Part 27
Atlantic Ocean Off the North Carolina coast 1930 Local
Harm swept the horizon again. Nothing to see but a couple of shrimp trawlers. Word had come almost ninety minutes ago that the blood was human. Type O. Harm's sense of relief had been tempered by guilt. He liked Caitlin Todd. Knowing that she was hurt made him feel like a heel for being happy that it wasn't Mac. Gibbs had taken the news stoically until one of the Coasties had suggested that he might not be up to a prolonged sea search. His response had been both prosaic and unprintable, proving beyond a doubt his Marine Corps heritage. Harm had followed him onto the Coast Guard cutter while Walters had climbed aboard the helicopter. Ordinarily, Harm would chosen air over water but he felt a certain responsibility to protect his fellow sailors from the irascible NCIS agent. It would be easier on everyone if he acted as a buffer.
He finally lowered the binoculars. It was getting too dark to see more than boat lights now and he couldn't help feeling a sense of foreboding. Now more than ever, he cursed the time lost. Why the hell did it have to be the ocean that the Congresswoman had opted for? On land, he could struck out on his own to pick up Elbert's trail without having to jump through the bureaucratic hoops. Water was another matter. The distances were too vast for a one man posse. He needed the Coast Guard's resources. God help the people around him if he didn't find Mac in time. He would be ready to commit his own murders.
Elbert had been out for over five hours and he was trying hard not to dwell on worse case scenarios. The damn woman had had time to have gone almost anywhere. Harm refused to think about what she might have done. Mac was still alive, she had to be. The only good thing was that it wasn't only the Coast Guard searching for the Congresswoman. Word had been broadcast on the main frequencies to notify the cutter if the 'Gerrymander' was seen, so they had at least 50 extra eyes looking. Someone was bound to have seen something. Turning, he headed back to the cabin.
Gibbs looked over at him as he entered and then went back to poring over the nautical charts of the area. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Harm hadn't seen anything. Sighing, the Commander dropped onto one of the bench seats and tiredly stretched out his legs. There was no need to ask if anyone had radioed in any sightings. Gibbs' silence spoke volumes. After a few minutes, Harm began to feel restless again. It was almost like he was in his own little version of Purgatory - forced to hang around the fringes while others worked to rescue Mac and Kate. Getting up, he walked over to the table where Gibbs was standing and started looking at the charts as well. What the hell was Elbert planning?
"I wish I knew."
Harm looked over at Gibbs in surprise, he hadn't realized he'd spoken out loud. Deciding to take advantage of the opportunity, Harm leaned slightly against the table, "I just don't get it. Elbert's smarter than hell. Why would she take them? She has to know that we'll come after her with both barrels. North Carolina is a death penalty state - she kills either one and she winds up on death row. It doesn't make sense." Dammit all, if that woman killed Mac, North Carolina would have to get in line.
Gibbs continued staring down at the charts, "It'll be harder proving murder without any bodies."
"But not impossible," Harm scowled. "We can place Kate in the boathouse and odds are, we'll place her on the boat as well. How's Elbert going to explain that? She went for a walk?"
"I guess we'll find out," Gibbs said, his annoyance obvious. What the hell did Rabb want from him? He didn't need reminders that the odds were against them finding Kate or Mac alive. It was bad enough that he and Kate had left each other with hard words between them. It certainly wasn't what he'd intended and now it didn't look like he'd have the chance to put it right.
"Dammit, Gibbs, is that all you have to say?" Harm could feel his temper rising. He pushed himself upright and began to pace in the small area. About the only way he and Gibbs could help would be to try and anticipate what Elbert was doing and where she might be going. To do that, he needed to understand the Congresswoman better and Gibbs was the closest thing he had to an expert.
"What else do you want me say? That the woman's a psycho? Well guess what Rabb? No surprise there and it's pretty damn clear that we don't scare her one bit. Hell, she's probably getting a real charge out of this. Do I have any idea what she's going to do? I think we both know the answer to that one."
"They're not dead." Harm stated flatly.
