A/N: Thanks to people who are commenting and sending best wishes. In the last 36 hours, we received a little bit of rain - maybe a few millimetres. It was not significant enough to affect the fire situation, unfortunately, although it did give everyone a breather, we need drenching, drought-breaking rains to extinguish these mega blazes and there no end in sight yet. Bushfire season still has another couple of months to go. Today was another day of over 40 degree Celsius heat today, with a southerly wind change, set to arrive in the early hours of this morning we are back on alert again. Plus, lightning strikes ignited another fire close by and unrelated to the two mega-fires that are burning on either side of us. Water bombing has apparently controlled this latest fire, in inaccessible terrain making it impossible to fight on the ground but its status can change. Meanwhile, one of the mega-fires is expected to threaten towns, approx. 20 km away when the wind change hits here soon. Going to be a long night for residents, and the hero firies who've essentially been fighting these fires for several months or more. They're volunteers, taking unpaid leave from their jobs. To everyone in Oz, stay safe.

Rising to the Bait

Chapter 52

Today was a bad day. Melissa...no wait, she was Rebecca now. She really did need to remember that because Tia didn't know about Melissa and it would only confuse her to suddenly hear people calling her Mel. Of course, Tony called her Mel and Jess called her Mel-Mae but that was different. That could easily be explained away as a nickname between friends, like Jess calling Tony T or Tone. Having other people calling her that though would just muddy the waters.

Frankly, it was already confusing for Tia and it was especially confusing for her memory plagued mother, Rebecca admitted ruefully. Particularly when she had bad days like today when nothing seemed to go right.

Yeah – today had been the absolute pits. She'd fallen flat on her face when she'd tried to do a transfer from her chair to her wheelchair without calling for assistance. Her nurse, Gary was a few minutes late coming in to help her transfer from the recliner into her wheelchair and there was no one else around to help her. She was worried she'd be late for her speech therapy session and she'd decided that it was just a simple step or two to transfer herself from the recliner. So, what could possibly go wrong? She'd figured she could easily handle it by herself.

She always took pride in being punctual – so okay, she was obsessive about being on time – but today had been an important session. Robert Soames, her speech pathologist was going to assess her swallow reflex to decide if she could start eating soft foods and for her liquids to be downgraded to a honey consistency. Rebecca couldn't wait to use a straw to drink, instead of a spoon, although she hadn't factored in that it would have to be an abnormally wide straw to accommodate the thick liquid and it would require a lot of extra effort on to suck it into her mouth. Still, it would feel like she was actually drinking again, and she was so excited.

Unfortunately, after her face plant, she'd whacked her head pretty hard and although it was just a scratch, it had bled and bled, and the medical staff decided that it needed to be stitched. So, she missed going to her speech therapy session and wouldn't get a chance to catch up with Robert for days since he was taking a four-day leave. Which left her stuck eating pureed crap and fluid that needed a spoon because it was thickened to the consistency of pudding. Ugh!

As if that wasn't bad enough, the staff had practically scolded her for not waiting until Gary or one of the other staff members could have supervised her transfer. She felt like an errant child getting told off for trying to do something which was highly dangerous. It wasn't her fault that she'd forgotten to set the brakes before she attempted the transfer to her wheelchair. She as only trying to regain her independence, not burn down the dammed building!

Rebecca rationalised it by telling herself that if Gary had been on time, she wouldn't have had to try to get herself in the chair, even though she realised on some level she was acting like a child. If Tia had behaved so foolishly, Rebecca would have punished her, probably by banning her from watching television for a week. But although at some level, she recognised she was acting like a spoilt brat, she couldn't seem to stop herself and her day just got worse from there. Much worse!

Later that afternoon when Jessie had come by to spend some time alone with her, Rebecca had acted extremely hatefully towards her best friend. If she was being honest, Rebecca would be forced to admit that she'd been a prize bitch to someone who was more like a sister to her than just her best friend. A best friend who was also the godmother of her only child. Jessie at a moment's notice had given up her job and her life. She'd moved to DC to help Tony look after Tia while she'd been in a coma for weeks (perhaps months) she still got mixed up on the details. That was a pretty massive sacrifice and Jessie did not deserve to be treated like a piece of shit by Rebecca during her visit.

