A special thanks to torontogirl12 for her encouragement! I do not own NCIS...
Chapter 4: Extracting Information
As Gibbs ascended the stairs to talk to Director Vance, Tony went to the elevator to escort Gunnery Sgt. Hanlon up to the bullpen. Tony smiled when he got to the lobby and saw the pretty young Marine. He was desperate for information on how she knew Gibbs, and figured it was time to turn on the DiNozzo Charm.
"Hi. You must be Gunnery Sgt. Hanlon. I'm Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, Gibbs' Senior Field Agent."
She shook his hand and smiled at Tony. "It's nice to meet you Very Special Agent DiNozzo."
She followed him into the elevator and he was quiet as he pondered the next step to satisfying his curiosity.
Once they stepped into the bullpen, Tony asked, "So have you known Gibbs a long time?"
"22 years," she replied. "I met Gibbs when I was five years old."
Tony smiled, "So you're not an ex girlfriend?" he asked and she laughed.
"No. He's an old friend."
She saw Ziva sitting at her desk, and not wanting to be rude, walked over to introduce herself.
"I'm Gunnery Sgt. Delaney Hanlon."
Ziva shook her hand and smiled, "Special Agent Ziva David. It's nice to meet you."
McGee came walking out of the elevator, frowning and looking stressed.
Tony saw him and said, "I thought you were supposed to be in Abby's lab accessing those computers, McPanic. What are you doing up here?"
Without looking over at Tony, Tim went straight to his computer and started to type furiously.
"Citrix's computers have encryptions on them that would make the NSA proud." Tim said as he typed. "I have to allow remote access to my computer, so I can access my encryption software from the lab."
"Nice to see you again, Agent McGee." Delaney said.
Tim looked up from his computer and smiled when he saw her. He quickly finished typing and walked up to her.
"It's nice to see you too, Gunny." he said, and again just looked at her and smiled until he got smacked on the head, this time by Tony.
"Don't want Gibbs to see you up here drooling all over his Marine. Get a McMove on, Probie!"
Tim glared at Tony and then smiled at Delaney before heading back to the elevator.
"Poor Agent McGee..." Delaney said, smiling, and Tony snorted.
"Why do you say that?" he asked .
"Because, that's the second time today he's gotten a good head slap." she said, and Tony's face lit up.
"Oh, did Gibbs get him at the base?"
She smiled, raised her eyebrows and nodded, her eyes sparkling mischievously.
Tony laughed, "Ha! Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get a turn soon."
"So where is Gibbs?" she asked.
Ziva replied, "He is upstairs talking to Director Vance. He said he would be down shortly."
"So," Tony said, still curious, "You met Gibbs when you were five years old, huh? That must have been scary. How did you guys meet?"
Delaney smiled and said, "It's a long story, Agent DiNozzo. The short version is that he saved my life."
Tony smiled, surprised and said, "Really? Well, I would love to hear the story. But you don't have to tell me now, Gunny. Maybe later tonight, over dinner? I mean, you look great in desert fatigues, but I bet you'd look amazing in a little black dress."
Ziva rolled her eyes at the self-proclaimed "Master of Extracting Information." She ignored the little pangs of jealousy that she felt while watching Tony flirt with Delaney, and decided not to say anything. She saw by the look on Delaney's face that she was not buying Tony's act, and smiled at the knowledge that this would not end well for him. Ziva loved Tony, but, every once in a while, she loved to see him suffer just a bit.
Delaney stepped toward him and started playing with his tie.
"Special Agent DiNozzo... Or can I call you Tony?" she asked and Tony flashed a million dollar smile at her.
"You can call me anything you want, sweetheart," he said and Ziva cringed. "Here it comes," she thought.
"Tony, you're lucky that you're not one of the Marines in my unit," Delaney told him, still playing with his tie.
"And why is that?" he asked, his green eyes sparkling. She grabbed his tie and pulled him down hard, until his eyes were level with hers.
"Because if you were, I'd have you doing push ups until you were sorry that God ever gave you elbows." She released the grip she had on his tie, grinned at him, then walked towards Ziva's desk.
"Nice!" Ziva said, smiling at her and Tony. She liked Gunnery Sgt. Hanlon already.
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs shouted coming down the stairs, "Do I have to stick my boot up your ass?"
"No, Boss," Tony replied straightening his tie, "She was just... helping me... fix my tie." Ziva and Delaney both smiled at Tony, who smiled sheepishly and sat down at his desk.
"Hey, Gunny." Delaney said as Gibbs walked over to her, and Tony was surprised that Gibbs didn't correct her. He usually didn't let anyone call him Gunny.
