Author's Note: I will be trying to get my recalcitrant muse to cooperate with me on writing this story, but sometimes, my muse is less than cooperative and I practically have to beat it into submission: yes, I know. Muse abuse is not right... But it is soooooo satisfying.
Office of Naval Investigation, National Maritime Intelligence Center, Suitland, Maryland 1615hrs.
Animal wandered into the atrium at the ONI headquarters. Harm and Catherine in tow. Harm and Animal's military ID and visitor's badges accorded them the privileges of being able to access food services at the Office of Naval Investigation as well as being in the presence of a bonafide CIA lawyer with an authorized CIA employee badge. When they had managed to locate the ONI cafeteria, Animal's face had a distinct look of surprise seeing all the entrances to the various food proprietors in the cafeteria and having to decide which of them he was going to patronize. Catherine nixed any further confusion in the matter by promptly heading towards Burger King which Animal promptly followed. Harm threw up his hands in silent protest.
Harm tried to appease his rapidly increasing distaste of fast food by making sure that he found himself a vegetarian fast food location to eat at. It may not have been true vegetarian however it would suffice if the two carnivores with him: one to the side; the other to the right of him would stop making sounds that sounded like they were having an oral orgasm.
He looked over at Catherine and stated, "You know how many cows went into making that burger?" He thought for a moment how stupid that sounded considering the size difference between a burger and a cow.
"One..." Catherine replied; her eyes half-open in ecstasy as she savored the flavors of the burger in question. Harm rolled his eyes. He never really could understand how humans could eat an animal. It would be as if he took a dog, slaughtered it, and ate it. It was just that reprehensible. And the smell of cooked meat just turned his stomach.
"You sure you have enough ketchup on it?" He asked, his stomach curdling in revulsion. "The sliced pickles are swimming in a sea of red.".
"I like my burger that way..." Catherine pointed out. "Now eat your Brussels sprouts before they get cold.".
Animal snickered as he savored his own teriyaki burger along with a side of fries that made Harm's arteries constrict at the sheer horror of all that cholesterol.
"You know that stuff will kill you?" Harm remarked with a smug expression on his face, a bite of salad balance precariously on his plastic disposable fork.
"Yep...". Animal grinned back. "And if I wear a six foot scarf on an escalator too, I might die of asphyxiation as well…" he shot back just as his phone rang. "Just a second…" Animal said as he pulled out his Motorola RAZR V3… "Oh, hi?" All Harm heard was a muffled buzzing that sounded like speech. "Oh, hi…sweetheart." He said.
Cafeteria; Office of Naval Investigation, National Maritime Intelligence Center, Suitland, Maryland 1635hrs
Animal took the call and heard his wife on the other end. "Honey? Can you pick up some bread on the way home? Mikey got into some mud and I have to give him a bath."
"OK…" Animal raised his eyebrows as Harm and Catherine looked on in amusement at Animal's expression.
"Do I need to pick up some laundry soap as well?" He asked, sure that the answer was going to be yes. It was.
"Pick up some dryer sheets too." She ordered.
"Yes, dear." Animal returned. "I love you."
"Love you too…" Animal heard in his ear as he looked over at Harm and Catherine who were looking at each other with identical grins on their faces. "I'll see you at about eighteen hundred."
"Wife?" Catherine asked while Harm smirked at Animal.
"Yes. Ms. Gale." Animal grinned. "She just wanted me to pick up a few things from the supermarket. Evidently she is extremely busy at the moment."
"Does she know that you're in Maryland?" Catherine asked Animal.
Animal gave Catherine a wide grin, "Nary a clue…" lifting up his arm to look at his big aviator's watch, the Breitling Chronomat 41 that Maegyn O'Bannon-Nakamura had given him for their 10th Anniversary. "I'm sure my helo pilot has worn a six foot hole in the pad by now; I gotta head back to Norfolk." He grinned. "Good to see you again. Ms Gale." He got up, shook both of their hands, took his tray and headed off.
As Animal disappeared amongst the cluster of Navy uniforms, Catherine looked over at Harm. "He really is something." She commented wryly. "His personality is a force of nature." She commented to Harm who nodded quietly.
