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1800Z Friday
HQ JAG Headquarters
Washington, DC.
“Tiner, get me Rabb and MacKenzie in here, now!”
“Aye. Aye. Sir!”
Tiner jumped up from his desk and wondered what could’ve caused the Admiral to suddenly explode that badly. Then again, he had just gotten off the phone with the SecNav, and those conversations never went well. He was about to prepare some aspirin for the Admiral in advance when he saw Ltc MacKenzie walk out of her office with her briefcase and cover in her hand.
“Colonel MacKenzie, the Admiral would like to see you.”
“Right now, Tiner? Did he say why?”
“No, Ma’am. He just got off the phone with the SecNav and yelled for you and Commander Rabb.”
Mac groaned. This couldn’t be good. “Ok, I’ll get the Commander.”
She wondered what they had done to garner the Admiral’s wrath on a Friday afternoon, just as the workweek was ending. She couldn’t think of anything either one of them had done this past week or even since Harm’s return from the Henry to warrant this late summons. She knocked on Harm’s door.
“Enter.”
“Harm, the Admiral wants to see us. What have you done to piss him off?”
He held his hands up defensively. “Nothing, I swear!”
They walked out of Harm’s office and knocked on the open hatch leading into the Admiral’s office.
“Enter and have a seat.”
As AJ watched his two top lawyers take a seat, he questioned whether or not he should send them on this investigation together. He had noticed a huge difference in the way they interacted since Harm’s return from flight duties. But maybe, just maybe, this would be – what the doctor ordered to straighten out the situation between his two officers, both of whom he cared for as deeply as he did his own daughter.
“I just got off a conference phone call from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, CNO, and SecNav. It seems that the Iraqis and Iranians have gotten in bed together over the Iraqi no-fly zone. Earlier today they sent a dozen planes out to shoot down the Enterprise’s air cover or possibly even to attack her. The Patrick Henry was in the area since she was ordered to the Arabian Sea to replace the Enterprise, who needs to leave the region for shipyard repairs due to a major engineering casualty. Henry sent a Viking with two escorts to the Big ‘E’ to pick up classified briefing material they would need for the area. Enterprise got two Hornets up and they made the intercept on the Iraqi and Iranian birds … and were fired upon. The Enterprise released the Hornets and one remaining Tomcat to return fire. It has been reported that the Tomcat splashed eleven of the twelve birds. I need you two to go there to verify their story. Colonel, you will go to the Enterprise while the Commander picks up a Tomcat to ferry out to the Henry. There’s an Air Force C-20 waiting on the ramp at Andrews to fly you to Bahrain, Colonel, so get there as fast as you can and let’s get this over with.”
“Sir, who were the crew members involved in the strike?” Harm asked since he knew the Henry’s entire flight crew.
“Right now, that’s classified until you arrive aboard, Commander. Any more questions? If not, dismissed.”
“Aye. Aye. Sir!” Harm shut the hatch as they left the office.
AJ turned his chair to face the computer sitting on the hutch behind his desk. ‘Hum, the name they gave in the conference call sounded familiar.’ He searched the public portion of his hard drive and received no hits on the name. ‘Could he be Admiral Robert Boots’ replacement on the team?’ AJ rebooted the machine and selected the private portion. ‘Let’s see, who was he? … Samuel MacKenzie … holy shit … he’s…’
“Tiner, call the CNO and inform him that I’m on my way to the Pentagon to see him.” ‘Rabb isn’t going to like not being able to review MacKenzie’s personnel folder.’
“Aye. Aye. Sir.”
10 Hours Later
USS Enterprise
Somewhere in the Arabian Sea
The inbound COD from Bahrain landed aboard and a very tired Lt Col Sarah MacKenzie stepped onto the deck of the carrier.
“Permission to come aboard?” Mac saluted the Captain.
“Permission granted, Colonel. Welcome aboard Enterprise! I’m the CAG, Eric Maxwell. The Admiral will see you in his Day cabin. If you’ll follow me, I’ll escort you there. Let me help you with your bags.”
“Lt Col Sarah MacKenzie, reporting as ordered, Sir!”
“Have a seat, Colonel. I’m Admiral Harry Painter. You’ve met the CAG, and this is the ship’s captain, Gary McConnell.” He pointed out the other officer sitting in his cabin. “Here are the official reports from everyone involved in the air battle.” Harry handed Mac the thick folder that was lying on the coffee table. “I’m sure that you will want to question some of the people involved and they will be available to you at all times. Have you gotten any rest or eaten anything since your departure from the states?”
“No, sir. I only had a box nasty (inflight box meal) aboard the C-20 that brought us to Bahrain. If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to get a fresh start in the morning. I like to be on top of my game when I ask questions.”
“Understandable, Colonel. We have been ordered by the CNO to give you the full-blown VIP treatment while you are aboard, so if you would care to join us in my dining cabin, the ship’s cooks have prepared dinner for us. Afterwards, Captain McConnell will escort you to your quarters and you will be given his day cabin to use for your interviews. Once you’re finished here, one of Henry’s helicopters is aboard and is on standby to lift you over there, so we can expedite our departure for Honolulu for repairs.”
Same Time
USS Patrick Henry
2 miles West of the Enterprise in the Arabian Sea
Commander Rabb landed his borrowed Tomcat aboard the Henry and climbed out of the cockpit.
“Hello, Hammer. Welcome back aboard.” Skates greeted him cheerfully and saluted.
“It’s good to be back, Skates. I’m guessing the Captain wants to see me.”
“Yes, sir. He’s in his day cabin waiting for you. Airman Griggs is going to look after your borrowed bird.”
“Well, it couldn’t be in better hands than his.”
“No, sir. It couldn’t.”
Harm grabbed his travel bag and followed Skates inside the carrier’s superstructure.
“So, Skates, who was up there flying?”
“You don’t know, Harm?”
“No, the Admiral wouldn’t tell me or Mac.”
“It was your replacement, Lt. Samuel MacKenzie – Ace and I. We were flying escort for the Viking. Tuna had to land aboard the Enterprise due to air refueling probe problems.”
“MacKenzie?” It was a common name, but still, Harm was surprised.
Skates recognized the tone and look Harm gave when he heard the Lt’s last name. “As far as he knows, he’s isn’t related to the Colonel.”
They reached Captain Ingles’ Day Cabin and knocked.
“Enter.”
“Commander Rabb, reporting as ordered, Sir!” Harm saluted the Captain.
After returning the salute, the Captain addressed Harm agreeably. “Welcome back aboard, Commander. Have a seat. Lt Hawkes, you’re dismissed for now, but I’m sure the Commander will want to talk to you later, since you’re one of the reasons he’s flown out here again.”
