Warning: Adult content near the end of this chapter. Not for innocent eyes.
The second he heard it he was knocked off his feet. Not knowing it was coming he was thrown down to the deck with all of his weight landing on his injured arm causing the pain to radiate through his already injured shoulder. Taking stock of his new injuries he slowly gets up and he swears that the ship is shaking left to right. The OOD who was standing to his left is now laying sprawled out on the deck right outside the hatchway leading to the room where the explosion happened. He's not sure he's conscious or not but he gets over to his side and feels for a pulse. Luckily there is one.
Xx
Captain Ricciardi is sitting in his chair in front of his desk when the ship violently rocks left and then to the right. He has no idea what has just happened and quite honestly hopes it's not what he thinks it is. His mind is automatically brought back to the USS Cole that was bombed by Al Qaeda in late October 2000 in Yemen. But he can't think like that because this is Jamaica where anything can and will most likely happen. He can only hope that it's not as bad as he fears. He'd known Kirk Lippold the Commander who captained the Cole and even went to Annapolis together but he was never the same after what happened on that day.
Xx
The Marine who had been in charge of Lieutenant Owens looks at the man lying on his back as he tries to make sense of what just happened. The bomb disposal unit had successfully removed the vest and place it in the bomb tank knowing that it was safe there because the amount of C-4 that was in the vest would have sunk the Hamilton if it went off. They were working on the explosives that were wired to the Lieutenants pants pockets when all hell broke loose.
Xx
Five minutes prior…
"Sir, what I am going to do next is to remove your dress white pants. When this is complete, I will carefully place them in the bomb disposal tank. This tank is capable of withstanding a blast of two kilograms of any type of explosive."
"Just be careful." The Lieutenant replied shakily hoping they took his plea into account.
The BDU tech started to cut away his pants and by the time he was able to remove his pants from his body, he could feel the explosive getting warmer as if it was being detonated remotely. He thought since the signal blocker on the ship was doing its job they had a few extra seconds before actual detonation. All he had time to do was throw the Lieutenants pants into the bomb containment tank and hope for the best. But he missed the tank. By the time he had realized he missed, the detonation had occurred he couldn't hear a thing. What he remembers next is the marine sentry tapping him on his shoulder asking him if he was alright.
Xx
The marine watched as the second bomb tech threw the pants towards the containment tank but they had hit the edge and not made it into the tank itself. The detonation happened and the only thing that saved him was being by the door that led to the room that they were in. The initial bomb tech had taken cover before the explosion. The damage the marine sentry saw as he looked around was going to be devastating to the crew, C.O., and X.O. What he needs to do now is make sure that the remaining bomb tech and Lieutenant Owens are still in one piece. Knowing that he's not going to need his AR-15 any longer he slings it over his shoulder and makes his way to the bomb tech who took the brunt of the explosion. What he sees is total carnage. The first bomb tech is missing what's left of his right leg from the knee down. He is losing massive amounts of blood by the second. He removes his web belt from his waist and cinches it around the bomb tech's leg. He groans in pain as he does this but he hopes it will keep him alive until medical help can arrive. The second bomb tech is just getting up to his feet by the time he finishes with his triage of his partner. He can see blood coming down each side of his face by his ears. He knows now that his inner eardrum has probably been damaged from the blast. Knowing that he looks medically okay other than cuts and bruises he turns his attention to Lieutenant Owens. What he sees is something he never expected to see. The Lieutenant somehow made it through the explosion in one piece… well almost. What the Marine sees now is a man who has lost his arm from his elbow down. He can't see it anywhere in this debris but it doesn't mean that it's not there somewhere. What he needs to do now is stop the bleeding and calm him down.
"Sir, just try and stay calm for me. You've lost your arm from the elbow joint down. If we can find it there might be the possibility to reattach it. For now, I'm going to tie a bandana around your bicep to stop the bleeding." The marine pulls out a camouflaged bandana and ties it to the stump of Lieutenant Owens' left arm. The blood slows and he knows that he did whatever he could to help him. Now all he has to do is find his arm for reattachment if that's even possible.
