Thanks Leefake!
Chapter Seventeen
"Mr. O'Brien," Patterson called from sonar.
Bobby dropped his pencil and moved behind the experienced rating. "What do you have, Pat?"
"A flash reading, sir. It was there a moment ago," he said frustrated when the contact disappeared. "There!" he exclaimed at the glowing green bogey on the screen.
Bobby's brow furrowed in question; the contact signature too vague to identify. "Hydrophones?"
"I'm not getting anything, sir," Rogers answered.
"What do you mean? By the size of the reading, you should hear something, even if it's a small whale," Bobby questioned, reaching for the extra headphones. Frowning, he passed the headphones over to Pat. It wasn't protocol, but he was short-handed with ongoing DC repairs going on and Kowalski and Riley out of the picture, not to mention Sharkey and the rescue team who had left the boat an hour ago.
Pat listened intently; it was well-known among the crew that other than the Skipper; he had the sharpest ears aboard. A long minute passed before he spoke. "I don't know, sir, but it doesn't sound right."
"How so?" Bobby pressed.
"It doesn't sound mechanical, but it doesn't profile like a biologic either," he said, shrugging apologetically as he handed back the headphones.
Bobby lowered his eyes, thinking through all the possibilities he could think from his own experience.
"How far out is it?"
"About 15 miles," Pat answered, just as the contact was lost again. Pat adjusted the sonar and then shook his head. "It's gone again, sir."
"Keep a close eye out. I want to know if it shows up again," he ordered and stepped away. He reached the chart table and leaned forward, thinking through the unidentified contact. For a fleeting moment, he couldn't help but wish that it was Mr. Morton up here making the big decisions, but quickly dismissed the thought. The Exec was out of commission in sickbay and he was in command. Though his confidence had waivered for a moment, his devotion to duty and responsibility hadn't. Reaching for the mic, he put aside his self-doubt and got to work. "Damage Control, report…"
# # # # #
Harry poured over Belinda's notes, though he had no intention of helping her perfect the dosage from the fissure's elements, he was still scientifically curious, and more importantly, he needed to keep up the guise that he was working on her problem. Lee was pacing the floor behind him, the band on his wrist a constant reminder of what Belinda was capable of, and a quick but thorough glance had verified that the band was there to stay until it could be properly cut off. Their door had been locked behind them and they were under observation via camera. In addition, Bremer had been left to stand guard. All and all, Harry's original assessment in the cell earlier had been correct: they were in quite a pickle.
Despite this point, Lee appeared to be waiting for something, just what, Harry didn't know, and the fact that they were under observation had curtailed the possibility for discussing escape plans.
Unexpectedly, the door behind them opened as both men turned to see Belinda Barnes standing in the threshold.
"Gentlemen, come with me. I have something to show you that I think you'll find most interesting," she said, her voice inflection suggesting an unmistakably sarcastic tone. "Don't worry about the research, Harry… you'll have plenty of time to look it over for me when the sub arrives," she stated arrogantly.
Harry and Lee exchanged glances, realizing that the island was about to be vacated and apparently, Belinda intended on taking her prisoners with her. The fact that she had only mentioned Harry was disturbing to the admiral, and he was worried what the demented Dr. Barnes might have in mind for Lee. Harry pursed his lips tightly, stepping through the doorway and thinking that one of Lee's miracle escapes would be good just now.
It was only a passing thought and a sarcastic one at that, but as if on cue, Lee threw an elbow deep into the gut of one of Zagmaan's men, before throwing a punch into the second guard. Bremer took a step his direction, but his help wasn't required as Dr. Barnes activated the wristband receiver, resulting in instant agony as Lee slid against the wall, riding out the punishment.
Belinda held the button down longer than necessary, seeking to take the fight out of her newest victim until Harry's insistence grew in both passion and decibels. With an arrogant smile she released the pain emitter as Harry fumed, held back from helping his friend by Bremer's large hand on his shoulder.
"You're a stubborn one, Captain Crane, but I hope you've learned your lesson," she said before turning to the guards. "Bring him along."
The guards each took an arm as Lee struggled to put his feet in motion as he was dragged along.
