Surprise! My last appointment at work rescheduled so I got home earlier than I was supposed to which meant… time to write!
Jason looked at Blackburn absolutely dumfounded. "He what!? Please tell me you're kidding?" He simply could not accept the fact that Blackburn wasn't lying.
"I'm sorry Jason, I wish I was." Blackburn replied.
Jason held a hand up to his face and shook his head. "This whole god damn mission is a fucking nightmare! How long till we can get him out?"
"Not sure yet. I'm on my way to go speak with the captain now to figure that out." Master Chief Wilke said.
"Mind if I come? That's one of my men in there." Blackburn asked.
"I don't mind, but we are working on the problem and getting this sub up and running takes priority over one sailor's discomfort."
"Understood. Jason stay here, keep him company." Blackburn ordered to Jason
"Ray's with Spenser. I'm not going anywhere." Jason informed Eric right before he left the room.
"Uh. Hey guys… you plan on letting me out anytime soon?" Sonny radioed in to Jason.
"Hey Sonny, got some bad news for ya… you're stuck." Jason radioed back.
"Haha. Real funny. Now let me out." Jason could now hear the annoyance in Sonny's voice.
"Sorry Sonny, but it's no joke. Locking mechanism locked.Just sit tight. We're working on it."
"Ha. Tights about all I can do in here." Sonny joked, although nothing about this situation was funny to him.
After a couple minutes of silence Sonny radioed back in to Jason. "Hey Jas? You still there?"
"Yeah Sonny. I'm not going anywhere." Jason said.
"How's Spenser?" All this time alone in the tube, gave his mind time to run wild and all he could think of was how bad Clay was struggling during the tube. Ig he was being honest with himself, worrying about Clay helped keep his mind off of where he was.
Jason knew the question was coming, he just wished it didn't come soon. The last thing he wanted was to give Sonny something else to worry about. "He's holding up. Ray's with him now."
"Don't sugar coat it boss. How bad?" Sonny could tell by Jason's tone that there was something he wasn't telling him.
Realizing Sonny wasn't going to drop the subject until he had answers, Jason decided to give him a simplified answer. "We don't know. Won't know till we get off this sub. They have him on oxygen and some pain killers.
"Does he know I'm stuck in here?" Sonny asked.
"No. They have him on the good stuff. Probably couldn't tell you up from down at this point." Jason laughed to hide his concern.
"Good. Don't let him find out. He's been through enough lately. I don't know how much more he can handle." Sonny was now more concerned about Clay than himself. If things went sideways it could break Clay, and Sonny knew that.
"No worries there. How's he doing? For real?" Jason asked. If talking about Spenser kept Sonny's mind distracted, he'd talk about him al; day.
"I don't know boss. He says he's fine but I don't really buy it. This thing with his dad, it's bothering him more than he lets on." Sonny said.
Jason nodded his head. He had his suspicions, but hearing Sonny actually sayings just confirmed it all for him. "Alright Sonny. Thanks for keeping an eye on him. I need you to keep doing that once we get you out."
"No problem there boss. I just need to get out of this damn thing first." Sonny huffed.
After a few more minutes of silence, Sonny came back on the radio. "Uh Jas… I think we have a little problem in here."
"What's going on Sonny?" Jason asked concerned.
"The tube is filling up with water. Fast." Sonny stated.
/
Ray was keeping a close eye on Clay. He was still short of breath, coughing and experiencing chest pain.
"How long's he gonna be like this?" Ray asked.
The man that was looking over Clay just shrugged his shoulders. "It's hard to say –"
"Yeah, yeah. I know. Hard to say until he sees a real doctor." Ray was getting frustrated. He hated watching Clay struggle and the fact that Sonny has come to check on Clay also had him worried. He knew something wasn't right.
Clay slowly turned his head to look at Ray. He was exhausted and in a ton of pain, but something was off in Ray and he knew it. "What is it?" Clay breathed out.
Ray could barely hear Clay through the oxygen mask, but knew exactly what he was asking. He over looked at Clay and trying not worry him, said "Nothing. Just relax and focus on that breathing."
"Don't lie…please." Clay whispered again, wincing as a twinge of pain hit him.
"I don't know. Something just isn't right." Ray finally admitted
"Jason and Sonny?" Clay asked.
