Title: Journey to Homecoming Pt. 20/?
Author: Sheila
Category: Romance
Pairing: Clay/Sarah
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: As If
Spoilers: Up through 'Need to Know'
Summary: Clay and Sarah come together during an investigation
Clay's POV
American Embassy
Paramaribo, Suriname
"AJ I want to be anywhere but here. A drug bust that my replacement was monitoring is more than he bargained for. The buyers were two CPOs out of San Diego, and they were paying for the cocaine with SAMs."
"AJ, nothing has been reported here, but things have been eerily quiet. We have to coordinate this investigation. I'm going to join Clay ASAP and Jim is going to start things on this end. At this point we don't have a clue how big this is, but knowing our luck this could get out of hand quickly." Ramon reported.
"Ramon, I'm going to send Rabb to Suri.." I broke in on AJ.
"Ah AJ, no. I don't think he is the one. He is a good investigator but this is going to mean undercover and you know as well as I do, that he isn't the man for the job. I'd like to suggest that he go to San Diego and work that end with Jim. AJ, Victor Galindez has just graduated from the Farm. And.."
"Clay, when did Gunny go to the dark side?" He chuckled.
"Soon after we worked together in Afghanistan. He is still in the Corp, but has been TAD to the Agency. He is an excellent investigator and he will be a help down here. I'll be calling him and he can be here this afternoon."
"Then I'll send Rabb to San Diego. He'll work with Jim and I'll make sure he knows not to tip his hand until we hear from you. Keep me informed through Bud."
"Thanks, I was going to suggest that. AJ if you aren't careful I'm going to steal him away from you; at the Agency he'll advance rapidly."
"Clay, don't push your luck!"
"I know to quit when I'm ahead. AJ how is Sarah? This is killing me, being down here."
"When I left your place she had just finished crying for an hour. Morgan and I will take care of her like I promised. Have you called her yet?"
"No, I wanted to get the plan underway. As soon as we hang up I'm going to call." It was a phone call that I dreaded and longed for at the same time. I needed to hear her voice but I knew I would hurt us both more. This investigation needed to get wrapped up as soon as possible.
"Ramon, call me with your arrival time. AJ as soon as we know anything I'll call. Take care of her for me AJ, please." I didn't feel right about this operation and needed to know that she was going to be taken care of. I rang off and called my life.
0545
Webb Residence
Alexandria, Virginia
"'lo," replied a sexy sleepy voice.
"Good morning Princess." I greeted her with longing in my voice. I hadn't been away from her for more than twelve hours in almost three months and this separation was hard on us both.
"Oh, it's my spook," she said with as much longing as I.
"How are you doing, and don't tell me fine. AJ said you cried yourself to sleep last night." I was practically whispering to her trying to coax her into opening up. She didn't need to shut down, especially now.
"Honestly? Not good. Clay something isn't right with this, but I can't put my finger on it. I know it's not just pre-wedding jitters, but I don't know what it is."
"Honey, I understand. I'm going to wrap this up as soon as possible; you know I can't sleep without you by my side." I don't know who I was trying to reassure, her or me.
"I'm going to have good help; Victor is on the way down from DC and Ramon from San Diego. AJ is going to send Rabb to San Diego to work with Jim. So the gang will be together, sort of. I would have asked for you, but that isn't feasible anymore." I said jokingly, but I really would have liked to have her work on this. Sarah was one of the best investigators I knew, but we couldn't work together anymore. I couldn't knowingly place in danger and still maintain the objectivity needed for an operation.
"What did the Admiral say about Gunny working for the Agency?" Victor had wanted us to keep his assignment quiet until he finished training. He had planned on telling AJ after the fact, but the cat was out of the bag on this one.
"I think he insulted me, no, he did insult me. He wanted to know when 'he went to the dark side'. Funny I don't feel like Darth Vader." We both laughed at the silliness.
"I'm sorry I won't be there for the renovations. Have you decided on the wallpaper yet? The decorator is going to shoot you if you don't make up your mind by this afternoon."
"Yes, I made up my mind two days ago. He had it in stock and it's going up today." We continued talking about the house and wedding for another hour avoiding saying goodbye.
"Princess, I've got to go. I love you." I was back to whispering.
"I love you too. Please be careful, we have a date next Friday evening, and a honeymoon to go on. Of which you haven't told me where by the way." She had been trying to wheedle out our honeymoon destination for the last two months.
"No I haven't, and no I'm not. You don't like surprises I know, but not telling the bride about the honeymoon is sort of a tradition. You will like it, so stop trying; I'm not going to tell you!"
