Chapter Three
"When Kat called and told me that she was going to be out of the country on assignment. I asked Sturgis to be my lawyer in the proceedings to take her place. I had already asked him to be one of my character witnesses. Since I was required to have two, I asked Bud to be my second character witness until he sounded like he really didn't want to do it. So I told him to forget all about it. I wasn't about to ask the Admiral about it because he had already misrepresented the truth to me when he told me that we would start with a clean slate at work. But I guess he meant he was going to treat me like a new lawyer that just passed the bar to practice law from how stacked my desk remains to this day with stuff that suddenly appears on my desk. I've asked Jen about it and she swears that she has never entered my office without me being in there.
"Speaking of which Jen, can you get maintenance to change my lock on the door since the lock has never worked and that we get the only key that unlocks it since my classified safe isn't built into the wall and that a very strong person could walk out the door with it in their hands?
"Anyhow since Bud was so reluctant and I couldn't ask Jen. I couldn't ask Harriett since she was having trouble with her fourth pregnancy. That left the one person who I really didn't want to ask to speak up for me. But in the end, I swallowed what little pride I had remaining and asked Mac to be my second character witness. We got into another argument and I told her to forget the whole thing as well and walked out of her apartment. Out of the four people that I did ask with only one of the having a real valid excuse of not being able to make it, she's the one who did show up for court even though she didn't help our case any. I'm not going to say why Mac was the last person that I asked even if you ask me why Mattie. Just accept it as it is please."
"Ok dad. I will."
"Kat, here are copies of all the documents that you asked for to get Jen's adoption done." Harm handed Kat a folder with them in it. Kat opened the folder…
"Reverend Michael Coates…Hagerstown, MD…he's your father Jen?"
"Yes. He is Kat and he's the first and only man of the cloth that I have ever wanted to deck from the way he treated Jen the evening when I thought he would be responsible enough to keep her throughout the holidays until I picked her up for her court date."
"This is everything I need to process the adoption. If you could come to my apartment and pick me up in the morning about 7…we can drive over to Hagerstown and get him to sign it in the morning. IF you get him to sign it, I can notarize it then. I believe that IF that happens that by the time you leave work Tuesday, Jen's adoption will be finalized and I'll have all brand new documents with her name 'Jennifer Anne Rabb' on them then. All she will need to get her Naval paperwork changed is go to four places: 1) Bupers to get them to change her records; 2) Pass and ID to get her new identification card; 3) Bethesda Hospital to change her medical and dental records; and 4) downstairs to change her JAG identification badge. She can order her new desk identification plaque, name tags, and such while sitting at her desk."
"Jen doesn't need to put a rush on ordering name tags and stuff since I got a boat load of those things since most of the package are things that are not needed on officer's uniforms. I will personality take care of her desk nametag plaque. Ok sis."
"Ok…just for the record…three days for now, my wildest dream of dragging your six to the alter will end bro."
"Ok smart ass." Harm turned to Kat. "Was there something else you wanted to talk about this evening since you're looking very weary right now?"
"Have you been following the changes in the Virginia State Family laws lately?"
"I've glanced at them but really looking at the items pertain to custody and adoption."
"Well part of that 'new' law affects my unborn daughter and me…even though we're not going to use public funds to pay for the birth or her after care."
"Tell me."
"They are now requiring all mother's of newborns to name the father of the child. I don't want her father to even know she exists in this world…"
"If it's who I think it is…don't say another world. What can I do to help you?"
"I know it's a huge favor and one that could come back to bite us in the ass but…"
"Yes, you can use my name as her father…since you already asked me to be her godfather and I had already planned to spoil her. Now you may have five other people wanting to spoil her besides myself…if you can live with that I'm sure they can live without knowing who actually who her sperm donor is."
"Your dad and mom have already told me that they intend to spoil her like if she was your real daughter. Mattie has already volunteered for baby sitting duties."
"Count me in as a baby sitter and spoiler." Jen grinned.
"Would you also consider being her godmother as well since I don't really have any real close female friends to ask? I was considering asking Colonel MacKenzie but I rather have you instead." Kat asked.
