Abby and McGee viciously slave over the computer all day and into the night trying to find the source who would not allow them access to the print. Abby saw the print on the screen long enough to see that it was a print found at four other open murders. Gibbs has Tony and Ziva look into the other murders while Abby works McGee ragged. Abby can feel they are getting closer and will not let McGee leave until they find the source. Around twenty-three-hundred hours is when the rest of the team leaves. McGee attempts to persuade Abby that they can keep looking in the morning, but she is not letting him get away so easily.
McGee yawns and looks at the clock which reads 11:57. He cannot take it anymore. His head collapses on Abby's table. Abby's eyes scan the screen back and forth as her fingers type a million miles a minute. Her eyes widen as her joyful smile lights up her face
"Yes!" Abby pumps her fists in the air. Her scream of excitement makes McGee jolt awake.
"Wh… what happened?"
"I found the source!"
"And it only took eight hours." McGee says tiredly. Abby and McGee's eyes widen as they sit back in their seats in disbelief when their hacker's identity is revealed.
"Flip a coin for who tells Gibbs?" Abby asks. The two stare at each other competitively and then dart away to find a coin.
Gibbs may be home, but he is most definitely not asleep. Like always he is down in the basement working on his boat. Just after midnight he hears his front door open and shut. Gibbs has an open door policy, if he did not he would have no social life, but he has no idea who could be visiting on this particular night. The wooden steps creak as a heavy foot steps onto them. Gibbs looks between the boat's frame and sees his friend from the Hoover building. Fornell stops and stares at him. They both stare at each other without saying a word.
"I get the feeling you're not here for a social visit."
"You have something I want Gibbs."
"You already took my wife. Haven't you learned from your mistakes?"
"And yours." Fornell walks down the stairs. He looks impatient, pissed off and agitated. Just how he looked the last time Gibbs saw him.
"What do you want Tobias?"
"A serial killer."
Gibbs takes out his old as time bourbon to serve.
"Thought that was your jurisdiction."
"You ran a print through AFIS today."
"And let me guess, you're the ones who restricted our access today." Gibbs
"You're damn right. I have been chasing this guy for nine years."
"Yeah, you got a name?"
Fornell's face scrunches up with frustration and anger. Gibbs is now intrigued.
"You don't know." Gibbs says amused.
"I didn't want local LEOs trying to take him down."
"Or taking credit. You taking this personal?"
"Whoever this guy is he knows how to play the game. He likes to be in control."
"Well he's not the only one."
Fornell's eyes look to Gibbs annoyed.
"Lieutenant Aliya Farrah. She was a random target?" Gibbs asks.
Fornell takes a deep breath and looks off to the side.
"He's been targeting Navy personnel for years."
Gibbs annoyed drops his tools on the board under the boat and faces Fornell. This is not the first time the FBI has restricted their access. Or deleted their files. Or withheld information from NCIS. Gibbs gives Fornell the expression that reads, explain!
"We've found his print at two other crime scenes and connected him to at least four other murders."
"Hm… and you never thought to involve NCIS?"
"Like I said, this is my collar and I'm taking him down."
"And all the victims have been Navy Personnel! You didn't think once we might have something to offer?"
"Well do you?"
"I don't know!" Gibbs says irritated. The two are getting more irritated with each other by the minute. "Maybe if you didn't restrict what we investigate I could tell you!"
"This is heading towards a joint investigation isn't it?" Fornell asks still agitated. Gibbs glares at him when a cell phone rings. Gibbs answers it.
"Yeah Gibbs." He greets in an agitated gruff.
"Hi Gibbs." Abby tries to sound happy, but she hates giving Gibbs this kind of news.
"Uh… McGee has something to tell you!" she tries to run away, but McGee grabs her arm and makes her tell Gibbs. McGee absolutely hates giving Gibbs bad news.
"Okay our hacker… our hacker is… uh…" Abby is extremely hesitant.
"The FBI." Gibbs says. Both Abby and McGee look at the phone confused.
"How?... why do you always do that and how did you know?" Abby demands. She thinks for a minute and realizes the one way Gibbs would already know. "You're with Fornell! Aren't you?"
"Mhm." Gibbs hangs up the phone. He tells Fornell to be at NCIS tomorrow. The agencies have some catching up to do.
The next morning Tony takes the elevator up to the squad room just like always. A beautiful blonde in the elevator sparks Tony's flirtatious side. He gets off at his floor and is very confused to see Agent Fornell at Gibbs' desk. He drops his bag and walks up to Fornell.
"Agent DiNotzo." Fornell says while still looking at Gibbs' computer.
Tony's mind races with reasons why Fornell is back on the Navy Yard.
