They secured the crime scene, met with the Metro detectives to get the case kicked to Tobias' team, and then Jethro sent his own team back home while he, with little other option, stayed back at NCIS with Werth.
The man was a rather viable suspect, so he could not just let the man leave, and he was not about to take the unstable man home and put his wife at risk. So, he grabbed the younger man a cot and chatted on the phone with Shannon.
Come 0730 that morning, Jethro's team was all awake and back at work. So, while he had both Ziva and DiNozzo processing the crime scene, McGee drove him and Werth to Tobias' house so that Jethro could talk to the man face-to-face about taking his case, stopping for some coffee on the way.
Tobias had been on assignment but apparently had just got back from Baltimore early that same morning.
Jethro knocked and a very sleepy Tobias, dressed in a housecoat and a pair of slippers, answered the door. The man also looked like he'd taken a punch or two recently, and was sporting a decent-length beard. "What happened to your face?" he inquired.
"What happened to your arm?" Tobias countered.
His lips quirked upward. "The job."
His friend gave him a pointed look. "Same."
Smiling, Jethro offered his friend the large coffee that he'd bought on the drive there. Tobias hesitated and looked at Jethro before accepting it.
"Office said you just got home a few hours ago," he said.
"RICO case," Tobias explained. "Couple of Mob hits. Deep cover. No sugar?"
He held out a packet of sugar to the exhausted FBI agent.
Tobias sniffed the coffee and then took the packet of sugar from a still smiling Jethro. "Try not to look so chipper." The man then poured the sugar into the coffee, taking a stir stick from Jethro. After he stirred it, the man took a long pull off his coffee before finally speaking. "All right, go."
"I'm taking your crime scene," he stated simply.
"Let me hop in the shower," Tobias said, turning around and starting to close the door.
"Tobias," he said, unable to resist lightly teasing his friend, "Nice slippers."
The man didn't respond, just closing the door and heading to the shower.
The man took his sweet time and by the time Tobias was showered and they were in the car, McGee was napping.
Jethro just waited until McGee finally jolted awake. He then eyed the young field agent with a small smile. "Anytime Alice."
McGee started to say that he wasn't sleeping, he and Werth were just talking. McGee looked in the backseat though as he spoke and found that Werth was sitting upright, wide-eyed, with Tobias sitting next to him.
Jethro could see the moment it registered for McGee that he'd actually passed out.
"Alright, let's go process the scene," Tobias said.
Jethro just smirked.
Tobias eyed Jethro, having caught his expression. "You're already doing it aren't you?"
"Good guess," he replied, having McGee drive them back to the Navy Yard.
Once they were at NCIS, Jethro called Ducky who gave him his preliminary findings. The Medical Examiner hadn't found much yet, but his throat had been slit with what appeared to be a serrated blade.
While Jethro was doing that, Tobias quickly met with one of his own agents, getting a file immediately sent over.
They then headed the main conference room so that Tobias could go over the case file that the FBI had on Aaron Szwed for interstate trafficking with them.
"Bureau's case file on Aaron Szwed for interstate trafficking," the FBI agent said. "It's just allegations. He runs a fleet of trucks moving product overland."
"Looks legit," he said.
Tobias gave a small nod. "His delivery rate is higher than industry average. Prices are higher, too. He uses two drivers per rig, alternating."
"Heatherton told me one's always armed," Werth said.
"Came across our radar last year," Tobias continued, "when one of his drivers shot a would-be hijacker. The firearm was legally registered. Szwed didn't take any flack." The FBI agent pointed to the photo ID up on the plasma. "Gerald Lucas is listed as his head of security. But I couldn't find any employment records for Heatherton."
"He was off the books," Werth said. "Why don't we bring him in and ask him about it?"
Jethro eyed the discredited Marine. "Three reasons."
"What's he moving, where's he moving it, and who's he moving it for?" Tobias stated without missing a beat. "It's tough to run an interrogation if you don't know the who, what, why, where, and how."
Jethro's phone started to ring.
"We know the when," Werth pointed out.
He answered his phone. "Yeah, Duck? About two minutes." He turned to Werth who was getting up to follow Tobias out. "No, stay." He placed some snacks in front of the younger man. "Eat." He started pouring a glass of water. "Drink."
"No," Werth said, "I'm good."
