This one is a bit different from the others as well as being rather short. Don't worry thoubh I swear I'll put them all back how I found them! The next one will be a while coming. I haven't even rewatched the episode yet but stick with me and I'll get to it!
Thanks for reading. Please review if you have the time. Thanks to SilverFox, SherryGabs, Louise and Aqua Mage for all the lovely reviews and encouragement.
Sub Rosa
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo of the NCIS major case team looked around the torpedo bay of the Philadelphia. Tony had McGee, the agent stationed at Norfolk, clicking photos to take for evidence but it was fairly clear what had happened.
Gibbs and the COB had dragged the body of Drews murder, Shawn Travis, down the hallways of the Philadelphia. The cyanide canister the man had swallowed had already been triggered by the time Gibbs figured out that suicide was a backup plan and not an exit strategy. In the time it had taken to get all the way to the torpedo bay from the freezer the rough handling of the body had taken its toll.
Special Agent Gibbs had ordered everyone out of the torpedo bay with the exception of Petty Officer Thompson who he barked commands at. He had made sure that the watertight, and airtight, door of the bay had been sealed. With the air conditioner off no air from the room was going anywhere else on the sub.
The Captain cleared the trio to fire Travis' body from one of the boat's tubes which was done successfully, but not before some of the gas escaped from the former Petty Officer's stomach through his nose and mouth. There was a Navy search and rescue crew in helicopters looking for the body of the man in question. Unfortunately, they weren't sure that they would find it. The body had been launched from submarine cruising depth and taking the currents in to account they were doing the best they could but something as small as a single body could be swept very far very fast in a strong current.
Tony sighed as he gazed around fogging up the protective equipment he was wearing. The entire team was wearing breathing devices despite the fact that the hazmat team had cleared the room of any remaining gases. We shouldn't even be here. They were the closest investigative team to the scene though, and he wasn't about to let this crime scene sit or anyone screw this up. He would have preferred Ducky to handle it but the ME was nearly three hours away at the Navy Yard. Nonetheless he was on his way and would take possession of the bodies as soon as they were back at Norfolk's morgue.
He walked around the corner of the torpedo and his eyes fell upon the crime scene. He nearly bolted at the sight and shut his eyes against the image he was sure would haunt him for a while yet. Petty Officer Thompson was curled up in a corner his hands clutched around his own throat. The COB leaned solemnly against the racks of torpedoes near Tony's feet.
What made him brace himself, what made him want to throw up like he hadn't done since he was a probie was the sight of Gibbs body against the bulkhead of the ship propped up by the wall just under the torpedo tube.
Gibbs eyes stared sightlessly at the wall and his skin had taken on an almost pink hue. The unfamiliar medical examiner had assured Tony that that was normal in cases of acute cyanide poisoning and that it was caused by the chemical blocking the ability of the body to absorb oxygen. The red, almost pink tone was the life-saving oxygen rich blood that could have saved Gibbs life if his body had only been able to use the oxygen stored in the blood. Gibbs had essentially suffocated to death.
Tony knelt by the body of the man he thought of as his mentor, a man in whom he had placed his utmost trust. He reached out a gloved hand and carefully closed the lifeless blue eyes.
