Title: All Hands on Deck
Author: Christy
Rating: FR 15
Fandom/Theme: Angel/NCIS/Highlander
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters featured here. They belong to their respective creators and production companies.
Distribution: and TtH
Chapter: 1/5
Series: FFA Madness #13; Alissa's Interests #10
FFA Pairing: Cordelia Chase/LJ Gibbs
Spoilers: None
Summary: Gibbs has a problem with Miss Chase
Author's Note: Now that I have the time to type up the rest of this story, it's been shifted to its own now.
For the first time in a long time, Gibbs sat in observation and merely stared at the young female suspect they'd picked up outside Norfolk Naval Base, clothes torn, bruised and bloodied. Abby had already told him that none of the blood on her was hers, but other than finding evidence of a bit of a fight in the brush she'd wandered out of, there wasn't much of a case. But his gut told him there was one- a big one. He turned as the door opened and speared Tony with a look.
"Hey, boss. Well, Miss Cordelia Chase is based out of LA. She flew into BWI at ten this morning. She spent most of that morning at the offices of the MacKenzie Conglomerate, having lunch with the lovely CEO of said company, a Mrs Alissa MacKenzie, before heading to her hotel in Adams Morgan. She had dinner at Sir Walter Raleigh's in Laurel and then drove down to Norfolk to meet a friend of hers stationed there, a Commander Watkins. She told me that she'd gone to a couple of local bars after she found the Commander was out of town unexpectedly and woke up on the side of the road just before we found her," DiNozzo recited from his notes. "Being that it's three in the morning, local time, I figured we'd wait until later in the morning to talk to Mrs. MacKenzie as well as Mrs. Chase's boss in LA."
Gibbs just raised a brow without saying a word. Working with him for ten years had DiNozzo cluing in to that in moments. "Find out who she works for; on it, boss." and was gone again. Jethro resumed his staring for a moment before his cell buzzed with a text from Abby that she had something for him.
*****
Alissa had just fortified her first cup of the day with a healthy dose of Jameson- a way to recover from the amount of sake drunk with her Japanese contacts the night before. "Mrs. MacKenzie, NCIS agents here to see you," her secretary announced. Sighing and rubbing the bridge of her nose in irritation, she told Samantha to send them back. She stood up as the two agents came in; a woman with a Middle Eastern complexion and a man who, she could tell from his grin, was another modern day Jack Sparrow- flirts with anything that moves to hide the sharp mind underneath. They introduced themselves as Agents David and DiNozzo, respectively.
"So what can I do for the Navy today?" she asked, sitting back behind her desk and motioning them to seats as well.
"Well, Ma'am," Tony started, whipping out a small notebook, "we found a Cordelia Chase along the road to Norfolk early this morning."
"Oh Lord and Lady, is she okay?" Alissa asked.
"Yes ma'am, she's being taken care of by NCIS staff right now. Um, she said she'd gone to lunch with you yesterday. Where did you two eat at?"
"Yes, we ate at Taste of China off of Connecticut. She's an old friend of mine and I invited her to lunch while she was in town, since I had a business dinner to attend with some of the people from Samsung," she explained calmly while making notes on a pad off her right hand side.
The two agents exchanged a glance as Tony continued his questioning. "And do you know why she went down to Norfolk last night?"
Alissa shrugged. "Only that she said she had some people she had meetings with down there."
Tony murmured a thanks for her time and promised they'd be in touch.
*****
"Didja see that back there?" Tony asked excitedly once they were in the car heading back to the Naval Yard.
"What was I supposed to see?" Ziva asked, a slight grin on her face indication to her partner that she was merely teasing him.
"Yeah, Ziva you so didn't see the fact that she wasn't that surprised to know Miss Chase had gotten hurt out in Norfolk. Besides, if her main issue was the meeting with Commander Watkins, why not just fly into Norfolk directly?"
"I don't know why she wouldn't, but I'm sure after McGee gets back from talking to the Commander, we should."
*****
Cordelia had sat there patiently while Gibbs's team checked everything out. She didn't really mind- she knew from working with Angel for so long that stuff like this took time. The only, or maybe the main reason she hadn't lawyered up yet was that she didn't want to escalate things. As it stood right now, they knew her only as a victim of some random bad guy. Besides which, it wasn't HER fault the damn vamp hadn't wanted to talk to her about the tip that Ethan Rayne was somewhere in the area, which is why Angel had sent her towards Norfolk. Even though she knew her Immortal healing would take care of most of the aches and pains, she wasn't one that was old enough to heal as fast as people like Alissa and Adam. She looked up as the grey haired agent came back into the room, mouth firm and unsmiling.
"Ms. Chase, you said you went to go see Commander Watkins yesterday. What issue would that be in regards to?" was his opening volley.
"The law firm my husband runs out in LA had received information that a man who owed us a lot of money might be living and working in the Norfolk area, so I flew down. I flew into Thurgood Marshall instead of Norfolk because Mrs. MacKenzie is a good friend of both mine and my husband and I don't get to see her as much as I would like, since most of her business tends to keep her on the East Coast lately. Commander Watkins had indicated in our previous phone conversation that Ethan Rayne tended to frequent a few local bars, and he was supposed to come with me to show me which ones. When I found out he'd been called away unexpectedly, I decided to try scouting them out on my own. I was working my way through them when some guy at one of them thought I looked yummy and decided to try and take me home, whether I wanted to or not," she finished succinctly.
"And yet we found no one else in the field," Gibbs countered.
"Hey, wouldn't YOU run if a gal ran away from you screaming bloody murder?" she replied.
Gibbs nodded noncommittally. "Granted. We'll let you get back to your hotel, Mrs. Chase, but try and stay in the area for a bit. We might have some more questions for you later."