I do not own, or claim to own, any rights or trademark on NCIS or the characters used here. I simply like to play colorforms. Note though, that the creativity of the story, and it's plot, those are indeed mine.

WARNING : This story has very graphic violent material, and is not suitable for everyone.

THANKS – GRACIAS – DANKA – DOMO – GRAZIE

OCT 9, 2012

"Boss?"

The older man heard it as if from a distance, his concentration split between looking at the dead man lying on ground and pushing back memories from another place and time…

"...Boss?" McGee called softly the second time, seeing the slight tick in his Gibbs' jaw muscle.

Tony raised a brow, and gave the Probie a subtle wave, urging him to leave Gibbs be for a moment.

Tim nodded silently in response, shifting on his feet to continue to take in both their murder victim, and Gibbs' unsettling lack of motion.

They could hear the wind moving through the wooded estate surrounding them, and the sound of Palmer wrestling the gurney from Ducky's truck. It was a fairly warm day, for October, and there were still many leaves left on the trees.

The silence seemed to stretch as they waited for the man to reply, but Gibbs seemed frozen, still looking down at the body of LC Louis Colletti. His dark curly hair and eyelashes stood out against the ghostly blue tint of dead flesh. His brown eyes were cracked open, just a sliver, staring at nothing.

Even Ducky, now kneeling on the ground with his equipment, had momentarily stopped what he was doing, and looked up at Gibbs from under the brim of his hat with curiosity.

"Do you recognize these marks, Jethro?"

Gibbs' steely blue eyes never left the dead man, as he quietly said," Maybe… maybe, Duck."

Tony and McGee looked down as well, at the gruesome corpse.

The unfortunate victim had a gash across his throat that dark streaks of blood had run from. His arms and legs were splayed out wide, much like the DaVinci man's pose, and the white flesh of his torso almost looked purple tinted in contrast to the russet and gold fall leaves he'd been placed upon. The body had been placed, clothed only in a pair of black scrub-type pants, face up under an oak tree. The tree itself was part of a fifty acre estate belonging to one James Grassman, who Ziva and Dornegat were looking for to interview.

There were several, disquieting, if not deeply disturbing details about this murder. A slit throat with bloodstains coming from it was something they had seen before. But this time, the stains didn't run down or back...they ran up and over the man's chin and face, as if he had been hung upside down, and bled like an animal.

And most unusual of all, there were angry burns on his chest and stomach, in strange shapes Tony could not recognize. One was at the base of the man's throat, two on his chest, two on the hips. Tony thought they looked astrological, but he couldn't place a specific meaning to them.

"They look like…some kind of astrological symbols…or…Enochian," McGee murmured to himself mostly.

"Enochian," Tony said, looking at him, "is that the language of Ewoks, Probie?"

McGee snorted, "No Tony, Enochian is an Angelic language made up of symbols, and…" his confidence seemed to plummet momentarily.

Tony smiled, "And what, McGee?"

"I-I know a little of it because it's used in one of my online games," he finished, expecting his SFA to have a field day with it. He frowned as Tony smiled even wider.

"Ah, okay, so it is a language…of nerds, albeit dangerous ones in this case. Can you read it, McGeek?" Tony asked with a tone that was more serious than the words he used. Gibbs hadn't seemed to hear them.

"No," Tim shook his head.

Tony just shrugged, and continued to wait for Gibbs to say something. He was starting to feel a little apprehensive, but finally Gibbs straightened and spoke.

"McGee, call Abby and ask her to come down here." Gibbs said and stood back, jaw slightly clenched.

McGee nodded, "Onnit Boss," and walked away, pulling out his phone.

Ducky looked at Gibbs for a moment longer as well, and then went back to his intake.

Tony had a bad feeling about the way Gibbs was fixated on the body. Something was definitely…off…

"What's going on, Boss? You seem…spooked." Tony asked softly, stepping closer to stand at Gibbs side, and looking him dead in the eye.

"We've got a crime scene to photograph, DiNozzo," Gibbs answered evenly, looking up at his SFA with a subtle warning in his glare. "I suggest you get started."

"Ah, sure…onnit Boss." Tony knew whatever had Gibbs so tweaked, there would be no sharing for the time being. He greatly respected and admired his friend, and long time leader, but sometimes Gibbs' tight lipped secret-keeping fried Tony's nerves...It was hard to swallow down that they could be partners and friends for so long...and Gibbs still didn't tell him things. And he knew something was going on here.

There were no signs of struggle. Just the LC's clothing folded in a near perfect square, not far from the body, dog tags lying right on top.

