Chapter 2

Harry got ready for bed and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He woke up the next morning at 0630 his normal waking time. He took care of his morning ablutions, dressed in a pair of blue pants with a short sleeve light blue shirt and trotted downstairs thirty minutes later. He was met at the bottom of the stairs by John.

"You're up early, sir," John said to Harry as he looked at his watch.

"I never sleep in," Harry responded with a smile. "Must be the Navy in me."

"I'm sorry to say that breakfast won't be ready for another thirty minutes. President and Mr. Ballard always dine at 7:30 but I believe there's coffee ready."

"Coffee would be wonderful," Harry answered as the two men walked into the dining room just as the woman who served them dinner last night was putting out the carafe and cups. She quickly poured the two men a cup and left to finished making breakfast.

"Excuse me, sir," John said taking his coffee with him, "I have some business to take care. I'll see you later."

"No problem," Harry answered as he took a drink of the coffee. Not bad but definitely not strong enough, he thought. He walked over to the windows that looked out over the front porch of the house just as the sun was coming up over the trees. He finished up his cup of coffee and went over to the sideboard and poured himself another cup as Christian entered the dining room.

"Good morning, Harry. I hope you slept well," Christian said cheerfully.

"I slept just fine. Thanks." Harry replied as he continued to drink his coffee.

"Breakfast should be served shortly," Christian told him as he sat down at the head of the table and motioned Harry to sit to his left. "I hope you like eggs benedict. I had Lisa, my cook, make it especially for us."

"Whatever you're serving will be fine."

Lisa entered the dining room with breakfast and placed the plates down in front of the men. As they were eating breakfast Christian spoke up, "Harry I thought I would show you around the city. It has some nice museums, galleries and gardens I think you might like to see."

"Sounds fine, it looks like it's going to be a nice day and I wouldn't want to spend it indoors. I spend enough time under the sea that fresh air is a luxury," Harry quipped.

Christian smiled back, "We'll leave as soon as we finish breakfast. I'll have John bring the car around."

The two men finished up their meal and made their way to the front of the house where the car was waiting for them.

"Would you like me to drive you?" John asked.

"No, I'll be fine," Christian answered as the two men got into the car. "We'll have lunch in the city."

"Yes sir," John answered. "Have a good time."

Christian left the grounds and headed towards the city. Harry was looking at the countryside and houses that lined the street as they drove into the city. Once in the city, Christian parked the car in front of the library.

"We'll start at the library and then walk to the other sites. I hope you don't mind walking?"

"No, not all," Harry replied as he looked at the library. He was very anxious to check it out.

Christian had to drag Harry out of the library so he could show him the museum, art gallery and the gardens in the park. Harry enjoyed the rest of the tour and was happy when Christian suggested they have lunch before returning to the presidential residence. They dined at very nice restaurant noted for its seafood. They finished up lunch and walked back to the car.

"Thanks for the tour and lunch," Harry said to Christian as they drove back to the house. "I'm very impressed at what your city has to offer the tourists.

"Yes, we do have a nice downtown section. Most of the people come for the warm weather and beaches," Christian agreed.

"I was hoping you would take me to the school so I could check it out before the dedication."

"Sorry Harry, but I promised Christina I wouldn't show you the school until she returned and I don't want to make the president angry," Christian replied with a smile.

"I understand," Harry answered a little disappointed.

"I'm afraid I have some work that I need to finish, so you'll be on your own this afternoon."

"Don't worry about me I'll just walk around the grounds if that's okay with you."

Hesitating for a moment, Christian replied, "No problem."

Christian entered the gate to the residence and parked the car by the front door. The two men got out of the car and were met by John.

"Did you enjoy the tour of the city?" he asked Harry.

"Yes, it was very nice," he replied as they walked into the house.

Christian and John left Harry in the foyer while they went into Christian's office next to the living room. Harry headed up the stairs to his room. Since he had some time to kill he would try calling Lee and see what was happening at the institute.

((()))

Lee was sitting at his desk when his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and saw it was the admiral calling.

"Hello sir," Lee said quickly "Is everything okay?"

"Yes Lee, just fine. How are things there?"

"Fine also," Lee replied. "Have they held the dedication...did Edith call?"

"No, not yet as President Ballard is out of the country right now but should be returning by tomorrow. I haven't heard from Edith and either has Christian. Hopefully she'll just show up."

Lee was surprised to hear that but asked, "When will you be returning?"

"Not for a few more days. I'm enjoying the nice weather and sites. I'll call you before I leave."

"Okay sir. Have a good time. I'll talk to you soon," Lee answered as he heard the admiral disconnect the call.

