A/N

Thanks for all the fantastic reviews!

This chapter is beginning to tie the case together to help make sense of what is going on...hopefully, it is starting to clear up some of your questions. NCIS cases are hard to write! Lots of research and thinking...owww, my head hurts. LOL

Still more to come, though...

Spring break is over...BOOHOO

Guest, regarding other stories to read, I haven't read very many case-related stories on Fanfiction. There are probably many of them, but my time is so limited when it comes to reading. I never read stories that are older and unfinished because I find that so frustrating. I enjoyed reading Mindless Creations stories because I love stories about children and the NCIS characters as a family. (De-aged Tony and Ziva are so cute!) I also will make a shameless plug for a story I wrote in another fandom. The story is called Stalling for Time. It is a story about hostage negotiation. I spent a lot of time researching it to make it as real and authentic as possible. (It is science fiction in some respects, but the hostage negotiation is real.) Fanfiction does assume you know the characters, but I think if you read my story, you wouldn't have any trouble warming up to the characters. My plan is to work to change the story into an original work so I can possibly publish it at some point. Anyway, that is my shameless plug :)

Thanks to all of you that have been reading and leaving reviews. It really has inspired me to keep writing this story. Your encouragement and kind words have made me smile and also have given me ideas sometimes, and I think as a fanfiction writer I love that the most. The little suggestions and input readers include in their reviews and private messages sometimes sway my muse in other directions. You might even be my co-writer and not even know it.

Have a splendiloquent day!

xo

Jenny :)

Gibbs pulled off his black NCIS cap and scratched his head. Yes, he was supposed to be on hiatus. Yes, his shoulder, arm, and chest still hurt like hell. Yes, he should have been resting. But since when did Jethro Gibbs do anything he was supposed to do? He returned his hat to his head, briefly massaged his aching shoulder, and re-adjusted his arm in the sling before he stared down impatiently at Palmer.

"Got a time of death yet, Palmer?" he said again for what must have been the third time in as many minutes.

Ducky stood up and placed a comforting hand on Gibbs' shoulder.

"Patience, Jethro; the body is half frozen. Mr. Palmer is doing the best he can, given the unusual circumstances."

Gibbs sighed and stepped back leaving Ducky and Palmer enough room to work the crime scene. From the corner of his eye, he could see Tony parked several yards up the road shielding Aimee from anything to be seen. He could see Aimee crawling over the seats and grabbing at Tony's hat. Gibbs smiled for a moment as he saw Tony reach around and tickle her. He was grateful for his team. They all went above and beyond the call of duty when it came to the girls. They all pitched in to help protect and take care of the girls.

Tony had been the first one called to the scene. Normally, it would have been Gibbs, but he was considered off on medical leave and that made Tony the SFA. Gibbs puffed out his cheeks in dismay. This was the exact reason why he needed to find the girls a good, solid home. Bringing children to crime scenes must border on abuse in someone's books. It certainly did in his mind. Of course, Tony had had no choice, but he'd handled it with the utmost decorum. He had called in McGee, Ziva, and Gibbs just as soon as he could.

"How is your shoulder, Gibbs?"

Gibbs startled a little and blinked a few times to see Ziva standing in front of him. He had been so lost in his thoughts staring at Aimee and Tony that he hadn't heard her come up.

"Hurts like hell, but I'll live. Whaddya got?" he said, not wishing to have anyone draw attention to him. His mind needed to stay focussed on the case at hand and nothing more.

Ziva looked at her notepad, camera hanging around her neck. She was taking notes and measurements and shooting pictures of the scene while McGee gathered up surrounding evidence.

"It did not happen here, obviously." Gibbs remained quiet as he glanced briefly at the body Ducky was examining, partially frozen, still lying in a leaf and dirt covered grave. The body showed signs of horrendous trauma. The disfigured and bloated appearance also suggested something else, but Gibbs didn't dare speculate. Whenever he did, he was usually incorrect anyway. It appeared like Sawyer had been mercilessly tortured before he died; that much was apparent.

"The vehicle, likely a SUV by the looks of the tire treads, stopped and dropped the body here. Whoever it was only made a half-hearted attempt to bury it." She pointed to the two teenage kids with a dog in the distance, who were being questioned by the local police. "The teens were out shooting pop cans with airsoft rifles and their dog found the body."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes as he took in the scene before him. Nothing was subtle or hidden. "They wanted him found," muttered Gibbs, referring to whoever placed the body in its grave.

