Usual disclaimers apply (I'm getting sick of writing the same thing over and over again).

ICE STATION CONTINUED

Part 12

Lowe grinned as Mother sighed again. She noticed and scowled at him.

"What are you so happy about?"

He shook his head, fighting his laughter. "Nothing… well, they've only been gone four hours."

"Yeah, well, four hours is a shitload of time to be sitting on my ass doing nothing. This is so fucking boring!" She spoke into her radio. "Yo Scarecrow, thinking of packing it up anytime soon?"

There was a pause before Schofield replied, We'll give you the heads up when we decide to leave. This is the last time I'm going to tell you this, Mother. Find something to do besides bugging me every half-hour.

"I have this funny feeling, Scarecrow. This place creeps me out. The sooner we leave, the better." Mother glanced anxiously around.

Sit tight and keep a look out. There's something not right here. Schofield replied.

Mother rolled her eyes. "No shit." She muttered. "So, Lowe, or should I call you James? Or do you have a nickname like the rest of us?"

Lowe racked his brain, trying to remember if he had ever acquired a nickname during his training or service in the Navy. "Well, my friends back home used to call me Jimmy." Then he suddenly grinned, remembering something. "Actually, I do… well did… have a nickname, but it's been a long time since anyone has addressed me by it."

Mother leaned forward, intrigued. "What is it?"

Lowe made a sort of embarrassed face. "When I was 19, just got accepted into the naval academy and everything, my girlfriend at the time came to visit me one weekend. Well, we went up to my room and one thing led to another. We were right in the middle of… it and my supervisor walked in."

Mother erupted in a fit of laughter.

"After that incident, he called me Sex Machine. Needless to say, my girlfriend wasn't happy about it and she broke up with me soon thereafter." He explained over Mother's continued laughter.

"James Lowe… Sex Machine!" Mother grinned, then adopted a mock serious face. "It's Lowe… James Lowe, a.k.a. Sex Machine!" She began laughing again.

Lowe smiled, shaking his head. "Great, just great." He waited until Mother's laughs died down. "Speaking of embarrassing situations, what's up with Schofield and Gant?"

"Oh holy fucking hell, don't even get me started." Mother replied angrily.

"What the fuck is that?" Lowe suddenly yelled, grabbing a pair of binoculars from the seat beside him. He brought them to his eyes as Mother searched the horizon for whatever he was looking at. Then she saw it.

"Wait- it's… what is that?"

Her radio crackled. Scarecrow, this is Hawk. I'm receiving a message of some sort. It seems to be in Chinese or Japanese; I'm not sure which. Can anyone speak one of those languages?

There was a short pause.

I can speak Japanese. Rebound's voice said through a small amount of static.

I'm going to hold my headset to the speaker so you can hear it. Trent said.

The marines heard a shuffling, and then a voice that was unmistakably Japanese reached their ears.

The five marines in the underwater lab watched as Rebound's face went white as a ghost. Then he was screaming into his radio.

"Mother! Get the fuck out of there now! Get back to land! Oh fuck! It's a torpedo! Jesus Christ. Mother? Mother are you there?" Rebound's voice was frantic. Schofield took a deep breath.

"Rebound, what was that message?"

Rebound swallowed the tears that threatened and answered. "It's got to be a Jap sub. They said they had acquired target a few miles off the coast and then they launched a torpedo."

Schofield immediately took charge. "We don't know that it's headed towards Mother and Lowe. We can't do anything from down here except try to establish contact with the."

There was a long silence and Schofield put his hands over his face. A sudden buzz in their ears made them all jump.

Rebound, what the hell is wrong with you? Is there any reason why - there was a short pause - What? What did you say, Lowe? - again, another pause - Oh shit! Torpedo! Torpedo! -  then there was static.

"Mother, are you there?" Schofield yelled into his radio. "Hawk, do you detect any strange signals in the near vicinity?"

Uh… no, sir. There's nothing. They must have a cloaking device.

"A cloaking device in a sub isn't unusual. We'll have to report this to headquarters." He sighed, trying to think, to be strong, as a leader should be. "Do we have enough air to get back up?" He turned to Gant.

She frowned." The trip down was a lot longer than we anticipated. I think we have about an hour left in each of the tanks."

Scarecrow! There's another message coming through! Hawk yelled anxiously.

"Rebound?"

Rebound was already furrowing his brow, trying to interpret the message. Then his eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened.

"They've launched another torpedo." Then he looked confused. "But there are no signals left in the area. What are they firing at?"

His question was answered with a loud explosion from the front rooms. Debris shot towards them and they could smell smoke. The floor shook with the impact of the torpedo, so that the six marines toppled over to land either on the floor or on each other.

