday so that should already be repaired.
I also told maintenance to paint the whole waiting area. They’re going to use the same color. I’m going to have the carpet men rip out the
carpeting in our waiting area today and replace it with the carpeting ordered
for the second floor. That floor has the exact same layout as ours so there’s
no problem putting it in. They’re going to order more carpeting for the second
floor. Accounting, HR and Legal can stay where they are a little longer until
the new carpet comes in. The new chairs
and couch for the second floor are in the warehouse so I’ve told them to put them
in our offices. They can recover our
chairs and couch and use them upstairs.
This way we can get back in there on Monday with no trace of what took
place there.”
“Sounds good. Thanks Chip.
What about the phones and computers?
How much damage was done there?”
“Not too much. The computers just needed to be plugged back
in. They didn’t damage them. The phones lines were pulled from the phones
and the ends cut off. We just have to
replace the lines and the phones will be working. Trish is sending over a
technician to replace the phone lines.
Their cell phones were totally destroyed. They smashed all four of them beyond
repair. I’ve got her working on getting
them new phones. They should be ready
later today. It takes awhile because she
needs to reprogram all the speed dial numbers and put all the phone numbers
in.”
“Looks like you’ve taken care
of everything. Let’s go in and see how
the admiral is,” Lee told him thankful that Chip took over redoing the offices
before Monday but he wouldn’t have expected anything less in his best friend.
They walked into
“Jamie how is he,” Lee asked
frowning after seeing the look on Jamie’s face.
“Not good. He’s still unconscious and his heart rate is
still too low.”
“I don’t want all of you to
be in there at the same time. Angie and
Wanda you go first. When you’re done, I
want you to go home and stay there. I
know I gave you something to make you sleep but both of you were very restless
when I checked on you.”
“But Jamie we want to stay,”
Angie pleaded.
“Please go home until later
this afternoon. You can take the
afternoon watch.”
“Afternoon watch?” Wanda
questioned.
“I know the morning watch is
already covered,” Jamie told her looking at Lee, Chip and Janet.
“Yes sir.”
“I’ll take you home
Wanda. You can’t drive a car with one
hand. I can’t wait to take a shower, put
on my pajamas and go to bed. I’m still
very tired. ”
“Me too,” Wanda replied
agreeing with Angie. “Thanks for taking
me home.”
Before leaving they both gave
Janet a hug. Chip walked the two of them
out of
“Can we go in now Jamie?”
Janet asked nervously.
“Just for few minutes,” he
stressed vehemently.
Before Lee went into the
admiral’s room, he needed to talk to Jamie so he grabbed his arm and held him
back before he went in. Chip waited with
Lee as he wanted to know what he was going to talk to Jamie about.
“Go on in,” Jamie told
Janet. “We’ll be in shortly.”
Janet quietly opened the door
and stood there looking at the admiral and praying he would be alright. She felt guilty that she didn’t help him.
“Jamie, should we call
Edith? I can have Sharkey and Kowalski
take FS-1 and pick her up,” Lee asked rubbing his forehead.
“Lee, maybe you should. I had hoped he would be conscious by now.”
Before going into the
Admiral’s room, Jamie waited with Lee while he called down to Seaview.
“Chief, it’s the skipper. Is Kowalski there with you? ”
“Yes sir. How’s the admiral...Is he okay...What do you
need?”
“Take it easy Chief, one
question at a time. Prepare FS-1 for
take-off. You and Kowalski are going to
fly to
“Yes sir. We’ll be ready to leave in fifteen
minutes. Is he that bad sir?”
“Yes I’m afraid he is and
thanks Chief.”
“No problem sir. If something happens while in the air will
you please let us know?”
“Yes Chief I will keep you
informed.”
Kowalski was in the control
room, heard Lee talking to Sharkey and was already doing the pre-flight check
list for FS-1.
Sharkey grabbed their flight
jackets while Kowalski continued the pre-flight list. They launched the little
sub ten minutes after Lee called down there.
It would take them about six hours to get there and back. Lee dreaded calling Edith but knew she would
want to be here. Sighing he dialed the
number to the house in
“Hello Nelson Residence,”
Cora answered.
“Hi Cora, Lee Crane. Is Edith around?”
“Yes sir, just a minute.”
“Hi Lee is something wrong?”
Edith asked immediately.
“Yes, Harry’s been shot. Jamie operated on him last night and he’s
still unconscious. We thought you should
be here.”
“Oh Lee,” she cried
softly. “How was he shot...is he going
to be alright...who did it?”
“He’s still critical. I’ll tell you happened when you get here.
FS-1 is on its way with Chief Sharkey and Kowalski. They should be there in three hours.”
“I’ll be ready. Please let me know if anything changes.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll let you
know,” Lee told her quietly.
Edith hung up the phone and
started to cry. Harry was her only
living relative. What would she do if
something happened to him?
Cora saw Edith crying,
“What’s wrong Miss Edith?”
“Harry’s been shot…they’re
coming to get me…he’s in critical condition,” she told Cora trying to wipe away
the tears that just kept falling.
“Let’s get your bag packed.”
Edith and Cora went upstairs
and packed her bag. They sat outside
near the dock so they could leave as soon as FS-1 docked. Cora held Edith’s hand as the two of them had
tears running down their cheeks.
((()))
Jamie, Lee and Chip went to
the admiral’s room and saw Janet standing there. Lee pulled over a chair for her; she sat down
and reached for his hand.
“Come on admiral. You need to wake up,” she pleaded.
Lee and Chip sat next to her. They sat there for about two hours before
Chip needed to leave.
“I’m going over to the office
and to check to see how they’re doing,” he whispered so only Lee heard him. “I’ll be back in a little while. I’ll bring some lunch.”