"Yet." Gibbs stared at him for a long moment before resolutely returning his gaze to the charts. Harm stared back and then turned and walked out onto the deck. He suddenly found that he didn't have the heart to take the NCIS agent to task. There had been a split second where Gibbs had dropped his guard and Harm had seen the pain, guilt and fear all tightly woven together. The man effectively used his anger as a shield but the gap was enough to know that Gibbs was suffering as much as he was. Probably more, Harm admitted candidly to himself. He hadn't had to drag himself out of hospital and he hadn't fought with Mac the day before.
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Mike swam out a little further and then turned around. It was too dark now to see the smoke billowing from the engine compartment of the Gerrymander. All that could be seen were the running lights and a dim reddish glow. Eventually, the fire would reach the nearly empty fuel tanks. More volatile empty than full, she figured they'd explode and help send the boat down to the bottom. It was a damn shame things had gotten to this point. The Gerrymander had been her gift to herself after winning her first State Senate race. Mike scanned the horizon again. No one was in sight but she was back closer to the Beaufort Inlet where traffic was heavier. She thought over her plan again as she floated calmly, waiting for the explosion. The tricky part was the timing.
She glanced at the wrench she had in her hand. Part of making this work would be knocking herself silly. The problem would be the force of the blow. It had to be convincing but she didn't want to be unconscious for any length of time. There were too many variables to deal with. She still had Mac's pistol for protection, having lobbed Todd's into the ocean after shooting the agent. That weapon would never be seen again. She figured on keeping this gun handy until rescue was imminent and then letting it sink to the bottom. If, by some chance, they went looking and found it, they would recover a pistol that had never been fired. Mike was willing to risk that scenario to make sure she could defend herself. It would be the height of irony if some damn shark cruised by and decided she'd make a nice snack.
Thinking of sharks brought Mac and Kate to mind. She didn't doubt they were both still alive. It would be a little soon yet for the sharks to make an appearance. Mac, being the good little Marine that she was, was no doubt permanently attached to Todd's side keeping the agent from drowning. Fine, let her. If she was stupid enough to stay with sharkbait then she deserved what she got. In fact, Mike was counting on that particular trait. Drowning would have ended things too quickly. She wanted the damn woman to suffer. It was only fair. It was Todd who had engineered Mac's betrayal of the bond she shared with Mike. All the trouble she had gone to to get Mac working with her and Todd had ruined it. Enlisting the Colonel's help in spying on her staff and herself had been a slap in the face.
She'd been incensed when she discovered the subterfuge. How could Mac do that to her? Of all people, Sarah MacKenzie should have been the one to applaud her efforts. Those men deserved death. Justice had been served. Maybe not in a conventional sense but that would be quibbling over details. Mac should have thanked her instead of helping that damn NCIS agent hunt for ways to bring her down. The hurt Mike felt had transformed into a cold anger. Most of it was directed at Kate Todd but Mac had acquired her fair share as well. Let the two of them die together. That's what happened when you went up against an opponent who was smarter and more audacious. They'd been out of their league, Mike had learned the value of a sneak attack long ago.
A loud boom shook her out of her thoughts. Mike covered her head as bits of debris rained down around her. It had been a bigger explosion than she'd expected. After a few moments, she lowered her arms and looked out across the water. What was left of the Gerrymander was disappearing into the ocean. It was time. Gripping the wrench, she took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut and gave herself a hard rap on the head. The last sound she heard was the tool splashing into the ocean and then everything went black.
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Harm grabbed for support as the cutter began a long sweeping curve. Regaining his balance, he hurried back to the aft cabin. Gibbs looked over at him as he entered, "There's been a report of a boat explosion about a mile from the Beaufort Inlet."
Roaring filled his ears and Harm shakily made his way to the bench seat and sank down, "The Gerrymander?" God no, it couldn't end like this.
"Probably." Gibbs kept on his feet through sheer willpower. He couldn't remember a time when he'd felt so exhausted.
Harm looked over at the agent and frowned. "Sit down, Gibbs, before you fall down."
