Chapter V - Incident at Potomac Park

When Mac was sure the NCIS Agents had left for the day, she crossed the bullpen and rapped on Harm's closed door. Even his blinds that were normally open were shuttered. This was so unlike him, but then ever since Loren had gotten pregnant….

"Enter," a wary voice replied, knocking any other thoughts from her mind.

Mac entered to see Harm bent over his files in an almost defensive pose. When he first looked up, the Commander definitely had a look of irritation and self-protectiveness on his face. They slid away when he saw the Colonel standing there. His features softened.

"Mac, what's the status with General Kubin?" he asked nonchalantly.

Mac though, was in no mood for his charm. "Harm, what the hell?" she ground out as she closed the door.

Harm looked thunderstruck by her verbal assault. "Wha? Whoa Mac-"

"Don't 'Whoa Mac' me, Commander." She stood near the door, arms akimbo. "Where the hell do you get off launching your own private investigation of Lieutenant Singer?"

"That's none of your business," he replied trying to shut her down by looking at his paperwork.

The Marine Light Colonel rounded his desk forcing him to look up at her. "None of my business?! Harm, NCIS is looking at you as their top suspect! They showed me a report showing that you had Commander Manetti doing an investigation separate from mine into Loren Singer!"

Harm looked up at her with what looked like pleading expression on his face. "Mac we agreed that we needed to check her out…."

Mac wasn't about to let him slide with that explanation "…to determine whether or not she was guilty of conduct unbecoming. Why didn't you tell me you had pulled Manetti into this?"

Harm's eyes slid away from her. She could tell he was hiding something. "Mac, it's not as simple as it looks…"

But the Light Colonel wasn't buying it. "Try me." She challenged.

"You wouldn't – you couldn't begin to understand…" Harm said with an aire of resignation. He looked exhausted.

Mac shook her head in irritation. "Harm you've protected me before – gone out on a limb for me before - so you don't expect me to do the same for you? What did you find out?"

Harm's blue green eyes bored into hers. "Mac, if you get involved you could be charged as an accessory. I can't have that."

The Light Colonel was taken aback. "An accessory? An accessory to what?"

"Attempted murder," Harm said flatly.

Mac was silent for a moment. "Did you do it?"

Harm threw his pen on his desk pad. "Mac, come on," he scoffed.

Mac shook her head. "No Harm. Did you do it?"

"I can't believe you'd ask that…" he said, trying one last time to get her to leave this alone.

But she wouldn't. "Harm, I have to 'ask that' – Did. You. Do it?" She asked pointedly.

"No. No, of course not," he said quietly as he looked at her.

She held his gaze. "But you know who did…"

"Maac," Harm groaned. He really didn't want to have this conversation right now.

"Dammit, Harm, this is no time to play the gallant sacrificial hero and fall on your sword. If you know who did this, you have to tell me!"

Now it was Harm's turn to shake his head. He stood up and started to turn away from her. "No Mac, I can't…and I won't."

She though, turned him around and got nose to nose with him. "Damn you, Harmon Rabb, yes you will."

They stood like this for several moments. Then Harm's shoulders sagged. Mac was a little shocked that he gave in so easily. "Fine. I-I think Sergei is involved," he said in a defeated tone.

Mac couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Sergei? Your half-brother? Involved how?"

"I think he had a brief relationship with Loren," Harm confessed.

Now it all made sense. Harm's interference in the NCIS investigation, his getting Manetti to investigate Singer, their joint investigation of Singer, Harm's meetings with the Lieutenant. Now it all came together like some horrible puzzle.

"And you think he got her pregnant?" she said quietly.

Harm nodded. "Or that she allowed herself to get pregnant with his child. The truth is, Mac, I just don't know. That's what I was trying to get Commander Manetti to find out."

Mac winced when she realized despite his best efforts he still didn't know whether or not Singer was carrying Sergei's baby.

"But she couldn't tell you, could she?" Mac's voice was flat. Just when things between them were looking up something had to come along and mess everything up….

Harm looked glumly at her. "No, and now with Loren missing, NCIS investigating, and Sergei back in Russia-"

Mac suddenly figured out what Harm was thinking, "You think he did it."

