Part 2: Gunning after the Wolfe
Ryan adjusted his work I.D. on his belt. As an officer now on duty as he was following up on a case, he was permitted to be involved in the investigation. Being a forensics officer, it came with a little more resistance. He spoke four languages, got a master's degree in science and passed police academy with flying colors. If that didn't scream perfectionism - he wasn't sure of what did. He'd called Horatio the next day and told him that Henley was planning to attack a federal agency. His boss had told him that he could sent someone up if he needed it. Ryan refused and said it was fine. They were needed in Miami and he couldn't shorten the team like that on such short notice.
As he entered the bullpen, Kate was the first to spot him. Was he always this serious? The look on his face was of one she hadn't seen when she first met him. "Ryan. Welcome. You're early." "Yeah.. jet lag, I suppose. And I have a brief to prepare." He indicated the stack of case files in his hands. Agent Todd nodded. "I get it."
"You're earlier than my team." Gibbs stated as he came from the elevator towards the desks.
Ryan cleared his throat. "Guess I'm just used to waking up early." Gibbs smiled. He liked this kid. It seemed he already knew what he was going to say. Wolfe didn't apologize. He just explained himself. Which was unusual to anyone who had never really been to NCIS for business before. Tony and Tim had heard that conversation and almost panicked. Nobody had ever did that on one of their first conversations with Gibbs.
"Ryan!" Anthony hissed.
Gibbs shook his head. "At least he listens to me, DiNozzo." "Sorry boss." he gushed. Ryan held back a laugh. So much for the critiquing. It seemed his cousin was becoming Gibbs' favourite. "Wolfe, what do we have?"
"So far, Abby has managed to match the fingerprint on the tape to our serial bomber. I compared the metal fragments from the bomb in comparison to the ones I listed in my case reports. Same manufacturing. Homemade bombs. Henley has no set address after he stopped paying rent for his motel room in Miami. I went through his bank history and found the receipt for the tape. Called up the hardware store and they confirmed it was our suspect. The tape appears to be his signature, with a different phrase written each time. I found trace on the up side of the tape, it was meth."
The silver haired agent's team were lost for words. He'd been working a lot. This was ridiculous how much he'd gotten from a small bomb. "You specialize in trace?" "Trace, A/V and DNA. But mostly, yeah." Tony didn't even know this much about his cousin. Sure he was smart but this was insane. Not even Abby worked that fast. He was a crazy investigator.
"Found the meth lab. Ran by some rogue sailors."
Gibbs had been drinking his coffee, and almost choked. "You what?" "I found the lab. I looked through some NCIS cases and found a cold meth case." The older man drew his cup from his lips and glanced at his team who were stood in a row with blank faces., "Grab your gear," then turned to the CSI. "Send me the location."
The agents grabbed their gear and headed for the elevator. "Good job." He told the young man, slotting his gun into his holster and following his team.
Ryan watched as they left. He wasn't NCIS so this wasn't his call, however, that didn't mean he wasn't on this case as MDPD Liaison. That was his calling. He pulled out his phone and called Calleigh. He'd missed a call earlier as he was working.
"Cal, what is it?"
"Where are you?"
"NCIS headquarters. Why? What's going on?"
He heard her breathe shakily. "Calleigh, you're scaring me." Ryan walked over to the window and held the phone closer to his ear. "There's a copycat. And he wants to get rid of the person who knows the most about this case.. and that's you. You're in trouble, Ryan. We need to secure you as soon as possible."
"Calleigh, I'm in a building full of feds. There isn't a way a person from Miami who wants me dead is going to get into this building and kill me."
Wolfe was stubborn. It was written that he was going to not want to take what she was saying. But a copycat that wanted to impress Henley was trying to show he could be of use by trying to murder the cop who is onto him was a big deal. "..what's the copycat's name?" "Alix Bayer."
He nodded. "Ok. I'll stay alert." "You better. I don't want to hear that the only link to our shared case with NCIS is cut by the lead CSI ending up dead." Calleigh was serious when she said that. Ryan was on this case by pure coincidence. If not, it would've been Eric going to Washington. Horatio thought sending someone different for a change would be a good idea. Until he heard about their serial bomber escaping to D.C. where his youngest was. Ryan was being followed. They were both after him. And he had no idea how he was going to get past that.
"Gibbs." The senior agent grunted.
"It's Wolfe. We have an emergency."
Jethro didn't understand where the young man was coming from. "What do you mean?" "Gibbs, I'm the next target. My colleague just informed me there's a copycat looking for me with a gun in their hand. Wants to prove their loyalty to Henley by killing the only person who knows the most and is leading the case being the only strong link keeping both Miami and Washington in connection with the evidence I collected in all six cases prior. They want me."
