Chapter Ten

A short ride later found the two men at Nelson's sprawling one level house situated on a bluff over looking the Pacific. Walking through the house and outside to the deck, Nelson inhaled the crisp ocean air and felt himself relax. This was all he needed: home and the ocean.

Sensing someone behind him, Nelson tensed until he remembered Sharkey had driven him home. His brow furrowed in concern as he had forgotten that fact.

"Beautiful view isn't it, sir?' Sharkey asked.

"Yes, Chief. It is. I can't tell you how much I love this view. No place like it in the world for me."

"Yeah. Well, if it's all right with you, I'll just make you something to eat before I head home," Sharkey said waiting for the explosion he knew had to be coming. But Nelson merely nodded.

"I…uh, think I'll change clothes before dinner," Nelson said as he went back inside and headed to his room.

Sharkey entered the kitchen and quickly set about making something for the admiral to eat knowing he probably hadn't taken the time to eat much.

A short time later, Nelson emerged slowly from his bedroom with a distracted air, dressed in crisp blue jeans and a long-sleeved shirt.

"Uh, admiral…I made you some pasta. I thought maybe…"

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" Nelson suddenly yelled when Sharkey met him in the kitchen.

"Admiral? It's me…Sharkey!"

"I don't know anyone named Sharkey!" he exploded. "Get out of here now!"

Confused by Nelson's actions, Sharkey reached a hand out to him, laying it on his arm. "Admiral…" But before he could say anything else, Nelson punched him soundly on the jaw, watching in confusion as he crumbled to the floor.

"What…what happened? Where…?" Pain exploded in Nelson's head as he tried to remember what happened and where he was. He looked down at the body at his feet and pulled back in horror. Who was he? Did he know him? Where was he? Was he in this man's house? Confusion wrapped about him, clouding his mind, until the urge to get away became overwhelming and he heeded the urge to run. And run he did. He found a car in the driveway, keys still inside and got behind the wheel and drove off. Coming to a security gate, he slowed down, his pulse pounding as he didn't know what to do. But the security guard merely looked inside at him and waved him on.

Nelson drove, not sure where he was going but knowing he had to get away. But where could he go? Nothing was familiar. He had no idea who he was or where he was or where he could go to be safe. So he just drove, hoping some place called to him in familiarity.

~O~

Sharkey groaned loudly as he slowly came to, his head pounding in beat with his heart. What the hell had happened? He couldn't recall for a minute, then it suddenly all came back. The admiral! He'd hit him. But why? He rose slowly from the floor, waiting until the floor stopped moving and went to call Captain Crane, knowing he'd know what to do. The call made, he got some ice from the freezer and walked around the house looking for Admiral Nelson. But, not finding him or his car, he sat down to wait for someone to come help.

Captain Lee Crane raced to the admiral's house after hearing Chief Sharkey's story, his heart in his throat. What had happened? Admiral Nelson wouldn't just punch Sharkey for no reason. Concern for Nelson exploded in him as he drove. Something was very wrong and he felt an overwhelming fear envelop him.

Entering Nelson's house quickly, he found Sharkey sitting on the couch, his head in his hands and a bag of ice on his jaw. Kneeling by his side, Crane gently pulled the ice bag away from his face and stared in concern at the obvious swelling.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Sharkey muttered. "I just got blindsided. I don't know what got into him, sir. One minute he was changing clothes while I made him dinner and the next, he's looking at me like he never saw me before! And then he punched me! When I came too he was gone! What's going on?"

"You were making him dinner?"

"Yeah. I figured after the day he'd had he probably hadn't eaten. So I made him a little pasta. He said it was ok."

"The admiral let you make him dinner?" Crane asked, alarm bells ringing even more loudly in his head. "Wait, what happened today?"

"Oh, Miss Angie got worried about the admiral. Said he wasn't feeling well and she wanted him to see Dr. Jamieson. He agreed and she called me to make sure he got there all right."

"The admiral agreed to go see Jamie on his own? That's sure not like him. Did he get there?"

