Part Nineteen
Vicinity of Bethel
Holly Springs Nat'l. Forest, MS
0305 Local
"Hold up," Harm said softly to Perez and Singer. They were in a thick copse of trees, as far as he could tell in the darkness. Heading northeast hadn't turned out to be simple. After clearing the building, it had been difficult to see much of anything. Neither he nor Perez had brought a compass, they hadn't been expecting a night march. To exacerbate the problem, it was a moonless, cloud-covered night. Their first priority had been to put some distance between them and the storage building. Harm and Perez had used the building as a focus point, leapfrogging each other in an attempt to at least keep a straight line. They couldn't afford to aimlessly circle in the dark. They'd been walking steadily for fifteen minutes, more or less, their pace set by what Mac could handle. Now, they all needed a break.
Perez and Singer dropped gratefully to the ground. Harm lowered himself and Mac a little more carefully down. He positioned himself to lean against a tree and have her lean against him. The twenty-plus hour day was telling on all of them. The stress alone was exhausting. He felt Mac settle back against him, her head up by his shoulder. She was still breathing heavily. He brought a hand up to her forehead while letting his cheek rest against the side of her head. "How're you doing?" he asked in a soft undertone.
Mac leaned into him a little more, not answering right away. He wondered if she was just trying to get her breath back or if she was trying to come up with a plausible lie to keep him from worrying. Finally, she said, "Right now, I'm good."
He smiled and then raised his voice a little, "Water break." He had decided to ration everyone except Mac, both he and Perez had agreed that she needed to replace as much fluid as possible. Singer had muttered about it under her breath before subsiding into silence. Perez crept over and sat down next to them. He handed each a bottle. Harm took a couple of swallows and handed his back. When he felt Mac do the same, he said, "Hey."
"What?"
"Drink more, you're the one who's been leaking."
"You sweet-talker. Mr. Perez will think I'm incontinent." Mac affected a southern accent.
Perez laughed silently and quietly attempted his own southern drawl, "Why Miz MacKenzie, only a Yankee cad would suspect you of leaking anything other than the very finest blood."
"If you two are through, " Harm commented dryly. 'Only Marines... ' He went on a little more seriously, "Ten more minutes and then we'd better get moving. I want to have some distance between us when they find out they're missing their 'cargo'.
They fell silent, resting and listening to the night sounds around them. The wind veered around bringing a new, fainter sound. Perez and Harm looked at each other. Mac, feeling Harm tense, opened her eyes, "What's wrong?"
"Listen."
She quieted in concentration. Her eyes widened, "They know we're gone."
Perez gave Harm a hand getting Mac to her feet, then slid a supporting shoulder under her arm. At Harm's look, he said softly, "My turn, Commander. You were beginning to look like a question mark."
Harm started to open his mouth when a look from Mac closed it again. Instead he looked over at Singer, "All set, Lieutenant?" When she nodded, he simply said, "Let's go."
Holly Springs Nat'l. Forest, MS
0305 Local
Tyler and Bell crept closer to the storage building. Both were comfortable in the woods, having hunted and played there from an early age: Tyler, in the woods of southwestern Kentucky and Bell in the forests of northern Minnesota. The problem they were having was that now that they had successfully followed the trucks to their destination, neither had the slightest idea of what to do next. Tyler put his mouth close to Bell's ear and whispered, "Now we call the State Police?"
Bell grunted softly, "And tell them what? We haven't seen anybody and I sure as hell don't know where we are exactly." The crunch of tire on gravel alerted them and they flattened even further into the tall grass. A car pulled in, its headlights sweeping their location as it made the turn to the building. Car doors slamming brought their heads up again. A tall, lean man in black got out of the driver's side. Tyler clutched Bell's arm when he saw the passenger get out, it was Captain Koslov.
"Holy Christ! That's Admiral Crowley's Chief of Staff! Tyler said in amazement as the two men headed into the building. "Now what're we going to do?" In his surprise, he had spoken in a normal tone. Bell's large hand engulfed the back of his head and pushed him facedown in the grass. Bell scanned the area anxiously in all directions before taking his hand away. Tyler came up spitting dirt and grass blades, Bell glared at him and hissed, "Are you trying to get killed?" Wiping at his face, Tyler grumbled under his breath, 'Apparently... '
Shouting inside the building, riveted their attention. They glanced at each other in alarm, unable to decide if they needed to run. The shouting seemed to intensify as more voices joined in. Suddenly, a stentorian bellow cut through the din, "SHUT UP AND FIND THEM!"
