Okie, I was supposed to put this one out yesterday but, it got complicated and there was a matter of should I wait on finding Mac for another chapter or not. But, I decided to be nice. :) Semi-nice. There is a twist coming up. ;)

This story is long. It wasn't going to be, but it happened. Hopefully, you guys will stick it out. :) There will be a reward at the end. ;) H/M reward that is. ;) I haven't done an overly romantic ending recently and I might just do it with this one. :) Tease I know,. :)

So, here we go.

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, minorcadence, mechanical, mariarita, anyone else I missed for the feedback :)

Part 14 – Boom!

September 18, 2005
0125 Zulu
Arlington, Virginia

They were both laughing, basking in the good times they'd been having at other people's expenses. "Sweetie, you should have seen the look on his face." Nikki said, giggling at the looks Harm shot her when he thought she was a street walker. "Next time I have to be a bit stealthier, if I wouldn't have whacked him with the two by four, I wouldn't have gotten away."

Palmer rolled his eyes without her noticing, then flopped to his side to look at her. They were laying in her bed, in an apartment she'd procured with a fake name and a hefty down payment. It was probably risky living in an apartment in the middle of Arlington, but, hiding in plain sight seemed to work well half the time. "Baby, if we keep this going on, I don't think Rabb will last any longer."

No more than ten minutes after Nikki whacked Harm with the piece of lumber, paramedics were called in to take an unconscious Harmon Rabb Junior away. Unfortunately, in his amusement, Palmer hadn't realized that Gibbs had his crew searching the area, including the rooftops. In his haste to escape unseen, he hadn't managed to figure out where the medics were taking the Commander. 'Oh well,' He thought with a shrug. Keeping Harm out of the game for a while was probably a good thing. He knew he was playing with fire, walking a tight rope with the only person that seemed to be able to decipher his tricks. So, having Nikki take him out of the game wasn't a bad thing, not at all.

With a grin he thought to Mac, who he had found earlier that day engrossed in the surveillance equipment he'd left her as a gift. No doubt she would be worrying if she saw that Harm never came home. Perhaps he could use that for some purpose? And even if he couldn't, he knew he had part of her now because she was so afraid to do something wrong and have Harm get hurt because of it. 'Ah, the Colonel.' He thought with a genuine smile. She was beautiful and so strong and willing. Why hadn't he thought of her before? Instead of going after the psychiatrist Harm was dating? He knew that Harm and Jordan were going sailing that weekend and could have, very easily, taken Mac. No one would have bee the wiser until Monday morning when the Colonel – who was a Major at that time - didn't show up for work. Ah, well, he had her now, didn't he?

Now if he could only get rid of Halloren and have Mac come around to him things would be perfect. Palmer would be lying if he said he didn't want Mac. It was the contrary, watching her had some sort of perverse pleasure for him that went beyond her good looks. No, he wanted her, all of her, and, eventually, he would get her. "What are you thinking about?" Nikki asked and Palmer bit back a groan, the woman always picked the wrong moments to interrupt his thoughts.

With a smile, he pulled her close enough for him not to be able to focus much on her face. "You." He lied, kissing her deeply as he rolled them both over so he was laying on top of her. "Only you, baby."

0225 Zulu
Location Unknown
Virginia

Mac sat in bed with the briefcase popped open just in front of her. "Where are you?" She said to the screen, noting that Harm, still, hadn't come home. With a sigh she settled against the pillow and shook her head. "Calm down, Marine, maybe he's at your apartment?" Yea, that was it, he was at her apartment, probably looking for clues, right? Palmer didn't get to him, God wasn't that sick or cynical, was he?

But, she didn't have a good feeling at all. In fact, for the past few hours, the knot in her stomach only turned a bit more. There was a feeling she was trying to ignore, something that told her Harm was in trouble. Not like it mattered if he was, because she couldn't do a damned thing about it anyway. With an angry huff, she slammed the case shut and shoved it down the bed. "Damnit, Harm. Damn you!" She didn't know why she was angry at him, actually, she did. If he'd never gotten involved in that stupid case with the Bradenhurst corporation, if he never walked into an installation that wasn't advisable to walk into, then he never would have met Palmer. So, yes, she was angry with him for that, for being an overly thorough investigator.

