DISCLAIMER: I am not repeating myself, see chapter 1!
A/N: I am so pleased with the response this has received! Thank you so much for reading, reviewing and alerting. I'm sorry this one took so long to publish but as you can see it's quite long and I kept finding plot holes that I needed to fill in! I must take this opportunity to state I am not good with computers so if you see something that isn't possible... it's fiction! x
B is for Balcony
It had just gone ten at night on a Saturday and Leroy Jethro Gibbs decided it was time to send his team home. They'd been working for over eighteen hours a day for the last five days and he finally decided that enough was enough, it was clear that this case wasn't going to be solved easily and his team needed a full night's sleep.
"Alright, pack it in. I want everyone back here for 08:00 tomorrow!"
Two members of his team looked at one another, then back to their boss. Tony DiNozzo was the first to start shutting down his computer, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth; Ziva David quickly followed suit. The pair grabbed their gear and bade Gibbs and their partner, Tim McGee, a good night before making good their escape.
Tim had kind of heard his boss order them to pack it in, but there was a thread of something. He couldn't put his finger on it but he was definitely missing something. Despite staring at his screen that something continued to evade him.
"McGee!" barked Gibbs, moving out from behind his own desk and over to his youngest agent's when he still got no response, "McGee!" this time he emphasised the name by slapping a hand on Tim's desk, causing the younger man to jump slightly in his seat.
"Boss?" Tim looked up slowly at the man now standing by his desk, leaning into his personal space.
"I said pack it in for the night."
"I just have…"
"No, Tim, just nothing. We've been working long hours on little sleep…"
"But Boss, there's something I'm missing, I just can't quite put my finger on it!" protested Tim.
"That is precisely why you need to go home and get some rest. Start again tomorrow with fresh eyes. And Tim, I do mean go home, not down to Abby's lab to sleep on her futon again!"
Tim sighed; he knew his boss was right, but he didn't necessarily have to like it, "Yes Boss," he carefully saved his work and shut down his PC, "Night," he called to Gibbs as he grabbed his gear and headed for the elevator.
"Night McGee. I don't want to see you before 08:00 tomorrow, you hear?"
"Yes Boss," he repeated before stepping onto the elevator. Once the doors slid closed he leant against the side and closed his eyes. Gibbs was right, he was so tired he could barely see straight, but the whole team were working long hours, not just him. If pushed he would admit that the computer work on this case was a little more intensive than usual, keeping him tied to his desk while Gibbs, Tony and Ziva were out in the field tracking down any leads that he was coming up with. Sadly all those leads were turning into dead ends, both literally and figuratively something Tim just didn't understand.
-NCIS-
The previous Tuesday morning Gibbs had told the team to gear up, a dead Marine Lieutenant had been found in a back alley in downtown DC. Not exactly a regular occurrence as such, but nothing out of the ordinary either. Once on scene Tim had been authorised by Ducky to use the portable finger print scanner which immediately confirmed their dead Lieutenant as Jon Hone, which was good because that was what the ID he had on him stated.
"Lieutenant Jon Hone, aged twenty eight, single, no dependants. Both parents deceased. I can't find any details of any living relative," Tim supplied as he searched the system on his phone for the Lieutenant's personal information. Tony was sketching while Ziva took photographs. Once he had given Gibbs the minimal information that he could get without being at his desk Tim started bagging and tagging the evidence, which actually wasn't much.
"Time and cause of death Ducky," Gibbs wanted to know.
"I would say this poor young man expired between midnight and one AM, Jethro. As for cause of death, I would hazard a guess that he bled to death from one of the three knife wounds in his torso. I will of course be able to tell you more once I get him home. Mr Palmer…"
"Coming Doctor Mallard," his assistant hurried forward to help get the body into a bag and onto the gurney.
"This is very clean for an alley, is it not?" asked Ziva.
"I was just thinking that," replied Tim, "It looks like it was recently cleared."
Gibbs looked around and had to agree with his agents' assessment. The normal detritus of abandoned rubbish was missing. There were the usual dumpsters for the businesses that backed on to the alley, but no sign of the usual mess he would expect to find.
"Perhaps the alley was cleared by whoever killed our LT," stated Tony, "Maybe they put something into one of these dumpsters," he grinned wickedly at Tim, "Probie gets to go dumpster diving!"
Tim opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by Gibbs, "Actually DiNozzo, I want Tim to finish bagging and tagging what he can see and get it back to Abby for her to start work on, then…"
"Find out as much information as I can about Lieutenant Hone, got it Boss," Tim actually tried not to grin with glee at getting out of the dumpster diving, but didn't really succeed.
"Then I guess it will be our little Ninja chick," Tony glanced at Ziva, who glared at him. Honestly if looks could kill the Senior Field Agent would drop dead at least half a dozen times a day.
"Ziva, you're with me," Gibbs broke in before any threats could be made to Tony's person, "I want you to canvass the businesses on the right side of the alley, I'll take the left," he then turned to Tony with one of his barely noticeable half smirks, "DiNozzo…"
"Dumpster diving," sighed Tony, "On it Boss."
"Watch out for any rats there Tony," chuckled Tim as he put the little evidence he had collected into a box and picked it up.
"Hahaha McNotFunny," if Tim had been within reach Tony would probably have head slapped the younger man, but as it was all he could do was glare.
Tim turned his attention away from the SFA and headed out of the alley, not in the least bit bothered by his attempt to intimidate. At the entrance he stopped and looked across the road, "Boss…"
"What is it McGee?" asked the Team Leader coming to stand next to his agent.
"A couple of the businesses across from the alley have security cameras; do you want me to get the footage before I head back to the Yard?"
"No, head back. I'll get it and bring it in," he handed Tim the keys to the agency sedan that he had driven over in and he would go back in the NCIS van with Tony and Ziva.
McGee took the keys and nodded before securing the evidence in the trunk, getting behind the wheel and driving off, leaving the rest of the team to finish processing the crime scene.
-NCIS-
"Well what you got for me McGee," demanded Gibbs as he came sweeping into the bullpen with Ziva on his heels and an unusually quiet Tony.
"Lieutenant Hone has no living relatives," Tim put the man's service record up on the plasma, "He joined the Navy right out of college. There are no issues noted on his service record, nothing really stands out about him. I'm running his financials and phone records at the moment."
"Ziva, track down his CO. DiNozzo, go shower," Gibbs smirked as he watched his SFA sidle passed him and move towards the back elevator so that he could get to the locker rooms.
"Did you find anything else?" Tim asked as he glanced at his computer before looking back.
"Plenty of trash in the dumpsters that will need to be gone through," Ziva watched as Tim looked nervously at Gibbs hoping he wasn't about to be ordered to go and pick through the trash. She decided to take pity on him, "Abby is going to go through it and check for anything that may relate to our crime after she has got the tests running on the knife that Tony found."
"He found the murder weapon?"
"Looks like it," Gibbs responded before settling at his own desk.
Silence descended over the team as Tim continued to go through the financial records and Ziva made multiple calls to track down Hone's CO. The silence was only broken when Tony returned a few minutes later as Gibbs ordered him to start trying to locate any friends that Hone may have had outside of the service.
An hour later Ziva had finished her phone calls, "Colonel Johnson, Lieutenant Hone's CO, is at Quantico, along with the rest of his platoon."
Gibbs was about to order Tony and Ziva to go and talk to the Colonel when a noise from Tim's desk stopped him.
"Huh…"
"McGee?"
Tony and Ziva shared a glance before turning their attention back to their team mate who after making his little huff had begun typing more furiously than he had been previously. They pushed back from their desks and joined their boss standing in front of the younger man's desk.
Gibbs was not known for his patience but he also knew better than to interrupt his computer specialist when he was pulling the face that he was at that moment. It was the face that said he was on to something and just needed a little more time before he had the information to satisfy any questions his boss may have.
"Boss…" Tim glanced up and pushed his chair back slightly, not expecting to see his three team mates standing in front of him.
"What ya got McGee?"
"This," he put a form up on the plasma screen for them to see, "An offshore account with two hundred thousand dollars in it. A payment of fifty thousand pounds was paid into this account for the last four months."
"Who's been making the payments?"
"That's the problem Boss; I can't tell at the moment, the account is in Panama. Without a warrant…"
"And even then they may not give us what we need," pointed out Tony. As Federal Agents they were all too aware of the fact that although offshore banking was more transparent since 9/11 there were still some countries that seemed immune, Panama being one of those countries.
"I'll speak to Vance and see if there's anything he can do," Gibbs stated before making his way up the stairs to the Director's office, "McGee, with me."
-NCIS-
When Gibbs and McGee returned to the bullpen the Team Leader didn't look too happy. Tim quietly slid into his desk and checked the searches he had left running.
