THE LAST TOUR OF DUTY
A Novel
Last Tour of Duty
Based on the Novel by A.P. Greenwood
© 2012 by A.P. Greenwood
Contact: James Clois Smith Jr., Sunstone Press / (505) 988-4418
Log Line: In 1970, Viet Nam hero, Lieutenant Commander Alex Wolfe is assigned his final duty station, a Naval Facility on the outer Banks of North Carolina, with the secret mission of tracking the movement of Soviet submarines. Soon after his arrival, Wolfe has career threatening encounters with his commanding officer, exercises his romantic passions, investigates the murders of sailors, and develops a controversial theory about a missing Soviet submarine in the Atlantic which may be related to one of the murders.
Act I
The U.S.S. Comanche, a nuclear attack submarine, leaves New London, setting a course to the open Atlantic. Captain Morrison frets about his secret mission.
Cut to:
Seaman Tim McWilliams is bound to a tree deep in the Buxton woods. Savagely beaten. Body desecrated. He loses consciousness and dies.
Cut to:
Lieutenant Commander Alex Wolfe and is best friend, CIA agent Tom Harper talk over dinner in a swanky Washington D.C. restaurant. Wolfe acknowledges that he was fortunate to have been given one last tour of duty so that he could retire twelve months later with full retirement benefits after a career that includes both heroism and insubordination. Harper comments that nothing exciting ever happens at a Navfac. Wolfe’s duty station is Naval Facility Cape Hatteras, with the secret mission of tracking Soviet submarines.
Fade to:
The following morning at a gas station, the attendant warns Alex about the narrow Highway 12 on the Outer Banks, telling him that the very soft, sandy shoulders had been responsible for many deadly accidents because if cars leave the pavement at high speeds, the tires immediately dig in and the cars flip over.
Cut to:
On Highway 12, nearing Cape Hatteras, Wolfe is harassed by two local fishermen who throw a beer can at his car. Alex, out of character, controls his anger and resists the temptation to teach the rednecks a lesson. He makes a mental note of the letters on their license plate, NGB, which he will remember as no good bastards.
Fade to:
Aboard the Comanche in the captain’s quarters, Morrison and his XO (Executive Officer) lament their mission. They worry about keeping the purpose of the mission from their crew, while acknowledging that they will be responsible for the death of over one hundred sailors.
Fade to:
Alex meets his commanding officer, Jason Knight, who he immediately dislikes. He’s an Academy graduate with no combat experience, who pays more attention to military politics, haircuts, and inspections than he does to genuine military leadership. He belittles Alex’s service record, as Captain Knight doesn’t like Wolfe either.
Cut to:
Bobby Cooke and the Miles brothers, Larry and Kenny, filet fish on the deck of their fishing boat while they discuss the killing of Tim McWilliams. Cooke assures his accomplices that their action would serve as a good lesson for all of the other sailors at the Navfac.
Cut to:
Alex explores the island, driving south to Hatteras village and the marina, then stops at Pop’s for a burger where he meets, “mom, Mary Oden. There are no secrets on the island, and Mary knows that Alex is the new watch officer, and comments that he seems old for such a position. She also explains that the rude greeting Alex received from the “no good bastards” when he drove to the Navfac reflects the feeling that many local civilians have about Navy men who are perceived to come to the Outer Banks, court the local women, and then leave them with broken hearts or worse.
Cut to:
After spending the night at the BOQ (Bachelor Officer’s Quarter) on base, Wolfe is given a tour of the Navfac by the XO, Ed Stallings, whom he immediately likes. Alex is glad to learn that he will play on the officer’s softball team, but is told that Jason Knight is in charge of the team, which will make playing for the team a bit unpleasant.
Cut to:
Aboard the Comanche, the XO tells Captain Morrison that the crew’s morale is suffering because they suspect something, as their position is not near the activities of the Second Fleet as it had been every other time the submarine has been deployed. The Captain insists that the mission be kept secret.
