Chapter Ten
Grayson sat with his leg stretched out under the table in an interrogation room. Gibbs had left him there for almost an hour. He had been staring at the mirror on the far side of the room for most of that hour, wondering if Zack was ok. No one had told him if they had contacted Dusty or not.
They had separated Levi and him after entering the building. He could see Agent Gibbs thinking about whether or not he should let Agent Todd interview Levi. Grayson silently hoped it was Gibbs that would be the one to talk to him. He didn't want to speak to anyone else, already forming that bond with Gibbs in the hospital.
He finally heard footsteps outside the door before it slowly opened. He didn't take his eyes from the mirror, holding his own gaze. Agent Gibbs came into his peripheral vision and he let himself relax finally. Gibbs sat down and stared at Grayson waiting for him to acknowledge his presence.
Grayson finally turned slightly in the chair and looked at Gibbs. He felt the nervousness well up in his stomach as he thought about what he was about to share. These were parts of his life very few that knew him, knew about. Here he was, about to tell a perfect stranger, in hopes that this stranger will understand and catch the real killer.
"Tell me about you and Gunnery Sergeant Corbett," Gibbs began.
"Not much to tell," Grayson said with a shrug, regretting the motion after a shock of pain pulsated through his injured shoulder.
"Start with high school," Gibbs continued.
"Can I ask something?" Grayson replied watching Gibbs' eyes. Gibbs looked down and sighed before nodding to the boy. "How'd you learn so much about me?"
"Agent Todd dug up your past."
"But how'd you know it was me?" Grayson asked curiously. Gibbs simply shrugged his shoulders.
"Gunnery Sergeant Corbett."
"Right. Mark and I met in high school. After Levi took me in and straightened me out, he got me back into school. Mark was in a couple of my classes. He struck up a slight friendship, we weren't close but sharing so many classes we chummed around some. I was pretty antisocial then…circumstances of a rattled past."
"Were you violent?"
"Anything I say here is going to make me look bad," Grayson said closing his eyes and shaking his head. When he opened them again Gibbs was piercing him with a stare. "I…yeah I guess you can say that. I was still trying to cope with the issues of my past. Nobody there knew. They all bought the story Levi gave them that my parents had died and he was raising me now; that he was my uncle."
"You were arrested for assault."
"Yeah, that. Mark and I were starting to butt heads. I was having a terrible time adjusting to being in a social atmosphere again. I was still struggling with the fact that I shot a man, I was still having trouble coping with the fact that my mom abandoned me and told me I was evil."
"What started the fight?"
"Mark said something. I don't even remember. It was so long ago and really simple things would set me off. They knew that."
"Who's they? Corbett is the only one listed in the arrest record."
"Because the others didn't press charges. Their parents understood what their kids did. Mark's dad just couldn't let it go. He was there when it was happening, he missed the why though, and he missed the beginning."
"So tell me."
"There were five of us there that night. Just high school boys handing out. I didn't generally go but Mark was starting to badger me at school daily that I never went out with the boys. So I went. They had no intention of making me feel part of the group that night. Mark had planned the whole event; he just didn't know how far I was capable of going once he lost control."
"Planned what?"
"The get together that night was to basically ridicule and pick on me. They just wanted to have some fun, but I was in no stage to have them poke fun at me. They only thought my parents were killed in a car accident, the story that Levi and I cooked up. They had no idea about what really happened."
"And what did they do?"
"Little stuff all night, making fun, poking around. Telling me things just to get a rise out of me. Mostly I handled it quietly. It was the way I always did. I didn't talk much, didn't see the need. The snapping point? I don't even remember what he said. I just remember Mark saying something and something else in my brain just cracking."
"What happened next?"
"I attacked Mark. Wildly. I didn't care anymore. I was going to take out all of my frustrations, anger, and resentment on him. He was going to pay for the way my family treated me. It didn't matter who he was at the moment, he was everything that had wronged me in the last couple years. The other boys, they tried to rip me from him but I continued to pummel him."
"Then what?"
"I don't really know. It's really just a blur from there on out. Someone pulled me off of him and pinned me to the ground. I'm not very big but I remember it was a struggle for the other person. Then the cops came. They took me to the station and Mr. Corbett pressed charges of assault against me."
"Do you remember being at the police station?"
"Yeah, I remember being there, but what went on? It's a mess in my head. I wasn't right, you know. I was suffering from severe PTS."
"What happened when everything was done?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your relationship with Mark Corbett."
"It got nasty for a while. His dad and Levi were always butting heads over things. Mark and I never got along again."
"I can understand why. I read his ER report," Gibbs said tapping the folder in front of him. Grayson looked away.
"I've over come the adversity in my life. It doesn't happen anymore."
"Tell me about this guy you call Storm," Gibbs continued. Grayson felt his stomach churn slightly. He looked at his hands briefly, before bringing his eyes up to the mirror.
"Storm was a member of the Special Ops forces in the Army. We were never in the same unit but I'd heard of him plenty when I was in."
"Spec Ops?" Gibbs asked. Grayson nodded. "You?"
"That so hard to believe?" Grayson asked defensively. Gibbs gave him a once over.
"Don't look like you'd pass the PT test," Gibbs threw out with a raised eyebrow. He watched the anger boil in Grayson's eyes for a moment, before it was neatly tucked away.
"Don't judge a book by its cover," Grayson countered. The two men held a look for a moment before the corner of Gibbs' mouth twitched and he nodded for the younger man to continue. "We all knew he was the kind they sent on those missions that couldn't fail. He was notorious for doing whatever it took to get the job done. But then, he started going rogue. At first they were simply things tied into his mission. But after a while he started to seek out his own missions."
