UnAlaska

28. Sit Rep

Laura walked briskly into the bridge from the elevator. She joined the huddled circle of officers. The air smelled like stale coffee and sweat. It was the same place she had left.

Helen saw her approach and smiled grimly. She pulled a paper cup from a stack, and tipped coffee into it from a vacuum pot. She passed it to Laura, and held her hands. "Laura, we saw what happened on the deck. Are you OK?"

"I'm just upset that I missed. Other than that, I'm fine."

"If you say so." Helen pulled her hands away and folded them in front of her. "I'm just glad the deck was empty. The weather hurt your aim, but it helped keep passengers out of harm's way."

"That's the Helen I know. Every cloud has a silver lining." She smiled slowly. "Like the disaster road trip to Whistler."

"Oh god. Hey, I broke up with Jeff the day after we got back. But I wasn't going to let him get in the way of a good ski trip. Or a busted radiator."

Laura scanned the group. She startled when she say Danilo, sitting in an office chair with a hastily bandaged and bloody arm. "Jesus, what happened to you? Why aren't you in the infirmary?"

Danilo looked at her passively. "I was waiting for you to get back."

He leaned forward in his chair, and braced himself on his good arm. He told her the story of the two kidnappers, the bunks, and the Amulets. Laura sipped her coffee and enjoyed the warmth. She listened intently.

He told her about the fire fight. She leaned forward. He told her how Brian died. The color drained from her face. She set her coffee down at an empty command desk. She cradled her face in her hands and took a deep, purposeful breath. She hung her head and rubbed her temples.

"Ok." Laura exhaled, long and slow. "Ok. That's a mess. And look, I spent some time with Brian on board. He is an amazing man. Or was. I understand why he did what he did. Maybe I would have done the same."

There was a quiet moment. No one quite knew what to say. Laura broke the silence again. "Now, we need to get Danilo to the infirmary. Those look like a clean through-and-through, but he needs a doctor."

A junior bridge officer in a crisp white and black uniform nodded. She walked over to Danilo, leaned down, and motioned him to put his good arm over her shoulder. He shook his head. Gently at first. She gestured again. He shook his head harder.

"No way. I got myself into this mess. I can walk down there." He levered himself out of the office chair. He swayed slightly on his feet. There was a collective small gasp. He scowled.

He walked a few feet away from the group, and then pulled his radio from his hip. "Medical, this is security. We have a gunshot wound. En route to the infirmary." The radio answered back with a burst of static and frantic questions.

Laura shook her head. It took a certain kind of hard headed man to walk himself to the infirmary with a gunshot wound. All the better that he wanted to call ahead himself.

Danilo was interrupted by another call through the radio. His and Jacqueline's radio squawked to life with a call.

"This is Bailey, security. We have visitors to the bridge, incoming."

Helen and Jacqueline looked at each other. This was unexpected. Any passengers coming to the bridge were invited by the captain. They didn't arrive uninvited, and certainly not with a security officer.

Helen shot a glance to Laura and Jacqueline. "Is this another attack? Could Bailey be compromised or under duress?"

Jacqueline shrugged. "We'll know in a minute."

Laura turned to her, and slid the rifle from her shoulder. She handed it to Jacqueline. Jacqueline dropped the magazine and made sure it was full. She ran the bolt back, saw a round in the chamber, and sent the bolt forward again with a loud clack.

Laura pulled her pistol from her shoulder holster. She racked the slide and held it in both hands, by her waist. Danilo was by the door, and took up position with his gun at the side of the doorway. He hugged the wall. Injured as he was, he would be up to the job. Laura jogged forward to the opposite side of the doorway.

Laura knew that they were locking down the 'fatal funnel.' The area just inside a doorway was the most dangerous for any attackers. Laura and Danilo could ambush them the moment they entered, with fire from both sides. They would only have a split second to understand the threat and respond. The animal, hind brain would take over. The primitive calculator that had kept their ancestors alive for thousands of years.

Laura gestured at Jacqueline to take up a position behind a support column in the far corner of the room. Laura knew that the easiest antidote to an ambush inside the doorway was a single grenade. It was grim, but effective. The Russians seemed more than capable of planning ahead. Jacqueline could return fire from a safe distance.

The room was eerily quiet.

The Bridge elevator door softly slid open. Bailey the security guard walked through first, clearly tense and unarmed. Behind him, to everyone's surprise, were a group of well heeled couples. They were still dressed for dinner, in suits and cocktail dresses. The first woman was tall, dressed in black with shimmering jewelry. Her eyes were red from crying, and her eye makeup was smeared. Her husband was walking with his shoulders tense and forward. He was plainly angry.

They took no notice of Jacqueline and Danilo. They were walking straight to Helen and the group of officers. She knew immediately it was the parents of the kidnapped children. Their stress and grief was obvious. It hung from them like a physical weight. She had dealt with grieving and stressed families. They would bluster and stomp. It was one of the stages of grief. Laura holstered her gun and closed her jacket. This was no threat. She was wrong.