Comprehension

by Airimir Of Gondor

Palmer has a little brother, and they're out for revenge.

Disclaimer: None of this is mine. JAG belongs to CBS, Paramount, and Donald Bellisario. (If I forgot anybody, don't sue me please!)



1400 ZULU

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

Harm walked down the hall from the elevator to the bullpen with a spring in his step. He had been on leave from JAG, and was with his mother and stepfather the whole time. He had enjoyed relaxing the previous week with his Patricia and Frank, but was now anxious to get back to work.

"Good morning sir," a cheerful voice rang out as Harm walked in. He turned to see Bud behind him, a huge grin on his face.

"It's good to have you back sir! How was your vacation?"

Harm shook Bud's hand vigorously and quipped, "It was great, but my mother wouldn't let me stop eating! You know how mothers are."

Bud laughed, glad to see his friend again.

"Commander!" Harriet walked up, her arms laden with information files. "It's good to have you back sir!" she said, her face flushed with exertion. "It always seems to be an uphill battle when you're not here."

"It's good to be back," Harm said, raising his eyebrows at her workload.

Harriet smiled wanly, 'Well.I have to go.The Admiral wants me to find files and I'm not sure they even exist! I've been looking for them for almost an hour already!" She hurried back to the file room.

"Poor Harriet. An hour?" Harm asked, a bemused look on his face.

"Yeah." Bud said, starting to look at his watch.

"No," Mac had walked up behind them. "Fifty-eight minutes, and thirty-two seconds."

"Mac!" Harm grinned at her, giving her a slight hug. Mac smiled back at him.

"How's your mom and Frank?" she asked.

"They're fine," Harm answered.

"Excuse me Sir, Ma'am, but I need to get back to work," Bud looked at them. "The Admiral's had me looking for information too. He wants me to find out about an Adrian Palmer."

Bud spoke quietly, and looked a little wary. Harm's eyes widened, and he straightened up noticeably, his arm falling from its' position around Mac's waist.

"Adrian? Would that have anything to do with Clark Palmer?"

"I don't know, Sir. Do you suppose it's just a coincidence?" Bud asked.

"I don't know," Harm said softly, thinking. Mac looked at him snidely. Harm could see it in her eyes: "Don't get obsessed about this one, fly-boy."

Mac shook her head as she and Bud watched Harm walk to his office, acting calm and collected, but obviously completely oblivious to anything going on around him.

"He's going to go ballistic until the Admiral wants to see him." Mac chuckled. Bud frowned.

"I really hope it's just a coincidence," he said, walking to his office.

Mac smiled again as she walked to her office. On the way over, she peeked through the blinds on Harm's door. He was staring intently at his computer.

"Boy, what a way for him to come back to work," she thought as she sat down at her desk.

* * *

Not a shred of Harm's cheerful mood lingered ten minutes later. All of that Palmer crap had ruined his day. He was still thinking in overdrive, and still couldn't find any information in the JAG's data files. As far as he knew, Clark Palmer was the only Palmer around. Had Palmer ever said anything about his father or grandfather? Did he have a brother? Or a son? Or maybe he had an uncle or a cousin that Harm had never heard about. Harm sighed in exasperation, and cracked his neck.

"Palmer." Harm groaned. He stood up and looked nervously out his window. Nope, no dark haired man with big ears lurking outside.

"Ugh, come on, Rabb," he reproached himself out loud. "Palmer's in jail."

"Sure," a little voice spoke up. "That's what you thought the first time, remember?"

Harm remembered. How could he forget anything about Palmer? Palmer was Harm's sworn enemy. His nemesis. Maybe nemesis was too much of an understatement. Palmer had nearly killed Harm and his friends countless times before. The two of them would both go to drastic measures to kill the other. If it weren't for Harm's being a Naval lawyer, Clark Palmer probably would have been dead long ago.

"He's after you, you know," the voice said. Suddenly, the voice was joined by Palmer's laughter. Just plain laughing wouldn't have been so bad, except that it was becoming louder, and more crazed-sounding every second, and getting unbearable.

Harm felt as though the laughter was tangible, physically pulling him under. He couldn't breath. Suddenly, a different voice broke out loud and clear.

"Give your head a shake, Rabb," He looked up. Webb's voice started to drown out the laughter. "Have you ever heard of the 'wilderness of mirrors'?"

"A state of extreme paranoia experienced by spooks and spies who've been in the business too long." Harm mumbled to himself, remembering Mac's explanation.

"Killing you would be too easy. He wants you to be looking over your shoulder, waiting for his next move. That's his greatest victory." The laughing was gone now. Harm sighed in relief.

"I hope you're right, Webb." He jumped as his door opened with a loud thud. Mac poked her head through the doorway.

"Harm, the Admiral wants to see us." Harm swallowed and forced his heart back into his rib cage, breathing heavily.

"Okay," he said, calming himself somewhat. The only problem was he still looked scared to death.

"You okay?" Mac looked at Harm's face. He looked like he was going to hurl any minute.

"Yeah," Harm choked out, looking at the floor. "You just startled me." Mac stared at him as if he had just told her black was white.

"Sure. Right."

Harm looked up at her face. She was wearing a fake-innocent smile. She wanted to know, and would be on his case forever if he didn't tell her. He took a deep breath and started to explain.

"It's this Palmer stuff."

"Harm," Mac began, disapproving. He cut her off.

"No, just listen." He turned to the window. "I was trying to find information on this Adrian Palmer guy, and, obviously, I didn't." He turned to look at Mac. She nodded with a bored look on her face.

"'Kay, I'm with you so far." She sounded like she was talking to a child. Harm sat down.

"And all of a sudden, I started worrying about Palmer's being out of jail again. And then it was like my sub-conscious wouldn't let me alone. I kept on hearing this voice tell me that Palmer's out there, that he's after me. And then I ended up hearing Palmer laughing. It was crazy, I mean, I couldn't breath.It was like the laughter itself was hemming me in." Harm stopped.

"Go on," Mac prompted. She thought he might not finish.

"Well, it might sound weird, but then I heard Webb's voice reminding me about the wilderness of mirrors. You know, I could have sworn he was in here, his voice was so clear. I don't know if that's a good thing, but when I heard his voice, the laughing stopped." He smiled. "You know what? You're right. I am paranoid. I can't believe this is happening." He laughed. Mac sat in silence for a few seconds.

"Harm?" Mac felt she needed to help.

"Hmm?" Harm was looking at his screen saver (it was a cartoon fighter jet flying across the screen).

"Do me a favor? Don't get fixated on this. First it was your dad, and then Clark Palmer. You don't need another obsession."

"I'll try," Harm said as he stood up and walked to the door. Mac rolled her eyes.

"Harm."

"Really, I will try, I promise. Well, I guess if the Admiral wants to see us."

Harm held the door open, and gestured for Mac to walk out before him. Mac decided to let the subject drop. Harm closed the office door as he and Mac walked out.

"Commander!" Harm glanced at Mac as Singer walked up. They kept walking. "It's good to have you back, Sir." She walked with them. "Now maybe we can get some real work done around here. Since you were gone, sir, nobody has really been doing anything. Even the Admiral, sir." She turned abruptly, and walked back the way she came. Harm sighed as Mac shook her head.

"Sometimes, I just wish."

"Yeah," Harm agreed. He curled his hand to look as if he was choking someone. "She tries so hard to be tops, and suck it up to the big people, but she doesn't think about anyone else, and wonders why people hate her." They got to the far side of the room. "And I'm starting to get tired of 'It's good to have you back, Commander's."

As they entered Tiner's 'office', he quickly spoke up.

"Sir, Ma'am, you can go right ahead in. And Sir? It's good to have you back."

"Thank you, Tiner," Mac and Harm chorused. Harm sighed to himself.

"Be careful, he's stressed." Tiner warned. Mac looked at him skeptically.

As they entered, Mac automatically noticed that Admiral Chegwidden was not at his desk. Instead, he was looking out the window.

"Oh, crud," she thought to herself. It was almost always bad news when he was at the window.

"Colonel, Commander, have a seat," he offered, not turning around. They sat. A. J. turned to face them. He did look stressed.

"I'm going to get right to the point. Mr. Webb called me before I left for work early this morning, and said he, and his people needed help to find the Agency's latest agent-gone-bad. Adrian Palmer." The Admiral sighed. "I wasn't sure what to do, so it took a while for me to get people on it. I also told them to be quiet about it, but I'd guess Lt. Roberts or Lt. Sims told you something."

"Are you sure it's not Clark Palmer, Sir?" Harm wanted to make sure.

The Admiral sat down. "Yes, and I think Webb thinks -or knows- that this other Palmer is a relative of your Palmer. I know Webb didn't tell me the whole story, but I've had Tiner try and get him to come and tell us all the rest."

Harm and Mac just sat, both of them thinking very hard.

A.J. looked up. ""Adrian Palmer" sounds just like it's spelled. But I'm also sure there should be more than one Adrian Palmer out there. And besides, how many different ways of spelling the name Adrian can there be?" Admiral Chegwidden was rambling. Mac grinned ruefully.

"The name "Adrian" means "dark one"."

"Har, har," Harm mumbled. Then Tiner's voice came over the intercom.

"Sir, I haven't been able to get ahold of Mr. Webb yet."

"Thank you, Tiner," the Admiral said quickly. He sounded PO'ed. "I knew this was going to be hard." He sat back in his chair. "Well, if you could do some research, it might help. And it'll be harder for Webb to put the wool over our eyes. I want you two to get on that right away.Dismissed," he said turning to his computer.

"Aye, aye, Sir!" Harm and Mac stood up, about-faced, and left the office.

"And Commander? Colonel?" The Admiral called after them. "If you could also try to contact Mr. Webb, I think that would be helpful as well."

"Yes, Sir," Harm and Mac replied, closing the door behind them.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do," As they walked out into the hall, Mac took charge before Harm could blink. "You try to get Clay on the phone, and I'll see what I can come up with on our new friend." Harm put on a puppy-dog-face.

"Mac, I said I was going to try and not go nuts about the new Palmer, and you aren't helping. If I don't get involved, how will I know if I'm getting obsessed or not?"

He was kidding. He didn't really mean it -he didn't mind calling Webb- but Mac shot down his excuse anyway.

"Harm, you and Webb are both men. There is something about a man to man friendship that is different from a man to woman friendship. I think he'd be more likely to do you a favor that for me. And besides, you've saved his life, I didn't. At least not yet, anyway. And another thing. If you can't persuade him, then maybe I'll have a better chance later." She suddenly smiled at him with a 'I-have-the-superior-mind' look.

"Suit yourself," Harm walked into his office grinning. Mac walked over to Gunny.

"Gunny, can you see if you, or any of your contacts can find anything out about an Adrian Palmer? That's a-d-r-i-a-n p-a-l-m-e-r. I'll need something on that ASAP. And this has to be quiet." Gunny seemed startled by Mac's rapid-fire request.

"Uh, sure, ma'am. I'll see what I can do. And don't worry, ma'am. If I tell them to be quiet about it, you don't have anything to worry about."

"Thank you, Gunny." Gunny shook his head slightly.

"I wish I could get more than a few moments' notice when they want me to do something," he mumbled half-out-loud when Mac was out of earshot.

Mac walked to Bud's office. Knocking on the door, she waited a second before opening it.

"Bud, did you find anything out about Adrian Palmer yet?"

Bud jumped as he looked up. Mac hid a smile. He hadn't even heard her knock.

"Um, actually, ma'am, I finally did."

Mac did a double take. She hadn't been expecting anyone to have anything.

"He's CIA, or at least was, for thirteen years. Up until now at least. I gathered that he's thirty-six years old, and didn't really enjoy doing what he was told, even though he followed orders without question. I'm still looking, but that's all I've found so far."

"Thanks, Bud," Mac closed the door and happily walked over to her office, and opened the door. She looked over her shoulder as Harriet walked to Bud.

Harriet looked towards Mac and slowly tilted her head, her face deadpan.

Mac smiled and nodded back. An hour and a half (approximately), of zip at all attempts to learn anything, and now, everyone seemed to be on a roll. Mac closed her office door, and sat down at her desk. Exuberantly, she turned on her computer's search engine with high hopes.

* * *

While Mac, Gunny, Bud and Harriet were researching information, Harm was trying to call Clayton Webb.

Harm dialed Webb's home number. After the fifth ring, Harm waited impatiently as the ringing stopped. He sighed when he heard the recording of Clay's voice.

"You've reached 703-284-8365. Please leave your name, phone number, and a message after the tone. Thank you. BEEP!" Harm sighed again.

"Webb, it's Harm. Look, we need a little help here. You told the Admiral about Adrian Palmer, and now we're stuck. We can't find anything on him at all. If you really want us to help you, you need to help us out a little, too. You know the numbers."

Harm hung up. He scratched his chin, and hesitated a second before he dialed Webb's cell phone. Again, no one answered. He tried to repeat his first message word for word, and hung up. Harm bit his lip and looked up a different number.

"Hello?" the phone on the other end of the line was answered after the second ring.

"Hello, this is Commander Rabb, from the Judge Advocate General's Corp. May I please speak with Mrs. Webb?"

"One moment please." Porter Webb's butler must have gone to get her.

"Hello?" Clay's mother picked up the phone after a few seconds.

"Hello, Mrs. Webb?" Harm began.

"Yes?"

"This is Commander Rabb, from the Judge Advocate General's Corp."

"Oh, yes. Hello, Commander," she said pleasantly. "It's nice to hear from you again." Harm could hear her smile. "And under much better circumstances." Harm chuckled.

"Mrs. Webb, I hate to bother you, but would you by any chance know where I could contact Clayton? We have a problem, and need his help." Porter sighed.

"I'm sorry Commander. I don't know where he is either. About four weeks ago, he was sent somewhere. He said he couldn't even tell me about it. But last week, he came back, and I haven't heard anything from him since. But I'm sure he's around somewhere." She didn't sound worried, Harm noticed. But then again, it could be just a "Webb" thing.

"Don't worry, ma'am, I'll just have to try harder to find him," he said.

"Thank you, Commander. I know I'd be able to get in touch with him if I tried hard enough, but I'm just so busy this week, it would be very hard for me to do so." She sounded grateful.

"Any time, Mrs. Webb. Good-bye," Harm hung up again.

A half-hour later, Harm re-dialed Clay's house for the sixth time. Again, he got the answering machine. He hung up before he heard the beep. He'd gotten the answering machine each time he'd called. Since he had left a message the first time, he wasn't about to leave one each time he called. Harm sighed, and re-dialed Webb's cell number (also the sixth time). The same as the six other times, Harm heard the annoying computerized woman's voice on the other end of the line.

"The customer you are trying to reach is unavailable at this moment. Please leave a message."

Harm hung up. Looking out the window at the trees waving in the wind, he made a mental note to call Clay's office, superiors, and co-workers the next chance he got. As someone knocked at his door, he turned around to see Mac. He got up, and opened the door to let her in. Bud, Harriet and Gunny walked in behind her. Mac shut the door behind Gunny.

"OK," Mac started. "Here's what we have so far."

Harm looked at the medium/small-sized file she dropped down on his desk.

"This is everything that has been collected in the past.?" He asked incredulously.

"Half-hour," Mac answered him. "Gunny got some from one of his contacts, Bud got a note in the mail from Webb, and an e-mail, and Harriet got a file from the Admiral, who got it from Webb. He got it in the mail five minutes after we left his office. Bud's note was received about the same time Webb's file got to the Admiral, and the e-mail was sent this morning, early. Either Webb sent the file and note in the mail days ago, or he sent them this morning. But neither of them had a "rush" sticker on it, so." She stopped in mid-sentence. Harm whistled.

"That's a lot for such a short time. And after how long you guys were working on it before."

"Don't get her wrong, Commander," Gunny spoke up. "The Colonel was in charge of everything."

"I didn't get any info, though," Mac protested.

"Yup," Gunny fake gloated. "We got it all."

"Well, I'm not worried about who found what where," Harm began.

"Did you get ahold of Webb yet?" Mac cut him off, pulling a chair next to him and sitting down.

"Um, no, I couldn't. I called his place, and then his cell phone every five minutes for the past half-hour. Nobody answered. At all. So I left messages the first time on each number. And don't yell at me, because I'm going to keep trying. And I called his mom, too. She said she wasn't sure where Clay is, because he hasn't talked to her in a while. Turns out he came back from somewhere about three days ago."

"Okay," Mac sounded unconvinced. "Well, we have to look at all this now, so. All I can say is that Webb better call us soon. You three can stay," She told Bud, Harriet and Gunny as they began to leave. She opened the file cover, and all five of them bent over to look. Only two words were written on the first page.

* * *

CLASSIFIED

MR. FREEZE

Right after the first page, there was a photo of Adrian Palmer. He definitely looked like Clark, but you could tell it wasn't really him, as there were quite noticeable differences. But the hair, ears, and eyes were identical.

"Mr. Freeze?" Bud asked, raising his eyebrows.

"They had to come up with something," Gunny snickered. "I was just surprised Adrian's personnel file was classified in the first place."

"He looks almost exactly like Clark Palmer, Harm," Mac looked at him. "Only a little different.The earring, for one."

Name: Palmer, Adrian

Birthdate: April. 17th, 1966

Birthplace: Rockford, Illinois

Height: 69.5 in./ 152.9 me.

Weight: 136.7 lb./ 299.64 kg.

Hair color: Dark brown

Eye color: Brown

Distinctive features: Has had his left ear pierced, has a small-medium sized scar above his right eyebrow, and has two tattoos. One is a green dragon on his left shoulder blade, and the other is a blue snake entwined around his right upper arm.

Living relatives: None known, except for possible distant cousins; uncontacted

Deceased relatives: Parents: Doyle and Janin Palmer. Grandparents on both sides: Walter & Diane Palmer, Gerold & Barbara Anders.

