Chapter 7
Chip was at his normal position at the chart table with Bobby standing next to him, when Lee returned to the control room. He looked up when he heard Lee's footsteps on the stairs. He could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't happy.
"Any luck?" he asked as Lee picked up a pencil.
"No, we only know it's a man. Even Patterson's photos didn't shed any light," Lee reported tapping his pencil. "I'm assuming no calls came in?"
"Sorry, Lee, nothing at all. What are you going to do once we've loaded the equipment?"
"If we don't hear anything in the morning, the admiral and I are going to Ibiza. Don't know what we'll find, but maybe someone at the airport saw something. You'll continue with the mission as scheduled."
"Aye sir," Chip replied.
Lee looked at his watch. "Why don't you and Bobby go to lunch. I'll stay here until you return and then I'm going to my cabin to catch up on some paperwork."
"Aye, sir," they replied and headed out the aft hatch.
While at the chart table, he reached under the top and pulled out a map of the Mediterranean Sea. Ibiza was one of the few places he'd never been to and wanted to check out exactly where it was located. He charted a course to Ibiza and quickly calculated in his head how long it would take FS-1 to get there, then walked around the control room checking in with the men. He stopped and talked with Sparks making sure there was nothing wrong with the radio. Chip and Bobby returned to the control room and noticed Lee was standing at the chart table, distractedly staring out the windows tapping his pencil.
"I'll take over," Chip said. "By the time you finish up your paperwork we should be close to Kings Bay."
Lee tossed his pencil on the table, "Thanks, Chip. I'll be back before its time to dock."
Lee trotted up the staircase and headed down the passageway to his cabin, lost in thought trying to figure out who hated him enough to kidnap his wife. There was nothing for him to on; no proof at all, and yet he knew that she had been taken to get to him.
()()()()()()()
Lee walked in the cabin and sat down at his desk. I know I have a lot of enemies, but none of them could possibly I'm married. Hell, most of them don't even know my real name, he muttered as he opened the desk drawer and removed one of the two folders with the paperwork he needed to complete. He opened the folder, but his attention was diverted to the other folder on his desk…the one that contained the pictures Patterson had blown up from the surveillance cameras. "Who are you…where are you…what do you want with Janet and why haven't you called?" Lee muttered as he closed his paperwork folder and took out the photos and re-examined them. Damn, that guy had to know that there were cameras, he thought angrily. Frustrated, he put them back in the folder. Before he could re-open the other folder, there was a knock on his door.
Annoyed by the knock, "Come in," Lee responded tersely.
Cookie walked into the cabin with a tray of food and a carafe of coffee. "Mr. Morton asked me to bring you some lunch since he knew you wouldn't make it to the wardroom."
"He told you to bring it?"
"Yes sir, he figured you might give one of the mess specialists a hard time about eating," Cookie replied with a grin.
"Thanks Cookie," Lee grinned back forgetting he was annoyed at being disturbed.
"I'll be back in a little while to remove the tray," Cookie answered and left the cabin.
Lee took the roast beef sandwich off the plate and ate while he filled out his reports. I don't miss doing these, he thought as he sipped the piping hot coffee. He finished up his lunch and most of the reports, putting them back in the folder, and made his way to Janet's empty office to place it on her desk. I sure hope she'll be back to deal with these, he thought, whimsically thinking of happier times.
()()()()()()()
He left the office and returned to the control room where Chip was studying the sonar screen.
"Problem?" Lee inquired joining Chip at the console.
"No, sir. Just finishing up a tour of the control room. We'll be docking at the naval base in an hour. They gave us an end slip."
"Good," Lee replied as he heard Harry's footsteps on the staircase.
"How soon before we dock?" he asked Lee.
"About an hour," Lee replied. "Sir, how about we stay at the base for the night and have Seaview leave in the morning for Antarctica. I'll give the crew shore leave before the long trip south and under the ice cap."
"Sounds good," Harry agreed. "I'm going to contact Dr. Simmons and let him know we'll be docking shortly."
"Here's our location in the harbor," Lee said handing him a piece of paper with the docking information.
Harry tapped the paper as he read it over and retreated up the stairs to his cabin to make his phone call.
Furrowing his brow, Lee looked at Chip, "I'm assuming we have a shore leave schedule somewhere," he said as Janet usually handled all that information and took care of posting the schedule.
"I'm sure it's on Janet's computer. I'll check it out and post it," Chip offered and headed to Janet's office. I never realized how much we depend on her," Lee thought worriedly, with every single task reminding him that his wife was missing.