"How'd it go?"
"Vance has got legal trying to get us a warrant."
"He has? Then what took so long?" Tony blurted out before he could think about who he was asking. He looked across at Tim who just shook his head.
"DiNozzo, David, go to Quantico and speak to Hone's CO."
"On it Boss!" Tony quickly grabbed his gear and was followed to the elevator by Ziva, relieved to be getting out of the bullpen.
Tim didn't even look up as they left. He may not be able to see where the money had come from but he was going through the phone records and checking out who the numbers belonged to in the hope that a name would come up to give them a lead on who had killed the Lieutenant.
It was about an hour later when someone from legal showed up with a warrant. Gibbs took it and immediately gave it to McGee. He was on the phone for over an hour trying to convince a low level manager, then a director, then the director that the information they held on the Lieutenant's account was critical to his murder investigation. He faxed the warrant over which just caused the director to scoff and tell him that they would not be dictated to by the American Government; then he hung up.
McGee looked at the phone in his hand and then over at his boss; Gibbs took one look at him and knew that they would have to get their answers another way.
"Plan B," Gibbs told the younger man, who simply nodded before disappearing down to Abby's lab to work from the computer in her secure office.
-NCIS-
Tony and Ziva returned to the bullpen late that afternoon, "Where's McGee?" asked Tony as he dropped his gear behind his desk.
"Working DiNozzo. What ya got?"
"Colonel Johnson said that Lieutenant Hone was a well-liked member of the platoon. He worked well with everyone, had no enemies but though a good officer there was nothing exceptional about his performance. He was just an average Marine." Ziva told Gibbs.
Tony winced at the comment about an average Marine, pretty sure there was no such thing; he quickly spoke before Gibbs could say anything, "The members of the platoon said that he didn't appear to have any friends outside the Marines. When they were Stateside he would spend time hiking or would hang out with others from his squad."
"He wasn't particularly close to one individual. Never threw money or his rank around."
"Basically you got nothing?"
"Not a thing Boss," Tony's shoulders drooped.
"I have!" McGee all but ran into the bullpen before putting a picture up on the plasma, "Meet Lieutenant Hannah Jefferson, also twenty eight, no living relatives, lives alone off base when not deployed. She is part of a different platoon but in the same company as Lieutenant Hone…"
"Why are you telling us about her McGee?" Tony interrupted.
"I was getting to that DiNozzo!" Tim rolled his eyes, "She is also responsible for the deposits into Hone's offshore account and has the same amount of money in her own."
"Where the hell did she get that kind of money?"
"Boss," he ignored Tony's question, "Here's her current address. Plan B is going to be needed here as well. The payment was made from another offshore account in Panama…"
"Tony, Ziva, go and pick up Lieutenant Jefferson and bring her in for questioning. McGee, take a break."
"But Boss…"
"You haven't had a break since you went down to Abby's lab," Gibbs scowled at his youngest, knowing that when he got involved in computer work he had to be reminded to eat, "DiNozzo brought back some food, take some down to Abby, eat, if we can't get anything out of Lieutenant Jefferson then we'll use plan B, but only then. Got it?"
One look at the raised eyebrow had McGee complying, "Thanks Tony," he nodded at the older man before grabbing the bags that had been left on his desk and disappearing back down to the lab. Tony and Ziva had watched the exchange in amusement.
"You still here?" the eyebrow was turned on them.
"Going Boss," Tony once again grabbed his gear and walked with Ziva to the elevator.
-NCIS-
"Are they back yet?" asked Tim as he entered the bullpen a short time later.
"Not yet…" anything else he was going to say was cut off by Gibbs' cell ringing, "Gibbs…"
"Boss, we won't be getting any answers from Lieutenant Jefferson."
"Isn't she there?"
"Oh she's here alright Boss, but she's dead!"
"Dammit! I'm on my way, I'll let Ducky know," he closed the cell as he stood up, grabbing his gun out of the drawer.
"Boss?"
"Plan B for Jefferson. She's dead."
Tim rubbed a hand over his hair, nodded and returned to Abby's lab again. It had taken him hours to hack into Hone's offshore account and then trace the payments back to Jefferson's, making sure that he didn't leave a trace of what he'd been doing. Now he had to do it all again, but this time on Jefferson's account. She had to have got the money in her own account and to pay Hone, from somewhere. It was going to be a long night.
Gibbs entered the lab a couple of hours later with evidence for Abby to log in and told her to go home once that was done. She protested but he wanted her to look at the new evidence with fresh eyes, so she reluctantly agreed. The Team Leader tried to get McGee's attention to tell him the same but Abby put a hand on his arm, "Don't disturb him now Gibbs. He needs to concentrate in order to get out clean."
Gibbs didn't really understand what she was talking about, but he trusted her judgement about computer work and if she said to leave him be, then that's what he'd do, for now at least.
It was just gone midnight when Gibbs ventured back down to the lab, Tony and Ziva hot on his heels wanting to find out what their partner had actually been doing all this time. The team, minus McGee, had processed the crime scene and then done a search of her phone records and cross referenced them with Hone's; something Tim would normally do but since he was busy with the financials it was left to Tony and Ziva. Gibbs interviewed Jefferson's CO himself but got pretty much the same story. Well liked, unremarkable and worked well with the rest of her platoon.
Tony started to laugh when they walked into the lab; McGee was sitting in Abby's office chair, well kind of sitting in it. He was actually sprawled with his backside barely on the seat, his head back and his mouth open, gently snoring. A glint of mischief entered the SFA's eyes as he thought of the best way to wake up the sleeping man, but it was extinguished with one look from the Team Leader.
"Go home, be back at 07:00," he ordered his two awake team members. They nodded and quietly left the lab. Gibbs smirked at his youngest; he had always looked so young but he looked even more so when he was asleep. He walked quietly over to him and gently shook his shoulder.
Tim snuffled and slowly opened his eyes, when he suddenly realised that he was still at work and his boss was shaking his shoulder he sat bolt upright, nearly falling off the chair! "Er, sorry Boss…" he stumbled over his words as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"You get anything?"
He looked at the screen that he had left running a program to search the name he'd managed to get from the offshore account. "Yeah, another Lieutenant; this time from a different platoon. Lieutenant Ryan Baker. It's the same thing again though Boss; another offshore account in Panama. Each account is left with the same amount of money, but obviously the initial amount is higher in the latest one, so instead of a payment of fifty thousand for the last four months, there's a payment of one hundred and fifty thousand. Baker then paid one hundred thousand into Jefferson's account, who then paid fifty thousand into Hone's. I'm going to need to do the same thing with Baker's account and hope that he's the last in the chain."
"Alright, give me the address. Tony, Ziva and I can go over there in the morning; you can start working on Baker's account. Now I want you to go home and get some rest."
Tim tore a piece of paper from Abby's notepad that she'd left on her desk and wrote the address down, handing it to Gibbs, "I'll start the search now…"
"No, you won't. You'll get some rest. That's an order McGee, not a request."
"Yes Boss, I'll just need to shut everything down in here, then I'll go."
Gibbs gave him an appraising look before nodding, "See you at 07:00," he called over his shoulder as he left.
Tim waited until he heard the ding of the elevator arriving and heard Gibbs' footsteps as he got on it before turning his attention back to the screen. There was no way he'd go against an order from his boss, but he could get some sleep on Abby's futon, shower and change in the locker room and be back to searching Baker's account first thing. Decision made he pulled the futon out from where it was stored, grabbed the blanket and pillow that Abby kept in a drawer, set the alarm on his phone, before settling down for a few hours' sleep.
-NCIS-
Tim was up, showered, dressed and back at the computer in Abby's office by 06:00. He had managed a good five hours sleep and felt refreshed. Hopefully this would be the last time he would have to hack into an offshore account; after all it wasn't exactly legal. He knew that Gibbs would go to bat for him and protect him if this blew up in their faces, but he still wanted to keep his hacking to a minimum. In fact Tim hadn't really wanted to do this from Abby's computer, although he could mask the IP address, he was worried that if something went wrong she could be blamed. There hadn't been much choice though as doing this up in the bullpen was too risky, especially as his monitor could be seen by people coming down the stairs from MTAC and the Director's office.
The ding of the elevator alerted him to the fact that someone was heading for the lab. He glanced up from where he was sitting as Gibbs swept in.
"Morning McGee," greeted the Team Leader as he placed a cup of coffee and a bag in front of his agent.
"Er, morning Boss…" he glanced at the coffee questioningly.
"Yes, McGee, it's for you," Gibbs rolled his eyes as he watched Tim take a sip of the beverage and close his eyes as he enjoyed the taste.
