Chapter Forty One

USS Patrick Henry

0900

Two weeks later, the COD landed on the Patrick Henry with a thud.  Harm and Mac climbed out and went to the bridge to see the Captain.

“Commander Rabb and Colonel Mackenzie reporting as ordered sir.” Harm said.

“At ease.  It is good to have you back on the Pat, hopefully this time you won’t be landing a C-130 on my deck.”

“No sir, this time only Tomcats.”

“I heard you wanted to get out of your quals this year Rabb.  It’s not like you, something up?”

“Nothing really sir, just getting older, and having children changes your perspective on what is important.”

“Understandable Rabb.  I see the Colonel here is sporting a nice rock on her finger.  Congratulations Colonel.  Who is the lucky man?”

“Commander Rabb, sir.”  She said to him.

“Congratulations to you both.  Colonel we have you set up with a translator working on some classified documents.  Ensign Mills will escort you to the office.  Rabb, you know what to do.  The case you guys are here to investigate can wait.  I will make sure you get your quals done in time to investigate this case Rabb.  Ensign Galbox has put your things in your staterooms.  Dismissed.”

They turned to leave, and Harm turned to Mac, “Isn’t there something you need to say to me before you go into your office Mac?”

“Don’t kill yourself up there.” She said smiling at him. 

He gave her a look.  “And?”

“Oh, good luck, don’t dump it into the drink again.  I don’t know if I will be able to find you this time.”

Captain Ingles stood there listening to their banter.  He always knew their relationship was beyond a working relationship.  “Colonel, you were the one who found the Commander last time?”

“Yes sir.  I was also the reason though he insisted on flying through that weather, and I didn’t wish him luck time, so it has become a tradition now between the two of us.”

“Good thing you are here.”

Harm left to suit up to complete the first set of traps.  He walked out of his stateroom and smacked into Mac.  “Hey Mac.  Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“It’s okay Harm.  Be safe, come home to us.”

“I will.”  He set out for the ready room and met up with Skates.  They headed out to the Tomcat and ran through the preflight check.  Mac stood up on vulture row watching him.  Captain Ingles stood out there with her.

“How goes the translation?”

“Pretty easy.  It’s in Russian, so it is going smoothly.”

“You really do care for him don’t you?” he asked.

“He is the air I breathe,” she replied.  She watched his tomcat catapult off the ship. 

“Harm is a damn fine pilot.  Now that he has you and a family to go home to, I am sure that he will not do anything out of the ordinary while up there.  For a while, after his ramp strike, everyone doubted that he was the real deal.  Then, he pulls off saving Admiral Boone’s life.  Your fiancé is the real deal.”

She stood there.  “Thank you for that vote of confidence sir.  I will finish the translations, and then Harm and I will crack the harassment suite.”

“You and he are a good team, I have no doubt that you will figure this out.”

“Thank you sir.” 

She stared at the sky and prayed that he would be coming home.  Mac walked back into the office and started working on more mundane tasks of doing the translations.  Mac was sitting at her desk when she noticed that she had a new mail message. 

To:  mackenziesc@usmc.mil

Fr:  mattieaviation@freemail.net

Sub:  See what you daughter did

Hi Mom, Hi Dad,

Hehehe, Mackenzie was trying out her throwing arm.

Uncle Sergei was having Mackenzie try a new cereal that

Gram had bought.  These are the results.

I love you guys.  Come home soon.  Uncle AJ, Uncle Bud,

Aunt Harriet, Jimmy, and little AJ came by today while

Jen was in class.  I think you and Dad went overboard

with the checking in.  Tell Dad I would email him, but

I figured you would be at the desk more.

Uncle Sergei and Jen are trying so hard to be good substitute

parents.  Don’t tell them, but they are doing an okay

job.  They keep letting me and Mackenzie get away with

most everything.

I love you guys.

Mathilda Grace Johnson

PS:  Tell Dad we need to change my last name soon.

Mac opened up the attachment.  There was a picture of Mackenzie turning away from the cereal spoon, and another one of her flinging the bowl toward Sergei, then one of Mackenzie wearing the bowl on her head.  Mac started laughing hysterically.  Just then Harm walked in.

“Hi beautiful.”  He said to her realizing that she was alone in her office.  “I landed safely.  I just figured you would want to know.”

“Do you want to know what your daughter did?”

“Why is it they are my daughters when they did something bad, but your daughters when they are doing something brilliant? Which one by the way?”

“Mackenzie.”

“Ah, my sweet darling angel, whose smile can light up any bad day of the week, who steals my hear,  who can do no wrong?  The same baby?”

“Ah, the sweet darling caused a mess in the kitchen.  Are we paying Sergei enough?”

“Free boarding until he gets figures out what he wants to do.  How is Mattie doing?”

“She said she is fine, and she wants to change her last name to Rabb.”

“I know.  I need to talk to Tom about formally adopting her.  He gave me parental rights, but didn’t completely terminate his rights.  I still want them to spend time together, but when I was at the hospital the doctor gave me this look, and seemed weird about giving me info on her.”

“That must have driven you crazy.”

“It did.”

“When is your next set of quals?”

“Night traps.  I am on my way to getting dinner.  Do you want to join me?”

“Well, you know what they say about flyboys in their flight suits.”

“No, what?”

“That it makes me go weak in the knees.”

“So that’s what turns you on.”

“You know it.”

He quickly grazed his lips over hers.  “Let me go feed my Marine now.”

He helped her out of her chair and glanced around like a naughty school boy.  He dropped her folders behind her desk and both went behind the desk to put them back in order.  He touched her face and kissed her.  “Being with you is so much better than flying.”

“Coming from you, I am going to take that as the biggest compliment ever.”

They straightened up the folders and headed out to the mess hall.  Harm and Mac ate together and made pleasant conversation with Skates who told the story on how Harm had saved her skin a couple of times.  Harm and Mac said goodbye and he walked out to do his preflight check.  He glanced up at vulture row and caught her staring at him.  He gave her a wave that she caught.  She waved back and watched him fly off.

