a/n: Sorri for the long delay between chapters... hopefully it wansn't too long a wait and i made this one xtra long! also i have gotten "to it" and there are only 4/5 chapters to go! Enjoy and as always: i live on feedback:) xxx claire
Both Abby and Gibbs turned to Kate, eagerly waiting for her to continue.
The two pieces of the puzzle finally linked together and a satisfied glee spread across Kate's face. However Gibbs wasn't that patient for the few seconds after Kate's announcement.
"What do you know Kate!"
"The suspect… she's…she's Lt McCuthens girlfriend… or ex- as he referred…" Kate said, looking from Abby to Gibbs, for some type of recognition.
Gibbs smiled…GIBBS SMILED!
"Well, that would explain why she had part of their unit uniform and passes. Go, bring in Lt Robertson, McCuthens roommate. I want to have a chat." He said, walking past the stunned Kate.
Kate and Abby looked at each other, both exchanging a 'What the…?' expression.
"Good work, Ka…" The rest of the sentence was cutoff by the sliding doors swishing closed behind Gibbs as he left.
There was a moment of silence, as the CD player happened to be in the process of changing tracks. They listened to the array of computers hum around them.
"I think he likes you!" Abby suddenly concluded.
"Oh, please!" Kate grumbled, giving a disparaged look, trying not to give anything away!
"No, seriously… I've been there for one amazing feat when he said 'please'! I'd never thought there'd be another one in my lifetime!" Abby continued.
"And you girl… were the cause of both of them!"
Kate crossed her arms against her chest, contemplating Abby's suggestion in the most subtle way she could.
"He's probably low on caffeine… by the way " Kate quickly relishing an opportunity to change the subject, "…I owe you a 'Big Gulp', what flavor today?"
Abby studied Kate closely, deciding to move on.
"The regular and jumbo size, thanks!" Abby said turning back to the piece of paper Gibbs had dropped her earlier, "…I'll get…back to…work on these hinky numbers… okay!"
Kate gladly took the hint, "Okay, see you later, and thanks Abs."
Abby turned her attention from the paper to Kate as she left, "I'm not wrong Kate!…like DNA doesn't lie!" She smiled and went back to work.
The Bullpen: Tuesday 1114
Little beads of stressed sweat were both forming on the foreheads of Tony and McGee.
They had found nothing, nada and zip!
On the edge of their seats waiting for a break-through, all eyes were on Kate as she came stepped off the elevator.
"Kate, Kate, come here!" Tony begged, he had nothing and needed someone to share the blame.
Kate gave him the 'i'm-not-a-dog-to-be-called' look, and went over behind her desk. She sat down and unlocked her draw to retrieve her Sig Saure.
Tony saw he was being ignored and made the short trip to the front of Kate's desk.
"Kate, you gotta help, McGee's can't find anything on our psycho suspect."
"Well, that's not my problem! …and do to you really have to add the word 'psycho'?" She stated matter-of-factly.
"Kate…" Tony began, "…did you SEE what she did to the pick-up bay merely hours ago!" Tony argued in a state of self-contained shock.
Kate rolled her eyes and ignored him and turned to McGee.
"McGee, do you want to come with me to pick up Lt Robertson?" Kate asked, standing up and holstering her Sig Sauer on her belt.
"Hey, what am I supposed to do!" Tony protested, looking from one agent to another for sympathy. "…This psycho doesn't have a record, and doesn't seem to exist in any government system!"
Kate frowned at his type of 'language' again, but McGee was the one to 'help him out.'
"Ah…Tony, try going through some independent records, like contacting the Philippian office. I've been on for...oh" McGee twists his wrist to look at his watch, "…an hour an a half, they should take you off hold any time soon!"
Tony shoots McGee a deadpan expression, but there's nothing Tony can do and McGee walks quickly to catch up with Kate as she exits the bullpen.
Interrogation Room #2: Tuesday 1254
"What do you know about her?" Gibbs questioned Lt Robertson whilst holding a picture of their 'psycho' suspect.
Lt Robertson was nothing like her, he was ready to talk even before Kate and McGee escorted him back to NCIS HQ.
"That's Johnny's, Lt McCuthens, ex-girlfriend…"
"What's her name?" Gibbs said, getting straight to the point.
"She said her name was Antoinette, I don't know her last name. I don't think Johnny did either!" Robertson grinned nervously; quickly disappearing at Gibbs continued the interrogation.
"Where'd you meet?" Gibbs interrupted.
"At a bar…just over a year ago now." Lt Robertson looked from the picture and then to Gibbs once more, "…yeah, she was way into him, I couldn't understand it! Usually girls like that don't come on that strong to guys like us..."
"What do you mean strong?"
"Well, at first it was 'getting to know you' chit-chat then she'd either come over or call everyday to ask him about his day and stuff. It was really weird." Recalled Robertson.
"Do you remember anything specific that she would always ask?" Probed Gibbs.
"About his day…what he did at work on the base and things. She seemed to be really interested. I don't think Johnny cared what they talked about, as long as she was interested he would spill his guts!"
Lt Robertson started to subconsciously rub his hands inside one another looking at the screen behind and the scarce objects on the table for some sort of distraction from the tense pause.
Then he added, "She would also have this European like accent sometimes when she got angry, I remember it sounded like Russian…"
"Why'd you guess that?"
"…Oh! Only 'cos my grandparents come from there and I grew up speaking a little." Answered Robertson earnestly, a little bit of anticipation coming through in his answer. It wasn't 'guilty' fear rather 'authority figure' fear.
Gibbs refreshed the information in his mind and leant back into his chair, his gut told him that he was telling the truth.