"OK, be that way." She pouted.
"Listen, go pounce on Morgan. You know how she hates to get up in the morning. You can take your frustration out on her. You can get her back for all the stories she told about me last night."
"If the truth hurts…. I'm hanging up now. Goodbye, spook." I heard the receiver click and hung up on my end.
I needed to get a few hours sleep before Victor and Ramon got here. I told Allen to call me if anything came up and went to the room assigned to me and crashed.
Sarah's POV
0700
Webb Residence
Alexandria, Virginia
"What the hell!" Morgan screamed as I jumped in her bed. Clay had said to pounce on her and I had decided to follow his order to the letter.
"Time to get up! We've got to meet the people at the house in an hour. Breakfast is ready. So get your buns out of bed lady." After talking with Clay I had decided to make the best of the situation starting with having a positive outlook.
"Why do I have to go? I don't know a thing about wallpapering or painting." She whined, so I swatted her on the butt. That got her attention and she rolled over and glared at me.
"That wasn't necessary Sarah." She said while rubbing her wounded bottom.
"No, but it was worth it. So tell me what happened with AJ last night?" I had been miserable last night but I hadn't been oblivious to the change in their relationship and I couldn't be happier for them. Morgan would be good for the Admiral; she was outgoing without being a 'living' fanatic like Meredith. And he would ground her by giving her wondering soul a home.
"Well I can tell you the man kissed my socks off, and if the shit hadn't have hit the fan last night other things may have gotten kissed off." She said dreamily.
"Do tell. But get dressed while you're telling." I told her and pushed out of the bed.
"Damn! I thought I distracted you," she said as she snapped her fingers and walked to the bathroom.
Saturday Morning
Webb Residence
McLean, Virginia
"I can't believe how much we bought for the house Mamie." I told my future mother-in-law. Morgan and the Admiral, Sturgis and Bobbie, Harriet and Bud, Clay's secretary Lynn, and Mamie were already unpacking the many things that had been gradually delivered over the last three days. The movers had packed up everything at the townhouse on Friday and were delivering today.
Last night everyone had come over to the house and dragged me out to dinner to celebrate. I had been reluctant to go but Clay had called and convinced me to go. At night we talked and I found that phone sex was better than no sex at all.
The movers arrived with the furniture from Clay's townhouse and my apartment. Anything duplicated from our combined households was to stay at the townhouse for Morgan's use. With all of the help everything was in place by late afternoon. By Sunday evening pictures were hung, clothing and linens put away.
The only thing missing was the man of the house. He had not called since Friday night, and Jim and Rabb had not heard from the team since early Saturday morning. It wasn't unusual, but I was beginning to worry.
AJ's POV
Sunday Evening
Webb Residence
McLean, Virginia
Morgan and I were on the deck swaying on the glider when the phone rang. Sarah was upstairs in the Jacuzzi soaking sore muscles and relaxing.
"Webb Residence." I said into the phone.
"AJ, its Jim and Harm, on the speaker. I've got bad news. Our crew in Suriname went undercover early Saturday and we've lost contact with them. Their contact was found shot in the back of the head an hour ago. Allen, the CIA operative down there said there was blood everywhere. It looks like at least one other was shot if not more.
The arms deals are still on. We don't know what is going on at this time. All we can do is wait. Harm and I are on the way down to Suriname. I'm going to have other NICS agents handle the San Diego end. Inventories have been taken at armories at thirty Marine and Naval facilities. We did the inventories as quietly as possible. So not to alert the smugglers."
"Admiral, they took a whole laundry list of things. There was enough stolen to equip a medium size army. This thing is huge. The personnel involved alone could be close to one hundred spread over the facilities."
"Rabb, what was their cover?" Morgan was unashamedly listening in at this point. I wanted to get and move, but by this time I knew she would follow me. Hell her security clearance was probably higher than mine.
"Clay and Ramon were going to pose as the bosses of the two CPOs that were discovered last week. They took them into custody and were able to get most of the workings of the operation of them. They had the two them scared shitless. Victor was going to be their bodyguard. Things were going well and they had the dealers convinced that they could get more goods for them. That's the last we heard from them."
0600
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia
I walked into the office and went directly to the coffee pot. I needed the caffeine badly. After informing Mac about Clay's disappearance, Morgan and I had spent quite a while helping her decide whether or not to cancel the wedding plans. She finally came to the decision to cancel. She had been worried since he had left town and now her fears had come true. She felt deeply that he was alive but in trouble. I had come to trust her 'feelings' and tried to give her as much emotional support as possible.
