AJ looked around the conference table. Gunny Walters had been the last to arrive and Mrs. Fine had been introduced to everyone. He cleared his throat and began, "We've finally gotten a break, albeit a small one, on the whereabouts of Col. MacKenzie." He looked at Emma, "Mrs. Fine?"

Emma looked around the room. These were the people Sarah would be trusting with her life. Taking a deep breath, she began her story.

Harm watched as the rest listened in rapt attention. He, Sturgis and the Admiral had heard the abbreviated version in his office earlier. After hearing what Mac had said, AJ had told Emma of their decision to keep the Archangel proof confined to an inner circle. She had acknowledged the wisdom of his reasoning and her narrative now made no mention of Mac's revelation to her. He listened with half an ear, grateful that Mac had run into someone like Emma. The more he heard from her, the more he liked her - she reminded him of the Admiral.

Harm focused his attention again, Emma was reaching the end of her story. He hated hearing this part, hated what Mac had decided to do, hated that he wasn't there to protect her. Archangel had a lot to answer for.

After Emma finished speaking, there was a brief silence. AJ scanned the room, "I realize that with almost nine hours headstart, Mac could be practically anywhere. Hell, at this point, if I spotted her with the crew on the space shuttle, it wouldn't surprise me." There were the expected smiles around the table. "But, thanks to Mrs. Fine," he nodded in her direction, "we have a starting point. I don't think Mac will have gone too far; she's making herself a target to draw these people out in the open. I damn sure want to be there when it happens."

Bud raised a hand, "Sir?" AJ glanced at Harm and Sturgis, he had a good idea what was coming. They had discussed how they would handle it. "Do we have any idea who these people are and why they want to kill the Colonel?"

"Not really, Lieutenant. It's more important to find Mac and stop these people before they get to her. We can figure out the who and why later." AJ looked around the room, "Colonel MacKenzie is the key. We need to find her."

"It's a three-way game now," said Clayton Webb. Seeing he had everyone's attention, Clay continued, "It's official, NIS has accused Mac of espionage and treason. The DC police and FBI have issued an APB."

"That's ridiculous!" Harm exploded, "On the basis of what? That Mac speaks Farsi and Russian?"

"Based on the 'evidence', NIS claims to have discovered in Daniel Lattimer's apartment and a bank account in Mac's name in the Cayman Islands. There's half a million in it." Clay replied. He cleared his throat, "There's more. Just before I came over here, I received some news about your escaped intruder. His name was Mark Aiken. He worked for Congressman Peterson as a information analyst. Before that, he did a couple of tours as a Recon Marine."

Harm looked at him, "Was?"

Webb looked grim, "They fished his body out of the Potomac early this morning. Didn't ID him until a couple of hours ago, he's been dead over thirty hours."

"So they got him out of the brig..." Sturgis said.

"And put a bullet in the base of his skull." Clay finished. "These people don't like mistakes."

There was silence.

The intercom suddenly buzzed, causing several people to jump. Tiner's voice came over the speaker, "Admiral?"

"What Tiner?"

"Sir, Col. MacKenzie's on line two."

Preston Hotel
Washington, DC
1028 Local

Mac made sure the door was locked and then looked around the filthy little room. It was about what she expected from a rundown hotel that rented by the hour. It suited her purposes though; they took cash, didn't care about ID and the room had a shower. She looked into the tiny bath and shuddered. Well, truth to tell, she'd been in worse places... she'd just been drunk at the time.

She walked back to the bed and gingerly sat down. Mac had used part of her dwindling supply of cash to make purchases at a drugstore and the local thrift shop. She pulled out scissors and the medical supplies. The wounds were still suppurating, all the extra activity hadn't helped much. She couldn't afford to ignore them and she had no intention of going anywhere near any medical clinics, free or otherwise. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Evelyn had gone right ahead and reported her to the authorities. Mac smiled to herself, 'Emma will blister the hide off that woman.' Too bad she wouldn't see it, it would probably be educational.

