Gibbs walked in quickly and wasted no time breezing past the young enlisted crew on his way to the sergeant major in charge's office.

"Who are you?" A gruff voice barked at Gibbs as he entered the office.

"Agent Gibbs, NCIS. This is Agent Todd and Agent Dinozzo."

"Oh. Well then, what can I do for you?" His voice softened a bit

"Well Sergeant...?" Gibbs deliberately lowered the man's rank by a degree.

"Colmes. Sergeant Major Colmes actually."

"Well Sergeant Major Colmes. We're here about Corporal Frank Summerville. He's one of your mechanics isn't he?"

Colmes' expression turned grisly again.

"Yes he is, or was, depending on where he really is right now."

"You don't seem to be very fond of the Corporal." Kate ventured aloud.

"He's a smart kid, he knows his way around an engine. But he cuts corners a lot. He takes trucks apart to scrounge the pieces instead of filling out the correct forms to get replacement parts. He likes to do things fast, not careful."

"Sounds like a real winner."

Gibbs nodded in agreement with Tony.

"I don't mind having him on my crew, he does good work. But I wouldn't want to count on him in a combat situation to do what he is told, or to hold to his training."

"Has he ever had an official reprimand?"

Colmes glared at Kate across his desk.

"You haven't checked his file yet I see. I gave him an official reprimand three months ago for disobeying a direct order I gave him about repairing a jeep. And before you ask, he's had several unofficial reprimands too."

"Where do you think he is right now?"

Colmes looked around and up in the air as if searching for an answer. Gibbs thought it a bit theatrical for his tastes, but let the Sergeant Major do his thing.

"It wouldn't surprise me to learn he'd gone AWOL. Or that he'd stolen spare parts from the base and had sold them. I'll be sad to hear that something tragic had happened to him, but nothing will surprise me."

The NCIS team thanked him and made for the door, but Gibbs had one last question.

"One last thing. Is there a place here at the motor pool where Summerville would have kept personal items? A locker or something?"

"Of course. It's down the hall on your left. Should have his name on it."

"Any combination we should know about?"

"No. The lockers don't have locks."

Gibbs thanked him again and they walked down the hall. Immediately they noticed the lockers, and something else that was very interesting. Tony seemed to see it first.

"Well would you look at that. Only one of them has a lock on it. Wanna guess whose it is?"

Sure enough it was Summerville's locker.

"Guess we have to go back and get the lock cutters."

"Don't bother."

Kate swaggered forward with two picks in her hand. She immediately set to work on the lock.

"You can't open a big Masterlock like that with two little bobby pins." Tony smirked.

Just as he finished talking Kate popped the lock off of the locker. She smiled brightly at him and opened the locker.

"You were saying?"

"Explain to me how lock picking is a skill you need to guard the President."

She glared at him a little but refused to be goaded after her victory. Gibbs stepped in front of the locker and began to pull things out. It's contents were sparse.

"Well, look what we have here."

Gibbs pulled out an envelope, which he opened.

"Tens."

He nodded to Kate's statement.

Feeling triumphant, they gathered McGee, who had made a discovery of his own, and headed back to NCIS headquarters.

---

Back at the office, they all met in Abby's lab, eagerly awaiting the results of her tests.

"Well Abbs?"

She grinned broadly. "They're counterfeit."

The whole team breathed sigh of relief and victory.

"How do you know for sure?"

"It passes all visual inspections, but it failed the ultraviolet light inspection. It's definitely counterfeit."

"Why the ten dollar bill though? Why not the twenty? It's the most heavily counterfeited bill in the world isn't it?"

"Exactly Tony. It's far easier to duplicate the ten, which has less security on it than the twenty for that very reason, not as many people bother to counterfeit the ten."

Abby nodded in agreement with Kate.

"How do you know that?" Tony asked.

"I used to work for the Secret Service remember, they were controlled by the Treasury Department."

"Oh."

Abby smiled at their brother and sister like banter, then continued.

"Ten dollar bills really are less secure, and easier to copy. They don't have color shifting ink that's as easy to see as the twenty, the design hasn't been changed as recently as the twenty and fifty, and it has some color shifting ink, but it isn't as advanced."

"But isn't the paper special?"

