- CHAPTER TEN -

- GHOST MAN -

When Bill Noyce arrived aboard the Seaquest he was not in the least surprised to find Bridger and O'Neill waiting for him in the launch bay. O'Niell nodded to Noyce respectfully, his hand at his ear, holding his headset in place while he listened to the other end.

Bill held a hand out to Bridger, his mouth set in a grim frown, "It's good to see you, Nathan." Bridger took the proffered hand. "I just wish it wasn't under these circumstances."

O'Neill looked up suddenly, "Captain, there's a shuttle requesting permission to board. They have Section Seven clearance."

When if came to Section Seven, 'requesting permission' was a formality. If Bridger denied them, they'd dock anyway and be well within their rights. Bridger's gaze snapped back to Noyce, who's frown had deepened further. He hadn't expected them to arrive this quickly and it didn't bode well for the situation if Section Seven was that concerned about it. Nodding at Bridger, the three of them made their way to the port where the shuttle was setting in.

General Mario Davenport stepped through the hatch, hand at the ready and a smile on his face, "Hello again, Bill." Neither of them took his hand, but his smile never faltered. "Captain Bridger, I apologize for intruding, but I have new orders, directly from Section Seven's counsel."

Definitely not good. If Section Seven as a whole took an interest things were bad, if the actual counsel took an interest? 'Bad' didn't even begin to cover it. "What do you mean, Mario? What orders?

"The Seaquest and her crew, and I mean everyone aboard - military, science, civilian - are now under Section Seven administration. Until the completion of this mission, this ship is my jurisdiction and you will follow my orders, or you will be arrested..."

Noyce grit his teeth in anger, "What do you think you're doing, Davenport?"

"Trying to make sure you all get out of this alive and don't even think about going over my head. There is no over my head, in this. Captain, call a senior staff meeting in the warroom." Bridger stared at him, not moving. "Now!"

All of Bridger's better judgment warred against doing what he was told. Everything about Section Seven made Bridger's skin crawl. He wanted to tell this man to go to hell, the Seaquest was his ship and her people were his responsibility. But he couldn't protect them from something he knew nothing about and, more importantly, he couldn't protect them if Davenport lived up to his threat and had him thrown in the brig. He turned to O'Neill, "Do it."

Five minutes later, they watched as everyone filed into the warroom, taking their seats for the second time in as many days. Confused glances were being thrown at the General Davenport, who had taken the Captain's usual seat at the head of the table. When they were all seated, Davenport laced his fingers together, setting them on the table in front of him. "Captain Bridger, I want you to step up to red alert."

Bridger hadn't thought it was possible to get any tenser, but he'd been wrong. Every muscle and some he didn't know he had tightened. "Red alert? Why?"

Davenport ignored the question. "We'll be leaving Cape Quest immediately. Call in all search parties and reassign them to scour the ship. I have reason to believe there is a bomb somewhere on board and I want it found."

Alarmed murmurs ran through the room and Bridger stood up, "A bomb?!"

"Captain, sit down."

Bridger put his palms on the table, leaning forward to tower over the still seated Davenport. "If there is a bomb on my ship, I want all civilians removed before we leave port. I'm not putting them in that kind of danger."

The General stood up, mirroring Bridger's posture and putting their noses only inches apart. "No, Captain." Despite the anger in his face, his voice was calm and even. "Nobody is going to leave this ship. Ghost Man is out there and he's waiting for any chance he can to snatch someone, anyone, that Lucas will recognize. Trust me, Captain, whatever Ghost Man does to them will make a bomb threat look like a peace-treaty."

"Who is Ghost Man?"

Davenport smiled again, "Who Ghost Man is, isn't your problem. The only thing you need to concern yourself with is following my orders. Dismissed."

They stared each other down for several, long moments while the crew watched and waited. Finally, Bridger turned to his crew, his distaste clear in the crease of his brow. "You heard the man, call out a red alert, bring in the search party, regroup to search the ship for a possible bomb. Everyone not assigned a post is on lock down until we find it."

Davenport nodded his approval and sat back down, his hands in his lap. The entire thing was a worst case scenario, but maybe, just maybe it was salvageable.

Lucas stared at the face in front of him, his panic and terror momentarily numbed by shock. The call had been coming from his aunt's house. There was no way Ghost Man could be there. He just couldn't be.

"Hello, child, it's been too long." Lucas tried to swallow, but it stuck in his throat. "Do you want to talk to your aunt, Lucas? I'm sure she wants to talk to you, don't you, Cynthia? Don't be shy now, come here. No need to keep the poor boy waiting."

Ghost Man moved out of the way and Cynthia's face came on screen, her eyes puffy and red, but her lips drawn tight in determination, "Hello, Lucas."

