- The team race to find Marnie and Gary -
This is the penultimate chapter of this story, with one final chapter to come - hopefully very soon! Thank you to everyone who has followed this story so far, I hope you enjoy this chapter. All reviews are very welcome, thank you kindly!
CHAPTER 14.
Walter leapt to his feet. "C'mon," he said, urgently.
"Someone needs to stay here with Lydia," said Toby.
"No!" exclaimed Lydia, pushing Toby away and trying to stand. "I'm coming with you."
Toby hastily grabbed her by the arm to stop her falling over. "I think that's a really bad idea, you have a head injury," he said.
"But Gary's in trouble," she replied. "He's my husband, I love him. He's a jerk sometimes and I don't know what kind of trouble he's gotten himself into this time, but I still love him." She wiped a sudden stray tear from her bruised face. "And what am I supposed to tell Sara if anything happens to Marnie? Please, let me come with you."
Walter looked at Toby for a confirmation, but all Toby could do was shrug, before nodding reluctantly. Lydia's heartfelt plea was genuine and it wouldn't do her any good to stay here worrying. Besides, they couldn't really afford for any of the team to stay behind with her and they didn't have time to waste taking her to a hospital which is where she really needed to be.
"OK," he said. "But I'm keeping a close eye on you."
Minutes later they were in the car and Happy drove as fast as she could towards the Navy base. Lydia was struggling to focus on Walter as he explained about Gary's history with Tim while Toby put a makeshift dressing over the cut on her face.
Their Homeland IDs got them through the main gate, just as they had before, but the security desk was a different matter. Walter knew the cloned entry tags he and Happy had used the day before were only good for one day, so they were no use now. Instead, they quickly realised they'd have to try to talk their way in.
"Listen to me," pleaded Walter for the third time. "Lives are at risk. Civilian lives. Now if you'll just let me access your systems, I may be able to locate them then I'll simply direct your people and I won't even have to enter the building."
The male security guard sighed. "Do I look like a moron, Mr O'Brien?" he asked.
Toby opened his mouth to answer, but Happy's elbow in his ribs stopped him just in time before he got them all arrested.
"Sir," began Paige, in the calmest voice she could muster. "If you'll just call Rear Admiral Marchant, she'll vouch for us. Please hurry."
The female security guard rolled her eyes and picked up the handset on her desk. "This should be fun," but she didn't get chance to make the call as Marchant walked round the corner at that very moment.
"Main gate told me you guys were back," she said. "Haven't had chance to look at those files for you yet, but…"
"There's no time for that now," Walter interrupted her and he quickly explained why they were there.
Marchant frowned. "Are you telling me my personnel are involved in all this?" she asked.
"Yes!" exclaimed Happy, rapidly losing her patience.
"I know you don't want to believe it," added Toby, with empathy in his voice. "But I also know you don't want to put innocent lives at risk. People are in danger, let us help."
Marchant thought for a moment. "I'm taking a huge risk here," she said. "But if Cabe Gallo trusts you, then… then so do I." She glanced at the two security guards. "Let them in, that's an order."
"Thank you," smiled Paige.
"Wait!" exclaimed the female guard.
"I said, that's an order!" retorted Marchant.
"No, you don't understand," replied the guard. She was frowning at the small monitor on her desk. "Someone just used your codes to access Bessie."
"Who, or what is Bessie?" asked Toby.
"She's our mini-sub, we use her for training," explained Marchant. "We'd better get down to the tank. No one else has my codes." She looked at the guard with concern. "Diaz, get a team down there, now!"
"The tank?" queried Paige as they began to follow her to the nearest stairwell.
"A tank of water for the submarine, I assume?" offered Walter.
"Yes," confirmed Marchant, picking up speed as she descended the stairs. "We use her to train our personnel. The tank is designed to recreate dangerous, underwater emergency situations."
"Not good," noted Happy.
Toby had to slow his pace as Lydia was struggling to keep up. "You could rest here?" he suggested.
"No," replied Lydia with determination. "I don't understand what's going on, but I can't…. I can't…" but she couldn't finish her sentence, as her head started to spin.
"OK, steady," urged Toby. "We're gonna take a breather. Guys!" he yelled. "We'll catch you up!"
