Sailing To Survive

"Did it work ok that day?"

"I guess it did; I never saw the raw video from it. All I saw was the edited one they showed at the inquiry."

"So it was edited?"

"Yes, there were a couple of things out of sequence and other things missing."

"Would the raw video have changed the outcome of the hearing?"

Tears began pouring from my eyes and I felt a hand on my shoulder. All I could say was, "Possibly; I don't know."

Emily's voice asked, "Is this about the boogie man, honey?" I nodded.

She kissed my cheek and said, "Honey, the boogie man is gone; I am here and I have your back."

I mumbled, "The boogie man is dead but his image is still there; that and the others out there who are just like him."

Ray asked in a very quiet voice, "Stuart, do you know what happened to the video when you came out?"

"Not for sure. A guy named Baker or Baxter or something took the whole scope and disappeared with it. I never saw him again. He wasn't military; I assumed that he was a spook. Then two weeks later the video was on the screen; I assumed that they put together what was important and showed it."

"One last question, Stuart. In the file, there are no debriefing reports from anyone on the team. Do you know what might have happened to them?"

"There weren't any."

"What? You mean there were no reports taken?"

"Yes. When we got back to base, they told us to stand down and not talk about the mission to anyone including between ourselves. I went to my bunk and crashed. Two days later, they flew us out and back to the States. We were sent to Bethesda and kept separate for physical and mental evaluation. The shrink said that I had PTSD and to try not to think about the mission. I didn't see any of the others until the hearing two weeks later. Two months later, we were all given our discharge on medical grounds and told to never discuss the mission with anyone because of National Security. No one ever asked for a report on the mission." I just hung my head and felt Emily's fingers massage my neck.

I could hear Ray ask Tom, "What do you think?"

"I think that there is a lot that he doesn't know and some things he is confused about but he didn't tell you any lies."

"That's what I thought too. Without the tape, we will never know."

Tom said, "Emily, I think this has been hard on Stuart. Why don't you take him for a walk? I'll help Carla with dinner."

Emily lifted my hand and led me to the dock and up the hill. We walked for half an hour. She talked idly about what she needed to find on the trip down river. Finally, I stopped and looked at her, "Emily, what is going on? I'm confused."

"It's all right, honey. I don't know for sure. Daddy is doing some research and this has him stumped. There isn't much information available. He said that he just wanted to see if you could shed some light on things so he could look in different places. He often has Tom with him when he interviews veterans because Tom was also in combat and understands some of the things that you feel. He also can read people well during questioning. Honey, I know for a fact that the last thing they want to do is hurt you. They trust you or they would never have agreed for me to go with you. All I care about is being with you. Do you really want to marry me?"

I sighed and my mind left the shit behind. "Emily, all I know is that I don't ever want to lose you. I want to be with you; I want to have babies with you; I want to die in your arms. I guess that means that I want to marry you, doesn't it?"

"Yes, I guess it does. Can we wait to start having babies until I finish school?"

"You are going to finish school and then your graduate degree or I will paddle your ass for a month."

"We'll see about that; I owe you for the ten swats you gave me earlier."

"It was only five and they didn't hurt you at all."

"It was five but in front of my father and uncle; that doubles their impact. So you get ten."

"You can give me a hundred if you want; just don't ever leave me."

"Count on that sailor. You are stuck with me for life. Are you ready to go back for dinner?"

"Yes, let's go. By the way, I really like your family."

"That's good because they really like you too. If they didn't, they wouldn't have carried on like that with you. And Carla told me in the galley that you were a good man for me and that I would be a good woman for you once I figured things out."

"You are good for me right now without figuring things out. I love you more than I have words for."

"What you said is all that matters. I feel all of the rest. I'm staying here with you tonight. They want you to come to their house for dinner before we leave. Is that ok?"

"Yes, of course it is."

As we started back over the hill, Tom at the grill said, "They are back."

I felt much better after just talking to Emily and shedding the last of the bad emotions. I hope that they didn't think less of me because of my emotional letdown earlier. They had some shish kebobs on the grill along with a vegetable medley and flavorful rice and we ate a merry meal. They showed no signs of being bothered by my let down and I relaxed.

