So much for trying to post this earlier. Life gets in the way. Anyway, one more part after this one, then story three in about a week, week and a half, I need a break a bit. LOL! So do you guys. ;)
J.
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, moonlight, southernqt, LiseGirardi, Jade, Smithknkand anyone else I missed for the Feedback
Part 16 – This Wasn't In The Flight Plan pt 2
1640 Zulu
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia
"Sir?" Bud said, walking into Creswell's office with a deep frown. "I can not find Levine anywhere." For the past half hour, ever since Levine had run out in a rush, he and Sturgis had scoured the whole building. The man was no where to be found.
Creswell didn't like this one bit, the man was too crafty for his own good. "I ordered Coates to lock down the building, there is no where he could get out."
"He didn't have to." Through the office doors walked in Sturgis followed by two Marines who were holding Levine as a prisoner. "He was hiding in the service elevator."
FBI Director Thomas Rivers stared at the man with confusion. "What is going on here, gentlemen?"
Levine grinned up at Creswell, "Absolutely nothing, right General?"
"Why were we called here Sheffield? You said it was a matter of national security, but for the past half hours we've had to sit here, dealing with this buffoon." He said in anger, pointing at Levine who couldn't keep the grin off of his face. "What the hell is going on?"
"Mr. Rivers, it's simple . . In about five minutes, Commander Rabb will be landing the Aurora at the Groom Lake installation. . ."
Enterprise stood up. "But I thought he was wanted for treason?"
"No, Mr. Enterprise, that is what Raymond here wanted you to think." Sheffield said and began handing out copies of the papers that Bud had dug up. "There's proof in these documents and I am sure we'll find many more at CIA headquarters of just how dirty Mr. Levine is."
But, Levine didn't falter, he just stood by with a sick expression. "Mr. Secretary, I've done nothing wrong. True, I did order for Rabb to pilot the Aurora as he and Watson had flown it superbly in the past, but how was I to know that he'd fly them to Newfoundland?"
"Newfoundland?" Sturgis said, realizing that Levine had suddenly given a way too much. "Funny, non of the reports mentioned the location of the aircrafts."
"Well, it's obvious he'd fly them there." Levine tried to cover but it didn't work, by then, everyone in the room was realizing how much of a liar the man was.
DHS Director Zachary Brown moved forward, standing just a few feet away from Levine. "Ray, tell me you didn't have anything to do with this." Out of all of the 'higher-ups', Brown had been the only one to really approve of Levine as head of the CIA. They'd been friends at one point. "Tell me Ray." The man grabbed a hold of Levine's sports jacket and shook him. "Damnit!"
"I can tell you exactly what he did." A female voice called, as a woman entered the office and glanced at the 'boys club.' "General, here are all the files you need to clear Commander Rabb of any wrong doing." Porter Webb presented the files to Creswell then turned to the other men. "It seems Raymond was dealing with a man on our most wanted lists, Temir Ayaz Muhammad Savrai."
"You have no proof of that you old bag!" Levine spat and attempted to head into Mrs. Webb, but was restrained by the two Marines. "This bitch doesn't know a damned thing."
Porter Webb just grinned at the younger man. "Raymond, before you try to screw with one of the head families of a government agency, make sure you take out their network of associates."
The shrill of the phone from the outer office could barely be heard over the bickering between several of the people assembled in Creswell's office. But, Bud, who was the closest to the door did hear it, immediately he ran out. "JAG Headquarters, Lt. Commander Bud Rob. . .WHAT?" His yelp caught the attention of everyone in the office. "No! That needs to be called off!"
"Mr. Roberts? What is it?" Creswell said, coming out to stand next to the Lt. Commander.
Bud held the phone in his hand, glancing at the it as if he'd never used a phone before in his life. "That was my contact inside the CIA. . .She says that two F/A-22 Raptors are flying over the Nellis Bombing range and Groom Lake in Nevada. . .Sir, they are going to shoot Commander Rabb down."
1640 Zulu
Somewhere Over The United States
"Groom Lake, this is Fox riding in Ghost One, permission to land?" Harm asked over the radio.
("We have you on radar, keep coming." The voice said over the line)
"Roger that." The descent wasn't as bad as Harm thought it would be when the radar had picked up the weather that was looming over the mountains. It had passed quickly and from high up he could see the familiar mountain shapes that led towards the base. "Alright, Mac. . .We should see Groom Lake coming up soon. . .it's a helluva sight."
"Can I get some sort of t-shirt or something?" She said with a teasing tone, already relaxing at the idea that they were just about to land. Turning around she looked out to see the 'wingman' still behind them flying at the proper angles as Harm corrected the angle of their own plane.
Harm chuckled. "I don't think the government would approve of you having an 'I've been to Area 51' t-shirt. . . Nor one saying 'I've flown in the Aurora.'"
