Aoshi watched as two of his men just finished setting up surveillance equipment in the hotel room. Lieutenant Junior Grade Alan Hiapo turned several dials. Ensign Ryan Taylor inspected the microphones and headsets. Lt. Williams was getting ready in her room. When they had met at the base early that morning to cover their plan for the next several days, they had to haul the equipment into a white unmarked van before checking into the Ala Moana Hotel, just two blocks from the Waikiki Yacht Club, where Eddie Mamo worked as a sailing instructor.
"Everything set, sir."
"Thank you, Ensign."
Someone rapped on the door. LTJG Hiapo peeked through the viewing hole before letting Lt. Williams in. She was dressed in a pink aloha print dress with white flowers on it and white strappy sandals. Her mink brown hair contained several highlights and her features were lightly enhanced by cosmetics.
Once she stepped inside, she stood at attention, focusing her eyes on Aoshi. "Good afternoon, sir."
He nodded in greeting, but like his team members, had a difficult time looking away. She looked so different. HE almost didn't recognize her. Apparently, she noticed three pairs of eyes staring.
"What?" she demanded.
"Excuse me for saying so, but wow," Ensign Taylor spoke up. "You look awesome, ma'am."
She pursed her lips. "I guess..."
They heard the sound of a key card being inserted into a door. LTJG Luke Austin, the last team member, walked in with two paper bags.
"Theresa, you look hot!" LTJG Austin spoke up. "As soon as he lays eyes on you, I'll bet he'll wanna-"
"Red light, Lieutenant," Williams interrupted, casting a worried glance in the commanding officer's direction.
Austin nodded. "Sorry."
While it seemed as if Aoshi had great pride in formality and chain of command, he actually didn't mind the camaraderie between his team members. Williams and Austin, for example. He understood that she had been the senior cadet who had served as his mentor at the Naval Academy.
His team members seemed a bit intimidated with him at first. But the men eventually relaxed. Williams had yet to. He guessed that as the only female, she had to prove herself just as competent, if not better, than the next person. Navy tradition demanded that regardless if a sailor was in or out of uniform, if they were in a working environment, he or she HAD to address the senior officer with some type of respectful greeting. Whether it be a salute or standing at attention, it depended on the situation. He was a fair man, as long as his officers followed his orders and conducted themselves professionally, he wasn't going to write them up for little slips like that. He had seen several higher ranking officers than himself merely write up a junior officer they didn't even know for not saluting him while walking in the commissary. For all he knew, the junior officer couldn't have seen the higher ranking officer come his way. Navy protocol could be ridiculous at times.
"Okay, I got the food," Austin announced, setting the bag on a table.
"I'm starving!" Williams exclaimed in a relieved tone of voice.
Austin reached into one bag, pulling a white carton with red markings on it, and an unmarked carton from the other bag. He held it out to Aoshi while Williams gathered all the napkins and chopsticks and passed them out to everyone. Hiapo passed out bottled water from the minifridge to everyone.
"Spicy stuffed eggplant for the commander..." He reached into more bags. "Lemon chicken for Theresa...Shrimp chow mein for me...Orange chicken for Alan...and Shrimp fried rice for Ryan..."
The four junior officers gathered around the table and began to eat while Aoshi stayed at another desk, going over his notes. The four ate as if they hadn't eaten for days, laughing and joking about their college days.
Once they all finished and all the food was cleaned up, it was back to work.
Aoshi reached into a small black bag for several items.
"Lt. Williams, I have some things here you might need..."
She moved forward while the other three settled at the monitors and speakers.
Aoshi held out a small black box that fit in the palm of her hand. It was the power device for her cordless earpiece. She placed that in her small purse. She tucked the earpiece in her ear. He then handed her the card key of their surveillance room. Aoshi then held up a silver necklace with several cubic zirconia clustered together to form the shape of a flower.
"Microphone and wide angle camera lens," he said simply.
