A/N: Alright, a lot of people didn't like the last chapter, to be honest, we weren't all that fond of it but it served its purpose and now we're into a more high paced part of the story. Enjoy!
The phone rang. Of course, when you're asleep, the phone always rings. When you're having a sex dream about the woman you just slept with. His body stirred in the bed as he reached over and grabbed the phone. It had been about two weeks since the Beach Blaster out at the shore. Things at JAG were comparatively normal. Things at the Three Wise Men offices were hectic and fast-paced and the new Secretary of State was living a life which had shifted like Persian sand.
"You got Nate." Nate drowsily spoke into the phone.
"Dress for confirmation, you're the nominee." Gavin's voice came through the phone.
"Gavin, it's five in the morning, it's too early for you to be high." Nate ran his hand through his hair.
"It was either I call you now, or I called you at midnight. Dress to face the Senate Confirmation Committee and for God's sake, minimize the swearing and the insults." Gavin warned with a stern voice. "You could get unanimous consent if you behave like an adult for God's sake."
"Nate, who is it?" Stacy rolled over and kissed Nate's shoulder.
"When's the confirmation?" Nate asked, trying to cut off Gavin's inevitable question.
"1300 today, capitol building." Gavin answered and cut the connection.
"Who was that?" Stacy asked as Nate turned toward her and away from the phone.
"Gavin; apparently I'm the nominee." Nate smiled weakly before sinking back on to the pillow.
"Oh, that's wonderful." Stacy sank down on the pillow next to him and threw her arm over his chest. "Doesn't that mean that the President just tapped you to be the Secretary of State?"
"I guess so. My days never start normally any more." Nate chuckled and lightly ran his fingers through her blonde hair. "When do you go into work today?"
"Well, my guess is, with your confirmation hearings starting today apparently, I'll be reporting in primetime on what happened and giving insight into you. Seems I'm the ZNN expert on you." She leaned up and kissed his cheek.
"An odd position for a girlfriend to have, I must say. I guess, Primetime means you won't be home until later." Nate sounded disappointed.
"Big plans to take me out? I believe that would violate the stipulation of keeping our relationship quiet for the time being." Stacy shot back as she sat up in the bed.
"It was your idea, not mine to keep this relationship secret for the time being." Nate reminded her as he threw his legs over the side of the bed and walked toward his closet. "I don't know why."
"How about because at this point, any woman who dated you would be ruthlessly picked apart and scrutinized by the media. When was the last time there was a single Secretary of State?" Stacy questioned, turning to face him.
"I can't argue with you when you're naked, you know that. That's not fair. You're going to have to put clothes on if you want me to continue this discussion." Nate joked and nodded lightly.
"You have to stop being funny, I can't argue with you when you're funny." Stacy walked over and placed her index finger on the top of Nate's nose.
"I'm a funny kind of guy." Nate leaned in to kiss her finger.
"I'm not in the mood for having all my foibles and flaws aired out in the public conscience. I also enjoy having a plum assignment in Washington where I get to be close to you, and we both know that the second our relationship becomes public, I won't be able to work on anything that has anything to do with you." Stacy explained as she ran her hands over his chest.
"I don't like it, but I respect the decision." Nate reached for one of the suits in his closet, pulling it out; he laid it on the bed.
"Wear the red tie. You look sexier in the red tie." Stacy pointed out.
"I was just going to wear a sweater under the jacket." Nate replied.
"Nathan, these are Senators, your laid back attitude will only piss them off. Look like a Secretary of State and wear the tie." Stacy pushed and Nate just kind of gave in.
1627 ZULU
THREE WISE MEN OFFICES, THE PENTAGON
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
"Do you know where they are?" Mac walked in to find Nate standing in the middle of the office.
"They left for Jakarta a few days ago for co-operation talks with the Indonesian government, I haven't heard from Peach in at least thirty six hours. In the nine years we've known each other, we've never gone a full twenty-four hour period without speaking. Something's up." Nate lifted his head to face her. "Has Harm talked to you?"
