Never Say Never

Chapter 18

Monday, July 8, 2002

1510 Local Time

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, VA

Mac was walking across the lot to pick up Tricia at the Daycare center. As she walked along, she was startled when someone came up from behind to ask, "Lt. Col Rabb, can I have a word?"

Mac stopped and turned to face the person who accosted her. Her irritation was evident as she replied, "Lindsey, you do not sneak up and startle a woman eight months pregnant. Also, per regulations, I put my eight hours in and I'm off the clock." She punctuated her sentence by starting to walk away.

Lindsey was taken aback. He reached to grab Mac's arm. "Ahm, colonel, I need to speak with you about your husband. It has to do with the audit the SECNAV ordered me to conduct."

Mac replied in a low threatening voice, "Let go of my arm or I'll shout for the Marines Security detail."

Lindsey sheepishly let her arm go saying, "I'm sorry."

"Next time you touch me you will be." Mac turned her back on him and walked away, leaving Linsdey standing there wondering how he lost the upper hand.

For her part, Mac was muttering to herself, "The nerve of that phony. He screws up Administration and Legal Assistance, which I was assigned to fix, then he comes to audit us. What the fuck is he looking for? I'll speak with Harm about him and let him know Lindsey wants to speak with him."

She went on to pick up her daughter and go home.

Same Time

JAG Headquarters

Cmdr. Alison Crawford's Office

Alison sat to peruse the preliminary results of Lindsey's audit of the Navy JAG Corps.

"He's out of his mind. This is a real hatchet job. I haven't been back long, but I'm seeing a well-run service."

After Chegwidden ordered her to assist in the audit, Alison instructed Lindsey to give her a daily report of his findings. So far in the two months that Lindsey conducted the audit, his reports showed a story of someone who was taking revenge on being passed over for O-6. All his comments showed that he was biased. He was especially hard on Chegwidden and Harmon Rabb.

"Jeez, Harm isn't even assigned to the JAG Corps. What the hell is he trying to prove?"

As Alison concentrated on her work, her desk phone rang. She kept reading as she picked up the receiver brought it to her ear and answered, "Cmdr. Crawford."

"Hi mummy"

She smiled as she heard her three-year-old daughter's posh British-accented voice. She picked her head up from her work and turned her chair to face the window to reply, "Hi Bronny. What are you up to?"

"I'm with Daddy at the embassy?

"How was your school day?"

"It was great. I like our teacher."

"That's great baby."

As Alison was speaking, she didn't hear her office door open. As she concluded her daughter's phone call, she turned to replace the receiver in its cradle. As she turned to face the front, she was startled as she saw Lindsey standing in front of her desk.

Alison collected herself, cradled the receiver in its place and said with irritation, "Jesus H. Christ Teddy. Don't do that. I would appreciate it if you knocked before entering my office. Besides that, what do you want?"

"I came in to ask after you about your review of my audit. I want to present it to the SECNAV as soon as possible."

"When the admiral assigned me to review your audit, I told you that you could submit your alleged findings at any time you wanted. My and the other attorneys' rebuttals will follow later."

"That's all well and good, but your rebuttals will cave in my findings."

"That's not my problem. You examine what it is you are doing and who you're doing it for. Are you doing it for the Navy or your selfish reasons?"

Lindsey didn't like what he was hearing. It took all his self-control to stamp down the outburst that was at the tip of his tongue. All he could do was storm out the door. Thankfully, the door closer prevented him from slamming the door.

Alison sighed and said to herself, "I gotta talk to someone about this, and it can't be the admiral."

She picked up the phone to make a call.

1800 Local Time

Benzingers Restaurant

Falls Church, VA

Alison waited in a booth for her guest to arrive. She had a view of the entrance and the greeter's podium. She saw her guest arrive and muttered, "You can't miss him, he's so freaking tall." She got up and waved for him to come over calling, "Over here Harm."

Harm walked over to Alison's table. He shook her hand and sat down in the booth opposite Alison.

"Are you game for a meal?"

"Yeah, I told Sarah that I was meeting you. She suggested that I have dinner here."

"Okay, let's order."

After they put their orders in with their waitress, and she walked away Harm asked, "So, Alison, what's happening with you that you couldn't tell me over the phone?"