She accepted it and went to the wall mirror, attempting to put it on.
"Any last questions?" Aoshi directed his comment to everyone.
"No, sir," they said.
"Lt. Williams, as I said earlier, you will always have one person not too far away serving as backup every time you go out there," Aoshi reminded. "LTJG Austin will be your backup for today while we stay here and monitor what's going on."
"May I request the commander's assistance with this camera?" she spoke up, fumbling with the clasp on her necklace. "I can't seem to see the hook in the mirror..."
Aoshi moved over towards her to attach the necklace, his fingers hovering several inches below her chin. Then he dropped the clasp and she adjusted the necklace so the camera faced what was in front of her.
"Okay." She took a deep breath.
"Good luck, Theresa," Austin said as she headed out the door. He was in the process of putting his equipment on.
"Thanks..."
Theresa tried not to curse as she crossed the sand in her very uncomfortable shoes. Uncomfortable because she never wore anything higher than her fourth of an inch sensible flats. She was, after all, being monitored and the last thing she needed was to show her team that she was not enjoying what was going on. Her mission had barely started.
As she made her way towards the docks, she grit her teeth, swearing that she'd kill Miguel for buying the stilts she was wearing. Okay, so they were only two inches high. They still felt like stilts. What kind of woman walked in these things?
"Everything all right?" a deep voice echoed in her ear.
Good thing there was no camera on her. She scowled. "Yes, sir," she responded automatically.
"Your movements indicate otherwise," he stated.
"Movements, sir?"
"The way the camera's moving, it looks like you're jerking around, Theresa," Luke replied. "Like you don't know what you're doing. Mamo's going to see that a mile away..."
"Why don't you try walking in these things?" she muttered.
"I heard that."
She flushed. "Sorry, sir...I meant Austin, not you." Okay, this was getting confusing. How the heck could she pull this off?
Once she got on the dock, she braced herself against a railing and attempted to remove her sandal.
"Need some help?" a voice piped up.
Back off, buster, she thought. But her eyes widened as she glanced over her shoulder to see her target dressed in a loud aloha shirt and baby blue shorts. Yuck. How disgusting. That was her first thought. Eddie Mamo left his shirt open, exposing a brown chest covered with dark hair. And some shark tooth necklace hung from his neck. And this man attracted women like bees to honey? What kind of drugs were these women on?
"No, I'm fine, thanks," she responded.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "I'm great when it comes to helping ladies..."
"That's nice," she said as pleasantly as she could. Then she tried not to throw up at the perverted look he shot her legs and behind.
"I'm Eddie Mamo."
"Turn around, Lieutenant," her commanding officer said quietly into her ear.
"Oh..." She hopped on her foot and moved so that the camera could get a view of him.
"This is the player all the women fall for?" Luke scoffed.
"Sean Connery looks better than this guy, and he's ancient," Ryan spoke up.
"It's got to be the boat," Alan reasoned. "Girls like that kind of thing..."
"The Rolex on his left wrist and diamond ring on his right hand indicating his wealth doesn't hurt," the commander added.
If she had been there, she'd swear Alan and Ryan jaws dropped. Their commanding officer was being funny? Weird...
"That's just nasty," Luke said, his disgust carrying over the radio. "What kind of-?"
"Quiet," the senior officer ordered once Eddie started talking.
"-ame?"
Theresa cleared her throat. "I'm so sorry, what did you say?" She tried to remove her sandal just so she could shake the sand out of it.
He laughed. "I said, 'What's your name?'"
Oh, that's REAL original, she thought. "I'm Tess."
"Does Tess have a last name?" he joked.
"Yes, she does."
"Is Tess going to tell me her last name?" he prodded.
"He sucks," Luke interjected. "He needs some lessons on how to hit on women..."
"And a couple visits to the gym," Ryan added.
"A couple?" Luke echoed.
"Okay, a lot."