"I would be honored to her godmother." Jen walked over to Kat and hugged her. "Thank you for giving me a new family that will love me as me."
"You're very welcome." Kat got up from the chair at the table. "Come on grandma and grandpa, it's time to get this little one into bed since her 'father' and ' mother' has to drive to Hagerstown early in the morning."
"We're staying with Kat while we're in town this week. We will see you tomorrow evening darling, sweetheart, and squirt."
"You better being calling Jen squirt and not using it for me, grandma!"
"I've got to come up with a good nickname to call you Matilda."
"Well squirt is much better than Matilda since it was the name my father hung on me and I pray to whoever is holy that the Family court allows Harm to adopt me. The first thing that I'm going to do is request that my name to be changed to 'Mattie Grace Rabb' for legal purposes. So when I do go to the academy, I will be the 2nd generation to go there and the 4th generation of Rabb's to join the Navy as well as be a 4th generation Naval Aviator."
Harm caught Kat's lips saying, 'We will talk more about Mattie later.'
Monday
Lunchtime
HQ JAG
Harm walked into HQ JAG carrying two bags, one with his lunch in and a very special one that he hoped he would be able to sneak into his little office before he ran into one of his co-workers. Eric at the trophy shop where Harm always got stuff from had stopped everything he was doing in order to have Jen's new desk nametag finished. Harm had looked at the great job that Eric had done on this special order. 'I hope Jen will be happy with this.'
Luckily Harm didn't see any of his co-workers as he used the stairs versus the elevator. He tried turning his door handle but it wouldn't turn. 'That is just great…the door is stuck and I cannot get into my office. I'll just put this desk tag in the janitor's closet and go eat before I run out of time.'
Harm walked down the stairs and went outside to sit down at a table on the patio to eat. While He was eating his lunch, Petty Officer Coates saw him sitting there with his back towards the entrance to the patio.
"Excuse me for interrupting your lunch Commander."
"No problem Jen. What can I do for you?"
"Here is your new door key to your office, sir. Maintenance caught a break this morning and was able to install the new lock while you were away from the office getting your lunch. I put the other key on my key ring if that is alright with you sir."
"Excellent. Will the master key open the door?"
"Sir, the uncopyable master key is the only other key in the entire building that can open the door and it has to be signed out by two authorized personnel from the security office. Not even the Admiral's nor the Colonel's copy of the master will unlock the door. I watched security check to see which master key would unlock the door. Security don't know that maintenance was instructed to ensure only the uncopyable master key would be able to unlock the door like it does with both the Admiral's office doors and the Colonel's office door.
"Security was very happy about the master key since they saw the classified safe sitting in the corner of the office. They asked me why it hadn't already installed in one of the walls. When I showed them the other two offices on either side of your office, they understood that if the safe had been installed on one of the walls, which ever office the back of the safe entered then the doorway entering that office would have taken out and sealed in with blocks. Security would like you to talk to them ASAP about it. They were talking about expanding your office because your need for having a classified safe."
"Outstanding work Petty Officer. Could you stop by the janitor's closet and grab a bag I put in there…put it in my office without looking at what it is…I surely hope it is something that fits your fancy."
"Yes, sir. On the bounce sir. Is there anything else the Commander would like me to do?"
"If anybody happens to ask where I happen to be…please inform them that I'm down in Security talking about a security problem."
"Yes, sir."
Security Office
HQ JAG
Harm entered the security office and the Sergeant sitting behind the counter stood up.
"Afternoon Commander Rabb. The Captain has been expecting your arrival. He ordered me to inform you just to go ahead and enter his office as soon as you had arrived."
"Thank you Sergeant."
Harm opened the door expecting to see a Marine Captain in the office but he saw a Naval Captain and a Lieutenant Commander looking over some building blueprints.
"Afternoon Captain. Petty Officer Coates informed me that you needed to talk to me ASAP."
"It's great to see you again Harm." Captain Walter Avery said. "It's been almost ten years since we saw each other. This is Commander Mike Everett, who will be overseeing the construction of your new office space. Why didn't the Admiral just put you back into one of the three main offices in the operation's portion of the building?"
