MARINE BASE
Sgt. Paul Stultz wiped the sweat from his forehead, finished out his bottle of water, and tossed it into the nearby trashcan, then continued towards his bunk. He stopped short when he saw the door open, then rushed in. "What the h-ll!" he shouted angrily.
Mathis turned around. "Sgt. Stultz."
"Master Sergeant Mathis," he replied in clipped but coldly polite tones. "I did not kill anybody."
"You were gone the weekend Caywood and his girlfriend got killed," Mathis replied shortly.
"I had leave that day that was on the books for months!" Stultz replied. "I had no idea Gunny Caywood was leaving with Nancy. Plus I have solid alibis for each other murder. You're looking for a serial killer."
Mathis whipped around and stepped straight into Stultz's face. "I am looking for killers, plural, SERGEANT," he said shortly. "Whether or not they happen to be the same man will come later."
NCIS HQ
"Major," Gibbs greeted with an extended hand as he appeared. "Glad you could make it."
"Anything for NCIS," Doherty replied with a big, friendly smile.
Gibbs chuckled. "It's rare we get that kind of cooperation."
Doherty grinned. "Well, then, let me rephrase that. I owe NCIS a favor."
"Major," came a familiar voice, and the tall Marine turned to see Kate's friendly smile, shaking her proffered hand. "Good to see you again."
"Likewise, Captain," the man replied, a twinkle in his eye as he shook her hand. The title got a smile out of her. "So, what can I do for NCIS?"
"You hear about the Caywood murder?" Gibbs asked.
Doherty sighed, the smile falling off his face. "Yes. It's been a huge problem, the deaths over there. That base is one of the best for training new Marines for wilderness and jungle training, but no one wants to go if Marines keep dying." He paused. "They put you on the case?" he asked, a hint of hope in his voice.
"We were asked by the team in charge to go undercover," Kate replied. "Agent DiNozzo and I have been vetted there for a few weeks now."
Doherty blinked. "Agent DiNozzo's undercover as a Marine?" he asked incredulously.
Both Kate and Gibbs chuckled at that. "No, no. Not with his hair," Gibbs replied, smiling. "We believed at the time one of the loggers from the logging company stationed nearby might have been the killer, but DiNozzo's time with them seems to say otherwise. Agent Todd is undercover as a waitress at the bar."
The Marine recruiters' CO winced in sympathy. "You're aware of this bar, I see," Kate replied lightly.
Doherty shook his head. "I don't envy you. I was down there a year ago, after one of our new recruits - out of boot camp a year - got sent there. He wasn't there but a few months, got involved with one of the girls there, and got killed. They took us to that restaurant. It's fine enough during the day, but it's seedy at night."
"To put it lightly," Kate smiled.
"To put it exceedingly lightly," Doherty replied, shaking his head. He saw Gibbs frown and then look at Kate. "I don't know if it's been cleaned up since then. Rumor has it the owner was pimping out some of his girls, and the 'waitress' front was just a front for illegal prostitution." He saw the former Marine's frown deepen and had to admit surprise that this bit of information had escaped the silver-haired agent's notice. "You didn't know?" He looked between Gibbs and Kate quickly.
"I know," Kate replied, and turned to feel Gibbs' frown on her. "Gibbs. I'm fine. I'm not going to screw up your case," she replied shortly.
Doherty frowned as he looked from one agent to another. He didn't think that's what the NCIS agent was thinking when he looked at her, but he let it go. "So, now?"
"I'm going to the base," Gibbs replied. "As a Marine. I need a cover story. Considering that some of the recruits who are there now could have been from any of those I saw that one day I was playing recruiter - I was hoping to play it safe. I need you to help me with my ID and my cover story."
"And Agent Todd?"
"I didn't speak with any of the recruits - didn't even face them. It shouldn't be a problem. It hasn't been."
Doherty nodded. "It would be my pleasure."
MARINE BASE
Howe sighed as Mathis began another long explanation. "Master Sergeant, all I'm asking is if it was necessary to go through Sgt. Stultz's things. You know most days he'd rather set a mouse in the office free instead of killing it."
"Gunnery Sergeant Howe. I do not care."
"I know you have a job to do," Howe countered. "But setting all these guys on permanent edge isn't going to help."
