This is a longer chapter, please see my note at the end. Lyn
Chapter Five
They both turned as the office door opened and Mr. & Mrs. Harrison re-entered. General Cresswell clenched his teeth and glanced at Harm. "Captain do you have a vehicle here?"
"Yes sir, I picked up a rental at the airport." Rabb answered.
"Mr. & Mrs. Harrison, Captain Rabb has informed me that he knows a few places to start looking for Joshua and Karissa. He will drive you to your hotel. My suggestion is for the three of you to sit down and talk." He turned to Rabb. "Attention," Rabb snapped to, "Captain your orders: you will afford the Harrison's every possible courtesy, you will check in with me personally twice tomorrow minimum, more frequently if necessary. I need to be apprised of any significant leads as they develop, and I want you to be ready to return here ASAP, if needed. I hope you have success finding them quickly. Anything I need to clarify captain?"
"No, sir," Harm responded.
"Dismissed," Cresswell ordered.
"Aye aye sir," Captain Rabb responded click his heels together, executed an about face and departed the room at attention. The general was following behind with the Harrisons explaining that everything would be done to find their children. Once in the bullpen, the captain checked his watch again and turned to face the Harrison's and General Cresswell, who were dispensing with pleasantries. When they were done Harm nodded to the general before taking the elevator.
They exited the building Harm paused for a second to affix his cover. He then lead them to his rental car and opened the closest rear door for Mrs. Harrison, after she entered he closed the door and walked to the other side and opened the other rear door for Mr. Harrison. He glanced at his watch yet again, as he closed the rear door. As he climbed into the driver's seat he looked back over the seat, "Is it alright with you if I make a quick phone call?" Without any objections to the contrary Harm dialed his cell phone after starting the car. "Hey, did I wake you again?" as he place his cover on the seat beside him. He realized the Harrisons were watching him intently.
"No, I'm sitting here waiting for you to call back and explain this whole mystery."
"I figured you wouldn't go back to sleep until I called again. Josh went UA taking his 8 year old sister along. Do me a favor, it's too late tonight I know, but first thing in the morning go in to the office and see if Josh sent me any emails or called the office or even anything from the Academy." Harm explained.
"Sure I'll let everyone at the office know to get a hold of one of us if he calls. Harm, do you have any ideas where these kids could be?" Mac asked nervously.
"I got a few ideas. I just hope I'm right about one of them. I'm sorry go back to bed and get some sleep," Harm offered.
"I wish you luck, keep me informed and get some sleep yourself," Mac ordered.
"Yes ma'am. I'll call tomorrow, bye," Harm promised, the calming effect of just hearing her voice allowed him renewed strength and the patience to deal with the situation at hand. He then looked at his back seat passengers, "Where would you like to go?"
"We're staying where ever you're staying," Annie Harrison balked.
"I haven't had time to get a hotel room yet," again checking his watch. "I was going to go to Benzinger's and get a salad then head out to check two places that came to mind. Do you want to come along or . . . ?"
Annie cut him off, "We are going with you, where ever you go, we go. You are stuck with us, Captain" She snapped.
"Yes ma'am," Harm acknowledged as he pulled out of the parking lot.
.
xxxxx
0105 ZULU or 2005 EST
BENZINGER'S BAR
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
Harm ushered the Harrisons to a booth in Benzinger's, the waitress came over to their table. "Captain it's been awhile," she greeted smiling when she recognized Harm. "Anything on tap, right?" she questioned smiling.
"That would be great, but I think I better stick with coffee for now, Mr. & Mrs. Harrison would you like something?" Harm asked. They both ordered coffee. "Carla you'd better make it a pot of coffee."
"If you ever tire of that wife of yours you let me know okay, Captain?" She flirted.
Annie caught herself staring at Harm's wedding ring. She hadn't taken notice to it before. Paul realized Annie was watching the captain closely, there was definitely something still unresolved between his wife and the captain.
"I don't think so, Carla she'd kick both our sixes," Harm answered with a slight chuckle, giving her that famous fly-boy smile.
"She is one lucky woman and I can always dream can't I," she cooed. Harm shook his head and chuckled again as she left to get their drinks.
Annie Harrison was staring at him angrily, she finally snapped, "Do you think this is a game?" as tears welled up in her eyes threatening to stream down her cheeks.
"No ma'am," Rabb responded letting the grin slip from his face instantly, not wanting to get into an argument, he watched as the waitress returned. She sat their coffee cups, a carafe, and glasses of water in front of them. "Now, can I get you something to eat?"
