Chapter 46
"Well Boss, surveillance cameras at the door show a team of 8 men in dark clothes, including long coats enter the hospital at intervals of about 3 minutes."
"Where did they go Tim?" Abby asked. She was lying on her side with Gibbs curled around her.
"As far as we can tell they enter the elevator. It looks at maximum enlargement like they hit the button for the basement." Tim handed over photos and Abby held them up, one by one, for Jethro to view. Jethro frowned.
"McGee did we kill 8?"
"Boss altogether the police and NCIS accounted for 11 suspects. All were in covert ops clothing, including night vision monocular scopes."
"Weapons?"
"All weapons were older model semiautomatics, serial numbers gone, and different countries of issue."
"So basically untraceable."
"Yes boss, for now."
"Any live arrests?"
"No. Two had self-inflicted wounds."
Jethro stared fixedly at the ceiling. His mind was tumbling over itself and it was hard to sort out a single train of thought. Nothing seemed to make sense. He reached up and wiped his face.
"Stop it Gibbs. Just stop! You have to stop. There's only so much a person can think about at once!" Abby grabbed Jethro's face in her hands and put her nose inches from his. "Just stop!" She dropped her head onto his shoulder.
"Alright Honey, alright." He held her as best he could and raised his eyes to Tony.
'Go. Find something!' he mouthed to his senior agent. Tony nodded firmly. He raised a brow at Peters. The Marine slapped his hand on his weapon and nodded. Tony left quickly.
Ziva was down on one knee looking over another dead assassin. She had already looked through all the pockets of the man's garb. Now she had him half undressed looking for skin markings, scars, anything different or unusual.
"Should you be doin' that Ma'am?" Ziva glanced up and saw a policeman watching her. She showed him her NCIS ID.
"Yes, this is exactly what I should be doing." She rolled the body over on its side and looked down inside his under wear. She froze and her face moved into a scowl. She quickly pulled her pad and pen as well as her cell phone from her jacket. She wrestled the man's shorts down to his knees. Straddling the corpse she began taking snap shots.
"Pictures? You're taking pictures of his ass?" The local LEO looked astounded.
"Not his ass,"she snapped. The tattoos on his ass!" She rolled and kicked the man over onto his back and took pictures of the genitalia. She even had to move his testicles aside one by one. The work went all the way around them and up his gluteal fold. She documented every single one.
When she stood up she spit on the corpse. Then she licked him viciously.
"What's that smell? It's up my nose!" She kicked him again, then bent over and retched. The LEO backed up worried as Ziva began to swear in several different languages as she remained bent over. Finally with a great gasp she stood up, wiped her arm across her mouth. Explosively she twirled and kicked the corpse so hard it flew across the hallway.
Ducky stood watching at a distance, and the LEO moved down the hall to find something else to do.
"Ziva my dear, softening the corpses up does not actually help my dissections, contrary to local legend."
Ziva stalked over to Ducky and stood breathing heavily. "Do you know what that animal is? What he was here to do? What he actually did? His kind is below sanction, below any consideration. He has no civil rights, he acknowledges no rights of other human beings."
She brought her cell phone up and was silent as she texted many times.
"What are you doing my dear? To whom are you calling?"
"Ducky, these people are beyond black ops. These people are the ones called in for assassination. They come in, do the job and are gone before dawn greys the sky. They are reachable only through the dark web. There are no face to face contacts, no fingerprints, and no evidence. Payment appears in an account which is offshore and untraceable. Anyone who does not pay disappears. The Mossad and Interpol as well as FSB in Russia cannot infiltrate them. They have many tattoos, all hidden from public view. The markings move up from the groin as an operative is rewarded over the years. It is believed those at the top are covered completely beneath their clothes. Such as the Yakuza. Every mark is like a hieroglyph. You will see. It is a language, known only to each other. There are never any live prisoners. they will suicide.
It makes us CRAZY!"
Ducky was frowning. He reached out toward Ziva to comfort her. Ziva withdrew shaking her head. She kept muttering "You don't know, you just don't know."
She lifted her head suddenly. "I have to look at the rest of them! Help me Ducky! I can't make them stop taking them away! I have to look! It may not be them, he may be freelancing. I have to find out, quickly!"
"Relax Ziva, take a breath. Of course I will help you. We will figure a way to examine all of these men. Perhaps Director Vance."
Ziva stood with her fists at her side, her arms trembling with adrenaline. " NO, no,no,no. No one knows, only a select few."
Ducky took out his cell and began in a sotto voice explaining everything to the person listening. Ziva was looking in the dead man's mouth and she took a snap of the roof of his mouth. By the time she was satisfied with the results Ducky was ready and waiting.
She looked into Ducky's faded blue eyes. He smiled at her. "We've got them all my girl. There will no doubt others to watch or even assist James and me. But we will be first."
"I will be there." She said firmly. "I am the only one who will recognize what to look for. Even their eyes have secrets."
"Of course Ziva. Of course. But we should leave now, and allow these attendants
will take him to the NCIS morgue. We will see him again later, I promise."
He walked her toward the elevators, gently patting her shoulder.