"You do your job, and I'll do mine," Mathis replied sharply as he flipped over the last sheet of Howe's roll. "Here. Have you found somebody to take over Caywood's place yet?"
"Washington will send somebody."
"Good." Mathis started heading out, then stopped at the doorway. "Let's just hope he leaves here alive."
Howe sighed as Mathis left.
NCIS HQ
"What is going on?" Gibbs replied, stepping in front of Kate as she started to leave his desk.
"What?" Kate replied, looking up.
"Why didn't you tell me about the bar."
"I thought you knew."
"You were there when Balboa told us about the case," Gibbs replied sharply. "He didn't tell us about the prostitution part."
"I didn't think it was that important," Kate said defensively. "The girls said it hasn't happened in almost half a year."
"It's still an unknown in the case," Gibbs replied, more sharply than he intended. Her laissez-faire attitude was agitating him more and more, and he wasn't even sure why. "I should have known about it."
"Gibbs," she retorted. "This is a problem on my side of the case. And don't worry, I'm not going to screw up the case, all right?" She moved around him and headed downstairs, most likely to Abby's lab.
He sighed and ran a frustrated hand over his face, then went down after her.
"No, no, Minnesota," Doherty replied. "Make Thomas' usual base of recruitment is Minnesota. We don't send any of those recruits to this base, so we won't have to contend with any Minnesotan recruits saying they don't remember him."
"Great," Abby nodded, bouncing in her chair as she continued making up the ID. "Is there anything else?"
"No, I think that's it."
"Cover story?" Kate asked as the doors opened and she came in. She handed the Marine recruiter a list of names. "These are all the names and recruiters who signed the Marines at the base."
Doherty scanned it quickly. "We're good. Where is Agent Gibbs, anyhow?"
"Right here," Gibbs replied. "Thanks for the ID, Abs. Major, what's the excuse going to be?"
Doherty shrugged. "I can tell them that we're sending you down there to check on morale since the killings. That's the best I've been able to come up with."
Gibbs nodded. "I'll have the commandant write me in for filling in Caywood's position until further notice." With that, he left with the Marine, leaving Kate behind without so much a word.
Kate shot a glare at his back. "He's like the Grinch sometimes, only worse," she grumbled.
Abby bounched in her chair a little. "Kaaaate, please?"
"What?"
"Shoulder rub!" Abby turned her back to her friend and sat and waited. Kate sighed but rubbed her hands together and started kneading out the knots in Abby's shoulders. "You've been gone so long that it's all been building up!"
NEXT DAY
MARINE BASE
"I can't believe he actually agreed to this," murmured Balboa from where he, Axelrod, McGee, and Cassie sat at the Marine base, eating lunch.
Kate and Tony had returned already, and now Gibbs was arriving. McGee didn't seem to mind much not being tossed in to the whirlpool, content to return with the other agents to Washington in two days. Balboa had brought him down to check the listening devices they had set up around Kate's apartment building and around the bar-restaurant.
"Who're those two guys?" McGee asked quietly.
"That's Sergeant Major Isaac Mathis," Balboa replied in a low voice. "He's the chief MP on the case. Needless to say, even if he wasn't such a stickler before, this case has him on permanent edge. The other one's Gunnery Sergeant Sam Howe. He's one of the DIs. Good guy. From what I understand, the recruits love him. He's a mainstay - his wife Theodora and his three kids are living fairly close by to the base, although he did mention thinking about moving after the murders started."
"Can't say I blame him," Cassie muttered.
"Alvin Thomas," Howe said slowly. "You were on the news just about a year or two ago? The recruiters. I knew your name sounded familiar." He shook hands with the gunny, who just smiled a little in reply. "We used to get recruits from Staff Sergeant Allen and from Gunnery Sergeant Alvarez all the time."
"They were good men," Thomas nodded.
"Did you stay in the area long?" Mathis asked, almost pointedly.
"No," Major Doherty replied, cutting in carefully as he looked at Mathis. "He volunteered to continue recruiting in Alvarez's office, and after we caught the sniper, he returned to his usual recruiting base in Minnesota."
"So what brings you back to the East Coast?" Howe asked in as friendly a manner as he could, trying not to snap at Mathis. The serial killings had made the man too paranoid. It would do no good to make a major and one of the Corps' best recruiters mad, particularly during evaluation time.
