November 14, 2003
JAG Headquarters – Falls Church, Virginia
0656 Eastern
Harm marched through the bullpen, having signed in downstairs and received a building pass. Skipping the break room and a cup of coffee, he headed straight for the Admiral's office. A shocked Petty Officer Coates snapped quickly to attention.
"Is the Admiral in?" Harm asked in a subdued voice.
"Yes, Sir," was the quick response, followed by a reach for the intercom. "Commander Rabb to see you, Sir."
A pregnant pause followed, as AJ was definitely not expecting Rabb to be here quite so early. He had rather expected Rabb to do as he had always done, come in close to staff call. This was almost two hours before that and more than an hour before Rabb would have normally showed up. AJ was not certain what to make of this, but hoped that it was simply a case of reporting for duty and trying to get everything squared away before the start of the normal day.
"Send him in, Coates," AJ finally responded.
A sharp rap on the door was followed by an equally quick "Enter". Harm marched to the Admiral's desk, snapped to attention and stood stock still.
"Commander Harmon Rabb, reporting for duty as ordered, Sir!"
"At ease, Commander," AJ replied, frowning slightly when Harm elected to remain in the attention position. AJ realized what Harm was doing after moment and sighed inwardly. Harm was building silent walls around himself and the rest of the staff, starting with the Admiral.
"Commander Rabb, you have been recalled to active duty because of a critical shortage of JAG officers in your pay grade. Also, because of the knowledge you possess with regards to the cases currently under review due to Commander Imes' conviction. You primary responsibility will, therefore, be the review of those cases, preparing a written report with regards to those cases for review by myself and Admiral Morris. Additionally, you will be helping to clear the backlog of cases that have resulted from this. Understood?"
"Yes, Sir! Understood, Sir!"
Something in the tone that those few words carried troubled AJ. The respect was there, but so was a hint of anger. This needed to be addressed, now rather than later and in this private setting rather than letting it blow up somewhere less so.
"Is there a problem with this, Commander?" AJ asked, a shade of ice filling his voice.
"Not a problem, Sir. No, more in the nature of confusion, Sir," Harm responded, still keeping his eyes focused on a point above the Admiral's head, rather than meeting the man's eye.
"Good ahead, Commander."
"Six months ago, when I wanted to return to JAG, I was told by you that I was not a team player. I was told that I was controlled by my emotions. I was told that my request to resign my commission had been accepted and that I was a civilian. I accepted that and moved on with my life. Then, last week you came to me and said that you would be willing to accept me back under the right circumstances. I chose to decline that offer, because I've moved on. Now, despite my wishes, you have elected to have me involuntarily recalled."
"Watch your tone, Commander!" AJ bellowed. "I had you recalled because your skills are needed here, not playing at being a crop duster! You will carry out your orders or I will have you up on charges, is that understood?"
"Yes, Sir," Harm replied. "I will be resubmitting my request to resign my commission, Sir. Failing that, I will be requesting a transfer to any available open JAG posting, Sir."
"Understood, Commander. Now understand me! I will decline both those requests, as well as any subsequent requests. Your presence is needed here and you will remain here until such time as I decide to let you go. So, get over your little tantrum, Commander, and grow up. Coates will tell you where your new office is. You are dismissed!"
Harm quickly spun on his head and marched to the door. Pausing only long enough to rip the door open, then slam it closed behind him as he exited the office. Stopping at Coates' desk, he was surprised to see how pale her face was as she wordlessly stood and gave him a slip of paper with an office number on it. Harm almost smiled at the humor of it, as he realized that his new office was the old storage room. With a nod to Coates, Harm marched through the bullpen in route to his office.
It was only when he entered the room that Harm realized the Admiral was up to something. Almost a dozen filing boxes were stacked in the corner, making the already small room even smaller. Added to those boxes were the two high stacks of folders that were perched on the desk itself, almost making Harm believe that he was in Mac's office. Closing the door behind him, Harm worked his way behind the desk and settled in.
