Defenseless - 48

[This was an odd show with an awkward, barely believable ending.] Harm was selected by Chegwidden to investigate, and "wrap it up quietly and quick," the shooting of Turkish military attaché to NATO, Col Behrouz Hasan. Ensign Elizabeth Lane, a data systems officer assigned to the Turkish embassy 2 months previously for upgrades, shot Hasan in her apartment and was not in confinement- "in a daze." H took Bud with him and, when Mac said she was upset over not being assigned, he took her along too saying that "C didn't tell me I couldn't." They spent the entire episode investigating and defending Lane who claimed a poor memory- M opinioned due to post traumatic stress. M believed that "women's intuition" for danger was a valid defense. H tried to visit Lane's apartment but was chased away by a DEA reject dog who didn't like men in uniforms. H was summoned into Cs office to face pressure for "quick resolution," and M was jealous. She told B that it "feels like a 15 year-old again, getting grounded for stealing cars and drinking." She gave B the credit for screwing up her courage to storm into Cs office and demand better treatment. And she did, saying, "I know you believe I should be punished but I believe the clients welfare to be more important than teaching me a lesson." C asked her if she knew the "difference between initiative and insubordination?" She pointed out that a "woman's instincts were on overdrive 24 hours a day." Women leave buildings differently, she said, "you go out and drive away. We pay attention to shadows with our keys in our hands for escape and weapons." The case demanded a woman's perspective, she told him. C called to her that his instincts "tell me that I wouldn't recommend this approach in the future!"

H took Lane back to her apartment and she babbled about not having "real" friends. H said "I'll be your friend." With flashbacks, and progressive disclosure, it was revealed that Hasan hadn't paid any attention to her before he appeared unannounced at her apartment, buzzed twice, let in by mistake thinking it was neighbor, peeked through door dressed only in a towel, dog barked, closed- but not locked- door to get dressed, came inside anyway, heard metal click, closed windows, went into kitchen, put plate of food on floor to stop barking dog, took phone off hook so couldn't call 911, got full bottle of wine from cabinet and wrapped it in towel, came into her bedroom - where she shot him feeling afraid for her life. H got her out of confinement and delivered her to her apartment where someone shot at her. He took her to his apartment for safety. The SECNAV and C were shown talking in his office saying that "the Turks expect a conviction, it's not going per plan, C unhappy at deceiving his people, and if this doesn't go as planned YOU become MY problem!" H saw the SECNAV and Imes (the prosecutor) coming out of the office and wanted to know why. When C said he couldn't tell him, H threatened that he "refused to let her be sold out by the Navy, or anyone else… sir." H conjectured Lane found something without knowing it, Hasan's predecessor expelled for spying, but C wouldn't let him involve the Turkish govt. When H asked "is politics more important than the truth?" C replied "find another way."

Imes acted arrogant, haughty and demeaning. H reconstructed: Back door locked, key in purse in kitchen with Hasan, Front door key in lock for emergency, but needed to get key from purse to let police in- so it was locked- by Hasan, key found in Hasan's pocket, all prints had been wiped by Hasan. Lane was acquitted and H insisted on a celebratory dinner in his apartment. She didn't show and neither he or B could find any trace of her in any computer record. C called him into his office and said that Lane was really a Naval Intelligence agent working to infiltrate a spy ring- "you were supposed to loose"- and she was to be convicted for life, on paper. The Turks deny involvement in the sniper but have recalled some staff. "Only you could have gotten her acquitted," C said. [What makes this unbelievable was the weak rationale for Hs love interest AND why, if she was supposed to loose, Lane would progressively help exonerate herself.] H met her back in her empty apartment and asked why she came back. She said that "she didn't know," she could usually just walk away. "What made this different," he asked and she just walked out.

Bud's apartment was being fumigated and he went to a skuzzy hotel room. It was beneath Harriet's standards so she invited him to stay with her. He found out that she was wealthy when he couldn't play with her Hummel figurines. M bet H $20 that the two were "hot bunkin' it." She asked B where he had "slept last night- and remember officers never lie." He quickly claimed to see admiral Drake and ran the other way. Ht and B snuck around in the library whispering that "they know what we're doing."

People vs. Rabb - 47

Russian Mafioso Stephan Gregorovitch Konaplanik called Harm to sell him documents of his fathers whereabouts. While delivering the documents Col Mikhail Parlovski, KGB, showed up to prevent the sale. Bumbling FBI agents, who had been following Konaplanik, tripped over a garbage can and Parlovski shot Konaplanik. H wrestled the gun from him just as incompetent FBI Novack & Grenin arrived on scene and arrested H. Chegwidden watched their interrogation of H and was pissed so he had Bud go get Webb to "spring" H. The SECNAV refused to lift a finger to help H and wanted to throw him into the civilian court until C pointed out the advantage of being able to put "spin" on the case in the press. C assigned Caroline Imes (back from Spain) and B to defend against Mattoni who was prosecuting. Konaplanik was shot with 100 grain, truncated, Israeli made, hollow points and H said he used "115 grain full metal jacket's." Parlovski planted bullets in Hs toilet for bumbling Novack to find during search even though they had inadequately searched the crime scene.

Arrogant Imes gave a poor, "justifiable homicide" defense because she thought that H was guilty. W brought a gun to the brig, where H was taken, and asked H to escape to be the "bait" to find Parlovski and gave H the documents. H went to Ms apartment to have the documents translated and found that his father had been taken to "Cherlisk near lake Boshna." Novack and his flunkey nearly captured H coming out of Ms apartment but Parlovsky, dressed as a mailman, prevented it. Parlovsky contacted M at her new civilian office with Dalton's firm and offered to confess to killing Konaplanik if H would return the documents. Bud brought supplies to H who was hiding out on a moth-balled ship and was "pissed" at being "dissed" when H tried to send him home. The meeting with Parlovski at an aircraft museum was tracked by W from a device he had planted in Hs gun. Parlovsky had agreed with H to help him find his father if the documents were returned so H helped him escape Ws trap. Parlovsky told H that the documents were fake, there was no place as Cherlisk or Boshna, and that he was leaving back to Russia.

H fired Imes as his attorney and M completely reversed the case flummoxing Mattoni and embarrassing Novack for not even knowing there was a trap door to the warehouse. H was acquitted. M quit Dalton's firm but still wanted a relationship with Dalton who said he didn't care where she worked as long as she went home with him. M asked for her job back and C, who hadn't processed her JAG resignation, took her back. Novack threatened H with further civilian action. Parlovski sent a "real" photo of Hs dad in Russia.

Impact - 46

Something hit a marine helicopter during maneuvers causing it to crash and killing the pilot. Harm and Bud were sent to 29 Palms to investigate surprising Mac that she was left behind from a marine investigation. Chegwidden had given her an admirals gambling case to review. They found a strange piece of metal at the site just before Clark Palmer came and kicked them off the investigation claiming he was DSD. H stole a small piece and sent it for analysis. Eyewitnesses saw "a big, black, thing which absorbed light and had no engine sound. They just "felt it" and it had a crescent row of pulsating lights. B called it a UFO then, while discussing it with H, saw it go over their car and onto the Bradenhurst Corporation compound. They crashed through the gate to follow it but were intercepted by armed security. Adm Elgin bitched & threatened C over not calling off the JAG investigation. He told C that he should be worrying about his "bars." Upset, C responded that no one was going to interfere with a JAG investigation and that he hadn't met a SEAL yet that didn't like a good "bar" fight. Marine base Col Barrett delayed sending H & B home for 24hrs and said that if congress didn't like it they could come and "kiss my Marine green @#$%." B caused a diversion & H snuck inside the fence. However he was "impulse blasted" by a hovering black aircraft. Captured, he broke away from Palmer, saw the aircraft and stole a computer disk before he escaped in a jeep. He was chased through desert by Palmer who then slugged him and was threatening to shoot him. B brought Barrett and the marines over hill to surround them. As Palmer was backed down H slugged him telling the Col that "I owed him.".

C was giving "small" cases to M she asked H "why is C mad at me." H replied flippantly "the same reason we all are." Dalton Lowne's came to take her to an interview and gave M an expensive jewel necklace. The law firm offered her a job for a lot of money. She flew to New York with Lowne to be with him overnight to celebrate. M resigned on very short notice angering C. She told him that she would be arguing before the supreme court and "spreading my wings." C said that she had "ambushed" him. She was leaving without saying goodbye to H but met him on the way out the door. She asked "permission to hug" which he granted just as Lowne drove up in his convertible. She told H "It's no Tomcat."

Above and Beyond - 45

A black SEAL, Lt Curtis Rivers, was nominated by Pres Clinton to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, for rescuing Under Secretary of State Lawrence Culbertson from terrorists before they killed him. His squad disliked him and as they were only supposed to do recon, argued w/ him when he led them into rescue Culbertson. Rivers killed 8 terrorists and went back for the wounded PO Douglas who told him to go. Rivers lit off a pop up flare and carried Culbertson to the beach. Harm & Mac needed "two witnesses" in order to recommend the medal but the angry, wounded Douglas lied and said he didn't see it because he was unconscious. Chief Wilkins told H that Rivers was dangerous to his men and that he had broken the SEAL code of not leaving his man. Rivers acted like a spoiled brat the whole episode and wouldn't give his side. M told him to "not play the race card with us." H took a bottle of liquor to his house and tried to "buddy up" to him in order to obtain his side of the story. Rivers said that his father, Edgar, had been a seaman who was wrongfully accused of stealing money from the officers mess and had hung himself while in the brig. Rivers said that neither of the JAG lawyers believed his father and that he had read his letters from the prison. A "weenie" assistant to the president came and dogged H to "push through" the award ostensibly for "national healing." C assisted by interrogating Culbertson. H finally told Rivers that he was using his father as an excuse which provoked an attack. Rivers said he would "talk to H" if H would do "SEAL hell week." He used the excuse to abuse H until the Chief stopped him. When H recovered he "cleaned Rivers clock." Rivers still didn't keep his word but H deduced that Douglas wasn't unconscious as he had claimed then got Douglas to stop lying which allowed Rivers to get medal. Footage of Clinton's speech was used with a dubbed voiceover. Lt. Rivers was shown receiving the medal then leaving it at his fathers tombstone.

