USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan
The sky was still pitch-black when Lieutenant Commander Weston Merville crossed the quarterdeck of the USS Blue Ridge and made his way belowdecks. He hadn’t slept a wink in the previous twenty-four hours, and his nerves felt raw, exposed. He jumped as a young petty officer rounded the corner in front of him.
“Watch where you’re going, goddammit!” he yelled.
“Yes, sir.” The young man’s eyes were red from lack of sleep; he was probably just coming off watch. “Sorry, sir.”
Merville calmed his racing heart. “It’s okay, just slow down, all right?”
He stepped into the wardroom and was surprised to find the XO sitting at the long table with a bowl of oatmeal. “Morning, Weston.” Jason Karrick was a heavy man, with placid features and a walrus mustache. “Coffee’s fresh.”
“Thanks, sir.” Merville’s hand shook as he poured himself a mug. The tiny thumb drive felt like an anvil in the breast pocket of his khaki uniform. Surely, the XO’s presence was a sign from above that he was supposed to turn himself in. Right here, right now.
“Join me, please,” the XO said. Merville pulled out a chair and sat. He gripped his thigh to stop his foot from jiggling.
“I come in early to avoid the temptation,” the XO said.
“Pardon, sir?”
He pointed at the bowl of oatmeal. “Cholesterol’s high and my wife says I need to lose ten pounds before I come home to San Diego. If I come in for regular breakfast, everybody’ll be having bacon and eggs and sausage and toast…” He sighed. “So I eat early to avoid the temptation.”
Merville nodded and sipped his coffee.
“What about you?”
Merville started. “Me?”
“Yeah, you’re in awful early.”
I’m going to betray my country! “I, uh, needed to talk to the night shift,” he lied. “Didn’t want them to have to stay late, being in port and all. So I came in early.”
The XO spooned another glop of oatmeal into his mouth and made a face.
“Sir, can I talk to you about something?”
The XO dropped his spoon into the bowl. “Sure, what’s up?”
Just then, the wardroom door opened, and Lieutenant Goren strode in, the duty officer keys hanging from his neck. “Good morning, XO,” he said. “And Lieutenant Commander Stud Muffin.” He winked at Merville. “Get any postcards from Down Under, sir? She was totally into you.”
“Lieutenant,” the XO said in a sharp tone, “we were having a conversation.”
Goren flushed. “Sorry, sir, I’ll grab a coffee in the crew’s mess.” Silence settled over the room as the door shut behind the junior officer.
The XO considered the bowl of oatmeal, then pushed it away with a look of disgust. “You were about to say, Weston?” His eyes searched Merville’s face. Surely the man could see how guilty he was, Merville thought.
Merville stood. “I need to get moving if I’m going to catch the off-going watch, sir.”
The XO shrugged and turned back to his oatmeal.
Merville strode through the hard steel passageways into the heart of the USS Blue Ridge, the command and control center. He accessed the cipher lock that gave him entry into the server room. The room was a chilly sixty degrees, making Merville shiver in his short-sleeved uniform. The first-class petty officer on duty jerked his feet off the desk when he saw Merville.
“Good morning, sir!” He stood, shifting from foot to foot. “Chief Reynolds doesn’t get in till six, sir.”
“That’s okay, Jurgens. Sit down. Just came in early to do a walk-through.”
“Yes, sir.” The petty officer stayed on his feet.
“Maintenance logs, please,” Merville said. Jurgens handed him a clipboard, which Merville pretended to study. He looked around and snapped his fingers. “Petty Officer Jurgens, I left my coffee cup in my office. Can you fetch it for me? Command cup with my name on it.”
“Sure, sir, but I’m still on watch.”
Merville shrugged. “No problem. I’ll stay here till you get back.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll just be a minute.”
Merville waited until the door closed behind the petty officer, then moved swiftly to the server at the back of the room. His hand was steady as he unbuttoned his shirt pocket and drew out the tiny USB drive. He snapped it into the slot and folded down the keyboard. Merville drew a sharp breath as the drive registered on the screen. Twenty-five gigabytes. He hoped whatever install program was on that drive was smart enough to disguise the upload of a file that large.
Ninety seconds later, it was done. Merville unplugged the drive and slipped it back into his pocket just as he heard the cipher lock on the door click. Jurgens stood in the doorway, holding a white coffee cup with the ship’s logo on the side.
“Found it, sir,” he said. His gaze slid to the lowered keyboard on the system admin server.
“Thanks, Jurgens.” Merville slammed the maintenance log clipboard down on the desk. “By the way, the keyboards on these servers are filthy! I want every single one of them cleaned before you go off watch.”
The petty officer’s face fell. “Yes, sir.”
Merville was gripped by a sudden urgency to put all this behind him. He’d saved himself, that was the important thing. What was done was done. Now he could move on.
The sun was rising out of the ocean as he stepped onto the deck of the USS Blue Ridge. The superstructure of the ship rose behind him like a gray cliff glistening with dew in the light of the dawn. A weary petty officer wearing a white watch belt and a sidearm saluted him as he walked by. Merville returned the salute and approached the railing.
Sunlight bronzed the ripples in the water as Merville palmed the thumb drive from his pocket. With a quick flick of his wrist, the tiny device arced over the water, catching the sun for a brief moment before making a tiny splash.