Blowback: [part 2]
...
3rd Person POV:
Tony and Claire watched the director let go of Gibbs and storm their direction, leaving the man to fume quietly by the windows. Both agents stiffened as she walked to McGee's desk where a search was pinging results. Tony was at the desk with Claire to his side. He looked up from the screen as Jenny approached.
"McGee's search is kicking out another bidder." He told her. Claire glanced over to Gibbs and noticed that he was heading to the elevators. She wasn't about to be left alone with these two. She needed backup of her own.
"Hey, boss. McGee's got something." She called, getting the man's attention. Gibbs stared at her for a beat before he nodded minutely and walked over to meet them. Claire let out a small sigh of relief, keeping out of Director Shepherd's line of sight. A feat that didn't take much effort since the woman kept her fiery stare locked on Tony.
"What is it with these wacky code names?" Tony mused as he pulled up a bio on the next buyer that the search had kicked out.
"Anonymity deflects more bullets than body armor." Jenny informed him with a hum. Gibbs finally reached them and walked over to stand between Tony and Claire.
"Well, this one's a woman. Black Rose." The younger man continued, frowning at Gibbs' positioning. It stung that his boss thought she needed to be protected from him and Jenny. Maybe she did.
"Rose O'Leary. She ran guns for the IRA until peace broke out. Who flagged her?" The director explained, looking at the photos that were pulled up on the big screen.
"MI5. They were tracking her in Africa. Lost contact six days ago. They think she slipped aboard a Variq flight to Brazil using the name Grace O'Malley." Director Shepherd chuckled.
"That's funny, director?" Gibbs asked, clearly unamused.
"Grace O'Malley was a 16th century Irish pirate." She answered icily, with a smirk.
"What's her bid?" Claire asked quietly, standing as far away from the other woman as possible. Jenny's eyes cut to Claire before she looked down at Tony intently, also wanting the answer.
"Less than La Grenouille. Only 18 mil." Tony explained, looking up at the director. Claire's eyebrows furrowed as she watched the interaction. When Jenny was asking he was unwilling to look at either one of this teammates. It was worrying.
"Unless her bid was in Euros." Gibbs quipped before turning to leave. His eyes met Claire's and he nodded his head for her to follow him out of the bullpen. She was eager to comply. At Gibbs' remark Tony's eyes widened in alarm and he quickly checked the currency. He sighed in relief.
"Dollars. It was in dollars." Director Shepherd let out a breath of relief as well. The two sat in silence for a moment.
"Think they'll ever forgive us?" Tony asked, looking up at the director. His eyes saddened as he looked to where Gibbs and Claire had walked off, clearly to get away from them. The director pursed her lips, her face hardening.
"Send me a hard copy when the data's in." she ordered instead. Tony's face fell.
"Yea, that's what I think too." He muttered despondently. Having his mentor and his best friend turn on him so quickly was a huge blow. Gaining back that trust would be something that would take a long time, if he was ever able to fully recover it at all.
...
...
Despite his efforts, Tony was unable to get either Gibbs or Claire to stay in a room with him to talk about things further. His endeavor was cut off when they received a call from McGee saying that Harrow had made them and ran for it. This meant that he and Ziva had no choice but to pursue and arrest. However, when they reached the top of the stairs that Harrow had run up the man was on the ground…dead. Getting the call Gibbs had ordered Tony and Claire to join him on scene. Unfortunately, Jenny had been around to hear and insisted she go with them. After a very quiet car ride they arrived on scene along with Ducky who was getting Harrow loaded up into the van. McGee, Ziva, and Claire stood by the car as Jenny chewed out the two agents who had called in.
"You were supposed to keep Mr. Harrow under surveillance, not chase him into a coronary." The woman snarled, fighting to keep at least some of her composure in check. Ziva's face soured, her eyes narrowing irritably.
"Director, once he made us we had to take him into custody, didn't we?" McGee pointed out insistently.
"No, the director's right. You could have let Harrow escape." Claire deadpanned sarcastically, staring at the director with a glare. She wasn't about to let her teammates get reamed for doing their job, no matter how personally involved the director was. It was getting out of line. The director turned her fury towards the agent.
"Right, if he sold ARES we could have caught Black Rose or La Grenouille selling it to Iran." Ziva tacked on, evidently just as irked by the situation as Claire was. Director Shepherd's nostrils flared.
