The Journey Home
Part 3

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Sitting in his comfortable chair reading the newspaper and having an unusual 3rd pre dinner scotch. Captain Heinriche was annoyed when the phone next to him rang. Forgetting that he had requested; no he had ordered, an update on his agent's condition each change of watch."Heinriche!" He yelled into the instrument. "This had better be important! Disturbing a Captain this late in the evening. There is a thing called office hours." Overjoyed at the news the young seaman was telling him he fought back the urge to drive like a maniac to the base hospital and see for himself. Instead he promised the startled young seaman and his partner a rare unrequested 72 hour liberty. Rushing into the kitchen he shoved the roasted chicken sitting on the counter into the fridge grabbed his wife from behind and told her to get dressed they were going into Honolulu.

Awakening early despite the very late evening Heinriche forgoes his morning walk to the pier and back grabbing a muffin from the table he downs the morning coffee with his hat on shoves the muffin in his teeth grabs his briefcase and heads out the front door returning quickly to retrieve his car keys.

Arriving at the hospital he greets the nurses warmly, causing quite a conversation about radical personality change during shift report,and enters Steve's room carrying a stack of folders and maps. Watching him sleep the captains elation wanes slightly and noting that the bruising had finally turned yellow he realizes just how long this state of suspension has lasted. Why am I doing this? Quietly setting the papers on the edge of the table and tossing his hat on the chair Heinriche begins to question the importance of his mission I should just leave him alone. We've waited a month whats a few more days. Let the damn missiles rust! I could just say hello and leave.Deciding against questioning McGarrett he picks up the pile of folders and shoves them back into his briefcase."Nuts!" He berates quietly as a memo falls out on the floor.Bending over to retrieve the dropped papr the Captain remembered the scathing phone call which accompanied the message. No the senior officer thought realizing that there was no escape from this situation for either of them. The stuffed shirt admirals woould just come over here. Wait a minute...I'm up for a flag. Have I become one of them someplace along the way?? Never mind all that now. I guess its better for him to deal with me than some admiral's staff bozo he doesn't know. I'll bet his fuse is way shorter than normal. He'd rip the guy to shreds in 2 seconds, then we'd never know about the nodongs. Some days I really hate this job..... "Commander.." He asks quietly. "You in there??"

Opening his eyes Steve swalllows hard. Oh great. Here it comes.. " yes...Sir... I guess so."

"THANK GOD! You're OK then? That was a stupid statement.If he was OK we wouldn't be here.Sometimes I really blow it. Heinriche gently shakes his shoulder. "You did a hell of a job son."

Oh God!" Steve yells as the slight motion sends him falling down an endless black tunnel. In the process of righting himself he accidentally turns the wrong way and not finding the expected rail begins to flail around in a panic screaming

"What the hell!?" Heinriche exclaims as he pins his agent down to the bed. "McGarrett relax!" The Captain orders readjusting his lock on the flailing limbs. You're going to flip yourself on the floor!"

" ...where am I..." Steve asks breathing hard from the exhertion.

Base Hospital. Close Observation Ward. You're going to be allright." He reassures. "Calm down.Please."

Frank enters the room in a cheerful mood having actually slept the preceding night."Good morn...." Rapidly assessing what must have preceded the wrestling match Evershall grabs the plastic cup and shoves Heinriche out of the way. slipping the ice chip in between screams he leans over and whispers "Steve.He's got a ton of papers. Stay down." Turning sharply he glares intensely at the senior officer. "What are you trying to do Captain kill him??"

"I can't Frank." Steve replies breathing heavily from the the exhertion.

"OK. I understand. I guess. But if was me this yutz wouldn't be worth it. You ended up on your right side. Turn towards me 90 degrees." Frank directs as he tries to pry his friend's fingers loose from the opposite rail."First you gotta let go. Its OK you're not going to fall anyplace. I'm right here. Come left 90 degrees."The lieutenat shakes his head as he watches Steve turn in the wrong direction. "I said left. We went over this remember. Left is the side you can move. Allright. Hang on. This is liable to hurt a little but you can't stay like that all day. Pass out and you'll snuff yourself." Grabbing ahold of his shoulders Frank quickly flips Steve onto his back. "There. 0 degrees up range 3 feet." Relaxing at the slight grin of his friend." You OK now??" He asks heading towards the chair. "John Reggis called last night..."

