A/N: Here's another chapter folks! To my latest followers/favourites, welcome! So glad to have you with us on this continuing adventure! To my reviewers, you rock! I really love & appreciate reading your thoughts/comments! They inspire me!
To Guest Reviewers: Helen Belen: Thank you so much! Glad you like it!
Sue Dooely: Thanks! And yes, I know who Mr Hitchcock is, but I wouldn't myself into his league!
Momcat: Thanks! Tony's sister & nephew's disappearance is definitely still on the top of their radar, and yes, its going in tandem with Nix's. As for Lawrence Alexander, well.. that's the big question at the moment, and why did he teach Kelly that decryption.. well, time will tell!
Now, who's this man? Could someone else know him? Let's see what's next..
"Are we saying that this man adopted Tony's sister, sent money to Kelly, got into a standoff & argument with men that were associated with someone that knew Mac and taught Kelly how to decrypt their exchanges?" Tim asked, he was dumbfounded! Who was this man?
Gibbs saw everyone flash each other looks asking each other whether that was really possible, and whom this guy was "Tony, heard from Fornell?" Fornell was doing background work on the man, looking at his charge he got no answer, he was just staring at the image "Tony" he called again.
Tony suddenly came out of his haze "sorry"
"What?" Gibbs asked, he was still staring at the screen
"I….. I….." Tony was it? Wasn't it?
"You what?" Gibbs asked "Don't tell me you've seen the guy too?"
"I think I might have boss" Tony finally answered, he'd been staring at the images for ages & something suddenly clicked.
"Where?" Gibbs asked, he wasn't really believing it, I mean really?
"I think it was in Atlantic City, before I moved to Baltimore PD" Tony replied "I'd just finished my stint at Philly & wasn't sure where I was going next" as he stared at the image & as he thought more about that night he grew more certain.
Kelly couldn't say she wasn't surprised, she was totally shocked! But then again, she was shocked that this man had done so much in relation to her family & Tony's it seemed? Who was he?
"I had gone down to the boardwalk, I was just trying to relax & work out where I wanted to go, ended up at a bar & sat there for a while" Tony said, he took a breath "he came up to sit down next to me & soon enough we just started talking, he seemed so…."
"Easy to talk to" Kelly supplied, the more she thought about the time in NOLA the more she remembered.
"Yea" Tony agreed "he really listened to everything I was saying, I'd never had that before, and it just felt so easy to keep going" the guy had really just listened to everything he was saying.
"What did he say?" Ziva asked, she too couldn't believe everything she was hearing.
"Nothing to start with" Tony answered "it was all me, I was trying to decide whether to take up the Baltimore offer or head out to California where a frat brother had moved to & said they had openings in their detective ranks, I was really leaning towards going, but by the end of the conversation I had done a total U-turn and come to the conclusion to take up the Baltimore offer" he took a breath & looked around "best decision I've ever made" his life would have been completely different had he gone to California & not Baltimore, and who knew what it would have given him in life?
Gibbs had to smile, if he hadn't ended up in Baltimore they'd never have met & this team wouldn't be what it was. His life would have totally different if Tony hadn't gone to Baltimore, that's for sure! He then had a thought "how'd you get to that decision?"
Tony thought about it for a moment "ran through some pro's & con's" he remarked, he thought more about it again "I remember him saying that being closer to DC could help if I ever wanted to shift to a federal position, guess that was right"
"He say anything else?" Gibbs asked, he was starting to wonder something.
Tony took another thoughtful moment "said he felt like I was more suited to the east coast, and that he felt I was a soul that was suited to Baltimore, recommended I get a place close to Lexington Markets, said I'd really love it" he took a breath "and honestly, he was right, I basically lived in that precinct" he remembered scoping that area out first on his recommendation, and didn't look anywhere else, it did suit him.
Gibbs looked at him "so he basically convinced you to go to Baltimore"
"Yea, I guess that's one way of looking at it" Tony nodded, he could see a thought forming "you think it was deliberate?"
