After their little rendezvous up in the director's office, things on the Victor front really started to pick up, something that wasn't always a good thing in their line of work.
DiNozzo and Ziva's trip to Iron Crypt left them with more questions than answers. The company was an offsite data storage facility for the local Homeland security office. The security footage showed Victor accessing the building after he had been kidnapped. He used his access card - which had been taken from his wallet - to enter the building the previous night around midnight. Victor also downloaded a single file, but it was unclear what exactly the file was. Abby was still working on figuring that out.
Jethro then decided to take a trip down to autopsy to see Ducky, returning the favour from earlier and leaving Tobias to deal with Diane. Amusingly, though, that didn't go as planned because Tobias just ordered DiNozzo to do the job and followed Jethro. The combat veteran was just glad it wasn't him.
The medical examiner was off telling one of his stories when the pair walked in. "For instance, in Ireland, divorce wasn't legalized until 1997."
"Thank God, I'm not Irish!" Tobias exclaimed, turning to Jethro as he spoke. "Can you imagine being stuck with her?"
"Don't have to imagine," he countered without missing a beat. "We are." He turned to the medical examiner. "Unless you can pull a rabbit out of that body, Duck."
"Sorry," Ducky stated. "This man's last meal consisted solely of fried cheese. But there are some things to note." The medical examiner then informed both team leaders that Victor's weapon was used to kill the two men found at the fast-food joint. Additionally, both of the victims' hands were bound and neither one showed signs of a struggle. In other words, the crime scene had likely been faked.
Jethro and Tobias walked into the conference room to see Diane and DiNozzo engaged in a rather strange conversation, DiNozzo clearly fishing for information. "I could tell you why Leroy married me," the redhead said seductively, "but you have a job to do and you wouldn't be able to concentrate the rest of the day if I do."
"I think that ship's already sailed," DiNozzo replied, a little stunned.
"Leroy," Diane said, "what's with the twenty questions from your agent?"
"Victor is now a suspect in our investigation," he explained.
Diane shot him a look. "Is that a joke?"
"Uh," DiNozzo said, pulling up the security footage on the monitor, "this was taken at a data storage facility after Victor disappeared."
"And his gun was used in the murders at the drive-thru," Tobias explained.
Diane was stunned. "I… I don't understand."
"Neither do we," Tobias admitted.
"I do," Abby stated as she walked into the room. "And I wish I didn't. Bad news, Gibbs. We were able to identify the data Victor downloaded."
Heading down to the forensics lab, Abby and her long-time friend Carol with the V.A's Infection Disease Program Office filled Jethro and Tobias in. The pair had deciphered the file that Victor had downloaded: it wasn't a budget like they'd originally suspected rather it was the recipe for a very virulent virus - an Ebola variant.
There were very few places that had capabilities to create manmade viruses and only one in the D.C area with those capabilities, so once they learned that, it wasn't hard to figure out what their next stop was.
Jethro, Tobias, and Ziva went to the lab. The three agents got in a little bit too easily and quickly realized that something was amiss. They all drew their six hours and then Ziva spotted a man lying on the floor. It was a dead security guard. The agents then found a sealed room with several other dead bodies with bloody eyes inside. At least some of them were bad guys and attempted to shoot their way out. That meant someone built the virus and somebody else took the virus and left in a hurry, imprisoning as well as murdering his crew in the process.
Heading back to the Navy Yard, sans Ziva who was staying back to keep control of the scene, Jethro immediately had everyone start on confirming the identities of the latest victims and running more background checks.
"Ziva says the hazmat teams are clearing the lab now," DiNozzo informed them as he got off the phone. "Ducky will be able to autopsy the bodies soon."
"We know what killed them," Tobias said.
He glanced at his agents. "Where are we on identifications?"