Seeing that the crisis is over Heinriche spins Frank around pulling him off balance and dragging him into the hallway. "What the hell's going on here!" He demands.

"You moved him didn't you?" Frank snaps leaning against the handrail glaring back at the older man..

"NO." The Captain snaps defensively. Wait..I... touched him??" He adds .

"That's enough to do it. He's still disoriented. All his reflexes are exaggerated. Any kind of excess light, noise or MOVEMENT sets him off."

"The ice cubes??" Heinriche wonders.

"Movements of all kinds make him sick. They're giving him shots of something to keep him from throwing up but for some wierd reason once he starts an ice cube will usually stop it. No one knows why exactly. Suffice to say it works. And thank heavens it does. He's allready ripped out his stitches twice and broke several ribs fom it. Any time they want to take him someplace. Xrays or something they have to sedate him first." Frank half chuckles at memory of the battling MDs. "Dr Hadrian said less planning went into Operation Overlord than arranging an xray for Steve. They both got on Dr Capelli's case for wanting too many pictures of his arm. The agreement is now if they need one xray he gets all of them and a brainscan "

"My God.I had no idea." Heinriche leans against the doorjamb in astonishment."How long is this going to last?" He demandss.

"They don't know Sir." Evershall replies growing increasingly annoyed by the captains presence. "He's getting OK with up and down. When he's on his back anyway. If you're going to move him you HAVE to tell him first. Better yet. Leave him alone!"

"LIEUTENANT!"The captain barks. Ready to pounce on the insubordinate junior officer Heinriche propels himself off the doorjamb then recognizing the stress Evershall had to have been under the past month swallows back the brewing tirade and instead replies quietly. "I wish I could do just that. But there are extinuating circumstances you are unaware of which take precedence over what any of us want. Including Commander McGarrett. Now if you will excuse me."

Look Sir. I know about the nodongs." Frank states blocking the doorway.

"How did......" The Captain stutters. Surprised by the casual revalation of an eyes-only secret.

"He was talking in his sleep." Franks replies with what he knew was a plausible explaination for the knowledge. "Considering everything else...doesn't take a rocket scientist Sir. They're there OK. Now you can go back to your office."

"Then surely you must understand how imperitive it is that we obtain the precise locations."

WHAT! You're a bigger jerk than I thought! Taken momentarily aback by the older man's seeming lack of concern Frank can only stare at him, a fire building behind his grey eyes, "Captain he doesn't know top from bottom. Just how the hell's he going to tell you where those silos are?!" Frank argues.

"Lieutenant. I have no idea." Heinrche responds sincerely." But we've got to try." Taking several deep breaths he walks slowly back into the room. "I'm sorry son. I had no idea."

Stuffing his hands in his pants pockets Frank follows the old man into the room and drops into his customary chair.It's a matter of national security. The fate of the free world is in the ballast. Life as we know it could cease to exist if the Red Menace gains the upper hand He thinks sarcastically.

"Its OK Sir." Steve answers quietly

"Good."The captain replies with a rare display of warmth then quickly returns to the business at hand. "OK. The nodongs are real. Do you remember flying over the sites?"

Swallowing hard at the multitude of spinning images in his head Steve nods slightly.

"Excellent!" Heinriche claps with delight sending shockwaves through Steve's head and arousing Frank from his thoughts. "Now then." Sitting on the edge of the bed he continues."Were they where we were told?"

"No Sir......way....off." Steve replies swallowing an ice cube. "You're....doing ..it ...again.."

"What????" Heinriche defends then realizing what he meant quickly hops up."Surely my sitting wasn't enough."

"Sir right now the draft off a fly's wing is enough to send me into orbit!" Steve replies sharply. "Get on with it."

"OK then, lets take it from the top. You entered Chinese airspace at." He looks over at Frank."

"I'm NOT leaving Sir.!" Evershall informs.

If you weren't so damned good for him. I'd have your butt on the first plane back to Japan. "Very well." Thinking he had won round two of the confrontation with the lieutenant Heinriche grins slyly at Frank. "Point Alpha Steve."