"I honestly have no idea, but after everything else he's done, I wouldn't it past him" Gibbs remarked, who was this damn man!? And what would he gain from having Tony go to Baltimore?
"Why would he do that?" Tristan asked, she was honestly dumbfounded by it all, but she couldn't help but notice that Shannon had taken a few steps back & was staring off into space.
Gibbs shook his head, he had no idea, but he looked towards his girl "anything stand out from your conversations with him?"
Kelly had been thinking about it quite a bit "he just seemed really caring, and easy to talk to, he knew his stuff that's for sure."
"Were you the only one he taught that decryption to?" Tim asked
"He talked to a small a group of us about it, maybe 6, about different ways to decrypt exchanges in different languages. It was an informal session over lunch one day as it wasn't part of the normal curriculum of the symposium" Kelly answered.
"It wasn't an official session?" Tim asked
Kelly shook her head "no, but many of the people who were running the sessions did informal sessions like him over lunch. It was basically all that happened over lunch, they'd come & sit down & start talking. We'd gravitate to the conversations that interested us the most" she thought that wasn't all that strange to her.
Gibbs flashed his wife a look, she was by the window staring out into the dawn sun. He turned back to his girl "anything else Kells?"
Kelly gave it another moments consideration "at the end of that informal session he did pull me to the side for a one on one chat. We talked for a little while, he seemed impressed that I had already completed my double degree & said that I should never stop learning" she took a breath when she remembered something else "he said it was a testament to my parents that I had been able to be so grounded & achieve so much at the age I was"
It was at that point that Gibbs noticed his wife had instantly walked off, he watched as she headed straight up the stairs and into his office, he saw both his daughter & dad give him a look of concern "stay on everything" he said, before he gave chase.
Arriving in his office he was greeted by a scene of his wife curled up on the floor, back against the couch, knees drawn to her chest & her head buried into herself. What he didn't understand was, was this a result of everything mounting up or something that had just been set off by this man? because she'd fled almost as soon as their girl had finished speaking.
Sitting himself down next to her, he tried pulling her into him but she resisted, she even buried her head into herself even deeper. He was a little taken aback by her refusal to let him sooth her, it took a moment to compute what she'd done. Whatever the cause of this was, was something pretty big he thought & he wondered if it was to do with that man. Deciding on a different way of showing her that he was there, he moved to sit on the couch, just above her & started to rub her upper back, shoulder & neck. He leaned down & kissed her head "I'm here for you babe" he whispered into her ear.
Kelly wasn't sure what had set her mum off, but she saw emotion all over her face & did want to go up & see her, but knew it was probably best to let her dad handle it.
Myles could see that while a number of the agents had all watched Shannon & Gibbs both depart rather quickly, they'd gotten back to work. He saw his friend was a little off & approaching he spoke softly "hey why don't we go up & see how Marc's doing KG"
Kelly looked at her friend & nodded "yea" keeping her head focused on anything was a good thing "we'll be back soon" she said to Tim.
"Be up soon" Tim replied, he saw her head off upstairs with Myles, as well as her grandfather, he saw though that as they headed up the stairs Myles had brought her into his side. He realised that they were friendly, and while he wasn't jealous he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy at it, he wanted to be the one to be helping her with everything, but he also had a job to do. So he'd have to do the job and maybe realise that helping her would be a burden shared.
Hollis had kept quiet during that entire discussion, she was playing catch up & would need to get some clarification on some of the points, as she wasn't getting everything, but it seemed that no one was getting it all, so that at least made her feel better. She had to wonder though if Kelly had a point about her analyst, could it have been deliberate, but not McGee had said he'd make the same mistake & that code did seem rather particular, I mean who would have that pre-written?
"Give me the altitudes of all the remaining positions please" Marcus requested "It's a gulfstream class, so it wouldn't drop below 20,000ft either, remove all of them from the screen" he mused out loud when he saw his brother, Kelly & Jack walk in.