"The lab I.D'd the two techs," his Senior Field Agent said, pulling each man's I.D up on the plasma for the rest of them to see. "We I.D'd the other two. We got Dwight Kilborn and Jeremiah Ness. Both ex-Special Forces. Both have been freelancing for mercenary groups for the last ten months."
"Been doing more than that," McGee stated. "Abby was able to reconstruct part of the erased security tapes from the burger place." The younger agent uploaded the footage to the plasma. "Gunmen look familiar?"
"That's what I was talking about," Dinozzo said, giving McGee a hard time again. "See? That's the thinning part on the vertex."
"Those were our stiffs from the lab," the FBI agent replied. "They hit a fast food joint one night, then they end up dead in a lab the next? What gives?"
"Victor doesn't look in charge to me," DiNozzo said. "Looks like a victim."
Jethro shrugged. "Could be what we're supposed to think."
"What do you mean?" Tobias questioned.
"These guys are pros," McGee said. "They had to know we'd be able to reconstruct the tapes. Which means we'd see Victor getting grabbed, a.k.a. Victim."
"Seriously?" Tobias said incredulously. "Victor fakes his own kidnapping, then he steals a virus and uses that to kill his crew? How devious is this guy?"
He eyed Tobias. "Wouldn't be the first time she married the wrong guy."
"Of course," McGee commented, "he's not the only one keeping secrets."
Both team leaders shared a baffled look.
McGee turned to DiNozzo. "You didn't tell them?"
"What?" he demanded.
"Well," McGee started to explain, "you had told us to back-check Victor and Diane, and we came up with some discrepancies."
"What discrepancies?" Tobias pressed.
"Diane had mentioned in passing she never left the country," McGee said.
What does that have to do with anything? "Yeah, and?"
"Well," McGee told both team leads, "being extremely diligent, I checked her PNR. And it places her in the Cayman Islands in '04. Then again in '06."
Tobias eyed McGee. "Are you sure?"
McGee dipped his head slightly and passed Jethro a file. "The only reason I mention it is because the Caymans are the money-laundering capital of the world."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Tobias said in disbelief. "She may be the spawn of Satan, but she's also the mother of my child. No way Diane is involved."
Jethro eyed Tobias. "Rule #69: Never trust a woman who doesn't trust her man." He turned to his agents. "Keep digging."
"How deep?" DiNozzo asked.
"Until you get to the bottom," Tobias demanded.
Jethro and Tobias went back to his place in Arlington wanting a bit more privacy to talk and to grab something to eat considering the hour.
Kelly was out with Maddie. Shannon was upstairs grabbing something from their room quickly and Tobias was in the kitchen getting a glass when Diane stormed through the front door. "You son of a bitch! How dare you?" She marched over to where Jethro was seated on the couch. "What the hell are you doing poking into my private life?"
Shannon came down the stairs, rolling her eyes. "Hello to you too, Diane."
"Shannon," Diane replied in a rather clipped manner.
"I heard you had a bit of a rough day," Shannon said not-unkindly.
Diane just gave a little hum in response.
"I'm just doing my job," Jethro said, hoping to get the conversation back on track and avoid a full-on fight right there in the living room.
"I'm not the one who's missing," Diane said. "Victor is."
He sighed. "Tell me about the Caymans."
"Ancient history." Diane glared at Jethro as he offered his glass of bourbon. "Have you been just waiting for this all these years? An opportunity to twist the knife in?"
"No," he said. "No, that's your specialty."
"Your way of getting even with me for leaving you?" Diane accused.
He eyed her. You're way off base. "Should give you a medal."
"Yeah," she said, "well if there is a medal, I do deserve it for staying so long. It wasn't easy being a human anti-depressant." His expression shifted. "What? You didn't think I knew? You just married me to get over Shannon."
He sighed, not sure what to say. It hadn't been something he'd been consciously doing but in hindsight that was exactly why all of his marriages after Shannon had ended in divorce. Diane wasn't wrong.