“Aye. Aye. Sir!”
Skates left the cabin and the Captain got straight to business. “Commander, I’ve been ordered to inform you that you cannot review Lt. MacKenzie’s personnel records.”
“May I ask why, Captain?”
“Currently, portions of it are still classified and need-to-know, and the CNO said that this investigation doesn’t give you or Col. MacKenzie the appropriate clearance. As soon as your investigation is finished and you confirm that Ace and Skates did shoot down those eleven birds, Ace, Skates, Colonel MacKenzie, and you will fly non-stop to Andrews to meet with him and others using that borrowed Tomcat you flew in and the one they used during the air battle. Did you get any rest or anything to eat on the way here?”
“No, sir. I didn’t.” ‘Mac’s not going to like that one bit. She hates flying in fighters.’
“Come with me then.” The Captain led Harm to the adjoining cabin where the ship’s cooks had set up the Captain’s supper. “Have a seat and dig in, Commander.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“No problem. I’ve been ordered by the CNO to give you and the Colonel the VIP treatment. When you’re done eating I’ll escort you to your cabin, and when you’re ready to start interviewing the crew, you can use my day cabin. Their mission and aircraft maintenance reports are in the folder beside your plate.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ll also need to get evaluation reports from you, the Air Boss, CAG, XO, and Section Leader on Skates and Ace.”
The Captain nodded. “They’ll be ready in the morning before you start your interviews. We weren’t aware you would need them for this investigation, but we should have known better.”
“No, sir. I didn’t even know they would be required until we arrived in Bahrain and received a message telling us to get them. The last time we had to have separate evaluation reports like this was when Col MacKenzie and I investigated Lt. Rivers for his medal, so I’m guessing they’re being considered for some type of recognition for their work and want all the T’s crossed and I’s dotted for it. They would be the first confirmed double-aces since WWII, and the first Naval Aces since Vietnam.”
“Yes, they would be. They did some outstanding maneuvering up there, and not only do I expect to see them receive medals, but they’ll be promoted to Lieutenant Commanders if my recommendation is approved as well.” Seeing that Harm was finished with his meal, the Captain asked if he was ready to turn in for the night.
“Yes, I am, sir, and that’s great news to hear about for Skates.”
Next Morning
USS Patrick Henry
Harm had finished interviewing the COD crew, Archie, and Tuna, and was waiting for Skates, the final interview before he would take his lunch break. He hadn’t uncovered anything suspicious in talking to the crewmembers, and nothing was missing from the mission reports he had read earlier. He picked up the folder containing the Captain’s and other senior crew members’ evaluations of Skates which he had requested the previous night. They didn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know about his former RIO and he wasn’t going to question her about what happened. He stood up to stretch and grab himself some more coffee when he heard a knock.
“Enter.”
“Commander, I’m Chief Petty Officer Anderson, the ship’s chief cook. The Captain asked me to see if you are ready for lunch yet, and if so, you have his permission to eat in here so as not to delay your interviews.”
“If it isn’t any bother, Chief, sure, and could you make that for two?”
The man smiled; the Captain was already one step ahead of the Commander. “No bother at all, sir. The Captain already made arrangements for an eating companion for you. He told me that he asked Lt. Hawkes earlier if she would be kind enough to join you for it.” He opened the hatch to admit a seaman cook who wheeled a serving cart into the cabin. “If you’d like anything else, sir, let me know.”
“Thank you, Chief. Dismissed.”
Lt Hawkes entered the cabin just as the two cooks were leaving, and she shut the hatch behind her.
“Come on in and pull up a chair, Lt. Hope you’re hungry.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Beth, we’re alone now so you can drop the sir, ok.”
“Sure, Harm. What’s to eat? I’m starved.”
“Don’t know. It was just delivered and I haven’t looked yet.”
They removed the covers on the food. There was vegetable lasagna for the main course, with all the fixings for a complete Italian meal minus the wine.
Harm was pleasantly surprised. “I can’t believe they remembered I’m a vegetarian.”
Well, that’s not the only surprising thing that’s happened around here lately. A lot of strange things have been going on since Sam and I returned from the flight.”
“Like what?”
“For starters, we had our debriefing while eating a Thanksgiving feast at the Captain’s dining table. Then, I got a bunch of new flight suits with all new patches without having to pull somebody’s eyeteeth out. Our Tomcat is going through a complete overhaul. We haven’t been on alert or even stepped inside a cockpit since that day. I’m finally getting promoted to LCDR, and I’m not sure how since I never had to go before the board. And... I’m sitting in this cabin alone with you and having this delicious meal. Things like that.”
“That doesn’t sound like surprises, Beth, it sounds like the rewards for a job well done. You do know that I think you’re the best RIO in the Navy.” She didn’t respond, and Harm could sense there was more she wanted to say. “So,” he started cautiously, “how have you been since I left?”
“Ok, I guess….” Skates paused, not knowing what to say.
“Beth, what’s wrong? I know you well enough to know you’re holding something back.”
“Well… when we got sent down here from the Adriatic, we missed our port call at Athens. There were eight of us who had people flown in to the city to meet the ship there, and, obviously, neither the Captain nor the Navy could reimburse us for those expenses. The Captain managed to get the base commander there to let us to keep a COD on call for 48 hours and he gave us liberty for that much time. Well, I had Eric flown in from DC to spend some time with me. And he… damn him…” Tears started falling from her eyes.
Harm had never seen her so upset - not even after her punch out during the ramp strike with Marilyn Isaacs. His brotherly protective instinct went into overdrive. “What did he do? He didn’t hit you, did he? Did he physically hurt you in any way?” He got out of his chair and moved over to comfort one of his closest and dearest friends while trying to corral the anger that was building towards Eric, who had apparently hurt her deeply. Harm could remember just one other time where Beth was hurting enough to cry.
“No, he didn’t hit me or physically abuse me or anything like that,” she sniffled. “He broke off our engagement...said that he met an Ensign at the Pentagon and things happened between them...so being the honorable asshole that he is...he asked her to marry him...” Her speech was punctuated by sniffles and more tears. “He wanted to break the news...in person versus a ‘Dear Jane’ letter...damn, it hurts so bad, Harm.”
Harm kneeled there holding her until she calmed down. When she did, he reached over to tilt her head up so she could look into his eyes when he spoke to her.
“It’s going to get better, trust me. You will find the love of your life, someone who will want and love you and no one else. You’re too beautiful, and too much fun to be around, and…too wonderful...for someone not to fall head-over-heels in love with you.”
Skates smiled and wiped her eyes quickly. ‘Too bad it isn’t you, Harm, like I so desperately want you to.’ “Thanks, you could always cheer me up. You honestly think that someone will ever care about me so deeply … as much as you care about the Colonel?”