"The brass grew weary?"
"Something like that. They put together a team of the top ops. I was one of four, chosen for my expertise in explosives. We were told where to find him and how to go in undetected. But something wasn't right when we got there. Our cover was blown from the get go and things went terribly wrong."
"What happened?"
"I'm not supposed to talk about it," Grayson said with a sigh. Gibbs threw a glare in his direction.
"What have we been doing?"
"Listen, it's not that I don't want to tell you. I just need to know that…it's not going to bite me. I have to have cover on this one. You can't really know, get it?"
"Secrets safe with my team," Gibbs replied impatiently. Grayson took a deep breath.
"We went in, two pairs. My partner and I had the back side. We went in under the cover of darkness. My job was to set the explosives in prime spots to bring the building down. Then we were to get out, wait for the signal then blow. The other pair had the other side of the building. Rabbit and I went in but it wasn't what we had been told."
"What wasn't?"
"All the Intel was wrong. He had twice as many men, and they were expecting us. Tails and Hawk went down fast. I don't think they ever saw it. We heard the burst, saw the flash, felt the concussion. Rabbit wanted to high tail, but I…it was my idea to complete the mission. He took a position to cover me, and I started to set the charges. I got the first two set, and was moving to set the other two when we took heavy fire. We got pinned in a cross fire from above."
Gibbs waited for Grayson to continue, the same dull expression on his face as he told the story at the hospital. When he didn't continue Gibbs prompted him. "How long before Rabbit died?"
Grayson looked up suddenly, the sadness and guilt written on his face and in his eyes. Gibbs nodded in understanding as Grayson bit at his lip. He tapped his finger rhythmically on the table top before he continued.
"Not very long. The rest of the night is a haze in my mind. Conner says it's from the concussion of the blast I took. I…I saw Rabbit take three rounds. He turned and looked at me. He told me to finish, to make good on the mission. I did my best. I had to leave him. I had to leave all three of them in that building. I waited until I had a clear head, grabbed my detonators and took off for the doorway. I felt the three rounds that slammed into my vest in my back; they knocked me flat and left me winded. I rolled around a corner and armed my charges. I got up and started running again, determined to make it but I got caught by a second wave of Storm's men. The fucking bastard had a personal army."
"You set the charges."
"There was nothing more to do. I saw the gun leveling at me and just snapped my thumb down. The building rocked and turned white. Next thing I knew I was hurling through the air in intense pain. After that, I'm in the hospital."
"Who determined Storm was dead?"
"That I don't know. Never was told who was running the op."
"They obviously went in after the explosion, who debriefed you?"
"Lieutenant Rafael Brown. Rafe was the one that came to my room once I woke up and asked me what I remembered. He's the one that told me the other three were dead. He told me Storm was dead, he even told me that they had two other survivors in custody. I remember asking him how he knew they weren't Storm. He said they were sure."
"You believed him?"
"At the time yeah. Had no reason not too."
"And now?"
"I know what I saw on the street. That was him. He…it was him," Grayson said letting his eyes fall.
"Did you know Lt. Brown before he debriefed you?"
"Yeah he was part of my unit," Grayson said his eyes lost in memory.
"You ok?" Gibbs asked as he watched the young man withdraw. Grayson slowly drew himself to the outside world. He looked at Gibbs and tilted his head to the side.
"I wasn't supposed to survive. None of us were. The whole building was to go down with us inside it."
"You know this for a fact?"
"No, I just…I never really thought about it till now. Everything about that mission was wrong. I think it was a setup from the get go. None of us were supposed to survive that night."
"Storm wanted to disappear."
"Most likely. He wanted a clean slate to continue underground as an assassin. We're wasting time, Agent Gibbs. He could be here right now, plotting something. Have I convinced you?"
"You've placed doubt in my mind," Gibbs replied getting up. Grayson went to follow and Gibbs gently forced him back into the chair. "Sit."
Grayson watched as Gibbs left him alone in the room. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. If Gibbs didn't start actively looking for Storm soon he was going to have to figure out a way out of this place and do it himself. He was a target and no matter how secure those agents felt on their home turf, Grayson knew he wasn't safe until he looked into Storm's dead eyes.
He looked sharp in his Navy uniform. He checked the ID once more to make sure it was the correct one. The smile crept over his face as he approached the doors, but he quickly managed to put up the stone face that was mirrored on the photo ID in his pocket. Entering the building was easier than he expected.
Once the guard checked his ID and Storm told him the case he was supposedly a part of he was allowed into the building. He felt the pump of adrenaline as he was escorted to the elevator. Once he was delivered to his floor his luck continued. He was left at an empty desk to wait for the investigator in charge of his "case".
As soon as his escort was out of sight, he moved quickly from the empty desk and scanned the open area for the two agents he saw earlier. He spotted the female at a desk and stopped on the other side of a partition. He glanced casually around the corner and saw two other agents working at desks in the vicinity of the female agent; the older gray haired agent was not around.
He saw neither Grayson nor Levi and took a deep breath. As he continued his attempt to blend in he moved closer to the agents. He listened to their chatter but was disappointed when he learned it was idle.
The agent he had seen with Grayson stopped at the female agent's desk, leaning down to speak to her quietly. He strained his ears, wishing his hearing was still as sharp as before the explosion. All he could make out was sound, nothing definitive made it to his ears. He inched closer, inspecting a shelf as he did so. No one seemed to notice that he was there.
The gray haired and the female agent both got up to leave and Storm followed them down the hall. They split, the female agent going to one side of the hall while the man went to the other. Storm smiled and slipped into the observation room of the interrogation room that the man had entered and smiled. There sat Grayson.
TBC…