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Chapter 6
Fear. It had seized Tony and was refusing to let go. Knowing that he will have to look into his friend's eyes and lie to them, it was almost too much. The people he'd been avoiding for weeks, he will have to spend days with. But Tony knew that that was the only way to get to the men who changed his life, who ruined his life, the monsters who made him a monster.
He got up early on Monday morning. Well, if he had to be honest, he hadn't slept at all. Because every time he closed his eyes, nightmares and memories appeared in his mind.
Having dressed in his Italian suit, he grabbed his car keys and slammed the door behind him. A half-hour later, he parked his car in the NCIS parking lot which was still empty due to it being so early.
"Thank God." He thought when saw that the bullpen was empty, especially the three desks around his. He sat on his leather chair and opened the top drawer. He knew he would find his badge and gun in it, but also noticed a piece of paper with a phone number on it. Taking it with one hand, Tony leaned back and stared at it. This was the phone number of the woman he'd dated just before the assignment. Hell, how happy and carefree he had been feeling!
"Morning, Tony." McGee's voice scared him. The junior agent looked suspiciously at his friend, it seemed strange to him that Tony was here this early.
"McProbie!" The senior agent tried to mask his real emotions. "Is this coffee for me?" Without waiting for the answer, Tony grabbed one of the cups McGee was holding and took a big sip before sitting back on his chair.
"I was about to forget all of these nicknames."
"Did you miss them?" Tony raised his eyebrows, imitating a hopeful expression.
"Sort of…Anyway, why are you here so early?"
"My desk is a mess, have to clean it before Gibbs comes." This was the first lie Tony could think of and it worked, McGee bought it. The real reason was that he wanted to do a research, to start his big "search for drug-sellers" adventure.
"Yeah, I'm familiar with that feeling. Have to finish all these reports before he comes or I'm dead. It looks like you were right, it's not fun to be a senior field agent. I'm actually happy I won't be anymore."
Tony was about to answer but the elevator "ding!" stopped him. The doors slid open, and came running a bright looking figure, followed by Ziva and Ducky. Abby pounced hard.
"Abigail, Anthony's still weak!" Ducky warned so the Goth would let her friend breath.
"Sorry but I'm so happy that you're back…I have to go, my babies are waiting for me. See you at lunch time." Abby said with the speed of the light and in the next moment disappeared, taking the stairs.
"I have to go as well. It's good to see you back, my boy." Ducky patted Tony lightly on the back before leaving. Now there were only three of them left to sit in an awkward silence.
Xxx
"Grab your gear!" Gibbs barked an hour later when he arrived with a fresh, hot coffee in hand. His eyes stopped on his SFA for a second, trying to read him but for the first time in his life he failed. Tony's stony expression and lifeless eyes weren't telling him anything.
"What do we have, boss?" McGee dared to ask first.
"A dead lieutenant. Ziver, call Ducky and tell him we'll meet at the crime scene. Dinozzo!" The ex-marine blocked Tony's way. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Yes, desk work." Tony murmured before sitting in his chair. "And what exactly should I do here?"
"Wait and I'll call you as soon as we have something."
Xxx
"Gibbs, do you really think Tony is alright? I mean he has been trying to be his old self since he came this morning, but I do not know, I think this is only a theater." Ziva commented while Gibbs was driving towards the crime scene.
"You do know that he doesn't know how to say he's not alright, don't you?' McGee answered instead of their boss, who was just listening. "I mean he said he was alright when he had the plague, when broke up with Jeanne, after he went missing, arrested, shot and so on. So you can't just expect to hear anything else this time."
"Dinozzo is not alright and he won't be anytime soon." Gibbs added in his usual gruff voice. "Boss, how long will Tony be on desk work?"
"Until he says he feels confident enough to work in the field McGee, and I hope it will be soon."
Xxx
After some more minutes, Gibbs parked the NCIS vehicle practically in the middle of the street, in front of a relatively big white house. The trio had grabbed their stuff and had started walking towards the main door, when they saw Ducky's truck and heard him yelling at Palmer.
"Mr. Palmer, I have no idea how you find your way to work and back."
"Ducky, why do you need four gurneys?" Ziva asked puzzled when she saw that there were four of them next to Palmer.
"For the bodies, of course." The ME answered without any hesitation.
"Bodies, Duck? I thought there was only one dead lieutenant.
"Oh dear, no Jethro. His wife and eight-year-old twins have been killed too."
"Then why the hell did we only get information about the lieutenant's death?" Gibbs was extremely pissed.
"That must be our fault agent Gibbs." A middle aged Metro officer explained. "One of our probationary officers found the bodies four hours ago, but he reported badly. So I only knew about the other three bodies about a half-hour ago."
"I don't care whose fault this is Mark. Next time, it would be better to inform us correctly." Gibbs answered impolitely before entering the house. What they saw was horrible. There was blood everywhere but that was the less important thing. The bodies of the two kids were under the table, terror written on their faces, stabs all over their little bodies, the a smell of urine wafted through the air around them. The mother's eyes were still open, so much pain in them. She had watched her kids dye before the killer saved her from her agony. The Lieutenant's body was in the living room, a knife in his right hand and a gunshot to his chest.
"What kind of a human can do this, Jethro?" Ducky asked sadly.
"Not a human Duck, a monster."
Xxx
He was finally alone, the perfect opportunity for searching. But how was he supposed to do it without having any idea of where Petrov and his people were?
