Sorry for the wait; just moved so things have been pretty hectic, but here we go…
The team finally get a warrant through, but the raid doesn't go quite to plan.
Gibbs was sat at the desk with paperwork in his hands. This time, his complete lack of attention was nothing to do with his eyesight and everything to do with the young man whose life Abby had just laid bare before him.
He had no difficulty in believing that DiNozzo had a strong sense of loyalty towards his partners, merely that that sense of loyalty would trump the young man's code of ethics; his very evident anger at the situation he faced in Philadelphia showed just how strongly he believed in his job. For DiNozzo it was simple; he was a cop and no matter who committed the crime they should still be made to face the same punishment.
For DiNozzo to let go of that determination to see justice served…well, Gibbs was positive that it hadn't been an easy decision.
He wondered at loyalty; it was something that he had taken for granted when he was a Marine and something that he had once expected to find as easily outside the military world. He had been sorely disappointed.
In the USMC following orders was literally a matter of life and death. If one person hesitated out in the field of combat then that split second wasted considering the validity of an order could mean death, and not just for that one person; an entire company could be ambushed just because one Marine was hesitant to follow his orders, unable to find it within himself to be loyal to his superior officer.
Loyalty to your brothers in arms was not just a way of life but a necessity; loyalty could be the difference between life and death. It was loyalty that ensured everyone tried their hardest to keep everyone else alive; 'leave no man behind' was more than just a meaningless phrase, and 'Semper Fidelis,' the two words at the very heart of the US Marine Corps, meant 'Always Faithful,' which Gibbs thought pretty accurately summed up the loyalty most Marines instinctively felt towards each other.
Once he had joined NCIS he gave his loyalty to Mike Franks, a man who not only gave him the vengeance he needed and so desperately wanted, but who gave him a new purpose in life, a reason to live. He had never been sure just how far Mike would go for him, and he never wanted to know…not really. The man tended to keep his cards very close to his chest and no one could ever truly be convinced of Mike's reasoning.
Gibbs was more inclined to believe that Franks finding of the man who killed Shannon and Kelly was more to do with the ineptitude of the justice system than any loyalty he might have felt the grieving father was owed. Flaws in the system had meant that taking down the killer would be next to impossible and Mike, like Gibbs, had wanted to see justice done. Empathy was not the same as the loyalty he had valued in the Corps.
Stan had followed his orders, rarely questioning the wisdom of them because he trusted that Gibbs knew what he was doing; having someone's trust was very different from having their loyalty. If Stan had been loyal he wouldn't have applied for a transfer without telling Gibbs.
Gibbs knew that Blackadder held no more loyalty towards him and NCIS than she had done towards the FBI; she liked her job in law-enforcement but she saw things as black and white, right and wrong. Loyalty had no place in her pigeon-hole world; why would you need to rely upon the loyalty of your partner when you had whole departments within a federal agency to ensure that any problems were dealt with in an efficient and professional manner?
Gibbs needed to have loyalty because he didn't have faith in the system; the way Shannon and Kelly's case had been handled taught him that!
Nixon…well…was there really any need to look there for loyalty? The man had no loyalty and no trust whatsoever in Gibbs or his experience. Nixon had no loyalty because he had no idea what a team was, how it should function; his only dream in life seemed to be getting out of a team and into a high-powered office job. A man as self-serving as Nixon seemed to be could hold no true understanding of loyalty.
The only people at NCIS who Gibbs trusted and who trusted him absolutely were Abby and Ducky, who were so loyal that they would help him carry a dead body to a lonely plot in the woods if he needed them to. He knew without ever doubting it that he could rely upon them no matter what the problem was; he also knew that he could rely upon them to tell him straight that he was acting like an idiot, no matter how annoyed it might make him or how much he might ignore.
But they all liked each other…most of the time!
DiNozzo had put aside his strong code of ethics and his desire to see justice served all for a partner that he didn't like.