Cracking her neck, she stumbled off of the bed and stretched. Over in the corner, she had earlier noticed the camera in the room. She didn't know much about surveillance, but given it's trajectory and the fact that it was an immobile camera she knew there were areas in her confines that it would not be able to pick up. Discreetly, she moved towards the bathroom, the one place where there seemed to be absolutely no articles of surveillance.

Earlier today, Palmer had brought her something to eat and left the utensils which she put in the bathroom to wash. Maybe she could use those? Didn't some people actually hack out of their cells using a spoon? It happened at Alcatraz once, right? Mac sat on the head, staring at the spoon and knife. "Yep, you know you are desperate when you start to wish you were MacGyver." Not that it mattered, it's not like she used to watch much of the show anyway. Besides, did any of that stupid stuff actually work? "In Hollywood, maybe."

With a sigh she got on her knees in front of the cabinet, reaching under to her secret hiding place and taking out a few of the things she'd found in the room. Mac wasn't sure what to make out of the matches. She doubted Palmer would have just left them in there, but if he did, what was the point? The sewing kit, she was sure he forgot in the rush of trying to taunt her. Shrugging, she stood up and took the knife. All four of the bathroom walls were tiled up to the ceiling, the floor of concrete and, the ceiling itself was made out of some sort of steel, she'd determined earlier. So, she started at a corner of the bathroom wall where she noticed a water stain manifesting itself through the grout.

If she was right on the money, that area of the wall was vulnerable and not as impermeable as the others. If she was wrong, well, so what? At least she had something to do that didn't involve staring at a screen all day worrying to death about her boyfriend. Frowning, she thought about Harm, it was difficult not to. Without giving it much thought, she'd started calling him her 'boyfriend' but was that really all he was? Smiling, she stared down at the ring on her left finger, the one he'd finally slid home. He hadn't asked her to marry him, no doubt they still had a few things to work out before they went that road, but, she felt engaged to him. Harm was it for her. "I'll try to get out of here, just, don't stop searching for me, flyboy." Grabbing the knife, she stabbed it through the grout, watching some of it crumbling onto the floor. She worked her way around, trying to pull the tile off using both the knife and the spoon. As she managed that feat, the knife broke in two. "Shit!" She cursed, glaring down at the other half which she held in her hand. "What kind of crappy steel is this made out of?"

Defeated, she tossed the knife at the wall and slid away, placing her head in her hands as she groaned her annoyance. "I'm not giving up." She told herself, grabbing the spoon, but finding that it's edge was just too thick to use. "Hmmm. . .What if. ." With a shrug, she bent the spoon, breaking it at its end, then ran her finger over the surface. It wasn't very sharp, but she would remedy that. On all fours, she grabbed the spoon and rubbed the edges against the concrete floor, watching as tiny metal shavings came off. Grinning, she grabbed the matches, hoping they would work. Maybe if she heated up the steel, she could sharpen it even more? The first match didn't work, neither did the second third, fourth nor the fifth. When she was down to her last three, one of them managed to spark up, but her very own breath blew it out. She was down to two. Holding her breath, she sparked it then held the tiny flame against the edge of the spoon. Immediately she felt the temperature rising against the metal. This probably wasn't a good thing, she decided, figuring that the cheap steel would likely break when she tried to hack at the wall again. "No, MacKenzie, stay positive. . .stay positive."

Mac held the tiny flame over the spoon until it extinguished, then went back to trying to shave it into some form of sharp edge. Triumphantly, she worked her way back over to the tile and started trying to pull it out. This time, it worked. "Yes! Score one for the Marines!" She said a bit too loud and immediately cringed. "Hmm, keep that enthusiasm to yourself for the moment, Mac." Grinning, she slid the spoon behind a tile, pulling it out.

0936 Zulu
Bethesda Naval Hospital
Bethesda, Maryland

"He'll be fine." The attending doctor, a Lt. Commander named Maytee Menendez, told the group who had been sitting impatiently in the waiting room. "The Commander has a slight concussion and I had to stitch up the gash on his forehead. . . He won't be able to leave for a few days as the Admiral informed me that he had suffered head trauma before, I don't want past problems to compact this current one." She nodded at AJ and smiled slightly. "I believe the prognosis is excellent, he just needs some time to recuperate and rest. . .Rest being the key word."

