Title: 'People vs. Chegwidden' - Part Eleven
Author: Daenar
Disclaimer: See Part One
From part ten:
Sergei had been walking down the path that led to the street. Now he turned and waited for his girlfriend to join him. "You coming, Yanina Andreyevna?" he asked with a smile.
"Sure," Jeannine called back, casting him a quick, warm glance. Turning to Mac, Jeannine's expression became a little embarrassed. "Yeah. A Rabb thing. Bye, Mac, see you tomorrow night."
"Paká, Yanina," Mac waved her off with a grin. "Spakoynoy nochy." [Bye, Jeannine, good night.]
'What is it with those Rabbs?' Mac thought, as she watched Jeannine and Sergei walk down the road to Sergei's old Volkswagen Beetle, holding hands and now and then glancing at each other as if they couldn't really believe yet that the other was actually there.
Part Eleven:
Sun, Feb. 28th 2012 ZULU Bethesda Naval Hospital Washington, D.C.
"Preev'yet, moy brutt," Sergei said tentatively as he peeped into Harm's room. [Hello, my brother.]
The only response was the eerie beeping of the heart monitor. Shyly, Sergei approached his brother's bed, followed by Jeannine and Mac.
"Hello, my brother," Sergei tried again, his voice doubtful, only to gasp as Harm's head on the pillow slowly turned in his direction.
"Hi," Harm whispered back, the corners of his mouth curling upwards. ['Good to see you, kid! And I see you brought someone, now that's a nice surprise.']
"Hey," Sergei grinned widely, obviously relieved. "I would be lying if I said that you're looking good, old man, but I'm really glad to see you on the way back to normal."
['Old man? Wait till I get back to you for this, kid!'] Harm's grin intensified slightly. "Need to... teach you... respect," he murmured.
Sergei let out a laugh and then took Jeannine's hand and gently pulled her to his side. "Here's someone who wants to see you. Not that I understand why, but she insisted."
Jeannine smiled, quickly waving her hand to Harm. "It's good to see you, sir."
['We've been past that, haven't we, Cadet Stiller?'] Harm, to his own surprise, managed a slight frown. "Harm... not 'sir'," he managed to get out.
"Sorry. Good to see you, Harm," Jeannine repeated with a grin, stressing the 'Harm'.
"You, too... Kiss... my wife?" Harm whispered, his glance wandering to where Mac stood.
Smiling, Mac approached him and bent down to comply. A quick flush of joy swept over her as she felt his lips respond slightly to hers. 'Well, he can talk. I shouldn't be surprised that he tries to use his lips in other ways, too,' Mac told herself as she reluctantly drew back, her expression serene.
"Harm," she addressed him, "I was on the phone with your mother this morning. I just told her that everything was all right and that she would receive a registered letter by tomorrow in which I'd lay out the particulars. And that she shouldn't come and visit yet. Trish didn't ask any questions. I guess she understands that there's more to it. You sure have a great mom."
"We, Mac... we do," he gently reminded her. "She's... your mom, too."
"Yeah, I know," Mac replied with a smile. "And if you're wondering where your little girl is - I left her with Harriet earlier. But your daughter told me that she loves you very much, squid. And that I'm to kiss you for her."
['Then what are you waiting for, jarhead?'] Harm's mouth again curled into a smile. "Do it," he whispered.
Again Mac bent down, momentarily losing herself to the feeling of his lips softly grazing hers in an attempt to return her caresses. 'You have no idea how much I missed that,' she inwardly sighed.
Just then, the door opened and a nurse stepped into the room, carrying Harm's eye drops. Harm had fine-tuned his ears for any sounds evoked by the door in order to keep his progress secret. Mac could feel his features relax immediately as she heard the nurse approach. When she pulled back she saw that Harm's glance had turned void, always fixated on the white wall opposite his bed.
The nurse cast Mac, Sergei and Jeannine quick compassionate smiles, administered Harm his medicine and left. Immediately Harm's head turned to face his family. "Tell me... I'm good... at this," he murmured, his eyes shining with amusement.
"Yeah, great," Mac stated dryly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "So, Mr. Camouflage, don't let your ego get inflated. It's big enough already. Understood?"