Bell and Tyler looked at each other. RUN! Raising up on all fours, they scuttled backwards as quickly as possible, ignoring the jabs of sharp-edged rocks and weeds. By unspoken agreement, they got to their feet at the same time and sprinted for the trees. Reaching the treeline, Tyler was surprised to find Bell close behind him. He had no idea the big man was that fast. Tyler himself excelled at the sprint. Being the youngest and smallest brother in a large family, his weapon of choice when dealing with bullying brothers was to run like hell.
Leaning against a tree while catching their breath, the two looked back at the building. A number of men came boiling out of the entryways, armed with flashlights. Bell was willing to bet that wasn't all they were armed with. He looked over at Tyler, "Back to the car." They headed out, moving as quickly and quietly as they dared. Two hundred yards or so from the road where they'd left the car, Tyler came to an abrupt halt. There was a line of flashlights approaching them. He turned to look behind. The first line of flashlights, a little further away, was closing in. He looked at Bell and they began moving parallel to the lights. It was a bizarre race. They had to get beyond the two lines. They couldn't go quickly for fear of making too much noise, if they didn't go quickly they weren't going to get out.
Finally, Bell put a hand on Tyler's shoulder, stopping him. At Tyler's wide-eyed look, he pointed up. The ensign looked up and then nodded. Bell laced his fingers together and bent down. Tyler stepped into his grip, resting his hands on the big man's shoulders. Bell braced himself and then heaved upwards, launching Tyler into the air where he caught a tree branch a good twelve feet off the ground. Securing his seat, he looked down to see Bell unslinging his shotgun. Then he slid off his backpack and fastened it to the weapon. That done, he handed both up. Locking his legs around the branch, Tyler leaned down and grabbed them. He watched while Bell pulled off his ID tags and emptied his pockets, burying everything at the base of the tree. Finished, he looked up at Tyler, waved and jogged off into the dark, no longer trying to stay quiet. Tyler listened to the crashing through the underbrush, the sudden increase in noise as the pursuers spotted their quarry and finally, the silence. He climbed further up into the tree and sat there for a long time.
Holly Springs Nat'l. Forest, MS
0420 Local
Perez watched the lightening streaks of sky as dawn approached and muttered an obscenity. Judging from the look on Rabb's face, he was having the same thoughts. The rising sun had finally given them a reference point and he was chagrined to find they had been traveling more west than north. Right now they were holed up in a little dell, not far from a gravel road. They had actually been on the road when the sound of engines sent them scrambling for cover. Two jeeps had gone by loaded with armed men. Harm had decided they were too tired to journey safely in the daylight and had retreated back to the dell.
They'd been there about ten minutes, long enough for the two women to collapse into sleep. Perez had volunteered for first watch. He glanced at the Commander sitting next to him and whispered, "If you're taking the next watch, you ought to get some rest, sir." Harm looked at him before nodding wordlessly. He turned and made his way back down into the dell. Perez watched him settle down next to the Colonel and then returned his attention to their surroundings. He thought about the odds of them getting out of this predicament and decided they still weren't very good. Mario had been right, they were smack dab in middle of a wacko militia's playground. At some point, they were bound to collide with these guys.
He took a quick look at the sleeping figures and then went back to scanning the area. The Colonel was holding up better than he would have thought possible. He put it down to sheer stubbornness. She and the Commander were well-matched in that regard. The one who really surprised him was Singer. While she was obviously fit, he was pretty sure she wasn't in shape for something like this. However, she kept on slogging, keeping up with the rest. He just wished her attitude would improve. Sullen and resentful were hard to take after a while.
He thought about his wife. Ellie would be worried by now. He'd been on overnight assignments before but he'd always let her know beforehand and he always managed to check in with her. Once again, he kicked himself for not taking his cell along. Both he and Rabb had decided they wouldn't need phones while they had the radios and had left them with Bell and Tyler. He wondered about those two. He'd told them to follow the trucks and he knew that's just what Corporal Bell would do, come hell or high water. Now he regretted it, those two were just kids really. Neither had been in a situation like this before and he had, in essence, dropped them right in the militia's lap. That brought him back to the case at hand. The missing supplies were definitely going to the militia - Mario obviously thought it was just a small-scale blackmarket scam. There had to be more to it than that. This kind of thing was too dangerous to risk on paperclips. Maybe they had figured out a way to scam the computer systems and divert weapons and money.