The men traded looks. It didn't seem like there would be a chance in hell that Harm would ever rest unless someone managed to chain him to the bed. Bud voiced what the others wouldn't say. "Doctor, a couple of days ago his. . .girlfriend, was kidnapped. . .The Commander isn't going to rest until she is found."

Dr. Menendez frowned slightly. "I'm truly sorry to hear about that. My husband is a Marine, he was lost for sometime, I know how badly it affected me." With a nod, she made a few notes on Harm's chart. "What I can do is make sure the nurses know to keep him calm. I don't want to sedate him, but, for his health, if I have to I will. . . Also, it might be a good idea if there is always someone here. People that he knows." She was hoping Harm wasn't going to cause any hurt to himself when he found out that he couldn't just get up and head off. "I'll be on call for the next five hours and even if I am not." She handed a card to AJ. "Those are my private numbers, contact me if I can be of any assistance." She really did feel for Harm knowing, first hand, how it was like to wait for a loved one to be found. "Tell him to keep the faith. . .I did and my husband came home." With a half smile, she nodded and headed off to visit her other patients.

Reluctantly, everyone had gone home to get so much needed rest save for Chegwidden and Gibbs who were sitting in the waiting room. Harm was safe, Creswell made sure to that by sending over Marines to stand guard outside of his room. Ignoring the 'No Cell Phones' sign, Gibbs quietly contacted the office, seeing if new information came in. Since the discovery that was Dr. Nicole Halloren (an: eheheh, I make her sound like one of the Seven Wonders of the world! LOL Ahem, back to the story . .) they had been pushing overtime hoping to find some sort of lead. So far, they found none. With a defeated sigh, he closed his phone and gripped it in his right hand. "Is this guy really this good, Admiral?"

AJ nodded then took a sip of the, now cold, high octane, hospital coffee. It wasn't that bad, actually. By SEAL standards, it was very weak. "I don't know him as well as Rabb. . .Hell, Rabb doesn't know him that well either. . .but, he's fooled us. He has to be good if he's gotten out of Leavenworth a few times."

Gibbs nodded, there was that. "I have some of my staff down there, making sure none of the guards had something to do with it." Though, he didn't think it mattered. If the information that both Harm and Webb had gave him about Palmer was not over fabricated, the man really was that good. "I never understand these lunatics that have to involve other people, instead of those who they are really after. . .And I've seen some odd cases. It just never ceases to amaze me."

"Palmer, unfortunately, is more than just a lunatic. . .He's well trained and psychotic. His record is scary. And to think there are many more like him running around."

That's something that Gibbs had been thinking of as well. How could people just turn their backs on their line of work, especially when it meant they were protecting their country? "What's really scary is to think that, at some point, he was working on our side. . .And somehow he turned."

AJ had thought about similar things, especially as the JAG. How many officers and enlisted had they defended and prosecuted that had been, once, loyal patriots and then, turned against their country because things didn't go their way. "Makes you wonder about your own state of mind, doesn't it?" During Vietnam, he had many thoughts of just giving up, leaving the Navy, the SEALs and everything he stood for. They were rough times. Friend after friend after friend had been slaughtered by the opposition. But, he persevered because he wasn't a quitter and he would be damned if he'd let his country down.

1020 Zulu
Location Unknown
Virginia

Mac had long since taken a break from trying to find a way out, she was now laying in bed trying to get some rest. She'd managed to tear up some of the wall behind the head, hoping that neither Palmer nor Halloren would walk in and see it. She flushed the particles down, save for the pieces of tile which she hid at the back of the cabinet under extra rolls of toilet paper. Her hands were raw, slightly chaffed, and allergies that she was sure she never had were rearing their ugly head. Mercifully, Palmer had left a kit for her of feminine products which included some cream which she had poured onto her hands. They had felt better then, but as the cream began to dry, she could already see the damage that she had done. Tomorrow, she would make another effort and use her socks to protect her hands.

Turning over, she glanced towards the small table and the case that was sitting on top of it. "Don't do it, MacKenzie." She told herself, but even as she was trying to force herself not to move, her body overrode her mind. Slowly she walked to the table, sat on the chair and propped open the case. It took a few seconds, like usual, before the images of Harm's apartment came into view. He still wasn't there. "Palmer if you did something to him. . I'll."

