Chapter 4 Brothers and Murder
It took Gibbs exactly half an hour to get the EppiPens for Nadia. As he came back Nadia was sitting on the desk, eyes and lips tightly squeezed shut as Ducky took a blood sample.
"Very good, Nadia. Just a few seconds more….. There you go. Palmer!" Jimmy was immediately at Nadia's side and put a small band-aid on the puncture. Ducky put the blood samples away and returned to the girl holding a lollipop.
"This one's for you, because you were so brave."
Nadia smiled at him, unwrapped the candy and put it in her mouth happily sucking on it. She then spotted Gibbs enter the lab and immediately reached out for him with both hands.
Smiling he picked her up, "You were very brave, I thought you would wait until I've come back."
"Ducky pro… prope… proposed that, but I didn't want to worry about the shot. I didn't want to stay afraid for long." Taking the candy out of her mouth and leaning closer to Gibbs' ear, she whispered, "And he said he would give me a lollipop."
"That was smart of him. But didn't it hurt?"
She nodded and made a grimaced face that instantly changed to a wide eyed one, with the ping of the elevator. Abby appeared from the lift. She looked around and shivered, she still didn't like autopsy. Abby was carrying Goliath in her arms, who had woken up and was now trying to lick Abby's face. She let him down and he immediately raced over to Gibbs and sunk his teeth into his trouser leg.
"He doesn't like you Gibbs." Abby smirked as Gibbs placed Nadia on a desk and reached down for the pup that was mauling on his clothes. He grabbed the pups jaw on the sides and pressed it lightly. Goliath winced and let go. But, the agent wasn't finished, he crouched down flipped the pup over to its back and gave him a light tap on the nose. Then he let Goliath go. The pup stood up again and barked at Gibbs.
"Hush now!" He ordered and tapped the pup another time on the nose. Goliath crouched down to the ground, then crawled over to Gibbs and licked his hand.
"Now, he knows who the boss is." Abby giggled. Nadia had watched the whole scene without complaining. Her daddy had done the same thing with Goliath when he had bitten her. She jumped down from the table and went over to Gibbs who was now petting Goliath's neck.
"That's better." He mused. Nadia came to his side and sat down next to her pup and took him in her arms.
"Abby, can you take the dog? I'll take Nadia." He picked her up and placed her once again on the table. Abby handed her the pup who curled himself together to a small ball on Nadia's lap.
"Nadia we need to ask you a few questions. It's about the hotel room and your daddy. Is that okay?" Gibbs asked gently.
She nodded.
"Did you see anyone with your daddy?"
"I heard someone and then there were a rumbling noise and then everything went quiet. Daddy didn't come and Goliath fell asleep and soon I too was sleeping."
"Thank you Nadia. Is there anything else you remember?"?"
"Daddy gave me the stars." Nadia was starting to feel uncomfortable. Gibbs sat down next to her, took the pup away from her lap placing it on the table then he pulled Nadia on his lap. She snuggled close to him.
"I can't remember more. I'm sorry." She whispered into his chest.
"That doesn't matter Nadia." Gibbs looked up to Ducky. "Could this be a trauma?"
The doctor shook his head. "No, Jethro. I don't think so. She is so active."
"Okay. Thanks. I take her upstairs, then I'll take her to my house. Abbs, upstairs with me."
"Yes, boss." Abby picked up the pup.
"Thanks for watching her Ducky."
"Oh, no problem. It was a pleasure to meet such an intelligent little lady." He bowed in Nadia's direction and she giggled.
"Donald is funny." She whispered into Gibbs ear not wanting Ducky to hear her. Gibbs chuckled as they headed for the lift.
"Gibbs, I'll call you when I got the results. If anything's wrong with her, I'll give you a prescription."
"Thanks Ducky."
"Gibbs, what's a presr… presrition?"
"Prescription, little one. It's like a list of medicine, that you have to take."
"Yuck! Medicine! I don't like them. I hope he doesn't give you a prescrition."