Gibbs glared at the JAG lawyer and then silently went to the opposite seat and sat down. He started to lean back against the wall and grimaced, coming back upright again. Between the heavy vibration of the engines and the passage through the waves, there wasn't anywhere on board where he could truly rest. Damned if he'd admit it but that Coastie had probably been right about his going along. Gibbs looked up to see Harm watching him, "What?" That came out more sharply than he intended as he watched the Commander's face harden. Rabb was probably feeling worse than he did. After all, he and the Colonel were in a serious relationship. Taking a deep breath, he scrubbed tiredly at his face, "Rabb... Harm, even if it is Elbert's boat we don't know if Kate and Mac were on board. I'm not counting anyone out until I have proof."
Harm nodded and straightened a little, his face taking on a look that Gibbs was beginning to recognize. It was the 'I will walk through that brick wall, just watch me" expression. The NCIS agent felt a small spark of amusement. If Elbert was still in one piece, heaven help the Congresswoman when Rabb turned that look on her. He would find the truth... if it killed her.
They fell silent for the rest of the trip, each man lost in his own thoughts. Twenty minutes later, the cutter began to slow. Harm was on his feet in an instant, giving Gibbs a hand up as well before hurrying out onto the deck. They could see the lights of a small cabin cruiser gradually grow larger as the Coast Guard ship closed the distance. A few minutes later, the searchlights came on and Harm's grip tightened on the handrail. Debris littered a wide area. If it had been the Gerrymander, there was nothing left of it now. Had Mac and Kate been aboard?
Gibbs left the railing and stalked past, heading forward. Harm fell in just behind him as they marched to the bridge. They met the Captain about halfway. Cmdr. Roderick nodded to the two men, "We've confirmed that this was the Gerrymander." He tilted his head towards the little cruiser, "The Dorethea out of Wilmington was first on the scene. A Mr. and Mrs. Brighton pulled out one survivor, Congresswoman Elbert. She's injured and semi-conscious. They didn't see anyone else. I'm sending over our medic. I thought you might want to go along, Commander."
"I'm going too." Gibbs scowled.
Roderick directed a pointed look at the sling the agent was wearing, "I don't think that's a good idea. Climbing in and out of boats will take two good hands."
"He'll be fine," Harm interjected, his tone brooking no argument. "This is a NCIS investigation, he needs to be there."
The Captain looked from one man to the other and shrugged, "Your responsibility, Commander." He looked out across the water, "We'll continue to do a visual sweep of the area but we'll have to wait until it's light out before we can send divers down to look." Roderick gestured, "If you're going, you'd better get forward. I'm sending my XO along as well. Let him know if you need anything. Good luck, gentlemen." He turned and headed back to the bridge.
Harm started forward and then stopped when he realized Gibbs wasn't following. He turned back around and saw the agent had his cellphone out, "We have to go. What the hell are you doing?"
Gibbs shot him a look and continued speaking into the phone, "Yeah, as soon as humanly possible, Ducky. You're sure you can get your hands on one? Great... " He half turned away from Harm and lowered his voice, "Not yet, it's not looking too good right now... I know... yeah... look, break it to the others, will you? Yeah, thanks." He ended the call and started forward determinedly. "Let's go, Rabb."
Exasperated, Harm started walking again. He glanced over his shoulder, "What the hell was that all about?"
"I asked Dr. Mallard to come down here."
Harm stopped and spun around, "Your ME?!? Goddammit, Gibbs! You're giving up on them already?"
Gibbs reached out and pushed Harm along, "Keep moving, I don't want to miss the boat. Ducky is also a medical doctor and he's bringing a thermal viewer along. This Coast Guard station doesn't have one."
"A what?" Harm reached the area where the launch was waiting and started down the side. Once aboard, he positioned himself and gestured for Gibbs to climb down. Carefully, the agent began his descent while Harm reached up and grabbed a hold of his jacket, bracing the man as he lowered himself to the boat.
Once they were seated, the Coast Guard crewman cast off and turned towards the cruiser. Gibbs looked over at Harm, "It's a camera that sees heat signatures rather than light. Take it up in the helicopter and we'll be able to see anything that's warmer than the water around it."
Harm stared at him, hope dawning, "Like two women."
Gibbs nodded before casting a glance at the debris-laden water. Facing forward again, he muttered grimly, "Providing that there's something out there to find."
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"Mac?"
