The next day Jethro found himself up in the director's office with Tobias, Victor, along with DHS Agent Thomas Pearce who seemed just as unconcerned as he had the day before when they first met him at the crime scene. Pearce rubbed both Jethro and Tobias the wrong way and had right from the get-go.
"Thank God, you're alright!" Pearce stated as they walked into the office, bleeding fake concern. "I wanna let you know you're getting overtime for this entire ordeal."
Tobias pulled a chair out for Victor. "Sit."
The director immediately turned his attention to Victor, not bothering with small talk. "I've alerted SecNav. Agent David said you think the attack's today. Are you sure?"
"Go on," Jethro said. "Tell him."
Victor was somehow worse than Abby and McGee when they got excited and started to prattle on about electronics with each other so, in hindsight, Jethro should have maybe ordered the guy to merely bottom line it. "There was the brains of an old LX 57433-X in the storage room where they were keeping me."
"A what?" Vance asked tersely, echoing Jethro's earlier reaction.
"It's an old office voicemail system from the '90s," the man stated. "I was in charge of requisitions for the CBO so I was familiar…"
Tobias leaned into Victor. "Cut to the chase."
"I was able to use the 433-X to patch into an old intercom panel," Victor informed the director, evidently taking the non-too-subtle hint from Tobias. "I could make out one of my captors talking to someone."
"Warning them to stay indoors today," he chimed in.
"With a deadly virus," Tobias commented, "that can only mean one thing."
"Any idea what the target is?" Vance asked.
Victor shook his head in the negative. "No."
Jethro's cellphone started ringing. He pulled his phone out. "Yeah, Abs, go ahead."
Apparently, it was reasonably good news. "I might have a lead on the attack."
"I'll be right down." Closing his flip phone, Jethro turned to his boss who was watching him intently. "Abby thinks she has a lead."
"Go," Vance said. "I'll call SecNav back." The director turned his attention to the other men in the room. "Mr. Pearce, you hit Homeland. Fornell, FBI."
"Got it," he heard Tobias reply before he shut the office door behind him.
Hurrying down to the basement and Abby's lab, Jethro, as usual, wasn't disappointed in the slightest. The goth was damn good at her job.
Abby looked up from what she was doing when he walked in. "Hi."
"Hey," greeted as he walked over to her.
"I got a lead on the conversation that Victor overheard," she informed Jethro. "This is the old phone that he used to MacGyver into the intercom system. It converts analog signals into digital ones, and then it stores it briefly in RAM."
"Abs," he said gently, "I don't care. What d'ya got?"
"I was able to pull the last few seconds of the conversation," she explained, pulling up the audio to play for him.
"Stay indoors tomorrow," a rather distorted voice said. "As far away..."
"So whatever it is," Abby said, "tomorrow is today."
"Yeah," he said. "We know."
"There's more," she said before resuming the audio.
"As far away from the game as you can."
"The game." The forensic scientist looked at him as she continued to talk. "I searched the Google, and there's only one in town today."
"Armed Forces football game," he said knowingly.
"Yeah," she said. "Biggest of the year. There'll be, like, 60,000 people there."
"Virus is spread by touch," he said skeptically. "They can't hit them all."
"Oh," she said, "I'm not so sure." She started walking over to what Jethro immediately recognized as a silver milk powder-making machine of all the random things. "This was found in the warehouse where Victor was held. It's used to..."
"To powderize milk," Jethro stated knowingly, walking over to the large silver machine. "My uncle had one of these on his farm."
"Of course he did," Abby fired back. "Anyways, it's clean now, but I found traces of the virus in it, so we have to assume that it's also been powderized."
"Which means?" he pressed.
"It's transmissible by air now," she told him. That was decidedly not good news. If the powder was dispersed into the air, it totally removed the need for person-on-person physical contact to transmit the virus. The virus would just land on numerous people's skin. It could also be done in quick succession infecting even more people than would be with merely human contact. "Every single person at that stadium is at risk."
"Got it, Abs." He raised his right arm as he rushed out of the room. "Thanks!"
Things had just got a lot more concerning now and they needed to get a move on and get to that game before a lot of people got hurt. It started at noon and the stadium was going to be absolutely packed.