"Don't be cute." She warned the duo, silencing them with a fierce glare. Claire clenched her jaw, staring back at the woman stubbornly.
"I'm saying there had to be a better way. Right, Tony?" Jenny imputed, dragging the newly arriving agent into the discussion. Her eyes rose pointedly as Tony blinked in surprise. Claire and Ziva whipped their heads around to stare at him, making him shift uncomfortably.
"That's right, director. He could have…"
"Shot him." Gibbs answered easily, pulling Tony back over to their side. He was grateful for the out.
"Right. They could have shot him." Tony agreed calmly. The director clenched her jaw.
"Of course, in high octane situations Ziva reverts back to her Mossad training, and would have put a round through his heart." Gibbs continued, unphased by the livid stare the redhead was shooting him. Ziva smirked.
"Three rounds." She countered.
"And McGee, not to be outdone would have.."
"Added three more rounds." McGee finished for Gibbs with a nod. Jenny sucked in a sharp breath, leveling a glare at the agents ganging up together.
"Gibbs." She grunted warningly, shaking her head.
"See? There you go. Six rounds, same result. One dead Mr. Harrow" Gibbs finished, ignoring her. The group stared at one another in a five to one stand-off. That is until Ducky butted in, unaware of the tension.
"I signed for the body. Cause of death was most likely a…." the man trailed off as he looked at the stony faces in the circle.
"Am I interrupting?" he asked warily.
"Not at all, doctor. We were just discussing the various ways NCIS could have killed Mr. Harrow besides chasing him to death." Director Shepherd hissed venomously.
"I am interrupting." Ducky muttered, quickly turning around.
"Doctor, death was most likely caused by…?" the director insisted, just a decibel short of shouting. Ducky paused before giving the explanation.
"A myocardial infarction. It was probably brought on by a combination of a high fat western diet, little exercise, and a mistaken belief that he could run up all those stairs. Rigorous for most, rigor mortis for him." Ducky smirked at his joke.
"Anything else?" Jenny continued tightly, not in the mood.
"Well, not until I do the…. autopsy." The director cut through the circle and left before he could finish.
"Oh…..what is going on?" Ducky hummed curiously, looking around the circle.
"I think the director is afraid Harrow's family might sue us." Tony suggested. Claire narrowed her eyes.
"Whatever she's thinking about, it's not ARES." She countered knowingly. Tony's eyes cut over to her, silently pleading for her not to make things worse. Gibbs watched them silently.
"Ziva, DiNozzo, head to Mr. Harrow's place. Find ARES or anything that can be used to track it. Bring it back to NCIS. McGee, Claire, you're with me." Their boss ordered, already turning to head to the car. Tony frowned.
"Um boss, usually Claire and I take tasks together." He quickly countered, jogging a bit to catch up with the man. Gibbs stopped to stare him down silently.
"Not this time." He whispered pointedly and turned to walk off. Tony clenched his jaw and watched as Claire brushed past him, trailed by a confused McGee.
...
...
Tony's POV:
I glared at the screen on my lap as I pulled up a photo of the machine ARES was originally housed in. If we were going to try and find this thing I had to brush up on my software knowledge. Ziva turned her head to look at the screen as she drove. I grunted as the car jerked to the side, wishing I had pushed the issue of me driving a little bit more than I had.
"That's ARES?" she questioned.
"According to McGeek. Ziva, watch the road." I insisted, jolting a little as I looked up to see us nearly colliding with the car in front of us.
"I have great peripheral vision." She insisted calmly.
"My sphincter doesn't." I countered, still focusing on the screen. I wouldn't have this problem if I had been paired up with Claire like usual.
"Well, at least we won't have trouble finding it." Ziva pointed out, getting back to the main topic at hand. I turned to stare at her incredulously.
"Really?" She actually thought that it was going to be that easy finding a secret government software. Its not like it was going to be lying around the house in plain sight with a label on it.
"Tony, it's the size of an ATM." She huffed, throwing her hand towards the screen for emphasis.
"Well, this is the controller console and this…." I clicked on some more buttons to blow up the screen…..or at least that was my goal. Instead a smiling photo of Jeanne popped up on the screen. My eyes bugged out and I quickly scrambled to get it off.
"Your mystery woman!" Ziva cheered in delight as she leaned her head all the way over to see better. The car began to swerve and I reached over to turn the wheel back into place, pushing her away as well.