What he had trouble figuring out were the attempts on Colonel MacKenzie. It had all the earmarks of a vendetta; but why, after apparently trying to kill her, did they take the even greater risk of kidnapping? The two JAG officers thought there were two separate groups: the Acme Assassination Gang (Perez shook his head over the name) and someone else. Rabb thought remnants of 'Archangel' were somehow involved and the Colonel didn't. He was siding with Rabb on that. Even though the official 'Archangel' investigation was still going on, they had pretty much hit a dead end. They'd snatched up the slow and the stupid in those first hectic days, the rest had vanished back into the woodwork. He wondered if the militia group was somehow tied in with 'Archangel'.
Perez tensed when he heard the sound of engines again. He crouched lower as they came into view. Two jeeps stopped about 150 yards from where they were hiding and six men got out. As they fanned out, he backed carefully down the slope. He figured he had about ten minutes and he quietly woke the rest of the group. Signing to them that they had company coming, he gestured for them to stay put and quickly began covering them with leaves and debris. Dragging over a large branch completed his camouflage and he hurriedly smoothed out signs of its passage as he retreated deeper into the trees. In the dim light, he was counting on his dark clothing to keep him concealed among the underbrush. He pulled out his pistol and waited.
Several long minutes later, two figures appeared at the lip. He was hoping they didn't have the military discipline that would make them search the dell thoroughly in spite of the brambles and he was praying they weren't woodsmen enough to recognize that the ground had been disturbed recently. He resisted the urge to collapse in relief when the two men split up and began walking in opposite directions around the edge of the dell. Apparently, they had decided a visual sweep would be enough. Still, it wouldn't do to relax his vigilance until they were well and truly gone. After what seemed to be an eternity, there was the sound of engines starting up and driving off. Just to be sure, he waited another five minutes and then took a circuitous route out of the dell to recon the area.
After satisfying himself that they had gone, he hurried back to the dell and down the slope. "Commander? Colonel?" he called quietly. Rabb rose up out of the leaves first, weapon in hand and then the Colonel and the Lieutenant. "All clear, sir, ma'am." All of them visibly relaxed.
"I guess we'll be safe here for a while, now that this area has been searched," Harm said thoughtfully. He looked over at Mac and Singer, "Why don't you two see if you can sleep a little more?" He was half expecting an argument from Mac but she merely nodded and lay down again. He exchanged worried looks with Perez and then said, "Captain? I believe it's my watch."
Vicinity of Bethel
Holly Springs Nat'l. Forest, MS
0640 Local
The sun shining on Tyler's face finally caused his eyes to snap open. He froze for a moment before remembering where he was. Carefully, he sat up. He had woven a sling seat between two branches with rope from his backpack. It was something he hadn't done since he was a kid; when sleeping in a tree was done for the novelty. Climbing down a little, he checked out the area. Nothing. Returning to his perch, he sat and considered his situation. He decided that the knot in his stomach was because he was hungry - officers, good officers didn't get scared. He wondered what had happened to Tink and then tried not to think about it. He was alone in hostile territory and he didn't know what to do.
Finally, he reached for his backpack. He thought there were some foodbars of some sort in there. His hand came in contact with a small, plastic object and he pulled it out to look. It was Commander Rabb's cellphone. He'd thrown it in the pack last night because he was afraid it would fall out of his pocket while he slept. He stared at it for a long moment and then opened it up. Trying the speed-dial, he hit 1. Several rings later, he heard, 'This is Sarah MacKenzie... ' Hanging up, he tried 2. On the second ring, there was a click and he heard, 'Judge Advocate General. Petty Officer Tiner speaking.' Tyler stared at the phone in amazement until he heard, '... Hello?'
Hurriedly, he put the phone to his ear and said, "Hello? Ummm... I need to speak to Admiral... Admiral... " Oh god, he couldn't remember the name of the Judge Advocate General!
"Chegwidden?" supplied Tiner.
"Yes! Admiral Chegwidden!"
"May I ask who's calling?"
"This is Ensign Tyler with the Memphis JAG. I'm working with Colonel MacKenzie."
"One moment."
There was a pause and then a voice said, "Chegwidden."
