Sorry for delay in updating but this as been one of those weeks, a fried modem and then other problems meant that I could not post for close to 2 days. Then when I went to post last night it didn't let me. So you get a post. Will get another post up shortly. However, as I am going camping I cannot post until Sunday. but I will be working on my story, getting it written so that when I get home I can type it.
Chapter 19
When the realization came to her it was really him she was dumbfounded. She was very surprised to see Harm, since the last she'd heard, he was in prison. Several thoughts ran simultaneously through her head. First, she was thanking God that she'd been rescued, but the second had her worried. Why was Harm here? Had he escaped? How exactly did he know how to find her? Getting the last of the bonds off her wrist she waited by one of the remaining trucks for Harm and Victor to make sure the dead were dead, and for them to call in a team to take care of the dead and wounded.
Victor brought Clay out of the cellar they'd been calling home; he'd take the injured man back to the capital for treatment. "Gunny, before you leave, I want to talk with him," Mac asked.
"Sarah, I'm so sorry for dragging you into this" Clay grimaced with pain before continuing; he sounded weak and resigned to his fate. "It was fun being your husband, I want the real thing." There he'd said it. He hadn't said this during the time preparing for their mission, or during it, prior to this very moment. Mac knew he'd wanted her physically, and had taken the torture instead of her, but she needed to tell him despite the horrific shape he was in physically. "Clayton, it was fun, well some of it was, but I don't think so, I love you kinda like a pesky little brother." She bent down to kiss him good-bye. It was as she was bending down to kiss him that Harm came around the car and she saw a look of devastation on Harm's face that she hadn't seen since his conviction.
She wasn't sure Harm had heard the entire conversation so she continued. "Even though there were a few laughs with you, like getting used walking in this pregnancy suit, I'd rather never have the real thing with you. I've never ever been interested in you in that way. I think it best that you don't contact me when we get back to DC. I want to pursue my life and don't want, don't need you in it." It was hard to tell Clayton, for him to hear this, especially in his weakened condition, but it needed to be said, with witnesses around.
"Sarah I wanted to spend time with you, with Rabb out of the picture I arranged it so you and I would be together." Clayton knew it was a lost cause, and if he didn't survive, he wanted this off his chest.
"What?!" Mac roared. Incensed being a very mild form of the word of how she felt at that very moment towards Clayton. Harm already knew, it had been in the packet of papers sent by Gayle and delivered by AJ, No matter; it didn't make it any easier to hear that the man he'd once considered his friend had arranged for Sarah's life to be endanger.
"I persuaded Kershaw, my boss at CIA, that you were vital for the success of the mission, truth is there were female agents who'd have done just as well." Clay admitted. He didn't know that Galindez had a small recorder with him and taped the confession. It was a good thing Clayton lost consciousness at that point as both Mac and Harm looked, to Victor, as if they wanted to subject Clayton to another beating.
Victor diffused the situation stating that if Clay were to have a chance of survival he needed to get to a medical facility as soon as possible. Buckling the older man in, he sped away as fast as he could safely go. He knew he could drive quickly and safely as he'd been trained in high-speed travel as a New Mexico police officer, but the road conditions necessitated a slower speed than he desired. He quickly called his contact to get Webb to medical attention as soon as he could reach him on the cell he'd hidden in his shoe.
Chapter 20
Harm and Mac need to find a way to catch up with Sadik Fahd and his band of not so merry men. To Mac's surprise Harm whipped out a brand new, state of the art, cell phone. "Frank, we have both packages, but need to find the larger shipment before our meeting." He listened for a moment. "Will let you know. Tell Mom, not to worry." he closed the phone cutting off the connection. "I have access to a plane about twenty kilometers from here." He told Harm as they got into the vehicle.
Mac was dying of curiosity, as what was going on, but until they dealt with the terrorists, there couldn't be any distractions. How exactly was Harm's stepfather involved in this mess? She didn't put the names together until the comment about his mother. Soon they were driving up a short unpaved road, where an older gentleman, who looked Amish to Mac, was working on a vintage plane similar to Harm's Stearman. They could hear him muttering in German.
Mac panicked, though her face didn't show it, she wasn't fluent in German. She was amazed to hear Harm call to the man, as if he were greeting someone he knew.
"Herr Mueller, Ich bin Frank Stiefsohn, ein Jahrzehnt älter als beim letzten Mal sah mich" (Mr. Mueller, I'm Frank's stepson, a decade older than when you last saw me.)
"I've been expecting you", the man replied in English to Mac's surprise.
"Sarita is ready to take off; Frank told me that you wanted to show your pretty wife the beautiful Paraguayan countryside by air. I hope you don't mind but my wife packed a picnic basket for you." After a few weeks with Clayton Webb, Mac had quickly learned things said in public might have a different meaning, she fervently hoped this guy was helping them out but couldn't speak freely.
