Sunday, he and Shannon grabbed lunch at Elaine's diner with their daughter and their soon-to-be son-in-law, trying to get some more things figured out for the wedding and generally just wanted to spend time together. It gave Jethro the opportunity to get to know Michael better as he hadn't known the boy for years as Shannon had.
Monday, however, meant that they were all back in the swing of things. Not being able to get out of it or 'reschedule' it once more, Jethro's team was forced to undergo their annual psych evaluations whether they wanted to or not and juggle working a case.
Dr. Cranston, who Jethro immediately recognized as his late agent Caitlin Todd's sister, had shown up to run the psych evaluations for his team. He knew his team wondered why he didn't put up more than a token argument about it, but then the rest of the team had yet to figure out just who Dr. Cranston actually was. Jethro had a feeling that Rachel, Kate's older sister, was there for reasons beyond obligatory psych evals. Jethro suspected she was looking for closure. So, after saying "Everybody, the doctor's in!" Jethro led his team out to work the case they'd just caught.
A dead naval commander had been found on the U.S.S Colonial by one of the junior officers, Ensign Vincent Reynolds. The commander had, to all appearances, died from a shot to the chest.
McGee eyed the scene. "A lot of blood."
He considered the situation. "Must've clipped an artery."
"You find a weapon yet?" DiNozzo asked, having just walked in behind him.
"No," he replied a bit curtly. "Start looking."
"Confounded ships are like laboratory mazes," Ducky said as he walked in and started to assess the body. "I always feel like a white rat in search of a tasty treat."
"So," he pressed, "what do you think, Duck?"
Ducky confirmed his suspicions. "Someone shot him.
"Yeah," he said. "Well, there's a start."
"At close proximity," Ducky added. "Through and through. The slug should still be in his bunk. Agent McGee, help me turn him so that Agent David can take a look."
His Senior Field Agent got their attention. "There's no gun here."
"The slug is still in the mattress," Ziva commented.
Something on the floor caught his attention. He leaned down and picked it up before showing it to his team. "I found a shell casing."
Ziva eyed it. "That's a Tokarev 25. Mostly used by Koreans and Russians."
He turned towards Captain Thomas Lind. "Captain, you got some visitors onboard?"
"Uh, seven!" the captain informed him. "Including a group of international journalists."
Well, that gave Jethro's team an initial suspect list to work with. "Anyone know about the commander's murder yet?" DiNozzo asked.
Before the captain could reply, McGee got his attention. "Uh, Boss!"
The younger agent proceeded to show Jethro a ZNN article he'd been notified of on his cellphone. The news article was titled 'U.S Navy Officer Shot To Death.' Well, they had certainly gotten their answer about if anyone knew. Someone had gone and leaked the recent death. 'Extra, extra!" Jethro deadpanned. "Read all about it."
Wrapping up processing their crime scene, they made the three-and-a-half-hour long trip home to Washington, stopping for hoagies on the way. Back at the Navy Yard, the director was on the phone with SecNav Davenport when Jethro walked into his office. "Yes, Sir. I understand, I do. We will. As soon as possible. Thank you."
Vance hung up and informed him that nobody knew who had leaked the death but that the U.S.S Colonial was on lockdown. The director then apprised Jethrk that there were two British reporters, two French ones, as well as one South Korean reporter. That last one fitted well with Jethro's bullet and was definitely now considered a strong suspect. And the Korean reporter was the only guest that had no alibi. The guy had also served four years in the Korean military.
As Jethro started to leave, Vance lectured Jethro about the evals. The director pointed out that technically the team wasn't cleared to operate in the field until the report was complete. Dr. Cranston was giving them some leeway so as to not be too intrusive.
"What do you want us to do, Leon?" he deadpanned. "Go home?"
The director eyed him. "I want you to give the doctor your full support."
"Already am," he countered.
"A bad report can lead to change," Vance stated.
"Record speaks for itself," he assured the man. He honestly wasn't concerned.
"The record may not be enough," Vance said.
He shot the other man a pointed look. "We are who we are, Director Vance."
"Don't I know it," Vance grunted before turning away and letting him leave.
Back down in the squad room, his team was busy looking into Commander Reynolds' background. The man was an Annapolis grad, served with distinction, and was just eighteen months away from his mandatory retirement. The man had no family. Commander Reynolds was friends with Admiral Wayne Hargrove, however.
Admiral Hargrove had a different portfolio, but he immediately ordered his team to find out if the commander had been doing any side work for the admiral. Jethro also ordered them all to make time for the doctor, wanting it over with for everyone's sake. Ziva, unfortunately, drew the short straw and was the one that Dr. Cranston wanted to interview then and there.
