A/N: This picks up right after the last one…
.
.
.
Dylan kept walking as fast as he could to the quiet space of the hotel courtyard. He couldn't believe what Kate had said to him, as if she didn't know how he felt about her, as if he could possibly betray her with that woman.
"Dylan, I'm sorry." Kate was slightly out of breath by the time she caught up with him.
"Sorry for what?" Dylan replied in frustration. "That you said those things or that you think I would even consider hooking up with her?"
"Both." Kate tried to step closer to him, but he took a step back. She didn't realise how much it hurt to see that backward step after weeks and months of always stepping closer instead of apart.
She tried again, "I am really sorry. I didn't know why I said that. It's just…." She took a deep breath to gather her thoughts, "I really didn't like it when she touched you."
Realisation started to dawn at Dylan's mind, "are you jealous?"
Her first instinct was to deny it, but she knew that her pride should be in the back burner for now. She needed to make this right. "Yes."
Dylan couldn't believe what he just heard. "Why?"
"I just told you!" She was confused.
"Kate…." He finally moved closer to her and grabbed her shoulder. "My loyalty is always to you. I thought you knew that."
"Your loyalty to me as your XO?"
"No. To YOU. The woman that I am falling for." Dylan explained patiently, realising that time for cryptic declaration was over and he needed to spell things out clearly from now on.
"Oh…."
He smiled softly at her dumbfounded expression. "What you saw before was her trying to mess with my head again. I don't care for her touch. And I would never betray you by hooking up with her."
"Do you really mean that?" Her heart started to beat a lot faster at the realisation that he reciprocated her feelings.
"Yes, I do." He replied solemnly.
Kate then leaped to his arms and hugged him tightly. She knew this was highly inappropriate but as she closed her eyes and savoured the warmth of his embrace, she couldn't bring herself to care about the rules right now.
"Kate…." Dylan was torn as he knew he should let go soon but having her in his arms felt like salvation after such a difficult day.
"I know…." She whispered softly to his ear. "Just a couple more minutes please?"
He closed his eyes in surrender and tightened his arms around her in response to her plea.
Unfortunately, the sound of a throat clearing brought them back to the present and they had to let each other go abruptly.
Kate closed her eyes briefly to push down her emotion before schooling her feature and faced one of her crews.
"X, we saw Ms Cruise came out from her room to the lobby and out of the hotel. The other guys are following her right now."
"Do you know where she's going?" Kate cursed inwardly at the Agent's unpredictable move.
"Just on the main pathway to the dock." RO stated what he currently knew from 2Dads' SMS.
"Thanks Robert." She said while walking pass him to the direction of main road. When she realised that the two men behind her were not following, she turned briefly and raised her eyebrows at them.
"You go first, we'll catch-up." Dylan said as he waved her off.
She looked at him confusedly before deciding that the Agent had to take priority once more and turned on her heel to resume her walk.
Dylan watched Kate's figure got smaller as she gained distance from them before finally looking at RO seriously. "Robert," he started.
RO lifted his hand to halt Dylan's speech. "After a little bit of consideration, I think the article that I just mentioned might be flawed in its logic. I need to write an email to the editor of that article and lodge a formal complaint during my shore leave. The article should then be taken down from publication and they would issue a formal apology to the reader."
Dylan raised his eyebrows at what he could only guess was RO's attempt to retract his bizarre conversation topic earlier. "Robert, about what you saw before between the X and I…."
"I didn't see anything." RO countered Dylan abruptly.
Dylan looked at the other man in surprise. But seeing the seriousness of RO's expression, he then nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Robert."
RO only nodded back at first, but after walking out together for a few minutes, he then turned to face Dylan again. "You know I'm pretty good with computer."
"I know that." Dylan looked at the man confusedly.
"So, while I may not be able to win in a physical fight against you, I can ruin your credit score rating."
"Right." Dylan smirked at RO's threat. His mind couldn't help but think fondly of Kate and her ability to inspire loyalty amongst her crews. "Duly noted."