Gibbs knew that a good relationship between any two partners in law-enforcement was vital to getting results without any adverse consequences, but he wondered what had happened to make DiNozzo put that much faith into a partnership, especially one that seemed to be so one-sided.
Was it just Daddy Issues? Had DiNozzo Senior really messed his son up so much that he felt the only person he could rely upon was his partner, no matter what animosity might lie between them?
There had to be something more to it than that!
It was clear that DiNozzo had Daddy Issues, and plenty of them, but he didn't seem to be the kind of person that would let them rule the way he led his life.
He shook his head in frustration; every time he thought that he was getting a handle on the young Detective something would happen and he would find his understanding was blown out of the window.
He looked back to the papers sprawled across the desk; maybe he'd have more success with the case.
"And this, Miss Scuito, is where Baltimore's finest bring all their problems and hope like hell that the techs know what they're doing," Tony said, bowing with a flourish as he waved the Goth into the noisy lab.
Abby, who was used to being all alone in her lab except for the times that Gibbs would sneak up on her, looked around the room with something akin to awe. She knew that the average budget given over to the PD was next to nothing compared with what the federal agencies got, but Baltimore's lab was very well stocked and well manned and particularly lively.
She would never like to work with so many people; they would get in her way and touch her machines and commit the ultimate sin of messing with her music. However, she couldn't deny that the races being carried out at the end of the lab looked like fun; three people had just launched another three people, who were sat on swivel chairs, right across to the other side of the room as they pelted the competition with paper-balls and paper-clips and tried to trip each other up.
Of course what really grabbed her attention was what one of the techs was holding; there, in a steadfast grip, was a beloved Caff-Pow! 'Ah, sweet nectar,' she thought as she smiled to herself.
"You're smiling," Tony whispered in her ear. "But this smile resembles Hannibal Lector more than it does a sexy Goth."
Abby rolled her eyes at the Detective's words and his grin before whacking him gently across the top of his arm, having learnt her lesson last time not to hit him too hard.
"You do know I could kill you and no one would be able to find the body…you do know that, right?" she said with mock sternness as she placed a hand on her hip and gave DiNozzo her best imitation of the infamous 'Gibbs' Glare.'
"I do seem to recall you saying something similar the first time we met," Tony nodded his head sagaciously, completely ignoring the glare. "I wouldn't recommend leaving me in the ground for too long, though, or you might have to share your meal with the maggots; they have a lot of protein and would probably go quite well with my liver, but they would ruin the fava beans and especially the Chianti."
Abby had to suppress a giggle at the imagery. "Are you ever serious?" she asked with a smile on her face but with genuine curiosity behind the question. She knew that he had remained serious while discussing the events of Philadelphia, but that had been a serious discussion. She was curious to know whether or not he ever chose to be serious of his own volition.
"Mmm…" Tony brought his finger up to scratch his chin as he pretended to put some serious thought into the question. "Well, I tend to be on a bit of a downer after casual Friday is over, but then Friday night picks me right back up," he added with a suggestive look and a cheeky wink.
"Oh," Abby nodded in understanding. "That's when the Blue Lagoon has their big night," she said of one of Baltimore's more infamous clubs on the gay scene.
Tony laughed; he was really beginning to like Abby. She was easy to talk to and she knew how to banter; she was no longer insulting him or shooting him death glares, but was instead joking and playfully flirting with him…it was fun!
"Hey, Sarah!" he shouted over the din.
"Tony," a greying woman released a long-suffering sigh as she approached the couple. "We're not deaf, and the lab is not that big; you don't need to shout."
"This is Sarah," Tony explained needlessly as he put a hand around her shoulders. "She's the one that makes me look good."
"No one can make you look good, Tony, I just make you look a little less clueless," she said, throwing a wink Abby's way.
"I'm Abby, I work with NCIS and am here to offer my services on any evidence you pulled from the three dead bodies that you've got in your morgue," she said as she offered her hand.