"You're good when I say you're good," he said. He placed the cup - in a bag - for the urine test in front of Werth. "And the lab says you're good."
With that, Jethro headed out of the room to catch up with Tobias.
In the elevator, Tobias asked Jethro about Werth and the 'co-operative' witness line he'd given. Jethro told him a little bit about Werth and how he messed up as a Marine and how he gave Werth the Silver Star Jethro himself had earned.
"You know," Tobias said, "it's not like he's wearing your pin. You're not going steady with the guy."
"Tobias," he said, "it didn't mean anything." Except it did.
"I think it meant something to him," Tobias said as he stepped out of the elevator and started walking towards autopsy. "We can use the information he's got. Gives us the inside track. But it doesn't go further than that. It doesn't matter what he thinks he owes his friend."
Entering autopsy, Ducky greets them and starts going on about how in some Eastern countries, it is believed that if you save a man's life, then you are responsible for that life for the rest of your days, suggesting that's how Werth felt about Hetherton. "I can imagine the pain the poor boy must be experiencing at the loss."
"Assuming," Tobias said, "he's part of one of those Eastern cultures."
"Oh, East, West, the mutual saving of a life is a powerful bond." The medical examiner chuckled and glanced between Jethro and Tobias. "As evidenced by the two of you."
"Is that why we're friends?" Tobias drawled.
"It's more like shared misery," he deadpanned.
Tobias shot him a look. "God knows you've got enough to go around."
"Hey," he quipped, "I'm a happy guy."
"And we all know why," Tobias teased.
"You don't know what I've been doing," he quipped. "I haven't seen you in weeks."
"Well, whose fault is that?" Tobias retorted. "You only call when you need something."
Jethro eyed the FBI agent, not quite able to hide his amusement at their banter. "Well, apparently when I need grief."
Ducky gently interrupted them both with a cough and pulled their attention back to the body and his findings. The medical examiner then informed them he'd found that Heatherton's fingers had been severely fractured.
"Recently?" Tobias asked.
"I just found them," Ducky said in jest, a joke that Jethro couldn't help but smile at.
Finishing up in autopsy, they headed back upstairs to the squad room, Ziva and DiNozzo having both just learned who their confidential witness was, DiNozzo clearly less than pleased. "Szwed's truck rolls in six hours. What d'ya got?"
"We've got nothing," DiNozzo informed him.
"I don't like the sound of that," Tobias said.
DiNozzo put on a bouncy, happy voice. "We've got nothing."
That earned him a dirty look from both Jethro and Tobias, DiNozzo visibly crumbling.
At that point, Jethro suggested that they put someone on the truck, namely Werth. In response, his Senior Field Agent made a comment about Werth in relation to Rambo, which, of course, Jethro opted to ignore.
Tobias agreed with DiNozzo, however, making it clear he thought it was a big gamble.
"Let it ride," he said simply.
Jethro started to work out the plan with the team, everyone as on board as they were going to be and while Tobias went to talk to one of his agents, Ziva and DiNozzo were cleaning out the van, and watching Werth, Jethro went to see Vance.
After talking with Director Vance about their current case, as well as the most recent threat assessments, Jethro made his way down to Abby's lab. It was already 1400 and they were very much on the clock.
"He pushed me out of the way of a speeding car," he heard McGee say.
"Pushing people is really rude, McGee!" came Abby's reply.
"Seriously," McGee said. "He's up at the crack of dawn... if he goes to bed at all. What exactly is running through that guy's veins?"
He stepped into the room. "Coffee, McGee."
McGee gave a weak chuckle. "Right, Boss."
"No," he said, "get me some."
"On it, Boss!" McGee said, immediately moving to do as asked.
"And get everyone ready," he added as McGee walked out.
Abby started walking back with him to the main part of the lab, eying him as they walked. "You're enjoying having a valet."
"You done?" he asked, knowing what she was implying. He was running McGee a bit ragged and knew it. Of course, he was doing it deliberately to see how far he could push McGee before McGee said no. He didn't think McGee owed him anything for saving his life, even if Jethro did end up with a busted shoulder, and this way his way of trying to show McGee that. Plus, he genuinely couldn't drive. He tried once, and very quickly regretted it, his shoulder hurting even more.
She nodded, pointing out the earwigs that she'd set up for them.
