Chapter 25 If Not Here Than Where
Mike walked up onto the bridge hold a mug of coffee, how he wished Kate was standing beside him, his mind racing, unable to free Kate from his mind.
" Sir Navcom for you" said Nav handing the phone over to Mike.
" Flynn" said Mike taking a sip out of his coffee.
" Ah Mike Marshall here, ah how far away are you until you reach the search area" asked Marshall as he paced around Navcom.
" Were are approximately 8 hours out, Sir" replied Mike, picking up a piece of paper that had just been emailed through.
" Mike, I've given the RO information on the boat you are looking for" replied Marshall.
Mike looked at the paper and the photo, he new the boat they were after, " Sir I've seen this boat we passed it on our last patrol except it had a different name called, The Colour Purple" replied Mike, he continued to stare at the photo.
" Well Mike, get after them I want them off the water" replied Marshall, hanging up the phone.
Many hours later
Mike was sound asleep in his cabin when Nav's voice came over the pa.
"CO to the bridge at the rush" said Nav, Mike jumping out of bed, there was only one reason why Nav would be calling him, they had found the ship.
" Nav?" asked Mike still half asleep, as he walked over to the radar were Nav was standing.
"Sir we have the ship there 8 nautical miles and we have them on EOD" said Nav, pointing to the EOD.
Nav piped the orders, as everyone got their gear ready, it was time to take them down once and for all.
Bomber stayed on board Hammersley while Swain and Mike went aboard the ship, and as Mike said Kate was having no part in this even if she wanted to.
Mike and Buffer boarded the boat, weapons raised and on high alert. Mike, Buffer and 2Dads headed below while Nav, ET, and Spider took the bridge. Mike, Buffer and 2Dads slowly made there way through the ship, the smell started to get worse, when Mike found the source opening the hatch he had just found the fridge, filled with dead bodies and animals, It was like they had just visited the butches.
Spider and ET secured the bridge, Nav was looking at there logs sure enough they had been to Hinton cove. Charge stood on the bridge listening to Mike and Buffer unaware Kate was standing behind him listening to every word.
"Charge what the hell is Mike doing on that ship?" asked Kate picking up a radio.
"Ma'am he went instead of you, he didn't want to wake you and he saw the toll it was taking on you" replied charge, Kate starting to realise why Mike was making the choices he did, it was his nature to protect Kate and so many times he had failed, except in this case Kate was worried that Mike would get hurt, she would rather be covering his back and Mike doing the same, but Mike was Mike.
"Bravo 82 this is Hammersley sit-rep over" said Charge, neither of them had heard from Mike for over 10 minutes and Kate was starting to get ancy. Another three minutes went by and there was still no reply.
" Nav this is Kate have you heard from Mike at all he's not replying over" said Kate.
"No X we haven't heard from him in over 15 minutes, he went below with Buffer and 2Dads, they might be in a dead spot over" replied Nav.
Kate was so tempted to get ready to go over to the ship, until charge stopped her as Mike's voice came over the radio.
"Hammersley this is Bravo 82 over" said Mike.
"This is Hammersley over" replied Kate, relieved to hear Mike's voice.
"Kate?" replied Mike surprised to hear Kate's voice, " look we have found a few bodies, but, there not the backpackers there is no-one below decks over" added Mike as the opened the hatch, finally surfacing.
"What do u mean there's no backpackers, what about the bodies?" replied Kate, "if the backpackers aren't on the ship then where are they" added Kate.
"Kate we have the master here with us we will bring him back to Hammersley over" said Nav as she was walking out of the bridge and onto the Rhib, bringing the log book with her.
"well Mike seal the hatch I'll call Navcom and inform them we have a job for the feds, at least they might do something useful" replied Kate as Mike and Nav laughed in reply.
Kate looked down at her watch " only three more hours and I can leave here" Kate thought to herself, as she continued to look out at the ocean, the ripple of the waves was mesmerising, calming even. Her thoughts interrupted by the phone.
" McGregor speaking" said Kate as she listened to the voice on the other end.
"Kate the Feds will be arriving in just under two hours" replied Marshall, he was fiddling with his computer when the line dropped out.
"Sir can you hear me Sir" replied Kate before turning to Ro, "did I do something?" asked Kate.
"No Ma'am nothing on our end, communications must be down at Navcom" replied Ro, and sure enough he was right. It wasn't until thirty minutes later Kate received a call from Marshall.
"Sorry about that lieutenant, one of our new arrivals shorted out a few wires, coffee and electronics don't mix, as I was about to say when the feds arrive you are to continue on looking with the search area, now coast watched have scheduled another fly over at 2130 that's the best they can do I'm afraid" replied Marshall.
"Yes sir, well that is better than nothing" replied Kate, she looked down at her watch it was now 1747 hours before she realised Marshall was still talking.
"Anyway keep me informed Kate, I'll talk to later" replied Marshall before he hung up.
Kate returned her gaze to the ocean, looking out through her binoculars spotting something floating in the water.
"Co to the bridge at the rush" said Kate.
Mike was already on his way up to the bridge when the order came over the pa, stepping up onto the bridge he walked over to Kate.
"You called" said Mike with a hint of giggle.
Kate handing the binoculars to Mike as he looked out instantly spotting a body in the water.
"Do you hear there, we have spotted a body in the water, stand by to recover by sea boat" said Kate, after turning to Mike.
"You said there was no-one on the boat" said Kate with a hint of annoyance.
"There wasn't I'm positive we searched the whole ship, ditto, nothing" replied Mike as he slowly grew closer and closer to Kate.
"Well where the hell could that body have come from" replied Kate as she picked up another radio " away sea boat, away sea boat" added Kate, walking away from Mike she looked out at the body, was it alive or not, was it one of the backpackers, all these questions running through Kate's mind as she watched the body being pulled onto the Rhib.
"X she's dead I'm sorry" replied Swain, as the Rhib made it's way back to Hammersley.
Kate's heart shattered into a thousand pieces as the news came over the radio, throwing the radio in frustration. Mike walked over to Kate pulling her into a hug, her head resting on his shoulder as Mike rubbed her back.
"Why" said Kate, "why" she added.
"We will find something" replied Mike, doubt was starting to seep into Mike's head he too wondering why they couldn't find anything solid and when they did find something it came to a dead end.