RDML Greg A. Lee (*damn! Video is hard to read. Tried Youtube first – then my Season 8 DVD – and Former CAG, USS Coral Sea - except for a short segment the CAG's nametag is hard to decipher)
NAS Pax River – In Animal's Office
"Sir…" RDML Greg Adam Lee, salt and pepper closely cropped hair under a ball-cap which read NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND queried Animal as Animal was turning around to get a file from a file cabinet. "I noticed that you've got Captain Harmon Rabb Jr. up for flight training on the F/A-18E and F, sir." Animal turned around slowly to pierce RDML Lee with a look waiting for him to hang himself. "Is that wise, sir?" The insolent question as to the capabilities of his superior officer in sizing up staff and the Louisiana twang of RDML Lee combined to light Animal's temper on fire.
"Rear Admiral Lee…" Animal looked at him slowly as if sizing the one-star up for a major league tongue-lashing and leaned over to the door shutting it "Do you happen to have a problem with my choice." Staring the one-star face-to-face; eyeball-to-eyeball, Animal said. "Do you think I'm not familiar with your mount being dropped in the ocean? Are you aware of the term in-flight engagement?"
"Yes, sir…but…" RDML Lee blustered, his indignant outrage overcoming the subtle signals his brain was telling him that he was digging an incredibly big hole for himself.
"LOCK IT UP! LEE!" Animal snarled. "… 'I was in your seat a week earlier' is a pretty piss poor excuse…for fostering a 'healthy dose of resentment'. You didn't know the condition of the aircraft after the in-flight engagement." Levelling back a stare in RDML Lee's face, Animal's voice dropped dangerously. "You read the report…you disagree…" the level of sarcasm in Animal's voice was dripping. "Considering the fact that you weren't in the seat at the time, it completely blows your theory out of the water with what was going on with your bird at the time!" Both officers were dressed in khakis and the ribbons on Animal's khakis vastly outnumbered those on RDML Lee's. "Unless you had Superman's vision, and none of us do whether we like to think so or not, you wouldn't have an idea in hell what was going on in that cockpit during the in-flight engagement nor the transit to shore which resulted in the ejection of then Commander Rabb at the time, would you?"
"I know the condition of my bird, sir." RDML Lee said after a long moment.
"YOU think YOU know!" Animal snapped out, the words like pistol shots interrupting the silence. Lowering his voice he growled, his voice icy. "You don't know for sure and what piss-ass excuse for fostering resentment you have was formulated on the basis of reading a report out of which you have no clue what factual information it was based on." Threateningly Animal leaned in closer…giving RDML Lee a good look at his MOH. "Try this on for a soft-focus moment and you don't think I know Tom Boone? Three guesses as to where that scuttlebutt came from." Sarcastic tone dripping with charged anger, Animal kept the grill turned to high. "This is factual; you resent Rabb for dunking your Tomcat in the Atlantic. Factual: With this complaint, your intent was to stymie Rabb from ever getting his hands on another aircraft in the United States Navy. Factual, indirect to your intent with this complaint was the stymieing of all programs in NAVAIRSYSCOM! Am I getting through your head, Admiral?"
"Yes, sir." The man didn't have the guts to look suitably chastened and Animal homed in on that like a AIM-9X Sidewinder.
"RDML Lee, If I see Naval Air Systems Command's morale getting toxic, I will have no choice other than to do some housecleaning. Now I'm not asking you to invite the man to dinner, or to play pool with him on Friday afternoons. I'm not even asking you to bump butts with him in the locker room after a knife-fight in a phone booth upstairs at Angels 30. I am asking you to maintain proper professional courtesy and do not do anything to undermine another officer's career."
"Yes, sir!" RDML Lee said, his eyes focussed on the wall behind Animal.