At 0730 Bud and Harriet arrived and began working. A few minutes later I heard a yell from his office and my phone rang moments later.
"Sir, could you please come to my office?" An excited Bud asked.
"I'll be there shortly." I walked to his office and saw him staring at his computer.
"Sir, look at this e-mail. I signed on to my Yahoo account to check my personal e-mail and found this." He was practically dancing in his chair as I leaned over his shoulder.
Dear Victoria,
You won't believe this. Ray and I have to go with Mom and Dad on their tour of South America. Can you believe this? Me, in South America? Gawd. Do they, like, have malls down there? We are going everywhere. I swear Dad has business associates he wants to talk to in almost every country down here. And Mom just likes to travel. Why can't I stay somewhere where there are Big Macs at least?
Do you want to come? I mean like Mom said I could invite you if you wanted to come? Write me back OK. I need to know like in an hour. I'll understand if you can't. It's, like, real short notice. But I had to make the offer. Oh well. We'll be safe, because Mom and Dad will watch us like hawks. I mean, like, getting to write e-mail will only happen when we can sneak out.
Ray is really pissed. Like he wants to spend the last summer before college doing the world tour of the jungle. I mean if it was Europe he could go the nude beaches or something. His girlfriend is probably going to freak when she finds out he is going to be gone so long. Oh and tell your sister that I'm truly devastated to miss her wedding. I really like her and was looking forward to it. But Mom and Dad wouldn't take no for an answer, and I felt it was in my best interest not to argue the point.
Gotta go, the PARENTS are coming. Ray's keeping watch. TTFN.
PIA062003@yahoo.com
"Bud, what in the hell does that mean?" I didn't have a clue. Bud had a big grin on his face and he obviously interpreted the code.
"It's from Clay Sir. First of all, he is safe and misses the Colonel. He and Ramon are being taken on a tour of the South American operation. It seems they impressed the drug dealers. They will be on their way in an hour. Communication will be infrequent at best. He apologizes to the Colonel for missing the wedding, but they were more or less forced to go on this tour."
"Thank God they are all right. Jim and Harm called last night and told us they had lost contact with Clay, Ramon, and Gunny. Does that gibberish say anything about Gunny?"
"No it doesn't. Hopefully he'll be able to get word out soon."
"I'm going to see Mac and give her the news. Forward that e-mail to her personal account so she can see it for herself. I want you to monitor that account closely. It looks like the spook has found a unique way to get word out."
When I told Mac the good news she broke down, much like she had the night Clay had left; this time in relief. When she read the e-mail she laughed at the way Clay tried to write valley-speak. He did his best for a Harvard educated spook trying to sound like a fourteen-year old girl.
She had not called Porter yet, but was glad to have good new to give her along with the problematic news of postponing the wedding indefinitely. Porter said she would take care of everything, which took a load off of Mac's shoulders.
Sarah's POV
The emotional roller coaster of loving one Clayton Webb is quite a ride. I'm glad I have the 'E' ticket. I am going to keep riding this one for as long as I can. Love smoothes the ride enough to make it worth all the bumps and swerves, ups and down.
The wedding isn't off, just postponed. I have a feeling we are going to elope. Maybe go to Las Vegas, he can be Elvis to my Pricilla. Now I was getting silly. I am so relieved he is OK. When Harm and said they had found one dead contact and a lot of blood my mind had worked overtime making up any and all possible stories. I knew he wasn't dead, but he could be seriously hurt. Then the Admiral came by this morning with the news and I read the ridiculous e-mail. That's my man!
On Tuesday Bud got another e-mail,
Dear Victoria,
You aren't my friend anymore. VBEG I invited you along on this boring trip with Artie and Tina. (After this trip I am no longer calling them Mom and Dad!) and you wouldn't come! I am almost an adult now and don't know why I was dragged along on their tour of South America. We have been on the go since yesterday!!! Just because you broke your leg doesn't mean that you couldn't have come. Noooo, you get to stay in some house, safe on the beach having Suri take care of you. I mean she is a good maid but what kind of name is that!
Now let me tell you about my wonderful adventure! I mean, like who wants to go to a zoo! Like the jaguar is really sexy and a native to this country and this stupid zoo has only one. They have tons of lions, the so called king of beasts.
What else to tell you about? Oh yeah the food. I mean I'm like an American. And I want American food. The parents won't even stop and let me get a Big Mac, I miss my Big Mac so much, but Mom says we have to dine on the local 'cuisine', YUCK. Give me a BIG MAC anyway.
