Operation Formosa

Disclaimer: NCISLA characters belong to Shane Brennan. All original characters and this story are mine.

A/N: Sequel to Lost Too Much

Chapter 1

Leon Vance rubbed his hand over his face as he looked at the files in front of him. This latest operation for his people had been a bad one. Usually cases such as this one would have been dealt with by the DEA, but with the problem entering US Naval ships, Sarah Porter had urged him to put his own people undercover and flush the criminals out until they found the man at the top.

Four months of NCIS agents in deep cover, good men who had families waiting for them at home, had their lives placed on hold. A well known and feared Columbian crime family, the Formosa Cartel, had managed to devise an extremely complex system to cart cocaine onto their naval ships and then pushed it across the east coast of America. Their drugs were killing and depending thousands of young people, destroying not only their lives, but that of their families. There had to be people at the ports at each end as well as on board the ships. There was no doubt, their people were involved. Leon sighed, they had no choice but to risk the lives of so many of his agents for the operation to shut this cartel down.

Leon knew that they were getting close to finding the proof they needed to make the arrests. His men were tired but so far no one had been burned, a fact which he was thankful for. They all were well experienced in going deep undercover and he had personally handpicked them from offices around the country. He looked up when his team leader for his local team entered the room.

"Gibbs." He closed the files on his desk and waited for the former marine sniper to talk to him on his current case. A dead Naval Petty Officer on the USS Arlington.

"Leon, we need to talk." Gibbs sat down in the black leather chair opposite him.

Leon raised his brow in anticipation of what was on his lead's mind. He knew it was important, otherwise Gibbs' wouldn't be there wasting his time.

"This case is far bigger than a dead naval officer, Leon. We've interviewed the crew and I found one of our own men onboard undercover. Why do we have NCIS Agent Michael Nassir on board as a Master Chief Petty Officer? And some background search on some other crew members tell me that he's not the only agent onboard." Gibbs remained his gaze on his boss. He knew that there was something big going on which he dread would hamper his own investigation.

Leon sighed, as Gibbs continued to hold his ground.

"It's a need to know case, Gibbs, and I suppose you are now in that position of needed to know." Leon passed the files on his desk over to him.

"Everything you need to know about Operation Formosa."

Gibbs raised his brow at the title of the operation.

"You've got men undercover to deal with the Formosa Cartel?" Gibbs' furrowed his brow, his worry returned.

"Look, Gibbs. I know you lost a good friend when our agency last dealt with this cartel, but the DEA need our help on this. Our ships are being used to import the drugs into our borders. Too many young people are dying or have had their lives ruined from their dependance on this combination of cocaine. It's highly addictive and more lethal than any other form of cocaine that we've ever seen in this country. We need to stop this now before another family have to bury their son or daughter from this drug.

Gibbs' fear for the agents undercover in this operation grew within him. But he understood the pressure placed on the Director. Gibbs scanned the intel as he flipped over to the next page.

"This is a lot of deaths from the drug, Leon." He shook his head and realised just how serious this problem was.

"This will help us find Petty Officer 1st class, Phillip Cromwell's murderer. These are all the suspects found onboard USS Arlington?"

"So far. We're close to making arrests, but now that we have a death of a Petty Officer on one of the naval vessels under investigation, we need to act fast. We need this ship back out at sea as soon as possible, without the arousal of suspicion for these suspects that we are on to them." Leon advised him, not happy with the situation at all.

"You cannot be serious, Leon. We need to complete this investigation without the pressure of this added onto it. What if the murderer is one on your list of suspects? Now that I know about this ongoing operation, it's most probably going to be one of these men," he held the file in his hand waving it at Leon, "whose guilty of killing Cromwell."

Leon met Gibbs' blue eyes and he knew the man was right.

"That's what I'm afraid of." He admitted.

"Interview these men again, but include the men that you suspect as being undercover as well. We cannot arouse suspicion."

Leon regarded Gibbs, "make your arrest quietly. I need our men home soon with this problem gone."

He'd had an ear full already that morning from Sarah Porter, their SecNav. Her patience was running thin over another five youths' deaths this last weekend alone.

"Okay, Leon."

Gibbs left at full force, eager to prove that one of these suspects were the guilty murderer. He ran down the stairs and threw the file over at Ellie Bishop.

"Read this file, then pass it on to DiNozzo and McGee when they return to their desks. No one is to talk about what is written in these files."

Ellie nodded her head and started to read them. Her mind raced at fast speeds as her brain processed the intel inside them. Her synapses placed important data in various files of her brain, ready for her to analyse and relate it to their current case. It had been a huge experience for her to go onboard the USS Arlington, her first visit onto a naval ship. It was a mass of mazes underneath and she wondered how anyone ever got their jobs done. She was sure she would spend most of her time working out where she had to go.