It really didn’t take long for Mac to get the linguistic officers caught up to where it was manageable for them.  She grabbed a cup of coffee and headed back out to vultures row.  She watched him catapult off for his third night trap.  She saw the catapult malfunctioned as he was flung off.  Mac dropped her coffee cup then she heard the familiar roar of the engines. 

The captain was standing on vulture row with her.  “Damn, how did Rabb pull that off?  The normal pilot would have had to eject into the drink.”  She started picking up the pieces of the coffee cup.  “Colonel leave it.  I would have dropped my mug too.” 

Mac went to get up when the ship lurched and her hand went into a piece of broken mug.  “Damn it.”  She pulled the piece of ceramic out of her skin. 

“Colonel, go down to sick bay and get that looked at.”

“Sir,   I need to stay and make sure he gets back down.”

“Damn it Colonel.  You have the same stubborn streak as your fiancé.  Come here.”  She stood next to the captain and he wrapped her hand in a handkerchief.  “I don’t need you bleeding all over my ship.  The minute he lands, I will tell him to meet you in the infirmary.”

She watched him come in and catch the one wire.  She saluted to the captain and he told her to get going.

Harm climbed out of the cockpit and helped Skates down.  The saluted immediately when they saw the captain.  “At ease you two.  That was some great flying Rabb, I am going to write an official statement for your record.  Colonel Mackenzie is in the sick bay.”

Harm dropped his helmet on the deck, forgetting military protocol and ran down for her.  Skates shook her head after him.  “I think he loves her Sir.”

“Genius aren’t we there huh Skates.”

“Just stating the obvious, Sir.” 

Harm entered the sick bay.  “Mac, Mac!”

“Right here flyboy.  I don’t think I have ever seen you so worked up.  It’s just stitches.  Only three sub-Q stitches.”

“All I knew is that you were in the sick bay, and I got so worried.”

“Imagine my worry when I saw the catapult malfunction.  I didn’t think you would be able to pull up the plane.  I was so worried, I dropped my mug, and when I picked it up, I cut myself.”

He held her tight.  “Technically, I hurt you then.”

“Harm, don’t think like that, okay?”

“Okay.”

“We have a case to crack starting tomorrow, and two beautiful girls to get home to.”

“Let’s go get dinner, and then we will figure out how to catch the stalker.”  They left to go get dinner, and they went back down to the JAG office in the ship.

Chapter Forty Two

0800

Aboard the Patrick Henry

Friday

Harm walked into the JAG office to find Mac asleep at her desk.  They had spent most of the time yesterday going over the evidence that had been presented to them.  Today they were planning on interviewing their only witness, Lt. Commander Emily Graves.  He heard her whispering in her sleep begging her dad to stop.

“Dad, please don’t I swear I will be good!” she cried in a hushed whisper.  Harm walked over to her and brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

“Colonel, wake up, time for breakfast.”  He told her.

She woke up, her brown eyes were seeking his blue eyes.  Mackenzie had his eyes and his smile she thought groggily.  Everything else was all her.  “Harm?”

“You fell asleep at your desk, you were having a nightmare.”

“Really?”

“Want to talk about it?”

If there was one thing that Mac learned with Dr. McCool it was to talk a little more, so she volunteered a bit of information.  “I got this creepy feeling that someone was watching me last night, but I ignored it and continued working on the case.  I must have just fallen asleep while trying to piece some things together.”  Harm raised his eyebrows.  “I guess you were talking about the nightmare.  I had a dream about my fifth birthday, nothing big.”

“Okay,” he said still feeling that there was something quite not right.

They had breakfast together in the mess hall.  “What’s wrong Harm?”

“Oh nothing, I got a call from Sergei, Mattie is learning Russian, she may hold a conversation with you when we get back.” He said deflecting the topic that he was worried about her.

“How’s Mackenzie?”

“She is a little sick.  Jen and Sergei are giving her baby Tylenol, and making an appointment for her.”

“Harm, she has had a cough for weeks. Our baby is sick.”

“But she is there with her Uncle Sergei and Jen.  Look, she is in the best hands possible.  Let’s just wrap this case up and get home for in time for her appointment.”

“Okay, Harm, I agree, I have to get my head on.  I have been staring at this case forever, and there seems to be something eerily familiar about Commander Graves.”

“How do you mean?”

“Just kinda like I knew her in another life.”

They had an appointment to meet Lt. Commander Emily Graves at 0900.  Harm sat there looking at the picture of Emily Graves.  She had a striking resemblance to Mac.  Both olive skin tones, wavy brown hair that fell to the shoulders, and they were around the same height.  She was still working on her quals. 

“Mac, I have a bad feeling, I want you off the case.  Please, don’t argue with me.  You two have a resemblance to each other.”

“Harm, I wouldn’t worry about it.  I haven’t been on board long, and nothing has happened.  And yeah, we may look alike.”  She looked at the pictures.

“Mac, you felt like there was someone watching you last night, and then I walked in her and found you having a nightmare!”

“I knew you would over-react.  I have suppressed a lot of memories, and some come back in the forms of dreams.  That is what I was dreaming about.  My fifth birthday wasn’t the best.  My dad got drunk and threw the cake everywhere.  My mom got a nice backhand for getting me a puppy.”

“Baby doll,” he said quietly, “I am going to make sure all your birthday’s now are great birthdays.  I will never do that to you or our children.”

“Harm, I know.  Your hands are not capable of hurting.  I love you for that.”

They drank the rest of the coffee in silence.  They were sitting in the JAG office when Emily Graves came barging in.

“I demand something be done now!  I can’t live like this, and it might begin to affect my ability to work!”

“Stand down Lt. Commander Graves.”  Mac ordered.

“Okay Graves, what has you worked up?” Harm asked.

“I was suiting up when I found another note attached to my flight suite.”

They placed the note in a ziplock bag and looked at the note.

Emily,

I dream of having you every night.  I want

to screw you and make you scream my name.

