"Good morning, Gibbs. McGee… Todd," Shepard greets us as we walk over to her at the dining area of a party that a jumper just crashed, with his dead body. Ziva had to physically pushed Shepard out of the way, because Tony and Ziva were here protecting Shepard. It's sunny outside today so I have my sunglasses on, making Shepard unable to see the look I just gave her for hesitating on my name.
"Director Shepard," Gibbs greets her.
"Our gate-crasher was a marine. Sergeant Brian Wright. The hotel was in lockdown and he wasn't a registered guest. He took a dive from up there somewhere. Sec-Def staff are worried that it was an attempt on the life of their boss."
"Are you worried?" I ask her.
"IF it was an assassination attempt, he's a lousy assassin. He used his body as a weapon and missed by seventy-five feet. Ducky's doing the preliminaries. I've got Tony liaising between Metro and hotel management. And we have a witness. Andy Nelson. Ziva's with him. He's an aide to a congressman. Nelson claims he was attacked by the deceased on the sixth floor before the incident."
"DO you believe him?" Gibbs asks.
"HE works for a politician. What do you think? I'm officially handing over. I've got my own fires to put out. This happened in our backyard. It's making a lot of people nervous. I'd appreciate a quick result on this one," Shepard demands of us to rush the case before storming off.
"The question is, did he jump or was he pushed? Guess that's what we're here to find out," McGee asks us.
"Go," Gibbs orders him.
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"Enough. It's okay," Nelson waves the paramedics away as we walk up to them, I push my sunnies up onto the top of my head.
"Mister Nelson has been explaining how he got injured," Ziva explains to us as we walk over to the inside the hotel.
"HE just came at me. He hit me. I fell down and he ran away."
"Did you see him fall?" I ask him.
"I just got out here. I was down in the lobby to report it when he fell."
"Why were you on the sixth floor?" Ziva asks him.
"I was delivering a briefing paper to a defence contractor in one of the suites. Norforce systems. I was walking towards the elevator."
"Did you see him before?" Gibbs asks him.
"Every day. Congressmen Getz," another man introduces himself. We just look at him as Gibbs shakes his hand and he adds, "Well not the deceased, just sad souls like him. The homeless."
"Unconfirmed," Ziva reminds him.
"And a war veteran or we'd be talking to Metro Police and not NCIS, agent…"
"Special Agent Gibbs and he was a marine," Gibbs introduces himself.
"We need to do more to help the ones who come back broken," Getz says attempting to make a big man of himself.
"Yeah, you do. Before we have to," I agree with him making him give me a look.
"Let's get that x-rayed, Andy. Unless Agent Gibbs has more questions about this unfortunate incident," Getz says to Gibbs before leading Nelson away to go get his head x-rayed.
"Did I miss something?" Ziva asks in confusion.
"The congressman thinks our marine was crazy and jumped," Gibbs explains to her before we make our way out of the hotel to the crime scene where Tony is eating the food turned evidence.
"Um," I mumble as I watch him.
"DiNozzo…"
"Boss?" Tony asks him, cringing up, knowing he is doing something wrong.
"Stop eating the evidence."
"Right, boss."
"Got preliminaries?" I ask Ducky.
"I find the one who fall are the saddest. Such a long last moment to contemplate one's end. And no chance to change one's mind. Well, the injuries are consistent with a fall. But scraped knuckles, possibly in a fight before he went over the edge. Missing a show, no wallet, although he had some dollars in his pocket. And a begging note asking for help. The only real surprise is this… a bronze star for valour," Ducky explains as he shows us the medals.
"And a purple heart," Gibbs adds.
"Two Marine stars, that means he was wounded three times in battle. I can't tell you why he died, but I can tell you how he lived. The man was a hero," Ducky informs us as Gibbs phone begins ringing.
"Yeah, Gibbs… Okay," Gibbs answers his phone before hanging up.
"Nelson said he was back downstairs when Wright fell. The question is, what was Sergeant Wright doing?" Ziva asks us as Gibbs puts his phone away.
"Deciding whether to jump," Tony answers her.
"Photographs?" Gibbs demands of them.
"Got it."
