| Subject: ...For Meritorious Service, Chapter 25a, part two |
Author:
TxJAG_b
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 09:50:12 06/25/08 Wed
In reply to:
TxJAG_b
's message, "...For Meritorious Service" on 09:04:26 05/08/07 Tue
A/N: As promised; here is part two. Next up...25b and build-up to striking back at al-Qaeda... *A warning for
language - this is a combat situation folks* Thanks to
my betas for their hard work :)
1020 Zulu
NCIS Headquarters
Washington, DC
Abby Sciuto was sitting in front of her computer looking at a schematic when Tim McGee came into her lab. Abby had been so great to him since he arrived. He wanted to tell her how he—
“Hey Abby,” It was Major McBurney. What was the JAG’s NCIS liaison doing here this at this hour?
“Major McBurney, isn’t it a little early in the morning for you to be here?” Abby asked with a sly smile on her face.
Tim definitely felt like a third wheel watching the interplay between these two.
“Well Abby,” he said with his own sly smile, “I’m an early riser.”
Abby rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. “All you Corps guys are the same. Gibbs is like that too, you know; always getting here at the crack of dawn. Of course, I’m usually already here. I think he’s trying to see if he can catch me sleeping--”
The Major gave her a warm smile and held up his hand to stop her staccato response. “The real reason I’m here Abby, is to see what you found in the computer data that Lieutenant Roberts sent to you….”
“Oh right; the computer data…plenty.” She began tapping away on her computer.
Tim decided this was as good a moment as any to make his entrance and maybe show off some of his computer skills for Abby as well.
“Hey Abby…”
“Tim!” Abby’s eyes lit up as she turned toward his voice. Now it was McBurney’s turn to feel like a third wheel. Who was this guy?
“Abby, who’s your friend?” Michael said with hint of jealously in his voice.
Abby though, was oblivious. “Oh; Major John Michael McBurney, JAG Corps, this is Special Agent Timothy McGee--”
“Tim McGee, Computer specialist, I’m on loan from the Norfolk Office,” Tim explained and somehow managed to brag at the same time as he shook the Major’s hand. Tim’s firm handshake surprised the Marine. He responded in kind.
“I’m *Major* McBurney, the Marine legal liaison to NCIS.”
“Yeah, I know,” Tim responded with a hint of a challenge in his voice.
“You do?” the JAG Major wasn’t about to let some snot nosed whiz kid from Norfolk sweep him out of the way….
Abby knew something was happening between these two, but she wasn’t sure what. She decided they needed to bury it for now. What was more important than their posturing was the information she was getting from Lieutenant Robert’s laptop. “Guys! Take a look at this!”
Both men quickly decided the case was more important than any real or imagined rivalry, so they put that to one side for now, and gave their full attention to what was on Abby’s computer screen.
A puzzled look filled the Major’s features. “What exactly are we seeing?” He asked.
“Data-stream from the Lieutenant’s laptop; Abby is interfacing it with her mapping software,” Tim moved closer to the keyboard next to Abby’s and began tapping keys, causing the three-dimensional representation of the Mirbullah town square to appear.
Abby tapped keys on her keyboard causing a 3-D image of Alpha Company and its accompanying Combat Engineer platoon to appear as they did just after the initial ambush began to take place.
McBurney was awed by the level of sophistication in this recreation. “That’s incredible Abby,”
“It gets even better; watch this…” Abby smirked as she continued furiously tapping on her keyboard.
Within moments the placid computer image changed. Simulated explosions rocked the Marine convoy. With the lead and rear AMTRACs now disabled and Gunny Sanchez’s HMMWV on fire, the situation looked almost identical to the situation described in the after action reports.
“Okay,” Tim said ignoring the fact that McBurney was leaning closer to Abby, “where did Lieutenant Roberts think the snipers were?”
“Here, here and here,” Abby said as she tapped on her keyboard. “And, according to the Lieutenant’s data, here are the firing patterns of the insurgents,” she said as she continued tapping her keys.