"You would have to ask him that question your self, sir."
"I don't really care to from what I've heard about him but I've got a very serious question to ask you though."
"Go ahead because I know what you're going to ask me about."
"Ok, golden boy. Give me the answer to the question you think that I'm was going to ask you about."
"Better yet…let me show you the answer if you would open your classified safe up."
"Ok, I bite." Walter walked over to a picture of the USS Enterprise and pulled the left side of the picture frame. Behind the picture was the security office's classified safe, Walter spun the dial and opened the safe. "Ok it's open. Now show me the answer."
Harm walked over to the safe a pulled out a small red cover folder. "This has the answer to your question."
Walter opened the red folder. "When it comes to security Mike, never bet against this man…he will usually take you to the cleaners." When Walter saw the date the security violation, the steps Harm had taken to report it, and what steps Harm has hamstrung himself with when working with classified material…he about had a cow. "You reported this security violation the day they handed you that little classified safe, which was the day you were assigned to that office. And the Chief of Staff, the JAG, and my predecessor did nothing to correct it."
"Correct."
"How much classified material you have in your office right now?"
"None. If you turn around, three quarters of what is in your safe is mine."
"You say three quarters on all that it yours!" Walter saw that there were a dozen two-inch classified binders and about a half dozen one-inch binders in his safe.
"All the ones with 'a' on the bottom of the binders are the ones that I'm required to maintain in my office but since I never had a secure safe to store them in. I wasn't allowed to store them in any of these four safes in operations proper…your predecessor had to scramble to get this larger safe installed down here since he didn't have the power to force the JAG to move me into one of the three larger offices in operations or to get his approval for building reconstruction to install the correct size safe in my office. If that had happened, I would have lost half of the office space that I do currently have. It got small enough when I had to added the four four-draw filling cabinets in there."
"It looks like we go with plan 'b' Mike."
"What's Plan B?"
"Here is me show you." Walter pulled the bottom blueprint out to lay it on top of the other blueprint. "Your office doorway will remain where it currently located… both inside walls will be removed and the doorways leading into those two offices will be blocked off. As you see, we will install a classified safe next to the outside wall in what was an extra janitor's closet after we strengthen the outside wall, back wall, and floor with 2-inch titanium plates. We will finish the boxing of the safe after the concrete hardens. There will be enough space towards the hallway to place five four-drawer filling cabinets, with all of them being the new legal size width.
"We will need to remove the old windows and install the new security mike-proof ones. The inside off your new office will be sound proofed and overall the size of your office will be the biggest office space on that floor except for the JAGs. The original plans my predecessor had the Corp of Army Engineers draw up indicated that the walls would be painted Navy blue that was trimmed with Navy yellow as well as wall-to-wall carpet with the US Navy logo in it's center. The overall cost of the project was a quarter of a million dollars, which will come now out of the JAG budget."
"You're going to piss off the Admiral if that happens."
"So what? The Chief of Staff and his self will be lucky to escape the fallout from this security breach with an Admiral's Mast if they raise too much of a stink with this."
"Commander, where can you work out of for the next two weeks while my construction crew rebuilds your office?" Mike asked.
"The only other place left on the floor since you are going to take away the only other open office space for my new office is the conference room."
"Will you be able to secure your office early today…say 1600?"
"Sure, I don't see a problem. Why?"
"Well, I want to get my construction crews in here to move all the items in your office, so we can start remodeling ASAP. When we are finished with the construction, we will help you transfer everything back into your office except your desk, which will be a new one about the size as your desk in the operation area was. You will be also getting a new hi-back desk chair, two very nice leather chairs, a table, and three very nice wooden chairs for the table."
"Here is a color scale picture of how the Corp engineer viewed how your office would look like."
Mike picked up some nice color drawings of how the office would look like. They made Harm whistle.
"That's very nice."
"Walter, send up a guard to my office at 1600 so I can give him or her the key to the office. Otherwise, you would have to get two authorized people to sign out the uncopyable building master key to unlock the door since maintenance fixed the lock today."