Lee sat at his desk and rubbed his forehead. Something was still nagging at him but he couldn't figure out what it was. He left his office and went to the admiral's to let Angie know he wouldn't be returning for a few more days. He then went to Chip's office and sat down in front of his desk.

"Problem Lee?" Chip asked seeing perplexed look on his face.

"No. Just talked to the admiral and he's not returning for a few more days. He said he's having a nice time."

"So what's the problem?"

"Just that nagging feeling something isn't right," Lee sighed. "How about some lunch?"

"You don't have to ask me twice," Chip replied and stood up. He and Lee walked out the door of the office and to the elevator after letting Wanda know they were going to lunch.

((()))

After Harry finished his phone call with Lee, he decided to take a walk through the gardens. He walked downstairs, out to the garden and found a path that led to the beach. He strolled along the beach for awhile before turning back. Just before he reached the path to return to the house, he saw a small boy trying to skip stones across the water. He noticed he wasn't having much luck so he walked over to him.

"Not doing to well skipping those stones are you?" Harry asked with a smile.

"No sir. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong," the boy replied with a frown.

"Let me show you. What's your name?" Harry asked as he looked around for the right sized stones.

"Larry," the boy answered. "My mother is Lisa. She cooks and cleans for Mr. Ballard."

Harry noticed that he didn't seem very happy that his mother worked for his friend.

"First in order to skip the stone properly, you need flat stones," Harry explained as he showed Larry the stones he picked up from the beach. "Then you need to toss them across the water," he continued as he showed him how it was done. Harry gave Larry a stone so he could try.

Larry took the stone from Harry and tried to toss it like he did but didn't have much luck. Harry gave him another stone and helped him toss it. It skipped across the water four times. Larry found a few more stones and before long had the stones skipping across the ocean.

"Thank you, sir," he said to Harry.

"No problem," Harry responded as he patted Larry on the head and started walking back to the house leaving him skipping stones. He came across another path he didn't see when he started his walk on the beach. He was going to take it when John came down the original path.

"What's down there?" Harry asked as he started down the path but John blocked the way.

"That path is never used as it leads to the basement. There's nothing down there but a few rats and bugs," John told him. "Mr. Ballard has finished his work and sent me to get you for dinner. Sorry if Larry was a bother," he continued as he saw Harry with Larry before he met up with him. "There's not a lot for him to do here so he can be a bit of a pest."

"He was no bother at all. I enjoyed showing him how skip the stones," Harry replied noticing the disgusted look on John's face.

The two men walked back to the house where Christian was waiting for them.

"I hope you had a good walk," Christian said.

"Yes, very good," Harry responded, "you have a very nice beach and dock but I didn't see any boats."

"Yes, the beach is nice. The dock has been there for years. We don't own any boats but our friends do so they will use the dock. How about we meet for dinner in ten minutes?"

"I just need to wash up and I'll be right down," Harry told Christian. He wanted to ask him a few questions about the dedication. Harry went up the stairs to his room while Christian and John stood at the bottom and watched him go up.

"I stopped him just before he went down the path to the basement," John told Christian. "He was quite curious about what was down there."

"He's getting a little comfortable here but that's going to change tonight after dinner," Christian said to John as they wandered into the dining room where he poured himself a drink. He stood at the window looking out over the porch.

((()))

Harry quickly washed up and returned to the dining room where Christian was waiting for him. As they sat down to another delicious dinner Harry asked, "Christian when is the dedication going to be held as I need to return to Santa Barbara?"

Christian looked at him and smirked, "Harry, there isn't going to be a dedication. I brought you here because I need some information from you. Give me what I want and you can return home. If you don't..."

Harry quickly stood up. "I don't know what you want but to bring me down here under false pretenses must mean you want information I can't and won't give you."

Christian snapped his fingers and a huge burly man walked into the dining room. "Harry, I don't want to hurt you but I will stop at nothing to get what I want."

The man walked over to Harry and pushed him back into his seat and stood next to him.

"I need you to give me the command signal sequence for the drone submarine defense systems. Vice Admiral Halder failed to complete his mission so I've taken it over," Christian explained to Harry.

"You've taken it over?" Harry asked surprised as he didn't know Christian was involved with Halder.

"It's now my project and I need that information. You'll not leave here until I get it," Christian threatened.

"Christian, I'll never give you that information. Besides that, after what Halder tried to do, the command signal sequences have changed and it takes more than one person to activate it."

Frustrated that Harry wouldn't give him the information, Christian spoke to the man standing next to Harry, "Brad, take him away and see if you can persuade him to cooperate. John, go with him."

Brad grabbed Harry by the arm and led him from the dining room. Brad outweighed Nelson by a hundred pounds and was six inches taller, but he struggled anyway to get away from him. They took him past the garden and down the walkway to the beach. They took him to the path John had stopped Harry from taking earlier.