Title: Sleight of Hand
Author: Incatnito
PG-13
Action/Adventure
Summary: A simple case is not what it seems.
My first time out of the blocks as a writer. It's been fun!
Disclaimers: Taking them out to play, promise to put them back. All characters of JAG belong to Donald Bellasarius and Bellasarius Productions; no copyright infringement intended.
---------
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church
0949 Local
Tiner looked up as the Admiral's door banged open. That woman appeared in the entryway, trailed by Cmdr. Rabb and Cmdr. Turner. She was looking over her shoulder, still loudly complaining, "... And don't think for a minute, that foisting me off on these... these... two dogsbodies is going to keep me out of your face. My taxdollars are paying for your ..." Her voice trailed off as she headed for the conference room, deftly herded by the two commanders. Jason stared after her wide-eyed. He didn't know what a dogsbody was, it couldn't have been good...
"Tiner."
Tiner's head whipped back to see the Admiral standing in the office door. He gulped, "Yes sir?"
"I don't want to be disturbed. Am I making myself clear?" He stared at Tiner for a long moment and quietly shut the door.
Tiner resisted the urge to groan out loud. The Admiral was at his most dangerous when he became quiet like that. Jason knew he was toast - it just was a matter of time. First the news about the Colonel, then Lt. Singer and her apparent deathwish (of all the things to repeat to the Admiral!) and now this lunatic woman screaming at everyone. God, could the day get any worse?
Fifteen minutes later, Jason was retrieving a file from the bullpen when he saw Clayton Webb enter the room. 'Oh no!... Please look for Cmdr. Rabb... please look for Cmdr. Rabb... Damn!' Tiner hurried over to place himself in Webb's path. "Can I help you, Mr. Webb?"
"No." Webb stepped around the petty officer and continued to the Admiral's office.
Jason intercepted him again. "Are you sure, sir?"
"Yes." Webb skirted to the one side. Tiner followed and then moved in front again; they were almost at the Admiral's door. Finally, Webb looked at him in exasperation, "TINER! Get out of my way!"
"Mr. Webb... " Jason was feeling desperate, he lowered his voice, "The Admiral is in a really bad mood because of the break-in and Colonel MacKenzie. Are you SURE I can't help you?"
"Positive." With that, Clay ducked around Tiner, knocked once on the Admiral's door and disappeared into the office.
Jason slumped against the wall, then he softly began banging his head, "Toast. Toast. Toast... "
Clay walked over to AJ's desk, "You realize Tiner's about to have apoplexy?"
AJ grunted, "I'll make it up to him. How much did Rabb tell you?"
"That you had a lead on Mac."
"Yeah, I wanted you to hear this." AJ stood up, "Ready to chase after me to the conference room?"
Tiner looked up with an uneasy feeling of deja vu as the Admiral's door banged open. He had this horrible vision of Webb calling the Admiral a 'dogsbody'. This time, though, the Admiral stomped through the door first, with Webb right behind him. Jason shot to his feet and squeaked, "Sir!" The Admiral barely noticed him as he went by.
"For the last time, Webb, NO! I will not have you involving my officers in another of your operations! Not now! Use your own damn agents!" Storming through the bullpen, AJ didn't bother acknowledging the 'Attention on deck', the staff stood frozen, watching the two men.
Webb stayed right with AJ like a terrier nipping at his heels, "You don't have a choice, Admiral. It's a matter of national security. The SecNav..." His voice faded as they disappeared into the conference room with a bang. The staff relaxed and looked at each other in disbelief. The buzz of conversation slowly increased and then cut off suddenly as the conference door opened again. Cmdr. Turner stuck his head out. Gesturing towards a petty officer, he said, "Get Gunny Walters up here. Now." He disappeared back into the conference room. The staff stood there in amazement, what a Monday!
Earlier that morning
Washington, DC
0320 Local
Mac leaned against the wall of the alley, her arm and her side a constant dull ache. She had successfully eluded Archangel; for now anyway, she wasn't nearly far enough away yet. It had been a little dicey getting away from the shelter - hell, it had scared the living daylights out of her...
