Chapter 5

As the train entered the station and pulled to a halt, Lee stood and stretched. It had been a surprisingly easy exit and he had now reached his city of choice, Berlin. His time in Warsaw had been brief as he discovered the train he was on continued on to Berlin. All he had to do was purchase the additional segment from the conductor and he was good to go.

He pulled his backpack down from the overhead rack and made his way off the train. He climbed down onto the bustling platform and walked quickly through the station and hailed a taxi from the stand out front. 'One last step' Lee thought to himself as he climbed in the cab.

After climbing in he said, "Mitte, Pariser Platz zwei, bitte," in flawless German. The cabbie nodded and then pulled out into traffic.

Twenty minutes later the taxi pulled up in front of the American Embassy. Lee handed the man his fare in Euros then climbed out and headed for the entrance. As he reached the gate, the guard asked him for identification. The only thing he had on him was his cover passport and ID card which he handed to the guard.

The Marine closely scrutinized the credentials and then Lee. It was extremely rare for anyone from that country requesting services from a US Embassy let alone a request to travel to the States. After ensuring Lee had no weapons on him, he allowed him to enter.

Once inside Lee walked immediately up to the security desk. "May I help you, sir?" the Marine corporal asked him.

"Yes, I need to speak with the head of security at once." Lee replied in English.

"And the reason why, sir?"

"I have information critical to the safety of the United States," Lee answered, in all seriousness.

"May I have your credentials, sir?" Lee passed him his ID and passport. He scrutinized them even more closely than the guard outside. "And the nature of your information?"

"I can only discuss that with your supervisor," Lee answered. "It is imperative I speak with him at once."

The corporal picked up the receiver and punched a button. "Major Saxby, Corporal Dienes, sir. There's a man here requesting to speak with you. He says he has information critical to the safety of the United States and has credentials from Slovestein…His name is Leopold Markovich, but he sounds just like an American…He won't divulge the nature of his information to me saying he can only reveal it to you…Yes sir, I'll have him escorted to an interview room to wait for you."

Dienes hung up and made a quick annotation on his log then stood up and moved to the front of his desk. "If you will follow me Mr. Markovich," he said as he began walking towards a hallway across the room. He led Lee to a small room located off the hallway. "Please wait here and Major Saxby will be with you shortly."

"Thank you, Corporal," Lee said then entered the room and sat down in one of the chairs.

"You're welcome, sir," he replied then exited and pulled the door shut.

Ten minutes later Lee heard the door knob jiggle, the door was pushed open and Major Bart Saxby entered. "Mr. Markovich, my name is Major Saxby. I'm told you have information critical to the safety of the United States."

Lee rose to greet the man amused that there was no recognition of him evident on his face until he remembered he was still in disguise. They had gone through the Academy together and had been good friends during that time. He grabbed the man's outstretched hand. "My god Saxby, you've gotten old," Lee replied with a laugh.

Saxby regarded him closely. "Have we met?"

Lee reached up and pulled off the blond wig he'd been wearing. The dawn of recognition spread quickly across his face. "Lee Crane, what the hell are you doing here, looking like anyone but yourself?" he said, as he pumped Lee's hand enthusiastically.

"I was doing a little work for the Navy and missed my ride home. I had to make my way to a friendly port to phone home," Lee answered.

"You still working with those ONI clowns? No don't answer that, I don't want to know. What is it we can do for you Commander?"

"I need a secure line to check in and let them know I'm alive. Can you arrange that?"

"Of course. Come on let's take care of the formalities, then I'll see to it you can phone home," Saxby replied. They both exited the room and walked back into a more secure section of the embassy.

They proceeded to a station where Lee verified his identity through fingerprints and retinal patterns. Once that was done, Saxby escorted him to a private office and obtained a secure line for him back to ONI headquarters.

The phone rang once. "Hardy," said the gruff voice on the other end.

"Admiral, it's Crane."