"Thanks Boss," he opened the bag and pulled out a breakfast burrito, still warm. His stomach rumbled in appreciation, causing him to blush slightly.
"You didn't go home last night," stated Gibbs.
Tim gulped. Everyone knew he couldn't lie, especially not to Gibbs, besides it had been a statement, not a question, "No, I slept on Abby's futon. I didn't do any more work after you left last night and I've only just started this morning."
"Uh huh," Gibbs nodded as he took a sip of his own coffee. He had known that McGee wasn't going to leave the Yard, but knew that he would get the rest he'd been ordered to at least so he wasn't concerned, at least not yet, "I'm taking Tony and Ziva to Lieutenant Baker's house. You get anything, you call me."
"Yes Boss," McGee almost sighed with relief at not being reprimanded for staying the night. Once Gibbs left he finished his breakfast and got to work on getting into Baker's account and tracing where he had been receiving the payments from.
-NCIS-
"This is getting ridiculous," growled Tony as he dropped into his chair, "Three dead Lieutenants in two days."
"Technically Tony it's three dead Lieutenants in one day, given Ducky's times of death," pointed out Ziva.
"Thanks for pointing that out Zeevah!" Tony rolled his eyes, "I wonder if McGoo got anything."
"Why don't you ask him DiNozzo?" Gibbs entered the bullpen after dropping the evidence from their latest crime scene off with Abby, McGee right behind him.
"I've got the name of the next person in what appears to be a chain," McGee told his team as he brought up yet another Lieutenant's service record on the screen, "Meet Lieutenant Rico Mendez. Same platoon as Lieutenant Baker. Again he has no living relatives, lives alone. I spoke to his CO and he pretty much said the same thing about Mendez as he did about Baker."
"So none of these Marines were going to set the world on fire, so to speak, but they were all good, solid soldiers?"
"Pretty much," agreed Tim.
"Then why in the hell did they each have two hundred thousand dollars in offshore accounts?" growled Tony.
"I don't think they did."
Tony looked at Tim with his mouth hanging open, "What? You're the one that's spent hours tracking down this money…"
"I know that. I'm not saying the accounts and money don't exist Tony, but I think the identity of the Lieutenants was being used for them, I don't think any of them knew about these accounts."
"What makes you say that McGee?" asked Ziva, curious as to what the man was thinking.
"I went through their standard bank accounts. Not one of them was a big spender, they each had a healthy amount saved given their ages and the Corps was their family. I looked into their family history, there's not even a hint of any of them being anything but good people, no skeletons in their closets. What were they being given this money for? Not one of them was in a position high enough up to be in possession of top secret information that could be sold."
"But why them and not one of the other thousands of Marines or sailors?"
"I don't know Tony. I just don't think they were actually the ones getting the money."
"Now we need to prove that," stated Gibbs, "McGee, give Tony the address for Lieutenant Mendez. DiNozzo, take Ziva…"
"Bring him in for questioning," Tony wearily grabbed his gear, "If he's still alive."
-NCIS-
Tim didn't know what was going on, but come Saturday he was ready to punch something. The whole team were frustrated. Lieutenant Rico Mendez wasn't at home and had been declared UA. There had been no signs of a break in or any other signs of a disturbance at his home. None of his fellow Marines had seen him since the Tuesday that Lieutenant Hone had been found murdered. McGee had continued to try to trace the offshore accounts back but it was taking longer and longer to do as he needed to vary his route into the accounts so that he didn't set a traceable pattern. He had managed to identify another two Marines, this time both had been Chief Warrant Officers and they had both been found dead.
"Timmy, you need to take a break," Abby said from behind him as she rested her hands on his shoulders.
"I can't Abs. I need to find the next one in the chain. I need to be faster!"
Abby grabbed the chair he was sat on and spun it round so he was facing her, "You listen to me Timothy, no middle name, McGee, this is not your fault!"
"Perhaps if I could find these names faster we'd actually be able to get to one of them alive Abby!"
"You can't blame yourself for this Timmy! You're working as fast as you can."
"She's right McGee," Tony said as he walked up behind Abby. He gave a nod of his head to her to indicate that he had this, "You've been putting more hours in than any of us and you're only one person."
"There are five dead and one missing Marine, Tony. Who knows how many more before I get to the end of this trail! We don't even know why they're being killed or what this money is for!"
"Tim, you're not listening to me!" Tony placed his hands on his friend's shoulders, "This is not your fault! There are only so many hours in a day and you're doing all you can, we all are."
"I just need to spend more time on this."
"No, absolutely not! Don't think we don't know that you've been spending every night here Tim! You wouldn't lie to Gibbs so we know you've been getting some sleep, but I'm betting it's only a few hours each night. You can't go on like this; you have to get some proper rest!" Tony was interrupted from saying any more by his cell, "DiNozzo."
"They've found Mendez's body."
"I'm on my way," Tony closed the phone and saw the look on Tim's face and knew he'd heard. "You can't do more than what you are!" he moved his hand to squeeze the back of Tim's neck before leaving to process yet another crime scene with Gibbs and Ziva.
-NCIS-
That night the team gathered in the bullpen, including Ducky, Palmer and Abby. They ate dinner as they discussed the case. All six Marines had been killed in the same manner but with a different knife that had been left behind at the crime scene.
Tim had been ordered away from the computer by Ducky and then by Gibbs when he ignored the ME. He had tracked the next name in the chain, though it still wasn't the final name and his computer was now running a search for William Cowen, aged thirty five years old, at least according to the information from his offshore account. Although they had the address that was linked to the offshore account they were waiting for the search to come back so they had more information.
Abby hadn't been able to find anything in the security camera footage at any of the scenes and there hadn't been any drugs or alcohol in their systems.
Ducky and Palmer had found no signs of defensive wounds on any of the bodies, indicating that each of them knew their attacker or at the very least was caught by surprise, not an easy thing to do with a trained Marine.
In between crime scenes and computer searches the team had been cross referencing everyone from the Company the six had been connected with, but with over four thousand five hundred names it was taking a while to go through and then background each one.
They were just clearing up the remainder of the food cartons from the Chinese they'd ordered when Tim's computer beeped to let him know it had found something. He stopped what he was doing and hurried back to his chair.
"On the plasma McGee," ordered Gibbs.
"Major William Cowen, single, no living relatives, same as before Boss," said Tim as he put the man's service record up on the screen, "Different platoon again, but same company. I've set up a search to cross reference his phone records with the other six Marines, but I suspect that we'll hit a dead end again with that."
"Alright, get us an address McGee…"
"Shit!"
The others exchanged surprised looks, Tim rarely swore. "What is it?"
"He was reported UA this morning," sighed Tim, "The report filed shows that MPs checked his apartment and found no sign of him. All his clothes are still in the closet and as far as they could tell there was no break in or anything missing. No signs of a struggle either."
"Alright, Tony and Ziva, get over to his apartment and process it," ordered Gibbs, "McGee I want you to check every single incoming and outgoing call made from either his cell or his home phone."
The three agents jumped to follow Gibbs' orders while Ducky, Palmer and Abby all returned to their own domains.
-NCIS-
Tim threw his keys down on the table in the hallway of his apartment, hung up his jacket and dropped his back pack in the closet there before going into the kitchen to get a drink. Gibbs had ordered everyone home to get some rest when Tony and Ziva returned from Major Cowen's apartment. He had refused to let Tim start another trace on the deposits being made into his Cowen's offshore account.
There had been nothing in the phone records, no matter how long Tim had stared at them but there had been something nagging at the back of his mind that he hadn't been quite able to grasp. Sighing he took a bottle of water from the fridge and went through to his bedroom. He quickly stripped out of his work clothes and decided on a shower before bed, hoping the heat would help relax him and enable him to get some sleep.
It was around 03:00, his sleep restless and plagued by dreams that he finally gave up and decided to get up and perhaps play a video game, hoping that it would take his mind off of the case. He booted up his PC and settled into his chair. That was when an idea came to him.
Ignoring his gaming icons he quickly clicked to open a spread sheet and listed the names of all of the Marines in one column, then their estimated times of death in another. Hone had died between midnight and 01:00 on Tuesday; Jefferson also on Tuesday but between 13:00 and 15:00; Baker had also died on the Tuesday, his TOD was between 17:00 and 18:00; Mendez, although not found until last had a TOD of Wednesday between 06:00 and 07:00; the fifth Marine, Warrant Officer James Joseph, died Wednesday between 21:00 and 23:00; the sixth and final victim, Warrant Officer Sarah Chambers, died Thursday between 09:00 and 10:00.
