Ch 84
Three hours later the Hammersley stopped by Creek island. Mike stood behind with Charge and a temporary crew to help him fix the engines. The rest of the crew went to shore for some R and R.
On the shore, Kate paired every one before they all went in different directions. Chefo stood behind by the shore with the medkit and dingy.
Two and half hours later they found nothing. ET and Nav stop for a breather as they leaned against a tree
"Here," ET passed Nav his bottle water
"Thanks," she opened it and took a mouthful before giving it back to ET. She was looking around when she spotted something odd. "ET, over there." She pointed.
"What are you seeing?" he asked frowning.
"There, don't you see something odd?"
"No."
"Look those branches, they look half dead," she frowned. And walked towards it, ET followed her close behind. They spotted at the branches and picked them up and moved away.
"It looks like we found it," ET grinned, and she smiled back.
"X, it's Nav. We think we've found the bunker."
"Where are you?" "
"About three miles north of when you last saw us."
"Copy that. We are on our way, don't go in until we get there."
"Copy that."
"If the toxin is there," ET said. "And we manage to get the guys behind this; we are going to beat the Kingston easily."
"That's true," Nav said then they heard broken branches. ET grabbed Nav's hand and hid behind a tree and waited. ET looked out and exhaled.
"Spider, Crafty!"
"ET, is this it?" Spider asked.
"It could be. We are waiting for the others."
"Ok." They heard some more branches moving as the others arrived.
"I'll go in there first, X," Buffer offered.
"OK, but be careful, Buffer."
"Yes, ma'am." He turned the torch on and slowly walked into the bunker looking out for any booby traps. Then he walked into the room and verified it was safe. "X! I think you better take a look at this." He yelled from the inside. Slowly, Kate joined Buffer, and soon they heard a gasp.
"It that…" Spider asked when they noticed how many bottles were stored there. Kate nodded as she ordered ET to record the place.
"Talk about a double jackpot," ET mumbled as he stopped filming.
"Everything recorded, ET?"
"Yes, X."
"Then let's head back to the ship and give the Captain some good news to share."
ET and Nav placed the branches, in the same way they had found them, and as the crowd moved away, Buffer used a branch to wipe all the footprints for a few meters before throwing the branch away.
Once on board, Mike was there to greet them, and by the way, Kate was smiling he knew there was some great news.
"X, enjoyed your walk?"
"Yes, sir. You'll want to give Commander Marshall a call, sir. We've found the bunker and its filled with bottles" Mike grinned.
"Excellent news."
"Yes, sir."
"Okay, then lets head back to Cairns. Engines are fixed for now."
The crew moved to their usual positions, and soon they were on their way back.
"Sir," Buffer called as they passed close to Bright Island. "You want to take a look at this," he announced to Mike who was up top. Buffer who was on the lookup lowered some binoculars to Mike.
"Feds. We dropped two, and I count six more. I wonder what they are doing?"
"Breeding, sir." Buffer joked making all of them laugh.
Once back at Cairns, they were granted with seventy-two hours of shore leave while the engines were fixed. Mike and Kate went to see Steve at NAVCOM.
"Mike. I had the Fleet Command on the horn. The federal investigation unit called them after I spoke to them and they are not happy with the knowledge of your interference."
"Sir, we had no choice. We had to stop to fix the engines, and Creek island was close enough."
"Still, you should leave it to the feds."
"Feds," Mike huffed. "By the way, we dropped two, and now there are at least eight of them on Bright Island."
"Mike, stop it."
"Sir, it was my idea to stop at Creek island," Kate said. Mike turned towards her
"Your idea?"
"Yes, sir. I know the feds don't want us interfering, but I suggested the Captain stop there. We told the crew why I wanted to do some R and R there, and they wanted to help. We found the bunker, and it is filled with bottles."
"So, you know where the bunker is."
"Yes, sir. And there's more; I've noticed the Pacific Mariner on the radar when we were a fifteen miles from Bright island."
"Pacific Mariner? You mentioned it before."
"Twice, sir. When they were in radar contact of both Creek and Bright island."
"Sir, don't you think it is too much of a coincidence that the three times we were close to the two island the same vessel shows up on our radar?"
"That's a good point, Mike. I'll let the feds know about it. Now, with the drug busts from a couple of weeks ago, the police found sixty kilos of cocaine on the two boats" Mike and Kate grinned
"That is good news; the crew will be happy with that, Steve."
"Yes, they will, alright." Steve agreed knowing fully well about the battle between the Hammersley and the Kingston. They remained in his office for a while before finally heading home.