"DiNozzo. The stairs."
"Maybe the congressman was right. Maybe Sergeant Wright was crazy and jumped," Ziva offers.
"OR everyone else is right. Politicians lie," I states.
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"And we will need a copy of his medical records," McGee says into his phone in the squad room.
"You're disgusting. How can you eat that?" Ziva complains to Tony who is eating a fatty, greasy burger.
"He's attempting suicide," I explain to her without looking up from my chips and chicken burger.
"No I'm not. Alice. You see, Ziva, the human body is a finely tuned engine. None more finely tuned than mine. Even the best engine needs oil," Tony explains to her as he gives me a look.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs snaps as he walks into the squad room.
"Boss?"
"Anything from the hotel registry?"
"Seven hundred and two names. None of them Sergeant Wright."
"Ziva, the congressman's aide…"
"Single. No criminal record. He worked for the congressman for the past seven years, and according to Norforce Systems, a briefing paper from the congressman's office was delivered to their suite, but they can't put a time on it," Ziva informs him.
"Boss, I just got off the phone with Wright's doctor in Bethesda. He did two tours in Iraq. He was wounded three times. Last time was the worst. His Humvee was hit by an IUD. Suffered shrapnel wounds to the head. He's been on medical leave for four months, but according to the hospital records, he's missed his last three weekly appointments," McGee reports.
"No one noticed? How can no one notice?" I demand of him.
"Said he fell through the cracks."
"Family?" Gibbs requests of him.
"Divorced. No kids. His doctor said he stayed with friends, at hotels. Sometimes on the street."
"What kind of doctor?" Ziva asks him in confusion.
"Psychiatrist."
"Treated for?" Tony asks of him.
"Depression."
"Some way to treat a war hero."
"I thought marines looked after their own?"
"How does a homeless man get past the security agents, local cops, hotel staff, into a locked-down building?" Ziva asks us in confusion.
"Well, maybe he was already there," Gibbs reminds them a possibility.
"Or another marine let him in," I offer to Gibbs before adding, "If you fall on hard times. Who would you call? No family, no wife, no girlfriend. Just your brotherhood, the Marine Corps. The marines train them to look after each other, no matter what is at stake."
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"Luis Romero," Gibbs calls to a man working in the hotel hallway.
"Yeah," Romero asks us.
"Special Agent Gibbs. McGee. Todd, NCIS," I introduce us as Gibbs flashes him his badge.
"IS this about the jumper?"
"So you saw the jumper?" Gibbs asks him.
"No."
"But you saw him," I state.
"No."
"Corporal Luis Romero United States Marine Corps. One tour, Afghanistan. Honourable discharge eighteen months ago. Since them, hotel maintenance supervisor," McGee reads off Romero's life in a few seconds. Another marine, working at the hotel of the jumper.
"So I'm a former marine. Lot of guys are."
"Not at this hotel."
"We look after our own, don't we, Luis?" Gibbs asks him.
"Oh, we always got a couple rooms down for maintenance. Didn't see any harm in it," Romero admits.
"How long had he been here?" McGee requests.
"A couple times a week for the last months. Didn't cause any trouble. Semper fi, you know?"
"Can you show us the room, please?" I beg of him making him node before he leads us to the room. He swipes his card and opens the door to the hotel room.
"Wait at the door, please. Anyone else been in here?" McGee asks Romero as we walk into the room and put on a set of gloves.
"No, just him," Romero answers us as his radio goes off as we begin looking through the room but nothing seems unusual at first look.
"Luis! Luis!" Maria, another worker, calls him.
"Yeah," Romero says into the radio.
"Something's happened! You need to come here quickly!" Maria says in Spanish.
"Um… something happened!" Romero explains to us before walking away and we follow him.
"I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Luis, there! There in the room. In the bed. Mother of God," Maria rambles in Spanish outside a room, just down the hall from Wright's room. We look into the room to see a dead, chinses woman laying in the bed. I wrap my arm around the scared Maria.
"Shh, it's going to be okay," I whisper to her as I turn her face into my shoulder, hiding her eyes from the body.
