Chapter Three: After the Fact
"What has he got?" Ziva asked immediately, ready and willing to jump into full agent mode. It would give her something to focus on.
"Something about CCTV," Gibbs replied quickly as he picked up his coat. "Saunders was a bit vague and hurried, but they've gone back to NCIS."
"I will get the car?" Ziva offered.
Gibbs nodded and Ziva hurried from the room, glad to be doing something productive. Gibbs turned to Abby and Ducky.
"Abs, I know you want to stay with McGee, but . . ." Gibbs started carefully.
"But you need me to go over the CCTV," Abby finished, sniffling.
Gibbs nodded. "Something like that."
Abby looked at Ducky, who gave her a reassuring smile, and then looked at the trauma door before turning her attention back to Gibbs. "I guess, but . . ."
"Ducky will stay here," Gibbs cut in. It was an order, not a request.
"Of course, Jethro," Ducky nodded. "I need to keep an eye on Anthony as well." He turned to Abby. "Abigail, I promise that I'll call you as soon as I know anything."
Abby gripped Ducky's hand. "Promise."
He squeezed her hand. "Absolutely, my dear."
"Okay," Abby said finally. "I'll come . . . but just because it'll help Timmy."
"Of course." Gibbs looked pleased. He turned and said to Ducky, "You'll let Tony know what's going on?"
"If you wish," Ducky said, but then mused, "but he does not seem to want to see me."
Gibbs shrugged. "Make him."
Gibbs gestured for Abby to follow him out of the hospital. She shot Ducky a final, tearful look before hurrying after Gibbs.
"We will get them, Gibbs, won't we?" Abby asked as she caught up with Gibbs.
He didn't stop as he passed through the entrance of the hospital, but said, "Damn right we will.
---
"Harry, what do you have?" Gibbs asked as he marched into Abby's lab, trailed by Abby and Ziva. He shrugged out of his wet jacket; it had started to rain again during the drive into NCIS.
Special Agent Harry Saunders spun around. "Gibbs, hey. How's your man."
"Hanging in there," Gibbs replied curtly. He didn't want to talk about McGee; he wanted to focus on getting the bastards who did it. "What do you have?"
Saunders nodded to his junior agent, a blonde named Krista Parkinson. She picked up a remote and started, "We got the CCTV footage and we think there's something useful on it."
Krista jabbed the remote, but nothing happened. "Uh," she said, looking unsure. "It should have worked."
"Oh, give it here," Abby demanded. She pushed past Gibbs and all but snatched the remote from Krista.
She pressed a few buttons and then the screen sprang to life. Abby hurried back to her computer, punched a few keys and the footage started to play.
"Fast forward to this morning, oh-eight-hundred hours," Saunders ordered.
Abby did so, and once she reached that morning, Krista said, "Stop. Right there. Can you, uh, push in on those people there?"
Abby fiddled with a few more keys and the video zoomed in.
Krista continued, "It's a little hard to see because of the rain and wind, but we're pretty certain that's our suspects. We won't know for sure until Agent DiNozzo ID's them, but we think it's them. We're certain there were at least two attackers, and as you can kinda make out, both are wearing hoodies that cover their heads. That makes it hard to do visual identification, but hopefully Agent DiNozzo got a look at their faces."
"He did," Gibbs affirmed. Then he noticed a car. He pointed to it. "What about that car? I don't think it was there before."
Abby rewound the tape and the agents watched as the blue sedan rolled up and stopped across the road from McGee's apartment. The suspects got out of the car and headed towards McGee's building.
Abby paused the video as Gibbs ordered, "Zoom in on the car. We might get a licence plate."
Punching in the commands, the video zoomed in on the rear licence plate. Gibbs studied it before ordering, "Can you make it clearer?"
"Of course I can," Abby replied. "I am the master, after all."
"That you are, Abs." Gibbs smiled lightly.
Abby cleaned up the image and soon the fuzzy image was more visible. Gibbs squinted at it.