When Harm indicated the Harrisons, they both shook their heads and politely refused anything. "I'll take a Greek salad with the vinaigrette dressing," Harm ordered. As the waitress began to turn from the table, Harm stopped her, "Carla, do you think you could scratch me up a couple Tylenol, aspirin, or something?"
"Have I given you a headache already?" she gave a fake pout.
"Easy Carla, I've been up for . . ." as he checked his watch, "almost twenty-two hours with less than an hours nap on a cross Atlantic flight. And the last decent meal I had was lunch which was about fourteen hours ago. Am I on a roll yet?" He asked with a sigh and a small smile.
"I'll go get your salad and Tylenol sir," giving an attempt of a salute as she scurried away.
Harm hesitated a second then apologized, "Mr. and Mrs. Harrison, I apologize for my behavior. I should explain that Carla and I have been friends for many years, I'm sorry. It was very inappropriate due to the current circumstances. I should realize the stress that you are both under and I certainly do not want to add to that burden," he added sincerely glancing down at the table.
Carla came back with two Tylenol. "You should hold off on the beer and stick to the coffee, let the Tylenol take affect," she told him teasingly.
"Yes mom. Hey, how is Randy?" he asked trying to shift the spotlight off of him.
"Busy as usual, he got through his undergrad courses and now he's starting his grad school courses. We owe you a lot for encouraging him," she explained.
"I had nothing to do with it. He did it himself. Tell him I asked about him. And how are the kids?"
"Getting so big, every time I look at them they seem to get bigger," she smiled. "I'll go see if your salad is ready. . . Are you sure you folks don't want anything?" Again the Harrisons politely refused.
Harm took the Tylenol with a few sips of water. "Do you have any recent pictures of Josh and Karissa that I can look at?" Harm requested.
"Sure," Annie pulled a photo from her purse.
Harm studied the pictures; Josh definitely wasn't a little boy anymore. "Josh has grown into a handsome young man. And Karissa is a beautiful little girl. Can I ask you a few questions? Did Josh mentioned anything that might indicate where he would go or who he might try to reach?"
After Annie failed to answer, Paul Harrison glanced at her then said, "No, not really the note was pretty brief, saying He and Karissa needed to get away for awhile."
"I'm sorry I realize this must be difficult," Harm offered. Carla returned with his salad and he began to eat slowly. "How did Josh deal with discipline or restriction?"
"Like any teenager," Annie chastised angrily, "You have no clue . . . you've never had a teenager to deal with Harm."
Harm left the question drop and concentrated on his salad, pushing it around on his plate more than eating. After several minutes of silence, Harm's cell phone rang. "Excuse me do you mind if I take this call," Harm asked as he pulled it from his pocket and glanced at the caller ID. He flipped it open smiling. "Mattie, I thought you were studying? . . . I believe I promised you as soon as I wasn't busy I'd come down and see you. I really have something urgent that needs my full attention right now."
"Oh come on, I don't need to study all the time and I miss you and to know that you are so close and not seeing you right away," Mattie complained.
"I knew I shouldn't have called when I landed and told you that I was back in the states." Harm glanced over to his right after suddenly seeing movement out of his peripheral vision. Mattie was using her forearm crutches approximately fifteen feet away talking to him on her cell phone via a bluetooth as she approached.
"Oh Mattie," he groaned out between his clenched teeth, snapped his cell phone shut, then he practically jumped up, quickly strode over and pulled her into a hug careful not to make her loose her balance.
"I figured if you couldn't come to me then I would come to you." She was grinning from ear to ear.
"You young lady are supposed to be studying very hard," he chastised as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pointed her over to the table. "Do you want something to eat?" He asked as he sat back down and slid over in the booth so she could join them.
"Nah, I'll steal some of yours," as she reached for his plate.
"Hey get your own, I haven't eaten anything decent in like fourteen hours," Harm teased. Realizing that the Harrisons were watching them intently, "Mr. and Mrs. Harrison, I'm sorry, I'd like to meet my daughter, Mattie," he introduced. From the look on Annie's face she was shocked. Harm continued, "Mattie is attending classes at the University of Virginia, a special early admissions program that takes the place of her last semester of her senior year of high school. Where she should be right now by the way," he stressed with his eyes flashing mock anger at Mattie. Paul Harrison looked down at the table as he tried to cover his smile with his hand.
"How are mom and Connor? I bet he's getting so big. I can't wait to see him again," Mattie quickly asked.
"They're fine," he said and kissed her on top of the head. "But you're going to be the one to explain that it wasn't my idea for you to come to DC tonight, right? I don't want your mom being ticked off at me. You are taking the heat on this one," he insisted pointing at her.
