Ziva gave the man across from her the fiercest glare she had. If it were not for the fact that he had information on who was holding Jenny and had tried to kill Gibbs, she would be showing him all of her Mossad training right now. She did not know all of what this man had done to McGee, but she knew enough. She would say she knew more than Tony, as she had been given evidence of the kinds of things McGee had been through. She knew he endured severe abuse, to the point where it was considered torture. And after McGee's outburst, she also knew this man had murdered his mother in front of him. Plus, she'd seen the photo of McGee's when Tony had grabbed it. She had figured out what Tony most likely had. McGee knew Jenny personally. Again, she didn't know all of it, but she knew enough to hate the man in front of her.
Tony came back into the room a moment later. He looked at Silva hatefully as he sat down. "This just got a lot worse for you, if that was possible. Not only are connected to the disappearance of an NCIS director and the attempted murder of an agent…"
"I don't know anything about any of that," Leo interrupted.
Tony continued as though he never spoke.
"But there is now proof that you were involved with the deaths of a CIA agent and his whole family. You may think life in prison is the worst you can get, but I promise we can make it worse, and we will. The man whose life you ruined, he's a friend of mine! He's also Acting Director. You have no idea how unpleasant we can make things for you!" Tony snarled.
"I didn't know that night was going to be like that with that family," Leo said. Now that the Shepard kid was revealed to be alive and IDed him, he saw no point in denying it.
"No? You broke into a CIA agent's home, and your telling me you didn't know the purpose was slaughter?" Tony asked in disbelief. He was still working off of guesswork, but he was almost positive McGee was the older Shepard kid that was believed to be dead.
"I didn't know there were kids in the house. That agent made his own bed, and the wife would be collateral damage, but I've never been involved with killing kids before," he said.
Ziva gave him a look of pure loathing. This man spoke as though he had some sort of morals, yet spoke of killing an agent and his wife like it was nothing. He made her sick.
"But once I was in there, I couldn't back out. I would've been killed too, and they all still would've died," Leo continued.
Tony wanted to reach forward and beat this man to death, as he tried to justify an event that changed his friend's life. He decided it was best to move the whole thing along before he gave into that urge. "Tell us about Jenny Shepard. We know you saw her."
"Look, whatever happened to her, I had nothing to do with it. She had questions, and after some threats and later promises that the conversation never happened, I answered them to the best of my ability," Leo said. He saw no reason to hide what happened at this point. They had proof of his involvement in the Shepard murders. Granted, telling them anything placed him in danger, but given what happened to the Shepard woman, that danger probably already existed.
"What did she want to know?" Tony asked.
"She wanted to know what happened to her nephew, Jasper. She wanted to know where his body was. She wanted to bury him. Obviously, I couldn't help her with that. I didn't know he wasn't dead. I didn't know where the body was, but I was sure Acosta had killed him, after, of course torturing him, and I know he must have. I saw the glint in his eyes. I don't know why, but he wanted to hurt that kid, and he wanted it to last much longer than the few hours he'd tortured the kid's parents," he told them.
Ziva and Tony shared a look, both wondering what kind of hell their friend had gone through, and that was of course after the hell of losing his entire family. Ziva had a better idea than Tony. She'd read about the physical injuries he had when he first reemerged. Still, she was sure there was much she did not know, and she wasn't certain she wanted to know more.
"And you didn't lift a finger to help him," Tony said hatefully.
"There was nothing I could do for him. Even if I'd tried, it wouldn't have helped him. All it would've done was ended in my death as well as his," Leo said.
"Did you tell all of this to Jenny Shepard?" Ziva asked.
"I didn't tell her that I was sure the kid was tortured before he was killed, but I'm sure she could've guessed. All I told her was that he was alive when he left that house, but I was certain that Acosta killed him not long afterwards. I also told her that she should drop the whole thing. She would end up just like her brother if she tried to take on Acosta," he said.
Tony and Ziva both stood up to leave.