Reaching through the rail Steve hits Frank on the knees and grins knowing what he's about to do will piss off the Old Man. "We dropped down over Xinju. Those Brits in Hong Kong were right about the el-int out there being non-existant. There was nothing there but if the pictures were true.......we figured we couldn't see anything if we flew over radar so...we flew under it. 200 feet off the deck. Smitty bounced off the mountains." Sensing an oncoming emotional outburst Frank quickly shoves an icecube between Steve's teeth. "What's that one...for???" He asks innocently

"Prevention." Evershall states matter of factly. "When you found out about the pilot last night...you probably broke another rib."

"Probably???" Steve replies sarcastically.

"You don't want them to knock you out again just to find out do you." Frank reminds.

"Guess not.....what's one more." Steve swallows hard. "What about John Reggis?"

"I didn't think you caught that." Frank replies. "He called looking for you. Dave's going to get his sub physical at Bethesda this year."

"Huh?"Steve asks annoyed that his friend always takes way too much time to relay information.

" Paux River is probably closer for us."

"Why do we....Annapolis???? You really want to go back there!"

"Heck no! They might not let me back out. But he wants to get married in the chapel." Frank states.

"When's........"

"Relax you've got till December to get your head on straight." Evershall laughs.

"I hope that's...." Steve replies distantly.

Get it over with. Best way. Before he loses focus "Back to the mission" Heinriche orders picking up a map of Eastern China. "OK. Here's point alpha. That puts the mountains as Xindangu. Where did you go from there??"

"Sir?? Steve looks at him questioningly. "There aren't any mountains in Maryland."

"Commander! You're flying over China. Where from point alpha? Just look at the map." Impatiently he holds it a little closer.

"Which one Sir? There's three of them."

Now what! "Steve I'm only holding one page." He replies irritatedly. "Maybe if you shut one eye??"

After several seconds Steve gives up looking and scoots down in the bed.

"Commander!" Heinriche snaps in frustration. "Focus! Pay attention to what's going on. OK. Nodongs not weddings. Just orient yourself to the map."

"The map!" He screams and instantly regrets the reverberating outburst. Holding tight to the rail he closes his eyes for a couple of minutes then replies quietly. "I'm not oriented to the room let alone a piece of paper."

"Allright Steve." He throws the large pre WWII cartograph on the bed. "No map! If I give you a picture??"

"Sir. Everythings fuzzy." Steve replies.

Becoming increasingly aggitated Heinriche starts to pace the room as he tries to figure out how to find the missile locations; stopping briefly to peer out through the closed venetian blinds and letting in a large amount of unwanted light. "So!" Letting go of the window shade the Captain spins abruptly on his heel towards the pair of officers. "We've fianally got the goods on the Commies only....we don't know where the hell they are!" Watching Frank remove his hand from in front of Steve's eyes and drop back in the chair playing idily with the ice cubes the captain shakes his head in frustration. "Steve why didn't you get the film off the wing camera?!"

I'm damned lucky to have gotten my butt out of there and he worries about the film....figures.... "I was too busy saving my rear SIR!" He snaps then regrets the outburst as the words echo in his head. "There wasn't a wing left to get it off of Sir." He replies quietly.

Good for you buddy. Tell him where to get off. Long as you're nuts he can't charge you. Laughing to himself that Steve had just won them round three of the Heinriche vs Evershall/McGarrett confrontation Frank glares at the senior officer.

Frustration overcoming reason Heinriche angrily pounds his fist on the table causing both Steve and Frank to jump. "All I know is you went in at the right place and that chink picked you up 2000 miles away! DAMNIT McGarrett. Washington's got me by the balls on this!" He yells.

"Sir . Bad enough you're yelling at me." Steve states quietly trying to keep from spinning. "But could you please say in one spot while you're doing it? I'm going to run out of ice cubes.

If I don't calm him down I'm going to lose him "Oh yeah. Sure Son. I forgot." Heinriche reluctantly sits in the chair. He's got to do this. For all our sakes. Somehow?? "If your directions' off...how are you with time??"

"Frank???" Steve asks questioningly

"Gee. I don't know." The lieutenant shrugs. "Ok I guess. Uh..how long have I been here this morning?"

"About.." He hesitates then adds ."Half an hour???"

