Sea of Faces

Follows "A Voice from the Shadows", "Forever and a Day" and "Return from Darkness"

*Also posted on Seaviewstories

This story is going to be a long one but I hope you all hang in there until the end. It took me a long time to decide to finally post this story. Perhaps by the end you will see why. Thanks to my beta for pointing out my errors. As always, I do not own the "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" characters. I just like to hang out with them. Reviews, as always, are welcome.

Chapter one

Harriman Nelson was lost.

Swirling wisps of mist enveloped him, blurring his sight and disorienting him. On the edges of his consciousness he heard voices but couldn't make out the words or to whom the voices belonged. Feelings of sadness, fear and an overwhelming sense of torment filled him suddenly. Why? What had happened to cause such despair to flood through him? He tried to move, to find out where he was and felt angry tendrils of pain shoot through his body and he gasped at its intensity. He thought he heard a moan but wasn't sure. Was that him or was there someone else trapped in whatever place he seemed lost in? He heard a voice then, closer to him, and felt a slight touch as he struggled to ward off the darkness that wrapped about him in icy coils.

Commander Chip Morton launched himself from the chair he had sat in for the better part of three days and gently touched the arm of his commanding officer and friend, Admiral Harriman Nelson.

"Admiral?" he called softly, hope filling him that the man would respond. He tried again but there was no reaction and his heart sank. Maybe he had imagined it. After the long days of waiting, all the long hours not knowing, perhaps he was dreaming. He heard the door to the room that had become his home open and saw Doctor Will Jamieson, deep shadows smudging his face, enter.

"Doc, I…I think he may have just moved," the tall blond said softly as he turned his gaze back to the man lying before him.

Filled with a sudden energy as hope washed away his exhaustion, Jamieson moved across the floor rapidly to Nelson's bedside. Taking his patient's wrist gently, he checked his pulse, then looked to the monitors that showed the admiral's vital signs hadn't changed since the last time he had seen them.

"There's no apparent change, Chip. Are you sure?" he asked softly as he continued to examine the admiral.

"No. I'm not sure. I guess I was dozing. Something woke me up and I thought I saw him move slightly. Maybe I was just imagining it," he said in dejection as he ran a hand over his face.

Morton's tone of voice, the stubble on his usually clean-shaven face and the blue eyes that were reddened from lack of sleep told Jamieson all he needed to know. "You're exhausted, Chip. You haven't left the Med Bay since…well since it happened. Get some rest. God knows you need it."

"We all need it, Doc but I'm not leaving. I...I can't. Not until I know he's going to be all right. Besides, it's where Lee would want me to be," he said so softly, Jamieson had trouble hearing.

Nelson heard the words as if he were in a tunnel, the voices echoing surreally about him. Lee? Something about Lee. What was it? What had happened? Why this overwhelming feeling of despair? He remembered pain, fear, and sensed…death. But whose? Lee? No, no, no...not Lee. Please God… He tried to fight the darkness as pictures, scenes, and voices began to barrel through his mind one after another until he slowly remembered.

"Admiral, your security detail is ready," Lee Crane, captain of the submarine Seaview said almost hesitantly as he entered the office of his commanding officer and friend, Admiral Harriman Nelson. "Here's the list of men who have volunteered."

"Lee, I've told you that is not necessary," Nelson said in exasperation as he took the offered list. "I'm not willing…"

"You're not willing to what, Admiral? Not be sensible? You know the threat. You know the risks of going to this conference with no protection."

"And I know the risks to others! I will not put others in jeopardy again in the name of…"

"Admiral! This is what these men do! It's their chosen work! I can't…I won't let you risk your life for this. They will go with you, they will guard you and you will not at any time be unguarded!"

"Lee…"

"No. Not this time."

"Why is this time different, Lee? Why?"

Crane hesitated not sure what to say. "I just know you need protection," he said as he thought back over the past year.

The admiral, along with Chief Francis Sharkey, had been kidnapped along with scientists from around the world by a group of rebels from the small Asian country of Qualan in the mistaken hope they would be able to break the men into divulging secrets or helping them in developing new weapons. Nelson and Sharkey had been declared dead by the rebels at what were supposed to be peace talks with the government of Qualan. The men of the Seaview had watched in horror as the two had been gunned down by the attacking rebels and had listened later as they had been declared dead by the same rebels. In reality, the pair had survived their wounds and had been taken to a prison camp deep in the jungle of Qualan headed by a sadistic commander named Malek. They had been held captive and tortured for four months until they had been rescued by men from the Seaview as well as agents from ONI. *

"After what happened in Qualan, how can you ask me why this is different? Malek isn't dead. And he's coming back for you," Lee said angrily as he leaned over Nelson's desk. "He said as much."

"Speculation is Malek is alive and coming here."

"ONI, the FBI, the CIA and Interpol all say it's true. He wasn't killed in that…camp you were held in that we got you out of. If he has the backing of the People's Republic as was said last year, then he has all the means he needs to kill you or take you out of this country. I won't let that happen! I won't go through what I…," he broke off what he was saying and turned away, pacing about the ornate office in agitation.

Nelson knew where the other man's thoughts were headed and he frowned. Being told that he had been killed had been devastating for Crane from what his friend Admiral Jiggs Starke had told him. The news had been so hard for Crane to accept that he had given up everything Nelson thought made him Lee Crane: the Seaview, the Institute, his friends. He knew how he would have felt if the roles had been reversed and he had been the one mourning Lee's death. The despair he would have felt would have been overwhelming and he tried to appreciate what the younger man felt as he watched him pace.

