Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money
Chapter 2
Previously
As they stepped in the elevator, Ziva's phone rang. She listened and then turned to Gibbs. "The woman is awake."
"Get to the hospital. Take Tony with you. McGee, you're with me. We're going to check out the petty officer's apartment."
"Tonight?" McGee questioned.
Gibbs gave him a look. "Yes, tonight."
Petty Officer Amelia Rhodes lived in a small, one bedroom apartment in a decent neighborhood. Her apartment was neat with little touches that made it a home. There were colorful rugs on floor and throw pillows on the couch. Gibbs and McGee went through the apartment carefully, looking for anything that may give them a clue, but they didn't find anything out of the ordinary.
McGee found her laptop and after a quick examine showed it was password protected, he bagged it to take back to Abby. Hopefully, she would find an appointment book or calendar or email correspondence that would tell them who she was meeting the night she died.
"What did the doc say?" Tony asked as they made their way down the hall toward the blonde's room.
"Not a lot." Ziva admitted. "She regained consciousness and they called us immediately."
They entered the room to find an empty bed.
"Where is she?" Ziva asked slightly panicked. If they lost this witness, Gibbs would have their head.
Before they had a chance to panic, the bathroom door opened and a small, blonde woman stepped out.
"I was wondering when you would get here." she said as she slowly made her way back to the bed.
Tony and Ziva waited until the woman had made herself comfortable before they spoke.
"I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo and this is Agent David with NCIS."
At her curious look, Ziva began, "It stands for Naval…"
"I know what it stands for." The blonde interrupted. At their curious looks she continued. "I used to date a guy in the Army."
"What's your name?" Tony asked.
"Buffy Summers." she replied. "Why is NCIS on this case? I'm not military."
"No, but there was also a dead petty officer in the warehouse where you found."
Tony and Ziva both noticed she did not seem surprised by the announcement of a body.
"Okay, Ms. Summers. Can you tell us what happened at the warehouse?"
Buffy shook her head. "No, sorry. I don't remember much. The last thing I remember is having a drink at the Mello. It's bar on Stanley Avenue. The next thing I know, I'm waking up in the hospital."
"Where do you live?" Ziva asked.
"My permanent address is in England." Buffy answered. "I travel a lot for work and keep an apartment in London. I'm hardly ever there. I mostly live in hotels."
"What hotel are you staying at now?"
"The Freedom."
"What kind of work do you do?" This came from Tony.
"I'm a recruiter for a company in England. I meet with potential companies and individuals that the company is interested in working with."
"What's the name of this company?" Ziva asked with palpable skepticism.
Buffy didn't miss the tone. She just smiled and said, "The IWC."
"What exactly does this company do?" Tony almost demanded.
"I don't see how that makes any difference." Buffy said. "Our company does confidential work for several governments around the globe including the good 'ole US of A. Anything more than that, you don't have clearance for."
"Ms. Summers, someone tried to kill you."
"I'm well aware of that fact, Agent DiNozzo, but you still don't have clearance. I'm sorry."
"What do you know about Petty Officer Amelia Rhodes?" Ziva asked.
"Is she the body you found in the warehouse? I never met her."
Tony pulled a photograph out of his jacket pocket. "This is Amelia Rhodes."
Buffy looked at the photograph for moment and shook her head. "Sorry, I've never seen her."
Tony and Ziva tried for the next hour to trip her up or catch her in lie. They couldn't do it. She never changed her story.
Finally, they decided they had all the information they were going to get for the moment.
"She hiding something." Ziva said as they left the hospital.
"I know." Tony answered.
"You know, Tony, I was very impressed with you in there."
"Yeah? Why's that?"
"Well, she's a beautiful woman and you didn't flirt with her at all. Why is that?"
Tony shrugged and looked thoughtful. "I really don't know. There's just something about her that screamed 'hands off'."
Ziva accepted that answer although she thought it very odd. She had never known Tony to not flirt with a woman.
After the two agents left, Buffy fought the urge to bang her head on something. She had to get out of here before they came back with more questions she couldn't answer. The problem, of course, was they had her DNA. The military had her DNA on file from her time with the Initiative in Sunnydale. Willow could probably hack into the database and make that disappear, but there was chance they would be able to track it back to her and Buffy didn't want to take the risk. She also didn't want to use the hospital phone to call anyone. She decided she would wait until late, when there were fewer nurses on the floor, and then she would sneak out of the hospital and make a couple of calls.