"Kate," said Tony the next day as he came down from his office.
Kate looked up, "Yes, Boss … Assistant Director."
"Hmm," said Tony, "Boss … Assistant Director. Has a good ring to it."
"Jacob keep you up last night?" asked Kate knowingly as she digested this disjointed reply.
"Yes," groaned Tony, "It's probably karma. I should have taken up Director Craig's offer of lopi kuwak coffee."
"What?" asked Kate.
"Something like that, I think he said it's called tiger coffee …" said Tony.
"Civet coffee!" said Tim excitedly. "And it's kopi luwak, not lopi kuwak, Boss … Sir … Assistant Director."
"Boss-Sir, it gets better," said Tony.
"Has Director Craig got kopi luwak coffee?" pressed Tim.
"Yes," said Tony with a shudder.
"What's so interesting about tiger coffee?" asked Kate.
"Nothing," said Tony.
"Civet, not tiger," corrected Tim. "It's very rare. It's made out of coffee beans which have been partially digested by civet cats."
"What do you mean partially digested?" asked Kate.
"Use your imagination, Kate," said Tony.
Kate used her imagination. "Eew! That's disgusting. And insanitary …"
"I'd like to try it," said Tim stoutly. He looked up at the Director's office wistfully.
"I'm sure he'd share some with you," said Tony. "He's always on the lookout for a coffee aficionado to compare notes with.
Tim looked thoughtful and Tony thought it wouldn't be long before Tim casually strolled past the Director's office.
"Anyway," said Tony, "I didn't come here to talk about poop coffee. I came to tell you that you did well with the attempted kidnapping, Kate. I'm arranging for a commendation to put in your file. Well done."
"Thank you, Sir," said Kate looking pleased.
"It's deserved," said Tony. "Now, will you remind Agent Vance that there's a team leaders' meeting in conference room 2 at 09.30?"
To a chorus of yes sir Tony left the room making sure not to look at Gibbs' and Vance's desks to see if there was any sign of activity.
NCISNCIS
"OK," said Tony to the assembled team leads, "Before we start, does anyone have any particular issues they need to raise? You know, court appearances, vacations, sickness which might affect your team's availability?" Everyone shook their heads, "Good. Make sure you all keep a handle on firearms recertification … I forgot once and the team had to go off rotation. Let's just say that the Director wasn't impressed!"
The team leads laughed obligingly but Tony noted that they also made surreptitious notes to remind them to look at the relevant dates.
"Good. Now, does anyone have a case that they'd value getting someone else's opinion on? A second pair of eyes sometimes makes a difference."
Ian Balboa, a little hesitantly, discussed a case his team had picked up that week and the others gave suggestions. The Family and Sexual Violence team leader asked a question about the area in which her team had found signs of a child pornography ring and the others agreed to be alert to similar indications.
"Agent Vance? Anything you want to raise?" asked Tony.
Vance shook his head as did the other team leads when they were asked.
"OK," said Tony at the end of the meeting, "Leave the weekly activity reports with me. Let me know of any problems."
As they stood to go, Tony called Leon back, "Agent Vance, can I have a word, please?"
"Yes?" asked Leon.
"I see that the other teams have all picked up live cases in the last week. But my … yours didn't. Any reason?"
"No. I think their cases were mostly minor," said Leon.
"I see. MCRT usually takes small cases as well," said Tony, "I've found that the team gets bored looking at cold cases all the time."
"In my experience," said Vance, "Teams enjoy getting their teeth into cold cases. They like looking at cases that have a little less urgency, allows them to have a better perspective. Means they can have a broader range of situations to look at."
Tony nodded, that seemed reasonable. Perhaps it was Tony who got bored by cold cases and he inadvertently passed that on to his team. "OK. Let me have the cold case references."
"Excuse me?"
"We record the references. To make sure another team doesn't take them on as well. Also helps us see which cases we're clearing," said Tony. He knew he was being unduly pedantic but he was curious to know what cases were occupying Gibbs and Vance so much and the law-abiding Vance wouldn't be able to refuse.
"Of course," said Leon.
"When's your wife coming to DC?" asked Tony.
"Soon."
"Oh. You still roomies with Gibbs?"
"Yes. Seems simpler," said Vance.
