Chapter 4

Stepping off the elevator, he wrinkled his nose at the scent of sterilizing chemicals. DiNozzo recognized that a lot had changed since his stay for which he was more grateful than he cared to admit. It made it a whole lot easier to pretend it was just some anonymous hospital. The whole layout of ICU had been reconfigured. A central station was surrounded by four glass pods, each containing four beds separated by glass dividers. Each pod had its own smaller nurse's station. The central station was occupied by an unhappy looking woman in her early fifties. She took one look at Tony's 'NCIS' cap and pointed to his left.

He rounded the corner to find Gibbs standing outside the entrance to Lieutenant Hastings' room. He was talking quietly to a red-haired woman that appeared in her early 40s. She didn't look happy with what Gibbs was telling her. In a quick glance, DiNozzo took in the size of the diamond on her left finger, the expensively tailored clothing, designer shoes, salon styled hair. Her appearance said money but her presence said power. This was a woman who was used to things going her way, expected things to go her way. He suspected she was family, but unless the Lieutenant was making money on the side, or she had bought herself that ring he didn't believe she was his wife.

As he started walking toward the pair, she frowned and nodded. She looked down to pull gloves out of her coat pockets and started putting them on as she walked towards the elevators. She looked up when her sleeve brushed Tony's as they passed each other.

"Sorry, Ma'am," Tony apologized, offering a charming smile.

She started to dismiss the apology when she paused to look at Tony more closely. "Do I…?" she began to ask before shaking her head and continuing on her way to the elevator bank. DiNozzo turned to watch her retreat, a little puzzled by the encounter.

"Who was that, Boss?" DiNozzo inquired when he reached Gibbs.

"Elizabeth Hastings, the Lieutenant's sister."

"She didn't look too happy when she left."

"I just told her that her brother's life might still be in danger. She had been here earlier today until just before the first guard shift arrived. She left to get a hotel room and eat. She had only been back here about five minutes before I got up here," he nodded back towards the two Marines posted at the Lieutenant's door, "You can get the details from them."

DiNozzo raised an eyebrow at Cpl. Martin. He stood a little straighter and cleared his throat, "She was very…angry."

Gibbs barked out a short laugh at the blatant understatement, "Their drill sergeant could probably have learned a thing or two from her," he turned and faced the Marines, serious again, "You handled the situation well. Any other visitors - call me immediately."

~*~*~*~

McGee disconnected his call with Abby. She and Ducky had given him an update on the two dead officers that had been flown back down to NCIS at the Yard. Abby was running ballistics on the bullets recovered from Captain Richter and Lieutenant Stein. The only thing she could tell him so far was they were standard military-issue 9mm rounds. Ducky had been able to confirm Dr. Dubois' assessment of COD on both men.

Ziva finished her calls about the same time. She had been reaching out to her Mossad contacts to see if they had heard any chatter. All they could confirm was suspicion of there being a problem in the North Atlantic. The active sonar was making a lot of noise and the silence from the United States was only fuelling speculation that they lost something they didn't want anyone else to find.

They were alone in the hospital cafeteria, sitting at a table along the back wall. They both turned as movement from the cafeteria entrance caught their eyes. Gibbs glanced their way before heading to the coffee pots, Tony just a few steps behind.

"How's the Lieutenant?" McGee asked as Gibbs and Tony sat down.

"He's responding to stimuli according to the nurse, he's been close to regaining consciousness a couple times. She said it may take time. He's fighting an infection and may yet lose two fingers to the frostbite," DiNozzo reported.

"Ziva, I want you to stay here overnight. Lt. Hastings is our best lead on what happened. As soon as he's conscious, he needs to be questioned," Gibbs ordered.

Ziva looked like she was about to protest being stuck with a babysitting assignment. The expression on Gibbs' face changed her mind. She didn't understand the approach to this investigation. They had been on the case for approaching eight hours and had nothing. Now she was being left behind while the rest of the team left to do who knew what. She didn't understand why they weren't talking to these officers' CO. The whole process up to this point seemed so inefficient.

"Officer David!" Gibbs barked, startling her out of her thoughts. "Are you listening?"

"Um, sorry, Gibbs, I was ah, thinking about the questions I would ask Lt. Hastings should he awake," she covered hastily. The looks on her teammate's faces told her no one bought it but the matter was dropped.

