Kate
It's just not fair.
Trev had told me a little about his ex-girlfriend. Mainly, that she was crazy, that they couldn't stand each-other, and that the sex was "crazy-hate-awesome". What he failed to mention was that she was beautiful. So beautiful that it wasn't fair, you just wanted to slap her. Every head in the bar would turn to her if she walked in. Her skin was alabaster pale with a hint of blush from the frigid winter air, and her black hair somehow seemed to warm it. Her eyes were crystal blue, a perfect contrast to Trev's hard green. And her clothes screamed designer, white winter coat over a blue designer suit, which perfectly complimented her skin.
I hated her instantly.
"Where is he McDonald?" she demanded.
"Um, maybe breaking down doors?" I noticed Major McDonald carefully put distance between them. Like he was afraid of her.
"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask-" the accompanying agent began.
"Sh!" she said to him, "I'm looking for Agent Trevodur. Failing that, I'll be happy to tear Agent Gibbs a new- he's right behind me, isn't he?"
"I got five on the chick, three-to-one odds," McDonald offered.
"You're on," I accepted.
"You must be Alyssa Stenson," Gibbs said, coffee in hand, "Trev's ex-girlfriend."
"Leroy Jethro Gibbs," she sized him up, looking for all the world like she could beat him up. Considering the fact that she is the mother of Trev's child, and Trev's paranoia, and the fact that I am sore every Wednesday because Trev teaches hand-to-hand every Tuesday, it would certainly last more than ten seconds, "Trev's boss."
"Anything I can do for you, Ms Stenson?" Gibbs offered.
"I'm just here to deliver a message," she smiled was predatory, "Tell Trev that he'd better be at my table, Christmas Eve, six pm sharp, dressed in that sweater I got him, or so help me I'll drive my Hummer over his beloved Charger. Okay?" something about her reminded me of all the mean girls I have ever met. Except that she was scarier. She was smarter
"He's working a case," Gibbs said.
"The case better be over with or I'll drive my Hummer through your house, okay?" she threatened with a smile.
Gibbs blinked, "Ruin a perfectly good Hummer, I'll assume."
"It'll be worth it," she said. Suddenly those eyes turned to me, "Are you sleeping with Jon?"
"What? No!" now my slight fright turned to anger. How dare she?
"Good, it's like climbing Everest- amazing, but hazardous to your health," she turned and left me standing their speechless.
Mean girl.
"Trev had sex with-with that?" I asked Major McDonald.
"She used to be a lot nicer, back in high school," McDonald defended.
"They usually are," Gibbs said.
"Sorry that you had to see that," McDonald apologized.
Gibbs shrugged, "She reminds me of my ex-wife."
"Which one?" I asked.
"All of them," he replied, "What'd you got?"
Trev
"Trev," I said into my phone.
"Hey, Jon," I heard Kate's (Beckett) voice on the other end, "We're here at the apartment of Sheila Omar, she's not home."
"It's about 2000 in New York, right?"
"Same as DC," she replied, "I see no sign of foul play. She may just be visiting friends or family for the holidays."
"How tall is the apartment?" I asked.
"About seven stories."
"Loading dock?"
"Yeah. What are you thinking?"
"Can you check the logs to see if anyone was delivering or shipping something big, like a freezer or a box?"
"What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking that's how I would kidnap someone."
"Have I ever told you that someday, I am probably going to have to arrest you?"
"I'm surprised you haven't already," I said as I exited the elevator, "I'll talk to you later Kate."
Lyn must have overheard me and said, "I'm right here."
"Kate Beckett, not Kate Todd," I clarified, "My source in NYPD tells me that there is no sign of struggle in Sheila Omar's apartment, the victim's sister. Now, I managed to convince the Rooskies to open their fingerprint database to us and we got a match. A soldier for Ubiistov crime family, Teras Petrovich Androv. I'll check with Interpol and Immigration, see if he's here legally and see if there is anything that the Russians missed."
"Kate."
"Major McDonald and I found a number he called three times a month, but it was a burn phone," she said, "Oddly enough, it was the most frequent call to the same number he made."
"Maybe he liked handwritten sentiments," I said.
"He also called a number once a month that lasted for a while," Kate said, "I'm working on narrowing it down."
"Tony and Abby are still trying to clean up the video of the victim's girlfriend," I said, "I'm not really sure how a tech-phobe like Tony is helping with that, but if was doing nothing Abby would have kicked him out long ago."
"Too right you are, Trev," Tony said as he entered the bullpen, Abby in tow, "I was calling in favors from a friend in INS, see if a Teras Androv had entered the country. No luck, and the photo on his arrest record is from when he was ten."