“Now where are the Marines?” asked Abby.
“Coming up, Abbs,” Tim said his voice brimming with confidence and bravado as he began tapping on the keyboard next to hers.
With a few more clicks of the keys, the trapped Marines appeared. In almost every case, automatic rifle and machinegun fire intersected with the soldiers regardless of where they were.
“Where was Captain Lewis?” asked the Marine JAG.
“Um, right here,” Tim said verbally stalling as he as he continued tapping keys.
“McGee, that’s not right…” Abby said quickly.
Tim was momentarily crushed. “What do you mean?”
When Abby was dealing with scientific calculations, hurting feelings was the least of her worries. “Well look; he’s got at least three people who are hitting him dead center in the chest.”
“Bulletproof vest?” Postulated Tim. He hoped that was the case.
“Those are AK-74’s, McGee,” Abby noted clinically, effectively eliminating that argument. “Not even a bulletproof vest could have saved him from that,”
“Yeah, you’re right,” the junior NCIS Agent admitted. “He should have at least been knocked down by those rounds, if not outright killed.”
Abby nodded her affirmation. “According to the data, Captain Lewis should’ve been Swiss cheese….”
Tim had forgotten his short-lived defeat and now was concentrating on the puzzle at hand. “Yeah and that head shot would’ve killed him for sure….”
Abby looked at the paper report next to her keyboard. “Instead it blew away Lance Corporal Darby’s kneecap….”
This anomaly was getting more frustrating by the second. It didn’t help that it was making him look bad in front of Abby and the Marine judge advocate. Tim’s analytical mind went into overdrive.
“It just doesn’t make sense…unless…he moved away from that position! Abby! That would explain the wounds the other men around him received!”
Abby was so proud of Tim. She wanted to hug him, but she also wanted to know what else the computer specialist had figured out. “So where was he?”
“Here,” said Tim with a hit of cockiness in his voice, pointing to the dead space on the screen.
Abby nodded, accepting his theory…for now. “Okay, let’s say he was there….”
“Corporal Dremmond said the Captain had been trying to rally the company,” Tim reminded her of Colonel MacKenzie’s initial interviews as he clicked his mouse and moved Lewis’ position.
Abby nodded. “That would make sense, but it looks like the snipers would have zeroed in on him standing up like that….”
“Maybe they did, but not right away,” he further postulated.
This was a little much for her analytical mind to accept. “C’mon Tim, do you really believe that?”
“Uh, no.” he quickly admitted not daring to see if the Major was smiling at his faux pas. “Let’s enter the next set of data….”
“All right….”
A few more minutes of keystrokes revealed a very different picture than was painted by the official reports. In fact, what they were seeing on the screen looked a lot like Commander Rabb’s hypothesis on how the murder took place.
“Wow, Tim, look at that!”
“According to our calculations, Captain Lewis would have then moved to this next dead area….”
“While the place where he was just standing became a free fire zone!”
“Thus explaining the deaths of PFC Burrell and Corporal Danzig.”
“Let’s put in the next set of data….”
“Right,” said Tim as he quickly tapped in the coordinates. “Okay Abby, add in the enemy returning fire.”
Abby keyed in her information. Her facial expression morphed from confusion to astonishment.
“Tim! Do you see what I see?!”
“I sure do Abby,” Tim said severely, “he’s moving away from his trapped unit--”
“--and the insurgents are letting him.” Added McBurney, sharing a brief smile with both NCIS employees. “I’m betting each movement you two plot will show the insurgents just missing hitting Lewis, leaving him a clear path.”
“So where is he headed?” Asked the Marine Major aloud, more to himself than to Abby and Tim. This scenario in Mirbullah was getting more peculiar by the moment.
“That building.” Abby pointed to a two-story dwelling near where Lieutenant Dodge was killed. “Where’s Secord?”
“Not here.” Tim said flatly as he looked at the data.
“Not here? What do you mean, ‘not here,’ McGee?”
