"The secret is to keep front shoulder in as long as possible. Both eyes stay level on the pitcher. Weight is back, and you track the ball… and you wait. It's all about concentration," Gibs informs me. He is standing in the batting cage without a helmet. I am standing on the other side of the batting cage so that I can't be hit by a ball. As he explains this to me he takes a couple of practise swings. Then a ball comes haltering towards Gibbs who swings and hits it. The next several balls he also hits without missing one.
"You know your cute ass is on display when you hit the balls," I inform Gibbs making him miss a ball, resulting in me laughing at him. I feel bad so I say, "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to ruin your concentration. Just thought you had a right to know."
"No. it was a lousy pitch," Gibbs promise me making me node.
"Still sorry… wrong time to tell you."
"Like that ever stopped you."
"True."
"Come on, in to the cage," Gibbs orders me making me pout as I grab the helmet Gibbs got me. I put it on before walking into the cage. I walk over to Gibbs who wraps his arms around me, showing me how to hold the bat… he explains as he goes, "This end here. It goes up."
"Thanks. I thought you might hit it with the little end."
"All right… you can try that but it doesn't work… inside of our feet shoulder-width apart. Slightly bend the knees. Hands together, knuckles lined up," Gibbs orders me as he kicks my feet into place and sitting me up to hit the balls.
"Do you teach everyone, everything this way? Seems like how I learnt to sand a boat too," I state.
"Yeah. Fast or slow?"
"Which one is easier to hit?"
"Okay, slow it is," Gibbs says as he sets the ball pitchers speed before moving over and leaning on the fence behind me, still out of the way of any balls I'll miss. The first ball flies out and hits the fence behind me. "Alice, you've got to swing to hit it."
"Right," I mumble as I watch the balls coming towards me and I swing hitting the first ball. The next ball I swing for and miss. I miss the next four or five balls, but I hit the one after that… with my fingers on the grip making me drop the bat in pain.
"Alice, are you alright?" Gibbs asks me as he moves over to me while turning the machine off and grabs my hands.
"That hurts," I hiss because my right hand fingers really hurt and are already swelling.
"Sorry baby. I didn't think you get hit by a ball," Gibbs mumbles as he checks my hands but I rip my hands away from him when he touches my fingers.
"Ow," I hiss in pain making Gibbs place a kiss on the top of my head.
"Sorry baby… let's put some ice on that," Gibbs whispers to me as his phone begins ringing. He answers it while leading me away, "Yeah, Gibbs… Yeah, I'll be right there."
"Whose dead?" I ask Gibbs when he loses all his colour in his face and I know that look in his eyes. I saw it when Kate died and when Pacci dead… I hope to never have to see it again but I know I will. I just hope who died didn't suffer, no plague or torture. Just a quick, humanin death.
"Two of Cassidy's people," Gibbs informs me as we walk past Mann who is batting without any trouble. He leads me into the office where he gets an ice pack for my hand. We then walk out to the car and drive to NCIS.
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"Her men weren't so lucky," Ziva informs Tony in the squad room as we arrive. Ziva is wearing Roy's running hat, a green off the shoulder shirt and a dark purple singlet. McGee is wearing his normal suit. Tony looks like a normal person for a change. Gibbs has changed into a set of jean but besides that he is in his weekend clothing, he only changed his pants because it's not a good idea to wear sweat pants at a crime scene.
"That's what we're going to find out, DiNozzo. Grab your gear," Gibbs orders them but they don't move making Gibbs yell, "Grab your gear!"
"This is going to be a long case," I whisper to them as I attempted to ignore my swollen fingers. I whisper to the bodies, "He's being as grumpy as when Pacci or Kate died… behave or he is going to kill you."
"Thanks for the warning," Tony whispers back as we walk towards the elevator.
"McGee spread the warning around. Ziva, Abby, Ducky and I suppose Jimmy," I beg of him making him node.
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"Flags of Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. What type of store was this?" Ziva asks in the retail store where the two NCIS agents met their ends. We are All wearing out NCIS jackets and hats.
"McGee's working on it, Ziva," I inform her without looking around too much, this site reminds me of when I almost lost Gibbs.
"Their deaths were almost immediate, if that's any consolation, Jethro," Ducky informs us making me node, that is better than them suffering but better if they didn't die at all.
"No, it's not, Ducky," Gibbs snaps at him angrily.
"No, it never it. All our agents' wounds appear to have been caused by shrapnel. Specifically, ball bearings and nails. The hallmark of a homemade device."
"All emanating from this central point of the floor," Ziva comments ass he finds the begin of the death.
"This man appears to literally have been at the heart of the explosion."
"He was sitting on the bomb?" Tony asks him because that's how it happened last time.
"He was the bomb, DiNozzo," Gibbs corrects him making Tony look at me because he didn't believe that I was telling the truth of Gibbs mood.
"IT's electrical wiring," Ziva informs us what she found on the ground.
"Explosive amputation of legs, arms, and head," Ducky comments.
"A suicide bomber," Tony releases.
"I don't suppose any of you have seen the head?"
"Still looking for it, Ducky. Judging by the holes in the ceiling, I may have to try the roof next," Ziva reports.
"Why blow yourself up in an empty store?" Tony asks us.
"It wasn't empty, Tony," Cassidy and I remind him together. I say it more as a reminder because I am tired of Tony's idiot moments while Cassidy snaps it at him protecting her dead team.
"She insisted on being part of the investigation. I talked to the landlord. He said he'd just rented this place to a non-profile group. He's puling the paperwork, calling them now," McGee reports after a moment of silence as we all stare at Cassidy.
