Ziva was sitting at Gibbs' death going through it. There was little else she could do to find him or Jenny. They could not access the files. Nearly all of Jenny's files were above her or even Tony's clearance level. Many of Gibbs' were as well, and since the ones they needed were the ones Jenny was involved in, they couldn't access them.
Normally, Ziva wouldn't dare go through Gibbs' desk in fear of his wrath, but they didn't have any other choice. She would welcome any wrath he'd give her when they found him alive to give it. Still, she was very careful to put everything back exactly as she found it.
Just then, Tony walked through the bullpen to his desk. "Ziva, why are you searching Gibbs' desk. If he was working on something privately, he wouldn't leave it there. And when he finds out you were in his desk, because you know he will, he'll kill you.
"Well, it is all I can really do. Where have you been?" Ziva asked as she checked one of the drawers and quickly shut it.
"Back to the crime scene. I wanted to see if there was anything we might have missed because we were too rattled. I didn't find anything. Where's McGee?" Tony asked. He hadn't seen McGee since he left Abby's lab.
"I do not know. He hasn't been back to his desk," Ziva said before standing up and walking over to Tony's desk. She then spoke very quietly. "He did call though. He said to keep what has happened quiet. He also said that Jenny's blood was a match to blood found in one of the bedrooms."
Tony paled a little but tried to remain hopeful. "Okay. That's bad, but it doesn't mean anything yet. Wait, how does McGee know that. Abby hasn't called me. And what does he mean we have to keep things quiet? That's going to make the investigation even harder. He can't make that call anyway."
"Hey, DiNozzo!" a voice called.
"Oh, come on," Tony groaned under his breath. He knew that voice. It belonged to Special Agent Ryan Hall. He was the most sanctimonious bastard in NCIS. Everyone hated him, and Tony was no exception. He had no interest in dealing with him right now. "What do you want, Hall?"
"What does your probie think he's doing playing director, and where is Director Shepard?" Hall asked in a demanding tone.
"First of all, Hall, you don't call my probie 'probie'," Tony said. He might be annoyed with McGee at the moment, and he might tease him and mess with him on a daily basis, but he wasn't going to let an asshat like Hall disrespect him under any circumstances. "Second, I have no clue what you're talking about, and I don't have time to deal with you. Now, either tell me what you're talking about now or get out of my hair, and if I have an option, I prefer the latter."
Hall glared at him for a minute. "I went to see the director earlier, but her assistant wouldn't let me in. Then McGee goes past us into the director's office, like it's his. I asked Cynthia about it, but she would only tell me that the director wasn't available."
Ziva was surprised to hear that McGee was using the director's office for a second, but she covered it up easily enough. "How is that our problem? Take it up with the director when she is available."
Hall turned and scowled at her. "I've spoken to others. No one has seen her all day. I don't think she's here. No one's seen Gibbs all day either. Now McGee is parked in her office when no one else is allowed in there. Where are Gibbs and Shepard, and what is McGee doing?"
"Director Shepard and Special Agent Gibbs are on a last-minute assignment," a new voice said.
They all turned to see Tim coming towards them from the stairs.
"An assignment? Since when does the director go on assignments?" Hall asked in a skeptical tone.
"Since a situation required her presence. Everyone gets involved when it's necessary," Tim said.
"And what makes it necessary now?" he asked.
"That's need to know. The assignment is Classified. All you need to know is that the director is fine and will return after the Op is completed," Tim said calmly. No one knew it, but he was actually a much better liar than he let on. How could he not be? He walked into work every day and said his name was Timothy McGee. That alone was a huge lie, one he'd had to live every day for seventeen years.
Tony watched the exchange in shock. McGee was lying to Hall. He was effectively lying. If he hadn't known any better, he'd say the director and Gibbs really were on assignment. When had McGee learned how to lie? Well, he supposed anyone could lie when they were put in a certain type of situation.
Ziva was less shocked. Unlike the others, she knew McGee was capable of lying. He seemed to be bad when it came to day-to-day things, but she knew he could lie well. She knew that because she knew things about him that NCIS didn't, things he left out of his file. Mossed had done a very thorough investigation into Gibbs and his team. They found things that were not in his file. It was part of the dossier she received on McGee. She did not know everything, such as who he was before he became Timothy McGee, but she knew that he hid a lot from the others. She never confronted him about it. If he'd wanted to discuss it, he wouldn't have hidden it. He wouldn't even want to know that she knew.