"I hope so too." Again, Gibbs let her press the button for the lift and looked down at her while he was waiting. Cute kid, he thought, shoulder-length, brown lightly curled hair, blue eyes a small nose and a lovely temperament. He went into the lift and turned around.
"Bye-bye Ducky and Jimmy!" She waved at them with one hand and took the candy out of her mouth with the other.
"Bye Nadia." They chorused and waved back. "What a delightful child." Gibbs heard Ducky mutter, before the door closed.
As they arrived upstairs they were met by three unknown agents, one woman and two men.
"Are you Special Agent Gibbs?" The woman asked.
"Yes."
"FBI, we will be taking over this case."
Gibbs anger started to rise. "Why?" He growled.
"This case involves diamond-smuggling and a connection to a known terrorist cell. This is a case for the FBI."
"Terrorist 'connections, how so?"
"The FBI thinks that these marines were involved in the war in the eastern part of Congo and we think Al Qaida aids them. Your duty may be to protect the families of the three marines. And investigate the terrorist connections, but our interest is in the diamonds, which is most likely the main motivation here anyway. " The agent said smiling. "And as there's no family, the case should be ours." She added and threw a glance towards Nadia. "Your daughter?"
"No. Anderson's daughter." Gibbs replied with a smile, obviously the FBI didn't know everything as they thought. This new information took her aback.
"Anderson didn't have any daughter. We have no knowledge of him taking care of any child either."
"Well, he did. Nadia is the daughter of Marie Anderson, his step daughter and we will protect her. She is a possible witness. They are MARINES that have been murdered and as you have pointed out connected in some way to terrorists' finances. That is of great interest to us and homeland security. The diamond smuggling is your baby. Investigate that all you want and I'll have a copy of everything you find out about that and the possible motivation of MY murder case. I want a report from you about everything you've found out." Ground out Gibbs. Keeping his stare pinned at the FBI agent, he continued, "DiNozzo, McGee, David! If you get anything call me." Gibbs turned and headed for the elevator once more.
His team sprung into action, leaving a stunned Agent speechless in the middle of the bull pen.
Somewhere in Washington DC
A tall man with pale face and dark-brown hair went into a house. He was wearing a black suit and sunglasses. He opened the door with the key he had taken from the dead marine, Anderson and closed it carefully behind him.
Now, he just had to wait for Abdulla. He would come for the diamonds. He started to case the house, hoping to find some information about Abdulla's whereabouts. As he entered the bedroom he spotted a picture on the bedside table. He went to it and picked it up. It was a photo of Anderson hugging a small girl and a pretty woman at his side. He knew the woman. It was Anderson's wife, but the little girl? He hadn't gotten any information about a child.
"Where was she? What if she had been at the hotel? What if she had seen him?" He thought. He took out his gun and went from room to room checking to see if anybody was still here. Hopefully Anderson had hired a nanny for the girl and they were nowhere near the hotel at the time of the murder. After a near full sweep, he found no one in the house. He entered the last room and looked around. This was the girl's room. Toys and stuffed animals were on her bed. Finding nothing of interest, he went out in the corridor and entered another room. In there stood a large bookcase full with large Folders and ring binders.
"Bank, Military papers, Earnings….. This Anderson had been a very orderly person." He thought with a dry smile. Then he spotted something interesting. "Nadia's papers." He took out the ring binder and opened it. Quickly he ran over the pages. "Birth certificate, Personal data's, Health risk,….." He quickly folded some pages back. Health Risks: Allergic to peanuts. Therapy: Allergen-dessensisting not successful, propose…..
That was something he could use. If he had to, he could kill her without even leaving any evidence. It would look like a tragic accident. He grinned. Soon he would be finished.
Suddenly he heard the door open. He spun around and grabbed his gun. Quickly he assured himself that the silencer was on, then quietly he left the room. The noises were coming from the living room.
"Adan!" He heard someone call. "Where are you?"
He stayed silent. He just had to wait for them to come around the corner, then the he would have a clear line of fire.