After going through the files, she went back to their notes on the case at hand with the dead Petty Officer, Phillip Cromwell. She looked at his known associates and crossed matched them with any of the suspects from the file. Five of the suspects worked alongside, one shared a cabin with him. She furrowed her dark brows, twisting her blonde hair through her fingers as her eyes came to another name not on either list. Her background check of this Petter Officer came back sketchy.

"Hey, Gibbs!"

Gibbs looked up at Bishop, not surprised she had finished reading the files.

"What about Petter Officer, Zachary Wallace?" Ellie handed him his photo.

"His background is sketchy."

"We'll bring him in for further questions." Gibbs stood to find some decent coffee.

"Did you find any of the names in the file against the men in Cromwell's list of associates?"

Bishop nodded.

"Five of them."

"Bring them all in, plus anyone else with a sketchy background." He left for the elevator as Tony and McGee arrived.

"Boss!" Both men looked over to Ellie, wondering where their boss was heading.

"Coffee." Tony and McGee nodded in agreement. Neither wanted to deal with their boss when he was in the need for coffee. She threw the files at Tony.

"For our eyes only. Not to talk about what's inside." She locked her hazel eyes on them, with the directive order from Gibbs.

Tony paused as he held the files in his hand, his eyes darting over to McGee from the seriousness of what Bishop had told them. He slid behind his desk and poured over the information spread out before him. There had been many occasions where he was in a similar situation to this one. He eyed Bishop as she made some phone calls. He was a curious creature and wondered what it was that she had found inside the files. He returned his attention to the photos and names and then at the informations from their current case. There would be no brownie points from the boss on this case with Bishop being ten steps ahead of him and McGee already. An email alert came up on his screen from Bishop. He looked over to McGee and saw he was curious as well. They both opened it, telling them the details she had found already.

"Hurry up with those files, Tony," McGee called over, "I've got a lot of catching up to do."

"Yeah, sure." Tony, returned his focus and sped through the intel.

"Here you go."

He stood over McGee with a serious look about his face, which told him that whatever was inside those files was pretty big.

"Thanks."

McGee poured over the information, getting himself up to speed before their boss returned. By the time he finished, numerous visitors arrived on their floor; JAG lawyers with the Petty Officers and Master Petty Officers from the USS Arlington.

Gibbs walked through the crowd and led them to the interrogation rooms. The place was crowded with others waiting in the conference room. They had to work fast to get through their rounds of questionings before they could allow any of them to leave.

Leon Vance stood behind the one way mirror and watched Gibbs and his team at work in two interrogation rooms. Gibbs and Bishop in one, Tony and McGee in the other. His nerves were on tender hooks, but was pleased that he questioned the suspects from his ongoing operation first and the undercover agents last. They sat in the conference room waiting their turn. It was strange seeing them all in the office, neither agent knew the other for their part in the operation. They only dealt with their handler to feed intel back to them, helping them keep their aliases intact. But he wondered if any had suspected the other to be undercover like themselves. He refocused on the men inside the interrogation rooms at present. They had enough rooms to keep each of the five suspects Bishop had matched in with the dead Petty Officer, which he was pleased with. Sometimes it became a little too crazy down there.

Two down and another three to go. Gibbs and his team weren't convinced that either suspects interviewed so far were guilty of his death. Gibbs sat opposite Petty Officer Shaun O'Leary. His whole demeanour had Gibbs interested as soon as he was brought into the room. Gibbs kept his focus on the man before him and waited patiently for him to settle before asking him any questions. The USS Arlington was preparing to leave for South America on the following day, time was tight on the questioning.

"How was your working relationship with Petter Officer 1st class, Phillip Cromwell?" Gibbs went straight to the point.

"We didn't have one." O'Leary replied sharply. "He was a pain in the ass."

Ellie Bishop rested her body in the corner of the room, unnoticed by O'Leary. She studied his whole body language and facial expressions as he listened and then answered Gibbs' questions. If he wasn't their guilty suspect, then she was sure he was very much behind it. His hatred for Cromwell was evident as he sat beside his JAG lawyer. He wasn't nervous, more cocky than anything else, she noted.

"Where were you at o'five hundred this morning?" Gibbs questioned him again.

"Asleep in my cabin." He met Gibbs' stare with his green eyes. "You can ask my bunk mates."

"One of your bunk mates is dead." Gibbs raised his voice. "Did you follow him?"

"I'm not a stalker." O'Leary replied curtly.

"Perhaps he was following you?" Ellie Bishop moved forward, bringing herself out of the shadows of the corner.

"Got something to hide, O'Leary?" She leaned over the table beside Gibbs and knitted her brows together as her face tightened from annoyance over O'Leary's cockiness.

