January 21, 2004
NCIS Offices – London, England
0638 Greenwich/ 0138 Eastern
Agent McCall walked into the office carrying two large coffees he'd collected on his way to work. A slight smile came to his face as he set one down on the desk of Agent Weber before taking his own seat. Looking at the older man, it was easy to see that he'd not gone home last night, although he had changed his clothes.
"Don't even say it, Bobby," came a warning from Weber as he took a drink from the cup.
"Did you get any sleep last night, Pops?"
"A couple of hours on the couch in the break room."
"So, where do we stand now," McCall asked.
"Well, we've got a connection between Captain Krennick and General Gordon. They met years ago on a case at Quantico. Whether that became something more is a question for you and Garcia. See if you can find something firmer. We know that General Gordon's fingerprint is on one of the rounds in the pistol, but the gun's ownership is a dead end. The last registered owner executed a private sale about ten years ago and doesn't remember who she sold it to. Technical services is combing registration databases, hoping to get a hit on the serial number, but that's going to take some time. The ammunition is generic enough to be useless as far as tracing it," Weber said.
"On the plus side, though, is that General Gordon was in London last weekend. He had meetings at NAVFOREUR on Friday, spent the weekend and flew back to Stuttgart on Monday. And his quarters while here were the VIP quarters at RAF West Ruislip."
"So, we have opportunity. We might have means. We need motive before we start accusing a Marine General of attempted murder."
"I might be able to help with that, Pops," Garcia said as she stepped from the doorway. She'd hear the last half of the other agents' conversation. "I spent last night going more deeply through the service records of both Captain Krennick and General Gordon. Well, I found something very interesting."
Sitting down at her desk, she spent a couple of minutes working on the computer before switching the display to the wall mounted one in the office.
"So, we know that the two of them met in April of 1996. Now watch this."
A pair of calendars appeared on the screen, with certain sets of dates highlighted.
"They were having an affair," Weber said as he began to put it together.
"I think so," Garcia replied. "Notice how the leaves don't always match day-for-day, like sometimes one could get away and the other joined them. But they match enough for it to be hard to argue coincidence, too."
"We'll need to gather more evidence before we push that. Still, that could be a potential motive, especially if either Gordon or Krennick were worried about Commander Alexander tumbling to the fact that they were having an affair. Good work, both of you. Now, start digging up more on that while I go and see someone."
"Who?" McCall asked.
"Why Lieutenant Walker, of course," Weber said, drawing a confused look from the pair of agents as he grabbed his coat and left the office.
Lieutenant Walker's office, FJA – London, England
0711 Greenwich / 0211 Eastern
Agent Weber sat in front of Annette's desk, having finished laying out where they stood. Unfortunately, she hadn't been available to assist them, as she had been dealing with the accident case involving the Attaché's wife. Now, however, she had the flight manifests from the Krennick court-martial on the desk in front of her, flipping the pages as she quickly tried to make sense of them.
"When did you say Captain Krennick and General Gordon met?" she asked a moment later.
"April of 1996. Why?"
"Well, these are flight manifests for a weekend in April, 1996."
"Give me half of that stack, then start reading. We're looking for the names Krennick and Gordon, got it?" Weber asked.
"Yes, Sir," Annette said with a grin at the tone of authority that he'd just used on her.
Less than an hour later, they found what they were looking for. A Colonel Gordon was on the same flights as a Commander Krennick between Andrews AFB and MCAS Beaufort.
"So, Lieutenant, you tell me. What do we do next?"
"I would have to say that our first stop needs to be to see Admiral Morris. This information may or may not have an impact on the Krennick court-martial, but I don't know. I'm not privy to what the charges are. Then, I think we need to interview General Gordon, under suspicion of committing adultery. Depending on how that goes, we then hit him with the attempted murder allegation and see what reaction we get to that."
"I agree. Just one thing, however. Before we confront Gordon, we need more proof than one set of shared flights. I want to be able to lay out a road map of secret rendezvouses between the two of them," Weber said.
