Chapter 12

Finally it was the lunch hour and Mac could deny her feeling no longer. There was something very wrong and she just had to warn AJ that he was in danger. As soon as court was dismissed for lunch she hurried to the bullpen and then towards AJ's office.

Not stopping to explain to Vicky what she had meant when she called out Harm's name instead of AJ's, Jen opened the door and they saw Harm lying on the floor near the desk, his hand clutched over his heart.

Vicky shouted for Jen to call 911, adding that she knew CPR and would do that while Jen made the call. As soon as Jen ran for the phone on her desk, Vicky moved behind the desk, and quickly removed the hypodermic needle from under the chair. She put it in her purse before she knelt next to the fool that had foiled her plan. Knowing it was useless to do CPR, she still made it look real when Jen came running back into the room to report the ambulance was on the way.

She was followed into the room by Bud and Sturgis that had heard Coates' frantic 911 call. Sturgis ran to Vicky's side and seeing she was busy with chest compressions he checked Harm's neck for a pulse. His heart sank when he didn't find one, but nonetheless he began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in time to Vicky's chest compressions. Every so often he would pause to check for a pulse, but never did.

While Sturgis and Vicky were working diligently on Harm, Bud literally had his hands full. He was trying to keep a weeping Jennifer Coates from getting in the way of the life saving efforts by the other two. She wanted to go to him, and kept calling Harm's name as Bud restrained her.

This was the scene that Mac saw when she ran into the room. There was someone laying on the floor surrounded by people who blocked her view of who it was. Calling out AJ's name she hurried forward.

Sturgis looked up at this new arrival and regretfully said, "No, Mac, it's Harm," just as she got close enough to see that fact for herself.

They continued working to keep Harm alive until the paramedics arrived. Only Sturgis knew they were working on a dead man. He'd lost his best friend.

AJ arrived back at the office just in time to see the paramedics enter along with the ambulance crew with a stretcher. Wondering what had happened, he quickly followed them into his own office. He was stunned to see them working over Harmon Rabb! Jennifer Coates was weeping in Bud Roberts' arms as Vicky and Sturgis stood back allowing the paramedics to take over.

As they began working on Harm, they started asking the traditional questions, his age, if he had any history of heart problems, AJ stepped up and assured them that Harm didn't, in fact he'd just passed his yearly physical a few weeks before with flying colors. The paramedics called Bethesda with the information, received instructions on what treatment to use, and were told to transport him ASAP.

Coates begged to be allowed to go with Harm as they loaded him onto the stretched. Every one looked to AJ waiting for him to answer her. Seeing this, Jen pleaded, "I know it's wrong, but I can't help it! I love him! Please let me go with him, Sir!"

Looking over at Mac and wondering why she wasn't demanding to be the one to go with Harm, AJ replied, "We'll talk about this later Jennifer, but for now, yes, you can go with him."

"Thank you Sir!" she gasped and gave him a quick hug.

Worried as she was about her best friend, Mac still couldn't take her eyes off of AJ. As Harm was taken away, she stepped closer to him and taking hold of his arm, said, "That should have been you Sir!"

Shocked he asked, "Are you saying you wish it had been me instead of Harm, Mac?"

To be continued…..