"Cassidy, go outside. You don't need to see this, or work this case. Trust me, this wouldn't help you grieve them, it makes it harder. I speak from experience," I say to her as I attempted to get her out of the crime scene of her team.
"It's my fault! It's my fault!" Cassidy cries without letting me lead her out of the crime scene.
"It's not your fault, Paula," Tony promise her as he pulls her into a hug.
"You weren't here, Tony! I killed my team."
"Cassidy, outside, outside. Take it outside. DiNozzo, find me that missing head!" Gibbs orders Tony and Cassidy as I lead Cassidy outside. Gibbs walks with us, leaving his team to find the missing body bits. I lead Cassidy into the NCIS van, and climb in with her and Gibbs follows me. We all sit down, for once I sit with Cassidy and hold her. No one deserves to lose their whole team in on second, or even one agent hurts.
"I don't need a lecture right now, Gibbs. I really don't," Cassidy cries making me pull her into a hug.
"I'm just bringing you this," Gibbs informs her as he hands her a tissue, and sits on the edge of a box.
"Thanks," Cassidy says as she wipes her eyes.
"Tell us about the phone call to the tip line this morning," I ask her softly.
"Anonymous. Just a guy saying he had info on a potential terrorist attack."
"Did he name the target?" Gibbs asks her.
"No, but it was obvious it's us! Oh, I should have gone in with those guys."
"Yeah sure… what's another body for us to info the families about… be smarter Cassidy," I state.
"It was an ambush. There's nothing you could have done," Gibbs informs her.
"Would you feel the same way if it was your own team?" Cassidy asks Gibbs.
"Yes, I would."
"I have a tough time believing that, Gibbs."
"Cassidy he's been blown up four times… he's not going near anymore bombs," I inform her without care about Gibbs' feelings being hurt.
"Yeah, well the difference, Paula, is I wouldn't stop to grieve until I put the bastards responsible for this in the ground. What about you?" Gibbs informs her making me think about all the times he did do that… Pucci, Kate, Shannon and Kelly. God only knows how many other times. I let Cassidy go to get herself back together as I follow Gibbs out of the van.
"Are you alright, Jethro?" I ask him as we walk towards the building.
"I'm fine."
"Jethro, don't bite everyone's head off. We're going our best, we just don't have much yet," I beg of him as I place my hand on his arm making him glare at me but I just look at him.
"I'll try," Gibbs finally says.
"That's all I ask… we're hurting too. This is personal for ever NCIS agent. McGee know the victims," I remind him as I allow him to continue to walk towards the retail space.
"He was a good friend of mine. I hate seeing him like this. It's almost like," McGee talks to Ducky in the room as we enter.
"It could have been you," Ducky exclaims in fear.
"It almost was, McGee. We were supposed to work the hotline this weekend," Gibbs informs them.
"Boss, you're serous about that?" Tony asks Gibbs in surprise because he didn't know that.
"What happened here?" Walid one of two men, shouts as he walks into our crime scene.
"Hang on! Hey! Calm down! Who are you?" I demand of him in confusion, this an active crime scene.
"We work here," Walid explains to me.
"For the Muslim coalition for peace," Jamal, the other man, informs us.
"Yazeed, was he… was he in here?"
"We were supposed to help him pant this afternoon."
"I found it!" Ziva exclaims as she drops the head onto the ground.
"Allah, preserve us," Walid exclaims in Arabic.
"Do you recognize him?" Gibbs asks them.
"Yazeed Fahad, our chapter president," Jamal informs us.
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"You are not listening to me, Agent Gibbs. Yazeed Fahad was a man of peace!" Walid exclaims in the integration room. We have all taken our NCIS jackets and hats off know we aren't at the crime scene.
"HE condemned suicide bombers as cowards, against of evil," Jamal adds, for once Gibbs has both suspects in on integration room.
"And now you wish us to believe that he was one?"
"He was wearing the bomb," Ziva states as she passes behind two males.
"Then he was forced to put it on!"
"By who?" Gibbs demands from beside me as we sit across from the men.
"Timing was not a coincidence," Jamal informs us.
"Yazeed organized a meeting with both Shia and Sunni religious leader for this Friday," Walid informs us what Jamal means.
"Clerics and holy men from five different Arab countries will be in attendance."
"All of them prepared to issue Fatwas condemning the sectarian violence in Iraq."
"Their words could save thousands of lives."
"How many will attend if they find the man who planned it was a suicide bomber?"
"Where were you this afternoon when your president was blowing himself and our agents up?" I demand of him.
"Lunch. Together," Jamal informs us.
"Where?" Ziva demands of him.
"We don't have to answer these questions. We're not criminals!" Walid exclaims.
"Well, I think you should both get a good lawyer," Gibbs gives him some sound advice.
"But we did nothing to…"
"Grace Street Diner. We were there between one and two-thirty," Jamal informs us before turning to Walid and informing him, "They're only doing their jobs, Abdul. When they do, they'll see that Yazeed was innocent."
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"I'm not even going to ask," Gibbs comments from where he is leaning against the door into the lab with a caf-pow, his comment is because Abby is squatting over McGee with all their limbs intertwined. Cassidy is with us because she wants to know what is going on and wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Um, technically that was a squatting hug, or a 'squg,' if you will. But I digress," Abby defends her hug as she stands up.
"Yeah, big time," I agree with her as Gibbs hands Abby the caf-pow and offers his hand to McGee. When McGee takes the hand, Gibbs pulls him to his feet.
"I have some paperwork to do," McGee exclaims as he escapes the lab.