"What's that sound?" Gant whispered from somewhere to Schofield's right.

They listened intently and heard large trickling sound. Schofield stood up shakily because there were still explosions and earthquakes occurring. He walked to the doorway of the front lab, bracing himself with his hands against the walls.

"It's water."

Gant, Rebound, Curry, Hare and Princeton followed him.

"Water?" Hare wondered aloud.

They arrived behind Schofield and he gestured towards a large hole in the wall facing the ocean where water was seeping through in enormous amounts. They were soon ankle-deep in water.

"Holy shit!" Princeton exclaimed.

Schofield was already stepping through the doorway, speaking into his radio. "Hawk, we have a large leak in the compound, we're going to try and contain it, but if it continues to leak at this rate, we'll be underwater in about twenty minutes."

Gotcha, Scarecrow. What do you propose to do if the leak continues?

"We'll have to get out of here. Do you think the land access is completely destroyed?"

I don't know. You could open it and see if there's some way to climb out. It'd take a hell of a long time, though. My suggestion is to take the underwater route again.

"We don't have enough oxygen in the tanks." Schofield said grimly.

            Then you have no choice. Take the land access. If you're not back by 0800 tomorrow I'll head back.

            "Right. We'll stay in contact." Schofield switched off his radio. Gant and Curry were already trying to stuff clothes and various other items in the hole. Hare, Princeton and Rebound went to the small hatch that provided an entrance to the land access passageway.

            Sir, you should come look at this. Rebound said in a hesitant voice.

            "I'm headed your way." Schofield strode through the bunk area and into a small closet-like space. A wide hatch was placed in the middle of one of the walls and it was open. He peered in from beside Rebound. Hare and Princeton had gone back to help the other two.

            There was a tall and long shaft with rungs running upward. Schofield could just make out small cavern-like spaces built into the shaft, obviously for resting purposes. He continued looking upward, searching for the top hatch, but all was clothed in blackness.

            "It looks alright to me." Schofield turned towards Rebound with a hopeful look on his face.

            "So why did the journal guy think it was blocked?" Rebound asked curiously.

            Schofield shrugged. "Maybe he was afraid of what was in here. Afraid of the questions he would be asked if he got out. Or maybe it was blocked, but further explosions caused whatever was obstructing it to shift. There may be thousands of reasons why he thought it was blocked."

            Rebound too a deep breath. "So… we go up?"

            "Yes, and preferably quite soon. I mean, like now. It's only been a few minutes since we noticed that leak and look…" Schofield moved his feet, causing the now knee-deep water to slosh around him.

            Sir, we have a large problem here. Gant's voice sounded tense and nervous.

            Schofield ran into the front lab. "What's the problem?"

            Then he heard a small ping. The remaining marines were staring at the ten-inch plexiglass observation window directly in front of them.

            Ping.

            Then Schofield saw it. A large, wide crack spread like a spiderweb over the surface of the window.

            "Shit! That's going to blow any minute! Snap out of it, marines! Get to the hatchway and start climbing. If we get the hatch closed in time, we won't flood the shaft." He barked the orders at them, snapping their attention from the spreading crack.

            The team of five waded through the waist deep water and joined Rebound at the hatchway.

            "Who wants to go first?" Rebound asked. Princeton climbed through the hatchway and began the long ascent to the surface. Hare followed her and Curry climbed through after him. Gant suddenly remembered something.

            "Oh my God, the journal… shit, and the graphs!" Without orders, she ran back to the bunk area and began searching for the papers.

            Rebound turned to Schofield. "What should I do, Scarecrow?"

            "Go." He saw Rebound hesitate. "Rebound, get the fuck into that shaft and start climbing!" Rebound nodded and climbed through into the passageway.

            Schofield waded back to the bunk area and saw Gant rifling through the bed sheets. "Fox, come on, screw the journal. We have to get out of here!"

            Gant jumped at the sound of his voice, a tone of anger mixed with authority and anxiety. "No, that journal has vital information in it."

            Schofield waded over to her and stood right in front of her so that they were face to face. "We're the vital information, Fox. We know what happened. I'm not willing to risk your life for a fucking journal!" He broke off, breathing heavily.

            Gant opened her mouth to snap back at him, but there was a sudden crack, the sound of glass breaking and a rush of water. The water already in the lab was mid-chest, but was rising rapidly with the new seepage.

            Schofield grabbed Gant's wrist and pulled her towards the hatch, now half-submerged.

            "No, wait! I see it!" She yanked her arm away and grabbed the small book that was floating a few feet away.

            Schofield seized her arm again and they half-waded, half-swam towards the hatch.