"Watch the road." I growled, my heart pounding rapidly in my chest. This was very, very bad.
"Oh, yes, it is isn't it?" Ziva chuckled knowingly, pleased she had discovered his long kept secret.
"No, this is no one. This is McGee's idea of a prank." I countered sternly, finally able to get the photo off my screen. Ignoring her Cheshire grin I continued through the photos of the hardware that ARES should be stored in so we knew what to look for.
"This is the pirated part of ARES we have to find." I explained, showing her how small the actual piece was. Her eyebrows rose in surprise.
"Twenty million for that?"
"Well, size doesn't matt…" I stopped when she turned to stare at me.
"Forget I even stupidly started to say that." Ziva pursed her lips, turning her eyes back to the road where they should be. Thankfully it wasn't long before we pulled up into the driveway of Harrow's house. I quickly unbuckled and hopped out of the car.
"Will you tell me her name if I find the pirate's copy of ARES?" she hummed, walking alongside me through the front yard. I clenched my jaw. If only she could leave this alone, but she was too damn nosy to stay out of my business. I just hoped it didn't get around to Claire. That would absolutely crush her and there would be no coming back from it. But if all worked out and we got La Grenouille by the end of this case then problem solved and I never have to see Jeanne again. God, I hoped that it worked out.
"Pirated copy." I quickly corrected Ziva, getting away from my mental turmoil.
"That's what I said."
"No, you said pirate's copy. A pirate is a person like Captain Jack Sparrow." I explained tightly.
"A pirated copy…"
"Who is Jack Sparrow?" she cut me off in confusion
"Johnny Depp."
"He's a pirate?"
"No, he's an actor."
"Oh."
"How did we get here?" I asked in exasperation, staring at her. I don't even member how we got so off track anymore.
"I drove." She answered with a shrug, unlocking the door with the keys we got from the body. I rolled my eyes but decided a retort wasn't worth the effort. Stepping inside we swept around the wall into the living room. The entire first level of the house was filled with practically every type of computer and hardware ever made….and them some. McGee should have definitely been the one to search here. I have no clue how we're supposed to tell the difference between all this mess.
"This is going to be like looking for a needle in a needle stack." Ziva mused in displeasure.
"Needle in a haystack." I corrected, slipping on a pair of latex gloves.
"I like my description better." She hummed, glancing around at all the technology.
...
...
3rd Person POV:
After getting all the hardware back to NCIS, Abby and McGee were able to find the ancient laptop that secretly held the ARES software. Mr. Harrow had disguised the super high-tech device within a laptop casing that didn't match to throw people off. Once discovered, McGee brought it up to the bullpen for everyone to see. He held the clicker while the ARES software was running up on the big screen.
"The software was stored on micro-drives hidden in condoms." Claire's lip curled briefly at the thought, wondering how they had found that out. Tony and Ziva shared the curious looks as well but remained silent while McGee explained.
"And we analyzed every detail, the source code to the circuitry of the motherboard…"
"McGee." Gibbs cut off impatiently. McGee's eyes widened as he went silent. He blinked before rethinking his approach.
"It's like PS3. You can't play 'Killzone' without the hardware to run it." Gibbs frowned in utter confusion.
"PS….3?" The other agents shot McGee a sympathetic look, silently telling him to try again. To lower the bar for Gibbs to understand. McGee bit his lip in thought.
"Game console…..Atari…Commodore 64?"
"The software is useless without the hardware?" Gibbs surmised. McGee grinned.
"You got it."
"Why didn't you just say that?" Gibbs threw his hands out incredulously. McGee frowned…..he thought he just did?
"You found ARES?" The director's anxious voice broke up the conversation as she strides towards the group by the screen.
"Yes. Here it is, director. Like from Abby's Lab." McGee gestured to the flow of code, stepping back as the woman made her way to stand directly in front of it.
"You don't seem very happy." Gibbs hummed, watching her intently. Jenny's jaw hardened and she turned to face the agents, ignoring him.
"Any more bids?" she asked.
"No, La Grenouille was the high one. Not that it matters…" Tony trailed off, seemingly the only one willing to interact with their boss.
"Did Harrow arrange the drop off?" she instantly inquired.
"I checked his BlackBerry. This guy writes down every appointment and meeting. Nothing." McGee answered this time. They all subtly turned to Claire who was standing next to McGee. She said nothing.