"What have we got?" Gibbs asks Abby.
"I analysed and compared the two tip-line calls, the one from this morning and the one that Agent Cassidy got on site. Same caller both times, and I'm assuming that it's this guy. Yazeed Fahad," Abby informs us as she moves over to her computer and pulls up the information she has found.
"Can you tell us something we don't know, Abby?" Cassidy snaps at her.
"Ah okay, how about this. He was in the navy, and he was honourably discharged in two thousand four."
"Our suicide bomber was a sailor?"
"I wouldn't be too quick to rush to judgement on that Agent Cassidy. Jethro, could you come down here? There's something you really must see," Ducky informs us when his face appears on the video phone.
"On our way, dad," I promise him before I hang up the call and asks Abby, "Do you have anything else?"
"Not at the moment," Abby answers me.
"Thank you," I say before leaving with Gibbs and Cassidy into the elevator.
The elevator ride is silent, not a sound to be heard and I feel like we're taking a ride to our deaths. I can't help comparing this case to Kate and Pacci's case, then I feel bad about not seeing these victims as an individuals but as a collective group of dead agents.
We walk out of the elevator and into autopsy where Ducky has Yazeed head on a table in front of him with the brain exposed.
"It appears we have a bit of a mystery. I'm not entirely certain how our guest died," Ducky informs us.
"Well, it's kind of obvious, Duck," Gibbs snaps as he points to the head and then the body across the room.
"Yes, if I base the results solely on the damage to his body. Fortunately we have this miraculously preserved head. The rate of decay of his brain tissue doesn't even come close to the time of the explosion."
"I saw that guy walk through the door, Ducky," Cassidy tightly reminds him.
"Well, Agent Cassidy, I don't see how that's possible. Our suicide bomber was dead at least one day before his bomb went off."
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"Are you okay?" Gibbs asks Shepard when we enter her office tonight to see her sitting completely still, I'm not even sure she is breathing. Gibbs stands next to the door watching out the window with his hands in his NCIS windbreaker.
"I just got off the phone with Amy, Special Agent James Nelson's bride of two months. Correction. Widow. Now I have to call Tom and Mary Hall. I don't like making these calls, Jethro," Shepard complains.
"No C.O. does, Jen."
"I know, but…"
"What?"
"This isn't Iraq or Afghanistan. My people are not supposed to be killed by suicide bombers here," Shepard complains making me think of Kate, she wasn't supposed to be killed by a terrorist, yet Ari killed her. No one is meant to be killed by terrorists here.
"No, but they were, madam director. And it'll happen again if you stand around here feeling sorry for yourself. Because you have to make a couple hard calls," I inform her angrily, this isn't the time to complain about her job.
"I am not feeling sorry for myself, Agent Todd. I'm feeling sorry for the agents and their families. But you're right. I have a call to make and you have a terrorist to kill," Shepard orders us. After a long moment she corrects herself, "Catch."
"BY the way, Ducky says the bomber was dead at least a day before he blew himself up. You might want to give that some thought," Gibbs informs her as he leads me out of the room.
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"Swabbed his apartment. Not a trace of explosives. He was a former sailor. president of the Muslim Society for Promoting Peace. Tony checked out his friends. Their alibi holds up. They were at a restaurant when," Ziva recites what we know in the squad room the next morning. Ziva is wearing a white shirt under a green overshirt. Tony is wearing a green button down shirt under a black jacket. I am wearing a red singlet under Gibbs cream jacket with the black collar, and jeans. My hair is still in the braids that Gibbs put in yesterday.
"You going to make a point soon?" Cassidy overlaps Ziva.
"Yes. Who did you see entering the building yesterday, Cassidy?"
"I'm not convinced that it wasn't this guy. I mean, how do we know that Ducky wasn't a mistake?"
"Tony?"
"Because Cassidy, my father doesn't work for the FBI, we don't make mistakes," I inform her.
"Because Ducky doesn't make mistakes, Paula," Tony overlaps me.
"Which means that what you saw yesterday was, by definition, mistaken," Ziva informs Cassidy.
"Look, even if he did die the day before, it doesn't mean he wasn't involved. Right… Tony?" Cassidy exclaims hysterically and turns to Tony.
"She does have a valid point, Ziva," Tony agrees as he turns to his work partner.
"And we don't even know what his cause of death is. I mean, for all we know he could have committed suicide."
"A suicide bomber who commits suicide before bombing? I mean," Ziva exclaims before stopping to think of how to say it. She continues, "That doesn't make any sense!"
"No, it doesn't! but it does raise an interesting point. Imagine, if you will, ladies, an assisted suicide of a suicide bomber who suicided before his suicide bombing. It's kind of like how many chucks would a woodchuck chuck-chuck if a woodchuck could chick wood," Tony exclaims resulting him a smack to the back of the head from Gibbs who just entered the room.
"DiNozzo! What the hell is wrong with you?" Gibbs demands of his idiot. Gibbs is wearing a white shirt under a brown shirt and a dark grey jacket.
"I am just trying to lighten the mood of the room a little bit, boss."
"I got a better way. Leave. And take her with you," Gibbs orders Tony as he points to Cassidy.
"That works for me," Ziva and I say together,
"That works for me, too, Todds, David," Cassidy says while mispronouncing both of our last names.
"Dah-ved," Ziva corrects her while I ignore it because she had to try really hard to get my last name wrong.
"Re-evaluate the crime scene. Do not come back until you figure out how the guy she saw got out before the explosion!" Gibbs orders them making Tony and Cassidy leave. Gibbs turns to Ziva and demands, "Are you getting soft on me, officer David?"