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"There's something on her cheek. Looks like saliva. Kiss and kill," Ziva comments as we process the new crime scene, that might be apart of the old crime scene.
"No bag. Maybe the killer took it," McGee offers.
"Maybe she just didn't have a bag."
"Every woman has a bag."
"Do I have a bag, McGee?"
"Do I have a bag? Did Kate have a bag?" I overlap Ziva.
"No, but you're not a… well, I mean, you're a woman. You're just… you're not… not a normal," McGee stutters at as Ziva and I glare at him making him freeze before he adds, "You are ring. Every woman does not have a bag."
"Howe old?" Gibbs asks us as he returns to the room after talking to Shepard.
"No I.D. No pocketbook. And no bag, either," Ziva reports to Gibbs as I continue to glare at McGee, I am normal-ish.
"The room was booked to Michael Lo. Sounds Asian. Single occupancy. Room was paid for in cash in advance," Tony reports as he steps into the room.
"Sounds fake," McGee comments.
"They're going to review the security tapes, and send us what they've got."
"Boss?"
"Mister Romero, recognize this?" Gibbs asks as he holds up a key-card he found in the room.
"It's um… the key-card I gave Sergeant Wright. It's a master key. It opens up every room in the hotel," Romero admits, sadly.
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"What am I looking at?" Gibbs asks Abby in the lab, as we stare at the evidence she is working.
"Nothing," Abby answers happily.
"Nothing? Nothing's good, right?" I beg of her.
"Oh, yeah. Nothing is very good," McGee agrees with me.
"If this was Wright's hair, it would be looking into a window of his drug history. But all this shows is," Abby begs.
"Unknown trace elements," Gibbs finishes for her.
"Too minute to be picked up by the mass spec equipment. So it's probably not Wright's."
"Oh, we can't be sure they're not there, unless we get a better microscope," McGee adds.
"We're talking nano-particles, here. Gibbs. We need a…"
"An infrared micro spectroscopy unit. It's the only thing that gets down to the nano level."
"Okay, get one," Gibbs orders them.
"They cost about a hundred grand."
"Yeah, so?" I ask them in confusion.
"So it's not in the budget maybe next year," Shepard informs me.
"She needs one now!" Gibbs reminds her.
"Oh, okay. We'll just take a break on this case, until we get the machine," I say calmly making Shepard give me a glare so I add, "You wanted us to solve the case but you won't find the way to buy the devices we need? We need it. You find it."
"Sorry," Shepard says unapologetically.
"Unbelievable. You want everything done but you never help it be done."
"I could haggle. My uncle Horace, he was a great haggler. They used to call him Horace-the haggler," Abby rambles but stops when Shepard turns the glare from em and Gibbs to Abby making an unconfutable silence cover the lab. After a long while Abby adds, "OR I could borrow one."
"Who would let you borrow their Micro-whatever? I wouldn't let you borrow my pen, and I stole that," I ask Abby making her think for a moment before talking again.
"I'll try and borrow one," Abby promise, nervously as her computer beeps and she pulls up the fingerprint match. Our victim, the marine and Abby says, "It's the fingerprint from the key card."
"Oh, that's not good. It puts him in the dead girl's rom," McGee says sadly.
"Sorry, Jethro," Shepard apologizes tot the man glaring at her.
"Why don't you apologize to this girl's family? Explaining that her killer is getting away because you can't afford to solve it," I snap at her, what if this was Kate. That's right; she wanted Kate's death to go un-solved and Ari to live.
"Find out who owns that," Gibbs orders Abby as he points to hair before turning to Shepard and exclaiming, "Come on."
"Don't start. Do you know how many people want money for things?" Shepard snaps at Gibbs.
"Did I say anything?" Gibbs demands of her as he leads us away from the lab.
"She shouldn't have to wait a year for you to find the money to solve her case. You might want to let innocent people die but I'm not going to let criminal's walk because your uncompensated," I snap at her making Gibbs wrap his arm around my shoulder, tucking me into his chest.
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"It can't be much fun for a hands-on type like you," Ducky says as we enter autopsy making him turn around, facing Gibbs making em hide my laughter behind my hand the next morning.
