REPORT: BAZOOKA JAROD
FILE #: 113

Jarod works as Commander Jarod Forrester on the US-Navy destroyer “USS Monroe”. He is investigating the death of ship engineer Scott Seaver, who had choked to death in a JX-5-gas leak accident, for which he was later blamed.

Jarod’s first mission on the boat is a simulation, in which the USS Monroe has to stop a virtual Russian submarine from attacking Los Angeles with atomic bombs. Jarod successfully completes the mission by suggesting firing only one torpedo at first, then turning the boat a few degrees, before firing the second torpedo. With this strategy, the Monroe-crew wins the simulation.

In the meantime, Miss Parker traces the children she found in the “Rescued”-envelope from her mother’s room in Ben’s motel. Jarod is in it, too. On his tracks, Miss Parker finds the orphanage where her mother had brought the children. But disappointingly, she discovers that shortly after her mother’s death, the archive of the orphanage had been destroyed in a fire. Coincidence? Hardly…it is to be suspected that The Centre was responsible for the “accident”. However, the principal of the orphanage advises Miss P. to check the city’s archive, because there should be copies of the old records.

Jarod, meanwhile, discovers in his further investigation that the USS Monroe has seen better days. Defects in the material are being repaired all over the ship and after Seaver’s death there has even been a committee that has tried to declare the boat unfit and withdraw it from use.

Jarod encounters some little problems, when a female administrations officer asks him for his missing documents. However, he manages to get away with it through accurate planning: His documents supposedly are on a submarine, which will be spending several months in the Antarctic on a top-secret mission.

He also meets the officer’s daughter, who is obviously desperately trying to get her mother’s attention, for example by “borrowing” the cars that belong to the Navy base. When Jarod talks to the teenage girl, he finds out that her father has been at sea for months and can hardly ever communicate with her. During those times, her mother usually buries herself in work, which leaves her in even greater loneliness.

In the meantime, Miss Parker’s search at the town hall is not very successful. Each of the folders that belong to one of the rescued children is empty. In the last folder, Miss P. only finds a note from Jarod saying Sorry, but I was here first. Jarod . Frustrated, she has no choice but to return to Blue Cove empty-handed.

One evening, Jarod brings the girl home, after she has gotten a tattoo with the letters ILY. She tells him that this is a code that her father uses when he communicates with her through satellite messages: It stands for I Love You . She also teaches Jarod how to make chewing gum bubbles.

In his search for the causes of Seaver’s death, Jarod finds out that the leak in the JX-5 pipe occurred in a welded joint and was definitely not caused by Seaver, as had been believed up to now.

Jarod is sure now, that Lt. Commander Chris Nashton had tried to cover up the real causes of the accident to prevent his ship from being mothballed, which would have been a great setback in his career.

Jarod now lures the Commander into the same position that Seaver had died in: The pipe bursts and the deadly gas leaks out. Jarod seals the exit under the pretext of wanting to prevent the gas from blowing up the whole ship and locks Nashton in. In his panic, the Commander admits to have covered up the event. Apparently, Seaver had had some evidence that the ship was in bad condition, so he was intentionally silenced. The entire crew through the speakers overhears their “conversation”. After Nashton’s confession, Jarod tells him to relax and to laugh a little, after all, it was not JX-5, but only laughing gas.

In the meantime, Miss Parker and the team have found out about Jarod’s employment in the Navy and show up at the base. But a few minutes too late: All Miss P. sees are the rear lights of Jarod’s car and him waving good-bye. He has, however, left her one of his tricky little messages, this time in the form of a giant Bazooka bubble gum with a special comic he drew, starring Miss P.: “Miss Parker goes searching, what does she find?” – “Now Jarod has a little secret”.

Jarod has also sent a little present to the administrations officer: Tickets for an R.E.M. concert for her and her daughter. Apparently, he also pulled some strings so that the girl’s father could send her a message saying ILY (maybe Jarod sent it himself, we can’t really be sure).