Harm replied after a long moment of silence. "He is..." Harm said simply. "So I'm going to presume you need a ride to Langley?" He asked Catherine who nodded affirmative.
"I'd really appreciate it..." Catherine looked at him from the corner of her eyes demurely; with a hint of cheeky merriment in them.
Harm gave it right back to her with a look of mock put-upon affront. "Oh...if I must..." and nudged her side. Her airy sniff of insulted pique made him laugh as they grinned at each other. "Shall we go?" He asked.
Catherine looked at him. "Yes, if only so that we can get to talking about my plan sooner."
Harm's car was in the underground parking for visiting officers at the Office of Naval Intelligence and only about a minute's walk after going through the doors of the elevator at the P1 level. Navigating the rows of cars, Harm was able to find his Lexus relatively well. Mentally remembering the location of his vehicle was a plus and his direction finding was able to problem-solve that situation very quickly.
Between the cafeteria and the walk to the car, her mood dipped a bit and Harm noticed. "What's wrong."
"I haven't been to see Mom in over a week. I've had to beg off with work, but in reality, I've just been hiding." Catherine replied.
"You haven't been feeling well?" Harm asked, noting that she threw up in the morning, "And after the morning sickness, you don't seem to have the energy to do much, with the exception of bathing and eating." He commented.
"Are you saying I'm lazy?" Catherine said imperiously raising her eyebrows; the hint of amusement in her eyes defusing her harsh question.
"No…" Harm said hastily…backpedalling. "Never. You're the most hardworking lawyer, I've ever seen…" He bit back a bit of laughter at Catherine's disbelieving stare.
"Oaf."
"How about we go see your mother before we go back to my place?" he asked, "Or…can you manage a visit?"
Catherine wanted to, but she wasn't up to being grilled nine ways from Sunday. "Tomorrow, then, Harm. I just want to get my car and head for home." She looked up at him expectantly…and Harm realized that she had meant home…his place was home to her. A wide grin split his features and he said, "Sure…OK…tomorrow then. Let's go home."
In a cave within the Takht-e-Sulaiman, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Pakistan 0130hrs (next day)
Mahmud Fahd gathered up seven other men within the cave system to sit down and brief them. They would be getting papers to work in the United States, in preparation for scouting out weak points within the American infrastructure. They would also work to get access to industrial equipment such as a cement truck and a cement factory to throw off suspicion. Obtaining Ammonium Nitrate/Fuel Oil was going to be a problem however, but the possibility of utilizing such to create a foundation for a new storage plant could potentially be a cover, Fahd thought. Khoroushi had a point. There was satisfaction in planning and waiting for the right moment. Unlike his brother, Mahmud Fahd was not a hot-head. He wanted to plan out his attacks well and with maximum devastation. If he seeded the ANFO with uranium dioxide pellets, he would essentially have planted a nuclear dirty bomb; one that wouldn't have blown up with blast effect such as a fission or fusion weapon, but would still essentially scatter radiation around the area in a manner that would have made clean-up impossible. But where to get uranium dioxide pellets that was not governed by local law. To potentially buy it in small amounts would make it unfeasible, but they probably would have to do it that particular way to keep authorities from finding out just how much was going to the farm. Perhaps various drop-boxes would be a way of keeping authorities in the dark.
The logistics of this operation were complex and there were many pitfalls. The planning could take months, years even...and through that timeframe things could change. Governments could change. Laws surrounding travel, import laws, real estate laws...firearms laws. Problems could crop up if laws were implemented that only US citizens could own US property or weapons. It would perhaps not stop an attack but could certainly hamper the operation to a point where they could not wreak maximum devastation on the US populace. Insh'Allah -As Allah wills, Mahmud said to himself.
The seven men sitting in front of Mahmud nodded to themselves. It was a suicide mission that could take years in the planning for it to succeed. The Americans knew that there would be fire and bloodshed in retribution for every life that was taken at their infidel hands. And Mahmud and his fellow compatriots, as revolutionaries, knew the price of failure.
