Chapter 3
Mac drew down deep to summon her military discipline as she left the room. Mac made it to the parking lot and to the park located a few blocks away before she stopped the vehicle, and bawled for twenty minutes. She told herself that she should've tried harder to see Harm while awaiting trial, she should have told him she wanted to be with him. As she gathered her emotions, she decided she'd transfer to the Pacific Northwest as soon as an opening arose, and if one there wasn't an opening soon she would resign her commission and look into working for the state of Washington or a one of the counties close to the prison. She'd would start looking into it, if nothing was found to clear Harm in a month. Who cared if she was within years of a full retirement if she didn't have anyone to retire with.
Harm then was re-shackled and taken to the prison van that would take him to the prison he'd stay for the night; he'd be flown the next day to begin his sentence. As he was processed into the federal system he thought 'how many of the people I've convicted said they were innocent' Now he'd been convicted of a crime and KNEW he was innocent. He knew that as soon as his mother and Frank found out they'd use their last penny to clear his name. He hoped it didn't come to that. Frank Burnett was a wealthy man.
It was normal procedure for new prisoners to be placed in solitary when he arrived at McNeil Island Penitentiary according to the marshal who had accompanied him; he'd be there for until they made sure he had no obvious enemies at the institution. They did this whenever an attorney was placed in the system.
In DC, Tuesday it was a lovely day, not too hot, not too cool, but the staff at JAG acted as it was the forty-first straight day of steady rain. No one was smiling. They were doing their jobs as the professionals that they were, but, other than what needed to be said in course of their duties, the building was nearly as silent as a tomb.
The night before had been a narrow escape for Mac, who'd been sorely tempted to drink alcohol, but had stopped herself. She didn't want whoever the guilty party was to have the satisfaction of ruining her life as well. She had a trial starting and a client to defend so she wasn't able to contact Abby Scioto, as soon she wanted to. She'd heard, in passing that the Goth was addicted to the large Kaff-Pow drinks, and decided to get on her good side and bring one with her.
Late in the day, the admiral got a phone call, one that he'd been expecting since Rabb informed of the letters he'd sent, or to be more accurate, the one his defense counsel had sent for him. The call was brief, and the Admiral could barely get a word in edgewise. He had the dubious honor of telling the Burnett's just how long Harm's sentence was. He also told the Burnett's that, for his protection, he'd been sent to the McNeil Island facility, near Tacoma Washington. Frank told AJ, that if it took the last penny of their retirement they'd find the person who'd done such a masterful frame-up on their son. The admiral knew he'd tell Mac what the Burnetts intended to do.
The week dragged on; and the anvil that AJ felt coming struck Thursday afternoon.
Chapter 4
The DCI at CIA, Kershaw called him over to Langley. Sheffield, the current SecNav, was there, which he knew wasn't a good sign. "It's come to my attention one of your officers has the necessary qualifications to be of use to the CIA. It's because of her military training, as well as her language capabilities, that I've approved her TDY to the Agency for the duration of the mission." Sheffield stated and AJ knew there was no wiggle room she couldn't refuse without disobeying a direct order.
The only female officer he had that fit the mission parameters was Mac; and he knew Mac had no option but to take the assignment. He only prayed she'd survive. He had the sinking feeling the agent involved was Clayton Webb, which was not a positive sign, as it seemed whenever JAG got involved in this particular agent's missions, the military ended up having to clear the mess up for him.
"Are you sure that you couldn't find at least one female operative to do this?" he queried.
"There were a few, but the colonel has worked well with the agent in the past, and we've decided to accept the agent's request. We have been tracking the suspect for six weeks now", which, coincidently was when Rabb had been arrested, "we believe we'll be able to prevent another 9/11 with the successful outcome of the mission." The SecNav had decided, and nothing to be said would change his mind.
AJ decided then and there, he'd retire in a year. Politics had wormed its way into JAG for the umpteenth time and it was one time too many. Harm had intimated NCIS had been pressured to arrest him, to go after terrorists instead. If this could be proven then the investigation would be reopened. That is if the Burnett's hadn't been able to free Harm before then. He went to the correct site on his computer and printed out the correct form to begin the process.
Harm put several people from JAG on his visitors list, as well as family members, what few family members he had. He knew that it was a good thing Sergei was planning to marry his flight attendant fiancé, because it was quite apparent he'd be the only one who'd have the chance to father a child. Who would
Harm was informed he'd spend at least ten days in isolation before moving into the general population. This would be a different situation for him because each and every time he'd been suspected of murder, he'd been kept in protective custody, so solitary was nothing new for him. Even though it would be more dangerous for him to be out in the general population, he knew twenty to thirty years of solitary would literally drive him crazy. He knew prison life wouldn't be a cakewalk for him, as he'd been convicted of killing a pregnant woman, he knew that would not endear him to anyone. He did know his future cellmates name though. Ibrahim Bashir had been convicted on tax evasion charges a year ago. Harm was told the man was a devout Moslem and didn't have any suspected ties to Al Qaeda. Harm hoped that was the case, otherwise he'd have to sleep with one eye open, after all, he'd been involved in the war on terrorism. He was also told that his mother and stepfather would see him on Saturday and he wasn't looking forward to the conversation.