Ziva nodded in agreement. "It looks that way."

Leaving Ziva to finish her investigation, Gibbs walked back over to Palmer and Ducky, still hovering over the deceased body. "Got anything, Ducky?" Gibbs would be the first to admit he was being impatient. Everything about this case was driving him to distraction and if something didn't break soon, Gibbs was beginning to think his sanity would.

Ducky looked up with an odd expression on his face. "A bad case of indigestion, I'm afraid." The elder man adjusted his bow tie looking uncomfortable.

Gibbs frowned ignoring Ducky's obvious look of discomfort. He knew Ducky had been called out in the middle of his luncheon with some colleagues. Ducky had likely rushed his meal and was feeling the discomfort from it. "I was referring to the dead guy, Duck." Gibbs wasn't feeling much in the mood for exhibiting patience of any kind.

Palmer's head popped up almost as if ready to annoy him. "Technically, paramedics have a saying regarding cold-water drownings, Agent Gibbs. They say a victim isn't dead until he is warm and dead."

Ducky placed a hand on Palmer's shoulder. "I think we can make an exception in this case, Mr. Palmer." Palmer smiled and nodded his agreement.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes at the young medical examiner in training. "What the hell are you talking about, Palmer?"

"Look here, Agent Gibbs."

Palmer went on to point out several things that somehow were supposed to prove to him that the deceased spent a fair bit of time in water, possibly even being a victim of drowning. Gibbs' felt his head pounding at the information overload. Pathology wasn't his forte. He wanted layman's terms.

"Duck?"

Ducky scratched the side of his head while continuing to hover over the body, examining it as meticulously as he could out in the field. "It could be any number of things, Jethro." He also pointed to several bruises and lacerations on the body. "There is blunt force trauma to the frontal bone here as well as what appears to be several contusions to the temporal bone right here. It really is impossible at this point to decipher the cause of death, Jethro. I need to get him back to autopsy to be sure."

"Time of death?"

"He's too frozen to get the probe in, Agent Gibbs," replied Palmer, smiling that annoying smile that Gibbs often wished to smack off his face. Gibbs glared at him, and the smile melted from the younger man's face. Gibbs sighed and almost as an afterthought reached out and patted the young man on the shoulder. Palmer was just being his normal jovial self, and Gibbs' conscience pricked at him a little for being so damned irritated with the kid.

Ducky wandered towards Gibbs. "Reminds me of the time I conducted an autopsy on a victim who-"

"Duck-" attempting to cut the man off before he could launch into one of his long-winded stories but left the name lingering in the air and turned back to Palmer. "Give me something, Palmer." Gibbs winced, hoping the desperation he heard in his voice was only heard by himself.

"Well, decomposition suggests no more than a day or two at most, but I can't be sure until he thaws."

Gibbs scrubbed a hand over his face as he took in the surroundings. They were in the back forty of some random farmer's unused farmland surrounded in thick scrub bush. Despite the remote location, it seemed to be a well-travelled area. From the corner of his eye, he could see a fair amount of targets that looked well used. It was obvious that this wasn't the first time kids or whoever had been out here shooting targets. It was beyond evident that Sawyer's body was meant to be found. So, why? What was he missing? There had to be a point to it. His killers had to have a reason for wanting Sawyer to be found. Ms-13 wasn't reckless. They didn't make foolish mistakes, and Gibbs wasn't so naive to believe that MS-13 couldn't murder people and make the evidence disappear forever.

Gibbs turned to Ziva who was still taking pictures and taking notes.

"Nearly finished, Ziver?"

"Yes, Gibbs."

"Would you mind relieving DiNozzo and taking Aimee back to my place? Abby is there and she can watch the kids."

"Yes. Gibbs?" she asked, hesitating and looking like she needed to ask him something.

Gibbs' eyes met hers for a moment, warmth radiating from them.

"How is Abby holding up?"

Gibbs' face was deadpan. He didn't want to reveal too much of his concerns regarding Abby. His mind was still reeling in a hundred directions trying to figure out what he was going to do regarding her himself. While she seemed content to have adopted her role as caregiver to the girls, Gibbs knew Abby. They were in the eye of storm right now and everything was peaceful and calm. Eventually, everything was going to hit the fan, and he knew he had to be ready for the inevitable. What that looked like and how he was going to handle it was about as distant from him as a mirage.

