***Chapter 16

The doctor came out of the hospital room after a few minutes and closed the door carefully before addressing Mike and Kate.
"Miss River's condition is as good as can be expected under the circumstances. It was really lucky that you'd been there in time. I'm afraid I have to ask you a favour. I know it's late already but could you just stay here until the police arrives? We'd called them and they sure want to talk to you as well."
The two navy officers nodded their approval, they had already expected that request.
"Can we go in and talk with Sara?" Kate asked. She wanted to know who that man had been and if Sara knew anything about him.
"Sure. She's awake anyway and I don't think she's going to sleep any time soon. I'd wanted to give her something to help her calm down but she refused. Maybe you can talk her into it? She really needs some rest."
The door opened again and the nurse came out, holding a clipboard in hand. She handed it to the doctor, waited for him to sign and disappeared into the room opposite the hallway to answer a call. She poked her head out of the door seconds later mouthing "Need your help".
"I'll bring the police as soon as they arrive. Thanks again for waiting." the medic said and followed her.

Sara sat in her bed, arms around her knees and observed the two visitors pulling chairs closer and settling down. She still looked pale and tried to use her injured arm only if necessary.
"You sure want to know who that man was?" she started the conversation without any further delay. Not waiting for an answer she continued: "That was Walker, I don't know if that's his real name or just a nickname. He's the one that was in command of the boat on which I was the last few weeks. He's..." she hesitated for a second and cleared her throat. "He's the one that shot me. Or at least tried to."
"You sure of that?" Kate wanted to know.
"Oh believe me, absolutely sure. I won't forget that face ever in my live." Sara rasped and reached for the water bottle at her side table.
Kate shot a side glance at Mike, he nodded and so she continued. "Sara, I know it's not easy but can you tell us what you remember from the last few weeks? Anything that can help us find those criminals?" That wasn't exactly their job but the Fed's one she knew. But they could keep an eye open nonetheless. And if they waited for the Feds to share information, they'd turn grey before getting anything useful.

They spoke for about fifteen minutes without any interruption before the door opened again and the doctor led in two federal agents.
"So these are the two navy officers I talked about, they saw the intruder as well. If it's okay, I leave you to it, it's a busy night." He shot a glance at his patient and added: "Don't make it too long, she really needs the rest." and closed the door behind him. The blonde police man held out his hand and greeted both Mike and Kate. His female companion just nodded.
"My name is Williams. Thank you for waiting. I have to ask you to follow Agent Burke. She has some questions for you as well. If you just follow her outside." He left no doubt that there was no chance he would tolerate any dissent so Mike and Kate did as they were told.
After the three of them had left the room, agent Williams turned to the patient. "So tell me, what's that all about? Who was that man? And please let's get this over with quickly so we could all grab some sleep."
Sara put as much persuasive power in her voice as her strength allowed. "I don't know what you're planning to say or do, Sir, after I told you what happened. But I'm sure not staying here!"

Swain and Buffer stood behind Robert and looked at the words he had written down. Buffer still had his tea mug in hand – untouched and by now cold. RO turned around, shaking his head.
"I can reach them neither at home nor on their cell phones. Just don't understand why they haven't informed anybody."
That comment made Rebecca and Buffer both simultaneously start. Buffer wordlessly pressed his mug into Swain's hand and run off like hell, the chef right at his heels. Chris and Robert exchanged astonished glances.
"What just happened?"
"I have no idea, mate."

Bomber rushed to her cabin where she rummaged through her bag until she found her mobile. Nervously she pressed some buttons and searched for missed calls. There was one! Spider had called her the night before. Dammit! I've totally forgot that one! Rebecca cursed silently. She had been late that morning and therefore had just rushed off without looking at her phone like she normally did.
Peter came back to the bridge, his cell phone with him. He blamed himself for not picking up the phone call that night and forgetting about it later. Bloody drinks! Next time I'm going to celebrate with apple juice! he swore to himself.
"Charge called me last night. I think he left a message but I don't understand what he's talking about." he informed the others but was interrupted by Bomber who run up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. "I've got a message from Spider."