Evershall looks down at his watch. "40 minutes. Give or take 10 minutes for when he freaked you out." Frank rationalizes. "Close enough. At least something still works."

Everything looks worse than it actually is. "Thank God for that!" glancing briefly at the ceiling he swallows hard and moans quietly.

"Now what?" Heiriche snaps

"Nothing..Sir...I've got a headache like you wouldn't believe and thinking makes it worse.."

"Steve?? You're not gonna....." Frank looks over at his friend. "You don't...don't push it.." He states worriedly. "Its just a bunch of damn missiles. They're there thats enough for now. Don't screw yourself up thinking about this right now."

"Lets do it." Steve replies determinedly. "It was almost dawn when we hit the entry point. There was no radar contact after we left Hong Kong's screen. The Chinese have got zero ground electronics in that area. Before we turned in there were some whales....Smitty wanted a picture..." He swallows hard but goes on. " I couldn't frame it in time out the window....We figured the same thing'd happen over the nodongs. So when we got near a target he'd overfly it for the video then turn the plane upside down and I could shoot out the canopy.The first shot is the target area with nothing there. Sir?? Did they come out OK??"

Relieved by the sudden change in attitude Heinriche leans over forwards with his head down for several seconds. Good. At last he's thinking like an agent. Thank God! "Just fine Steve." He replies encouragingly. In fact..." Reaching into the pile of photos he pulls out one and drops it in Steve's lap."Here's your whale."

"Really? I thought I missed it." He glances briefly at the gray fuzzy square and hands it to Frank."I'll take your word that's what it is Sir."

"Well. It's a little out of focus and part of the wing is across the top. But the important ones are perfect. Go on."

"Well. The photos of the nodongs in Nampo were real enough I figured the intel couldn't be that far off the mark. So we decided to go up the mountains first to look around."

"OK. You're in the copilots seat. So up would be a right turn."

"Oh yeah." Steve smiles at the revelation. "Hey this is gonna work!"

If he's determined to do this then the least I can do is help him"Steve?" Frank leans over slightly. "Do you know how fast you were going?"

"Low and slow. About 250 300."

"Allright!" He hastily shoves an ice cube towards Steve."Reward." and whips a sliderule out of his pocket. "Time by speed equals didtance."

"OK!" He grins. "It took us a couple of hours of mountain bouncing till we came to what I thought was a silo...turned out to be just a village."

"Lieutenant?" Heinriche grabs his map excitedly.

"Around 780 miles Sir."

"Yes!" Heniriche looks up from marking on his map throws it on the bed and leaping out of the chair he grabs Steve by the shoulders causing him to scream as Frank quickly shoves him back."Sorry!" He replies excitedly. "802 miles from point alpha there's a place called Goduk. Little village my ass Son! That was a silo under construction."

Frank quickly intercepts the proferred picture before Heinriche can pull it back. "I'll be damned.." He lets out a low whistle. "Steve..The well in the center. That's a silo allright if I've ever seen one. From now on you take all our travel photos."

"That good???" He grins. "A few minutes later we came to a canyon and went down it. Sir? If ups a right turn then down is...a left turn??"

"Thats why you were in the top five." Evershall reaches over and messes up Steve's hair. "Forget all that calculus I beat into your head...Its right and left turns that'll get you admirals stars."

"Frank." He half smiles. "I think I did forget it. Right after finals." Starting to hyperventilate he closes his eyes as the room begins to spin.

"Steve. Drop it right here." Frank worriedly orders."Its not worth it to screw yourself up again. Eventually it'll all come back."

"Come back...I wish it would go away. Everything's still there just there's no reference points. You remember 2nd class year survival course when we were on our way to 29 Palms and the plane decellerated abruptly and we were floating in the back?"

"If I recall you crashed into the back of Sgtmjr Peters chair and broke your nose." Frank teases. "But you were the only one in the platoon, including Sarge, not to throw up."

"Yeah. Well I'm making up for it now." Steve retorts.

"Gentlemen please." Heinriche interjects." He's right Son. I don't want to hurt you. General location. Those monkies from Langley can compare the photos with the old Flying Tiger maps. Mountains don't change shape that fast."

"I'm going to finish this." Steve states firmly. "We went down the canyon maybe 15 minutes and man they were everywhere!. I don't think I got them all they just kept coming."