"You think?" Gibbs asks Ducky as he raises his eyebrows at the confused Ducky.
"Done?" I ask him as I node at the dead girl on the autopsy table.
"Done indeed. Intrigue, mystery, and a surprise or two. Yes, I've estimated our victim's age at about fourteen. Death was due to strangulation. She had bleeding in her throat, and the hyoid bone was fractured. There's some bruising on the sternum that has me a bit puzzled. Possibly post-mortem," Ducky rambles as he slides the girl into an autopsy fridge.
"Conscious?" Gibbs asks him.
"Well, superficial scratching and ante mortem bruising suggests that she put up a struggle of sorts. But toxicology indicates that she was drugged… and for some time."
"Hours?" I ask him.
"Well, possible days. There are traces of sedatives, and Rohypnol, the drug of choice for date rapists. And before you ask the question… yes. She was. But he must have worn a condom. The really good news is that I've identified her."
"By name?" Gibbs asks hopefully.
"No, by country. She's Chinese. Yes, you're less than impressed. But what if I told you that four weeks ago she was working on the family farm in a coastal region of southern china? Province, to be precise."
"Well, now you have my attention, doctor."
"It was her extremities that gave her away. The Chinese dentistry is quite distinctive. Her dental work is very new… five or maybe six weeks ago. And her feet are calloused, indicates that she was a farm worker. We also found traces of chromium six in her digestive tract. It's a bi-product of chlorate. It causes cancer and respiratory problems. Guess where the biggest chlorate factory is in Asia?"
"Fujian Province," I parrot what he said before.
"Well, there you have it. The body was road map."
"Anything else?" Gibbs demands of him.
"Thank you, dad. She needs help identifying her because Shepard isn't helping. She's being a stone wall," I inform him.
"Yes. Her likely killer Sergeant Brian Wright. We had a positive DNA match from the saliva we swabbed from her. I'm afraid our hero is more than a little tarnished," Ducky rambles as we leave him with his unfortunate guests.
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"Ducky thinks our victim is a Chinese National, probably in the country less than a few weeks," Gibbs informs Ziva and Tony as we enter the squad room.
"Well, her fingerprints drew a negative on the immigration database. So she's here illegally," Tony comments.
"Smuggled in. maybe for the sex trade. Asian, cute, underage," Ziva lists off.
"It's a goldmine! Pimp pays cash, sets her up in a room during a nice big convention, feeds her clients."
"And then one of them kills her."
"Sergeant Wright doesn't fit the profile. Are we sure Ari's dead and not just playing possum?" I ask them because Ziva might have shot him in the head but he hand nothing there to kill him with. No brains mean headshot won't kill him.
"Yes, Air's dead. Wright didn't need to pay to get into the room. He had a magic key. He saw an opportunity. He took it. Perhaps because of his mental state he lost control. And afterwards, regret, and he took his own life."
"Fit the facts, boss," Tony adds.
"Only the facts we know, DiNozzo," Gibbs snaps at him.
"Any word from Abby yet?" I ask them.
"Not a peep," Tony answers me.
"Tony, can I talk to you for a moment?" I ask him and when he nodes I walk him over to behind the stairs.
"What's wrong Alice?"
"Are you alright? I haven't seen you this run down since we had the plague."
"I'm fine Alice."
"Tony, please. You can lie to Gibbs, Ziva, McGee, yourself but your my friend, sometimes a brother, don't lie to me or I bite you when I find the truth out."
"Alice…"
'What's her name this time?"
"What makes you think there's a girl involved?"
"One, this is you we're talking to and about. Two, this is you. Three, I've seen you like this before. With Ari's assistant, what was her name, never mind not important, Arianna, and I can think of a hundred other girls but I can't name them. Neither can you," I state as I count it off on my finger.
"Alice…"
"Tony, you're my family. One of the few I have. I don't have my mother, or sisters, or brothers. They don't talk to me. I have you, Ziva, McGee, dad, Abby and Jethro, that's it. For the longest time the only person I had was Kate. Please," I beg of him as the tears collect in my eyes, I need them and he's lying to me.
"Alice… don't cry, please don't cry," Tony exclaims in fear.