"Well, it's your investigation, Agent Weber. I'm just along for the ride," Annette told him with a smile as they both stood.
Weber led the way down the hall to the conference room, where Admiral Morris was working. The Admiral looked up when the door opened, raising an eyebrow when he saw the NCIS agent.
"Good morning, Agent Weber. Was there something I can do for you this morning?"
"Possibly, Admiral. As you know, we're investigating the attempt on Commander Alexander's life. During the course of our investigation, we've come across some information that may have a bearing on the court-martial you're currently trying," Weber began, only to be stopped by the judge.
"Don't tell me anything more, Agent Weber. The person you need to be talking to is Major McBurney. He's taken over the case since Commander Alexander's attack. If you want to wait, he'll be back in a couple of minutes," Admiral Morris said.
"Actually, if you could direct him to Lieutenant Walker's office, that might be even better."
"Certainly."
With that, the pair left and went back to Annette's office. True to his estimate, only a couple of minutes passed before the door opened and a Marine entered. Taking a chair, McBurney listened as Weber outlined the information that their investigation had uncovered. The entire time the older man spoke, McBurney took notes and by the time he was done there were several pages filled from top to bottom.
Opening his briefcase, McBurney took out his copy of the court transcript and started flipping through. When he finally found what he was looking for, he started writing more notes to himself. This was going to blow the case open, as far as he was concerned, and possibly result in additional charges for Captain Krennick. He knew he wouldn't be able to charge her under Article 131, since she wasn't the one under oath, but he could possibly under Article 133. And that wasn't even considering potential charges relating to the attack on Commander Alexander.
One question, however, began nagging at McBurney. If Captain Krennick was having an affair with General Gordon, why had she then made a play for Captain Rabb? Was it just a one-time thing, a way of proving something, or was it something deeper. Could his earlier rejection of the woman have built a need in Captain Krennick to prove that she could get her man?
For Weber, things were much simpler. He cared much less about the motive and a lot more about the evidence. And all the evidence seemed to be pointing to General Gordon having tried to kill Commander Alexander, whether to protect himself or the woman he was having an affair with didn't change that.
"Agent Weber, can you see that I get copies of your reports, please? I'll also need you available to testify again in the Krennick court-martial," McBurney said.
"As long as they don't compromise my investigation into the Alexander case," Weber told him.
"And if I can't guarantee that?"
"Then I would have to have my boss talk to General Creswell. I think they'd both agree that an attempted murder trumps a fraternization and sexual harassment case. I don't want to spook General Gordon before I'm ready to have him arrested, Major."
"How much more time do you think you'll need?" McBurney asked.
"If I push, I might be ready by this evening," Weber replied. "A lot depends on things that I have absolutely no control over, like finding evidence."
"Well, we not scheduled to reconvene until tomorrow anyway, so that would work. If you need more time, I'll see what I can do to stall. But, be forewarned that Admiral Morris may not go for any more delays in the trial."
"Got it, Major. We'll work as fast as we can, I promise."
Force Judge Advocate's Office – London, England
1228 Greenwich/ 0728 Eastern
Harm was having an outstanding morning, as things came together better than he could have ever hoped for. Commander Coleman down at Naples had been the first call of the morning, reporting that the Captain of the Mahan had broken during interrogation and given a full confession. The Italian government had been more than happy to have the Navy exercise their prerogatives under the status of forces agreement and try the case. Coleman was recommending life in prison without parole, a recommendation that Harm would pass on to Admiral Kieso for his consideration. Having dealt with a death penalty case before, he well understood the moral dilemma attached to the sentence. Plus, having been on trial for murder gave him a whole new perspective on the criminal justice system.
Almost before he had time to savor that information as well as the cup of coffee he'd gotten from the break room, the telephone rang again. This was Mister Hargrove, the barrister helping with the case involving the Attaché's wife.
"I have some good news for you, Captain," was how Hargrove began.
"Well, I'm always in the mood to hear good news," Harm replied.
