Chapter 12
Seaview was at the rendezvous point holding at ninety feet. The admiral, Chip, Bobby and Janet were in the control room at the plotting table waiting for the yacht to make contact. They had been sitting there for over an hour when Kowalski piped up, "Mr. Morton, a large vessel two thousand yards a stern on the port side."
Chip went over to the sonar station and looked at the image on the screen. "Looks like a pretty big boat," he commented. "Up periscope," he said as O'Brien pressed the button and the scope lifted out of the well.
Chip lowered down the handles and made a ninety degree turn when he stopped. "Wow, that's a large yacht," he said with a whistle. "Prepare to surface." He pushed the button on the periscope and waited until it was in the well.
"Surface, surface," O'Brien ordered maneuvering. "Blow main ballast." Seaview slowly broached the surface.
Once on the surface, O'Brien ordered the deck detail to crack the hatch. They would wait for Lee to contact them before going to the conning tower. They didn't have to wait too long before they received a radio call from the yacht.
Lee was on the top deck with binoculars looking for Seaview and watched her surface. He broke out into a large grin when he saw her rise out of the water. He went down to the bridge.
"Jacob, stop her here and drop the anchors. I don't want to get too close to Seaview," Lee instructed. "I'll have them send over a zodiac to pick us up."
"Crane to Seaview," Lee said over the radio.
"Seaview here," Sparks replied.
"Sparks let me talk to Mr. Morton," Le asked as he piped him over to the plotting table.
"Lee," Chip said when he picked up the mic. "That's some yacht you're cruising on."
"Yes, it's not too bad of a ride," Lee replied with chuckle. "But not as good as Seaview. I need you to send over some men to stay on the yacht while we work out our plan with the captain and crew of the boat. Also, I have two men that need to go to the brig."
"Okay, Lee. I'll send over O'Brien, Patterson, Marco, Phil, and Ron. We'll launch the zodiac as soon as the men can get aboard."
"Thanks Chip. I'll be looking for them. Crane out."
Chip double clicked the button on the mic and ordered the men to the control room. When they had assembled they went up the ladder and onto the deck where the zodiac was waiting for them. They made their way over to the yacht where Lee was on the platform at the back to help them aboard. Once on board he brought them up to the bridge and introduced them to the Crosby's.
They all noticed how sunburned their skipper was. Lee saw them staring. "I'm just a bit overdone," he told them with a wry grin.
"Mr. O'Brien, I would like you to stay here with Patterson and Marco. Phil, Ron, you will take me and the Crosby's back to Seaview and then return back here. There's a man tied up on the top deck and one on the lower level, third door on the right they need to be brought back to the boat and put in the brig. Keep them tied up."
"Aye, aye, sir," the men replied. O'Brien looked around the bridge of the yacht and was impressed with its equipment.
"Jenny, Jacob, let's go," Lee said as they went to the back of the boat and boarded the zodiac.
Chip was in the sail bridge watching as the zodiac returned to Seaview; he could see Lee was very sunburned.
As soon as the zodiac reached the side of the boat, the deck detail helped them aboard. Chip made his way down to the control room to wait for Lee and the two other people to come aboard.
Lee looked down the hatch and asked, "Permission to come aboard?"
Chip smiled and replied "Permission granted."
Lee gingerly climbed down the ladder not jumping off the bottom three rungs as his feet were still pretty sore. He helped Jenny down, followed by Jacob. Both of them stood at the bottom of the ladder and just stared at the windows.
The admiral, Chip and Janet walked over to them and looked at Lee. His eye was turning a nice shade of purple and yellow. He had a large bruise on his jaw and his lips were cracked, split and swollen. They could see his arms, legs, and face were very sunburned. He also moved very slowly so they knew he had more injuries than they could see.
"I'm not as bad as I look," Lee said noticing them staring at him especially Janet. "Jenny and Jacob Crosby I would like you to meet Admiral Nelson, Commander Morton and my wife Janet. They're going to help us take back the island."
"Nice to meet you," Jacob replied as he and Jenny shook hands with them.
"Welcome aboard," the admiral said warmly, "Lee you need to report to sick bay before we do anything. I'm sure you're hiding more than we can see."
"Admiral, we have a lot to discuss, I'll do it later. Right now I want to shower and get into a uniform."
Before he could say anything more, Jamie walked into the control room after hearing that they had rendezvoused with the yacht and looked at Lee. "Captain, you'll report to sick bay right now or you won't be doing anything but laying in a bunk in sick bay."
Exhaling deeply, "Okay Jamie, let's go and get it over with. Chip, I promised Jacob and Jenny a tour of Seaview; could you please take care of that? How about we meet in the wardroom in an hour? We'll work out the details then."
"Yes sir," Chip responded with a grin as he led Jacob and Jenny to the observation nose.
Jamie, Lee and Janet left out the aft hatch and went to sick bay. Lee grabbed Janet's hand and gave it a squeeze. She smiled at him but was very worried about him. He looked tired...in pain...and just plain awful.