“Whoa, there Beth. I don’t feel …”
“Come on, Harm. Quit trying to lie to me about how you feel about her. And more importantly, quit lying to yourself. Please! Something that special, like the two of you have together, should never be wasted, and that’s what you’re doing by keeping quiet! So please, do everyone who knows the two of you a favor and speak up already, or, as they said in the ‘Top Gun’ movie ... ‘Hey you big stud, take her to bed or lose her forever.’” ‘And end this fantasy that I have about you.’
One thing Harm could always count on from Skates was the complete, unedited truth. Usually, he was grateful to her for it, but now, he found himself wishing she didn’t know him so well. “It’s too complicated to explain.”
“Okay, then let me ask you some questions, and maybe it will help make things clear to you? Harm, I think you’re like me and you don’t have too many people you feel comfortable talking about personal things with. I mean, you don’t let a lot of people get close enough. But you and I have always been friends, and I would hope you know you can talk to me about anything. I mean, after all this time, we read each other pretty well, even without much talking.”
“No, there’s nobody else I’d feel comfortable talking to about Mac.” ‘Not even Sturgis.’ “So, go ahead and ask your questions, and I promise I’ll do my best to answer them and make you understand.”
“Good. Hammer, you’ve never broken a promise to me, and I never want to give you reason to. So if I go out of bounds here, you let me know. Deal?”
“Deal.” Harm was telling the truth when he said there was no one else he could talk to about Mac. Although he knew it wouldn’t be easy, he knew Skates would never break a promise to him, either, and he trusted her to hold up her end of the bargain and back off if he asked her to.
“Do you think you know how she feels about you?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know how you feel about her?”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s holding you back? Is it your fear that you could be wrong about her feelings?”
“Maybe. My head says yes but my heart says no.”
“Is it because you work with each other and might not be able to see each other 24/7?”
Damn, he thought. Skates could always see right through him. “Yes, I’m miserable when we’re apart, or fighting outside the courtroom. And I’m afraid that if we did finally get together, I would do something stupid and lose half of my truest best friends, besides worrying about one or both of us being forced to leave JAG.”
‘Damn, I was hoping it wasn’t that bad … but that’s what I get for hoping.’ “What IF someone can give both of you a guarantee that if you got together, neither of you would have to leave JAG?”
Harm was quick with the standard answer – the one he had been giving himself and others for years once they pinned him into a corner about why it was taking so long. “That would go against regulations.”
“So what? You’re the hotshot lawyer – haven’t you ever seen a regulation get waived before?”
“Yeah, sure I’ve seen waivers. But who in their right mind would grant ‘Harmful’ Rabb a waiver to OPNAV Instruction 5370.23 just so I could have a happy love life?”
“Who the hell calls you that, Harm?” Skates’ frustration was getting to her.
“The SecNav.”
Despite her anger, she couldn’t stifle a little chuckle at that. “Tell you what – screw the SecNav and what he thinks about you … since I think of you like a brother and owe you more than I could ever repay.” ‘Even though I wish we were more than that or you would feel more for me than...’ “Hell, I feel closer to you than my own siblings. I promise you that I can get you that guarantee if you can finally get your head out of your six. Stop hurting yourself and everyone around you.” ‘Especially me.’
“You can’t guarantee that and make a promise that’s impossible to keep, Beth.”
“But it isn’t impossible. I know someone right now who got two separate Presidential Executive Orders that will waive that little OPNav Instruction and has them under lock and key. And I can swear to you that they’d give me one of them if I asked them for it. So, Hammer, what’s going to stop you now?”
“Nothing, but Mac herself.”
“But are you going to try?” ‘Hoping against hope that he wouldn’t.’
“Yes, I will.” Wanting to leave it at that, Harm quickly thought about something to change the topic of their conversation. “So, what’s Sam like to fly with?”
“He’s almost as good as you are up there … he just needs some more seasoning … he’s carrier qualified on eight different planes, you believe that? He helped me get through some of the hurt that Eric caused me in Athens. Sam was the COD pilot, he made me fly as co-pilot on the way back home to keep my mind busy and has been keeping an eagle-eye on me ever since.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I was worried you would get teamed up with a rotten pilot, one who would get you hurt or something worse. When I left, there were only two pilots that I consider worthy of having you in the backseat, and I told the CAG as much. Tuna or Boomer would have been the best fit for you but they already had decent RIOs. The CAG wanted to see if the new kid was any good or not, so he wanted his best RIO to check him out for him. The CAG thinks very highly of your abilities and values your opinions as much as Admiral Boone did. If you didn’t think the new kid was very good, he was going to place you behind one of them instead. How does he compare to X-Man?”
“He’s better than X. Like I said, he’s more like you than anyone else flying off this ship. He’s already the number 1 pilot in the group and he doesn’t have a big mouth about it.” She knew that there was more than that but wasn’t sure how to explain it to Harm.
“Great, that’s how it should be – be the best aviator that you can be and don’t brag about how good you are. When you leave here, can you swing by the hangar and check with Griggs on how your bird is coming along? Once this investigation is over, Ace, Mac, you, and I are supposed to fly non-stop to Andrews to meet with the CNO, so we need your bird up and ready soon.”
“Well, I know that the new engines should be arriving this afternoon. Not sure if Griggs found all the remaining parts that he had to replace or not. They ordered him to replace everything that showed the slightest wear and tear on it.”
“Well, that’s what you get for being a hero, Beth. Listen, our time is up, but we need to get together and talk some more about you next time.” Harm stood and reached to give Beth a hand getting to her feet. He gave her a huge hug and kiss, which surprised both of them when it became more passionate than either of them had intended.
“Damn, Harm. Keep kissing me like that and Colonel MacKenzie won’t be the only woman you have to worry about. I do remember that we’re no longer crew mates now that you’re back at JAG.” Beth was breathless as she tried her very best to keep standing. All this time around Harm lately was making it harder and harder not to give into the stronger feelings she had for him. ‘It would be so easy to pull him right down onto the deck and get what I so desperately want and crave …’
“Beth, please, forgive me. I got carried away. You’re not the only one who’s ever wondered how we never crossed that line…”
Skates looked up and saw the gleam and lust in Harm’s eyes and mentally kicked herself for stopping something they both wanted, remembering all the other times they found themselves alone together avoiding the same thing. ‘I may have put too much into that kiss but I wanted to let you know that I’ll be busting down your door if you ever get her out of your system.’