Filling his team in, they all rushed out to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.
Hurrying through the security check at the stadium, he heard the game's announcer speaking overhead. "Welcome to the 2011 Armed Forces football game, the annual charity event which brings together all five branches of the military. This year, the Armed Forces seniors take on Monroe University!"
Tobias spoke over the loud chattering of the crowd. "Three minutes to kick-off."
"It's not too late to evacuate!" Ziva said.
"We evacuate," he replied, "they release the virus." He checked his phone anxiously as Kelly had mentioned attending the game. He let out a breath of relief as he noted the response from his daughter. 'No. Working late today. Why?'
Jethro quickly typed back a very vague and curt reply and shoved his phone back into his pocket. He needed to keep his head in the game. Focus.
"Abby says we're looking for a pressurized container," McGee informed them. "Should be in a public place."
He turned to his male agents. "DiNozzo, McGee."
"Sweeping the tunnel," DiNozzo said. "On it, boss."
The band started playing The Star-Spangled Banner. It was kick-off time.
His phone started ringing again. "Yeah, it's Gibbs."
It was Abby calling. "Gibbs, we have a problem."
"Figured," he replied.
"I finished processing the virus on the powderizing machine," Abby told him. "There's not enough for a large-scale attack. Only, like, a few dozen people. Maybe we were wrong about the location."
"We're not," he said confidentially before hanging up.
Tobias was on the phone now too apparently. "Nothing here either, McGee."
"Give me that," Jethro said, gesturing for Tobias' cellphone. The FBI agent passed it to him. "Hey, McGee, VIP list. Who's at the game today?
"Hang on, Boss!" McGee said. "Checking." The younger agent spoke again a minute or so later after scanning the VIP list. "A lot of bigwigs. Luxury box is filled with top brass from all five military services."
"Boxes," Jethro said. "Got it."
Tobias was evidently thinking along the same lines as him. "Gotta be our target."
"Gibbs," Ziva said seriously. Once she had Jethro's attention she pointed out a guy up on top of the stadium, above the boxes, who most likely didn't belong there.
Jethro proceeded to send Ziva in one direction while he and Tobias climbed the stairs. They found a dead stadium security guard near the top. They peered around a corner and Tobias spotted two guys about thirty yards away working on the vents.
"Ready?" Tobias asked.
"Condom underneath the fold?" Jethro said, unable to resist ribbing his friend slightly about the ammo Diane gave him earlier. "Really, Tobias?"
"Same one I had in college," Tobias said. "I never used it. Just like what it represents."
He shot Tobias an incredulous look. "Hope?"
He and Tobias cleared the stairs, guns drawn, using a nearby column for cover. They announced themselves according to protocol and one of the men fired at them. The other guy ran, taking one shot at Tobias before turning and running again. The runner took a few rounds to the chest from Ziva who'd cut off the escape as intended. McGee and DiNozzo, however, had yet to catch up with them.
The first guy was still firing at them. The man reached down to adjust the canister, though, which appeared to be hooked up to the air circulation system. Tobias yelled, "Now," and he and Jethro shot back in tandem.
With the man down, the agents carefully approached the canister, noting that the perp was still alive even if grievously injured.
He kicked the man's gun away, surprised by who it was. DHS Agent Thomas Pearce.
"Homeland Security," Tobias said. "Son of a bitch."
Jethro noted that DiNozzo and McGee had finally caught back up with them.
"Congratulations," Pearce said. "But you haven't done anything here today. You don't even know what you're fighting for."
DiNozzo eyed them all. "Suddenly I'm not feeling very Homeland-y or secure."
They dealt with the scene at the stadium and then paid a visit to Pearce's home. Jethro wanted answers before his inevitable tap dance with Director Vance.
It had taken several hours but, thankfully, they were able to get some answers off of the now-former DHS agent's computer.
"I want answers," the director said angrily. "A Homeland Security employee just tried to commit an act of terrorism."
He eyed the man. "Not a terrorist attack, Leon. Just supposed to look like one."
"It was a targeted assassination," Tobias proceeded to explain. His friend had decided to accompany Jethro to this little dance.
"Who?" Vance demanded.