Harm sighed heavily. He was at wit's end. "Yeah Mac, I do."

For first time since they began talking, Mac put her hand on his arm as she looked at him. "Harm, you have to find out what he did before they pull you in for questioning. Call him."

Harm nodded in agreement. He'd talk to him soon.

xxvxx

Gibbs' blue Ford Taurus was headed down Highway 50 back towards the Navy Yard. Vivienne had been unusually quiet since they left JAG Headquarters for the day. Tomorrow they would go back and question a few more possible suspects. Gibbs had expected her to show her usual impatience with his methods. He didn't have to wait long.

Vivienne suddenly turned in her seat to face him. "Wait, tell me again, why didn't we question him?"

Gibbs glanced at her as he turned a corner. "That what the FBI would've done?" he asked curtly.

Vivienne Blackadder knew she was deliberately being goaded. She didn't care though. "Damn right," she shot back.

Gibbs didn't like her questioning his methods. It seemed here lately that's all she did. "Yeah, well, they wear suits and ties, too," he fired back snidely.

Vivienne was little chastened by his response. But she had to see her point, right? "They may wear suits and ties, but they share the play book. Look, Rabb ran an unofficial investigation into Lieutenant Singer's love life. Okay? Why don't we slap him in a room, read him his rights, and go for the jugular?"

Gibbs though, had a very good reason for not going after Harmon Rabb right away. "Because he's JAG Corps fair-haired boy," he said simply.

Agent Blackadder snorted. "Oh, and that gets him a pass in this investigation?" she challenged.

Gibbs tried to make it plain to her. "He's their best prosecutor and defender that they have," he pointed out.

Vivienne snorted again and shook her head as if she smelled a terrible odor. "Oh please, I'm in awe," she shot back caustically.

Gibbs was starting to get irritated with her, again. "Well, you should be. We start questioning Rabb, and we don't have all the pieces to the puzzle, he'll pull an OJ on us, and he won't need a slick lawyer to do it."

Vivienne sat back and didn't say anything for a few moments. She had been so sure she was right. She never considered that Gibbs was looking at the bigger picture and saw what Rabb could do if they moved too soon. She felt like an idiot. "I'm feeling, ah, really…really stupid, Gibbs."

Gibbs though was willing to let her comments to her slide, especially when she admitted she was wrong. "Eh, just a little behind the learning curve," he said paternally to her.

Vivienne smiled at his comment.

1824 Local_ 2324 Zulu
Bethesda Naval Hospital
Bethesda, Maryland

The former SEAL tapped on the door. He felt bad about not coming before now. It had been a rough week. The investigation into what happened General Cuban's daughter was winding down and the General though the Colonel's efforts, had been kept from kept from being Court Martialed, but it had been close. On top of all this, Agents Gibbs and Blackadder had been at JAGC all week, interviewing anyone that had contact with Lieutenant Singer or had worked with her. At least his statements had cleared him of wrongdoing. But now he was about to do something he'd bust Harm to recruit for doing.

Sure, he could say it was a senior officer showing concern for a junior officer, but investigators and lawyers would say the same thing; '…obstruction of an active case, possible undue command influence. Place as much distance between you and this case as possible….'

He knew all the rules and regs concerning this kind of situation…well, to hell with that!

Loren was one of his 750 JAGC staff members and part of his top corps of troubleshooting attorneys, and he'll be damned if he let anyone get away with hurting one of his own. He had to know if she had remembered anything he had heard via official reports that the Lieutenant's memory was spotty at best. He had to see for himself how bad it really was.

"Lieutenant? Permission to come in?"

The first thing he noticed was that the woman laying on her side in the bed with her head bandaged up acted nothing like Loren Singer.

Her eyes were wide in wonder and bewilderment. "You…you know me, sir?" The 'Sir' was said with reverence that a first year plebe might use.

AJ Chegwidden was stunned. This wasn't Loren Singer.

The two-star flag officer took a chair and set it down by her bedside. Loren moved back on her bed a little as if making room for his presence. It unnerved him to see her do this. In all the time he had known Loren Singer, she had never acted this way.

