Chapter Twenty Three: Chasing Our Tails

McGee sat at his desk frustrated, having the urge to smack his head repeatedly off the monitor for his computer. Ziva was on the phone chattering away with someone and Tony was sitting at his desk deep in though, pencil posed over his lips. McGee looked over at the older agent and frowned.

"Tony?" he asked with a frown on his face. DiNozzo slowly pulled the pencil down and turned to face McGee.

"What, Probie?"

"What are you doing?"

"Thinking about how we're sitting here chasing our tails while a murderer goes about his daily life," Tony says with a sigh. McGee slowly nods. "You get anything yet?"

"What have you been working on?"

"Probie, what do you got?" Tony asked a little irritated.

"Right, Tony. I found some of the surplus numbers she was tracking and one column lines up with the official numbers passed off on base. The other column is higher in most categories but it doesn't say what the category stands for."

"And the phone number?"

"That is really hinky, Tony," McGee says. Tony arched his eyebrows sitting leaning closer to McGee.

"Really?" he says enthusiastically hoping this was something they could use.

"Yeah, but I think it's a dead end."

"Damn it," Tony said hard as he blew out a breath. McGee cringed continuing with his findings.

"Renee Atwater had a cell phone with that number," McGee began.

"Had?" Tony asked.

"Yes, she had it right up until the day she died in a car accident six months ago."

"Probie, Lt. Commander Conrad called the number less than three months ago," Tony said curiously.

"I know, that's what I said, this is hinky. Listen to this, Atwater was killed six months ago and the phone company receives notice from the family to deactivate the number. The bill is settled up and phone is returned. But then Lt. Commander Conrad calls this number three of four times in a two week span three months AFTER it's been turned off."

"That doesn't make sense," Tony said.

"So I called the phone company and they say that someone had cloned the number and was using a programmed phone granting them access to it without the phone companies knowledge. They found out about the rogue signal when they reassigned the number to a Michael Fallick and he reported anomalies on his phone bill in the first month of his service," McGee continued.

"Did they find out who was cloning the number?" Tony asked hopefully.

"No, they never did. The person dumped the phone as soon as the number was cut again. I guess who ever it was knew they were close to being discovered."

"So why would Commander Conrad be calling a cloned number?"

"She may not have known it was cloned," McGee countered. Tony's head bobbed slowly as he digested the information.

"That was an interesting phone call," Ziva broke in as she placed the phone in its cradle. Both men looked up at her and frowned. She looked at them confused. "What?"

"What was the phone call about?" Tony asked.

"Commander Tyrell Powell," she said slowly.

"And?" Tony said waving his hand in the air trying to push for more information.

"He keeps two houses as far as I can tell," Ziva said.

"Two houses?" McGee asked.

"Yes. One on base and one off base, each having their own phone lines etc. This number Abby found is for his off base housing. Now according to his neighbors on the off base housing," Ziva continued.

"You talked to his neighbors?" Tony asked.

"Of course," Ziva said like it was the most natural step. "Anyway, his neighbors say that he's hardly ever there. Comes by once in a while to keep the place tidy and then once every couple months about six guys come together at his house, are there for a couple hours then they vacate."

"And do the neighbors happen to know what goes on?" Tony asked.

"Ha, funny, DiNozzo, no they do not," Ziva replied with a snort.

"What connection does he have with Commander Conrad?" McGee asked. "Has she ever been seen at his off base housing?"

"No, not that the neighbors could recall, always men, always six. They are pretty certain it is the same six men each time. But they did say they remember two of them driving dark four door sedans," Ziva replied pointing her pen at McGee as she finished.

"Powell could be our stalker," Tony said excitedly standing up from his chair as Abby walked in.

"No, Tony he cannot unless he is stalking her from Iraq," Ziva said, popping Tony's bubble as the man crashed back into his seat with a scowl.

"Hey, Abby," he said defeated. Abby grinned and waved at Tony. "What?"

"Did you check up on those numbers?" she asked.

"That's what we're discussing now, Atwater is a dead end," Tony said with a cheeky smile. "And Powell is in Iraq."

"But doing what?" Abby continued.

"What do you mean?" McGee asked.

"I was getting to that, Abby," Ziva said standing from her chair and walking around her desk. Abby nodded. "Powell was sent over there three months ago. He was sent to count items being used by the Navy and Marines deployed in Iraq."

"Inventory," McGee said half to himself as he pulled the printed translation of the file Abby had found. "This is inventory stuff too. You think she stumbled onto a trafficking ring?"

"Possibly," Tony said getting excited again. He stood and walked over to McGee but stopped half way and looked at Abby. "Abbs, how'd you know about Powell?"

"You think I just sit in my lab and listen to music, Tony?" Abby said with a shocked look on her face. Tony smiled and shook his head pointing at her.

"Good point," he conceded and then went over next to McGee to study the document the younger agent was looking at. The two looked it over and finally McGee got an idea.

"What if these higher numbers are the true inventory numbers, but Commander Powell was forging the records to make it look like there was less in the stock piles and then trafficking the extras he had off. Commander Conrad stumbles on the operation and he…can't because he has an iron clad alibi being in Iraq," McGee said.

"But there are five other men, according to Powell's neighbors," Ziva said.

"And two of them could be our stalker if the neighbors remembered correctly," Tony said with a smile. "I think we're getting somewhere, we just need to find out who meets with Commander Powell at his place. Let's talk to his CO and co-workers, find out who he hangs with."

They felt like they were getting somewhere now. There was fresh 'blood' on the trail and they were committed to tracking it down. A little girl depended on them to bring her mother's killer to justice and they would stop short of nothing to make it happen. Tony was so into what they were working up he forgot about his call to Gibbs.

TBC…