            "We'll have to duck underwater to get through." Their feet left the floor of the lab so that they were floating, treading water.

            Taking deep breaths, they plunged under the surface, swam through the hatch and re-surfaced inside the shaft. Schofield helped Gant onto the nearest rung before disappearing below the surface again.

            Gant panicked. What the hell was he doing? Would he resurface again? She began taking shallow breaths, trying to see down into the dark water, the level rising rapidly. Then it stopped. There was a clang of metal and a squeaking of twisting metal from somewhere below her. Then Schofield's head popped up to the surface.

            Gant let out a relieved breath. "What were you doing? Trying to kill yourself?"

            He looked up at her from the water, surprised to see her there. "Why didn't you keep climbing? You shouldn't have waited here."

            Gant stuck out an arm to help him onto the rung below her. "What were you doing?"

            "You didn't answer my question."

            "Well, you didn't answer mine."

            Schofield shook his head. "Just climb. I don't know if that hatch will hold against that type of pressure."

            Gant and Schofield began climbing in silence. They finally reached the small cavern that Schofield had spotted earlier. Gant climbed onto the rock floor and sat down beside Princeton, weary from climbing. Schofield, on the other hand, began pacing the length of the cavern, shaking his head.

            "I can't believe you risked your life for a book!" He said suddenly, turning to face Gant.

            She sprang to her feet. "This could likely be called evidence, Scarecrow. It all points towards what happened here today. With our accounts and what we heard over the radio, it could help bring whoever did this to justice." She said angrily.

            "We could've done that without the book, you know. I would've searched for them anyway, just because of what they did to at least 8 innocent people. They will be brought to justice, I guarantee you Fox, with or without that journal. The fact that you retrieved it is all well and good, but it's not worth your life. Do you understand me?" He stared daggers into her eyes, but Gant could see something else behind the cold mask. His eyes pleaded for her to say 'yes, I understand'. He was worried about her.

            "Yes, sir. I understand." She sat back down and fingered the spine of the journal.

            Schofield turned to speak to the whole team. "We'll rest here for a few minutes. Just long enough to eat a little, have a drink, then we have to resume climbing. So don't get too comfortable."

            "This is comfortable?" Rebound winced as he put a hand behind his back to feel the point of rock aggravating him.

            Curry grinned from beside him, until Rebound punched him in the arm. "Hey!"

            Rebound laughed mischievously before taking out a waterproof container from his pack.

            They began eating in silence, most of them too hungry to talk.

            Princeton poked her head out of the cavern and looked upwards, then downwards. "Why didn't that last scientist climb up this way?" She asked as she pulled her head back in.

            Schofield shrugged. "Either he was too afraid to try or he thought it was caved in." He went to the mouth of the cavern. "We'd better keep climbing. I don't know if that hatch is going to keep closed for much longer."

            Gant went first this time with Hare, Princeton, Rebound, Curry and Schofield, respectively, climbing below her.

            They passed a few more caverns and even a few tunnels that seemed to lead further into the rock. Rebound asked about them.

            "Don't know, don't care. It's not worth investigating. Keep going." Schofield replied, anxiously looking downwards every few minutes, even though the bottom of the shaft had disappeared into the darkness.

            They resumed climbing in silence, the only noises being their breathing and the clang of their boots on the metal rungs.

            Then there was a faint sound below them, yet they didn't stop because they knew what the sound had been. The hatch below them had succumbed to the building pressure of the water and blown open. The marines quickened their pace as they heard the surging water, picturing it rising up to swallow them whole.

            Half an hour passed.

            Schofield glanced down once again, only this time his eyes widened in panic.

"Get a move on, guys." He yelled upwards. The water was in visual range.

Gant yelled something from above him, but he couldn't make it out, so he asked her to repeat it.

"I can see the hatch, Scarecrow. It's… maybe fifty feet above me."

Schofield glanced down again. The water was about forty feet below him and rising quickly. He could see it churning and frothing, almost like it was alive.

"Take two rungs at a time, Fox. We need to keep up the pace, marines. The water is rising quickly."

The team, panting and struggling to beat the powerful waters, quickened their pace.

"Thirty feet, Scarecrow."

The water was twenty feet away. The clang of their feet was lost in the rush of liquid as it rose ominously towards them.

"Fifteen feet, sir."

Schofield could almost feel the flecks of water land on his face.

"Ten feet."

The water lapped at Schofield's feet.

There was a clang and Gant yelled, "I'm at the hatch. Everyone out now!"

The rest of the team scrambled out of the water-logged shaft, rushing to close the hatch before the ocean came to the surface. When the metal covering was tightly secure, the six marine let out a sigh of relief.

