…For Meritorious Service, Chapter XIII

His single minded focus on the case, unnerved her. Her voice showed it. "Harm?" She was afraid it was all talk.

He grinned. "What is it Mac, you want me to profess my undying love and devotion for you right here and now?"

Her quizzical, cautious look melted into a smile. "Then we're okay?" She looked up at him through her dark eyelashes.

Harm smiled that brilliant smile that warmed her heart. "Hey Ninja-Girl, you know I could never stay mad at you for long-"

As the words left the Commander's mouth, Mac felt as if someone had dropped a brick on her chest. Hey Ninja-Girl, you know I could never stay mad at you for long...

The images from her nightmares came flooding back. She felt the blood drain away from her face.

Harm immediately noticed her change in skin tone and demeanor. "Mac? Mac!? What's wrong?!"

Harm's voice sounded as if it was coming from the other end of a long tube. A black frame surrounded Mac's vision. Dammit MacKenzie! Get ahold of yourself, Marine!

Whatever you do, don't faint!

Harm reported the obvious to her. "Mac! You're sweating!"

Mac took slow deep breaths as she bent over. Gradually, the tinny sound of Harm's voice returned to normal.

"Mac?" Harm gently helped her upright and walked her over to a stack of crates.

"I'll be okay Harm." She managed to get out. "I just need to sit down..."

Harm smiled wryly at her. "You already are."

"Oh yeah," She looked at him, embarrassment filling her features. "Thanks."

The two JAG Corps officers sat there with the Commander rubbing on the Colonel's arms and hands. For once, Mac didn't balk and Harm sat quietly with her.

0942 Local_0642 Zulu
Outpost Echo, Camp Chesty Puller
Near Mirbullah, Iraq

"His name is Leonard Krivstad, Private First Class. He was assigned to Infantry, my unit as a matter of fact. He joined us just after we got back from Afghanistan."

2nd Lieutenant Jim Hawkins shifted uneasily in his seat. "Where did you find him?"

Bud and Mac looked at the Lieutenant, trying to gauge if he was saddened and horrified by what had happened, or scared that he had been found out. "Commander Rabb found him in the salt marshes north of here. He had been strangled and dumped there."

"Len was as brave as they come, a little foolhardy at times-"

"Foolhardy Lieutenant?" repeated Bud.

"Sorry, he took unnecessary chances sometimes. I tried to get him to stop, but he always acted like he had something to prove... He mentioned in his last evaluation he wanted to move to Force Recon."

Mac thought about the description. Having something to prove or trying too hard to be one of the gang? That's another person we've run into that has ties to Force Recon.

"He was a good kid, Colonel." continued Hawkins. "Just a little green."

Mac made a notation on her pad to tie together just how many of these folks were connected in some way to Force Recon.

Bud looked down at his notes and made a notation, and then looked back at the Lieutenant. "Did he witness Lieutenant Dodge's death?"

Lieutenant Hawkins thought about that one. "No, No Lieutenant Roberts, he was in the back of the convoy that morning. He never even saw Buell and Lukens land the bird. Len was hunkered down trying to keep from getting his head shot off."

Mac hated asking this one, but it had to be done. "Do you think he stole Martin's clothes and the insignia from Livingston?"

Hawkins shook his head in earnest. "I haven't the foggiest Colonel, maybe he did, maybe he snapped under the pressure, I just don't know. It doesn't make any sense."

He sounds genuinely confused by Krivstad's actions. The question is, if he did it, why did he do it? Well, we're no closer to solving this mystery than we are to solving Dodge's murder...

Mac was about to ask another question when a Staff Sergeant stuck his head in tent they were sitting in. "Pardon the interruption, Ma'am, Sir."

"'Treasure', Sergeant Russell is ready to go over Private Francesco's fitness report, if you've got a moment."

Hawkins cut a glance toward Mac and Bud, "Excuse me, Colonel, Lieutenant, duty calls."

Mac couldn't help but smile. She hoped that her look was lecherous enough as she scanned the Lieutenant's body "'Treasure', Lieutenant Hawkins?" It was almost a coo, but not quite. But it had its desired effect.

The young Lieutenant blushed. "Uh, yes Ma'am. The boys nicknamed me for that kid in Treasure Island, you know, young Jim Hawkins..."

"Oh," said Mac nodded in understanding.

The Lieutenant smiled awkwardly at the pretty attorney. "We can talk more about this later if we need to Ma'am, Sir."

