Disclaimer : You'll have to re-read Chapter 1 for it.
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Chapter 11
"So, what do you think of the good doctor?" Ziva asked once she and Gibbs were alone.
"I think that he's going to be a royal pain in the backside." Gibbs admitted. "You got anything to eat in that shoulder bag of yours?"
Ziva smiled thankfully and reached in. She removed two granola bars and tossed one to Gibbs.
"Thanks. It'll take the edge off." Gibbs ripped the foil package open. "What do you think?"
"I think he's a retched man who likes to make the lives of his co-workers retched. No dating co-workers. Long hours. Constantly pushing…"
"Sounds like me." Gibbs stared at Ziva.
"True." Ziva conceded. "But you push differently…like you want to make the world a better…safer…place. And that you're pushing us to improve ourselves."
Gibbs continued to stare.
"This…man…pushes for his own self. For money. For prestige. He is a self-righteous donkey."
"Ass, Ziva."
"I know…I was trying to be polite."
"Hmrph." Was all Gibbs said as he took a bite out of the granola bar. "Is that what you tell Roxane?"
Ziva started. Damn…just when she thought she was in the clear.
"Sometimes." She admitted. "But usually I just vent. I can only do so much martial arts before the hands and feet are too bloody to do any more."
"And then the phone calls start?" Gibbs asked.
Ziva nodded.
"Well, I suppose it's better than drinking."
"When did I say I didn't drink?" Ziva asked, a small smile appearing.
Gibbs returned the smile, but turned all business as the door opened.
A young man entered.
He stood at attention.
"Private Robert Marque, sir! Reporting as ordered, sir!" He noticed Ziva. "Ma'am."
"Don't call me sir. And for god's sake, don't call her ma'am." Gibbs intoned. "At ease, Private."
The young man relaxed his stance; feet shoulder width, hands clasped behind his back.
"Ummm…why don't you have a seat, Private Marque." Gibbs gently suggested, indicating an empty chair.
"Yes, s…yes." The young man nodded and scurried to a chair.
They got younger and younger every year, Gibbs mused to himself. Or he got older and older. Maybe it was both.
"I'm Special Agent Gibbs and this is Special Agent David." Gibbs started. "Did anyone explain why you're here?"
Robert shook his head in the negative.
"We're investigating the disappearance of Captain Reed." Ziva said flatly.
The young man's eyes widened.
"The Captain's disappeared?" Shock laced his voice. "Van Werther must be blowing a gasket, eh?"
Gibbs bit back a smile. The Canadian stereotype just re-instilled itself.
"He is an unhappy man, yes." Ziva nodded. "Excuse me, Doctor Unhappy Man."
The Private coughed a laugh.
"Where were you last night, Private?" Gibbs asked.
"At home."
"Alone?"
"Kinda."
"Kind of?" Gibbs frowned. "Either you were or you weren't. Which is it?"
"I was at home alone, s…but I was talking with my friends online."
Gibbs refrained from sighing. Here it was…the new modern version of an alibi. No more saying people were at home with you or that you were at the bar with your friends. You were online with people.
"We'll need their names and numbers." Ziva said.
Robert blushed.
"You see…I…um…don't really know them."
"Huh?" Gibbs' eloquence left him.
"We met playing a game online. We were discussing our strategy to get us to the next level. We're part of a guild and we have to advance together."
Gibbs' head began to pound.
"I can give you the site, though, where we chatted and their handles." Robert offered.
"We'll take it." Ziva said, noting a pained expression on Gibbs' face.
She jotted down the handles of Robert's "friends" before continuing the interview.
"Do you know Sara McLean?" She asked.
Robert nodded, blushing again.
"She's an assistant programmer. I'm just a tester, so we do some talking…usually after I've tested one of her subroutines or something."
"Do you always talk work?" Gibbs asked.
"No. Sometimes, we talk about the weather. We don't have much in common."
"But you think she's pretty." Ziva said, it was a statement not a question.
Robert rolled her eyes.
"Who wouldn't? Those eyes! That laugh! And, look around here…we're not exactly loaded with pretty girls."
"Did you know she went out last night with Captain Reed?" Gibbs tried.
"Yeah, most of us did…we were kinda shocked that they were breaking the rules. But not really surprised that it was them."
"What do you mean?"
"They'd been taking breaks together and all that stuff. Most of us were fairly certain that they already had…you know." The Private blushed deeply.
"No, I don't know." Ziva said. Gibbs shot her a look.
"That they had…umm…done it." Robert stammered.
"Done what?" Ziva asked. Gibbs' eyes widened. Didn't she know what it was?
"You know…it…." Robert stressed and started gesturing with his hands. "It."
"I'm not good at party games." Ziva said.
"Sex!" Robert shouted. "We thought they had already had sex!"
"Oh. Is that all?" Ziva said, a slight smile appearing as she took notes.
Gibbs realized then that Ziva had known all along what the Private was trying to say, but that she was attempting to rattle him and judging by the young man's heavy breathing, he was definitely rattled.
"Did that bother you?" Gibbs asked. "Believing that they'd had sex?"
Robert shrugged.
"It just meant that Sara was off limits…or rather limited only to our locker room fantasies."
"How so?" Ziva prompted.
"Look, we all knew the Captain was a flirt and that if he tired of Sara, he'd move on…but just because we're mainly a bunch of geeks doesn't mean that we don't respect women. Most of us would give Sara the world if she asked."
"Do you think the Captain is doing that? Maybe he disappeared to get something for Sara." Gibbs suggested.
"Nah…the Captain is too smooth to fall under Sara's magic."
"If you all knew the two of them were going out last night, is it possible that someone from here harmed the Captain?" Ziva asked.
The Private looked thoughtful.
"It's possible, I suppose. We have emotions like the rest of the world and if someone really was upset by them going out…well, anything's possible."
"Thank you, Private. Could you let the next person in?" Gibbs asked.
Private Marque nodded and stood up.
"Please do not discuss this with anyone." Ziva stated.
"You'll find him right?" Marque asked, he hand on the door knob.
The two agents remained silent. They couldn't tell the young man that they had found Captain Jason Reed and that he was currently lying on a cold slab in their medical examiner's domain.