"You'll what?" Mac turned swiftly, noting that she was really losing her touch if someone could just sneak up on her like that. "Tell me, Sarah. . .I want to know what you are planning to do to me." He sat on the edge of the bed, as usual, with a gun trained on her. They weren't taking any precautions and she felt foolish for making a break for it when she did. Maybe, if she hadn't, they'd have been a bit more relaxed. Palmer glanced at the suitcase, amused at the time the Colonel seemed to spend with it. "You're like a junkie to HarmTV."

Mac shrugged and settled herself back into the chair, trying to be the ever strong, ever willful Marine. "Certain shows have that addictive quality." She said with a smile, then, slowly closed the case, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of watching her fall apart. "What do you want, Palmer?"

Standing, he reached around and pulled out a pair of handcuffs which he dangled from his index finger. "I want you to put these on." He said with a cool voice, tossing the cuffs across the room so that they slid towards Mac's feet. Without question, she did as told, snapping them on as best as possible. Not taking any chances, he slowly walked towards her, then tightened the grips on the cuffs. "Now, get up." Once she did, he got piece of dark fabric and wrapped it around her head, covering her eyes as he tied it.

"What are you doing?" She finally asked as fear started to course through her veins. Mac had seen the ways he'd been looking at her. At first, it wasn't that unnerving, but now, as she stood in such a vulnerable position, she was worried towards what his intentions would be.

Palmer grinned. He ran a hand down Mac's arm, noting how quickly she got goose bumps from the light touch. 'Ah, so she responds to me.' He told himself, that grin becoming even more confident. "We're going on a little trip, Sarah. . .just you and me."

She resisted slightly and for her efforts got the barrel of the gun shoved, painfully, into a rib. "Don't." He pushed her across the room, out the door and down the catwalk. Then slowly, he led her down the steps that she once fell down from. "I thought you'd broken your neck when I saw you take a spill from these."

Mac grunted as her hands being cuffed made it seem more precarious than it was. "I wish I had."

"Why do you talk like that? Don't you like spending time with me?" He got her to the last step, then led her through the building towards a waiting van.

"Truthfully? No, I don't, Palmer." Mac still couldn't understand why he was so damned gentle with her. . .well, most of the time. He carefully led her into the back of the van and this time, into a cushiony seat. "Ah, upgraded?" Though she couldn't see, immediately she felt the difference. Maybe he had some sort of a heart after all?

Palmer grinned. "I realized you were tossing and turning all over the place the last time, I figured you needed a break." He buckled a seatbelt, then gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Enjoy the ride."

Mac waited for him to step out then rubbed her check on her shoulder. "Ewww. . .I probably need a rabies shot now." With a sigh, she helped ease, some, but not all of the tension. Where the hell was he taking her?

"Oh, I knew I forgot something." Palmer stepped back into the van crouching he way over to her. "I am sorry, Sarah, but you turn my brain to mush, sometimes." Grinning, he pulled out a syringe. "I'm sorry about this, but it's for the best, I promise."

"What the hell!" She yelped as Palmer injected the needle into her neck, pushing down on the plunger until all of the clear, white, liquid disappeared into her body. Maybe she shouldn't have joked with herself about the rabies shot? "Palmer. . .I'll. . .you'll. . ." It didn't take anymore than ten seconds for the drug to work it's magic and for Mac to be unconscious.

Removing the needle, he stared at her for a moment. "So beautiful. . .Someday, someday." Giving her another kiss on the cheek, he headed out of the back of the van and around to the passenger's side.

1850 Zulu
Bethesda Naval Hospital
Bethesda, Maryland

AJ shifted slightly on the guest chair and turned to look over at Gibbs who was sitting on another chair rattling off information into his cell phone. "What's going on?"

Gibbs regarded the former SEAL for a moment, then shook his head. "I am not entirely sure, Dinozzo says that Webb contacted him, then put him on hold."

"Sounds like Webb." AJ chuckled slightly, then turned to look at Harm who was sleeping rather peacefully on the hospital bed. Since he'd been brought in, the Commander had woken twice, each time, when he'd become agitated, the nurses would send him down into another drug induced dreamland. Thankfully, he wasn't showing any signs of restlessness as he slumbered. Sighing, AJ shook his head again, Harm was right about one thing: this wasn't fair.

