Ah, moving right along. Next chappie, they might just find Mac. ;)

Thanks to: joanoa, smithknk, mariarita, xobabygurlxo, Brittany4445, starryeyes10, jnp, dansingwolf, LiseGirardi, Martini, JadeAlmasy, Dessler, BiteBeccy, aserene, LtjgMegAustin, cbw, southernqt, froggy, harmfan, Judy, jtbwriter, Abigaile, XBlueShadowX, jaggurl, Lurkz, alix33, Nix707, echorage, aserene, chantelmac, Ink, Wuchel, CarbyGurl, Cristina, Inkand,Feverish Dream, Wuchel anyone else I missed for the feedback :) - If you left feedback and are not in this list, lemme know please

Part 13 – Unwanted Dreamland

2450 Zulu
The Dive Shaft Bar
Virginia

For a few minutes, he felt like someone was sitting on his chest, stealing his very breath. So far, they'd been sitting outside The Dive Shaft for a small eternity and the only new information was the one Webb's people discovered about Harm's hidden bank account. Ever since that new discovery, Harm couldn't control his anger at the system and how Leavenworth could have screwed up again with the former DSD agent. "Harm, calm down, son." AJ pleaded for the second time in five minutes as he pressed a hand onto his former officer's shoulder. The Commander was starting to worry AJ, and for good reason, he'd never, ever, seen him like this. Perhaps the closest he ever saw Harm falling towards a breaking point was when Mac and Webb went missing. Even then, he wasn't this close to losing control.

Harm took a long, shaky breath, then turned around in his seat. "I'm sorry. . .I am trying to be more professional, but. . .it's difficult." They'd gotten some weeks of levity only to be bombarded by his flying mishap, Mac's illness and now this. How was anyone supposed to be in control, anyway? "This… this isn't fair… I mean what else do Mac and I have to go through before we catch a friggin' break?" He brought his hands to his head, slowly massaging his temples. He'd had a headache for two days now, a tension headache which was slowly starting to become of the migraine variety.

Sturgis and Creswell were the most confused of the bunch. Neither of them had known Harm to fear much of anything which is why they both found it odd that the other men were tiptoeing around Palmer, actually playing his games. "Is this guy really that powerful?"

"He's my private nightmare. . ." Voicing his thoughts, Harm turned in his seat, glancing towards the back. "He's like a stalker. Only it's worse than that because he doesn't just come after me. . .He finds ways to do it through other people. . . A few years back he set up these tricks with mirrors to make me believe I was shoot him. Had I, and I would have shot Jordan, my girlfriend at the time."

AJ sighed, "Last we heard of him, Palmer led the Commander on a wild chase, hoping to clear one of Harm's clients that had been sent to Leavenworth." He was still astounded at just how close they had come to losing Harm if his client, Marine Sergeant Krohn hadn't stepped in.

"They let him out?" Creswell asked, slightly irritated in the notion that this, obviously sick individual would just be allowed to up and leave one of the most difficult prisons to escape from.

Harm cringed slightly. "That was my idea." He shrugged at Creswell's look of shock then sighed. "My client, Marine Sergeant Krohn, was accused of attempting to murder his wife. He was sent to Leavenworth. . .It was a strange case." He said, trying to find the right wording to elaborate. "Krohn said a that a deceased Chaplain led him to the alley where his wife was found beaten severely. A priest from the Vatican, Father O'Rourke, was trying to help me defend Krohn because, if Krohn's 'miracle' was true, it meant a possible chance at getting the chaplain canonized." He glanced towards Sturgis and Creswell who both were staring back with a look of confusion. "Months later, when Mac was getting married, Tiner had a flag case made for them in the prison workshop. Somehow Palmer managed to sneak in a bloody knife instead of the gift. Mac and I investigated. . ." Sighing, he recalled the strange anger that pounded through his body at the thought of Palmer involving Mac somehow. After that, he tried, as best as possible, to keep her far away from dealing with both Krohn and Palmer. "Palmer faked having these visions. He said that the Padre was using him to help Krohn. That led us on a wild goose chase. . .To make a long story short, he nearly had me riddled with bullets. Thankfully, Krohn was cleared of all charges."

Sturgis let out a low whistle. He couldn't fathom anyone holding a grudge for so long. Then again, he knew Harm pretty well, knew how his friend a nasty habit of pissing people off. He'd seen it in the classes they shared at the Academy, how Harm could tick off even some of the teachers. It didn't mean he wasn't a good, likeable guy, but there were times that Harm would get one thing in his head, follow that track and not back off. That tend to tick off certain people. "And now he's leading you on another chase."