.
.
.
Mike listened carefully as Ms Cruise explained her discovery an hour ago. Apparently, Meers had been using Ms Cruise's sat phone and computer to initiate conversation with Tarak when she had been in the shower. When she had emerged from the shower and the altercation between her, his bosun and Meers had ensued, Meers' attempt had ended up being cut short, but apparently, he had managed to enter the password before that happened, so it appeared that they had gained access to the message board with Tarak's newest message fully visible.
While Mike was a little bit suspicious as to how convenient her explanation had sounded, he couldn't deny the relief that everybody felt as their luck had officially turned around. Mike managed to at least convince Ms Cruise that RO should take over the messaging as he felt that they needed an impartial team member in this operation. And he might have also instructed RO to snoop around the website discreetly for any other information that they could find about the terrorist cell.
When Tarak finally responded to their messages by confirming a rendezvous point at noon tomorrow, the discussion started as to the details of the upcoming operation. It was finally agreed that they would use the impounded FFV to carry all the weapons and Jim would be accompanied by Swain, Dutchy and Charge who would be posing as his crews.
It was 1 am when they felt everything that could possibly be prepped had been done. Most of the crews that would be in tomorrow's operation, including Ms Cruise, had finally retired for the night, except probably Mike himself. The last few days had officially felt like a never-ending stream of one bad news after the other. And bad news usually came with a lot of paperworks to submit. This was why Mike was making his way to the galley to make a brew to last him another hour or two. He opened the galley door to find another person with the same idea.
"Kate?" He looked at her in surprise. He thought that she would have already crashed for the night.
"Sir." Kate nodded at him. "Do you need a brew?"
"Yes please, if you are making one."
She shook her head, "I'm making tea. But I'm boiling enough water for both of us if you want to prep your coffee."
"Thanks." He proceeded to grab a mug and pour a generous scoop of coffee to it before leaning against the counter next to her. "Can't sleep?"
"Yeah. Too much up here." She gestured to her temple.
"Are you thinking about tomorrow?"
"Among other things." She shrugged, "what about you?"
"Paperworks." He sighed. "How's Dutchy?"
Kate paused the up and down motion of her tea bag for a few seconds when she heard the question. "He's fine, I think."
Mike nodded. "Ms Cruise seems to get under his skin a little bit. Do you think that'll be a problem going forward?"
"I think most of us struggle with her method and her general disposition." Kate sipped her tea carefully before looking up and meeting his eyes. "Even you, although you are a lot better in hiding it."
His lips curved upwards at her assessment. "Unfortunately, I can't afford not to play nice."
Kate smiled back. "Some people are inherently better at it than others, but it is ultimately an art that you can only hone through experience in dealing with people like her." She paused before continuing. "Dutchy will be OK. He is a professional. He will get the job done."
"Very well." He nodded. "I trust your judgement."
"Is that all, Sir?" Kate looked at Mike questioningly.
"Actually…." Mike paused. "I might have heard some rumour going around the ship."
"About?"
"You and Dutchy."
Kate sighed. "Really?" She supposed that she shouldn't be too surprised as they have been hanging out together a lot in the last few months. And of course, tonight's saga. They hadn't been able to continue their conversation after RO's interruption as they hadn't stopped working until about an hour ago and they now had to concentrate on tomorrow's mission.
Mike looked at her sympathetically. "You know if I've heard about it, it means that the speculation is pretty intense below deck. So, is there anything I need to know about?"
"It depends, are you asking as my friend, my ex, or my boss?" She asked quietly.
Mike raised his eyebrows at her question, "Kate?"
"Mike, I need to know who is asking the question." She whispered back.
He stared at her quietly. He had been occupied with his own personal matters about Ryan's parentage in the last few months, so he hadn't had a chance to check-in with her at all. He always knew that Kate and the bosun were close, even when himself and Kate had been together, but it seemed that everything had now escalated to the point of her not denying the rumour straight away.
"Mike?"