While McGee talked to the admiral, DiNozzo talked to the South Korean journalist, Min Ho Kwon, who was less than cooperative and demanded that he be released. The man didn't get what he wanted, but a female petty officer, Rena Oliver did accuse the man and inform DiNozzo that she had seen Kwon and the victim arguing the night before.
After that little update, Jethro set up a meeting with Admiral Hargrove in MTAC.
"Murder," the admiral said, shocked. "Really? I'll have to tell my wife Nancy. Vincent was like family to us."
"Really?" he asked a bit skeptically. "Even after you skyrocketed up the ranks?"
The admiral gave him a look. "I'm not sure I follow, Agent Gibbs.
Jethro didn't beat around the bush. "Vincent Reynolds was just a commander, Admiral. You're an admiral, Admiral."
The admiral didn't seem to take any offence at the implications. "Vincent always knew that he had the gift of leadership much more than political savvy," the man explained. "And... he had a bad habit of telling people what he really thought."
"If an aggressive journalist pushed him," he asked, "would he have pushed back?"
The admiral didn't even hesitate. "And then some, yeah."
With Min Ho Kwon looking more and more like a solid murder suspect, Jethro called his wife to say that he might be home late and headed back to the U.S.S Colonial with his Senior Field Agent to speak to the South Korean journalist.
"Then, how can I prove my innocence?" Kwon demanded.
"An alibi would be nice," he drawled.
"Commander Reynolds was killed last night at approximately 2:00 AM," his Senior Field Agent informed the man.
"I was in my stateroom," the man said.
"Doing what?" he inquired.
Kwon clearly intended to continue being difficult. "My actions are not your concern."
"On a U.S. naval vessel, they sure as hell are!" Jethro snapped. "You're about to be accused of murdering an American officer! Do you understand what's at stake here?"
"Heck of a powder keg," DiNozzo said.
He hit the table in an attempt to intimidate the man. "What are you, the fuse?!"
Kwon licked his lips. "Alright, I'll negotiate."
"Like hell you will," he snapped. "Not on my watch." Jethro stood up as he spoke, and started walking towards the door. "See you in prison."
"I was sending e-mails!" the man yelled before he could leave.
He and DiNozzo sat down in front of the journalist again.
"E-mails?" DiNozzo prodded.
"I sent them through a series of encoded signals unencrypted by a sub off the coast," Kwon finally informed them.
"Then we'll need the name of the sub," DiNozzo stated.
"I cannot," the man insisted. "They'll kill me."
"I wouldn't be so worried," DiNozzo said. "South Korea's our ally."
Kwon then dropped a huge bomb on them. "North Korea isn't." That definitely changed some things and was highly problematic for the Navy to put it simply. It was a massive threat to national security if the information in those e-mails made it to the guys that they were intended to reach. "Timestamps on the e-mails will prove my innocence. I was sending photographs of your weapons systems." The journalist glanced back and forth between both agents. "Arrest me for espionage. At home, they'll call me a hero. But I swear I'm not a murderer."
Deciding they weren't going to get anything more on their murder case from Kwon, he and DiNozzo arrested Kwon and seized all of his electronics and handed him over to military police in Norfolk. He then contacted Vance to give him a heads up on the mess before he and DiNozzo got off the ship and headed back to D.C, stopping for dinner on the long drive back home.
It was just before midnight when he finally pulled into his driveway. Feeling exhausted, Jethro hopped out of his truck and walked towards the front door.
Jethro unlocked his front door, exhausted, and let himself into the house. He carefully made his way through the house, shrugging his blazer off and kicking his shoes off. Not bothering to turn any lights on, Jethro headed upstairs to their bedroom.
Jethro walked into the room and noted that Shannon, who was unsurprisingly laying in bed already, with the bedside lamp to her right on, reading one of her books.
Shannon sat up in bed and smiled at him. "Welcome home."
He gave her a small smile. "Thanks." Jethro gave his wife a kiss before stripping down to his boxers. "How was your day?"
She moved to put the book she was reading away. "Long."
"Oh yeah," he quipped. "I'm familiar with the sentiment."
"Better than yours though," she said. "How was the drive back from Norfolk?"
"Traffic wasn't too bad," he said. "Had Tony to keep me company."
She chuckled. "That boy can talk."
He gave a little snort in agreement. "Yeah, he can."
Jethro was tired and knew that Shannon was as well so was a little surprised when his wife pulled him down to her and pressed her lips against Jethro's own like she did. He wasted no time and began moving his lips in synch with his wife, kissing her back with equal ferocity, surrendering to the sensation as they fell into bed together, and allowed weeks of pent-up tension to spill over.