So here we are in Argentina. So we do the Zoo, we don't do the Copacabana, Nooooooo, we do a NAVY base, whoop de do. We sneak off in the hotel to write e-mail for five minutes when the parent Nazis are looking. So gotta go.
PIA062003@yahoo.com
Harm and Jim found Gunny a few hours after receiving this e-mail at the beach house the CPOs had been staying in. The contact had been shot because he had talked back to the drug dealers. They were seriously dangerous men. Gunny had been shot in the leg in a freak accident by one of the drug dealer's men. He meant to shoot the contact but had tripped and shot Gunny. Fortunately they allowed Ramon and Clay to move him to the beach house and treat the wound. Unfortunately there wasn't a phone there for Gunny to call for help.
Clay managed to e-mail at least once a week. In each he would drop clues about their location and what arms were being dealt. At the completion of this operation one of the biggest arms smuggling operations would be out of business. He also managed to include a message about how much he missed me.
On August 14th we received the e-mail we had been waiting for, but it had us worried.
Dear Victoria,
Things I miss:
1. Big Macs. You know how much I love them; I miss them desperately.
2. I also want my MTV, or something in English. Do you know how funny it is to watch Star Trek in Spanish? And not the current one either, the original series. That has been my only laugh so far. You remember the one about the Tholian web where the captain is stuck and running out of oxygen and trying to call Spock and them to get him out, and they are like, trying. You just haven't lived to you watch it in Spanish.
I never thought we would be traveling around forever. I am like, so happy that school starts up on soon. Senior year is going to be so cool, if I ever make it. I just wish I were older like Ray. He's going to college this year and he promised that when I start college he will show me the ropes. I am so looking forward college just because I know he will have some good looking friends, but he is like so overprotective. He keeps on saying he will watch over me when I come, 'No harm is going to my little sister'. Sheesh sometimes he is as bad as Mom and Dad but I love him any way. I will be happy to get home after a vacation.
Even though Ray really IS an adult he is not having any more fun on this trip than I am, but at least he is with me and we try to distract each other. Mom and Dad are watching us like hawks. If we even begin talking to someone we like think is cute they swoop in and run them off. I mean like Ray just wanted to like kiss a girl and Mom had a hissy fit. She called the girl all kinds of names and like put Ray and me in isolation. He didn't even get to make any connection. He was just starting to make his move. She was real CIA (cuddly, intelligent, attractive – a code I made up to describe what I'm looking for!) That's why I haven't been able to write recently. No phones, no internet. I was dying for a while but they finally cut us loose for today. Ray and I have escaped to this cyber café and are writing all our friends to tell them we are alive.
We are back in Buenos Aires again but believe it or not we are on our way back home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mom and Dad are coming in now, so we are going to sign off quickly. Please promise you will meet me when the plane lands. I have so much more to tell you but there is no time. I'll be so glad to get back to LA, I think I will go to the zoo and see a bunch of jags or to the aquarium to see squids and seals. I know we operate them better at home than the do here. Oh I almost forgot to tell you when we will be there. August 17th, it's an early flight we get in at 10am. Why the parents wanted to take a red eye back I'll never know. It's not like Buenos Aires is the back of beyond and only has one flight a day out. Got to go. Meet the damn plane OK, I mean, meet the plane. I need to see a face that I like, know. I just don't trust the parents much anymore. I wish you were traveling back with us.
Ray says hi, I think he likes you. (Hee, hee). Bye for now.
PIA062003@yahoo.com
Everyone was gathered in the conference room at headquarters. Bud had printed out the e-mail and we were all trying to interpret Clay valley-speak code. Bud used the over head projector to display our list of interpretations:
1. They are on the way home 8/17 arriving 10 am from Buenos Aires to LA
2. They don't know the airlines
3. They are under suspicion but don't know how much
4. They want someone on the flight with them on the way back
5. The want to be met by SeALs or Special Ops because something big is going to go down when they get back
6. They have noticed CIA and/or NCIS agents that have been watching but haven't been able to make contact
7. Clay loves Sarah and misses her like hell - this was greeted with gentle laughter
It was decided that Jim and a CIA operative would fly out immediately to Buenos Aires to be on the Delta flight to Los Angeles. The Admiral and I, and Gunny, now with the CIA would fly to LA to meet the plane. Final plans would be made with the SeAL team when we arrived in California.
Harm, was being left in charge as JAG, much to his disgust. I couldn't sympathize. I was going to meet the plane come hell or high water, and the pilot could cool his jets in DC for all I cared.