“I… I better go and get that information you want, Harm.” Skates had quickly come to her senses and started to leave. But before she took more than a couple of steps away from Harm, she turned around and dropped a quick kiss onto his lips. “We’re ok. I can live with not knowing what it’s like…being that way with you…as long as we’ll always be friends. Think we can manage?”
Before Harm could form the answer, Beth was gone. ‘Damn it Beth, you do something like that and run away before I could answer you.’ Harm stood up from where he was kneeling to stretch his aching back and waited for the final interviewee he had scheduled for the day. He saw and then watched the Enterprise through the cabin’s porthole. ‘Wonder how Mac is coming along with her portion of the investigation over there.’
At the same time, Mac was thinking about Harm and wondering the same thing. “I wonder how he’s doing with his portion of the investigation. All I’ve got left to do is briefing for Admiral Painter and then I’m finished here. And I must be losing it because I’m talking to myself out loud now.” Mac scolded herself as she reached over to make the call to set up the meeting with the Admiral. ‘He’s not going to like what I’m fixing to say and I’m glad that I won’t have to stay for the Article 32 they’re gonna conduct over what caused those three crews to face a four to one ratio dog fight.’
Admiral Painter must have been waiting on the bridge for her call, because it didn’t take long for him to arrive at his day cabin. Mac was surprised to see the XO, the Captain, and the Air Boss following behind him.
“Colonel from the tone of your call, I assume you’ve finished your investigation. So, what are your findings?”
“Sir, the events in the air that day were within the highest traditions of the Navy and I cannot find any fault in the pilots’ actions. However, in return for the kindness you and your crew have shown me since I came aboard, I should warn you in advance that an official investigation will be conducted into what happened leading up to the point of the air battle, starting with why there was so little air cover that day.”
“Understood, Colonel. We knew that our actions that day were poor and they would be examined, as they should be. Before you even arrived, we sat down and went through everything that went wrong to prevent something similar from ever happening again, on this carrier or any other.”
“Permission to speak freely, Admiral?”
“Go ahead, Colonel. That’s why you’re here. Now is certainly not the time to beat around the bush.”
“Sir, I’ve come to the conclusion that ‘Murphy’ was the major player that day to prevent you from acting in a more positive manner than you could have. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong since your engineering casualty did go wrong, and as far as I can tell, there wasn’t any one specific action you could have prevented to stop that runaway ‘Murphy’ train the Enterprise was on. You’re very lucky the Patrick Henry had the classified area reports so they could take over operations in the area and send planes to escort the Viking. The only thing that I saw that could be considered poor actions from the crew is your lack of air cover at the time due to being too trusting that you’re position at sea would be far enough away to prevent an attack. My report to the CNO will reflect that, so at the moment I’m confident that nobody’s head will roll. Unless, people might consider the people who want to phase out the Tomcats and not have the Hornets capable of carrying the AIM-54s.”
“Thank you, Colonel. I guess now we’ll just have to wait and see. Would you join us for dinner before you depart for the Henry and we head for home?”
“I’d be honored, sir. And if I’m wrong about the direction the investigation’s going to go, I’m sure Commander Rabb and I would be honored to represent every one of you in the proceedings.”
“Again, thank you Colonel, though I hope we won’t need your services. If you’ll come this way, we will be the ones honored if you would sit down and enjoy the fine meal the ship’s cooks have fixed for this occasion.”
4 Hours later
Mac looked up and rubbed her eyes after staring at all the reports and statements Harm had gathered in his portion of the investigation. She had finally gotten to the additional evaluations from the senior crewmembers that Harm had told her about. She picked up the folder marked, ‘Lt. Elizabeth Hawkes – Skates’. As she looked through the folder, she noticed that Harm didn’t have an interview sheet in there.
“Harm, why didn’t you interview Skates?”
“I couldn’t, Mac. We’re too close and I didn’t want that to taint the investigation.”
Mac’s eyes widened from her surprise. Harm wasn’t usually one to admit when he couldn’t be objective. “Well, that would be a first. She must really mean a lot to you.”
“Yes, she does. She’s the kid sister I never had.” Harm couldn’t get into the deeper feelings he felt for the spunky lady with Mac. “I want the best possible outcome for her, so I decided to take your advice for once and step back from letting it get too personal with me. Would you … could you do the interview with her?”
“Sure, no problem, flyboy. I’m glad to see you finally listening to something I said.”
“Mac, I’ve always listened to what you have said … whether I followed your advice is another matter.”
Mac laughed at his explanation. “I guess you’re right.” She started to pick up the last folder in the stack.
“Mac, there’s something you should know about the pilot. His last name is the same as yours and even spelled the same way.”
“No kidding. I’ve never ever met another person who spelled it the same way as me. I wonder if we could be related somehow. I really don’t know much about my family. My grandfather passed away before I was born, and my grandmother passed away when I was ten. I do know that my dad was an only child, and come to think of it, I never heard any talk about great uncles or great aunts.”
“From what Skates told me, you’re probably not related. He was an orphan, abandoned when he was less than a week old, and he has no information at all about his biological parents or any siblings.”
“Still though, it’s interesting. You about finished for the day?”
“Sure am. We should be able to wrap this up tomorrow.”
“Too bad we’re stuck here until they get their Tomcat put back together.”
Harm frowned. “Speak for yourself.”
Next Morning
“Enter.”
“Lt Elizabeth Hawkes, reporting as ordered, Ma’am.”
“Have a seat, Skates. I want you to tell me everything you can remember about your flight to the Enterprise, starting when you had just finished refueling.”
“Yes, Ma’am …”
Harm was watching the flight operations below on the deck and saw a Hornet being launched on cat 1 as he heard the hatch open behind him.
“Commander.” Captain Ingles approached him, carrying a mug of steaming coffee.
“Morning, sir.”
“This is a wonderful place to think and watch flight operations, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir. I try to spend as much time out here as I can.”
“You’re not the only one. I caught Skates up here the other day, and it occurred to me that she spends more time here than anywhere else aboard ship. You think there’s a reason why she does that?”
“Yes, sir. I brought her here when she got released from sickbay after her ramp strike a few years ago. She was having troubles with survivor’s guilt. I’ve been down that road before and knew she might need a place where she could think and get away from other people. So, we would come up here and just sit together, and we’d talk if she felt like it, and if she didn’t, well, I didn’t mind just sitting there. It’s a safe place. I mean, no chance for someone to think we’re doing something inappropriate. Everyone down there on the flight deck can see what’s happening up here, so it was the best place I could show her and be available for her to talk.”
“That’s understandable, Commander. I never thought anything improper ever happened between you two. In fact, it was my idea for you to have lunch together yesterday – if you’re anything like me, you hate eating alone. So, how is the investigation coming along?”