Vicinity of Bethel
Holly Springs Nat'l. Forest, MS
0305 Local
"Hold up," Harm said softly to Perez and Singer. They were in a thick copse of trees, as far as he could tell in the darkness. Heading northeast hadn't turned out to be simple. After clearing the building, it had been difficult to see much of anything. Neither he nor Perez had brought a compass, they hadn't been expecting a night march. To exacerbate the problem, it was a moonless, cloud-covered night. Their first priority had been to put some distance between them and the storage building. Harm and Perez had used the building as a focus point, leapfrogging each other in an attempt to at least keep a straight line. They couldn't afford to aimlessly circle in the dark. They'd been walking steadily for fifteen minutes, more or less, their pace set by what Mac could handle. Now, they all needed a break.
Perez and Singer dropped gratefully to the ground. Harm lowered himself and Mac a little more carefully down. He positioned himself to lean against a tree and have her lean against him. The twenty-plus hour day was telling on all of them. The stress alone was exhausting. He felt Mac settle back against him, her head up by his shoulder. She was still breathing heavily. He brought a hand up to her forehead while letting his cheek rest against the side of her head. "How're you doing?" he asked in a soft undertone.
Mac leaned into him a little more, not answering right away. He wondered if she was just trying to get her breath back or if she was trying to come up with a plausible lie to keep him from worrying. Finally, she said, "Right now, I'm good."
He smiled and then raised his voice a little, "Water break." He had decided to ration everyone except Mac, both he and Perez had agreed that she needed to replace as much fluid as possible. Singer had muttered about it under her breath before subsiding into silence. Perez crept over and sat down next to them. He handed each a bottle. Harm took a couple of swallows and handed his back. When he felt Mac do the same, he said, "Hey."
"What?"
"Drink more, you're the one who's been leaking."
"You sweet-talker. Mr. Perez will think I'm incontinent." Mac affected a southern accent.
Perez laughed silently and quietly attempted his own southern drawl, "Why Miz MacKenzie, only a Yankee cad would suspect you of leaking anything other than the very finest blood."
"If you two are through, " Harm commented dryly. 'Only Marines... ' He went on a little more seriously, "Ten more minutes and then we'd better get moving. I want to have some distance between us when they find out they're missing their 'cargo'.
They fell silent, resting and listening to the night sounds around them. The wind veered around bringing a new, fainter sound. Perez and Harm looked at each other. Mac, feeling Harm tense, opened her eyes, "What's wrong?"
"Listen."
She quieted in concentration. Her eyes widened, "They know we're gone."
Perez gave Harm a hand getting Mac to her feet, then slid a supporting shoulder under her arm. At Harm's look, he said softly, "My turn, Commander. You were beginning to look like a question mark."
Harm started to open his mouth when a look from Mac closed it again. Instead he looked over at Singer, "All set, Lieutenant?" When she nodded, he simply said, "Let's go."
Holly Springs Nat'l. Forest, MS
0305 Local
Tyler and Bell crept closer to the storage building. Both were comfortable in the woods, having hunted and played there from an early age: Tyler, in the woods of southwestern Kentucky and Bell in the forests of northern Minnesota. The problem they were having was that now that they had successfully followed the trucks to their destination, neither had the slightest idea of what to do next. Tyler put his mouth close to Bell's ear and whispered, "Now we call the State Police?"
Bell grunted softly, "And tell them what? We haven't seen anybody and I sure as hell don't know where we are exactly." The crunch of tire on gravel alerted them and they flattened even further into the tall grass. A car pulled in, its headlights sweeping their location as it made the turn to the building. Car doors slamming brought their heads up again. A tall, lean man in black got out of the driver's side. Tyler clutched Bell's arm when he saw the passenger get out, it was Captain Koslov.
"Holy Christ! That's Admiral Crowley's Chief of Staff! Tyler said in amazement as the two men headed into the building. "Now what're we going to do?" In his surprise, he had spoken in a normal tone. Bell's large hand engulfed the back of his head and pushed him facedown in the grass. Bell scanned the area anxiously in all directions before taking his hand away. Tyler came up spitting dirt and grass blades, Bell glared at him and hissed, "Are you trying to get killed?" Wiping at his face, Tyler grumbled under his breath, 'Apparently... '
Shouting inside the building, riveted their attention. They glanced at each other in alarm, unable to decide if they needed to run. The shouting seemed to intensify as more voices joined in. Suddenly, a stentorian bellow cut through the din, "SHUT UP AND FIND THEM!"
