So I'm finally back! Sorry it's been so long. I had the first half of this chapter written by 2 days after I posted the last one, but work got hectic and I just haven't had a chance to write. I hope you enjoy it and find that it was worth the wait!


Ducky was just finishing up Lance Corporal Salinas Martín's autopsy when Gibbs walked into autopsy.

"You wanted to see me, Duck?" he said, as he walked through the doors. Ducky and Palmer both looked up at him in surprise.

"Why, yes I did, Jethro, but how did you know?" Gibbs just looked at him, and he cleared his throat before continuing. "This young man died of a gunshot wound to the head. He had no chance to defend himself. His companion was died in a struggle." He indicated the X-ray scrren with his hand, and moved over to it. "As you can see, he suffered a cervical fracture of vertebrae 1 and 2."

"In English, Duck?"

"His neck was broken. Snapped from behind. The bruising on his face and hands suggests that he was involved in a brawl of some sort. He had been punched and probably kicked in the abdomen multiple times, and he appeared to have landed some punches himself."

"Anything else?"

"Victim number one had also suffered some bruising around his anus. He had sexual intercourse shortly before he died. I found some traces of what I believe to be semen around the area. Abigail is running the DNA now."


"DiNozzo, McGee, what have you found?"

"Lance Corporal Salinas Martín was like the poster boy for the Navy, boss." Tony replied quickly, jumping in before McGee could answer. "Joined up at 18, had an exemplary record. Returned from his latest tour on the Enterprise 2 months ago, has been stationed at Norfolk ever since. Lived on base, sharing quarters with Lance Corporal James Howard, who is currently on leave visiting his folks in Lincoln, Nebraska." He glanced at Gibbs, allowing McGee to add quickly,

"Smith has been staying with his sister in Norfolk since he was discharged. I've got the address here. He failed 3 consecutive random drugs tests, but no evidence has ever been found to link him to supplying. Neither of them was married…"

The phone rang suddenly, interrupting McGee's wandering narrative.

"Gibbs?" Gibbs said as he answered. There was a pause. "Ok we'll be right down." He hung up, and looked at the group. "Abby's got something for us."


Abby and Ziva were laughing about something when the rest of the group trouped into the lab behind Gibbs.

"Hey guys!" the forensic scientist exclaimed enthusiastically, "Ziva and I were just talking about.." she caught the look on Gibbs' face, "the case." She carried on quickly, smiling innocently at him.

"What have you got for us Abs?"

"Three things. The gun used to kill Lance Corporal Salinas Martín used a silencer. The bullet had clear striations from a commercially-available silencer. I'm running it through ballistics now. Second, the substance Ducky found on Salinas Martín's skin was semen; he had got lucky shortly before he died."

"Lucky him." Tony piped up from his position next to Ziva, well out of reach of Gibbs' headslaps. He wasn't, however, out of range of Gibbs' glares. "Sorry, boss. Shutting up now." He added, wincing slightly as his partner also socked him in the stomach.

"Jealous, Tony?!" she muttered under her breath. "And here we were all thinking that you were quite the ladies' man."

"Oh, I am that, Zeevah." He drawled softly, "would you like a demonstration?" Ziva paused, about to respond, when she realised that the rest of the group were watching them; Gibbs with exasperation, McGee and Abby with amusement and Nikki with a look torn between amusement and fear.

"Sorry, Gibbs. Abby, you were saying?" she said quickly, unable to hide the slight smirk at the look on Tony's face.

"As I was saying, the substance was definitely semen. I'm running the DNA now."

"And the third thing?" Abby grinned, and held out her empty cup of Caf-Pow hopefully. Gibbs raised his eyebrows at her and she grinned.

"I found traces of cocaine on Smith's clothes – on the insides of his pockets and on the outside of the uniform jacket he was wearing. It was good stuff too, not some weak stuff mixed with talcum powder and flour that is generally found on the street. This was high purity. Columbian, I would wager." Gibbs pressed a kiss on her cheek.

"Good job, Abs." He said, "Tony, Ziva, and go talk to Smith's sister and search his belongings." Gibbs said after a moment's pause. "McGee, you're with me. Jardine, contact whoever was Agent Afloat on board the Enterprise during Smith and Salinas Martín's tour. See if he has any information on Smith's suspected drug habits, as well as how well they knew each other."


"What does it matter what Abby and I were talking about?" Ziva asked exasperatedly as she followed Tony up the pathway to a modern townhouse on the outskirts of Norfolk. Tony had not shut up for the entire journey, and she was having to force herself to resist the urge to throttle him.

