Chapter 6 July 2024
Tim glanced around the squad room; Ellie was busy at her desk. Diamond was down in the lab with Kasie sorting through several large boxes of evidence in a stolen property fencing ring case that the team had been assigned. Torres was god knows where; Tim was almost to the point that he wished the man would just stop coming in to work. He was almost always late, and had taken more than one personal/sick day since the North Carolina shooting.
"Ellie?" Tim walked over to his SFA's desk. "Got a minute?"
"Yeah, Boss; what's up?" she looked up from her computer screen.
"Not here; follow me," Tim beckoned and led her up the steps to MTAC. He shooed the technicians out of the room, telling them to take a fifteen minute break on him.
"Sit down," Tim gestured at the seats in MTAC. "This may take a bit and it will blow your mind."
Ellie gave Tim a raised eyebrow and a questioning look, "Uh, okay, I guess."
Tim filled Bishop in on the pertinent details of the vigilante justice case, leaving out names of the possible shooters until the very end. He was hoping she'd see the ties and make connections for herself. "And so, when we put tracking devices on certain vehicles, we made some positive links between the cases and who we believe are the ones behind this."
The wheels were turning in Ellie's head, "Well, the weapons in some of the cases, especially the .308 Bravo 51 and the Colt M1911A1 point to one person in particular. Then the dates of some of the killings coincide with the absence of a certain other person…"
Tim nodded at the SFA, "Who do you think they are?"
Ellie sighed and shook her head; she really didn't want to think the worst of the two she had in mind, but there were enough bits of information that it was not coincidence, "Gibbs and Torres." She was blunt in her reply, still shaken to her core that two people she thought she knew well were involved.
"One more thing, the first killing we could link wasn't in this country; it was in London," Tim added. "He went to England on Halloween and shot Abby."
Bishop gasped, "NO!" She drew her hands to her face and closed her eyes. Who was the person her former boss had become? Not someone she had any connection to nor did she want to have one. How could Gibbs shoot ABBY of all people? Hadn't she been the favorite?
Tim glanced at his watch, "The techs are going to be back any minute now; can you meet with me outside of work?"
"Yeah; where?"
Tim handed her a small Post-It note with an address on it; Ellie glanced at the paper, noting the Queenstown, Maryland address. She looked over at Tim.
"You'll find out when you get there. Oh, and no cell communication once you get to Annapolis; turn your phone OFF before the bridge."
~Vigilante~
Nick descended the stairs to Gibbs' basement; he could hear voices from the lower level. As he reached the bottom of the steps he heard his name.
"Nick Torres, good agent, even better vigilante," Gibbs said to the third person, whose back was to Torres. "Ah, there he is now."
The man with Gibbs turned and sized up the NCIS agent. Nick had the feeling that this guy was also from one of the letter organizations. Probably holding a grudge like Gibbs and himself; the man stood almost six and one half feet tall and probably weighed close to three hundred pounds. Looked like a defensive linebacker to Torres.
"Torres meet Hampstead; Hampstead, meet Torres."
Nick stuck out his hand, "Nick." He half expected to have his hand crushed by the larger man. "Football player?"
"Briggs; good to meet you," the guy shook Torres' hand civilly. "Yep, South Carolina Gamecocks."
Gibbs cleared his throat, "Play nice later; we got a two, maybe three, person job comin' up. I need you both on your 'A game.' "
"Yes, Boss," Torres replied.
"Yes, sir," Hampstead was all business.
~Vigilante~
Ellie powered her phone down before she reached Annapolis; traffic on US 50 was congested enough that she didn't want to risk taking her eyes off the road as she approached the interchange with I-97 and beyond to the bridge. As per Tim's instructions, she also did not power on her GPS; she printed the directions on her home printer before she left her apartment.
The entire drive, she wracked her brain trying to think who lived in eastern Maryland. No one came to mind until she was on the bridge itself; it had to be the DiNozzo residence. Given the secrecy, the 'no tracking' order, and who was involved in Operation Silver Fox, that was the only option that made any sense. She'd briefly seen Tony and Ziva when they came to NCIS a few months back, but had not really had a chance to talk with the former agents.
Wait, Tim said that the couple had been reinstated as NCIS special agents specifically for the case… "WOW! I get to work with Ziva,' Ellie grinned as the thought crossed her mind. She exited the highway towards her destination. A small downtown that looked pretty much like every other northeast US downtown area transitioned to clusters of houses in neat subdivisions. Somehow that just didn't seem to be very Tony. She continued as per the printed directions.
Subdivisions became larger pieces of property, some with gated driveways. Ellie shook her head; also so not Tony. Then she spotted the turn ahead; a small subdivision with large lots, large houses, and bordering the Chester River. 'Welcome to Mallard Pointe;' the sign at the entry to the subdivision made Ellie smile. She wound around the curves of the road and turned left onto Drake Circle. Three houses in, she noticed Tim's silver Porsche Boxster in a driveway behind a crossover SUV which was next to a Cadillac sedan. She parked behind the sedan, noting the car seats in the SUV.
