A/N- Previously on "28 Seconds"
2035 hours, 3 February 1999, Para-military compound, 35 miles east of Kosovo, Kosovo Province, Serbia. "All call signs check I" said Tali over the radio.
"Hitman, in position"
"Blue Star, ready"
"Ironman, ready to rock n' roll"
"All Callsigns, this is Movie Buff, let's roll" said Tony as he flicked the safety off his M-4.
A/N- The Following takes place during The JAG Episode: "Webb of Lies"- (Season 4, Episode 14)
2035 hours local time, 3 February 1999, Para-Military Compound, 35 miles east of Kosovo, Kosovo Province, Serbia. With Hitman on overwatch, Movie Buff, Blue Star and Ironman quickly approached the old barn in the middle of the compound. With his hand Tony signaled 3…2…1. On 1, Tony kicked the door in and the 3 men entered. They scanned the structure from top to bottom, no hostiles. "What the hell" said Chester.
"Freedom, this is Movie Buff, do you have us on sate link?" Tony asked.
"Copy that, Movie Buff, the Eye in the Sky have a visual, over" Tali replied.
"Are you sure this is the Serbs' compound, cause we have no contacts" said Tony.
"That's it Movie Buff, keep searching" she replied.
"Copy that" he said. The 3 men began their sweep of the area.
"Top, over here" yelled Mal. Rifle in hand, Tony hustled over to Malachi's location. He was outside, standing under a tree.
"No" Tony moaned. Hanging from the tree, were the bodies of the 3 NATO Officers. "Damn it" he yelled. "Mal, cut em down" Tony ordered.
"On it Top" he replied. Tony sat down against the side of the barn. He un-slung his rifle and laid it down next to him. He pressed the call button on his radio as he said "Freedom, this is Movie Buff, we were too late, 3 NATO Officer K.I.A, repeat, 3 NATO Officer K.I.A."
"Copy that Movie Buff, Major Morrell's extraction Force is en route, sit tight Movie Buff" she said. It took Morrell 25 minutes to drive up in his HUMVEE Column.
"Tony" he yelled as he jumped out of the passenger side of lead HUMVEE.
"Irv" Tony replied as the 2 men shook hands. Their brief talk was unceremoniously interrupted by the ringing of Tony's sate phone. Tony held up a finger, signaling for him to give her a minute and stepped away, pulling the sate phone from his pocket. "Go for Movie Buff" he said.
"Tony, it's Harm" said the voice.
"Jesus Christmas Harm,. I told you never to call me at this number" he told him.
"I know, I know, but it's really important" Harm said.
"Ok fine, but it better be" warned Tony.
"A freighter exploded in Baltimore Harbor" said Harm.
"So What? That's the Coast Guard and CGIS' problem" countered Tony.
"Clayton Webb was on board" Harm paused "He's dead" said Harm, his voice clearly distressed.
"What the hell was he doing on the freighter?" Tony asked. He had lost far to many friends over the years. Gary Gordon, Randy Shugart, John Hirsch, and Ron Cheale, and while RC hadn't been killed, he was still confined to a wheel chair. And now, he had lost Webb too.
"I don't have all the details, but he was meeting someone who had Intel on Former DSD Special Agent Clark Palmer" said Harm.
"I'm 24 hours out harm, meet me at the Harbor at 0630 in 2 days" said Tony as he hung up. In the past, he had never gotten the chance to avenge the deaths of his friends. Well now, he had the chance. He put the sat phone in his pocket. He turned back to Major Morrell. "Irv, I need a HUMVEE" he told him.
"No prob Tony. Take mine" said Morrell as he threw his arm over his shoulder. Then Tony turned to his men. "Blue Star, Ironman, load up in the lead HUMVEE, we're moving out" Tony ordered.
"What about me Top?" Hitman asked.
"Hitman, I want you to escort the bodies to The Medical Examiner in Kosovo, I need to know when they died" said Tony as he placed his hand on Billy's shoulder.
"Why?" Billy asked.
"Because, I need to know when they died. If they are dead more than a day, it means that the Serbs were setting a trap for us, if not, It means we were too late. I need to k now" Tony said.
"Understood Sir" said Billy as he slung his Karabiner over his shoulder. Tony nodded and walked to the HUMVEE. He jumped in the driver's seat and started the engine as Mal got in the passenger's seat and Chester in the back.
