Chapter 3

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"I thought you said you weren't going to this Andrew Morgan guy?" Admiral Sandecker asked when he saw that Dirk was getting ready to go out

It was the next day around 6 pm and Dirk was about to go visit Kay and Jasmine. He and Al had decided not to go to see Andrew, if that was even his real name, because whatever he wanted them to help him with, Dirk had a feeling that it couldn't be good and he didn't want to get involved in someone else's trouble.

"I'm not going there." Dirk told him as he straightened up his tie

"So why the fancy dressing?" Sandecker asked

"Family reunion. I'm going to see my Aunt and my cousin. They have a house here. I ran into her last night at the dinner party."

"Really? What's her name?"

"Kathleen Stevens."

"Oh, that's right. I haven't seen her in years."

Dirk turned around to the admiral with a surprised expression on his face. How did he know his Aunt and how come he hadn't known about it before. Then again, there was a lot people didn't know about admiral and he wasn't exactly the type who shared a lot information about himself.

"Say hi to her for me will you?" Sandecker asked

"Sure thing. I'll see you later." Dirk replied

Dirk got his suit and walked left the ship. He was looking for to the dinner and he hoped that nothing unexpected was going to happen to ruin it because around him, when you wanted things to go smoothly, they usually didn't.


"He's not gonna show up boss."

"I know." Andrew said

"What are you gonna do?"

"Move on to plan B."


"Hey mom, why did you have to invite Dirk over tonight?" 19 year old Jasmine Stevens asked her mother

Kay turned around to her daughter. She knew Jasmine was nervous about meeting Dirk since it had been so long but she would never admit it. She thought that they needed some catching up to do.

"Because it's been a long time and you guys need some catching up to do." Kay replied

Jasmine sighed and leaned against the wall. Okay, so she was a little nervous, nothing major. Dirk had always been her favourite cousin and as she read in the newspapers, he was always up to something new. It was kind of cool to have a cousin who worked with NUMA. Not everyone could tell people that, not that she usually did. The doorbell rang; Jasmine took a deep breath, walked over and opened it.

"Hey there sweet cheeks, long time no see." Dirk greeted

"No kidding." Jasmine stated

The two cousins hugged. Jasmine had changed a lot, at least in appearance, how much her personality had changed was for him to wait and see. Although Dirk had to admit that he was a little worried about Andrew Morgan, he hadn't seemed like the person who liked being ignored and he had no idea of how he would react when he realized he and Al wasn't gonna show up. Let's hope he won't overreact, Dirk thought


"How's the research going Rudi?" Al asked

Rudi was working on the computer to try and find out anything he could about Andrew Morgan, if he was a bad guy or had any sort of criminal record at all, there was no way Al and Dirk were going to take the job from him. As far as Al was concerned, if the guy had to have bodyguards sent after them to get them to meet with him, he wasn't someone you could trust and that was enough information for him but Dirk still wanted to make sure.

"All I've got about him is that he comes from a wealthy family, inherited the fortune when he was 18 years old, his parents were both murdered a year after, he's a businessmen and as far as I can see, he doesn't have a criminal record. He has several estates around the world; he's done a bit of charity work in Africa and owns a game lodge in Kenya." Rudi told him

"Who murdered his parents?" Al asked

"Some guy named Mackenzie Adams; he got a life sentence so there's no way he's gonna be out of prison anytime soon. This guy looks pretty clean to me."

"I bet he's got a few skeletons hidden in his closet. He didn't seem like a nice guy to me. I mean he had guns pointed at us. That doesn't exactly make a very good first impression on people."

"What kind of job was it?"

"He never told us, he wanted us to go to his place tonight so he could explain."

"Why aren't you there?"

"Dirk met his aunt at the party yesterday and he promised he'd stop by their house to say hi. He said he wouldn't be there too long."

Al scrolled down the computer screen to see if there was something else about Mr. Morgan that they should know about but he couldn't find anything which made him even more suspicious and he had a feeling that Dirk would be too. I don't like this guy, he thought.


"So what do you do now when you don't dig in the sand anymore?" Dirk asked

"I teach history at the university. It's not as exciting but I still like it." Kay replied

Talking to Dirk again, wasn't as awkward as Jasmine thought it would be, he hadn't changed one bit and she realized how much she had actually missed her cousin. She had heard about his last 'adventure' on the news and couldn't believe that if it wasn't for NUMA, the water would be too poisoned to drink.