With effort, Lucas managed to speak, his words coming out too soft and too high, "Aunt Cynthia, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Lucas, don't worry about me. Are you safe?"

She was yanked off screen, replaced once again by the hated man. "Wasn't that nice, Lucas? A little family reunion. Now, I think we need to talk, Lucas." Lucas' gut twisted at the thought of going anywhere near Ghost Man and it must have shown on his face, because the next words out of his mouth were, "You wouldn't want anything to happen to you dear aunt here, would you?"

Lucas managed a soft, "No."

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"No, please. I'll do what you want, but please, don't hurt her."

"Too late." Ghost Man's face twisted into a smile and Lucas knew what was coming next, even if he didn't want to believe it. A gun shot sounded, muffled over the small speaker, but Lucas jumped anyway, his resolve to hide shattering as the communicator was turned to display that body of his aunt, a bullet whole through her head, blood splatter dropping from the wall onto the carpet behind her.

He couldn't breathe. His chest was so tight it hurt.

Ghost Man held the picture there, his voice coming through as clearly as if it were right next to Lucas' ear, "Now, my pretty boy, unless you want more people to get hurt, and by that I do mean the entire Seaquest, be at our special place in one hour."

The transmission ended, but Lucas could still see the blood and the body as if it had been carved into his retinas. He knew what he had to do and it started with warning the Seaquest.

"Captain, you have an incoming call."

"On screen, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir."

The large monitor flicked to life and Lucas face appeared on screen, pale and drawn, but alive. Bridger just managed to keep himself from jumping out of his seat. "Lucas, where are you?" Lucas cut his eyes to the side as Bridger tried to appeal to him, "Section Seven is trying to find you, Lucas, to keep you safe."

The bitterness in Lucas' voice was something that Bridger was entirely unprepared for. "There's nothing Section Seven can do. If I don't follow Ghost Man's orders, he'll kill all of you."

Davenport moved to stand in next to Bridger. "Lucas, I'm General Davenport with Section Seven. You have to come back aboard the ship so that we can protect you. Don't worry about Cynthia, we sent a team to take her to a safe location."

Something that was probably meant to be laugh, but came out as more of a sob escaped Lucas' mouth and the boy narrowed his eyes distrustfully at Davenport. "You're too late. Cynthia's dead."

"What?" Davenport gripped the arm of Bridger's chair. "Lucas, are you sure?"

"He made me watch." The naked pain in Lucas' wetly shining eyes wavered to anger. "He put a bullet in her head. He... he's killed my whole family. There's no one left. No one. He killed my mother and my father and my brother and my sister and now my aunt and my uncle and I don't understand why! Why kill uncle Lawrence and aunt Cynthia? Why?!"

Davenport cringed openly, but held his ground. "Lucas, calm down. You have to come back so that we can protect you."

His breathing was hard and fast, tears making tracks down his face, though Lucas made no move to wipe them away. "I already told you, it's too late." Finally, he made eye contact with Bridger. "There's a bomb on Seaquest, sir, and knowing him, it'll be plasma and it'll be in the engine room. I... I have to do what he says or... I'm sorry, sir."

Bridger barely managed to get out, "Lucas!" before the transmission cut. "Damnit, not again. O'Neill, please tell me you traced that call."

"Yes, sir. Location was about a half an hour from the New Cape Quest General Hospital. I'll forward the coordinated to Chief Croker immediately, sir."

"No!" Davenport glared at Bridger, his composure back, his mask once again firmly in place. "I'll send my men." Bridger started to argue, but Davenport cut him off. "They're closer than yours and if you want to help that boy, you will do what I say and find. that. bomb."

Bridger wanted to argue. He wanted his men out there looking for Lucas. He wanted Lucas to have familiar faces around him. The look on Lucas' face, though, when he'd said he had no one left, haunted Bridger. He did have people left and those people were all on board the Seaquest. Keeping them alive was as imperative to Lucas' safety as finding him. "Fine, but if anything happens to Lucas..."

"We'll do everything in our power to make sure we bring him back safe." Davenport turned to O'Neill, "I'll be needing those coordinates."

At Bridger's nod, O'Neill rattled them off and Davenport called his team, sending them to fetch Lucas. Hopefully, before Ghost Man could. Bridger took his cue and relayed messages to the teams he had searching the ship, designating two of them to go to the Engine Room and informing Chief Croker that it looked like they were dealing with a plasma bomb and to get ready the necessary gear for disarmament.

Davenport half listened to Bridger while he gave his men the coordinates, telling them to take Lucas to Headquarters for interrogation. There had to be a reason that Ghost Man was so intent of getting hold of Lucas Wolenczak, they just needed to find out what it was.

TBC