There was also a hand written note on a sheet of notebook paper stapled to Palmer's profile page.

"Lt. Roberts, I would be grateful if you would see that the Comdr. would get this. If you haven't figured out that Adrian is Clark's little brother by now, Rabb, I would start to worry about you. Adrian was told to keep very quiet about Clark, so he did. One problem: Adrian is almost as bad as Clark. If you need any serious help, and can't contact me, try to get in touch with Erich Comareaver and Lucia Shikarolson. They are both friends of Lt. Abby Cowen, and should be able to help you."

Harm raised his eyebrows at Mac, who shrugged.

Notes: Adrian Palmer has a strange personality. He keeps to himself, doesn't have many real friends, and more than once, others have said, sometimes quite seriously, that he 'needs help'. It has been reported that when he is off duty, he tells appalling jokes, and disgusts people. But he follows orders well even though he does not like being ordered around, and does not talk about his family. Adrian Palmer is well known in the Company for his excellent aim.

"'Needs help'. 'Sick jokes'. All the Palmers are wackos!" Harm groaned. Mac glanced at him as she turned the page.

"That page was what Gunny got from the CIA. The note was from Webb, and it was sent to Bud. I just stapled the note on to the page to save time. All the rest of Adrian's file is from Webb. I think he might have put this together himself."

Palmer grew up in a suburb in Rockford, IL. It is rumored he has an older brother. The neighborhood was all white, and very prejudiced. In 1981, when he was fifteen, and in high school, Palmer was charged with the assault and battery of a fifteen-year-old African/American male, resulting in his being hospitalized for 1 week. All the charges ended up being dropped, for unknown reasons. Not a lot is known about Adrian Palmer's past. He graduated high school in '84, and went to Rockford University, which he graduated from in '88. He then applied for a job with the Agency '89, and accomplished his entire basic training in one year. Nothing out of the ordinary took place during his training. Adrian Palmer's only missions are described in the following pages.

"Wow, 'described'," Harm almost felt like laughing out loud, even though his joke was pretty bad. "That's great," he chortled. "Why do I not believe this? Clayton Webb and describing things are like oil and water!" Bud looked wary as he took a breath.

"Sir, Mr. Webb's e-mail sounded very sincere, and very un-Webb-like. He said that that he was going to need our help, and that I would know what he was talking about when it happened. I hate to say it Sir, but he was right. And Sir? He even said that unless someone was lying to him, he could swear the information was correct." Harm stared at Bud.

"What did he swear on, Bud?" he asked impishly. Bud started rambling.

"Um, he said he was sure the information was authentic, but if anything was seriously incorrect, that it wasn't his fault, but if it was his fault, he'd just let Clark Palmer have a field day at his house some night probably when he was asleep. But I'm pretty sure he was joking. He did put the winking smiley after that sentence.Sir," Bud looked like he was either going to burst out laughing, or puke. At the same time he stood at attention, as not to look disrespectful.

"Wow," Harm looked impressed. "For Webb's sake, I hope everything in here is correct. And then there was that little bit about "rumored he has an older brother". That is just. Really!"

He stopped, shook his head slightly, and looked back down to the file. There was a whole new page, and a file full of photos in between the pages.



PROJECT JESTER

The leaders of Project Jester and their efforts were centered solely on eliminating Company moles and their "other country" counterparts. Adrian Palmer's partner for the mission, and their targets' photos are in the envelope.

Harm pulled the first stack of three photos held together with a paper clip out of the manila envelope. The first was of a Hispanic male, the second of an older, gray-haired/ green-eyed white male, and the third was of a middle- aged white male with a beard and dark eyes.

Adrian Palmer was teamed with Marco Echeverría for one of Project Jester's missions: his first, in mid-October of 1990. William Fring, a highly esteemed agent, was slipping Naval battle games tactics to a group of leftover KGB agents by way of Gregiory Rishuzco, also KGB. Intel had claimed it was to be used for an attack on the Navy. The Company had been watching Fring for months and finally plotted his next move. Palmer and Echeverría followed Fring to Astrakhan, Russia, where a transaction was going to take place. Palmer and Echeverría confronted Fring and Rishuzco, and a gunfight ensued. Echeverría killed Rishuzco by hitting him with a lucky shot in the neck. Echeverría was then killed when Fring shot him in the chest. Palmer then killed Fring - by shooting him in the head. In the end, the dossier containing the information was lost that night, and never re-obtained by the CIA, which was not a problem, because Palmer believed that the files were accidentally ruined by the rain that night.

Harm placed the three photos to the side, and got out the next stack. The pictures were of Clayton Webb, a middle-aged white male with pale blonde hair and bright blue eyes, and an Oriental man.

"There had better be a good reason for Webb's picture being in here," Mac mumbled.

In July of '91, Palmer was teamed up with Clayton Webb to apprehend Harding Gyles. Gyles was going to sell blueprints of, statistics for, and other like information for the L-86S, a new firearm concept created by the NIA to Youngha Oh, who was a member of the North Korean military. Gyles and Oh were going to exchange information and money aboard the Misook, a boat docked in Chongjin, North Korea. Palmer and Webb were able to get aboard the Misook. As soon as Gyles and Oh saw Webb and Palmer, they ran off, leaving the dossier and money behind. Gyles escaped and nothing has been heard about him since. Palmer had shot Oh in the back of the head as he tried to escape, which obviously killed him instantly. Palmer and Webb were getting off the boat, taking the dossier concerning the L-86S and money with them (they planned to return for the body, as they needed to perform the legalities, and had nothing to do them with -no cameras), when it exploded. Palmer received very minor injuries because Webb shielded him from the explosion. Webb ended up in the hospital with a concussion, and internal bleeding. Webb was in critical condition for one week, and when he was stabilized, remained in the hospital for another half-week for observation. He was discharged in perfect health at the end of his stay.

"Mr. Webb and Adrian Palmer?" Harriet was shocked. Bud just stared at the page.

Nobody was expecting Adrian Palmer to be the kind of person Clayton Webb would do something like that for. Especially since Adrian seemed like a terrible person, coming from what A.J. had told them Webb said.

"You don't think Mr. Webb is." Gunny stopped short. Harm spoke up vehemently, defending Webb.

"There is no possible way that Clayton Webb is helping Adrian Palmer with anything. He wants us to help him catch this Palmer because of what he is doing. I don't think their past has anything to do with Clay's wanting him stopped." Harm looked at Mac, as if he were asking her to back him up. But her eyes were blank, as if she were thinking extremely hard. Mac glanced up at Harm.

"You know," she suddenly spoke up. "I don't know whether to be surprised or not that he didn't tell us about this at all. It was afterevent, but." She shook her head and turned back to the papers on the desk. "It sounds like he's trying to make himself look good." She smiled, and took out the last set of photographs from the envelope.

They were of a dark-haired, dark-skinned white male with dark eyes, a pretty redheaded white female with green eyes, and another oriental male.

In October of '91, Adrian Palmer was paired up with Nicholas "Niko" Kouralis. Haylee Foscol was selling weapons to Yukio Hashamani from a Japanese rebel group. Palmer and Kouralis ambushed the two of them in a back alley in the streets of Morioka, Honshu, Japan, while they were arguing about the new higher payments Foscol was demanding. Hashamani was wounded, and Foscal was killed - by being shot in the head by Palmer- in the gunfight that took place. Palmer and Kouralis in turn placed Hashamani in the custody of the Japanese police, and gave the US military their guns back.

Harm whistled, and the others shook their heads, and raised their eyebrows in wonder at how Webb had managed to keep this hidden from them.

"Adrian Palmer certainly liked gunfights, didn't he sir?" Bud commented. Harm nodded at Bud.

After Palmer's third mission, it was rumored that a man who looked somewhat like Harding Gyles had been seen talking to Palmer in the remainder of the month. Nobody could be sure, but it was rumored that it was Gyles himself, attempting to "bond" with Palmer, so that he may have a better chance to eliminate the potential threat. Palmer was then placed under surveillance, in the occurrence that Gyles would try to kill him. Two months later, in December of '91, Palmer seemed to be leaving town. Clayton Webb and Nicholas Kouralis were sent after him, but they were found lying off to the side of an airfield at Dulles International Airport, two hours from when a small plane had been granted permission to take off. Webb was unconscious, and Kouralis was dead. Kouralis had been shot in the chest. Nothing has been heard from Adrian Palmer since then, until now. The CIA had believed that Harding Gyles had kidnapped Palmer to kill him. A few weeks ago, though, they received threatening e-mails from Adrian Palmer, telling them he was planning on "Making you pay" and "I'm going to get my brother to help, too". No one, not even Adrian is even sure he has a brother in the first place, though. The CIA has selected agents to try and locate Palmer, but nobody is sure of what to expect.

* * *

"Wow," Harm whispered. "Talk about crazy!" He took a deep breath, and exhaled loudly. "Maybe we should try and contact Erich Comareaver and Lucia Shikarolson..."

"Wonder who they are," Gunny mused to himself out loud.

"I could find out sir," Harriet spoke up.

"We'll see, Harriet," Harm told her absentmindedly.

"I still want to know what's going on with Webb and Adrian, here," Mac sounded a little ticked off. "Ugh." She groaned. "I hope Webb comes back soon."

"Well, sir, ma'am, I need to get back to work." Bud stood up. "The Admiral gave me a new case, but told me to help you out first, so I'm going to go check my case out now. If you need anything, let me know." He saluted, and Harm nodded at him. Bud walked out the door.

"I'd better go too, sir, " Gunny sighed. "I've been here for an hour. I need to use the head," he grinned suddenly, standing up. "Permission to be excused, sir?" he said, standing at attention.

"Permission granted, Gunny," Harm said. Gunny headed for the men's room briskly. "Harriet?" Harm rubbed his eyes. "If you could maybe get started on trying to find out who Erich Comareaver and Lucia Shikarolson are, that would be great."

"Yes, sir," Harriet stood up to leave.

"Check anagrams, Harriet," Mac spoke up softly.

"Yes, ma'am," Harriet glanced at Mac with a look that said, "You go, girl!" and hurried outside.

Mac gathered all the papers, and photos. "I'm going to ask the Admiral for his opinion. Any objections?" She challenged.

"No," Harm picked up the phone. "I need to call Clay again."

"Okay," Mac opened the door and strolled in the direction of the Admiral's office, leaving Harm to make his phone calls.

* * *

Mac walked to the Admiral's office as soon as she left Harm's. Tiner was there, talking to A.J. Mac walked in quickly.

"Sir?"

A.J. looked up. Tiner was showing him a problem with the water bill. Their water company seemed to be overcharging them just a tad.

"Yes, Colonel?"

"Sir, you need to look at this." Tiner stood up to leave.

"Tiner, you can stay." A.J. looked up at Tiner. "Close the door, please."

Tiner closed the door and walked back to the desk as Mac pulled out the files. A.J. studied one paper at a time, then passed it to Tiner when he was done. Tiner looked shocked as he read. After a few minutes, A.J. finished reading, and cracked his knuckles. Tiner frowned, and his face paled as he was handed the pictures. He looked at the Admiral and noticed that he looked worse than usual.

"Webb had better get back soon." A.J. growled.

"Yes, sir," Mac and Tiner chorused. A.J. rubbed his temples.

"Dismissed."

"Aye, aye, sir!" Mac and Tiner saluted, did an about face, and closed the door behind them. Mac walked to her office, but didn't notice that Tiner walked elsewhere.

* * *

Harm dialed Clay's home number again. It rang a few times, then Harm heard Webb's voice.

"You've reached 703-28-"

Harm hung up. He did not want to leave another message. Harm sighed and wondered where Clay might be. He tried Webb's cell. Again, he got an answering machine. Harm clenched his teeth together in irritation and hung up. Harriet suddenly knocked on the door.

"You might want to look at this, sir," she poked her head into the room.

Harm looked up, and Harriet handed him a slip of paper. The words "Nicholas Kouralis" and "Marco Echeverría" were written on it. Underneath "Nicholas Kouralis" was "Lucia Shikarolson," and under "Marco Echeverría" was "Erich Comareaver".

"Should we start to try and contact them, sir?" Harriet wanted to know.

"No," Harm said. "Let's wait and see if Webb comes around anytime soon."

"Alright, sir," Harriet walked out, leaving the paper on Harm's desk.

Now bored, he opened the control panel for his computer, and started to fiddle with the desktop's appearance, and the screen saver. He put up some new wallpaper of a submarine under water, and replaced it with the Tomcat that had been up before, and decided to open his e-mail. Harm grinned happily. There was one from Skates, saying "hi", and Harm sent a reply. He finished, and checked all the rest of his e-mails. There were two or three that were just junk (from mailing lists he didn't even know he'd joined, and advertisements - what was it called? Spam?), and one from Webb. Harm opened Clay's e-mail apprehensively. Harm smiled as he saw what Clay had sent him. It was a link to wallpaper downloads on the 'net.

Harm clicked on the link and watched as thumbnails of wallpaper patterns appeared. Harm looked though all the thumbnails. There were at least fifty, and each one was of a military vehicle of some sort. After thinking for a few moments, he downloaded them all. They loaded in a few seconds. Boy, did he love the computers at JAG. They were so fast! He took down his old wallpaper of the Tomcat, and replaced it with a picture of five Tomcats flying in formation. Harm went back to the e-mail itself. It read: "Enjoy, Harm. I really liked the five tomcats in formation-tenth from the top and left. Webb," and his eyes opened wide as he saw the time the e-mail was sent. Five minutes ago.

"What?" Harm whispered to himself. He frantically checked the "sender" box for Webb's e-mail address, and started a new e-mail. But before could start typing, an IM from "SpyderMan" popped up. Harm stared in astonishment and shook his head. He didn't use the IM too much. Harm tilted his head at the odd spelling of the words. And none of the words were capitalized. Who was this person?

"havin trubl, rabb? :P"

"nice nic-name. do i know u?" he typed back, remembering the "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" saying. A few seconds later, another message appeared.

"ty, and yes, cuz its webb. i belive im in demand? ;)" Harm grinned in relief.

"where have u been? we could really use sum help webb."

"i know. i cheked my messages at my place and my cel just now. i was kinda busy."

"wth wut? and how did u find out how to im me?"

"both classified." Harm sighed, and Tiner knocked on his door.

"Come on in, Tiner." Harm told him as he typed another message.

"when r u going to b around so we can talk?" Tiner walked up in front of Harm and saluted.

"At ease, Tiner," Harm told him. Webb's reply blinked up.

"i can cum ovr sumtime today but itl hav to be later in the evning or maybe late nite cuz i hav a previous ngagment." Harm looked over at Tiner. He looked a little unnerved.

"Is something wrong, Tiner? Sit down." Tiner sat.

"I was with the Admiral and Colonel when she came in to see him, sir, and the Admiral wanted me to stay. Adrian Palmer, sir. I might know him." Harm looked at Tiner, flabbergasted.

"By a different name, of course, sir."

"Why didn't you tell this to the Admiral, Tiner? Or the Colonel?" Harm sounded a little choked.

"He's in a really bad mood today, sir. I wasn't up to telling him. And the Colonel seemed a little stressed too." Harm glanced at his PC screen, and saw that Webb had left three more messages, one right after the other.

"How long r u gonna be around?" "hey, ill try and come ovr to the jag ops, or yur house sumtime tonite, but im not promisin anything." "cya latr, harm." SpyderMan then signed off. Harm looked back at Tiner.

"Ok, Tiner, explain, please." Tiner took a deep breath, and began.

"Well, sir, as I was saying, I was in the Admiral's office when the Colonel came in, and they asked me to stay. I saw the pictures of Adrian Palmer, and I realized that I knew him. The Admiral seemed really angry, so I didn't say anything. The man I know looks exactly like Adrian, but I was introduced to him as Ian Hartford. Alyx knows him from where she works." Harm stared at Tiner.

"Uh, Alyx?"

"Uh, yes, sir.My fiancée?" Tiner seemed a little confused. "Didn't you get the invitation, sir?" Harm was shocked. He hadn't thought Tiner was capable of the question. And when had this happened?

"No, Tiner, I didn't." Tiner seemed to be having his mid-life crisis. He jumped up out of his seat, and started talking faster, and faster.

"We sent out the invitations two days ago, sir. They should have been received today. I made sure almost everybody the JAG office got one. The Admiral, the Colonel, Lt. Roberts and Lt. Sims, and Gunny, and some of the others, and. I can't believe you didn't get yours, sir! And it's in a week and a half!" Harm stopped him short.

"Its ok, Tiner." Tiner looked at him, and stood at attention.

"Don't worry, sir. I'll see that you get one." He suddenly calmed down. Harm smiled at Tiner, and gestured for him to sit down again.

"Ok, Tiner, would you mind telling me a little bit about your fiancée?" Tiner pulled a picture out of his wallet, and handed it to Harm, smiling. It was a photo of Tiner and Alyx together. Alyx was a pretty blonde girl - blue eyes - and seemed to be two or three inches taller than Tiner.

"Well, sir, her name is Alyxandra Marshall, and she's a year younger than me. I met her when we had to share a taxi one day when it was raining really hard, sir. Actually, sir, she asked for my number. Umm. she works for the state department. Ian - or Adrian, I'm not positive if it's him - works there too."

"The state department." Harm mumbled softly. "Tiner, do you think you could have her come over sometime to day? Say, about 1900, maybe?" Tiner thought for a moment.

"I could see if she's busy right now, sir."

"Sure, Tiner, thank you. Immensely." Tiner gave a big smile and saluted, and Harm saluted back. Tiner closed the door behind him, and walked to his desk. Harm sat back down, and decided to save his IM conversation with Webb for future references.

