It’s All Relative

By R. L. Keller

 

Note: I did the best I could with descriptions by using Google Earth, and several websites I found.  Any deviation from the actual truth is either entirely my fault, or what I needed for the story J  RLK

 

“Admiral Jones on line three for you, sir,” the voice of Admiral Harriman Nelson’s PA, Angie, broke into his contemplation of the designs for modifications to Seaview’s propeller shafts.  While he didn’t so much mind the interruption – he was going a little bug-eyed trying to figure out what component was messing up what should have been a more efficient system but was so far only causing multiple maintenance issues – he did mildly object to the caller.  Every time ONI’s Director called, trouble followed.

 

He frowned at the phone but answered fairly amiably.  “What can I do for you, Robert?”

 

“I can’t reach Crane’s cell phone.”  Jones wasn’t known for wasting time with small talk.

 

“I had Chip program it to not accept calls from you.”  Nelson could be just as blunt.

 

“I need Crane.  NOW,” came the instant order.

 

“No,” Nelson told him, and leaned back in his chair with a smile on his face.  He’d wanted to do that for a long time and this was his chance!  His smile increased as there was a sputter at the other end of the line.  That obviously wasn’t the answer Jones was expecting.

 

“What?” the other admiral practically yelled.  “But I need him,” came marginally more under control.

 

“And so do I,” Nelson answered calmly.  “But that’s not why I’m denying the request,” and he emphasized the last word.  Jones had a habit of making everything he said an order that he expected instant and complete compliance to.  “Lee had a training incident yesterday.  He’s fine but my CMO has him on a short leash for a few days.” *

 

“But he has to go…” came out in a tone that Nelson didn’t think he’d ever heard in Jones’ voice – half whine, half pleading – and he took pity on his old friend.

 

“What’s the problem, Robert?” he asked softly.

 

There was a sigh at the other end of the line, as if Jones was getting himself back under control from the momentary lapse.  “His mother is about to explode an ongoing, very important, investigation,” came out in a growl that was much closer to his normal speech pattern.

 

“What?” it was Nelson’s turn to say, although he wasn’t nearly as upset as Jones.  He’d learned not that long ago that Lee’s mother, a free-lance writer better known to the world as the Pulitzer Prize-winning Helen Graham Lee, was perfectly capable of handling herself in pretty much whatever situation that she ended up in. **  But he also had heard a few stories from Chip over the years that made him perk up his ears now.  “Didn’t we have this discussion already and you assured me that her being in Australia writing about the opal mining industry was of no concern to you?” ***

 

There was ‘something’ over the line that Nelson didn’t even try to translate.  “That was before…  Oh hell, Harriman.  Is there any way Crane can just get her to back off what she’s digging into?”  Once more there was a pleading note to Jones’ voice.  “That’s as far as I want to go over the phone,” came out more normal sounding.

 

Nelson chuckled.  There was a grumbled something back, but nothing else.  “I’ll see what can be arranged,” he told Jones.  Obviously there were issues that needed attending to – or so Jones felt.  No harm in a little cooperation.  Jones wouldn’t have called if he didn’t think that it was important.  Although, what Jones thought of as important wasn’t always what Nelson considered the same.  Once they both disconnected, Nelson punched in an internal NIMR number.

 

“Jamison,” came shortly after the first ring.

 

“How’s Lee?” Nelson asked, the smile still in his voice from memories of NIMR’s encounter with Helen Crane.

 

“It took you until nearly noon to ask?”  Will’s voice also held a smile, but Nelson knew that it was for an entirely different reason.

 

“Been busy,” Nelson admitted.  “And I figured that the entire Institute would have heard the explosion if you hadn’t released him this morning.”

 

It was Will’s turn to chuckle softly.  “Chip was parked in the lobby before I even got here.  The pair was last seen headed for Seaview after they devoured the muffins and scrambled eggs and ham wraps that Lu-Tsi sent over with me.”

 

“She made enough for Chip?”  Nelson’s voice held a note of incredulity.

 

“Nobody can make enough for Chip,” Will muttered back, before both men chuckled again.  “I suspect that they made a quick stop in the cafeteria.  Something specific you need Lee for?” Will got back to business.

 

“Just had a call from Admiral Jones,” Nelson told him, and held the phone slightly away from his ear in anticipation of the expected blast.  He wasn’t disappointed.

 

“NO,” Will roared.  “I will not release him to ONI.”  His voice mellowed somewhat as he continued and Nelson returned the phone to his ear.  “While he might be safe with his own personal blond watchdog in tow, he won’t be ready for active duty for a couple of days yet.  He took a pretty good whack to his head and I’m still not convinced that he didn’t inhale at least a little water – although I so far can’t prove that,” he admitted reluctantly.

 

“Actually, Robert just wants him to go down to Australia and remove his mother from the middle of an ongoing ONI investigation she apparently doesn’t know that she is in the middle of,” Nelson told him blandly.

 

“Oh, no,” Will breathed.  He’d heard the stories as well.

 

Nelson chuckled, but asked a little more seriously, “You don’t think that he’s safe to travel that far just yet?”

 

There was a short pause before Will answered.  “He’s probably fine,” he admitted.  “While I’d prefer to keep tabs on him it sounds like this is more important.”

 

“Robert seems to think so,” Nelson grumbled, which caused Will to send him a short snicker.  “I could have Sharkey run Lee there with FS1 to save him the long commercial flight.”  He paused, and when he continued there was a decidedly smug note to his voice.  “I can charge the fuel to the Navy tab since it’s their mission.

 

At that Will laughed outright.  Pretty much no one at NIMR liked the fact that Lee continued to take ONI assignments – something that he’d been doing long before taking over command of Seaview.  Will wouldn’t mind so much but it seemed like Lee never came back unscathed in some manner and therefore ended up in Will’s care.  Chip, especially, had complained until he was blue in the face but Lee wouldn’t give up what he considered to be his duty to his country.  Nelson didn’t especially like it but, with his own ties to ONI earlier in his career, he understood Lee’s commitment.

 

“Might I make a small suggestion, Admiral?” Will now asked.

 

“Could I stop you?”  Nelson’s good humor had quickly returned.

 

Will snorted but it ended in a small chuckle.  “Send Kowalski instead?  And maybe give him an excuse to hang around until Lee is ready to come back?”

 

Nelson immediately understood Will’s ploy.  While Lee got along just fine with Seaview’s COB, Chief Sharkey, he’d be happier having Kowalski to talk to on the long trip.  Not only that but, if Lee was still suffering a bit from the dunking he’d taken yesterday along with the knocks to his head, Kowalski had enough first aid training – and Lee was comfortable enough around him – that Seaview’s Senior Rating might, actually, stand a chance of being allowed to help his Skipper if the need arose.  “Kowalski, it is,” Nelson was happy to agree.  “Ah, you might have a quiet little talk with him before I alert Lee?”

 

“My thoughts, exactly,” Will happily went along with the conspiracy.  “When are you going to tell Lee?”

 

“Thought that I’d wander through the cafeteria in a few minutes.  If Chip hasn’t dragged Lee there yet for lunch I’ll walk down to the boat.”

 

“Then I’ll make a quick call and have ‘Ski directed here for a short chat post haste.”

 

“Sounds good.”  Both men hung up and headed to take care of their parts of the project.

 

Nelson did wonder, as he headed downstairs, what Mrs. Crane could have stumbled into.  There was the ongoing smuggling of wildlife, of course, that Australia was dealing with, but that wouldn’t be of any concern to ONI.  At least, Nelson didn’t think so.  On the other hand, Nelson had seen reports of people-smuggling involving Australia – ONI might have a finger in that pie since some of the places people were being smuggled from were predominantly Muslim, with possible connections to al-Quaida.  But what that could have to do with opal mining Nelson had no idea.  Despite the fact that it was a big export industry for Australia, a lot of the mines themselves were small operations, not in need of a large amount of manpower.  On the other hand Nelson vaguely recalled that more areas had recently been opened up to larger mining operations – he’d done a few minutes’ research when it had come up that Mrs. Crane was interested in doing a story about the industry.  Nelson could admit to a bit of curiosity on what the very talented writer would use as a basis for her article.  Lee hadn’t acquired his eclectic interests accidentally – his mother made a habit of coming at topics from very unusual angles.

 

A glance into NIMR’s cafeteria – more like an upscale restaurant than the usual variety because Nelson wanted it that way – didn’t produce his two senior officers so Nelson walked down to Seaview, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.  He kept telling himself that he needed to get out of his office – or his lab, or Seaview – more often.  But somehow…  He chuckled at himself as he entered Seaview’s boarding hatch and made his way to the Conn.  He might harass Lee and Chip for being workaholics but he was just as bad – if not worse!

 

The boat’s XO was the only person Nelson saw as he entered the Conn.  Not surprising as Seaview wasn’t scheduled out for almost two weeks and most of the crew was either working ashore or on Leave.  Chip had spread an anti-static cloth over the chart table and had computer parts scattered across the expanse.  Nelson wasn’t about to ask what Chip was in the middle of.  Chip always felt that he needed to give his boss complete answers, but for all Nelson’s brilliance in other areas he always ended up being able to understand about one word in ten when Chip tried to explain the inner workings of computers.

 

“Sir?” the blond stopped whatever it was he was doing and looked expectantly at Nelson.

 

His boss gave him a smile.  “Just looking for Lee,” Nelson told his XO.

 

“Last known location was Engineering,” Chip told him seriously, and then gave Nelson a quick grin.  “But that was at least half an hour ago.”  Nelson returned the grin – they both knew that, with Lee, he could be all over the boat faster than most crewmen could keep up with him.  “Ah,” Chip started, and then stopped.  At a raised eyebrow from Nelson he continued.  “Would this have anything to do with Kowalski getting a sudden request to report to Med Bay?”

 

Nelson openly chuckled.  “Actually, it would,” he admitted.  “Admiral Jones called…”  His grin broadened at the hard frown that hit Chip’s face at the mention of the ONI Director.  “Down, Chip,” Nelson told him, still smiling.  “There seems to be a minor problem with Mrs. Crane having stumbled into an ongoing investigation…”

 

“Oh, help,” Chip’s mumble momentarily interrupted Nelson.

 

“…and Robert wants Lee to go sidetrack her before anything gets too out of hand,” Nelson finished.

 

Chip shook his head.  “I love Mother Crane,” he told his boss.  “Honestly.  But I swear…”

 

“What are you bad-mouthing my mother about now?” came from behind them, and Lee walked into the Conn from the aft hatch.

 

“You come by your knack for getting into trouble all too naturally,” Chip told him firmly, although he smiled as Nelson had to get quick control of himself or he’d have burst out laughing.  The two friends were known for yanking each other’s chains on a regular basis – especially off-duty.  It never interfered with the chain of command – that remained firmly in place by both men.  But the pair could torment each other to the point where outsiders might wonder if they really were friends.

 

Lee opened his mouth, took a quick glance at Nelson, and decided to ignore his XO for the moment.  “Did you need something, Admiral?”

 

It still took Nelson an extra second to control his snickers.  “Not me, actually.  But I do have an errand for you,” he told Lee.  The brunet sent a glance between Nelson and Chip but remained silent.  “Or rather, Admiral Jones, actually,” Nelson continued.  He struggled to keep his face under control as Lee glanced at his cell phone, as usual while in port it was attached to his belt.  “He couldn’t reach your cell,” Nelson answered the unvoiced question.  Chip decided that this might be a really good time to go back to tinkering with his collection of computer innards.  “Or didn’t try,” Nelson told Lee, purposely not looking at Chip. He was afraid that they’d both crack up.  “Whatever, it’s about time that he remembered to ask me first.”  Lee started to open his mouth but Nelson spoke first.  “I’ve instructed the Institute switchboard to direct all calls from him to me, no matter who he asks for.”

 

Lee gave another glance at his cell phone, sent a quick glance at Chip who had his back firmly planted towards his CO, and then looked at Nelson again.  “Yes, sir,” came out in not quite Lee’s usually so authoritative voice.  He knew ‘something’ was going on, but there had been too many discussions in the past about Lee disappearing on ONI missions for him to want to start any kind of argument now.  “I’m to assume,” he send another glance at Chip’s back, “that this has something to do with Mom?”

 

“Have you talked to her recently?” Nelson wanted to know.

 

“Not since before she left for Australia,” Lee confessed.  While mother and son loved each other dearly, they both led busy lives and didn’t always stay in touch as much as either would like.

 

Nelson nodded at the comment.  It confirmed that Lee did know about the trip.  “And I seem to recall that she was going to work on a story involving the opal mining industry?”

 

Lee smiled softly – Nelson, it seemed, never forgot anything.  “Yes, sir.  Not totally sure what angle she was going to take.  Mostly, she picks a subject and figures out what she’s going to say once she’s in the middle of her research.”

 

“I sort of got that impression,” Nelson agreed.  “However…”  He wasn’t sure just how to say the next part.

 

Lee beat him to it.  His expression turned pained.  “What did she step in the middle of?” he asked softly.  He frowned and sent a glare at Chip’s back when there was a strangled off snort from that direction.

 

Nelson struggled with his own expression.  “Robert didn’t say, actually.  He just wanted you to go down and sort of sidetrack her, if at all possible.”

 

Lee momentarily hung his head before finally looking at Nelson nearly through his eyelashes.  “Now, sir?” he barely managed to get out.  “Not just, maybe, call her?”

 

“Now,” Nelson confirmed.  “Kowalski will be down shortly to pre-flight FS1.  He’ll be ready to go by the time you get back from a trip home to change and pack a bag.”

 

Lee had momentarily frowned at the mention of a co-pilot.  “It’s that important that I can’t take a commercial flight?”

 

“I have no idea,” Nelson told him matter-of-factly.  “I just want you there and back as fast as possible.  Ski will hang out, keeping track of FS1, until you’ve gotten everything sorted out.”

 

“Oh.”  Lee seemed somewhat deflated that he couldn’t argue with that bit of logic from his boss.  “I’d better call Admiral Jones and see if I can get more information out of him.”  He shook his head.  “Can’t for the life of me figure out what Mom could have stumbled across.”

 

“Don’t know why – you’re just like her,” was muttered very low from Chip’s direction.  Lee was opening his mouth to flatten his insolent XO but Nelson spoke first.

 

“You leave Robert to me,” he ordered, although he could barely get it out around the snickers he was desperately trying to control.  “You have any idea where your mother actually is?”

 

Lee shook his head.  “She mentioned several places,” he told his boss, still sending sideways glances at Chip’s back.  “I’ll call and find out where to meet up with her.”

 

“Good.  Let me know and I’ll call ahead for clearance for Ski and FS1 as close as I can.  And maybe by then I’ll have been able to drag a little more information out of Robert.”

 

“Yes, sir,” Lee reluctantly gave in to the inevitable.  With one last glance at Chip’s back, he left to pack.

 

As the echoes of Lee’s footsteps died away, indicating that he was now out of earshot, Chip collapsed against the tabletop.  “I’m dead,” he muttered softly.

 

Nelson chuckled, but said firmly as he laid a hand on Chip’s shoulder, “You were following orders.”

 

At that Chip stood up.  With a glance up the spiral stairs, where Lee had disappeared, he told his boss, “Which will last until the next time he catches me off base.”

 

Nelson still sent him a fond grin – how he appreciated and enjoyed the friendship between his two senior officers.  It made it a little ‘interesting’ to be around them on occasion.  But it had also forged a bond that helped make them the best command team it had ever been Nelson’s privilege to be around.  He did, however, get a bit contemplative.  “Can Lee undo your tampering?”

 

Chip nodded.  “I password protected it but if he works at it long enough he can override it.”

 

“Sounds like I’d better get to Robert before he does.”  Nelson started to follow Lee but hesitated.  “Do I want to know what all that is?” he indicated the computer parts scattered across the chart table.

 

“Ah…” Chip started.

 

“Never mind,” Nelson cut him off.  This appeared to be one of those times when it was better not to know what Chip was up to.

 

* * *

 

Lee gave serious thought, as he drove home to change clothes, to ignoring Nelson’s order and talking to Admiral Jones himself.  Two things stopped him: the respect that he had for Admiral Nelson, and the respect that he had for Admiral Nelson’s temper should his boss find out!  For whatever reason, and Lee had a feeling that it was merely Nelson’s irritation that Jones so often went straight to Lee with issues, ignoring the obvious chain of command, Nelson had given him a direct order to not talk to Jones.  Lee had suspicions about why Jones hadn’t called Lee’s cell phone – Chip had borrowed the phone the last time they were home, supposedly to make a small upgrade.  Lee was pretty sure now what that ‘upgrade’ had been.  But he also knew that Chip wouldn’t have done it on his own initiative, no matter how much he objected to Lee’s continued involvement with ONI.  Lee decided that for now he’d play the game according to Nelson’s new set of rules.  Time would tell if it stayed that way.

 

A smile – half sheepish, half smug – crossed his face as he grabbed the travel bag that he always kept partially packed and added extra clothes as well as a few other things he thought that he might have use for.  There was absolutely no telling what his mother had gotten herself involved with.  Lee was perfectly aware from whom he’d inherited his intense curiosity.  Chip, for all his grousing, was dead on when he said that Lee was just like his mother – at least in that respect.

 

Ready to head back to NIMR, he sat down on the edge of his bed and dialed a number that not a whole lot of people in the world had – his mother’s cell phone.  As well traveled as she was and as many friends around the world as she’d made, she simply did not give out that number without a really good reason.  She always insisted that her cell phone was for her convenience, not everyone else’s.    For the longest time all he heard was the phone ringing.  Not even the message center was answering.  He was about to hang up when a sleepy far-away-sounding voice finally said in his ear, “Lee?  What’s wrong?”

 

Lee chuckled softly.  “Oops” he told his mother.  “Forgot the time difference.  And does something have to be wrong for me to call?”

 

“Humm,” came back a little more firmly; a little more awake.

 

But still sounding…  “Mom, where are you?  You sound like you’re talking from a cave.”

 

It was her turn to chuckle.  “Well, if you want to get technical, I sort of am.”  There was a pause, and Lee envisioned his mother sitting up and making herself a little more comfortable now that she was apparently going to have an actual conversation instead of going back to sleep.  “I’m in White Cliffs, New South Wales.  It’s sort of out in the booneys but actually quite a neat place.  Because of the high temps during most of the year a great lot of the actual town, including the hotel I’m staying at, is underground.  Quite pleasant, actually.  Now,” she got serious, “why are you calling me?”

 

Lee smiled at the order in her voice.  In some ways she sounded a whole lot like Admiral Nelson.  “Just checking to see if the invitation to join you was still open.”  He tried to sound casual.  He had a feeling she wasn’t buying it when there was a slight pause before she answered.

 

“Of course,” came back.  Lee could hear the puzzlement in her voice but there was also the usual warmth that she always used when speaking to him.

 

It made Lee smile, but he also knew that he was going to have to come up with some excuse to placate her.  “Seaview isn’t headed out for a couple of weeks and Jamie is bugging me that I haven’t taken much of my vacation time.”  He tried to put a grumble in his voice at mention of NIMR’s CMO.  Thankfully it had the desired effect on his mother – she was well aware of the spiteful relationship the two men presented to the outside world, but the mutual respect that sustained their strong friendship – and she chuckled again.

 

“Happy to have you join me,” and Lee could hear the genuine warmth still in his mother’s voice.  “Need directions?”

 

“I’m pretty good with maps,” he told her with a smile in his voice.

 

“Even on dry land?” she teased him.

 

“Despite what you may have heard from a certain blond supposed friend of mine,” Lee groused back.  He’d been the brunt of a joke between Chip and Helen several years ago when Lee had taken a detour driving Chip to his mom’s house.  There was construction on the main highway and Lee was sure that he knew the best way around it.  The detour had turned….interesting.