Mac returned her attention to the matter at hand. Picking up the scissors, she went into the bathroom. Looking into the mirror, she brushed her hair back and contemplated the stitches. Well, they had to come out, she had no intention of looking like the Bride of Frankenstein. Then she'd deal with the rest. Her arm would be awkward but not impossible. She got to work.

Fifty-two minutes later, Mac walked out. She was reasonably clean and makeup covered her bruises. With the clothes she'd picked up, she didn't exactly look like a fashion plate but she no longer looked homeless either. As she walked up the street, a bus pulled in. Mac hurried to catch it, the destination wasn't really important - she just had to keep moving.

Getting off three stops later, Mac started up the street again. When she saw the payphone, she slowed down. She needed to talk to the Admiral, but whether or not to take the chance? It would be naive to think Archangel wasn't somehow monitoring the calls into JAG. Mac thought about it, if she kept the call under thirty seconds she should be safe. She wasn't planning on staying in this area anyway. Fishing change out of her pocket, she walked to the phone and dialed.

"JAG, Petty Officer Tiner speaking." (Here we go, thirty seconds...)

"Tiner, this is..."

"Colonel MacKenzie! Are you all right? We've all been worried... "

"Tiner..." (Damn, twenty two seconds...)

"Where are you, Ma'am? Can you ..."

"TINER! Get me the Admiral, NOW!" (Sixteen seconds...)

Mac fidgeted while the call was transferred. She heard the Admiral's voice, "Mac?!" (Twelve seconds...)

"Yes sir." Mac continued in a rush, "I can't stay on the phone. I'm okay. I'll call again in an hour." She hung up. Four seconds left - glancing up and down the street, she started walking.

JAG Headquarters
Falls Church
1130 Local

Everyone sat and looked at the phone, AJ had put it on speaker when he answered.

"Well, at least we know she's all right for now," Bud offered.

"Except that she doesn't know the police are looking for her too. We need to warn her." Harriet said worriedly.

"I imagine she'll be moving from payphone to payphone. Obviously, she knows to keep the calls under thirty seconds." Clay said. He looked at AJ, "And, she obviously thinks the lines here are tapped. She's probably right. I could have that taken care of..."

"No," AJ said thoughtfully, "If we could get a secure line of communication to her, maybe we could use these lines to our advantage." He looked around the room, "We have an hour..." AJ glanced at his watch and smiled, "Excuse me, fifty-seven minutes to come up with a plan."

There were answering smiles around the room at his reference to Mac's sense of timing. The mood in the conference room had lightened. Finally, here was something concrete they could do. AJ sat back and watched his people. They had huddled together near the end of the table, throwing ideas back and forth. Clay walked over and stood next to him.

"We'll get her out of this, AJ."

AJ nodded, Webb could be such a pain in the ass. But, when the chips were down, he came through. He actually liked the man, which was surprising. And he had learned to respect him as well, Webb had a difficult job and he was good at it. AJ thought about what Brumby had said during that goddamn Ragle affair, about all of them being a little bit in love with Sarah MacKenzie. He suspected Clay belonged in that group, too. He knew Mac liked the CIA operative. He broke off from his musing when Emma Fine approached.

"Yes, Mrs. Fine?"

Emma looked at him, "Would you please call me Emma?"

"Of course, Mrs. Fine." AJ grinned at her arched eyebrow, "What can I do for you, Emma?"

"Can we speak privately?" She looked at Clay, "You too, Mr. Webb."

They walked over to a far corner, AJ and Clay looked at her expectantly. Emma cleared her throat a little nervously, "I was wondering if you would consider adding one more member to the inner circle? My son is a lieutenant on the DC police force and I think he could help us if he knew what was going on. He hasn't said anything yet, but I know he's going to start digging into this. He's worried about what I might have gotten myself into. I would trust him with my life... and Sarah already has."

AJ rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at Webb. He knew the difficulty in keeping a secret increased proportionately with the number of people privy to it. Of course, having eyes and ears in the DC police force could be an advantage too. He stood for a minute, weighing the pros and cons. Emma looked a little anxious, Webb was poker-faced. Finally, he spoke, "Can you get him here without raising too much suspicion?"

