AJ's
Hospital Room Francesca looked up as Mac peaked her head in
the door. "Is it okay to come in?" "Sure, he's
sleeping." Harm and Mac stepped into the room, to see AJ
lying on his stomach. Bandages covered his back on almost every
surface of his skin. The tiny sections that were showing were riddled
with tiny blisters. They both involuntarily winced. They were about
to ask Francesca what the doctor said, when AJ's voice drifted up
from side of the bed. "You two better be here to announce
your engagement," He said, in the gruffest voice he could muster
under the circumstances. Mac's eyes danced with Harm's for
a moment. They answered in unison. Mac said. "Sorry
sir." Just as Harm said. "Not quite yet sir." Mac's
gaze flew to his in surprise. He winked at her. "Then why
the hell are you here?" AJ demanded. "We came to
investigate the mishap." "The mishap." They heard him
murmur under his breath. He let out a long shuddering sigh. "It was
a hell of a thing," He said quietly. Harm and Mac sat down
so they could be close to his eye level. "What do you remember
Admiral?" "AJ," He insisted. "Okay, AJ, what do
you remember?" AJ's words began to slur as the medication
they had given him finally began to take effect. "Francesca was
cold. I sent her up to get a drink. I stood up for the national
anthem, and saw the Hornets coming our way." He paused and for a
moment they thought he had fallen asleep. When he began again, his
voice was almost inaudible and laced with pain. His resolve was
slipping. "Something wasn't right." "What was
it?" "Don't know," He whispered. "Something made me
look up. Don't know why. Saw something happen inside the cockpit.
Don't know what it was, but it made the pilot lurch back. Then I
saw another small explosion." He paused and swallowed. Francesca
leaned over and offered him some water. He sucked appreciatively
through the straw, and then licked his lips. "Three. There were
three in row. Boom. Boom. Boom. Like three strikes. Then it all blew
to hell. I saw her there beside me. I didn't have time to get her
out of the way before it hit." He turned his head slightly and
tried to catch Harm's eye. Harm leaned down to look at him. "Did
she live?" Understanding dawned. "Yes, she lived. You
saved her." At this AJ seemed to deflate. Exhaustion
overtook him, and he closed his eyes. Before he drifted off again he
said. "Thank God." In a low, raspy whisper. Bud rushed
into the stadium as fast as he possibly could. Dodging reporters and
paparazzi. When he reached the seating area his mouth dropped open.
It took him a moment to snap it shut. The head of forensics appeared
beside him. "Commander Roberts?" "Yes." "I'm
Commander Goode. It's nice to meet you," He said, holding his
hand out. Bud took it. "Thanks for taking the time, I know
you're swamped." Goode wiped the beads of perspiration
from his forehead with his handkerchief. "Yeah, it's slow going,
and frankly I'm not sure if we can find anything of value here.
It's hard to find a cause if the air craft was blown to
smithereens." "I imagine it is. If you don't mind I'd
like to look around a little before I go." "Not at all.
I'll call you if I find anything of significance." "Thank
you." Harriet sat in the room at the VOQ, praising God for a
working air conditioner, and perusing files on her laptop computer.
When she found anything of interest she'd write it down on the
legal pad next to her. She'd poured through the files of all of the
major players, and nothing of consequence stood out for any of them.
Not so much as a parking ticket. Most of everything on her legal pad
had to do with personal background. She sighed. Hoping she wasn't
missing anything. Harm headed across the tarmac toward a young
Lieutenant who was currently inspecting an F-16. "Lt.
Ashworth?" Ashworth raised his head and snapped a salute.
"Yes sir." "I'm Commander Rabb, I'm investigating
the mishap at Fenway. I understand you did the final inspection
before they took off to do the fly over." "Yes sir I did.
And before you ask I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. You
can check my record. All of the birds I check are clean before they
hit the air, or I don't let them up." "I have checked,
and you've got a clean record there's no doubt about that, but
everyone makes mistakes sometimes." "Not this time." "How
can you be so sure?" "Because Sir, when mistakes happen on
my watch, I go through everything over and over in my head to make
sure the mistake wasn't mine. I remember the inspection I did on
that plane before it went up. It was clean." "There's no
doubt in your mind?" "There's no doubt in my mind," He
stated. "You have to remember, they were set to perform just an
hour after the fly over. That bird had to be clean, or I would have
grounded it to make time for maintenance before it had to go back up
for the show." Harm nodded. "Were you out here when they
boarded the air craft?" "Yes." "In Lt. Logan's
statement, he said Lt. Williams went back in to get something she had
forgotten. Do you remember that?" "Yes." He shrugged. "I
didn't think anything of it. Lt. Williams was always bringing a
good luck charm of some sort with her on her flights. I just figured,
that's what she had forgotten." "Logan also said that he
noticed something in her hand. Something black, that she was holding
against her side. Do you remember seeing anything like
that?" Ashworth squinted and looked unseeing at the sky. "No
sir," He said after a moment. "But I wasn't paying too much
attention either." Harm nodded. "Can you think of anything
else that might be significant?" Ashworth's brow creased
in thought. "There was one other thing. When Lt. Williams came back
out, she seemed preoccupied." "How so?" "She
didn't respond to me when I told her "good luck". She is a bit
shy, but most of the time she will at least smile. This time she
didn't even look at me." "Are you sure she heard
you?" "No, I'm not." "Okay Lt. Thank
you." Harm, Mac, Harriet and Bud gathered around the small
table in Bud and Harriet's room at the VOQ. An empty pizza box lay
between them. Mac pursed her lips. "Okay, what have we
got?" "Not much Ma'am," Harriet responded. "I did
the background on everyone, nothing much stands out. I did a small
phone interview with Mercer and Hart, they didn't have anything
different to say, than what's in the files. The only thing
interesting, was the connection between Williams and Logan. They both
mentioned that immediately. But again, that's something we already
knew." "I doubt the forensics teams will find much of
anything," Bud said. "Everything's too destroyed to be of any
use." "That was probably the intent Bud." Harm sighed.
"Lt. Ashworth said the plane was clean when he cleared it for take
off." Mac sat back. "Do you believe him?" "Yes." She
raised her hands in frustration, got up and began to pace. "So we
have nothing? AJ is laying in a hospital bed for nothing? There are
reporters everywhere! How are we going to handle this?" "We
roll with it," Harm replied. "With all due respect, is
the press our problem?" Bud asked. "No it's not, but we
still need to be prepared if they corner us." Harriet
shrugged. "Then we tell them that forensics is a slow process. The
Press team can take it from there." "That still doesn't
change the fact that F-18's don't just explode on their own.
Someone has to be responsible for it," Mac said. Harm moved
to speak, but was interrupted by the ringing of Bud's cell phone.
"Roberts," He said into the phone. Then sat up straighter
in his seat. Commander Roberts this is Commander Goode. I
know I said we probably wouldn't find anything of interest, but I
was wrong. Are Commander Rabb and Colonel Mackenzie with you?" "Yes,
they're all here with me. What have you found?" I'm not
entirely sure, just get over here as soon as you can. "We're
on our way." Bud gestured to the others, and then hung up
the phone. They were out the door in a minute flat.
TBC…