* * *

2400 ZULU

HARM'S APARTMENT

NORTH OF UNION STATION, DC

Harm unlocked his apartment door and stepped in. Locking it behind him, he leaned back against the door and sighed, closing his eyes. After he had talked to Tiner, there was nothing for him to do at all. He had been given no new cases, he was not sitting second chair to anybody, he was not sent anywhere to find out anything, and all that was left was paperwork. He had done the paperwork. All of it. Talk about a pretty boring workday. Well except for the Palmer stuff. Alyx Marshall had not been able to get away from her job until later on in the evening, so Harm would have to wait to talk to her.

"I should move." he thought to himself.

He opened his eyes and looked down at his feet. Stepping off of the pile of mail, he picked it up. Most of it was all junk. Looking through it, he noticed a big white envelope. He dropped the rest of the mail on the couch, and smiling, he opened the white envelope and pulled out a wedding invitation. He admired the metallic blue writing on the card and read aloud.

"Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey Marshall are delighted to announce the wedding of their daughter, Alyxandra Louise Marshall to Jason Zachary Tiner, at one- thirty PM, on Friday, the twenty-first of April, two thousand and two, at St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church, on the corner of Fifth and Elm streets, Alexandria, Virginia. God willing, you will join us as we celebrate a wonderful day." There was also the ever present RSVP card and extra envelope as well.

Harm placed the invitation on the kitchen counter as he moved to his clothes dresser, and changed out of his dress whites into a pair of jeans and a plain, white T-shirt. As he started dinner, he turned on the radio. While the water for spaghetti boiled, Harm filled out the RSVP card for Tiner's wedding. After five or six minutes, the water was ready. Getting out the box of uncooked noodles, he distractedly turned the radio up. He almost didn't hear the phone ring. He jumped to turn the radio down, and answer the phone, and at the same time, he tried to put the spaghetti in the water. The spaghetti didn't quite get in. The box wasn't opened. Harm put it back on the counter.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Commander?"

"Hey, Tiner, what's up?"

"Well, sir, Alyx just finished work, so if there's still a good time for you to talk to her tonight." Harm thought for a second.

"Did either of you eat dinner yet?"

"Um, no, sir," Tiner answered. "I was planning on taking Alyx out."

"Well, why don't the two of you come over to my place for dinner?" Harm offered. "I do need to talk to Alyx about Ian, or whoever he is. I'm making spaghetti."

"Hang on, sir," Harm couldn't catch what Tiner was saying, who was talking to Alyx. "Well, if it isn't too much trouble sir," Tiner sounded hesitant.

"It's not a problem, Tiner. Oh! I got the invitation when I got home, looks great."

"Thank you, sir," Tiner sounded relieved. "I'm glad you got it after all. Well, we'll be over in a little bit. Bye."

"Bye," Harm hung up the phone. He poured the hot water from the small pot into a bigger pot. He added more water to that, and set it on to boil. Again. Then the doorbell rang. Harm sighed. It seemed nobody wanted him to make dinner! Harm opened the door.

"Webb!" Harm stood there, surprised. Clay was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and sneakers, and his white T-shirt had the words "I'm just going my part to piss everyone off" written on the front in black.

"I got done with my "previous engagement" sooner than I thought." Webb's face was expressionless. "You weren't expecting me. I hope you don't mind I came over," He handed Harm a six pack of Yuengling. Harm was still shocked at Clay's appearance, and being handed a six pack of beer did nothing to lessen the shock.

"Peace offering?" Clay looked at Harm, suddenly sounding somewhat tentative. "I knew you guys would probably be mad at me."

"Naw, really?" Harm said sarcastically. Clay winced inwardly. Harm definitely sounded mad.

"This is more my problem than yours." Clay started.

"But?" Harm was blocking the door on purpose.

"But I couldn't find anybody else who would even consider helping me. That's the good stuff, you know," Clay gestured to the beer, trying to change the subject. Harm chuckled, and stepped aside to let Clay though. But instead of walking in, Clay looked to his left, and tilted his head to the right. A teen-aged girl walked over to stand behind Clay, and he turned around, put his hands on her shoulders, and pushed her in front of him. Harm started to list the facts to himself. She was about five foot five, her eyes were blue, and she had brown hair with gold highlights.

"Harm, this is Jessica Richardson. Jess, this is Commander Rabb."

"Hello, Commander," Jessica said quietly as she stuck her hand out. Harm shook it, smiling at her.

"Come on in." Harm stepped back from the door again, and Clay and Jessica stepped in.

"Did either of you eat yet?" Harm asked as he rushed to the stove, remembering his boiling water.

"Not yet," Clay told him as Harm put the beer on the table.

"Are you going to want any spaghetti?" Harm asked, putting more water in the pot to replace what had evaporated while he was at the door.

"You hungry?" Clay turned to Jessica. She shrugged.

"Guess so," she said softly.

"Yeah, Harm, we'll stay. What can I do to help?" Clay said, walking over to the counter.

"What's gotten into him?" Harm asked himself as he handed Clay a small onion and a knife, and gestured to the cutting board. "Cut it really small," he said aloud.

Clay began to cut the onion frantically, as cutting it faster would keep the fumes from stinging his eyes. Clay watched as Harm glanced over at Jessica, who was sitting on the sofa, playing a Gameboy. The only sound coming from the vicinity wasn't even her. The game she was playing had interesting sound effects, though.

"Wonder who she is," he thought to himself. She was wearing what looked to be boy's shorts, and her orange shirt said "FUGITIVE (you never saw me)". She looked to be about fifteen or sixteen. And she also seemed extremely shy. Clay went back to the onion, as Harm looked back to check on Clay's progress, and Harm pulled out another pot. Reaching into a cupboard, he extricated two jars of plain spaghetti sauce, and opening them, poured them into the pot. Finishing, he took the already opened box of noodles, he dumped them in the first pot. Remembering how many people were going to be staying over, he added another box.

"Now what, Harm?" Clay asked, running the sink faucet.

"Put the onion in with the sauce." Harm looked over to see Clay splashing water into his watery, red eyes. Drying his face and hands with a towel, Clay then dumped all the onion in with the sauce as Harm started to cut a green pepper.

"Can I help?" Jessica had walked up behind them.

"Sure," Harm handed her the knife he had been using.

"You can cut the pepper. Cut it kinda' small." The doorbell rang again.

"When you're done, put that in with the sauce, too." Harm turned the burner on for the sauce and went to answer the door, throwing a handful of oregano in the pot as well. Tiner and Alyx stood there.

"Hi! Come on in," Harm smiled at them. Tiner handed a loaf of French bread to Harm as they walked in.

"Commander, this is my fiancée, Alyx Marshall," Tiner said, smiling at her. "And Alyx, this is Commander Rabb." Alyx smiled, and shook Harm's hand.

"Please, call me Alyx."

"Well, then, you can call me Harm," Harm smiled back. She seemed like a nice girl, and was much better looking than the picture had let on. Leading them over to the kitchen area, Harm put the bread next to the sink. "Tiner, you already know Mr. Webb. Alyx, this is Clayton Webb."

"Oh, I know Mr. Webb," Alyx cut Harm off. "He works at the state department, too. Aren't you the special assistant to the under-secretary of state or something?"

"Yes," Clay looked a little unsettled, but nobody noticed except Jessica. "I'm not too sure I know you though."

"Oh, I'm a secretary for Mr. Froelich." Alyx said cheerfully.

"Oh," Clay nodded. "He's got the office next-door to the under-secretary," he said for the other's benefit. "That's Jessica," Clay gestured for her to come over. She was mixing the sauce, but putting the spoon down, walked over cautiously. "Jessica is my god-daughter," Clay yanked at her ponytail.

Harm and Tiner gawked at Clay in bewilderment, while Alyx smiled at Jessica. Jessica barely noticed Alyx because she was grinning at Harm and Tiner. Harm shook his head, and went to turn off the spaghetti.

"I received your wedding invitation, Petty Officer," Clay said formally as he mixed the sauce.

"Are you planning on coming, sir?" Tiner started to cut the bread.

"Yes, and the RSVP is in the mail already." Tiner smiled.

"Who are you having play the music?" Clay was curious.

"I'm not too sure about that, Mr. Webb. Alyx worked that part out." Alyx jumped in.

"There is one problem, though. The cello player we had booked had to cancel because his eight-year-old broke a leg." She shook her head in sympathy.

"If you need a replacement cellist, I'd be glad to help out," Clay offered.

"We might take you up on that, Mr. Webb," Alyx smiled. Harm raised an eyebrow. What had happened to Clay? Actually offering to help out?

Hot water suddenly sizzled as Harm drained the noodles. Alyx looked for Jessica. Her job taken from her, she was sitting on the couch looking lost, playing her Gameboy again.

"Something's wrong with her," Alyx thought to herself. "She seems so sad."

"Do you want to help set the table?" Alyx asked her out loud. Jessica turned the game off.

"Sure," she stood up. Harm pointed the dinnerware out to them, and Alyx and Jessica grabbed plates, forks, knives, cups and napkins, and took them to the table.

By the time everything was set up, the spaghetti, sauce and bread were also ready as well.

"Will you say the blessing, please, Jessica?" Harm asked when they were all seated.

Jessica looked like she'd seen a ghost. Silently, terrified, she shook her head "no". Harm smiled in understanding, and bowed his head.

"Dear Lord, thank You for the food which You have helped us to prepare, thank You for friends, and help us to have an enjoyable time together tonight, and please, please help none of us get in the fights we usually have. Amen." A chuckle from Clay and "amen"s broke out from the group as Harm finished.

Harm noticed that Alyx and Tiner both made the sign of the cross. Harm decided not to say anything. He smiled.

"I don't pray very well, as I'm sure you've noticed." He passed the sauce to the other end of the table. There were a few minutes of silence as they began eating. After the first few starved bites, Harm began a conversation.

"Alyx, Tiner told me that you introduced him to an Ian Hartford?"

"Uh, yes, he's a janitor at the state department building." She answered him. "Once he asked me out on a date, but Jason had just proposed, so I obviously had to turn him down." She giggled. "Um. That's about all I know about him, though." Harm nodded his head.

"Why?" Alyx asked.

"Just wondering. There's somebody I'm trying to find, and his description matches Ian's perfectly." Alyx seemed to realize that Harm didn't want to talk about it any more, so she stopped asking questions. Harm wasn't about to stop, though.

"So," Harm asked Clay. "How did Jessica become your god-daughter?" Clay winced.

"You had to ask that now?" Harm grinned devilishly. "Well, I was best friends with her father, and her mother was a cousin of mine." Clay started. "And when Jessica was born, her parents asked me to be her god- father. So, that's how I became her god-father." Harm quirked his mouth at Clay's evasive answer, and turned to include Jessica in their conversation.

"So, what are you doing in town?" Harm missed the warning glance Clay shot at him. Jessica's face flushed a deep red, and her eyes hardened.

"Well," she started, "I'm in town because Clay lives here, and because he's my god-father, I'm staying with him until he can make up his mind if I should go to a foster home or not." Harm gaped at her, and Tiner and Alyx stared.

"Come again?" Tiner said uncertainly. Jessica started to talk faster.

"OK, to start, I'm an only child. My dad was in the Navy, and my mom was in the Air Force. My mom died two years ago because she got a respiratory infection. So my dad was trying real hard to do a good job raising me, but he was flying a Tomcat one night, and when he was trying to land, the arresting wire snapped, and him and his RIO got killed, because the weather was bad, and they were out of fuel by that landing attempt, and they just didn't have enough time to eject. And that was about seven weeks ago." She stopped to catch her breath.

"Jessica," Clay spoke up softly, a teasing lilt in his voice. "You're rambling."

"Sorry," she shoveled a forkful of spaghetti in her mouth, her eyebrows knitted together.

"Harm, may I speak with you?" Clay's voice sounded ugly. Harm stood up, and followed Clay into the hallway outside the door. "Never, ever ask her anything like that again!" Clay snapped at Harm. "She's been through too much and was just starting to accept it a little, and you just brought it to fast for her to handle!" Harm just stared at Clay. Clay's voice softened. "Her parents didn't die of accidents, Harm. That's just the cover story." He stopped. "I'll tell you when Tiner and his fiancée leave." Harm and Clay walked back in to finish dinner.

Jessica looked a little calmer, but Tiner and Alyx looked a little uneasy. They all ate in an uncomfortable silence. After about twenty minutes, dinner was done, and they all cleaned up.

"We should be leaving, sir," Tiner stood to leave after desert.

"OK," Harm stood up to see them to the door.

"The brownies were fantastic, Harm. You'll have to give me the recipe," Alyx complimented him. Harm smiled, and Alyx handed him a slip of paper. "This has Ian's home number, work number, and addresses for e-mail, and his home, so you should be able to contact him if you need to."

"Thank you, Alyx. I really appreciate it." Harm shook her hand, and then Tiner's. "It was nice having you over."

"Thank you for inviting us, sir," Tiner smiled. "Goodbye, Mr. Webb. See you, Jessica." Clay and Jessica both waved silently from the table, a small grin on Jessica's face. Harm grabbed Tiner's sleeve before he walked out.

"Nice pick," Harm winked at Tiner. Tiner smiled at Harm.

"Yes, sir!"

Harm waved and closed the door behind Tiner and Alyx. A few minutes later, Harm, Clay and Jessica sat down at the couch. Harm got up again, and opened the two doors of a large cupboard to reveal an impressive entertainment system.

"When did you get that Harm?" Clay asked. "I thought you didn't like TV?"

"My mom and Frank got a new system, so they gave me the old one. And I don't have cable, so." Harm held up a movie. I've heard a lot about this one."

Harm turned on the VCR, and for the next two hours, the three of them watched "The Matrix". When it was done, Harm looked over at Jessica. She had moved off of the couch, and fell asleep on the floor.

"Now will you tell me what is going on?" Harm softly asked Clay. Clay nodded in resignation, and looked out the window at the starless night sky.

"For starters, her mom, Courtney, was a cousin of mine. Her dad, Andrew was one of my best friends when I was a kid. Andy moved away when we were about sixteen, and moved back eight years later, and married Courtney. Courtney was a Lt. Commander in the Air Force, and Andy was a Colonel in the Navy. But they also worked for the Company." Harm nodded, a snide look on his face. Clay went on. "Courtney was killed when a Middle East mission went sour four months ago. Andy was my partner on a mission last month. We were both sent after Adrian Palmer. We almost had him, and." Clay's voice softened, and dissipated completely. Clay suddenly saw everything again, and not for the first time either.

"Clay! There!" He whipped his head around. Caught a glimpse of dark hair. Too late. A gunshot. A dark spot of red in the middle of Andy's forehead. "Andy!" Then black. Harm looked at Clay. He was staring off into space and hadn't finished his sentence.

"Clay?" Clay didn't notice. "Clay!" He said it louder this time. Harm shook Clay's shoulder. Even louder: "Clay!" Clay jumped.

"Uh, sorry, Harm." Clay rubbed the back of his neck.

"What was that about?" Harm asked. "You were staring at nothing. I called you three times." Clay sighed.

"Adrian shot him in the head, Harm. Andy yelled at me, but by the time I turned around, it was too late. He already got shot." Clay pressed the fingertips of his left hand against the bridge of his nose, close to his eyes. Harm averted his own eyes as he saw a single tear slip down Clay's face.

"Sorry," Clay was extremely embarrassed by that little drop of water.

"It's okay," Harm decided not to push the subject.

"We were buddies from. What was it? Elementary school?" Clay smiled as he began again. "We just got lucky, and ended up going to all the same schools, even the same college. Then we both got into the CIA, and we just went from there. Sixteen years ago, they did ask me to be Jessica's godfather. I accepted, but they were always in the States, and I was the one who ended up going everywhere, so I didn't get to see them too much. But then they had to send us both after Adrian last month." A sniffle came from the floor, and Harm and Clay looked to see Jessica crying.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Clay slid down to sit next to Jessica and pulled her into a bear-hug, holding her tightly as she pressed her face into his shoulder and sobbed softly. Harm watched the strange man that had taken over Clay's body.

"He was never like this before," Harm thought in astonishment. But he didn't say anything, and when Clay finally relaxed his grip on Jessica (who had quieted down), Harm saw that she had fallen asleep again.

"Here," Harm gestured to his bed. "She can sleep there." Clay picked Jessica up, and carried her over to the bedroom.

"Adrian is sick." Clay growled softly, laying Jessica down on the bed. "He sent her a videotape of when he killed her dad."

Harm drew a breath as he pulled the blanket over Jessica. So that was why she acted that way.

"She ran out to hide from him, and was living on the streets for about three weeks. I was trying to catch her, but she thought I was working for Adrian, or something. I mean, Jessica and I have always had a close relationship, even though I wouldn't see her for months at a time, but she said she couldn't be sure it was really me. She would slip away each time I'd grab her arm, or coat, or shirt. I finally caught her when she didn't see me. I almost had to tell her about her entire life before she relaxed. Well, actually, I had to get a fingerprint, and blood test done before she believed me." He chuckled. "So we started moving her stuff into my place a couple of days ago. We finished today. You know. This is the first time she ever cried about it. I don't know why, but she never cried until now."

"Ok, and where does Adrian Palmer come into this?" Harm didn't waste any time. Clay commenced to tell Harm about his past with Adrian Palmer.

"Well, the three of us, Adrian, Andy and I were buddies from even before we worked together. Kind of like yourself and Keeter and what was his name? Luke Pendry?" Harm nodded again. "We were always around each other, and if somebody saw one of us missing from our group, they'd be going "Oh no! What happened to so-and-so!?!?" They never sent us on many missions together though. But then I got sent out with Adrian on the one Jester mission, and Andy and Adrian were sent out once together too. That mission was very highly classified, and I was never told anything about it. Then Andy and I were doubled up to get Adrian last month. It had been years since I had seen Andy and Courtney... They thought that since we had been friends with Adrian, we might be able to talk some sense into him. But then.Adrian.just shot Andy! There was no possible way it was an accident! I was very good friends with Adrian, and after what he did, I. I don't know what to do anymore.And I still call him Adrian.I wish I didn't keep doing that." Harm could really tell that Clay was much more upset by the circumstances than he let on.