"It seems I'm more like my father than either one of us would like to admit," she said grinning while pilfering a tomato from his salad and quickly popping it into her mouth.
He laughed, "Eighteen going on thirty-two," describing Mattie to the Harrisons, he then signaled to Carla. "Carla can you please get Mattie her own salad. So she'll leave mine alone," he requested when she came over to the table. "What do you want anyway, other than my salad?" he asked Mattie as he stifled a yawn and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"When did you sleep last?" Mattie asked suddenly concerned.
"This morning and I took a nap on the plane over," he answered. "And by the way who's the parent here anyway?" he added in mock anger rolling his eyes.
"And taking into account the time change and jet lag, let's see to your body clock it would be about two o'clock in the morning minimum," Mattie pointed out snidely.
"Alright, enough smarty," Harm grumbled mockingly.
Annie watched their exchange intently, "Harm I'm sorry I should have realized that you were exhausted. I'm just so worried about Josh and Karissa," Annie apologized. This certainly was a side of Harm she had never seen before.
"Not a problem, we'll check the two places I thought of first. Then we'll get to a hotel and I'll hit the rack for a bit. The main object is to get the kids back." To Mattie he explained, "I'm sure you've heard me talk about Josh Pendry, this is his mother and father, Josh has gone UA and we're trying to find him and his younger sister."
"Oh is that why you came back to the states, I was wondering, I didn't think I'd see you for another couple of months." She tore into the salad that Carla brought her.
"Maybe I should be here to make sure you're eating right as well as studying and toeing the line. By the way don't you have classes in the morning?" as he checked his watch.
"No I don't have any classes until 1:15, so you're stuck with me tonight. I assume we're staying in a hotel?" she asked, hinting.
"Mattie . . ." he started.
"Come on Harm," she whined.
"Alright, alright but you better not miss any classes. I will not take the rap for this one," he said with his hands held up in surrender.
Mattie looked up and watched as several people entered the restaurant, "I won't, hey there's Jen, I'm gonna go say hi. I called her and told her I was coming to see you," she blurted out, as she took off from the booth.
"And to think I thought being on crutches would slow her down," Harm commented chuckling.
"She's a very nice young lady and beautiful too," Paul said more to his wife than Harm.
"Yes she is," Annie agreed. "Where's her mom?" she asked.
"Thank you both, her real mom is deceased, a car accident," Harm explained.
"I'm sorry," Annie added. Paul reached over and squeezed her hand.
Harm just nodded his head as he worked on finishing his salad. "I thought we would take a swing around the mall, check around the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and then we'd try checking the area by my old apartment, see if anyone has spotted Josh. Do you have any other ideas of places he would go?"
"No, I figured he would be trying to get to see you," Annie softly responded.
"Ann- . . . I'm sorry, Mrs. Harrison why do you think that Josh would be trying to find me?" Harm asked again.
"Be- . . . Because of what he wrote in the note he left . . ." she stumbled over the words. Paul again squeezed her hand and put his other arm around her shoulders for support.
Harm took a deep breath and left it out slowly. "Is it because . . . of who he thought was Karissa's father?" Harm questioned quietly finishing her thought, as he pushed his empty salad plate to the side.
Annie looked up at him immediately with tear filled eyes and it appeared that her face became a shade paler.
Harm was not really expecting an answer. He offered, "We'll find them," he smiled; the smile barely seemed to touch his eyes. He then motioned to Mattie to return.
"Jen said she'd like to see you, obviously after you find the kids. I told her that I was sure you would be stopping by JAG at least once before you flew back," Mattie informed him when she climbed in the booth. "So any ideas where to begin looking?"
"I'm sure I will stop by JAG Headquarters several times in the next few days," he admitted. "And I think we better go visit the two places I mentioned now."
Mattie finished the remnants of her salad. Harm put money down to pay the bill, with a tip for Carla, and they left the restaurant to search of the missing siblings.
xxxxx
0215 ZULU or 2115 EST
THE CAPITAL MALL
WASHINGTON DC
Harm drove to the mall and parked along Constitution Avenue. He waited as Mattie pulled her car alongside his rental. He looked back at the Harrisons. "I'll only be gone a few minutes," he stated.
Annie promptly asserted, "I would rather that we stayed with you?"
"Certainly, not a problem" he exited the vehicle affixed his cover opened the doors for the Harrisons and then walked around to Mattie's car. "Do you want to stay in the car and wait? Or if you want, you could go check into the hotel," he asked through her open window.
"No, I want to visit my adoptive grandpa," she explained, she shut the window and climbed from the car.
"Her adoptive grandpa?" Annie asked.
