| A Question of Loyalty |
| Nelson had come into the office around 10AM, looking very worried, and called Crane into his office. �Admiral? What�s up?� �I think those photos were a set up, Lee. Jiggs received them in a package. Whoever sent it knew he�d react like this. There were also photos of Joe Jackson as well.� �Oh, no �� Lee had known Starke�s aide for a long time. Joe was one of the few �close friends� he�d occasionally connected with when they were docked at Pearl. But not since he and Harry had become lovers. �I�m almost afraid to ask what happened?� �Starke pushed through a dishonorable discharge.� Lee shook his head. �You know, Joe always went to bat for Starke, even when he was on one of his rages. Nobody was more loyal to that man �� He was starting to get angry. Nelson reached out and laid his hand on Crane�s shoulder. �He knows, Lee. Jiggs realizes what he�s done, and he�s trying to un-do it now. And I�ve got an idea to fix that, in any event. But first, we need to unravel this plot. The enemy knew he�d get rid of Jackson, perhaps allowing them a chance to get their man into his office as a temporary aide. And by including our men, they knew he�d come here, so caught up in his rage that he wouldn�t be thinking about what was going on back at Pearl. We need to find out what they�re up to. Lee, I want you to take the Flying Sub over to Pearl. See if you can track down that package, where it came from. I suspect Jackson himself accepted it; you might try to find him to start. And if you do, tell him I want to talk to him.� Crane bit back a grin; he had a good idea what Nelson wanted to talk to the man about. Instead, he stood, now all business. �Aye, sir.� �And Lee � be careful.� Crane allowed himself a smile as their eyes met, then hurried out of the office to prepare for his mission. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He landed the Flying Sub in the waters at Pearl and left it in the hands of the specially trained crew Nelson maintained there with Starke�s permission. His uniform would be very conspicuous where he was heading, so he quickly changed into jeans and a bright tropical shirt. Dressed like a tourist, he�d never be noticed on the streets of Honolulu. He worked his way inland, leaving the naval base and its restrictions far behind him. As Starke�s aide, Jackson had needed to be close at all times, so he had never taken an apartment off base, preferring instead to stay in the BOQ. But there had been a bar he had met Lee at a couple of times over the years. Lee hoped somebody there had seen him recently. This early in the afternoon, there weren�t many patrons in the dimly lit room. It took a few moments for Lee�s eyes to adjust to the darkness after the brilliant sun outside. He gazed around the room, and wasn�t altogether surprised when he saw Joe sitting in a booth, alone, staring into flat beer. He walked up to the table. �Joe.� Jackson looked up, surprised by the familiar voice. �Lee? What are you doing here?� Lee was horrified by the sight of his old friend. Jackson looked like he hadn�t slept in a week. Again, anger at Starke�s thoughtless reactions surged through him. He slipped into the other side of the booth. �I know what happened, Joe.� He kept his voice quiet, almost wishing there was more noise in the bar to cover their conversation. Jackson shrugged. �So you know it�s over. My career, my life �� �Don�t give up yet, Joe. There�s something fishy going on here.� Jackson frowned. �What do you mean?� �That package also had photos of some of our men from Seaview. Starke came over to Santa Barbara to pitch a fit. Luckily, Adm. Nelson isn�t quite so closed-minded �� Lee left it open, but his grin told Jackson there was more than he was telling. Jackson was good and curious now. �And?� �Nelson thinks it was a set up. Somebody wanted to get both you and Starke out of the office this week. Starke says the photos came in a package. Do you remember when it came in? Anything about the delivery guy?� Jackson shook his head. �I�ve wondered about that. Seemed weird that I handed him the very package that ended up crucifying me �� �Think, Joe. Anything might help.� Jackson bit his lower lip, frowning with concentration. �It was just a normal Express Mail delivery guy, you know, brown uniform and such.� �Why didn�t you open it first?� �It had a sticker on it, �eyes only� for Adm. Starke. I presumed it was from Washington. We�re supposed to be getting the new security codes in any day now.