Home Is Where the Heart Is

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.

Authors Note: Delay in update secondary to … well, life! On a brighter note, I think I passed Nursing Research! Thanks for the well wishes. Reviews are always appreciated! Thanks, E! :)

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Chapter 12

While it was true that Abby had never disappointed him, the visit to her lab was not satisfying. The telephone carrier had confirmed the photo originated from London, but had been bounced from a burn phone into Jen's almost 48 hours after it was taken. The whole thing was—as Abby termed it—more than a little hinky. He hoped that Ziva and Tony were having better luck.

They had the taxi driver in an interrogation room thirty minutes later.

Gibbs knew that Jen was having a hard time staying behind the glass, but he had insisted and she had begrudgingly agreed to observe.

"Sure," the driver replied, "I remember 'em. Foreign lady was a looker, but she ordered me around like she was the damn tsarina of Russia. The kid looked a little sick. The lady told me that he wasn't feeling so good after the plane ride."

Gibbs slid a photo from the airport security footage across the table. "This them?"

"Yeah. Big guy didn't say much."

"Where'd you take 'em?"

"Dropped them at the Wyndsor. 1800 block of 16th Street"

{ { { { { { { {

She had discovered years ago how to separate her private and professional life. True, she had been Gibb's probie, but Jethro didn't really teach—she watched and she learned. A good agent grew a special switch on the inside: like a light switch turning things on and off. There were times during a mission that you had to turn personal thoughts off—if you didn't, you were distracted. And in this business, distracted equaled dead.

It was that control that kept her from crumbling now. She couldn't explain how—it just did. If she let herself think about Henry, she would be useless---that was not an option. To someone who did not know her well, it looked as if she were merely gazing out the window. But her back was too straight; her hand drifted, softly touching the Sig on her hip. She was listening. And waiting.

"I checked out the area, Boss. Wyndsor Hotel, 1842 16th Street. Right in the middle of the residential area of DuPont Circle. Easy access to metro stations"

"Layout, McGee"

"Four stories. Front and rear entry. Limited parking in rear, no garage. Service delivery door on North side. Fire escape runs down North side as well. No elevator. Clerk confirms they have a Drantyev family~ a man, woman and their son~ staying in Room 404"

"Gear up"

His blue eyes locked with the green ones across the room. "C'mon. You're riding with me".

} } } } } } } }

"Bespoleznyy!" came the muttered phrase, "Neudacha"

Viggo looked up from the chair in the corner, "You are speaking of me?"

Natasha's eyes narrowed, "If you had been able to get information from Decker, I would not be standing here thinking of failure"

"You have boy" He shrugged his massive shoulders. It made no difference to him that more had to be done to retrieve the information his employer sought. As long as she paid him well, he would do whatever she asked. Kill whoever she instructed.

"You have made good point" She thought of her own son. Matvei was enjoying his childhood innocence safely ensconced in boarding school in Vienna. The decision to take Shepard's son had not been a difficult one. She had never been closer to catching the man who had killed Anatoly. Soon he would be dead. Then, and only then, would she rest in peace.

"Boy will be all that you need"

The smile was forced to her pale lips, "Yes, you are right" His gun felt strange in her hand—the silencer adding to its weight. "The boy is all that I need".

{ { { { { { { {

The plan was to secure the hallway. McGee covered the main stairwell; Ziva covered the south hall, while Tony and Jen flanked Gibbs.

He allowed one glance at his former partner before approaching the door. She was calm. Almost too calm.

"Sir? Maintenance. We need to access your room" Tony knocked loudly on the door.

No voices. No sound of any movement.

Gibbs nodded once to Tony. One, two, three. The door was kicked open---the two agents spilling into the room.

"NCIS! Don't move!"

The man was eerily compliant; his chair sat facing the window, his back towards the open door.

Tony approached cautiously. He came around the side of Viggo before lowering his weapon.

"He couldn't move if he wanted to, Boss"

He heard Jen's voice shout "Clear" from the adjoining bathroom. He lowered his weapon and stood beside his senior field agent.

Viggo Drantyev was dead.

{ { { { { { { {

"Not quite the place I expected us to meet" Ducky placed his medical bag beside the body still seated in the chair. Ziva was gloved and going through a duffle bag while Tony was taking photographs.

"No sign of…"

Gibbs quickly and firmly shook his head "No". The ME turned and looked at the woman seated on the end of one of the two beds. In her hand she held a child's sweatshirt; the expression on her face was almost as blank as that of the corpse.

"T-O-D, Duck"

"Yes, Jethro" He pulled the liver probe from his kit and inserted it into the body. "I see you why you have no question as to his cause of death" He indicated the circular wound at Viggo's right temple.

"Yeah, we figured that one out. She used a silencer. Need you to tell us when" He, too, let his eyes wander towards the bed where Jenny sat holding Henry's sweatshirt. The anger he felt towards her had faded—replaced by the desire to comfort. He knew only one thing would suffice. And, other than the sweatshirt, there was no trace of him anywhere.

