Ack! Ack! I made a promise to myself to reply to each review this time round, but you wonderful people have swamped me again (not that I'm complaining)! I get pleasure from each of you who enjoy the story. In lieu of personal replies, I'm sending out chocolate dipped goodies to all! And I promise I didn't lick my fingers once while making them.

Disclaimer: Just borrowing them for a little fun.

Chapter 2

Supervisory Senior Agent Gabriel Jonas stared at the papers scattered before him. Special Agent Katherine Felidae winced inwardly at the look on her boss' face, glad she wasn't in his shoes. Anything involving Gibbs' team usually ended roughly, and this mess was already looking like a simmering pot of angst and trouble before it even reached him.

Jonas squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, then sighed. "Ok, talk to the officers. See if you can find out who wrote that comment on the report, and verify the details of the incident. And pull copies of the recording made on that day - see if anything on them helps clarify what happened."

Rising and refilling his mug from the coffee pot on his credenza, Jonas shook his head, "Of all the stupid things those two could do..."

Kathy gathered her papers and stood, "I'll get right on it."

"Ok. Let me know when you've finished, and we'll go through it together. And, I don't need to warn you, Kathy, to keep this quiet. As soon as Gibbs finds out…."

Nodding, Kathy said, "Yes, sir."

-000-

Felidae met the two officers at a small coffee shop the next day. Shaking their hands, she introduced herself, "Special Agent Katherine Felidae, NCIS." They ordered coffee as they settled down in a booth at the back of the café.

"I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me. We're following up on an investigation in which you had a small and inadvertent part in a few weeks ago when we were doing surveillance in the Royal Woods development."

Taking a sip of her coffee, she studied the two officers. She'd assembled a quick bio on both, and was satisfied they had the training and experience to be solid reliable witnesses should they need to be deposed. The older officer, Peter Orvine, was retired military Special Ops who'd joined the force after his wife left him and he found himself with far too much time on his hands. His younger partner, Judy Miller, had joined after she returned from a tour of Somalia as a member of the Peace Corps that left her with a keen understanding of what a lack of law and order could do to a community. They'd been partners now for seven years and had a track record of good solid police work.

Felidae continued, "You responded to a request for an area check by concerned neighbors regarding a couple who'd been sitting in a parked car for over two hours not appearing to be doing anything. Is that correct?"

At their nods, she went on, "When you investigated, you determined the two people were NCIS agents involved in surveillance activities?"

Orvine studied the agent over the rim of his coffee cup. "Wasn't surveillance according to the agents."

Glancing at the police report in front of her, Kathy nodded, "You noted that their partner, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, was out canvassing the neighbors collecting voice recordings."

The two officers just looked at her, waiting. Great, Kathy thought, two experienced cops who knew the value of silence. This was going to be like pulling teeth. She waited a few more moments hoping one of them would fill the quiet.

When it became clear the officers weren't going to comment, she was forced to ask outright. "Can you tell me what you observed when you arrived?"

Miller put her coffee down, "The two agents, McGee and David, right?" At Kathy's nod, she continued, "They were sitting in the front seats of the sedan, reading."

"You indicate that you had Special Agent David in cuffs while confirming their identity. What caused you to do that?"

Orvine calmly stated, "The agent made verbal threats, and an initial search for weapons turned up more than are usually carried by armed officers…or agents. She also briefly resisted being handcuffed. Until we confirmed her identity, we restrained her to ensure officer safety."

Jotting a note, Kathy placed a copy of the incident report before them and ran her finger lightly along the written comment. "Did one of you add this?"

Orvine finally asked what Kathy knew had been coming, "You IA?"

Pursing her lips, she laid her pen down. Looking him in the eye, she asked, "And if I were?" She wondered what their response would be. The usual reserved silence? Dancing around the questions giving nothing of use away? Told to go through proper channels?

