NCIS
"Corporal Jack Halsted," Tony began, bringing Halsted's profile up on the main screen of the bullpen as the others stood to his left. "32 years old, rents an apartment in Falls Church, currently on Inactive Ready Reserve for 13 months following a 2-year tour in Afghanistan. Employed as a security guard at the Chronology Data Center in Manassas."
Gibbs stared up at the license of the square-jawed, brown-haired man looking tough on his DMV picture. "Financials?"
McGee used his remote and brought up two bank statements. "Nothing irregular for the past few months, no large deposits or withdrawals other than his monthly rent checks. No other accounts in his name." He clicked onto another screen. "He had two phones on him, one looks personal and the other looks like a prepaid he put under the name '0552 LTD.'" He passed the remote to Ziva and walked back to his computer.
Ziva brought an image onto the screen of a wrist with a glowing UV tattoo of the OMNI symbol next to the designation '0552.' "The same numbers on his wrist, according to Ducky. His number was higher than the others, which to our knowledge means that he was newer than the other three OMNI agents at the meet. Marquez, whose real name is actually Dustin Marcus, was 0221. Cross and the other were in the 3-400's."
"Halsted's OMNI phone shows calls from Marquez regularly for the last three weeks," McGee continued, "then yesterday a call received at 5:16 PM, and then the last call was to Marquez at 3 AM. His personal phone has no calls to or from any OMNI number we've collected, though it looks like his work called twice after 9 AM, probably wondering why he didn't show up."
"What about the SUV?" Gibbs asked.
"2002 Chevy Suburban," Tony replied. "Owned by a shell company set up in 2004 by Marquez, purchased three years ago from an impound auction. No reports of being stolen or even a lapse in registration since."
McGee listened while tapping through Halsted's DMV record. He pulled up a recent registration of a vehicle and froze when he read the description:
Vehicle Make: Chevrolet
Model: Camaro
Body: 2D CPE
Year: 2007
Color: Yellow
His brain replayed a memory of running with Riley almost two months ago, feeling out of breath and resting by a new-looking yellow Camaro, one that reminded him of when he was 16 and crashed his own. He remembered again seeing the Camaro again later that day.
FLASHBACK
A loud engine roar disrupted McGee's thought, and the agents looked up to see a yellow Camaro having just passed them and heading up the street.
Tony frowned. "What do you think's on the memory card?"
McGee didn't answer, eyes still fixed up the road where the car was now out of sight.
"McGee?" Gibbs asked before looking in the same direction.
He blinked, unsure how to answer. "Not sure, Boss. Not to be paranoid but I think I've seen that car already today."
Gibbs started the car and looked around. "Where?"
"Earlier when I was out running. I don't know for sure but-"
"Your gut," Gibbs huffed.
Gibbs pulled the car out onto the street, zooming up to the intersection where the Camaro turned. After checking multiple intersections and streets around where they were, there was no sign of the car.
FLASHBACK
He remembered being followed by a yellow Camaro, and the OMNI connection had to be more than coincidence. He tapped through the financial records then interrupted Tony beginning to talk about the shoeprints they found at the crime scene. "Hey Boss, I found something. Do you remember a few months ago on the Manning case, we were being followed by a yellow Camaro? Look." He put the registration on the screen.
Tony studied it but looked suspicious. "I don't know, McGee. Ever since the first Transformers trailer came out, everyone's been buying yellow Camaros. How can we be sure?"
"He didn't pay for it with his bank account, Tony," McGee countered and brought up a bank statement. "No large purchase around the date of registration, and no car payments made. And we know for certain he's an OMNI agent, which means he'll either have cash at his place or a separate bank account."
Ziva hummed curiously. "He could have been ordered to follow us and moved up to guarding Marquez after the warehouse raid."
"Too much of a coincidence," Gibbs agreed. "DiNozzo, McGee, go to Halsted's work and talk to his coworkers, then go to the dealership where he bought the car and pick up a money trail. Keep your eyes open, and only use broad terms for the investigation. If anyone asks, this was a drive-by in a bad neighborhood. We don't want to scare any other OMNI operatives. Ziva, you're with me."
McGee anxiously geared up, wondering if this lead would bring him face-to-face with Riley's killer.
NCIS
Abby chewed her lip as her eyes were laser-focused on her screen. She didn't bother hiding her smile as she completed her work, for once feeling confident about digging deeper into an OMNI case and handling it without any concerns of her own history. She triple-checked her evidence was organizing it when her ears perked at the sound of footsteps. She turned with a grin and her hands folded excitedly in front of her as the door opened for Gibbs and Ziva.
