"Yes, thank you, ma'am."

Already on her way she turned around.

"We're going to have a rather personal talk. I think you better call me Megan."

"Jethro," Gibbs answered in return.

When she came back with two cups of coffee, she sat on the sofa opposite of Gibbs.

"What was your agent's name?"

"Kate, Caitlin Todd."

"I don't think I know her. She must have joined after my leave. Another victim for Art

VanHusen."

"Victim? I which respect?"

"Respect is just the word. He doesn't respect women at all…."

She paused and Gibbs knew better than to push her.

"Agent VanHusen has a habit of choosing a young female agent as his personal target.

And he's good at it. You never feel safe; he corners you when ever he gets to be

alone with you. And of course he makes sure, nobody ever sees anything."

"Did you report this to your superiors?"

"Yes, I was naïve enough to think they would help me. VanHusen's father is close to the

director. They served in the same unit, they are members in the same golf-club. I was advised

not to take the whole thing too serious. My complaint never made it into his files."

Gibbs could see how much having to recall this time of her live hurt Megan.

"Megan, I know this isn't easy," he said with a low voice, not trying to hide his sympathy.

"But he's still out there. He's still working with women. And I'm pretty sure he hasn't

stopped doing what he did to you."

Megan looked at him.

"What do you want me to do?"

"For a start, tell me exactly what he did. I'll talk to Kate then. And I'm sure we'll find other

victims if we look through the files of other female ex-agents. That's a lot of witnesses and lots

of testimonies. We'll bust him, Megan. We'll make him pay for what he did to you, Kate and

who knows how many others."

"They won't let you lay an eye on their files."

"We can do it. How do you think we found you?"

Megan still studied him. She had felt bad about VanHusen still being out there hunting. She

often thought that maybe she should have done more. And now fate had made the decision for

her. Gibbs definitely seemed to mean business. And Megan felt she could trust him.

So she told him her story, not leaving out the smallest ugly detail. When she started to cry,

Gibbs took her hand and gently rubbed her knuckles as she went on. And when she had

finished, he stayed for another hour and made sure she was ok, before he left.

In the doorway he handed her his card.

"Call me anytime. If you need help or just want to talk, just call, ok?"

"Yes, Thanks Jethro. I will."

Gibbs sat in his car for a while thinking about whether he should go and talk to Kate right

away or wait until tomorrow. But then, he knew he would have gone mad worrying about her

by then, and judging from the impression of the last days, she didn't sleep anyway.

Kate, who'd been staring at the same page of her book without reading for hours, wondered

who had the nerve to visit her at this time. When she opened the door, she was neither

surprised nor happy to see Gibbs.

He was like a Pit-bull. Once he found a trace he wouldn't stop until he knew all about it.

She knew she didn't have a chance to send him away, so she asked him in. She went right

back to her sofa and left it to him follow and find a place to sit.

Gibbs took off his coat and placed it over the back-rest of a chair. Then he sat down and

looked at Kate, trying to make her see, that he was here to help her, not to trouble her.

"Do you know someone by the name of Megan Carter?"

Kate thought about that for a minute.

"No, I don't think so. Is she connected with our case?"

"No, she been with the secret service."

"Must have been before or after I was there. Or we just never met. Why?"

"Before. She worked with agent VanHusen and she quit because of agent VanHusen."

Kate felt like the ground opened below her. He knew. He wasn't supposed to know.

She got up, went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water, never drinking it. She

flinched when Gibbs gently touched her shoulder.

"Leave me alone Gibbs, please."

"No, Kate, I won't. I wouldn't leave any of my agents alone in a situation like this, and

especially not you."

She turned around infuriated.

"What is that supposed to mean? Are you saying that I can't take care of myself?"

"Kate, I just..."

She wouldn't let him talk.

"Are you saying that cute little Kate needs her mighty boss-man to protect her?"

She was punching his chest by now.

Gibbs stayed admiringly calm. He caught her hands.

"No, it means that I care about you a lot more then I maybe should."