“Colonel MacKenzie is doing the final interview as we speak, sir. Once she’s finished, we can get together and publish our findings.”
“Great! Anything you can tell me about how it’s leaning?”
“My gut feeling, sir, is that Ace and Skates did an outstanding job. They should be at Fallon teaching other pilots and RIOs how to dog fight.”
The lower hatch opened and Commander Archie McGill stepped onto the catwalk.
“Commander Rabb, here’s the satellite image you requested.”
“Great!” Harm took the image and studied it for a few minutes. “Captain, I need to make a request for some sonar buoy drops.”
“For?”
“From this satellite image, I can’t confirm where the twelve aircraft were shot down during the dog fight. I need the exact locations of these aircraft, so when the USS Grapple arrives this evening, she will be able to use the coordinates the buoys provide us. The CNO doesn’t want her in these waters any longer than necessary. It’s tying up too many resources trying to protect her from harm. If we get all twelve downed bird locations pegged correctly, she’ll be able to catch up with the Enterprise’s Battle Group before she reaches Singapore.”
“Granted, Commander. Get with the CAG and Air Boss. Tell them what you want and where you want them dropped. Carry on.”
“Aye. Aye. Sir.” Both Commanders saluted the Captain as they left the catwalk and headed for CIC.
“Is there anything else you want to add, Lt?”
“No, Ma’am. That’s everything I remember about the flight.”
“Okay, then, Lt. Dismissed.”
Mac was surprised when Skates lingered at the table, like there was something else on her mind. “Ma’am, can we talk off the record about something? It doesn’t involve the flight.”
“Sure – go ahead, Skates.”
Beth had been thinking hard about how to broach the situation between Harm and Mac ever since lunch the day before, and even though it would hurt her to help them out, she loved Harm too much to see him suffering the way he was. So, she decided to be totally blunt about it. ‘I may hate myself for this but…’
“Ma’am, do you love Harm?”
Mac’s jaw dropped. “Huh! That’s none of your business, Lt, and you’re way out of line for even asking.”
“Ma’am, with all due respect, sometimes I think that you and everybody else at JAG really hate him!” She knew she was skating on thin ice but at this point she didn’t care. She was doing it for Harm’s sake and he was worth it to her.
“Why on earth would you think that?” Mac couldn’t believe that Skates would ever consider lecturing her about Harm and especially about their relationship, whatever it was.
“Because of how badly you all treated him after he left JAG to return to flying. He wanted closure on a lot of things and he knew he was taking a big step back in his career by coming back here. He knew that he only had so much time before the Navy wouldn’t see fit to keep him on total active flight status. For God’s sake, if he had never gone through that ramp strike, he’d be a CAG or squadron commander by now and be very close to moving into a desk job with his rank. He had hoped that people or at least one single person back home would understand that he needed to finish his dream of flying and be able to walk away on his own terms. He wrote letters upon letters to every one of his so-called ‘friends’ and ‘family.’ Not a damn one of you even cared enough to acknowledge him by writing back more than once or twice. It would have been less hurtful if someone had had the guts to at least tell him that they never wanted to hear from him anymore, but the silence was killing him. I saw the heartbreak and sadness every time he went down to the post office to check his mailbox or when he’d sit at his computer and never get a single letter or email from anyone. Hell, he would keep his Instant Messenger program running the entire time he was in his quarters, hoping just to get a little something as simple as a hello … but he didn’t.
“He was so excited to hear that somebody from JAG was coming here for X-Man’s court martial, but then none of you would give him the time of day once you found out he was going to defend X-Man. Then, you left without saying good luck or goodbye to him. Now, that’s a damn sorry thing to do to someone who’s supposed to be your friend. Luck sometimes is the only thing that saves our butts up there. It was so bad at that point he stopped trying to communicate to anyone outside the hull of this ship. And conditions here weren’t any better after X-Man’s flight board … it left him only two people on the entire ship that would be caught dead talking to him until we saved Tuna and Archie’s lives over Bosnia. He and I spent almost our entire time off duty up on that beautiful catwalk. I had to sit there watching the tears flow and see how things were tearing him apart … and I couldn’t do a damn thing to comfort him except sitting there watching him cry, so at least he would know and be able to see one person in this entire world cared what he was going through.
“Hell, it got even worse when he got back to JAG because he had nobody there to sit with him. You should read the almost hourly emails that I received from him about it. He felt out of place, didn’t feel needed anymore, and didn’t even feel like anyone wanted him around except Harriet and Little AJ. Shit, he’s at the point of thinking about resigning his commission from the Navy and going to live in a place called Red Rock Mesa, wherever the hell that is. That’s why I think that everyone there – especially YOU – hate him and couldn’t care less if they never heard of one Harmon Rabb Junior.”
“Why especially me?” ‘Skates actually believes in her heart that I hate Harm but I don’t. I was too painfully hurt by him leaving me even to think about talking about things other than JAG business with him even when I got my promotion.’
“Damnit! You must be blind as a bat. Harm and I have been friends for the past few years and the only woman he ever talks about caring about is sitting across the table from me. He’s totally, 100 percent in love with you, to the point that if something ever happened to you, there wouldn’t just one person dead, but it would be two. Every time we fly, he breaks regulations by placing your picture on the instrument panel. He thinks he’s being sneaky about it too and only does that after we have launched, but he forgets that I can see where he places it between the bulkhead and his seat. He wouldn’t even consider trying to live without you in his life. And don’t give me some song and dance or bullshit about it being too complicated. I’ve heard it from him and hopefully I straightened his ass out about it.
“You don’t or can’t even comprehend how lucky you are by having his love and devotion. Any woman in the world would give up everything they have just to have a man like Harm to love them. But he will never be able to love another woman the way she deserves to be loved because he will never get over falling so deeply and hopelessly in love with you. The way you’re treating him is tearing me apart because I’m losing my best friend, a person that I consider like brother even more than my natural ones, and….”
Beth looked at Mac with tear filled eyes and didn’t see any emotion behind the other woman’s cold, deep brown eyes to indicate if she had gotten through to her. She didn’t even see one ounce of understanding. Seeing this, and thinking it was hopeless to try anymore, Beth completely lost trying to hold back her tears. She slammed her fist onto the table, jumped up, and ran out of the cabin to the one place on the ship where she could find any peace to calm down.
Mac sat there shaking and frozen to the chair. The things Skates had said to her had shocked her to her core. She hadn’t really considered things from Harm’s point of view and their treatment he had received from everyone. All she had seen was somebody else in her life abandon her even though he had kept his promise to come back. Before she could respond to anything, Skates had jumped up and ran from the cabin.