"You enjoying having the DC team?" asked Tony. He felt he might not have done enough to make Vance feel welcome and knew that was partly because he was uncomfortable seeing someone else lead his team.
"It's a good experience," said Vance noncommittally. He gazed back at Tony so blandly that Tony began to wonder if he was making a list of the shortcomings of the MCRT. "Lessons to be learned," he added. Tony wanted to ask who would be learning the lessons but decided to resist any mind games that might be going on.
"Good," said Tony. "Let me know if you need anything."
Vance nodded and they left the room together. Shortly after Tony was back in his office, Tim arrived with a list of the reference numbers of the cold cases.
"Thanks, Tim," said Tony.
"Um … any news yet?" asked Tim. "About … well …"
"Not yet," said Tony.
"Ah …," Tim seemed reluctant to leave. He looked at the photo of Faith and the DiNozzo children on Tony's desk. "Um, when does Faith go back to work?"
Tony looked at him quizzically. "Wouldn't let my wife hear you imply that looking after Jacob isn't work," he said.
Tim looked horrified at this potential faux-pas. "I didn't mean … I wouldn't imply … of course …"
"It's OK," said Tony taking pity on Tim. "I speak from painful experience! Actually, she's beginning to pick up a couple of clients. Make that one client, she passed on one. Said there was something she didn't like about it."
"Hinky?" asked Tim.
"That's probably too strong word. Might just be that it was a property case rather than employment," mused Tony. "She was thinking about broadening her horizons." He looked up and saw that Tim was still hovering. "Tim, you did the right thing, you had a concern and you raised it but that's all you can do for now. Understood?"
"Yes, Sir," said Tim gloomily.
"Then go back to work before Agent Vance comes looking for you," ordered Tony kindly.
Tony looked at the list of numbers that Tim had provided and then laid it to one side. He had been determined not to interfere in the running of his team and investigating the reference numbers felt as if he was going against that resolution. After all, he reasoned, he wasn't doing this with the other teams. Another part of him suggested, however, that he didn't need to do it with the other teams because they were picking up live cases. Tony sighed and resolutely turned to examining and then signing off on a case report from Balboa's team.
An hour later, having completed the report, Tony felt like getting away from his office but he then realised that might involve running into Ducky who would probably have some medical advice to offer. Almost without realising it, Tony picked up the list of numbers and started looking at the cases which had so intrigued Gibbs and Vance.
It didn't take Tony long to see that most of the cases were ones which would be good for Tim and Kate to investigate. A couple needed IT skills to investigate while two others relied on psychological profiling which would be good for Kate to look into. What Tony couldn't see was any case that Gibbs and Leon were working on. He hesitated again; he knew he would be unhappy if Director Morrow was looking over his shoulder while he was working but then he decided that Director Morrow wouldn't do that because he knew he could trust Tony's judgement. At the moment, Tony wasn't sure he could trust Vance's.
Tony decided on a circuitous approach. He ambled down to the squad room as if he was going to the break room. Once again, Tim and Kate were alone and working diligently.
"Where's Agent Vance?" he asked.
"Um, he and Gibbs went out on a lead," said Kate.
Tony considered this. Personally he usually divided the team so that the lead and senior agents each worked with a junior agent but he reasoned that perhaps Vance felt happier working with Gibbs. Then something snapped within him and he decided to listen to his gut.
"What's the case that they're working on?" he asked. "I couldn't tell from the list of case numbers you gave me."
"Uh, I don't know, Boss," said Tim.
"They haven't talked to you about the case?"
Tim and Kate looked at Tony a little blankly and Tony couldn't blame them. While Tony couldn't help but think out loud, somehow he didn't think Vance favoured that approach and Gibbs certainly didn't.
"McGee, can you access Agent Vance's computer? See what files he's been looking at?" he asked.
McGee looked terrified at the thought of hacking his superior's computer. "I could try," he admitted. "But I'd be surprised if Agent Vance had an obvious password." He tried to look innocent but Tony realised that probably meant that Tim would easily guess Tony's password.
"Try," he ordered.
"Something wrong?" asked Kate.
"Probably not," said Tony.
Tim tapped at Vance's keyboard but then sighed, "No, I can't get in. I'd have to go down to the Cyber unit to get access. Do you want me to do that?"
