David Golemon - Legend

The gray MH-60 Seahawk flew low to avoid becoming an unknown blip on any airborne radar. The navy chopper skimmed only a few feet above the masts of Japanese fishing vessels. Jack Collins, Sarah McIntire, and Carl Everett, still in their covert guise, sat calmly without talking. Their cover as naval special weapons people was still intact, a story sanctioned by Niles Compton and the president of the United States. Danielle had seen dossiers on all three from her husband's files recovered in the raid on his Los Angeles home. She knew Sarah to be a new second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, the new head of the Geology Department. Sarah had been an integral part in another mysterious operation in the American desert last year. The same with Jack Collins; it was rumored in the dark places where governments meet that it was the major who had actually headed the bizarre mission that had confronted a UFO. Danielle had only heard rumors, only bits and pieces about the Event from intelligence speculation.

The person that interested her most was Lieutenant Commander Carl Everett, a former SEAL. Currently it was surmised by French intelligence that he was the number two man in the Group's security department, under Collins. The man was a brute. But he intrigued her nonetheless. Maybe it was his immediate dislike for her, she didn't know, but she would learn as much about him as she could. He wore his emotions on the outside and thus could be very helpful to her in the future.

As she thought this over, the Seahawk started climbing at a high rate of speed. Danielle adjusted her earphones and leaned over in her seat toward Major Collins.

"Am I to assume I am to be taken to a small CIA trawler off the coast and asked some questions, to a little ship of torture perhaps?" she asked, raising her right brow.

Carl snorted and turned away, shaking his head. Sarah just absently scratched her nose. Jack Collins leaned forward and in all seriousness pointed out the side window. "No ma'am, no torture, no CIA, and definitely not a small ship," he said, his blue eyes never leaving hers.

Danielle turned to where the major was indicating and was stunned for the first time in many years. She tried not to show it as she looked upon the largest object she had ever seen in her life that wasn't anchored to the ground. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier was making at least thirty-plus knots. Her massive bow tossed the green seas high into the air as she cut through the Pacific 130 miles off the coast of Okinawa.

The Seahawk crew chief lowered his microphone so he could speak to the others on board the naval version of the Blackhawk.

"Ma'am, please sit back for landing, and welcome to the USS George Washington ."

The captain's quarters aboard Big George , as the men fondly called their ship, were spacious and very well appointed for a United States naval vessel. The skipper had excused himself and allowed the members of the Event Group to utilize the largest and most secure cabin on the ship to debrief the foreign national. The captain of Big George didn't believe they were any sort of naval special weapons people. He could smell CIA.

As the mess stewards brought in coffee and a small tray of sandwiches, Jack took the time to remove his Nomex assault gear. He would have to thank SEAL Team Six, which was aboard, for the loan. Sarah poured everyone coffee and sat heavily in one of the overstuffed chairs that lined the conference table. Her arm had been tended to by the ships surgeon and the painkillers they had given her were dragging her down.

There was a rap on the cabin door and navy lieutenant JG Jason Ryan stepped in. He smiled at everyone and walked up to Jack, who was wiping his hands on a face towel. He shook Jack's hand.

"Glad to see you made it in one piece, Major," Ryan said as he turned to shake the hands of Carl and Sarah.

"Are you getting reacquainted with old friends?" Jack asked, as he sat down and pulled his cup of coffee toward him. "Ms. Serrate, this is Jason Ryan; he used to fly off these carrier things the navy plays with. He works for me and the Group now."

Danielle took a sip of her coffee and nodded toward Ryan, who took a chair next to Sarah and winked at her.

"By the way, Jack, the captain has cleared Ms. Serrate here for a flight leaving within the hour aboard a C-2A Greyhound heading for Narita International in Tokyo. Director Compton has arranged a first-class flight out of there for our guest to Paris." Jason looked over to the redheaded Serrate. "The director wished to pass on his personal thanks for the warning you gave us that Mr. Yashita wasn't who he seemed to be."

"Can you explain how you knew this?" Jack asked.

"I came across Yashita's name in my ex-husband's file on this site. It said that he was a man of unscrupulous nature, and was known to the Okinawans as Mr. Asaki. So, when we were introduced to that gentleman on the island, it wasn't a stretch to put two and two together and that is why I called your director. Now, am to be released?" she asked, looking from Ryan to Jack.

"As far as we know, you're not wanted by Interpol, the FBI, or any other foreign intel service; in other words, Ms. Serrate, we can't link you to any of your husband's transgressions," Jack said.

"To make it crystal clear, we can't arrest you for being married to an asshole and murderer," Carl added, looking directly at Danielle, waiting for a reaction.

Jack cleared his throat. He was watching the subdued anger rise on the Frenchwoman's face. "The million-dollar question, Ms. Serrate, is why you were there in the first place."

Danielle placed her cup of coffee down on the table. "Several months ago I became aware of my ex-husband's interest in the rumors of this site on Okinawa. In this and several other locations across the world where there were bizarre rumors of lost ships, cities; anywhere there could be found the legends of ancient alchemists — advanced science, if you will. Why? I do not know, as my husb… ex-husband's schemes are his own. But he has become an embarrassment to my government, my department, and to me. As his current interest seems to be beyond his normal pursuits, I believe he may be mixed up with foul elements that may be of concern to both your government and mine."

"So, tell us what you've got," Jack said, knowing that a hidden tape recorder was running, taking down everything the Frenchwoman was saying.

"I thought he would have been here in pursuit of that vessel. We came across a safe house in Mexico and another in Los Angeles, where we uncovered several research items on the possibility of an ancient weapon of mass destruction that was buried with that ancient junk," she said as she took a sip of her coffee. "It was my hope he would show himself here so I could cancel his bogus affiliation with my government. And I wished to do this in front of his most ardent enemies, as proof of my department's commitment at cooperation."

"You and he were married for how long?" Carl asked, standing and walking over to the silver coffee service and pouring another cup. He then walked over and refilled Danielle's.

"I married him when I was eighteen."

"Please continue, Ms. Serrate," Jack said.

"My husband has been quite…" She stumbled for the right word to use. "He's been rogue for some time and is up to some very disconcerting research, for a reason that I cannot yet fathom. He even had a complete scientific investigative report commissioned on an obscure legend about a Spanish expedition in Brazil that supposedly took place over five hundred years ago, a very expensive research project."

"Do you have anything else he may be working on?" Sarah asked her.

"All I have is that he has found a new financier and has been dealing with an American professor on a project. I was hoping it was Professor Fallon and the Okinawan site. Now I fear I am at a dead end."