"Crane?! Where the hell are you? Why the hell didn't you make your extraction?" Hardy roared.

Lee moved the handset back to his ear and replied. "I'm at the US Embassy in Berlin. I ran into a massive traffic jam of all things and had to work my way out via commercial train, sir."

"Are you all right? Do you have the information?" Hardy inquired.

"Yes and yes, sir," Lee answered.

"Good. Commander there's been an incident with Seaview and your expertise is needed."

"What's happened, sir?!" Lee asked, his deep concern immediately evident in his voice.

"Apparently an old adversary of yours and Nelson managed to get his operatives aboard and they've seized control of the boat. They are holding the crew, the boat, and the west coast hostage in exchange for the release and delivery of one Emeril Logan and you."

"Logan? The guy that stole the Mona Lisa?" Lee asked.

"One in the same. Apparently the CMU at Marion isn't as secure as they think it is. Somehow Logan was able to communicate with his cohorts and orchestrate the takeover of the boat. To the best of our knowledge there haven't been any deaths amongst the crew members, but they promise to start launching them out of the torpedo tubes if we don't give into their demands," Hardy continued.

"I can't believe Dr. Gramsky would sell out the admiral like that. They've been friends for years," Lee remarked.

"It wasn't Gramsky, he didn't go on the mission. He sent his research associate, a Dr. Randal Weems in his place. Gramsky told Nelson that his mother had a health emergency and he didn't want to be unavailable if problems came up," Hardy explained. "When contacted Gramsky immediately came clean and said that Weems had threatened his mother's life if he didn't comply. We have both of them in protective custody right now. Digging deeper into Weems' background we found a so-so scientist with a huge gambling problem and lots of debt. It's no wonder Logan's associates were able to get him to assist them in this endeavor. They probably tacked on some serious compensation as well."

Lee shook his head in disgust. Shelving his disappointment in his fellow man, he quickly turned his attention to the situation at hand. "As I recall they're supposed to be operating about 500 miles west of the California coast in some pretty deep water, if that is of any help, sir," Lee offered.

"Yes, they're exactly where they chartered the boat to go, only they've gone deep no doubt to prevent anyone from trying to drop in undetected," Hardy answered. "You are in good condition aren't you Crane? You aren't doing your typical 'I'm fine' routine despite sporting several life-threatening injuries are you?"

"No sir. The mission went completely as planned up until the accident on the highway. I managed to maintain a low profile and exit the country with not so much as a bruise," Lee responded.

"Good. I'm having a jet scrambled from Ramstein to pick you up and deliver you here. We need your expertise with the Seaview and the men on board to help devise a way out of this mess. The jet should be there within the hour, and you should be here within four. We have 16 hours in which to come up with a response to their demands."

"I'll be ready sir. Can you transmit what information you have about the situation so I can review it while I'm making my way back?"

"It's already being transmitted as we speak. See you soon, Crane. Have a safe flight."

"Thank you, sir," Lee replied and hung up the phone looking as though he had just been punched in the gut. Taking a minute to secure his concerns and his fears, Lee exited the room to find Saxby standing there with a file marked TOP SECRET, which he promptly handed to him.

"We've got a car standing by to take you to the airport. Your plane will be on the ground in 20 minutes and you should be airborne and headed to the US in another 15 once you're aboard," Saxby informed him.

"Thanks Bart."

ooolo)

True to Saxby's word, the plane was waiting for him just as he arrived at the airport. He was provided a flight suit and changed quickly not wanting to delay his departure any more than necessary. He was then escorted out onto the tarmac to the waiting fighter jet. The pilot came to attention and saluted him, which Lee promptly returned then climbed aboard and settled into the rear seat. He pulled the flight helmet on and plugged into the comm channel, at which point the pilot provided him the flight brief. With that complete the canopy was lowered, locked into place, the jet engines were fired up and they began their taxi to the runway.