Harry gritted his teeth, wondering just what in blazes Lee was thinking, attempting an escape against such overwhelming odds.
Meanwhile, behind him, Lee found his footing and tried with no avail to shrug off the hands of his guards, proving he still had fight left in him, while silently acknowledging 'mission accomplished' as he had just ensured that the frequency was still set on his wristband.
# # # # #
Having been briefed, Kowalski followed Jacob back to the building he had previously spotted at the base of the mountain. They stopped just short of the clearing as Jacob pointed upwards to a camera positioned to monitor the door. Ski frowned and checked out the tree he would have to climb to disable it, but Jacob issued a satisfied smile and reached up to move the lens with his fingertips.
Ski nodded approvingly; the camera was now positioned into the tree's leaves. It was a clever ploy initiated by the giant, since its new position wouldn't necessarily indicate that it had been tampered with purposely, indeed, a bird or small animal could have just likely moved it. Then Ski pulled the tracker out of his pocket and looked around, finding a large fern to hide it under. Taking a deep breath in and drawing his sidearm, he nodded to his companion and followed Jacob into the building.
While two hours from its present position, Sharkey sent a small two-man rescue detail to track the Skipper's transmitter, and then submerged the flying sub, heading for a small cove on the adjacent side of the island.
# # # # #
Command Control was alive with activity as Lee and Harry were ushered into the room. Three men sat at stations in a U shape, monitoring several monitors each. One station displayed internal security, while another focused outside the building showing a sub docked in a hidden cove. Lee tensed at the third station, where one monitor displayed a distant satellite view from space, while the other displayed a real-time, zoomed-in view of Seaview sitting topside on the surface. But perhaps the most distressing station was to his right, where a view of the nose of a small craft was shown traveling underwater; the controls, gauges, and monitor displays indicated the operator at the station was remotely piloting a drone sub.
Lee's eyes scanned the drone's position and depth, before quickly sweeping his eyes toward the monitor displaying an aerial view of Seaview. He took a step forward when he realized that the drone was on an intercept course, but two hands on either arm tightened their grip and kept him in place.
"What is this?" Harry demanded, sizing up the situation as fast as Seaview's Captain.
"As I said earlier, Harry, my employer despises you as much as I do…" Belinda started.
"You mean Gamma?" he replied heatedly.
"Dr. Gamma is a visionary," she shot back, finally admitting who she was working for.
"Gamma is a power hungry, vicious, and soul-less man who will destroy all that is right and good for his own personal gain," he exclaimed passionately.
Belinda shrugged, Harry's words rolling off her as easily as water droplets down a window pane on a rainy day.
"Do go on, Harry, educate me on what a man does for his own personal gain," she replied in a clear insinuating tone.
"You still believe that I'm to blame for the downward spiral of your career?" he asked incredulously. "It was a simple business decision, Dr. Barnes," he argued. "Yours wasn't the first project I've ever said 'no' to and it certainly wasn't the last. Yours did, however, benefit from the full resources of the Institute for nearly six months, including its state-of-the-art laboratory, and we undoubtedly helped to further your research before our disassociation. As for our parting of ways; I provided, as I recall, a rather lengthy letter of recommendation filled with numerous accolades for both you and your research and I don't ever recall receiving one phone call, even after issuing an invitation to your prospective sponsors on the letter. Just how is that possible? Unless, perhaps, you never submitted that letter, choosing to go at it alone, so that you could conveniently have me to blame when success passed you by," he finished, passionately making an assertion that he hoped would knock some sense into the disgruntled scientist. At the very least, he was sick and tired of taking responsibility for her own mismanagement of both her project and career.
By the piercing look in Belinda's eyes, he had hit the nail on the head that she had, apparently, been too arrogant to submit his letter of recommendation, blaming him for the lost opportunities her own pride had disqualified her from receiving. Her next words were with dripping with contempt and derision.
"I hate you, Harry, but probably not near as much as Dr. Gamma," she issued icily. "I've been given the privilege of removing two great hindrances to his plans. You will be joining us on the sub to rendezvous with Gamma, and your precious Seaview…" she let the moment hang for effect before finishing, "will be blown out of the water."
