A Man Called Ghost
Chapter 9
Harm sat in the lobby of the hotel pretending to read a paper while he waited for Beth to make an appearance. It had taken them all of twenty minutes to come up with what they both felt was a workable plan; of course it helped that Harm had managed to get rooms in the same hotel as the suspects. Now he was just waiting for Beth to find, comma and change into, comma a hotel uniform so that they could put the second part of the plan in motion. Looking over the edge of his paper he saw Beth walk out of a supply room and nod slightly in his direction. After she'd gotten onto the elevators, Harm slowly stood and walked towards the elevators while folding his paper.
Getting off on the third floor, Harm looked down the hall to see Beth standing a few doors down from the terrorists' room. Quickly Harm found a small utility closet and piled a bunch of paper in a spare trashcan. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a matchbook. Striking a match, he dropped it in the can and left, carefully leaving the door propped open a little. For this plan to work, people needed to be able to smell the smoke. Looking around to avoid observers, Harm moved over to a fire alarm handle. Using part of the newspaper as a barrier to prevent leaving fingerprints, he pulled on it quickly. Instantly the harsh sound of warning klaxons filled the air. Glancing around the corner, Harm saw Beth knocking on doors and calling out, "¡Fuego! Salgense del edificio immediatamente!"
As the hotel patrons started rushing from their rooms in panic, Beth got to the door of the terrorists' rooms. Knocking and calling out she only had to wait a moment before one of them slowly opened the door and peered out. Seeing everyone else running down the hall he called back in to someone else in the room and then the two men were joining the human rush for the stairs. As soon as they were on the stairs, comma Harm pushed into the press of people and made his way to where Beth was standing near the terrorists door.
"Okay, they're out. Got the key?" Harm asked Beth.
With a wink Beth pulled out a master key and slid it through the maglock. With a quiet click the door opened slightly and Beth pushed it open the rest of the way. Quickly they made their way into the room to search for the computer.
"You take the bedroom, I'll look out here." Harm said, closing the door to muffle the sounds of the klaxons.
Harm immediately started going through cabinets and drawers looking for a laptop. After about five minutes he heard Beth call out "Got it!" Closing the cabinet he was looking in, he went into the bedroom to get started. Pulling out the micro-laptop from his jacket pocket, he looked to where Beth was setting up a laptop. "Have they got a network port on that thing?" he asked.
"Check." Beth replied with a smile. It was getting harder and harder to smile all the time around Harm; he was always so serious now.
Pulling the crossover cable from the micro's case Harm handed one end to Beth and plugged the other end into the micro. Flipping open the tiny computer, Harm started the boot sequence and waited. Once it was finished loading the operating system, Harm opened the network interface, the laptop Beth had fired up was now on his screen. Double clicking on the icon, he began searching the files. He'd been given a crash course in computers that built on his everyday knowledge, but it was still slow going sorting through all of the files to find what he was looking for. At first he thought of transferring everything over to the micro-laptop but he soon realized it would take much much longer than they had. He needed to find documents, pictures, anything suspicious.
Just as he was starting to browse a new folder Harm heard something from the outer room. "Beth..." he whispered anxiously.
"I heard...sounded like the door..." she answered just as quietly, then stood up, setting the laptop down on the bed.
Harm tossed his computer on the bed next to the laptop Beth had just put down. Moving away from the bed, Harm scanned the room to get an idea of what ground he was fighting on. A chair next to him could prove difficult if he wasn't careful, and he needed to stay away from the other furniture as well.
"I'm going to go check it out." Beth said as she drew her Sig from a uniform pocket.
"Wait Beth..." Harm started as Beth moved into the outer room. As he moved to follow her, he heard a low cry followed by a muffled thump.