To get to the alley entryway had required walking the last block in the open. When Mac was seventy-five feet from the alley, she'd become aware of a man following about fifty feet behind her. Fifty feet from the alley, another man showed up ahead of her. At twenty feet, both men began to close in. It had taken every last ounce of her nerve to wait for James to show up, to not panic and bolt. Finally, he had appeared with sirens and lights blazing. As he roared past, Mac had eased carefully into the alley and then turned and ran.
After reaching the split, she'd turned left, she had forced herself to keep moving. Her side felt like it was on fire, the blood pounding so fiercely in her head that she was seeing spots and she couldn't get enough air. When the alley split again, she turned right and, by then, had slowed to a stumbling walk. She hadn't chanced a look back, she'd been afraid even that small motion would knock her right off her feet. Mac had come across the cubbyhole by accident after tripping on the remains of an old pallet. Unable to keep her balance, she'd gone down on her hands and knees. For a few seconds, she had stayed there, no longer caring if anyone was behind her. She was tired of the pain and the fear... and then she'd seen it. A small opening, visible only at groundlevel, a crawlspace of some sort. Gratefully, she had crept in, ignoring the unidentifiable and sundry bits of garbage. Mac had stayed there for the next sixty-three minutes, recovering - she'd even managed to doze a little. Finally, she'd crawled back out and peeled out of the extra layer of clothes she had been wearing...
A noise behind her startled her out of her thoughts. Mac froze and then, heart pounding, she turned to see two men staring at her. The larger of the two gave her a leering smile.
Mike and Arnie had been cutting through the alley after a night of bar-crawling. When he was sober, Mike was loud, obnoxious and belligerent. When he was drunk, he was just plain mean. At the last bar, a bouncer - bigger, stronger and nastier, had faced him down and thrown him out. Arnie, little suck-up that he was, had gone with him. Mike was still pissed. The last thing he expected to see was some broad leaning against the alley wall. In the dim light, she wasn't half bad-looking. He smiled, this could be fun.
The woman froze, staring at him. Mike waited expectantly. Seeing fear always gave him a rush, maybe she'd try to run. He was surprised when she took an unsteady step towards him, "Tony?? Is tha' you?" Oh man, she was plastered! Better and better... He let her walk up to him. She put a hand on his chest and blinked owlishly at him, "You're not Tony! Who're you?"
"Mike." Now that she was close, he could see the bruises on her, "What the hell happened to you?"
The woman smiled and leaned into him, "I ran into a door." She snickered, "Tha's what I always tell 'em. Doors are dangerous, Mike ... nice name Mike." Her eyes half-closed, she gave a seductive smile, "Are you nice, Mike?" Her hand was making little circles on his chest.
"Let's find out."
He grabbed her arm, only to have her yelp in pain, "Owww Mike! The door hit me there too!" He let go and grabbed the other arm and started to pull her deeper into the alley. She stopped again and he looked at her, "What?!"
She leaned towards him and said in a low, petulant voice, "Somebody's watchin'."
Arnie. He'd forgotten all about him. Mike looked over at him, "Get lost."
"But Mike! What about me?" Arnie whined. He was willing to wait his turn.
Mike's voice lowered dangerously, "I said, get lost." Arnie still stood there. Mike took a menacing step towards him. Arnie ran.
They went deeper into the alley, until Mike decided it was far enough. He backed her up against the wall, leaning in with his hands resting on either side of her. She smiled lazily and ran the back of her hand along his face, letting it drop onto his collar. Grabbing a handful of material, she started to pull him towards her. He was so caught up, he never felt her other hand snake onto the collar on the opposite side. Not until the hands suddenly twisted and pulled. As the collar constricted, there was a terrible pressure and buzzing in his ears. He had time for one wide-eyed look before he blacked out.
Mac followed him down as he collapsed, keeping pressure on the choke hold. She didn't want to kill him, neither did she want him recovering before she could get away. She had taken a chance with that move, not sure if her injured arm would allow her to grip firmly enough to apply the choke. Quickly Mac patted him down, checking pockets - she couldn't afford any surprises. Her eyebrows rose when she found the .32 automatic pistol, she'd been luckier than she thought. A minute later, Mac was hurrying down the alley with the pistol, a switchblade, fifty dollars of his cash and his shoes. Dumping the shoes in a trashcan, Mac disappeared into the pre-dawn darkness of Washington.