"Because…" Animal leaned in, his countenance threatening…making rivulets of sweat run down the back of RDML Lee's neck. "If one more complaint like this one comes across my desk, I will strap down the individual in question to a defective NACES and eject him at zero-zero! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?" Animal roared! At this point Greg Lee had hoped that he could just melt into the floor. To have a two-star, no less, take a chunk off him, especially one who had the ears of the Pentagon and no small amount of influence, could have been career-ending, but he had managed to slip by, no thanks to the small amount of magnanimousness of the Rear Admiral Upper Half.
"Yes, sir." The brusqueness of the former CAG and now RDML was suitably cowed if not eliminated entirely.
"Now get the hell out of my face, Rear Admiral Lower Half. I have some goddamned work to do!"
One Day Later
Day before the Wedding Rehearsal
"Hey, Animal." Harm grinned at his friend. The superior officer was left at the office. "I have to run over to the Academy and make sure that we're able to do the wedding there and I have to be present for that. My Mom and Frank are flying in today on United Flight 897 from San Diego – flight is at 1300 and I won't be able to meet them. Meg has to run and get last minute fittings on her dress and the bridesmaids are getting their dresses fitted as well. Can I ask a big favor of you?"
"Let me guess." Animal replied. "You want me to pick up your Mom and Frank and take them to their hotel?"
"Yeah…if that's OK? We're all assembling at Annapolis. Of course Frank will need to stop by a Chrysler dealership in DC and then they'll just follow you with their vehicle." Harm looked at his friend with a 'thanks you're a life-saver' expression.
"…'course not a problem," Animal said as he pondered over how to make sure that he met up with the Burnetts lifting his hand up to check the time on his Breitling Aviator, "Haven't seen Trish and Frank for ages. Washington National? So when is Keeter coming in?"
"He's coming in about 1900 tonight along with Skates. I think they may even be on the same flight." Harm checked his phone.
"Tellin' em to catch a cab?" Animal grinned evilly knowing Keeter's reaction to that.
"I'll be picking them up and then tomorrow morning we're all heading for Annapolis for the wedding rehearsal provided everything goes smoothly." Harm nodded as he checked the entry on his phonebook.
"Okay" Animal said as he looked over at Harm. "I've got your cell-phone number so I can get a hold of you."
Washington National Airport
1250 HRS
Animal made his way across the airport concourse as he made his way to Flight 897's debarking area which was Gate 16. Picking a spot by the gate, he waited quietly for the Burnetts to get there. It was no problem at all. When he was an instructor instructing Harm how to fly and fight in the F-14A Tomcat he was oft-times a visitor to Trish and Frank's home. And Trish was like a second mother to him considering his own parents were long gone. So it was absolutely imperative that he was entrusted to make sure Trish and Frank got to the wedding of her only son. Considering the fact that this was an off-duty assignment which he considered, he was in civvies as he casually leaned on the brushed steel armrest of the bar separating the folks debarking from the flight and those waiting for the arrivals.
Gate 16
Washington National Airport
1305 HRS
"Frank. Harm won't be there to pick us up?" Trish said archly as she gazed up at the debarking gate from the entrance of the Boeing 767.
"No, he said he had something that he had to get done at Annapolis so he's putting our arrival at Annapolis in the hands of a very capable Navy friend of his." Frank smiled back at his wife who he figured would be very surprised at who was waiting for them. After walking up the gate and the resulting passageway to arrivals, they passed through the double doors. Frank nudged his wife and said. "Look over there" pointing out someone familiar in the crowd of people waiting for the arrivals from Flight 897.
"Oh my god…" She said. "TOSH!"
"Hi…" Animal said as he gave Trish an embrace.
"How are you?" Trish asked. "I haven't seen you for so long."
"Probably since Lia and I got married." Animal said in response. "When you came out to see Harm, I was deployed, usually." Turning to Frank, he shook the man's hand. "How are you, Frank?"