"I'm sorry. It hurts, I need you but… but I guess you done need me… or see me the same way I see you," I say before I turn around to leave, I'm not going to stand around here if he doesn't want to talk it's on him. I tried and he doesn't 'need' me, so I don't need him.
"Jeanne, her name is Jeanne," Tony informs me, stopping me from walking away from him. I turn around, waiting for him to talk; I'm not dragging it out of him this time. He continues softly, "Jeanne Benoit, she's a doctor. I've been dating her for a couple of months."
"Since before Jethro came back. How did you meet her?"
"Yeah. The director… I'm dating her undercover."
"Do you have feelings for her?"
"I think I might."
"Tony… Tony… Tony, be careful, when she finds out, you're going to need a doctor. Or an M.E."
"I know… how did you work this out? Who else knows?"
"Just me… maybe Jethro. I've known you for over four years; it doesn't take long to work it out."
"Thank you."
"You know you can tell or talk to me about anything," I remind him as I pull him into a hug.
"I know. I just… rule 4."
"If you have a secret, the best this is to keep it to yourself. The second-best is to tell one other person if you must. There is no third best," Tony and I recite together.
"Yeah, well, rules are made to be broken. Not living if you don't break the rules," I remind him.
"Yeah look at you. Dating the boss, stealing his coffee without dying. I guess you have lived by that," Tony agrees with me as he releases me and we make our way back to the squad room.
"The difference between dating the boss and stealing his coffee is that I don't mess with his coffee. Just steal it so he can't kill me under that rule," I correct him making us both burst out laughing; I used that line before, not messing with the coffee, just teasing someone. Ziva and Gibbs give us a confused look because we're laughing it so much. But we just don't care and move to our desks, laughing about the things we have done.
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"Boss, hey," McGee gasps out as he returns to the squad room, panting for air.
"Sergeant Wright's autopsy report?" Gibbs asks him as he nodes to the file in his hand.
"Yeah. I was checking something. Something didn't fit. It's just a theory. But it's about what Wright ate."
"What did he eat?" I ask him hopefully.
"Nothing. Not since the night before. I asked Ducky. But the room service tray on the bed was half-finished. Which raises another question. How did he get room service if he wasn't supposed to be in a room in the first place?"
"Yeah, go on," Gibbs waves him on.
"McGee can I guess?" I ask him making him node at me, "People always leaves the room service plates outside their door so the cleaners can pick them up without ordering it. Sorry, didn't mean to jump on your moment."
"Right Alice. I think that he found one that was half finished. He took it back to his room. Something must have happened before he could eat it. Wright's begging note," McGee explain as he shows us a note that is begging for help.
"Or somebody else's that he found and rushed to help the person in need. Once a marine always a marine."
"Hidden under a plate on the tray. And he found it. Must be why he went back to the room. Once a hero, always a hero," McGee agrees with me as his phone begins ringing and he answers it, "McGee… once second. I got it. What do you need…? Let's see. It's negative… I'll tell him. Thank you," McGee says before hanging up the phone and informing us, "Boss, the hair found on the victim indicates the killer had an anthrax vaccination. Wright never had one."
"Well, I didn't killer her. Wright didn't killer her, if we're not careful our lovely Agent Sacks will be back trying to arrest McGee because he is the next one on the list who was vaccinated," I complain making McGee node to me as Gibbs give me a look before informing me.
"Alice, the FBI isn't coming after this team this week," Gibbs promises me.
"Better not, or I'm releasing Ugly Tony the Second in the director's office and she hates the director like the rest of us."
"SO the hair wasn't Wright's, but the saliva definitely was. DNA matches. He was kissing the girl," Ziva reminds us.
"There's more than one reason to kiss a girl," Gibbs states.
"There is?" Tony asks Gibbs in confusion.
"Won't you ever taught CPR, first aid?" I ask him before adding, "If not. I don't want to be anywhere near you, I'll stick with Jethro. I know he knows CPR."
"I've got a question for you… the bruising on the girl's sternum. Could it be from CPR…? Let me know when you get a confirmation," Gibbs orders Ducky over his desk phone that he used to call Ducky.
