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Tim hovered his mouse over the 'send' button of the very long, very detailed email he had just written. He hesitated. Maybe he shouldn't do this. He and his sister were close, but he'd never poured his heart out to her quite like this. But there was no one else he could talk to about these confusing feelings he was having. He was doing a good job of hiding them from his coworkers, but he needed an outlet. And he trusted his sister not to judge him.
After a mental count to three, he clicked 'send'.
Fifteen minutes later, his IM popped up with a message from his sister:
[09:45:23] SarahM86: just got your email…WOW :-o . Quite a surprise!
[09:45:50] Elf_Lord: …yeah.
[09:46:15] SarahM86: what can I say? I mean, I feel for ya, bro. but you can't exactly do anything about it, can you? you can't *tell* him how you feel or anything
[09:46:34] Elf_Lord: You don't say! :-\
[09:46:44] Elf_Lord: That's why I told you.
For the next few minutes, Tim saw that Sarah was typing, then stopping, then starting again. Finally her next message appeared:
[09:51:01] SarahM86: so, you didn't really come out and *say* it in your email. sorry if it's a blunt question, but…do you think you're gay?
[09:51:12] SarahM86: Which is fine, obvs!
Tim had been expecting this question. He'd been agonizing over how to answer it for weeks, since he'd started having these feelings for his male colleague.
[09:53:44] Elf_Lord: I wish I could answer that. I just don't know! I mean, I definitely still like women.
[09:53:55] SarahM86: so, bi?
[09:54:39] Elf_Lord: IDK, maybe? Or maybe this is just an anomaly.
[09:55:00] SarahM86: or it's some other feeling that you're mistaking for attraction
[09:55:19] Elf_Lord: Yeah, maybe. I'll just wait it out, I guess, and try to stay focused until it goes away.
[09:56:04] SarahM86: good call. and you know you can call me anytime to chat about it. And btw, if you do tell him, you HAVE to find a way to film it. After everything you've told me about this guy since you started working there, I need to see his reaction ;-)
[09:56:14] Elf_Lord: ಠ_ಠ
[09:56:20] SarahM86: j/k. Love ya, bro xxx
Just then, Gibbs entered the bullpen. Tim closed his IM and went back to the tedious report he'd been working on. The whole team was stuck catching up on paperwork since they hadn't had a case in several days.
The next day, the team was stuck in the bullpen again doing paperwork. Gibbs had stepped out, so Tony looked up from his work and started to chat.
"So Kate, whatcha up to this weekend?"
Kate smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know."
Tony looked skeptical. "Uh huh. So microwave pizza for one, a bottle of wine, and binge-watcing 'Gilmore Girls'? That's it, isn't it?"
"No, but even that would probably be better than your plans," Kate retorted. "Let me guess: cruising college bars looking for barely legal sophomores? Make sure you check ID before you go home with anyone."
Tim was waiting to hear Tony's comeback when he noticed a new email arrive. The subject line caught his attention: "I know your secret Timmy". The sender's email looked like a throwaway address.
He opened the email, started reading, and froze. It took his mind a second to process what he was seeing.
"How 'bout you, Probie? What's your weekend looking like?" Tony asked him.
Tim wasn't listening. He just stared at the anonymous email in disbelief. It was a forwarded copy of the email he had sent to his sister the previous day. The whole thing. Every dirty detail. Complete with the digital signature that Tim signed all his emails with.
His mind started racing. How could someone have gotten hold of his email? Was this some sort of prank by his sister?
A ball of crumpled paper hit him in the side of the head from the direction of Tony's desk, but he didn't notice. Below the forwarded email was a message:
So, Timmy's been having some very impure thoughts! Too bad you confided your secret to someone with such a weak firewall. Tell your sister to upgrade her systems once in a while.
If you don't want your VERY graphic email forwarded to *him*, do the following:
- Download copies of the personnel files for all the special agents at Washington Navy Yard and save them to a flash drive.
- Deliver it, ALONE, along with $2000 cash, to the Federal Center SW metro station tomorrow night at midnight. Wait at the signpost on the street outside the station.
One minute past midnight, and I hit 'send'. Come with anyone else, I hit 'send'. Try to find out who I am, I hit 'send'.
This is an easy decision, Tim. Personnel records don't contain top secret information. And I know you can spare $2000. I'm not asking much. It's a small price to pay to prevent career suicide, personal humiliation, and the wrath of your little crush.