Adan's house living room
Abdulla looked around. He couldn't hear anyone; something was wrong, he could feel it. Then he spotted the shadow. It was coming closer to the corner of the living room. He made a dash for the window and jumped through it. Something hit him hard in the shoulder as he flew through the glass. He picked himself up and continued to run.
He grasped his shoulder, he had been shot. He could feel his blood trickling down his side. Something hit the street lamp in front of him emitting sparks. He ducked his head and turned into a laneway. Abdulla had to get to his brother Maalik. Maalik may be a traitor but he would help him.
The killer slowed up as he came to the end of the corner, took aim and fired. The bullet narrowly missed Abdulla, hitting a trash can instead. He turned left, then right, then left again. It soon became obvious that he had somehow managed to shake off his chaser. He looked around. No one was close. Maalik…He had to get to his brother now; if the killer found him he would be as good as dead.
It was only a mile. 3016 Ordway Street Northwest Washington DC. He could do that, but the Americans mustn't see him. Pulling his collar up, he slowed down to a sustaining jog, hoping that the adrenaline still heighted in him lasted until he made it to a safe place.
3016 Ordway Street Northwest
Maalik had just come off a full twelve hour night shift. He placed his uniform in his locker, then looked around for his change of clothes. It had been a hell of a night as usual. Once, changed and went out of the DC General Hospital. An elderly lady jumped at his sight. He sighed and looked at himself. People were always doing that. What was wrong with his appearance? He was exactly eight foot tall and his hands were like shovels. His skin was dark and his facial features clearly portrayed his African heritage and genealogy. He suspected that his eight and muscular arms that were as thick as a normal man's thigh intimidated people. But he was friendly to everyone. He loved his job as a doctor; he only wanted to help people, help those that were sick. He couldn't understand why they were so afraid. He headed for the parking lot as a doctor met him in the corridor.
"Hi Maalik, haven't seen you today."
"Sorry David. I took the night shift. I'm finished for today. But I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay, see you later, don't scare our patients." He joked.
Maalik grinned and shook his head. That was David's usual comment. He got into his car and drove home. As he pulled into the drive, he felt uneasy. There was something wrong, things didn't look right…Then he spotted one of the stone on his entrance; it was displaced. Maalik had been in the war. He knew immediately when something was wrong with his area. "Had his people come here to kill him? They thought he was a traitor after all… Or perhaps it was only a burglar."
If it were his people he wouldn't fight, he would only try to talk with them. They'd still probably shoot him, but at least he may get to say wanted he needed to say, defend himself. Maalik was tired of fighting this personal war. He slowly opened the door. No one came to meet him, perhaps it was a burglar. He went into the living room. There on the couch sat a man slumped.
"Abdulla?"
"Hey brother!" Abdulla tried to stand up, but leaned back again with a groan.
"Stay still, you've already lost a lot of blood." Maalik ordered and held him back.
Abdulla was Maalik's exact opposite; small and skinny. Maalik hoisted his brother over his shoulder and went up to his bathroom. He placed him on the ground and put a towel against the wound on Abdulla's shoulder. It had been a clean shot. He had been lucky, otherwise Maalik would have to get him to the hospital to operate on him.
"Wait here!" He ordered and went for some bandages.
As Maalik returned to the bathroom, Abdulla fainted. Before wrapping the wound he doused it with disinfectant then wrapped it tightly around his brother's shoulder,. Now he just needed painkillers. Sighing Maalik hoisted his brother up on his shoulders once again and carried him over to the guestroom. He placed him on the bed and went to his wardrobe. He had some medication there, perhaps even some strong painkillers and antibiotics. He always helped his neighbors if they were sick.
Maalik found what he was looking for and placed them on the bedside table. Abdulla had fallen asleep. . Abdulla could take them later, he would need them. Maalik looked down at his brother, concerned and fearful… "What had happened to him? Who had shot him? Had he tried to protect him?"
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TBC.
