Tony was at his desk in the bullpen, as was Ziva. It had been a couple of days since the meeting with McGee. So far, they had no new leads. It was made harder because they had to keep the investigation under wraps. Tony had managed to get a file on Acosta, but it wasn't very telling. McGee knew more about this bastard than the government, which made sense given that he'd actually seen what Acosta was capable of. It didn't help that he'd never actually been convicted of anything. Well, nothing major anyway. There were some minor charges, like drug charges and weapon possession charges when he was young, but nothing like what he'd done to the Shepard's. That was probably because Acosta didn't leave witnesses. McGee was the only witness to ever survive, to Tony's knowledge.
Tony and Ziva were currently trying to locate Acosta's known associates, but it wasn't going well. The ones they'd tried so far were either dead or fugitives. Tony wasn't sure they'd talk even if they did find someone. Giving up someone like Acosta could be very deadly.
"Where's Gibbs?" a voice asked, interrupting Tony's thoughts.
Tony immediately looked up to see Agent Fornell in front of his desk. "Fornell, what, brings you here?"
"You people, and it always seems to be you people," Fornell said in exasperation as he gestured to the area where Gibbs and his team worked. "DiNozzo, you requested a cold, high profile, FBI case, undoubtedly at Gibbs' request."
Tony was confused for a minute, not understanding what Fornell was talking about. Then he remembered that he'd requested the Shepard case right after learning about the murders. He'd forgotten about it because they'd gotten the information they needed from McGee. "Uh, sorry about that. We were just looking for some background for a case, but it turns out we didn't need it after all. I just forgot to cancel the request for the file."
"Yeah, I'm sure you did," Fornell said sarcastically. Can I assume that Jenny Shepard does not know you're looking into the murders of several members of her family?"
Tony was grateful that Fornell was keeping his voice down, probably out of respect for Director Shepard, otherwise, half the office would know something was up by now.
"No, and like I said, we were just looking for background," Tony said.
"Where's Gibbs?" Fornell asked.
"He is on assignment, as if Director Shepard," Ziva said as she joined them.
"No wonder you were brazen enough to request this file. Where are they? When will they be back?" Fornell asked. It made sense now. There was no way DiNozzo would be brave enough to request that particular file under Jenny Shepard's nose. Gibbs, yes, but not DiNozzo.
"We don't know the answer to either question. It's a Classified assignment, and we don't have the security clearance?" Tony lied.
"What case was so important that you needed to pull such a high-profile file?" Fornell asked.
"We are not at liberty to discuss it," Ziva said.
"Especially not in such an open setting," Tony said as he looked around. Luckily, no one seemed to be close by enough to overhear them. They weren't supposed to have any cases. They were technically supposed to be doing cold cases.
"Where's your deputy director? Upstairs?" Fornell asked.
"Uh, no. Our deputy director is overseas on an assignment, a completely unrelated one to the one Gibbs and the director are on," Tony said.
"Who the hell is overseeing you people then?" he asked.
Just then, Tony caught a glimpse of McGee walking down the stairs, so he pointed towards him. "He is."
Fornell turned to see Timothy McGee where DiNozzo was pointing. He then turned back and glared at DiNozzo. "Do I look like I'm in the mood for jokes, DiNozzo?"
"Nope, and neither am I. McGee is our acting director."
"It is true," Ziva added.
"You really expect me buy that?" Fornell asked with quite a bit of skepticism.
"Hey, McGee!"
Tim sighed and repressed the desire to walk in the other direction as Hall came his way. Unfortunately, as director, he couldn't ignore people like Hall anymore. "Yes, Agent Hall."
"Is there a reason we're getting stuck with work that should've gone to DiNozzo?" Hall asked.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Hall. You wanna be more specific?" Tim asked.
"Why are we stuck with the dead Marine case, which normally would've gone to MCRT?" he asked.
"So what you're really asking is why you have to do your job? Do you think investigating a dead Marine is too good for you, Hall? Not that I have to explain my decisions to you, but has it escaped your attention that the MCRT currently consists of two members instead of four? If you've got a problem with the job you have to do, I'll take your badge and gun right now!" Tim snapped.
"Wow! I do love seeing Hall put in his place. McGee's doing a pretty good imitation of Gibbs…again."
Ziva shook her head. "No. Jenny, only not as loud.
Fornell, meanwhile, was staring at the scene with a dropped jaw. McGee was certainly acting like a director, and his meek, submissive personality seemed to completely evaporate as he dressed the agent in front of him down.
"Uh, is everything alright?" An older man who looked to be in his mid-fifties asked as he walked over.
McGee turned to see Special Agent George Martin to his right, Hall's team leader. "Agent Martin, do you take any issue with the case I assigned you?"
"Of course not, Director," Martin said, confused even by the question. Why should he take issue with it? It was his job.
"Well, your senior field agent seems to think it should've been given to MRCT unit, despite the fact that they're two men down," Tim said.
Martin turned and glowered at his agent for his sheer stupidity. What the hell did he think he was doing questioning the orders of the acting director. Martin hadn't been thrilled when a junior agent had been chosen for the position, and he was pretty sure that something bigger was going on than what they'd all been told, but that was what happened, and they had to accept it. McGee was the director, and he had the authority to assign cases to whomever he liked. It showed a complete lack of respect for Hall to question that, and it came back on Martin as the supervisory agent. "Is that right?"
"Come on, you know we should've have…"
"Hey, DiNozzo, you think Gibbs would sue me if I started head slapping people?" Martin cut Hall off.
"Nah, but he might charge you a fee," Tony said with a smirk.
