Harm stopped to ask where Commander Brighton's office was and then hurried across the bullpen. He rapped on the doorframe and stuck his head in, "Mac?"

Mac looked up wearily, "Yes?"

Harm walked the rest of the way into the office, "I just talked to Lieutenant Singer."

"Fine." Mac looked back down at the file in front of her.

"Mac, c'mon, we need to clear a few things up." Harm said in exasperation, he really wanted to explain.

"Not here and not now," Mac kept her eyes on the papers on the desk. She didn't want to think about it, much less talk.

"Mac... at least look at me." Why the hell did she have to be so difficult?

She raised her eyes and gave him a flat look. "Commander, I'm sure you have some very reasonable explanations, but it doesn't change what I said before. This is not the time nor the place and I'd appreciate it if you'd leave me some shred of dignity. Now if you'll excuse me... " She returned her attention to the file, not bothering to see if he left or not.

Harm stared at her, then turned around and walked out. Goddammit, she was stubborn! He went back to the conference room and sat down without a word. Singer started to speak and he silenced her with a glare. Something was going on with Mac and he didn't like it. He thought he'd seen her in almost every mood over the years, but there was something here that was disturbing. He couldn't remember the last time Sarah MacKenzie had walked away from a fight. He felt slightly shocked at the idea. It seemed inconceivable that she would just quit. Harm frowned to himself, dammit, what was wrong with her?

Mac sat back and bleakly regarded the files in front of her. She felt overwhelmingly tired. It had been doubly deflating to discover the Admiral thought it necessary to send Harm out here. She always seemed to be beating her head against a wall, maybe it was time to give up and get out. Mac sighed ruefully and ran a hand through her hair. She'd think about it later. Right now, at least, she would keep her word to Commander Brighton and give the Jarvis case her full attention. She leaned forward and began going through the notes again. A slight sound made her look up, Ensign Tyler stood nervously in the doorway, holding a can of Coke and a cup. She gave him a warm smile, he was a nice kid. "Yes, Tyler?"

"Umm, ma'am? I thought you might like something to drink, you've been in here a while." He held up the soda. He'd been out in the bullpen the last hour doing his best to quash the 'Long-suffering Lieutenant and the Crazy Colonel' rumors. He liked Colonel MacKenzie, she reminded him of Commander Brighton. Right from the start, she had treated him like... he searched his memory for the phrase he'd read once... 'like a fellow member in the profession of arms.' At any rate, he was familiar with people like Lieutenant Singer. He was from a large extended family and grown up with one or two. They'd smile sweetly at you while kicking the crutches out from under a cripple. Then they'd scream to everyone within earshot about what you had done.

"Tyler?" The Colonel's voice broke him out of his reverie. He blushed furiously, he'd been standing there looking at her like some kind of dolt. Gritting his teeth, he met her eyes only to see her regarding him patiently without a hint of amusement. At that moment, he would have followed her anywhere.

"Thank you Ensign, that was very thoughtful of you," Mac said gravely. She thought she detected the beginnings of a crush, there was no way she would embarrass the young man by laughing at him. She accepted the soda and waved towards a chair, "Do you have a minute, Tyler?" He nodded eagerly and dropped into the chair.

Mac looked down at Brighton's notes again, he was right - something was off. She looked back up at Tyler, "I talked to Commander Brighton earlier today. He asked me to look into a case he was working on: Alan Jarvis?" At Tyler's nod, she continued, "He said you had given him a hand and suggested that you might be able to help me as well. Would you be interested?"

"Yes ma'am!" Tyler said enthusiastically.

"Good." Mac stood up and began gathering papers. Closing her briefcase, she looked at Tyler and smiled, "Let's go talk to some people." She walked through the bullpen and gestured for the ensign to continue. Knocking on the doorframe, she looked into Lieutenant Barker's office. Waving to him to keep his seat, she said, "I'm going to need Ensign Tyler for a couple of hours, while I conduct some interviews. Would you arrange for additional transportation for Commander Rabb and Lieutenant Singer? Thank you." She strode out of the office.

