Chapter 3

Hammersley had made good time and was arriving at Reminiscent Wharf a little before 10am. The crew on the bridge were mostly quiet and looking over to where they saw four SAS soldiers packing up the remainder of their gear. The bridge was still tense after the earlier exchanges, so all they wanted was to pick up the soldiers as quickly as possible and head back home. As they docked, Kate stood from the captain's chair "Alright, Dutchy with me, let's get this done ASAP. Charge, you have the ship." With that, both Kate and Dutchy left the bridge and walked up the wharf to meet the soldiers.

Dutchy could tell that Kate was tense and that now was no time for joking, but she was away from the others he wanted to make sure she was ok. He didn't know anything about Jim, or the relationship they'd had, and he wanted to stay ahead of any potential confrontations. "Ma'am, are you ok with all this? I mean dealing with ex is never fun, and before you spin me some line about this being a job, it's me...Dutchy...you can talk to me." Dutchy smiled as he looked to Kate, hoping that everything would be ok.

Kate took a deep breath in before she responded, "No, look, it should be fine." Then she started stumbling, "I mean, it was, we had, but it was never, when it ended, it was.." Then she turned to look at Dutchy regaining her composure. "We are Navy and Army, who were we kidding right? This should be fine, but thank you, for being concerned."

They both smiled and walked over to where the SAS were still packing up their gear, when Jim walked over to meet them half way. He noticed the new rank on Kate's shoulder and was the first to speak.

"Lieutenant Commander." He smiled and nodded in Kate's direction. "Congratulations on the promotion, you're looking well." He held his hand out to shake Kate's hand as he reached her.

"Thank you, you're looking well yourself," Kate said as she shook Jim's hand, but not letting go.

"So, does this mean there is no Lieutenant Commander Flynn on Hammersley?" Jim asked.

"Commander Flynn," Kate said correcting him. "Has taken a shore posting at Navcom," Kate said now smiling.

"So, the two of you aren't on the same boat anymore?" Jim said now starting to smile. By Kate's reaction to his name, he knew what that meant for the two of them and despite everything that had happened he still wanted her to be happy. Kate just shook her head indicating no and was about to speak when Dutchy interrupted them with a cough.

"Sorry," Kate said finally dropping Jim's hand. "Captain Roth this is Petty Officer Mulholland. Dutchy, Captain Roth." Kate made the introductions between the two men as they shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.

Dutchy was polite enough, but reserved, still not knowing what to make of Jim. There didn't seem to be any animosity between them but he wasn't sure if he liked the way he was looking at Kate. He knew Kate was happy with Mike, and that right now he was going to have to be the one to stop Jim if he was going to cause problems for them. And possibly to save Kate from herself by the way she held onto his hand for a moment too long.

"Dutchy why don't you give Jim's men a hand with their gear so we can get going?" Kate suggested in an effort to get moving, but Jim stopped that.

"Actually, it's not going to be as simple as that," Jim said as one of his men yelled out that they were ready to start when he was. Kate and Dutchy looked at Jim waiting for an explanation. "Two of my men were doing one last sweep of the bushland. We had a radio transmission from them 30 minutes ago, but nothing since and we were expecting them back 20 minutes ago. We were just about to head off searching for them when we saw your boat and thought we'd wait for you – the more eyes looking for them the better, this bushland is pretty thick."

"You're kidding right?" was all Kate could manage, while Dutchy slumped his shoulders and put his head down. Jim just shook his head indicating that he wasn't kidding.

By way of explanation Jim continued. "We are here officially for training and while we have been doing some of that, unofficially we were looking for some drug runners that the AFP think are basing their operation here. We found no trace of them in five days and so we were called back in. On our last group search we found a stream that was heading inland to an area that we had searched and thought would be ideal place to base the operation, but there was nothing there when we searched. The boys were just going to take one last quick poke around and come straight back, but it looks like they might have found something," Jim explained.

"Or something found them," Dutchy added grimly, both he and Kate realising now how serious this was.

"OK," Kate said. "Dutchy, prepare a search party. You, me, Swain, 2Dads and Bird. No need for boarding jackets, but I want everyone in Kevlar vests, and armed. We leave in five minutes. Jim, your men can store their gear on the ship while we search, and you can show me on the map where it is we are heading."