"Tess will give you her last name when she wants to," Theresa said in her best flirtatious vampy girl voice. Like she'd know how to flirt. She never flirted in her life.
Eddie laughed. "All right, Tess. Are you from around here?"
"You gotta be kidding!" Luke exclaimed. "Do civilians really pick up women this way?"
"No, just potential punk criminals," Ryan piped up.
"Quiet."
She was feeling light-headed. She had never done an undercover job using her gender to get close to a target. Her attitude, her determination, her brains, but never her gender. And to make things worse, her team was making wisecracks. She could barely concentrate.
"Hey, are you all right? You look pale..." Eddie spoke up.
Theresa took a couple breaths. "I...I think I'm okay. I...I just need a place to sit..."
"Damsel in distress routine..." Luke murmured. "Not bad..."
"Sure, here...let me help you..." Eddie came forward, guiding her to walk along with him.
"Okay, I'm moving in," Luke spoke up, indicating that he was following them.
She walked beside Eddie slowly, trying her hardest not to flinch away. It took them a few minutes, but he guided her to the yacht club and into his office, where he gently pushed her onto the leather couch.
"Anything you need?" Eddie asked.
"Water would be nice," she said quietly.
He grinned. "Coming right up..."
He exited the office. As soon as he did, Theresa jumped to her feet and turned the necklace so that she was facing it.
"Zooming out," Alan announced. She assumed they adjusted the camera so they could see her clearly.
"Permission to speak freely, sir," she said quickly, but politely.
"Granted."
"Can everyone please shut the hell up? Unless you have something important to say, don't say anything!" she practically growled. "I'm having a hard time with all of you talking in my head! Do you have any idea how confusing this is listening to five different voices?!"
"Okay, okay," Alan expelled a breath. "You don't need to twist in your pan-"
"Lieutenant," the commander interrupted.
"Twist inside out," Alan corrected. "Sorry, ma'am."
"Take a deep breath, Lieutenant," her commanding officer instructed in his calm, cool voice. "Concentrate."
"I'm all right, sir," she responded. "Just...frustrated."
"Understood."
"Okay." Theresa placed the necklace back and went to lie on the sofa, lying back in such a way so that the camera had a clear view of the door where Eddie was sure to enter.
The door opened and he walked in with a bottle of water. "Eddie to the rescue..."
Theresa faked a smile. "Thanks."
He handed it to her, sitting at her feet. Theresa unscrewed the cap and instead of her usual swigging, sipped from the bottle. A couple more sips. More. She fought the urge to wipe her lips with her forearm. That was definitely an un-ladylike thing to do.
"So you work here?" Theresa asked.
"Yeah. I teach sailing...And show new students a side of Oahu they're not used to seeing..."
"Meaning what?"
"Lots of people are familiar with Waikiki, Laie, the waterfalls, but some people don't really see the secluded beaches or the tropical marine animals here," Eddie responded. "Are you interested in seeing the non-commercialized side of Oahu?"
"I was hoping for one...and I was told to ask anybody at this yacht club." Theresa shrugged. "I'm just vacationing here...and my travel agent recommended that I try the yacht clubs instead of the commercialized cruiselines. For a decent price, I'd get a great tour."
"Well, your agent's right," he responded, grinning.
"So how much do I have to pay to get a good tour?"
"How about you have dinner with me, then we'll talk price?" Eddie asked.
Theresa hesitated. "Doesn't that kind of interfere with the whole mixing business with pleasure thing?"
Eddie said in a low voice, "I like to intergrate the two. On a tour, they go hand in hand...Seeing the unknown parts of Oahu aren't really considered business, is it?"
She laughed. "I guess not..."
"How does tomorrow night work for you?"
"That works fine," Theresa responded. Then she got to her feet. "Thank you, by the way..."
"What time should I pick you up?" he asked.
"Oh, I'll just come over here," Theresa said.
"You like to keep things mysterious..."