B got drunk on "pineapples" and when M accused him of being lovesick he told her that was the "black pot calling the kettle the same thing." He asked her if she was leaving JAG for Dalton and she just said that she hadn't been given an offer. B went up on stage and sang Delilah.

Against All Enemies - 44

An AMRAAM missile was being tested near North Korea and a "civilian" plane flew into the test zone so the captain ordered the test to "stand down." But, as the pilot did so, the missle spontaneously fired killing 31. Harm, Mac & Bud were sent to the USS Reprisal to investigate. The salvage vessel Sea Star was surrounded by North Korean war ships and the cruiser Choson gave ultimatums & fired shots across the Sea Star's bow. Capt Jim (?Ray) Hubbard sped to the scene and authorized "booming" the Choson with tomcats & "shouldering" by other vessels. Mac "pushed" and "bullied witnesses and H had to warn her several times. Walt Rockwell, the communications officer, acted guilty and was found to have made a $90K bank deposit. He, later, said that it was an inheritance. Bumbling seaman Alice Tuppany poured hot coffee in Hs lap. When Tuppany was being chewed out by her chief, Mac bought into her excuse for leaving the galley unattended while a fire started. She was gone to communications for 15 minutes "for career practice." H found that the missle had fired before it had left the launch rail and that it had been caused by a radar sweep, which was also unexplained. Bud, working with PO Sullivan, found that there had been an unaccounted for burst transmission the day before the test. It was decoded, and found to be from a spy notifying of the test. It had been during the time Tuppany had left the galley for the CIC room so M asked C for background information. The photo sent was different so H confronted Tuppany, was taken hostage and forced, with a de-pinned grenade, to take off in a Tomcat toward North Korea. NK launched MIGs, which wouldn't accept Tuppany's radio message, and shot at them. H ejected Tuppany before her grenade could explode. The Sea Star found that the downed plane had: actually been a NK spy plane; swept the missle with radar launching it; and caused it's own demise.

M denied to H that she was in a hurry to get back to Dalton. M said "that's the stupidest think you've ever said. He's a man not a new career choice." Harriet tried to get a "good bye kiss" from B before he left then called "I love you" across the room. B just nodded then called her several times from the ship playing "Rambo" role.

Vanished - 42

A fully armed F14 disappeared in a storm in the Bermuda triangle with the pilot, Cdr. Douglas and his RIO. Chegwidden sent Harm, Mac & Bud to investigate. B ranted about the Bermuda triangle, aliens and UFO sightings through the whole episode along with the "Brain nuts" (doughnuts) he was eating with ginko biloba frosting. Aboard the Coral Sea they were experiencing severe stormy weather and electrical problems "ever since we entered the black water." They went to general quarters when a water spout was sighted. B ranted to much about it, H finally told him that the government was indeed experimenting with weather control. A top secret procedure was to have a "half dozen Sea Wolf class subs circle round and round until they created a coreolis vortex which could suck down either a ship or plane." "Are you mocking me, sir," B asked. H reviewed even the land based radar and found that the Tomcat had dropped below the storm, just at he had sent his wingman up above the storm, then flew north along the Florida coast for about 12 minutes when it flew in circles and went off the screen.

M & H had a talk about Dalton Lowne, of Lowell, Hanson, and Lowne law firm, who he had seen talking with M. She baited him with "are you jealous." He said that he just didn't like "breaking in new partners." "Dalton drives a Porsche," she said. "I fly a Tomcat," he retorted. So she exclaimed, "you are jealous." "When I was assigned to you," he said, "I thought a tattooed jarhead would be challenging me to an arm wrestle." She said, "I have a tattoo, I'm good at arm wrestling and technically they do call me a jarhead." Then H became obsessed with the fact she had a tattoo and where it was.

The F14's RIO stumbled, beat up, into a Florida campsite and collapsed. C interviewed him to find that he had passed out, awoken with a severe headache and people standing over him in bright lights, and passed out again when someone stuck him with a needle. He said that the pilot had acted strangely for a few days and had spent 2 hours trying to call his wife before their mission. C told him not to talk to any men in black suits with sunglasses. They found that the pilots wife and daughter were missing. B found the "Freedom Brethren" militia group's website bookmarked on the pilots computer and continued obsessing about UFO sightings all along the coast that night. He showed H a photo which was taken that H recognized immediately as Tomcat afterburners. B arranged a meeting with "oppenheimer and Einstein" who H had to promise a tour of the pentagon "including sub-level 2 beyond the purple water cooler" in order to get information. They traced the landing to the Percane valley where they arrived just after the Pilot had taken off to shoot down Arafat in a civilian plane; but, just in time to have a gun battle with Jack Lambert's Freedom Brethren and rescue Douglas' wife and daughter, Lee and Kim. Douglas had drugged his RIO, dropped below radar, and made it look like his RIO had punched out. The Coral Sea sent fighters to shoot down Douglas but he had already decided that he just couldn't pull the trigger on a civilian aircraft and broke off before they fired. H threw his match at Lambert as he lit up a cigar, and said "never underestimate the integrity of a naval aviator."

The King of the Fleas - 43

The wheelchair bound, accordion playing, ex POW, "King of the Fleas" (Roscoe Martin) spotted the Commanderr of his old Vietnamese prison camp on a US street, and killed him. He had been a captured deserter from his unit and was tortured, but when he gave in to the Viet Cong he was pronounced "king" over the other prisoners and was given special respect by the guards. He was used to get information about which prisoners were pilots and could be taken to Russia (it turns out that Harm's dad was one of them). He was then left untouched and had to watch as the commander had all the remainder of the POWs in the camp killed. A policeman (Costas) was outwitted by Bud, in taking custody of Martin, who turned himself in to Harm. Chegwidden started the interrogation but left. Martin was deliberately vague and rambling so, when Harm got anxious and "pushed" for information, Martin lied and told Harm that it had been his father who was the the informer. Harm finally gave up trying to make sense of Martin's ramblings and told him to leave, which made him finally admit that it had been him who was the weakest captive and made "king" by the dead Viet Cong CO. Harm promised to defend him during his trial. Dalton pursued Mac.

Blind Side - 41

Harm's old flight instructor and mentor, Capt. Gary Hockhausen, was out for a six month "checkout" of one of his junior flight instructors, Lt Peter Judd, when Judd hit a pole and had to eject. The loose jet crashed into Melanie and Joshua Lanier's car killing them both. H and Bud were sent to investigate and were sheparded around by a sort of "motor-mouth, air-head" from New York, Lt Schiparelli, was a former cab driver and extremely loyal to Hockhausen. Judd's RIO, Lt. Gerter, blew his knee and would never fly again. He revealed that they had been "pulling a hell of a lot of Gs" and almost blacked out when they had to bail. Mac was called in to represent Judd even before H had completed his investigation. The maneuver scorekeeper said that Judd had "an aggressive style of flying" and had previously cut a phone line with his tail fin (upside down at 30 feet and 500 knot's). H saw Schiparelli hustling two marines at pool in a bar and joined her playing doubles. The marines wanted Hs fancy boots and Schiparelli's bra so he demanded their pants. While celebrating their victory later in their car, Schiparelli kissed H just at M pulled up. M bristled and derisively asked her if she spent her spare time hustling marines. Not to be out done, Schiparelli sarcastically retorted "no, I usually like a challenge." H quickly jumped between them. Both Hockhausen and Judd claimed that a "severe down draft" had slammed him into the telephone pole; and, when H acted incredulous, Hockhausen reminded H of when he had almost lost flight status for shooting out of bounds during a High noon gunnery competition. H countered that the judges had decided he was really inside bounds and Hockhausen claimed that it was he who had "convinced them that it didn't matter," and that he had "saved your windswept butt." He opinioned that he had seen good men "skewered by rule book barons and ignorant COs. "If you don't give a man room to make mistakes," he said, "you take away his ability to learn from them." He tried to intimidate H by saying he resented "not being believed," but H recounted that pilots needed to learn consequences of their actions and take responsibility for them.

Bud, doing his "routine library reading," discovered that the wind was on the other side of the ridge so there would have been UP drafts not DOWN drafts. He also had to remind H that there were statistical accelerometers on board. Judd's plane had pulled 7 Gs at the accident. M wanted to know what Hockhausen's showed but it was found to be "missing." H believed that he had stolen his own device in order to protect his wingman so decided he had to "prove it" by "recreating" the incident. Hockhausen used his own RIO and H took M in his back seat - and she got sick and vomited. After the run, and during the climb over the ridge, they nearly hit a phone pole, so H was convinced that a down draft right then would have caused them to hit the pole. However during landing Hockhausen pulled a rookie mistake and misjudged his landing distance which allowed H to see another rationale. When Schiparelli apologized for the kiss, H just told her that she had "seized the moment" which is why she was an officer. Then he twisted her arm into revealing that she had overheard Hockhausen on the phone with some other pilot trading ideas on how to pass eye tests. He then interviewed Retired Admiral James Dawkins, who seemed to know H and his father. Dawkins had flown into his 50's and told H that he had never falsified his eye tests but that he knew it had been done and briefed H on how. H then confronted Hockhausen and offered to let him resign, but he flew in Hs face to the point that H had to tell him "not to exploit my loyalty, I'm not Lt. Judd." H met Judd in a bar and told him the story about loyalty but Judd wouldn't budge in his lie. H then told M about Schiparelli's information and had to tell her that there was a "difference between loyalty and being indebted to someone."

