Chapter XX - …For Meritorious Service

Mac's expression hardened as Sturgis, Nick and Bud were lead back to MP's HMMWV.

"Sergeant, let these men go now!"

The Sergeant and the ICDC soldier stopped in their tracks and turned back to face the carrier and the Marine lawyer.

"Ma'am with all due respect, these guys deliberately ran our roadblock-"

"Sergeant," said Harm adding his own voice of authority, "We know what these men did. The Colonel and I will take charge of them, now take the handcuffs off and let them go."

The Defense Corps trooper looked at the lady Marine and then back at the MP.

The Marine MP hissed as he shook his head.

"Turn'em loose, Anwar. Do as the Colonel and Commander say."

Reluctantly, the Iraqi soldier cut the plastic handcuffs from the three men. Nick and Bud rubbed their wrists, chafed by the tight temporary bracelets.

Bud looked up gratefully at her. "Thanks Colonel! I-"

Mac glared at the junior officer. "Lieutenant! You disobeyed the direct order of a military police officer!"

Rocked by the accusation, Bud fought to regain his footing. "Ma'am we-"

"No excuses Lieutenant," added Harm, admonishing the younger officer. "You, the Commander, and the Corpsman, get on board…now."

"This is the thanks we get for keeping you from getting killed?" Sturgis Turner knew what they were doing, but he had to play his part to make this work.

"You of all people should know better, Commander," Mac said icily. Sturgis dropped his eyes so he wouldn't have to meet her harsh glare. He moved over to join the other two silent would-be rescuers.

All three chastened men waited for the rear door ramp on the AAV-7A1 carrier to lower and then they climbed into the personnel compartment and seated themselves.

Mac looked sympathetically at the Sergeant and the Iraqi trooper. "I apologize for the rash behavior of my fellow officers. They were concerned about our safety, surely
you can understand that."

The MP Sergeant looked from the Colonel to the rear of AAV. "Yes Ma'am, I can, but-"

"We understand Sergeant," said Harm magnanimously, "You can't just have anyone charging onto a battlefield. Rest assured, they will be disciplined for their actions."

As the MPs and ICDC troopers headed back to their HMMWV's, Mac leaned over to Harm and whispered quietly to her partner. "Do you think they bought it?"

Harm tried to keep his smile from looking fake as he waved at the retreating military police officers. "We're not sticking around to find out," He turned to the AAV commander. "Can you get us back over to the convoy?"

"As long as they stay where they-" he stopped in mid-sentence when he noticed Mac's brown-eyed glare. "Uh, sorry Sir, we'll follow`em wherever they go."

xxxxxx

"Where'd the Sergeant go?!" griped one of the Privates about Colwell's disappearance as he and his partner finally got their Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) set up so they could return fire.

It hadn't been easy, but the insurgents flush with their recent victories and apparent invincibility, had gotten careless. They left open an unprotected avenue of approach. The seasoned Marines quickly took advantage of that. Private Blevins and his gunner began firing their SAW at the insurgents.

Within minutes, short controlled bursts from Blevin's SAW had silenced most of the machineguns. That's when the Corporal saw Captain Jac Lewis making his way forward from another fire team's position.

xxxxxx

The AAV rattled to a stop in next to the stopped convoy. As Mac and Harm started to get down from the amphibious carrier, the Lance Corporal held up his CVC helmet toward both of them.

"Ma'am, Sir, it's Captain Johnson. He'd like to speak with one of you." Harm and Mac exchanged a look, trying to decide who would talk with the MEU legal aide. Harm nodded toward her.

"You take the call; I'll go have a chat with Butler's driver." Mac nodded and took the helmet handed to her by the Lance Corporal. Harm walked over to the edge and began climbing down the side of the carrier. Taking off her helmet, she slipped on the CVC and pressed the talk button.

"This is Lieutenant Colonel MacKenzie…."

"MacKenzie?" Johnson's voice sounded tinny on helmet headset. "What are you doing inside Mirbullah?"

