Chapter 3

The cave had been a holy nightmare to inspect. If Tony had been nauseous upon the initial sight of what had happened, stepping into the cougar's den was enough to shove him over the edge. He grabbed Ziva's shoulder, and stared into the den with a deathly pallor. There were dozens of bloody dog tags littering the floor, along with bones that had, in all likelihood belonged to marines. Two small cubs were gnawing on an arm, their baby teeth barely cutting into the meat and their muzzles were bathed in blood. Ziva guided him past the cubs, poor Tony was unable to walk with his eyes open in the den of those creatures. She snapped a picture of the cubs as they walked by, speaking only to warn Tony of the lowering ceiling. Through a narrow passage was a room lined with cages and tracking equipment. On the floor was another dead marine, only this one was covered in what appeared to be meat cutlets. Dangling on the cages were dog tags, each set covered in red blood of either human or animal. Calvin was right, someone had been training the animals.

A set of stairs led out from the room and into an old shack on the outskirts of the park but according to park officials the building hadn't been rented out in months. The last person to stay there was an old man who'd disappeared and never been found. Wasn't surprising, the cougars had probably gone up the stairs at one point or another. What was there to stop them? The real question was: who had trained the cats? It could have been the old man who'd vanished, but it looked as if someone had been feeding the cougars up until a few days ago. Someone who'd have something to gain by harming the US army with stolen felines that no one would even believe existed in these parts. Tony suspected terrorists, and he wasn't the only one. Park officials moved the twenty man-eaters locked up in cages along with the two cubs to a safe location, each one telling Tony that they'd never seen anything like this before.

"It's hardly a wonder you hate cats," Calvin said as the last cat was hauled away.

"Do you know what will happen to those animals now, Calvin?" Ziva glared. "They have to be killed, you know that."

"I may not like cats, but I wouldn't wish something like this on them. They don't know any better." Tony wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I want the guy that did this. Even without counting the cats, we've got well over fifty bodies. In all, there's probably hundreds we don't know about."

"I was just…" Calvin sighed. "I want to fit in, Tony."

"You fit in. Abby and McGeek adore you. That doesn't mean I have to."

"The only reason you don't like me is because I took your place at Ziva's side."

"No, that's not the only reason I don't like you. Get back to work, Calvin." Tony opened the door to his car. "We'll get back to the office, sift through records for the renting of that cabin and have our little Voodoo princess work her magic. Then, we'll know who did this, where to find him, and we'll throw his ass into the guillotine."

"You coming, Ziva?" Calvin asked.

"I'm riding with Tony." She hopped into the passenger seat.

"Fine." With a scowl, Calvin got into his own car and tore off down the road.

"You've got that Gibbs look about you right now, Tony." Ziva commented. "Your gut is telling you something, yes?"

"Either that, or I might just be jealous." He clapped her on the shoulder, threw the car into gear and took off after Calvin.

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Abby was waiting for him when Tony stepped into the lab to hand off the samples he'd gotten from Ducky. She took the samples without comment and continued to stare at him indignantly until he grew uncomfortable and turned to leave. Tony found himself unable to exit the lab, though. Something told him that he should take the goth's silence to heart and find out why she wasn't badgering him. He'd forgotten to bring her another dose of caffeine, which meant that Probie would probably be the one to do so. A fact that didn't bother Tony or Abby all that much. It wasn't exactly a secret that McGeek was more than half in love with Abby, he wouldn't mind an extra trip down to see her and Abby wouldn't mind seeing him either. Listening to his gut, Tony faced Abby again to find her still staring at him.

"What's up with you, Miss Queen-of-the-Damned?" Tony let out a whoosh of air. "You know I'll send McGeek down later with one of those monster-sized jugs for you."

"You're acting more snobbish than usual, Tony. Do you really think Calvin's a bad guy or are you just having control issues?" Abby set the evidence aside. "You've been real mean to him, you know?"

"I'm not having control issues."

"It's obvious you're jealous of Calvin, you don't even try to hide it, Tony."

"I'm not jealous of Calvin."

"Come on, acceptance is the first step to recovery."

"I won't recover, Abby, until this jerk is off of my team and away from my partner."

"She isn't your partner anymore! When will you be ready to let her go?"

"Who says I have to?"

"Why don't you just get married to her, then? You'd never have to let her go."

"I'm not getting married until the girls stop flocking to me. Giving up grazing rights prematurely is just stupid."

"No offence, but that means you should have gotten married before you were born."

"Don't bring that up."

"You were betrothed?"

"That's none of your business, is it?"

"You were!"

"Get back to work, Abby." Tony barked and marched to the elevator.

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Ooh, a significant twist? Maybe, maybe not.

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