Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Note: Heads up to all that the following chapter is not for the squeamish.
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A sense of gloom and dread descended over both boats for the next hour as all contemplated what had just happened. A mother and her two children were dead. And not just any dead - murdered. What possible reason could there be for this tragedy?
When RO received a call from NAVCOM, everyone was slow to react as Mike rose with a sigh and reached for the phone. Call complete, he turned to his crew and handed a piece of paper to his navigator. 'We've been ordered to chase after a FFV – a boat named Jebediah. They're a suspected ice boat, and we're the closest asset before they are out of our reach. Nav, get us there.'
As everyone moved around and prepared to set sail, Spider approached Mike worriedly. 'What about the other boat?' he asked.
'Buffer and 2 Dads will remain on board the Hell hath no fury and wait for the AFP to arrive.' Nodding to Kate to relay the order to Buffer and 2 Dads, Mike takes her spot in his chair as they make their move.
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Buffer looked at the Hammersley gathering up speed as they pull away from them before he takes his seat on the Hell hath no fury once again.
'I did not sign up for this,' said 2 Dads, throwing his head back against the rail.
'You didn't actually sign up for the navy anyway sailor boy,' responded Buffer tightly. 'So put a sock in it.' Thinking that this was going to be a very long wait until the AFP arrived, Buffer shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep as 2 Dads stood up and began to walk around the deck.
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Within two hours the Jebediah has been sighted on the EOD. 'Vessel on my port bow, this is Australian warship. Stop heave to, we intend to board you,' ordered Kate over the megaphone.
'Nav?' asks Mike as he raises his binoculars to his eyes.
'Boat is not stopping boss,' she responds. 'If anything, she's speeding up. Border's coming up fast sir,' added Nav in a warning tone.
'We don't have time for this. Prepare the RHIBs,' ordered Mike. With Nav piping out the orders, Mike pulls Santa aside. 'You'll be heading the port RHIB and I'll be in the starboard one.' As Santa nodded his head in understanding, Mike turns to Kate. 'You have the ship.'
'XO has the ship,' responded Kate.
Meanwhile on the deck, Spider is fiddling around with the straps on his vest, wondering about who would be leading the boarding party with the X – seeing as they'd left Buffer on board the Hell hath no fury. When he saw Mike fixing the straps on his vest as he made his way down the side of the ship, Spider momentarily stopped his actions. The boss was leading another boarding party? And when Santa appeared out from behind the boss likewise fully decked out in boarding party gear and heading toward the port RHIB, Spider couldn't stop his jaw from dropping. That man was leading too?
Exchanging a look with Bomber, he wordlessly points in their direction. Bomber shoots Spider a confused look before she shrugs her shoulders and boards the starboard RHIB. Giving up, Spider boards the port RHIB as Santa gives the order for the driver to head toward the Jebediah at top speed.
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Standing close to Nikki with a radio in her hand, Kate watches the screen as the border line gets closer and closer and the two RHIBs raced toward their target. They were running out of time: if they wanted to catch the Jebediah they had to do it soon, or else they would have no jurisdiction to do so.
'How much further?' came Santa's voice over the radio.
'Less than two hundred metres,' responded Kate in a tense voice.
Looking out the window, she can see the RHIBs slowly but surely coming up alongside the Jebediah. Kate can't draw her eyes away from the scene in front of her as the RHIBs now positioned themselves on each side of the iceboat. There was no way to jump onboard a ship moving that fast, and even as RO continues to relay the orders to the Jebediah to halt the ship, their chances of capturing the boat were getting slimmer by the minute.
Eyes on the situation in the water, Kate didn't hear the navigator's voice until Nikki grabbed her arm and pointed to the screen. 'We've got to stop them.'
'Charlie 82 and Sierra 82 this is Hammersley,' said Kate urgently. 'You are approaching the limits. Abort. Abort.'
As Santa's RHIB veered left and away from the Jebediah, Mike's continued. 'How much further X?' was Mike's tense voice over the line.
'Less than ten metres and closing sir,' said Kate, eyes glued on the screen. 'Mike – you're there.' Thinking for a moment that he might push on, she breathed a sigh of relief when the starboard RHIB veered off too.
Dropping her hand to her side as the RHIBs returned to the Hammersley, unaware that her other hand is resting on her stomach, Kate watches frustratingly as the Jebediah continues to move away. Turning to Nav, she noted a similar expression on her face. 'We were so close,' groaned Kate.
'I know,' said Nav flopping back in her chair before she looked up at Kate with a smile. 'And ah, Mike?'
'What?' asked Kate bemused as she places the radio in its holder.
'You called him Mike when you gave the order,' responded Nav with a grin.
'Oh.'
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It was an unhappy captain who made his way back onboard the Hammersley minutes later. As he stormed up the stairs and onto the bridge, he looked thoroughly irritated. 'RO, NAVCOM,' he orders. 'Nav, get us back to the Hell hath no fury. And everyone else, do something.'
By the time they reach the Hell hath no fury once again, Mike's mood had improved, and night fallen. Looking through the bridge window, Mike can see the AFP boat near their crime scene, a floodlight illuminating the Hell hath no fury and the surrounding waters.
'AFP sir,' called RO, holding out a radio to his captain.
'Captain Mike Flynn of the Hammersley here,' said Mike taking the proffered radio.
'Agent in Charge Lou Constantinides of the AFP,' said the voice on the other end.
'What have you found?' asked Mike as he stepped to the window.