"Yeah but…when I got to Med Bay, he was sitting outside on a bench staring out to sea. He didn't seem to know where he was or why he was outside Med Bay. I got him to go in with me but Dr. Jamieson wasn't there. That Dr. Ferris was though. He checked the admiral over and said other than his blood pressure being a little high; he didn't see anything wrong but wanted him to come back in the morning to see Doc."

Crane got up and began to pace. Nelson had seemed fine when he'd been here this morning to check on him. "You said Angie was worried. Did she say what happened to make her worried?"

"No, sir. She just said the admiral wasn't feeling well."

"Maybe she can tell me a bit more about what happened today," he said as he went to the phone and called Nelson's office.

"Nelson Institute, Admiral Nelson's office," Angie said crisply.

"Angie, it's Lee."

"Lee! What can I do for you? If you want the admiral he went home."

"No I…uh, look can you tell me what happened today with the admiral?"

Angie was silent for a bit. What had gone on between her and the admiral was not something she wanted to reveal, intending to keep it strictly between them. "What…what do you mean what happened?"

"Sharkey's here with me at the admiral's. He…said you told the admiral he should see Doc. Why?"

"He had a really bad headache and a dizzy spell. I thought he should be checked out. That's all," she said shortly.

Something in Angie's voice told Lee there was more to it. "Angie, I need to know if there was anything else that happened. Anything out of the ordinary."

"Why? Why would you ask me that?"

Crane sighed heavily knowing she was fiercely loyal to Nelson and wouldn't betray him to anyone. Even him. "He's disappeared, Angie. And he hit Sharkey…"

"He what? Why would he hit Sharkey?"

"I don't know. But Sharkey said it was like the admiral didn't recognize him and earlier he was outside Med Bay but had no idea why. What happened today?"

Angie was silent for a long time, debating what to tell him. "He had a really bad headache and some dizziness as I said but…"

"But what?" he asked softly.

"He blew up at me. Lit into me about something I'd said. It was like he had become someone else. I've never seen him act that way towards me or talk to me the way he did before. He was so angry. Then shortly after I left his office, he came out and apologized. Said he didn't know what had come over him and he had no right to say what he did. He was very apologetic. What's going on, Lee?"

"I don't know, Angie. Something's wrong with him obviously. I need to call the police and have them start looking for him. And I need to contact Jamie and get him down here."

"I'll call Jamie, you call the police," she said crisply.

"Good. We'll meet in the admiral's office in ten minutes. Oh and contact Chip. Fill him in on the little we know," he said quickly hanging up.

"Skipper, if he's out there all alone, well…anybody could find him and…"

"Yeah, Chief. I know. We just have to hope anyone that finds him isn't out to do him harm. Wait…I wonder…" Crane said as he disappeared into Nelson's bedroom and came out a short time later with something in his hand.

"What's that?"

"It's his wallet. Wherever he is, he doesn't have any ID on him. Unless the person or persons that find him know him on sight, they're not going to know who he is," Crane said as he pondered his friend's predicament in fear knowing someone who wanted to do him harm might be the one to find him.

Grabbing a nearby phone book, Lee looked up the number for the Santa Barbara Police Department and dialed it quickly. After a brief pause, he was connected to a detective by the name of Chris Powers whom they'd had contact with before and informed her of what had happened as well as their worries about someone harming the admiral or kidnapping him. She promised to contact all the officers in the area, as well as other nearby departments, to fill them in on his disappearance, assuring Crane they would take appropriate measures to find the admiral quickly and before he came to harm.

"Well, at least someone is out looking for him right now," Lee said anxiously after he'd hung up. "Come on. Let's get to the office."

~O~

Ten minutes later, Lee and Sharkey arrived at Nelson's office only to find Dr. Ferris already there.

"Dr. Ferris just came in, Lee. Said he called Jamie a few minutes ago about something he found on the admiral's x-rays. When I called Jamie he said he was already on the way back here and would be here shortly.

"What is it you've found, Doctor Ferris?" Lee asked in concern. Ever since Sharkey had called him, he had tried to figure out what could be wrong with Nelson. Everything from alien invasions to brain implants from an unfriendly nation ran through his head.