Mahmud recognized that he would not be able to control every aspect of the planning process and his personality rebelled against that realization, however he forced himself to take a step back and allocate the tasks to his subordinates. A fresh mind would be able to look at the problem from a new angle and allow them to figure out a way of solving a problem that he, himself, would have been unable to see. New minds, new solutions, he thought. Mahmud had to problem-solve, he reflected. In this way, the Al Qaeda leader, Khoroushi had forced him to push his brother's death to the side in order to figure out the best possible way to strike back against the great Satan. He smiled to himself and shook his head. Khoroushi was smart. He knew that impetuousness would be ill-timed and forcing Mahmud to slow down and think out the process would cool his anger and forge that molten revenge into a cold-steel arrowhead aimed right at the Great Satan's heart. The awareness of this tactic forced Mahmud to confront his own weaknesses.
"A quarry purchase would eliminate a lot of suspicion with regards to large quantities of ammonium nitrate, Mahmud?" Youssef Haroun Ahmad commented. Youssef was a lanky young man with a beard who wore a traditional pakol cap with his Khet partug. "It would also deflect suspicion when we buy several large dump-trucks to contain the ammonium nitrate."
"How so, Youssef?"
"We will be able to do several controlled blasts at the quarry in order to determine how much ammonium nitrate we would need and if we are to operate a quarry, they would expect us to blast so that we can continue to provide cement to those infidels that require it. It is a cover." Youssef smiled widely.
"Very well, that appears to be quite useful." Mahmud said as he looked around the seated group of seven men. "What about you?" he asked yet another quiet one, Waqar Bahij El-Ghazzawy, who nodded as he sat in front of his computer.
"I can contact one of the members of yet other cell who is in a medical program in Boston, a Masood Toufik Kader, he can figure out a way to get us the radioactive material in a way that the NSA will not be suspicious."
Mahmud nodded as he looked over at the man. "And he will be able to get it for us in the time frame in which we need it for?"
"We will need to contact him after we are all in the States. First is the quarry." Youssef said to Mahmud. "The plan is to purchase a quarry and operate it for several months to allay suspicion; the time frame being when we acquire the trucks and the ammonium nitrate for several controlled explosions within the quarry so that we can calculate how big of an explosion we will need to spread destruction over a wide area of at least five blocks which is what we will need to irradiate our target."
Mahmud nodded. What they were saying made sense. They needed to have a reason for buying ammonium nitrate and conducting controlled blasts with the excuse that they were making more ingredients for the cement would be the perfect solution to the problem. What more of a solution could they come up with.
"I will leave you to the solving of the problem." Mahmud stated as he looked over at the men under his command. "Insh'Allah."
North of Union Station, Washington DC 1940hrs
After picking up food on the way home, Harm, with Catherine following in her own vehicle, drove into the alley beside the rather dilapidated ex-factory converted to apartment building that Harm called home. He thought wryly to himself that the gentrification process of converting the industrial section of that area had failed miserably and that this thing should have been first on the wrecking ball. Anyhow, he decided that the first thing that he was going to do was to find some other place to live. If Catherine was serious on planning a life with him, he would prefer to be living in what could be considered a child-friendly home.
The ride up the creaky freight elevator that served as the elevator for the building was not enjoyable or calming to the nerves as Harm would have preferred as the elevator let out a rasping creak that caused the elevator to vibrate. Catherine cringed visibly. That elevator either needed to be replaced. Between that or the building; Harm would have preferred the whole building to be replaced. But the likelihood of that happening...he'd give better odds to seeing a iceberg with penguin passengers floating along the Anacostia.
They both breathed a distinct sigh of relief upon exiting that rickety mode of vertical transport. Harm pulled out his key and opened the door, sighing in relief at the comfort of his own home, but he realized that he would have to start looking in the papers in the morning. Starting with a five bedroom home; due to the fact that he was certain that Catherine was going to want to expand their family at some point in their lifetime.
Catherine, having preceded him into his abode, had settled herself on the couch. Harm headed for the kitchen to put their take-out food on dishes; it ended up as 5 Guys. Catherine had gotten herself a couple of 5-Guys Bacon Cheeseburgers and Harm had picked up a Veggie Sandwich with lettuce, pickles and tomatoes. A single large plate accommodated both their meals which still remained in the wrappers. Catherine also having procured a 5 Guys Style Fries consumed her meal with a contented look on her face as Harm looked over at her devouring down the ground beef with a mild hint of disgust while he ate his veggie sandwich.