Given priority clearance, the jet immediately began hurtling down the runway and lifted rapidly up off the ground. They eased their way through the commercial air pattern and once they had cleared the coast of Germany the pilot hit his thrusters and they went supersonic.

Lee then pulled out his file and began reading through the information provided. It was quite obvious this was a well thought out plan, and Logan had no doubt learned his lessons from their first encounter. He also reasoned there had to be another hand in play here, since Logan would need somewhere to go once released, especially with the largest, most advanced submarine in the world needing somewhere to dock in privacy.

Once finished with his review he stowed his materials and closed his eyes. "Hang on Harri, Chip, I'm on my way," he thought to himself. He then sat back and drifted off to sleep. He had a feeling he would need the rest in the bank for the coming days.

(olooo

As the jet taxied down the tarmac at Langley AFB to its parking spot, Lee noticed a jet-powered helicopter staged nearby with a flight crew standing by. When the plane pulled to a halt, the pilot popped open the canopy and the rolling stairway was positioned next to the plane. Lee pushed up out of his seat and climbed carefully out onto the wing. He thanked the pilot for the ride and shook hands, then quickly trotted down the stairs to follow the airman over to the helicopter for immediate departure to the Pentagon.

Within 30 minutes the helicopter was setting down at the landing pad, where he was surprised to spot both Admiral Hardy and Admiral Starke waiting for him. Once the door opened he exited quickly and walked over to the waiting admirals where he saluted them.

"Welcome back Commander," Hardy said, returning his salute and very much pleased to see that Lee was indeed healthy.

"Thank you, sir." Lee replied. "Sir, I have information for you from my earlier mission. Is there a courier who can take possession?"

Hardy nodded and waved the lieutenant waiting off to the side over to them. "Lawsen, take Commander Crane's intel back to ONI and see to it that it is processed immediately."

"Aye, sir," the LT replied. Lee handed him the small thumb drive glad to have completed his mission.

"I take it you've read up on everything we've provided?" Starke inquired.

"Yes sir. Have there been any more developments while I was in-flight?" Lee answered.

"No, nothing. We've put the US Pen on notice to be prepared to transfer Logan if necessary. We have verified Seaview's position. She is at her mission location at approximately 3400 feet," Starke replied.

"All right gentlemen let's get to the briefing room and see if we can find a solution that saves Seaview and her crew, without losing anyone," Hardy interjected. They all turned and headed into the Pentagon and down into the bowels of the complex.

They exited the elevator into a windowless hallway guarded by two fully armed Marines. As they approached the checkpoint, Starke and Hardy displayed their credentials to the guard.

"Admiral, I don't have my ID with me. I haven't been able to return to ONI," Lee said as the guard requested his creds.

"He's here on my authority," Hardy said to the guard, then displayed another document that had the sergeant immediately waving Lee through.

They proceeded down the hallway about 50 yards then entered one of the featureless doors that lined the corridor. Inside was a long table currently surrounded by more brass than Lee had ever seen in one place at one time. At the head of the table was the CNO, Admiral James, the SECDEF, Warren Fielding, and the National Security Advisor, Martin Voss.

"Gentlemen, ladies, for those who don't know, this is Commander Crane. He captains Nelson's boat Seaview," Starke said by way of introductions. Then he and Hardy pulled out chairs and sat, Starke nodded his head indicating Crane should take the empty seat next to them.

"Well now that we're all here," Voss said with a hint of disdain for having to wait for a junior officer, "let's get this meeting going and decide how we're going to counter this threat. Admiral Starke what have you got?"

Starke provided a brief synopsis of the events to date and the current situation as best they knew. Hardy then provided a background brief on Logan and his suspected team leader Weems. He also identified past associations with nations not friendly with the U.S. like North Korea, Slovestein, and the People's Republic, all of which had submarine fleets and facilities to house them.

"So what options do we have available to us?" Voss inquired after Hardy completed his brief.