"Iron Warrior Gorge.......60 miles left Commander."

"Yeah. Smith made a crack about them still being in the Iron Age. This is actually working!" He grins triumphantly. Best behind the lines amn the Navy ever trained When we're done I deserve a beer Frank.

"You deserve alot more than that. But you'll never get it from this yoyo. "Forget it. Water makes you puke remember." Frank reminds

"Son you deserve a hell of alot more than that." Heinriche replies warmly, surprising himself with the verbalization of his feelings. I don't think even that star's enough for having the balls to get back from up there." He waits a few minutes then begins again in a matter of fact manner. " OK. Back to business theres still a couple thousand miles to go."

"Yes Sir." Steve replies tiredly. "We followed the canyon. Took us almost 4 hours to get through. Kept having to hop over little mountains. Each time we found a side canyon we'd go down it a ways just over the deck. I swear we scraped some of the rocks. When we finally came to the big valley at the end all hell broke loose. They fired all kinds of stuff at us. Antiaircraft guns. Everything they had I think. Some kind of a ground missile almost wiped us out. There's a base in there Sir. The radar came alive when we climbed up to get away from the missile. We cooked it but I guess not before they radioed our position someplace. There were two canyons off the valley. Mine looked bigger so we took it. Right turn Sir?"

"Yeah Son." The Old Man laughs. "Right turn. Uhm...Dragon Tail Gorge."

Once we got inside it was filled with missiles. I ran out of film before we got to the end. Next thing I knew a couple scout planes were on our port wing. We splashed them and decided it was getting a little too hot so we went up and headed...."

"Right turn would put you heading in the direction of where that chink says you crashed."

"Next thing I knew there were MIGS all over us. Shot down a couple 17's.....We started spinning....." Holding on tight to the rail Steve's knuckles start to turn white. "FRANK!"

I knew this would happen. Never would listen......Stubborn Irish fool. Evershall thinks as he tries to shove an ice cube between the clenched teeth."Damnit it's not working!" He glares angrily across the bed at Heinriche. "I hope you're satisified!" He hisses.

Yelling something which was unintelligable to the captain and flailing around trying to get loose from Franks grip Steve kicks out an IV. "Don't start in again with the Korean Steve!The war's over you want to cuss me do it in English." Evershall orders trying to reorientate his friend. "Quit it!" Frank commands regrabbing Steve's arm before he can punch him. "Before you hurt yourself. Come on!" In a panic Evershall jerks the sunglasses off and tosses them on the chair. "Look at me! I know it hurts but open your eyes and look at me.! 0 degrees uprange 2 feet. You're OK I've got ahold of you. You're not falling anyplace!" As the muscles in his grasp suddenly tighten Evershall looks down to see his friend turning blue then suddenly begin to twitch uncontrollably. "Captain!" He screams in fear.

"I'm on it!" Heinriche yells from the doorway.

"Whats.." Saprestien asks entering behind the running Heinriche. "Oh God. Not again." He quickly rushes to the corner grabs a a syringe from the cart and injects the IV tubing. A few seconds later seeing that his patient had calmed he looks up at the hovering officers. "IV valium. He should be out all day. Go home!"

Heinriche grabs ahold of the MDs wrist as his eyes bore into the smaller Md's. Oh Lord I hope that wasn't what I think it was. Who says the book is always right. I should have told him about the pentathol. "What the hell was that!"

Dr Saprestien eyes fire as he glares up at the captain."Get your hands off me SIR!" Flexing his fingers a few times against the grasp the doctor suddenly flips his hand over jerks free of the restraint, pulls the Captains arm up behind his back in an arm lock and shoves him across the room. Heinriche lands on top of Steve and slides down to the floor as the folders laying on top of the bed fall on top of him. Relaxing out of the karate tiger stance the MD quickly regains control. "That gentlemen was a grand mal seizure. Pretty bad one too. What was going on?"

"We were talking..." Frank answers still anxious from the preceding events. "Doc he was doing really good..had all his right and left turns perfect...then all of a sudden he just sarted freaking out like before....then he turned blue....."