Bud answered for both of them. "That won't be necessary Lieutenant. Thank you."

Mac, for Hawkins' benefit, gave Bud a disgusted look.

Bud played his part. He looked sternly at the Colonel as if he had caught her misbehaving. "Ma'am we've got all the information that we need from him unless there is something I've overlooked."

Inwardly, the Lieutenant Colonel was impressed with Bud's acting ability.

Mac did her best to look embarrassed. She bit her lower lip and looked demurely at Hawkins. "Um, I guess not. Maybe we can get together another time, Lieutenant."

"Uh sure, yeah." He came to attention as she and Bud left the tent. Jim Hawkins wished he was off duty. He definitely wanted to know more about the life of female JAG officers.

As they walked out of the tent, she shot him another dirty look. Bud tried his best to look shocked. "Sorry Ma'am, did I do something wrong?" His sarcasm was not lost on those soldiers milling around Lieutenant Hawkins tent.

Mac sighed theatrically for their benefit. "No, Bud." She smiled tiredly at him. "If there's anything else we need to ask him we can do it later. I'm bored. Come on, let's get out of here."

1042 Local_0742 Zulu
Firebase Coventry
South of Mirbullah, Iraq

"So you and your friend here, you're like Red Caps I take it, Commander?"

Leftenant Prine sat in back of the Alvis personnel carrier with Harm and Sturgis. Prine was the artillery liaison from the 4th Armored Division, 5th Regiment Royal Horse Artillery (5 RHA) to the 36th MEU. He had been with unit when it assaulted Mirbullah.

"Red Caps?" Sturgis repeated. He and Harm exchanged curious looks. The artillery liaison smiled at their curiosity.

"Criminal Investigative Services," he explained, "My girlfriend works with them."

Harm smiled wryly thinking about Briggs' comments from the other night. "Yeah, I guess we are in a way..."

"Well then," he said nodding his head sagely. "I'll give you all the 'elp I can. What do you need to know?"

The preacher's son took over the questioning. "You told us you were with Captain Lewis' command unit. How close were you to Lieutenant Dodge when he was murdered?"

Prine didn't mince words. "Very. If I had been any closer I would have been the one dead, not him."

Harm and Sturgis exchanged surprised looks.

"What did you see, Leftenant?" pressed Harm.

"Well I'll tell you what I bloody well didn't see, those two blokes, Buell and Lukens, shootin' at Leftenant Dodge." Both naval officers were writing down his comments.

Harm realized they had stumbled across one of the few eyewitnesses that could help Lukens and Buell. "Leftenant, this is very important. Who did you see shooting at him?"

"Bloody well impossible to tell you Sir." Harm deflated a little bit upon hearing that. Prine sensed his disappointment and tried to explain how he couldn't he give them the answer they sought. "Seemed like everybody was shootin' at us. The Iraqis, Captain Lewis, some of the blokes from the tracks, a 'ell of a mess Sir."

Sturgis stopped writing as did Harm. They both stared intently at the man. "Captain Lewis? queried Sturgis, "Are you absolutely sure Leftenant?"

At this point Harm jumped back in. "But you're sure about Buell and Lukens-"

"Commander I've 'eard the stories, but I've been artillery liaison for the unit since this row broke out. Those 'elo pilots were not gunnin' for the Leftenant, I'd swear to it."

Sturgis looked at him intently, "Would you be willing to swear to it in a court of law?"

Prine folded his arms across his chest. "Yes Sir, if that's what it takes."

0640 Local_1040 Zulu
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia

Harriet had just arrived to begin her day. Luckily, the daycare center had other parents who needed to drop off their kids early. First she would see if Bud had emailed her overnight. The computer at home was acting funny again and without Bud there to fix it, she thought it was better to just leave it turned off.

After she finished with email, she'd make coffee. No doubt the Admiral had already made the first pot, but it was probably getting near empty by now. He had been spending a lot of time in the office lately both day and night. She hoped it wasn't putting a strain on his engagement with Meredith. Next, she'd call Commander Manetti and find out if she could come by. Then-

"Excuse me Lieutenant, but do you know where I can get a good strong cup of coffee around here?"

Harriet stood up smiling. "Commander Manetti, it's good to see you Ma'am!"

Lieutenant Commander Tracy Manetti broke into a wide smile. "It's good to see you too Lieutenant Sims. How is Lieutenant Roberts?"