“I double-checked the data," Abby. "PFC Secord was not among the trapped Marines.”
“Check the rooftops,” Abby ordered. Tim began furiously working his keyboard.
“There he is!” Abby said excitedly as she traced the ballistics trajectory back to its point of origin. “Holy Cow! He’s firing at Lewis!!”
“And intentionally missing,” observed Tim.
“But he hit PFC Zhang, Lance Corporal Ricard and Sergeant Zevlin.” Abby said as she, Tim and Michael exchanged grim looks. They now realized that Adam Secord was responsible for the deaths of at least three more Marines, maybe more.
“All of them were trying to follow Captain Lewis.” Michael McBurney noted leaning closer to the screen. This was worse than Admiral Chegwidden had originally thought.
Just what in the hell had they stumbled onto?
“Let’s jump ahead to when FIREFLY ONE arrived.” Tim's hands dashed over the keyboard.
Abby quickly followed suit. “Right…”
Tim and Abby’s fingers flew across their keyboards, on the screen the layout of Mirbullah’s town square changed perspective to allow the Huey Cobra gunship to be seen entering the battlefield airspace.
“So where are Lewis and Secord now?” The Marine JAG was eager to find out if these two had brought the Cobra gunship down like Commander Rabb had surmised.
“Still on the rooftop, just like that kid Saddiyah had told Gibbs….” Abby reported
“And Colonel MacKenzie….” Tim added.
All three watched as Abby’s computers reworked the ballistics data and injury reports into an animated view of the town square, showing the positions of each shooter just before the gunship was shot down.
The Major was sure his eyes were playing tricks on him. “What does the ballistics trajectory show?” he asked.
Tim knew the JAG Corps officer wasn’t ignorant; he was looking for verification. “Secord keeping any Marines from making it to their building….”
“…while Captain Lewis fires at the gunship.” Abby said quietly, scarcely believing her own eyes.
“Secord and Lewis must’ve switched rifles…” Tim surmised as he examined the data.
“Commander Rabb found a fifty caliber slug in the undercarriage of the Cobra,” Abby reminded both men of that fact.
“The bullets’ trajectory matches the firing pattern that the Barrett had against the gunship,” said Tim with finality.
“Okay, so that’s how they brought the gunship down,” Abby said slowly, “now how did they kill Dodge?”
“Well let’s move ahead to that time period and add in the ballistic trajectories that Lieutenant Roberts gave us,” Tim replied as he began his keystrokes.
The three dimensional representation of the town changed again. Now it showed the downed helo sitting crossways in front of Alpha Company. Next the Marines of the Company surged forward, lead by Lieutenant Dodge’s AMTRAC.
In a replay in miniature of the murder, Dodge’s AMTRAC swung crossways in front of the downed Cobra gunship, with Dodge standing in the hatch giving the Marines and the gunship crew cover fire.
“Okay,” Tim tapped a series of keys, “that’s the last of the ballistics data….”
Abby grabbed the young NCIS Agent’s arm. “McGee! Look!”
Tim looked up to see the lines indicating the bullet trajectories intersect on Dodge, but they didn’t originate with Secord.
The Marine JAG Major couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Captain Lewis killed Lieutenant Dodge,” breathed Tim.
Abby shook her head. “That’s not possible; he didn’t have the weapon that fired nine millimeter rounds….”
“Oh, yes he did, Abigail.”
Abby, Tim and Michael turned to see Doctor Mallard and Commander Coulter enter the room.
“Commander?” The JAG Major wondered who else Rabb had pulled onto this case. Michael McBurney now felt a little better about not having been able to convict the JAG Corps’ star attorney. He and Colonel MacKenzie had obviously uncovered a very ugly operation. And this, it seemed, was just the tip of a really dirty iceberg. If Rabb and MacKenzie were right, this was directed from a very high level within the MEU.
“Ducky?” Abby couldn’t believe that he was here this early in the morning after being here so late last night. “What are you talking about?” And more importantly, why was Commander Coulter with him?