"Allright. Relax. " He slaps Frank on the back reassuringly. "This is the first time he's relived the crash while he's coherent. I'm hoping thats what set it off. He's going to be out until this evening. I want to run another EEG which means all of Capelli's orthopedic series'll have to be done too. He'll be down there most of the afternoon." Saprestien pats Franks's elbow encouragingy. "It's going to be all right. Why don't you go home."

"Nah." He looks over at his sleeping friend." I'm staying. Least till they take him down."

In a slight daze, Heinriche slowly gets up from the floor and carefully bends over to pick up the map he's been marking on."I'm going to call Washington." He snaps as he glares icily at the doctor and growls "I"LL BE BACK!"

As the door closes behind the senior officer Frank begins to laugh hysterically."Oh man Doc..." He collapses into the chair still laughng. "It's too bad you knocked him out. Steve would have enjoyed that move."

"I lost it." Saprestien shakes is head in disgust at himself. "I never should have done that. All this check and countercheck password stuff. Its ridiculous. These espionage guys frustrate me."

"Hey. I liked it." Frank grins reassuringly."Steve would have loved it. Probably teach you a couple more if you wanted. He's in to that tae fu stuff seriously. Taught me a couple things but I'm too uncoordinated for all that".

"Really?" The physician asks in awe. "For a Westerner to be a Dan. Its darn near impossible. How did he do it?"

"More of that spy stuff he won't tell me." Frank says. "All I know is he met one of the masters and brought the guys family down out of North Korea. He spent the rest of the war studying with him. There's a kind of dance thing-its got 156 movements to it. Beautiful thing to watch. He does it every morning before he runs. I can't get past step 18. Where'd you learn it?"

"Learning Frank." He corrects. "You forget where we live? Karate started in Japan. Hadrian and I voluneer at a clinic in Tokyo. One of the techs is teaching me."

Really??" Frank responds not knowing that the majority Western martial artists have some kind of medical background.

When Heinriche returned from his call to the Pentagon he observed that Frank had restacked the folders and photos neatly on top of the crash cart much to his disliking since he knew the engineer had probably looked at each classified one. The annoying technomonkey was sitting quietly staring at his sleeping friend and picking at his cuticles. Ultimately Heinriche decided there was nothing he could do about the security breech since he himself had obtained clearence for Evershall to dismantle the Chinese aircraft. Feeling the tension in the room increase Heinriche reluctantly sits in the chair across the bed from Frank. After several anxious minutes he finally asks. "How's the MIG project coming along Lieutenant?" hoping to lession the anamosity between them.

"OK I guess Sir." Frank responds reluctantly. "Be alot easier if I had the spec manual they found on top of Steve. I'm afraid to do much more than airflow tests on it and flip the switches till I know whats what. Maybe if I could have the pilot for a few hours at least."

Good. Maybe if I give him something he'll come around "That's not possible I'm afraid. But I can shake up those two guys doing the translating. Any particular part they should start with?"

"Well....the engines don't appear radically different than ours. If I had the wiring schematics the rest could come as its done."

"Done." Heinriche states slumping down in his chair. "You'll have them day after tomorrow at the latest." I definately did the right thing keeping this guy here. Even if he is a rebelious pain in the butt. Geez. He's worse than McGarrett in some ways. "You know...." He ventures. "Steve's lucky to have a friend like you."

"Yeah." He glances over at the bed."We've been together a long time. I-Day they lined us up next to each other. We were roommates the entire four years. Plebe summer he kept me from quitting and I kept him from shooting his mouth off at Lt Hamilton. He and Paul were Elite Fleet and since I roomed with them alot of it wasn't as rough for me as it was for the rest of the guys. The Blessed 88; I didn't know a thing about football till I met Steve. Baseball, I managed to make the team each year with him." Leaning back in the chair he laughs. "Youngster cruise.....that was a laugh...Jungle training in Panama. He saved my life down there. We got caught in a geuilla war. Oe minute we were walking along trying to figure out where we were, next I found myself at the bottom of a gulley. I looked up and Steve was sliding down after me. Bullets were flying over our heads. We didn't even have a flare gun let alone anything useful to fire back with. The bastard was peppering us with a machine gun! Steve pulled me up top behind a banyon tree and took off after the guy before I could stop him. Not too much later he was back with the rifle and it looked like he beat the crap out of the jerk. To this day I don't know what happened up in the hills but all Steve had to do was look at the guy and he started shaking. Sargeant Major Peters yelled at him for over an hour for that. Then reccommended him for a commendation. We never did figure that one out." What are you telling this bozo all this for? Frank realized and abruptly quit talking.

