Okay, so last I checked, this baby has 16 parts. There is going to be a lot of back and forth with emotions from both Harm and Mac. My point being? They are only human, as much as they are trained or what not. Harm has a lot to deal with too.
Hope you like! Thanks for all of the feedback, I am trying to get back to everyone, bare with me, sometimes I have a few things out of Fanfic land to deal with. :)
Have a good Monday (LOL!)
Jackie
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, alix33, jnp, MacHarm4Ever, Tania, Macaroon, harmfan, Jagnut, Claire Vincent, Navy Babe, Nix, Martini, jaggurl, Laura, CoolCat, sunnysky, smithknk, mjag, FoxyWombat, carbygirl, moonlight, socgrl, NinjaTurtle, Sunny, kristie, mjag. Aserene, Dessler and anyone else I missed for the Feedback
PART 12 – Intentional Surrender
0250 Zulu
North East Of Corner Brook
Newfoundland, Canada
Sleep came easy for Harm as the exhaustion had managed to batter his body. Mac had waited until he was dozing, then moved away from him. Someone needed to keep watch. If Chris was able to find them, so could anyone else and she wasn't going to risk another ambush. Cautiously, she placed Chris' AK-47, which she'd managed to get working again, against a tree. She squatted down by the stream and cupped some of the water which was used to cleanse her face. Mac bit back the cold feeling, then grabbed her canteen, filled it up then dropped a purifying tablet in it. Taking Harm's canteen she took the same measure, ensuring he had something to drink once he woke up. Mac took a post near a massive rock, leaning against it, trying to find an uncomfortable position to keep her awake.
When Harm awoke he was slightly confused at his surroundings. Mercifully his mind only conjured up dreams of him and Mac in the cabin. It had been forever since he could close his eyes and not see Temir and his torture techniques. Now, all they had to do was get home and he was sure he'd completely heal. Rolling onto his side, he found Mac leaning up against a rock, the AK held against her chest as if she'd been protecting US government interests. He watched her for a while as her eyes scanned the area with a vigilance that only Marines seemed to be able to pull off. As he lay there, he couldn't help but put blame on himself for all of this, for her involvement. He never should have gone to her apartment, all he did was look for trouble and place the woman he loved in a situation he wasn't sure how to control.
Mac moved slightly, using her foot to propel herself away from the rock she was leaning on. With his eyes, Harm followed as she headed up the hill and away from his vantage point. Worried, he get out of his makeshift bed, his elbow bumping against the canteen Mac had left for him. He reached into his pocket, grabbing the medicine bottle and taking both the anti-opiate and vitamins at the same time. With a long gulp from the canteen he swallowed them down, then headed off after Mac.
Moving up the hill, she headed towards where Chris' body lay on the ground. She stared down at his still figure. Yes, in the heat of their sparring she meant to kill him, to end his life for trying to hurt her, for him wanting to hurt Harm. But, she was still human, feeling the guilt for taking a human life. With a sigh, she took to the terrain, finding several fallen branches that she could use to cover his body. Evil or not, the man deserved some sort of burial. "What are you doing, Mac?" Harm asked as he cautiously walked up behind her. She didn't even flinch, then again, he knew she probably heard him coming.
"Covering the body." She grabbed a few branches, intending to drag them back to Steele's body when Harm stopped her. Her eyes refused to meet his for the guilt she felt at having him witness her murdering someone in cold blood. "Don't."
Harm tucked his finger under her chin, urging her head up so he could look in her eyes. "I love you, Mac. . . This isn't going to make me think less of you. . .He deserved what came to him, just like Pete and Marcy. . .They killed themselves when they tried to come after us."
Mac nodded. "I know. . .But, I'm human and he needs to have some form of burial. . .maybe God can grant him the forgiveness that I can't."
"Let me help." Harm said as he took the heavier branches and made his way to Steele's body. They covered him up as best as possible but neither of them bothered to say any words on his behalf. "Let's go, Mac."
The trek was much more forgiving that their previous ones, they'd only needed to rest three times before shoving off again. The streams in the area gave them plenty of chances to wash up and fill the canteens with fresh water. "How far away do you think we are?" Mac asked when they stopped to rest for the forth time. She took a long drink of water then poured some over her face. The weather had improved some, becoming warmer, but the wind blowing in odd intervals still kept some chill in the air.