"No," said Tony. "Try Gibbs'."
"You think Gibbs will have left a computer trail?" asked Kate sceptically.
"You never know," said Tony.
McGee was easily able to get into Gibbs' computer but to no avail as he didn't seem to have done anything on it for days.
"What next?" asked Tim, getting ready to go down to the Cyber unit.
"Wait," said Kate, "I've got an idea." She hurried over to Gibbs' desk and looked at his memo pad. She held it up to the light and made a satisfied sound. She picked up a pencil and rubbed the surface lightly. "Look," she said, "It's a name and an address!"
"That was very Nancy Drew of you," said Tony.
"I preferred the Hardy Boys," grinned Kate.
"What … what …?" asked McGee.
Kate smirked: it wasn't often that it was she who traced addresses and other data and it was especially sweet to have done it without using technology.
"Don't worry, McGee," said Tony, "You can get the books out of the library. And, in fact, you can use those cyber skills to find out who this name and address belongs to."
Muttering something about using the phone book, McGee went back to his desk and started working. "It's a hotel," he announced a few moments later. "And the name on the pad, Marjorie Grubecker, booked in yesterday."
"Yesterday?" said Kate, "That's recent for someone involved in a cold case."
"Grubecker," said Tony, "That name rings a bell. But not the Marjorie. McGee … any Grubeckers with a connection to a cold case?"
Tim tapped on the keyboard again. "No, Boss. But Marjorie Grubecker is the wife of a former NCIS Agent. La …"
"Laine Grubecker," said Tony. "I remember now. He was a team leader at the Navy Yard. I wasn't here at the time but I heard the story. He was suspected of corruption, taking kickbacks to turn a blind eye to some smuggling operations. He always denied it but he was dismissed for misconduct."
"Tim, bring up the file on Agent Grubecker's dismissal," ordered Tony.
"Er, Boss," said Tim, "Looks as if Agent Vance and Agent Gibbs both served on his team."
"They weren't involved, were they?" asked Kate in shock.
Tony and Kate moved to read what was showing up on Tim's screen.
"Doesn't look like it," said Tony, "Grubecker was the only suspect. He had thirty years' service. Lost his pension when he was fired. Is there a case file as well, Tim?"
"No. It was an internal investigation for NCIS. The FBI had the main case. They suspected Grubecker's involvement but couldn't prove anything so NCIS just went with the disciplinary case. It was clear that Grubecker had broken protocol."
"So, why are Gibbs and Agent Vance in contact with Mrs Grubecker?" asked Kate. "Or is it something else that they're doing? Maybe they're just paying a social call."
"Gibbs?" asked Tony. "Gibbs, a social call?"
"Er, Boss," said Tim, "There's something else. Look," he pointed to a scanned letter on the file.
"Damn," said Tony, "Laine Grubecker has cancer. His wife wrote requesting that a reinstatement be considered on compassionate grounds so that he could get his pension and medical benefits."
"And look," said Tim as he brought up more scanned letters, "He's been writing in regularly for years saying he's innocent."
"OK," said Tony, "We don't know if this is what Gibbs and Agent Vance are looking into. Might be another reason that Gibbs had that name and address on his desk. I'll speak with Agent Vance when he gets back."
"You want us to say anything?" asked McGee.
"No, leave it."
"We could start looking into the case," suggested Kate.
"We don't know there's a case to look into," said Tony. "No, carry on with what you were doing."
NCISNCIS
Back in his office, Tony brought up Grubecker's file for himself. As far as he could see the former agent had been lucky to escape criminal charges and he wondered if NCIS had wanted to avoid some scandal. He picked up his phone.
"Fornell," came the reply.
"DiNozzo here," said Tony.
"Look, don't blame me that Haswari's body came to you," said Fornell defensively. "Wasn't my idea."
"It wasn't?"
"Well, maybe I didn't exactly oppose it," hedged Fornell.
Tony decided not to dig any deeper. Haswari's body had been released to Officer David and Tony had checked that both had left on a flight to Israel. Jenny Shepard was on her way back to Bahrain and Tony hoped that any request for a liaison role would be delayed until Director Morrow's return. He wondered, however, if Fornell's discomfort would give him a little leverage.