“Thanks Chip. I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
“Okay Lee,” he replied
patting Janet’s shoulder.
Lee took his wife’s hand
while she held on to the admiral’s. He
never moved.
((()))
All of a sudden the alarm on
the machine monitoring his blood pressure, pulse and heart rate started
blaring. Jamie, John and Betty came
running in. His blood pressure was
dropping.
After a quick examination,
“Damn,” Jamie said loudly, “He must be bleeding internally.”
He was very upset knowing he
would have to take him back into surgery to check for a bleeder. John and Betty quickly prepared him for
surgery as Jamie scrubbed up. It took
them an hour to repair a ruptured blood vessel.
Luckily Jamie found it very quickly not putting any more stress on the
admiral’s already weakened system.
John wheeled the admiral back
into the recovery room and put on the monitor.
His blood pressure was still low but it wasn’t any worse than before the
surgery.
Lee and Janet were waiting
outside the recovery room when Jamie came out to talk to them still wearing his
surgical gear.
”That was close.” he told them as he took off his surgical cap and gown. “Hopefully his blood pressure will start to
go up and he will regain consciousness.”
Lee looked at Jamie and could
see he was exhausted.
“Jamie, why don’t you follow
your own advice and take a nap. John can
monitor him. He’ll wake you if anything
changes.”
“For once Lee, I’m going to
take you up on the nap. I didn’t get much sleep last night between checking on
the admiral and the ladies I’m dead on my feet.
One more thing, please don’t go in the recovery room. He’ll be there at least an hour. Let him settle back in his room before you
seen him.”
“Okay Jamie we’ll wait for
John to tell us when we can go in,” Lee replied patting Jamie on the shoulder.
Jamie went over to John and
left him instructions. He went to his
office where he laid down on the couch and fell asleep as soon as he head hit
the pillow.
((()))
Aaron returned to the
institute to pick up Wanda’s car, saw Chip’s car there and went upstairs where
he found Chip in the office checking out the repairs. He was impressed at how fast things were done
here as the front door was already repaired.
“Hi Chip. You didn’t waste
any time getting rid of everything in here,” he said looking around the waiting
room.
“Your team finished up pretty
quickly and we hope to be able to work in here on Monday. We don’t want the ladies to have to face the
mess of what happened here. We’re
remodeling the whole second floor so we just used the items that were going to
be installed there. They’re in another
building so they can wait a little longer to get back here. Could you tell Wanda what’s been done when
the time is right?”
“Sure no problem. You think they may have a hard time coming
back here?”
“I’m not sure. We’ll see what happens on Monday.”
“How’s the admiral doing?”
“Still critical. How are you this morning? You look a little long in the tooth.”
“Tired. I was up late booking the prisoners. I don’t want any screw ups with this case.”
“Is there enough evidence to
get them for the other murders?”
“Yes, there should be. I also need to talk to Lee and find out how
he knew about Claudia’s background?”
“Good luck with that,”
Chip thought.
“Where are Janet, Angie and
Wanda? I do need to take their
statements. I will need one from the admiral too but it can wait until he‘s
better.”
“Janet’s in
“Good. I’ll talk to Janet first.”
“I’m going back there so you
can come with me, “Chip stated. “But
first I need to pick up some coffee and sandwiches.”
“I could use some coffee.”
“Cookie makes the best. Hot and strong.”
Chip drove to the cafeteria
and picked up some chicken salad and tuna salad sandwiches for himself, Lee and
Janet along with a carafe of coffee.
Aaron followed Chip and got a sandwich and coffee too.
((()))
By the time they got back to
Chip found Lee and Janet
standing outside the recovery room. Both of them were pacing.
“Come on and eat, John will
let us know if something changes. I got
chicken salad sandwiches for you and Janet and a carafe of coffee.”
“Not hungry,” they replied.
“Mmm, I’ll tell Jamie on
you,” Chip threatened.
“Okay, we’ll eat,” Lee said
reluctantly as he took Janet’s hand and led her to an empty office where Chip
had set up lunch.
Lee poured a cup of coffee
from the carafe. He needed a cup of
Cookie’s coffee very badly. He also took
a sandwich and gave half to Janet.
“How’s it going Aaron,” Lee
asked noticing him sitting there as he drank his coffee.
“Fine,” he replied, “Janet
when you’re done with lunch I need to take your statement on what took place
yesterday.”
“Okay, we can do it now, I’m
really not that hungry” she said putting down her sandwich which got a frown
from Lee. “Can Lee and Chip stay or do
they have to leave.”
“They can stay. They weren’t there when it happened so they
won’t influence your statement. But
please finish your lunch. I can wait. I need to talk to Angie and Wanda too and I
know they won’t be here until later.”
Lee checked his watch. Sharkey and Kowalski should have landed in
((()))
“I’m going to video tape your
statement so just start at the beginning,” Aaron told her pressing he button on
the video camera. State your name and
position at NIMR.
Taking a deep breath Janet
started, “Janet Crane, administrative assistant to Captain Lee Crane and Lt.
Commander Chip Morton. I was sitting at
my desk when Claudia, Roy, Curt and David walked in. David told me to move away from my desk while
Curt pulled the plugs out of the computer, took out the phone lines and cut off
the ends. He then asked me for my cell
phone which I was reluctant to give him.”
“Did he threaten you?”
“David said he would have no
problem telling Curt to shoot me if I didn’t give him my cell phone. When I did
give it to him he turned it off and smashed it.
I couldn’t press the number three button to let Lee know I was in
trouble. ”
“What do you mean?”
“Her phone is programmed so
that if she has a problem or is in trouble she can press the number three key
and it sends an alarm to my phone immediately,” Lee explained. Aaron nodded his head understanding what Lee
was telling him. He was amazed at how
up-to-date the institute was on technology.
