Chapter 27: Can't Even Catch A Break in the Car

Mac leans towards Harm and rests her hand over his that is resting on the gear shift, and moves the other to lightly squeeze his outer thigh. Not meant to arouse, but to comfort, "I'm sorry that you had to go through that, Harm. Sometimes in this job we see and hear things we wish we could forget."

Harm nods in silent understanding. The case of Annie and Darlynn Lewis standing at the forefront of what he wishes he could forget. Of all the violent things he has seen in his line of work, the abuse and murder of children hits him the absolute hardest. They are just innocent young souls who have barely started their own adventures before someone comes and takes it away. He marvels at the fact that the beautiful woman he is sitting next to had to experience some of that hatred as a child, and rose above it to become the wonderful woman that she is today.

Before he can offer any words of gratitude, his musings are interrupted as Mac's cell begins ringing. She promptly answers, "MacKenzie."

The young man on the other end clears his throat before speaking, "This is Lance Corporal Finley at the London Field Office. I'm sorry to bother you Ma'am, but Admiral Chegwidden's yeoman just called figuring that you and the Commander would still be here. Since you aren't, he is wondering if you have reached your hotel yet?"

The Colonel replies, "Not yet Corporal." She looks to Harm who places his hand up with all fingers spread indicating five minutes. She continues, "My partner tells me that it should be about five more minutes until we reach our destination, and we will need a few minutes extra to check in and get settled."

Finley replies, "I got it, Colonel. I'll call the Petty Officer back and let him know that he can expect you to call within the next half hour."

Mac asks, "Did Tiner say what he needed?"

The Corporal answers, "I believe he has your flight itinerary leaving out of London to Germany tonight. He also mentioned that the Admiral has some additional documentation for your case, but he didn't provide any particulars."

Mac sighs, all she wanted to do was catch a few winks. Unfortunately, duty doesn't sleep. She states, "Did Tiner specify whether the information was classified?"

The Corporal furrows his brows, "Uh no Ma'am. I didn't think to ask."

Mac pinches the bridge of her nose between her index fingers, these young newbies don't think about all the pertinent information that they need to ask. If they hadn't trained Tiner so well, he wouldn't know either. Now if they could just get him to learn how to brew a proper cup of coffee, the office management would be near perfect. She states, "Please verify it with him when you call him back. We can VPN into the NIPRNET from the hotel room, but if we need a SIPRNET connection, we will need to come back to the office."

Finley responds smartly, "Got it, Colonel. I'll call you back once I have received the information."

Mac answers, "Don't worry about it. I'll call him when we have checked in and can get a connection. Just let him know to be expecting my call once we are settled in."

Harm and Mac arrive at the hotel, and get checked in. With their room assignments in hand, ever the gentleman, Harm escorts Mac to her room. They are both located on the fourth floor, but adjacent rooms were not available, much to Harm's dismay. Since they won't be here more than a few hours, he rationalizes that it doesn't really matter. He just wants to spend a little time alone with her before they have to fly out to the carrier.

On the ride up on the elevator, Harm remarks, "It's been a long night and day already. Would you like to order some room service before we call Tiner? I have it on good authority that this Marine tends to like to eat on a regular basis."

Mac laughs, "I am hungry. I'll take a cursory glance at the menu and then you can go down and grab the food while I get the computer set up. I have a feeling that Tiner is only the first stop and fully believe we will be transferred to the Admiral for the actual case information."

Mac steps into her room, and drops her sea bag next to the bed with a thud. Harm is standing in the doorway, hesitantly, wanting to go into the room, but at the same time knowing that he shouldn't. He isn't sure that if he touches her that he will be able to stop himself from taking it somewhere they can't go while they are on the clock. Mac runs her hands through her hair in frustration, the flight and the subsequent morning that they have had catching up to her. She sits on the bed with a deep sigh and tells Harm, "You don't have to stand there, Harm, you can come in."

Harm says, "There is nothing I would like more, Mac, but you know that is a bad idea. Who knows where the SecNav has eyes and ears here? If our rooms were adjoining it would be one thing, but they aren't. Let me go drop my bag off in my own room while you peruse the menu."

Mac nods at his assessment, "I understand Harm, but we still need to call Tiner as requested. It will take me a few minutes to set the laptop up. Would you rather see if they have a business meeting room available?"

Harm replies, "You get connected here, I will call down to the front desk from my room to see if they have a contained business space that will allows us internet connection and privacy. If not, we will just have to sit at the desk in here with the door ajar. The guys who made these reservations obviously don't understand what kinds of accommodations JAG Officers need to investigate a case."

Mac nods, "After our conversation(s) and FOOD, if we have a chance, I really think I need to crash for about an hour or so. You know very well that I can survive on very little sleep, but with us on another flight later today, we might have to hit the ground running as soon as we are off the COD. So much for catching any of the sights in London."

Harm chuckles, "Yeah, I was looking forward to trying to make the palace guards move. I've heard that they are perfect statutes and barely anything fazes them from their stoic stances. I'm not going to change yet until we know if we have to head back to the base or not. I'll go do a little reconnaissance on our accommodations and get back here in about ten minutes."

Mac is already pulling out her ethernet cable, laptop, and CAC reader to get set up. She says, "I'll be here. I'll leave the door open, so just push when you are back."

Harm heads over to the door, and casts a wistful look her way. She smiles, "I know, Harm. But soon, ok?"

He nods as he picks his seabag up to traipse down the hall to his own room.