"No phone calls or e-mails in the last six hours before he died." Ziva added instead, picking up the conversation.
"We were monitoring his….." McGee trailed off, his eyes staring absently in thought. Everyone turned to watch and waited for whatever his revelation was.
"He had coffee….The café had internet access. Trimana Café. 35th street." He explained, running over to his computer. Everyone followed.
"I've got his ISP provider." McGee mumbled, typing away and hacking into the server at the café. Tony leaned over Ziva's shoulder and frowned at what he was seeing on the screen.
"Can you do this to anyone's e-mail?" he inquired curiously.
"No, because this is highly illegal and I'm not even doing it now." McGee insisted, still working. Claire looked over at Tony, her eyebrow raised in inquiry.
"Worried someone is going to find your dirty e-mails Tony? It's not like it would be a surprise at this point if you had some." She teased dryly. Tony shot her a withering glare but didn't respond. At least she was talking to him again.
"Okay, we're in. At 1:40 this afternoon, Harrow sent two e-mails from that ISP. One to Black Rose."
"To tell her the bad news no doubt." Claire hummed thoughtfully.
"And one to La Grenouille. 'Congratulations on the winning bid. Upon receipt of your funds, title to the Santorini Villa at…' He lists GPS coordinates..' will be transferred at midnight Tuesday." McGee read off.
"That's ten minutes from now. Same time zone as Israel." Ziva chimed in.
"McGee, put that e-mail up on the plasma." Gibbs piped up from where he had retreated from his desk. Tony looked over at him but Gibbs paid him no attention. McGee quickly put the email on the plasma screen for all of them to look at. Jenny quickly took front and center once more.
"Those coordinates aren't Greece." Gibbs pointed out. At this prompt McGee quickly imputed the numbers into a GPS system. The agents watched as the computer closed in on the satellite image of the site.
"Quebec." He read aloud as they watched. Director Shepherd glanced down at her watch.
"We've got five hours." She pointed out tensely.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Gibbs countered calmly. Jenny turned a heated glare his way.
"I am not gonna let a few miles of Canadian border stop me." she hissed vehemently. The agents eyed her warily, surprised by how vicious she was getting over this drop. Tony bit the inside of his lip, worried about her change of attitude. He knew she was adamant about catching La Grenouille, but this was becoming a bit much. The desire to catch him ran much deeper than he had realized. If she was willing to risk an international incident, how was she going to react if things went south on his end of the missions? She claimed she had his back, but was she willing to risk his neck to meet her end goals instead?
"That's not what I meant." Gibbs huffed boredly. He slowly stood and made his way to stand next to her.
"The Frog is expecting to meet Harrow, and Charles Harrow is dead." he reminded. Jenny's eyes widened in realization. They really had to rethink how to go about this.
"McGee where exactly are the coordinates leading to?" Claire inquired, wanting to get the ball rolling. The sooner they got rid of this case….and consequently the director off their backs…..the better. McGee quickly zoomed in on the map.
"Aeroport de Sherbrooke, south- eastern Quebec. It's 30 miles across the border from New Hampshire. That puts La Grenouille right in our backyard." McGee listed off.
"Did I miss Quebec becoming the 51st state?" Gibbs asked sarcastically. From just behind him, Jenny's eyebrow rose.
"I'm not going to watch that bastard fly away again, Jethro." She warned lowly.
"Again?" Claire blurted in confusion. The director shot her a look before brushing it off.
"Why don't we snatch him when he lands, toss him in the back of the trunk and drive over the border." Ziva suggested thoughtfully, smirking at the idea.
"That might work where you grew up Ziva, not here." McGee countered.
"Why not?" The Director asked with a dark undertone. Everyone turned to look at her in mild surprise.
"Okay, I'm down with the border snatch." Tony chimed in thoughtfully. Maybe it was better to bend some rules now before things really got out of hand later down the road.
"What do we charge him with, bidding on a Greek villa?" Claire countered sarcastically. Tony stared at her dryly. She shrugged.
"Claire's right. We've got nothing on Grenouille until he buys ARES." McGee pointed out.
"Since Harrow's dead, that can't happen." Tony chimed in, clenching his jaw.
"Does 'The Frog' know that Harrow's dead?" Gibbs inquired thoughtfully.
"Probably not."
"And if he never met him….."
