“Captain Lee, I am Robert, and this is Mark. We are with the Defense Intelligence Agency, the DIA, and we work with Ford. We last saw you on the VTC at the U.S. Consulate. Congratulations,” Robert said to Wu.
“Hello Captain Lee,” Mark greeted Wu. “A pleasure to finally meet you.”
Two civilian men wearing black golf shirts and khaki pants came up to Ford and pulled him aside as the others were talking with Wu. They were definitely not with the ship’s crew from a quick glance.
“Captain Stevens, do you have a moment?” one of the men said. “Captain Stevens, you may not recognize us from the VTC, but I am Chris Sans of DIA, and this is Vic Damone of the FBI. We are out of the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, China, and arranged for Wu’s final requests. Essentially, his last will and testament.
“Yeah, nice to meet both of you. Ah… I don’t understand. Wu had requests?” Ford asked, somewhat puzzled by the comment.
“Yes. I have in my possession the paperwork to accept People's Liberation Army Air Force Captain Wu Lee, and his H-18 Devil Dragon aircraft, into the hands of the United States Government, signed by the President of the United States. I also have Captain Lee’s two requests,” Chris said out loud, so everyone could hear them in the infirmary on the ship.
The sea state of the ship as they sailed eastbound toward Hawaii was really picking up outside, and the movement of the ship, pitching and rolling, was really felt now. The storm that Robert pointed out to Emily was upon them.
“What are Wu’s requests? He wanted a payment or something?” Ford asked, surprised that Wu would request anything, including money. It didn’t make sense, Ford thought.
Just then, Ford’s special visitor that Mark and Calvin Burns referred to, walked into the infirmary. It was Chad Stevens, Ford’s dad, and he walked over to see him.
“Dad? DAD! What? What are you doing here?” Ford exclaimed. He was really confused because this was a military mission, and his civilian father was out at sea with them. Behind Mr. Stevens followed Emily. “Wait a minute. I don’t understand. Dad, what are you doing way out here?” Ford asked, giving him a hug.
“Hello, Ford,” giving him a warm hug back, “so happy to see you are mission complete. And to see Wu again.”
Ford Stevens was really puzzled at the recent chain of events. All of the stress of getting the jet, seeing Wu in his condition, and now his father was out on the carrier.
“Son,” Mr. Stevens paused, “I am a close friend of the Deputy Director, Calvin Burns. He personally helped arrange for me to come out to the Lincoln,” his Dad explained.
“Oh, okay,” a brief pause, “how… how do you know him? I don’t understand. Was Mr. Burns in the oil business at one time?”
“No, not exactly,” Mr. Stevens replied, laughing. “Ford, all these years….moving around to different countries…different offices. I was never really employed by the Shell Oil Corporation. My career was, as they say, different. You and your siblings never really knew the true background. You never knew the full truth. The truth is… I was really a DIA Officer. An Intelligence Officer. We moved around the world so I could help collect intelligence….to support national security,” Mr. Stevens shared.
“WOW. I had no idea, Dad. Just….wow. You had one heck of a career,” Ford said, surprised and puzzled at the same time. “Wait, does Mom know?”
Mr. Stevens, sporting his snappy white shirt and sport coat, smiling, “of course, she knows. She has known for 43 years, Ford. Best spouse anyone could ever ask for, especially in this business,” Mr. Stevens replied. They hugged again. “Believe it or not, I also know Robert. When you introduced us on Hilton Head Island, over at The Boathouse Restaurant, we recognized each other immediately. We worked together on a mission about ten years ago in Europe, but we couldn’t say in the restaurant publically.”
Ford smiled and shook his head. “I knew it! I knew you guys knew each other! Dad!” punching his father in the arm. “Have you been on a carrier before?”
“Ford, stop. I have more carrier time than you do! Remember Vietnam? How do you think I got around the Asia Theater?”
Everyone standing in the room turned to focus on Chris and Vic, who each had a pile of paperwork in their hands. Vic grabbed a pen, in addition to his smart phone, and they walked over bedside to Wu again.
“Captain Lee, hello again, can you understand me, okay?” Chris asked.
Wu closed his eyes slowly, and opened them, nodding his head yes, but remained silent.
“Captain Lee, I have your request here to become a citizen of the United States of America. Standing next to me, you know him well, is Mr. Chad Stevens. Per your wish, he is going to administer to you the Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America, to become a U.S. citizen,” Chris said.
Emily came over to hold his other hand, making every attempt to comfort him. She smiled, and Wu smiled back, but he did not say anything. The flight surgeon monitored the morphine drip, as well as his breathing and heartbeat on the monitors.
“Doc, you’re giving him the right amount of drugs to make him feel comfortable, right? Not too much?” Ford asked.
The flight surgeon nodded yes in front of Wu, then stepped aside to talk with Ford and his father. “Yes. There’s a medical difference between natural dying and dying from too much morphine. If Wu received too much morphine, we wouldn’t be able to wake him. What will happen here is Wu’s breathing will become very slow, but regular. He may only have only one or two breaths in a minute. It looks to me that Wu appears to be calm and comfortable, from my experience.”
Medical doctors have said that near the end of the dying process, a patient like Wu will have shallower breathing. The muscles used for breathing will become weaker, just like the rest of the body’s muscles. From a glance, it may look like the patient is working hard to breathe, but they may not be short of breath. They may also breathe irregular, with a few pauses, and the pauses may be followed by a few rapid, deep breaths. Someone like Wu passes when he does not draw a breath after one of the pauses.
“Thanks, Doc. I wish we could all do more for him,” Ford replied.
“Yes, I understand. We’re doing everything we can for him right now.”
The United States Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America is an oath that must be taken by all immigrants who wish to become United States citizens. The oath may be administered either by the United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, or, in a federal court. Mr. Stevens moved back to the side of Wu’s bed, and everyone looked at Wu now.
“Hello, Wu, it’s me, Chad Stevens. So happy to see you again, Wu.”
Wu held his hand for a moment.
“Some of the senior leaders I know in the U.S. government gave me special permission in this signed letter to administer the oath to you today,” Mr. Stevens shared with Wu, holding up a document. “Please raise your right hand, Wu, and repeat after me….”
Emily helped Wu with his hand, and he let out a smile. Mr. Stevens quickly administered the oath to Wu, making him a U.S. citizen, and a round of applause was heard in the infirmary. A light round of applause was also made by the team of doctors and nurses standing near the monitoring station.
“Wu, this is Mark, we also have your second request,” Mark announced in the room.
Wu turned to look at Ford, and requested a sip of water. It was the dry mouth again, and Ford helped him by putting the bottle up to his lips. Ford didn’t give him much, but nearly all of it spilled down his neck and on to the bed. A nurse came over and wiped him dry.
“Ford. I want to become… a U.S. Air Force officer. An Air Force pilot… like you, on the same… team,” Wu said, coughing again.