"Fuck, that was close." Hare said breathlessly.

Gant looked around. They were in a small building with no windows, but a light bulb burned from the ceiling, throwing the tiny space into the light. On one wall, there was a picture of the six scientists who had perished in the S.A.L. The rest of the walls were bare.

"I'm going to have to check everyone out." Princeton said suddenly. "I want to make sure no one had any injuries."

Schofield nodded. "When we get back to Hawk, you can give us all a check-up." He smiled.

Curry, meanwhile, had gone to the door of the building and thrown it open. Rebound joined him.

"Where do you think we are?" Rebound shrugged before leaning against the doorframe. "What do you think we're going to do after we get back?" Curry asked.

Rebound looked at the man with raised eyebrows, but with a frightening look on his face. "I don't know about you, but I plan to find the assholes who killed Mother and bust a few fuckin' caps in their sorry asses." He grimaced, narrowing his eyes.

            Curry nodded. "I know I didn't get to know Mother for very long, but she seemed like an amazing person."

            Rebound looked at him and smiled. "Yeah, she really was."

            Meanwhile, Schofield was contacting Andrew Trent, trying to determine their location.

            "I think we're about a mile inland from where the lab is. Do you think you can grab the truck and pick us up?"

            And how the hell am I supposed to do that, Shane? You took the goddam truck!

            "Aw shit. I guess we'll have to walk back to the truck and hope no one sees us." Schofield squeezed his eyes shut, disbelieving the situation they were currently in.

            Sounds like a plan. Don't get into any messes. I don't want to have to bail you out. Over and out.

            "Smart ass." Schofield muttered, shaking his head. He turned towards the other team members, who were scattered around the tiny building. Rebound and Curry were standing at the open doorway, discussing something with grim faces. Gant was hunched over the water-logged journal, occasionally dabbing the wet pages with a towel she found. Hare and Princeton were looking at the one photo in the room of the six deceased scientists.

            He walked over to Gant and peered over her shoulder. "Find anything interesting?" He grinned when she jumped, snapping the book shut.

            "No, nope, nothing at all, Scarecrow." She cleared her throat. "So, what did you and Hawk discuss? Did you find out where we are?"

            Schofield shook his head. "Not accurately, anyway. I have a very vague idea of where we are, but not a definite location. And… this is the best part… we get to walk back to the truck!" He exclaimed with mock enthusiasm.

            Gant's mouth dropped open. "You are so fucking joking. Scarecrow, it's like 150°F out here and the truck is probably four miles away!" She narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together. "Someone will pay for this."

            Schofield chuckled before addressing the others.

            "When I die of heat stroke, tell my next of kin that I died with valour!" Rebound joked after Schofield had finished.

            "Come on, we'd better get moving. It'll get dark soon." Hare went to the door of the building and began the four-mile trek back to the truck. The others followed.

            They arrived at the pickup a few hours later, tired and soaked with sweat. Gant wiped her forehead wearily before climbing into the driver's seat. She was about to start the ignition when she was blinded by flashing red lights.

            "What the-"

            Three beat-up cadillacs with red lights on their roofs raced towards the team of marines at an alarming speed. Suddenly, they screeched to a halt and eight men jumped out of the cars wielding machine guns. The marines automatically went for their M-16E's, but Schofield quickly stopped them.

            "Stop! Stop… what's that sound?"

            There was a loud buzzing noise, then a voice came over what was unmistakably a megaphone.

            "¡Vosotros sois bajo arresto! ¡Fuera a tu vehículo!"

            Then, in English:

            "You are under arrest! Get out of your vehicle!"

            Princeton clapped a hand to her forehead, "Ay, Dios Mio."

            Schofield motioned for everyone to step out of the truck and put their hands up.

            "Do any of you speak English?" He asked the nearest cop. The man peered at him with narrowed eyes.

            "Yes, I speak English. You are under arrest for trespassing on this land without a permit."

            Schofield sighed. "We have permission from the government to be here."

            The man hesitated for a minute before turning to another officer and conversing briefly in Spanish.

            "You are all under arrest and will be kept in jail until you produce such documents." A second officer began slapping handcuffs onto Gant and Schofield stepped forward, visibly angry.

            "Hey! You can't do that! Get those fucking things off her!" He was silenced as cold metal enclosed his wrists.

            "Uh, Scarecrow… What the hell are we going to do?" Curry asked anxiously.

            "I'll call Hawk as soon as we get to La Serena. He'll bring the documents and then they'll let us go." I hope Schofield thought as the five marines were piled into the three police cars. Their guns were confiscated and two of the police officers drove the marine's truck behind the procession of cop cars.