"What! Where!" Gibbs didn't mean to yell, but as Dinozzo relayed the information, he couldn't help the feeling of elation. "Grab my equipment from headquarters, I'll meet you there. Don't do a damned thing until I get there, you got me?" He snapped his phone shut and stood up in one fluid motion.

AJ stood as well. "What's going on?"

"We have a lead, my team thinks it's a good one. . .They saw a man matching Palmer's description stopping to put gas in a white van just outside of DC. Agent Todd was contacted and followed him to some sort of abandoned warehouse in Virginia."

The former SEAL stood there, slightly shaken. "I wish I could go with you." He said, in all honesty he wanted to make sure Palmer got what he deserved. He also felt he needed to protect Mac from something, though he was sure it had to do with redeeming himself in the face of his two top officers. "But someone needs to stay with Harm, I owe it to him." Since the time he stepped out of JAG, he'd had a chance to evaluate points of his life. For whatever reason, he was acting like a tyrant along the time when Webb and Mac went missing in Paraguay. He never should have let her go in the first place and only did because, he figured that she and Harm needed that time apart to sort out their lives. He never would have thought things would escalate so far from anyone's control. "I owe it to her too."

Gibbs lightly smacked AJ's arm and smiled. "You're a good man, Admiral. . .I'll contact you once I know something more." And with that, the man was gone in a rush.

The drive out of Bethesda had gone quite smooth. By the miracle that is modern technology, Gibbs managed to keep in touch with Kate and the teams that were, now, situated around the warehouse. Joining up with his partner, Gibbs slipped into a space just behind her car, which was, at least three blocks up the street from the warehouse. "About time." She said, adding a smile as she slid a set of binoculars over to him. "Dinozzo is on the West side with a team." Kate said, pointing in that general direction then glancing towards the warehouse and the van that was still parked in the loading dock.

Through the whole drive, Gibbs had thought up of different scenarios how all of this could work out. Obviously, the element of surprise, was the best idea, but, what if this was part of Palmer's little game? "What do you think, Kate? Are we walking into a trap?"

"I thought the same thing." And she'd tried to disprove it, because, occasionally, even the smartest of 'bad guys' could do stupid things. It was those stupid things that eventually got them caught. "Truth is. . .I don't know. But, if it isn't a trap and we let this bastard get away, there is no telling what will happen to Colonel MacKenzie."

Gibbs nodded. "Do we know if she's in there with him?" If they didn't, they would soon enough. According to Webb, there was a high powered infrared camera which was used on high profile cases, that could spot people, by way of body heat, even through several layers of wall, from a few hundred feet away.

Kate sighed as she shook her head. "No." She took the binoculars that he handed back to her and raised them to her eyes. "We need to make a move and soon. We know he's in there, all sides of the warehouse are surrounded and no one has walked out. He's a sitting duck."

Though they gave the participants an adrenalin kick, Gibbs hated raids. Simply put, they had the potential to go very wrong, even if the crew was perfectly trained. You just didn't know about the person sitting inside and what their frame of mind was. Worst of all, you often didn't know, as moments like this, if the person inside was setting a trap. "Tell everyone they have ten minutes to suit up. We'll go on my mark. . .Where's my gear?" Pointing to the back seat of the car, Kate motioned to Gibbs, then got on the radio to all of the teams.

Gibbs took off his sports jacket and shirt, slipping on the bullet proof vest and NCIS field jacket along with the NCIS baseball cap. Opening up a large duffle, he pulled out a rifle, making sure it was loaded before checking the other rifle that was sitting inside the duffle. Into the pocket of the jacket he slipped in a wireless transmitter who's cable ran up in to a headset and microphone that he placed over the cap. "Testing, one, two, testing."

"We hear ya loud and clear, Boss." Dinozzo's voice came over the headset and with one glance at Kate, he knew they were ready to move in.

As they were about to make their way around the other buildings in order to shield themselves from any prying eyes, a car drove up behind Gibbs' and out stepped one Clayton Webb. "What the hell is he doing here?" Kate asked, turning to Gibbs who was wondering the same thing. Yes, some CIA field agents had been on loan to NCIS for this little mission, but never, at any time, was it discussed that Clayton Webb would be joining in.