 

Helen chuckled.  She was all too familiar with the gentle, and sometimes not so gentle, harassment that was so much a part of Lee and Chip’s brother-like friendship.  “Any idea when you’ll arrive?” she now asked.

 

“Ah…”  Lee wasn’t sure how to explain his expedited travel.  Helen hadn’t ever seen FS1.

 

“When I get up in the morning I’ll reserve a room for you,” Helen settled that small detail.  “Whenever you get here it will be ready, and we’ll make connections at that point.”

 

“Sounds perfect,” Lee told her.  “Ah…”

 

“Yes dear?”  There was amusement in his mother’s voice and it caused Lee to smile as well.

 

“Just wondering how your research was going.”  Lee tried to keep his voice casual.

 

But Helen had always had the ability to be one step ahead of her son – not an easy task for sure.  Now there was an ever so slight pause before she asked, “What’s really behind you suddenly deciding to show up?”

 

Lee smiled and shook his head.  You’d think that I’d have learned by now, he muttered to himself.  Out loud there was still a bit of chagrin in his voice, he knew, when all he said was, “Tell you when I see you.”

 

“Humm,” came back once more.  But they both chuckled softly, said their good-byes, and hung up.

 

Lee grabbed his bag as well as a smaller flight bag with a few more specialized items that, since he wouldn’t be going through airport security, he could take along without threat of being questioned about.  He was fairly sure that Nelson would point Kowalski toward Sydney – Helen had said she was in New South Wales.  Nelson was well-enough known by Australia’s naval hierarchy that finding a safe spot for FS1 should be fairly easy.  Protocol would require Lee to go through a form of Customs but, as military personnel and with Nelson’s connections, Lee didn’t expect anything much beyond a minimal glance at his ID and passport.  He did give one more glance at his house phone, but quickly dismissed trying to call Admiral Jones and headed back to NIMR.

 

Rather than return to his office Nelson, once he’d exited Seaview, went to NIMR’s secure communications center and called Admiral Jones from there.  But even after he explained where he was calling from Jones wasn’t overly helpful.  He continued to insist that Mrs. Crane be sidetracked away from what she was currently investigating.  He seemed extremely relieved to hear that Lee was, indeed, headed that direction, but that was about all Nelson could get out of ONI’s director.  Muttering threats at overly paranoid officers – admirals in particular – Nelson meandered back to Seaview.  Chip had been busy – there wasn’t a single indication that the chart table had so recently been turned into a workbench.  The open hatch, and occasional small sound, indicated that someone was inside FS1.  Nelson assumed Kowalski but didn’t verify, instead pulling out several maps and spreading them out on top of the now clean chart table.  Footsteps pulled his attention toward the aft hatch and he sent a smile at his XO as Chip appeared from wherever he’d been.  The smile turned to chuckles as more footsteps, this time coming down the spiral stairs, turned out to belong to a returning Lee.  Chip took one look for confirmation, did an abrupt about face, and headed back the direction he’d just come from.  But a firm “Mr. Morton,” from Lee stopped the blond and both men met at the chart table, Nelson’s continuing chuckles causing both younger men to finally smile sheepishly.  Not trusting his voice just yet, Nelson pointed an eyebrow at his captain.

 

“Some place called White Cliffs, in New South Wales,” Lee correctly read the question and confirmed that he’d talked to his mother.  Nelson pulled out the right map, but it took all three men to finally spot the town close to NSW’s northwest corner.  Another eyebrow only got a shrug.  “She didn’t say and I didn’t push,” Lee told his boss.

 

Nelson also shrugged.  “About what I got out of Robert,” he admitted.  “I’m afraid that you’re on your own.”

 

“As usual,” was muttered darkly by Chip.

 

“You want to come along and help?” Lee asked him all too innocently. 

 

Nelson snorted as Chip sent his CO a completely politically incorrect glare.  “Somebody has to be prepared to run the boat when you come back in fourteen pieces,” the blond defended himself.

 

“Gentlemen,” Nelson got out before his two officers could descend into what had all the makings of a spitting match between ten-year-olds, although his inability to totally control his snickers somewhat spoiled the effect.

 

“Yes, sir,” came back in stereo as Lee and Chip sent him instantly innocent looks.

 

Nelson was saved from totally cracking up when Kowalski’s head popped out of FS1’s upper hatch.  “Ready to go when you are, Skipper,” he said, perfectly under control.  Nelson had a feeling that he’d heard the previous conversation – Nelson noticed an ever so slight twitch at the corners of his mouth.  A glance at Lee showed that the brunet was also catching ‘something’ in the senior rating’s expression. 

 

Nelson took advantage of the interruption in Lee and Chip’s sniping match.  “You take off, then,” he told Lee.  “I’ll see what arrangements I can put together and give FS1 a call when I have it confirmed.”

 

“Yes, sir.”  Lee still sent a small sneer Chip’s way, but turned his back and headed for the Nose and FS1’s upper hatch before Chip could retaliate. 

 

Once the hatch was closed Nelson turned to his XO.  “You two even now?”  Chip waggled a hand from side to side but he sent Nelson a broad grin.  Nelson just shook his head and went back to studying the map.

 

* * *

 

Even with Nelson pulling strings in the background it was still a tired Lee who arrived in White Cliffs.  Kowalski had carefully suggested that Lee might like to catch a few Z’s on the way down, but wasn’t at all surprised when his Skipper merely shook his head and went back to studying the couple of maps that he’d brought from home. 

 

It was a habit that he’d developed after starting to work for ONI since he frequently wouldn’t know quite where he was going to be from one day to the next, and he’d continued to keep up-to-date information at hand.  Chip had found his collection one day and teased him – at least it was mostly teasing, although Lee had seen the quickly buried frown and heard the carefully controlled grumble in the blond’s voice – that a quick search on his computer would call up the same information.  Lee had, also carefully, reminded Chip that he wasn’t always in a position to use a computer and the subject was quickly dropped.  Neither friend wanted to antagonize the other on what was a very touchy subject.

 

Kowalski had also sent Lee a raised eyebrow when, about halfway through the trip, Lee had a bit of a coughing attack.  “Smoker’s hack,” Lee had teased the rating, and they’d both grinned since Lee didn’t smoke.

 

Nelson had indeed arranged for FS1 to dock – quietly – in Sydney Harbor.  Kowalski stayed airborne most of the way, and he and Lee kibitzed about how many radar installations along the route would post UFO readings.  Once they were getting closer, however, they dove the little craft and made a much slower, less public, entrance into the continent/country. 

 

Their boss had made other arrangements as well.  There were accommodations awaiting Kowalski at a nearby hotel – nothing fancy but more than merely serviceable.  Lee teased him about making good use of his paid vacation time when he ducked in for a few minutes before he was scheduled to fly by light plane out to White Cliffs – the place had a small airstrip with once-a-day flight service.  Kowalski was amazed but Lee reminded him that, because of the distances involved in Australia, a lot of places had at least a place that planes could land if they were careful.

 

The rest of Nelson’s call hadn’t been nearly as helpful.  Admiral Jones wasn’t available – quote, unquote – the next time Nelson had tried to talk to him.  Lee and Kowalski both shivered slightly and shared a quick nervous glance at the tone in Nelson’s voice when he related that bit of news.  Lee tried to answer calmly, telling Nelson that he was sure that he could get whatever was screwed up straightened out; that he found it hard to believe that his mom could mess up that badly no matter what Admiral Jones was saying.  There was a grunt on the other end of the line and once more Lee and Kowalski shared a glance, this one with a small smile.  There had been a pause, another grunt, and Nelson had said that he’d try again later to pin Jones down.  Lee had said, with what he hoped was a smile in his voice to help calm down his obviously ticked off boss, that his money was on Nelson.  In actual fact Lee wasn’t holding his breath.  If Jones was being this much of a pain there was little hope of even Nelson getting anything further without a trip to DC and physically rattling Jones’ bones.  Lee was just as happy now that he hadn’t tried to call Jones himself.  He did give a few seconds’ thought to what Jones would have told him had the admiral been able to reach him directly.  Which led to reminding himself that he needed to have a little talk with Chip when he got home.  On the other hand, he admitted to himself, the fact that Jones can’t reach me directly isn’t all that bad.  He smiled to himself – he thought.  Kowalski raised a quick eyebrow, causing Lee’s smile to broaden.  “Just a thought that letting admirals deal with admirals isn’t such a bad idea.”

 

“Gotcha there, Skip,” the senior rating agreed wholeheartedly.

 

What with travel time and time zone changes, it was nearly 6 pm when the small plane landed at White Cliffs.  Besides Lee there were four other passengers.  Two were businessmen, buyers for different jewelry stores in Sydney.  They obviously knew each other, and the pilot as well, and they kept the others semi-entertained with their good-natured bickering over who was going to have the more profitable trip until the plane took off and the engine noise got too bad to easily carry on a conversation.  The other two were a young married couple, both teachers in Melbourne on a small vacation.  Lee got the feeling that, when they talked about why they as teachers were taking off during what wasn’t a school holiday, that there was far more to the story than that they simply needed a break and the school where they both taught had given them the time off.  But it wasn’t in Lee’s nature to pry into strangers’ private lives, and no one else aboard seemed to care.

 

Even as evening was approaching, the heat slammed Lee in the face as he stepped off the plane.  And it isn’t even the hottest part of the year, he muttered to himself.  The landscape, except for the small area that was the above ground part of town, was almost moonscape-like, with rocks and sand and small mounds of apparently discarded materials from the opal mining.  Chip had been busy and awaiting Lee when FS1 docked was a fat folder of information about White Cliffs, which Lee had glanced through while waiting for the flight.

 

While New South Wales had re-written legislation to allow full-scale, large company, mining operations, White Cliffs was one of the older areas that still only permitted small, individual digs.  The area had about two hundred permanent residents, most of whom lived underground in what were called dugouts.  The area was primarily limestone so the dugouts were entirely safe, and stayed pretty much a constant comfortable temperature all year ‘round.  There were businesses and at least one church above ground, but even the hotel was mostly underground.  There were a couple small vehicles awaiting the passengers, who were all going to the same hotel.  Lee’s driver, who also took the young couple, drove the ‘scenic route,’ pointing out the small town’s highlights, including the solar station.  Everyone smiled at the small band, or mob as they were called, of kangaroos hanging around the church as if they were awaiting evening services.

 

Lee smiled again when they got to the hotel; the above ground part included a small swimming pool, enclosed by glass panels, as well as a couple of guest rooms – apparently for the claustrophobic.  Lee felt right at home descending down into what was actually quite a spacious network of underground passageways and rooms.  He glanced around as the desk clerk checked in the couple.  The two buyers, being familiar with everything, had been driven straight here, and Lee nodded to them as he saw them come from what must be the lodging area and head for the bar.  With a couple minutes to wait, Lee walked that way as well and poked his nose into the area, looking around.  He knew that his expression blanched as he spotted his mother sitting at a small table with a man maybe a few years older than Lee, and he instantly ducked back out into the foyer and headed for the restroom he thankfully spotted around a corner.  A quick glance told him the room was empty and he finally allowed himself to breathe.  He grabbed his cell phone with a muttered, Mom, of all the times to ignore your phone, please don’t do it now, and was almost giddy with relief when she picked up.

 

“Hello, dear,” she said brightly as her phone identified her caller.

 

“Mother, please don’t ask questions.  And please be extremely careful how you answer me.”

 

“Of course, dear,” came instantly back, and Lee allowed himself a quick smile.  Unwanted was also the thought that he hoped nobody was monitoring cell phone calls.  A long shot, out here.  But he’d had missions screwed up before by longer ones.

 

“Your son is going to have to cancel his plans to join you.”

 

“Oh, rats,” came through the line.  “I suppose that workaholic boss of yours suddenly decided to go chase fish.”

 

Lee almost laughed out loud.  “Something like that,” he told her.  “You are, however, about to run into a man named Travis Meeker.  You aren’t going to like him a whole lot.”

 

“How disappointing.”  Lee could hear immense curiosity hidden in those two words.  He was just extremely pleased that his mother was so adept at reading situations – and people – that pretty much nothing threw her totally off.

 

“Love you,” he told her with feeling.

 

“You’re sure you can’t make it down,” she said, disappointment now very evident in her voice.  Lee wasn’t sure what to say, but she saved him by continuing.  “Well, okay.  I’ll cancel the room I had reserved for you.  Perhaps I’ll make a stop in California on my way home.”

 

“I love you,” he told her again, and listened to her soft chuckle before they both disconnected.

 

Lee walked back to the reception desk, blessing his lucky stars that he’d spotted who his mother was talking to before checking in. He smiled at the desk clerk, a mid-twenties woman, and apologized for not calling ahead for reservations and hoped that the hotel might have a vacancy as it wasn’t high-tourist season.  She smiled back, assuring him that they did indeed have several rooms available, and Lee reached into the bag he always kept partially packed for a small leather pouch, from one section of which came a passport, driver’s license, and credit card, all looking extremely authentic and all identifying Lee as one Michael Travis Meeker from Seattle, WA, USA.  Lee was careful not to show that the pouch had several other sections, and quickly tucked the pouch back into the bag.

 

Once into the room assigned to him he stashed his real ID cards and passport into the pouch, and the whole pouch went into a different, cleverly concealed section of the other bag.  Even if the bag was searched it was unlikely that the pouch would be found.  With a shake of his head that once again whatever guardian angel that sat on his shoulder had protected him from what could have been an extremely unpleasant experience, Lee headed once more for the bar.  Lee had run into Helen’s companion before, and it hadn’t been as Lee B. Crane!

 

The man’s name was Barnabas Tyler.  Suspected of everything from drug smuggling to arms dealing, nothing had ever been proven.  He was, to all intents and purposes, just a wealthy playboy living wherever he happened to find himself – although he carried a US passport.  Lee had run into him as a periphery character in an investigation years ago.  ONI suspected that impressionable young sailors with high security clearances were being suckered into rigged poker games in Honolulu, Hawaii, while their ships were docked at Pearl Harbor.  They were then blackmailed to pay off their debts with stolen naval intel documents.  Lee had gone in undercover as Petty Officer M. Travis Meeker, been able to identify enough of the main players to bring in a full-scale investigation, and clear the young seamen of everything except extreme stupidity.  Tyler had been one of the men involved in the poker games but the investigators, which did not include a carefully extricated Lee, couldn’t prove that he was actually a part of the plan and not merely an innocent bystander to the real motives.  As Lee’s cover hadn’t been blown he kept the fake ID, now private citizen instead of navy personnel, to use another day.  Now, having gotten himself – or rather M. Travis Meeker – squared away, he headed back to the bar. 

 

His glance around the room was casual as he entered but his trained eyes took in everything.  Helen and Tyler were still sitting at the small table where they’d been, on the side of the room near a wooden bar counter you might see in any upscale tavern.  The two opal buyers Lee had flown in with were on the other side of the room, and Lee again thanked his lucky stars that he hadn’t actually told anyone his name.  The pilot knew that his last name was Crane but that shouldn’t be a problem.  The men he might now have to deal with, depending on what was actually going on, would easily accept an explanation of merely another alias as they no doubt did the same thing all too often.  Helen, Lee knew, traveled under ‘Helen Graham Lee’ as opposed to Mrs. Helen Crane.  Lee knew that it wasn’t anything to do with trying to forget her marriage to Lee’s father.  She’d always been Mrs. Crane to all her friends, Lee’s schoolteachers, etc.  But it had been a little help in distancing herself from the pain she’d suffered when he passed away at such an early age, when Lee was five years old.  And now, as a successful freelance writer, her maiden name was the one most familiar to the outside world, and what her passport read.

 

Over half of the other tables were occupied, some with people who were, from their dress, locals.  Lee took a route toward the bar that placed him behind his mother’s chair.  He carefully didn’t acknowledge the look Tyler sent him as he started across the room.  When he ‘accidentally’ bumped the back of Helen’s chair, and stopped ever so briefly to apologize, his surprised recognition of Tyler was perfectly portrayed.

 

The two men stared at each other ever so briefly, as if trying to remember why they knew the other’s face.  Lee had decided to not waste time.  “Ah, Tyler, isn’t it?”  There was an ever so slight bit of carefully cultivated distrust in Lee’s voice.

 

Tyler nodded, his eyes scanning Lee.  “Hawaii?” was all he said.

 

“Travis Meeker,” Lee supplied the name. 

 

Again Tyler nodded.  Not friendly, but also not totally antagonistic.  Helen had turned slightly to acknowledge Lee’s apology and Tyler apparently decided that he’d better watch his manners, even though his eyes held an easily read element of distrust.  “Helen Lee,” he said, almost reluctantly.

 

“Ma’am,” Lee said easily, with a small nod.  But his eyes went right back to Tyler’s, expressing nothing more than casual indifference.

 

“Still in the Navy?” Tyler now asked.

 

Lee shook his head.  “Too many restrictions.  Cramped my style,” he said, still with careful caution.  As Tyler seemed unsure of what else to say, Lee nodded at Helen with another soft “Ma’am, pleasure to meet you,” and purposely turned his back and continued on to the bar.  He ordered a drink and took it to the other side of the room, finding a table where he could sit with his back to the wall and keep the rest of the room in sight.  He very carefully didn’t focus on any table in particular – merely made it apparent to anyone watching him that he was casually observant of everything around him.  He had to work hard at keeping a smile covered as Helen studiously ignored him and continued whatever conversation she was having with Tyler.  The bit he’d heard before bumping into her chair, Tyler seemed to be describing a specific mine – Lee wasn’t sure if it was here or somewhere else.  But that was precisely what he would have expected – his mother gathering all sorts of information from everyone she met, and eventually coming up with a special story for an ordinary topic.

 

Lee did let himself consider what Tyler might be doing here.  On first glance White Cliffs seemed too small and out of the way to be of any interest to someone so internationally involved in nasty things as Tyler was suspected of being.  And yet, Lee had to admit, it might just be someplace this far out in the booneys, but with it’s own small airstrip, that would appeal to someone involved in nefarious dealings.  Whatever was going on, Helen was apparently enjoying herself ‘mining’ him for information and, from his expression, he was enjoying himself in her company.  Lee wasn’t surprised – Helen was an extremely gregarious and interesting person to be around when she chose to be.  Lee knew it to be a bit of an act on her part, one she’d cultivated over the years to get people to talk.  But he did know that she honestly enjoyed people simply for who they were.

 

As Tyler and Helen were nearly finished with the drinks in front of them, Lee quickly downed the last of his and stood up to leave.  He suspected that the pair was about to head for the dining room and he didn’t want to give the appearance of following them. He was waiting for the hostess to seat him, as there were several other couples ahead of him, when Helen and Tyler came out of the bar and headed for the reception desk.  Lee buried another smile as Helen, in the clear voice she used when she meant it to carry, cancelled the reservation she’d made for her son because “his boss cancelled his vacation last minute.”  Apparently she’d not said a great deal to anyone about him – something else Lee was grateful for – as he heard Helen say, apparently in response to a question from Tyler, “he works for one of those ocean conservation places in Southern California,” and promptly changed the subject.  They ended up behind him in line for dinner, but Lee was saved from having to ignore them as the hostess took him to his table just as they were walking up.  However, as luck would have it, the hostess then seated them only two tables away.  From a very brief look of annoyance on Tyler’s face that he instantly covered, Tyler wasn’t overjoyed at having to sit so close to Lee, either.  But Lee carefully pretended not to notice and spent the meal ignoring them, once again casually keeping watch over the rest of the room and giving the impression of being guardedly suspicious.  Helen and Tyler spent the meal talking about all sorts of things, but mostly places they both had been and what they’d enjoyed – or not enjoyed – about each.  Another smile had to be buried when the topic of Hawaii came up.  Tyler was circumspect and Helen didn’t prod.  They both chuckled when Helen admitted having wanted to visit the site on Oahu which had been used for the ‘Robin Masters Estate’ for the filming of the ‘Magnum, PI’ television series in the 1980’s.  She’d been told originally that it was part of a public park but discovered to her dismay that it was, indeed, a private estate and did not give tours.  She’d tried to use her name and profession to gain entrance but by then the show was no longer in production and the owners were far too sated by looky-loo’s to be bothered by who they considered to be one more.  And with a grin, Helen had admitted that they would have been right.