"Oh a wild cat. Where have you been hiding, sweetheart?" There was a level of amusement in O'Leary's voice as he hinted a smile in her direction.

"Answer the question." Bishop growled, unmoving from her position. Her voice remained firm, proving to him that she was no push over.

O'Leary leaned back into his chair and looked at his lawyer.

"I'm not talking anymore."

Gibbs fisted his hands on the table annoyed over the games O'Leary played with them. He was cocky and sure of himself, but he refused to co-operate with them. He was looking guilty, if not the murderer, he knew who had killed Cromwell. He stood and exited the room finding Vance in the small room between the two interrogation rooms they were using.

"He knows something, Gibbs." Vance turned and faced him. "Along with DiNozzo's friend." He nodded to the other one way glass, where Tony and McGee questioned Petty Officer, Glendon Cary. "Both have been cocky from the moment they entered the room and closed up shop when it came to the punch about the dead Petty Officer."

"Cut them loose. We'll see if any of the others we've brought in for questioning can give light on the situation."

Gibbs looked between both suspects and knew he had the murderer in his grasps. But without evidence or being able to use the information provided from 'Operation Formosa,' he had nothing to hold them on. He turned to face Vance.

"We'll have them followed to keep an eye on them. We need to talk to the others but without the JAG lawyers. They've sat in with our suspects, if we're to get anywhere with this case, we need the others to spill on what they know about O'Leary and Cary."

"Okay, Gibbs." Leon nodded.

"Just remember, the USS Arlington leaves port at o'eight hundred tomorrow morning."

"Then my team and I have a lot of work to do." Gibbs left, looking for Abby.

"Hey, Gibbs." She hugged her boss firmly.

"You look like you could do with some good news."

He looked over at the goth and smiled.

"What you got, Abs?"

"That's better." She turned in her high heeled black leather boots and brought up forensics on her screen.

"Petty Officer Cromwell had a run in with two attackers, Gibbs. I've managed to pull off finger prints from Cromwell's uniform and DNA from under his skin. Our suspects are dumber than dumb. It wasn't planned, Cromwell was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Probably saw something he wasn't suppose to see." She typed away and brought up two suspect photos up on her screen.

Gibbs furrowed his brow as he moved in closer. He turned his head around and looked at Abby.

"Are you sure they were his attackers? Could these be from someone trying to help him?"

Abby frowned.

"What is it, Gibbs?"

She typed away on her keyboard and brought the evidence up on the screen.

"Both suspects should have scratch marks on their skin. Cromwell put up a fight before he died."

Gibbs ran from the lab and bolted along the corridor to the front of the building in hope to find the men he was sure were behind Cromwell's death, before they left the building. He managed to catch up with them in reception. He pulled their sleeves up and were annoyed that neither man had scratches on their arms, torso or faces. Any area Cromwell would have fought back. These men were not their suspects.

"You're both free to go."

O'Leary and Cary laughed as they left the Navy Yard and headed back to their ship.

"What was that all about, boss?" Gibbs turned and found DiNozzo watching him from near the elevator.

"Abby said that Cromwell was killed by two attackers. They would have scratches on them, but the DNA and fingerprints found on the victim do not match up with either of them."

He was annoyed, his gut told him that both men were guilty. Guilty of what though? Perhaps he was allowing his knowledge of Vance's operation and his personal history to the cartel to cloud his judgements. Why did he feel that they had killed him together? He stood in the elevator with Tony, mulling over the information. The elevator doors opened, allowing Gibbs to head towards the conference room. Tony followed closely behind, indicating to McGee and Bishop who had returned to their desks to follow suit.

The team followed their leader up the stairs towards the conference room. Gibbs bust the door open to the unsuspecting men inside.

"I want you all to roll up your sleeves and unbutton your shirts. If you have a T-shirt on underneath, I want it removed."

All the men looked worryingly at each other before obeying. Agent Nassir was the first to strip off his naval shirt and T-shirt, showing off his toned body. Gibbs nodded to him and told him to put his clothes back on. Gibbs stood behind the two men whose names came up on Abby's DNA checks and fingerprints. The names that came up on the screen didn't match their Petty Officer names on their uniform. They were NCIS agents and they had a lot of explaining to do.

"The rest of you can go back to your ship." He looked at the men before him. "You two come with me."

He led them downstairs along with his team, Bishop and McGee were out of the loop from the latest information that Abby had told him.

Vance watched on from the small room between the two interrogation rooms where NCIS Agents, Bradley Wilson and Harry Chambers, sat. Gibbs began with Wilson, unsure where to start, knowing now that like Agent Nassir, they were NCIS agents.

"Petty Officer Peter Clark." He began. He paced the room before sitting in the chair opposite him.

"Or should I call you NCIS Agent Bradley Wilson?" He caught Wilson's attention immediately.