"You're one of my top attorneys, Lieutenant. I'm uh, Admiral Chegwidden, you're, um, boss," he replied trying to give her reassurance as he shot her his fatherly smile.

"I don't feel very much like a Lieutenant these days, sir," Loren said honestly to this bald handsome Navy officer. He seemed nice enough. "Or an attorney."

The JAG ignored the disturbing parts of those comments as he sat down. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Like pregnant whale that's been bashed on the head, sir."

AJ chuckled at her refreshing response, now that sounded more like the Loren Singer he remembered, "The ah, 'pregnant whale' part is just your pregnancy hormones running amuck, Lieutenant, it's to be expected."

She smiled, pleased that she had made him more comfortable. He seemed ill at ease when he had first seen her and that in turn had made her uneasy.

"How is your head, Lieutenant?" The Navy/Marine Corps JAG asked as he looked at the bandages covering her head.

She unconsciously put her hand to them. "It still hurts from time to time. I really don't want to see what they had to do to my hair back there…"

AJ gave her another gentle chuckle at her attempt at humor, he found himself, despite knowing this wasn't his JAGC Lieutenant, liking this version of Loren Singer. "Hair grows back, Lieutenant. Do you remember anything at all about what happened to you?"

Loren was quiet for moment as she thought about the question. "I fell or was pushed from a…a bridge…into the water…somehow I hit my head…I had been in an argument with a Navy officer…and that's all I remember about what happened," she replied, her voice quavering a little as she finished.

Loren could tell this balding Navy officer was taken aback not her report but by the way she delivered it. If she had recognized that this was former SEAL Albert Jethro Chegwidden, she would have known he was shaken to the core by her vocal cues. Instead of the tough strong abrasive Lieutenant he had come expect, this woman was shy, unsure of herself, and acted well, lost. No shred of Loren Singer was visible.

Her eyebrows knitted up in concern at his shaken look. "Sir?"

He did his best to put on his officer face for her. "Yes Lieutenant?"

"I really don't remember anything about what I did or who I was…there are flashes of memory…little bits and pieces that float to the surface from time to time…but what I've glimpsed of what she has done…well, I don't like her…that is…me, am I making sense, sir?"

Given the state of the possible damage to her brain, Loren may have been seeing her past life through the distorted prism of fragmented memories. "Lieutenant, you were a lawyer and on your way to being a damn fine one…" he said trying to reassure her in his own confident way. "Don't let your confusion tell you any differently."

But Loren Singer wanted him to know the truth as she saw it. "That's what I've been told Admiral, but there is nothing about my personal or professional life that I really can recall…."

The Admiral nodded thoughtfully and leaned forward. "Lieutenant, what are the Rules of Evidence?"

Loren thought for a moment. "Sir, I have no idea," she replied.

"Not even an educated guess?" he offered.

"It wouldn't be a very good one, sir," she replied giving him half smile to try and make up for her lack of performance.

"Okay, well, how about the definition of reasonable doubt?"

She knew he didn't just want a standard dictionary definition. "What kind of definition, sir?" She asked, hopeful that it was a trick question.

It wasn't. "The legal definition, Lieutenant."

Nodding her understanding of his question, she concentrated pulling at the fragmented images that served as her current memory. Unfortunately 'reasonable doubt' was filed somewhere else, hidden from her conscious mind.

"Nothing sir," she replied, dejectedly.

"How about what's written on the first page of the Manual for Courts Martial," he said thinking he had given her an easy one.

Loren's eyebrows knitted up again. "Manual…"

"…for Courts Martial, anything from the first page…" he finished for her.

Again there was a pregnant silence. Finally Loren sighed heavily. "Sorry Admiral, I can't recall a single thing."

"Nothing?" AJ probed

"No sir, nothing, though I figure it has something to do with military law." She hoped this gave her at least a few points on whatever scale he was using.

AJ Chegwidden smiled paternally at the young JAG Officer.

AJ didn't want her to panic. "Well remember Lieutenant, you survived an accident that would have killed most people…your body and your unborn child just need time to rest and heal."

Loren could see where he might be right. "All right sir… Loren fixed him with a scared look. "But sir, what if it doesn't come back…my memory, I mean. What then?"