Bell and Tyler looked at each other. RUN! Raising up on all fours, they scuttled backwards as quickly as possible, ignoring the jabs of sharp-edged rocks and weeds. By unspoken agreement, they got to their feet at the same time and sprinted for the trees. Reaching the treeline, Tyler was surprised to find Bell close behind him. He had no idea the big man was that fast. Tyler himself excelled at the sprint. Being the youngest and smallest brother in a large family, his weapon of choice when dealing with bullying brothers was to run like hell.
Leaning against a tree while catching their breath, the two looked back at the building. A number of men came boiling out of the entryways, armed with flashlights. Bell was willing to bet that wasn't all they were armed with. He looked over at Tyler, "Back to the car." They headed out, moving as quickly and quietly as they dared. Two hundred yards or so from the road where they'd left the car, Tyler came to an abrupt halt. There was a line of flashlights approaching them. He turned to look behind. The first line of flashlights, a little further away, was closing in. He looked at Bell and they began moving parallel to the lights. It was a bizarre race. They had to get beyond the two lines. They couldn't go quickly for fear of making too much noise, if they didn't go quickly they weren't going to get out.
Finally, Bell put a hand on Tyler's shoulder, stopping him. At Tyler's wide-eyed look, he pointed up. The ensign looked up and then nodded. Bell laced his fingers together and bent down. Tyler stepped into his grip, resting his hands on the big man's shoulders. Bell braced himself and then heaved upwards, launching Tyler into the air where he caught a tree branch a good twelve feet off the ground. Securing his seat, he looked down to see Bell unslinging his shotgun. Then he slid off his backpack and fastened it to the weapon. That done, he handed both up. Locking his legs around the branch, Tyler leaned down and grabbed them. He watched while Bell pulled off his ID tags and emptied his pockets, burying everything at the base of the tree. Finished, he looked up at Tyler, waved and jogged off into the dark, no longer trying to stay quiet. Tyler listened to the crashing through the underbrush, the sudden increase in noise as the pursuers spotted their quarry and finally, the silence. He climbed further up into the tree and sat there for a long time.
Holly Springs Nat'l. Forest, MS
0420 Local
Perez watched the lightening streaks of sky as dawn approached and muttered an obscenity. Judging from the look on Rabb's face, he was having the same thoughts. The rising sun had finally given them a reference point and he was chagrined to find they had been traveling more west than north. Right now they were holed up in a little dell, not far from a gravel road. They had actually been on the road when the sound of engines sent them scrambling for cover. Two jeeps had gone by loaded with armed men. Harm had decided they were too tired to journey safely in the daylight and had retreated back to the dell.
They'd been there about ten minutes, long enough for the two women to collapse into sleep. Perez had volunteered for first watch. He glanced at the Commander sitting next to him and whispered, "If you're taking the next watch, you ought to get some rest, sir." Harm looked at him before nodding wordlessly. He turned and made his way back down into the dell. Perez watched him settle down next to the Colonel and then returned his attention to their surroundings. He thought about the odds of them getting out of this predicament and decided they still weren't very good. Mario had been right, they were smack dab in middle of a wacko militia's playground. At some point, they were bound to collide with these guys.
He took a quick look at the sleeping figures and then went back to scanning the area. The Colonel was holding up better than he would have thought possible. He put it down to sheer stubbornness. She and the Commander were well-matched in that regard. The one who really surprised him was Singer. While she was obviously fit, he was pretty sure she wasn't in shape for something like this. However, she kept on slogging, keeping up with the rest. He just wished her attitude would improve. Sullen and resentful were hard to take after a while.
He thought about his wife. Ellie would be worried by now. He'd been on overnight assignments before but he'd always let her know beforehand and he always managed to check in with her. Once again, he kicked himself for not taking his cell along. Both he and Rabb had decided they wouldn't need phones while they had the radios and had left them with Bell and Tyler. He wondered about those two. He'd told them to follow the trucks and he knew that's just what Corporal Bell would do, come hell or high water. Now he regretted it, those two were just kids really. Neither had been in a situation like this before and he had, in essence, dropped them right in the militia's lap. That brought him back to the case at hand. The missing supplies were definitely going to the militia - Mario obviously thought it was just a small-scale blackmarket scam. There had to be more to it than that. This kind of thing was too dangerous to risk on paperclips. Maybe they had figured out a way to scam the computer systems and divert weapons and money.
