Chapter 1
On a dark and rainy morning in Washington D.C., two young men were on the metro train heading to the navy yard. The two young men were both United States Marines as inferred by their USMC sweatshirts. One man's name was Private Christopher Mullins and the other man was his best friend, Private Matthew Gunter. The two Privates were on their way to the navy yard to meet with their new Commanding Officer.
"I'm really excited to be in D.C." Chris said. Matt looked at him and asked,
"Why's that?"
"This is where I grew up."
"You told me you were from Virginia Beach, Virginia." Matt said confused.
"Well yes and no. I was born here but when I was thirteen my parents divorced. My dad was in the Navy so he got stationed to the Oceana Navy Base and he brought me with him to Virginia Beach." Chris explained.
"How come you never told me that?" Matt asked. Chris looked down and said,
"I don't like to talk about my parents. They put me through hell during that divorce." Matt put his hand on his friend's shoulder empathetically. As soon as the metro stopped at the next stop, three loud gunshots rang out from the Waterfront Metro station. When the two marines heard gunfire they ran out of the metro train as soon as the doors opened. Since it was so early in the morning, there weren't many people in the station.
"Matt, go find a police officer or security guard or anyone who can help." Chris said in a panic. While Matt ran off to find some help, Chris ran over to the scene of the shooting. Chris stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the person who had been shot. At that same time Matt showed up with a police officer. When the officer saw the scene he immediately got on his radio and paged dispatch to send an ambulance. Matt saw that Chris looked dazed.
"Chris? Chris you okay?" Matt asked. Chris swallowed hard then turned to Matt and said,
"I know this guy."
"Who is he?" Matt asked with concern.
"He's my father." Chris said as a tear rolled down his face.
"Chris are you sure?" Matt asked in a lower tone. Chris looked at his friend then back at his lifeless father. He walked up to his unresponsive father and knelt down. Chris saw his dad's dog tags draped around his neck. He took them off and stared at them for a few minutes. He got up and walked back over to Matt.
"Yeah, I… I'm sure." Chris said with a stutter. Matt took one of the dog tags and held it up so he could read it. The name on the dog tag read,
Mullins
Jonathan C.
Matt didn't want to believe it, but he knew that the man who had been shot was definitely Chris's dad. All of a sudden there was a lot of commotion coming towards Chris and Matt. They looked up and saw the policeman who Matt had found and three paramedics carrying a stretcher. Chris looked back down at his dad's dog tags because he couldn't believe what was happening; he didn't understand. The paramedics rushed over to Lieutenant Commander Mullins while the police officer walked over to Chris and Matt.
"Good morning gentlemen." The officer greeted. "I'm Officer Craig Neilson." He shook hands with the two marines.
"I'm Private Matt Gunter and this is my best friend, Private Chris Mullins. U.S. Marines."
"I'm going to need a witness statement about what happened from both of you." The officer looked at Matt and noticed he looked concerned about something. Then when the officer looked at Chris, he noticed the dog tags in his hands. "Sir what are you holding?" he asked Chris. Chris looked up at the officer and said,
"These are that man's dog tags and… "Chris was about to explain why he had the dog tags when the officer cut him off,
"Why did you take those? You can't just tamper with a crime scene sir."
"Officer Neilson, you don't understand. This man who was shot is Chris's dad." Matt said defensively. The officer looked at Chris and asked,
"Is that true sir?" Chris looked Officer Neilson in the eye and said,
"Yes Officer, I wish it wasn't but it is." The officer looked back at the paramedics then turned back to Chris and Matt.
"Follow me." Officer Neilson said. He and the two marines walked over to the paramedics. "Guys this is Private Chris Mullins and he just told me that this is his father." The paramedic's heads shot up when they heard that. They looked at each other then turned to Chris. One of them stood up and introduced himself to Chris,
"Nice to meet you Private, my name is Eric. May I speak to you in private?" Chris gave Matt a sad look then walked over to a bench in the metro station with Eric the paramedic. He sat down and sighed heavily because he had a feeling he knew what Eric was about to tell him. "Private…" he began. Chris cut him off,
"Please call me, Chris."
"Alright Chris, I'm sorry to have to tell you this but despite our best efforts your father had passed away. The gunshot hit his Carotid Artery and honestly there wasn't much we could do before he bled out. I'm very sorry."
"Thank you sir." Chris said shakily. Chris heard Officer Neilson on the phone with someone.
"No Chief actually this case isn't in our jurisdiction… because the victim was in the US Navy and all Navy deaths are handled by NCIS… I know just the agent who can help… thanks Chief."
Hey guys! what's up? I am really sorry about the slow progress on this story! I've been super crazy busy this school year. I have a lot more of this story written I just haven't posted it yet. I promise I'll have at least the next chapter posted by sometime on Saturday. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story, it gets more interesting when Abby finds something Chris never thought his dad had.