Cut to:
Inside the Terminal Building (T-Building). Stallings introduces Alex to his watch crew. The officer Alex is replacing provides tips on dealing with the captain at the morning captain’s briefing (a task each watch officer does twice during their string of six watches), and tells Alex that whenever there’s a technical question that he should trust Steve Booher, the man on his watch crew who knows everything about the science of the job.
Cut to:
Walking back to the administration building, the XO informs Alex that he will be assigned collateral duties, including the duty of base legal officer. Stallings says that there’s never been any real problems to investigate, but that there is one man currently AWOL, Seaman Tim McWilliams.
Fade to:
Inside the Pirate’s Cove at a corner table, Bobby Cooke and the Miles brothers are drunk. Cooke says he’s going to send a letter to the Navfac with a map showing where to find McWilliams’ body.
Act II
Cut to:
At the traditional hail and farewell party at the Crow’s Nest, the on-base bar, Alex meets the flirtatious Vera Knight, who offers to help Alex secure off-base housing the following morning. After Vera and Jason Knight leave the party, Alex questions some of the sailors in the bar about the disappearance of Tim McWilliams.
Cut to:
The Comanche is now on station north of Bermuda. Captain Morrison allows his XO to tell the men that the mission will be made known to them in two days.
Fade to:
The following morning, Vera arrives at the BOQ, wearing sunglasses and tells Alex that she cannot go with him in search of off-base housing. But she gives him a list of places to visit. He sees the redness under one of her eyes and knows that her husband had hit her.
Cut to:
Alex finds a house to rent. It’s a small two-bedroom house on Pamlico Sound, with a lagoon in back. Harry Lange, a retired Coast Guardsman, is his landlord.
Cut to:
Back at Pop’s, Alex is told to visit Ramsey’s Fishing Store if he wants to become a surf fisherman. He’s told they have all the equipment and bait he’ll need, plus guide service for instruction
Cut to:
Alex interviews McWilliams’ girlfriend between classes at Cape Hatteras High School.Amy Clark tells Wolfe she hadn’t seen McWilliams since their last date, and knows of no reason why McWilliams would’ve gone AWOL.
Cut to:
Alex packs his belongings at the BOQ and while driving off base, he sees Vera working in her garden. He stops to tell her about his rent house and inspects her damaged eye more carefully. He apologizes for his being the reason her husband hit her. Alex admits his admiration
for Vera.
Cut to:
At Ramsey’s Fishing Store, Alex meets the gorgeous Kate Ramsey, and buys everything she suggests he’d need to be a surf fisherman. She agrees to give Alex a fishing lesson the following morning.
Cut to:
Bobby Cooke and the Miles brothers visit the decomposing body of McWilliams and pin a note to his chest using a Rapala fishing knife.
Fade to:
At dawn the following morning, Kate drives Alex to the beach in her jeep and teaches him how to surf cast with comical initial results. Kate catches some blue fish, and Alex pries into her personal life but Kate doesn’t respond. Back at the store, Alex asks her out, but she says she doesn’t go out with clients. Playfully he fires her, and then walks out of the store.
Cut to:
Alex learns more about Kate from Mary Oden at Pop’s. Kate had married the local high school hero, Mike Ramsey. They met at college, and after graduation returned to the area where Mike began a successful business owning vacation rental property, the fishing store, and a restaurant. After Mike’s parents died in a car wreck on Highway 12, Mike was despondent. He joined the Navy and within a year was killed in an accident aboard an aircraft carrier. Kate hadn’t dated anyone since becoming a widow.
Fade to:
Alex practices surf casting in the lagoon behind his rent house with nothing attached to his line but a three-ounce weight. Harry Lange makes a joke about his fishing techniques, but knows Alex is trying to impress Kate Ramsey. Lange tells Alex that the best way to get to Kate is through her dad, Pat Gilbert, who lives with her and helps her manage the store.