On the stand, Hockhausen denied any culpability or knowledge of how to falsify eye tests, then grinned like he had gotten the best of H. M called Schiparelli, and when H saw the reluctant look on her face, he seemed to change his mind about something. He then continued and manipulated Hockhausen into reading a "standard" eye chart from a line that the base optometrist had placed on the courtroom floor. Hockhausen "read" the chart (apparently from memory) and missed the 20/20 line on which H had substituted the letters "I FLY NAVY." H claimed that Hockhausen had been "unable to adequately determine the accurate range of the oncoming ridge endangering his wingman in the process." Outside the courtroom Hockhausen told H that "at least I went down in a dog fight." H said that it didn't mean that "one day we couldn't mend fences." Hockhausen replied "yes it does." Judd was disciplined for lying.

The Good of the Service - 38

A band of rebels kidnapped and held hostage five marines who were distributing food to Haiti civilians. Admiral Colter of COMCARIB ordered Lt Col John Farrow to prepare his recon unit to extract the captives; but, 10 min before launch ordered him to stand down because "the state department wanted another crack at 'talking' to the rebels. Capt Barnes brought Farrow intel that the rebels had killed another man and drug his body through the streets; then pressured Farrow into launching the operation, which he then did. During the rescue one of Barnes' men began shooting and gave away their presence which started a gunfight. A rebel took up a small boy as a shield until the child was killed along with 20 other villagers. An Australian photographer was in the camp, giving the rebels publicity, and caught a photograph of a weeping mother holding her dead child. Chegwidden sent Harm and Mac to investigate and Harm found out that Farrow was Mac's old mentor. "He's the reason I'm a lawyer," M told H, "the corps paid law school based on his recommendation." The SECAV acted his usual "arrogant ass" and said he had ordered Admiral Coulter to file charges against Farrow then told C that he had to defend, counting that C would loose because of being out of practice. Farrow was upset with M over her "filing charges" until she said that they hadn't. Then she got mad at H for sending in his report without discussing it with her. H told her that she wasn't "unbiased" and recommended her dismissal from the case; but, C wouldn't do it.

Bud assisted C with research. He and Harriet decided to "get tested" before they had a relationship. It was Bud's idea but Harriet said that "she had better do it too," because she "had a life" before they met. Coulter testified that Farrow had disobeyed orders. The photographer said he was there to photograph the "freedom fighters" which "you blokes support." C objected to any tricky "tactic" H used; then, got the photographer to admit he couldn't tell who had shot the boy. H rested his case but before C could rise Farrow got up and said he wanted to change his plea to guilty. In chambers the judge listened to C and H bicker about an extension until she asked H if he wanted his objection to be on the record which backed him down to saying no. C witnessed the SECNAV 'gloating' and realized that "you expected me to loose." The SECNAV said "that was a pointless question," and C shot back "not to me it isn't." SECNAV smugly said that he wanted to give a fair hearing "which you’ve don’t." C pointedly said "no I haven't, but I will." C went to Farrow's home for a discussion and was able to remind him of his original reason for wanting to tell his story in court. "They've taken military bashing to an art form in this country." Farrow said that it was a "circus" and he should "go gently, for the good of the service." C responded that "for the sake of the service, you need to stay and fight." The next day Farrow withdrew his plea telling the judge that he "lost the bubble for a moment, but my attorney has squared me away." On the stand Farrow told H "no" that he didn't disregard Coulters order. "I regarded it very closely and chose to disobey it. If I had complied I would be failing in my duty to my country and the corps." "While they talked," he said, "marines were being butchered. If I did nothing, how would I ever lead again. Leaders put political self interest above what's right. We used to love our heroes in this country - people of integrity - acted without waiting for permission from a dozen committees. The bureaucrats bring you down and the media pick you clean." He said he was forced to make a decision. H asked directly if he disobeyed. Farrow said "I've obeyed orders all my life; but, if I'd obey that one then I would be guilty." H then just let it go.

Admiral C called H into his office and read him the riot act for letting up in his prosecution. H said he didn't want to kick him while he was down. "You think he's a hero don't you," C asked. H replied that "the jury knew he was guilty." "You don't get it," C yelled at his face, "it’s the public that is judging this case. The press is circling like vultures waiting for a chance to scream whitewash. I don't want to give them that chance." He told H to either "do your job or step down" into his face. H asked to see the photographers other photos and realized that the woman had been in a position to actually see who had shot her son. He pressured the photographer to take him back to Haiti in order to get the woman to testify. They found Antoinette Malidor, teaching English to her school class and brought her back. C objected but H and M double-teamed him and got the judge to allow her testimony. When H wasn't allowed to ask her directly who had killed her son, he asked if she blamed Col Farrow. She said "yes," then went on to embellish that she also blamed H, and C and the jury. "All of you, because you stand by and do nothing. The soldiers come, rape murder, take children and train them to kill - and you do nothing. You give food, shovels but you don't protect us. Even when YOUR OWN PEOPLE are killed - YOU DO NOTHING. Finally this one sends in soldiers to fight and you want to punish him!" "I don't understand your country," she said through tears, "DO YOU?" M chastised H again for leaving her out of the prosecution. H merely said that he knew she was friends with Farrow. H said "I'd rather have you ON my team than oppose me"! She asked, "is that an apology"? He responded, "I consider it more of an acknowledgement." General Parham, president of the jury, announced the verdict that they found Farrow guilty of disobeying orders; but, then announced that the jury awarded "No punishment." Farrow asked C "what does that mean"? C answered "they heard you. Public opinion changed. You're a hero. Then, talking with M and watching H leave the courtroom, C told her that H had made a "1st year law student mistake. You never call a witness unless you know what they are going to say." M told him: "oh, he knew."

The Court-Martial of Sandra Gilbert - 40

Arrogant marine Lt. Col. Turner charged 1st Lt. Sandra Gilbert, top in her class as a Cobra pilot, with disobeying his specific order and "conduct unbecoming" when she "related" with Gunnery Sgt. Maxwell Frankl. Harm tried to tease Mac about her quick volunteering to investigate the case. She said that she just wanted Gilbert to get a fair shake and H returned "no playing the gender card." General McCartney called Chegwidden at home to request that everything be handled "quietly" because he was undergoing interrogation by congress for funding. When M arrived with Bud, Turner just made them stand there at attention waiting for him to finally talk so they would have to submit to his "power." He told M that C had told him that she was "cold blooded" and would be fair on the case. Without jumping to his baiting she merely asked for the file and instead of handing it to her, Turner just dropped it on his desk trying to make her have to stoop to get it. Bud, seeing his disrespect, picked up the file for her. Turner had already filed charges - WITHOUT INVESTIGATION, claiming it was his prerogative and grounded her in the middle of her flight quals. Turner claimed that he had given a direct order to Gilbert to stop her affair with Frankl. Congresswoman Bobbi Latham was shown dragging Gen McCartney over the coals in her budget hearings. She defiantly flailed about claiming that she was "going to get to the bottom of this" (referring a 'good ol' boy's network); then, inflicted herself in the middle of the trial.

Gilbert had been invited to a birthday dinner given for her by the Frankl children while his wife was away. Mrs. Frankl returned home unexpectedly and blew up. H was assigned to defend and M prosecute. Both Frankl and Gilbert claimed that there had never been any affair and that Gilbert had only been "counseling" Frankl over his marital difficulties. Mac's legal tactics were specious and she led Mrs. Frankl into making assumptions which were completely ludicrous. Then she began objecting to H's almost every question. H actually adequately broke down both Mrs. Frankl's assumptions as well as Turners arrogant "railroading." T said that he had acted on an "anonymous hotline" phone call; but, that he had never given Gilbert the courtesy of telling her about it claiming that "even the perception of impropriety" needed action. He also had never put his order in writing and said that he couldn't recall his specific wording. "But," he said, "Gilbert knew what I meant!" Latham demanded a Cobra demonstration flight from Turner and took H with her during her request. When Turner said "he couldn't reverse" his grounding so Gilbert could take her, Latham asked H "is he telling the truth?" Reluctantly H said that he could reinstate Gilbert. After the flight, Latham slinkily forced herself on H in a bar and told him that "if the Pentagon had cashiered every officer during WWII who committed adultery, Hitler's children would be sitting in the White House instead of Bill Clinton." She inflicted personal questions on H about previous loves. He said that it had been his best friends wife (Annie Pendry) so he hadn't said anything. Latham started to rag on him about wanting a "little woman waiting patiently for her 'man' to come home from the war"; until, he shut her up by saying "that was my mother's life." Referring to her colleague Congresswoman DeLong (an arrogant congresswoman whose manipulative interference actually killed an incompetent female navy pilot) she told H that "I don't dislike you as much as DeLong said I would.

Bud found that Gilbert was actually pregnant from her medical records (?!). Gilbert finally admitted to H that they actually did have an affair but Frankl had broken it off many months ago. It was Frankl's daughter who had called and asked her to come over to the party while their mother was gone. H tried to get M to back off on the charges; but, she threw his previous words back in his face to "not play the gender card." H found that four male officers had also been found in adultery at Pendleton but none of them had been charged. He claimed it was "selective prosecution" but M still wouldn't budge. Latham went ballistic when H wouldn't tell her confidential information. He had to back her down by asking "are you trying to threaten me?" She replied "is a pig's ass pork?" She then went to talk to Gilbert personally demanding that she "wouldn't let you quit." Gilbert finally admitted that she had had the affair but that Frankl had broken it off a long time ago. She said that she "knew it was wrong, but I was just so damned lonely… and now I've lost everything that I love." Latham added "except your baby." H worked out an "administrative discharge" with M and Gilbert wouldn't contest it. He then told Turner that Gilbert wouldn't let him file charges against him for "selective prosecution." He was incensed but H threw his own words back at him "It's the perception of impropriety that counts." Turner let her finish her quals and she passed number one in her group.

