CH 87
"Don," she calls out when she reaches the boat.
Turning, he smiles."Hey, you made it."
She boarded the boat. "Yep. So this is the cage?" MacGyver says as she looks it over.
"Yep, this is it."
"Great."
"Don, ready to cast off?" Laura calls over.
MacGyver turns around. "Laura, nice to see you again. How's your ankle?"
"How do you know my wife?" Don asks.
"A crewmate and I were running yesterday when she sprained her ankle. They brought her back here. That's how I knew how to find your boat."
"Ah, well, thank you for taking care of my wife. Your husband must be proud of you."
"Yes, he is."
Laura looked at MacGyver, shocked by what she said. Then she saw her left hand and the wedding ring.
"So shall we?"
"Why not," MacGyver said smiling.
Five minutes later, they headed out to sea while they talked. When Don went down to get changed, MacGyver turned to Laura. "I Don't know what your game is, Laura, but I Don't like you using Dutchy in your games."
"Who do you think you are?"
"You Don't want to know, and you can stop the engine; we've reached the area" She turns around and walks out of the wheelhouse and out to the back of the boat.
When MacGyver and Don were ready, Laura gave them their dive tanks. Then she went to get Don's camera. While Don was busy checking the cage over, MacGyver swapped both bottles she was given for two others that were full.
It was time. They got into the cage, then the cage was lowered into the water, going down several meters before stopping. Don and MacGyver watched as the sharks showed up. Don had his camera and recorded what he needed and even recorded a shark swimming up to the cage, then slowing as it went past. Macgyver put her hand out and put it on the side of the shark as it swam past her and around the cage. Then it stopped on top of the cage.
So MacGyver scratched under its jaw through the bars, and then she scratched her way down until she saw something hanging out of it. It squirted something in the water then swam away. Macgyver turned to Don and saw him give her the thumbs up and the OK signal. He pulled out a mini buoy that had a rope attached to it. He released the buoy and waited.
Ten minutes later, and still, nothing was happening. Don looked at his oxygen gauge and saw that it had only five minutes of air left. He showed it to MacGyver. She checked hers. She had over an hour of air left which she thought was odd since they had only been down for fifteen minutes, and the tanks should have lasted for two hours.
Laura called a mayday. RO was on duty, heard the mayday, and reported it to Kate as the senior officer on board; Mike was in town shopping. "X, we got a mayday from a boat named Calypso. Two divers trapped in a shark cage, the wench isn't working."
"Where are they?"
"Here are the coordinates." Kate took the paper, walked over, and typed them into the navigation system. Then she picked up the microphone.
"Hands to boarding stations, hands to boarding stations, Charge, Two Dads, Dutchy, Swain, Bird to boarding stations."
"RO, contact Mike and let him know what's going on."
"Yes, ma'am. " Kate left the bridge and waited on the boat deck for her crew.
"X, what's going on?" Charge asked.
"We've got two divers in trouble. They're stuck in a shark cage; here are the coordinates," she passes the paper to Swain.
"Who called the mayday?" Swain asked.
"Laura Andrews."
Dutchy looked shocked. "X, MacGyver's on that dive with Don Andrews, Laura's husband."
"We need to get going. They might be low on oxygen by now." The rescue party got into the RHIB, and Kate gave out the order for the RHIB to be lowered into the sea, then it took off. Kate returned to the bridge.
The RHIB stopped at the back of the Calypso, and Laura was shocked when she saw Dutchy.
"Please help! My husband is down in the cage, and the wench isn't working."
Charge immediately went to look at it.
"How much air do they have left?" Swain asked.
"He would be almost out."
"Where are your extra tanks?"
"Here. They were all filled up this morning," she answered.
Swain walked over and picked up a tank; he connected the pieces and straps to it. Then he picked up goggles and went to go over the side.
"Don't go! There sharks down there!" Laura cried.
"Yeah, I know" he put on the dive goggles, laid down on his belly, and put his head under the water. He could see the cage. Then he lifted his head up, pulled the oxygen tank over, connected the straps around the cable, and dropped it into the sea until it was on top of the cage.