At that, Lee lunged toward Dr. Barnes, but was immediately subdued by his guards. He was still struggling against their hold when she reached into her pocket. Colonel Zagmaan stepped forward but was stopped by Barnes.
"I'll handle this, Colonel," she ordered.
He backed off and stood with his hands clasped behind his back, turning his attention, instead, back to the stations.
"It's a good thing for you that Gamma wants you alive, Captain Crane," Belinda issued darkly. "Try that again and I'll give you a lesson you won't soon forget," she warned, pulling the device out and dishing out another dose of pain to make her point.
His guards dropped their hold as Lee dropped to the floor, writhing in pain until she had adequately satisfied herself of his compliancy. He lay unmoving but breathing hard, both his energy and his fight seemingly drained from his body; but though he had paid dearly for the fact that the guards had released their hold of him, it was exactly what he was going for.
"There are 125 men on Seaview!" Harry interjected, his concern for Lee taking second place to the greater danger at the moment. "Surely you wouldn't condemn those men to die?" he pleaded.
She scoffed, unaffected by his words. "I like this side of you, Harry, begging becomes you," she mocked, but her moment of victory was fleeting when Colonel Zagmaan began issuing orders behind her.
"What is it, Colonel?" she asked turning.
"An outside camera is obscured," he answered, leaning over and trying to adjust the position remotely.
"What's wrong?" Belinda asked, taking a step closer.
"We can't adjust it remotely. You," he said pointing to one of his men, "take Bremer and investigate."
"No, leave Bremer here. Where's Garrud?"
"Patrolling the perimeter," the Zagmaan replied, his face stoic but steaming inside that he was required to yield to the scientist.
"Send two of your men, I don't want both giants gone at the same time," she ordered, knowing that the giants were loyal to her, or at least the behavior device she controlled; while the guards were military and if push-came-to-shove, would turn on her in favor of Colonel Zagmaan.
Zagmaan complied, and sent two of his own guards out, while Harry looked on, finding their interaction very interesting while noting, that excluding the station operators and Zagmaan, there were only two guards left. Bremer was another matter, but he still couldn't help but feel that the odds had gotten better in their favor.
Lee, for his part, had recovered sufficiently, but remained "harmless", portraying a man weakened by pain both physically and psychologically. The obscured camera was his first clue that Kowalski was on the grounds, but he needed to wait until he had the best opportunity for success. He didn't know what Ski had in mind, but he was waiting for some sort of diversion. His eyes swept the stations, from Seaview to the drone, checking their progress and doing the math for how long he could wait before action was required to save the boat. His brow tightened and his eyes darkened; the drone was making progress, and he would have to make a move soon, regardless of whether he had a diversion.
Now would be a good time, Kowalski.
# # # # #
Ski followed Jacob through the halls of the facility, ducking once into a closet when a guard in black passed. When they reached their destination, Jacob grunted in confusion at the empty office where he had last seen Crane and Nelson.
"They were here," the giant said clearly frustrated.
"It's okay, we'll find them," Ski encouraged, "Where else could…?"
His question was interrupted as voices approached from around the corner. Quickly slipping into the empty office, they waited for two guards to clear the corridor. As they passed, they mumbled something and shared a cocky laugh between themselves, then said something about Nelson they couldn't quite make out, followed by more laughter before turning the corner.
"Where does that corridor lead to?" Ski whispered upon hearing the Admiral's name, pointing in the direction the guards had come.
"Command Control," Jacob replied.
"Then that's where we go," he said resolutely.
# # # # #
"Mr. O'Brien, I've got the bogey again," Pat called out, his voice echoing with tension.
"Position?" Bobby asked from the chart table, dropping his pencil and crossing the deck.
"About three miles out, and it made a course correction," Pat informed with a raised brow.
"He's either a very curious whale or we're going to have company soon," Bobby asserted to Pat's affirming nod. "One more course correction and all he has to do is surface," the acting captain noted, while reaching back for the mic hanging on the periscope island. "Damage Control, are all the dive parties back aboard?"
"The last one is in the dive chamber now, sir."
