Chapter 5 - The Watch Without a Name
Everett was moved onto a medical cot only after Grace refused to release him.
Admiral Preston ordered the crew to prepare for immediate departure.
The hurricane had destroyed the southern road, and floodwater continued rising around the landing zone.
Inside the cargo bay, medics cut away Everett’s soaked jacket.
Grace noticed something unusual about the silver watch.
The face contained no brand name.
Only a naval insignia and a date engraved beneath it.
August 18, 1999.
Ben noticed her staring.
“Do you know that date?”
“No.”
He lowered his voice.
“The Night Harbor accident.”
Grace had heard the name.
Every Navy rescue officer had.
A helicopter carrying flood victims went down off the Carolina coast.
Official reports blamed mechanical failure and extreme weather.
Twelve people died.
Three crew members survived.
One of them had been Rear Admiral Preston.
At the time, he was a junior pilot.
Grace looked at Everett.
“What does his father have to do with it?”
Ben shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Everett began coughing.
A medic placed oxygen over his face.
His hand searched weakly across the cot until it found Grace’s sleeve.
“Locker…” he whispered.
“What locker?”
“Number… eighteen.”
Preston entered the cargo bay.
Everett’s hand dropped immediately.
Grace saw fear pass between father and son.
The admiral looked at the medic.
“Sedate him.”
“He’s hypotensive,” the medic replied. “Sedation could be dangerous.”
“That was an order.”
Grace stepped between Preston and the cot.
“No.”
Preston stared at her.
“You are relieved of rescue authority.”
“You cannot sedate a patient to stop him talking.”
“I am trying to stabilize him.”
“Then let the medic decide.”
For several seconds, only the aircraft engines and pounding rain filled the bay.
Preston finally turned away.
May you like
But as he left, Grace saw him glance toward a locked equipment cabinet marked 18.
👉 Everett had not been talking about a locker somewhere else—the evidence was already aboard the aircraft.