Again Harm's brow furrowed slightly. "Aye, ma'am," he whispered, frowning even more upon hearing Sergei and Jeannine snicker at their banter. However, the smile quickly returned to his face.
"Mac..."
"What is it, Harm?"
"Listen... help me?"
Mac's expression immediately turned serious. "Any problems?"
"No..." He tried to look reassuring. "Move closer."
"Okay..." she stepped to his side, waiting.
"Hold out... your hand."
Mac silently did so, wondering what her husband was up to.
['Okay, Hammer, you did this before. Now do it again. On three. One, two, three...'] Harm mentally clenched his teeth and focused on his right arm. At first, nothing happened. Mac witnessed the struggle that was going on inside him and decided she'd give him a little more time to accomplish whatever he intended to.
['Come on, Hammer, you can do it!'] Harm kept shouting silently at himself until he finally won the battle. Slowly, he began to lift his right arm from the comforter until he had reached Mac's outstretched hand. Quickly gripping her fingers, Harm let his arm relax, making Mac feel the weight of it as she clung to his hand.
"Congratulations, sailor," she said softly, while Sergei and Jeannine just watched, beaming at him.
"Mac..."
Confused, she frowned, looking at him sharply. "What's up?"
"Help me?"
"Sure, but I thought... so there's more you want to try?"
"Yeah."
"Harm, don't push it, please. You've done more than enough for one day already," she pleaded, knowing well he wouldn't give in.
"Please..."
"Okay." She sighed. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Just... hold on... tight."
"Okay."
"Haven't... tried this yet," he whispered. "Needed you... for... practicing."
Smiling, Mac squeezed his hand. "I'm sure you'll do fine. I'll help you with the exercise. Is that what you wanted me to do?"
"Yes."
"Then go ahead, squid. Round one is open."
Harm smiled and briefly closed his eyes to gather his concentration. Then all of a sudden Mac felt his grip tighten considerably and she felt that he was tugging at her arm, obviously trying to sit up. Excited, she, too, tightened her grip so that he could encounter the firm hold he needed. The four people in the room held their breaths as Harm slowly pulled himself up until he was sitting in bed, clinging to Mac's hand, resting his forehead against her wrist, panting with exhaustion.
Beaming radiantly, Mac immediately put an arm around his shoulders to prevent him from falling backwards onto the pillow again. Then she released his hand and hugged him tightly. "Bravo Zulu, Commander," she whispered into the curve of his neck.
"Lie... down... please..." he panted tonelessly. Mac helped him back into a horizontal position.
"Okay, flyboy, that's it for today. No more exercises. That's an order."
He grinned briefly. "Aye, ma'am." ['I got my favorite I-love-you smile from you. That's always worth the effort. But I know when to stop, Mac.']
Mac sat down on his bed and made Sergei and Jeannine pull up chairs for themselves. "I'm sure you want to be told about our next proceedings, right?"
"Yeah."
"So, here's your info: At 0200 we meet at Minton Greenwood. Clay has provided Fred with an official search warrant. We'll still keep our operation secret, but we're covered so we can use whatever we come up with as legal exhibits in court. Our only way in is through the sewer system. So Jeannine, being the smallest, has volunteered to go in in camera gear. Bud will by then have fooled security from his van which we turn into our ops center. We'll follow Janni's movement and tell her what to take with her and how to get out again."
Harm's eyebrows moved in a failed attempt to go up. ['You're getting pretty CIA-ish here, Mac. This should be fun. Couldn't you have done this another time, when I could have been part of the whole thing? You always get all the fun!']
"Without me..." he whispered, frowning.
Mac grinned. "Is that a pout that I'm seeing there, Commander?"
['Wipe that smirk off your face, jarhead!'] Harm couldn't help smiling.
"You will find that things actually work without you, big brother," Sergei cut in, suppressed laughter ringing in his voice.
['Whom did he get the impertinence from?'] Harm asked himself, only to feel embarrassment at the answer that could be expected. ['Okay. I guess I don't want to know. Thanks, Dad. Better change the subject.'] "And how... are you... Janni?" he asked instead, his gaze moving on to Jeannine.
Knowing chuckles could be heard, making him smile again.