Ducky pulled the probe from the body. "I can tell you that he has been dead no more than two hours"

"Must have just missed 'em" Tony added.

"Which also means we may have caught them if we had left the minute we got the location from the cab driver" The voice was low, but the anger was evident. Tony looked down. Ziva paused to glance at Jenny before continuing to go through the pockets of Viggo's clothes.

"That's a big maybe, Jen. It wasn't safe to fly in here blind. Especially when there is a child involved"

The look he received clearly indicated what she thought of his response "He has a name, Jethro. It's Henry. And he's my child!" Jenny snapped. When she began to swear, he caught her hand and pulled her through the door into the bathroom, pushing her towards the toilet.

"Jethro---"

"I realize that you've had him for nine years and I've only known about him for three hours, but he's my son, too, Jen. I want to find him just as badly as you do" The words were not unkind, and they did soothe her slightly.

"Boss?" McGee stood in the doorway; his neck and ears were pink and his expression revealed that he had heard more of their conversation than any of them had would have liked.

Gibbs strode out of the bathroom. McGee followed closely –almost running into him when his boss abruptly stopped, "What?!"

"The manager is in the hallway. He's pretty upset about a dead body and wants to talk to the man in charge"

The Indian man at the door was noticeably agitated and Ziva's attempts to placate him were not having the desired effect. Gibbs advanced on the man—a perfect target to allow him to take out a bit of his frustration. McGee cringed when the argument carried from the hallway. Small wonder that Gibbs wasn't known for his people skills.

Five minutes later, he returned to the room. Calmer, he noticed Jenny was standing with Ziva next to the open duffle bag. Tony and Palmer could be heard bumping the gurney down the first of four flights of stairs—Ducky's stern admonition to "be careful" floated through the door.

The ringing of a cell phone drew his attention back to Jen.

"Shepard" She listened, briefly meeting his eyes. Noting the question there, she mouthed the word "Vance" and moved out the door to continue her conversation.

"Anything in his clothes?"

"Nothing of value, Gibbs" Ziva indicated a few receipts and a couple of American dollars, "I can see no clue as to why she killed him. I assumed that he was hired specifically to do her killing for her. I do not understand his death."

"Cleaning house, Ziva. When he didn't get the information from Decker, he became a liability. He couldn't get her what she wanted, so she's using someone else"

"Henry"

He looked at her closely, wanting to evaluate her response "You knew about Henry?" The inflection of his voice made it clear he was asking if she knew about more than just his existence.

"For many years I have known him" she began carefully, "At some point, I have found out things that I think I should not know. But then, I also knew things about you that I believe Jenny does not yet know."

His stern glare told her what she suspected. He had never told Jenny about his first wife and his daughter. It was not her place to tell secrets. She could only hope that Gibbs would tell Jenny before she heard it from someone else.

She raised her eyebrows as if to emphasize her point before McGee arrived to help her with Viggo's personal items.

He acknowledged her statement with a small nod. His cell phone rang. "Gibbs"

"I just got word from dispatch about the dead body at the Wyndsor. I take it you were going to call and inform me at some point?" The Director was not a happy man.

"Thought you were getting' the sit rep from Jenny, Leon"

"Jenny? I haven't spoken to her since I left MTAC this morning. I was told she was with you"

He literally ran to the door and searched the hall.

No Jen.

"Gibbs?" He heard Leon's voice call to him through the phone.

"I'll call you back" was muttered before he hung up.

"DiNozzo!"

"Yeah, Boss?" Tony stopped at the beginning of the second floor. "Jen down there?"

"No. Haven't seen her"

He turned to find Tim and Ziva watching him from the door.

"Ziva! Check the fire escape. Find her. Now."

He looked out the windows that faced the front of the hotel. Two taxis passed by on 16th Street, and a third cab was pulling away from the front of the building. No sign of her.

He caught Ziva coming back in from the fire escape "Nothing, Gibbs"

If she hadn't gotten a call from the Director, who had called her? Why would she leave without telling him? Damn! It suddenly hit him hard: Who and the why.

His finger hit speed dial # 3. "Abs! Need you to run a trace on the GPS chip for Agent Shepard's phone"

"Okay" Fingers flew over the keyboard, "Is there a problem? Duh! Of course there is. You wouldn't be calling me if there wasn't. Um.. .Gibbs? I have a problem, too. GPS on the phone has been deactivated." She pulled the phone away from her ear when he swore.

"What can you tell me, Abs?" He growled.

"Last call was an incoming one seven minutes ago" She caught her breath at the familiar number. "Gibbs, it came from the same number that was used to bounce the photo from London. I'll keep trying, but right now I can't tell you where she is"

He flipped his phone shut. He wasn't sure when Jen was either ~~ but he had a pretty good idea.

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To Be Continued….