Martin turned back to McGee. "This won't happen again. I'll take care of it."
"Good. If you don't, I'll have to," Tim warned. Hall needed to be his example, especially since he was stupid enough to do what he did publicly. He didn't know how long he'd be in Jenny's shoes. He needed everyone to know that they would not be able to walk all over him, like in the past.
"Uh, Director, Agent Fornell needs a word," Tony said once Martin and Hall walked away.
Tim motioned for them to follow him as he headed back towards the stairs towards his office. No matter what this conversation was about, he was certain it shouldn't be had in the middle of the bullpen.
Tony followed Fornell. This conversation included him since he was the one to request the Shepard file. Once they were all inside the director's office, Tony shut the door behind them.
"What the hell?!" Fornell asked in disbelief. He still couldn't believe this was actually happening. The most inexperienced agent on Gibbs' team was acting as the director of NCIS. That wasn't to say that McGee wasn't on the path to become director someday, but it was insane that he could be taking over for Director Shepard now.
Tim chuckled, knowing exactly what had Fornell so flabbergasted. "Believe it or not, Agent Fornell, I actually had similar reaction. An assignment came up at the last minute that required both the director's and Gibbs' attention. It was bad timing too because the deputy director was already scheduled to go overseas for an undisclosed amount of time for a mission of his own."
"And they put you in the role as director? I know NCIS has several assistant directors," Fornell said.
Tim nodded as he leaned against the front of his desk. "We do, but taking them away from their duties would only create more problem."
Fornell could almost believe McGee, which meant he was a better liar than he thought, and a better liar than Gibbs thought, as Gibbs had more than once told Fornell that his youngest agent was not a good liar. Fornell knew he was lying though. A junior agent would not be given this level of responsibility unless there was literally no other option, or the situation was much bigger than the director being on assignment, and they were trying to cover something up. "You can't really expect me to believe all this can you?"
Tim didn't expect him to believe it. Fornell was a smart man. He was a good agent. He was sure Fornell didn't believe a word he said, just as he was sure most of NCIS knew there was more going on. But he obviously couldn't give any more information right now. "To put it bluntly, Agent Fornell, I don't expect anything. I don't need you to believe me. I don't answer to you."
Fornell was frankly amazed by the way McGee spoke. The meek, young agent he'd known in the past seemed to be gone. What was in his place was what Fornell would expect from a director, or at least a budding one. He had to wonder if McGee's self-confidence had received a boost after being put in charge, or if it was always there, and he'd just hidden it. Either way, it didn't seem like he was going to get any more out of the man on this matter.
"So, what was the reason you came to NCIS anyway?" Tim asked, changing the subject.
"DiNozzo requested a high-profile home invasion and murder case, Director Shepard's brother and his family," he said.
"Yeah, Director, I explained to Fornell that I requested it for background on a case," Tony said. He needed to make sure that McGee knew what story to go along with.
"But not what the case was about. If you people have information regarding the Shepard murders…"
"We don't," Tim lied. He had a lot of information about it, and he knew that when Fornell found out, and Tim knew he would eventually, he'd press him for a full statement. "We had a person of interest that was thought to be tied to that case," Tim explained.
"Will you at least tell me who the person of interest was?" Fornell asked.
"Leo Silva," he said. He saw no point in hiding that much. It wouldn't take much for Fornell to find out that they'd had Silva transferred to NCIS. It was better to just admit it now.
Fornell snorted. He knew of Silva. He'd interviewed him personally when he was caught. "Yeah, he was a piece of work. I'm guessing you didn't get much from him. We certainly didn't. He was a pro. He wouldn't admit to helping to kill the Shepard's, even though we're sure he was there."
"No, we didn't get anything. It turns out we were barking up the wrong tree anyway. I meant to cancel the request for the case file. We don't need it anymore," Tony said. That last part was true. They didn't need the file. McGee could tell them more than that file ever could if it was necessary.
"A request for a file wouldn't normally send you out here, would it, Fornell?" Tim asked.
"It was high-profile, and this is a case I'd really like to close. Not only did it involve a CIA agent, but innocent children were murdered. Cases like that always shook him. The case wasn't originally his, but he'd read the file when he inherited it, and it shook him.
Tim was grateful to know that someone actually still cared about his family's case, other than himself and Jenny, obviously. He was going to do everything in his power to make sure that Fornell could finally close the case. After rescuing his aunt, of course. "I can understand that. I'm sorry that we can't help you."
Fornell nodded. "When Gibbs finally gets back, tell him to call me. I'd love to know what's really going on here."
Tim chuckled. "We will."
Tony watched Fornell leave before turning back to his acting director. "Sorry, McGee. I should've cancelled the request before Fornell could come down here."
Tim waved off the apology. "It wouldn't have mattered. Once the request went in, he would've found out about it."
"You know, you really are a good liar. I'm surprised Fornell didn't believe your story about the director's position. I almost did, and I know it's a lie," Tony said.
"I've been lying every day for the majority of my life, Tony. Of course, I'm a good liar," Tim said. He honestly wished he wasn't so good at it. He wished he didn't have to be.
"Because if you thought I was a bad liar about little things, you wouldn't question anything big that I've told you, like my identity or who my parents are," Tim said.
Tony nodded. "I get it. Pretending to be a horrible liar actually makes you the best one."
"It's not a trait I'm proud of," he said.
"It's not one you should be ashamed of either. You don't lie to hurt people. You do it to survive. Hopefully, when this is over, you won't have to anymore," Tony said before he began walking towards the door. He vowed to do whatever it took to make that last statement a reality. He was going to make it his mission to help his friend get his life back.
