The next morning the team walked in to find Gibbs there already scanning his computer for any information they could use.
"Wow…boss, you're here early…" Tony said, eyeing him skeptically, "what's up?"
"Trying to find information on the McAllister family," he said, not looking away from the screen, "there's not a lot of information about them…"
"Standard all American family?" Kate asked, moving to sit down at her desk.
"Yep…married for five years, a daughter, Jamie, fourteen, undoubtedly a handful," Tony said, "We ran this search yesterday before we left."
"I know, DiNozzo, but no one's perfect," Gibbs snapped, "Kate you're with me."
Kate looked up from her file, shocked, "but, Gibbs, I was going to…" She stopped herself, seeing the expression on her boss's face she knew any explanation would be wasted oxygen.
"Where are we going?" she asked, grabbing her gun from the drawer, following Gibbs to the elevator.
"We're going to talk to Ms. McAllister and her daughter," Gibbs barked.
"You really think they could give us something important?" Kate asked, wondering if the visit was really worth it; when she saw the look on his face she knew he had a hunch about the family.
The two agents arrived in front of the McAllister's house in record time; due in large part to Gibbs' 'short cuts'. The sun filtered through the maple trees lining the streets as the two took a minute to observe the neighborhood. A few houses down a little boy rode his bike, ringing his bell to keep his father's attention; the boy was beaming with confidence and pride that he was riding his first bike. On the other side of the street a woman was clipping away dead leaves and flowers from her garden, pausing to wipe the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. They turned their attention to 486 Pine Avenue, where the family lived; the McAllister's had inhabited this area for almost twenty years. Kate followed her boss to the McAllister's front door; ringing the door bell the two stood waiting for the widow. After pulling back the curtains enough to see out the window, she cautiously opened the front door.
"Mrs. McAllister, NCIS, we need to ask you a few things," Gibbs in false kindness; obviously anxious to get back to the office.
"Alright…" she said, her nervousness showing instantly.
"Mrs. McAllister," Kate began, but she cut her off.
"Please…call me Laura," she said; both agents smiled weakly at the invite.
"Laura, did your husband start acting irregularly in the past few weeks, or days?" Kate asked, in a kinder tone than Gibbs was willing to use.
"No…well…not that I noticed…why?" she asked, suddenly appearing nervous.
"Well…when we don't have a solid lead to use as a starting point," Gibbs began, in a cynical tone, "we have to start somewhere."
Kate shot a glance at Gibbs, "Can you tell us anything about him? Really, anything would help."
"Well…he didn't socialize much, the most I heard about his social life consisted of a bar not far from where he worked; that is when he was actually near the Naval building…" Laura explained.
"Can you tell us the name of this bar?" Kate asked.
"Ummm…Sea…sea…something…" she began, slowly drifting into memories, "Sea Glass! I knew it'd come to me…" Gibbs' eyes lit up the minute she mentioned the name. He knew that bar well, he'd gone there on many occasions himself for an after work drink; or to meet people who regularly inhabited that location.
Kate saw the light bulb go off in her boss's mind, his eyes said it all. What it was she had no idea, and she knew he wasn't going to tell her; definitely not in the company of Mrs. McAllister. She watched her boss excuse the two of them in an anxious manner, and she knew right away that whatever he'd thought of had to be important. Following him to the car, she smiled to herself noticing that he never forgot to give whoever they were talking to his number.
"So what's so special about this bar?" Kate asked, knowing her boss knew something.
"Not really about the bar, the bar is just the setting," he began in the tone he used every time he was stating an obvious fact, "it's about the people who live there."
"And who are these people?" Kate said, trying to hide her frustration. Gibbs always made them dig for information no one else knew but him.
"The government would rather ignore the existence of certain people. These are the people that opened the bar 'Sea Glass', the ones who hang out there to get a drink probably don't even know about that," the older man explained. He didn't appreciate the people who inhabited the bar after hours and even during business hours; but at this point he was convinced there was nothing more he could do except take them out.
"Who are these people? The Russian mafia?" Kate asked, half joking.
"No…" Gibbs began, "the Italian."
Kate couldn't believe her ears. The Italian mafia had killed McAllister, who would be next and why was he the first target? That of course was the job they had to do and the answer wasn't going to just fall into her lap. For once she really wished it worked that way.