Chapter 3

Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you are enjoying the story. This chapter is a bit short but I will put another up soon!

The weekend passed quickly: the promised storm full of fury as predicted.

Chip Morton walked into his office early Monday morning and seated himself at his desk overflowing with charts and schematics, intending to try making sense of some of the scribbles he'd managed to eke out over the weekend on some of the computer upgrades. He'd been working for about an hour when the shrill ringing of the phone had him trying to find the instrument in the piles of papers and charts.

"Yeah… I mean Morton here."

"Answering your own phone now, Chip?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Lee? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," he answered quietly.

"Where the hell have you been? Do you have any idea how…?"

"I know, Chip. Things are a mess and the admiral's mad as a hornet. I get it."

"Lee, the admiral's not mad so much as hurt I guess and upset. He feels badly about what happened. You know he's under a lot of pressure right now. Hell, after the last mission, we're all on edge, especially him considering what happened."

"I know. After what happened on the last mission and then the ONI assignment I was on I just blew up. I took his demands as censure I guess. I was wrong to jump on him but I just lost it."

"Have you talked this out with him? 'Cause I think he should be the one this is directed at, not me. Even though you did push me as I recall."

"Sorry about that, Chip. I was out of line. In more ways than one. As for the admiral, I tried his office a little while ago but no one answered. I guess it was too early for Angie to be in but I thought for sure the admiral would be. The specs for the navy project need to be completed this week."

"The admiral's not in yet? That's strange. Maybe he's in one of the labs. Are you coming back any time soon?"

"I'm about to start heading back now."

"From?"

"I went down to San Diego for a bit. Met up with a couple buddies. Had a few drinks…talked."

"Did it help?"

Lee was silent for a bit. "Yeah. It did."

"These buddies ONI?"

Another long silence from Lee then, "Yeah they were. They kind of gave me some perspective I guess."

"You know, if you had talked to the admiral like a rational human, he might have understood and not gone off on you. He's been where you've been…where you are. He tried to tell you that. Besides, you know what he went through on that last cruise. The guilt, no matter what he says or how misplaced it is, is still there."

"I know, Chip. I just didn't want to hear it then. Maybe because of all that happened on the last cruise."

"You sound like you blame him."

"No, I don't. What happened wasn't his fault."

"Not sure he feels that way," Chip muttered. "He's still blaming himself for McDonald among other things."

"I guess I didn't see it. I thought everything was all right. I guess I shouldn't have left without making sure he understood no one blamed him. I just...I guess I felt my own load of guilt. I knew something was wrong with him and I didn't do anything. I just followed orders."

"That's what you're trained to do, you know."

"I still should have done things differently."

"Hindsight, my friend. Let it go. What happens now?"

"Now, I'm ready to talk, to apologize and get back to work. If I still have a job that is."

"Come on. You know he didn't take your threat seriously." Looking up, he saw Angie, concern written on her face in his doorway. "Angie? What is it?"

"It's the admiral, Chip. I just got in the office a little while ago and well, he isn't in yet."

"Maybe he's in one of the labs."

"No, he isn't. I've been off checking. He's not here. I called down at the dock and neither is his boat. He's not back from his sail yet despite his telling me he would be back in plenty of time to miss that storm."

"Did you try his radio?" he asked trying to keep the worry from his voice.

"Yes. He isn't answering. I'm worried, Chip."

Turning back to the phone he said, "Lee, I think we've got problems. The admiral went out sailing over the weekend and isn't back yet."

"Did he take anyone with him?"

"No. Angie says he went alone."

"When was he due back?" Lee asked anxiously.

"Yesterday. He told Angie he'd be back before that storm we had yesterday afternoon hit."

Chip heard nothing but silence on the other end for a few seconds and he knew Lee was thinking, trying not to allow his fear to blossom. "Damn," he finally whispered. "I'm on my way."

"Lee, how about I fly FS-1 down there and pick you up? We'll contact the Coast Guard and get them started searching but we can start our own search."

"That's a good idea, Chip. I'll make arrangements for you to dock at the sub base and I'll meet you there."

"I'll be there shortly. I just want to check with Sharkey and see if he knows where the admiral was headed."

"I'll be waiting, Chip. Uh…could you put Angie on?"

"He wants to talk to you," Chip said handing the phone to Angie who was trying not to worry about her boss.

"Lee?"

"Yeah, it's me. Look Angie, he's all right. He probably just had engine or radio problems and stayed some place safe until the storm passed. He'll probably be back before Chip leaves. Try not to imagine the worst."

