Sonnets of Life Part 3

Disclaimers in part 1


Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
--Sonnet 18


Monday, 4 November 2002
JAG HQ
Falls Church, VA
2400 ZULU

Mac jumped out of the 'Vette, hoping to get inside before too many of the guards noticed her attire. Of course, that wasn't a very viable hope, because it wasn't every day they saw a Marine Lieutenant Colonel in a designer gown, much less a Marine that looked like that.

Mac had left the Admiral's office that morning, looking forward to tearing Harmon Rabb a new one. Her hopes were dashed when Harriet informed her that he and Lieutenant Silva had just left for Dulles. 'Then again, perhaps that was a good thing,' Mac mused. She really did not need to be charged with striking a fellow officer, which would have happened. She had spent the rest of the day in court, so she had no time to think about anything outside of the courtroom. She had left JAG at 1700 sharp, and arrived at her apartment to a delivery boy waiting at her door. She had chuckled at the note included with the package:

Colonel,
Try not to damage this one.
CW

Her chuckle had turned into a sigh as she remembered the last embassy party she had attended.

"You know, we should go out more often."
"Sure, I had a wonderful time tonight."

For the first time since she found out about Harm's infidelity, she didn't feel anger; this emotion was more akin to regret. She shook herself out of her daze and prepared for the night's proceedings.

Mac tried to ignore the blatant stares of the men she passed. She closed her eyes and sighed with relief as she boarded the elevator. She started to wonder what AJ would think of her attire, but drew herself up short. 'No, Mac; don't even think it. The man is your CO; even if he wasn't, you are both coming off of serious relationships.'

The bell dinged, and the elevator doors opened. Mac took a deep breath and stepped into the bullpen of JAG Ops. She hoped she could pull this off with confidence; she always felt slightly ridiculous in evening gowns. After spending most of her time in Marine greens, and the rest in informal civilian attire, she never really knew how to act, although she would never let anyone know that.

She walked up to the door of the Admiral's office and knocked sharply. When she heard the command to "Enter!" she opened the door and walked inside. Mac felt a strong sense of déjà vu. The only difference was instead of her flyboy in mess dress, it was his best friend, Sturgis Turner. 'He's not your flyboy anymore, Mac.'

AJ tried to prepare himself for Mac's entrance, but he found that nothing could have prepared him for the gorgeous woman standing before him. She was dressed in a floor-length, red satin evening gown. It had a slit up to her thigh, showed just a hint of cleavage, and clung to her like a second skin. AJ felt a stirring in his groin as he realized she couldn't possibly be wearing a bra under that dress. 'Oh, God, not now!'

Sturgis broke the silence in the room by commenting, "Colonel, you look absolutely stunning!"

Mac smiled, and replied, "Why, thank you, Sturgis, you don't look half bad yourself." Turning to Clayton Webb, Mac said with a grin, "Webb, are you sure that this isn't just an excuse to play dress up again?"

"Well, Mac, that is one of the perks of this sort of assignment, but no; if I had just wanted to play dress up, I certainly wouldn't have included business."

When AJ heard this, he snapped out of his daze and scowled at Webb. 'Is Webb flirting with her? He better not be!'

"Yes, Colonel, you look very nice. Let's get down to business, shall we?" Mac was disappointed in AJ's response to her appearance. She didn't realize that his brusqueness was an attempt to cover that... response.

After Mac and Sturgis had been briefed on what they would be looking for, the gentlemen stood, and Sturgis took Mac's arm, saying, "Shall we?"

Mac said, "Let's go!"

Webb stood by, studying AJ. He noticed the controlled look on AJ's face. He knew that look well, having had to call on it frequently throughout his career. 'So, he's attracted to her, hmmm? Of course he is; who wouldn't be? I'll have to see how this one plays out.'




Monday, 4 November 2002
Chinese Embassy
Washington, DC
0200 ZULU

Having made it through the receiving line, Mac and Sturgis were now attempting to find a place with a full view of the ballroom to sit.

"Look, Sturgis, over there. See the tall man with the blonde hair? That's one of the guys from the photographs."

"Yeah, and there's another walking towards him."

They watched for another half an hour, with Sturgis getting up once in a while for drinks. Then, they danced for a while, keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity. After a few hours and more than a few dance partners, Mac found herself in the arms of the blonde-haired man. On her guard, she lightly flirted with the man, trying to see if he would reveal anything. He was very polite, but responded to most of her questions with monosyllabic answers. He returned her to Sturgis, and then walked off.

"So? Did you find anything out?"

"No, Sturgis, but I have the strangest feeling..."

"Like what? Is it like the Aiken case?"

"No, not exactly; it's more like one of those feelings you get when you can't remember something, but you know you should."

"Did you recognize him? Besides from the picture?"

"Yes. It seems like I should know him from somewhere; I just don't know who he is or where I saw him."

"Well, hopefully it will come to you, eventually."

"Mmm-hmm," Mac murmured absently, lost in thought.

"Sarah... Mac!"

"Huh--what?" Mac was jolted out of her reverie.

"I'm gonna go get something to drink. You want anything?"

"Oh, no, thanks, Sturgis."

As Sturgis walked away, Mac heard two hushed voices speaking nearby. As inconspicuously as possible, she turned her head in the direction of the voices and glanced at the people out of the corner of her eye. Her entire body went on alert as she realized that one of the men was the blonde-haired man, and that the conversation was in Russian. She didn't recognize the short, dark-haired man with whom he was speaking, but he didn't look too threatening: that is, until she saw the envelopes being exchanged. She just caught the last snippet of conversation as the men stood.

"So, it is happening tonight?"

"Yes, just as the clock strikes midnight. Cinderella won't be running from this ball."

Mac's body tensed. She forced herself to remain seated, relax, and try to commit all of the information she had to memory. Midnight... Oh, God! Midnight was only twenty minutes away!

Just then, Sturgis returned to their table. "Sarah? Are you alright?"

Mac looked at him with wide eyes, then asked, "Where's the ambassador?"

"What? Sarah, what's going on? Did you hear something?"

"Yes, I definitely heard something, and we need to find Webb, tell him what's going on, and get the ambassador out of here, NOW!"

"Mac, how about telling me what's going on?"

Mac continued in a hushed voice, while casually strolling towards the table at the head of the ballroom, "That man that I recognized? He was talking with a short, dark-haired man; I believe he was Russian. Our guy is American; he spoke the language well, but with an American accent. I saw the short one give the blonde guy an envelope, and the blonde guy gave him one in return. The last thing I heard was, 'Cinderella won't be running from this ball.' Sturgis, I think they're planning to kill the ambassador!"

"You're right; we definitely need to find Webb."

"No, you need to find Webb; I'm gonna go get the ambassador the hell out of here."

"Mac, I'm not leaving you without backup!"

"I'm a Marine, Sturgis--"

"I know, Mac, you can take care of yourself; but I still don't want you to go alone."

"Just go find Webb, tell him what's going down." With that, Mac walked away.

It was at times like this that she both blessed and cursed her internal clock. She knew exactly how much time she had, and while that could help her, it was also like watching the sand trickle through an hourglass, knowing you couldn't reset it. The seconds went by more quickly than she would have liked.

As she approached the table, she looked around the room, scrutinizing every inch. She nonchalantly sidled up to a guard, and said in a low voice, "My name is Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie. I need you to follow my directions carefully. Get the ambassador out of here ASAP, under armed guard. We have reason to believe that there is a plot to assassinate him."

As she said this, she looked up and saw the light of the ballroom reflect off of the barrel of a gun. She leapt in front of the ambassador, effectively blocking him from the sniper's aim.

"MAC!"