Nathan smiled as he watched a real-time display monitor showing the military jet copter opening fire on the defenseless raft he'd so recently abandoned. Captain Hitchcock sat in the pilot's seat while he sat next to her. No one else was aboard. He leaned toward her, even though they both had headsets on. "Just how close can your camera zoom in?"

His former Lieutenant Commander grinned. "You know those satellite cameras that can make out the barcodes on tiny motorcycle license plates from thousands of miles in the sky?"

He chuckled. "All too well."

"Old school." She fingered a control on her joystick and zoomed in on Black's face. You could count the stubble on his chin. Katie panned down to the nametag on his uniform, focusing on it long enough that there'd be no mistaking it.

She even captured his gritted teeth and what appeared to be talking or singing. "The computer can read his lips and tell us what he said while he thought he was blowing you to bits. Care to hear?"

He had plenty of fodder for nightmares already. Nathan shuddered and shook his head. "No, I think I'll pass. Just make sure you get all this burned to disc. We can use it in court."

She nodded. "You know they'll just claim it was digitally doctored. Lucas could easily manufacture something like this."

"While he's blind? I dare them to prove that. Besides, we'll have corroborating evidence. Dr. Lincoln is waiting 100 meters below to collect everything that sinks. Hopefully, we'll recover a bullet or two besides the shredded raft. Colonel Black certainly was generous with his rounds."

"I wish I had some to exchange with him," she growled. "But this is a civilian craft. We dare not let him see us." They remained hidden in the clouds, 75 miles away from the military copter.

"It's fine," Nathan said. "You've done more than enough just by coming out here and bringing those security thugs of yours. Where did you find those guys anyway?"

She laughed. "Jonathan predicted that you wouldn't leave Lucas and Tim at the hospital unless I could ensure they'd be well guarded. You need to get back to seaQuest, so I recruited a couple of my loaders to come play security."

"Thanks. I feel a lot better with them watching over our wounded. But I thought you were sending a jet copter. When did you become a pilot?"

She shrugged. "I got tired of never being able to use this thing because I couldn't get a pilot when I wanted one. So I got certified. It's a lot easier than piloting a VR-probe or a sub. No ballasts. No worries about crush depths. No biologics to dodge. And ninety-five percent of the time, if you lose cabin pressure, you can still breathe."

"And they don't mind you leaving your command when your tanker is at sea?"

She smirked. "Didn't you leave seaQuest while she was at sea?"

She had him there. "Guilty as charged. But in my defense, I have the best XO on the planet."

She didn't miss a beat. "I have the second best."

He laughed. "I don't doubt it for a minute."

Colonel Black rose above the clouds and took off. The tiny camera Katie had lowered from her copter's belly like an upside-down periscope could see great distances, but not through clouds.

Katie sighed at the loss of video feed. "So we're just letting him get away?"

Nathan shook his head. "Not on my watch. Can I use your vid-link?"

She nodded.

He punched in the same numbers he'd used at Shinju Hospital to call the one man he trusted not to be in league with Overbeck: Retired Admiral William Noyce. He was retired not only from the navy, but from serving as Interim Secretary General of the UEO. He had connections not even McGath had. He and Nathan went way back.

"Bill? You got him yet?"

"We've got him on radar. He'll be in range of our weapons in another forty-five seconds. You need him alive?"

Nathan only wavered a second. He didn't generally wish anyone dead, but Black had tried to kill Lucas, not to mention him and Tim. Someone on the Key West had already died trying to hold him in custody. Guys like that wouldn't hesitate to kill again and again. Alive, they had a better chance at nailing Overbeck, but Nathan wasn't willing to risk another life for that. "I think we got enough footage and physical evidence to clean up the mess. Just don't let him kill anyone else."

"We've got it covered. Noyce out."

Nathan cast a sheepish look at Katie. "He told me he'd have a whole fleet of AH-95's waiting. He'd better deliver."

She shook her head, her lips forming the hint of an involuntary smile. "I've missed working with you, sir."

He smiled. "The feeling's mutual, Captain. Thanks for the assist. You ever need anything, you call us."

She nodded. "Did you want to stay in the area until Admiral Noyce confirms he's taken him down?"

He was slightly worried that the squadron might need backup, but he would never allow Katie to fly in there when she had no weapons, even on a rescue. "No, I think I'd better get back to seaQuest. We're supposed to be counting penguins or something. You don't have to take me all the way, you know. Drop me off in Tokyo and I think I can bum a ride home."

