A/N: This is the last flash back I promise! From here on out, we'll be moving forward in real time.

Two Days Earlier

He looked up from his computer when he heard the elevator bell. Gibbs strode out of the elevator and hurried towards his desk with not one but two cups of coffee. He glanced at Tony, who had noted the double dose of caffeine as well, and tried to convey his concern. It was obvious to Tony that today might be a little rough but Ziva didn't understand their silent communication until she saw Gibbs round the corner.

Gibbs set his coffees down and removed his coat and roughly yanked his weapon off his belt before depositing it in his desk drawer. Grabbing both cups, Gibbs turned and glared at him.

Taking the hint, he clicked a few keys and brought up Corporal Dunning's records.

Standing up, he joined Gibbs at the plasma. "Brian Dunning joined the Marines right after high school at nineteen. Soared through basic and his fit reps have all been positive. His COs indicated that he was in line to make Sergeant and that he had a bright future ahead of him in the Corps."

"Seems so," Gibbs said. "What else?"

"This was his second tour overseas," Tony said. "He spent time in Wardak province for his first tour and more recently he was stationed near the Pakistani border where his unit saw heavy action. They lost two guys out of their squad and a total of seven from their platoon. There were a number of casualties as well. For his part, Dunning is up for a purple heart and a silver star for running through the line of fire to rescue two of his injured squad mates."

"His records are squeegee clean," Ziva said. "No history of drug use or any indication that he was involved in drugs."

"Squeaky," he said correcting her. "The term is squeaky clean."

"Although you would use a squeegee to get squeaky clean," Tony said before Gibbs glared him into silence.

Ziva nodded. "Ducky and Abby are running tests to confirm that he is clean of drugs."

"The neighbor claims that they tried to invite Dunning to the party that was busted," he said. "But she said that he had already agreed to meet some of his friends. He didn't say where but he did say that he might stop by after he returned home."

"No one at the party saw him," Ziva added. "Although, most of those still present were rather hung-over. I do not think that they would have remembered Dunning in any case."

"He didn't complain about the party noise?" Gibbs asked.

"Not according to the neighbor," he replied. "She said that usually he would join them when they had a party and rarely complained about noise. He was a quiet, considerate neighbor and had helped her with some minor car repairs."

"Why would he complain? His neighbors are gorgeous," Tony said with a roguish smile. Gibbs glared at him. Tony's smile faltered. "So how did a clean cut, up and coming, marine end up murdered in his apartment with a pile of drugs in his closet?" Tony asked.

"That's a good question, DiNozzo," Gibbs said pointedly. "You got any answers for me?"

Tony wilted under Gibbs' glare, which was understandable. Gibbs seemed pretty upset for so early in the morning and he obviously wasn't in the mood for Tony's wise cracks.

Clearing his throat, he came to Tony's rescue. "Uh well, I looked at Dunning's financials and if he was dealing drugs, he wasn't keeping the money he made in his bank accounts," he said as he brought up Dunning's financial records on screen. Gibbs turned away from Tony to look at the plasma. "His savings were reasonable for a corporal and we didn't find anything in his apartment to indicate that he had lots of cash to throw around."

Tony flashed him a grateful smile before saying, "We've got an interview set up with PFC Wysocki in an hour. Perhaps he could shed light on the situation."

Gibbs nodded. "McGee."

"I'll follow up on Dunning's electronic trail," he said as he hurried back to his desk. "Maybe his phone records will yield something."

Gibbs turned to Tony. "I'll background the rest of Dunning's squad to see if anyone else has a history of drugs," Tony said before Gibbs could say a word.

Lastly, Gibbs turned to Ziva. "I will help Tony."

He bent his head and started to pull up Dunning's cell phone information. They could get the GPS information from the carrier to see where Dunning had been in the last few days before he died. He worked diligently as Gibbs looked over them before he stalked off. They continued to work silently until they heard the rear elevator door open and close.

He let out a breath and was amused to hear Tony and Ziva do the same.

"Double fisting the coffee," Tony said. "I wonder what put the Boss in such a delightful mood so early in the morning?"

"I don't know," he said as he looked up at his partner. "It isn't one of his anniversaries is it?"

"Wedding anniversary? I don't think so," Tony replied as he typed.

"What about a divorce anniversary?" Ziva asked.

Tony shrugged. "Don't know that one either. But that is also a likely possibility. His last ex used to get drunk and call him repeatedly on their anniversary."

"Was that the one who was involved with our case a few years back?" Ziva asked.

Tony nodded. "I sent you Dunning's squad roster. I'll start at 'A' and you can start at 'Z.'"

"Appropriate," he said with a smile as he looked between his partners.

"And we'll meet in the middle," Tony finished with a glare in his direction. He continued to smile at Tony before he returned to his work at hand.

Engrossed in his task, he didn't notice the time slip by until Gibbs returned to collect Tony. PFC Wysocki had come in for a follow up interview. Just after Tony left, he completed mapping out the last week of Corporal Dunning's life.

"Hah!" he said triumphantly.

"You found something?" Ziva asked.

"Well I don't know if I found something. But I did manage to map out Dunning's last few days," he replied as he looked at the map.

"With the GPS information from his cell phone?" Ziva asked.

"Yeah," he replied as he put it up on the plasma. Ziva stood and walked over to it. He pointed out Dunning's apartment. "Until we collected his phone, Dunning's phone was at home."

"Where was he prior to returning home?" Ziva asked.

He pressed a few keys and watched as the signal left the house and traveled to a small business district. He zoomed in. "Looks like a bar," he said after searching the last address.

"Make sense. He told the neighbor he was meeting his friends," Ziva said.

"He arrived at the bar at ten o'clock and stayed there until almost two-thirty. His travel path shows that he went straight home," he replied. "He reached his apartment at zero three and the party was shut down at zero four."

"That narrows down the time of death to only sixty minutes," Ziva said just as Gibbs and Tony hurried down the stairs.

"What is it?" he asked concerned.

"One of Dunning's buddies, PFC Gonzales is in the hospital for a suspected drug overdose," Tony said as he collected his Sig. "Another one is dead."

"Meth?" he asked.

"Dunno yet. We're going to follow up on PFC Gonzales," Gibbs said as he collected his Sig.

"He's the live one," Tony clarified. "PFC King is the dead one."

"You have anything new?" Gibbs asked, ignoring Tony.

"We figured out where Dunning met his buddies," he replied. "A bar near the base."

Gibbs nodded. "Good. You and Ziva check it out. See if he had any altercations at the bar or took someone home with him."

"On it, Boss," he said as he collected his weapon as Ziva did the same.

"Will you let me drive this time?" Ziva asked as they started towards the elevators. Gibbs and Tony were already gone.

"No," he replied.

"Why not?" she asked.

"To be perfectly honest: your driving scares me, Ziva," he replied.

She smiled. "A little fear is a good thing, McGee," she said.

"How do you figure that?" he asked as the doors opened.

"It gets the blood flowing," she said as they stepped inside.

"And it tells you to avoid behavior that could lead to your death," he retorted.

"But it also reminds you that you are still alive," she retorted as she tried to snatch the keys from his hand.

"And I'd like to stay that way," he retorted as he closed his fingers over the keys preventing her from taking them.

She stared at him. "You do not have a sense of adventure, McGee."

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have a wonderful day full of good food, family and friends.