“Lt. Hawkes, get back in here this instant!” Mac yelled down the passageway at the back of the fleeing woman. She took off chasing Skates through the maze of knee-knockers, open hatches, ladders, and passageways. After a few minutes, she realized where Skates was likely headed; it was the same place she could usually find Harm when he seemed to disappear aboard carriers. Mac walked up to the open hatch leading to the catwalk and remembered Harm telling her that it was against regulations to leave it un-dogged and open like it was. She was fixing to step through the hatch when she heard Harm talking.
“Beth… Beth… Come on Sis, tell me what happened. What’s making you cry so hard?” Harm was leaning against the railings holding the sobbing lady in his arms so people on the flight deck could only see his back and not who he was holding.
“Oh… Hammer. I totally screwed the pooch.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“I was talking to the Colonel and I lost it. I was so upset I started yelling at her and to top it off, I walked out before she even dismissed me. Now I’ll probably face a DDO and be totally screwed. And that’s bad but that’s not even the worst part…”
“It’s okay, Beth, I’m listening.”
“Once she tells you what we were talking about… you… you’ll be mad at me for opening my big mouth and telling her what I think about her for the way she treats you. I would give everything I ever had if you loved me as much as you love her, but I know in my head that it will never happen. I understand that in my head but sometimes my heart doesn’t want to accept it. It’s tearing me apart seeing how terribly she treats you. I’m so scared that she will keep rejecting you and knowing how close you are to throwing everything away and living on that damn rock you talked about so often recently. And the worst part about the whole thing is that I’m afraid that I’m losing my best friend in the entire world and...”
“Shush… sweet sis that will never happen.” He held her close, stroking her back and comforting her. Have I ever broken a promise to you?”
“No…”
“You remember in the South Pacific, standing in this very same place, the promise I made you then?”
“Yes. You said that we would be friends for as long as we live.”
“I won’t break that promise to you. What you said or didn’t say to Mac won’t ever make me break that vow. You mean too much to me.”
After hearing Skates’s admission on what she felt for Harm, Mac knew how desperate Skates was to see Harm happy even if it broke a portion of her heart. Without sitting back to think or mull things over like she normally did, Mac knew what she had to do as she stepped onto the catwalk. Neither Harm nor Beth heard her shut the hatch and they jumped when she spoke.
“Neither one of you will have to break that promise to each other.” Mac walked over and gathered Harm and Skates into her arms to give them a huge hug. “I need to apologize to both of you for how much I hurt Harm. I didn’t even realize I was doing it. I was so hurt myself when he left that I couldn’t see he needed closure. Skates, you must love Harm very much to lay everything on the line and tell me what you did. I’m totally in your debt for that. So let’s forget any transgressions, and maybe one day … we can see our way to being good friends. Anyone who cares enough about Harm to put her career on the line for his happiness, well, that’s someone I’d want in my life, too.”
“Would you two ladies consider having dinner with me?” Harm flashed his biggest smile as he held his two best girls.
“Sure, Flyboy. Anytime.”
“Only if the Colonel feels comfortable with me there. There aren’t too many women who’d be okay with having someone around who they know that has feelings for the man they love.” Beth spoke calmly while looking straight into Mac’s eyes.
“Yes, Skates. I want you there. I don’t feel threatened knowing you have feelings for Harm. I think he probably has the same type of feelings for you. But both of you live your lives by strong ethics, and I know you wouldn’t take your relationship anywhere without my…”
Harm kissed Mac before she could finish what she was going to say. When they stopped kissing, she tried to finish her sentence, but was stopped by another kiss. Only this time, it didn’t come from Harm. She looked at Skates with an I-can’t-believe-you-just-done-that look and then glanced up at Harm. The shocked look on Harm’s face was priceless until he started grinning. She stepped back a half a pace and slugged him on the arm.
“You better stop thinking like that, flyboy, before I kick your six over this railing. And I don’t want to hear a peep out of you either, miss kissy-mouth.”
“Well, don’t worry Colonel. I always kiss my sisters like that and it appears that I’ve accomplished my goal getting you two together. Since I consider Harm to be my brother, well that would make you my sister – so get use to it.” Skates stuck her tongue out. “Anyhow sometimes Harm and I think the same way and it seemed like it was the only thing that would shut you up.” Skates flashed a huge grin. “Pretty effective, wasn’t it, Bro?”
“Sure was Sis. Too bad that doesn’t work like that all the time if I was in the position to do so.” Harm put his hands up to prevent Mac from smacking him again.
“All right you two, enough is enough. Hungry Marine here, and you better feed me before I start taking it out of both your sixes.”
“Aye. Aye. Ma’am.”
As they started to open the hatch, they heard a unique-sounding helicopter coming in for a landing. Harm looked up and it appeared to be a MH-53M.
“What’s a Pave Low helicopter landing here for?” Harm wondered aloud.
“Isn’t the Pave Low one of the special operations helicopters?” Skates quickly asked.
“Yes, it is. But this is the first time I’ve ever seen one land on a carrier. Mac, don’t they fly off the Iwo Jima-class ships?”
“Sometimes, but as often as a Navy Herky lands on a carrier.” Mac jokingly replied.
“Oh, well. Whoever is on it won’t affect us this time around since we are under CNO orders to get back ASAP. Let’s go eat.”
They walked into the superstructure, not realizing that the Pave Low had flown somebody they knew fairly well. They were starting to enjoy the full VIP treatment this assignment was giving them. It was too bad that it would be a long time before either of them would ever enjoy that treatment again. As soon as Harm reached the cabin, he called down to the galley and let the chief know that there would be three for dinner. They sat back and chatted until the meal was delivered.
Clayton Webb waited impatiently for his man to show up for the meeting. Webb hated having to fly all the way to the Arabian Sea to pick him up, and he had called ahead to meet him as soon as he had arrived on board the carrier but was still waiting his arrival. He had an open operation waiting in Colombia and had bullied his way through the agency just to get the Lt’s name and duty station. But there were some benefits, he knew. He sat there rubbing his hands together with glee because this Navy Lt was now working for him and he could order him around. He didn’t have many fond memories working with Naval personnel. Now, maybe he could regain some of the dignity he’d lost to the Navy for the number of times the Director had him on the carpet for involving JAG personnel in order to save his missions. Finally, he saw the Lt walk into the room.
“Lt. MacKenzie reporting as ordered.”