Doctor ’Ducky’ Mallard was in full explanatory mode. “Lieutenant Roberts was indeed correct; Captain Lewis was the one that used a weapon that could not only fire regular 7.62 millimeter rounds but also 9 millimeter parabellum rounds for an automatic pistol. To be more precise, my dear, the three 9 millimeter rounds that killed our murder victim, 1st Lieutenant Phillip M. Dodge.”
“The autopsy bears it out,” added Teresa, “our MRI data from Lieutenant Dodge showed the bullet still lodged in Dodge was the same as the rounds you examined from that weapon. In other words, Captain Lewis fired the rounds.”
All in the room understood that with Lieutenant Dodge being a Muslim, an autopsy wasn’t possible. But nothing stopped them from doing an MRI scan of the body.
“That means Secord was covering for him during his testimony,” concluded Tim.
“Precisely Timothy,” Ducky said, giving the young Agent a fatherly smile. “And our findings verify the ballistics data Abigail found as well as Lieutenant Roberts’ theory.”
The JAG Major looked at the screen again and then back at the group. “Looks like we’re dealing with some very wily characters, Dr. Mallard.”
Donald Mallard nodded gravely “Indeed we are, Major. I daresay they are also very cunning and very ingenious.”
“And very dangerous….” Added Tim.
That was enough for the NCIS Technician and Forensic Specialist “We’ve got to let Gibbs know right away, he might be in danger,” Before anyone else in the room could say anything, Abby punched in his number on her cell phone.
As Abby waited for her connection to the overseas operator, the JAG Major leaned closer to the NCIS Medical Examiner and the JAG Corps’ forensic pathologist.
“So, this is what were you two were doing last night? Just an MRI autopsy exam on Lieutenant Dodge?”
Ducky gave the young JAG an embarrassed smile, “Well, um, we also had quite a lot of business to discuss as well, Major….”
*~*
Bud was amazed he was still alive. Whoever thought being a JAG Corps officer was a quiet and safe job needed to have his head examined….
He stumbled through the shattered, smoking debris and crowds of rescuers. Like a leaf in a maelstrom of water, the Lieutenant wasn’t sure which direction to go. Then he saw the dusty disheveled figure of Chaplin Turner’s son, moving through the debris and crowds, towards him.
Bud picked up his pace, careful not to lose his balance as he moved through the rubble, waving his arms to get the attention of the obviously distracted former submariner. “Commander? Commander! Are you all right?!”
Sturgis looked up at the Lieutenant as if he were looking at a ghost. Then as his mind confirmed it wasn’t a hallucination, he waved back at the young JAG officer. “I’m okay, I’m all right…Bud…are you…okay?”
“I’m fine sir, just a little shook up….”
Sturgis gave him a surprised chuckle. It was amazing how Lieutenant Robert always said the most interesting things at the most interesting times. “Aren’t we all, Bud….” Was all he could manage to say.
*~*
Gibbs looked at the smoking wreckage of the Dining Facility. In his mind’s eye, he could see flashbacks to other search and rescue missions he had joined or undertaken, including the one at the Pentagon.
Without a word, he began tossing aside chunks of concrete, and pulling piles of ripped and scorched canvas out of the way. Luckily, there were no bodies underneath. But as he did this, clouds of smoke that had been trapped inside the ruined facility boiled forth like steam from an evil broth.
Faith had done likewise, apparently following the senior NCIS Agent’s lead. Gibbs was surprised she hadn’t balked at the prospect of doing manual labor. There was more to this woman than met the eye.
As Gibbs continued lifting up debris and working his way toward getting inside, he cut a glance at the NCIS- JAG Liaison and noticed that she was looking through the smoke, that seemed to be everywhere, at something or someone. He was about to ask her what she was doing when she moved away from him suddenly.
“Commander? Lieutenant!!”
Both disheveled men turned in the direction of the female voice. They could see Faith Coleman carefully picking her way toward them. They could also see that Special Agent Gibbs had joined her.