"Your friend did the smart thing," Leo said, stopping them both. "I don't know how he got away, but it was a smart move to let the world think he was dead. If Sebastian Acosta ever finds him, he will kill him."
Tony glared at the man before leading the way out of the room.
Once they were both out of the room, Ziva turned to Tony. "If he is right, McGee is in a lot of danger."
"He is right. First of all, McGee living would be a point of pride for someone like that. Second, he's the only living witness to a massacre. The only question is if this guy knows if McGee is alive," Tony said.
"If he doesn't, I do not believe it will be long before he does," Ziva said.
"Silva has to be put into protective custody, both for his own protection and to ensure he can't tell a soul about McGee. And I should probably stop calling him 'McGee'," Tony said as an afterthought. After all, Timothy McGee didn't actually exist. Of course, he couldn't go around calling him Jasper Shepard either. That would put him in a lot a danger. Tony couldn't imagine calling him that anyway.
"I have no desire to protect that man, but you are right about needing to keep him quiet," Ziva said.
"Come on, we have to go see McGee. We need to confirm everything and then see how he wants to proceed," Tony said before leading the way to the director's office. This was McGee's show, and not just because he was the director. 'Your case, your lead' was one of Gibbs' rules for a reason. Sebastian Acosta may not have been McGee's case, but as a victim, he knew how he operated better than anyone, so the principal was the same. If he wasn't the director, he'd be running the case.
When they made it up to the director's office, Ziva knocked on the door.
"Come in," came Tim's voice.
They both walked in to see Tim sweeping up some glass and throwing it away.
"Remind me that I owe Jenny a new vase," Tim said. It had been a casualty of his anger after seeing Silva.
"I think that she will understand," Ziva said.
Tim looked at both of them. "You figure it out?"
Tony nodded. "I'd say we have a good picture anyway after hearing what Silva had to say."
"Right. One thing I want to make clear before this goes any further is that Jenny does not know about me. She thinks I'm dead. And I didn't know that she was with NCIS until she was announced at the new director," Tim said firmly. He didn't want anyone thinking that there was any impropriety here, especially where Jenny was concerned. She didn't deserve to face any backlash for it when she still had no idea about it.
Ziva knew where McGee was going when he spoke. As someone who worked directly under a family member, she could understand his need to make it clear he was not favored. "We know that, McGee. That was also clear after our conversation with Silva, but even if it hadn't been, neither of us would ever think that nepotism was involved with your career."
Tony nodded in agreement. "I know I've been an ass lately with you being promoted to Acting Director, but I never would've thought that. I watched you work your ass off from almost day one. And despite the fact that I was upset about you becoming Director Shepard's temporary replacement, you've done a better job than I ever could. I'm sorry for being a jerk, and I want you to know I've got your back."
Tim sighed in relief. He didn't want to think that his team would turn on him, but after the way Abby reacted, he couldn't be sure. He was just glad that Tony and Ziva were supporting him. "Thank you. Tell me what Silva said."
"Jenny wanted to know where your body was. That's why she went to see him," Tony said.
"Great," Tim said. That meant he could've avoided this by telling Jenny the truth. He had been trying to protect her, but he had instead placed her in danger.
"This is not your fault, McGee. You could not have anticipated what would happen," Ziva said. She could tell by the look on his face that he was blaming himself, if he hadn't already been.
Before Tim could respond, the phone at his desk rang. He immediately went over and saw that it was the line for Cynthia. He immediately picked it up. "Yeah? Okay, thank you, Cynthia. I'll be down in five minutes."
Tim hung up the phone and turned to the others. "I have to go brief SecNav on what's happening. Meet me back here in two hours with the rest of the team. I'll tell you all what you need to know."
"You got it. Listen, Tim, I meant what I said. We have your back. We'll get through this. We will find Jenny," Tony promised.
"I know we'll find her, Tony. I'm just not sure what will be left of her by the time we do," Tim said with emotion in his voice before heading for the door.
