DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything. Timelines probably totally skewed in the quest for quality femslash.
"Gear up!" called Gibbs.
"I'll get the van," said McGee.
"Don't bother. We are going to Los Angeles."
"I thought they had their own NCIS office," said DiNozzo.
"They do. Director wants somebody not known in the area."
"For what?" asked Ziva.
"Ask the director," said Gibbs. "Get Ducky and Abby. They're going, too."
"I have no idea," said Ducky as the plane lifted off. "Gibbs will not even say how many bodies. He simply disappeared into the rear compartment."
"Maybe they don't know," said Abby. "Maybe they found another oil drum full of body parts."
"Nah," said DiNozzo. "The director wouldn't waste money flying us out there. If LA couldn't handle it, they'd fly the drum to you and Ducky."
"Is that so, Agent DiNozzo?" came a voice from the rear of the plane, not Gibbs's gravelly baritone but a firm female voice.
"Director Shepard!" DiNozzo said. "You... you're coming with us?"
"Actually I thought I'd come halfway, parachute out and hitchhike back to DC."
"And which of us will be your bodyguard on this parachute expedition, Director?" asked Ziva.
"She's not gonna..." Tony began, then faltered. "Are you?" he asked the director.
"The director and I have done stranger things," said Ziva.
"Yeah," said Abby, "but that was when you were with the CIA spooky-types, right?"
"And this problem dates from that era," the Director said, settling on the arm of an aisle seat with her laptop hugged against her chest.
"Do I know about this problem?" asked Gibbs.
"No," said the Director. "At least, I don't think so. There was a time when Ziva and I... got in a little trouble, through no fault of our own. We'd been drugged and... and had problems remembering... exactly..." Shepard stopped and closed her eyes for a moment. "We didn't know we hadn't done what we were accused of, until a really good interrogator from the CIA helped us sort things out."
"The scary little stubborner?" asked Ziva.
"I think you mean Southerner," said Shepard.
"I meant what I said. She was stubborn. Also scary."
"There were times when she couldn't be gentle," said Shepard, "but in the end she saved both our careers, and now we have intelligence that there is a contract on her."
"She Navy or Marine?" asked Gibbs.
"Neither," said Shepard. "We have reason to believe the Los Angeles office has a mole, and that that mole is passing intelligence relative to the threat. That is the Navy connection. CIA cannot work a case in the US, of course, and..."
"Since when?" asked Gibbs. "As long as local law enforcement doesn't catch them."
"In this case," said Jenny, "it's impossible. So is FBI, for reasons that will become obvious."
"And we're going to protect this impossible woman?" guessed DiNozzo.
"We are going to find out who wants her dead and stop the attack, working out of a safe house independent of our local office, which is why we need Ducky and Ziva." said Shepard. "I hope we don't need Ducky, but..."
"Better safe than sorry," said the doctor.
"I would like for her to disappear," said Shepard, "and accept our protection, but she is quite high profile and I imagine her own people will take care of her security."
"'High profile?'" repeated Gibbs. "What is she, some kind of movie star?"
"That would be too simple," said Shepard. She opened her laptop and brought up a photograph of a petite blond with delicate features and a wild mane of hair. "She is Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson of the Priority Homicide Division of the Los Angeles Police Department."