Chapter 4

Cal was right. Andrews arrived back within half an hour with an entourage of senior officers. Each had a view on what was going on, some would not be convinced on the science of the Lightman Group. They argued back and forth about the likelihood that the vessel had been commandeered, by the enemy, by pirates, by mutiny.

Foster and Loker detailed the evidence once again for the benefit of the newcomers. Those who were convinced by Lightman's methods looked to him for confirmation, but he simply deferred back to Foster as the expert. He offered his view in support of his partner and the small group of Navy officers began to debate amongst themselves again.

Eventually, one man turned to Lightman and asked, "Is there any way to be certain Dr Lightman? I'm not sure I'm comfortable relying solely upon guesses based on vocal tones. No offence," he added the last point towards Foster who simply shrugged it off.

"We could be more certain if we could have a face to face. A direct interaction. But aside from that, no. This is what we've got."

"I guess if you could get Dr Lightman out there, get him close to Jacobs or Captain Perez…" Loker speculated. This is exactly what Loker assumed Cal was planning. It was textbook Lightman. As he spoke, he could see Lightman nodding along in agreement with the idea. And then he saw a shift in his eyes.

Cal had been thinking along the same lines as Eli Loker. It would be so much easier if he could just get out there and see the faces of those involved. It was insane. Going to a meet and greet with a sleeper agent in Afghanistan levels of insane. He both hated the place that these excursions brought him to within himself and craved the adrenaline. Sometimes, he felt he had no choice but to put himself in those situations. He was about to test the idea with the committee of naval officers when the face of Max Kabuso appeared in his mind. Suddenly, the urge to go off chasing danger evaporated. He had to sort that matter out with Gill first. He had to know if there was a chance.

"No. This isn't the Hunt for Red October, Loker. Get a video link up if you can, but my guess would be you won't get him on a visual. Get a team out there and extract the crew. Don't abandon the sub, it'd be on the black market by tomorrow. Work with your enemies if you need to. I'd be surprised if they've not faced a similar situation. Convince them it's for both your benefits to allow an extraction crew. Last thing they'll want is a mercenary group with that kind of power, even if they are planning to sell it on. There's no need to put some idiot like me at risk just to have a look at the face of someone who we already know is lying against his will."

When he finished his speech he looked first to Loker and then to Gillian in the seat to his side. Loker looked surprised at his decision. Cal knew that the younger man saw his boss as an out-of-control adrenaline junkie just looking for the next thrill. Sometimes he feared he was right. Gillian looked so relieved he had to fight the urge to hug her. He knew that while she understood his need for adventure, she hated when he put himself in danger. She thought he was reckless. She was right. But in the last year, with everything that had happened, with all of the home truths he had come to grips with, he was slowly growing up. He no longer feared becoming his mother, and he no longer feared losing Gill or Emily purely because of who he was. Learning from the past, he had stopped trying to drive away the people he loved the most because he was afraid they would reject him, just for being him, and accepted that if they were dumb enough to love him he was going to let them love him. He had reached a milestone in maturity through the experience of having them put up with him and his brief mid-life crisis last year, and steering him through it even when he wasn't particularly pleasant to be around. He no longer feared becoming his father either. Just having those close to him love him as they did showed him that he was nothing like his father. And in that realisation he was working towards not behaving like the bully he knew the man to be, often just to put up barriers against people who might look to compare them, in some stupid self-fulfilling prophecy. He knew he could still act the bully at times, but even so, he was constantly working to be better. For them. And now, if the events of the day were anything to go by, for Max. He was reckless. But he was channelling it better now. And there was no way he was taking the insane risk of running off to play Jack Ryan in some crazy war game.

Gillian's relief made him feel pride in his choice. And that was almost as good as any adrenaline rush.

"There's no way we would allow a civilian anywhere near that boat young man, are you insane?" came the incredulous reproach from Admiral Jiminez.

Well, so much for that idea.

They had been left waiting in the lab while the military circus rolled into their war room, or wherever they had gone to strategize and organise their rescue/salvage mission. With the agreement of Lt Commander Andrews, Torres and Turner had been allowed to head off. They had been there for support and education more than for their skills, and they were now beyond that point in the case. Loker had held on as the tech expert, just in case any further information came to light and they had to research or review further data.

Eventually, Loker left the room for a bathroom break and for the first time since that morning Cal and Gillian were alone.

"So how was the White House? Really? You seemed a little off when you came back."

Gillian was wielding a can opener that Cal was not ready to submit to. This was a conversation he did not want to have in this setting.

"It was fine, Gill. Met the Vice President, talked about where we are as a company right now, explained why we don't want to work for the feds and land ourselves on government retainers, then showed him a bunch of YouTube clips of all the people who's secrets he'd love to know."

"So why the look, when you came in?"

"What look?"

"The one where you have something to say to me but don't want to say it yet."

Cal paused the conversation and refused to meet her gaze. She waited for a few beats and then placed her hand on his forearm.

"Talk to me. What happened?"

"Nothing happened. Not at the White House."

