| Subject: ...For Meritorious Service, Chapter 25c - part one |
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TxJAG_b
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Date Posted: 12:44:23 09/29/08 Mon
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TxJAG_b
's message, "...For Meritorious Service" on 09:04:26 05/08/07 Tue
…For Meritorious Service, Chapter 25c
A/N: Late August and early September saw the passing of two great people connected with JAG; Don LaFountaine, the voice of the introduction to Seasons 2 & 3 of JAG. Mr. LaFountaine is also known for his voiceovers on movie trailers and most recently for a humorous GEICO commercial. And Jeff McKay, who many of you might remember from “Blacksheep Squadron” and “Magnum P.I.” but we in the JAG world will always know him as ‘Big Bud’ Roberts, the father of Bud and Mike Roberts. They will be sorely missed.
1520 Local
Crystal Valley Apartments
Falls Church, Virginia
Mrs. Low and Fazirah Dodge stood cautiously regarding each other in the apartment’s living room. The tension in the air was palpable. Then it seemed to dissipate as Mrs. Low reached out, her actions mimicked by the Marine widow. The two women embraced.
Jason unconsciously took Jennifer’s hand in his. Jennifer looked stunned for a moment, but did not let go. AJ took note of Jen’s reaction, but did not say anything. Now was not the time or the place to discuss protocol.
“Let’s wait outside,” he said softly to the two petty officers. Jason had dropped Jen’s hand and resumed a professional stance. They nodded their agreement and together the three left the apartment.
“I am…how you say, so…horribly sorry for your loss…Mrs. Low,” said Fazirah haltingly as tears filled her shining brown eyes.
Mrs. Low gave a warm chuckle; not at the woman’s grammatical clumsiness, but because of the honest warmth behind her words. A single tear trickled down her face. “I’m sorry for your loss too, Mrs. Dodge, and its Katie Lynn.”
“I am sorry, Katie…Lynn,” Fazirah replied smiling “and, please, it is Fazirah.”
Michael’s widow looked at the woman. “Fazirah, your husband was a combat engineer in the Marines?
Fazirah nodded feeling a moment of pride. “A first Lieutenant. He loved being a Marine. Very proud of it.”
Katie Lynn Low had to know more. “How did he die?”
A sad, painful look crept into Fazirah’s eyes. “He was shot and killed during an operation to liberate an Iraqi village.” The Afghan refugee wanted her to know more. The good part. She reached out and urged Mrs. Dodge to join her on the sofa. After they were seated Fazirah told her the rest. “He had been trying to save the life of his fellow Marines.”
Katie Lynn smiled, her cheeks trembling. She closed her eyes and took a calming breath. “Michael had wanted to be a Marine. He failed the physical when he was younger. So, he became a patrolman instead.”
Fazirah understood what the woman was saying. Her man had felt it was his duty to protect and serve others. If he couldn’t do it as a soldier, then he would do so as an officer of the law. As her father had and his father had before him. “If it was not for your husband…his sacrifice, Katie Lynn…Petty Officers Tiner and Coates would not be alive today, and most likely I would not be here either.”
Mrs. Low dipped her head at those words.
Fazirah took her hand again and met her eyes when Katie Lynn looked up. “Allah took our husbands, but it was part of a greater purpose. We can be proud of them, Katie Lynn. He will take care of them until we can be with them again.”
Katie Lynn nodded. “True, we don’t always know why God does what he does, but there is always a reason for it. We sometimes just don’t understand the reason.”
“Until we begin to see the bigger picture.” Fazirah bit her lower lip as she looked into Katie Lynn’s shining blue eyes.
*~*
“I only have myself to blame, Jethro,” Ducky said with an aire of resignation.
“What do you mean, Duck?” Gibbs said quickly. He really wanted to get back in the room and start interrogating Sedrick Phillips again. Dr. Mallard having a crisis of confidence was highly unusual, so Gibbs felt it would have been wrong to ignore his call.
“I mean, I should have realized it was Captain Lewis and not PFC Secord who fired the weapon. I can’t believe I was so easily mislead.”
“You can’t blame yourself for that, Duck. We all get mislead from time to time. It’s the nature of the business.”
“Is that what you tell your…Probie Agents, or even Tony, for that matter, Gibbs?”
The Senior NCIS Agent had walked right into that one. “No Duck, but this is different….”
Before he could finish the NCIS Forensic Pathologist jumped on what he was going to say. “Ah, because I am you friend, right Jethro?”
“Duck,” Gibbs was beginning to tire of this psychological game.
“Ah, but don’t you see, Jethro? Based on what I’ve learned about the Captain through the autopsies up to this point…well, it should have made me realize…”
“Realize what?”