()()()()()()()
Seaview docked in NSB Kings Bay at 1800 hours. The crew loaded the supplies that would be needed for the journey to Antarctica. When the crew finished with the loading, they were divided into two groups with each group getting a two hour leave as Lee wanted all personnel back on board by 2300 hours. He also had Chip instruct the men not to get into any trouble as he wasn't in the mood to bail them out of jail. Dr. Simmons invited Harry, Lee, and Chip to have dinner, but Lee declined in case he received a call from the kidnapper. Sparks volunteered to stay in the radio shack until Thompson reported for duty. Lee had instructed the other radio operators stressing the importance of finding him wherever he was if a call came through. Bobby would be on duty in the control room until Chip came back aboard, so Lee returned to his cabin to complete the rest of his reports. It was a couple hours later when he finished up his last report. He put it in the folder with the rest of them and set the folder underneath the one with the photos. Janet would be proud of me. He picked up the folder with the photos and scanned through them once more, disappointed he still couldn't identify the man who had his wife. He put them away, sighed deeply, and set out for the control room. He knew Chip would be returning shortly to relieve Bobby.
Lee saw that Thompson, Spark's replacement, had returned and was getting some last-minute information from Sparks.
"Bobby, as soon as Sparks is finished with Thompson, you can leave. I'll stay here until Chip returns."
"Thank you, sir," Bobby said as Sparks stood up, grabbed his jacket, cover and walked towards the two men.
"Skipper, I've instructed Thompson on what I was doing, so there should be no problems."
"Thanks, Sparks, Bobby, for taking the second shift," Lee told his men.
Bobby put on his service jacket, took his cover and the two men headed up the ladder and out of the sub. Lee sat down in the nose, watching the service crews on the other docks working on some of the submarines that were stationed there. It wasn't too long before he heard Chip's familiar steps on the ladder. He saw Lee in the nose and walked over to him.
"Any news?" Chip asked holding his cover in his hand and a bag of take-out food in the other hand.
"No nothing," Lee replied disappointedly.
"Lee, they'll call," Chip said trying to reassure his best friend. "Here, I brought you dinner. We went to this fabulous seafood place, so I ordered you steak and lobster. Let me stow my gear and I'll have Cookie heat it up and bring it to the nose with some fresh coffee."
Smiling, "Thanks Chip…I appreciate it." Lee noticed Harry wasn't with him, "Where's the Admiral?"
"He'll be here shortly. He went with Dr. Simmons to check out his laboratory and pick up his gear, since he'll be spending the night on the boat so we can get an early start in the morning."
Chip closed the crash doors only leaving a gap large enough for him to fit through in case there was a problem and called the galley to take care of Lee's dinner.
Cookie brought in Lee's dinner a few minutes later along with the coffee and some cookies he'd hidden from the crew, hoping to do what he could to ease the Skipper's worry just a little bit.
()()()()()()()
While Lee ate his dinner, Chip munched on the cookies not missing the worry etched on his 'brother's' face. Neither man said anything as he ate.
"That was really good," Lee said when he finished. He took the napkin off his lap and placed on the tray. He poured himself another cup of coffee and refilled Chip's. Chip offered him a cookie, but Lee shook his head no.
The two friends sat looking out the observation nose windows at the activity taking place on the docks when they heard Harry's voice in the control room. Both men quickly stood up and walked over to the crash doors as Chip pressed the button opening them the rest of the way.
"Good evening, Admiral," Lee said walking over to Harry as he waited off to the side for a man on the ladder to come down.
"Any news?" Harry asked immediately.
"No sir," Lee replied noting the disappointed look on Harry's face.
"Alex, I'd like to you meet Lee Crane, Captain of the Seaview."
"Nice to meet you Dr. Simmons," Lee responded shaking his hand.
"Please, it's Alex and I'm very sorry to hear what has happened to your wife. I'm sure you'll hear from them. I know how hard it is to miss someone you love. Harry reassured me that the mission will go on and that I'm in good hands with Commander Morton and the rest of your crew."
"Thank you, sir," Lee answered. He figured Harry would have told him about the kidnapping since they would be leaving in the morning for Ibiza. He also knew the Dr. Simmons had a family emergency causing him to postpone the mission earlier, so he was very understanding. It was certainly a welcome change from the many egotistic, self-absorbed scientists Seaview had hosted in the past.
There were more voices topside as Sharkey, Kowalski, Riley and Patterson came down the ladder.
"Kowalski, here will take your gear Dr. Simmons," Lee said.
"Aye, sir," Ski replied and could also tell by the look on his Skipper's face that he hadn't heard anything.
"Lee, I'm going to show Alex the lab and the rest of the boat, after that I'll be in my cabin. I'm going to call Angie and tell her what has occurred. I want to make sure she knows to pass on any phone calls in case the kidnapper contacts the Institute," Harry remarked.
"Yes, sir," Lee replied. "I'll let you know if I hear anything."
When Harry and Alex left the control room, Harry glanced back and saw how worried he was that he hadn't heard from the kidnappers.
"Chip, why don't you call it a day. I'll stay here and wait for the rest of the men to return. I'm sure you have quite a few reports that need to be completed."