Myles looked at the screen, there was now only a splattering of positions over Central Europe, but not really in any kind of flight route he'd consider normal.
Marcus was trying to work out the pattern to these positions "any sightings from the Netherlands towers yet?" he asked checking his watch.
"Nothing yet sir" Anderson answered as he checked the log on his laptop "wait a sec, there's a blackbird sighting from just north of Hamburg sir, 39,000ft"
"Further north Anderson" Marcus ordered, he could start to see something taking shape.
"Got one! 110 nautical miles off the Danish coast, near Esberg, 41,000ft" Anderson reported, he kept reading "spotted heading west"
"Where are you up to Marc?" Myles asked his brother.
"Think we're getting something, we're zoning in" Marcus confirmed, he shifted his gaze to Kelly, he saw something in her eyes but he wasn't sure what it was "what is it?"
Myles flashed Kelly a look before answering "that older guy that had had the run in with the dickhead downstairs in NOLA…"
"What about him?" Marcus asked
"He's the same guy that adopted Tony's sister, the same guy that sent Kells the money for her & squirt to live off, the same guy that taught Kells a decryption technique she just used on Loch's email's exchanges, and the same guy that apparently pushed Tony into accepting a position in Baltimore PD over going to California" though the last one he wasn't 100% of the major significance of that.
"Jethro met Tony when he was working for the Baltimore Police Department & brought him over to NCIS, if he had not been there, they never would have met" Jack added
Marcus's eyes were just wide "do we know who this guy is?"
Jack shook her head "no, there is no history on the man much before he adopted Patricia" he took a breath "have you found anything yet Marcus?" he could see his granddaughter was still preoccupied & not really able to help, she was obviously worried about her mother & he couldn't say he wasn't. It had been such an instant reaction, he was concerned with what had set it off.
"I thing we are sir. We are getting close to finding the flight path of the black bird that nearly ran into us" Marcus answered before turning back to the screen.
"And?" Myles asked his brother, he could see he was in deep thought.
Marcus flashed him a look before turning his attention to one of the MTAC operators "Mancheeny, I need you to connect the positions, if the altitude drops mark it red, if it rises mark it black. Start at the position we identified, and connect it to the one in Switzerland, follow it through to the one in lower France, then southern Germany, then northern France…"
Myles watched as his brother identified each position, he was now seeing the route that the plane had taken, where the hell was it going though? It was crisscrossing across the continent.
"Hamburg to Esberg, now just mark it out west towards the UK for 200 nautical miles please" Marcus said finishing up. He turned towards his Lt "any other sighting Lieutenant?"
"Nothing in the area yet sir, I'll keep checking" Anderson replied
Gibbs wasn't sure how long it had been but she'd not moved an inch, she wasn't crying loudly, but her breathing was laboured, so she was definitely letting some emotion out "shh babe, I'm here" he soothed, he just kept trying to sooth her as best as he could. He'd tried to get her off the floor, he'd tried to get her to talk, he'd tried to get her to move, anything, but she'd not budged.
He wasn't sure if this was everything finally catching up to her, but he didn't think so. The further they'd discussed things downstairs the more quiet she became, and when the photo came up she'd even moved a little back towards the wall & window. He had put it down to her trying to think about everything & really it was a lot to take in, he was still processing it. But there had to be a reason for her departure.
He was leaned forward soothing her when he saw a flash of light emanate from beneath his wife, he leaned to the side to try to get a look at what it was. He noticed that she had her phone sitting right under her drawn knees & it was open to an image, she was obviously looking at something, but what? If only he could get a better look at it, but he'd have to physically move her & that wasn't happening right now. He just wondered what could she possibly be looking at while in this state?
A/N: So the plot thickens! Tony recognises him to! And it appears this guy pushed him to Baltimore.. hmm interesting! Seems that Marcus is starting to get line on that blackbird, and that has to be a good thing! But what's the deal with Shannon? What set her off? And what picture could she possibly be staring at?
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