"Agent Wilson will do, sir."

Gibbs hated moments like this, where one of their own came into question.

"Agent Wilson. Will you please explain the scratches on your arms?"

Gibbs waited patiently for him to answer. Surprisingly, he didn't have to wait long.

"I was attacked, sir."

Wilson remained in an upright position in his chair, both hands clasped on the table. He had nothing to hide.

"You were attacked? By whom?"

Gibbs sat back, observing the agent before him.

"By Petty Officer Phillip Cromwell, sir."

Blue met blue, when Wilson and Gibbs looked at each other.

"I need to speak with Director Vance."

Vance entered the room.

"I am here, Agent Wilson. Agent Gibbs and his team have been read into Operation Formosa. You may continue."

Wilson nodded and took a sip of water from the glass that sat on the table.

"I was following two suspects for the past four months, Petty Officers O'Leary and Cary. They were cocky but hard to catch in the act. I needed evidence of them being involved with bringing the drugs into the country. Cromwell found me following them and attacked me. He caught me off guard and knocked me out. The next thing I knew was that Chambers was taking me to sickbay. I have no memory of anything else that went down, Sir."

Gibbs looked over to Vance and knew he needed confirmation from NCIS Agent Chambers over this story. He stood and left the room, walking 12 metres to another door. He entered and found Tony asking him questions. Agent Chambers looked as innocent as Wilson. It was a set up and his gut instinct over O'Leary and Cary came flooding back. Tony moved for him to sit down.

"Tell me what happened at o'five hundred this morning." As far as the intel gathered from Vance's agents on this operation, Cromwell's name hadn't come into it at all.

"I heard a scuffle outside my cabin and found Petty Officer Clark being tackled by Petty Officer Cromwell, Sir. I fought him off, but Clark hit his head hard on the metal pipe, knocking him unconscious. Cromwell pulled out a gun, he caught me by surprise and he was about to shoot Clark and myself. I had no choice but to defend us. I managed to pull the gun off Cromwell, but he lunged at me and I fired in reaction."

Chambers lowered his head, in shame. He hadn't wanted to kill the officer, only injure him, so he could get help. He looked back up and looked straight at Gibbs.

"I needed to get Clark to sickbay, urgently."

"Why didn't you come forward earlier with your defence?" Gibbs was pleased to have found the solution to their case, but it wasn't the one he had wanted.

"I couldn't, Sir. It would have risked me breaking cover. Four months of my hard work gone." Gibbs nodded in understanding.

"You share a cabin with Petty Officer Cary, correct?" Chambers nodded.

"I never liked him. I saw him leave about five minutes before I heard the commotion outside. I was expecting it to be him with O'Leary, the two were tight. I never expected to find Cromwell attacking Clark."

Gibbs looked through the mirror before continuing.

"Petty Officer Clark told us that you helped him after Cromwell attacked him. Do you know Clark?" He studied him carefully.

Chambers nodded.

"We were in the marines together, years ago. When we found ourselves both undercover on the same ship, we knew it was important to keep ourselves apart. We never talked. This morning was the first time I made contact with Wilson." His use of Agent Wilson's real name proved that they two agents knew each other.

"Agent Wilson told us that he was following O'Leary and Cary when Cromwell attacked him. Did you know that O'Leary and Cary were suspected being involved in the drug trafficking on board?" Gibbs continued his questioning.

Cromwell nodded.

"I knew. But I kept my distance when I knew that Wilson was dealing with them. I had my own fish to fry. But now I believe Cromwell was working with them. Why else would he've attacked Wilson for following the others?" It was the only thing that made sense to Chambers over the attack.

"It may be too dangerous for you and Wilson to return to USS Arlington, Agent Chambers. Both of your identities may have been burned. We need to keep you here." Gibbs began, when Vance entered.

"They need to go back, Gibbs. We need them to finish the job." Vance reiterated their earlier conversation.

"We can place them under arrest for the murder of Petty Officer Cromwell, and allow the other agents onboard to finish the job. Have their handler tell them the identities of the other agents and allow them to finish this. But it's too dangerous for Wilson and Chambers to return." Gibbs hated it when he and Vance head butted on a case, but their lives were more important.

Vance stood and thought over what Gibbs' proposed.

"It could be too risky to allow the agents to know about the others. If any of the suspects pick up on changes in our agents, they too could be in danger."

"Tell them the risks and who they have on board to back them up. We were fortunate that Wilson and Chambers knew each other. We could have had two dead agents on our hands if they hadn't known that they had the other for support." Gibbs left the interrogation room and headed for the mortuary. He needed to talk to Ducky over this case. It was getting to him more than normal. Worry for the other agents on this case grew within him. He could see the toll of the past four months in Vance and the agents' eyes, when he entered the conference room earlier.