Petrov, Andrey. He typed the name into the NCIS database. And in the next moment, a picture of the man he hated appeared. A face that was haunting him. But he already knew all of the information written there, it wasn't very much.
"Son of a bitch!" Tony murmured, addressing the words to Vance, SecNav and FBI as well. They were hiding information, he was pretty sure about this and was quietly seething, when he heard Ziva's voice coming from the elevator. He quickly closed the open window on his computer.
"Dinozzo, I want you to find everything about Thomson family, now!" Gibbs barked at Tony.
"It's already done, boss. I did it as soon as McGee called me about the bodies."
"And?' Gibbs urged.
"Lieutenant Carter Thomson, thirty-five years old, just returned from Iraq. Three years ago he won a silver star because he had saved five marines from being tortured and killed but one of them was injured, and his left leg had to be amputated. Thomson was shot, spent several months recovering and was sent to Iraq again about thirteen months ago."
"What about the mother?" Ziva asked wanting to kill with her own hands the monster who had murdered a whole family.
"Samantha Thomson, thirty-four years, a high school teacher in the local area. No criminal record. Bobby and Scotty Thomson, age 8. They studied in a school near their home. I called the school, their teacher said they both were very smart kids, funny and unruly, but still really intelligent. They were also very close and shared everything with each other."
"Good job, Dinozzo. Ziva, McGee, go and talk with Mr. Thomson's colleagues." Gibbs barked, stepping towards the elevator and pushing the button. "Dinozzo, I'm not going wait for ages!" He added, seeing that Tony hadn't intended to join him.
"Where are we going boss?"
"Autopsy."
Xxx
"Mr. Palmer, this poor family here makes me remember my first case in this building. A homeless man had killed four people, for 20 bucks. Can you imagine?"
"Oh, I can, Duck." Gibbs answered instead of the young ME. "What do you have?"
"The time of death is about 4:00 am. It can be easily said that the killer stabbed the twins first, but the they died about ten minutes after they were stabbed."
"Where was the father when it happened, Duck?" Gibbs asked, wondering why the father hadn't tried to save his own children.
" Well I say, Judging by the marks on their wrists, Mr. and Mrs. Thomson were tied, forced to watch the death of their kids. I believe that the killer then untied the mother and stabbed her too, she died immediately. Then comes the strange part, Jethro. I have no clue how the lieutenant untied himself and took the knife. All I know is that he was the last one killed, with a gunshot straight to his heart. I sent the bullet to Abby in hope she will find out something more."
"Good job Duck. Now you can tell the rest of the story to Palmer." Gibbs smirked, seeing the unhappy look in Mr. Palmer's eyes. Yes, there were times when Gibbs showed the meaning of the second B in his name. "Dinozzo, go get a Caf-Pow, we're going to see what Abby has.
Xxx
"What do you have, Abs?" Gibbs yelled when he and Tony entered. The music was so loud that it certainly could have damaged their hearing.
"Wow, bossman! Even I can't find anything that fast." The Goth answered after the music had been turned down.
"So I can give that Caf-Pow to Dorris from the mail unit? I've heard she loves it." Tony joked giving the girl the drink.
"Abs, I have no time. How much will I have to wait?" Gibbs showed signs of loosing his patience.
"Gibbs!" The Goth jumped in front of her boss and faced him. "Go upstairs! I'll call you as soon as my babies tell me something."
Making a grimace the ex-marine turned and walked out. "Dinozzo, you stay here."
Xxx
This was one of the hardest cases the team had ever had. Not only because of the brutal murders but also because there was barely any evidence, no witnesses, no nothing.
McGee and Ziva came back to NCIS late in the evening. The bullpen was empty except of the dozing Gibbs and Tony who had sunk deep into his own thoughts. The SFA had spent hours in Abby's lab, pretending to be fine until finally the bullet was matched with a gun and his possessor was found.
But of course, as like everything else lately, they had no luck. Having spoken with all of the colleagues of Mr. and Mrs. Thomson, along with friends, and classmates of the twins, they had found nothing. McGee and Ziva were sent to the house of sixty-three year old Pete Watson, an ex navy pilot who was their only lead. His gun had been stolen some weeks before the murders. The only helpful information they had learned was that the son of Watson, Josh Watson, was one of the men Lieutenant Thomson had saved.
McGee sat in his comfortable leather chair and without making any noise opened a box of pizza which Gibbs had bought and left for them. Tony hadn't even touched it, pretending he had eaten a sandwich in Abby's lab. "Are you hungry?" McGee asked Ziva quietly.
"Yes…Thanks McGee." The Israel answered tiredly, taking a piece of the pizza.
"Tony, please tell me you have something." Ziva asked with hope in her voice. But her statement went unnoticed by her partner, his mind wasn't in the room.
"Dinozzo!" Gibbs murmured, being awakened by his junior agents.
"Yes boss." Tony jumped.
"Go home and get some sleep, all of you! We'll question Watson's son tomorrow." The lead agent ordered, grabbing his own jacket before strolling out of the bullpen. Without hesitation McGee and Ziva stood up too, powering down their computers.
"Are you coming?" Ziva asked her partner who wasn't in a hurry to go home.
"Yeah. Go on without me, I have a date with the bathroom." Tony grinned in an attempt to mask his original intentions. The elevator door slid open and his two friends disappeared. leaving Tony alone in the darkness.
"Petrov, Andrey." He tapped in his computer for the second time today. He had promised Julie he would get his revenge, and no matter how long it would take, he would find everybody responsible for his suffering, and they would pay.