"Great! Before I forget it…we will be installing a cyper-lock, buzzer, door intercom, and stu-3 phone system in there as well. Only you will control who has a key and the cyper combination to the lock since you are required to be in the room whenever someone else needs to review or read something that is contain in one of your binders."
"Boy oh boy is that going to tick some people off. The only person who will be authorized to enter my office by herself will be my sister, Jen."
"Petty Officer Coates is your sister?" Walter asked.
"Please keep that information to yourselves until after Wednesday morning. We're expecting the final decree to be finalized sometime Tuesday."
"I'll have the new classified access letter ready to be signed by all three of us then. You might as well prepare to hear the Admiral bellow when he finds a some of my Marines guarding the conference room door in the morning."
"It's going to be hopping here in the morning."
"Sure will be since my crews will be knocking out doorways, walls, and windows tomorrow morning since it will take us most of the night to ensure everything is moved out of those three rooms. Where do you want us to put the stuff from the other two rooms?"
"I rightly don't care if you put it in front of the glass operation's doors but you didn't hear that from me."
"Gotcha. We will find some place to put all the junk. Is there anything you can think of that you might want to be included in your office?'
"Sure a small refrigerator and some electric outlets so I can bring a coffee maker and small microwave oven in."
Mike made a few notes in his handy dandy notebook. "Piece of cake, we will install some electrical outlets on this wall behind your desk for those items as well as hiding the refrigerator, which will have a small ice maker in it; and the microwave that will be hidden from view. People entering the office will never know they are there unless you tell them about those two items. As for the coffee maker, I suggest that you go out a purchase a Bunn coffee maker…I've seen offices use them 24x7 for over five years without them breaking down. My wife and I just replaced the one we had at the house, which lasted ten years."
"Ok, I will look into that brand of coffee maker. Is there anything else either of you need me for?"
"No Harm. I'll send a guard up at 1600 to get your office door key. We'll use the same key lock in your new door when we get it installed."
Harm left the security office in very high spirits. His cell-phone rang as he was walking up the stairs.
"Rabb"
Commander Rabb. This is Miss Elizabeth. Can you stop at the house you put a bid on Saturday, the owners of the house would like to meet with your family and me to discuss your bid on the house?
"Let me check my with CO…I was going to try leave early today about 4pm…will 5pm be too late to have this meeting?"
No, that will be great. If you happened to get delayed, please let me know.
"Thank you Miss Elizabeth. Bye."
Harm walked in operations and walked into Jen's office.
"Jen, I'm going to ask the Admiral if we can secure at 1600 today. Miss Elizabeth just called and wants to see us there at 1700."
"Let me know if he approves it, sir."
"Is he free?"
"Let me check." Jen reached down and toggled her incom toggle switch.
"Yes, Petty Officer."
"Commander Rabb would like a few minutes of your time if you can spare it."
"Send him in Petty Officer."
"Aye-aye, sir."
Harm stopped and knocked on the door. He listened for the Admiral's enter command before he opened the door.
"What do you need Commander?"
"I just got a phone call requesting Petty Officer Coates and myself for a meeting. The latest time that I could secure was 1700, sir. We would like permission to secure from our stations at 1600 to allow us enough time to go home, change into civilian clothes, and make it on time for this meeting."
"Did your caller state what is was about?"
"She stated that a couple people wanted to talk to us about something but she was unclear who or what it really was about."
"Very well, permission granted."
"Thank you sir."
"Inform the Petty Officer she is allow to secure at 1600…dismiss."
"Aye-aye, sir."
Harm exited the Admiral's lair into Jen's office.
"Jen."
"Sir."
"The Admiral has approved your securing your station at 1600…meet me in my cubbyhole afterwards since we rode to work together this morning."
"Aye-aye, sir."
1659 Local
1610 Rosemont Circle
Rosemont,
Virginia
Harm and Jen had went home, changed clothes, and went to school to pick-up Mattie from school. They pulled up to the house they had placed a bid on at the same time Miss Elizabeth pulled in.
"Evening Commander, Jen, and Mattie."
"Evening Miss Elizabeth."