Gibbs noticed and a smile crept up his lips as well. "You look like you have something for me." He revealed a large 'Caf-POW!' from behind his back and offered it to her.
"Oh," she sighed excitedly and extended her arms to convey her enthusiasm before swiping up the drink. "I have way more than something for you. This is insane, and like a weird insane because it's dangerous but an awesome insane because-" she paused when she noticed Gibbs' "Get On With It" stare, then reigned herself in. "Check this out."
She tapped a few keys and a 3D wireframe model rendered with the loading dock on one side and the garage, empty building, and alley on the other. Eight light green figures loaded in with six inside the dock, one on the roof, and the other in front of the alley. As she spoke, small red circles appeared on the green figures and in various places on the dock walls and ground.
"Alright, the photo and the brass found at the garage didn't have any fingerprints on it, so I couldn't get an ID on the perps. But by using all of the evidence from the scene, like the bullet holes, position of the bodies, and the entry angles for the wounds, I was able to construct a 3D model of the whole scene, including the position of…"
She clicked the mouse. Thin red lines began drawing themselves straight from the bullet holes towards the outside wall of the 3rd floor of the garage until they intersected at a single point. A green figure then appeared laying horizontally outside the wall where the red lines met.
"… the ONLY shooter. I checked the striations on each of the rounds, and they all matched." She turned to Gibbs. "Gibbs, we're dealing with a sniper who can take out eight moving targets in anywhere from ten to twelve seconds. That is insane."
Gibbs slowly walked towards the big screen, his mouth just barely drifting open as he calculated the scene in his mind like he was behind the scope. Abby watched as Gibbs pointed to each person, tapping the air with each round that was fired, going from person-to-person, like he was determining the order in which they were shot.
Ziva stood next to him and started doing the same thing in her mind. She tilted her head to the side. "With the right rifle, I think it's actually possible."
After a minute he sighed and turned around.
"What about the rifle?" he asked quickly with an unusual tone of impatience. "What kind was it?"
She brought up a picture of one of the bullets and zoomed into the rifling marks. A meter came of that measured the distance between two of the marks. She took a breath before continuing with a smile.
"I think I've narrowed it down," Abby excitedly replied. "This round went through a barrel with a 1:8 twist instead of the more common 1:7 twist. Since this marksman was obviously experienced and likely military-trained, it makes sense that the gun was modified for its range and accuracy. I checked the rifling pattern and confirmed that the barrel that fired this bullet is a 20-inch Heavy Barrel created by Colt Manufacturing specifically for the M4 Carbine, the current favorite of pretty much every U.S. Agency." She pulled up a picture of the rifle. "I also checked the footprints that Tony and Ziva found and they belong to a size 9 ½ Oakley Lite Tactical boot – also a current favorite of most federal Tactical Operations teams, especially SWAT. I think this was an internal op!"
Gibbs stood still, eyes stuck on the picture of the rifle and the 3D rendered model in the background.
"Gibbs?" Abby repeated, though her excitement dwindled into desperation. "Come on Gibbs, this is good news! This means that other agencies are hunting down OMNI. We're fighting back! This means this might actually be over soon!"
He turned around slowly and walked to her, unsure how to delicately but clearly state his thoughts. "If it were another agency, they would've busted the deal and arrested everyone there instead of killing them all and stealing the weapons shipment. The M4 is also commonly available for civilians. This means that someone's going around killing people, and they're very good at it. They even left a message for OMNI to let them know what they stole. This isn't good news, Abby. It is not about to be over until we catch them."
She shook her head and her eyes started to water. "Please, tell me this is good. It has to be. I don't want to be scared of even leaving my lab anymore."
Gibbs took her into his arms and lightly kissed her cheek. "The good news is that we're onto something. Don't be scared, we're all looking after you."
She nodded into his chest.
He kissed her once more lightly on the cheek then pulled back. "You did good. We'll be back, okay?"
Abby sniffed and folded her arms, then nodded. Gibbs looked over at Ziva, then they both exited the lab. Abby looked at the four walls of her lab before heaving a depressed sigh and taking a sip of the 'Caf-POW!.'
NCIS
McGee happily enjoyed the empty bliss of a 45-minute car ride out to Manassas. The morning had been packed with a massive crime scene made exponentially more stressful by the involvement of OMNI and all the possibilities that came with them. McGee could tell that Tony was exhausted as well by the fact that he wasn't as chatty as he would've been. They both reveled in that brief period where they were working, but at the same time were not. McGee determined during the first ten minutes of the car ride that they likely weren't about to be in an armed confrontation just by asking about Halsted, rather that OMNI would simply cut him off and put up a wall around his mistakes. His gut told him to be at the ready, but not because of danger. He also realized that Gibbs only sent him and Tony, meaning he trusted that they wouldn't be in much danger. He smiled a bit as he found his gut trusting Gibbs' judgement again.
