Not Your Normal Cruise

By R. L. Keller

A light rap on the door frame of his office had Chip glancing up from his computer screen, then instantly starting to rise as he realized it was his boss, Admiral Harriman Nelson, standing in the open doorway.

But Nelson indicated with his still raised hand for Chip to stay seated, and ambled unhurriedly into his XO’s office at NIMR. “Just wanted to touch base with you on a couple of things,” Nelson said as he took a seat across from the desk. He sent Chip a quick nod at the puzzlement that briefly crossed the blond’s face; the Admiral didn’t come to the XO, it was the other way around. “Bored,” the older man admitted. “Can’t remember the last time I was actually not trying to run in 14 directions at the same time.”

Chip unsuccessfully smothered a snort, then sent Nelson a sheepish nod. “I’m just finishing the supply orders for the fourth next cruise. Have all the other lists done except for any last-minute additions.”

Nelson didn’t even try to bury the chuckle that admonition produced, and held up a hand holding several folders. “Swiped these off of Lee’s desk. Didn’t think he’d mind.”

That caused Chip to finally grin. “Next on my list as well,” he admitted.

“There’s still plenty there,” Nelson told him, and they both grinned.

Cdr. Lee Crane, Nelson’s captain and Chip’s best friend, had been gone for nearly a week, on assignment for his part-time employer, the Office of Naval Intelligence. Neither Nelson or Chip liked that Lee still ran ‘errands’ for ONI, but Lee always said that it was part of his duty to and for his country.

“Still no word when he’ll be back, sir?” Chip asked. He was fairly sure that Nelson would have told him, but… He asked anyway.

Nelson frowned. “Thought that I might call Robert this afternoon,” he mentioned Admiral Jones, head of ONI, “and see if he has anything new to tell me.” The frown deepened. “With Seaview not scheduled out for another two weeks I couldn’t raise too many objections to Lee’s going. Not that it would have done much good,” he admitted almost sadly.

“Lee and his blasted sense of duty,” Chip muttered. “Sir,” was added slightly self-consciously.

That caused a small smile. “I understand, Chip. Believe me.” The last two words came out firmly. Chip nodded. “But,” Nelson’s voice became philosophical, “Lee will always do what he feels he must.”

“Yes, sir.” Chip’s voice was still glum. “Any idea where he even is?”

“One of the things I intend to find out.” Nelson’s voice was once more firm. “Normally Robert keeps me somewhat informed. This time he was more circumspect than usual, merely sent for Lee and told me that Lee would be briefed when he got to D.C. I didn’t question it at the time because Lee didn’t. We were in port for several weeks and Robert didn’t indicate an extended assignment.”

“Understood, sir,” Chip nodded.

“But it’s been long enough that Robert should be able to tell me something.”

“Yes, sir,” Chip agreed wholeheartedly. The blond’s tone caused Nelson to smile softly; Chip made no bones about his dislike for ONI.

* * * *

“You want me to do what?” Lee all but growled. “Sir,” was definitely an afterthought, and not particularly respectful.

Under the circumstances Admiral Jiggs Stark, who Lee discovered in Admiral Jones’ office when he reported there after his flight from the west coast, let it slide. Stark was ComSubPac, and also an old friend of Admiral Nelson’s. He’d never been one of Lee’s favorite people in the world to begin with, and the feeling was mutual. Although, after a recent trip to Belize* the pair had settled into a fairly respectful truce.

Jones jumped into the conversation he’d so far stayed carefully out of. “This is only a request, Commander,” he told Lee. “You’re being asked because you’re extremely good at keeping your mouth shut. At least, that’s a substantial part of it.” He sent a quick, quirky glance at Stark.

“What’s that got to do with it…sirs?” Only a slight pause this time, and definitely more under control.

Jones’ smile increased as Stark’s frown did likewise. “If Miss Temple finds out what her uncle is doing, scratch one ComSubPac.”

“Got that right,” came from Stark, barely loud enough to be heard.

Lee momentarily closed his eyes, took a couple of deep breaths, and let them out slowly before once more sending a look between the two admirals. “Details?” he asked somewhat dejectedly, accepting his fate at least long enough to get a clear picture of the assignment. Jones nodded at Stark.

It was that admiral’s turn to take a deep breath. “My niece, Jennifer Temple, her mother is my wife’s sister, just graduated from USC. She says she wants to be a veterinarian so took a bunch of pre-med courses, but now she’s waffling. Wants to take the summer off to ‘find herself,’ whatever the hell that means, before she enters Vet school at UC-Davis.”

“I understand that it’s one of the finest Vet schools in the country,” Jones offered helpfully. Stark sent him a glare and he shut up.

“Harrumph,” Stark growled. Lee carefully controlled his expression. “As a graduation present, Gerald and Emily, that’s her parents, wanted to give her a Mediterranean Cruise. She rejected it; wants to go to the Baltic Sea instead.”

“Did she say why, sir?” Lee’s voice was back under control. Almost.

“Because her boyfriend, Sergei Gregorov, is from Estonia,” was practically shouted back. Stark gave himself a shake. “She wants to see his part of the world.”

“He’s traveling with her?”

“NO!” Stark did shout that out. “At least,” his voice now a bit more under control, “not that we’ve been able to confirm. He flew home as soon as he finished classes. He’s here studying to be a lawyer. He says,” came out in another growl.

“You don’t believe him, sir?”

Stark glared at him. “Education in Estonia is free – well, if you’re smart enough to keep your grades up. And apparently this kid is. So why would he pay through the nose to attend USC when he didn’t have to?” Jones cleared his throat, earning another glare from Stark, but also a nod. “And his parents are not unknown in certain circles as having been against Estonia’s independence. While they seem to be living a quiet life now in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, they’ve definitely had ties to Moscow in the past. And may still.”

“Espionage,” came quietly from Lee. “What do Mr. and Mrs. Temple do for a living, if I may ask, sir?”

This time Stark’s glare was aimed in his direction. “Gerald’s involved with global banking, Emily’s in corporate law.”

“Rich,” Lee said softly, almost to himself.

“But not political,” Stark told him firmly.

“Wouldn’t need to be, if banking is involved,” Jones added. “All kinds of implications if the kid is so inclined.”

“Which is why I want Jennifer watched.” Stark was back to shouting. “That close to Russia…” He stopped, his face a dark mask.

“The cruise makes a stop in St. Petersburg,” Jones told Lee, “as well as half a dozen other countries besides Estonia.”

Lee turned back to Stark. “You’re afraid this Sergei Gregorov will try to abduct Miss Temple?”

“Or she’ll go willingly; follow her ‘lover’,” and he left no doubt concerning his feelings about that relationship. “No telling what kinds of lies he’s fed her since they met.”

“When was that, sir?”

“Beginning of their senior year,” came out still gruffly.

“So, about nine months ago,” Lee interpreted. He still hesitated, then asked carefully, “Is she that impressionable, sir?”

Stark’s glare was dangerous. “You mean, is she that naïve?” came out a bit more under control.

“Yes, sir,” Lee answered, his voice and expression controlled.

Stark blew out a breath. “I want to answer no, she’s a smart girl. But…” He didn’t finish.

“If she thinks she’s in love…” Lee didn’t finish, either.

“Which is precisely why I want her watched!” Stark was once more all but shouting. “I do not trust this kid!”

Lee took a deep breath. “What indications are there that he’s not what he claims to be; that he’d just like the opportunity to show Miss Temple where he’s from, sir?”

When Stark merely glared at him, Jones answered. “At this point, none.” Stark sent the glare Jones’ way. “Which is why this whole thing has to be handled discreetly.” He sent Lee an almost smile. “Think of it as simply a vacation.” His smile increased as Lee frowned. “I’m fully aware that what’s being asked is unusual,” he admitted.

“Again, sirs,” and Lee included Stark with a glance, “why me?”

Jones looked at Stark, but again that admiral remained silent. “You don’t look like a bodyguard.” Jones grinned when Stark mumbled something too low to be heard clearly. “You speak Russian, a language still used in former Soviet Union countries. You have a knack for blending in, no matter where you are. And, if push comes to shove and the you-know-what hits the fan, you get the job done no matter what.” His turn to frown. “Even though I don’t always approve of your methods,” came out stiffly. Lee ducked his head but he couldn’t totally cover a quick grin; his solutions to assignment problems weren’t always in line with accepted practices. The fact that his success rate was so high kept him out of hot water with his bosses. Mostly.

Resigned to his fate Lee asked, “When and where, sir?”

Jones took his own deep breath. Lee got the feeling that that admiral had been somewhat prepared for Lee telling him precisely where he could shove this assignment. “I have everything you need here,” and he pushed a large manila envelope across his desk toward Lee. “Boarding passes for both flights and ship, a list of Miss Temple’s booked shore excursions that you will be on as well…”

“Won’t she get suspicious if she keeps seeing me everywhere?”

Jones shrugged. “I have no doubt that you’ll figure out a way to make it work,” he told Lee. That drew a snort from Stark.

“Jennifer has always expressed a bit of distaste for my job,” he now told Lee, “and for the military in general.”

“So best not to admit that I’m in the Navy,” Lee nodded. “Would she know about NIMR?”

“Best to avoid that, too. Just in case.”

“Yes, sir.” He took a quick look inside the envelope. “Everything in my own name?”

“We discussed that,” Jones now told him. “Jiggs doesn’t feel that there’s any reason Miss Temple should recognize your name, or in any way associate it with him. It’s a common enough name, and as long as you don’t mention the Navy or NIMR there should be no problems.”

“And if another passenger or crewman should make the connection, sirs? It’s a big ship with a lot of people on board.”

“I’m sure that you’ll think of something,” Stark growled, causing Lee to once more duck his head.

“Another reason to have things in your own name,” Jones added. “Just in case.”

“Yes, sirs.”

* * * *

Thirty-six hours later measured with time zone changes – actual time made it closer to twenty-four, but Lee’s body told him differently – Lee joined the masses boarding the Regal Princess cruise ship in Copenhagen, Denmark, seriously sleep-deprived. He’d not dared examine the contents of the folder on the long flight so he was forced to spend most of his night’s stay in a Copenhagen hotel reading and memorizing as much of the background intel one – or both – of the admirals had included. They’d provided a fair amount of history on Gregorov but it still wasn’t anywhere near complete. To all outward appearances he was exactly as advertised, with nothing standing out to mark him even the least bit questionable.

The intel on Jennifer Temple was rather obviously biased toward innocence, no doubt by her uncle, and Lee could only shake his head. Not that he was expecting her to turn out to be some kind of home-grown terrorist, but Admiral Stark had definitely been heavy-handed labeling her as a total innocent. Family, Lee muttered softly to himself with a smile, re-read both bios and carefully destroyed that part of the folder, leaving only the travel documents to carry aboard ship.