Present time…
Rick has the OOD sitting up against the bulkhead a few feet down from the entrance to the room. His head has a laceration on it from when he slid into the bulkhead flange near the doorway. He is currently being looked at by the medical staff. After he is patched-up he should be fine. But Rick wasn't so lucky. When the first responders arrived at the scene, Rick was cringing in pain. He did more damage than just land on his injured arm. According to the corpsman, he had dislocated his shoulder. And on top of that, he had cracked three ribs on his left side. If he breathes shallowly, he can still take air into his lungs. The corpsman just started working on him when the 1 MC sounded from the Captain's Quarters. Seeing that the OOD was still leaning up against the bulkhead Rick picked up the nearest headset and pressed the button to talk to his captain.
"Rick need a sitrep right now. I want to know how this happened! We have measures on this ship to prevent this from happening. I know that whatever happened has something to do with Coke."
"Sir we think we have who was supposed to be Lieutenant Owens reporting for duty. Foolishly I allowed him to board the ship. It was my decision to direct the Marine sentry to take him to the secure room on the third deck port side. I figured being there in that room was the best chance we had to save crew members lives and minimize damage. I haven't heard anything from any other decks as of yet sir."
Rick listened for Captain Ricciardi's response.
"Rick bringing him down there was a good call but the priority now is that we need to see how badly we were hurt. The ship rocked back and forth so I know we took on some structural damage, as for how bad I don't know. Find out for me and get back to me as soon as you can." Then the line went dead.
When he returned back to the corpsman he finished wrapping Rick's cracked ribs and told him not to do anything that strenuous. It was only seconds later when he saw stars when his eyes closed. The corpsman decided then that it was a good time to reset his shoulder and pushed his arm back in place and then he passed out.
Rick was up off the gurney after he came to fifteen minutes later and thought about heading down to the remaining decks to survey the damage but the sling he was put in and his shortness of breath changed his mind. With the smoke was still dissipating by the time he got back into the room he forgot about looking for new damage what he saw in here was total destruction. Since the room that they were in was heavily armor-plated and was facing the port side and the damage was not as bad as he thought. But whatever was detonated blew a 4-foot by 5-foot hole in the side of the ship. Luckily the damage was still above the water line and posed no threat of taking on water. As he moves further into the room he sees the Marine tying a bandana around the stump of an arm that he thinks is Lieutenant Owens.
The Marine seeing him arrive stands at attention.
"At ease Marine."
"Sir everything is secure in the room. The medics are looking over the bomb tech who lost his leg and when they're finished, they will tend to this man here." The Marine points to Owens.
"Carry on."
Rick surveys the damage and knows that they are going to be down for quite some time for repairs. He's not sure if they're going to go back to the States for repairs or repair the ship here. He takes a short video with his phone so he can show the captain what the damage is. The bomb tech is loaded on the stretcher and is brought topside.
Xx
Her flight was delayed returning to JFK. The delay was not from Sangster International, no of course not, she was stuck circling the skies over NYC due to planes stacking up on their approach to JFK. There was a plane that declared an emergency and was given priority landing privileges. They took priority in landing because they had smoke filling the cabin and had no clue to where it was coming from. Their pilot was apologetic and repeated many times over the loudspeaker about how very sorry he was that they were in a holding pattern but it never got her closer to the ground.
Two and a half hours she was finally walking through the jetway to the terminal. If it wasn't for her suitcase that she checked in she'd have left the airport altogether. But she needed to wait for her luggage. Seeing the carousel startup and the luggage come out onto the belt she was happy to see that her bag was mingled in the first bunch of suitcases that came out. All she wanted to do was go to her place and make sure he had taken everything of his out of her apartment. If everything went right she could pick up the keys to the new locks she had installed after she left for Jamaica from the super and all his shit would be gone.
She had made her way out of the terminal and to her surprise, the car service that brought her here when she left for Jamaica was here to pick her up for the return trip. The driver opened the door and within seconds she was being shuttled back to mid-town. Once she was settled into the back seat, she pulled out her phone to see if there were any texts from Rick. Her phone was void of anything but six emails regarding the NYPD and a text from Lanie. She opened that first.
"Hey, Girlfriend just wanted to see if you were back in the city yet. Tomorrow night is gonna be a girl's night for us at your place and I'm not taking no for an answer. I need to live vicariously through you and you need to spill everything about your month away in Jamaica."
Kate could only laugh to herself after reading the text. She saved it and would call Lanie when she got back to her place. She wanted to keep what she and Rick had to herself for a little while longer. But somehow, she knew that Lanie would get it out of her no matter what she did.