I can make you squeal.  You and the

pretty new lawyer.  See you in my dreams.

Harm looked at the note.  ‘Sarah, you are going to be on the next transport.”

“Sarah Mackenzie?” Emily asked.

“Lt. Colonel Sarah Mackenzie.” Sarah said.

“Sarah Mackenzie as in Joe and Deanne Mackenzie.”

“Yes.” Mac said suspiciously.

“I’m your cousin.  Emily O’Hara.  I haven’t seen you since your fifth birthday party.”

“Wow.  I’m sorry Emily I have blocked out most of my childhood.”

“It’s okay Sarah.  I know you didn’t have it all that great.  I used to beg my parents for you to come stay with us.”

“So tell me what has been going on with your life?”

“I got married when I was 21 to a wonderful man.  He was killed in the September 11 attacks in NYC.  I took a sabbatical to mourn his loss, to take care of our child, and I recently came back.”

“Emily, I am so sorry.”

“Sarah, I knew you didn’t have life any easier.  I saw you on television, the trials.  I just didn’t put two and two together.”

“No I didn’t have an easy life, but now that we have found each other, we will continue keeping in touch.  Now let me catch the bastard that is doing this to you.”

Emily turned to Harm, “You must be Commander Harmon Rabb.  I have seen you fly.  Wonderful work.”

“Thank you, but I am a better lawyer.”

“I know, thank you for putting those traitor behind bars.”

“It was my job.  And I am going to make sure that we catch this person.”

“Okay.  I have to finish my quals.”

“Commander, we will be in touch.”

Harm looked at Sarah.  “He is going to be coming after you now.  Sarah, please, I don’t want to leave our children motherless.”

“I don’t want to leave our children fatherless.  I am good at watching your six, and you are good at watching mine.  Together, like the team we once were we are going to bring down this person.”

Harm and Sarah racked their brains trying to see if the evidence could lead them anywhere.  Each time it was a different medium:  typed notes, email, photos of Emily on liberty.  No finger prints, no forensics to go on.

Mac’s laptop popped up with a new email message.

I am watching you.

Harm saw her tense up and read the message before she had a chance to close it.  “Damn it.  Mac, I refuse to leave you alone on this ship.  It will give me a chance to see who watches you.  Let’s find out who has access to you cousin’s area.”

They piled up a short list of people who it could be: RIOs, pilots, or maintenance people.   Harm looked down the list of suspects and cross referenced it with people who had liberty the same day that had Emily had liberty, which left them with a list of 8 people:  2 RIOs, 4 pilots, and 2 maintenance people.  They called Emily into the office.

“Commander Graves, do you know Derrick Waters, Gavin Telpo, Harry Iverson, Stanly Albermarle, Kyle Jeffers, Lucas Abrams, Dwanye Houseman, and Tyrone Little?”

“Houseman and Little work on the aircrafts, Kyle “Nails” Jeffers is my pilot sometimes, I would trust him with my life.  We grew up together throughout high school in Chicago.  Lucas Abrams normally is another guy I am normally paired with, right now we are doing quals together.  Stanly and Harry are also pilots in a different squadron, and Derrick and Gavin, we went to RIO school together.  Good guys.”

“Thank you Emily.”

They all went to officer’s dining hall together to grab a bite to eat.  Harm wasn’t feeling all that hungry so he grabbed a diet coke and a banana.  They sat together.  The captain stopped by.

“Commander Graves, you bear a resemblance to Colonel Mackenzie.”

“She is my cousin sir.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Neither did I.  I haven’t seen her since I was five.  It won’t affect my objectivity on the case though sir.”

They brought the captain up to speed on the progress of the investigation.  They set up times to meet with each of the suspects, and even met with some of Emily’s friends to find out if she was stable.  She did have a hard time after her husband’s death, but it was to be understandable. 

About an hour after dinner, and setting up meetings with all the people, Harm and Mac decided to call it quits for the night.  They went up to vulture row to watch the stars and the planes take off and land.  Up there they could also talk openly about the case.

“I don’t know what to think Harm.  I have no clue who could be doing this.  I just want to catch him.  I don’t want my nephew to grow up an orphan.  Being stalked is a scary thing Harm.  It takes away your independence.”

“Honey I know.  Don’t think about Coster.”

“I won’t.”  He drew her into his arms and kept her close.  “I refuse to let anything happen to you.”  Unbeknownst to them, someone was watching them below.

Chapter Forty Three

AN-I don’t actually know if Harm could sit RIO, I know he has a couple times with Admiral Boone and Mac has rode in the back seat, but it fits my story, so . . .

The next morning, Mac and Emily weren’t feeling to well.  Upon going to the sick bay, they found out there was an outbreak of food poisoning.  Turns out there was some contaminated meat used in yesterday’s spaghetti.  The meat was only used in the officer’s wardroom, and only those who ate the spaghetti were filling ill.

Harm sat with Mac and held back her hair as she was throwing up whatever it was she tried to hold down.  “Harm, we need to finish up this investigation.”

“I know Mac.  After lunch is the first interview.  They are going to be coming to the office since you are under the weather.  I already informed them of it.  I don’t want to worry you, but the captain also told me this morning I was going to have to sit RIO for a couple of the pilots whose RIOs are sick.  I think I am actually filling in for Emily.  It is a simple recon mission.”

Harm looked at Mac’s face, and tried to gage her reaction.  “Harm, orders are orders.  Have fun up there flyboy, and just come home so you can hold back my hair again.”

“I don’t have to go to the ready room until a couple more hours.  I will stay with you until then.  Let me help you.”  He took a cold wash cloth and pressed it up against her forehead, and planted a soft kiss there.

“I don’t deserve you.”

“I think it is the other way around, I don’t deserve you.”

 “We really need to investigate this case.”  He helped her up from the cold steel floor.  She fixed her hair.  Since another officer had thrown up on Mac’s last clean uniform, she had to wear one of Skate’s clean flight suites.  They went up to vulture row to talk about the case, she also thought the fresh air would help settle her stomach.  The ship hit some rough seas and she lurched into his arms.

