An Abandoned Warehouse Somewhere In Washington DC, 0900hrs
Meg's head throbbed as she was jerked roughly to her feet by a silver-haired skeletal-visaged man whose cold blue eyes showed not a whit of care for her discomfort. He held a cell phone in the other hand. "You have 48 hours to effect an exchange, the operatives for your Meg. If you do not, your Meg..." He spoke coldly into the phone as he savagely gripped Meg's shoulder eliciting a pained cry from her as he dug his fingers into her collarbone. "...will die!" He finished, jerking his head at a Russian man who stepped forward to restrain Meg.
"MEG!" Harm's agonized cry was loud enough to be heard emanating from the phone, the man held in his hand, as Meg's heart lurched inside at the pain in his voice.
"Forty eight hours, Commander, if you value the life of the one you care about." The silver-haired man said as he cut the connection. He turned to look at her with a fake smile meant to disarm her. "Now, Lieutenant Austin, what do we do with you?"
"Megan Austin, Rank: Lieutenant Junior Grade; Serial Number 926-24-1320/1100, May 26, 1969..." Was all Meg said in response.
"Very well, you will observe your Navy Officer's Code on what to do when captured, name, rank, serial number. So let us see what you will do if we take your phone and search..." The amiable expression on his face vanished as he stared at her menacingly, "...for those closest to you? Perhaps we can find out more about them, like who was calling you when you were being transported by Boris." The grip of the man holding her strengthened as the silver-haired man stepped forward, jammed his hand roughly down her pants pocket in spite of her struggles and pulled out her cellular phone. "So, just who was calling you. We know the Commander who was with you cares for your well-being. So who is this man...Tosh?" The silver-haired man smiled like a man who held many secrets as Meg remained silent, but the sudden tensing of her muscles gave away her response. "Ah, I thought as much." Meg silently fumed as the man stood in front of her with a satisfied grin. "So who is this man? A friend? A lover perhaps..."
A misting of her eyes gave that away too as the man in front of her smiled a cold, knowing grin. "So...you care about the commander, but this man Tosh is your lover. Perhaps...there is a lover's triangle?" He gripped her arm painfully. "So...what is your lover's last name?"
"Megan Austin, Rank: Lieutenant Junior Grade; Serial Number 926-24-1320/1100, May 26, 1969..." She stated resolving deep within her soul that never would she give out any information to this man who held her captive, even if it meant her life.
"Very well, I will find that out myself..." He nodded impatiently to the man who held her and Meg felt a sharp jab as darkness whirled in the corners of her vision yet again and oblivion claimed her.
Union Station, Washington DC, Tuesday 0930 hrs EST
"Commander, what the hell happened?" Harm looked up to see a worried RADM AJ Chegwidden whose nose wrinkled at the smell.
Harm replied in response to the grimace, "You can breathalyzer me, sir. I swear I haven't been drinking, though it smells like it: it seems they dumped a half bottle of vodka on my clothing." He paused and then stated,"The Russians have Meg. I need to talk to Webb and I also need to talk to Meg's boyfriend, Commander Nakamura. The guy who called me on this phone..." If the Russians had been smart they would have made him drink a third of the bottle too. Perhaps they wanted him to be lucid. Harm reached out a cellular to the admiral who took the phone in his hand. " he wants two Russian intelligence operatives in exchange for Meg alive..." He shuddered as he thought of the ramifications.
The admiral looked at him solemnly,"The CIA never exchanges any intelligence agents they've captured, not at any price..."
Harm's expression was agonized, "So Meg is as good as dead?!"
"I don't make the rules, Commander. Now let's get you back and cleaned up." As Harm got up his legs still seemed shaky, "They drugged you?" The admiral inquired. Harm nodded as he focused his mind on the task of putting one foot in front of the other to walk to the admiral's vehicle. "One other thing, Commander, I received word from NCIS that Commander Constantin's body has been positively identified in the wreckage of the armored vehicle that had been transporting him. But all the other bodies are missing. There's blood spatter everywhere and wreckage, but all the bodies are gone." Harm stared at the admiral in shock.
