Usual disclaimers apply.

ICE STATION CONTINUED

Part 13

The cell door slammed behind Hare as he was pushed into the small room along with the others.

            Schofield grabbed one of the guards through the bars. "Hey! Where's my phone call?"

            The guard wrenched his arm out of Schofield's grasp and butted him in the face with his gun. "¿Quieres más?" He said before laughing and continuing out of sight.

            Schofield grasped his face with his hands and sat down on the concrete bunk. Princeton kneeled down in front of him and gently pried his hands away from his face. He licked his lip and tasted a metallic wetness. Looking down at his hands, he saw blood.

            "That's right. You're bleeding." Princeton said sarcastically. She ripped off part of a sheet from one of the bunks and dabbed at the blood running from a gash to the right of his nose.

            "Where's my fucking phone call?" Schofield growled under his breath. He waved Princeton's hand away and went to the bars of the cell.

            "We're American citizens and we have the right to a phone call!" He yelled to no one in particular. Then he turned towards the team and sighed. "They're going to let us rot in here for nothing." He sat back down on the bunk and leaned against the cool wall. After a few minutes, he sprang back up and exclaimed, "Okay, so they're not giving us our phone call yet, so we try and figure out how all these clues fit together."

            The rest of the marines looked confused.

            "Sir, what the hell are you talking about?" Rebound asked with raised eyebrows.

            Schofield sat back down on the bunk after pacing for a couple of minutes. "Why was the Constitution torpedoed? What do those two dates in that journal have in common and what the fuck do the Japanese have to do with this?" His eyes were alight with excitement and the rest of the team slowly began to share that feeling.

            "Obviously, the Japanese have a sub patrolling those waters… but, the question is why? There's nothing out there of interest to the military." Hare inputted.

            "Maybe they just like blowing people up." Princeton said cynically.

            "Or maybe they're testing something." Gant spoke the first time since they were arrested.

            "That's what I was thinking." Schofield nodded as he glanced at her. "Those dates in the journal coincide somehow. Fox, do you still have it with you?"

            She shook her head. "They took it, too. Obviously thinking I had a weapon concealed in it." She rolled her eyes.

            "Damn. We need that journal." Schofield put his head in his hands.

            "Oh… so now we need it, even though not two hours ago you were talking about leaving it in the lab." Gant couldn't believe her ears.

            Schofield looked up at her, amused. "That's right. Can't I change my mind?" She was annoyed at the wide grin on his face.

            "What about 'It's not worth your life, Fox' and 'I'm not going to take that risk'?"

            His face suddenly grew serious. "That still stands. No one should risk their lives for something so small." He turned to look at the others. "That goes for everyone." He looked back at Gant, another smile starting. "But… since you did get the journal, I was just saying that it would have come in useful right now."

            Gant threw her hands up in the air, frustrated.

            "What will we do when we get back to Washington?" Rebound asked after settling onto another bunk.

            Schofield pondered the thought for a moment. "Well, I guess we try to gather some info on serviceable Japanese subs. Where they patrol and when. We'll probably have to talk to the FBI or CIA about this so that they may be able to get an agent over there. It just depends on how big this thing turns out to be."

            "Enjoying your stay so far?" A heavily-accented voice cut into Schofield's plan. The marines turned and saw a well-dressed man with dark skin and hair standing with a cell phone in his hand.

            "Who are you?"

            "Chief of police, Marco Gomez. I hear you have been demanding a phone call, so here it is. I advise you to call a lawyer."

            "Why are we in here?"

            "You have trespassed on government soil."

            "But we have the documents."

            "Then I suggest you get them before we leave you here to rot." Gomez smiled, his white teeth glinting in the pale prison light.

            Schofield took the cell phone and dialed Andrew Trent.

            "Where the hell have you been?" I've been this close to packing up and-"

            "Save it, Hawk. We're in the jail in La Serena. Can you get our documents that allow us on government soil and get them here so they can release us?"

            "Yes, I can. I'll call a local taxi service."

            Schofield thanked him gratefully. Hanging up the phone, he turned towards the others. "Time to go home."

            It took Trent a little bit longer than expected to arrive, but he arrived nonetheless.

            "Okay, you can go. Lo siento, amigos. Our apologies to your country." Gomez repeated as the marines found their truck. Schofield nodded, pretending to understand before the truck pulled away from the jail.

            "Let's never do that again." Princeton exclaimed.