MacGyver looked up. She was holding her breath, and Don was using the last of the oxygen when she saw that a tank was being lowered to the cage. Reaching out as the tank landed on top of the cage. She grabbed the mouthpiece, pressed it to see that there was air. Then she realized that that tank was one of the tanks that Laura didn't give her. She was able to take a few deep breaths of air then gave Don the thumbs up.
Charge worked on the wench and managed to get it working. They all watched and waited for the cage to surface. When it did, Charge, Dutchy, and Swain helped bring the cage back onto the boat. MacGyver looked at Laura and saw the shocked look on her face.
"MacGyver, Mr. Andrews, are you two OK?" Swain asked.
"Yes, Swain, we are. Thanks for the extra tank."
"It was your idea if something should something like this happen," Dutchy said.
"I know."
"I got what I wanted plus some things that never happened before in all my years diving with the sharks," Don said, grinning.
"What happened?" Laura asked with a fake smile
"June scratched the underside of a shark from the jaw to the male clasper, and he sent her a gift."
"What's a male clasper?" Dutchy asked.
"A penis. Sharks have two of them," Don explained.
"You scratched a shark's penis?" Two Dads asked, grinning.
"Shut up, Two Dads, and no, it was about half an inch before it."
"What did the shark give her?" Swain asked with a smirk.
"His sperm. It was the first time that I've ever seen something like this happen," Don said, grinning.
"Not a word you got that, all of you, especially you, Two Dads. If I ever find out that one of you spread the word about what happened, I'll make you scrub the galley and cold storage rooms with a toothbrush for the rest of your rotation on Hammersley, understand?"
"What about the reports," Charge asked, being a tease.
"Not even in that, just put that I went diving with Mr. Andrews. That's all the captain and NAVCOM needs to know."
"Sure. What about Jim?"
"I'll tell him all about it in my own time." Then she turns to Charge. "What happened to the wench?"
"It's stuffed. I managed to fix it for now, but it's just temporary. It needs to be replaced."
MacGyver turned to Don."Looks like you won't be doing any shark diving for a while, at least until the motor's replaced."
"Laura, you told me it was fixed," Don says.
"It was."
"Who did you get to fix it?" MacGyver asked.
"Why do you want to know?"
"So Don can tell them that they didn't do a proper job and also for our reports."
"I'll get the name of the one who fixed it" then Laura walked back to the cabin.
Don and MacGyver sorted out their diving gear and wet suits. Then Laura returned with a business card and passed it to MacGyver.
"Carol Long," passing the card to Swain.
"Can you write down his name and number just in case I need to ask some questions?"
"Sure."
"Thanks."
Swain wrote down everything while Don and Laura talked in the corner as they sorted out the dive tanks.
"Swain, take a photo of the card," MacGyver said quietly.
"Why?"
"Gut feeling, and I want the Andrews checked out along with Carol Long. Something smells fishy."
"OK," he said, smiling, then used his phone to take a photo of the card.
Once everything was sorted out, the RHIB was next to the Andrew's boat when they returned to port.
Swain spoke to Mike about what happened and what MacGyver had said. When RHIB was back in place, MacGyver was with them.
As she stepped on the deck, Mike and Kate were there. "Are you OK?" Mike asked.
"Fine, did you check them out?"
"Don and Laura have been married for over a year, and he works for National Geographic. As for Carol Long, she's no engineer. She doesn't have any degrees in anything."
"Anything else, Sir?"
"Yeah, Don had a fifteen million dollar life insurance policy."
"That's very interesting, Don't you think, Sir."
"Meaning?"
"I think Laura wanted to kill her husband and make it look like an accident. She wasn't counting on my being there. She gave us each a dive tank that was already on the deck. I changed them for another two. Plus, when the cage surfaced, she was shocked to see us alive. Then she looked over to the other tanks and saw the original ones she had given us still in the racks. I noticed a mark on them. I reckoned that those two tanks been contaminated with carbon monoxide."
"We are going to need to prove it and get permission to have them tested," Swain said.
"Leave it with me," MacGyver said.
An hour later, Mike and MacGyver walked down to where Calypso was docked.
"Hello! Anyone home?" Mike called out.
"Hey," Don said as he walked out to the back of the boat. "June, wow, never seen you look like that."