AJ gave her fatherly smile. He wasn't going worry her about that right now. "We'll deal with that when we need to, Lieutenant, for now, just rest. I'll check back in on you later."

"Yes sir," she replied like a good plebe.

Admiral Chegwidden, though, was worried. Though she suffering from substantial memory loss at the moment, she knew enough that if she didn't recovery her memories or her knowledge or preferably both that her future as a JAG Corps officer, and even as a Navy officer, would be in serious doubt.

0730 Local_1230 Zulu
Abby Sciuto's Lab
NCIS Headquarters
Washington, DC

Gibbs, Tony, and Vivienne were in Abby's lab. The hard rocking music had already been turned down at Gibbs' request.

Abby was showing them two slide comparisons of the blood samples. "We'll do some more tests, but the ABO shows a match. Type AB. I'd say the blood you found is Lieutenant Singer's"

Gibbs looked at the samples. "Good job,"

Tony smiled. It was rare when Gibbs thanked him for doing something. "Thanks, Gibbs."

Gibbs shot Tony a dirty look. "I was talking to Abby. Did you find out who the fingerprints in the car belong to?" he said to her.

Abby gave Gibbs an uneasy look. "Not yet. I'm still digging through the JAG Corps personnel files, even though we've limited our search to just males, it's gonna take some time, Gibbs."

"Work faster," He turned around and started to leave.

Abby smiled. "There's more." She knew that would stop him.

She pushed back to another computer workstation and pointed to the monitor. Everyone moved over to see what she had found on the cocktail napkin and the airline ticket.

"Here." She said simply.

Abby showed them the napkin stamp. Vivienne's eyes lit up as she recognized it immediately

"Benzinger's!"

Tony looked puzzled as he looked at the soaked napkin and then back at her. "What's that, a magic word?"

Gibbs resisted the urge to smack him on the back of his head. "It's a bar in Falls Church where Lieutenant Singer used to hang out," he said tersely.

While Tony nodded his understanding, Abby revealed what else she had found. "A bar definitely goes with the chem analysis I did of the Lieutenant's stomach contents that I got from Ducky when she threw up in the ambulance. Based on the degree of digestion, she went into the water within two hours of her last snack. And I do mean snack."

Abby pushed her chair over to yet another workstation. Only Tony followed her this time.

Tony looked at the results. "Yeah, yeah, yeah…thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, vegetable oil…"

Abby translated the scientific names. "…peanuts, pretzels, crackers…it's a bar mix," she explained.

The former FBI agent focused her attention on the long number that was showing with the napkin. "What's the 13 digit number?"

Gibb looked at it for a moment. "That's a Moscow cell phone number." He stated.

Vivienne was floored by his announcement. "How do you know?"

Gibbs smirked at her. "If I can't ID a Moscow number after six months undercover, the taxpayers should get their money back. You know how to trace a number fast?"

Vivienne grinned as she scribbled down the phone number "Oh yeah, through the FBI."

Vivienne Blackadder turned and headed out of the lab area.

Gibbs looked toward the stairwell where she was headed. "Guess that would work too." He said dryly.

Abby though, wasn't finished wowing them yet. "I got more goodies. I got the name off the airline ticket."

Gibbs walked up to the monitor and stared at the plane ticket.

Tony wasn't impressed. "We got that."

"And the destination," Abby countered.

Tony still wasn't impressed. "Yeah, we got that too."

Abby wasn't defeated yet. "And the departure date."

Tony smiled smugly at her. "Early April,"

Abby made a sound like a game show buzzer. "Annnt! January 6."

Gibbs was not expecting that. "Not April?"

Now it was Abby's turn to smirk. "Nah, Gibbs, you just need young eyes. That's a one, not a four."

Gibbs pointed to the screen. "That's a one?"

Abby nodded. "Yeah."

"So she missed her flight…" Tony mused.

Abby couldn't believe what he was saying. Especially after what had happened to her. "Tony, she almost got wacked…that's the least of her worries."

"And it's getting more dangerous to be her," Dr. Mallard said as he entered the room and joined the group.

"How's that, Duck?" Gibbs asked him, curious as to why he said that.