TBC
Author: Sheila
Category: Romance
Pairing: Clay/Sarah
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: As If
Spoilers: Up through 'Need to Know'
Summary: Clay and Sarah come together during an investigation
Clay's POV
American Embassy
Paramaribo, Suriname
"AJ I want to be anywhere but here. A drug bust that my replacement was monitoring is more than he bargained for. The buyers were two CPOs out of San Diego, and they were paying for the cocaine with SAMs."
"AJ, nothing has been reported here, but things have been eerily quiet. We have to coordinate this investigation. I'm going to join Clay ASAP and Jim is going to start things on this end. At this point we don't have a clue how big this is, but knowing our luck this could get out of hand quickly." Ramon reported.
"Ramon, I'm going to send Rabb to Suri.." I broke in on AJ.
"Ah AJ, no. I don't think he is the one. He is a good investigator but this is going to mean undercover and you know as well as I do, that he isn't the man for the job. I'd like to suggest that he go to San Diego and work that end with Jim. AJ, Victor Galindez has just graduated from the Farm. And.."
"Clay, when did Gunny go to the dark side?" He chuckled.
"Soon after we worked together in Afghanistan. He is still in the Corp, but has been TAD to the Agency. He is an excellent investigator and he will be a help down here. I'll be calling him and he can be here this afternoon."
"Then I'll send Rabb to San Diego. He'll work with Jim and I'll make sure he knows not to tip his hand until we hear from you. Keep me informed through Bud."
"Thanks, I was going to suggest that. AJ if you aren't careful I'm going to steal him away from you; at the Agency he'll advance rapidly."
"Clay, don't push your luck!"
"I know to quit when I'm ahead. AJ how is Sarah? This is killing me, being down here."
"When I left your place she had just finished crying for an hour. Morgan and I will take care of her like I promised. Have you called her yet?"
"No, I wanted to get the plan underway. As soon as we hang up I'm going to call." It was a phone call that I dreaded and longed for at the same time. I needed to hear her voice but I knew I would hurt us both more. This investigation needed to get wrapped up as soon as possible.
"Ramon, call me with your arrival time. AJ as soon as we know anything I'll call. Take care of her for me AJ, please." I didn't feel right about this operation and needed to know that she was going to be taken care of. I rang off and called my life.
0545
Webb Residence
Alexandria, Virginia
"'lo," replied a sexy sleepy voice.
"Good morning Princess." I greeted her with longing in my voice. I hadn't been away from her for more than twelve hours in almost three months and this separation was hard on us both.
"Oh, it's my spook," she said with as much longing as I.
"How are you doing, and don't tell me fine. AJ said you cried yourself to sleep last night." I was practically whispering to her trying to coax her into opening up. She didn't need to shut down, especially now.
"Honestly? Not good. Clay something isn't right with this, but I can't put my finger on it. I know it's not just pre-wedding jitters, but I don't know what it is."
"Honey, I understand. I'm going to wrap this up as soon as possible; you know I can't sleep without you by my side." I don't know who I was trying to reassure, her or me.
"I'm going to have good help; Victor is on the way down from DC and Ramon from San Diego. AJ is going to send Rabb to San Diego to work with Jim. So the gang will be together, sort of. I would have asked for you, but that isn't feasible anymore." I said jokingly, but I really would have liked to have her work on this. Sarah was one of the best investigators I knew, but we couldn't work together anymore. I couldn't knowingly place in danger and still maintain the objectivity needed for an operation.
"What did the Admiral say about Gunny working for the Agency?" Victor had wanted us to keep his assignment quiet until he finished training. He had planned on telling AJ after the fact, but the cat was out of the bag on this one.
"I think he insulted me, no, he did insult me. He wanted to know when 'he went to the dark side'. Funny I don't feel like Darth Vader." We both laughed at the silliness.
"I'm sorry I won't be there for the renovations. Have you decided on the wallpaper yet? The decorator is going to shoot you if you don't make up your mind by this afternoon."
"Yes, I made up my mind two days ago. He had it in stock and it's going up today." We continued talking about the house and wedding for another hour avoiding saying goodbye.
"Princess, I've got to go. I love you." I was back to whispering.
"I love you too. Please be careful, we have a date next Friday evening, and a honeymoon to go on. Of which you haven't told me where by the way." She had been trying to wheedle out our honeymoon destination for the last two months.
"No I haven't, and no I'm not. You don't like surprises I know, but not telling the bride about the honeymoon is sort of a tradition. You will like it, so stop trying; I'm not going to tell you!"