Instead he just said, "Hey kid. Let's go to the conference room and talk. DiNozzo! Get Gunnery Sgt. Hanlon a coffee and meet us in the conference room."
Tony replied, "One Marine coffee coming up."
Once the three of them were settled in the conference room Gibbs said, "I'm glad to see that you made it back east ok. You could have called me. I would have helped you get settled."
She smiled at him, sipped her coffee and said, "I know, Gunny, but I didn't want to bother you. I had a few friends come out to stay with me the first week."
"Never a bother, kid." Gibbs said. "I'm sorry about your Aunt Mary. I got your letter after she passed. She was a nice lady."
Delaney nodded sadly and said, "Yeah, she was the best..."
"Is that why you decided to come back east?" Gibbs asked and she nodded.
"This was my first home. I love California, but even when Aunt Mary was alive it never truly felt like home. After she passed, I knew it was time to come back. I miss Camp Pendleton, but everyone at Quantico has been great, with the exception of Captain Bertram. He always seems to have a bug up his ass... Anyway, I'm really glad to see you Gibbs. I was actually going to call you this week and ask your advice on something."
"What's that?" he asked.
She replied, "Before August I need to decide if I am staying in the Corps or not. Don't get me wrong, I love the Marines. Always will. It's just that if I decide to stay, there's a 99% chance that I'll get deployed to the middle east again. I've already been over there for three tours. I've had guys tell me, 'females don't see combat.' Bull. I've got my fair share of battle scars," she said, rolling up a sleeve and showing two scars from old gunshot wounds, "and I've killed more men than I care to remember. I just don't know if I can do it a fourth time."
Gibbs nodded and said, "Most guys can't handle it after one tour. Nobody would blame you if you didn't sign up for a fourth trip."
"I just need some more time to think it over." she said. "Well, I guess we should get down to business. What information can I give you gentlemen?"
"Whatever you got," Tony said to her.
She told them all she knew about Lance Corporal Citrix; about how bright he was and how he'd always say hello and be friendly, but never seemed to let anyone get too close.
"He was a great Marine, and he was always quiet, but for the last two weeks he seemed distracted. I tried several times to get him to talk to me. I really reamed him out the one time, too. He was off of his game bad. He just said that school work was stressing him out."
"Was he close to any of the other guys in the unit?" Tony asked. "Maybe he said something to one of them?"
"I doubt it. As soon as we got the news this morning, it was my job to tell the guys. They all seemed shocked, and I asked them all individually if they knew a reason that he would turn up dead in the park. They all told me that they had no idea. It's not hard to tell if someone is lying. My gut didn't set off any alarms."
Gibbs nodded, satisfied with her answer and Tony just smiled.
"I don't know if this will help, but I remember about a week and a half ago," she began, "all of the other guys in the unit had left for the night. I was leaving, and when I got to my car, I noticed that Citrix's car was still there, so I waited for him. I wanted to make sure everything was ok. When he finally came to the parking lot, he was walking with Captain Bertram. I heard Bertram say to him, 'You better not screw this up.' I asked Citrix about it the next day, and he said that he and Captain Bertram were talking about his education. I didn't believe him, and pushed him for more information, but he insisted that's all it was. You can push a bump on a log..."
"But you can't make it move." Gibbs finished. "Do you think that's all there was to it, Laney?" Gibbs asked, and she thought for a moment before shaking her head.
"No way, Gibbs. No way in hell. He doesn't worry about anyone but himself. Puts on a good show when people are watching, but when they're not, he's a cantankerous old bastard. God help him if he had anything to do with this..." she said clenching her fist.
Gibbs placed his hand gently over hers and say, "Don't worry, kid. If he's involved, we'll find out."
She nodded and said, "I'm sorry that I don't have more information for you guys."
Gibbs shook his head and said, "Rule number six, Laney."
"I know, Gunny. Never apologize, it's a sign of weakness. I just wish I had more information to give you," she said and then she smiled.
"You know, Gibbs, the first person to lay down that rule was John Wayne in..."
"She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, 1949." Tony finished for her. "Are you a fan of The Duke?" he asked and she smiled at him.
"Who isn't?"
"We should do a John Wayne movie marathon some night." he told her, and before she could reply, Gibbs jumped in.
"That sounds great, DiNozzo, and I'll let you do that."
"Really, Boss?" Tony asked him.
"Sure," Gibbs replied, "As soon as you learn how to keep it in your pants."
Delaney started snickering at Gibbs' reply, and Tony smiled sheepishly.
"It was nice meeting you, Miss Delaney," Tony said as he stood up.
Gibbs smirked as he stood and said, "DiNozzo, go help Ziva."
