Chapter 4
Kitchen
Despite Animal's diminutive stature, he was an imposing figure, the silver oak-leaves on the collars of his khakis, the six rows of ribbons and the gleaming gold naval aviator wings above his left breast. And he did not look the slightest bit amused. Harm stared at his former RAG instructor then at Meg then at Ollie then back again. His brain was doing cartwheels trying to figure out what the hell was going on that Animal was here at Meg's home in Sherman. Trying futilely to put two and two together was giving him a mental seizure.
"Meg…" Harm stammered, wanting an explanation, but not getting one as Meg turned stonily silent and asked Animal if he needed help with the bags…that her brother would help get them to the car…the Navy vehicle that Harm had parked in the road leading up to their home. The ranch-house at Sherman had a long driveway, one that extended for about five miles leading up to their home. The property itself was vast, over 1500 acres of grassland and pocket desert complete with tumbleweeds. "I…uh…" Harm continued to stammer while looking at Meg who was standing noticeably close to Animal. "JAG won't cover the cost of accommodation for a third officer…and…uh…" and stopped when he saw the look on Animal's face
"I can pay my way, Lieutenant Commander Rabb." Animal said emphatically as he looked at him with a glare that could melt concrete. "I presume that the longer we stay here the less likely it is that we will be able to pick up clues on the missing girl. So I'd close that mouth of yours, Rabb or the only damned thing you're going to catch is flies." Harm shut his mouth, turned around and headed for the car.
"I'm sorry it was so short of a time I had to come back, Mama…" Meg said as she embraced her mother and moved towards the vehicle. Animal got in the back of the car, shutting the door gently but firmly and Meg got in the front beside her partner. Harm winced as the door was closed with a slam that rocked the vehicle. Harm got the message that his partner was not pleased at all.
US Navy Lincoln Grand Marquis
As they were driving, Meg noticed out of the corner of her eye, Harm eyeing her when he thought she wasn't looking. Animal sat in the back-seat watching the scenery go past silently. The tension was so thick that one could pull out a knife and cut it. Getting more and more irritated, Meg finally turned to Harm and snapped. "What?!"
Harm commented casually, "I didn't realize you had someone over…" as another few miles rolled up on the odometer.
"…and since when is who I am dating or not…your business?" Meg snapped irritatedly.
"Are you?" Harm asked, his eyes not straying from the road.
"None of your business. When I left the JAG office for leave, that was exactly what I was going for; my personal leave, whether I spend it with someone or who I spend it with, is exactly none of your business." Meg fastened a glare on Harm.
Animal's attention turned from the passing scenery to the argument in the front seat. His eyeballs were going back and forth as the ricocheting commentary got heated. It was like a Wimbledon tennis match.
"Well, I wouldn't be here if the admiral hadn't asked me to come get you for a case. It just so happened that I showed up while you were entertaining your boyfriend here!" Harm shot back. For about two seconds there was dead silence as Meg looked at Harm, the ambient temperature chilling in the car despite the 90 degree heat outside.
"Excuse me?" Meg glared daggers at Harm. "Entertaining? Are you implying something…untoward?"
"Well, it certainly did seem rather scenting of impropriety…" Harm commented casually.
"Oh, that's rich. Harm." Meg exploded. "Yeah, you and Annie, you and the Thai ambassador…and you're accusing me of dragging Commander Nakamura off to a den of iniquity? You know what? Harm? I think you'd better stop right now or I will insist that the admiral pull me off this case…or is it because you're jealous?"
Considering the subject of their heated conversation was in the car silent, Harm said. "Yeah, I think we'd better stop too…and for the record, I'm not jealous." Considering that he brought up the personal subject he let the rank superior officer respect drop as it wouldn't be fair to pull rank in this case.
Neither Animal nor Meg believed that for a single second. Animal wisely opted to keep his mouth shut and let the two junior officers hash it out for themselves. But there was pretty much dead silence for the rest of the trip to Fort Worth. It was a long hour and thirty-six minutes before the main gates of Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth came into sight and the uncomfortable ride was over. Handing over their IDs, the officers were ushered on base.
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
"Sir, Captain Simkovich will see you now." The chief stated to Animal who nodded. Striding over to the base commander's door, he pounded the pine.
"Commander Toshio Nakamura, Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb and Lieutenant J. G. Meg Austin, sir." Animal stated as they stood two paces in front of Captain Simkovich's desk.