Looking at the list Tim felt a lump lodge in his throat and his stomach churn. It had taken him too long to trace Sarah Chambers from James Joseph's account and then even longer to trace Major Cowen. Of course if he'd made this comment to a member of his team, especially Gibbs, he'd probably have received a head slap, he hadn't just been hacking into the offshore accounts but had also been cross referencing phone records and doing backgrounds on other Marines. If he had spent all his time in Abby's lab during the investigation it would have looked too suspicious if someone suspected that they were getting their information in a less than legal manner, so he had to spend time up in the bullpen doing 'regular' work with his team.
As he stared at the list something stirred in his mind, he concentrated on the times of death; something about those times was causing his gut to churn. He entered a new column on his sheet, one that detailed the time he had started the investigation into each offshore account and the time he'd finished it.
Once he was done one glance had him running for his bathroom to throw up any undigested food in his stomach. When he was finished he sat next to the toilet with his head resting against the wall. This was his fault. Each of the TOD's was during the time he was hacking into the offshore accounts for that victim, with the exception of Hone. Somehow someone had known he was starting to look into the next person in the chain and not wanting to risk NCIS getting evidence that the person whose name the account was in knew nothing about it, they had murdered them.
He had to tell Gibbs; he pushed to his feet and steadied himself against the wall as he went in search of his cell. Opening the cell he saw that it was only 04:00. No, he wouldn't wake Gibbs up right now, he needed proof.
There must have been someone in the NCIS building who knew exactly what he was doing. Although they had talked about the accounts and the fact Tim had located the next person in the chain, nobody had said how he had done it while in the bullpen. The chances are someone had a backdoor into Abby's computer and had followed him, although he had done everything to cover his tracks he hadn't looked closer to home to make sure nobody was watching Abby's computer, something he was kicking himself for now. There was only one place in NCIS that would have the necessary programs to do what this person had done, other than the computers in Cyber Crimes; Tim's and Abby's, which was MTAC.
He immediately ruled out Cyber Crimes because they had to account for everything they did and were carefully monitored to ensure they weren't doing what Tim had been. The only way he was going to find out who had been doing it was to go into NCIS and access MTAC. If he could look at each of the computers in there he should be able to find proof. That was the joy of being asked to write the security protocols for a secure system, he knew every way in which information could be hidden and had written programs to place certain types of information on a hidden partition on the hard drive, all he needed to do was access each hard drive and he'd be able to see who had been doing what on the MTAC computers.
-NCIS-
Tim slipped into the building at around 05:00, signing in without any fuss as the guards were used to seeing agents, but especially members of the MCRT, coming and going at all hours.
Using the stairs Tim made his way up to MTAC, hoping that it was empty at this time on a Sunday morning. He knew that there were no operations planned that would require the use of MTAC and that one of the techs would be on call just in case but he was pretty hopeful that nobody would be there. If someone was there he'd simply tell them that he was in to do a systems check, which was something he did every now and then so would be believable.
Once outside MTAC he leaned forward to use the iris scanner and was immediately granted access. Looking around he found that the computers were powered into standby mode which meant nobody was currently using MTAC, relieved he made his way towards the first station, logged on and immediately inspected the partitioned hard drive.
There were five computers in MTAC and he was searching the fourth one when the door opened. Tim took a deep breath and turned to see the Chief Technician entering.
"Hey McGee, didn't know you were scheduled to be in here today," Walter Dobbs stated as he casually walked down the few steps.
Tim was immediately on alert, the way Walter was acting was a little too casual for his liking, "I couldn't sleep, heavy case at the moment but I'm banned from working on it until later so figured I'd come and do a systems check."
"Oh yeah, what's the case about?"
"You know I can't talk about it outside of the team Walter," McGee gave the man a cautious smile as he closed down the fourth PC and moved on to the fifth and final one. None of the previous computers had shown anything so it would have to be this one, which of course was the last one, just typical!
"Well I'm going to have to ask you to stop what you're doing."
"Oh, why's that?" Tim paused in front of the final PC.
"I need to set up MTAC for a meeting in," he looked at his watch, "About an hour."
Like Pavlov's dog, McGee also looked at his watch, 06:30. He'd been at this an hour and a half. Just because he knew where the partition was didn't make it a quick job to get into it as he needed to make sure that nobody else would be able to tell what he'd been doing. Tim had a strong suspicion that the person he was looking for was stood in this room with him. The only question was did he know that Tim suspected it or was he just in early to check on anything Tim might have done the previous day.
"No problem, I can come back and finish later," Tim replied, grabbing his gear and, as nonchalantly as possible, walking passed Walter and out of the door to MTAC.
Walter allowed Tim to walk out of MTAC before following him, quickly he scanned the lower bullpen and noted that it was empty and then he charged at McGee.
Tim had just stepped through the doorway when he sensed that Dobbs was following him, a quick look around told him that he was on his own whatever was about to happen. The moment the other man made a move Tim sensed it and side stepped, dropping his back pack on the ground so he could use both hands to defend himself.
Dobbs may only be an MTAC technician but he was also an ex-Marine, though not as obvious about it as Gibbs, so it was a little known fact about him, that meant he was more than a match for Tim in hand to hand combat, that didn't stop the agent from putting up one hell of a fight. They traded blows, Dobbs managed to strike McGee on his cheek a few times, but Tim also managed to get in a few of his own to the other man's abdomen and a good strong hit to his jaw which was likely to leave a nice bruise. Both men were evenly matched in height but Tim was lean where Dobbs was broad. It may have been that on another day Tim could have beaten the ex-Marine, who was approaching his sixtieth birthday, but he was running on little sleep and the other man kept in shape, despite his age.
Tim managed another blow to Dobbs' face, causing the older man to step back, blood slowly running from his damaged nose. He quickly wiped the blood on his sleeve and decided enough was enough, with a series of kicks and punches he backed McGee up towards the balcony. Tim was concentrating on fighting back and hadn't noticed the danger; that was until Dobbs bent at the waist, grabbed him round his thighs and heaved him over the edge.
There was little time for Tim to register what had happened, he flung his arms out in a vain effort to save himself and just a second later his body hit the floor beneath the balcony. The shock of the fall and the pain that quickly registered in the Agent's body caused him to black out.
Peering over the railing for the balcony Dobbs gave a sinister smile, picked up the young agent's back pack and dropped it over the railing to fall beside him. Knowing he needed to keep the other man from being found in the near future and allow him to get away he strode down the stairs to the bullpen and pulled the fire alarm. The few people that were in the building would now evacuate. Naturally there were procedures in place for someone to check each of the floors but since Dobbs was one of the people that would do this if in the building he could tell security that the bullpen floor was clear, after he'd actually checked it of course.
Minutes later he was down in the lobby, "Bullpen level, MTAC and the Director's office are clear," he told the security guard standing at the checkpoint at the front of the building.
The guard looked at the signing in sheet in front of him, where one name remained unchecked, "What about Agent McGee?"
"Oh I saw him as he was heading out to grab some food," Dobbs shrugged.
"He hasn't signed out."
"I think he went through the evidence garage. You know what these Agents are like, anything to save time."
The guard rolled his eyes, "Yeah, alright," ordinarily he would have questioned Dobbs further but Agent Gibbs approached him so he turned his attention away from the MTAC Technician, who was then able to slip out of the Yard unnoticed.
"Report," barked Gibbs.
"A fire alarm was set off on the bullpen level Agent Gibbs."
"Any confirmation of an actual fire?"
"No Sir, but you know as well as I do that we have to wait for the Navy Yard's fire team to attend. It does look like a false alarm though."
"Boss," Tony interrupted, much to the guard's relief.
"Fire alarm, probably false but need to wait for clearance to head back in," growled Gibbs. Not a patient man at the best of times, let alone when they were investigating a case of this magnitude. They were soon joined by Palmer, Ducky, Abby and Ziva.
"Where's McGee?"
Gibbs looked around, "Clearly he's not here yet Abby."
"Is that not his car in the parking lot?" Ziva wanted to know.
"Yeah, now you mention it I did notice the Porsche as I parked just now," agreed Jimmy.
"Hey," Tony called to the guard that was still standing at the front of the checkpoint area.
"Yeah?"
"Have you seen Agent McGee?"
The guard looked at his sheet, "He clocked in just before 05:00…"
"I'm going to kill him!" Gibbs stated gruffly, "Told him I didn't want to see him 'til 08:00."
"Have you seen him since the alarm?"
"No. One of the MTAC Techs said he'd gone for food…"
"But you didn't actually see him leave…"
"No, the Tech said he'd gone through the evidence garage, to avoid having to sign out and back in again."
"Probie? No way!"
"McGee would not do such a thing!"
"Timmy wouldn't do that, it's against the rules!"