"Thank you, I'm fine," Jeannine began. "Captain Wells told me to say hello as soon as you'd be back from Never-never-land. And the marching band is actually..."
Mac watched Harm as he was listening to Jeannine's tales. 'How do you do that?' she silently asked him. 'I know no one's invincible. But seeing you always struggling to get back on track, no matter what happens, makes me wonder if you're the exception to the rule. Actually, I kind of like the idea.'
Sun, Feb. 28th 2204 ZULU Bethesda Naval Hospital Washington, D.C.
As Mac, Sergei and Jeannine exited the building, they felt instantly as if they were being run over by a herd of buffaloes. Camera lights were flashing in their eyes, microphones were being pushed in front of their faces and from all sides overzealous reporters were assaulting them.
"Colonel Mackenzie! Is it true that your husband's in a coma?"
"Colonel, can you confirm that your husband was shot because of Doctor Walden's murder?"
"Was it Daniel Walden who shot the commander?"
"Is it true that your husband will be irreversibly paralyzed?"
"Did Admiral Chegwidden order the shooting of your husband because the commander found evidence of his guilt?"
"Did you lose your baby, Colonel?"
'Here goes our privacy,' Mac inwardly sighed, resigned. Actually, she had been surprised that they had succeeded in keeping the events quiet for such a long time. At the last two questions, her anger got the better of her. Fuming, she stopped and glared into the waiting cameras.
"I'll say this only once. I guess I'm on air right now so I can do it with a nationwide public to witness. First, to satisfy your curiosity, yes, my husband's in a coma. No, Admiral Chegwidden didn't have anything to do with my husband being shot, it was a simple street robbery. No, I didn't lose my child. Why would I? Normally this is called giving birth. And finally: get out of my and my family's life. I won't answer any more questions, I won't have you take any pictures, as won't the commander's brother or his friends. Or the hospital. End of conversation."
With this said, she exercised a swift turn and strode over to her car, Sergei and Jeannine quickly running to Sergei's beetle. Mac got into her Corvette, ignited the motor and left the hospital's parking lot, letting out a deep breath of relief.
A few blocks down the road, though, she noticed that she was being followed by several TV team wagons. Panic began to rise inside her. If those journalists were going to install themselves in front of their house, how was she supposed to go over to Minton Greenwood tonight without causing attention? She absolutely needed to escape them. 'I only hope Sergei and Jeannine are aware of the danger,' she thought uneasily.
As the team wagons were closing in on her, Mac made a quick decision. All she needed was at the Roberts' anyway. So she wouldn't lead the reporters over to Arlington. Instead, she would take them on a little trip all across town and back. A grin slowly spread on Mac's features. A nasty grin.
She would enjoy herself.
Mac approached the next crossing at full speed, just as the traffic lights were switching to what might be called 'cherry green'. Fortunately the streets weren't overly crowded as it was Sunday. Without notice, Mac turned right with screeching tires and stepped heavily on the gas as soon as she had completed the turn. The camera vans had slight difficulties following her. Swaying considerably, they had to slow down to head in the new direction, only to try and take up the chase immediately after.
'Okay, so that was just for warm up,' Mac concluded grimly, speeding on. Again completely without warning, she turned left after half a mile, vanishing into a small side street of a cozy white-wooden-houses neighborhood. Squealing, the camera vans followed. Mac decided to vary her tactics a little. She turned right, then left, then left, then right again, then left... always trying not to be predictable, glad that while the vans were following her in a driving style like this, no cameraman on earth could capture her driving.
Then suddenly a way of salvation was in sight. She became aware of a small dead-end street that seemed more like a private driveway. As she had just entered the street she was currently driving along, the vans hadn't arrived yet. Quickly she pulled into the small street, shut down her headlights and hoped.
Half a minute later, three vans sped by her six at about sixty miles an hour. Once they were far enough, Mac cautiously pulled back, turned and left the neighborhood. 'I know my Bond.' She grinned to herself, longing to tell Harm.
She decided to go over to the Roberts' directly. Taking a few additional deviations, just in case anyone spotted her, she arrived at Bud and Harriet's house, soaked and trembling, but feeling quite content about having fooled the media... once again.
Mon, March 1st 0421 ZULU Cmdr. Turner's apartment Georgetown, D.C.