“Thanks for catching me.”

“I will always be there to catch you Mac.”

“Where is Emily?”

“Sleeping off the food poisoning.”

He brushed the hair out of her face.  “Come on Mac.  I have to go get a piece of fruit in me before I go fly this mission.”  They left vulture row unaware of the pair of eyes that were watching them from deck.

“Are you disappointed you aren’t flying it, and sitting in the back seat.”

“No, as I said, it is routine.  And besides, if I need to grab the stick back there, I can.”

Harm mulled the ideas over in his head who could be stalking Mac and Emily as he munched on a fruit salad.  Mac bit at some saltine crackers and ginger ale.  He gave Mac a quick kiss on the cheek when no one was looking and excused himself to go get ready for the days mission.

He took a seat in the room.  The CAG went into the ready room to address the squadron.  “Everyone, I want to introduce you to Commander Rabb, JAG.”

Harm stood up.  “For those of you who don’t know, Rabb has extensive combat flying skills, and 3 DFCs.  He is also filling in for our sick RIOs.  So in all intensive purposes, he is saving this mission.  Harm?”

“Yes sir?”

“You will be paired up with Nails.  Hammer and Nails.  I think you guys will make a good pair.”

“Yes sir.”

Harm held his breath as he listened to the mission.  They were to go in, sweep the area for combative forces to find out if the area was safe for ground troop movement.

“Rules of engagement?” a younger pilot addressed.

“Hammer, as resident lawyer?”

“Pretty simple, don’t fire unless fired upon.  I don’t want to have to defend another hotshot.”

Before leaving, Harm approached the captain.  “Captain Ingles?”

“Rabb, thank you for filling in.”

“No problem sir.”

“You are always in the right place at the right time.”

“Seems so sir.  There is something I need to ask.  Colonel Mackenzie has been receiving threatening emails along with Lt. Commander Graves.  I want them both placed under Marine protection, just in case.  They both are under the weather with the food poisoning, and Mac is questioning some of the suspects today.”

“Understandable.  I will send a marine to the office.  She is going to be one pissed off marine.”

“I’d rather have her pissed at me for 48 hours than something else happen to her.”

He gave him a quick nod and ran out to the deck.

“What kept you Hammer?”

“I needed to brief the captain on the progress on the investigation.”

“Oh.”

Harm looked up at vulture row and found Mac looking down at him.  She waved and blew him a kiss and sent a prayer up to heaven that he would be coming back soon.  She turned and walked back inside.  Nails looked up just in time to see Mac’s retreating form.

An hour into the interviews, Mac figured that none of the people they were interviewing were the stalker, two of the men didn’t know Emily very well, the other 5 men were all together at a club during their liberty.  Emily had said she had trusted Jeffers with her life.  Mac and Emily went together to talk about the case over a cup of coffee.  “Emily, what can you tell me in depth about Lt. Commander Kyle Jeffers?”

“Nails is his call sign.  I have known him since high school.  Mom and Dad had moved us to Chicago, per Dad’s orders.  I was the new kid in town, attending a private Catholic high school.  I didn’t really fit in until Mom made me try out for the cheerleading team since there wasn’t a gymnastic team at the school.  Kyle and my husband, Louis, were best friends.  Louis was popular.  He once told me when he saw me it was love at first sight.  Kyle and Louis used to joke around about how they used to fight over me after football practices.

“When Louis and I got married, Kyle was our best man.  Louis was on a business trip to NYC at a training session for the company he worked for in their Trade Center office.  He was on the top floor.  He didn’t stand a chance.  He called me on his cell before he died.”  She started chocking up.  Mac went over to comfort her cousin.

“Emily, I can’t imagine.”

“I was getting ready to get out of the military, when I found out I was pregnant with Brennen.  It was a mixed blessing really, to be pregnant with his baby while he was buried underneath the rubble.  At least a part of him, his legacy, would still be alive.  My CO at time was informed of the situation.  He told me he couldn’t lose good officers like me, not now, and that I should take time, and transfer to an inactive reserve unit.  If I wanted, I could come back in time.  After Brennen was born, May 11, 2002 exactly nine months after his daddy died, Kyle was my birthing coach, I was so lost, and I couldn’t pull myself together, not even to take care of my son.  Kyle was given emergency time off.  He held me, and told me everything was going to be okay.  I miss Louis so much.  Brennen looks so much like his dad. 

“Kyle was my safety net.  He helped me with Brennen so much.  Last year, he proposed, and I said I couldn’t.  I was still in love with Louis.  After that, Kyle got withdrawn, and drunk more often then not.  I got my parents to look after Brennen when I got assigned out here for six months.  To my surprise, Kyle was out here.  I was so excited to have him back in my life.”

“He sounds almost too good to be true.  Was Kyle ever jealous?”

“Well in high school, all the time.  Would get upset and throw things.  He went to anger management and it cleared right up.  Sarah, you don’t think Kyle is the one who is doing this?  When he got drunk, he told me he would stop at nothing to have me.”  A slow recognition was dawning on Emily.  “Oh my God.”

“I think he was in love with you, and still is.  Where is Kyle now?”

“He is flying right now with Harm.”

Sarah ran to the bridge, she was aware of the marine guard with her. ‘Damn it Harm, always trying to make sure I’m safe, but what about you.’  “Captain Ingles, I need to get in radio contact with Commander Rabb. Commander Graves and I have found out who the stalker is, and Commander Rabb needs to know.”

“Colonel, right now is radio silence.  We will have them back online in twenty minutes.”

“Damn,” she muttered.  She stood on the bridge and waited.

Meanwhile in the air

“So Hammer, I heard you were a ladies man?”

“I used to be, now I have kids, Mattie is fifteen and Mackenzie is five months, and they make it hard for me to date.” He stated, not wanting to tell his relationship with Mac.

‘Bastard,’ Kyle thought to himself. ‘To bad I am going to have to kill you.’  “A teenager huh.  You must have been fresh out of flight school when you had her.”

