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was one of the people with a weapon trained on Jonathan.
    Jonathan locked the man with a
gaze that left no room for argument, “No, I mean us. This vessel will be
traveling underwater and if a weapon went off accidentally it could be very
hazardous for everyone. We will give you your weapons back once we reach our
destination and make sure everyone is okay.”
    “We’re not giving up our
weapons,” the first man said.
    “Well then, you’re not getting a
ride. I’ll offer anyone who wants a ride and is willing to give up their
weapons,” Jonathan said.
    Several people stood up as they
all looked at each other.
    “You’re going to leave us out
here to die?” the second man asked.
    “No, I’ll call it in. However,
once I leave you’re on your own,” Jonathan said.
    “You can’t do that,” another
person said.
    “You’re wrong, I can, and I will.
I’ve offered you assistance and told you what it takes to get that assistance, but
you don’t want to comply. I’m putting trust in you by allowing you on this
vessel. If you don’t care to return that trust, that isn’t my problem,”
Jonathan said. He pointed at the four people who had stood up. “The people who
stood up can come aboard, just hand Lieutenant Commander Hawkins your weapons,
before you enter.”
    Ten of the people handed Bill
their firearms as they stepped into the back of the shuttle where Andie started
checking them out. The woman the man had looked at, the one Jonathan assumed
was actually in command, stood up, and made her way toward the front of the
small boat.
    “My names Carla Taldage, I’m the
ranking officer here,” Carla said.
    Jonathan’s eyes flicked to the
man who had been speaking.
    “Don’t blame him,” Carla said.
“They were just protecting me.”
    Jonathan nodded, “Yeah, I knew
you were in command.”
    “How did you know that?” Carla
asked.
    “Eyes don’t lie. At one point, I
asked a question and he looked back to get your answer. Even though you gave a
subtle nod it was enough to tell me who was in charge,” Jonathan said a small
smile on his lips.
    “I would like to apologize for
the deception,” Carla said.
    Jonathan smiled. He was going to
like this woman. She might be rough around the edges but she had a good head on
her shoulders. That was if they decided to join his crew. He had decided to
extend the offer, they would need a security force and there were probably a
few engineers and such mixed in. “No need to apologize, I understand.”
    {Jonathan.} Terri’s voice said in
his head.
    {What’s up?} Jonathan replied.
    {We need to get moving, Mike has
intercepted communications from two F-16 fighters. They have picked us up on
their radar. Their base has ordered them to do a fly over and inspect the
area.}
    {Great, get ready to move out.
I’ll try to be fast.}
    “Are you OK?” Carla asked.
    “Yeah. I’m fine. I’m sorry to
rush you but can we talk inside. I have other important matters to deal with
and I’m afraid it’s do or die time,” Jonathan said.
    “You are going to take us back to
mainland America, right?” Carla asked.
    “Yes, probably not right away.
But, I promise you I will get you back to wherever you want in the next week,”
Jonathan said.
    “For some reason, I trust you,”
Carla said.
    She was looking deep into his
eyes looking for the littlest sign that he was lying to her and saw nothing but
honesty.
    “It’s my looks,” Jonathan said as
he winked. “I’m just so damn handsome women everywhere trust me.”
    Carla laughed as several of the
other women giggled.
    “What?” Jonathan put a look of
hurt on his face.
    “I don’t know if I would go that
far, although you are kind of cute,” Carla said.
    Jonathan grabbed his heart, “I
think I’m wounded.” This got another round of laughing as a few of the guys
rolled their eyes. “Sorry to break up our fun but can we get people loaded? We
need to get underway.”
    It was a fast process; the last
ten people joined