2305 hours local time, 3 February 1999, David Family Estate, Haifa, Israel. With her Father still seeking refuge in the concrete bunker below Mossad Headquarters, Mossad Officer Ziva David had the whole mansion to herself. No matter what she tried, she couldn't get that message out of her head.
Ziva-
At lo levad
-MB
Whoever this "Movie Buff" was, he had clearly saved her life. Yes, he hade clear motive to keep Colonel Fekesh quiet, but he could have taken a shot at him at anytime, but he had waited until she was no longer in the line of fire. And, as far she could tell, the same man who had saved her was the same man who had killed Simon Ben-Lev. But from what she could gather, he had been there to kill her father. The only reason he didn't get Eli was because I was in the way she thought. Because of her, he hadn't forsaken what ever he reason he had to kill her father, and then protected her from harm in Beirut. The next morning she was due to appear in her Father's office at Mossad Headquarters, in order to pass along the information she had obtained from Colonel Fekesh. But now she was conflicted, she felt a debt of gratitude towards this "Movie Buff". On 1 hand, this man had tried, not once, but twice to assassinate her father, and it was her duty as a Mossad Officer to stop it from happening again. But on the other hand, this man had also saved her life, not once but twice.
Ziva hadn't gotten any sleep that night, she had tossed and turned all night trying to decide what she would do.
0830 hours local time, 4 February 1999, Office of Mossad Deputy Director Eli David, Mossad Headquarters, Tel-Aviv, Israel. Ziva sat patiently in one of the chairs in front of her father's desk, waiting for her Father to give her permission to speak. Finally, after 10 minutes of silence, Eli David finally looked up at his daughter. "Speak" he said in a flat tone.
"The man we seek uses a AWP bolt-action sniper rifle, Full Metal Jacket rounds" she said, telling him information he already knew.
"We already know this Ziva, what do you take me for an idiot?" asked Eli as he stood up, reached across his desk and slapped Ziva across the face. "What did Fekesh tell you" Eli demanded.
"The man goes by the callsign "Movie Buff" that is all. He was shot 3 times by a sniper before he was able to tell me anything else" she said.
"Get out" said Eli, disgusted. Ziva felt a tear come to her eye. He didn't even care that a man standing right in front of her had been killed and that she could have been hit. She stormed out of the office and down the hall.
"Ziva, are you all right?" someone asked. Ziva quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to answer.
"Yes Liat, I am perfectly fine, thank you" she said. Not waiting for Officer Tuvia's response, she quickly left the building.
0600 hours local time, 4 February 1999, US Navy Mediterranean Headquarters, Naples, Italy. 2nd Lieutenant Billy Hazard waited patiently as the NATO medical examiner autopsied the 3 dead NATO Officer's bodies. He had been waiting all night, and he could stand it anymore. He stormed into the morgue and walked over to the doctor who was washing his hands. "Any news Doctor Mallard?" Billy asked the elder English doctor.
"Oh yes my dear boy" he replied in his jolly English accent.
"And?" Billy asked.
"The 3 men have been dead for days my dear boy, if that matters to you" Doctor Mallard replied as he walked away. Billy let out a huge sigh of relief and rang his hands through his Shaggy-like dirty blonde hair.
"Thank God" Billy said with a smile. He took of his sate phone and dialed. "Freedom this is Hitman, bodies long dead, repeat, Bodies long dead" he told her.
24 Hours later
0630 hours, 5 February 1999, Pier 6A, Baltimore Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland. Dressed in civvies and armed only with their sidearms, Tony, Chester and Malachi walked down the pier towards where Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. was waiting for them. "Holy shit" said Tony as he looked up at the wrecked cargo ship. it was clear that it had been blown sky high, and what remained was the burnt out hull of the ship.
"Big Boom" said Chester, which made Tony give him a look. Tony looked over at Harm.
"Jesus Christ Harm, how the hell did they ID Webb's body after all this?" Tony asked.
"Dental records" said Harm. "Think Clark Palmer is behind this?" he asked.
"Who else?" said Tony.
"Where do we start?" asked Mal.
"Harm, go talk to Mrs. Webb, Clay's mom, she's former NSA, she might have some info we can use. Chester, when Tals gets here, the 2 of you scour the ship with a fine tooth comb. Mal, come with me, we're gonna go through Webb's apartment" said Tony.
16 hours later
2230 hours, 5 February 1999, Harm's Apartment, North of Union Station, Washington D.C. "So Tony, how long did you know Webb?" Harm asked him as he tossed him a can of Budweiser.
