It has been a week since then and I am waiting for someone. That someone was my Dad. He decided that he would take a tour of HMAS Cairns. It was just an excuse to see me at work. A part of me is hoping that I can avoid him for the simple reason that it might open the floodgates for teasing. Right now I have my head buried in my inventory. Why? Well, the Hammersley was not equipped enough for my liking. So now I have to double-check that I actually have everything I need. At least it gives me a good excuse to hide from my Dad.
"Eden should be in the wardroom sir but I will warn you she is busy," Mike responds to whatever was said before.
"She may be busy but I'm sure saying hello won't hurt," My Dad counters before knocking on the door.
"Come in," I respond as I shuffle to attention. Even though he is my Dad I still have to show him the Navy's version of respect. As my Dad and Mike enter I salute them.
"At ease. Mike was telling me that you've settled in nicely," My dad remarks. I can hear the pride oozing from my Dad's voice.
"Yes I have but I can't talk for long. I have to do an inventory of medical supplies before the Hammersley sets sail again," I say. The thing is I want to talk to my Dad but not while we are on base. The others might get ideas. I mean Kosov-Meyer was pretty clued in. Mike quickly excuses himself.
"So how's life aboard the Hammersley?" My Dad presses me for information.
"Honestly it is a lot better than on the ANZAC. Less people to hover over me," I respond as I resume my work on double-checking the supplies. After a surprisingly long catch up my Dad excuses himself. I put it down to the fact that we are due to leave on our patrol as well as the fact that my Dad is a busy man. After a few minutes, Mike rejoins me.
"What can I do for you, Boss?" I ask.
"Your dad asked us if we could help with the clinic on Moa Island. The doctor there went missing. He thinks we are better equipped to search the area over the feds," Mike responds.
"Let me guess Dad wants me to be the town's doctor while the crew look for the doctor," I reply. Mike nods.
"Thank you for the heads up," I acknowledge. After twenty minutes we set sail. For some reason, I am a little on edge about the idea of replacing someone who has gone missing. The thing is I know the Torres Strait is largely peaceful. Right now I am in the galley. I am helping the resident chef Bird so that I can get my mind off the nagging feeling that we are walking into something big.
"What's on your mind?" Bird asks.
"Something is going on but if I'm not careful I will start to sound like Charge," I explain. As much as I like a good conspiracy theory I don't want to sound crazy. Bird lets out a slight giggle.
"You have nothing to worry about. Charge has already started. He believes the doc on Moa Island discovered something," Bird responds. Of course he does which is not going to make my job any easier. At least I don't have to worry about sounding like a weirdo.
It is the day after and we arrived at Moa Island and I am supervising the offloading of supplies from the RHIBs. I am also waiting for the head nurse at St Paul's Health Centre. He seems to be running late for whatever reason. To be honest he is probably busy.
"Excuse me are you Doctor Eden Hopper?" A voice pulls me out of my thoughts.
"Yes, and you are?"I respond as I turn to face the owner of the voice.
"I'm Jamie—the head nurse of St Paul's. Thank you for coming," Jamie thanked me. With some help from the others, we get the supplies loaded into Jamie's truck.
After a few minutes of driving, we made it to the clinic. The first thing I noticed was the fact that a few supplies were missing. I chose to ignore it for now as I have patients to see. I will have to ask Jamie about it later. After reviewing the charts I head out to the waiting room. As I walk in I notice the stares from the patients. I put it down to the fact that the normal doctor doesn't wear a Navy uniform. I call my first patient.
It has been a couple of hours since then and I finally have some spare time.
"Hey, Jamie as I came in I noticed some supplies had gone missing. Could you tell me what that is about?" I ask as I join him in the break room.
"Well, Doctor Westbrook believed that someone was stealing the narcotics. He went to investigate but he never came back," Jamie fills me in. It looks like I was right about something going on. Before I can say anything my attention is grabbed by a commotion in the waiting room. I head over to the source of the noise to find Swain and Kosov-Meyer. Between them is a man. His face is covered in blood.
"Swain, Leo get him to the trauma room. Once you're done I need one of you to inform the Hammersley that the health centre's supply of narcotics has gone missing," I Jump into action. As soon as the man's body hits the bed I get to work. As I cut his shirt away from his body I notice bruising that is consistent with broken ribs.
"Jamie, do you have an X-ray machine here?" I ask.
"Yes, we do. I'll get it started. Let me know when you need it ," Jamie responds as he leaves the room. The annoying thing is I can't do anything for his ribs until I get confirmation because of that I turn my attention to the man's face. Whoever attacked him knew what they were doing.
"Hoppo the boss wants an update on our victim," Swain informs me as he joins me.
"You can tell him that I am working on cleaning up the wounds on his face and I am waiting for the head nurse to prepare the X-ray machine," I tell him. After acknowledging my report, Swain disappears again. I begin to clean up the blood from the victim's face. After a minute of doing so, the man sits up with a jolt.
"Who are you?" He questions me before succumbing to the pain.
"I am Doctor Eden Hopper. I'm with the Australian Navy. My crew were sent to help you," I introduce myself to him whilst explaining what is going on.
"All I can tell you is that the people you are dealing with are dangerous," Doctor Westbrook responds. I figured.
"Do you know who they are?" I say as I prepare a suture kit.
