Adrift
Copyright© 2025 by Gina Marie Wylie
Chapter 9
Jack rocked back on his heels, his mind muttering in the background. They call this “situational awareness” -- it was what kept Marines alive when the shit hit the fan. He saw Becky Thatcher’s flat stare and turned and saw the two women and the man.
Weapon! Everything about the older woman’s posture and demeanor shouted it. The woman looked at the man, her eyes covering the area around them. Another weapon! Jack cursed Commander Shumway’s order not to carry weapons inside the cave. That was never going to fly! Besides being a pain in the ass, it also left the weapons untended, vulnerable to being hijacked. Gunny doesn’t rip you a new asshole if you bitched about something valid. He does it if you bitch about something trivial. I’m going to bitch about this every time I see him, up until they change the rule.
He watched Miss Harry head away. He felt a very unexpected pang in his gut. He didn’t like seeing the girl heading out where he couldn’t be there to watch her. Twice he tried to add the word “back” to the thought; his own emotions laid the lie at his feet. He just wanted to watch Miss Harry work. There was a woman to draw to! No doubt about it! But that wasn’t the only reason he wanted to watch her! And not just watch her back!
Jack saw Becky say something to Mei Lei, and he saw the Chinese woman glance in the direction Jack had been looking. He saw the stiffening of the Oriental woman’s back and the intent, contemplative look in her eyes.
Jack caught Private Gonzales’s attention. The direct look spoke volumes. Gonzales went for his weapon as Jack walked in the same direction as Mei Lei.
Mei Lei stopped a few feet from the older woman, who stared back at Mei Lei, expressionless. “Becky Thatcher would like to talk to you,” the Chinese woman told the older woman.
The woman glanced back at the girl behind her, in her mid-twenties. Jack saw Mei Lei’s eyes were flint hard, black, and giving nothing. He smiled to himself. I have to play poker with these people! It’ll be fun!
Mei Lei didn’t move; she simply kept looking at the woman she’d been talking to. Perhaps thirty, Jack thought. She was definitely weaponed up, so was the guy.
It was like a slot machine. Suddenly, everything went Kerchunk! Kerchunk! Kerchunk! in his mind. Oh my! Who would have thought! What in the hell were the bosses thinking? They were well and truly off their nut!
Gonzales was back, and Jack contemplated where he would be most effective. He saw two more Marines were on Gonzales’ heels. Jack nodded at the weaponed gent and the younger woman. Gonzales, ol’ buddy, I hope you’re as smart as they say! You don’t even want to know what happens if you mess this up!
Himself, he aimed to be a few feet behind Mei Lei and the woman when they arrived at Becky Thatcher. Another woman to draw to, but Jack was dead cert that the Coastie lieutenant had her sewn up. He laughed to himself as everyone stopped at Becky Thatcher.
“May I ask, ma’am,” Becky said, wading right in, “why it is you have a weapon? Why said weapon wasn’t listed on the manifest? Or declared later?”
The woman simply reached into her purse, pulled out a leather folder. “Supervisory Special Agent Tamara Lewis, US Secret Service.”
Jack saw Becky Thatcher look in the direction they had come from. It was, Jack saw, a weakness of Becky’s ... she didn’t recognize the young woman.
“That doesn’t answer the question,” Becky spoke mildly after a second’s hesitation.
“Because of the Marines, because the trip was classified and not made public in any way, we carried the weapons aboard in our carry-on luggage. After the incident in flight, we rearmed. And will continue to remain armed.”
“And when, exactly, were you planning to inform Commander Shumway or Gunny Howard?” Becky asked quietly.
The woman simply shook her head. “We follow our SOP and our orders. There’s nothing there about telling anyone our mission.”
“And what is your mission?” Becky asked.
The woman smiled this time, as well as shaking her head.
“Miss Thatcher,” Jack volunteered, “they are guarding one of the former president’s daughters.”
About then, Commander Shumway, the Coast Guard lieutenant, and the gunny arrived. And, Jack was aware, that the passengers were stirring, staring at the confrontation. It was curiosity at this point, but it wouldn’t last long. The woman agent saw that there were now a half dozen Marines cordoning her buddy and the former president’s daughter, as well as three more Marines standing behind Jack.
“I think we should take this outside,” Commander Shumway said, after getting briefed in.
Agent Lewis simply shook her head. “No way do I leave the room my principal is in.”
“We will take this outside, Agent Lewis,” the commander said firmly, “unless your GS grade converts to O-6 or better.”
The commander turned and walked towards the cave entrance. Reluctantly, so did the agent. It wasn’t as if her protectee didn’t have a lot of protection, Jack thought with a grin.