Lydia reluctantly admitted defeat and Toby helped her to sit on a step. "If anything happens…"
"Just relax," urged Toby. "Catch your breath."
"I knew something was wrong with Gary," admitted Lydia. "He's been moody lately, not himself. I just figured it was… y'know, stress, I guess. His health, money worries, everything with Sara and Marnie… he loves that kid, we both do. He'll do anything for her."
"Did you ask him what was wrong?" asked Toby.
"We don't really talk like that," replied Lydia.
Toby saw a deep sadness in her eyes and under different circumstances he'd have pushed her to open up and talk about it, but right now was not the time or the place. Instead he offered her a supportive smile and she smiled back, gratefully.
"Did you know about what went down with Tim?" asked Toby.
Lydia slowly shook her head. "No," she admitted. "I didn't know Gary back then. He wasn't one of the crowd Sara and I hung out with. He wasn't one of the guys that… y'know, the guys that wanted to hook up with girls. I had no idea he was training at the same time as Tim. I wish he'd told me."
"We don't all the details yet," replied Toby. "But I'd say whatever happened with Tim sixteen years ago, Gary still carries it with him. It affects him every day. He's tried to block it out, that's why he's never talked about it."
Toby allowed Lydia a moment to settle her thoughts as much as she could.
"Are you ready to move?" he asked eventually.
"I can't stay here while they're in trouble," said Lydia. She took a deep breath and got to her feet. "When Marnie ran away, we knew she'd be OK, we knew she'd come back," she continued as Toby took her by the elbow and they began walking down the rest of the stairs. "We didn't worry. I guess we should have, knowing what we do now about all of this, but we didn't. She's so independent, so strong. Just like Sara was before she got sick."
"Hey, Sara's still pretty tough from what I've seen," said Toby. "Her illness doesn't change that."
"I know," replied Lydia, quietly and she fell silent as they hurried along the whitewashed corridor.
Following the signs to the tank, they quickly found the control room. The room was small, but brightly lit. A large desk took up an entire wall and there was an array of monitors and controls beeping and flashing in front of them.
Paige looked round as they entered. "Everything OK?" she asked and Toby nodded.
He helped Lydia to a chair before turning back to Paige. "What's happening?" he asked. "Where's Hap?" He could see Walter furiously tapping keys on a keyboard, getting more and more frustrated as he worked, but there was no sign of his wife-to-be.
"We think Marnie and Gary are trapped in the sub," explained Paige. "It's at the bottom of the tank and we don't have control, or communication with them. Everything's been locked out. Happy's out there trying to access the manual override, but it's been sabotaged and Walter's trying to establish a link from here."
"This should never have happened," said Rear Admiral Marchant, apologetically. "We have security protocols to prevent this."
"This is an inside job," explained Toby. "Most likely with expert outside help. These people knew what they were doing."
"But why?" asked Marchant. "I don't understand what this is about?"
"I'm in!" yelled Walter, suddenly, before Toby could offer Marchant any explanation.
Everyone spun round. "I have the monitoring system back online, but no communication yet," he clarified. "As far as I can tell all the sub's internal systems are operating within normal parameters," said Walter. "They're seventy-five feet down, is that the bottom of the tank?"
"Yes," confirm Marchant. "It's one of the deepest training tanks in North America."
"Happy?" Walter called out. "Any luck with the manual override? We need to get that sub back to the surface."
"Y'don't say," came Happy's sarcastic reply over the comms. "I'm doing my best, boss, but I'm trying to fashion spare parts out of a pile of junk and these Navy engineers are cramping my style with their dumb rules and crappy protocols."
Walter turned to Marchant. "Your people are hindering progress."
Marchant picked up her radio and ordered her engineers to back off. Paige couldn't help but smile as she imagined the slightly smug grin on Happy's face at that moment.
"Sly, how close are we to getting the communication system back online, pal?" asked Toby.
"I'm patched in," Sylvester answered over the comms link. "But I can't seem to… Ralph, anything?"
"Ralph!" exclaimed Paige at the mention of her son. "Are you OK?"
"Busy, Mom," came Ralph's brusque reply.