"She's regaining her memory, or at least parts of it." The NCIS ME replied. "Enough that she could be a danger to herself and possibly name who tried to drown her."

Vivienne returned to the room at that moment. They could tell she was excited. "Hey, I got a suspect. Manetti said the Benzinger's bartender told her Singer was seeing a civilian before she shipped out, right?"

Vivienne sat down in a chair at an unoccupied workstation in Abby's lab. Gibbs and the others gathered around her.

"Well, that Moscow cell is registered to a Sergei Zhukov. I'm running an immigration check. He was in the states when Singer got pregnant, left two days before she was to ship out." Vivienne sat back looking smug, proud of her accomplishment. That is until she saw the solemn looks on their quiet faces. "What?"

"Cross-check Zhukov's cell phone number and Rabb's number." Gibbs ordered. He didn't like what Vivienne had found and who it was leading to, but he had no choice but to follow the evidence.

Vivienne began to run a cross-check. Gibbs took out his cell phone. "Hey Adie, it's Gibbs. I need to speak with the Director."

As Gibbs continued to have his conversation with Tom Morrow's personal assistant, Vivienne shook her head. "I won't have to." She said out loud drawing the attention back to her. "Zhukov's green card sponsor was Commander Harmon Rabb. They're half-brothers."

Gibbs, surprised by this news, laid his phone down as he looked at the information showing on the workstation screen. That tore it. Harmon Rabb, Junior moved to the top of the suspect list.

xxvxx

Thomas C. Morrow, Director of NCIS, was sitting in the darkened theater-like Multiple Threat Assessment Center [MTAC] intently watching the screen. Gibbs quietly slipped into the room and sat down next to him.

The technician looked over at the Director. "Live signal in five, four, three…"

On the screen, Morrow and Gibbs watched as images from a Predator drone aircraft focused on a speeding Mercedes sedan.

"You making progress on the JAG attempted murder investigation?" Morrow said without looking at Gibbs.

"…I copy Control; I read you five by five…" the voice over said as the sedan continued its high speed run down the country road. The drone's cameras stayed right with the sedan.

Gibbs kept his eyes on the sedan – were they going to take it out, or just shadowing it? He wondered. "Yes sir," he replied to his question.

Both men kept their eyes on the screen.

"Tangos are about to get out of the car, I say again. Tangos are about to get out of the car," the voice reported.

"I copy, standby," came a reply.

"Who's your prime suspect?" asked the NCIS Director.

"A JAG Corps officer," the Head of DC MCRT replied.

Tom Morrow grimaced. He knew that Gibbs would find who did this, but hated where the suspect was found. Unlike his predecessor Tom wanted to have good relations with JAG Corps and Admiral Chegwidden and make up for all the previous sloppy NCIS investigations. This accusation though, wouldn't help. "Damn. We have to work with these people. Not a senior officer, I hope?

When Gibbs didn't say anything, he prompted the silver haired agent. "Do I know him?"

Now it was Gibbs turn to grimace. "Yes sir. I believe you do."

"Standing by..." the voice over said. The drone's cameras focused on the hilltop adobe brick building. The sedan had parked in the front courtyard and four men, three of which had automatic weapons, got out of the car and headed into the house.

Director Morrow turned in his seat and looked at Gibbs. "Are you going to tell me his name?"

"You are cleared hot. Good hunting, Foxtrot One," the voice over announced.

"Roger. Cleared hot," the second voice replied.

"Commander Harmon Rabb is our chief suspect," Gibbs said simply.

"Weapons free…target locked," the second voice continued.

Tom Morrow turned back to the screen. "I couldn't be more stunned if you told me it was Admiral Chegwidden. Are you certain?"

A wider shot from a second drone showed the first one firing an AGM-114 Hellfire missile. Moments later the hilltop building disappeared in a gigantic fireball which also destroyed the sedan as well.

"Tangos eliminated," the second voice reported.

"Have the in-country team go in and verify the remains," Morrow told the technician. He nodded his agreement and began relaying the order.

"Not a hundred percent," Gibbs replied to the Director's question. "But from the information we're gathering we know he's deeply involved."

Both men watched as a camouflaged helo settled in the courtyard of the still smoldering house.