“What happen after that?”
“He told me sit in the chair
across from the door to Angie’s office.
Curt and Roy went into Lee’s and Chip’s office and found they weren’t
there. David asked me where they were
and I refused to tell them.”
“What did he do then?”
“He slapped me across the
face and said he had no qualms about shooting any of us.”
“Sweetie, why didn’t you tell
me he slapped you? I was wondering where
that bruise on your cheek came from. I
thought you hit it on the chair when you covered up the admiral.”
“Lee I forgot it
happened. I was so worried about the
admiral I never even gave it a thought.”
“Janet let me get a close up
picture just in case we need it at the trial.”
“Okay Aaron.”
Aaron zoomed in the camera
and got a shot of the bruise on her face.
“Please continue.”
“I told him they were down on
Seaview and he wanted to know how long and threatened to hit me again if
I didn’t tell him, so I told him they would be on there most of the day.”
Her mouth was dry from
talking so she took a sip of coffee. She
really wanted some water.
“Can I get some water please
Aaron,” she asked softly. “I’ll be right
back.”
“I’ll get it for you,” Lee
said going out to the water cooler just down the hall.
He came back with a cup and
gave it to her to drink.
“Thanks.”
“After he found out Lee and
Chip weren’t there, what did he do next?”
“He wasn’t too happy about it
but they disabled their equipment just like the rest of ours. Angie came out of her office before they
could go in and get her. She heard a lot
of people talking and wondered what was going on in the waiting area. David told her to sit about three chairs down
from me while either Roy or Curt took care of disabling her telephone and
computer. He searched her for her cell
phone when she wouldn’t give it to him and smashed just like mine.”
“Did they go in the admiral’s
office after that?”
“David sent Claudia in there
to get him. He thought she was there for
a surprise meeting. She pointed her gun
at him and brought him out of the office.
I think Curt went into his office and took his computer apart along with
the phones. He wouldn’t tell them where
his cell phone was so David made Claudia search him but the phone was in his
office. They destroyed it just like the
other ones.”
“When did they shoot Wanda
and the admiral?”
“The admiral asked who they
were and what they wanted. David
explained that he blamed the admiral and three other men for causing the death
of his brother, Oscar.” Janet continued to relay to Aaron what David had told
them about the admiral and the mission.
She took another sip of water
and continued, “After he told us why he was there, he turned around and shot
Wanda in the shoulder for no reason. Angie
and I started to get up to help her but were pushed back down by Curt and Roy
who had their guns pointed at us. We
started to protest but the admiral ordered us to do what they said. The admiral got up to help her and David shot
him,” Janet told him as tears started to run down her cheeks.
Lee wanted to put his arms
around his wife but couldn’t because of the video camera.
“I’m sorry to make you go
through this but I need to have you tell me what happened,” Aaron apologized.
“They wouldn’t let us help
him either so we had to sit there and watch them both bleed and suffer. They just sat there with grins on their
faces. They said they had gotten their
revenge,” she paused and took another drink of water before continuing. “Then I saw Lee in the admiral’s office. Kowalski knocked down Curt. I didn’t see what else happened as I was
lying on top of the admiral trying to protect him. When I looked up I saw David’s body a few
feet in front of me.”
“Janet, that was very brave
of you to lie on top of him. You could
have been shot.”
“Aaron, she was shot
and didn’t even know it,” Lee commented.
“She has a graze wound on her arm.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t
know. Thank you for your help. I know that was very hard to do but I know it
will help us. Depending on what they
decide to do, you will have to testify in court as to what happened.”
“Yes I realize that,” she
said unhappily.
“Lee, when Angie and Wanda
get in I’ll have to talk to them too.”
“No problem. I will make sure they find you, they should be
here shortly.”
Chip, Lee and Janet left the
office to check and see if the admiral was out of the recovery room. Lee reached for his wife’s hand as they
walked back to the admiral’s room
((()))
By the time Aaron was done
taking Janet’s statement the admiral was back in his room. Lee, Chip and Janet found Jamie outside of
his room with a small grin on his face.
“I think he’s over the
hump. His blood pressure is rising so
hopefully he will gain consciousness soon.
Lee looked at his watch.
“FS-1 should be landing in
less than an hour. Edith should be able
to wake him up,” Lee told Jamie.
They went in his room and
Janet sat next to his bed, grabbed his hand and was rubbing the top of it. Lee and Chip grabbed a couple of chairs and
sat next to her.
He still didn’t move.
“Come on admiral please wake
up,” Janet implored.
They sat there about an hour
when Lee’s phone rang. He got up and
went into hallway.
“Crane,” he answered quickly.
“Hi skipper we should be
landing in thirty minutes and will bring Miss Edith to Med Bay as soon as we
land.”
Any change in his condition?”
Sharkey asked while Kowalski flew FS-1.
“No chief not yet. Call me when land and get to
“Aye, sir.”
Before Lee could go back into
the admiral’s room he saw Angie and Wanda coming down the hall. They both looked a little better than before.
“Hi Lee,” they said. “Any change?”
“Jamie had to take him back
into surgery. One of the blood vessels
ruptured. He repaired it and his blood
pressure was rising. He still
unconscious though. Aaron is here and
needs to take your statements so why don’t you go in and see the admiral before
you give Aaron your statements.”
The three of them went into
the admiral’s room. Chip and Janet came
out so they could sit with him for a few minutes before they had to leave.
Aaron was waiting in the
office and heard Lee talking to them.
“I heard Wanda’s and Angie’s
voice, are they okay?” Aaron asked Chip.
“Yes, they seem better. They’re with the admiral right now. Who do you want to talk to first?”
“I’ll talk to Angie first.”
“Okay if I send her out in a
couple of minutes?”