 

Lee was annoyed when, just as he was finishing the last of his coffee after a perfectly delicious meal, his carefully constructed image of not even being there was screwed up when another round of coughs, like the one he’d suffered on the way down in FS1, threw attention on him.  He waved off the waitress’ worried look, merely indicated that he’d like a bit more coffee, and muttered darkly to himself that the last thing he wanted now was to be drawing unwanted attention.  Thankfully, a few swallows of the freshly delivered coffee and he had himself back under control.

 

He was just getting up, thinking about going back to the bar for a bit while he pondered his options, when a man walked into the dining room.  He ignored the hostess and glanced around, his gaze settling on Tyler ever so briefly before he turned on his heel and left.  Lee didn’t recognize him, but ‘something’ about him set off Lee’s scumbag meter.  However, he pretended to barely notice, paid his bill, and meandered once more to the bar.  The man, now labeled ‘Scumbag-1’ by Lee, was already sitting at a back table with another man who Lee labeled ‘Scumbag-2’.  Lee would have preferred sitting close enough to eavesdrop on their conversation but two things stopped him.  First, there was no way he wanted to be that obvious.  And second, he suddenly realized that he knew Scumbag-2.  Heaven only knew what name he was using down here but Lee knew him as Colin Fisher, one of ONI’s best undercover agents.  Curiouser and curiouser, he grinned to himself behind the drink he carried to a table across the room, where he could once more put his back to the wall and keep the whole room casually in view.

 

Lee had never worked with Fisher but the two had bumped into each other a time or two at training sessions.  Fisher was a couple years older than Lee and Lee appreciated his acting skills, his attention to details when creating an alias, and just his overall attitude toward the job.  Lee had learned quite a lot from him.

 

Fisher’s presence explained how Admiral Jones discovered that Helen was here.  A bunch of agents were sitting around one evening after a particularly grueling day of training and a couple of the women started kibitzing about an article they’d recently read.  Lee didn’t think that he’d reacted when the author was identified but Fisher had pulled him aside later and flat asked, and Lee shyly came clean.  Fisher hadn’t said anything more on that subject, but he did give Lee a few pointers on how not to react should the circumstances happen again.

 

Lee hid another grin, admitting that Fisher’s subtle little lesson quite probably contributed to Lee being able to handle what happened earlier that evening, and his quick thinking to get himself out of it.  That’s another one I owe you, Lee told his fellow agent silently, and wondered even more just what the heck was going on.

 

* * *

 

Helen Crane, traveling under her maiden name of Helen Graham Lee, the Pulitzer prize-winning freelance writer as she always did, was having a wonderful time.  Having spent a couple of months off and on while working on other things doing research on Australia’s opal mining industry, she finally was free to do her fieldwork.  Doing it a bit backwards, actually, because sometimes she found that technique to work better for her.

 

She’d started in the jewelry stores in Melbourne and Sydney, her name and reputation – plus some preliminary phone calls – gaining her access to the work rooms where rough stones were turned into exquisite pieces of art, garnering smiles when she called them that instead of simply pieces of jewelry.  She didn’t bother much with the export side of the business – that wasn’t what she wanted to focus on.

 

Instead she preferred the human side of the story – the people who actually did the work.  A couple of store owners tried to monopolize her time with how wonderfully they’d managed their marketing skills, and how successful and far flung their enterprises were.  She’d listened politely, jotted down a few notes to be polite, and promptly tossed that part of the interviews into the trash at her first opportunity.

 

She had spent a fair amount of time deciding where she wanted to do what she was referring to as her ‘outback research.’  She knew that she wanted to stay away from the bigger operations.  Originally all mining had been done by individuals on small claims, but recent changes in Australia’s laws had allowed for large industrial-sized operations in a lot of areas.  That still left her several options, among them Lightning Ridge and White Cliffs where the law was still small, usually 50 x 50 meters or roughly 54 x 54 yards, claim sites, with no more than two sites held by any one person at one time.  Lightning Ridge being the more known of the sites, producing most of the country’s, and world’s for that matter, black opal – so named for its deep coloration – she decided to head for White Cliffs.  It was one of the older mining sites, opals having been discovered there in 1889.  Four kangaroo hunters were hired to rid the drought-stricken Momba Pastoral Company Station, ‘station’ being Australia’s term for ranch, of an overpopulation of the beasts.  They’d instead discovered opals, and that was pretty much the end of their kangaroo-hunting days.  The place had grown steadily once word got out, and by 1897 the population was nearly 1000 residents.

 

But the oppressive heat and scarcity of building materials started driving everyone underground as miners began living in their own mine shafts and tunnels, to the point now where most of the town was underground.  It was still an extremely productive area for opals, and during the cooler months the population could still swell to nearly 500.  Because so much of the actual mining was done ‘the old way’, with only a few modern innovations, Helen was anxious to see it for herself as well as for her story.

 

Helen could also smile about what had been, at least partially, the kicker in choosing to visit White Cliffs.  In Sydney she’d seen, on display, the opalized remains of a plesiosaur found at White Cliffs in 1976.  At nearly six feet long and approximately 100 million years old, Helen thought that it would be fun to take Lee pictures of where the ancient sea creature had been found.

 

Then, it seemed like she might be able to show him in person.  She’d been extremely surprised by his phone call.  And curious.  It wasn’t like him at all to simply drop in on her, especially when she was on an assignment.  True, she had invited him to join her, a couple of times when the subject of the trip came up in conversation.  If she hadn’t been quite so tired she might have questioned him further but she’d had a long, busy day.  She’d met a man on the flight out; he didn’t live at White Cliffs but seemed to make frequent trips there, and he’d graciously offered to ‘show her the sights’ as it were.  Helen much preferred to do her own research but Barney, as he insisted she call him, was charmingly persistent and she’d actually quite enjoyed the day.

 

Once she’d checked into the White Cliffs Underground Motel, which she’d instantly found charming for its uniqueness, the pair headed out.  Barney was a pleasant host, not ‘hitting’ on her, as she’d had to deal with over the years.  Helen was an extremely attractive woman, a quality she worked on for the one reason that it often worked to her advantage – a lot of people seemed to think that attractive women were idiots, and Helen had taken great pleasure over the years in proving them wrong!  Barney simply seemed to like showing her around, which she did enjoy.  They stopped at St. Mary’s Anglican Church as well as the Solar Power Station, just because they were the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ of the town, yet still so much an integral part of the ambiance.  The Pioneer Children’s Cemetery spoke of the severe typhoid epidemic that ravaged the community between 1890 and 1892.  No markers were still standing but it was thought that four of the graves belonged to the children of Alfred Richardson, one of the original four hunters who found the first opals here.

 

They visited several of the historical dugouts, preserved to show how the early miners lived.  This, as well as the cemetery and church, spoke more to what Helen wanted to learn and she took copious notes and photographs.  She wasn’t as thrilled with the numerous opal galleries Barney insisted she needed to see as it was more of the same that she’d seen in Melbourne and Sydney.  But one place also had exhibits of photographs and Aboriginal art of the Barkindji tribe, the original inhabitants of the area, and that helped bring everything back into focus for her.

 

Happily for her, Barney had already claimed business meetings for the following day so she didn’t have to be rude to him.  With the help of the desk clerk she made contact with a couple of the local miners who were willing to let her follow them around for the day as they worked.  She had a feeling that they both thought that she’d bag the whole project once she realized they were going to take her down into the actual mines, grubbing around in the dirt, rock, and shale.  She had to suppress grins as she held her own, helping as she could and observing when quarters were too tight to allow more than one to work.  The two men worked this particular claim together, one at a time in the drives, as the tunnels branching out from the down shaft were called.  Using jackhammers run by generators topside, the drives were slowly extended as the miners looked for opal-bearing layers.  The other miner worked mechanical buckets to bring up the excavated materials and dump it into what looked like a small cement mixer, which broke down the larger shale and helped them extract any opals they might find.  On that day nothing of value presented itself and Helen commiserated with them.  But they were philosophical about it – sometimes they went for days, or even weeks, without finding a single opal.  That was just how it was for the miners.  Helen thanked them profusely for allowing her the opportunity to work alongside them; that they’d given her insight into the ‘real’ world of opal mining.  They paid her the compliment of inviting her back another day, and she’d laughed and said that she just might do that; that she’d had such a good time.

 

Grubby, dirty – and thoroughly happy with her day’s outing – she’d arrived back at the hotel just as Barney did as well from however he’d spent the day.  They’d shared a laugh at her appearance, and agreed to meet for a drink and dinner as soon as Helen had cleaned up.  They’d barely sat down when her phone went off.  She’d ever so briefly considered ignoring it but glanced at the screen just in case and smiled when Lee’s name popped up.  She was totally unprepared for his opening lines, but his tone of voice broached no argument and she went along with the charade knowing that Lee wouldn’t be doing whatever he was doing without a very good reason.  She knew that he occasionally still did work for the Office of Naval Intelligence.  It was not something that they talked about, but she accepted it because she knew that it was important to Lee.  Whatever was going on would be explained at a later date, or however much of it Lee was free to tell, and that was fine with her.  She had raised an eyebrow toward Barney once ‘Mr. Meeker’ had left their table, but Barney had shrugged it off and Helen knew better than to push, even without Lee’s warning.  She did have to bury a grin – this, whatever ‘this’ was – might be more interesting than grubbing for opals.  But she would bide her time and not intentionally mess up anything for her son.  For now she was nothing more than a freelance writer on the hunt for a story about opal mining.  But that didn’t mean that she couldn’t keep her eyes and ears open!

 

As she and Barney headed from the bar to the dining room she made a quick stop at the reception desk to cancel the reservation she’d made for Lee that morning.  She noticed Barney’s interest in the fact that her and Lee’s last names weren’t the same, but she didn’t offer the explanation and he didn’t ask.  She very carefully kept herself from glancing over at Mr. Meeker all through dinner but did notice that Barney kept sending him covert glances, and started to get a feeling that Barney might not be such an inconsequential person as she had originally pegged him.  She was perfectly aware that he was the target of Lee’s interest, for whatever reason, and that alone made it worth keeping a careful watch on what she said and did around him.  All through dinner they chatted about her day, what a great time she’d had and how much she’d learned from the two miners, both about their own activities and the stories they’d related about other miners they either knew personally or had heard about.  They’d both lamented about the fact that the plesiosaur had originally been displayed here at White Cliffs before being moved, and hoped some day that it would be brought back.  Barney seemed not to have heard that story, which surprised Helen a bit seeing as how he was supposedly so familiar with the area and the opal industry.  Such local knowledge would seem widespread.  But she held her tongue and didn’t pursue it further.  She did ask how he’d spent his day, in a totally off-hand manner; they’d spent so much time talking about her day that the sharing of information seemed only natural.  Barney, however, shrugged it off with a mutter about business meetings, and went back to questions of what she thought she might write about next, after the opal story.  Helen told him quite honestly that she had no idea.  Sometimes she had as many as three or four ideas she was puttering with, or things that she thought might make an interesting story, and sometimes she’d be stuck for a while without a direction.  She lamented that even when she did have what sounded like a really good story, sometimes the further she got into it the more she realized that it just wasn’t going to work – at least the way she wanted or expected it to.

 

She was momentarily distracted as Mr. Meeker was suddenly hit with a heavy cough.  Since pretty much the whole room looked his direction, her glance over shouldn’t be a problem.  But she quickly got herself back under control and continued the conversation as if nothing had happened.  “Such are the vagaries of writing,” she told him with a shrug. 

 

“You seem to have done pretty well,” he told her with a smile.

 

Helen was beginning to distrust that smile and it wasn’t totally because of Lee’s warning.  But she smiled easily back none-the-less.  “I’ve been very fortunate, all things considered,” she admitted.  “It wasn’t always easy, after my husband passed away.  But I had a young son to support, as well as myself, and I wasn’t about to fail either of us,” she told him firmly.

 

“Good for you,” Barney said, somewhat offhandedly Helen thought, as Mr. Meeker was at that point standing up to leave.  Then Helen noticed another man standing just inside the doorway to the dining room.  Barney obviously noticed him as well, although he turned and left almost as quickly as he came in.  It seemed to Helen that Barney was instantly no longer so interested in visiting with her.  Far from rude, he simply seemed in a hurry to be done with dinner – and her.  And Helen, truth be told, was just as happy to say goodnight to him as well.  Having to feign politeness was starting to be hard work and she was already tired from her long day.  As they left the dining room, Barney excused himself and headed back to the bar.  A glance showed Lee already sitting at a table.  Helen hesitated, but headed for her room.  She was hoping that Lee would find a way to communicate with her, but if he was on an assignment she didn’t want him to do anything that would jeopardize his success.  She could wait.  Impatiently, perhaps, and she smiled to herself.  But she still had her story to concentrate on.  For now.  Unless an even better one happened to come along.

 

* * *

 

Lee wished he knew what he’d stepped in the middle of.  He nursed his drink, watching but not watching as Tyler came in, alone, and headed straight for the table where Scumbag-1 and Scumbag-2 – or rather, undercover agent Fisher – were sitting.  Lee contemplated heading for his mom’s room – this seemed like a good time, with Tyler otherwise occupied.  But he decided against it, preferring to keep an eye on things here for a bit.  In the back of his mind he also knew that he needed to get some rest – he’d been up way too many hours.  On the other hand, he knew just how hard that he could push himself.  And with Jamie’s enforced rest after the training accident Lee figured that he was good for at least another 8-12 hours at least, if necessary.

 

Whatever was being said at the other table, Lee got the distinct impression that someone wasn’t happy with his presence.  Even though Lee was feigning indifference he noticed that Scumbag-1 kept sending him short glares and even Fisher frowned his direction a time or two, although that could just be a part of whatever character he was playing at the moment.

 

Lee was considering his options when the two men who had shared his flight to White Cliffs entered the bar and sat down at a table next to Tyler and company.  They seemed engaged in a rather heated discussion, although they kept their voices so low that Lee wasn’t able to discern what was causing the row.  But it was obvious enough that all eyes in the bar were drawn at least partially in their direction.  Then Lee disgusted himself by causing his own bit of commotion as another fit of coughing hit so suddenly it caught him totally off guard.  When he once more looked up after getting himself back under control Tyler and Scumbag – Lee decided that he could drop the numeral designate unless and until there ended up being more players coming to the party – were both gone.  Fisher was still sitting at the table, casually keeping watch over the room.  The two salesmen seemed to have solved their miff – or at least put it to rest momentarily as they were now visiting calmly.  Lee was totally torqued that he’d not seen Tyler and Scumbag leave and wondered what, if anything, Fisher would do now that they seemed to be minus the bad guys.  But when Fisher made absolutely no attempt to catch his eye, instead watching the entire room, Lee started to wonder if maybe he didn’t yet know all the players after all.

 

He knew for sure just a few minutes later.  About to head for his room, thinking Fisher might try to contact him there later, the two salesmen once more distracted him.  Without warning the two loudly pushed back their chairs, glared at each other a moment, then one of them left.  The second one grunted, grabbed up his briefcase, and slowly left as well.  Something’s not right with that scene, Lee muttered to himself, but didn’t put the pieces together until Fisher also stood up unhurriedly, picked up a briefcase from under his table, and casually walked out.  Lee didn’t remember seeing a briefcase there earlier.  But both salesmen had been carrying one, and now Lee realized that the first one to leave hadn’t picked one up.  He momentarily went stiff, trying to remember if either of them had heard Lee give the pilot his name.  But neither had been anywhere near, he was sure, when he’d spoken to the pilot.  And there had been so much noise in the small plane that conversation was very limited.  Deciding that he’d pushed his luck entirely too much for one day, especially as he still had absolutely no idea what was going on, he headed for his room.

 

And just in time, as it turned out.  He’d no more than shut his door when his cell phone vibrated.  ‘Nelson’, the screen read, and Lee hesitated ever so slightly.  He didn’t dare not answer.  But still conscious of the hazards of cell phone communication, as well as his somewhat precarious situation, he answered cautiously.  “Hello?”  He purposely phrased the word as a drawled question, hoping that his boss would catch the unusual way Lee answered instead of his normal, brisk, ‘yes, sir’ when he recognized who was calling.

 

Apparently he did.  “Ah…  I think perhaps I dialed a wrong number.”

 

Lee allowed himself to smile, but responded in the same cautious drawl.  “Unless you’re calling Travis Meeker, you did.”

 

“Ah, yes,” came back softly.  Nelson knew about that particular alias.  “My apologies.”

 

“No problem,” Lee told him easily, and they both hung up.  Lee sat down on the edge of what seemed to be a very comfortable bed, pondering even more options than before.  Somehow he needed to make secure contact with his boss but here, in what was for all practical purposes Australia’s Outback, that might not be easy.  He could have his mother call, but even contact with her at the moment could create disaster if he were found out by the wrong people.  Sometimes I really, REALLY, hate ONI, he muttered, then chuckled, thinking that he’d better never let Chip hear him say that or the blond would definitely renew the not so gentle harassment about quitting the Navy’s intelligence gathering agency.  Mostly he didn’t bother anymore – Lee had ignored him long enough that Chip only took the occasional potshot.  If he got even an inkling that Lee might actually be considering the change he would never turn loose!

 

Lee thought that he should probably just lie down and get some of the sleep he knew that he needed.  But a bit of restlessness hit and, instead, he headed outside to take a walk in the somewhat cooler night air.  First, however, he set up a little trap to give him a heads up if anyone entered his room while he was gone.  It was a simple matter of a bit of thread stuck in the door at a specific point.  All but invisible, it would take someone with extremely good skills at covert operations to detect it, enter the room, and replace it exactly as it had been when they left.  The thought did cross Lee’s mind that Fisher would be one who could do it.  But since Fisher was on his side, Lee wasn’t worried.  He quickly set his little ‘trigger’ and ambled out into the night. 

 

Thankfully the southern hemisphere’s summer wasn’t yet in full swing – when it was, it would become very evident why the early miners had started the trend of living underground.  The daytime sun was still bearable, although Lee had felt it more than he thought he should have when he’d landed.  Now that the sun was down the night was almost pleasant.  There were others out and about, mostly locals, Lee suspected.  But he did see some, like the young couple who had also flown in with him, that had the look of tourists.  The couple, especially the woman, still didn’t look happy.  Lee wondered briefly why they’d bothered taking a vacation if neither wanted to be here.  But the thought left his mind as rapidly as it entered since it really wasn’t any of his business.

 

He wasn’t paying much attention to which direction he’d taken, although too many years with ONI had taught him to never be totally unaware of his surroundings.  He realized that he’d headed toward the end of town closest to the airstrip when the sound of an engine started drawing near and four small lights suddenly flicked on – two, he assumed from his position, at each end to mark the corners of the runway.  Decidedly unsafe, but out here Lee figured that people sort of did whatever they pleased.

 

Suddenly there was a poke in his back and a gruff, rough, voice growled, “Tell me what you’re doing here or I’ll drop your body down the nearest abandoned mine shaft.”

 

Almost before the sentence was finished Lee ducked, spun, and slammed the man behind him, knocking him down, pinning one arm tightly behind the guy’s back, landing a knee hard between the man’s shoulder blades and gripping the other hand – the one holding a handgun – pinning it to the ground.  “Tell me why it’s any of your business,” Lee growled even more firmly, “before I simply kill you and leave you to the buzzards.”