"I would, sir, but Miguel promised to make me some flan. I got my tastebuds all ready for it."

Yeah, right. You're doing all this for some Cuban pudding. He knew she didn't really expect him to believe it. She had never seen the seaQuest II and it had doubtless been a long time since she'd seen some of her old friends. "Well, we can't disappoint Chef Ortiz, now, can we?" He changed his tone from joking to serious. "You know you're welcome any time, Katie."

She nodded but he could tell she wouldn't stay long, nor would she be making regular visits. She had too much responsibility of her own now. He understood her burden all too well and he wouldn't compound it by laying extra guilt. This visit was a rare gift and he'd treat it as such.

"What's our ETA?"

She chuckled. "That depends. Jonathan has seaQuest under tactical radio silence and he didn't give me any rendezvous coordinates."

"I guess it's time to see if my message got through." Right before Tim was whisked off to surgery, Nathan had asked Wendy to relay the message that Commander Ford could stand down from incommunicado as long as he didn't take any calls originating from Pearl.

Katie looked confused and he smiled. "Sorry, can't tell you how. Classified."

"Oh, your telepathic chief physician?" She smiled sweetly.

It only stood to reason that Jonathan had given her just as much information as his present crew. He wasn't worried in the least that she'd abuse any secrets. But it did strike him as ironic that Wendy got the credit for their special communication method when she couldn't even initiate contact without calling her friend by conventional means. No one really understood Mary and O'Neill's roles and he decided then and there to keep it that way.

He smiled back. "Not much gets by you, does it?"

"You'd have to ask my crew, but I don't think so, no, sir."

He punched in the vid-link codes to call his boat and held his breath. He had no bright ideas how to make contact if Ford had deemed silence necessary for some other reason. When they didn't get the standard 'unavailable or out of range' recording, he exhaled and waited for the call to connect.

"May I, sir?"

"Of course." It was her jet copter and her vid-link. He turned the screen so that the camera would focus on her and she could see who she was speaking to.

"This is seaQuest." Nathan could tell by the voice that it was Piccolo. "Please identify."

"This is Gazelle One attached to the H.R. Clinton, Captain Katherine Hitchcock requesting coordinates to rendezvous."

Piccolo didn't have time to relay a message before Ford's voice took over. "Good to hear from you, Captain. How'd it go?"

"I think I'll let my passenger answer that. Captain?" She turned the vid-link on Nathan.

The bridge of the submarine erupted in cheers all around Ford and he spared one of his rare smiles. "It's very good to see you, sir."

"The feeling is mutual, Commander. Thank you all for your outstanding efforts in bringing me back from the dead."

"It wouldn't be the same here without you."

Nathan nodded. "If you'll tell us where to find you and come topside so Captain Hitchcock can land, I hear Mr. Ortiz is making flan and I haven't had anything but drugged chicken and MREs for days now."

Ford nodded, still beaming that grin. "Mr. Piccolo, please transmit our coordinates to the Gazelle One."

"Aye, aye, sir!" Piccolo grinned widely and typed into the keyboard at the communications station. The coordinates appeared in text at the bottom of the vid-link screen.

Nathan read them back to confirm and ended with, "Thank you, Mr. Piccolo. When Commander Ford can spare you, there's someone at Shinju Hospital who could use a friendly voice right now. Do me a favor and check on Lucas." The poor kid couldn't even communicate with the nurses while Tim was in surgery.

"And tell him Katie said hi," she blurted out.

Piccolo's brows shot up at this, but he didn't question his instructions. He did look a little befuddled on how to respond and finally blurted out, "Aye, Captain...and Captain."

Katie entered the coordinates into her navigational computer and then announced, "ETA for rendezvous: four hours, eleven minutes."

Ford sucked in rapidly through pursed lips. "You never did take anything slow, did you?"

She smirked. "Couldn't. Not when I had to keep up with you."

Ford gave her a gracious nod. "We'll see you at the rendezvous. SeaQuest out." The vid-link went blank, leaving the UEO trident on the screen.

Katie flipped some switches and then cast a look at Nathan. "I'm fine if you'd like to catch some sleep, sir."

He wasn't sure he could ever fall asleep in an aircraft again. But, since he had no idea what to talk about for four hours and he was mentally as well as physically exhausted, he chuckled and nodded. "I must look like hell. I think I'll take you up on that."