"I don't know, Kate." He was not sure he even wanted to know her answer now. "I have to get back to you on that."
"Alright then. Good night, Sir." Kate nodded to him one last time before making her way out of the galley.
"Good night, X."
.
.
.
The next day had only just began when the first hurdle made itself known. Jim was still unwell. He couldn't even climb up to the impounded FFV by himself. After much deliberation and a surprising approval from Ms Cruise, it was decided that Dylan would be posing as the arms dealer instead of Jim.
The second hurdle made itself known when Tarak requested that Dylan should meet him alone at Tarak's boat before the deal could be made and the weapons could be offloaded. Mike was reluctant to let Dylan do that, but he finally relented at Dylan's insistence to complete the mission. It probably helped that 2Dads had given Dylan a one-way transmitter disguised as mobile phone. This device would broadcast every single word that would be spoken during the conversation, allowing Hammersley to listen in.
The third hurdle made itself known when RO found a list of known counter-terrorism agent in the terrorist's website. A list that included Dylan's profile and picture. Dread overcame the Hammersley's crews as they realised that Dylan's cover was most likely compromised and he was now alone in this boat with Tarak and his crews. However, there was nothing else that could be done from their end except listening closely to the conversations.
The final hurdle made itself known when they heard gunfire from the transmitter. The crews thought that they had been in the clear when Tarak had agreed with the $1.5 Million pricing and had asked for the weapon to be offloaded, but Dylan's cover was finally blown and now, they were holding their breath in suspense.
After a few minutes of intense gunfire, silence finally ensued from the transmitter. At this stage, no one dared to move, no one dared to voice their thought. It was only when Dylan's voice finally came through the radio with the all-clear that everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
At the end, it was a successful operation. Tarak and his crews were safely locked in austere, weapons secured and ready to be returned to the army base and another terrorist cell was officially disbanded. Everyone was in the good mood, even Dylan and Ms Cruise appeared to have reached some sort of truce or impasse between them.
Mike then authorised breaking open the alcohol ration and holding a BBQ party in the late afternoon to celebrate their success. The crews finally had time to just wind down before returning to port tomorrow. It was in this joyous mood that Dylan noticed 2Dads and Bird were currently having an argument about chicken wings.
"You two, what's going on?" Dylan finally interfered after seeing Bird making a swatting motion at 2Dads with her BBQ thongs.
"Bird is guarding these chicken wings with her life apparently." 2Dads made a face at Bird, "come on Bird, let me have these wings."
"You can't. I told you they are the X's favourite and she hasn't had any."
"Well, maybe she doesn't want one today Bird. She would've gotten one if she wanted it."
Bird swatted 2Dads hands again when he made another attempt at taking it. "You've had ten, 2Dads."
Dylan shook his head at them, grabbed a serviette and took the remaining 5 wings and transferred it to a new paper plate.
"Hey!" both Bird and 2Dads exclaimed at his action.
"Thank you, Bird," Dylan grinned at her, "I'll give this to her now."
The two could only watch as Dylan made his way to the other side of the back deck where Kate was currently sitting.
.
.
.
As the sun hang lower and lower on the horizon and created a light orange hue to the sky, Kate's mind turned to the brief conversation she had had with Dylan last night at the hotel courtyard. Especially the fact that he was falling for her. The thought had made her imagined all kinds of happy possibilities. But after her encounter with Mike, she had tossed and turned on her bed for hours, thinking about Dylan, thinking about how he felt, how she felt and more importantly, where to go from here.
Could she try her luck at relationship again? Was she being disrespectful to Mike for moving on so quickly? Especially with someone they both knew. And of course, there was the fact that they were still serving at the same ship right now. Should she wait to act until her transfer came through and they were not in the same chain of command anymore?
"Hey."
Kate looked up to find the object of her thought materialised in front of her with a smile on his face.
"Can I sit here?" Dylan gestured to the bulkhead next to her.
"Sure." She replied quietly and it was only when he sat down that she noticed a plate of wings that he brought. "Did Bird send you here?"
