Kate slowly regained consciousness from her long slumber. Her limbs were heavy, her neck was stiff and her throat was dry. She blinked a few times to try and clear her foggy head. She then remembered the moment she had seen the old sedan stopped abruptly in front of her car in that shopping centre basement and two men had come out from it and made a beeline straight to her. Her survival instinct had kicked in at that point and she had fought her hardest against those two before one of them had put her in a headlock and pushed a cloth on to her nose and mouth. She couldn't remember anything else after that.

By the light coming from the window in front of her, she could see that it's daytime now. So, either it was only a few hours after she had been taken or a full day had passed without her knowing. The rocking movement and the sound of a motor engine caught her attention next and she realised that she was on a boat. She then looked down to take a stock on herself. And the first thing she noticed was the duct tape covering her hands together. Then the various cables sticking out from the bright orange colour of rectangular-shaped items strapped to her body by a black vest.

Panic started to set in as she remembered that she had seen this setup before. Almost a year ago now, at that dock on Samjung Island.

"You are awake."

Kate turned her head to the direction of the familiar voice. Panic was now replaced by fury. "Ms Cruise, let me go!"

Madelaine smirked and moved to sit on the bench opposite Kate. "You know I can't do that, Lieutenant."

"How much did these people pay you to betray your country?"

"Not everything is about money." Madelaine stared at her coldly, "but to answer your question, enough to retire to another country that has no extradition treaty with Australia."

Kate huffed. "You are crazy if you think you can get away with this. I'm sure everyone is looking for us now."

"I am sure your boyfriend is currently going crazy looking for you." Madelaine tilted her head as she said to Kate solemnly, "I am really disappointed in you Lieutenant. It's sad to see that a brilliant woman like you is reduced to a pathetic girl straight out of a romance novel by falling for a bad boy."

"Dylan is a good man, Ms Cruise." Kate replied defiantly, "It's too bad that you can't see past your own bias towards him."

"Bias you said?" Madelaine took a step forward and crouched down to stare at Kate. "I know who he is Lieutenant. His performance in bed might be good, but he was not trustworthy. He sang like a canary in his sleep after a few encouragements. He failed the test. And in the end, his weakness for women was his downfall in the gulf."

"By encouragement, you meant to say you drugged him in that US base party, took him to a random motel and stripped him naked?" Kate remembered how distraught Dylan had been when he had shared the story months ago. She regretted that she hadn't put much stock into his suspicion about the agent's involvement, but at the time, it had seemed so impossible.

Only a slight raise in the agent's eyebrows betrayed her surprise at Kate's words, so she continued, "you put him through a test that he didn't even know he was a part of. How is that fair?"

"Fair?" Madelaine then pulled Kate's ponytail backward, eliciting a pained grunt from Kate, "what do you know about fair? How is that fair that a screw up like your boyfriend got a shiny medal after his failure in the gulf but someone like me who has sacrificed everything for this country, barely got an acknowledgement or a promotion, let alone a medal ceremony broadcasted to the whole nation?"

"Yes, he got the medal Ms Cruise, but he had paid for it some other way!" Kate replied vehemently, "do you know that he still gets nightmare every now and then? Do you know that he had PTSD from that incident that he hasn't fully recovered from? Do you know that he still question everything that he did on that fateful day? All of it because you gave him this test of yours. Was the test even sanctioned Ms Cruise? Or was that just your sick idea of power play?"

"Of course. It was sanctioned by our wonderful government." Madelaine's eyes went stormy, "the same government who stood by and do nothing as its citizen was arrested in the foreign country and put into maximum security prison at Guantanamo Bay for interrogation. My innocent brother was one such individual, Lieutenant. He was an IT technician in an insurance company. He was not built for the systematic torture that went on that place. In the end, he couldn't handle it and died there before anyone from the embassy could even get him a lawyer."

Kate went silent at the revelation. She started to understand the agent's motive for her involvement with the terrorist. "So, all this for revenge? I'm sorry for what happened to your brother but killing me won't bring him back."