Clay stepped up to the pair holding a briefcase that carried the infrared camera. "Glad I got here on time." He said with a half-smirk, placing the case on the trunk of Kate's car. "We need to get in a little closer to set it up."

Gibbs glared at the CIA agent with a raised eyebrow. "What are you doing here Clay?"

He chose to ignore the question, going around to his vehicle to pull out his bullet proof vest. Taking out a radio, he communicated with his men that were also shadowing the warehouse. Covert operations, such as these, weren't his specialty, in fact, he'd only gone on, maybe, five; none of which were successful. However, he had to be there in case Sarah was in the building. Simply put, he wanted to be the hero, to show Mac that he, just like Harm, had that superhero ability. "Look Gibbs, I know you got here first, but I care deeply for the Colonel. . .I think you'd be a better man if you just gave me the lead on this."

Kate gave one glance at Gibbs and instantly knew, by the squaring of his jaw, that the man was this close to throttling the spook. "My crew has been doing this for quite some time, Webb. We practice raids all of the time. I trust my team and I don't have to second guess them. . . From what I hear, nothing you put together ever goes right and I am not putting my team on the line for you."

"And yet, I wasn't the one who wrongfully accused someone of murder."

Ooh, that shot really hit home. Immediately, Kate stood between both men, holding Gibbs back with a firm hand against his chest as he tried to grab Webb. "Gibbs, he isn't worth it. . ."

Giving up, Gibbs grabbed the case off the back of the trunk and glared at Webb. "You're doing what I tell you to do. Your team . . .is also doing what I tell them to do. . . And if you don't like that Webb, take a hike." He shoved another headset at Webb. "Put that on and make sure your team is on channel eighty two." The tone of his voice left no room for negotiation and as he stalked off with the briefcase in hand, Clay followed along like a puppy dog that had just been reprimanded.

It didn't take too long for them to get into position and the ideal location to use the infrared camera. Webb set it up, immediately noting that there were two warm bodies inside of the building and that they were located on the second floor. "Okay, team two try to find a way in through the back. Team one, we're going straight in through the loading docks."

The teams headed off, keeping radio silence as they scurried across the streets, towards the building. Gibbs headed in first, then went Webb and Kate, walking through the loading docks with the other three members of the team. Twelve people in total, a mix of CIA and NCIS headed, as quietly as possible into the building. "We're in." Gibbs whispered over the line, hearing similar words reciprocated over the line.

As they began heading up the front steps, Kate whipped a hand out, stopping Gibbs. "Something is burning." She said, pointing upward to the smoke that was starting to fill the high ceilings. "We need to hurry."

They double timed it up the steps, coming to a stop in front of a long hallway. At the very end, there was another set of steps that team two were scaling. If there was someone in the building, they had no where to go but out the windows and it was doubtful Palmer would do such a thing. As the teams prepared to move forward, an explosion shook the building sending agents rolling down steps, others were flung to their backs.

A thick cloud of dust and debris covered the area. As it settled, small patches of flames were licking in the room the explosion came from, illuminating the hallway in an ominous orange glow. Coughing, Gibbs came to his feet, grunting slightly as he stretched, getting the kinks out of his body. "Kate? You alright?" He reached a hand out, pulling her up from the spot she settled into. Once the explosion hit, his first thought was to cover her body with his own.

"Just peachy." She wheezed out, moving her body, thanking that nothing was broken. Looking around, she tried to spot Webb, but he'd already come to his feet and was running down the burning hallway. "Webb! Get back here!" She turned to look at Gibbs and offer some suggestion on how to proceed when a yell, once that sounded like a man's reverberated the walls followed by two thuds.

"Stay here!" Gibbs yelled, then headed after the agent, shielding himself from the flames as he followed Webb into the room where the explosion came from. "Damnit Webb!" Taking five steps into the room, in the middle of the chaos, he found the agent laying flat on his back, holding a spot on the back of his head which was bleeding. "You idiot. . .I told you to stay put." As Clay was about to answer, there was the sound, one that caught them both by surprise.