"Great. Tosh. Had a time keeping the news that you'd be meeting us at Washington National from Trish. She was asking me questions all through the flight." Animal chuckled at that while Trish gave Frank a gimlet stare. If anything he knew Trish was someone who would dig until she got the truth. Frankly that's where her son got his investigative skills from.
"So, are you still CAG?" Trish inquired curiously.
"Negative, Mom." He grinned as Trish smiled widely at Tosh for calling her that – any close friend of Harm's was calling her Mom. "I'm now XO Naval Air Systems Command…a two-star rear admiral upper half."
"Wow!" Trish admired. "Harm told us that he was working for some rear admiral in Naval Air Systems Command."
"Yep, Mom, that would be me." Tosh grinned back at her. "I got him to come back to the Navy after he quit JAG. Better offer too than what AJ could offer him." Trish raised her eyebrows at hearing about this as she wasn't aware that Tosh was the catalyst for bringing Harm back into the Navy. All she knew was that Harm resigned his commission and was refused entry back into the Navy. Evidently the Navy needed him in some other capacity than as a Judge Advocate General officer.
"So who's this woman he's marrying." Trish asked Tosh. "All I get out of my son is that he's marrying this woman who he used to work with who stayed out of his life for 7 years then she comes back and he's marrying her all of a sudden."
"Well, Mom, Sorry to say, but I can't really wrap my head around it either." Animal said softly. "But that's Harm's story to tell, not mine. So. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to wait on that."
"OK…" Trish said reluctantly but knowing that she would have to back off on the information until she got Harm in front of her and was able to grill him directly. But she knew that any woman that Harm chose to get serious about to the point where he was willing to walk her to the altar was a woman that she would get along well with.
"I believe I'm supposed to transport you to the nearest Chrysler dealership, right, Frank?" Animal grinned at Harm's step-father.
"Absolutely. Lead the way…Son." Frank replied eliciting a rather raised eyebrow from Animal who received a motherly nudge from Trish. Animal didn't reply but lead the way to his Chevy Impala which made Animal receive a questioning raised eyebrow from Frank.
"Uh…was used…and I got it cheap." Animal shrugged his shoulders and looked sheepish.
"Next time you'll buy Chrysler, right?" Frank said roguishly pointing a finger at him.
"Right." Animal agreed, nodding like a bobble-head.
After The Fitting
Meg was about ready to throw up her hands in frustration. It took about six tries for the dressmaker to get the final fitting of her dress correct and standing still with pins in the dresses trying to make certain that the fall of the dress was right was exasperating. If she wasn't marrying Harm, she wasn't sure if she would have the patience to go through with the Barbie-dressing and undressing. She had looked over to see Lia, Harriet and Jen trying bridesmaid dresses out. Harriet had certainly come around since having been grilled to a well-done state by Meg the last time around. She had realized just how much of a major mistake that Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie had made in what she had said to Harm in Paraguay. She buried the hatchet with Meg and tried to be as friendly as she could but it was a fine-line of trying to retain the friendship with Mac and still be a friend and bridesmaid to Meg who had asked her to fill out the complement of bridesmaids.
Meg being the utilitarian, preferred to have the bridesmaids wear something that they could wear after the ceremony as a dress and preferred not to dress her bridesmaids in pastel which would instantly scream "bridesmaid". So she picked a simple practical color that could be used as cocktail dress. No ugly pastel pink dresses. When the dresses were picked out, sized and alteration instructions marked down, the four women looked at each other.
"How about we get something to eat afterwards?" Jen asked the other three. "After spending near three hours in here, I'm famished."
"That sounds like a great idea." Meg said. "We should be able to be back for the alterations in about three hours?" She asked the clerk.
"Try about four, ma'am." The clerk said. "We should have it ready by then."
Annapolis Chapel
"Ideally we would like at least six months notice, but it seems that we have a vacancy available on short notice this Saturday. So you are in luck, Captain." The chapel booking officer looked over at him. "I believe you are the Academy graduate"
"Yes, I am." Harm replied as he looked over at the booking officer. "Academy '85."