"I sure do. I can't believe how many. Did we always do this much paperwork?"
"Yes, I didn't realize how much we've come to depend on Janet now that she's not around," Lee replied sadly.
"She'll be back to do our paperwork," Chip answered encouragingly as he patted Lee on the shoulder. Chip walked up the staircase and entered his cabin where he removed his tie and rolled up his sleeves ready to dive into the reports.
()()()()()()()
It was 2245 when Taper finally returned to the control room with his clipboard. "Skipper, all the crew has reported in from shore leave."
"Thanks, Scott. You're relieved," Lee told him as he picked up the mic. "Deck detail, secure all hatches."
"Aye, aye, sir," they replied.
Lee stood in the control room listening as the hatches were closed and locked and waited for the men as they scrambled down the ladder. Since they were in port, no one would be on duty except Thompson who would turn over the communications system to Josh in a couple of hours. He'd already been briefed on what to do if a call came through for the captain. Lee never liked the eerie silence of the control room when all the equipment and consoles were shut down. He left through the aft hatch noticing the lights in the passageways had been dimmed. Seaview was tucked in the for the night. No need for a walk around, he thought so he made his way up the ladder near sick bay and ran into Jamie as he walked down the passageway to his cabin.
"Any news?" he asked hopefully.
"No, nothing at all. The admiral and I are leaving in the morning if I'm not contacted," Lee replied anxiously.
"Well then, you better get some sleep. You look pretty tired," Jamie added.
"Yes sir," Lee answered with a slight grin. "Good night, Jamie."
"Night Skipper."
Lee entered his cabin, undid his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. He went to the head and washed his face hoping the cool water would help ward off the beginnings of a headache. He sat down at the desk then opened the file with the photos. He looked through them again but still couldn't make out who the man was. He finished getting ready for bed and climbed in the bunk. He laid his hand behind his head, tired but unable to fall asleep and wondering who had Janet and where they'd taken her.
()()()()()()()
Janet woke up at 8:00 the next morning to the sun shining through the drapes she closed when she went to bed. She slept better than she anticipated, more than likely from the stress of the kidnapping as well as the jet lag. She headed for the outdoor shower still not sure it was as private as it looked. Having no other bathing choice, she took a quick shower and put on a blue skirt with a white sleeveless top. She looked at her cheek and saw it was a nice shade of purple and tried to cover it with make-up but the purple still showed, so she gave up. She put her reader back in her bag and set it alongside her purse. I sure would like to get off this island, but if my hunch is correct, Lee will be taking my place, Janet thought as she plopped down on the bed. I don't know if I can live with that. I've got to figure something out, or hope Lee can figure out a way for both of us to escape.
She hadn't been sitting there too long when she heard someone at the door undoing the lock.
Before she could open the door, she heard a knock, "Mrs. Crane, I'm here to take you to breakfast."
She recognized the voice as Andre's. She walked over to the door and opened it.
"Good morning. It's almost 9:00, please come with me, Mr. Huchay is expecting you to be on time."
"What if I don't want to go?" Janet declared curtly.
Andre took a deep breath, "That is not an option," he replied grabbing her arm.
Janet pulled her arm out of his grasp and followed him to the dining room where the doors were open letting in a warm breeze even though it was early in the morning.
"Mr. Huchay will be here shortly," Andre told Janet and left her with Cara who was arranging pastries and fruit on the side board. "Would you like some coffee?" she asked.
"Yes, please," Janet replied. She realized she was quite hungry, since she didn't finish her dinner last night.
Cara handed her the cup, "Thank you," Janet said adding some cream and sugar to it before she walked over to the open doors where she could smell the orange and lemon blossoms. "How long have you been here?" Janet asked Cara trying to make conversation and find out some information.
"A few…" she started to say, but stopped talking abruptly when Huchay entered the room.
"Good morning, Janet," Huchay greeted as Cara quickly handed him a cup of coffee. "I hope you slept well…I see you have a nice bruise on your face."
Janet just glared at him.
"Cara, serve breakfast immediately. I have a lot to do this morning."
"Yes sir. I'll be back in five minutes," she answered and left the dining room to make them breakfast.
"Janet, sit down," Ghag ordered.
Instead of following his order, she went over to the side board and poured another cup of coffee, before sitting down at the table, invoking a dirty look from her captor, which she ignored.
"I have quite a bit of business to take of this morning, but as soon as I'm finished, we'll see about contacting your husband," Ghag said curtly. "You'll have to stay in your room until I'm finished."
"Where else would I go," Janet responded indifferently.
Cara returned with their breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast. Neither one of them spoke as they ate. Huchay finished eating and stood from the table. "Andre will take you back to your room. I'll send for you when I'm ready."