"Look, I know what she's going through. Sometimes you need to find something or someone to focus your anger on. It's your only relief," Ziva defends herself.
"Of course, the drawback is, you know, that they tend to hate you for life," I remind her.
"If it helps her get through it, I can live with that," Ziva states as she gives me a look because I used to hate her when Kate died but my real hate belongs to Shepard… Mann is adding herself to that hate list but for a different reason, nothing to do with Kate. Gibbs nodes with her in understanding.
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"The NCIS tip line received two calls on Sunday. If Yazeed didn't make them, one wonders who did," Abby comments in the lab while working on the calls. We're all standing around the computer. The order is right to left, Gibbs, me, Abby, Ziva, McGee.
"Whoever set up Cassidy's team, Abby," McGee reminds her.
"Yeah. It's a rhetorical question. McGee. Just… just work with me here. The NCIS phone logs show that both calls came from the same disposable cell phone."
"Are you going to tell me who, Abby?" Gibbs asks her.
"Well, no, but a third call was received by the tip line on Friday, two days before. It's an exact voice match to the calls that came in on Sunday," Abby informs us before playing the recording.
'I must speak with an NCIS Special Agent,' the caller says on the recording.
'What is this regarding, sir?' the operator asks.
'About someone I work with, he is a…'
'He's what, sir?'
'I can't… I can't talk now. I'll call back.'
"This one we can trace. It was logged from a company in Annandale, Virginia. Kertek Computing. They make software for disabled people," Abby informs us.
"That's where Yazeed works," McGee stats.
"Worked, McGee. Before he got himself all blown up."
"Boss, if we can get samples of their employees' voices, we can match it to our caller," McGee offers to Gibbs.
"That's good work, Abby. Not bad yourself, Elf Lord," Gibbs complements his team members.
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"Yazeed is dead. You are sure of this?" Selom asks is at the office of Kertek Computing where we are talking to him.
"Very," Ziva answers him.
"How did this happen?"
"Cause of death is still being determined," I state.
"So you believe he was murdered?"
"What makes you think that?" Ziva asks him.
"Four federal agents in my office may have something to do with it."
"Mister Abu Selom, what did Yazeed do here at your company?" McGee asks him.
"He was an instructor. He taught several courses on how to best utilize our software."
"We're going to need to speak to each one of your employees," Gibbs informs him.
"As well as check out Yazeed's office and any computers he had access to," McGee adds.
"Do you have a warrant?" Selom demands of us.
"We can get one soon enough," I promise him.
"Maybe you won't need one if you just tell me why Yazeed is dead, Agent Gibbs."
"Did you watch the news lately?" Gibbs demands of him.
"Yesterday, right about this time?" Ziva adds.
"The policemen who were killed by the suicide bomb?" Selom asks making me clench my fist… couldn't the news get it right just once, about whose life is gone.
"They weren't police officers. They were NCIS special agents," McGee snaps at him.
"That's us," Gibbs adds while nodding to us agents in the room.
"Yazeed Fahad… he was the bomber," Ziva informs him.
"Oh, no! no!" Selom sighs before informing us, "You can talk to whoever you like."
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"Sorry guys. None of these voices match out caller. Are you sure this was every male employee?" Abby asks us in the lab after Gibbs and me recorded all the workers.
"Yes… all the living ones," I answer her.
"All but one, Abby. Yazeed Fahad," Ziva overlaps me.
"Who couldn't have made any calls because he was dead at the time," McGee reminds her.
"We don't have a voice sample of him anyway," Abby complains.
"Yes, we do. This is one of his training DVDs," Ziva informs Abby as she hands over a DVD. Abby gets to work on the DVD meaning we have to wait. I walk over and lean again Gibbs who holds me, waiting for Abby to finish working on it.
"I'm bored, Jethro," I whine to him after half an hour of waiting making Gibbs give me a look.
"All right, are you guys ready to give this a shot?" Abby asks us.
"Thirty minutes ago, Abs," Gibbs informs her as he walks over with me.
"We had to compress the DVD audio to match the quality of the original phone calls to make an accurate," McGee begins to explain.
"Come on, McGee. Will you just do it?" Gibbs demands of him while cutting him off in the rambling.
"I'm doing it."
"Oaky, Yazeed's DVD audio is on the top and the caller's is on the bottom. We have eight key words from each sound tracks," Abby rambles.
"And if Ducky was right about Yazeed's time of death…"
"This has been a while lot of work for nothing. Okay…"
'And… meet… people… invisible… listen… close… suspect… back,' Yazeed's voice comes out of the speakers on Abby's computer.
"That's an exact match. Yazeed made the phone call," McGee exclaims in surprise.
"But how is that possible?" Ziva asks what we're all thinking.
"I never thought I'd say this, but Ducky was wrong," Abby exclaims.
"Wash your mouth out with soap," I exclaim, my father is not wrong.
"Yazeed was still alive when Cassidy's team walked into that building," Gibbs exclaims making me give him a look, my father is not wrong… the evidence is wrong…
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"Evidence cannot tell you two completely contradictory things at the same time, McGee," Ziva complains in the squad room.
"No, it can't. except when it does," McGee agrees with her.
"It doesn't make any sense."
"Or perhaps you need a fresh pair of eyes. What do you have so far?" Shepard asks us as she walks into the squad room.
"Yazeed Fahad, a former American sailor, called our tip line to warn of a pending terrorist attack. Yazeed said to meet here, a building with only one way of getting in or out," Ziva reports to Shepard as she puts the photo of the crime scene building up on the plasma between Tony and McGee's desks.