"I was asked to look into recruit morale," Thomas replied. "Drew random names out of a hat for which bases to visit."
"I also informed Gunny Thomas that the base could use some temporary administrative help after talking to your base CO," Major Doherty replied pointedly, pulling officer's rank. "Thomas agreed to take over what he can of...Gunnery Sergeant Caywood's paperwork while he's here."
Mathis looked suspicious, but Howe kept his emotions in check. "Never met a Marine who wanted to push papers," he replied lightly. "But welcome."
RADE'S BAR AND RESTAURANT
"He's a fine Marine. If all Marines looked like him, I would've joined."
"No you wouldn't. You couldn't take those starched uniforms. But he is easy on the eyes."
"He's like an eye-fest!"
Kim just rolled her eyes in amusement. "You are a piece of work," she replied to Jaime, then turned when in stepped the newest waitress. "Hey Nina," she greeted.
"Hey, Nina!" Jaime greeted. "You see the hot new Marine?"
"That would be the first thing out of your mouth," Erin replied, giving Jaime a playfully stern look and shoving a tray into her hands.
"There's a new Marine on the base," Kim explained to Kate as she headed out with her full tray. "Gunny Howe brought him in to lunch today. He's been in town two days, I think, and Jaime's got enough drool on her tray to swim in."
Kate nodded as she tucked her order notepad into her apron pocket. "Is he really as hot as Jaime says?" she replied, her eyes dancing in merriment. "Or is it along the lines of 'PFC Boder is hot'."
"PFC Boder is cute," Jaime protested.
"He's a stick with hair," Kim retorted. "He looks like a mop turned upside down."
The other women laughed as Jaime made a face. "You know Jaime," Erin said to Kate. "She gets excited about pink smoothies." She smiled when the other woman laughed as she picked up her tray.
Howe leaned back in his chair and grinned. It has been a busy week of adjustments, including having a new face in Caywood's old desk. He still missed Mike's quips and great humor, and Thomas was nowhere like Mike. But he had his own, subtle sense of humor he so rarely voiced. It took one watching him closely to see the amusement in his eyes at something funny - eyes which so rarely missed anything.
It was hard not to like a guy like Thomas, despite the whole evaluation thing. He was really a Marine's Marine and not prone to being picky. Howe had discovered that Thomas had served briefly in the Gulf, so he wasn't entirely a paper-pusher; it was a lot easier to feel less antsy about Thomas' evals now that he knew the man understood combat. So it didn't take much for Howe to invite the newest guy on base to lunch that Tuesday, and then again to Rade's today after work. They could all afford to kick back on Friday.
"Hi guys," greeted a cheerful voice, and the men looked up to see Emily. "See you all cut out work early today."
Howe chuckled and nodded. "Thomas, Emily Cantrell," he introduced. "Em's been working here a coupla years. Em, this is Gunny Alvin Thomas."
"Your rep precedes you," she kidded. "One of the Marines who comes in here, he said his buddy at Quantico knew you - joined up because 'The Corps must be awesome if all guys were as cool as Thomas and and as hot as his CO.' Your CO must've been something."
Thomas laughed at that. "Yeah," he chuckled. "She could be counted as a 'hottie.'"
"You could recruit me for the Corps," she replied, laughing, bouncing an eyebrow as she extended a hand to shake his. "If all guys in the Corps looked like you."
Howe chuckled. "I wouldn't get your hopes up, Em."
Cantrell laughed. "What can I get you guys today?"
"Jack Daniels," Howe replied, "and Stultz is in the head.... Uh, get him a regular beer." He looked at Thomas. "You?"
"Coffee, black." Thomas nodded. "Thank you."
"Polite, too," Cantrell half-oohed in a laughing tone as she left.
Howe chuckled as he looked over at Thomas. The man didn't looked embarrassed, but he certainly wasn't gloating or anything at the attention lavished on him. It was amusing. "Em's harmless," he said quietly. "She's not one of the ones I said was trying to marry out."
"Why do they want to?"
Howe's eyes drifted over the bar owner, and he saw Thomas' follow his. "Bar owner? Kennedy gives me the creeps, and I'm a DI." He shook his head. "He abuses his waitresses." At Thomas' frown, Howe continued, "He pimps them out to customers who pay. Less than half a year ago the entire restaurant was shut down for a month. They lost half their staff to charges of prostitution."