"I have another question, Clay," Harm started.

"Yeah?"

"Who are Lucia Shikarolson and Erich Comareaver?" Clay smiled.

"They are Nicholas Kouralis and Marco Echeverría. I'm sure you guessed. They were some other friends of ours during that period in time. The three of us would include them in stuff we did when we weren't on duty. They were better friends with each other. Andy had been learning Greek from an older lady in our neighborhood, and he and Niko were always teasing us by speaking Greek around us, and talking about some of the weirder Greek food. Oh, and Marco and Niko weren't killed in those missions you read about, either. That was to hide them in event somebody got mad at them. I have a feeling that somebody up high didn't like me, because there was no story put together about my death. But that's ok, because I already made up for that, remember?" He smirked.

Clay and Harm sat in silence for a few minutes. Remembering how that had ended up, Harm laughed to himself. After they all were very depressed with what had happened, Harm then found Clay alive, and well (but in pain nonetheless).

"Right now, Marco and Niko's only mission is to take Adrian under custody." Clay started again. "I was assigned to help them out." Harm nodded again.

Clay sat thinking for a few minutes. Harm listened to the car that drove by.

"Do you want to see this?" Clay held up a videotape.

"Is that.?" Harm could hardly believe Clay had it with him.

"Yeah." Clay said.

"Yeah, I guess so," Harm nodded, and Clay put it in the slot, his hand trembling slightly. As it played, Harm couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Andy Richardson -an amazing copy of Jessica- was standing about three hundred yards at nine o'clock to Adrian Palmer. Clay was standing ten feet in front of Adrian. The video recorder was right behind Adrian, and showed his back.

"Clay! There!" Andy screamed. Adrian fired his gun, and Andy fell over, a red spot in the middle of his forehead.

Clay twisted around to see Andy fall, and barely faced Adrian, who then smashed Clay in the face with the side of his gun.

As Clay started to sink to the ground, Adrian turned the gun, and slammed the butt of it on the back of Clay's head, just to be sure.

Adrian then turned around, faced the camera, and laughed. Then the picture faded out.

Harm pressed the stop button, and sat back. He glanced over at Clay, who was scratching at the side of his head, which conveniently hid his eyes from Harm. Harm knew he was crying. After a moment's hesitation, Harm got one of the leftover beers for Clay and some water for himself. They had both had two already, one at dinner, and one during the movie. Tiner had declined when Harm had offered one to him. Clay nodded his thanks, and twisted off the bottletop.

"I just wish I could help you out more, Harm," Clay apologized. His voice was a little shaky sounding.

"Don't worry," Harm reassured him. "Tomorrow, we're going to brainstorm. Mac, Gunny, Bud, Harriet, the Admiral, myself, and even Tiner. I would expect that you are coming?"

"Definitely," Clay smiled sadly. "As long as Jessica is allowed to be in this too. She knows a lot from what she had overheard from Andy." Harm nodded, took a few swallows of his water while looking into the bedroom, to check on Jessica. When he looked back, Clay's beer was already gone, and he had dozed off as well.

Harm smiled to himself. There was still a damp spot on Clay's T-shirt. He hadn't even looked tired when Harm had turned away, and now, Harm doubted if he could wake him up if there was a fire.

Since Clay was asleep, Harm didn't have any trouble seeing the pain, sorrow, and guilt in Clay's features. Harm could see all too well just how badly Adrian Palmer had hurt Clayton Webb. And the three of them had been best friends? And Adrian had killed Andy? The smile erased itself from Harm's face, and he got out a sleeping bag and extra pillows, and made a bed for himself on the floor.

Before he could get to sleep, however, the phone rang. Harm jumped to get it before it woke Clay and Jessica up.

"Hello?"

"Harm, it's me."

"Hi, Mac. What's up?"

"Did you get in touch with Webb yet?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, he's asleep on my couch right now."

"Asleep? On your couch?"

"Yeah, he's had a rough night."

"Well? Did he tell you anything important?"

"Yes, but I don't want to talk about it over the phone. All I'm going to say right now is that I have numbers. When I come in tomorrow, I'll tell you about it."

"Ok," Mac agreed. "That'll be fine. Did you get Tiner's invitation, Harm?"

"Yeah. I wrote the RSVP out before dinner." Harm yawned. "Ok, see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow. Bye, Harm."

"Bye, Mac." Harm hung up the phone, and went to the bathroom to change into sweatpants. When he was done, he covered Jessica with the blanket she had kicked off, and pulled two more from a cedar chest. He took the empty bottle from Clay's loose grip, and placed it in the recyclable bin. Turning off the lights, he covered Clay with one of the other blankets, and lay down on his sleeping bag with the third blanket on the floor next to him. Harm sighed and fell asleep.

* * *

0330 ZULU

GULF GAS STATION

ALEXANDRIA, VA

After leaving Harm's around eight, Alyx and Tiner had gone to the movies. "Lord of the Rings" was showing at one of the local cheapo theaters. After they left, Tiner stopped for gas at a Gulf station. An attendant with a ball-cap started to fill their car.

"How much?" he asked them.

"Just fill it up," Tiner told him. The two of them walked into the convenience store. Tiner was careful to take the keys with him. "I know I've seen Lord of the Rings at least three times now, but I still think that Boromir shouldn't have died. He's cool," Tiner commented.

"Yeah," Alyx agreed with him. "And he's cute too. You know Jason, you would make a good Boromir.." They chuckled as they picked out some drinks and snacks.

"Did you see the graphics?" Tiner asked. "They were fantastic!"

"Yeah! Like those statues in the middle of the river?"

"Yeah! And the battle in the beginning?" Tiner and Alyx were still talking about the movie like little kids when they paid the cashier for the food and drinks.

"That will be twenty dollars straight, including the cost of the gas." Tiner handed her a twenty, and they walked back to the car. The station attendant was nowhere to be seen. Getting in, Tiner opened his bottle of Coke, and took a sip as he started the car.

As they drove, Alyx dozed off. She woke up ten minutes later, as they headed into the back roads that led to Alyx's house.

"See what I found?" Tiner handed her a piece of paper. It had a smiley face on it, but it was weird. It was divided in half vertically, with the left side colored yellow with a black eye, and black mouth. The other half was all black, with a red eye, and a red mouth. The left side looked happy, but the left side looked like a devil, or something. Alyx put the creepy drawing in her pocket as Tiner slowed down to navigate the treacherous turns ahead.

Alyx looked for the steep incline that had the great view of the trees that were below. Suddenly, something popped in the steering column, and Alyx screamed as Tiner, silent and horrified, furiously fought for control as they flew down that very same steep incline. The brakes didn't work either. A few seconds later, everything went black for both of them.

* * *

Alyx opened her eyes slowly. What had just happened? Oh, no! She looked quickly over at Tiner. There was blood pouring from his head, and there was glass imbedded in his face and arms. Alyx realized that her face was feeling sore and itchy, too.

"Jason?" Alyx gulped. She reached over to check for his pulse, but couldn't find it. Panicking, she held her hand in front of his face. Luckily, he was still breathing. She just couldn't find his pulse because of the way they were both seated.

Alyx tried to open her door. It was hard work, but she made it. Her arm was pretty sore. Trying to move her legs, she cried out, as there was suddenly excruciating pain shooting up both of them. They were pinned on something somehow. She tried to move her legs again. It still hurt badly. Maybe they were broken.

She checked her watch. Five minutes to eleven.

Alyx frantically searched for Tiner's phone in the glove compartment. Instead, she pulled out the slip of paper that was there. It was a copy of the smiley face paper Tiner had handed her. The only difference was that this one had writing on it.

"Petty Officer Tiner, I apologize, but I needed your cell phone for something important. hope you had fun!:D" Alyx's eyes opened wide.

Adrian. The gas station attendant. She pulled out her own cell phone from her handbag. Looking back at Tiner, she gasped as she noticed his face. He was really pale.

"Jason?" she whispered. Tiner lifted his head and opened his eyes, and stared dully at Alyx. His eyes closed again, and his head slumped down heavily on the steering wheel. Alyx's eyes started to tear up.

"Jason?"

* * *

0400 ZULU

HARM'S APARTMENT

SOUTH OF UNION STATION, VA

Clay jumped awake as his cell phone buzzed in his jeans' pocket. Groggily, he answered it. Harm woke up as well as he heard Clay's voice.

"H'lo?" Harm tried to catch the conversation. "What's goin' on? Hey, didn't I tell you never to call me unless there was an emergency?" Clay wasn't so sleepy now, and was beginning to wonder why he was at Harm's house, lying on his couch covered with a blanket. "What kind of problem?" Harm frowned.

"Uh, oh, that doesn't sound too good," he thought to himself.

"What?" Clay asked. Whatever "it" was, Clay wasn't too happy. "Don't worry, I'll be there as soon as I can. Don't panic, ok? Right." Clay hung up and remembered why he was at Harm's.

Harm closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep as Clay kicked off his cover. He jumped up and nearly tripped over Harm. Harm grunted and stirred, and Clay realized that the black spot on the floor wasn't a rug.

"Harm?" Clay shook Harm's shoulder. Harm rubbed his eyes and looked at Clay.

"Huh?"

"Harm, there's a problem. One of my contacts called me. Petty Officer Tiner and Ms. Marshall are missing. And neither of them have called anybody." Harm was still playing the muddled-man-who-was-just-woken-up-from-a-deep- sleep.

"Wha.?" Harm also wanted to know exactly who was on the other end of Clay's phone. Definitely not a "contact". Clay sighed in exasperation and shook Harm again, harder.

"Get up!" Harm decided to humor him.

"What's going on, Webb?"

"Alyx and Tiner are missing." Harm groaned.

Well, now what?" he asked Clay. Clay shrugged.

"Well, I would suggest we go and find them. But I don't want Jessica to have to deal with it, and I also don't want to leave her here alone."

"Well, where would we go first?" Harm thought ahead.

"I'm going to try to drive down to Alyx's house.

" Well, would we happen to drive by anybody we know?"

"I don't know where she lives. She's just a secretary who I've only met once, tonight."

"Ok!" Harm grabbed his phone book, and looked up "Marshall". There were five of them, but luckily, there was only one "Alyxandra Marshall".

"I sure hope this is right the one," Harm copied the address onto a piece of paper. "Hey! Gunny lives around there I think. He'd probably watch Jessica for a while." Harm was ready to go. Almost. He quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and stepped into his sneakers. "Let's go!" He put the slip of paper in his pocket.

Clay had woken Jessica - who was looking like a zombie - and was leading her out the door. Clay pressed a button on his key ring, and the lights of a dark green Durango flashed from across the street. Jessica was on autopilot and climbed in the back seat, promptly falling asleep again.

"Nice truck," Harm commented blandly, sitting down.

"Yeah, I got it last month." Clay replied nonchalantly, starting the car up. Harm directed Clay to Gunny's place. When they knocked on his front door, it was answered right away.

"Commander! Mr. Webb! .What are you doing here so late?" Gunny looked like he wasn't planning on going to bed for a while either. He was still in jeans and a sleeveless shirt.

"We need to follow up on a lead, and we aren't too sure if Jessica here will be ok with coming along. Would you be able to baby-sit?" Harm and Clay each had a grip on Jessica's arms, and pulled her forward. "Just let her sleep," Harm told Gunny. Gunny smiled, and held the door open.

"Come on in." Jessica was suddenly wide-awake, and looked puzzled.

"Umm. What's going on now?" She softly asked Harm. "I like, missed everything that has happened since I fell asleep at your house, Commander." Harm chuckled.

"Clay and I need to go check something out. This is Gunnery Sergeant Galindez. Gunny, this is Jessica Richardson. We asked Gunny to keep an eye on you, Jessica."

"Oh, ok," Jessica stuck her hand out to Gunny. "Hello, Gunnery Sergeant." Clay smiled at Jessica happily, trying to tone it down a bit. Jessica never warmed up to strangers easily, but she seemed to like everybody from JAG right away. Gunny shook Jessica's hand.

"Nice to meet you Jessica. And just so you know, you can call me "Gunny", ok? I know the Commander from JAG ops." He gave Harm a questioning look as he closed the door. Harm and Clay didn't catch Jessica's response as they walked back to the car.

"She'll be ok," Harm looked out the window as he reassured Clay. "You do know you can trust Gunny, right?"

"Of course," Clay looked at his watch, and stepped on the gas.

* * *

Alyx looked up the incline. No, no lights, not yet.

"Oh, come on, come on," she whispered to herself. She looked at Tiner again. His breathing was strong, as was his pulse, but she wasn't too sure how long that would last, and by now she was positive that at least one of her legs was broken, if not both of them. Her cell battery was dead too.

She looked up with a surge of hope as car headlights headed that way. She sighed in disappointment as they drove on past. Five minutes later, the same thing happened. Alyx was quite close to sobbing. Where was he?

* * *

Clay was still doing thirty over the speed limit, even on the back roads. As he got to a tight curve, rather that slow down a little to get around it, he slammed on the brakes, hit the emergency brake, and jumped out. Harm gaped at Clay as he ran to the edge of the hill.

Harm's eyes opened wide as he saw the rent in the guardrail. He jumped out also, and hurried over to Clay.

"Help!" A feeble-sounding voice called out from below. The moon was full, so Harm didn't have to try too hard to see the shape of a beat-up car lying at the bottom. Harm froze, and Clay jumped through the parted guardrail and rushed to the bottom, slipping and sliding on his feet, knees and back-end, gripping at saplings, bushes and even pushing his hands on the ground to slow his descent.

Harm watched Clay's frantic trip in amusement, then followed Clay's path down, but more slowly. Harm caught up with Clay at the bottom.

Clay was taking a quick break, massaging his hands. Harm couldn't tell in the dark, but Clay's hand's seemed to be rubbed a little raw, and there was a rip in his T-shirt.

"You should have slowed down," Harm admonished Clay casually. Before Clay could come back with a sarcastic remark, they both heard Alyx as she called to them.

"Hurry, guys!" They hurried. Harm got to the car first, and opened Alyx's door wider.

"Are you ok?"

"I think my legs might be broken." She told him. Harm could tell she was trying not to cry. Harm lifted Alyx out of the wreck, and set her down on the ground. He looked at both of her legs.

"I don't think so, Alyx," he told her gently. "They don't look broken."

"Is Jason ok?" Harm didn't know what to say. He hadn't even seen Tiner yet.

Meanwhile, Clay had pried open the driver's seat door, and pulled Tiner out.

"Harm?" Harm looked up. Clay hefted Tiner into his arms, and carried him infant-style over to a few feet from where Harm and Alyx were. Clay placed Tiner on the ground and gasped for breath. Harm bent over Tiner and checked his breath and pulse. Clay pointed at Tiner's face. Harm squinted to see what Clay was pointing at.

Clay then auspiciously produced a mini-flashlight from a pocket and handed it to Harm, then walked a few feet away and sat down. Harm turned on the flashlight and pointed the beam at Tiner's face, and saw the glass imbedded there.

"Is there any glass in your face, Alyx?" Harm asked her.

"Maybe a little." She picked at a spot on her face. "Yes, there is definitely glass in my face."

There was also a large gash in Tiner's forehead, and the bleeding had slowed only a little. Harm checked for broken bones, then lifted Tiner's shirt a little, and saw a purplish/blue bruise on his stomach. He pressed it gently, and frowned.

"Great, internal bleeding." He didn't dare say it out loud, though. Harm looked over at Clay, who was scratching his head, looking absently at Tiner's little (almost crushed) silver car.

It was astounding. Both Alyx and Tiner should have been much more injured than they were. Harm got up and headed Clay's way.

"What are we going to do?" he whispered in Clay's ear.

"I don't know," Clay whispered back. "We have to get them up to the car, but I don't know how to do that."

"I have an idea." Harm walked back to Alyx.

"Can you try to stand, Alyx?" Alyx stood up painfully, greatly favoring her right leg.

"Well, at least I can stand!" her smile was a little quivery. Harm helped Alyx slowly make her way up the hill. Thirty minutes later, Harm slid back down to help Clay get Tiner up.

Harm and Clay looked at each other for a few seconds, each hoping the other had a brilliant idea. Finally, Harm just picked Tiner up and carried him piggyback style towards the hill.

Harm tediously trudged up to the car with Clay behind him. Clay held on to Tiner and pushed Harm to get them both up the hill.

At one spot, Harm began to slip. Pebbles fell and dust flew, hitting Clay in the face. Clay pressed against Harm's back to keep him from falling, and Harm slipped and fell forward, Tiner's weight pushing him down. Harm's face slammed into the ground and he bit back a yelp as blood began trickling out of his nose. Clay dug his feet into the ground and pulled Harm back up, then pushed him to stop his descent. At the same time, Harm grasped Tiner's hands around his neck with one hand, and dug his fingers into the ground with the other. Suddenly, they all stopped falling backwards.

Harm sighed in relief and headed up again. At last, Harm, Clay and Tiner got to Clay's car. Clay chuckled in relief.

"Forty minutes, tops," he guessed. Harm checked his watch. Thirty-nine minutes.

"Is he ok?" Alyx asked from the car.

"I'm not sure," Harm said as Clay opened the door on the other side. Clay flipped a few levers and flattened some of the seats, and Harm gently deposited Tiner on the space left and closed the door. Tiner's breathing was getting a little ragged, and his pulse had slowed down.