The stretch of road became emptier and emptier the further they traveled, but rounding a corner they finally saw a long concrete structure that looked like a shipping warehouse, though it had an ornate, three-story glass front that looked like it was lifted off a skyscraper. McGee didn't have to look hard to find the blaringly obvious yellow Camaro parked near the back of the lot.
"There it is," he breathed, taking note of the license plate and confirming it as Halsted's. He didn't remember the license plate from when he'd seen this car before, but he was sure it was the same one.
Tony narrowed his eyes. "It's here. That means that someone picked him up last night from this lot."
McGee turned grimly to him. "That could be circumstantial, or it could be really bad."
"Like the Boss said," Tony offered, "keep our eyes open."
They entered through the glass double doors into a glossy white-and-stainless steel lobby. A brown-haired woman with an angular face, rosy cheeks, and wire-rimmed glasses greeted them with a perky smile from behind a frosted glass desk at the front. She wore a frilly white blouse with a tight black pencil skirt and heels. On either side of the lobby were glass doors leading to hallways, back but only the door on the right side of the desk was guarded by a man in a security uniform. Each corner of the lobby had a security camera.
The receptionist stood up and brightly began, "Hello, and welcome to Chronology. My name is Alyssa. How can I help you?"
They each took out their badges, but Tony spoke first with his boyish smirk. "I'm Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, this is Special Agent McGee, we're with NCIS."
Her smile dropped to a look of shock with her jaw loosened and her eyes staring. Her eyes moved directly up to McGee's, studying his face, briefly glancing down to read his ID, then back to his face. McGee noticed and returned her stunned look with a curious one of his own.
She remembered herself and looked up at Tony as well, then forced her smile back on and clicked a few keys on her computer. "I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone from your agency. I don't show any appointments with NCIS. Would you like to speak with our sales staff for a tour of the facility?"
Tony matched her fake smile with one of his own. "No, thank you. We're here about one of your staff, Jack Halsted."
"Oh, I see," she replied with a note of annoyance. "Well, he'd normally be over there, but he didn't show up for work." She raised her right hand to gesture to their left where the door stood without a guard.
Tony shot a brief glance at McGee after their eyes landed on the same thing – a strange pattern in the reflection of her right wrist as she gestured from behind the desk. Both men also noted a thick watchband on the security guard's right wrist. McGee raised an eyebrow to Tony, who replied with a silent but serious look before turning back to Alyssa.
"That's why we're here," Tony explained. "Mr. Halsted was found dead this morning."
"Oh, wow…" she paused and looked pensive for a moment. "Wow, that's… that's awful."
McGee studied her reaction for a moment. "Did you know him well?"
She shrugged. "Not well, but the guards and I chat a little bit here and there when on duty. It can get kinda boring just standing there," she looked over to the guard on her left who nodded back in agreement. "I wasn't that interested in digging into his personal life."
"Why is that?" Tony asked, detecting a tone of disdain in her voice.
She grimaced, then leaned forward and lowered her voice. "He always looked at me strangely, kinda the way you're looking at me now. It was like he was checking me out to see if I was telling the truth or gauging my reactions, investigating instead of just having casual conversation. Anyway, you should probably speak with the director. She'll want to know. One moment, please," she replied softly and pushed a few buttons on her desk phone.
The speaker came on as the phone rang. It rang four more times before finally being answered.
"What?" a woman's brusque, annoyed voice came through.
Alyssa smiled tensely. "Ms. Vianne, I have two NCIS Agents here to see you."
"N-C-I-S? They're not on my calendar and they're not clients. Send them to sales. I'm going back to sleep."
The receptionist rolled her eyes. "They're here about Halsted. I checked their badges, they're legitimate."
There was a moment of silence before the speaker came back on. "What, he went AWOL on them too? Fine, whatever, send them in and make it fast."
Tony gave Alyssa an amused look.
She smiled nervously. "Ms. Vianne's in a bit of a mood today, but I'm sure she'll provide you with whatever information we have. Please, follow me," she gestured to the door by the guard.
