AJ's Hospital Room
Francesca looked up as Mac peaked her head in the door. "Is it okay to come in?"
"Sure, he's sleeping."
Harm and Mac stepped into the room, to see AJ lying on his stomach. Bandages covered his back on almost every surface of his skin. The tiny sections that were showing were riddled with tiny blisters. They both involuntarily winced. They were about to ask Francesca what the doctor said, when AJ's voice drifted up from side of the bed.
"You two better be here to announce your engagement," He said, in the gruffest voice he could muster under the circumstances.
Mac's eyes danced with Harm's for a moment.
They answered in unison.
Mac said. "Sorry sir."
Just as Harm said. "Not quite yet sir."
Mac's gaze flew to his in surprise. He winked at her.
"Then why the hell are you here?" AJ demanded.
"We came to investigate the mishap."
"The mishap." They heard him murmur under his breath. He let out a long shuddering sigh. "It was a hell of a thing," He said quietly.
Harm and Mac sat down so they could be close to his eye level. "What do you remember Admiral?"
"AJ," He insisted.
"Okay, AJ, what do you remember?"
AJ's words began to slur as the medication they had given him finally began to take effect. "Francesca was cold. I sent her up to get a drink. I stood up for the national anthem, and saw the Hornets coming our way." He paused and for a moment they thought he had fallen asleep. When he began again, his voice was almost inaudible and laced with pain. His resolve was slipping. "Something wasn't right."
"What was it?"
"Don't know," He whispered. "Something made me look up. Don't know why. Saw something happen inside the cockpit. Don't know what it was, but it made the pilot lurch back. Then I saw another small explosion." He paused and swallowed. Francesca leaned over and offered him some water. He sucked appreciatively through the straw, and then licked his lips. "Three. There were three in row. Boom. Boom. Boom. Like three strikes. Then it all blew to hell. I saw her there beside me. I didn't have time to get her out of the way before it hit." He turned his head slightly and tried to catch Harm's eye. Harm leaned down to look at him. "Did she live?"
Understanding dawned. "Yes, she lived. You saved her."
At this AJ seemed to deflate. Exhaustion overtook him, and he closed his eyes. Before he drifted off again he said. "Thank God." In a low, raspy whisper.
Bud rushed into the stadium as fast as he possibly could. Dodging reporters and paparazzi. When he reached the seating area his mouth dropped open. It took him a moment to snap it shut. The head of forensics appeared beside him.
"Commander Roberts?"
"Yes."
"I'm Commander Goode. It's nice to meet you," He said, holding his hand out.
Bud took it. "Thanks for taking the time, I know you're swamped."
Goode wiped the beads of perspiration from his forehead with his handkerchief. "Yeah, it's slow going, and frankly I'm not sure if we can find anything of value here. It's hard to find a cause if the air craft was blown to smithereens."
"I imagine it is. If you don't mind I'd like to look around a little before I go."
"Not at all. I'll call you if I find anything of significance."
"Thank you."
Harriet sat in the room at the VOQ, praising God for a working air conditioner, and perusing files on her laptop computer. When she found anything of interest she'd write it down on the legal pad next to her. She'd poured through the files of all of the major players, and nothing of consequence stood out for any of them. Not so much as a parking ticket. Most of everything on her legal pad had to do with personal background. She sighed. Hoping she wasn't missing anything.
Harm headed across the tarmac toward a young Lieutenant who was currently inspecting an F-16.
"Lt. Ashworth?"
Ashworth raised his head and snapped a salute. "Yes sir."
"I'm Commander Rabb, I'm investigating the mishap at Fenway. I understand you did the final inspection before they took off to do the fly over."
"Yes sir I did. And before you ask I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. You can check my record. All of the birds I check are clean before they hit the air, or I don't let them up."
"I have checked, and you've got a clean record there's no doubt about that, but everyone makes mistakes sometimes."
"Not this time."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because Sir, when mistakes happen on my watch, I go through everything over and over in my head to make sure the mistake wasn't mine. I remember the inspection I did on that plane before it went up. It was clean."
"There's no doubt in your mind?"
"There's no doubt in my mind," He stated. "You have to remember, they were set to perform just an hour after the fly over. That bird had to be clean, or I would have grounded it to make time for maintenance before it had to go back up for the show."
Harm nodded. "Were you out here when they boarded the air craft?"
"Yes."
"In Lt. Logan's statement, he said Lt. Williams went back in to get something she had forgotten. Do you remember that?"
"Yes." He shrugged. "I didn't think anything of it. Lt. Williams was always bringing a good luck charm of some sort with her on her flights. I just figured, that's what she had forgotten."
"Logan also said that he noticed something in her hand. Something black, that she was holding against her side. Do you remember seeing anything like that?"
Ashworth squinted and looked unseeing at the sky. "No sir," He said after a moment. "But I wasn't paying too much attention either."
Harm nodded. "Can you think of anything else that might be significant?"
Ashworth's brow creased in thought. "There was one other thing. When Lt. Williams came back out, she seemed preoccupied."
"How so?"
"She didn't respond to me when I told her "good luck". She is a bit shy, but most of the time she will at least smile. This time she didn't even look at me."
"Are you sure she heard you?"
"No, I'm not."
"Okay Lt. Thank you."
Harm, Mac, Harriet and Bud gathered around the small table in Bud and Harriet's room at the VOQ. An empty pizza box lay between them.
Mac pursed her lips. "Okay, what have we got?"
"Not much Ma'am," Harriet responded. "I did the background on everyone, nothing much stands out. I did a small phone interview with Mercer and Hart, they didn't have anything different to say, than what's in the files. The only thing interesting, was the connection between Williams and Logan. They both mentioned that immediately. But again, that's something we already knew."
"I doubt the forensics teams will find much of anything," Bud said. "Everything's too destroyed to be of any use."
"That was probably the intent Bud." Harm sighed. "Lt. Ashworth said the plane was clean when he cleared it for take off."
Mac sat back. "Do you believe him?"
"Yes."
She raised her hands in frustration, got up and began to pace. "So we have nothing? AJ is laying in a hospital bed for nothing? There are reporters everywhere! How are we going to handle this?"
"We roll with it," Harm replied.
"With all due respect, is the press our problem?" Bud asked.
"No it's not, but we still need to be prepared if they corner us."
Harriet shrugged. "Then we tell them that forensics is a slow process. The Press team can take it from there."
"That still doesn't change the fact that F-18's don't just explode on their own. Someone has to be responsible for it," Mac said.
Harm moved to speak, but was interrupted by the ringing of Bud's cell phone.
"Roberts," He said into the phone. Then sat up straighter in his seat.
Commander Roberts this is Commander Goode. I know I said we probably wouldn't find anything of interest, but I was wrong. Are Commander Rabb and Colonel Mackenzie with you?"
"Yes, they're all here with me. What have you found?"
I'm not entirely sure, just get over here as soon as you can.
"We're on our way."
Bud gestured to the others, and then hung up the phone. They were out the door in a minute flat.
TBC…