Harm and Clay climbed in the passenger and driver's seats, respectively, and Clay handed Harm a Kleenex for his nose, then carefully turned the car around, and drove going sixty-five all the way to the nearest hospital.

* * *

0600 ZULU

EMERGENCY WAITING ROOM

ST. CHRISTOPHER'S HOSPITAL

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Harm rubbed his face tiredly. He had been sitting in a hard chair in the emergency waiting room for over an hour. The doctors had taken Alyx and Tiner somewhere, and didn't tell him what was going on. Harm closed his eyes and leaned back, resting his head on the back of the chair.

"Coffee?" Harm opened his eyes. Clay was standing in front of him, holding two cups of coffee.

"Sure," Harm gratefully took the cup Clay offered him. He took a sip, and rubbed his face again.

"Still nothing?" Clay asked him.

"Nope," Harm answered dolefully, looking at his coffee. Webb was always a surprise. He had managed to make Harm's coffee just the way he liked it. Clay sat down next to Harm and shivered.

"Cold?" Harm asked sympathetically, looking at the thin T-shirt and dirty, ripped jeans Clay was wearing.

"No," Clay shook his head. "I just felt like shivering." Harm smiled wanly.

An elderly nurse walked through a door and looked at the paper she had with her.

"Is anyone here for Jason Tiner or Alyxandra Marshall?" she called out. Harm jumped out of his chair, and headed over. Clay wasn't far behind him.

"How are they?" Harm inquired.

"Well," she hesitated. "Miss Marshall is going to be just fine, but she seems to be a little paranoid about the condition of Mr. Tiner."

"And how is he?" Clay spoke up.

"Well, Mr. Tiner is in worse shape than Miss Marshall. He has a concussion, and quite a lot of internal bleeding, which the doctors are saying was a result of his airbag being flawed in some way. They think he slammed his stomach against the steering wheel. I know it's against the rules, but if you would like, I could see if you can take a peek through the records yourself. Um. The doctors are highly optimistic though. They think he'll pull through. He seems like a strong young man." Harm smiled.

"If you would like to, you can go see both of them right now," the kindly nurse offered.

"That would be great, thank you. Margaret," Harm read her name off of her nametag. Margaret smiled and led them down a hallway. Clay dropped his empty cup into the wastebasket they passed on the way. Harm had left his on the table next to his chair.

"Here you are," Margaret stopped in front of a door. "This is Mr. Tiner's room, and Miss Marshall's is just down at the other end of the hall. But I would advise you two let the young man rest. We're all surprised that he's even awake and talking." She turned, and walked out another door.

Harm moved into the room warily. Tiner was lying on the bed with sensors and wires hooked up to his arms. His eyes were closed. Clay stood at the door and Harm walked over to stand next to the bed. As he stood there, Tiner opened his eyes and smiled. Harm smiled back at him. He looked extremely tired out.

"How you doing?"

"Ok, sir," Tiner whispered. Harm could barely hear him. "My stomach is just sore, that's all." He cleared his throat. "How's Alyx?" he asked, only a little louder.

"She'll be fine, Tiner," Clay notified him. Tiner glanced in Clay's direction without moving his head. "That's good," he mumbled quietly.

"Well, we'll let you rest, Tiner," Harm told him. Tiner nodded, and closed his eyes again.

Harm and Clay walked out, and then headed in the direction of Alyx's room. Harm stepped into the room, and Alyx looked up quickly.

"Harm!" She looked like she was going to fall out of bed.

"Alyx, calm down," Harm said gently. She did.

"How is Jason?"

The doctors are saying he'll be just fine, Alyx," Harm told her with a small smile.

"He looked fine when we saw him," Clay piped up. Alyx gave a deep sigh.

"Oh, thank God. I was so scared he was going to be." she stopped and sighed again, trying not to cry.

Clay tried to cover a gargantuan yawn with one hand. It didn't escape Alyx's notice, though. She smiled through her watery eyes.

"You two look really tired. You should both go home and get some rest." Harm looked at Clay's haggard face. Five-o'-clock shadow too. He knew his face looked the same.

"You're right, Alyx. We'll see you later."

"Be careful driving home," she warned them.

"Definitely," Harm agreed with her.

"Bye," she called after them as they walked out. Harm looked back to see her start praying.

Harm looked around and started off for the nearest exit. Clay followed him out to a parking lot. Clay groaned to himself. Why was it that he seemed to be following Rabb everywhere all of a sudden?

He shook his head roughly as he spotted his car. He unlocked it, and the two of them sat down.

Clay finally relaxed. He let his entire body slump back into the comfortable softness of the seat and let his eyes blur. Harm followed suit and yawned. Hearing the yawn, Clay sat up and started the car.

"You ok?" Harm spoke up.

"Yeah," Clay said. Just the same, he couldn't get rid of that weird feeling in his chest. "What about you?" Harm raised his eyebrows.

"I don't know about you, but all I want to do is go home and sleep." Clay nodded and headed for Harm's place.

"And I still have to go relieve Galindez of Jessica. Knowing that kid, she probably didn't go to sleep, and was bugging him all night." Twenty minutes later, Clay pulled up to the curb outside of Harm apartment, and let him off.

"Thanks for everything, Webb," Harm said. "I really appreciate it,"

"Don't mention it," Clay told him. "Because if you do, you're going to regret it. We will have to discuss the meaning of this accident, you know. I don't think we will have too much trouble identifying the culprit. See you tomorrow, Rabb." Clay drove off into the night, and Harm waved at the retreating taillights.

Opening the door, he smelled all the leftover scents from dinner. He didn't even bother to change this time as he headed to his bed. He'd have to clean up the extra blankets and things tomorrow sometime. As Harm fell into an exhausted sleep, his fatigued brain asked a stupid question. Why would Tiner and Alyx just happen to be in an accident?

* * *

1800 ZULU

ST. PAUL'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

ALEXANDRIA, VA

Clay and Jessica arrived at St. Paul's a whole hour early. Clay wanted to make sure he and the others knew what was going on with the music program. Luckily, Jessica's school had an early dismissal.

"Jessica, can you get my stand?" Clay lifted his cello from the car. Jessica grabbed his stand and picked up his bow tie from the floor. Clay still hadn't had time to put it on.

As they entered the church through the side door, a tall older lady walked up to them, dodging the bustling caterers, family members, and other people swarming about.

"Are you Clayton Webb?" she asked with a cheerful smile.

"Yes, ma'am," Clay confirmed.

"Oh, good. The other three for your quartet are in there," she pointed to a door across the hall. "They are tuning up and going over some of the pieces. Oh, and I'm Alyx's mother," she smiled sheepishly. "I'm a little phased out right now, I'm sorry."

"Hello, Mrs. Marshall, it's nice to meet you." Clay smiled as he shook her hand. Alyx suddenly appeared in front of them, wearing a shimmery spaghetti- strap shirt that was the top half of her dress. It was sleek, and pure white, with an iridescent rainbow sliding back and forth over it in the light. The only problem was she still was wearing her jeans along with it.

"Mr. Webb! Jessica! Hello!" Alyx's face was flushed with excitement.

Clay had heard Jessica talk about the different popular "styles" of clothes, but this would probably be called "confused."

"Hi," Jessica smiled. "Hey, Alyx? I just wanted to thank you and Mr. Tiner for inviting me to your wedding too. It was really sweet of you guys."

"Well," Alyx bit her lip. Then she winked. "How else could we get you over here to help?" Clay chuckled as Alyx led Jessica off into the women's dressing room. Clay noticed she was still limping a little.

"You don't mind if I steal her, do you, Mr. Webb? We're a little short on helpers in the women's dressing room." Alyx didn't wait for an answer. Clay shook his head.

"Well, if you'll excuse me Mrs. Marshall, I need to get things set up with the music."

"Oh, of course Mr. Webb," Alyx's mother smiled. "It was nice meeting you."

"The same here, ma'am." Clay stuffed his tie in his pocket, and headed for the other room, cello in one hand, stand in the other. After introducing himself to his quartet partners, Clay headed for the bathroom. He reached for the doorknob, and it swung open on its own.

"I'm sorry!" Clay almost slammed into a respectable looking gentleman.

"No, it's my fault," the man insisted. "I should have been watching to see if anybody was there. I'm Geoffrey Marshall." He stuck out his hand. "I would guess you are either a friend of Jason's or one of the music players." Clay wondered how he knew that. Duh, Clay was still holding his music folder.

"Well, I am the cello player, but I suppose you could say I am a friend of the Petty Officer's. Umm. I'm better friends with one of his senior officers though. I'm not even sure why he sent me an invitation in the first place." Geoffrey Marshall grinned.

"I'll bet Jason would invite his worst enemy, just to be nice-"

"Geoffrey!" a muffled voice exclaimed, cutting him off.

"My wife," Alyx's father smiled apologetically. He started to walk quickly up the hall.

"It was nice meeting you, Mr. Marshall," Clay called to the turned back.

"And you, Mr. Webb," Mr. Marshall nodded at Clay.

Clay looked into the bathroom mirror, and tried to get his tie tied straight. All the Marshalls seemed to be extremely merry people.

* * *

It had been a rough week-and-a-half for everybody. With Tiner and Alyx in the hospital, the JAG officers and Tiner's parents and Alyx's parents were having trouble figuring out how to do everything.

The "inside" group at JAG had all come to visit Alyx and Tiner one day, and Alyx had hit it off with all of them. But Clay had only come to the JAG office to brainstorm once (without Jessica). They had settled that Adrian had been the gas station attendant responsible for tampering with the steering column and brakes for Tiner's car.

Meanwhile, the Tiners and Marshalls had almost postponed the wedding. But the two families had been able to pull the wedding off, and there had been no more problems at JAG. And Webb hadn't gotten any more on Adrian Palmer. It seemed like he had disappeared. But everybody knew better, and since all of the "Palmer people" were going to be at the wedding, they didn't know what to expect.

Against his own better judgement, Clay had told Alyx the "Adrian problem", on a "suggestion" from the Admiral.

There was a sense of fear all throughout the week, everyone waiting for something to happen.

Harm had also "baby-sat" Jessica a few times also during the week. She had changed. She wasn't so withdrawn and sad anymore. And she had made friends with almost everyone at JAG Ops.

Alyx had been discharged from the hospital four days before Tiner, with just her right knee and ankle sprained, and the small amounts of glass that had been in her face had been easily removed.

Tiner's injuries were more extensive though. He had gotten a concussion, and during the crash, Tiner's slamming into the steering wheel had caused internal bleeding in his stomach. And he had gotten more glass in his face, and there was a large, ugly scar across his head. Luckily, it was hidden somewhat by his hair, as it was situated near his hairline.

He had been discharged yesterday, and still didn't look quite his best.

When Alyx and Tiner were still in the hospital though, Harm had looked into the smiley face paper. Webb had told him that Adrian Palmer had planned on getting that particular illustration tattooed on his chest, but didn't, and Adrian had never said why. Mac and Harriet had been a little worried at the thought that their new enemy had a calling card. Gunny said that the face itself was neat, but he definitely would hate to get one in the mail. The Admiral had been his usual calm, but silently furious self about it, and Bud was as nervous as Harriet was. And everyone was expecting trouble today.

* * *

Clay started over again. He had been standing in front of the same mirror in the hallway for who knows how long, trying to get his tie straight.

Clay hated being nervous about anything. It had been a while since he had played his cello in public. And he knew Adrian was watching them. And there were people everywhere, heading towards the main room for the service. He'd better hurry.

"Webb!" Clay looked up. Mac was walking towards him amidst all the others going to their seats.

"Hello, Colonel," Clay gave up, and started his tie again.

"Here, let me help," Mac offered. Clay shrugged and let his hands fall at his sides as he turned to face Mac, and she expertly tied the bow tie straighter than Clay thought possible.

"Thank you," he looked in the mirror again and saw his flushed face.

"It's a brand new tie. They're hard to get under control until you've used them for a while," he tried to explain. Mac smirked, and stuck her tongue out, trying to hide the smile.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, Colonel, I have to get my cello ready." Clay rushed off for his cello before Mac managed to humiliate him further.

Mac smiled at Clay's hurried pace. New tie indeed. She followed the crowd through a doorway, and spotted the members of the JAG Ops who had been invited, all sitting in the same section of the church.

It was a big room, and the acoustics were fantastic. The only problem was that the acoustics made the noise from all the people in the room a little unbearable.

Harm, Bud, Harriet, A.J., Gunny, Imes and Matonni were there, all in the same pew. There were also two Petty Officers, two Lieutenant J.G.s and another Lieutenant. Mac couldn't remember their names. Jessica was sitting between A.J. and Bud, and Mac sat down in the open space between A.J. and Imes.

Mac smiled. Jessica was rambling about something. Bud was listening to her with rapt attention. Mac only heard a few different words like "Scotty", "Bones", and "The Enterprise". Jessica had found a friend.

Mac looked around, admiring the stained glass windows and the people. There had to be at least a hundred and fifty, if not two hundred people in the room. And all of them were dressed gorgeously. Mac knew that not all of them were members of Alyx and Tiner's families. There were too many for that. Had to be friends.

Bored, Mac studied her program. She flipped a page. There was the quartet. Violins: Gwen Lee and Kathryn Peters, Viola: Richard Nye, Cello: Clayton Webb. She looked towards the circle of performers, and Clay was looking her way.

She looked more closely, and saw that he was laughing at Jessica. Mac looked over herself. Jessica was animatedly explaining something, probably something to do with how so-and-so had saved the Enterprise.

She didn't want to be rude, but Mac hoped the service would start soon. She pressed a finger to her temple. The noise was getting unbearable.

* * *

Ethel was sitting in the very last row of pews. She turned to one of her companions.

"I heard that Alyxandra and the young man. What was his name? Jason?" She lowered her voice. "Well, I heard they were in an accident about a week ago."

"You don't say!" Pearl's eyes were wide.

"Yes," Peggy agreed. "I asked Lynn. She said that the young man was just let out of the hospital yesterday."

"Oh, the poor dears," Pearl cooed. "I hope they are alright." Pearl managed to look up at the priest, Father Christopher, just as he nodded to that nice looking group of people who were going to be playing their instruments.

The beautiful music washed over the entire group gathered for the service, and almost immediately there was silence.

* * *

2230 ZULU

THE CASA GRANDE

WASHINGTON D.C.

Glasses clinked and silverware clattered. The Casa Grande was one of the most expensive eating establishments in town, and the Tiners had reserved the ballroom downstairs for the reception.

As soon as the wedding service was over, the car with Alyx and Tiner in it had left immediately, leading the others to the restaurant.

Bud wondered how they had managed to afford it. Either the Tiners were very rich, or the Marshalls were. The meal had been fabulous, and dessert was just starting. There were fifteen people to a table, with Clay and Jessica ending up with the JAG crew.

Clay hadn't said much for the last two hours or so, but Jessica, along with all the other ladies from JAG had been talking non-stop about how beautiful everything was. The men had talked just as much. The men and women that Mac couldn't remember their names talked amongst themselves.

A.J. had even complimented Clay on his music, but Clay had just shrugged, saying a quiet "thanks." Everybody was a little stumped by Clay's downcast mood. They figured he would perk up later on. Tiner and Alyx were going to be cutting the cake soon.

Tiner's mother and father walked up to the table.

"Hello, Commander, Mrs. Tiner," A.J. stood up to greet them.

"Hello, Admiral," Mrs. Tiner smiled.

"Sir," Tiner's dad saluted. A.J. saluted back, and stuck his hand out.

"The service was great," A.J told him.

"Yes, sir, Father Christopher is one of the senior priests here. Jason asked specifically for him to do the service." Comdr. Tiner shook A.J.'s hand and smiled.

"Mr. Webb?" Mrs. Tiner looked at him questioningly.

"Ma'am?"

"The music was fantastic." She beamed. "I could tell that you seemed to be in charge."

"Thank you, ma'am," Clay smiled. "It's been a while since I've played a wedding."

"Mom!" a voice called from across the room. "Dad!"

The Commander and Mrs. Tiner looked up.

"Excuse us," they walked over to the table in the front of the room. Tiner nodded his head and nudged Alyx's arm.

Tiner's half brother Edward had been best man during the wedding service, but now he put his fingers to his lip, and a shrill whistle pierced the air. All heads snapped to looked over where the noise had come from.

Alyx's father laughed, and seemingly at a loss for words, he gestured to Tiner and Alyx, who were holding the same knife, its blade just resting on the surface of the creamy white icing of the cake that was just taken out of the restaurant fridge.

Everyone in the room cheered as the knife cut cleanly through the first slice. Placing it on a plate, Tiner handed the plate to Alyx.

Alyx, in turn, forked up some of the cake, and fed it to Tiner. Taking the plate from Alyx, Tiner followed suit, and accidentally smudged some icing on her mouth. Tiner wiped it off with a napkin, laughing.

Alyx suddenly smiled impishly and picked up the plate of cake. Giggling, she smeared it all over Tiner's face. Everyone could hear his astonished gasp as cold icing touched his skin. The cake and plate dropped to the floor, and Alyx grinned, waving at Tiner.

Tiner wiped at his face with one hand, and without warning, kissed Alyx on the mouth. As they pulled apart, whistles and catcalls popped up from every corner of the room. Tiner then took the hand with the icing on it, and rubbed it in Alyx's hair. Alyx squealed, and Tiner chortled.

Alyx looked like she was ready to shove Tiner's entire head into the rest of the cake, but her mother was holding plates, with tears of laughter in her eyes, standing just to the left of it. Tiner's mother took the knife from off of the table, and gestured good-naturedly to the bathrooms. Tiner nodded, and walked off. Alyx followed a mili-second later, gently touching her slimy head.

