Chapter 29: For or against us?
Yet despite McGee's obvious believing nature, Gibbs wasn't willing to swallow the cock-and-bull story Lemuel had just thrown at their faces so he took his cuffs and approached the older man, ready to take him into custody.
"I've had enough, you're coming with us."
Lemuel simply raised his eyebrows at Gibbs and waited until he was into striking distance before raising his walking cane and hitting the older agent on his knee with it, forcing him to the floor. McGee was struck out of his stupor and tried to move towards his boss, just to be stopped by Dekko who jumped in front of him and growled, showing its sharp teeth.
"What the hell…?" Gibbs complained just to gasp out of air as Lemuel approached him and pressed the tip of his cane in his throat, almost cutting his airflow.
"Son, the book you've learnt from how to be a hard ass marine… Yeah, that one." Lemuel leaned over the struggling marine, forcing the tip of the cane down. "I wrote it. So don't think you're going to mess with me, boy, 'cause what I do, it means too much to be messed up thanks to two yahoo federal agents."
Lemuel put more pressure before letting go, leaving Gibbs gasping for air on the floor. The old NSA agent then turned to McGee, who had drawn his gun and was pointing to the growling dog.
"There's too much at stake for me to let you come blasting into our lives and take over an operation that is too delicate to stay in your hands. Too many lives that depend on the silence of those involved. So I have one question for you, son, and I expect you to give me the right answer. Are you with us or against us? Because if you're going to be a problem, be aware that I won't hesitate to finish you off right here right now. I may be old, but as I've just demonstrated here with your boss I'm in no way rusty. "
Lemuel's dark eyes were deadly serious as he stared at McGee who was breathing deeply as he considered his options. Finally McGee lowered his gun and took a step closer, ignoring the dog growling at his feet. Lemuel made a light gesture with his hand indicating that Dekko could step back, being immediately obeyed. McGee stopped only when he was staring Lemuel face to face, his nose just a few inches from the black man's nose.
"I don't care about your threats. I just want my dog back. And her puppies, I want them safe home where they belong."
Gibbs sat down on the floor and stared at the two men glaring at each other, observing a small smirk blossoming into the black lips of the old man. Lemuel glanced briefly at Gibbs, before grinning more openly.
"That, son, is the right answer." He wavered Dekko away and offered a hand to Gibbs, who after a second of hesitation accepted the offer of help. Gibbs started slapping away the dust and dirt from his back and trousers as Lemuel turned to McGee and pointed to his parked car a few yards away.
"We'd better hurry. There's a lot to do and little time to get it done. I've called up a Watchers's meeting and I still need something from the attackers to put trackers on them."
They started moving towards their cars, all animosity left behind now that they were united in the same purpose.
"You've mentioned this before… who or what are these Watchers?" McGee asked as he ran to keep up with the dog and the old black man.
"We're not their owners. We're not their masters. These dogs are sentient beings and in no way they are our slaves. They need our protection yet they would not hesitate to die protecting us. You don't choose one of our dogs. The dog chooses you. So we watch over them, protecting and offering them a family, therefore the term Watcher was born."
"How many of you are there?" Gibbs asked as they reached Lemuel's car and watched as the old man open his pickup truck for the dog hop in.
After slamming the door Lemuel turned to Gibbs, an ironic smile gracing his lips.
"Agent Gibbs, they're still dogs. And it's been twenty-five years. Just do the math." He hopped in the driver's seat, lowering the window so Dekko could stick his head out. "You go ahead, I'll be driving right behind you."
Both agents looked at him quizzically before turning around and going to their own car. They hopped in and started the engine, driving away and being followed by Lemuel's pickup truck. Looking at the rearview mirror Gibbs could see Dekko's head hanging outside the window, its ears and tongue floating in the wind as they drove.
"McGee, what math was he talking about?"
He glanced briefly to McGee who was staring sightlessly ahead. He brought his gaze back to the road and almost missed the younger man's softly whisper.
"There are hundreds of them, boss."
"How?"
McGee closed his eyes and rolled Grace's explanation on dog physiology in his head, feeling a cold rush going up his spine as the possibilities popped into his mind.
"Depending on the breed female dogs go into heat one to four times per year, Boss. Male dogs can procreate at any time of the year. All they need is a willing female. If the original dog was from a large breed - I'm betting on it otherwise it wouldn't have survived the tests and the Outsider - a litter generally counts ten to fifteen puppies. And these… these Watchers cross-bred them with other large races to dilute the chances of being tracked back to the original Dog as whoever might run into the initial project papers would be only looking for purebreds. They would never seek mutts."
McGee opened his eyes and looked at Gibbs with astonished eyes. "We're talking about hundreds maybe thousands of intelligent dogs out there that need a house or a family to live with. All of these people have sworn to protect their secrets with their lives. Boss, he's right. This is big. This much bigger than us, than NCIS. Gosh, I can't even wrap my mind about the idea that this real. Really real."
"You've really bought his story, haven't you?"
"Boss, the bullet in my dogsitter's forehead was pretty convincing. Nothing was taken from my house but the litter and Freckles. Just my computer setup is worth a couple of thousand dollars and yet they've left it untouched. Is it really that hard to believe that science could advance so far?"
"I don't have problem with the science behind it."
"Then what do you have a problem with?"
Gibbs hit the arrow light indicating he was going to the left and took the faster lane, speeding up the car towards NCIS being soon followed by Lemuel's pickup.
"I've thought this kind of experiments were over and done."
McGee nodded minutely, his eyes going back to the road. "It hurts to think that someone in the Government knew all about this."
"And now we have to clean up their mess." Gibbs growled as he stepped down on the accelerator, eager to get back to NCIS.