She understood his confusion. At last report, they were headed to Al Nasiriyah. "We were trying to get to Captain Butler before he was killed—he had information about the case."

"Butler's dead!? How? What happened?"

This was hard for him to fathom. Heck, it was hard for her to keep up with the twists and turns of this case. "He knew-"

"Knew? Knew what? Colonel you're not making any sense-"

Okay, maybe this would make sense to him. "He knew who the killer was."

Johnson's voice became demanding, "Did he tell you?"

Mac sighed heavily. "No, he was killed in the riots before we could learn who the murderer was. An RPG took out his tanker truck."

Exasperation crept into his tone. "Well that's just great; his death now makes it at least ten of ours killed today."

"The riots?"

"Yeah and an attack on the police station."

Mac felt a chill penetrate her all the way to the core of her body. "The police station?"

She was just there the other day. Despite her feelings of shock, she also breathed a sigh of relief. She and Harm had done the right thing in getting their clients moved from there.

"Colonel, that Iraqi tank commander you talked to a few days ago…he was among those killed…."

Mac could see Ahmad Jalloud's smiling face as she left his cell. Another senseless death, but she had to keep her mind on the current situation. "What about the crewmen that were with him?"

"Missing." said Johnson without missing a beat. "No trace of them. We're guessing they were dragged off and killed by the rioters that attacked the jail."

xxxxxx

Grearson and his adopted squad hugged the flattened tires of the truck as another RPG round hit its burning cab.

"They're trying to blast away our cover Corp!" said the Lance Corporal as he ducked to avoid another stray bullet. "Should we rush'em?!"

"That would be suicide." Seth turned to see Paul Colwell move up beside him. Both exchanged wry grins.

"What'll we do Sergeant?" said Grearson with false concern dripping from his voice. Colwell shot Seth a nasty look.

xxxxxx

"Cap'n!" Lewis recognized the voice and turned toward the man, "Am I glad to see you!"

Lewis grinned and nodded while motioning his troops over to the lost squad.

"How did you get here?" asked the Captain, as he moved close to the Corporal that Colwell had just abandoned.

"Got separated from our unit when we started chasing down the insurgents…." reported the Corporal somewhat embarrassed.

"We were waiting for a signal from the Sergeant when you showed up…."

Jac Lewis' eyes narrowed, "Your Sergeant?" Jac couldn't believe that Sergeant Jackson, the Corporal's squad leader, would leave his men like this.

"No Sir, a straggler like us," replied the man quickly.

I'll bet I know who that Sergeant is…. Jac grumbled to himself. Colwell!

At that moment, the Corporal's men announced the alley was clear and the two squads charged up the alley past the dead and dying insurgents, taking over their position. As soon they occupied it, the Marines began scanning the nearby buildings for snipers.

xxxxxx

"Come with me Corporal." said Sergeant Colwell like the cool professional that he was.

"Let's see if we can outflank'em."

"Aye, aye, Sergeant," replied Seth winking at him.

Paul grimaced as he turned to his newfound squad. "You men continue your suppressive fire! Don't give them a chance to get the upper hand."

"Aye, aye, Sergeant!" came back the reply.

xxxxxx

Mac thought she had finished and was about to get off the radiotelephone when Major Vince Barnett came on the line. "Colonel MacKenzie, you heard about Jalloud's death?"

"Captain Johnson told me." replied Mac stoically.

"Johnson told me about Captain Butler; I still can't believe it."

There was something in the way he said that sounded insincere to Mac, but she decided not to pursue that right now. "Neither can we, Major."

Barnett must have detected the Colonel's skeptical tone, because he quickly changed the subject.

"Colonel, you and Commander need to head over to the MEU detention facility as soon as you can. The rioters were reported heading that way."

xxxxxx

"What happened to him?" continued Lewis as soon as they were sure they were relatively safe.

He wanted to know if this Sergeant was who he thought it was.

"Dunno Cap'n, guess he got himself killed." So much for learning from the good Corporal who this guy was …But I'm betting it's Colwell.