They heard a door close behind them but they didn't pay any attention to it since they were more interested in hearing what to owners of the house thought about their bid.
"When are the owners arriving?"
"They are right behind you three."
They turned around and saw.
"Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa." Each of the spoke at the same time
"Why don't you three come next door and meet your new neighbor?" Frank grinned. "Miss Elizabeth, you will be receiving your standard commissions for both these house within the next couple days. Do you have the 'sold' tags to put on your signs?"
"Yes, sir. Here are the four sets of keys you requested for 1610. I'll put the sold tags on the signs in front of both houses. Enjoy your new house and rest of the evening."
They all walked into 1608 with Trish and Frank pausing the let the other three enter the house before them. As Mattie walked into the house, Trish reached out to hold her back a little bit to allow Harm and Jen to enter first.
"Welcome to my new house, Harm and Jen."
"Huh?"
"Mom?"
Frank, Trish, Mattie, and Catherine started laughing at surprised looks on Harm and Jen's faces.
"Can we go over to your house? Even though the fumes from little bit of painting Frank's contractors got done today is starting to make me sick."
"Let's get you out of here, Kat." Harm stepped up to walk beside her to ensure she didn't accidentally fall and hurt the baby or herself.
They all walked out of Kat's house and into their new house.
"Darling, Sweetheart, Squirt…we want you to decide what color of carpets and paint you want to have your house paint…as well as any additional items you would like to have installed or replaced with something else. After the fumes has died down, Frank and I want you three to go on a furniture shopping spree…the only things you will need to pack are your personal items and furniture that has sentimental memories for you. We are doing the same thing for Catherine's house as we are doing for your house. Ok?"
"No problem mom. I know it would be useless in arguing with you over this. Ladies, lets go upstairs and see if you agree which bedroom each of us will take."
Harm, Jen, and Mattie walked upstairs…Harm watched as Jen walked towards the second and slightly smaller master suite, while Mattie too the bedroom closes to it. He followed them and asked if that were the rooms they really wanted.
"Yes, these are the two rooms that Jen and I talked about taking Saturday evening. The only things she wishes her suite had that it doesn't is a whirlpool tub, private phone line, cable connection, and Internet connection. I would like the same things installed in my room with the whirlpool tub installed in the general bathroom since it will be primarily mine unless we have houseguest. I think we should have all upstairs rooms wired for phones, cable, and Internet just in case we have a houseguest."
"Ok. Lets go down stairs. There is the kitchen, dining room, living room, half bathroom, and 2 rooms that are nice sizes to use for office areas for Jen and I. We should have those two rooms wired with Jen and my private phone lines. Our third phone line that would be wired into the guest bedroom, the extra bedroom, your room Mattie, and the kitchen. One of those lines, one of the phones on each line that wouldn't be a walk around cordless one to allow the each phone to have an answering machine connected to the line. The only additional feature I care about having is caller id. What do you two think?"
"So far so good dad. Where do you envision where we will have the family room?"
"Down in the basement." Harm said. "Frank, do you have a copy of the builder's or architect floor plans?"
"Sure thing Harm." Frank said as he held out the drawings.
"These are the changes or additions we would like to make to the house." Harm started with the upstairs portion of the drawings.
"We would like all three tubs replaced with deep whirlpool models since each bathroom has a separate walking in shower. The largest master suite the girls allowed me to have…the secondary master suite is Jen's room… the bedroom across from the bathroom is Mattie's…the other big bedroom will be the guest bedroom, which you can decorate yourself Mom.
"I will mark the rooms that we want cable, Internet, and which phone line in." Harm marked each room with a C for cable and I for Internet. He used PA, PB, or PC to indicate the different phone lines. "Which room do you want to use for your office area Jen?"
"I'll take the room that faces the backyard if that is ok with you."
"Sure no problem." Harm marked that room with a C, I, and PB. Then he put C, I, and PA in the other room they would be using as an office. He marked put a PC in the kitchen area. He picked out the basement drawing. It clearly showed the furnace and laundry area with the half bathroom on one end of the house. Harm divided the remain space into equal halves where he marked one section with a C, I, and PC. Then he marked the second area as the game room with a regulation pool tournament pool table with a full bar and ice maker at one end…at the other end, he put two rectangle boxes, which he marked at soda/beer machines.