"Your death is only a bonus in the grand scheme of things. Consider this as punishment for your naughty behaviour. Didn't your parents tell you that it is rude to eavesdrop on other people's private conversation?" Madelaine smirked, "it would also be worth it to see your boyfriend's reaction when he realised that your body had been torn to shred. His annoying interruption throughout all my missions in the last year and his 'holier than thou' attitude deserves punishment as well."

"You're sick!" Kate stared at the agent in disgust.

"Am I?" Madelaine then forcefully tugged Kate's hair to turn her head to her right side. "Look at that beauty there."

Kate's eyes went wide at the complicated looking device which she could only assume was the dirty bomb.

"That device there will cause the government to lose one of their military assets on their own soil. Something that hasn't happened since World War II. Consider this as punishment for their failure in protecting my brother."

"Do you think that he would be proud of you for doing this? If he was a good man like you said, wouldn't he be horrified at what you were about to do? What about your adoptive parents? By your story they had been wonderful to you. Surely you don't want them to see their country being harmed?" Kate reasoned desperately.

"They're all dead." Madelaine stated coldly. "They have left me alone. They don't get to have an opinion anymore, Lieutenant."

Chill started to creep up Kate's spine at the agent's last statement. Madelaine Cruise really had nothing to lose anymore. She should have walked away and waited somewhere else until the other woman had come out of her cabin instead of stuck around and tried to listen. If she had done that, she wouldn't be in this predicament.

Remember sweetheart, no regrets please?

She felt like crying the moment she heard Dylan's voice in her mind, but she chose instead to repeat his message in her heart for reassurance. She couldn't regret her action in the ship. She had done what any defence personnel in her position would have done in trying to protect the country that she had sworn to defend. Yes, she was scared right now, but she was glad that the mystery of Madelaine Cruise had started to unfold. She had faith that her crewmates would look for her when she didn't come back to the ship in time. She also had faith in their ability to solve a puzzle like this. All she had to do in the meantime was to stay alive until they could come and rescue her.

"Ms Cruise, it's time to go."

The agent acknowledged the call from a crewman with a brief nod before letting go of Kate's hair and stood up from her crouching position. "Goodbye Lieutenant."

Kate could only look on as the agent walked away to the back deck and boarded another vessel, leaving the crewman behind. The unknown crew then got up the stairs to what she presumed was the wheelhouse. She was not sure whether he was the only other person beside her in this boat or there was another one up there.

She then paid attention to herself once more. She knew why her hands were taped together. She could feel both of her thumbs were pressing on a button on top of a trigger mechanism. If this duct tape ever came loose or her thumbs could no longer hold the button in, the release motion would end her life. The agent or the crewman had also taken off the top part of her uniform, leaving her in her grey tee.

She didn't dare to make a sudden motion just in case it triggered anything even though she really wanted to move her arms a little bit so that she could see the display of her watch. Instead, she focused on her breathing and closed her eyes to calm herself.

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"Anything Dutchy?"

"Nothing Sir." Dylan replied with almost a blank look on his face, similar to the state of the radar in front of him. No sighting had been reported for the last 2 hours of their patrol, leaving the crews in this cloud of hopelessness hanging around them.

"No offence Sir, but without any further direction, we are looking for a needle in a haystack." Charge piped in from behind his CO frustratingly. "Couldn't we ask for more eyes on the sky?"

"The RAAF have deployed all the assets available from their base, Charge." Mike sighed. "I know it's not looking good, but we have to be patient."

Silence ensued in the bridge once more until RO finally shattered it a few minutes later, "Sir, I have Commander White on the line for you."

"Put it through on speaker, RO." Mike ordered, seeing there was no point keeping anything from his crews on the bridge.

"Mike."

"Max, you are on speaker."

"Alright. I have good news and not so good news."

"Just lay it all to us Max." Mike couldn't help but held the phone tighter.

"The RAAF plane has spotted MV The Other Planes around 40 nautical miles from your position. I've sent the coordinates to your RO, so it you should have it right about now."

RO handed a piece of paper to Mike which he then passed on to his bosun to enter to the system.

"Approximately 2 hours Northwest of our current position, Sir." Dylan read out the result and Swain looked at the direction that he had plotted to start changing the direction of the helm.