Jac shook his head pretending to be sad at the senselessness of `the death'. "Why didn't he just outflank them?"

"I think he was trying to do that sir," replied one of the Privates, "Uh, He told us to wait here and he'd give us a signal."

xxxxxx

Tiner came up from the basement on the elevator. As soon as the door opened, he was almost knocked over by an obviously preoccupied Jennifer Coates as she pushed her way in. She was busy looking at the witness list given to her by Major Clemons.

"Jen?"

Jennifer Coates looked up into Jason Tiner's curious eyes and immediately felt the heat rush to her face.

"Oh, hello." She averted her eyes from his questioning gaze.

Jason realized he had made her self-conscious and that made him nervous as well. He looked away from her as the doors slid shut.

Realizing this was the floor he had wanted, he started toward the closed doors and then stopped, not sure what to do next.

"Didn't you want off?" asked Jennifer as a smirk threatened the corners of her lips.

Jason gave a self-effacing smile and a shrug.

She looked away from his face to keep from smiling at his discomfort. "So, you wanna come with me to file room?" She said with a boldness she didn't realize she had.

"I'd be happy to help if you need help," he said in typical Tiner fashion. He looked at her helplessly as she looked up into his face. He could see she was fighting hard not to laugh out loud. "You know what I mean," he said in a defeated tone.

Time to bolster this guy's ego. "Sure," she said brightly, "I need your help and I could use your help, too."

He rolled his eyes nodding. "That sounded pretty stupid, didn't it?" He waited for the humiliating confirmation.

"I've said worse," she said off-handedly. The doors to the elevator opened. Tiner said a silent prayer that Major Clemons was still upstairs.

"Come on, there is a pretty big Pendaflex® box that I'll need help with." Jason smiled; at least it would be a legitimate excuse. If it was the box he thought she was talking about, it would take the two of them to bring it back upstairs.

xxxxxx

As Colwell and Grearson began moving away from the group, Seth grabbed Paul's arm.

"Well?" he asked quietly, so that the others would not hear, "Did you take care of that gunship crew?"

Colwell sneered. "Those damn JAG lawyers had `em moved!" he growled.

"Well that's just peachy!" fumed Grearson, "You'd better hope the old man doesn't find out!"

Colwell shot him another dirty look. "Yeah, well at least that blabbermouth Iraqi tank commander won't be able to finger us."

Seth's eyes widened. "You killed him?"

Paul's smile bordered on sinister. "When we raided the police station-"

"SERGEANT, CORPORAL!" Both men turned to see a First Lieutenant motioning at them.

xxxxxx

Two Polish BRDM-2s slowly made their way down the street in Al Nasiriyah, pelted from either side of the street by rocks and bottles. The two IVECO diesel-engined scout cars slowly swung their conical turrets in a menacing arc toward either side of the street, trying to intimidate the restive crowd.

Inside BRDM #2732, the commander nervously looked over at his radioman.

"Well? Where is Colonel Baranova?" he demanded. The vehicle commander did not like this situation one bit. At any moment he expected the gunner to scream out that he saw an RPG round headed toward them. Without appliqué standoff armor, their vehicle stood little chance of surviving a direct hit if someone did fire a round at them.

"She is still south of town." reported the radioman. "The Colonel is helping the British recover from an attack by a suicide truck bomber."

"So we are on our own for the time being…." grunted the commander.

"It would appear so," replied the radioman shrugging his shoulders helplessly.

The commander sighed and looked over at the gunner. "Very well. Load blanks and fire over the heads of the protesters. If they respond with gunfire, we will return fire with live rounds."

The man began loading the blank round belts into the ammo tray and began feeding it into the machinegun. "Yes Sir."

xxxxxx

"Well, stick with Lieutenant Barnes," said Jac motioning to his second in command, "I'll go see if I can find the Sergeant's body."

"Aye, aye Cap'n!" replied the Corporal.

"Lieutenant!"