“No, she is adopted.  She needed me I was there.  How about you anyone special?”

“I thought there was about a year ago, but she shot me down.”

“Why?”

“She was still in love with her dead husband.  You know who it is, Lt. Commander Graves.  I guess now that is a good thing, considering we are in the same chain of command now.  No man can have her on the ship.”  Harm noticed him stiffening. 

Just then, Harm heard Mac on the radio circuit.

“Harm?”

“Yeah Mac.”

“I am so pissed about this marine guard, I’m gonna kick your six later flyboy.  I received a call from Lt. Zuzello.  He says hi.” She said cryptically.

The light bulbs went off in his head.  “Tell Zuzello’s son Andy I said I am thinking about him, and I will bring him back something cool from this deployment.  Mac, we are going to be back on the carrier in about thirty.  We will wrap up this case tonight.”

Zuzello was the RIO that was killed when the pilot used a bad oxygen ring to kill him.  Harm was sitting RIO, that meant that Jeffers had to be the stalker, and Mac figured it out.

Harm played on Jeffers’ insecurities to receive more information.  “Commander Graves seems like a nice girl.  I have spent some time with her while we were on board.  I am hoping she will come out for a visit when you guys dock in Norfolk.”

“She is one of the best RIOs out here.” He said wistfully.

“How long have you been in love with her?” Harm asked.

“Almost 18 years.  I watched her marry my best friend, and I will be damned if I let her go off with a playboy like you with a ready-made family waiting.”

“I don’t want Emily.  Trust me, I have enough girls in my life to have to deal.”

“If I can’t have her, you can’t have her.”

“Nails, what are you talking about?”

“I saw you wave to Emily today while she was standing on vulture row.” 

“That was her cousin, Colonel Mackenzie.  My JAG partner.”

Jeffers let out an evil laugh.  “It doesn’t matter, they are one in the same!  I wanted to have both of them, I knew it the minute I saw her step off the COD.  I watched her while she slept in the JAG office. So beautiful.  You have no clue what you are missing out on.  But since I am sure you have figured out that I am the one causing Emily and Mac’s problems, I am going to have to kill you and me.  I refuse to go to jail.”

“You are talking crazy.  What are you going to do?”

“Commander, do you remember you ramp strike?”

“Nails, don’t do it.  I can plea bargain this case, you won’t have to go to jail.” Harm said, trying to hide the panic in his voice.  Another ramp strike was something that he did not want to go through.

“Why in the hell would you help me?”  Nails turned back on the radio.  “Now, shut up so I can do this.”

The LSO could be heard telling Nails to call the ball and to be ready for landing.  Nails told the LSO he was ready and began his descent at and started dipping dangerously low.  Harm decided to take control.

“Damn it Nails. What the hell did you do to my controls?”  Harm reached for the stick, to find in nonfunctional.

“I downloaded a virus last night, only comes up after we are catapulted off.  Your controls are fried.”  He started laughing manically. 

‘Oh shit, this can’t be good.’  The plane started dipping even lower.  Mac and Emily had come out to the flight deck to arrest Nails when he landed, and was watching all this happen.  Harm started working through the eject sequence praying he had enough time to go through it.  He pulled the handle and shut his eyes, hoping he was able to do it in time.  He closed his eyes, and his last thought of was family. 

The LSO was yelling into the headset to pull up.  The plane would have hit the edge of the ship if it hadn’t dipped at the last second, but the ship didn’t dip enough in the swells of the ocean.

“HARM!” she screamed over the screeching metal and tried to run to the plane.

Chapter Forty Four

USS Patrick Henry

Same Night

“Harm!”  She screamed as she was brought down by another explosion.   

“Did he eject?” Emily screamed.  She saw the firemen over at the scene putting out the raging inferno. 

They looked up in the sky and saw two chutes heading towards them.  One chute was caught in an updraft and the pilot would end up in the drink, and the other pilot would end up on the deck.  Both pilots looked as if they were just rag dolls flapping helplessly in the wind.

Mac looked up and saw a parachute heading towards them, he cleared the fire, but landed with a sickening crunch on the deck.  The captain had run out to the deck.   He couldn’t catch her before she ran out to the parachute.  He helped her unhook the harness, and pulled the parachute off of him.

“Colonel, is it the Commander?”

“No.” She screamed.  “He must have been the one caught in the updraft.  Have you sent out a SAR team yet?”

“We are on it Colonel, we are sending out a zodiac now to retrieve him where we have his homing beacon.”

“I want to be on that zodiac.”

“I knew you would be.”

It seemed like forever waiting on the zodiac to retrieve Harm.  It felt like the last time he had to eject, and she just kept praying that he would be alright.  They saw the chute before they actually spotted Harm.  A couple of the men cut Harm free from the chute and pulled him into the zodiac. 

“He’s not breathing.”  Someone shouted over the sound of the ocean.  Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion from that moment.  The medics started performing CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.  Then the most beautiful sound she could ever hear came from him, a cough.  He had spit out the sea water that was invading his lungs.  He didn’t regain consciousness, but he was breathing on his own.

Mac started shaking as she was looking for a pulse, and sighed with relief.  The medics came rushing over to work on him as soon as they got him on board of the Patrick Henry.

“Let him go Colonel.  Let them do their jobs.  We have to call your CO, and then down in sickbay, you can sit with him.”  The captain pried him from her arms.  The captain sat there, “Colonel?”  Mac stood there in a daze, she saw his blood on her hands; he must have gotten hit in the explosion. 

Mac was not sure if her knees would hold her, and stars swimming before her eyes.  She fainted into the captain’s arms due to pure exhaustion and no nutrients in her body.  The captain looked her over and found a piece of metal sticking out of her shoulder blade.  “Damn.”  He carried her down to sick bay himself.

Down in the sick bay, the men where working frantically on Harm.  He had a deep gash in his side, various other bruises, and a concussion from what Captain Ingles could tell.  A nurse saw the captain standing there, and rushed over to him.