Paige bit her lip hard. People were in danger and Ralph was helping, like he always did. Marnie and Gary needed him, they needed his genius mind, but right now she needed her little boy. She needed to tell him that no matter what else was going on in her life, he would always be her number one priority. Always. He could talk to her about anything, whenever he needed her she would be there for him. She had to make sure he understood that.
Paige's thoughts were interrupted by her son's voice again.
"Walter, look at this, do you recognise the patterns in the code?"
Walter glanced across to the second screen. "Yes!" He exclaimed. "Good catch, Ralph, nice work." He spun round and addressed the others. "Whoever coded this, whoever cut off communication with the sub, it was the same person who programmed the portable device, the one that was planted in Marnie's bag to gain access to our systems back at the garage!"
Before anyone had time to digest that information, Ralph's voice came over their comms again.
"I've done it!" he announced. "You should be able to talk to the sub now."
Paige beamed proudly and her smile grew even wider as she caught Walter doing the same.
Walter leaned forward and spoke into the microphone on the desk. "Gary? Marnie? Can you hear me?"
Nothing.
Lydia was on her feet now and she clutched at Paige's arm.
"It's Walter, can you hear me?"
"W…Walter?"
There was an audible gasp of relief at the sound of Marnie's voice.
"Marnie!" Walter exclaimed. "Are you both OK?"
"Um… I'm OK, but Gary's hurt. He hit his head, he's unconscious."
Toby grabbed the microphone from Walter.
"Marnie, it's Toby. Tell me what's going on."
"He fell and whacked his head when those guys shoved us in here. He's breathing, I put him in the recovery position. He was kinda in and out for a few minutes, but now I can't wake him up. You gotta get us out of here! Please!"
"It's OK, we're working on that right now," Toby replied in a reassuring tone. "Won't be long. I need you to stay calm, OK? Just tell me if anything changes down there."
Toby muted the microphone and turned to Walter. "We need to move this along, Walt," he said, seriously. "Gary was conscious and now he's not, that means his condition is deteriorating. He could have a haematoma or, worse, he's actively haemorrhaging. Either way, clock's ticking."
Paige slipped her arm around Lydia. "We'll have them out as soon as we can," she said and Lydia nodded. "I know what you're going through," continued Paige, with empathy. "Ralph was kidnapped at Christmas, I felt so helpless and Walter's always putting himself in danger…" but she trailed off.
Why had she mentioned Walter? Lydia's husband and the girl she loved like a daughter were in danger and Paige had related by talking about her son and Walter.
Walter. Not Tim.
Paige took a deep breath. She didn't have time to think about the wider implications of why her mind had gone straight to Walter. Of course it was obvious why, but…
"Walt, we're done, mechanism's working again."
Happy's voice broke the anxious silence.
"Raising the sub now."
The next few minutes were a rush of activity. Walter, Toby, Paige, Lydia and Rear Admiral Marchant raced out of the control room and met Happy and the two engineers on the long metal gantry that stretched across the water from one side of the tank to the other. The whirring of machinery echoed around the huge room and Paige had to shout as she gave Cabe and Sylvester a running commentary of events as they unfolded.
The small, yellow, mini sub broke the surface of the water just as a Navy medic arrived with a stretcher. "There's an ambulance on the way," the medic announced as she prepared the equipment she'd brought with her.
Happy and Walter quickly opened the hatch and they both reached in to help Marnie climb out. Toby led her back along the gantry to safety as soon as she was on her feet. She was tearful and trembling, but unhurt and she ran into Lydia's arms.
Toby turned back to see Walter dropping through the hatch into the sub with one of the engineers and by the time he'd run back to join them, Happy and the other engineer were hauling Gary's unconscious body through the hatch.
Toby winced at the large, purple bruise on the side of the man's head. Within minutes he and the medic had him stabilised and everyone headed outside to the waiting ambulance.
"We'll meet you at the hospital, Toby," said Walter as Gary was loaded into the ambulance and Toby nodded as he climbed in with Lydia and Marnie.
Rear Admiral Marchant stood in stony silence as the vehicle sped away. Eventually she turned to Walter. "I have no idea what's going on," she admitted.