"Quite obviously Logan has planned this out well. At the depth his accomplices have moved the Seaview to, nothing but another sub could approach them, especially undetected. I'm betting he has a very capable sonar man on his payroll that can readily detect and identify just about anything. I also don't doubt for a minute he or his men would hesitate to kill the crew if we attempted an intervention," Starke responded.

"Do you honestly think he would attempt to detonate the nuclear warheads on the boat?" Voss asked.

"I doubt he would really blowup the boat, but I don't doubt that he wouldn't hesitate to detonate another nuclear device," Hardy interjected.

"Explain," Admiral James responded.

"Seaview is too much of a prize to waste in that manner. I think Logan's organization is working in concert with one of the three nations I mentioned, most probably the PR. They have the assets to carry this off. They could easily bring one of their subs in and deposit a bomb on the sea floor, then escort Seaview to a hidden subpen somewhere and have at her. They would then detonate their device to hide their exit from the area. The crew would be a liability at that point and would be executed or placed in their work camps, and they would have free reign to try and extract any information they wanted from Nelson at their leisure, since they were supposedly killed in the explosion," Hardy answered highlighting his last words with air quotes.

"So what do you see as our options?" Fielding asked.

"Well we can release Logan to them and hope to get the Seaview crew back. We can keep Logan in prison and hope that they're not prepared to kill the crew and incinerate the boat. Or we initiate a search and destroy mission to take Seaview out of everyone's hands," Starke offered.

The room became quiet as everyone considered the options Starke had laid out. It was obvious from the looks on the faces of those assembled that the third option was the only one that would keep Seaview, her armaments, and Nelson's secrets out of enemy hands and protect the nation.

As Voss prepared to speak Lee cleared his throat drawing their attention. "Admiral, I do believe there is another option that hopefully would keep everyone intact, and Seaview and the country safe."

"And how do you propose to do that, Commander?" Starke asked.

"Well sir, the only way we're going to be able to get Logan onboard Seaview is by means of a diving bell. FS-1 is currently out of commission due to engine upgrades. That provides me the opportunity to hitch a ride down unobserved by both the occupants of the bell and sonar."

"What the devil are you talking about? Weren't you listening Commander? According to Admiral Starke, Seaview is stationed at 3,400 feet beneath the surface of the ocean. I may not be a naval officer, but I do know that diving bells are very small and there would be no place for you to hide. Plus, if you somehow did manage that, how would you get inside undetected?" Voss snapped.

"The only other way down would be in an atmospheric diving suit and those require a dedicated team to launch and recover them. There is also the possibility that it would be picked up on sonar," Admiral James added.

"There is another way, sir," Lee answered. "NIMR and the Naval Research Lab have been working jointly on development of a liquid breathing system that would permit deep dives without having to face many of the physiological impacts on the body from breathing gases at those depths. The setup also still gives the diver a great deal of mobility and the ability to board Seaview without a recovery team. I've completed a number dives early on in the project and I think I could hitch a ride down on the outside of the bell to the boat and get aboard undetected."

Those in the room stared at Lee as though he was mad.

"I've been following some of that research and at this stage it's iffy at best. I know that the test dives haven't gone anywhere near the depths we're talking about," Hardy commented. "The probability of this being a success is virtually zero, Commander."

"I think it's worth the chance, sir. I don't see us losing anything in the attempt," Lee answered. "In theory divers should be able to go even deeper using the liquid breathing system. I'm qualified to use the equipment to make the dive, and I'm the only one familiar enough with Seaview to allow me to get aboard and then gain control over the boat."

All eyes were focused on Lee as they considered his plan. This was probably the only chance they stood at regaining control of Seaview and the weapons aboard. It also wasn't missed that Crane had volunteered to take on the mission even with the extremely low probability of success.