((()))
Once in sick bay, Jamie helped Lee remove his shirt and shorts before he made him sit on the gurney. His chest and sides had bruises from being kicked, and blisters that were oozing and starting to show signs of infection. The back of his arms, legs, and back was very sunburned but didn't have any blisters. The front of his legs had a few blisters as well as his arms. When he took off his shoes, they all saw the tops and bottoms of his feet were starting to blister. They could feel the heat radiating off his body.
"At least I don't have any tan lines," Lee smiled trying to lighten up the mood as both Jamie and Janet looked at him. "I'm fine," he continued even though he had a headache and was nauseated.
"Lee, how long were you out in the sun?" Jamie asked as he probed his ribs. Lee let out a low moan when he pressed on a tender spot. Jamie already knew he had sun poisoning. He could see he had been beaten as well from the signs on his torso and face.
"On my front, probably twelve hours, on my back maybe six to eight," he answered honestly.
Jamie shook his head at his favorite patient and knew he was feeling worse than he let on. "Lee, I want you to shower here so I can take care of you and your sunburn. Janet can get you a uniform."
"Jamie, I don't have time for this," Lee insisted. "We have to set up a plan of attack."
"You'll have to make the time or I'll put you in sick bay for the rest of this mission," Jamie replied angrily. "I bet you have a fever, your blisters are showing signs of infection and you also have a couple of cracked ribs."
"Jamie, can I please go to my cabin and take a shower?" Lee asked, "I promise I'll come back."
Jamie looked at him and then at Janet, "Alright you can take your shower there but make it a cool shower. Pat yourself dry, don't rub. Put a t-shirt on under your uniform shirt."
"Yes sir," Lee responded as he slid off the gurney. He put the shirt and shorts back on and left for their cabin walking very slowly.
((()))
Lee and Janet made it their cabin but before going in, Lee stared at the door and knew it was a new one. Janet noticed when Lee opened the door he wasn't very discreet about looking around the cabin especially looking at the air vent.
"I know about the camera Paul put in here," Janet said softly. "He told me about it."
Lee looked took Janet's hand, "I'm sorry he was privy to our intimate moments," he apologized.
"Lee, I'm not blaming you for anything. I'm sure if you knew what he was doing you would have stopped him."
Lee took Janet by the waist and pulled her close to him. As much as she wanted to give him a long hard hug, she was afraid she would hurt him so she gently gave him a small hug and gingerly kissed his cheek. His lips were so swollen and cracked she just couldn't kiss him there knowing she would hurt him.
Lee smiled at her acknowledging her concern. "I missed you...did Gallagher hurt you?" Lee asked rubbing his hand over the red welt on her face. "And where did this come from?" he asked as he picked up the glass nameplate from his desk."
"I missed you too and was worried about you. He hit me when I wouldn't tell him about Cookie's order. Lee, please take a shower so you can get back to sick bay. As far as the door and nameplate, I'll explain what happened later."
She helped Lee removed his clothes and he got in the shower letting the cool water cascade over him. As he patted himself dry, Janet saw him start to sway and caught him before he hit the floor. She helped him over to the chair at his desk and poured him a glass of water. He slowly drank the cool water and pressed the glass to his forehead. Janet went to the head and ran a towel under the cold water and put it on the back of his neck.
"Honey, please stay in sick bay for a few hours," she pleaded, "We'll figure something out and let you know what we came up with but there is only one problem. You have to be in the conning tower when we dock on Cole Island. If you're not there, they'll kill everyone."
"I'll be okay," Lee told her as he put his uniform shirt on and noticed how much it hurt to wear it. He started to put on his tie but decided against it as it would rub against his neck. He put on his pants on and they rubbed against his sunburned legs. "Let's go back to sick bay but please don't tell Jamie I almost passed out. Once we get the island back and everything is under our control, I promise you I'll report back to sick bay."
"Against my better judgment, I'll go along with you for now but if you..."
"Thanks sweetie," Lee replied giving her a kiss. As they left the cabin, Janet grabbed a t-shirt.
((()))
When Lee returned to sick bay, Jamie helped remove his clothes again. He put an antibiotic ointment on the blisters on his chest and put gauze pads over them. He sprayed the rest of him with an aloe gel.
"Put your t-shirt on," Jamie told Lee as Janet helped him get it over his head. "I'm going to wrap your torso with some ace bandages but not too tightly as to hurt the blisters. It will help you move a little easier without too much pain." He also put antibiotic ointment on his legs and wrapped them in gauze. Before Lee finished getting dressed Jamie gave him a shot of antibiotics and a couple of acetaminophen tablets.
Lee put his uniform shirt on and buttoned it up. With the gauze pads and t-shirt his uniform shirt didn't rub against his chest. When he put on his pants they didn't rub against his legs because of the gauze.
"Thanks, Jamie," Lee said as he buttoned his sleeves. "That does feel better." His shoes still hurt the bottom of his feet but he would have to deal with it for now.
"You're welcome," Jamie answered looking at his watch. "You have five minutes to get to the wardroom. Please try not to drink coffee for the rest of the day only water as you are dehydrated."
"Okay, just for today," Lee smirked as he and Janet left sick bay for the wardroom.
When they arrived, the rest of the group was there getting their dinner.