What he had trouble figuring out were the attempts on Colonel MacKenzie. It had all the earmarks of a vendetta; but why, after apparently trying to kill her, did they take the even greater risk of kidnapping? The two JAG officers thought there were two separate groups: the Acme Assassination Gang (Perez shook his head over the name) and someone else. Rabb thought remnants of 'Archangel' were somehow involved and the Colonel didn't. He was siding with Rabb on that. Even though the official 'Archangel' investigation was still going on, they had pretty much hit a dead end. They'd snatched up the slow and the stupid in those first hectic days, the rest had vanished back into the woodwork. He wondered if the militia group was somehow tied in with 'Archangel'.
Perez tensed when he heard the sound of engines again. He crouched lower as they came into view. Two jeeps stopped about 150 yards from where they were hiding and six men got out. As they fanned out, he backed carefully down the slope. He figured he had about ten minutes and he quietly woke the rest of the group. Signing to them that they had company coming, he gestured for them to stay put and quickly began covering them with leaves and debris. Dragging over a large branch completed his camouflage and he hurriedly smoothed out signs of its passage as he retreated deeper into the trees. In the dim light, he was counting on his dark clothing to keep him concealed among the underbrush. He pulled out his pistol and waited.
Several long minutes later, two figures appeared at the lip. He was hoping they didn't have the military discipline that would make them search the dell thoroughly in spite of the brambles and he was praying they weren't woodsmen enough to recognize that the ground had been disturbed recently. He resisted the urge to collapse in relief when the two men split up and began walking in opposite directions around the edge of the dell. Apparently, they had decided a visual sweep would be enough. Still, it wouldn't do to relax his vigilance until they were well and truly gone. After what seemed to be an eternity, there was the sound of engines starting up and driving off. Just to be sure, he waited another five minutes and then took a circuitous route out of the dell to recon the area.
After satisfying himself that they had gone, he hurried back to the dell and down the slope. "Commander? Colonel?" he called quietly. Rabb rose up out of the leaves first, weapon in hand and then the Colonel and the Lieutenant. "All clear, sir, ma'am." All of them visibly relaxed.
"I guess we'll be safe here for a while, now that this area has been searched," Harm said thoughtfully. He looked over at Mac and Singer, "Why don't you two see if you can sleep a little more?" He was half expecting an argument from Mac but she merely nodded and lay down again. He exchanged worried looks with Perez and then said, "Captain? I believe it's my watch."
Vicinity of Bethel
Holly Springs Nat'l. Forest, MS
0640 Local
The sun shining on Tyler's face finally caused his eyes to snap open. He froze for a moment before remembering where he was. Carefully, he sat up. He had woven a sling seat between two branches with rope from his backpack. It was something he hadn't done since he was a kid; when sleeping in a tree was done for the novelty. Climbing down a little, he checked out the area. Nothing. Returning to his perch, he sat and considered his situation. He decided that the knot in his stomach was because he was hungry - officers, good officers didn't get scared. He wondered what had happened to Tink and then tried not to think about it. He was alone in hostile territory and he didn't know what to do.
Finally, he reached for his backpack. He thought there were some foodbars of some sort in there. His hand came in contact with a small, plastic object and he pulled it out to look. It was Commander Rabb's cellphone. He'd thrown it in the pack last night because he was afraid it would fall out of his pocket while he slept. He stared at it for a long moment and then opened it up. Trying the speed-dial, he hit 1. Several rings later, he heard, 'This is Sarah MacKenzie... ' Hanging up, he tried 2. On the second ring, there was a click and he heard, 'Judge Advocate General. Petty Officer Tiner speaking.' Tyler stared at the phone in amazement until he heard, '... Hello?'
Hurriedly, he put the phone to his ear and said, "Hello? Ummm... I need to speak to Admiral... Admiral... " Oh god, he couldn't remember the name of the Judge Advocate General!
"Chegwidden?" supplied Tiner.
"Yes! Admiral Chegwidden!"
"May I ask who's calling?"
"This is Ensign Tyler with the Memphis JAG. I'm working with Colonel MacKenzie."
"One moment."
There was a pause and then a voice said, "Chegwidden."