 

A chuckle in the shadows behind Lee froze both combatants.  “I always did suspect that you weren’t a total innocent, Meeker.” 

 

Lee recognized the voice as belonging to Barnabas Tyler but he didn’t let go of the man who’d attacked him.  “One of yours?” he muttered instead.

 

“Unfortunately,” Tyler told him, with an almost reluctant sigh in his voice.  Lee carefully got up, grabbing the gun as he did.  He turned to face Tyler, both men in his line of sight, the gun carried easily but not exactly pointed toward either.  Lee and Tyler spent several seconds merely watching each other, neither willing to be the first to speak.  The attacker, who turned out to the man Lee had earlier designated as Scumbag, got slowly to his feet, rubbing his shoulder and glaring at Lee.  Tyler broke first.  “Easy, Davis.  You lost that round fair and square.”  Davis – and Lee wasn’t sure if that was a first or last name – held out a hand toward Lee, apparently for the gun.  Lee ignored him and it caused Tyler to chuckle again.  “Strange place to take a vacation,” was Tyler’s next attempt at conversation.  Lee merely shrugged.  He had no intention of giving Tyler even a sliver of information, lies or otherwise, if he could help it.  Silence always made everyone else around you nervous – Lee had learned that lesson very early on in his training, and over the years it had served him well.  “Looking for work?” Tyler tried once more to get information.  “I could always use someone like you.”

 

“No,” Lee told him bluntly, but still didn’t move; didn’t offer any other explanation.

 

It was Tyler’s turn to shrug.  “Come along, Davis,” he told his minion and started to take a step away, in the direction of the airstrip.

 

“He’s still got my gun,” Davis complained in a half-growl, half-whine.

 

“And I suspect that he’s going to keep it,” Tyler told him, with that almost-smile back in his voice.  When Lee still didn’t react, Tyler tugged on Davis’ arm and the pair walked into the darkness, Davis with decided reluctance.

 

Once they were out of sight Lee finally took a deep breath, and a better look at the gun.  It had felt comfortable in his hand and he now discovered a nice, serviceable 9mm.  He popped out the clip, discovered that it was full, and popped it back in before tucking the weapon in his waistband at the small of his back, pulling the bottom of his polo shirt down over it.

 

Giving the pair a two-minute head start Lee casually, but extremely carefully, headed in the same direction.  There wasn’t a lot of cover as he reached the last building – he couldn’t see very far ahead of him and decided that, discretion being the better part of staying alive, he wouldn’t follow any further.  He was a bit upset with himself that he’d been so easily grabbed, but pleased that he hadn’t gotten a bullet in the back when he’d spun on his attacker.  He stood for a few minutes where he’d stopped before hearing the sound of the plane engine revving up, taking off, and the airstrip lights went out.  What sounded like maybe a jeep of some sort, or maybe just an ATV, headed from the airstrip to slightly north of town.  After that all was quiet and Lee headed – even more carefully – back to the underground hotel.  This time when he got back to his room he was ready to sleep, his little ‘trigger’ telling him that no one had entered his room while he was gone and the 9-mil feeling very comfortable under his pillow.

 

* * *

 

Knowing that Lee was an early riser who, when he could, headed out for a run to start his mornings, Helen was a bit surprised to find Mr. Meeker in the hotel restaurant when she entered the next morning.  The hotel had arranged for another day out and about with a different miner, one who worked a site by himself but, the hotel Asst. Manager, Alain Warren, assured her was a perfectly safe man to be around.  She’d chuckled and said that her research prior to coming had presented some interesting tales of the opal miners’ sometimes rugged lifestyles.  Mr. Warren assured her that yes, there were definite ‘characters’ in the Outback.  But the hotel was regularly asked for information about the mining operations and knew who of the locals were willing to cooperate and who would prefer to be left alone.

 

Helen was dying to know what Lee was up to.  But she knew better than to go anywhere near him if he was ‘working,’ even without his warning phone call.  She’d been a bit surprised when Barney, who up until the moment he laid eyes on Lee had seemed like a perfectly wonderful gentleman to enjoy passing a bit of time with – someone she’d totally not expected finding out in this somewhat desolate place – had so quickly turned watchful and almost blunt.  Helen had easily ignored the change, and herself sent Mr. Meeker a few scornful glances.  For some reason that seemed to amuse Barney.  But he all too quickly wanted to end the evening and Helen had been ready, with this new bit of information, to be rid of him as well.

 

Unfortunately it wasn’t going to be quite that easy, she discovered, as he walked into the restaurant right behind her and seemed to just assume that he could join her for breakfast.  Helen was polite – she had no reason not to be – merely telling him that she was going to eat a quick bite before heading out for another day of research.  The hotel was supplying her with a driver to take her to the mine site; one who would drop her off and come back for her late that afternoon.  They were also supplying a lunch for two – Helen didn’t ask but supposed that that was one way of assuring the miner’s continued cooperation with the tourist trade – a free meal.

 

Barney smiled.  “Good,” he said smoothly.  “I, too, have work to do today and will be unavailable to play host.  I’m glad that the hotel is being so accommodating.”

 

“Having them already planning some visits has been extremely helpful,” Helen agreed.  “Oh, I still want to do a bit of exploring on my own.”  She sent him one of her ‘sweet’ smiles.  Those who didn’t know her always assumed that it was an indication of just how mellow and non-threatening a woman she was.  Lee saw it from his table across the room and had to physically keep himself from cringing.  He knew all too well what that look meant – his mother was about to get stubborn about something.

 

Helen was not a person you told ‘No’ to if she had her mind set on ‘Yes.’  She didn’t pout, whine, threaten, or yell.  She simply planted her feet, looked you straight in the eye with that ‘sweet’ look on her face, and held her ground until she got what she wanted.  And she chose her battles wisely, always with logic and forethought so that she knew she was right and whomever she was battling with would eventually be forced to back down.

 

Lee had to suppress a chuckle as the thought passed through his brain when he saw that look now, wondering who would come out on top if Helen ever tangled with Admiral Nelson.  All things considered, Lee’s money was on his mom!

 

Helen kept the half-smile on her face as the waitress came to take their orders.  She had to or she’d have frowned as she glanced over at Lee and noticed for the first time how tired he looked and how he was barely picking at his meal, doing more pushing it around on his plate than actually eating.  But she had to pull herself back as Barney continued talking, telling her that he hoped she’d keep him company again that evening for dinner.  She sent him another of her ‘sweet’ smiles and said, “We’ll have to see how my day goes.  As well as yours,” she added with a bit of a raised eyebrow, inviting him to explain his plans.  Unfortunately he didn’t take the hint, merely asking if she knew which mine she was headed for today, and also if she had any ideas for exploring on her own.  When she admitted that she’d play that part by ear as she became more familiar with the area, he gave her several suggestions of what he called safe sites – miners who didn’t mind the occasional visitor.  He warned her about a bunch of others, telling her that there were places it simply wasn’t safe for a woman to go alone.  Helen sent him more of her ‘sweet’ smile, making note of his suggestions and putting his unsafe areas on the top of her mental list of places she wanted to go.  Helen wasn’t stupid – she knew perfectly well that not all of the miners were friendly towards tourists.  And two days ago she might have believed Barney’s warnings.  But that was before Lee showed up.  Now, she pretty much didn’t believe a word the man said.  She was careful not to let him see her change of attitude toward him.  She’d spent far too many years dealing with people all over the world not to have developed her own style of handling whatever kind of situations she found herself in with calm confidence.  She let a genuine smile appear as she thought back over the years, and realized that her ability to handle whatever life threw at her no doubt had led to her son’s ability to do the same.  She was so proud of how he’d turned out and thought perhaps she’d not told him that often enough.  It was Barney’s turn to raise an eyebrow when he noticed her expression, and her smile spread.  “I sometimes forget just what a good life I have, and how fortunate I’ve been over the years,” was all she said.

 

“I admit that I looked you up once I found out who you were,” he told her.  Helen was used to the comment and sent him one of her ‘sweet’ smiles.  She wasn’t overly concerned that he’d make the connection with Lee – she kept her professional life very separate from her private one, and he obviously knew Lee by a different name.  But it did remind her that she needed to be careful what she said around him.

 

“As I said,” she told him somewhat off-handedly, “I’ve been fortunate.”  She was saved from much else as the waitress returned with their meals.  Giving the reason as needing to hurry because of having a full day ahead of her she ate quickly.  Barney continued to be pleasant and tried to get her involved in conversation, but didn’t seem all that disappointed when she didn’t reciprocate.  As it was, she was barely finished when Mr. Warren came to the doorway of the restaurant, obviously looking for her, and she was glad to leave.  She purposely avoided looking toward Lee. Maybe tonight, she told herself, he’ll have the opportunity to let me know what’s going on.  But she wasn’t holding her breath.

 

Lee kept his thoughts to himself as his mother left, although he did let his eyes follow her out.  She was an attractive woman and to have not appreciated that would have been more obvious than allowing the small smile he showed as he looked from her, as she left his sight, back to Tyler, sending him an ever so slight nod as if acknowledging Tyler’s taste in women.  He was a bit surprised at Tyler’s instant frown, as if he’d be just as happy if Meeker hadn’t noticed, and decided to egg it on by smiling even broader as he picked up his coffee mug.  Occasionally, little needles led to little mistakes.  And little mistakes led to Lee’s job being made easier.  He wasn’t afraid that Tyler would connect him to Helen.  There was always that slight chance, but both Helen and Lee led such different lives that it would take a fluke.  Lee had confidence that whatever guardian angel that had so far been working in his favor would continue to do so.

 

Lee would have liked to follow Tyler to whatever the man had planned for the day but when Tyler seemed reluctant to leave his table Lee, with another enigmatic little smile to himself, left first.  Deciding to explore a bit on his own he headed out for a walk around the above ground portion of town.  More watchful this time, he smiled broadly when he easily spotted Davis – AKA Scumbag – trying to surreptitiously follow him.  Lee would have loved to once more flatten the thug; grab him as he’d tried to grab Lee the night before.  But Lee hadn’t slept well, and acknowledged that for some reason he wasn’t totally up to par.  The cough that had plagued him still caught him off-guard every so often, and he’d been too keyed up with how events were unfolding to totally relax.  Despite the hotel advertising how comfortable the underground temperatures stayed his room had still been too warm, which he blamed for the continuing cough.  And especially as it hit him hard a couple of times on his walk as the day started to heat up.  Lee was about to head back to the hotel to get out of it when the sound of an aircraft engine caught his attention.  He’d walked toward the other end of town that morning and now meandered unhurriedly back.  He was fairly sure that this was nothing more than the daily flight he had come in on, even though it was at a different time of day – out here, schedules were a little…..unpredictable.  What the one last night had been he was extremely curious about.  No way would a regular flight be coming in after dark.  He planned on being in the vicinity tonight in case it happened again.  He was still trying to figure out a way to contact Admiral Nelson but so far he’d not come up with a plan.

 

Apparently Nelson had.  Lee wasn’t close enough to see today’s passengers arrive.  He did see his transport from yesterday head for the airstrip carrying the two supposed opal businessmen.  And Lee was perfectly happy in assuming that’s what they were – along with a side job of whatever was going on the night before with the quazi-argument and shuffleboard with the one briefcase.  What Lee wasn’t totally prepared for – but smiled at Nelson’s handling of the matter – was spotting Kowalski’s face in the vehicle as it made it’s way back from the airstrip to the hotel.  Welcome to the party he said to himself with a smile, and ambled back in the direction of the hotel.  He assumed that ‘Ski had orders of some sort from their boss.  He’d simply act as he had been until the rating gave him some indication of how the ‘game’ was to be played.

 

Because Nelson was aware that Lee was using an alias – one that had slightly shady undertones – Lee was not at all surprised to find Kowalski waiting for him in the hotel lobby looking slightly shady himself.  Lee allowed an ever so slight smile to show as Ski rose at his entrance, making Lee aware that he was supposed to know him.  The bar wasn’t open yet so Lee nodded his head back outside and the pair made their way silently back out into the growing but still bearable heat.  A little more familiar with his surroundings after his morning stroll, Lee led the way.  Neither man said a word until they were around a couple of corners and into a somewhat open area with a few scrubby trees that would allow them a little privacy as well as a bit of respite from the sun.  The area wasn’t totally free of people – there were several women riding herd on a collection of children, as well as a couple of older men, probably miners at one point in their lives and still calling White Cliffs home.  Lee’s smile broadened as he spotted Davis lurking about.  Lee purposely pointed him out to Kowalski and had the pleasure of watching Davis frown and disappear.  Lee was sure that he wouldn’t go far and was probably still watching.  He said as much to Ski, and winked.

 

Kowalski had never been slow on the uptake.  “He’s mine now, s…ah…”

 

Lee chuckled softly as Ski choked off the ‘sir’ or ‘Skipper,’ whichever had been about to come out.  “Trav will do nicely,” he told the rating, who nodded.  “What’s up?”

 

“Somehow, opals identified as coming from this area are tied into the purchase of arms in Indonesia, but no one is quite sure how.  ONI has a man undercover but so far he’s not been able to get enough information out to target the players and get it stopped.”

 

Lee frowned.  “But that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.  Raw opals aren’t usually worth enough to make something like that worth the effort.”

 

“One reason diamonds are used so often?” Ski asked.

 

“Exactly,” Lee agreed.  “Although, I can almost see one reason.  Uncut opals aren’t nearly as regulated.”

 

“But you’d need so many more, and if that kind of theft was going on this place should be crawling with fuzz – whatever Australia’s version is, anyway.”  Ski shared a quick grin with his CO.

 

“While there’s some cutting and polishing done locally, mostly it’s done in the larger cities.”

 

“Where security would be even more tight.”

 

Lee nodded.  “Which is why I think that there’s more going on here than meets the eye.  I know the undercover agent and he knows me, but he obviously doesn’t want to risk blowing his cover by contacting me.  What does Admiral Nelson want me to do?”

 

“Get your Mom – and you – outta here,” Kowalski told him adamantly. 

 

It caused Lee to chuckle softly again, but he also nodded.  “Fisher – the agent, although I still don’t know what name he’s using here – is in with the main player here, a man named Barnabas Tyler.  Tyler has a thug, Davis.”

 

“The one you just pointed out,” Kowalski confirmed, and Lee nodded.

 

“There are at least two others, supposedly opal buyers.  I haven’t wanted to draw attention so I haven’t identified them by name.  I suspect Fisher knows.”  Kowalski nodded again.  “And there was a late night flight last night that barely landed before it took off again.  I have no idea what that was all about.”  He looked at the rating.  “I’d rather not leave right now.”

 

Kowalski gave him a slightly sheepish look.  “The Admiral sorta thought that might be your answer.”

 

“I gather from your comment that you’re supposed to stay and help, if you couldn’t get me to leave?” referring to Kowalski’s earlier statement about Davis now being his responsibility.

 

“Yes, s…”  Ski shut up with a sheepish look.

 

“Humm,” Lee muttered, but finally sent Ski a quick grin.  “Then we’ll just have to make good use of your time.”

 

“Yes…Trav.”  This time Ski got it out with only a minor hesitation.  Lee’s answering smile was short-circuited by a hard bunch of coughs.  “Ah, Trav?” Ski asked worriedly.

 

Lee held up a hand, cutting off anything further Ski might have said until he could get himself back under control.  “Damn heat coupled with the dust has me a bit screwed up.  Ignore it.”  That last came out a definite order.  Kowalski had other ideas, thanks to Doc Jamison’s lecture right before they left NIMR.  But no way was he going to bring that up – at least not right now.  While the CMO wasn’t a man you ever wanted to tick off, he was an ocean away.  For now his CO had Kowalski in his sights!

 

The two made their way back to the hotel, keeping a lookout for anyone paying them any special attention.  Lee stopped at the desk and arranged for Kowalski – who had only his own ID – to share his room.  The bar was now open and they headed that direction, Lee asking softly if Kowalski carried anything on him that connected him to NIMR.

 

The rating grinned, somewhat evilly Lee thought.  “Something you-know-who made very sure I left in Sydney,” he said smugly, causing Lee to chuckle once more.

 

This time of day the bar was fairly empty, but somehow Lee wasn’t surprised to see Tyler and Fisher with their heads together at a back table.  Lee very purposely sat down at a table as far away as possible.  Kowalski had given him a strange look when he’d ordered a scotch neat at the bar.  Ski ordered a beer, and Lee sent him an easy grin as they carried the drinks to his chosen table.  He knew that the smile would be interpreted totally differently by the two people he wanted to see it – Ski and Tyler.  Seaview’s senior rating would recognize Lee’s amusement at the unusual occurrence.  Tyler would be unsure if the stranger Meeker was with was friend or mark of some sort.  And Lee liked the thought of having Tyler even that little bit unsure.  Lee didn’t expect it to last long – he was sure that Davis would report back that the stranger – Ski – had seemed quite chummy with Meeker.  But still…  Lee would use whatever was at hand to as much advantage as possible.

 

Neither Lee nor Kowalski said much as they nursed their drinks.  Lee did give the rating a couple of quick nods at how well Ski was handling the impromptu undercover assignment, keeping himself controlled and watchful but not going overboard with either.  Lee grinned again at that unintentional pun before concentrating on the new intel Ski had delivered.

 

Apparently Tyler was acting as middleman for an extended operation of some magnitude.  How Fisher had been able to gain access to the scheme Lee had no idea.  Although, if Tyler was to be believed, Lee could have gained access fairly easily to at least part of the organization had he chosen to do so.  It was entirely possible that Fisher, like Lee, had bumped into Tyler previously.  But that wasn’t something that Lee really needed to worry about – at least at this point.

 

What bothered Lee somewhat was the idea that Fisher, as close as he seemed to be to Tyler, had not yet gathered enough intel to close down the operation.  Nelson’s message had intimated that Fisher just hadn’t had the opportunity to get the intel out safely, but something wasn’t ringing quite true for Lee.  Sure, out here in the boonies much more caution would have to be taken since there were fewer people to use to mask a transfer.  That was part of the problem Lee was having – he didn’t dare make direct contact with Helen because he had no idea where it would be safe to do so.  Large cities were so much more useful for hiding yourself, and your actions.  And yet, Fisher was able to get out the intel that Lee’s mother was here.  Something was hinky.

 

Lee refused to even think that Fisher may have turned traitor and become totally involved with Tyler.  Or even that he’d become something of a double agent, working each side to his own advantage.  That went so against everything that Lee knew about the man.  Lee had to admit that he’d been wrong before.  But…   No, Lee wouldn’t – or couldn’t – allow himself to go in that direction.

 

What he could believe was Tyler, while seeming to totally trust Fisher, being cautious enough that Fisher simply hadn’t yet felt safe enough to get what intel he’d so far gathered into appropriate hands.  And again the thought passed through his mind as to how Fisher had gotten out the information about Helen being here and requesting her extraction.  Lee wondered briefly if he should just do what Jones wanted – get his mother out of the line of fire.  And yet, that didn’t make any sense either when Lee really thought about it.  Helen was merely gathering information for an article – what was it that Fisher was afraid that she might stumble into that he risked discovery to get that intel out.  Something was screwy, that much was clear.  And Lee had no intentions of leaving until he figured out what.

 

Davis walking into the bar momentarily distracted Lee’s thoughts as Kowalski stiffened.  “Down, Ski,” he said quietly, with a smile on his face as well as in his voice.  The rating sent him a quick glance, but then casually picked up his beer and took a small sip.  Lee turned totally toward Kowalski so that no one could read his lips as he continued.  “The more casual we appear, the more nervous it makes them because they have no idea what we’re up to.”  A slow smile hit Ski’s face, Lee winked, and they both took another sip of their drinks.