Given previous assignments, Lee was expecting a tiny inside cabin on a lower deck, and was totally surprised to discover that he was on an upper deck, outside, with a small balcony. Not a suite by any means but perfectly comfortable. Once he was settled in, he headed for a reconnaissance of the public areas on the entire ship, ostensibly merely stretching his legs but taking note of everything in case he needed to find a specific area rapidly. He kept an eye out for any familiar faces, thankfully finding none. But that actually meant little. Because of ONI he’d always tried to distance himself from NIMR publicly, except for those occasions when NIMR held receptions and programs for the local community, letting Admiral Nelson’s face be the one most associated with the Institute as well as Seaview. But there had been occasional articles, with pictures, despite his best efforts. Not to mention that it was not inconceivable for there to be Santa Barbara residents on the cruise. He’d cross that bridge if and when it became necessary.

Princess had installed a new system for keeping track of passengers; everyone was assigned a medallion, to be worn at all times, or at least in their pockets, when passengers were outside of their cabins, instead of the old ‘credit card’ type. The medallion opened your cabin door, allowed the staff to identify you as you left for and returned from shore excursions, popping your picture up on their monitor screens. Lee was totally un-thrilled, but it did have one bonus for him – it allowed him to know where Miss Temple was located, once all the data was input, by way of either his smart phone or locator screens around the ship, mostly around the elevator areas. It was a rather useful tool for surveillance. On the other hand, he’d have to be careful that she didn’t discover what he was up to and use it on him!

Somehow, and no way was Lee even going to contemplate how it had been managed, Lee’s cabin was slightly forward of the central elevators while Miss Temple’s cabin was just aft, both on not only the same deck but the same side of the ship. Meaning, they could quite likely be sharing elevator time as they maneuvered around the ship. Lee would have to be careful about that. On the other hand, most elevator stations had up to six individual elevators, depending on the level, available, so he didn’t foresee any major issues. And if it became one he’d simply use the stairs. He half-grinned, half-groaned as he realized that stairs would be one way to get in extra exercise and maybe blow off extra steam, depending on how complicated and/or frustrating this whole assignment turned out to be.

His first encounter with his target came at dinner; he wasn’t at all surprised to discover that he was assigned to a table in the same dining room, at the same time, with only one table between his and hers. Happily, he was already seated before she ambled in, and ended up with her back to his sideways view. Both tables seated six, and Lee found himself in the relatively pleasant company of two couples in their late 50’s, early 60’s, and another single gentleman in his 70’s who kept everyone entertained – sort of – with tails of his extensive list of cruises taken. On the other hand, his constant talking kept Lee from having to say much beyond simple introductions.

From casual observation, Ms. Temple seemed comfortable with her own table companions. Lee had a feeling, kept carefully to himself during his briefing with the two admirals, that the young woman, being an only child, was not only spoiled rotten by her parents but was probably very used to being around older adults from being exposed to her parents’ friends growing up. His casual observations now showed no signs of discomfort being around older people, as that’s who she was also surrounded by, and seemed to be visiting quite easily with her table companions.

One thing that was bothering Lee was the meal itself. A light eater, his experiences with cruise cuisine was, they served way too large portions no matter how simple he tried to keep his ordering from the available choices. He’d far rather take his meals in the always open buffet where he could pick and choose, and keep his portions small. He figured that he could eat there for breakfast and lunch, keeping his intake small so that he’d be hungrier at dinner, and hope for the best.

The ship left port just after Lee sat down to dinner. With windows fairly close to their table, what conversation wasn’t monopolized by the older gentleman centered around Copenhagen and the cruise ahead; although even that was interspersed with the man’s tales of travels to all of the ports included, and what he’d seen and done there. Lee worked hard at maintaining a neutral expression but not so the other two couples. He could easily read the men as quickly bored and the women – who turned out to be sisters – as starting to get angry. Having been to most of the port cities himself, Lee started jumping in with his own observations, trying to get the older man to focus on him and leave the others to visit among themselves. For the most part he was successful, although it was obvious the man didn’t like giving up the majority of his audience.

Between the man talking so much, and Lee’s light appetite, he and the two couples were done eating their main course while the man was only halfway through with his. No way did Lee want dessert, and it appeared that the two couples didn’t, either. Or maybe they were just sick of the man. For whatever reason, they ended up leaving at the same time as Lee. Once out of the dining room one of the men let out a snort and grabbed Lee’s hand, giving it a firm shake. “Thank you, Lee did you say? You obviously have had experiences dealing with blowhards.”

Lee laughed out loud, memories of assorted Seaview passengers, not to mention certain admirals, dancing in his brain. “Had my share, I will admit, Mr. Gandus.”

“Mark,” he insisted. “We,” he indicated the others, “were about to ask to be re-seated.”

Lee shrugged. “You meet all kinds on a cruise.” The smile he sent gave no indication of his double-meaning. “I’ve learned to deal with it.” He chuckled, but mostly to himself.

“Your mother obviously raised you to be polite,” said Isobel Corwin.

Lee’s grin spread. “Yes, ma’am.” All five ended up chuckling.

“Perhaps,” Steven Corwin lowered his voice and glanced around before continuing, “if we all simply ignore him and visit amongst ourselves, he’ll get the hint and go bother someone else.” They all agreed to give that a try the following evening, and went their separate ways.

Lee’s first stop was to trade the lanyard his medallion was on for a wrist band it attached to like a watch face. On the lanyard around his neck, the medallion swung side to side as he walked, driving him a little crazy. He wasn’t used to wearing anything on his right wrist but that was much less bothersome than the lanyard.

That taken care of, he settled in the Piazza listening to a guitar trio, nursing a scotch and keeping an eye on the dining room doorway through which Ms. Temple would exit once her meal was over. It wasn’t a long wait but Lee chose to stay where he was and not follow her, not wanting to show himself and possibly antagonize her this early in the cruise. According to the ship’s daily newsletter there was a Single Passengers Meet and Greet a bit later, but Lee chose to ignore that as well for precisely the same reason. He wasn’t even sure she’d attend if she was using the cruise to connect with her boyfriend. He’d memorized Mr. Gregorov’s picture in case he was also aboard. So far he hadn’t spotted anyone even similar so was still going to assume that they’d meet when the ship stopped in Tallinn, Estonia. But he’d keep his eyes open, just in case.

Suddenly he yawned, and grinned as he realized that it was barely 2030 hours. At home he’d still be hard at work – and his grin spread as he acknowledged ‘home’ to him was Seaview. Tonight, between all the travel, time zone changes, and frustrations of the assignment, he was ready to crash.

* * * *

Lee’s first full day aboard was going to be a challenging one. Not because he was busy, but precisely the opposite! There was no port stop; the ship spent the day at sea as she sailed toward Stockholm. One look at the daily activities schedule left Lee totally unimpressed. Oh, there were plenty of activities aboard to do; if he chose, he could be actively involved in something from 0600 to well past midnight. However, Brainteaser and Sudoku Puzzle games, complimentary acupuncture consultations, and champagne parties were not exactly his style. Trap shooting at first sounded promising until he realized that it wasn’t actually shooting, but used a simulator. He did kill a little time in the Casino, just because, but he bored easily and soon left.

The waters of the Baltic Sea were quiet so the ship glided easily through them to the point where even Lee, so accustomed to movement through water, barely noticed the motion. The weather was pleasant so he spent a couple hours walking laps outside on the Promenade Deck, then after a light lunch changed into shorts and did laps on the upper deck jogging track, studiously ignoring the glances he was getting from the ladies lounging around the outdoor pool one deck down.

Thankfully, the expenditure of energy allowed his mind to settle as well as his body. He’d kept a casual lookout all day for Ms. Temple but hadn’t spotted her – not unusual on this large of a ship, with something over 4000 passengers. Tonight’s dining was Formal dress and Lee caught himself wondering what she’d be wearing, before giving himself a wry smile. He’d been warned before leaving California to pack civilian clothes but his wardrobe had been supplemented by Admiral Jones – or perhaps Admiral Stark, he wasn’t sure – and included what was actually a quite acceptable dark brown suit with a choice of shirts and ties. Tonight Lee chose a beige shirt with a textured brown silk tie, and once more tried to ignore the looks he got as he casually made his way toward the dining room.

The plan he and the two couples at his table had made the previous night, to ignore the obnoxious William Hagan, took a bit to manage, especially after he took notice of all the feminine glances Lee was getting and decided to harass Lee about it. But Lee carefully shrugged it off and visited intently with the Gandus’s and Corwin’s, all five tuning out Hagan as much as possible. As different seats were taken this evening, Lee ended up facing Ms. Temple’s table. Happily, she sat with her back to him again so his casual glances went unnoticed. At least by her. One of the other ladies at the table kept trying to catch Lee’s eye – much to the displeasure of her companion if the looks he gave Lee a couple of times were any indication. But Lee did his best to focus on his own table companions. Four of them, anyway. It took most of the meal, but by dessert time Mr. Hagan had apparently gotten the hint and quit trying to interrupt the others’ conversations. Afterward, Lee walked a couple of times around the Promenade Deck, then settled into one of the bars for some relaxing piano music and a couple of drinks before heading to his cabin.

He was up bright and early, enjoying watching the ship dock at Nynashamn, the port for Stockholm, Sweden. He was actually looking forward to the day’s shore excursion as it included a visit to the Vasa Museum, built to house the 226-foot-long warship, Vasa, that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628. Lee was always fascinated with old maritime history, and somehow in his travels hadn’t ever been to the museum with all of its historical exhibits. As there were several coaches handling this particular shore excursion Lee was careful to get on the same one as Ms. Temple, but made sure he found a seat well behind her. The tour, about six hours long, included walking through Gamla Stan, one of the largest and best-preserved medieval city centers in Europe, and a visit to the Royal Palace, once home to the King of Sweden. There was time to wander past all the shops both in Gamla Stan and the streets around the City Hall. Lee bought nothing but did actually enjoy looking at all of the handicrafts, antiques, and art galleries. The group was allowed to scatter and visit shops on their own for over an hour and Lee casually watched Ms. Temple as she wandered through the square, seeming to be having a wonderful time. She had several packages with her when she returned to the coach for the trip back to the ship, and Lee heard her tell another passenger that she was going to have to be careful; that this was only the first stop on the cruise and already she was going to have trouble finding room for her purchases in her luggage. The other woman told her not to worry, just to buy a suitcase somewhere along the line and at the end of the trip pack it with all of her purchases and ship it home. Lee barely contained a snort as the woman’s husband rolled his eyes, but he saw Ms. Temple nod enthusiastically at the suggestion. That night at dinner Lee loitered a bit over a final coffee, but not too long as he could tell staff wanted to start setting up for the second seating guests. Even with the day’s activities, and knowing that he had an even longer tour the following day in Helsinki, Finland, he spent an hour walking the Promenade, then another hour watching participants in a Texas Hold-Em poker tournament. Encouraged by staff to join in, he waved them off and nursed a beer as he enjoyed the action. At one point he noticed Ms. Temple also watching, and he used her exit to also amble away.