Farragut Square
Washington, DC
0840 Local
Mac sat on a bench and rested while keeping a surreptitious eye on her surroundings. To passersby, she was just another homeless person to avoid. She was thinking about her next move. Mac was still surprised to have made it this far. It hadn't been without incident, but she'd managed to turn it to her advantage. Now she had over $100 in cash and she was armed. She had debated about keeping the pistol. She didn't want it distracting her from the role she had chosen for herself. It was dangerous to think of being anything but prey. Mac slowly stood up, unobtrusively scanning the area, it was time to move again.
Undisclosed Location
0900 Local
"Goddammit, where is she?!" the man snapped, he had a low threshold for incompetence.
Hanley threw up his hands in exasperation, "They lost her a couple of blocks from the shelter. She just vanished."
"She was in a hospital two days ago! How fast could she have possibly moved?"
Hanley was becoming irritated in his turn, "If your Inspector Peterson hadn't stormed that shelter like Omaha Beach, we might have been able to grab her there. I told you that man would cause problems."
The man raised a placating hand, "All right, all right, this is getting us nowhere. Let's focus on the problem at hand. Do you know if anyone at JAG has found the missing evidence?"
Hanley paused for a moment and thought, "Not that I know of, and certainly not for lack of trying. Most of them were there all weekend, trying to figure it out. I tried to pump Gunny Walters about it, he told me to mind my own business. That probably doesn't mean anything, he wasn't in a good mood. Oh, and that CIA agent, Webb showed up."
"Webb is back? He could be trouble... we'll have to keep an eye on him."
"We're spreading ourselves thin already," Hanley protested. "How will I find MacKenzie if I have to keep pulling people off to go somewhere else?"
The man looked at Hanley thoughtfully, "You're right, MacKenzie is the key. Once we find her and recover the evidence, any rumors of our existence will be just that: rumors."
"You'll kill her afterwards? Or will it be another 'suicide'?" Hanley was curious.
"I haven't decided, yet. She's caused a tremendous amount of trouble. I'd like to repay her for that." The man was silent for a moment and then chuckled coldly, "She is a beautiful woman - I think, perhaps, we'll sell her."
Author: Incatnito
PG-13
Action/Adventure
Summary: A simple case is not what it seems.
My first time out of the blocks as a writer. It's been fun!
Disclaimers: Taking them out to play, promise to put them back. All characters of JAG belong to Donald Bellasarius and Bellasarius Productions; no copyright infringement intended.
---------
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church
0949 Local
Tiner looked up as the Admiral's door banged open. That woman appeared in the entryway, trailed by Cmdr. Rabb and Cmdr. Turner. She was looking over her shoulder, still loudly complaining, "... And don't think for a minute, that foisting me off on these... these... two dogsbodies is going to keep me out of your face. My taxdollars are paying for your ..." Her voice trailed off as she headed for the conference room, deftly herded by the two commanders. Jason stared after her wide-eyed. He didn't know what a dogsbody was, it couldn't have been good...
"Tiner."
Tiner's head whipped back to see the Admiral standing in the office door. He gulped, "Yes sir?"
"I don't want to be disturbed. Am I making myself clear?" He stared at Tiner for a long moment and quietly shut the door.
Tiner resisted the urge to groan out loud. The Admiral was at his most dangerous when he became quiet like that. Jason knew he was toast - it just was a matter of time. First the news about the Colonel, then Lt. Singer and her apparent deathwish (of all the things to repeat to the Admiral!) and now this lunatic woman screaming at everyone. God, could the day get any worse?
Fifteen minutes later, Jason was retrieving a file from the bullpen when he saw Clayton Webb enter the room. 'Oh no!... Please look for Cmdr. Rabb... please look for Cmdr. Rabb... Damn!' Tiner hurried over to place himself in Webb's path. "Can I help you, Mr. Webb?"
"No." Webb stepped around the petty officer and continued to the Admiral's office.
Jason intercepted him again. "Are you sure, sir?"
"Yes." Webb skirted to the one side. Tiner followed and then moved in front again; they were almost at the Admiral's door. Finally, Webb looked at him in exasperation, "TINER! Get out of my way!"
"Mr. Webb... " Jason was feeling desperate, he lowered his voice, "The Admiral is in a really bad mood because of the break-in and Colonel MacKenzie. Are you SURE I can't help you?"
