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Chapter Forty-One
Mac's Room
Base Hospital
Memphis NAS
2000 Local
"You want to run that by me again?"
That single sentence, delivered in a low, intense tone, caused the doctor to take an nervous step backwards. Harm leaned against the wall by the head of the bed and tried not to smile. Mac in Mt. Vesuvius mode (when not directed at him), was pretty damn amusing. He'd chosen his place with care. Mac couldn't see him, while he had a good view of the hapless young man. Harm wondered briefly if the doctor had been given any warning of what was awaiting him or if the senior staff had simply put the bell in his hands and shoved him in the door.
The encounter hadn't begun well. The doctor had started off with the annoyingly cheerful We're-All-In-This-Together gamut. That stratagem inevitably involved something awful and for all their talk of 'we', Harm had yet to find any medical personnel willing to share in the fun. Mac met this maneuver with silence. A dicey defense in the hands of amateurs, when wielded by an expert - especially of the feminine gender - it was devastating in its simplicity. The young man had then attempted to regain control with that old standby, 'Dr. God and the I'll Tell You What's Best For You chorus.' He hadn't gotten more than halfway through his opening stanza before he took a Semper Fi between the eyes. Harm listened as Mac pointed out the errors in the doctor's thoughts as well as his thinking process. The Commander reflected that inside every Marine, there must be a little drill instructor just itching to get out. When the Marine in question was a litigating attorney, the combination could be lethal.
Harm chuckled to himself, jarheads were notoriously unimpressed by deity wanna-bes. After all, according to the Marine Hymn, the Corps already had an arrangement with God to provide security for Heaven. Clearly at a loss, the young man finally hit on the notion of talking to Mac as a person and not a case. She rewarded him by being remarkably civil - until he'd gotten to the part about the diet...
The young man gulped and clutched his clipboard a little tighter, "I said that you have to adher to a restricted diet until the stomach lining has healed. No spices, no salt, no caffeine, nothing acidic... " He nervously held out a sheet of paper, "Here's a list of what you can eat."
Mac grabbed the list and quickly scanned it, then she turned it over and looked at the back. Glaring at the doctor, she said, "There's nothing on here."
Startled, he took the sheet back and then laughed weakly, "Oh I see, you were joking." He studiously avoided looking at Mac's face, "See? You can have bread, hard or soft-boiled eggs, rice, certain soups, oatmeal... " Some latent survival instinct surged to the fore and he dropped the list on the bed while fumbling with his pager. Mumbling about 'on-call' and 'emergencies', he backed up until he hit the wall, wrestled frantically with the doorknob and fled.
Harm couldn't help himself, he started to laugh. Pushing off the wall, he all but fell into the chair. Wiping his eyes, he managed to focus on Mac. She was glaring at him balefully. "You think this is amusing?" She picked up the sheet and waved it at him. "Look at this list! How am I supposed to survive on this?"
Her outrage set him off again, it took a couple of minutes to regain control. He caught his breath and held up his hands, "C'mon Mac, I'm sure it's not as bad as all that. You'll just have to eat healthy for a couple of weeks." He shook a finger at her, "I always knew your eating habits would get you in trouble one day." She stared at him, mouth open in disbelief. Harm continued to smile, "Close your mouth and calm down, Colonel. You know you need to keep stress to a minimum, too"
Mac shut her mouth with a snap and then her eyes narrowed. Harm's own eyes widened fractionally as he mentally reviewed what he'd just said. 'Oh dammit!' He gave himself a kick while putting on an innocent expression. She pointed an accusatory finger, "You knew!"
"Who, me?" Harm used his most charming tone, "Now Mac, don't you think I'd have said something to you if I already knew?" He gave her his best grin.
She stared at him for a long moment while she considered his words and then said blandly, "Not in a million years."
He stared back and then grinned more widely, "Damn straight. My momma didn't raise no fools."
Mac couldn't help herself, she started to smile. This entire conversation had awakened her sense of the ridiculous. She leaned back into the pillows and gazed at the ceiling for a moment before looking at Harm, "I hope you'll appreciate the irony of surviving a militia shootout only to be taken out by a caffeine-deprived female."
Harm chuckled, "I'll take my chances, thank you. Besides, I run faster than you."
"Faster than a speeding bullet?" Mac said, smiling sweetly.
"And able to leap tall stacks of the UCMJ in a single bound," Harm responded smugly. He noticed her stifling a yawn and turned serious, "Mac, go ahead and sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."
