Disclaimer: JAG belongs to DPB, Paramount, CBS et al. This is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.
---
- Unknown location, an empty room, some hours later
AJ rubbed his tired eyes and turned once more to check if Webb was comfortable. Well, as comfortable as possible, lying on cold concrete with only AJ's jacket under his head after having been poisoned, kidnapped, almost shaken to pieces during a bumpy ride in the dark back of a van and finally carried rather roughly in this small room with a now firmly locked door. Oh, not to forget nearly dying of what had seemed to be a toxic shock.
Heaving a sigh Chegwidden brushed a strand of wet hair out of Webb's face. The man was literally soaked with sweat and he had started shivering from time to time. At least his condition seemed to get better although he was still completely out. But his skin was maybe not as pale as it had been in the restroom and his breathing less troubled. Of course, despite the side effects of the drug - if they had wanted him dead he would have been already... An only little comforting thought.
Nevertheless, AJ had probably got the short end of the stick - considering the looks of some men in the reopened restroom. He really DIDN'T want to know what they were thinking as they had watched a tall, nearly bald man and an obviously younger, rather handsome one exit one of the stalls together. Especially not the thoughts of the father who had looked them up and down and then shoved his about ten-year-old son firmly behind his back.
Chegwidden sat back against the wall and once more studied their prison. There was absolutely nothing in this room he could use for a weapon - they had even taken Webb's tie and their belts away. The heavy metal door was locked and the row of small windows in one wall was sitting directly under the high ceiling, the sills good twelve feet up. Impossible to reach for a single man, maybe even for two. And in the back of his head was the gnawing fear it might be impossible at all to escape without help from outside.
Help from outside, yes. How long would it take Webb's people to notice that something was wrong? IF they started looking for him at the airport and not somewhere else they'd find plenty of witnesses to their exchange ... they hadn't been very subtle or anything. If that drew attention to the restroom they should be able to more or less figure out what had happened next and how they got Webb away. No security tape would show the spy walking out of the door after going in. But there should be some nice shoots of him, AJ, and business-suit although he hadn't been able to give the guards any hint ... not while being watched that closely.
Would they find his car and the van with the label of a cleaning service on that small road in the countryside? Where he had been forced to join Webb in the back of another van under the threat of two guns? Would they be able to put together enough pieces to find this place - wherever it was? If the vehicles hadn't been hidden afterwards... Anyway, all that needed time, lots of time. Heck, as things were he and Webb could be buried in a nameless grave and maybe be found in some years ... if ever.
AJ snorted. Strange, despite the very prominent threat to die he wasn't all that worried about himself or even Webb at the moment. This risk had always been part of their lives. What really bothered him was the thought of his dog. He had left her in his house too long already and if they were killed there would be no one to take care of her. She could die of thirst or starve and no one would notice in time. Perhaps his neighbors would call the police if the dog kept barking long enough.
It was truly ironic: Now, that he needed someone to look for him there was no one left to do it. Francesca was never worried if he didn't return her calls immediately. He had made no arrangements for the next days where he could be missed. And what he did or didn't do wasn't business of JAG headquarters any more. They had no reason for searching for him. Some of them probably didn't want to any more. AJ pinched the bridge of his nose.
Maybe, some years in the future, Harm would be able to understand why he had done what he did. Or not. The truth was ... complicated.
Chegwidden had seen Rabb's potential right from the start. It was hard to miss. As lawyer or investigator his skills were and had always been extraordinary. His aggressiveness, stamina and stubbornness had predestined him to handle the hardest cases. His luck of getting in and miraculously usually unscathed out of life-threatening situations - both literally and figuratively - was not of this world. Yes, for a long time AJ had considered him a candidate for his seat although he had tried to be tough on him just to keep him in line. And yes, he had liked - and still liked - the young man on a personal level too. He even had to admit that he too had been charmed by the smart ex-aviator who sometimes reminded that much of an innocent boy when he flashed his smile.