Cut to:
Alex is called to the Navfac. The anonymous letter has arrived with the map to the AWOL sailor. Alex meets Zach Little, the local sheriff, in the Buxton woods, and together they discover the grisly scene and the note pinned to the corpse which warns the Navy personnel to leave the local women alone. While waiting for the coroner, Alex and sheriff swap life stories.
Cut to:
At the Navfac, Alex reports the murder to Knight and because of the threatening note, suggests the captain restrict the men to the base until the killers are apprehended. Knight refuses to act, and claims that because the murder was committed off base , it wasn’t his responsibility to do anything. Alex is angered, but controls himself.
Cut to:
In the mess hall, a few sailors approach Wolfe about the murder. Alex tells them that they’ll know more when the captain determines what should be done. The sailors agree that such might take a while.
Fade to:
In the T-Building on his first watch, the mid watch from 11PM to 7AM, Alex humbly addresses his crew of four, asking them to help him learn the job, for patience, and for a sincere effort to do their best. His four men include three OTs (Oceanographic Technicians) and one radioman. He learns a bit about each of his men and they ask him about the murder of Tim McWilliams.
Cut to:
Standing in front of the large map of the Atlantic (eight feet tall by twelve feet wide), Booher shows Alex what all of the magnetic symbols mean, including the black ones shaped like stars which represent the three Soviet submarines currently being tracked designated 143, 144, and 145. Then Booher shows Alex how to annotate the sonargrams on the 104 consoles, which is the primary job of his OTs.
Fade to:
The men on the U.S.S. Comanche are told what their mission is and they are in disbelief. They are told the White House approved their orders. While the crew of the Comanche had always excelled in ASW (anti-submarine warfare) games, they had never fired live torpedoes at any target.
Cut to:
In the morning after the mid-watch, Alex drops by Ramsey’s Fishing Store, and meets Pat Gilbert. They enjoy a nice conversation about various topics, including Kate.
Cut to:
The mission of the U.S.S. Comanche is executed. They successfully torpedo and sink a Soviet submarine.
Act III
At the beginning of his second mid-watch, Alex reads the log and learns that contact with 144, one of the three Soviet submarines being tracked, had been lost. During the eight-hour watch, contact is not regained, which Booher says is abnormal.
Cut to:
Before his first evening watch (3PM to 11PM), Alex drops by Knight’s office and repeats his suggestion that the men be restricted to the base until McWilliams’ murderer(s) is found. Knight says that he won’t be intimidated by southern cracker lunatic who was jealous that his girlfriend had been dating a sailor.
Cut to:
During the watch, the radioman brings a message to Alex. It reads that TASS reports a Soviet submarine had imploded after its bow planes froze during an emergency dive exercise and that all one hundred and fifteen men aboard perished. Alex calls the captain at his home and before talking with him, has a nice, warm chat with Vera. When he informs Knight of the lost Soviet submarine, the captain says is, “Is that all?”
Cut to:
In the Pirates Cove, Cooke and his cohorts, drinking at their same corner table, are outraged when Randy Dunn, a sailor from the Navfac and a local girl, Melissa Merrill, show up. Together, the murderers of McWilliams decide they have no choice but to take action.
Cut to:
After kissing Melissa goodnight at her front door, Ronnie Dunn returns to his car where Bobby Cooke asks him for help, claiming his truck’s battery was dead and that he needed a jump. When they get to the truck in the Buxton Woods, Kenny Miles hits Dunn in the head with a tire tool accidentally killing him. Cooke desecrates the body and leaves another note pinned to the dead man’s chest.
Fade to:
The next morning while practicing his surf casting into the lagoon, Alex is interrupted by the Navfac yeoman who tells him that Ronnie Dunn may have been killed. Alex meets Sheriff Little at the same road in the Buxton woods near the site where McWilliams’ body was found. They agree that the killer or killers were the same ones who’d murdered McWilliams.
Cut to:
Alex returns to Knight’s house to report the murder and accuses his captain of being responsible because he hadn’t restricted the men to the Navfac. Vera agrees with Alex in front of her husband. Alex and Knight threaten each other.
