Chapter 20: CRUMBLING FORTRESS
The door to Autopsy swished open, Tori following swiftly in its wake and then came to an abrupt stop.
"Can I help you?" An elder gentleman asked behind her.
She glanced over her shoulder, repressing the impending grief. "Dr Donald Mallard I presume."
He produced a sweet smile. "Please, my colleagues call me Ducky. And you are?"
"Major Hatcher." She shifted her gaze to the body bag positioned on the slab. "Former C.O. He was – he was my second-in-command."
"I'm so sorry for your loss."
Tori's professional mask slipped into place. She side stepped to look at the friendly Brit and bestowed him an appreciative smile. She couldn't deal with the loss, not now and not in front of someone she barely knew. And it's not like she'd done her fair share of crying on the way over. Soldier on she had to for the sake of staying impartial. But still, he and his wife had been close friends. He deserved a proper remembrance, tears and all. In due time.
"I heard you have a knack for profiling."
"My dear, it's a mask you cannot keep from me."
Ducky referred to her cold nature. The same type of professionalism Gibbs showed when someone had hit close to home.
She smiled at that and suddenly felt at ease. His presence was soothing, uncanny for someone who preferred the dead rather than working on the living. In a way, he did contribute in aiding those seeking justice. She liked him.
"War prepares you for loss. You expect it each time you gain ground on the battlefield. Then you come home; you're supposed to be safe. That vigilance as if a vapour, but then a whack-job does this."
She gazed at her friend. "Danny was a competent, reliable man and now his son will never know."
Hearing the resentment in her tone, he nodded but stayed silent. Deliberating was her way of comprehending a complex situation. He understood.
The Major looked at him, expression firm. "Can I bounce something off you?"
"I may work in autopsy dear, but you won't find a keener listener than I."
"Then you haven't met Agent Gibbs."
Ducky scowled at the inaccurate statement. Tori snickered enjoying the bemused expression on his face. Soon thereafter he joined her in chuckling. It faded though, the air turning sombre once more as she stepped closer to the slab in the center of the room.
"He offered him life, Ducky. Life for life and he chose mine above his own, above those of his wife and son's lives."
"If he's a soldier, he understood the consequences. In forfeiting his life, he saved his family."
"That's not how this perpetrator operates."
She faced him. Anger glinted in her amber eyes, then vanished as swiftly.
"He preys on the weak. Infuses new life into their horrid circumstances by supplying them with what they desire. Takes care of them like a crime boss his cohorts. Takes it just as effortlessly. However, he decides what you should offer in return. When you should do it and how. Danny, he robbed of a lifetime, leaving his wife alone to raise their child. It's punishment for not subjugating to his rules. It's also the last thing he experienced before his life was stolen from him."
With a few paces, she backed away from the Doctor. "Influence in this regard dwindled in the low; he had to crawl from his abyss. He changed his modus operandi. Why?"
"Confidence?"
"Manipulating people like he does, there's no cowardice. The art of the con enquires a certain charisma, vivacity."
"His recent actions portray the same earmarks of the lawyer's demise. Cunning, intentional – but there's a drive now more than ever, stemming from a moment of doubt surely. He lacks clarity since all that he sees is a fracture in his shell that he's so desperate to fill."
She quirked her eyebrow, surprised he knew of Jeandré's murder whilst she also welcomed the fresh perspective.
"Gibbs spoke to you?"
Ducky offered her a wayward smile. "If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim. If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same. If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools. Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, and stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools."
"Rudyard Kipling." Tori supplied quick as lightning.
The elder gentleman's face lit up in wonder. "At long last I've met a young lady who harbours a passion for poetry."
Smirking she nodded, then her face fell.
"Yet, Francis Thompson seems more appropriate. 'I fled him, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind, and in the mist of tears. I hid from him, and under running laughter. Up vistaed hopes I sped; and shot, precipitated, Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears, from those strong feet that followed, followed after. But with unhurrying chase, and unperturbèd pace, deliberate speed, majestic instancy, they beat. — And a voice beat more instant than the feet— 'All things betray thee, who betrayest me.'"
"Indeed, it is my dear." Ducky agreed with a nod. "It fits this crestfallen scene like a glove. And like it's end, I hope this quest of yours follows."
"Reconciliation is far from the maniac's mind, Ducky."
"Gibbs always gets his man. There's no doubt. I'm referring to the bond you seem to share."
She shrugged. "I've caused more pain than alleviate it. And. He's not the only one." Tori gathered a deep breath, finally turned to face her fallen friend. "What he must have endured."