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia
AJ had just finished preparing for his morning briefing with his attorneys. Well they really weren’t all his. Two were on loan from Air Force JAG while Imes was still in the hospital. They did okay work, but he really wanted all his own people back on the job.
What really stuck in his craw was what Tiner had reported to him just before the briefing. Jason confirmed he had found several workstations that had survived the attack had odd files on them. A tech from the Pentagon had worked with him as well as the technicians the Army JAG had loaned AJ. They managed to clean all the workstations and servers, but it took hours. However now that they were clean and free of their spyware, that gave the Admiral a freer hand to handle the Mirbullah situation more directly than he had been doing up to now.
Still AJ figured that hacking into JAG’s computer network wasn’t the only thing they had done. They most likely had compromised his phone network as well and electronic surveillance bugs had likely been planted here too. It would make sense. It’s what he would have done.
What made his blood boil was how easily they had so thoroughly infiltrated JAG Headquarters.
Dammit, enough of this pussy-footing around waiting for bad guys to make their next move. He was going to get rid of this problem, SEAL-style.
He looked into his outer office and saw Jason Tiner sitting at his desk typing up an executive summary of this morning’s briefing. It was a wonder he had reported for duty this morning at all. The boy probably wasn’t ready for work yet, but AJ figured he wanted to show the Admiral that he was.
AJ chuckled, (The kid would make a good SEAL…) he thought to himself.
Jason was sitting at his desk, wishing he had taken a few more days' sick leave. His leg had started throbbing again and it seemed like the prescribed pain killers weren’t having any affect on the pain. But if Jen and Marla could make it in this morning, then so could he….
“Tiner!”
“Yes sir!”
“Step into my office for a moment.”
“Aye sir.”
Jason got up from his desk and walked stiffly into the Admiral’s office. The cane helped take some of the pressure off his leg, but the throbbing was going to take some getting used to.
Jason tried his best to come to attention.
The Navy/Marine JAG waved his hand to indicate that wasn’t necessary. “How are you feeling, son?”
Jason noticed that the Admiral was furiously scribbling while he responded. What was he up to?
“Uh, well…I’ve been better…but I can do my duty, sir.” Jason said distractedly. To anyone listening in, it would have sounded like the pain from his wounds was causing his halting answer.
AJ held up what he had been writing. ‘This room is bugged’ “That’s good to hear, son.”
Jason nodded his understanding at the Admiral’s written message. AJ began scribbling again.
“Were you able to get the attorneys’ file servers re-booted last night?” ‘Can you help me find and neutralize the bugs?’
“Yes sir!” Jason responded eagerly to both questions.
AJ chuckled at his Tiner’s enthusiasm. “Good, let’s get started with the day, shall we? Bring in the staff reports.”
Mirbullah, Iraq
As soon as the Senior NCIS Agent had determined that neither man was seriously hurt nor could he really help with the recovery efforts, Gibbs plowed his way out of the crowd of rescuers and headed for BLT Headquarters.
He was far from done with Sedrick Phillips – especially in light of what just happened. The urge to break this traitor in half was overwhelming him. No one tried to stop him or question what he was doing as he walked into the holding cell area. He was about to enter the hallway to the holding cells when his cell phone began ringing
Gibbs couldn’t believe it. Who could be calling him now? It was a hard and fast rule that no one interrupted Leroy Jethro Gibbs during an interrogation. Even Vivian Blackadder hadn’t risked interrupting Gibbs when he was interrogating Harmon Rabb. She sent a message via his PDA that read ‘Read him his rights’.
He took a deep breath before opening the phone. “Gibbs…”
Abby was almost frantic “Gibbs! Oh Thank God! Gibbs! Secord was covering for the real killer!! Lewis is the one who shot and killed Dodge, not Secord!!
Rather than trying to figure out why Abby was so frantic, he was annoyed, but tried his best not to let her know. Instead, he tried to get her to focus.
“How do you know this, Abby?”