Aside a few broken twigs, there was not much. Tony could hear Palmer and Ducky talking about the dead man, and his strange presentation. He heard Gibbs talking to McGee, and then Ziva, who had returned up the noisy gravel drive some twenty feet from where the victim had been discovered, The owner of the estate had no knowledge of the murder, nor had he heard or seen anything, until his dog had found the body during their morning walk.

Tony looked at the trees, and the ground, which showed a trail, though faint, leading up to the main road in front of the estate. Rain the night before left everything a bit damp, and in some places, muddy.

"How could you get a six foot Marine through the woods…with so little trouble…no drag…" he thought out loud, still shooting with the camera.

It was eerily quiet, as he stepped over a fallen log to follow the trail. The main road was close…he heard a car pass by. And then suddenly a small clearing opened up, just before the copse of trees that separated the estate from the main road.

"Boss!" he called out, and snapped some more photos.

In the mud, as plain as day, were many sets of footprints.

McGee was given the task of taking detailed photos and molds of the footprints, as best he could. The mud hadn't hardened yet, so it was going to take time and great care to accomplish their task.

Ziva and Dornegat had been sent back out in the neighborhood - trying to talk to neighbors to see if there were any witnesses who could at least ID a car or something out of place... but there was a lot of distance between houses in the upper scale neighborhood. They had their work cut out for them as well.

Tony usually went out to do the interviews, but he volunteered to stay and work the scene with Gibbs. He felt the need to protect Gibbs...but had no idea why.

Tony met Abby up on the main road, helping her out of the hearse with her black parasol.

He smiled as he took her hand, and tipped his cap, "My lady Abigail, may I assist you to your party?"

She grinned with a twinkle in her eye, taking his hand.

"Why yes, Sir Tony, I would be in your debt for the kindness."

He took in her combat boots. "I'm glad you came prepared. It's still a little muddy in there."

"Well, it's a good thing I have a big bad Special Agent to keep me from nose-diving into the mud." She smiled as they made their way down the graveled drive and off to the side, into the trees.

In a more serious tone, she said, "What should I know about this, Tony? McGee mentioned…Enochian, or some kind of symbols on the body. And that Gibbs was doing the Gibbsicle thing."

"Ah…yeah…you'll see. The body has some unusual markings on it…did you just say, Gibbsicle?" He stopped, raising a brow and smiling at her, just as they got to the crime scene, where Gibbs, Ducky, and Palmer were still waiting for her before moving the corpse.

"Yeah, Tony…" she said softly. "Frozen in place…taking it in. Seemingly unaware of the world in general. Like…like that." She nodded towards Gibbs, and Tony could see the older man was once again looking down at Louis Colletti, with an intensity that was making them all a little edgy. "This is never good," she muttered, as she approached them.

"Gibbs!" she called pleasantly enough.

Tony was surprised to see Gibbs jerk ever so slightly, as if in surprise.

"Abbs," He greeted. "Glad you could make it."

"Oh yeah, no problem Bossman. The hearse had a little trouble getting up the hill, but otherwise she was okay. I think she needs a tune-up though. And I haven't wanted to go because you know, my mechanic has a little crush on me, and-"

"Abby!" Gibbs warned.

"Ok, right down to business then." She turned and said "Hi guys!" to Ducky and Palmer, who returned her greeting pleasantly.

She then took in the gruesome remains behind them on the ground.

Abby walked around the body, as the other men stepped back to giver her space.

She took a full two turns around the body, holding the handle of her parasol with two hands, and then came to a stop at his head, frowning. She took a deep breath in and sighed sadly, "Hinky."

Tony watched Gibbs almost twitching. He hoped Abby knew to stick to the matter at hand…Gibbs' body language spoke tension, and something else Tony couldn't place.

"What, besides the obvious about this, do you find "Hinky", Abigail?" Ducky asked, jumping in quickly as if reading Tony's mind.

"His head, is facing south. His body, positioned specifically to point that way, and possibly to convey a symbolic purpose. The symbols on his body," she pointed with her black polished finger, "are positioned on the body to echo it's placement."

Gibbs came to stand beside her, and asked, "What do you mean?"

She looked at Gibbs, "I know the symbols are some kind of blend of Enochian and old world astrology. I'll have to study them and let you know later…but…" she slowly looked down at the dead man's face, and the wide open gash across his throat, and shuddered. "This is wayyy not cool Gibbs."

He raised his brows at her as they waited for her to continue.

"It's…the upside-down pentagram, Gibbs. The position of the body and the marks of it. And the way he was positioned when they …slashed his throat…Gibbs…" she swallowed and her eyes grew almost impossibly large," I think this was a Satanic Cult. And one that believes in human sacrifice."