"Right here. How're you feeling?" Mac tried to keep the anxious tone out of her voice. Kate had been unconscious long enough to scare the hell out of her. She knew that what she'd done to stop the bleeding hadn't made anything worse but there had been a definite possibility that she'd waited too long and Kate had lost too much blood.
"Tired." She gazed out across the ocean, mildly surprised at how well she could see. The moon was up and only a day or two from full, bathing everything in a strong, silvery light. "It's beautiful out here." When Kate didn't hear anything from the Marine, she turned her head slightly, "Mac? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, sure." Mac wiped at her eyes, trying to regain her composure. Her emotions seemed to be ranging all over the board as the desperateness of their situation grew. It was 2124. It had been 7 hours and 39 minutes since Elbert had sprung her trap although they'd only been in the water for the last hour and 43 minutes. The problem was that she'd had too much time to think. It was apparent that their back-up plan had failed. What had happened to Dubby? Had Mike killed him after she'd dumped the two of them on her boat? Would that be yet another death she had to answer for? How could she have been so blind to what Elbert was?
Kate listened to the timbre of Mac's voice and decided she was anything but okay. She felt guilty as hell about it. From the moment she'd hit the water, it had been Mac who'd kept them alive. She knew the Colonel wasn't at 100, either physically or mentally. She'd taken a pretty hard crack to the head and that was after Elbert had unloaded all that crap on her. 'Inspiration' her ass, Elbert was a stone-cold murderer who enjoyed killing. Laying the deaths of those sergeants at Mac's feet had been calculated and cold. Mike had to know that the Marine would assume the guilt for it, for not somehow preventing it.
"Mac? I want you to know how sorry I am about all this."
"What?"
"I said I was sorry." Mac had sounded startled. That was good. Now maybe she could make some headway against the damage Mike had inflicted. "This was my investigation. I shouldn't have dragged you into it."
"You didn't drag me anywhere. I volunteered, remember? ... For all the good that did." Mac closed her eyes, wishing her headache would abate.
"That's enough of that, Colonel. Self-pity doesn't become you." Kate retorted sharply. Damn it all, she wished she could see Mac's face. It was hard to gauge her reaction just from her voice. She continued in a softer tone, "Listen to me, Sarah, I don't give a good goddamn how Mike decided on her victims. The woman gets off on killing. She was stalking you. You're a victim, too."
"You don't understand."
"No I don't. I have no idea what it's like to be in your shoes. What I do know is that none of this is your fault."
"Isn't it?" Mac grimaced, tension was making the pounding worse. "God, Kate, she was killing those men based on my damn mood swings."
"And if that wasn't a good enough reason, she would have used a Ouija Board or asked the Magic Eightball. For pity's sake, Elbert didn't need an excuse. You heard her: 'I enjoy it and I'm really quite good.' Honestly, that woman might be smarter than the average bear but let me tell ya, her belt definitely doesn't go through all the loops."
"I should have seen it."
"You did. You saw enough to give us a profile and a direction."
"And fought about it being Mike every step of the way. That did a fat lot of good."
"It did," Kate insisted, "Knowing I had to convince you made me look that much harder. However this turns out, Elbert's going down. Gibbs will see to it."
"Harm'll be right beside him," Mac closed her eyes again, making an effort to relax the muscles in her shoulders and neck. It was a relief that Kate didn't blame her for their predicament. She didn't agree with everything the NCIS agent had said - there was no damn excuse for being so blind - but, apparently, it hadn't affected Kate's investigation at all. Now if she could just get past this miserable headache.
Deciding that that particular conversation was over for the time being, Kate stared up at the night sky. Hopefully, Mac would take her arguments to heart. She'd meant every word. The moon was so bright that the stars seemed dim but there was still more than you could see in the light-polluted skies around DC. She lowered her gaze to the horizon and her eyes widened, "Mac! There are lights! There's a ship out there!"
"I know, I've been watching." Mac's voice was calm with no hint of the disappointment she'd felt when she realized what the lights must be. "They never get any closer. It must be the shipping lanes."
"Oh." Kate squeezed her eyes shut. For one brief moment, she thought they had a chance. She sighed and said quietly, "We're not going to survive this, are we?"
"I don't know, but I'm planning on making a helluva try,"