“Sure. I’ll be here in the office.”
Lee came out of the admiral’s
room and saw Janet and Chip waiting there.
“Edith should be here in
thirty minutes.”
“If anyone can get him to
wake up, it will be Edith. She’ll
threaten to stay forever,” Janet said quietly.
“You got that right,” Chip
answered back.
Lee went in and tapped Angie
on the shoulder and whispered, “Aaron needs to talk to you.”
“I know. Let’s go and get it done,” she replied
getting up and leaving with Lee.
Janet and Lee went back in
the room while Chip took Angie to the office where Aaron was.
“Angie, do you want me to
stay with you?” he volunteered.
“Is it okay if you do?” Angie
replied looking relieved that someone would be there with her.
“Yes Angie, Chip can stay
with you.” Aaron told her.
She sat down in front of
Aaron while Chip stood behind them leaning on the wall.
“Angie just like I told
Janet, I’m going to video tape your statement, okay? Just tell me your name and
position at NIMR.”
“Yes sir.”
“Just start at the
beginning,” Aaron said starting the video camera.
“Angie Pearce, administrative
assistant to Admiral Nelson.”
She explained her version of
what happened in the offices and her story wasn’t much different from what
Janet had told Aaron except that she pulled Wanda to the floor and laid on top
of her. She never saw Lee or the other
men until after they jumped Curt.
“Thanks, Angie. I know that was hard to do.”
“If it helps put them in
prison, I would tell it again to anyone.”
“You may have to Angie if
they go to trial.”
Angie got up and left the
office.
“Angie, could you please send
Wanda in here?”
“Yes I will.”
Angie and Chip went back to
the admiral’s room.
“Wanda, Aaron needs to take
your statement,” Chip said softly. “Do
you want me to sit with you?”
“Yes, maybe you better. I know Aaron and won’t have a problem
talking to him but because we’re seeing each other I don’t want anyone to think
he influenced my statement.”
Chip took Wanda where Aaron
was. He got up when she came into the
room and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
He was glad Chip came with her. This
way there would definitely be no problems with her statement.
Just like Janet and Angie he
told her he was going to video tape her statement.
“Just start at the beginning,
Wanda, by stating your name and position at NIMR.”
“Wanda Carston, receptionist
at NIMR.”
She relayed to him what took
place and her recollection of what happened was very similar to Janet’s and
Angie’s before she was shot. She
couldn’t tell him anything more because she passed out and when she came to,
she was on the floor with Angie on top of her.
((()))
While Wanda was giving her
statement, Sharkey called Lee.
“Skipper we just landed and
are on our way to
“I’ll meet you by the front
door.”
“Yes sir,” Sharkey replied
He left Janet and Angie to
sit with the admiral.
Lee went out the door of
Hearing the car approach he
went to meet it. Kowalski opened the
door for Edith while Sharkey grabbed her suitcase and put it in the front lobby
of
“Thanks Chief, Kowalski,” Lee
said to his men patting them on the back.
“Why don’t you head on home.”
“No problem sir,” they
replied. They were pretty tired as it
was a long haul to fly from
Before leaving Sharkey asked,
“Skipper any change in the admiral’s condition...did he wake up?”
“No chief not yet,” Lee said
worriedly.
“He’ll come around skipper,”
Kowalski said to Lee. “Please let us
know if there is anything more you need us to do.”
“Thanks, men.”
Sharkey and Kowalski walked
away back to the car and drove back to the sub pen to pick up Kowalski’s car
before heading home.
((()))
“Lee how is he?” Edith asked
as she gave Lee a hug before they went into
“Improving but still
unconscious,” he told her as he took her hand and brought her to his room.
Janet and Angie got up and
went out of the room so Edith could sit with her brother. She was shocked at all the medical equipment
attached to him.
“Jamie will he be alright?”
“He should be but I need him
to wake up. That’s your job, Edith to
get him to wake up.”
“Please tell me what
happened,” she asked while holding his hand.
“You remember Claudia, his
date from the auction,” Lee said quietly.
“Yes. He told me that they had been going out
together and that it was getting serious.”
”She was actually working with another man who wanted revenge on the Harry for
something that happened over twenty years ago on an ONI mission,” Lee explained.
“You better tell me all of
it,” Edith sighed.
Lee explained to Edith what
had taken place at the institute offices and what had transpired twenty years
ago.
Taking a deep breath Edith
said to Lee, “I’m so sorry Angie, Wanda and Janet had to endure all of
that. Maybe we shouldn’t hold the
auction anymore. I don’t want anyone to
get hurt ever again.”
“We’ll think of something,”
Lee told Edith knowing she would be very upset if they had to stop holding the
auction. He was already working on
something anyway.
((()))
When Wanda was done with her
statement, she, Aaron and Chip went back to the admiral’s room and found Angie
and Janet waiting outside.
“Edith’s in there with Lee
right now,” Angie told her.
“Chip, do you think I could
talk to Lee right now? He’s the last one
I need to talk to today.”
“Sure, I’ll get him for you.”
Chip went into the room and
tapped Lee on the shoulder.
“Aaron needs to talk to you.”
“Me why me?”
“Don’t know Lee. He asked me to get you.”
“Edith I’ll be right back. See if you can’t get him to wake up.”
Lee gave Edith’s shoulder a
squeeze and went to the office where Aaron was.
The rest of them sat down in the waiting room waiting for the admiral to
regain consciousness.
((()))
“Aaron what do you need me
for?” Lee asked tensely. “You were there
when we rescued them.”
“Lee, I just want to know how
you found out about Claudia’s background.”
“Aaron, I can’t tell you
that,” Lee replied seriously.
“Lee, if I didn’t know you
better, I’d think you were a spy or something.
You find out more information on people and things than even I can.”