"Doing well Ma'am." Her smile faltered a little. "Well, he was before he was sent to Iraq." Harriet immediately remembered that she was talking to the SecNav's ears. "Oh, I'm sorry Ma'am I didn't mean for that to come out the way it did."

Tracy was not the spy everyone thought she was. Inwardly, she winced at Harriet acting this way. "Don't be Lieutenant, if I had a husband over there, I'd be worried too. Have you heard from him lately?"

Harriet was still cautious with her words. "Sporadically. They're keeping them under pretty tight wraps."

"Well don't worry Lieutenant," she said soothingly, "They'll be home soon." Despite wanting to stay and talk more with Lieutenant Sims, who she really liked, Tracy Manetti knew she had to get this errand taken care of and report for her next assignment. "Now what is it that Admiral Chegwidden wants me to sign?"

Harriet fished into her 'in' basket for the newly printed report and handed it to the Commander. "It's a copy of Lieutenant Commander Lindsey's report, doctored to look like you wrote it. We need your signature and initials to make it 'official'"

Tracy began absently flipping through the report. Lindsey sure had an axe to grind, and it was all spelled out her. Luckily the SecNav hadn't trusted Theodore Lindsey after the first time that he failed his promotion board review. So Tracy was ordered to JAG Headquarters to find out if this report was really accurate. In a way, she felt dirty adding her name to such an odious document. "Secretary Sheffield explained this to me last night on my flight in, but I'm still a little bumfuzzled by the whole thing."

"You're not the only one Ma'am." admitted Harriet honestly. "Apparently this report is for anyone asking for background information on the JAG office and only for those units in Iraq requesting this information."

If nothing else, Tracy Manetti was a quick study on what Chegwidden was up to. "So the Admiral suspects there's some hanky panky going on in that MEU..."

Harriet nodded. "Yes Ma'am."

"Well, Admiral Chegwidden is usually right on the money, and that's good enough for me. She felt in her planner and realized she had forgotten to pick up any pens when she left the house. She knew if there weren't any in her planner, it would be fruitless and inefficient to rummage around in her purse - she knew there were none in there. That's what she gets, for getting up two hours before she normally did. "Uh, Can I borrow a pen?"

Harriet smiled at Tracy's honesty. "Sure. So are you working in the SecNav's office now?" The IGO's liaison couldn't help but ask this one.

"No, I'm headed out on a flight this morning to California. Something having to do with ships-" answered Tracy somewhat evasively as she finished signing her name to the last page of the report and handed it back to Lieutenant Sims.

Harriet held up her hand smiling. "I know better than to ask for more, Ma'am." She took the signed report that Tracy handed back to her. "Thanks again for doing this, we really appreciate it."

Tracy's smile was genuine. "No problem Lieutenant. Tell the Admiral I said hello." She started to gather her things and leave the bullpen when a gravelly voice stopped her.

"You can tell him yourself, Commander."

Tracy Manetti turned and burst into a big smile. "Admiral! Sir, I was just leaving."

She hastily explained.

AJ smiled warmly as he crossed his arms in front of his broad chest. "So I heard. The SecNav has you traveling to California?"

Tracy always did like the Admiral, after all they were fellow southerners. "Yes Sir,"

AJ nodded thoughtfully. "Well the Lieutenant is right, we know better than to ask you about what you're doing."

Tracy missed working for him. "Yes Sir. I signed the report as you requested."

AJ dipped his head as if slightly embarrassed. It was an unusual gesture coming from Admiral AJ Chegwidden. "Thank you Commander, I know it's a strange request-"

She softly cut him off, not wanting him to lose face in front of his staff. "Not at all Admiral, it's the least I can do." She meant it.

AJ looked her in the eye again, a half smile on his lips. "Well if you ever decide you had enough of being a troubleshooter-"

Again, she didn't want this to be drawn out. She knew that having her here at JAG Headquarters temporarily as a spy for the SecNav had to be unsettling for the former SEAL. She didn't want to add to that. "I know Sir. Thank you. I'd better get going." The Secretary wants me on that 0930 flight."

AJ understood her actions and respected her for it. In a way she reminded him of Mac. "Well, Good luck Commander." AJ shook her hand firmly.

"You too, Sir." She returned, matching his grip and smiling warmly at him. With that Commander Tracy Manetti turned and walked out of the JAG Headquarters bullpen to the open elevator. AJ and Harriet watched as the doors silently shut on Manetti's resolute face.

-TBC…