"One of my staff happened to recognize the 'victim' of our accident. Turns out he's a member of the Scottish National Party and he's been playing the accident up back home. The more bad press he can drum up against the American Navy, the better in his mind. His refrain is, get this: 'If you can't trust their wives with cars, how can we trust the husbands with nukes.'"
"Very cute. So that tells us what he's after."
"Right, Captain. Now for the good news I promised you. My staff found a couple of witness who saw the 'victim' in a pub not ten minutes before the accident. Mind you, he wasn't driving drunk as the police certainly would have caught that, but…," Mr. Hargrove said.
"No harm in mentioning it to his attorney, in the interest of full disclosure. I'm quite sure the only part the media would put in the headline is the part about him being in the pub. The rest would be buried in the actual article," Harm said with a smile.
"Precisely, Captain Rabb. Now, the Scots do love their whiskey and all, but the possibility of his driving drunk would have to be a turn-off for some voters. Hopefully, the man will see sense."
"Well, I look forward to hearing his response, Mr. Hargrove. Thank you," Harm said before hanging up and moving on to the next item on his list, which was clearing the accumulated paperwork from his In box.
Yet, with the way that the day was going, even this task couldn't bring him down. Two major thorns had effectively been removed from his side and he had a lunch date scheduled with his lovely wife at a local pub. Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was time to leave so that he could meet her there. Picking up the local cell phone that had finally arrived that morning, he put it in his coat pocket before leaving his office and telling Simpkins that he was going to lunch.
Marlborough Head Pub – London, England
1311 Greenwich/ 0811 Eastern
Harm and Beth weren't the only people who had stumbled upon the pub as a place to grab lunch before heading back to work. First Sergeant Galindez had decided on the pub as a means of getting away from the Embassy for a little while. One of the problems he'd encountered was due to his rank. The higher in rank he rose, the more alone he felt. It was even worse at the Embassy, given that the diplomatic staff tended to view the Marine guards in one of two ways, often depending on where they'd been posted previously. The majority saw the Marines as rent-a-cops or guard dogs, potentially useful but not something you troubled yourself to be nice to. The rest were those people who'd spent time in dangerous places, where the Marines were more highly valued but still treated as second-class citizens until bad things happened.
Victor was used to that, but he'd expected something a little different from the military personnel assigned to the Embassy. Yet, except for Lieutenant Commander Rabb and a couple of others, his Marines were lucky to get a nod of greeting from the officers when not in uniform. Commander Rabb, though, was the best of them all and not just to him. He'd seen her coming in a couple of days and stopping to chat with whoever was on duty. Not to mention yesterday, when she'd brought lunch down for the two of them, something that had slightly discomforted the Marine until he realized that this was her way of thanking him for having her back.
Now, as he sat waiting for the waitress to stop over, he saw the Captain and Commander at another table. The Captain saw him too and nodded a greeting, before turning his attention back to his wife. The pub was very crowded, making him regret it as his choice for lunch. But leaving now would be too obvious, so he returned his attention to the menu.
"Excuse me, Sir," the hostess said softly, getting him to raise his eyes from the menu. "We're a bit full at the moment. We were wondering if you would mind sharing your table."
Victor let his gaze cross to the door, where he spotted a brunette in a smart gray business suit. The woman's hair was done up, revealing her full face to his appreciative eyes. The woman caught his glance and smiled pleasantly.
"Certainly, Ma'am," Victor told the hostess, as he moved his coat and cover from the chair while she motioned the woman over.
"Thank you for letting me share your table," the woman said as she took the seat across from him.
"That's quite alright, Miss. Doesn't really make sense to take up two seats with a crowd like this."
"That may be true, but many still would have."
With that, the woman looked over the menu briefly before the waitress showed up to take their orders.
"I'll have the fish and chips with a Pepsi," Victor said.
"I'll have the chicken and bacon salad with a Diet Pepsi, please," the lady said.
"You really should eat more than just a salad."
"There's more than just a salad. There's chicken and bacon in it as well. Besides, I've learned that a heavier lunch slows me down later in the day and that could be bad."
