Page 150 of Hidden Depths

Nathan looked around the bridge.

Every face was waiting.

Even Frank and Rose stood silently together.

He drew a slow breath.

"James and I served together long before we owned boats."

Hazel frowned.

"Served?"

Nathan nodded.

"We weren't Navy."

"We weren't the Coast Guard."

"We worked for a government agency that officially didn't exist."

Silence.

Even the engines seemed quieter.

Willow blinked.

"What kind of agency?"

Nathan gave a weary smile.

"The kind that never puts your name in a history book."

I looked at Grandpa's bell.

At his logbook.

At the compass sitting on the chart table.

Pieces.

I'd been collecting pieces.

But they had never fit together.

Until now.

"You were intelligence."

Nathan met my eyes.

"Sometimes."

"Sometimes we recovered people."

"Sometimes we recovered information."

"And sometimes..."