A/N: This chapter picks up 2 months after the last chapter and will be the rewrite of episode 5.09 Dead Sea. This episode and its fall out will be covered until Chapter 11. I hope you will enjoy the ride.
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"Your orders have come through Mike." Maxine handed over the folder containing the latest brief to the CO and XO pair in front of her and proceeded to explain. "You are to render assistance to ASIO agents who are to be picked up at that coordinate."
Mike read the brief quickly before handed them over to Kate for her perusal. "I thought Defence had agreed to hold off offering our assistance to ASIO while the enquiry is ongoing?"
Maxine sighed, "the enquiry had unfortunately been postponed due to the lack of evidence. Madelaine Cruise insisted that she simply had not had a chance to read the ASIO update which contained the leaked profile of PO Mulholland."
"And they just believed her?" Mike frowned.
"ASIO had obtained a warrant to check all the communication trails and even searched her belonging but found nothing so far that could incriminate her as double agent. With the growing increase of terrorism activities, they can't afford to have an agent being stood down for too long. So, she will resume her duty and will accompany you in this patrol."
"Ma'am, does ASIO have any strategy to mitigate possible risk of her being involved?" Kate asked curiously.
"Good question Kate, and yes, ASIO had appointed another agent as co-lead of this operation. In fact, Agent Smith is the one currently leading the field team in that coordinate. Hammersley will pick up Agent Smith and his team once they finish their mission and bring them home. There might be another order coming through for Hammersley in the next few days depending on the success of Agent Smith's current mission."
"Looks like we are going to have a busy patrol." Mike commented.
"Remember Mike, we must play nice. The orders are coming from places way above our heads."
Mike nodded, "understood Max."
"Alright, dismissed. Fair winds to both of you."
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Dylan was busy with Swain supervising the provision load on the dock when he saw the figure of Ms Cruise walking towards them.
"Swain…" He nudged his bunkmate to warn him of the incoming guest.
Swain looked up curiously and exchanged a frown with Dylan. They were not expecting to see the agent for some time because of the ongoing enquiry, but something must have happened to justify her presence.
"Petty Officers." Madelaine nodded at them.
"Ms Cruise." Swain nodded back at her, "are you accompanying us in this patrol?"
"I'm afraid so, Swain." Madelaine then looked at the towering figure of Dylan who was staying quiet throughout the whole exchange. "Let's hope this time everything will go as planned."
Dylan resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her reference to their previous mission together and finally nodded at her politely.
Recognising the tension between the two people in front of him, Swain offered to escort Madelaine to the guest cabin, leaving Dylan to continue his supervising duty.
Not long after, a car arrived at the dock and the figures of his CO and XO came out of the car. Dylan approached them and saluted. "Sir, Ma'am."
"Dutchy." Mike acknowledged his bosun, "is everything on schedule?"
"Yes Sir, we are halfway done." Dylan then continued. "Ms Cruise arrived around 5 minutes ago. Swain is escorting her now."
"Very well. I'll be in my cabin." Mike then proceeded to climb to the gangway, leaving Kate on the dock with Dylan.
"I wasn't expected to see her so soon." Dylan commented to Kate once his CO was out of sight.
"New orders have come for us to assist ASIO again. The enquiry had been postponed due to lack of evidence." Kate continued seriously, "we all need to thread carefully. She probably guessed that the allegation came from us."
Dylan frowned, "just what we need. A vengeful spook."
Kate grimaced. "As if we need more craziness around here. We need boring patrol for once."
"Isn't that the truth?" Dylan shook his head slightly as he remembered their patrols in the last two months which had involved drug runners in the little fishing town and a sunk research sub. Some of them had had to deal with ailments, hostage situation and the worst one so far had been 2Dads being trapped in the sub.
"Hey…"
He stared at Kate once more and he could see that her eyes had softened which indicated that the woman in front of him was now his girlfriend and not his superior. He then casually looked around the dock to see whether anyone was looking towards them before he replied. "You are a sight for sore eyes. Especially in your whites."
"Charmer…" She rolled her eyes but she couldn't help smiling at his comment. She then stepped as close to him as she could while maintaining appearance of propriety. "Is it crazy to miss someone you just saw earlier this morning?"
His eyes softened at her question. "Not when that someone also misses you."
They stood there staring at each other for what felt like hours while the world went on around them. But it must have been only a few minutes later when Swain greeted Kate as he came back from his escort duty.
"Good morning Ma'am."
