| Subject: ...For Meritorious Service, Chapter 7 |
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TxJAG_b
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Date Posted: 10:39:44 06/06/11 Mon
In reply to:
TxJAG_b
's message, "...For Meritorious Service, Chapter 1" on 10:48:20 04/12/11 Tue
*******************
Chapter 7 …For Meritorious Service
0454 Local
Camp Chesty Puller
Near Mirbullah, Iraq
Harm yawned, but tried not to stretch too much. Mac was sound asleep in his lap. Only once during the night, did a sentry come over, to see who the two people were sitting on the steps. To his surprise, he only asked to see Harm’s ID and then looking down at Mac, smiled and wished the Commander a pleasant evening/morning.
Despite their agreement to take shifts, Mac was next to impossible to wake up. Harm finally gave up at 04:20. This cold wasn’t doing his old injuries much good, but apparently, this was the Marine’s first peaceful sleep in a long while. That bothered Harm and if it meant a little stiffness for him, well, so be it. He knew Mac had bouts of sleeplessness, but her falling into this kind of deep sleep meant Mac had missed more than just a few nights’ rest. He had to find out what was going on with her and soon. He looked down at her. She looked so innocent, so peaceful, and so… so beautiful.
Her eyelids fluttered and she let out a soft groan.
Mac felt so refreshed, she felt relaxed, she felt…Harm’s lap. Her eyes snapped open. The Commander was staring down at her.
“Good Morning Colonel.”
“Uh, morning.” She quickly did a mental check of the time as she lifted her head off his lap and sat up facing him. “Harm, its 0455 and…twenty nine seconds.”
“What’s the matter Mac,” he teased smiling at her discomfort, “Internal clock alarm need new batteries?”
She ignored his joke. “Harm, you let me sleep,” Her indignation was half-hearted. “Why didn’t you wake me like you were supposed to?”
His voice indicated the answer was evident “I did try, several times. Besides you obviously needed to sleep, Marine.”
Mac sighed. As usual, Harmon Rabb was right, damn him. She did feel better than she had in a long time. How many weeks had it been – two, three? She honestly couldn’t remember. Up to now she hadn’t gotten more than twenty hours of sleep a week. Like any Marine, she had been trained on how to handle sleep deprivation, but she was fast reaching her breaking point.
Several times she had dozed off during the day. A couple of times in her office, another time resulted in a hair-raising near traffic accident and a few days ago she had slept through staff call. The Admiral had given her hell for it, but only her ego had been bruised and she had been able to convince him that she had been ill over the weekend.
But she couldn’t keep this up forever.
“Mac, I know something’s wrong, talk to me.”
“Nothing’s wrong.” she insisted a little too strongly as she got up and walked away from him.
“Maac…”
She hated it when he did that. One, it meant he wanted an answer and two, it was really cute.
“Harm please, can we discuss this later?” He got up and walked over to her. He stood close but did not touch her. She could feel his breath on her and see the intensity in his blue eyes. He wasn’t going to let this go…but he would give her a temporary reprieve.
“Okay Mac, I’ll back off for now,”
She relaxed a little and started to say ‘thank you’ but it died on her lips when he fixed her with a stern gaze.
“But, we will discuss this…later.”
1207 Zulu
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia
Admiral Chegwidden had just settled down at his desk, to begin going through some case file reports, left on his desk from the previous evening. Tiner was nothing if not efficient. He picked up his coffee cup to take a sip when his phone began to ring.
He looked over at the phone. There could only be one of two people calling at this hour. One was Commander Rabb. He wasn’t ready for that yet. He continued to let it ring. The second person it might be was the SECNAV. He sighed, put down his coffee cup and punched the intercom button on his phone.
“Admiral Chegwidden.”
“AJ, I trust I am not interrupting anything at this early hour?” Secretary of the Navy Sheffield always managed to sound chipper no matter what time of day it was. (Then again, it could be my imagination,) AJ thought.
AJ smiled knowing that it made the person talking sound friendlier – no matter how they really felt about the person they were talking to. “No Sir, Mr. Secretary, what can I do for you this morning?”
“Can you, ah, give me a progress report on the Lieutenant Dodge murder investigation?”
AJ tried to maintain his smile. “Well Sir, I haven’t heard from the team since last night. They just arrived yesterday afternoon--”
Sheffield cut him off sharply. “AJ, I don’t think I need to remind you how important this investigation is.”
AJ understood the implied threat. While AJ had the rank and the tenure, he served at the pleasure of the SECNAV even if the man was a civilian. “Yes Sir, Mr. Secretary. Commanders Rabb and Turner, Colonel MacKenzie and Lieutenant Roberts met with Colonel Briggs yesterday evening. They *will* have a progress report for me later this morning.”