* * *

In five minutes, Tiner was back out of the bathroom, face clean. A damp- haired Alyx came out two minutes after him, and everybody settled down to enjoy the cake. Then music started and the lights dimmed, and the floor started to fill.

Bud and Harriet jumped up right away. Gunny asked Imes to dance, and Matonni held his arm out to Mac. A.J. had spotted a woman about his age sitting by herself across the room. He headed that way.

The other JAG personnel walked off through the crowd. Clay and Jessica just sat on the sidelines for a few minutes, then Harm came up and asked Jessica to dance. Jessica smiled, and followed him out onto the floor. Clay watched them for a few seconds. Harm had to teach her how. Then Mac approached Clay.

He had been glancing furtively around the room even before dinner had started, and was now looking desperate.

"What's the matter, Webb?" Mac sat down next to him. He grimaced.

"I keep on expecting to see Adrian somewhere." Mac sighed in disgust and grabbed Clay's wrist.

"Webb, you're obsessing. And you're ruining my night. Now shut up and dance." Webb sighed in exasperation, and danced.

* * *

After an hour or so of dancing, the lights brightened, and Tiner and Alyx began to open gifts.

Anything a newly wed couple could possibly need was right there. But Alyx and Tiner were most overwhelmed by the gift from the JAG office.

They had taken a collection up a few times in the past week-and-a-half, and had raised over four thousand dollars towards a house for the two of them.

"Thank you," Alyx was close to tears, and Tiner looked more shocked than anybody ever had seen him.

"Yes, sir, thank you, sir!" Clay looked a little embarrassed as Alyx reached for the next one. The small package was wrapped in shiny black paper with a silver ribbon.

Gunny looked at Clay. That one must be from him. Gunny didn't know what to think. Tiner pulled the ribbon off, and handed the package to Alyx, who took the top off.

A set of car keys lay nestled in the blue tissue paper on the bottom. "Webb" was written in pen underneath the lid.

Alyx looked up at the audience. Jessica elbowed Clay. Webb sighed and sat up straighter.

"It's out back," he spoke up self-consciously. Tiner and Alyx walked to the window Clay had nodded to. An electric blue '65 Mustang convertible sat gleaming in the early evening light, its white ragtop up.

"Oh!" Alyx gasped, and Tiner shook Clay's hand heartily.

"Thank you, Mr. Webb." His smile had to hurt his face. Alyx gave Clay a quick hug.

"Thank you!" Clay wanted this to be over.

"Well, I knew you had been trying to get ahold of one for a while, Tiner, so I just figured. And I checked with your mother, Alyx. She said that was your favorite color." Tiner and Alyx just smiled radiantly, and, almost disappointedly, returned to the other gifts. Clay sighed in relief.

A.J. leaned over to him. "How much?" He smirked. Clay ignored him.

Another hour and forty-five minutes later, the last gift had been opened, and the guests were starting to leave. The gift from JAG, and Clay's car (much to his chagrin) had been the highlight of the evening. "Good-bye"s and "see you later"s were passed back and forth between everyone, along with congratulations, handshakes, and hugs.

Imes, Matonni and the others had left, but the rest of the JAG crew, and Clay and Jessica stayed behind. Tiner's father had left to take Edward home. His car wasn't working. Tiner's mother and Alyx's parents were all trying to get a truck to take all the gifts to Tiner's parents' house. Gunny sneaked a look at the scar on Tiner's head.

"So," he stopped staring. "Where are you going for the honeymoon?" Tiner looked at Alyx, as if in reassurance.

"We've decided not to go on a honeymoon until the.problem is cleared up." Suddenly, the cheerful mood changed. Alyx nodded somberly.

"Yeah, I would hate to come home to find somebody had been killed."

"Well, tomorrow is Saturday, and we are all going to be brainstorming at the office tomorrow. I hope the two of you will join us?" A.J. looked at them questioningly.

"Of course, Admiral," Tiner nodded. Jessica yawned into her hand. Clay looked at his watch.

"0115 hours," Mac spoke up. Harm shook his head. Bud grinned.

"Well, Tiner, Alyx, I suppose Harriet and I should be heading out too." He held his hand out, and Tiner shook it, smiling. Alyx and Harriet hugged, also grinning ear-to-ear.

"Thank you again for the dinnerware set." Tiner repeated, shaking Harriet's hand. Alyx likewise grasped Bud's.

"It was beautiful," Alyx called as they headed out the door.

"You're welcome, and congratulations!" Bud waved, and closed the door behind him.

"That probably goes the same for all of us," A.J. stifled his own yawn. "You got here with me, didn't you, Gunny? Do you still need a ride?"

"Yes, sir, I appreciate it, thank you." Gunny and the Admiral shook Tiner's hand, and both of them in turn shook Alyx's.

"Thank you for the beer stein and champagne glass, Admiral," Alyx said. Tiner smiled.

"Yes, sir, I'd been trying to find a reason to get one for a while. Now we just need to go buy something to drink out of it!" The group chuckled. "And Gunny? The X-Files set was a stroke of genius, thank you." Gunny grinned.

"Now Jason and I have to find a way to fit in an episode a week!" Alyx laughed. A.J. and Gunny waved, heading out.

"Congratulations!" They laughed as they said it at the same moment, and the door closed behind them.

"Well I hope you like the lawn decorations," Mac told them. She had gotten them a setup with an assortment of four glass globes on pedestals, and a little tub to make a pond in the yard, and other items for their new house's yard (when they got it).

"Oh, ma'am, how could we not?" Tiner raised his eyebrows.

"Everything is going to be gorgeous when it's put together, Mac" Alyx gave her a hug.

"Well, Harm, you ready?" Mac asked him. "Since I gave you a ride, I guess I'll have to give you a ride home."

"Yup," Harm turned to Tiner and Alyx. "Well, congratulations," he smiled.

"Thank you for the gift certificates, Harm." Alyx shook his hand. Harm had gotten them a gift certificate worth a hundred and fifty dollars to their favorite Italian restaurant. Tiner shook his hand.

"We should have you come along the next time we go," he smiled.

"Maybe," Harm's grin widened. "Well, we'll see you two tomorrow," he held the door open for Mac, and waved as they headed for Mac's car. Tiner once again shook Clay's hand furiously.

"Thank you so much, sir!" Clay smiled in discomfort. Tiner was acting like a little kid at Christmas. Alyx hugged Jessica.

"It was sweet of you to help us out, Jessica," she thanked her cheerfully. Jessica smiled tiredly.

"Sure. It was nice of you to invite me," she yawned again.

"Well, I'd better get her home," Clay punched Jessica's shoulder gently. "You ready to go, kid?"

"Uh-huh," Jessica nodded.

"Thank you again, Mr. Webb," Alyx said gratefully. "For your gift, and for playing this afternoon."

"Yeah, well, you know," Clay tried to brush off their thanks. "Well, let's go, Jess." Jessica gave Tiner a hug, and Clay shook Alyx's hand.

"Thank you again," Alyx waved as Clay and Jessica headed for the door.

"You're welcome." Clay left it at that and led Jessica outside. "Congratulations," Clay called behind him.

"Thank you," Tiner and Alyx waved.

Tiner's mother and Alyx's parents came back into the room.

"Well, there's a U-Haul truck on it's way right now." Geoffrey told them. Alyx rubbed her forehead, and Tiner yawned.

A half-hour later, they were getting in their cars. Tiner leaned over and gave Alyx a kiss. She reached for his hand, and held it as he started their new Mustang up.

"Can you believe it?" she asked him elatedly.

"It's a little hard to. I mean, here we are, finally!" he chuckled ecstatically. He looked down at his new ring, and Alyx studied her own.

A car behind them honked, and Tiner drove off, laughing at his mother who was behind him. Now that the wedding was over, all he needed to worry about was what was going to be happening with the people at JAG.

* * *

0300 ZULU

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

A.J. parked his car and headed for the door. He was just going to walk in, but a voice stopped him.

"Sir, I'll need to see some identification." The security guard was dressed in fatigues and holding his hand out. A.J. handed over his wallet. Looking at the Admiral's JAG ID and driver's license, the guard nodded.

"Extra work tonight, Admiral?" He saluted and held the Admiral's wallet out.

"You could say that," A.J. put his wallet back into his pocket and saluted back. The security guard politely held the door open.

"Have a nice evening, sir." The Admiral caught a glimpse of the security guard's face by the pale light of the street-lamp. He couldn't have been more than nineteen or twenty, but there was assertive look to his face. "What's your name, son?" A.J. tried to get a better grip on the paper bag he was holding.

"Petty Officer Hawk, sir," the PO stood up straighter.

"You have a nice night too," A.J. walked into the building. He strolled to the elevator and pressed the "up" button.

A.J. mused to himself as he waited. The PO outside seemed like a well- mannered young man. It had been a while since A.J. had promoted anyone.

The doors opened and he stepped in. Suddenly, his bag tore as the elevator began moving. A.J. stared at the papers fluttering around, the bottle of soda rolling on the floor, and the two packages of sandwich cookies in frustration. A.J. bent over and stuffed all the papers back in their folder.

DING. The door opened, and A.J. picked up the soda and cookies. Placing his folder under his arm, he walked to the conference room through the dark hallways. As he entered, he turned on the lights, and placed his things on the table. Sighing, he sat down to wait for the others.

* * *

Harm grabbed his bag with the Tupperware containers in it. Mac reached for her apples.

"You went out and bought vegetables to bring?" Mac had bought the apples the other day, and wasn't eating them. She didn't want them to go rotten.

"Yeah," Harm shrugged. "I had a feeling we were going to be here for a while." Harm and Mac walked up the steps.

"Sir, ma'am, I'll need to see some identification." The PO held his hand out. Harm and Mac showed him their JAG IDs.

"Thank you, sir, ma'am." PO Hawk held the door open for them and saluted.

"Thank you," Mac glared at Harm's back as he hurried in. Mac smiled at PO Hawk contritely. The door closed behind her as she followed Harm.

"You didn't even acknowledge him!" Mac accused Harm. Harm shrugged again, apologetically.

"Yeah, I probably should have thanked him." The elevator door opened.

"Hold the door!" a voice called out. Mac looked over her shoulder. Tiner and Alyx were running over. Both Tiner and Alyx were carrying bags.

"Hoagies," Alyx smiled cheerfully and held up her bag. Tiner smiled.

"Hello sir, ma'am."

"Hey Tiner," Harm grinned at him. "Hi Alyx."

"Hello, Tiner, Alyx." Mac smiled as she pushed the button. The elevator started to move.

A few seconds later, the door opened at the next floor, and the four of them headed for the light at the end of the hall. A.J. was hanging up the phone as they entered the room. He turned to them with a distressed look.

"That was the Gunny. He was supposed to get a ride with Lt. Roberts and Lt. Sims. When he arrived at their home, A.J. was missing." Mac's eyes opened wide, and Alyx gasped. Alyx had met little A.J. in the hospital.

"Sir?" Harm's voice wavered a little. Tiner seemed a little pale.

"He said Bud and Harriet are frantic. The Gunny thinks it was Palmer. Adrian. There was a note, telling them not to look for A.J., that he was in capable hands.There was a smiley face on it." The Admiral sighed. "Gunny will be staying with Bud and Harriet for the time being. None of them will be here tonight, obviously. They called the police, so, we'll just have to wait."

"Poor little guy," Tiner mumbled. Alyx and Tiner quietly took the hoagies and soda out of their bags, and place them on the table. Harm and Mac followed suit. Dejectedly, they sat down to wait for Webb.

* * *

"Do you really think this was necessary?" Clay handed Jessica a jug of orange juice as he stepped out of the car.

"Well, even if nobody else will eat or drink anything, I'm hungry." She grinned at Clay as she grabbed the cheese and crackers. Clay locked the car doors and tried to take the juice from Jessica as they headed up the steps.

"No, I'll get it." She held it away from him. "You'll mess up your suit." Clay chuckled and held the door open for Jessica, and Jessica hurried to the elevator. Jessica always seemed to be obsessive about making sure Clay kept his suits perfect.

Entering the hallway leading to the bullpen, Jessica held the juice, cheese and crackers to Clay.

"Now you can hold it. I really have to go to the bathroom. I'll be in as soon as I'm done. Just don't mess up your suit."

"Ok."

Clay and Jessica headed in opposite directions. Clay opened the conference room door and stopped short.

"What did I miss?" He frowned. Why was everybody looking at him strangely?

"The Gunny called... Lt. Roberts' and Lt. Sims' son is missing," the Admiral told him. Clay put his food on the table.

"And I'm guessing it was Adrian?" he sighed heavily.

"They're pretty sure. The note had a smiley face on it." Clay sat down and sighed again. He rested his head in his hands.

"Did the note say that he wanted anything?"

"Nothing at all. We'll just have to wait and see what happens next." Webb looked up and rubbed his eyes.

"Well then, let's get down to business." He proceeded to tell them what had been left out of the report. The group tried to piece together the puzzle, but ten minutes later, it was like walking through knee-deep mud to make sense of everything.

"Can we take a break?" Harm asked. "I feel like my head's starting to implode." A.J. nodded.

Talk turned to other things, and Tiner grabbed half of a hoagie. A.J. poured himself some orange juice as he popped a carrot stick in his mouth, and Harm bit into an apple. Alyx reached halfway across the table to reach the raw broccoli and dip.

Mac started to hound Harm for not being polite to the security guard outside as she placed cubes of cheddar cheese on crackers. Clay started to shove a cookie into his mouth whole. Suddenly he set it back onto his plate and spoke up.

"What security guard?"

"The one at the front door." Harm said. Clay scowled. He could hear the "duh" in Harm's voice.

"Why?"

"There was no guard at the door when I got here." Clay's eyes suddenly opened wide. "Mac, could you go to the bathrooms and check if Jessica's ok?"

"You mean she's here?" Mac sounded shocked. Clay nodded.

"She said she had to go to the bathroom when we got here. That was ten minutes ago. I knew I should have checked a while ago. Or waited for her there."

"Ok, I'll go look." Mac left. The same thought ran through the other's heads: why did Web bring Jessica and then seem to forget about her?

Three minutes after that, Mac rushed back into the room.

"She's not in there." Her voice was strained. "I looked around in a few of the offices, called her name. I can't find her."

Clay slammed his fist on the table. Mac could hear him swear under his breath. He stood up, and headed for the door, his jaw set in a firm line, his eyes cold steel.

"Slow down, Webb," Harm joined him. "You might need some help."

"Wait!" Alyx stood up too. "Before anything else happens, I need to tell you all something. Jason, Mr. Webb, you already know this. I'm enlisted in the Navy, and I'm in the CIA too," she blurted out.

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed. What else could the JAG crew possibly not know about? Alyx shuffled her feet.

"I was sent on a mission to apprehend Adrian Palmer, and that's when I met Jason. I had to keep my enlistment a secret." Her voice suddenly rose sharply. "But I'm tired of lying about it!" Her voice softened again. "I'm sorry, Mr. Webb, I know I wasn't supposed to tell anyone,"

"I'm not worried about it any more," he dismissed her with a wave of his hand. At that point, Clayton Webb was a frightening sight to behold. "Furious" was written all over his body.

"Right now, all I want to do is find my best friend and give him a piece of my mind."

* * *

0330 ZULU

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

They decided to split up. Admiral Chegwidden assigned search areas. A.J. and Harm got the ground floor and basement. Alyx and Mac took the next two floors above A.J. and Harm. Clay and Tiner were sent to the very top floor, to work their way down.

After the news about little A.J., and since Jessica had gone missing, the group had morphed rapidly from apprehensive to enraged.

A.J. had managed to find a gun for those who had none. After that, everybody was armed. As they headed for the elevators, everyone was a little uneasy in the dark. The Admiral and Harm got in one to go down, and the door closed behind them. Alyx, Mac, Tiner and Clay all got into the other, to go up.

Mac and Alyx got out when they reached the third floor. Alyx and Tiner quickly kissed. Clay could see Alyx was crying. The door closed again, and Tiner took a deep breath. Clay made up his mind.

"Tiner? I don't care if I'm not in your chain of command, but I want you to promise me you won't take any unnecessary chances." Tiner blinked.

"Sir?"

"I saw Alyx, Tiner. I'm not blind. I want you to be extremely careful."

"Alright, sir," Tiner shrugged. Sometimes, Tiner found it impossible to understand this man. But then, why couldn't Mr. Webb be that nice all the time? People would like him more. And it was nice of him to at least act concerned for Tiner's welfare.

DING. The door opened, and Clay and Tiner stepped out. Clay checked his gun, and walked off to the right, Tiner at his heels.

After walking for a few minutes, Clay was ready to turn around. But the noise he heard changed his mind. Clay held his breath, waiting for Tiner's response to what sounded like someone in trouble. He didn't say anything. Then they came to a fork in the hallways.

"Why don't we split up?" Clay pointed down the left hall, in the opposite direction of where the sound had come from. "You can head down that way, and I'll go this way." He pointed to the right. Clay hoped Tiner would take the bait.

"Ok," Tiner nodded. He walked to the end of the hall on the left, and turned a corner.

Clay sighed in relief. Now if he would keep going that way, the worst thing that could happen would be Webb getting hurt. Or worse. Clay grimaced, readied his gun, and slid furtively along the wall towards the end of the hall.

At the other end of the building, Tiner leaned up against the wall, just out of sight from anyone who happened to be coming that way. Why on earth would Webb make him come this way? Tiner had heard the muffled voice too. He knew it was coming from the opposite direction. And after the Admiral had specifically told the teams to keep together.

He looked at his watch. Almost. He waited another second, then jumped up, and jogged to where he and Clay had separated. He glanced about nervously, and hurried to find Webb. Suddenly, Tiner stopped short. There he was, getting ready to open a door.

Clay swallowed, and put his hand on the doorknob. He desperately hoped nobody was in the room.