Kate quickly schooled her features before returning Swain's salute. "Good morning, Swain. Hope you've had a good shore leave?"
"It was good. Chloe was on Kindy holiday last week, so the timing was perfect."
"Gosh, she's in Kindy already?" Kate shook her head at the thought.
"Yes, she'll be in Prep next year." Swain smiled, "time flies at that age I suppose."
Kate nodded and looked at her watch, "I should change. Let me know when we're ready to sail."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Swain stood next to Dylan as his XO climbed up the gangway and saluted at their mascot. He then nudged the other man with his clipboard. "You know if you stare any harder, your eyeballs might pop out of their sockets."
Dylan glared at Swain. "I didn't stare." Internally, he berated himself for being too transparent once more.
Swain only shook his head at his mate's denial. "Yeah right. Come on mate, we better finish this quick. The sooner we do, the sooner you can stare at her again on the bridge."
Dylan sighed at the teasing jab. So much for trying to hide his feelings. He thought that he and Kate had done a good job in trying to navigate their new relationship in the last two months. But maybe he was fooling himself. It had been hard to let her go this morning, even knowing that they would see each other again in a few hours. It must be quite unhealthy to spend so much time with your significant other, but he just couldn't help himself. He would like to think that Kate felt the same way, but maybe he needed to ask her whether he was being too stifling.
"Dutchy, 30 minutes left!" Swain's warning forced him to stop his wayward thoughts.
"Yeah. Coming!"
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"The mission this time is simple. Hammersley is to pick up Agent Smith and his team from a small island off the coast of Samjung Island. The last communication we received from Agent Smith yesterday indicated that he had successfully retrieved the intel from Captain Roth and the rendezvous time at 10 pm tonight is still good to go. Any question so far?" Madelaine looked around the ships' office to gauge the crews' response.
"How many people in total are we picking up?" Kate asked as her brain already thought about the logistics of the operations.
"Four, including Agent Smith." Madelaine replied.
"Are we expecting hostiles?"
"No, Commander. There is no indication from Agent Smith's last message that they are being followed."
"One RHIB then, Sir?" Kate looked at Mike questioningly.
Mike nodded, "full Kevlar and extra plates though. No offence Ms Cruise, but I think we have to anticipate any possibility out there."
"None taken." Madelaine continued. "You should have already received the coordinate from Navcom. I say we'll do the final briefing around 1 hour before we reach the coordinate?"
"Very well Ms Cruise, we'll let you know when the time comes." Mike opened the door to let Madelaine out of the office.
"Maximum of 4 crews then plus Halfy in the RHIB?" Dylan asked once Madelaine left.
"Myself, you, Swain and 2Dads?" Kate continued, "I think Charge should stay on the ship just in case we need cover fire from the typhoon."
Mike smiled at the well-oiled machine that were his crews. "Sounds good X. Plot the course to the coordinate and let's get this mission done."
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"X, are they even going to show up at this point?" 2Dads asked as they were waiting for Agent Smith. "It's passed 1am already. These people are 3 hours late."
"I don't know 2Dads." Kate's patience was wearing thin. She wondered why ASIO mission couldn't go as planned for once.
"I should've brought my poker card." 2Dads grumbled.
"It's a good thing you didn't 2Dads. I would've thrown it out to the water."
"Honestly Dutchy, where is your sense of fun these days? Poker is so fun! I won $1,000 the last time I played."
"Yeah, and how much have you lost before that windfall?"
"Practice made perfect, Dutchy…. One of these days, I'll be the King of Poker!"
Dylan shook his head at 2Dads' answer. He sometimes worried about 2Dads' penchant for gambling. Those card games could attract not so reputable people and one of these days, 2Dads could have been entangled in something that was more sinister than poker. "You need a new hobby, 2Dads."
"What, like running and hiking?" 2Dads made a face as he remembered his unsuccessful attempt in trying to keep up with Dutchy during those activities.
"Or touch footy, cricket, or I don't know, learning a new language?"
Swain laughed as he heard the last example from Dylan, knowing how bad 2Dads' language skills were compared to the other member of the crews.
"Very funny Dutchy." 2Dads rolled his eyes at the older man.
"Guys, lower your volume please. We don't know how far the sounds travel at this time of the night." Kate warned her crews.
"Sorry X." The three men replied in unison before they each tried to sit quietly in the RHIB.
The crackle of the radio was a welcomed distraction from the waiting game they were currently in. "X, how are you holding up?".