"Oh, why's that?" Victor asked.
"Because, the criminals might get away from me," the lady said with a smile.
"You're a police officer?"
"Don't sound so shocked, Sergeant. And it's Detective Chief Inspector, if you please."
"It's First Sergeant, Ma'am. Sorry, but you just don't look like any of the officers I used to work with back home, is all," Victor told her.
"You were in law enforcement?" the Inspector asked.
"Deputy Sheriff in Taos County, New Mexico, between my first hitch in the Corps and this one."
"Why'd you leave?"
"I was shot while on a drug raid," Victor said.
"I would say that's a hazard of the occupation, First Sergeant. And are you not just as likely to get shot in the Marines?" the Inspector asked.
"Maybe, but not in the…the back by one of my own men."
"What were you going to say before you stopped?"
"Nothing, Ma'am," Victor told her though he could feel his face flushing and knew that she would see it to. Fortunately the waitress saved him for the moment as she returned with their orders. Yet, nobody had ever accused Emily Wallace of being dimwitted, not as the youngest Detective Chief Inspector on the force, and it took her only a few seconds to realize exactly where the man opposite her had been shot. Victor could see when she realized it as her eyes widened slightly and a sardonic smile crossed her lips.
"He shot you in the bottom," Emily said softly.
"Yes, Ma'am," was Victor's soft response.
"No wonder you left the force. And enough of the Ma'am. I'm rather certain I'm younger than you, so my name is Emily Wallace."
"It's very nice to meet you, Emily. I'm Victor Galindez."
"Well, I know you're a Marine, so I'm going to guess you're one of the security staff at the Embassy," Emily said between bites of her salad.
"I'm in charge of the Marine Security detachment at the Embassy, yes," Victor said, looking into the hazel eyes across from him.
"Do you have any time off from that?"
"Yes, but I am on call too, so I'm never truly off."
"Trust me, I know how that goes, Victor," Emily said. "Still, I'd like to talk with you some more, maybe even show you my city."
"I'd like that, Emily," Victor told her. "I'm due to be off this weekend, if that works for you."
"It should, so long as our criminals behave themselves."
The Detective Chief Inspector and the former Deputy Sheriff shared a smile at how unlikely that was to actually happen. Victor took a pen from his pocket and wrote his new cell phone number on a napkin, which he then handed to the woman opposite. In turn, she handed over one of her business cards which had her cell phone listed on the front.
NCIS Offices – London, England
2020 Greenwich/ 1520 Eastern
Agent Weber looked over at the other two members of his team and sighed. Both of them were clearly running on fumes and the level of the productivity had markedly diminished in the last hour. Still, what they had accomplished was some excellent work. On his desk, they had stacked over two dozen confirmed and verified times that Captain Krennick and General Gordon had gotten together. With this, he had more than enough to pursue charges against them under Articles 133 and 134. But Weber wasn't interested in Conduct Unbecoming charges or Adultery charges, he was investigating an attempted murder and these were merely the preliminaries to that charge.
To that end, he'd had General Gordon arrested that afternoon. The man was scheduled to arrive within the hour, at which time Weber planned to interview the man. So, now was the time for him to make his battle plan. Pulling a pad of paper towards him, Weber started writing down questions that he needed answer to. So, he had the information for, but the others were intended for the accused.
Weber also had Captain Krennick in custody. She was still very much a part of this whole case and in his mind, whether she pulled the actual trigger or not didn't make her any less responsible. His take on the case was that Krennick had gotten scared, worried that the secret was about to come out. She had called Gordon and told him what she feared. Maybe the General had shared that fear or maybe he just wanted to protect his mistress, didn't matter. He was in London, staying on the same base as Commander Alexander and his fingerprints connected him to the weapon used.
The knock at the office door brought Weber's head up, as well as those of the other members of his team.
"Enter," Weber called, after turning over his notepad.
"Your suspect is in Interrogation Room 3 for you, as is his lawyer."
