The coffee Mac held had long since grown cold but images of Sadik falling
back with the fatal bullet to the head played over and over again in her
head. The café was near empty at ten o'clock at night. Someone entered her
line of vision, shaking her head she stared at the man who sat across from
her.
"You don't mind if I join you, do you Ma'am?"
"No not at all, Sir." Mac answered politely silently wishing that she could be all alone to return to the dark thoughts that had surrounded her since she had 'murdered' Sadik.
"Please don't call me 'Sir'. You can call me Striker. That look on your face has haunted too many people. I'll sit here just incase you would like to talk about it."
Mac sat in stunned silence, had she really been that transparent? The silence stretched out in compatible silence has her coffee was replenished and Striker's was delivered. He sat across from her writing in some type of notebook while she mulled over everything. Who was she; she couldn't recognize herself anymore.
"I murdered someone."
"Oh." The word uttered in acknowledgement not judgment.
"He was an evil man. He killed so many people, harmed two people I care about, had people tortured, including a friend. He wanted to kill unsuspecting college students in a club."
"Uh uh." His relative silence allowed Mac to continue in her own time.
"I shot him once in the shoulder. He was done, should have gone with the authorities to be questioned but he looked at me one more time. I lost it. I put a bullet through his forehead."
"I see."
Silence reigned once again. The only noise came from the workers in the kitchen and the clock with its constant 'tick, tock, tick, tock'.
"Am I just like him?"
"No. If he had won he would not be regretting his actions, he would not feel any remorse."
Once again they seized speaking. Mac feeling only slightly repaired but how could this man even know what he was talking about? Her mind once again wondered. She had thought of going to talk to Webb but he was so self- absorbed. Harm, the person she used to go to for every problem, had other things with higher priority and he could never understand.
"I'm going to tell you a story I've never mentioned to someone that was not personally close to me. I was a marine during the Vietnam War. After the war we were hearing reports of MIAs being spotted so a bunch of us former Marines went back to Vietnam. We were all at least in our 30s or 40s. Then one summer a kid joined our ranks, he was only 16 but he was as mature as a 25 year old. We were matched up together, we happened upon a man, probably in his 20s, who was dressed in a Vietnamese uniform, the kid I was with shot him before he got either of us. He only hit him in the shoulder so it was nothing serious but he stood over the man and shot him again ending his life. The worst part is he felt no remorse for what he had done. I don't remember how many people he killed but eventually the death of someone he loved over there calmed him down and he returned home. I've kept in touch with him, he went into the Navy first as an aviator after a crash he went to JAG then he was flying again and then back to JAG. I figured he would never leave, he hadn't left after he found his father so it just seemed he would always be a Navy man. I received a letter from him about a month ago, he had recently been reinstated after a stint with the CIA; I was shocked. I asked him what happened. He said, 'I resigned to save and find the women I love. I saved her and the CIA agent she had been captured with but to do it I reverted to the 16 year old me I had thought I left in the jungle. I couldn't tell her I love her and she gave me a never.' He's now become the guardian to a 14-year-old girl. He's a great man, always running from his past if he's not running to it. He stopped running to it when he found his father but he is still running from it."
"Harm?"
Striker looked up in shock, "You know him?" Mac nods her head before Striker continues. "Oh shit, Harm's going to kill me if he finds out I told you or even worse if she were to find out. This stays between us, this girl can never know."
"There's only one problem with that, you just told her."
Mac deposited money on the table, feeling all of her confidence returning. Harm was able to overcome his 'flight on the dark side' while still stuck in its depths; she could over come hers out of its elements, with help from Harm. "Thank you." The bell over the door jangled its good-bye as she left.
Striker nodded his head in acknowledgement. He hadn't only save Harm out there but Harm had saved him from getting stuck in those jungles. Harm deserved happiness and that's what he was about to get. He deposited money and then left, the bell never jangled a farewell.
"You don't mind if I join you, do you Ma'am?"
"No not at all, Sir." Mac answered politely silently wishing that she could be all alone to return to the dark thoughts that had surrounded her since she had 'murdered' Sadik.
"Please don't call me 'Sir'. You can call me Striker. That look on your face has haunted too many people. I'll sit here just incase you would like to talk about it."
Mac sat in stunned silence, had she really been that transparent? The silence stretched out in compatible silence has her coffee was replenished and Striker's was delivered. He sat across from her writing in some type of notebook while she mulled over everything. Who was she; she couldn't recognize herself anymore.
"I murdered someone."
"Oh." The word uttered in acknowledgement not judgment.
"He was an evil man. He killed so many people, harmed two people I care about, had people tortured, including a friend. He wanted to kill unsuspecting college students in a club."
"Uh uh." His relative silence allowed Mac to continue in her own time.
"I shot him once in the shoulder. He was done, should have gone with the authorities to be questioned but he looked at me one more time. I lost it. I put a bullet through his forehead."
"I see."
Silence reigned once again. The only noise came from the workers in the kitchen and the clock with its constant 'tick, tock, tick, tock'.
"Am I just like him?"
"No. If he had won he would not be regretting his actions, he would not feel any remorse."
Once again they seized speaking. Mac feeling only slightly repaired but how could this man even know what he was talking about? Her mind once again wondered. She had thought of going to talk to Webb but he was so self- absorbed. Harm, the person she used to go to for every problem, had other things with higher priority and he could never understand.
"I'm going to tell you a story I've never mentioned to someone that was not personally close to me. I was a marine during the Vietnam War. After the war we were hearing reports of MIAs being spotted so a bunch of us former Marines went back to Vietnam. We were all at least in our 30s or 40s. Then one summer a kid joined our ranks, he was only 16 but he was as mature as a 25 year old. We were matched up together, we happened upon a man, probably in his 20s, who was dressed in a Vietnamese uniform, the kid I was with shot him before he got either of us. He only hit him in the shoulder so it was nothing serious but he stood over the man and shot him again ending his life. The worst part is he felt no remorse for what he had done. I don't remember how many people he killed but eventually the death of someone he loved over there calmed him down and he returned home. I've kept in touch with him, he went into the Navy first as an aviator after a crash he went to JAG then he was flying again and then back to JAG. I figured he would never leave, he hadn't left after he found his father so it just seemed he would always be a Navy man. I received a letter from him about a month ago, he had recently been reinstated after a stint with the CIA; I was shocked. I asked him what happened. He said, 'I resigned to save and find the women I love. I saved her and the CIA agent she had been captured with but to do it I reverted to the 16 year old me I had thought I left in the jungle. I couldn't tell her I love her and she gave me a never.' He's now become the guardian to a 14-year-old girl. He's a great man, always running from his past if he's not running to it. He stopped running to it when he found his father but he is still running from it."
"Harm?"
Striker looked up in shock, "You know him?" Mac nods her head before Striker continues. "Oh shit, Harm's going to kill me if he finds out I told you or even worse if she were to find out. This stays between us, this girl can never know."
"There's only one problem with that, you just told her."
Mac deposited money on the table, feeling all of her confidence returning. Harm was able to overcome his 'flight on the dark side' while still stuck in its depths; she could over come hers out of its elements, with help from Harm. "Thank you." The bell over the door jangled its good-bye as she left.
Striker nodded his head in acknowledgement. He hadn't only save Harm out there but Harm had saved him from getting stuck in those jungles. Harm deserved happiness and that's what he was about to get. He deposited money and then left, the bell never jangled a farewell.