Ray nodded his head. "They shoulda been here by now. I don't know what's going on."
"Go." Clay coughed and then winced at the pain it caused. "Go find out."
"What? No way. I'm not leaving you in here alone like this." Ray protested.
Clay delicately lifted his right arm to remove the mask from his face. "I'm fine. Go find out."
"You said you were fine before and look where we are now." Ray unitentionally started talking louder.
"Please Ray." Clay practically begged.
And that right there was all it took. Those two little words that Ray couldn't say no to. It wasn't just the words though, it was the way the words were said. Clay never begged for anything and although Ray technically wouldn't consider this begging, it was pretty damn close. "Jason's gonna kill me for leaving you here alone, but if you're not gonna drop it, which obviously you aren't, I'll go."
"Thanks." Clay whispered as Ray made him put the mask back on.
Ray reluctantly stood up and walked out of the room. He hated leaving Clay but was dying to find out what was taking Jason and Sonny so long.
He found Jason pacing around the room, radio in hand, staring at the latch that was preventing him from getting to Sonny.
Jason didn't even notice Ray entering the room. It wasn't until Ray called his name that Jason noticed he was there.
"Ray, what are you doing here? I thought I told you stay with Spencer." Jason asked.
"He wouldn't relax until I came. He knows somethings up." Ray said. "Speaking of which… what's going on. Where's Sonny?"
Jason pointed to the torpedo tube. "It's bad Ray."
Ray stared at Jason, waiting for Sonny to pop around a corner and tell him it was all a big joke. Judging by the look on Jason's face though, this was no joking matter. "You're joking right? He's still in there?
Jason nodded his head. "The latch is locked. We can't get it open."
"That little power surge thing?" Ray asked, remember the small rock of the sub and the flicker lights.
"Yeah, that's not the worst of it though. The tube is filling up with water, fast." Jason sighed.
Ray closed his eyes. He knew Sonny had to be freaking out inside that tube. What he didn't understand was why Jason was just pacing around and not doing something to get him out. He knew there had to be a reason.
"Apparently a North Korean Sub is within range. They won't let us cut him out until we're out of range. How's Clay doing?" Jason asked trying to think of something other than Sonny.
"He's holding up. Definitely in some pain and knows were hiding something from him." Ray noted.
"I thought they drugged him up, how could he possibly know something was up?" Jason asked.
"He and Sonny are close. When Sonny didn't come check on him I think he realized something wasn't right." Ray admitted. "He's gonna lose his freaking mind when he finds out about this." Ray mumbled, mostly to himself, but Jason was still able to hear him.
"We just gotta make sure he doesn't find out." Jason quickly answered. He was thinking back to his conversation about Sonny. The stress of this situation would do nothing good for Clay.
"How you gonna hide something like this from him? He's a smart kid, even if he is all drugged up." Ray was trying to comprehend Jason's way of thinking.
"We're not gonna hide it forever, just until we get Sonny out." Jason replied.
Ray shook his head. This had disaster written all over it. "So what do I tell him?"
"Just tell him there's been a slight situation, but it's being handled. If he presses tell him the half-truth, that Sonny's stuck in the tube but were getting him out." Jason said.
Ray wasn't so sure how that conversation was going to go, but he knew he had to tell Clay something. "Let me talk to him before I head back to Clay." Ray said reaching for the radio. "Hey Sonny, how's it going in there?"
"There he is. How ya doing Ray? Clay with you?" Sonny asked.
"Can't really complain now can I?" Ray laughed. Truthfully, he wasn't ok. He had one brother stuck in a torpedo that was filling up with water and another struggling to breathe and on oxygen. He was far from ok, but he would never tell Sonny that. "Clay's still in the other room, he's holding up."
"He still don't know, right?" Sonny asked.
"Not yet, but he's starting to ask questions." Ray admitted.
"He ain't passed out yet?" Sonny questioned.
"Not yet. They gave him one dose but he's kinda fighting it. He's too worried about your sorry ass" Ray tried to lighten up the situation a bit.
"Well tell him I said to quit worryin, he can't get rid of me that easy, and to quit fighting the meds and pass out." Sonny said.
"Sure thing, brother. You hold on in there alright? We're working on getting you out." Ray said before handing the radio back over to Jason.