The junior officer quickly made his way over to the Captain. "Yes Sir?"

"I'm gonna look for their missing Sergeant – get everyone back to our perimeter. On the double, Lieutenant! Move it!"

"Aye, aye Sir!" He turned back to the two squads. "Come on Marines, let's move out!"

As they headed back to the 36th's front lines, Jac turned and followed the `hapless' Sergeant's trail. As he passed a dead sniper hanging out of a window, he reached up and yanked the man's SVD sniper rifle out of his hands. The dead sniper fell with a thud into the dirt. Jac Lewis quickly checked to make sure the rifle was still operational, and then chambered a round.

"Sergeant Colwell better be dead, or he's gonna wish he was." he muttered to himself as he pursued his quarry.

xxxxxx

Corporal Wilkins looked up to see Commander Harmon Rabb approaching. He remembered the man and two other legal officers were talking to Captain Butler before they left Al Nasiriyah. One of his buddies looked up at the parked carrier and the tall naval officer walking toward them.

"Were we supposed to get an armored escort?"

Wilkins looked at Commander Rabb and the idling carrier. "Not that I was aware of."

"Corporal Wilkins?"

The Corporal stood up. "Yes sir?"

"Commander Harmon Rabb, JAG Corps. Do you remember me talking with your Captain?"

Wilkins nodded. "Yes sir."

Harm could see the confusion and pain in Wilkins' eyes that comes from losing a fellow soldier in combat. "I'm sorry about your Captain…."

Wilkins looked down and then directly at the Commander. "He saved our lives Sir."

xxxxxx

The Lieutenant looked sternly at the two non-commissioned officers. "We've got to rally these troops, Sergeant. You take command of the squad over by that shop."

"Aye, aye, Lieutenant." Colwell said crisply.

The officer turned toward Corporal Grearson. "Follow me, Corporal…." Paul Colwell exchanged a look with Seth Grearson, who shrugged his shoulders and followed the
Lieutenant.

xxxxxx

The gunfire seemed particularly heavy to his right. Jac Lewis, keeping his SVD rifle low, ran in between some bullet riddled cars and saw what he had been searching for.

xxxxxx

Harm and Butler's man were sitting on the running board of one of the idling tanker trucks.

"Tell me what happened, Wilkins."

"The Captain was leading us through the town-"

"Why was he in the town?"

"It was the Corporal Grearson's fault, Sir."

"Corporal Grearson?" Harm remembered the man had been directing traffic just outside of Mirbullah. Could he have mislead Butler?

"Yes Sir, we ended up here, wandering around in the alleys. Then the Captain saw Sergeant Colwell, and he pointed us toward boulevard that leads out of town." He looked at Harm and said with sincerity. "Guess he didn't realize that the Fedayeen had set up an ambush for us on that road."

"Yeah," said Harm slowly. He realized they may have just found the real break they were looking for. Butler had been part of it, but these two – Grearson and Colwell – they
really knew what had happened and maybe they could tell them what part Colonel Livingston played in all this, if any at all.

"Harm!"

The Commander and Corporal turned to see Mac running toward them.

"Barnett says the rioters are headed for the MEU detention facility – we've got to get Lukens and Buell out of there now!"

"Uh, Corporal…." Harm was torn between learning more from the Corporal and protecting his clients.

"No problem, Sir, we'll be okay here."

"Come on Harm! Move your six!"

Harm reluctantly turned and trotted back to the revving AAV.

xxxxxx

While the Lieutenant scouted the enemy positions, Paul and Seth had a moment to themselves.

"What did you mean, you attacked the police station?"

"Al-Sahood's scouts had spotted Buell and Lukens and that Republican Guard tank commander being questioned by the JAG lawyers at the station. That's why we attacked it."

"So Jalloud's dead?"

"Yeah, he won't be bugging us-"

"Colwell!" snapped the First Lieutenant, "Get over here now!"

Giving a pained expression to Grearson, Paul Colwell headed over to the senior officer's position.