"Please, God," he whispered to himself. "Please, let nobody be there. Or let me find the kids. Or just Adrian or Clark? Or both of them? I can handle the two of them at once. Please, just don't let them be in there with the kids." He steeled himself, turned the knob and stepped in.

A second later, Tiner peeked through the doorway. Webb was standing a few feet into the room.

"Clayton Bryant Webb!" a cheerful voice called out. A man stood up in the back of the room. "Long time, no see, buddy! How's it going?"

Instantly, a dark blur shot forward, and an unearthly, high-pitched scream filled the room.

"You.!"

The dark blur tackled the other figure, full force. Tiner realized that the dark blur was Webb, who had tried to knock the other person down.

Tiner nodded in admiration. He had never seen anyone run so fast. But, go figure, Webb's surprise attack hadn't worked.

Next approach? Clay wrapped his hands around the throat of the man who had to be Adrian Palmer and squeezed.

Tiner bit his lip and wrung his hands together. He wasn't sure what to do. Webb was shaking Adrian Palmer, and slamming him against the wall. He was swearing a blue streak, the words themselves coming out wrong and hard to understand. Every few seconds, a choked, sobbing shriek would emit from Clay's throat. Adrian's face was getting rather purple, but it seemed he was trying to laugh.

Unexpectedly, Adrian socked Clay in the face. Clay reeled back, stunned by a powerful left hook, the wind knocked out of him a little.

All was quiet for a second or two. Adrian's breath was a little ragged, but he had no trouble yanking out his own gun. He pointed the muzzle at Clay's head. Clay froze immediately.

"Yeah." Adrian snickered. "You know what I can to with this, don't you?" Clay timidly took a breath.

"Why?" His voice was scratchy from shouting. In a flash, Adrian was mad, and his grin was missing.

"They always ask why! You want to know why? You really want to know? Well, the biggest thing is how corrupt our government is," he stopped, and the smile returned. "Actually, it's because they imprisoned my only brother in the world!"

Tiner could see Adrian's odd, childish sense of humor. If it was this bad now, Tiner didn't want to know what the "sick" part was like.

"And besides, Clay, what you don't know is what showed me how wrong the CIA is. They used me, Clay. They use everybody. I didn't want to be taken advantage of. Now, I can do what I want. If something's too dangerous for my liking, I won't do it. The pay is much better doing this, anyway. And my favorite part. I don't have to listen to anybody but myself!" Clay quickly changed the subject.

"Where are Jessica and A.J.?" He was starting to get worried.

"Oh, don't worry, they're in good hands." Adrian smiled more. "Clark was a fantastic baby-sitter when he was a kid. I would imagine A.J. has no clue of what is going on. But I'm willing to bet Jessica is terrified out of her wits by now."

Adrian flipped open a cell phone. "I think I'll call Clark. I don't think anybody really needs either of those kids, right?" Tiner's mouth dropped open. He couldn't believe he was hearing this!

"Two bullets shouldn't cost too much."

"What?" Clay's voice was only a whisper.

"Well, I don't need the girl. Having her was just a way to get you mad at me. But now, I know what killing her will do to you, so I'll have Clark kill her. And I never needed the boy. That'll just make Roberts and Sims lose it, which will make Rabb mad, which is a favor for Clark." Satisfied, Adrian started to dial a number.

Terrified and furious, Clay fired his gun, and the bullet imbedded itself into Adrian's stomach. He fell back and bumped into the wall, dropping his phone.

Adrian laughed demonically. He lifted up his shirt to reveal a Kevlar vest as he choked on his laughter

"That was the stupidest thing you have ever done in your entire life, Clay!" Clay's eyes widened. He was a complete idiot. He should have known Adrian would be wearing one.

Sweat dripped down the side of his face. Adrian calmed down.

"Since you only shot me once in the stomach, I'll only shoot you once in the stomach." Adrian proceeded to slowly aim his gun at the promised target. Webb gulped, and blinked his eyes hard.

"God, please," he murmured as he stared at Adrian.

Adrian then noticed Tiner, crouching at the doorway. He whipped his gun over and fired as Clay jumped to the left a few steps. Tiner's gasp was lost in the echo of the shot. Clay wrapped his right arm around his waist and started to teeter. Adrian walked around him and shoved at Clay's back.

As Clay crashed to the floor, Tiner ran for the nearest unlocked door. Adrian hurried out and looked around for Tiner. Not seeing him, Adrian walked back to taunt Clay.

Adrian grinned, and prodded Clay with his foot. Clay groaned, only half conscious. He had hit his head on the ground as he fell.

Adrian bent down to pick up his phone. Frowning, he stood over Clay.

"Now you made me break my phone. Lucky you, I can't call Clark. You know what? Never mind, that's ok, because I can call him from a different phone," Adrian stepped over the inert form lying on the ground. Clay moaned as Adrian kicked him, hard, in the head.

Adrian stepped out of the room again, a big grin on his face. Tiner heard the soft chuckle and cautiously poked his head out of the cleaning closet. Adrian was walking towards the elevators. As he turned the corner, Tiner dashed back to the other room, and burst in.

Clay groaned as Tiner entered.

"Mr. Webb?" Tiner swallowed. Clay was now completely out cold. Tiner carefully rolled him over.

"Please, please," he muttered. Tiner unbuttoned the bloody suit jacket and vest. The white dress shirt was sticking to Clay's skin. Tiner gently pulled it away, and unbuttoned those buttons.

Tiner winced and bit his lip. Gut wound. Tiner wasn't a doctor, or even a corpsman, but he as well as almost anybody else could tell you that if you got shot there, odds were you'd be dead within the hour.

Tiner re-buttoned all of Webb's buttons, and thought for a moment. Sighing in resignation, Tiner gingerly lifted Clay out of the puddle of blood on the floor, and onto his back. Clay whimpered pitifully as Tiner jostled him.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Webb," Tiner apologized to him softly as he started to walk to the elevator. "But I have to get you out of here. And this is the only way."

Now what? Tiner had never been so lost in his life. Go to the elevators, and risk bumping into Adrian? Stay there and wait for help? No, Mr. Webb might be dead by then. Tiner felt like crying. He didn't want it to be like this. He wanted to be a lawyer! Not running around with a gun, waiting to be shot!

Tiner took a deep breath, and walked to the elevators. He pressed the buttons, and waited, looking around nervously. Two minutes later, the elevator still had not come up, and Tiner opted for the stairs.

Walking down a flight of steps with a man on your back is very difficult. Tiner almost fell three times.

Reaching the bottom of the first flight, Tiner looked around. He had to put Webb somewhere to take a break. Wandering around, looking for an open office to lay Webb down in, Tiner was having trouble focusing. Every shadow looked like a person. Then Tiner saw an office with the door actually open.

Walking towards it, Tiner reached for his gun. Now, when something happens exactly when you need it to happen. Tiner turned his head to ask the unconscious man on his back a question.

"Now, who would be stupid enough to walk into such an obvious trap?" Without warning, a burning pain ripped through the back of his right thigh. Tiner heard the gunshot as he fell to a kneeling position, and nearly dropped Clay. "Well, I guess I'm pretty stupid." Tiner said out loud. A voice came from Tiner's shoulder.

"No, you're not," Clay whispered. Placing Webb down as quickly and carefully as possible, Tiner turned around.

Clark Palmer (not Adrian, Clark) was standing there, his gun aimed at Tiner, a little smile on his face.

Really mad, Tiner switched the safety of his own gun off, and fired a round off at Clark. The bullet impacted soundly into Clark's leg, almost exactly in the same spot in which Tiner had been wounded, except in the front of his leg.

Clark gasped and stumbled back for the stairs, and Tiner shot at him again. The bullet ricocheted off the metalwork of the steps as he missed. Clark limped up the stairs rapidly, shouting back at Tiner. Tiner couldn't catch any of it though. As soon as he was sure Clark wasn't coming back right away, Tiner sighed in relief, and squeezed at his leg, biting his lip, and clenching his teeth in pain.

He glanced over at Webb. He hadn't moved at all. Then it hit him. Webb had told Tiner he wasn't stupid. So, he had woken up. He was out again, though.

Tiner pulled out his handkerchief, and tried to tie it around his leg. It wasn't big enough, so Tiner grabbed Webb's. He tied the two together, and tied them around his leg as tightly as possible.

Tiner looked around. Now what? He had never been shot before. He chuckled wryly to himself. He remembered the time he had been bothering Commander Rabb and Gunny about what it was like to be shot. Well, now he knew. Tiner rested his head in his hands. What was he supposed to do?

Clay moaned softly again, and Tiner stuck his chin out resolutely. He stood up shakily, and staggered over to Clay. Rubbing his forehead, Tiner noticed a red splotch on his shoulder.

"What the.?" Tiner rubbed at the blood on his shoulder. "Where'd that come from?" he asked himself. Not coming up with an answer, he shrugged, and started to pick Clay up again. Before he did, he noticed something.

"Awww, man." There was bright red blood dripping from Clay's mouth.

Tiner pulled his sleeve over his hand, and wiped away the blood that was slimed on Clay's chin, praying fervently that he could get both of them to safety soon. Tiner knew he'd be ok. He had only been shot in the leg. Webb on the other hand. Webb was still bleeding, and with that gut wound.

"Hang in there Mr. Webb," Tiner whispered. Hefting Clay onto his back again, Tiner almost screamed as his leg nearly gave way. Deadening himself to the pain, Tiner clenched his teeth and continued on his way.

As he reached the bottom of the next flight of steps, Tiner's eyes began to water. He sniffed the air. Looking around, he noticed a slight glow coming from. somewhere. Clay coughed, and Tiner felt something splatter against his cheek. He wiped at it, and brought his hand away from his cheek, a splotch of blood on his palm.

Tiner hurried for the next flight of steps. The smoke was thicker there, and it was getting extremely hot. Tiner could also hear the roaring of the fire that was downstairs.

Panting, Tiner rushed down the steps. Racing down the scorching, smoke- filled hallways, Tiner made a wrong turn. He nearly ran smack into the flames.

Tiner bit back a cry as a new wave of heat hit him. As Tiner spun around to escape, his bad leg crumpled under him. Both Clay and Tiner collapsed to the floor. At first, Tiner thought he could get up quickly, and get out. But the next second, he slipped into the darkness.

* * *

0430 ZULU

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

Harm was hacking his guts out, along with the Admiral. Finally, no more smoke. A.J. was crying, and Alyx picked him up. They were outside the JAG building, watching as it burned to the ground. The Admiral walked silently up to Harm.

"You alright?" Harm winced and nodded, gripping his left arm with his right hand, and his right side with his left hand. Mac was staring at the flames shooting into the sky. Harm and A.J. followed her gaze, as did Alyx. Alyx bit back tears, and Mac closed her eyes as she bowed her head. Harm sighed sorrowfully. The Admiral took A.J. from Alyx and hugged him tightly.

* * *

Tiner opened his irritated eyes. Smoke was all around him. He coughed once, and tried to sit up. Sucking in smoke, Tiner started to cough harder. He laid back down, trying to gather his wits. Then time started once more.

Tiner once again saw and heard the flames that were almost upon him. He could almost feel the hair on his face start to sizzle. Tiner pulled himself to his knees, and dragged Webb closer to him, away from the fire. By sheer will, Tiner tugged Clay on his back for the third time that night. He started to flounder towards the exit. As he almost reached the doors, Tiner started to contemplate. He must have been out only for a few seconds, or else he and Mr. Webb would have been dead by then. Suddenly, Tiner remembered the others. He took a deep breath. If they hadn't got out. Blocking his mind to all other thoughts, Tiner shoved against the door with his shoulder. He almost burnt his shoulder before it gave way. Tiner lurched out, and down the stairs. He nearly tripped twice in the driveway, running to safety. Abruptly, he was upon them.

"Tiner!" He couldn't tell what was going on. Finally, the strain of the last hour-and-a-half proved too much for Tiner. He pitched forward, and Webb toppled off of his back.

A pair of strong arms caught Tiner as he fell. A.J. gently carried Tiner even farther from the burning building. Harm likewise struggled to bear the dead weight of an unconscious Clayton Webb. Harm and A.J. carried their burdens to where Mac, Alyx and little A.J. were.

"Jason!" Alyx left Mac to look after A.J. Alyx's terror melted away as Tiner was brought in front of her. The Admiral laid him down on the grass, and Alyx smoothed Tiner's mussed hair back. Tiner opened his eyes, smiled wanly, and sat up. He cleared his throat. A.J. smiled back at him.

Tiner looked at little A.J. in confusion.

"What happened? What's he doing here?" Alyx snuggled closer to Tiner.

"Mac and I found him in an office a little bit after we left you and Mr. Webb."

"That's good. Did everybody get out ok? What about the Palmers? And Jessica?" Tiner blinked his itchy eyes. A.J. frowned.

"Nobody found Jessica." He scratched his cheek. "The Commander and I ran into Adrian a little bit after we heard the gunshots on the fifth floor. He had a knife, and managed to slice the Commander a good one. Twice, actually. After that, we didn't see either of them. Was Clark here too?" Tiner nodded.

"Yessir, he was. That's how I got shot, sir." Then Alyx noticed his bloody pants. She gasped, and her hand flew up to her face. "I'll be alright Alyx, don't worry." Tiner smiled confidently.

Meanwhile, Harm had placed Webb down on the grass as well. Mac was carrying A.J. and watching Harm. Webb coughed, and Harm tried to find out where the blood was coming from. A.J. squirmed to get out of Mac's grasp. She let him go, and he ran over to sit with Alyx. Mac turned her attention back to Harm and Clay.

"Well?" she asked. Harm looked up at her, his face pale.

"See for yourself." He pointed at Clay's abdomen. Mac's mouth dropped open. The entire stomach area of Clay's jacket, vest, and shirt were soaked with blood. Mac helped Harm unbutton them.

Harm swallowed as he saw the damage. There was only one bullet hole, but it was definitely put there by a fantastic shooter. Mac glanced at Harm, shaking her head sadly. He would be dead in a few minutes, no doubt about it.

Mac raced over to the Admiral. He and Alyx were trying to rouse Tiner. He had passed out again.

"Sir?" Mac's voice trembled. "We have to get Webb out of here now. He got himself shot in the gut, and he's not showing any signs of waking up on his own soon." A.J. nodded and stood up. He silently handed Mac a set of car keys, and turned as Tiner woke up.

Alyx followed Mac as she raced to the Admiral's car, carrying A.J. Mac and Alyx climbed in, and Alyx began flattening the seats, little A.J. trying to "help".

Mac drove recklessly back to the others, and A.J. helped Tiner heft himself in the back. He turned, and Harm jumped in. As A.J. lifted Clay up, Harm grasped the shoulders of Clay's jacket, trying hard not to hurt him any more.

Finally, everybody was in the Admiral's car. Mac didn't seem to notice there was a speed limit. She just drove. The others watched as the burning JAG building disappeared into the night.

Harm was sitting facing backwards, Clay's head and shoulders pillowed on his lap. Tiner tried to keep his leg straight, and out of the way.

Clay surprised Harm when he opened his eyes wide, and started to cough. Harm licked his lips and stared to say something, then froze as the blood spurted out of Clay's mouth. And it didn't stop. With each cough, more blood appeared. Then (three blocks down the road), Clay drew a shuddery breath and stopped coughing. Exhausted, he looked up at Harm in wonder.

"What.?" Harm wiped the blood from Clay's mouth and chin. He didn't try to hide his worry at Clay's condition.

"Don't talk, stupid! You think you're invulnerable to everything? Who knows? Maybe if you talk, you'll end up killing yourself before we get to the hospital. So, shut up!"

"Did any of you guys find Jessica?" Clay managed to rasp out. He had to know.

"No, Clay, I'm sorry, we didn't. Please, will you just shut up? I don't want to have to." Harm stopped.

Clay closed his mouth dejectedly and tried to lift his hand up to his stomach. It didn't work out though. Clay was too tired out to make his hand do what he wanted it to. Tiner obliging reached over and placed Clay's hand on his stomach for him. Clay winced and pressed his hand against the bullet hole.

Tiner shivered, even though it was a warm night, and wrapped a blanket around himself. The Admiral had forgotten to take them out from the last time he had gone camping.

As Clay's body started shaking uncontrollably, Harm wrapped his arms supportively around Clay. Tiner threw the other blanket to Harm. Harm really hated it when people lapsed into shock. Seeing them try to control the trembling, and fail was a little depressing, and always made Harm feel helpless. Harm covered Clay with the blanket, just as Clay began to cough, again. Harm tightened his gentle grip on Clay. As the fit subsided, Clay's eyes started to close.

"Thanks," he whispered to Harm, almost inaudibly.

"Come on, Clay, stay with us now. Come on!" Harm bit his lip. "Please?" Clay's eyes flickered open again.

"Sorry," he mumbled. Clay sighed as his eyes closed all the way. His body fell limp against Harm. Harm gulped.

"Hurry up, Mac!" he called, starting to panic a little.

"I'm going as fast as I can, Harm!" Mac angrily answered him.

At long last, they pulled into a hospital's parking lot. It was the same hospital Harm and Clay had brought Alyx and Tiner to the night of their accident.

"Déjà vu," Harm looked at Tiner disgustedly. Tiner nodded gloomily in agreement.

* * *

0500 ZULU

EMERGENCY WAITING ROOM

ST. CHRISTOPHER'S HOSPITAL

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Alyx and Mac sat in a corner of the room quietly. Little A.J. had fallen asleep, and was laying on Mac's lap. A.J. was pacing the floor in front of them, muttering to himself. Then Harm walked out of a side door. A.J. and Alyx jumped up and half-ran to him.

"Well?" the Admiral spread his hands.