"No. I've never seen them until a few days ago. I think they are from the mainland," Doctor Westbrook says as he gets comfortable. After applying some numbing cream, I work on stitching up the laceration over his eye.
"What are we going to do about my safety?" That is a good question.
"I can ask my boss if you can stay aboard the Hammersley once I am finished," I offer as I carefully place the first stitch.
"Ok," Doctor Westbrook doesn't seem happy about the offer but as he said safety is a problem. As soon as the thought crosses my mind we are joined by Jamie.
"I have the X-ray machine ready for you, Eden," Jamie remarks.
"Ok. I'll finish up here, and then we shall see if Doctor Westbrook has any broken ribs," I respond. After five minutes of work, Doctor Westbrook is ready for his X-ray. After some protesting, I finally got him onto the table for the required X-rays. Thankfully the X-rays are quick. I use the computer to look at the results. To my surprise, his ribs aren't broken. That means they must be bruised.
It has been a few hours since then and I am back aboard the Hammersley. I am currently writing a report. Well, I am trying to however I can't get a nagging thought out of my mind. I slump back in my chair. There is something wrong and I don't like the idea that narcotics are involved.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Robert remarks as he joins me.
"Yeah, nah, ghosts aren't real. I'm thinking about the stuff going on in the clinic," I respond. The way Doctor Westbrook was talking about it made me realise that we would be dealing with smugglers. An idea soon comes to mind. With that I excuse myself. After a minute of walking, I find myself on the bridge.
"Boss I have an idea as to how we can catch the thieves," I announce. I can feel the glances of the others.
"What's your idea?" Mike asks.
"It's risky but I was thinking I could start asking questions to get the guys' attention. Dutchy and Swain can keep an eye on me so if anything happens I can be found again," I reveal my plan. Mike seems to consider my plan.
"Ok so long as you keep in contact with Dutchy and Swain. Be careful. We've already seen what these men can do," Mike gives the ok for my plan. It doesn't take long for the three of us to make it back to the island. Instead of going to the clinic, we head into the town centre. After thirty minutes of looking, I am approached by two well-built men.
"Can I help you at all gentlemen?" I ask. I quickly signal for Dutchy and Swain to back off.
"Yes, we heard a navy doc was asking questions," one of the guys speaks up as the other discreetly pulls a gun on me.
"Yes. I assume you were part of the group that took the narcotics," I respond.
"How much do you know?" The same guy as before says as he begins to drag me away.
"I don't know anything other than what Doctor Westbrook knows," I say as I am forced to walk. The good thing is I know Swain and Dutchy will be following me. After what feels like an eternity we made it to another beach. I soon notice a tender and just off to the side is a small yacht.
"Get in," I am ordered. I take a deep breath as I board the tender. After a couple of minutes, we made it to the yacht. It doesn't take long for the men to get me tied down and on to the Yacht. Unfortunately, that makes a classic mistake. They tied my arms in front of me.
"Jackson, what are we going to do about her?" One of the guys asks.
"I don't know because where there is one Navy officer there is usually a crew on a boat somewhere," the other guy responds. After some back and forth the two men come up with a plan.
"Ok doc here is the plan. You radio your ship and tell the Captain that if he doesn't let us go we will kill you," Jackson remarks as they drag me through to the bridge. As we head to the bridge I notice the stolen drugs.
"You are going to kill me anyway," I snapped. Jackson places the radio Receiver by my mouth.
"You're still useful at the moment. Just talk into the radio,"
"Hoppo to Hammersley over?" I radio in. After a tense second the radio crackles to life with the sound of Robert's voice.
"Hammersley to Hoppo what's your sit rep?"
"It's not good. I was taken by two guys. We are in a small white-hulled yacht. Don't worry about me," I respond. I can feel the glare from the others.
"Copy that," Robert acknowledges before he excuses himself. After double-checking that they don't have an open mic situation on their hands Jackson turns his attention to me.
"Why did you describe the boat to them?" He asks as he pulls me towards the bed.
"So that they know to avoid us," I lie. Hopefully, it isn't obvious. After considering my answer Jackson seems satisfied however, the other guy is not. Thankfully he chooses to ignore me which means it is now just a waiting game. With one swift movement, Jackson sits me on the bed. He quickly disappears. I assume he is going to the wheelhouse so they can make their escape.
It has been the longest ten minutes of my life since then and I am hoping for a miracle. As soon as the thought crosses my mind I hear the radio crackle to life. The guy that has been watching me moves to respond. Using the distraction I get up. I manage to sneak to the boarding ramp of the ship. The first thing I notice is the fact that the Hammersley has arrived. The only downside is the fact that Jackson is not heaving to. Despite the fact, I flag the Hammersley down to the best of my abilities. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for the others to find me. Jackson tries to grab me however I am able to fight back. After a brief tussle, the others finally make it aboard.
"Australian Navy. Let her go," Kate's order fills me with relief.
"Are you ok?" Swain asks as he pulls a knife from his pocket.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I think he was worse off," I respond as Swain cuts me out of my constraints. Despite the fact that my hands were tied I still got some good hits in.
It is the day after and we have arrived back in Cairns. I am getting ready to leave. This time I am in my dress uniform. Why? Well, I am heading to NAVCOM headquarters. I have decided that it would be better if my Dad and I had a chance to speak about everything that has happened to me in the past week. We decided that it would be better for us to meet at NAVCOM headquarters and then head to our favourite cafe.