 

The soft smile stayed on Lee’s face, partially because he knew that it would bug Tyler and partly at the thought of how his mom could possibly be screwing up Fisher’s investigation.  It would have made things so much easier if Tyler hadn’t known Lee.  And yet, if there was a way Lee could help out Fisher, the trade-off would be worth the frustration.  Lee continued to ponder the puzzle as he sat nursing his drink.

 

* * * *

 

Helen was having another wonderful day, made even more exciting by the discovery of several opals.  They were small but the miner she was working with this day, Jasper Teague, had opened a new vein just after she arrived that included the stones, and was excited because the vein held promise of continuing further into the drive he was working.  He enthusiastically explained that, sometimes, the discovery of small stones led to bigger ones closer to the center of a vein.  Not always, he was quick to point out, but…  They both got excited and hurried on to dig as quickly as they could manage safely.

 

The day ended without further discovery but Helen had the opportunity she’d not had previously to ask how Jasper now handled his ‘find.’  Momentarily reluctant for some reason, the miner hesitated and Helen instantly backed off.  But Jasper, apparently appeased when she wasn’t going to push, relented.  He said that once a week, when he went into town for supplies, he’d take with him whatever stones he’d found and go to one of the dealer’s stores.  He didn’t name which specific one he used, nor did he indicate where he would keep the stones during the intervening days.  But that wasn’t anything Helen really needed specifically to know and that helped the miner to be a bit more forthcoming as well.  He did say that the dealer was one that he trusted to give him a fair price for his stones, and a draft would be paid to the miner’s account at the local bank.  The miner would draw enough funds from the account to cover what supplies he needed, and he’d head back to his claim.

 

“Do you ever just take a day off?” Helen asked.

 

Jasper shrugged.  “Time is money,” he told her, then smiled.  “I’ve got family just outside Melbourne.  I take a week or two every so often for a visit and a rest.”

 

“You don’t worry about someone coming in while you’re gone?”

 

“Nope.  Know the fellows all around me.  We watch each other’s back.”

 

“Terrific.” Helen told him, and meant it.  “You work with the same dealer in town every time?”

 

“Yep.  Like I said, I trust him.  A couple of them…”  He didn’t finish the comment.

 

Helen came at her next question a bit sideways so as not to put the miner on the spot.  “So, what would be the ways a dealer might not be fair?  Perhaps tell you a stone isn’t as good quality as you think it is?”

 

Jasper hesitated, but eventually nodded.  “Maybe tell you that a stone has a flaw that will make it hard to cut.  Or it’s an off-color.  We miners know that quality is sometimes subjective.  But, you do this for awhile, you get an eye yourself for what’s good and what’s maybe not so good.”  Helen nodded.  “You learn quick,” he continued, “who’s trying to screw you over.  Ah, sorry,” he tried to apologize for the comment.

 

“Hey, call a spade a spade,” Helen told him honestly.  “I have no problem with that.  Definitely heard worse,” and she sent him a quick grin.

 

He returned it.  “Mostly, people in the business are honest.  Oh, they try to make a buck where they can, for sure.”  Again Helen nodded.  “But they try to keep it fair for everyone.  The dishonest ones…well, word gets out and they don’t get much business so they mostly leave pretty quick.”

 

“But some hang around?”

 

“Don’t want to name names,” Jasper told her bluntly.

 

“And I wouldn’t think of asking you to,” she assured him.  “Just trying to learn as much about your end of the business as I can.  Without miners willing to do the labor there would be no industry.”

 

“The big companies would come in,” Jasper almost spat out.  “It’s happening elsewhere.”

 

“But not here,” Helen said firmly.  “This is the real industry.”  She didn’t want to push too hard for fear of closing the miner’s mouth.  But she sensed that he had more to tell her if only she could make him comfortable enough to say it.

 

“Just…seems like a dealer will have stones, but none of us miners know who sold them to him,” Jasper continued softly, and almost hesitantly, like he was afraid to say it too loud for fear of being overheard.

 

“You mentioned that you and your neighbors watch each other’s claims.”  Jasper nodded.  “Is there a theft problem?”  He looked nervous, and she hurried on before he could clam up totally.  “I mean, I guess I’m used to stories at home, in the United States, of the early days of gold and silver mining, where claim jumpers would come in, or robbers, whatever.  I’m sure that it’s much different in this day and age.”  She smiled – a genuine smile because she really liked Jasper.  “But compared to home you still seem a little ‘wild’ out here.”

 

Jasper grinned back.  “Well, yeah,” he agreed.  “Not so much like your history.  But it pays to know who your neighbors are, for sure.”

 

“I’ll bet!”

 

“The government inspectors pretty much keep people to their own claims – not stray into someone else’s, either accidentally or on purpose,” Jasper told her.  “Won’t say that there’s no theft – human nature to be good and bad.”

 

“Agreed,” Helen told him.  “But it sounds like you miners watch your own – keep a handle on it for the most part.”

 

“Do what we can,” Jasper nodded.  “It’s not often a miner will report a theft.  Hard to prove, for one thing, unless you catch a guy red-handed.”

 

“Hadn’t thought of that,” Helen said, although actually she had.  “Hard to tell one raw opal from another when they’re mined in the same general area.”

 

“Exactly,” Jasper agreed.  “Some of us have our own scales, so maybe we know the exact weight of a stone.  But other than that…”  He flipped a hand.  “There’s no real way to prove you had five opals yesterday but only four today.”

 

“Understood.”  Helen would have loved to dig further but had a feeling that Jasper, in his own way, had told her everything that he was going to on that subject.  They continued to chat about what a miner looked for when trying to pick a claim site, what was the determining factor in deciding to abandon a claim for another one, and what happened to a claim if a miner could no longer work because of health or injury, or passed away, when it was just a one-man operation like Jasper’s instead of two people like the first claim she’d visited.  Jasper told her that pretty much most of the miners, when they filed for their claims, named someone that the claim passed to in such cases.  When they didn’t, the claim went back to the government and could be re-claimed by someone else.

 

“Does that happen often?” Helen asked, as off-handedly as she could.

 

Jasper shrugged.  “What’s your Yank expression – accidents happen.”  He shrugged again.  “Not very often,” he added.

 

“Thankfully,” Helen told him, and gave a little shiver for effect.  That was apparently the end to what Jasper was willing to say and they chatted about odds and ends until the jeep from the hotel came to pick Helen up.  She thanked the miner profusely for allowing her to spend the day.  He just nodded, seeming to be almost embarrassed by her praise, and she sent him another very genuine smile as she left.

 

But he’d given her a lot to think about, with the addition of Lee’s presence under an alias, and she was silent for most of the trip back to the hotel.  She did ask about renting a jeep to explore on her own.  Her driver was quick to offer his services any time she wanted, and she sent him her ‘sweet’ smile.  She told him that she’d have to decide how she wanted to continue her research and she’d for sure let Mr. Warren at the hotel know if she needed his help and left it at that – much to her driver’s apparent disappointment.

 

She really wanted to talk to Lee, and looked around casually for him as she came into the lobby of the hotel.  Who she spotted instead was one of Lee’s crewmen.  Kowalski, she thought his name was.  The instant he spotted her he turned away, and she made no attempt to catch his eye.  Obviously he knew what Lee was up to – as she casually searched her small shoulder bag for her room key the sailor entered the dining room and sat down across from Lee at one of the tables.  She saw a smile hit Lee’s face ever so briefly but he didn’t look her way, and she headed for her room to clean up from her day grubbing for opals.

 

* * * *

 

“That was close,” Kowalski breathed as he slipped into a chair.  “I mean, I knew that she was here but I just about messed up big time.”

 

Lee sent his senior rating an open grin.  He’d seen the quick almost-meeting through the doorway and all but held his breath to see how Ski would handle it.  He knew that his mom wouldn’t screw up.  At the moment none of Tyler’s minions – at least any that Lee was aware of – were in the dining room.  It was still a bit early but Ski had expressed an interest in food. Lee had had no objections to an early meal, although he did tease the rating about perhaps hanging around his XO a little too much, referring to Chip’s love of food.  Lee now continued his teasing, but was still careful with his choice of words.  “Attractive lady, yes?” he said off-hand, and his grin spread as he watched Ski try to figure out how to answer.

 

“Very,” came out almost in a squeak.  Ski swallowed, finally caught the amusement on Lee’s face, and repeated much more under control, “Very!”  Since Lee was being a bit silly he risked adding, “A little old for me, however.”  Once Lee got done choking on the swallow of coffee he’d unfortunately just taken he laughed out loud.

 

But both got themselves quickly under control as Tyler and Fisher walked in and were, happily, seated at a table across the room.  Neither Lee nor Kowalski seemed to pay them any attention, merely gave the impression of having a quiet conversation with each other while they pondered what looked good on the menu.  But Lee was quick to note that Ski was also extremely aware of everything that was going on around him, and especially in Tyler’s direction.  Lee continued to keep a small smile on his face, merely from the fact that it appeared to tick Tyler off.  Or at least made him worried about what Lee – and now company – was up to.  Lee rather liked the thought that he was unnerving Tyler, although he didn’t want to go too far with it and run the risk of Tyler pulling up stakes and clearing out before they could nail him for whatever he was up to down here.

 

Lee’s face morphed briefly into a frown before he got himself back under control.  It was extremely frustrating not knowing what Tyler was doing.  No matter the available intel Lee was positive that there was more involved than opals – what he knew of Tyler’s M.O. did not lend itself to something so low key, and especially where there was every indication of multiple hands wanting a share of the cookie jar.

 

“Trav?” softly penetrated Lee’s contemplation.  Lee glanced up from the menu to see Kowalski giving him a curious look and realized that the rating, never slow on the uptake, had seen the frown.

 

“Thinking,” Lee admitted.  He sent Ski a quirky grin.  “Some days it’s harder than others.”  The waitress coming over to take their orders stopped the rating from having to come up with a comment to that one, and both men gave the woman a bright smile.

 

Lee teased Kowalski about trying the kangaroo steak – he’d had it on a previous trip to the continent country and had found it quite tasty.  The rating looked skeptical but ordered it anyway, and smiled again as the waitress assured him that it was very good.  Lee chose the lamb stew; he was finally having to admit that he wasn’t feeling the best.  Nowhere near actually sick, he told himself firmly.  Just…  He grinned again as he thought about his normal reactions to anything that might possibly even slow him down, let alone have him headed for Sick Bay.  But he knew that he needed food, and in particular protein, and figured that the stew was a good option because it would go down more smoothly and easily than some other things on the menu.  And the vitamins from the veggies wouldn’t hurt, either.

 

Once the waitress left he decided that he’d better explain himself a little better.  Quietly, and carefully so that neither Tyler nor Fisher – or any other ‘players’ that Lee might not yet have identified – would realize that they were being talked about, he told the rating what he’d been pondering; that the operation had too many people who seemed to be involved in some way and needed their own piece of the pie for it to be as small profit as raw opals sounded to him.

 

“We need to get a look into one of those briefcases,” was Ski’s instant evaluation.

 

Lee nodded.  “However, easier said than done.”

 

“And also find out anything we can about that late night flight.”  Again Lee nodded.  “I didn’t really pay attention when I came in.  Any good hiding places close to the airstrip?”

 

Lee shook his head, then clarified verbally.  “Unfortunately, no.”  He thought for a second.  “At least at this end.  The other end, I’m not sure.  The problem would be to get out there without being spotted.”  It was Ski’s turn to nod.  “And that’s assuming that there was some place to hide once you got out there.”

 

They were both silent for a few seconds.  “Got wheels?” the rating asked, with an innocent expression on his face.

 

Lee pointed an eyebrow at him.  “No, but I rather suspect that small problem could be fairly easily corrected.  Have something in mind?”

 

Ski shrugged.  “Never been here before,” he said offhandedly.  “Might not ever get the chance to come back.”  He gave Lee a bit of a mischievous grin.  “Thought I might take a look around; see what there is to see.”

 

Lee returned the grin.  “Probably should have arranged something as soon as I got here,” he admitted.  “Just hadn’t come up, actually.”

 

“No problem, S… ah, Trav.”  Lee’s grin spread at the almost slip.  “I’ll take care of it.”  The mischievous grin came back.  “You’ve had other things to occupy your mind.”

 

Lee’s grin turned slightly sheepish.  “The front desk should be able to help you with that,” he said before sending Ski another bright smile.  “You do remember that they have left-hand drive here – backward from us.”  His grin spread as it was Ski’s turn to get a sheepish expression on his face.  Lee spotted the waitress headed their way.  “You can take care of it right after dinner,” and his smile brightened considerably as he watched Ski eyeing the plate the waitress set down in front of him.

 

* * * *

 

It was that smile – bright, happy, and slightly mischievous – that Helen saw as she came to the door of the dining room after cleaning up from her day out and about.  Her own expression – one of calm confidence – didn’t change so much as an eyelash.  It was a craft she’d practiced for so many years that she didn’t even have to think about it anymore.  Those who didn’t know her well often considered her to be cold, calculating, and uncaring.  Her friends knew better.

 

The expression also didn’t change as she glanced around, waiting to be seated, and saw Barney sitting across the room from Lee with one of his cronies, a man introduced to her as Carter Collins.  Helen carefully controlled a sigh of relief – with Barney having company she had the perfect excuse not to sit with him.  As the hostess came over, Helen sent Barney a polite nod and asked quietly to be seated on the far side of the room.  That still placed her several tables away from Lee.  And while she could then pretend to ignore him as well, she sat so that she could keep Lee and his crewman in her casual line of sight, as well as Barney.

 

She wondered if her choice of tables amused her son or he merely reacted to something that… oh, what is it that Lee calls him, she asked herself.  ‘Ski finally came to her, and she used the waitress’ appearance to cover her smile.  She accepted coffee and the menu, and unwittingly mimicked her son as she used pondering the selections to reminisce a bit.

 

The loss of her husband when Lee was barely five years old had hit Helen hard.  She and Ben had been very much in love.  It had been difficult to have him gone for months at a time as he was a pilot on active duty with the US Navy.  But she understood and accepted his dedication to his country, and cherished the time they could spend together that much more.  She filled her days with bits of freelance work for the local newspaper, and more and more time was required to keep up with her more and more active son.

 

She could admit now, after all these years, that she hadn’t taken Ben’s death well at all, and probably could have handled things better. She had all but shut down those first few days.  Her father was still alive and he’d been a blessing, dealing with everything – including Lee – that Helen just couldn’t bring herself to manage right then.

 

A soft chuckle emanating from Lee’s direction caught Helen’s attention.  Her gaze never left the menu but the action sent her back to those terrible first weeks following Ben’s death.  Thankfully it had only taken her a few days to realize that she needed to pull herself together enough to at least start to think clearly.  She was now solely responsible for both herself and her son, and the survivor’s benefits she would receive from the Navy could only be stretched so far.  She needed to be able to function, and that meant setting aside the strong emotions hammering her from every direction when she thought about Ben’s loss.  The days were a bit easier – she could concentrate on her house, her son, and expanding her freelance writing to keep the memories at bay.  It was hard, especially at first.  But slowly she taught herself to control the nagging emotions that constantly threatened to undermine her determination.

 

The nights were a whole different ballgame.  The house was filled with reminders of her life with Ben.  Despite the disapproval of her father and friends she stripped the house of every picture of Ben, moved furniture around until the whole house had a different ‘feel’ to it, and worked hard learning to suppress those ever-present memories threatening to undo all of her good intentions.  She could, actually, understand why those closest to her were uncomfortable with how she chose to cope.  But it was what she needed.

 

What did bother her was Lee’s reaction.  When she realized that he was following her lead, starting to seemingly shut down as well, she managed a long weekend away and took him to what was a favorite spot – the beach.  It wasn’t easy, trying to talk to a five-year-old about the horrible changes that had just taken place in their lives.  But Lee had always been a perceptive child – it was why he’d so quickly picked up on his mother’s change of attitude.  Those three days had bonded the two even stronger than they had been already.  Helen wasn’t sure how well she’d gotten through to him.  And once back home Lee remained more serious, more within himself, then he’d been before.  But she also saw him start to come back to his former self as well.  Quieter, for sure, in a lot of ways.  But those eyes – his father’s eyes – held a level of understanding that Helen learned to recognize as Lee finding his own way in this time of change.

 

As the waitress came to take her order and refill her coffee cup Helen looked up and caught an absolutely brilliant smile on Lee’s face, apparently from something that Ski had said.  Outwardly Helen calmly gave her order, and then pulled a small notebook from her purse and pretended to flip through the pages so she’d have an excuse not to look around the room and possibly do something to screw up her air of indifference to everyone else.  As she’d been pondering the menu – and old memories – the dining room had almost filled up, both with locals and tourists.  It actually made it easier to avoid looking at any one person and she went back into the past.

 

Helen had gradually come to accept Ben’s loss and get on with her life.  She made as much time for Lee as she could but being the breadwinner meant more and more time away.  Once Lee started school the days were easier, and her father continued to be a major help.  It was actually a couple years later that Helen stopped one day and was looking around the house thinking that, perhaps for Lee’s sake, she’d pull out at least a few of the pictures she’d hidden away.  Lee had bombed through the door about that same time, excited to share with her what he’d learned in school that day with so much utter delight written all over his face that it had Helen realizing she had no need to bring out pictures of Ben – she simply needed to look at her son.  Lee was becoming the spitting image of his father, and from that point on Helen made a point of putting up pictures of Lee.  She had to admit that she wasn’t overly thrilled when Lee’s interests became more and more involved with anything to do with water and the seas, including joining the Sea Scouts program at the local marina.  But it was so ‘Ben’, and she supported him totally because she understood that it was of great importance to her son.

 

Helen was aware that outsiders, after seeing her and Lee around each other, often came away with the wrong impression.  They saw Helen as distant and almost unfeeling, and Lee as carefully correct around her.  And she could admit that, in some respects, they were partially right.  Helen, now by habit more than anything, was always cautious with expressing innermost thoughts.  And Lee had grown into an intense young man, also cautious about expressing his emotions around people he didn’t know well.  But between Helen and her son there was so strong a bond of love and respect, born of a common loss, that nothing had even come close to dividing them.  Oh, Lee was perfectly aware that Helen hadn’t been overjoyed when he’d chosen to follow his father to Annapolis and into the Navy.  And he’d understood her hesitation.  But she knew that he also understood that, because of the strong bonds of love and devotion to one another, she would never try to interfere with the choices he made for himself.

 

* * * *

 

If she’d only known, Lee was spending his meal – in between teasing Kowalski who, it turned out, actually liked the kangaroo steak – also letting old memories flit through his mind.  Not as much as Helen, and not going so much into the ‘dark’ times.  But remembering how, despite her need to be gone more often, her always finding time to nurture him, support him – even though he knew that she wasn’t overly thrilled with his choice to follow his father into the Navy as a career – and be there for him on those fortunately few occasions growing up when he had his own moments of doubt.  He was aware that there were a lot of people who knew them that didn’t totally understand the relationship he and Helen shared – couldn’t see past the public correctness to see the deep caring they felt for each other.  Even Chip, as close as he was, sometimes misread Lee and Helen’s relationship.  But Lee smiled as he thought back to Chip’s upbringing, the oldest of four children, the others all girls, with scads of assorted relatives close by as well.  The first time Chip had invited Lee home for vacation that first year at Annapolis, Lee had likened it to a case of shell shock and it now caused a grin as he ate.  Kowalski saw it and raised an eyebrow, and Lee’s grin spread.  “Totally off topic,” he told the rating, “but I was just remembering the first time I went home with Chip.  Oh,” he explained, although he figured that Ski already knew a lot of the story, “I’d met his immediate family on Visitor’s Day at the end of Plebe Summer.  But…” he shook his head, “talk about culture shock.”