"What about Kennedy?"
"Got off scot-free. His old manager took the rap. With this new guy - Rick Quincy - he won't tolerate it. Kennedy can't get rid of him, because Quincy managed to recover the financial losses turning the place into this semi-respectable bar, so the pimping's stopped." He paused. "For now. If Kennedy can do it without Quincy's knowledge, though, you bet he'll do it."
He sighed. "A lot of the girls are here because that's the only well-paying job around here for miles. And I understand it pays VERY well. Most of these are good women. They need the money. I know a couple of the Marines, a logger or two, who'll slip them extra money for those who might be in a pinch. Theodora has done it too, when I've brought her here."
"You bring her here?" Thomas looked surprised.
"Not until four months ago," Howe replied. "When Rick Quincy came, he began this vigorous campaign to right the place, make it respectable. He's here every day during the day, and he's made it a really nice place, especially in the day time. The waitresses deeply appreciate him for it. Sometimes it gets a little rowdy at night, though. I only bring my family before 5 pm."
"Sounds rough for the workers here."
"Once they have what they need, they're out."
"Kennedy can't like losing his waitresses like that."
Howe snorted. "He treats them like meat. He doesn't care. He most likely wouldn't even waste breath to reprimand a guy who smacked one." He shook his head. "You can tell why most of these women want to leave."
The DI continued, "Common knowledge that most of these women aren't happy here, but most are too proud to...try to con a guy into marriage. They'll accept help, but that's it. Some of girls are determined to marry out. One was determined to catch an officer. We had one or two Marines suckered over the last few years."
"That can't be fun," Thomas muttered.
"Some of these guys - they see a pretty woman and their brains drop below their belts." He shook his head. "The MPs have gotten calls about fistfights over women. Marines and Marines, Marines and loggers."
"And the women?"
"Well, they're not fighting, if that's what you're asking." Thomas chuckled, and Howe grinned. "No, they just let it go. Some just want to get their job done. They come in, they go, that's it. A precious few are here to marry out. Some are here to have a good time...they bounce from Marine to logger and back. Those are the real problems."
"Problems?"
"The Marines who get involved with the girls here? End up murdered." He looked up to see the newest waitress approaching them, their order on her tray, and shot a look at Thomas that they would discuss this later. "Nina?"
She looked a little surprised, then smiled at being remembered. "Yes. You are...Gunny Howe." She smiled when she remembered correctly, then moved aside to let Stultz sit down. "I met your wife a few days ago - Theodora?"
"Yes," Howe replied, nodding, and quite impressed at her memory. "You're good with names." She laughed a little. "This is Alvin Thomas. He just started here this week."
"Gunny," the brunette said firmly after a moment, looking at the stripes on the sleeve of the jacket sitting on the chair.
"You know your ranks," Howe chuckled, and Sutton smiled.
"New kid on the block's been doing her homework?" came the soft voice, tinged with laughter.
Howe's amused glance dropped instantly from the waitress to the new Marine. He watched, completely surprised, as the Marine recruiter looked up at the new waitress with an expression Howe had not seen in the whole week the man had been there. Apparently Stultz hadn't, either, as the man turned a slightly shocked look on the new gunny until he saw Howe looking at him, and then he quickly cleared his throat and sipped some water.
It wasn't amusement, but it wasn't displeasure. He had a tiny smile on his face, his look intense yet soft and gentle - things Howe would have never associated with the Gunnery Sergeant Thomas he had known for the past week. Surprising, to say the least. This from the recruiter who amused himself by making underlings - Marines, no less - scuttle from his office looking ready to wet their pants.
Sutton looked slightly taken aback. To her credit, she didn't break eye contact, just looking back at him steadily but looking slightly puzzled and curious. After what seemed to Howe an interminable silence, a shy smile peeked out. The DI's mind scanned through every 'war story' he'd heard from the Marines on base about the newest waitress - no, nothing close to resembling 'shy' on the list. What the h-ll....
Thomas' smile then widened slightly at her, and Nina blushed just the tiniest bit. "Working this close to a Marine base, I think it would be to my benefit to pick up on these things," she replied as lightly as she could. "I think I've seen you here a few times?"
"I've come twice."
"And served by those more experienced than I," she replied, her eyes twinkling. "I'm afraid you'll have to put up with me this time around."