Cut to:
Steve Booher investigates the sonargrams showing when contact with Sub 144 was lost. He believes the signature (the transformation of sound to paper) is an explosion, not an implosion that would’ve occurred had the TASS report been accurate. He has a theory as to what may have really happened to the missing Soviet submarine, and Wolfe gives him permission to investigate further, though Booher doesn’t share the details of his theory with Alex .
Cut to:
Alex goes to the Pirate’s Cove and ascertains that Ronnie Dunn had been there the night he was killed. Bobby Cooke and Miles brothers are there and stare at Alex.
Cut to:
Booher telephones his mentor, Chief Dittler, who is now stationed in Norfolk at the headquarters for all of the Navfacs. Booher conveys as well as he can about his concerns without specifically discussing classified information. Dittler tells Booher his thinking is wrong. Booher doesn’t agree.
Fade to:
Alex asks Kate to help his investigation by posing as his date to the Pirate’s Cove, hoping to set a trap by making himself the target of the murderers. After a bit of gentle and playful arm twisting, Kate agrees.
Cut to:
Alex gives his first captain’s briefing in front of the big wall map to Ed and Jason. He asks Knight a question which he couldn’t answer, so the briefing doesn’t last long. Even with a missing Soviet submarine, and two murdered sailors, all Knight can talk about with any certainty is the upcoming softball game.
Cut to:
Booher examines more sonargrams. He’s more convinced than ever that the Soviet submarine was torpedoes by a U.S. submarine.
Fade to:
During the softball game, Vera flirts with Alex. Knight is not a good player, but as team captain, he assigns Alex, who is very competent, the last place in the batting order, and the traditionally considered weakest fielding position.
Cut to:
Alex prepares for his “date” with Kate. He retrieves his Browning .45 from its box.
Cut to:
Pat Gilbert sits with his daughter as she prepares to go out with Alex. He tells her he’s glad that she’s finally going out, though Kate insists that her going out with Alex is not really a date. Pat asks her if she misses her dead husband and she says she does not.
Fade to:
Booher drives to Norfolk and meets with Chief Dittler, pleading his case. Dittler again tells Booher that his theory is wrong. Booher promises to pursue the theory until he finds someone who’ll believe him. He’s disappointed in his former mentor.
Cut to:
Alex and Kate go to the Pirate’s Cove, sit in a booth on the same side, and Cooke and the Miles brothers are there at their regular table. Alex asks Kate to evaluate the customers as possible suspects. She tells Alex that Cooke’s mother ran off with a Navy man when Cooke was in high school, and that his father committed suicide a month later. Alex is immediately sure Cooke is responsible for the murders of McWilliams and Dunn. Alex asks Kate for a public kiss and she obliges. On the way out of the bar, Alex confronts the “no good bastards” who harassed him on his drive to the Navfac who are sitting at the bar.
Fade to:
Three unidentified men break into a trailer and kill the man sleeping in his bedroom. We don’t know who the victim is. They take the body and dump in the Buxton woods in an area near the place where the bodies of McWilliams and Dunn were found.
Act IV
Alex, certain that his actions with Kate at the Pirate’s Cove were enough to incite action by the murderers, waits inside his darkened rent house for an encounter. It doesn’t happen.
Fade to:
Alex returns to Ramsey’s Fishing Store in the morning and recruits Kate for another night out. They chat about her past and she laments that everyone on the island believes her dead husband, Mike, was some kind of a hero.
Cut to:
Kate and Alex return to the beach and Alex catches his first blue fish and celebrates by kissing Kate. He feels the kiss was inappropriate and apologizes, but Kate assures Alex that the kiss was fine with her.
Cut to:
Cooke and the Miles brothers are fishing illegally, dragging nets through waters they baited. They talk about Alex and Kate. The Miles brothers warn that Alex Wolfe is a Viet Nam hero. Older than their other victims. Dangerous. Cooke says he can’t ignore what Alex Wolfe is doing.