"He's my best agent." Heinriche volunteers hesitantly, unsure of how to express himself. "I've seen alot of guys come through over the years. Some were competent. Most were good. But McGarrett's got talent. I can't describe it exactly..he can spot the tiniest little detail and blow a case wide open. I mean alot of guys think on their feet but he thinks on the run. I hate this." Heinriche admits,feeling curiously relieved at the expression. "I sent him up there..if he doesn't come back..... Why don't you tell him that. Open up I lose control. Quickest way to lose a command is loss of control. All my men I thought were...DON"T THINK ABOUT THAT NOW! At least you know one of thems still loyal to his country...

Frank leans his chair back down. "He'll be back. He loves all this cloak and dagger crap too much. He survived Korea he'll get through this." Another glance at his sedated friend brought the horrors of the past month back in a full force assault on his mind. He's got to make it. I don't think I can lose another brother like this.

"I see you were in Korea-not exactly an engineer's war." Heinriche states trying to keep the conversation going and finding it oddly comforting to talk to the Lieutenant. "How did you get a PUC?"

"That was Steve's fault too."Frank chuckles."Every year five of us get together..well four now....in December. 1950 Paul's CO would only let him go for three days and we needed those for Steve's birthday party in Tokyo. The rest of us had ten days so we went to him, a major mistake on our part."

"Christmas of '50....you were at Chosin Resavoir?? Holy....." Heinriche exclaimed remembering that an intestinal virus luckily had kept him in Seoul at that time. Maybe this guys not so bad after all

"Tell me about it!"Frank exclaims, " We were sitting in a foxhole trying to keep from freezing to death laughing at Dave's stupid jokes." Noting that the tension in the room had dropped drastically with the Chosin revalation Evershall decided to continue with the story. "Next thing I knew all hell was breaking loose and bombs were landing all around us. The Chinese were blowing those nasty little bugles at us. Steve dragged us out on a reconnisence behind the Chinese lines. We found a couple of colonels in a wrecked jeep and grabbed them and their maps. Our artillery shifted and the Chinese turned tail. Our sector was the only one not overrun. When it was all over I found a bullet stuck in my helmet liner. Damn near had a heartattack. Steve might like it on the edge but I DON'T. "

Later that evening Heinriche returns to the room and finds Frank standing in the corner staring at a chessboard sitting on top of the cart. "Interesting problem." He observes. "Sacrifice the white knight and...." The captain removes the plastic horsehead and repositions the four remaining pieces on the board. "You've got checkmate in two moves." Crossing to the other side of the room he collapses into the chair. "How are things Lieutenant??"

"Quiet." Frank replies standing in at ease position. Glancing at Steve he retorts."Too quiet."

"Relax Lieutenant." Heinriche tries to sound reassuring. "That little jackass of a doctor said he'd be out for a while."

"Yeah." Frank snaps back. "About a month Sir!"

"OK Lieutenant. Fine go ahead and blame me if you want. God knows I've held myself responsible long enough." Heinriche challenges. "Here." He tosses a looseleaf notebook onto the end of the bed. "I brought you something."

Picking up the book hesitatingly Frank sits in his chair and begins to study the pages pausing at certain points to study the diagrams. As Frank begins to calm down Heinriche apologises for bringing only the schematics of the landing gear and electronic control of the doors but promises to hurry up the two CIA agents translating the manual. The two men slowly come to an understanding of each other and are playing with the chess set on the overbed table when their concentration is interupted by the question."Who's winning?" asked very quietly.

"Who do you think!?" Frank teases. "How are ya?"

"The way you play...probably him...." Steve replies playfully as Heinriche,even though he was losing badly to Frank,bites his tongue to keep from laughing. "I take it...something happened...?"

"You keep this up you ARE going to break all of them. Maybe I should just whack you and get it overwith."

"Come on...." Steve replies impatiently. "What....the heck happened..."

"I warned you not to do this. When are you ever going to listen..."

"FRANK!"He snaps in frustration instantly regretting it as the name reverberates in his ears.

