Jack O'Neill was just leaving the Pentagon through the main entrance when he was stopped by a crowd of people. It looked as though several camera crews had been interviewed by a general.
"Sergeant, when can we get out of here?" He asked one of the uniformed soldiers of the security service next to him.
"Sir, the interview will take at least another five minutes. I think ten until everything is gone." Replied the sergeant.
"Thank you sergeant, then I will take subway. I wish you a quiet shift." O'Neill thanked him and turned on his heel and went to one of the side exits.
The sergeant said goodbye to O'Neill and turned back to the crowd as a man in a suit joined him.
"Excuse me sergeant. Special Agent Tony Dinozzo, NCIS. I am looking for this man. Did you see him come over here?" The man introduced himself and showed him a picture.
Immediately he recognized the Air Force General, from a few moments ago.
"Yes, sir. You just missed him. He's headed that way." The sergeant answered, pointing down one of the corridors.
"Thank you sergeant." Tony said, following O'Neill.
Two more people following him.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack was just around the corner when his adjutant met him.
"Captain Stone, are you finally going home?" He asked her.
"Of course, sir, that's what You ordered me to do," she answered directly.
"Then I order you not to take the main entrance. Some general gives an interview again." Jack replied calmly.
"Thank you for the info. But my husband is waiting for me there. We want to go eating, since I'm already coming home." She just said and wanted to say goodbye to a grinning general when two men and a woman came around the corner.
"Are you Jack O'Neill?" The obvious leader of the group wanted to know.
"Yes, that's me and who are you?"
Jack looked at the three closely, and immediately noticed that the second man and the woman were holding their hands dangerously close to their weapons, which they had carried under their jackets.
"My name is Special Agent Tony Dinozzo, NCIS. I'm here to arrest you on suspicion of murder."
Everyone in the corridor immediately stopped doing their things at these words and turned to the small group.
Jack looked closely at the agent and knew immediately that this was no joke.
Slowly but surely, he put his hands up with his palms in the direction of Tony and his head to Stone.
"Ava, could you please go back to the office before you meet your husband for dinner and send an Code Abydos 2 until they hear something from me according to protocol?"
Perplexed by the suspect's reaction it took some time until Tony had registered everything. With skilled hands he took his handcuffs and tied the general with his hands behind his back.
"We're taking you to NCIS HQ for interrogation." Tony said, leading the general down the corridor.
~~~~~~~~~~~
According to his watch, he had been sitting in this interrogation room for almost an hour without seeing anyone, which was annoying him a bit, because he would miss the new Simpsons episode, which would air in less than two hours and he hated that. Externally, he did not show this of course. He had not made it to the rank of general and commander of one of the most secret institutions in the world for nothing. The years before the program also did their part.
But slowly it was time that something happened, because if he had wanted to sit around stupid, he would just have to call a budget meeting with the IOA. So he looked from his watch to the semi-transparent mirror behind which his 'torturer' hid.
Behind the mirror, Agent Gibbs stood with Agent David and watched the general for thirty minutes as the door opened and McGee entered the room.
"Boss, Abby and I have been trying to find out more about the General," he said, handing Gibbs a file.
Gibbs took these, opened it and started to scan through it.
After he finished, he closed the file again and passed on to Ziva.
"I believe you and Abby made a mistake Tim," she said.
"Here is not just one, no here are FOUR death certificates in it and the rest is what we already know. When and where he was stationed, but nowhere is what he did there." Said Ziva.
"There is nothing. We tried everything, but this information is so well hidden and encrypted that we cannot get it or even find it. "
"I think it's time that I introduce my selves to our guest." Gibbs just said and left the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack heard footsteps approaching the door, which made him hope that he would finally be interrogated. He was confirmed when the door opened and an elderly man with a short military haircut entered the room.
The man had a file in his hand, which he placed on the table before sitting down in front of him in the other chair.
"I'm Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs." The man introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you agent." Jack replied soberly.
"Lieutenant General Jonathan J. O'Neill, do you know why you're here?" Gibbs asked gently.
"Your agent arrested me for murder, so that's why?" Came Jack's casual counter question.
McGee and Ziva looked at the General in disbelief. Did he not know what this was about and who was sitting in front of him or why did he take it all for granted? Gibbs went through something similar, so he decided to step his game a bit up. So, he opened the file that he had taken into the room and took some pictures from it, which he spread out in front of Jack. In the pictures showed the blood-spattered body of a black man in US Marine Corps uniform with a hole in his head.
"This is Gunnery Sergeant Pedro King, he was found murdered in a side street in Washington this morning at 0900. The cause of death is this headshot." Clarified Gibbs.
"I'm sorry to hear that, but how does that affect me? I do not know this Gunny."