Catching up with Tyler in the parking lot, she stood and looked at him while she contemplated her plans. As the silence stretched out, he had to force himself not to fidget. Finally, Mac said, "Ensign, I think we'll go to Supply first and talk with Jarvis' CO." She gave him a small grin, "And I think we'll go the whole nine yards. Feel like playing the overawed and slightly stupid junior officer to my overbearing and disdainful officer from the East?"

Ten minutes later, they pulled into Supply. "Showtime," Mac said softly from the back seat. On the drive over, she had filled him in on what she needed him to do. Tyler scurried around to the passenger side, opened her door and popped to attention. Mac got out and swept past him. Quickly, he shut the door and hustled past her to open the door to the building. She sailed through without slackening her pace or acknowledging his presence. Marching up to the front desk, she eyed the staff sergeant standing at attention. "Lieutenant Colonel MacKenzie of the Headquarters JAG. I'm here to see Captain Harvester.

"Yes ma'am. Is he expecting you?" the sergeant asked.

Mac raised an eyebrow and said coolly, "Would it matter? This is the only time I could find to fit him into my schedule. Where is he?"

"I believe he's still in his office, ma'am. Would you like me to check?"

"Yes, sergeant." Mac snapped, "I'd like to keep my wandering around this godforsaken base to a minimum."

The sergeant flushed and picked up the phone. He spoke quietly for a moment and then looked at Mac. "He's waiting for you, Colonel. Second floor, third office on the right."

Mac turned and walked off without another word. Tyler gave the sergeant an apologetic look and hurried after her. He made it onto the elevator just as the doors closed. Mac glanced at him and said with an amused smile, "You jump quite well, Ensign Tyler."

He smiled back, "My mama's southern-born and bred, Colonel MacKenzie. I've had a lot of practice."

When the elevator doors opened, he was standing silently behind her once again. Mac marched through the office area, walked into Captain Harvester's office and shut the door. Tyler looked around the area and headed for an empty desk. He looked over at a petty officer and asked, "Is it okay if I sit here? That colonel is going to run the feet right off of me."

"Sure, go ahead," said the petty officer sympathetically. "Who's the Ice Queen?"

"Some big-shot JAG lawyer from Washington," Tyler replied. "She can't believe she's out here in the back-end of nowhere looking into that UA case and she's taking it out on me." He gave a long-suffering sigh. He looked at the computer, "Hey, are there any games on this thing?"

"I think so," the petty officer said, "Check the harddrive. I don't play that much, Al was the expert."

"Really good, huh?" Tyler was staring at the screen, hitting keys.

"Oh yeah, a real technogeek. There wasn't anything he couldn't do with a computer. He revamped our entire inventory setup. Captain Harvester called him our 'secret weapon'. He didn't want the brass to find out and transfer him somewhere else." The petty officer seemed to realize he was babbling and trailed off.

"Can't blame him for that," Tyler agreed amicably, "Once the brass sets their sights on you, your whole life goes to hell." He looked around, "Is Al here? Maybe he can tell me how to get past Level 15, that's where I always crash and burn."

"Uhhh... " the petty officer hesitated uncomfortably.

Tyler's eyebrows rose in surprise, "He's the UA? Man, I hope that colonel doesn't find him. She'll tear strips right out of his hide." Just then, the door to Harvester's office opened. Tyler jumped and hurriedly hit some keys, "Gotta go." He ran after Mac as she strode out of the office. They kept quiet until Tyler had pulled away from the curb.

Mac smiled when she saw Tyler look in the rearview mirror. "Let's find someplace out of the way to eat and compare notes, Ensign."

Memphis NAS
JAG office
1645 Local

Harm sat back and watched Singer interview another of the accused. There hadn't been much to do. The FBI had caught them dead-to-rights, the MPs had taken it from there. It'd been a matter of crossing t's and dotting i's. So far, all those interviewed were willing to deal out of court. They just had to decide the degree of punitive action. This was the only area where he had to keep an eye on Singer. She'd have someone walking the plank if she thought it would look good in her record. Mostly, he kept half an ear on the proceedings, and worried about Mac. If he could get her to agree to dinner with him, maybe she'd let him explain. The harder part would be getting her to talk. He looked over at Singer when he heard her address him.

