Authors note
The usual disclaimers apply, as much as I would love these characters to be, they are not mine.
………………………………...
Special Agent Jethro Gibbs strode into the bullpen at NCIS headquaters, coffee in hand, scowl in place. He strode to his desk, deposited his trench coat onit and turned to survey his team
"Where's McGee?" He demanded of the two agents sitting at their desks, Kate Todd lookedover at her co worker Tony DiNozzo and then to her boss
"on his way Gibbs, there was a pile…" she got no further
"Fine, you two… Abby's lab now" Gibbs demanded as he strode towards the elevator never pausing to see if they followed or not.
The ride down to the floor that held Abby's forensic lab was a silent one, Gibbs stood at the front of the elevator whilst Tony and Kate stood silently behind him shooting enquiring glances at each other, and his back trying to judge the mood of their boss and the cause of his haste to Abby's lab
"Uhh boss…" Tony started pausing as the older agent turned to look at the man behind him "what's going on?" he finished ignoring the glare coming from Gibbs's eyes
"If I wanted to tell you in the elevator, I would have" growled Gibbs turning to face the doors again, wishing the coffee cup in his hand wasn't now empty.
The elevator came to a halt and Gibbs stepped out of it followed closely by Kate and Tony into the sterile corridor and then through the set of glass doors that led to the inner sanctum of the lab. Gibbs registered but ignored the music that was pounding away in the stark white room that was Abby's domain and made his way to the black haired and black garbed figure bent over a computer screen in the corner; Gibbs walked over and touched the young woman's back gently.
"Arghh…. Gibbs, don't do that!" wailed Abby the resident lab rat and Goth of the team, "I really, really hate it when you sneak up on me" she chided her boss as she spun her chair round to glare at him before a smile broke out
"So what ya got me?" she asked looking at Gibbs expectantly and with a sparkle of intrigue in her eyes,
silently Gibbs handed her a plastic bag with a sheet of paper and envelope in it, which he had been carrying since entering the bullpen mere minutes ago
"This arrived in my mail box this morning, put it up on screen" he told her as she put on white rubber gloves. Abby shot Gibbs a look under her heavy black fringe, but turned back to her computer and after a few moments did as he asked, Tony and Kate took an involuntary step towards the large plasma screen suspended on the wall and read the note Gibbs had received
'Her flame shot hair, lay upon her bed
Her torn and dusty clothes no barrier as she bled
One of your few has paid the price,
But can you find out who?'
Gibbs stared at the screen as if he could work out the riddle through the power of stare alone; Tony shot Kate a questioning glance but the female agent just shrugged her shouldersand shook her head, her eyes betraying her confusion as to the meaning of the note.
Abby spun back to her desk, grabbing the letter and envelope and striding to another area of the lab "On it boss" she called over her shoulder "Finger prints, analysis and anything else I can pull off it" she told him without waiting to be asked or even looking at him
Gibbs watched her move about the lab, her actions hurried but not rushed, without conscious thought his eyes checked her hair to see if she had dyed it red, he breathed a silent sigh of relief, no flame shot red hair there then. With that he turned to Tony and Kate
"I have spoken to a few people this morning already, and almost everyone I can think of with flame shot hair is accounted for at present" he told them his eyes daring them to make a comment on the fact that he had a pre disposition to red headed women.
Kate watched Gibbs carefully before turning her attention back to the letter, still displayed on the screen,
"he might not have taken any action yet Gibbs, it could be a warning" she told him gently