"Hi," the older woman returned the handshake before throwing Tony a questioning look.
"The three at the dock," Tony clarified, "Not the three from the projects."
"You got another triple?" Abby asked, slightly shocked.
"Not really," Tony shrugged. "There was a drive-by on a stash-house in the projects; several people were fragged, not all of them players. Three died and four more were injured; one of them was a seven year old girl." He shook his head at the thought; too many innocents were caught up in the on-going war on drugs.
"Well, ok then," Sarah nodded. "I'll show you around and have one of our techs get you up to speed on what they've got so far. You," she rounded on Tony before jabbing a finger in his chest. "Go and earn your pay check!" she turned around without sparing him another look and marched down to the other end of the lab clearly expecting Abby to follow.
Sarah slapped one of the techs chair-racing on top of his head and grabbed him by the tie, yanking him out of his seat before she shoved him towards a work-top. The rest of the racers got up quickly in order to avoid similar treatment and realised that their downtime was over.
Abby raised a questioning eyebrow at the Detective by her side.
"Don't worry," he reassured her. "She might rule the roost but she's a real mother-hen when it comes down to it. One piece of advice though; don't mess with her mass-spectro…mass-spectrum…mass something or other. She likes her toys!"
"Mass Spectrometer," she confirmed with a grin. "Aye, aye, Captain, my Captain," Abby said giving him a quick salute before happily skipping down the lab.
Before Tony reached the exit he could hear Abby asking about Caff-Pows; it seemed she would fit right in. He laughed to himself and made his way back up to the office, hoping Gibbs wouldn't be too pissed that he had taken more than the allotted five minutes.
"Agent Gibbs," Sam nodded at the Senior Agent as he placed a new cup of coffee in front of the man; the Agent looked like he was about ready to start ramming FBI files down some poor unsuspecting soul's throat.
"Thanks," Gibbs said gruffly; coffee was definitely needed, and he was relieved to see that the coffee was from an actual coffee shop rather than from the Homicide Department's own percolator.
He'd been reading through reports drawn up by several agents who had been assigned to follow Radoslav and his crew in an effort to find a more important fish to hook. It had been a very dull read and he knew more than he wanted to about what Radoslav filled his shopping trolley with and what products he got from the pharmacy…and he hadn't even been reading for more than fifteen minutes.
"My partner left you in the lurch?" Sam asked as he settled himself in his chair. He and Blackadder had finished going through witness statements, but the female Agent had suggested looking at CCTV footage of the area surrounding the dump-site. Tony had mentioned it in passing earlier in the day but no one had found the time to follow it up until recently.
Sam had typed up a transcript of Téa's statement and, along with copies of the FBI's files, files from Vargas and Brewster and files evidence that had been gathered so far by NCIS and Baltimore Homicide, sent it to a judge in the hope that they would not only be given an arrest warrant for Radoslav, but also a search warrant for both the club and Radoslav's personal address.
That had been over three hours ago.
"DiNozzo just needed a break," Gibbs shrugged; he wasn't sure that Sam would appreciate the fact that he and a member of his team had been digging through the young man's past.
Sam wasn't fooled by the casual nature of the Agent's response but he wasn't bothered by it; if it was a big deal, DiNozzo would tell him anyway.
"I know the feeling," Sam shrugged back, rolling his shoulders as he tried to work out some of the aches and pains that had established themselves whilst he and Blackadder had been hunched over several screens of grainy CCTV footage.
Fornell wandered over from his desk, using the premise of exchanging information as an excuse to leave his desk and stretch his legs.
"You've been examining the CCTV footage?" he asked, despite already knowing the answer.
"Yup," Sam replied, rubbing at his tired eyes in an effort to stop them from getting any heavier.
"Anything?" Fornell inquired after taking a swig of his own departmental brew.
