Bond of Brothers

"What have you got for me Ducky?" Gibbs pushed through the swinging doors to the pathology lab while pulling on his coffee.

"Good morning Jethro. We have a most interesting case. You know, it takes me back to my youth. Look here…." Dr Mallard took the head of the cadaver lying on his table and turned it so that the base of the skull was looking at Gibbs.

There was a shaved area at the nape of the neck, and in the middle of it a tiny puncture mark.

Jethro leant in, studying the tiny hole closely, coffee never far from his lips. "Is that cause of death?"

"It would appear so. I would say a nine inch long spike. It would have been driven up through the base of the cerebellum into the cranial cavity, stopping behind the eyes," Ducky continued matter of fact-like while Gibbs winced slightly. "the sort of thing that would be missed by your average ME in the sixties. Quick, painless, silent and very well practiced. This is absolutely typical of many men I saw on my table during the cold war Jethro."

"This man was in extremely good health…." Ducky waved in the direction of the rest of the body as if to prove his point. Sure enough the man on the slab was well muscled, not like a body builder but more like a man who had seen hard physical activity for every day of his life. "But there is something else. Here…"

Ducky guided Gibbs around to the other side of the body and gave him a magnifying glass, pointing at a tiny tattoo on the man's shoulder. Gibbs examined it closely.

Standing up straight, he turned his attention and looked seriously at Ducky. "'Who dares wins' and a dagger?"

"That's right Jethro - there is someone killing SAS officers here in the States, and judging by their methods it's certainly someone who knows what they're doing and is used to evading capture."

"Ducky, do you have any contacts nearby with connections to the SAS who might be able to help identify this man or even help finding someone with this MO?"

Ducky smiled. "You know me Jethro. Here!"

He reached into his top pocket beneath his lab-coat and pulled out his wallet. After a few seconds rifling through a thick and worn collection of business cards he passed one over to Gibbs.

"We served together on HMS Ark Royal for a while. He was a most, er…" Ducky searched for an appropriate word "efficient officer. Made it to Commander I believe before branching out into more Black-Ops type fields. He looked me up a few years ago after retiring to Maryland. I'm sure he'll be happy to help!"

Gibbs stared at the card in his hand then shifted his gaze to Ducky to see if this was a joke being played on him but Ducky was already deeply involved with something to do with a microscope and a petri dish.

He smiled as he pulled out his cell-phone, turning to leave while dialing the number on the card.