"OK OK. You freaked out again. Its.." He glances at the wall clock then down at his watch finding them to be the same Evershall stretches his tired muscles. "20:24. You allright?"

"Yeah.I guess...just tired."Steve replies.

"Thats the drug they gave you. Go on back to sleep." Frank explains.

Sleep....per chance to dream... "I had a wierd dream. Paul again...Chosin."

"No.We were talking about that earlier. You probably heard us." Frank replies reassuringly."Relax. You aren't going anyplace till you're 96 and croak in some 70 year old bimbo's bed."Evershall quips.

"You believe in ghosts Frank?" Steve asks seriously.

"Only on Halloween." Frank answers jokingly.

"I mean it. Seriously. We both were at SgtMjr Peters funeral. You saw what was left of the car they pulled him out of. What was it 20 or 30 traincars derailed. They evacuated half of Crabtown because of the cloud."

"Stupid drunken teenagers." If he hadn't of been trying to pull them out of the car he never would have gotten killed. He was a sycophantic martinet but he didn't deserve to die like that Evershall utters involutarily. "Lousy way for us to have to ship out of there."

"Yeah." Steve nods slightly in agreement. "Hell he's in the academy cemetery I watched the box go down. But I swear to you he was as real as you and me right now."

"You should have punched him to make sure."Evershall teases trying to lighten the conversation. "God knows he gave you four years worth of reasons to do it."

"Frank. I'm serious. Him, Paul and that jackass Hamilton. They were there."

"Steve. You got whacked in the head it messed up your reasoning. You heard what Doc said. Now stop all this metaphysical crap."

"There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio." Steve retorts and then blinks several times. "Did we at least get the nodongs?"

"Yeah Son." Heinriche starts to shake him and quickly pulls his hand back. "We got them. 126 according to the pictures probably alot more than that. Washington thinks at least the ones in Dragon Tail Gorge are MIRVs which increases the number exponentially. A group of analysts have taken up residence in our section plotting precise locations. Now they know where to look they should be out of there by the end of the week."

There's not enough room for us let alone guests... "Sir. You didn't give them my desk did you?"

"No Son."Heinriche laughs. "I didn't. They're in the crypto room....griping about the quarters." Your desk has become the trash dump for unwanted files. I'm going to have to get Chief to clean that up before you find out about it "The Air Force is sending a missile technician to ask you a few technical questions. But that can wait until you're stronger. Believe you me I'll see to that!" He promises. That's about all I can do for you. Keep the vultures at bay. "Go back to sleep."

"Sir? What happened to Dak?"

Dak?? What the hells a dak?? "The commie you brought back?? Washington's got him. Snatched him right out from under me....Steve?" He asks hesitatingly. "For my own satisfaction....that little chinks not the one who shot you?" Don't... "Hey. Hey." The captain shoves Steve back down in the bed. "Enough of that. Just relax. Neither of us can take much more of this. Besides..." The older man grins.."Your ice cubes melted hours ago."

"Infantry squad...." He answers trying to right himself. "I think I...got the one...but I guess ...he got me too...damn....Sir. I want him to stay."

"Commander the State Department has him. Its out of our hands now."

"Captain." Steve insists.

"He has been a little goldmine of information." Heinriche rationalizes. "If you'd have seen the pile of books he dumped in your lap Commander you'd have been speedreading all the way to Tokyo."

"I doubt that Sir." Steve replies weakly.

"Practically emptied out Mao's library. Those sailors had to dig you out from underneath a ton of prime intel stuff. I'd ask a question and he'd answer three others. Only thing he wanted back was an old beat up English textbook."

"You did give it to him I hope.."

"Wasn't much in it. Couple pictures of some people I think were probably his family and his pilots certification. I slipped it in his cell the night before they took him to DC. First night I had them make a steak dinner for him. He ate the steak but gagged on the potato..had to send out for rice. You know what the little fool loves. Red jell-o!" The old man laughs at the thought."Couldn't get enough of it. For a commie he wasn't such a bad guy. I don't know if it'll do any good. But if you want.....I'll call Washington in the morning...... Commander??" Waiting for a response Heinriche looks down at the sleeping agent then over at Evershall. "He's had it for the night. Lets go Lieutenant. I think the officers club is open for another couple of hours."

Go to part four

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