Jesus, he had put up with lots and lots of things over the years and not only professionally. Things he would never have tolerated if it had been anybody else - shooting a gun in the courtroom, really! He had put up with Rabb's quest for his father because he had understood that a son needed to know. He had put up with his return to flight duty - not very enthusiastically but he had put up with it because he had known it was no use. No use to hold him back because that would only have turned him against JAG. And no use because Rabb had already been too old and in a strange way too matured to go far in that career any more - at least definitely not far enough for an ambitious man like him. But that Rabb had had to learn by himself and simply get it out of his system. He had supported his promotion to Commander although he shouldn't have that short after Rabb's return to JAG ... just for good measure.
And then... It was hard to explain but somehow ... nothing had happened. Oh, Rabb's qualities hadn't changed; he was still amazing in the courtroom and aggressively dedicated to his cases and his clients, a thorough and dependable member of JAG despite the crazy stunts he still tended to pull but... Somehow ... it seemed the young man had missed to grow up.
Pulling crazy stunts and taking risks was fine for a junior officer and even a Lieutenant Commander still trying to make a name. But meanwhile Rabb had been well known to - and sometimes dreaded by - his superiors and an inspiration for younger officers. And this development AJ had watched with growing concern.
Most young, ambitious officers tended by definition to go close to the line and maybe one step too far they didn't need the example of a rather famous Navy commander for that. They didn't need someone showing them how to go head to head with politicians or superiors - no matter how wrong they might be. Rabb was too far ahead of the rest in his skills, he always managed to come out of situations he had put himself into literally smelling of roses. It was a simple fact that anyone who tried to copy him, to copy his style, was bound to fail. And young officers WOULD try to copy him because they looked up to him, the living legend Commander Harmon Rabb, Junior ... and wanted to prove themselves to him.
It had taken Chegwidden quite some time to acknowledge that maybe he had expected too much. That the qualities which made Rabb so originally Rabb and such an extraordinary aviator and lawyer were the same which disqualified him for some other positions ... like that of the Judge Advocate General. Oh, Rabb was able to LEAD people under his command; he had proved that point during his second time as pilot. But AJ knew he would always have problems to step back into the second row and let others take charge even if they screwed up. And with this realization and the first suspicion about Sheffield's antipathy AJ had started to worry.
Maybe putting up with that much of Rabb's ... eccentricities had been no good. Not that Rabb overstepped the boundaries often - not too often anyway ... heck, who was he kidding, he was practically walking on them constantly! Probably because he was still an aviator in his heart who needed the rush of adrenalin and the freedom of the sky. But what would happen if he finally met a superior who wouldn't tolerate that?
So he had started to teach the younger man some of the lessons he had failed to teach him so far. And he had felt ridiculous pride when Rabb had acknowledged his limits of being a good judge... Only this cryptic remark about hitting saber-toothed tigers with a stick had been rather disturbing. And then the murder trial around Singer's death and the mission in Paraguay and especially its aftermath had ruined it all.
Taking a deep breath and rubbing his temples AJ looked up at the ceiling. Would Rabb ever be in a position to find out the truth about Paraguay? Maybe Mac would be.
Despite her rather bumpy start and once or twice really unacceptable behavior - like lying under oat - Mac had turned out to hide far more of the qualifications Chegwidden was secretly looking for. She was less emotional than Rabb, relying more on the facts than her intuition ... most of the time. Not the glorious winner in the courtroom but determined and stubborn enough to take a setback as a reason for trying even harder. It was a pity that because of some of the things in her record she would never be taken into consideration for the position of JAG. But maybe she would go high enough to learn that this darn mission in Paraguay had been politics.
JAG and the Agency had clashed one time too often with the Angel Shark. And what had agitated some high government officials the most was the fact that it had even happened under the command of a new SecNav. Well, in a nutshell, they had all been told to immediately PULL IT TOGETHER and STOP ACTING LIKE JEALOUS KIDS in these critical times and to prove their readiness for cooperation in a joint mission ... or to resign. So, when Webb started setting up his cover - because of his demotion unaware of the new developments in Washington - he got orders to recruit someone from JAG ... and he chose Mac.
A decision AJ understood and even appreciated professionally. Mac was one of his best as a lawyer or in the field and he had known that she would not decline. But personally ... that was something completely different. But he had had no choice. The mission had been necessary in more ways than one. Despite the danger.