Reply to this email with your decision by midnight tonight. If you don't choose wisely, I hit 'send' at 12:01.
I've waited a long time for a moment like this to come along. You deserve this, Timmy boy.
"Yoo-hoo, McAbsent!" called Tony. "Whatcha looking at there?" He stood up to get a closer look.
Tim quickly closed his email and stood up. He could barely breathe. "I need some air," he said. He walked out.
Kate and Tony looked at each other in surprise.
"What do we tell Gibbs?" Kate called after Tim.
Tim didn't answer. He left the bullpen and went outside for a walk to figure out what to do.
He returned to his desk twenty minutes later, knowing that his boss would demand an explanation if he was gone much longer. He still had no idea what he was going to do.
"Have a nice coffee break, Probie?" joked Tony. "Where's ours?"
"Oh," said Tim absently. "Sorry. I forgot."
Gibbs looked up from his work to observe Tim.
"What's with you?" Tony continued. "You ran out of here earlier like you just heard they were giving away a free Black Lotus Magic card down at the comic book store."
Kate and Gibbs directed their attention to Tony with a mixture of surprise and confusion.
Tony frowned to himself. "I should not know something that geeky."
"How do you know that?" Kate asked.
Tim was grateful that Tony had taken their attention away from him. He opened up the case file he'd been working on, but out of the corner of his eye, noticed Gibbs turn back to look at him for a few moments. He pretended not to notice. He concentrated on his screen, trying not to attract any more suspicion than he already had.
The team spent the rest of the day on their backlog of reports, and no one bothered Tim again about where he had run off to. He could barely focus. He was weighing his options, trying to find a way out of his predicament.
By the end of the day, he decided he had no choice but to meet the blackmailer's demands. There was no way he could let that email get out. It was bad enough that he was attracted to a man that he worked with. But his email to Sarah was incredibly explicit. He had described the daydreams, the fantasies, and all of the reasons for his enormous infatuation. He and his sister were close. She was the one person he could tell anything to.
If he had known how lax she was with her computer's security, he wouldn't have even emailed her his dinner plans, much less something like this.
Tony and Kate started getting ready to go home.
"You coming?" Tony asked.
"Not yet," Tim replied. "Still gotta finish up some stuff."
As soon as they were gone, Gibbs stood up and approached Tim's desk. Tim's heart rate shot up. He arranged his face into a neutral expression and looked up into his boss's eyes.
"Everything OK, McGee?" Gibbs asked. "Been doing paperwork all day. You don't need to stay late. You can pick it up tomorrow."
"Oh, no, it's OK. I only have a little more work to do on this report. I'll leave as soon as it's done." He forced himself to maintain eye contact with his boss so he wouldn't seem suspicious.
Gibbs narrowed his eyes. He looked like he was going to say something else. But he just nodded and went back to his desk to pack up and leave.
Tim waited fifteen minutes after his boss left to be sure he wouldn't come back for anything. Then he opened his email and replied to the blackmailer's message with a single word: "Fine". After looking around to be sure no one was nearby, he logged into the HR database, performed a search query for special agents, and began downloading the results.
Tim hardly slept at all that night. He kept reconsidering yielding to the blackmailer's demands. But every time he pictured his colleague opening his email and reading what Tim had written, he resolved to give the blackmailer what he wanted. There wasn't any serious damage that could be done to NCIS with the personnel files — they were Protected B, not Secret — and $2000 was a small price to pay for silence. As long as the blackmailer held up his end of the deal, everything would be fine. But blackmailers weren't exactly known for their honesty, Tim reminded himself. Which made him wonder yet again whether he should go through with it after all. This cycle continued for most of the night.
By the next morning, he decided that his best chance was to do what the blackmailer wanted. If he didn't, then he would definitely lose his job, his friends, and the respect of his coworkers once the email got sent. But if he followed through on the demands, then he only might lose those things. There was a chance that the blackmailer would honor his word. Tim had to take that chance.
The morning passed uneventfully. Tim counted down the minutes until lunch so he could go to the bank to take out the money he needed. It was too much to withdraw from an ATM, so he would have to do it in person.
At 11:45, Tony looked up from his endless paperwork and started chatting with Kate about lunch.
"I'm thinking gyros," he said.
