"Abby, you rang?" McGee got the words out before Tony could speak, earning the younger man a glare from the senior agent. The doors slid shut behind the two men as the goth spun in her chair to greet them.
"Yeah, McGee. Hey, Tony. After finding the seat belt damage, I decided to go back over everything on Gibbs' car one more time. We know the brakes failed, but there were no signs of tampering. And there was nothing else wrong with the car. So I started thinking, if I wanted to get Gibbs, but I wanted it to look like an accident, how would I go about doing it?"
"Abbs!" Tony interrupted, slipping into his familiar role as the "boss" in Gibbs' absence. "Can we get to the point?"
"Your eyes aren't as piercing as his, Tony. Gibbs is still gonna have that one on you." Abby turned from the tall man and led the pair back to a worktable where she had a complex mechanical setup laid out. "Anyway, I thought if someone wanted to make it look like an accident, subtle was better."
Here she paused to indicate her layout. "May I present the basics of the brake system?"
"C'mon, Abbs!"
"Tony, this is important! Now you know how the system works. When you step on the pedal, the fluid is forced through the closed system to the individual wheels through separate brake lines. On a disc brake, which is what's on the Intrepid, the fluid is forced into the wheel cylinder, which operates the calipers, which close on the rotor. That slows the wheel." Abby turned to her display, which Tony now recognized as two brake system layouts, and pressed down on a pad.
"This is my brake pedal and this is a clean system. I press the brake and the calipers close on the rotor. Now, this one is using one of the lines I got from Gibbs' car. I'm going to point out that these lines are steel tubes with copper and lead coatings. Watch what happens when I press on the brakes."
Tony and McGee watched as the liquid spurted through tiny holes in the lines. "Shower time, guys! Our scumbag pin-holed the brake lines and effectively drained all the brake fluid from the system by the time Gibbs hit that tree. It's as effective as cutting the brake lines, only a lot more time consuming and," she said with a touch of reverence, "a lot more elegant."
McGee spoke up. "Wouldn't that only be one wheel though? Shouldn't the rest of the wheels have compensated for the loss of braking?"
"You're right, McGee, sensors in the system do allow for loss of pressure to one line or even front or rear brakes. In this case, though, it didn't help. All four lines were damaged," Abby told the men seriously.
The three exchanged glances, knowing now that this was no simple sleep-deprived or caffeine-induced accident. Pressing his lips together, Tony pulled out his cell and placed a call to the director's office.