"Thanks, Don. Don Andrews, Commander Mike Flynn, he's the captain of Hammersley."
"Hi, come aboard."
"Thanks," Mike said.
"Is Laura here?" MacGyver asked.
"She's pricing out a new motor; why?"
"Don, I think Laura was planning on killing you this afternoon, but her plan got screwed up when I showed up."
"What? You're crazy."
"I can give you fifteen million reasons why she wants you dead," MacGyver said.
"You had her checked out?"
"After what happened today? Yes, and the reason why she would want you dead, Sir," Mike said.
"No way, your lying. I want you off my boat now! You're all crazy."
"Let's go, MacGyver; you tried your best," Mike said.
"Don, you told me that you're old friends with Commander Marshall," MacGyver says to him.
"Yeah, we've known each other since high school."
"Call him and ask him about me. Use my navy nickname, MacGyver."
"You know him?"
"Of course, we both do," Mike said.
Don took out his phone and looked up Steve's name, pressed call, then put it to his ear. "Steve, hey, it's Don Andrews… going great, yeah I know, it has been a while. Hey, listen, mate, do you know a Navy sailor called 'MacGyver'?" He raised his eyebrows. "You do know her. What can you tell me about her… yes, she's here." Then he passed the phone to MacGyver. "He wants to talk to you."
"Commander Marshal, Sir. Missing the sea views, Sir?" She said, laughing. "Yes, he's still on board, and he is right next to me… Sir, I believe that Don's wife Laura trying to kill him… fifteen mill, Sir… carbon monoxide in the dive tanks… I spoiled her plans when I showed up and went diving with him… at least two tanks, she appeared shocked to see both of us alive and well… we'd like the Navy's experts to check all the tanks… I'll write up a report about it, Sir… gut Sir… thank you, Sir." Then she passed the phone back to Don. "He wants to talk to you."
"Steve… so I should trust her?… are you sure?… OK, thanks, Steve." Shocked, he disconnected the call. "He told me that you are one honest woman, and he trusts you. He said that if my wife set out to kill me that you would be able to prove what she's trying to do."
MacGyver laid her hand on his shoulder. "I will prove it, and the tanks are the answer." She walked over and pulled two tanks from their rack.
"Remember these two?"
"Yes, Laura got them for us."
MacGyver turned them both around. "See this mark?" Pointing to the top of the tank. There's an 'X' on both tanks." Both Mike and Don saw them.
"Yes."
"I reckon that these two tanks are contaminated. Check the others, see if there are any marks on them."
Don checks the other tanks. "There's none, my gosh," shocked.
MacGyver pulled out some folded papers and passed them to Don. "Can you sign these? It gives the Navy approval to have the dive tanks, the pump, and the wench's motor checked for sabotage."
"Of course."
She passed Don her pen. He read the release forms first, then he signed all three pages and handed them back to MacGyver.
"Sir, can you make the call while I call Swain."
"Who's Swain?" Don asked.
"You met him over an hour ago. He was checking you over. He's the coxswain on Hammersley, Navy police."
"Ah, OK, but why?"
MacGyver spotted Laura walking along the dock towards the boat.
"He can be here with another crew member until we get the results on the tanks."
"OK."
"Sir, plan B."
Mike nodded.
"Plan B?" Don asked.
"We don't want to alert Laura that we know what she is planning. So we've got a perfect distraction, a tour of Hammersley," she said smiling.
"That's a great idea."
"And you both can stay for dinner. Speaking of dinner, I better head back and get dinner on. I hope you and Laura aren't allergic to any foods."
"We're not."
"Great, I'll see you soon, Don."
MacGyver walked onto the wharf and towards Laura. "Laura!" MacGyver called out.
"June. What were you doing on the boat?"
"Commander Flynn wanted to meet Don," she said as she continued to walk away.
When she saw Swain and RO, they all stopped. "Swain, RO, go over to the boxes and hide. You don't want to let Laura see you. Once you're on board, keep out of sight. I have a feeling that Laura's not working alone."
"No problem, good luck."
"You too. I'll save some scran for you both."
"Thanks." Then she walked back to the Navy port.