Pulling his Sig, Harm cautiously moved into the room, his gun held low and near his body. He spotted a swarthy man with an evil grin standing over a crumpled Beth. Harm had just enough time to place him as one of the four men he'd been following when a sharp pain in his arm caused him to drop his pistol. Looking to his left, Harm saw another of the terrorists moving in on him with arms extended and hands flexing. Without conscious thought, Harm closed with the man and landed a solid blow against the man's ribs. He then tried to thrust his knee into the man's groin, hitting the inside of his attacker's thigh rather than the more sensitive area he was aiming for.
The two of them fell to the floor as the man closed his arms around Harm's shoulders and sought to bear him down. Struggling to keep his arms free, Harm landed a few more blows as the man tried to get a firm hold on Harm's arms. Savagely Harm kept hitting the man in the places he knew instinctively would cause the most pain while trying to regain his feet and height advantage. Suddenly, Harm broke free of the man's clutching hands and jumped to his feet. Quickly Harm moved in and wrapped his arm around the terrorist's neck as he tried to stand up. Increasing the pressure he was putting on the man's throat, Harm whispered harshly, "you can't kill a ghost." Then with a savage jerk, he felt the man's neck snap under his arm. Dropping his victim, Harm glanced over at Beth struggling against the larger and heavier terrorist. Dropping to his knee Harm snatched up his pistol, and with a quick look, squeezed off a shot at the remaining terrorist, hitting him between the eyes, killing him instantly.
With a glance around the room, Harm made sure there was no one else lurking. Swiftly he moved over to where Beth was struggling to stand under the weight of the dead body on top of her. Grabbing the shirt of the one time terrorist, Harm hauled the corpse off of his partner and offered her his hand.
"Grab the laptop and the rest of the stuff. We'll just take it with us...Webb can have one of his techno-geeks find what they need." Harm said as he moved towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Beth asked hesitantly.
"To find a laundry cart...we need to dispose of these." Harm answered with a gesture at the two dead bodies.
Two minutes later he returned pulling one of the large laundry carts the hotel cleaning staff used and began the process of placing the bodies inside the cart. Realizing it was taking Beth much too much time to return, Harm walked over by the doorway to check on her. Beth was standing frozen by the bed, staring at the two laptops still connected to each other.
"Snap out of it O'Neil. Focus on the job...you can fall apart later." He said with a quiet callousness.
"What? Oh...yeah the job...the job...we need to find the files." Beth said hesitantly.
"O'Neil...pack up the computers and then we're getting the hell out of here."
"Won't they notice it's gone?"
"Yeah, but hopefully they'll also notice their friends are gone and assume the wrong thing." Harm said struggling to push the now incredibly heavy laundry cart out of the room. He shoved it down the hall and pushed it into one of the many utility closets before taking one of the towels he'd found inside the cart and wiping it down. Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket he dialed Webb's number.
"Webb."
"Spider...we're screwed. The cat is out of the bag." Harm said simply.
"What do you need?"
"There are a couple of stiffs in the utility closet on the third floor. I need someone to come clean it up. Ma and pa are leaving the building."
"Right." Webb said and then broke the connection.
Putting his phone in his pocket Harm saw Beth walk out of the room with a laptop case over her shoulder. Looking at her closely he saw that she had a grim determination in her eyes. Good...she'd get the job done. Quickly, Harm joined her taking the stairwell down to the main floor. Hurriedly, Harm led Beth into the kitchen and out one of the delivery doors. They would have to have Webb come up with a way for them to check out of the hotel. Thankfully they both traveled light and didn't leave much behind. Webb's sweepers would take care of that as well.
An hour later they were checked into a new hotel as Mr. and Mrs. Bellamy. Harm was working on the computer while Beth took a shower. A knock at the door caused Harm to look up and grab his pistol from where it was sitting beside him. Moving softly to the door, he looked out the peephole and saw Webb of all people.
Opening the door Harm waited until Webb had entered and then closed it again. "What are you doing here?"
