Mac leaned over to check for a pulse. She sighed in relief when she felt one. She was about to call out his name again, when the passenger door flew open.

At first, Mac thought it was help, but someone pulled her out of the car and in another minute she was face to face with the barrel of a gun. "What's going on?"

"Colonel, please calm down. We don't want to upset the children, do we?"

"What?" Mac saw that the girls were being coaxed out of the car. They stepped out nervously.

She was about to kick the man who held her when he spoke up. "Don't even think about trying anything heroic, Colonel. Not with your little girls standing right here." Mac nodded slowly. "It would be a shame if something were to happen to them."

"What should we do about him?" the taller of the two men asked about Harm.

"Get him out! We don't want him in the car when it explodes."

"Explodes?" Mac was confused. "The car won't explode."

The man next to her lit a match. "It just might, my dear Colonel. It just might."

"Wait! Be careful, he's injured!" She watched in horror as they yanked him from the car and tossed him to the ground like a sack of potatoes. "Harm!"

The man held her arm tightly. "Don't move!" He then turned to the others. "Lets get out of here! You guys take the older girl. The other one can stay with her mother."

Evelyn let go of Serena, who ran to Mac. "You can hold her, Colonel."

"What about Evelyn?"

"She'll be quite all right with my colleagues."

"Mommy!" Evelyn called as one of the men carried her to the other car. "Sempre Fi!"

"Sempre Fi, my little Marine."

**************

Harm came to a few minutes too late. He stared up at the sky for a while before focusing. "God!" He sprang up, ignoring the dizziness and the pain in his head. "Mac! Evie! Rena!"

Looking around, he couldn't see his wife or children. However, something did catch his eye. It was a number flashing. Harm began to stumble back away from the car.

When he was about 20 yards away, it blew up. The Naval officer flew back onto the ground from the shockwave and lost consciousness again...

"Sir, Sir, can you hear me?" Harm was still out of it, but he opened his eyes. He didn't say a word.

"Commander, I'm Lieutenant Johnson, you're in an ambulance. Do you remember what happened, Sir?"

"Johnson, even if he could remember, I don't think he's in the mood to talk right now. Leave him alone and see if you can get the damn IV into his arm. I can't find a vein."

Harm's vision was blurred and his head was pounding unmercifully. "Are they... are they okay?"

"Who, Sir?" Johnson asked. "My wife and daughters," he gasped out, "are they okay?"

Johnson looked up at his partner. There had been no one else in the vicinity and they searched. The three must have been in the car when it blew up. "I'm not sure. We'll let you know as soon as we do."

Harm wasn't satisfied with the answer, but the pain in his wasn't letting up so he allowed himself to slip into the darkness again.

"Miller, how is someone supposed to tell him that they're dead?"

"I don't know, but I'm glad I'm not the one," she replied with a sigh.
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