Emma smiled with relief, "Of course, I'll tell him I need a ride back to my apartment. The taxi was too expensive."

Lincoln Memorial
Washington, DC
1420 Local

Mac stood near the back of a group of tourists as they listened to the park employee tell them about Abraham Lincoln. It seemed apropos: she was trying to fool some of the people, all of the time. She went over the earlier phone conversation with the Admiral. She had barely got two words out before he jumped in, "Mac, Harm's going to be sorry he missed you. He had to drop a package off at his dad's place. He'll be back by 1500." She had followed along, "Thank you sir. Tell him I'm fine." and hung up.

Now she was here early to do some recon. Mac tagged along with another group sauntering down past the reflecting pool. Thirty minutes later, she had made a complete circuit of the Vietnam Memorial. She was gratified and a little surprised at what she'd found. So far, Mac had spotted Bud and Harriet, AJ, Sturgis, Harm and Gunny Walters. Her friends had thrown a security cordon around the Wall. At first, when she'd seen the Roberts, she had worried that they would try to get her to come in. As appealing as the idea was, until Archangel was broken, she had to continue. Otherwise, she and her friends would never be safe. The Roberts had walked right by, ignoring her completely as they consulted their travel brochure. Mac gave herself a shake, it was time.

Chapter 14

Harm and Sturgis sat on a bench overlooking the Wall. Dressed in sweatshirts and jogging shorts, they were just two of a virtual army of fitness-minded DC residents. In spite of his relaxed outward appearance, Sturgis could tell Harm was tightly wound. The Admiral had pulled him aside earlier and told him to make sure Rabb made no attempt to approach Mac. She didn't need the attention or the distraction. Their job was protection.

He felt Harm go tense and followed his gaze towards the memorial. It took him a moment to pick her out among the clusters of people. She was walking slowly, apparently scanning through the names. Sturgis smiled in appreciation, for all intents and purposes - Mac was only one more visitor to the Wall. He turned his attention to the people in the area. Webb and the Gunny had prepped everyone on what to look for if someone was shadowing Mac.

Harm stared as Mac slowly approached the panel containing his father's name. He wasn't happy with the plan they'd eventually settled on, but couldn't think of anything better in the time they had. It had its good points: Mac would and did grasp immediately the reference to his father's place - not many would. And they did need to have some way to communicate with her without bringing Archangel down on her head. The biggest flaw, and as far as he was concerned it was a major one, was that by now Archangel was well aware of who Mac's friends were. He was worried that the network would use them to find her. The only comfort was that they had a joker in the deck: Emma's son had joined in at the last minute. No one would know who he was.

Mac reached Harm, Sr.'s panel and cautiously glanced from side to side. There was a large, black man in a faded fatigue jacket kneeling at the next panel. He paid no attention to her. Carefully, she knelt down. Mac wasn't happy about this part, she still had trouble getting up and down. She didn't like being so vulnerable. There was a bundle of flowers tied with a ribbon at the base of the Wall. She reached over and picked them up, there was a small package underneath.

A deep voice startled her, it was all she could do to keep from jerking her head towards the sound, "I understand you were drafted into the Orphan Brigade."

Eyes wide, she risked a quick glance at the man. He was looking at the Wall with a small smile on his face, "I'm James. Momma's been worried."

A sudden commotion made them both turn...

Harm felt Sturgis' hand on his shoulder, he looked over and saw him sitting upright, looking intently to the left of the Wall. "What's wrong?"

Sturgis pointed down the slope, "Those three men... Damn!" He was on his feet and running, Harm close behind. They pounded down the hill together on an intercept course.

For a big man, James was surprisingly agile. He was on his feet and turning towards Mac while she was still struggling, cursing her inability to rise quickly. Placing a large hand under each elbow, James lifted Mac to her feet. She staggered for a moment. "Do you have the package?" he asked quickly. When she nodded, he placed a hand on her back, "Let's go."