"No. But she was guarding these wings against 2Dads for you, so I thought I'll help her out and bring it here."
Her lips couldn't help but curved up at his excuse. "Well, we don't want her effort to be wasted."
"Sure not." He then gestured for her to take the plate which she did gratefully.
She didn't realise how hungry she was until she took her first bite and felt her stomach growled at the welcomed sustenance. Come to think about it, she hadn't had anything since breakfast. It was amazing how nerves and anxiety were able to camouflage hunger.
"Are you OK?" Dylan stared at her curiously. He noticed that she had been quite subdued, a stark contrast to the celebratory mode around them.
"Everything turned out well at the end." She shrugged, "what's not to be OK about?"
"Hey…." he leaned closer to her, "I know you. And something is in your mind right now."
She didn't reply for a few minutes, preferring to chew her food instead. She then licked her fingers clean before getting up to toss the food scrap away. When she came back to her spot, she saw that he had rested his side against the railing and turned his head to stare at the sea. By now, the sun was hovering just above the horizon, creating this intense golden colour that somehow highlighted the feature of his weathered face. Her eyes softened at the sight. She then mirrored his posture and leaned against the railing as well. "Do you really want to know what's on my mind right now?"
"If you feel like sharing." He replied cautiously.
"You." She whispered softly. "I'm thinking about you."
His eyes turned hopeful at her confession. But he stayed quiet, careful not to disturb her willingness to share.
"There was a rumour about us apparently." She casually looked around the back deck, where she could see a few sets of eyes on them from the other side. She knew that they were not malicious, simply curious, but it was still unsettling to know that someone else was scrutinising their every move and making assumption about them.
He sighed, "Sorry, I tried to stamp it down below deck, but they were just ignoring my attempt at this point."
"The CO asked me about it last night."
"What?" He looked at her in alarm.
"Yes." She then met his eyes, "and the interesting part is, I don't even want to deny it."
He was stunned. "Kate…."
She smiled softly, "I think we need to talk. Privately. Either your place or mine."
Dylan felt like pinching himself to see whether this was real. But before he could do that, he saw from the corner of his eyes that Swain was approaching them with intent, so he quickly schooled his feature. "Swain?"
Swain looked at them apologetically. "X, Dutchy, the boss calls for a meeting of senior sailors in ship's office now."
Kate was surprised at the request as they already had a post-mission briefing earlier this afternoon. "Did he say why specifically, Swain?"
Swain shook his head, "no, Ma'am. He didn't say. He just said that it's urgent."
"Alright. Let's do that then." Kate nodded to both of them and led the way to the ship's office.
.
.
.
Mike closed the door behind them as soon as Swain, Dylan and Kate walked into the office. Charge and RO were already waiting inside so the newcomers simply stood beside them.
"Alright." Mike looked at each of them seriously. "The information that I'm about to tell all of you is strictly between the six of us. No one else in the ship needs to know. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Sir."
Mike signalled to RO to show them his laptop. "Earlier today, under my approval, RO copied a few things from Ms Cruise's laptop."
The rest of the occupants in the room looked at each other confusedly at their CO's opening statement.
"One of them was a chain of conversation between Tarak and Meers around 5 days ago inside the terrorist's message board." Mike gestured at the laptop screen, inviting the four sailors to look at the conversation.
.
Meers: Potential dealer at Kalewan 04:00 today.
Tarak: The usual?
Meers: No. A new player in town.
Tarak: He could be spy. Contact says operation targeting us has started.
Meers: Description?
Tarak: Negative. Contact working on it.
Meers: Take the long route?
Tarak: Yes.
Meers: Terminate if confirm spy?
Tarak: Yes.
Meers: Understood.
.
"Five days ago, that was before we boarded Meers' boat for the first time." Kate raised her eyebrows at the revelation.
"Correct." Mike nodded.
"Which means that Captain Roth's cover was potentially compromised even before his operation started. Our boarding just confirmed their suspicion."