Fade to:
Alex arrives to pick Kate up for the second “date,” but is talked into having dinner at her home with Pat Gilbert. Pat talks about his military service, and there is banter about Kate and Alex as an item.
Cut to:
Later that night, Alex visits the Pirate’s Cove alone. He confronts Cooke and the Miles brothers, telling them he knows they are the killers, and suggests they confess and turn themselves in. On the way out, Alex asks Cooke, “Heard from your mama lately?”
Cut to:
Again, Alex waits at his rent house in the dark, waiting for an assault by the murderers, but like the last time, nobody shows up.
Fade to:
In an all officers meeting, the XO explains the new “early out” program, allowing officers and enlisted men to end their service as much as a year early due to the winding down of the Viet Nam conflict. The meeting is interrupted by a telephone call from the sheriff who has found another dead body.
Cut to:
Alex bends over and uncovers the head of the dead man, discovering that the murdered sailor is his favorite crew member, Steve Booher. Alex feels Booher was killed because of what he’d done last night at the Pirate’s Cove. He wants to go after Cooke immediately, but Sheriff Little calms him down.
Cut to:
Alex and Sheriff Little go to the house rented by Cooke and the Miles brothers. It’s a pig sty. Over the objections of Little because of no search warrant, Alex enters the house and collects possible evidence, including fishing knives. From the looks of the place, it’s clear that Cooke and the Miles brothers have left, with very little clothing remaining there. Sheriff Little tells Alex that he’ll send the possible evidence to the police department in Elizabeth City for analysis.
Cut to:
Alex and Little drive to the marina, and learn that the fugitives left by boat, perhaps going to Ocracoke Island where Cooke still owns his family home. Alex takes more items from Cooke’s vehicle, including the tire iron. The next ferry to Ocracoke won’t leave until the morning, but Little says they shouldn’t go after the fugitives without more proof.
Cut to:
Alex goes to Kate’s, and tells her about Booher and how he feels responsible. She consoles him.
Cut to:
Alex makes his report to Jason Knight at his home. Vera gives him a drink, angering her husband. Knight interrogates Alex about the murders, trying to belittle him for not having positive answers.
Fade to:
The following morning, around 10AM, Vera comes to Alex’s rent house, asks for a drink, and seduces him. They are good together in bed, and the sex is gratifying for both. Afterward, Vera wishes Alex good luck with his investigation and with his courtship of Kate Ramsey.
Cut to:
At the old family home on Ocracoke, Cooke and the Miles brothers plan their future. They need money, and Cooke will sell his family house for a good price so they’ll have money quickly. Then they’ll move to South Carolina or Florida.
Cut to:
Alex meets with his smaller watch crew and they talk about Booher and what he might have been investigating. The men tell Alex that Booher was obsessed with the Soviet submarine that was recently lost. They discuss the early out program.
Cut to:
The coroner tells Sheriff Little that the time of death for Booher was two nights ago between midnight and one AM. He goes to the Pirate’s Cove and the bartender swears that Cooke and the Miles brothers were at his bar until after two AM that evening, giving them an alibi.
Cut to:
The U.S.S. Comanche is back in the ASW games with the Second Fleet. They’d been sunk (simulation) and were out of the games for that day. Captain Morrison tells his XO his heart wasn’t in it.
Cut to:
Zach Little calls Alex and tells him about the coroner’s evaluation of the time of death and about the alibi. Alex realizes that when he confronted Cooke and the Miles brothers at the Pirate’s Cove that Booher had already been killed. He’s confused. Little tells him that Cooke and the Miles brothers were definitely on Ocracoke Island and that Cooke’s family home was on the market. They muse about the reasons Cooke and the Miles brothers would run if they had an alibi.
Fade to:
Alex takes a detail of men from the base to Booher’s trailer to collect personal belongings and clean the place before Booher’s parents arrive to collect their son’s body. They ascertain that Booher had been killed in his trailer, and that his body must have been relocated post mortem to the Buxton woods. That and other facts suggest a different MO from the murders of McWilliams and Dunn.