"Enough!" Gibbs ordered, pulling out his cell and dialling his errant agent's cell. The phone rang several times before going to voicemail, "No answer. I'm going in…"
"Agent Gibbs I can't let you do that!" protested the guard.
"I'm going with you, Boss," stated DiNozzo.
"As am I," agreed Ziva.
The three marched across the space between the checkpoint and the front doors of the building, the guard protesting loudly.
"Oh, my dear boy, I wouldn't bother. Once Jethro's mind is made up I'm afraid there's no changing it!" Ducky told the guard with a smile.
"Do you think Timmy's alright?"
"I'm sure he's fine Abigail. You know how Timothy gets when he's working on something. He probably figured it was a false alarm and decided to keep working."
"Agent Gibbs will not be happy with him if he did."
"No indeed not," agreed Ducky, hoping that was all it was.
-NCIS-
"Ziva, check Abby's lab; DiNozzo, check MTAC, I'll check the bullpen."
The three split up. Ziva jogged down the stairs to Abby's lab but found it in darkness with no sign of McGee. She didn't linger and turned to go and meet her team mates at the bullpen.
DiNozzo and Gibbs carried on up the stairs, though Tony carried up another flight in order to reach MTAC via the back stairs rather than using the ones in the bullpen. The iris scanner allowed him access and he found the room empty. Exiting he stood at the balcony ready to call to his boss when something caught his eye, "Gibbs!" he yelled as he started running down the stairs taking them two and three at a time.
Gibbs entered the bullpen and found that there was no sign of McGee at his desk. He was just wondering where on earth his wandering agent could have got to when Tony shouted as he started running down the stairs. The two men met at the bottom and Tony carried on round to the small alcove the other side of the stairs from their desks. The still form of Tim McGee lay in a crumpled heap.
"Tim!" DiNozzo knelt next to his friend and tried to find a pulse without moving him.
Gibbs' own heart was in his mouth as he knelt next to his SFA, waiting to find out if his boy was alive, "DiNozzo?"
"I can't find a pulse!"
Gibbs quickly pushed Tony's hands out of the way as he reached for Tim's carotid artery. The relief of feeling a pulse was short lived when he thought about the possible injuries the young man could have.
A curse in Hebrew let Gibbs know that Ziva had found them, "Get Ducky up here, now!"
Ziva pulled out her cell as Tony pushed to his feet taking in deep breaths, trying to push the panic away. What the hell had happened? How was Tim, their gentle, honest to a fault team mate lying on the ground in their own building unconscious? Tony looked up at the balcony and almost gulped. Making sure that Gibbs was staying with Tim he hurried back up the stairs, Ziva hot on his heels.
"Tony?"
"Just a minute," he looked carefully at the ground and spotted what he'd been looking for, "Blood…"
Ziva swore again before pulling her back pack off her shoulders, since she hadn't yet had a chance to remove it, she thrust a camera into Tony's hands before donning a pair of gloves. Once Tony had taken pictures of both the blood and what appeared to be some scuff marks on the railing Ziva used some swabs to collect samples from the various blood spots that Tony had found.
"Boss," Tony called over the balcony, without leaning on anything, "It looks like there was a struggle up here, Tim must have…" he couldn't finish the sentence. To say out loud that his Probie had fallen from the balcony would make it true.
"Dear Lord, what on earth happened Jethro?" demanded Ducky as he came round the corner and saw Tim lying next to him.
"Not really sure Duck. Looks like he took a tumble over the balcony," replied Gibbs, his hand still pressed against Tim's carotid artery.
"Has an ambulance been called?"
"I called one Ducky," Ziva told him as she continued to examine the area around MTAC and down the stairs for further evidence.
"I left Mr Palmer with Abigail, she was quite distraught when she heard that I was needed to look at Timothy," Ducky told Gibbs as he carefully knelt down beside his friend. Gently he moved Gibbs to the side and started a brief examination. A groan dragged everyone's attention to their co-worker and family member.
"Timothy, you need to lay still young man," Ducky told him, hoping that he could hear him.
For his part Tim had started to become aware something was wrong when he felt a hand pressing against his neck. He could hear the voices of his team and Ducky, though they sounded distant somehow. Deciding to stay still until he could assess just what was going he thought about the last thing he remembered, briefly wondering if he'd fallen asleep at his desk. If he had Gibbs was going to kill him.
The case, the six dead Marines. Something had been off, what was it? He tried to move, to open his eyes, get someone's attention but pain throbbed through his body and he groaned. He heard Ducky's voice and tried to turn his head towards it.
"No Timothy, I need you to lie still," Ducky repeated as he saw the injured man try to move his head, "Jethro, hold his head, keep him still and calm."
"It's alright McGee," Gibbs told him he as he gently, but firmly, put his hands either side of Tim's head to hold it still.
"Wha… 'ppen'd?" he asked.
"Kind of hoping you could tell us that Tim," Replied Gibbs, "But that can wait, you just keep still, helps on the way."
Tim felt safe knowing his boss was with him. Did he have a reason not to feel safe? What had happened? He tried to think back. He had come to the Yard early; he'd been in MTAC… That's it! He tried to move again, but the firm hands of his boss wouldn't allow any movement of his head and Ducky immediately prevented any movement of the rest of his body.
"Anthony, come and give us a hand. Ziva, make sure the EMTs know where to come," instructed Ducky as he tried once more to keep Tim from moving.
Both agents stopped what they were doing and hurried to do as had been requested. Tony gently placed his hands on Tim's legs to stop him from moving them too much, but tried not to put too much pressure on them in case he'd hurt them in the fall, "It's OK Probie, just keep still now," he tried to soothe.
"B's…" Tim peeled his eyes open slowly.
"Right here Tim," he leaned further forward so he could be seen easily.
"Dobbs…"
"Dobbs?"
"Mmm hmm."
"Who's Dobbs?" asked Tony.
"The only Dobbs I can think of is the one that works in MTAC," replied Ducky.
"Hang on; didn't that guard say that one of the MTAC Techs told him that McGee had gone out to get something to eat through the evidence garage?" Tony recalled.
"Yeah he did," Gibbs continued to focus on Tim, "Let's keep the answers to yes or no, OK Tim?"
"'K."
"Did you fall from the balcony?"
Tim almost visibly winced at the words but tried to nod his head.
"Keep still Tim, just say yes or no."
"Yss," the word came out slurred, but understandable.
"Was it an accident?"
"No."
"Are you saying Dobbs, the MTAC Tech, did this?"
"Yss."
"The EMTs are here," Ziva informed them as she led two men over.
"That's enough for now Tim, don't you worry, we'll find him," Gibbs promised, "Now I need you to do what the EMTs tell you, OK?"
"'K."
"What's your name?" asked one of the EMTs leaning forward into Tim's line of sight as his partner spoke to Ducky.
"Tim."
"I'm Joe and this lady is my partner, Jasmine. We're going to take care of you but I need you to not move."
"'K." Tim registered that the man was tall and broad, at least in relation to where he stood talking to Ducky and his female partner. He had a mop of black hair but his eyes had been friendly. The woman he'd called Jasmine had dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, she looked slim and petite next to her partner, but nobody knew better than Tim McGee not to judge a book by its cover.
"Hi Tim," Jasmine knelt down next to him, "I'm going to put this collar on you to stabilise your neck, it's just a precaution," she informed her patient before briskly securing the collar, releasing Gibbs' hands from Tim's head. Tim felt the loss of his boss' presence keenly and tried to shift to see him, "No Tim, you've got to keep still!"
"B's…" the word was barely a whisper, but Jasmine could hear the distress.
"The man that was holding your head still?" Jasmine deciphered the word as best as she could and heard a barely coherent 'yes', "He's still here Tim." Gibbs had been talking to Ducky at the side when he caught the tail end of Jasmine's conversation with his agent, he looked up and she waved him closer, "Tim was wondering where you'd gone," she told him before turning her attention back to assessing her patient.
"Still here Tim, not going anywhere," he assured the young man as he once again knelt by his head, out of the way of the medics but still in Tim's line of sight.
Jasmine secured an oxygen mask over her patient's face as Joe slid a needle into his hand, "Alright Tim, can you tell me where it hurts?" the man asked.
Thinking about it Tim realised that he couldn't actually feel any pain at that moment. The pain that he'd felt on first coming round was gone, "No… pain."
"Alright Tim, that's good," assured Joe, exchanging glances with his partner that nobody else would be able to decipher. Of course nobody listening thought that feeling no pain after a fall of this nature was a good thing. The first thing to pop into everyone's head was 'spinal injury'.
"Tim, we're going to strap you to a back board. We don't know what you're injuries are and we're not going to take any chances. You let us do all the work though, OK?"
"'K." Tim had never felt less like talking so only having to give one word answers was fine by him, one letter answers were even better.