"If there's even the remotest possibility this could work, I say we go with it," Fielding finally said breaking the prolonged silence in the room. "I'm not enthralled with the idea of releasing Logan and running the risk of them disappearing into the night, then making their way into the hands of one of our enemies, but I'm willing to give you a shot, Commander."

"Sir, there's no way I would ever allow Seaview and those aboard to fall into enemy hands." Lee stated firmly.

"Oh Commander? And just how do you propose to prevent that from happening if this stunt of yours doesn't work?" Voss inquired snidely.

"Well sir, the next time contact is made with Seaview, I will transmit an autodestruct signal which when the designated parameters are met will cause the boat to explode destroying everything and everyone aboard," Lee answered with deadly seriousness.

Voss sat back shocked and astounded by Crane's response and his apparent willingness to sacrifice his boat and all those aboard. "You have the capability to do that?"

"Yes sir. The autodestruct conditions can be tailored to the situation beyond just a set count down. My intention is to set the parameters such that whoever is supporting Logan sorely regrets that decision, and there is absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind around the world who was involved," Lee replied grimly.

"Will Harri know that you've activated the autodestruct sequence?" Starke asked.

"Yes sir. There is a telltale sequence of flashing lights in the control room that only he, Commander Morton, and myself are privy to. So prior to initiating the sequence, we need to ensure that one or better yet both are in the control room and conscious before we transmit. This will let them know autodestruct is in play."

"Will they know what your destruct parameters are from the display?" Starke inquired.

"No sir, they'll only know it's now active. That way should Logan's men catch on that something is amiss, the admiral and Chip can't be forced to divulge the information. Plus, only I or our security chief will be able to cancel the order."

"What do you propose for your parameters, Commander?" Hardy asked.

"I'm thinking the boat on the surface, at dead stop, hatch open, and engines off would satisfy our needs," Lee answered. "The engines off will be the critical condition, since once they've docked the boat in whatever secret facility they have, they'll want to extinguish any chance of us picking up Seaview's rather unique engine and rector signature via satellite."

Those at the table nodded their heads in agreement. If they were unable to regain control of Seaview this would ensure that the massive explosion necessary to destroy the boat took out as much of the enemy's complex as possible and point out their complicity with zero doubt. Additional retaliatory actions would then follow.

"All right Commander, proceed with your plans. At the very least we will keep Seaview and all her secrets out of enemy hands," Fielding replied. "Our next contact is at 1600 when we let them know our response to their demands. You have until then to determine if your diving option is possible. If it's a go, then transmit an autodestruct signal as you described. If it's not an option, I think we need to establish a new set of autodestruct parameters."

"Aye sir. One other thing," Lee replied.

"What Commander?" Hardy asked.

"We need to take me out of the equation, sir. As I understand it, they were demanding you deliver me along with Logan. We can't give them cause to start injuring or killing people because they think you're balking at delivering me. Admiral Hardy, I think you should inform them that I was killed in the course of my last mission. Those on the boat are aware that I'm away on Navy business, that's the SOP cover story for any absence on a research mission. Since Admiral Nelson and Commander Morton know the real reason for me missing the boat, a report of my death should hit them pretty hard, but their reactions will most likely show that it is not a total surprise. Hopefully that will sell their captors on you not just refusing to send me."

Hardy and Starke stared hard at Lee. Both knew how hard that news would strike both Nelson and Morton. Tom Hardy began nodding slowly.

"Agreed. I almost hope to hell you don't pull this off so I don't have to apologize to Harri for putting him through the wringer," Hardy said with a grim chuckle.

"Better you than me, Tom," Jiggs said as he patted him on the shoulder. "Anything else you need Crane?"

"No sir. I'll go get in contact with Dr. Marquez at NRL regarding the dive and get back with you as soon as I have anything."

"Very well, Commander. You're dismissed," James said. "And Commander, thank you for taking this on."

Lee nodded then quickly exited the room and headed to one of the offices ONI maintained in the Pentagon to begin making his calls.

ooolo)