Ghost Ship - 39

[A very pivotal episode in that Harm finds critical information which eventually leads to him finding closure about his father. Not only with an artifact but with "networking" into the KGB.] Alameda country was trying to raise the money to refurbish and keep up the mothballed carrier, USS Hornet, for use as a museum. Two fortune seekers, Sibby Le Negro and Andy Kochifis, were cut torching into the "void" between the inner and outer hulls for possible artifacts when they found the skeleton of Lt Brian Tate, who served with Harm's dad. Tate was clutching a "Skoshi Tiger" patch worn by Vietnamese F5 pilots and wearing an unmarked "go to hell" watch. Chegwidden sent Harm and Mac to investigate and Bud reluctantly stayed behind for research. H remembered his childhood visit to the Hornet with his father when he got to set in a cockpit. Harriett went to the military archives with Bud for research and met an "old flame," Millie Shaker. Flummoxed, Bud said he was looking for the "USS Horney" records. A man introducing himself as "Mark Falcon" of the Alameda Police said he was "on his own time" and joined H and M in the investigation. Falcon said he had been an army MP in Saigon for a year and that the salvagers were looking for "something else" cause they didn't need to torch into the void in order to calculate a bid. Hs dad had flown "167 missions over the north, half of them off the Hornet." H had his mother send his father's audio tapes from her home in La Jolla then used them to "take a walk with my dad." [Then they used eerie music and odd camera angles to make it look as though he was being watched.]

The autopsy showed the skeleton was 25-30 year-old Caucasian, died from blunt force trauma to back of head, and had the patch clutched in his fist. When Falcon seem incredulous about keeping old records, H quipped "this is the navy we have Popeye's enlistment papers somewhere." They found the skeleton's name and that he had gone "missing" on Apr 30, 1975 - the day Saigon fell. M told H that B had been without sleep for 34 hours and 24 minutes so H asked how she did it. She quipped back "my mother was Swiss." H reverie'd about carrier takeoff's then into the hanger bay and finally "down to the O2 level where Tom Boone and I billet." H fell, hitting his head, and when he awoke saw a shadow looking down at him before M, Falcon and Le Negro found him. Le Negro tried was arrogant and tried to convince H that he had broken through a chain barrier. Falcon and M went to question Andy and when he stonewalled, Falcon grabbed him by the gonads to force his explanation that they had been looking for the gold that was rumored to be in the void since the fall of Saigon.

Bud notified H that a Skoshi Tiger, Col Nguyen, had also been aboard the Hornet on that day but was lost on a flight to Guam with a SOG officer (cover for CIA in Vietnam). Then after his call Webb brought B a pizza- and information that he found the KGB was also on the track of their investigation. Harm continued his "walk with his dad" alone and was visited by a man (who he thought was his dad) who led him into a berthing compartment before he passed out. H was found the next morning by M and Falcon who called an ambulance. While Falcon was away M revealed information from Bs second call, namely: Nguyen's plane had been sabotaged after he had boarded the Hornet with a list of names that he wanted to trade for the good life in Paris-- American MIAs that the Russians were holding in Russia at the end of the war. Nguyen had approached 2 CIA agents. One had been on Nguyen's flight the other "went missing" after the war and was thought to have been a double agent. H conjectured that Nguyen had killed Tate, and hid his body in the void, because Tate had seen where he had hidden his book. The berth that they were in wasn't Hs dad's so he believed to have been Tate himself who had led him there. H looked behind a grill in the wall (where his dad had said that he and Boone had hid their bourbon) and found the book - with his dad's name in it! They were just leaving when they were trapped by a fire (possibly set by LeNegro). H, still woozy from his hit on the head, saw the personage of Tate again who led them down and around the passageways to an exit.

H was hospitalized for 2 days and asked B to tell W thanks. W replied that "his dad paid that debt long ago." B told Ht that he "just wanted one girl in port-- her" and she asked "does that mean we're going steady"? When H and M appeared at the Alameda police office to retrieve the book from the evidence room, they found: 1) a boy delivering a pizza (same actor who later played Bud's brother "Mikey"); and, 2) that Falcon was a black officer who had never seen them before. "Falcon" was then shown on a Russian flight with Hs book. Harm's voiceover said "I'll find him if it takes the rest of my life."

Rendezvous - 37

[This episode is where Bud and Harriett's relationship began in earnest; A good storyline although aspects ridiculous to the absurd; contains more 'back-story' about Mac's childhood]
Liz testified that she had been going to sleep with Felker; but, "couldn’t go through with it" so had asked to go swimming. She left when she found Felker dead thinking that the murderer might still be around then found that her husband wasn't home when she got there. When H and Ht were helping her move into the women's shelter she dropped a folder; and, Ht snooping in it found love letters to Liz from PO Carlos. Harm, doing his duty, informed M of the letters and she blew up at him for "trying to sandbag her again." He told her that Holst was "pushing all your daddy buttons" and that her emotions were hurting her case. Later he apologized and she told him that her father would come home drunk and demand that she come and take his shoes off. "Then the yelling would start," she said, "then the slapping… and then the sobbing… his over being sorry." She said she didn't "know which was worse "his hitting or his sobbing that he was sorry." It wasn't long that her mother "left him and me with him." She admitted to starting drinking herself "just to get away." H told her that "once you ID your enemy you can defeat him."

Mac used the information in court to which the CPO exploded and had to be subdued. Bud and Ht were on the beach drinking again and talking about the case. Bud said that "defending western civilization makes people horney" and Ht blew wine out her nose with laughter. They began to kiss again and B saw the same satellite go overhead again so they left with B exclaiming "the satellite"! Liz called M in the middle of the night and asked for her to come over. She then asked if "Freddy was going to loose" and claimed that she had lied before in order to get back at his abuse. She said that the "CPO was really home when I got there and hit me so I was mad at him." On the stand she told the CPO that she hated him but "he doesn't deserve to die." Bud got the satellite photo's and told M that: he had gotten a favor from Webb (?!) who told him that it was really a Russian Satellite which was shooting the base (?!) and that Webb had gotten a favor from his contact (??!!) who had sent him a copy of the photo of the beach on the murder night (????!!!!!!) Under no obligation to inform the prosecution, she ordered B to shred the photo. Bud stormed around and finally exclaimed to Ht that "being a lawyer sucks." Of course she ran right to H to whine that "men are pigs" then feign that she didn't want to talk before she whined some more about B getting cold feet when he saw the satellite over the beach. H calmed her down and said that B was "worth it," then figured out that B must have gotten something from the satellite. The next day he recalled Liz and showed her the copy of the photo (he must also have gotten it from W) and she broke down with the truth. The CPO had been on the beach when she came to investigate, had broken down about being so sorry and they'll kill me, and she mothered him into "it'll be alright, I'll help you."

Mac told H that "you won the case" and H replied that "you won the war." Mac said she "carries her dad's past with me wherever I go"; and, H replied "it's ok if he doesn't weigh to much." Mac said, "he doesn't, not any more." Bud and Ht stayed over to "finish their picnic" and again saw the satellite overhead.

Cowboys and Cossacks - 34

Capt MacNamara of the USS Cayuga & Captain Grinkov of Russian warship Vasiliev have played a 10 year "macho" expensive game of "bumper cars with their ships," ramming each others ships to see who could be first into the Sydney harbor etc. Now in a war game they did the same thing trying to enter the games area and collided. Harm, Mac and Bud were assigned to "observe" the games but found they were to undergo an "officer trade" as observers. H asked MacNamara about the "damage" to his ship and was rebuffed. MacNamara arrogantly told him "you've only been on my ship 3 minutes and have ticked me off, let's hope you do the same to Grinkov." H & B met the second in command, Uri Kretchiak, who H recognized as a former forward on the Soviet Olympic hockey team. The Vasiliev was falling apart and had poor maintenance. Gas masks didn't work when H had to help rescue some men from an explosion in the missile room where they were "loading missiles"- Kretchiak claimed was a drill. Grinkov told H that he had shot down his brother- as a "joke." B got a hangover from the toasts with vodka and apologized just in case he did anything wrong. Grinkov altered course to outside the legal area and when H declared a foul wouldn't let him radio the Cayuga. H saw several sailors being clandestinely put off the boat in a raft at night. When pressed with his attempts to lie, Kretchiak admitted that they were the ones with children. Speaking of the ship, Kretchiak said "the scabbard is rusty but the blade is sharp." Grinkov, he said was at end of his career and the Vasiliev would be destroyed after this voyage. He considered Grinkov unstable and H convinced him that he had to take command. When they got weapons B asked if this would be mutiny and H said "no, they would be terrorists." They attempted to radio the Cayuga but were discovered in the attempt. Kretchiak reversed and captured H & B. They were thrown in the brig as saboteurs.

MacNamara treated M abusively when she advised him that they should abandon the Vasiliev when it went out of bounds and rejoin his own fleet. He obsessively said he was going to take down the "cheater" Grinkov. Then when she pointed out his inappropriate behavior he banned her from the bridge. MacNamara was refusing to pick up the survivors in the raft, even when M was getting more forceful, until he was shamed into relenting. The Russian men wouldn't talk about Grinkov or the ship. Finally one of the Russian exchange officers began taking a fancy to M while she was working out. Playfully, she told him "are you going to tell me about the raft and the men or am I going to have to beat it out of you?" They sparred and she was wiping the floor with him. Eventually, bruised, he told her that Grinkov was showing signs of dementia and the men mutinied. MacNamara still wouldn't listen to her to back off and went ahead with his simulated "kill" even though it was out of bounds. Then Grinkov launched two real missiles at the Cayuga which they were able to neutralize with their defensive weapons. MacNamara declared this "war" and retaliated with a missile despite Ms warnings and pleas about H & B. The Vasiliev was severely damaged and H & B were drowning in the brig. They were able to escape just at Kretchiak arrived to let them out. H again convinced him to take command, and abandon ship was ordered. H finally radioed the Cayuga and went alone to the missile room where Grinkov had armed the missiles. Grinkov told H that a sailors first duty in war was to "fight with honor, compassion and conviction. If one does that, even if he doesn't win, his death is noble." H talked him into waiting until his men were able to escape the ship because they didn't deserve to die. When H convinced Grinkov that he wasn't going to try and stop him from going down with his ship he let H go as well. "Tell MacNamara," he asked H, "that I will miss the battles. We were never friends, but we were the best of enemies." MacNamara had his ships company salute during the Vasiliev's sinking. Seeing that, M told H that she was surprised. H told her that "some people value their enemies more than friends." "Including you?" she asked. H replied, "need you ask?"