"I was saying, we are going to be working backgrounds on all of the officers. If we find anything pertinent we will call you with an update so you can work it into your questioning," Gibbs repeated with impatience. "We will be back at 0700, call us if anything happens. The nurses have arranged for a cot, I suggest you use it while you can. They know to wake you the second they see Lt. Hastings regain consciousness."

~*~*~*~

At 2300 Ziva decided to grab another cup of coffee. She had been talked with Sgt Vaughn and Cpl Smith for awhile. They had relieved the other Marines a couple hours before but it wasn't long before the conversation waned. The nurse said she'd page Ziva if Lt. Hastings woke while she was away.

As she rounded the corner into the cafeteria she spotted Elizabeth Hastings sitting at a table conversing on the phone. Ziva had learned her name and relationship just before Gibbs had sent her and McGee to make their phone calls earlier. Elizabeth was facing away from Ziva and talking rather forcefully. Ziva smiled, the woman made this far too easy.

"No, Marc. I won't be home tonight. I told you I was getting a hotel room… Dana will be flying in tomorrow morning. She had to make arrangements for the baby… No…You don't need to come down tonight. I stopped back to check on him one more time before I went to bed, see him with my own eyes…I don't know… The guards at his door may let me see him…"

Elizabeth paused for a long time, resting her head on her palm before sighing. "I told you earlier, they won't tell me. Something about national security…" She got angry, "Marc, damn it, he's an officer in the US Navy, who knows what he's involved with? I don't understand why you're taking this so personally!"

She fell silent again for a few more moments, "Marc, I'm tired. I am going to get off the phone and see if I can go talk to Mason… No, I'm not angry just frustrated…I'll call you in the morning when I get up…I love you too, see you tomorrow," she hung up.

Ziva had started walking towards the coffee machine as she heard the conversation wrapping up attempting to make it appear she had not been listening in. She paid for the coffee and turned to head back to the elevators. Elizabeth was still sitting at the table deep in thought. The Israeli considered stopping by the table and offering some words of comfort. But she had never been good at that sort of thing. She made her way back up to the ICU, fully expecting to be confronted by Elizabeth in just a few short minutes. She was surprised when the woman never showed.

~*~*~*~

"Admiral Davis shared some details about the sub with me, and based on what he's said it would make an extremely valuable commodity to a number of organizations," Gibbs started explaining as they were setting up the laptops back at the hotel room.

Gibbs continued, "Stealth submarines aren't new technology. There have been a variety o f advances made over the years in deadening internal noise, cavitation and the sound of the boat moving through the water. There have been advances made in the coatings applied to submarines to impede sound deflection and minimize the sub's acoustic signature; much like the B-2 does in scattering radar.

"Lt Knoll developed a material during his research at Boston University that dolphins could not detect with their echolocation. When he developed it, he designed it to allow researchers to study dolphins in the wild without eliciting their natural curiosity. It's this material that has been used to skin this sub.

"The submarine is small, fast and extremely maneuverable. Compared to its Seahawk class bigger brothers, its weapons platform is miniscule; however it is capable of launching up to two Tomahawk missiles in addition to torpedoes. Its primary function is reconnaissance, but can also be engaged in fleet escort or stealth attack missions.

"It's the combination of the stealth technology of the boat along with the weapons platform that has everyone so worried. If it were to get into the wrong hands…" Gibbs trailed off shaking his head. He didn't need to spell out the implications.

"The sub's last known position was about 12 nautical miles to the east of Montauk Point. Lt Knoll radioed that there was a problem with the drive system and that they were surfacing to inspect. That was the communication with the sub. Shortly after that, the GPS location was lost and the radio transmitter ceased transmission. Initially they suspected the boat had been lost to the worsening conditions.

"We know something else happened. Until we pick up on some chatter or the Navy by some miracle is able to locate that sub, our only leads are with these men," Gibbs gestured to the assorted computers and notes strewn about the room.

Hours later, DiNozzo and McGee were each camped on a bed in the hotel room. Gibbs was sitting at the table reading through a file on one of the laptops. The men were silent as they read through the files of each of the five men that had been assigned to the submarine. It was after 0100, McGee yawned.

"Boss, you need a coffee?" he offered as he stood up. At Gibbs' raised eyebrow he said, "Right, stupid question. Tony? Three sugars and a hazelnut?"

