Wow, lotta people sticking it out! Good for you! Heheh! Next, three to four chapters will be kinda up and down. When Harm gets better I am going to throw you H and M fans a bone, a small bone but a bone anyway. There is a sequel so I do get a chance to redeem myself for all of the nasty stuff in this story. ;)
Thanks to: XBlueShadowX, Aimee5, Charmboy4, starryeyes10, Nikki, dansingwolf, jag4ever, lei, Jackia, EternalSleep, Cristina, Tina Frank, achaon, Abigaile, Hieros Gamos, froggy0319, joanoa, JadeAlmasy, SpaceMan546, dansingwolf, carbygirl , JAGJenni, Manda, starryeyes, BiteBeccy, ng59678, LtColDevilDog, martini, mizukimarr, jtbwriter, Macaroon, Lissie, n.k, Lt.jgMegAustin, cbw, dansingwolf, Apion and anyone else I missed for the Feedback..
(AN: Lots of flashbacks in this chapter. You wanted to know what exactly happened to Harm, well, this is your chance to find out. I am still using the dates so I won't lose anyone! I hope I don't. If you can't figure something out, drop me a line or two or three. ;) Enjoy! PS: The Continuation would be on part 10. Didn't want to overwhelm anyone and I am keeping the descriptions short. I could do a very nasty torture scene, but, I would like the readers to be able to sleep at night ;)))
Part 9 – From New Year's To Valentine's Day
July 5, 2005
0250 Zulu
Mac's Apartment
Georgetown
Harm awoke with a start and instantly knew something was wrong. Remaining silent, he heard the muffled sobs coming from the living room. It was Mac. There was a slight bit of physical strain involved to get his body responding, the drug always made him feel that way. He crossed the room and opened the door to find Mac sitting on the sofa. On her coffee table was the open bottle of vodka. It took him two seconds to realize what was happening and another two seconds to recall that she wasn't supposed to be drinking.
It was then that he saw her hand raise up, angling the glass with her lips. "Mac, don't." He said sternly.
Mac lowered the glass from her lips. Damnit why interrupt her when she was so willing to throw her life away? She hadn't even had a chance to take a sip yet. "You can't stop me."
Harm came to her side, placing his hand over the glass before she had a chance to take a taste. He tried taking it away, but her hold was so fierce he was surprised the glass didn't break. "Please, Mac. . . don't. Not because of me."
"And what if it's because of me?" She said loudly, pulling his hand away from hers as she stood up, still holding the glass in her hand. "What if the stoic Marine finally BROKE?" Mac headed into the kitchen, dumping the contents, once again, down the drain. Angrily, she threw the glass into the sink, sending glass flying. Relenting, she started working on cleaning the glass up when a shard cut her hand, the same one that had been cut when she was fighting with Clay so many moons ago. "Oww! Damnit!"
"I think this should go too." Harm stood at the entryway to the kitchen holding the bottle of vodka. "Mac?" He stared at the blood pouring from her hand and reached for a kitchen towel, which he used to wrap it up. "Where's the first aid kit?"
"Bathroom." She said with a hiss, characteristically masking the pain she was in.
Harm tugged her through the apartment, towards the bedroom, pushed her onto the bed and then headed into the bathroom, scrambling around until he found her first aid kit at the bottom of the cabinet. He wavered slightly, something which he'd gotten used to since the medication was pumping through his blood. Everything was slightly hazed and slow, but he'd gotten used to that to. Nearly a month addicted and he was a pro. "Okay, let's see here." He kneeled before her, removed the kitchen towel and started cleaning her up. Gently, he wiped the blood off, then poured a bit of hydrogen peroxide. Mac sucked in her breath, trying to remain strong. They were both silent as he studied the gash. "Well, thankfully it's not deep and you won't need stitches." He noted and proceeding on apply a healing ointment and a gauze pad.
Mac was mesmerized by how gently he was cleaning her up. It reminded her of the first time they went flying and how he'd taken the same care with the buckshot in her right thigh. She smiled a the memory of him being so timid in cleansing the wound with bourbon. "Why'd you do it?" She found herself asking as he fastened the gauze with medical tape. "The morphine. . . why?"
All of the items went back into the kit and under her cabinet, but as much as he tried to avoid things, he knew she needed answers. When he walked out of the bathroom, he found Mac still seated on the bed, with her head hanging low. "I am sorry you had to see me like that, Mac."
Mac's eyes locked onto him and, for the first time ever, she was afraid. Not afraid of him, but afraid for him because she knew addictions too well. It wasn't something that a person, no matter how strong, would get over in a day. It took time and she wasn't sure if they had any left. "How long have you been shooting up?"