As we were finishing our wine, Ray looked at me and said, "Tell me about Sylvia?"

I looked up in shock and asked, "How do you know Sylvia?"

"I went with Tom when he went to interview her the other day. We kind of hit it off and I am going to see her again this weekend."

Emily said, "She's number four, isn't she?"

"Yes." She punched me in the shoulder.

To her dad, she said, "Tell her that he is off the market but you are available."

It was Ray's turn to look shocked and looked at me with questions on his face. I sheepishly answered, "I haven't had much of a social life since I got out of the service. Emily asked about the women I was most attracted to. I told her that there were three married women and one single woman that I would have considered having a relationship with. I never dated any of them but I got to know them through work. Sylvia was the single one. We were good friends until she kind of shot herself in the foot at work when she told her boss to keep his dick in his pants or she would tell his wife that he was coming onto her. That didn't go over very well with an undersecretary of the Commerce Department. Before they could figure out a way to fire her, she managed a transfer to the regional office of the Interior Department. I hadn't seen or talked to her for three years before last week. She was the one they sent to interview me on my way out of town."

Tom responded. "Yes, I heard the tapes; both the one in the car and the telephone tape. I assumed you knew that they were both recorded." I nodded. "They sent me to talk to her before they let out the story about you disappearing. Ray was staying near where her office was, so he went with me. She is a lot like you. She got close but didn't like the way the game was played. I could tell that she knew or suspected more about you than just a casual acquaintance but she really didn't know anymore than she said."

"That is Sylvia. We covered each other's asses a number of times. I trust her pretty well. I mean I know that she has to play things straight up so I didn't tell her anything that would cause her to lie or get caught in a crossfire."

"That's the way I read it too."

"Anyway Ray, she is a wonderful woman who is a lot of fun and is also very smart. I can see the two of you getting along just fine. For the record, she is thirty five and she has never been married. She loves classical music, good food, and likes to hunt, fish and go sailing. As far as I know, she likes a man who is smart and can carry on a good conversation and who treats her like a lady. Although I don't know from personal experience, she gives a world class blow job if she likes a guy."

I knew that punch was coming and it did. "How the hell do you know that?"

"She told me so. She said that when she meets a guy who she really likes, she likes nothing better than to give him a world class blowjob before they start sleeping together."

"And she told you that when you were ready for her, she was ready for you, didn't she?"

"No comment. Besides, I have someone who gives a world class blow job in her own right."

Carla spoke up, "You did it! You finally did it. Was it good?"

"It was better than good. And when he went down on me, it was even better than that."

"You two are perfect for each other. Just remember, he is a guy and can only get it up three or four times a day. Learn to let him recover and then you can have all of the great sex you want."

Ray replied, "See where she gets it. It doesn't make much difference though; her mother was just like Carla. The four of us would get together and before anything else, they were telling each other about our respective sex lives. There were no secrets."

I grinned and said, "I guess that I will learn the truth about Sylvia in time then, huh?"

Tom replied, "It won't be until after Carla gets it all out of her. She is getting desperate for a female friend again. Her last one moved to Seattle."

Emily whispered sweetly in my ear but loud enough for everyone to hear, "That is my daddy you are talking about. You don't need to know about the women he is fucking. She might become your mother in law, prick."

"Someone needs to give her an anatomy lesson. I am a pain in the ass and an asshole but I am not a prick." That brought the others to laughter and earned me another shot in the arm.

Shortly after that, the evening began breaking up. We agreed to let them know when we would be leaving and plan on dinner in town with them the night before we left. When they were over the hill, Emily was plastered all over the front of me and said, "Take me to bed now and fuck me. It has been over twelve hours since I had you and I want you now."

"I think that you are horny all the time."

"So? Sue me."

As I undressed her impatient body, I asked, "Are you going to explain to me the difference in making love and fucking?"

"Yes, but not tonight." She pushed me back on the bed and was on me before I could move. Then I was inside her and neither of could stop moving for quite some time. That happened two more times before we fell into a restful sleep.

