Hidden Enemy
Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything
Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?
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8- Mr. X
The drive back was rather quiet. Both men could feel the strain of the last two days, but they were willing to keep going. They would stay at the office as long as it took. They had done 3 days in a row before, but this seemed a bit different. Basically it was just a matter of discipline and the ability to sleep on hard surfaces, along with an ironclad stomach that could digest fast food for a long time. This time an emotional strain added to these physical challenges, making it anything but easier.
They walked into the lab, finding Abby in the lab. There was some music playing, not as loud as it usually was, but definitely a sign that her mood was improving. Tony shut the music off and she turned around to face them. "What do you have?" He asked and she held up a sample bag.
"I checked the shirt again and found this. It was caught on the inside, probably stuck to a button and got ripped out somehow." She said and put an enhanced image onto the big plasma screen. "It´s a black hair, probably from the chest of a man, like the position on the shirt suggests. I´m going to run it through the thermocycler and match the DNA, but I´m sure it will not match Gibbs this time."
McGee threw a questioning look at her. "How do you know?" He asked and continued to look at the image for a few seconds. It looked like some hair from someone -how could she be so sure it wasn´t from Gibbs?
Abby had a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. "I´m not sure if you´ve seen Gibbs without shirt, but I can assure you that our silver haired fox is just as gray on his chest as he is on his head. This is pitch black, Tony..." She grinned and noted the look in his eyes. "Don´t even go there. You didn´t have to put that bandage on him when he cracked a rib in the gym a while ago. Those pleasant jobs usually end up in my department when Ducky is not here."
Tony felt his head spinning. He hadn´t slept much and it took him a moment to process all those information. "He was unconscious when she was attacked, but..." He paused a moment, trying to clear his mind and get everything sorted out..
"That means someone wore his clothes when Kate was stabbed? What about prints?" McGee´s voice was heard from behind them. He was standing next to his desk, obviously excited about these news. The pieces slowly formed a picture in his head. It was still blurred and not very clear on some parts, but they finally seemed to get somewhere.
"None, must have worn gloves. I think he might have worn a jumpsuit under the clothes, there was some blue fabric on the inside of the shirt. Maybe it had a hole or something, I don´t really know how that hair got there, because whoever did this to Kate was a pro. My thermocycler broke down after I ran the 30th blood sample this afternoon. A service technician is on the way, but I probably won´t get anything until really late tonight."
The rest of the day went in a haze. Tony and McGee tried to put the pieces together, but they never got to any conclusion that seemed rational. Morrow dropped in twice as they were discussing the new evidence. He seemed much more confident about this case now, but still needed more evidence that Gibbs had indeed been framed for this attack. Knowing that his agent had been drugged was only one piece of this large puzzle.
Around 8 pm, Abby announced that she wouldn´t get the spare parts for her thermocycler until the next morning. They considered crashing at someone´s place, but ended up sleeping at the office again, since none of them felt like leaving. Ducky returned from the hospital around 10 pm and found them asleep in the bullpen. Abby had curled up under Kate´s desk for the time being and slept peacefully. Mallard left again and drove home, still trying to make up his mind on this whole thing. He couldn´t think of a reason to frame someone like this. It was not only hurting the person accused, it hurt the whole team. He felt that it was a heavy burden left on the shoulders of those young people. Of course, they had been trained to solve cases like this, but nobody had prepared them for a situation like the current one.
The following morning, Abby was woken by a technician who had the spare parts for her. She went down to the lab and had the black hair running in the thermocycler around 8 am. It would take about an hour to get a result, so she went out to get coffee for her colleagues and a cup of caf-pow for herself. A few more days like this and she knew that all of them would be ready to collapse on the spot. She already felt her concentration slipping, but knowing what was at stake, she didn´t really pay attention to those first signs of exhaustion. She had known Gibbs for most of her life and wasn´t going to let him down now that he needed all help he could get.
When Abby returned from the coffee store, she woke Tony and McGee. They looked just like she felt and accepted the coffee gratefully. As she returned to the lab, two messages had come up on her computer. There were two results in, one on the tobacco, one on the hair. She looked at the result from the tobacco first and frowned slightly. This was not what she had expected and it didn´t make much sense for the time being. She hit another button to view the result on the hair and the cup of caf-pow slipped from her grip. The liquid pooled all over the floor, but she didn´t care right now.
Sending the information up to the bullpen via e-mail, she bolted out of the lab, not even bothering to wait for the elevator. Both men stared at her in surprise when she ran in and almost shoved McGee out of his chair to get to his computer. "Hey, what happened?" Tony inquired, but she shook her head for a moment, which was a sign that she had to concentrate on something for a moment.
"I got a match for that hair from inside the shirt plus I got a result on that tobacco." She finally managed and typed something on the keyboard that would load the file to the big plasma screen. "I´m not sure if you´re ready for this, but here´s the first bit. That tobacco is only sold in Israel. That didn´t make much sense, but then I got the result on the black hair that was stuck inside the shirt. I doubt that Gibbs would voluntarily share his clothes with anyone, but the least with our Mr. X." She said and pressed a button on the keyboard.
The big plasma sprang to life and they stared into a very familiar face. Tony swore under his breath and jumped up immediately. "Abby, call Morrow and show him this." He ordered and grabbed his jacket as he raced out to the parking lot. "Ducky, are you at the hospital? Damn... get there now, someone´s after Kate." He told Mallard on the phone while jumping into the car. McGee took the passenger seat and buckled up as they tore out of the parking lot to get to the hospital.