Harm took a deep, cleansing breath and sat at the edge of the bed. "Our of my own volition? About a month. . . Past that, I am not sure." He looked down at his hands, trailing his gaze up his arms to the nasty tracks that he wasn't really aware of until now. God, what he must look like to her. "I didn't really start it purposely. . . it was the only way to get home." He brought his body backwards, leaning against the headboard and was surprised when Mac turned so that she could look at him. It was now or never. "I didn't lie to you either, Mac. I thought it was a cross-country qual. I figured, I'd land at Fallon, hitch a flight over to California to visit the folks and I'd be back to celebrate the New Year with you."
"The CIA changed your plans." She stated with a frown. Why was it always, as they believed they'd left the agency behind, things would come and bite them on the six?
He sorted. The CIA did more than change his plans, they changed his life. "Yes, only I didn't know about it until I was in the air and about ten minutes away from landing at Fallon. . ."
December 27th, 2004
1300 Zulu
Somewhere above Nevada
. . .The ride had been an excellent, beautiful clear blue skies and not a single air pocket. The Hornet was maneuvering like a dream. It wasn't the Tomcat that he loved so much, but it would do. Hell, anything supersonic and air bound would do. "Fallon Control Center, this is Hornet 5-2-2, ETA ten minutes."
There were some words mumbled over the line and Harm worked on trying to clean the reception. "Come again? I could not hear you, I repeat, I could not hear you."
"Hornet 5-2-2, you are being redirected. Again, Hornet 5-2-2, you are being redirected." The moments those words came through loud and clear, Harm felt the butterflies in his stomach. Usually, the radio operator would give a reason for the redirection. This time, he got nothing, just silence.
"10-4, what are the new coordinates?" He entered the coordinates into the onboard computer and noted that it was south from Fallon. The Navy had plenty of places to land supersonic jets, but the coordinates left him baffled. As he headed southward, he kept in touch with Fallon who requested that he fly a higher altitude.
"Hornet 5-2-2 this is Groom Lake, we have you on radar, ETA fifteen minutes, confirm."
Harm breathed deeply, closing his eyes for a moment. Flying into Groom Lake only meant one thing: CIA involvement. "Affirmative Groom Lake." Fifteen minutes later, he saw the abnormally long runway used for the test planes that flew out of there. Groom Lake wasn't your normal military installation, it was as classified as classified got. The problem with classified was trying to hide them away from prying eyes. In this case, it was hidden in plain sight and known throughout the world as Area 51. . .
July 5, 2005
0310 Zulu
Mac's Apartment
Georgetown
. . . "You've been to Area 51? I bet Bud would love to hear about that." Mac mused with a grin. "I guess that's where you learned to fly the Aurora."
Harm's eyes went wide. "How'd you know that? It's all supposed to be hush hush."
"Webb told me." She said with a sheepish expression. "He said you were one of the best."
Harm frowned. Yes, he had been one of the best, but he had a partner back then. One that was now gone for good and it was all his fault. "Right away Allen Blaisdell, my boss when I was working for the Agency, had me head into the hangar where they kept the Aurora's. . . I suited up and we went in for briefing. Apparently, the Agency was teaching some 'new recruits' about the planes as they would be the next pilots. They wanted myself and Andy Watson, a test pilot I initially flew the Aurora with, to show the newbies how the aircraft worked." A moment later, Harm got a far away look in his eyes. He was reliving all of it, with such vivid clarity that it hurt. With a dry chuckle, he glanced up at Mac and then away, ashamed at what had happened. "Apparently the newbies had other ideas. . . There were two planes, Andy and I each flew one, with one of the new guys in the back. We got air bound, headed north to the pole and as we were heading back, I start getting all these crazy signals on the plane. . . These aren't your common F-14, F-18 types. The Aurora flies close to the atmosphere. It gives you time to figure out what is going on, but if something goes wrong and you don't fix it fast. . ." He shook his head fiercely concerned about one major thing about flying that high and that fast. "I don't even want to think of an ejection from that plane."
And Mac didn't either. She'd read an article once about a pilot ejecting when the plane was going too fast. The amount of physical destruction on the pilot's body was insane. It was a miracle he was even alive. "I can't blame you." She sympathetically placed a hand on his forearm and silently urged him to continue.