"Agent Hall and Nelson followed him into the building," McGee adds.
"Both of them died seconds later when someone activates the suicide vest around the dead man," I inform Shepard while making sure to comment on Yazeed's death.
"Both of them died seconds later when Yazeed activates his suicide vest," Ziva overlaps me while ignoring the main point that I made.
"According to Ducky, he had been dead for a day," Shepard says in confusion.
"How can that be?" McGee asks her in confusion.
"Well, you can blow up a dead man, McGee."
"True, but Abby has proof Yazeed was talking to Cassidy seconds before the explosion," Ziva reminds us.
"Someone mimicking his voice?"
"Audio forensics says it's an exact match," McGee informs her.
"And there's no other way out of the building?"
"Only in a body bag," I inform her.
"No. we covered every inch of it," Ziva reports overlapping my report.
"He's like Schrodinger's cat. Alive and dead at the same time. Existing in a superposition. It's quantum physics theory," McGee explains.
"When faced with a situation like this, the solution's obvious," Shepard states.
"Well, one of them is wrong," Gibbs states.
"Abby's wrong," I overlap Gibbs making Shepard give us a look.
"I was going to use the term mistaken, but yes," Shepard agrees with us.
"So we have to choose between Abby and Ducky?" McGee asks us.
"I'd rather be McGee's cat," Ziva exclaims.
"So which one are you leaning towards?" Shepard asks Gibbs.
"Neither. My money's on DiNozzo," Gibbs answers her like that's the most normal answer.
"I win a lot of money betting against Tony," I remind Gibbs.
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"Ah, Mister Palmer. Did you manage to," Ducky rambles as we walk into autopsy only to see Jimmy's not here and he must think we're Jimmy. He turns and sees us, releasing that it's not Jimmy stops talking about what ever he needs Jimmy for.
"Did you want to see us, Duck?" Gibbs asks him as we walk over to Ducky who is looking at Yazeed's brain again.
"Did you pass Mister Palmer on your way down here?"
"Nope," I answer him.
"I swear, every time I turn my back these days, that young man is running off somewhere."
"Well, you should try smacking him on the back of his head. It did wonders for DiNozzo and McGee," Gibbs informs him.
"Yeah, brain dead," I agree with Gibbs making him give me a look.
"Well, I did. Mister Palmer seemed to enjoy it," Ducky informs us making me pull a face, I didn't need to know that about the autopsy gremlin.
"Ha-ha. I'll remember that," Ziva laughs.
"I apologize for the delay in determining the exact cause of Yazeed's death, but the bomb didn't leave us much to work with. Thankfully his brain survived relatively unscathed. My first clue was the massive accumulation of lactic acid in its cells. This normally occurs when the brain is forced to obtain energy by anaerobic glycolysis," Ducky rambles.
"Yeah, naturally, Duck," Gibbs remarks wryly, not understanding what Ducky is rambling about any more than anyone.
"I had a series of CAT scans done to confirm my suspicions. These dark areas show the most brain damage, all areas associated wit rapid and sudden loss of oxygen."
"He was suffocated," Ziva release what Ducky is trying to say.
"Yes."
"Do you have enough left to tell us how?" I ask him.
"Oh, yes. Yazeed was suffocated with a silicone based substance that was forced into his mouth and nose, allowed to harden, and then removed. Whoever did it was probably trying to make a mask of his face. Anny says it's latex."
"Abby also says you're wrong," Ziva informs him.
"SO I've heard. Only I'm afraid it's the only way around. This man was dead long before his bomb went off. I'd stake my career on it."
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"Well, Ducky is still saying that Yazeed was dead when the bomb went off, and Abby is saying he was alive," McGee comments in the squad room when we arrived in the lab.
"What did Gibbs say?" Tony asks them because he doesn't know we have entered the room.
"Where the hell you been, DiNozzo?" Gibbs demands of him in answer.
"Solving the mystery of the vanishing dirtbag, boss."
"Yeah, well it took you long enough."
"He found a secret passageway into he store next to it. It was actually quite impressive," Cassidy informs us.
"It turns out both places were part of a magic joke shop that closed down about twenty years ago," Tony adds.
"So I was right. You didn't see Yazeed enter the building," Ziva exclaims happily.
"That you for pointing that out… officer David," Cassidy says while mispronouncing Ziva's last name… which is a good reason just to call Ziva, bitch. No way to mispronounce it.
"David!" Ziva snaps at Cassidy.
"Bitch, don't… Cassidy never learns, I've tried teaching her to beg and she only begs for Tony's… prize," I inform Ziva making Cassidy glare at me fore the comment on her sexual relationship with Tony in the pasted.
"Now, Alice let's not go there… remember I have something you don't want the team to know. But I have to ask, what does it feel like when your boss orders you around in the bedroom? Does it get you off when he orders his team around?" Tony whispers in my ear, stopping me from having another go at Cassidy while a blush spreads across my cheeks again. "But now we know we're looking for another man, and we're hoping… praying… you can pull a print off that," Tony begs of Abby while pointing to the broken glasses he found, hoping to get it off of my comment.
"If there is a print, if there is a fibre, if there is a drop of dried sweat, I will find it," Abby promise him.
"Not bad," Gibbs complements the two agents before grabbing my hand and leading me into the elevator with Tony following us.
"Uh, boss? I've got a question for you. That thing you said yesterday. We were really supposed to have the weekend duty Cassidy's team took?" Tony asks Gibbs.
"Yep," Gibbs answers him as we ride the elevator up.