Harry rested for a second, then she saw Becky and everyone else were coming out. Harry simply stayed a few feet away from Becky, watching curiously. The sun was nearly to the horizon; it was going to be dark soon. The good news was that at the angle it was at, a lot of light was hitting the cave entrance.
“This is ridiculous,” the Secret Service agent said, waving at the group. Becky Thatcher, Tim Riley, Mei Lei, Commander Shumway, Gunny Howard, four other marines, Jack, and Harry, all faced the lone Secret Service agent. “I mean, a thirteen-year-old?”
“Not to mention a sixteen-year-old,” Becky said, her eyes on the agent.
“Agent Lewis,” Commander Shumway spoke in a calming voice, “I realize you have a job to do and I assume you are the very best at it. There was no possible way you could keep up a pretense for very long. If you’d have told us, any of us, we’d have lent a hand. We would have been happy to coordinate with you.”
The woman stared back at the commander and said nothing, and then turned her gaze on Harry.
Harry knew she’d make it worse, but spoke up anyway. “Commander, I’m as curious as anyone, but not enough to make an issue of it.”
Harry started back towards the cave, saw Jack’s head bob. I think he likes me. What am I going to do about that? Harry thought.
Becky spoke out before Harry got more than a step. “Harry, just a minute. I think we have some issues here that need airing. Sooner, I think, rather than later.”
Harry stopped and turned back, more curious than ever.
“Commander Shumway listens to my advice, to the advice of others,” Becky spoke quietly to the group, not to anyone in particular. “No matter what you think, after listening to my advice or anyone else’s, Commander Shumway decides what to do.” Becky waved at the commander. “We spent twelve days, nearly, being debriefed about what we thought was going on during the recent events. The commander got the government to move on that, so we had some Marines with some whiz-bang electronics on the return flight.
“We were talking about it. I assume others in the government talked about it.” Becky waved at the Secret Service woman. “I have no doubt Agent Lewis has been privy to some degree to those conversations. Commander, she thinks I’m on the other side, that perhaps all of us are.”
The other side? Harry frowned. What other side?
A few feet away, Gunny Howard cleared his throat. “Well, you do have an odd friend, Miss Thatcher.”
“Tim? He just tries to be funny,” Becky quipped lightly.
Harry’s thought was that the gunny was talking about Mei Lei, and then realized that Becky had believed that too and had made a joke.
There was a moment of silence, and then Becky spoke again. “Gunny, did they tell you anything about the suspected cause of the two Chinese incidents?”
The gunny shook his head, and Commander Shumway spoke, “No, the Marines weren’t briefed. We wanted a clean read on the situation, with no preconceptions.”
“Gunny, two Chinese warships were sunk by nuclear-tipped cruise missiles; forty-kiloton weapons that both we and the Chinese tracked as moving about five or six miles per second -- in the atmosphere. The only way we can fire a missile that goes two miles per second is to put it on a hot jet, put the jet on afterburner, and then shoot.” Becky paused, “The best guess is that we’ve been invaded by space aliens.”
Harry blinked. That was another joke. Right? With a gulp, Harry realized that it might have been a surprise to her. It was less a surprise to the Marines, and the rest of the adults in the group around Becky weren’t surprised at all.
“In short,” Becky jerked a thumb at Agent Lewis, “she thinks I’m one of the invaders. She thinks that I engineered the kidnap of a planeload of people and, if I was a betting person, in the firm belief that my purpose was to kidnap the former president’s daughter.
“She believes I’m using mind control on you all, to get you to take orders from me.”
Commander Shumway stared at the Secret Service Agent and then chuckled.
“Do you understand exactly what happened to us when we got back from Samoa, Agent Lewis? What Becky means when she talks about being debriefed?”
The woman shook her head, and the commander went on. “Well, guess what? You’re not the first person to come up with that idea. When they found out what the four of us had done on Samoa -- they were a lot more convinced than you are right now. Mei Lei defected or at least tried to. I told her, ‘So sorry, we were going to send her back to China.’ That’s what my superiors ordered, thinking she was attempting to be a double agent.
“Except, I’d been there, and I didn’t believe it. I was then, and I am positive now that she is sincere. And if we sent her back? She’d have vanished, shot in the back of the head, her parents billed for the pistol round that killed her. Becky decided that if Mei Lei couldn’t defect to the US, she could defect to ‘The United States of Becky Thatcher.’ Tim Riley defected a few seconds later. I had to think long and hard about it, maybe a minute, but later I joined them as well.
“We were poked and prodded for days, Agent Lewis. They ran every kind of test on us they could devise. They compared DNA samples from back as far as they could on the three of us. The Chinese even sent some for Mei Lei.” The commander pointed at Becky. “Miss Thatcher is extraordinarily bright. Tim Riley is intelligent and competent at what he does. So am I. Mei Lei is somewhere between Becky and me, as far as native intelligence, not to mention beyond competent at what she does.”