Delaney stood as well and asked, "Gibbs, before I go, is Ducky here?"
Gibbs nodded and said, "That's where we're headed. I didn't tell him you were coming. Figured you could surprise him." She grinned and followed him back to the elevator.
When they walked into autopsy, Ducky was looking at x-rays.
"Hey, Duck." Gibbs said.
Without turning around, Ducky said, "Hello, Jethro. You know, as much as I enjoy your visits, you were here only a little more than an hour ago. I'm afraid that I don't have any new information for you at this time."
"I'm not here for information, Ducky." Gibbs told him. "You have a visitor."
Ducky turned around and Delaney smiled brightly and said, "Hello, Tonog."
His face lit up.
"Little angel," he said as he embraced her in a hug, "How are you, my dear? You look wonderful."
"I missed you, Tonog." she told him and he said,
"I missed you too. You must come by the house for dinner. Now that you live in the area again, there is much catching up to do. So what brings you to NCIS, dear?" he asked.
"Lance Corporal Citrix was in my unit. I was here giving Gibbs information."
Ducky looked sad and said, "I am very sorry for your loss."
She smiled at him and said, "Thanks, Tonog. Well, I won't keep you guys any longer, I know you have a case to solve."
She hugged Ducky warmly, and then turned and embraced Gibbs.
"It was so nice to see you two again. We have a lot of catching up to do," she told them.
"We'll be in touch," Gibbs said, and Ducky held out his arm.
"May I escort you out?" She took his arm and they followed Gibbs to the elevator.
Gibbs went down to Abby's lab and asked, "How are those computers coming along, McGee?"
"Boss, I just broke through the encryptions, and I'm searching all files and email accounts. The only thing that I've found so far is a cryptic email to Lance Corporal Citrix from Captain Bertram. He talks about 'snowbirds migrating, and finding their nests.' I don't think he was talking about penguins."
Gibbs turned to Abby. "Abbs, what did you find out about the missing case?"
"So glad you asked, Gibbs," she replied with a smile. "Based on what we have of the serial number and the dimensions of the bottom of the case that Tony gave me, I figured out that it's a top of the line security safe sold exclusively by an online safe company. This thing is seriously secure, too. Like, you'd need a couple sticks of dynamite to get into it if you didn't know the code. Oh, and I called and sweet talked one of the managers into giving me a list of everyone that purchased that particular model in the last year, and guess whose name came up? She asked as she handed him a printed receipt.
"Captain Lewis Bertram." Gibbs said. "McGee, did you find out if Lance Corporal Citrix had a cellphone?"
"Boss, I checked with all of the major carriers. We didn't find one on him or on base or at his apartment, so I assume he didn't."
Gibbs glared at him, "You ASSUME, McGee? How many 23 year olds do you know that don't have a cellphone? he asked.
"I will check with the smaller carriers in the area," Tim replied, not wanting to invoke the wrath of Gibbs. "Yeah you do that, McGee." Gibbs said before walking out of the lab and going back up to the bullpen.
"Tony, Ziva, what did you find out about Bertram?" Gibbs asked, and Tony replied,
"Well, after extensively looking through his credit card statements, which should have been McGeek's job, we learned that two months ago Bertram used a website to purchase an..."
"Electronic security safe." Gibbs finished for him. "Same one we found a print for at the scene. I know that already."
Ziva spoke up this time and said, "Gibbs, Captain Bertram had Top Secret security clearance. The case that he bought was obviously at the scene, along with a dead terrorist. Maybe he was looking to sell some military secrets? He could have been using Citrix as a mail boy."
"Package boy," Tony corrected. "It looks like Ziva might be onto something. I just found a deposit made to Bertram from an offshore account two days ago. $225,000." Gibbs frowned.
"That's the same day that $25,000 showed up in Citrix's account from offshore. Tony, take Ziva and get Bertram in here for questioning."
"On it, Boss." Tony said, and he and Ziva walked out to find Captain Bertram.
Less than an hour later, Tony and Ziva were back, empty-handed.
"Captain Bertram signed off of the base at 1600 hours. He is not home, and nobody we talked to has seen him." Ziva told Gibbs, and Gibbs sighed, frustrated. His phone rang and he answered it,
"Yeah, Gibbs."
It was Tim, and he said, "Found something, Boss."
"We'll be right down," he said, and Tony and Ziva followed him down to Abby's lab.
When they got there, Tim said, "Boss, Citrix did have a cellphone under a small, DC based carrier and I pulled his call history. The last number dialed was to Delaney Hanlon's home phone in Fairfax at 2300 hours last night."
TBC...