Subject: FF: Shattered Promises: Things Fall Apart.
From JulieM: Adventure, little bit of Harm/Mac angst.
Rating: T.
Spoilers: Silent Service. Set immediately after this episode.
Author's note: This piece is part of a series. It consists of twelve parts, so far:
1. Things Fall Apart.
2. Picking Up The Pieces.
3(a & b.) Starting Over.
4. Getting It Right.
5. Getting To Know You.
6. Happy Endings.
7. Sleepless Nights
8. See You In My Dreams.
9. Scattered Photographs
10. Dreams Really Do Come True.
11. Celebrations.
12. Turning Full Circle.
Yes, I know you've probably seen this on before…However, due to environmental incidents at the time, I thought it wise not to post later parts to the series. And since I wasn't doing that, it didn't seem wise to keep this part up, so I took it down for a time. I'm now going to put SP 1 up in its entirety and will resume posting daily installments of subsequent parts of the series.
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended by this series, which is being done solely for recreational purposes. Jag and all other characters are the property of Don P. Bellisario et al.
Shattered Promises 1: Things Fall Apart.
Part 1
0435 local
Maroua,
Cameroon.
In the darkened room, the four men sat around the table, one dealing out the cards for the next game. The man on the opposite side of the table spoke up, directing his question to the man to his right.
"Did you contact the buyer?"
"Yeah, they should arrive tomorrow to collect the goods."
At that moment, all four men jumped from their seat in a single, reflexive movement, as the door was kicked in and a Navy SWAT team rushed into the room. All four men were quickly forced onto the concrete floor face down, with their hands behind their heads.
The leading member of the SWAT team turned to face them then proceeded, "We have reason to believe that you are illegally selling nuclear weapons to a resident of the United States."
As he spoke, the remaining team members proceeded to sweep through the house, checking all of the rooms, but finally coming up empty handed.
One team member was just about to inform the team leader of their predicament when, while stepping across a hand woven rug, he noticed a metal ring poking out from the rug's edge. After moving the rug, which revealed a trap door, his team members helped him to move the door, revealing a darkened basement pit. Shining his torch into its dark recesses, he realized that 'the goods' these dealers had been talking about were most definitely not nuclear weapons.
"Ummm, Sir…I think you may want to take a look at this," he managed to stammer to his superior officer.
"Are the weapons down there, Tanner?" The man responded.
"Not exactly, Sir," Tanner replied, still reeling from the inset of shock.
"What do you mean 'not exac…"
He did not manage to finish his sentence, after crossing the room and looking down into the basement. His gaze fell upon the small figure, which lay motionless, sprawled out on the wet dirt floor of the basement below.
"Good God, Tanner," the man uttered quietly.
0800 Zulu
JAG Headquarters
Churchfalls, Virginia.
Harm and Mac walked into JAG Headquarters for the first time in two weeks, having just closed their case aboard the USS Watertown. They headed straight for the Admiral's office, to receive their new cases.
"Morning Ma'am, Sir," Tiner greeted them, "Boy, have you two missed an amazing couple of weeks!"
He was not able to elaborate any further, cut off at that moment, as the Admiral buzzed through on the intercom.
"Tiner, have Commander Rabb and Major MacKenzie arrived yet?"
"Uh, they're right here, Sir," Tiner answered.
"Send them straight in," The Admiral ordered, his voice crisp and deadly serious.
"Yes, Sir," Tiner responded, shooting Harm and Mac an apologetic glance. As they began to enter the Admiral's inner office, they shot each other an 'uh-oh!' look. Something told them that he was not about to offer them a vacation! They walked in and were about to snap to attention when the Admiral interrupted, "At ease, please follow me straight through to the conference room."
As they followed him, Harm thought to himself, "Straight to business, gee, some things never change."
They took their seats around the conference room table and the Admiral turned the lights off, shut the blinds and proceeded with his briefing. Switching on the TV and video set, he began,
"I'm sure that both of you have no doubt caught up on the gossip going around the bullpen surrounding the new developments in the Carter abduction, despite being stuck on a submarine for the past two weeks.