Robert connected Bomber's mobile with the speaker so they could all hear the message.
"Anyway, if you hear that, please..." static crackle followed then Spider's voice could be heard again. "the colour's not red and … lemonade in here."
There was a moment of eerie silence on the bridge then utter chaos. Everyone was talking at the same time, asking questions, making suggestions.
"What the hell is going on?" a clear and stern voice brought them all to a stop. The CO had entered the bridge finding his crew in total agitation.
Swain got his voice back first. "Sir, we do have a problem. We should probably inform the X too and" he looked around and continued with a lower voice "and maybe we should go to the ship's office to continue that conversation."
Mike Flynn let his gaze sweep around the bridge, the coxswain was right. There was far too much personal at the bridge at the moment.
"Everyone continues with their duty." he ordered. "Buffer, Swain, with me."
"Sir, Bomber should come too." Buffer stepped forward. The CO rolled his eyes. "Listen I haven't slept much so there better is a good explanation for all this turmoil." He darted a piercing look at Bomber. "Ship's office it is for all of you in five minutes."

"That is what we know so far, Sir." Swain concluded. Before Mike could ask any further questions, it knocked on the door. Robert looked in.
"Sorry to interrupt, Sir. Swain, Sally's on the phone for you."
"Tell her that has to wait, Robert." Mike sounded annoyed. He really wanted to sort things out and then hit the rack. He had at least two hours left before he was needed back at the bridge for departure.
"I don't think that can wait, Sir. She says she has found Swain's mobile and that there's a missed call. It's from Charge, Sir."
Mike sight. "Swain, go tell her to bring it as fast as possible." And I just thought it couldn't get worse after that whole night's mess.

After talking to the Fed's agent they had wanted to go home but had been ordered to NACOM where an angry Commander Marshall wanted a conceivable explanation on why he was disturbed in his night's sleep by the Feds asking questions about two of his officers currently being involved in an attempted murder investigation. Seeing Kate walking at the office with a clearly visible limp hadn't exactly lifted his mood. After they'd told him every thing they knew Commander Marshall had ordered Kate to stay at home for the next week and cure herself completely. Although Mike wasn't keen on getting a new XO he had to agree with his superior officer. Kate never would have stayed off her feet being back on Hammersley.

"You really think they're closed up in a container? How cool is that?" 2Dads wondered, picking up an extra slice of bread. Bomber looked daggers at him over the counter, arms akimbo. The CO had sent her back to her duty after she had told him what she knew. She was fuming.
"You're not serious, are you? That's none of your childish jokes, 2Dads! If they really are in a container who knows where they are now? They could be anywhere, maybe already on their way to South Africa or..." The brown-haired swallowed hard. Leo could see that she was fighting with tears and blamed himself for being so insensitive. After all he knew, she and Spider were good friends.
"Bomber, I'm sorry. I just wanted to cheer you up. We'll find them, you'll see."
"Just go and eat your breakfast, 2Dads. I don't want to talk right now. I have to prepare lunch."
Bomber turned around and started to gave some carrots a scratch. It looked more like she was trying to kill them. 2Dads looked at his watch. It was half past seven.
"You don't need to prepare lunch already" he was about to say but didn't when he saw her shoulders shaking. Was she crying? Not a sound escaped her lips, clearly she didn't want anyone to notice. So he decided to better leave her alone for the moment.