Captain Richard Simkovich, United States Navy, Commander Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth at Fort Worth Texas, looked upon the three naval officers and smirked. "So…what's a line officer doing in command of a staff investigation?" taking notice of the fact that Animal had both rank insignia on his khakis. A line officer had no staff insignia on the right collar of their khakis; only two rank insignia.
"Sir, I'm just a tag-along. You'd best direct any questions regarding the investigation to the Lieutenant Commander." Animal grinned at Captain Simkovich - O-5s and O-6s were senior echelon, and were allowed to be a bit more informal. "I'm just an extra set of eyes and ears, sir."
CAPT Simkovich nodded then looked over at Harm giving him an assessing stare, his eyes fastening on Harm's gold wings. "Naval Aviator, huh?"
"Yes, sir." Harm replied, his eyes straight front. "F-14 Tomcats, sir." Meg was wondering if there was a pissing match going on. "but only when they allow me, sir."
"You too?" Captain Simkovich asked Animal,
…who nodded. "F-14A Tomcat, XO, VF-41 squadron, active duty, sir" with no small amount of smugness. Meg rolled her eyes. Now there was a three-way pissing match going on. Captain Simkovich may have held the higher rank of the three of the immature aviators, but he was a freight-hauler being the AC of a C-130H.
"…and you, Lieutenant junior grade?" Captain Simkovich asked wryly.
"Me. I'm just a lowly JAG lieutenant jay-gee, sir." Meg responded. "No fancy wings…I'm just a plain staff officer, Mk. 1 grade, sir." Captain Simkovich's eyes crinkled in amusement as he grinned at Meg's response.
"As you are probably aware, Waters is one of my best maintenance techs on the C-130H. Now I sympathize as a father that he is going through hell right now with his daughter missing. But I also have a unit to run. NCIS is crawling all over this case and I have to toe the line or otherwise I'd be out there helping him." Captain Simkovich sat down in the chair. "And unfortunately that means bringing charges against a good man." He let out a sharp breath. "I don't want to do that, but I have to keep up appearances."
"Sir." Harm replied in acknowledgement of the situation. Commanding officers ran a tightrope of having to be compassionate to the men and women under their command and yet run a tight ship. Sometimes it meant having to choose one or the other. It wasn't an easy decision. And there were underlying political matters behind those decisions too.
"Has Chief Waters been remanded to custody, or is he still AWOL, sir." Meg asked.
"Haven't heard from him from the time he reported that his daughter was missing." Captain Simkovich replied shortly. "I have no idea as to his whereabouts."
All four naval officers looked at each other. This wasn't sounding good at all. "Do you have the address to his quarters? Sir?" Harm asked. The captain wrote an address down on a piece of paper after consulting his computer and handed the paper to Harm. "Let's go search there first and see if there's any clues. Sir, may we requisition arms as well as a Master-At-Arms to accompany us?"
"You may." The Captain stated.
Carswell Communities, Fort Worth Texas
As the Grand Marquis travelled down the main road and turned onto the road that lead to Chief Waters' home, a rather uneasy feeling came upon Animal who turned to Harm and said. "I don't like this…it doesn't feel good."
When the Grand Marquis came to a halt in front of Chief Waters' house, he got out. Harm knocked on the door. There was no answer. "Master at Arms." Harm stated. "We need access."
The Master-At-Arms got on the radio and requested permission to gain entry. They had no keys, so the only way that they could gain entry was to kick the door in. Animal drew the M9 Beretta that he had been assigned by the Master-At-Arms, nodding to both Harm and Meg who did the same.
The Master-At-Arms gave the door a solid kick, but the door didn't budge. Another kick only yielded the same result. He shrugged his shoulders. Animal told him to move aside. A loud ki-ai accompanied by a karate-style front thrust kick splintered the door by the dead-bolt and a further kick allowed the Master-At-Arms to gain entry followed by the three naval officers who fanned out into the house, their Berettas aimed at the ready. Shouts of "clear, clear" rang out as the officers checked each room. A sudden loud exhalation of breath from Meg caused Animal to run to meet her. Laid out on the floor was a woman and a man both garbed; both several days expired on the floor. The man had a bullethole to his right temple and the woman had several holes in her chest.
"Shit." The Master-At-Arms said. "That's Chief Waters."