Corporal Seth Grearson settled down on the dirt embankment and pointed his rifle toward the insurgents' location.

xxxxxx

Jac observed Seth Grearson lying prone on a dirt embankment, his rifle pointing toward the rioters. He was lying next to the two Lance Corporals.

From the Captain's vantage point he could see that Seth was instructing the men to split their force and attack the insurgents from both sides. That would be perfect.

In all the fighting and confusion, no one would notice a sniper taking aim.

Lewis slipped into a two-story house and made his way to the second floor window, careful to avoid stray rounds buzzing through the room. He crept up to the windowsill and slid his rifle out over the balcony parapet. Carefully he sighted the rifle until the crosshairs were lined up on Grearson's helmet.

xxxxxx

Colwell and the Lieutenant were sitting in a ditch watching the Corporal as he ordered the men to fan out and begin their assault on the rioters. Paul saw Seth's head jerk upwards once and then fall into the dirt.

"SNIPERS!" yelled the First Lieutenant. What he didn't notice was Sergeant Colwell smiling.

xxxxxx

Jac Lewis slowly pulled the rifle back in the window and watched as the Marines scrambled to recover their lost initiative. Several were pointing towards Jac's window.

By the time they began firing at the sniper's suspected position, Captain Lewis was already headed back down the stairs. As he rounded a corner on the stairwell, he came face to face with one of the insurgents holding an SKS rifle. Jac brought up his gun and smacked the man across the face, causing him to tumble forward.

Captain Lewis easily caught the falling man.

"Easy does it there, son. You tripped." He kicked the dazed man's rifle out of the way and shoved his sniper rifle into his hands. "Careful, you almost dropped this."

xxxxxx

Two Marines barged their way through the open doorway of the house when they spotted Lewis shoving the injured man in front of him toward the two soldiers.

"I caught him after he shot Corporal Grearson," he said tossing the sniper rifle to the closer of the two Marines.

The soldiers began grinning. "Good going sir," said the closer one.

Jac Lewis wasn't in the mood for praise. "Where's Colwell?" he said brusquely.

"Over with the Lieutenant, sir," the second Marine replied, understanding the man's irritation.

"Come on, buster," Captain Lewis roughly shoved his prisoner ahead of him.

xxxxxx

The Lieutenant turned to see his Captain pushing a prisoner toward him. "Caught him just after he shot the Corporal," explained Jac.

He motioned to Sergeant Colwell. "Lieutenant, you're in charge; the Sergeant and I will take this prisoner back to headquarters."

The Lieutenant, just a few days out of Quantico's Basic School, saluted smartly. "Aye, aye, Captain."

Paul Colwell trained his rifle on the hapless Iraqi man as the two marched him in the general direction of the BLT Headquarters.

xxxxxx

Moving down alleyways and through gullies and makeshift trenches, Lewis and Colwell prodded their prisoner back toward the Marine base.

"Good idea Jac", said Colwell grinning and motioning to the prisoner, "Pinning the murder on this guy; they'll never believe that he didn't do it."

"Ties up things pretty neatly," said Jac coldly, not looking at the Sergeant.

"So Buddy," began Paul, talking as if the Iraqi didn't exist. "I'm not doing this for free; I take it we split Grearson's loot among us, right?"

"First things first," said Jac stopping and looking at the Sergeant for the first time since they began their trek back to the BLT, "Did you clean up the mess?"

Paul Colwell couldn't look the Captain in the eye. "Well," he began nervously, "we got rid of that Iraqi tank commander-"

"That's not what I asked you!" Lewis growled. He looked at the Sergeant the way someone looks at a stain on their best outfit. "I asked you if you cleaned up the mess!"

"Those JAGs moved Lukens and Buell," said Colwell, hastily trying to placate the man. "We attacked the police station just like you said to do, but they weren't there."

"So did you try and find them?"

"Sure we did," Paul was betting the man wouldn't figure out that he was lying. "But it didn't do any good. Those JAG officers hid them real good."