"She's doing ok, but I'm not sure everything has sunk in yet."

"I did not think she would be suspended, Gibbs. I am worried. What does that mean for her career at NCIS?"

Gibbs pulled off his gloves and tucked them in his back pocket. "It's all going to work out, kiddo, don't you worry, okay?" He winked at her.

Ziva's face flushed. "Gibbs, I am not a kid."

"You're my kid, Ziva, and I've got this." Mostly Gibbs just wanted to comfort her and by association, he was reassuring himself. Hearing himself say things were okay didn't make things okay but until he figured things out, he needed to keep up the pretension.

Ziva looked like she wanted to argue but remained silent and for that Gibbs was grateful. An uncomfortable silence settled into the air for several moments, and then it was broken by the sound of an approaching vehicle. Gibbs turned to see a black Ford sedan pull up and park off to the side of the field. His brows disappeared into his hairline when he saw Tobias Fornell exit the car.

"Relieve Tony, Ziver," he said and began to walk towards Fornell.

As Gibbs made the short distance to the FBI agent, his long-time friend, he felt a whole gambit of emotions wash over him. Fornell was someone he'd wanted to talk to for a very long time, and truth be known, Gibbs was beyond pissed with the man. Fornell had lied to him, kept secrets from him and basically screwed him over for months and then had the audacity to go AWAL with his daughter at the most inopportune time. To say that Gibbs was pissed off at the guy was an understatement. As Gibbs got closer, his walk turned into something reminiscent of a tantruming toddler's stomp. Fornell stood by his car quietly anticipating Gibbs' ire.

Gibbs reached Fornell and pounded his fist on the hood of his car. "You son of a bitch! Where the hell have you been? Why haven't you taken my calls?" Gibbs was shouting, and he didn't care who heard him.

Fornell held up a hand to silence him, as his eyes traveled in the direction of Ducky and Palmer.

"Is that Kyle Sawyer?"

"Yes, dammit. Just who the hell was Sawyer? Do you have any idea what he did? Do you?" Gibbs poked a penetrating finger into Fornell's chest.

Fornell brushed Gibb's hand away and dropped his chin, muttering under his breath.

Gibbs felt his temper burning red hot. "What the hell are you mumbling about?"

Fornell raised his head, and a look of sheer pain lingered in his eyes.

"He was a damned good agent, Jethro."

"Well, now he's a damned good dead agent, Tobias. For crying out loud, tell me what the hell is going on! I'm sick to death of being left in the dark while you sons of bitches at the FBI and Homeland security sit back and let innocent kids get kidnapped and tortured. Enlighten me, gawddamnit!"

Fornell's face reddened. "Don't get in my face and act like none of this is NCIS' fault, Gibbs! You know damned well that this has everything to do with Miss Sciuto's breach of security. The whole reason why we had to send in a double agent was because Homeland security gave us a tip that someone was hacking into encrypted military data. We thought there was a mole at NCIS. We needed to figure out where the security leak was and it was the only way to do it. No one could know, Jethro, not even you!"

Gibbs slammed his fist down on the hood on the car again. He could feel the warmth radiating from the car's engine as he leaned on it. As angry as he was at Tobias for keeping secrets from him, he knew everything the man was saying was true. A security leak coming from NCIS put many lives at risk; Homeland security wouldn't have allowed the FBI to give anyone at NCIS even a hint of what was happening. Every single employee would have been under the strictest of scrutiny, including Gibbs himself. Gibbs heaved a weighted sigh and leaned against the car, crossing his arms in utter frustration.

"You could have told me, Tobias. Damnit, if you don't trust me by now, you never will."

Fornell chuckled. "If I trusted you, Jethro, I would have believed you about Diane."

A smile tugged at the corner of Gibb's lips. The fact that Tobias had married his ex-wife was still humorous in his mind, even after all these years.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Shut-up, Jethro."

The two men stood in silence staring towards the crime scene. It wasn't until Tim came rushing towards him that Gibbs made a motion to speak again.

"Boss! Boss!" Tim came running up holding out what looked like a piece of fabric.

Gibbs furrowed his brow and struggled to recognise what Tim was holding out towards him. His stomach churned as he reached for his gloves once more and put them on. Taking the evidence in his hands, he realised what it was. Tim had found Aimee's tattoo.