"Well unless you were professing your undying love for me then I don't understand why you can't tell me!" Ziva rolled her eyes.

"Yes Tony, that's exactly what we were talking about." She replied sarcastically, "I was telling her how hard I find it to control myself around you. The uh, urges I have are just so strong. Abby was helping think of ways to control myself." He shot her his most charming grin as he raised his hand to knock at the door.

"I knew it!" He said smugly. Ziva smirked and moved closer to him, standing on tip toes to whisper in his ear,

"She offered to teach me how to kill you without leaving any forensic evidence!" she laughed as Tony paled considerably, and took a step back just as the door opened and a young, brunette woman appeared in the doorway.

"Can I help you?"

"Natalie Smith?" Tony took the lead.

"Yes? Is this about Dan?" She looked pale and sad.

"Yes," Tony replied quietly, flashing his badge, "Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, NCIS. This is my partner, Ziva David" Natalie Smith nodded at them both, and stepped aside.

"Come in, please."

They followed her in.

"We'd like to talk to you about Lance Corporal Smith, if that is ok?" Ziva said, as the woman showed them into the family room and sat down in an armchair, unconsciously curling her feet up under her.

"Sure. I'll tell you what I can. I can't believe he is gone. I thought he might have been mixed up in something dodgy, but to be murdered is just unbelievable." A couple of tears slipped down her cheeks, and the partners exchanged slightly nervous glances. Neither of them were particularly good at dealing with upset women.

"You said you thought he was mixed up in something?" Ziva said, "Do know what?" Natalie wiped at the tears,

"I'm not sure. Dan hasn't been the same since he was discharged. He didn't really speak to me about why he was discharged. I know the basic story, the drugs tests, but he refused to discuss it. Our father refused to speak to Dan after he was discharged. He was an enlisted man, as was his father. Dan was the first of our family to go to Annapolis. Honour means a lot to him, and Dan failed him."

"Have you ever seen this man?" Tony offered her a photo of Luis Salinas Martín. She took it from him, studying it intently.

"No. But that doesn't mean Dan didn't know him. I never met any of the people he hung around with. Is he involved in this?"

"He was killed at the same time as your brother."

"Did Daniel have a girlfriend?" She shook her head.

"Not that I know of. I've never really known him to have one. I once saw him in town with a Hispanic women. They were arguing."

"Could you give a description of this woman?"

"I only saw her from a distance. But she had long, curly hair, was slim and about the same height as Dan. She wasn't in uniform, but she looked military." She shrugged at Ziva's questioning gaze, "We were Navy brats as we grew up. When you spend most of your childhood on Naval bases, you learn to spot sailors a mile off. It's the only way of being sure of not being caught doing things you shouldn't."

"Thank you Miss Smith, you've been very helpful." Tony said, exchanging a glance with Ziva. "Would it be ok if we looked through Daniel's belongings?" She nodded.

"First door on the left when you reach the top of the stairs." She said, indicating the staircase.

"Thank you. We'll be out of your way as soon as possible. Come on, Ziva."


The room was fairly sparse, as if the occupant didn't spend much time there. A familiar sight for Naval officers who were shipped out for months at a time. As Ziva searched through the closet, Tony started a methodical search of the bedside table and the bed itself.

"Her description of the Hispanic woman," Ziva said as she pulled down a shoe box from the very back of the top shelf of the wardrobe, "It sounded remarkably like Petty Officer Martinez, did it not?"

"The one who found the bodies?" Tony asked, not looking up, "I didn't really see her." Ziva laughed,

"Now that I do not believe, she was an attractive wo.." she trailed off suddenly causing Tony to look at her.

"Have you found something?" Ziva was holding a photo.

"It looks like our two dead men knew each other very well indeed." She replied, waving the photo at him. Tony got up quickly and went to look. It was a picture of Daniel Smith and Luis Salinas Martín dressed in matching Hawaiian shirts with their arms around each other. Smith was pressing a kiss on Salinas Martín's cheek, who was grinning widely for the camera.

"Don't ask, don't tell." Tony said. He looked uneasy, this was not good news, and he did not want to be the one to tell Gibbs. It added a whole other dimension to the case, and hate crimes were not something he enjoyed investigating. Ziva looked puzzled for a moment.

"Don't ask, don't tell?" she questioned.

"The Navy's policy towards gay and lesbian servicemen and women." Tony explained, "Is there anything else in there?" There was a pause as Ziva continued her search.