She wondered why there were no kids' seats in the Cadillac and then the thought hit her that the car seats probably went with the kids when they were taken to the safe house. She couldn't begin to imagine the toll this whole separation from family was taking on the three inside; and poor Ziva…
Ellie had barely put a foot on the front steps when the door opened, startling her.
"Hello, Eleanor," Ziva greeted the young agent. "Come inside. We have security cameras on almost every square foot of the property since the start of this case. That is how I knew you were here." She smiled at Tim's SFA and led her to the office. "Have a seat at our conference table," Ziva pointed to the six-foot folding table. Tony had moved the chairs from the desks around the table.
"Hey, Bishop," Tony greeted his former teammate. "Can we get you anything to eat or drink?"
"Nah, I'm good," she replied as she sat across from Tony and Ziva, with Tim at her left. "What's up with all the secrecy?"
Tim took the lead, "As I explained to you in MTAC, everything about this case is covert and 'need-to-know' partly because of the suspects, and partly because of who is on the team. You are looking at three of four team members. The fourth is away on a special assignment."
Tony cut in, "We can tell her who and why; Leon Vance is providing protection for Delilah and all of our kids. We have no idea where, only SecNav knows…"
"Anyhow, this is what we want you to do, now that you have what information you need," Ziva interjected. "You of all of the agents seem to be closest to Nicholas…"
"I WAS," Ellie asserted. "He turned cold towards me for no reason."
Tony gave a wry smile, "He's pissed that you were made SFA, Bishop. Plain as day; at least to me and Ziva."
"But, why? I had seniority on the team…"
"WE know that; he got his tighty-whities in a wad because of his ego," Tony smirked. Ziva slapped his arm. "Hey, what was that for?"
"Be nice."
"I was being nice; I coulda said he got a stick up his a…" Ziva shushed her husband with her finger. "Shutting up now," he pretended to zip his lips shut.
"Wise choice, Anthony. Eleanor, he is jealous of you. But enough of that. You still have the closest, shall I say, relationship, with him. We need you to try to get into the circle of vigilantes as a mole with Nicholas as your sponsor, or whatever Gibbs may call it," Ziva explained. "Here is our plan…"
~Vigilante~
Three weeks later
Tony handed Ellie her cell phone back after he downloaded encrypted images of Gibbs' team of vigilantes from the meeting at his house the night before. "You did great, Bishop. We should be able to run facial recognition on the ones we don't already know and get some background info on all five of them."
Ellie bit her lower lip, one of her nervous habits, "I just kinda feel bad about setting Nick up; I mean we are, or is it were, friends. He's not the one masterminding this; Nick and the others are just following orders from Gibbs."
Ziva's computer buzzed, "We have our first match. FBI agent Briggs Hampstead, disciplined for striking a superior while on the job; career basically slow-tracked after that. Sending the info to you, Tony."
"Got it, will do a deep dig for background info," he tapped the keyboard furiously, starting the search for any and all they could dig up on the man. Satisfied that he had started the search, he slid his chair back. "C'mon, kiddo, let's get you a snack to munch so you don't lose your lip."
Ellie followed him to the kitchen, noting the pictures of the family on the walls in the hallway. "All girls?" she asked out of curiosity.
"Yep; who'd a thunk it? Tony DiNozzo in a house full of women? Three daughters, beautiful little girls. Well, Tali isn't so little anymore," he paused. "Shit, she turned ten last month…"
Ellie put a hand on her former teammate's arm, "You had no choice."
"Yeah, but I promised myself on her second birthday that I would never miss another one. Haven't until this…" he gestured with his hands. "I feel like I've let her down somehow… Like I broke a big promise…"
Ziva overheard his words as she entered the kitchen, "I missed too many birthdays with her; I will not miss another one for Tali. I will not miss any for Ariella and Arianna." Tony drew her to him wrapping his arms around his wife hoping to allay even a small fraction of her pain.
Ellie munched from the bag of chips Tony handed her and sipped the soft drink Ziva gave her. She tried not to intrude on their moment of pain, but she also snuck glances at the pair. She'd had very little chance to observe them as a married couple; most of the meetings over the past few weeks had been all business in the office. She was struck by the obvious connection between the pair; so strong a blind person could see it. No wonder people at NCIS had gossiped about them. She was about to say something when her phone rang.
Ziva glared at the younger woman, "I thought we said no phones on while you are here?"
Ellie gave Ziva a sheepish look as she checked her screen, "We got a case; I have to answer this." She turned away from the DiNozzos, "Bishop. Yeah, Nick?" She listened for a bit and then replied, "I'm on the way. Send me the location; I will meet you there." She pressed the call end image. "The drug dealers we've been trying to nail down are at a warehouse in Annapolis. Gotta go. Sorry about the phone thing, Ziva. It will be okay, I guess."