The Bullpen: Tuesday 1449
"So this Antoinette sourced out these two lieutenants so that she could learn about the base. Then she used both Lieutenants as pawns where they thought they were getting cheap alcohol and cigarettes when in-fact she was getting Alqaeda diamond currency and highly illegal explosive chemicals…what a multi-tasker." Summarized Tony, trying to get his head around it. They were all seated around Kate's desk, eating their take-out and briefing each other on the case update.
"She was very clever Tony. If the messenger Kristy Mai hadn't died, this would have still been going on." Kate pointed out, taking another bite of her to-fu wrap.
Most of the other NCIS agents had already gone home and their desks were empty. Nearly all of the ceiling lights were off and only their desk lamps were keeping things visible.
"To make it all go to plan, there had to be someone on the inside to make sure it went smoothly and that the wrong people didn't interfere. She was setup there specifically to be a link in the chain of the Alqaeda network. The information and clearance passes she 'gets' from the lieutenants allows her to go on the base without having to sign in as a civilian. " Added McGee.
"Civilians have to have a full security check before they are issued with their passes." Said Kate.
"But what I don't get is that, the Lieutenants are both guys, how could she get away with one of their passes?" Tony asked, looking puzzled.
"It isn't like the Pentagon Tony, this is different. There are a lot of people working on the docks. On the pass there's no photo; only their class, serial number, division and name…"Kate explained.
"Which would mean it would be written Lt. J. McCuthen and could easily be Lt Jane Mc Cuthen." Solved McGee.
They thought over the conversation; whilst Tony wrestling with a prawn on chopsticks, failing (again).
"Sorry… I'm out of forks." Shrugged Kate.
"So…" Kate continued, "…we need to find a full name for our suspect. Gibbs has gotten her fingerprints and dropped them by Abby… that may take awhile depending on our luck!
Right now, we need to link her back to her supplier, find the money trail."
Kate started to sift through the folder of evidence scattered throughout her desk.
"Here…" Kate said pulling out a photocopy of the piece of paper with its list of 20 lines of text in two columns.
Kate studied it slightly before handing it to Tony for a proper look. On one side there was what seemed to be initials of names and on the other a sequence of numbers.
"It looks like gibberish to me!" Tony stated, further handing the photocopy to McGee.
McGee is not so quick to hand the photocopy back around, he pauses mid chew of his take-out as the photocopy engulfs his full attention.
"I think I recognize the sequence of these numbers… they look like… like…"
"Spit it out McGee" Quips Tony, just as he loses control of the prawn and it infamouslyflicks out of the box and onto the floor.
In the background there is a familiar Ding from the elevator as it reaches their floor and Abby, who has a distinct caffeine-perky expression, makes her way into the bullpen. However it is not entirely a 'happy' look. She stops by the wall of Kate's cubicle to hone-in on the conversation before interrupting.
But she can't wait, she…has…news!
"Sorry, guys you have to hear this!" Abby says, almost clapping her hands together and interrupts McGee.
"I have a full name for our 'psycho' suspect…!" Abby began. Everyone's full and undivided attention switches from McGee to her in an instant.
"Ha, told you she was 'psycho'!" Tagged Tony, before resuming his concentrated silence.
Abby pauses, looking around the room for all eye contact and resumes, "Her full name is Antoinette Shevloski…"
"How were you able to track her down, she's not on ANY government database…" Protested Tony, who got in before either Kate or McGee.
"I was getting to that, Tony… patience grasshopper…."
"Abby!" Both Kate and McGee insisted.
"Alright! Antoinette Shevloski is from the Ukraine, quite close to where Lt Robertson guessed her accent. It's only slight and she speaks with an American accent really well…."
All three sets of eyes flicker with impatient insistence to get her back on track.
"…so, I called in a favor and was given short term access to the Ukraine government records system and with her fingerprints I was able to track down her original passport after a couple more big favors, and bribes." Abby explained, moving her hands in motion with her speech.
"So how come she's here and not in our system?" Asked Tony.
Abby just shrugged, "If you find out how she got in and who helped her, you'll find out!"
Kate stands up and raises her hand to high-five Abby and is rewarded with a 'SLAP' and smile!
"But that's not all!" Abby grinned.
"What?" They all chimed simultaneously.
There is another familiar Ding from the elevator as Gibbs makes his entrance.
"What's on the paper, Abby?"
"I was just getting to that, Gibbs."
Abby turns to the plasma screen and with the remote control, opens it up to show a scan of the document.
"In column A, the initials stand for names and in column B the sequence and quantity is similar to those of…"
"Bank accounts! I knew it!" Exclaimed McGee.
The four turn to McGee and then back to Abby for the rest of the puzzle.
"McGee, don't ruin it!" Abby then grinned, "…but I bet you didn't get this part."
She clicks a button on the plasma controller to switch the screen to zoom-in on the list of 20 initials in column A.
Her mood then softens, a lot…something serious is going to be revealed.
"I searched for what these initials all have in common, like a group of officers in a division or a memberships in a community organization…whatever…I found a match, and… it's not good."
Gibbs looks up from his desk; his full attention on what Abby is going to say next.
"Who are they Abby?"
"The twenty initials match… and I mean even one of them correspond to…" A pained expression streaks across her face, "…high-ranking officials in American government organizations…"
There is a shocked silence, Abby explains further, "Anything that you could ever think of with 3 or more single letter representations, especially with the word 'intelligence', is on it."
She continues on in the uncomfortable silence, "SECNAV, JAG, NSA , CIA, FBI…NCIS"
"We get the picture Abby!" Barked Gibbs.
"Sorry…" Abby puts down the remote and steps away from the plasma screen to stand over with Kate, whilst the other four stare disconnected at the plasma screen.
Tbc…………