"Positive." With that, Clay ducked around Tiner, knocked once on the Admiral's door and disappeared into the office.
Jason slumped against the wall, then he softly began banging his head, "Toast. Toast. Toast... "
Clay walked over to AJ's desk, "You realize Tiner's about to have apoplexy?"
AJ grunted, "I'll make it up to him. How much did Rabb tell you?"
"That you had a lead on Mac."
"Yeah, I wanted you to hear this." AJ stood up, "Ready to chase after me to the conference room?"
Tiner looked up with an uneasy feeling of deja vu as the Admiral's door banged open. He had this horrible vision of Webb calling the Admiral a 'dogsbody'. This time, though, the Admiral stomped through the door first, with Webb right behind him. Jason shot to his feet and squeaked, "Sir!" The Admiral barely noticed him as he went by.
"For the last time, Webb, NO! I will not have you involving my officers in another of your operations! Not now! Use your own damn agents!" Storming through the bullpen, AJ didn't bother acknowledging the 'Attention on deck', the staff stood frozen, watching the two men.
Webb stayed right with AJ like a terrier nipping at his heels, "You don't have a choice, Admiral. It's a matter of national security. The SecNav..." His voice faded as they disappeared into the conference room with a bang. The staff relaxed and looked at each other in disbelief. The buzz of conversation slowly increased and then cut off suddenly as the conference door opened again. Cmdr. Turner stuck his head out. Gesturing towards a petty officer, he said, "Get Gunny Walters up here. Now." He disappeared back into the conference room. The staff stood there in amazement, what a Monday!
Earlier that morning
Washington, DC
0320 Local
Mac leaned against the wall of the alley, her arm and her side a constant dull ache. She had successfully eluded Archangel; for now anyway, she wasn't nearly far enough away yet. It had been a little dicey getting away from the shelter - hell, it had scared the living daylights out of her...
To get to the alley entryway had required walking the last block in the open. When Mac was seventy-five feet from the alley, she'd become aware of a man following about fifty feet behind her. Fifty feet from the alley, another man showed up ahead of her. At twenty feet, both men began to close in. It had taken every last ounce of her nerve to wait for James to show up, to not panic and bolt. Finally, he had appeared with sirens and lights blazing. As he roared past, Mac had eased carefully into the alley and then turned and ran.
After reaching the split, she'd turned left, she had forced herself to keep moving. Her side felt like it was on fire, the blood pounding so fiercely in her head that she was seeing spots and she couldn't get enough air. When the alley split again, she turned right and, by then, had slowed to a stumbling walk. She hadn't chanced a look back, she'd been afraid even that small motion would knock her right off her feet. Mac had come across the cubbyhole by accident after tripping on the remains of an old pallet. Unable to keep her balance, she'd gone down on her hands and knees. For a few seconds, she had stayed there, no longer caring if anyone was behind her. She was tired of the pain and the fear... and then she'd seen it. A small opening, visible only at groundlevel, a crawlspace of some sort. Gratefully, she had crept in, ignoring the unidentifiable and sundry bits of garbage. Mac had stayed there for the next sixty-three minutes, recovering - she'd even managed to doze a little. Finally, she'd crawled back out and peeled out of the extra layer of clothes she had been wearing...
A noise behind her startled her out of her thoughts. Mac froze and then, heart pounding, she turned to see two men staring at her. The larger of the two gave her a leering smile.
Mike and Arnie had been cutting through the alley after a night of bar-crawling. When he was sober, Mike was loud, obnoxious and belligerent. When he was drunk, he was just plain mean. At the last bar, a bouncer - bigger, stronger and nastier, had faced him down and thrown him out. Arnie, little suck-up that he was, had gone with him. Mike was still pissed. The last thing he expected to see was some broad leaning against the alley wall. In the dim light, she wasn't half bad-looking. He smiled, this could be fun.
The woman froze, staring at him. Mike waited expectantly. Seeing fear always gave him a rush, maybe she'd try to run. He was surprised when she took an unsteady step towards him, "Tony?? Is tha' you?" Oh man, she was plastered! Better and better... He let her walk up to him. She put a hand on his chest and blinked owlishly at him, "You're not Tony! Who're you?"