“That *he* fired the shots that killed Lieutenant Dodge. I have no doubt that he has been involved in all the other deaths over there as well. He is a dangerous man, Jethro. Abby was right in warning you; do be careful.”
“I always am Ducky. Now stop stewing over what you learned about Lewis,”
“Very well,”
The silver haired NCIS Agent could tell that ‘very well’ meant ‘only because you’re telling me to do so’. He decided that revealing to Ducky what the JAGs had found might get his mind back on track.
“And tell Abby to pull up all the info she can find about the Captain. I’ve got a report from Commander Rabb about Captain Lewis that I’ll be sending to her that she can use as a starting point.”
“All right, Jethro,” Gibbs could tell Ducky was still thinking about his problems with Captain Lewis. Like a dog with bone….
“Bye Ducky.”
Gibbs smiled as he closed his phone and entered the interrogation room where Sturgis and Sedrick Phillips were waiting for him.
Sedrick looked up morosely at Gibbs as he entered the room. Sedrick had not had a good day and it was about to get worse. “Why are you smiling?”
Gibbs ignored the former RIC’s comment. He looked at Sturgis. “My team confirmed what your Lieutenant had suspected, Commander….”
“That Secord had used a specially designed rifle to kill Dodge?”
“Nope; that *Lewis* had used a specially designed rifle to kill Dodge.”
Gibbs saw that the accusation had the desired effect on Phillips. His eyes began shifting quickly around the room and the NCIS Agent could see Sedrick had gone from miserable to panicky.
“Something you want to say Sedrick?” Gibbs asked with right amount of disdain in his voice.
“I want immunity—I mean, I need you to protect me.”
Gibbs smiled and shook his head. Sturgis folded his arms and stared down at the former NCIS officer. “We gave you an offer of immunity, Mr. Phillips. As I remember it, you asked for immunity in return for your confession and then you turned around and rejected it.”
“Well…the situation has changed; I would like immunity…for my testimony…and a guarantee of protection.”
Gibbs and Sturgis regarded each other for a moment.
“I respectfully request protection in exchange for my testimony,” Sedrick repeated, a little more forcefully this time. “Please.”
Gibbs shook his head. “No; you talk, or we let it slip to Lewis that you ratted on him.”
Genuine fear showed in Sedrick’s eyes. He turned to Sturgis Turner. “Commander? Commander, legally you can’t let that happen--”
Sturgis coolly gathered his materials. “I’ll file a protest with Major Barnett on your behalf, Mr. Phillips….” His voice was very professional sounding…and devoid of any emotion. It was not the sympathetic voice Sedrick had expected, had hoped, to hear.
“You’re leaving?” Sedrick’s voice went up an octave.
“I need to confer with your attorney…” The same noncommittal professional tone.
Sedrick nearly leaped out of his chair. “Confer?! About what?”
Sturgis stopped gathering his papers and cut his eyes toward Sedrick. Loathing and contempt filled the features of Chaplain Turner’s son. “Your intransigence with regards to helping us find the killers of Lieutenant Dodge, Captain Butler, PFC Krivstad, Corporal Grearson, and Sergeant Colwell--”
“Give me protection and I’ll tell you anything you want,” he bargained.
Gibbs shook his head. “Nuh uh; you tell us what we need to know, and we’ll think about giving you protection.”
“You don’t understand,” Sedrick said now close to a full blown panic attack.
Gibbs slammed his hands on the table, making Sedrick Phillips flinch. “What don’t we understand?! You’re the one who told us you didn’t want immunity, much less protection! You haven’t given us anything we haven’t learned about through our own investigation--”
Sedrick was at loss. He had tried every gambit he could think of, but this time he wasn’t going to win. He had lost and even worse, his loss would betray the cause. He would have to be a traitor in order to save his life. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes like a man stepping off a ledge. When he opened them again, he looked down at the table. “I..I was visited…by someone representing Captain Lewis….”
Sturgis and Gibbs exchanged looks of doubt.
“Visited when—today?” The former Dolphin was having trouble believing this - after all, Sedrick had lead them down false paths before.
Sedrick licked his lips. A single head nod.
Gibbs wasn’t buying this. “Someone representing Lewis? C’mon Sedrick; give us something more solid to work with!”
Sedrick looked around as if there were listening devices planted on the walls. “You don’t understand; this person has Captain Lewis’ ear. He told me things--”
Gibbs had had enough of this subterfuge. “I want names Sedrick! Names and facts!!” He emphasized the last part by banging his fist on the table in front of Phillips.
