PART 7

0530 Zulu

Harm's Apartment

North of Union Station.

Waking up, Harm looked over at the red digits of his alarm clock. He'd only been asleep for less than two hours and his body was protesting. Sighing, he threw himself off of the bed and headed into the living room. He needed to see if Mac was okay.

He didn't see her in the sofa and he was sure that she wasn't in his bathroom. Seeing his phone out of place, he picked it up and hit redial. When the taxi company answered, he knew where she had gone. "Damnit, Mac." He said, slamming the phone back into its cradle.

Running back to his room, Harm slid on jeans, a long sleeved shirt, his bomber jacket and tennis shoes.. He found his lock box, took out and loaded his service weapon. He had an eerie feeling about something and it was better to be safe than sorry.

Jumping into his SUV, he took the familiar drive to Mac's place. She had to be there, he knew she had no where else to go. His mind imagined her packing things up, grabbing her vette and zipping out of town. He hoped that he would get there in time.

When he arrived Mac's apartment, he saw that his emergency key was missing from the key chain. He chuckled at how precise his Marine could be about things. Apparently, she didn't account for the second, third and fourth keys that he had made. One was always in his wallet and the other two in each of his cars.

Once he opened the door, he heard a loud shrill that could come from no one other than Mac. "HARM!"

Before he had a chance to take out his service weapon, he felt the force of someone tackling him. Once he hit the floor, the gun popped out of his waistband and scurried across the floor. Mustering an animal-like force, Harm pushed his assailant off of him and made a beeline for the weapon. He managed to grab it but not before the bandit grabbed his legs, sending him down to the floor.

Mac was busy struggling out of the ropes that had her arms bound behind a chair. A second assailant, who was rummaging through her bedroom had made it out to find his partner struggling with Harm. Managing to undo the ropes, Mac stood and spun around, planting a solid kick right against the man's chest. The force would have knocked out most men, but seeing as he must have been 280 lbs of solid muscle, he was only slightly phased.

When she tried to help Harm out, a shot went off, sailing through the air, hitting the chest of the man that Mac had just kicked. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to watch him slide to the floor holding the center of his chest. Just then another shot went off and she saw the look on Harm's face. "Oh God. . . No!" She said under her breath.

With as much strength as she could, Mac pushed the guy off of Harm. The first thing that she saw was the blood and then, his eyes. "Harm?"

Pushing the man fully off of him, Harm sat up and touched his body. "I'm fine. . . It's his blood not mine."

Mac just stood there; a scared and blank expression on her face. Tears started rolling down her cheeks.

Harm stood and picked up his service weapon, after tucking it in his waistband, he headed over to Mac who was slowly breaking down. "Mac?"

"Oh, God. . . Oh God." Mac kept saying, her head shaking from side to side.

"Mac!" Harm yelled more forcefully. He shook her slightly, trying to get her to function again. "Do you have any money hanging around?"

Instead of answering, she stood there shivering. She'd managed to maintain some sort of composure, but it was now gone. She looked up at him, an empty look in her eyes which made him see that she didn't comprehend. So again he shook her and added his best DI voice. "Lt. Colonel MacKenzie. . .Snap to!" He held onto her shoulders and made her look at him. "Get any money you have, Mac."

This finally got her attention and nodding, she made her way to the bedroom and came back with a roll of bills. It was emergency money that she had always kept around just in case.

Looking around, Harm noticed the duffel bag.. He grabbed that, her service weapon which was on the coffee table and, after sliding a jacket around Mac, made it out of the building, speeding off before the police had arrived.

Mac sat in his SUV and shivered. She wasn't cold but the events of the past months had finally gotten to her. She couldn't live like this. She joined the Marine Corps so that things would be different and better for her. Somehow, it was all turning to hell. "Where are we going?" She managed to ask when her tears subsided. Glancing out of the window she saw Harm had taken the route which lead to the freeway.

"Gatlinburg. Frank has a cabin that he said I could use at anytime. I think this would be a good time." Grabbing his cell phone, Harm dialed the number to Jen and Mattie's apartment. In no uncertain terms, Harm told Jen to get out of there and head over to Bud and Harriet's. He did not give her any details just that it was something was wrong. To make sure that she would not have problems he made it an order for her not to dig for information and simply assured her that he would contact her as soon as possible. "Just in case." He said, before turning to Mac and giving her a lop-sided smile. "It'll be alright." He said, taking one of her hands in his.

Mac held his hand tightly, wanting to believe that he could fix things for her. But she couldn't believe, not this time.