"And then Rabb went and made it personal," he said out loud to the ceiling and grimaced, "And I had really thought we were past the up-and-running phase."
Chegwidden sighed inwardly. He and DCI Kershaw had completely agreed that Rabb's running around in Washington and asking questions about a classified operation - what was more TALKING about a classified mission to too many people - was something they couldn't tolerate any longer. It had seemed to be only a matter of time until Rabb would have turned to Congresswoman Latham for help and they had wanted the politicians out of their hair and not all over them again!
That Rabb had quit the Navy once more after AJ's refusal to let him go hadn't been that a big surprise considering the way he had acted lately. But nevertheless it had been a bitter disappointment. Rabb had handled himself so well when Mac had been missing in Indonesia then almost two years ago. No talking about jumping on the next plane and riding to her rescue then. But this time...
Kershaw had considered it safer to send Rabb down to South America half-officially because it would spare them from more inappropriate questions and it could do no harm in the remaining time. Chegwidden hadn't disagreed although he really should have known better.
Leave it to Rabb's luck to stumble over Gunnery Sergeant Galindez within the first hours down there, find the location where Mac and Webb were held, save them, somehow hire a plane out of nowhere together with some dynamite, find the truck with the missiles and actually blow it up ... almost together with the assault team of the Agency. The assault team ready to hit and destroy the missiles using the diversion created by Mac and Webb's mission. Because that was - no matter how useful the gathered information had turned out to be - everything their mission had been from the start: A diversion for Sadik.
A soft, barely audible moan interrupted Chegwidden's thoughts. He bent forward.
"Webb?"
Nothing. AJ got over to Webb's side and touched his shoulder.
"Webb!"
Webb's fingers moved slightly and the shadow of a frown appeared on his face. AJ bent closer.
"Clayton? Can you hear me? Webb!"
The younger man's head rolled a few inches on AJ's jacket. A hand moved aimlessly while his breathing accelerated. He was clearly fighting for consciousness.
"Come on, Webb, wake up!" AJ shook him carefully then patted his cheek gently. Webb groaned and he added more force. "Clayton!"
And Webb sprang to life with a gasp and a start, pushed AJ violently away and scrambled backwards.
"Ouch! Damn it! Webb, wait, it's OK, it's- Ouch! Stop it!"
AJ crawled after him but the younger man kept kicking and struggling with surprising force, a look of terror on his face.
"Clayton, let me - uh - darn it - stop -"
AJ took more blows but finally caught Webb's wrists through sheer luck.
"Webb, it's me, AJ! AJ Chegwidden!"
"AJ?" Webb gasped, still trying to wrench free, "AJ?"
"Yes, Clay!" Chegwidden pinned him down with all his weight. Barely. "Stop, Webb, please!"
"AJ? AJ! What- How- Where-?" Webb stammered but at least he stopped fighting. Near panic he turned his head from side to side, looking around wildly, eyes wide open.
"We've been kidnapped."
AJ wondered if his nose was bleeding.
"Kidnapped? I - I can't - remember..."
"They knocked you out with some sort of contact poison. Got you rather badly."
Chegwidden felt Webb's muscles tense and relax in his grip and his chest heave while the younger man fought for control.
"Who? Why?"
"I don't know. They haven't been very communicative yet. But I fear we'll find out all too soon."
Webb closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. He took deep calming breaths then blinked.
"Where - where are we? A cellar?"
"No, I think it's some kind of storeroom. Now, keep still and let me check on your eyes. They're bloodshot. I hope it's the cleaning alcohol and not the poison."
Webb's body went rigid. He swallowed then forced an uneasy laugh.
"A-AJ? Are you wearing NV goggles or something like that? It's pitch-black."
AJ's breath caught in his throat and involuntarily his gaze snapped up to the windows. Although it was getting darker there was still more than enough light coming into the room. He looked down again. Webb's eyes still kept moving, moving without focusing on him, without focusing on anything...
"Clayton... It - it isn't dark in here."
"It - isn't?" Webb voice was suddenly very small.