Janet put her napkin on the table just as Andre came into the room. He walked her back down the hall, opened the door and waited for her to enter. When she was in the room, he closed the door and locked it again.
()()()()()()()
Janet sat down on the bed for a few minutes before getting up and heading for the outdoor shower. Maybe I can remove some of the wooden slats, she thought. She looked to see if she could find one that was loose or broken. She located one at the top, but wasn't tall enough to reach it so she grabbed one of the chairs from the bedroom and placed it in the shower. She hopped on the chair and managed to wiggle the slat away but couldn't see anything. She needed to pry off a few more boards. They wouldn't budge so she had to look for something to use as a lever. She looked in the bathroom and found the rod from an old towel bar and managed to pry a few more slats away from the post, only to find a chain link fence holding back a thick hedge.
"Damn, there is no way to escape this place," she mumbled stepping off the chair and put it back in the bedroom. She didn't bother replacing the slats she removed and left them on the shower floor.
She returned to the bedroom and checked her watch only to discover that it had been only an hour since breakfast. Bored, and with no other ideas for escape, she took the reader out of the bag and moved to the small table that overlooked the patio. She turned on the reader hoping again that it would connect, but the circle just kept turning. She tapped her fingers on the table hoping an idea would pop in her head on how she could escape, but nothing came to her, so she read her book.
()()()()()()()
She'd been reading for about two hours when she heard the door being unlocked. She quickly put her reader away and went to the door, opening it to find Andre standing at the door.
"Mr. Huchay, wants to see you."
"It's about time," Janet replied impatiently.
She walked along side Andre as they made their way down the hallway to the right side of the house, when they came upon a closed door. Andre knocked, opened it and waited for Janet to enter the room before closing the door after her. Ghag sat behind a glass topped desk with two white chairs in front of it.
"Sit down," Ghag said pointing to the chair on the right. "It's after 12:00 here so where would your husband be now?"
Janet sat down in the chair he indicated, but did not respond to his question.
"Look, if you want to see him again, you'd better tell me where he is," he demanded.
"He's on Seaview."
"Let's send your husband a text message, shall we?" he said removing her phone from the drawer in his desk. "Put in the code to unlock the phone," he ordered.
Janet was reluctant to do what he asked, but figured she had no choice if she wanted to see Lee. She took the phone from his extended hand and put in her code. Ghag quickly took the phone from her before she could press any other buttons. He looked over the phone and found the message app.
He typed in his message. If you want to see your wife again, surface the boat so we can talk face to face. Text back when you're on the surface. He pressed the send button and the phone dinged letting him know the message was sent.
"Let's see how long it takes him to follow orders," Huchay snapped.
Hoping to reach a soft spot, she tried a different tactic. "I have a good idea why you're punishing me and Lee, but is that going to bring back Hai?" Janet asked softly.
Enraged over her comment, Ghag stood up placing his hands on his desk looming over Janet, "Don't you ever mention her name again," he sneered. "It's his fault she died and I'll never stop making you, your husband or the people you care about pay for that."
Boy, that was the wrong approach, Janet thought, but didn't say anything and sat there waiting for Lee to respond to the text. As much as she wanted to see and talk to him, she privately hoped he wouldn't get the message, because she was terribly afraid of what Ghag would do to him.
()()()()()()()
Seaview left the naval base at 0500. Lee and Chip were in the control room while Harry and Dr. Simmons sat in the nose holding on tightly, while Lee put the boat through some serious angles and dangles making sure that none of the cargo they stowed moved around.
"Does this always happen?" Alex asked after Lee finished the maneuvers, satisfied everything was stored properly.
"Yes, Captain Crane likes to put Seaview through her paces," Harry nodded.
"Thank goodness, I didn't have breakfast," Alex replied with grin.
Harry smiled back at his friend, "How about we get breakfast now? Cookie should have things ready now that Lee's finished shaking us up."
"Sounds good," Alex replied as the two men stood up and wandered into the control room.
"Sorry if I made you nervous, Dr. Simmons" Lee apologized noticing he looked a little unnerved during the maneuvers.
"No problem, I just wasn't prepared for it," Alex answered.
"Lee, we're on our way to breakfast, you and Chip will join us," Harry stated letting Lee know he needed to eat before they left for Ibiza.
"Yes sir, we'll be there in a few minutes," Lee responded knowing Chip would be hungry by now as it was 0600. He put his pencil down on the chart table when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He quickly removed it, put in his code and found the message from Janet's kidnapper.
"Whoever has Janet wants me to surface the boat so we can talk face to face."
"Well, what the hell are you waiting for!" Harry exclaimed.
Lee looked at Chip, but he didn't need to tell him to surface as he already had the mic in his hand, "Surface, surface," he ordered and stowed the mic.
When the boat had broached the surface and leveled off, Lee sent his message. On the surface. "Now maybe we'll find out who has her and what they want."
