Part Eighteen

Somewhere in Northern Mississippi
0122 Local

Singer stared at her open-mouthed. Mac continued inexorably, "You're a Naval officer, life is seldom fair and we're not dead yet. Deal with it." She closed her eyes for a moment, her head was pounding, the pain being echoed by her shoulder and her side. She decided she could cheerfully kill someone right now for a glass of water and a Volkswagen-sized Advil. Possibly even a cranky JAG lieutenant... Mac opened her eyes slowly, Singer had retreated back to her corner, the picture of sullen resentment. Oh well, the Lieutenant was in for a Rabb-sized attitude adjustment as soon as they made their escape.

"Mac?" Harm and Perez worked their way back to her. "How're you doing?" In the dim light, Harm wasn't sure if she was feeling better or worse. He'd bet money on worse, dehydration couldn't be helping.

"Fine," she was lying through her teeth and they both knew it. "Forty-two minutes, more or less, and we can get out of this chicken outfit."

"Yeah," Harm smiled, "Listen, why don't you rest a little? We promise not to party without you."

"Okay," Mac refrained from nodding her head, it would probably upset Harm when it fell off her shoulders.

"Great, let us give you a hand getting settled." As before, Harm held on to her while Perez rearranged the padding. He leaned her back carefully and watched as she closed her eyes. When he rested a hand lightly on her forehead, her eyelids flickered momentarily and then stayed firmly closed. He waited until she drifted off, her breathing regular and steady.

Harm shifted to a more comfortable position and saw Perez watching him. "Worse?" the captain asked quietly.

Harm shrugged in frustration and said softly, "She feels hot."

"It's hot in here," Perez pointed out.

"I guess," Harm lapsed into silence. The attempts on her life had scared him. The fact that these people wanted her alive scared him even more. He kept coming back to what Mac had told him about Charlie Jacobs - that the bastard had found a buyer for her. Surely, that couldn't be it. That had been months ago, Jacobs was dead and buried. Anyway, it didn't matter; he would get her out of this. Somehow.

*******

Tyler peered anxiously ahead into the darkness. He could just barely make out the taillights of the last truck. They hadn't heard anything from Captain Perez since he had contacted them about the gates. He'd been pretty terse, only saying 'Gate 6, pick up 4'. Bell said he was afraid of his transmission being overheard. For that reason, they hadn't tried to make contact themselves. He felt way out of his depth, he was pretty sure Tink did too. Neither one was really sure what to do in a situation like this.

First, there'd been the shocking message that the Colonel and the Lieutenant were on one of the trucks and that they had to follow. Then the call about the gates. Then... nothing. He and Tink had discussed it to death as they tried to maintain a discreet distance. Was the Colonel there involuntarily or had she managed to smuggle herself on board? Where were Commander Rabb and Captain Perez? Tyler had been thinking about calling the State Police. Bell had argued him out of it, pointing out that they didn't honestly know if any crimes had been committed ... and they didn't know where they were going.

Tyler blinked, where were the taillights? Oh damn! ... "Tink?"

"Yeah," came the bass rumble, "They must have turned... "

They slowed down a little, each scanning the sides of the road anxiously. Tyler's head whipped around to look behind him, "There!" Bell hit the brakes and then backed up quickly. They stopped and looked down a narrow country road, Tyler looked at Tink nervously, "They'll know we're following now."

Bell grunted thoughtfully and then turned off the headlights. Tyler stared at him, "This is nuts. We're gonna wind up in a ditch."

"I can get us out of a ditch," Bell said, starting down the road. "Just watch out for trees."

Tyler had thought it had been nerve-wracking before, but this was worse. Time and again, he was positive they had lost the trucks and then a taillight would appear ahead. Even as his night vision improved, there were places under the trees where it was still black as pitch. They had their windows rolled down, Bell was driving by ear as well as sight. They could hear when the tires left the asphalt, something that had kept them out of more than one ditch. The only good thing was that the trucks were going much slower too.

The car glided to a halt. Tyler looked over at Bell in surprise, "What are you doing?"

"Over to the left," Tink leaned back in his seat so Tyler could see past him. In the distance was the glow of electric lights. "They just came on a minute ago. I'll bet that's where the trucks are going."

"How far do you figure?"

Bell shrugged, in the dark, distances could be deceiving. "A mile maybe, more or less. I think we should go the rest of the way on foot." They got out of the car and Bell went around to the back and opened the trunk. He pulled out a couple of small backpacks, then opened a long case and grabbed two shotguns and a box of shells. He worked the action on both to make sure they were empty. Standing and thinking for a moment, he handed them to Tyler and reached back into the trunk. Pulling out a pair of slings, he took the shotguns back and attached them, then handed one to Tyler. Silently, they loaded the weapons. Bell looked over at Tyler, "Let's go." Shouldering their packs, they headed into the woods.