Jac nodded as if he understood. "Well I guess you did your best,"

"Damn straight," said Paul Colwell bluntly, "Now when do I get paid?"

"When we find Secord," Jac replied grimly.

xxxxxx

The MPs finished stacking the last of the sandbags in front of the entrance to the jail. At the dirt berm, the crew of FIREFLY ONE manned the M60 light machine gun. They swung the gun from left to right, watching for the approaching Iraqi rioters.

"Are you ready?" Lukens called out to the military policemen stacking sandbags.

"Are they coming?" asked one of the MPs, who left the group working in front of the jail and joined the two men.

"There are few guys over there." Buell pointed to the alleyway.

"They must be doing recon for the rest of them." replied the Cobra pilot. As he finished speaking, a Molotov cocktail sailed over his head and landed just on the outside of the sandbag wall, bursting into flame as the bottle shattered. The contents, gasoline mixed with dishwashing detergent, drizzled down the front of the bag trailing tongues of bright flame.

Lieutenant Buell did not wait for a second bottle. He sighted the general-purpose machine gun along the center of mass of the last man in the group. Releasing a short burst from the gun, the man stumbled and fell. Lukens pointed to the right. Buell fired again.

This time a man with lighted bottle in hand, grabbed his stomach, and sank to his knees. The bottle he was holding dropped out of his hands and rolled away from him. The
other two men, the remains of the assaulting team, faltered. They were not sure they could successfully finish their mission.

Their hesitancy sealed their fate; the MPs behind the sandbags sighted on the two men and fired. Both went down and did not get back up.

"Cease fire, cease fire, we stopped `em!" called out the head MP. Several of the men cheered, but it was short lived as machinegun fire raked both the berm and the sandbag wall, forcing everyone to take cover.

xxxxxx

"Cap'n!" Private First Class Adam Secord headed toward Paul Colwell and Jac Lewis.

He eyed the bedraggled man standing silently by them. "What'd he do?"

Sergeant Colwell snorted, "He killed Grearson. The Captain caught him as he was leaving the scene."

"You dirty Sonvab-" Secord launched himself at the Iraqi man, slamming him to the ground and raining blows on his face and head. The man cried out and held up his hands, an ineffective shield against the repeated blows.

Colwell looked at Lewis. The Captain motioned for him to put a stop to it. Hissing disgustedly, Colwell grabbed the Private roughly and tossed him over into the tall grass near the trench they were in.

"At ease, Secord! Put a cork in it!" barked the Sergeant.

Unbridled anger rippled through the young PFC's features. "But Sergeant! He killed-"

"I TOLD YOU PUT A CORK IN IT PRIVATE!" Bellowed Colwell. "NOW!"

Adam slowly picked himself up out of the grass, and stood looking sullenly at the Iraqi who was cowering next to the Captain.

"Easy kid," said Jac in a friendly voice, "The guy was just doing what he was ordered to do."

"Yeah Secord," added Colwell, "Look at it this way; fewer people to split the loot among. We all get bigger shares, understand?"

"Seth was a good friend," Adam fired back, "I can't see how you guys can be so cold."

"We can be, as you would say, `so cold' Adam," replied Jac, "Because Seth messed up, if he hadn't, he would still be alive."

"How'd he mess up?" Adam Secord did not realize just how dangerous the waters were that he had sailed into.

"He let Butler's driver see who he was," said Jac clinically. Paul nodded sagely.

"But he probably saw Colwell too," Adam injected. Paul froze as the words of betrayal left the PFC's lips.

Jac's voice grew detached as he stared at Sergeant Colwell. "You're know Adam, you're right."

Before Paul Colwell could say anything, Jac Lewis turned, pointed his rifle at the man, and fired point-blank. The impact of the single shot from the M-16A2 assault rifle sent the unfortunate Sergeant stumbling backwards. His face a mixture of surprise and pain, Paul Colwell looked up at Captain Lewis.