Code Blue -36

Mac met Harm during his morning jog and baited him into a competition. When a car bore down on them crossing the road H pushed M out of the way and was thrown up over the car. He was admitted for observation of lacerations and head injury by a doctor who "wanted to see him walking around in a hospital gown." When he asked where the head was the nurse handed him a urinal. The Israeli minister of west bank security, Semadar Barruch, was rushed to the same hospital for a heart transplant that he had been on the waiting list for. While M was in the cafeteria Hamas terrorists took over the hospital and herded most personnel into the cafeteria. H was in his third floor hospital room with retired Chief Walter Hume, who was in for a hip replacement, and who claimed to have "sank four U-boats during the Big One" and who wouldn't stop talking. The terrorists planted bombs on stairwell entrances, took over the operating room where the transplant was being performed, and demanded the release of Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook who the US was holding. Mustapha Ben Kessar was the groups leader and full of himself. He negotiated with special agent Lang and demanded to speak with Marzook or he would kill a patient.

H took his IV stand and went to investigate the gunshots but accosted by a pregnant woman in labor pains on the wrong floor. He put on scrubs and was mistaken for a doctor by Tamir, a terrorist who found him discovering the bomb on the door. A terrorist, Zacki, came to look for H and was shown to have a conscience. He was upset at finding a dead patient in ICU and when Mustapha ordered him to kill a hostage H saw him choose the one already dead. H found someone's cell phone in a purse and called Lang who tried to help him disarm the bomb and deliver the woman's baby. The OB wanted H to check how far dilated the woman was. When he was uncomfortable the woman said "I haven't got anything you haven't already seen." After he had checked, H said "I haven't seen that before." The replacement heart arrived on the roof and they chose M to be the one to retrieve it which now put her in the OR with Mustapha. Tamir found Hs name on his abandoned IV bag and interrogated Walter who told him that H was a SEAL and he had better not let him find him. Tamir said "I fear no man," and Walter replied, that "makes you stupid as well as annoying."

Zacki, a photography student at NYU, was in the "gang" only trying to avenge the death of his brother, RaFat who blew himself up planting a bomb in London. He found another dead patient in the ICU and H, who was watching, talked him into disarming a door. Tamir shot him in the head but H escaped. H loaded a syringe with a sedative and "took down" Tamir and got his gun. Walther helped H put Zacki on a bed with oxygen. Not being able to raise either Zacki or Tamir, Mustapha took the replacement heart case and went to Hs floor. He pushed the heart case into the middle of the corridor to bargain with H over giving up his gun. Meanwhile M suggested that they fill the OR with anesthetic gas to disable the non-English speaking guard. She took him down and called Mustapha on his phone to give him the chance to give up the heart. Mustapha went after H first, who had flooded the floor with water from the fire hose then threw in the cardioversion paddles when Mustapha stepped in it. As he was electrocuted, Mustapha's gun fired putting holes in the replacement heart.

The next scene showed M discussing how the chief Palestinian negotiator had secured the mother's written permission to harvest the heart from brain dead Zacki because he would "welcome the chance to negotiate with an Israeli with a Palestinian heart." The pregnant woman finally delivered a boy who she suggested naming Harmon Walter but the baby cried. When M suggested "Mac" the baby cooed.

The Guardian - 35

Harm defended Paul Bauwer, a homeless former SEAL who killed three convenience store robbers/murderers in order to protect his son, Marty, who was playing a video game in the store. Bauwer had been MIA for 4 years as a POW and his personnel file was mostly sealed. Bauwer had gone AWOL from a psyc evaluation nine years previously for nearly killing a man who Bauwer had claimed was stalking his wife. He now watched his son anonymously while he was living on the street. He fled to a church where Bud just happened to be praying about not studying for his final law exam. H got B out and tried to protect Bauwer from trigger happy police but he was wounded by a sniper. H defended Bauwer against the "hot shot" prosecutor, Nardoni, who snidely gloated "welcome to the big league" when the judge refused Hs motion. Bauwer told H to NOT contact his ex-wife "under any circumstances." Nardoni went for the highest penalty because the last of the thugs was killed while he was running away from Bauwer. B was able to enhance the video surveillance tape by looking at a reflection in the cooler door and identified a boys baseball cap. Bauwer admitted that it was his son but wouldn't let H use him. He said that it was better "to put an old dog down who is more trouble than he's worth once he's outlived his usefulness." H finally found the boy, without help from Bauwer, then got the judge to order the prosecutor not to inform Marty about his dad. While passing the frustrated Nardoni in the hall, H told M "I think I like the big leagues." Nardoni laid it on about Bauwer having an antisocial personality disorder from complete hearsay evidence. Mac took him down showing that the man Bauwer had attacked for stalking his wife (and had been wrongfully prosecuted) had actually stalked two other women. Nardoni began harassing Marty on the stand so Bauwer grabbed him in a chokehold and had to be subdued. They gave an eloquent defense so Bauwer was found not guilty of murder. H arranged for him to apply for work at one of his friend's parachute schools. Marty came back and apologized to Bauwer for running away and said he hoped he wasn't a coward. Bauwer told him that he would see him around.

Force Recon - 33

Mac and Bud were assigned to investigate two injuries during marine Force Recon training. Lt Col HR Malcom requested the investigation. Sgt Maj Sauer was shown "whipping Harm into marine shape" so he could go undercover to the Force Recon training without telling M. He posed as Gunny Post in order to investigate internally the training methods of legendary Capt "John Wayne" Koonan, who routinely went beyond established battle plans and made each assignment "harder" than needed in order to make his men "tough." Gunny Krychuck had been wounded while attempting to save Cpl Bell, who got scared and "froze" while explosions burst all around them, because they were too close to the fire (Koonan's "extra" problem). M was upset with H for not telling her about his under-cover assignment; so, when Malcom introduced H as the new Gunny she tried to make him look foolish by making up a story-line of her own. H ingratiated himself with the men and stood up for the unit in a bar fight against another unit who insulted them. When Koonan extracted Hs unit from the brig and pointed out that he didn't see any of the other unit in there with them H responded that they all went to the infirmary. Eventually Bell told H that he saw Koonan rubbing the map with dirt and redrawing the line with pencil.

In the recon unit's "live fire" graduation exercise, H took the men into a mock town to rescue POWs before the town was leveled by artillery. H told his men that in this exercise "Murphy will make an appearance." In his usual tampering, Koonan switched their radio to a disabled one; but, Sgt Tesla saw him do it and switched it back (so Koonan's radio was the one disabled). They retrieved the dummies they were to rescue and called "clear," but Tesla went back in to retrieve some orange rags which he thought looked like an extra POW. While in there, a beam fell on him and pinned him to the ground. H had to go back to rescue Tesla and ordered the team to proceed on out of the area; but, he was unable to lift the beam by himself and the shelling had started. The team, however, came back to rescue them both, midst live bombing. Koonan was watching through binoculars but couldn't radio a cease fire because he was the one who had the disabled radio. H eventually got the men out without injury and Koonan admitted his method of "trickery" in front of M & B so that Malcom wouldn't be blamed with complicity. Koonan got reprimanded and left corps.

Washington Holiday - 32

King Josif of Romania was planning on requesting admission to NATO and the hard liners in his country threaten to kill his daughter, Princess Alexandra- a spoiled brat, if he does. They shot her bodyguard, while at a function, as a warning to the king. Webb convinced the SECNAV to assign Harm as her '"escort" to official functions while she was in the country. While at a formal dinner she went to the bathroom and had another woman give H her clothes and tell him she had gone out the window. H followed her to a nightclub, where she was drunk and refused to return, so H had to carry her through the crowd. H met a new neighbor, Meghan O'Hara (played by Nancy Chambers, DJEs wife, the future "Singer") who said she was a reporter for a newspapers society column and tried to get "chummy." The king, who had been unhappy that H was "so young" when he first met, sat and talked with him after he retrieved her from the nightclub. The princess continued to flirt with and seduce H, appearing at his apartment one evening. Interpol was able to catch the assassin of the bodyguard and got names of his accomplices; namely, Vartan Kepish who was on the king's staff. Webb exposes Kepish and also said that the other assassin was a woman. The time came for the king to announce his intention for joining NATO and a military base, but he couldn't put his daughter at risk. Instead she got up and announced their intention. O'Hara, who was the assassin, had killed a maid and guards and was in the balcony behind a curtain with a rifle. H spotted the gun, pushed people out of the line of fire, and climbed to the balcony. O'Hara had the drop on him but hesitated killing him, so was shot by the secret service. H held her in his arms as she died. H was presented a "Romanian Medal" for his service to the crown.

Harriet was assigned to Norfolk & Bud was flummoxed. He made a date with her then stood her up due to a flat on a bridge without a spare. When he finally got to her she had accepted a date to the NATO ball with Ensign Nestor. B bumbled into asking someone from the office to the ball. M & H had to finagle to get them together at the dance.