Lee just gave him a wry grin,
“I guess I know the right people to ask.
I have one question for you.”
“What do you need?”
“Do you know why Tim Weaver
was working for Mr. Pepin? When we hired
him our background check showed nothing amiss.”
“Yes, we looked into his
background too and recently he got into gambling and owed a lot of money to
some very nasty men. Mr. Pepin was at a
casino in Vegas and saw them strong arm him for the money. He approached Tim
and offered to pay off his debt but he would have to do a job for him. Pepin checked out Tim and found out he worked
at NIMR. What dumb luck otherwise Pepin
would have had to come up with a different plan to get into the institute.”
“Thanks for telling me. Also thank you for keeping the media out of
this. It could’ve have hurt the
charities involved in the auction.”
“At least I gave you more
information than you gave me,” Aaron said with a grin. “No problem Lee. I do hope there will still be an auction next
year. The charities in
“I’m sure we’ll figure out
something.”
They both got up and went
back to the rest of the group waiting outside the admiral’s room.
((()))
Edith had been in the
admiral’s room for about an hour when he started to stir. Jamie went over and looked at him and could
tell he was finally waking up.
Blinking a couple of times he
focused on Jamie and then he saw Edith.
“I must have been pretty bad
if they had to go and get you,” he managed to croak out softly.
“You really had us worried,”
Jamie responded.
“Is Wanda alright,” he asked
as he tried to sit up. “What about Angie
and Janet are they okay?”
Jamie gently eased him back
down telling him, “Wanda is fine. Her
shoulder just needed a few stitches.
Angie and Janet weren’t hurt at all.”
“Harry how are you feeling,”
Edith asked as she stroked his forehead.
“I’ve been better. Boy my side really hurts. What happened to me?”
“The bullet lacerated your
liver which I fixed but a blood vessel broke and I had to open you up again.
You’ve lost a lot of blood too.
Everything should be fine now.
You’ll spend at least another three days here and then go home to
recuperate for another two or three weeks depending on how much you push
yourself when you should be resting.”
“I’m going to stay here with
you until you are completely healed,” Edith told her brother. “And no complaining.”
Sighing he replied, “Yes
Edith.”
Jamie managed a weak smile
telling them, “I’m going to let the rest of them know the admiral is
awake. I know they will all be
relieved. Edith you can stay for a
little while longer. I’m sending the
rest of them home to rest. They can come
and visit you tomorrow.”
“Jamie, please send Lee and
Chip in. I need to talk to them for just
a few minutes.”
“Alright but only a few
minutes.”
Jamie went out in the
hall. Everyone there looked at his face
and could tell the admiral must have woken up.
“He just woke up,” Jamie told
the group. “I’m letting Edith stay for a
little while longer. When she leaves he
would like to see you, Lee and you too Chip.
The rest of you are to go home, get something to eat and go to bed
early. You can come back tomorrow.”
Angie and Wanda started to
protest but Jamie just glared at them.
“I’ll make sure they get
home,” Aaron told Jamie.
“Thanks, Aaron.”
Aaron wrapped his arm around
Wanda’s waist as the three of them walked out the door.
As he walked them out he said
to them, “I’m taking you both out to dinner and I will not take no for an
answer.”
“Yes Aaron,” they both
replied too tired to argue.
“Jamie do you have any idea
what the admiral wants to talk to us about,” Lee inquired.
“No Lee. Just said he wanted to talk to the both of you. Please stay only a few minutes he still needs
to rest. Then the three of you will go home too. Get something to eat and go to bed. You all look like hell. I’ll be in my office so come and get me
before you leave. Frank will be on duty
tonight so I’m going home too.”
Edith came out a few minutes
later. She gave Janet a hug and then
Chip.
“He’s not too happy I’ll be
staying with him while he recovers.”
“He’ll get use to having you
around. Maybe he’ll want you to stay
longer,” Janet told her with a small grin.
“That will never happen,”
Edith answered back as she took Janet’s hand and sat down to wait for Lee and
Chip to talk to the admiral.
((()))
Lee and Chip went into the
admiral’s room. They were glad to see he
was awake but could tell he was in a lot pain.
“I need to know what happened
after I passed out.”
“Admiral we can talk about
that in a couple of days. You need to
rest and get your strength back,” Lee told him.
“Lee, I want to know now,”
the admiral insisted.
Taking a deep breath Lee
began telling him what happened, “Chip, Aaron Thompson, Kowalski, Patterson and
I went up the fire escape ladder into your office. Janet created a diversion so we could
overpower Curt who was standing by Angie’s door. Janet lay on top of you while Angie pulled
Wanda down to the floor and covered her.
Aaron shot David before he could take a shot at me. Kowalski and I took care of Roy and
Curt. Chip handled Claudia.”
“Is David dead...was Claudia
hurt?”
“Yes sir, David was
killed. No, Claudia wasn’t hurt when we
overpowered them but she did leave with a nice shiner thanks to Angie.”
“A shiner?”
“She was complaining about
her zip ties being too tight and Angie had enough so she slugged her. I must admit that it brought a smile to all
our faces.”
“Angie slugged Claudia. I wish I could’ve have seen that,” the
admiral chuckled then grimaced in pain regretting he did that.
“I guess sending the ladies
to that self-defense class is paying off,” Chip said with grin.
“Lee, I owe you an
apology. I should have trusted your
instincts and let you do a background check on her. I should’ve known better too. But I was sure smitten with her. Had I
listened to you none of this would’ve happened.”
“Admiral, please don’t blame
yourself. There’s enough blame to go
around. I should have trusted my
instincts and done it anyway. When I did
do a background check on her it was already too late.”
“What about the offices...is
there much damage?”