"It's actually not paper. It's really a cloth. Red and blue fibers are mixed into the cloth, making each bill unique before it's even printed. Try and print the bill out on regular paper and it won't matter how good your printer is, it just won't work. They even feel different. No texture to regular paper, it's too smooth and flimsy."

"But this is made out of the real stuff."

"Yes, which means our counterfeiters got their hands on blank money paper. By all accounts this is a pretty good job. But they missed one of the easiest ways to tell if the money is fake or not."

"What's that?"

"The security thread in the bill. When you hold it up to a light you can see the thread in there. Even on these fake ones you can see it, which might stop the casual observer. It's even in the right position, as each bill places the strip in a different place on the bill. But when held up to ultraviolet light, the strip in a ten dollar bill glows orange."

She waved an ultraviolet lamp over the bills and nothing happened.

"It's the easiest way to tell, and one of the hardest parts of the bill to duplicate."

"It was probably easier for them to get around most of the problems that counterfeiters have by actually working at a government print office. They have access to better scanners, printers, ink and material than your average crook does."

Abby nodded again in agreement with Kate.

"Yeah, but like your average crook they still made a easy to catch foul up that unravels their entire plan and allows the good guys to catch them."

"They made a bigger one than that. If you read the serial numbers on the bills from Rivers' bunk, they only bothered to make about four different sets of serial numbers for their design."

Tony was slow this time to catch on. "Meaning?"

But Kate was happy to bring him back on course. "Meaning if we look through the pile of ten dollar bills, every fourth bill or so will have a matching serial number on it."

"Oh."

Kate and Abby smiled to each other and Tony gave a sarcastic smirk.

"Okay kids, let's settle down a bit. So we know Rivers had these bills. What else? What about the bills we found in Summerville's locker?"

Kate took them out and handed them to Abby who waved an ultraviolet lamp over them. Nothing happened.

"Fake." Abby announced.

"McGee? What did you find in the base computer?"

"About what you expected. He had a file with the front and back images of the bill buried pretty deep in the mainframe. It was in his personal records on the database, I don't think he expected anyone to go looking there. Once I got into his records, it was one of the most recently accessed files."

Tony had pulled out a ten dollar bill of his own and was comparing the two side by side.

"Gotta give them some credit. I can't tell the difference."

Everyone peered at the two bills he held in his hands and nodded their agreement. Tony went to put them on the table but missed and they fluttered to the floor. He picked them both back up and still couldn't tell the difference.

"Uh, Abbs, you wanna help me here?"

She laughed at him and waved her ultraviolet lamp over the two bills. Her smile quickly died when nothing happened.

"Abby?"

"I don't get it. They are both counterfeit."

Gibbs turned to look at Tony accusingly. "Tony?"

"What Boss?" Tony answered innocently.

"Where did you get that ten?"

"It's the change I got last night."

Gibbs looked surprised. "You mean from your interview with the bar owner? Where did you take her?"

"The Sands."

Everyone rocked back a bit as that information sunk in. Abby meanwhile was comparing Tony's counterfeit note to the others.

"It's one of the four serial number combinations. It came from the Rivers batch."

"Looks like we need to pay one more visit to the The Sands." Said Tony as a smile formed on his face.

"Simmer down lover boy. Kate, I want you to check Summerville's history, also check Rivers and Victoria Johnson, the bar owner. Pay attention to any connections they might have together. Johnson just may be how they are moving their money and getting real money back."

Kate nodded and left the room to get to work.

"Tony, let's go."

---

Ten minutes later they were in Gibbs' car on their way to The Sands.

"Did they seem strange at all to you when you questioned them?"

"Not Vicky. She seemed innocent, and smart, just trying to run a business. Samantha on the other hand, she was a tough cookie. Acted like she had some place better to be, and wanted nothing to do with me. Can't imagine why."

"Yeah." Gibbs said as he rolled his eyes. They were just pulling into the parking lot when Gibbs' cell phone rang.

"Gibbs."

"Gibbs, it's Kate."

"What've you got?"

"Victoria Johnson has no connections to Rivers or Summerville. But Rivers and Summerville actually went to high school together, these two go way back. But while Victoria has no connection, I checked Samantha Johnson too."

"And?" Gibbs asked expectantly.

"Her and Summerville were married for a year. They divorced four months ago. They married at the local city hall, Rivers was the witness."

"Well, looks like we have our connection."