When I woke in the morning, I was alone and I heard sounds coming from the back of the boat. Fear struck as awareness came over me as I jumped up and ran to the cabin door. There was Emily happily opening the boxes that still sat where we set them. I waited a moment for my heart to start beating normally again. She looked up and saw me and said, "Why don't you put some clothes on and bring us each a cup of coffee. I want to get this installed today. I thought about waking you with a blow job but you looked so peaceful, I decided to let you sleep."

"Do you know what you are doing with that stuff?"

"Honey, I don't know much about boats and sailing but there are a lot of things I do know about. Now go get us coffee or bring that beautiful cock over here for me to suck on."

"I'll get coffee; you can have the cock for breakfast." I stumbled back inside and found the coffee ready and hot. I pulled on a pair of shorts and a tee shirt before I poured the coffee and walked back to the cockpit and kissed my lover good morning.

"I need to mount the radar antenna and GPS receiver up high. Can I put some holes in the roof of the steering station?"

"Mmmm. If I can get some rubber bushings to keep rain out, I don't see a problem. I'll go up to the store in a while and see if they have any."

"Thank you, lover. I'll put the units themselves inside the cabin on the desk. Is that all right?"

"Why not put them on the dining table inside. We don't use it and you will have more room. There is also a way to run the wires up to the steering station over there."

"Damn, you are smart and I love you so much. Do you love me this morning?"

"I told you on our walk last night that I have never met anyone like you before and I can't imagine not being with you always. Yes, I love you and more than that, I want and need you."

"You sure know how to make a girl tingle. Will you carry the plotter inside for me? I'll bring the lap top in and see how to set them up. The plotter is the biggest piece. The others can be mounted on the wall or the floor."

I carried the plotter inside and found that it wasn't heavy but it was somewhat bulky. After looking at the table area, I thought that it might be better to have it higher and the other monitors below it. I set it down and grabbed my wallet as I said, "Hold on for a few minutes. I'm going to the store; I saw something there yesterday that might work out really well."

I kissed her and went out and up to the store. The salesman asked what I was looking for and I told him that I had seen an equipment mount and rack there yesterday and wanted to see how it was installed and how big it was. He nodded and led me to the back of the store where it was leaning against the wall. He indicated that it could be wall, shelf or ceiling mounted and could be extended from twenty to thirty inches wide. From all appearances, it appeared to be exactly what we needed. He also had some rubber grommets that would seal penetrations through the ceiling. With these in hand, I went back down to the boat and found Emily making breakfast for us.

I watched her work and then went and put my arms around her and cupped her breasts. "I love watching you work. You look so intent on what you are working on but then you change so quickly into your fun self. I never get tired of looking at you."

"That's something I have never heard before. Usually, a guy tells me to quit working and be a girl. That usually pisses me off. But with you, I feel like I can concentrate and have fun. I really like that feeling."

"Don't change on my account for anything. I love the way you are."

"I'm glad that you love my tits too. You make them tingle but if you don't stop, you will have burned eggs for breakfast."

"I don't want to stop but I will because I am hungry but after breakfast, I am going to spend more time with your wonderful breasts."

"I am going to hold you to that."

Reluctantly, I let her go and put the rack on the table to look at it in different configurations. Finally, I decided the best thing would be to mount it against the bulkhead and the cabinet. That would leave a little shelf space on top, room for the plotter on the shelf and the monitors could sit below it on the table. The rest of the table would be free for the laptop and any other material she needed to work with.

She set our plates on the table and we ate while I explained the set up. I could see in her eyes that she was visualizing the setup and how she could best use the equipment. As I explained and she visualized, a slow smile broke out on her face. She turned to look at me and said, "You are brilliant. That will work very efficiently and still leave work or eating space. I love it. How long will it take to mount the rack?"

"It will be up in about an hour."

"That long?"

"It will take five minutes to hang the cabinet but about forty five minutes of us preparing each other to work before I can hang it."

She grinned, "Your mind works perfectly in tune with mine." We finished breakfast and moved to the bedroom. This morning I wanted to savor the taste of her womanhood and she wanted a mouthful of me. We teased and taunted each other for almost an hour before we released our morning tension and were able to go back to work.