She fingered the zipper of the body bag before pulling on it. As it released so did her tears and she embraced them with frankness.
"Fourteen years of service only to die in a cruel hunt. He sacrificed his life to defend me. How then do you reward a dead man, Ducky?"
"By saving those entangled in his web of lies." He offered, then swung around as the door hissed behind him.
"No, Doc. By killing the bastard who did this." Gibbs intervened.
His livid gaze bore a hole in the back of Tori's head. This she knew as she lingered in her current location. She heard him murmur something to the M.E. Heard the man accept the request and vacate the room.
The veteran came about without a sound. Even so, she sensed his presence. Also felt his relentless gaze on her, though by his silence, discerned he was torn inside.
Since they'd returned from Yuma, he'd been coerced into confronting dormant wounds. Ones she opened with salt intent on showing him whom they were dealing with. The thing was. Only he could get to the bottom of this. Her expertise had forfeited the moment he had agreed to aid her.
"I'm at a loss, Gibbs. I've got nothing for you."
"Don't be naïve. You're not fooling anyone, least of all me. Look at him!" He snarled. Tori's gaze snapped up, stunned by his gruff command. "Look."
She did and burst into tears.
He lifted her chin, then spoke in a hushed tone of voice. "He begged me to help him. I couldn't." He swallowed. "Do you know how it feels to hear the screams of torment?"
"I have, emitting from my throat. Like razor blades, they shred deep into your soul. It's not something you soon forget."
Gibbs winced, realizing he'd made a snap judgment. She continued voice cold and quivering.
"I know what he suffered. I can feel every blow, each stab wound, every torment as if I was there with him. He deluded himself into thinking the kingpin would spare him, but near the end, he understood he was a liability. A loose end that needed to be clipped. He begged because he saw it as his last resort at changing the maniac's mind. He just didn't realize that by doing so, it enticed him instead."
Tori wiped at her tears, placed a chaste kiss on Danny's forehead, then turned to leave.
"We're not done yet." Gibbs took hold of her arm hindering her retreat. "My team's done processing the scene. Soon or later those loose ends will connect."
"I need to think Gibbs. That's who I am, that's where I operate best."
"It's time to act, not cower."
Slighted by the allegation, she ripped her arm from his hold. "You can't act on something you can't see."
"You're contradicting your nature?" He surpassed her at the threshold, stood before the elevator, and taunted. "Fire too hot for you, Tori?"
"Don't patronize me. I don't require an intervention."
Gibbs surged into a bout of laughter, exhibiting what he thought of the ludicrous statement.
"What, that's your comeback? Don't patronize me. So called Special Ops soldier, at the first sign of retaliation you hide your tail and run. I don't remember the military enlisting cowards."
Frustration flitted on her countenance, yet she remained composed. "If you mean to provoke me, it's not gonna work."
"You know, Vance was right about you." Gibbs flashed her a smug smile. "You're so focused on the small frame; it makes you blind. You forget the bigger picture."
"What are you insinuating? That I lack persistence?"
He moved forward, glared at her. "No, you've lost perspective. One barrier broken, you shatter as a whole instead."
She held his glare for a moment. "Seeing that you're such an expert, what do you suggest I do?"
"You fight!" Gibbs thundered. "Like there's no tomorrow, to get it back and carry on until it ends."
"And what if I can't see that finish line any longer? What if I'm incapable of persisting? 'Cause it seems he's barely begun."
"Screw his goal line, focus on our objective. You have it in you to see this through to the finale, Tori. And you're not alone."
"Then tell me what I should do. Help me."
Gibbs relaxed.
There it was. The submission, the surrender he had hoped to find. If they were cut from the same cloth, this was it. They had both seen to it, to crack each other's stubbornness. As result, he had retreated only to have himself pulled back in, whereas she had endured only to allow Danny's death to cripple her fortitude. They were on neutral terms now, ready to work as a unit and not as clashing waves.
His phone blared in the silence.
"Gibbs." He answered gruffly.
"A waiter has come forward." Vance began. "Said he'd last seen the lawyer. I pulled the necessary strings, and the police have agreed to hand over the case." A beat ensued. "I believe this is the break Major Hatcher's been looking for. It's yours if you want it, Gibbs."
"Since when did I ditch it, Director?" He paused intentionally. "Just like I didn't know you and the Major set me up. That's two favours you owe me, Leon."
He flipped the phone shut with a plan already in play.