"What other adventures have you been on lately?" Jasmine asked

"None actually, Sandecker is watching us like a hawk so that we don't head of on anymore cross-country races in Africa or any other part of the world for that matter. He's probably worried we'll blow up his new yacht." Dirk replied

"How is Jim?" Kay asked

"He's fine, he says hi to you. I never knew you guys knew each other."

"We're old friends."

Dirk looked at the time and realized he had to start heading back to the ship. He'd had a great time and he hoped it would be so long until the next time they got together like this. In fact he was going to make sure of that. He got out of the chair and grabbed his coat.

"I have to start going back. It's great to see you again and I hope it won't be another 6 years to the next time." Dirk told them

"Time flies." Kay stated

"It sure does. I'll tell you what, why don't you guys come by the ship tomorrow. I'm sure the Admiral wouldn't mind that seeing as he already knows you."

"I wish I could, but I have to meet some friends at the University of Athens quite early and I'll be there the whole day."

"What about you Jasmine?"

Jasmine thought for a few seconds, she didn't really have anything else to do and she could go to the beach any other time. Not to mention she didn't know how long Dirk was going to be in Greece or when she would get to see him the next time so the answer was quite obvious to her.

"Where is the ship?" Jasmine asked

"Do you know where Café Michele is?" Dirk asked

"Yeah, by the docks."

"We can meet there at 11. That is if you're awake by then."

"11 it is."

"Great. See you then."

"Do say hi to Jim for me will you?"

"Definitely. Goodnight"

Dirk walked out of the house and he wondered if there was a chance that Kay and Sandecker had had something going on in the past because they seemed to be very close. Sandecker with a girl, wonder if I'll live to see that day, he thought as he walked along the streets.


Andrew was annoyed. He thought he had made it clear that if he told someone to meet him then that's the way it was going to be, yet Dirk and Al had completely ignored him, but he wasn't going to give up that easy. He had a plan B prepared. The two adventurers were the only ones who could do the job and he certainly wasn't going to do it himself, it was way too dangerous.

"I'll have it my way." He said to himself and threw the whiskey that was left in his glass into the fire


When Dirk had told Sandecker that Jasmine would be coming to visit the ship the next morning, he seemed to be looking forward to it and Dirk assumed it was because she was Kay's daughter. The information Rudi had given him about the mysterious Mr. Morgan was something that sort of worried Dirk because he didn't really find it credible enough but he would worry about that later. It was a little after 11 and he was at Café Michele waiting for Jasmine. He asked a waiter to bring the check as he saw Jasmine running towards him.

"Sorry I'm late." She apologized

"That's okay. Patience is a virtue right?" Dirk told her

"Right."

The two started walking and it didn't take long before they reached the Mary-Ann. Jasmine thought the ship would be a little bigger than it actually was and was surprised that they could so much work done with so many people on it. She got on board and as she looked around her, she thought of the saying 'don't judge a book by its cover'.

"This is where Rudi works on the computers, without him we'd be lost." Dirk explained

Jasmine looked around the room that was filled with computers. On the walls there were newspaper articles from their previous accomplishments and adventures and it was all in a mess. What else can you expect when there's a bunch of guys living here? Jasmine thought. The two of them continued walking out of the room until and open area where lots of people were running around on deck telling each other what to do.

"This is where the action happens." Dirk told her

"Seems to be quite busy." Jasmine stated

"It usually is. Let me introduce you to someone. Hey Al, get your butt over here!"

Al turned around and saw Dirk standing with a girl who had quite long dark brown curly hair, coloured skin and seemed to be in her teens and he knew that it was probably Dirk's cousin. The blonde dropped what he was doing and walked over to the two of them.

"Jasmine, this is Al Giordino, Al, this is my cousin Jasmine." Dirk said

"Hi, nice to meet you." Al greeted

The two of them shook hands. "And here comes the admiral." Dirk told them

Jasmine turned around and saw a man who seemed to be around her mom's age walking downstairs. He had greyish hair and a beard and strangely enough seemed somewhat familiar to her. I think I must have met him at one of the university's dinner parties sometime, Jasmine thought.

"Admiral, this is Jasmine Stevens. Jasmine this is Admiral Sandecker." Dirk introduced

"It's nice to meet you." Jasmine said

"The pleasure is all mine and welcome aboard the ship." Sandecker told her

"Thanks."

"Admiral."

Sandecker turned around to Rudi who walked out to them with the satellite phone in his hands. "Who is it?" Sandecker asked.

"It's uhm….it's Andrew Morgan." Rudi replied

TBC…


What does he want now and why not talk to Dirk or Al instead. To find out, read the next chapter. Thanks for the reviews, please keep them coming, it will get better I promise.