<Flashback>
Sam was exercising on the flight deck when the Pave Low landed and saw the gentlemen exit from it wearing a suit. He got a bad feeling that it might involve him: he knew that he could be used now for operations now that his flight school was completed. Quickly, he returned to his quarters and accessed his Seal Operating system on his laptop to see how he was supposed to deal with things if that was to happen today. He opened the first letter, which had read ‘open me first’:
<End Flashback>Lieutenant,
Congratulations on completing the most rigorous training regimen in the world. Now that your schooling is over, you are officially a member of Seal Team 7, the most elite fighting force ever assembled. You will eventually be tasked for both individual and group missions. If it is a group mission, you’ll no doubt be its junior member and will therefore not be responsible for coferring with the mission director.
If it is a single man tasking, there is a procedure you must follow. You have already been briefed about most of this by other team members. But in dealing with the person or persons tasking you for this mission, you will act and behave like you are a 4 star Admiral working directly for me. If they don’t take your word about what is required, you are authorized to open the sealed envelope that should be in your lock box along with the other two Presidential Orders. However, this should be your last resort. If possible, you are to contact Admiral Chegwidden, who is authorized to answer certain questions which should settle most issues that may come up. Memorize his private phone number. The code word for CIA people is ‘dip shit’ and special operation people are ‘assholes’; there are others but be extremely careful around these two agencies. They are the main reason why Team 7 exists today. If you have to call the Admiral, talk to him as an equal in rank; he is aware it is not insubordination.
Signed
President of the USA
“Have a seat, Lt.”
“Who are you or do I just call you ‘Hey-you’?” Sam sarcastically asked the man sitting at the table before him.
“I’m Clayton Webb. Undersecretary of State.”
“Bullshit, Undersecretary of State. More like a CIA puke. What do you want with me?” Sam’s radar was off the scope when he heard Undersecretary of State. He felt this conversation was going to turn nasty and he prayed that this person before him would cooperate with what he was required to ask for. If he wasn’t, Sam hated what he had been ordered to do especially to another American citizen.
“I have a mission for you to go on.”
“Details?”
“Classified!”
“Before I even consider accepting your mission, YOU will give me the complete details in writting. After I have read everything you have about it, then I might consider if the mission is worth risking my life. If not, I’ll decline right now and go back to what I was doing before you rudely interrupted me.”
“You’re Lieutenant Samuel MacKenzie. I’m ordering you to accept this mission and won’t accept no for an answer! Besides, I’m not required to give you any details or information about a mission until you accept it.”
“Who do you work for, Mr. Webb?” Sam knew by the tone and words use that he would need to become an arrogant asshole towards this puke.
“The South American Desk Director.”
“Again, whom do you work for?” Sam asked in a more forceful tone.
“Director of the CIA.”
“You sound like you don’t have a clue who you work for – or are you just plain stupid?” Sam thought that he might as well add a insult and maybe that get through to him.
“Let’s cut to the chase, Lt. What do you really want to know?”
“How many people do you have to talk to before talking to the President himself?”
“Four.” Clayton had to think hard to answer that question because very few people realized that the CIA actually worked for the man himself and it was up to him if they actually remained on the payroll.
“Well, Mr. Webb. You have twice as many people to go through to see him as I do and I’m just a plain lowly Lieutenant. So don’t think you can sit there order me to take on your operation without giving me the materials that I require beforehand. You don’t have that kind of power. Who issued these orders?”
“Special Operations Command and they have operational control of ALL Seals.”
“No, I don’t work for special ops and don’t take my orders from them. Never have, never will, and guaranteed that I wouldn’t even if God himself was in charge of those bozos. I’m a naval aviator not a Seal unless your blind as well as stupid for not knowing the difference between the two are. And there’s not a damned thing you can do about that.”
“LIEUTENANT, you will take this mission, or I can guarantee you an all-expenses paid stay in Leavenworth.”
“Wanna bet?”
“TELL ME THAT AGAIN AND YOU’LL FIND OUT, LIEUTENANT!” Webb finally lost his patience with this snot nosed Lt.
Webb was slowly lighting Sam’s temper off and it was completely ablaze with that threat. Sam slowly stood up and walked around the table. When he got to Mr. Webb, he reached down and grabbed Webb by the collar of his expensive suit.
“There are only two people in the entire United States that can give me orders to carry out a Seal Mission or activate my Seal designator without asking me, and neither one of them work in Special Ops. So, get you scrawny ass out of my sight before I use the sealed orders they gave me for situations like this and break your neck.”
Sam held Webb up by the collar the entire time he spoke as his voice never raised about his normal speaking tone, to the point where Webb’s feet weren’t even touching the deck. Sam walked about halfway to the hatch and tossed Webb towards it. Webb hit with a huge thump and landed in a heap by the hatch. The guard, who was outside, opened the hatch when he heard the thump and immediately called for the Captain.
“Back away, Lieutenant.”
“Well Corporal. It would take more than you and that little popgun you have on you to stop me if I really wanted to hurt this asshole some more. And just in case I change my mind about that, you better not take your eyes off me.” Sam stood back and tried to calm himself down from the confrontation he just had.
Captain Ingles hurried off the bridge when the guard from conference room called him. He passed his day cabin and opened the hatch.
“Colonel MacKenzie and Commander Rabb, with me.”
Mac and Harm jumped to their feet and rushed after the Captain. Beth decided to follow them since she was curious as to what had the Captain so alarmed. When she turned the corner of the passageway leading to the conference rooms, she ran right into Harm, who had stopped because Mac was kneeling down, shaking a well-dressed man just inside the hatch of room two.
“Clay… Clay… wake up!”
“Corporal Evens, what happened to Mr. Webb?” Captain Ingles asked him in dangerous command voice.
“Sir, not sure. I heard a huge thump and opened the hatch. Mr. Webb was lying there with the Lt standing over him. I immediately called you and got the Lt to back away.”
“Colonel, is how is Mr. Webb?”
“Sir, he appears to be dazed, but he’s coming out of it.”
“Sarah… Rabb… how did you two get here so quickly?” a slightly confused man asked the two JAG lawyers.
“Clay, we were aboard doing an investigation. What happened?”
“The Lt. over there refused to carry out an order that I gave him from Special Ops and when I told him that he was heading to Leavenworth for refusing … well he picked me up and tried to throw me through the door!”
Hearing what the Lt did to him set off Mac’s Marine temper. She jumped up and got right into the Lt’s face.
“Lt, did you do what Mr. Webb said you did?”
“Ma’am. Yes. Ma’am.”
“Consider yourself under arrest, Lt.”
“Captain, is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I wasn’t looking forward to going all the way back to the states to meet the CNO and whoever the others are…” Sam’s face lit up with a huge smile.
Sam’s answer somewhat shocked her until it hit her like a ton of bricks why he suddenly appeared to be happy about being placed under arrest before she glanced at his nametag. She couldn’t believe this was happening the way it was and figured that her eyes were lying to her. “You’re Lt Samuel MacKenzie?”