"I was in contact with the Hawkeye who was also showing all of the malfunction lights. So they contacted Andy. . .his plane is also going haywire. . . The mission gets cut short and we're trying to, at least, get the planes back to base. But the new guys had other ideas. . .They knocked us out." Closing his eyes, Harm still felt the jolt of electricity that forced him into unconsciousness.
Mac was baffled. "How'd they knock you and Andy out? In mid-air no-less?"
"Apparently they slipped something into our suits which jolted us out of consciousness. Since they entered in new coordinates and the planes could, effectively, fly themselves. . .it didn't matter whether or not the pilots were conscious." The whole thing was just too easily put together, if you asked him. If tampering with equipment on a normal military base was difficult, tampering with something at Area 51 was damned right impossible. "They had to have someone on the inside. . . Next thing I know, I'm someplace really cold laying on a stone floor. . ."
December 27th, 2004
1920 Zulu
Somewhere In Canada
". . .Wake up, Commander." A man, with an accent that Harm couldn't quite place, barked. "I said, WAKE UP COMMANDER." The man yelled louder, shoving the edge of his steel-toe boot into Harm's side. "Attaboy!"
Moving proved to be some sort of mission. His body felt like lead, his head was aching and his eyes refused to open. When he finally got his body to cooperate, Harm wished he would have remained unconscious. The place seemed to be an old cabin built out of nothing but wood and stone. At some point, the place would have been quite cozy, now, as the cold Canadian air rustled through the establishment, cozy was the farthest thing from his mind. "Where, where am I?"
"Doesn't really matter, does it?" The man said with such a hint of amusement.
Looking up, Harm felt his stomach tighten in anger. "You." The person staring down at him was Robert Gimmel, the pilot that he was supposed to be training during the mission. Next to him stood a woman and man, both appearing to be of middle-eastern decent, along with Jack Hayes, the man Andy was flying with. Andy, that reminded him. "Where's my partner?" All four men spoke, in what he knew was Farsi. Well, he wasn't all that sure, but he'd been around Mac long enough, to catch a familiar word or two. "Hey! Where's Andy Watson."
Temir, the Mid-Eastern man, and the head of the operation, snapped his fingers. "Bring in Mr. Watson." Two other men dragged in the semi-conscious body of Andy Watson. "Put him next to the Commander." They practically threw Andy's body to a spot near Harm's.
Harm turned Andy over, finding his face to be a bloodied mess, they'd been beating him. "What the hell is going on?" He searched out a pulse and was glad to find it slow and steady. "Why'd you do this?"
Temir squatted next to Harm, chuckling earnestly. "You really do not know, do you." He ran a hand down Harm's cheek, then slapped him as hard as he could. "Don't worry, Commander. We'll get to you soon. But, I have a few others to interrogate. . ."
July 5, 2005
0310 Zulu
Mac's Apartment
Georgetown
". . .They just left us there." He said evenly, looking away slightly as the pain registered in his eyes. "I couldn't tell you how long it was, but it felt like days. Maybe even a week or two." Harm clutched his jaw tightly. "They would feed us this, gruel, something like rotten oatmeal. For water they would melt snow and give us that. It made us so sick, everything we ate would come back up. . .And then the real pain came."
"Harm, you don't have to talk about this." There were aspects in life that she was sure she couldn't handle. Harm being tortured was one of them. God, how she hand thanked the Heavens that he wasn't in Paraguay in Webb's stead. It was a cruel way to think, but she knew she'd have given in to anything that Sadik wanted just to free Harm and stop his pain. Part of her felt guilty now, for being so angry about his disappearance. She wanted to hold him in her arms and protect him from the world.
But, Harm was determined to relive his life underground again. He needed to get it all out before it drove him mad. "They sat Andy and I next to each other with our backs to Temir's goons." Brining his hands up, he stared down at his fingers, surprised that the marks weren't there. "They started simple, shoving pieces of shaved tree bark under our fingernails. . . I was able to hold back from screaming, but Andy. . .he couldn't help it. . . and I think that was the worst, because the more he screamed, the more unnerved I got."
"What happened to Jack and Robert?" Mac asked out of curiosity.
Harm chuckled bitterly. "They wound up dead as well. Mercifully, with a bullet through their brains."
Mac was shocked. "Why?"
"They got too greedy and Temir doesn't like greed." He brought his hands up to his arms, warming his body that had suddenly gotten so cold from the memories. "They wanted us to tell them anything we knew, they didn't care what. But, there was one thing. . . it was the most important thing: how to use the Aurora."
"Why didn't they keep Robert and Jack around for that?" She spread out on the bed, turning to one side so she could look at Harm. He seemed to look sadder, hardened, like the world had come down on him. Mac knew very well what was going on, part of him was still back there. It had happened to her as well.
