A/N: So, yeah. Sorry about the massive delay. Dealing with family not fun. I lost my Grandmother in August and then my Mum came home after looking after her for over a year. My Dad's not well, cancer, so I've been doing what I can to help in the property. On top of that, new job.

Anyway, onto the story. THIS ONE IS FINISHED! I'll try to update it weekly. Having now watched the season after Tony leaves, I guess you could call this an AU, as he's no longer in the country.

Part three, if you haven't already guessed, will be set in New Orleans. Not sure when I'll be putting it up. I have a chunk written, but not quite sure how to finish it.

ENJOY!

Getting Involved

It was an hour later that Gibbs entered the room. "Care to tell me why it is that Director Vance has given you permission to join my team and all but ordered me to give you access to everything?" He didn't want her to know that he could see the benefit of having her trust the NCIS teams. If something were to happen, she would have a few people she could turn to if she needed.

He could see that Brooks could tell that that he was losing his patience with her. "Only a handful of people know the full details of the case I'm handling. I'm in charge of a taskforce that was set up years ago. I can't tell you anymore then that because the case is still ongoing, only that it spans a half dozen countries. I approached your SecNav because I needed certain people, and one of those is Lt Sanders. He, like the others on their way here, all play a key part in the taskforce. One of those parts is his ability to keep vehicles moving. The mission they were a part of in Dubai only finished a few days ago. I need to make sure that he wasn't targeted to try and gain access to information about the taskforce."

"So…?"

"Other than a handful of days, all of which were spent in the company of others in the unit, he hasn't been in the country for the past three months."

"You yourself can confirm that?" Gibbs asked, taking notes. He remembered that Ducky said that the TOD could have been two months ago, given the average temperatures.

"Not the last six weeks, I've been in Los Angeles for the past couple of weeks and before that, Canada for a month. Another case I'm working on brought me back; it's just wrapped up in LA. Hetty Lang can confirm it, if you wish." Brooks leaned back in her chair.

Gibbs asked questions over the following hour; and while he got some answers about the Lt's personality and how he got along with the others in the taskforce, he got the sense that she was holding back. About what, he couldn't tell. He also found out that not many people knew he was gay. The DADT policy may not have been enforced anymore, but there were still people who were against such people in the military. Sanders currently didn't have a boyfriend either, so there was no one to vouch for the other occupant in the house.

"How many in the taskforce?"

"Actively involved with it? Including Sanders, four, with another two as IT over earwigs. One is in London. The other is …" she paused a moment as she realised something, "The other is at Pax." She didn't continue, just sent another text message.

"Why did you get US military involved?" Gibbs asked, "Why not use your own personnel from the task force or from within Interpol?"

"The fewer people who know, the less chance for leaks. And, the only person I trust at Interpol is the director, Krouse. As for the men coming, I picked them at random, after coming across them on the street. I felt that if they were military, and not part of the same unit, if they came across something that didn't add up about the others, they would be more inclined to inform me."

"The man in London, he military?"

"Langdon? No, he's someone at MI6 that owes me a few favours. He simply acts as a relay in case something happens to the transmissions. I can get him on teleconference if you need."

"He interact with the others?"

"No, only over the earwigs and phone."

"His contact details will do for now." Gibbs handed over his notebook for her write the contact details down. After taking it back and looking at it, he took a moment to collect everything, nodding to DiNozzo to do the same. "I'm going to interview Sanders now, you can watch from the observation room." He said as he stood.

"Fair enough. Do you have an ID on her yet?" She asked as she followed the agents.

"No, anything you can tell me about the cousin?"

"Never met her. Sanders talked about her a lot. They were close, more like siblings than cousins." She didn't give any more information, only talking to DiNozzo about what he had been up to since they had last seen one another. Gibbs tuned them out, focusing on what he wanted to ask the LT.

Gibbs introduced himself and DiNozzo as they took their seats. "I've been speaking with your team leader. She tells me that you've been out of the country, but that she hasn't been with the team for the last few weeks. Can the others on the team confirm your whereabouts?"

"What's going on? I get out of a cab and your agents grabbed me. They didn't even tell me who I was supposed to have murdered."

