Authors note
The usual disclaimers apply, as much as I would love to these characters to be, they are not mine.
Chapter 6
Abby looked at her watch, it was only showing 9am, she tapped it sure that it was wrong, it felt like she had been here for hours. She smiled to herself, well technically she had she had been here for over 5 hours already but in work terms her day was only an hour down Her mind began to formulate a theory but she stopped herself, it was of no use to Gibbs and the case and today, that was all she was interested in, that and finding out who Constance Storm was to Gibbs she thought with a slight smile, turning back to the computer screen before her.
Tony sat at his desk, the phone to his ear, where he was sure it was permanently stuck. It was hell trying to find out any information from the foreign authorities, they distrusted the NCIS involvement and the USA government as a whole. He tapped his pen on his desk then reached into his draw and pulled out the packet of M&M's stashed there, he popped a few in his mouth then flicked one at Kate, sitting across form him at her own desk. She looked up and glared at him before putting the offending sweet in her own mouth, she turned her back slightly to him and tried unsuccessfully to ignore him. The next M&M landed in her hair, and she reached up and flicked it back, just as McGee walked past, catching him in the side of the head.
"Ouch" McGee cried as the sweet hit him hard, he swung to look at Kate she tried hard not to laugh as she stuttered out an apology to the younger man.
"It was Tony's fault" she told him sweetly, "it was aimed at him…"
"You got caught in the crossfire" Tony cut in gleefully, loving to see Kate squirm at getting caught playing childish games.
McGee started to reply but before he could say anything Gibbs walked past, brushing him out of the way
"If you three have nothing better to do, you can go home…permanently" he told them, his voice and face hard. He paused before sitting down, to impale them with his cold stare
Kate was the first to recover
"Sorry Gibbs" she told him gently before all three turned back to their work, leaving Gibbs to his thoughts and own private agony.
Gibbs sat at his desk, his eyes drifting to the clock on his screen, 3 hours before Constance landed he thought absently. Kate had found out that she would be landing at12pm at Baltimore Washington international airport, the organisation she worked for had hired a private medical jet to fly her back to the USA. Istanbul was in a state of devastation and did not have the facilities to care for her needs at the moment. And those medical needs were high, he thought as he mentally reviewed what Kate had told him earlier. Constance had been shot in the chest, the bullet had nicked her heart causing her to go into arrest. They had managed to pull her back, stabilise her and remove the bullet and then repair the damage to the heart, but it was touch and go if she would survive. The plane trip itself might kill her, but staying in Istanbul certainly would have.
His mind turned back to the last time he had seen her. Her hair had been longer than that in the news picture and it had shone with the red streaks she put in it. Her smile had always been the brightest thing about her though, she could turn the darkest day or mood into the sunniest just by smiling at him. But on that last day there had been no smile, only anger and pain. Pain that he had caused.
Gibbs looked up as an envelope was dropped onto his desk, the young mailroom assistant darted away quickly under the power of Gibbs stare. Gibbs looked down at the letter and paused. He quickly pulled out rubber gloves and pulled them on, the sound of the rubber snapping drawing the other three's attention.
"What you got there boss?" Tony asked as he walked to stand by Gibbs's desk, Kate at his shoulder, McGee standing back slightly form them, as if unsure of his place in the team.
Gibbs ignored them and slowly slit the letter open with great care, touching only the very edges where possible. He tipped the envelope up and shook out the note, a single sheet of paper fell to the desk. He paused momentarily before unfolding it calmly.
His uniform long gone
He never saw where the bullet came from
The few just got fewer
Gibbs stared at it before slowly looking up and his team assembled before him, his eyes sought out McGee's
"Where is John Matthews?" he asked quietly
McGee looked startled momentarily
"umm, he has a cabin in Vermont, his wife said that he went there fishing two days ago, there isn't a phone out there so she hasn't heard form him. I sent the local LEO's out to check on him boss, but they haven't got back to me yet" he told Gibbs in a rush
Gibbs pushed back his chair, grabbing a plastic evidence back and thrusting the note and envelope in it, "Get them on the phone, I want to know where John is NOW" he demanded striding towards the elevators, Tony and Kate close on his heels.
He spun back to face McGee again,
"Have you made contact with Harrow?" he asked
McGee nodded
"Yes boss, he has been placed in a safe house" he replied thankful that he had already done it
Gibbs nodded and turned back to the elevator as the doors opened, he stepped on without another word.
Gibbs, Tony and Kate stepped off the elevator as it reached Abby's floor and quickly made their way into Abby's lab, the music was pounding enough to wake the dead thought Gibbs sourly, he strode over to the corner and hit the off switch on the stereo system that was causing the racket.
"Hey…!" Abby said as the music suddenly stopped, she paused when she saw Gibbs' face and the bag in his hand. " Another one?" she asked him holding out her hand. Gibbs paused looking at her outstretched hand before slowly handing it over.
"Yeah Abbs, another one, I need anything you can give me" he told her his voice sounding drained and tired. Abby nodded and spun round, taking her rings off so that she could put on her gloves.
"On it Boss man" she told him turning her head to smile at him, but it didn't quite make it to her eyes, she could see clearly the strain this whole thing was having on Gibbs. She looked over at Tony and Kate who both shrugged their shoulders and softly shook their heads in despair.
Abby turned back to her work and put the note up on the large screen. As they all read it she looked at Gibbs
"Do you know who the note refers to?" she asked the room at large.
Gibbs looked at her bent over her keyboard.
"Yeah, the only one who it could be is Matthews, he was a marine like me" his eyes took on a distant look and he started to recall the details of the few referred to in the note