"I don't need to tell you the implications if you're wrong," Morrow warned as they watched a team of armed men make their way inside the destroyed building.

"That's why I'm moving slowly. We're waiting to hear back from the SECNAV's JAGMan team before we make our move," Gibbs replied.

"Identities confirmed. Four tangos eliminated. No collateral damage," the second voice reported. There were smiles around the room, but no cheering. These were little fish, little, but dangerous.

"Bravo Zulu, Foxtrot One. Get your team out of there."

"Roger. Feet wet in twenty-five."

They both watched as the helo became airborne again and headed west.

Tom turned again to Gibbs. "Don't move too slowly. We're getting traffic from NSA that indicates something big is coming,-nothing firm yet, but we need to wrap up any outstanding investigations quickly as we can."

"Another gray hull attack sir?" al Jihad was growing bolder. Either that or Hassan Mohammed was using another attack as a power play to try show himself as a leader within al Qaeda. Maybe even currying favor with Bin Laden himself.

Tom nodded. "Possibly. We won't know for sure until Heather's team arrives in Nice. That's where we think Amad Bin-Atwa will show up. Her team will verify that."

Gibbs nodded. They both knew that Bin-Atwa was an advance man for any sort of attack undertaken by Hassan. If another attack was coming, Bin-Atwa would be the key to learning when the attack would take place.

1020 Local_1520 Zulu
NCIS Headquarters
Washington, DC

After his meeting with Director Morrow, Gibbs went down to the Liaison office to find out when Jack and Commander Coleman would begin their interviews at JAG Headquarters. Before Jack could say anything, Commander Coleman told the Head of DC MCRT they would be ready to begin their JAGMan investigation by 0730 tomorrow morning. That worked for Gibbs. It would give him and his team time to interview a few more 'persons of interest' tied to Rabb. He hoped that Vivienne and Tony had pulled together a few more leads.

"Hey. What've you got?"Gibbs announced as he entered the bullpen area.

Vivienne stood up and walked towards him, eager to show him just how good she was getting at investigating, something Gibbs thought she was weak on. "Plenty," she said as the senior NCIS agent put his cup on his desk. "We have team on their way out to the furnished rental on Coronado. The Lieutenant ordered a phone installed a few days ago, but there hasn't been any other credit card or bank activity since she withdrew two hundred dollars at a Falls Church ATM on the evening of January 4."

"That money wasn't on her when Garrel pulled her from the water. And Garrel didn't mention anything about any large sums of money on her…" Gibbs replied, thinking aloud. In his mind, James Garrel was still a suspect – it wouldn't be the first time a would-be killer had a change of heart and rescued his supposed victim.

"Could have been in the purse," she offered. It was a lame explanation.

Gibbs took a drink from his cup. "Could…except Dobbs didn't find any money in it." He said to her. Vivienne deflated when he said that.

Gibbs opened his drawer and pulled out his Glock and put it in his holster. As he did, Tony entered the bullpen. Seeing Gibbs there, he figured now was a good time to report what had been found – so far.

"Uh, Abby's still cross checking the prints with the JAGC personnel database," he said tentatively. That didn't come out at all like he had planned it.

As Tony braced for Gibbs' 'DI Stare' or something else that indicated his displeasure with this delay, he was surprised when instead Gibbs seemed to anticipate this temporary roadblock. He turned to Vivienne. "Check with Ducky. See if the Lieutenant gave him any other useful information."

The former FBI Agent eager to do his bidding and get back in his good graces jumped on this opportunity. "Got it."

Gibbs nodded his approval and then started to head out of the bullpen area. He caught Tony's eye, who was still off kilter for not being punished for being the bearer of bad news. "C'mon lover boy."

Tony shut his file cabinet drawer, a look of bewilderment on his face. "Where are we going?"

Gibbs loved it when caught Tony off guard. "Benzinger's to get a drink," he quipped.

As he headed for the elevator, Tony opened up his desk drawer and grabbed for his service weapon and then rushed to join his boss in the elevator.

Vivienne watched as the elevator doors shut on the two men and then shaking her head at Tony's puppy dog attitude, hurried downstairs to see what she could learn from Ducky.

-TBC…