San Diego International Airport, San Diego, CA, Tuesday 0730hrs
Animal had tried several times to reach Meg and was starting to get worried. After receiving the latest "This is Beltway Cellular Service, the person you are trying to reach is away from the phone or temporarily unavailable. Please leave a callback number or leave a message at the tone..." then a beep letting him know that he could leave a message, he opted to try calling the JAG office; maybe she turned her cell phone off if she was in the office. The aircraft would be loading in fifteen minutes so opting to call the JAG office was the only thing to do.
Animal heard the click as the admiral's Legalman picked up the phone and spoke her customary message, "Judge Advocate General's office, Legalman Two Madison speaking." (AN: Tiner, if I'm correct did not come onto the show until after Season One. I believe he started in Season Two).
"LN2, this is Commander Toshio Nakamura, XO, VF-41 Black Aces, but calling in a unofficial capacity. Is Lieutenant JG Meg Austin in?"
"No, sir, I'm afraid she is not, sir." The LN2 stated.
"The admiral in?"
"No, sir, he was in but then he signed himself out and left in a hurry, sir..." The LN2 told him, "I'm not at liberty to say where he is..."
"No matter, LN2. If LT JG Austin comes back in, please let her know that I'll be in town and I will be arriving on a flight into Washington National at 1745 hrs, this afternoon." Animal stated as he wondered why Meg was not in. It was unusual to be assigned an out of town case that quickly coming off leave; at least that's what Harm had told him, but then again circumstances were subject to change. Such was the needs and whims of the Navy.
He signed off, as the call for boarding for his flight was announced. He was hoping that Meg would get his message and hopefully meet him at Washington National.
JAG HQ, Falls Church, VA, Tuesday, 1145 hrs
The admiral and Harm came through the door of the office; Harm having had a change of work khakis, and cologne to mask the smell of vodka still present on his skin. LN2 Madison stood up to let the admiral know there had been a message from Commander Nakamura. The admiral turned to Harm and said, "Evidently Commander Nakamura is on a flight to DC as we speak. He doesn't know the situation, nor is he aware of the fact that Lieutenant Austin has been kidnapped by the Russians." He ushered Harm through the door of his office and shut the door behind him. He turned to Harm as the door closed, awaiting Harm's response.
Harm groaned. If Animal found out his girlfriend was abducted by foreign nationals in DC, Animal would explode in a rage that would make the 50 MT nuclear bomb the Russians set off in 1959 look like a small firecracker and Harm wouldn't bet on long-odds of anybody surviving who was responsible for Meg's kidnapping. "Sir, maybe we should notify him of the fact that we need him to come directly to JAG HQ when his flight lands. But we need to have some answers for him or he will not be happy with us at all."
The admiral nodded and glowered,"We have to notify Webb of the developments with Lieutenant Austin's abduction and Constantin's elimination. We've lost an opportunity to ferret out just how extensive the Russian intelligence networks are in the US and how far they've got their tendrils in the US military." He muttered to Harm, "I'm going to call DDCIA and get Webb here ASAP. I want to know what his next move is going to be. You said the Russian contact didn't give a name."
"No, sir, he refused."
The admiral looked frustrated at being stymied by the Russian. "Well, I'll ferret out possible suspects from Webb when he gets his miserable hide over here. We had forty-eight hours." AJ said looking at the time. "It's 1200 hrs. So we have forty-five hours left to affect a rescue." He ran a hand across his scalp and muttered, "Damn, I hate deadlines..."
Harm growled,"and Webb had better show some cooperation or..." He left off the implied threat. "So how are we going to notify Commander Nakamura?"
Harm's face fell when AJ turned a tight smile at him,"Well, Rabb...I guess you are picking him up from Washington National." Evidently AJ wanted Harm to suffer badly for losing Meg.
An Abandoned Warehouse Somewhere In Washington DC, 1230hrs.
Meg's vision slowly came back as she regained consciousness. Her mouth felt like someone had shoved a giant wad of cotton in there. And her throat hurt like nobody's business. She was tied to a post and while she was unconscious someone had stripped her of everything but her underclothes. Several men leered at her while a firehouse was laying nearby making an ominous point that the man who abducted her had no civilized niceties in his aim to get more information out of her. Figures that they would get their jollies out of seeing her scantily clothed.