"That's it except for Commander Brighton, sir."

"Fine, Lieutenant, we'll catch him in the morning and finish up." He paused and then said, "Nice work, Lauren. Let's call it a day, I could use a break and I'm sure you could too." He stood up and walked to the conference room door. Looking out, he saw that Cmdr. Brighton's office was dark. He headed over to Lt. Barker's office and looked in, "Lieutenant? Do you know where Colonel MacKenzie went?"

"No sir, she just said she needed Ensign Tyler while she went to conduct some interviews and that she'd be gone for a couple of hours. I've lined up Petty Officer Fazzio to fill in as your driver until Tyler gets back."

Harm grunted to himself in annoyance, what was she doing? He looked back at Barker, "Thank you, Lieutenant. If Colonel MacKenzie returns here, would you tell her I'm at the VOQ?" He'd get cleaned up and give the Admiral a call. He had a feeling neither one of them would enjoy the conversation. Harm glanced back to see a tall, thin petty officer approaching along with Lieutenant Singer. "Lieutenant, I'm going to the VOQ. I'll see you at 0830 tomorrow." He turned and left, the petty officer hurrying after.

Memphis NAS
1740 Local

Tyler glanced over at Colonel MacKenzie as they drove onto the base. They'd just spent over an hour with Alan Jarvis' wife. The Colonel had proved to be a quiet and sympathetic listener. Mrs. Jarvis had been grateful to have an attentive audience and been remarkably open. The elusive petty officer was coming more and more into focus.

Mac gazed out the window with a thoughtful frown on her face. The first thing that had come to mind upon hearing of the missing petty officer's computer prowess was arms theft. The only way to know for sure would be a physical inventory to compare with the computer inventory. She devoutly hoped it wouldn't lead to some nutty militia group. She'd had enough of them with Lieutenant Rivers. Still, there were enough anomalies to convince her it wouldn't be quite that simple. All in all, it was an intriguing puzzle. She'd spread it all out in her quarters and see if something clicked. Maybe she could get Harm to take a look.

Mac sighed a little and gave a small smile when Tyler glanced her way. That was assuming Harm was speaking to her. He was probably angry after she'd blown him off and left him to Singer this afternoon. That line of thought brought her back to the dismal matter of Chegwidden's lack of confidence. Damn... she'd managed to shove it to the back of her mind while dealing with the Jarvis UA. Obviously, she'd have to resign as his chief of staff. Maybe she could a permanent posting back on the Guadalcanal. It would be considered a step back career-wise but hell, her career was probably dead in the water anyway. For that matter, maybe Webb could find something for her. Being official CIA couldn't be any more dangerous than being ad hoc CIA...

Mac looked up in surprise when the car came to a halt. They were at the VOQ. Tyler hurried around to her side and opened the door for her. She grabbed her briefcase and climbed out. Turning to look at the Ensign, she gave him a tired smile, "Thank you for all your help this afternoon, Tyler. You're going to be a hell of an investigator. I'll see you in the morning." Mac heard her name being called and turned to look over her shoulder. Harm was just coming out of the VOQ.

Tyler heard an odd little clatter and glanced down at the pavement. A small round object came skittering out from under the car. His eyes widened in shock, "GRENADE!" He had a brief glimpse of the startled look on the Colonel's face before he hit her with a flying tackle that would have made his coaches proud. His momentum carried them halfway across the car hood before the detonation blew them off the rest of the way. They hit with a bone-jarring thump and rolled to a halt. A second explosion told him the car had just gone up. He hugged the ground and covered his head, wincing as debris rained down on them.