            Trent glanced over at Schofield while he was driving. "What happened to your face?"

            "Overly enthusiastic guard." Schofield replied, gritting his teeth.

            The compound was just as they had left it. The seven of them packed up their equipment and piled it into the truck before eating a bite of dinner.

            "Scarecrow, I'm sorry about Mother." Hawk broke the long, uncomfortable silence. Schofield was sitting at the table, staring at his plate with a glazed look in his eyes. At Hawk's words, he dropped his fork and closed his eyes briefly.

            "All I keep thinking about is how I'm going to break it to her daughter." He put a weary hand to his face and sighed deeply. "God, she had a lot of strength… and she never gave up. Ever." He cleared his throat quickly as his voice began to shake. Something warm and soft clasped his free hand and he looked to see Gant squeezing it in support.

            "I'll come with you, Scarecrow." She said confidently.

            "Me, too." Rebound murmured. The loss seemed to hit him the hardest.

            "We'll all tell her family together because we're a team." Hare added while Princeton and Curry nodded.

            Schofield gave Gant's hand a return squeeze.

            "You guys are a great team."

            "Our flight leaves tomorrow morning at 1130 hours, so sleep in… rest up." Schofield said wearily as the team prepared to sleep.

            The lights were turned out, but there was a bright light from the moon filtering in through a tiny window in one of the walls.

            Schofield lay in his bunk, surrounded by the sounds of deep breathing. When he was sure everyone was asleep, he got back up and went into the small office at the front of the building. Taking out a piece of notepaper, he began writing:

            Dear Mr. and Mrs. Newman,

            I regret to inform you that your daughter, Gena, call sign "Mother" was killed in action.

            Schofield stopped, unable to put down in words what he was feeling.

            She is irreplaceable on the team and nobody who has met her will ever forget her wonderful and energetic spirit.

            Again, he stopped, unsure of the next lines. Flashbacks of the funerals for Snake, Montana, Samurai, Ratman, Santa Cruz, Legs, Hollywood and Book popped into his mind. He had relied on his teammates for support then, just as he was doing now. He stood and walked to the door. Holding it open, he stared at the moon and thought about his abilities.

            He admitted that though it seemed he was good at getting the team out of sticky situations, he was even better at getting them into trouble.

            He thought of all the men who had died underneath his leadership. Innocent or not, it was he was responsible for them… for their deaths.

            "Couldn't sleep either?" A voice from behind him made him jump.

            Without turning to see who it was, he replied, "Not a wink. What are you doing up?"

            There was a shuffle and Gant appeared at his side.

            "Well, seeing as our own Lieutenant Commander is haunted by ghosts, I didn't think I could sleep. Plus, it's strange having two extra bunks."

            "You really should get some sleep." Schofield replied simply.

            She turned towards him and glanced at his appearance. "I should say the same for you. You look terrible."

            He snapped then. "Well can you fucking blame me?" He walked outside and kicked the scorched ground, sending dust flying.

            "Everyone on our team except you, Rebound, Mother and I were killed at Wilkes. Two killed by their own teammates! It wouldn't have happened if I had been more cautious. Now Mother is dead because of me. I can't handle it. Too many people have died on my account." He collapsed on the ground and put his head in his hands.

            "Are you giving up?" Gant asked acidly.

            The anger in her voice made Schofield look up. He didn't answer.

            "The fact that you're even debating my question makes you a coward." She turned away from him and walked back to the building.

            He jumped up and barred her path. "What do you want me to do, huh? Pretend it never happened? I'm responsible for the deaths of ten people! Almost eleven! The fact that you were shot under my leadership isn't exactly comforting either."

            "Wake up, Scarecrow. Those deaths were not your fault. What? You think you could have prevented attacks by the French and the SAS by passing the mission on to someone else? It still would have happened. We might have been sent on a deadlier mission where all of us were killed." She put her hand on his arm and said softly, "We all believe in you, Shane, you just have to learn to believe in yourself."

            He looked into her eyes. "I'm not sure what I would have done if you had been killed. If we're going to get through this, everyone is going to have to support each other."

            She smiled. "Did you expect anything less?"

            He returned the smile before looking up at the moon. "What should I do, Fox? Replace Mother or go into the next mission with seven marines?"

            "Do whatever feels right."

            He grinned and looked at her. "What feels right…" He shook his head, his smile fading slowly. "If only it were that simple."