Alyssa swiped an access card over the door sensor, which chimed and allowed them through. As they walked through the door, they rounded a corner to a long hallway that seemed to stretch the length of the facility. McGee noticed at least two guards patrolling the hallway before Alyssa led them the rest of the way around the corner to an elevator and stairway. A security guard stood by the elevator with his hands crossed in front of him, armed with two holstered .45 caliber pistols and a submachine gun. Tony struggled to refrain from commenting. Alyssa swiped her access card again at the elevator's sensor, which opened the doors. They filed inside and she pressed the button to the third floor, then stepped back out while holding the door open.
"This will take you straight into her office. When you're ready to come back down, Roy here will escort you back to the lobby," she explained in her customer-service voice. "I'm Ms. Vianne's assistant as well as receptionist, so if you need anything on the way out just let me know."
Tony quickly turned on his charm. "I'm sure we will."
Her smile shortened to an unimpressed smirk, and she walked away letting the elevator door close behind her.
Tony scoffed at the passive rejection. "Well! I guess she only has eyes for McGeeks."
McGee rolled his eyes while the elevator started. "Really, Tony?"
"She was sizing you up the moment she saw your badge!" he argued. "Hey, we need every advantage here. They had two guards covering about 20 square feet between that second door and the elevator alone. What data center needs that level of overprotection?"
"We'll find out," McGee replied quietly as they reached the third floor.
The doors opened to a large rectangular office backed by the tall glass windows from the front of the building. The spacious office had a small meeting table, black leather couch, coffee maker, mini refrigerator, attached bathroom, and an open set of double doors leading into a larger conference room. Against the orderly appeal of the office, they noticed a coat and purse haphazardly tossed onto the table, as well as a blanket and pillows hastily thrown on the floor behind the couch.
By the windows was a large desk with two monitors, which hid a short, young woman trying to roughly wrestle her wavy yet tangled blonde hair into a ponytail. As she rounded the desk to greet them, they were surprised at her more casual appearance versus her assistant. She wore a light, low-cut, long-sleeve gray sweater and loose-fitting black suit pants, along with a pair of black sneakers. Her round Italian face was marred with tired bags under her bright blue eyes.
"Hi, Cassandra Vianne," she greeted swiftly as she shook their hands. "Sorry about the mess. There really is never a good time to switch to decaf."
Tony mustered a barely awkward smirk. "Special Agent Tony DiNozzo."
"Special Agent McGee," McGee added.
Vianne swiped up her coat and purse and hung them on a chair before gesturing the men to the table. "Yes, the Navy. I used to butt heads with you guys back in my FBI days. What can I do for you?"
The two agents sat while Tony continued, "We have some questions about one of your employees, Jack Halsted. What can you tell us about him?"
She grimaced uncomfortably, then replied, "Well, that depends, is he applying for a job or has he gotten himself in trouble?"
McGee gave Tony a curious look at the response. "He was found dead this morning, and we'd like to know more about his personal and professional life to determine the motive."
Vianne's jaw dropped and she held her hand to her stomach, which then drifted lower to her navel. She grew pale for a moment before looking back at them. "I… I don't really know what to say. It's been a while since someone around me has died, you know?"
Tony hummed understandingly. "Your assistant mentioned that she felt uncomfortable around him."
"Well, yeah," she shrugged. "He's like that for a lot of people, including me. He does his rounds, but you can tell something's just a little off about him. I know how to smell a rat, and… well, I don't like to say this about someone who's just died, but… he's definitely a rat. I'm somewhat convinced he's been stealing from us."
Tony and McGee exchanged glances again.
"Really?" McGee asked. "Why's that?"
Vianne relaxed her posture and leaned into the table. "Listen, I'll be frank. I used to work FBI Cyber Crimes, and I only left because Chronology offered me better pay, a sweet office and less on-call bullshit. Part of my job is stopping data leaks from this center. I know it doesn't look good for a place this secure, but it's true. We've had fairly consistent breaches and I think they've had to do with Halsted."
"You think he was stealing data?" Tony asked.
"And possibly selling it, but I don't have proof. Guess I won't either. We also had some hardware stolen a few months ago while it was being shipped, but I don't know if he had anything to do with it. I'll just have to see if the leaks stop now."
Tony looked back at the door. "This place is pretty well guarded now that you mention it. How was he managing to steal data?"
"He is… well he was a security guard. We have contracts with government agencies and banks that all demand high levels of security. Other than about four server technicians and myself, he was one of the only guards given access to the Vault, what we call our server room. Part of his rounds involved checking that everything was ok in there. There was never any issue reported by him or the other guards, and the access breaches never seemed to happen on his watch."