"OK, be that way." She pouted.
"Listen, go pounce on Morgan. You know how she hates to get up in the morning. You can take your frustration out on her. You can get her back for all the stories she told about me last night."
"If the truth hurts…. I'm hanging up now. Goodbye, spook." I heard the receiver click and hung up on my end.
I needed to get a few hours sleep before Victor and Ramon got here. I told Allen to call me if anything came up and went to the room assigned to me and crashed.
Sarah's POV
0700
Webb Residence
Alexandria, Virginia
"What the hell!" Morgan screamed as I jumped in her bed. Clay had said to pounce on her and I had decided to follow his order to the letter.
"Time to get up! We've got to meet the people at the house in an hour. Breakfast is ready. So get your buns out of bed lady." After talking with Clay I had decided to make the best of the situation starting with having a positive outlook.
"Why do I have to go? I don't know a thing about wallpapering or painting." She whined, so I swatted her on the butt. That got her attention and she rolled over and glared at me.
"That wasn't necessary Sarah." She said while rubbing her wounded bottom.
"No, but it was worth it. So tell me what happened with AJ last night?" I had been miserable last night but I hadn't been oblivious to the change in their relationship and I couldn't be happier for them. Morgan would be good for the Admiral; she was outgoing without being a 'living' fanatic like Meredith. And he would ground her by giving her wondering soul a home.
"Well I can tell you the man kissed my socks off, and if the shit hadn't have hit the fan last night other things may have gotten kissed off." She said dreamily.
"Do tell. But get dressed while you're telling." I told her and pushed out of the bed.
"Damn! I thought I distracted you," she said as she snapped her fingers and walked to the bathroom.
Saturday Morning
Webb Residence
McLean, Virginia
"I can't believe how much we bought for the house Mamie." I told my future mother-in-law. Morgan and the Admiral, Sturgis and Bobbie, Harriet and Bud, Clay's secretary Lynn, and Mamie were already unpacking the many things that had been gradually delivered over the last three days. The movers had packed up everything at the townhouse on Friday and were delivering today.
Last night everyone had come over to the house and dragged me out to dinner to celebrate. I had been reluctant to go but Clay had called and convinced me to go. At night we talked and I found that phone sex was better than no sex at all.
The movers arrived with the furniture from Clay's townhouse and my apartment. Anything duplicated from our combined households was to stay at the townhouse for Morgan's use. With all of the help everything was in place by late afternoon. By Sunday evening pictures were hung, clothing and linens put away.
The only thing missing was the man of the house. He had not called since Friday night, and Jim and Rabb had not heard from the team since early Saturday morning. It wasn't unusual, but I was beginning to worry.
AJ's POV
Sunday Evening
Webb Residence
McLean, Virginia
Morgan and I were on the deck swaying on the glider when the phone rang. Sarah was upstairs in the Jacuzzi soaking sore muscles and relaxing.
"Webb Residence." I said into the phone.
"AJ, its Jim and Harm, on the speaker. I've got bad news. Our crew in Suriname went undercover early Saturday and we've lost contact with them. Their contact was found shot in the back of the head an hour ago. Allen, the CIA operative down there said there was blood everywhere. It looks like at least one other was shot if not more.
The arms deals are still on. We don't know what is going on at this time. All we can do is wait. Harm and I are on the way down to Suriname. I'm going to have other NICS agents handle the San Diego end. Inventories have been taken at armories at thirty Marine and Naval facilities. We did the inventories as quietly as possible. So not to alert the smugglers."
"Admiral, they took a whole laundry list of things. There was enough stolen to equip a medium size army. This thing is huge. The personnel involved alone could be close to one hundred spread over the facilities."
"Rabb, what was their cover?" Morgan was unashamedly listening in at this point. I wanted to get and move, but by this time I knew she would follow me. Hell her security clearance was probably higher than mine.
"Clay and Ramon were going to pose as the bosses of the two CPOs that were discovered last week. They took them into custody and were able to get most of the workings of the operation of them. They had the two them scared shitless. Victor was going to be their bodyguard. Things were going well and they had the dealers convinced that they could get more goods for them. That's the last we heard from them."
0600
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia
I walked into the office and went directly to the coffee pot. I needed the caffeine badly. After informing Mac about Clay's disappearance, Morgan and I had spent quite a while helping her decide whether or not to cancel the wedding plans. She finally came to the decision to cancel. She had been worried since he had left town and now her fears had come true. She felt deeply that he was alive but in trouble. I had come to trust her 'feelings' and tried to give her as much emotional support as possible.
