Disclaimer: CSI and NCIS belong to CBS and a while bunch of other people who are not me.
A/N: Sorry this took so long but I tried really hard to make it not suck. I also have like 5 jobs... As always I am making up pretty much everything about computers, forensics and NCIS procedure. All I know I learned from TV.
House of Petty Officer Tom Dias.
Arlington Va.
"Brought you coffee." said Grissom, as he walked into the basement. The team was already processing the scene when they arrived. He quietly handed Sara a large cup of her favorite coffee. Their fingers brushed, both of them lingered longer than necessary. Tony watched the couple curiously, their every moment together was imbued with meaning. Gibbs walked up to him and smacked him on the back of the head.
"Ouch." Tony pouted.
"Pay attention."
"Oh, I was." answered Tony before seeing the look on Gibb's face, "Petty Officer Dias is a computer programmer at the Pentagon. Currently UA for 12 hours. We found over 2 million in counterfeit hundred dollar bills."
"We have twenty high end printers. But none of them should be able to do this." McGee said, motioning to the large suitcase full of money. "They would have had to be modified."
"We need to get everything back to Abby." Ziva walked passed Gibbs, holding a large printer.
"This computer very high end. Custom built. Took me ten minutes just to bypass the screen saver."
"What did you find?" asked Grissom.
"A lot of code. Most of the hard drive has been erased. We need to bring it to Abby." Admitted McGee.
"Than why are you still sitting there?" Gibbs stared at McGee. McGee jumped up and shut down the computer.
"This is high end counterfeiting, boss." Said Tony, "Non-sequential serial numbers."
"McGee..." Gibbs started
"Get everything back to Abby and go through every computer and printer."
" I want to know how he did this. "
"On it Boss." McGee jumped up and began to move everything into the truck, double time.
"DiNozzo..."
"Go through the money with a fine tooth comb." Said Tony
"Find out if he had any partners. Take Sara with you, she's got experience with counterfeit cases." Gibbs smirked at Sara and smacked Tony on the back of the head."
"What was that for?" asked Tony, rubbing the back of his head.
"Preemptive strike." Gibbs said.
"Thank you Boss." Answered Tony, he and Sara picked up the suitcases of money and brought it to the truck.
"Ziva, find out about his personal life." Said Gibbs,
"Family, friends." Ziva headed upstairs to the suspects bedroom, "Guys he hung out at the bar with."
"Ever been to the Pentagon?" Gibbs asked Grissom as they walked out the door.
Abby's Lab
NCIS
"Computers, printers and money, oh my!" Abby smiled at Sara, McGee and Tony as they walked into the room.
"Looks like two million." Tony handed Abby a Caf!Pow!
"Boss wants to know how he did it on these printers." McGee started unloading the computer and printers.
"Got to be customized." Abby put on a pair of gloves and held a bill up to the light, "You couldn't do this with your basic home computer."
"No kidding." Said McGee. Tony smacked him on the back on the head. "Ow! Tony!"
"Just doing what Gibbs would do." Tony said, "Sara and I got the money. Probie, do what ever Abby tells you to do."
"Stop showing off in front of Sara." Abby was already starting up the Petty Officer's computer. "You may use that section of the lab." She pointed towards the other end of the lab, without taking her eyes off of the screen. "McGee, open up the printers, I have a theory." Abby and McGee got to work while Sara and Tony set up at the other end of the lab.
"So you and Gibbs?" Tony asked with he usual tact.
"And you need to know this... why?" Sara answered, raising her eyebrows.
"We are working together Sara." Tony said, "We are team members, partners."
"Laying it on a little thick DiNozzo" Sara began organizing the money on the table, ignoring him.
"It's just... Interesting. They're very different." Tony looked aways
"Who is different?" Sara asked counting the bills and feigning ignorance .
"Grissom and Gibbs, They're very different."
"You think?" Sara said smiling softly, He stared at her for a moment, she broke the silence, "Are you planning on doing any work?"
"Yes." Tony said defensibly as he began to help her log evidence in.
"You're a gossip." Sara said, smirking at Tony.
"It's not his fault." Abby said from the other side of the room, "It is incredibly good dish."
"Why?" Sara asked, tired of being the center of office gossip, again.
"Well" Tony began, "For starters, you're not a red head."
Sara And Grissom's house
Washington DC
That Night
"How was your class really?" Grissom lay in their bed, waiting for Sara to come out of the shower.
"It was fine. Better than I thought it would be." Sara admitted as she towel dried her hair. "There are actually a few very bright students. It's interesting to watch their minds grow."
"Are you going to let me sit in on a class?"
"Maybe." Sara sat on the bed and kissed him. "Depends on my mood. How was the Pentagon?"
"An Office is an Office is an Office even the pentagon. No connection to the counterfeiting, at least not yet." He answered, watching her as she got into bed beside him.
"I've never seen counterfeiting this good." Sara's face flushed with excitement as she talked about the case." Grissom watched her, unable to suppress his smile, "Abby's is taking the printers apart, trying to figure out how he did it."
"I have no doubt that she will. So let's stop talking about the case." He kissed her, intoxicated by the smell of her shampoo.
"Gilbert" Sara smiled at him as he untied her robe.
"Sara." She pulled him towards her and he kissed her, hungrily.
Abby's Lab
NCIS
The Next Morning
"Abby." Gibbs stood over the futon and whispered in Abby's ear, hating to wake her up, "Abby."
"Hmm, Gibbs." Abby smiled in her sleep. Gibbs watched her, a grin playing on his lips.
"Abby." Tony shouted walking into her lab. Ziva stood next to him and took the opportunity to smack him on the arm.