His calm voice got her attention. But the senior Agent could still tell she was unnerved. “Tim, um, that is, Agent McGee and I, recreated the battle where Dodge was killed and both Lewis and Secord moved away from the rest of the Company during the fire fight, the ballistics data shows that Secord helped to keep the Marines pinned down, while Lewis first brought down the Cobra gunship and then killed Lieutenant Dodge!”
Gibbs didn’t respond at first. He stood there for a moment, trying to wrap his mind around this new information.
“Are you sure?” he finally said in a no-nonsense tone.
“‘Am I sure?’ Gibbs, you know me; I would never call you unless I’m at least 103% sure.”
That was a typical Abby response – at least she wasn’t sounding frantic anymore.
“Thanks Abbs,” The former Gunnery Sergeant started moving again down the hallway toward the former RIC’s cell.
“You’re welcome. Oh! And Gibbs…!” Abby’s plea made the NCIS Agent stop again.
“What is it Abby?” Annoyance was creeping back into his voice.
“Be really, really, really, super careful. These guys are really, really dangerous….”
*~*
The words demanded immediate attention. “This is a ZNN Special Report…what you are seeing is a live shot of a Marine encampment just outside Mirbullah, Iraq….” The next image was that of a mini-camera trying to focus on the smoking debris in the background. At the bottom of the screen was the word “Marine Compound, Mirbullah, Iraq.”
“What the hell--” rumbled Brigadier General Cody Thornton as he rose from his seat at the Marine MEF Headquarters in Baghdad, his eyes riveted to the television screen.
Colonel Cresswell turned and stood as well.
“This is Stuart Dunston in Mirbullah, Iraq. What you are seeing are the remains of the dining facility for the 36th Marine Expeditionary Unit stationed here. The building was just hit by an apparent Insurgent rocket attack. In the background, you can see Marine and Navy personnel scrambling to rescue their comrades….”
*~*
In the rec room of USS Patrick Henry, all eyes were on the unfolding drama.
“…casualties at this moment are unknown, but the fact that the Insurgents picked the lunch hour to launch their attack means there could be a heavy loss of life….”
*~*
At NCIS Headquarters, Director Tom Morrow watched a split screen in the Multiple Threat Assessment Center [MTAC]. On the left was the ZNN report; on the right was an overhead shot of the MEU compound.
“Do we have a point of origin for that rocket?” snapped Director Morrow.
“They’re working on it, sir.” replied a technician from his bank of telecommunication equipment.
Working on it wasn’t good enough. The SECNAV would be calling at any moment. “Get me Special Agent Shepard in Tel Aviv, now!”
“Yes sir.”
*~*
Harriet stood aghast as she stared at the middle monitor on the bank of television monitors in the JAG Corps Headquarters’ Bullpen. Almost everyone else there stood silently, listening to the ZNN Reporter.
AJ came out of his office and noticing everyone was looking up at the monitors. He peered upwards as well.
Stuart’s voice continued to report on the breaking story. “The rocket was apparently launched from the foothills outside this town -- Then another voice broke in. “Stuart! The first survivors are being pulled from the wreckage!” Stuart turned toward Brad Holliman who was sprinting toward Bud Roberts and Sturgis Turner as Faith helped the two move away from the chaos.
AJ couldn’t believe it. There was Bud Roberts on the screen. (At least this time he wasn’t being carried on a stretcher, Thank God….)
“Sir!”
The Navy/Marine JAG turned to see Lieutenant Sim’s knees buckle.
“Grab her!” He ordered.
As Jen and Marla reached her, Harriet shook her head and mumbled. “I’m all right, I’m all right….”
*~*
Harrison Kershaw studied the images from ZNN live feed.
“Do we know which of the insurgent groups did this?” He inquired as he continued to study the feed.
“Not yet sir, I’m working on it….” replied Special Agent Webb as he cupped his hand over the phone to give his reply. Then a voice connected on the other end of the line. “Yes, Sergeant Reyes? What do you have for me?”
--TBC…
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 