Harm chanced a look at the tattered map, truth was, "I don't know. . .I mean, we could be there in an hour. . .we could have passed it. . .I just don't know." He tossed the map to the ground and stomped on it, something about the barbaric act easing some of the stress away. "Damnit. . .How could. . . How could this have gotten so screwed up? How could a routine cross-country flight have turned to THIS." In anger, he picked up a rock and hurled it through the air as a few muffled curses escaped his mouth.
Mac stepped close to him. Cupping his face in her hands, she angled him so that he'd look at her. "Harm, stop. . .Take a deep breath and stop. . .We're going to get out of this."
"No, we're not." He said it with such conviction that Mac realized that is exactly what he believed, that they weren't going to make it out. "You think they're going to let us just walk out of here? They won't. . .They'll kill me when they get what they want. . .And if they figure out you're still alive, they'll kill you too."
"You don't talk like that."
Harm could feel her eyes burning into him, but it wasn't going to change the fact that he was resigning all positive feelings. The closer he got to Temir's camp, the more he felt the pain in his body like ghosts haunting him. It was that which he feared the most, getting captured and tortured. Worst yet, if they caught Mac would they do the same to her? In the back of his mind he could see her begging him to end her life, just as Andy Watson had begged him. And he couldn't take that type of pain knowing she was in danger because of him. "What do you want me to say, Mac?. . .That everything is going to be fine? That we'll get the planes, fly off and head home like nothing happened? I've tried, okay? I've tried to believe that this was going to be okay, that things were going to be fine."
"I'm not pulling the wool over my eyes, if that is what you think. I knew this would be dangerous, I knew things were bound to happen. But, I wasn't going to let you do this alone." He tried to look away from her, but Mac kept her hands on the side of his face, keeping his eyes on hers. "I love you. I trust you and I believe in you." Why was it so easy for them to declare their love for each other so unabashed? Would it still be the same once they went home? She shook her head of those thoughts and tried to be his strength as he faltered.
"I just don't want them to get to you, Mac." His eyes filled with tears as his mind reminded him, yet again, that he'd put her in this situation. All in all, it went back to Paraguay, to Webb doing the same thing he had – placing the woman he loved in danger. "I don't want you to be hurt again."
Mac brushed the tears away. "I told you. . .You won't hurt me."
"It's not me hurting you that I am worried about right now." He turned away from her, then bent over to retrieve the map. "It's what they'd do to you if they catch you." He shook the dirt out of he map and turned back to her. "I mean. . ."
Raising her hand, Mac silenced anything else he was going to say. She heard something, a very familiar something in the distance. The noise was coming closer, a whomp, whomp, whomp, noise that could only come from, "A helo. . . Get down." She pushed him into the brush, ducking down as the helicopter passed over them at an irregular altitude then proceeded forward.
"C'mon, Mac." Grabbing her hand, Harm pulled her from the brush and headed after the chopper.
Mac tugged him back. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"
"Following it. . .It might lead us to Temir." He tried pulling her again, but Mac eased her hand out of his and crossed her arms. "What is it?"
"One minute you are against moving another inch, now you are blindly following some helo?"
"Do you have a better plan?"
"No, but. . ."
"So let's go." Harm sighed when Mac didn't bother moving. "Look, we can either do that or try to decipher the map that I ruined, take your pick."
With a huff, Mac walked passed him towards the noise that was starting to fade away. "Fine."
They set off walking as quickly as possible, following the sound of the rotor blades. Though they couldn't keep up with it, in reality, they really didn't have to as, five minutes later Harm and Mac were staring down into Temir's compound. Crawling on their bellies, they moved to the edge of a cliff which was just fifty feet above the west side of the compound.
In a flash, Harm was transported back to the day he first arrived. He didn't remember being taken off of the plane, he was unconscious then, but he did remember the first time he awoke in a strange place, in the freezing cold. He closed his eyes, breath hitching slightly at the memory of waking up on a cold stone floor, by a steel-toe boot that belonged to Robert Gimmel, one of the pilots he and Andy Watson were supposed to be training.
With eyes open, his line of vision went straight to the barn, the place he called The Terror Room. His body shook suddenly as a wave of tortured thoughts went through his mind. Harm couldn't end up there again, but, somehow, he knew it would happen until they got what they wanted from him. "Oh God."
Mac noticed the change in him the moment they came up on the place. He'd become rigid and his breathing was anything but normal. She reached out and wiped away the solitary tear that fell from his eye. "Harm, stay with me. . . Don't let your head take you back there." She knew what he was going through, because she'd been through the exact same thing, even after killing Sadik.