"Just wanted to let you know that everything is taken care of at your other hotel...Mr. Roberts has checked out and your luggage has been removed. What luck did you have with the computer?" Webb said as he looked with disdain at the shabby interior of the hotel room.
"It's over there." Harm said gesturing to where he'd set up the laptop. He hadn't been having much luck because most of the files were in Arabic.
"You took their laptop? Damn it Rabb, you weren't supposed to take their laptop. Now they're going to know we're onto them." Webb said angrily, then moved over to the laptop.
"Relax Spider...I didn't have a choice. Two of them walked in on us...the two who were coming back from lunch. I had to take them out and then we needed to get out of there...you didn't tell me the fucking files would be in Arabic."
"We didn't think you needed to know that." Webb said absently as he looked over the laptop's contents.
"Well obviously it would have helped. You can't help but fuck up can you Spider?"
"I didn't shoot two of the terrorists, nor did I tip my hand that we were onto them." Webb retorted.
"You little shit...I should..." Harm said angrily moving towards Webb with a purpose.
"Oh relax Ghost. We'll make do with this somehow." Webb said as he snapped the laptop closed and slid it into the travel case. "I'll have the guys in tech look at it when I get back to Langley."
"I'll relax when you get us the hell out of here. When do Beth and I leave?"
"Tomorrow...here are your tickets." Webb said pulling an envelope out of the inside breast pocket of his suit jacket. "Enjoy your last night as a married couple!" he added with a wink.
Taking the envelope and tossing it on the bed Harm had just started to turn away when Webb added "Well I really must go...I'm supposed to meet Sarah for breakfast tomorrow. Shall I give her your best?"
Suddenly the action of the day and all the conflicting emotions he tried to keep inside boiled to the top and Harm swung back towards Webb unloading a right hook to the spy's jaw. Watching as Webb fell to the floor, Harm stepped closer and growled "Get up you little shit..."
"Harm!" Beth called as she dashed from the bathroom drapped in a towel. She wrapped her still wet arms around him to try and keep him off Webb. "He's not worth it partner."
As Webb picked himself back up he glared at Harm. "You're through Rabb...I'll see that you are!"
"Get out of here Webb!" Beth shouted at the spy as he rubbed his jaw.
After Webb had stormed out taking the computer with him, Beth slowly lowered her arms from holding Harm. "Shower's all yours." She said with a weak smile.
"Thanks." Harm mumbled then moved towards the bathroom.
Half an hour later Harm was back out of the bathroom wearing only his pants. Beth looked up when she heard the bathroom door open and tried not to sigh when she saw Harm moving towards the minibar.
"Whatcha doing Harm?" she asked.
"Getting a drink...you want one?" he answered while looking in the little fridge to see what kind of miniature bottles he had to work with.
"Ummm. No thanks, Harm...I think I'll wait until we're back in the states. Maybe you should too."
"Maybe you should mind your own damn business O'Neil." Harm answered callously as he pulled out a couple of bottles and started mixing a drink in one of the shallow glasses provided by the hotel. Quickly downing the mixture he looked back in the fridge and didn't see anything that caught his eye. Slamming the fridge door he stalked off towards one of the cheap oversized chairs swearing to himself under his breath.
"You okay Harm?" Beth asked quietly.
"Just terrific. Look, I'm tired, it's been a long day. You take the bed, I'll sleep here." Harm said as he flopped down in the chair stretching his long legs out before him.
"You sure Harm? We're both adults...I think we can share a bed without you tempting me to change my lifestyle." Beth said with a grin trying to cheer her partner up.
"I'm fine here." Harm said stubbornly. "No offense Beth...I don't sleep much so the chair will be fine. Take the bed."
"Alright." Beth said quietly as she turned off the light. Rolling over Beth closed her eyes and listened to Harm thrash about in the chair trying to get comfortable. Wondering if he would ever find comfort in the chair, she started to drift off to sleep and soon let her eyes close.