Sergei and Jeannine had thought it wise not to go home. They had made sure that all the vans had in fact followed Mac's Corvette and then headed on to Sturgis'. He had called Mac earlier, having told her that he had the camera gear Jeannine was supposed to wear. So why not drop by and try it on?
Sturgis had been relieved when Sergei had told him that they were sure no one had followed them. As Jeannine told him what had happened at the hospital Sturgis was feeling more than a little concerned about Mac's state of mind. But a quick call from her, telling him that she had safely arrived at the Roberts', made him relax. Mac was a professional. She could handle things like these. And Sergei... 'Well, he's Harm's brother,' Sturgis reminded himself, not wanting to admit that it would probably be just this trait of his character that would get Sergei into serious trouble some day. But not now, Sturgis decided. They had enough problems to deal with.
Sturgis had retreated into the kitchen to fix a little dinner while Sergei was adjusting Jeannine's cam gear to a tight fit.
"Are you comfortable, Jan?"
She smiled at him. "As good as it gets, Sergeant."
"Are you sure you know how to use it? I can always..." Sergei's forehead was one big concerned frown.
Jeannine let out a soft chuckle, shaking her head. Mac had told her of Harm's overprotective nature. 'I think I know what she means.' "I know everything I need to know. It's okay, Sergei," she said gently.
He smiled, blushing slightly. "You know, I'm a little worried about what you're gonna do. I'd rather you wouldn't."
"Hey, I'll be okay." Jeannine glanced up to his kind eyes. "Thank you for caring."
"You know, it's just..." Sergei hesitated, collecting his courage. He swallowed. "Ya looblyóo, Yanina," he whispered. [I love you, Yanina.]
Jeannine didn't know any Russian except the few words that Mac had already taught her. But she was a musician. And she loved Russian opera, especially Evgeny Onyegin by Tchaikovsky. Knowing the score by heart, she had understood exactly what Sergei had just told her. Feeling her pulse accelerate to double speed, she reached up and softly kissed him on the lips.
"Ya tulka looblyóo, Sergei." [I love you, too, Sergei.] "Don't worry. I'll be safe."
To be continued... (Feedback always appreciated!)
From part ten:
Sergei had been walking down the path that led to the street. Now he turned and waited for his girlfriend to join him. "You coming, Yanina Andreyevna?" he asked with a smile.
"Sure," Jeannine called back, casting him a quick, warm glance. Turning to Mac, Jeannine's expression became a little embarrassed. "Yeah. A Rabb thing. Bye, Mac, see you tomorrow night."
"Paká, Yanina," Mac waved her off with a grin. "Spakoynoy nochy." [Bye, Jeannine, good night.]
'What is it with those Rabbs?' Mac thought, as she watched Jeannine and Sergei walk down the road to Sergei's old Volkswagen Beetle, holding hands and now and then glancing at each other as if they couldn't really believe yet that the other was actually there.
Part Eleven:
Sun, Feb. 28th 2012 ZULU Bethesda Naval Hospital Washington, D.C.
"Preev'yet, moy brutt," Sergei said tentatively as he peeped into Harm's room. [Hello, my brother.]
The only response was the eerie beeping of the heart monitor. Shyly, Sergei approached his brother's bed, followed by Jeannine and Mac.
"Hello, my brother," Sergei tried again, his voice doubtful, only to gasp as Harm's head on the pillow slowly turned in his direction.
"Hi," Harm whispered back, the corners of his mouth curling upwards. ['Good to see you, kid! And I see you brought someone, now that's a nice surprise.']
"Hey," Sergei grinned widely, obviously relieved. "I would be lying if I said that you're looking good, old man, but I'm really glad to see you on the way back to normal."
['Old man? Wait till I get back to you for this, kid!'] Harm's grin intensified slightly. "Need to... teach you... respect," he murmured.
Sergei let out a laugh and then took Jeannine's hand and gently pulled her to his side. "Here's someone who wants to see you. Not that I understand why, but she insisted."
Jeannine smiled, quickly waving her hand to Harm. "It's good to see you, sir."
['We've been past that, haven't we, Cadet Stiller?'] Harm, to his own surprise, managed a slight frown. "Harm... not 'sir'," he managed to get out.
