CHAPTER TWO
As Olivia Conway made her way through Naval Base San Diego, she braced herself for the inevitable onslaught of catcalls, perverted leers and wolf whistling that was sure to follow her every step. It wasn't that she had tickets on herself, or thought that she was so darn stunning that this was bound to happen no matter where she went. It was just that every time she stepped foot on the Naval Base, and that meant every single time, someone either catcalled her, wolf whistled at her or at the very least stared at her until she was out of sight.
The sad reality of the world, especially the military one, was that women were still treated as second class citizens. It didn't matter that Olivia Conway was a Commissioned Officer, a Lieutenant in fact, in the United States Navy. And it didn't matter that she had complained to her superiors already on multiple occasions about it. All that mattered was that she was female and that was that. Plus it didn't help that she was a rather attractive female too.
Although Olivia wore a Naval cap, her long blonde hair still peaked out underneath its edges. And although she wore the regulatory Naval White that all officers wore, her curvaceous, taught body, still made itself known. And even though she wore little make-up, her sharp cheekbones still poked out and her light blue eyes still popped no matter how she tried to conceal them. Yep, walking onto the Naval Base meant that she was basically a lamb to the slaughter.
Usually Olivia avoided going to the Naval Base when she could. As an intelligence officer she very rarely had to frequent the docks at all and had thus become less accustomed to the cat calls and leering that others she knew had to put up with on a daily basis. But today it was unavoidable.
She arrived to her office early that morning, as she always did, only to be told that she was needed urgently down by the docks. She was to report to the Coast Guard of all places, where an assignment was awaiting her.
She had no idea what the assignment was going to be but as it was with the Coast Guard and as it came directly from Head Office, Olivia was pretty certain that she wasn't going to like it. And that wasn't a slight at the Coast Guard, or even at the Head Office. It was purely an observation based off the knowledge that she currently wasn't the most popular person in the United States Navy and if she had to guess, this new posting was a means of punishing her.
Olivia took the long way to the Coast Guard headquarters that morning. It was done as a means of avoiding horny sailors and engineers that loitered by the water side and although it did much to stem to onslaught, there were still one or two occasions where she could hear a male voice calling out to her in a less than flattering manner. If it wasn't for the rush she was in she might have even considered turning back and reprimanding them. She was an officer after all, but as that rarely worked and she was already in a rush, she let them be.
Five minutes later she was walking into the Coast Guard's headquarters and with no one manning the front desk, she stepped directly into Captain Warrick's office without so much as a cursory knock.
Captain Warrick wasn't alone, with him was one other officer that Olivia didn't recognize. He was rotund and looked like the kind of officer that had a perpetual stick up his butt, or at least Olivia thought so. As she entered the office she saluted the two men.
"At ease," Captain Warrick said, seated behind his desk. "And take a seat."
Olivia took a seat behind Warrick's desk. She noted that the other officer didn't bother, remaining standing by the desk as if he had a point to make.
"Captain Warrick. I was told to meet with you as soon as I arrived this morning. But I'm afraid to say that I'm at a loss as to why," Olivia began. She made sure to address the Captain as such, even though he wasn't technically military. But as said, Olivia wasn't exactly in the Navy's good graces at the moment and as such she preferred to stay formal.
"Yes, yes," Warrick said, leaning back in his chair. "Oh, this is Lieutenant Commander Randall, posted at Pearl Harbor," he said vaguely as he indicated to Randall. Randall offered Olivia a curt nod, before turning back to face Warrick.
"Is he the reason I am here?" She asked, having no idea who Randall was. She wasn't too familiar with Pearl Harbor.
"In a way. Randall, if you will?" Warrick offered. He looked like he was either tired or in some sort of pain. Either way it was clear he wasn't in the mood to speak and most likely felt this situation was beneath him.
"Yes," Randall began, turning to face Olivia. "Two days ago four of my men were on a routine training exercise five miles off the coast of Honolulu. As they were borrowing equipment from the SEAL Vehicle Delivery Team stationed there, one of the SEAL's insisted that he go along for the ride. While out at sea my team stumbled upon an old Japanese submarine from the Pearl Harbor attack --"
"Really?" Olivia asked, suddenly interested. "That's amazing. Up until now only four have been --"
"Lieutenant, that's not the point of the story," Randall interjected, sounding a little put off.
"Oh right, sorry," she offered, deciding on the spot that her initial instincts about Randall were correct. "Continue."
"Anyway. My boys were going to call it in but the SEAL decided to take matters into his own hands and try and salvage the wreck himself." The way he sneered on the word SEAL suggested to Olivia that he harbored a not so secret disdain for this particualr operative. "Long story short the submarine dislodged itself and almost crushed one of my men. The SEAL then performed a bunny maneuver --"
"Bunny maneuver?" Olivia asked. She was perched over the desk, scribbling away on a legal pad but had to pause at the mention of this unknown term.