"NO! You bastard...get away from her! I'm going to rip your head off and piss down your neck!" Harm's cry woke Beth from her sleep. She had no idea how long she'd been asleep and she jumped up looking around the room for an assailant. Instead she dimly saw Harm thrashing in his chair.
"I'm sorry." Harm said in a pleading tone. "I'm so sorry."
"Harm?" Beth said quietly stepping up beside him.
"No...please...I'll tell you anything...just don't hurt her...." Harm said through choked sobs. Beth was shocked to hear the words from him and realized he must be having a nightmare.
Reaching down she shook her partner's shoulder softly. "Harm...wake up. It's just a nightmare partner. Harm?"
After Beth shook him a little more Harm suddenly jumped out of his chair and looked around wildly. Seeing Beth standing there with concern in her eyes he collapsed back into the chair and placed his head in his hands. Peering through the near darkness it took Beth a moment to realize that his shoulders were shaking. Kneeling down beside him she wrapped her arms around his shoulder. "Shhh. It's okay partner. It's okay Harm." She spoke softly. This close to him she could hear his quiet sobs as he shook.
Pulling gently, Beth gathered Harm into her arms, not really expecting him to return the embrace. She knew he had been attracted to her, and might even still be, but she also knew that he had at first talked often about his old partner Sarah MacKenzie. He didn't talk about her anymore, but Beth had a suspicion who the 'her' in his nightmare had been. And she'd be willing to put money on it not being Beth O'Neil.
"Come on Harm." Beth said softly as she guided him up and over to the bed.
"Beth..." Harm choked out between sobs.
"Shhh. You don't need to say anything Harm. Just lie down on the bed and go back to sleep. I'm here partner."
Laying down on the bed, Beth pulled Harm towards her and rocked back and forth gently repeating, "Shhh. It's okay." After awhile she felt Harm's sobbing stop and then his breathing became more regular. Stroking his hair in the dark Beth thought about how nice this felt. Closing her eyes she drifted off to sleep with Harm in her arms and the memory of his cries in her mind.
Chapter 9
Harm sat in the lobby of the hotel pretending to read a paper while he waited for Beth to make an appearance. It had taken them all of twenty minutes to come up with what they both felt was a workable plan; of course it helped that Harm had managed to get rooms in the same hotel as the suspects. Now he was just waiting for Beth to find, comma and change into, comma a hotel uniform so that they could put the second part of the plan in motion. Looking over the edge of his paper he saw Beth walk out of a supply room and nod slightly in his direction. After she'd gotten onto the elevators, Harm slowly stood and walked towards the elevators while folding his paper.
Getting off on the third floor, Harm looked down the hall to see Beth standing a few doors down from the terrorists' room. Quickly Harm found a small utility closet and piled a bunch of paper in a spare trashcan. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a matchbook. Striking a match, he dropped it in the can and left, carefully leaving the door propped open a little. For this plan to work, people needed to be able to smell the smoke. Looking around to avoid observers, Harm moved over to a fire alarm handle. Using part of the newspaper as a barrier to prevent leaving fingerprints, he pulled on it quickly. Instantly the harsh sound of warning klaxons filled the air. Glancing around the corner, Harm saw Beth knocking on doors and calling out, "¡Fuego! Salgense del edificio immediatamente!"
As the hotel patrons started rushing from their rooms in panic, Beth got to the door of the terrorists' rooms. Knocking and calling out she only had to wait a moment before one of them slowly opened the door and peered out. Seeing everyone else running down the hall he called back in to someone else in the room and then the two men were joining the human rush for the stairs. As soon as they were on the stairs, comma Harm pushed into the press of people and made his way to where Beth was standing near the terrorists door.
"Okay, they're out. Got the key?" Harm asked Beth.
With a wink Beth pulled out a master key and slid it through the maglock. With a quiet click the door opened slightly and Beth pushed it open the rest of the way. Quickly they made their way into the room to search for the computer.
