JAG Headquarters

Fall Church Virginia

"You have my attention."

A soft chuckle comes through the phone before Webb replies.

"I thought I might. We need to meet, what I have to tell you needs to be said in person. How about you meet me where you first saw your brother here in D.C.?"

I am in no mood to leave the investigation right now, but I know that it has to be damn important if Webb is being this careful. "Fine I will be there in thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes is acceptable, I will see you then. Oh, and don't mention where you are going to anyone else, I am not sure how secure JAG is right now." With that the connection was severed.

"Great, now all I have to do is think up an excuse to leave right now. But first I have to tell them about the phone call." I mutter to myself, while jabbing the elevator button for the hundredth time, totally unaware of the person behind me.

"Excuse me, sir? Who are you talking to?"

I nearly jump out of my skin, and turn to find Harriet Simms looking at me strangely.

"I am just talking to myself," I flash her my best flyboy grin, "I am just on my way up to the investigation team before heading over to check on Mac."

I applaud myself on my fast thinking. No one is going to question me going to check on Mac. Right on the heels of that thought comes the thought that I really DO need to go check on Mac. I left the hospital around noon, and it is now...well I don't really know but it's getting late. I glance at my watch thinking if Mac were here she would know exactly what time it was. Wow, it is 1845 already.

"Well, let me know how she is doing. I am off duty in an hour; I was going to stop in to see her then, if you think that would be okay?"

"That will be great Harriet. I know she can hear us, and it is important that we support her right now."

"Well I should get going, since your elevator is here." She says gesturing toward the doors which are standing open in front of me.

"Yeah, I will see you later Harriet, give AJ a big hug for me."

"Will do, Commander." She says as the elevator doors close on my view of her.

It doesn't take long for the doors to open again, and I head straight for the conference room doors. I step inside to a whirlwind of activity. There are about ten people in the room, all working and talking. It seems they have brought their own phones with them, as there are now at least seven different phones in the room. Five of the phones are in use, by people I don't recognize. I finally spot Sturgis, and Bud over in the corner with Detective Adams. I make my way over to them, getting several stares from those around me as if to say 'Who the heck are you and why are you here?' I reach the small trio and wait for Adams to finish his sentence before breaking into the conversation.

"...so reports should start coming back in from our field agents fairly soon now. Ah, Commander Rabb, Let me introduce you to everyone."

I try to tell him that I don't have time right now but he is already calling for everybody's attention.

"Hey, listen up people! This is Commander Rabb, he is the Colonel's partner and the one first on the scene today. Commander," Adams turns to me then points over to a young man to my three o'clock. "Meet Det. Ellis, he is heading up all the teams out at the airfields right now."

I nod at the tall blonde man. He looks like he could be a linebacker in the NFL, standing slightly taller than me, he outweighs me by double, and I have my doubts that any of it is fat. The guy is a tank!

"Pleasure Commander, just call me Dozer, it's short for bulldozer. The name is self explanatory." He says with a lopsided grin.

"Yes, Dozer it is." I return his smile, he is a genuinely good person, you can see it in his eyes.

I turn back to Adams, "Before you go on I have something REALLY important to tell you, and everyone else as well." I look around me they are all still staring at me anyway so I continue in a louder 'court-room' voice. "I stopped at my office to check messages, I had two, the second one was from Chloe."

I walk over to the nearest phone, which was all of two feet away thanks to the afore mentioned plethora of phones. After I dial my message service and enter the appropriate codes Chloe's voice fills the room. I can feel the tension rise in the room as her scared voice fills the air around us all. For a lot of these guys this finally makes it real. They don't know Chloe. They have only seen the one picture of her, but now they have a live voice, asking for help, and sounding terrified. I can see that it hits home with them, it isn't just a case anymore it is a little girl.

The message ends and I immediately play it again, this time people start moving, taking notes, etc. I pull Adams and Sturgis aside.

"Hey, Sturgis you know how to work the phone system, here are my codes in case you need them while I am gone." I hand him the slip of paper I have written everything out on.

"Where are you going?" Sturgis asks curiously.

"I need to go check on Mac. I will be back within the hour." I watch his face carefully to see his reaction. All I see there is compassion and concern for Mac.

"Sure buddy, let her know that we are pulling for her." He replies and Bud nods his head in agreement.

"Thanks I will. I will see you soon." And with that I am on my way to see what Webb has on Karen Lowne.

Unknown Airfield.

I am so cold, but I am more hungry than cold. Mac said that we would eat breakfast after we ran...huh, yeah right! Next time I am going to DEMAND that we eat BEFORE we go! Next time...if there is a next time. I hope that Mac is okay. She has to be, because this crazy lady doesn't want her dead, she just wants her in jail. I don't even know who this Dalton Lowne is, from what Karen has said, he was Mac's boyfriend a long time ago. I shiver and look around at the room I have been in for what seems like eternity. The smooth gray concrete walls have no windows or openings at all, except for the door. I look above me at the skylight, thirty feet up. There is no way that I can reach it. Maybe if I have an extension ladder, or some climbing gear I could get to it, but I don't have either of those things. The only objects in the room are a brand new mattress, which I am sitting on, a fuzzy blue blanket, and a five gallon bucket with lid. It took me a while to figure out what the bucket was for, but since I have, I am grateful that she left me the lid too. Feeling helpless and useless I lie down on the mattress and bring my knees up to my chin, hugging my legs to me. I am cold, and hungry. I grab the blanket and spread it over me, well at least I am not so cold anymore. I wonder when Harm will find me. He has to find me. I look up at the skylight again. The light is starting to grow dimmer, it must be getting close to dusk. I feel tears slide silently down my cheeks as I realize that I will probably be stuck in this room all night. As I finally break down and start sobbing my only thought is, I want to go home.