"That's quite easy. We found the murder weapon, a Walther P99, registered to YOU." Gibbs said.
'Got ya,' thought Gibbs, as Jack raised his eyebrow.
Neither man said anything in the ensuing minutes until the silence was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Agent Gibbs, my name is Major Jules Green, I'm from the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps. I am the lawyer of General O'Neill." said a woman in civilian clothes as she entered the room and held out her hand.
Gibbs got up and shook his hand.
"Agent Gibbs, if you do not mind, I'll talk to my client for a second. I'll call if we can continue." She spoke to him
"Of course, Major." Gibbs replied and left the room.
"What did you do this time, General?" The Major asked instantly, as Gibbs had left the room.
"It's nice to see you too Green, I thought you're still on vacation with your kids." Jack answered her.
"Well, until two hours ago, I was. When Marine One comes to pick you up and you learn from the Commander in Chief that your supervisor needs his lawyer again, you leave the kids with a friend." she told Jack.
He just looked at her apologetically.
"When all this is over, I'll compensate you. How about tickets for a hockey game sound?"
"You probably never change, do you sir?"
"You know me. But have fun with page. Before I was led away, I let Captain Stone trigger an Abydos 2, so no one comes unless I say so, except you now."
"Got it, sir. What are you accused of?"
"I'm supposed to have shot a Marine because the murder weapon is apparently registered on me."
"Sir, I have to ask you this: Does the gun belong to you?"
"I own a gun of this type, but it's locked in a safe, except for me, only three more people can open it."
"Where is this safe sir, not in your apartment?"
"Of course not. Since my son died I only have weapons in the house when I'm there. The safe is in my office."
"Is there anything wrong with getting the agent back in, sir?"
"Go Ahad."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Gibbs had left the room and had immediately gone to the observation room to McGee and Ziva and had heard everything that was discussed between the two officers, even if he couldn't use it.
"That's as good as a confession." McGee said when he heard the general telling his laywer about the gun.
"Do not be so sure Tim. He did not say it was his weapon, only he has a weapon of that type." Ziva said, continuing the conversation.
"Ziva is right McGee. That was not a confession." Gibbs said before he was leaving the room to continue the interrogation.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"We will continue the interrogation now." Said Gibbs, who was sitting opposite them again.
"OK. General O'Neill, where were you between 0800 and 1000 this morning? According to the Pentagon's registry, you were not in the house." Gibbs began the questioning.
"I had a meeting." Jack replied, after a short nod from Green.
"Where and with whom?" Gibbs asked.
"That's secret." Jack replied immediately.
"General O'Neill, tell me where they were. You are still accused of murder." Gibbs added.
"Agent Gibbs. The general cannot answer this question. The meeting is classified as secret. You know what that means." Answer Green this time.
"A secret meeting for a murder maybe?" Gibbs asked.
"Gibbs, if I had killed someone, I would not be sitting here. You would never know it was me. I do not make any beginners mistakes, like using my own weapon and then leaving it at the scene. My government has taught me better methods."
"Good, if you do not want to tell me. You just said it was not you weapon because it's in a safe. Tell my agent where their safe is in your office and they'll see that this weapon is where you claim it to be."
"That's difficult. The office I speak about is in a secret facility and your agents have no access to it." Jack replied.
"General O'Neill said agents have access to Tier 6 installations and Tier 6 assets. There are only a few assets which have a higher Tier."
"And there lays our Main problem. They would need at least Tier 8 to be received at the gate. But I can offer you, that someone secures the weapon on the spot and shipping it here. Of course, so that everything can be used in court." offerd Jack.
"I'll be calling the FBI that someone will pick up the gun near this facility. Until then you will stay my guest. That concludes the interrogation for today."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Tobias, you have to do me a favor. You must get a piece of evidence from Colorado Springs to DC for me." Gibbs asked his friend on the phone.
"Has this anything to do with the General whom you arrested this morning?" He asked on the phone.
"Yeah, but how do you know about that?" Gibbs asked puzzled.
"Jethro half Washington knows about it. We had calls from senators here who wanted to know why General O'Neill was arrested. Even reporters called here. I could bet the same thing happens to you. It's best to talk to your director. And yes, I can bring you the evidence."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two days later, Gibbs and his team in bullet-proof vests stood in front of a complex of buildings where their target was supposed to live. It had turned out that the data had been falsified at the Private Weapons Registrar.
Apparently someone had tried to discredit the general.
His team was ready to search the complex, but before they set off they had received a call with support from their director, which they were waiting for now, as three black SUVs stopped by them.
"Agent Gibbs. Colonel Albert Reynolds SG-3, Lt. Colonel Lorne AR-2, Captain Cadman AR-6, and Major Lupine SG-27. We are your support. Best Regard by General O'Neill.