DiNozzo kept reading the computer, then a couple seconds later he held up his finger indicating he wanted McGee to wait. After about another minute he scratched down a few notes then looked up at McGee, "No, no coffee, hot tea if they have it."

Tim nodded as he headed out the door towards the hotel lobby. Tony turned towards Gibbs, "I found something in common between Lt Knoll and Lt Dawson. Both men have no family to speak of. Knoll has never been married, he was an only child and both his parents died four years ago in a car accident. Dawson was also an only child. His father left his mother when he was eight, according to his records Dawson hasn't had contact with him since the day he left. His mother died a year ago of breast cancer. He was married, but divorced just after their three year old daughter died of leukemia. Neither of these men have anything they'd be leaving behind. I'm betting they were working together on this. When McGee gets back I'm going to have him start pulling financial records on these two."

"It's a good place to start," Gibbs acknowledged. McGee knocked on the door, Tony rose to open it. After beverages were distributed, DiNozzo told McGee what he needed and the computer man started working his magic.

At 0500 DiNozzo crowed as he read through the last of Dawson's financial records. McGee snorted awake and Gibbs just looked at him balefully. "What is it, DiNozzo," Gibbs demanded.

"Over the last three years, transfers totaling $50 million dollars have been transferred to two bank accounts held by Dawson: one in Switzerland and one in the Bahamas. I think he thought he was being sneaky, but the holding company he has the accounts under has its business address located at the house in the Bahamas his uncle owned. This is the same uncle that bequeathed his entire fortune to Dawson. From the looks of it, he never paid taxes on that money…"

"Wait," Tim interrupted, "He stole a top secret submarine to get away with tax evasion?! That makes no sense!"

"I agree, Probie. That's why I want to look at when and how Dawson's generous benefactor kicked the bucket."

"Good work, DiNozzo," Gibbs said appreciatively in a rare display of praise. "McGee, work on pulling those records. DiNozzo, grab a short nap. We're meeting up with Ziva in a couple hours. I'm going to grab an hour sleep myself."

"Sure thing, Boss," McGee stifled a yawn. "Anything else you want me to dig into?"

"Yeah, read through Knoll's finances. See if anything stands out."

DiNozzo looked like he was going to argue with Gibbs about going to sleep. As long as he was focused on the case, he didn't have to deal with anything else. But he had to admit the lack of sleep was getting to him. He had only slept a couple hours the night before. He pushed the papers and the computer over to one side of the bed and stretched his long frame out and was surprisingly asleep within minutes. Gibbs had already given up his place at the table, McGee busily making use of both laptops.

~*~*~*~

At 0645 the three agents were showered and in clean clothes heading towards the only Starbucks in town. Gibbs had muttered something about the hotel coffee being weaker than a newborn fawn and uttered an oath to never drink the stuff again. The sky was still cloudy but the snow had stopped. The roads were already in drivable condition, as far as Nor'easters went, this one barely was worthy of the name.

Gibbs was in a foul mood by the time they got to the hospital. The barista made the mistake of not anticipating Gibbs arrival and having the dark roast brewed before he got there. There were few things in the world that the former Marine was irrational about, and one of the worst was his coffee. She looked about ready to cry when DiNozzo stepped in and redirected the growling bear to the end of the counter and let the young woman do her work.

So, in addition to waiting for his coffee they were now late for meeting up with Ziva. Gibbs stepped into the elevator, followed by McGee and Tony. A couple other people stepped on and promptly pressed the '2' and '3' buttons. DiNozzo chanced a glance at McGee, both of them feeling the impatience burning off their Boss.

DiNozzo stepped off the elevator and rounded the corner to head to the Lieutenant's room. He saw Ziva standing in front of the door talking to Elizabeth and another man. The man turned and faced Elizabeth and Tony stopped dead in his tracks.

"DiNozzo, what the hell?" hissed Gibbs as he nearly ran into his agent and spilled his coffee. Tony didn't register the question as his own drink slipped out of his fingers. He turned and strode back towards the elevators.

McGee watched the color drain from Tony's face. Gibbs must have seen the same thing as he grabbed DiNozzo's elbow and led him into the stairwell. "Sit down," Gibbs ordered softly, guiding him down to sit on the top stair, "Head between your knees."

McGee hovered as the senior field agent complied. "Tony, what the hell is going on?" Gibbs demanded.

Tony took a few deep breaths then looked up to Gibbs, "That man with Elizabeth…is my father."