"Why?" was the only thing the Sergeant was able to say before he died. The Arab was down on his knees, his hands over his ears. He cried `Allah protect me' over and over again between sobs.

Jac turned to face a horrified Adam. "That's what happens to people who mess up, Adam."

xxxxxx

Lukens and Buell were returning fire toward the source of the insurgent assault, when a third set of machineguns, punctuated by a 40mm infantry support grenade launcher broke
the standoff. The lead MP looked up to see an AAV making its way down the street, chasing the scattering insurgents.

"Pour it on guys! He barked, "Looks like the white hats have arrived!"

The MPs, heartened by the timely arrival of reinforcements, concentrated their fire on the retreating rioters and gunmen.

As they abandoned their assault, one man got down on his knee and fired his RPG-7. The rocket propelled anti-tank grenade burrowed into a wall to the left of the amphibious carrier, as the gunner's aim was thrown off at the last second by the stuttering machine guns of the AAV. Unable to attach another rocket in time, the man threw down the useless stock of his weapon and joined the other fleeing Iraqi gunmen.

The AMTRAC continued to fire at the fleeing insurgents, as the MPs, Lukens, and Buell snapped off shots at the fleeing rioters. The lumbering carrier rolled to stop beside the command and control vehicles of the MEU and the squad of MPs.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" The head MP held up his hand to indicate the signal to stop firing. The commander's hatch on the carrier opened, revealing a Lance Corporal. The drop ramp on the carrier opened revealing the JAG Corps officers and a combat medic.

Nick quickly surveyed the damage. "Is anyone hurt?"

The head MP looked disgustedly at the lawyers de-bussing from the carrier. "No, and we don't want to sue anybody either! Who in blazes let them get into this free fire zone?!"

"We were trying to keep Captain Butler from being the real killer's next victim, Sergeant." replied Harm tersely as he holstered his pistol. "We were too late."

"Captain Butler's dead? And what do you mean by real killer?"

As the head MP tried to make sense of this latest twist in events, a lone RPG gunner sighted on the AMTRAC and the command/control vehicles of the MEU in the front courtyard. An MP Corporal standing near Harm spotted the man.

RPG GUNNER! TWO O'CLOCK!

The guns of the AAV swiveled toward the doomed man as he mouthed a misguided prayer to Allah for success, and fired the rocket.

Everyone dove for cover except for Nick Hazon who moved a fraction of a second too slow. His movements were lost as the rocket propelled grenade, thrown off course as the
gunner fired with his dying breath, drilled into the MEU's Air Defense Control HMMWV. The resulting explosion tore apart the Air Defense Forward Control vehicle and trailer, the Signal Intelligence Technical Control and Analysis Center Hum-vee and the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System JTIDS HMMWV.

In a matter of seconds, the 36th MEU's modern offensive and defensive support communications had been reduced to flaming junk.

Flying debris scythed into the still standing Corpsman.

"CORPSMAN!" screamed Mac.

Harm watched in horror as the badly wounded man staggered and then pitched face first into the dirt. Flames leaped from the shattered HMMWVs and threatened to engulf the
AAV-7A1.

The carrier growled to life and rattled forward of the debris area, careful not to run over the writhing Corpsman.

Harm was the first to reach him followed by Mac, Sturgis and Bud. The former Top Gun quickly assessed the grave injuries of Nick Hazon and did his best to stop the man's
bleeding. Without speaking, Mac worked in tandem with him to stanch the flow of Hazon's blood.

Determining it was best to stop the bleeding as quickly as possible, Harm nodded in silent agreement as Mac fashioned a makeshift tourniquet for Nick Hazon's missing leg. Bud helped her get the bandage wrapped as tightly as possible around the grievous wound.

Sturgis winced as he saw the young Lieutenant gently handle the bloody bandage. He knew that Bud, seeing this kind of injury in light of his own leg being severed by a mine blast in Afghanistan, was facing a frightening nightmare come true. The former submariner was proud of the way Bud Roberts put aside his own fear and horror to help the badly injured Corpsman.