Sedrick nearly leaped out of his chair in shock. Both men were puzzled by the Regional Investigative Coordinator’s collapse.
Sedrick looked at both Jethro Gibbs and Sturgis Turner for moment, and then meekly nodded. “Yes…. Okay…. The soldier who visited me…he’s a Gunnery Sergeant….”
Gibbs rolled his eyes…more vagueness.
The former RIC could tell he was losing his audience. “All right, all right! H-His name is Galindez…Master Gunnery Sergeant V-Victor Galindez.”
Sturgis paused. “Master Gunnery Sergeant?” He hoped he hadn’t given away that he knew Victor. Apparently Gunny was on an undercover assignment. Whatever his role in this little charade he had Sedrick spooked. Really spooked.
And what was he doing visiting Sedrick Phillips?
Gibbs though, didn’t have to worry about exposing Victor. He didn’t know him, except as the soldier who had found Sergeant Rathum’s body. “So who is this…Galindez?”
“He worked…works with Captain Lewis…and Colonel Livingston. Only he is not Master Gunnery Sergeant Galindez, he is actually Master Gunnery Sergeant Hector Bustamante.” Both the JAG Attorney and NCIS Agent moved closer to former Regional Investigative Coordinator Phillips.
The silver haired NCIS Agent got right in Sedrick Phillips’ face. “So? Why is this important to us, Sedrick?”
Sedrick cleared his throat and lowered his voice so only the JAG Corps attorney and the NCIS Agent could hear him. The fear in his voice was palpable. “He is better known as…Cesar.”
*~*
Harm was back up on Vulture’s Row. But his mind wasn’t on the planes taking off and landing. He had just had a heated argument--first with the CAG, and then with Captain Ingles. Both had denied his request to be on one of the overflights over Camp Chesty Puller.
The good news was that no one was killed in the insurgent attack. The bad news was, he still hadn’t heard from Mac. Was she among the injured?
Dammit! Why was he letting her make him crazy like this?! He had sworn a long time ago he would never let someone get this close to him again. His public breakup with Annie over what had happened on the Tiger Cruise had been painful, and then there was Jordan and more recently, Renee. Maybe he was wrong; instead of Mac, maybe he was the one who had girlfriends who were dead or wished they were.
But it took a toll on him too; it seemed that everyone he loved or cared for strongly always disappeared from his life. Was this going to be Mac’s fate as well? Was she just another someone he would love briefly, only to have her die tragically or the romance publically disintegrate?
He pulled out his cell phone and looked at it again. Nothing. Arrgh! He wanted to throw the phone overboard, but that would be a stupid move, no matter how momentarily gratifying it might be.
Besides his phone couldn’t pick up calls from shore. He knew that. Out of frustration with this whole situation he was expecting the impossible.
He didn’t see Nicole quietly settle in beside him.
Harm let out a frustrated breath as another F-18 was catapulted into the steamy afternoon Persian Gulf air.
“Commander,”
Despite his best effort, Harm jumped. “Supergirl, I didn’t hear you come out….”
“Little hard with all these planes taking off to hear anything,” she quipped giving him a quick smile.
Harm couldn’t help smiling himself. He was glad that their relationship was on a more solid footing. You can’t have a wingman who hates your guts.
“If you don’t mind me asking, Hammer, are you okay?”
Harm gave her a wry smile as a Tomcat slammed to the deck. “Just worried about a friend,” he answered evasively as the roar from the jet fighter’s engines died down.
Nicole Hollands nodded her understanding. “She’s based at the Marine camp attacked by the insurgents.” Nicole said more as statement instead of a question.
Harm turned and gave her a surprised look. “How did you know I was referring to a she?”
Nicole gave him a sideways glance. “Your mood. The way you keep checking your cell phone. And the, uh, spirited conversations you had with the CAG and the Captain.”
Harm looked away from her and back at the flight deck. A Grumman Hawkeye glided to a landing. He couldn’t deny that his conversations with both men had been ‘spirited’.
“You heard about those,” Harm said in that lawyerly, matter of fact, ‘oh that’s not important’ tone of his that he had perfected during countless pre-trial negotiations, discussions with opposing counsel and the like.
“Yup,” Was her one word answer.
They both stood there for a moment and watched the flight crews getting another pair of planes ready for takeoff.
“She’s very special to you, isn’t she?” For a moment, Nicole felt a finger of jealousy. She wasn’t really sure why. After all, she already had a boyfriend….
Harm looked at his hands, because he didn’t want to show just how attached he was to his ‘friend’. “Very.”
His one worded answer spoke volumes. She could almost feel the worry radiating off him. Harm’s XO lightly touched his shoulder.