"Our top military policymakers," Tobias replied. "All in town to preside over a massive drawdown of our military forces. Got a hit list off Pearce's computer."
"Who was he working for?" Vance pressed.
"Good question," Tobias commented. "With billions at stake, a lot of guys don't wanna see that drawdown happen."
Tobias pulled a list up on the plasma for Jethro who jumped in to explain. "Guys like these. McGee found contacts with all of them on Pearce's computer."
"Doesn't mean they're involved," the FBI agent said as he scrolled down it, "but it's a good bet our bad guy is on this list. Someone must have promised Pearce quite a cozy position when he moved to the private sector."
"Beware the military-industrial complex," the director quoted wryly. "The next part of this investigation is gonna step on a lot of toes." Vance turned and gave Jethro a wry smile. "You left me a bone sandwich, Gibbs."
"Eh," he replied cheekily, "I cut the crust off for you."
The director rolled his eyes and then turned Tobias as he continued to speak. "The FBI does have the lead. Good luck, Agent Fornell."
"Thanks," Tobias said glibly as Vance took his leave.
Jethro ribbed his long-time friend some more. "Cheer up, Tobias. At least you'll never have to talk to Diane again."
"I have a child with her!" Tobias exclaimed.
"Oh, that's right!" he quipped, heading for the door. "Guess I won't have to."
Dismissing his team not long after the briefing, Jethro finally headed home for the day, getting home shortly after his wife and daughter had just sat down for dinner.
They were in the middle of a card game when they heard a knock on the door and he opened it to find Diane standing there.
"I'm out of bourbon," he quipped, gesturing for her to come inside.
"I didn't come for a nightcap," Diane said as she walked into the house. She turned to where Shannon and Kelly were. "Hello."
Shannon dipped her head slightly. "Good evening."
"Hello," Kelly greeted, taking a sip of her water.
He turned to Shannon. "Basement."
His wife nodded her assent without any hesitation, easily understanding Jethro wanted some privacy for the likely to be personal conversation. "Yeah. Go, Babe."
Satisfied that it wasn't going to land him in hot water, he gestured for Diane to follow him with his free hand so that they could talk without several ears listening in.
Diane sighed as they stepped off of the stairs and into the spacious room. "I know you used to come down here to avoid me, Leroy."
He put his drink down. "I didn't mean to hurt you," he said honestly.
"I know," she replied. "I wasn't the easiest person to live with."
"I'll agree with that," he said softly.
"Thank you for finding Victor," she said.
"He saved a lot of people," he said. "Good man."
"Would you tell Tobias that I never meant to hurt him?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah, he knows." He paused. "I think."
"I really liked him," Diane shared. "But I never should have married him. I didn't love him." She eyed him. "Just like you never loved me."
"I liked you," he said. "I still do." Despite their issues, he genuinely did. Now that some of the bitterness from the divorce had faded. Jethro's only real beef with her still was her taking his grandfather's watch.
"But the only woman you'll ever love is Shannon," Diane stated, pointing out the rocky shoals onto which all his marriages after Shannon had crashed onto.
Jethro had never been able to really let go of Shannon and there was always a wall up because even if he did start falling for someone, he got too damn scared. He thought of Ellen Wallace. Jethro had fallen hard for Ellen but had broken off their engagement because he was beyond terrified of losing her like he had lost Shannon. It hadn't even occurred to him that it wouldn't end in tragedy as well. He just took it as a given.
Before Jethro'd collected his thoughts and could reply, Diane gently took his hand and placed an object in his hand before closing Jethro's hand on it and turning to leave. He realized in amazement that it was his grandfather's railroad watch. She'd finally given it back to him. Years later, but still…. he had it back.
Diane stepped right back in front of him. "You were…" She sighed, an emotion showing on her face that he didn't know what to do with. "It's time I gave it back."
He swallowed, not sure what to say.
Diane gave him a wistful smile. "Congratulations on the grand-baby, Leroy."
Jethro looked on both a little sad for her and a bit stunned as Diane turned around and walked up the stairs, the front door opening and closing behind her a minute later.
He stayed downstairs for a few minutes, staring down at the watch, a million different things running through his mind, before he got up, grabbed his drink, and headed on upstairs, pulling himself out of the past. He had a family waiting for him.