The Game of Go - 23

A failed operation of Webb's to capture a drug lord, Carlos Estruga, got a marine, Sgt Jesus Silva, killed as they seemed to walk into a trap. W demanded the court marshal of a marine who failed to fire his weapon, Corporal Cordoba. Estruga called ambassador Witherspoon and was shown placing pieces on a game board while claiming that Silva was alive and "willing to speak on videotape about the failed attempt to kidnap me." Witherspoon's secretary, Marisol, was shown suspiciously listening in to all his telephone conversations. Harm, Mac and Bud were sent to investigate. Alfredo Rincon, a local drug investigator, revealed that Estruga was using Embara Indians as guards and that the guards had been unaware of the recon team until one of the marines gave away their position. Cordoba claimed that his gun had "jammed" making him unable to fire; so, M field stripped it to prove that it didn't jam. Webb went "ballistic" with M and demanded that the "coward" Cordoba be prosecuted. When she challenged W back, about knowing what it was like to be under fire, he claimed that he had been in the gulf war; but, his actions were classified. M told him that a Marine doesn't leave men behind and W said "there's a first time for everything." Thwarted, W began publicly embarrassing Cordoba to the point that H intervened and told him that if he did it again he would "kick back," so then W began embarrassing B instead. H & B went to meet Estruga at an appointed rendezvous but Estruga wasn't there, only the body of Silva and a videotaped message. W was continually using the radio and Lt Diaz told M that during the failed mission they "couldn't keep W off the horn."

The videotape message said that Estruga wanted the release of his brother Norbeto from prison in exchange for W. While they were watching the message Estruga played sounds of gunfire and battle over the radio making W believe that there was trouble and leave the compound so he could be captured. W hadn't revealed that Estruga's brother was being held to H and M, in order to prevent them from demanding that they trade him for Silva (when they thought him to be alive.) Suspecting one of two traitors, H and M devised a plan to flush out the real one. B called the ambassador, with Rincon in the room and Marisol listening in on the phone, and informed him of Hs plan to rescue W. Marisol called Estruga AND Rincon went directly to move Webb, so both were traitors. H was captured (in his plan) and taken to Estruga. H placed "go tokens" on the board and claimed that Rincon had turned "triple agent." M, with others including Cordoba, followed Rincon to Webb. They ran out of gas due to a failure to check the gauge and had to run the remaining miles. Estruga believed Hs ruse and flew to where W was being held. Just as Rincon was convincing Estruga that H was lying, M arrived with her troops. H kicked Estruga out of the helicopter and Cordoba shot several terrorists from all around the petrified Webb without hitting him. W said he was relieved that they had decided to trade Norbeto for him but H told him "state said you weren't worth it." H and M captured Estruga and Rincon who had run into a cane field. W had to apologize to Cordoba so B went over to stand by him and watch him do it. M almost kissed H.

Full Engagement - 31

[We learn more back story about Harm and his flying family as he and Mac get better acquainted.] Harm talked Mac into "playing hooky" and going with him flying in his Stearman over the Appalachian mountains. He let her fly and laughed as she got it into a power dive then delayed pulling it out to frighten Mac. They had engine trouble and had to land in an open field with a split fuel line. H wanted to stay near the plane but M insisted on looking for a cabin and marched off by herself until H followed. They heard gunshots which turned out to be three redneck poachers killing a game warden. When the leader of the group tried to tell H that he had bought the warden's jeep in an auction, H asked about the police radio too. One poacher took a shot at them so they fled to the jeep and tried to hot wire it mid a hailstorm of gunfire. M returned fire with her flare gun as H stole the fuel line from the jeep. M was shot in the leg and H carried her to safety as they set the jeep on fire. They used brandy to "sterilize the wound" but she got infected anyway. They built a shelter for the night and M blamed H for caring more about his plane, Sarah, than he did for them getting out. H revealed that his grandfather had earned his wings in a Stearman like that and had been "killed flying off the Hornet in '42." His grandmother had kept it under a tarp, and he and his dad were going to restore it; but, his dad was shot down in Vietnam. After Hs "night blindness" crash he spent time with his grandmother and restored the plane - "it was like dad was with me." The poachers caught up while M couldn't run any more so H led them away in a diversion. One poacher tracked M, however, and put down his gun to go at her with his knife and "have his way with her." H returned just in time to see some struggling in the bush and pull the dying man off M, stabbed with his own knife.

Meanwhile an MP showed up at JAG with a 16-year-old fraudulent enlistment, Angel Munoz, to keep an appointment with H for his hearing the next day. Bud took custody of him and began trying to contact H. After leaving 10 messages and paging many times, he went to search Hs apartment, in shambles from construction, for clues about where he was. He heard a message from M who was waiting at the airport. The hanger mechanic told B that "this wasn't the first time he had flown out of here with a pretty girl and not come back till the next day." B assured Munoz that this was uncharacteristic and that if H said he could use extenuating circumstances then he would believe him because "he's very good at impassioned pleas." The poacher leader was shown "finding" his stabbed brother and stating that "I was just going to kill them, now I'm going to make them hurt." He arranged for tracking dogs to come "at first light" so they could find H and M.

M "freaked out" over having blood on her hands that "wouldn't come off" and the "look in the poachers eyes as he knew he was going to die" which was "just like Eddie's." She said that "Eddie was the closest thing to a friend she had while she was growing up." He was her drinking buddy and they were "wasted" after her high school graduation dance. She remembered the cool window glass on her face as she rode with him, then being on the cement with blood all around and the look in Eddies eyes as he realized he was dying. She was in the hospital for a week before her uncle Matt picked her up and took her to Red Rock Mesa to dry her out from her alcoholism. She began blaming herself and H told her that he wouldn't blame himself if she wouldn't. She capitulated then called him "stick boy" and began ragging on him about him telling her that women had 10% more fat than men. The next day M couldn't feel her leg and appeared very ill. H promised her that he would "get her through this." A poacher found them and shot. H returned fire with the gun he took from the dead poacher; then, had to tell M that he "knew they shouldn't let women be marines because they fell apart" in order to get her to keep walking on her leg. She told him to "shut up, you've made your point" as she got up and ran ahead of him.

At Munoz's request Bud appeared before judge Morris (who had been a hard case ever since the gun incident); but, Morris wasn't going to listen. Munoz plead that he had "extenuating circumstances" then claimed that "he isn't a real lawyer"! After a chewing out Bud got a continuance. The poacher with the dogs found and shot at a decoy coat they set up; then, set off it's booby trap which hit him in the chest, close range, with a flare and killed him. H carried M, running, to the plane and was fixing the fuel line when the lead poacher arrived and began firing. H talked M through starting the engine while he returned fire; eventually hitting the poacher, but not before the plane had begun taxiing with M. H chased it, jumped in and barely missed the trees as they became airborne.

Ghosts -30

Chegwidden's friend, judge Laura DeLaney, was jogging along their usual jogging trail and ran away from him and into a booby trap meant for C. He noticed a miniature Buddha statue placed nearby with a hole in it's belly that had meaning to him from his Vietnam past. C was fearful for DeLaney, especially her confirmation hearings, so called of their relationship to her annoyance. Osborne came ostensibly wanting to know about the Buddha and C said that he didn't believe in ghosts. Osborne left a bug under the chair. C asked Harm to add a codicil to Cs will for him but wouldn't say what it was about. H found the Buddha statue in the garbage can and of course began investigating with Mac. Webb was having lunch with his mother and Boris Yeltsin and agreed to give H the name of Thomas Wilson (Goliath) who was a CIA section chief in Vietnam, in country with Osborne during operation Phoenix. H offered to pick up his mothers lunch (which M advised later was $500/plate). Wilson said that Jack Holford, an "over-the-edge" CIA agent waged his own SYOPS campaign against North Vietnamese Army sympathizers. He removed internal organs from those he'd killed (which meant they would not get to heaven whole) and the maimed Buddha as a warning. Holford was MIA and presumed dead. He had a squad from SEAL team 3 assigned to him which were now all dead except for C- the last one died in car accident 2 weeks ago. H discovered that the wrecking guy had found another Buddha placed on the car after the accident.

C still rebuffing H and said that he KNEW Holford was dead. W said that they had recently found a former VN refugee who had been bilking families of MIAs by showing them some artifacts and getting money for his "contacts" to track down their relatives. The crook had been ready to bilk Holford's relatives- which would be a big embarrassment to the CIA. Osborn was a "sweeper" who cleaned up messes. DeLaney forced herself back on C and cooked him dinner at his house. When C came home she came down the stairs which had been booby trapped and was killed by a mine. Mac accepted a date with a lab technician to get information on the mine- outdated, made for the CIA. H & B checked graves registration for Holford. Finally C confided in H that, while in VN, he had found Holford over a body of a dead "symp." C was arresting him when Holford was killed with a single pistol shot through the heart just as VC attacked. When C came back Holford's body was gone. C "set up" an elaborate scheme to capture Osborne having H notice a resignation on his desk and talk with B & M in the office about the address C he was going to so Osborne could listen in on his bug. C captured Osborne and took him into the woods near his house. C threw a knife into the ground for Osborne to use in a fight and when he picked it up he heard the click of a land mine activating. Osborne thought he would be killed if he moved and confessed as C was walking away. H had retrieved W so he could hear the confession. The CIA would "take care" of Osborn with another "sweeper." H wanted to go back to watch Osborn try and defuse the "training mine" but C prevented him saying "to watch would be taking pleasure, which is what he did."

Bud was assigned to defend two midshipman, Malcolm Holmes and Danvers, for kidnapping and accidentally killing Bill, the goat mascot of Annapolis. Bud had the body of the goat exhumed and autopsied. It hadn't died of suffocation in the trunk but rather of "old age" issues. He got them off with buying a new goat and doing walking punishment.

