Ch 10
Despite the threats Abby made, the agents responsible for protecting her were more afraid of what Gibbs might do to them if they didn't follow orders. It was obvious she needed to recover and she was kept away from NCIS for the rest of the week. Much of that time she spent at the hospital visiting Ziva. The doctors considered her to be at great risk of infection and placed her on a cocktail of IV antibiotics. They insisted she stay in the hospital until her healing was well underway.
The FBI's forensic unit completed their work rapidly. Abby was back at work for only one day before the crime scene tape came down and the lab was restored to her. She took stock of the damage done to her lab; thankfully little needed to be replaced, the destruction was localized to a relatively small area. She made a list of the ruined equipment for NCIS' insurance carrier and within a week the lab was functional. Abby was aggravated about not being able to work the case and frustrated that the only way to keep track of investigation was through the dribbles of information that came in from FBI. People who didn't need to go to forensics steered clear of the lab and those who needed to go went in with fear and trembling.
Abby ran into the bullpen with an excited look on her face. "Gibbs! It wasn't Bert!"
"What?"
"They didn't booby-trap Bert; it was a new stuffed animal. The FBI analysis came back from bomb components. They found synthetic stuffing and my Bert was all natural; he had cotton batting inside of him. They must have put the explosive in a new animal and took Bert away. That's why he looked different. We need to find Bert; he could have evidence on him. The guards say Nate didn't take him through the gate; he must be somewhere in the Navy Yard."
"Not necessarily. You know he was searched when he came in and they didn't find the bomb then, so…" Tim began.
"I'm confused, are you defending him? Do you think he didn't do it? Are you…"
Tim cut her off before she could get too wound up. "No, I'm saying that there are other ways to get things in and out of the Navy Yard."
"But Abby is probably right." Ziva was back at NCIS, but restricted to desk duty and frustrated with the limitation. She did better a better job at concealing her irritation than Abby did, but people still gave the Mossad officer a wide berth. "There was no need to take him away and risk exposure, but unfortunately there are plenty of places to dispose of Bert here in the Yard; a dumpster, a garbage can, or even the river."
"The garbage pick up was Wednesday night, Abby." Tony headed her off before she could suggest organizing a crew to go dumpster diving for Bert. "I'm afraid he's gone."
"Is Nate talking yet?" Abby's eyes narrowed.
"He's said nothing since he lawyered up." Tim reported.
"Did the FBI's forensic team link Nate to the bomb?" Ziva asked.
"Not yet, but they haven't been very forthcoming. For all I know from the little bits and pieces they've sent me, Agent Sacks could have been responsible."
"That is not likely." Ziva smiled.
"You know, he looked a little squirrelly when he was in here investigating and he's never really believed the evidence that cleared Tony after Chip's frame up. Say, do you think he and Chip were in this together? It would have been a perfect scheme…"
"Abby," Tim interrupted.
"I mean it; if it is Sacks, do you think that's why the FBI is giving me so little information?"
"Abby," Tony started.
"No one is above suspicion, Tony. Look at what…"
"Abby," Gibbs stopped her.
"But," after a look from Gibbs, she sighed and desisted. "I know; it's not likely. But Gibbs, I really want to get this guy." There was a dangerous glint in her eyes.
"He won't get away with it."
"Dr. Werlin, I didn't expect to see you again until next week." Charles had been unexpectedly summoned to an interview room to see the psychologist.
"There's one more test for you to complete. I forgot to give it to you last time, so I thought I'd bring it over personally and stay while you filled it out. This way I can take it directly to the test center to be processed with others." Dr. Werlin handed him a paper.
Charles looked it over. "This is a twenty-one question analysis for depression."
"Yes."
"Didn't I do something like this already?"
"Yes, but if you are placed in the program, you'll take this every week so we can monitor your state of mind."
"Okay." There was silence as Charles began to fill out questionnaire.
"NCIS has been in the news lately."
"Really? I'm surprised they were mentioned specifically. Usually the media just credits a 'federal agency' with whatever arrest NCIS makes."