Kate shrugged. "Sure. Usual place?"
"Where else?" He turned to Tim. "Probie?"
"Sorry, I have errands to do," Tim replied, trying to keep his voice casual.
He must not have sounded as casual as he had hoped. Gibbs's head slowly lifted up from his work, and he gave Tim a penetrating look. Tim stood up and started getting ready to leave, without making eye contact with his boss.
Fixing his eyes ahead of him, he walked to the elevator and pressed the button. Just as the door slid open, he became aware of a presence behind him. He tensed up, and turned around to see his boss standing very close to his face. Gibbs must have circled the bullpen from the other direction so that Tim wouldn't see him coming. Before Tim could say anything, Gibbs put a hand on his chest and walked forward, gently pushing him backward, until they were both in the elevator. Tim swallowed hard as the door slid closed.
Tony and Kate watched Gibbs's maneuver from their desks. They exchanged wide-eyed expressions.
"Ooh-hoo, that didn't look good," said Tony, wincing. "Wonder what that's about. Boss didn't look too happy."
As soon as the elevator door shut, Gibbs reached back and flipped the emergency stop switch without taking his eyes off of Tim.
"Alright," he said, getting straight to the point. "What's going on?"
Tim made a feeble attempt to keep his cover. "I-I don't know what you m—"
"Cut the bull," Gibbs snapped.
Tim shut his mouth. Somehow, his boss had seen through all of his attempts to act normal. He shouldn't have expected anything less, he realized.
"You in trouble, McGee?" Gibbs continued, more gently now.
Tim's mind was racing. He didn't know how to answer. He knew that his boss would see right through his lie if he continued to deny that something was wrong. But he couldn't…just couldn't…tell him the truth. Gibbs would never look at him the same way again. He had to find a way out of this mess by himself. So instead, he opted for a half-truth, hoping it would sell better that way.
"A little," he said. "I mean…I thought I was. But it's OK now. I've got it under control."
Gibbs leveled him with a shrewd gaze. "That it?"
Tim looked his boss square in the nose instead of in the eye, and nodded. "Absolutely. I'm just off to take care of one last thing, and that'll be the end of it."
Gibbs still didn't look convinced. Tim braced himself for further interrogation. But for for some reason, Gibbs dropped the subject. He nodded, released the emergency switch, and said, "If anything changes…"
"I'll tell you. But really, it's totally under control now."
Gibbs pressed the open button and left the elevator, leaving Tim to sink heavily against the wall and heave a huge sigh of relief.
After visiting the bank, Tim stopped for a take-out sandwich to eat on the walk back to work. All the while, he silently pep-talked himself to act more casual when he returned to the office. He couldn't afford to attract any more attention, or Gibbs would force the truth out of him. Only a few more hours, and he could go home and take care of this.
He was rounding the corner of the NCIS building to head toward the entrance when he caught sight of Gibbs in the distance, his back to Tim, buying a coffee from the beverage stand he visited every day.
Something about the sight of his boss standing alone in the distance, buying his coffee, completely unaware that his youngest agent had just lied to his face and was about to betray him and NCIS, weakened Tim's resolve.
What am I doing? he thought miserably.
He leaned against the wall of the building and gazed at Gibbs from afar. His eyes rested a moment on the man's clean-cut silver hair, then followed the curvature of his jaw, his broad shoulders, and all the way down his attractive physique. His stomach fluttered in time with the swaying motion of his boss's full-length coat as Gibbs walked over to speak with Director Morrow, who was standing nearby. He pictured himself slipping that coat off his boss's shoulders, and then slowly unbuttoning his shirt…
Tim gave his head a shake and looked away. He had to keep these thoughts under control at work. He had to stay professional, he reminded himself. So far, his infatuation with Gibbs had not interfered with his work. During a case, or even during a slow week like this one, Tim could work side-by-side with his boss without getting distracted. He kept his feelings in check until he got home at night, where he could close his eyes and relive the best moments of the day while letting his imagination run wild.
Everything had been under control until this damned blackmailer had gotten involved.
He sighed and headed across the street toward a bench overlooking the river to figure out what to do. He sat down and pulled the USB stick out of his pocket and turned it over in his hands. He realized he'd been stupid to even think he could betray NCIS and still look Gibbs in the eye every day. He'd never be able to keep it from his boss indefinitely. But how would he ever get out of this mess without either submitting to blackmail — which Gibbs would force out of Tim the minute he saw his guilty face — or refusing, which would reveal to Gibbs that Tim had a huge crush on him like some giddy teenager? Either way, he was screwed.
