Disclaimer: Not mine, with the exception of any original characters.
Chapter 3 – Murphy's Law: Having returned from the airport and set up shop in a conference room back at the Home Office, Ashley, Nick, and Stephen studied the NCIS agents, uncertain as to how to proceed. They couldn't tell them the truth about what had killed Major Caine or why he'd been killed. Helen really liked using animals as weapons, and she was fond of calling cards as well. So was her partner in crime, which was why the mauled body had turned up in a lake.
Gibbs was staring them down, with a look that would have made most people cave. Nick, however, was simply staring back, unmoved. Ashley could read his thoughts as easily as if she were telepathic. Nick was not about to be intimidated by any one man, not after staring down future predators, watching a friend die, and spending six months believing his actions had destroyed the world he knew.
Ashley looked at two of the Americans, Special Agent Timothy McGee and forensic specialist Abby Sciuto. They were watching Gibbs the way she was watching Nick – waiting for the explosion.
That was when Stephen broke in, clearing his throat. "Look, we can't tell you what killed your marine. I wish we could."
"That's not good enough," Gibbs snapped.
"Why not just tell us and say you didn't?" Agent DiNozzo suggested. Ashley would have laughed if she weren't so tense. Nick and Stephen only had the secrecy of the project to worry about. She, however, had another concern, one that would be far more personal for the NCIS agents than an uncooperative foreign agency.
She knew that Lester was being stubborn about Nash, and that Paula and Jenny were trying to talk to him. What she didn't know was whether or not they were here today.
Claudia's absence from this little meeting seemed to suggest it. Usually their civil servant would mediate this kind of thing, but Lester had called her away. He'd actually been willing to take a chance on Nick's… undiplomatic ways. Maybe he trusted her and Stephen to smooth things over, but it was more likely that Lester wanted backup.
If there was a confrontation… Jenny didn't want her former coworkers to know she was still alive. She was afraid that if they got involved in the Nash situation, they'd get hurt. Apparently she'd involved them in a personal vendetta and it had caused some damage. Ashley didn't have the details, but she knew that much. She supposed it made sense, after a fashion.
Still, she acted like she had no more on her mind than the others did. "We can't do that, Agent DiNozzo," she said sweetly. "They have dreadful ways to see if we've talked, and even worse punishments."
He just grinned. "I could protect you," he assured her, his blue-green eyes sparkling. Ashley rolled her eyes. This one had to meet Jack. They could have a playboy contest.
"If you two are done flirting, I want some answers. A Marine is dead, and I want to know why." Gibbs' temper was clearly about to reach breaking point.
Nick, Stephen, and Ashley shared an exasperated glance. This just couldn't be easy, could it?
"I thought your name was Samantha James, Miss Shepard." It probably wasn't the wisest comment, but Claudia couldn't think of another at the moment.
Samantha – Jenny, Claudia reminded herself – smiled thinly. "As I said, Nash came after me, and he threatened the people around me, so I thought it best to disappear for a while. Paula and Ashley helped me do that."
"Which is part of why we need Nash," Paula cut in, with a glare at Lester.
"No," he said flatly.
"He's American and on our Most Wanted list. More, he's our only link to the Trust, an organization DESI has been trying to take down for the better part of a decade. You have no jurisdiction on this."
"On the contrary. Nash is also the only link to Helen Cutter, who is at the very top of our Most Wanted list. That makes him ours, Assistant Director Ravenwood."
"Release him to us if and when you catch him, and we'll get the information you want," Jenny cut in, a hint of impatience coloring her tone. Claudia could understand that; apparently the redhead's 'death' was tied to whether or not Nash went into American custody.
"When we catch him, we will get the information we need from him, and then you may have him," Lester counter-offered.
"We can't afford to wait for you to catch and break Nash. We can do it faster," Jenny snapped.
"You mean you personally can't afford to wait. I'm afraid you'll have to," Lester informed her coldly.
"Fine," Paula shot back. She and Jenny left. Claudia turned to Lester.
"Can't we compromise?" she suggested.
"No. that bloody woman has slipped through our fingers far too many times now. This man Nash might be our last chance to apprehend her, and I'll not have the Americans sabotaging that."
"Can't you make him turn Nash over?" Jenny demanded.
"Telepathically? No. I have the ability, but you know I won't go there." Paula sighed. "Frankly, I'm surprised at how… militant you are about it. I thought you weren't sure you wanted to 'come back to life'."
"I'm not, but I want it to be my choice. Does that make sense?"