That was pretty damned hateful of her and she felt ashamed of her behaviour.
Even before the faceplanting episode, the day had started out badly. She'd awoken after a night of poor sleep and nightmares about the car accident in a filthy mood. She couldn't help snapping at her night nurse, Joanie who'd gotten her out of bed and helped her shower and dress. Of course, her bad mood and poor sleep were mostly due to the meeting she'd had with her medical team which had taken place yesterday afternoon before her hydrotherapy session.

Her multidisciplinary team had who'd wanted to talk about her progress to date and formulate a new care plan. The plan was for the next three months and they'd intimated that at the end of the three months they would assess her progress and formulate a new care plan, which, depending upon her progress may involve her attending rehabilitation as an out-patient. When she asked how long before she would be able to live a 'normal' life, they'd gently but unequivocally told her that due to the injuries she'd sustained it was more likely than not that she'd never be able to go back to her old life...her old normal. They told her that she would have to settle for a new normal, that if she needed to accept that it was possible she'd never fully recover all her abilities.

They'd reiterated that it was truly miraculous she had survived at all and then regained consciousness with such minimal deficits. Rebecca got it – she was lucky, and her disabilities could have been far worse, but even though she knew she should feel grateful, all she could think about was that she might never be able to live independently, and that made her feel angry.

The medical conference had been confronting. It shocked her to think that she would probably not be able to resume her old life in Tucson. She was upset that she might need to retrain in a new career – like she hadn't had to do that once already after she went into the witness protection program. When she'd mentioned it to Jessie, she'd suggested that she might be able to return to forensic science in some way, since the Macaluso family had been wiped out. Perhaps as an analyst or a crime consultant.

Of course, that was like waving a red rag to a bull since it was unclear if Rebecca's cognitive deficits would be permanent or not. She had impaired memory and at this stage, it was not a given that it would resolve itself with time. Plus, she wasn't even sure she wanted to go back into forensics. Ten years was a long time to be out of the field. She'd always loved conducting forensic testing and no one could say if her fine motor skills were good enough to perform the practical aspect of her old job if she would want to be an analyst or a consultant as Jessie suggested.

So, because she was angry at what fate had dished up, Rebecca had lashed out impulsively at her best friend. And she'd lashed out good and hard since she'd never been one to do anything by halves.

She'd seized on a snippet of information that Tia had shared with her the day before during her visit about how she was still having nightmares. Although she'd assured her mother very earnestly that they were much less frequent since she and her cat slept in Tony's bed with her father and Jessie.

Rebecca had immediately jumped to the conclusion that Tony and Jess – who were her two best friends were having a relationship and she'd tried to tell herself that it was their business if they were together. After all, she'd gotten married to Dennis and if the car accident hadn't happened then she'd still be happily married to her husband. Still, as much as she told herself that it was none of her business, they were both consenting adults, a part of her brain kept whispering that best friends didn't steal each other's ex-boyfriends.

It was hardly surprising that she'd been literally spoiling for a fight in her foul mood and Jessie was a handy target, her fury erupted all over the hapless police detective. Using the laptop that they'd bought her so she could communicate with them more easily (particularly Tia) Rebecca had laboriously typed her diatribe accusing Lawless of stealing not only Tony but her daughter, accusing her of being jealous. Jessie had assured her that she wasn't having a romantic or a sexual relationship with Tony – that they were friends. Best friends and partners. The brunette had patiently explained to her that Tia's nightmares had become so bad that they all ended up sleeping in Tony's bed – even the cat that someone had called Jarrett Jensen had given her. Whoever the hell he was.

Jess also told her that Tia's trauma counsellor had recommended the unorthodox sleeping arrangement to help Tia feel more secure when she woke up after a night terror, panicking about where she and Tony were. Plus, she'd stressed that it had reduced the incidence of Tia's disturbed sleep to have her father and Jess so close when she became distressed.