"Seems that way, doesn't it?" His gaze slowly spanned the occupants of the van before it leveled towards the red, metal door to the bar. Letting his breath out slowly, Harm's mind traveled back to the small screen that Palmer had placed on Mac's coffee table with images of her. At the moment, it seemed like an illusion, a parlor trick, but Harm knew it was real. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, he tried searching for her again. He managed to momentarily clear his mind of anything but her, searching for some sort of feeling or link as to where she could be. She wasn't there, he knew that. In fact, he had a gut feeling this was a rouse but for what purpose?

Sitting in their own car, Gibbs and Webb were slowly going over the details of the odd bank account. Gibbs held a pair of binoculars to his eyes, scanning the area as he'd done so many times before. "This feels like either a trap, or a means to get us away from something."

"Holy. . ." Webb stared down at the latest file that came across the onboard printer, his breath hitching slightly. "You know the guy that Palmer switched with?" He pulled up two pictures, one of a man impeccably dressed in a classy suit and the other of the same man looking like hell with a prison uniform. "Victor Girilli."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow in question, then continued his surveillance. "Yea, we already know he posed as Palmer's lawyer and they switched places."

Clay shot the man an annoyed look and sighed. "Oh." That was news to him, or weren't people planning to fill him in with the details? As he made to stuff the picture into a file, Gibbs' hand clasped around his arm. "Wait. . .The woman."

"What woman?" Webb leaned in, taking a good look at the picture. Just behind Girilli was, indeed, a woman.

Gibbs took the picture, tilted the a small light towards it and frowned. "Dr. Nicole Halloren." He said in a matter-of-fact tone. At Clay's questioning glance, he filled him in with the details. "Apparently, he was seeing a shrink or rather, she was seeing him." As he glanced up at the CIA agent, a certain aspect of past information occurred to him. "The person who delivered the note to JAG was a woman." They both exchanged a mutual, knowing glance. Was she the missing link, the accomplice?

Down the block, Harm angrily opened the driver's door and proceeded to hop out. "Rabb, what the hell are you doing?" AJ yelled, glaring at the younger man as if he still were in his chain of command.

"I'm not sitting around any longer. . . If I am walking into a trap, so be it." He slammed the car door and walked around the van, waiting for a motorcycle gang to pass as he made to move across the street.

AJ sighed and reached out to open the van's sliding door. "You three stay put, I'll go with him." The other men didn't bother arguing, only traded looks of concern as Chegwidden stepped out of the van and raced across the street in time to catch up with Harm. "Rabb, this isn't a good idea."

"With all due respect, neither is staying put." Harm reached out for the handle of the door and held it open for AJ. "After you, sir."

With a SEAL death glare, Chegwidden let out a deep breath. "I am retired and you are out of uniform, it's AJ from here on out. You read me, sailor?"

Harm resisted the urge to snap to attention and merely nodded as AJ passed and entered before him. "Aye aye, sir."

Stepping into the bar, the two were hit with a wall of heavy rock music. The place smelled of stale beer, cigarettes and something else that you couldn't quite put your finger on. The back walls were lined with booths, upholstered in a dark red cloth that contrasted with the shiny metal table tops. At the center, towards the back, was a small stage that boasted the four members of some sort of rock band, if you considered all of the yelling and grunting the lead singer was doing a form of music. On either side of the stage was a 8ft high set of amplifiers. Leaning against the ones on the right side were two couples, heavily engaged in some extra curricular activity that no one seemed to mind.

As Harm and AJ walked towards the bar, a fight broke out in the sunken in dance floor, which you had to walk down these precarious looking pieces of plywood to head into. Harm stared down at the madness, then realizing that people weren't fighting, it was some sort of dancing. Moshing? Wasn't it what it was called? One thing was for sure, Harm was thankful he wasn't wearing his uniform, the black clothing he currently sported actually made him semi fit in, if only he wasn't so clean cut. "Lovely place, isn't it?" AJ yelled over the music, ordering two beers as he hopped up onto a stool. The last time, when he came to find out information on a PI case he was working on, he opted to use earplugs, unfortunately, he forgot to carry them this time. "I can't believe people actually enjoy this sort of thing." He really didn't understand it. Rock and Roll was one thing, but that type of music was incomprehendable and absolutely annoying.

