Getting off of the elevator, Jethro walked into the forensics lab and immediately found himself pulled into a bear hug by his surrogate daughter. Something that although he did appreciate, he would've appreciated that much more after a long, hot shower. He was tired, sweaty, and smelled like a cargo plane and God only knew what else. He was also still on edge from the ambush in Tehran.

It might seem silly, as it was hardly the worst thing that he'd ever gone through in his life, but he couldn't deny the ambush had shaken him slightly. It didn't matter that he had gone into it half-expecting things to go sideways; the larger part of him had hoped that it would go smoothly, that the informant would do the right thing.

"I know that you're probably exhausted and feeling gross," the goth said, "but I am so glad that you're back home. After everything with SecNav -"

"Me too, Abs, but let's focus on the case." Jethro then leaned down slightly and kissed her on the forehead, trying to ignore the sharp pain in his shoulder. It was really good to see her, even if he did have other things that were demanding all of his attention at the moment. "Results of Lieutenant McBride's head."

Abby nodded, leading him towards her main computer. "So, I ran the sand grains from McBride's hair and nose and ears, and they're not all from Afghanistan or Iran."

"Where are they from?" he questioned. If they finally had a lead, maybe they stood a fighting chance at ending this mess before things got worse.

The goth shot him a playful grin. "Both, actually. Some grains were Middle Eastern and the others were from the Sonoran Desert."

"It's a big place," he commented. We need to somehow narrow it down further. That's much too large an area to canvas.

The bubbly goth gave a little hum of agreement. "It extends from California to Arizona and into Mexico." Jethro already knew that but decided not to interrupt Abby. Yet. "But based on the toxicology results, the water in his system, and the minerals in his blood and the pollutants that were in his windpipe... McBride was murdered and beheaded in the Copper State."

He grinned and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. "Arizona." It was still a rather large area to canvas, but it was a much more feasible starting point. "Thanks, Abs."

With that, he turned and headed out of the forensics lab. Hopefully, having it narrowed down to a single state would actually help them find something.

The next few hours were pretty slow, his team ordering in some Chinese food for lunch and trying desperately to come up with any new information at all. On the bright side, he had been able to use the gym showers to wash up and threw on the clean change of clothes that he regularly kept at work.

He felt so much better after that, washing the dessert grime off of himself and taking a moment to mentally regroup somewhat.

Jethro and Tobias were both making their way back inside headquarters after making a quick coffee run a short while later. The two team leaders started talking shop as they caught the main elevator up after making their way through security.

His friend side-eyed him. "Hard to know who to trust anymore."

"Has it ever been easy, Tobias?" he countered.

"Hell no!" Tobias admitted. Jethro took a swig of his coffee as he listened to his friend's response. Jethro had a feeling he knew where the man was going with it. "But with big business profiting from acts of terror? It's like Chicago, Capone in the '20s."

"Yeah," he said hoarsely. "Well, they caught Capone. That make ya feel any better?"

Tobias eyed him gravely. "No, it doesn't."

He laughed weakly, understanding completely.

"Our headless lieutenant was ordered to Iran only to have his orders cancelled without any record of it," Tobias said. "Who better to do that than his..."

They both spoke at the same time. "...commanding officer?"

How did we miss that? There are only so many people who would be in the position to change the lieutenant's orders, especially on such short notice.

As the elevator doors opened into the squad room, both team leaders marched over to McGee's desk to have him look into their suspicions.

"McGee!" he barked. "Captain Dominick Wayne, JSOC, financial records."

"On it," the younger agent chirped while starting to pull the information in question up for them. "Alright, I've got Captain Wayne's bank statements up." He and Tobias both leaned over the man's shoulder. "What exactly am I looking for?"

"Temptation," he replied simply. If Captain Wayne was indeed working for the local cell then the man had probably been paid for his part in the set-up.

"Payoffs," Tobias clarified without missing a beat. "For throwing McBride under the bus and sending Gibbs into a desert trap."

"For setting me up to be executed," Jethro mentally added. The combat veteran opted to leave that particular thought unspoken, however. The implications of his friend's last comment were clear, regardless.

"No unusual activity or deposits," McGee stated while still scanning the statements. "It appears our captain's a typical government employee."

"Broke," Tobias quipped before shooting him a look. "Well, maybe he didn't change the orders. We could be wrong."

"Want to find out?" he suggested. Unfortunately, my gut's telling me we're right about the captain being involved.

Tobias gave him a curt nod. The FBI agent evidently didn't want to drop that particular line of investigation just yet either. "Yeah."

Jethro gave the younger agent a slight smirk as an idea for eliciting a confession out of Captain Wayne came to mind. "Tim, how's your handwriting?"

It took a second but then Jethro watched as a look of understanding crossed the younger man's face, a small smile then playing on McGee's lips.

Dictating a short letter for McGee similar to one he'd written to Shannon during one of his own deployments, Jethro then gestured for Tobias to follow him back into the main elevator. They needed to get down to the motorpool and hit the road like yesterday.

Checking out one of the agency's black Dodge Chargers, they hopped into the car. The two team leaders then made the short drive out to Arlington, Virginia where the Navy Captain, his wife, and their two young children had lived since Captain Wayne had got assigned to Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling two years prior.

With any luck, the man would come clean about everything and be able to shed some more light on the mess they'd all found themselves pulled into. The fact of the matter was, they all had more questions than answers at the moment.