Chapter 32
The decision not to search Vukovic's flash drive was more for his sanity than hers. Mac sent her laptop on the lengthy task of breaking the encryption and copying all of the files onto an external drive she had. Plenty of folders were compressed and some had corrupted attachments that was forcing the code breaking software to work overtime. It was definitely not a job that could be completed in one day especially with a husband that liked to hover.
Instead, they spent the day cuddled on the sofa watching old movies. It reminded Harm of the first few months after meeting in a rose garden when they'd often spent time together. Life was simpler for a time and while he wouldn't mind revisiting the past, Harm had to admit that he liked this new version of them. They were free to touch and kiss and caress. He loved her and was free to express just how much.
Monday came too quickly and after a quick breakfast, Harm pressed the thumb drive into the palm of her hand. "You're putting it back where you found it, right?" Damn did he hate sounding like a parent reprimanding a child. Her curt smile should have been an indication that Mac would do something else but trusting her had never been an issue.
The morning passed a little too quickly. Mac had meetings to attend, a phone conference with the SECNAV who'd finally caught wind of their nuptials. Sheffield always had a lighter touch compared to Alexander Nelson who was nothing more than a pompous ass with a chip on his shoulder.
She was informed that Ambassador DeLong seemed highly concerned at the impropriety the marriage would bring to the NAVY. Accusations of fraternization were highly emphasized and while it might have been true - the pair were not in the same chain of command and unlikely to serve together after Harm's trial came to an end.
On the corner of the desk, highly visible to anyone who'd enter the office sat Vukovic's thumb drive. She hadn't placed it back in his office in the early hours when the building was devoid of most of its staff. She'd walked past Vic's office three times, her hand holding the drive as if Mac was trying to crush it.
Harm's voice echoed in her mind but female intuition - or maybe it was stubbornness - made her walk back to the office and ignore his command. And so the drive was still in her possession, still a source of an internal struggle Mac shouldn't be having.
Wait. Perhaps Harm was right but she couldn't stomach anyone else hurting due to Vic's depravity. She'd stop him today, lay down the law and also free her husband from that joke of a trial that was starting at the top of the hour.
A Marine was always the first to fight, storm beaches and clean up when others couldn't. They did the dirty work and today she'd take out the garbage named Gregory Vukovic once and for all.
Early for once, Vic sat in his office attempting to tackle the mountain of paperwork MacKenzie needed him to review. It was a rubber stamping kind of job, the ones given to officers meant to demean and Vic hated it. He was on some sort of 'unofficial' time out much like a parent would reprimand a small child.
That bitch had taken him off of all cases and that meant no court time, no investigations. Nothing that supplied Vic the adrenaline that he needed. With a sigh, he eyed the clock on his wall and cast aside the file he was currently reviewing. Rabb would be in court soon and he'd pitifully enter soon after, the pained plaintiff hurt by his commanding officer's actions.
Few really cared that he was injured and could barely breathe correctly due to a deviated septum. Most took the Captain's side, their disdain for Vukovic obvious and the ones that did worry were the pitiful enlisted and a few jg's that idolized the brash Lt. Commander.
He was hoping that Rabb's trial would be more of a circus but then a Senior officer hitting a subordinate wasn't the most scandalous of cases. It was a black mark against the Navy and one that would knock Harm's career down a few pegs but Gregory held hope more would come of it. His Aunt Addie promised results even if his irrational behavior of late irritated his godmother.
Damn, if only Sarah could see that evil side of Rabb Vic knew lived inside. The bastard hurt her, made a mockery of the woman and yet she married the man? Clearly Mac was a little delusional and he'd do anything and everything to save her - if she just let him.
A knock on his door made him sit up straight and much to his delight the very woman of his fantasies appeared in his doorway. She was lovely as always with amber eyes that sought to rip him to shreds but damn did he love those kinds of challenges. He loved when they struggled because the eventual surrender was so damned sweet.
"Colonel." Vic stood and waited for Mac to waive him off before he took his seat again. Clearly his obedience took her by surprise and he bit back a grin when Mac squared her eyes at him. "How may I help you, ma'am? And please don't forget I have court soon."
"I'm aware. This won't take long." She was holding something in her left hand - clutching it like one might a priceless heirloom. At first Vic figured it was some stupid trinket Rabb had gifted her to show his unwavering fealty. He nearly scoffed at the pathetic idea until Mac held a silver thumb drive pinched between her thumb and index finger. "Do you know what this is?"
Vic hadn't known exactly what she was holding. He'd actually forgotten about the drive and its hiding place inside the bookend shaped like a sailboat. "A thumb drive?"
"Your thumbdrive." She clarified and her lips twisted to a sinister grin when the realization washed across his face.
At once Vic rushed to the bookcase, grabbed one half of the bookend to find it empty. "You bitch. You broke into my office? Went through my things? I'll have you written up!"
Mac expected his outburst, the name calling and insubordination. She knew he'd accuse her of wrongdoing but given her current position, there was little he could do about her searching his office. "You can't Commander, you're not a civilian. Need I remind you that this is government property and as your acting commanding officer, I have the right to search the premises. Or did you gloss over that part in law school?"