While they were barely into the cruise, Lee had never seen her in the company of the same passenger twice and was having serious doubts as to Admiral Stark’s worries. He did acknowledge that, after Helsinki, the ship’s next stop was St. Petersburg, Russia, for two days, followed by Tallinn, Estonia for one, and his need for vigilance in those cities would of course increase. But nothing about her movements or actions had so far set off his ‘radar’, that sixth sense he so relied on. Or sonar, he teased himself, if on Seaview. All he saw in her was wide-eyed innocence, and a desire to experience a part of the world that she’d never seen. He freely admitted that he’d been fooled before, but… From her, he detected no subterfuge whatsoever.

He carefully controlled his expression and sent her nothing more than a polite smile when they ended up taking the same elevator back to the deck their cabins were on. She returned it, then ignored him and turned aft once the elevator stopped as Lee turned forward; merely two passengers on a huge ship. Lee sat outside on his balcony for a bit, enjoying the pleasant evening. He was teasing himself about the ease of the balcony as opposed to having to surface Seaview and go up to the Conning Tower to enjoy an evening like this when his cabin phone disturbed his quiet contemplation.

“Yes,” he answered carefully.

“What’s going on?” came the loud demand from an obviously angry Admiral Stark. “I told you to keep in touch and I’ve heard nothing!”

He’d given Lee no such order but it didn’t seem advisable to point that out. “Nothing to report, sir,” Lee told him in a quiet but sincere tone. “So far, Ms. Temple seems to be quite enjoying herself. No sign of the boyfriend and she doesn’t seem to be spending time with any one person, either aboard or on shore.”

“Harrumph!” came loudly through the speaker, causing Lee to grin broadly.

“Tomorrow is Helsinki, and then St. Petersburg and Tallinn. I will, of course, be especially watchful there, sir.”

“You’d better be,” was all but yelled back before Stark broke the connection with a loud slamming of the phone receiver. Lee shook his head as he hung up, among other things wondering how Stark had gotten the call through. On the other hand, rank did have its privileges, and communications at sea weren’t all that difficult anymore. With a wry grin and a shrug, he prepared for bed.

* * * *

Because of the sheer amount of people aboard, many taking the same shore excursions, there were always a multitude of motor coaches assigned to every tour. Lee had been fortunate the day before to catch the same one as Ms. Temple. Today he wasn’t so lucky, although his was only about ten minutes behind so was able to keep tabs on her for most of the almost seven-hour tour of Finland’s capital.

Their first stop was Helsinki’s cultural center, Senate Square, which also held the four main buildings of Helsinki Cathedral. While Lee had never been much of a tourist, bored easily even when, in his early years he’d traveled occasionally with his mother, he felt a little stab of ‘home’ at the next stop: Temppeliaukio, or ‘Church of the Rock’. Not because of its Lutheran denomination but because it was built inside one gigantic, solid, rock. Walking in, there was just that instant sensation of ‘submarine’. Sort of, anyway, and Lee smiled to himself; he was perfectly comfortable where others were looking a bit claustrophobic. It didn’t feel that closed in to him, with natural light coming in from the church’s glazed dome, but he could easily recognize how the rough stone interiors could make one feel uneasy. He did instantly notice how sound was almost amplified inside and their guide pointed out that feature, telling everyone that it made for a rather unique concert venue.

Next on the agenda was the ancient village of Porvoo. Founded in the 14^th century, it was Finland’s second oldest town. Because the tour guests were allowed to spend some free time exploring the area, much of it left untouched by time, Lee was able to spend some of it observing Ms. Temple. Once more she visited easily with this person and that, taking copious pictures and jotting occasional notes to herself about them. Lee just ‘happened’ to bump into her at one point while she was writing, and was able to confirm that the notes were nothing more than what she was taking pictures of. She gave him a quick, easy, smile at his apology for being clumsy, seemed to have a bit of memory of seeing him in the elevator, but didn’t try to stop him as he moved away.

On the way back to Helsinki the coach passed the Kiasma, the modern art museum and National Museum of Finland, but didn’t stop except for a quick description by their tour guide. They did make a stop at Sibelius Park and Monument, dedicated to the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Lee wasn’t overly impressed with the abstract monument. Their guide told the group that it was meant to reflect the rugged natural beauty of Finland, as inspired by Sibelius’ classical music piece, ‘Finlandia’. All Lee saw were what looked like over a hundred chromed pieces of pipe, nine inches or so in diameter and all different lengths haphazardly stuck together in an upright position, to him resembling nothing more than a Salvador Dali or Pablo Picasso version of a pipe organ. He very carefully kept that observation to himself as people around him commented on the piece.

The tour’s last stop was at busy Market Square, bustling with activity around its rows of tents and stalls selling everything from fur clothing, jewelry, and souvenirs, to food and so much more. Merely killing time, and observing Ms. Temple once more making several purchases, his eye happened to catch a smallish wooden plaque. About nine inches long and five inches high, what first caught his attention was the drawing of the probably 18^th century schooner under full sail on the left-hand side. He nearly burst out laughing at what was written next to it:

Mariner’s Barometer (hang outside)

If flag is dry – Fair

If flag is wet – Rain

If flag is swinging – Windy

If flag is wet and swinging – Stormy

If flag is frozen – Cold

In a moment of whimsy, Lee bought it; it would make the perfect gift for Chip! Excellent retaliation for the wooden slug Chip had given him a few years earlier as an unsubtle reminder to Lee to slow down and relax once in a while. Chip didn’t particularly like to sail, on those occasions when Lee would rent a small sailboat and take off for a long weekend, preferring ‘canned’ submarine air to surface unpredictability. Lee had a smirky grin on his face all the way back to the ship.

Apparently, Mr. Hagan had gotten the message from his other table companions the night before because this night, as Lee and the others shared with each other their day’s adventures, he mostly kept quiet. He did ask Lee, although it came out almost a demand, if Lee was into sailing when Lee told everyone about the plaque he’d bought as a gag gift for a friend, and if Lee was or had been in the Navy. Lee tactfully repeated what he’d told everyone the first night, that he worked for a Marine research facility, enjoyed sailing on his off time, but that his buddy preferred hiking.

“You’re not married!” Hagan made it a statement as opposed to a question, and the look he sent Lee made Lee feel like Hagan was perhaps challenging his sexuality, talking about a male friend.

Lee nearly laughed in the man’s face, but somehow managed to control his expression. “Sailing is mostly reserved lately for when my lady and I have a free weekend at the same time.” His smile was brilliant. “She was actually supposed to come with me on this trip but at the last minute something came up and she had to cancel.” That little lie worked to shut Hagan up

“She works at the same place?” Lorraine Gandus asked casually.

“No,” Lee told her. “One reason our schedules don’t mesh all that often.” He was saved from saying anything else by the waiter’s appearance with their dinner selections.

Thoughts of Becca Radiwan laying comfortably in his mind, Lee carefully followed Ms. Temple this evening to the ship’s theater production, an around the world musical tribute presented by the ship’s orchestra. While Lee would not have taken this cruise if he hadn’t been practically forced into it – while he did have the option of refusing ONI assignments because of his obligations to Admiral Nelson, this hadn’t seemed a good time to play that particular card – he was, actually, rather enjoying himself. He spent most of the performance casually watching Ms. Temple, seated several rows in front of him, wondering if Becca might enjoy it as well, and thought that he’d perhaps bring it up the next time they talked. He went to bed that night with the smile still gracing his face.

* * * *

The morning brought firmly back his sense of duty and service. This day and the next they would spend in St. Petersburg. While Ms. Temple’s boyfriend was Estonian, and there wasn’t a lot of love lost these days between the two countries, it still behooved Lee to be on even more alert than he had been and he made very sure that he was on the same coach as Ms. Temple.

He almost screwed up. Leaving the ship so far had meant nothing more than walking off and finding the coaches assigned to his shore excursions. Russia being Russia, all passengers had to go through a passport check. Not a problem, really, but it took extra time that Lee hadn’t allowed for that morning. And especially when the guard he ended up with took extra time, all the while glaring off and on, looking at Lee’s well-documented worldwide travel. Lee kept a benign smile on his face as the man thumbed through page after page of country stamps in Lee’s passport, but finally muttered bogatyy amerikanets,** almost reluctantly stamping Lee’s passport, and finally handing it back while waving him through. Lee decided that letting the man know he spoke Russian and understood the remark meant ‘rich American’ might not be the wisest move right that moment. He nodded and murmured a quick spasiba, figuring that as much as he’d traveled he could easily know the Russian word for ‘thank you’, and hurried to find which coach Ms. Temple had boarded, she having quickly passed through one of the other guard booths.

He got lucky and found her chatting with several other passengers, the coaches for their tour having not yet arrived. While the group would return to the ship briefly in the late afternoon, this particular tour would keep them busy all day, and again that evening. They would sleep aboard the ship but continue the same tour most of the following day. Lee told himself firmly to make sure he was early for every departure!

The coach finally arrived. Lee made sure Ms. Temple was close behind, but boarded first so she wouldn’t think he was following her. Then, as luck would have it, since both were traveling solo and most guests were not, she hesitated at the empty seat next to Lee.

“Mind if I sit with you?”

Lee sent her a smile. “Not at all. Would you prefer the window seat?” He’d automatically slid over to take that one when he sat down.

She waved him off. “Perhaps we can shift back and forth during the day,” she told him. “Don’t want to hog all the view.”

Lee chuckled as he sent her a quick nod. “Lee Crane,” he offered.

“Jennifer Temple,” she returned the greeting. “This is all so exciting!”

“Your first time cruising?” he asked by way of conversation as the coach filled and their tour guide got ready to make her introductory comments.

“My first time out of the country. Ah, you are from the U.S.?”

Another smile. “Yes,” he confirmed. “And while I have traveled extensively, I’m having a wonderful time as well.”

They were both quiet as their guide welcomed them and went over the day’s itinerary, as well as reminding everyone to please stay together as a group; that going off on your own was strictly forbidden. She was quick to add, with a smile, that solo travel was of course permitted in Russia, but that it required visa’s which the ship’s passengers did not need as long as they stayed in their pre-arranged groups.

The tour’s first stop of the day was at the Peter and Paul Fortress. The impressive structures were built on an island in the Neva River separated from the mainland by a small channel, and had originally been built to protect the city from Swedish invaders. Among its other uses over the years, it had also been a prison for political enemies of the former Soviet Union. Included in the buildings was the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the burial place of many Tsars, including Peter the Great. The ornateness and grandeur of the buildings were truly impressive.

As Lee wandered about the place he made no attempt to stay by Ms. Temple’s side, nor did she try to stay close to him. Lee, however, was rarely more than a few feet away from her as he appeared to casually tour the fortress with its several buildings and ramparts, the cathedral in the center. He did have to stop himself at one point from an outright laugh. On the river side of the island, outside the ramparts, was a stretch of sandy beach where a fair number of people were walking. There wasn’t really access to the water as the river was kept at bay by a rock retaining wall several feet high. What caused Lee his momentary amusement was several people having what looked like a picnic. While the weather was pleasant it still required a jacket for comfort. He reminded himself that in Russia ‘picnic weather’ had an entirely different meaning than in southern California. Once more under control he ambled toward one of the bridge accesses to the island, and their coach on the mainland, as he saw their guide gathering up her group, and boarded a few people behind Ms. Temple, she taking the window seat this time. Throughout the stop Lee had kept a close eye to see if anyone seemed to be paying either her, or him, any special notice, but saw nothing more than the usual crowds of tourists.