"Sorry. Good to see you, Harm," Jeannine repeated with a grin, stressing the 'Harm'.
"You, too... Kiss... my wife?" Harm whispered, his glance wandering to where Mac stood.
Smiling, Mac approached him and bent down to comply. A quick flush of joy swept over her as she felt his lips respond slightly to hers. 'Well, he can talk. I shouldn't be surprised that he tries to use his lips in other ways, too,' Mac told herself as she reluctantly drew back, her expression serene.
"Harm," she addressed him, "I was on the phone with your mother this morning. I just told her that everything was all right and that she would receive a registered letter by tomorrow in which I'd lay out the particulars. And that she shouldn't come and visit yet. Trish didn't ask any questions. I guess she understands that there's more to it. You sure have a great mom."
"We, Mac... we do," he gently reminded her. "She's... your mom, too."
"Yeah, I know," Mac replied with a smile. "And if you're wondering where your little girl is - I left her with Harriet earlier. But your daughter told me that she loves you very much, squid. And that I'm to kiss you for her."
['Then what are you waiting for, jarhead?'] Harm's mouth again curled into a smile. "Do it," he whispered.
Again Mac bent down, momentarily losing herself to the feeling of his lips softly grazing hers in an attempt to return her caresses. 'You have no idea how much I missed that,' she inwardly sighed.
Just then, the door opened and a nurse stepped into the room, carrying Harm's eye drops. Harm had fine-tuned his ears for any sounds evoked by the door in order to keep his progress secret. Mac could feel his features relax immediately as she heard the nurse approach. When she pulled back she saw that Harm's glance had turned void, always fixated on the white wall opposite his bed.
The nurse cast Mac, Sergei and Jeannine quick compassionate smiles, administered Harm his medicine and left. Immediately Harm's head turned to face his family. "Tell me... I'm good... at this," he murmured, his eyes shining with amusement.
"Yeah, great," Mac stated dryly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "So, Mr. Camouflage, don't let your ego get inflated. It's big enough already. Understood?"
Again Harm's brow furrowed slightly. "Aye, ma'am," he whispered, frowning even more upon hearing Sergei and Jeannine snicker at their banter. However, the smile quickly returned to his face.
"Mac..."
"What is it, Harm?"
"Listen... help me?"
Mac's expression immediately turned serious. "Any problems?"
"No..." He tried to look reassuring. "Move closer."
"Okay..." she stepped to his side, waiting.
"Hold out... your hand."
Mac silently did so, wondering what her husband was up to.
['Okay, Hammer, you did this before. Now do it again. On three. One, two, three...'] Harm mentally clenched his teeth and focused on his right arm. At first, nothing happened. Mac witnessed the struggle that was going on inside him and decided she'd give him a little more time to accomplish whatever he intended to.
['Come on, Hammer, you can do it!'] Harm kept shouting silently at himself until he finally won the battle. Slowly, he began to lift his right arm from the comforter until he had reached Mac's outstretched hand. Quickly gripping her fingers, Harm let his arm relax, making Mac feel the weight of it as she clung to his hand.
"Congratulations, sailor," she said softly, while Sergei and Jeannine just watched, beaming at him.
"Mac..."
Confused, she frowned, looking at him sharply. "What's up?"
"Help me?"
"Sure, but I thought... so there's more you want to try?"
"Yeah."
"Harm, don't push it, please. You've done more than enough for one day already," she pleaded, knowing well he wouldn't give in.
"Please..."
"Okay." She sighed. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Just... hold on... tight."
"Okay."
"Haven't... tried this yet," he whispered. "Needed you... for... practicing."
Smiling, Mac squeezed his hand. "I'm sure you'll do fine. I'll help you with the exercise. Is that what you wanted me to do?"
"Yes."
"Then go ahead, squid. Round one is open."
Harm smiled and briefly closed his eyes to gather his concentration. Then all of a sudden Mac felt his grip tighten considerably and she felt that he was tugging at her arm, obviously trying to sit up. Excited, she, too, tightened her grip so that he could encounter the firm hold he needed. The four people in the room held their breaths as Harm slowly pulled himself up until he was sitting in bed, clinging to Mac's hand, resting his forehead against her wrist, panting with exhaustion.
