Chapter 3: The Search

"Thou, O maid Dike lady Justice, that dost report guilty deeds to Jove Zeus, who lookest down upon earth with unerring eyes, ye avenging goddesses Erinyes, thou Divine Law, and thou Poena (Retribution), aged mother of the Furiai Erinyes."

- Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1.730

"What does he know?" Faith asked, as they strode out of the hospital.

Wordlessly, Kate handed over the pad. The writing was shaky, hard to read. It only made what had happened worse to see this physical representation of what had happened to Tim.

Faith began to read the broken sentences. "At least two men. Pulled me into the alley way. Didn't speak at first. Never saw faces."

"Could it have been random?" Paula asked, trying to read over Faith's shoulder as Kate led them on.

Faith shook her head. "Remember one sentence. One said, 'You're not the first and you're not the last.' Think I remember some other things about punishment and deserving and...guilt. Possible..." she squinted. "...Moore connection?"

"So...we were wrong?"

"Or else Tim is just trying to help out by making hypotheses. All the evidence points to Moore and there's nothing that says he had help." Kate stopped. "Oh, evidence! We need to take Tim's...clothes to Abby."

"Oh, right," Paula said. "I don't know how I forgot. You want me to get them?"

Kate almost refused, almost said it was her responsibility, but then she realized that she'd probably better tell Abby what had happened. Angry or not, she'd want to know...and she'd flip out.

"Yeah, give me a chance to tell Abby."

"They don't even like each other," Faith said.

Kate shook her head. "No, it's worse than that. They like each other entirely too much."

"Of course. That would explain it."

They talked without thinking, without really paying attention. They were just words to cover up what they'd be doing all too soon. Paula turned around and went back into the hospital. Kate and Faith headed back to NCIS.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Abby?" Kate asked tentatively.

"Hey, Kate! You're late this morning!" Abby said, cheerful on the surface, but not all the way through.

"Yeah, uh...I need to tell you something."

"What's up? By the way, there was no trace of drugs in your killer's blood. Either he'd metabolized it already or he's just certifiable."

"Thanks. Abby, I think...maybe you should sit down for this."

Abby turned around. "Did...did something happen to Gibbs and Tony?" Her eyes were wide. "Oh...their plane crashed? I didn't see it on the news!"

"No, Abby," Kate said quickly. "It's nothing to do with Gibbs and Tony. It's...It's about Tim."

Abby's face turned stormy. "What? He's sending you as a go between? He can apologize to me himself."

"Abby!" Kate said sharply.

"Geez, Kate, what's wrong?"

"He's in the hospital, Abby."

"What?"

"Tim's in the hospital, in the ICU. Someone beat him last night, nearly killed him."

Abby was incredulous. "What?"

"Tim's hurt, Abby."

Abby sank down onto her stool. "Is...Is he going to be okay?"

Some of the anger that had been boiling in Kate's head was momentarily supplanted by her own worry.

"We just don't know yet. It's too soon to tell."

"Kate...who did that to him?"

"We're trying to figure that out. Paula's bringing Tim's clothes."

"His clothes? Right. Hairs and stuff. That's...that's what I do," Abby said, her voice sounding more determined.

"That's right. We'd appreciate anything you can find."

Abby bit her lip and nodded. Kate put her hand on Abby's shoulder and tried to smile. Then, she turned to leave. At the door, she paused and turned around.

"You said no drugs in his system?"

"Right. Nothing. Not even cold medicine. So...either he's crazy or..."

"Or he's been playing us," Kate said, steel entering her voice. "He's been playing us. Let me know what you find." She turned around and walked out.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Kate arranged to have Ensign Moore transferred to interrogation. She and Paula stood in the room staring at him. He seemed almost relaxed at the moment.

"You want to go first?" Paula asked.

"Absolutely." Kate walked out of observation, down the hall and swung the door open. It slammed behind her with a satisfactory bang. Even more satisfactory was the fact that Moore actually jumped slightly at the sound. Then, she wasted no time pressing her advantage.

"Who are you working with, Moore?" she asked, leaning across the table. "Who? I know someone like you isn't smart enough to do it all by yourself. I know you couldn't be doing it all. I know you're not crazy, no matter how much you'd like us to think that. Who?"

Moore was momentarily speechless. So Kate kept talking.