—ooOOoo—ooOOoo—ooOOoo—NCIS—ooOOoo—ooOOoo—ooOOoo—

Gibbs poured himself a cup of coffee from the nook in Jenny Shepard's office. He didn't even want it, but he needed something to calm him down. If things continued the way they were, Gibbs was sure he'd end up having a coronary. He didn't relish going back to the hospital. He still remembered the young, cheeky nurse who had bossed him around. He didn't wish to meet up with her anytime soon. His doctor had reminded him time and time again that he needed to find ways to alleviate the stress levels in his life. Smacking DiNozzo didn't seem to work for the long term.

"Stop pacing, Fornell and spit it out," said Gibbs as he spun on his heel and returned to the conference table. Gibbs sat on the corner and watched as Fornell paced and grumbled under his breath.

"Where is Shepard, anyway?"

"Well, things are complicated as all hell, Tobias. My team and I have been trying to balance taking care of two little girls since this whole thing blew up in our faces."

"The Percy girls?"

Gibbs took a sip of his coffee and allowed the hot beverage to linger in his mouth a few seconds before swallowing. He let the question linger in the room, knowing that it didn't need an answer.

Fornell grimaced. "Jonathan Percy was a despicable excuse for a human being."

Gibbs set his mug on the table and glared. "Tobias, I've been beating my head against the wall trying to piece this gawddamned case together and nothing has made any sense. I'm sick to death of it."

"I want Sawyer's killer, Gibbs."

"Is that an offer for a joint investigation?"

Fornell sighed. "You know that's not how it works, Jethro. Besides, aren't you on some kind of medical leave?"

Gibbs growled.

Fornell stopped pacing and pulled out the closest chair. He sat down and put his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth.

"We've been tracking the movements of MS-13 for the past 10 years, Gibbs. They've infiltrated the United States slowly and deliberately, working their way into the military. Going after our youngest recruits seemed like child's play to them. All the while, they continued their underground trafficking. Homeland security has been following some of the wealthiest members and marking trends. We found out that Stratton is one of the wealthiest, and he is buried in it, hook, line, and sinker. He's got his fingers in everywhere. Human trafficking has made him a fat cat, and we haven't been able to do anything to catch him."

"Where did Percy fit in?"

"Jonathan Percy was a low life scum who tripped across Stratton's underground work quite by accident. He just happened to be at the right place at the right time and caught Stratton red handed. Percy was smart and was able to abscond with some critical information linking Stratton to some pretty heinous stuff. One thing that MS-13 has always prided themselves on is not keeping or making a footprint of any kind. They don't keep records about themselves online or keep any of their business on paper. They are practically non-existent. It's what has kept them so damned elusive and impossible to track down and convict. Stratton changed all that. He started keeping records of transactions. He started keeping meticulous archives of everything, including names of members, particularly in the US, as well as names and ages of trafficking victims."

Fornell looked up at Gibbs. His face was pale. In fact, Gibbs thought he looked much older than he'd ever looked before.

"Did you know about Aimee Percy's tattoo?"

Fornell shook his head. "No, not until Sawyer contacted Adderley about finding it."

"Who's Adderley?"

"He's another FBI agent. He's been working undercover at the DCPD for the past few years. He's our eyes and ears in the police department. We need to have people strategically placed in as many places as possible in order to get the big picture on things. We didn't want local LEOS trying to take down MS-13 on their own."

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "That sounds like the FBI."

"This group is an enigma, Jethro. In all the years we've been working on this, we've never even got so much as a fingerprint."

Gibbs sighed again and stood to his feet. His butt was asleep from sitting on the edge of the desk. His mind flashed back to another conversation he had with someone named Adderley. He searched his head for why the name sounded so familiar to him. Adderley. Adderley.

"Adderley works for the DCPD?"

Fornell nodded.

Gibbs chewed his lip for a moment. "Ever heard of Serge Andrew?"

Fornell's face paled further.

Gibbs took a deep breath, preparing himself for the worse.

"Andrew was also an undercover FBI agent. He was working for Adderley."

Gibbs pinched his nose.

"None of this was supposed to happen, Jethro. We had everything under control. We couldn't have known that Stratton would flip his lid and go after Percy himself."

"Stratton dismembered a two-year-old child, Fornell!" Gibbs' anger bubbled up and erupted as he reached for the closest item from the table and pitched it across the room. "How long were you going to sit and watch Aimee and Janessa being abused before you stepped in and did something?"

Fornell licked his lips slowly. "You better sit down, Jethro. You're not going to like what I have to tell you."