"I guess so."
"I like mystery in a woman..."
She was doing pretty well. Williams had managed to have dinner with Mamo and they had discussed plans for the tour. She had been seeing him for almost a week's time now. Mamo was showing an amazing amount of self-restraint. By now he'd be with woman number five. But Aoshi suspected that part of what kept him constantly interested was that she didn't let him make too many advances. While Mamo probably thought she was playing hard to get, the lieutenant was trying very hard to refrain from hitting him every time he got near her. But he apparently became so fascinated with her, wanted so much to impress her that he invited her to an old friend's pineapple plantation. Just what they wanted.
Men could be so foolish. And so greedy.
Aoshi knew that Mamo's getaway plans had double meaning. Even though Mamo told her it would just be a quick trip to and back, Aoshi had the sneaking suspicion that Mamo would try one more time to advance on the young lieutenant. But she could handle it. His lips turned up in the briefest of smiles, knowing that if the suspected criminal tried anything, he'd suffer for it. Just before his team started their mission, they had all gone to the shooting range for practice. Williams had fired shots at the targets at a place no man would like to get shot at.
They were done for the day. The men had gone to get some food while he and Williams stayed behind. She had gone straight to her hotel room after returning from the yacht club, and he had gone to his room to catch up on some reading before tomorrow.
Aoshi picked up the phone in his hotel room and dialed a number.
"Hello?"
"Misao."
"Hi, Aoshi," she responded.
He paused before saying, "Everything all right?"
"Yes," she replied. "I haven't burned the house down."
"I'm not calling to accuse you of anything," he responded.
Silence.
"So...how is everything?"
"Fine," she responded. He could see her lying on her stomach on her bed, flipping through one of her magazines, kicking her feet back and forth while she cradled the cordless phone between her shoulder and head.
"I just wanted to make sure everything is okay," he said.
"Yeah, everything's fine," she replied.
"Good."
Silence.
"When are you coming back?" she asked.
"I wish I could say," he admitted.
"There's a surprise," she said dryly.
"Misao-"
"I know, I know. Hey, are you even allowed to talk to me? Aren't you supposed to be in isolation or something?" Misao asked.
"No. I'm allowed to talk to you...I just can't tell you where I am," he responded.
"Oh. Um...I gotta go...I think Danielle's supposed to call me..."
"Don't stay up too late," Aoshi instructed.
"Tomorrow's a school holiday."
"It is?"
"Yeah," Misao retorted. "You didn't read far enough in my planner?"
He closed his eyes. "Misao..."
"Call waiting, I gotta go."
"Take care, I'll call tomor-"
Aoshi blinked when he heard the hum of a disconnected line. Then he placed it back in the cradle. He needed to take a walk. Grabbing his room key and cell phone off the nightstand, Aoshi exited his room, heading towards the lobby.
He found himself walking by pool and spa, dressed in comfortable, loose clothing. The sun had just dipped below the horizon while the warm tropical air gently passed over his skin.
Peace and quiet. Very different than the life he had for the last ten years. He had accomplished a lot in that time. And lost a lot...
Beshimi. Hyottoko. Shikijo. Hannya...
His cell phone rang, echoing in the night air. He unclipped it from his pocket. "Shinomori."
"Sir, if I may have a word with you?" Lt. Williams spoke up.
"What is it?"
"This is something that needs to be said in person, sir..."
"All right. I'm at the pool."
"I'll be there in ten minutes."
Theresa entered the pool area to see him sitting on a lounge chair on the far side, towards the four foot end of the water. After returning from the yacht club, she had taken a shower and changed into a spaghetti strap tank top and denim shorts. Miguel's idea of perfect clothes for her. They were comfortable, she had to admit.
"Good evening, sir," she greeted before sitting in the chair next to him.
"What seems to be the problem?" he asked.
She took a deep breath, swallowing. "Well..." She swallowed again.