"Yea, well, you're no fun." Her voice strained as she turned forward and then back again when she saw a fast moving object out of the corner of her eye. "I think our escorts are here."
Turning to the side, Harm saw one airplane flank his right and immediately another flanking his left. He let out a whistle and grinned. "Raptors, wonder what it would take to get me up on one of those." He waved out to one of the pilots but got no salutation in return. "Mac, wave out at them." Mac did so, and immediately both planes dropped downward and out of her line of sight. Harm noticed this as well. "Uh, Mac? Did you give them the finger or something?" He tried to joke, but, nothing about the situation was funny.
"They weren't supposed to do that, were they?" Mac couldn't help but conjure up images of the Russian planes that had shot her and Harm down.
Harm stared at her for a moment and shook his head. "No, Mac. . .Keep an eye on Ghost 2, would ya?" Changing his frequency, he tried to radio the pilots. "Raptor One and Raptor Two, this is Commander Harmon Rabb, US Navy and Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie US Marine Corps, we have permission to land at Groom Lake, repeat, we have permission to land at Groom Lake." He said the last sentence slowly, enunciating each word to make sure there was no confusion. But he got no answer. "Raptor one and Raptor two, we are friendlies. . . repeat, we. . .are . . friendlies." Again, nothing. Quickly he changed frequencies in an attempt to contact the tower. "Groom Lake, this is Fox in Ghost one, we have to F/A-22's getting into attack position, call them off." Again, there wasn't any type of conversation, only silence. "Damnit, will someone answer me! Call them off!"
Mac had remained silent as he tried to contact the planes and the tower. She was chewing on her inner cheek, noting Harm's frantic tone as he tried to contact the pilots and the tower. It wasn't good and she wasn't stupid. "Harm? They're going to shoot us down aren't they." It wasn't a question and she knew the answer. Then again, why would anything pertaining to this mission be easy?
"Not if I can help it." Harm continued their descent and soon saw the computers light up like a Christmas tree, they had a lock on Ghost two. "Hold on." This wasn't a Tomcat and though the Aurora could make some nifty maneuvers, he hadn't flown the zillions of hours and known a million ways to make the plane respond. Besides, at the high altitude the plane would cruise it was impossible to have a dogfight. Other aircraft just did not have the capability to fly that high. So, Harm used speed to be one of the resources to save his and Mac's lives. He powered the vehicle, making sure that the computers for Ghost 2 were responding in kind. "This is going to make landing a bitch."
Her whole body began vibrating as the plane pitched slightly, when it hit an air pocket. It took a few seconds for Harm to control the planes, but already Mac was feeling her stomach start to do cartwheels. "We're losing them." She had turned around, glancing out the rear noticing the planes were moving farther away.
"Well, thank God we're over desert else the sonic boom would be pissing people off. A lot of people whom I prefer not to piss off." Taking a deep breath he knew that his evasive maneuver was just for stalling. Down below he saw the familiar lake bed with the surreal, long runway, they were approaching Groom Lake. He started slowing the planes down knowing that, with each mile they slowed the Raptors would catch up. He thought about sacrificing Ghost 2, slowing that plane down even more and letting the Raptors attack it, but then, he didn't know what sick scenario the government would come up with. For all Harm knew, he might get blamed for that as well. No, he had to stick it out.
Mac was trying not to get sick again, but her stomach was giving her different ideas. She turned around, in order to get her mind on other things. At a glance she saw the two black fighters heading closer to them. "Harm!"
Again the lights on the Aurora's panels lit up. "Damnit! . . Raptor one and Raptor 2 we are friendlies. . .we are friendlies!" He yelled over the radio, but the planes still kept coming closer as he was forced to decrease their descent rate.
"Why aren't they responding?" Mac asked frantically over the headsets. This couldn't be happening, they couldn't have survived the worst time of her life and then get shot down over Nevada for their efforts. "They can't shoot us down, we're bringing them their goddamned planes back!"
"Hang on." Harm banked the plane to the right, causing Ghost 2 to mimic that same movement. The panel stopped buzzing, obviously the quick movement had thrown off the Raptor's. Just as quickly he corrected, bringing them back into position for landing and again the alarms of the instrument panels went off. "Damnit. . .Let me try that again." This time he swept the plane left and again Ghost 2 mimicked the same movement. He stayed flying at an irregular angle, the force of it causing a strain as he fought with the stick. "Please. . .God, Please!" He straightened the plane off, noting that the Raptors, instead of staying in an attack position, had flown off ahead of them.
