Chapter 5 June 2024
Near Capon Bridge, West Virginia
Delilah wheeled into the living room of the large farmhouse where she and the kids had been staying with Leon Vance since April. When the three DiNozzo girls joined them about two weeks later, she had a sinking feeling. While the adults never discussed the case and all of the ramifications in front of the kids, she and Leon had spent many a night on the front porch chatting about 'what ifs' and wondering how long they would be staying at the house.
On the plus side, with eight bedrooms in the house, each person had their own room. Ariella often retreated to Tali's room after the adults went out on the porch; she would crawl into bed with her big sister for the night. Johnny and Morgan also often wound up in the same room; comforting each other to sleep.
De noticed Tali sitting apart from the others, staring at the dark screen of her new tablet. Rather than risk any tracing or tracking of the kids' existing electronic devices, a few days after they arrived at the safe house, Leon had driven to Winchester, Virginia in search of new tablets for the children. He returned about two hours later with five brand new devices. With the secure network at the house, Leon and De were able to set up limited internet access so the kids had some entertainment other than the two large televisions with satellite feed.
"Tali," De spoke quietly so that the other children didn't look up. "Are you okay, sweetie?"
The girl met her aunt's gaze, "How long are we going to be here, Aunt De?"
"I don't know; even Uncle Leon doesn't know," De started to explain to the girl, but something in her look caught the woman's attention. "This isn't about being here directly, is it?"
Tali nodded, "I miss Daddy and Ima. We've never been apart since, well, since, forever. I don't remember much about just me and Ima, but Daddy has always been with me, even when we were waiting for Ima to come home." She stayed quiet and stared at the floor. De waited.
"I mean, every birthday that I can remember, there has been at least one of my parents there. And since my sixth birthday, both Ima and Daddy have always been with me. What happens this year, Aunt De? We were supposed to have a big party for my tenth birthday, but now…" she trailed off as she gestured to their living space.
"Sweetie, I can't promise that your parents will be here. But, I can promise that the seven of us will celebrate your day," De tipped Tali's chin up so that she could make eye contact with the DiNozzo child. "Tell you what, why don't we plan a special dinner and some things to do together that you want to do?"
"Anything I want?" Tali brightened up a bit. "Anything?"
Leon came over to the two; he'd been listening in to the conversation. "Anything we are able to do, we will. Special meal; maybe some fun stuff. It has to be safe, and if we leave the premises, I'll need some back-up agents to help me protect you all."
"I want pizza for dinner; pepperoni, sausage, double cheese, and black olives, just like Daddy gets at the pizza place by my school," her eyes lit up at a familiar memory. "And birthday cake with candles, and chocolate cake. And ice cream, we have to get ice cream. Daddy always says that special occasions mean we get to have ice cream. And I want to do something like a family, please?"
Leon and De met gazes, slightly nodding to each other to indicate that the two would discuss Tali's birthday party in their nightly 'porch talk.'
"I'm not making any promises yet, but I will promise to do my best to make your wishes come true," Leon pulled Tali into a hug. "That work for you?"
She nodded against his chest, "Yeah; thanks, Uncle Leon."
~Vigilante~
Alexandria, Virginia
Gibbs quickly skimmed the pages from Torres; a copy of the marriage license and record of the marriage of the DiNozzos; birth certificates for all three DiNozzo girls; property records for the house the couple purchased in eastern Maryland; financial data, including banks, accounts, and balances in said accounts. Similar information for the McGees. For Tim, he was most interested in the financial data; the man had a considerable amount in an investment account. Most likely proceeds from the books Tim wrote.
"Ya done good, Torres," Gibbs closed the folder and slipped it into his decoy toolbox with other files containing important - to Gibbs - information. He retrieved a second folder from another dummy toolbox and handed it to Nick. "Your first outside job."
"Cool," Nick thumbed through the documents and images in the folder. "Got approved for the day off for a 'dentist appointment.' They will never know."