"Something I can do for you Fornell?" Tony says.
"Just waiting for Jethro."
"Well does Jethro know you're here?"
"He does." Gibbs says as he walks in with his coffee. Ziva and McGee walk into the squad room and are surprised to see Tony there before them. It is very un-Tony of Tony to be at work early or there before them. First they see Tony in early and now Agent Fornell. They know that they are in for one hell of a day. Gibbs gets Abby and Ducky in early so the whole team can meet for an update.
"What we have is a serial killer." Fornell says.
"What we have is someone not sharing again!" Abby says wagging her finger at Fornell. Abby wants to keep reprimanding Fornell, but she gets the famous stare from Gibbs. Abby crosses her arms and shuts up.
"We know of at least four other murders in Maryland and Virginia."
Fornell has McGee put up the pictures of the other victims. Everyone's eyes widen and they are mystified at the facts in front of them. The victims look remarkably similar. All of them are around the same age, dark hair and light eyes. They all look enough alike to be sisters. After a pause of silence from looking at the pictures, Fornell continues.
"All have been near a Navy base. Every time a young woman from age nineteen to twenty-five have their cars stolen two days prior… are kidnapped… and found dead within the next week."
"Then why did the killer kill after only two days?" Ziva asks.
"I believe I can answer that." Ducky says as he grabs his report. "Each time the victim was found raped with multiple lacerations. Each time the cause of death was a crushed hyoid bone otherwise known as strangulation. This time however he made a fatal mistake so to speak. He did not know Lieutenant Farrah suffered from a life threatening allergy also known as anaphylaxis. Most likely the latex in the duct tape. The tape over her mouth fed directly into her lungs at which point she struggled to breath. Her body started depriving the brain of oxygen which intern caused a grand mal seizure. Most likely her captor discovered she'd become unconscious. It's very possible he accidently crashed the car."
"It was an accident." Fornell says confidently.
"You sound pretty sure of that." Tony says.
"Every time he always leaves the car in the same shape it was in when it was stolen. He always leaves his victims in the trunk of their car. This is the first mistake in years since he left those prints at his first four crime scenes. He started covering his tracks after that."
"They all slip up eventually."
"Which is a grave concern of mine."
Everyone turns to Ducky.
"As many of you know serial killers establish routines and patterns. This killer did not get to go through his routine. It is very likely he will strike again."
"This is all very fascinating, but I would love to get back to my lab."
Gibbs dismisses her and she runs back to her lab. Now that Fornell has taken off the restriction she can run it again.
"FBI restricting our clearance, deleting our files, making me grumble to myself!" Abby grumbles as she walks into her lab. The print starts filtering through AFIS. A thump on the window interrupts her concentration making Abby jump out of her skin. Maybe it is just McGee messing with her. She looks to the window, but McGee is not there. Abby brushes it off as just a clumsy guy probably fell. The positive match sound makes Abby smile. Gibbs is summoned down and brings Fornell with him.
"Okay his name is Anthony Hawthorne. He's a former Navy Lieutenant."
Fornell is baffled.
"Why did this not come up before? If he's in the Navy we should have gotten a hit!"
"The other murders where you found his prints happened in 98' and 99' and he didn't join the Navy until 2001."
"That's a good job Abby." Gibbs says excited. He leaves her with a kiss on the forehead and leads Fornell back up to the squad room to look more into their suspect. Just as they leave, another thump on the window startles Abby. She skims the windows, but no one is there. It happens again a little while later throwing her off focus. Abby looks around her lab and is now feeling paranoid. Is someone doing this on purpose? Is someone trying to freak her out?
Upstairs the rest of the team has compiled information on former Lieutenant Anthony Hawthorne. While Ziva and McGee are busy on their computer and talking on the phone, Tony is lounging in his office chair. Ziva slams the phone down.
"Tony, are you planning on helping us?"
"I already did Ziva."
"You have not moved."
Tony opens his eyes and looks over at her. Gibbs walks in with another coffee in hand. He made Fornell leave so they can do a thorough investigation without his interference.
"What do we got?" Gibbs demands.
"The print Abby found on the seat adjuster belongs to a former Navy Lieutenant Anthony Hawthorne." Ziva says.
"Nice name." Tony says.
"He grew up in Norfolk, Virginia. When he and his brother were younger their mother abandoned them and they were put in the system."
"He was a pilot and a good one, but he always has displayed signs of being disturbed. He has assaulted three other men in his squad. Apparently the Navy gave him three more chances to make it right before he assaulted his Commanding Officer. Commander James Vennard will be here in an hour."
"He was stationed in the all the cities where the FBI connected the other murders."