At 0730 Bud and Harriet arrived and began working. A few minutes later I heard a yell from his office and my phone rang moments later.
"Sir, could you please come to my office?" An excited Bud asked.
"I'll be there shortly." I walked to his office and saw him staring at his computer.
"Sir, look at this e-mail. I signed on to my Yahoo account to check my personal e-mail and found this." He was practically dancing in his chair as I leaned over his shoulder.
Dear Victoria,
You won't believe this. Ray and I have to go with Mom and Dad on their tour of South America. Can you believe this? Me, in South America? Gawd. Do they, like, have malls down there? We are going everywhere. I swear Dad has business associates he wants to talk to in almost every country down here. And Mom just likes to travel. Why can't I stay somewhere where there are Big Macs at least?
Do you want to come? I mean like Mom said I could invite you if you wanted to come? Write me back OK. I need to know like in an hour. I'll understand if you can't. It's, like, real short notice. But I had to make the offer. Oh well. We'll be safe, because Mom and Dad will watch us like hawks. I mean, like, getting to write e-mail will only happen when we can sneak out.
Ray is really pissed. Like he wants to spend the last summer before college doing the world tour of the jungle. I mean if it was Europe he could go the nude beaches or something. His girlfriend is probably going to freak when she finds out he is going to be gone so long. Oh and tell your sister that I'm truly devastated to miss her wedding. I really like her and was looking forward to it. But Mom and Dad wouldn't take no for an answer, and I felt it was in my best interest not to argue the point.
Gotta go, the PARENTS are coming. Ray's keeping watch. TTFN.
PIA062003@yahoo.com
"Bud, what in the hell does that mean?" I didn't have a clue. Bud had a big grin on his face and he obviously interpreted the code.
"It's from Clay Sir. First of all, he is safe and misses the Colonel. He and Ramon are being taken on a tour of the South American operation. It seems they impressed the drug dealers. They will be on their way in an hour. Communication will be infrequent at best. He apologizes to the Colonel for missing the wedding, but they were more or less forced to go on this tour."
"Thank God they are all right. Jim and Harm called last night and told us they had lost contact with Clay, Ramon, and Gunny. Does that gibberish say anything about Gunny?"
"No it doesn't. Hopefully he'll be able to get word out soon."
"I'm going to see Mac and give her the news. Forward that e-mail to her personal account so she can see it for herself. I want you to monitor that account closely. It looks like the spook has found a unique way to get word out."
When I told Mac the good news she broke down, much like she had the night Clay had left; this time in relief. When she read the e-mail she laughed at the way Clay tried to write valley-speak. He did his best for a Harvard educated spook trying to sound like a fourteen-year old girl.
She had not called Porter yet, but was glad to have good new to give her along with the problematic news of postponing the wedding indefinitely. Porter said she would take care of everything, which took a load off of Mac's shoulders.
Sarah's POV
The emotional roller coaster of loving one Clayton Webb is quite a ride. I'm glad I have the 'E' ticket. I am going to keep riding this one for as long as I can. Love smoothes the ride enough to make it worth all the bumps and swerves, ups and down.
The wedding isn't off, just postponed. I have a feeling we are going to elope. Maybe go to Las Vegas, he can be Elvis to my Pricilla. Now I was getting silly. I am so relieved he is OK. When Harm and said they had found one dead contact and a lot of blood my mind had worked overtime making up any and all possible stories. I knew he wasn't dead, but he could be seriously hurt. Then the Admiral came by this morning with the news and I read the ridiculous e-mail. That's my man!
On Tuesday Bud got another e-mail,
Dear Victoria,
You aren't my friend anymore. VBEG I invited you along on this boring trip with Artie and Tina. (After this trip I am no longer calling them Mom and Dad!) and you wouldn't come! I am almost an adult now and don't know why I was dragged along on their tour of South America. We have been on the go since yesterday!!! Just because you broke your leg doesn't mean that you couldn't have come. Noooo, you get to stay in some house, safe on the beach having Suri take care of you. I mean she is a good maid but what kind of name is that!
Now let me tell you about my wonderful adventure! I mean, like who wants to go to a zoo! Like the jaguar is really sexy and a native to this country and this stupid zoo has only one. They have tons of lions, the so called king of beasts.
What else to tell you about? Oh yeah the food. I mean I'm like an American. And I want American food. The parents won't even stop and let me get a Big Mac, I miss my Big Mac so much, but Mom says we have to dine on the local 'cuisine', YUCK. Give me a BIG MAC anyway.