AJ saw Harm and Sturgis running towards the memorial as Mac and James hurried away, "Son of a bitch!" He started in that direction when he heard the Gunny exclaim, "Sir!" He turned to see Walters pointing towards a different area, two more men were walking quickly towards Mac in an attempt to cut her off. The Gunny was already heading for them, AJ hurried to catch up.

Harm and Sturgis careened into the three men, taking everyone down like ninepins. There was a tangle of arms and legs. The men struggling to get up, Harm and Sturgis working equally hard to keep that from happening. Sturgis was yelling, "What's the matter with you?! Don't you pay attention to where you're going?" One man scrambled away and rolled to his feet, intent on Mac. Harm lunged and missed. Pushing himself up, he saw the man reach inside his jacket. Harm took a deep breath and yelled as loud as he could, "GUN!"

The effect was immediate. Everywhere, people screamed and ran or dove for cover. The man turned back towards Harm, anger evident on his face, pistol in hand. Harm froze, the man looked at him for a long moment and then spun and took off after Mac. Harm scrambled up only to be tackled from behind, it was turning into a brawl.

Mac and James were almost to the end of the memorial when they saw the other two men. Mac turned left, "Head for the trees."

Gunny appeared in front of the two men and stopped, arms outstretched, effectively blocking their path. AJ arrived a moment later. "Gentlemen, I need to see some ID."

"Get out of the way!"

The men tried to go around. Gunny and AJ moved to intercept. "Certainly, as soon as I know who you are."

Mac and James had just entered the treeline when they were bowled over from the side. Mac hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of her. There was a sharp tearing pain in her side. Keeping a hand clamped there, she braced against a tree and struggled to her feet. James was rolling around on the ground, trying to keep the two men occupied. He yelled, "Run!" She ran.

As she cleared the trees, Mac risked a look backwards. She could see another man running towards her, gun in hand. She tried to pick up the pace. When Mac saw the mounted policeman emerge on the bridle path, she veered towards him.

Officer Ken Hoskins was scanning the area, when he felt his horse tense. Turning to see what had attracted Pascal's attention, he saw a disheveled woman stagger up to him. There were bits of leaves and twigs stuck to her clothes and she was holding her side. The woman leaned on Pascal's shoulder, looked up at him and panted, "Help me officer! There's a man back there, he tried to kill me. He's got a gun." Hoskins looked down at her, he could see blood starting to ooze from between her fingers. They both looked down the slope, a man was running towards them. He was holding a gun.

"Get behind the horse, Ma'am." Haskell activated his radio and called for backup, then dismounted, drawing his service weapon. He wasn't sure what was going on - criminals seldom ran TO the police - but the first order of business was disarming this guy. He leveled his weapon and barked, "Freeze! Drop the gun!"

Mac backed around to the far side of the horse and took off.

The man came to an abrupt halt, both hands in the air. "I'm a Federal agent," he said angrily.

Hoskins looked at him, "I don't care if you're Mickey Mouse, drop the gun and get down on the ground." The man glared at him. Hoskins looked back unflinching.

Slowly the man put the gun down and dropped to his knees, "I'll have your badge for this."

Hoskins ignored him, "All the way down and spread-eagle." When the man complied, Hoskins circled towards him, kicking the gun away. He put a knee on the man's back and said, "Put your hands behind your back." After he was cuffed, Hoskins holstered his weapon and picked up the gun. He hauled the man to his feet, "Where do you keep your ID?"

Mac finally reached the street and stopped for a moment , undecided. A dark blue sedan screeched to a halt in front of her, she took an involuntary step backwards. The tinted window rolled down, revealing Clayton Webb. He gestured with his head towards the back door, "For God's sake, Mac, get in!"

