When they arrived in sickbay Gibbs and Tony were surprised to see McGee sitting up in a chair looking like a paler version of his old self. He was munching his way through a dry cracker.
"Hey Probie", Tony greeted him, "What's up?"
"Don't know", said McGee through a mouthful of cracker, "They won't tell me, just said they want to wait until we're all here."
At the sound of voices, the doctor appeared from around a curtain. "Ahh, good, Special Agent Gibbs, you're here. I need to show you this."
Gibbs and Tony followed the doctor around the curtain with McGee hot on their tails.
The doctor spoke low to Gibbs, "We lost another one in the night."
Gibbs shot Tony a questioning look but received only a shrug in return. He had heard nothing over the headset. They would have to wait until Abby could process the signal. Damn.
Gibbs looked down at the body. Another sailor lay dead in this sickbay. That was four. Four in one sickbay was not a co-incidence; even if he believed in them. He looked up at McGee.
"Did you hear anything last night?"
McGee averted his eyes, "Ahh no boss, I was um, sleeping."
"Someone is murdered not 6 feet from you and you slept through it?" Gibbs was incredulous.
"Well, boss, I was well, sick and um.." he looked to the doctor for moral support.
"Agent McGee was in a medicated sleep, agent Gibbs", he reported calmly, "There's no way he could have heard anything."
"Does the Captain know?" asked Gibbs running an agitated hand through his hair.
"Yes", he's on his way down now", said the doctor nervously.
The Captain appeared in minutes, gruff but efficient.
"We need to get closer to land", Gibbs informed him directly.
"Can do", the Captain replied in a resigned tone.
"And I'll reschedule the launch. We leave in two hours and we're taking him with us", said Gibbs curtly nodding at the body, "DiNOzzo, McGee, I want this processed as a crime scene, go."
As he turned to leave, McGee trailed him.
"We're getting off, Boss?" it was better than Christmas.
"Yep, we'll take the LCAC back to shore at the next point."
McGee closed his eyes and sighed in relief.
"Now get back to work, you've had enough time off."
They left the bowels of the ship in the LCAC soon after 9 am, the noise from the large fans made conversation impossible and they spent most of their time hanging on grimly as the LCAC skimmed over the choppy seas.
As the sailor's body was loaded into the waiting ambulance, Tony paused to steady himself. He was feeling a little queasy from the journey.
"You should be thankful", said Gibbs jovially, "In my day we used the old LCM8s. Like a flat bottomed brick with a top speed of 10 knots. More than a few green marines when we landed in those things."
"Hey, Probie", said Tony suddenly, "how come you're not sick?"
McGee considered, "I don't know. Maybe it's this little tiny patch on my arm or maybe it's the fact that I just spent 12 hours of my life having anti-seasickness medication pumped directly into my bloodstream. It's a mystery, Tony."
Tony passed a slightly nauseous hand over his mouth.
"Feel like a nice, big greasy hamburger, Tony?" McGee teased vindictively as he headed for the car.
Tony narrowed his eyes at him and turned away.