When she sat up straighter and her grip tightened on his arm where it had been gently rubbing, probably without her even realising, he knew he'd have to give her something. She know something was up soon enough anyway.

"When we get out of here, you're going to have a few missed calls."

"From who? What happened," she asked. He could see the cogs turning and realised that she was starting to worry that something was wrong at home or with someone she cared about somewhere.

"It's ok now," he assured her. "Max got a fright. He ran up and hid himself away in the spare room. When they couldn't get you, they called me."

He tried to read her then and knew she was thinking a hundred things at once. He saw fear, guilt, concern and a dozen other things. He wondered if that flash of fear was just concern for the boy's welfare or if she was afraid that the Doucet's had let the cat out of the bag. For a brief second he thought about letting her stew. Thought about letting that fear fester in her. Almost the same instant he realised how cruel that would be. He was mad at her, sure, but just as much he was worried about her reasons, and he loved her more than he could ever articulate.

"He's fine, love. I promise. I went over and spent some time. You'd have had it sorted in half the time, but I did my best. By the time Torres called he'd eaten and he was getting his nappy changed by Terry."

She had every look of a worried mother, he thought. She looked like she wanted to just drop everything and run off to see him. Much like he had felt standing in front of the Vice President of the United States when he had taken the call.

"What happened?" she asked, and he could see the protective instinct kicking in. She needed to know he'd be safe, even if he wasn't still hiding himself away.

"It was just a misunderstanding. That's all. Terry was with Max, using his pictures. Josh came in and slipped on one that was left astray. Says he was tired, not really thinking and he just yelled at him about leaving them lying about."

A look of fury flashed across Gillian's face before she covered it. She shook her head, trying not to get upset and said, "He knows that's a trigger, what was he thinking? Max is already instinctively terrified of just having men in the same room as a woman, he can't-"

"He knows that, love," Cal said in his best soothing voice, gripping Gillian's shoulders and rubbing along the top of her arms. He gave her a small smile of comfort and continued, "He knows. He felt awful about it. He didn't mean it. Apologised to the poor kid the second he got the chance."

She threw him a weary look, unconvinced until she was able to see for herself that everything was ok.

"Anyway," Cal went on with pride and smug self-satisfaction in equal measure, "I got him to come around. Got him eating, and held his hand when he decided to come back down the stairs. Had him clinging on to my leg like he does with you when someone walks in the room. I think we're mates now, Gill."

The tension broke and he got a laugh out of her just in time for Loker to walk back in. Seeing her smile, he remembered the rest of the visit. The interaction with Josh Doucet lingered constantly at the back of his mind. Seeing Gillian relaxed and happy again, knowing that she was keeping it from him soured his good mood.

"You think we could stop by later? Maybe on the way home?" she asked.

"Give them a call when we get out. Might keep until tomorrow."

Something flashed on his face when he said it. Combined with the pitch of his voice that told her he had a lot more to say on the matter, she knew something was up. He could see it in her eyes the moment she realised. So he turned away and moved to to Loker.

"Mission, we have them in sight. Nothing out of the ordinary on visual."

"Echo Rescue, copy that. Approach with caution."

The tinny sound of the radio communications came through the speakers in the small Pentagon lab and with the order to approach, Gillian took a deep breath. She stood and walked to the two men in the room. She placed the flat of her hand against Cal's back between his shoulder blades.

"What if we got it wrong?"

"We didn't."

"What if we did?"

"We didn't, Foster. They might not get this part right, but we got ours right."

"I hope you're right."

"Echo six, do you copy?", came the disembodied voice. The request was met only with silence. "Echo six, this is the decontamination unit. We've gotten agreement from out hosts to assist. Do you copy?"

Several beats more of silence filled the air until eventually the sound of a radio from the other side kicked into life.

"Um, Echo rescue, we do not recommend approach. We are facing a volatile situation here. We are unsafe. Copy?"

"Echo six, you have deviated significantly from your assigned trajectory. We have concerns that your vessel's rudders may be compromised. Given your unsafe status, we have no choice but to approach and commandeer your vessel. Enemy vessels are standing by along with our own to ensure no further deviation. Copy?"

"Echo rescue… we copy rescue, but please listen to us-"

Jacobs voice was abruptly cut off to the sound of struggling in the background. The internal communications fired into action, orders to approach the vessel, repeated attempts to raise someone at the other end of the radio. And then all went silent for several minutes.

Tension filled the room once more. They waited, and they waited. After what felt like an eternity, a voice came through the other end.

"Base, we've retaken the Echo six. No signs of radiation here. Ten bogeys in custody. Several crew injured, including Commander Jacobs. We'll make our way to the rendezvous and report back once we have full info. Mission successful team."

Silence filled the space once more and Cal gave Loker a pat on the back then turned to face Gillian with a grin on his face.

She planted her face against his shoulder in relief and his hand came up to rub comfortingly against her back.

"Told you," he smiled into the side of her head.

She leaned back and grinned at him in thanks. They stepped apart and Gillian turned to Loker with a congratulatory smile.