"You're nervous," he stated calmly.
Theresa looked up, noticing that his eyes were focused on her hands, which shook slightly.
"A little..." Theresa took a deep breath. "Okay...a lot. I...I don't know if I can do this, sir..."
His cold blue-gray eyes moved over to assess her features. "It's a little late to back out now, Lieutenant."
"I know," Theresa admitted, biting her lip. "But it doesn't stop me from feeling this way."
"Emotion clouds your judgment," he stated. "You're letting your insecurity rule over you."
"I...I can't help it, sir," her voice wavered. "I'm afraid I'll fail."
When she was first brought onto his team, she had been thrilled. Imagine working under THE Lt. Commander Aoshi Shinomori. He was notoriously known for being very thorough, very precise...and getting results at NIS. And she tried to be as professional as possible. She addressed him formally, always with respect.
"You won't fail," he replied. "There's no room for failure."
She swallowed. Somehow talking to him wasn't making her feel any better. "Maybe...it would have been best that someone else was sent in my place...to begin with..."
"That was up to me to decide," he responded coolly.
"I..." she swallowed. "I-"
"Do you know why I chose you, Lieutenant?" he cut in.
Theresa's head shot up. "What? What...did you say?"
His eyes met hers steadily. "You heard correctly. NIS didn't give you orders to work with me. I chose you."
"But...But why?" she asked, biting her lip.
"Because of your dedication," he answered simply. "NIS doesn't choose my team, I do. I read your fitness report. Don't insult my intelligence by saying I selected wrong."
Theresa bowed her head. She wanted so much to be good at what she did. Her father had been part of Naval Intelligence. When he heard that she was following his path, his eyes had lit up. But most importantly, he had told her that Navy life would only get harder if she joined. 'Make sure you're doing it for you...not for me. I'll love you regardless,' he had said.
"Did I put you at ease?" he asked quietly, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Yes, sir," she whispered, swiping at her moist lashes.
They sat in comfortable silence for several minutes.
"Sir?"
"Yes?"
"What happened on the Liberty?"
He stared at some point in the distance, his eyes narrowed slightly. Regret, pain, and sorrow were evident in his eyes. It was the first time she had ever seen so much emotion from him.
He wasn't going to say anything, judging by his expression. "I'm sorry," she spoke up. "It's not my business...it's wrong for me to ask you-"
"It's all right," he interrupted quietly.
They sat quietly for a while.
"We were on the Pacific...monitoring aircraft..." he began so softly she almost didn't hear him. "One of my men...Beshimi...had intercepted a radio call...we spent so long trying to decipher the code...but by the time we did...it was too late..."
She merely sat and listened.
"I went to the bridge to warn the captain...but the ship was attacked the minute he knew..." he continued. "I had told my men to stay where they were...which was on a low deck of the ship...And before I knew it...guns were being fired and torpedoes were tearing holes in the ship."
"I..."
"I went back after them to try and save them...But I didn't make it in time. They...They had drowned."
Theresa felt her throat grow tight. "I'm...I'm very sorry, sir..."
He closed his eyes briefly.
"Every mission you had after...you usually handled the undercover work by yourself," she said softly. "Are they the reason why?"
His eyes opened to meet hers for a few moments before turning away.
"I'm sorry, sir...I didn't mean to be rude."
"You're not being rude, Theresa, you're being honest," he corrected.
Silence again.
"You picked a good team, sir. They won't let you down. I know they won't," she said firmly. "And we know you won't let us down."
"I know." He stared at the pool. "You're the first person I've told in a long time..."
Her chest felt tight. Relief, gratitude? She wasn't sure. "I'm honored, sir."
With a nod, he said, "You have an early day, Lieutenant."
She took the hint. Go to sleep. "Yes, sir..."
Theresa rose to her feet and turned to go. Then she paused. "Sir?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
His eyes widened slightly, but he nodded his head once. "You're welcome..."