"I'm turning into Rip Van Winkle, I've slept so much," Mac grumbled, she didn't seem to have any stamina at all. "Are you planning to spend the night in those chairs? You'll be shaped like a question mark by morning." She paused for a moment and then said with a sly smile, "Of course, we'll finally be able to see eye-to-eye..."
Harm groaned, "Now I know you're feeling better, that was awful. Go to sleep before I put in a request for hazard pay." He stood up, leaned over the bedrail and began straightening the covers, pulling them up around her.
Mac looked at him in amusement, "What, no bedtime story?"
He turned swiftly towards her and gave her a quick kiss, pulling back to smile at the look on her face, "Nope, just a goodnight kiss." He adopted a stern look, "Lights out, Colonel. Sleep."
Mac grumbled a bit more for form's sake, but she really was very tired. Most of her reluctance to sleep stemmed from the nightmares she knew were lurking. Still, whatever trepidation she was feeling was overshadowed by the fact her body had had enough. Sleep was coming, no matter what.
Mac's Room
Base Hospital
Memphis NAS
0800 Local
Gunny Walters tapped on the door and quietly entered the room. Both officers were still asleep. He walked over and touched Harm lightly on the shoulder. The Commander jumped as his eyes snapped open. After looking at Mac, he turned bleary eyes to the Gunny.
Walters smiled, "You two stay up too late, sir?"
Harm yawned, rubbing a hand across his face, "That would have been more enjoyable." He inclined his head towards Mac, "Nightmares."
Gunny lost his smile as he looked over at the Colonel. "I guess she's entitled," he said softly. He looked back at Harm and held out the bag he was carrying, "The Admiral wasn't very far behind me. You should have time to get changed." Harm grimaced and yawned one more time before levering himself out of the chair. Grabbing the bag, he staggered towards the bathroom. Walters sat down to wait. Ten minutes later, Harm emerged looking a little more cognizant. His gaze immediately went to Mac as he walked over to the Gunny. Walters had stood up upon hearing the bathroom door open.
Harm glanced at the Gunny, "Still quiet?"
Walters nodded and then looked at him curiously, "How often are they happening?"
Harm scrubbed a hand through his hair, "Twice, so far. Takes her a while to drop back off. I thought about asking the nurse to give her something but who knows if it would stop the nightmares. I'd hate to have her caught in one and not be able to wake up." The two men turned when the door opened, revealing a nurse carrying a breakfast tray. "She's still asleep," Harm protested quietly.
"And she can go right back to sleep after her breakfast," the nurse answered. She placed the tray on the nightstand and started towards Mac to wake her up.
"Wait," Harm hurried over, putting out a hand. The nurse looked at him in exasperation. "Look, Lieutenant... ," he peered at her nametag, "... Michaels, the Colonel's been having nightmares and she doesn't know you. You wake her up suddenly and she's liable to react... ummm... strongly."
The Lieutenant crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow, "Commander, I don't tell you how to prosecute cases, please don't tell me how to do my job." She glanced over at Mac and said confidently, "I can handle it. Please move out of the way."
Harm shrugged and went to stand next to Walters. They turned when the door opened again and popped to attention as the Admiral entered the room. A moment later, there was the sound of flesh hitting flesh, followed by a crash. Harm winced and closed his eyes while AJ let out a startled bellow, "Colonel MacKenzie! Stand Down!"
Harm turned to see a somewhat disoriented Mac sitting up and staring at AJ in bewilderment. Gunny Walters was already at the side of Lt. Michaels who was sitting on the floor amid the remains of Mac's breakfast. She had one hand to the side of her face, her expression somewhere between shock and outrage. He opened his mouth to say something to Chegwidden when he was interrupted by an amused voice from the doorway.
"Wow, am I in time for Round Two?"
Harm turned back to see Ellie Perez standing in the doorway. He glanced at AJ and seeing the scowl starting to form, hurried to introduce her. "Admiral, this is Dr. Ellie Perez. She's the psychiatrist on staff here. Ellie, this is Admiral AJ Chegwidden, the Naval Judge Advocate General and our CO."
Ellie smiled and shook AJ's hand, "A pleasure, sir. Bobby's told me a lot about you." She looked past him and waved to Mac, "Good morning, Sarah. I was hoping you'd be awake." Finally, she looked over at Lt. Michaels who had climbed to her feet with the Gunny's help. "My goodness Alice, didn't anyone tell you not to startle someone just back from combat?" From the look on her face, Harm suspected Ellie had a good idea of what Lt. Michaels' attitude had been.