"Oh boy, a beer machine." Jen grinned.
"It will be locked as well as the hard liqueur area and we will be the only ones to have keys until squirt here turns twenty-one."
"Dad…" Mattie slapped Harm on the arm. "I don't mind anyone drinking as long as they don't do two things: 1) become abusive; 2) get into a vehicle with someone who has been drinking that is behind the wheel or themselves getting behind the wheel and driving."
"I don't know how Jen acts when she has been drinking but I get more flirty than I normally am when I haven't had a drink."
"I can attest to that Mattie." Catherine blushingly said.
"Why are you blushing so much for Kat?" Jen teased.
"Even though I was almost four months pregnant…lover boy was the best lover that I've ever had even though he was three sheets to the wind."
"Oh!" Jen said.
"Harmon Rabb Junior! Trish yelled at her son.
"Mom, I wasn't wasted so badly that I didn't know who I was with that night or didn't remember what happened that night or what happened the next day. If I want to, I can name every woman that I have been with and so forth. Also, I've never been wasted enough not to have listen or heard a woman say enough or no."
"Ok…I was just making sure you have always acted like a officer and a gentleman."
"Always and that's a promise, Mom."
"Any I'm getting hungry…let's stop somewhere on the way back to the apartments and grab something to eat…I got a feeling that it will a very long day at work tomorrow and for the next two weeks until the Corp of Army Engineer's finish remodeling my office without getting the Admiral's approval to start their work."
"How did you arrange that Harm?" Kat asked as she knew the small office he now used for work.
"I didn't do anything to cause the Corp of Army Engineer's to start their remodeling job at HQ JAG."
"Can we go out by ourselves and finish that talk we never finished last night?"
"Sure." Harm told her. "Mom and Pop, can you two take Jen and Mattie with you to eat…then drop them off at the apartment before you head over to Kat's apartment."
"No problem darling, we would love spending more time with our girls."
"Do either of you have any heartburn about eating with Mom and Pop this evening?"
"Nope, just don't do anything that I wouldn't do bro…oops…you can and not worry about leaving a bun in the oven."
"Alright smart ass."
0645 Local
Wednesday
HQ JAG
Falls Church, Virginia
Admiral AJ Chedwiggen pulled up to the guard shack leading into parking lot of HQ JAG.
"Good Morning Sir!" The Marine Corporal guard cheerful greeted the CO of JAG.
"Morning Corporal."
"Please turn off your cell phone, sir. The Army Corp is doing some blasting in the area.
"Understood." The Admiral knew that it was possible for a cell phone signal could accidentally set off explosives before the people using it were ready for it to go off and had cleared the blast area.
"Have a good day, sir." The guard had finished checking the Admiral's vehicle for any hidden explosive devices.
The Admiral put his vehicle into motion and parked it in his marked parking spot. As he exited the vehicle, he heard a 'kaboom' coming from inside the building. 'What the hell?' As soon as he opened one of the glass doors leading into the building, AJ heard a second 'kaboom'. He walked down the short hallway only to see a rope hanging across it stating that the elevator was temporary out of service. 'Just what I need…what a way to start my morning.' He turned and used the stairway to get to operations, as he opened the door…his ears were assaulted with the sounds of a jackhammer being used somewhere on his floor. 'Who authorize this?'
AJ was fuming as he walked down the hallway. The first thing he noticed was a real fine power all over the place, as he got closer to the jackhammer sound. He turned the corner that led to Rabb's office, he saw a man using the jackhammer on the door seal on what was considered the spare janitor's closet. As he got closer, two other men walked out of Rabb's office.
"Hey sailor, if your gonna nose around here…you gotta wear a hardhat…otherwise snag your sailor's ass out of the construction area."
"Do you know…" AJ started to yell.
"I rightly don't give a hoot who you think you are but this area is mine until we're finished the job."
"Now hear this…"
—TBC—