After a long pause in which he studied her, his expression unreadable, he finally replied, "Anything happen to the agent who was out canvassing?"

She shook her head, "No."

"Why are you investigating this now, after all this time?"

"Yesterday was the first time we saw your report. It was sent to us anonymously. If what you describe in your report is accurate, then it needs to be addressed, dealt with." Looking at both of them, she said, "We need to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Judy Miller leaned forward, intense, "What doesn't happen again? What do you think happened?"

"That's what we're trying to determine. The handwritten note on the report suggests that Agent DiNozzo had been without backup for a period of time, perhaps intentionally. If this true, then it needs to be dealt with."

Orvine drained his cup of coffee. "Dealt with?"

"We make sure it doesn't happen again. And be grateful it was addressed before someone got hurt or killed."

Studying their faces closely, Kathy asked, "Which one of you wrote that note on the report?"

Signaling his partner, Orvine rose, putting a few bucks down to cover the coffee. He told Kathy, "I did. Neither McGee nor David turned the receiver off after we approached their car. It was already off. After verifying their identity, we watched as Agent McGee turned the receiver on. Agent DiNozzo's voice was easy to hear from the receiver after that. It clearly was not malfunctioning. If something had happened to Agent DiNozzo and he had called for backup, they wouldn't have heard him."

As his partner headed for the door, he added, "If you need more, you'll need to go through regular channels." With that, he followed his partner.

Well, she thought, at least they didn't up and leave as soon as they suspected she was IA. Collecting her belongings, she headed back to the office. Legal would need to send the required notices to the PD to obtain sworn statements from the two officers, but she'd gotten the information she needed.

-000-

Running into Gabe on the way to her desk, she gave him a quick rundown on the visit with the two officers. "They confirmed that the receiver was off when they arrived. McGee turned it on. DiNozzo's voice was clearly audible once he had - no receiver malfunction."

Leaning against the wall, she added, "David threatened the officers and briefly scuffled with one of the physically. They put her in cuffs until their identities were confirmed to ensure officer safety. Reasonable response considering."

Motioning towards her office, she continued, "I have a digital copy of the recordings. I'd like to send it out to be analyzed rather than do it in house. Miss Sciuto is pretty close to Gibbs and his team."

Nodding, he said, "Good idea. And put a rush on it."

"Thanks, Gabe." She was relieved. Abby was a friendly person, but she was protective of Gibbs and his team. It'd be a straight pipeline to Gibbs if Abby were asked to review her work on the recording.

-000-

The following Monday Gabe, Kathy, and Special Agent Sandy Coeist, met in a conference room. Kathy went through the information they had to date.

"We've previously reviewed the incident report of the two officers. Officer Orvine added the handwritten note. Legal has requested sworn statements from both of them which should arrive by mid-week.

"Points of interest - one: the audible playback for DiNozzo's channel wasn't on when the two officers arrived; two: David indicated they did not know where DiNozzo was at that time; three: McGee turned DiNozzo's audible playback back on while the officers watched; four: DiNozzo's voice was heard clearly by all four of them indicating the equipment was not malfunctioning; and five: McGee knew it had been turned off since he deliberately turned it back on."

Brushing back a lock of hair that'd fallen forward into her face, she continued, "Secondary issue: Agent David verbally threatened the officers without cause. She also briefly got physical with one of them when they were restraining her."

She looked at Sandy to pick up the next part.

Agent Coeist, a balding older man sporting trademark colorful suspenders, pulled a laptop closer. "The entire transcript of the recording was sent to you earlier this morning in your email. I'll skip forward in the recording to the salient part."

He used his mouse to position the playback indicator where he wanted and pressed the 'play' button. Thirty seconds of DiNozzo's observations on the resident he'd just left and of the street address of the resident he was approaching played.

Shuffling sounds were heard, then Agent David's voice was recorded as she said, "I cannot stand this. His voice is driving me crazy. It is like nails on a school board, yes?"