Harm deployed the chutes as the plane came in for a touch down, the speed was still a bit excessive as they rocketed down the long runway in and insane speed. He fought the controls, trying to make sure the planes didn't skid off of the designated landing area. The runway was surreally long and done so to enable them to land the Aurora. But still, his main concern, at the moment, was what the excess speed would do to the landing gear. If they didn't slow down enough, their wild ride would end with a bang as they splattered against the mountain rock. The paved area ran out and soon the planes began to slow down as they made it over the dry lake bed. The Raptor's flew overhead, one banking off to a different side before they swept around reading themselves for a landing. And then, it all ended, all movement had stopped.
Her eyes well closed and it almost seemed unreal that everything was suddenly still. Cracking one eye open, Mac looked around to find them surrounded by sand that had started to settle after their landing. "Harm, are we still alive?"
"Yea." He said gently, his hand was unwilling to open and let go of the stick. He'd been in a few dog fights, the worst being over Russia with Mac as his backseater, but, for some reason, this had taken everything out of him.
"Why didn't they shoot us down?" It was odd considering the tension from a few minutes prior or the fact that the air tower would not contact them. "What happened?"
Harm opened the canopy and removed his helmet. "I don't know, Mac. ..But here comes the Calvary." In the distance he could see several vehicles heading their way. If they were friendlies or not, he didn't know, but at least he had the consolation that they weren't blasted right out of the skies.
1720 Zulu
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia
Raymond Levine sat on one of the posh leather chairs with a corporal on each side preventing him from escape. It was over, all of it was. Porter Webb had managed to find some people who'd been associates of the Webb family, people who, just like herself, wanted nothing more than to rid the CIA of the Levine's. So, these people dug for information and eventually found it. There were pictures, files, letters, e-mails and other evidence that Levine thought he'd rid himself of. All of it pointed to his involvement with Temir.
There were the several attempts to kill Rabb as well as Major Steele's training of Temir's troops in early January, way before his time at JAG. Perhaps the biggest mistake Levine made was his indecision over what to do with Harm. At first, Harm was to be brainwashed, made to believe that his country had given up on him, therefore, he could find a family amongst Temir and his men. When he realized that the good Commander would not turn, he opted for another approach: murder. It would be easier to do away with the man, but Temir did not thing so, there was much valuable information from a man that worked in the military and formerly worked in the CIA. That information would be valuable for a terrorist.
Harm's escape had been much of a problem. The easiest way to deal with it, Levine thought, was to have the man captured and killed. But, that proved to be a problem when non of Temir's men knew how to fly the Aurora and the pilots that did were shot because of their greed. So, then he needed another out and capturing Harm seemed to be the best deal. Only, he wasn't captured and instead, he turned the tables on them, heading some private mission with Mac into Canada. And apparently, for all of his attempts to stop them, they'd won.
Game Over.
The General had been on the phone the minute Bud had informed him about the possible strike against Harm and Mac. Everyone sat by with baited breath as information was relayed back and forth. It was a game of time, trying to contact the proper authorities before Harm and Mac were shot out of the skies. "That was the base commander at Groom Lake, Commander Rabb and Colonel MacKenzie are all in one piece. . .The pilots refused to shoot them down. . . They will be held for interrogation and the CIA will debrief them." The office erupted in cheers that were shared by all except for Raymond Levine. "Marines, take FORMER CIA Deputy Director Levine into custody and make sure nothing happens to him, I am sure a lot of people are going to want to have a little discussion with you, Ray."
The Marine's stood him up, but Raymond stood by defiantly, he had things to say. "Don't look at me that way. All of you fools have thought the same way I did. . .If you can just control some piece of it all you can right the problems."
"How can you right problems when you sacrifice the people you are sworn to protect?" Bud asked.
Levine stared at him. "To make an omelet you need to break some eggs, Lieutenant. . .Temir was a means to protect our very survival. . .To make us not forget how vulnerable we are."
Sturgis shook his head. "No, sir. . .He was a means to an end. . . You were giving him government secrets, who's not to say that he wouldn't have turned his back on you and done as he pleased. . ."
"That's a risk I was willing to take. . . And I am sure I am not the first, nor would I be the last to take that risk." He was sure about that. See, the biggest problem with Raymond Levine was in his sick, twisted mind he believed he was doing the right thing.
Creswell couldn't stand the man from the first time he laid eyes on him. Levine had the air of a confidence man, the type that would swindle you in with some awe-inspiring story and then, just as quickly, leave you flat broke. "Get him out of my sight."
2230 Zulu
Groom Lake Air Force Base
Nevada
Harm sat in a pretty comfortable room, one that appeared to be an officer's mess with nice leather chairs, big wooden tables and pictures of military planes on the walls. "So, tell us again, from the top, you left Andrews in an F-18 Hornet?" One of the men asked as he slid a microphone closer to him. There were seven men seated with him, three with suits that screamed CIA, two had on unmarked digital BDUs, and the other three, including the base commander were dressed in Air Force uniforms.