"So it looks like we need a replacement for our chief engineer and the bosun's mate, Sir."
Mike sat at his cabin and talked to Commander Marshall. This is going to cost me my career. First a new XO, now the chief engineer and the bosun's mate went AWOL. What's next?
"I already took care of that, Lieutenant Commander Flynn. We sent someone as a replacement. But please, see that you hold the rest of your crew together, can you? We do need our sailors also for other deployments."
Was it imagination or could he hear a hint of mockery in Lieutenant Smith's voice when he joined the conversation?
"By the way, you'll get an other new crew member. She should be on her way already. And Mike, we've already informed port authority about the two missing sailors, they have a look and will take care of it. For now, that's not your business any more, did I made myself clear?" Commander Marshall continued unimpressed by Smith's snappish comment.
"Yes Sir, you did." Mike ended the conversation with the request for further information as soon as available and lent back in his chair. Three new crew members. Could that day get worse? It knocked on the door. I had to tempt fate! Mike sight and then called: "Yes? Come in." Although he tried to calm himself it sounded more like "Stay out!".
The door was carefully opened and a young female Lieutenant in her whites stood outside in the passageway.
"Permission to come aboard, Sir?" she asked with a warm smile.

A familiar voice made Bomber look up. "Is there a chance there's any coffee left?"
She turned around and shrieked. A young brown-haired woman stood directly behind her, smiling sheepishly.
"I'm sorry Bomber, didn't want to start you."
Before Rebecca could answer, there was a rumbling noise from outside the galley and two heads poked through the door.
"Am I dreaming or is that beautiful voice the Nav's?" Buffer stepped in, smiled broadly, hugged the young woman and whirled her around. Or at least he tried which wasn't an easy task standing in the now a bit crowded galley.
"Ouch." the sailor at his heels exclaimed when Nikki hit him while being whirled around. "It's good to have you back, Nav." he said rubbing his knee.
"Thanks Swain. It's good to be back." the woman answered and straightened her whites after Buffer had put her back on the ground.
There was a little awkward silence after that 'cause everybody remembered the reason the navigator had been on shore leave for some weeks. After loosing her fiancé Josh in a tragical diving accident, she had left for some weeks to sort things out. Josh, he'd been the electronics technician and therefore called ET, had been a friend for all of them. It hadn't been easy to cope with his death but it was worse for Nikki. Being on the same boat together for such a long time she had so much memories and could literally see him in every inch of the vessel.
"So how are you?" Swain finally asked. Nikki helped herself with a brew, poured some sugar into the cup and gave a somewhat forced smile.
"Couldn't stand it at home any more. I need something to do." she then answered honestly. She took a sip, made a face and went for an other teaspoon of sugar. The bowl was empty so she shot a questioning look at the chef. Bomber couldn't help laughing. She had never seen someone else using that much sugar before meeting Nicole Caetano. Seeing the others looking a bit startled, she quickly opened a cupboard, handed out some sugar to Nikki and asked:
"Anyone else up for a navigator brew? There's plenty of sugar left."
That finally broke the ice and the other three joined her laughter.
Yes, it really is good to be back Nikki thought. Almost feels like being back home.
"So tell me, what happened while I was" she made an almost inaudible pause and then forced herself to go on "away?"
What she'd wanted to say was "on vacation" to let it sound normal but she couldn't. It hadn't been normal circumstances and everyone aboard knew.
Her crew mates looked at each other. Neither of them wanted to tell her that they were – again – missing some of the crew. Buffer finally plucked up courage, took himself an other cup of tea and shoved her out of the galley.
"Let's go to the mess and sit down 'cause that's going to be a long story. You know, it all started with Spider and I finding a mermaid. By the way, have you already checked in with the CO?"
Nikki just nodded and followed him silently through the passageway to the senior sailor's mess. It would be difficult to be back, she already had found out although being back aboard for not more than twenty minutes. So many memories.

Sam grumbled observing the piles of paper laying at his desk. After being on duty the whole night he now had to go through a list of containers to see which one of them where signed to have lemonade as a cargo. There were currently hundreds of containers at the dockside and it would take him hours to even get through half of the list. But he knew for the sake of the missing sailors he had to find the container fast. Anyway, how could someone be so stupid and let himself been closed up in a shipping container? He stopped short. The open door. The container he'd closed last night after checking in with his colleague. It had had lemonade and water in it, hadn't it? He picked up the phone to make a call. Maybe the other one still knew the number. It would make things much more easier if they knew the number. It's a blue one, the navy officer had told him. Does he even have an idea of how many blue containers we do currently have out here?

:-)