McGee looked at his notepad, then asked, "Do you know what Halsted may have been up to in his time off?"
"Honestly, no. I don't really think of him more than I have to because he usually gives me the creeps. Well… gave. He was a bit tool-ish, too – kept bragging about the tour he served in Iraq or wherever. The way he did it got really old really fast. If I were the one stealing data, I would've been a little more discreet."
Tony noted a slight quiver in her voice when she corrected herself. "What about the rest your staff?"
"We run thorough background checks on all employees. I was already working here when he started about a year ago along, but I didn't really notice him be close with anyone in particular. Alyssa would've had more interaction with him than I would. I'm usually up here or touring the facility with a client."
Tony looked over at McGee, who closed his notepad and nodded. They both stood up and McGee handed her a business card.
"Thank you for your time. If you can think of anything that could help us, please give us a call."
She stood up to see them out. "I will, thank you."
They were escorted by the guard outside her door and handed off until they reached the lobby. As they passed the front desk, Alyssa's eyes met McGee's again and he could see something that almost looked like concern in her stare. He paused and pulled out a business card. She quickly pulled her face back into her "customer service" smile as he handed the card to her.
"Call me if you can think of anything else that would be helpful," he offered.
She held her fake smile and nodded.
After they had cleared the doors, Tony looked back at the building and saw Vianne watching them leave from her office. "Which one do you think was more suspicious, the receptionist who was into you, or the director who might've actually liked our victim?"
"Alyssa," McGee replied. "She wasn't into me, she was worried when we showed her our badges before even mentioning Halsted. She knows more."
Tony huffed in agreement as they ducked into the car. "Tell me you saw those scar lines on her wrist? I don't think she cuts herself."
"If it's an OMNI tattoo, it isn't recent," McGee noted. "I'll start running checks on her too when we get back."
"We'll be checking all of them," Tony corrected.
NCIS
The length of the day weighed heavily on McGee as 6 PM closed in. Other than the drive to and from Manassas, he and the rest of the team had been working hard for nearly eleven hours. The records from the car dealership showed that Halsted paid cash, leaving no new money trail for them to follow. Halsted's apartment left much to be desired when Gibbs and Ziva searched it. They found very minimal cash and surprisingly no OMNI laptop or USB drives. That left only his trash and his car to go through, which Ziva was grateful to push to the next day.
McGee knew, of course, that this was only part of his work for the day. With Abby staying with him, he had planned on them both scouring the FBI's databases for more information on OMNI or anything related to Special Agent King's case on Riley's death. He had also planned to make another drive to the intersections where Amber had last contacted him, so as he was getting ready to leave, he moved his SIM card from his Nokia phone back to his iPhone and started it. He waved to Tony and Ziva before taking the elevator down to Abby's lab. Walking in he saw her sitting at her lab table with her stuffed hippo, Bert, in her arms.
"Hey Abby, ready to go?"
She grinned and squeezed Bert, generating a fart from the toy. "Yay, sleepover time! I can't wait to see Jay again. I've missed him."
McGee chuckled. "He'll be glad for the extra attention. Do you have everything you need?"
"Yeah, let me grab-" she was cut off by McGee's phone ringing as she stood up and rounded the table.
McGee took the phone out of his pocket, then frowned in confusion when he saw the ID read 'Abby.' He looked up at her. "Are you pocket-dialing me?"
She looked at his phone with surprise, then to her workstation. "No, my phone's in my…"
She paused and ran to her small backpack, digging through and fishing out her phone. Her face darkened when she saw that her phone wasn't in use, but McGee's phone was still ringing. McGee saw her look and realized what was happening, and they both jumped to the workstation to open up the call trace program.
"Quick," Abby hissed. "Answer it before she hangs up." She typed in McGee's number and started checking for the call.
McGee fumbled with the screen and answered the call, immediately putting it on speaker. "Hello?"
The familiar scrambled female voice came through. "Agent McGee, it's Amber."
"Yes, hello. I was waiting for your call," he answered awkwardly.
Abby gestured at him wildly to keep the call going while the program located the call and attempted the trace.
McGee nodded. "I tested what you gave me."
"What did you find?"
"The, uh… the urine sample didn't contain any drugs or anything unusual, but…" he tried buying time by stammering as he watched the trace program, "… but it showed that whoever it came from is pregnant."
There was a crackling on the line that sounded like air blowing, but otherwise silence. The trace program found the call routing through the internet and running in circles between locations, avoiding detection.
"Amber?" he asked tepidly.