Their next stop was at the spectacular Hermitage Museum. While it would take a person upwards of a week to fully enjoy the over three million works of artistic genius housed both inside and out, there was still enough time for an overview of the Tsar’s former Winter palace, steeped in opulence and splendor at every turn. While not much of a museum lover himself – unless it had something to do with maritime history – he did enjoy Ms. Temple’s seemingly total rapture at what they had time to see before once more, reluctantly, boarding the coach.

At the included lunch break Lee sat down first allowing Ms. Temple, who he was starting to get comfortable calling by her first name, as she insisted, to choose where she wanted. It happened to be across from him and one seat to the left at the long table reserved for their group. They were served a simple meal of borsch, the traditional beetroot soup, and pelmeni, light boiled dumplings filled with different kinds of meat or vegetables, depending on individual tastes, and served with sour cream. A coffee drinker all his adult life, Lee still found himself enjoying Russia’s national drink, tea. What was served was black tea with a slight undertone of orange, an interesting variation, and he happily accepted a couple of refills as he visited with those around him, discussing their morning’s adventures.

The busy day continued with a visit to St. Isaac’s Cathedral, its gold dome dominating the local skyline. The dome, one of the largest in the world, was covered – so their guide proudly pointed out – with two hundred and twenty pounds of gold. It was commissioned by Alexander I in 1818 and took more than three decades to complete. Lee had doubts about all that gold still being in place but kept them to himself; the cathedral was still magnificent no matter what it was made out of.

From there the group was dropped back at the ship to freshen up and change clothes if they wished. Passport Control was required to get back to the ship, and again as they left for their evening part of the tour, but at least this time Lee didn’t get quite as grumpy a guard and passage both ways went much faster. Their destination tonight was a tour of the Baroque-style Catherine Palace. The group strolled past an impressive collection of Greek and Roman heroic busts as they entered down the covered walkway of Catherine I’s summer manor before being led through some of the incredible interior including the restored and utterly incredible Amber Room as well as the White Vestibule, Grand Hall and Crimson Pilaster Room. From there they were treated to a superb Russian dinner at one of the local restaurants. It started with blini, a sort of Russian crepe, that was served with excellent caviar, sour cream, and honey. Next came okroshka soup instead of the more common borsch. This soup was served cold, but still filled with boiled meat and potatoes, radishes, cucumbers, and scallions, and served with dill and the ever-present sour cream. The main course was kotleti, small meat patties served with mashed potatoes. These happened to be made with pike, a variety of fish, and Lee found them delicious. And finally, there was medovik, a super sweet, multi-layered honey cake. The meal was followed by a classical music concert. Lee was so full from the heavy dinner that he almost fell asleep, and noticed others were having the same problem, before the late return to the ship. Between the long, active day and the late hour Lee had no problem whatsoever falling instantly asleep, despite the heavy meal, knowing that he had another active day ahead.

The second day in St. Petersburg started early with a tour of the Peterhof Palace. Jennifer apparently enjoyed his company the previous day because she made a point to get on the same coach as he did instead of him having to make sure he stayed with her, and they easily shared a pair of seats. The 300-acre park and palace were devised by Peter the Great to rival Versailles, up to and including the incredible fountains. Lee enjoyed, and Jennifer was enthralled by, the Grand Cascade fountain which featured Samson prying open a lion’s jaws, releasing water to cascade down a series of terraced steps. There were also guided tours through the Throne Room, Portrait Room, and White Dining Room. Lee held back a broad grin as Jennifer couldn’t resist the present-at-every-stop gift shop, making several purchases. Because they were on and off the same coach all day she could leave her bags on the coach and didn’t have to pack them around with her the rest of the day. Although, Lee wasn’t sure that would have made a difference.

Lee’s favorite part of the visit to St. Petersburg so far came after a lunch stop and was an hour-long trip on board an airboat through parts of the Neva River and some of her canals, part of what gave St. Petersburg her nickname, ‘Venice of the North’. On view were many of her ornate bridges with their golden decorative plaques shining brightly in the sun. They passed the Yusupov Palace, one of two surviving St. Petersburg residences of the monumentally wealthy Yusupov family, this one on the Moika River made famous, or rather infamous, because it was the scene of the assassination of Grigory Rasputin.

If Lee hadn’t been so focused on why he was actually here, listening to endless tour guides give endless speeches about – to him – endlessly boring bits of history, he would have by now gone totally bonkers. Too many years of seeing and dealing with the ‘other side’ of European history fought against the beauty and splendor the tourist industry wanted their guests to see and experience. Even summers spent traveling with his mother, a freelance writer, had been better than this from the simple fact that she had frequently focused on the grittier parts of history, and how the ‘smaller fish in the ponds’ had lived their lives.

On the other hand, he could actually see himself enjoying the cruise if Becca was with him. That thought helped him maintain a level of control during Ms. Temple’s increasingly more giggly excitement. “Ah…” he had to bring himself back to the present as he realized that she’d said something to him. “I’m sorry. What did you say?” He sent her a smile. “I was concentrating on the detailed decorations on that bridge we’re coming up to.”

“Aren’t they so cool?” she told him as she snapped even more pictures. Lee decided that she must have an enormous memory chip in the camera. Either that or she downloaded them to a laptop every night. “I just wondered if you were going to the lecture tonight.”

Lee shrugged. “Haven’t looked at tonight’s schedule. What lecture would that be?”

“It’s part of the Baltic Voices series. Tonight is about Tallinn. I wanted to get a head start on tomorrow.”

“Which tour are you taking there?” Lee asked just to be polite, even though he already knew.

“I’m not,” she told him, and missed his instant startle before he could regain control as she snapped more pictures. “My friend is meeting me right after we dock and giving me a private tour. He lives there,” and she sent him a bright smile.

“Long distance romance?” Lee managed to get out casually.

“We both just graduated college and are taking the summer off.” She sent Lee a quick, almost shy, glance. “He wanted me to spend a whole month with him here. Well, he and his family.” She paused again. “I…wasn’t quite ready…ah…”

Lee sent her a friendly smile. “Got it,” he told her with understanding. “The world turns fast enough as it is; no need to rush into anything.”

“I mean, I really like him.” She sighed. “Just…”

“If it’s meant to be, it will survive. If not…” He shrugged. “Best to find that out now.”

“You sound like my folks.”

“Ouch,” Lee shifted slightly away, although he was still smiling.

She frowned. “I didn’t mean…” She didn’t finish as Lee started laughing.

“I understand long distance relationships,” Lee told her by way of getting them both back on track. “My lady friend isn’t clear around the world, or even across the country. But still, far enough we don’t see each other all that often.”

“Skype?” she asked.

“Too old fashioned for that,” he admitted. “We still use phones.” He chuckled when she blushed. “Do you know where all he’s going to take you?” She frowned at the question and he hurried to explain. “Just thought we might run into each other at some point. I think I’m on the six-hour trip so sounds like I’ll be all over.” Lee saw her relax at that explanation.

“I tried to get Sergei to go with me on that one. My travel agent said he could probably arrange it.” She shrugged. “He said that he didn’t want to show me just the touristy stuff but it’s that kind of history and architecture that I’m really enjoying.” She huffed softly. “But he’s adamant that I meet his family.”

Lee had been frantically thinking – and trying not to let her see his nervousness! “I think that the tour gets back to the ship about…” and he had to quickly keep from saying 1500 hours, “about 3 pm,” he corrected to civilian time. “We don’t sail for a couple hours. That should be plenty time to meet his family if he doesn’t live too far out of town.”

“Humm,” she pondered that one. “I was really looking forward to seeing Old Town.” She sent him a quick grin. “I’ve been eating so much that I need all the walking up and down; that part of Tallinn is hilly, I understand from the tour description.”

“Same here, about the eating and walking,” Lee admitted with feeling. It made her chuckle. The boat was just pulling back to the dock so they both concentrated on following directions from their guide.

Back on the coach their next stop, and last except for landmarks pointed out on the way back to the ship, was the very spectacular and dramatic Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood. Constructed on the site of the 1881 assassination of Tsar Alexander II, it was very much ‘Russian-style’. Restored starting in 1970, it was a masterpiece of towers topped with onion domes, both gold and tiled. The exterior was a wonderment of multi-patterned tiles in every color imaginable, panels of biblical paintings inlaid in different shapes, some semi-circle, some triangular. There were square-grid panels, six panels high and twice that wide, a different symbol in each panel; the entire building was a brilliant mosaic no matter where you looked. While it should have been chaotic, somehow it was absolutely stunning. Even Lee was impressed. For whatever reason, and Lee was perfectly willing to admit that by that time he’d quit listening to the guide’s chatter, they were unable to go inside the church. That didn’t bother either Lee or Jennifer; the outside was totally worth the stop!

On the way back to the ship he did perk up when the guide pointed out a specific building with a tall spire some 100+ feet high, on top of which sat a weathervane in the shiny bronze outline of a three-masted frigate. The building was called The Admiralty, and marked the location of the former Admiralty Shipyard, construction of which started in 1704. Lee made a mental note to check it out should he ever return to St. Petersburg with some free time.

But once back at the ship he turned into a nervous wreck. How the blazes was he supposed to keep tabs on Jennifer Temple without blowing his cover if she went off with her boyfriend for the day! The only option he could come up with was to also dump the tour and hope that he could find an amiable taxi driver. He stopped at the tour desk on his way to change for dinner and picked up what he hoped would be a sufficient amount of Euros, Estonia’s currency, to handle an extended cab ride. Having experienced the whims of Eastern European taxi drivers in the past, Lee wasn’t overly anxious for a repeat. But there would be no way on the spur of the moment to try renting a car. Perhaps, he thought, if I get an overly friendly cabby I could rent his car for the day. But almost immediately he canned that thought. No way did he want to draw the kind of attention that request could easily bring down on himself if he happened to talk to the wrong person!

No, he’d just have to wing it and play everything by ear. He was sure used to that, after too many screwed up ONI missions. He frowned. And a few Seaview cruises, he mentally added grumpily. Work with what you’re given, he reminded himself, and headed for his cabin as the ship left St. Petersburg’s port and headed for Tallinn.

He almost didn’t answer his cabin phone when it rang just as he was about to head for the Dining Room, assuming that it was Admiral Stark wanting, well, demanding, Lee muttered, an update since he was in the middle of the most critical part of the mission. He sure didn’t want to report on what the prospects were for the following day, but he decided that ignoring the man would only tick him off further. “Hello?” he said cautiously.

“Lee?” came back almost as hesitantly in Admiral Nelson’s resonant tones.

Lee let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “Yes, sir,” he answered, back in control.

“Everything okay?”

Lee grinned to himself. “Yes, sir,” he repeated. “I was sort of expecting Admiral Stark,” he admitted, causing Nelson to chuckle.

“He’s buried in War Game plans,” Nelson told him. “I called Robert,” he knew that Lee would know he was talking about Admiral Jones, “to see if it was possible to contact you…”

“What’s wrong?” Lee instantly demanded. “Sir,” he quickly added.