"I'll try. I didn't want him to go by himself. I told him to take someone but he said he just wanted to be alone."

Lee, feeling guilt fill him, was silent as he knew he was in all likelihood the reason, or at least one of the reasons, he wanted to get away.

"He can take care of himself. You know that. Chip and I will be looking for him shortly. Try not to worry."

"I'll try, Lee," she replied softly before hanging up and turning to Chip who had come to stand by her side.

"You all right?" he asked as he stared at her in concern, knowing how close she felt to Nelson.

"I'm fine. It's just… even if he did want to be alone; it's not like him to not keep in touch. Unless he couldn't."

"Let's not borrow trouble. There's probably a simple reason he hasn't contacted us. While we wait for him to get in touch with us, call the Coast Guard and give them all the information you can. Also give them any possible destinations."

"He didn't tell me where he was going exactly. He did say he might end up at Catalina and ride out the storm there. But he would have contacted us. Maybe he talked to Sharkey about any particular destination," she said frowning before she started out the door.

"Angie? Try not to think the worst. He's a sailor. He knows what he's doing out there."

A brief nod was all the answer she felt she could give as her worry threatened to choke her. Deep down inside she knew something was very wrong.

Chip watched her walk from the room and grabbed his phone, dialing quickly and smiling when he heard the voice on the other end.

"Chief? You're in early. You at the sub pen?"

"Yes sir! I wanted to make sure everything was in order before the admiral gets here. I'm kind of surprised he isn't here already. He wanted to look over the work that was done over the weekend."

"Yeah…uh look…the admiral hasn't come back from his trip yet. I was wondering if you got The Folly ready for him on Friday."

"Yeah, me and Ski got everything ready. I didn't think he should go off alone but he seemed set on it. You said he hasn't come back yet? I didn't even think to check for his boat when I got in. Has he been in contact with anyone?"

"No. Angie was just here and said she's tried calling on his radio but she isn't getting a response."

"Well…maybe he had to run from that storm yesterday. Might have taken out his radio or something," Sharkey reasoned, unable to keep the worry from his tone. "Maybe he rode out the storm some place. Some place safe."

"Yeah, maybe. Ready the Flying Sub while you're down there. I'm going to fly down to San Diego and pick up Captain Crane. Then the two of us are going to start a search for the admiral."

"The Skipper? He's coming back?"

"Yeah. He called this morning right before we found out about the admiral. By the way, did the admiral say anything about where he might be headed?"

"No sir. He said he didn't want to be around people so he was just going to sail, not anchor any place."

"Damn. Which way did he head when he left the harbor? Did you see?"

"Yeah, he headed south."

"South. That's where I'm headed as soon as I check in with Angie. I'll be down in a few minutes, Chief. Have FS-1 ready."

"Aye sir."

Chip rubbed his hands over his face in agitation. The past few weeks had been hard on everyone and now to know the admiral was missing? What else was going to go wrong? Smacking his hands on his desk he rose, grabbed his jacket and headed down the hall to the admiral's office where he found Angie on the phone.

Seeing him standing there she ended the call and stood up. "That was the Coast Guard. They're starting a search now. I didn't know where to tell them to look for him but Sharkey just called and said he headed south so that gives them a starting point I guess."

"Good. Did you tell them about Catalina?"

"I did. They're checking all the marinas on the off shore islands including Catalina just in case he's berthed there some place. They said they've had a few distress calls from other boats but nothing from the admiral."

"There's probably a very good reason that he hasn't called, Angie. We'll probably fly right over him and see him standing on the deck with his hands on his hips wondering what the hell we're doing," he said with a halfhearted smile.

Angie smiled, knowing Chip was trying to keep her from full-blown panic. She knew all the innocuous reasons the admiral might have for not coming back when he said he would. She also knew the more sinister ones: the ones she was trying not to think of.

"I should get moving. Sharkey should have FS-1 ready by now. I'll fly down and pick up Lee then we'll do some searching of our own." Walking to her, he put his hands on her shoulders and with a finger under her chin, gently tilted her head up. "Stop worrying. He's fine."

She nodded briefly and smiled back but Chip knew she wasn't buying it. Even he wasn't buying it. Something had happened to the admiral. But what?

"I should get going," he said giving her shoulders a brief squeeze before turning for the door.

"Chip?"

He turned at the small voice.

"Find him?"

"I will, Angie. Lee and I will do everything we can to find him."

With a nod, Chip left quickly, anxious to begin his search.