"All we need is a 68 year old Englishman." Jenny finished, glancing around at the other agents. They quickly knew what she was suggesting.
...
...
The team maintained surveillance positions around the large private jet that was waiting in the airport. Claire and Tony side by side on a storage container while Ziva was on the opposite side. McGee was in the van with Gibbs and the director. He would be giving the Charles Harrow look alike, aka Ducky, information via an earwig if he was asked anything about the software.
"Gulfstream 5. Registration, 218-echo." Tony checked in as he laid on his stomach and full blackout gear. Claire laid next to him, peering through her sniper scope.
"Copy you, Archangel." McGee answered from the van.
"This look familiar to you?" Claire asked as she stared through the scope, making sure her sights were lined up correctly. Tony blinked in surprise, pleased that she was speaking more freely. Perhaps it was just the presence of the director that caused her to go silent.
"They flew into Washington on a different G5 when I tagged the luggage." he answered, looking through the high-tech camera he had set up.
"Tagged their luggage?" She inquired, glancing away from her scope and at him. Tony looked over.
"Yea, about a month or so ago. Undercover mission." He elaborated.
"Ah." Claire nodded in understanding. She smiled to herself, happy that Tony was willing to open back up to her about this. All the secrecy put quite a strain on their relationship and with Jenny around glaring daggers at her head she was unable to inquire further about all these Ops. Hopefully it would end tonight and things could finally get back to normal. However, he hadn't quite admitted that this was the cause of his sudden distancing months ago. She would get around to that later.
"218-Echo is an air charter out of Orle Suede. It's been refueled and flight plan filed. 21:00." McGee relayed. Claire narrowed her eyes at Trent Kort who was standing at the opening of the plane.
"35 minutes. This is your Op, director." They heard Gibbs mutter to the woman in the van with him. Claire pushed her mic away from her face and looked over at Tony.
"Honestly, do you think she should be running this. She seems a bit too compromised." she whispered anxiously. Tony pursed his lips and glanced over thoughtfully.
"I think she'll do just fine." he assured with a grin. Claire returned the gesture.
"I'm just ready for this to be over, you know." She hummed, staring at him in silent conversation. Tony's gaze softened, knowing what she was implying. Perhaps when all this passed over they could have a good sit down and let everything back out in the open. No more secrets. He didn't have much hope that they could pick up where they left off, but he was willing to see what happened. Claire was worth the risk.
"Yea, I know. Hopefully." He agreed, reaching over to squeeze her hand. Claire stared down at his hand in surprise, almost startled by the foreign feeling. He hadn't been that intimate with her in months. Not since they had spent the night together. She smiled back at him before focusing her attention on the scene in front of them when Ducky drove forward for the meeting. Tony looked back as well, frowning in thought. Would it be that easy to go back to the way things were after all of this? A lot of damage had been done, and even if they caught La Grenouille, would that truly mean that his charade with Jeanne would be over? He swallowed tightly, not wanting to get too carried away with the 'what if's. For now he had to focus on bringing this case to a close.
...
The team watched intently as Ducky was quickly stopped and asked for identification before proceeding through the gates towards the aircraft.
"Martin Quinn, he flew in with La Grenouille's advance party two months ago." Jenny briefed over the line as they watched with anticipation. They watched as Martin requested for Ducky to open the trunk to be checked. Claire chuckled as she watched through the scope.
"And you wanted to hide in the trunk." She mused, shooting him a knowing glance.
"You didn't take me seriously did you?" Tony easily shot back, not daring to look over at her smug expression.
"Of course I did. You were dead serious." She hummed. Tony didn't respond. Claire kept her sights trained on the man as he walked alongside the car towards the airplane. The car stopped just before the steps and Ducky stepped out, ARES in hand. Claire sucked in a breath as Trent Kort eyed the man skeptically.
"Charles Harrow?" he questioned. Ducky stared up at him evenly.
"You say that as if you're surprised to see me." Trent narrowed his eyes curiously.
"Uh oh." Tony muttered.
"Archangel, Ducky might have been compromised." Jenny warned, signaling for Claire and Ziva to prepare for a shot.
"I have Martin." Claire relayed, setting her sights on her target just in case.
"And I have Mr. Kort." Ziva added. They all waited with baited breath as Ducky fearlessly stared up at the man.
"Do you have ARES?"