Gibbs opened a cabinet and showed Nick the sniper rifles from which he could choose. "Find your fit," the former agent told Torres. Nick perused the selection; he chose one of the rifles and held it up. It didn't quite feel right, so he replaced it in its rack and selected another. Second one also didn't quite have the right feel as well. He was about to select a third rifle when Gibbs handed him one that had not been in the cabinet with the others. It smelled off fresh cleaning solvent and gun oil. He held it to his shoulder and pretended to shoot.
"This is the one," Torres grinned at his former boss. "How did you know?"
"Gut."
Near Queenstown, Maryland
Tony sighed and cursed, "Damn; how long is it gonna take to get something we can pin on Gibbs? This is getting really annoying…"
Ziva patted her husband's shoulder, "I am also frustrated. Maybe the tracking devices on Gibbs' truck and Torres' motorcycle and car will tell us something. I still cannot believe that Tim suspects Nick of feeding information to Gibbs. Well, yes, I can believe Tim's instincts, but…"
"I know what you mean; hard to believe Torres would turn on his employer and on Tim by helping our former boss with his vigilante justice." Tony stood up and stretched and wrapped his arms around Ziva. "I want our family home."
Both computers popped up email alerts from Tim on the secure account. Ziva opened her email as Tony looked over her shoulder.
'NT tracker shows subject is at G location. Data stored for future use.'
"Shit," Tony's frustration level was peaking. Having one suspect to pin down was hard enough; adding another person to the mix was going to make their work even more difficult.
"Perhaps this is a good thing?" Ziva suggested, sensing Tony's current mood. "TWO people involved means it is more likely one of them will slip up and give us something useful."
"Maybe," he grumbled in reply. "Let's take a break; I need to clear my head." He took Ziva's hand and started towards the kitchen; then changed his mind and pulled her to their bedroom. The one thing that could distract them both…
~Vigilante~
Leon stepped out onto the farmhouse porch; De had been outside about five minutes. "Little DiNozzos finally asleep," he noted. "I swear if I had rubbed Arianna's back any longer, I would have been asleep."
"You're a good man, Leon. Your fatherly instincts are shining through," De smiled at her companion. "It's a side of you I've never seen."
"My bad; I should have been there for Kayla and Jared when they were little. Jackie was always the one to soothe their nightmares, listen about their day, and so on. I was too busy building my career and climbing the ladder at NCIS," Leon sat down on his favorite chair.
"You did what you had to at the time. Is that why you are doing this?"
Leon shrugged, "Maybe; I don't know. I just feel like I have to protect you all. DiNozzo, I mean Tony, Ziva, and Tim were the best team that I've ever had work under me. I kinda feel like I owe them for some of the times I took advantage of that." He fell silent.
"And, NO, it wasn't because they worked for Gibbs. It was in spite of that they worked under Gibbs that they were so good as a team," he added a few minutes later. "But, enough of that. What do you want to do about Tali's birthday?"
"I like the idea of pizza, cake and ice cream. I think we could decorate for a party as well; it would help everyone's spirits. We could get the other kids to help decorate, maybe even have them make some of the decorations. As for a 'family' activity, I don't know. I'm not so sure I want to leave our little safety bubble," she responded while thinking out loud.
Leon nodded, "I agree. A party might be just the thing to cheer us all up. I've been trying to think of something we could all do together; just not coming up with much. There is a roller skating rink going towards Winchester. But, you'd be left out. And little Arianna might need some major help."
"She'd probably cling to you," De chuckled. "She has taken a shine to you, Uncle Leon. You are going to have to be a part of all of their lives from now on, you know."
"Yeah, but I kinda like being a favorite uncle…"
De put her hand on Leon's arm, "Thank you. I mean that sincerely. Thank you for protecting us, for caring about the kids, for everything."
~Vigilante~
Near Fayetteville, North Carolina
Two sheriff's deputies escorted the prisoner to the courthouse. Neither one had been particularly eager to be assigned to this detail; in fact, none of their colleagues had wanted the assignment. Even when the shift captain offered a significant cash bonus, no one stepped forward. It had come to drawing names from a hat.
