Washington, D.C.
NCIS Headquarters
Present Day- 7:15am
"Gibbs, come in and shut the door."
Vance stood from behind his desk, waiting until Gibbs had done so before pressing a button, his entire office locking down.
Gibbs looked around the room, smirking. "Necessary?"
Vance, on the other hand, was deadly serious. "Absolutely. Have a seat."
Vance directed Gibbs to the large table, picking up the remote to turn on the large screen TV.
"We need to run down all the details of the Johnson case. I have a briefing with Henrietta less than two hours from now. Think we're gonna need to use Eric and Nell to review the intel from Clayborne's desktop…the Russian Team isn't as skilled in technology as Henrietta's team."
Gibbs leaned back in his chair, studying the screen as pictures and details of the case presented themselves.
"Let's start with what we know," Vance said.
Gibbs nodded his approval as Vance began going through each portion of the case his NCIS team had confirmed over the past few weeks.
Ekaterina Johnson- widow of an Army Sergeant, adopted at birth by an American Soldier and his wife, and Director of the Wounded Warrior Project in DC- had been targeted by a hit team approximately 3 weeks prior. While not killed, she was injured by three bullets and currently living in a safe house somewhere in Virginia.
Two members of the hit team were captured and gave up their employers- Vanin and Petrov. The NCIS Team did their homework well, finding Vanin and Petrov were the only surviving members of a CIA Raid on the former Renkov organization in 1984. They'd recently been released from prison in Russia and almost immediately, hired the hit team to kill Ekaterina Johnson.
No known connection between Maxim Renkov, Vanin or Petrov and Ekaterina Johnson. Her adopted parents (deceased) and husband (deceased) also had no known connection to any of the three.
Gibbs' team had thoroughly reviewed the redacted RENKOV Case File from 1984. Vance was working with their lawyers to obtain the unredacted report. Even so, the team was able to find the CIA Handler listed in the case file. Now 80, Henry Sharpe was found in the Bahama's and brought in for questioning.
Sharpe had confirmed that in 1984, Renkov had kidnapped one of two CIA Agent's he was handling. The female agent's name was redacted in the report- and Sharpe was not giving it up. However, after Gibbs had presented Sharpe with intel the CIA hoped would never see the light of day (courtesy of Eric Beale and Nell Jones), Sharpe had to admit that Renkov, in time, had married that same female CIA agent.
To try and extract this female agent, Sharpe had infiltrated Renkov's organization by posing as the assistant to Renkov's personal physician, Dr. Chekov. In doing so, he was pulled to the Renkov mansion at least two times due to the medical status of said female agent.
In December of 1984, Sharpe was called after one of Renkov's own men, George Lukin, beat and tortured the female CIA Agent- hoping to please his boss, Renkov. But with the OPS Team's newly discovered intel, Sharpe had to confirm that Lukin was a double agent- having been working for the Renkov organization when he joined the CIA 12 years prior. It was Lukin who had given up the female CIA Agent's identity to Renkov leading to her capture in the first place.
But, what Lukin had not planned on was Renkov's reaction to the beating of this female CIA agent. It ended with three bullets, ultimately killing Lukin.
Moving away from Sharpe, Vance began reviewing the information the NCIS Team in Russia had recovered regarding Andrew Clayborne, Renkov's former lawyer. The man had been killed at least two weeks prior to beginning of Sharpe's interrogation, his law office raided. The Russian team had recovered certain files and a desktop computer from the office that they were hoping would shed some light on why the lawyer was killed.
Gibbs leaned forward, clasping his hands on the table and shaking his head. "Too many pieces of this puzzle missing. We need that full report from the CIA."
"Don't know that we'll get it Gibbs. I need something concrete connecting Renkov, Vanin or Petrov to Ekaterina for the courts to release it."
"A targeted hit isn't enough of a reason?" Gibbs asked pointedly.
"It's a lot…but they want something more. The reason Ekaterina, in particular, was targeted. Otherwise, it's all speculation."
"We've already figured out that Lukin was a double agent the CIA missed. They must be covering something else up…"
Vance agreed but sighed. "I think we'll have to figure most of this out without the original case file."
"I'm not sure how much more I can get out of Sharpe," Gibbs responded. "You said something about intel from Clayborne's computer?"
Vance nodded, moving over to his desk to retrieve a thin folder. Looking it over for a moment, he then handed it to Gibbs.
"Our Russian team was able to extract the hard drive from Clayborne's desktop. Problem is, they do not have anyone skilled enough to find any information on it. Beale and Jones were able to find the information on Lukin- I say we give them a go at this."
"How will the Russian team get it to LA?"
"They'll send over all the files electronically, encrypted of course. I only want the two of us, Beale and Jones to have the pass codes to open those files."
"And Henrietta?" Gibbs asked, looking up over the folder to eye Vance.
Leon sighed, sitting down heavily. "We may need to read her in, Gibbs. The more time we spend on keeping her in the dark, the closer she gets to figuring it out on her own."
Gibbs thought a moment, placing the file down on the table. "We could use her, you know."
Vance's eyes creased in confusion. "Meaning?"
"She was in the CIA for years. She may know something about the Renkov mission," Gibbs answered.
Vance stood, moving over to his computer and typing in a few key passcodes. Gibbs moved to stand beside him as Vance pulled up Hetty's personnel file.
"Since the 60's. She was in Europe during the 80's…" Vance said, scrolling through Hetty's lengthy resume.
"Then she may know about Renkov…or at least some details of the mission that Sharpe won't let on about."
Vance sat back in his desk chair, crossing his arms and looking up at Gibbs.
"You and I both know she keeps things close to the vest…maybe even more than you."
Gibbs shook his head with a small laugh. "Can't deny that."
"We'll have to prod her gently….make sure she knows this is to stop another Russian hit- nothing more."
Gibbs understood Vance's silent meaning. He looked down, putting his hands on his hips. "You think she may have been involved in the Renkov case?"
Vance stood, buttoning his suit coat and leading Gibbs towards the door. "One thing I've learned about Henrietta Lange is that there is a surprise at every turn…she can outwit forensics, agents, and enemies. I put nothing past her."
Gibbs nodded, putting one hand on the doorknob to leave. "Next steps?"
"Let me talk to her first…see where I can get," Vance answered.
The Director just hoped leaving Hetty out thus far didn't backfire on them...for it had in the past.