"Do you have the 20 million?" Ducky countered easily. Claire grinned. Trent nodded in what seemed like approval and called for someone inside. A pretty blonde woman quickly emerged, smiling down at Ducky. He greeted the woman in French, picking up on her accent. She smiled sweetly at him and gestured for the laptop, which he willingly gave over. She scanned the laptop skeptically and asked Ducky for all the login information, which McGee quickly relayed over the coms.
"Where's Grenouille?" Jenny pushed, not seeing the man they wanted.
"Aren't you going to invite me inside Mr. Grenouille?" Ducky asked, looking up at who he knew was Mr. Kort.
"I would but I'm not him." Mr. Kort countered, pulling out his phone and waving it as a signal. Everyone turned to look at where he had waved. Out of the shadows a man in a long fancy trench coat walked forward to greet Ducky. The two talked in French for a bit before being reprimanded by McGee to switch back so everyone else could listen. Ducky quickly suggested that they wait in the car while the woman checked out the software. The rest of the team watched and waited, listening for any sign that Ducky may need to be bailed out. Claire's scope followed Kort as he delivered a small case to the duo in the car, which turned out to be Cognac. Her eyes narrowed as she watched him receive a phone call, only to hang up as the woman reappeared from inside the plane. This time with the bag of diamonds.
"Who would he be calling at a time like this?" Claire muttered curiously.
"Maybe it's a late night booty call." Tony suggested distractedly. Claire rolled her eyes, but didn't turn to look at him.
"That would be your excuse." She chastised.
"I resent that." He pouted teasingly. Claire smirked lightly before focusing back on what was going on.
"They're starting engines." Tony relayed as they heard the plane start up. Kort informed his boss that all was settled, prompting Grenouille to exit the car.
"Get the diamonds." Jenny reminded.
"Oh Renee, aren't you forgetting something?" Ducky inquired, holding up the Cognac case.
"My little bottle of history is yours my friend." The man dismissed with a grin. Ducky blinked in pleasant surprise.
"Oh well I don't know what to say…"
"GIVE ME THE DIAMONDS!" Jenny and McGee reminded sternly. Ducky floundered a bit before requesting his payment.
"Archangel awaiting instructions." Ziva relayed from the other side. No doubt trained on La Grenouille while Claire was still on Kort.
"This was meant to be a snatch wasn't it?" they heard Gibbs asked pointedly. Jenny didn't answer. Claire frowned in confusion. All they had was a snatch, they had no reason to make this an assassination. What was Jenny playing at? The team waited as silence remained on the other side of the line while La Grenouille ended his conversation with Ducky.
"About to lose target." Ziva informed urgently, watching the man stride towards the plane.
"Target will be lost in five seconds." She continued when Jenny didn't answer.
"Archangel requesting instructions." Tony pushed, watching his chance of freedom walk away.
"Director." Claire barked quietly, wondering why the hell she wasn't answering.
"Stand down Archangel. Stand down." Director Shepherd ordered, causing everyone to release from their tense postures. Claire stared over at Tony, her eyes wide in confusion. Tony clenched his jaw, lowing his head to press against the container below him. She blew it. La Grenouille was gone. When the man was out of sight, Trent Kort walked towards Ducky and leaned in the window.
"Tell me you got the call." He asked. Ducky kept up his part.
"What call?" Kort rolled his eyes and reached into the man's ear, pulling out the earwig.
"Yes, I got the damn call." Director Shepherd grumbled irritably as he put it into his own ear to hear the answer. Kort nodded and tossed it back to Ducky, along with the diamonds.
"Here are your diamonds, Dr. Mallard." He huffed before darting back to enter the plane. The agents frowned in confusion as to what just happened. What call did she get?
...
Everyone met back at the surveillance van, waiting for Ducky to pull up in the car. They all leaned against the van with sour expression as the doctor parked in front of them.
"He knew my name." Ducky lamented irritably as he stepped out of the vehicle to join them.
"He's CIA." Tony informed unhappily. They had all been briefed by the director on what they all witnessed. He most of all was none too happy that La Grenouille was still at large and practically under CIA protection for now.
"And so was Harrow." Claire added.
"It was a sting." McGee elaborated, pursing his lips. Gibbs shrugged.
"We got stung."
"No, we got screwed." Jenny countered bitingly. Tony silently nodded, just knowing by her tone of voice that this wasn't over yet.