“Well, can’t they tell us something right now?” The man’s lack of patience was wearing on AJ. His smiled flickered a little, but somehow he managed to maintain it. (The things I do for the Navy….)
“Right about now they’re out in the field interviewing witnesses, Sir. It would be difficult to *reach* to them.”
“Oh I see; well AJ, I’ll be looking forward to their report.” (Finally, the man gets it. We can’t just conjure these things out of thin air….)
“This case has been stagnant for far too long. I’m still not sure why the first team couldn’t take care of this.” (What?! Of all the stupid, asinine comments--)
“The reports of improprieties, Sir?” He gently reminded the SECNAV. Even though AJ had the urge to scream at him, he knew it was not conducive to him keeping his job as the JAG. Then again, he thought evilly, it might be worth it.
“Oh yes, that’s right I forgot.” (Well, well, it does have a brain.) “Well AJ, I do know that we have the best there now.”
“Yes Sir.” (Damn right we do!)
“Commander Manetti told me that Commander Rabb and Colonel MacKenzie are two of your hardest working staff.”
“Yes Sir they are.” (When they aren’t giving me extra strength migraines….)
“So I know they’ll do a good job.” (Thanks for a statement of the obvious.)
“Yes Sir.”
“You know AJ, Lieutenant Dodge is a true hero. Something we have precious few of these days, and his murderers need to be brought to justice.”
“My people will do their best Sir.” (If you’ll just stop worrying us for five minutes…)
“I know they will, AJ, I know they will.”
The SecNav must’ve decided that he had milked as much as he could out of that subject. He abruptly switched topics. “So, how are the replacements working out? You know AJ, getting Commanders Mattoni and Imes away from their current duty assignments must have been difficult. Thank you for making that possible AJ.”
“Well Sir, that was really your decision.” (Fishing for compliments, eh, Mr. Secretary?)
“Yes, I guess it was. And Lieutenant Commander Burford and Major Clemons, I trust they are doing satisfactory work?”
The smile was getting harder to maintain. “They had a little trouble adjusting Sir, but I think everything will work out.”
“Good AJ, good. I’m happy to hear that, because I think they will make excellent partners one day.”
(If they don’t kill each other first,) he thought grumpily, “Yes Sir, they will, someday.”
Sheffield picked up on his change of tone immediately. “You don’t sound very positive AJ, is there something wrong?”
(Damn!) Now he had stuck his foot in it. “They are very spirited, Sir, especially Major Clemons.”
“Ah yes, Major Clemons. Well you know, she has expressed strong interest about working in your office, AJ.”
(Really? So she can wreck it?) “That’s good to know Sir.”
“She needs a good partner to provide her balance. I think Lieutenant Commander Burford can do that. This will be a good experience for them.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Glad to hear you agree AJ, well, I look forward to your report from Commander Rabb. I know he will do what needs to be done to straighten out this situation at Mirbullah.”
“Yes Sir.” (Providing that Mac, Sturgis, and Bud can keep him under control….)
“Well, Goodbye AJ.”
“Goodbye Sir.” AJ Chegwidden punched the intercom button again, disconnecting the call. He sat for a moment looking at the phone and then leaned back in his overstuffed chair. Holding his reading glasses in one hand, he rubbed his face with the other. Then he pinched and rubbed the bridge of his nose for a few minutes, wondering about his just finished conversation with the Secretary. (I don’t know how much longer I can do this; between Rabb and Sheffield, I may have to put in for early retirement….)
“Good Morning Admiral.”
He looked up through his open door. Petty Officer Jennifer Coates stood looking at him.
(Another Rabb disciple,) he thought sourly. Well, he’d straighten her out once she took Tiner’s place when he went to Naval Justice School.
“Good morning Coates.” He returned gruffly.
“Have you heard from Mirbullah yet, Sir?” her voice was hopeful, as she looked at him.
“No Petty Officer.” doing his best to sound annoyed.
“Sorry Sir, would you like for me to get you some coffee?”
“I’m still nursing my first cup Coates.” She looked a little dejected at that.
(Oh hell,) “I guess I could use a warm-up.”
She immediately brightened. “Yes Sir, right away, Admiral.”
She came to attention, pivoted and headed to the break room. In moment, AJ could hear her busily starting the coffeemaker
“I hope she makes better coffee than Tiner does.” he said aloud as he opened another report to review.
0830 Local
City Police Station
Mirbullah, Iraq
Harm sat at the table directly across from 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Lukens, the Cobra gunship pilot. He was clean shaven, but haggard looking.
“Are they treating you well--”
“What do you care?” shot back the pilot. It really didn’t matter to him what this lawyer thought.
Harm’s easy going demeanor disappeared; and was replaced by a professional coolness. “Okay Lieutenant, let’s start this again.” The pilot looked sullenly at him, refusing to give him the courtesy of a second chance.