"Cold, bored, hungry, impatient, not necessarily in that order, Sir." Kate replied sarcastically, eliciting a small smile from each of her crews.
"Stand by X, Charge might have something."
Kate and her crews were now in high alert after hearing that.
"X, we saw movement on the shoreline at your 11 o'clock direction. Approach with caution."
Kate ordered Halfy to move the RHIB closer. As they approached the shoreline, she still couldn't see anything through her bino. "Anything Dutchy?"
"Nothing, X." Dylan replied after looking through his own bino.
Kate switched her mic again, "Sir, we can't see anything from here."
"Keep looking X, someone was there a few minutes ago."
"Aye Sir." As they reached the shoreline, Kate ordered Dylan and Swain to look closer, while she and 2Dads kept guard at the RHIB.
Then the gunfire suddenly started from the direction of the bushland behind the shoreline. It was so intense that Kate was forced to request cover fire from Hammersley. Unfortunately, Charge couldn't do so immediately because the landing crews were on direct line of fire.
It was during all the chaos that a man came running towards the beach.
Dylan and Swain were currently down on all fours returning fires from their rifles when they saw the lone figure thrown to the air due to a small explosion.
The explosion stopped the gunfire momentarily and they could hear their XO shouted at them to get back to the RHIB now. But the sight of the slumped man just a few metres ahead of them made both paused and looked at each other in agreement before charging ahead and reached the body.
"Is he alive?" Dylan asked Swain as the medic felt for a pulse. Around them, the gunfire started again, forcing Dylan to return fire.
"Yep. I'll carry him, you cover me!" Swain took the man's body in a fireman's carry and they both ran as fast as they could while under intense fire once more. Dylan could hear Kate's tight voice in his ears ordering them to hurry up as Charge was about to fire up the typhoon.
As they reached the RHIB, Kate helped with the unconscious man while 2Dads continued with cover fire alongside Dylan.
A few minutes later, when the typhoon's burst of fire forced the hostiles to stop, Kate ordered Halfy to turn the RHIB around and back to Hammersley.
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"Is he alive?" Madelaine barged into the wardroom and straight to Swain's side.
"Yes, he is. But he's still unconscious." Swain commented while trying to examine the man.
Mike moved forward and grabbed Madelaine by the elbow. "Ms Cruise, can you give Swain some room to work please?"
Madelaine ignored Mike and addressed Swain once more, "I need Agent Smith alive, Swain."
"Ms Cruise!" Mike warned sternly, "back away please!"
Madelaine gave Mike a dirty look before taking her elbow away from Mike's grip and moving back a few steps.
It was at this point that Agent Smith started to regain consciousness.
"It's OK mate, you are safe. No one's going to hurt you." Swain tried to stop the agent from struggling against him.
"Smith, did you get the intel?" Madelaine moved forward once more.
"Ma'am, not now!" Swain's attention was now divided between the two agents.
"Smith, this is important!" Madelaine kept pushing.
"Shut up Cruise!" Agent Smith finally shouted back at Madelaine and managed to push Swain away to move himself to a sitting position.
Madelaine folded her arms on her chest and looked at Agent Smith with annoyed expression. "What the hell happened out there?"
"We were hunted down for hours and then my agents were slaughtered like pigs… Jesus…" Agent Smith closed his eyes in agony.
"You said you were clear yesterday."
"Yes, and then few hours later the hunt started. How did they know where we are Cruise?" Agent Smith looked at her accusingly.
"I don't know." Madelaine stared back coldly. "Did you get the intel from Captain Roth or not?"
"Yes, I did. But I'm not giving it to you." Agent Smith countered defiantly.
"Stop playing games, Smith! You know as well as I do that we are pressed for time!"
"And three of our agents are dead, Madelaine! James was about to have a baby! Maggie's kids were both under 5! And Lance just got his P plate! Couldn't you just give me a minute to process? Don't you have a heart? Or are they just collateral damage to you?"
Silence followed Agent Smith's frustrated rant as most people in the room didn't know what to do.
Recognising the stalemate between the two agents, Mike finally spoke, "I think we need to give Agent Smith some space. Everyone except Swain out of the room please!"
"You too Ms Cruise." Mike addressed the agent whose eyes were shooting dagger at him. But he didn't back down and after a few minutes, Madelaine finally relented and closed the door behind her.
Mike carefully moved forward a step to address the man still sitting on the bed. "Agent Smith, my name is Mike Flynn and I'm the Commanding Officer of this ship. My condolences for the passing of your agents."