"I'm going to let myself get caught." He said without preamble. That was his master plan, to walk down there, pretending they wouldn't notice and just get caught. "And you're going to stay up here until I signal you to come down."
Whatever plans she was hoping for, this was certainly not it. "That's a suicide mission."
"No, they need me." He whispered, "They won't kill me because they need me to fly the planes. . .The worse they can do is. . .is."
"I'm going with you." Mac couldn't stand to know he'd go down there alone. Sure, she was some form of back up, but what the hell could she do from fifty feet away and with no chance in seeing what was going on in the small buildings?
"No, Mac. . .If the guy over the radio is in contact with Temir, then they think you are dead. . .I'm going to use that bit of misinformation. . ."
Damnit, this wasn't the first time his ideas sounded insane to her, but, there wasn't anything she could use to argue with. Mac had to concede. "Fine. . .but leave the AK here. . .Not that it would do any good since I don't have x-ray vision." She said under her breath to which Harm had to chuckle. Mac turned and stared at him pointedly. "That's not funny."
Harm slid the AK to her and smiled. "We have a lot of things to talk about when we get home."
Mac nodded. "I know." Damnit, why was this so difficult? They'd been in dangerous situations before. They've gone to face evil before. Why was this eating her up inside. Wordlessly, she leaned forward and kissed him slowly. 'You're not kissing him goodbye.' She told herself as she ended the kiss and put on a brave face for his sake.
"I'll signal you when things are alright down there." He motioned down towards the barn. "The planes are on the other side." Leaning forward, he gave her a quick kiss, then started to find a way down the hill.
Her voice stopped him. "Harm?" Abruptly, he turned around to find a solemn expression on her face. 'It wouldn't happen again.' She vowed silently to herself, years ago, standing in front of a mirror as she was trying on her wedding dress. Since then, even when she was angry with him, she'd never forgotten. "I was supposed to wish you good luck. . ." Good luck, a simple term that had turned her life upside down one night in May of 2001. Even now, she carried the guilt for what he went through because she was too hurt back then to realize he was hurting too. "Good luck."
Harm smiled at her, one that actually reached his eyes. "Stay safe, Sarah." It was one of the most difficult things he ever had to, but he turned and left Mac there, hoping that the God that failed to answer his prayers would at least keep her safe.
He half walked, half slipped down a sloped section of the hill, the momentum being stopped as he grabbed on to a thin tree. Using the tree for support, he reached into his pack and pulled out the binoculars. There were two guard nearest him, both of them fast asleep against the rocks of the hill. He tucked the binoculars back into his pack and, while holding the tree for support, hopped down about four feet to a ledge beneath. The sound of rock sliding off of the hill brought of the guards onto his feet in seconds.
Using a high powered light, he scanned the area, passing Harm's now prone figure. The man walked slowly up the hill bringing the light directly to the area where Harm was laying. From high above, Mac lay with her own binoculars in hand. She wished that somehow, she'd be able to discreetly take care of the guard, but there was nothing discreet about firing an AK-47. Instead, she waited with baited breath.
Another man walked out into the area and she could just make out the conversation in Farsi. The other man suggested that it was probably a wild animal, but the guard nearing Harm's position wasn't sure, he wanted to check further. "Damnit." She said softly.
Harm wanted to get caught and hopefully he'd be able to find a way to get him and Mac out of this whole mess; he had a few plans. However, he'd hoped to at least give the sneaky approach a shot, but as the guard got closer to him, that chance was gone. Until the other man showed up. They were speaking in Farsi, that much he could tell, but what they were saying was another story. If he ever needed Mac by his side, now was the time.
The guard moved closer to him, it would be literally five more steps before he'd be over his prone figure. But, after a bit more discussion, the man relented and turned away. Harm let out a deep breath in relief. In his position he waited as the men rounded the barn and moved out of his line of sight. Then, he stood up and made it the rest of the way down the hill. Ducking behind a small shack, he studied the area, the guards were headed back towards his position and he had, maybe seconds to try and slip his way into the nearest building. Unfortunately, the nearest thing was the barn. He ran towards it, then stopped to slip his way in through the rear which had a hole big enough for him to maneuver through.
Harm removed his pack and slipped it through the hole then, after squeezing his way through, he popped out inside. He was in the section that they'd used to house the armament Temir had been stealing. Looking around, he saw various things, rpgs, grenades. The walls were lined with bombs, the types that could be mounted on airplanes.