"They've also spotted another vessel that converged briefly with The Other Planes but then turned back Northeast presumably to the direction of international waters."

"Another vessel?" Mike closed his eyes briefly. "Can Kingston or Glenelg take that one?"

"Yes, I've ordered Glenelg to intercept the other vessel since they are coming down from the north. I want Hammersley to concentrate on The Other Planes."

"Very well. Is that all Max?"

"No, I'm afraid not. I also have an update about Lieutenant McGregor."

The crews waited with bated breath at the mention of their XO.

"The car that took her has been found abandoned in the parking lot of Port Douglas Marina. And the Harbour Master has confirmed that The Other Planes was docked in that marina before it set sail this morning."

"Can they confirm that Kate is indeed in the Other Planes?"

"Not exactly. But it's too much of a coincidence to have both the car and the vessel in the same place for hours and not have them connected."

"Ma'am, Petty Officer Blake here." Swain raised his voice a little to enter the conversation, "do we know if the dirty bomb is currently on The Other Planes?

"Yes, it's more than probable, Petty Officer. The police have swiped the berth that the vessel was docked to for any trace of the Caesium and they found a strong reading there."

Dylan closed his eyes as he thought about all the possibilities that could be happening right now. Was Kate still with the bomb? Was she scared?

"Max, is it possible that Kate has been moved to the other vessel that the RAAF spotted?"

"I don't know Mike. Anything is possible at this point."

Sensing that the conversation was coming to an end, Mike thanked Maxine for the update and closed the line before looking around at his crews. "Alright everyone. Let's get to work."

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Dylan looked up as the radar made a ping sound. "Sir, radar contact. It's The Other Planes."

Mike turned to look at the radar as well. "Can we see it on the EOD yet?"

2Dads shook his head, "it's still a little bit too far, Sir."

"What's its speed?"

"Looks to be around 8 knots, Sir." Swain scrutinised the screen in front of him. "For that type of vessel, it'll be the maximum it could go for."

"How far are we before we'll be on top of them?"

"Approximately 50 minutes, Sir."

"Very well." Mike looked thoughtful for a second before continuing, "Charge, take over the radar and the con from Dutchy. Bird, you'll have the marine link. 2Dads, move to helm and Flick to the EOD."

The crews switched their position swiftly, freeing Swain and Dutchy from their positions.

"Dutchy, take Captain Roth with you and go to the locker room to prepare everything that we need for the boarding and the bomb defusal. Discuss any strategy that you can think of including all the worst-case scenarios that we might have to go through."

"Yes, Sir." Dylan replied affirmatively before going down the stairs followed by Jim.

"Sir…." Charge interrupted before Mike could address Swain, "with all due respect, is that wise to have the two of them be in the same room alone?" Charge whispered concernedly as he remembered the argument last night.

"Charge, they are both experienced professionals. I'm sure they can put aside any differences they might have." Mike stared pointedly at Charge, indicating to the engineer that he was not going to comment on this matter further.

"Swain, since we don't know the X's condition, I need to you prepare our medical kit for anything you might need. After you have finished, go to the locker room as well to help the other two."

"Will do, Sir."

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Dylan lined up all the small tools that he thought might be useful for the task at hand. "Anything else that you think we should bring with us as well, Jim?"

"No, I think we're good." Jim replied quietly, "I think we need to prepare if there is a timer there. What's your fastest time?"

Dylan tightened his jaw. "That suicide vest in Samjung Island took me 18 minutes and that's without the pressure of a timer. We don't know how big this dirty bomb would be or how complicated."

"My fastest is 16 minutes and that's a super simple one. We'd have no chance if the timer is less than that."

"Ok, then how do we minimise the damage? The Caesium would be the more dangerous component. Without it, the water should lessen the impact of the actual explosive."

"Separate the two components."

"Then what?" Dylan frowned, "throw the Caesium to the water? It might still explode if any debris from the explosive got to it. We might have environmental disaster on our hands too."

"If we have time, maybe we can put it in an insulated container in Hammersley?"

"What about radiation exposure risk for the crews? The CO might not go for that. Besides, I don't know if we have a secure containment unit here."

"I think it's worth asking." Jim insisted.