"We're not entirely sure of the details," began Walter. "But we believe it has to do with Timothy Armstrong and… and one of your Lieutenants whose father was… was involved in a cover up fifteen years ago and…." but then he stopped and his face fell.
He turned to Happy.
"We've been idiots," he said, as the realisation hit him. "This… all this with the… the submarine, it was a distraction."
He turned back to Marchant.
"Marnie and Gary weren't supposed to be in… in danger. Gary's accident wasn't planned. All the time we've been rescuing them, the culprits will have been erasing evidence. Sly?"
"I'm here, Walter."
"What can you tell me?" asked Walter.
"Not a lot right now," replied Sylvester with a sigh. "But I'm still into their systems, I'll see what I can get from running a trace."
Walter let out a grunt of frustration. He'd allowed himself to be distracted by all the drama of the morning and now they'd given the criminals the opportunity to get away with what they'd done. He still hadn't fitted all the pieces of the puzzle together and if Gary didn't pull through the mystery might well go unsolved.
And Tim would get away with… well, with whatever he'd done. And Walter couldn't bear the thought of that.
"Walter," said Paige, tenderly resting her hand on his arm. "We should get to the hospital."
Walter looked at Paige, his emotions were churning in his head and he was desperate to reach out to her to help him process how he was feeling… but of course she was the last person he could talk to.
If only Tim Armstrong hadn't walked into their lives that fateful day last year… and ruined everything.
xXxXxXxXxXx
"Why are the cops still here?"
Lydia slipped her hand into Marnie's as they sat in the waiting room at the hospital. "You know why, honey," she answered, her voice quavering.
"Gary's just had brain surgery!" exclaimed Marnie, angrily. "Can't they leave him alone?"
Lydia drew a breath. "You heard the doctors, he's going to be fine," she replied. "So now he's under arrest. He's… he's…" but she couldn't finish her sentence.
Marnie snatched her hand from Lydia's and glared at Walter. "I thought you said they'd caught those two guys? The ones who kidnapped us? I thought you said Sylvester led the cops right to them?"
"Yes, he did," Walter confirmed. "As we suspected, it was Lieutenant Shields, the son of Admiral Shields…"
"The guy who was involved in the cover up with my dad before I was born?" asked Marnie.
"The one and only," nodded Toby. "And his crooked pal."
"But what's this got to do with Gary?" Marnie's composure was beginning to waiver. "They kidnapped him too. I don't understand any of this!"
"Hey, let's all try to stay calm," urged Toby. "Gary's recovering from surgery. We'll know more when he's conscious and talking."
Lydia turned to Marnie. "I know he didn't mean to hurt you," she said.
Marnie nodded. "I know," she replied.
Just then a nurse poked his head into the room. The same nurse had been in and out of the room for the past three hours keeping them updated and Lydia sat upright as he appeared again.
"He's awake," confirmed the nurse, to the relief of everyone in the room. "He's doing so well, Lydia. He's talking, he wants to see you."
Lydia leapt to her feet and almost tripped over in her hurry to follow the nurse out of the room.
Marnie slumped back in the uncomfortable chair and folded her arms across her chest.
"Hey," said Toby, gently. "I know this can't be easy for you."
"I'm fine," snapped Marnie.
Toby and Paige exchanged a worried glance. Of course Marnie wasn't fine at all, she was scared and angry and confused. She wanted answers, they all did.
"Do you have any questions about Gary's surgery?" asked Toby.
"Nope," she replied. "The surgeon already explained it to us. It was a small bleed, they stopped it, no obvious signs of long term brain damage," she said, without a hint of emotion.
Toby nodded. Those were the facts, but he was worried that Marnie was disassociating herself from the situation. He needed to get her to talk.
"Must've been pretty scary," Toby prompted. "Those guys, I mean. Taking you to the base, the submarine… we don't know all the answers yet, but if you have any questions about what happened…"
Marnie didn't reply.
"It's OK to be scared," added Toby.
Marnie closed her eyes. He was right, she did have questions, so many questions, but she didn't know where to start. And she was really scared. Not scared for her immediate safety like she'd been in the submarine earlier, this was different. She knew this whole mess had something to do with Tim – with her dad – and she knew Gary had been involved, but she had no idea what it all meant and how it would affect her life and her future.