The Lieutenant looked indignant and Harm decided there was little love lost between the two women. "Women aren't allowed in combat!" Michaels huffed, "How was I to know she was violent? She should be in restraints!"
Ellie's voice turned icy, "That 'she' is a Lt. Colonel in the Marine Corps, so I suggest you address her accordingly. Whether or not someone is 'allowed' scarcely matters if they find themselves in a combat situation as the Colonel did. Had you read the case a little more thoroughly, you'd have known that." She glanced at Harm, "And I suspect you were warned to be careful." She raised an eyebrow, "I think the Colonel will need another breakfast tray. Why don't you have Lt. Jung bring it while you have that bruise looked at? Oh, and send an orderly in to clean this up, please." Ellie turned towards the Admiral and Harm, effectively dismissing the irritated Lieutenant, "Would you gentlemen mind waiting outside for a minute while I talk to the Colonel?" She looked over at Walters, "You too, Gunnery Sergeant."
The three men looked at each other and then AJ turned and left the room. Harm and the Gunny followed quietly behind. Chegwidden led them a little ways down the hallway and then turned around and folded his arms across his chest, "What the hell just happened in there? That was Captain Perez's wife, wasn't it?"
Harm nodded, "Yes sir. Sir, what happened really wasn't Mac's fault." He glanced at Walters and then continued, "Mac had a pretty rough night. Nightmares. The last one was around five this morning, it took almost an hour before she managed to drop off again. Lt. Michaels came in with Mac's breakfast and insisted on waking her up. I warned the Lieutenant that she probably wouldn't react well to being awakened suddenly and Michaels pretty much told me to mind my own business."
AJ glared at him, "So you stood back and waited for the Colonel to clobber her. Goddammit Rabb! What were you thinking? I don't care how annoyingly arrogant that nurse was, that was a helluva thing to do to Mac. You think she's going to enjoy the guilt from striking a junior officer on top of everything else?"
Harm's eyebrows rose, he hadn't considered that aspect of it. Oh hell...
Chegwidden watched as Rabb became noticeably chagrined and decided to let him off the hook. Gruffly, he motioned to the two men, "Go. You can make this up to the Colonel by finding the Acme Assassination Gang. I'll work things out with Mac... and the hospital."
Harm opened his mouth to say something and then thought the better of it. He and Gunny came to attention and at the Admiral's dismissal, pivoted and left.
Chapter Forty-Two
Mac's Room
Base Hospital
Memphis NAS
0815 Local
Ellie walked over to the bedside. Mac had collapsed back against the pillows with her hand over her eyes. "Sarah?" she said quietly.
Mac dropped her hand and looked at Ellie wearily, "She's probably right, you know. The way I've been over-reacting, I should be in restraints."
The doctor tilted her head to one side, "Well, that's certainly an idea. Then we could charge people to come and gawk at fifty cents a pop. We'd clean up here at the hospital - you and your colleagues are on the way to becoming legend." Mac stared at her with a mixture of hurt and anger. Ellie calmly returned the regard, "Well, my idea has as much merit as yours. Another option would be to put all this in perspective. Unless, of course, you prefer wallowing in guilt."
Mac's eyes narrowed in anger, "What the hell would you know about it?"
Dr. Perez gazed at her for a long moment, "I know that most of what's happened isn't your fault unless you've somehow managed to acquire omnipotence along the way. You're not responsible for other people's choices."
"But I am responsible for my own actions and how they affect others."
"It's still their choice on how it will affect them." Ellie sighed, "This is a circular argument. Your actions are the choices you make in regard to the actions of others."
Mac was silent for a moment while she digested this. She looked back at the doctor, "The fact remains that I struck a fellow officer."
"An officer who chose not to review your case file thoroughly and chose to ignore warnings not to startle you. Did you make a conscious effort to flatten that particular officer or did you react to an unidentified threat?" Ellie crossed her arms and waited.
Mac sighed and ran her hand through her hair, "I just reacted."
Ellie grinned and dropped into the chair, "I'd have made a conscious effort. Lt. Michaels is a royal pain." She paused for a moment, "Who knows? I still might whack her one. You're here to recover from trauma, not have more added."
"I thought you shrinks didn't believe in violence," Mac said with a hint of a smile.