Dylan nodded. "Alright, we'll put that on the table."

"What about Kate?" Jim mentioned the elephant in the room between the two of them.

"What about her?" Dylan looked at Jim square on the eye. "The X's safety is our first priority of course."

"I don't think it's that simple Dutchy." Jim stared back apologetically, "look, mate, I must admit I was too harsh on you last night. And yes, maybe I was wrong to encourage Kate to spy on Madelaine. But I've spent quite a bit of time with the agent and I know that she's very calculating. I'm worried that she has something under her sleeves for us that we don't know about yet."

Dylan closed his eyes briefly once more to rein in his emotions. He could not lose it at this point. He needed to stay focus for everyone but especially for Kate. "We'll have to improvise on the spot then. There is no point on worrying about something that we can't possibly know yet."

"You need to be prepared for the worst outcome Dutchy." Jim continued seriously, "for all we know, Kate could already be dead and Madelaine simply kept her body in that vessel for us to find and to wreck with our mind."

Dylan felt the stab of pain in his heart at the thought. "I don't think I could ever be prepared for that." He closed his hands to a fist, "I need to keep the hope that she is fine. Otherwise, I won't be able to do my job."

The two men looked at each other in silence before Swain interrupted them. "Are you guys done? Do you need help with anything?"

Jim finally nodded at Dylan before addressing Swain, "do you know if we have fully insulated containment unit to store the Caesium?"

"Like the one we found in the cruiser a few days ago?" Swain frowned, "I don't think so."

"Anything lead-lined at all?"

"Not that I know of. We don't carry anything radioactive, not even a portable X-Ray machine. So, we've never needed a protective equipment in that nature." Swain replied.

"What about a secure container, something sturdy enough to withstand pressure from an explosion?"

"What are you thinking?" Jim asked Dutchy.

"Maybe the next safest option would be to put it in a sturdy container, throw it to the water and hope that it'd sink to the bottom and avoid any damage from the explosion. We'd have to fish it out later on, but at least it wouldn't leak too badly."

"What about the bomb defusal? Are we not going to try?" Swain looked confused.

"We are Swain." Jim replied, "but we need to look at all possibility."

"Alright, I can have a look in storage. How big do we need the container to be?"

"We don't know mate. It's all a bit of a guess at this point. Something lockable but it obviously needs to still be easy enough to transport in the RHIB." Dylan rubbed his face as he was reminded once again by the enormity of the situation.

"I think you and the Captain should brief the CO with your plan while I go look for that container." Swain patted Dylan's shoulder sympathetically.

Dylan nodded, "thanks Swain."

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"MV Other Planes, this is Australian warship Hammersley, you either stop or heave to, we intend to board you!"

Kate startled out of her dozed off state and looked out of the cabin to the welcomed sight of her ship. She could feel adrenaline started to rush through her body once more, reigniting her spirit despite her body's weakness after no food or water since that fateful brunch a day ago.

The sound of footsteps coming down from the wheelhouse greeted her next. The previous crewman ran past her and went to crouch in front of the explosive device and flicked the switch on it. At which point, an ominous beeping sound started to echo in the small cabin.

The man then grabbed her shoulder and forcefully hauled her up. After being in a seating position for a while, her legs almost gave up as she stood. But the man didn't care and nudged her forward with his gun on her back.

Her eyes automatically narrowed as it adjusted to the bright glare of the sun when she stepped out to the back deck. She could now see that the two RHIBs were speeding towards her and the ultimate danger. She was torn between her desire to live and her duty to protect her crews. Her eyes couldn't help but focusing on the towering figure of Dylan. She wanted him to turn back, to just leave her and preserve his own life. But she knew that he would never do that. So, she steeled herself for the confrontation and prayed to whomever was listening to protect her Hammersley family.

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"Charge, can you see anyone else in that vessel?" Dylan cursed loudly in his head at the scene he could see through his bino and wanted confirmation from Charge who was leading the other team.

"Doesn't look like it Dutchy. Just that man and the X." Charge replied solemnly.

"Thanks Charge." Dylan then switched his radio channel. "Thunder to Hammersley, we have a bit of a problem."