Beaming radiantly, Mac immediately put an arm around his shoulders to prevent him from falling backwards onto the pillow again. Then she released his hand and hugged him tightly. "Bravo Zulu, Commander," she whispered into the curve of his neck.
"Lie... down... please..." he panted tonelessly. Mac helped him back into a horizontal position.
"Okay, flyboy, that's it for today. No more exercises. That's an order."
He grinned briefly. "Aye, ma'am." ['I got my favorite I-love-you smile from you. That's always worth the effort. But I know when to stop, Mac.']
Mac sat down on his bed and made Sergei and Jeannine pull up chairs for themselves. "I'm sure you want to be told about our next proceedings, right?"
"Yeah."
"So, here's your info: At 0200 we meet at Minton Greenwood. Clay has provided Fred with an official search warrant. We'll still keep our operation secret, but we're covered so we can use whatever we come up with as legal exhibits in court. Our only way in is through the sewer system. So Jeannine, being the smallest, has volunteered to go in in camera gear. Bud will by then have fooled security from his van which we turn into our ops center. We'll follow Janni's movement and tell her what to take with her and how to get out again."
Harm's eyebrows moved in a failed attempt to go up. ['You're getting pretty CIA-ish here, Mac. This should be fun. Couldn't you have done this another time, when I could have been part of the whole thing? You always get all the fun!']
"Without me..." he whispered, frowning.
Mac grinned. "Is that a pout that I'm seeing there, Commander?"
['Wipe that smirk off your face, jarhead!'] Harm couldn't help smiling.
"You will find that things actually work without you, big brother," Sergei cut in, suppressed laughter ringing in his voice.
['Whom did he get the impertinence from?'] Harm asked himself, only to feel embarrassment at the answer that could be expected. ['Okay. I guess I don't want to know. Thanks, Dad. Better change the subject.'] "And how... are you... Janni?" he asked instead, his gaze moving on to Jeannine.
Knowing chuckles could be heard, making him smile again.
"Thank you, I'm fine," Jeannine began. "Captain Wells told me to say hello as soon as you'd be back from Never-never-land. And the marching band is actually..."
Mac watched Harm as he was listening to Jeannine's tales. 'How do you do that?' she silently asked him. 'I know no one's invincible. But seeing you always struggling to get back on track, no matter what happens, makes me wonder if you're the exception to the rule. Actually, I kind of like the idea.'
Sun, Feb. 28th 2204 ZULU Bethesda Naval Hospital Washington, D.C.
As Mac, Sergei and Jeannine exited the building, they felt instantly as if they were being run over by a herd of buffaloes. Camera lights were flashing in their eyes, microphones were being pushed in front of their faces and from all sides overzealous reporters were assaulting them.
"Colonel Mackenzie! Is it true that your husband's in a coma?"
"Colonel, can you confirm that your husband was shot because of Doctor Walden's murder?"
"Was it Daniel Walden who shot the commander?"
"Is it true that your husband will be irreversibly paralyzed?"
"Did Admiral Chegwidden order the shooting of your husband because the commander found evidence of his guilt?"
"Did you lose your baby, Colonel?"
'Here goes our privacy,' Mac inwardly sighed, resigned. Actually, she had been surprised that they had succeeded in keeping the events quiet for such a long time. At the last two questions, her anger got the better of her. Fuming, she stopped and glared into the waiting cameras.
"I'll say this only once. I guess I'm on air right now so I can do it with a nationwide public to witness. First, to satisfy your curiosity, yes, my husband's in a coma. No, Admiral Chegwidden didn't have anything to do with my husband being shot, it was a simple street robbery. No, I didn't lose my child. Why would I? Normally this is called giving birth. And finally: get out of my and my family's life. I won't answer any more questions, I won't have you take any pictures, as won't the commander's brother or his friends. Or the hospital. End of conversation."
With this said, she exercised a swift turn and strode over to her car, Sergei and Jeannine quickly running to Sergei's beetle. Mac got into her Corvette, ignited the motor and left the hospital's parking lot, letting out a deep breath of relief.