"Is there anyone else that lives with you?" DiNozzo asked gently.

"My cousin, Amara. She, broke up with my CO, Sines. He was starting to get abusive and possessive. She didn't have anywhere else to go, loved her job at the vet clinic nearby and didn't want to leave the area. I offered her a room at my place until she could find a place of her own." He paused, and Gibbs saw a look of horror appear on his features. "Oh, God, no! Please no." He looked from one agent to the other, but he broke down in tears as Gibbs slid a photo across the table of his living room.

"We haven't been able to ID her yet, but things are starting to point to it being your cousin. I'm sorry." Gibbs said as the man started crying in great racking sobs. Just on the display and what he had learnt from Brooks, he was inclined to believe that the man had nothing to do with the murder.

"One last thing, could you take off your shirt?"

"What?"

"She fought, hard. Managed to scratch whoever it was."

A smile briefly crossed his face. "I taught her to fight, made sure she was able to look after herself when I wasn't around." His face turned downcast again. "Fat lot of good that did her." His voice broke as he lifted his shirt and turned around to show Gibbs his back.

Nothing showed other than scars that were years old and looked to be bullet grazes and at least one knife wound. No trace of fingernail scratches could be seen on his face, chest, back or arms.

"She fought enough that with the scratches and other things she left for us to find, we'll find out who did this."

"I'd start with Sines then Sir. I don't think he knew she was my cousin." He sank back into the chair, heartbroken and with nothing left to keep him upright, he slumped over onto the table.

Gathering things from the table, they left the room, and allowed Brooks in to comfort the man. They headed back to the bullpen, DiNozzo looking through flight records to find the flight he had been on as soon as he sat down.

"Bishop, I want you to look for all the shops that buy or import this brand of chocolate." Gibbs wrote down the brand that Abby had identified and handed it to the food-aholic. If anyone would be able to find it, it would be her.

"Sure, Gibbs. Reason?" She took the paper and started googling.

"Abby found residue on the woman's clothes and in the house that had been spread by the fight. Concentrate on high end bakeries and caterers." He then turned toward the other member of the team.

"McGee, see if you can find a vehicle match to this list Abby gave me. Start with the ones registered to the base. Abbs found engine oil on the victims clothes." He dropped the file Abby had given him onto his current 2IC's desk. "But first, tell me what you've found on Sanders." He retook his own seat and looked toward McGee who had finished putting the file in a place he could reach it quickly before standing and getting the clicker off DiNozzo's desk. Hitting the button, he brought up the man's records.

"I've been looking over the Lt's record. It's clean, not so much as a parking ticket. The last few months he's been on loan to Brooks, but the Base CO, Colonel Miguel Jose, doesn't know who she works for. He got authorisation to release him to her unit by SECNAV herself. He's been part of a specialised unit for the last several years. Going away for a few months a year. He and the others from the unit have often been called from wherever they've been posted for it. I've managed to speak to a couple of their COs, but none can tell me anything. I've also placed another call to the SECNAV, but I've not heard back from her yet."

"Any way to know who else is on the team from Pax?" Thinking about the scuttlebutt that often ran rampant when it came to missions that were meant to remain secret.

"No, he's been ordered by SECNAV herself to remain quiet about it. No one seems to know who else is involved. Whoever it is, they've managed to mix it in with their normal work." He placed the folder on his boss' desk then headed back to his desk to look into the vehicles that were registered on the base. Gibbs himself started to look into Sines.

The rest of the day passed in a similar fashion with the team looking into each of the taskforce members. None of their CO's knew what they were doing, only that their respective Secretary of's had contacted them and told them to assign the requested personnel to it.

During questioning of Brooks about Sanders they had found that Sines had been bypassed because Brooks had spoken to Sanders and Pikes and they had told her not to go through him because of his personality. She had looked into him and found the same thing. There was something else, but she was remaining closed lipped about it.

Bishop had come across over two dozen places that not only sold the chocolate, but also used it in their cooking. Without something else to be able to narrow it down, they would have to resort to asking for each place to send through a list of receipts and names of people that had placed orders. It was going to take a while to go through them, even more so as they had no accurate timeframe. The day ended with them going through a list of bakeries and orders to try and find something that fit the time.