"You take the bedroom, I'll look out here." Harm said, closing the door to muffle the sounds of the klaxons.
Harm immediately started going through cabinets and drawers looking for a laptop. After about five minutes he heard Beth call out "Got it!" Closing the cabinet he was looking in, he went into the bedroom to get started. Pulling out the micro-laptop from his jacket pocket, he looked to where Beth was setting up a laptop. "Have they got a network port on that thing?" he asked.
"Check." Beth replied with a smile. It was getting harder and harder to smile all the time around Harm; he was always so serious now.
Pulling the crossover cable from the micro's case Harm handed one end to Beth and plugged the other end into the micro. Flipping open the tiny computer, Harm started the boot sequence and waited. Once it was finished loading the operating system, Harm opened the network interface, the laptop Beth had fired up was now on his screen. Double clicking on the icon, he began searching the files. He'd been given a crash course in computers that built on his everyday knowledge, but it was still slow going sorting through all of the files to find what he was looking for. At first he thought of transferring everything over to the micro-laptop but he soon realized it would take much much longer than they had. He needed to find documents, pictures, anything suspicious.
Just as he was starting to browse a new folder Harm heard something from the outer room. "Beth..." he whispered anxiously.
"I heard...sounded like the door..." she answered just as quietly, then stood up, setting the laptop down on the bed.
Harm tossed his computer on the bed next to the laptop Beth had just put down. Moving away from the bed, Harm scanned the room to get an idea of what ground he was fighting on. A chair next to him could prove difficult if he wasn't careful, and he needed to stay away from the other furniture as well.
"I'm going to go check it out." Beth said as she drew her Sig from a uniform pocket.
"Wait Beth..." Harm started as Beth moved into the outer room. As he moved to follow her, he heard a low cry followed by a muffled thump.
Pulling his Sig, Harm cautiously moved into the room, his gun held low and near his body. He spotted a swarthy man with an evil grin standing over a crumpled Beth. Harm had just enough time to place him as one of the four men he'd been following when a sharp pain in his arm caused him to drop his pistol. Looking to his left, Harm saw another of the terrorists moving in on him with arms extended and hands flexing. Without conscious thought, Harm closed with the man and landed a solid blow against the man's ribs. He then tried to thrust his knee into the man's groin, hitting the inside of his attacker's thigh rather than the more sensitive area he was aiming for.
The two of them fell to the floor as the man closed his arms around Harm's shoulders and sought to bear him down. Struggling to keep his arms free, Harm landed a few more blows as the man tried to get a firm hold on Harm's arms. Savagely Harm kept hitting the man in the places he knew instinctively would cause the most pain while trying to regain his feet and height advantage. Suddenly, Harm broke free of the man's clutching hands and jumped to his feet. Quickly Harm moved in and wrapped his arm around the terrorist's neck as he tried to stand up. Increasing the pressure he was putting on the man's throat, Harm whispered harshly, "you can't kill a ghost." Then with a savage jerk, he felt the man's neck snap under his arm. Dropping his victim, Harm glanced over at Beth struggling against the larger and heavier terrorist. Dropping to his knee Harm snatched up his pistol, and with a quick look, squeezed off a shot at the remaining terrorist, hitting him between the eyes, killing him instantly.
With a glance around the room, Harm made sure there was no one else lurking. Swiftly he moved over to where Beth was struggling to stand under the weight of the dead body on top of her. Grabbing the shirt of the one time terrorist, Harm hauled the corpse off of his partner and offered her his hand.
"Grab the laptop and the rest of the stuff. We'll just take it with us...Webb can have one of his techno-geeks find what they need." Harm said as he moved towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Beth asked hesitantly.
"To find a laundry cart...we need to dispose of these." Harm answered with a gesture at the two dead bodies.
Two minutes later he returned pulling one of the large laundry carts the hotel cleaning staff used and began the process of placing the bodies inside the cart. Realizing it was taking Beth much too much time to return, Harm walked over by the doorway to check on her. Beth was standing frozen by the bed, staring at the two laptops still connected to each other.
