Chapter 10
"Wilbur," Mac said, answering her cellphone.
"Is Tom with you, and are you safe?" Gibbs asked, skipping the preliminaries.
Mac glanced over at her naked lover. "He is, and yes, I'm safe. I'm at his place right now. What's wrong?"
"Does Tom have his gun with him?" Gibbs demanded.
"Agent Gibbs wants to know if you have your gun with you," Mac said to Lieutenant Kent, who responded by getting out of bed, pulling on a pair of shorts, and going to his cargo bag. He dug around for a second, and then pulled out a SIG Sauer P226 and quickly slapped in a clip. Mac switched her phone to Speaker, and asked, "He does now. Sir, what's going on?"
"Keep your door locked and your head down," Gibbs said. "McEntire was just murdered, and we suspect his daughter was as well. This bastard's just ramped things up."
Mac swallowed hard.
"Why would this bastard go after an old man and his daughter?" Lieutenant Kent demanded.
"Because that old man's daughter just sent me a bunch of photos from your grandfather's days with the SEALs during 1965, and someone really wants that mission to stay buried," Gibbs said. "Do not answer the door to anyone you absolutely trust, until we can get you moved to a safe house." He hung up.
"Good thing I don't have your address anywhere on my files," Mac quipped, watching as Lieutenant Kent double-checked his door and windows. It was a small, but nice, apartment, on the third floor, and accessible only by locked front and back door.
"Yeah, but I think Granddad might, in his address book," Lieutenant Kent said. "Unless he absolutely had to, he hated technology, and had my address written in one of his address books."
"And if the guy got in once before, he can do so again," Mac realized. "I am so glad I just have a fish tank at my place."
"That was a nice looking tank," Lieutenant Kent said, grinning. "Not as nice as what I'm looking at right now, but hey, it was still pretty nice."
Mac's face went scarlet as she tugged his robe around her. "Flirt."
He grinned even wider and wiggled his eyebrows at her, watching as she sent Gibbs a text message about Lieutenant Kent's address possibly being in Admiral Kent's address book at his house.
Across town, Gibbs scowled at the covered body of Bryan McEntire, where a nurse had covered him after discovering his body in his bed. The pillow Palmer and Gibbs suspected of being the murder weapon, had already been bagged and tagged, with Gibbs hoping Kasie might be able to recover some DNA, but he wasn't holding out much hope.
"We just checked cameras, but this guy knew what he was doing," McGee said. "Head down and covered, face away, no visible markings, the works. He must've been watching, because Reception was empty at the time and the number of staff is low right now due to it being night shift."
"Damnit," Gibbs cursed. "How did he know where McEntire was? This damn place is huge." His phone dinged, signalling an incoming message, and he glanced at it.
"Names are on the doors, and it's possible he could have scouted this place earlier, when it was visiting hours," McGee said. "I've had the video for the last week sent to NCIS; might be able to get something off of the other security cameras."
"Good." He glanced at Palmer, who was readying the body for transport. "When?"
"Liver temp says about an hour to two hours ago," Palmer said. "And I'm not sure, but I think I'm seeing something under his nails. He might have scratched or fought his attacker."
"As soon as you know," Gibbs said.
"You'll know. Tim, you want to give me a hand?" Palmer asked.
"When we're done here, we need to check Admiral Kent's house. Mac says Lieutenant Kent's address was in an address book at his grandfather's house," Gibbs said.
"And if the killer got in once, he can get in again," McGee said, seeing where his boss was going.
Over at Barb Ecker's place, which was still burning, Torres came back to Bishop, who was talking to a police officer.
"Fire Chief says it's going to be a couple of hours before the fire is out and cool enough for us to look around. He thinks gas line explosion," Torres said.
"What about Barb and her husband?" Bishop asked.
"No sign of either of them, and their car was in the garage, from the looks of it," Torres said, pointing to the burning building, where the garage could be seen, also on fire. "Plus, witnesses are saying they saw both Barb and her husband come home."
"Did they see anyone else?" Bishop asked.
"A neighbour thought he saw a dark car leaving the area about ten minutes before the explosion, but wasn't close enough to get a make, model, or even a partial plate or a look at the driver," Torres said. "Whoever is doing this knows what they're doing."
"Yeah. I just spoke to McGee; it's the same deal over at the retirement residence. On camera but not really seen," Bishop said. "He's grabbing the footage for the last week to see if maybe we can catch him scouting the place, but he's not optimistic."
"What about Lieutenant Kent and Nurse Mackenzie?"
"McGee says they're safe, but he and the boss are going to head over to Admiral Kent's house because Lieutenant Kent mentioned his grandfather had his address in an address book."
"And Gibbs wants to make sure our killer can't get to that book before we do," Torres guessed. Bishop nodded. "The Fire Chief will call us when it's safe to go in or they find anything," he said. "There's not much more we can do here, for now."
Gibbs and McGee quickly checked Admiral Kent's house, and Gibbs started swearing. If there was an address book, it was gone now.
"Nothing in his desk," McGee said. "Nothing by the phone."
