21. Friendly fire

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As he set his foot on the deck of the older Kirov-class ship, he was amused of the sight in front of him. Slattery standing in his usual pose, smoking a cigar and looking at him a grin on his face as he was standing there fully suited up in a hazmat suit. Since he didn't know what to expect when he got to the ship, he thought it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Good to you see Tom. Took you a while." Slattery said. "And lose the suit. It's hot in here."

"Seems like we have things to discuss." Tom took of his mask and glanced around. All the crew members seemed to be their own and there were some civilians on the deck too. Slattery nodded to him and he gave the order to give a signal back to the James.

"So what happened?" He asked as they were standing on deck. Dr. Scott had made an appearance also.

"We had a mole. Quincy had been in contact with the Russians. I found out about it when we got back to Norfolk. Overheard a conversation he was having, not that I understood much of it." Rachel told him.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Why didn't she tell them? She was already on thin ice as it was, because she had lied to them about her real mission in the Arctic. "And you didn't tell us because?" He eyed the woman, wondering why she took the risk.

"My immediate reaction was to tell about my discovery, but I needed him. I needed him to do his part of the work." Rachel revealed. And he could see it on her face, she wasn't proud of her actions.

"After I discovered Frankie's immunity. I knew it wouldn't be long. I tried to stall the process, but as it turns out we had created a possible vaccine prototype. And I knew that if Quincy was going to betray us. This was the time." She explained and glanced at Slattery.

"That's when she came to me and told me the entire plot." Slattery stated.

"Wasn't long after our conversation, we noticed he had left us. With the samples. Luckily I hid the actual samples, so what he had was nothing." Rachel said, slightly angry at what Quincy had done and he saw the regret in her eyes. She had betrayed a trusted colleague, but he had done the same to her first. They knew that Quincy might not be alive anymore if the Russians had found out that the prototype didn't work, which they probably had, given that they came to Norfolk.

"Since we knew they would come after us, we evacuated the entire town to closest safe zones and some survivors are with us." Slattery continued.

He listened to the plan they had come up with. Wondering if it had been the best solution at the time.

"How did you get the ship then?" He asked.

"We were expecting them, but they came quicker than we had anticipated and when we saw the ship over the horizon and coming towards us.. We knew we had to stop them. This ugly piece of junk is nuclear-powered Tom!" Slattery's voice got angrier.

Nuclear-powered ship in the hands of a rogue Russian Captain. He wouldn't have liked the idea either, he thought. Giving a questionable look to Slattery, wanting to hear the rest of the story.

"So as they came to the base, we took over the ship. Shot a missile from Hayward destroying the base and some of their crew. We had to, or else we wouldn't have succeeded." Slattery said a touch a sadness in his voice.

Then Tom realized that he gave the order to shot a missile towards their own base, where he knew his son most likely was. His own son had been at the hotel, luckily the hotel was located on the edge of the base. Studying the man, he did seem like his usual self, but he knew it was a coping mechanism for him. That inside of him he was hurting. Grieving the loss of his boy.

"And what about Lucas?" He said looking at Slattery and seeing that he blamed himself. Seeing the guilt on his face when he said the name of his son.

"He was lost in the evacuation process.." He heard his voice break. "Christine won't even look at me." "She blames me.. But I think she is blaming herself more, that she wasn't paying enough attention to his whereabouts. He was on the bus, but apparently he returned to find his favorite teddy." Slattery continued to tell him, but he was beginning to cry.

"We tried to look for him, but we weren't able to find him and then we saw the Russian ship coming." Rachel continued glancing towards Slattery.

"Andrea's husband was still looking for Lucas, but they got to him during the attack." Rachel added.

"And after all of it.. We had to leave. In case there were more coming. And there had been reports of hostile activity on the borders of the town. Might have been the same people that were on the base in Dahlgren." She said sighing.

"We had to drag Mike back to the ship.. We needed him." Rachel said and he saw that she understood the sacrifice Slattery had done. Leaving his own son behind, not knowing if he was alive or dead.

But as Rachel was filling him in on the details Slattery gave a puzzled look towards him "How do you know about Lucas?"

"We went back." He said.

"You did what? What if you were followed?" Slattery lashed out and he could see he was very close to taking his hands on his shirt.

"I had a hunch!" Tom yelled back not losing eye contact with the man. They were eyeing each other, just inches away.

He didn't want to tell his crew that he made the decision to go back to Norfolk based on a hunch. A feeling that he had, telling him to go back, even though he knew the base was probably evacuated. But when he found Lucas hiding in the hotel, he knew why. The feeling he had had, was gone.

"I found Lucas." He said and Slattery blinked as he retreated a few steps. "He's alive, Mike." He then added, seeing the overwhelming look on Mike's face. He probably thought he had found him lifeless and had already lost all hope that his only son might still be alive.

"Lucas?" Mike looked at him.

"He's with us." He faintly smiled to the man. Beside them Rachel was smiling too.

And without words Mike hugged him "Thank you Tom."

After a moment of silence..

"Oh and you can have this ugly piece of junk. Belonged to the guy on your book." Mike broke off trying to bring some laughter to the situation.

He chuckled at his comment. "But why here?" He asked.

"Well I wanted something more sunnier this time around." Slattery answered as he looked at the sky.

"We needed a secure and hidden location." Rachel said.

"No one knows. Not even the officials back home. If there are any left of them." Slattery stated.

"When Commander Slattery took over the ship we found something.." Rachel began telling and glanced at Slattery.