Chapter 11

SEE PROLOGUE FOR DISCLAIMERS, ETC.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Mac didn't care that she was yelling at a superior officer. At the moment, the only thing she could credit Admiral Calavicci with was being a superior ass. "I told you there would be kids at Bud and Harriet's house."

Al waved his cigar around his head, creating a haze of smoke that wafted toward the vents in the ceiling of the waiting room. "Relax, Mac. Ziggy says there's less than a two percent chance that any of the adults will believe the kids."

"How often has Ziggy been wrong before?"

The cigar stopped moving. "With little kids? More than I'd like to admit. On the other hand, Sam did make a leap into a TV producer once and got a show started in the late 80's that explains anything related to Quantum Leap away as just another science fiction show, so there's hope that someone has seen the show with the kid."

Mac relaxed a little, though her anger still buzzed in her head. "Bud's a sci-fi nut. If anyone has seen this show, it's him. And knowing him, he's watched it with AJ. This is the man who named his second son James Kirk, after all."

The ever-present hand-held computer beeped. Al picked it up, read it, then turned it so Mac could see it. "Ziggy says less that one percent now."

"Doesn't change the fact that it was stupid to go to start with."

"You know, I really preferred it when the hosts never came around enough to know what was going on."

"And maybe the next leap will put Sam into someone who isn't as tuned in as I am and you can go back to mollycoddling your victims." Jackass.

"Victims?" Al dropped his cigar on his shirt, which sent him into spasms trying to extinguish the smoldering ashes before they damaged the hideous garment.

"That's what we are, really. We're brought here against our will and forced to sit idly by while someone else controls our destiny. Why me? If stopping this terrorist act against the UN is so important, why not the leader of whatever cell is responsible for the overall command? Why not the head of UN security or the Secretary of Homeland Defense? Why am I being denied the chance to act on my feelings for the man I love when we're finally on the same page?" She heard how shrill her voice had become and lowered her tone a little. "I like Sam, honestly, I do. But he's not me, and now he's living my life and my fiancé doesn't even know the difference."

"He'd be suspicious by now if you hadn't had the chance to brief Sam, Mac. Consider it a blessing. Sam has inhabited bodies of men and women married for a lot longer than you and Captain Rabb have been partners without raising suspicions – and that without any briefing from the host or hostess at all. How sad is that?"

"Your wife would be suspicious immediately because Sam couldn't possibly act like you. He'd be too nice."

"Are you always this vicious when you're pissed off?"

Mac gave him a saccharin smile. "I'm not pissed off. You don't want to see me pissed off, Admiral. And before you try to threaten me with disciplinary action, if Sam accomplishes his goal, we're never going to meet. And if he doesn't, it won't matter, will it?"

Al laughed. Uproariously. For a long time.

For the life of her, Mac couldn't figure out what she had said that was so funny.

"Colonel Mackenzie, if we're both still around when my wife dies, I'm going to do my damnedest to seduce you. You amuse me."

Mac snapped. She took Al's arm and flipped him over, pinning him down under her knee while she held his arm behind his head.

"You're pissed off now, aren't you?" He sounded pinched and in pain.

"Sexual harassment tends to do that to me. Admiral."

"Point taken."

She let him get up. "Admiral Calavicci, I will do everything possible to make this leap as short as possible. But let's be very clear that I am not here for your amusement. I consider myself TAD to this decade and this project and if you had any idea how bizarre that sounds to me, you'd be considering committing me to a mental institution. Be that as it may, I will devote myself to this mission as fully as I devote myself to any assignment I receive from duly appointed authorities." She took a deep breath and put her finger under the admiral's nose. "I will not tolerate any inappropriate comments about my appearance or my gender, made to me here or to Sam in 2005. I let you get away with 'good girl' once because I didn't quite have my bearings, but now I know exactly what I need to do and have a pretty good idea how to do it. Are we clear? Sir."

She was pleased to see the old man come to attention before he answered. "Crystal, Colonel. Thank you for your straightforwardness." He smiled and gestured toward the door to the archives. "Shall we get on with the mission of giving Sam enough evidence to stop a terrorist plot so we can get you home?"

Mac relaxed. "Yes, sir." She followed him into the library and sat down at a terminal. She didn't have to like her superior officer to do what she needed to do to end this nightmare that was all too real and get back to the man who loved her, now that she knew for sure.