Taking the first folder in the stack, Harm opened it to find a recent case that Commander Imes had prosecuted. Reaching for a notepad, Harm began going over the file. It was only when a knock came at the door that Harm realized what time it was. Looking up, he saw Mac sticking her head in the door.
"I heard you were back, Harm."
"That I am, Colonel," was Harm's reply, drawing a long look from Mac. She was certain she heard a hard edge to his voice, but didn't know the reason behind it. She had assumed that Harm would be happy that he was back in the Navy and at JAG. Something wasn't right here, but there wasn't enough time for her to get to the bottom of the matter. Staff call was due to begin in a few minutes and she most definitely didn't wish to be late.
"Well, Harm, get your six in gear. Staff call is in five minutes," Mac said with a teasing tone and smile.
"Yes, Ma'am," was all Harm said as he stood and made for the doorway, leaving a stunned Sarah MacKenzie behind him.
Walking into the conference room, Harm saw that he and Mac were the only two besides the Admiral not to have arrived. Fortunately, the seat at the opposite end from the Admiral's was still free, so Harm hurriedly took it. This left Mac stuck next to the Admiral and farthest from Harm.
Barely had Harm settled in when the door opened and the Admiral entered with Mac right behind him. Harm was the last to move to his feet when the customary "Attention on Deck" was called, something that didn't escape the notice of the rest to the room. AJ decided to let it slide, preferring to attribute it to Harm's six months out of uniform rather than another, more serious reason.
"As you were, people," AJ said once he was seated. "Today will be rather brief, since I will be at the Pentagon most of the day and no new cases have been forwarded to our office since yesterday. Priority number one remains the Imes situation. You may have noticed Commander Rabb is back with us. He has been involuntarily recalled to active duty to assist us in this matter, by handling the review of those cases. He will also be handling some of the backlog cases for us as well. That will, in turn, free the remainder of you for investigations and new cases."
"Sir," Mac said, startled by the revelation, "Lieutenant Roberts and I have already reviewed fifty of those cases."
"Be that as it may, Colonel, I need written reports on every one of those cases, so that Admiral Morris and I can sign off on the results and forward those findings to both the Inspector General's office as well as the SECNAV. Somehow, neither of them can understand how this went on for as long as it did before someone noticed that former Commander Imes was not a member of the bar."
"Understood, Sir. I was merely suggesting that it might benefit Commander Rabb if I gave him our notes."
"Actually, I want the Commander to start fresh with this, so that the results are not in any way tainted by the fact that you were Imes' defense attorney," AJ said. "It wouldn't do for anyone to claim some form of bias in these results, would it?"
Harm couldn't believe his ears. The old bastard was going to force him to be here even longer simply by forcing him to redo the work other competent attorneys had already done, while also requiring him to pick up the slack and handle the backlog of others cases. The current cases were time sensitive due to the defendant's right to a speedy trial. So, what was already a difficult task had just been made that much harder by the Admiral's statement.
Judging from the looks directed at him from around the table, the others had also come to the same conclusion. Harm could read varying degrees of sympathy in the expressions, except for one pair of eyes at the far end of the table. The look on the Admiral's face was singularly cold and seemed to promise future misery for Harm.
"I'm quite certain that you all make Commander Rabb feel welcome back here at JAG," AJ said with a tight smirk on his face as he stood and the other officers jumped to their feet.
Harm ignored the rest of the staff as he quickly followed the Admiral out of the conference room and made a dash for his new office. If he was going to be forced to start all over on the case reviews, he knew that there was a mountain of work waiting for him. So, he fully intended to spend every possible minute doing it. The sooner he got it done, the sooner he could be free to get on with his life.
The knock at the door wasn't a surprise, nor was the head that stuck around the door even before Harm could say to enter.
"Wow, Harm," Mac said as she entered. "That was…wow!"
