AN: Hope everybody in Sandy's path is getting power back and cleanup is going well. I'm coming down to the wire on this one, but it will be finished before Halloween ends. Two chapters to go!


Chapter 28

As the team scattered from the bullpen, Abby stood there watching them, wringing her hands.

"Abby?" The voice from behind her made her turn.

"Dr. Cranston?" She bit her lip. "Why are you...?"

"Director Vance called me last night." She looked up at the scientist. "It's almost over, Abby." She put a hand on Abby's shoulder.

Abby shook her head, pigtails flying. "Not until they make it back safely. And until they have her locked up." She crossed her arms and headed to the lab, not bothering to check and see if Dorneget was behind her.

Once there, she hacked into the base ID system and tracked Melissa Watters to Quantico, then called Tony to relay the information.

"Make sure she pays for this," she told her friend before hanging up.

"Abby?"

She looked over to see Dorneget standing there.

"What do we do now?" he asked.

"Stay out of my way while I find the evidence to nail her." Abby started pulling up records, cross-checking Watters' presence on each base at the time of the killings they knew about.

~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~

Tony hung on as Gibbs screeched around a corner on his way to Quantico.

"Boss, we need to be alive to arrest her," he said. At the silence that greeted him, he replied. "Right, Boss. Shutting up."

When they got to the base, it only took them a few minutes to track down Commander Melissa Watters. Tony followed behind Gibbs, waiting to see how he was going to play this.

Gibbs rapped a knuckle against the office door. The woman who looked up was a few years older than the photo in her SRB that Tony had pulled earlier in the day, but she was clearly the same woman, and she resembled her younger brother.

"May I help you?" She set down her pencil.

"Agent Gibbs, NCIS." The team lead held out his badge. "We're investigating a case, and your name has come up. We were hoping you could come back to NCIS headquarters and answer a few questions."

"I'm afraid I'm rather busy today." She checked her watch. "I could spare a few minutes in about an hour." Tony studied her, noted the faint lines at the corners of her eyes and a new tightness about her lips as she waited for Gibbs' response.

"Commander, I'm afraid you don't have a choice." Gibbs stepped into the room. "Now, you can come with us voluntarily, or we can arrest you and bring you in for questioning, if you'd rather."

Watters clenched her right hand into a fist. "Arrest? On what charges?"

"Assault." Gibbs pulled out his handcuffs. "Are ya coming?"

Watters stood and smoothed down her uniform skirt. "You're making a mistake, but let's go." She picked up a clutch purse from the desk and tucked her cover under her arm. After that, she was silent until they were in the car, heading back.

After they had been on the road about 15 minutes, she spoke.

"You're the great Agent Gibbs?" she asked. When Tony looked back, she arched one fine brow at him.

"He's Agent Gibbs," Tony confirmed.

"I remember you," she said. "You're the one who finally caught Kyle Boone, after everybody else failed."

Tony saw Gibbs' hands clench on the wheels, knuckles whitening, and decided for everybody's safety, he should answer Watters.

"You remember the Boone case?" Not that it was such a stretch, since she looked to be at most just a few years younger than Tony.

"My best friend was one of Boone's first victims," she said. "Since her father had retired a year earlier, NCIS didn't investigate. It wasn't until eighteen victims later that Boone killed a petty officer and NCIS got involved. I still remember when my mother told me you had caught him." Her eyes were blank of emotion, and Tony felt a twist in his gut. He knew he should try and get more information from her, but hurtling along in a speeding car posed too much risk. He could bring it up back at NCIS headquarters in interrogation.

~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~

Ziva and McGee headed for the coffee shop, determined to keep this discreet so Aaron wouldn't be too embarrassed to cooperate.

"Who's the manager on today?" McGee asked.

Ziva hesitated before responding. "I do not know." She paused. "The only people I saw in there were Aaron, Chris and the new girl, and I do not believe any of them are managers."

"Chris is probably the one we should talk to." McGee thought for a second. "Ziva, why don't you place an order, just our usual team one. Don't get a Caf-Pow, even."

"No, that would just raise questions since Abby was here less than half an hour ago," she replied. "What will you be doing?"

"I'll get Chris aside while Aaron is busy making drinks and explain what's going on." McGee looked at his watch. "We're lucky — it should be pretty quiet in there right now."

He was glad to walk in and find out they were right. The only person in the shop besides the crew was one older man wearing jeans and a battered USS Enterprise ballcap in an easy chair, materials from the Navy Museum scattered around him.

McGee nudged Ziva at the sight of Chris sitting at a table near the back, calculator and papers stacked in front of him. She gave a nod, and headed for the counter as McGee walked over and pulled out the chair across from Chris.

"McGee?" The barista looked up.

"Shhh." McGee leaned across the table and briefly outlined the basics: Aaron's sister was Navy and she was abusive, making it the team's case. "We want to bring him in, get his statement and keep him safe until we're sure we have her locked up," he finished.

"Sure," Chris said. "Morgan and I can hold down the fort here until Darren gets back."

McGee looked at the paperwork on the table. "You seem to be doing a good job."

Chris shook his head. "This is just schedule mess." He rolled his eyes. "The owner has the coffee shop at Quantico, too, and they just had to fire three people for theft. Darren and Renee had to cover shifts over there, and they figured it would be fine because Aaron and I have been doing this for so long. I volunteered to spend some time trying to line up people to cover here so those of us who work at both locations can cover extra shifts there until they hire replacements."

"I didn't realize you worked at both bases," McGee said.

"A bunch of us do," Chris said. "Me, Aaron, Darren, Renee..." He rattled off a few more names. "Most of the rest don't because they don't have a car to drive over there."

"Is it going to cause a problem if we keep Aaron over at NCIS for a few hours?" McGee pinched his lower lip.

"Like I said, it's pretty quiet now," Chris said. "Besides, the new girl needs more practice making drinks. This is a good reason to give it to her."

McGee nodded and stood. Ziva was over at the pick-up counter chatting with Aaron, but she glanced McGee's way and he nodded once. Her lips tightened briefly before she interrupted Aaron. By the time McGee reached them, Aaron was taking off his apron.

McGee picked up the tray of drinks.

"I've got some sugars here," Aaron said, dropping them on the tray. "Can't let Tony miss his sugar high. Come on, I don't want to be walking in when you bring the bitch into the building." He flushed. "Sorry, Ziva."

"It is of no worry," she said. "Come, let us go."

~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~

It will be just a few minutes now before the deaths begin again. They believe they were thorough, but they missed my plan to strike from in their midst, and they will pay for it. One of them will pay with his life. The others, with guilt. Once they are distracted, I will strike a second time, and a third. The order might be different, but the results will be the same. Gibbs will suffer at my hand