"Now, Lieutenant Austin, we shall start again? The man who is your lover; his name is Tosh. Who is he?"
"Megan Austin, Rank: Lieutenant Junior Grade; Serial Number 926-24-1320/1100, May 26, 1969..." She bit out, the words painful to her sore throat.
The skeletal-visaged man stared at her for a long moment. "Perhaps, you would talk better with a drink of water..." He nodded to a man with a wrench standing by the building's fire hydrant attachment. The man he nodded to turned the hydrant cap a half turn to start the water flowing. The man pointed to two of the other men who grasped the hose and turned the spray on her, instantly drenching her and battering her with the force of the water through the firehose nozzle. He nodded and the man shut off the water-flow. The cold water shower had been freezing and Meg's teeth started chattering. "Perhaps now you will feel more inclined to speak."
"W-What do you w-want?" Meg asked, in between her teeth chattering from feeling cold.
"I wish to know who Tosh is. What is he to you? His last name and what he does for a living...since he means something to you." The man looked at her half-smiling through cold eyes.
"He's my dentist, I'm having an affair with him. He's getting tired of his wife and wanted me as his lover." Meg just made up stuff to tell this man just so that he would stop pestering her about Tosh.
And at first he seemed as though he believed her. "Ah I can see why he would want to take you as a lover if he is getting tired of his wife. After all..." He looked at her with his scary looking half-smile as he stepped forward, looking at her half-naked form dressed only in bra and panties, "...you are a very beautiful woman..." He grasped then caressed her cheek, "Any man would desire to possess you." Meg's stomach churned and she stiffened in revulsion at his touch." He released her and walked back to his table, "but...Lieutenant Austin..." He said picking up a file from the table,"You are a pitiful liar..." He nodded his head to the man again, who turned the fire hydrant a full turn and the two men holding the firehose on her blasted her with water that seemed twice as cold as before and felt ten times as painful nearly half-drowning her and this time he didn't stop them from spraying her with the firehose as he read from the file, "As you can see, Lieutenant Austin, I have ways and means of getting information and what you have told me is an utter fabrication."
Meg couldn't reply to that because it took all the strength she had just to keep the water from going up her nose through her trachea into her lungs and drowning her.
"I have here your Tosh's file that we have compiled from intelligence records. He appears to be a hero. Commander Toshio Nakamura, a fighter pilot in your Navy, nominated for your Medal of Honor. He is being considered for command of a fighter squadron but is currently second in command of the VF-41 Black Aces; he has four kills to his credit over the skies of Iraq during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Southern Watch. A fittingly brave man to take as your lover, wouldn't you say, Lieutenant Austin?" The man smirked as Meg struggled in the spray of water from the firehose. "However, he is a little short, wouldn't you say? Five foot eight to your five foot eleven?"
Meg, by this time, was thoroughly drenched, cold and shivering as the spray continued and her soggy underthings made her feel even colder.
"I presume you have sufficiently drank enough water?" The man asked. "If not you can always have more." He looked at her struggling in the spray and nodded to the man who cut the water. He did not offer any towel or replacement clothes so Meg was forced to stand there, hands bound to the post, her bra and panties sodden to the point of near-transparency and shiver, surprisingly cold even in the middle of a Washington DC summer.
This time they didn't even bother drugging her to knock her out to free her from any thoughts, they just left her tied to the post. Evidently, the man intended to use her own vivid imagination as a torture device. But she opted to sink to the wet floor and try to close her eyes and rest if her cold body would allow her to.
JAG HQ, Falls Church, VA, Tuesday, 1435 hrs
"Glad you could join us, Mr. Webb..." AJ said, both arms crossed across his chest and a look of distaste on his face.
Webb didn't appear happy at all, "AJ, we lost a lot of potential information from the source."
AJ looked ominously at Webb."Frankly, Mr. Webb, I personally think Mr. Constantin is exactly where he should be: making his excuses to the Almighty in exchange for his immortal soul, so I couldn't give a damn. I have a missing JAG officer and the person who abducted her says he wants two Russian operatives we currently have in custody exchanged for her in forty-one and a half hours. Or she will die..."