"I couldn't wait for you to come down," Abby said, bouncing like she was nearing The Record, "Okay, so I tweaked the contrast, and did a reorganization algorithm-"
"For those of us without a degree in computer engineering," I said,
"I cleaned up the image," she tapped a few keys in my computer, bringing up a cleaned image of a restaurant, our vic sitting across the table of a very familiar looking woman.
"Agent Aristova," I said, "If she get's to the embassy, there's nothing we can do."
"DiNozzo, Trev, go get her," Gibbs commanded as he threw me the keys.
Tony
I WANT TO LIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!
Kate
I watched through the observation window as Aristova ranted at us in Russian, "What is she saying?"
"She seems to have done a lot of stuff to our mothers," Trev replied, "It's pretty good stuff."
"Deck-good?" McDonald asked, which I didn't understand.
Trev saw my look and explained, "Another buddy of mine from high school. And no, close to Deck-speak but no there. It lacks... flair."
"You're the Russian speaker," McDonald acquiesced, "Alyssa showed up today."
"She what?" the look on Trev's face was akin to that of a deer in a van's headlights.
"She said that if you don't make her Christmas dinner she's gonna run over your Charger," I said.
"You were there?" The van turned into a semi.
"How could you sleep with that?" I demanded.
"I was drunk!"
"Drinking only lowers inhibitions!" I said, "If you didn't want to sleep with her, you wouldn't have!"
"I don't know if you've noticed, but she is hot!" he argued, "Like, even the-girls-in-the-bar-think- "Yeah, I'd do her"-hot!"
"And that is your criteria?"
"No! I also have I would like for her father to not shoot at me with a shotgun!"
"Didn't her father do that?" McDonald asked
"Stay out of this!" we snapped at him.
"I used to respect you more than Tony because I thought you had taste!"
"Well let me tell you something, missy! I am a bigger man-whore than Tony could ever hope to be!"
"And that is something to be proud of?"
"Yes! No!"
"Okay, now even she is listening," McDonald pointed out. Aristova had stopped her rant and was now listening intently.
"Oh, so you're the one with all the taste!"
"Yes I am!"
"Really?"
"Really!" I said, "In fact, I have so much taste, before you date any girl, you should come to me first!"
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"This is better than Shark Week," McDonald observed.
Gibbs
They say there is more than one way to divorce a wife. Kate and Trev's little argument had thrown the subject off kilter. Saved time. Now that she's distracted, I don't have to let her stew.
I entered the room loudly, causing her to jump. Her mind was going into fight-or-flight mode. Indecisive. Exactly where I want her.
"You cannot do this. I have diplomatic immunity!" Aristova claimed.
"Which only covers parking tickets," I said, "Not espionage," I pulled the damning still from my folder.
She picked up the photo, "What does this prove? That I have relationship with American sailor?"
"It proves that not only are you breaking our rules, but yours too," he said, "Cooperate, we charge you with espionage. Max sentence is life in prison."
"Diplomatic immunity," she challenged. Fight, then, "You cannot touch me," she got up to leave.
"If you don't, we give this to the FSB and they charge you with treason," that stopped her. Her already pale skin paled further. The gangs controlled the prisons. No FSB officer had ever survived more than a few weeks in prison, "Here, maybe Guantanamo. Maybe a supermax. Point is, you don't have to deal with all of the gang-bangers you put away."
I saw her hyperventilate. She was grasping at straws. She said hurridly, "I give you the Ubiistovs. I had friendship with Jeffery. I found out he worked in Pentagon. The Ubiistov's broke into my apartment, threatened to kill me because I imprisoned three of their family members, unless I gave them a file about an American operation in Panama called WINTER TREE."
"You have files on our operations?" Gibbs asked.
"We still have contacts in Latin America left over from Cold War," she said, "But our intelligence only picked up on the fact that you had an operation around the same time as the date on the for the operation they gave me. You operatives slipped through our fingers. I go to friend, former Alfa group, in FSB for help. He is killed the next day. They threaten to kill me, and I tell them about Jeffery, and his job in Pentagon."
"Where is this file?" I asked.
"I don't know!" she exclaimed, frantic, "I was go-between for the Ubiistovs and Jeffery. I was planning on running, but they found me, demanded I help them find the file. I was going to run again when your Durak agent almost ran me off the road!"
Durak is a very offensive way of saying asshole, "You're gonna have-"
A knock at the door and Trev entered, "Gibbs. A word?"
I kept my face neutral, masking the anger I felt. Especially to Trev. He's done interrogation before. He knows not to interrupt. If this isn't good...
"What?" I demanded.
"My source at NYPD called," he said. I noticed that he looked paler, and his voice and face were neutral. He was more than worried. He was scared. And not of me, either, "They suspect that Sheila Omar has been kidnapped. They got a hostage, boss."
That was worthy of interrupting. I asked, "You okay?"
"That operation, WINTER TREE?" he said, "I was in it. My full name, rank, and serial number was in it. If they have that, they can find me. And my daughter."
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