"Thanks. I'll be right there."
Picking up the stack of folders along with his notepad, Weber headed out the door followed closely by the two other agents. Making a quick turn, he found himself standing before the door to Interrogation Room 3. With a nod of his head, he indicated that the others should step into the observation room next door. Weber then carefully schooled his features into a blank, almost bored mask before he entered the room. Two Marines sat on one side of the table, with General Gordon being easy to identify.
"Agent Weber, I'm Colonel Tolliver. MARFOREUR's Force Judge Advocate and General Gordon's attorney," the second man said.
"Colonel, General," Weber said as he sat down and arranged things where he wanted them. "General, when you were arrested this afternoon, did the Agents explain why?"
"They did, Agent Weber," General Gordon said.
"Then you'll forgive me if I repeat much of what they may have said. I need to advise you of your Article 31 rights with respect to self-incrimination. You are not required to answer any questions that might tend to incriminate you. Anything said may be used against you at court-martial. You have the right to legal counsel and may elect to stop the interview at any point in time. Do you understand these rights, General?"
"I do."
"The charges we are currently investigating are violations of Articles 80 with regards to an attempt of Article 118, Article 108, Article 126, Article 133 and Article 134 – Adultery. That is, that you did attempt to murder Commander Lynn Alexander and that you did set fire to her room in the Visiting Officer's Quarters at RAF West Ruislip on January 17, 2004, destroying government property in the process. Additionally, that you have been involved in an affair with Captain Alison Krennick for almost eight years," Weber told them.
Both General Gordon and Colonel Tolliver just stared back at him, waiting
"Very well, Sir. Let's begin with something simple, your name, rank and present duty station," Weber said, holding a pen above the note pad.
"Jonathan Gordon. Brigadier General, United States Marine Corps. Deputy Commander, MARFOREUR, Stuttgart, Germany."
"And are you currently married, General Gordon?"
"That's what it says in my service record," Gordon replied.
"And have you been seeing Captain Krennick behind your wife's back?" Weber asked.
"No. My wife is well aware of my relationship with Alison."
"Well, that takes care of the Adultery and Conduct Unbecoming charges. Guess we can get down to why you tried to kill Commander Alexander."
"I didn't, Agent Weber," Gordon told him. "I cheated on my wife for a number of years. Maybe that was wrong according to the law, but she knew about it and she accepted it."
"There's just one problem with my believing that, General," Weber said as he pulled a folder from the stack and opened it. "We have the pistol used to shoot Commander Alexander in the back of her head. The pistol itself appeared to have been wiped clean before being dumped. However, one thing was missed: a single fingerprint on one of the rounds in the magazine. Your fingerprint, General."
"But that's not my pistol, Agent Weber. The pistol you have belongs to Captain Krennick."
"How do you know that, General?"
"When Alison was stationed in Washington, there were some muggings in her neighborhood. She decided to get a small pistol for personal protection. She still had it, as of last month. I got her a box of ammunition for it, .22 caliber, as well as a small holster for her belt. I gave them to her in December and I loaded the magazine with the new ammo then," Gordon told him.
"You are aware that having that pistol is against regulations, not to mention British law?" Weber asked him, frankly curious at the turn this had just taken.
"Yes and I can guess your next question. If I knew, why didn't I turn her in? Agent Weber, if I could have seen this coming, I assure you I would have. All I thought was that she still felt the need to some protection and her having the pistol didn't seem like a big deal."
A knock came at the door, which then opened just enough for McCall to stick his head and arm in. A folder was extended, which Weber got up to take. Opening the folder, he found a copy of the report on the weapon with a pair of lines highlighted.
"Would you be willing to provide a DNA sample, General? If it comes back negative, you're off the hook for the attempted murder and the arson. You'll still have to face the adultery charges, though," Weber told him.
General Gordon looked over at his attorney, who nodded.
"Alright, Agent Weber. Let's get it done," Gordon said confidently.