"Not in almost forty-eight hours. Have you heard anything from Langley about them, I tried to call Clayton Webb but no one answered." Mac informed him. "Is Mike Bradley with them?"
"Yeah, Mike's with them. Doesn't make me feel any better." Nate began to pace. "What do we do?"
"We find out something, it's been at least thirty-six hours since last known contact. We have to do something!" Mac slapped him on the back to get him moving. "Come on, Marine, damn it! You're still in there under all the Washington bullshit, what do you want to do most right now?"
"I want to know what the hell is going on." Nate answered weakly. "I'm calling Langley." Nate pulled his cell out of his jacket and brought it up to his ear. "This is Secretary Ross and if I'm not talking to Deputy Director Reid in the next two minutes, I will cram my foot so far up the ass of everyone at the Company that my toenails will show up on their dental x-rays." Nate's voice was nearing sonicboom. After a few seconds, a voice came on the other end of the connection.
"Secretary Ross, nice to be hearing from you. What can I do for you?" The Deputy Director was being unusually cheerful.
"I need to know exactly what happened with Undersecretary DiPiccio and Captain Rabb and if I don't know now, you won't have a job when I start talking to the President after I hang up on you and don't screw with me, I'm a Marine and a sniper and I know about nineteen ways to kill you without breaking a sweat." Nate was practically growling.
"Fine, fine, fine; their convoy was ambushed on their way out to visit American military advisors working with Indonesian terrorist hunters. We have reason to believe that they're being held in the rainforest on the island of Borneo. What do you plan on doing?" The Deputy Director questioned.
"Finding them!" Mac shouted into the phone as she grabbed it out of his hand. She cut the connection and looked up at him. "I might have snapped a little."
"Just a little?" Nate questioned looking at her.
"The man I love is-" Mac stopped as Nate tossed her a superior glance. "Oh, like you didn't know. Now, the question is, what are you going to do, I've already stated my intention."
"I intend on going with you." Nate affirmed. "Give me a little time to get vacation from the President, I'll meet you at JAG in about ninety minutes. I'll have my secretary book us a flight into Pontianak."
"ZNN says that you're going to go through confirmation today, the President isn't going to let you go so easily." Mac challenged.
"Then I'll quit!" Nate snapped at her and Mac stopped dead in her tracks.
"Why?" She challenged, more to refute the tone he had taken with her then his actual sentiment.
"Don't try and psychoanalyze me. My mom's been trying for the better part of a decade and she's got an actual medical degree." Nate headed out of the room. "See you at JAG at 1300?"
"Yeah, sure." Mac headed out after him.
1803 ZULU
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
"You want to do what!" The Admiral practically leapt out of his chair.
"Sir, according to CIA intelligence, Captain Rabb is being held captive in the rainforest on Borneo in Indonesia." Mac informed for the second time in five minutes.
"And you would like to request a JAG investigation into this disappearance? Colonel, need I remind you that the Captain is no longer in this chain of command?" The Admiral crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Permission denied."
"But sir, I…Very well, sir. Permission to take emergency leave, sir?" Mac inquired, setting her jaw firm.
"Planning a trip to Indonesia, Colonel? If I wouldn't submit to your request for an official reason, what makes you think I would let you go without one?" The Admiral pressed.
"Because if you don't, I'll have your stars mounted on my wall." Nate appeared at the door.
"Mr. Secretary, I didn't hear you come in." The Admiral softened upon seeing Nate at the door.
"Obviously not; Admiral, I'm requesting Colonel MacKenzie and Gunnery Sergeant Galindez be posted TAD to my staff for the purposes of a diplomatic envoy to the region being as they've both had experience in Indonesia recently. Especially considering their involvement with the riots in Aceh late last year." Nate stood toe to toe with the Admiral.
"I was just about to approve Colonel MacKenzie's request for leave Mr. Secretary, if she wants to take on this extra duty, I'll revoke her leave time and gladly assign her to your staff." The Admiral seemed suddenly incredibly cooperative.