"You know…" Catherine said as she looked over at Harm, "…you are just going to have to get used to me being a carnivore."
"I know…" Harm answered her with a resigned look. "It's just that… I'm still too used to being a vegetarian and any scent of meat makes me want to throw up."
"Well, at least you haven't." Catherine returned rather unrepentantly as she started consuming her second burger and smacked the back of Harm's hand as he reached for a fresh-cut potato fry. "Mine!" she said smirking at Harm. "Should have got your own if you wanted fries." She proclaimed eyeing Harm's fingers with suspicion.
"So you were wanting to talk about something?" Harm inquired.
"After I finish eating." Catherine responded as she continued with her meal. When Catherine finished her final burger and her fries, she crumpled the wrapper and placed it on the plate that Harm had provided. She then looked up hesitantly and said "Harm with all the things that we went through over the past several months, we haven't really made the time to really talk about us; to talk about us, as a couple."
Harm nodded silently in agreement. If anything he had agreed to the "sham marriage" on a wing and a prayer hoping if anything that it would lead him to Mac. But that had blown up in his face. Catherine looked up at him expectantly.
"Yeah..." He said quietly. "That was a whirlwind marriage."
She sighed, "It wasn't the marriage I pictured. I didn't know if you were just humoring me or if you felt sorry for me because of Mom or...if you were using me to get to LCol. Mackenzie." There it was out in the open. "I don't want to be your rebound girl. Harmon Rabb.". Catherine declared. "I know that you wanted to put closure on your relationship with LCol. Mackenzie but are you done with her?. If you're mine; you're mine one hundred and ten percent and I'm not someone who likes to share!" Harm saw that her expression was a pugnacious frown.
"The chance for any sort of relationship with Mac is dead on the pyre of futility." He said definitively as he gauged her response. "I needed to find out for certain how serious she was. That's why I went down to Paraguay. I wanted to show her just how much I cared. And as it turned out, she didn't care much at all since after I rescued her, she lip-locked Webb. And I don't want to sit here wondering if she's going to yank the string to try to draw me back into her merry game. I'm tired of being a yo-yo for her amusement." Harm reiterated as he looked at Catherine, wondering what she would say.
"Well, she'd better not come around again to try to snare you into her web, because I'll defend what's mine." she said, her tone defiant. That possessive statement said, she continued. "Now that's out of the way, where do we go from here?" Catherine thought to herself, if he wants to. She still wasn't sure about the whole relationship thing but her fervent declaration spoke volumes to Harm who leaned in to take her hand in his.
"Where do you want to go?" Harm asked realizing that it wasn't a time to joke around. Catherine's eyes met his; a deer in the headlights look on her face telling him that she hadn't thought past her emotional declaration.
"I..." She stammered for a brief moment. "I really hadn't thought that far ahead. All I really wanted to know was where the both of us stood on our relationship."
Harm grinned as he reached out his other hand to her. "Then how about we find that out together?" He suggested. The look on Catherine's face rewarded him as her brilliant smile favored him.
"Have we reached an agreement?" She asked impishly.
"I think so. Lucky thing we're lawyers, huh?" Harm grinned. "So we moved in together." Catherine nodded slowly looking at her jacket, and suitcase. "What's next, I think, is that this apartment isn't big enough and I really don't think this apartment is in the right neighborhood to raise a family." He looked at Catherine to see if she agreed with his assessment.
Catherine looked around the place and said, "It's nice for a bachelor or maybe even a childless married couple, but you're right. A child and this apartment could get real small real quick."
"So would you agree that house-hunting is next on our priority list?"
"I think so..." was her agreement. "How practical..." She joked. "You were such a gentleman sleeping on the couch for three nights."
Harm looked at her wryly while rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "Yeah, I'm starting to get a permanent crick in my neck."
Catherine reached out her hands. "Well since we've established where we stand in our relationship...isn't it about time that we actually..." Her eyes locked with his, "started behaving like a couple..." She grasped his hands and brought them around her waist, feeling his hand interlock his fingers together then pull her towards him. "You gave me a taste of your kisses. I want the rest of you..." She said wrapping her arms around him.
"Are you sure?" Harm asked, his voice hoarse, his body reacting to Catherine's closeness.