Rebecca could tell that Jess was telling the truth – that she and Tony were only sharing the bed in a platonic sense and felt instantly ashamed of herself. After all, she was the one who ended up marrying another man and living a happy life with Dennis and Tia, even if it was sometimes fraught with fear and worry about the Macaluso family. From what she learnt from Jess since the accident and waking up from the coma, Tony hadn't married anyone, although he came close before the little bitch called off the wedding the day before it was supposed to be held. Nor had he fathered any other children.

She knew she was being a total bitch and that she should apologise and yet, she couldn't seem to help it. Of course, Jessie calling Tony Tia's dad had reminded her that Tia referred to Tony as Dad or Daddy – something that she'd always called Dennis.

Instead of asking why Tia was having such a hard time or was seeing a counsellor, Rebecca found herself fixating on why her daughter was calling Tony, Daddy. Knowing that Dennis was dead, it cut her to the quick that Tia was calling another man daddy when she'd lost her father so very recently. To Rebecca, it seemed like literally days since she had woken up and she still had a poor sense of time. It felt like Tia didn't care about losing Dennis because she'd just replaced him with Tony.

In the midst of her overwhelming grief, she felt like not only had Tia betrayed Dennis, but Tony had taken advantage of Dennis' death to worm his way in as Tia's father. And while a rational part of Rebecca knew she was acting like a crazy person, because it as her wish that he should step in if she and Dennis couldn't look after Tia, she was hurting so much that she totally didn't care.
[tony told tia he's her father... dennis barely dead] Rebecca accused, typing painstakingly with one finger – her anger very apparent to Jess who knew her so well.

She noted with far too much satisfaction that Jess recoiled at the accusation, even if her reaction was very subtle. She also saw the shocked expression on the brunette's face before masking her surprise behind her professional cop face. Knowing Jessie so well, she could see how hurt she was. A part of Rebecca was appalled that she was acting so vilely towards her best friend, but she couldn't seem to control her mean thoughts from taking over or to stop herself from expressing them.

Worse, there was a part of her (that she really didn't want to recognise) which absolutely revelled in her verbal barrage. If she was hurting, because she was grieving then she wanted everyone else to hurt too.

Jessie, keeping her expression deliberately blank, had replied, "Tony never told Tia who he was, merely that he was a very good friend of her mother's. It was Tia who figured it out, calling him her knight in shining armour. Said you told her stories about her real dad and she figured it out from there. She's an awfully smart little girl, Mel-Mae."

A nurse had come in and interrupted them at that crucial point in the argument to give her medication for seizures. Then after she left, Rebecca's occupational therapist, Corinne arrived and whisked her off for therapy.

Trying and often failing to utter words or heck, even sounds that came so easily to a young child and made her sound like a dummy, didn't exactly improve her mood either. The speech therapist had told her that worst-case scenario if she was still aphasic, they could get her a device that she could type in what she wanted to say (somewhat like a computer) and then the written text would be spoken for her, but she was not impressed by that option.

Rebecca was determined to regain her speech but so far, she was making very little headway for all her hard work. AND if one more well-meaning idiot told her that it all takes time and not to stress about it, Rebecca swore she would punch them in the nose. Well, she would if she had the coordination required to line her fist up with their nose and had the strength to a) stand up and b) swing and make a connection with the person's face which she hated to admit, was not very likely. The truth was that as pissed off as she was, she couldn't even take out her frustrations on anyone, not physically. But she could do a somewhat okay job of bleeding out emotionally all over Jessie and Tony, even if it was via a damned keyboard.

When she arrived back at her room after her less than positive therapy session, because she'd been so frustrated and angry about everything, she was feeling like shit.

She was also quite disappointed that Jessie hadn't waited for her but since she'd been such a bitch to her friend, she wasn't surprised that Jessie had left. Truthfully, she wouldn't want to be around someone as horrible as she was being either. Seeing Jess had left her a note, she struggled to pick it up and read it. Rolling her eyes, in frustration, she huffed and rang her buzzer.

