Chapter Three
Sam and Dean woke up in a dark, damp and empty room. Looking around Dean saw that Tim was nowhere in sight.
Dean heard Sam moan behind him. They were tied together back to back. There weapons had been taken off them and both sported a concussion.
"Dean?" asked Sam.
"No I'm the boogeyman. Of course it's me!" snapped Dean.
"Sheesh I was just checking Dean," said Sam.
"Yeah well, we got bigger problems," said Dean.
"I can't believe Tim's the shapeshifter! How did we not notice?" said Sam.
"Maybe it had something to do with that weird tattoo on the real Tim's forehead," said Dean.
"It could…if only I had my laptop!" said Sam.
"Yeah well if we get out of here then we can look it up," said Dean, "Shit! The 'shifter is going to feed the NCIS agents some bullshit story! They're not going to realize we're gone!"
Back at NCIS…
"DiNozzo! Find out what this guy was doing! I don't care how many strings you have to pull. Ziva, go over his phone records and credit cards again. Make sure you haven't missed something. And McGee…where are those two FBI friends of yours?" demanded Gibbs, his temper the result of getting nowhere on this case.
"I've no idea Boss, they said something about meeting with their boss," said Tim.
"Ziva, try and get a hold of them when you can. McGee in the meantime I need you to get into that computer," ordered Gibbs.
"On it Boss," said McGee, with a nod. Knowing that his agents would be fine on their own for a while he left the bullpen and headed for the elevator to visit Ducky when he heard his mobile ring. One look at the caller ID was enough to tell him to change where he was going. Instead he headed to the Lab.
In the Bullpen…
McGee took a quick look around to make sure Gibbs was gone. He glanced at DiNozzo and Ziva. They were engrossed in their work. He cleared his throat in very McGee-like fashion and both of their heads turned towards him.
"I'm going to get more coffee," he said, "I'll be back."
"I never thought I'd say this Probie," said DiNozzo, "But now is not the time to go and get coffee. If Gibbs comes back and see's you gone, he'll kill you."
"Not if I bring him the good stuff from the bakers," he said.
"But that's two streets away," said Ziva, "You're going to walk all that way just for coffee when there's a perfectly good coffee machine just downstairs?"
"It's going to be a long night Ziva," said McGee, "and I don't think the coffee downstairs is going to cut it."
Ziva looked at DiNozzo and just shrugged.
"If you want to risk angering the boss McGee, you go ahead," said DiNozzo, "Oh and get me one too."
"And me," said Ziva.
"Will do," he said and walked off towards the elevator, a smile spreading across his face.
Meanwhile….
"Shit! How could I not have noticed!" yelled Dean.
"Noticed what? If this is about us not realising could you please get ov-"
"No it's not about that stupid," said Dean, "When I went to the crime scene with agent…uh…"
"DiNozzo," supplied Sam.
"Yeah, him. He said that Tim had checked over the records. Credit cards included," said Dean.
"But when we told him the information he acted like it was new to him. I know Tim, he wouldn't miss something likethat," said Sam.
"Exactly," said Dean.
"But that's good," said Sam.
"How is that good?" asked Dean.
"This means that the shifter's making mistakes," said Sam, "I'm sure Tim's team will figure it out soon enough."
"Oh yeah? And what will they do then hey? Put it in lockup? It'll just change forms again," said Dean.
"It kept Tim alive," said Sam, "And they normally kill they're victims. Who knows what it will do."
"What'd'ya got Abbs," said Gibbs striding into the Lab. Abby was in front of her computers pacing back and forth, a frown creasing her forhead.
"We've got a problem Gibbs," she said, "Well I think it may be a problem but I need you to tell me I'm wrong and that it isn't one and that it's all in my head because I don't want it to be a problem."
"What problem?" asked Gibbs.
"The computer Gibbs," said Abby.
"What about it?" asked Gibbs.
"Well when McGee left I thought I'd give it a go, you know, help lighten Timmy's load. It was raelly getting to him you know, not being able to get into it-"
"The point, Abbs," said Gibbs before the rant continued any further.
"And I…well I did. Get into it that is," she said.
"What's in it?" asked Gibbs.
"What's in it is part of the problem," said Abby, "but a big part of the problem is that it was easy."
"Easy?"
"To get into the computer," she elaborated, "Too easy. I don't care how much work Timmy's got he should have been able to fix it and hack in ten minutes."
Gibbs frowned. That was a problem, "What else Abby? What's on the computer?"
"Pictures," she said and she turned to her computer and put one of them up on the big screen. It was in Denvin's back yard, and standing there, face looking straight into the camera was McGee.