Vietnam Memorial
Washington, DC
1535 Local

Captain Wendell looked up at the sky for a moment. As soon as he had spilled coffee on himself this morning, he knew it was going to be one of those days. He looked back at the two groups. The Feds (actually a joint task force of FBI and the NIS) were by far the more annoying of the two. They were milling around, alternately complaining and threatening the officers watching them. The other group stood quietly together, if he didn't know better, he'd swear they were feeling smug. The Captain had been a little surprised, they were mostly military (that didn't surprise him: in Washington, the majority of residents tended to be Federal employees or military) but they were fairly high-ranking. He had an admiral - and not just any admiral, but the Judge Advocate General himself - as well as two full commanders, a Marine Gunnery Sergeant... and a DC police lieutenant.

Captain Wendell walked over to the military group. Indicating the admiral and the police lieutenant, he gestured for them to follow him. Walking to a spot where they wouldn't be overheard, he turned and faced the two men. "I've heard from Officer Hoskins and the federal agents. Now I'd like to hear your story."

The two men looked at each other, then the admiral spoke, "May I ask what the Feds had to say?"

Wendell looked at him for a long moment, considering the request, finally he said, "According to them, you aided and abetted in the escape of an officer from your command who is wanted for espionage and treason."

"Well, they almost got it right," the admiral said. "She has been accused of espionage and treason. I suspect they forgot to mention that someone came damn close to killing her last Friday night?"

Wendell's eyebrows rose in surprise, he shook his head. The admiral continued, "She was in the hospital, someone or something frightened her and she took off. This morning, I was finally able to make contact with her and convinced her to surrender to Lt. Fine." The admiral glanced at Fine, who nodded. "She was too scared to come to JAG headquarters, so we agreed to meet here. I asked some of her colleagues to run interference to make her feel safer. Everything was going smoothly, Lieutenant Fine had her in custody, when all these men showed up." He jerked a thumb at the Feds. "They didn't identify themselves and then they started waving guns around. We didn't know if these were the people that tried to kill her earlier, so we did our best to stop them while Lt. Fine got my officer to safety."

Lt. Fine picked up the tale, "I'd almost gotten her clear, when two of them jumped us in the trees. She managed to get clear of the melee and bolted. I couldn't get free of those two to stop her. Apparently, that's when she ran into Officer Hoskins."

"So now we're back to square one," the admiral stated bitterly, Captain Wendell could see he was becoming angry. "I don't know if she'll contact me again, and if she does, it's going to be damn hard convincing her to trust me a second time."

The Captain grunted and then gestured for them to return to the group. Of the two, their story sounded much more plausible. It was hard to believe that the Judge Advocate General would be so blatant in breaking the law or be able talk a police lieutenant into doing the same. Eye witnesses had corroborated key points of their story. The Feds hadn't identified themselves and they had pulled their guns. That in itself really ticked him off. You don't do that in a crowd of civilians unless it's a last resort, this wasn't TV. He came to a decision, 'Screw the Feds. They'd messed up and they'd just have to live with it.' He motioned an officer over, "Tell the military boys and Lt. Fine they can go." The Feds were going to stay right here until he could talk with their superiors.

Washington, DC
1520 Local

Clay glanced in the rearview mirror at Mac. She was partially collapsed across the backseat, ashen-faced. "Stay down, Mac. I have to make sure we're not being followed."

"Not a problem." was the rather terse reply.

There was a brief silence, while Clay weaved quickly and efficiently through the DC traffic. Mac spoke again, "Where are we going?"

"To an unused safe house. I'll be the only one who knows you're there."

"You know I can't stop?"

"Yeah, I know. Take a break, we'll talk about it after we get to the house."

Vietnam Memorial
Washington, DC
1542 Local

Harm watched the Admiral and Lt. Fine talk to the police captain. With all the bumps and bruises, he was feeling better than he had in days. He'd spotted Bud and Harriet in the crowd of onlookers, they'd smiled and given him a thumbs-up. It meant Clay had gotten to Mac. She would be safe, at least for a while. With a little luck, maybe he could persuade Webb to let him visit her. Harm glanced over at Sturgis, who was standing at his shoulder. He was staring at the other group. "What?" Harm asked.

Sturgis inclined his head towards the Feds, "I was wondering if any of them are our X-men?" He and Harm had begun referring to the Archangel operatives that way as they struggled to identify as much of the network as possible.