"Are you going to demand the intel too?" Agent Smith stared at Mike defiantly.
"No." Mike shook his head, "my orders are to assist the ASIO agents with their mission and to transport them home after. I am more concern about your well-being. Will you let my medic check you over once more?"
"I'm fine." Agent Smith dismissed Mike's concern. "I just have some headache. Panadol would be good."
"Headache could indicate concussion, Agent Smith." Swain frowned at the agent.
"I said I'm fine!" Agent Smith shouted at them.
Swain looked at his CO for help but Mike shook his head at him, indicating that he should back off for now. He nodded back in resignation and turned to the direction of the medicine cabinet to grab some Panadol. "Here is your Panadol. Take two tablets straight away and another two in 4 hours if you need it."
"Thanks." Agent Smith nodded at the two of them. "I just need to sleep this off."
"Alright. I'll get Swain to show you the way to our guest cabin then."
Mike was about to open the door when Agent Smith told him to wait and produced a small USB stick from his pant pocket. "Can you help me to send the content of this USB securely to ASIO headquarter please?"
Mike took the USB on his hand. "I'll instruct our Radio Officer to do this. He's very discreet."
"Don't let Madelaine get her hands on it." Agent Smith warned.
"Understood."
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The next day brought a new complication with Hammersley being ordered to leave Samjung port by a local government official by the name of Salah. Madelaine was convinced that Salah was in the pocket of Mirhad Moshir, the leader of the terrorist cell in the area, but since the diplomatic relation between the two countries were fragile, Mike had no choice but to obey the marching order. So, they set sail through the stormy night to hopefully reach the closest friendly port of Orlan Island while waiting for their next order.
It was during the night watch that Kate and Swain discovered the beverage room had been broken into and minutes later, Charge found the dead body of Agent Smith in the engine hatch with a broken bottle of beer next to him.
Mike looked at the scene down below and felt slightly ill. Either this was a terrible accident or there was a murderer on board.
"What do you think Swain?"
"It looks like he fell off the hatch, hit his head at this point here," Swain pointed to the bloody corner of the wall, "and possible broke his neck when he hit the floor."
"Any indication of foul play?" Mike questioned Swain further.
"Not that I can see right now, Sir." Swain paused thoughtfully, "but bruises might show up post-mortem later on."
"Alright, how do we proceed from here, Swain?"
"I'm just going to take pictures of the bodies and the crime scenes and we'll store the body in the body bag in the cold room and clean everything up."
"Very good. Charge and 2Dads, you two help Swain. X, get everybody back to their respective cabin please. And I'll initiate communication embargo for the next 48 hours and inform Navcom."
"Yes, Sir."
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"Hey." Dylan greeted Swain as he arrived at the ship's office before taking the empty seat next to his bunkmate and logging in to his email.
"Hey." Swain replied absentmindedly as he was concentrating on his report about Agent Smith's death.
"Are you doing the report?" Dylan snuck a peek into Swain's screen.
"Yeah. I still couldn't believe he's dead, you know." Swain commented, "to survive an ambush like that in the island but then died by something as simple as falling over?"
"Are you thinking there's more to it?" Dylan grimaced slightly at the gruesome crime scene photos that Swain was currently scrutinising on screen.
"Maybe…." Swain narrowed his eyes at the close-up of Agent Smith's hands specifically. "Dutchy, come with me please."
"What? Where?" Dylan looked at Swain confusedly before following the man's hurried steps to the direction of the cold room.
As Swain was opening the body bag and carefully took Agent Smith's hands under inspection, Dylan moved closer to try to understand what was going on. "Swain, what is it?"
"There is something underneath his fingernails. It looks like dried blood." Swain then checked the rest of Agent Smith's body for any other questionable marks. He found it on the Agent's neck. "Dutchy, this bruise wasn't here last night. This must have shown up post-mortem. And it's in the shape of fingers."
Dylan stared at Swain in alarm. "Someone strangled him…."
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"Alright Swain, can you explain to us your theory please?" Mike gave the floor to Swain as all his core crews plus Ms Cruise had now assembled on the bridge.
"Agent Smith's body showed evidence of foul play such as bruises on his neck and blood underneath his fingernails. I suspect that he was struggling with his attacker before his death and had managed to scratch the skin of the attacker. So, I suggest that we should check everyone on the ship to see whether any of us has any deep scratch marks on our bodies."
"Who's going to check you, Swain?" 2Dads stared at Swain indignantly. "How would we know that you wouldn't just accuse one of us to try to shift the blame from yourself? Aren't that what cops usually do?