"Nothing so far," Sam shook his head tiredly. "There are so many blind spots around the docks, so many different entrances and exits in that area…even the lighting is pretty piss poor, so even if we do get anything eventually, I doubt it will be enough for a positive ID."
"How far back are you going?" Gibbs asked curiously.
"Well, so far all we've managed is to look at the footage from all the cameras around the time of the murder, so running up to and after the bodies were most likely dumped. Agent Blackadder is going through footage that pre-dates the murders, looking for any faces we might not know. There are no cameras around the warehouse Radoslav kept the girls in but there are cameras dotted around the area; we may get lucky."
"Maybe," Gibbs sighed, knowing how unlikely it was. He was about to ask for further details when a phone interrupted and Sam returned to his own desk with haste.
"Detective Jacobs," he answered. "Thank you, your Honour. There's no need, Sir, I believe there is an FBI Agent already waiting there to collect the warrant; an Agent Batista, your Honour. We plan to, your Honour, we certainly plan to." Sam hung up with a sigh of relief; he had never much enjoyed talking to judges.
"We have our warrants?" Fornell asked.
"We have our warrants," Sam confirmed.
"About damn time!" Gibbs added.
"I see my coffee run was a waste of time," Tony said as he entered the crowded conference room; he had bought a tray of four but the table before him already had at least eight cups and several more people crowded around the table. "I'm guessing we got the warrants."
"Yeah," Sam said as he greeted his partner with a friendly pat on the shoulders. "We've only just managed to get everyone together to discuss the raids; figure out who is going to go where."
"Where are we going?" Tony asked, his voice leaving no room for doubt; he would go where his partner was going.
"Well, Brewster and Vargas seem pretty keen on taking the club and seeing as how they spent months watching the place I think they probably deserve it. Are you ok with that?" Sam asked despite knowing that DiNozzo would be more than ok with it.
"Sure, sounds good to me," Tony nodded, "I reckon we're more likely to find any damning evidence at Radoslav's house anyway; he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would leave anything lying around, especially once he's already had a visit from the cops."
"Agreed," Gibbs added quietly. The room was crowded and noisy but he knew that trying to assert any authority over these Baltimore cops would do more harm than good. He believed they had a better chance of getting Radoslav with the search warrant for his home address too, and he would rather take his chances on a raid with Detectives DiNozzo and Jacobs than with Brewster and Vargas; Brewster seemed to be a little to quick-tempered for his liking.
"I'm guessing that means we don't need to ask you which raid you'll be taking part in," Tony said, sending a wry grin in Gibbs' direction.
"Ya think, DiNozzo!" Gibbs sarcastically with a look that said far more than words could possibly manage.
"Agent Gibbs, Agent Fornell," Tony turned serious, ignoring the jibe. "I think that Agents Blackadder and Batista should go on the Club raid; they're both women and I imagine things might well go easier with the girls there if they don't have to deal with a whole load of men armed to the teeth. Are you both ok with this?" he suggested.
"It's fine with me," Fornell nodded; he wasn't sure what orders Batista had received from the Hoover Building, but if there were at all similar to the orders he received when he went to Philadelphia then it would be better to keep her and Detective DiNozzo separate to try and avoid any eruptions.
"Sounds good to me," Gibbs shrugged. Blackadder would be more useful at the club; she certainly had the necessary compassion that Radoslav's girls would need. He was getting impatient with all the hanging around; he just wanted Radoslav and his right-hand, Pasha behind bars.
"Ok everyone, listen up," Sam shouted; the room fell silent as members of Baltimore PD, SWAT, NCIS and the FBI turned their attention to the experienced Detective.
"For those of you who don't know, I'm Detective Sam Jacobs. As I'm sure you all know, Judge Warner finally signed off on the warrants. We have two arrest warrants; one for Goran Radoslav and one for a man known as Pasha, last name unknown. We were also granted two search warrants, one for Club Abër and one for Radoslav's personal address.