Act V
Alex gives his report to Knight and Stallings, saying that the suspects are on the run, but that the suspects had an alibi for Booher’s murder. Captain Knight is confused, and reminds Alex about the softball game this Sunday afternoon.
Cut to:
Kate invites Alex to dinner with her dad at their home. She knows about his sexual encounter with Vera.
Cut to:
Alex telephones his CIA friend, Tom Harper, and tells him about his murder cases. He suggests that Cooke and the Miles brothers may have killed the first two sailors, but that Booher’s murder may have been committed by someone else. Harper tells Alex that all three murders were committed by the same perpetrators, that the bartender probably lied about the alibi, protecting local civilians. Harper offer to help apprehend Cooke whenever Alex has the proof he needs.
Cut to:
At the dinner at Kate’s house, they discuss the murders. Pat teases Alex about his fling with Vera. While saying goodnight to Kate, Alex assures Kate that won’t repeat the questionable behavior with Vera or anyone else. She tells Alex that’s she’s glad that he likes women. He invites her to his next softball game.
Cut to:
On the midwatch, Alex takes out his frustrations on his men, saying they knew him best, and should have an idea on why he was murdered. The ET (Electronic Technician who’d been helping Booher with his extra investigations) tells Alex that Booher was obsessed with the loss of Sub 144 and was certain that the Soviet submarine had been torpedoes by a U.S. submarine.
Fade to:
Shirley Milam delivers a contract for the family house to Cooke telling him that he can have his money from the sale on Monday. Cooke tells the Miles brothers he’ll get the money on Wednesday, and that they are to drive to Myrtle Beach, leaving Monday morning, and that he’d drive the boat there and meet them later in the week.
Cut to:
Back on watch, an evening watch, Alex and his men evaluate the evidence (sonargrams) Booher had been looking at, and develop the same theory about the Soviet submarine being sunk by an American torpedo.
Cut to:
After his watch, Alex visits the Pirate’s Cove. He questions the bartender and believes he was telling the truth about the alibi for Cooke and the Miles brothers related to Booher’s murder. On the way out, he buys the surprised “no good bastards” a beer.
Fade to:
The following morning, (Sunday) Zach Little telephones Alex informing him of the sale of Cooke’s family home. They decide to go to Ocracoke Monday to try to coerce a confession. Alex calls Harper who says he’ll help. Harper reiterates that all three murders were committed by the same killers, and Alex again disagrees. Alex tells Harper that Booher was investigating the disappearance of the Soviet submarine.
Cut to:
At the softball game, Kate sits next to Vera, and during the game they talk and laugh, making Alex somewhat nervous. While playing, Alex notices smoke billowing out of the T-Building incinerator, which is odd, as normal protocol has classified material destroyed only on weekdays.
Cut to:
Zach Little arrives at the end of the softball game and reports that the Miles brothers have moved back into the rent house in Hatteras Village. Alex agrees that after his date with Kate, he would go with the sheriff to interrogate the Miles brothers.
Cut to:
Over dinner, Kate confesses that her husband had a secret that nobody on the island, not even her father, knew about. Mike Ramsey was homosexual. That had motivated her to not trust men and not date again. At the end of the date, Kate and Alex kiss very passionately.
Cut to:
Zach and Alex drive to Hatteras Village and surprise the Miles brothers. During the conversation/interrogation, it is discovered that Cooke lied to his accomplices about the delivery of money from the sale of the family home. Obviously, Cooke was planning to take all the money and abandon the Miles brothers. The Miles brothers are talked into confessing, saying that everything was Bobby Cooke’s idea. Zach locks them up in the Hatteras Village jail.
Cut to:
Alex calls Harper, confirming that they’ll be going to Ocracoke to confront/apprehend Bobby Cooke after his day watch tomorrow. Harper says he’ll meet Alex at the Navfac, and requests to have a few minutes alone with Cooke. Alex thinks that’d be a good idea, believing the CIA agent would know how to get a confession from a suspect.
