Chapter 28
Harm sat on the edge of the tub as he waited for the Admiral to pick up his phone. Water splattered against the shower curtain, the sound a constant hiss behind him. One week and six days, he thought. Less than two weeks left. I cannot wait to get off this ship. Come on, Admiral, pick up. Harm's thoughts ran in impatient circles. He'd hardly seen Mac during the last couple of days, and as much as avoiding each other was necessary to the case, it was also driving him crazy.
A familiar click told him Admiral Chegwidden had come on the line. "Commander." The Admiral's tone was brusque.
"Good morning, sir."
There was a short, ominous pause. "Commander, I have only one thing to say to you today."
After many years in Chegwidden's command, Harm had developed an instinctive sense for when to brace himself. "Sir?"
He heard the Admiral draw a deep breath and tipped the phone's earpiece away from his head in expectation.
"Just what in the name of all that's holy do you think you're doing out there, Mr. Rabb? Have you totally taken leave of your senses? This is quite possibly the most shameful display I have ever seen from an officer under my command, and that's saying a lot, considering your track record. Don't think I won't yank both your butts back to Washington for disciplinary action, if I find it necessary. Do I make myself clear, Commander?"
Harm winced at his superior's tone, but couldn't help a grin. Temptation Cruise II had aired an episode the night before. He could only guess what Steiner was doing with his and Mac's unhappy charade. The Admiral pretended he didn't care about the people serving under him, but they all knew better.
"Yes, sir. Perfectly, sir." Harm tried to keep the smile out of his voice, and failed miserably.
If possible, Chegwidden's voice grew sharper. "Something amuses you, Commander?"
Harm bit his lip to keep his chuckle from escaping. It wasn't often he got to embarrass his superior without serious repercussions. "Sir, you really shouldn't believe everything you see on t.v.," he said in his most reasonable tone.
Silence answered him. Harm imagined the Admiral collapsing into his chair as he processed the new information.
"Good grief, Commander."
Harm finally decided it was safe to laugh. "That about sums it up, sir. I take it we're doing a convincing job of sending our relationship into a fatal tailspin?"
"Convincing?" The Admiral's tone took on a sardonic note. "Next time, warn me, Rabb, and I won't volunteer to take over hosting duty for the JAG Temptation Cruise party. I nearly had a riot on my hands last night."
Harm grimaced. "Sorry about that, sir. I hope we didn't cause too much trouble."
Chegwidden snorted. "Well, other than Lieutenant Simms bawling all over my Parisian couch, I don't think there was any permanent harm done."
Harm was grateful he was on the phone and didn't have to face his commanding officer directly. Poor Harriet. "Will you tell the Lieutenant not to worry, sir? And Bud, as well."
The Admiral's tone turned thoughtful. "I can do that, Commander, though it won't help the rest of the world, if all of the disgusted callers I heard on the radio on my drive in are any indication."
Harm stared at the floor, trying to absorb the idea. "People call into radio stations about us?" It seemed ludicrous.
"Yes, and at the moment they all seem to be a bit… irate… with the two of you."
A thought struck Harm and he groaned involuntarily.
"Commander?"
Harm covered his eyes with one hand. "It's my mother, sir. I didn't even think--" He paused, shaking his head. How many years had she been after him about Mac? "She's going to kill me."
He heard a muffled noise that might have been laughter from Chegwidden. "I'll take care of it," he assured Harm.
Harm nodded in unconscious relief. "Thank you, sir."
The Admiral returned to the business at hand. "So what's your plan, Commander?"
Harm collected his thoughts. "Same as it has been, sir. Catch Ariel in the act. We realized about a week ago that the Antonys were the target of opportunity-- they were already having significant problems in their relationship, to the point that Mrs. Antony had made several overtures toward the two Naval reservists. If we want Ariel to go after Mac, we have to present him with a similarly easy-looking target." He paused. "Anything further on Steiner's involvement?"
Harm heard papers rustling across the Admiral's desk. "No, not yet. My gut tells me he knew, though whether that was before or after the fact remains a mystery."
"Are you leaning one way or the other, sir?"
He heard a small snort of amusement. "If I had to choose, I'd say he didn't know until afterward-- but has been playing the entire situation for his own benefit."
"All right, sir. Thank you."
"Carry on, Commander."
"Aye aye, sir."
Harm put the satellite phone back in its case and sat with his chin on his hands, thinking. It all came down to catching Ariel in the act, and knowing the camera system probably had some convenient faults made getting hard evidence somewhat risky. It was possible Ariel would use the same rooms as the last cruise, or that the technical staff would know which cameras were having problems if the rooms had been changed, but that would mean giving themselves away to George Laughton. They would have to have his help if they wanted to record Ariel making his move.
#
A.J. stared at his phone for some time after hanging up with Commander Rabb. The political ramifications of this case had grown far beyond the fact that two reservists were facing rape charges. Any moment now, he expected to get a call from the SECNAV, chewing him out for the Rabbs' behavior on national television. Because of the popularity of the show, Harm and Mac had suddenly become the number one source for the public's opinion of the Navy. A.J. found it ironic that, in doing their jobs, they might very well cause more damage to the Navy's reputation than had they never volunteered for the assignment.
However, A.J. was pretty sure he could fix the problem without compromising the investigation. The idea that had come to him while talking with Commander Rabb had its pitfalls-- namely, trusting Dan Steiner-- but was, in his opinion, well worth the risk.
He touched a button on his intercom. "Tiner! Get me Daniel Steiner on the line."