With the rack in place, the equipment was quickly set and the wires bundled and run up the bulkhead into the steering station. By three in the afternoon, the GPS and radar heads were mounted on the roof and were connected to the wiring harness. It was time to turn the power on and see if things would work. It was obvious to me that she knew exactly how the equipment works as she powered each piece up individually and set the calibration mode. At four o'clock, she asked if we could take a run out to the river and see how it worked on the water. When we returned at six, she was smiling from ear to ear as everything appeared to be working properly. We had radar eyes for up to twelve miles or could set it back to the five mile range. The GPS signal corresponded with the both the paper chart and the one stored in the lap top. The only thing left to hook up was the sonar and that would have to wait until morning since it involved setting the transducer on the bottom of the hull.

Instead of fixing dinner, we walked hand in hand up to the diner at the entrance to the marina and had a simple but nice meal together. Later, we walked back to the boat and had a glass of wine and then went to bed and attacked each other again.

The next morning after we made love, we shared coffee while I read the installation book on the sonar unit. When we finished, I took the sonar transducer and mounted it where the book had indicated. It hooked directly into the laptop. While I was doing this, Emily was taking inventory of our food and supplies. A number of things had proved to be impractical or not very good. These she bagged up and set aside to take to a food bank. She also decided to add a couple of things to her wardrobe as well as mine. In short, when I finished working, she had planned a shopping trip for us. Before we left, we discussed when we would leave and decided that we would spend one more day in St. Louis before we would depart early the following morning. Emily called Carla and told her of our decision. Carla told her to plan on coming for dinner the following night as we had discussed.

With that, we took Emily's car and went on our shopping spree which included lunch at a small deli she knew of and the last stop at the grocery store. We spent the evening unpacking and stowing our newly purchased food, clothing and a couple of other items for our journey. Just before dark, I took the boat to the fueling station and filled the fuel tanks and checked the fluid levels. Then we settled down for our next to last night in St. Louis. We made slow and tender love for several hours that night and fell asleep in each other's arms.

We slept late and had coffee and sex in bed before we finally got up and dressed. With each passing day, I became more and more comfortable with Emily and her abilities. I no longer thought of her as a damsel in distress but as a very competent woman who got caught in a strange situation. I could see that her openness and freedom were not an affectation but the product of two strong ex-Navy men and an equally strong woman. Her upbringing might have been unusual but she was in fact both a demure and elegant lady but also a tough and realistic partner. I could not imagine anyone more suited to be my life partner. In spite of some slight lingering concerns, I planned on a special event for that night at dinner.

The plan was for us to drive Emily's car to Tom and Carla's house where she would leave it. Ray would drive us back to the boat that night. He was leaving the next morning to drive to Memphis to meet Sylvia for their date. We arrived at 6:00 and were warmly greeted by Carla and Ray. Tom was going to be late as something had come up at work. Emily showed me the house and her room that was next to the one her father stayed in when he was in town which was frequently during the summer.

We opened a bottle of wine and sat and talked. Carla was waiting to hear from Tom that he was on the way home before she put the dinner in the oven. It would only take a half hour to cook. Ray was nervously excited about going to Memphis and hoped that he would make a good impression on Sylvia. I reminded him to just treat her like a lady and everything would be fine. Carla said that she had made her official call to the FBI about me contacting her and assuring them that I was simply taking time to clear my head from the pressure of Washington. She had no knowledge of my destination but that I would contact her periodically to let her know that I was safe. That had been reported through the official channels and it did appear that the publicity about me was on the wane. Most probably, the drop in interest was due to the increase in interest in the President's botched meeting with Congress. He had an opportunity to get a bi-partisan bill passed but had held out for more than the other side was willing to give. Then things fell apart. The fact that I had warned him repeatedly that he couldn't get what he pushed for seemed to have totally drawn a blank in his mind. Actually, I could also picture the fat lobbyist who was pushing him to get that particular concession. He and his handlers would be royally pissed at this feeble attempt to get them their prize.