 

Ski grinned.  It was extremely unusual for the Skipper to talk much about himself.  He was always interested in everyone around him – always kept up with what was new in the crew’s lives, loved to talk about their likes, and career plans.  Ski chalked this moment up to the fact that the Skipper’s mom was a few tables over, and that because of the current circumstances he was trying to keep the conversations on everything but ‘business as usual.’  Because of that, Ski felt that he could probably get away with saying a few things he’d never have had the guts to do at NIMR.  “It’s been speculated a few times,” he told Lee now, “about how two such different people could have survived each other at Annapolis, at least that first year.”

 

Lee choked trying to bury an almost giggle, and took a second to get himself back under control.  “You don’t know the half of it,” he finally got out.  “Mind you, we didn’t have much of a choice.  You get stuck with who they say you do.”  Lee smiled again.  “It was…interesting.”  He pointed his fork at the rating.  “And if you repeat that…”  He didn’t finish the threat, but smiled again as Ski swallowed.

 

“No…Trav,” Ski told him firmly.  “This is actually really good,” he changed the subject back to the meal.

 

Lee chuckled again and went back for another bite of stew.  “Not quite up to Cookie’s version,” he indicated his own plate, “but perfectly edible.”  His attention was distracted for a moment by the young couple he’d flown in with arriving at the doorway.  The other times Lee had seen them they seemed to him to be almost sad.  This time they appeared angry, although he wasn’t sure if it was at each other, or something – or someone – else.  They ended up sitting at a table next to Tyler and Fisher, and Lee immediately ignored them.  As he continued to visit with Ski he glanced over – just seeming to peruse the room.  He wondered if they could be part of Tyler’s ‘game’ – whatever that was.  But neither Tyler nor Fisher seemed to give them even the hint of a second look, beyond glancing up when they were seated so close.  Lee was really getting annoyed at his lack of intel!

 

He decided later that it was having Kowalski to kibitz with that led to his actually eating almost all of his meal.  He’d not been all that hungry, but as Ski polished off the last of his kangaroo steak and the waitress appeared to refill their coffee cups and ask if they would like dessert, Lee glanced down and his own plate was nearly empty.  He passed on dessert but encouraged Ski to enjoy himself, and sat quietly sipping his coffee as the rating did just that, thoroughly happy with his choice of a lamington – a traditional Australian sponge cake covered in chocolate and flaked coconut.

 

While Lee paid the bill he sent Ski over to the hotel counter to check on where he might rent a vehicle of some sort.  It turned out that the hotel took care of that as well, and they ended up with a nice, serviceable Land Rover, older but well-maintained.  Letting Ski drive they headed out while it was still light, not seeming to be doing anything but checking out the surrounding area, following the map that the hotel also supplied.  Lee had Ski stop once they were a ways out and he went through the rig checking for anything that wasn’t standard equipment – such as hidden bugging devices.  Once Ski picked up on what Lee was looking for, he helped.  As Lee explained, he had no idea how far Tyler’s ‘fingers’ extended.  But the rig appeared to be clean and they continued their seemingly meandering drive. 

 

They casually checked out the airstrip – as Lee suspected, there were no handy hiding places.  But as Ski pointed out, if the plane came in after dark there were several places where a man could hunker down and not be spotted, yet still be close enough to at least get some idea of what was going on.  “Especially if he remembered to bring night vision binoculars.”  He gave Lee a slightly sneaky little grin.

 

Lee chuckled.  “I gather a certain someone mentioned that I no doubt brought along a few toys?”  Ski nodded and his grin grew.  “Have a few stashed,” he admitted.

 

“Then how about we get me outfitted for the night.”  Lee frowned, and the rating hurried on.  “The bad guys will be watching you a whole lot closer than me, don’t you think?”  His voice carried just the right level of innocence, but Lee wasn’t fooled.  However, he also accepted Ski’s logic with good humor.  He knew that the rating was trying to save Lee from what could easily be a totally wasted night of lying in the bush outside the immediate area of the airstrip, subject to all sorts of creepy-crawlies and not getting any rest.  Another time Lee might have blown him off and done the surveillance himself.  But Ski did make sense.

 

They meandered back to the hotel, in no hurry in case anyone was watching them.  Ski stayed in the jeep while Lee casually went to his room.  The small ‘trigger’ he’d left to tell him if anyone besides himself had entered the room was still in place.  Lee was actually a little surprised that Tyler hadn’t tried to have the room searched – or more likely Davis, if for no other reason than to get his gun back.

 

Avoiding being seen taking anything with him, he hid Davis’ gun in the small of his back, under his shirt, and further covered by the jacket he grabbed.  The binoculars he normally carried with him were small, and easily fit into a pocket.  Bug repellant went into another pocket.  Then, to make it look like the jacket was all that he came after, he grabbed up Ski’s jacket and two bottles of water that the hotel supplied for its guests, reset his ‘trigger,’ ambled back outside, and the pair once more took off, this time headed out of town on the side away from the airstrip.

 

Once out of sight from town Ski partially backtracked.  They didn’t go near the airstrip, but close enough that Ski wouldn’t have a terribly long hike.  He grinned at the bug spray, accepted the binoculars, and nodded as Lee handed over the gun.  Lee explained that because of where it came from it couldn’t be traced to NIMR, but reminded Ski that preferably he’d rather Ski not be required to use it.

 

They tossed out several ideas about how best to not give away the fact that Ski didn’t come back to the hotel.  Lee would have preferred to leave the Land Rover someplace where Ski would have easy access to it and walk back to the hotel, leaving the impression that Ski had maybe taken off for one of the closer towns around – not that any were all that close.  Unfortunately, there just wasn’t any place to hide it.  Ski held his tongue but there was no way he was letting Lee walk that far.  While Lee hadn’t had anymore really hard coughing spells there had been a few minor episodes, and Ski just didn’t think that Lee looked all that great.  There was still no way he was going to challenge his CO directly.  But he was nonetheless pleased when they settled on Lee driving back to town by an alternate route, waiting for a couple hours before getting back to the hotel, and hoping that when he got there Tyler and Company would be left with the impression that Lee had taken Ski “somewhere else.”  They’d just have to hope that the bad guys wouldn’t get overly nervous about Ski’s appearance and then sudden disappearance.

 

As they drove around somewhat aimlessly, just checking out the area, they watched carefully to see if they were being followed.  Detecting no signs of anyone paying them any undo attention, as it started to get dark Lee dropped Kowalski close to where the rating wanted to settle in for the night.  Lee continued on away from town and found a place to ‘hang out’ for well over an hour before meandering back to the hotel.  He made a point of heading to the bar for a leisurely drink, and then just as leisurely headed to his room.  He half-chuckled as he admitted that he’d had more alcohol in the last couple of days than he would normally have had in a month.  Some assignments were like that, when he needed to blend in with whatever was going on.  He didn’t see either Tyler or any of his so far identified minions.  That didn’t mean that there weren’t any around, so Lee continued to play the part he’d given himself and then casually headed for bed.  He seriously doubted that he’d sleep.  He and Ski had not really made a plan of action.  Ski would proceed however he saw fit, with whatever happened that night – assuming anything did – and they’d meet up at some point.  Lee still wanted to avoid cell phone contact as it could too easily be intercepted.  But they did agree on a couple of short emergency messages should the need arise.  Lee reminded Ski that the plane hadn’t been all that late the last time so Ski needn’t spend all night out unless he felt there was a reason.  If things were obviously dull, Ski should make his way back to the hotel and get some sleep.  Ski shrugged, but finally grinned and nodded.

 

* * * *

 

As it turned out, Kowalski almost took his CO up on the offer to return to the hotel, and then nearly kicked himself in the six for the thought.  Midnight came and went, as did 0100, and he was just considering easing himself out from under the bush of some sort that he’d found when the distant sound of airplane propellers was followed by the four airstrip corner lights Lee had described to him clicking on, freezing Ski in position.  And whatever was going on, it happened as quickly as Lee had said.  The plane barely came to a stop when a small jeep-like vehicle came out from just north of town.  Ski wasn’t able to identify the man – if it was a man, but he thought it was – who was driving.  The person zoomed up to the plane and jumped out.  The pilot’s door opened and a box of some sort was handed out.  The door closed, the jeep driver jumped back in his rig and took off, the plane turned and took off, and the four lights went back out.  Ski timed it – the whole operation took less than eight minutes.  Without wheels he had no way to follow the jeep, and wasn’t sure he’d have wanted to anyway.  But he did follow its direction with the binoculars as far as he could, as well as write down both the tail numbers from the plane and the license number of the jeep.

 

He waited another fifteen minutes or so, just to be sure the ‘fun’ seemed to be over for the night, and was just about to leave his hiding place when he decided to take one more look around with the night vision binoculars.  And was extremely glad that he did.  On the far side of the airstrip from him, and further away from the strip than he was, a lone figure was walking somewhat furtively – at least Ski thought so – back toward town.  He – and again Ski wasn’t sure but thought that it was a man – seemed to be taking a somewhat circuitous route, but since there wasn’t a whole lot of places he could be going Ski assumed that he was headed back to town.  He could have been a local just out for a walk, Ski supposed, but he didn’t remember seeing any active digs in that general direction when he and Lee took their drive.  All he remembered there were old, inactive ones.  On the other hand, it was possible that one or more of what looked like abandoned mines could still be housing a retired miner – he’d seen several of what he assumed to be old miners around town and in the bar.  But not wanting to take any chances he once more stayed still, watching until the person was out of sight.  And just to be on the safe side he waited another forty-five minutes, constantly scanning his surroundings, before he once more contemplated moving.  By then he was stiff, both from inactivity as well as nervous tension, and he muttered a few unkind thoughts to himself as he slowly stood up.  It passed through his mind that he totally didn’t understand why the Skipper continued to do covert work for ONI.  Ski was quite happy staying at NIMR, and on Seaview!  Carefully, and even more cautiously than he had originally planned, he started to make his own circuitous way back to the hotel.

 

* * * *

 

Helen hit the hotel dining room just as it opened.  She had a full day planned and she wanted to get an early start.  While Mr. Warren clearly preferred to provide her with a rig and driver she’d smiled her ‘sweet’ smile and requested just a vehicle and a map, and planned on doing her own touring around.  She greatly appreciated his previous help and told him so, but she told him that she just wanted to putter around on her own.  He still wasn’t overly happy, and marked several areas on the map that she might want to avoid.  Not that any of the local miners were bad people, he assured her.  Just, some weren’t as friendly as others toward strangers.  One area in particular interested Helen as it was also one of the places Barney had warned her against.  She said nothing to Warren, merely thanked him for the advice and accepted the keys to the same Toyota Landcruiser she’d been in before but now without a chauffeur.  Warren again offered a driver, apologetically explaining that the rig was a stick shift, not automatic transmission, and reminding Helen that it was left-hand drive.  Helen cringed inwardly at his condescending attitude, gave him an especially ‘sweet’ smile, and told him as politely as she could get out that she’d driven all over the world and in all sorts of vehicles; she could manage just fine, thank you.  Apparently the man realized his mistake and withdrew post-haste.  Helen picked up the lunch basket she’d previously arranged for in the dining room, filled with not only supplies for her but also enough extras to cover any little bribes she might find need of through the day, and headed out.  She was disappointed not to catch sight of Lee that morning but didn’t worry about it.  She was, however, happy that Barney didn’t seem to be around.  She was finding it increasingly hard to be pleasant to him.

 

* * * *

 

A light tap on his hotel room door momentarily startled Lee – he hadn’t realized that he’d fallen asleep.  Shaking his head, he grabbed the small handgun he’d brought with him from under his pillow and walked quietly to the door.  A soft “who” got a response of “me”, and Lee relaxed and opened the door, admitting Ski.  He glanced at his watch and discovered that it was just past 0400, and a raised eyebrow invited Ski to explain his night.

 

Which he did, both men speaking quietly as Lee asked a few questions along the way.  At the end of the recitation Lee pondered the new information.  “How big was the box?” he asked.

 

“Maybe twelve, fourteen inches square, and about six to eight high,” Ski told him.

 

“Heavy? Light?”

 

Ski thought a second.  “Not really heavy, but fairly substantial from the way it was handled.”

 

“Humm,” Lee muttered nearly to himself.  “And coming in, not going out, so…”

 

“Not likely opals,” Ski seemed to read Lee’s mind.

 

“Exactly,” Lee agreed.

 

“Now what?”

 

Lee sent him a smile.  “You get a couple hours of shut-eye and then we take another casual drive and try to spot that rig you saw.”

 

“Why don’t we leave right now?  I’m not tired.”

 

Lee smiled again.  “We’re tourists, remember?  Tourists don’t go sightseeing at 0430.”

 

“Oh.  Right,” and Ski sent him a sheepish grin.  “Not to mention, I could use a shower.”  Lee chuckled softly.

 

They ended up hitting the dining room just after 0800.  Lee had no problem with not seeing Tyler, although he was a little surprised that Helen wasn’t around.  But he wasn’t worried – he knew only too well how capable his mother was of taking care of herself.  Not to mention how persistent she could be on the trail of a good story.  He did give half a thought to just what that story actually was, now that she knew Lee was here on ‘business.’  But he was comfortable that – Admiral Jones’ warning notwithstanding – she’d stick to her chosen research and not risk interfering with anything that could disrupt whatever Lee was mixed up in.

 

As he and Ski were passing the front desk on their way out, Lee caught the tail end of a comment to the desk clerk made by a man who worked there – Lee wasn’t quite sure who he was; hadn’t ever been close enough to catch what was on the name tag.  “…silly Yank…”

 

Lee couldn’t help himself.  He stopped walking and looked at them.  “Yes?” he asked, a slight smile on his face.  The woman turned beet red and the man almost the same shade.

 

“Oh, forgive me,” the man said, nearly stammering trying to get his foot out of his mouth.  “No, please, not you.  Please forgive me.  I meant no disrespect.  Please…”

 

Lee couldn’t take it any longer and laughed.  “Not a problem,” he assured the man who, by his nametag, was a Mr. Warren, the Asst. Manager.  “We Americans are a diverse and varied species, for sure, some more civilized than others.”  He chuckled as Ski snorted softly next to him.

 

The man shook his head.  “I should learn to keep my thoughts to myself,” his voice totally apologetic.  “I don’t know why I said what I did.”  Lee realized that he obviously thought that Lee heard more of his comment than just two words.  “I should know better – I mean, I’m used to liberated women.  I guess I just wasn’t expecting a more mature woman like Ms. Lee to want to drive herself around the outback.”  He frowned.  “I do wish that she’d have accepted a driver like the other days.  It’s really no trouble at all.”

 

Lee felt Kowalski stiffen next to him when the identity of the ‘Yank’ in question was revealed.  He had to force himself to remain calm and relaxed.  “It’s my understanding, from what I’ve read about her, that Ms. Lee is quite used to taking care of herself.  I doubt you need to worry about her.”

 

“Oh.  You know of her.  Oh.  That makes me feel better.  I wasn’t sure…”

 

Lee forced another chuckle.  He wasn’t overjoyed to know that his mom was off exploring on her own.  But he was, actually, very aware of her ability to manage her own life.  “From some of the stories she’s written she’s apparently been in wilder places than this,” Lee told him.

 

“Oh.  Well.  Thank you.  That does make me feel better.”

 

“Glad I could be of help,” and he and Ski walked out.  He caught the sideways glances the rating was giving him and smiled again.  “Never a dull moment around my mother,” he said quietly.  Ski finally smiled as well and they headed for their rig.  Once in the vehicle but before starting it, Ski sent Lee a puzzled look.  Lee belatedly realized that he was frowning.  “I’d have liked to ask what kind of rig Mom was driving but I didn’t dare.”

 

Kowalski nodded as he started the Land Rover.  “So, we keep an eye out for her?”

 

“I get the distinct feeling that it’s gonna be one of ‘those’ days,” and he sighed heavily.  Ski nodded again in agreement and they took off.

 

They made no attempt to hide themselves – not that they could anyway.  What they did do was their best to play the nosey tourist, traveling the back roads in and through the active mining area slowly, gawking and taking the occasional picture.  They were pretty much ignored by the miners they saw.  Mostly there wasn’t anyone topside, the miners no doubt working below.  They saw a few other vehicles coming and going but not many, and none carrying Lee’s mom.

 

They had better luck with the smallish jeep Kowalski had seen the night before.  It was parked partially out of sight behind a small shelter – Lee hesitated to call it a cabin although it did have a door - sitting in front, and slightly to the side, of what looked like a mine entrance shaft.  The ‘cabin’ was made out of mismatched pieces of corrugated metal roofing, held together with the occasional length of wood, also mismatched as to size.  The door was wood and looked, as did the sections of metal, like it had been salvaged from some other building.  Or buildings, most likely.  The actual cabin was probably only big enough for a cot, a chair, and a cooking fire, the latter evidenced by an actual brick chimney.  But the metal roofing extended out far enough to shade a sitting area complete with bench, making the ‘cabin’ look bigger.  The roof itself wasn’t very tall – it barely cleared the head of the man sitting on the bench outside.  Apparently a very unfriendly man as he reached to pick up the rifle laying on the bench next to him as Ski slowed ever so slightly.  Lee clicked a quick picture, smiled and waved, and he and Ski drove on.

 

“That was fun,” Lee heard Ski mutter, and chuckled.

 

“You expected him to invite us in?” he teased the rating, and then had to smother a heavy cough.  Ski gave him a quick look.  He merely frowned, and waved a hand.  “Just keep driving.  That definitely needs further investigation.  But tonight, after dark.  For now we keep doing what we’re doing so we don’t let on that we have more interest in that mine than we do any of the others.”

 

“Aye, aye, S…ah, Trav,” Ski was having a major problem addressing his CO as anything other than what was correct for the boat.

 

“Tired?” Lee asked softly.

 

“I’m fine,” Ski told him promptly.

 

Lee chuckled.  “Remember, you’re talking to someone who knows perfectly well how easily those two words can slip out, no matter how untruthful they might be at the time.”  Ski turned red and Lee backhanded his shoulder lightly.  “We drive around, just like we’ve been doing, for another couple hours, head back to the hotel for lunch, and then our room for a nap.”  He chuckled again as Ski frowned at that term.  “We have a casual drink, dinner, maybe another casual drink.  Pretend like nothing special has caught our attention.”  He paused.  “And wait for dark.”

 

Ski finally grinned and nodded.  “Got it.”

 

“All plans, of course, subject to adjustment by changing circumstances,” Lee added.

 

Ski didn’t say anything for a bit.  “How do you do it?” he finally asked softly.

 

Lee looked at him honestly.  He knew that, under normal conditions, the rating would never have asked such a question.  Difference in rank wouldn’t allow it, not to mention that Ski simply would never presume to impose on Lee’s privacy.  Lee actually liked that Ski felt comfortable enough now to ask the simple question.  Unfortunately it didn’t have a simple answer.  “I do what I have to do,” he finally settled on.  It wasn’t much.

 

But Kowalski nodded nonetheless, seeming to understand.  “Can’t always be easy.”

 

Lee thought back on a few moments in his life.  “Makes it easier, the more good people you have around you.”  The pair shared a quick grin and continued their meandering drive.  They never did spot Helen but Lee wasn’t overly concerned.  As he’d told Mr. Warren, she was perfectly able to take care of herself. 

 

* * * *

 

While Lee hadn’t seen Helen she’d briefly spotted him.  She, like they, had just started driving, not seeming to pay much attention to where she was going, but all the time keeping the area of mines that Barney had specifically warned her away from in the back of her mind.  She, too, had slowed down when she’d seen the man sitting outside his small shelter.  But, also like Lee, when he’d reached for the rifle sitting next to him she’d given an apologetic wave and driven on.  She saw no one at the next couple of mines.  One looked like it might still be in production.  Or recently abandoned.  The other was definitely no longer being worked.  There were two men at the next mine, sitting close to the shaft having a smoke, and once more Helen slowed down.  Neither paid her much attention so she stopped.