"Snap out of it O'Neil. Focus on the job...you can fall apart later." He said with a quiet callousness.
"What? Oh...yeah the job...the job...we need to find the files." Beth said hesitantly.
"O'Neil...pack up the computers and then we're getting the hell out of here."
"Won't they notice it's gone?"
"Yeah, but hopefully they'll also notice their friends are gone and assume the wrong thing." Harm said struggling to push the now incredibly heavy laundry cart out of the room. He shoved it down the hall and pushed it into one of the many utility closets before taking one of the towels he'd found inside the cart and wiping it down. Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket he dialed Webb's number.
"Webb."
"Spider...we're screwed. The cat is out of the bag." Harm said simply.
"What do you need?"
"There are a couple of stiffs in the utility closet on the third floor. I need someone to come clean it up. Ma and pa are leaving the building."
"Right." Webb said and then broke the connection.
Putting his phone in his pocket Harm saw Beth walk out of the room with a laptop case over her shoulder. Looking at her closely he saw that she had a grim determination in her eyes. Good...she'd get the job done. Quickly, Harm joined her taking the stairwell down to the main floor. Hurriedly, Harm led Beth into the kitchen and out one of the delivery doors. They would have to have Webb come up with a way for them to check out of the hotel. Thankfully they both traveled light and didn't leave much behind. Webb's sweepers would take care of that as well.
An hour later they were checked into a new hotel as Mr. and Mrs. Bellamy. Harm was working on the computer while Beth took a shower. A knock at the door caused Harm to look up and grab his pistol from where it was sitting beside him. Moving softly to the door, he looked out the peephole and saw Webb of all people.
Opening the door Harm waited until Webb had entered and then closed it again. "What are you doing here?"
"Just wanted to let you know that everything is taken care of at your other hotel...Mr. Roberts has checked out and your luggage has been removed. What luck did you have with the computer?" Webb said as he looked with disdain at the shabby interior of the hotel room.
"It's over there." Harm said gesturing to where he'd set up the laptop. He hadn't been having much luck because most of the files were in Arabic.
"You took their laptop? Damn it Rabb, you weren't supposed to take their laptop. Now they're going to know we're onto them." Webb said angrily, then moved over to the laptop.
"Relax Spider...I didn't have a choice. Two of them walked in on us...the two who were coming back from lunch. I had to take them out and then we needed to get out of there...you didn't tell me the fucking files would be in Arabic."
"We didn't think you needed to know that." Webb said absently as he looked over the laptop's contents.
"Well obviously it would have helped. You can't help but fuck up can you Spider?"
"I didn't shoot two of the terrorists, nor did I tip my hand that we were onto them." Webb retorted.
"You little shit...I should..." Harm said angrily moving towards Webb with a purpose.
"Oh relax Ghost. We'll make do with this somehow." Webb said as he snapped the laptop closed and slid it into the travel case. "I'll have the guys in tech look at it when I get back to Langley."
"I'll relax when you get us the hell out of here. When do Beth and I leave?"
"Tomorrow...here are your tickets." Webb said pulling an envelope out of the inside breast pocket of his suit jacket. "Enjoy your last night as a married couple!" he added with a wink.
Taking the envelope and tossing it on the bed Harm had just started to turn away when Webb added "Well I really must go...I'm supposed to meet Sarah for breakfast tomorrow. Shall I give her your best?"
Suddenly the action of the day and all the conflicting emotions he tried to keep inside boiled to the top and Harm swung back towards Webb unloading a right hook to the spy's jaw. Watching as Webb fell to the floor, Harm stepped closer and growled "Get up you little shit..."
"Harm!" Beth called as she dashed from the bathroom drapped in a towel. She wrapped her still wet arms around him to try and keep him off Webb. "He's not worth it partner."