Shortly after Tim was secured on a back board and placed on the gurney then wheeled out of the building. He heard Abby squealing his name and expected Gibbs to go to her, but was pleasantly surprised when he remained beside Tim, right in his line of sight. Just behind his Team Leader he spotted the SFA moving off in Abby's direction.
"I'm going with him," Gibbs told the EMTs, clearly it wasn't a request.
"I should really go with him Jethro…"
"I told him I wasn't going anywhere Duck, I meant it," Gibbs informed his old friend.
"Very well, I shall follow shortly," Ducky acquiesced; he knew a losing battle when he saw one.
The gurney was loaded into the ambulance and once Gibbs was in Joe closed the door behind him and climbed into the driver's seat, switched on the lights and sirens and left the Navy Yard and the rest of the MCRT family behind.
-NCIS-
It was actually just over an hour later when Ducky, Palmer, Abby, Ziva and Tony entered Bethesda ER's waiting area and found the Team Leader sitting with his head in his hands.
"Boss?" Tony would deny his voice actually trembled.
"They're still running tests," responded Gibbs as he looked up.
"He's going to be alright though isn't he Gibbs? You didn't give him permission not to be, right?" demanded Abby.
Gibbs stood and held his arms open and the Goth ran into them, "I won't make any promises Abs, I can't."
"What are the doctors saying Jethro?"
"Not a lot Ducky. Tim lost consciousness again in the ambulance and they wouldn't let me stay with him. A Doctor Lambert did come out and tell me that he was being taken for some scans."
"Alright, let me see if I can find out any more," Ducky walked towards the reception desk and started speaking to the lady there, a few minutes later he disappeared behind the staff only doors.
In the meantime Tony told Gibbs that he had spoken to Director Vance and informed him of what had taken place. Vance had promised to call out Balboa and his team to locate Dobbs but agreed that any interrogation would be done by team Gibbs once he was apprehended. Gibbs had been so focused on his youngest agent that he hadn't thought about Vance or getting his hands on Dobbs. Now he thought about it though it was probably just as well Balboa was going to be the one tracking Dobbs down, the man might not make it to NCIS alive otherwise.
The team waited for what felt like hours to them, but was actually on about forty minutes, before Ducky returned with a female doctor beside him, "This is Doctor Lambert, she is Timothy's attending," he quickly introduced her to the agent's family.
"Tim is going to be moved to the ICU shortly…"
"ICU?"
"Please, let me finish," she glared at Tony who quietened down under the look that was worthy of Gibbs' glare, "The scans are encouraging. There is no sign of any bleeding or swelling round Tim's brain. X-rays have shown no breaks…"
"So he's going to be alright then?"
Doctor Lambert turned her piercing green eyed gaze onto the Goth, who quickly put a hand over her mouth and gave an apologetic look, "As I was saying, he has no broken bones, which is a minor miracle considering the fall. However we do have some concerns about a possible spinal injury. While none of the vertebrae appear to be damaged there is a sign of swelling around the spinal cord. I have sedated Tim to prevent him from moving around and we are administering anti-inflammatory medication to help reduce the swelling."
"Is he going to be paralysed?"
"It's too early to jump to any conclusions. I understand that Tim wasn't complaining of any pain after the EMTs arrived. This could have been as much due to shock as to the swelling around his spinal cord. We will keep him sedated and check the swelling with an MRI again tomorrow. Once the swelling has gone down we will be able to wake him and run the tests that will tell us if he has experienced any paralysis."
"What if he's paralysed Gibbs? What will he do?"
"Abby, you heard Doctor Lambert, we don't know anything yet, we need to just wait," Gibbs kissed her temple hoping to keep her calm.
"I'm afraid it is a waiting game for now. I'll keep you updated on Tim's progress."
"Can we see him?" Gibbs needed to see his agent, make sure he was still with them.
"Of course, a nurse will come and get you when he's been settled."
"Thank you Doctor Lambert," Gibbs shook her hand and watched her leave.
A short time later a nurse arrived to show them to the ICU. The six people were more than they would normally allow into a room at one time, but as this was the first visit the nurse was prepared to let it slide.
"You can all have a few minutes, but please after that no more than two in the room at any one time. We need to be able to get access to the bed," she smiled at them to take any sting out of her words.
"Thank you," Ducky looked at her nameplate, "Nurse Griggs, we appreciate it."
"He looks so frail," whispered Abby as she walked into the room, Gibbs right by her side.
"But he's not Abs, he's strong," Gibbs tried to assure her.
"Small muscles, big brain, heart of a lion," mumbled Tony as he stood on the opposite side of the bed, Ziva by his side. Nobody had to ask what he was referring to, they all knew it was something he had said when he was in Somalia to avenge Ziva's death, or at least her supposed death.
"Looks can be deceptive," stated Ziva, glancing up she caught the astonished looks of her co-workers, "Is that not how it is said?"
"Yes, Ziva, that is the correct saying," Ducky smiled at her, "You are quite right my dear."
They stood around the bed quietly lending their support to their injured family member for a few more minutes until Nurse Griggs cleared her throat behind them.
"Tony, Ziva, go back to the Yard and see if you can help Balboa track down Dobbs. Abby, I want you to go back to the lab and run the blood and any other evidence that was found…"
"But Gibbs…"
"No Abby, I'm going to stay with Tim, I need you to go and do your job. Tim needs you to do your job. You know as well as I do his word isn't going to be enough."
"I'll come and help you Abby, I can go through the security camera footage that the Director is getting for you," offered Jimmy.
"Excellent idea Mr Palmer, I will stay and keep Jethro company," Ducky smiled proudly at his assistant for offering his help and also focusing Abby.
"You'll call if anything changes?"
"You know I will Abs," Gibbs pulled her into his side and kissed her temple.
Abby pulled herself up to her full height and pushed her shoulders back, "Alright Jimmy, let's go and find the evidence to bury Dobbs!"
"That's my girl!" Gibbs smiled as the two left before turning to Tony and Ziva as they went to follow, "If you find him then you follow Balboa's lead, you do it by the book, you got me?"
"Got it Boss," Tony wanted to beat the guy to a pulp as much as Gibbs, but he knew that Tim wouldn't want that.
"Yes Gibbs," replied Ziva.
The two left to catch up with Jimmy and Abby so that they could all go back together which would leave an agency sedan at the hospital for Gibbs and Ducky to use should they need to.
"I hate waiting Duck," sighed Gibbs as he pulled a chair over and rested his hand on Tim's arm.
"I know Jethro, me too," the ME agreed, "I'll go and see if I can find a coffee for you and a nice tea for me. Though why you insist that coffee is preferable to a nice Earl Grey…" the words drifted out of the room as the ME left to do as he had said.
Gibbs leaned forward so that he could speak softly into the sedated man's ear, "Alright Tim, you listen up, you will get better, I don't give you permission to do anything else but to fully recover from this. I know you can hear me so you fight no matter what!" Gibbs settled back in the chair, leaving his hand still resting on Tim's arm, hoping like hell that he was right and Tim would fully recover.
-NCIS-
The following morning Ducky entered Tim's hospital room and shook his head and smiled at the sight of Gibbs asleep in the chair next to his agent's bed. The older man's hand was still resting on Tim's arm and he snored quietly.
Ducky walked in and stood beside him, waving the cup of coffee under his friend's nose and laughed as he got the desired affect when Gibbs' eyes popped open, "Morning Jethro, I understand Timothy had an uneventful night," he waited for Gibbs to focus and then handed over the hot beverage.
"Morning Duck, yeah," the lead agent stretched, his back popping. He was getting too old to spend his nights in an uncomfortable hospital chair, "Thanks," he lifted the coffee and took a sip, closing his eyes as he enjoyed the flavour.
"I spoke to Doctor Lambert; she said that they're taking him for another scan in about an hour to establish if the swelling has decreased."
"What are the chances that it will have gone down?"
"Given the medication and care Timothy is receiving the chances are good. It's unlikely to have gone down completely but I'm hopeful that there will be some reduction."
Gibbs' cell chose that moment to vibrate in his pocket. He showed it to Ducky and hurried from the ICU to answer it. When he returned his face would have been a blank to anyone who didn't know him, to Ducky he could see the intense anger, "I gotta go Duck, they caught Dobbs."
"Then go Jethro, I'll be here with Timothy, he won't be alone," Ducky assured him.
Gibbs walked over to the bed and rested a hand gently on the top of Tim's head, "I gotta go and take care of some things Tim, but Ducky is gonna stay with you. I'll be back as quick as I can, I promise." He nodded to Ducky and left.