"I give up, Lee. My shadows and I will leave for the Marine Conservation Research Institute in an hour," he said quietly after a few moments as he watched Crane pace. Sitting back in his chair, he sighed and stared at the names on the list Lee had given him. Where did such sense of duty…sacrifice…come from, he wondered to himself?

"Sir…thank you. I know it's a nuisance but…"

Nelson looked up from the list and gave Lee a slight grin. "It's all right, Lee. You're right. I don't want to go through what I did again with Malek. I know you're just keeping my safety in mind. I just hate…" he finished by merely shaking his head.

"I know, sir. You hate being guarded. You hate risking lives. And I hate risking your life. Is there any way I can convince you not to go to this conference? I know I've asked before but there's still time to back out."

"Lee, I'm not going to stop doing things or going places because of some vague threat from some pretend general of some two bit army. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, then we understand one another," Nelson said looking back down at the list. "Just a minute, Lee. Jeremy Sanders is on this list. I want him taken off."

"Why, sir? He's one of the best we have!"

"He's also about to become a father, Lee! I won't risk his child growing up without a father," he said quietly.

"I already thought of that, sir and talked to him about it. I left him off the first list. He requested to be on this detail…insisted on it actually."

"Insisted? Why?"

"His brother, Lieutenant Jeff Sanders, was with you in that prison camp. He feels he owes you for getting his brother through what you all went through there. According to Jeff, you kept them going. Gave them hope."

"I don't think that's true. Jeff's a Marine. He would have gotten through just fine," Nelson said quietly, trying hard not to remember the camp or those that had died there, and failing.

"Nevertheless, he wants to be on the detail, sir. We'll be ready to leave in an hour," Crane said as Nelson remained silent and stared at the list.

"All right, Lee. An hour," he said quietly as he pushed the memories of the camp and what had happened there away.

Crane nodded to the admiral and walked out the door and met Angie Wood, the admiral's secretary, coming in.

"Admiral, here are the reports you wanted for the conference."

Without looking up, Nelson nodded. "Thanks, Angie. Just put them on the desk. I'll look them over on the way."

"Sir?"

When she said no more, Nelson was forced to look up. "Yes, Angie?"

"Lee…well, Lee was devastated…we were all devastated…when you and Sharkey…well when we thought you were dead. Lee felt he should have been able to do something to help you…to save you. And now…"

"And now, he can and I'm restraining him. Right?" he said with a slight smile. He leaned back in his chair and gazed at his secretary, sighing deeply. "I know, Angie. I just don't like the restrictions or the risk to other people. And yes, I know they're paid to risk their lives. It's just…"

"Just what, sir?"

"Constantly being under guard is difficult for me to accept I suppose. People losing their lives because of…," He stopped what he was about to say, turned to look out the window and shook his head. "Never mind," he said softly.

Angie gazed at her boss, trying to understand his feelings. "I guess it is difficult, sir. But it beats the alternative and its consequences. At least it does to me," she finished softly before heading out the door.

An hour later, Nelson and Crane walked to the limo parked by the Institute entrance. Four motorcycles from the motor pool flanked the limo and Nelson stared at it in dazed silence for a moment, remembering another time, another scenario eerily similar to this one, and he shivered.

"Are you all right, Admiral?' Crane asked in concern, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"What? Oh, yes…yes, I'm fine. It's just…It…it doesn't matter," he finished lamely as he climbed into the spacious limo and sat down, gazing uneasily out the window for a moment, feeling a sense of déjà vu overcome him.

He felt Lee settle himself by him, his eyes on him in worry. "The ride should take about two hours, Admiral. Why don't you relax, get some sleep?"

Turning to look at his companion, he seemed to regroup. "I…I have some reports to look over before we get there, Lee."

The caravan of limo and motorcycles left the Institute and headed down the road towards Long Beach, California where Nelson had been asked to address a symposium of other like-minded scientists concerning the state of the world's oceans and what could be done to mitigate damage, especially to coral reefs.

The group had been traveling for over an hour when the way in front was blocked by a large truck with a broken wheel that spanned the road in front.

A sense of disquiet filled Crane. "Jackson, reverse! Get us out of here! Contact the trailing cars. Tell them we're under attack!"

"Lee, what is it? What trailing cars?" Nelson asked unaware of the blocked road and the added security he knew nothing about.

"There's a truck blocking the lane ahead. I don't like it. We…"

"Sir! The way behind is blocked now, too! We've been cut off from the others!"

Gunfire erupted from behind them, cutting down the motorcycle guards quickly. Nelson stared in horror at the scene. "Not again," he whispered. "Dear God, no…" Before, it had been him and his then captain, John Phillips being attacked. He had survived but John had taken a bullet to the head and died instantly. Now it seemed the fate that had eluded him before had caught up to him only this time, he would take Lee to his death.

The security men in the front of the car got out, firing at the attackers, killing several before inevitably, they were hit. Crane sprang from the back seat, Nelson on his heels. The two men grabbed guns from the fallen security men and began firing.

Hearing a cry, Nelson turned to see Lee grab at his stomach as a bullet found him then watched in horror as he saw him flung backwards as another shot hit him. Blood poured from both wounds and he fell to the ground in a heap. Rage turned Nelson's world red and with a scream of anguish, he fired round after round until he felt bullets tear into him and he fell to the ground as if in slow motion. His eyes open, he stared at Lee's bloody body, his sightless eyes staring at him and vainly stretched a hand out, trying to reach him. "Lee? I'm…I'm sorry, Lee. Forgive me? Please… forgive…"