"This wasn't an arrest. There was an explosion in the forensic laboratory at NCIS headquarters."
Charles feigned shock. "What?"
"Yes, Ms. Scuito and an Officer David were injured, but are said to be in stable condition." Dr. Werlin looked at him closely to gauge Charles' reaction.
Charles kept a straight face. "I'm glad to hear that. Officer David was always civil to me and I would hate to see her hurt. Did they say what caused the blast?"
"NCIS has not released a statement about the official cause of the explosion."
"Abby always kept her volatile chemicals in an OSHA approved locker; I'm sure the explosion couldn't have been caused by negligence. But you know, some of the evidence that comes in to the lab isn't always checked thoroughly. Perhaps the blast was due to something unstable brought in from one of the crime scenes." Charles tried to keep a thoughtful expression on his face as he handed the questionnaire back to the doctor.
"Perhaps." Dr. Werlin looked at Charles with a blank expression. "I believe I have all the information I need to determine your fitness for this program."
"That's great." Charles voice faltered as he considered the implications of the wording of Dr. Werlin's statement.
"Good-bye, Mr. Sterling."
"Hey Boss, you wanted to see me?" Mark was nervous about this summons; he rarely made his reports directly to the top of the organization.
"Come in, Markus. I believe we need to speak." The casual voice belied the expression on his face.
"Yes, sir." Mark stood waiting for his cue. It was never a good idea to babble; it irritated the boss and that was the last thing he wanted to do now.
"I understand the attempt on Ms. Scuito's life was unsuccessful."
"Regrettably yes, sir."
"Would you care to explain what happened?"
"I don't understand what went wrong, sir. She should have been killed in the blast."
"You don't understand?" The voice was dangerously mild.
"There should have been enough explosive in the hippo to be fatal to her and anyone standing nearby. I thought…"
"You thought? Really? If you'd thought, you would have known that involving the FBI in the set up might lead them back to us. If you'd thought, you would have realized something else could have triggered the bomb without having a lethal effect. If you'd thought, you would have not involved Mr. Sciacca, a man with no training whatsoever for this sort of thing." The man's voice increased in volume as each error was listed.
"Yes, sir. I didn't think." Mark faltered when the silence made it obvious that a reply was expected.
"As I understand it, beyond stupidity, your greatest failure was listening to your brother's convoluted scheme. It was his idea to use the animal, wasn't it, rather than some more reliable and untraceable method of elimination?" The voice had returned to a milder tone.
"Yes, sir." As much as Mark was grateful for the excuse, he didn't want to leave Charles twisting in the wind. "But plan seemed sound, it…"
"Enough. Family loyalty is a good thing, but it shouldn't blind you." The boss walked over to the window to look out.
"Yes, sir."
"Now, we need to clean up this mess. Mr. Sciacca had been arrested, but he's out on bail pending his hearing. They have no real evidence to convict him, they're just hoping he'll crack and lead them to us. I've sent one of our people to make sure that won't happen."
The implication turned Mark pale.
"It is a pity. He was a good man. It's a shame about your brother, too. I know he'd hoped for an early release, but now with the fallout from this scheme of his, I'm afraid he'll be spending a lot longer in jail than he'd anticipated." The man turned to face Mark. "That brings me to you. I don't like cleaning up messes that involve attempts on the lives of federal agents and their associates. Cops tend to be inexorable when avenging their own. What am I going to do with you?"
Several weeks had gone by since the explosion and few developments had been made since Nate Sciacca's arrest. Abby was still considered to be the target of an assassination attempt, and Gibbs wasn't going to let anyone have another chance to eliminate her. She refused to take up residence at a safe house, so she had an agent assigned to her at all times. Abby was frustrated with the restrictions on her movements, but she was now less likely to take it out on the hapless technicians and agents sent to her lair. In her office, there was a picture of Chip centered on a dartboard hung on spotlessly clean wall.