Nelson burst out laughing, and Lee relaxed. “Calm down, Lee. Nothing’s wrong. Well,” it was his turn to hesitate, “nothing that can’t be dealt with fairly easily.” He chuckled softly. “Just wanted to know when I could expect you back, and Robert told me how to contact you.” There was another pause. “A cruise?” There was true puzzlement in his voice.

Lee smiled to himself. “I gather Admiral Jones didn’t explain.”

“Just that you were doing something for Jiggs.”

“Yeah,” Lee muttered. He thought only to himself, and cringed when Nelson chuckled again. “Sorry, sir,” Lee instantly told his boss for the slight faux pas.

“No worries, Lee.” There was still a smile in Nelson’s voice. Lee and Jiggs were like oil and water; they did not mix well!

“Shouldn’t be longer than six days, sir, but…”

“Understood, Lee.” Nelson had his own experiences with ONI missions.

“Might be before that,” Lee told him. “But not holding my breath.”

“Also understood. Nothing here that can’t be managed for at least the next week,” he assured his captain. There was a slight pause. “Under control at your end?” Actual missions wouldn’t be discussed, and especially over unsecured phone lines.

Lee snorted softly. “It was until about three hours ago,” he grumbled, then sighed. “I’ll manage,” he told his boss.

“You always do,” Nelson told him sincerely.

“Eh,” came out before Lee could stop it, causing Nelson to once more laugh.

“See you when you get back, and don’t worry about anything here,” he half-ordered, knowing that it would fall on deaf ears because Lee always worried about everything.

“Yes, sir,” Lee nonetheless responded, and both broke the connection.

The call made him almost late for dinner and he slid into his chair with an apology to his tablemates and a quick smile across to Ms. Temple, who’d noticed his entry with a raised eyebrow. The waiter was just starting to take orders so he quickly glanced at the night’s selections. Once the waiter left he told the others, “Got hung up with a phone call from my boss.”

“You’re on vacation,” Hagan growled with a glare. “Are you that indispensable or is he just that dictatorial?”

Lee laughed out loud. “Gonna have to take the fifth on that one,” he told the older man with a grin before changing the topic by complimenting Isobel Corwin on the outfit she was wearing. “I caught a quick glimpse of it as I came in just now.”

“She sent me off on a tour this morning,” her husband Steve complained, “while she went shopping.” Despite the tone of voice he was smiling, as did the rest of the table. Lee refused to look at Hagan as Isobel stood up briefly so that he could see the whole thing. A black short-sleeved blouse topped a full skirt in shades of blue and gray, screen-printed to resemble waves hitting a flat beach.

“Well,” he told both Corwins, “it’s absolutely lovely, and quite flattering.”

“Thank you,” Isobel told him as she sat back down, and conversation for the rest of the meal revolved around what everyone had enjoyed about their two days in St. Petersburg.

Lee spent a restless evening, sorting through at least a dozen options for the following day and discarding every one of them. The one he really wanted to use would also be the one to get him into the most trouble – telling Jennifer who he was, why he was here, and flat out asking her what she and her boyfriend were planning. Admiral Stark would kill him!

On the other hand, from the little Jennifer had told him that afternoon, it sounded like she was already having second thoughts about the young man. Of course, if Sergei Gregorov was planning on using Jennifer for his own motives, without her knowledge or willing participation, that said a lot as well. Lee had a feeling that he wasn’t going to sleep well tonight.

Five times around the Promenade Deck in the evening air took a slight edge off Lee’s frustration, and half a glass of Scotch in one of the bars listening to some light jazz took his frazzled nerves down another notch, to the point where he decided to go lay down and at least try to sleep. Fifteen minutes of tossing and turning destroyed that attempt and he found himself sitting at the small desk, glancing at the other tours of Tallinn just to give his hands and eyes something to do.

He actually smiled when he came to one of the last listings. It was titled ‘Coastal Sightseeing and Lighthouses’. Besides views of the Baltic Sea coastline and several included lighthouse tours, something Lee always enjoyed visiting, there was a scheduled stop in the town of Paldiski, the home of a former Soviet Navy submarine base. He had vague memories of reading an ONI mission report concerning the base. He hadn’t been involved so details were sketchy, but he thought that he remembered something had gone wrong, resulting in casualties on both sides. If he was ever back this way – thoughts of a cruise with Becca putting a temporary smile on his face – that would be his tour of choice.

* * * *

Lee finally managed a couple hours of actual sleep but was up by 0500 hours, grabbed a small, and quick, bite to eat – it was all he could manage to get down through his continued nerves – and was one of the first people off the ship when the gate opened at 0800. The tour he was scheduled for left at 0900 but he needed to keep his eyes peeled for not only Jennifer, but also anyone resembling the picture he’d been shown of Sergei Gregorov.

So wrapped up was he in looking for Gregorov, as well as the possibility of grabbing a taxi if he needed to, that he nearly jumped out of his skin when someone touched his arm. He turned so fast that he ended up startling his ‘attacker’, who turned out to be Jennifer; he’d never seen her leave the ship, and instantly gave himself a mental kick where it would do the most good. They ended up apologizing to each other at the same time, then gave each other sheepish grins because of it.

Lee found his voice again first. “So sorry, Jennifer. My mind was a million miles away.”

Her smile turned genuine. “You did look like you were concentrating pretty hard on something. I probably should have said something before touching your arm.”

Lee shrugged it off. “And I need to not get so caught up in extraneous details that I forget where I am.” He sent her a smile. “Waiting for your gentleman friend?”

That caused a frown. “Sort of. I really liked your idea of taking the tour and meeting him at the end, before we come back to the ship, so I’d have a little more time to meet his family. But when I called him after we docked and suggested it to him he had a hissy fit.”

“Excuse me?” Lee commiserated.

“Exactly,” she grumbled. “He said that he’d set up the day around his schedule, and that would be too late. I mean,” she sent Lee a serious, sincere, look. “The original plan was to spend the whole day with him and now he’s too busy at that point in the day? I asked him how, then, had he expected to bring me back to the ship and he all but blew me off, saying that he’d already arranged for a friend to bring me back.” She stamped a foot. “I don’t think so,” she told Lee firmly.

“I suppose, once he got back from the States, other matters intruded on his plans. But you’d think that he would have been considerate enough to let you know before now.”

“Well,” she admitted, “I didn’t exactly give him a lot of time to adjust for my change of plans. But still, you’re right…” She sighed. “I think it’s time to reevaluate just how close a friend I want to be.”

“None of my business but I think you might be right.” Several coaches started lining up. “I think one of those is our coach…if you still want to see Tallinn.” He nearly stopped breathing as she paused, seemingly undecided.

But then her expression once more became determined. “I say Tallinn.” She squared her shoulders. “This is my trip and if he can’t be a little accommodating to my wishes, well…”

Lee smiled – for reasons she had no idea about – and motioned her toward the coaches, he staying close to her side. He might just survive this assignment after all, without ticking off either Jennifer or her uncle.

The coach took them from the dock, up the hill to the oldest part of Estonia’s capital, the Medieval section referred to as ‘Upper Town’, making a quick stop on the way at one of several war memorials dedicated to victims of the Communist Regime. This one consisted of two long, tall walls of black stone, built parallel to each other about eight feet apart so the view was as if down a long corridor. The explanatory plaque was written in half a dozen different languages, and Lee focused on the English version.

Memorial to Victims of Communism. The memorial to Estonia’s victims of Communism consists of two parts – the journey and the home garden. In order to arrive at the home garden, one must undertake the journey. In order to set out on the journey, one must leave the home garden. The journey is a long corridor that symbolizes the merciless power of the Totalitarian system. The home garden is the place where dreams, memories, and a longing for home intertwine. The symbols of the home garden are apple trees and honeybees. A monument to Estonian officers who fell victim to the Communist terror is part of the memorial. A wall as the place where they were executed stands as a reminder of their fate.

Lee wasn’t aware that he’d turned quiet, but Jennifer’s voice asking him if he was okay finally intruded on his private thoughts. “Sorry,” he automatically said as he sent her a small smile.

“You lost family here?” and she indicated the memorial.

Lee shook his head no, but added, “Too many others did, in too many other places. It’s good that we don’t ever forget.”

“I don’t like to think about it,” she told him, starting to walk back to the coach.

“Be glad that, because of people like these,” he indicated the memorial, “you mostly don’t have to.” He hadn’t meant for his voice to get hard.

She immediately turned back. “I didn’t mean to imply…” she started to back track, apology in her voice, but Lee stopped her with an upraised hand and a soft smile.

“And I didn’t mean to scold,” he told her. “I’ve just lost too many friends to world conflicts.”

“You served in the military.”

“Yes,” Lee told her, but didn’t elaborate. Thankfully she didn’t pursue the discussion and they both headed back to the coach.

The streets of both parts of Medieval Tallinn, divided into ‘Upper Town’ and ‘Lower Town’, were far too narrow for modern coaches so they were dropped off outside the walls of Upper Town and proceeded on foot the rest of the day through the cobblestone streets. Their first stop was Toompea Hill, site of some of Tallinn’s oldest architecture including Toompea Castle, a massive medieval stone structure that now housed Estonia’s current parliament. From there they strolled a block over to Toomkirk, or St. Mary’s Cathedral, known locally as ‘The Dome Church’. It was the city’s oldest church, founded in 1219 by Danish conquerors. From there they walked a couple of streets over to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church that was the dominating landmark in Palace Square, with its cupolas and golden crosses rising high above the rooftops.

The tour then continued down to the Town Hall Square in Lower Town. The Gothic-style Town Hall was completed in 1404, and topped by the town’s symbol, a weathervane called ‘Old Thomas’. It depicted a man dressed in armor and holding a broadsword, who legend held was a man who had spent his entire life in service to the city. Whether true or not, Lee and Jennifer both decided that they liked the symbolism.

The tour ate lunch in the Square, on their own to choose something from the several stalls selling all sorts of local foods. Lee wasn’t hungry, still wired from the last bunch of hours’ frustrations, but let Jennifer talk him into a vastlakukkel, a sort of Estonian cream puff. After that there was time to wander through the small shops and other areas of the ancient city until they were once more gathered up and headed toward ‘Kiek en de Kok’, one of the era’s mightiest defensive bastions along Lower Old Town’s outer walls, some areas of the structure up to twelve feet thick.

It was as the group was exiting Old Town, headed for where the coach had found a place to pick them up, that Lee became aware of possible danger. Nothing overt, but he noticed several young men seem to attach themselves to the group as they moved slowly, tired from their day’s adventures, once more slightly uphill. Lee and Jennifer were close to the back of the group from the simple fact that she had, once more, spent as much time as possible browsing the shops and picking up souvenirs. Lee had graciously offered to carry several bags but Jennifer still had others, as well as her purse, which was small and carried cross-body on a slender strap. Lee didn’t want to appear overly nervous by openly watching the young men, but as unobvious as possible slowed half a step and put himself between her and them as they started to walk faster than what the majority of the group was moving.