"Vielen Dank, wir wollen einige Sehenswürdigkeiten der Luft, während wir uns in Paraguay, plus Ich möchte zeigen sie Iguazu Falls" (Thank you, we want to do some aerial sightseeing while we are in Paraguay, plus I want to show her Iguazu Falls.) Harm's German was rusty, he hoped none of Mueller's farmhands knew the language, but just in case he'd said they would see the falls, knowing that they were in the opposite direction he wanted to look. He would take off in that direction though, just in case. He hoped he hadn't mangled the language, but he hadn't had to use the language much since his time in Pennsylvania during his recovery from the ramp strike. It was coming back to him quickly though, Meanwhile Mueller was doing a masterful job of not applauding; The younger man had spoken the language like it was almost his mother tongue. Despite the fact it had been apparently been years since he'd had to speak more than a few words in German.
They were quickly aloft and the scenery was, indeed beautiful, but they couldn't enjoy it because they needed to find Fahd and the convoy of missiles. They had help in that they were looking for a semi-truck with the same unusual insignia they'd seen at the estate. Within a few minutes, they spotted what could be the convoy. "Mac open the picnic basket" it was at her feet, "let me know what's in there." There were sandwiches on top, in case someone actually looked inside, but the majority of the items one never ever saw in a picnic basket. There were several sticks of dynamite as well as matches and a lighter. There was also, what appeared to be a blanket, Mac would look closer at the basket later. Next to the sandwiches a small pair of binoculars.
"He put some dynamite in, also a matchbook, and a pair of binoculars." She took the binoculars out and took a closer look at the convoy. She was able to verify it was, indeed, the group of vehicles they wanted to find. "It's them."
"I'll bring the plane down lower; I want you to light and drop the dynamite when I say ready." Harm ordered, as if the two did this very thing on a daily basis.
"Understood"
He took the plane to a lower elevation and any worries they had they were going after the wrong semi ended when they saw someone in the last vehicle stop and aim a surface to air missile at them.
"Ready"
Mac's aim was true; thanks to Harm's time as a fighter pilot, he knew when to 'fire' the missile at his target. They were fortunate, due to the topography of the land the convoy had slowed and the semi was the intended target, because the vehicles were close together, it was apparent they weren't expecting an aerial attack so they hadn't spread out. The exploding truck set off a chain reaction. As they flew up and out of the small valley, Mac didn't see anyone escaping any of the vehicles. After what she'd just been through and seen she was not feeling sorry about casualties.
As they left the area Harm whipped out his cell phone. "Frank, we found the lost shipment...yes that's the address. Tell Cathy her company needs to send out a new janitor's crew. Bye."
A moment later his phone rang and he answered it, yelling to be heard over the plane. "Yes, we'll be there by five, if we can, tonight would be great."
"Who were you talking to?" Mac yelled back, curious.
"That call was the American embassy; we'll return the plane to Hans, Mr. Mueller, then head back to Asuncion. I'm using Frank's phone, it isn't highly encrypted so we worked out a few codes. Do you remember the attorney we dealt with last fall?" When Mac gave him a look that stated 'exactly what attorney are we talking about, after all, we both met several last fall' He clarified for her. "Her name was Catherine Gayle."
Chapter 21
"She's CIA." Mac recognized the name.
"Got it in one, Frank's been my intermediary on this."
They flew around for a while, because if they returned to Mueller's right away it might tip off any of the terrorists left. Harm purposely returned to Mueller's from the opposite direction of the explosion when they landed the plane nearly an hour later. This would get them to the capital by five.
Harm thanked Mr. Mueller, who told them to keep the contents of the picnic basket for their trip to the capitol. Harm waited until they were on what passed as a main road in the area before explaining how he knew the man. Hans Mueller had lived in Belleville for decades. In fact, when both were young he'd courted Sarah Rabb but she'd rebuffed his advances, choosing instead, an aviator, Harm's grandfather. Because of their shared interest in vintage planes, a much younger Harm had spent time with Hans when Harm was in Pennsylvania as a child. "He helped me with Sarah. I think he knew I needed to do it myself, he helped me only when I needed it."
Mac understood, and had a newfound respect for the man who had helped Harm out during one of the darkest periods of his life.
"As a kid I couldn't understand why my friend, Mr. Mueller, and Frank got along so well. At first, I took it as a betrayal of our friendship, until he explained it to me in a way a kid could understand. I haven't seen him for nearly ten years he sold his farm the year after my ramp strike because he'd finally located his brother. Back in the early thirties, instead of leaving for Pennsylvania, his brother stayed in Germany, after the war the brother moved to Paraguay but during the war, they lost contact. Hans came down here to visit his brother and loved the land. Frank reminded me on the flight down here, of Hans Mueller's whereabouts and his willingness to help me. He reminded me that to Hans Mueller I was the grandson his daughter never had." At the look of confusion on Mac's face he continued. "His only child was a girl, she became a nun."