At their blank looks, he elaborated,
"On February 12th, 1986, a toddler was abducted from a shopping center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Mother of the child, the wife of Admiral Adam Carter was there shopping with the couple's two year old daughter, Catherine. The little girl was taken from the child seat of the shopping cart, while Mrs. Carter had her back turned. When the police arrived twenty minutes later, the child's shoe was found on the windscreen of the family car."
"I remember reading about the case in the newspaper at the time. Has the case really dragged on this long, Sir?" Harm asked.
The Admiral just nodded and Mac tried to remember that point in her life, not really wanting to go back to it. Harm glanced over at her, suddenly and Mac realized that she had unconsciously uttered an audible sigh. However, their attention was checked as the Admiral played the tape of an old news report on the TV. The camera focused on an abandoned juice box on the floor of the empty supermarket. A photo of a young child with an adorable smile and short, blond ringlets was flashed on the screen. The report continued, "Two year old Catherine Carter was taken from a shopping cart in this Grand Rapids supermarket. Our sources say that security cameras were malfunctioning at the time of the abduction."
At this, the camera focused on a tiny pink shoe, which was being put into a clear plastic evidence bag by a local police officer. Both Harm and Mac found it hard to ignore the stinging pain in their hearts as they then watched a police conference, the detective superintendent showing the press reporters a tiny pink dress and small pink shoes with white frilly socks like those little Catherine was wearing at the time of the abduction. But Harm and Mac pulled themselves together as the Admiral switched on the lights and continued,
"Catherine Carter was not found within the next few years, despite the military's extensive investigation into recovering the child. Military checkpoints were put up on all major roads leaving the state and all airports were put on special alert, but nothing turned up. The military decided that the child must have either been kept in the state or smuggled out, most likely on a private plane or other mode of transport. Several times in the following years, the Admiral and his wife were asked to identify human remains found within the state. However, tests later proved that none of these remains were those of Catherine.
Fingerprints were successfully taken from the juice box that the child dropped at the scene and were compared to those of children in every nursery and childcare center in Michigan. Every single one turned up negative. Admiral and Mrs. Carter themselves were exhaustively interrogated, but authorities were confident that they didn't have any involvement in Catherine's disappearance. That, however, did not completely satisfy the public and the media. I hate to think about what that poor couple had to go through. In the past ten years or so, the search has gained worldwide interest, following a series of possible sightings abroad, some in countries as far away as Italy and Russia.
Local child abduction investigation experts theorized that Catherine was probably sold to an overseas family, through the black market. They said that the next most probable possibility was that the child was murdered and her remains disposed of, which is why the Carters went through the interrogation that they did. I knew Admiral Carter and his wife through Navy business. I did not, at any point in time, think that it was possible that they could have done such a thing to their only child. They were absolutely distraught and never went on to have any more children after Catherine. Anyway, the foreign eyewitness accounts did prove to be quite a significant lead, although the possible abduction victim in each case was never successfully traced."
At this, the Admiral opened the case file and took out several documents, handing them to Harm and Mac, who looked through them.
Most of them seemed to be odd photos, some of little or young blond haired girls along with eyewitness accounts, or various age progression photos, some of which bore a resemblance to the photos. They all seemed to have come from a number of different countries and were dated from between 1986 and 1993. However, the last one was a Russian publicity poster, dated 1988, advertising the ballet "Copellia", a sketched picture on the front showing a lone dancer standing en pointe, dressed in a beautifully intricate costume, her hair pulled back into a pompadour of cascading, blond curls. The Admiral carried on,
"Then, two weeks ago, a Navy SWAT team raided a house in Northern Cameroon, acting on information that the occupants were about to sell a batch of nuclear weapons to an American buyer. However, they found a sixteen year old girl on the property."