"Oh, I don't need to know about it, but you do? I've been here much longer than you, and I outrank you," Hall said smugly.
Tim sighed. Any other day, Tim would've walked away, like he normally did if agents like Hall. It was no secret that many agents didn't think much of him. They saw him as the weakest member of Team Gibbs, and he usually let it go. Today, however, he was done. He didn't have the patience for Hall. His aunt was missing and at least injured. That alone had him almost had him heading for a panic attack, and it was only working to find her and Gibbs that kept him from falling apart. It is was made even worse by the fact that they had no director or team leader, which made doing their job even harder. Tim was the only one with the authority to really investigate much at the moment. He was ready to unload on someone, and Hall made himself the perfect target. "You know something, Hall, usually I do my best to ignore your existence, but you've chosen the wrong day to be a thorn in my side, so I'm going to tell you exactly what everyone in this building thinks of you. You are an egotistical, self-centered little worm! Your arrogance is even greater than Tony's, which until I met you, I didn't think was possible."
Tony looked at Ziva. "Should I consider that a compliment or an insult?"
"I believe both," Ziva said.
"Unlike him though, you don't know when to quit. Now, I told you why Director Shepard is out of the building. You seem upset that I may know more details of her mission than you do. That's not my problem. I have enough problems without adding your pettiness to it. You got your answer. I don't care if you don't like it. I don't care what you think about the fact that I'm the one giving or getting the information. Now, unless you needed something important from the director, get out of my face and let everyone get back to work," Tim said coldly. He could've gone on longer, but he knew he might say something he shouldn't if he completely unloaded on Hall.
Tony and Ziva looked stunned. Neither had seen their colleague act that way. He was always the even-tempered member of the team. For him to go after someone higher up on the chain of command said a lot.
"How dare you? I am a Senior Field Agent. You have no right speaking to me this way. I will be speaking with your team leader the moment he returns," Hall snarled.
"Feel free. The man once had me tell the Secretary of Defense to 'stick it'. Somehow I don't think he's going to care much about you," Tim said. He was beyond intimidation, even if he thought Gibbs would care what he said. He didn't care about getting reprimanded. He didn't even care if he got fired. Nothing mattered to him other than getting Jenny and Gibbs back, and keeping NCIS intact until he did get them back.
Hall glared at McGee before walking away.
Tony looked at his probie in disbelief. "Wow! I never thought I'd see you go at someone like that. I'm proud, McGee.
"Uh, McGee?" a new voice asked.
Tim turned to see an agent by the name of Derek Kelley approach. His voice was much calmer when he spoke next. He liked Agent Kelley. He was always kind. Like Hall, he outranked Tim, but he never through his weight around. He was a good leader. He had just recently been promoted to team leader. "Hey, Kelley."
"Hey. I don't want to piss you off or anything, but I heard a lot of that. We really don't have a director right now?"
"No, not at the moment. Director Shepard is on assignment," Tim said. He supposed an announcement should be made to the floor, and memos should be sent to the rest of the building. The problem was that he couldn't tell them much, and they would have questions.
"Everyone needs to know this, Tim," Kelley said.
"I know. Look, I'm waiting to hear back from Deputy Director Vance on how we're proceeding before we tell everyone," Tim said.
"You are?" Tony asked surprised. He didn't know McGee was talking to the deputy director. Now that he thought about it though, he realized that he should've thought to do that himself.
"Yeah. I talked to him a couple of hours ago. I'm waiting for a call back," Tim said.
"You're in contact with the deputy director. So, you're Acting Director," Kelly surmised.
"What? I didn't say that," Tim said, his eyes going wide at the implication. That was definitely not what he was, was it? No, he couldn't handle that. He was an agent, and not very high up rank wise. His was not a director. He couldn't be in charge, especially not now when it was a member of his own family that was missing. He couldn't handle that on top of her disappearance.
"It sounds like you are. If the deputy director is only talking to you, and you're making decisions for NCIS based on those conversations, you're the man in charge," Kelley said with a smirk before walking away.
The three remaining agents, especially Tim, all looked flabbergasted at Agent Kelly's proclamation. None of them, however, had the chance to respond because Tony's phone suddenly went off.
Still staring at McGee in shock, Tony picked up the phone. "Yeah? No, I'm fine, Abs. What is it? Okay, we'll be right there."
"Abby has information?" Ziva asked.
Tony nodded and stood up. "The blood test results and ballistics are back," he said before the three of them started for the elevator.