"Yeah, that's right." Even through the scrambler they could hear hesitation. "Excellent work. I'm sending you an email with a picture attached. When you open the picture on your phone, it'll deactivate the tracker and restart your phone. Don't install any new updates or the tracker will activate again. Same with your computer, don't let it do any kind of software updates."
He breathed with relief. "Okay. Now how do we find OMNI?"
"You won't," she replied quickly and sternly.
He and Abby looked worriedly at each other. "Wait! But I thought you wanted my help to get you out."
"No. I'll figure it out on my own. This is too dangerous."
"Wait, wait!" Tim pleaded. "Please, we can help. I just need to know who the FBI moles are."
There was a pause. "What are you talking about?"
"OMNI killed my…" he paused wanting to say 'boyfriend,' but he didn't know Amber and trusted her even less now. "They killed someone close to me Sunday night as part of the demonstration for the virus you're auctioning. I just want to know who from the FBI gave him up to be killed."
"You know about that? You knew the target… Okay, listen, I don't have time to find out who it was, but what I can tell you is that any OMNI agent deep enough inside the government will have their tattoo on the back of their neck, not on their wrist. Good luck."
The call disconnected, leaving the trace program incomplete and McGee and Abby looking bewildered. They were both startled as McGee's phone chimed with a new email showing no sender or subject, but with an attachment. When they opened it, an image of a shield with the OMNI standby symbol in the center briefly appeared. Suddenly McGee's phone flashed its screen and cut to black where command lines quickly wrote themselves and executed. The phone shut down, then the Apple symbol came back as it booted back up. As it slowly loaded the applications, McGee tapped around on the phone to see if anything was different. After not seeing anything, he opened his email back up and found that the email he received was missing. The two exchanged silent glances before both bolting for the lab door.
NCIS
Special Agent Evelyn Hall raced from her house to the parking lot of her private office. Her tires screeched as she took a corner to quickly and she grunted as her Mercedes jolted itself over the lot's speedbumps. DC had texted her OMNI phone requesting an emergency meeting, and though they had already met in-person, Hall wanted to keep their dealings as guarded as possible. She strode past the security guard with barely a polite smile and rushed up the stairs.
The inner door to her office slammed and locked behind her as she whipped her coat off and pulled the laptop out of the large server rack in the center of the small, square room. She caught her breath as the laptop booted up, illuminating the dark room with the bright white OMNI startup screen. Hall began the encryption and voice scrambler programs, then tapped on DC's icon.
"There you are," DC began crossly.
Hall noticed the tone and urgently asked, "What's happened? What's wrong?"
"I have a task for you, a trial, so to speak. That is, of course, assuming you're still interested in my job?"
Hall smiled smugly and cracked her knuckles. "Lay it on me, honey," she replied, letting her southern drawl emphasize her enthusiasm.
"I have someone I need taken out quickly and quietly tonight. No guns, explosives, or traceable toxins."
She leaned back and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Why do you want me to do it? Surely you have your own assets."
"Because I'd rather have you do it. The target is another OMNI agent I interact with regularly. She can't know it's coming, and I can't be implicated or investigated within OMNI in any way. Do it like you're protecting the President from yet another scandal. Believe me, it happens."
"This is a trick, right?" Hall asked expectantly "You get me to operate in your territory and kill one of your agents, then you report me and have me killed?"
There was a pause. "If I were tricking you, which I'm not, how would asking me help?"
Hall hummed amusedly. "Okay, who is this person and why are they getting killed?"
"0533, Alyssa Hames. She's leaked important information to federal agents. Sending you her profile now."
The profile came up and listed known numbers and addresses. Hall checked her list of operatives she could contact in Washington, DC, then smiled and clicked back to the call. "One hour."
NCIS
Gibbs checked the stairwell one last time to ensure that no one was coming, then went back into the dimly lit morgue. Ducky, Ziva, Tony, Abby, and McGee were already huddled around an empty autopsy table when Gibbs joined them, looking at McGee's phone which was placed in the center of the table. They looked uneasily at each other, then back to the phone like it was a bomb that could explode at any moment.
"So a picture deactivates the virus?" Tony asked in a hushed voice.
"It's not just a picture," McGee explained. "Digital images can have encoded data. This probably contained a re-written part of the virus' source code. Once the phone processed it, whatever data was in there must've tripped the tracker and wiped the phone clean of it. I imagine she did the same thing with my computer at home, but I haven't been there yet. Supposedly it will be clear of the virus too."
"As long as you don't update it," Abby added. "That means that they're rolling this virus out with every update of the OS. They must have someone inside the company."