"It's when a diver shares his oxygen mask with another diver. Its use is highly dissuaded and although not illegal, should never be used unless absolutely required. Even though here it may have been, that would never have been the case had this SEAL not put my man in such a position in the first place."
"Ok... OK," Olivia said as she continued to scribble away. "So what charge are you bringing him up on?"
"What... is that not your area?" Randall asked, sounding angry now. "He put my men in danger and I want his head! Surely you can figure out some charge to -- exactly how long have you been a lawyer for the Navy Ms. Conway?"
"It's Lieutenant Conway," Olivia corrected, doing her best to hide her annoyance. "And I'm not in legal. I'm in intelligence --"
"Intelligence? Then why the hell are you --"
"Easy Randall," Captain Warrick cut in. "I've bee assured that Lieutenant Conway is excellent at her job and if there was any illegal activity, which it sounds like there was, she won't hesitate to prosecute. Am I right?" he finished, turning his attention to Conway.
"Of course," Olivia agreed, deciding irrevocably that she didn't like Randall one little bit. "I'll have to do some digging though. Interview your men too. Oh and I'll need to speak to this SEAL obviously. Where is he now?"
"He should be here," Randall spat, going red in the face. "If I know him he's probably taking a detour. Making us wait. He's as arrogant as he is --"
"Easy Randall," Warrick said again before turning back to Olivia. "He should be he any moment. He came in by boat this morning and --"
It was just then that the door to the office opened, followed by the entrance of Clint Reese. Even in his SEAL uniform, Clint struck an imposing figure. He was impossibly handsome and held himself in such a way that the room seemed to shrink around him.
"Lieutenants, Captains," Clint said in a very casual manner as she strolled into the room. He didn't bother to salute either of them too, waving his hand vaguely at the officers instead.
Olivia had her back to Clint when he entered the room and was also engaged in her notes, so it wasn't until he was well into the office and she'd finished taking her notes that she was finally able to turn and get a look at him. When she did her eyes near popped from her sockets and her breath caught in her mouth. And no, it wasn't because she was smitten by his good looks or strong physique and no it wasn't because he made her weak at the knees like he did so many other women. It was because she knew him.
"And who might this be?" he asked, smiling flirtatiously as he finally spotted Olivia sitting by the desk. If he recognized her he didn’t indicate as much, choosing to instead look her up and down like he was eyeing up a juicy piece of steak that he was soon going to eat.
"You've been brought up on charges," Captain Warrick was saying, rolling his eyes at Clint's behavior. Seeing his casual reaction to Clint's actions, Olivia had to bite her tongue. It was because of men like Warrick that sexism still reign supreme in the Navy. "The least you could do, Reese, is act like a soldier."
"Trumped up charges," Clint said, not taking his eyes off Olivia. A fact that she was very aware of. She didn't know if she should introduce herself or say hi like she knew him. On second thoughts, it was probably better that Warrick and Randall didn't know that she and Clint had a history. She couldn't imagine how they would react if they found out she had a history with the man she was going to be investigating.
"Trumped up – you almost got one of my men killed!" Randall exploded.
"Killed? Is that what Brian said? I thought you rescuse swimmers were meant to be able to hold your breath for --"
"That's not the point! You acted irresponsibly --!"
"I'm a SEAL. Irresponsible is on the badge," Clint cut back in, not even bothering to hide his smile. Olivia got the sense that he was enjoying himself. Although how that could be she had no idea. He was under investigation after all.
"You're finished this time, Reese," Randall continued as if he hadn't been cut off. He was seething at the mouth as he spoke too. "That I promise you --"
"Excuse me!" Olivia yelled, standing up now. She was getting rather fed up with the dick measuring that was taking place. "That's for me to decide I think. And I'll thank you Lieutenant to stop threatening my client? As he now is."
A silence descended over the room as the three men all stopped and stared at Olivia. Randall looked furious. Warrick looked bored and Clint looked... maybe impressed? He was definitely staring at Olivia with some sort of look on his face, although she couldn't get a reading on it.
"I think I have enough for now," Olivia continued, scooping up her legal pad. She knew when the time to make herself scarce was. "I will continue my investigation from here and come to a conclusion as to the events in my own time. Captain Warrick, I will keep you posted." With that she turned and exited the room, careful to keep her eyes on her feet as she did.
Her reason for leaving in such haste had far more to do with wanting to put some distance between herself and Clint as quickly as possible. Oh she knew him alright. The two used to date after all and she was pretty sure that he recognized her too. He seemed as arrogant and sure of himself as ever and she needed to get out of that room before Randall and Warrick realized something was amiss.
As such she determined then and there that she was going to get through this case as quick as possible. She had no desire to spend any more time with Clint than was needed, especially considering the way the two had parted last time they saw each other. With any luck this would be a cut and dry case and she would be finished with it before the week was out.