McGee replied, "Chalkboard or blackboard, Ziva. Not school board." There was more background noise, then McGee continued, "Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. He's been talking non-stop since he started this, and he's not even half way through all the houses yet."

As Tony's voice continued in the background, David's voice became even more agitated, "I will go mad if this keeps up. Do something, McGee!"

McGee said, "He's not going to shut up, Ziva. He's supposed to be talking with the people out there. You're just going to have to suck it up."

Her voice lowered and took on an almost sensuous quality, "I will do your reports for the next two weeks if you can make him stop."

"You know I can't do that Ziva. How else is he going to get those recordings if he doesn't talk with the residents when they answer their doors?"

In a near scream, Ziva said, "Turn the sound off, tell him to stop talking - just do something or I will kill you with a page from this book!" This was followed by the sound of paper tearing.

There was a pause, then McGee said in a nervous tone, "Ok. Calm down…just calm down!"

There was a touch of static as the input from their mike stopped, leaving only Tony's mike recording on the recorder.

Letting the recording play for several more seconds, Sandy finally stopped the playback. "There were two separate tracks being recorded simultaneously during this assignment, one for Agent DiNozzo, and one for the interior of the sedan. During the last 118 minutes recorded only Agent DiNozzo's channel was active. The laboratory determined that the mike input and audio playback for the sedan's channel were inactive during this period of time. The wireless mike input for Agent DiNozzo's track was active, but the audio playback was off."

Sitting back, Sandy said, "What I'd like to know is why Abby Sciuto didn't note this when she was processing the recording."

Gabe added, "And why didn't Agent DiNozzo notice their silence after that?"

No one answered.

Finally Gabe gave a weary sigh, thinking of the headache he would have by the time this whole mess was over with. Gibbs….no one wanted to deal with Gibbs. The man's temper was legendary when it came to protecting his team. One part of his mind was curious as to how the man would react though when he heard the recording. The colossal screw up that McGee and David made was impossible to ignore. Interesting situation, except he was square in the middle of it. He made a mental note to check his stock of antacids.

"Ok," he said. "I want preliminary reports on my desk by noon. I'll call the director and schedule a meeting. Might as well get this ball rolling."

-000-

Two days later, Gabe Jonas sat down at the conference table in Vance's office at the director's invitation. He placed the folder containing several documents in front of him, and gratefully accepted a hot cup of coffee from Vance.

Sitting across from him, Vance settled back, looking at the head of the IA department. They'd worked closely on several IA matters and had developed a grudging respect for each other over time. "I know that look – I usually develop a bad headache soon after you start talking. Should I get the aspirin bottle out?"

With a half-smile, Gabe shrugged, "For this one, I'd order more if I were you."

Vance's eyes narrowed, and he ran his hand down his tie. "Ok, lay it on me. What do you have."

Taking another sip of coffee, Gabe organized his thoughts, then said, "Evidence of a dereliction of duty during an investigation. Nothing happened as a result, but it was a pretty serious lapse in judgment on the part of two agents."

Frowning, Vance asked, "Which agents?"

"McGee and David. Gibbs' team."

Caught off guard, Vance was surprised. "What?"

Gabe knew of Vance's preferences for staff and agents who had a solid background in technology, and a professional demeanor and gravitas, so hearing McGee's name must have been a shock for the director.

With a deep scowl, Vance snapped, "What happened?"

Gabe took the director through what they'd mapped out during the investigation, playing the audio from a small digital recorder he pulled from a pocket. As he finished, he sat back and waiting, watching the director closely.

Vance rose and went around to his desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a fresh toothpick. Unwrapping it, he nearly bit it in half before he managed to catch himself. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and angry, "I knew I shouldn't have brought him back here. The man's a menace…"

Bingo, thought Gabe. His guess as to where Vance's anger would be directed was right on. "You can't lay the blame for this one on someone just because you don't like him, Leon."