"So we're looking for someone with an anthrax vaccine," Tony release.
"Instead of one suspect, we now have half a million – all of them military," Ziva complains.
"Maintenance guy?" I ask them.
"Fixing a leak in the kitchen. Chefs ware tripping over him all day," McGee answers me.
"Scratch Romero," Tony complains.
"After nine eleven, anthrax was sent through the mail. Most people at risk were vaccinated, pentagon officials, senators, congressmen."
"Everybody at the reception."
"And people who open their mail," Gibbs and I add together.
"Too bad you and I never took it. Hey, Tony," I complain making them laugh because I haven't forgiven Tony for almost killing me.
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"Yes, I had an anthrax vaccination. Along with most everyone on the hill, agent Gibbs. They were troubling times," Nelson says to Gibbs, Ziva and I in integration. Ziva and I am sitting across from him as Gibbs stands at the head of the table, leaning on it, glaring at Nelson.
"They still are," I correct him tightly.
"After you delivered the briefing paper to Norforce Systems, what did you do?" Ziva demands of him.
"I walked down the hallway toward the elevator, and that's where Wright attacked me," Nelson exclaims.
"Norforce Systems' suite was right next to the elevator. Do you want to try this again?"
"Do I need a lawyer?"
"Only if you're feeling guilty," Gibbs states.
"You were talking towards the elevator because you were not coming from Norforce System, you were coming from a room down the hallway," Ziva states.
"No!" Nelson exclaims in anger.
"Yes! A room where an underage girl was killed!"
"And you think I'm responsible?"
"If you're not, then you won't mind giving us a hair sample," I state.
"The killer left a calling card and we think your name is on it," Ziva adds."
"This is outrageous! I was attacked by violent, unstable, man! If you're looking for a murderer, you should be looking at him, and not me!" Nelson orders us.
"Are you refusing to voluntarily give us a hair sample, Mister Nelson? Because if you are, we can just get a court order."
"I didn't kill anyone!" Nelson snaps at us as the door opens making us look over to see Tony.
"Boss," Tony exclaims making Gibbs storm out of the room and I follow him with Ziva, back into the squad room where Tony was watching the security footage. "Eight seven teen. They're all reacting to the same thing," tony points out on the security footage.
"Wright dropping in for breakfast?" Ziva jokes.
"Nelson might have killed the girl, but there's no way he killed Wright, boss," Tony informs us before Gibbs storms back to the integration room.
"I want to make a phone call," Nelson demands of us as we enter the room.
"Lawyer?" Gibbs asks him as I sit back down on my chair and Gibbs sits on Ziva's because she didn't return with us.
"Someone much more powerful."
"Your boss? Underage. Kidnapped. Raped. Drugged. Illegal. Dead. You really think your boss wants to talk to you? Did you kill her before or after you pushed Sergeant Wright?" I demand of him.
"I didn't kill her. I didn't push Sergeant Wright. I was on the ground floor when he jumped!"
"You went to the room. Try to save her, you attacked him," Gibbs explains.
"No."
"You raped her," I state calmly and he doesn't deny it.
"You killed her. You threw Sergeant Wright off the balcony," Gibbs adds.
"I never saw Sergeant Wright!" Nelson yells out us.
"How could he attack you if you never saw him?" I ask him innocently.
"She hit me with the lamp. I was just trying… just trying to stop her. I had to explain this somehow, so I said Wright attacked me."
"Who took you up to her room?" Gibbs demands of him.
"No one. I um… I met him outside the hotel. Paid him. And he gave me the key card."
"A regular client? Different girls every time?" I ask him.
"Different girls. I ran into him down stair… at the elevator. And I told him she was dead. He went up."
"Name."
"NAME," Gibbs yells out him when he ignores me.
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"Davey Chen Importing Company," Tony reports on the name of the guy running the sex slaves.
"Kept himself pretty clean. A couple of misdemeanours. No felonies. Nothing to suggest he was involved in the sex trade of underage girls," Ziva reports next.
"Got enough to arrest him for murder?" McGee begs.
"No physical evidence. His word against Nelson's."
"Well, let's go kick his door down and find some evidence," Tony offers.
