FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS
1845 ZULU
"I think you should have taken the deal," says Michael Gooding.
"I have a lot of leverage," says Kevin Miller, sitting in a room where inmates confer with their attorneys. "They need me."
"A pardon for you is completely unrealistic," says Gooding. "You haven't even shown remorse."
"You don't seem to be on my side."
"I'm not representing you in a criminal case. I am looking after your interests in this matter."
"And my interest is a full pardon for my crimes," says Kevin Miller.
"If that girl dies, then it's over. You'll be here for the next twenty-three years. I wonder if you could have served a shorter sentence if you had taken a deal."
"I always believed in reaching for the best," says Kevin Miller.
"If you reach too far, you will fall over," replies Michael Gooding.
ooooooooooooooo
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
1500 ZULU
Commander Sturgis Turner and Commander Meg Austin meet inside General Creswell's office. With them is a woman with black hair and glasses. She was introduced as Kelly Reed, Valerie Pullman's attorney.
"I'm going to have to advise the White House not to offer a pardon for Kevin Miller," says General Creswell, sitting in his seat behind his desk. "He's too dangerous to be released now. In fact, it's my opinion that he serve his full sentence."
"So this is it then," says Kelly Reed.
"Unless he accepts Admiral Calavicci's offer, he won't donate the kidney."
"There must be something we can do," says Meg.
"Not much we can do," says Creswell. "I do feel compassion for your client's predicament, Miss Reed. Our hands are tied."
"Thank you for at least giving me and my client a chance," says Reed.
"We'll let you know if Kevin Miller changes his mind," says General Creswell.
oooooooooooooo
PRINCE WILLIAM HOSPITAL
MANNASAS, VIRGINIA
2318 ZULU
Meg Austin arrives at Prince William Hospital. She is dressed in a red blouse and blue jeans; she had changed from her Navy uniform back in her home in Falls Church. Walking along the hallways, she enters the hospital room where Denny Ward and Valerie Pullman are visiting their daughter.
"Commander," says Denny.
"Call me Meg," replies the Navy lawyer. "I'm not here in any official capacity."
"This is our daughter Angela," saays Valerie.
Meg looks at the teenage girl lying in the bed.
"Hi," says Angela.
"I'm Meg," says Meg. "I'm a lawyer from the Navy. I was visiting with your mom earlier to find out if we could help."
"Am I getting a kidney?" asks the girl.
"We haven't found a willing donor yet," says Meg. "Is there anything you like to do? I mean, before you had to go to the hospital?"
"Horseback riding," replies Angela. "We would go out into the country and ride horses."
"I also like that," says Meg. "Grew up in Texas."
Angela smiles. "Maybe I'll get to do that again."
"I want to thank you for doing what you could," says Valerie.
ooooooooooooo
MEG'S TOWNHOUSE
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
2625 ZULU
Meg Austin, clad in her nightgown, settles into the bedroom of the townhouse she is living in. Many of her personal belongings are still in their cardboard boxes.
She sits on her bed, contemplating the first case she had since her return to JAG Headquarters after nine years. There is no way she could imagine what Valerie Pullman had gone through seventeen years ago. It must have been like a powerful storm of emotions, both during the rape itself and the subsequent pregnancy. Meg had experience in rape cases before.
She looks at the cardboard boxes in her bedroom. "I should at least take this out," she says. She looks at the dresser. "Here's the perfect place."
She opens one of the cardboard boxes. She pulls out a gold-framed photograph and places it on the dresser. She looks at the photograph for a few seconds.