Chip spoke up, “No sir. I’ve told them to take the carpet that was
going on the second floor and put it our waiting room. The new couch and chairs for upstairs are
also going on our floor. They can
recover our chairs and couch. They’re also going to repaint the room. The only equipment that needed to be replaced
was the cell phones. Trish is taking
care of that. You’ll have a new one by
Monday, not that you’re going to use yours if Edith has her way.”
“Will you be able to return
to the offices on Monday?”
“Yes we should.”
“I hope it’s not too hard for
Wanda, Angie and Janet to go back there.
It must have been pretty awful for them.”
“They’ll probably be a little
nervous about going back but with the new carpet and furniture it might make it
a little easier,” Lee stated.
“I don’t want them to be
uncomfortable. If we need to we’ll move
up to the second floor and move accounting, HR and legal to the first
floor. I need the both of you to be
honest with me and let me know how they react when they go there on Monday.”
“Yes sir,” they replied.
“One more thing,” the admiral
said yawning, “I want you and Chip to rethink our security at the office. I
don’t want it like a prison though.
The admiral yawned again just
as Jamie came in.
“Gentlemen your time is up.
He needs to sleep. Out now.”
Lee and Chip left the admiral’s
room and went to where Edith and Janet were waiting.
“How’s he feeling,” Janet
asked worriedly.
“He’s doing fine,” Lee
reassured her and took her hand and gave it a squeeze.
“Come on let’s go get
something to eat before Chip’s stomach grumbles any louder,” Lee smiled.
Frank went into the admiral’s
room while they were still there. Jamie
came out a few minutes later.
“Jamie would you like to join
us for dinner?” Lee inquired.
“Thanks Lee. I think I will.”
They decided to go to
Giovanni’s. He was pleasantly surprised
to see them especially Edith.
“How nice to see you again,
Miss Edith, I hope everything is okay,” Giovanni asked noticing the admiral was
not with them.
“Yes, everything is fine,”
Edith replied noticing the look on Lee’s face that told her nothing had been
released to the media.
The only one who would admit
they were hungry was Chip. When dinner
arrived they all managed to eat the delicious food even Janet ate her whole
meal much to Chip’s disappointment.
((()))
They drove back to the
institute and Jamie took Edith to the Admiral’s house and got her settled
in. Sally, the admiral’s housekeeper
would be there in the morning to make breakfast and make sure everything was
ready for the admiral when he came home.
Chip, Lee and Janet went to the Crane’s
house. Tomorrow was Sunday so they
decided they would spend most of the day with the admiral. Chip would drive tomorrow and pick up Lee and
Janet about 0800 hours. He said good bye
to them and walked down to his house.
Lee and Janet went into theirs and sat on the couch. They were tired and relieved the admiral was
on the road to recovery.
They went upstairs and went
right to bed. They were too tired to do
anything but sleep.
((()))
Lee woke up early on Sunday
and went down to make some coffee. As he
made the coffee he looked out the window.
The ocean was very calm today. He
was thinking of a way to beef up security at the office but not as the admiral
asked make it a prison.
Janet woke up and found her
husband wasn’t in bed. She could smell
the coffee, putting on her robe she went downstairs and saw him looking out the
window. She came up behind him and put
her arms around him giving him a hug. He
put his hands on hers.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yes better today. Not nearly
as worried,” he said turning around giving her a kiss. They grabbed a quick cup of coffee before
going upstairs to get ready.
Lee, dressed in shorts and a
t-shirt, was going to turn on the shower when Janet grabbed his hand and took
him into their bedroom. She dropped her
robe and climbed back into bed. Lee
joined her in bed where they enjoyed some morning exercise.
They took their usual shower
together, dressed and were ready to leave for
Chip was waiting by the front
door when they left the house. Arriving
at
“Good morning Lee, Janet,
Chip,” Edith said brightly. “How are you
this morning?”
”Fine,” they replied.
“How are you today, Admiral,”
Janet asked softly going over to his bed and kissed his forehead.
“I’m feeling a lot better
today,” he told her grimacing as he tried to sit up.
“He’s already trying to make
Jamie let him leave today. But he’s not
having any of it. The earliest will be
Tuesday,” Edith told them.
“Admiral I wouldn’t fight
him. You know I’ve tried and never
succeed so just let him have his fun. I
think he enjoys keeping people here.
This way he doesn’t get bored,” Lee said with a grin.
The admiral tried to laugh
but it hurt too much.
The five of them talked about
what happened. Lee mentioned to the
admiral that Aaron would be coming to take his statement when he was feeling
better. Edith had some questions
regarding the auction.
“What should we do about the
auction? Do we need to cancel it or move
it to another location? I really don’t
want a repeat of what happened this year.”
Lee piped up, “I don’t think
we need to cancel it or move it unless we get too many people for the
hall. If you agree to it, we will put on
the tickets that all winning bidders will be subjected to a background
check. Whoever wins the bid will have
to sign a form giving us permission to do the check on them. If they won’t sign the form, we won’t give
them the phone number of their winning date.
This way we will know who they are before anyone goes out on a date.
I’ll check with the legal department and get their opinion. I know we’ve never had a problem before and
this was a special situation but it wouldn’t hurt to know something about the
people you’re going out with. You can’t
cancel the auction too many people count on it to supplement their funds.”
“That’s a really good idea,”
the admiral said nodding his approval.
“If the winning bidder won’t sign the form, NIMR will pay the winner’s
bid. This way the charities won’t loose
their money.”
“Oh Harry,” Edith exclaimed,
“What a generous thing to do,” she said giving him a kiss on the forehead.
“Must be the drugs talking,”
grimacing as he chuckled.
“Well since I’m here I’m
going to contact everyone who participated in this year’s auction and find out
it if they will do it again next year.
It’s never too early to start planning.