"Ted Lindsey's audit of the JAG Corps is getting totally out of hand. I've been collecting his findings as soon as he writes them. I and other of our attorneys have prepared rebuttals."

"Yeah, Sarah's been griping to me about it. She's getting very annoyed at Lindsey. She called me earlier to tell me that he accosted her in the parking lot about it. He almost scared her into labor."

"I'm so sorry about that. I had no idea." Alison replied showing her distress.

"Don't worry, Sarah's fine. My mom and Uncle Matt are home with her and Tricia."

"That's good. So getting back to Lindsey, what do you propose I do about him?"

"Tell him that his audit is bogus and that you're going to the SECNAV with your rebuttals. That should get him to back off."

"I don't know. He has a stubborn streak in him a mile wide. Look how he ran roughshod over JAG after Adm. Brovo left and before Adm. Chegwidden got there. No one can tell him that he's wrong. He never took criticism well at all."

"Yeah, I remember. Look, I can whisper to President Bartlett about the audit or even the Inspector General."

"No, that won't be necessary. I'll keep this in the JAG Chain of Command."

"Suit yourself. If you need me to help, let me know. In the meantime, let's eat."

"Okay, don't worry, I know how to handle Lindsey."

Their orders had arrived, and they paused their conversation to partake of their meals.

2030 Local Time

Potomac Great Falls Park

Border of Montgomery County, MD

Fairfax County, VA

It was a little before sunset as Alison stood on the bridge overlooking the falls. After her dinner with Harm, she called Lindsey from her car and told him to meet her at the park away from the office. She figured that she would give him a chance to gracefully end his audit. She figured that he could revise the audit using the rebuttals and present that to the SECNAV.

She smiled as she leaned on the rail watching the falls and the couples, as they walked, held hands and smooched when they thought no one was looking. As the sun was setting, the last couple left the bridge. Standing alone, she couldn't see the parking lot and didn't know if Lindsey was coming. At about 2115 it was dark when she finally decided to leave. As she reached the Virginia end of the bridge where she parked her car, she saw a man in Navy Dress Whites getting out of a car. She watched him as he walked across the parking lot to the bridge stairway. She waited for him on the bridge. As he got to the top of the stairs, she was relieved that it was Lindsey.

As Lindsey reached Alison, he asked, "What's so important and secret that you wanted to speak with me away from the office and this late in the day?"

'If I had asked to meet you this late in the office at JAG, the night watch crew would have something to talk about. I want to tell you to end your audit and submit it with the rebuttals."

"But, with the rebuttals, it'll undermine everything I reported. The SECNAV won't give my promotion to Captain that he promised."

"The SECNAV promised you a promotion to Captain. What was he looking for?"

"A reason to remove Chegwidden. He thinks that the corps has become too incestuous and cliquey. Hell, you're Chegwidden's third cousin for Christ's sake."

"How the hell do you know that?"

"From a simple genealogical search. You're related by marriage. Your mother is Chegwidden's father's younger sister."

"I made my way through the Navy on my own. He was only a faraway mentor. He never stepped in to influence my promotions. Hell, you had a mentor in Brovo."

"It wasn't the same. He wasn't family. He was only interested in letting me take the fall for a lot of shit. Most especially Rabb's handling of the Aruti case. Rabb was lucky that Clinton liked the idea of making him a hero when he landed that Tomcat when he was practically blind."

"Leave Rabb out of this. We're talking about you and me. I don't like the idea of you making me take the fall for your shortcomings."

"I'm tired of letting everyone pass me by. I want my shot. I don't care who gets in the way."

"Well, Teddy I'm going to make sure you don't hurt anyone. I'm going to make it my mission to stop you." At that, Alison turned and walked away from Lindsey.

Lindsey was so enraged at Alison's declaration that he went after her. He took two steps, grabbed her shoulder with his left hand, and turned her around. Alison was so surprised that she didn't react in defending herself. She barely saw Lindsey swing at her. His closed fist right-hand punch caught the left side of her face from her cheekbone to her jaw. As she fell from the impact toward the walkway fence, she struck her head against the top cross rail. She lost consciousness and hit the pavement in a heap.

Lindsey stood seething in anger at her betrayal, totally unaware of his assault on her. He calmed down as he saw her body lying on the cement. He panicked as he saw blood pooling under her head. That's when he became frightened. He turned and started to run down the walkway away from the scene.