AJ gulped. "No."
---
- Unknown location, an empty room, some hours later
AJ rubbed his tired eyes and turned once more to check if Webb was comfortable. Well, as comfortable as possible, lying on cold concrete with only AJ's jacket under his head after having been poisoned, kidnapped, almost shaken to pieces during a bumpy ride in the dark back of a van and finally carried rather roughly in this small room with a now firmly locked door. Oh, not to forget nearly dying of what had seemed to be a toxic shock.
Heaving a sigh Chegwidden brushed a strand of wet hair out of Webb's face. The man was literally soaked with sweat and he had started shivering from time to time. At least his condition seemed to get better although he was still completely out. But his skin was maybe not as pale as it had been in the restroom and his breathing less troubled. Of course, despite the side effects of the drug - if they had wanted him dead he would have been already... An only little comforting thought.
Nevertheless, AJ had probably got the short end of the stick - considering the looks of some men in the reopened restroom. He really DIDN'T want to know what they were thinking as they had watched a tall, nearly bald man and an obviously younger, rather handsome one exit one of the stalls together. Especially not the thoughts of the father who had looked them up and down and then shoved his about ten-year-old son firmly behind his back.
Chegwidden sat back against the wall and once more studied their prison. There was absolutely nothing in this room he could use for a weapon - they had even taken Webb's tie and their belts away. The heavy metal door was locked and the row of small windows in one wall was sitting directly under the high ceiling, the sills good twelve feet up. Impossible to reach for a single man, maybe even for two. And in the back of his head was the gnawing fear it might be impossible at all to escape without help from outside.
Help from outside, yes. How long would it take Webb's people to notice that something was wrong? IF they started looking for him at the airport and not somewhere else they'd find plenty of witnesses to their exchange ... they hadn't been very subtle or anything. If that drew attention to the restroom they should be able to more or less figure out what had happened next and how they got Webb away. No security tape would show the spy walking out of the door after going in. But there should be some nice shoots of him, AJ, and business-suit although he hadn't been able to give the guards any hint ... not while being watched that closely.
Would they find his car and the van with the label of a cleaning service on that small road in the countryside? Where he had been forced to join Webb in the back of another van under the threat of two guns? Would they be able to put together enough pieces to find this place - wherever it was? If the vehicles hadn't been hidden afterwards... Anyway, all that needed time, lots of time. Heck, as things were he and Webb could be buried in a nameless grave and maybe be found in some years ... if ever.
AJ snorted. Strange, despite the very prominent threat to die he wasn't all that worried about himself or even Webb at the moment. This risk had always been part of their lives. What really bothered him was the thought of his dog. He had left her in his house too long already and if they were killed there would be no one to take care of her. She could die of thirst or starve and no one would notice in time. Perhaps his neighbors would call the police if the dog kept barking long enough.
It was truly ironic: Now, that he needed someone to look for him there was no one left to do it. Francesca was never worried if he didn't return her calls immediately. He had made no arrangements for the next days where he could be missed. And what he did or didn't do wasn't business of JAG headquarters any more. They had no reason for searching for him. Some of them probably didn't want to any more. AJ pinched the bridge of his nose.
Maybe, some years in the future, Harm would be able to understand why he had done what he did. Or not. The truth was ... complicated.
Chegwidden had seen Rabb's potential right from the start. It was hard to miss. As lawyer or investigator his skills were and had always been extraordinary. His aggressiveness, stamina and stubbornness had predestined him to handle the hardest cases. His luck of getting in and miraculously usually unscathed out of life-threatening situations - both literally and figuratively - was not of this world. Yes, for a long time AJ had considered him a candidate for his seat although he had tried to be tough on him just to keep him in line. And yes, he had liked - and still liked - the young man on a personal level too. He even had to admit that he too had been charmed by the smart ex-aviator who sometimes reminded that much of an innocent boy when he flashed his smile.