Unknown Location

Whew! That was a great run. I go through my cool down routine enjoying the beauty of the park around me. I love being in the park in the autumn...there is that feeling again...something isn't right. It isn't autumn, it's the middle of summer, the leaves shouldn't be red and gold, they should be green. As I stand in the middle of the path strange things start to happen.

It is as if I have somehow stepped out of the time stream. Everything around me seems to move faster. Right before my eyes the leaves finish turning colors and begin to fall off their branches. Just a moment after they start they have finished, and the trees stand bare all around me. Snow begins to softly fall from the sky, landing and collecting on the ground. I look desperately for someone or something to explain what is going on. There is no one here but me. I am alone. As suddenly as it began this unexplainable occurrence ends. I am moving with the world again, a world covered in a thick blanket of snow. I stand for a moment too shocked to move. Then a bitterly cold wind begins blowing, reminding me I am still in my summer running clothes. I begin to shiver violently, my teeth chattering, every breath I take I see in front of me. Wrapping my arms around my upper body I try to retain as much heat as I can, I have to find some sort of shelter. I take in my surrounds, I am no longer at the park on the running trail. I am now in the middle of a dense evergreen forest. How can this be? I don't understand it.

"Hello!" I call out, hoping to hear a response. All I hear is silence, and the unique sound of the wind wisping through the evergreen branches. Again I am alone.

I look around searching for someplace that I can take cover. I crawl under the nearest evergreen tree. The area at the base of the tree is relatively protected by the thick boughs hanging down from the tree to touch the ground. The ground is made slightly softer by the thick bed of dead pine needles that carpet the entire forest. I shiver slightly and pull my coat around me tighter. I am thankful I thought to dress warmly today. I look down at my boots and heavy jeans, wish I was wearing a snowsuit. Oh well at least I have my heavy coat on. My internal alarm system goes off again. This isn't right, something around me isn't right. I again scan my surrounding, using my Marine training looking for hazards and danger. I can't seem to find anything threatening around me, well except the environment itself.

The snow continues to fall outside of my temporary shelter, adding to the four or so inches already on the ground. The wind has picked up spending icy coldness even to the inside of the protective circle of evergreen branches. I sit down against the trunk of the tree and shiver. The alarms are still going off. I can't stay here, I am in danger some how. I am so cold. The wind blows harder still and I feel myself growing sleepy. I can't seem to move, my body isn't responding to me. Wait, this isn't right! Hypothermia doesn't set in this quickly. What is going on? I can't move! I try with all my might to move my arms. Nothing. My eyes grow heavy, I can't keep them open. No! I have to stay awake, I have to help Chloe! Chloe? Why am I thinking of her right now? As my eyes drift shut I think I hear Chloe scream, and another voice laugh. What is going on...I think before darkness claims me.

Vietnam Memorial

Washington D.C.

1918 EST

The setting sun caused the Wall to cast a large shadow, enveloping the place that Clayton Webb stands, waiting. Even in the shadow I spotted him easily because I was looking for him, if I hadn't been he would have simply disappeared into the normalcy of the crowd around him. It also helped that I knew exactly where along the wall he would be. As I come up to where he stands I take and moment to pause, gently running my fingers over my father's name. Using his name as a touch stone, something to ground me in what is the worst day I have had since my crash into the Atlantic, I draw strength from him. I inhaled deeply before turning to Clay.

"Okay, tell me what you know about the woman who has Chloe."

"Karen Lowne, was not actually in the Navy."

"What? Yes she was I have read her service record." I tell him incredulously.

"You have read the service record that was written for her. Karen was actually a Company employee."

I look at Clay in shock, and irritation. "Please tell me this is just a really bad joke, Clay."

"Believe me Rabb, I wish it were." Clayton Webb leans down to retrieve a file from the outside pocket of his briefcase. He pauses before giving it to me, doing a quick visual sweep of the area around us. "Here, this is the only proof that I can give to you. It is a bare bones account of her time at the Company." He pauses now waiting for me to skim the file.

I concentrate on reading the fine print in the fading sunlight. It appears that Karen was with the CIA for seven years...started in Intel, moved to..."Dammit Webb, please tell me that this is wrong! Please tell me that Karen Lowne was not an explosives expert while she worked for the CIA!"

Clay looks around us fretfully; it appears as if I have raised my voice above the level he feels comfortable with. I do have to admit that several people gave us strange glances when they heard the word 'explosives' coupled with 'CIA'. I sigh and look back down at the file.

"Walk with me Rabb. I will tell you what I know."

We leave the general vicinity of the wall and start to walk toward the reflecting pool. We keep our distance from as many people as we can without appearing to do so.

"Karen Lowne, was indeed an explosives expert while with the Company, but that isn't the main reason that I wanted to talk to you."

"Okay so what IS the main reason you wanted to talk to me?" I ask cautiously.

"Karen Lowne died on July 11, 2002."