"I think I can see an 'H' and a '5'," Ziva commented, pointing to the screen.
"HGA-579," Krista said with barely a glance at the screen. When the others looked at her, she shrugged and said, "I've always had good eyesight."
"Abby . . ." Gibbs started.
"Already on it, Gibbs," Abby replied, fingers flying over her keyboard. "It's a DC licence plate, so . . . we have a match!"
Abby looked a little more like her old self as she read, "The car is registered to a Darren Hayes. He lives in DC and . . ." Abby paused.
"What is it, Abs?" Gibbs asked.
"He was recently released from jail," she answered quietly. She tapped away at the keyboard. "And so was his girlfriend, Julianne Meyer."
Ziva looked at Gibbs. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?"
Gibbs nodded. "Pull up their files, Abby."
Abby pulled up the files for Hayes and his girlfriend and sighed. "Their cases were covered by NCIS a few years ago. They robbed a Navy base bank. Tony led the investigation. You were in Mexico, Gibbs."
Her eyes widened as she said, "McGee made the arrests; both of them."
Gibbs looked livid as Krista asked, "So it was a revenge attack? For putting them away?"
"It would seem so," Gibbs said through clenched teeth. He was not happy. "The stupid idiots used their own car."
He shook his head to clear it and barked, "Abby, get the address."
There were a few moments of silence before Abby announced, "A few blocks away from the Navy Yard." She scribbled down the address and Gibbs snatched it out of her hand.
"Ziva, with me," he ordered. "Abby, put a BOLO out on that car."
"Krista, go with them," Saunders added, looking at his agent. Gibbs didn't say anything in response to Saunders' order, but looked less than impressed.
"You might need some back-up, Gibbs," Saunders said plainly. "And there's no one I would trust more than Krista."
Krista blushed at the compliment.
Gibbs sighed. "Whatever, just keep out of the way."
Krista nodded. "Of course, sir."
"Don't call me sir," Gibbs snapped as he stormed out of Abby's lab.
Ziva shot Krista an apologetic look. "He is just upset."
"It's okay," Krista said with a tight smile. "I get it."
"Are you two coming or not?" Gibbs yelled impatiently from the corridor.
Ziva and Krista raced out the door.
---
Gibbs didn't even bother to announce their arrival. He just kicked down the door and stormed inside, gun drawn. Ziva and Krista followed, also clutching their guns. Gibbs signalled for them to take separate rooms. They did and soon there were calls of "clear."
"There is no one here, Gibbs," Ziva said as she holstered her weapon. They were regrouping in the combined lounge and kitchen area.
"The kettle on the table is stone cold," Krista added. "They probably didn't come back here after the assault on Agent McGee."
Gibbs looked very annoyed as he put away his weapon.
"Search the place," he ordered. "Turn it upside down. I want to see anything that might give us an idea of where they are. Ziva, start with the bedroom. Parkinson, the kitchen."
Krista and Ziva nodded, and went to their respective search areas. Gibbs, meanwhile, started on the lounge room.
They worked in silence for a few minutes, until Gibbs' cell rang and startled all three agents. Gibbs picked it up, looked at the caller ID and said, "What do you want, Abs?"
He was silent as he listened to Abby on the other end. Then abruptly, Gibbs closed his cell and turned to Ziva and Krista. "They've had a hit on the BOLO. A warehouse complex about five miles from here."
"What are we waiting for?" Ziva was already at the door. She, like Gibbs, had been highly disappointed that the idiots weren't stupid enough to come back to their apartment. She would have liked a few words with them.
"I will get some more back-up," Krista called as she ran after Gibbs and Ziva. "And get Harry down here to finish securing the apartment."
Gibbs nodded and tossed Ziva the keys. "You drive. I'll call Ducky and get an update on McGee's condition."
"Got it," Ziva affirmed and threw herself into the driver's seat. Krista and Gibbs jumped into the other seats, and Ziva was off before they had even finished doing up their seatbelts.