The attack came with hardly any warning – other than Lee’s sixth sense. He counted four of them, although for several seconds it almost seemed to be fourteen, as quickly as they worked. Suddenly they were running through the group snatching shopping bags, purses, anything they could grab quickly. Lee was sure that he saw at least two knives being used to cut through purse straps. He instantly shoved Jennifer down and covered her as best he could with his own body as men shouted and women screamed. One young man made like to grab Jennifer’s arm and drag her away before Lee could get her safely to the ground. Over the shouting Lee heard whistles, indicating that local police weren’t far away, although he hadn’t noticed their presence. On the other hand, he admitted to himself that he hadn’t really not noticed them either, as he’d kept his focus on Jennifer and her immediate surroundings all day.

As the chaos began to calm down and the tour guide and other guests started to assess the damage, Lee rolled to one knee and reached out to help Jennifer stand, others around also helping. It wasn’t until she gasped and pointed, as did others, that Lee looked down and realized the right side of his light jacket was sliced and the shirt underneath was starting to turn red. Not grossly so, and Lee didn’t feel any serious damage, although he also admitted to himself that he was still feeling the effects of an adrenaline rush. Lifting his shirt as others fussed, he discovered that he’d suffered what was obviously a knife slash, maybe four inches long on his side just above his waist but barely half an inch deep. The coach driver appeared with a first aid kit as Lee tried to brush off all the worried voices.

“The guy must have been aiming for Ms. Temple’s purse strap, trying to grab it, and got me by mistake,” he told the now gathered members of his group. He accepted an antibiotic pad and held it against the cut, already starting to clot and stop bleeding. One policeman had stayed with the group, collecting information about what was taken as others chased the young thieves. He, as well as both the coach driver and tour guide, were apologizing profusely saying that, while pickpockets were an unavoidable occurrence at tourist destinations, armed thugs were most definitely not.

Lee actively played down both the attack and the injury as the driver handed him another antibiotic wipe and a self-sticking bandage. The tour guide was busy telling the policeman that she’d make sure that Lee saw the ship’s doctor the instant they got back. Lee tried to brush that off as well but Jennifer joined the tour guide in insisting, and Lee surrendered with an eye roll to both the driver and the cop. Jennifer didn’t see it as she was busy pointing out to whoever would listen that her purse strap had a steel cable insert made especially to thwart cutting by thieves, which the policeman and tour guide both happily encouraged travelers to have. Eventually everything calmed down, although nothing was heard about whether or not the thieves had been apprehended, and the group was herded back to the coach.

Lee had his own theories about the attack, which he carefully kept to himself. While the appearance of random theft on tourists was clear, the attempt to pull Jennifer Temple away presented a whole different agenda. No way, of course, to know for sure, and Lee wasn’t about to bring it up. But coupled with Jennifer’s comments about her boyfriend’s displeasure at the change in plans had Lee leaning toward an attempted abduction. Nothing indicated that she was in any way involved – something that Lee had considered no matter Admiral Stark’s insistence to the contrary.

True to her word, the tour guide marched Lee, Jennifer on his other side, over to the ship’s officers standing at the bottom of the boarding gangway, rapidly explaining what had happened. Lee did his best to counter that the injury was barely a scratch, but he might as well have stayed quiet for all the good it did. He was expedited through boarding security, still accompanied by Jennifer, and straight to the ship’s Sick Bay where the wound was examined and thoroughly scrubbed clean – that hurt worse than the cut itself, but having years of experience with Seaview’s CMO, Dr. Will Jamison, Lee knew better than to say a word! Several small stitches were used to close the cut even though Lee thought them hardly necessary, followed by an antibiotic shot in his rear and a bottle of pills pressed into his hand before he was allowed to finally go to his cabin. He wondered for a bit whether Jennifer would leave him on his own, she seemed to be so concerned. But pointing out that she was a bit grubby from Lee having pushed her down, plus needing to put away her purchases – wonder of wonders, none of her bags had been snatched, another reason Lee had his own ideas about the attack – finally had her heading for her own cabin.

Tossing the ruined jacket and shirt in the trash, the bottle of pills almost followed. At the last minute Lee grinned sheepishly and stashed it in his travel bag; it might come in handy on a future mission. His jeans, while dirty, had survived undamaged so he tossed them in with his other dirty clothes, cleaned up, and got dressed in clothes appropriate for dinner, still a couple hours off, then went for a walk on the Promenade Deck as the ship prepared to leave port. He knew that he should report the incident to Admiral Stark but was perverse enough not to. He had only his own suspicions as to the motive for the attack and refused to listen to what he knew would be the temperamental admiral coming unglued! Bad enough when he would hear, probably from his sister after Jennifer at some point reported the incident, and land on Lee for not instantly calling him. Lee was determined to totally downplay the entire affair. Later, when he – and Jennifer – were safely back home, he might tell Admiral Nelson about his suspicions and let the two admirals hash it out, with Lee far out of the line of fire. For now Jennifer was safe. The ship would be at sea all the next day and wouldn’t dock again until the day after, at Warnemunde, Germany, that city’s port being the entry to Berlin. Lee would be vigilant but didn’t figure that, after the failed attempt in Tallinn, there would be any more threats to Ms. Temple. On the other hand, Lee muttered silently, that might have ticked off Gregorov, or whoever he worked for, enough that they’ll work extra hard before we get back to the US. He shrugged as he leaned against the railing, watching Tallinn disappear as the ship picked up speed now that she was safely away from the docking area. Crossing each bridge as he came to it, metaphorically speaking, was pretty much how he handled every mission, be it ONI or Seaview. He could – and did – plan as much as possible beforehand. But he also had to be ready to switch plans on a moment’s notice since all too often someone else threw a monkey wrench into his game plan.

“There you are,” interrupted his thoughts as Jennifer walked up to him. “I went by your cabin expecting you to be resting; maybe ordering in room service.”

Lee sent her a look of total incredulity. At least, that’s how he had meant it, but whatever she read on his face backed her up a step. “Why, for pete’s sake,” came out a little more firmly than he’d intended.

“Ah…I just thought…ah…with you hurt…”

Lee snorted softly and finally sent her a smile. “This?” he pointed to his side. “I get hurt worse than this crawling…” he had to adjust what he had almost said, “around machinery at work. It’s nothing.”

“Someone said that you worked in marine salvage,” she admitted softly. “I guess that can be a little dangerous.”

And that’s how stories get twisted, Lee grinned to himself. I say marine research, someone else hears whatever, and it gets translated into marine salvage. I suppose that I should be grateful that it didn’t come out marriage counselor, and he laughed out loud. “Salvage work,” and he barely controlled his mirth at the double meaning, “can be quite…interesting,” he settled on.

“What do you salvage?” she asked. “Finding lost ships to recover treasure, like Mel Fisher?” She mentioned the man who, a bunch of years ago, had located the Spanish ship, ‘Atocha’, and he and his team recovered millions in lost gold, silver, artifacts, and other things taken from the New World and bound for Spain.

“Nothing nearly as exciting,” he brushed her off, not wanting the conversation to head in a direction he didn’t want it to go. “Were any of your purchases damaged?” he changed the subject.

“One small figurine,” she admitted. “The rest were scarves, and a couple of small books.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s almost time for dinner.”

Lee kept from shaking his head but he wasn’t sure how. Youth, he told himself as the pair headed inside. Point them towards themselves and they instantly forget whatever else they were talking about.

Fortunately, the day’s incident hadn’t yet been reported ship-wide as no one mentioned it when Lee sat down. Unfortunately, Jennifer couldn’t keep her mouth shut and was instantly the focus of attention at her table, and therefore every other table within listening distance. For his part, Lee did his best to shrug it off and refused to discuss it no matter how pleasantly Isobel Corwin and Lorraine Gandus tried to encourage him. Eventually they quieted, but Lee was still made uncomfortable by all the looks he got from the neighboring tables and was glad when he could once more escape. He found the darkest corner of one of the more out-of-the-way bars and tried to relax over a double scotch.

Unfortunately, the same medallion system Lee had intended to use to help keep track of Jennifer led her to him half an hour later. He took her concerned chatter for as long as he could, after being somewhat forced by politeness to buy her a drink when she intruded on his privacy, before telling her that he was sorry but that he wasn’t in the best of moods this evening; that he was going to his cabin, and perhaps he’d see her tomorrow at some point as the ship would be at sea all day. As he got up to leave he could see that she wasn’t happy. But the absolute last thing he needed was for her to get clingy. He’d never hear the end of it from Admiral Stark if Jennifer decided that she’d found her ‘Knight in Shining Armor,’ which was exactly what she was exuding all of a sudden.

He did have to smile when, after another drink in another bar, he returned to his cabin and found a voucher from the ship toward the purchase of a new shirt and jacket from any of the ship’s stores – an apology for the day’s misadventure, and a rather obvious bribe to avoid bad publicity. Not that Lee would ever say anything, but they didn’t know that. The extra scotch having mellowed his momentary snit at Ms. Temple, he was still smiling when he fell asleep.

* * * *

He wasn’t smiling when the ship’s doctor tracked him down as he sat eating breakfast the next morning upstairs in the buffet. While both were polite – barely on Lee’s part – each was insistent. The doctor wanted Lee to come down to Medical to have the wound checked, and Lee was adamant that there was no need for such a tiny scratch. He told the doctor that he understood the cruise line felt that it was liable for the injury, but insisted that they weren’t responsible for what happened ashore while not on cruise-supplied transportation, and he had no intention of saying anything negative about the incident to anyone. Neither man was overly pleased with the other but both left it at that.

He kept waiting for Jennifer to track him down as well, and several times used the ship’s system to locate her, mostly to stay out of her way. He also, every time he returned to his cabin, expected to find the message light flashing on the phone. He couldn’t imagine, as much as the woman had talked at dinner, that she hadn’t at least emailed her parents. For whatever reason, however, there were no irate calls from Admiral Stark, for which Lee was extremely relieved. Lee wasn’t sure what he’d say anyway.

It ended up being a perfectly pleasant day – once Lee got rid of the doctor. He did give himself a wry smile mid-afternoon when, to make amends of sorts, he wandered down to the ship’s Sick Bay and allowed one of the staff to admit what he already knew: the small wound was already starting to heal nicely. He even had an entirely pleasant smile for Jennifer when she hesitated approaching him as they waited for the Dining Room doors to open. “Sorry for last night,” he offered as he walked up to her.

She waved off the apology. “I was being pushy,” she admitted. “I realized later that, in all the chaos, I don’t even think that I said thank you. You did, actually, push me down and away from the idiots on purpose, didn’t you?”

Lee shrugged. “Seemed like the logical thing to do at the time,” he told her with a smile. “Get low and let them run over the top. Kids like that don’t usually want to waste time with people on the ground.”

“What makes you say that? I’d think they’d prefer stationary targets.”

“Dealt with enough idiots over the years,” Lee told her casually. “Strictly grab and run. Takes them more time to have to bend down.”

“Humm. Hadn’t thought of it that way,” she admitted. About that time the doors opened and they both went to their assigned tables.