“Ma’am. Yes. Ma’am.”
Mac turned her head towards Harm and Skates to let them see how pissed off she was. Knowing Harm as well as she did and well Skates was like pea from the same pod, she knew that they would have huge grins on their faces and wanted them to stop grinning about her finally meeting the person with the same last name as hers. This was too serious of a situation to have anyone grinning like a hyenas. “Well Lt, it looks like it’s your lucky day since I shouldn’t place you under arrest.”
“Sarah,” Webb spoke up, “I’m pressing charges against him. I want him charged with DDO, conduct unbecoming, and assault.”
“Clay, you can’t…” Mac turned towards Clay. “This Lt was the pilot who shot down eleven planes, and he’s scheduled to fly to Washington as soon as our investigation is over.”
“But I insist!” Clay spat out.
“Captain, this CIA puke thinks that he can order me around.”
“Is that true, Mr. Webb?”
“Yes.” Webb’s head had finally cleared enough to allow him to stand. He walked over to the table, flipped open his briefcase, extracted a file, and pulled out the orders giving him the right to do just that. He handed them to the Captain to read.
Captain Ingles read the paper before handing it to Mac, who in turn handed them to Harm.
“Yes, these orders signed by the Special Operations Commander, who has activated your Seal designator and assigned you to Mr. Webb.”
“Sir, nobody in this cabin has the security clearance to let me disclose who can activate my Seal designator. Trust me, it’s not the person who signed those orders giving this person authority over me.”
“Lt, I have level four clearance which is higher than anyone’s here.” Clay knew that that Harm and Mac had level twos and guessed the Captain had a level three. He wasn’t sure about both of the Lieutenants but guessed they were level twos. “Which should cover that point, so tell me.”
“No, Mr. Webb. Your level four isn’t high enough even for that. Whoever gave you the information on me couldn’t have given you anything more than my name, rank, service number, and duty location. I’m willing to bet my entire salary that the information you got doesn’t have anything more than that. You wanna take that bet?”
Webb opened the folder and looked at the personal information file they had given him on the Lieutenant. As he turned the cover page over, his eyes got huge as he saw it was blank, as was every page after it.
“There must’ve been some type of clerical mistake when they printed this off.”
“Why is that, Webb?” Harm spoke up for the first time with the questioning eyes that Webb hated so much.
“Other than the cover page that has his basic information on it, the file contains nothing but blank pieces of paper.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn’t that tell you something?” Harm turned to the Lt. “What is your clearance, Lt?”
“Six, sir.”
“Impossible!” Webb spat in disgust. “There’s no way this snot nosed Lieutenant could have higher security clearance than most of the CIA.”
“Lt, is there someone we can contact to will verify what you’ve told us?” Captain Ingles had gotten a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach and didn’t want to get caught in the middle of what was happening here.
“Yes, sir. If I can place a ship-to-shore phone call, I know someone who can confirm most of the things you need to know.”
Captain Ingles reached for the phone and called communications to set up the call.
“Skates, you might as well come in. Corporal, shut the hatch as you depart.” Sam flatly stated as he took a card out of his pocket to get the number he needed to dial. Once he finished punching the numbers, he placed the phone into its speakerphone mode, and then placed the handset back into the cradle. Through the room, the ringing of a phone was heard until someone picked up on the other end.
“Admiral Chegwidden.”
Several people in the room gasped as they heard the JAG himself answer the phone, on his private line no less as nobody in the room knew what the number was at that moment since it changed every quarter. Clay even looked like he was starting to turn green as he suddenly dropped into a chair.
“Admiral, this is Lt. MacKenzie here. Sorry to disturb you, but I have a situation here that I need your assistance in clearing up. I’ve got you on the speakerphone and with me are Captain Ingles, CDR Rabb, Ltc MacKenzie, Lt Hawkes, and one dip shit named Webb.”
“Captain Ingles, what has the Lt gotten himself into?” Everyone heard the Admiral’s smirk when Sam called Webb a dip shit not knowing it was a code word for CIA.
“Admiral, according to what the Lt said to us, we think you can answer some questions for us.”
“I’ll try. Go ahead, Captain.”
“His security clearance is 6?”
“Correct.”
“There are only 2 people who can activate his Seal designator and he cannot disclose their names.”
“Both correct. Not even I know who they are, but I do know that there are only three people who can do that, and the Lt is one of them.”
“He states it isn’t the Special Operations Commander.”
“If he states that it isn’t, then it isn’t. You’ll have to trust him on that, period.”
Webb interrupted, “AJ, he could accept this operation if he wanted to, correct?”
“Webb, before I answer that question, what did you do to piss him off?”
Sam answered for himself. “Admiral, Mr. Dip Shit here ordered me to take the mission, but when I asked for written details, he wouldn’t give me anything verbally or written, and threatened to put me in Leavenworth for DDO, among other baseless charges.”
Everyone heard the Admiral laughing at what Sam explained to him. It took a few minutes before AJ could stop.
“Webb, you should know by now not to piss off a Seal and count your blessings that he didn’t deck you.”
“AJ, but he did.”
“LT?”
“Sir, I informed him to get his scrawny ass out of my sight because he pissed me off so bad that I almost opened a sealed order and right now I’m feeling that I should open it anyway. But instead of that, I tried to see how strong a bulkhead hatch was.”
“LIEUTENTANT! That’s enough and under no uncertain terms you should be talking to a Admiral like that.” Captain Ingles’ fury took over as he had stood there listening to how that Lt was talking to the JAG.
“Captain, that’s enough. The Lt has been ordered to talk openly to me like we are equals and not care if it upsets anybody due to the difference in our ranks.” AJ hastily said after hearing the Captain dress down the Lt.
“Webb, I highly suggest that you to take the Lt’s advice and get the hell out of there before he does open that sealed order and believe me there’s nothing anyone can do to him once that happens.”
“Huh! That’s sounds 007ish to me AJ.”
“Well, I can neither confirm nor deny that he has something similar, but if the Lt states that he does, then he does. Nor can I confirm or deny why I know the answers to the questions you asked me. Is there anything else that needs clearing up, Captain?”
“No, sir. Thank you for you time.”
“Any time, Captain, and Lt, play nice now and stay out of trouble.”
“Yes, sir, I will.”
“Colonel, when should I tell the CNO to expect the results of your investigation and your return to the states?”
“Sir, I just finished the last interview and we were going to start wrapping it up in the morning. The ship we’re waiting for should have just arrived, and the Lt’s Tomcat should be ready for a flight test tomorrow as well. With any luck, we should be ready for wheels up in 48 hours.”
“Very good, carry on.”
“Aye. Aye. Sir.”
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