"We can see that, Dutchy."

"Permission to proceed with the plan as discussed?"

"Granted. Good luck."

"Thank you, Sir." He then addressed Charge once more. "Charge, go around, board from the other side and take control of the wheelhouse."

"Radio." Charge nodded and relayed the order to Jonesy who then steered their RHIB to the other side.

"Secondary's off!" Dylan ordered his team to be ready while he tightened the grip on his own browning.

As they moved closer to the vessel, Dylan ordered Halfy to slow down and approached them carefully. He could see that the crewman had grabbed Kate in a chokehold and put the nozzle of his gun to her temple.

"Australian Navy, step away from her and surrender your weapon!"

"Do not board! Or I'll blow her head off!"

"Mate, you don't want to do this." Dylan moved closer to the front of the RHIB as he tried to grab the man's attention. "Just step away from her and you can walk out of this alive."

"It's too late. There is no way out of this." The man replied with cold eyes.

"The timer is on, Dutchy." Kate warned Dylan as she caught his eyes.

"Shut up!" The man tightened his hold on Kate's neck, eliciting a grunt from her.

Dylan's heart dropped as the worst-case scenario quickly took form. "Mate, we are all just want to go home to our family. The sooner this end, the sooner we can all do that. Please, just drop your weapon."

From the corner of his eyes, Dylan could see Charge and Swain slowly creeped up behind the crewman and Kate, having boarded from behind. He could also see Flick slowly making her way up the wheelhouse to take control of the engine.

Dylan then met Kate's eyes. Her eyes shone bright at him with determination and hope. But there was a touch of fear in it too, no doubt because of her current predicament. "How are you holding up X? Are you hurt?"

Kate shook her head slowly, recognising the stalling tactic that Dylan was currently using. He must be up to something. "Would be good to get this vest off me…" referring to the contraption she was on.

"I said shut up!" The man repeated his words to Kate.

"Go on, kill me then!" Kate shouted back defiantly, tired of this charade. "You already failed to reach the target. The base is too far away, the warship is in safe distance. Every single one of my crews will be a hero. And you are just a terrorist!"

Kate then quickly lifted her right leg and squashed the man's barefoot with her heavy boot, which cause the man to shout and loosen his grasp on her.

Seeing this, Charge and Swain quickly wrestled the man from behind, subdued him and took his weapon away. As Swain tightened the zip ties on the man's wrists, he shouted "Clear" to indicate to Dylan's team that they were now safe to board.

Dylan didn't waste any time and quickly climbed up to reach Kate. At this point, Kate was moving back away from him and shook her head at him. "Don't move closer! I don't know if this vest is stable or not. The dirty bomb is inside too. The guy just switched the timer on when Hammersley came."

"Just stop moving, OK?" Dylan pleaded to her, "Stay still for me please."

At her nod, Dylan then addressed his remaining team. "Jim, check inside to see what the situation looks like with the bomb. Charge, get the guy into the RHIB and guard him. 2Dads, move that metal box and the medical kit from the RHIB to here. Swain, take over the wheelhouse from Flick and send her back to the RHIB with Charge."

As everyone was moving around Dylan, his radio crackled again.

"Dutchy, sit reps."

"Sir, we have apprehended the man and taken control of this boat. Jim is assessing the dirty bomb now."

"Good. Navcom have informed us that our current location is too close to the touristy area of Palm Cove. We can't risk potential radiation exposure to the general public if the worst happened. So, we must move further away from shore."

"Understood, Sir. I'll keep Jim and Swain with me here and send both RHIBs back to Hammersley with the rest of the crews. There should be enough room in the tender for the 4 of us."

"Very well. Good luck all of you. Hammersley's out."

"Thank you, Sir." Dylan then switched his channel to reach Swain who was currently up in the wheelhouse. "Swain, I presume you've heard what the boss said?"

"Yep. I'll steer this vessel away at maximum speed back to sea."

"Thanks Swain."

The rest of the crews jumped back to the RHIBs at Dylan's order and with a nod to Charge, he watched for a few seconds as the RHIBs sped away from the vessel before going inside the cabin to check the situation with Jim.

"Jim, how does it look like?"