"I can live with that," he replied in a tone that indicated he was hardly at all put-upon that she was serving them. He smiled up at her.
Her big brown eyes smiled briefly down at the recruiter before she carefully as she set their beverages before them, a few murmured and smiled thanks. "Jack Daniels, regular beer, and a coffee, black."
Howe then turned his gaze back on the recruiter; Thomas hadn't taken his eyes of the waitress yet, even as his hands closed over the coffee mug and he murmured a soft "thank you."
"I'd taste it before I said anything," Nina replied with a teasing smile. "Some days, it tastes like the cook ran out of coffee filters." There were a couple chuckles.
Howe saw her pause momentarily, and the gunny soon gave her a reason not to leave immediately. Holding her gaze, he lifted the mug to his lips and took a sip. "It's very good," he said with a tiny smile, still watching her for a reaction as he lowered the mug.
She blinked in disbelief. "Really."
Howe nearly choked on his Daniels as Thomas stood up, holding the mug in his hands and still looking down at her, a serious expression on his face, but his eyes soft. He offered the mug to her.
Nina let out a nervous laugh, and it disappeared as she looked at him puzzledly, then carefully tucked her tray under her arm. Her hands began to reach for the mug, and she obviously expected him to let go of it. Instead, he lifted the mug to her lips, his other hand closing over hers as he did. For a moment they just stood there, with her looking at him just slightly curiously as he smiled gently at her.
She then sipped a little, and blinked, her eyes widening at the taste. "Whew," she commented hoarsely, still reacting to the sip, but she didn't step away. "No thanks."
The Marines chuckled, and the recruiter continued to watch her, the corner of his lips twitching slightly into a soft smile, his eyes twinkling at her.
Howe watched as the waitress smiled genuinely back at him for a moment, her hands still hovering over the cup he held before her, before she suddenly seemed to realize that there were others there. She quickly turned back, blushing, and tucked a stray lock behind her ear. "Can I get you guys anything else?"
"We're good," Howe replied quickly. "Thanks, Nina." The DI returned her smile and nod of acknowledgment as she walked away, then turned his gaze to the gunny. The silver-haired man didn't watch her leave, but seemed to smile ever so slightly at his mug before sitting down.
Howe had the instincts to look away before Thomas looked up, but Stultz was caught redhanded by the recruiter. "Something wrong, Sergeant?"
"No. No, sir."
TWO DAYS LATER
NCIS HQ
"Hey!" Abby greeted as the team finally came to her lab, looking weary. "You've been gone for days. Director Morrow was starting to wonder."
"It's going to suck to be you," Cassie muttered. "They wired the whole town, including the fat pigeon sitting on the power line above the bar."
Balboa spread three large floorplans onto the desk, McGee, Axelrod, and Cassie on the other side of the table. "Rade's. We put up bugs here, here, and here. McGee even got into Kennedy's office."
"Wow," Abby grinned proudly. "Nice, McGee."
"In the apartment complex, we bugged up some of the hallways, right here, here, and here." He pointed. "We're going to tie everything into MTAC for McGee to monitor."
"And we put several cases of those tiny little tube testers in Kate's closet," McGee replied. "She can use them to test her water, since that's where you figured they were getting the formaldehyde into their systems," he said to Abby.
"On base, MP Mathis set up bugs all over the place. I think he's got listening devices on his listening devices."
"So now we just sit and wait," Axelrod said.
LOGGING AREA
"You hear about the new Marine?" Scott asked as Gus Logan hopped down from the machine. It had been a few weeks since the man had arrived in town, but their logging team had been working round-the-clock that whole time.
"Recruiter," Gus replied as he squirted water from his bottle onto his face.
Scott nodded. "Seems to me a Marine recruiter on a Marine base is preaching to the choir." Gus nodded, and then Scott chuckled. "Want to know what Greg said?"
Gus grinned in anticipation of the story, and Scott couldn't blame him. Greg Worth was excitable, to say the least. "He said the waitresses have been swooning at the new guy's feet so much they ought to wear helmets."
For some reason, Gus Logan found this far funnier than Scott would have suspected - the man was almost wiping tears from his eyes. It wasn't THAT funny. Scott looked at him, slightly puzzled, and Logan finally quieted. "Worth's a character. But hey," Gus replied, turning his grin back on. "Can you blame those poor girls?"