"I checked something else too while I was looking at personnel records. Summerville was five inches taller than Rivers, there's no way the body could be his."
"So it's Rivers?"

"Most likely. But that also counts Summerville out as the murdered. Abby said the angle of attack was from someone shorter than Rivers."

Gibbs took that in turn. "We'll see about that. Gibbs out."

He closed his phone down and they walked into the bar.

---

Once inside, Gibbs made his way to the bar with no delays.

"Are you Samantha Johnson?"

The woman at the bar turned around and smiled broadly.

"I'm Victoria, we met a few days ago when they found that poor marine's body in the parking lot. What can I do for you Agent Gibbs?"

Gibbs eyed her warily.

"Can you tell me where your sister is?"

She shrugged. "No idea, she isn't working today."

Again Gibbs stared her down, but she met his stare unwaveringly. Gibbs nodded to her and moved for the door, leaving his back to her. As soon as he stepped outside, Tony broke into a dead run around the rear of the building with Gibbs hot on his heels.

Tony arrived around the corner of the bar just in time to see Johnson burst from the rear door and bolt for her car.

"Freeze!" Tony yelled, drawing his gun as he chased her to her car.

She didn't slow at all, and soon she was opening the door to her car. Tony who was right behind her leapt into the air and slammed into her car door, shutting it and knocking her to the ground. Gibbs, who was right behind him traversed to his right and knelt behind Johnson, quickly snapping handcuffs around her wrists.

"Samantha Johnson, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder and counterfeiting. You have the right to remain silent, if you choose to give up that right, anything you say can and most definitely will be held against you in a court of law, you have a right to an attorney, if you are not able to afford an attorney, which I would find highly surprising at the moment, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?"

She screamed indescribable gibberish as Gibbs hauled her to her feet. "I'll take that as a yes."

Tony had finally gotten to his feet after shaking off the impact with the car.

"Good job boss."

"Dinozzo, I must say I'm surprised. Maybe I was wrong about you."

Tony beamed. "Thanks boss, but what for?"

"I knew she wasn't Victoria Johnson as soon as she said she remembered meeting me and said my name. I never met her; I let you handle the interview with her. I don't even know how she knows my name. But I never thought you'd pick up on that so fast."

Tony looked confused. "She didn't know your name?"

Now it was Gibbs' turn to be confused.

"Wait, if you didn't know she was lying, how did you figure out she wasn't really Victoria?"

"Obviously. The entire time you were talking to her she kept her eyes locked with yours. She didn't even try to check me out once. Obviously she wasn't Victoria."

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "Dinzzo..."

"Yeah boss?"

"Nothing." Gibbs said then muttered under his breath: "Another blind squirrel finds an acorn."---

---

Soon they were back at NCIS headquarters with Samantha Johnson in custody. Kate met them in the interrogation room.

"So what do you think?" She asked.

"We have good circumstantial evidence to pin her to the counterfeiting racket. We know how it works. Rivers supplies the fake money, Summerville gives it to Johnson, Johnson gives the money back as change at the bar and shares the profits from that with Summerville, who passes along his cut to Rivers. Fairly simplistic as far as these operations go."

"Alright, but that still doesn't tell us who that body we have is. All evidence so far supports Rivers. And if it is Rivers, where is Corporal Summerville?"

Gibbs nodded. "Let's find out."

He walked into the interrogation room with Tony and Kate watching him on the glass behind him.

"So tell me Mrs. Summerville-"

"Ms. Johnson will do, thank you."

"Ms. Johnson then. Where is Corporal Frank Summerville?"

"He's dead. I believe you have his body in your morgue."

Gibbs looked down at the palm pilot set up in front of him and saw words appear from Kate on the other side of the glass.

TOO HOSTILE. WHAT'S SHE HIDING?

"Where is your sister?"

"At home I suspect. She really wasn't working today."

"Is she in on your little scheme?"

Sam Johnson snorted in disgust.

"Yeah right, that twit couldn't even run that bar without me. There's no way she could run a counterfeiting racket. I ran my end alone"

Gibbs smiled triumphantly and Sam's eyes widened in shock as she realized she'd just confessed.

"So she was totally in the dark?"

Sam refused to speak now.

"Well that's fine. I have an agent on his way to her house now. I'm sure once she gets here you can both start talking."