It will be here before you know it.’
Looking at Chip first,
“Well?”
“Do I really have a choice,”
he snorted.
“No you don’t but thank you,”
she told him grinning.
“Harry is going to do it too,”
she said matter-of-factly.
“I guess I am.”
Next she looked over at Lee
and Janet.
Janet looked at Lee and
smiled, “Sure we’ll do it again as a couple. But I have an idea. What if we both were bid on separately but
went on the dates together. This way
you’ll have two dates and get more money.”
Lee groaned loudly. He thought when he got married he wouldn’t
have to be auctioned off anymore and now his wife is not only auctioning them
both off but he has to go a date. He
looked at his wife and she knew she was going to be in trouble when they home.
Chip let out a loud snicker
after seeing the look Lee gave Janet.
“Mr. Morton, the ballast
tanks need cleaning out so I’d watch my comments,” Lee said sternly.
“Yes sir,” Chip replied
barely containing a grin as he hoped Lee was kidding.
“That’s a wonderful idea,”
Edith said delighted. “I’ll check with
the rest of the group later on this week.”
Jamie came in and saw that
the admiral was getting tired.
“Everyone out. He needs to rest,” he told them holding the
door open as they left.
“I’ll be back later,” Edith
told him.
“Much later please, as the
crew of Seaview wanted to see him along with Wanda and Angie. He’ll never get any sleep.”
“If they come to see me,
please let them in,” the admiral asked quietly.
“Okay but they can only stay
for a couple of minutes,” Jamie relented.
By the end of the day, every
member of the crew had stopped in to visit him.
Angie and Wanda stayed a little longer but Jamie finally came in and
shooed them out.
“Please try and rest. You’ll be here longer if you don’t,” Jamie
threatened.
“Okay Jamie,” he replied
closing his eyes. He actually was very
tired.
Edith came back and saw he
was asleep so she left him alone. Jamie
was still there going over some instructions with John who had the night shift.
“Edith, wait a minute and
I’ll take you home.”
“Thanks Jamie.”
Jamie looked in on the
admiral one more time before he left and drove Edith to the admiral’s
house. She invited him in for some
dinner which he gladly accepted.
((()))
Chip drove Lee and Janet back
to their house.
“What are you doing this
afternoon? How about we barbecue at my house?
I have some steaks I can barbecue along with some potatoes we can bake.”
Lee looked at Janet who
nodded yes, “Sounds good to me.”
“What can we bring besides
the beer and wine?’ Janet asked.
“How about those
brownies? They’re so good,” Chip said
his mouth already watering.
“Sure, I’ll bring brownies.”
They got out of the car and
told him they would be over in a couple of hours. As soon as they got in the house, Janet went
to the kitchen to make the brownies.
“Do you need my help,” Lee
asked.
“No I can do it. Why don’t you finish going over the rest of
those proposals. I’ll make you some coffee.”
“Thanks sweetie,” he said
tenderly giving her a kiss before heading to his office.
She would make two batches of
the brownies. One for Chip and the other
for work tomorrow.
She just realized tomorrow
was Monday and she would have to go back to the office. She felt sick to her stomach. She didn’t know the offices had been redone
as Lee forgot to tell her.
As she waited for the
brownies to bake she stared out the kitchen window looking at the ocean.
She forgot to make the coffee
and Lee came out to make sure she was alright.
He saw her staring out the window and shaking. He came up behind her and put his arms around
her. She leaned her head back onto his
chest.
“Sweetheart what’s
wrong...Why are you shaking...Are you feeling okay?” he asked tenderly.
Turning around and taking a
deep breath she looked him in the eyes and said, “I’m afraid to go to work
tomorrow. When I think about going into
the office all I see is the admiral and Wanda bleeding, David’s dead body and
blood all over. Lee, I don’t know if I
can go there.”
“Sweetie, I’m sorry I didn’t
tell you sooner. Chip had the waiting
area redone. They’ve repainted it, put
new carpeting in and there’s a new couch and chairs. Please don’t be afraid. I’ve decided that I’m going to stay at the
office all day tomorrow. We still need
to finish upgrading the computer but I’m going to have
“Thanks Lee for letting me
know and staying with us.” She hugged
him back and gave him a kiss.
“Do you still want to go to
Chip’s for dinner?”
“Yes I do. The brownies are almost done so we can leave
soon.”
They left ten minutes later
with the brownies, a case of beer and a bottle of wine.
((()))
About five miles away from
the institute, Angie sat on the balcony of her condo with a glass of wine
staring at the ocean. For the first
time since she started working at NIMR she didn’t want to go to work on
Monday. She loved working for the
admiral and the institute and always looked forward to going to work but not
this time. She always felt secure there
but she had to admit she was afraid. She
didn’t know the waiting area had been redone.
((()))
Wanda sat in the living room
of her apartment with a beer. Aaron had
been over earlier and they had gone out to dinner but he got a call from the
station and had to leave. She stared at
the TV. It still had the football game
on they were watching. She dreaded the
fact that tomorrow was Monday and she would have to go to work. She could call in sick and say her arm was
too sore for her to work. Aaron had told
her the waiting area was being redone but she still didn’t want to go.
((()))
Chip, Lee and Janet sat on
Chip’s deck enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. Chip had barbecued the steaks to perfection. Janet went to the kitchen to make some coffee
to go with the brownies. Chip waited
until she was gone so they could discuss the new security measures they wanted
to put into place.
“Lee, I know you’re more of
an expert on security than I am but I think what we are doing now has been
working so do we really need to change it that much.”
“I was thinking about that
too. Let’s try this first and see if it
will help. We can’t make it prison not
only for the ladies but for our visitors.