� Crane sat up sharply at the mention of security codes. �That�s it, Joe. That�s what they�re after. Those photos insured that you would be ousted, letting them get their man into the office, and would also send Starke chasing off to Santa Barbara, leaving the mole alone in the office when the codes arrive. But wouldn�t the codes come by military courier?� �Usually. But there was a screw up in Washington. They should have been here last week, by rights. I thought the package might be the new schedule or something.� Lee nodded. �OK. I need to find out the status of those codes, and see if we can ferret out the mole they�ve planted.� But before leaving, Lee regarded his friend closely. �Joe, are you ok?� Jackson shrugged. �I�ll survive, Lee. Not sure how right now, but I�ll survive. You know what the worst thing is? I would have given my life for him. I thought he trusted me. But I guess you can�t change an �Old Navy� man like Starke �� Lee reached out and laid his hand over Jackson�s. �Joe, listen to me. Adm. Nelson has talked some sense into him. I think he realizes he made a mistake. I wouldn�t be surprised to see that dishonorable discharge revoked. But if you don�t want to go back there, call Adm. Nelson. He wants to talk to you in any event.� Jackson looked at his old friend, a new hope filling his eyes. �You think Nelson would hire me?� Lee grinned. �He hasn�t specifically said so, but I�m sure of it.� Jackson raised an eyebrow. �Lee, what aren�t you telling me?� �Who, me?� Lee gave his best �innocent� look. �I�ve got to run, Joe. See you in Santa Barbara!� With a wink, he left Jackson sitting at the table, trying to figure out what had just happened � ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Crane made his way back to the base at Pearl. Back aboard the Flying Sub, he quickly changed back into a uniform and radioed Nelson. Once their plans were set, he headed to the security office and picked up a courier�s briefcase, handcuffing it to his wrist, then heading toward Starke�s office. COMSUBPAC. Command over all the subs in the Pacific Fleet. Even in his absence, Starke�s office bustled. Lee made his way toward the private office, Starke�s inner sanctum. A young Lieutenant sat behind the desk in the outer office. He looked up at the sound of the door. �May I help you?� Crane gave him a critical once-over. This was most likely the mole. He closed the door behind him. �I have a special delivery for Adm. Starke.� �He�s not here right now.� Lee noticed he didn�t say just where the Admiral was. �I�m. Lt. Davis, his aide. I�ll accept the delivery.� Lee shook his head. �I�m sorry, but I have strict orders to release it only to Adm. Starke himself.� The young man looked perplexed. After a moment he seemed to come to a decision. �Uh, he should be back in an hour or so. Would you like to wait?� He gestured to a chair on the side wall. Now Lee was sure it was the mole. For the moment, he simply nodded and sat down. �Would you like some coffee?� // probably drugged // �Sure,� Lee played along for the moment, taking the coffee but not actually drinking it. When the Lieutenant was distracted, he poured some of it into the potted plant beside the chair. He pretended to get sleepy, letting his eyes flutter closed. The aide reacted quickly, locking the outer door, then fishing in Lee�s pockets for the key to the briefcase. But instead of a drugged courier, he found himself face to face with a trained ONI agent fully in possession of his faculties. It didn�t take long for Lee to subdue the terrified youngster. �Davis? Is that really your name?� �Y � yes, sir.� �Why, Davis. Why did you do it? Who are you working for?� �They�ve got my mother, sir! They said they�d kill her if I didn�t �� �Who, Davis. Who are �they?�� "I � I don't know for sure." Lee gave a heavy sigh. He used the handcuffs to secure Davis, then called base security. As he waited for them to arrive, he pondered on the source of this mess. The communist block may have fallen, but it seemed there were always new challenges to the security of the US. When you were at the top of the mountain, somebody always wanted to knock you down. For so long, he had been one of the ones who fought back. Even now, a part of him itched to track this down, find out who had blackmailed this poor kid into betraying his country. But it wasn't his place anymore. ONI could handle this one � and all the rest to come � without him. Now, his place was at Harriman Nelson's side, and it was a place he wouldn't relinquish easily. He turned Davis over to the security personnel, then headed back to the Flying Sub, and home, to Santa Barbara, to Nelson. 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| Part III |