Fuck, he hated her and loved her all at once. The duality of his feelings had always been at war since he first lay eyes on Sarah MacKenzie. "You like humiliating me, dontcha, Sarah?"
"It's Colonel. And while I'd love to nail you for insubordination I'll do you one better: drop the charges against Captain Rabb and I'll make sure you won't get stuck with the general population in Leavenworth."
Vic bit his lower lip, a nervous trait Adele claimed he inherited from his mother. "You saw."
"Yes. You're sick, Greg and you need help before you hurt someone else or worse."
"Or worse?" He snorted, "I'm not a murderer and those girls all asked for it. They wanted me." Vic folded his arms across his chest and leaned cooly against the shelf. "You liked what you saw. Baby, you know I'd fuck you in ways Rabb never could."
He expected a verbal retaliation but wasn't prepared for the Marine to cross the room so quickly or for Mac's fist to crack his nose again. "Owww! Wait stop!" Like a coward he crouched down away from any other hit MacKenzie could deliver.
It was actually amusing to see such a cavalier abuser seated on the ground holding his bleeding nose. Mac knew she'd easily take him, her training could turn him into nothing more than a grease stain on the carpet. "Go ahead, call Admiral Hollings, Adele DeLong and even Cresswell. Hell, call the President - file charges because I have more than enough ammo to lock you up you sick bastard."
"You needed to decode the drive to make it work, break passwords."
"I have a program for those things. What can I say? I'm not just a pretty face."
Vic used the shelf to stand and push himself forward. He was laughing and the sound made Mac flinch. "Go ahead, put the drive in any computer there'll be nothing there. When you open the 'baseball' folders it sends a digital worm through the whole device and gradually corrupts every file."
Mac glanced at the drive in her palm and then back at Vic. She didn't have to use a computer to known he was telling the truth. Files that were formerly accessible had already become corrupted, something she believed was due to improper decoding. She never thought the man had enough knowledge to create such a failsafe. "I made a copy."
"Sure and I bet every file gave you an error."
They did but Mac wouldn't tip her hand. "Drop the charges against Harm."
Vic took a tissue from his desk and blew his nose into it, wincing from the pain. "You scare me, Mac. You scare me a lot and it's a little bit of a turn on."
"You're sick."
"And so are you to let that jerk touch you. It'll be alright though. I promise." He was scared and even shook when she approached, keen on punching him again. Instead, she stopped a foot away from him and eyed him up and down with disgust.
"You're not worth it. God will punish you if none of us can." She tossed the drive onto his desk and made a beeline for the door.
"I won't tell Aunt Addie about this. You're safe."
"Go to Hell."
Harm was unsure why court had been canceled until he saw Vukovic leaving the office with a rag covering his bloody nose. At once, he rushed to his office to find that his wife left nearly an hour earlier and hadn't left any kind of message for him.
Her phone was in a drawer. Calls to their home were either unanswered or ignored. The woman had disappeared and with his heart hammering hard against his chest, Harm aimlessly searched for her.
'I always know where you are.' That may have been true at some point but there was no metaphysical GPS that could send him to her current location. Instead, he went home and found Mac sitting on their sofa wearing half of her uniform.
The jacket, tie and heels had been discarded, tossed haphazardly on the ground. "Mac, what the hell happened?"
She shifted a little, enough to look him directly in the eye as Harm sat next to her. "I'm sorry."
"What happened?"
"He knows."
Harm took a breath and let it out slowly. It didn't take much for him to realize that she betrayed him. "Vukovic knows."
"Yes."
"You told him."
"Yes."
He'd been upset with her before and spent the last few years compartmentalizing both rational and irrational feelings of anger. For a time Harm was sure he hated Mac, even acting his part by ignoring her calls and never stepping up to stop the trajectory that would tear them apart.
This wasn't just anger but a deep sense of disappointment that was sudden and painful. "Why the hell would you do that?
"Guess I'm not very good at the 'obey' part of our vows."
"That's not funny!" Harm said in a harsh tone while pulling away as Mac tried to reach for him. "I told you to wait. You agreed to wait, goddamnit!"
They'd been in many sparring matches through the years but Mac had never seen him so verbally upset with her. His tone had ratcheted up several decibels that she actually winced. "I couldn't. I needed to do something! You're not the one he's obsessed with. Do you know what it feels like to know a woman was raped because of me?"
He hated seeing her cry and against every voice in his head that wanted Harm to comfort her, there was a louder voice that told him to run. Before he could change his mind, Harm grabbed his jacket off the coat rack and yanked the door open.
"Harm-"
"Don't talk to me."
She stood and reached for him once more but he avoided her advances. "Are you leaving?"
"I can't be here with you right now…I guess I'm not the only impulsive one, you should take a hard look in the mirror, Colonel." Harm slammed the door behind him, the vibration causing a frame to fall from a shelf and hit the ground with a loud crack. The image that was once proudly displayed now lay on the floor in a heap of splintered wood and broken glass.
Mac plucked the picture and stared at the happy couple captured in one snapshot. It was from their recent adventure on the canals taken two days after they became lovers.