There was silence from the group as everyone digested what had been said. “Now, Agent Lewis, here is what is going to happen. No one, not you, not the other agent, not Miss Ogden, is exempt from community service. You may keep your weapons. You may, if you wish, request from Gunny Howard the services of his Marines to assist you in your guard detail. It will be up to him if he will make them available.”
“There are other, far more important things we should be doing right this second. Survival, ladies and gentlemen, is not going to be a walk in the park. We need a lot of food. Tell me, Agent Lewis, how much food does the average person eat a day?” Commander Shumway said.
The Secret Service agent shook her head. “A couple of pounds.”
“More or less. We need a minimum of a thousand pounds a day to feed this many people, Agent Lewis. Do you care to guess what we have right now?”
The woman shook her head again.
“Around two thousand pounds, and most of that military rations. Which means that if we find more or the day after tomorrow, people will already be hungry, and there will be nothing in the larder. There is a saying, Agent, that civilization is separated from barbarism by three good meals. Personally, I think that’s entirely too pessimistic. More like going hungry for two or three days. Say nine meals. Today is Tuesday, Agent Lewis. By Friday, without more food, we’ll start to lose it. Saturday, Sunday -- say about Monday -- we’ll be apes in the trees again, every animal for himself or herself.” Commander Shumway stared frankly at the Secret Service agent.
“Organization,” Becky said firmly, “is the key. Structure and cohesion. Working together as a group. Commander, I think you and Harry are right, this is interesting, but there are other things we should be doing.” She waved at Harry. “Harry, take a note, we need to send someone up top of these hills at first light.”
Harry got out her notebook and started writing, and then followed Becky into the cave, trailed by Mei Lei and Tim. She wasn’t surprised to see Jack following, either.
Bess had seen the group go off and wished Griff was with her. Since he wasn’t, she looked around trying to figure out what was going on for herself. That wasn’t hard to figure -- a half dozen Marines, weapons slung over their shoulders, staring at a middle-aged man and a girl not much younger than Bess.
After a bit, Becky, Harry, Mei Lei, and Jack Pierson came back in, and almost at once, the Marines vanished, except for one who stayed, but who stared at the young woman in what looked to be awe. Bess could see the girl well, but didn’t recognize her.
Eventually, the rest of the group came inside, just as the last tranche of people from the plane arrived. Bess thought that they had cut it awfully close -- it was getting dark outside. Griff came over, and she stood up.
“Just so you know, we’re going out again before it’s light enough to see. We’re going to get up on top of this ridge.” He laughed. “Becky Thatcher is a pain in the butt! Maps! Maps! Everything is maps.”
Harry was nearby, accompanied by Sergeant Pierson. Harry looked at Griff and spoke quietly, “Geography is really important! My dad was always telling me that.”
The sergeant laughed. “Amateurs debate tactics, dilettantes discuss strategy, professionals worry about logistics. Geography dictates logistics, determines strategy, and informs tactics.”
Harry made a gesture, licking her thumb and making a “one-for-you” mark in the air.
“I’ll be sure to get to sleep early,” Bess said.
She saw Griff glance around the cave and then grimace.
Sergeant Pierson laughed. “I heard the gunny talking to the commander, Miz Griffen. There are some other caves close by. We’re going to see if they are connected, and then partition some of them off for married quarters. That’s third on the priority list, after food and better latrines.”
The sergeant waved ahead to the man and young woman. “Miss Harry, let’s get this over with.”
“Can I help?” Bess asked.
The sergeant grimaced. “Back Miss Harry up, if you want. Don’t kill anybody, but prepare to take prisoners.”
Harry grumped. “Jack! It’s not that bad!”
“You’re the messenger; I’m the escort. Thank you, Lord, thank you!”
Bess was curious now, but followed along.
There was now a woman and a man, talking together. The younger woman was sitting and watching them talk, looking a bit pale. Harry walked up and stopped a few feet from the two older people, but spoke to the young woman. “Miss Ogden, Commander Shumway asked me to speak to you.”
The young woman nodded, but Bess could see the two others weren’t happy. “Why not him?” the older woman asked, waving at Sergeant Pierson. “Who is she?” she waved at Bess.
“I’m off duty, Agent Lewis,” Jack said. “Now please, let’s not waste time.”
“And her?” the woman he’d called Agent Lewis said, indicating Bess. “The last I saw, she was helping people go potty.”
Bess saw the sergeant’s face change. Before, he had looked normal, now there was a blankness, a soft, deadly blankness that hadn’t been there before.
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