On really bad days like today, it wasn't just Rebecca's memory which was crap – her ability to make sense of handwriting varied too. Sometimes she was able to decipher what people wrote pretty easily but on days like today, she was lucky to be able to read the simplest of words printed in capital letters.

So far, she hadn't mentioned this particular quirk (and she was damned if she was going to refer to it as a deficit since it was intermittent) to any of her doctors. She had however confided in one of her nurses, a young female nurse called Stella who'd told her that it was more likely to occur when she was feeling stressed, tired or angry. When Stella appeared several minutes later, answering her buzzer the distressed and guilty woman held out Jessie's note to her in sheer frustration.

[read it to me please,] she typed arduously on her keypad.

Huh, she did seem to be feeling very tired.

Stella nodded calmly. "Sure thing, Rebecca." She looked at the note and began reading, "Mel-Mae, hope your speech therapy session goes well. Sorry, I can't wait until you're back in your room. Got called out to a crime scene. Maybe I'll see you later, if not I'll drop in tomorrow. Megan will bring Tia in to eat dinner with you later, after her counselling session. Love Jess."

Looking at Rebecca's furrowed brow, she smiled at her. "What's the matter, Honey?

[thought jess left because I was bitch to her] Rebecca typed slowly.

Stella nodded understandingly. It was quite common for rehab patients with acquired brain injuries to lash out at their friends and family when they were feeling frustrated and upset.

"Jess is a good friend, isn't she?"

[yes. Best. do not deserve her] she typed with difficulty, sudden overcome with relief and exhaustion.
Stella smiled. "She understands."

Rebecca wasn't so sure. She'd dropped everything to help look after Tia – she was owed gratitude, not to be attacked by a bitchy friend.

~oO0Oo~

Jess drove across town to the precinct. The crime scene – what they were currently treating as a murder-suicide was a brutal and bloody one. As far as they could tell at this early stage of the investigation it appeared that the victims were a family of five. A mother, her two children, an older lady that they presumed right now was a relative, probably the grandmother, although they couldn't rule out a family friend or a neighbour And then there was the male decedent who, at this time, they were assuming was the younger woman's partner and could also be the father of the children. Although they were yet to ID him; actually, they were yet to formally identify anyone.

From the preliminary crime scene evidence, the male was also suspected of being the shooter before turning the gun on himself. Still, they needed to wait until all the autopsies had been performed and forensic evidence had been run before they formed any hard and fast conclusions.
She regretted not being able to stay and talk to Mel about her fears but as the lieutenant, her presence was needed elsewhere. At such a heartbreaking crime scene which took its toll on those detectives and crime scene personnel who had to work it, she needed to have their backs. Plus, there were the media to manage – not to mention Jessie also had the Police Commissioner and the Mayor's offices demanding an immediate sitrep. In such a horrific, highly emotive case as this one, there'd be plenty of people trying to stick their noses into what was going to be a very messy investigation, especially as the media got involved.

Jessie sighed, knowing this wasn't going to be pretty. She mentally made a note to call the department's psychologist to discuss how to support her detectives and unies asap. Plus, she'd make a call to the police chaplain, as some of her team, especially the older guys were more comfortable talking to the chaplain. Hey, Jess wasn't one to judge. She was okay with them talking to a sanitation technician or their Great Auntie Beryl as far as she was concerned, as long as they talked to someone and felt supported. Still, she also needed to organise immediate critical incident debriefing and further down the track the department would require mandatory counselling for those people working the case.

Driving back from the crime scene Jess' thoughts shifted briefly from the case to consider what Mel had said. In one sense, she'd been shocked at Mel's accusations that she was shacked up with Tony, playing happy families while Mel was in hospital. It hurt. She sighed, knowing how frustrated her friend must feel at the significant obstacles she faced in her recovery. No one knew if she would ever manage to regain her independence and Jess thought about all that she'd lost the day that the pathetic scumbag chose to get into his car and drive drunk. She was willing to cut her best friend some slack.