Glancing around, the petite redhead leaned in and stage-whispered, "That's mostly because we're a bunch of weenies." Settling back, she smiled, "I've always felt that humans are, to a certain extent, inherently violent. We're predators, it comes with the package. To keep from preying on each other, we've developed this complex, ever-evolving social structure. Unfortunately, it doesn't always take into account that survival is a genetic imperative that's hard-wired into our heads. So, on occasion, instinct collides with social mores and voila, guilt."
"Is that a professional opinion?" Mac smiled. Dr. Perez was one of those people who had a knack for making you feel better.
Ellie pretended to ponder this for a moment, "Hmmm, think of it as a personal interpretation. All professional opinions are required to use incomprehensible words of five syllables or more and be delivered with the appropriate solemnity." At a raised eyebrow from Mac, she held up both hands and grinned, "Honest, it's in the teeny-weeny print under the fine print on my license."
"Appropriate solemnity?" Mac said, amusement beginning to show. She could well believe the incomprehensible part.
Ellie assumed a serious demeanor although her eyes were dancing, "I have a Greek chorus ready to scramble at a moment's notice. They lend a certain panache to my prognoses."
Mac shook her head and chuckled. She was quiet for a few moments and then said, "So, Ellie, were you stopping in to say hi or did you instinctively know I was about to punch out a nurse?"
Putting an elbow on the arm of the chair, Ellie rested her chin, "It was partly personal, partly professional. Of course, if I'd known Lt. Michaels was going to be in here, I would have gotten here sooner." She smiled sweetly, "I might have flattened her for you." Growing a little more serious, she continued, "On the personal side, I wanted to make sure you were okay. Bobby gave me the salient points... you've impressed the hell out of him, by the way. He takes being a Marine very seriously. On the professional side, you've been through a helluva of a lot more than anyone should have to and if you need to talk or vent, I'd be happy to listen or recommend someone." She raised an eyebrow, "You realize that you do need to talk about this?"
Leaning back into the pillows, Mac sighed, "I'm learning." She looked at Ellie, "It's not easy. I'm not used to opening up about how I'm feeling and in the military, 'under psychiatric care' tends to be a career-breaker." She glanced down at her hands, "Unfortunately, this case has turned out to be tied to a previous one. One that's actually still on-going, although my part is pretty much done... that's what I thought anyway." Mac rubbed her eyes, "It got hairy for a while with the upshot being that I've been having some fairly horrendous nightmares. So, what I have been doing for the last month, is seeing a civilian therapist when I'm off-duty."
Ellie listened carefully, one finger tapping absently on her chin. Between what Bobby had said and her own observations, she thought she had a fairly accurate thumbnail sketch of the Colonel. If the nightmares had been bad enough to drive someone as fiercely self-reliant as Mac to a therapist, then 'hairy' was definitely an understatement. She nodded thoughtfully, "Good move." Ellie paused while she considered her next words, "You must have felt like you were going crazy." The guarded look that Mac gave her told she was on the right track. Smiling, Ellie said, "Well, that's normal."
Mac blinked, "Feeling crazy is normal?"
"Well, feeling normal after that kind of trauma would be crazy." Ellie's smile grew wider as she spread her hands and shrugged, "Nutty, isn't it?" Mac nodded silently in bemusement. Waving a hand, Ellie continued, "I'm glad you didn't let pride get in the way of smart. Having an objective third party to bounce this stuff off of will do you good." Glancing at her watch, she said, "Well, I've kept your Admiral cooling his heels long enough and if my father's any indicator, the higher the brass, the less the patience. I'll send him in, I believe he wanted to talk to you." As she stood up, she caught the look that flashed across Mac's face. Turning back, she said curiously, "Sarah?" Mac looked at her wordlessly, Ellie watched her for a moment and put up a hand, "Just a sec... ."
She walked out into the hallway. Chegwidden, who'd been pacing up and down the corridor, stopped when he saw her. "Doctor? Is she all right? Can I talk to her?"
Dr. Perez folded her arms and regarded him with a neutral gaze, "If you'll forgive the psycho-babble spin, 'all right' is a relative term. She's better about decking the Lieutenant but pretty tense about talking to you. You weren't planning on chewing her out for that little incident, were you?"
AJ scowled down at the Doctor, "No, I was not." He rubbed a hand over his head, "I do have a problem I need to discuss with the Colonel and I'd like to get to it."