"Kitchen and bedroom, same. Bastard must've got to it before we did," Gibbs snarled. He took out his phone to call Mac when it rang. It was a number he didn't recognize. "Gibbs," he said, answering.
"Agent Gibbs, it's Bunny. We have a problem."
"We have several. What's yours?"
"The alarm for our St. Michaels office went off, and when police checked it, they discovered someone had tried to cut the power to it, which triggered the silent alarm," Bunny said.
"Is anything missing?"
"I just checked, and it looks like someone tried to jimmy the lock to our personnel files. We're going through them now, but I think I know who we should check first. Frankly I'm surprised the burglar even managed to get into the room with the amount of time he had." There was some rustling in the background and then Bunny started swearing. "Thought so. Mac's file's been screwed with; her contact and personal information sheet is missing. Please tell me she's not there."
"She's not."
"Good. And I don't want to know where she is. Tell her to take time off, and we'll classify it as bereavement leave."
"Understood." Gibbs hung up and McGee looked at him. "He went after St. Michaels and stole Mac's personal information. When he cut the power to the alarm, he apparently triggered a silent alarm."
McGee nodded. "Smooth move on their part. Burglary One-Oh-One; cut the alarm system first, except they upgraded theirs so that if the power was cut, it would trigger the alarm anyway."
Gibbs called Mac as he and McGee drove through the city. "The killer knows where both of you live," he said when Mac answered.
"I know where we can go if you want us to vanish," Lieutenant Kent said.
"Do so. We'll come and get you and trade cars at NCIS. We don't know what this son of a bitch is going to do next," Gibbs said. "And Bunny says you're on bereavement leave until further notice."
"Understood. Tom, what about you?" Mac asked.
"I'll contact my CO, let him know what's going on, and if he has any problems, contact NCIS," Lieutenant Kent said.
"Be ready to go in ten," Gibbs said, snapping his phone shut.
The car screeched to a halt half a block down from Lieutenant Kent's townhouse apartment, and Gibbs saw Mac and the lieutenant come out of the apartment, heading for them, luggage in hand. Due to the number of cars parked on the street, Gibbs couldn't get as close as he liked, and he and McGee were forced to park half way down the block, which meant they would have to walk down the street. Both he and McGee got out, keeping an eye out for trouble. Then Mac froze, her eyes on a car that was parked just slightly down the street from them. Then the car moved and metal flashed.
"Gun!" Lieutenant Kent yelled, pulling out his own gun from behind his back, and shoving his girlfriend down behind a heavy-duty Dodge Ram truck.
Mac wasn't sure what happened, as she was too busy ducking and covering her head, her heart pounding in her chest, but she heard gunshots and the sound of a vehicle crashing against other vehicles. She reflectively tucked herself tighter against the truck's wheels.
"He's down!" Lieutenant Kent yelled, and Mac cautiously popped her head up. The black car she'd spotted seconds earlier was now smoking, missing windows, and crashed against several other parked cars. The condition of the car told Mac that car wasn't going anywhere any time soon.
Keeping their weapons up, the three men cautiously approached the car.
"NCIS, get your hands up!" Gibbs yelled.
There was no answer, so the men continued to approach carefully.
"He's alive but he's bleeding," McGee called. "Calling for paramedics now."
Mac quickly came over and looked at the driver. He was bleeding from several different wounds, including a really nasty one on his leg, where a rod from a had gone through, from the loaded tool truck that had been parked nearby and had been crashed into by the driver. The driver looked at her and she stared right back at him. Then she went over to the other side of the car, which wasn't so mangled that she couldn't get in, pulled off her sweatshirt, and put it and her other hand against the man's leg, slowing the bleeding down.
"You shoot me, I let go," she warned him, seeing the gun in his hand. "You don't, we'll talk." The gun was quickly grabbed by Gibbs when the driver didn't move. "Now, we're really going to talk. You see, your life is now in my hands, and trust me, I'm not playing games." The driver glared at her. "This is what's going to happen; you are going to tell those nice NCIS agents everything you know, including why you killed a harmless old man, or I will move my hand and you will bleed to death before the paramedics get here."
"You can't do this to me," the man hissed. "You're a nurse."
"You're right; I am. I am also someone who was very, very fond of the old man who's neck you broke, you murdering wankpuffin," Mac hissed back. "I could save your life, as a nurse, which I am ethically bound to do as a nurse, or I could lift my hand and watch you die a very unpleasant death, which will come even faster when I pull that rod from your leg, and no one will believe that I didn't try my absolute best to save you, not with all the blood on my hands." The man stared at her, breathing hard. "All you have to do is tell us who sent you. You do that, and I'll keep the pressure on. You don't, and I'll lift my hand and you'll be dead before the paramedics get here." She smiled coldly. "Oh, and don't look to them for help, because they won't, and I'm the only one stopping that guy from putting another round in you; he's Admiral Kent's grandson, and he's as much a SEAL as his granddaddy was." The man glanced at Lieutenant Kent, who smiled coldly and raised his gun slightly. "Your choice," Mac whispered, lifting her hand slightly.