 

That got their attention.  “Whadya want?” one growled.

 

Helen smiled.  “I’m a writer, just trying to get a feel for how you miners operate; how things work around here.  Would you be willing to talk to me for a few minutes?”

 

The two looked at each other.  One shrugged, the other looked back at her.  “Jasper said there was some woman around asking question.”

 

“That would be me,” Helen told him with another open smile.

 

“Said she brought lunch with her.”

 

Helen grinned, grateful that she’d had the restaurant make up a big basket.  “And I did again today,” she told the man.  Taking that for an invitation she got out of the Toyota, grabbed the basket off the back seat, and walked to where they were sitting on a couple of small rock mounds.  Placing the basket within easy reach of them both, she chose another mound a few feet away.  “So,” she asked, the smile carefully maintained, “you two work this mine together?”  They both eyed her, then the basket, then back to her.  “Oh, please, help yourself.  I’m not actually sure what the restaurant fixed this morning.  I’m still full from breakfast and haven’t taken a look.”

 

They still hesitated, but finally the one who’d yet to speak opened the basket and started poking through the contents.  Helen saw a bunch of sandwiches, several kinds of salads and fruit all packed in cooler packs against the heat, and some small cakes.  There were also paper plates and plastic utensils – much as had been supplied previously, just more of everything.  “This be Albin’s place,” the talker of the two finally answered.  “Got me a claim back there,” he waved a hand west.

 

“Ah,” Helen encouraged.  They were a bunch of years younger then Jasper.  “And you’ve been here your whole life, like Jasper?”  Evoking the other miner’s name appeared to appease some of their hesitancy.

 

“Born here,” the talker told her, although if he meant just he, or both of them, Helen wasn’t sure.  “Worked up at Coober Pedy for awhile,” he mentioned one of the bigger opal mining areas in Australia.  “Met Albin,” he flicked his head at the other man, “there.  We both decided, gettin’ too crowded.  Came here.”  The man Albin, and Helen had no idea if that was a first or last name, pulled out a thick lamb sandwich and container of macaroni salad, both of which he attacked with gusto.  ‘Talker’ licked his lips.

 

“Please,” Helen encouraged, “help yourself.”  She waited until he, too, had both hands full of food, his choices roast beef – or it could have been kangaroo, Helen admitted – and more macaroni salad. Helen had a feeling that was a bit of a delicacy out here.  “You still have family here?  How long have you been back?”

 

It took ‘Talker’ a few minutes to answer, engrossed as he was in his meal.  He also, finally, waved at the basket with a look toward her.  Sensing that it might be for the best, she chose half a tuna salad sandwich and a bottle of water.  “Nobody here anymore,” Talker seemed more satisfied and relaxed.  “Why I left in the first place.”  Helen tried to figure out a way to ask his name, although just referring to him in her mind as Talker wasn’t all that bad, and she half-smiled.  “Been back about a year.”  He took a couple bites again.  “Been thinkin’ we might go somewhere else.”

 

“Oh?” Helen kept her voice and expression casual so as not to disrupt the bit of rapport she’d managed.  “Not having much luck in this area of the digs?  I noticed several abandoned ones in this area?”

 

Talker took his time answering.  “Doin’ okay,” he finally told her.  Helen thought that might be all he was going to say as he went back to eating.  And she knew better than to push.  But Albin said something, mumbled around a mouthful of food, and Talker nodded.  “Used to be, the miners kinda stuck together.”  Once more he concentrated on his food.

 

Helen nodded encouragement, and once more used Jasper as a focal point.  “Jasper told me how a lot of the miners watch each other’s backs.  I think that’s great.”

 

There was a grunt from Albin, and Talker nodded.  “Not so friendly anymore.  At least, in some directions,” and he half-nodded in the direction where Helen had seen the man with the gun.

 

Helen wondered how much she dare ask and decided, to be safe, she wouldn’t get specific.  She shrugged.  “Perhaps they’re just going through a rough patch.” She tried a smile.  “I know I can get grumpy when work isn’t going smoothly.”

 

There was another grunt from Albin, and again Talker seemed to understand what it meant.  “New people movin’ in.  Stakin’ claims to old mines that have already been worked out.”  Again Albin grunted.  “Don’t trust ‘em.”

 

“Oh.”  This was getting decidedly interesting but Helen dare not show too much interest.  “You’re right.  Definitely unusual.”

 

“Best to watch who you try to talk to.”  Helen almost jumped when Albin actually chose to speak.

 

Instead, she smiled.  “I’ve gotten to be a pretty good judge of people over the years,” she told him.  “Not that I haven’t been fooled at times,” she admitted, thinking of several occasions, but mostly her first days here with Barney.

 

“Happens,” Albin said.  He finished both the sandwich and salad, and dove back into the basket for cake.  “Clete,” he nodded toward Talker (Hallelujah, thought Helen, finally a name) “tried being neighborly.  Nearly got his head blowed off.”

 

“Oh,” Helen acted shocked.  “That does sound most unusual.”

 

“Pure mean,” Clete told her, rejoining the conversation.

 

“I understand that it pays to be cautious.  But that sounds a little…”  The word ‘overboard’ came to mind; she thought back on a few times Lee and Chip had teased each other that it was a horrible pun for a sailor, and buried a snicker.  “Excessive,” she finally settled on.

 

“Don’t like leavin’ Albin here by himself.”  For his part, Albin just shrugged and reached for more cake.  “My place is further away,” Clete finished his sandwich and went into the basket for another.

 

“I ain’t helpless,” Albin defended himself.  “And they don’t seem to bother anyone, lest you bother them first.”

 

“Still don’t trust ‘em,” it was Clete’s turn to mumble through a mouthful of food. 

 

Helen was extremely grateful now that she’d thought to bring so much.  “Jasper sure didn’t make it sound that bad.  Just…a need to be watchful.”

 

Albin grunted again.  “Safer over his side,” Clete once more translated.

 

Helen had a feeling that she’d gotten pretty much all that she was going to get on that topic.  She asked a few more very general questions, giving both men a chance to make a further dive into the basket.  She thought about offering to leave the rest of the food with them, had a feeling that, as long as it was a trade they had no problem but would refuse anything that even remotely resembled charity, and kept her mouth shut.  Both were clean – for out here – and appeared well enough dressed that they were actually making a decent living.  They might not eat this well usually but neither was malnourished.  She found herself thinking that she wished Lee had as much heft to his body as these two men, and then was ashamed.  Lee was perfectly healthy, just naturally slender.  Ben had been much the same.  He said that, as a pilot, he needed to fit inside his cockpit.

 

As she thanked the men for their time and put the basket back in the Landcruiser, she really wanted to know more about the mine down the road.  She admitted that, if Barney hadn’t warned her against the area she probably would have chalked the whole thing up to just the Australian outback, and opal miners in particular, being protective of their own.  But now there were just too many inconsistencies for her to pass up – the kicker being Lee showing up under an alias.

 

As if to accent that point Helen saw a vehicle approaching with two men inside and purposely bent down as if to adjust her shoe so that they wouldn’t see her – although she took a quick peek and wasn’t at all surprised when it turned out to be Lee and his crewman.  Yep, she told herself, I definitely need to be careful.  No way do I want to mess up his plans – whatever they are.  There was, however, a decided sparkle to her eyes as she added silently, but that doesn’t mean I have to go hide in a corner.  She straightened up, squared her shoulders and, with a quick wave to the two miners, got back into her rig.  She carefully let Lee get out of sight before continuing her drive.

 

* * * *

 

Lee and Kowalski timed their trip to get back just after noon, grabbed a quick bite, and went to their room.  Lee had pointed out to the rating, before they left that morning, his little intruder warning, and nodded his approval when Ski took a quick look around to make sure they were alone in the corridor before giving it a quick check.  Once inside, Ski quickly fell asleep.  Lee stayed awake even though he did lie down just to appease Ski, and continued to puzzle through all the bits of intel he’d so far stumbled across.  And also, how he was going to go about investigating the area around where they’d seen the rig from the previous night.  Lee had a few ‘tricks’ in his kit – one of which was a dart gun that might be able to take out the guard with a minimum of fuss.  But Lee had his suspicions about the small cabin.  He seriously doubted that he’d find much of interest there – more likely he’d have to enter the mine itself and that posed any number of problems.  Lee was fundamentally opposed to killing anyone unless he absolutely had no other options – it was why he so liked the dart gun with its anesthetic loads.  Unfortunately it had limitations – namely that, unlike what happened on TV shows, the drugs did not immediately take effect; there was a time lag.  And a lot of things could potentially go wrong during that lag if not planned for and neutralized.

 

He gave himself a mental shrug along with a wry smile.  Like so many times before he’d just have to wing it – take issues as they presented themselves and try for the best outcome possible.  It was one of the things Chip hated so much about Lee’s ONI missions.  Chip was a planner; he wanted to know the cruise parameters far enough in advance to have good ideas of what he was going to have to deal with.  Oh, he was extremely adept at ‘thinking on his feet and rolling with the flow,’ as it were.  But he’d prefer to never have to.  Lee liked advance planning as well – he’d just, over the years, gotten philosophical about how often ‘Murphy’ took over; as in “if something can get screwy it will, and I need to be prepared to adjust!’

 

So, tonight’s investigation would have to be strictly reactionary.  Lee was comforted to have Kowalski backing him up – the man wasn’t Seaview’s Senior Rating simply because he was one of the original crew.  He was quick-witted, reacted purposely to whatever situation he found himself in, and loyal to a fault.  Lee did need to make sure that he watched Ski’s back as well.  Chip was bad enough when Lee came back from an ONI mission injured.  If Lee got Kowalski hurt…  Well, he’d just have to make sure that didn’t happen!

 

* * * *

 

As Helen continued her drive, with no particular destination in mind, she pondered the comment that Clete and Albin had posed – that people were coming into the area and staking claims to supposedly worked out mines.  She wondered how she could ask at the local mining office about it without raising anyone’s suspicions as to why she was interested, and ultimately decided that that might not be overly wise given Lee’s undercover appearance.  She sensed that the two were, quite possibly, connected, and knew that Lee would be less than pleased if she in any way interfered with whatever he was in the middle of.

 

What she did do was to drive past Jasper’s holdings thinking that, as he’d already spoken to her fairly openly, he might shed a bit of light on this new information.  However, she didn’t see him topside, and didn’t want to disturb him while he was working so she continued to meander around the area.  Not far from Jasper’s claim she found another where a man was topside looking to be taking a cigarette break, and again using Jasper’s name as a starting point was able to ask a few general questions, to which she got pretty general answers.  This man, Carl Levins, was just enough leary of Helen that she didn’t dare get too specific.  He was friendly enough that she did get a bit more information for the article she was here for.  And while that was helpful it didn’t help the itch she was getting over what had brought Lee here.

 

A brief smile did hit her face at one point.  From Lee’s original call he’d had no issue showing up as himself.  Then, suddenly, once he arrived he needed to be someone else.  He’d obviously not known until he arrived that Barney was here and quickly had to improvise, which led to her wondering why he’d come here in the first place.  She’d known immediately that it wasn’t what he’d claimed – that Dr. Jamison had ordered R&R.  While it was true that she’d invited him to join her it wasn’t a ‘Lee’ thing to do, to interrupt her while she was working.  Her smile broadened.  Not that Lee’s company could in the least bother me, or interrupt any plans I might have in the works, she told herself with a soft chuckle.  So, she continued to ponder, he came for one reason and, finding Barney here, he’d quickly had to switch gears.  She shook her head.  He and I are definitely going to have a long talk.  And hopefully soon!

 

* * * *

 

Lee never actually slept.  He did lay quietly so that he didn’t disturb Kowalski, who apparently needed it because once he laid down he didn’t move until shortly after 1800 hours.  On the other hand Lee acknowledged that it could just be an issue of the time change from California to here.  Either way, he merely grinned when the rating started sharply after finally awakening and glancing at his watch.  Lee waved off the rating’s apology, reminding him that they had absolutely nothing planned until after dark anyway and it might work out for the best considering that it could be a long night.

 

There were a couple of new faces in the dining room when they got there – Lee took that to mean that the daily plane had arrived.  Who he didn’t see were the young couple he’d flown in with and thought that, perhaps, they’d left on the outbound flight.  He also didn’t see Tyler, Fisher, or anyone else he suspected was in cahoots with whatever was going on around here.  He did see Helen, tucked into a corner table ostensibly glancing at her notebook while eating dinner.  Lee saw her casually glance around, spot him, and just as casually go back to her notes, and had to very carefully keep his own expression neutral.  Now was decidedly not the time to let himself get careless.  As he and Ski were seated closer to the other side of the room he did smile broadly, covering it by nodding as the waitress smiled at him.  Ski raised an eyebrow briefly, then seemed to realize whom he was raising it at and immediately feigned indifference. It caused Lee’s grin to reappear and he explained softly.  “Just realizing that when this whole mess is over, Mom’s going to demand a debriefing that would put Admiral Jones’ best effort to shame.”  He sent the rating another grin as Ski choked trying to bury a snort of laughter and they both ended up chuckling.

 

“What looks good, S…” Ski gave his head a shake.  “Trav,” finally came out.

 

“Sorry this alias didn’t start with an ‘S’,” Lee said with a grin.

 

“Working on it,” the rating apologized.

 

Lee nodded.  Ski was actually doing a great job with his impromptu undercover assignment.  It could cause issues if he screwed up at the wrong time but Lee would cross that bridge only if he had to.  “I was actually thinking that the chicken parmigiana sounded good,” he answered.

 

Ski immediately brightened.   “Me, too.  Ah, not that the kangaroo last night wasn’t good,” he added quickly.  “Got nothing against local dishes but I’ve always been partial to Italian.”

 

Lee grinned broadly.  “Australia is noted for its variety of cuisines, actually,” he told the rating.  “Some of the best seafood I’ve ever had was in Sydney.”  He shrugged.  “Probably too big a hassle to have it on the menu very often this far inland.”

 

“Maybe before we head for home,” Ski risked.  “Then you can tease Mr. Morton.”

 

Lee laughed out loud – mostly that the rating was feeling comfortable enough to come out with that comment – and happily went along with it.  “Definitely sounds like a plan,” he agreed.

 

The waitress coming over to take their orders saved him from figuring out how to ignore Tyler’s entrance, or more to the point, his pointing the hostess toward Helen’s table.  And then he nearly lost it as Helen, by now finished eating, politely excused herself.  She chose to speak softly enough that Lee didn’t hear her reason.  And the whole time she kept her ‘sweet’ smile firmly in place.  Tyler was left flat-footed, and looked positively torqued when he realized that Lee had witnessed the little vignette.  Lee decided that egging it on by laughing might not be the best way to handle the moment so he purposely looked at Ski.  The rating had, apparently, seen what happened as well, and the pair shared a grin but didn’t look in Tyler’s direction.  Lee was actually a bit surprised that Tyler didn’t walk back out.  On the other hand there weren’t all that many places in town where you could get a meal that you didn’t have to fix yourself, so Lee supposed that if he wanted dinner it was going to have to be here.  He and Kowalski spent the meal visiting amiably about half a dozen different things – mostly places they’d been to and meals that they’d eaten – safe topics for conversation so they didn’t care if they were overheard, thoroughly enjoying both the meal and the companionship.  Lee saw Ski grin quietly to himself a couple of times and figured that he knew the reason.  The whole trip wouldn’t be anything that would to talked about once they returned home.  But Lee was actually enjoying the chance to spend a little extra time with the rating and figured that Ski was feeling much the same way.

 

Once they’d finished their leisurely meal they headed for the bar.  Lee wasn’t at all surprised to see that Fisher and Davis were already there, or that Tyler joined them once he was done eating.  Knowing the possibility of an ‘interesting’ night ahead of them, Lee stretched his one drink out as long as possible before feigning a wide yawn.  Ski was nursing his beer as well and was only about halfway through.  By previous agreement Ski stayed in the bar while Lee headed for their room.  But he only stayed long enough to fill his and Ski’s jacket pockets with an assortment of things he suspected would come in handy over the next several hours and then made his way as quickly and quietly as he could out into the darkening evening.  He couldn’t be positive, of course, but tried to make sure as few people as possible saw him as he went to the Land Rover and drove to a quiet place semi-behind the church and waited for Ski, who was giving the appearance of nothing more than an evening stroll, to join him.

 

* * * *

 

Helen tried very hard not to be rude to Barney when he had the hostess take him to her table.  But since she was already done eating it was a simple matter to tell him that she had notes to make on her day exploring and she needed to get to them before she forgot.  She did go back to her room for an hour or so, before deciding that a walk might be just the ticket to ease a bit of restlessness that had settled in.  She puzzled over that a bit before realizing that, other days, she’d either been doing a lot of walking as Barney showed her here and there, or actively involved with actual mining activities.  Today she’d done nothing more than drive and visit.  She hadn’t expected to find a hotel in mining country with an actual swimming pool so she hadn’t brought a swimsuit with her or she’d have considered doing enough laps to wear off her nervous energy.  Instead, she settled for a long, leisurely walk around the town.

 

She was standing close to one of the buildings, trying not to startle away the small mob of kangaroos puttering about in front of the church, when she saw Kowalski in seemingly a casual walk as well disappear behind the church, and then what she thought was the rig he and Lee had been in earlier that day take off away from town toward the east.  From her wandering around she knew that there wasn’t that much close by in that direction, but since her own rig was back at the hotel there wasn’t any way she could follow him – and she assumed Lee, as well.  And she wasn’t sure that she’d have, anyway, in case she’d somehow mess up their plans – whatever those were.  She continued to watch the ‘roos, and was just about to head back to the hotel when another vehicle headed out the same way as Ski.  Helen wasn’t sure but thought that the two people inside were the couple that had arrived on today’s flight – they’d been behind her as she went in to dinner and, as she loved doing, struck up a short, friendly conversation as they waited to be seated.  Wherever they were headed, they drove fast enough to disturb the ‘roos so Helen headed back to the hotel.

 

She hadn’t quite made it back when another rig passed her, also headed in the general direction that Ski, and probably Lee, had gone, this time carrying the young schoolteachers who had arrived the same day Lee did.  Okay, she muttered to herself, that’s just too big a coincidence.  But with no idea of what was going on, she resigned herself to making sure Lee told her everything the first chance she got to interrogate him and headed into the hotel.  And nearly got bowled over as Barney and two of his ‘business associates’ were just headed out.  The one, Collins, muttered a quick apology, to which she nodded an acknowledgement.  The big one, Davis she thought he’d heard Barney call him, just continued on as if she wasn’t even there.  Barney hesitated the barest moment but seemed in a hurry as well, so Helen merely sent him a smile and decided to add that perhaps she’d see him at breakfast the next morning.  She wasn’t quite sure what the quick look he gave her at that comment meant, and wasn’t about to ask.  They exchanged quick nods and headed their separate ways.

 

At least, Barney did.  Helen hesitated a bit, pondering everything she’d seen and heard the last couple of days.

 

* * * *

 

Lee drove with no particular destination in mind until he was sure that he wasn’t being followed, and then headed in a roundabout way toward the cabin and mine they wanted to check out.  He discussed with Kowalski a number of scenarios for what they might encounter but basically said that they’d have to take things as they came.  He’d have liked to leave Ski with the rig, as back-up, and gone in on his own.  But he had a pretty good idea how the rating would have reacted to that idea!  Oh, he admitted, he could have ordered him to obey.  And despite their easy relationship since coming here he knew that Ski would follow those orders.  Not happily, for sure, but he would have nonetheless.  Still, Lee hesitated.  There were too many variables for Lee to ignore that an extra pair of eyes might be of tremendous value.  And, Lee had to consider what giving Kowalski that order might do to their overall working relationship.  Despite an uneasy beginning, when Lee first came to Seaview, Kowalski had become one of Lee’s most outspoken supporters.  Weighing all of the factors in a split second, he kept quiet.

