I got through a bit of writing tonight, up to about halfway through 9, so I'm posting 7 for the benefit of those who can't wait. I'll admit-I did leave you hanging. Mike is scheduled to make his reappearance in Chapter 9 and then he sticks around. There are a lot more MK scenes to come very soon.

Enjoy and feel free to leave a review (signed or unsigned). All feedback is appreciated.


Chapter Seven

Dutchy was starting to get frustrated. The information was there, waiting for them, if they wanted it. But it seemed like nobody else on the ship did. And now one of their own was in serious danger.

Raffy was trailing his buffer down the hallway to Austere. He could sense the sailor's aggravation and, personally, didn't want him anywhere near the interrogation. But, for some reason, the CO had wanted him there and who was Raffy to question her. He would have to learn to deal.

"Dutchy, a moment before we go in," the X said, softly grabbing the larger man's shoulder.

"Yes, sir." He heard the man's dissatisfaction.

"Is there a problem?" That wasn't what he was going to say, but it'd do.

"No, sir."

The "yes, sir; no, sir" was starting to do his head in. He wanted answers and rank be damned with it. "Speak honestly."

Jumping at the opportunity, that's what Dutchy did. "We're sitting on our hands. We should be doing something and we can be. We have these guys in our custody, we can ask them whatever we like."

"I agree, but the problem is that they won't always answer. And they won't always give you the answer you want."

"They will," Dutchy said confidently.

"What are you going to do?" Raffy asked with an amused smile. He already knew the answer.

"We can make them talk."

Raffy gave him a detached shrug. "We could. But we won't. You're under the impression that that sort of interrogation works. Now I don't really give a damn about human rights and our international obligations—I want answers too—but it does not work, sailor."

"Then what do you propose we do?"

Raffy smiled again. "Watch and learn, Petty Officer Mulholland." He walked off, leaving Dutchy behind, and opened the door to Austere. 2Dads was keeping watch over the prisoners. "You can leave now, Leader."

Raffy waltzed coolly into the room, his buffer in tow. He had requested a table and chair combo be brought into the room and it had. Leaving the two other captives on their racks, he had Dutchy remove the binds of the man they'd arrested below decks and sat him on one of the chairs. Raffy sat across the table from him and, at the X's behest, Dutchy stood behind him.

"How 'bout we start with your name?" Raffy requested.

The man did not answer.

"Well, it doesn't matter because I already know it. Wakim Abangan."

Abangan looked up at the sound of his name, a slightly fearful overtone to his shuffle backwards. But his original confident air replaced it rather quickly.

"What were you doing in our waters?"

"Fishing."

"Then you mustn't be very good." Raffy had a smug smile on his face. "We saw no fish below decks. You didn't catch anything?"

"No time. You interrupted."

Raffy laughed good-naturedly and left Dutchy wondering just what was going on. If he was conducting the interrogation, this was not the way he would go about it. The XO wasn't even asking the important questions.

"What sort of fish were you after?"

"Whatever was biting," Abangan replied. He was starting to get a little twitchy again, and that poised façade was slipping.

"Mm," Raffy murmured, looking with unwavering attention at Abangan. "So I assume you know why we boarded your vessel?"

Abangan shook his head.

"You were fishing, mate," Raffy exploded with a friendly shove of the man's shouder.

Dutchy was now, well and truly, through with his XO's attitude. His questions were getting beyond the scope of their interrogation and they hadn't even asked the important ones yet. Irritated, he grabbed Abangan around the collar, hoisted him from the chair and shoved him on to the table. Raffy had to move back to avoid being hit.

"Where is Lieutenant Commander Watson?" Dutchy shouted, his face inches from Abangan's and his expression wild. "Where is he?"

Raffy was standing now, but entirely calm and unresponsive. He failed to move as Dutchy threw the man, and failed to stop him as he threatened to pummel his brains out.

"Put him back in his seat, Dutchy," he said finally, his voice still composed.

"Piece of shit," the buffer blasted as he tossed Abangan back into his seat.

The dirt-ridden man didn't seem afraid at all. In fact, he cracked a smile, and Raffy knew that this was what he had wanted all along. He had hoped that one of them would lose their composure and assault him. He would never answer. The darker man, however, was asking questions that he did not expect. He couldn't work out the point of them, and he couldn't work out what he had planned.

"Okay, so you know we're looking for a sailor," Raffy said as soon as his company was calm.

"I don't know anything."

"Yeah, I guessed that. Even if you were friends with these people, I'm pretty sure that you don't rank high enough in their order for them to trust you with such information."

Dutchy was looking confused in the background. He hadn't quite figured the man's game plan yet, but it definitely appeared that he had one.

When the XO's statements didn't elicit a response, he continued. Eventually, he knew, they would. "Let's face it, mate. You're out here. And where are they? Who's the one risking their ass for this operation? It's not them."

"You don't know anything about us!" he defended with great persistence.

Raffy didn't express anything, but he was keeping score in his head. And they'd just scored one point.

"Maybe I don't. I know they don't care about you. They're going to use you as a scapegoat and a martyr for the cause. Did you sign up for that?"

"You know nothing!" he repeated. Raffy's words were starting to get the rise he had wanted. "We are further ahead than you will ever be, because we are willing to risk more than you. Your officer is just the beginning. You will be killed as you kill; and you will be bombed as you bomb."

Raffy's stare did not budge. Still looking at Abangan with an unwavering focus, he said to Dutchy, "Return him to his rack and make sure he's secure. We're done here."

Dutchy glared at his XO for a moment and then did as he was told. Raffy stood up and walked outside, his buffer following a minute later.

"What was that?" Dutchy asked as soon as the door was closed. "We didn't learn anything!"

"On the contrary," Raffy said with a grave expression, "we discovered quite a lot. Learn this, Dutchy, go in with a little information, and you might come out with a lot."

Dutchy wanted to question his XO's fortune cookie antics, but didn't get the chance. The officer was already walking in the direction of the senior sailors' mess, where they had planned to meet with the CO, Swain and Charge immediately after the interrogation. Those three were probably waiting for them.

As it turned out, they were, and when Dutchy finally took his seat, Kate launched into a further explanation of what she had been told by Commander White. "This morning it became known that the CO of the HMAS Uluru, Lieutenant Commander Marc Watson, was UA for a period of at least eight hours. The Uluru was docked in Denpasar and the crew were enjoying a night ashore."

"How did he go missing?" Swain asked pertinently.

"He was with his crew at a nightclub in Kuta and left it early to return to the ship," Kate continued. "His watch was due to start at 0300h and when he didn't show, the crew was naturally concerned."

"And we're sure that he's been kidnapped?" Charge put in.

"NAVCOM seem to believe so. And I know Lieutenant Commander Watson. He is first-rate and 100% reliable. He would not go UA by choice for anything."

"Then that leaves us with two possibilities," Raffy spoke up. He had been uncharacteristically quiet so far. "Either he was taken at random, which is possible given his age and race. It would usually fetch quite a considerable amount in ransom."

"Or?" Charge requested.

"Or the crew was being watched for an opportune moment of weakness and he was snatched," Raffy explained in a resigned tone. "And that is probable. With terrorism appearing as the only possibility, I'm leaning towards the latter."

"What makes you say terrorism?" Kate asked in a low voice, which almost hitched on the last word. It wasn't one that she wanted to use.

"Our captain, Wakim Abangan, knows something," Dutchy told her.

"Did you get anything conclusive?"

Raffy shook his head. "But it was something he said. 'You will be killed as you kill; and you will be bombed as you bomb.' I presume you know the words."

No response from Kate was needed. Her expression said it all.