Act VI
At the T-Building for his day watch, Alex is shocked when he reads the log and learns that all of the evidence (sonargrams) showing the disappearance of Sub 144 had been destroyed. That was the smoke he saw coming from the incinerator during the Sunday afternoon softball game. Headquarters had sent a SOP that changed the document storage requirements from 60 days to one week. The captain had approved the change and the burning had been accomplished during the Sunday day and evening watch.
Cut to:
At the captain’s briefing, Alex goes ballistic and calls Jason Knight vulgar names for approving the new burn SOP without realizing that all of the evidence showing the disappearance of a Soviet submarine would be destroyed. Knight storms out after telling his XO to place Alex on report, promising a court martial.
Cut to:
The ET comes to Alex and tells him that Booher had secretly removed some of the evidence (sonargrams) from the T-Building.
Cut to:
Alex meets Harper after the watch in front of the Administration building. Together in Harper’s black Ford sedan, they go to Hatteras Village to meet the Sheriff. On the way, they stop at the fishing store so that Alex could introduce Kate to Harper. Alex also reveals to his CIA friend what he’d done that morning at the captain’s briefing and also that he’d slept with his captain’s wife.
Cut to:
As the sheriff, his deputy, Alex and Harper ride the Ocracoke ferry, they discuss their strategy. Cooke had moved out of his family home and was staying at the motel. Everyone agreed that Harper would be given an opportunity to be with Cooke alone in hopes of extracting a full confession.
Cut to:
Little and his deputy position themselves out of sight, keeping an eye on the office where the real estate closing is taking place. Alex and Harper wait inside Cooke’s motel room.
Cut to:
Cooke returns to the motel room with his check and is surprised to find Alex and Harper there. Alex introduces Harper and then leaves the motel room. Shortly thereafter, gunshots are heard from the room. Harper reports that Cooke confessed to all three murders, including Booher’s, and then pulled a knife on him. Harper says he killed Cooke in self-defense. Alex heads back to keep a date with Kate, while Harper stays with the sheriff to take care of the necessary paperwork involved in a shooting.
Fade to:
At the captain’s home, Ed Stallings pleads with Jason Knight not to court martial Alex, reminding him that Alex is a war hero, and had been under stress with the murder investigation. Knight refuses, but Vera privately whispers to the XO that she had a plan that might help Alex’s cause.
Cut to:
Alex and Kate go to Booher’s trailer, in search of the sonargrams. Kate finds them in an envelope taped to the back of a picture on the wall. They are in an envelope addressed to Booher’s Pennsylvania congressman, along with a letter Booher had written explaining what the evidence proved. Alex doesn’t let Kate know the contents of the envelope.
Cut to:
Over dinner at Kate’s, Alex says that he still believes Booher was killed by someone other than Cooke and the Miles brothers and tells Kate and her father that his death may be related to the missing Soviet submarine. He asks Kate to ride with him tomorrow when he revisits with the coroner in Manteo to see if perhaps his determination of the time of Booher’s death was wrong. He promises her dinner at a restaurant afterward.
Cut to:
After dinner, Alex goes to the Pirate’s Cove and angrily asks the bartender why he’d lied about Cooke’s alibi, telling the bartender that Cooke confessed to Booher’s killing right before Cooke himself was killed. The bartender sticks with his story, and suggests that the coroner’s estimated time of death for Booher was, in fact, in error.
Fade to:
Before his day watch the next morning, Alex goes to the BOQ to tell Harper goodbye. He asks his friend if it was possible that Cooke lied about killing Booher. He also asks Harper if it was possible that the Soviet submarine could’ve been torpedoed by a rogue U.S. submarine. He tells Harper that there might be evidence that could support such a theory. Harper tells him to worry more about his court martial, that Cooke murdered Booher, and that no U.S. submarine had anything to do with the lost Soviet submarine.
Act VII
At the morning’s captain’s briefing, only Stallings attends. He tells Alex to keep his fingers crossed regarding the court martial.