 

Lee had made note of a small hillock – probably tailings from several old, abandoned mines - a hundred or so yards to the east of the cabin. With a bit of off-roading and driving in the gathering darkness without headlights he settled the Land Rover neatly behind it.  He and Ski went over their inventory of ‘toys’, and crawled to the top of the mound of sand and small rocks until they could peer down to the cabin.  Lee used his night vision binoculars to scope out the scene.  A word he rarely used slipped out and he sent the rating a quick look.  “Company,” he muttered.  “There’s a second rig there, and Davis is standing outside with the guy we saw this morning.  Can’t take them both out at the same time with darts.”

 

“Maybe,” Ski offered, “once we get close enough, I can sneak up behind them.  You nail Davis with the dart and I can tackle the other.”  He reached down.  “Plenty of handy rocks around,” and he flipped a fist-sized one up, catching it neatly on the way down.  He’d worked around Lee long enough to know his CO hated killing if there was a way around it.

 

“Thought you claimed Davis,” Lee reminded Ski of their conversation the day before.

 

“The other guy’s smaller,” Ski admitted with a quirky grin.

 

Lee grinned back.  “Sounds like a plan,” he agreed, and they started edging their way carefully toward the cabin.

 

It should have worked.  And could have, if Lee hadn’t screwed it up.  His body, already having issues he was choosing to ignore, didn’t react well to crawling around in the dirt and sand.  He was waiting for Ski to work his way around behind Davis and the guard when he was hit suddenly with an extremely heavy cough.  Before he could recover he had two rifles pointed down at him.  Davis whistled, and Tyler came running from behind the cabin.

 

“Never could keep your nose out of other people’s business,” Tyler muttered.  “Where’s your buddy?”

 

Lee shrugged, finally getting the cough under enough control to speak.  “Should be waiting for me at the hotel.”  He had no idea at that point exactly where Ski was.  He just hoped that the rating would use his head to devise a plan of action and not follow his first instant to protect his Skipper.  He spoke loud enough, although not making it too obvious, hoping that Ski was close enough to hear his answer and not come screaming into the scene and in all likelihood just make matters worse.  Another heavy coughing spell hit Lee hard and by the time he’d gotten it under control he’d been grabbed by Davis and the guard, roughly but thoroughly searched, and the pair started dragging him behind the cabin toward what Lee assumed was the old mine entrance.

 

He was trying to fend off what felt like an even worse round of coughs when Davis stumbled and fell down.  As the coughs took over his body Lee went to his knees, and suddenly the other man also fell forward.  Lee hadn’t heard any shots but Tyler, walking slightly ahead, suddenly had a gun in his hand as he looked wildly around before settling the gun on Lee’s head.  Just as he pulled the trigger there was an ever so soft ‘phutt’ from somewhere behind Lee.  At the same time Kowalski fired from just above the mine opening.  Lee didn’t see Tyler fall – he was busy trying not to scream from Tyler’s round.  While it missed Lee’s head, thankfully, it dug itself into his right calf instead.

 

“Skipper!” he heard Kowalski yell, and saw the rating scrambling down the small bank of mine tailings toward him as two more men came tearing out of the opening, guns drawn.  Ski got one of them as Fisher appeared from between the two vehicles and, a silencer on his revolver, took out the other.

 

Lee didn’t realize that he’d been holding his breath until he tried to breathe deeply and ended up with another fit of coughing.  Kowalski settled on the ground next to him and immediately started inspecting Lee’s injured leg.  Lee frowned, but started to send Fisher a nod when movement behind the ONI agent caught Lee’s eye.  Still trying to control the coughs he wasn’t able to get off a warning in time, and Helen nailed Fisher from behind with a length of two-by-four.  Luckily she missed his head and caught his shoulder instead, but it still caused the agent to drop his gun and fall to his knees.  Helen was just preparing to swing again when Lee finally got out, “No!”  Helen looked at him wearily, preparing herself like a baseball batter ready to send the incoming ball – Fisher’s head – over the outfield fence.  “He’s one of the good guys,” Lee barely got out around more coughs.

 

“You sure about that?”  Helen didn’t move, the two-by-four still cocked and loaded.  Lee struggled to control his coughing, now complicated by more struggles to control the laughter the absurdity of the scene in front of him was causing.

 

“Federal Police,” suddenly rang out, causing all four people to jump.  “Drop your weapons.”

 

Lee couldn’t help himself.  “The only one armed at the moment is my mother,” he yelled back.  As two people stepped out from behind another pile of rubble, to the west of where Lee was sitting, Fisher mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ to Lee and, with a glance at Helen to make sure she wasn’t still taking aim, stood up.

 

“Colin Fisher,” he told the pair – a man and a woman that, as they came closer, Lee recognized as the newcomers in the dining room earlier that evening.  “Office of Naval Intelligence, United States Navy.  What the blazes took you so long?”  His voice was firm and demanding.

 

“Sorry,” the man said, although he didn’t really sound all that much so.  “The message we got didn’t give a lot of directions.”

 

“Yeah,” came a different voice, and the young couple who had flown in with Lee walked into view.  “If it hadn’t been for us they’d still be wandering around in the bushes.”

 

“And who the blazes are you?” Fisher switched gears.

 

“New South Wales Drug Enforcement,” the man announced.  “You two nearly screwed everything up,” he continued, ignoring Fisher and glaring at the other two, “blundering around like you did.”

 

All four Australian law enforcement members started talking at once, each accusing the others of any number of screw-ups – some of them having nothing to do with this particular case from what Lee could gather.  He figured that Australia suffered from the same lack of interdepartmental cooperation that Washington, D.C. did.  But first things first.  All the yelling was giving Lee a headache.  “Drugs?” he did a little yelling of his own.  “That’s what this whole mess is about?”

 

* * * *

 

It took awhile but eventually everything finally got sorted out.  Lee wasn’t involved in much of the immediate chaos merely from the fact that, once the two law enforcement agencies called in their teams – who were, apparently, standing by not that far out of town – one of the people who was brought along was the local doctor.  Lee was perfectly happy being tended to by Kowalski and Helen who, it turned out, found first-aid kits in both of their rentals.  Once the dead and wounded bad guys were sorted out the doctor was all set to tackle Lee.  He and Fisher came over to where Ski had parked Lee, on the bench in front of the cabin.  Lee sidetracked the doctor at least momentarily by asking Fisher if his shoulder needed tending to.

 

Helen sent the agent a look of apology.  “I truly am sorry,” she started.

 

But Fisher waved her off.  “My own fault,” he told the group.  “I’d gotten a message out to the Feds…”  He shrugged.  “Or rather, thought that I had,” he admitted.

 

“So you did have a pipeline out?” Lee asked.  “I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how you’d gotten the intel out about Mom being here without being able to get anything else out.”  He sent Fisher one of his almost-through-the-lashes looks.

 

Fisher grinned.  “Thought I’d gone rogue on you,” he guessed.

 

“Of course not,” Helen came to her son’s defense.

 

“Actually, Mom, the thought did cross my mind,” Lee admitted.

 

Helen huffed but Fisher nodded.  “Natural, all things considered.”  He shook his head.  “Things got extremely complicated extremely fast.”

 

“Been there, done that,” Lee muttered.  The doctor made to check Lee’s leg, blood on the ripped pant leg a dead giveaway.  “Don’t bother,” Lee told him.  “A through and through; no major damage, just hurt like crazy when it happened.  Kowalski cleaned and dressed it.  It’s fine.”

 

The doctor, a man about Lee’s age, gave the rating a look of appraisal.  “And what medical school did you attend?”

 

Before Kowalski could attempt an answer Lee growled.  “The Doc Jamison campus of the Marquis de Sade School of Torture.”  Kowalski couldn’t stop the snort of laughter, and he and Lee shared a quick grin.

 

Helen gave her son’s shoulder a smack, assured the doctor that Kowalski was quite well versed in first aid, but asked that Lee be assessed for the slight fever and heavy cough that had bothered him since he’d been here. Kowalski started to open his mouth; a glare from Lee abruptly closed it.

 

“I’m fine,” Lee growled, and then sighed at the look Helen sent him.  “Or rather, I will be once I get out of all this dust.”

 

Fisher chuckled and told the still frowning doctor, “Crane’s much more used to the revitalized stuff inside his submarine.”

 

The doctor shuddered.  “Never could understand why anyone would willingly choose to serve in a sardine can,” he muttered, and it was Lee and Kowalski’s turn to chuckle.

 

They were joined by the four original police officers, their teams dealing with everything else, and Fisher was ‘encouraged’ to share what he’d ended up in the middle of.

 

As had been originally reported, raw opals were turning up in places they shouldn’t have been, and Fisher was sent in to Sydney to snoop casually around and try to ferret out any possible links there might be to a few other nefarious projects ONI might be interested in.  Neither the Australian Federal Police people nor the pair from the NSW Drug Enforcement squad were overly thrilled to know that ONI would just waltz into a foreign country and start their own underground investigation.  Lee could see another full on shouting match coming and said not so quietly to who seemed to be the lead Fed, Inspector Nick Burnett, “How about you have your Director contact our Director.  We were just following orders.”

 

That, at least, stopped the yelling, however briefly.  But Burnett turned on Lee.  “So you’re part of the same investigation.”

 

Lee glanced at Fisher sheepishly as he shook his head.  “Actually, no,” he told the Inspector.  “Fisher got word out that Mom, here doing a story on the opal industry, was getting in the middle of something that wasn’t safe…”

 

“I was just fine,” Helen interrupted.  “If anything, Barney was getting in my way!”

 

“Whatever,” Lee did a little muttering himself.  “Anyway, Admiral Jones…ah…”

 

“So that’s why you showed up?”  Helen snorted delicately.  “I suppose that he’s still miffed about that other little incident.”  She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Lee.  “I was absolutely not bothering anyone.  That time or this.” ***

 

Lee stared at her.  “You knew about…”  He didn’t finish the thought, about how Helen had supposedly almost walked into an ONI operation several years ago.

 

“Of course, dear,” she admitted with a bit of a smugness.  “Oh, not until a couple of months later.  But you’re not the only person with friends in interesting places.”

 

“Help,” Lee mumbled, and earned a chuckle from Helen.

 

Fisher once more took over the conversation, talking as much to Lee as he was the Inspector.  “In one of the bars in Sydney I picked up a hint of opals for drugs.”

 

“Cocaine,” the woman from NSW Drug Enforcement, now identified as Officer Lacey Handley, spoke up.

 

Fisher nodded.  “I couldn’t figure out how there could be a connection.  I mean,” he spoke directly to the Aussies, “I know that opals are big business…”

 

“But not quite that big,” Lee broke in.  “That’s the problem I was having, once I got here and found Tyler.  Nothing was making any sense.”

 

“So you two didn’t compare notes?” Bennett interrupted.  Lee and Fisher shared a quick look before Fisher continued.

 

“I ‘let slip’ a few comments and connections here and there, and Tyler showed up at the bar one night asking if I was looking for work.  Long story short, he’d stumbled – and I’m still not totally sure how, and probably now,” he glanced toward where bodies were being prepared for transport, “we may never know – into a middle-man position for getting cocaine into Australia.  Tyler wasn’t a very trusting person.  I’d get told to do this or that, and I played the good minion hoping to learn as much as I could about the operation.”

 

Handley nodded.  “Australia, especially the bigger cities, is having a major problem with drugs in general, but especially ‘coke.’  The young affluent generation wants it, and is willing to pay.  A kilo in Sydney goes for about $250,000 in American dollars these days.”

 

Kowalski whistled, Helen drew in a breath, and Lee shook his head.  Fisher merely nodded.  “Yeah,” he agreed.  “That same kilo goes for about $16,000 in the states.  However it happened, Mexican cocaine was making its way across the Pacific.  Small planes bring it in to backcountry airports, avoiding security for the most part, and it makes its way by courier into the cities.  White Cliffs was a natural spot – off the beaten path, but enough tourists and opal couriers that a few extras didn’t raise anyone’s eyebrows.”

 

“And handy abandoned mines to hide the stuff in between trips?” Lee guessed.

 

“You got it,” Fisher confirmed.  “When Tyler brought me here I was able to arrange for another person to come the next day, as a tourist.  It was a simple matter to strike up a friendly conversation with her in the bar.  But then the next day Mrs. Crane…” he looked at Helen, “or do you prefer Ms. Lee?” he asked.

 

Helen grinned.  “While my passport does read ‘Helen Graham Lee’ I’ve always been perfectly happy being just plain Mrs. Crane.”

 

“You’re that Helen Lee?” the woman Fed, Inspector Marjorie Dempsey, blurted out.  Helen merely smiled her ‘sweet’ smile.  Lee cringed and Helen smacked his shoulder again.

 

Fisher chuckled.  “Tyler seemed instantly attracted to Mrs. Crane.  Made me nervous so I told Stacy to get the message out.  Tyler da…ah…almost caught me, and after that I told Stacy to get lost and I kept my head down.”

 

“So…” Bennett looked at Lee.

 

“So, I was asked by ONI’s Director to come down and get Mom out of the middle of things.  One complication – when I got here I discovered Tyler.  I’d run into him before, and it wasn’t as Lee Crane.  Had to do some quick revision to my plans.”  He shared a look with Fisher.  “Mom didn’t seem to be in any immediate danger so, once I realized Fisher was here, I stayed around to see if I could help out in any way.”

 

“By getting yourself captured and shot?”  Dempsey’s voice was snide.

 

Lee felt Helen stiffen but he merely gave the Inspector a sheepish grin.  “Not exactly the plan,” he admitted.

 

“So, what was?”  That definitely came out as a demand.

 

Lee sent Fisher another look.  The agent shrugged.  “Their show now anyway,” he told Lee, and Lee nodded.

 

“The first night I was here I saw a small plane come in after dark.  Lights flicked on marking the four corners of the airstrip, the plane did a quick touchdown and takeoff, and the lights flicked off again.  I heard but didn’t see a small rig of some sort head from the strip towards north of town.  I didn’t dare try to contact Fisher and I had no idea who in town might be within Tyler’s sphere of influence…”

 

“We’re working on that,” the other Drug Squad member, Det. Bradley Beacham, interjected.

 

Lee nodded again.  “When my boss tried to call my cell phone…”

 

“This Admiral Jones?” Bennett asked.

 

Lee smiled.  “No.  My full-time boss, Admiral Harriman Nelson.  Nelson Institute of Marine Research, Santa Barbara, California.  I only work part-time for ONI.”  Fisher snorted and Lee sent him a grin.  “Anyway, I didn’t think it safe to talk to him so I managed to casually let him know that I was here under an alias – one that he knew had a bit of a shady background – and he sent Kowalski here, one of my crewmen, in to act as backup.”

 

“So you basically ignored orders and just decided to investigate on your own?”

 

“Ah…” Lee hesitated.  “Not totally.”  He glanced at Fisher.  “I sort of…”

 

“Crane has his own ideas about how to manage an assignment,” Fisher told the assembled local cops.  To Lee he said, “Jones is going to have a coronary.”

 

“Why?  Case closed.”  Fisher raised his eyes skyward but remained silent, so Lee continued to the Inspector.  “Tyler and company weren’t overly thrilled to have me around, or so it seemed to me…”

 

“Ticked him off major league,” Fisher confirmed.

 

“And as long as he was concerned with me I was hoping that might give Fisher a little extra space.”

 

“Did, actually,” Fisher admitted softly.

 

“Ski volunteered to go hang out by the airstrip last night in case the little plane came in again…”

 

Det. Beacham stared at Ski.  “You were out there, too?”  His voice was almost nasty.

 

Kowalski by this time had had about all he could handle of the bickering between the two branches of Australia’s law enforcement.  “Ah, that was you I saw walking back toward town,” he got out nonchalantly, with a straight face.  He saw Lee’s lips purse but his CO kept his expression under control.  Once more Fisher’s eyes went towards the stars but he stayed quiet.  “So you got the plane numbers and the license on the little jeep over there like I did,” Ski continued all too innocently.

 

Beacham was being glared at by the other three officials.  “I was on the wrong side to get a good look at the jeep,” he admitted, barely loud enough to be heard.

 

“We drove casually around this morning,” Lee decided that he’d better retake control of the narrative, “until we found this place.”  But his own sense of humor got the better of him and his voice turned innocent as he asked Beacham, “So how did you manage to find it?”  Fisher couldn’t hold it in any longer and ended up coughing loudly to cover his laughter.  Lee looked at the doctor, who apparently knew a good show when he saw one coming and hadn’t moved.  “See, I told you.  All this dust makes us Yanks cough.”  Helen smacked him again and he sent her a grin.  But it did remind him to ask her, “How come you’re here?”

 

Helen very nearly sent him her ‘sweet’ smile, thought better of it, and turned it into a genuine one as she laid a hand on his shoulder.  “When Lee showed up using an alias I knew that he was working, and wasn’t about to do anything to get in his way.”  Lee and Fisher shared a look but stayed quiet.  “It was immediately obvious that Barney, Mr. Tyler, had something to do with why Lee was here, although I had no idea what or why.  I just kept my eyes and ears open.  When I’d mentioned to Barney that I wanted to do some exploring on my own he very quickly mentioned a couple areas that I’d be wise to stay away from.”

 

“Which, of course, made them all the more interesting to you,” Lee muttered, his eyes this time going skyward.

 

“Humm,” Helen said quietly before continuing.  “When I drove around this morning there was a man sitting right here and when I slowed down, thinking I might chat with him for my story, he reached for a rifle so I kept going.”  Lee shook his head but stayed quiet.  “I did stop,” Helen continued, “a bit further on, and spoke with a couple of miners.  During the course of conversation they mentioned that something didn’t feel right about this place.”

 

“They specifically said this mine?” Handley wanted to know.

 

“Well,” Helen backtracked, “not really.  Just this general direction.  They said that new people had moved in, very unfriendly, and they didn’t know why because as far as they knew this mine had already been worked out.”

 

“So you decided to investigate on your own.”  Handley’s voice wasn’t derogatory, but there was a tone to it that had Lee almost holding his breath.

 

“Of course not,” Helen bristled.  “I followed you.”

 

Lee’s “Help,” was drowned out by Handley’s “What!”

 

Helen went back to her ‘sweet’ smile.  “I went for a walk earlier and saw Lee and Kowalski leave town.  I was headed back to the hotel when I saw those two,” she pointed to Bennett and Dempsey, “drive away.  I was curious, of course.  It was, after all, getting late for just a simple drive.  Then I saw you and your partner also leaving, and right after that I nearly got run down by Barney and company.”  Her ‘sweet’ smile grew even bigger before adding,  “and I just couldn’t resist.  I, apparently, had a better idea of where I was going than any of you, so…” she didn’t finish, just shrugged.  Lee shook his head – knowing his mother, the explanation made perfect sense.

 

Bennett huffed, and grumbled something too low to be heard.  “So, “ he said out loud, “I can assume that all of you will be leaving on tomorrow’s flight?”

 

“Of course not,” Helen answered before anyone else could.  “I haven’t finished my story research.”

 

Lee chuckled.  “And what story would that be?” he asked softly, hoping that she was the only one who heard him.

 

Helen frowned but continued.  “Besides that, I can tell Clete that it’s safe for Albin to mine on his own now that this viper’s nest has been cleaned out.  And I need to thank Jasper for all of his help.  And…”  She was drowned out as Lee was totally unable to control his laughter.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

                     

 

*   see “For Good” by R. L. Keller

**  see “Out of the Action” by R. L. Keller

*** see “Jigsaw” by R. L. Keller