One thing was certain: he had to meet the blackmailer tonight. He wouldn't give into his demands, but he needed to find out why he'd done this. Whoever he was, he seemed to know a lot about Tim. Maybe Tim could reason with him, convince him not to send Gibbs the email. It was a long-shot, but what else could he do?
How had he gotten into this mess?
He pressed his hands against his forehead and exclaimed, "God, I am so stupid!"
"You call that 'under control', McGee?"
Tim whirled around at the sound of the voice and saw Gibbs standing a few paces behind him. His stomach sank. He didn't expect his boss to have noticed him heading over here.
Gibbs sat down beside him and took a sip of coffee, watching a passing ship head down the river. Tim was frozen. He had no idea what to do or say. He stared at his knees, unable to even look in his boss's direction.
After a few moments, Gibbs finally said, "Alright, Tim. What is it?" He looked at the younger agent until Tim finally looked back. "Not leaving 'til you tell me. Sounds serious."
Tim didn't respond right away. He still hadn't figured out what to do about his predicament, but telling Gibbs about it certainly hadn't been part of his plan, except as a last resort.
He saw the look in his boss's eyes and knew that Gibbs wouldn't let him leave without an explanation. It was over; he was caught. At the very least, he would have to explain about the blackmail, and about how close he'd come to giving in to it. If he was lucky, Gibbs wouldn't fire him on the spot for stupidly stealing the personnel records. And if he was very lucky, he could stop short of revealing some of the more compromising details.
He sighed and nodded. "It is serious. I almost did something really stupid. Really stupid."
Gibbs said nothing. He just waited for Tim to continue.
Tim took a deep breath and handed Gibbs the USB stick.
"This flash drive contains the personnel records of every special agent here at the Navy Yard."
Gibbs took the USB stick and looked at Tim, eyebrows raised. He didn't say anything, but Tim could sense the unasked questions flooding his boss's mind. He had no choice but to continue.
"Someone is expecting me at the Federal Center Southwest metro station tonight to give him that. And this." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the wad of cash he had just withdrawn from the bank.
He felt Gibbs looking at him, but he couldn't meet his eye. This was so humiliating, having to confess how foolish he'd been. He hoped that the fact that he hadn't actually gone through with it would play in his favor and that his boss wouldn't fire him, or worse.
Finally, Gibbs spoke. "Blackmail."
"Yeah," replied Tim sadly. Now that Gibbs had said the word out loud, Tim felt even more ashamed at his stupidity for considering going through with it. He expected his boss to blow up in anger any second. But he remained calm.
"Know who it is?"
"No, but whoever it is, I think he knows me personally. He knows I have a sister. He hacked her to get to me. He says he's been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time. He also knows about you. He's going to email you some…compromising information about me if I don't give him what he wants. He didn't ask for much. Only the personnel records and two thousand dollars. The records aren't classified; they wouldn't damage NCIS much if they got out. It's as if he's looking to punish me personally for something, not NCIS."
Gibbs pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Fair guess. Sounds like he's got a grudge against you. Stealing personnel records wouldn't compromise NCIS, but it would be enough to get you fired if you were caught."
Tim looked at Gibbs. He expelled a long breath. "I wouldn't blame you if you did fire me."
"One thing at a time," Gibbs replied. "First, the blackmailer. You tell him yet that you're not going through with it?"
Tim shook his head. "I need to meet him. Find out who he is, and why he did this."
"He should be arrested," Gibbs said. "I'll go with you."
"No," said Tim quickly. "You don't have to come. I don't want to press charges. It would go to court, and I'd have to testify. I don't want this getting out."
"Wasn't asking," replied Gibbs. "You don't want to arrest him? Fine. But it could be dangerous. You have no idea who he is or why he targeted you. I'm going with you."
Tim hesitated, then nodded. He knew better than to argue. And Gibbs was probably right about the potential danger.
But there was still the matter of the email. The blackmailer would surely send it to Gibbs as soon as it was clear Tim wasn't going to do what he wanted. He tried to think of some way to convince his boss not to read it. If he could impress upon him just how personal it was, maybe Gibbs would agree to delete it without reading it. But if Gibbs accompanied Tim to his meeting, the blackmailer might blab his secret anyway. Well, he would cross that bridge when he came to it. He had no other choice, he realized.