Ziva chewed the tip of her nail as she thought of the situation. "What concerns me is this 'Amber' changing her mind. If she's suddenly refusing our help, how can we be sure that hers is genuine?"
"She's the mother," Ducky replied. "She reacted emotionally and hesitantly to the test coming back positive. Mothers protecting their young are always much more defensive. It's not surprising that her first instinct would be to manage her own escape knowing everything that she knows."
Abby nodded. "And if she has access to the virus' source code, she's probably buried pretty deep inside OMNI, likely monitored like the others. She said she didn't have time to give us the information about the auction, but she knew about it and knew we were looking for a government agent."
Tony shook his head. "Yeah, but that doesn't give us a warrant to start a witch hunt through the FBI by scanning people's necks."
"Abby, flashlights?" Gibbs asked.
Abby remembered and quickly slipped her backpack onto the table. She started pulling out hand-sized UV flashlights with small, rectangular orange screens fixed to the ends near the bulb. "Here, these are the ones from the lab. They're a bit bigger than what OMNI uses, but they'll help us check for the UV ink."
Gibbs took one and looked up at McGee. "What leads have you found in your research?"
"Not much," McGee admitted. "I've tried looking into Riley's old case files and into anything current the Bureau has on OMNI, but there's not much there. King's case looking into his death didn't even have any photos of the scene, just a half-assed description ruling it an accident. Tonight, I'm going to start looking into his team and see what they've been up to."
"I'll be there to help," Abby offered.
"We have to legally obtain the evidence used to tie them to OMNI," Gibbs reminded them. "You two work backwards from the FBI. Tony and Ziva will keep working on Marquez and Halstead. I'll talk to Shepard and see what else she can pick up. I want a link by noon tomorrow."
The team nodded and disbursed with Abby and McGee headed out to the lot and Gibbs, Tony, and Ziva going back to the bullpen. Abby shuddered and wrapped her arm around McGee's as they walked.
"You okay?" McGee asked quietly.
Abby shook her head. "I used to love going outside at night. Now I actually have to worry about snipers. Ugh. It's like Ari all over again."
"I'll keep the top up," McGee replied as they reached his Porsche convertible.
Before he could protest, Abby already put one of her CD's into the car radio and started blasting the music. McGee decided to let it go knowing she needed comfort, then started their drive home. Halfway there he thought he felt his phone buzzing. He pulled out his phone and saw a local number that he didn't recognize. Abby looked over and shrugged at the number, then lowered the radio volume as McGee answered.
"Hello?"
"Agent McGee?!" a woman's frantic and frightened voice answered, unscrambled and unfiltered.
He shot a grave look at Abby then put it on speaker. "Yes, who's this?"
"It's Alyssa," she panted between sobs. "Please, I need your help, I think… I think OMNI sent someone. They're coming to kill me. I was followed. I've called for help, but I- be- in time-"
Her call cut in and out with static, then the tone chimed in in McGee's ear indicating the call dropped. He whipped the car onto the side of the road and screeched to a halt. He tried calling the number back.
An automated voice came on. "The number you have dialed is no longer in service."
"Shit," he swore, then dialed Tony's office phone.
"Probie, what's up?"
"Tony, quickly, run a check on this number and try to get me an address," he read off the number on the screen.
"Running. What happened?"
"Alyssa from the data center called, she said someone's trying to kill her."
"Ziva, get Gibbs and gear up. Trace is running, McGee."
Abby looked worriedly. "Do you think she could be Amber?"
"No idea. She said she called for help, but I don't know what she meant. TONY!"
"Just a second!" Tony shouted. "Okay, Alyssa Hames, address: 3902 Lyndhaven Court. It's a condo complex in Fairfax."
"Fairfax?" McGee repeated. "It'll take us a half hour to get there."
"Drive by the Navy Yard and follow us in the sedan. We'll light it up." Tony clicked off the line.
McGee handed his phone to Abby and peeled the car around in the opposite direction, gunning the Porsche engine to life and racing back the way they came. Approaching the Navy Yard, he saw the fleet sedan pull out into the street and put on its sirens. McGee approached and kept in tight formation with the sedan. Abby tightened her seatbelt as the car rocked back and forth while weaving around traffic.
The building was a three-story brick building from the 1960's divided into units. The second and third floors had concrete balconies while the first floor had a patio with a sliding door entrance. The two cars skidded to a halt in the middle of the court, and the team exited their vehicles with weapons drawn. They noticed a black sedan illegally parked just in front of the condo building.
"Abby!" Gibbs barked with a wave of his hand. "Back in the car and stay down!"