"I think perhaps we should wait until Dr. Jamieson gets here," the young doctor said hesitantly.

"What's going on? Where's the admiral?"

The group turned to see Chip Morton standing in the doorway with a concerned look in his eyes.

"We don't know, Chip. He…ran off."

"He ran off? What do you mean he ran off?" said another voice from behind Chip. "What happened?"

"Jamie," Lee said turning to face the doctor.

"I'll repeat myself, Captain…what's happened?" Jamie asked as he stepped into the room.

Lee, Angie and Sharkey all spent a few minutes telling Jamie what had happened throughout the day. Jamie lowered his head and shook it. "I should have been here. Not off…"

"Where you were and what you were doing isn't important right now. Admiral Nelson is. What could be wrong with him?' Crane asked in anguish.

"I…I think I may know," Dr. Ferris said quietly, hesitant to intrude but feeling sure he could shed some light on Nelson's recent behavior.

"Oh, Tony, I didn't see you there," Jamie said surprised the man was here. "What do you mean you may know what's wrong?"

"Well, after Admiral Nelson left the clinic, I started to wonder why he was still experiencing terrible headaches and dizziness from an injury that had healed. I did some research and then examined his x-rays."

"And?" Jamie asked, not happy his authority had been usurped.

"Well, I think I may have found something on the x-rays," he said quietly, looking at anyone but Jamieson.

"Spit it out. What did you find?" Jamie asked as fear filled him that he had missed something.

Ferris held Nelson's x-rays up to the light. "If you look closely here in the left temporal lobe, I think I see a shadow."

Jamie grabbed the x-rays from Ferris and stalked to a brighter light, holding them up. "There was no shadow when I looked at these. If there had been I would never have released…" Jamie never finished what he was about to say as he dropped his arm that held the x-rays and groaned.

"Jamie, what is it?" Lee asked coming to his side and staring at him in concern.

"Dr…Dr. Ferris is right," he said softly and without looking Lee in the eye. "There's a shadow."

"What does that mean?" Chip asked. "A shadow?"

When Jamie didn't answer, Ferris cleared his throat and said, "It means there's something on, in or near his brain in the area of the healed fracture. Perhaps a piece of his skull, a splinter if you will, that's in all likelihood putting pressure on the temporal lobe which would obviously cause pain but also cause mood swings or inability to recognize familiar things," he said softly.

"Or people?" Lee asked.

"Or people," he said.

"Why is he just experiencing this now?" Lee asked in anguish.

Ferris shrugged, flicked a quick glance to Jamieson and said softly, "I…would venture to say the splinter was there before but perhaps hidden by the hematoma. With the admiral becoming more active and the hematoma gone…it moved and began putting pressure on the brain."

"My God! How did I miss that?" Jamie asked as he slumped into a chair and lowered his head into his hands. "How could I have released him with…with this? I…dear God how could I have missed it?"

"Let's forget about why it happened or what it is. What we need to do now is find him," Chip said. "How do we do that?"

"We called the Santa Barbara Police Department, Chip. I talked to Detective Powers. She had an APB put out to all the police departments from San Diego as far north as Sacramento. They…they also alerted all the…the morgues in the area for any John Does that come in that fit the admiral's description or build. Hopefully we'll hear something soon. Something good," Lee said, his voice tinged with fear

"Morgues?" Angie asked in a small voice, worry clouding her face as she pondered the implications. "Isn't there anything we can do?" Maybe…go out looking for him ourselves?"

"That's not a bad idea, Angie," Chip said. "We can call the crew back from leave. Tell them what we can and have them split up."

"Good plan. Anything's better than just sitting here," Lee said.

"I'll start contacting the men," Chip said as he left, heading to his office.

Lee stared down at Jamie in concern then knelt by the distraught man. "Jamie? What can we expect from the admiral? Will he remember again? Will he hurt himself? What?"

"I…I don't know, Captain. I…need to consult with Dr. Bradley.

"I already called him, Jamie. He said he was on his way and would be here shortly," Angie said.

"Thank you, Angie. I…can't believe…I never should have allowed my personal…this is my fault."