Trinity - 24

A baby, Jimmy Nevins/Barnes, the son of Lt Linda Nevins (daughter of Adm Nevins of SINC-PAC) & IRA member Lorcan Barnes (the ghost) was kidnapped from military base. The kidnapper left a poem, which was a favorite of Barnes, which seemed to be an indication that Barnes had the baby without actually saying it. Harm & Mac were sent to investigate and were met at the airport by Detective Jonathan Graham of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) who took them to their headquarters where they walked in on Inspector Vincent Hutchinson interrogating Linda Nevins. Incensed, H stopped Hutchinson leaving M to talk to Nevins. Hutchinson told Nevins that Barnes wanted the baby for a human shield which Nevins knew was completely absurd. Hutchinson told H that finding the baby was just "complicated the matter" of finding "the likes of Barnes." H replied that "the baby IS the matter." Barnes didn't tell Nevins of his IRA affiliation until they were talking marriage. She gave him an ultimatum and Barnes wrote her the poem and left. Knowing they were on their own to find the baby, Nevins remembered the name of an old friend of Barnes'. The friend denied knowing Barnes but told H he should visit a particular bar and order a particular drink, which they did. While H was ordering the drink an Irishman "chatted" M into a game of darts where he told her to "loose the RUC" tails that they had and where and when to meet. M caused the tails to loose them while H & Linda escaped to go to the address. They were captured by Barnes who didn't know anything about the kidnapping. Hutchinson was tracking H & M through the ID badges he had given them and came to capture Barnes. He escaped just in time, however, and when H realized the tracking device in his badge they put it on a dog.

Barnes said that Hutchinson had put out a ruse that his mother was dying and captured him while he was trying to see her. They used torture on him and nearly broke him into giving the names of his group until Barnes began reciting the poem over and over- which is how Hutchinson must have gotten the poem and set up the kidnapping as another ruse. Barnes believed that Hutchinson wouldn't let the baby live if he was to be exposed and said it would be better for him if he committed suicide than give himself up to Hutchinson. So H concocted a plan to have M "let slip" to Hutchinson that the baby had been seen at the infirmary and had a positive test for potentially fatal lyme disease. Barnes' group was able to track an address when a repeat lab test was sent in for confirmation of Lyme disease. The repeat test was negative, however, before H & Barnes could get to the address so Hutchinson realized he had been found out. He then ordered the baby to be killed but the kidnappers couldn't do it. Instead they decided to take the baby somewhere and leave him to be found. H & Barnes picked up M in their van and, while H drove the van around front, Barnes went in the back way to retrieve his. H recognized Graham driving the car with the baby and blocked it's path with the van. Graham began shooting and Barnes came out joining the battle. H & M faked having guns long enough for H to tackle Graham and retrieve the baby. Graham got to his feet and was just about to shoot both H & the baby, when Barnes shot him. Barnes left in the van which was then shown blowing up in apparent suicide. H & M took the baby to the consulate, only to be intercepted by Hutchinson who told his people that they were "fugitives" and to "shoot them if they step inside." The guard who had been stupidly ignoring their pleas to open the gate then pulled his weapon and the RUC decided they would put down their weapons as well. H, M & Nevins were shown at the airport with the baby. They saw a glimpse of Barnes in the crowd watching them. Hutchinson had been captured by the Government.

Bud was acting as a "replacement" for Tiner and shown as his usual "dip-stick" self butting into Chegwidden's conversation's with H & M. First, to bring in some roses, then to interrupt for a phone call from Miss Delaney, then to interrupt again saying the person was irate. C finished his business with H & M then answered the phone: "hello Laura"; but, no further mention of the person or the call was given in the episode.

Crossing the Line - 29

[An interesting, but a bit exhasperating episode. The authors do not provide adequate 'closure'. It does introduce a major character and Bud's love interest.] Lt Marilyn Isaacs, an excuse-ridden, incompetent female pilot, called the sexual harassment hotline against Capt Tom Boone (CAG) after he grounded her aboard the Seahawk. She claimed that she was embarrassed by master chief Sullivan and others during the "crossing-the-line (equator)" ceremonies. Harm (H) and Mac (M) were assigned to do an "impartial" investigation. H said that during his own ceremony he "was hosed, did about 1000 sit ups, dunked twice, slow-danced 30 minutes with Bob Fredericks, and crawled blindfolded through the tunnel of moral courage. Chegwidden (C) said that the CAG had been selected for a "deep-draught" command and it was being held up. Ensign Harriet Sims was their escort and said that Bud (B) "was a legend" aboard the ship. B spent the rest of the episode acting like a bumbling fool around her, culminating in her finally giving him the "green light" to kiss her.

Isaac's claimed that the CAG was behind all her troubles and "had it in for her" because he "didn’t think women belonged aboard ship." H saw right through her whining, manipulating, exaggeration, embellishment and lies; but M bought into her story that the CAG had told Master Chief Sullivan (Neptunus Rex) to "mess me up" so she would foul up on her quals. Then she blamed her RIO for messing up. H & M reviewed the tapes and found that it really had been she who had screwed up her landing. The CAG had written in the log book: OSCB, EGAR, DNKH. Translated, that meant: 'overshot, came back; eased gun at ramp; damn near killed herself.' He had grounded her pending review board. The arrogant, rude, and blundering Congresswoman DeLong manipulated and bullied Admiral Drake into letting her aboard with her "women in combat agenda." She deliberately offended nearly everyone on the ship. She also bought into Isaac's whining and blaming everyone else (including other "jealous" females), then bullied Admiral Drake to override Hs investigation, CAGs duties, the captains command and Chegwidden's advice to reinstate Isaac's flight status. When H told her she had no business interfering, she knifed him with "you killed your RIO, who are you to judge." No one would be Isaac's RIO so CAG had to actually order "skates" to go up with her. In the air Isaac's made sloppy maneuvers, and Skates had to continually advise and remind her. She made excuses on an open mike and was resentful at the mission being cut short due to a weather squall. True to her past experience she was making another crappy landing and, blaming the autopilot, she shut it off then crashed into the fantail in a fireball. Fortunately Skates ejected before impact, but her chute was coming down toward the flames on deck then just missed the side, going toward the water. H dove off the ship (onto and unrevealed net) and pulled her dangling parachute aboard.

Heroes - 26

[This is the most often referenced episode in the whole JAG ten year series! It establishes 'ground rules' and expectations for Harm and Mac's relationship.] A SEAL team had boarded a terrorist ship full of "Symtex" explosives and planted a detonator when the team was surrounded by terrorists. PO1 Mark Harridan charged into the middle firing and saved their unit. On the way out Harridan was shot by CPO Greg Connor in a corridor. Gorski retrieved Harridan's body and claimed Connor had done it on purpose. Harm (H) prosecuted and couldn't get past the idea that Connor was too good for it to be an accident. Connor requested Mac (M) as defense because he heard that "after Rabb, you are the best." H & Ms litigation became personal. H suggested M think of "ricochet" and then, when she used it, made her look foolish. He said "nothing personal" but she said she "didn't turn on and off friendship." Bud (B) , who was helping H, said it was like "watching your parents fight," and judge Harrington told them to "try taking turns" when they both talked at once in court. H & B felt Connors was hiding something and noticed that Harrington's parents weren't at the trial. B had to track them down to find that the father hadn't told the mother that there was even going to be a trial. Mr. Harrington was antagonistic to H and said that Connor and his son grew up together and were long time friends, and that his son was up for the navy cross but they didn't give that to murder victims.

Gorski testified that he saw Connor carry Harridan's body to the deck and stow it in a compartment to leave it, along with his gun, that he claimed had jammed. Gorski retrieved Harridan and the gun. Back on board he saw Connor going through Harridan's locker and taking some pills. When he tried to stop him, Connor knocked him down then went on deck and threw the pills overboard. M tried to show that Gorski had been angry at Connor for a long time, and was just trying to "get even." Connor wouldn't tell M about the pills or other aspects of the case. Chegwidden (C) kept coming into the courtroom to watch, then told H that he might have "target fixation" and be "so intent on winning" he might "crash and burn." He continued his "sniping" with M and suggested that she could "plea bargain." She said "in your dreams," and he replied, "you don't want to be in MY dreams." She told him "red light," and he backed her up, saying, "there's nothing sexual in what I said and if you think so, I should call red light on you." She told him that "loosing your first case is a right of passage." He and B went to Harridan's apartment and found his mother there. She told him that her husband demanded perfection and could turn his back on anyone." H asked "even his son?" H surreptitiously took some pills from the apartment. Mrs. Harridan, later, brought H her son's last letter, delivered two weeks after his death. In it Harrington said he "hoped my death would be courageous and will make dad proud."

When M slobbered her hamburger catsup on Hs briefcase he told her that she had the "four major food groups: starch, grease, dead animal and catsup." She suggested that he "eject from this one," and he told her that she didn't understand navy pilots. "You end up an inch shorter every time you eject, it's the last thing you want to do." He tried to hold the door open for her and was rebuffed so he just whistled Anchor's Aweigh to her annoyance. Later H told B that if "she makes one more point, Connor's will walk, and we'll never know the truth- and the truth is everything." Then M whistled the marine hymn to Hs annoyance. H recalled the weapons expert to testify about the gun jamming and M rebutted him. H wanted to re-re-rebut but Judge Harrington closed him off. Frustrated, H cocked the automatic weapon and fired it into the ceiling as everyone hit the deck. Before C could read him the riot act, B found that the pills they took from the apartment were AZT, AIDs medicine. H told C that he couldn't tell him about the case because as JAG he would be bound to make it public but that he was not. H talked to Connor's alone and told him he knew the 'secrets'. Connors finally told him the true story, that Harridan had been gay since high school. His mother knew and his father had suspected. He developed AIDs and had said that the "best thing that could happen would be for him to be killed on a mission. He was more afraid of his father than death. Connor's had been shooting a terrorist down the hall behind them when Harridan jumped into the line of fire. H didn't know whether to believe the story or not so he talked with Gorski again. Gorski fabricated that Harridan had the "hots" for Connor's wife, which H knew was a lie so, in court, he apologized for shooting the ceiling and dropped the charges. Later, Mr. Harridan was harassing H so he told him that his son "didn't die for his country, but for you. He was gay with AIDs and rather than face you he stood in the LOF. H threw his drink in Harridan's face and walked away.