A few blocks down the road, though, she noticed that she was being followed by several TV team wagons. Panic began to rise inside her. If those journalists were going to install themselves in front of their house, how was she supposed to go over to Minton Greenwood tonight without causing attention? She absolutely needed to escape them. 'I only hope Sergei and Jeannine are aware of the danger,' she thought uneasily.
As the team wagons were closing in on her, Mac made a quick decision. All she needed was at the Roberts' anyway. So she wouldn't lead the reporters over to Arlington. Instead, she would take them on a little trip all across town and back. A grin slowly spread on Mac's features. A nasty grin.
She would enjoy herself.
Mac approached the next crossing at full speed, just as the traffic lights were switching to what might be called 'cherry green'. Fortunately the streets weren't overly crowded as it was Sunday. Without notice, Mac turned right with screeching tires and stepped heavily on the gas as soon as she had completed the turn. The camera vans had slight difficulties following her. Swaying considerably, they had to slow down to head in the new direction, only to try and take up the chase immediately after.
'Okay, so that was just for warm up,' Mac concluded grimly, speeding on. Again completely without warning, she turned left after half a mile, vanishing into a small side street of a cozy white-wooden-houses neighborhood. Squealing, the camera vans followed. Mac decided to vary her tactics a little. She turned right, then left, then left, then right again, then left... always trying not to be predictable, glad that while the vans were following her in a driving style like this, no cameraman on earth could capture her driving.
Then suddenly a way of salvation was in sight. She became aware of a small dead-end street that seemed more like a private driveway. As she had just entered the street she was currently driving along, the vans hadn't arrived yet. Quickly she pulled into the small street, shut down her headlights and hoped.
Half a minute later, three vans sped by her six at about sixty miles an hour. Once they were far enough, Mac cautiously pulled back, turned and left the neighborhood. 'I know my Bond.' She grinned to herself, longing to tell Harm.
She decided to go over to the Roberts' directly. Taking a few additional deviations, just in case anyone spotted her, she arrived at Bud and Harriet's house, soaked and trembling, but feeling quite content about having fooled the media... once again.
Mon, March 1st 0421 ZULU Cmdr. Turner's apartment Georgetown, D.C.
Sergei and Jeannine had thought it wise not to go home. They had made sure that all the vans had in fact followed Mac's Corvette and then headed on to Sturgis'. He had called Mac earlier, having told her that he had the camera gear Jeannine was supposed to wear. So why not drop by and try it on?
Sturgis had been relieved when Sergei had told him that they were sure no one had followed them. As Jeannine told him what had happened at the hospital Sturgis was feeling more than a little concerned about Mac's state of mind. But a quick call from her, telling him that she had safely arrived at the Roberts', made him relax. Mac was a professional. She could handle things like these. And Sergei... 'Well, he's Harm's brother,' Sturgis reminded himself, not wanting to admit that it would probably be just this trait of his character that would get Sergei into serious trouble some day. But not now, Sturgis decided. They had enough problems to deal with.
Sturgis had retreated into the kitchen to fix a little dinner while Sergei was adjusting Jeannine's cam gear to a tight fit.
"Are you comfortable, Jan?"
She smiled at him. "As good as it gets, Sergeant."
"Are you sure you know how to use it? I can always..." Sergei's forehead was one big concerned frown.
Jeannine let out a soft chuckle, shaking her head. Mac had told her of Harm's overprotective nature. 'I think I know what she means.' "I know everything I need to know. It's okay, Sergei," she said gently.
He smiled, blushing slightly. "You know, I'm a little worried about what you're gonna do. I'd rather you wouldn't."
"Hey, I'll be okay." Jeannine glanced up to his kind eyes. "Thank you for caring."
"You know, it's just..." Sergei hesitated, collecting his courage. He swallowed. "Ya looblyóo, Yanina," he whispered. [I love you, Yanina.]
Jeannine didn't know any Russian except the few words that Mac had already taught her. But she was a musician. And she loved Russian opera, especially Evgeny Onyegin by Tchaikovsky. Knowing the score by heart, she had understood exactly what Sergei had just told her. Feeling her pulse accelerate to double speed, she reached up and softly kissed him on the lips.
"Ya tulka looblyóo, Sergei." [I love you, too, Sergei.] "Don't worry. I'll be safe."
To be continued... (Feedback always appreciated!)