"Jamie, placing blame isn't going to do the admiral any good. What we need are answers," Lee said placing a hand on the distressed doctor's shoulder.

The minutes seemed to drag by as they waited. Chip returned and told them the crew had been alerted. Those still in the area had, as they expected, formed up search parties and spread out over the area looking for the admiral or his car, anything to give them a starting spot.

"I just feel so terrible," Angie whispered, slightly relieved people were at least out looking for the admiral. "I should have done something more than just send him to Jamie. I knew something was wrong. He never would have…I should have made sure he told you what he was feeling. Or I should have told you what I saw. Even yesterday when he was here he didn't seem right. Kept forgetting things and I know his head hurt."

"Don't blame yourself. You couldn't have known," Lee said as he walked to her and clasped her shoulder.

"I just keep thinking of him out there all alone. Not knowing who he is or where he is or…" she broke off what she was about to say and got up and walked to the large window overlooking the ocean below.

"Who's out there all alone?"

"Jon," Jamie said, anguish tingeing his voice as he saw the neurologist in the doorway. "Admiral Nelson…he…had some kind of episode. He doesn't seem to know who is he is or who…well…Here, look at these x-rays," he said, trying hard to regain his professional demeanor.

Bradley walked to where Jamie stood, holding the x-rays to the light. "Right there. Do you see it?" Jamie asked.

"Yes, yes, there's a…there's something there. When were these taken?"

"About a week ago. Right before I told him he could start back to work for a few hours a day. You had gone down to USC University Hospital by then. I…I didn't see the shadow. I…I was…wasn't focused on him," he said softly, recalling the phone call that had taken his concentration away. "God, this is my fault! How could I let this be overlooked? How?"

"Jamie, it is hard to see," Bradley said laying a hand on his shoulder. "If you hadn't pointed it out to me…"

"No, Jon. There are no excuses. I was…my mind wasn't where it should have been. I…"

"What exactly happened?" Jon asked.

"Angie said he wasn't himself. He was in pain, unreasonably angry. He came up to see me and…I wasn't there. Dr. Ferris here examined him and found nothing outwardly wrong and sent him home."

"Did he go by himself?"

"No, I went with him, Doc," Sharkey said. "Miss Angie asked me to make sure he got up to Doc. When I got to the Med Bay, Admiral Nelson was sitting outside and he seemed to have no idea why he was there. I got him to go in and he saw Dr. Ferris. After that I took him home and made him something to eat. When he came out of his room he…he didn't seem to know who I was and he…well, he clocked me," he said rubbing his jaw. "When I came to he was gone and so was his car."

"This is my fault. If only…" Jamie whispered again.

"Look, placing blame isn't going to find the admiral," Chip said harshly. "What is it we need to do? The men have formed search parties and the police are on the lookout for him but what else can we do?"

"I…I don't know that there's anything else we can do," Bradley said as he stroked his chin in thought. "From what you just told me, he's experiencing amnesia that may or may not be permanent. His memory may return in a few minutes or a few hours or days. Or never. The fact he doesn't know who he is or where he is, is of course great concern. But, until we get some handle on where he is, I don't know that there's much that we can do other than try to think where he might feel comfortable or someplace familiar."

"But Doc, he was home. That's familiar to him and he left there like he…he didn't know he was home," Sharkey said. "Where else would he feel comfortable?"

"Anywhere near water," Angie said softly.

"You're right. Angie," Lee said. "Contact the SBPD and have them concentrate their search near the marinas or beaches. Then call all the naval bases from San Diego on north. Have them be on the lookout for the admiral or his car. Give them a description of what he was wearing and his car. Chip, call a couple of the men out searching and have them go up to his cabin and check for him there."

"Right. Anything else, Lee?" Chip asked.

"Yeah. Pray. Pray hard we find him before someone who might want to hurt him finds him," he said grimly as he pictured any number of scenarios that chilled his blood. They had to find him and soon. The thought of them getting the admiral back from his head injury only to have him…no…no, they'd find him and before anything bad happened. They had to. There was no other scenario he was going to allow his mind to dwell on.