Gibbs knows it is time to get to work, so he gives assignments. McGee is in charge of getting the evidence from the original cases and talking to the Commander. Ziva is in charge of tracking down the brother. Tony is tagging along with Gibbs to check out Hawthorne's apartment. Once Abby finally gets all of the evidence she gets to work! Throughout the day she has the strangest feeling that someone is watching her. Her green eyes continue to scan the windows of her ground level lab throughout the Autumn day as she continues to hear random thumps at the window. At one point she could swear someone was actually at the window. Her senses grow stronger throughout the day and she grows increasingly anxious. Meanwhile Gibbs and Tony have just arrived at the Lieutenant's apartment. It is a rundown apartment building. The exposed brick has varying colors from red to tan. Inside the lobby, a man hunches over his playing cards while holding a half smoked cigarette. The floral wallpaper is stained and peeling off the walls. The light above the staircase flickers. The chair railing has been invaded by termites. The walls creak as if someone is walking in them. Tony comments the place would be a great inspiration for Stephen King. Gibbs pulls the man away from his playing cards long enough to get a key to Hawthorne's apartment. The man from the lobby mentions he has not seen the occupant for a long time. With a warrant in his back pocket, Gibbs wastes no time getting in the apartment. He and Tony clear the rooms and start looking around. The place appears no one has lived in it for a while. Tony takes notice of a brand-new fifty-inch plasma TV on the wall. Attached to the TV is a webcam with a blue light. Tony looks around and sees many little blinking red lights in the corners of the dreary apartment.
"Hey boss, you should see this."
Gibbs looks around.
"We're being watched."
The tv glitches momentarily and the picture comes on. Gibbs and Tony are puzzled when a man in a Jason mask materializes on the screen.
"Visitors." The voice behind the mask says.
"I thought you were dead Jason Voorhees." Tony says sarcastically.
"Very amusing Agent DiNozzo."
Gibbs and Tony look at each other with concern. Apparently this guy has been keeping tabs on them. This guy is making Tony's stomach twist into knots.
"Lieutenant Anthony Hawthorne?" Gibbs asks.
"Haven't been called that in a while. I sacrificed for my country, I served my country and a dishonorable discharge is the thanks I get?"
"Barnes and Jessup just wanted to serve their country too." Tony says.
"So did Commander Vennard. He didn't sign up to get assaulted by his own men." Gibbs says.
"He had it coming. Just like NCIS does. The worst is coming. Keep your friends close." Hawthorne says in a menacing manor. Hawthorne cuts off the connection before Gibbs has a chance to threaten him. Gibbs' gut is telling him that this case is not going to end well. Just like Tony, Gibbs has a bad feeling about this one.
As the day wears out and the time turns to twenty-one-hundred hours Abby decides to call it quits. For once there is nothing left to do. She turns off all of her machines and puts on her soft and fuzzy black coat. It is a cold October night. Abby still feels off and cannot shake the feeling that someone is watching her. She has a bad feeling that something is going to happen. She stays in the corner of the elevator as she continuously taps her knuckles together. She is so distracted she bumps directly into some other guy when she gets off the elevator down in the main entrance. The other guy turns around.
"You okay Abs?" It is Tony. She tags alongside Tony as the two walk to the parking lot.
"Tony. Yeah, yeah I'm fine."
She tries to hide her anxiety, but she has a distraught expression written all over her face. Tony picks up the nervous energy Abby is giving, so he tries to lighten the mood.
"You going home?"
"Yeah. What about you?"
"Yeah." Tony exclaims. "It's been a long day. Serial killers are the worst part of this job."
Abby sees Tony's car just a foot away and becomes jittery nervous again. Tony is just about to say good night when Abby stops him.
"Tony!" She blurts out.
"Can you walk me to my car?"
Tony shuts his car door and walks back up to Abby.
"Abby, what are not telling me?" he asks in his curious DiNozzo voice.
She looks off to the side hesitant to tell him she believes someone is watching her every move. She knows Tony will not think she is crazy, but he might make fun of her. She takes a breath before finally saying it.
"Ever since this afternoon, I've felt like… someone's been…"
Tony raises his eyebrows at her as he tilts his head to the side almost as if he is saying, "Someone's been, what?"
"Tony, it feels like someone is watching me."
Tony is confused and scared to hear this news. He did have a bad feeling about this case ever since he searched their Lieutenant's townhouse. And especially since he and Gibbs were in the bastard's apartment earlier. He knows that Abby gets weird feelings all the time, but they do have bearing for him. She had a weird feeling the time when Tony was drugged behind the night club and taken prisoner along with a kidnapped marine. Tony trusts her gut feelings. Tony quickly scans the parking lot.
"Abby, why didn't you say anything earlier?"