"We have 12 minutes." Jim answered grimly. "I'll start separating the two components now."

Dylan nodded, "I'll deal with the vest." He then strode back out to the back deck and racked his brain for any useful memory about the layout of the vest and how to disable them.

Kate felt pride swell in her chest as she observed the goings of her team and especially of Dylan as he had assumed the leadership position in this boarding. As she saw him approaching her again, she tried to smile to reassure him. "Hey, time to get rid of this vest yeah?"

Dylan's lips curved up a little bit at her greetings before taking off his helmet and pulling out all the tools he would need. He then encouraged her to assume a seating position on the floor carefully and started looking closely at the vest and the wires sticking out from it.

"How much time do we have?"

"Less than 12 minutes now."

Kate's heart dropped as she remembered that he took longer than that to deactivate the one in Samjung Island. "That's not much."

"No." Dylan stared at her ruefully, "let's hope I'm faster today hey?"

"Dylan…." Kate's eyes started to well up at the possibility that this could be her last interaction with him, "promise me that you'll take the tender with Jim and Swain if we are running out of time."

He smiled sadly, "I know you would say something like that. But that's not happening Kate."

"This is so not the time to be stubborn, Dylan."

"I can say the same thing to you, sweetheart." Dylan caressed her cheek softly and wiped away her tears that had started to roll down her cheek. "I'm going to make sure that you'll get to be in that plane ride to Perth for your new posting."

"I really don't give a damn about that." Kate glared at him angrily. "You are dead wrong if you think that I could go on without you."

"Hey…." Dylan leaned forward and kissed her forehead softly. "I would never leave you willingly, remember that. Jim and I have a plan for this. Just trust me, OK?"

"OK."

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"6 minutes, Dutchy!" Jim issued a warning to everyone. "I need some help here."

"Copy that." Dylan then switched on his radio, "Swain, can you set the engine on auto pilot and come down to the lower deck?"

"Yep, coming."

As Swain approached them, he sent a reassuring smile to his XO before addressing Dylan. "Mate, what do you need me to do?"

"Can you help Jim please? Also, take that metal box with you inside."

"Sure."

Dylan murmured his thanks to the medic while he continued to concentrate on the vest. "Kate, I think I'm close."

"Are you saying that just to reassure me?" Kate raised her eyebrows at him.

Dylan smirked at her, "you are so sassy. One of the many reasons why I love you."

She couldn't help but smiling softly at him despite the circumstances they were in. "I love you too big fella."

Dylan met her eyes before readying himself to cut the main wire of the vest. "This is it. Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Kate steeled herself but couldn't help closing her eyes as Dylan cut the wire.

A few seconds later when clearly nothing untoward had happened to them, Kate opened her eyes again to find Dylan smiling at her. "Is it done?"

Dylan answered by pulling her for a quick kiss, before reaching for his knife to start cutting the layers of duct tapes from her hands.

Kate could feel blood started to flow through her hands again as the layers came off. Next was the vest. Dylan cut the bindings and carefully lifted the vest over her head to free her. He then took the triggers from her hands, put them aside and started massaging her stiff hands between his gloved ones to encourage them started functioning again.

"Better?"

"Yes." Kate squeezed his hands to stop his movement. "You should help them inside."

Dylan nodded and took the discarded vest with him. "Stay here, OK?"

At her serious nod, Dylan moved quickly to reach his teammates inside. "How is it going?"

"3 minutes, mate." Jim replied as he and Swain continued cutting all the white wires carefully.

"Alright, Swain, prepare the tender please. I'll take over here." The two men nodded at each other before Swain went out to the deck as ordered. Dylan then opened the metal box and threw the useless vest and trigger mechanism inside before reaching for his pliers and copied Jim's move.

"We're still on with the plan?"

"Yep."

Jim looked up briefly to smirk at Dylan. "Good luck getting Kate into that tender without you."

Dylan sighed, "she will Jim. I'll make sure of it."

"Hey."

Dylan met Jim's eyes at the greeting.

"No matter how this end, it has been an honour Petty Officer." Jim offered his hand.

Dylan gripped the offered hand tightly. "Likewise, Captain."

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To be continued….