"Boss," he began, treading carefully. "About that compromising information he's going to send you…It's…personal. Really personal. A-And I know I don't have a right to ask anything of you after what I did. But…d'you think you could delete the email? Without reading it?" He looked earnestly at his boss. "You don't know how much it would mean to me."
"Yeah, 'course I'll delete it," said Gibbs. Tim heaved a sigh of relief. He couldn't believe his luck. He opened his mouth to say thanks, but Gibbs wasn't done. "If you tell me what's in it. Right now."
Tim felt the color drain from his face. "Wh-what? Why?" he asked. Why would his boss insist on knowing his secret? Wasn't it enough that Tim had admitted to the blackmailing, and had put a stop to it before it went too far? Gibbs didn't need to know the whole story, did he? He started to protest. "I-It's private. Can't…can't you just delete it? I mean…"
He trailed off when Gibbs slowly shook his head. "Sorry, McGee." His voice was calm, yet adamant. "But you lost the right to privacy. Minute you downloaded those files. Showed you were willing to betray NCIS to keep this secret."
"But I didn't go through with it," Tim stammered, his voice rising in pitch.
No, you didn't," Gibbs agreed. "This time. But whatever this guy's got on you, it's obviously something that can be used against you. Price was too high this time, so you didn't pay it. But there'll probably be a next time. Price might be lower, and you might go through with it then. You've already shown what you're willing to do to keep me from knowing this information. As long as it's hanging over your head, it's a risk to NCIS. And to your career." He looked right into Tim's eyes, holding his gaze as he continued. "But if you come clean about this problem, whatever it is, then it loses its power. No one can use it against you ever again."
Tim closed his eyes. He couldn't believe this was happening. Gibbs was forcing him to admit to his face that he was completely infatuated with him, when he could barely admit it to himself. His insides were slowly turning to jelly and his palms had started to sweat. He tried to control his breathing, but his apprehension was getting the better of him. Gibbs's calm voice cut through his near-panic.
"McGee. Hey. Look at me." He put a hand on Tim's shoulder. Tim forced himself to open his eyes and meet his boss's deep blue gaze. Gibbs continued. "Whatever it is, I won't hold it against you. I don't care what it is. Just can't have it hanging over your head like this."
"Yes you will," Tim said. "You will hold it against me."
"Try me."
There was no way out. If Tim didn't tell Gibbs now, then Gibbs would read the email, and that would be infinitely worse.
He swallowed, and wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. He didn't know if he could get the words out. But Gibbs was waiting. With no other options left to him, Tim fixed his eyes on his knees and started talking.
"I…sent an email to my sister," he began. "Digitally signed like all of my emails. Which proves a hundred percent that it was me who wrote it." He paused to take a breath. "I just needed to confide in someone, and I can trust her. I told her that I…was attracted to someone." He noticed Gibbs's confused expression, so he clarified. "But it's worse than just that. It's someone…someone from work. It could affect my career if it got out, not to mention my personal life, my friendships…Everything."
He was hoping Gibbs would understand, but his boss looked confused and irritated.
"That's it?" he asked, frowning. "You have feelings for someone? That's what made you almost betray NCIS, and risk your own career?"
"It's more complicated than that."
"How so?"
Tim groaned inwardly. Gibbs wasn't going to be satisfied until he'd heard everything.
"My sister and I are close. I told her everything. Everything. I gave…details. Paragraphs of explicit reasons why I—" He couldn't continue. He leaned forward and rested his head in his hands.
Gibbs was silent for a moment. He took a sip of coffee, looked out across the water, and then said off-handedly, "What's his name?"
Tim's head snapped up when he heard "his". He looked at his boss, speechless. How—?
Gibbs smiled. "I wouldn't be a very good investigator if I couldn't figure that part out. What else would make you act so foolishly?"
Tim blushed up to his ears, inwardly cursing himself for letting his embarrassment show.
"So?" Gibbs pressed. He clearly wanted the name.
There was nothing for it. Tim would have to tell him: It's you. But he couldn't say those words out loud, he just couldn't. He took a deep, trembling breath and looked at his boss pleadingly, silently imploring him to understand, to not make Tim say it aloud.
