For those who were wondering, I only left Powell out for practicality reasons; too many main characters to keep up with. Consider him home with his wife on a rare vacation.
oooooooooooo
"I thought I'd find you here."
Gibbs didn't turn from where he stood in another part of the Intensive Care Unit, looking down at an unconscious McGee. "A few years Tony was kidnapped and left to die in a sewer by a woman who'd killed four Marines over an eight-year period," he said quietly. "He managed to escape as well as rescue the Marine who'd been left with him. Then a year later, he was infected with pneumonic plague by a deranged suspect. Nobody thought he'd pull through that, but he did."
Gibbs looked at Natalie for the first time. "Only to die of a glorified flu."
"It doesn't make much sense, does it?"
"Dr. Durant – this disease is the second time terrorists have taken down members of my team on our own turf. Now I don't care what kind of health wavers you have to sign, I want in on taking this thing down."
Natalie studied him for a long minute. "Let me guess, former SEAL?"
"Marine." Gibbs smiled slightly. "What gave me away?"
Natalie looked him in the eye. "You're a team player," she said simply. "Come on. Let's find you a HAZ-MAT suit."
oooooooooooooo
A short time later, Gibbs stood with Natalie and Stephen in the center of one of the bullpens. Stephen stood slightly apart from the other two, near the plasma screen showing the NCIS floor plan, but he wasn't looking at it. Instead he faced the room, visualizing a typical work day.
"It's not in the main ventilation system, or everyone would be sick," Stephen said quietly. "We're looking at something that some employees used, but others didn't." Stephen turned around slowly, taking in everything. "The water fountains. No, too difficult." He looked up at the floor plan. "The evidence garage. If only some of the agents handled the evidence – but that doesn't explain how the director was infected."
Stephen turned to Gibbs. "Typically with tularemia it takes between three and five days after exposure for a person to start showing symptoms. During the last five days, what have you done differently than Special Agents David and DiNozzo?
Gibbs' voice was quiet. "Six days ago, Special Agent McGee and I had to fly out to a carrier to conduct an interrogation. We were out there for four days."
"Agent McGee?" Stephen questioned.
'He's been unconscious for the last few days as a result of an explosion," Natalie interjected quickly.
"I'm still going to want to run a blood test on him to be on the safe side – like we're doing with the other agents who weren't in the office today, but I think we could be onto something," Stephen said. "What happened after you returned to DC?"
"We weren't able to come back until the day before yesterday – when Agent McGee had stabilized enough for travel," Gibbs answered. "I met with Director Shepherd yesterday and I've gone down to Autopsy and Forensics a couple of times. Apart from that when I've been here I've been at my desk."
"We can rule out those places unless your blood tests show infection or you and Dr. Mallard start showing symptoms. What about Agents David and DiNozzo? Is there any place in the building they might have visited while you were gone or since you came back that you haven't?"
There was a long silence before Gibbs said grimly, "MTAC."
"What?"
"The Multiple Threat Alert Centre upstairs. It's a restricted area where we video conference – among other things. While Special Agent McGee and I were on the carrier we video conferenced several times with both Agent DiNozzo and Agent David. Director Shepherd is in there regularly, both techs work there, and agents are quite often in there as well."
"What about Abby Sciuto, the lab tech?" Natalie asked.
"I didn't conference with her this time, but I have in the past. It's possible another team needed her," Gibbs answered.
"You say it's restricted," Stephen noted. "Is there a record of everyone who visited it over the last six days?" Gibbs nodded the affirmative. "We can compare those names with the ill personnel – also identify who else is at risk of getting sick."
"We're also going to need to get in there and find the exact source so we can eliminate it," Natalie added. "Will there be a problem with us having security access?"
"Under the circumstances, no, not as long as you have myself or another NCIS agent with you."
oooooooooooo
"There were four names on that list of people who accessed MTAC in the last five days and who we hadn't admitted," Eva reported. It was a few hours later and she'd joined Natalie, Gibbs, and Stephen inside one of the NIH labs. "Special Agent Christopher Kerrigan was out of town on assignment – started showing symptoms and is checking into a hospital. Special Agent Pauley Chow was admitted to Bethesda last night and she's already showing improvement. Computer tech Mark Kulikowski had the day off and was showing flu-like symptoms at his wife's birthday – he's on his way here. And Special Agent Martin Rudolphs who is out in the waiting room and showing no symptoms whatsoever."
Stephen frowned. "When was he in MTAC?"
"Six days ago," Eva replied.
"It's rare, but tularemia has been known to have an incubation of two weeks before," Natalie offered.
"Was he alone?" Gibbs asked quietly. Eva nodded.
"What is it, Agent Gibbs?" Stephen asked.
"MTAC was established as a command centre to prevent terrorism. It's highly secured and restricted access. The only way someone could get in and plant something is if it was someone internal."
"Unless the source is not MTAC," Stephen sighed.
"It's MTAC," Natalie said, looking up. "The spores were in the vents of the computer. Whenever they were running, they were spreading the infection."
"I think I'd better have a word with Special Agent Rudolphs," Gibbs said grimly.