Harm shrugged. "I don't think they knew enough. You can't go around asking for more money when you don't know what the hell you're doing. . . I remember them trying to start up the planes and not even that went right. . . God they would spend so much time without bothering us and just as you thought they'd forgotten about you. . ."
February 14, 2004
1210 Zulu
Somewhere In Canada
". . .Andy, sit up." Harm shoved the dead weight of Andy Watson's body with his shoulder.
Slowly, Andy sat up and sat shoulder to shoulder with Harm. His body was shaking.. "I am freezing."
"So am I." Harm replied softly. From the small window, he could see the snow falling outside. Just like every day before, it was gloomy, fitting for their moods. "Jack and Robert were killed."
Andy shuttered, he'd worked with Jack and Robert for nearly two years. They were friends, or so he thought. "I'd never have thought that they would have done that. . . They were my friends. Damnit, we used to get together during the weekend. . . I trusted them."
That catchy X-files phrase suddenly came to Harm's mind: Trust No One. Yep, that was apparently the way to live within the agency. Maybe it was the way to live during life as well? He felt the weight of Andy's body on his again and this time, it was welcomed because he needed the body heat. Bringing his hands up to his face, he blew into them, trying to warm them up. The gloves that pilots were required to wear, had long since been taken away. He glared over towards the vase with a single, dead rose. Temir had placed it there as a present for Valentine's Day. Though Harm despised the man, he was grateful that he was, once again, allowed to figure out what day it was. Hopefully, he could keep track of things, though, he figured, eventually he wouldn't care.
Valentine's Day. With a grunt, he sat up, placing Andy's body gently on the floor as he walked over to the flower. Roses always reminded him of Mac. How many people have the unique chance of meeting their other half in a rose garden? "I miss you, Mac." He said quietly, hoping not to wake the other three that were locked up with him and Andy. "Just when I get my head out of my six, this happens." He snorted bitterly, things were apparently never going to be right for them. "I had so many dreams that I wanted to fulfill with you. I'll try to get home. Just please, hold on." Closing his eyes, he wrapped one hand around the vase, envisioning Mac and that smile of hers that always brought him warmth. He loved her so much that it physically hurt.
Temir had managed to sneak into the cabin and was standing to the side, watching Harm with amusement. It was going to be fun breaking him. It was all he was looking forward to. Taking a 45mm out of his leg holster, Temir rose the gun and pulled the trigger.
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Dansingwolf – She's always had trouble with it, just was trying to hide it, like Mac always does. She is going to ask for help on this Harm problem, as much as I am sure she would like to, I don't think she can take care of him detoxing on her own.
Joanoa – You were right! Harm saves Mac! And It was a little shipperish with him cleaning her up. :) You get an A!!
Xblue – LOL! Your reviews crack me up! Calix! Lock her up!! ;) Yea, I do ignore all of the ebilish reviews. We ebil people tend to like em. ;) They amuse me. I can write it, but I am just NOT into the whole fluffyness thing. So with these, you get emotion, tension, angst and a lil lovin all at once. ;)
Nikki – I did warn people that it would be dark! Which, I should have been really mean and gone "Dooooods! This story is SUPER FLUFFY!!! So Sweet you'll get a tooth ache!!" And then WHAM! Naw, I am not that bad! So you have NO ideas how it will turn out? Good! Because I don't either. I have an idea of how I am going to end this story but still writing around it. ;) It will end with a bang though. Heheh.
Nk – Chris is a baddie, a true baddie. And not one of these bad guys you feel remorse for. . . newp! He's a born killing machine. But, he's going to get a few. . .umm. . . shots from Mac. ;)
Manda – I am a cliffhanger junkie!! Can't you tell?! Hehehe
BiteBeccy – I'll hand you my anti-Heebie-geebie cream! Dream team will get help soon, no worries!
Tina – I think everyone hates Chris more than Webb at this point.
Harmfan – Hey, do you really want Chris over at Mac's house!?
Jtbwriter – Mac's good, she hasn't really had any alcohol. Harm on the other hand was doing it to get home. He'll clean up! We'll give him some TLC and all is good.
Froggy – Steele doesn't have anything to do with Harm's capture, but someone else does. Steele is pretty much there working for he CIA, undercover, in order to bring Harm in if he's with Mac.
Charmboy – Everyone's fav spook is going to have a few issues to deal with at the end of this story. One issue is a very pissed of Marine Lt. Colonel. ;)