"A few more photos," she let a little shout of satisfaction. "And this!" She held up a slip of paper and a key. "It seems that Lance Corporal Smith had access to a warehouse near the base.

"I'm calling Gibbs." Tony said, grabbing the piece of paper from her and examining the hastily scrawled address.


The warehouses were part of a complex used for unloading container ships that docked at the Port of Virginia. Ziva grimaced as they drove past the very warehouse she and Tony had ended up in while being locked in that container all those years ago. Tony caught her involuntary motion and grinned,

"Hoping we'll get locked in somewhere together Zeevah?!" he said teasingly. "It's colder than it was back then, but I'm sure we would be able to come up with some interesting ways of keeping warm!" there was a teasing leer in his tone.

"In your dreams, DiNozzo." She replied, rolling her eyes. She pointed suddenly, "There it is. Warehouse 4D." Tony drew the car up quietly, a short way away from the warehouse doors. Everything was still. Apart from an empty forklift truck, there was nothing around. The area was deathly silent. "It's kind of spoony out here."

"Spooky" Tony corrected automatically. "What's wrong, is our big, bad Mossad Agent scared?!" He winced as she punched him on the arm.

"I do not get scared." She told him haughtily. "But I do have a feeling." Tony groaned,

"Ziva, the last time you had a feeling, I ended up following you into a warehouse rigged with explosives so you could diffuse the bomb."

"All of which points to your stupidity, not the validity of my feeling. I think we should wait for the Port security. They said they would only be a few minutes."

"Yeah, because they would be a real help in any of the disastrous situations that your twisted mind is currently dreaming up." Ziva huffed. He was right, she reasoned, they could take care of themselves. And Port Security officers were notorious for being complete wombats, she frowned, no, not wombats, dingbats! She grinned, proud of herself for realizing her error.

"Fine. You are right. Let's go." She said, getting out of the car. Tony jumped out quickly and followed her to the doors. Unlocking them quickly, they drew their guns and nodded to each other. Following Tony's silent count, she opened the doors, and they both went in, scanning the dark. They could both make out a container in the far corner, as well as some smaller shapes in the other. Using their torches to illuminate the way, they moved silently through the warehouse, silently agreeing to split up. Tony headed towards the container, Ziva to the crates.

Ziva reached the crates quickly, and opened the first one up. It was full of smaller, taped up packages. She used her knife to open one, and was unsurprised when a shower of white powder fell out. Cocaine, presumably. It looked like they had found the evidence that Smith had been a dealer. And a large scale one at that. From behind her, there suddenly came a crash and a thump and she spun around, her senses tingling.

"Tony?" she called softly. Silence. She swore softly under her breath and headed quickly over to where she had last seen her partner.

Tony, meanwhile, had had less luck. The container was locked, and he could see no way of gaining access. He circled them slowly, studying the markings on the container. It belonged to one of the large shipping companies that used the port. But what was in there, he couldn't guess. He was about to call to Ziva, when he heard a sound behind him and he swung round, fully expecting to see his partner standing there. Instead he saw a Hispanic woman who looked vaguely familiar. She was holding a gun. He stopped, and opened his mouth to speak. Before he could get a word out, he saw the woman nod slightly, he felt a brief flash of pain at the back of his head and then everything went black.

As Ziva ran towards the container, there was a sudden flash of light from her right, and she turned to look, her gun drawn. A back door had been opened.

"Tony!" she called again, louder this time. She was really worried now. Suddenly she heard a bullet whistle past her ear, and she ducked reflexively, diving back towards the crates. "What is it with this place and shootouts?!" she muttered, taking cover as best she could as she returned fire. She couldn't see her opponent, but she could tell that whoever they were, they were moving towards the light. She squinted, as she saw a black figure running through the door, all the while firing furiously in her direction. She carried on firing, until she saw an image that made her blood run cold. There was another figure moving through the door now. A tall figure, dragging the limp body of someone who she recognized all too well.

"Tony!" she called again, breaking away from her cover and running towards the door, dodging the bullets, but afraid to fire in case she hit her partner. She burst through the door in time to hear brakes squealing and a black car drive off at break neck speed. She automatically fired her weapon, aiming for the tires, but it was too late. The car turned the corner, and then was gone.


Hehe, I hope you won't hate me too much for the cliff hanger! I hope you enjoyed that chapter. I certainly had fun writing it. I promise I will try and update as soon as possible, but work is hectic at the moment so I don't have much time to write.

I love hearing what you think, and it really encourages me to keep updating, so go on, push that little button and leave me your thoughts! All types of reviews are appreciated!