"Help! Help me, please!" Grabbing his pistol, seeing as the rifle was knocked out of his hands from the blast, Gibbs held it tightly as he walked farther into the room. "Someone, please, help me!" It was a woman's voice, though he couldn't tell who's it was. Squinting his eyes, trying to shield them from the smoke and flames, he managed to spot a woman sprawled on the ground with a desk pinning her down. "Help. . ." As he got to her, his eyes widened slightly. It was Mac. "Thank. . . God. . ."

He put the pistol into the holster, then worked quickly on removing the heavy desk off of her. Using the light of the flames, he was able to check her quickly, making sure nothing was broken. "Ok, Colonel, I am going to carry you out of here. Alright? Colonel?" But she wasn't answering. "Damnit!" He checked her pulse, relieved to find one, but disliking that he would have to carry her out, this would have been easier if she were conscious. As best as possible, he pulled her up fireman style and started to walk out of the room.

"Not so fast." Palmer stood in front of him, holding a knife. The two men stared at each other, both unsure of what they should do. But, as luck would have it, Gibbs, thankfully, didn't have to do much, the building did all of the work for him. With a loud, crashing noise, part of the ceiling came down over him, pinning the man down. Without a second thought, Gibbs headed out of the room, moving down the hall as swiftly as one could, holding another body.

He made it down the steps and outside, yelling for someone to call an ambulance. There was another loud crash and an explosion that could be felt even outside of the building. "Is every one out?" He asked, asked Kate who was helping Webb who was pressing a field jacket onto the back of his bleeding head.

Kate shook her head. "I don't know, I think we all made it out." At least, she hoped so, that explosion had taken everyone by surprise. She helped Webb sit on the curb, then moved towards Gibbs, helping him place Mac on the sidewalk across from the warehouse which was, now, an inferno. "Is she alright?"

Gibbs looked down at Mac and sighed. "She'll be fine." Rifling through his pockets, he took out a cell phone and tossed it at Kate. "Call Bethesda, I think Rabb might want to know that we found her." Turning slightly, he glared at Webb who was looking up at him in confusion. "You have a problem with that Webb?"

Any problems that he did have were stuffed down, this wasn't the time for him to try and win Mac back, especially since it looked like Harm had alliances of all kinds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
nk - He'll have to take a bit more, so will Mac actually. ;) But I will redeem myself in the next story which would be my version of S11 of JAG if they would have gone their seperate ways. It's a cool story, I get to rebuild their friendship. ;) Nicole Halloren. Nicole/Nikki is the nam eof one of my high school friends. I haven't kept in touch and out of the blue on classmates(dot)com, she found me and we started chatting and it was the night Iw as sitting around trying to figure out what name to give the shrink that should have her head shrunk. ;) Halloren, not a clue, that came out of the blue. Most names of characters do. I liked the name though, sounds professionalish.

Cristinia - I agree, Amen for fanfiction and thank you to everyone who is still writing! You are keeping us entertained. Happily entertained:) This Dr. is a person who is easily manipulated. Then again, I think Palmer could manipulate people. at least, in my world, he can. ;)

XBlue - :Slides over a fiver: Happy? ;) Yea, dood, anything that fixes Paraguay is a good thing. Just thinking about ATW2 makes me ill. :P WTF crack were TPTB on? I still don't get it. ;)

mariarita - At the end everything will be cool. Just the road getting there is fun to write. ;)

Feverish - How's the Harm Clone? ;)

Ink I forgot to mention it in the previous chapter since it was, sorta, AJ's point of view as he went around trying to getHarm. But, she belted him with a two by four she found in the alley. He'll be okay. ;) I'll kiss his boo boo's better :efg:

aserene - The "Not interested" thing cracked me up because you could just SEE the look on Harm's face like - ewww no!

mechanical - yes, eventually, it will be all roses. ;)

jaggurl - They did find her! See! It's Mac! She's going to bethesda too:)

minorcadence - la la la la la, I'd be in a good mood too if I din't have to have another frigging wisdom teeth yanked. But, past that, la di da, life is swell. ;)

LtJGMeg - Harm will be okay, his hotness will be at my house, in my room, and I'll be nursing him back to health. Hehehe. ;)

jtbwriter - Hmmm selling tickets to Mac beating up Halloren. Damn! I like it! I might do it! Five bucks a ticket! ;)