They'd been at it for hours, asking the same questions, wearing him down as if he were some sort of criminal. He knew the reasons, information needed to be consistent to make sure he was telling the truth. And, just for kicks, they had him take a lie detector test, which he passed. So, for the millionth time since they landed at Groom Lake, he started his account of what had happened. Harm began with his original flight plan out of Andrew's. He was scheduled to do a cross country, spend a day or two with his family and then head back home. But, somewhere in the middle of it all, well, more like, in midair, his flight plan was changed and he was ordered to land at Groom Lake.
From there, he spent some time with Andy Watson, Jack Hayes and Robert Gimmel. He and Andy would be training and in the process try out new advances for the plane. But, they never got to finish, as only a short time into the flight, both he and Andy were incapacitated and taken hostage. He recounted his days at Temir's mercy with vivid details, gruesomely describing some of the terrorist's torture techniques. He followed on to his escape, the return home, his recovery from opiates, the fake mission with Webb and finally, this mission with Mac.
Though part of him was longing for her to be with him during the debrief, another part was happy that she didn't have to hear it all again. He'd remembered the look in her eyes the first time he recounted his months with Temir. There was a pain in her eyes, a fear and anger that he'd never seen before. At least she would be spared this moment.
Almost as soon as they military vehicles arrived to the Aurora's, he and Mac were separated. They were treated like enemies of the state, until, about thirty minutes later, their CO had managed to contact the base commander and relay whatever information they had about Raymond Levine and his involvement. Since then the debrief began, which was Harm's suggestion to just get it over with, when the base commander had offered him some time to recuperate.
In a separate room, one much smaller than Harm's, Mac sat with two agents. She kept it all simple, and provided the information necessary, leaving out all of the unnecessary details of their trip, like the nights she spent in his arms. She told them about Chris and how he'd tried to rape her even before this whole thing had started. She told them about the mountainfolk and how she'd nearly died as a result, but her partner had saved her. The agents were being quite easy on her, they didn't even bother trying to trick her up. This was for good reason, the real axe to grind was Harm, not Mac. "Alright, Colonel. . .I think we're done."
Mac nodded and sipped on her third cup of coffee which made Tiner's, high octane java seem watered down. But, it kept her awake and sharp. "Where is Commander Rabb?" She didn't want to seem too anxious to see him, but it had been hours and she was worried.
One of the agents smiled at her. "He's probably wrapping up as well." The man remained seated. "I'll be honest, Colonel, I don't know when you two will be getting out of here. . .There's a lot of information we need to go through, paper work to start on. And we need to make sure that yours nor the Commander's lives are in danger." Standing, he walked around and helped Mac out of her chair. "In the meantime, the doctor wants to see you at the ward again and make sure nothing else is bruised."
Mac was escorted down to the hospital room through a series of underground corridors. There she saw him with his knee propped up in a pillow, wearing hospital type scrubs. "Harm." She walked over to him and, though he was tired, a beautiful smile graced his lips.
He'd only been in the ward for a few minutes. Enough time for him to shower and have the doctor check on him again. He was assured that his knee was not severely damaged and with some light therapy it should heal within a short amount of time. "Mac." He sat upright and moved to the edge of the bed, drawing her close to him.
She took a deep breath when his arms wrapped around her. Sure, they weren't exactly 'home' yet and there was probably a zillion things to sort out, but there was one good thing, "It's over. . .It's over." Mac repeated as they held onto each other. Now, all they needed was to get back home to family and friends.
... TBC
NK – Call signs were stole, from one of my own stories where Harm is teaching at TopGun. 'Matcbox' was because he reminded me of a friend of mine who has a tattoo of the Matchbox logo (you know? The lil cars?). 'Burn', no clue what crack my mind was on that day. The other names, I have nooooooo idea they just pop up. Cept for Temir and Khadija, I didn' want the usual, run of the mill, terrorist names. ;)
LtJgMEg – Palmer's death hasn't been written yet so anything gis a possibility. ;) I've killed him once before methinks.. maybe twice?
Harmfan – yae, but I guess they figured he couldn't get into trouble at JAG. So much for that! The guy is smart slime. LOL! Stomach is given a break:slides over the tums:
Xblue – Chains and ducttape? Damn, I hope you didn't put ductabe on your hair or arms, that is quiet painful when you try to take it off. ;) Well, the last chapter of this one will be nice for you guys, I figured I owe you that much! Yea little faith! Huh! Calix – Good job as always!
Froggy – Nice line huh? I deleted it three times and then finally I was like "Well, a little bit of sappyness goes a long way" LOL! IT was sweet though.
Brittany – Ah the world of exams, I might be rejoining that world in August. Thanks for reading the story and reviewing! Good luck with papers and exams. ;)
Jtbwriter – LOL! Well, they figure – Levine's not superman, what can he do at JAG ops? ;) – But, see it ended well!