Xx
She almost knocked her alarm clock off the nightstand with its relentless buzzing. By the time she silenced it, she opened her right eyelid to see that the sun was just making an appearance through her shaded window. 5:54 am. By the time she has showered, applied a minimal amount of make-up and had some yogurt she was out the door and on the A train heading to the lobby of the twelfth less than a half hour later. By the time she arrived on the homicide floor, the bullpen was empty. Espo and Ryan were working a case and were in all probability out canvassing. She took a look at the murder board and could see that there was a fourteen-year-old boy killed in an apartment above a bodega.
"This one was a tough one for Espo, Kate. Welcome back by the way." Her captain said coming up behind her.
"How so sir? And thanks."
"The boy who was killed was one he was mentoring. He dove into finding out who did this with a vengeance."
"What have they found?"
"Looks like the boy was killed because of his father not paying off his drug debt as quick as a drug dealer wanted. The boy was home alone doing of all things his homework and what happened next was a situation that he never saw coming. The drug dealer went to the apartment to shake down the father for his money and when he didn't answer the door, he started shouting that he wasn't leaving until he got what he came there for. About after a half hour later his son thought he was gone and checked the peephole only to find him still standing in the hallway. When he turned to head back into the apartment the drug dealer heard the noise and opened up right through the door with a 9 mm handgun thinking that the father was inside."
"Espo must be beside himself. Did they ever find the father?" Kate asks.
"Yes, they did. He showed up at the crime scene. He went off on why the NYPD was in his apartment without a warrant and Espo needed to be restrained by Ryan because Espo lost his cool and lunged at the man for thinking nothing about his son and only about what was in his apartment. It was only later when the man broke down when he realized what he lost was his son."
"Was he charged?"
"He was. Possession and distribution of a controlled substance. They found his stash inside the apartment."
"Where are they now?"
"Coming back from Rikers. He was going to make a deal but when he found out that he couldn't get what he wanted he wouldn't talk and was transferred to Rikers. His court-appointed lawyer didn't even try to get him to reconsider."
"Oh. So, they should be back any minute then?"
"Yes. I made sure that they needed to be back here early because today was your first day back. So how was your time in paradise? Did you do anything interesting?"
"Let's just say it was a once in a lifetime experience and leave it at that can we?"
Before Roy could voice his answer, he heard a shriek coming from behind him. Kate, however, knew exactly who it was.
"Hey, girl," Lanie said as she drew Kate into a hug.
"Hey Lanes. What brings you here so early this morning?"
"I had some new information on Javi's case and I wanted to give it to him in person. But I didn't know he would be out in the field. But it wasn't a wasted trip I get to see you. So how about our girl's night tonight are you in?" Lanie asked.
Lanie who was waiting for an answer from Kate received nothing. When she turned to look at her friend, she noticed her eyes were glued to the television that hung down right above Javi's desk in the bullpen. Then she noticed the lone tear running down her cheek.
"Kate, honey what's wrong?"
She wouldn't take her eyes off the CNN News Channel that was reporting on some type of explosion of a ship in Montego Bay Jamaica.
"Good morning. At the top of the hour, we have this breaking news story. A U.S. Coast Guard cutter was deliberately attacked in Montego Bay Jamaica this morning. For an update, we'll go to our sister station ZQI-TV channel 9 in Montego Bay."
"Good morning. This is Henry Gilbert reporting from Montego Bay Jamaica. We have a limited amount of information at this time but what we do know is that the USCGC Hamilton has been heavily damaged by some type of explosion. It's too early to tell how many injured or dead there are because the JDF won't let us get any closer to the ship than where we are right now. We will have more to report at the bottom of the hour but for now, this is Henry Gilbert reporting from Montego Bay. Back to you Paul."
The camera pans in on the hull of the ship showing the damage that resulted from the bomb blast as the segment fades to black.
"Kate?" She tried.
All Lanie heard Kate whisper was, please let him be alright, please let him be a right over and over again. Who was he? She needed to get to the bottom of this and being here right now was not going to be the place for it.
"Kate, what do you say to us getting out of here and having a day just to ourselves? I know you just got back from vacation but there's something going on that's more important to you than work and we need to talk about it."
She never took her eyes off the TV so Lanie made a choice.
"Captain, would it be all right if Kate took a personal day today?"
Roy witnessed the whole scene in front of him could only nod his head yes. As Lanie made her way back over to Kate and put her arm around her shoulder to bring her back home she noticed the tears flowing freely.