"How did we get out of that?"
"I asked," Gibbs answers him as the elevator doors open and I step out with him.
"So that really could have been us."
"Tony, it could have been us every single day of the week… it was, and Kate died because of that fact," I snap at him.
"You want to worry about something, worry about tomorrow," Gibbs orders her as the elevator shuts.
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"You alright, Jethro?" I ask Gibbs as I walk down the stairs into the basement to see him cleaning his gun which is something he does when he stressed and needs something to calm him down when the boat doesn't work.
"Find," Gibbs answers me tightly without looking up from the gun.
"Hungry?" I ask him as I hold at the Chinese food making him finally look up from the gun.
"Chopsticks?" Gibbs demands making him hand him a set.
"I don't know how you can use them," I comment as I pull out my own fork to eat my fried rice.
"It's easy… soy sauce."
"Please… say please or no soy sauce," I order him as I hold the soy sauce out of his reach… Gibbs glares at me but I just wait while eating with my other hand.
"Please," Gibbs exclaims, drawling the word out like it's poison.
"See, it doesn't kill you," I exclaim as I had the sauce over making him give me a hurt look but I don't mind.
"Thanks, Alice," Gibbs mumbles as he continue eat making me laugh at his discomfort at having to say please.
"What am I going to do with you, old man?" I ask him with a little laugh.
"Love me?"
"I don't have a choice about that one."
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"Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! We got a fingerprint match off the piece of mirrored sunglass lens that Cassidy and Tony found," Abby exclaims as she runs up to Gibbs as we enter the squad room the next morning.
"Salmar Umar. We interviewed him yesterday at Kertek Computing," Ziva informs us.
"I've got two full-s, a right index and a forefinger, and I've got a partial on the left thumb. I've also got his home address, and a couple of his uncles that lived in… be safe," Abby rambles as we all rush off to the elevator… this bastard isn't getting away. He is returning with us… in a body bag.
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"Low and slow McGee. Take the rear exit. And don't spook him. We take him alive. Find out if he's working with anybody else. I don't get an answer from you, Cassidy, I'll take your weapon from you right now," Gibbs orders us as we sneak up on the office.
"Alice! Alive! I've got it. I've got it," Cassidy overlaps Gibbs.
"Oh, special Agent Gibbs. Has there been some development?" Selom asks us as we walk into his office.
"We need to ask your employees a few more questions," I inform him calmly.
"You already cost me a full day's work yesterday," Selom exclaims as the back door slams, Salman enters the room and looks at Cassidy. He turns and runs when he releases we're onto him.
"Damn it!" I hiss before shouting "NCIS! Everyone get down!"
"On the floor! Now!" Ziva shouts making the workers hit the deck. We chase Salman out into the cubicles. Salman ducks into a cubical and shots a handgun at Cassidy. Ziva and I hid behind a doorway, when Salman jumps up to shoot at Cassidy, we both step out and shot him. Gibbs and Cassidy also shot at him, ending the fire fight with a massive overkill on killing this piece of work.
We all move over to him with our guns aimed on him, I kick the gun away to Cassidy while Ziva squats down and checks his pulse… he is dead.
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"We had no choice. If we had not acted, he would have shot someone," Ziva defends us once we have regrouped next to the body in the office.
"We had a choice. I could have left her back at NCIS. He was carrying this. I want to know why," Gibbs informs us before handing McGee the computer Salman had.
"Yep," McGee comments as he takes the computer to crack it. As I search Salman's pockets to find a piece of paper. I pull it out and hand it to Ziva because I can't read it.
"It's Arabic. Read it," Gibbs orders Ziva… seems he's going to be pissy until this case is over.
"A covenant from Mecca, sponsored by the Muslim Coalition for Peace. The flyer for the conference on Friday. Do you think he was planning on attending?" Ziva asks Selom.
"I doubt that, Officer David. Umar was quite vocal about his feeling towards Shiites. He used to argue quite a bit with Yazeed on how they were destroying Iraq," Selom informs us.
"Well, that would have been nice to have known that yesterday," I complain.
"People have a right to their own opinions, Agent Todd. His were usually ignorant and coloured by his own prejudice. Still, I can't believe that he'd…"
"He would kill over them?"
'Apple… toast… bicycle,' a recorded voice comes out of the computer McGee is working on.
"Boss, you should see this," McGee calls us over to where he is working on the desk with the computer.
'Big… giraffe… Yankee… white… Holland…'
"This is Umar's. it sounds a lot like Yazeed Fahad's voice," McGee asks us.
"Turn it up," Gibbs orders McGee making him do it as the computer continues to play random words.
'Holland… black… display… results… oriented… finger… fish,' Yazeed's recorded voice continues but louder than before.
"What the hell kind of program is that, McGee?" Cassidy demands of McGee overlapping the recording of Yazeed's voice.
"V.S. Twelve. It's still in development. It's a vocal simulation. It allows disabled people who can't talk to converse in a natural-sounding voice," Selom informs us.
"It's like Stephen Hawking. You type and the computer says the words," McGee explains to us.
"Yes, but ours uses a three-D model of the vocal chords to resonate the cavities in the head creating a lifelike sound. Umar was our main programmer."
"Would explain how Yazeed was making phone calls from the dead, right?" Ziva asks us.
"But I don't see how he would have done it. It would have required a CAT scan of Yazeed's throat and mouth."
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"Umar was who you heard type-talking on the phone, Paula," Tony informs Cassidy in the lab.
"The guy that I say was not carrying a laptop and typing. I would have definitely noticed that," Cassidy informs him angrily.