Jess flashed back to the conversation she'd had with Jimmy. He was such a babe-in-the-woods when it came to relationships, bless him. His simple Opie-like insistence that Tony and Jess should be together because they were good for each other and loved each other was way naïve, even if it was sort of cute. (Okay it would be cute if she wasn't in the middle of the messy love triangle, trying not to hurt the people she cared about.) Although she also wasn't convinced that Tony felt the same way she did. Oh, she knew that he loved her – she had not one scintilla of doubt about that, but she didn't think he was IN LOVE with her.

It was really lucky he didn't reciprocate her crush when you thought about it – because as Mel had demonstrated today, she obviously still had feelings for Tony if she was feeling threatened by Jess. She really didn't know if Tony was still in love with Mel, but she knew that he still loved her deeply. Maybe they would be able to work things out and give Tia a storybook happy ending. Jessie really hoped so – if that was what everyone wanted. Still, there was a long way down the track.

Mel's doctors remained guarded about her recovery – telling them that she was going to need rehab for many more months. It was looking less likely that she would walk again although they hadn't said so straight up. They'd kind of intimated that Mel waking at all up was pretty much a miracle that they should be grateful for and not expect she could make a total was difficult to adjust your expectations down but it was probably necessary both for Mel and Tia's sake and instead start counting their blessings. Mel was alive and that was an amazing gift.

When Jess arrived at the police station, she made her way through a bunch of reporters out front hoping she'd give them more information, but she wasn't going to be speaking to the media now. She didn't have anything more at this stage to offer them. They were still informing the deceased next-of-kin and arranging for the dead to be formally identified before they would release any more info to the media. Except that never stopped the reporters from trying to weasel information out of them so they could go and harass the victims' family and friends. In which universe did journalists think that it was compassionate or even a sign of intelligence to bombard victims with inane questions such as what did it feel like when they found out about their dead loved ones?

Pushing her way past them, the detective lieutenant entered the building, acknowledging the people who were in the bullpen, including their indispensable and hardworking support staff. She stopped to chat with a couple of cops about commonplace stuff like RDOs or their kids, giving her a welcome sense of normalcy before she finally reached her office and sat down at her desk.

It didn't take long for her detectives to start making their way in to update her on what they were working on. There were also other murder cases that were also outstanding, and she got sit reps from Dees who were in the office and in one case, Jess offered to ring the Boston PD, requesting their help to locate a potential suspect rumoured to have moved to up there a month or two before.

Hanging up the phone, she headed out to the coffee machine to fill up her coffee mug when her cell phone starting to ring. Answering it, Jess found that it was Judy Kendall – the Federal Marshal from Tucson office of WitSec who had been involved in keeping the Coopers safe. She and Tony had met her when Mel and Tia were in the hospital after the car crash which had killed Mel's husband. That seemed a lifetime ago.

Walking back into her office and closing the doors, she'd sat down at her desk.

"Hey, Judy. How can I help you?"

"I was really wanting to talk to Tony. He wasn't answering his cell phone, so I was wondering if he was with you?"

Jessie was curious. "No, I'm at work. He was in court today, testifying in a case. So, his phone is probably switched off."

If there was an emergency with Mel or Tia, both Jess and Megan had emergency contact numbers for the courthouse, or she could just send a couple of Unies around to collect him if he was needed urgently.

Judy sighed. "Oh, okay. Well if you aren't too busy to chat, can I fill you in and you can pass on the information to him. It kinda concerns you too."

Jess felt a shiver of dread run through her veins at her words. "Sure, Judy, what's up?"

"Tony sent me some stuff to check out about Reid O'Leary."

"Oh yeah, the drunk driver, right?"

Judy grunted. "Yeah. He was charged with vehicular manslaughter and DUI. He lawyered up pretty much straight away and plead guilty to the charges. He's going to be sentenced in six weeks." Judy reported briefly.

"Yeah, the Tucson DA's office approached Tony about providing victims' impact statements for the sentencing phase. He was talking to Mel's medical team and Tia's psychiatrist about them writing one too. Both of us intend on preparing one, though."