Xx
By the time they had stopped at the liquor store and picked up two bottles of a great tasting red and then stopping for some early morning take out it was close to ten in the morning. Wine would be for later but Lanie could tell that Kate had not eaten anything this morning. She opened the door and could tell that it was stale in the apartment from her being gone for the last month. She dropped the wine on the table, put the take out that consisted of two egg sandwiches with Taylor ham and cheese with a coffee for Kate and tea for herself on the kitchen table she went to the window that faced Crosby street and threw the both of them open to let in some fresh air.
"Kate, what happened?"
"Lanie, his ship was bombed!" She said as she angrily swiped away the tears flowed from her eyes.
Lanie took her by the shoulders and looked her right in the eyes.
"Let's start this as if I don't know what on earth you're talking about okay?"
God she didn't want her to find out like this. She wanted to get shitfaced and let it accidentally slip out and then Lanie could ask her whatever she wanted to and she would tell her their story.
"What I am going to tell you is something that you'll never believe. Oh, Lanie, it's the stuff that fairytales are written about." Kate gushed.
"Well, spill girl don't leave me in suspense."
"It was so magical Lanie. I decided to go out to a bar one night just to have a drink and do some dancing. When I got there and started to dance, I was accosted by a group of men."
"Oh my God, what happened then?" Lanie asks.
"Lanie do you want me to tell you what happened or not?"
"I'm sorry please go on."
"As I was saying I got accosted by a group of men in this club all wanting to dance with me at the same time. I just wanted to go there and have fun you know? Let loose with no responsibilities at all. Just to have a drink by myself. But I was totally unprepared for these bozos who thought they were God's gift to women. When they started getting rough with me, I had a knight in shining armor save me. It turns out that he is in the Coast Guard and Lanie let me tell you he takes care of his body! He's got six-pack abs, a very broad chest, and leg muscles that could put a long-distance runner to shame."
"Kate how would you know about his leg …." She stops speaking when she looks at her friend. Lanie could tell the answer just by the way Kate's face turned almost beet red.
"Never mind. I get the picture. So, how was he? Was he hung like a horse? Did he go down on you? Tell me! Tell me!"
"Lanie we didn't just fuck. He was so gentle with me. He treated me the way a woman should be treated. He made love to me that night. Five times to be exact."
"FIVE TIMES!"
"Lanie it was great! I was stretched in ways that that dickhead Will would never even think of doing to me. God Rick has a monster cock!"
"Rick, huh?"
"Yeah, Rick. And he gave me one of the most sensual massages I have ever had. After that, we were done with the bed."
"Wait what? What happened after you were done with the bed?" She was going to need a scorecard to keep up with her friends' sexual activities.
"Well, we needed to get clean. So, we did."
"IN THE SHOWER?"
"Yep. He took me there too. I tried to give him a blow job but I couldn't take all of him down my throat. God, he knows how to please a woman. I looked up at him from where I was kneeling in front of him and he lifted me up and shoved me up against the shower wall, god I must have come three times in there alone, then he washed my back, front, and whatever was in the middle, I really can't remember. Then he made love to me one last time before he needed to leave for his ship the next morning."
"So Kate is that all you did on your vacation?"
"Nope. I helped Rick with a man who was giving information to a high-level drug dealer."
"What? Who?"
"Christopher Coke."
Lanie motioned the sign of the cross on her chest and said,
"Girl you better watch out. That man has eyes in the back of his head. Just promise me that you'll be careful."
"Lanie I know firsthand what he is capable of. I'll be fine."
Lanie looked over to Kate and she was suddenly quiet. She automatically got the remote and turned on the TV and switched it to Fox News then sat back down next her on the couch looking a little sleepy. The coverage now was centered on a Texas Ranger that had been shot but they were about to run their earlier stories in the next rotation. Lanie looked at her watch and could not believe that two bottles of wine were empty and twelve hours had flown by.
By the time Lanie watched the coverage about the bombing on the Hamilton, she hoped that no one died. But when the news report reported that one person had died and many were injured she said a prayer for them. She hoped that Kate would be okay, she knows that she would not be if the situation was reversed. She looks over at her and sees her fast asleep. Taking the afghan off the back of the couch she covers her sleeping form with it….
A/N: Happy Easter to all who observe! :)