Unfazed, Ellie continued to stare at the Admiral, "Would you mind telling me what the problem is?"
"Yes, I would mind." AJ snapped, "This is between Colonel MacKenzie and myself."
Ellie shrugged, "Fine, Admiral. Just keep it civil - she already has a lot to deal with. I'll let her know you're on your way in." She turned around and re-entered the room. Fifteen seconds later, she strode out. Looking at Chegwidden, she said sternly, "Don't forget to listen, Admiral. The Colonel has my pager number." She walked back down the hallway. AJ watched her leave, then squared his shoulders and entered Mac's room.
Military Police
Memphis NAS
0825 Local
Harm and Walters entered the building and looked around. Gunny looked at the Commander curiously as they headed for the elevator, "Why here and not JAG?"
Harm waited until they were on the elevator, "Because the leak had to come from here or JAG and because I trust Capt. Perez. I don't know if I trust Lt. Barker."
Walters' eyes narrowed, "Wouldn't it have been better to stay away from both places?"
"Maybe, but Perez can access personnel files without tipping our hand. If we're lucky, we'll catch the leak and the Acme Assassination Gang." Harm quit speaking as the doors opened and headed down the hallway to Perez's office. Rapping on the doorframe, he waited until a harried Capt. Perez looked up.
"Commander. Gunny." Perez stood up and motioned them in. "How are you feeling, sir?"
"A little sore here and there, Bobby." Harm smiled at the captain. He gestured towards Perez's desk, "It doesn't look like you've gotten any sort of a break."
Perez grimaced and nodded towards the papers mounded up on his desk, "I was supposed to take a couple of days leave but... ." He directed them to the chairs in front of his desk and then dropped back into his own with a sigh. "Ellie's been keeping me up-to-date on the hospital news. Cpl. Bell's recovering nicely and it sounds like the Colonel will be okay, too." He leaned back in his chair, "Tell me you're about to rescue me from this mountain of paperwork."
At Harm's glance, Walters got up and closed the office door. The Commander leaned forward, "Have you made any progress in finding the leak?"
Perez looked sheepish, "I'm afraid I haven't devoted a lot of time to it, sir." He looked at Harm and the Gunny, "Do either of you have any ideas? I know it has to one of my people or someone at JAG." He scowled briefly, the thought of one of his people betraying a trust did not sit well.
Harm looked over at Walters and then back at Perez, "We reached the same conclusion. Between the three of us, we can probably narrow it down." He started to tick off the pertinent points, "Okay, first - they had to be aware of our investigation but not the plan for that night. Second, they knew we were going to be back at JAG. Third, and there's two ways to go with this, either they knew Mac, Singer and Morris would be the last ones out or they were watching and just took advantage of the opportunity."
"We know it was Koslov's men who grabbed the Colonel and Lt. Singer," Gunny said thoughtfully, "Did he have the personnel, and more importantly, would he have risked stationing that many around the JAG building in hopes of an opportunity? How many were there?"
"Three, according to Singer," Perez answered. "I can't see Koslov taking that kind of chance without knowing there'd be a definite payoff. He went with a minimum number of men, too. That's not smart unless he already knew for sure how many people he'd be dealing with." He thumped a fist on his desk, "Goddammit, that makes it one of my people."
Harm looked at him sympathetically, "Which of your people would have known about that night?"
The Captain sighed, "Everyone?" Harm nodded. "Well... me, Cpl. Bell, PFC Morris, Lt. Grafton and Staff Sergeant Eddings. Grafton's my exec and Eddings handles the shift schedules," Perez concluded.
"Grafton was running things in your absence?" Harm said. At Perez's affirmative, he continued, "So he would have been aware of the Admiral and Gunny heading for the militia base. Koslov was down there. If he was working for Koslov, wouldn't he have tried to contact him and warn him about the Admiral?"
Perez looked grim, "So Eddings is the chief suspect."
Harm nodded, "The question is, is he the only one or does he work with anyone else? Maybe we can set something up to find out." Harm looked at Perez, "We can hash that out a little later. I've also got a theory about the identity of our inept assassins. I need to pull some personnel records without raising any flags."
Perez looked at him in pleased surprise, this was definitely better news, "Great!" He swung towards his computer, "Give me a moment to access the files." He busily tapped away at the keyboard for a few minutes and then sat back, "Okay, we're in. Who are we looking for?"
Harm smiled, "Alan Jarvis."
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