Jesus, he had put up with lots and lots of things over the years and not only professionally. Things he would never have tolerated if it had been anybody else - shooting a gun in the courtroom, really! He had put up with Rabb's quest for his father because he had understood that a son needed to know. He had put up with his return to flight duty - not very enthusiastically but he had put up with it because he had known it was no use. No use to hold him back because that would only have turned him against JAG. And no use because Rabb had already been too old and in a strange way too matured to go far in that career any more - at least definitely not far enough for an ambitious man like him. But that Rabb had had to learn by himself and simply get it out of his system. He had supported his promotion to Commander although he shouldn't have that short after Rabb's return to JAG ... just for good measure.
And then... It was hard to explain but somehow ... nothing had happened. Oh, Rabb's qualities hadn't changed; he was still amazing in the courtroom and aggressively dedicated to his cases and his clients, a thorough and dependable member of JAG despite the crazy stunts he still tended to pull but... Somehow ... it seemed the young man had missed to grow up.
Pulling crazy stunts and taking risks was fine for a junior officer and even a Lieutenant Commander still trying to make a name. But meanwhile Rabb had been well known to - and sometimes dreaded by - his superiors and an inspiration for younger officers. And this development AJ had watched with growing concern.
Most young, ambitious officers tended by definition to go close to the line and maybe one step too far they didn't need the example of a rather famous Navy commander for that. They didn't need someone showing them how to go head to head with politicians or superiors - no matter how wrong they might be. Rabb was too far ahead of the rest in his skills, he always managed to come out of situations he had put himself into literally smelling of roses. It was a simple fact that anyone who tried to copy him, to copy his style, was bound to fail. And young officers WOULD try to copy him because they looked up to him, the living legend Commander Harmon Rabb, Junior ... and wanted to prove themselves to him.
It had taken Chegwidden quite some time to acknowledge that maybe he had expected too much. That the qualities which made Rabb so originally Rabb and such an extraordinary aviator and lawyer were the same which disqualified him for some other positions ... like that of the Judge Advocate General. Oh, Rabb was able to LEAD people under his command; he had proved that point during his second time as pilot. But AJ knew he would always have problems to step back into the second row and let others take charge even if they screwed up. And with this realization and the first suspicion about Sheffield's antipathy AJ had started to worry.
Maybe putting up with that much of Rabb's ... eccentricities had been no good. Not that Rabb overstepped the boundaries often - not too often anyway ... heck, who was he kidding, he was practically walking on them constantly! Probably because he was still an aviator in his heart who needed the rush of adrenalin and the freedom of the sky. But what would happen if he finally met a superior who wouldn't tolerate that?
So he had started to teach the younger man some of the lessons he had failed to teach him so far. And he had felt ridiculous pride when Rabb had acknowledged his limits of being a good judge... Only this cryptic remark about hitting saber-toothed tigers with a stick had been rather disturbing. And then the murder trial around Singer's death and the mission in Paraguay and especially its aftermath had ruined it all.
Taking a deep breath and rubbing his temples AJ looked up at the ceiling. Would Rabb ever be in a position to find out the truth about Paraguay? Maybe Mac would be.
Despite her rather bumpy start and once or twice really unacceptable behavior - like lying under oat - Mac had turned out to hide far more of the qualifications Chegwidden was secretly looking for. She was less emotional than Rabb, relying more on the facts than her intuition ... most of the time. Not the glorious winner in the courtroom but determined and stubborn enough to take a setback as a reason for trying even harder. It was a pity that because of some of the things in her record she would never be taken into consideration for the position of JAG. But maybe she would go high enough to learn that this darn mission in Paraguay had been politics.
JAG and the Agency had clashed one time too often with the Angel Shark. And what had agitated some high government officials the most was the fact that it had even happened under the command of a new SecNav. Well, in a nutshell, they had all been told to immediately PULL IT TOGETHER and STOP ACTING LIKE JEALOUS KIDS in these critical times and to prove their readiness for cooperation in a joint mission ... or to resign. So, when Webb started setting up his cover - because of his demotion unaware of the new developments in Washington - he got orders to recruit someone from JAG ... and he chose Mac.
A decision AJ understood and even appreciated professionally. Mac was one of his best as a lawyer or in the field and he had known that she would not decline. But personally ... that was something completely different. But he had had no choice. The mission had been necessary in more ways than one. Despite the danger.