Harm leaned against the bar, choosing not to sit down in case he needed to move quickly. He scanned the area, letting his gaze rest on each and every new individual he found. "Why would he want me here?" He asked out loud, not really looking for an answer, but merely voicing his frustration. Damnit, he knew if he could only figure out what the purpose to this part of the game was that he knew just where he stood with Palmer. Taking a swig of his beer, he glanced over at AJ who was giving him a very sad look. "Do you think he is toying with me, sir? I mean, AJ?"

"Yes." And AJ knew the reason why because it was simple. "I think he's doing this just to make you go crazy, to lead you through one hoop into another and eventually watch you self destruct."

Self destruct? Palmer wanted him to self destruct? Shaking his head, Harm snorted, "I got news for him, I'm already there." He saw AJ frown at that comment and just shook it off. There wasn't any need to dwell on that at the moment. Right now, he needed to sit there and wait. It was odd and maybe, in his self destruction, he was really starting to lose it, but Harm swore he could feel Palmer watching, waiting in the wings. He straightened himself, took a swig of the beer and glanced around the bar once again.

"You feel someone watching you, don't you?" AJ said, glancing to a person standing about thirty feet to Harm's left. At Harm's nod, he motioned towards the area to find a blond who, just as them, looked like she didn't belong.

The woman walked over and though she had all of the space in the world, chose to hop onto the stool just next to Harm. Her arm brushed intimately against his, which he pulled away immediately. At his annoyed glare, she shot him a sweet, sweet smile as she ordered a vodka and cranberry. When the order comes in, she sucks the drink through a straw, her gaze never leaving the tall, attractive man next to her.

Harm's gaze traveled the club for the third time that evening, eventually settling on the woman seated next to him, the one choosing to be so blatantly obvious. "I'm not interested." He stated flat out, laying out with one sentence that he wasn't there to be picked up.

But the blond wasn't hurt, only amused. "You know, sometimes guys usually wait to be hit on before they know if they are interested or not." She eyed him with curiosity, taking in the gorgeous color of his eyes and the way his body filled out his clothing. Attractive was definitely the word to describe this man. With a grin, she extended her hand to introduce herself. "I'm Nicole."

"And I am still not interested." Harm brushed her hand away and took a long gulp of his beer. "I know what you are and, I gotta tell ya, you're not going to score your next trick with me." By her appearance, the semi-fancy clothes and nice make up, he gauged that she was a prostitute, it would make sense as to why a woman like her would be in this part of town.

Nicole glared at him for a moment with a look of disgust. "I am not a hooker, sweetheart." She finished her drink, ignored Harm's apology and reached into her purse, pulling out a few bills which she placed on the bar under her glass. With a sigh, she reached into her purse again, took out a business card and slipped it into the front pocket of Harm's jeans. "Call me sometime." And with that, she stood and headed out of the bar.

"What was that about?" AJ asked, slightly amused with the scenes that developed around Harm. He'd been out drinking with his subordinates before and it never ceased to amuse him how easily women fell at the Commander's feet. Sometimes, it seemed Harm would take it in stride, other times, mainly those when Mac's actions hinted towards her own attraction to him, he'd just been oblivious. He chuckled about it slightly, then glanced at Harm who was fishing through his front pocket for whatever the attractive blond put in there.

Harm pulled out some old receipts and placed them on the bar. She'd stuck her hand all the way to the bottom, touching him a bit too intimately for his tastes. "I am not sure. . . I thought she was a prostitute." He said, clearly still believing that was the case. "Maybe she's one of those escorts?" With a shrug he finally managed to pull out the card which he peaked at. 'I want every second of your life to be about me.' The words were sprawled out in cursive and something about that sentence was so damned familiar.

Of course it was! Palmer had told him that back when he was trying to make Harm shoot Jordan with that mirror trick. "No!" He shoved the card back into his pocket and sprinted out of the bar running into two bikers as he made it outside.

"Harm, wait!" AJ could barely get the words out. With a groan, he placed some money on the bar and headed out after his former protégée. "Harm!" Finally making it outside, he lost sight of Harm just as he ducked around the corner of the building. "Damnit!" Glancing towards the van, he saw Creswell, Sturgis and Bud standing outside. Sturgis shrugged at him, pointing towards the area that Harm had headed to.

As he was about to head after him, he saw Webb and Gibb come trotting up next to him. "What the hell happened, AJ?" The CIA agent asked. "AJ!" The two ran after the former SEAL, going around the corner and into the alley that separated The Dive Shaft from some other building.

"Harm, wait!" AJ yelled, as Harm disappeared around another corner. "Damnit, I'm too old for this." He ran down the alley, taking the same route that Harm took with Gibbs and Webb hot on their trail. The Heaven's chose this particular moment to open up and pound down onto Earth a torrential downpour. "Harm?" As he rounded another corner, he found Rabb laying next to a dumpster, his hand pressed up against his face as a series of groans and curses escaped his lips. "Harm?"