-NCIS-
Mid-afternoon found team Gibbs returning to the hospital. Ducky had called earlier to advise them that the scan had gone well and the results were encouraging, however Tim would remain in the ICU under sedation until the following day when another scan would be carried out. With Dobbs in an NCIS holding cell having confessed to everything under the intense pressure of an interrogation with Gibbs and Director Vance the team could now concentrate on their injured member.
Each of them spent some time with Tim before being chased home by Gibbs to get some rest since none of them had slept the previous night as they tracked down Dobbs along with Balboa's team.
"Jethro, you should go home as well."
"Not gonna happen Duck. I promised him I wasn't going anywhere. Already broke that promise once today…"
"And for good reason! Timothy wouldn't have wanted anyone else to question that man but he also wouldn't want you exhausting yourself."
"I'm staying Duck. See you in the morning," Gibbs made to settle in the chair.
"Stubborn fool," grumbled Ducky as he went in search of one of the nurses. When he returned he had an orderly with him who quickly set up a cot to the side of the room, "If you're going to insist on staying here Jethro, then I insist that you at least try to get some proper rest on that cot!"
Gibbs was about to protest but then remembered how stiff and sore he'd been that morning after sleeping in a chair, "Fine," he conceded, somewhat less than graciously.
"Good night Jethro."
"Night Ducky and thanks."
-NCIS-
Tuesday morning dawned bright and sunny. Gibbs woke after a fitful night's sleep and immediately checked on Tim. It seemed hard to believe that the case they started a week ago had led to this situation and the fact that it was someone working within their building made it even harder to believe, though not impossible.
The door to Tim's room slid open and admitted Doctor Lambert who smiled at Gibbs and quickly checked her patient before speaking, "He'll be going for another scan shortly so now would be a good time to perhaps take a break, go and get some breakfast, maybe have a shower…"
"I'll go when you take him," Gibbs responded with his usual gruffness.
"Fair enough, it won't be long now," she nodded as she left the room.
True to his word when the orderly and nurse came to wheel Tim out for his scan Gibbs called Ducky who was already on his way. He met the ME in the hospital cafeteria for a quick breakfast before gratefully taking the bag the older man had brought for him with a change of clothes and some toiletries. A nurse was kind enough to allow him to use their locker room so he could freshen up and change. By the time he was done Tim was back in his room and Ducky was talking to Doctor Lambert.
"That is good to hear my dear, thank you. I will let his friends and family know," he smiled as the doctor turned away to carry on with her other duties.
"Ducky?"
"Ah Jethro. Good news, the swelling has all but gone and Doctor Lambert has stopped the sedative. Timothy should be waking up soon."
"Any permanent damage?"
"That we don't know yet, we need to wait for our young man to wake up so he can be assessed."
"I'm gonna sit with him, don't want him waking up alone. Will you call the team?"
"Of course Jethro," Ducky pulled out his cell and left the unit to make the calls.
Tim didn't stir for a couple of hours and in that time his team mates had been in and out, taking it in turns to sit with him and Gibbs, who had refused to leave. When he did finally stir Gibbs thought he'd imagined it at first, a slight twitch of the arm under his own hand, but then it happened again.
Gibbs stood up, "Tim?"
"Boss?" Tony joined him and looked down as his friend's eyelids fluttered open and closed several times, "Hey Tim," he rested his own hand on his shoulder.
Tim became aware of a hand resting on his arm first, as well as the annoying background noise of a constant beep. He chose to ignore the beeping and concentrate on the hand on his arm as he tried to open his eyes. When they wouldn't co-operate he tried to move his arm a couple of times, that's when he heard his name. Tim desperately wanted to see who was speaking to him and find out where he was but his eyelids weren't playing ball. Every time he prised them open they fluttered shut again. It took several attempts before he could get them to stay open and he finally saw a blurry Tony and when he turned his head slightly, still able to feel the weight on his arm, he realised Gibbs was there too.
"Hey," his voice was croaky from lack of use and his mouth was dry for the same reason.
"Here," Gibbs turned away from him before turning back with a cup in his hand with a straw, "Have a few sips of this," he held the straw as Tim took a much needed drink, "Tony, can you let someone know he's awake."
"Sure thing Boss. I'll inform the others as well," Tony grinned happily before leaving to get a nurse.
"How you feeling Tim?"
"Tired. Fuzzy."
"I'm not surprised; you've been sleeping for a couple of days."
"Huh, what happened?"
Gibbs didn't get a chance to answer as Doctor Lambert entered the room, "Ah Tim, good to see you back with us," she smiled down at her patient who looked confused, "I'm Doctor Rebecca Lambert, I've been looking after you while you've been with us. How are you feeling?"
"Confused?" the response came out as a question.
"Understandable. Are you up to a quick examination and answering some questions?"
"Sure, I guess," he wanted answers himself but he figured if he let the doctor do what she needed to he might get them.
"Agent Gibbs, if you could wait outside."
"I'd like him to stay…" Tim instinctively reached for his boss to stop him from moving anywhere, "If that's OK?" he asked a little sheepishly. He was, after all, a grown up. He didn't really need his hand held, but it was good to have a familiar face in amongst the strangers.
"Of course, if that's what you want," Doctor Lambert smiled, used to patients waking up and needing reassurance.
"You don't mind do you, Boss?"
"No, of course not," Gibbs patted Tim's shoulder to reassure him.
"Alright Tim, what's the last thing you remember?"
Tim scrunched his face up as he sorted through his muddled brain. He went to NCIS… he was looking for something… Dobbs, he fought with Dobbs…
"Easy Tim," Gibbs soothed as his agent's breathing started to become more rapid, "You're safe."
"Dobbs threw me over the balcony at NCIS," Tim looked to Gibbs for confirmation.
"Yeah, that's right, he did. Don't worry we got the SOB!"
"That's good Tim. When you were brought in we found that you had no broken bones or head injury but there was swelling around your spine, so we sedated you and gave you medication to help reduce the swelling. Your latest scan shows that the swelling has almost completely gone," Doctor Lambert tried to give Tim the facts without worrying him too much.
"Am I… did I damage my spine?" he couldn't bring himself to ask about paralysis and was too afraid now to try and move his legs to find out. He knew he could move his arms but what if he couldn't move his legs.
"I need to do some checks, but first of all can you tell me if you have any pain?"
Tim thought about it for a moment and found that there was a constant ache in his lower back and he just felt generally sore; he shared this with the doctor.
"Alright, I want you to close your eyes for me," once he had Doctor Lambert uncovered his legs and started to touch Tim's feet, "Can you feel that Tim?"
"No," Tim felt a hand squeezing his, or was it him squeezing Gibbs' hand, he couldn't be sure but he was grateful for it at the moment.
"Don't worry yet," Doctor Lambert took a small instrument out of her pocket and pressed it into each of his feet, "That?"
"Yes," there was note of relief in his voice that he could feel something.
"Excellent," she continued up each of his legs, first touching with her hands and then using the small implement. It wasn't until she got to his thighs that he could feel her touch. She smiled and pulled the covers back over her patient's legs, "Well Tim you're starting to get the feeling back in your legs, which is great news."
"But I couldn't feel you touching my feet."
"Tim the effects of the swelling won't just magically disappear, it will probably be another couple of days before full feeling returns, but I'm confident it will. I'm going to arrange for you to be moved to a normal room and get one of our physical therapists to visit with you. They can advise you on what to do to encourage the healing process without over doing it. You mustn't try to push yourself because if you do then you could cause a setback, OK?"
"OK, thanks Doctor Lambert."
"You're welcome. Agent Gibbs, perhaps you could inform the rest of Tim's team of the news while we transfer him to another room? I'm sure they're all anxious to see him and they'll be able to do so once he's out of ICU."
"Yeah, alright. You going to be OK Tim?"
"Yeah Boss, thanks," he managed to give Gibbs a smile before the man left to go in search of the others.
-NCIS-
Two days later Tim was being wheeled out of the hospital and out to Gibbs' car, "You know you don't have to let me stay with you…"
"Tim!" growled Gibbs, "How many times do I need to tell you that I want you to stay at my place?" he gave his youngest the gentlest of head slaps as Tony brought the chair to a halt next to the car and locked the brakes in place.
"Yes Boss," Tim didn't know why he had to keep asking but it wasn't like he needed looking after, well not much anyway… OK he'd admit it, he needed some help, but he hated relying on others when he'd only relied on himself for so long.
Tony grinned as he opened the front passenger door, "Come on McWobble let's get you up!"
Gibbs stood on one side and put his arm under Tim's with Tony on the other doing the same. There was no doubt that Tim would fully recover now but the sensation had still not fully returned to his feet so he was still a little unsteady, not to mention sore from the myriad of bruises that covered his body as a result of the fall. The two men carefully manoeuvred Tim until they could lower him into the car and then Tim managed to lift his legs and settle himself comfortably.