"That's very kind of you, Admiral. I trust you'll take care of all the paperwork?" Nate jibed.
"Absolutely." The Admiral nodded. Both Mac and Nate turned and headed out of the office.
"You got Gunny to agree to come along?" Mac questioned as they walked through the bullpen.
"Whether international incidents or barfights, the same saying always applies; you can never have too many Marines." Nate joked as they stepped on to the elevator.
"What did the President say when you told him?" Mac asked as the doors closed in front of them.
"He told me to do what I had to do and that my job would always be there for me." Nate informed her with a heavy breath.
"Surprising amount of lenience." Mac laughed sardonically.
"You all packed?" Nate asked. "Stupid question, Marines keep their sea-bag in the car."
"Right." Mac walked through the now open elevator doors and through the foyer at JAG. Out in the parking lot, Gunny was finishing packing Nate's SUV for the drive to the airport.
"All ready for departure, sir, ma'am." Gunny nodded with a smile.
"Very good, Gunny." Mac got into the vehicle in the back. Gunny rode shotgun and Nate got in behind the wheel. "What's this?" Mac picked up the Marine issue M40A1.
"An old friend that I haven't seen for a long time." Nate quipped as they pulled out of the parking lot.
"Why is it here?" She pushed her questioning.
"Because we're going to save people and in the process, my best guess tells me that other people are going to die. That right there, is the best tool by which I can kill them without getting myself or any of my friends killed." The car pulled on to the interstate heading for Dulles airport.
0134 LOCAL
SOMEWHERE IN THE RAINFOREST
BORNEO, INDONESIA
Nicole DiPiccio was cradled into the corner of the small hut in the jungle. It was dark, it was always dark around here, or at least it always seemed to be. The only light that came into the hut came in when the door opened. Mike had gotten away, a tricky Company man, Nate had called him once and he had been right. He had gone off into the jungle and now the only hope that she or Harm had was that he might make it back to Pontianak.
The door swung wide open and Harm was pushed into the hut. He collapsed on to the floor with a heavy cough and Peach rushed to his side. "You can't keep letting them do this to you." She told him as she dragged him back over to the side of the hut and propped his back up against the wall.
"Letting them do this to you isn't an option. You understand their language and you're a woman, my chivalry may be beaten but it isn't dead." Harm's breathing was starting to come back little by little.
"I never thought I'd end up in a place like this. I'm used to negotiating terrorist situations, not being involved in them." She began to pout as she sat shoulder to shoulder with him. "Thank God Mike got away. There's a ray of hope."
"Nate warned me about your perpetual optimism." Harm chuckled which was followed by a cough. "We need a lot of time which we don't have, a lot of backup which we don't have and a lot of bullets which we don't have. See you and I are both employed in professions where we talk and talking isn't going to do us any good here."
"What do you suggest?" Peach turned to face him.
"We talk with each other, keep each other alive and entertained as long as we can because we may not have much time left. Remember what they did to Daniel Pearl." Harm raised his eyebrows.
"If Mike made it back to Pontianak, and that's a big if, we have to pray that he called someone who could actually help get us out of here. The Company isn't going to do anything because Mike doesn't technically work for them, at least not in any way that Al-Qaeda could find and they would like to keep it that way. You're the responsibility of the State Department whose official government position is to not negotiate with terrorists and without intelligence the Navy can't find me. So we're pretty much stuck here." Harm relented.
"How bad does it hurt? Is it worse then when you were in China?" Peach rushed to check a large developing bruise on his ribs.
"How do you know about that?" Harm questioned with a furrowed eyebrow.
"Who do you think had to help the State Department regulate our position with China after the affair and Matsui and Kimoi? That was up to me and Nate." Peach laughed a little. "So, how bad is it?"
"Not as bad as it could be. They're beating the hell out of me with bamboo canes. That hurts like hell. But they're not using drugs or electroshock. Something for which I think I'll be eternally grateful." Harm winced as he transferred his weight to his other hip.