"He just won't shut that mouth of his. It's enough to…" He bit it words off, pacing behind his desk.

"And you know it's a very effective technique that he uses very well. You've seen it in play more than once and have seen the results for yourself. Admit it."

"But he doesn't need to keep it up constantly! It creates a bad work environment, grates on his coworkers' nerves…"

"A bad work environment? Isn't that a bit harsh? Do you think Gibbs would put up with that?"

Vance bit through the toothpick at that, "He's a menace himself."

Gabe grinned, "For our side, thank goodness." Saluting Vance with his coffee mug, he continued, "And you've used both of them yourself when you've needed, Leon."

Scowling, Leon glared at him. "Damn it, Jonas. It is just wrong that two good agents might be disciplined because they were driven to it."

Knowing he was going to have to give the Director a reality check, Gabe stood and stopped Vance's pacing by standing in his path, "Do your agents have so little discipline and self-control that merely working with an agent they have little respect for can drive them to violate one of the most fundamental tenants of safety for agents in the field?" He pushed Vance harder, his expression deadly serious, "Because that's sure what it looks like right now. And it wasn't DiNozzo who screwed up, was it director?" Gabe wondered if Vance was going to have a stroke from bottling up his anger.

Gabe continued, "DiNozzo is fully capable of being a consummate professional when needed. I've watched him in court on more than one occasion, and he is serious, articulate, and cool as anyone I've seen on the witness stand. You may not like him personally, Leon, but he's a good agent, and you know it. And you know Gibbs doesn't tolerate incompetence.

"This situation required him to interact for hours with residents in that neighborhood. If I remember right, he actually lost his voice for a while afterwards from overuse. You can't possibly label his talking in this instance as unnecessary or excessive. It was a fundamental part of this particular assignment.

"Two highly trained agents - disciplined and professional agents on the premier MCRT team of the agency – let their personal feelings interfere with the performance of their duties. They have no excuse for what they did – no circumstances presented themselves that required departing from protocol; no response was required apart from remaining vigilant and providing backup for their partner in the field. They cannot claim a lack of training as a mitigating factor. And they certainly cannot claim a lack of experience left them unsure about their job duties and responsibilities."

He eyed Vance who was trying to calm himself but still sour at the IA team leader's words. "Considering the scope of the assignment, it might have made more sense splitting the task up. Having one agent doing all the field work ended with the agent placed on limited duty for a time to recover his voice. I'd be interested in why the duties were divided out as they were. Why was one agent out in the field where possible danger was greatest, while two were sitting in the sedan? Does that seem logical to you?"

Seeing Vance's attention caught by his inquiry and the director's interest kicking in and dampening his anger, Gabe decided one last lesson wouldn't hurt. Settling back in his chair, he asked, "Would you feel the same way if it had been DiNozzo who turned the audio playback off on either McGee or David?"

Vance jerked back as if he'd been hit, knowing he'd be livid if that ever happened. He'd use it gladly as an excuse to fire DiNozzo. Forced to face his own prejudices toward someone who worked differently than he did, he finally admitted he was being unfair to DiNozzo, and the man didn't deserve that. He didn't like it, but he didn't have the luxury in his position to let it influence his actions and decisions. And he had to acknowledge the facts facing him. Two good agents had engaged in highly unprofessional behavior that could not be condoned. For many reasons, they'd have to face the consequences of their decision and actions. What had they been thinking?

Gabe could see when Vance let his anger go. Good. Now maybe they could make some progress on this incident. "Gibbs – any guesses on how he'll react to this?"

Closing his eyes, Vance thought, the hell with aspirin, I need a stiff shot of whiskey. Picking up his phone, he connected to his secretary and told her to summon Gibbs to his office immediately.

"We'll find out soon enough. The real question is how much damage he will cause before this is over with."

As Gibbs entered the office, not knocking as usual, Vance pointed at the conference table. "Sit. We have a problem…."