"Abby?" Ziva yelled above the music playing in the lab. All physical evidence of explosion was gone and Abby seemed to have recovered from her scare and rage. She was quick to smile, her pigtails were back, and there were a plethora of holes covering dartboard-Chip's face.
"Ziva," Abby turned the music down to be heard. "Hey! What brings you down here?"
"I came to see how you were."
"I have evidence to test so I'm happy. I love the mystery and the wonder that comes with fresh evidence. It's a feeling like the butterflies you get in your stomach when you ask someone special out on a first date. Will it go well, will we hit it off, will he run away screaming when I get called away from the concert to examine larva found on a decaying body." Abby spun around. "It's not anything like the feeling I have from retesting my results, like I had to after Chip was arrested. That's like the feeling you get when the date goes south. It's an awful feeling in the pit of your stomach while you watch and wait to see if the night could get any worse than it already has. Speaking of Chip, have you heard anything?"
"The DA is still investigating several of the cases where they think he manipulated evidence. I'm sure charges will be brought against him in at least two of the cases. The tampering was quite blatant, even to my untaught mind."
"What about the attack on us?"
"I am sorry, but the FBI does not think that they can make a case for his involvement. Chip was in prison when the bombing took place and there is no evidence that he had contact with anyone who could have arranged it. There was some explosive residue on Nate's bag that implicates him in the set up. However, he never implicated Chip before he disappeared and the link the FBI has to Mark Agnoli can be explained away."
"But we're sure he did it."
"How many other people know about Bert and how many of those would want to harm you? FBI has not turned up anything else, so I would say yes."
"I don't like looking over my shoulder and being escorted everywhere by some agent." Abby grinned. "Though it was fun to take Gibbs shopping with me and make Tim and Tony to go to the Violent Aphids concert. How did you get out of that assignment?"
"We drew straws." Ziva smirked remembering the two agents were slightly deaf the next day. "Are you ready to take a lunch break?"
"Oh my gosh, look at the time! Yes, I'm starving. Well, not starving because we all know that anyone who can eat at least two good meals a day isn't even malnourished, much less starving. Once you've seen pictures of those poor children who don't get enough to eat, you should never use that word again. And I think that I'll have problems eating now that I'm thinking about…" Despite the subject matter, Ziva smiled. Abby's rambling was another sign that she was on her way to recovery. She watched as Abby went to her new desk, took off her lab coat, and logged off the computer. It was the same kind of desk she'd had before, but the computer had been upgraded and in a prominent location there was a picture of Abby holding Bert.
"So where are we going?" Abby asked as they joined Tony and Tim. "I'm in the mood for Mexican or maybe Thai. Something spicy. If we need to stay close we could try that new Indian place. You aren't working on anything…" She stopped as she noticed they weren't walking the right way. "Hey why aren't we taking the elevator?"
"We took over a conference room, and we brought something in today." Ziva smiled.
"Without asking me?"
"We think you'll like it." Tim grinned and gestured toward a door leading to one of the larger rooms. "In here."
Abby opened the door to find Gibbs, Ducky, Director Shepard, and even some of the agents from the FBI waiting for her. "What's going on? Are we having some kind of seminar? I didn't get the memo."
"Abby, we know Bert meant a lot to you and the two of you had history that can't be replaced. But would you accept this with our love?" Tony motioned sheepish-looking Jimmy forward. He holding a gray stuffed hippo that was chewing on a pacifier and wearing a powder blue T-shirt, bonnet, and diaper.
"We did a lot of research and we did our best to duplicate the original. You can raise him, maybe call him Bert 2.0, and tell him stories about Bert." Tim suggested.
Abby stood stunned for a moment before tears started rolling sown her face and she moved forward to gently take Bert 2.0 from Jimmy's hands. She looked him over, stroked the fur on his head, and laughed at the skull and crossed safety pins on the T-shirt.
"He's perfect." She marveled. Then she hugged the animal and Bert 2.0 responded in a typically flatulent manner. There was a burst of laughter and Abby began to make the rounds hugging everyone in thanks.