Jen looked over at Hollis and angled her head slightly as they jogged; the prearranged signal that meant she was about to veer off the path to rendezvous with McGee, and consequently with Gibbs in MTAC. Before she did so, she looked at Ziva through partly narrowed eyes. Both a indication that she could feel her veiled hostility towards Hollis, and a warning that she expected her to watch the Colonel's back as well as she would her own.

McGee was waiting in the designated spot.

"Good morning" he said, handing her a cup of coffee as she slipped into the van.

Jen looked at him in surprise for a moment. She could tell he was still uncomfortable, but she appreciated the gesture. Knew what it meant. And although she was sure it was nowhere as good as what she'd had with breakfast, she accepted it with a grateful smile.

"Thank you, McGee" she said softly, determined to put him at ease.

"You're welcome, ma'am" he replied, feeling the blush rise above his neck when her fingers brushed his jacket sleeve in further thanks.

"We done with the mutual appreciation society thing?"

"Get out on the wrong side of the bed this morning, Jethro?" Jen asked as she settled into a seat in front of the console.

"Where's Hollis?"

"Still out running. With Ziva."

"That why you're out of breath?" he asked sarkily. "You never could pace yourself. Or is it because you aren't used to that much exercise?"

Jen's eyes snapped to his, the words springing from her mouth before she could stop them.

"There's more than one way to have a good work out."

Beside her McGee moved slightly out of range. The look on Gibbs' face and the feigned sweetness in the Director's tone telling him that he should distance himself from this conversation as soon as possible.

"Have you caused much of a ruckus yet? " she asked.

"Thought that was your gig this weekend" Gibbs shot back without hesitation.

"Admittedly it's been less than twenty-four hours, and it is a Saturday" Jen replied, looking at her watch and ignoring the provocation. "But there's at least another twenty-four left. I want to have an Agency to come back to, Jethro."

"Duly noted."

For a moment they stared at each other – and she was hit by the realisation that it wasn't the only thing he was taking note of. She would have had to have been blind not to realise that his eyes were taking her in; and for a moment she wished circumstances hadn't required her to dress so skimpily, because the look in his eyes was bringing back memories she wanted at all costs to suppress this morning. She'd lost enough sleep overnight as it was, and she really needed her wits about her for the upcoming dinner.

"What have you got for me, Agent Gibbs?"

"Not much" he admitted reluctantly. And she knew that was also part of the problem. He had to be feeling the frustration of sitting on the sidelines.

"Have you got anything at all?" she pressed, impatience getting the better of her.

"Only thing so far is that Anna Elliot was the keynote speaker at a conference on public relations in the Middle East the day of the murder. We're still running checks on the other people. Most of them are accounted for, but there are some pretty huge gaps for two or three of them. And that includes ..."

"Mrs Sheffield?"

"She was supposed to be at a luncheon hosted by the Navy Wives Club of America. We haven't been able to confirm that she was there. Di Nozzo is looking into it."

"I need more than this for tonight, Jethro" she said; and the exasperation in her voice echoed in the surveillance van.

"Then you might want to try more of a Mata Hari get up this evening. Do your own brand of investigating. "

Jen looked at him in wry amusement.

"Mata Hari met her end in front of a firing squad, Jethro. I'm not sure I'm ready to go out that way."

"At least you have the double agent thing down pat. I'm sure you'll have them eating out of your hand" he said, the residual resentment in his tone grating on her nerves.

She had just opened her mouth to answer when he spoke again. And when he did, it floored her to realise that all traces of hostility were absent.

"How's she holding up?"

Jen lowered her eyes. Sure she didn't want to check whether his eyes had softened to match his tone.

"Director?"

"She's fine. Doing very well" she replied. His use of her title telling her more about how he was feeling than anything else.

"If there's nothing else I'm going to check in with Ducky" Gibbs said. Severing the connection before she had time to respond.