Chapter 2

In Pursuit of the Truth

"I think a campfire is in order." declared Tony.

For once, Gibbs agreed with him. The team assembled in Abby's lab. Everyone stood around her computer, curious about where the case was headed. Except for Ziva. All she felt was dread. There was no way this could end well.

"What do we know so far?" asked Gibbs.

"This girl," Abby began.

"Arya." interjected Tony.

"This girl Arya snuck into the building by deactivating the security cameras, tranquilizing the guards, and stealing their keycards. She could have gone almost anywhere in the building, but where does she go? Autopsy. Why? I have an idea. I found residue on the gloves she used to handle our John Doe in there. There were traces of stainless steel on the fingertips of the gloves, which along with a puncture mark Ducky found, leads me to believe that she removed the tip of a needle that had broken off into his skin. At least I think she did. I couldn't find the piece of the needle, but that's my best guess."

"Why would she have injected him with a needle in the first place?" wondered McGee.

"To kill him." stated Ziva flatly. "That's what she does."

"How do you know that?" questioned Gibbs.

"We worked together for a year."

"Explain yourself."

"Well, back when I was part of Mossad, I was part of a unit that carried out hits that had to be done quietly and out of the public eye. One day, my father got a phone call from someone within the CIA. I don't know who it was, but he told my father that the CIA was sending him an unofficial present. A few minutes later, Arya walked in through the door. Whoever sent her was her personal handler, and he owed my father a favor. He thought that he could use Arya to pay it off."

"I'll bet." snorted Tony.

Gibbs slapped the back of Tony's head and received a mumbled apology.

"Your mind frightens me." said Ziva, giving Tony a dirty look.

"Why do you say her name with an accent?" inquired McGee.

"She never told us her real name, so we gave her the nickname Arya. It means lioness in Hebrew, and it seemed fitting because she moves like a cat and has great night vision."

"Why did you trust her enough to work with her?" Gibbs wondered. "You had no idea who she was, yet you trusted her with your life?"

"We didn't at first, but as long as she was sent to us we figured we could use her. After a while she proved herself. I don't know how she got involved with the CIA, but she felt no loyalty for them. The Americans helped train her and they paid her well for her services so she worked for them. But we knew she wouldn't go spilling any of our secrets to the CIA. She didn't trust the CIA any more than we did."

"Do you think there's a connection between this case and the jobs you did together?" guessed McGee.

"No. She was genuinely surprised to see me."

"I'll call in a favor from a buddy of mine at the CIA." offered Tony. "Maybe he can find out some information about our girl."

"First, focus on the body." ordered Gibbs. "What was she doing here?"

"Cleaning up loose ends." decided Tony. "She wanted John Doe dead, so she injected him with poison. After all, it is a common weapon of choice for women. She got sloppy or was interrupted in the middle, so she ran and couldn't do anything about the needle tip that had broken off in his arm. Then, she followed the body and came here to make the kill look like a natural death. Ducky was ready to say that he died of a heart attack. The only reason to think otherwise is our puncture wound and the metal residue. She almost got away with murder."

The room filled with the loud sound of beeping coming from Abby's computer.

"We have a match!" she exclaimed. "Our John Doe paid a lot of money to have his fingerprints scrubbed from the AFIS database, but he was no match for me. Everyone, meet Alec Dunham."

The face of a handsome man in his early twenties stared smugly at them. His perfectly styled brown hair, cold blue eyes, and proudly arched neck gave away his wealthy, privileged background.

"He was about to be found guilty for rape and murder except the judge suddenly "disappeared" and his replacement gave Dunham a much more lenient sentence. He paid reparations to the girl's family and only spent three years in a cushy prison cell. He should have been given a life sentence. What a sleazebag!"

"Maybe the killing was justified?" suggested Ziva. "It seems like Arya did the world a favor by getting rid of this guy."

"Vigilante justice is no excuse for killing another human being, no matter who he is." declared McGee.

"DiNozzo, try to find out more about Arya from your contact. McGee, I want to know everything there is about Dunham. Ziva, you're with me." Gibbs gave the team their marching orders and everyone set off to accomplish their various tasks.

"What about me?" asked Abby.

"Good work." he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek and a Caff-Pow.

Ziva and Gibbs headed to their desks with Ducky in tow. Arya was difficult to read, and Gibbs could tell that something was off about her. He was hoping that Ducky could provide some insight into her psychological profile.

"All of her promiscuity is just an act." declared Ducky after watching the previous interrogation tapes. "She is trying to compensate for her fear of her own sexuality."

"No way." frowned Tony, who had been eavesdropping from his desk. "She was totally into me. That was real."

"I am sorry, Anthony, but I'm afraid you are mistaken."

"I don't believe this." Tony gasped with horror. "How could she not be susceptible to the DiNozzo charm?"

Ducky held back a chuckle. "I am afraid, my dear boy, that you just aren't her type."

"Get back to work DiNozzo." ordered Gibbs.

"Right away, Boss."

"Hey Boss," called McGee. "I haven't found anything useful on Dunham yet, but I think I found something about Arya. Just on a hunch I searched through all of the employment records for restaurants in the area, and I found one Arya Ramirez listed as a waitress at Pat's Dinner."

"Why would you even have thought of that?" asked Tony. "Of all the things to look for, why would you think she had a job as a waitress?"

"She looked so familiar, and I couldn't place her until just now. A few weeks ago I was in Naperville at an antique store. I stopped at the dinner on the way home to pick up some diner. Arya was the one who processed my order."

"What are you waiting for?" barked Gibbs. "Grab your gear."

Gibbs and Ziva headed off with McGee and Tony in tow.

"What are you doing, DiNozzo? Don't you have a phone call to make to the CIA? Get back to your desk."

"Right away, Boss." responded Tony dejectedly.

He returned to his desk and tried unsuccessfully to reach his contact. Some people got to leave the office and have all the fun while he was stuck indoors. With a sigh, Tony crumpled up a piece of paper on his desk and shot it into the garbage can.

"Nice shot." said a voice from behind him.

Tony yelped and spun around in his chair. Arya was standing right there.

"What the -? How did you?" he spluttered.

"You know, a girl sometimes needs a bathroom break, that's all. You can lock me back up now if you like."

"Let's go." declared Tony, not quite sure how to react to the situation.

He led Arya back to the interrogation room. He cleared his throat nervously.

"Uhhh, I need to pat you down to make sure you haven't taken anything while you've been out of this room."

She smirked at him, her eyes glinting mischievously.

"Go right ahead." she offered, spreading her arms wide.

Tony conducted the search as quickly as possible while still making sure that Arya had not hid anything on her person. He could not help inhaling a whiff of her exotic and enticing scent as he pat her down.

"Where is the rest of your team?" she asked.

Tony was unsure if he should tell her, but he figured it was better to talk than to let his mind drift to where it wanted to head.

"They're checking out Pat's Dinner. The boss must have gotten hungry for some pie."

"That was quick." said Arya admiringly. "Your computer geek sure knows his stuff. You guys are making good progress."

Tony had been watching Arya's reaction carefully. She had some kind of plan in place, and Tony was determined to figure out what exactly it was. He locked her back in the interrogation room and posted two guards outside her door so that she could not escape again. The phone on Tony's desk rang. Things were about to get interesting.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for the reviews so far. They totally made my day so keep them coming! ;)