"Well," Harm looked at Alyx. "Tiner will be perfectly fine." Alyx smiled in relief and started breathing again. "He'll just have to use a cane or crutches for a while." A.J. pursed his lips.

"And Webb?" Harm caught the odd tone of A.J.'s voice.

"They didn't tell me anything." A.J. frowned.

"What about you, Commander?"

"I'm fine, sir. They just had to bandage up the cuts, and tell me to be careful about opening them again." A.J. nodded. He went back to go sit down. Harm and Alyx followed him, and a door burst open.

"Commander?" Harriet's frantic voice preceded her. She raced into the room, Bud trailing her. Gunny followed Bud, more slowly. Mac stood up and held little A.J. out to his mother. Harriet scooped him up into her arms, and tears of joy flowed down her face. Bud led Harriet over to a seat, and made her sit down.

"What happened, sir?" he asked unsteadily.

"Well," the Admiral began, "We wound up searching the entire building to find Jessica. Webb had said she went to the head, but ten minutes later, she still hadn't joined us in the conference room. The Colonel found a smiley face note taped to the mirror there, and we started the search. Alyx and the Colonel found your son in an office, and left the building right away. The Commander and I had heard gunshots from somewhere up on the higher floors, and ran into Adrian on the way up. He sliced the Commander with a hunting knife, twice. After that, he just ran off. Then a few minutes later, the building started to burn . I can't tell you what happened with Webb and Tiner, we haven't talked to them yet."

A nurse walked up to the group.

"Those of you who are here for Jason Tiner, would you please follow me?" As the seven of them stood up, the nurse frowned. "All of you?"

"Yes ma'am," A.J. told her.

"Very well..." She led them down a hallway. Harm shook his head. It was the same hallway from the last time. Harm counted the room numbers. He chuckled to himself as the nurse stopped in front of a room. It was Alyx's old room.

"I think all of you should be able to fit in there." She turned and walked away. Alyx flew in, and sat down on the side of Tiner's bed. The rest of the group followed her. After a few pleasantries, Tiner changed the subject.

"Admiral?"

The Admiral looked at him.

"Sir, when Mr. Webb and I got to the top floor, we both heard somebody. I couldn't tell who it was, but it sounded like a person. Then Mr. Webb told me to go down one hall, while he went the other way, towards the noise. I went to the end of the hall and waited. After a few seconds, I went back to Mr. Webb. He didn't see me, but he was going into a room. Adrian was there, in the back. He called Mr. Webb by his full name, and asked him how things were going. Then Mr. Webb lost it." Tiner looked lost himself.

"He tried to tackle him to the ground, but it didn't work. Then he tried to strangle him, but Adrian punched him, hard, and pulled out a gun. Mr. Webb asked Adrian where Jessica and A.J. were, and Adrian said they were with Clark, and that he would call Clark and tell him to kill them. Mr. Webb shot at Adrian when he started to dial a number on a cell phone. Then Adrian laughed, because he had a bullet-proof vest on, and he told Mr. Webb how stupid he was. And then he told him that because Mr. Webb had only shot him once in the stomach, that he would only shoot him once in the stomach. He was going to, but then he saw me in the doorway. He shot at me, but Mr. Webb got in the way on purpose, and got shot in the stomach anyway. I ran and hid in a closet." At first, Tiner looked a little sheepish, but then looked up at the Admiral, unwavering.

"He saved my life, sir."

"And we are all very glad he did, Tiner," A.J. told him. Tiner's gaze dropped back to his sheets.

"Then I watched Adrian go down to the elevators, and I ran back to help Mr. Webb. He was out cold by the time I got there, and there was blood everywhere. I had to carry him to the elevators, but they weren't working. So, I had to carry him down the stairs."

"You carried Mr. Webb all the way from the fifth floor to the parking lot?" Gunny looked at Tiner incredulously. Tiner nodded.

"He's lighter than he looks, you know. Well, anyway, after I got down to the third or fourth floor, I think it was the third, I was pretty tired. So, I was looking around for a spot to put Mr. Webb down until I could catch my breath. Then I saw an office, and the doors were open. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I went to go look in anyway. But the next thing I knew, my leg was really hurting bad. I didn't even hear the gunshot until I was half falling over. And I dropped Mr. Webb, too. I don't think he fell too hard though. But I turned around, and Clark was there, and he was grinning at me. Well, I was mad, so I shot at him. I got him in the leg, too, and he ran off, up the stairs. So, then I used Mr. Webb's and my handkerchiefs and tied them around my leg. Then I got Mr. Webb, and went down the other flights of stairs. When I got to the second floor, I knew there was a fire, but I couldn't tell exactly where it was, so I went down to the first floor, and I made a wrong turn, and the fire was right in front of me. I tried to hurry up and turn around, but I slipped, or something, and fell over. I must have hit my head, because I passed out. Either that, or it was the smoke. But I must have woken up a few seconds after I fell, because we were about the same distance away from the flames as we had been at first. So, I picked Mr. Webb up again, and got out. After that, the Admiral or the Commander could tell you what happened." For a few minutes, everybody sat, taking it in, trying to make sense of it.

"What happened to Jessica?" Harriet suddenly noticed she wasn't there.

"Nobody knows," Harm looked a little sick. Bud and Gunny stared at Harm, shocked.

"Was she." Bud couldn't finish.

"Nobody knows," Harm repeated dejectedly, his face downcast. The others all looked at each other mournfully. Nobody wanted to admit what they were thinking. Then little A.J. woke up, and started to cry.

"Shh, it's ok, sweetie," Harriet crooned. Normally, that would have been enough to make A.J. stop crying, but for some reason, he just cried harder.

"He's probably tired," Bud told Harriet. "Sir, if you don't mind, I'll take Harriet and A.J. home."

"I don't mind," the Admiral shook his head. "But I would like somebody to go home with you and keep an eye on things." Gunny stood up.

"I'll go with them sir. Unless you don't want me to," Gunny looked at Bud and Harriet. Bud smiled back at him.

"No, I'll feel a lot better knowing you're around, Gunny. Thank you."

"Well, that settles it," the Admiral rubbed his eyes. Bud, Harriet and Gunny walked gloomily out of Tiner's room. Gunny turned around.

"If any of you talk to Mr. Webb." he stopped.

"We'll let him know, Gunny," Mac told him. With a small smile, Gunny hurried to catch up with Bud and Harriet. Mac sighed.

"Well, Tiner, I'm sure you're tired, we'd better let you get some rest," she patted his shoulder. "Take care," Mac headed out too.

"Thank you, ma'am," Tiner called after her.

"Goes for me too," Harm grasped Tiner's hand. "Don't worry, I'll be back," he smiled, trying to imitate Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tiner yawned as he chuckled. Harm went to go find Mac.

"Well, young man, I would advise you get some sleep," A.J. admonished Tiner.

"Yessir," Tiner nodded sleepily, and started to doze off.

"I'm going to stay here for a while, Admiral," Alyx told him quietly. A.J. smiled.

"Good idea. Keep him out of trouble! I don't want to lose my yeoman!" Alyx pulled up a chair as A.J went searching for Harm and Mac.

* * *

Harm and Mac were at a desk, arguing with a nurse.

"Commander, Colonel, is there a problem?" A.J. asked them angrily.

"No, sir!" Harm and Mac abruptly turned away from the frowning nurse, and walked stiffly to a corner of the room to sit down. A.J. sat down across from them.

"What was going on back there?" He didn't want to have to put up with any crap right at that moment. Mac bit her lip.

"No matter what we say, or ask them, they won't tell us anything about Webb."

"Well," A.J. sighed. "I don't know. Maybe Webb's mother has already found out about it, and doesn't want anyone else involved." Harm shrugged.

"I don't think so, sir. I didn't tell them her phone number, so I don't see how they could find out about it." A.J. looked at Harm, thinking. Then an ambulance pulled up outside the emergency waiting room.



Two paramedics wheeled a gurney in, a figure in fatigues laying on it, an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. One paramedic ran back outside, and the other rushed to a desk and asked the nurse something.

"That's Petty Officer Hawk, the security guard!" Harm whispered. A.J. raised his eyebrows in surprise. He got up and motioned Harm and Mac to stay there. He walked over to the figure on the gurney. The person feebly swiped at his oxygen mask, knocking it aside. The PO smirked.

"Hello Admiral," he wheezed.

"What happened, Petty Officer?" A.J asked him. The PO cleared his throat.

"After I let Petty Officer Tiner and the woman with him into the building, another man walked up. I asked him for ID, but he pulled out a gun and shot me." A.J. noticed the splotches of blood on his chest and shoulder.

"I don't remember anything else until a girl was shouting something, right by my ear. I must have been out for a while, but she was yelling to somebody, about getting me away from the building, something about a fire. Then two men came over, after they put some really big boxes in their car. It was a green station wagon. One of the men was the man who had shot me. They didn't want to do anything, but the girl was yelling louder, and they finally moved me across the street. The one man then made the girl get into the car, and the one who had shot me hit me in the head with something. I think it was his gun." As A.J. opened his mouth to ask another question, the paramedic ran back over.

"Excuse me sir, but this man needs to get to OR." The paramedic then replaced PO Hawk's oxygen mask and wheeled him to an elevator. A.J. headed back to Harm and Mac, and told them the story. Harm and Mac smiled in relief. Now, if they could just figure out where Adrian and Clark were taking Jessica. Another nurse walked up to them.

"Are you the party who came with Clayton Webb?"

"Yes," A.J. looked up hopefully.

"I was told that you have been asking about him?"

"Yes, we have. It seems as though nobody is willing to let us know about his condition." The nurse looked a little apologetic.

"That was a mistake, I'm sorry."

"Can we see him?" Harm's apprehension was lessened. Maybe they would finally get answers.

"Of course you can," the nurse gestured for them to follow her. "The doctors have just finished operating," she told them as she pushed an elevator button. "He's in the intensive care unit. Everybody is amazed. Mr. Webb's condition is remarkable! Ordinarily, he should have been dead within an hour of being shot. One problem right now though is blood loss. Mr. Webb has type B positive. Tonight we've got a bizarre shortage of type B blood. Nobody can figure out where it's all gotten to." Mac frowned. There would obviously be a problem like that.

The elevator doors opened, and a young man started to push an elderly woman sitting in a wheelchair out. Harm and Mac stepped out of the way, and into the elevator. The doors closed behind them, and Mac felt the odd sensation as the elevator shot up to the fourth floor.

DING. The doors opened, and Mac followed the nurse out.

"Mr. Webb's room is down this way. I would advise you keep your visit short. Every now and then he'll start shouting, and try to get up, even though he's still under sedation." Harm raised his eyebrows at the Admiral as the nurse walked away. A.J shrugged.

They stood there for a few minutes in apprehension. Neither of them wanted to take the first step. Mac snorted softly to herself and boldly strode into Clay's room. As she entered, she hesitated a second before walking right up to the side of Clay's bed. Harm and A.J. followed her, but stopped at the foot of the bed.

Clay was lying there with an oxygen mask over his face. The only sound was the soft beeping from the monitors. Mac took a closer look at Webb's face. Mac jumped as he opened his eyes and grabbed her throat. She gurgled as she tried to pull his hands away.

"Clay.!"

She vaguely heard the monitors going at it full blast. Harm and A.J. hurried to assist her.

Clay's eyes were bloodshot, and he was mumbling to himself, his voice muffled by the mask. He shrieked as A.J. and Harm grabbed his wrists. Clay stopped screaming, and started to breathe heavily as Harm and A.J. pried his fingers, one by one, away from Mac's neck.

Mac fell back and rubbed at her throat as soon as Harm and A.J. had Webb under control.

"You ok?" Harm asked, trying to pin Clay's hand to the mattress. Mac nodded, still trying to relax. A.J. managed to keep Webb from sitting up.

"Webb!" Harm jerked Clay's arm. At the sound of Harm's voice, Clay quieted down, and stopped moving. The monitors slowed to their original pace.

"Webb?" A.J shook Clay's shoulder. Clay's bleary eyes finally focused on A.J.'s face. He blinked and tried feebly to get his hand out from under Harm's grasp. With his other free hand, Clay took off his mask.

"What happened?" Clay whispered groggily. He bewilderedly looked at Mac, who was still rubbing her neck. She shrugged.

"You almost strangled her!" Harm told Clay angrily. Clay looked at Mac, trying to comprehend what Harm had just said.

"Well," A.J. tried to keep the peace. "The nurse did tell us something was going wrong. That you were yelling and trying to get up, even though you were still under sedation."

"I still am, I guess," Clay's sentence sounded a little slurred, like he was drunk.

"They must have you on a high dosage, huh?" Mac asked darkly. Clay swallowed, and licked his lips.

"What happened?"

"Well," Harm looked disgusted. "JAG Ops. is no more." Clay just stared at Harm.

"Huh?" Harm sighed.

"JAG Ops. burnt down."

"Oh," Clay nodded slightly. "What happened."

"Webb, please stop asking that!" Harm was still a little mad.

"No. I mean Tiner." Clay frowned half-heartedly at Harm.

"He's going to be ok," Mac reassured him. Clay smiled at her. The next second, he looked like he was going to cry.

"...Jessica?" A.J. smiled, glad to give Clay some good news.

"She's alive, Clay." A.J. told him. As A.J. realized that the other half of his news wasn't so good, his smile melted away. "The security guard who was injured said Adrian and Clark took boxes and Jessica somewhere, in an green station wagon." Clay bit his lip. He took a deep breath and held it. He closed his eyes.

"Where?"

"Nobody knows," A.J. told him. The nurse walked in.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," A.J. tried to cover for Clay. "Not really."

"Well, somebody passing by said we should come check. Is Mr. Webb alright?"

"Yes, he's fine." The nurse looked at him suspiciously.

"I would very much like to know what happened here, sir." A.J. sighed, and glanced at Harm and Mac.

"Mr. Webb tried to choke Colonel MacKenzie, here." A.J. shifted tensely. "He's still under sedation, isn't he?"

"Yes, Mr. Webb should be unconscious." The nurse glanced at Clay uncertainly. "I'm terribly sorry Colonel," she seemed a little unnerved.

"It's alright," Mac smiled wanly at her. "I'm used to Mr. Webb."

"That might be so, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask the three of you to leave, for your own safety."

"I'm sorry, Mac." Clay couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye. She shrugged.

"Well, you didn't actually hurt me, so, I guess it's ok." She smirked at him, and Clay glanced up at her face quickly before looking back down. "Oh, and Gunny said to hang in there," Mac said as she squeezed Clay's shoulder encouragingly. She turned and went to go wait by the doorway for Harm and A.J. Harm tried to make up for his being mad at Clay.

"Well." Clay tilted his head. As if he had been wondering whether to say anything or not, Harm just rushed into it. "Don't worry, everything's going to be alright. We're here for you, Clay, we all love you," he gushed. Clay groaned. Tiredly he reached for the bucket at the side of his bed, and made a face as he held it under his chin. Harm laughed and winked, and went to go stand with Mac. A.J. grasped Clay's hand.

"I'll see what we can pull together, Webb." A.J. told him. "I'll try to get some leads on that green station wagon."

"Come on, now," The nurse shooed the three of them out of the room quickly. A.J. missed it as Clay smiled at the retreating figures.

After she made sure A.J. Harm and Mac had left, the nurse hurried back to Clay. He had somehow propped himself up on his pillows, and was fiddling with a string on his bed-sheet.

"Mr. Webb!" He looked up at her guiltily. "All right, I was just going to let your last fit slide this time, but now, I'm going to have to go get somebody to make sure you stay asleep!" She hurried out of the room, dimming the lights, and Clay sighed to himself. But he smiled. From what he had understood, the drugs they had given him weren't working.

Suddenly dizzy, Clay slid back to a lying position and closed his eyes. Ok, maybe he shouldn't have sat up. His stomach really did hurt much more than he was willing to admit. And he had heard a doctor or two talking about the shortage of type B blood.

Clay kept his eyes closed as he felt someone walk into the room. It was probably another nurse, trying to find a tranquilizer to keep him under.

He flinched and opened his eyes as a needle pricked his arm. In the dark, he couldn't tell much about the nurse. It was a guy, that much he could tell. The nurse bent over and held his face close to Clay's and sneered. Clay's heart skipped a beat.

It was Clark Palmer. Clay tried to move, tried to press the call button, but his limbs wouldn't obey him. Clay tried to squirm away from Clark, but all he could move was a finger or two. Clark backed away, and pulled a chair up. He sat down and bent nearer to Clay.

"Well, how are we?" Clay started to shout for help, but Clark clamped his hand over Clay's mouth. Clark grinned in self-satisfaction. "Don't worry, the drug will wear off in about. Oh, thirty-six hours, I'd guess. The only thing is, you won't be able to move, until it does wear off. Now, I'll be nice, I'm going to warn you. If you say anything too loudly," Clark showed Clay a handgun, a silencer on the barrel, "I'll blow your brains out. Is that clear?" He took his hand away.

"Yes," Clay whispered.

"Good," Clark nodded. "Well, Webb, the only real reason I came here tonight was to offer my deepest condolences." Clay's eyes widened in fear.

"Why?"

"The poor thing." Clark ignored him. "And she seemed like a nice kid, too." Clay was too exhausted to even swear at Clark.

"What did you do?" Despair made it nearly impossible for Clay to say anything else.

"Well," Clark clasped his hands, and glared at Clay in absolute hatred. "In the past few months, I've found a few things out. You just got paid back, Webb." Clark stood up and headed out the door. Clay stared after him, terrified.

As if an afterthought, Clark turned around and sat back down in the chair. "Yes, Clayton, Jessica is dead. I shot her, and soon, you will have the honor of watching the tape!" Clark smiled jubilantly and waved a videotape in the air. Clayton closed his eyes and tried to hold back the tears, devastated.

END PART ONE