"We have to get him out of there, Tony. McGee can activate the sprinklers or .."
"The FBI are watching, Abs. We pull him now we blow his cover."
"And he has not used the duress word" Ziva pointed out.
"I am sure he's been in the situation hundreds of times, Abby" McGee placated.
"With a hooker, who we thought was an assassin or an arms dealer, who looks like sin on heels?"
"Okay, maybe not. But Gibbs is a pro, he can handle himself. What?" he huffed as Tony nudged him.
"Not so sure about the handling part at the moment, probie" he said as he put his headset on again. "Although maybe that's why he hasn't used the duress word. He knows he isn't in any danger."
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Gibbs stared at the woman in front of him, the tactical part of his brain working furiously. Not going through with this wasn't an option, and he had to admit that there was something about the way she held herself that made him want to push her buttons. With luck he could piss her off enough to leave.
"Have you made up your mind?" she asked as she eased her blouse out of the top of her skirt.
"Question" he replied instead - watching her face intently as she raised her eyes to his.
"About?"
"This rule of yours."
"Yes?"
"What about me touching you?"
"Excuse me?" she asked incredulously.
"You said there was one rule. That you wouldn't be touching me. What about me touching you?"
"That would cost you. A lot more than a lot more."
"What the hell is he doing?" Tony palpitated in the other room.
"Nooo" Gibbs drawled as he moved slightly closer to her. "You said it would cost extra if I wanted you to touch me. You didn't say anything about it costing extra if I wanted to touch you. In fact you didn't mention that at all."
He watched fire flash in her eyes as she looked at him hard and long. But as her eyes dropped to his groin a sardonic smile spread out over her face.
"You're going to have to do a lot better than that if you want to come anywhere near me" was all she said.
"I knew it" Tony said, hitting his head against McGee's shoulder.
"Did … did she just challenge him?" the younger agent replied.
_________________________________________________________
She ran a hand over the items of clothing on the bed as she spoke.
"Clock's ticking."
"What else is in the bag?" he asked as he looked inside it.
"You made three requests. They're lying on the bed."
"And yet you brought other stuff."
"What makes you think you're my only client this evening?" she goaded as she leaned against the bed post and toyed with the buttons on her shirt.
"What else is in the bag?" he repeated.
"Nothing of any use to you" she said.
"I'll be the judge of that" he said, making no effort to draw his eyes from the little bit of skin that she'd exposed.
"Let's say I humour you" she said as she pulled another costume from the bag. " So .. bride?"
"Pass."
"Not to your liking I take it" she said as she watched his facial muscles contort.
"Next."
"Cowgirl?"
"Nah."
"Not enough bucking bronco in you to make that work?" she asked, sarcasm dripping from her tone.
Gibbs merely nodded towards the bag again.
"Vestal virgin?" she said, holding up a diaphanous tunic.
"Where's the fun in a see-through rag?" he asked. "What else?"
She pulled out a leather jacket with a faux fur collar from the bag. "Cop."
"Good or bad?"
"Cop as in cops and robbers" she said condescendingly. "And totally out of your league. I'd have to frisk you and that would involve me touching you. Not gonna happen."
"Unless I pay you more money" he pointed out, raising his eyebrows at her when she looked sharply at him. "What else ya got?"
She rolled her eyes as she pulled out one last costume.
"Jungle Jane."
"It's a toss up" he said as she started to repack the bag.
"Between?"
"Cop and this secretary get up you've got on."
"Secretary?" she all but spluttered.
"Yeah" he replied, enjoying the way her eyes flashed again. "Your choice."
She considered for a while, and he knew she knew she was being provoked.
"Cop" she said a moment later. "But nothing's changed. All you're getting is the strip you asked for on the phone."
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gibbs poured himself a large measure of bourbon from the bar as he came to terms with the fact that he was more attracted to this woman than he ought to be. The fact that he had a lazy erection from mere repartee was unsettling when it should be encouraging, and suddenly he was doubting his ability to come out of this unscathed. The fact that he had a live audience wasn't helping much either. But there was no time to think because his breath pretty much caught in his throat when the door to the bathroom opened to reveal the leather jacket sitting atop a pair of fishnet tights on the longest set of legs he'd seen in years.
"You got a name?"
"Jennifer" she said as she stalked towards him.
"You look more like a Jen. Or a Jenny" he said as he tipped his glass towards her. "Want some?"
"Not particularly" she said as she leaned forward and sniffed at the glass. "But don't let that stop you."
"Isn't there usually music for this sort of thing?" he asked.
"Sure" she said, stopping at the entertainment centre and pressing a manicured nail to the stereo. She flipped through the radio stations until she found something with a beat to it. "This okay?" When he nodded she added "where do you want to do this?"
"How about right here?" he asked, lolling against bed post as she had a short while earlier. Watching as she dimmed the lights. His eyes grew just a little wider as she moved closer, and as he heard the scrunch of the costume's latex he sipped his drink - and tried not to think about the fact that he was twitching.
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"Why is it so quiet? What's going on?" Abby wanted to know. "Is Gibbs okay?"
"He's fine .. unless she's eaten him alive .." Tony joked.