"A who with a what now?" Abby sat up suddenly, looking around the room wildly. Gibbs handed her a Caf-Pow and she took it, happily.
"Got anything Abbs?" Tony asked. Abby stared at him as she sucked down a quarter of her Caf-Pow in one gulp.
"Petty officer Dias is a ingenious and very patient. This kind of code takes months to write, if not years." She brought an image up on the plasma, "The laser printer operates using a 400 colors spectrum. That's double the amount of an average commercial printer. Once he scanned in a bills he could print as many bills as he wanted. The program changes the serial number on every bill automatically."
"If he could print any denomination, why would he print hundred dollar bills?" Grissom and Sara walked into the lab, "Tens and twenties are much easier to get rid of."
"Excellent question Dr. Grissom." Abby smiled and brought up another image on the plasma. "He left in a rush. Obviously since he left two million behind. He didn't have time to finish wiping the hard drive. That combined with the printers, how much ink was left, image recognitions from the scanners..."
"How much?" Asked Gibbs, curious.
"At least twenty million in tens, twenties." Abby said. "Beautiful work. There is a particular smell. It's the only thing that's off. And of course it burns the wrong color but how often can one get away with setting random money on fire." She handed a bill to Gibbs, who smelled it before passing it to Grissom.
"Smells like ink." Grissom handed it to Sara.
"Our money doesn't smell." said Tony and Ziva simultaneously.
"You are correct Tony." Abby smiled at him
"Find the cash find the petty officer." Gibbs said. He and Grissom drank from their coffee cups and stared at the screen determinedly.
"Anyway to track it?" asked Grissom.
"I haven't been able to find the serial numbers he used." Abby admitted before adding, "Yet. Without them I'm not sure how we would be able to track them down on a large scale unless we can put a BOLO out on money with a very faint smell of ink." Abby paused and smiled brightly, "Gibbs, you are a genius. We can send out a BOLO on the money." Abby got to work sending out an alert, "We need to narrow down the search field."
"Where the hell is McGee?" Asked Gibbs, finishing his coffee and throwing it away.
"Oh, right" Abby walked over to her office and opened the door, "McGee!" she shouted loudly. McGee stood straight up from behind the desk.
"Boss!" McGee said, his hair stood up in every direction as he stared at them wide eyed with surprise.
"Get it together, probie." Tony said with a little too much glee. Gibbs smacked him on the back of the head.
"McGee, help Abby trace the money" Gibbs look out his vibrating phone and read the message.
"On it Boss."
"Tony and Ziva un-disappear Tom Dias. Grissom, we need to get to MTAC." They walked out together.
"You told me you would wake me up before they got here." McGee put his hands on his hip and looked at Abby.
"They woke me up too!" Said Abby defensively.
"Campfire" Tony said.
"Excellent idea." McGee smiled
"Do we have to call it a campfire?" Sara asked
"Yes." said Tony as everyone gathered in Abby's office, sitting on her various pieces of furniture. "What do we know?"
"Tom Dias disappeared with twenty million dollars of counterfeit cash." Said Ziva, "There is only a matter of time before Abby figures out how to trace it."
"Aw, Thank you Ziva." Abby hugs Ziva tightly.
"Um you are welcome." Ziva said, she hugged Abby back for a millisecond before extracting her self from Abby's arms.
"It's in tens and twenties." Said Tony, "That makes it a lot easier to get rid of fast."
"It's still twenty million dollars. That's a lot of cash to get rid of." said McGee
"Not in Vegas." Said Sara, smirking, "High rollers trade in millions of dollars for chips all the time."
"He could set up a bank roll." Tony stood up, "He could change it all over into new bills in a matter of hours."
"Might stretch it over a few days or weeks, if he wants to go incognito." said Ziva
"You know incognito but not f-ugly." Tony said
"For the last time that is not a real word." Ziva narrowed her eyes at Tony.
"You already argued about this for an hour yesterday!" Sara said loudly, "we settled it when I looked it up in the OED, it's not there. Therefor it's a made-up word."
"All words are made up." Abby interjected, egging the bickering on, she turned to McGee who sat beside her, "She's fitting right in."
"Campfires not over yet!" Tony took over the conversation. "We're forgetting the most important thing."
"The case." said McGee.
"No, probie." Tony looked at McGee like he was an idiot, "We might get to go back to Vegas." Tony raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Abby..."
"Find the serial numbers he used." Abby said saluting him.
"Sara..."
"I'll call Brass and Catherine with the BOLO" She said, noticing for the first time how much Tony reminded her of Jethro or at least how Jethro used to be. The thought made her have to suppress a giggle.
"Ziva start calling casinos. We need their video footage. McGee get us coffee." Tony commanded, "And Sara, I can call Catherine for you."
"Really?" Sara smirked at him
"I have noticed that you are very interesting in Catherine." Ziva purred walking towards him, "Why?"
"I feel like I know her from somewhere." Tony admitted, "I can't figure it out and it's driving me crazy."
"Why do I have to get the coffee?" McGee interrupted, "I've been here longer than Ziva."
"An assassin versus the elf lord" said Tony, "Who do you think is going to get the coffee?"
"No one has to get coffee." said Abby, without taking her eyes off of the computer screen, "Greg sent me a package of blue Hawaiian coffee. It's already brewing."
"You are magical." Tony took Abby's hand and kissed it, "Mistress of the dark."
"You've been watching too many Cary Grant movies again." Abby smiled at him.
"Campfire over." Tony said, "And I have to say that it wasn't our best. Let's stay on topic next time. No more petty bitching."
"You were the one doing the petty bitching." Ziva raised her eyebrows at him.
"Whatever." Tony narrowed his eyes at Ziva, "You heard Gibbs, let's un-disappear this guy."