Krista looked slightly green as Gibbs pulled out his cell phone and pressed the speed dial. "Ducky, yeah. It's me. Any word on McGee?"
---
"I have just had a call from Jethro, Anthony," Ducky announced as he walked calmly into Tony's cubical.
The on-call doctor was nearly finished bandaging Tony's wrist. Tony still looked grumpy and less than impressed and shot Ducky a look of contempt. He still wasn't in the mood for company.
Ducky ignored the look and continued, "He asked about Timothy, of course. And I told him that there was no change. Timothy is still with us and about to go into surgery."
Tony shrugged. "That all?"
"Jethro also said they know who attacked Timothy," Ducky said carefully, watching for Tony's reaction.
Tony's body language changed and he muttered, "Who was it?"
"A pair of bank thieves from a few years ago; while Jethro was in Mexico."
A look of realisation dawned on Tony's face. "The Hayes case?"
"I would believe so," Ducky replied.
"I . . . I was lead agent," Tony started, "but McGee made the arrests because . . ." Tony trailed off and looked at his lap.
"Because of what?" Ducky asked gently.
Tony shook his head and said, "Did Gibbs say anything else?"
Ducky was torn. He wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to tell Tony that Gibbs and Ziva were on their way to potentially confront McGee's attackers.
"Did he say anything else?" Tony was now looking angry.
Ducky hesitated before saying, "Yes. I believe that they were on their way to a warehouse lot. It seems the BOLO picked up their car there."
Tony immediately jumped off the bed. "What warehouse?"
Ducky hesitated again, so Tony shouted, "Which warehouse, damnit?"
"Anthony, I do not think . . ."
"I don't care what you think!" Tony exclaimed and looked at the doctor. "You're done, right?" he snapped.
"Yes, but . . ." the doctor tried, but Tony had turned away.
"Which warehouse?" Tony had a dark look on his face.
"I'm not sure . . ."
"Fine, I'll get it from someone else." Tony stormed out of the cubical and over to the doors that led to the waiting room and the outside world.
"Open the doors," he demanded.
The doctor shook his head. "Agent DiNozzo, it is in your best interests . . ."
"I don't care about me!" Tony yelled.
"Anthony . . ."
"Open the doors!" Tony repeated angrily. "Or I'll do it myself!"
"Tony!" Ducky exclaimed.
"What? I will."
Ducky turned to the doctor. "Perhaps you should let him go. I am a doctor, myself. I'll keep an eye on him."
The doctor looked at Tony and then muttered, "I would like to get him a psych consult."
Ducky shook his head. "I assure you that it would be a waste of time. It would best to let him be. If anything happens to his wrist, I will bring him straight back here."
"Well, he'll have to sign out AMA," the doctor said.
"Fine by me," Tony said loudly. "Bring me the papers and I'll sign."
The doctor looked at Ducky, who nodded. "Fine," he sighed. "But will you stop yelling?"
Tony blushed. "Sorry," he muttered. "Not sure what came over me."
"I still want a psych consult," the doctor whispered to Ducky as he left to get the forms.
"I'm not crazy, Ducky," Tony said, poking his tongue out at the disappearing doctor.
"I know, Tony."
"I want to go to the warehouse," Tony demanded.
"I thought you might."
"Can I have the keys?"
Ducky shook his head. "No."
Tony started to get angry again, but Ducky cut him off. "How, do you suppose, are you going to drive with one hand?"
Tony had the decency to look a little sheepish as Ducky finished, "I will drive."
"Okay." Tony nodded automatically as the doctor returned with the required paperwork.
Tony quickly signed the forms without reading them and looked impatiently at the doctor. With a disapproving glace at Ducky, the doctor opened the doors and Tony raced outside.
"I'll keep an eye on him," Ducky assured the doctor. "Sometimes it is best to let these things work themselves out."
With that, Ducky followed Tony outside.