'Well, we've only just arrived ourselves, and the bodies ain't going anywhere,' responded the agent. 'Plus, I've got a newbie driver at the helm, so AFP won't be doing much tonight. We'll set up anchor here tonight and process it tomorrow.'
'I see,' said Mike slowly. 'We'll also anchor here for the night then.'
'Suit yourself. The more the merrier,' laughed Constantinides. 'I've spoken with your petty officer briefly about the situation, but I understand that you had contact with another boat prior to boarding the ah, Hell hath no fury?'
'Indeed we did,' said Mike as he headed toward the table looking for the piece of paper containing the information. Flashing at smile at Kate when she handed him his desired object, he read out the details. 'Boat named Clementine, skippered by a Mr Belis Blescowe...'
'What was his reasoning for being out here?' interrupted Agent Constantinides.
'Mid life crisis,' responded Mike drily.
'Ah,' laughed the Agent. 'That's the answer to everything eh? Well, we'll check it out anyway.'
'Okay,' said Mike. 'A boat will be heading your way to pick up my two sailors.'
'Gotcha,' responded Constantinides. 'Sweet dreams, and we'll see you tomorrow morning bright and early. Constantinides out.'
'Flynn out,' responded Mike, concluding the conversation.
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The following morning finds Mike, Buffer, Swain and Spider making their way over to the Hell hath no fury. Mike and Buffer spoke with Agent Constantinides as Swain and Spider assisted Agent Greene with the bodies. Most of Hammersley's sailors were lining the deck watching the proceedings and Kate was in the bridge when her radio crackled to life. 'Hammersley, this is Papa 82.'
'This is Hammersley, come in Papa 82,' replied Kate as she wondered why on earth he had picked Papa as his radio code.
'X, AFP has somewhere else to be, so if the Hell hath no fury can make its own way back to port, the Hammersley will be escorting the boat back and Agent Greene will remain on board to supervise,' explained Mike. 'But if not, AFP will tow the boat back to port and we'll continue our patrol.'
'Understood sir,' responded Kate. 'Standing by.'
Remarking to Nav that the AFP are very territorial of their crime scenes, both females watch as Mike shakes the hand of the agent in charge and steps back onto the RHIB already containing Buffer, Spider and Swain. As the RHIB made its way back to the Hammersley, Agent Greene pulls up the anchor. Kate stepped out onto the bridge deck as the crane hooked onto the RHIB and Agent Stapp revs the Hell hath no fury engines.
As the Hell hath no fury engine rotor spun and foam came out the back of the boat, blood filled the sea.
No one could remember who made the first call, but after an eerie moment of silence, everyone shouted and clambered about. The engine was stopped and the foam gave way to an everexpanding mass of red.
Mike ordered the crane off as the RHIB entered the water once again. Going no closer to the boat or the bloody waters, Mike brought his radio to his mouth as he hollered above the shouts and noise around him. 'Agent Constantinides, what's going on?'
'I guess we've found Chandler Spalding,' was the wry response. Mike looked on in horror as a piece of flesh floated to the surface and bobbed in the red sea. 'You got any spare wetsuits over there Flynn?'
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The bloody sea and ensuing floating body parts affected everyone differently. Where some looked on in disgust and moved back from the deck rail, others looked on in interest and joked about which body parts were coming to the surface. Kate was doing neither: at the first sight of blood filling the sea, she had been rooted to the spot as her mind blanked out. But when that first piece of flesh floated up, she bolted from the bridge, hand covering her mouth.
As the ship's Executive Officer, she knew that she needed to get up top and help Mike take control of things, but every time she dared to move from the toilet bowl, the image of the bloody sea and bobbing body part assaulted her senses and Kate found herself retching once again.
Kate did not resurface from her room – or to be more precise, from her bathroom – until the divers were in the water. Finally able to make way up on deck once again, she takes in the sight before her: Santa was in the RHIB in the bloody sea along with Agent Greene and Buffer, and looking at the three divers in the water, she can spot Bomber, Swain and Agent Constantinides. Turning away from the water with a swallow, she heads toward the bridge where she finds Mike conversing on the radio with Santa.
Well, at least she knew the boat was going to run just fine without her, Kate thought, not without a trace of bitterness.
Resting a hand on her stomach as she fights the urge to retch, Kate refuses to go below deck as everyone moves around her. She knew she couldn't contribute anything at this particular point in time, but she needed to stay on the bridge – she needed to be part of the action.
The process of collecting various body parts was a long and arduous one. During the many dives that Bomber, Swain and Agent Constantinides took, various pieces of bone, muscle and bloody body parts were brought to the top and stored in a container, along with some strips of clothing and a heavy chain and rope. Kate wasn't looking out at the scene, but she got regular updates via Nav's revolting sounds as each bloody piece was revealed. By the sound of it, the last piece was Dr Chandler Spalding's head.
It wasn't until lunchtime that the task had been completed to everyone's satisfaction. Following a brief discussion with Agent Constantinides, it was agreed that the AFP boat would tow the Hell hath no fury back to port, along with all their evidence. With no escort required, and NAVCOM orders, it didn't matter that every sailor onboard the ship felt like they should be doing more.
But the navy life was the navy life, and the Hammersley had a patrol to finish.
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Next Chapter: What else could possibly happen on Kate McGregor's final patrol onboard the Hammersley?
Coming Up: The Hammersley crew discovers out that Kate will be leaving them.