"So, they haven't broken out the car battery yet. Well, that's a good sign. My guess is that they only have one and they need it to in order to go and get supplies in Pontianak. Procuring the kinds of drugs that they would need would be exceptionally difficult in this part of the world." Peach began to shiver. "I don't understand how this place can be 110 degrees in the day and drop to 40 at night."
"C'mere." Harm opened his arm and Peach slid under it. "Just pretend I'm Nate."
Peach laughed. "And you just pretend I'm Mac and we should get through this just fine." She let out a heavy breath as they curled together. "Do you think they know?"
"Part of me hopes they do. Because it means that we might get out of this place. The other part of me wouldn't want Mac within a hundred miles of this place." Harm explained and spit out blood from the cut on his lip. "Right now, that second part is stronger, but I'm not sure how much longer that'll be true."
"I'm so scared. I'm not used to being this frightened but I can't help it. If this was Nate, he'd know just what to do. I keep telling myself that he wouldn't be frightened but I don't know if his prospects have ever looked as dim as mine do right now. I already understand what you mean when you say that you wouldn't want Mac near this place. But, I know that he's got something in side of him that would let him handle this because; he's always been Superman before." She was starting to rant.
"Let's hope that he can don the red cape one more time then." Harm's eyelids fell closed. Peach just looked toward the heavens and prayed to God for a miracle, for a white knight to come riding through the darkness of the Borneo jungle.
1602 ZULU
DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
OUTSIDE OF WASHINGTON, DC
Mac paced the floor. The lone flight from Washington to Pontianak was leaving in a matter of a little less then an hour. Gunny was getting everything cleared through security and Nate was making one final call on his cell phone. "Who were you talking to?" Mac asked as she walked up behind him.
"No one." He replied as he turned and walked passed her.
She reached out and grabbed him by the arm to spin him around. "That's a shitty answer."
"It was a shitty question." He growled.
"Why are you doing this?" She pushed her question at him.
"Why have I done anything? Because it was the right thing. It may be a bitch and it may endanger my life but if it's the right thing, then the people I care about can trust that I will do it." Nate set his jaw with real resolution.
"So, then who was on the phone?" Mac dug in.
"Stacy Anderson, why does it matter?" Nate answered in a challenging tone.
"Are you dating her now?" Mac wasn't about to be intimidated by Nate's voice.
"Yes, but why does that matter at all?" He asked again.
"So, you're dating one woman, but travelling around the world and raiding the compound of major international terrorists to save the life of another woman. That doesn't seem a little odd to you?" Mac had questioned in her best prosecutor tone.
"What do you want me to do? Let her die?" Nate was pushing with a different emotion driving his voice.
"I want to understand why you were willing to give up everything to go to Indonesia with the same sniper rifle you used in Desert Storm in order to save Peach's life but yet none of us knew you were dating Stacy. That doesn't strike you, a pretty smart guy, as being just a little odd." Mac raised one eyebrow in a superior look of triumph.
"What's your point?" Nate questioned, sounding defeated.
"Nate, I'm willing to bet that you can count on both hands the amount of people that you would be willing to do this for. You could drop one hand and tell me how many people you would pull that sniper rifle out for. Why are you really doing this?" Mac put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.
"If I say I don't know, will you give me time to think?" Nate sounded scared and reluctant.
"Take all the time in the world. Just remember that I'm here if you need someone to talk to." Mac sat down in a chair in the lobby. Nate walked over to Gunny who was still standing near the gate. He had just finished talking with security.
"Gunny, can I ask you a question?" Nate asked as he came to a stop.
"Sure, sir, what's up?" Gunny looked up at the Secretary of State who had come to be his friend.
"Why did you agree to come along on this crazy escapade, Gunny?" Nate asked as he raised his head to look at Gunny.
"Because I've known Colonel MacKenzie and Captain Rabb a long time, sir. I never leave a man behind and I don't think I'd be able to look myself in the eye if I knew that either one of them was just rotting in a jungle somewhere waiting to die. I know that Lieutenant Roberts would be here with us if he could and to be quite honest, sir, I'm surprised that the Admiral didn't demand to come along." Gunny looked like the most genuine man on the planet as he spoke.