"It seems that the Admiral has decided to reintroduce indentured servitude," Harm said in an ominously flat tone.
"Why the involuntary recall?"
"The Admiral came to see me a week ago and said that he would be willing to have me back at JAG under the right conditions. He told me to think about it, so I did and decided I wasn't interested. I sent him my response turning down the offer and the next thing I know, a Marine is camped out on my doorstep with orders recalling me to active duty."
The shocked look on Mac's face was almost too much for Harm. He so wanted to laugh, even though there was absolutely nothing humorous about the situation.
"Do you know how long you'll be here for?" Mac asked, trying to get into the concept that Harmon Rabb would NOT have wanted to return to JAG. She knew that he had been bitter, starting from when he'd been on trial for Singer's murder, but she had never once suspected that he would reach the point of being done with the Navy, with JAG, with her.
"None," Harm replied with a grimace. "As I understand 10 United States Code Section 688, there is no limitation as to how long I can be involuntarily recalled because the President issued a Declaration of National Emergency following 9/11. So, I am stuck here until…."
"Why not just make the best of it, Harm? You're back here now and that, really, can't be all bad, can it?"
"Mac, I will make the best of it, because I have to. But I have absolutely no intention of remaining here a single hour more than I have to. Maybe if the Admiral had accepted me back six months ago, things could have been different. Now, too much has happened. Like I told you a couple of weeks ago, I've moved on with my life. I'd found a job I liked, a great boss and as much flying as I could stand. I was happy for the first time in a long while and then Admiral Chegwidden had to come and destroy that happiness," Harm said, unable to stop the words once they'd begun flowing from him, bitterness and anger evident in the changed tone of his voice and hard set of his face when he finished.
"Easy, Flyboy. Don't say anything you might regret later," Mac told him.
"Of course, Colonel. If you'll excuse me, I do need to get to work on these reviews."
Mac flushed at that change in the tone of Harm's voice. The anger and bitterness had vanished, leaving absolutely nothing behind. No joy, no happiness, nothing. It was as if there as a giant bottle within Harmon Rabb, where he stuffed his emotions, and now that bottle had been sealed with every possible emotion contained inside it. Fighting back her own emotions at being so summarily dismissed, Mac left the office and closed the door.
Unfortunately for Harm, no sooner had Mac left than first Bud and Harriet followed by Sturgis came looking for answers to similar questions. By the time he had finished with all of them, it was drifting close to lunch time. Harm debated visiting the cafeteria for something to eat, but almost instantly rejected the idea. There would undoubtedly be others there, all looking for answers to the reasons behind his return and Harm was simply finished with the topic.
Instead, Harm just opened another file and kept on working. Several more times during the day, people came knocking at his office door. However, Harm simply ignored the knocks and eventually the message got out that Harm was hiding in his office. The phone also rang several times, but Harm also elected to ignore it as well. If it was urgent, like the Admiral looking for him, Coates would come and get him.
By the time he was ready to leave for the day, several cases had been finished and their reviews were clipped to the covers of the folders. If Harm could keep up this level of productivity, he was confident that he'd be finished inside a month, especially if he also took some home with him. With any luck, he could also reduce the backlog within an additional month. So, Harm pushed himself out of his chair, picked up his rather full briefcase and walked out of his office. Moving quickly, he went down the back stairs to avoided venturing anywhere near the bullpen.
With a quick stop at the security desk, he signed out for the day and walked briskly towards his Lexus. Getting behind the wheel, he smoothly backed out of his parking space and proceeded out of the lot. A quick glance at the dashboard clock told him that he would need to hustle in order to get home before Mattie was due to call. Harm knew that he was going to eventually have to do something about Mattie's situation. A fourteen year old girl simply could not live on her own, not to mention the fact that she needed to be in school rather than running the business. It was just another damned thing to curse the Admiral about. If Harm hadn't been dragged back into the Navy, he could have offered to help her in addition to flying for the company.