Oliver Mercane, former US Army sergeant, had been charged with the killings of three young Army privates outside a sleazy gentlemen's club near the base. His attorney had managed a plea bargain in exchange for information about two others involved in the brutal slayings. Mercane was to be sentenced that day by a judge who was rather displeased with the plea bargain.
Nick Torres was perched atop a building overlooking the rear entrance to the courthouse; his sniper rifle loaded and already aimed for the kill. He grinned to himself as he waited for the sheriff's patrol vehicle to arrive. His bike was parked in a parking garage three blocks over; the ride down from DC had been smooth and uneventful.
He noticed movement by the rear of the courthouse and went full alert. The two deputies escorting Mercane looked bored and uninterested. Neither one bothered to scan for threats as they pulled him from the rear seat. One of the men shoved Mercane forward as the two deputies secured their vehicle and holstered their fire arms. Nick had the perfect shot. He pulled the trigger and watched as Mercane dropped to the ground. His job was done; he packed up his rifle and made his way back to his bike for the ride home.
~Vigilante~
Near Paramus, New Jersey
The woman picking up trash along the highway for her community service never knew what hit her before she collapsed dead. Gibbs had driven past twice to make certain the woman was indeed the person who had been sentenced to one hundred hours of community service for plowing into two state troopers at a traffic stop. One trooper suffered multiple broken bones and the other was left paralyzed on her entire left side as a result of being struck by and pinned under the woman's large SUV. As he passed a third time, he lowered the driver's side window of the rental car. He slowed, aimed at the woman's head, and pulled the trigger.
Satisfied that she was gone, he glanced at his watch. Torres should be done with his job now, if not within the next twenty minutes or so. Gibbs steered his vehicle towards I-95 for the ride home. It was a good day for justice in his opinion.
~Vigilante~
Tim ran into the DiNozzo house; he'd rushed out of NCIS when news came in of the shootings in North Carolina and New Jersey. The patterns fit what the team of Operation Silver Fox had observed; what puzzled him was the two shootings were close enough in time to indicate that more than one person was involved. Or, god forbid, there was a copy-cat running loose. He preferred not to dwell on that possibility.
"Hey, Tim," Ziva looked up from her computer as her teammate entered the office. "I pulled up the tracking information that you want. Look here," she pointed to her screen. Tony and Tim both peered over her shoulder.
"Well, hell's bells," Tony growled. "Can we place them at the shootings?"
Tim motioned for Ziva to slide over and tapped at her keyboard; he scowled and then typed a bit more. A new screen popped up with a map of the area around the court house in North Carolina. "Got Torres' bike about half a mile away; looks like a parking garage."
"Shit, that means we can't pin anything on him unless we can get eyes on," Tony commented.
"Yeah, that's why I was scowling; their cameras are down and have been for the past two days."
Ziva shook her head, "Not a coincidence. What about Gibbs?"
Tim typed again and a new map appeared. "His truck is in a parking lot by the Philadelphia airport; looks like a rental car lot is right next to it. DAMN, they are getting smarter on us."
"Hmm, these were daylight killings in well-travelled and populated areas," Tony was thinking out loud. "If I were a vigilante, I would do the same. Get a rental vehicle or park far enough away to not be tracked to the crime scene but close enough to get back quickly."
"Yes, but this also gives us the confirmation we needed that Torres is working with Gibbs," Ziva added. "You said he took the day off, correct, Tim?"
"Yeah, for a 'dentist appointment' is what he told me. Freaking liar; I found the files he hacked into also. I'm not really happy about what information he downloaded," Tim slid his chair back and rubbed his temples. His headache was getting worse.
"Oh?" Ziva stepped behind Tim and massaged his neck and forehead. "Relax into my hands, Tim."
Tony smirked, "Do as she says Probie; her magic hands can get rid of any headache…"
"I don't need to know any more, Tony…" Tim sighed as he felt relief when Ziva hit the pressure/massage points.
"Now about those files?" Ziva reminded her friend.
"He downloaded personal information on you guys; bank records, the record of the purchase of this house; and the girls' birth records. Did the same for me."
"DAMN!" the DiNozzos spat out vehemently, together.