Chapter 9 – Tony's Trail of Crumbs
"Palmer, what are you doing here?" Tony asked, dismayed, as they were joined by another companion. "And why the hell aren't you McGee?"
"Now, Tony," Jimmy said, almost soothingly, holding up a hand. "Relax. The situation is well in hand." The young man glanced at Ducky, who seemed somewhat perplexed that it was Jimmy who had joined them next, rather than Timothy, whom he had been absolutely sure would be the Terrible Trio's next victim. Gibbs looked on, curiously, wondering what half-baked, hair-brained scheme his remaining agents, his forensics specialist, and Ducky's assistant M.E. had cooked up.
Jimmy glanced at Gibbs, then pointed to his glasses, then signed the letters "GPS." Gibbs' crystal blue eyes sparkled. "I knew it," he said, smugly. "Whose idea was it?" Jimmy grinned proudly. "All of us. Abby, Ziva, Tim, myself. The only one who didn't have input was Caitlin. She was too busy drooling on my shoulder."
"Who brought you here, my dear boy, if you don't mind my asking?" Ducky seemed curious, relieved, grateful, and protectively concerned, all at the same time.
"Some red-haired woman. Owns the coffee shop. Quite a looker, for someone so…" he trailed off, noting the hairy-eyeball he was receiving from Gibbs. "Someone so mature." Tony snorted and snickered to himself. "Jimmy, my favourite little Autopsy Gremlin, I knew I liked you for a reason… so tell me, what plan have you guys cooked up to get us out of this predicament?"
Jimmy settled back, stretching his long legs as best he could in the cramped quarters, then filled them in on the plan.
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"Hah!" Abby cried, triumphantly. Ziva looked at her, brown eyes sparkling. "What have you found, Abby?"
"That fingerprint, the partial in the foam on Gibbs' cellphone, I got a match. Or a pretty probable one, anyway. We were right, it's one of his ex-wives. Guess she's got one hell of a grudge going on."
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Ziva pointed out, "You just remember that, Little One," she said to Caitlin, slumbering peacefully against her shoulder. Ziva turned as the phone rang, and watched as Abby reached over and picked up. "Got a lock on Jimmy?" Tim asked, from the other end of the line. Abby motioned Ziva to go over to the computer that was being used to track the two men, then put him on speaker phone. Ziva smiled then turned, giving Abby an affirmative thumbs-up. "Got him, he's three miles away, I'll navigate for you, Timmy. If you get lost, I'll send Ziva to come get you." She winked over at the Mossad officer. Ziva might have been many wonderful things, and her adjustment to American culture might have finally become smoother, but she was still a scarier driver than Gibbs could ever dream of being.
"Hang on, Abs… what the hell is this?"
Abby waited on the line for Tim to return to the conversation, listening as she heard the crunch of gravel under the slow-moving wheels. He sounded like he'd practically brought the car to a crawl. "That sly bugger. There's a trail of some kind here. Tony left a trail of crumbs. Or more specifically, his favourite pen, his PDA, his library card, his driver's licence…"
"Since when does Tony have a library card?" Abby asked, sceptically. "Sorry, babe. I'm off topic again, aren't I. A trail, huh? We're tracking you right now, and you're right on course."
Tim stopped the car suddenly. The trail ended there, he was across the street from a rather ordinary, but very well maintained looking house with some spendy looking landscaping, and according to Abby and Ziva, he was right where he was supposed to be.
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"Jimmy, is there a window where you are? Abby says I'm right outside the house." Tim was in the car, trying to avoid looking suspicious, in case the woman responsible for this mess was still home, after dropping off her latest prize.
Palmer glanced around, then said, "Did you guys happen to notice a window, or something, in here?" Gibbs glanced around. "This used to be my bathroom. She converted it with her first alimony cheque. The window was right up there, but it's obviously covered now. Jimmy, hand me that wire, please." Palmer didn't question as he passed the small communication device over to him.