"We do that, Tony, we lose those girls," Gibbs reminds them.
"Could have lost them already. Slave traders move their girls all the time. They could be on their way to Vegas now. Or dead," Ziva says to us.
"Send someone in undercover," Tony offers a way to find out.
"I'll do it."
"No. We need someone closer to home. You'll stand out," I state and if she goes undercover, I can't make sure she's safe-ish.
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs calls to him.
"Boss," Tony looks to his boss to look after him.
"Get me twenty-five thousand dollars."
"Check or plastic?"
"Cash," I correct him.
"On it."
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"It's just that she's never been undercover, boss," Tony says as he tries to talk us out of Gibbs plan in the squad room after we dress our agent.
"She's a highly trained NCIS Special Agent," Gibbs reminds him.
"She's more probie than even probie."
"She's got excellent backup."
"Me?"
"Ziva," I correct him before adding, "You don't even know CPR."
"You are causing quite a stir on the hill. Underage dead girl and congressional aide make people nervous," Shepard informs us as she walks up to us.
"Good," Gibbs states.
"So it's okay to rape a drugged girl but it's not okay as long as she is underage and dead?" I ask her in disbelief.
"Well, she looks the part, just like a," McGee comments as we look at Agent Lee, she is wearing a low-cut shirt and a headband with a camera.
"Whore?" Ziva offers the word McGee might be looking for.
"Courtesan."
"Oh."
"Are you sure you're ready this?" I ask her.
"I saw the girl in autopsy. Yeah, I'm ready," Lee promises.
"Okay, McGee," Gibbs promises.
"Separate radio transmitter and GPS built into the lining. Pressure switch on the handle turns it off if they sweep for bugs. Turns it back on when they're finished," McGee informs him.
"Chen's going to be suspicious of everyone. Particularly if someone like Agent Lee shows up. We need something else, McGee."
"Got just the thing, boss," McGee promises as we walk over to the elevator where Jimmy walks to us and his mouth drops open at the look of Lee.
"Those two are fucking," I whisper into Tony's ear making him node, I don't have to tell Gibbs he's the one who told me. But Gibbs does pull me away from Tony, and against his chest.
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"DiNozzo?" Gibbs calls to Tony and I, he is sitting in the car with Ziva as I am Tony's backup.
"In position, boss," Tony informs him over the radio.
"Target has entered the building."
"Watch carefully. Let's not loose Lee," I say into the radio.
"GPS locked on," McGee informs us from his spot in MTAC.
"MTAC is standing by, Agent Gibbs. It's your call," Shepard informs us.
"We are in play," Gibbs informs her.
"Excuse me!" Lee says over the radio as she walking into the warehouse.
"We're closed," Chen say to her.
"Even for a cash customer, Mister Chen?"
"What do you want?"
"MY sister," Lee answers him in mandarin.
"Who are you? I don't know you or your sister?"
"Maybe this will help you remember."
"She's killed the transmission. They're sweeping her for bugs. She'll resume the transmission when it's clear," McGee informs us when the radio cuts off.
"Stand by Tony. No contact, in thirty seconds we're going in," Gibbs orders us.
"Gotcha boss," Tony agrees with him.
"Fifteen seconds… twenty second… twenty-five seconds," McGee calls out the time for us.
"Come on, Lee. Turn us back on," Shepard begs, it's the first time I've heard her worried about someone besides Gibbs.
"Twenty-five thousand dollars. Another twenty-five when I get my sister back," Lee cuts back in making me sigh in relief.
"And what makes you think I have your sister?" Chen demands of him.
"It must be another Davey Chen I'm looking for."
"What's her name?"
"She's fourteen years old from Fujian Province. I don't know what you call her, but my family calls her Xiu Mei."
"You're a long way from home."
"So is she. But I wasn't abducted off my parents' farm."
"Too old. That's a lot of money for the daughter of a farmer."
"I work in Shanghai. I'm good at what I do. American businessmen show their appreciation. Do we have a dead?"
"Come with me," Chen orders Lee before walking away into another room.
"Game on," McGee informs us. After a moment the signal cuts out again making him add, "We've lost the signal."
