Written by David Braff
Stephanie Holden spends a week with the Coast Guard, helping crack a dangerous arms smuggling ring.
When a semi-conscious man is spotted adrift off the coast of Santa Monica, Matt and Stephanie are called in on an open ocean rescue. Their arrival is upstaged by a Coast Guard chopper, which waves them away from the victim, and proceeds to extract him from a tangle of fishing net. Later, Stephanie
confronts the commanding officer, Scott Daniels, about calling the Scarab offthe rescue. He explains that though Stephanie couldn’t see it, the Scarab was about to travel across fish netting, which would have fouled the Scarab props. Stephanie bridles at Daniels’ superiority complex and later is surprised to learn that they have been selected to work together on imporving Baywatch and Coast Guard operational relations. The next day, Daniels arrives at Baywatch ready for what he calls “R &R,” but in short order Stephanie demonstrates the breadth of a lifeguard’s day, and he leaves headquarters with a newfound respect for land-based rescue and a romantic interest in Lt. Holden.
Stephanie then joins Daniels for a week of Coast Guard duty, learning from thim the all-encompassing nature of CG responsibilities, including their most dangerous charge, pursuing drug and gun smugglers that enter California waters from Latin America. Daniels explains that the man they helped rescue from the fish netting is linked to a gun-running boat called La Paloma. The La Paloma crew, Mahorn and Laimbeer, have been funneling AK-47 assault rifles into L.A. for months, and the Coast Guard is on full alert for the vessel. Unknown to Daniels, La Paloma lurks off Santa Monica with a massive cache of weapons that Mahorn and Laimbeer are about to bring to shore, but their engines cut out. Simultaneously, Matt and Stephanie appear in the Scarab. Rather than risk being caught, the two smugglers scuttle the ship and rig it to explode. As Matt and Stephanie pull the men from the water, Stephanie recognizes the La Paloma emblem on Mahorn’s life vest, and she attempts to radio Daniels. Suddenly, La Paloma explodes in a huge fireball. When the dust settles, Mahorn and Laimbeer have drawn their guns. Matt is t h r o w n overboard, risking hypothermia, while the two gun-runners speed away from the wreckage with Stephanie as their hostage.
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