Lee skipped his usual evening drink and returned to his cabin shortly after dinner. The following day would be a long one and he wanted to be well-rested and prepared for whatever the day might bring. He’d been surprised at the tour Jennifer – and therefore he as well – was taking. While he’d expected her to travel the three hours from the port at Warnemunde to Berlin, he’d assumed that she’d then want to do a city tour that included shopping. Instead, she’d decided to immerse herself in the grittier bits of the area’s history – Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp and the Holocaust Museum. Lee wasn’t overly thrilled – he’d seen his share of what horrors one of the world’s peoples could inflict on another. He’d surprised himself at Tallinn, how he’d been affected by the Memorial to the Victims of Communism. But his assignment was to keep tabs on Stark’s niece, no matter his personal feelings, so he’d go where she did. He was a little surprised that so far she hadn’t commented on the fact that he appeared on each of her tours. Of course, with 4000+ passengers and a limited number of shore excursions there was bound to be overlap. But even Lee was nervous about it being every one. He was just happy that Jennifer hadn’t seemed to notice; or, at least, wasn’t bothered by it.

* * * *

By 7 am – he’d finally surrendered and started thinking in civilian time since everything on the ship was posted in that form - the ship had docked and was ready for passengers to debark. The train tracks ran right past the dock but passengers had to walk the equivalent of about three city blocks to where they boarded the train, which left at 7:30. Lee purposely didn’t make a point of walking near Jennifer but was careful to board the same passenger car, her up front and he near the rear, for the approx. three-hour ride to Berlin. Getting off before her he ambled toward the waiting coaches, and got a jumpstart on the conversation when she approached.

“We have similar tastes in tours?” he asked her. “I figured that you’d go shopping.” He sent her a particularly pleasant smile.

“My uncle fought in World War II,” she told him. “Not here in Europe,” she clarified. “He served in the Pacific; he was in the Navy. I’ve never been a fan,” she admitted. “But I felt like I needed to see for myself what it was all about. And being here…” She didn’t finish.

Lee nodded. “I understand,” he told her, and pointed to their assigned coach.

“I remember your reaction to the memorial in Tallinn…” She hesitated once more.

“Sometimes it’s good to see that no one forgets.” He didn’t exactly answer her unasked question, but thankfully she let it pass.

The day was an emotional one for Lee and Jennifer, and also everyone else on that particular tour. The coach took them first to the remains of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp at Oranienburg, Germany, 35 km from Berlin, one of the more notorious of the Nazi death camps. The guided tour took them past one of the guard towers, and the building which originally housed the laundry but today had been turned into a chapel. The execution chamber was especially chilling when the guide reported that upwards of 200,000 prisoners were held there but only about 3,000 were still alive when a division of the Russian army liberated the camp in April of 1945.

The guide explained that the camp was also one of the main training centers for SS officers, and a successful – to the Germans – counterfeiting operation where the Germans produced fake British notes in several denominations, and introduced them into the British economy. The bank of England, unfortunately, never found them until well after the fact, they were so perfect.

The Soviets turned the camp into a prison of their own, with approx. 60,000 people held there including 6,000 German officers. By the time the camp was closed in 1950, at least 12,000 had died of malnutrition and disease. It was a somber group that boarded the coach for the trip back to Berlin.

Lee figured that he wasn’t the only one, from the looks he saw within the group, that wasn’t particularly interested in the lunch served as part of the day-long tour. But he’d only grabbed a quick bite before leaving the ship and knew that, since they wouldn’t get back until about 8 pm, he really needed to eat or he’d be running on empty by mid-afternoon. He settled on a large soft pretzel with spicy mustard, and a glass of beer. He’d been too keyed up to partake of the chocolate chip cookie snack and coffee that had been served on the train ride in to Berlin, but he figured that this would last him until he got back to the ship.

The first part of the afternoon gave everyone a partial breather from the morning’s emotions. The tour took them to the impressive Brandenburg Gate, built originally in 1789 to celebrate the victories of the Prussian Army. Today it was known more for representing the separation of East and West Berlin. They also stopped at ‘Checkpoint Charlie’, the most famous of the crossings through the former Berlin Wall, a few portions of which still stood just west of the crossing.

The last stop on the tour was at the Holocaust Memorial, where 2722 concrete rectangle pillars of different heights stood as a reminder of the six million Jews murdered by Hitler’s Nazi regime. Underneath the memorial was a large Information Center divided into areas: Room of Families; Room of Names; Room of Sites. The areas were very informational for people doing research. Once more it was an emotional group who returned to the train for the trip back to the ship.

Throughout the day Lee had been vigilant, on the lookout for anyone – or group of anyones – who seemed to be out of place, or perhaps was paying Jennifer any special attention. He tried not to stay too close to her, and she seemed not to want to hang too close to him, either. But if their eyes happened to meet each had a nod and an easy smile for the other. Lee had been a little concerned at one point, as the group wandered around the Brandenburg Gate taking pictures, when several twenty-something men and women seemed to attach themselves to the group. But he finally decided that they’d simply been listening to the tour guide’s spiel and made no attempt to follow as the group headed in a slightly different direction to look at some nearby architecture.

The easy chatter of the train ride in that morning was replaced by subdued conversation on the way back, people putting into their own words their day’s adventures. Not all of the passengers had, of course, dealt with the heavy emotions of Lee’s tour, they having spent their day in other activities. But even for them it was hard to ignore the volatile history of Germany’s capital city.

Because of the late hour of their return, Lee ate a belated dinner upstairs at the buffet. Then, because he wasn’t used to eating that late, ended up making several trips around the Promenade Deck until the food had somewhat settled before he tried to sleep. Jennifer had sat with him to eat, but claimed exhaustion after the long day and headed for her cabin. Lee did check the ship’s locator system to confirm that’s where she was before headed out for his walk. They would be at sea the following day, on their way to the ship’s final stop, Oslo, Norway, before they returned to Copenhagen to disembark for the trip home. Lee hadn’t heard, nor been told, if Jennifer was flying home immediately or spending time in Copenhagen before returning to the U.S. He supposed that he’d better find that out; Gregorov could still make a move, and this time there would be no ship’s security to be aware that she was missing. If she did stay over Lee would have to be extremely careful that she didn’t see him or all hell would likely break loose. On the other hand, Lee could simply tell her that Admiral Stark had assigned him to play bodyguard and let her deal with her uncle. That thought putting a slight smirk on Lee’s face, he finished his walk and headed for bed.

* * * *

Lee was forced to admit, partway through the next day as he ambled all over the ship that he was, actually, enjoying the cruise. But admit it only to himself; no way would he ever say it out loud. Well, he admitted silently, maybe to Becca, and he felt a warm, private, smile spread over his face.

“Pleasant thoughts?” interrupted, and he turned to find Jennifer just coming to stand next to him as he stood at the rail on one of the top decks, watching the ship glide through the sea, bits of land visible in the distance.

Lee let the smile continue. “Yes, actually. Just wondering if my lady friend might be interested in some kind of cruise. She enjoys when we can get away for a long weekend on a small sailboat but I’ve never heard her mention larger cruise ships. Or even seeing other parts of the world, for that matter.” He sent Jennifer a small smile and a self-conscious shrug. “Guess I’d better ask her.”

At mention of Becca a slight frown hit Jennifer’s face, but she covered it quickly. Lee pretended not to notice. “One of the couples at my table was talking the other night about a small-boat cruise line. It had some weird name that I don’t remember at the moment. But apparently it’s based out of Seattle, WA.*** They don’t go all over the world, mainly stay in that area, lots of Alaska, and I think a few other places. It’s more outdoorsy, activity-based rather than touristy. I sort of thought that would be fun for summer vacations from college.” She sounded wistful, like she’d planned to ask Lee if he’d like to go with her.

Lee decided to nip that thought in the bud. “My lady friend lives in Portland, Oregon. I’ll ask her if she’s interested, but that does sound like it might be something to look into.” He smiled. “She loves hiking and being out in nature.” He turned fully to Jennifer. “Thank you,” he told her sincerely. “That’s something we’d both really enjoy, and she’s so close she can check out all the details.” Once more Jennifer quickly covered a frown, and Lee just as quickly covered a grin by turning back to face the water. “Do you head immediately back home after Copenhagen?” he asked casually, not looking at her. “Copenhagen is a really cool place to just hang out for a few days.”

“Is that what you’re going to do?” Lee thought that he heard hope in her voice but maintained his gaze out to sea as he shook his head.

“Been there a few times.”

“One of my friends is getting married next week so I’m ticketed to fly home the afternoon we dock. Plus, I flew in two days ahead of the cruise. I was hoping that Sergei would fly in from Estonia and we could do the cruise together.”

Lee nearly stopped breathing; he was sure Admiral Stark hadn’t known about that plan. “Can’t imagine that it would have been easy adding him as a passenger at that late date,” he said, still trying to control his surprise.

“Sergei had it all worked out,” she told him easily, totally unaware of Lee’s reaction. “He said that he had a friend who worked on the ship. I’m not sure what he did; one of the cabin stewards, I think.” She shrugged. “Anyway, this guy seemed sure that it wouldn’t be a problem, especially as Sergei would be sharing my cabin.” Lee saw her blush ever so slightly. “But there was some kind of mix-up and the friend ended up not working this cruise so Sergei had no way to get aboard.”

Lee took a deep breath, wondering how much Admirals Stark and Jones had to do with the ‘mix-up’. But no way was he going to touch that with either of them! On second thought, he wondered if that’s why Stark had enlisted Jones’ help in the first place instead of going to Lee directly. That would, actually, explain a few things. On the other hand, why was Lee needed at all if Jones had other agents in the area. He shrugged. He’d learned long ago that it wasn’t mentally healthy to question admirals. Especially one certain, auburn-haired Admiral! He gave himself a small shake and his smile returned. “So, it’s back to the states, and a month or so of freedom before you head for UC-Davis and Veterinary school.”

She frowned. “How do you know that?” she all but demanded.

He shrugged, berating himself for that slip. “You didn’t tell me?” he asked innocently. “Must have heard it somewhere else. Maybe one of the people you eat dinner with. Or I heard you telling them. Sometimes sounds travel in the Dining Room.”

She was silent for a bit. “Yeah, maybe,” she admitted, but didn’t sound overly convinced. Happily she let the subject drop, not really answering Lee’s original question. And no way was he going to bring it up. “Guess I’ll go see what this afternoon’s lecture is about. I’m kind of enjoying them when I get the chance.”

“If you miss it,” Lee offered, “they usually broadcast them later on the ship’s TV station in your cabin.”

“Oh,” she seemed surprised, and again smiled shyly. “I’ve never even turned the thing on to see what’s there. Too busy everywhere else on the ship.”

Lee sent her an honest grin. “Have to admit that I haven’t spent much time in my cabin, either.” He returned his gaze seaward as she walked away.

He laughed openly when, close to the time for him to dress for dinner, the ship’s doctor approached as Lee ambled around the Promenade Deck. “I’m fine,” he told the man with a continuing bright smile.