That explained why Harm had said what he did, and the apparent familiarity he had with the older gentleman. "Harm don't get me wrong, but why are you here? Let me try that again because that came out wrong, I'm very glad that you and Gunny came when you did. Seeing what Sadik did to those missionaries, I doubt I'd have lived very long."
Harm realized in all the confusion that he hadn't told her of his release from prison. "Don't worry; I'm not a wanted fugitive. I've been cleared of all charges, by now completely exonerated by the court. Chegwidden already started the ball rolling to get my dishonorable discharge overturned, I'll be back in the Navy."
"If you were cleared, who killed Lt. Singer?" She realized that didn't sound right. "I know you didn't kill her, if you had, I know you, if you had you would have admitted it in court. I know you."
"It was Lindsey." He stopped talking, there'd been no one besides them on the road for a few minutes, he knew Mac wanted to change clothes. She'd shown him what had been hidden in the picnic basket, a dress for her to change into. Because of the difference in height and weight between Mrs. Mueller and Mac, it was a bit short, but not a micro mini. She gladly took off the maternity clothes and the fake belly she'd worn for days, and changed into the dress. It was roomy but she didn't mind because it was clean and comfortable, just a bit shorter than she cared to wear most of the time. Harm didn't mind the amount of leg she was showing while she got back into the car but he'd seen that most of the women in Paraguay dress very conservatively; he hoped they wouldn't have to make too many stops along the way on their return to Asuncion.
Getting back into the car she told Harm to continue, leaving off with 'it was Lindsey' had been agonizing to hear. "Lindsey accidentally killed her according to Chegwidden, but he intentionally framed me for deaths by taking my cover. While he was at JAG for the audit he found out she'd been pregnant, something else he didn't know. Apparently, she was blackmailing him because of their affair. She was about to leave the country, to have the baby in Ireland--or somewhere else in Europe when he pushed her and she hit her head, he didn't find a pulse, but she was only unconscious. He said he tossed her over the railing. You know that she ended up drowning. If he'd taken her to emergency, both she and the baby would be alive today." He gripped the steering wheel, relaxing and before continuing, he smiled. "I know that several of my actions over the past months contributed to my conviction. If I'd have been on the panel I would have convicted me." His trademark grin wasn't completely there yet but it was the first one she'd seen in a long time. He explained to Mac what he'd been told had happened.
As they drove toward the capitol, they had the chance to find out a little of what the other had been through, both the good the bad, and a little bit of the ugly. Harm was still a bit black and blue in the torso and neck because of the beating Gilroy had given him on the way to the warden's office. That was one trial he wanted to be at, if it made it to trial at all.
Mac told him the basics of their mission, she didn't want to have to rehash some of it, and she knew she had a debriefing to go through that evening.
"I take it you want to get back into the Navy, I know you don't have that long until you can retire with a pension." Mac changed the subject to a lighter tone.
"I haven't really thought about it, Bud and Sturgis are working with the bar association to get me reinstated. I wanted to make sure you were safe first, before I did anything else. I don't know if I want to go back to JAG though, not if it means I can't be with you." There he'd said it. "I want to pursue a relationship with you. We've wasted enough time, made ourselves miserable because of the frat regs."
They were coming into a village, Harm saw the village square had a nice park, and decided to stop, as they needed to eat lunch anyway. Getting out of the car and helping Mac out of the car he walked toward the park bench and sat down. "When I was at McNeil, I had time on my hands; I took the time to look up a few things in the law library there. They even had a copy of the UCMJ. I found out something, something I'd forgotten was there. It isn't considered fraternization if a married couple is already married when one of them start to work there."
"If I transfer to the judiciary we won't be in the same command." Mac knew, because of the fiasco that had occurred when Harm was on the bench she was better suited for that job. So did Harm. "It'll take a little maneuvering of cases to make sure you don't appear before me. And if I don't transfer over to the judiciary they'll have to make sure we don't oppose each other in court in any case."
"If we're already married, and I return to JAG while a civilian, about to be reinstated as a commander, we won't be breaking any rules; bending them yes, but not breaking them." He had a twinkle in his eye as he said this. Harm often bent the rules, but only if he knew he was in the right and Mac knew that. She listened to what he was really saying and what he was implying, she knew what she said in answering him would determine their friendship for the rest of their lives.
Taking a moment, she replied. "You're right, we've let the rules--rule our friendship."
Harm stood up, and Mac began to panic, then he turned and got down on one knee.