He got up and moved towards the door. "And if not, I hope you two will enjoy a cell together for the next few days. We don't usually put two people in solitary confinement, it is solitary after all, but I guess we can make an exception in this case."

Sam appeared about to crack, and as Gibbs opened the door she burst out.

"Okay!"

Gibbs turned back to face her. "Yes?"

"I'll talk. Just keep her as far away from me as possible."

Gibbs nodded to her and gestured for her to begin talking.

"Frank is at my house. He killed James."

"Why?"

"James told us two weeks ago that he wanted out. It was becoming too risky to keep stealing the supplies and he felt bad about what he was doing. He said for my sake he would keep doing it long enough to let me get the bar's finances in order, but that he wanted to stop as soon as possible."

"An attack of morality."

She scoffed at that. "I never trusted the little twerp. I knew it wouldn't last forever. He was using his take of the money to pay for his grandparents' nursing home stay or something like that. But Frank refused to let him off so easily. They didn't speak for days after James told him. Frank figured if he threatened James six ways from Sunday, he would crumble and keep doing it."

"But that didn't work."

"No it didn't. James still said no. Frank invited him here to discuss the matter as a group. We met, we talked, but James said no. Like I said before, he agreed to keep it going for a little while so we could all be okay when he stopped, but he wouldn't budge beyond that."

Gibbs moved slightly to make sure the tape recorder on the table was working correctly, then continued.

"What started the fight between them?"

"You heard about that did you? Guess one of my waitresses talked. Frank was really drunk at that point. He started pushing James when things weren't working out. I was hanging in the back, but I saw what happened next. Frank ripped James' dog tags from his neck and threw them to the ground, then he shoved him really hard."

"Where did the dog tags land?"

"Somewhere on the ground, but they got soaked with beer when James fell into a table. When he tripped over the table, he fell hard into the pool table and cracked his head against it really well. He crawled on the ground some, probably looking for his dog tags. The kid was really proud of those, thought they were a badge of honor."

"Then what?"

"I don't know what happened then. Last I saw, Frank was helping James out the front door, and I went into the back and left."

Gibbs nodded. "Thanks."

He got up and walked towards the door.

"Wait, what will happen to me?"

Gibbs turned. "You broke federal law, it's out of my hands."

Sam sputtered as Gibbs walked out and closed the door on her. Kate and Tony were waiting for him.

"We'd better get going then."

Kate nodded and they rushed out of the office for Gibbs' car.

---

At Sam's house, they searched and found Corporal Frank Summerville upstairs. He made no attempt to resist arrest, and they read him his rights before returning with him to the office. Afterwards they met in the conference room to finish up the details of the case.

"Well I guess that explains the angle of attack. When he fell against the pool table that must have fractured his skull."

Gibbs nodded to Abby.

"He talked immediately when we got him back here. He thought Rivers was dead, but didn't want the trouble his death would cause to be traced back to him. So he drenched him in gasoline and torched him. He didn't realize he was still alive until Rivers started screaming. That's when he kicked him in the face to break his jaw. Rivers died shortly afterwards."

"What about Victoria, was she really in the dark about the whole thing?"

"Of course she was!" Tony piped in.

"Lover boy is right, and apparently so was Sam. She really was pretty clueless when it came to the bar. Sam ran everything, and showed Victoria her profits at the end of the month. Victoria never bothered to question any of it."

"Too bad about Rivers. He really was a good kid, just chose to do one thing wrong and that ended up killing him." Tony opined.

"Careful Tony," Kate cautioned. "The ends don't always justify the means."

"He was just a kid."

Gibbs ended the conversation.

"Most of them are just kids. Now get back to work. You have piles on your desks full of kids. Make something good happen for them."

Kate and Tony got up and went back to their desks and Abby back to her lab. Gibbs looked around the empty conference room and sighed at the tragic loss.

"Oh well, back to work."

End.

((All characters from Navy NCIS are the property of CBS and David Bellisario. This is but my hopefully accurate attempt to create a new adventure for them. Let me know if you liked it, I may write another. I'm not a fan of the fanfics where crazy stuff and romances happen with the characters, but I'm good with case files like these. Readers who enjoy Lord of the Rings (also Monty Python and Star Wars), might enjoy my Parody of the Rings: The Fellowship. Feel free to check it out, it's pretty funny))