Paige moved along one seat so she was sitting in the chair next to Marnie. "Hey, I'm scared too, y'know," she said.
Paige briefly looked to Toby for encouragement and he nodded. She felt so much sympathy for Marnie and she wanted to help the girl, so if opening herself up was the only way to do it, then Paige knew that's what she had to do.
"I don't know what any of this means for my relationship with… with Tim," continued Paige, suddenly wishing Walter and Happy weren't in the room. She was committed now, though, so she had to continue. "He's so far away right now and I can't talk to him properly. I trusted him and you trusted Gary and it's not easy when you find out something about someone that you don't want to believe is true. It hurts and you don't know what to do to make that pain go away."
Walter lifted his head. "You end the relationship," he said, bluntly.
Happy glared at him. "Not now, O'Brien," she snapped.
"Is… is Gary going to prison?" asked Marnie in a quiet voice.
"I guess that depends on exactly what his involvement is in this whole mess," replied Paige.
Before Marnie had time to think any more, the door opened and the nurse appeared again. "Marnie?" he said. "Gary's asking for you."
Marnie turned to Paige. "I want to see him," she said. "But… will you come with me? Please?"
Paige smiled. "Of course," she said.
Gary was hooked up to monitors and had a large bandage around his head, but Paige was surprised to see how alert he looked as she and Marnie entered the room. Lydia clutched his hand tightly and turned her head to acknowledge them.
"Hey, sweetheart," said Gary, smiling at Marnie.
"Hey," replied Marnie, but she didn't smile.
Gary closed his eyes. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I'm sorry for all of this. For getting you mixed up in… in…."
"In what?" snapped Marnie. "What did you do?"
"No one was supposed to get hurt," Gary tried to explain. "Except for him… except for Armstrong."
"Tim?" said Paige.
Gary opened his eyes. "You have no idea…" he began, but he trailed off.
Lydia squeezed his hand. "You don't need to do this now," she urged.
"I do," insisted Gary and he turned his head slightly to stare intently at Paige. "Stay away from him," he said and Paige was taken aback by the look in his eyes. "He hurts people… and he doesn't care. He ruined my life," continued Gary. "If I hadn't met Lydia again, I don't know where I'd be now. Every opportunity he had to hurt me, to humiliate me… Physically, mentally…"
"No, he's changed," insisted Paige.
"Don't be fooled by him like Sara was sixteen years ago," replied Gary. "When she told us Armstrong was Marnie's father, I… I had to do something. Marnie, you deserve so much better than him. And I… I deserved better than drifting around from dead-end job to dead-end job, with a gammy knee… it's all his fault! And there he was parading around on TV like a goddamn hero!"
"What did you do?" asked Marnie. She tightened her grip on Paige's hand, afraid to hear his answer.
"I've kept in touch with a couple of the guys," Gary explained. "Armstrong bullied a lot of people, not just me. We hatched a plan, then Shields got wind of it – he's Navy Intelligence, I guess we shouldn't have been surprised – and he didn't want anyone to find out his father had covered up the evidence. Y'know, pushed Armstrong through to the SEALS when they should've sent him packing after what he did to me. Shields got some dodgy Chinese tech people involved, I asked a couple of my old pals from my truck driving days to keep you safe and…"
"And you used me to frame Tim?" asked Marnie in disbelief. "You wanted to make it look as though he was the one who hacked into Scorpion!"
"I'm sorry, sweetheart," said Gary. "Please, it got out of hand. I didn't know it would end like this!"
Marnie couldn't face him any more as the realisation set in. She turned and ran out of the door, racing past the two surprised police officers who were standing guard.
Lydia looked at Paige with pleading eyes and Paige nodded silently before heading after Marnie.
She found her at the end of the corridor, slumped on the floor, sobbing into her hands.
"Hey," said Paige, gently.
"I hate him! I hate Gary!" exclaimed Marnie, looking at Paige with her tearstained face.
"No you don't," replied Paige, wrapping her arm around her. "He made a mistake and in time you'll…"
"I do!" insisted Marnie. "And I hate Tim Armstrong!"
To be continued...