"Does the name Grubecker ring any bells with you?" asked Tony.
"No," said Fornell cautiously.
"NCIS agent. Suspected of corruption."
"Wait a minute," said Fornell. "It comes back now. It was … more than ten years ago."
"And nobody's asked you about it recently?" asked Tony.
"Like who?"
"Anybody from NCIS?"
"What's this about. Hey, hold up, wasn't Jethro on his team? And another guy … Vince?"
"Vance," corrected Tony.
"That's right, Vance. Mean boxer. He and Jethro were … antagonistic about the investigation. Defensive about their Boss."
Tony fleetingly wondered if Gibbs would be defensive about him but pushed the thought away for another time.
"And Gibbs hasn't spoken to you about the case?"
"I'm guessing you mean recently?"
"Yes."
"No. But there are other people who work for the FBI, you know."
"You're Gibbs' go-to guy," said Tony.
"I don't know whether to be flattered or afraid about that," said Fornell.
"And he hasn't asked you about anything else about the case?" Tony looked at Grubecker's file, "Looks like an Alan Lockyer was the person who went down for the smuggling. Grubecker was alleged to have fed him information about naval patrols, made it easier for him to bring in contraband."
"No, he hasn't asked. But Lockyer got out of prison four months ago. We suspect that he'll go back into business again. May even be that his organization carried on without him. There's a chance that they've moved onto people smuggling."
"In or out?"
"Both. Child prostitutes in and wanted criminals out. It's all got a lot nastier than it was," said Fornell.
"I see," said Tony.
"What's NCIS's interest?" asked Fornell.
"Might be nothing," said Tony evasively.
"You can do better than that, DiNutso," said Fornell sharply.
"Don't think I can at the moment," said Tony. "I need to talk with Gibbs and Vance. I might be barking up the wrong tree here. And I don't see how it can have anything to do with any current case."
"I expect to be told if you find out it has," said Fornell.
"Will do," said Tony. "Hey, were you involved with the first case?"
"No. Heard about it, of course as it was a DC case. If I remember right, the agent in charge felt sorry for Grubecker. Said he seemed a nice guy."
"A nice guy who took kickbacks?" said Tony sceptically.
"There was some suggestion of money worries in the family," said Fornell thoughtfully. "Hey, it wasn't my case but people knew that I was Gibbs' go-to guy, that I knew NCIS and they discussed it with me. I got the impression that NCIS wanted shot of him but didn't want to throw the whole book at him, felt there were extenuating circumstances. The leaked information didn't pose any real security risks."
"I see. You said there might be an on-going case with Lockyer?"
"Yes …" said Fornell with a return to caution.
"Any particular area?"
"You sure this isn't about an NCIS investigation?"
"No, I'm not sure," said Tony honestly. "This is Gibbs I'm talking about."
"Gone lone wolf again, has he?" asked Fornell sympathetically.
"Not if he knows what's good for him," said Tony darkly. "No, I don't know. Think he's been in contact with Grubecker's wife."
"That doesn't sound much," said Fornell in relief.
"No, you're right," agreed Tony although he knew he had to take into account the mystery of how Gibbs and Vance had been spending their time recently. "So, can you tell me where you think Lockyer is working out of now?"
"Two possible areas. Chesapeake Beach and Patuxent River. But it's all speculative," said Fornell.
"Thank you, Tobias."
"You'd better be telling the truth, Assistant Director, I'd hate to stop co-operating with NCIS."
"Pleasure doing business with you, Agent Fornell," said Tony as he ended the call.
Tony hesitated for a few seconds but then decided to use his own cyber skills and check Gibbs' and Vance's cells and huffed with annoyance when he saw that Vance had made a call on the road out to Chesapeake.
"Enough," he said to himself and he called first Vance and then Gibbs but got no reply to either call. He left voice mail messages for both men ordering them to call him back but, as the day went on, he grew more and more angry when no calls were received. He took a detour on the way home that night and drove past Gibbs' house; when he saw that Gibbs' car was on the drive he parked his car and marched into the house.
He saw Gibbs and Vance sitting stony faced at the kitchen table,
"Agent Vance, Agent Gibbs!" he demanded, "What the hell are you two playing at?"