Opening the door, Weber turned the two Marines over to Garcia, who would take them down to the lab and observe as the sample was collected and tested. For his part, Weber was virtually certain how the test results would come back and had already mentally moved to the next part of the game. Going to his office after collecting his files and notes, he picked up the telephone.
"Bring Captain Krennick and her attorney to Interrogation Room 2, please?"
Taking a few minutes to refocus, Weber decided to have a cup of coffee followed by a stop at the rest room. Once he was ready, he went to the observation room and made certain that McCall was there and the recording equipment was running before entering the Interrogation Room. There he got his first surprise, for Alison was by herself. Still, he remained composed as he sat down across from her and laid his files down.
"Agent Weber, why am I not surprised? Still investigating that fire?" Alison said, a faint smile on her face.
"Actually, Captain, I've moved on to bigger things than just an arson. But before we get into all of that, let me get the preliminaries out of the way. I need to advise you of your Article 31 rights with respect to self-incrimination. You are not required to answer any questions that might tend to incriminate you. Anything said may be used against you at court-martial. You have the right to legal counsel and may elect to stop the interview at any point in time. Do you understand these rights, Captain?"
"Of course I do. I'm a JAG officer, I've certain said them enough times over the years."
"Do you wish us to have counsel provided for you?" Weber asked.
"I do not. Besides, there's nobody in London I'd be willing to trust with my defense," Alison said.
"Very well, Captain. The charges we are currently investigating are violations of Articles 80 with regards to an attempt of Article 118, Article 108, Article 126, Article 133 and Article 134 – Adultery. That is, that you did attempt to murder Commander Lynn Alexander and that you did set fire to her room in the Visiting Officer's Quarters at RAF West Ruislip on January 17, 2004, destroying government property in the process. Additionally, that you have been involved in an affair with General Jonathan Gordon for almost eight years," Weber told her.
"I beg your pardon, murder? Commander Alexander? Gee, you're certainly trying to take the easy way out, aren't you?" Alison asked, acting stunned.
"Come on, Captain. You certainly can't be surprised that you're a suspect. I mean, the only reason the Commander is in London is your court-martial and now she's in the hospital, in a coma after someone shot her in the head."
"So, your motive is that I shot her because I'm being court-martialed and she happened to be assigned as the prosecutor?"
"Oh, there's a little more. See, in the course of prosecuting you, she uncovered the fact that you and General Gordon have been carrying on an affair for several years. That you were with Gordon, not Rabb, that weekend on Hilton Head in 1996. That little detail blows your defense out of the water, doesn't it?" Weber asked with a mocking grin.
He just watched as the floor began to give way beneath the woman across from him. Yet, he could also see that she wasn't about to go down without a fight.
"That still doesn't mean that I tried to kill her, Agent Weber," Alison said, struggling to keep her composure. "Wouldn't General Gordon have as much of a motive as you claim I have?"
"Yes, except that we've excluded him as a suspect after interrogating him. See, he told us that the pistol that we recovered and matched as the gun used to shoot Commander Alexander belonged to you, Captain."
"Good luck in proving that, Agent Weber."
"Oh, it shouldn't be too hard. See, whoever used the gun last had a little accident and the gun bit them. The slide, you see, when it came back, it caught the shooter in the web of the hand and cut them. Kind of like that cut on your hand, Captain," Weber said, pointing to the spot, his smile even bigger now, knowing he had her. Lawyers, always thinking they were so much smarter than everyone else.
Alison finally got smart and shut up, but the damage was well and truly done now.
"Captain Alison Krennick, you're under arrest for the attempted murder of Commander Lynn Alexander, the arson committed at the visiting officer's quarters at RAF West Ruislip and the destruction of government property that resulted. You are also charged with committing adultery and conduct unbecoming. Stand up."
When she was standing, Weber cuffed her and led her out of the Interrogation Room. He was joined by McCall and the pair of agents led Alison down the hall and to the elevators. Going down to the ground floor, they went outside and put her into a car for the trip to the detention facility. The next steps in the whole process would be handled at a much higher pay grade than theirs.