Chapter 3 On the trail

The red sleigh was a beautiful sight gliding through the cold night sky with its NCIS passengers. At least it would have been a beautiful sight had anyone on the ground been able to see it.

"NORAD is tracking us," Abby called back to the others from the driver's seat over the noise of rushing air, "but they won't report us to the public until we're on the outbound journey."

"How long until we get there?" McGee called back, mentally calculating the distance and estimating their speed.

"About 10 minutes once we hit the portal," Abby replied.

"Portal?"

" Portaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal": the last word the agents heard before everything went black.

In moments they were skimming low over undulating snow dunes heading towards a vast lit complex on the horizon. Abby slowed the dogs and performed a gentle circular manoeuvre around the enormous establishment.

"Welcome to Santa's workshop," Abby yelled to the agents.

"It's very quiet," said Jimmy anxiously almost to himself.

"Too quiet," Abby confirmed.

She peeled off and landed the sleigh at the door of a large rustic wooden barn located outside the perimeter of the workshop. Once they had arrived, Abby jumped out and opened the enormous barn doors. The dogs pulled the sleigh inside and sat patiently waiting to be let free.

"Good dogs," Abby cooed as she closed the doors behind them. "Are we going to get you some treats? Yes we are."

While Abby lovingly unhitched the dogs, Jimmy led the agents into a cosy office adjacent to the barn. A large mahogany desk dominated the room. The walls had been formed from chunky logs laid one atop the other and these, in turn, were obscured by heavily annotated maps, calendars and banks of pigeon holes stuffed with old paper scrolls. The whole place smelt of pine needles and freshly minted gift wrapping paper.

"Jimmy the Autopsy Elf," Tony rolled the phrase around in his mouth as they walked. "I think I like 'gremlin' better."

"I don't think the kids would react the same way to 'Santa and his workshop full of merry gremlins'," Jimmy pointed out.

"Wait a minute," said Tony. "If you're Santa's head elf, why do you moonlight as an ME in training?" Tony questioned.

"North Pole Elves feel the heat like you wouldn't believe," Jimmy explained. "You try working in freezing North pole conditions wearing nothing but a Tinkerbell costume. You soon acclimatize. Morgues are guaranteed to be cold all year round. Plus, working for NCIS means I get to wear the traditional green as much as I like! You'd be surprised how many people who work in morgues are actually elves."

"Breena the Embalmer?" asked Tony.

"Of course," said Jimmy. "How many humans do you know called Breena? It's a traditional Elvin name."

"Enough of the friendly chit chat," Abby snapped as she walked in with Mortimer hot on her heels. "The sooner we get to Santa, the sooner we can find out what's happening."

Jimmy consulted a wall and selected a scroll which he spread out on the large mahogany desk in front of everyone.

"This is a layout of the workshop," he started. "It is divided into precincts: the old section with the wooden toys, hand-made dolls and, of course, the tie and underwear department, and the new section with the electronic devices, computer game, modern music, movies and such. There are a number of underground entrances to the workshop and they are all linked by a maze of tunnels."

"Do you have a map of the tunnel system?" asked McGee.

Jimmy shuddered involuntarily. "They never made one – security."

"He was stuck down there once," Abby explained patting him on the back. "Never been the same since: claustrophobia. Fortunately we have Mortimer here to lead us to Santa. If he's still in the workshop, we'll find him."

"One question?" asked Ziva. "How to we penetrate the tunnels... we dig? Explosives?"

"We could dig," Abby replied, or we could just use the main entrance. So saying, she marched to a hatch in the floor and prised it open revealing a ladder plummeting to unknown depths. Mortimer sniffed the air and barked excitedly.

"He has Santa's scent," Abby said with a grim smile.

Jimmy grabbed his map. "Let's go."