Still, the lawyer knew that despite his friends' heroic efforts that Nick Hazon needed help quickly if he was going to live.

Sturgis bellowed to the MPs still hugging the dirt. "GET A CORPSMAN OVER HERE ASAP! WE GOT A MAN DOWN!"

JAG Headquarters

AJ Chegwidden looked at his wristwatch and laughed mirthlessly. The Commander may be a team player, but he'd still be late to his own funeral.

As the Admiral completed that thought, his phone buzzed. "Yes Coates?"

"Sir, it's Commander Rabb in Mirbullah."

A smirk formed on the man's lips as he thought about what kind of excuse the errant Commander would use on him this time. "Put him through."

The line clicked, followed by labored breathing. It sounded like a stereotypical heavy breather on the line. "Rabb!" he snapped, "Is that you?!"

"Sorry…Admiral," replied Harm, continuing to breathe hard, "Catching my breath…."

"From what Commander?" replied AJ smiling "From running and trying to get to the phone to make your report before 1600?"

"1600?" Harm sounded genuinely confused. "Admiral, I'm sorry Sir, with all that's been going on I forgot all about-"

"With all that's been going on Commander?" repeated AJ, his face darkening.

"Yes sir," replied the naval aviator/lawyer quickly, "Riots broke out in Al Nasiriyah and Mirbullah just about forty five minutes ago. There's also been another murder-" Admiral Chegwidden shot out of his chair.

AJ felt a chill run up his spine. "Commander, tell me you're joking."

But the man didn't have any words of comfort for the Judge Advocate General. "I wish I could Admiral." Harm sounded tired, possibly wounded? AJ's pulse quickened.

"Commander, are you all right? What about the rest of your team?"

"I'm okay sir, in fact, we're all okay." The Admiral breathed a sigh of relief at not having to tell Harriet Sims again that her husband had been injured on a battlefield.

"But we lost a potential eyewitness and another was gravely injured by an explosion."

AJ had not noticed, but Harriet had quietly made her way into the room. Her face was chalky white as she tightly gripped the papers in her hands. She listened intently and studied the Admiral's body language as he listened on the phone.

"How bad is it Commander?" he asked tonelessly. The small gasp that escaped Harriet made the Admiral whirl around to face her. His face was equal parts anger and anguish.

"Lieutenant!"

Harm looked at his cell phone "Sir?"

"I-I was bringing the morning docket reports," she stammered, her doe like eyes threatening to spill tears. "You didn't answer when I knocked, so Coates said it was all right-"

"He's all right, Lieutenant." said AJ, trying to reassure the IGO liaison.

Harm's voice sounded stricken. "Sir? Is that Harriet? Harriet? Bud's okay, hold on, I'll put him on…."

AJ ushered the pregnant woman over to the telephone at his desk, and helped her sit down.

"Bud?" she whispered, her voice thick with worry.

"Honey?" said Bud alarmed, "Are you all right? Is the baby-?"

"The baby is fine, sweetie," said Harriet quickly, reassuring her worried husband. Her tone grew concerned again. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine honey; it's been crazy over here-"

"Oh Bud," she began to cry. AJ looking alarmed moved toward her. She looked up at the Admiral and smiled. "He's okay Sir."

AJ stopped, not sure what to do next. But, as a superior officer, he had to say something.

"The Commander wouldn't let anything happen to your husband, Harriet."

She smiled, tears continuing to run down her cheeks "I know that Sir; I'm sorry, I'm such a blubbering mess."

"It's okay Harriet," said AJ gently, "Pregnant women are entitled, and especially those whose husbands are in combat zones."

"Thank God Sir." The pregnant woman suddenly realized what she had just said to the shocked Judge Advocate General. "Oh, Sorry Sir. I didn't mean it that way, really."

Not quite recovered, AJ tried to reassure the mortified Lieutenant. "It's quite all right Lieutenant, it's to be expected and is understandable given the circumstances."

He sounded as if he didn't quite believe that himself.

-TBC…