"She turned it off?" Shepard demands of him.
"I can't tell."
"Talk to us, McGee. Please," I beg of him over the radio.
"Yeah, working on it, Alice," McGee informs us as I grip my gun, ready to draw it and run into that building.
"Gibbs, we've got a problem," Shepard informs us.
"DiNozzo, Alice, cover the back door! We're going in!" Gibbs orders him as they get out of the car and rush to the front door.
"Got it," Tony promises as we get into procession and pull our guns.
"She's moving. Exiting a door," McGee informs us.
"Clear!" Gibbs calls over the radio as Ziva and he search the warehouse.
"Clear!" Ziva agrees with him.
"Clear!" DiNozzo, they're gone. Anything?"
"Nothing, Jethro. They didn't come out this way," I report to him.
"We're only getting intermittent video signals," Shepard informs us.
"Aerial surveillance is negative. They're definitely on the move," McGee adds.
"Gibbs, check for a basement entrance. They've gone underground," Shepard adds.
"Jethro, twenty-five seventy third street, northwest," Shepard informs us.
"Tony, Alice, go! Go! We've got the tunnel," Gibbs orders us.
"Be careful. Both of you," I order them in return.
"Okay!" Tony agrees with Gibbs as we holster our guns and runs of over to the road and down to the address.
"Two minutes, boss."
"Federal agents!" Tony orders them as we run into the new warehouse without guns aimed at them.
"Freeze!" Gibbs calls out as he and Ziva comes out of another doorway. Lee suddenly flips the bodyguard over and onto the ground.
"Stay down," Tony orders the bodyguard.
"Put the weapon down," I order Chen how puts the gun down.
"Nice work, probie," Tony complements Lee as he arrest the two men.
"They're in the truck," Lee informs us making me holster the gun and pull the door open. The container is completely full of little girls.
"Unbelievable," Gibbs gasp out in surprise.
"Lee, tell them their safe. Their going to go home, to their loved ones," I say to Lee making her repeat it in mandarin.
"The bum tried to be a hero," Chen exclaims in mandarin.
"The bum tried to be a hero," Lee translates.
"Brain Wright. Sergeant Brain Wright. Bronze stat. purple heart. United States Marine Corps. He was a hero," Gibbs corrects him as I slowly get the girls to leave the container, repeating that their safe in mandarin; just copying how Lee said it.
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"Hey, Jethro," I mumble as I walk down the stairs where he is 'working' on his boat tonight in the basement. I am wearing my dress from when we went to the movies together (my profile picture) but I'm not wearing any makeup.
"Hey, baby. Going out tonight?" Gibbs asks me as he looks at my dress I am wearing.
"Yeah. Team and Lee's going out to get drinks. You want to come," I answer him as I walk over to him before adding, "You going to come?"
"What's in it for me?" Gibbs asks me as he looks over my dress.
"You get to see me dancing in this tiny dress, and to make sure no one touches your women," I offer as he cleans the dust of his hand before grabbing my hips, pulling me against his chest.
"Or you could stay home with me and I'll watch you do more than dancing," Gibbs smirks at me.
"Jethro, please. The team hasn't gone out together in months. Please, please, please," I beg of him.
"Fine, but you're going to make it up to me late," Gibbs finally gives in making me smirk before kissing him on the lips in thank you. He quickly takes control of the kiss, placing his big hand on the back of my head, holding my head in place so he can control the kiss.
"We have to go before I change my mind," I say as I break the kiss and walk away from him making him follow me quickly, right behind me.
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"Hey," I greet the team at the bar.
"Hey, I didn't think you'd get him out," Tony exclaim as he hands me five bucks I won by getting Gibbs to come to the bar, which he normally doesn't.
"You wound me; I'm great at getting what I want."
"If that was true, I wouldn't be here," Ziva reminds me.
"Wait, you're here? Why didn't anyone tell me?" I ask her in fake shock before sitting down next to Gibbs and Ducky, enjoying the cruiser (their very yummy and I love them in real life) Gibbs just brought me.
We all settle into a great night of drinking and laughing with our friends and family. After a few drinks I hit the dance floor with Abby and Ziva, just having fun.