And then she goes to sleep.
oooooooooooo
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
1430 ZULU
"Gunnery Sergeant Leeka took a post as an ROTC instructor, to train college students to become the next generation of Navy and Marine Corps officers," says Lieutenant Tali Mayfield as she faces the six Marines who would decide the verdict. "You have heard testimony of how he sexually abuses girls in his ROTC unit. Two of the students came to have a chat with him. He killed them to silence them. He snapped their necks, like the way he was trained to do with the enemy. He then covered it up, making it look like one of them killed the other. And he did that all to cover up his exploitation of women. He murdered a Marine and a sailor, both of who served exemplary, both of whom ere recommended to ROTC by their commanding officers, both who wanted to become officers to lead our sailors and Marines to fight for our country in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan and anywhere else our country needs them to be. And when an NCIS agent, who is a gunnery sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserves, came to confront him, he tried to kill him. You have heard the testimony from the ROTC students, his commanding officer, and the NCIS agents. There is only one reasonable conclusion. He is guilty as charged."
The lieutenant steps down.
"Closing arguments?" asks the judge.
The two defense attorneys for Gunnery Sergeant Leeka whisper to each other. Captain Carlos Bullrider steps up and faces the jury.
"The evidence clearly shows that Gunnery Sergeant Leeka engaged in fraternization," says the Marine captain. "And no one disputes that the gunnery sergeant assaulted NCIS Agent Gibbs. I would certasinly find Gunnery Seegeant Leeka guilty of fraternization and assault.
You are here to decide if he is guilty of murder. And the evidence against him does not meet the burden of proof. The physical evidence does not tie him to the victims or the scene of the crime. He never told anyone else he did it, nor did he tell anyone else he intended to kill the two. As for the way the victims died, you heard testimony and saw records showing at least forty-seven Marine veterans attending the same school under the GI Bill, thirteen who had classes with the victims whom NCIS completely missed. And his only accuser was a girl who was failing her classes and accused him of rape to..to avoid getting in any trouble for her part. And as the NCIS agents admitted, the students had this game going, involving paintball battles out in the open. They had considered that the game went too far; maybe that is the truth. He is accused of sexual misconduct by an ROTC student, he gets into a fight with an NCIS agent, and the only conclusion we are to draw from that is that he is guilty? Think about it. The prosecution did not cover all of its bases. It did not meet its burden of proof. That is why you must find him not guilty."
ooooooooooooo
2140 ZULU
Commander Meg Austin sits in her office, looking over some case files the general had assigned her.
Petty Officer First Class Jennifer Coates stands at the door. "Here is the report you wanted, ma'am?" she asks.
"Dismissed, Petty Officer," says Meg after taking the sheets of paper from the petty officer.
Meg reads the content of the papers. She then picks up the telephone and dials a number.
"Is Kelly Reed there?" she asks.
"This is Kelly Reed," says the voice.
"Commander Austin from Navy JAG," she says. "I did a background check on Kevin Miller."
"Do you have his next-of-kin?"
"It's a bit problematic. He grew up in an orphanage in New York. He has no known living relatives. I'll fax your office a copy of the report."
"Thank you, Commander," says Kelly Reed. "Maybe we can find his birth mother- if she's still alive."
"I've done what I can as a Navy lawyer," says Meg. "I hope this helps."
"Goodbye, Commander. I'll let you know how this turns out."
Meg hangs up the phone. It is late and the office is mostly deserted. Picking up her purse and going to the main office, she sees Sturgis.
"Working late?" asks Sturgis, coming out of his office.
"I had the office do a background check on Kevin Miller," says Meg.
"The inquiry is over."
"I figured we would need to contact his nexrt-of-kin in case he decides to donate his kidney and something goes wrong. He has no available next of kin; he was an orphan."
"You're not considering resisnging your commission and going on a quest to find his relatives?"
"No."
"Harm did that for Mac about two years ago," says Sturgis.
"He did?" asks Meg.
"Mac was on a mission for the CIA when she and an agent were captured. Harm resigned and went to South America and rescued them both. His resignation was accepted and he went to work for the CIA for a while and then flew crop dusters."
"But I thought he was still in the Navy."
"The office had a backlog in caseloads, so the admiral asked Harm to come back to JAG. Harm signed some papers, took the oath again, and he was back."
"Next time I have a vacation, maybe I can fly to London to visit him and congratulate him on his engagement."
"Maybe we'll meet him again during the course of our duties," says Sturgis. "Things like that tend to happen."