She nodded and curled up as low as she could in the front seat of the Porsche.
Tony studied the outside of the building. "She's in apartment 202, up there!"
He pointed to a balcony on the second floor where a light was on in the apartment. Suddenly the light source moved downward, like a lamp being knocked to the floor with a loud thud.
"Move!" Gibbs roared, leading the team through the front door.
The team thundered through the door and up the stairs to the apartment. Gibbs didn't knock before barging through the door into the living room, which showed signs of a struggle. As they entered, they heard the sound of a body being dropped and a scramble from the kitchen. Before they could spread out, a man in black clothes darted out from around a corner and body-slammed Gibbs, pushing against the others and knocking the group down.
A woman's bloodcurdling voice screamed, "SOMEBODY HELP!"
The sound of a man yelling from the kitchen reverberated as McGee pushed Tony back up. The man who knocked Gibbs down landed a blow across his face before Ziva bolted up and slammed her hand into his neck. As he coughed and slouched back, Alyssa ran out from the kitchen holding a large knife but was soon tackled by taller man also in black gear with a bloody slice across his arm. He landed a punch to her abdomen and wrenched the knife from her hands. Tony lunged forward and pushed Alyssa's attacker off of her and wrestled him to the floor as the other man deflected a kick from Ziva and whipped his elbow around into her face with a crunch. The taller assailant kicked Tony off of him and into the bedroom to try to separate him from the team for an easier kill.
McGee grabbed Alyssa and tried to pull her away into the kitchen for safety, but momentarily freed from Ziva's attack, the shorter man swung his foot directly into McGee's sternum which knocked him backwards into the doorway by the kitchen. The man swept up the knife and drew it back in preparation for a fatal slash to Alyssa, but the deafening bang of two shots and the ripping pain in his chest propelled him against the sliding balcony doors. Four more shots from Gibbs and Ziva's drawn guns pierced the assailant and the glass of the left sliding door, which shattered as the man's dying weight fell backwards against it.
McGee scrambled from the floor to the bedroom while Ziva checked the kitchen and pantry to ensure there were no other assailants. Gibbs watched in a daze from the floor as Alyssa unhooked something from the dead assassin's belt, then with a quick fearful glance at Gibbs from behind her disheveled brown hair, she hurried out the shattered door and jumped from the balcony.
"Alyssa!" Ziva yelled as she emerged from the kitchen, then gave a look to Gibbs requesting permission.
"After her," he wheezed as he stood back up and saw Ziva leap over the balcony railing.
The taller assassin slammed Tony against the bedroom wall and punched him across the face while holding a short, thick metal tube in his hand. Tony tried kicking sideways into the man's knee, but the man heard McGee's approach and locked Tony into a headlock before whipping him around to be a shield from McGee's drawn gun. Tony wheezed for air and looked at McGee with eyes full of focus, anger, and fear.
"Let him go!" McGee yelled. "There's no way out of this!"
"Wanna bet?" The man dryly dared before slamming his elbow against the window behind him, breaking the glass and sending pieces falling below.
McGee knew the attacker wouldn't let Tony live. He looked between Tony's legs and saw that one of the man's legs was exposed. He quickly aimed and fired a round into the man's shin. An agonized howl filled the room. Tony took the opportunity to jam his body back against his attacker and loosen the grip around his neck. He dove to the ground, leaving the man's chest wide open where McGee fired three more rounds. The man's stunned and pained face froze as he slowly slid down the wall with a stain of blood painting the wall behind him.
Tony hacked and coughed for breath on the floor by the bed, his lip bleeding and face cut. McGee dropped to the floor and helped him sit up against the bed.
"Tony!" He yelped worriedly. "Come on, breathe."
Tony let out a long, pained groan and another cough. "Godsakes, McGee, this chick better be way into you."
McGee panted and sighed with relief, then looked to his left as the assassin left out a final breath and slouched forward. The man's hand hit the ground, releasing the metal tube he held with a light clinking of metal. McGee's eyes widened in horror when he realized what it was:
A military-grade high-explosive grenade.
"Tony! We gotta go, NOW!" he shouted and shoved Tony to his feet and ahead of him out the bedroom door. "GIBBS, ZIVA, GET OUT!"
Blinding light shot out from the bedroom as the explosion shattered the walls. Both McGee and Tony were lifted off their feet by the force of the detonation. Tony was thrown forward while McGee slammed head-first into the balcony doorframe and down to the floor. The blow ripped through McGee's head with the deafening blast of the explosion, and searing heat seemed to scorch his back as his vision blurred to darkness.