"Yes, sir," came the new lieutenant's response. A.J. drummed his fingers on the desk as he waited. Now that Tiner was through OCS, the lieutenant j.g. really deserved to be doing something more than playing secretary for an Admiral. A.J. was loath to let him go, however. Finding someone as easily cowed as Tiner would be difficult.
"Mr. Steiner on line two," Tiner told him a minute later.
"Thank you, Tiner." A.J. pushed the appropriate button and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his desk blotter. "Good day, Mr. Steiner," he said politely.
"Admiral, if you're calling to tell me to lighten up on your people, don't bother." Steiner sounded a little harried. "They're digging their own graves out there."
A.J. ignored the producer's rudeness with an effort of will. He arched one eyebrow. "Did your rating take a tumble?"
Steiner made a disgusted noise. "Nosedive is more like it." A.J. could almost hear him shaking his head. "Do you know how many people were-- and I stress the past tense there-- tuning in just to see those two win? I mean, they had the audience believing in fairytales-- happily ever after, and all that."
A.J. couldn't help but smile. Mac wasn't exactly a fairytale princess, nor Harm the typical Prince Charming, but there was definitely something magical between them.
"What if I told you the dissonance is entirely an act?" he asked.
From the abrupt silence on the other end, A.J. knew he'd captured the producer's full attention. He continued, "I talked with Commander Rabb this morning. It is his and Colonel Rabb's firm opinion that the division is necessary to draw Ariel--"
"Wait." Steiner cut him off. "You talked to Commander Rabb today? How did you do that?"
A.J. chuckled lightly. "This is the United States military, Mr. Steiner. We have our ways." He couldn't help but feel a little smug. "I was going to propose that you incorporate this new twist into your broadcasts. It would be good for your ratings as well as the Navy's PR."
A thoughtful silence filled the other end of the line. "Can you prove it?" Steiner finally asked, and A.J. knew he had him. "I mean, do I get anything besides your word--"
"I'll get you a tape of my conversation with the commander," A.J. assured him. Properly edited, of course. "It bounced off a satellite, so I'm sure the CIA has a copy of it somewhere." Considering Webb had a whole passel of agents-in-training running the thing as an op, it'd better.
"You say that like it's a good thing," Steiner muttered. Then, louder, "Get me the tape and I'll see what we can do on this end."
A.J. nodded in satisfaction. "I'll do that."
There was a pause. "Is there any chance we could get a live interview?"
A.J. chuckled. Greed would make sure the producer did what A.J. wanted him to, and the Navy would regain its prime time heroes.
As soon as he hung up with Steiner, A.J. pressed the button for Tiner. "Get me Clayton Webb," he told the lieutenant, then settled back in his chair. Now all he had to do was figure out how to break the news to his own people without creating an unprofessional uproar in the office.
#
Harm was getting thoroughly sick of Nikki Upton. He felt like he couldn't turn around anymore without seeing her. Right now was just another case in point. He'd gone to swim laps in the deck pool for no other reason than because one couldn't interact with other people while swimming and he wanted to be left alone for a while. But who did he find sitting at the end of his lane after only a few laps?
Carefully schooling his expression, Harm pulled up at the end of the lane, catching the edge of the pool with one hand and bracing his feet against the wall.
"What's up?" he asked casually, shading his eyes to look up at Nikki. She was dressed in a very scanty bikini-- the size of the bathing suits seemed to be diminishing as fast as their remaining time aboard the Radiant Heart.
Nikki shrugged and gave him what was, speaking impartially, a very fetching smile. Pretty as she was, though, Harm still found her presence annoying.
"A bunch of us are going dancing tonight at Polyesters. You interested?"
Harm tried not to wince at the mention of the ship's retro club. He hadn't much liked the 70's the first time through, let alone wanting to relive them.
"Uh… I don't know. Maybe." Could you show a little more enthusiasm, Rabb? I'm sure she's positively overwhelmed. He managed a smile. "Sorry. Too many late nights recently. I'm a little tired."
Nikki grinned at him. "Awwww." To his dismay, she pulled her feet out of the water, then lay down on her stomach at the edge of the pool, bracing herself on her elbows.
Harm bit back a sigh. Not that it wasn't a nice view… just not half as nice as Mac's would have been. Thinking of Mac sharpened his interest better than any display of Nikki's possibly could, and he suppressed a second sigh. Oh well. I'm supposed to be 'interested'.
Nikki had her feet up in the air, ankles crossed. She gave Harm a coquettish look, rotating one foot in lazy circles. "So, is there anything I can offer to entice you into coming with us tonight?"
Time to play the game, Harm thought. He'd been doing it so long it was almost second nature to grin back at her, the full-wattage ladykiller smile his father had left to him. "Why? Are you offering something?"
She leaned forward over the edge of the pool, smile widening. "Oh, I don't know…"
Harm didn't move-- either forward or back. "You'll have to do better than that," he chided her.
"Is that an invitation?" She slid forward until her lips hovered only a few inches from his. He could smell the combination of suntan lotion and chlorine emanating from her still-damp skin, and feel her breath on his mouth. He would have had to have been dead not to feel the impact of her closeness, but it was little more than an instinctive response. He already knew what a relationship with Nikki would be like-- he'd had too many of them in the past. Impersonal, mediocre, even in the physical aspects, and hollow.
Mac was everything to him this woman was not, and could never be. He kept his smile in place only with an effort of will.
"More like a challenge," Harm answered her, hating every word.
That clinched it, as he'd known it would. Smiling triumphantly, Nikki closed the distance between them, and Harm did not resist as her mouth descended on his.