"You know, I can't do that. Current regulations have dictated that the Department of State will not negotiate with kidnappers on behalf of-"
AJ's expression darkened,"Webb, if you don't start telling me what I want to hear in thirty seconds or less, I will do a brain-surgery via rectal entry courtesy of my foot up your ass." He moved towards Webb who involuntarily stepped back in fear. "Mr. Rabb will you tell Mr. Webb which two operatives he wanted in exchange for letting Lieutenant Austin go?"
"Sir, my memory may be a bit fuzzy from the drugs the Russians laced me with, but I believe their names were Dmitry Karpov and Alexei Burev." Harm replied.
Webb turned white. "Do you know who those two are?" He stammered.
AJ turned a disgusted look at Webb. "For all I know they're delivery boys from Ukrainian Borscht House." He said sarcastically. "Perhaps you'd like to enlighten us?"
"They're Russian sweepers. They're the guys that the SVR send to silence those they want to forget about. And they have no morals. They will kill anyone who gets in their way. And your contact..." Webb looked at Harm,"wants those two out on the street?" He snorted in disbelief, "I'd get an iceberg to melt in the middle of the Antarctic at the height of a winter blizzard than get permission from the CIA and NCIS to release those two..."
AJ growled, "Well you'd better start asking God for a miracle, because I want Lieutenant Austin freed. And I will not take no for an answer. Am I perfectly clear on that? Webb?"
"Yeah you made yourself perfectly clear, AJ" Webb replied disgustedly. I'll see what I can do."
"Remember forty one hours, Webb" AJ growled. "We need this done before time runs out. Be back here in six hours to show me what you got."
"I don't take orders from you, AJ". Webb replied as he turned to go out the door.
"It's not an order; Webb! It's a threat!" Webb looked sharply at AJ who just gave him a stony look.
When Webb left, Harm looked at AJ who had his arms still crossed. "Six hours? I'll have gotten Commander Nakamura here by then. He'll be in the meeting too."
"That's the idea, If the Commander shows up and is thoroughly pissed off at Webb, I'm sure he will make life hell for the Undersecretary of State." AJ said.
"He may break a few of Webb's bones for him, sir."
An Abandoned Warehouse Somewhere In Washington DC, 1635 hrs
This time, the bastard appeared with a Makarov in his hand and a smile that turned Meg's blood cold. "Time is ticking away, Lieutenant Austin, it appears that everyone has forgotten you."
"Not Tosh..." She made the effort to snarl through a sore throat.
The man chuckled, " Maybe even Tosh too..." His eyes looked her up and down. After all, when the cat is away, the mice will play..." He said prompting a memory of a red-headed, green-eyed therapist with the rank of Lieutenant Commander who had quite willingly shown her interest in Tosh, before Meg had physically claimed her territory and marked it quite willingly with her own body. But Tosh was faithful, wasn't he? The cold, being chilled to the bone from the inadvertent shower, the mental trauma being inflicted by her sadistic captor all combined to make her doubts run rampant. Would Harm even get her out? She gritted her teeth determined to continue resisting. She knew Tosh loved her; she saw it in his eyes. And she knew if he knew, he'd be doing every thing possible to try to get her out of this situation as well as making whoever was responsible sorry they even thought about abducting her. Did he even know she was missing. He'd called several times according to what the captor had said. But the calls went to voicemail. Did he think she had regrets? Was he now writing her off as reluctant to continue the relationship? Would he actually drop all his therapy just to come rescue her? Was she doomed to give her life while the rest of the country went on in ignorant bliss while she was tortured? Was death the only way out of this situation?
It almost appeared as though her sadistic captor could hear the thoughts running through her head and he raised the stakes with a sadistic smile as he put the barrel of his Makarov to her temple. "Thirty-nine hours but of course you could ask for the sweet release of death before-hand. I would be willing to grant you it, instead of the agony of waiting and knowing that you are going to die." He hissed.
Meg growled under her breath, "Go ahead, you bastard..."
The man gave her a cold smile... Meg flinched expecting a sharp blow, brief pain and blackness; nothingness. Her captor pressed the barrel into her temple...in painful anticipation...
...then pulled the trigger.