"Means he wasn't working alone," Gibbs informs them as we sweep into the lab behind them.
'Hey, Gibbs. Why no Caf-Pow?' Abby types into the program making Yazeed voice ask him that. Gibbs glares at her making her type again, 'I'll shut up now.'
"Your team was set up, but they weren't the target… they were the collateral to make it more realistic," I inform Cassidy.
"Yazeed was. They were trying to stop his Sunni-Shia peace conference," Ziva informs Cassidy next.
"By turning him into a suicide bomber?" Cassidy asks in confusion.
"It almost worked, Paula," Tony states.
"But luckily for us, Yazeed lost his had… literally," Ziva states.
"Well, we don't know that it didn't work. At this point who's going to show up to this thing?" Cassidy demands of us.
"Oh, you'd be surprised, Cassidy," Gibbs informs her.
"This will just strengthen their resolve for this to happen," I add.
"We're not the only one ho refuse to bow down to terrorism," Ziva continues.
"They're going ahead with conference anyway?" McGee asks in surprise.
"Now that we've cleared Yazeed," Ziva agrees.
"But we only got one of them. What if somebody else tries to stop it?" Abby asks her.
"We kill them, Abby."
"We watch them. That's the preferred term," Tony corrects Ziva.
"Bitch is right… they kill an NCIS agent, they return in a body bag," I promise the universe and Cassidy as a whole.
"I like theirs better," Cassidy states while pointing to Ziva and myself.
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"I'm sure the reassurance from you will encourage people to attend, director," Jamal informs Shepard in her office as I enter with Gibbs.
"This incident has only strengthened our resolve," Walid says.
"And made your peace conference a major target," Gibbs states.
"All the more reason for us not to back down, Agent Gibbs."
"That's why we're going to help," I promise him.
"I have contacted the FBI, and metro police, and they've agreed to increase security at your conference. I will also be assigning agents for protection of the senior clerics that will be attending the event," Shepard informs them.
"Bodyguard?" Walid asks us.
"Where they go, we go," Gibbs states.
"Yazeed always spoke highly of his time in your navy. Now I can see why."
"We are in your debt," Jamal informs us.
"IF your event lessens or ends the insurgency in Iraq, it is us who are in your debt, gentlemen," Shepard says.
"Thank you for your support, Director."
"Thank you," Walid agrees with him.
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"Sheik Abu Talid Yusef, the senior Sunni Cleric in attendance. He's yours for the day, Tony. Shei Ali Bashir, the senior Shia cleric is Cassidy's. and… the most senior cleric at the conference is Imam Abdul Al-Maliki," Ziva orders Gibbs team about the protection details making me freeze for a moment, this sounds like Kate planning the protection of Gibbs from Ari. The men's photos are on the plasma screen between McGee and Tony's desk.
"He's mine. Ziva, Alice floats between all three, depending on the situation," Gibbs orders us as we walk into the squad room together making me node.
"The quickest way to stop the conference is to target one of these men."
"Well, we're not going to let that happen," I state as I grab the shell casing out of my desk… the case that killed Kate, I kept it and I am taking it with me today.
"Boss, what about me?" McGee asks because we forgot about him.
"Yeah, right. I almost forgot. Name of everyone attending. Run them down. Look for any links to terrorist groups," Gibbs orders McGee as he takes a stack of papers out of the old fax machine behind his desk and hand them to McGee.
"Um… there looks to be over three hundred names here and the conference starts in less than six hours," McGee complains.
"Yeah, well? Why are you still standing there, McGee?"
"Right," McGee mumbles as he moves back to his desk.
"We pick them up at their hotel one hour before?" Ziva asks Gibbs in confusion as he grabs his gun and badge out of his desk.
"No. A little change in plans. We pick them up now for a field trip. They want to hold a ceremony for Yazeed and Cassidy's team," Gibbs informs them.
"What kind of ceremony?" Cassidy demands of him.
"Memorial," I answer her.
"Where?" Tony asks.
"Where they died," Gibbs answer him as he hands Cassidy a set of car keys. We all grab our guns and badges before leaving to get this over with.
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We arrive at the crime scene turned memorial location, Cassidy and Tony head into the bomb site while Ziva heads into the other shop. I stand on the street with Gibbs, watching all the people walk by not knowing how many people died and almost died in here just days ago.
"Alice, are you alright?" Gibbs asks me as he comes to a stop beside me.
"I don't like bombs… they're the work of cowards," I state making Gibbs give me a look. I feel his finger on my neck before I feel the necklace I am wearing be pulled free from under my shirt, showing the bomb remnants that I wear around that almost killed Gibbs.
"Because of this?"
"It didn't help."
"We're catch him," Gibbs promise me but I know that's not the word he wants to use for this case.
"I," I begin but I stop as Cassidy storms out of the store making me ask her, "Cassidy are you alright?"
"Fine," Cassidy snaps at me making me blink, I didn't do anything to her and she's pissed.
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"Just how long is this supposed to take, boss?" Tony complains as we watch men carry tables into he store turned bomb site.
"Longer than if you helped them set up, DiNozzo," Gibbs mumbles before ordering us, "When this thing starts, I want you and Ziva out front, Ziva."
"What about me?" Cassidy demands of him.
"I didn't bring you here for security."
"Look, I know I screwed up at Kertek Computers…"
"Then say a prayer for your team, Cassidy. We'll take the heavy lifting on this one," I overlap her.
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This was Yazeed's dream, to show the world that these terrorist groups do not speak for us. We thank you for making it a reality," Walid begins back in the retail space as Gibbs phone begins ringing.