Fade to:
Alex and Kate drive to Manteo, meet with the coroner who confirms the time of death.
If anything, Booher might have died an hour earlier than the previous estimate. Alex is convinced the Pirate’s Cove bartender hadn’t lied, and therefore, Cooke’s alibi for Booher’s murder was still valid.
Cut to:
On the drive back, a man in a black Ford sedan tries to run Alex and Kate off the highway. But Alex runs the Ford off the highway, and at the high speed, the soft sand shoulders of Highway 12 make the Ford flip and roll several times, killing the driver. The driver has no identification, and Alex is convinced the dead man is a CIA agent, and that Harper may have been involved. Alex plants his own identification on the dead man.
Fade to:
Back in Washington, D.C., Harper is told by his boss that Alex has been killed on Highway 12. Harper is upset because his report may have been responsible for the action. But the boss says that the CIA agent sent to eliminate Alex is missing. Harper believes his friend Alex might still be alive.
Cut to:
At Alex’s rent house, Kate surprises Alex by taking him to bed where they make sweet love together. Afterward, he takes her home and drives to the Navfac, believing he’d be safer spending the night at the BOQ. He, Pat and Kate agree and also agree that the only person he can trust now is the XO, Ed Stallings.
Fade to:
In Manteo, the local sheriff was called by a CIA representative and asked to verify the
identity of the man killed in the accident on Highway 12. The coroner says that although the identification is that of Alex Wolfe, that the body is not that of Alex Wolfe, who he knows personally. The sheriff reports this to the CIA.
Cut to:
At the CIA office, Harper, his boss and other agents have a heated discussion. The agents want Alex killed for what he apparently did to one of their own. Harper tells them it was self-defense. The boss tells Harper to make Wolfe an offer, and if he cooperates, then they won’t have to kill him. If Wolfe refuses to cooperate, Harper promises to do what he has to.
Cut to:
Late at night, Alex drives onto the Navfac and orders the sentinel at the gate to call him immediately at the BOQ if anyone not assigned to the Navfac. Drives onto the base. He calls Ed and asks to meet him in the morning. Ed tells him there won’t be a court martial. Vera threatened her husband with telling the Bureau of Naval personnel about his spousal abuse. Such would ruin his career so he dropped all of the charges against Alex.
Fade to:
In the morning, Alex is armed when he has breakfast in the mess hall. Sailors give him
cautious looks. When he walks to the administration building to meet with the XO, he sees a black Ford sedan parked in front.
Cut to:
Harper walks out of the Administration building, and Alex points his gun at him. He disarms his friend and forces him into his room at the BOQ for a talk.
Cut to:
Inside the room, Harper admits that a U.S. submarine was responsible for the sinking of the Soviet Sub 144, saying that the action was approved at the highest levels of both the U.S. and Russian government as accepted retribution for when a rogue Soviet submarine sank the U.S.S. Scorpion a year ago. He explains some of the intricacies of the Cold War and why it was top secret. Alex is angry, but Harper has an offer.
Cut to:
In front of the Administration building, Harper and Alex shake hands and Harper drives away. Alex had agreed to an early out and promised to never say anything about the Soviet submarine or the CIA’s killing of Booher. Harper had explained that military personnel retire all of the time with knowledge of secrets (and subject to Espionage Act 134 to keep those secrets) and as such, Alex would be allowed to retire with full benefits. The agreement requires that Alex leave the island that very morning.
Cut to:
As Alex drives off base, he sees Vera in her driveway packing her car. Alex stops and learns she’s leaving Jason. They hug and wish each other well.
Cut to:
Alex goes to Kate’s and she agrees to move to Texas to be with him. She’ll leave in a week. Pat is invited to join them in Texas, and he will do so after selling their house and the fishing store.
Fade to:
An hour later, Alex’s car is packed. As he drives away from Buxton, he stops at the
post office and mails the envelope he found in Booher’s trailer. He kept his promise, he didn’t say anything about what had happened at the Navfac.