"I wonder how good the workmanship is," Tony wondered, as he stood up and started rapping the wall with his knuckles. Gibbs seemed to think hard for a moment. "McGee, what side of the house are you on right now?"
There was silence for a moment as Tim got his bearings outside. "In front. West, I believe."
"Yeah, that'd be west. Move to the south side of the house. That's where the bathroom window used to be. See if you can locate where it was. It should be about 6 feet over from the north east corner."
They waited a moment, Tony studying the wall, and Ducky talking quietly with Jimmy. "I think I see it, Boss," Tim said, as Gibbs smiled, satisfied. "There's a slight difference in the colouration of the siding. There's a patch that appears to be a few years newer than the rest of the house, and there are seams where the new siding has been joined to the older material."
"Good work, Tim," Gibbs said. "Now, look directly below that, there should be a basement window, but it may be obscured by the plants she's got there. See if you can get in from there." Again, Gibbs waited a moment, while he heard the sounds of his young agent jostling around outside, testing the window. "It's open, Boss. Sort've. It opens a few inches, but it's seized up from something, I'm guessing paint, and rust, and probably soil from the flower bed, too."
"Well, use the DiNozzo Method, McGee," Gibbs said, sounding frustrated at having to overstate the obvious.
"DiNozzo method, Boss?" Tim sounded confused for a moment, then understanding quickly struck. "Ah, I get it." Gibbs listened as heard a thud, and the sound of breaking glass. "The DiNozzo Method. Works every time," Tony said, winking.
Outside, Tim contacted Abby. "Abs, honey, I'm at the house, I'm going in through a basement window. I'll check in with you in 10 minutes, but if you don't hear from me, send Ziva."
Back in the lab, Abby shared a look with Ziva. "Copy that, Very Special Agent McGee," she said, tossing her empty caf-pow and taking the fresh one from Ziva's offering free hand. "Tim, how are the others?" Ziva asked, concerned.
"Impatient, but otherwise fine. Jimmy did a great job of getting himself abducted."
"Well, our other guys didn't do such a half-assed job of it either," Abby pointed out, grinning briefly at Ziva. "Yes, Abby, but they didn't do it on purpose," Ziva commented. "Tim, I'm on standby if you need me. That woman won't know what hit her if she hurts my… oops, sorry, Abby – I mean, our guys."
"Ziva, you can head over here now, regardless. I'm in the basement, I'm heading upstairs. My weapon is drawn, and I need backup before I can open this door."
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"Damnit," the woman swore to her companions. "I just remembered who that tall young sandy blonde man was, in the shop. He's one of Jethro's people. Mackey, Mickey, McGee, McFee… something like that. He arrived less than a year after Kate Todd did. And his wife, the woman with the dark pigtails, that's Abby, the lab rat. They were in the shop several months ago. Adorable baby."
"Doesn't matter now, anyway, who he is," one of her accomplices said, "what's done is done."
"I still feel bad about Ducky," the third one said. "He's such a sweetheart. I know he gave Jethro a piece of his mind on our behalf, on more than one occasion. He was always on our side. He didn't deserve any of this."
"What about the other two?" the first one asked. "Tony, and that other young man. I didn't know Ducky had a new assistant. Clearly Gerald isn't there anymore."
"His name is Jimmy Palmer," a cold, accented voice said, from behind. The three women turned around slowly, and were met with the steely gaze of a slender, darkly beautiful woman, with waving, slightly unruly curls in her hair, and an impossibly big gun in her small feminine hands. "You appear to know the others well enough."
Ziva grinned wickedly, as Gibbs, Tony, and Tim came up from behind her, weapons drawn.Tim took out his phone with his free hand, hitting the speed dial. "Abs, we've got them. Nice work, hon."
"We've got you on several counts of several things, Debra," Gibbs said smoothly. "Kidnapping, administering a noxious substance, assault, unlawful confinement… I'm sure we can get all of you on conspiracy to commit a felony, too. And yes, we do happen to have video footage of you taking Mr. Palmer, here."
"That bastard," was all the group of busted, red-haired women was heard muttering.