"Since the 88' Summer Olympics, Clay was on the Modern Pentathlon Team, and I was on the Basketball team" said Tony as he opened the can. "What did you find out?" Tony asked.
"Nada. You?" Harm replied.
"Webb was investigating the remnants of The Bradenhurst Corporation and their connections to The DSD and The Mossad" said Tony.
"You know, when I was speaking with Mrs. Webb this morning, she got a call from a person with the strangest name" Harm said as he said down on the sofa.
"Ok" said Tony, in a very sarcastic tone of voice.
"E.B White" Harm said. Tony thought about that for a minute before he burst out laughing. "What?" Harm asked.
"Webb's alive" Tony said placing down his beer and grabbing his pullover red sweatshirt.
"What?" Harm asked.
"Just call it gut feeling" said Tony as he stormed out the door. As he entered the elevator, Tony pulled out his cell phone. He called Chester and Malachi and told them to meet him at the port.
2 hours later
0030 hours, 6 February 1999, Pier 6A, Baltimore Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland. Driving the white GMC Suburban he had commandeered from Andrews Air Force base when he landed, Tony parked at the edge of the pier and walked down to were the freighter was. He checked and made sure his 45. was in his holster. He drew it, pulled down the cocking hammer and boarded the ship. he made his way down to the lower decks and began his search. When he got to about midship, he heard a voice. "Drop it" said a familiar voice. Tony smiled.
"Calm the fuck down Webb" said Tony, turning around with his arms still raised.
"Jesus Christ Tony, I could have shot you" said Webb as he lowered his weapon. Tony lowered his arms.
"Nice digs, decorated in early Hiroshima" said Tony, making reference to the atomic bomb.
"How the fuck did you find me anyway?" Webb asked.
"Your Mom's name is Charlotte right?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?" Webb responded.
"When Harm was interviewing your Mother, she was interrupted by a call from E.B White, the author of Charlotte's Web" said Tony with a huge smile.
"No doubt the longest book you've ever read" mocked Webb.
"Cut the crap Webb, what the fuck is with the Houdini act?" Tony questioned.
"Trying to draw out Clark Palmer, I thought you might appreciate it" said Webb.
"Oh, I'm sure he does" said a voice from behind them.
"Fuck me" complained Tony as both he and Webb turned around. Standing there was Former Special Agent Clark Palmer of the now disbanded Defense Security Division. In his hand was a Tokarev TT-33 pistol.
"High ya Tony old buddy, how long has it been?" asked Palmer in his psychopathic voice.
"So tell me Clark, how many times did your Mom drop you on your head as an infant?" Tony asked. "I mean come on, tell us what it's like to survive an abortion" said Tony.
"Are you trying to piss me off" Palmer asked, straightening his shooting arm.
"That's the general idea yes" Tony replied, doing anything to stall for time. And it worked.
"Freeze Palmer!" yelled a voice. Palmer turned and saw both Chester and Malachi with their M9 pointed at him.
"I don't think so" said Palmer as he opened his other hand. A canister dropped from it. Tony thought it was a grenade at first, but then it he realized what it was.
"Flash bang" he said as he shielded his eyes. It went off, temporally blinding Webb, Chester and Malachi. When there vision finally restored, Palmer was no where to be found. "How the fuck does he keep doing that?" Tony asked rhetorically.
"The guy is like the wind" said Chester.
"Yeah, then why can't the wind just break his leg" said Tony.
2 days later
1330 hours, 8 February 1999, Unit Locker room, Unit Compound, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The men off Alpha Team, pulse the ladies were sitting around drinking beers. Bravo team was out training a new recruit, one Staff Sergeant Michael Weston, callsign "Shark Bait".
"Red Cap, that door locked?" Tony asked Bridget.
"Yeah" she replied.
"Top, we gonna frag Bell?" Billy asked which earned him a head slap from Tony.
"No, we are not gonna frag that chicken-shit desk jockey" Tony replied.
"Then what are we gonna do?" asked mal, who everyone knew was clearly in favor of slitting Bell's throat.
"What if Red Cap fills a sexual harassment complaint against him?" asked said Tali.
"Not enough" said Chester.
"Look, none of this matters unless we can find a replacement for him" said Tony.
"Any ideas?" Bridget asked the group.
A/N- Keep sending in your ideas guys, as to who y'all think should replace Colonel Bell.
Also, does anyone know where I got the line "Yeah, then why can't the wind just break his leg"?
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