Vicinity of Bethel
Holly Springs Nat'l. Forest, MS
0235 Local

Harm adjusted his grip on his pistol and glanced over at Perez. The captain looked back and nodded. They were poised on either side of the tailgate. Mac and Singer were deeper in the truck, hopefully out of the line of fire. The truck had finally stopped a few minutes ago and backed into some sort of building. They could see light filtering in around the flap. They heard the cab doors slam and crouched lower behind the tailgate. A few minutes later, their pistols were pointed at the startled faces of the driver and his partner. Harm put his finger to his lips and then gestured them into the truck.

After a nervous look to the side, the two men clambered aboard. The driver's eyes widened when he saw Mac and Singer. Harm's own eyes widened when he heard the man whisper, "Thank god, ma'am. I was scared you were dead!" The driver looked at Harm and jerked a thumb at his partner, "Me and Ruffin didn't want no part of this, sir. Blackmarket's one thing but kidnap and murder? Uh-huh!" They turned when they heard Perez hiss a warning. He had been dividing his attention between the two men and keeping watch. The driver looked at Harm, "Let me handle this, sir. I can get rid of them." When Harm hesitated, he said, "Sir, you can always shoot me." The Commander gave an abrupt nod and the driver scrambled out of the truck.

They heard him greet the arrivals, "Billings, Morton. What do you boys want?"

"Hey Mario. Where's Ruffin?"

"Call of nature. What do you want, Billings?"

Billings' voice lowered, "We were just wondering about your... ahh... 'special' cargo."

"What about it?" Mario's tone was flat.

"Well, none of the bosses are here yet and we were thinkin'... Why not have a little fun while we can?"

"No."

"Oh c'mon, Mario. Look, you don't have to if you don't want to. Hell, you don't even have to be here. Just go take a stroll, we'll help you unload the rest of the stuff when we're done."

"No. Beat it."

"What? You want 'em all to yourself? Is that it, Mario?" Billings hissed angrily.

There was the sound of fist hitting flesh and then Mario's voice, low and menacing, "Come on Morton, I'll kick your ass too." There was a brief silence, then Mario's voice again, sounding disgusted, "You two haven't got any more brains than the bottom of my boot. Get the hell out of here before I get mad." A minute later, Mario climbed back into the truck, "You need to get out of here before those jackasses put two thoughts together and come back with reinforcements." He glanced at the two women, "Beg your pardon, ladies."

Harm smiled at him, "We're planning on it. Where the hell are we?"

"Just south of Bethel, Mississippi, sir. This is part of the National Forest." He rubbed the back of his neck, "There's militia runnin' around down here. Bunch of damn rednecks pretending to be soldiers and drinking beer; we're smack dab in the middle of their playground. Their leader's some nut who lives and breathes conspiracy theories - thinks 9/11 was done by the CIA with the government's blessing. Calls himself Rev. Trask and if there's a religious bone in his body, then I'm Jesus Christ. I don't know which is worse, them or the Klan." He sighed, "You better get a move on, sir. Once you're out of the building, head northeast and stay away from the locals... and the local cops. Hell, stay away from everybody - I think they're all part of it, one way or another."

"Okay, Mario. Just one more thing, would you have a spare shirt or jacket?" Mario gave him a puzzled look, Harm waved towards Mac. "Too much white showing for a night run."

Mario looked over at her, he could see the bandages. "Just a minute," he disappeared out of the truck. Harm heard a cab door open and shut and then Mario was back. He was holding a dark windbreaker, "Here." He looked at Harm, "Let Ruffin bring the forklift over, we can use it to cover you." They watched as he and his partner disappeared out of the truck. Harm walked over to Mac and knelt down to help her get the jacket on. She looked at him with a small grin, "Rabb luck." He smiled back and glanced over at Singer, "Ready?" He threw Mac's arm across his shoulders and stood her up, tightening his grip when her legs buckled. He heard her murmur softly, 'Lost my sea legs, give me a minute.' Gradually, she took on more of her own weight and then said 'Okay.' They moved over to the tailgate where Singer was waiting with Perez.

They heard the forklift and then Mario was there putting the tailgate down. "Get ready," was all he said and then, "Go." Singer and Perez went first. The captain made sure she was hidden and hurried back. He knew it would take both of them to get Mac off the truck without hurting her further. They waited once again for Mario's signal and then Harm was handing Mac down to Perez. The three stayed alongside the forklift as Ruffin backed away from the truck. They were almost to the pallets when Harm heard a quiet 'Hey'. He looked with surprise as Ruffin swung a small canvas bag to him. "Good luck," was all the man said as he sent the forklift back to the truck again. Harm took a quick look inside and stifled a laugh, there were half a dozen bottles of water and juice inside. "I'll be damned," Perez breathed softly with a grin. Gathering up Singer, they stealthily made their way to the small side door and disappeared into the night.