Dylan glared at the junior sailor, "2Dads, you need to stop spewing nonsense that you just pull out of your arse and start using your brain properly! Murder is a serious matter."
"So is civil liberty, Dutchy!" 2Dads then continued, "remember just a few months ago, when those cops tried to blame you for that diving guy's murder when it was actually his wife that did it?"
"2Dads, shut up!" Mike finally had enough. "Swain is not enjoying this either!"
But before Mike could continue his lecture, Swain had started to undo his top and his undershirt to show his bare upper body to everyone. He then turned around a few times to ensure everyone had an unobstructed view of his tanned skin. "Are you happy now?" Swain looked at 2Dads challengingly.
"What if you had been scratched on your arse, Swaino? Maybe you should drop your pants as well." Charge teased his mate.
RO snorted loudly at Charge's words and that successfully melted the tense atmosphere on the bridge.
"Alright… alright… Upper body only…." Mike nodded at Swain in gratitude before addressing his crews once more. "Swain and I will check the male crews. And the X will check the female crews. Who wants to go first?"
"I will." Madelaine moved forward to the full view of everyone. "I am currently the only outsider in this ship, so I presume that I would be the prime suspect."
Mike nodded understandingly. "Very well. Let us get started."
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Dylan closed his eyes as he sat down in the senior mess after his late dinner. He was grateful for the quietness of mess as the day had been a challenging one.
This afternoon, all the crews had been cleared after the inspection. Although 2Dads had scratch marks on his body due to altercation with Agent Smith when he had been trying to prevent the agent from breaking into the beverage room, 2Dads had sworn that when he had last seen the agent, he had been alive, albeit a little distressed.
Swain had managed to corroborate 2Dads' story after remnant of the beads from the junior sailor's broken bracelet was found under the door to the beverage room. Ms Cruise, of course, had not believed 2Dads and had insisted that 2Dads should have been interrogated properly and arrested for the remainder of the patrol, but their CO had been on 2Dads' side this time around and had rejected the suggestion.
As his theory had been shot down, Swain had no choice but to conclude the agent's death as accidental. But privately, he had confided in Dylan that he still felt uneasy over the death. While the scratch marks on 2Dads' body could explain the blood under the fingernails, it still didn't explain the finger marks on the agent's neck. But unless Swain could take everybody's finger shape and compare them to the marks, he couldn't do much about the forensic clue in front of his eyes. Hearing his mate's concern, Dylan felt the lingering cloud of suspicion in the ship. It felt like you really need to look over your shoulder and watch your back at least for the duration of this patrol.
"Hey, fancy some company?"
Dylan opened his eyes to find Kate stood on the entrance of the mess carrying two brews on her hands. He smiled at her and said, "yours? Always…."
Kate shook her head at his cheekiness but her lips involuntary curved up in reply. She then sat down next to him and gave him one of the mugs. "How are you?"
"Tired." His eyes turned soft as he could see that she was struggling too. "Thanks for this. How long do you have left on your watch?"
"Another two hours." She wished that she could rest her head on his shoulder. But she knew this was the challenge of being in a relationship with your crewmate. Intimacy would have to wait until you were in the privacy of your own home. "You?"
"Four." He sipped his brew gratefully before touching his right pinkie to her left one while their hands laid between them on the seat.
Her head turned towards him in surprise at his gesture, but she quickly reciprocated by intertwining their small fingers. He smiled at her before he turned serious. "Do you think Agent Smith's death was really an accident?"
Kate looked at him thoughtfully. "I don't know. But I think his death is obviously very convenient for Ms Cruise."
Dylan frowned. "How so?"
Kate lowered her voice so that no one could accidentally eavesdrop on them. "Agent Smith was brought in by the ASIO to be the co-lead of the operation so that he could keep an eye on her while the enquiry was suspended. And the boss told me yesterday that Agent Smith insisted to him that Ms Cruise shouldn't see the intel that he had gotten from Jim before the ambush. But now that he is dead, no one will stand in her way anymore."
"That's messed up." Dylan sighed at the implication of what Kate had told him. "I have a bad feeling about this. Swain is still suspicious as well."
"We just need to be careful and be on our guard. Especially if we must assist ASIO with any follow-up operations that involves the intel from Jim. Four people now, including Agent Smith had died during and after the retrieval of that intel."
Dylan nodded in agreement. "that is some dangerous intel."
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To be continued….