As Webb picked himself back up he glared at Harm. "You're through Rabb...I'll see that you are!"
"Get out of here Webb!" Beth shouted at the spy as he rubbed his jaw.
After Webb had stormed out taking the computer with him, Beth slowly lowered her arms from holding Harm. "Shower's all yours." She said with a weak smile.
"Thanks." Harm mumbled then moved towards the bathroom.
Half an hour later Harm was back out of the bathroom wearing only his pants. Beth looked up when she heard the bathroom door open and tried not to sigh when she saw Harm moving towards the minibar.
"Whatcha doing Harm?" she asked.
"Getting a drink...you want one?" he answered while looking in the little fridge to see what kind of miniature bottles he had to work with.
"Ummm. No thanks, Harm...I think I'll wait until we're back in the states. Maybe you should too."
"Maybe you should mind your own damn business O'Neil." Harm answered callously as he pulled out a couple of bottles and started mixing a drink in one of the shallow glasses provided by the hotel. Quickly downing the mixture he looked back in the fridge and didn't see anything that caught his eye. Slamming the fridge door he stalked off towards one of the cheap oversized chairs swearing to himself under his breath.
"You okay Harm?" Beth asked quietly.
"Just terrific. Look, I'm tired, it's been a long day. You take the bed, I'll sleep here." Harm said as he flopped down in the chair stretching his long legs out before him.
"You sure Harm? We're both adults...I think we can share a bed without you tempting me to change my lifestyle." Beth said with a grin trying to cheer her partner up.
"I'm fine here." Harm said stubbornly. "No offense Beth...I don't sleep much so the chair will be fine. Take the bed."
"Alright." Beth said quietly as she turned off the light. Rolling over Beth closed her eyes and listened to Harm thrash about in the chair trying to get comfortable. Wondering if he would ever find comfort in the chair, she started to drift off to sleep and soon let her eyes close.
"NO! You bastard...get away from her! I'm going to rip your head off and piss down your neck!" Harm's cry woke Beth from her sleep. She had no idea how long she'd been asleep and she jumped up looking around the room for an assailant. Instead she dimly saw Harm thrashing in his chair.
"I'm sorry." Harm said in a pleading tone. "I'm so sorry."
"Harm?" Beth said quietly stepping up beside him.
"No...please...I'll tell you anything...just don't hurt her...." Harm said through choked sobs. Beth was shocked to hear the words from him and realized he must be having a nightmare.
Reaching down she shook her partner's shoulder softly. "Harm...wake up. It's just a nightmare partner. Harm?"
After Beth shook him a little more Harm suddenly jumped out of his chair and looked around wildly. Seeing Beth standing there with concern in her eyes he collapsed back into the chair and placed his head in his hands. Peering through the near darkness it took Beth a moment to realize that his shoulders were shaking. Kneeling down beside him she wrapped her arms around his shoulder. "Shhh. It's okay partner. It's okay Harm." She spoke softly. This close to him she could hear his quiet sobs as he shook.
Pulling gently, Beth gathered Harm into her arms, not really expecting him to return the embrace. She knew he had been attracted to her, and might even still be, but she also knew that he had at first talked often about his old partner Sarah MacKenzie. He didn't talk about her anymore, but Beth had a suspicion who the 'her' in his nightmare had been. And she'd be willing to put money on it not being Beth O'Neil.
"Come on Harm." Beth said softly as she guided him up and over to the bed.
"Beth..." Harm choked out between sobs.
"Shhh. You don't need to say anything Harm. Just lie down on the bed and go back to sleep. I'm here partner."
Laying down on the bed, Beth pulled Harm towards her and rocked back and forth gently repeating, "Shhh. It's okay." After awhile she felt Harm's sobbing stop and then his breathing became more regular. Stroking his hair in the dark Beth thought about how nice this felt. Closing her eyes she drifted off to sleep with Harm in her arms and the memory of his cries in her mind.