“Captain?”

He put Mac down on the gurney.  “This is the Commander’s fiancée.  She was down on the deck.  A piece of shrapnel hit her.  We didn’t realize it when we were attending to the Commander.  She was also hit by the food poisoning today, so she wasn’t eating today.”

The doctor went over to Mac and assessed her injuries.  The metal didn’t go in too deep, and she was taken care of fairly quickly.  She started to stir, and wake up to see Harm wearing an oxygen mask, and he was unconscious.  “Harm!” She started to rip the IV from her that was re-hydrating her body.

“Colonel, don’t touch that.” Captain Ingles said.  “I was there for his first ramp strike.  It was much worse.  I was the CAG on the ship when it happened.  He is strong Mac,” he said using a term he never used with her.  “He’ll be fine.  He is a fighter.”

Harm’s eyes fluttered open.  “Sarah” he whispered, and he fell back into unconsciousness.

“He has a concussion, a broken ankle, and a dislocated hip.  He is going to need stitches in his side.  But other than that, he seems to have skated through this okay.”

“I want to be with him as soon as I can be.”

“Colonel, it doesn’t help to sit with an unconscious man, he won’t hear a word you say.”

Captain Ingles looked up, “I doubt it with those two.  I suggest you let her be near by anyway.  When Commander Rabb wakes up, he will probably want her, if not get out of bed to find her.”

The nurse nodded and set a chair next to Harm’s bed.  Mac immediately took up residence in it.  She held his hand and started whispering to him, “You know Flyboy, it’s a good thing Mattie isn’t here, she would be so made at you right now!  So you have to wake up soon and show me those beautiful blues.”

Mac put her head down on his chest and heard his heart beating.  She understood why this was Mackenzie’s favorite place to fall asleep, it was so strong and reassuring.  Sometime later, Harm woke up and felt Mac’s head on his chest.  He ran his fingers through her hair and knew that everything would be okay. 

Patrick Henry

0900 local time

Mac Nightmare:

Mac started screaming.  The last thing she heard was the sound of metal screeching on metal, and the marine guard trying to catch up with her.  She felt something hit her, but she didn’t care.  All she knew as that she had to get to Harm.  The flames were all around her.  “Harm, hold on, I am trying to get to you.  Please honey, hold on.  HARM!”

End Nightmare

Harm heard her screaming and boosted himself out of bed.  He reached over and picked up her hand and gave her a quick kiss on the palm of her hand.  “Sarah, wake up, you are just dreaming.”  She had ended up curled up in the chair next to his bed.

She looked up with her eyes that always bore into his soul.  She started crying.  “I almost lost you yesterday.  I felt so lost, so helpless.”

He inched himself over on the bed and motioned for her to come sit on the bed with him.  “You didn’t.  I’m here, alive, and too stubborn to die.”

“Amen to that Commander.  I was just checking up on you.  What happened up there?”

“Captain,” he said, both Harm and Mac were trying to get up to attention. 

“Don’t try you two.  I understand.”

“Sir.  We had completed the mission, and we were making idol chitchat.  He had asked me about my personal life, and I told him about my girls.  I pointedly left out my relationship with the Colonel because we had suspected him in the case.  Something just didn’t seem right with him.  I knew he knew Commander Graves before they were stationed together.  That is when Mac called and told me Lt. Zuzello.  Mac, that was ingenious.”

“Who is Lt. Zuzello?”

“He was a RIO a couple of years ago.  His pilot killed him using a defective oxygen ring.  Since I was sitting RIO, she hoped I would remember this and put two and two together.”

“The pilot was in love with the RIO’s wife, and killed him for it.” Mac filled in for Captain Ingles.

“Now it makes more sense.  It was smart to think of using a case.  I was wondering how you were going to let the Commander know without letting Commander Jeffers know.  How are you two feeling?”

“Better than the last time I had to eject out.” Harm answered, shuddering remembering his first ramp strike.

“Like I got hit with a piece of metal in my shoulder.”

“Well, all things considering, I think you guys faired pretty well.  I called Admiral Jonas to let him know of the events last night.  He is waiting to here from you two when you are up to it.”

Harm spoke up, “What happened to Jeffers? Did he make it?”

The Captain looked down.  “No.”

Harm shifted and sat ramrod straight.  Mac knew that look on him.  “Harm,” she said softly, “don’t go blaming yourself.”

“You know Mac, that is the hard part, I can’t blame myself for this.  He tried to kill me.  I would have left you and the girls alone, that is what I feel guilty about.”

“But you didn’t.”  Mac being the stronger of the two leaned over and put his hand over her heart.  It was a simple gesture, but for Harm it helped him realize that he had so much in his life in the present, not to dwell on the past.

The doctor on the ship came in.  “Look at you two.  Colonel, you will be allowed to leave sick bay today, but my guess is that you won’t.  Commander, you will be allowed to leave a little bit later as soon as I am satisfied that you are okay.  Commander, how do you feel about crutches?”

“Hate using them.  I am king of the one crutch technique.  I have a five month old at home, and I think I would have a hard time running back and forth.  And carrying her up and down the stairs would be difficult. ”

“Commander, you are going to have to find more help with you being not as mobile as you would like with your cast.”

“Well, my younger brother is in town.  He will be willing to help with the kids.”

“I was unaware that your father and mother had any more children.” Captain Ingles said, knowing of the Rabb family history.

“They didn’t.  Sergei is my half brother, Russian born.  Dad was held captive there until he escaped.  Sergei is staying with me for the time being.”

“I’ll help you out after work flyboy.” Mac said, pointedly ignoring that she was there most days of the week any way.  They had talked about moving in together, but decided to wait a little longer into their engagement.

“It seems you have everything covered Commander.  Try to use two crutches as much as possible.  You dislocated the hip on the side which we casted.  I don’t want you to be putting undo pressure on that hip.  Colonel, the stitches in your shoulder are going to have to come out in about a week.  Call Bethesda when you get back and schedule an appointment.  Considering what transpired last night, I think you two escaped with very minor injuries.  When does their COD arrive?”