"And the tox screen?" he inquired.
Abby swiftly passed him a printed copy of the test results. "Positive for flunitrazepam," she said. "Werth was roofied." She eyed him. "Is there anything else you need?"
He smirked. "If there is, McGee will do it."
Leaving the forensics lab, Jethro headed to the evidence garage to meet with his team and Tobias Fornell. "Okay, ready to roll here."
"Yeah, Boss!" DiNozzo said. "Let's get this guy out of here."
"He needs to be wired," Ziva said.
"Yeah," he stated. "We gotta get him in first."
"Then we wire him?" Ziva asked, clearly confused.
Tobias glanced at her. "We got a plan for that."
"McGee," he said, "go."
"These are aerial photos of Szwed's distribution hub in Manassas," McGee explained, pointing to one of the many photos he had laid out. "That's the loading dock, access road which leads to Route 409. Now, this is Gerald Lucas, Aaron Szwed. I pulled, uh, prepass tracking numbers on all of their rigs."
"Somehow I doubt that'll help," DiNozzo said.
"Well," McGee said, "maybe we'll get lucky."
"No, no." Tobias glanced at all of Jethro's agents. "The less we leave to luck, the better with a civilian on the inside." The long-time FBI agent then eyed Werth. "Putting a lot of faith in you, Son. Observe only."
Werth gave a curt nod. "Understood."
Jethro turned to Werth. "One of ours goes with you as your partner."
"Find out what's in the truck and take it to the other end," Tobias added. "We'll be following, then we'll bust both sides."
Jethro glanced at everyone. "Two ways to follow."
DiNozzo immediately caught on. "Rule number 27."
"First way," McGee recited, "they never notice you."
"Second way," Ziva finished, "they only notice you."
"One team inside," Tobias stated, "two teams trailing."
"Fornell's with me," Gibbs informed them.
"Well, then where are we?" DiNozzo inquired
"DiNozzo," he said, "you and McGee can be the invisible tail car. Ziva -"
The young Israeli nodded. "I'm with Damon."
Jethro nodded before taking his leave, Tobias following close behind.
The pair then headed to Jethro's house to change cars while Ziva and Werth went to the meet, DiNozzo observing and keeping him posted.
Given the time, Shannon had actually just gotten home from work, leading to a couple of slightly baffled looks when he walked in so early, accompanied by Tobias.
"You're home early," she said.
"Not home," he explained. "Just needed to quickly stop in but we have to leave soon."
"We're actually the middle of an op," Tobias said.
"The case from last night?" she asked.
"Yes," he confirmed. "Tobias here's got co-point with me."
Tobias gave him a funny look. "Well, someone stole my crime scene."
He gave a snort. "The same person who got it sent to you, to begin with."
Shannon rolled her eyes. "Have fun you two." She eyed Tobias. "And make sure my husband behaves, hmm? His shoulder's still injured."
Tobias gave a sardonic laugh. "Yeah, right. He listens to me so well."
Now it was Jethro's turn to roll his eyes. He wasn't amused for long though, as his cell started ringing and he looked like a complete fool trying and failing to grab it.
"You want a hand?" Tobias asked, trying not to laugh.
He shot Tobias a dirty look.
"Oh, come here!" Shannon told Jethro, also trying not to laugh at him.
His wife grabbed his cellphone and handed it to him, Jethro immediately answering the call from his Senior Field Agent. "Yeah. Gibbs."
"Hey, Boss!" DiNozzo said. "We got a truck pulling in. "Looks like it might be getting close to kickoff. What's your 20?"
"Switching cars," he said. "We'll be on the road."
"Which vehicle?" his wife asked.
"My Dodge Charger," Jethro replied, not really thrilled about having to give Tobias the keys to his Dodge Charger. The car was in mint condition and he really didn't want his friend, not known for being the best driver, wrecking her. At least he wasn't as bad as Ziva. She was a horrifying driver, although the young woman had improved a lot since arriving in the U.S.
"This really is a big deal for you, isn't it?" Tobias lightly teased, a big grin on his face, "Letting me drive your car?"
"Yeah, whatever," he said, grabbing and tossing the keys to the car at his friend. "You break her, I'll shoot ya."
He did not miss the amused look on both Tobias and Shannon's faces.