"I'll see you at your place Boss," stated Tony as he took the wheelchair back and then headed for his own car not parked far away. He was going to swing by NCIS and pick up Ziva and Abby. Ducky and Jimmy were waiting for Gibbs at his house to help get Tim settled.
It was an hour later when Tony walked into the house with both Abby and Ziva on his heels, each was carrying a bag from the grocery store.
"What's this?" Gibbs wanted to know, "I did go grocery shopping you know. He's not gonna starve," he rolled his eyes.
Tony grinned and nodded towards Ziva, "Our ninja wanted to cook a nice meal for Tim's first day out of the hospital so we had to pick up provisions."
"Ziva's cooking?" asked Tim as he came into the room supported by Jimmy and Ducky. Tony quickly handed his bag to Gibbs as he took Ducky's place.
"Thank you Anthony," Ducky smiled. It wasn't that he couldn't manage Tim since he was quite slim now, but he knew that Tony desperately wanted to help his friend.
Tim was settled in an armchair, a blanket with a skull and crossbones motif on it, courtesy of Abby, draped over his legs. Gibbs and Tony got everyone drinks and they all settled in to the sitting room, glad to have Tim back with them.
Tim looked around at his friends, the people that he considered as much his family as his sister Sarah. In some ways it had been unfortunate that Sarah was on vacation in Europe while all this had been going on, but Tim was glad that his sister hadn't had to see him lying in that hospital bed. Gibbs had kept her updated and managed to persuade her that Tim wouldn't want her to cut her vacation short and as soon as he was able Tim spoke to her on the phone. She would be back in a week and Tim knew that she would hover for a couple of days to reassure herself that he really was in one piece and then it would be back to normal sibling rivalry!
He was also glad that he'd arranged for Jethro to go into a kennel on the first day of the investigation. His dog walker had been more than happy to drop him off and Jethro actually loved the place he stayed at. Gibbs had said he would get him and bring him back the following day and the dog could make use of his yard.
"So, now I'm out of the hospital," Tim looked pointedly at Gibbs, "What happened with Dobbs?" the Team Leader had refused to discuss it with his injured agent while he was in the hospital and had banned anyone else from doing so, including Director Vance and Agent Balboa when they came to visit.
Gibbs could tell he wasn't going to get away with avoiding the conversation anymore, "Well when you regained consciousness, before the EMTs arrived, you told us that Dobbs had pushed you over the balcony. Of course we had no idea why…"
"Director Vance handed the case over to Balboa so that we could be at the hospital with you, but when we were told that only two of us could be in the room with you Ziva and I headed back to the Yard to help in the search."
"The next day we caught the Ben Zonah," Ziva stated.
"You managed to give him a few good bruises Probie," Tony told him, a hint of pride in his tone.
"It's funny how the boss' hand to hand combat lessons pay off just when you need them," quipped Tim.
"I'll remember that for when you're back on active duty," chuckled Gibbs.
Tim groaned, "Why did I say that? Anyway, you caught him…"
"We did. He had changed his appearance some, but not enough to beat Abby's facial recognition software," Tony turned to Abby.
"I put his picture into the database and set it to scan all traffic cams; airports; train stations, you know the drill… you can change your hair colour, even your eye colour, but it's difficult to change the shape of your face without prosthetics!"
"So Abby's facial recognition spotted him at a train station and we went with Balboa to get him. We were under orders to follow Balboa's lead so we went into the station with his team. Dobbs spotted us and started to run for it. Ziva of course was quicker…"
"He had not seen me since I entered behind the other agents who were all much taller than I," she gave an evil grin and Tim had no doubt that it had been on purpose, "So when he ran I cut him off and tackled him to the ground."
"Balboa quickly made it over to them before our little ninja could castrate Dobbs. I should say here that it was totally unintentional when Dobbs managed to hit his head on the car as he was 'helped' into the back by Balboa!"
Tim knew he shouldn't feel any satisfaction at such treatment of a prisoner, but given what he'd put him through it kind of felt like a little bit of justice.
"We called Gibbs and he left Ducky at the hospital with you to come and interrogate Dobbs. It was awesome!" Tony grinned like a big kid.
"I must admit that seeing Director Vance and Gibbs doing an interrogation together was most enlightening," agreed Ziva.
"Vance?"
"The Director didn't think Gibbs would be able to avoid losing it with Dobbs, or so he said. I think he just wanted to get away from his paperwork!" Tony told Tim, "They left him to sweat for a couple of hours and by the time they were ready Jimmy and Abby had managed to find the footage of the two of you outside of MTAC. It clearly showed him…"
"Throwing me over the balcony? You can say it Tony."
"No, I don't think I can Tim," the image of the younger man going over the railing outside MTAC would be forever ingrained on Tony's and the rest of the team's memories.
"Gibbs and Vance played it for Dobbs," Ziva took up the tale to allow Tony time to get his emotions under control. "They pretended like they knew why he had done it and before you knew it he was spilling his stomach."
"Guts…" several voices corrected.
"Stomach, guts, is it not the same thing?"
"So are you going to tell me what he was actually doing? I never got that far. I just knew he was doing something that impacted our case and I knew it was on that last hard drive in MTAC."
"The proof was there Timmy, just like you said it would be. I can't believe you didn't tell me you'd done that!"
"Rule four, Abby. I didn't tell anyone I'd done it, not even Director Vance."
"Yeah, I think he might have something to say about that when you're back at work Probie!"
"I figured as much. So?"
"Oh right. He's Major Cowen's cousin. If you'd managed to get round to hacking, I mean investigating, Cowen's offshore account, you would have traced the payment back to Dobbs."
"How the hell was Dobbs getting his hands on so much money?"
"Well you're not the only one that can hack Tim. In fact it turns out that Dobbs was quite proficient at it. During meetings in MTAC that he was required for he found out about various financial transactions being made and each time he was on duty by himself and one of those transactions was carried out then he would siphon off a little for himself. When the amount got to a certain point he paid it into Cowen's account who then set up several offshore accounts in the names of people he knew from the Marine Company he was attached to so that if one account was discovered it would be less likely that the others would be, still leaving them plenty of cash. He made sure to pick people who were well liked but didn't have much of a life outside of the Corps so that if they needed scapegoats, they had them. When you started to get nosey they decided to get rid of the Marines."
"What about Cowen?"
"Still UA, but without access to the funds he's built up he won't get far. Dobbs is being very helpful in that respect, letting us know about places he might go."
"Obviously doesn't want to be the only one being prosecuted for six murders!" snorted Abby in disgust.
The group sat quietly for a few minutes before Gibbs spoke, "You OK Tim?"
"Yeah. I just wish I could have put it together faster, perhaps then we could have saved some of those Marines."
"Not your fault Tim."
"If I'd taken the time to make sure I wasn't being tracked from NCIS instead of worrying so much about being tracked back…"
"Tony," Gibbs gave a nod to his SFA.
"On it Boss," he leaned over and very gently head slapped the younger man.
"Hey!"
"Better listen to the boss then Probie. Not your fault."
"We had absolutely no reason to believe that anyone from NCIS was involved."
"Timmy, we could have lost you," Abby sniffled as she sat on the arm of the chair Tim was sitting in and put her arms around him in a gentle hug.
"Still here Abby," Tim assured her, patting her arm. He took a deep breath and suddenly found himself yawning.
"That, lad, is your cue to go and get some rest!" instructed Ducky.
"I'm fine Ducky."
"Not a request McGee."
"Yes Boss," sighed Tim as Abby gave him one last squeeze and then got out of the way so that Jimmy and Tony could help him up and get him settled in the guest room on the ground floor.
"Do not worry McGee, I will make sure to wake you up in plenty of time for dinner," she planted a quick kiss on his cheek.
"Thanks Ziva."
The three men slowly made their way out of the room. Only a few minutes later Tony and Jimmy were back and everyone was roped into helping Ziva get a traditional Israeli meal ready. She had chosen lamb shwarma. The lamb would be grilled then sliced and put in pita bread. She was also making some hummus and a salad to go with it; for dessert they would have baklava.
Gibbs waited until the kitchen was humming with activity and then slipped out to check on Tim. He opened the door to the guest room and leaned against the doorframe, smiling at the sight of his youngest asleep; safe and sound with his family to watch over him.
-NCIS-
A/N: When I told my friend what I wanted to do to poor Tim she laughed! This is actually the idea that generated doing a Tim A to Z. Not sure why but Tim going over the balcony got stuck in my head for some reason! How many of you thought I was going to go with Bomb for B? Nah, too easy! Maybe I'll blow him up later! lol TTFN!