Harm stared in shock even as he hit the ground during the first explosion. He started scrambling towards Mac and the ensign, hitting the ground again when the car blew up. He was up and running before all the pieces landed. He was the first to reach them, yanking off chunks of metal, heedless of the sharp edges. Tyler groaned and rolled onto his side, holding his head. He was covered with cuts from debris. Harm concentrated on Mac. She hadn't moved. Harm winced when he saw blood flowing from a metal shard embedded in her forearm. He put a couple of fingers on the side of her neck, tentatively searching for a pulse and heaved a sigh of relief. He could hear sirens approaching in the distance.

Harm sat slouched in a waiting room chair and contemplated the dressing on his left hand. The slash from the debris hadn't been deep. He just had to keep it clean. He'd called the Admiral once already, he would call again as soon as the doctors saw fit to talk to him. Lieutenant Barker and, surprisingly, Lieutenant Singer were also there. He got to his feet as a doctor walked into the room. Barker and Singer got up and walked over. The doctor looked at all three, "Colonel MacKenzie and Ensign Tyler will both be fine. I'm sorry it took so long, but we had to make sure all the lacerations were cleaned out. Fortunately, not too many required stitches. They both have very mild concussions. Colonel MacKenzie also has some badly bruised ribs." He glanced at Harm, "Was there a previous injury?" At Harm's nod, he grunted thoughtfully and continued, "The wound in her arm was fairly deep, although it should heal without any problems. It nicked the bone but there doesn't seem to be any nerve damage. We'll keep them overnight to make sure there are no complications. You'll be able to see them in about fifteen minutes. Check with the station nurse for their room numbers." The doctor turned and left.

Harm gave a sigh of relief and looked at the two lieutenants. "Lieutenant Barker, would you contact Ensign Tyler's family and let them know what happened?" He waited for Barker to leave then turned and looked at Singer, "Well, Lauren, I think it's safe to say we now have another investigation on our hands." He lowered his eyebrows at her and said softly, "The ground rules are going to be decidedly different for this. I would rethink my priorities if I were you - these people aren't screwing around. If you let your ambition cloud your focus, it's quite possible you could wind up dead." Harm turned away and headed for the nurses' station.

Singer looked after him. She certainly didn't need the much-vaunted Commander Rabb to point out the obvious. She planned to keep a judicious distance from the Colonel. If some lunatic was trying to kill her, Lauren would not be the one caught in the crossfire.

Base Hospital
Mac's room
2030 Local

Mac looked over as Harm entered her room. "Harm," she smiled groggily, "We've got to stop meeting like this." She took a breath and winced, "I need new ribs."

Harm smiled back at her, "I'm beginning to think you just like hospital food."

"Is Tyler all right?" She squinted, it was hard keeping him in focus.

"Better than you," Harm said, "He is younger, you know."

"Don't remind me." Her voice trailed off.

"Get some rest, Mac. I'll be right here." Harm said softly.

Mac struggled back into wakefulness, "Harm... ?"

"Someone tried to kill you Mac, I'm spending the night right here."

She tried to sit up, only to have Harm put a hand on her shoulder. "Harm, my briefcase... my notes."

"Safe in my quarters. The MPs will probably get after me for tampering with a crime scene," he said wryly.

"That's definitely a possibility, sir," said a new voice from the doorway. Harm turned to see a young Marine captain standing there. "I'm Captain Perez, with the MPs. The Colonel and I spoke earlier this afternoon." He walked up to the bed, "How are you feeling, ma'am?"

"Like a car landed on me."

Perez smiled sympathetically, "I've heard that hurts." He looked over at Harm, "Do you want to tell me what you tampered with, Commander?"

"I grabbed the Colonel's briefcase and put it in my quarters for safekeeping. I would guess the reason for the attack has to do with what she was working on." Harm regarded the captain steadily, could he be trusted?

Captain Perez looked startled, "The internet porn ring?"

"No. Brighton's UA: Alan Jarvis." Both men looked at Mac in surprise, this was because of a UA case?

"I guess I rattled a few cages this afternoon..." She was having trouble keeping her eyes open.