~Vigilante~
At NCIS
Nick Torres looked over at Kasie; she gave him the thumbs' up sign. "Gotta go right now, but put the info in an encrypted file and email to me. Then destroy all evidence of the trace on your computer and in the system. What the hell is in Queenstown Maryland? Thanks, Kasie." He ran for the elevators; he hoped the take-down of the drug dealers would be easy and he could get back to the information waiting for him as soon as possible. He needed to know where Bishop had been when she took his call. She'd tried to rat him out with the vigilantes, and he was pissed.
As he entered the elevator, he patted his jacket's inner pocket. The small caliber pistol from the evidence locker was snuggly tucked into his pocket with a clip of ten rounds. Perfect throw-away weapon for what he needed.
~Vigilante~
Ellie arrived on-scene about the same time as Tim and Alden slid up in their Charger. The two had been nearby in Bowie gathering information from a DoD contractor about the warehouses. The three were reviewing the maps and building data the men had from the contractor when Nick rode up in another NCIS Charger.
"Nick, Ellie, you two go around back of building 7, where the activity was spotted; Diamond, with me in the front. Latest intel suggests there are three men, all of them armed, inside loading a panel truck with boxes of product ready to hit the street. Any questions?" Tim looked at his team; all shook heads. "GO!"
Ellie and Nick made their way around to the back of the building; Nick pointed out the two loading docks. One was occupied by a large delivery vehicle. They could hear sounds coming from inside the building. Using several dumpsters and pallet stacks as cover, the two made their way towards the open door of the loading area.
Ellie assessed the two approaches to the dock, both sets of stairs were accessible and there were stacks of pallets for cover near each one. She pointed to the stairs to her partner, "Which side do you want?"
"Don't matter," he slid his hand inside his jacket, checking. "Either one okay."
She glared at him, no time to get into a pissing contest, whatever his problem seemed to be could wait, "You take the right, and I'll take the left then. GO!" The two snaked their way to the stacks of pallets by the stairways.
Ellie looked over at Nick; she checked the open loading dock. She motioned with her hand to go; they slid up the stairs and plastered themselves to the side of the building, inching towards the opening. Nick accidentally kicked a loose bolt on the concrete. Both froze.
"What the hell was that?" a voice growled from inside. "Mango, check it out." A large man stepped out of the doorway and spotted Nick. He raised his weapon and aimed. Ellie fired and the man fell forward with a thud. Two others ran outside with weapons drawn.
One fired in each direction; Tim and Alden came running through the inside of the building at the sound of gunshots. One of the men circled around Ellie as the other aimed at her. She tried to watch both and when she turned, Nick slipped the small caliber pistol from his pocket; he'd managed to glove his hand to leave no fingerprints and to get rid of any gunshot residue from the weapon.
Ellie turned her back to him; he aimed. "God help me, Ellie; I once thought we were friends." He shot her in the mid-back about elbow height; a second time about three inches lower, and a third time in the sacral area. He watched her fall; the hits had temporarily distracted the two armed drug dealers. Nick quickly pocketed the weapon and pulled the glove off his hand, making sure it turned inside out.
He aimed his NCIS-issued weapon at the man between him and Bishop and fired the kill shot into the man's head. Tim and Diamond ran out as the dealer fell to the ground. The third guy raised his rifle; Tim reacted instantly and fired a kill shot into the man's temple.
Tim noticed Ellie on the ground, "DAMN IT; call 9-1-1. We need an ambulance immediately." He moved over Bishop and noted that she was still breathing; her back had taken at least two, maybe three hits. Tim didn't want to move her, but pressed his jacket to her wounds to attempt to staunch the flow of blood. "Stay with me, El," he tried to see if she was conscious. "Help is on the way."
"Boss, ambulance is about three minutes out," Alden informed the team leader. "I'll go round the side to guide them back."
"Good thinking and Alden?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks." Tim turned back to Ellie as the young agent trotted to the side where Nick and Ellie had come to the back. He spotted the EMTs pulling into the parking lot out front and waved them back.
Nick stood to the side, trembling, and watching. He couldn't look at Bishop. "I'll go get the camera, and evidence markers, and stuff…" He dashed into the building towards the cars.
"Stay with us, Ellie." Tim said a silent prayer for his SFA as the EMTs took the steps two at a time. He moved aside to let them work.
Inside the building, Nick spied a dumpster filled with trash, broken pallets, and pieces of cardboard. He tossed the pistol, the used glove, and the cartridge with the remaining bullets into different parts of the dumpster. Satisfied that all had sunk down in the debris, he calmly walked to the cars and grabbed the evidence kits, camera, and other needed equipment.
A/N Thanks for all the favs, follows, reviews. Just a note, if you post an anonymous review that has NOTHING to do with the story, I will delete it. To the "reviewer" who keeps posting that this fic is plagiarized: I post on both Archive of Our Own and FFN on the same night. To the same(?) anonymous "reviewer": if you don't like the story and the fact that Abby is gone, don't read. It's that simple. (No one wants to read your whining either!)