Harm smiled briefly then grabbed the pilot by the collar. Pulling him close so that they were nose to nose. The Commander’s face now became an uncaring mask. His voice ice cold. “Let’s get one thing straight Lieutenant; you don’t want to be here and I don’t want to be here, but I need to investigate what happened. So let’s stop horsing around and get down to business.” He shoved the man roughly back into his chair.
“That’s assault Commander--” the man began to growl, shooting out of the chair, trying to regain his attitude and his anger. It was his only advantage here. But he faltered when he saw the Commander’s uncaring, dead eyes and heard that cold voice again.
“And you’re being held on murder charges Lieutenant,” Harm fired back with equal intensity. “Do you think anyone in this station really honestly cares right now, what you think?”
He glowered at the Commander who calmly sat back down at the table. “Now let’s start again, Second Lieutenant Lukens.” Harm made a point to de-emphasizing the man’s rank. It was a way of humbling him.
Ben Lukens realized that he wasn’t going to intimidate this man so, he sat down opposite Harm. Like the flip of a hidden switch, the cold professional was replaced by the more open caring man known as the Commander. “Are they treating you well?”
“Fair enough.” It was a neutral comment. At least it was progress.
Harm decided it would do little good to try and beat any cooperation out of him. He smiled at the dark thought. The Admiral wouldn’t stand for it. It took him a moment to realize he had slipped back into field agent interrogation mode. He looked at the man, uncertain what kind of damage he had done.
He had to get this darker part of him back under control. He was a lawyer again and lawyers don’t go around beating confessions out of people. Quietly he pulled out a legal pad from his open briefcase and uncapped his pen. “Tell me in your own words what happened Lieutenant….”
*~*
“…and when we returned fire, Ma’am, Lieutenant Dodge, sorta slumped in his hatch. That’s when we knew he had been hit.”
“But you had no idea he was dead?” Mac made a note to look again at the ballistics report and the Medical Examiner’s review. She looked up at Chief Warrant Officer Frederick Buell. Buell’s slight build and sandy blond hair made him seem more innocuous, but Mac knew that might not be the case. Many times she and Harm had dealt with people like this and found just the opposite.
“No Ma’am.” he smiled briefly and then buried it.
Mac remained impassive despite the temptation to relax her guard around this man. “When you say ‘sorta slumped’ did you happen to see any blood appear on his back?”
“Yes Ma’am.” That’s the way the whole interview had been. Yes Ma’am, No Ma’am, Thank You Ma’am – the guy was almost too polite. “Three splotches, uh sorry, that is, three entry points, Ma’am.”
“And How many rounds had you and Lieutenant Lukens fired?”
The Cobra Weapons Officer closed his eyes, looking as if he was doing mental calculations for a moment. After a moment he opened them and looked directly at her. “All told, Ma’am, I’d say between the both of us we fired about a dozen rounds.”
The Colonel wrote down on her legal pad ‘defendant’s recall matches ammunition report’
She put down her pen and looked hard at the Weapons Officer. “Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?”
*~*
“No Sir,” Lukens looked directly into the Commander’s eyes. “I did not kill Lieutenant Dodge.”
“You’ve made that abundantly clear Lieutenant,” Harm studied the man for a moment. “But that’s not up to me to decide.”
Lukens dropped eyes to the table in deference to the officer. “Commander?”
Harm looked impassively at the man. “Yes Lieutenant?”
“Sir, I know you have guys tell you all the time that they didn’t kill so and so or do the thing they are accused of…, and I know the evidence against us is pretty damning--”
“It would have helped if you had not been in a shoving match with Lieutenant Dodge twenty four hours earlier--” Harm interrupted.
“Yes Sir,” he said contritely, “I know that now Sir, but you have to believe me Sir, I did not kill Lieutenant Dodge and neither did my Weapons Officer.”
Harm almost believed this man despite his initial misgivings about the pilot. There was something in his comments. The Commander tried not to betray his true sentiments.
“I’m just here to file a report Lieutenant. Not to determine guilt or innocence.”
However, Harm was already beginning to believe there may be something else going on here. With all his years as an investigator and prosecutor it was fairly easy to tell when someone was trying to pull a snow job. But all during this interview, he could not read anything duplicitous about this man. Yes, he had a temper and he was a little gruff, but murder seemed less and less like something this man would do.
“Commander, what happens if your report indicates enough evidence for this to go to trial?”
Harm smiled his first genuine smile during this interview. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, Lieutenant. We still have a lot of work to do before we can reach any kind of conclusion.”
Ben Lukens grinned for the first time since Harm entered the cell. “Yes Sir, thank you for your honesty, Sir.”
Harm, got up and tapped on the jail cell door. He looked back at the man. “For what its worth, Lieutenant, I believe you.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
The door opened and Harm left, leaving Lieutenant Lukens feeling the most positive he had felt in weeks.
---TBC…
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