"Faithful"- Chapter 1
A/N: Thanks for the alerts and reviews! I have no clue why the prologue was all underlined. Very hinky, as Abs would say! Enjoy!
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NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo had never driven so fast in his life. But, one text message from his former temporary partner and friend Charity Bernard changed that. He was at her house, packing up his things to move back home, when his cell phone buzzed. He flipped it open, revealing a message from Charity: "Tony. There's been a shooting Faith. Call Gibbs NOW!" He immediately dropped what he was doing, and called Leroy Jethro Gibbs, his team leader.
"Yeah, Gibbs," the gruff voice answered.
"Boss!" Tony shouted, "I just got a message from Charity while she was at church. She said there was a shooting!"
"Crap," Gibbs muttered. "Send me the directions- I'll get a hold of everyone else. You get your butt down there as soon as possible!"
"Got it, Boss," Tony replied. He immediately changed into something resembling work clothes, and headed to his car. After driving for what felt like hours, but was actually only minutes, he found the address. Judging by the number of local police, ambulance, and fire vehicles that were scattered about, he knew he was at the right place. He exited his car, and found an EMT treating a young boy in one of the ambulances.
"Hey!" Tony called out. "I'm with NCIS- we received a call about this shooting. One of our agents is here- red hair, glasses, gray top, black shirt, purple tank top underneath. Have you seen her?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know," he replied. "We're only treating survivors out here, though."
"Thanks," Tony said. "I'll keep looking." He checked with more EMT's, but none of them saw anyone with Charity's description. He headed toward the church entrance, and was grabbed by the sleeve. He turned, and came face to face with a local law enforcement officer
"Where do you think you're going?" the young African- American LEO asked.
"My name's Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, NCIS," Tony explained, flipping open his ID, and revealing his badge. "One of our agents was in the church at the time of the shooting, and alerted us- me. Her name's Charity Bernard- red hair, glasses, gray top, purple tank underneath, black skirt. Have you seen her?"
"Yes, I have," he replied, with a solemn look on his face. "Follow me, Agent DiNozzo."
The young agent followed the cop into the church, through the lobby, and into the auditorium. "You guys didn't touch any of the bodies, did you?" Tony remembered to ask.
"No, sir," the officer replied. "When we saw most of the victims were military, we knew you'd want first crack at them. Here she is- my condolences to NCIS, sir."
Condolences? Tony thought, then shook his head. It couldn't be- she was alive when she had sent the text message. But then, he looked down toward the floor, and saw her lifeless body, with a bullet hole in the middle of her forehead. Just like Kate, Tony observed. Dried, sticky blood had pooled around the back of her head, and had caked her hair. Her glasses had flown off her face, from the force of the shot, and hadn't been found. A couple inches away from her motionless, open hand, was her cell phone. Tony was without gear, so he borrowed a pair of gloves from an EMT outside, and put them on. He picked up the phone, and checked her text messages. The last one she had sent was to him, at eleven-thirty four. He let one lone tear trickle down his cheek, then let out a sigh. He needed to wait for Gibbs and the team, then they could get to work. After all, it was a crime scene, like the rest of them.
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"DiNozzo!" Agent Gibbs called out, when he spotted the younger man waiting by the church entrance. "Did you find Agent Bernard?"
"Yeah, Boss," Tony replied, "I found her. Come with me."
Gibbs followed his senior agent through the lobby, and into the auditorium, where he stopped at the end of a church pew. Tony motioned down toward the floor.
"She didn't make it, Boss," Tony said sadly.
Gibbs crouched down, and took in the sight of the young linguist. The bullet hole in the center of the forehead, the dried blood pooling around the back of her head. He closed his eyes, and flashed back to the day Kate died. He blinked again, and looked at Charity. Not again, he thought to himself, and sighed.
"Do the local LEO's have any leads?" he asked Tony.
"No, but that's why they called us here," an older man's voice called from behind him. Gibbs stood up, turned around, and came face to face with Agent T.C. Fornell, senior investigator for the FBI.
"Fancy seeing you here, Tobias," Gibbs told his old friend.
"Well, if we hear possible terrorist attack, we come running, Jethro," Fornell said, looking down at Charity. "She was one of yours?"
"For awhile," Gibbs explained. "So you think this was a terrorist attack?"
"Not sure yet," Fornell replied. "I have my people taking statements- I'm surprised the rest of your team isn't here with you."
Tony looked toward the lobby, and saw Agents Timothy McGee, Ziva David, Dr. Donald Mallard, his assistant Jimmy Palmer, and Director Leon Vance coming toward them. "Well, they're here now, Fornell."
"Oh, my…," McGee stuttered. "Charity!"
"She was killed," Ziva said, a statement more than a question.
"Good heavens," Ducky exclaimed. "Her wound looks quite similar to Kate's."
"She was killed in her church," Palmer said, shaking his head. "It seems no place is safe from terrorism these days, is it?"
"I should say not," Ducky said as he pulled out his liver probe, and stuck it into Charity. "Based on the liver temperature, I would conclude that she… she died shortly after eleven-thirty."
"Eleven-thirty four, Duck," Tony corrected. "That's when she sent me the text message."
"Are there any other victims in our jurisdiction?" Vance asked Tony.
"According to the local LEO's, there are three marines and three sailors who died, along with four airmen, two soldiers, seven civilians, the church pastor, and Char- Agent Bernard, sir," Tony answered.
Vance looked over at Agent Fornell. "How do you want to do this?" he asked.
"We share the investigation," the older FBI agent said. "This is much too large for one agency to handle. Army CID and the Air Force will want their bodies, as well. We should take the shooters' bodies."
"Where are the shooters' bodies?" Ziva asked.
"Down in front," Fornell replied. "Two men and one woman."
"McGee, photos of the shooters," Gibbs ordered. "Ziva, photos of the victims in our jurisdiction, including Charity. DiNozzo, bag and tag anything located by the bodies. All the bodies."
The agents nodded, and headed off to various spots in the auditorium.
Vance turned to Fornell, and asked, "Do you suppose that there are any video cameras in here that could have caught the attack?"
"They have a sound engineering room," he replied. "Someone was controlling the audio during the service- maybe it was recorded."
Vance headed toward the room in question, with Gibbs and Fornell behind him. They stopped a teenage boy in the lobby, and asked who was in charge of the sound room.
"I am," the kid replied. "I was just coming to find whoever is charge of the investigation- I had to be treated for an injury first."
"We are," Vance replied. "I'm Director Vance, of NCIS. This is Special Agent Gibbs, my lead agent, and Agent Fornell, lead investigating agent for the FBI. And you are?"
"Adam Marks, sir," the kid answered. "I was running the sound room when the shooting began."
"You were controlling the microphones?" Gibbs asked.
"Not just the mikes, sir," Adam replied. "I also videotape the service- we post it on the church's website. That is, until the shooters saw my camera, and shot it."
"Does the video still work?" Fornell asked.
"I haven't checked it yet," Adam explained. "When the camera was shot, it came off the tripod, the tripod fell back through the window, and I got hit with broken glass."
Vance turned to Gibbs. "McGee could probably get something off of the tape, right?" he asked.
"I hate to admit it, but he's better than anyone we have," Fornell admitted.
"Could we have the video camera?" Gibbs asked Adam.
"Sure," he said, handing him the damaged camera.
"Boss," Tony said, quickly walking toward the three men, "McGee, Ziva, and I are all set with our stuff, but Ducky and Palmer can only bring back a couple bodies at a time in their van."
"Then stay here, DiNozzo, until all of our bodies are brought back to NCIS," Gibbs ordered.
"Yes, Boss."
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