Dylan closed his eyes as Charge voiced his conclusion. While he was a little bit relieved that his mistake had not been the direct cause of Jim's cover being blown, he couldn't help but feeling frustrated at the new twist in this saga.
"Do we know who Tarak's contact is?" Swain asked, "do we have authority to question Tarak about it?"
"No." Mike shook his head. "We are technically holding him on behalf of the Federal Police, but the questioning would be done later at their headquarters."
"Sir, why aren't Ms Cruise and Captain Roth in this meeting?"
Mike sighed at Dylan's question and gestured for RO to open the next file. "This is why."
It was an official warning from ASIO headquarter to all agents which informed them that the identity of the counter-terrorism operators in the attached file were compromised and to postpone all mission involving these operators.
"The warning was sent last night. I presume Ms Cruise has read it before this morning's operation. The file in that warning was identical to Tarak's copy. The one that he used to blow your cover, Dutchy." Mike looked at him in sympathy.
"What?" Kate was now outraged. "It means that she knew Dutchy was compromised but she still gave the green light for him to stand-in for Jim? Dutchy could have been seriously harmed!"
"Not only that." Charge interjected. "What if she were Tarak's contact?"
"Hang on Charge," Swain tried to calm the room. "That's a bit too far."
"Not really Swaino. Think about it." Charge's eyes now gleamed with excitement; this kind of speculation was right up his alley. "What if she were playing both sides? She fed info to Tarak, but since she couldn't be too obvious, she didn't outright tell them Captain Roth's identity. What about Meers accessing the website through her laptop and then conveniently typed in the password before he died? How did Meers know to come to her for internet access in the first place? And how did he know where exactly she was staying?"
"Charge, enough." Mike gave Charge a look to warn him not to get carried away. He then continued his assessment of the whole situation. "I agree that these new pieces of information that RO had come across definitely warrant further investigation. That's why I have reported this to Commander White. She will make a formal and discreet enquiry about this matter to the higher-ups."
"What about these orders that we kept receiving to assist with the counter-terrorism operation? Are they going to continue while the enquiry is underway?" Kate pressed further.
"I have politely requested the orders to be suspended until we could at least rule out Ms Cruise as the leak. But we could still be required to assist if the higher-ups deemed the benefit would be greater than the risk."
Silence greeted Mike's last statement. The gravity of the situation had finally dawn on them. Their victory just a few hours ago seemed hollow now.
When Mike dismissed them from the office, their moods were overall pensive, but for Dylan, this felt like a personal attack on him. His profile had been in that leaked document and Ms Cruise had sent him out there like a lamb to a slaughterhouse. He knew that she had never looked at him favourably since the beginning and of course there was the mystery of her knowledge about the gulf, but he thought that they were on the same side, that he could at least count on her not to purposely endanger him. But apparently that might not be the case. And now, he felt truly and utterly betrayed.
Dylan continued to be on autopilot for the remainder of his patrol. He sensed that Kate was worried about him and his state of mind, hence all the tasks that she assigned to him to keep him busy and distracted, which he was grateful for.
He had just completed his last task of Tarak's handover to the Federal Police and was standing on the side of the dock to watch the process when he could feel Kate's presence on his side.
"Hey, all done?"
"Yeah. Unless you have more for me?" He couldn't help but teasing her.
She gave him a sideway look in warning, but her eyes softened at the end. "How are you?"
He smiled softly at her. "I'm getting there. Thanks for all the distractions."
She nodded, "you know, I'm still hoping for that private chat with you. If you are up to it of course."
"Just a chat?" He whispered back in reply, aware that there are people walking past them just a few metres ahead.
She couldn't help but blushed at his tone. She then looked to the ground to avoid his intense stare.
"Hey…." Realising that he might have overwhelmed her, he nudged her side softly to get her to look up once more. "Come over to mine tonight. Bring your car, that way if you changed your mind at any point, you could leave. I'll order some food too, how about that?"
"OK."
.
.
.
To be continued….