We don’t want them to think they’re not welcome. How about when someone does come to see one
of us, we have security at the gate not only call the front lobby but also
Wanda directly. This way if one of them
fails to let us know who’s coming in the other one will have notified us. I know it seems redundant but if it helps us
keep track of who’s entering NIMR it might be worth it.”
“That doesn’t sound like too
much extra work and it might just be enough.
Let’s try it and see what happens.
I’ll have Hank meet me in the lobby tomorrow morning with the security
guard. I know Howard is going to be on
vacation this week.”
“Okay. Also I told Janet that I would stay at the
office with them tomorrow. She’s afraid of going there tomorrow. I don’t know about Angie or Wanda but I’m
willing to bet they’re afraid too.
“Should we tell the admiral
how they feel and just move upstairs?”
“No let’s wait and see what
happens. Did you let Wanda and Angie
know the waiting room had been redone?
It might ease their minds a little.
I know I forgot to tell Janet.
She seemed a little more at ease when I told her.”
“Gee Lee I totally forgot to
call Angie. I’ll call her right after
you leave. Aaron was going to tell
Wanda. He met me up there while they
were being redone and said he would let her know.”
“Do you think
“Yes he could help. He might actually be better than you,” he
chuckled.
“Just for that remark, I’ll
let you call him and tell him he has to work tomorrow.”
“Sure Lee no problem. Where’s Janet with the brownies and coffee?”
Lee saw Janet at the door and
got up to open the door for her as she brought out the brownies, cups and
coffee. Chip grabbed a brownie before
she could put the plate down.
“You’re worse than a two year
old,” she told him grinning.
They had their coffee and
brownies and sat outside until about 2200.
Lee and Janet decided it was time to go home. She left the plate of brownies with Chip.
Lee was in bed by the time
Janet finished getting ready. He picked
up the covers as she got in and put them over the both of them.
He wrapped his arms around
her kissed her ear and whispered, “Everything will be alright.”
“I know,” she whispered back
and fell asleep.
((()))
Chip called Angie and Wanda
right after Lee left.
“Angie how are you doing?”
“Chip I’m afraid to go to
work tomorrow,” she admitted.
“Please don’t be afraid. The offices have been redone. There’s no evidence of what took place. Do you want me to come and take you to work
tomorrow?”
“No I told Wanda I would pick
her up since she can’t drive. We’ll be
fine, Chip, but thanks for offering.”
“If you change your mind just
call me. I’ll get Wanda too.”
“Good night, Chip,” she told
him as she hung up the phone.
Chip made his other phone
call to
((()))
Lee and Janet woke up at
their usual 0500 but neither one of them slept very well as Janet was very
restless. After following their normal
routine, Lee found his wife standing in front of her closet trying to decide
what to wear. He could tell she was very
nervous so he made the decision for her picking out a blue floral dress
“Please wear this. It’s my new favorite dress,” he told her
smiling as he handed her the dress and gave her a hug.
Hugging him back, “Okay,” she
smiled putting it on. She went to the
bathroom to finish getting ready as he went downstairs to make the coffee.
She came down looking very attractive
in the blue dress. This dress is my
new favorite, he thought.
They ate breakfast, cleaned
up and got in the car. He grabbed her
hand and gave it a squeeze which she returned as he pulled the car out of the
driveway.
((()))
Angie picked up Wanda a
little earlier than usual. They wanted
to get to work early, get the butterflies out of their stomachs and get to
work. Angie still had a ton of work on
her desk to finish and Wanda had a lot of files to take care of.
By sheer coincidence, Chip,
Lee and Janet, Wanda and Angie all pulled into the office parking lot at the
same time. When they got out of their
cars, the three women looked at each other and smiled. They all had blue dresses on and were very
nervous about going into the building.
They just stood there looking at the front door. Chip and Lee stood there watching them very
closely.
“If we stand out here afraid
to go in, David Pepin will have won,” Angie said bravely. “He can’t hurt any us anymore and we need to
prove to ourselves we can forget about him and what he did by going into that
building and getting to work.”
“Yes ma’am,” Janet and Wanda
agreed.
Taking a deep breath the
three of them walked in the front door followed by Lee and Chip. They were surprised to find Howard there.
“Howard I thought you were
going on vacation?” Janet asked. “You
didn’t stay home because of what happened here?”
“No. My wife’s mother decided to come here instead
of us going there. I needed to get out
of the house. She was driving me nuts,”
he replied. “But I’m sorry I let you all
down by letting myself get duped by Tim.”
“Howard none of knew about
him or the other people. Please don’t
blame yourself,” Lee told him honestly.
“Yes sir.”
“Howard we’re going to change
some of the security measures. I’m going
to call Hank and have him meet us here and discuss what Captain Crane and I
want to do,” Chip stated.
“Whatever you need me to do,
I will do it.”
They got on the elevator and
went to the first floor. The girls
walked to the waiting area and were pleasantly surprised at how nice it looked
with the new carpeting, paint, chairs and couch. They looked at each other and smiled knowing
they would have no problem working here.
They looked in the admiral’s
office and wished he was there with them but he would be back soon enough. He would be released from
Angie went over to the coffee
pot and made some coffee like she did every morning. Janet was carrying something very carefully
in her bag. She pulled out a plate of
her special brownies. They all sat down
in the waiting area drinking their coffee and eating the brownies. When they were finished with the brownies
they got some more coffee and went to their offices and started to work just
like any other day. Chip, of course,
would take the brownies to his office.
Lee and Chip looked at each
other and knew they could report back to the admiral that they would be staying
on the first floor.
The End.
* Man of Many Faces Season
Four episode where Lee Crane goes out a door in the admiral’s office and down
the fire escape to avoid the police who were looking for the admiral.
Thank you Nancie for your
help with the medical parts of the story.
Thank you Chris B. for
your help.