"You killed two JAG lawyers. Fine. There's no question that you're guilty of that. It was sloppy, messy...and a huge mistake." She stood up and walked around the table, her eyes never leaving him. She got right in his face. "A bigger mistake was when whoever you are working with decided to attack an NCIS agent."

"What?" he asked, his eyes betraying his surprise. Kate hid her own exultation that she had made him reveal something.

"Oh, please. Don't give me that. You're already plumping for the death penalty. What's one more felony? It can't make things any worse, now, can it?" She paused. "Oh, wait. It can. Do you know why?"

He shook his head, seemingly mesmerized by her eyes that never move from his own.

"Because we won't stop until we get you and anyone else involved. That's why. We will be there every step of the way. We will not stop and we will not give up. We'll be hovering around you, around your colleagues, whatever it takes to get every...last...one of you." Kate straightened and walked out, slamming the door behind her. She then returned to observation.

"You didn't give him a chance to answer," Paula noted.

"I want him to sweat," Kate said. "I want him to really worry."

They stood in silence and watched him for a few minutes. He kept looking at the door and then at the mirror. Then, Paula took her turn. She cracked her knuckles melodramatically and then walked into the room.

"Ensign Moore. We have a few things to talk about," she said kindly. She sat down on the chair across the table. He seemed totally unnerved by her.

"What is this good cop, bad cop?" he asked, trying to get back some of the edge.

Paula didn't even address his question. "It has come to our attention that you are not working alone. We have evidence linking you to the attack of Special Agent Timothy McGee. Oh, I know you didn't actually do it. You were in lockup when it happened. That is irrelevant, however, because in the eyes of the law, being an accessory is still punishable. So, who is it that you're working with?"

Moore was silent, thinking he could get away with it. He hadn't yet looked in Paula's eyes, however. If he had, he would have been more worried than he had been when Kate was in his face. Paula's eyes were ice-cold. There was not one drop of sympathy for him. There was no inch of yielding. There was only ice. Her eyes, normally a warm blue, were colder than the Antarctic.

"Do you realize what we could do if you don't help us? You would be impeding a federal investigation, aiding and abetting...and do you know what the most dangerous thing would be?" Her voice was still pleasant.

"What's that?" Moore asked, derisively. He made the mistake of looking at her directly.

Paula smiled and set down her pen, clasped her hands together and leaned forward. "You would be ticking me off."

There was death in her eyes and Moore saw it.

"Is there anything you'd like to tell me, Ensign Moore?"

He remained silent, but she could tell there was something that frightened him even more than she did...and it wasn't Kate.

"You will. Eventually." She stood up and left.

Kate didn't say anything when Paula rejoined her.

"He knows something. This is bigger than him, bigger than two murders. Something bigger than one man with murder on his mind."

"You don't think he did it?" Kate asked.

"Oh, I think he did, and I think he wanted to, but I think we'll find something more. We need to dig deeper. We need to look more into what he was doing on his days off, who he talked to, where he went. That's what I was trying to think of. Something has seemed off in this case, but because we had the murderer, I couldn't figure it out, but this is it. I think if we don't find out who else it is, more people will be danger."

"I think you're right. I caught a flicker in his eyes. He's scared of them...whoever they are." She grinned. "He should be more afraid of us."

Paula returned the smile. "He will be."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

A companion to the Furies, less well-known, but a part of the divine retribution, Nemesis was one who gave men their just desserts. Although the modern connotation of Nemesis is negative, she is not evil. Her actions are not evil. They are just. Men who deserve punishment, men who boast of their own strength, men who commit crimes with the hubris to get away with it, they are they who should fear Nemesis. No less than the Furies can she be called off before the task is done.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Abby was driven. She wanted to run out of the lab, to the hospital, and make Tim okay just by being there, but she knew there was more that she had to do. She had to find out who had nearly killed Tim and make sure that they were punished.

I'll rip them limb from limb if necessary, she said to herself. The music was at its loudest and most angry. She had been angry at Tim before. She couldn't even remember right now exactly what he'd done. He had said something innocently insulting, as he did far too often. It was too easy for him and this time she had decided that he'd figure it out and ask her forgiveness...she just hadn't thought it would take him so long. Now...what if he never got the chance?

Focused on the evidence, Abby made sure that she didn't think of it as Tim's clothes, Tim's blood. It was evidence...and she'd find that one elusive hair, that one little thing that would point the way, show Kate, Paula and Faith where to find the guilty parties.

...and they will find them. No matter what.