Back at the Navy Yard, Jethro briefed the director. There was a lot for them to discuss and not much time to do it in, especially given Dearing's latest message. There was no doubt about it, Harper Dearing had something big planned.
No clues as to what that was just yet, but something big was coming and they needed to get to the bottom of things before even more lives were lost.
Once the video ended, he turned to Vance. "You want to talk about it?"
Vance, who was looking quite tense, walked over to the office window by his desk and stared out onto the grounds. "Worldwide Fleet Command's on red alert. We're securing all vessels and ports. So what's your next play?"
"The ex-wife," he replied. "She's travelling out of the country. She'll be back today."
"You and ex-wives," Vance said. The man was obviously trying to tease him, but he was still visibly quite tense and there was no humour in his voice. "If there's anybody who knows what makes the son of a bitch tick, it could be her."
"You know, you got caught." He walked towards the door. "Okay. It doesn't matter."
"The hell it doesn't matter," Vance snapped, turning to face him. "Dearing played me, Gibbs. Nobody plays me."
"Then don't let it happen again," he replied.
His boss bristled. "Trust me, it won't."
"It's all a game to him, Leon." The man needed to get his head back on straight. "Hit back. You hit back hard. You remember what that used to feel like?" He gave Vance a very pointed look. "I know what you're capable of."
"I got a thousand agents worldwide willing to take a bullet for me," the man replied.
"Yeah," he agreed. "And?"
He wasn't all that surprised by what his boss said next. "And I can't protect them from one lone, deranged father."
He shot his boss a mischievous, cheeky little grin. "Hey, Leon, if it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't take a bullet for you."
Vance gave a raspy laugh at the blatant lie. They both knew Jethro was liable to be the first person in line if Vance ever needed a hand. The man then adopted a more serious look, eying Jethro intently as he spoke. "I want him gone."
Leaving Vance's office a moment later, he ordered his team some lunch and resumed the search for Harper Dearing. Jethro was put in one hell of a situation, though, when it became clear that the proverbial elephant in the squad room was finally brought up. Jethro had known it was coming but still felt bad about the call he was going to have to make. It was a bad situation all around.
"Uh, Gibbs?" Abby asked.
He turned to face the forensic scientist.
"We have a question," the bubbly goth said. "And I know there's no good time to ask this. But we just... we need an answer. All of us. Is there any chance... that we'll still make it to Jimmy's wedding?
He gave the young man in question an apologetic look. "Palmer, -"
"Totally understand, Agent Gibbs." Despite the words, the fact that he understood, the young man was visibly hurt that they weren't going to be there. If it was in town, they might've been able to make that work, but as it currently stood, they simply couldn't. "Of course. The timing couldn't have been worse. It's okay. It's okay. I guess this... it just wasn't meant to be." Jethro felt bad but just stood there. "So I'm gonna go down to Autopsy, 'cause Dr. Mallard is there."
Taking a breath as Palmer left, he sat down at his desk and got right back to work.
It was another couple of hours before Jethro was finally able to sit down and talk with Victoria Dearing, Harper's ex-wife. The woman was able to provide more insight into her ex-husband's psyche, but it was nothing that they didn't already suspect.
Bottom line: Harper Dearing didn't handle Evan's death well. The man began drinking, earning himself a few DUIs, becoming increasingly withdrawn and violent. The guy put a good face on for years after the attack, but, oh, he was angry. Angry at the Navy as well as angry at himself for not being able to protect his child. Evan's death destroyed Dearing, he and Victoria getting divorced a short two years later.
"Evan was the one good thing that held us together," Victoria explained. "And when he died, all that was good in Harper died, too."
"You have any idea where he is now?" he asked.
"None," she said. "But if he is the one behind these explosions, I know he won't stop until he's made his point."
"Yeah, what point is that?" he asked.
Victoria looked at him gravy. "That someone has to pay for taking away our son."
Not much happened over the next little bit, but things got a little too interesting for his preference towards the end of the evening.
He met with Dr. Ryan after she called him, saying she had some information that she wanted to share with him. The good doctor apparently had a computer, cleverly given the nickname Lucy, that was programmed for the sole purpose of getting into people's heads. She could statistically state potential enemies and allies. It spat out Jonathan Cole's name. Cole was the one who sold Harper Dearing the Watcher fleet microchip that Ducky had found during one of his autopsies.
Dearing calls Dr. Ryan whilst Jethro was there, playing more mind games. He appeared at the music school of Dr. Ryan's teenage son, Parker, just to get underneath her skin. He had already left a scale model of Jethro's' boat in the Navy Yard the other day and had also shown up in MTAC, larger than life. Not to mention using Vance.
Finding ships' vulnerabilities wasn't Dearing's only specialty. He was good. Really good. And very, very dangerous.
Exhausted, Jethro made sure that everyone was okay and then sent his team home for the evening, letting the team that had just walked into the squad room take over. The night crew hadn't caught a case and Jethro's team both deserved and needed the rest after a very long day. Usually, Jethro couldn't pass off one of his team's investigations to another team and do this, but it was all hands on deck and all local teams had been ordered to assist if they weren't working active cases.
The night crew had just wrapped up a home robbery case they were working and was free, so, under the circumstances, he saw absolutely no reason for his team to stay at work and pull an all-nighter.
Walking into the house at 1930, Jethro kissed his wife, grabbed the plate of food that she'd left in the microwave for him, and moved to take a seat beside her on the couch where she had been reading a novel she'd recently started. She still had a few things on the table that showed she'd been doing some marking as well earlier.
He gave her an appreciative smile as he sat down. "Thank you."
She shifted slightly so that they could see each other better. "You're welcome. How did things go today? You said you found Leon?"
"Eh," Jethro replied, "more like he found us. Got drugged, woke up, called me. Wasn't hurt, physically at least."
Shannon raised an eyebrow and took a guess. "Pride a bit wounded?"
"Yep," he confirmed, "but enough about that. How was your day?"
"It was good," the redhead deadpanned, smiling warmly over at him. "Went shopping with Stacy. Visited Mom. You'll never believe the email I got from a parent though."
He swallowed the bite of potato in his mouth. "Oh?"
Shannon gave him a look that was a clear mix of amusement and exasperation. "This kid transferred to the school about a month ago. Her mom seriously asked, 'Can you text me every morning that my child has p.e so that I can remind her to bring in her p.e clothes?'" She gave a little chuckle as she continued to talk. "Girl, it's called being a parent. That's your job, not mine."
Jethro pinched the bridge of his nose, chuckling softly. That requested, funnily enough, wasn't the weirdest one his wife had ever gotten. A few from over the years had been even more over the top. It was ridiculous. "The audacity of some people."
"Yeah," she said, shaking her head, chuckling still. "So, that's how my workday went." She shifted in his spot slightly. "Up for a game of Crazy Eights once you're done?"
"Sure," he replied before shoving another bite of food in his mouth.
Shannon grinned. "Great! Can't wait to wipe the floor with ya."
He rolled his eyes in amusement, taking a sip of his drink. It was honestly good to be home and actually get to spend some time with his wife.