"Very well," he said, reaching the periscope island and depressing the red button three times as the klaxons declared its unmistakable message to man battle stations.
# # # # #
Colonel Zagmaan watched the monitor as the security team readjusted the camera, reestablishing visual contact. Leaning over, he switched on communications. "Conduct a security check on the perimeter," he ordered.
Lee noted two less men to deal with and upon analyzing the drone's gauges, determined he only had minutes before the drone was in position. Depending on the torpedoes it used, it could be within firing range within eight minutes. He would give Ski a few minutes more, but after that, diversion or no, he would have to act.
Belinda was busy moving from station to station, while Lee and Harry exchanged glances; both men well-aware that time was running out. Upon stopping at the drone station she turned, exhibiting a definite air of superiority.
"Before we board the sub, Harry, I want to treat you to a front row seat to a very special show… the destruction of Seaview," she said arrogantly.
"Are you so sure about that?" he asked and almost without delay, Zagmaan turned, looking like a deer caught in headlights.
"Seaview's diving!"
Belinda spun around, just as the windowed submarine sunk into the depths, leaving only bubbles and wakes on the surface. The development was quite a shock since the drone was equipped with new technology effectively cloaking its approach, not to mention the fact that she and Zagmaan both believed the boat too damaged to submerge.
"Don't lose them!" Belinda screamed in a near-panic.
Zagmaan hurried to the drone station and leaned over the operator's chair. "We've still got them!" he reported over his shoulder.
# # # # #
A sharp incline downward necessitated a handhold onto the periscope island as Bobby ordered a crash dive; with the task taking as much as five minutes to reach periscope depth, Seaview was still a sitting duck for, what he now believed, was a submarine stalking them.
"Sonar, where's the bogey?" he demanded.
"Two miles and closing."
"Let's see how fast she can go," he said rhetorically while reaching for the mic. "Engineering, give me flank speed, hold her wide open and give me everything she's got!"
An "Aye sir" followed as Bobby double-clicked to clear the comm. "Missile Room, load torpedoes one and four." He double-clicked again. "Sparks, is the Destroyer tracking the bogey?"
"Negative sir," Sparks replied, "their radar is hit and miss, just like us."
"We're on our own then," he said to himself, before turning toward helm. "Depth?"
"150 feet," Phil replied.
"Level off," he ordered, aware that he didn't have too much room to maneuver in the area and then headed toward the chart table. "Present position?" he ordered, as the junior officer pointed on the chart. "This is a good place to lay low," noting a sea mound close enough to camouflage themselves if the bogey engaged active sonar. "All stop; Rig for silent running. Sonar, where's the bogey?"
"One mile off our starboard, heading away from our present position. I think we lost him, sir."
"For the time being," Bobby said, reminding his crew not to let down their guards, and took a deep breath; all this was way more than he had bargained for when he got up this morning.
# # # # #
"Where are they?" Belinda inquired, losing her confident arrogance to panic, for more than one reason Harry deducted; postulating that losing Gamma's prize might be more a danger to her new-found career than NIMR not choosing her project five years ago.
The guards seemed to be caught up in the drama, watching the drone station more than their prisoner and he could tell with only a quick glance that Seaview's Captain was readying himself for action. Harry sighed silently in frustration; while he had no doubt Lee could dispense of his guards, he doubted that he could do the same for his guard, the giant, Bremer. That thought had barely entered his mind when the odds for success suddenly went south as the second giant, Garrud, entered the room, walking past Lee to station himself in the corner, near Bremer. A giant was one thing, but two? Harry lamented, unaware that an ally had just walked into the room.
"I've got them!" the drone operator exclaimed, as a bright green blip flashed on the sonar. Zagmaan leaned over watching the sweeper move around the sonar circle and then flashed again.
"How long till we're in range?" Belinda interjected.
"Two minutes," Zagmaan answered.
"Excellent," she answered visibly relieved. "Fire when ready," she ordered, turning toward Harry victoriously.
That victory, however, was short-lived when a loud-explosion rocked the building and all mayhem suddenly broke lose.
# # # # #
A/N: Two more chapters to go! Hope you are enjoying the ride : )