"And then Rabb went and made it personal," he said out loud to the ceiling and grimaced, "And I had really thought we were past the up-and-running phase."
Chegwidden sighed inwardly. He and DCI Kershaw had completely agreed that Rabb's running around in Washington and asking questions about a classified operation - what was more TALKING about a classified mission to too many people - was something they couldn't tolerate any longer. It had seemed to be only a matter of time until Rabb would have turned to Congresswoman Latham for help and they had wanted the politicians out of their hair and not all over them again!
That Rabb had quit the Navy once more after AJ's refusal to let him go hadn't been that a big surprise considering the way he had acted lately. But nevertheless it had been a bitter disappointment. Rabb had handled himself so well when Mac had been missing in Indonesia then almost two years ago. No talking about jumping on the next plane and riding to her rescue then. But this time...
Kershaw had considered it safer to send Rabb down to South America half-officially because it would spare them from more inappropriate questions and it could do no harm in the remaining time. Chegwidden hadn't disagreed although he really should have known better.
Leave it to Rabb's luck to stumble over Gunnery Sergeant Galindez within the first hours down there, find the location where Mac and Webb were held, save them, somehow hire a plane out of nowhere together with some dynamite, find the truck with the missiles and actually blow it up ... almost together with the assault team of the Agency. The assault team ready to hit and destroy the missiles using the diversion created by Mac and Webb's mission. Because that was - no matter how useful the gathered information had turned out to be - everything their mission had been from the start: A diversion for Sadik.
A soft, barely audible moan interrupted Chegwidden's thoughts. He bent forward.
"Webb?"
Nothing. AJ got over to Webb's side and touched his shoulder.
"Webb!"
Webb's fingers moved slightly and the shadow of a frown appeared on his face. AJ bent closer.
"Clayton? Can you hear me? Webb!"
The younger man's head rolled a few inches on AJ's jacket. A hand moved aimlessly while his breathing accelerated. He was clearly fighting for consciousness.
"Come on, Webb, wake up!" AJ shook him carefully then patted his cheek gently. Webb groaned and he added more force. "Clayton!"
And Webb sprang to life with a gasp and a start, pushed AJ violently away and scrambled backwards.
"Ouch! Damn it! Webb, wait, it's OK, it's- Ouch! Stop it!"
AJ crawled after him but the younger man kept kicking and struggling with surprising force, a look of terror on his face.
"Clayton, let me - uh - darn it - stop -"
AJ took more blows but finally caught Webb's wrists through sheer luck.
"Webb, it's me, AJ! AJ Chegwidden!"
"AJ?" Webb gasped, still trying to wrench free, "AJ?"
"Yes, Clay!" Chegwidden pinned him down with all his weight. Barely. "Stop, Webb, please!"
"AJ? AJ! What- How- Where-?" Webb stammered but at least he stopped fighting. Near panic he turned his head from side to side, looking around wildly, eyes wide open.
"We've been kidnapped."
AJ wondered if his nose was bleeding.
"Kidnapped? I - I can't - remember..."
"They knocked you out with some sort of contact poison. Got you rather badly."
Chegwidden felt Webb's muscles tense and relax in his grip and his chest heave while the younger man fought for control.
"Who? Why?"
"I don't know. They haven't been very communicative yet. But I fear we'll find out all too soon."
Webb closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. He took deep calming breaths then blinked.
"Where - where are we? A cellar?"
"No, I think it's some kind of storeroom. Now, keep still and let me check on your eyes. They're bloodshot. I hope it's the cleaning alcohol and not the poison."
Webb's body went rigid. He swallowed then forced an uneasy laugh.
"A-AJ? Are you wearing NV goggles or something like that? It's pitch-black."
AJ's breath caught in his throat and involuntarily his gaze snapped up to the windows. Although it was getting darker there was still more than enough light coming into the room. He looked down again. Webb's eyes still kept moving, moving without focusing on him, without focusing on anything...
"Clayton... It - it isn't dark in here."
"It - isn't?" Webb voice was suddenly very small.
AJ gulped. "No."