_____________________________________________________________________
Gibbs studied the lines of her body as she turned her back on him before tossing the cap aside. For a moment Jenny twisted her long red hair in her hands on top of her head; looking over her shoulder at him as she swayed her body in the time to the music. Her hips continued to slowly gyrate as she let her locks undulate down her shoulders in rhythmic and seductive movement. A prelude to her bending over. Slowly. She grasped her ankles for a brief moment, her hair trailing the floor, before turning her body round and sauntering towards him. Very much a female on the prowl. She crouched at his feet, biting her lower lip gently as she looked up at him.
"Thought you said no touching" he said hoarsely as she slithered upwards, brushing his body lightly with her own as she rose.
"Looks like you need more help than I thought" she whispered "and I might just be inclined to make an exception."
Her hot breath in his ear took him from lazy to raging in a heartbeat. But she sensed it too, and by the time he reached for her she'd slipped out of his grasp.
"Better" she murmured. "Much better."
Gibbs watched avidly as she tugged at the zipper on her jacket, mesmerised as much by her eyes and her smile as by the flesh she was tantalising him with.
"Touching yourself is good" she purred as she lowered the jacket down off her shoulders – but it wasn't until she said it that he realised he was doing it.
As she dropped the jacket to the ground she moved back up to him, the brush of her hand against him a lot more explicit this time. A lot more intentional. The intense sensation had him dropping his head against the post – and it took him a split second to realise that dropping his guard was going to cost him.
"Now" he heard her say as he felt the pinch of steel around his wrists "you're going to tell me who you are and where Oliver Markham is."
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"Was that … " McGee asked.
"The click of handcuffs?" Ziva said. "Yes."
"Do something" Abby clamoured from her lab.
"Ssshhhh ..." Tony said.
"She's probably got him chained to the bed and you're still waiting for the duress word? What's the matter with you people?" Abby shouted.
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"Who are you?"
"Ladies first" Gibbs snapped back.
"FBI."
"Those crackerjacks your people?" Gibbs asked, nodding at the window.
"You haven't answered my question" she said as she reached into her handbag and pulled out her gun. "I'll ask one last time. Who are you?"
"Gibbs. NCIS."
She rolled her eyes and lowered her weapon, turning the radio on as loud as it would go before she leaned forward and plucked the earwig from his ear canal.
"What the hell is NCIS doing at the Barclay?" she hissed as soon as she was confident that none of the teams could hear what they were saying.
"Our job."
"Yeah? Does that involve jeopardizing our operation? My team ..."
"You're damn lucky we didn't blow these two away" he snapped.
"What have you done with Markham?"
"Markham's dead."
"What?"
"Coronary."
"When?"
"Right about the time your minions fell asleep on the job."
"Fell asleep on the job?"
"Nice way of putting it. What kind of a team do you run anyway? Don't you have rules about that kinda thing?"
"What kind of thing?" Her face darkened as soon as she understood what he was trying to say. "I'll kill them" she muttered.
"You gonna uncuff me anytime soon, Agent … "
"Shepard."
"You gonna uncuff me anytime soon, Agent Shepard?" he tried again.
"Where's Markham's body now?" she asked, ignoring his question.
"Safe."
"Where?"
"Tell me what I wanna know and I might tell you."
"And what is it that you wanna know?" she shot back, realising suddenly that she was still standing before him in bra and fishnet stockings and that he was still very aroused.
"You do this kinda thing often?"
"I was here with Markham two days ago."
"Hard core."
"Don't patronise me, Agent Gibbs."
"It's Jethro, and I'm not patronising you" he said, enjoying the way her eyes were still running over his body despite the fact that she'd covered her own with a sheet.
"Viable interrogation technique" she justified.
"I've done it" he said, not missing the way her eyes cut to his almost as though she was expecting to see derision there. "Question is, what've you learnt?"
"Marine Birthday Ball tomorrow. Hosted by the Commandant of the Marine Corps. But of course you know that."
"Well, yeah" he said, his tone urging her on.
"Our top military leaders, congressmen and agency directors will be there."
"Knew that too. You got anything on the target? Any chance the hit has nothing to do with the ball?"
"That it's someone who's a guest at the hotel?"
"Yeah."
"We've checked photos against reservations. Nothing comes up. Our intel said that Markham was going to hit a target at the ball."
"Our intel suggested the target was SecNav."
"Ours said it was our director. Something's wrong here."
"Someone's trying to create a diversion."
"My gut says... what?" she said as noticed him try and suppress a smile.
"Nothin'. What's your gut sayin'?"
"What if he wasn't hired to make a hit at all? What if he was the hit?"
Gibbs said nothing as he let her words sink in, but things fell into place in a way that made it conceivable that they'd all been had. If the man had been trying to get out of the business it would make perfect sense . He'd just spared someone the trouble by dropping dead.
"We really screwed this one up."
"Oh you think, Jenny?"
"The question is, how do we fix it without our directors getting into a world class pissing match?"
"Joint op" he said, finding the sight of her walking around in a sheet while deep in thought vividly erotic.
"Who's lead?"
"My team doesn't sleep on the job."
"I need more than that if I'm going to tap dance at the Hoover building, Jethro."
"Give us twenty four hours, then we flip" he said, as a visual of them in bed together ran across his mind and sent a shiver down his spine.
"FBI gets operational control?"
"Yeah."
"Agreed. The directors get to save face and we … "
"Get the job done."
Jenny looked at him and nodded.
"You gonna uncuff me now?"
"Probably not. I rather like you tied up. "
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Author's note:
I had planned to make this just three parts long - but now I think it needs an epilogue, don't you?