"It's kind of a long story," Harm offered. "I'll explain it on the way."
Paul Harrison held his hand out to Harm. "Captain, please it's Annie and Paul and I would like to apologize for our previous behavior. I think we have left our emotions run amok."
As he shook hands Harm added, "My friends call me Harm and you have nothing to apologize for. This is a very stressful situation. But I am confident that we will find them."
As they started toward the memorial he began, "And now to explain, Mattie and I met when she was fourteen. She was running an aviation business on her own." He reached over and squeezed her shoulder. "Her mother had been killed in a car accident, her father began to drink heavily and disappeared. So I petitioned the courts and became her legal guardian. I encouraged her dad to get sober. Then she was in a plane crash when she was sixteen . . ."
"And you sat by my bed everyday for six weeks until I woke up," Mattie interrupted smiling.
"They said she'd never walk again, if she survived, and if she wasn't totally paralyzed, but she's a fighter." He ruffled her hair smiling. "So she's stuck with me and she keeps teaching me more and more." They both chuckled at the thought.
They approached the Memorial Wall Harm walked over to the panel with his father's name and ran his thumb across the name etched in the granite face. Mattie came up beside him, snuggled under his arm, and gave him a hug. Harm kissed the top of her head. He then scanned the few people who were in the vicinity looking for Josh among them. They walked around the monument scanning all of the other visitors. Having no success with spotting Josh they decided to get back to the car and head to Harm's old apartment.
0235 ZULU or 2135 EST
NORTH OF UNION STATION
WASHINGTON DC
Harm stopped and spoke with the older couple who now lived in the downstairs apartment. They had seen a young man and a little girl leaving the building yesterday, but could not say positively that it was Josh and Karissa when Harm showed them the picture. Harm supplied them with his cell number in case they saw the young man and child again. Then they proceeded up the elevator to the second floor. Harm knocked on the door of his old apartment, receiving no answer he was struck with a devilish idea.
"You didn't see me do this," he advised with a grin. He pulled out the loose brick to the right of the door and retrieved the extra key for the dead bolt. He inserted it into the lock and opened the door. Harm looked around the dark apartment and called out for Josh several times. He left the apartment relocked the door and concealed the key.
"Harm lets check Jen and my old apartment," Mattie suggested as she pulled him down the hallway.
Harm knocked on the door, a young man came to the door. Harm explained that they were hunting for two missing children. He showed the gentleman the pictures of Josh and Karissa inquiring if he had seen him hanging around the building, unfortunately he had not. Harm gave him his cell phone number the gentleman promised to call Harm if he spotted them.
As they left the building frustrated Annie started crying again. "We're gonna find them, it just a matter of time," Harm reassured her.
xxxxx
0339 ZULU or 2239 EST
HILTON HOTEL 16TH STREET
WASHINGTON DC
They decided to stay at the Hilton hotel. Harm and Mattie got adjoining rooms on the third floor. The Harrisons were in a room just across the hall. They said goodnight and promised to meet in the morning at 0800.
Mattie knocked on the adjoining door and made her way into Harm's room. She flopped down onto his bed as he was unpacking items from his travel bag. "So what is up and why is Mrs. Harrison treating you like crap anyway?"
"Mattie she's not treating me like crap," Harm said as he gave her a stern look.
"Okay then what would you call it?" she asked. "I think she's weird."
"She's upset, her kids are missing, give her a break okay?" He sat down on the bed beside her and pulled her into a hug, "Boy I have really missed you."
"I've missed you too. I can't wait until this semester is over and I can come home with you guys over the summer."
"It will be here before you know it," he said as he gave her another hug. "By the way did you decide what you want to do this fall are you going to attend college in England or stay here in the states?"
"I really haven't decided yet. I'm hoping to figure it out before school lets out for the summer." Watching as he stifled another yawn, Mattie leaned in and kissed his cheek, "I know you're really exhausted so I'll let you get some sleep. See you in the morning."
xxxxx
I'm leaving on vacation (sorry but I really need it) so I put up a longer chapter to keep everyone interested (I hope?) with no cliffy at the end. I am still amazed at all the reviews, story alerts and PMs. Keep them coming I love to hear from you, it gives me other points of view, which is wonderful. It's like viewing the story through your eyes. We (if you are still with me) are between a third-to-half way through the story at this point. I'm trying to finish the ending but nothing suits me, hopefully some relaxing campfires and hiking will help. I've written it different ways and it feels disjointed. Also someone asked if Harm would still called her "Mac" good question what do you guys think? I wrote it different ways and this just seemed to fit to me. Please review or PM me with your answers & why.
Thank you,
Lyn