"Mike." Now that she was close, he could see the bruises on her, "What the hell happened to you?"
The woman smiled and leaned into him, "I ran into a door." She snickered, "Tha's what I always tell 'em. Doors are dangerous, Mike ... nice name Mike." Her eyes half-closed, she gave a seductive smile, "Are you nice, Mike?" Her hand was making little circles on his chest.
"Let's find out."
He grabbed her arm, only to have her yelp in pain, "Owww Mike! The door hit me there too!" He let go and grabbed the other arm and started to pull her deeper into the alley. She stopped again and he looked at her, "What?!"
She leaned towards him and said in a low, petulant voice, "Somebody's watchin'."
Arnie. He'd forgotten all about him. Mike looked over at him, "Get lost."
"But Mike! What about me?" Arnie whined. He was willing to wait his turn.
Mike's voice lowered dangerously, "I said, get lost." Arnie still stood there. Mike took a menacing step towards him. Arnie ran.
They went deeper into the alley, until Mike decided it was far enough. He backed her up against the wall, leaning in with his hands resting on either side of her. She smiled lazily and ran the back of her hand along his face, letting it drop onto his collar. Grabbing a handful of material, she started to pull him towards her. He was so caught up, he never felt her other hand snake onto the collar on the opposite side. Not until the hands suddenly twisted and pulled. As the collar constricted, there was a terrible pressure and buzzing in his ears. He had time for one wide-eyed look before he blacked out.
Mac followed him down as he collapsed, keeping pressure on the choke hold. She didn't want to kill him, neither did she want him recovering before she could get away. She had taken a chance with that move, not sure if her injured arm would allow her to grip firmly enough to apply the choke. Quickly Mac patted him down, checking pockets - she couldn't afford any surprises. Her eyebrows rose when she found the .32 automatic pistol, she'd been luckier than she thought. A minute later, Mac was hurrying down the alley with the pistol, a switchblade, fifty dollars of his cash and his shoes. Dumping the shoes in a trashcan, Mac disappeared into the pre-dawn darkness of Washington.
Farragut Square
Washington, DC
0840 Local
Mac sat on a bench and rested while keeping a surreptitious eye on her surroundings. To passersby, she was just another homeless person to avoid. She was thinking about her next move. Mac was still surprised to have made it this far. It hadn't been without incident, but she'd managed to turn it to her advantage. Now she had over $100 in cash and she was armed. She had debated about keeping the pistol. She didn't want it distracting her from the role she had chosen for herself. It was dangerous to think of being anything but prey. Mac slowly stood up, unobtrusively scanning the area, it was time to move again.
Undisclosed Location
0900 Local
"Goddammit, where is she?!" the man snapped, he had a low threshold for incompetence.
Hanley threw up his hands in exasperation, "They lost her a couple of blocks from the shelter. She just vanished."
"She was in a hospital two days ago! How fast could she have possibly moved?"
Hanley was becoming irritated in his turn, "If your Inspector Peterson hadn't stormed that shelter like Omaha Beach, we might have been able to grab her there. I told you that man would cause problems."
The man raised a placating hand, "All right, all right, this is getting us nowhere. Let's focus on the problem at hand. Do you know if anyone at JAG has found the missing evidence?"
Hanley paused for a moment and thought, "Not that I know of, and certainly not for lack of trying. Most of them were there all weekend, trying to figure it out. I tried to pump Gunny Walters about it, he told me to mind my own business. That probably doesn't mean anything, he wasn't in a good mood. Oh, and that CIA agent, Webb showed up."
"Webb is back? He could be trouble... we'll have to keep an eye on him."
"We're spreading ourselves thin already," Hanley protested. "How will I find MacKenzie if I have to keep pulling people off to go somewhere else?"
The man looked at Hanley thoughtfully, "You're right, MacKenzie is the key. Once we find her and recover the evidence, any rumors of our existence will be just that: rumors."
"You'll kill her afterwards? Or will it be another 'suicide'?" Hanley was curious.
"I haven't decided, yet. She's caused a tremendous amount of trouble. I'd like to repay her for that." The man was silent for a moment and then chuckled coldly, "She is a beautiful woman - I think, perhaps, we'll sell her."