"Yeah, Gibbs," Gibbs asks his phone. He listens for a moment before hanging up and pulling me over to Jamal and Walid and orders them while making them, "Hands on top of your head!"
"Boss?" Tony whispers in confusion.
"It's one of them, DiNozzo. The prints found on Umar's laptop match the painting gear," Gibbs reports.
"What laptop?" Walid asks us.
"Where's Jamal Malik?" I demand of everyone as I release that he's pulled a Houdini.
"He was here just a minute ago!"
"Ziva! It's Malik! Find him!" Gibbs orders into the radio as a door slides open.
"Behind you!" Tony calls out making us all turn and see Jamal standing in the hidden door with a suicided vest already on and armed. Once second we're all staring at each other and the next moment Cassidy lunches herself at Jamal and pushes his body back into the other store, shutting the door behind them.
"Paula!" Tony shouts as Gibbs, Tony and I run to the door trying to get her out.
"Cassidy," I shout as I look for away to open the door.
"Allahu Akkbar!" Jamal's muffled voice reaches us as he talks in Arabic a second before the bomb explodes, making a couple of bricks fall out of the walls. One of them manage to catch me on my right hand making the swollen fingers throb but I don't feel it as I release she is gone… Tony hit's his head on the wall as Gibbs steps back…
I feel tears slid down my dirt face, I… Cassidy's dead and it's not far, she didn't have to die. Without thinking I turn and almost run to Gibbs, hugging him the second I am against him. I feel his arms wrap around me and the other hand holds the back of my head as I cry into his chest.
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"Alice, are you alright?" Ducky asks me as he looks at my fingers at the request of Gibbs.
"She shouldn't have died," I mumble and for once I don't know who I am talking about. Kate or Cassidy or Shannon or Kelly or anyone else in the world… no one should have died a violent death.
"I know," Ducky mumbles as he wraps the fingers tightly.
"Why did she have to die?"
"I don't know… but she will live on in our memories. That is our job to all of those that fell," Ducky informs me as he finish wrapping the hand making me node. Ducky pulls me into a hug and I hold him as tightly as I can.
I hold him for a long time before the door opens into autopsy and Gibbs walks in.
"How is she, Duck?" Gibbs asks as he walks over to us and wraps his hand around us.
"The fingers are going to be sore for a while, she managed to crack the third finger and fracture the second," Ducky reports as I turn into Gibbs chest, holding onto him. Gibbs nodes before leading me out so that Ducky can autopsy Cassidy, or at least what is left of her… not much, we found her head and blood the rest of her we were unable to recover her.
"Come on, baby," Gibbs orders me as he leads me into the elevator.
"Why did se die?" I ask him as I lean against him.
"I don't know… but she is with her team now, and that is what she wanted," Gibbs reminds me making me node.
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"Hey Kate," I greet my sister as I sit down on the roof were her life was cut short so long ago now. I don't even feel like the same person who watched her sister die because of Ari the dead man walking. I touch the ground where her blood once stained and thought of why I came here again. I begin to inform her softly, "Kate, do you remember Cassidy? She's the one who let the translator have a whole conversation with an inmate in front of her and smuggle diamonds into America." I stop talking for a moment waiting for her to answer me even knowing she can't anymore.
I force myself to continue, "I thought you should know, she died today… saved everyone's life at the cost of her own. I hated her but I never thought she would die… to be honest with you sis, I thought she would have a child to Tony or marry Tony… I didn't… I wish people would stop dying. Ever since you died, everyone is either dying or almost dying." I look at the stars in the sky, thinking of what Kate once told me. 'every time a person dies, a new star is born.' I can't help wondering which one is Kate, Cassidy, Shannon, Kelly, Pacci, Roy and Mike's son.
I sit in silence listening to the traffic below and thinking of Cassidy and Kate… they would have been best of friends if they meet in a different way, and if they meet somehow else without working for NCIS they would both still be here. But I wouldn't be with Gibbs. It's a catch twenty-two, it seems I can only have one. My sister or my boyfriend… Cassidy or Gibbs… and if I picked Kate, Gibbs would be with Mann and that's not going to happen…
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"Hey, Alice," Gibbs greets me as I walk down the stairs into the basement where he is working on the boat late tonight. I am in my sleepwear because I was in bed but I couldn't sleep so I went looking for my wondering marine.
"Hey," I mumble as I walk over to Gibbs and lean against his back. Feeling his heartbeat and the warmth showing me that he is alive, that I didn't lose him. I can also feel the movement of his sanding on the part of the boat.
"Are you alright baby?"
"I… why do the innocent people keep dying?"
"Don't know…"
"I didn't think anyone else besides the bomber was going to die… I never even thought it was a possibility of Cassidy dying."
"No one did… it wasn't just you," Gibbs promise me as he continues to sand.
"We should have," I state because it makes sense that she would die because of this case. Gibbs just hum without commenting anymore because he understands I didn't come down here to talk, I came down here for the presence of another living person.
The only sounds in the room is Gibbs sanding and our breathing. I breath in the sent of Gibbs with every breath. My mind keeps sliding to everyone who has died because of NCIS or NIS, Shannon, Kelly, Pacci, Kate, Cassidy, and so many others…
"Drink?" Gibbs suddenly asks me.
"Um… yeah," I answer as I release him and he walks over to the workbench. He places the sander on the bench while tipping out two cups of screws and filling them to the top with bourbon. He hands on to me and keeps the second one.
"To Cassidy," Gibbs says while raising his cup.
"And everyone else," I agree as I raise my glass to before we both take a sip of bourbon.
