Tony was getting extremely irritated. They had been at it for days and there was still no real leads on who had attacked McGee. His 'parents', if you could call them that, were suspects, but there was no real evidence to link them to it. All they had was motive. And of course there was no physical evidence because it would all have been destroyed in the fire."
Tony soon heard footsteps towards his desk, followed by his name. "Hey, Tony."
Tony looked up to see Agent Balboa. "Hey, Balboa, you need something?"
"I was actually going to ask you that. How's it going for the search for Agent McGee's assailant?" Balboa asked.
Balboa didn't know it, but he'd just added to Tony's frustrations by asking about the investigation. "Absolutely nowhere! There is no damn evidence!"
"Whoa, sorry. I didn't mean to wind you up," Balboa said as he put his hands up in defeat.
Tony sighed and made himself calm down. "You didn't. I was already wound up. I guy I know and have worked with several times was attacked brutally and we have no leads on who's responsible."
"I get your ire. Everyone's angry. McGee might not have been an agent long and he might not work in this building except for the occasion case he works for you, but he's still one of us and it pisses everyone off to know that some piece of crap had the nerve to come after an agent. How is his condition anyway?" Balboa asked.
"Still touch and go, but he's already surpassed the doctors' expectations. He'll make it. Gibbs won't let him let go," Tony said.
Balboa laughed. "Yeah, Gibbs has a way of getting people to pull through even when the odds are next to zero. For some reason, people just don't wanna disobey even the most ridiculous order."
"Would you if you worked for him?" Tony asked with a raise eyebrow.
"Good point. So is there anything I can do to help?" Balboa asked.
"There's nothing I can do to help at the moment. Thanks anyway," Balboa asked.
"No problem. Let me know if something comes up that I can help with," Balboa said before walking away.
Just then Tony's phone rang. He immediately picked it up. "DiNozzo. Hey, Kate, you got news."
At that moment, Gibbs walked through with a cup of coffee in his hand.
Tony began to smile as he listened to what Kate had to say. "Really? That's great! That means he's fighting."
Gibbs stopped in his tracks when he heard what Tony was saying and immediately went over to the younger man's desk.
"Yeah, well, I think it's obvious that that idiot doesn't know anything. What? Okay, that's great. Maybe she has an idea of who did this. Alright, I'll talk to you later, Kate. Bye," Tony said before hanging up.
"Well?" Gibbs asked.
Tony couldn't contain his now lifted mood. "McGee has started breathing on his own. Kate heard it herself and the doctor confirmed it."
"Good. He's gonna pull through," Gibbs said confidently.
The moronic doctor still says it's still unlikely he'll make it and that we shouldn't get our hopes up," Tony said.
"He'll make it," Gibbs said.
"Oh, and Kate also said that McGee's grandmother called Sarah. She's on her way now. She'll be in Norfolk by tomorrow," Tony said.
"Good. Hopefully she can give us something. Anything else?" Gibbs asked.
"Not yet, Boss. There's not much to go on," Tony said.
Just then Gibbs' phone began to ring. He went to his desk and picked it up. "Yeah, Gibbs. Be right there," he said before hanging up. "Abby's got something."
Tony wasn't sure what Abby could have given that there was no physical evidence, but he followed Gibbs anyway.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Tony and Gibbs made it to Abby's lab a few minutes later. They found it completely silent, which was unlike Abby, but not surprising given the circumstances. Abby only cut the music when something bad happened. McGee's condition certainly qualified.
"What you got, Abs? Gibbs asked when they made it over to her.
"I wanna know about Timmy first. Is her doing any better?" Abby asked concerned.
"I just talked to Kate. He's started to breathe on his own . We think he's gonna be okay," Tony said.
"Really?" Abby asked hopefully.
"He's gonna make it. No one believes otherwise," Gibbs said as an order. "Now what'd you find."
"Well, you know that the Norfolk office sent me McGee's damaged phone," Abby started.
"Yeah, but it was practically destroyed in the fire," Tony said.
"Practically is the key word. It was damaged pretty badly and it took me forever to get something, but I was finally able to get into his call log. He received two calls the night he was attacked. One of the calls was from an unknown source, but the other was from a man named Dylan Brandon. He spoke to him at around six the night he was attacked. They spoke for over an hour," Abby said.
"Good work, Abby," Gibbs said before heading for the elevator. Tony immediately followed.
Gibbs walked through the bullpen a few hours later. "You better have found Brandon, DiNozzo."
"I did, Boss. Dylan Brandon is a Marine Corporal. He's stationed at Quantico. I got a bit into his background. He was in the system, just like McGee. In fact, they were in the same group home when McGee was fifteen," Tony explained almost excitedly. This was the first good lead they'd had since they first found out about McGee.
"Let's head to Quantico then," Gibbs said before he started to walk away.
"He's not there, Boss," Tony said.
Gibbs turned around and looked at Tony expectantly. The younger agent obviously had more to tell him.
"I already called. Brandon hasn't reported for duty since McGee was attacked," Tony said.
"We go anyway. He's obviously part of this. We check out his room his place and we talk to the people he was close to," Gibbs said.
"Yes, Boss," Tony said before grabbing his gear and following his boss to the elevator.