M brought a "peace offering vegetarian plate" to Hs apartment where he was doing major remodeling. When he commented on how fast she ducked when he shot the gun, she told him that he knew nothing about Marine's. "Marines don't duck. We take cover, but never duck."

Jinx - 27

[Another very complicated plot] Bud answered his cell phone while flying with Harm in his stearman. Mac asked them to meet her and then told H that Lt Tess McKee was killed when her F-14 hit a flock of birds during a low level flight practice mission and spun into the ocean. McKee had held on long enough for her RIO, Lt Peter Ayers, to eject. She had been recommended, by several members of congress, to be appointed as the first female member of the Blue Angels. Ayers was then the last surviving member (out of 8) of the Howler squad, who accidentally blew up a mosque in gulf war. SadDAM claimed that 100 were killed. Intel later confirmed that a radio link to the missile had shut off and SadDAM had parked a SAM missile truck right in front of the mosque. H visited Annie Pendry and Josh, wife of deceased pilot friend Lucas Pendry and helped her around the house. Josh had his arm in a cast from a hockey injury. A reporter came to Annie asking about a supposed "Jinx" of the squadron and seemed to know information about the mosque, which Luke had sworn her to secrecy about. B "ticked-off" H by buying into the "bad Karma" of the unit so was assigned some "busy work" in a brusque manner. Later he asked H if he was "still mad at me," and H said "I was never mad at you B, it's M who is always complaining about you." Staying at Annie's, H had a dream of being in a bar and talking with his old friend Luke who told him that it was alright if he wanted to "be with" Annie, but to "not start anything that he didn't intend to finish." H's long time feelings for Annie began to come to the surface and they kissed several times. She was offered a transfer to the Baltimore area but didn't know if she was going to take it. She finally told him that she had decided to "go for it" to get her life back on track. She said that she would call H when she was on her feet.

Ayers was assigned on a mission with pilot Lt Vanderway and panicked going through a storm, then was hit by lightening which started a fire. They landed ok but Vanderway told the captain he didn't want to fly with Ayers anymore because he was a jinx. The captain told him to not talk of it again because "this stuff feeds on itself, and becomes a self fulfilling prophecy." H bristled at an obnoxious reporter trying to find a "scoop" over the Jinx aspect so told M that he was going to "take a couple of days." He stayed with Annie fixing up the house and pursuing their relationship. She wondered to him if Luke would want her to have another relationship, "especially if it was with you." M appeared at the house and caught them kissing. M informed H that Ayers had turned in his wings when he was asked to fly the missing man formation the next day for McKee's funeral. B tailed him to a mosque where H caught up with him. B calculated that of the 7 Howler crashed since the Gulf War, 6 of them were on Islamic holy days. The funeral was on another Holy day and "I wouldn't want to fly either," B said. H finally convinced Ayers that it was up to him to "put an end to this or it will destroy the Howlers." No one would fly with him so H said that he would. H pulled the missing man then went for the "standard" refueling practice. During the refueling the basket hit and broke the Plexiglas canopy wounding and partially blinding H. Ayers was panicking and demanding to eject but H ordered him not to. They diverted to El Toro and Ayers had to talk H down reading out the instrument values to him. H landed "blind" and afterwards Ayers found that a Plexiglas shard had fouled his ejection mechanism and his seat wouldn't have fired so Hs "would have fried" him. H told him that he would fly with him anytime because he was "untouchable."

Secrets - 28

[A very complicated plot, but gives background for Webb and the CIA connections which will be used in upcomming episodes] Mac (M) was in her new office at JAG and shown helping Bud (B) study for a law exam. Corporal Jason Magida, who had been in the brig for eight of his twenty year sentence for espionage, poisoned the water supply to overwhelm the brig's infirmary and escape during the confusion. He made a beeline for the man who had put him there, Admiral Chegwidden (V) , and took him hostage- "to clear his name." Chegwidden, who had wanted to see Harm (H) on the Russell file, told him he wanted the Clawson file (which was a code for someone who had taken their CO hostage). H picked up on the reference, with B's help, and cleared the building. C played the tough guy, trying to catch Magida off guard, and refused to cooperate. Magida had H bring his court-martial records to the office but H found they were classified "Top Secret." He called Webb (W) , who was dancing with his mother, for a favor and got the records. W accidentally let slip that he had to give the security codes to obtain the information so H realized that W was really a CIA agent instead of with 'state'. Magida took M & B hostage to hold another trial for him. M assigned to prosecute, B to judge and C to defend. W refused to aid H any more and was leaving until he saw Gayle Osborne come as the leader of the "special response team." W told H that, the sunflower chewing, arrogant, Osborne was CIA and was probably there to "neutralize" Magida. Osborne used a fiber optic scope to "target" Magida from under the door but H took him down and C stepped on the scope when he heard that Osborne had been sent. C said that "if Osborne is involved you probably were set up and so was I." C told Osborne to stand down but he wouldn't, giving him only an hour. C asked H to try and get Malka Dayan, the Moussad Israeli agent who was supposed to have received documents from Magida. H asked W to go get her but he angrily refused, only to go get her eventually.

H found that Osborne was lying, and not up on the roof like he claimed, just as W drove up with Dayan. Osborne's men wouldn't let H in with Dayan so H took one man down and W slugged the other. Dayan said that the CIA had blackmailed her into lying and promised her that 'nothing would happen to Magida.' H realized that she had been a double agent. CIA was afraid that she was about to be discovered as a double, so they exposed her as a Moussad agent to avoid embarrassment of being caught spying on an ally. C said that he would present the case to the SECNAV and that it would be dropped. Just as Magida was giving H his gun, H saw sunflower seeds coming from the air conditioning vent and pushed him out of the way of Osborne's shots. H yanked Osborne down out of the vent and they had a stand off, pointing their guns at each other. C told Osborne that, "he will do it." Osborne said "you've never lied to me, AJ. I think he will," and stood down. Magida then told H that he was glad that he didn't fire the gun because it had no bullets! C was shown defending Magida where the espionage charges were dropped, but he was found guilty on hostage taking etc., and sentenced to the eight years he had already served.

We the People - 25

[A bit 'far fetched'; but none-the-less a significant episode in that Mac's history and family is further elucidated. Unfortunately, it was never followed up on except a cursory tangential mention. This episode also introduced Hs new partner and an explanation for a frequently used 'excuse' for his odd personal behaviors.] Harm (H) was presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross by President Clinton for rescuing the unconscious Capt Thomas Boon (the CAG) and landing on a carrier despite his 'night blindness'. Bud Roberts, (B) attending law school at night, was introduced as a new JAG assistant in Hs section. He had been recommended by Meg (Mg) before she left. Sarah Mackenzie (M) was introduced as Hs new associate, to replace Mg. Clinton told H that he may single-handedly give lawyers a good name and when B acted the "doofus" Chegwidden (C) had to tell him that "joking was Admiral's Privilege." H had flashbacks to Lt Diane Schonke, a fiancé' who had been killed, every time he looked at M; because, she was a "dead ringer" for Schonke. And, he now has a new loft apartment that he is renovating himself.

The US Declaration of Independence was being transferred to a document restorer in California and the "mail truck," which was carrying it, was hijacked, by Ms paramilitary militia uncle flying a marine helicopter. Webb (W), posing as an assistant to the State Department, told C that the investigation was "States" and he should butt out. C, however, said: "yes but it's my navy" then forced W to take B along with H & M. B continually annoyed W by interjecting facts which proved to be true. When M tried to "ditch" H, he landed in a helicopter in front of her car. He was upset with her for not telling him that it was her uncle, Matthew O'Hara, who had stolen the document. She said that she thought he already knew because "someone had pulled her off a double murder investigation" to do this... so they must have known. Her former Marine Col. uncle had won the medal of honor in Vietnam and was a "politically principled" man, she claimed. They went to find O'Hara together. O'Hara took over a ZNN van and transmitted a television message that the "defenders" had the document. One of his men, Cahill, phoned the government later and said they wanted $500 million ransom. H called the stranded tag-along, B, who whined that W wouldn't let him in a van which had all kinds of antennae. H then realized that their conversations were being "bugged" so told B, in 'code' that if W gave him trouble he had permission to use "admirals privilege" on him. Then they swapped cars with a gas station attendant to avoid the "bugs." The attendant used Hs phone in the swapped car, which tipped off W. W wouldn't take B with him to find H; and, when asked why, recounted that it was "admirals privilege!" B then knew that he had a "wire tap" in place and threatened to tell C that his people were being bugged, which is illegal. B got to go with him.

H discerned that W had 'set up' M, knowing her connection with O'Hara. They flashed their headlights at the base of Devils Tower to signal her Uncle, who was hiding out in the cave where he had taken the 16 year-old M to "dry out" and hunt for dinosaur track fossils. M faked taking H prisoner to fool the 'defenders'. H convinced O'Hara that he'd made his point and to give up an return; but, his mercenaries wouldn't let him because of the $500 million they expected to get. When O'Hara claimed that he hadn't known anything about the ransom, Cahill was killed. The men forced O'Hara to fly them out in the helicopter, taking M with them as hostage. H jumped and held onto the skid as it flew off devils tower! M fought off the mercenaries and threw one of them out the door, all the while H just held on to the skid. The document dropped out of the helicopter, but was in its case and was recovered by W. H offered to defend O'Hara in court and was shown doing it at the end; but no outcome was given.