Sea Station Umbra

Chapter 25. Water on the Mountain

Lindy must have heard my key slip into the lock because before I could turn the knob she threw back the door and stood in shock looking at me half-crying and half-laughing. After a moment, she threw her arms around my neck and cried hugging and kissing me, welcoming me home.

“Matt, I missed you so much,” she whispered in my ear. “I went crazy when you disappeared like that. Please don’t ever do that again.”

I comforted her for the longest time apologizing for my sudden absence but as usual, I couldn’t speak the truth. This time I told her that I had been forced back into the SeaCrawler program at Point Mugu searching for a missing secret Chinese submarine. Although only part of that was true she believed me.

After a moment, she ran into the kitchen and brought out two beers, wanting to hear more. I took one and swigged from it then continued the story, telling her how the Russians had captured us at gunpoint and threatened to kill us all if we didn’t call off of the search. The spy sub was originally Russian but they had sold it to the Chinese Navy and the Chinese reneged on their payments. They wanted it back. They said that it was none of our business to search for it even if it held our national secrets.

I guess she became disenchanted with the details of my story at one point because she jolted upright during a pause and stared at me.

“Oh my God, Matt. I’ll bet you’re hungry. Can I make you a plate of something? I have some leftover spaghetti and meatballs from last night I can heat up in a jiffy.”

“Sure I’d love something, honey. I am hungry. But do we have anything other than spaghetti?”

“Matt, I thought you loved my spaghetti,” she asked pouting.

“I do, but I had a really bad batch on my trip and I’m just not ready to see it again.”

“How about a fried baloney sandwich? Will that work?”

“Mmm. Lovely. Got any chips?”

After the meal and two more beers, with my eyelids drooping I told her that I had been awake for most of five days straight and needed to go to bed. When she heard that, she ran around fancying up the bedroom with candles and dim lighting until I fell asleep on the couch.

The next morning I awoke to her anger. I jerked up from the sofa and groggily opened my eyes as she ranted storming into the living room.

“Matt, you go off on some mystery trip and leave me at home by myself for days; then you come home and have the balls to ignore me? You can’t do that. I deserve a vacation with you. Take me away and I mean now. You’re not due back at work for at least a week so can we go somewhere this weekend?”

Acting surprised, I appeased her.

“S-sure honey. Of course. How about Big Bear Lake? We’ll spend a week.”

“Oh, Matt. You promise? I’m so excited. I love the mountains.” Squealing with joy, she bent down and hugged me.

“Yes, we’ll leave tomorrow. I’ll pack the car today while you’re at work and then tomorrow we’ll leave bright and early.

We arrived at the Bear Den Lodges just after noon. Private and subtly tucked into the folds of surrounding mountain ridges they astounded us. The air was crisp and cool and smelled of the pines surrounding our cabin. After unpacking, we sat on the spacious porch overlooking the beautiful lake with blue jays flitting through the trees calling out to each other. Campfires crackled in the distance creating the perfect setting for a week together away from the pressures of work and for me away for the sterile smell of purified pressurized air.

That day was the perfect relaxation for us being back together until later in the day when I decided to introduce her to the Briscoes. I called him on my cell and invited them over to our cabin for dinner.

Glancing at my watch, I expected the Chief and Barb to arrive at any time. In my conversation with him after Lindy left for work I had asked him to arrive quietly and unobtrusively allowing us time for some fun under the covers. He laughed and said that he and Barb were done with covers and would spend that time sleeping in, or out on a pier dragging lines in the lake.

They arrived thirty minutes later with a cooler full of ice, beer and all the makings for margaritas. The steaks on the grill were sizzling and creating the aroma that I remembered from the SeaPod. It had finally come to reality.

As the Chief and I tended the steaks and made the drinks, Lindy took to Barb immediately. Seems that Barb had worked in the media at a local L.A. radio station and they knew many of the same personalities.

They went on and on as the Chief and I finally sat and sipped our beers and devoured our steaks with them enjoying the view of the lake.

After dessert, from inside the cabin through the open porch door, sounded a loud steady beep preceding a television news alert. Lindy and Barb stopped their conversation and listened.

“Shhh,” Lindy said turning her head toward the door.

“Today, witnesses are reporting the discovery of a new area of the Pacific they’re calling the Hawaii Triangle far out in the ocean between Los Angeles and Hawaii. Seems that several ships and divers have mysteriously disappeared from the region during the past few days. This came hours after several boaters reported sighting a large UFO shadowing a tugboat over the ocean. The Coast Guard is now warning boaters to avoid the area fearing more abductions. Little more is known about this new development but Navy scientists and psychiatrists are investigating the incident.”

Wide-eyed from the report, Lindy and Barb caught us chuckling winking at each other.

“What’s so funny, Matt? That’s a very troubling story,” Lindy frowned.

“Oh nothing, honey,” I answered. “Those boaters must have had a few too many out there on the ocean. That’s the most ridiculous story I’ve ever heard.”

After several more beers, the Chief suggested that he and Barb return to their cabin and we didn’t object. It had been a long day and we were more than ready to be alone. After spinning through all the channels on the television Lindy found no more news on the Hawaii Triangle so she stepped into the closet.

“Wasn’t that a strange story, honey?” she asked slipping into a negligee.

“I just can’t imagine that scene.” I answered, “I mean I could imagine it out by Bermuda in the Sargasso Sea since that’s always been a place of mystery but not the Pacific. It’s reserved for sailboats, yachts, and earthqua—”

Interrupting me, my cell phone vibrated on the bedside table. I picked it up and saw Unknown Caller on the caller ID.

“Who is it?” Lindy asked slipping into bed beside me.

“Jake from State Farm,” I joked.

Abruptly she grabbed the phone from my hand, jumped up, and ran to the back door and then heaved it far out into the trees.

“He’ll have to call back. This week you’re mine.”

I kissed her and smiled, then spent the night under the covers in her arms wondering who had called and what they wanted.