“She’ll be all right,” it was meant to be reassuring, but to her ears it came out sounding empty.
If Harm noticed, he didn’t let her know. He gave her another sardonic smile. “I know, she’s a Marine. She’d kick my six if she knew I was up here worrying about her….”
Nicole had to laugh at that comment. Yep, that woman was one lucky person.
They both watched as another Tomcat, which had moved up to the catapult, was launched into the clear blue afternoon sky.
The door to Vulture’s Row opened. Both Harm and Nicole turned to see a Seaman.
“Uh, Commander Rabb? Sir, you have a call from the ship to shore operator,”
Harm exchanged an anxious glance with Nicole.
“Go,” she said gently.
*~*
Abby was doing a dance to her techno-music. She was feeling much better now that she had warned Gibbs. (Boy, who would have ever thought that plain little Darcy would become such threat?) She thought as she continued her frenetic dance.
She did it partly as exercise – which you don’t get a lot of in an NCIS Forensic Lab, but also partly to take her mind off all the bizarre things that had taken place since NCIS had become involved in this case.
Darcy certainly had changed. From the quiet shy girl in elementary school who could disappear into the wall she was standing next to, to a manipulative boy hungry teen in high school, to an up and coming socialite when she became engaged to Beauregard de’ Acerville heir to the Acerville plantation and their family fortune, (…to Marine officer, I mean, who would’ve ever thought?)
Her computer beeped, indicating it had finished its analysis of the clothing of the dead members of Secord’s ‘inner circle’. The flashing icon was not good news. No matching fibers or chemicals found - save for what you would find on all combat soldiers.
Abby shook a disapproving finger at her computer display. “That’s not good enough,” she said admonishing the computer. “You were supposed to find me a link between these guys and Darcy Livingston – Gibbs is going to freak when he finds out and I’m laying the blame squarely at your feet…!”
The computer’s cursor continued blinking at her, unaffected by her tongue lashing.
Abby waved her arms around as if talking to an exasperating child. “How can you just sit there blinking at me?”
The computer didn’t respond.
“Oh right, I forgot,” Abby said in a snide tone, “I have to spoon feed you,” She began typing furiously on computer’s keyboard.
She finished with a flourish. “Now, as Gibbs would say; ‘Find me a link between Secord’s gang and Colonel Livingston!’”
*~*
The Radio-Telephone Operator in the Patrick Henry’s communication room listened to the signal and then nodded. “Go ahead Commander.”
“This is Commander Rabb.”
“Hey Sailor.” Mac, standing in a shed near the MEU practice range, didn’t know why she did it, but for some reason she just had to use the nickname. Maybe it made him feel closer than he actually was.
Despite the static and sound of gunfire in the background, Harmon Rabb could hear the warm lilt in her voice.
“Mac! Are you all right? Where are you?” As he finished his query, Harm could hear the Staff Sergeants yelling ‘cease fire, secure weapons’.
The Light Colonel was momentarily blown away by Harm’s response. She felt her face begin to color and hoped that no one, in particular, especially Jac Lewis, was watching her. “I’m fine, Harm, I’m at MEU practice range.” she managed to say calmly. “How are you doing?”
“Better now.”
The Marine officer wasn’t sure at first if that was overprotective Commander Rabb talking or Harmon Rabb, the man who loved her and was concerned about her well-being.
“What do you mean?” She asked, expecting the worst, praying for the best.
“I, I mean it’s good to hear your voice…I’ve missed you…and I was little worried with all the gunfire in the background.”
Mac smiled at his little joke. She continued the banter. “A little worried…”
Harm chuckled. “Okay, a *lot* worried”
Mac couldn’t believe that this was Harmon Rabb she was talking to. It made her feel giddy inside.
Harm heard her quiet laughter.
“It’s really good to hear your voice.” He said again.
There was a momentary pause. Then Mac’s voice came back stronger than before and somehow different. “It’s good to hear yours, too.”
Harm almost forgot the original reason he wanted to talk to her. “Mac, how bad was it?”
She knew he was referring to the rocket attack, but she also longed to tell him about Lieutenant Ebbits’ death as well.
“It was a partial dud that hit the DFAC just as the lunch hour was ending. Both Sturgis and Bud are okay….”
“Sturgis and Bud?” He repeated stupidly.
The Commander could have hit himself. She wasn’t just calling to talk to him; Mac knew Harm would be worried about the rest of the JAGMAN team.
*~*
“Abby? Who are you talking to?”
NCIS Probationary Officer Tim McGee stood in the doorway to Abby’s lab; an extremely worried look filled his boyish face.
