Chapter Four

Sorry for the short chapter. I thought I had loaded two chapters onto my laptop before I went away for a few days but I was wrong. I'll have a longer one up early next week, Thanks for all the reviews. I appreciate them!

Back onboard, Crane got out of his scuba gear, dressed quickly and headed to the Control Room where he was greeted by Morton.

"What's going on? And where's the admiral?" he asked quickly.

"No idea. But he's not on what's left of the sea lab and we couldn't find his body outside. Sparks!" he called, "Contact Admiral Johnson at ONI. Tell them the admiral wasn't on what remains of Triton and that we found evidence it was bombed. Have him contact me when he gets a chance. Then put a call in to Admiral Starke. I'll take it in my cabin when you have him."

"Aye sir!" Sparks called with a little more vigor in his voice than before.

"I'll let you know if he has any answers," Crane said as he hurried from the room and to his cabin, a thousand thoughts swirling about in his troubled mind. Nelson had had no way out. He'd said so. Yet he was gone just the same. Question was, where was he?

Opening the door to his cabin quickly, he heard Sparks call. "Skipper? I have Admiral Starke for you."

"Thanks, Sparks. Put him through," he said as he reached for the knob on the view phone and turned it on, watching as the harried face of Admiral Jiggs Starke, one of Admiral Nelson's best friends, flickered to life on the screen.

"Crane? Why the call? What's going on? I thought you were picking Harriman up from that lab he was so excited to be living on for the past two months."

"You haven't heard, sir?" he asked, surprised the admiral hadn't been informed.

"Heard what? I've been in meetings for the last few days. I just now walked into my office to find a stack of messages and a call from you waiting for me."

"I thought Admiral Johnson would have told you."

"I haven't been able to take any calls while in the meetings. What should Bill have told me?" he grumbled.

"Triton was bombed, sir. It's gone," Crane said succinctly.

"What? When? Harriman…is he…?"

"We were talking to the admiral on the view phone a few hours ago when there was some kind of explosion. The admiral was in one of the research pods and went to investigate. He came back to tell us the main complex and most of the pods had been destroyed. He wasn't able to get through the tunnels to the other side but he couldn't see any of the other pods still standing."

"You're telling me the whole complex except for the pod Harriman was in was destroyed?" Starke asked in a hushed tone. "Everything…all those people…"

"Yes sir."

"What…what about Harriman? Did he…"

"The admiral was hurt but alive. However, the air supply to the pod he was in was severed. He was trapped there. He had no scuba equipment with him. We talked to him up until his air was almost gone, then he…then he said goodbye and…disconnected," he informed the admiral's longtime friend.

Starke looked up when he heard the slight quiver in Crane's voice. He knew how the two men felt about each other, rather like he and Harriman felt about each other, and he looked away. The thought of his friend being dead…dying all alone… hurt like hell.

"Harriman's…he's…What did you find when you got to the complex?" he asked in a quiet, almost hesitant voice.

"The admiral wasn't in the pod."

"What?" he shouted, raising his eyes to Crane's. "What do you mean he wasn't in the pod? You said he had no way out!"

"As far as we knew, he didn't. There were two pods left standing but he wasn't in either one. We searched outside for him but we didn't find his body outside either. We did find two bombs that were connected to the last two pods but a wire had come undone. They never went off."

"You found evidence the complex was bombed?"

"Yes sir. Our munitions experts defused the bombs and brought them aboard. They're examining them now for clues."

Starke sat drumming his fingers on his desk, lost in thought.

"Sir, do you have any idea what could have happened? Who could have done this and why? Everyone I've talked to seems to have no clue what could have happened."

Starke slowly shook his head. "I…I don't know. It makes no sense to bomb a simple underwater research station. From what Harriman told me before he left, they weren't doing any research of a highly sensitive nature, just medical and oceanographic research for crying out loud."

"Could the admiral have been the target, sir?"

"The thought that someone would deliberately kill all those people just to get to Harriman…well it's hard to believe but…but possible I suppose. You know as well as I do that no matter how much protection you think he has, if someone is determined, they could have gotten to him if they'd wanted to."

"Yes sir. I suppose so."

"Then there's the fact there were bombs planted underneath the last two pods. Perhaps those pods were intended to be destroyed at the same time as the rest but didn't because of a simple malfunction. Harriman might not have been a target at all but Triton itself. But again, why?"

"Admiral Johnson had no information for me," Crane said. "He seemed as stumped as you."

"There has to be a reason for what's happened."

"But what? And where's the admiral?"

"And is he alive?" Starke added. "Is there, well is there a chance Harriman left the pod without scuba equipment and you just couldn't find his body?" Starke asked in a hushed tone.

"I…I don't know why he would do that. He didn't have much if any air left by the time he disconnected. We did search the area."

"But the sea is very harsh, Crane," he said carefully. "Scavengers…sharks…"

"I understand, sir," Crane interrupted. "But…whether it's just wishful thinking or not, I think the admiral was taken. Why and by whom, I don't know."

Nodding wearily, Starke ran a hand over his face, worry for his friend filling him. "I'll make some calls, make sure our agencies have contacted INTERPOL, see if they have any idea what might have happened and who might have done it. I'll get back to you when I hear anything."

"One thing more, Admiral. Admiral Nelson said their sonar had picked up a sub nosing about the area. And he said surface traffic was heavier than what they thought normal considering Triton was well off the normal shipping lanes. I don't know if it's connected or not but I thought you should know."

"A submarine? That's interesting. Did you inform Johnson?"

"Yes sir. He also found it interesting," he said dryly.

"I'll have that looked into. If your men examining the bombs find anything, get back to me or Johnson as soon as you can. Keep searching the area around the sea lab. Look for any more bodies or any evidence of what may have happened."

"Aye, sir."

"Crane? You know Harriman. If he's still alive and there's a way out of whatever he's involved in, he'll find it."

"Yes sir. If he's still alive," he added morosely.

"I won't believe he's gone until I have definitive proof."

Crane nodded, a slow smile cracking his dour face.

Starke's face disappeared from the screen and Crane reached up, turning it off. Slumping back in his chair, he ran his hands over his face, trying to think. What could have happened? It wasn't the first time the admiral had disappeared. It wasn't the first time he'd thought the man dead. But this time, there seemed to be no answers. The admiral may still be alive. That was more than he had to hang on to a few short hours ago. And knowing the admiral, as Starke said, if there was a way, he'd find it. He just hoped with all he had that there had been a way.