After a moment, a calm look of realization crossed Gibbs's face.
"Ah," he said, and looked out over the river again while taking another sip of coffee.
Tim's stomach sank. Gibbs had deduced that he was the object of his agent's infatuation. Well, it was a better reaction than Tim had expected. Any time he had visualized this moment, it always involved Gibbs jumping up and yelling something like, "Stay away from me!" and then walking away in disgust.
But just because Gibbs didn't do that didn't mean that he was OK with he'd just learned, Tim knew. He concluded that his boss was probably just good at hiding his disgust. He looked away, ashamed. "If you weren't going to fire me before, you probably will now."
"Don't be stupid," Gibbs said. "You're not going anywhere."
"But you don't want to work with someone who—" Tim stopped short, unable to finish that particular thought out loud. "I…How could you want to be anywhere near me? You must be repulsed." He leaned forward and rested his forehead in his hands again.
"No," Gibbs replied. "Just a little surprised. I thought you were gonna say Tony."
Tim looked back at Gibbs and saw amusement in his eyes. He smiled in spite of himself. But his smile faltered as he started to worry that he had permanently changed things between himself and his boss. Was Gibbs really OK with this? Could he really continue to work effectively with a man who he knew was physically attracted to him? Should Tim just spare them both the awkwardness and transfer to another team?
Gibbs seemed to sense Tim's train of thought. "Look, McGee," he said. "Whatever you're working through, it's obviously not affecting how you do your job. Before yesterday, I didn't notice any change in the quality of your work. Do you think you're not doing your best work?"
"No. Well, I was fine until this blackmailer got to me yesterday," Tim replied. "Otherwise, I can push these…y'know…out of my mind during the work day."
Gibbs shrugged. "Then I don't care," he said simply. "Long as you do your job. The rest of it…you'll work through it. Might need to talk to someone."
"Yeah, well I tried to talk to my sister and looked what happened."
Gibbs let out a small laugh. "Well, as soon as this is over, you can go fix her firewall and upgrade all her systems."
Tim smiled again, relaxing a tiny bit. He had really misjudged his boss, he realized. Maybe things would be OK after all.
"Boss," he said, not sure why he felt compelled to continue talking. "I don't even know for sure if I'm…y'know."
"You can say it, Tim."
Tim shook his head rapidly. "No, I can't. Not yet. I don't know if it's true. I need to…to figure out…"
"And you will. Don't sweat it. It's not as big a deal as you're making it out to be." He paused a moment, then continued, more firmly. "You should've come to me about this, McGee. The minute the blackmailer contacted you. Before you took it so far."
"I know. It was stupid of me. But I knew I couldn't tell you about that without telling you everything," Tim said. "I didn't think you'd take it so well. I mean, you're a Marine…"
Gibbs smiled. "Thought I'd beat you up or something?"
"I thought you'd shoot me! And then fire me!"
"Nah," said Gibbs. "Can't do that. Need you on the team."
Tim's heart swelled. It was the first time Gibbs had ever told him that he needed him.
"Boss," he began, "I'm really sorry I didn't come to you sooner. I never should have let this guy manipulate me into smuggling out personnel records."
"Ya think?"
"I just…this is so, confusing. The…what I wrote in that email…nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I don't know what it means."
"That's not something I can answer," said Gibbs. "It's something you'll have to figure out for yourself. But whatever you figure out, you should know I'm on your side. Whole team is. Nothing to be afraid of."
"Thanks, Boss," Tim said. "You don't know how much it means to hear you say that." Then, because he had to be sure, he added warily, "So, are we good?"
Gibbs didn't answer immediately. Instead, he reached back and smacked Tim, hard, on the back of the head. "Ow!" Tim yelped, rubbing his hand on the impact site.
His boss smiled. "We are now."
Tim grinned through his pain.
Gibbs lifted his coffee cup to his lips, but it was empty. "C'mon," he said, standing up. They walked back toward the beverage stand for Gibbs to buy another cup. As he was paying, he turned to Tim. "After work, we'll hit the diner. Need to go over our plan for the meeting tonight."
Tim suppressed his delight at the idea of going out for supper with his boss.
That night, just before midnight, Tim waited alone beside the metro station for the blackmailer to arrive.