Shannon shot Diane a pointed look. "It's not his fault he was hurting. Mistakes were made but is playing this blame game going to solve anything? Neither one of you is completely blameless in what happened between you two." She eyed the pair. "If you wanna figure this out you need to lay off the bickering and talk."
"I know," Diane conceded. "That was... I'm scared, Leroy."
He nodded. "Then tell me about the Caymans."
"I met someone in '04," Diane started to explain. "He had a place in the Caymans. I had a husband who was never around. And this guy paid attention to me. That's all I ever wanted, you know, from you or Tobias. Just somebody to be there, you know." She took a sip of the bourbon.
He chuckled softly. She was talking about Victor. "So you married him."
"Yep," Diane confirmed. "Six months ago." She took another swig of the alcohol. "By the way, thanks for the waffle iron. Victor loves it." She put the glass down and eyed him intently. "Leroy, whatever you think Victor is involved in, you're wrong. Just find him and you'll see. Just find him. Please."
As Diane closed the front door behind her, Tobias came out of the kitchen where he'd been eavesdropping. Jethro downed some bourbon and glance up at Tobias.
"Why didn't you tell her I was here?" the FBI agent asked.
"Why didn't you?" he countered.
Tobias shot him a look. "Diane and I were still married in '04."
He nodded, feeling bad for the guy. He'd been there. Of course, in his case, he'd found out by walking in on his third wife Rebecca in bed with the other man. "I know."
"She cheated on me with Victor," Tobias said, understandably upset by what he'd just learned. "Now I've really gotta find the son of a bitch."
Shannon put a hand on Tobias' shoulder. "Don't do anything stupid."
"No promises," Tobias deadpanned.
Shannon rolled her eyes and Jethro missed whatever that was that his wife had said in response because his cellphone started ringing.
"Yeah," he answered, "it's Gibbs."
"Boss?" McGee said.
He hoped his team had found something. "Yeah, McGee."
"I got a break off a cell from one of the dead gunmen," McGee informed Jethro. "Got a location on the last call it made."
"Where?" he asked.
"It's an abandoned warehouse in Anacostia," McGee stated. "Tony's on his way."
Ending the call, Jethro grabbed Tobias' glass from him as the man was about to down some bourbon himself. "Oh, no, no, no. You're driving. Come on. Let's go."
Jethro, Tobias, and DiNozzo entered the warehouse and quickly found a chained-up Victor, messing with a phone behind a fenced-off area. Victor recognizes both Tobias and Jethro and was visibly relieved when Jethro broke the lock, saying, "Not too bad for two guys who missed the wedding." They both used work as an excuse - despite the pair having deliberately ordered pizza and drank together - but Victor said that he forgave them. Victor even hugged Tobias. The man tried to hug Jethro too, but he stayed beyond the reach of Victor's chains.
Debriefing Victor in an interrogation room back at NCIS, the case seemingly took yet another abrupt turn. And one for the worst. Of course, that was only once they'd all managed to get bickering over with. This case was giving him a migraine.
Victor claimed that he was being set up, which Jethro was starting to believe after the man's reaction at the wear house, and explained to Diane, who had angrily barged into interrogation, that the $2 Million was family money that he had put away for their retirement. A nest egg. Victor had also informed them that the people involved weren't trying to sell the virus, as they originally thought, rather l planned to use it.
They continued talking with Victor for a bit and then given the late hour, they all called it a day. They weren't likely to make any progress in the middle of the night anyway, as they still had no new leads, and all needed the rest.
Shannon pulled him in for a kiss when he walked in. "How'd it go?"
"No bloodshed," he deadpanned. He offered his wife a small smile. "Victor's fine. Diane was Diane. And, well, you've met Tobias."
She snorted. "So, pretty usual day."
"My life's weird," he said as he pulled Shannon in for a one-armed hug.
Shannon raised an eyebrow. "No, your life's in a class all of its own."
He rolled his eyes. "You'll get no argument from me."
