Chapter 4
"What do ya got, Duck?" Gibbs asked as he walked through the doors of Autopsy. Ducky was seated at his desk, typing, while Palmer was nowhere to be seen. The older man turned to Gibbs with a weary look on his face.
"An unholy mess, Jethro." He rose to his feet and walked over to the first table. "I was able to recover only one bullet, the bullet I suspected passed through Petty Officer Flannery and hit Petty Officer Quinn." He pointed to the body of a young man currently occupying the table. "All of the other victims here suffered from through-and-through wounds. The two unfortunates that Mr. Palmer is retrieving from the hospital morgue might give me more."
"The bullet you did recover?"
"I sent it up to Abigail for testing."
"What else can you tell me?"
"The victims all appeared to be in good health. There was alcohol present in their blood, but since they were celebrating that is not unexpected. I saw no signs of chronic use."
"OK, so a group of healthy people all died from gunshot wounds."
"Yes. Not terribly helpful, I realize. The position of the wounds tells us where they were when they were shot. Petty Officer Flannery was shot in the back, as I expected. Petty Officer Quinn and both of the Brennans were shot from the front. The remaining three were also shot in the back."
"Are we looking for one shooter or two?"
"Nothing I've seen indicates disparate angles of fire. I'd say you're looking for one shooter."
"Thanks, Duck."
He headed back to the elevator and when it opened he saw Vance standing within. He stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the next level. He wasn't surprised when Vance flipped the switch to stop the elevator's upward movement a few moments later.
"Something on your mind, Leon?"
"Nine servicemen and servicewomen are dead. I'd say that's worth my attention."
"We're working the case. I'll let you know as soon as we have something."
"I need to know, Gibbs. Was this a terrorist attack or a hate crime?"
"Someone hated them enough to kill them, Director."
"Don't be obtuse. Was the attack motivated by the victims' religious practices?"
"Someone wants us to think that."
Vance eyed him suspiciously. "But you don't."
Gibbs shook his head. "Doesn't feel right."
"We need to rely on something besides your gut, Gibbs."
"It's served me pretty well so far."
Vance sighed. "Find me some answers. I've been trying to keep this under wraps but the SecNav is concerned. He wants to know who else may be targeted."
"As soon as we know, you'll know. We done?"
Vance flipped the switch again and soon they reached the next floor. Gibbs headed to the lab where Abby was leaning over her computer, staring intently at something on the screen.
"What do ya got, Abbs?"
She turned to him, clearly unhappy. "Not enough, Gibbs." She flipped the screen on the computer to show several images of a bullet and a cartridge casing. "Standard issue 7.62 × 51mm M118LR 168 grain boat tail cartridge. Bullet striations match a M24 SWS issued to Gunnery Sergeant Derek Christopher Boyle."
"That's good work, Abbs."
"No, it's not. Because Boyle was killed in Afghanistan two years ago. His rifle was never recovered."
"Damn it. Someone recovered it and sold it on the black market."
She nodded. "So maybe we are looking at a terrorism case."
"Maybe. Anything else?"
"I checked the note for fingerprints, and that was a no-go, but I did find something interesting." She pulled up a picture of the note and zoomed in on the corner. "What do you see?"
Gibbs squinted at the picture for a moment. "Looks like small dents. Bitemark?"
"Yes, it looks like whoever left the note held it in their teeth for a moment. Teeth, mouth, and saliva, which means DNA. I'm running it now. I just hope whoever it was that did this is in one of the databases."
He kissed her temple. "That was good work, Abbs."
She smiled and he left to head back up to the bullpen. When he arrived it was empty, so he sat down to read through the stack of personnel folders, one for each of the nine deceased victims of the attack. By the time he had read through all of them the rest of his team had returned and they were tackling the collection of information they had gathered. They didn't seem to notice when he left to get coffee but by the time he got back they looked ready to report.
"What do ya got?"
Tim put the pictures of the victims up on the screen, but Ziva spoke first. "I interviewed the co-workers and Commanding Officer of Petty Officers Flannery, Quinn, Mercher and Albright at Pax River. Flannery and Quinn did maintenance for research aircraft in the Scientific Development Squadron, while Mercher and Albright worked for the Naval Air Systems Command. Commander Nolan assured me that their were no problems with anyone in their Flights. He claimed they were all good workers and were very well liked." She glanced at McGee. "He did not seem to be aware of their religious affiliation, which they had all listed as 'other'. I searched their apartment off base but I did not find any evidence of threats or other problems. Their neighbors claimed they did not know them well but they seemed to be OK. I did bring their laptops back to the lab. Abby has them but I do not believe she has started looking at them yet."
"DiNozzo."
"I spoke to Rhys and Mari Sayer's C.O.s at the Pentagon, as well as Sergeant Duncan's C.O. Captain Kavanagh and Lt. Col. Reed...said pretty much the same thing as the C.O.s at Pax River. No problems, good workers, well liked. None of them were working on anything highly sensitive or classified that would make them a target of a terrorist attack...other than working in the Pentagon." He, too, took a quick glance at McGee. "Sergeant Duncan was the only one who listed her religious affiliation, the other two used 'other' as well. I searched their apartments and talked to the neighbors. Apparently they're all 'quiet and polite' and no one had a problem with them."
"McGee."