"I'm sure" was Cath's definitive reply.
Animal and Maegyn's Home 511 Breckinridge Avenue, Norfolk, VA 2007hrs
Animal strode through the door putting his leather valise to the side and his briefcase by the entrance as he took off his black jacket with the two stars on either shoulder, hanging the jacket up and placing his officer's Bancroft in the hallway closet. The grocery bag of things he had laid down prior to putting down his briefcase.
"Daddy's home!" Animal heard Maegyn's voice tell Michael who squealed joyously. Animal braced himself for a tornado in the form of a little two year old impacting his legs. He smiled at his son who was wrapping his arms around his legs looking up at him and gazing up at him Leaning down, he picked up his son and lifted him up in his arms
"How's my big boy?" Animal grinned at him.
Mikey gazed at him gravely. "Daddy home?"
"Yup." Animal replied. "You need to start heading for bed, young man..." He aimed a teasing severe look at his son who just grinned at him. "I'm not kidding...You...need to head for bed!".
Maegyn was giving him an indulgent look as Animal carried his son and the bag of stuff that he'd gotten on his way home into the kitchen.
"Shall I put Mikey down for the night?" Animal asked his wife.
Maegyn shook her head and said. "You relax, hon..." She took Mikey and said "Bedtime, young man!. Daddy's tired and would like to eat and relax. You had dinner, now its time for bed!"
Mikey let out a howl of protest but like it or not, his mother was adamant that Mikey was going to bed. It took an hour but the wails of protest finally subsided enough that Maegyn was able to reappear in the kitchen. By that time Animal had dished himself up some food from the dinner Maegyn had made and was able to sit down and enjoy a meal.
"So what all happened today?". Maegyn asked.
"Got called in by ONI and that's all I can say...". Animal said briefly, raising fork to mouth to partake of the rest of the meal. Maegyn knew all too well that her husband was dealing with classified information and did not ask further about it.
Giving him a kiss on the cheek she murmured, "I missed you today..." Animal looked up at her, his eyes searching her face. She still missed flying but it had been her choice to go inactive reserve. Yet she was able to fly one weekend a month with the VFA-202 being current on the F/A-18C Hornet. Animal had been yanked out of fighters and had only recently been certified as a Hornet aviator due to his being COMNAVAIRLANT. But he rarely ever got a chance to go flying. She knew he didn't begrudge her that one weekend a month but she also knew it pained him to not be able to fly and even though her heart was in her throat over the last mission he'd had to fly, courtesy of the secret squirrel society, she knew that he had needed this to prove that he still had it within him.
"Did you?" he growled softly as he reached around to wrap his arm around Maegyn's waist. She leaned down to give him a tender kiss on the lips.
"I did…" Maegyn whispered in his ear. "You were gone a week to deal with that mess the secret squirrels wanted you to clean up…" …she ran her fingers lightly across his cheek. "It…left me…rather frustrated…" she purred. She looked down to see Animal looking up at her with a big smile on his face.
And…what happened after that left a big smile on hers.
Mac's Apartment, Georgetown, Washington DC 2200hrs
Mac sat on the couch in a darkened apartment, wondering just where her life had taken that left turn onto Damnation Alley. It felt good to be needed after feeling helpless in Paraguay. She felt that she needed to help Clay, to help him regain himself, but he was throwing himself deeper and deeper into alcoholism, in his last days. She felt like she owed him in a way, deflecting the terrorists' attentions from her, to take the torture himself. She didn't know what she could do to snap him out of it but before she could help him recover, circumstance had taken Clay away from her. She knew that she was playing with the hearts of two men, but if she couldn't have the one that she wanted. Then she'd go after the one that she could get. But now…Clay was dead.
She felt lost, alone and bitter. The man, whom she'd wanted, the man whose emotions she had toyed with, had woken up; he was no longer a slave to her whims. He'd found someone else, and as always, Sarah Mackenzie ended up alone with no-one to comfort her.
She shook her head silently. Everything that she had held together by way of tenuous strings was coming unravelled. Harm evidently wanted the female spook lawyer and not her. And that sanctimonious prig of an admiral had his own family. Harm was always there when her life had fallen apart in the past…
Who could she turn to now?