"Detectives Brewster and Vargas will be heading the raid on Club Abër, along with Special Agent Blackadder from NCIS and Special Agent Batista from the FBI's Organised Crime Unit. You guys will have Tact. Team 4, headed by Jonson, backing you up.
"Now, despite the fact that we have complied a whole load of data from several different departments within our own PD and from other agencies, we are still not sure how many men are on Radoslav's payroll; we don't even know who Radoslav answers to, so you're going to need to be careful!
"Another thing that you need to worry about are the girls; we have no idea how many Radoslav uses overall, but we estimate that he tends to have at least five to ten girls minimum in that place at any one time. They are foreign and may not understand what you're saying, so you'll need to be patient; many of them will be also be highly suspicious of the Police, so you'll need to handle them carefully and, if you can, leave them to the female members of your squad.
"One more thing; we are treating this Club as a potential crime scene and we're hoping to find some incriminating evidence there, so as soon as the place is secure and the girls have been moved to safety we want the CSI's in there as soon as possible. Do this properly with no screw-ups; Radoslav cannot be allowed to walk.
"Any questions?" he asked, looking at those who would be leading the raid on the Club.
"Can we get any translators on scene to help with the girls?" Vargas asked, thinking of the more practical issues at hand.
"You can try," Sam nodded, aware that it was often a slow and painful process to acquire a translator. "From what we know, the girls all seem to be Eastern European; there are some Russians, some are Serbian, one at least is Polish…we're not sure about the rest. You can try asking the Chief but you might not get them now, and we can't hold off the raids and risk any more deaths."
"Understood," Detective Vargas sighed.
"I know it's not ideal but really there is little else we can do; waiting is not an option. Go and gear up, it's going to be a long day. Good luck people," he offered as they started filing out through the door.
Ducky wished Blackadder a safe return before sinking into a chair and returning to his coffee with a sigh; he had always hated it when he saw people he knew and cared about ready to rush in to a potentially fatal situation
"If they're there, try to bring those sons of bitches in alive, guys," Tony said to men and women filing out. "I think Radoslav and dear Pasha should become better acquainted with the US Penitentiary System."
"We'll do our best, DiNozzo," Vargas said, offering a smile that almost passed as friendly. "But we make no promises."
Once those who were going on the Club raid had filed out, Sam turned to the remainder. "Ok, we're going to Radoslav's personal address, but as we didn't want to risk canvassing the area and alerting him we don't know just how many others might be there at that address. It's doubtful that he'll be keeping any girls there but we can't rule anything out, so you'll need to watch your fire if things turn South.
"Again, we're looking for damning evidence, so if it does come down to a fire fight then try your best and shoot to disarm, but don't put yourself at risk; if you have no way of defending yourself apart from shooting to kill, then obviously you shouldn't risk trying anything else.
"We need to get in there, secure the scene and transfer any suspects to our lovely five star holding cells back here; then we'll send in the CSI's and try to find something we can nail this guy to the wall with.
"We're going in with the same tactical team we used on the warehouse raid, Tact. Team 4, led by Eaton," he pointed to the burly SWAT member who was stood tall in one corner. "Myself and Agent Gibbs will be leading the raid, so if any of you officers need something, ask one of us," he gestured towards himself and Gibbs.
"We'll be going in soft and we'll time it with the other raid so that no one can raise any alarm bells. Does anyone have any questions?"
"Are we expecting much resistance?" a young officer asked timidly.
"We're not sure just how much fire power this particular group has; there are no papers linking any of the known associates to guns, but it's easy enough for people like this to get their hands on firearms through the back channels. We know for sure that Radoslav used a gun to kill both Jennings and May; he could have dumped it, he might have replaced it with something else. It's safer to assume that this group is armed and extremely dangerous, so make sure to keep your eyes open. Are there any other questions?"
No one said anything else, so Sam told everyone to gear up and get ready to leave.