He headed farther through the back and immediately his nostrils filled with a familiar, nauseating smell. Death lived there, it was all around from the seared flesh on the metal table to the blood on the ground. And he wasn't even inside the main section where Temir and his men would commit such horrible atrocities. He took a calming breath, put the pack back on and stayed low as he maneuvered through the dimly lit barn.
"Again." A voice that would be the host of his nightmares said, followed by the sound of a live current. Through a hole in the wooden walls, Harm peaked through. There was a man hanging from chains off of the high beams of the barn. His feet were at least two feet off of the ground and he was soaked through. Temir stood by him, whispering things and then laughing as his men used the steel wool and batteries on their latest subject. Harm closed his eyes the moment the wool came to the man's body again. His screams ricocheted through the main room of the barn as Harm suppressed the want to sob.
But, the need for revenge was greater and it would be fairly easy to take Temir down now that he was busy with a new play thing. Harm reached behind his back and pulled out the pistol. As the latest victim's screams began once again, he took that chance to reload and cock the weapon. He held it in his hand with determination, but his fear shown around the edges when he couldn't control the shaking of his hand. "Shit." He cursed quietly as his sanity was regained once again. If he killed Temir now, he wouldn't have a chance, neither would Mac. Temir's men would come after him and he'd be just as good as dead. No, he had to surrender himself, damn the consequences and find another way. So, he waited until they extracted the last scream from their toy. And then, he made his move.
Harm headed through the barn, glancing with disgust at the tank still filled with murky, putrid water. They had dunked him in their the day that he'd killed Andy Watson. Sure, Watson had begged him for it, but he still died by Harm's hand. Even now, he wondered what he'd have done if there was another bullet left in the gun. Would he have shot himself? Ended it all for the sake of not suffering any more pain? He knew the answer to that: yes. And with him, he'd take all of his secrets, but he'd also take regret of never getting to experience anything with Sarah MacKenzie.
The smell was starting to get to him, so much that he was physically trying not to gag. He shuffled slowly through the bloody floors and as he tried to make his way out of the barn, he came face to face with no other than Temir himself. "Commander, it's very nice to find you back here. . .very nice."
Well, so much for an intentional surrender, apparently Temir was more aware of his presence than he thought. "It's a pleasure to be back." Harm smartly replied, trying his best sarcastic smile for appearance sake. But, he wouldn't be smiling for long especially since Temir was holding a 45mm up to the head of one Sarah MacKenzie.
XBlue - You just like the violence! Admit it! Yea, I LOOOOVE Full Engagement. It's my fav JAG episode so this story was an homage to it. Originally, it was a bit MORE lke Full Engagement before I decided that "Something For the Pain" needed a sequel. Heheh Hope I did it justice of sorts. ;)
NK - Anti-CIA? Hmmm... Dunno, I am anti-CIA when it comes to JAG though. but, it's fun to write, better than having them in the damn courtroom all day. :P
Nix - Me too, apparently, I am a cliffhanger slut LOL! Horrible description, but it's true. I swear though, some aren't written purposely, they just leave off there. So I should start making "I (Heart) Cliffhangers!" Shirts? ;)
Harmfan - You want me to kill Levine? Hmmm... well, his demise is what is taking this story so damned long. Story three is going to be odd. It was a stand alone, but, I decided, since it goes along the lines of screwed up plot lines and some mental anguish, it would rock with this series. I'll hand out pepto to everyone though LOL!
Cristina - Another violent reader... Sheesh, I am creating little monsters. LOL! Chris' death was much better than I expected. Was a difficultish part to write for some odd reason.
NinjaTurtle - Yes, I often fight with odd men so that I can save my non-exsistant, injured boyfriend who put us in danger in the first place. LOL! But, shhh! ;) I love action thingies, originally Harm was going to take him out, but I figured, Mac has more of a beef with him. So she took him out. :D
Joanoa - I am all for offing Vicpuke, sorry if I am only one of the few who dislike him. I wouldn't if he'd respect Mac a bit more. Just thinking about Friday is making me turn green.
Froggy - Any nails left? ;)
Alix - Yea, the part with teh boys and SECNAV was fun. I was writing it going "this is a bit much" then figured. "Naaaaaaah!" Hehe Glad you dug it :) Harm and Mac's eventual victory? ;) Getting ahead of ourseelves aren't we:)