“I would have to say there was a higher being out there looking out after you two.  I have your transport coming in at 1500 Sunday.  Commander, about your quals, either these guys aren’t training well enough, or you are just one damn good pilot.  You scored the highest on your quals.” The Captain stated. 

The next morning:

An ensign came in to give them some clean flight suits.  “We wanted you guys to be comfortable, and the laundry service is backed up right now.”

“It quite alright.” The doctor left, but was recalled through the help button because his most amusing patients were trying to get flight suits on with various mobility problems.  He called the nurse to help Mac, and he ended up having to rip open the pants leg for Harm’s cast.

Harm grudgingly took the crutches and Mac and him made their way out to make the phone calls.  “We need to call the Admiral to let him know about the incident.”

“I know.  We should probably also call Mattie and Sergei so they don’t freak out.” Mac answered back to him.

“I’ll call the kids, you call the Admiral.”

Ring. . . Ring. . .

“Hello, Rabb residence.”

“Jennifer, it’s Harm.”

“Commander, it is good to hear from you.  The Admiral called last night and told us you and Mac were in some kind of accident.  Sergei has been worried sick, Mattie hasn’t gotten off of the couch because she is so worried, and Gram and Grandpa were worried too.”

“Jen, keep holding down the fort.  How is Mackenzie?”

“Her cough keeps getting worse and more frequent.  I took some emergency family leave time to help Sergei out with her, and I was able to make her an appointment at Bethesda for Tuesday morning 1000.”

“Thank you Jennifer.”

“No problem Commander.  I am going to put Mattie on the phone, she is dying to talk to you.”

“Okay.  Bye Jen.”

“Bye Harm.”

“Dad.  Where’s Mom?  What happened, are you two okay?”  Mattie said freaking out over the phone.

Harm smiled at the idea of her calling Mac mom.  “Slow down honey.  Both me and Mom are fine.  I have a broken ankle and Mac’s shoulder is a little tender from having to get stitches.”

“Dad what happened?”

“That is a story for another time.  Me and Mac aren’t leaving you anytime soon though, and we will be home soon, I promise you Matts.”

“Good to know.  I can’t stand anymore of Uncle Sergei’s cooking.  Tell Mom I love her.  I love you too Dad.”

“I love you too honey.”

Chapter Forty Five

Monday afternoon

Andrews Airforce Base

DC area

Mac and Emily shared goodbyes before she had to board the COD.  They made each other to promise to stay in touch.  They understood that with everything that was happening in the world it was important to have all of your family.  It was a draining week.

Harm and Mac stepped off the transport at Andrews and were greeted by a very sick Jennifer Coates, another person of their extended family.

“Ma’amb, sirb, the abmirald would like to see you as soon as bossible.”

“Alright Jen.  Do you have a cold?”

“No sirb, allerbies with sinusitis.”

“How is Mackenzie?” Mac asked

“Her cough is getting worbse and more frequent.  Sergei says he has heard something like it before in Russia, but he can’t place it.   Her appointment is tomorrow.”  Jen handed Harm the appointment card –achoo-.  “Mattie has gotten a new job at workb.  They put her in the canteen and in charge of arts and crafts for the time being.” She said whipping her nose.

“That’s wonderful.” Mac supplied.  Jen picked up their sea bags and threw them into the government issued blue sedan.  “Coates, we could get those.”

“Ma’amb, your shoulder is injured, sirb, you have a crutches, and while I am sure you are more than capable, think of it as a little sister doing something nice for her older siblings.  The children missed you terribly.  Sergei even tried singing to Mackenzie in Russian, it was hilarious.  Her face was priceless.”

“I’ll bet.” Harm said.

1300 EST

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, VA

Jen ushered them into the admiral’s office.  “Commander Rabb and Colonel Mackenzie reporting as ordered sir.”

“At east you two, for god sakes Rabb, how did you stand at attention with your crutches?”

“Very carefully.”

“I got rave reviews of your flying from Captain Ingles.  He tried to sway me to letting you be TAD for a while, but we are too backed up here.  Have a seat.”  He gestured towards the chairs.  Harm sat down and felt that he sat on something.  He pulled out one of Mackenzie’s pacifiers.  He gave his CO a curious look.  “Sergei was getting stir crazy with the children, so he brought them in for a half day.”

“Oh.  I hope it wasn’t a problem sir.”

“Actually it was my idea.  Coates had mentioned the children getting bored, so Mattie came in and helped with some filing.  You have a smart child on your hands there Rabb.”

“Thank you sir.”

“I am giving you guys the rest of the day and a half day off tomorrow for Mackenzie’s appointment.  Go see your daughters, and take Coates with you, she is looking miserable.”  He got on the intercom and alerted Coates of what was taking place.

1400 EST

Harm’s House

King George, VA

Jen, Harm, and Mac pulled up to Harm’s house.  The looked out and saw Sergei holding Mackenzie on the swing that Harm had installed several weeks before his deployment.  Sergei tickled Mackenzie and talked to her, “Hey there Mackenzie look who is home.”  He flipped her around to face her daddy. 

“Da!”  She squealed and reached out to him, she wheezed a little breathing in.

“Baby of mine!  Come to daddy.”  He held her close to his heart, and she immediately felt safe with him.  “Does Mackenzie know how much Daddy missed you?”  He blew a raspberry on her stomach.  Mac stood there watching the scene.  Harm definitely would walk on water for any of his girls.  Mackenzie looked up, from her daddy’s chest to which she was snuggling on.

She reached out to Mac.  Harm handed Mackenzie over.  “Look at my baby!  You grew so much.  Mommy missed you so much, yes she did!  Uncle Sergei must have taken really good care of you.”  Mackenzie smiled at her mom and then let out the cough that both her parents were dreading to hear.  Mackenzie just seemed so uncomfortable.

“Colonel, if you will allow me, I will put Mackenzie down for you.”  Sergei said.