"Pretty much the same for Captain Burke, the Brennens, and Captain Kimballs, Boss. No problems, they didn't advertise their faith, and they were considered to be well liked. Nora Burke's supervisor and Iola Kimball's principal also said the same thing."
"So basically we have nothing."
"I did run a check on Sloane Flannery before she was transferred to Pax River," McGee added as he brought up two new windows on the plasma. "She filed a restraining order against one Griffith Whelan. That was nearly three years ago."
"Reason for the restraining order?"
"She reported that he got violent with her during a confrontation over her impending transfer, and then he started stalking her. No further complaints after she transferred from Newport." He tapped a few keys. "Credit card gas purchase puts him in Virginia the day before the murders."
"Where is he now?"
"Uh, last transaction was at a gas station outside Wilmington. He lives there."
"It's kinda thin, Boss, but…"
"We've worked with less."
"And now you have more," Abby declared as she rushed into the bullpen. "I got a hit on the DNA. It belongs to Griffith Whelan. Misdemeanor conviction in New York for 3rd degree stalking."
"Good enough for me. Call in the warrant, McGee."
"Yes, Boss."
"DiNozzo, David, go pick him up."
Tony glanced at McGee again, whose shoulders had stiffened as he calmly described what they needed for the warrant. "Yes, Boss."
Tony and Ziva left, both sending McGee worried looks before the elevator doors closed. McGee was silent for several moments before he finally met Gibbs' gaze.
"Tony's right, Boss. It's pretty thin."
"Then make it stronger, McGee."
After a moment, the younger man grinned.
"Yes, Boss."
XXX
Tony and Ziva pulled up outside a high-end townhouse just as a man with dark blonde hair was walking down the front steps. He had reached the luxury sedan parked in the driveway before he paused and turned in their direction, his face expressionless behind his designer sunglasses.
"Griffith Whelan?"
An amused smirk crossed his face.
"Maybe. Who are you?"
"Agents DiNozzo and David, NCIS."
A look of surprise crossed his face before he turned and ran back towards the house. In a flash Ziva was after him and tackled him, slamming him against the front door.
"Do you know who I am?" He sputtered as she forced his arms behind him and snapped on the cuffs.
"Under arrest," she replied. "For murder."
He scoffed. "Good luck proving that."
"You left something behind at your sniper's nest." A flash of panic crossed his face before the smirk returned.
"Yeah? You sure about that?"
"I am." She jerked up his sleeve to show a rather nasty looking rash. "And you took something with you. The whole area was covered in poison ivy."
Tony couldn't help but grin as she marched the man to the sedan and shoved him in the back seat.
"Not bad, Agent David."
"I want my lawyer," the man yelled as she slammed the door.
"Yeah, we'll get right on that."
Ziva tossed Tony the man's keys and they walked to the car. He pressed a button and the trunk slowly started to open. Both peered inside and Tony grinned.
"Well, what do we have here?" He snapped on a pair of gloves and lifted a rifle case from the trunk with one hand and a box of ammunition with the other.
"You need a warrant!" The man yelled loud enough so they could hear him through the closed window.
"Already got one," Tony yelled back. "Guess we better crack a window. Do you want to search the house or should I?"
"Be my guest."
Tony grinned again and retrieved his kit from the trunk before entering the house. Ziva pulled the car into the shade and cracked the back windows a few inches, ignoring the stream of epithets hurled at her by their back-seat passenger.
Nearly and hour later Tony returned, clutching several evidence bags in one hand and carrying a laptop under one arm.
"Receipts, pictures, cell phone, laptop. Slam dunk."
"It did not take you that long to collect that amount of evidence."
"Nope."
Ziva smirked. "You trashed the place, didn't you?"
"Just being thorough."
"Good."
He handed her one of the evidence bags which contained a fancy business card. "Think this is his lawyer. Guess we should give him a call." He handed handed her a second bag with a slightly less fancy card. "We'll probably need to call this one, too."
She studied the second call and swore. "But we should probably call Gibbs first."
"Great..."
The two agents stowed the kit and the evidence in the trunk before climbing in the sedan and heading back towards D.C. They ignored the loud threats from the back seat as their prisoner vowed to end their careers and those of everyone involved in their attempt to 'smear' his reputation.
"We didn't happen to bring any duct tape with us, did we?" Tony asked an hour into the trip.
"I am afraid not."
Tony reached over and turned up the radio, partially drowning out Whelan's tirade. Both agents' nerves were considerably frayed by the time they reached the Yard. Ziva escorted Whelan to Interrogation while Tony carried the evidence to the lab. Tim was already there, working on one of the laptops, and he looked up expectantly when Tony entered.
"Here you go, McGee. Time to work you magic." McGee grimaced and Tony winced as he realized what he had said. "Sorry."
"You get everything, DiNozzo?"
Tony turned to see Gibbs entered the lab. "Everything, Boss. But...remember that small problem I called about?" He handed Gibbs the second business card. Gibbs read it and smirked.
"I'll handle it. How much time do you need, McGee?"
Tim was already hooking up the laptop to his system. "Shouldn't take too long, Boss."
"You have an hour." He left, and Tony turned to McGee with a grin.
"Guess some things never change."
"And probably never will."
Tony studied his partner as the younger man's fingers flew across the keyboard. "You got this, Tim?"
For the first time since the case had started, McGee sent him a confident grin.
"Yeah, Tony, I got this."
TBC…