Now, the Admiral changed the tape in the VCR and pressed play. Harm and Mac saw that the next film clip was a recording of the SWAT team operation. They watched as the SWAT team kicked in the door of a house, ordered the occupants down on the floor and proceeded to search through the house. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until one of the SWAT team members opened a cellar door and peered in. Harm and Mac were not able to catch what was being said after that, but got the impression that something was not quite right. After a couple of minutes of intense discussion, one of the SWAT team members jumped down into the basement and the cameraman came forward for a look. The big blue eyes of a young girl came into focus as a light was shone down into the cellar.
The team member beside her proceeded to try and talk to the young girl, eventually gaining her confidence before he lifted her from the floor. Harm and Mac could see that the cellar was flooded and that the team member was standing in several inches of water. The cameraman now moved back as the young girl was passed up to the waiting SWAT team. Her clothes were filthy and soaked and Harm and Mac winced as they saw that she was covered in bruises and open sores. Dried blood was caked along the neck of her blouse, suggesting that she had sustained a severe beating. Her swollen nose and bruised eyes were supporting evidence of that, Harm and Mac noticed. It appeared that she had probably not been fed often in the time she had been held captive, for, as she was hauled of the basement by a couple of SWAT team members and without much difficulty, Harm and Mac could see her skinny, bony shoulder joints and her ribs, as her sleeveless blouse rode up. As she sat on the floor, shivering from a mixture of cold, exhaustion and fear, the SWAT team leader tried to reassure her. It appeared that she either didn't understand English or was too frightened to talk, but presently perked to attention as one of the SWAT team members tried talking to her in French, one of the commonly spoken languages in the area. They managed to get some information from the girl, who was still hesitant to talk to them. Harm and Mac were not able to understand what was going on, so the Admiral chose to continue with his commentary.
"When they checked the database of missing people, the girl turned out to be one Catriona Kinney, who had gone missing from her foster home in Sokoto, Nigeria, more than three weeks before. However, upon questioning, one of the suspects referred to her as Catherine Carter, which was confirmed by a set of fingerprint comparisons. We have been having some problems with Russian Governmental officials, who insist that, as Miss Carter was previously settled in Russia, she is a Russian citizen. However, as of yesterday, a Nigerian court ruling states that she is a US citizen and is to be returned to the States, to be reunited with her parents. Russian officials will be in Nigeria to watch over the removal of Catherine, or should I say Catriona, from her foster home. You, Commander and you, Major, will be collecting her from her foster home and returning her to her parents, Admiral and Mrs. Carter. Harm and Mac looked back to the video recording, which now filmed the bedraggled, soaked young girl being wrapped in a warm blanket by one of the SWAT team members. Her long hair hung soaking wet, down towards the floor as the SWAT team member hoisted her easily into his arms and carried her to the vehicle parked outside. Just before the videotape finished, the team member operating the camera approached the young girl and asked her in French,
"Comment tu t'appelle?"
Harm and Mac saw the translation at the bottom of the screen reading, "What is your name?"
At this, the young girl spoke up, in a shaky voice, "Je m'appelle Catriona."
"My name is Catriona."
At his, Harm spoke up, "But, Sir? Does the girl not recall her former identity?"
"She has no recollection of her life before the abduction. All she was able to tell the local authorities was that her name was Catriona Kinney and that she was an orphan. She had no idea where she was originally from, only that she had been moved around all of her life. The first place she can recollect being is Portugal. She doesn't remember anything about her biological parents, Admiral and Mrs. Carter."
Harm and Mac paused to think how sad this fact was, but the Admiral quickly brought them back to the task at hand, emphasizing to them, "We will be watched very closely on this one, you two. One wrong move and we'll have Russian officials crawling all over us."
"Aye, aye, Sir," Harm and Mac responded simultaneously, standing and saluting the Admiral, who then dismissed them. Just as they were about to leave, the Admiral added, "I'm sure, Major MacKenzie, with your knowledge of the Russian language and your ability to keep Rabb's six out of the line of fire that this case will go without a hitch."
A smug Sarah MacKenzie answered, "Yes, Sir," while exchanging a look with Harm. With that, both officers walked out towards the Admirals outer office to collect their flight information from Tiner.
OOOO
Part 2 will follow immediately.