“Sergei, don’t call me Colonel, call me Mac, and yes, will you please put her down.  I want her to rest a little bit.”

Harm and Mac went upstairs to place their bags down and to change out of their uniforms.  Mac had changed into her jeans and one of Harm’s Navy t-shirts when she heard him struggling in the bathroom trying to wrestle on his jeans.

“Mac?!”

“Flyboy, having troubles maneuvering?”

He walked out of the bathroom in his favorite F-14 t-shirt and threw his jeans at Mac.  “I can’t get my jeans over my stupid cast.”

She walked to his closet and pulled out his tear away exercise pants and snapped them on him.  “If you want to wear jeans tomorrow, we will cut up a pair you don’t really like to wear.”

He took grabbed her around the waist, and mindful of her stitches, he pulled her close.  He heard Sergei in the nursery putting the baby down, and she wouldn’t stop coughing.  He walked into the nursery and put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.  “Harm, this cough is not a normal cough.” His brother tried to explain.

Harm picked her up and rubbed her back.  “Mackenzie, you have to stop coughing for daddy.”  He held her close and sang his father’s lullaby to her.

A couple of minutes later when Mac realized she no longer heard Harm, she went into the nursery to check on Harm and the baby.  She found Mackenzie being lulled to sleep by her father’s heart beat, and Harm fast asleep on the overstuffed chair.  She kissed him on the cheek and headed downstairs to see the rest of her family.  Jen and Sergei enjoying their tea.  Sergei flashed Jen one of the patent Rabb smiles, and she watched Jen grow weak in the knees. 

“Jennifer, you should take some medicine for your allergies and lay down.” Sergei said. 

Jen was being put under by the medicine she took earlier in the day and ended up not arguing with Sergei.  He helped her up to the guest bedroom.  Mac laid down on the couch and caught a nap before her teenager came home from work. 

1630 EST

Rabb Household

King George, VA

“Mom! Dad!  I’m home!” Mattie yelled as she took her hair down.

“Mattie, honey, I am in the kitchen, your dad is conked out by his pain meds, your Uncle Sergei and Jen are in the FROG watching TV.”  Mac called out.

“Mom, it’s good to have you home.  I can only take so much of Uncle Sergei’s cooking.  What is for dinner tonight?”

“I am making pasta primavera and chicken cutlets.  Here help me cut up the tomatoes for the pasta.”  She groaned when she moved her shoulder a little more. 

“Mom, what happened to you and Dad out there?”

“I think that is a story best left up to your dad to tell you.  Go wash up and wake up your dad and little sister, I’ll go and get Sergei and Jen.”

“Okay Mom.”

An hour later, dinner was ready, and Sergei was helping a rather disheveled looking Jen down the stairs.  She had sleeping when Mac called up to them; Mattie came down the stairs and settled Mackenzie into her high chair.  Mac looked up the stairs and found her fiancé, king of one crutch, with hair pointed in every which direction making his way down the stairs.

“Why did I have to buy a two story house?” he grumbled. 

“Dad, come on!  I’m hungry.” Mattie yelled, making his head pound.  Sergei patted her arm.

“Beautiful niece, I am sure my brother has a pounding headache.  Why don’t we serve the salad as he is coming down.”

“Okay Uncle Sergei.  Sorry Dad,” she said to him as he made his way down the last two steps.

“It’s okay Mattie.”  He sat down at the table and watched her eyes do a once over.  The family started eating their dinner, and Mattie couldn’t take her questioning eyes off of him.  “I guess your mother decided to let me tell you about the accident.  To make a long story short, I filled in as RIO, the pilot decided to commit suicide while I was in the plane with him and it hit the deck.”  Mattie didn’t pretend to hide her shock, and his brother and Jen tried not to show any emotion.  “Mattie, I made out fine.”

Mattie looked at her dad with a shocked expression.  “You don’t get it Dad.” She pushed her way off the table and hobbled her way out to the deck.  The sun was getting ready to set.  Mac came out to her.

“Mathilda Grace Johnson, what’s meaning of that display at the table?”

“Dad is larger than life sometimes, you know.  When Admiral Jonas called, I thought the worse, and it didn’t help there were no details.”  Harm came out with Mackenzie and Sergei and Jen followed.  “Dad,” she turned to look at him, then watched the setting sun, “I’m selfish.”

He put an arm over her shoulders.  “What makes you say you are selfish?”

“I want you all to myself, and I am angry that it will never happen.  I know you have a loyalty to serve and protect this country, but what about your family?   How do you think we feel?  And then I realized that if you didn’t do what you do, you wouldn’t be you.  Does that make sense Dad?

“Of course baby.  Mattie, I may not always be here physically for you and Mackenzie, but I will always be in your heart and memories.  I am grateful for every moment I have with my family.  I love you, and I am sorry I seemed so cavalier back there about the crash.  It scared me too, I thought I may never get back to you and your sister. Baby, you, Mackenzie, Mac, Jen, Sergei, and your grandparents were the people on my mind the minute the plane hit.” He grew silent.  Mattie leaned her head onto his shoulder.  Harm and his family sat on their porch and watched the sunset.  They were silent just enjoying the presence of each other.

Harm and Mac helped each other up the stairs.  He got up to the room and started to get ready for bed.  Mac just sat on the sofa in the nook area.  “Harm, honey?”

“Yeah sweetheart?”

“What was going through your mind while you were in the plane?”

“Is it really necessary that we have to rehash this Mac?  I mean, I hate reliving crashes.  But, if I didn’t survive this crash, then it would have been much worse than if I didn’t survive my first ramp strike.  I would have left behind my girls, and that was the last thought as I pulled up my handle.  I saw Mattie’s graduation, Mattie’s wedding, Mackenzie first steps, I heard her first word.  Your smile, God, your smile was the last thing I saw as the canopy opened.  I love you so much.”  Tears were streaming down his face.  “Hold me please Mac.” He whispered.

She walked over to the bed and wrapped him up in her arms and held him as if there was no tomorrow.