Harm was brought out of his musings when he realized with a start that he was home. Getting out of the car, he walked briskly toward the entryway and proceeded up to his apartment. Once inside, he quickly shed his uniform and exchanged it for a pair of blue jeans and t-shirt, before heading for the kitchen. Having skipped lunch, Harm was truly famished and decided to make a large pot of spaghetti and some garlic bread to go with it.
While he waited for the water to boil, Harm decided to call Mattie. He knew he would be a few minutes early, but he decided that he didn't want to wait before giving her the bad news. Picking up the cordless phone, he walked back over to the kitchen island and sat down on one of the stools. This way, he could keep working on getting dinner ready while he and Mattie talked.
"Hey, Harm," Mattie said when she answered. "I thought I was supposed to call you?"
"You were, Mattie. I just got home and figured I would call you first."
"So, when are you going to be back to work?"
"Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it will be any time soon. You remember that visit I got from the Admiral?" Harm asked.
"You mean the bald guy who fired you?"
"Yeah, that's him. Anyway, he offered to get my commission reinstated and allow me to come back to JAG. After I thought about it, I told him that I wasn't interested. I guess that wasn't what he wanted to hear, so he had me involuntarily recalled to active duty."
"He can do that?" Mattie asked, shocked. "I mean, just ruin your life and make you come back."
"Sadly, he can do just that. It's part of the law," Harm told her.
"Wow, that's sucks, Harm. I really need you here."
Harm caught the edge of something in the young girl's voice.
"What's wrong, Mattie?"
"I'm going to lose the business, Harm."
"What? I mean, how?" Harm was shocked. In the short time he'd been there, he knew that the company had plenty of business and should have been making decent money. Yes, with him not there, they would be back to one pilot short, but something just didn't add up.
"I got a letter from the bank, about a loan that my father took out using the company and the house as collateral. I guess he hasn't been making the payments and since I didn't know about the loan, I wasn't making them either. Now the bank says that they're demanding immediate repayment of the loan or they're foreclosing on both the business and the house," Mattie told him, sounding close to tears by the time she finished.
"Oh, Mattie, I'm so sorry," Harm said gently, while adding another reason to hate Mattie's father to his list. "Does the letter say how much is owed?"
"400,000 dollars, Harm, and I don't have that kind of money. The business is in good shape, but I would have to sell almost all of the planes in order to raise that much. The house is old and needs some work, but there's some land that goes with it. Not enough to really raise any money."
"Alright, Mattie, does the letter give a deadline before they start with the foreclosure?"
"November 28, 2003. So, I've got two more weeks before I lose everything," Mattie replied, sounding as if she was already defeated.
"Tell you what, Mattie, I'll come out this weekend and look over everything. Between us, we'll see if there isn't some way out of this mess. Now, I'm not making any promises, but I will do everything that I can to help you. That sound like a plan?"
"Thank you, Harm, thank you so much."
Harm was simply happy to hear some happiness back in the young woman's voice, while his mind raced to figure out what he could possibly do to help her. By the time Harm had finished talking to Mattie, the water for the pasta was well and truly boiling, so he just dumped the entire box into the water and started the sauce. The garlic bread was simply a matter of putting the few slices he cut off into the toaster oven and waiting for them to get toasted.
Dinner passed quickly, with Harm's mind well occupied trying to think through Mattie's problems as well as all the work he had in front of him. When he was finally too full to eat another bite, Harm pushed the plate away from him and looked at what was left, smiling. There was just enough left for a lunch, until he realized that tomorrow was Saturday and he had promised Mattie that he'd be down to see her.
Deciding that he would be much better off working on the case reviews than thinking about Mattie's situation, Harm grabbed his briefcase and settled down at the desk to start working his way through as many as he could. When he was finally too tired to think straight, he was surprised to find he'd finished the entire contents of the briefcase. A smile crossed Harm's face as he got up and headed for bed.