"Go to sleep, Mac. We'll discuss this in the morning." Harm gestured to Perez to move away from the bed. They met on the far side of the room. Harm said in a low voice, "I don't think it's a good idea to leave the Colonel or Ensign Tyler unguarded while they're here. I don't have the authority... "

"But I do," finished Perez. "I'll assign someone to each room, sir. Then you and I can head over to your quarters and see if we can figure out what's going on." He looked at Harm and added dryly, "It makes us look bad when we blow up visiting officers for no apparent reason."

"Okay, Captain, except that I'd rather we brought everything back here. I told Mac I'd stay and I'd prefer to keep an eye on her myself." He gave a small grin, "You wouldn't believe the amount of trouble she can get into on her own."

"You have no room to talk, Rabb." said a sleepy voice.

"Go to sleep, Bionic Ears." Harm said.

Captain Perez stifled a laugh, it was pretty obvious these two had a close and comfortable relationship. He walked to the doorway and looked down the hall. Catching the attention of several of his people, he gestured for them to join him. He quietly gave them their instructions and then looked back at Harm, "Any time you're ready, Commander."

Harm had just reached the door when a commotion at the end of the hall made them look down that way. Harm's eyes widened. "Son of a bitch!" he said softly. He looked over to see Perez regarding him with surprise. "Tell your people not to leave the Colonel alone with anyone, I don't care who they are," he said tersely. "Tell them, Perez!" Harm hurried down the corridor.

Harm met Admiral Crowley halfway down the hallway. Coming to attention, he said, "Admiral, may I help you?"

"Certainly, Commander Rabb," Crowley said waspishly, "You and your cohorts can refrain from having my vehicles blown up while you're here. Do you have any idea how this looks? What the hell was MacKenzie up to? I've had the officer in charge of Supply bending my chief of staff's ear about her and now this!"

Harm's jaws clenched and he said stiffly, "You'll be happy to know that Colonel MacKenzie and Ensign Tyler will both recover from their injuries, sir."

The Admiral glared at Harm for the unvoiced rebuke and started to move around the tall commander.

Harm took a stride backward and blocked the Admiral's path, still at attention, "Sir, I believe both the Colonel and Ensign are asleep. The doctors would prefer they not be disturbed."

"They would, would they?" Crowley stared at Harm for a long moment. Capt. Perez walked up and came to attention next to the Commander. The Admiral shifted his attention, "Who're you?"

"Captain Roberto Perez, I'm in charge of the Military Police, sir."

"Who's responsible for this, Captain?"

"We're still investigating, sir."

"Well, next time, prevent it!" Admiral Crowley spun on his heel and stomped back down the corridor, scattering hospital personnel.

Perez looked at Harm in shock, "That's the craziest... was he serious?"

Harm shrugged, "He's your CO." He looked up the hallway, "Is there another way out of here? I don't want to run into the Admiral again, if I can help it. We need to get Mac's files and get back here ASAP."

"Yeah, this way, Commander," Perez turned and started walking. He looked over at Harm, "Is there a reason you don't want the Colonel left alone that I should know about, sir?"

"Are you familiar with 'Archangel', Captain?" Harm watched him carefully.

Perez looked uncomfortable, "Sir, that's a classified, ongoing investigation." His eyes widened, "She's the Marine officer that broke the case?! I thought it was some James Bond/Clint Eastwood type... " his voice trailed off in wonder.

"That's Mac," Harm smiled grimly, "That case damn near killed her. She'll be a primary witness... if they ever get it to trial."

"So you're not completely sure if the bombing was about Jarvis or 'Archangel'?" Perez asked.

Harm nodded, "It gets better. You knew Admiral Crowley was good friends with the top man, Admiral Charles Jacobs?" Perez gave a short nod. "Well, he knows who Mac is; made a point of telling her about his old and dear friend, Charlie Jacobs."

"You're kidding!?" Perez stopped walking. Harm turned to look at him and nodded. "Goddammit, this means Admiral Crowley is a suspect, too." Perez threw up his hands and resumed walking, "There goes my career... "