So here we are in Argentina. So we do the Zoo, we don't do the Copacabana, Nooooooo, we do a NAVY base, whoop de do. We sneak off in the hotel to write e-mail for five minutes when the parent Nazis are looking. So gotta go.
PIA062003@yahoo.com
Harm and Jim found Gunny a few hours after receiving this e-mail at the beach house the CPOs had been staying in. The contact had been shot because he had talked back to the drug dealers. They were seriously dangerous men. Gunny had been shot in the leg in a freak accident by one of the drug dealer's men. He meant to shoot the contact but had tripped and shot Gunny. Fortunately they allowed Ramon and Clay to move him to the beach house and treat the wound. Unfortunately there wasn't a phone there for Gunny to call for help.
Clay managed to e-mail at least once a week. In each he would drop clues about their location and what arms were being dealt. At the completion of this operation one of the biggest arms smuggling operations would be out of business. He also managed to include a message about how much he missed me.
On August 14th we received the e-mail we had been waiting for, but it had us worried.
Dear Victoria,
Things I miss:
1. Big Macs. You know how much I love them; I miss them desperately.
2. I also want my MTV, or something in English. Do you know how funny it is to watch Star Trek in Spanish? And not the current one either, the original series. That has been my only laugh so far. You remember the one about the Tholian web where the captain is stuck and running out of oxygen and trying to call Spock and them to get him out, and they are like, trying. You just haven't lived to you watch it in Spanish.
I never thought we would be traveling around forever. I am like, so happy that school starts up on soon. Senior year is going to be so cool, if I ever make it. I just wish I were older like Ray. He's going to college this year and he promised that when I start college he will show me the ropes. I am so looking forward college just because I know he will have some good looking friends, but he is like so overprotective. He keeps on saying he will watch over me when I come, 'No harm is going to my little sister'. Sheesh sometimes he is as bad as Mom and Dad but I love him any way. I will be happy to get home after a vacation.
Even though Ray really IS an adult he is not having any more fun on this trip than I am, but at least he is with me and we try to distract each other. Mom and Dad are watching us like hawks. If we even begin talking to someone we like think is cute they swoop in and run them off. I mean like Ray just wanted to like kiss a girl and Mom had a hissy fit. She called the girl all kinds of names and like put Ray and me in isolation. He didn't even get to make any connection. He was just starting to make his move. She was real CIA (cuddly, intelligent, attractive – a code I made up to describe what I'm looking for!) That's why I haven't been able to write recently. No phones, no internet. I was dying for a while but they finally cut us loose for today. Ray and I have escaped to this cyber café and are writing all our friends to tell them we are alive.
We are back in Buenos Aires again but believe it or not we are on our way back home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mom and Dad are coming in now, so we are going to sign off quickly. Please promise you will meet me when the plane lands. I have so much more to tell you but there is no time. I'll be so glad to get back to LA, I think I will go to the zoo and see a bunch of jags or to the aquarium to see squids and seals. I know we operate them better at home than the do here. Oh I almost forgot to tell you when we will be there. August 17th, it's an early flight we get in at 10am. Why the parents wanted to take a red eye back I'll never know. It's not like Buenos Aires is the back of beyond and only has one flight a day out. Got to go. Meet the damn plane OK, I mean, meet the plane. I need to see a face that I like, know. I just don't trust the parents much anymore. I wish you were traveling back with us.
Ray says hi, I think he likes you. (Hee, hee). Bye for now.
PIA062003@yahoo.com
Everyone was gathered in the conference room at headquarters. Bud had printed out the e-mail and we were all trying to interpret Clay valley-speak code. Bud used the over head projector to display our list of interpretations:
1. They are on the way home 8/17 arriving 10 am from Buenos Aires to LA
2. They don't know the airlines
3. They are under suspicion but don't know how much
4. They want someone on the flight with them on the way back
5. The want to be met by SeALs or Special Ops because something big is going to go down when they get back
6. They have noticed CIA and/or NCIS agents that have been watching but haven't been able to make contact
7. Clay loves Sarah and misses her like hell - this was greeted with gentle laughter
It was decided that Jim and a CIA operative would fly out immediately to Buenos Aires to be on the Delta flight to Los Angeles. The Admiral and I, and Gunny, now with the CIA would fly to LA to meet the plane. Final plans would be made with the SeAL team when we arrived in California.
Harm, was being left in charge as JAG, much to his disgust. I couldn't sympathize. I was going to meet the plane come hell or high water, and the pilot could cool his jets in DC for all I cared.
TBC