The pain was making his already throbbing head feel ten times worse. As he pressed his hand against his forehead, he felt something warm gushing out, mixing with the cold from the rain falling on them. "Damnit, she hit me."

"Who did?" Clay asked, finally managing to catch up to the two men. He placed a hand on the wall, leaning against it as he managed to catch his breath. Running wasn't really his thing and this had taken a lot of his body that was still, sort of, recovering.

Harm, with the help of AJ, managed to sit up. He released his hand from his head and blood gushed into his eyes, mixing with the rain and making it difficult for him to see. "A woman. . .she gave me this card. . ." He fished through his front pocket and pulled out the business card holding it up for Gibbs to take.

Gibbs took the card and slipped it into the inner pocket of his jacket, hoping to shield it from the weather. "What did she look like, Commander?"

"Light eyes, blond. I guess she was attractive." He said with a shrug as AJ worked on wrapping the gash with the sweater he'd previously been wearing.

Webb pulled a picture out of the back of his jeans, a close up of the woman that had been Palmer's psychiatrist. "Does she look familiar?"

Harm glanced at the picture for a few long seconds before he nodded. "Yea, that's her. . .That's Nicole." As the men helped him to his feet, he glanced at Webb curiously. How'd he have a picture of her so quickly? "I don't understand?" He wavered slightly, thankful that AJ had an arm around his waist, preventing him from falling down.

"This is Dr. Nicole Halloren, Palmer's shrink." Clay began, then added. "We think she's his accomplice."

"Oh God." Again he wavered as AJ fought to keep his larger frame from toppling over. Harm's head was pounding harder now as the tunnel vision began to suck him in. 'No, Hammer, no!' He told himself, trying to prevent his body from shutting down. He knew he'd been pushing it with the lack of sleep and the living on only coffee, but he couldn't shut down. "Not now." He said out loud, doubling over as his stomach churned once, then twice. "Not until I find her." He fell down to his knees, the weight of his body being too much for AJ to hold up alone. "No." It was the last thing he was able to get out before his body shut down and sent him into an, unwanted dreamland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Brittany - Yea, me too! Clay's been like borderline between being a good guy and a bad guy. I have it that, if you read the other two stories, he basically found out about Harm being accused of kililng Singer, and using that knowlege to grab Mac at a time he knew Harm wouldn't be able to go with them. Basically, he did it on purpose. And there is going to be a little twist in this story with Webb and he and Harm and going to have a little battle. Webb will get punched again. ;) Though, this time, he may not have deserved it. ;)

martini - Will he save her? You are going to ask that! Like I am going to tell you! Well, next chappie he might need to get attended to and others might find her for him, but Mac's not going to be all well,she might be forgetting a thing or two. ;)

Feverish - Yep, reruns and fanfiction that's what my JAG world consists of. Oh, and the Harm Clone, you'll get him by Friday. ;)

CBW - The Doc is an idiot. I mean, how in the world does a 'smart' shrink get her head shrunk by palmer! I mean c'mon! What an idiot!

dansing wolf - LOL! No not pathetic, I do the same thing with some stories. Check a few times a day, drool when I get a new chapter. Toss confetti at myself. . . etc. ;)

Wuchel - Hey, as long as you PASS English class, I am all for you reading during class. ;) Waaaay before I got into JAG. saying around 98, I used to write during Math class. Hehe I thought I could write a novel and bored myself out of it. :shrugs:

aserene - Little playmate? ROFL! Yea, Mac should kick her six. :makes a note of that: ;)

XBlue - Did you just call me bad! WTF! And don't be scared, all rides come to an end, and I usually do end it with a pretty red bow, don't I? ;) Wuss! Calix :Slides over a twenty: Hey! Xmas in Paris, looooved the ending, sweet, touching, fluffy. We need another one. Now damnit! ANd you can add the smile all you want. I add winks ;). Not sure why but I am addicted to it. ;) My friend and I used to say (when we chatted online) that it was a nervous facial tick. ;) See what I mean. ;) Hehehe ;)

mjag - Oh yea! You gotta do something with the flo Palmer has amassed. I mean, c'mon! that's just too good not to use. And yea, AJ is around again:)

froggy - Palmer is such a good badguy and, right now, he's basically toying with Harm because he can. I am guessing you guys really hate him around now. ;)

LtGJMeg - Violent! I like it! ;)