"Ma'am," Dutchy said in acknowledgement of his orders. He called out for the remaining three soldiers to bring their gear onto the ship and headed back to break the bad news to the others. This left Kate and Jim alone walking back to the Hammersley so they could look at the maps and Kate could get prepared.

"Why is it that things are never straight forward with you?" Kate said as she turned to walk.

"That's a bit harsh isn't it?" Jim said. "I mean I could say the same about you, you did claim to be in Human Resources if I remember correctly," he said smiling, almost trying to provoke her into an argument.

"Yes, but then you claimed to be an accountant. And it's not my crew that are missing right now delaying our departure," Kate said having none of the argument Jim was trying to have.

She stopped and turned to Jim, "Jim, ahh, about everything that happened, the internet, lying about who we were, and why we broke up...you're not...I mean...not all of the crew...some things have happened..." Kate was seriously babbling now and couldn't seem to get the right words out. This was the awkward conversation she had been expecting earlier, and the sort of conversation she was never very good at.

"Don't worry, I won't say a word," Jim said saving Kate. "It's not like I want my men knowing the whole truth either. And like I said at the time, we had fun right? That's all anyone needs to know."

"Right," Kate said smiling at him, remembering some of the good times they'd had together "But, this isn't really the time for reminiscing, we better get a move along."

"Maybe it's not the right time, but it's not a bad place" Jim said laughing and looking at Kate who didn't seem to understand. "A trip down memory lane, reminiscing, Reminiscent Wharf..." Kate just shook her head, rolled her eyes and laughed.

They went into the senior sailors' mess where they were joined by Charge to have a look at the maps and develop a search plan. The terrain was very uneven, there was a lot of cliffs, and according to Jim, some of the bushland was very thick. In their five days of searching, they only found one spot that could be used as any sort of base. Jim explained that it looked like there had been some activity there, but that it could have just as easily been campers as drug runners. The SAS had camped there for a night but saw no-one.

There was a well hidden inlet that split into two rivers, one straight up to the clearing they were headed for, whilst the other twisted and turned and wasn't as deep. Kate and Charge compared the map they were looking at, with Jim's map which had updated markings from the expeditions they had done. It looked like the river used to be much larger but had dried up over the years, and wasn't clearly marked on the new maps onboard Hammersely. It was the inlet and stream that they had seen and the two men were headed back to. Jim and Kate formed a plan and went to get the others.

As Jim and Kate entered the weapons locker, the others were all assembled and gearing up for the search. To their relief, there didn't seem to be any hostility between the two groups – the soldiers were worried about their mates, and the Hammersley crew knew that in these situations armed forces stick together. They could leave the Army/Navy banter for later. As Dutchy helped Kate into her vest and got her radio on, they handed out their orders.

"Right," Kate started. "We split into 2 teams, Swain and 2Dads with me - Team Charlie. Dutchy and Bird you're Team Alpha with Captain Roth. Jim?" Kate turned to Jim to allow him to split up his troops.

"Macca, you're with me on Team Alpha. Raz and Grant, your with Lieutenant Commander McGregor." Jim continued issuing the orders for the search, while Dutchy fitted him out with a Navy radio "We are heading into a clearing a couple of clicks inland." Kate then cut in with instructions for the teams.

"Both teams leave from here in the rhibs to an inlet north of here. When we get there we will head in on foot. Team Charlie, we will take the main river, Team Alpha will take the smaller river. All things being equal, we will meet up at the clearing, and with a bit of luck find your missing men. Everyone clear?"

"Yes Ma'am!" was the universal response and they all headed out.

As they were leaving, RO called out to advise Kate that Navcom were on the line and were after an update. Bugger Kate thought. She had been thrown by seeing Jim again and hadn't advised Commander White that there was a problem. She really should have taken the call herself, but they were all keen to get going. They had no idea where the missing soldiers were, or how much trouble they were in.

"Charge," Kate called out to Charge who had followed them into the weapons locker. "I need you to take the call, fill them in on what's going on and let them know we have gone ashore and will be back soon." She knew that by doing this she was likely to cop a rocket from Commander White when she got back, but she would deal with that then.

"Right-o, happy hunting," Charge replied. And with that, they all left the ship to begin their search.