Abby turned around to see the young NCIS Agent. “Oh hiya, Tim! Sorry, I was dressing down my computer for not giving me the information I need.” Abby acted as if this was a completely normal thing to do.
“Um, Abby, you do realize that is a machine, right?” In the back of his mind, he idly wondered if Abby had installed some of the sight impaired options on her computer so that it would talk to her. He knew a guy back at MIT who had actually programmed his computer with several pat vocal responses. If one wasn’t listening carefully, they’d swear the computer was talking to him.
“Of course I do, Tim,” she assured him in way that made it sound like he was the one doing something unusual. “It’s just that I expected better from my computer. I mean, if I had done as poorly, Gibbs would have my head.”
“Right.” Tim said warily as he stepped into the room.
At that moment the computer beeped again.
Abby turned to face the monitor. “Now that’s more like it,” she said giving the monitor an affectionate pat. “You see? That wasn’t so hard, now was it?”
* ~*
Mac wondered if there was some kind of interference on the line. It sounded like Harm had repeated himself. “Yes Harm, they were in the Officer’s Mess when the rocket hit. I figured you would want to know--”
“Yeah Mac, sure, thanks,” he said abruptly, cutting her off. This was so frustrating; sure it was nice to hear her voice but he wanted more. More? What was he, a lovesick high school student? Why did he need more?
Okay, something was definitely going on with Flyboy. Time to bring him back to earth. “Harm? Harm!”
Mac’s sharp insistent tone brought Harm out of his self examination. “I’m sorry Mac, I just got lost in thought…”
“About what happened with Bud and Sturgis?” It was an educated guess.
Harm picked up on the prod immediately. “With Bud, yeah…and even Sturgis.” He added as an afterthought.
The Light Colonel sighed. “It’s nice to see you boys are on friendly terms again,” Mac said in a slightly sarcastic tone. Then she immediately regretted it.
“Hey, I’ve not been the only one butting heads with Sturgis,” Harm rightfully pointed out. “C’mon Mac, I said I was concerned about him. Look, I’m glad he wasn’t hurt.”
Mac knew that rift between these two academic buddies was far from healed. There was something deeper going on, but she didn’t have time to explore it right now. Moreover, she and the former Dolphin had their own conflicts to resolve. But all of this would have to happen later.
Right now, she needed the aviator/attorney to be aware of the big changes that were taking place.
“Harm, Colonel Livingston’s planning something big. She’s made me Acting Commander of one of her platoons. She’s putting people she can trust into key positions in the unit….”
The JAG Naval Attorney zeroed in on Mac’s key words. “Acting Commander, Mac?”
“The CO, Lieutenant Carlson Ebbits, was killed when we went on a recon mission. Harm, I think Darcy Livingston had him deliberately killed.”
“Deliberately? Mac, are you sure?”
“Ebbits thought so just before he died. And so does another Marine in the unit….”
“What about everyone else in the unit?”
“They’re calling it a tragic incident. Harm, Ebbits was alone on his side of the ambush zone. Those insurgents knew he was there. Someone tipped them off.”
That someone being Colonel Darcy Livingston or Captain Jacques Lewis. “What about Colonel Livingston and Captain Lewis, Mac?”
“Plausible denial. She was overseeing the operation from a mile or more away. He was back at Forward Operations Base Metz. Neither one pulled the trigger, Harm, but they might as well have.”
“What do you plan to do?”
Harm could hear the determination in her voice. “Get as much on them as I can, and more importantly, find out what they’re really up to.”
“Be careful, Mac,” Harm said urgently.
Mac looked around at where she was and almost laughed. “It’s a little late to tell me that, now, Flyboy, don’t you think?” Then she added. “Harm, I’m a big girl, I’ll be fine.” In the past she would have left it at the sharp witty comment but for some reason she felt she needed to reassure him.
Her attempt at soothing his anxiousness only succeeded in raising his irritability level. “Maac,”
Normally the Light Colonel would have brushed off the Commander’s one-word comment as over-protectiveness. But in this case, she knew it was something more. As she looked around, she saw that Darcy Livingston was headed her way. “I gotta go, Harm. Stay safe. Don’t go chasing down any nuclear tipped missiles.”
Harm felt as if his feet were being cut out from under him. He had so much more to say. “Mac, I--” the connection cut. “…Love you.” The tall Naval Commander stood there for a moment holding the phone as the gentle buzz indicating the connection had been cut filled his ear.
“Sir? Has the connection been cut?” The Seaman didn’t want to pry, but he really did need that phone back.
Without saying a word, Harm handed it back to the stoic Seaman.
**Part two to post later this week....
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