"Ah, yes, here you are…" The booking officer looked at the class lists. "Midshipman Harmon Rabb Junior. You have had quite the career, sir."
"Thanks, I think." Captain Harmon Rabb Jr. grinned back genially.
"And your wife-to-be is also a naval officer?"
"Yes, my wife-to-be is one Commander Megan Austin." Harm replied. "But she got her gold bar through ROTC" (he pronounced it Rotsee) – Fortunately for Harm, Meg was not there to hear him. The booking officer grinned.
"Well, since she's marrying an Academy grad, we won't hold that against her." The booking officer replied and Harm laughed.
"Of course you might not want to say that to the head of the sword party. He's a rear-admiral upper half and Rotsee as well." Harm warned.
"Oh oh…"
"Of course he calls us Academy types – a screw loose from Canoe U."
"Sir, I'd call that a declaration of war." The booking officer laughed.
"Yeah, well…he's a great guy once he was house-trained. Well, thanks for letting us have this weekend." Harm said, getting up and shaking the booking officer's hand.
"Not a problem, sir. We're glad we can assist you."
Hotel
Trish embraced Tosh and grinned at him. "So glad that you're coming to Harm's wedding too."
"Well, Mom, I'm the head of the sword arch so I do have to make it there." Animal replied wryly.
"So we're all heading up there tomorrow, early morning?" Frank asked.
"That's what I believe the itinerary is. The wedding rehearsal is that night so we all need to be in Annapolis and booked into the hotel by mid-afternoon." Animal answered. "So I'll see you in the morning. Lia and I are giving Harm's legalman a ride up to Annapolis and I'll be leaving at six-thirty in the morning. We'll meet you at the hotel and you can follow us up after breakfast."
"Sounds good." Frank and Trish nodded in acknowledgement of the plan for tomorrow morning.
Transfer Van
Special Agent Bill Ford
"Now, Jack…" SA Bill Ford grinned evilly at Jack Lambert. "I'm setting you free. Your Freedom Brethren are here to pick you up or they will be here to pick you up in about three hours." Pulling to a stop by the highway, he unlocked the back cage from the driver's seat, unlocking the door.
"What about a rifle? What about a pistol?" Lambert snarled viciously standing by the van after getting out. "You're going to leave me out here in the middle of the swamp with nothing to protect myself with?"
"Ah, you'll only be out here for a little while. Just keep your wits about you…and don't fall asleep. I hear water moccasins cross the road periodically to get to the swamp on the other side." Tossing a knife out he said quietly as he rolled the window up "You think I'd be stupid enough to give you something you could shoot me with?"
"YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE!" Lambert screamed as Bill Ford put the van in drive and started to drive off.
"You wanna bet?" SA Bill Ford giggled madly as he left the Freedom Brethren leader standing on the edge of the highway between two swamps. Whistling cheerily, SA Bill Ford grinned as he had a meeting in a state three states over with someone he'd been tracking ever since he'd been stuck in the hole at Leavenworth. "Yep…it's really nice to be a special agent again." He said fingering his badge that he had bought at a surplus store and a dark grey suit that he had purchased at a second hand store. He could still access his old accounts, all it took was a little hacking. He withdrew enough to get the suit, the badge and the documentation (the documentation by a forger cost a little more than what he paid for the badge – ok…a couple thousand) as well as a Glock 17. Putting his plan into motion was child's play for SA Bill Ford. Why not let loose a few enemies of Rabb's? Could make his life interesting, each one with a little vendetta against one Harmon Rabb Jr. Like little suicidal puppets, he could drop hints and send each one of them on their way to try to eliminate Rabb. He wouldn't know what the hell was coming. Heck, he wouldn't know if he was coming or going. Ah revenge was fun. After all, playing characters was SA Ford's specialty – he was a character himself at any rate. Certainly beat having to make tea cosies for retirement homes in Leavenworth's sewing area.
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