"Good, that's great news, Jessie. He shouldn't get a slap over the wrist for killing Dennis or injuring Rebecca," Kendall replied. "Anyway, Tony and one of his FBI friends was doing some digging about O'Leary. Sent what they found to us and the Tucson cops to check out. It's looking like the Coopers weren't just in the wrong place at the wrong time as we first thought. We now think that he was targeting them – or at the least, he was targeting Dennis Cooper."

Jess' stomach dropped. Had Anthony DiNozzo Senior hired O'Leary to abduct Tia in Tucson? If so, it would destroy Tony. He'd feel totally responsible for Mel's husband's death and for her and Tia's injuries.

"Did you find a link between O'Leary and T's scumbag father, Judy?"

"No. Tony found that O'Leary had purchased several insurance policies from Alliance Insurance – the firm that Dennis Cooper worked for. Wondered if they knew each other. Sent us and the cops a heads up."

Jess was impressed. She knew he was busy trying to a makeshift MCRT back together – while the agency was in crisis mode with the assassination of Deputy Director Craig and attempted assassination of Director Vance. Well, he was still the Director ... but not for much longer. Everyone who was anyone in the L/E community knew that he was a dead man walking. Anyway, politics aside, she also knew Tony had been meticulously planning the ambush of the architect of Tia's first kidnapping in the park. He was absolutely desperate to identify Senior's hired help and lock the SOB up. Despite the FBI throwing massive resources and manpower at the problem, so far, they'd been unable to identify the perp.

Frankly, she was impressed that he and Tobias had found the time to dig into Reid O' Leary.

"I take it that you found out why he targeted the Coopers?"

"Oh, yeah. Tony was correct; Dennis Cooper sold him both insurance policies. One was a building and contents policy and the other was a life insurance policy."

"Okay, so Dennis did know him?"

"Only in the sense that he sold O'Leary his policies back when he was a lowly insurance salesman, ten years ago. Then last year, Alliance knocked back his claim on his building and contents insurance when a massive storm wrecked his house. There was substantial flash flooding that was due to massive rainfall in a couple of hours and the drainage couldn't cope. The company ruled that the damage was due to the flooding, not the storm and said that the policy didn't cover flood damage."

Jess thought it was typical BS from the insurance agency, but she didn't see the motive. "I don't get why he came after the Coopers."

"Well according to what he told his brother-in-law, he blamed Dennis for the company refusing his claim. He was planning on taking them to court and then his wife got sick with lymphoma and he went through his savings paying for her medical bills. He'd ended up homeless, stony-broke and O 'Leary decided that Dennis deliberately sold him a dodgy policy, knowing full well that his company had no intention of honouring it if he should put in a claim." Judy reported grimly.

"But Dennis was just an employee, right? It wasn't his company." Jess verified. She seriously doubted that her friend would marry a crooked insurance salesman.

"True, but he was a convenient focus for Reid O'Leary's fury and grief. Plus, Dennis had been promoted from sales into management. In O'Leary's warped thinking, his rise, up the company ladder was proof positive that he knew that the policies were bogus."
Jessie shook her head, O' Leary was clearly not playing with a full deck of cards.

"We have a witness, a drinking buddy who claims that O'Leary talked more than once about making the asshole who'd sold him the policy pay for ruining his life," Judy said.

"And what? Mel and Tia were collateral damage, I suppose?"

"He's still not talking, but the District Attorney feels like there is enough evidence to charge him with Dennis' murder and the attempted murder of Mel and Tia too."

Jess bit her lips, feeling explosive rage at O' Leary. "That prick – he almost got away with it."

After finishing up the conversation with the empathetic marshal, Detective Lawless wanted to go out and beat the crap out of a punching bag in lieu of the idiot who'd screwed up the Cooper's entire life and put Mel and Tia in the hospital.

At least Reid O'Leary wouldn't be allowed to get away with a premeditated act to kill and injure three innocent people. She sighed as Menendez and Ericson, the two Dees working the mass murder/suicide case knocked on her door and came into her office to report on where they were with the case. She knew it was time to put O'Leary onto the backburner and focus on the murder-suicide investigation.
God, she hated these sorts of investigations, particularly when it involved kids!