Gibbs was strapping on his gun and securing some extra magazines when he caught sight of Jacobs and DiNozzo in what appeared to be a serious conversation in a quieter corner of the Homicide Department. He walked towards them thinking that he should probably be a part of any conversation that might be about the raid.
"I'd give them a few minutes," Fornell advised the NCIS Agent as he tried he push his way through the overcrowded room towards the doorway.
Gibbs, never one to take orders from anyone since he left the Corps, carried on regardless. The crowd hid his approach and covered most of what was being said, but as people began to file out a little more could be heard.
"Come on Sam, don't you think you're being a little ridiculous?"
"Last time you thought I was being ridiculous you got yourself a concussion," Sam pointed out.
"Nixon has gone back to DC, so I won't have to put myself between him and a Russian guy that could have passed for a tank this time." Tony stated dryly.
"That's my point, Tony," Sam sighed. "You didn't have to get between Nixon and a fist he undoubtedly deserved. Look, I'm not trying to piss you off, I just want you to be a little less reckless, alright?"
"Alright," Tony agreed with a sigh that did nothing to convince Sam or alleviate his fears.
Every time a situation like this came up, Sam dreaded the consequences; too many times had Tony put his life on the line with reckless abandon, putting himself between a person, sometimes Sam himself, but usually a stranger, and a bullet. That the kid couldn't understand Sam's problem with that behaviour spoke volumes about his lack of self-preservation and self-worth.
Gibbs quickly merged back into the crowd, not wanting to get caught eavesdropping. Was DiNozzo really as bad as he sounded? He hoped the young Detective didn't do anything stupid as he was pretty sure that Jacobs would walk through a hail of bullets to get to him.
'Jacobs, this is Vargas,' the Vice Detective's voice crackled down the mobile, suggesting dodgy reception. 'We're in position and ready to go; just waiting for the green light.'
"Read you," Sam's replied, whispering as quietly as he could over the phone. "Wait one minute; part of our Tact. Team had difficulty reaching the secondary infiltration point."
'Roger,' Vargas replied. 'Standing by.'
Sam heard the crackle of his radio, 'Jacobs, this is Eaton, all my men are in place, ready to infiltrate and clear.'
"You hear that, Vargas?" Sam asked.
'Got it,' came the response over the mobile.
Sam picked up his radio so he could speak to his own squad as well as tell Vargas over the mobile. "All teams, green light; repeat, all teams, you have a green light."
"Time to earn your paycheque, old man," Tony grinned at his partner as he removed his hand-gun from its' holster and prepared to move in after SWAT.
The SWAT members quietly forced open the door and moved in as silently as was possible; Tony and Sam moved in behind them. Sam would take Agent Fornell and some members of SWAT to check upstairs, while Tony and Agent Gibbs would take the ground floor of the property with other members of SWAT, while Eaton and the remaining SWAT members would secure all entrances and exits while uniforms set up road-blocks in the surrounding area.
"Don't go doing anything stupid," Sam warned his partner quietly before following the Tact. Team up the stairs.
DiNozzo just shook his head and Gibbs heard him mumble something about a 'damn mother-hen complex.'
They rounded a corner and entered a dark, sparsely furnished lounge.
The silence was shattered by a gunshot.
And voila…finally another chapter done; I know it's shorter than most, but I hope to get the next one up quicker. Sorry for the wait, but please review and let me know what you think.
Stash-house – Where drugs are kept; a runner will collect what is needed for a single deal to minimise the risk of someone being arrested with a lot of drugs on them, therefore reducing a possible jail sentence, as they can say it is for personal use rather than dealing.
Dump-site – Name given to the location where a dead body is placed by a murderer that is not at the scene of the actual murder.
Going in Soft – Means that the Police go in with no sirens and flashing lights in an effort to keep the element of surprise.
So…next up…find out who got shot and the following fall-out. Radoslav is introduced to a cell but Pasha remains at large. There is a potential leak at the US Marshal's Office and another life is threatened.