"What doesn't make sense is why you don't want to go back. From what you've said, you consider them to be as much your family as Alex is."
"After all that happened, they're probably happier without me."
Paula wanted to argue that point. She'd been at Jenny's funeral, and she'd seen the pain her friend's 'death' had caused. She opened her mouth to say as much, but was interrupted.
"Shepard! Ravenwood!" It was Claudia Brown. The auburn-haired woman was jogging to catch up with them. "Look," she said when she reached them, "I'm sorry about Lester. It's just – well, we thought we had Helen last year, so Lester wants to be absolutely sure we don't lose her this time."
"That's understandable but he needs to learn cooperation," Jenny observed.
"It's a weird sector thing. Hasling's much the same, only worse, and Jack's got a touch of it as well."
"You don't," Jenny argued.
"Well, it's like Republicans and Democrats. You know, all politicians, but they have different methods?"
"Oh."
"So," Claudia interrupted, "I was thinking that perhaps we could work together. Lester won't release Nash to you until he gives us Helen, but you need him to take down this Trust. Lester agreed that you could be involved in the investigation, and he even suggested that if you want to speed things up, you could help us with Helen."
Jenny and Paula glanced at each other. It was a typical offer, and very slanted in the Home Office's favor, but better than nothing. "You know, that could work," Paula admitted.
As they turned a corner, Jenny was about to add a comment of her own when she was cut off by a shriek. The next second, as far as Paula could tell, a black blur had collided with her, almost knocking the older redhead off her feet.
Paula glanced down the hall, seeing Ashley Stafford – who was looking more than a little worried – and NCIS M.E. Dr. Mallard. OK, how the hell did this happen?
"We can't tell you the truth because you can't handle it!"
When Nick said that, Ashley knew it was time to intervene. "Nick, calm down," she said. Then she turned to the NCIS agents. "Look, you have a point. You've got the right to investigate. So, Dr. Mallard? Miss Sciuto? Would you like to see the body and the forensic evidence?"
They did, so she left with them, leading the way to the morgue. She wanted to hustle the Americans along, just in case.
A few hallways later, she felt a strange tingling on her skin. Ashley was a sensitive; it meant, among other things, that she could sense magic handlers. At this particular strength, it could only be a handful of people. And of those, only one had a reason to be here.
There wasn't time to change direction before three women turned a corner into the same corridor as Ashley, Abby, and Dr. Mallard. When the Americans saw one of the women, they froze. Abby gasped before letting out an excited shriek and racing down the hallway. Dr. Mallard stiffened slightly, clearly worried about where this would lead. Ashley couldn't blame him. She was worried too. Because while Abby might be happy to see Jenny, the others might react differently. They might remember more quickly that she'd let them think she was dead. No matter what happened, this would be messy.
They heard the shriek from two corridors over as Dr. Hart and Professor Cutter led them to Cutter's office. Apparently the man had photos of the crime scene. Tony was just glad that Cutter had stopped trying to block them. All it had taken was a quick phone call from a woman named Claudia and he'd become cooperative, albeit grudgingly.
Tony wanted to meet this Claudia and thank her on bended knee. If Cutter had kept pushing Gibbs, the boss would have made all their lives hell.
Abby's shriek interrupted his musings. Gibbs, of course, was halfway down the hall before anyone else reacted. McGee said, "She sounded happy."
"Yes, but why?" Ziva questioned as they followed Gibbs.
"We've had some Americans popping in and out lately," Stephen said. "There's this woman Ravenwood, and Samantha, a friend of Ashley's. Maybe your Abby knows one of them?"
Around the corner, they heard Abby say, "I'm really glad you're not dead! I knew something wasn't right! But why didn't you tell us?"
Wait, what? Who was Abby talking to? Then they heard the response, and all of them – even Gibbs – froze.
"I'm sorry, Abby. I… It's hard to explain."
That voice was familiar, but it was impossible. Jenny Shepard was dead. Tony had checked her body for a pulse himself. Ziva looked at him, clearly thinking along the same lines.
Gibbs snapped out of his shock and raced around the corner. Tony, Ziva, and McGee were right behind him. Cutter and Hart, though confused, also followed.
Gibbs, Tony, Ziva, and McGee stopped dead when they saw Jenny. Gibbs knew his team was behind him but he didn't really care. His entire focus was on the woman that Abby was still clinging to.
"Jen." His own voice sounded oddly hoarse in his ears. She looked at him, green eyes wary.
It was the younger redhead's words that brought them all out of their stunned silence. "Oh, I am going to kill Leon."
A/N: The title makes sense now, yes?