At midnight exactly, a car pulled up to the curb beside Tim. The tinted passenger window rolled down less than an inch, and the driver shouted, "Drop the money and the flash drive in the window!" His voice was vaguely familiar, but Tim couldn't place it.
He pulled out the USB stick and the money from his pocket and walked up to the window. He peeked into the small slit, but the driver's face was too obscured by shadows for him to see who it was.
"I do this, and you'll delete that email, right?" he asked.
"That's right," said the driver. "But if I open this drive and the files aren't there, then your boss will find out real soon what a little f****t you are."
Tim blushed in anger.
"Hurry up!" his blackmailer shouted.
Tim didn't stall any longer. He pushed the USB stick and the roll of money through the small gap in the window. Then his blackmailer let out a chilling laugh.
"You really are an idiot, Tim. Always were. I was never going to delete that email. I scripted a timer to send it automatically. It should be hitting your boss's inbox right about…now."
"But you said—" began Tim.
"Wait'll he finds out you're wet for him AND you stole data from NCIS! Yup. Still a moron, all right!" He put the car in gear.
"Wait!" Tim shouted.
The window rolled up and the car sped away from the curb.
It got about thirty feet before Gibbs stepped out into the street ahead of the car and pointed his gun directly at the driver, forcing him to hit the brakes. The driver made a rapid U turn and sped back the way he had come. But Tim was waiting in the middle of the street, gun pointed at the driver. With nowhere else to go, the car stopped.
Gibbs ran to the driver's side door and pressed the muzzle of his gun against the tinted window. "Get out!" he shouted.
"OK, OK! Don't shoot!" yelled the driver. He opened the door and Gibbs dragged him out by his coat collar and forced him to the ground, face down. Tim reached into the open car door to grab the USB stick and the cash that were still sitting on the passenger seat.
"McGee, check his ID," said Gibbs as he cuffed the driver's hands behind his back.
Tim pulled the man's wallet from his back pocket. The name on his driver's license was George Cook. Tim immediately recognized the name of his former classmate.
"Know him?" asked Gibbs.
Tim nodded. "Yeah. George Cook. We were at MIT together. He got expelled when I turned him in for hacking into the student database to change grades. Not just raising his own, but lowering the grades of classmates he didn't like. He offered to raise my grades if I didn't tell, but…"
Gibbs smiled. "But you got all As anyway."
"You were a pathetic squealer, McGee!" Cook yelled. "I didn't deserve to get expelled, and you know it. But you deserve this payback. You deserve it!" He tried to roll over but was stopped by Gibbs's knee pressing into his back.
"What payback?" Tim asked. "I told Gibbs everything. Obviously he didn't fire me."
"Won't even be a Post-It in his record about it," added Gibbs. "And I don't despise him like you were hoping. Your plan didn't work, Cook."
"Not yet. But you're arresting me, aren't you? What about the trial? Huh, Tim? I'll make sure your email is publicized everywhere. The whole world will hear your filthy secret, you disgusting f—"
"Shut up," Gibbs snapped. "McGee, you sure you don't want to press charges? He shouldn't get away with this."
"Yeah, I'm sure," Tim said, looking down at Cook's struggling figure. "He's right. I don't want this going public. If the director finds out how close I came to giving into blackmail, he might fire me."
Gibbs was silent for a moment, pondering. Suddenly, he motioned to Tim. "Cover him."
Tim covered Cook with his gun while Gibbs walked across the street to his car. Tim could see him typing on the laptop that was mounted to the dashboard. A minute later, he walked back to Tim with a triumphant gleam in his eye.
"What I expected. There's a warrant out for his arrest. Bank fraud and identity theft. Knew you weren't the only one he'd've used his hacking skills against. I'll call it in."
As Cook protested, Gibbs phoned the D.C. police to come and arrest their suspect.
Forty-five minutes later, after George Cook had been arrested and Tim had gone home, Gibbs went back to the bullpen to drop off his gear at his desk. He turned to leave, but then he paused and looked at his computer. He sat down and logged into his email. There were fifty unread messages. The most recent one read, "Tim McGee has a secret." So George Cook hadn't been lying. The email had been sent automatically, even though he'd gotten arrested.
Gibbs selected the email, then poised his mouse over the 'open' button. He tilted his head, contemplating for a long moment. Finally, he smiled slightly and clicked 'delete'. He got up and went home.