Adrift
Copyright© 2025 by Gina Marie Wylie
Chapter 19
Commander Shumway wasn’t surprised at what happened after that. The two Chinese ships anchored in the channel that led into the Pago Pago harbor, just east of the town proper.
Hardly had the Chinese dropped their hooks, a call came from the Eisenhower for her. It was Rear Admiral Kirby, commander of the carrier group centered around the Eisenhower. “Commander, your report.”
“Sir, this is an open channel. With respect, it wouldn’t be wise to discuss what has happened on an open channel. Suffice it to say it is unique but even more extraordinary. The Chinese also will be coming; there is a significant risk of an accident. Sir, the ships that brought us to Samoa are the Shenyang and Yulin.”
There was a cavernous silence on the other end. “Is that a fact, Commander?”
“Shenyang’s commander is PLAN Commander Wu Lin Po. The Yulun’s CO is indisposed, Admiral, and is currently helmed by the XO, Lieutenant Commander Qin Lung. There is much more I have for secure communications only.”
The admiral was brusque. “Your replacement is having kittens. As I recall, the Shenyang can take a chopper.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, he’ll be on his way directly. Is the contagion risk serious?”
“Sir, I can give him two of my Marines as an escort. I don’t know how extensive the contagion risk is.”
“How many of the passengers are sick, Commander?”
“Sir, this was exposure only at this time.”
“Well, tell the Chinese not to get excited at drones overflying them, and directly there will be fighters that stay two nautical miles away.”
“I’m sure that will be satisfactory, Admiral Kirby.”
Commander Wu held up a hand. “Admiral, the senior Chinese officer present wants to have a word with you.”
“Certainly.”
“Admiral, I am Wu Li Po, Commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. I have a request from my government. They are sending a single transport aircraft to Samoa, bearing two high-level representatives of the government, and two hundred of our special forces to assist you in any way you wish. Your State Department is being contacted as well as we speak. I would like your permission to land them here in Pago Pago.”
There was a moment of silence, then the admiral spoke again. “A few more than two hundred are fine, if they assist you in securing your ships. We will land a Marine force as well, to secure the airfield. I am closing Samoa’s airspace and harbor to everyone except approved military aircraft.”
“Quite acceptable, Admiral.”
Harry Fredericks studied Jack as unobtrusively as possible.
It was one thing to talk about first and second dibs on her body, but they were home again. She was surprised not to have heard from her father already, but he was certain to be here soon. What was he going to say about his thirteen-year-old daughter having the hots for a man nearly thirty? Nothing good, she was willing to bet.
And that was just her father. What the courts, the Marines, and everyone else would say didn’t bear thinking about and was nothing like a joke. She lifted her chin minutely. Well, she could wait. And if she knew Jack nearly as well as she thought, he would wait for the day she turned legal. And on that day, she’d fuck his socks off!
She saw his eyes were on her in turn. They were black pools, utterly revealing nothing of what he was thinking. Would he be willing to wait?
He moved next to her and sank down beside her. “Long ago, there was a TV show called “NYPD Blue” -- it was a show that everyone watched. One of the recurring characters was the precinct watch sergeant, Phil something or other. He had two memorable characteristics -- every time he finished the roll call briefing with ‘You be careful out there!’ And he was maybe in his late fifties or early sixties, and he had married a high school cheerleader -- a street-legal teen. They had a lot of good sex.”
Harry tried to figure out what he meant, but there seemed to be a lot of meaning with a decided lack of explanation.
“Which means?” Harry asked.
He grinned. “What can’t be cured must be endured. Patience, Harry. I don’t know what the future will bring, but I’m not about to forget you.”
“Thank you, Jack,” she whispered in reply.
“In the meantime, pray to the good Lord, thanking him for what we are about to receive -- it’s about the only thing we can do.”
Harry thought for a second. “That bad?”
“There’s no way to tell, but plan for the worst and hope for the best.”
Commander Shumway returned just then and announced, “We will be anchoring in Pago Pago harbor shortly. We will be greeted by American military authorities, who will want to debrief everyone.
“It should be clear that what you relate is going to be, charitably, met with some skepticism. I’m not your conscience; what you say will be your choice. But my recommendation is that you tell the truth, as much of it as you know.”
Someone from the crowd asked, “When will we be disembarked? When can we get out of here?”
“Please, if you have questions, raise your hand and wait to be recognized. Do you honestly think that we could be whisked wherever we were whisked for whatever reason we were whisked, then returned and not receive extensive questions from the authorities? If it is any consolation, the Chinese authorities will be here a few hours after ours are, and they will face the same sorts of questions.
“So, no, I have no idea of when we will be permitted ashore.”
There were more questions, but not many.
Afterwards, Commander Shumway came over to Harry, who wasn’t far from Becky. “I didn’t get a full list of those aboard the Yulin, but I did ask about others of the command group, including Lieutenant Riley and Sandy. They are there.” She dropped her voice. “I didn’t ask about Sandy’s friend, because there is too much chance of the Chinese wanting her personally.”
“Thank you from all of us, Commander,” Becky volunteered.
“Commander Wu says we’ll anchor in about six hours. Before then, Eisenhower will have sent a chopper. After that, it will be out of my hands.”
“Commander, you have done well, very well,” Jack Pierson told her.
There followed more than a week of non-stop questioning. On the third day, they were moved to a hotel ashore, but the hotel was ringed by guards and rolls of barbed wire.
That was when Harry saw Sandy again. The two sisters hugged each other tightly, forgetting for a moment their enmity. One of the first things Harry asked her was about her “friend.”
“A scandal,” Sandy smirked. “She literally jumped ship a half hour before we anchored. I need to talk to Becky.”
Harry glanced in Becky’s direction. She and Lieutenant Riley were in a passionate lip-lock. “Not now, Sandy.”
“The only thing I’m angry about is that they didn’t bring my violin.”
“They?” asked Harry.
“The Chinese, stupid!”
Harry sighed. Some things never change!
On the fourth day, they were allowed to talk to their father and mother, although it was on a telephone, and a glass wall separated them.
“We’re glad you two are okay. They are saying that the quarantine has almost run its course,” their father told them.
“They want to make sure,” Sandy told them. Harry looked at her sister like she was demented. “We were there long enough to be sure,” Harry told her parents.
“Harry, they told us not to talk about events,” Sandy said accusingly.
“Sure, right. Say nothing! Do they really expect this many people not to talk about what happened?”
“You made a water landing near two Chinese warships who got you all off before the aircraft sank,” her father propounded.
“They tell you which Chinese ships, father dear?” Harry came back. “Shenyang and Yulin. Google them, daddy dearest. Those two ships were the ones listed as destroyed by nuclear weapons. They didn’t have a fifth of the fuel needed to get here under their own power.”
“And you know this how?” her mother asked.