David Golemon - Leviathan

Collins slid a piece of paper in front of Robbins. He couldn't see it; all he could see was the hate in Everett's eyes.

"Look at it, Gene," Pete said, his own features masked with disgust.

Robbins turned and looked at the paper on the table.

"Your official resignation, signed by you, turned in to Pete here just before you disappeared from the complex. Whereabouts unknown," Collins said as he took a chair next to Robbins.

"I suspect the little bastard committed suicide after we found out about his culpability and treachery," Everett said, pulling Robbins's face back around so he could see the seriousness of his great acting skills.

Collins looked at Pete, and they both realized at the same moment that Everett could scare a rock if he had to.

"In all actuality, Dr. Robbins, you are going to disappear," Jack said.

Robbins finally forced himself to look away from the most-feared Everett and finally saw Jack.

"You're going to Saboo, and you know what else? You're going to make sure your friends show up."

"How… how am I supposed to do that?" he asked as Everett finally released his coat collar.

"Why, you're going to call them, of course," Carl said, smiling brightly.

"You receive your orders somehow. You'll just use the same method to contact your boss and tell them you're coming home."

"What is the name of that home by the way, Gene?" Everett asked, his smile never wavering.

Robbins looked from Carl to Jack to his former boss. His head slumped and they barely heard his answer.

"Leviathan."

An hour later Jack, Everett, Jason Ryan, Will Mendenhall, and Robbins were in field gear and on their way to California for a transfer to a U.S. Navy Greyhound flight to the Pacific for a rendezvous arranged by the president. Collins spoke directly to the White House via scrambled communications. Robbins looked miserable, but he had complied with his orders to send Leviathan an emergency message. He informed his master he would be waiting on Saboo for immediate pickup, that his cover had been blown, and that he had barely escaped. There had been no reply, nor even a confirmation that his message had been received.

"Okay, Colonel, I have you a ride to Saboo: USS Missouri . She's the sub that just put two torpedoes into our friend."

"Thank you, sir," Jack said as he looked into his end of the camera from the cargo hold of the C-130 air force cargo plane.

"Now, what in the hell makes you think they'll take you aboard after discovering you turned in their operative?"

"We're banking on Heirthall's arrogance. After all, how can four men be a danger to her?"

"That's one hell of a big assumption, Colonel."

"I know perfectly well what's at stake, Mr. President."

"Okay, Colonel, you have your sub and I've alerted COMSUBPAC. He's alerting the crews of three Los Angeles attack boats to prepare for sea. They will rendezvous with Missouri , so I wish you luck. You must understand, Colonel, those captains have their orders. I don't have to tell you, of all people, what those orders are."

"If Leviathan makes an aggressive move, they are to use any and all means to destroy her."

"You have the letter to Captain Jefferson?" the president asked. "Yes, sir."

"Duplicates have been delivered to the captains of the other subs. Good luck, Colonel, bring my people home if possible. I'll inform Admiral Fuqua that Operation Nemo is a go."

The screen went blank.

Jack felt as if he were on the outside of the poker game looking in, and was just hoping to get a seat at the big table. The one problem: He knew beforehand that the other player held all the cards.

The bluff was on.

Niles, Virginia, Lee, Alice, and a very quiet Sarah sat in the ship's mess. They were sitting at a far table within the seventy-table compartment. Over a hundred of Leviathan 's crew were taking a late-night meal and their voices were subdued. Every once in a while one or two would glance over at them, and this time they weren't friendly or welcoming faces they saw. Niles pushed away the soup that the mess steward had placed in front of him and looked at the others.

"My opinion is, if Jack is fit, he, Carl, and Pete will discover a way to find us. My money is on our people."

The group was silent as they waited for Niles to finish what they knew he was going to say.

"I also don't want anyone here at this table to have any false illusions about us escaping. It's not likely." Compton looked at McIntire, who was dipping her spoon in and out of her soup. "Sarah, I'm going to say something you may not like. We owe Colonel Farbeaux nothing — not for saving you at the complex, or for what he did earlier today. He's dangerous, and we have to consider… eliminating him."

"Sarah, you told us about Jack. Your explanation of Farbeaux's reaction to the news that the Colonel was alive has confirmed your suspicion about his stability."

Sarah was silent as she turned toward Niles. Her look said she was lost as to how to answer both him and Virginia.

Garrison Lee broke the uncomfortable silence.

"How do we do that, Virginia — have the captain dump him at sea, or allow this Sergeant Tyler to place a bullet in his brain?"

The table became silent at Lee's question.

"Obviously not — we decided a long time ago that we play by our rules and not everyone else's, regardless of cost, or what the opposition dictates," Lee said, looking from person to person.

"I'm sorry, but Farbeaux could become a very large liability when the time comes for us to act," Virginia said as she rubbed her temples.

Yeoman Felicia Alvera walked up to their table. She looked at other crew members watching her approach the table, and she eyed them until they turned away.

"Can we help you, Yeoman?" Alice asked her, noticing that the girl was, for the first time, unsmiling.

"Your opposition to our captain. I would like to know" — she half-turned and gestured to the table of twenty or so midshipmen in the middle of the compartment—"just as many of us would — why you do not see she has no other choice but to act as she has?"

"Young lady, no matter the kindness Captain Heirthall has shown you and these others, she is killing people, and making very little discrimination as to who they are," Niles said, seeing a different girl before them than the one they first met on the hangar deck.

"Yeoman, you may return to your meal, or your quarters," Sergeant Tyler said, having stepped up without anyone hearing or seeing his approach.

Alvera looked at Tyler and narrowed her eyes. Then she suddenly turned and left, not going back to her own meal; she left the mess area altogether. Niles and the others saw that the other midshipmen, after a brief glance toward them, all followed the girl out.

The sergeant was starting to walk away, and then stopped and turned. He looked down at the five Group members. They saw there was still a spot of blood on the bandage wrapped around his head.

"From this moment forward, you are not to converse with the crew, especially the middies. If you disobey this command you will be locked in the brig and gagged. For the present time, we are putting the problem of you people on hold, but you may have company soon. We are making a detour."

"What about the reason you brought us aboard in the first place, Sergeant?" Niles asked.

"What you know or what your Group knows no longer concerns us. For the moment just consider yourselves…" He paused and smiled."… ballast."

Tyler turned and followed the midshipmen out, ignoring the way the adult crew looked at him.

"What a dick," Sarah said.

"My word exactly," Alice agreed.

"Yeoman Alvera and the other midshipmen — have you noticed the paleness of skin? It's almost see-through," Virginia stated.