~oO0Oo~

Mike Franks was doing another random drive-by of the street where Gibbs lived, wondering where-the-hell Probie was? Once upon a time, he'd have called up a bunch of like-minded LEOs and agents to see if Jethro was off on some undercover mission. But that was then, and this was now, post Probie ratting him out and Fibbies (may those bastards rot in Hell) issuing a warrant for his arrest for first-degree murder. Back in the good old days, Probie still had his six. Mike would never have dreamed Gibbs would turn into a bleeding-heat liberal who worshipped at the altar of Miranda Rights for pissant little pricks like Arkady Korbach.

Now he was forced to resort to driving surreptitiously past his crib in Alexandria to keep an eye on whether he'd returned or not. Aside from being extremely time-consuming, it also wasn't without risk because if Probie's neighbours noticed a white van cruising up and down the street constantly, then they were likely to call in the LEOs. That would not bode well for him. So, he needed to play it safe and smart.

Franks made sure to limit himself to doing a drive-by twice a day. He would make sure to do it at random times to lessen the chances of meeting the same people out walking dogs or taking the kids to school or down to the local park to play. He made sure to vary his direction too – come from the north end of the street in the morning and south at night or vice versa.

He also went to the trouble of changing the van's appearance. He ripped off a bunch of number plates from vehicles which had been abandoned and he also obtained a variety of magnetized signs from vans which included a painter, plumber, electrician, courier and florist. Finally, Mike went to a second-hand clothes shop and bought a bunch of headgear and sunglasses to change up his appearance.
Still, even with all his precautions, he was paranoid that Gladys Plosky was going to doing her sticky-beak neighbour routine and recognise him since Gibbs had introduced Franks to her when he stayed there once a couple of years ago when he'd whacked that Russian son-of-a-bitch Arkady. That woman had a face like a weasel, and he suspected she was just as sharp as one too.

This morning there'd been nothing to pique Mike's interest, although he briefly noticed that Gibbs' trash can had been put out for collection and he was momentarily excited that Gibbs had decided to return to his home but he felt instantly deflated when he saw Mrs Plosky. The annoying old biddy wearing her floral housecoat plus slippers, her hair in curlers and an equally lurid green headscarf adorning her head, was dragging the trash can back to the alcove where Gibbs stored it at the side of the house.

So, nothing to see here folks! In all probability, she'd been using it in the Probie's absence, filling it up with her own extra trash and putting it out for street-side collection. There was no way Probie would let the old duck cart his trashcan around for him if he was back in his house.

Therefore, it was highly likely that Gibbs' house was still empty. This afternoon when he did another drive-by he would do some serious reconnaissance inside just to be sure. He'd pick up a parcel and if anyone quizzed him, he'd say he had a delivery for Mr L.J. Gibbs. For now, he would head on back to the flea pit hotel where he was holed up. It was a haven for junkies and dealers and the frequent prostitutes who brought johns in for a bit of lust and thrust. No one there paid him any attention, with the exception of the dark-haired doe-eyed Venezuelan whore who Mike paid to give special attention to Not-So-Little-Mikey. Rujana had made him feel so much more relaxed since his return Stateside.

Trying to get a bead of Gibbs, he'd try to contact Trent Kort again, but so far, the CIA spook was proving too difficult to connect with. There were other contacts he could have tried to get in touch with, but he was too chary of tipping off the wrong people.
It had been a while now since he'd worked as a fed and the job had changed. It was all about protecting the dirtbags - screw the victims or their rights. He was glad he didn't have to work in the new politically correct environment of bending over backwards so ya didn't hurt the dirtbags precious little feelings, FFS.

So... unless Kort got in touch, Franks decided not to contact anyone from his days as a fed with NIS since he couldn't take the risk that they'd rat him out. It was better this way anyhow. The best way to keep a damned secret was to keep it to yourself. The second-best option was to tell one other person BUT that was it!