Scott blinked. "What?"
"With our team working 'round the clock, they're in desperate need of even semi-ruggedly handsome faces," Logan replied with a huge grin. "When we finally get some time off and head back there and they see us, it'll all be back to normal."
Scott shook his head with an amused grin, in spite of himself. "You're terrible."
Gus Logan grinned wide.
RADE'S BAR AND RESTAURANT
Lissa loaded up her tray again - her last before her break - and started to work the room again.
She heard the voices before she saw them - they were sitting in a corner, trying to avoid prying eyes, but it was difficult not to see.
Nina was smiling, amused by something. Her eyes laughed, and Lissa thought her smile was different. Beneath the tough, brassy waitress image, she had a soft, vulnerable side which so rarely peeked out. Lissa had only seen it a few times over the roughly two months she had been here, when they had talked about one of the murders. But Lissa had never seen it at work. Nina's smiles here were always that of the confident, snarky, Nina - not this.
She never smiled at any other man like that. Only Thomas.
Nina seemed, in the very least, less comfortable in the seedy surroundings; Erin, Lissa herself, and the others tried to help her ease into her new job. She was willing to learn and properly respectful of them when Nancy was mentioned - neither being flippant or cheaply sympathetic. That had endeared her to the others quickly.
Nina had SAID she understood Lissa's warning.
It was the new cardinal and unspoken rule at Rade's that Nancy had stupidly violated: one did not get involved with the Marines. Nothing wrong with them, but considering the deaths over the last year.... Nancy's relationship with Michael Caywood had ended up with them dead and had NCIS and the local police swarming all over the place again.
One did not fall for Marines. Period.
Lissa understood that Nancy was falling for Sgt. Caywood; who wouldn't? He was kind to her, a good guy overall, and he had a devastating sense of humor to boot. He had always treated all the waitresses with respect, more than could be said of some of the other Marines and of some of the loggers.
Nancy and Mike knew the score. Mike was leaving with his new orders in two weeks, and Nancy had actually already quit and moved out of the general apartment complex where a lot of the girls had lived. They had hoped to beat the odds - and ended up one of them.
Lissa flinched as she remembered banging on Nancy's hotel room door, and picking the lock and going in to find Nancy and Mike dead, Nancy blue in her fingers and lips and Mike shot in the heart. She heard Nina laugh softly and turned to see the corners of Thomas' eyes crinkle slightly as he smiled at her.
Lissa saw red. She shoved her tray into Kim's hands. "The last four are at that table," she said, pointing.
"Lissa, this is Nina's choice."
"She's going to be poisoned to death," Lissa hissed.
"She's happy," Kim whispered.
"Not if she's dead," Lissa snapped. "And she's not going to be happy when he dies, either." She left the other woman behind, took a deep breath, and headed over to the corner booth. "Gunny Thomas," she greeted with as much grace as she could muster. "Nina, come on."
She blinked. "But I still have a couple minutes left on my break."
"Now, Nina." Lissa reached down and picked her up by her arm. "Let's go. Excuse us, Gunny."
He nodded, but Lissa could still feel the sharp blue eyes following them as they left the room. She doubted they missed anything.
"Nina," Lissa snapped when they were out of earshot. "What is wrong with you? What did I tell you about dating Marines?"
"We're not dating," Nina snapped. "We were talking. He happened to be in here when I was on break."
"Right. He happens to come in right when you're working...and close enough to your break times."
"I work every night, Lissa. It's not like I don't see some people here very night."
"You've fallen for him, Nina," Lissa said quietly. For some reason, Nina looked so much more shocked than the other waitress had expected, and for a moment Lissa wondered if she had hit another nerve elsewhere. "And for his safety you need to avoid him."
"Look," Nina shook her head. "It's not mutual, and for that - "
"Are you stupid?" Lissa snapped. "Just because he doesn't do anything publicly, you think that we haven't seen it? I've overhead the loggers taking bets about when he jumps you. And if you were any indication, I don't think Gunny Thomas realizes it, either. But everyone else sees it, and since somebody who is neither you nor Gunny Thomas is killing people, they see it, too. And both of you are going to die for it." She sighed and opened the door to go back inside. "You need to decide if it's worth it."
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.