STORM
Grandpa used to tell me...
"When you're lost..."
"...stop chasing the horizon."
"Start looking behind you."
The bridge had become a war room.
Not with maps covered in military symbols.
Or weapons spread across the table.
Just charts.
Photographs.
A cracked compass.
Grandpa's logbook.
And questions.
So many questions.
Ward rested both hands on the chart table.
He looked at Ben.
"We've been reacting."
Ben nodded.
"Not anymore."
Scott folded his arms.
"If somebody has hunted this family for twenty years..."
"...they've made mistakes."
Ward looked at Storm.
"We find them."
I nodded.
"Where do we start?"
Ben smiled slightly.
"By questioning the only witness we have."
Every eye turned toward Nathan.
Nathan chuckled softly.
"I was wondering when you'd get around to me."
Scott pulled out a chair.
"You've spent twenty years remembering."
"Tonight..."
"...we're going to help you remember everything."
Nathan raised an eyebrow.
"You make that sound easy."
Ward smiled.
"It isn't."
"But memories don't disappear."
"They hide."
Storm poured everyone fresh coffee.
Nathan accepted the mug with a grateful nod.
He wrapped both hands around it.
The warmth seemed to steady him.
Ward spoke calmly.
"We're not looking for what you remember."
Nathan frowned.
"We're looking for..."
"...what you forgot."
Ben picked up Grandpa's logbook.
"When James called you..."
"...don't think about the conversation."
"Think about everything around it."
Nathan looked puzzled.
"What do you mean?"
"What time was it?"
"Were you inside?"
"Outside?"
"What could you hear?"
"What were you doing before the phone rang?"
Nathan stared at him.
"Why does that matter?"
Scott smiled.
"Because sometimes..."
"...your surroundings remember more than you do."
Nathan leaned back.
Closed his eyes.
No one interrupted.
Even the engines seemed quieter.
Finally...
He spoke.
"It was early."
"Before sunrise."
Storm smiled faintly.
"Just like Grandpa."
Nathan nodded.
"I was sitting on my porch."
"My wife was still asleep."
"I had a cup of coffee."
"It had gone cold."
He smiled.
"I remember being irritated about that."
Ben nodded encouragingly.
"Good."
"What else?"
Nathan frowned.
"I could hear..."
He stopped.
"No."
Ward leaned forward.
"What?"
Nathan shook his head.
"I couldn't hear the ocean."
Storm blinked.
"What?"
"I always hear the ocean."
"I've lived beside it my whole life."
"But that morning..."
"...all I could hear was wind."
Hazel looked puzzled.
"So?"
Nathan slowly opened his eyes.
"It wasn't normal wind."
He looked toward Storm.
"It was rigging."
Storm's heart skipped.
"Sailboat rigging."
Nathan nodded slowly.
"Lines striking a mast."
"Metal against metal."
Clink...
Clink...
Clink...
He closed his eyes again.
"James wasn't aboard Sea Whisper."
Everyone fell silent.
Storm frowned.
"How do you know?"
Nathan smiled sadly.
"Because your grandfather hated noisy rigging."
"He replaced every worn fitting before leaving harbor."
Storm laughed despite herself.
"He really did."
Nathan nodded.
"He said..."
'A noisy boat is a lazy captain.'
Storm smiled.
"I remember that."
"So..."
Ward asked quietly.
"...he called from another boat."
Nathan looked at him.
"Yes."
"I'm certain of it."
Ben made a note on the chart.
"Anything else?"
Nathan rubbed his forehead.
"There was..."
He hesitated.
"A bell."
Storm's eyes widened.
"Our bell?"
Nathan shook his head.
"No."
"This one sounded different."
"Lower."
"Older."
He closed his eyes again.
"I remember James laughing."
Storm leaned forward.
"He laughed?"
Nathan nodded.
"He said..."
His voice softened as he remembered.
'You finally found me, old girl.'
Silence.
Hazel frowned.
"Who was he talking to?"
Nathan slowly opened his eyes.
"I always assumed..."
"...he meant the sea."
Ward wasn't convinced.
"I don't."
Ben looked toward Storm.
"Did your grandfather ever own another boat?"
Storm shook her head.
"No."
Nathan answered quietly.
"Not another boat."
Everyone looked at him.
He swallowed.
"Another ship."
The room went perfectly still.
Nathan stared past all of them.
"I haven't thought about her..."
"...in over twenty years."
Storm barely breathed.
"What ship?"
Nathan's voice was almost a whisper.
"Sea Maiden."
The name seemed to echo through the bridge.
Storm searched her memory.
She'd never heard it before.
Not once.
Not in all the years Grandpa had told stories.
Not in his journals.
Not in family conversations.
Nothing.
Nathan looked at the old logbook.
Then at the cracked compass.
His face slowly lost its color.
"Oh..."
he whispered.
"Oh, James..."
Ward watched him carefully.
"What is it?"
Nathan looked up.
"The last thing he said before he hung up..."
He closed his eyes.
As though hearing James's voice all over again.
'If anything happens to me...'
Nathan's grip tightened around the coffee mug.
'Don't let them sell her.'
Storm frowned.
"Sell what?"
Nathan looked straight into her eyes.
His answer barely rose above a whisper.
"Sea Maiden."
Then another realization struck him.
His eyes widened.
"They already did."
The bridge fell silent.
Because suddenly...
They weren't looking for something hidden in the Pacific anymore.
They were looking for a ship...
That had disappeared twenty years ago.