"You're a good man, Gunny. Leave no man behind, we really never do forget that do we?" Nate asked rhetorically.
"Not unless cops are involved, sir." Gunny joked.
"Flight 117 flying Washington to Pontianak is now boarding." The call came over the airport loudspeaker.
"Sounds like we're up to the plate, kids. We either back out now or go see this through to the end." Mac looked from Nate to Gunny and then focused on Nate. "Well?"
"You really expect me to back out? I'm a Marine, too, Colonel, and there's nothing that's going to stop me from getting on that plane with my M40A1 and putting a bullet through the skull of every son of a bitch at that compound that even looks like he might be involved with Al Qaeda. Problem, Colonel?" Nate was back to confrontational.
"Not at all but you do seem surprisingly more resolute then you did almost ten minutes ago." Mac smiled suspiciously.
"Yeah, well, I'm pissed off and armed. That's not a great combination and it does tend to lend itself to strengthening convictions." Nate turned toward the gate. "Now, can we get on the plane?"
"After you." Mac motioned toward the gate and Nate led them on to the plane.
0242 ZULU
ADMIRAL CHEGWIDDEN'S HOME
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA
"I did a bad thing; I almost screwed up my friendship with one of my closest friends today." AJ Chegwidden poured himself a glass of scotch.
"Honey, don't self-medicate with booze. It can't be that bad." Bev walked up behind AJ and began to soothingly rub his back.
"I was willing to let a man I consider a close personal friend, die in some godforsaken jungle somewhere in the South Pacific all because the new SECNAV is already riding my ass about the unorthodox methods of my staff in the past. The only reason I could let MacKenzie run off officially this time was because someone higher then the SECNAV was ready to pull her from my staff." The Admiral hurled himself down on his couch. Bev curled up on the couch next to him and she gently ran her hand across his chest.
"You're a good Admiral and it's still a bad idea to self-medicate with booze." She smiled against his cheek as she kissed him.
"Well, you won't let me self-medicate with sex." AJ put on his best puppy-dog imitation and winked at her.
"I'm a minister, what would my congregation think if they found out? Or if we slipped up and got pregnant?" Bev was obviously unaccustomed to not taking to the pulpit immediately.
"We'd have to get married." The Admiral smiled and laughed. The words hung between them like something that oddly seemed to fit into the conversation. He raised his eyebrows as if seriously considering the idea.
"We haven't been dating that long." Bev pointed out.
"I'm not getting any younger." The Admiral rebutted.
"You haven't met my whole family." Bev came back.
"Only because your brothers are sure that the Commandant will kill me." The Admiral reminded her. The two of them returned to silence. Bev had no more arguments on her side. "Marry me?" He asked turning toward her.
"Isn't this traditionally done with a ring?" She was starting to tear up.
"I have my Academy ring, does that count?" He laughed. "Well?"
"You do realize I can't perform my own ceremony so you won't be saving money on a minister." Bev had to laugh; it was the only way to prevent herself from crying. "Yes, AJ, you kind, sweet man. Of course I'll marry you." Bev hugged AJ furiously. "You do realize that this means that you have to go to church with me every Sunday now."
"Really? Because I'm more of a sleep in and golf on Sunday kind of guy." The Admiral joked. "I know, I know, I'll be right up front singing at the top of my lungs."
"Well, you don't have to be that enthusiastic." Bev laughed as they settled down to watch Leno on the couch.
0524 LOCAL
SOMEWHERE IN THE RAINFOREST
BORNEO, INDONESIA
Peach woke up next to Harm. He had only slept for little more then an hour and even that hour wasn't all that refreshing. "Another day in paradise?" Peach asked.
"Or an Inferno Dante wouldn't buy tickets to." Harm retorted as two men knocked open the door to the hut.
End of Three Wise Men Season Two