The doctor returned it. “Have to keep up the appearance of being busy,” he told Lee. “It’s been a quiet cruise.”

“Thankfully,” Lee told him, and knew that the doctor had no idea of the multiple meanings Lee put into that one word.

“Of course,” the man agreed. “You will see your own physician when you return home?”

“I won’t have a choice,” came out in a hard grumble, totally confusing the doctor, and Lee was forced to smile. “Long story,” he said by way of explanation. “He’s a friend,” Lee added. The doctor was still puzzled, but at that finally nodded.

“Perhaps you could wander down once you are back from whatever you have planned for tomorrow. Just to change the bandage,” he added quickly as Lee once more almost glared at him. “The captain would appreciate my report.”

Lee smiled and nodded, and the doctor finally left him alone. He did, as he was dressing for dinner, glance at the wound. While he avoided taking the pills he’d been given, his travel pack always included some sort of antibiotic salve. He had been rubbing that in every so often and the wound was healing nicely. He sent a bit of a snide smile westward, toward where his medical nemesis – and one of his best friends – Dr. Will Jamison resided at NIMR, and headed for the evening meal.

* * * *

Lee hadn’t been paying too close attention to all the other shore excursions available at each port he’d been assigned to since he’d not been given a choice and was totally amazed to find, the next morning, that he was on the one he, himself, would have chosen. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed all the others, with the possible exception of parts of Berlin. But he wouldn’t have expected Jennifer to have chosen the one tour that went specifically to Oslo’s three Maritime Museums. He told her that as they met by their coach. “I figured you for downtown Oslo and more shopping.” He sent her a quick smile.

She shrugged. “Actually, when I was picking out what I wanted to see, this sounded kind of interesting.” She paused, a thoughtful expression on her face. “It just seemed more…history, I guess. If that makes any sense.”

“Makes perfect sense to me,” he told her honestly, and they boarded the coach.

The tour started with a drive through the city, their guide pointing out this and that along the route, but headed for Norway’s Bygdoy Peninsula. They stopped first at the Viking Ship Museum, which housed some of the world’s best-preserved Viking ships and finds from Viking tombs around the Oslo Fjord. It included discoveries from the Gokstad and Tune ships plus smaller boats, sledges, carts, tools, and household utensils. They went next to the Kon-Tiki Museum, which showcased the expeditions of famed Norwegian adventurist Thor Heyerdahl, who sailed the Pacific Ocean from South America to Polynesia. The final stop was the rather uniquely designed Fram Museum, named for the famous polar ship of that name. Built in 1882, the ship and her crew made several Arctic and Antarctic expeditions in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, the museum a testament to the spirit of their discoveries.

All three museum tours were fairly quick because they had to be back before 1:30, as that’s when the ship was due to leave Oslo and head back to Copenhagen. Lee would have liked to spend much more time at any – or all – of the three museums and made a mental note to find time to come back; hopefully in the not too distant future.

Once the ship worked its way out of the Oslo harbor, past all the multitudes of small islands and rocky shoals that guarded the port, Lee made good on his conversation with the doctor and wandered down to Deck 5 where the Medical Unit was. This time the doctor himself dealt with Lee, Lee teasing him that now he’d have a good report for the captain. One of the nurses gave him a dirty look, but both the doctor and Lee grinned and ignored her. Lee spent a few minutes going through his cabin, dressing for dinner and packing up everything except what he’d need the next morning. He grinned as he contemplated what Stark and/or Jones would say if he returned all the extra clothes one of them had purchased for him, and decided that was something else not to bother either of them with. While his version of civvies was usually jeans and a t-shirt he could, no doubt, find uses for his new outfits.

Debarkation times were different for everyone, depending on each passenger’s next plans. Lee had no idea when Jennifer’s plane – now that he was fairly sure she was going directly home – was scheduled to leave so had no idea when she would be taken to the airport. Lee hoped that he was scheduled for a later flight; he really didn’t want to be on hers. He was fairly sure that he’d gotten away with his slip-up about her further schooling plans but he had noticed her giving him a couple of curious, almost suspicious, glances that morning. Lee had done his best to wander through the museums concentrating on the exhibits and not where she was looking, even though he tried to keep track of her at all times – just in case. He wasn’t overly thrilled when she asked one of the other people on the tour to take a quick picture of her with Lee at one of the museums, but he could hardly refuse the seemingly innocent memory of her cruise.

Because all luggage except what passengers chose to carry off themselves had to be outside cabin doors before bedtime, so that staff could have it unloaded and sorted for pickup once passengers debarked, Lee was able to wander past Jennifer’s cabin and check the tag color, giving him her departure time in the morning. With a small bribe to one of the stewards Lee was able to arrange his ride to the airport just shortly before hers, even though his flight was several hours later. That way he could keep his eye on her until she boarded her flight. He’d make very sure he saw her but she didn’t see him. Thankfully, Copenhagen had a busy airport!

* * * *

Lee breathed a huge sigh of relief as he settled into his seat for the flight home late the following afternoon. He’d been bored stiff between the time he’d watched Admiral Stark’s niece board her flight and the four hours until his own was ready to board, but had spent part of it talking to Chip. Because of the time zones his friend was at home, just getting ready for bed. Chip demanded to know where he was, what he’d been doing, when was he coming home, and was he in one piece. Lee laughed out loud at that – Chip hated that Lee continued to take ONI missions, mostly because Lee seemed never to make it back without injury. “Six stitches,” Lee told him, a broad smile both on his face and in his voice. “And I really didn’t even need them,” he assured the blond before making a few demands of his own concerning what had been going on with Seaview and NIMR in his absence. Chip finally chuckled as well – that was always Lee’s first questions after being gone, and the two kibitzed happily for some time. Lee didn’t admit where he’d been and in truth Chip knew that he wouldn’t divulge ONI mission intel, especially over unsecure lines. But both heaved a huge sigh, unbeknownst to the other, once the connection was broken. It was good to get things back to normal!

* * * *

Chip glanced up from his computer screen as he heard footsteps approaching his open office door at NIMR. Expecting it to be his best friend, Lee, he was slightly startled to discover that it was, instead, his boss, Admiral Nelson. Equally startling, Chip could tell that Nelson was struggling to control his expression. In fact, he barely made it inside the door, which he quickly pushed shut, before bursting out laughing.

“Sir?” Chip asked carefully, standing and coming almost to Attention.

Nelson waved Chip back to his chair, working hard to gain control of his mirth and finally managing it – sort of – as he also settled into one of the chairs opposite Chip’s desk. It still took him several moments to be able to speak coherently. “Where’s Lee?” he finally got out between continued chuckles. “He’s not in his office and his secretary wasn’t sure where he’d gone. She though that he might be here; she said the last time she’d seen him was with you.”

“Not here, sir,” Chip told him, rather unnecessarily, as he also tried to control his expression in the face of his boss’ efforts. “We happened to be in the hallway when Admiral Stark came up the front steps.” He paused and sent Nelson a raised eyebrow. “It was weird, sir. Lee got this strange look on his face; he usually deals with Admiral Stark just fine.” He gave his head a shake. “This time he just about bolted in the other direction; said if anybody wanted him he’d be on Seaview. But then he went out the back way and would have had to walk clear around the building.” His expression only went more puzzled as Nelson once more burst out laughing.

Chip hadn’t really noticed anything in the Admiral’s hands but now, still laughing, Nelson leaned forward and laid a picture in front of Chip. “That was taken on Lee’s last ONI assignment. Which,” and he had to fight to control his continued laughter, “wasn’t exactly for ONI after all.”

“Sir?” Lee had recently returned from a two-week absence from NIMR on what Nelson, and therefore Chip, had been told was a mission for his part-time employer, the Office of Naval Intelligence. Chip took a better look at the picture. It showed Lee in some place that could have been a museum from the looks of what was in the background. He was standing next to an extremely attractive woman at least fifteen years his junior. Chip glanced up at Nelson.

“That was taken in Oslo, Norway, at the Viking Ship museum.” Nelson was slowly getting himself back under control.

“He was on vacation?” Chip’s voice was hard. “While we did three-fourths of his paperwork?”

“Down, Chip,” Nelson raised a hand. “A vacation, sort of, but still on company time. Well,” and his laughter threatened to once more spill out, “Jiggs’ time,” he told the blond.

“Sir?” Now Chip was totally confused.

“I only knew that Lee had been sent on a civilian cruise in the Baltic Sea,” Nelson told him. “Just got an earful from Jiggs. The girl in the picture is his niece. I still don’t have the whole story.” He frowned. “Actually, I’m not sure I want it.” His grin came back. “Although, I suspect that Lee’s version would be somewhat different from Jiggs’.” Another chuckle slipped out. “Apparently Lee was sent on the cruise to keep an eye on Ms. Temple; I gather that there had been some sort of threat against her, for whatever reason, and Jiggs wanted her watched. But she wasn’t to know that.”

“Oh, oh.”

“All’s well that ends well,” Nelson told him, before an almost giggle escaped.

“What did he do?” Chip all but growled. “Sir,” came out slightly less harsh, causing Nelson to once more laugh out loud.

“Lee did what he always does; his mission was concluded without a hitch.” He paused. “Well, there’s those stitches in his side Will,” he referenced NIMR’s CMO, Dr. Will Jamison, “reported.”

“Lee refuses to discuss it,” Chip was once more calmed down. “Of course, he doesn’t usually discuss ONI missions.” He shrugged. “So, if I may ask, if all went well, what was Admiral Stark practically screaming about before you could get your office door closed?”

Nelson grinned. “Heard that, did you?”

Chip finally smiled. “I think most of the building did, sir.”

“Yeah, well…” Nelson continued to chuckle. “Lee was traveling under his own name, but apparently told anyone he had to speak to that he was in marine salvage. Seems…” he laughed again. “Ms. Temple apparently ended up, ah…”

“Oh, no,” Chip all but laid his head on the desk, before raising it enough to look at Nelson. “Lee and females…” Both men laughed.

“From what Jiggs said, when he finally calmed down, anyway, Lee did nothing to encourage her. He even brought up his friendship with Dr. Radiwan to make Ms. Temple back off. But once she got home, she took that picture to Jiggs and practically demanded that, with his connections, he track Mr. Crane down; that she wanted to stay in contact with him.”

“Help,” Chip muttered.

“Exactly,” Nelson agreed. “Jiggs didn’t dare tell his niece who Lee was or why he’d been on the cruise without all you-know-what happening.

“That explains why Lee ducked and ran the instant he saw Admiral Stark.” Chip grinned. “Sort of.” Nelson nodded. “What did he want from your, sir?”

Nelson laughed again. “Mostly, someone to yell at,” he admitted. He sent Chip a look. “Lee’s going to ask that same question.”

“And I know just how to answer him,” Chip told him, picking up the picture.

“Help,” Nelson laughed as Chip, dismissed, headed for Seaview.

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* See Stark Trek by R. L. Keller

** Translation by Google Translate

*** Un-Cruise. I highly recommend the company to anyone who likes small-boat cruising and lots of activity – although I’m a shining example of not having to be all that active to enjoy the cruises😊