"It was just a feeling; I wasn't sure if someone actually is watching me!"
"Well I don't think you're crazy if that's what you're worried about."
Tony says. Abby feels better now that she has told someone, but still cannot shake the presence.
"There's something not right about this case. I can't really explain what, but my gut is saying that this case is not going to go well."
Tony is still scanning the parking lot just to be sure that no one else is there. His hopes that no one is watching them are dashed. Tony's face freezes when he sees the outline of a tall and fit man. The most horrifying part is Tony sees the gleam of what looks like a silver handgun. Tony tries to act like he did not see the man. He offers Abby a ride home and she happily accepts. He shuts the door to the passenger side and looks back up at the spot where the man was. The man was no longer there and no longer anywhere in sight. He drops Abby off at her house. Instead of just driving off to his place, the cop instincts in him are saying to stay just a little longer, so he parks at the corner.
Abby walks into her building and up to her apartment. She gets her coat off and slums towards the fridge for a drink as her hands continue to shake. The man that Tony saw in the Navy Yard is actually now in Abby's apartment. Wearing a Jason Voorhees mask, he slowly rises from behind her couch. He stares at her menacingly and his cold eyes fixate on Abby.
"I got a bad feeling too. Abby." He says coldly and emotionless. Abby freaks out. She gasps and spins around as she turns white. Her heart starts beating out of her chest. Fight or flight? She makes a break for the still open door and he chases after Abby. She makes it as far as outside when he catches up to her. He jumps on her back knocking her to the ground.
"Help!" Abby yells out as she tries to claw him off. The second Tony sees Abby running, he jolts out of the car. His protective side comes out in full force.
"Federal Agent, let her go! NOW!" Tony demands. He waits no longer than two seconds before taking a shot at the bastard. The attacker is too quick and ditches away from Abby. He runs a suitable distance before taking a shot at DiNozzo. Tony ducts and pursues the guy. He chases him as far as the street when the guy fires again. Tony does not have any back up and Abby is terrified. He fires another shot when the guy runs off for good. Now that he is gone, Tony runs back to the building. Abby is still on the ground freaked out. Her breath is short and rapid, her hair is frizzy from the scuffle and her sleeves are stained with grass.
"Abby!" Tony exclaims as he anxiously bends down to Abby. "Are you okay?"
Abby's eyes are still filled with sheer terror as Tony helps her up. Abby shakes and looks into the desolate street where Hawthorne ran off. A few tears fall out as she continues to shake. She grabs onto him and squeezes him in a tight embrace.
"I knew something hinky was going on." Abby says with a shake in her voice.
Tony smiles as he wraps his arms around her and digs his chin into her shoulder. He is so grateful that Abby is uninjured. He does not want Abby to be alone for the rest of the night, so he takes her to the one place she always feels safe. Abby is still shaking as she follows Tony into the desolate house filled with shadows. The two of them tread into the half lit, mostly dark, saw dust smelling ground room. Silver hair is visible through the wooden arches of the boat in progress. The steps creak one by one as the two of them walk down to Gibbs. Abby is still wary and weak from what had transpired; her hair still in a frazzle, her eyes still glazed over.
"Boss, we got a problem." Tony says.
"This problem can't wait til tomorrow DiNozzo?" Gibbs looks at the both of them when they grow quiet. He can see the stress and worry in Abby's face as well as the appearance of her being in a scuffle. Tony puts on a tough front, but Gibbs can see past it. Gibbs can see the worry in his eyes hiding behind Tony's manifestation of vengeance. Gibbs mind starts racing with concern. He looks to Tony for an explanation.
"I think our murder suspect is after Abby. He… he just tried to kidnap her."
Gibbs' sander thuds on the board as he rushes up to Abby.
"Are you okay?"
Abby continues to tap her knuckles together as she looks up at Gibbs. Her green eyes are still filled with terror. Abby cannot get any words out, so she gives Gibbs a tight hug and she will not let go. After a good time spent on reconciliation, Abby is now feeling better and able to get words out again. She tells of the horror that went down in her apartment and then Tony tells Gibbs about seeing a man on the Navy yard. It had to be Hawthorne, but something is not adding up. Why did Hawthorne not steal Abby's car? Why did he try to abduct her in such a public place? Gibbs believes he is making it a mission to target the team. Hawthorne is making this personal just like he did with the original investigators. While Abby stayed with Gibbs in the basement, Tony wakes up McGee so they can recover the bullets from the shootout. Meanwhile, Hawthorne has traveled elsewhere to seek out another victim. His plans are to cause psychological pain and suffering to the investigators, even if he has to go to drastic and unimaginable lengths to get their attention.
