Chapter 8

"So you're telling me that all this was done over technology being developed by Leland?"

Ray looked at the director almost as if her were searching for the answer. Gibbs was standing next to him, listening to every word. "Yes."

"And there are strong ties to the classified op that you've been forbidden to talk about?"

"Yes."

It almost felt like those awkward moments when Ray used to get in trouble as a kid and his father or principal would look at him as if they were surprised that the 'good boy' was capable of getting into trouble. Ray looked at the director and tried hard not to squirm. It was a bit of a mess they were in. They had one suspect dead, another and a woman in holding and someone shot at him and McGee. Yeah that was a mess.

It was an even bigger mess when Gibbs and Ray were summoned to the director's office. It felt very much like being summoned to the principal's office, or, heaven forbid, to his father's study. He was ready to assume the worst such as being thrown under the bus. He wasn't afraid, but he wasn't foolish either.

Vance looked at his agent. It felt like a waiting game and one that this agent knew well, but he seemed also resigned to being chewed out for what they found out. This was probably going to be more than he bargained for. Sighing, he folded his hands and asked, "Do you know who?"

Ray opened his mouth slightly, but then bit the bullet. He replied, "Yes. The shooter was my sniper. Mark Simkins."

"And Laurent?"

"More likely supplier. Maybe a lackey." Ray shrugged, not meaning to be callous, but in all honesty, he didn't know the specific role. He could only speculate at this point.

"It explains why the suspect's prints were all over the casing," Gibbs supplied.

Ray was willing to go with that, but something was telling him that it was a set up. Simkins was trained like he was and it wouldn't be hard to set someone up. And that was considering that Simkins was working for someone with deep pockets. The man always had an eye on doing the work he loved and getting paid with what he was owed. He recalled one instance where the man talked about not re-upping and going into the private sector with PMCs.

Vance considered both of his agents. While he could press, he had read enough about Dead Zone, at least what he was permitted, to know that Ray would give him what he asked if he were ordered to do so. If asked, he would give enough but not enough to warrant suspicion from someone higher up. Privately, Vance thought that there was something off about the way things went down with that op, like there was one big secret that people were desperate to sweep under the rug. He ventured, "And the connection to Leland?"

"Haven't figured that one out yet," Gibbs replied. "Rawlings and Caldwell worked there and were talking about a project."

"Nanite technology," Ray supplied. He cleared his throat a little. He sighed and added, "At most… Simkins was hired to maybe steal information on it. That's the only connection I can see right now."

Vance looked at the agent. He sensed that there was something off about that response. He was going to let it go. He nodded, "Alright Agent Salazaar. That will be all. You're dismissed." He waited until the agent was at the door before adding, "And make sure that nymph of yours is well behaved."

Ray glanced at Vance and saw the slight smirk. He nodded with a slight smile, not sure if he should. It wasn't like they couldn't tell him the dog wasn't allowed. She was a working dog and she did her job. He left the office quietly, leaving Gibbs and Vance in the room.

Once the door clicked, Vance turned towards Gibbs, "What is going on, Gibbs?"

Gibbs shrugged, "You know more than me, Leon." He looked at the director with a look that fell between annoyed and angry. "And you heard what Salazaar said. Our dead servicemen were killed probably for that technology."

"And I read Dr. Mallard's report. That one of them may not be who we thought it was." Vance wasn't angry with his agents. He was trying to figure this out as much as they were. It was just frustrating when your information sources were limited and one of them probably knew more than they did, but he wasn't talking. At least not enough to give the whole picture.

"I know," Gibbs countered in a low tone. "Ducky's working on trying to find out what's underneath."

"And Salazaar?"

"What about him, Leon?"

Vance looked at Gibbs with a pointed look. "Has he said anything apart from what he said in MTAC when he started?"

"Only what he can." Gibbs paused and sauntered towards the director's desk. "Man's been burned before."

"I know that." Vance paused and looked downward at nothing in particular. He folded his hands together and thought about what he was going to say next. "But he was reactivated for a reason and that includes filling us in."

"You think I don't know that? We were lucky to get out the fact that he knew who the shooter was and what he may be after."

"I know. Does he trust us?"

It was an interesting question. Gibbs knew that Ray was the type to follow orders and he questioned them if they were not aligned with the code in which he knew and served by, and he was loyal to the country he served. Gibbs was honest in his assessment, "Probably more than he does others. He was given an order not to talk and the penalty was his life."

"But he has been given permission to tell us." Vance made a slight movement of his hands. "Something happened that is not in the file or…"

"He'll admit if he's scared. And probably for my team." Gibbs paused a moment before frowning as he asked, "Do the AARs say exactly what happened on that op?"

Vance gave a wry chuckled at that and showed Gibbs what he had been handed. "Better than most documents."

Gibbs looked at the file and noted the redaction. It wasn't as bad as some files he had seen, but it still wasn't exactly revealing about everything. Vance was right in that it was better than most. "So the rest depends on what Salazaar tells us."

"The question is, will he tells us?"

Gibbs had started walking towards the door. He paused and replied, "Give him time and maybe the suspect will tell us for him."

Vance smirked at that. He wasn't going to discount that since he was well aware there were a few operations he had sent Delta Alpha Six on that did the same thing. He inherited that agent and it had been a few trial and error moments. He recognized that his agent needed time to work things out. He just hoped that it wouldn't be too late.

Gibbs, in the meantime, made his way to the perfect spot to view his team. He leaned on the railing as he spotted Ziva writing up her report for the day while DiNozzo was ribbing McGee about something. His youngest agent was sitting at his desk working but playing with the dog. He grinned when McGee kicked a red rubber toy away and the dog tracked it and brought it back, earning an ear rub from McGee. It was amusing and surprising since McGee had a wary liking of dogs.

"Cal is like that and she likes McGee."

Gibbs didn't move much except to shift and look at Ray who was leaning on the railing. "Dog's more honest than people."

"It's why I have her," Ray replied, not missing a beat. He grinned slightly before sobering into a sigh. "Its purgatory, Gibbs and I really want to believe that Simkins didn't go merc but… a lot of guys do when they leave the service."

"And?"

"Gibbs, I want to tell you what happened on that op, but I can't."

"Why?"

Ray leaned into his clasped hands. His forehead barely touched the tops of his thumbs. "Because I can't remember it all. All I remember is why we went in and up to extraction when I got hit." He straightened and looked at Gibbs. "Bleeding out and couple of hard knocks. It's spotty at best."

"Is that why you can't tell me?"

"That and the nature of the op. I think I may have already revealed too much when I told you guys what Caldwell and Rawlings were discussing." Ray shifted his feet. "I'm not trying to be an ass about it. More like… Rule 4."

Gibbs nodded at that. "Alright. We'll work with that." He started walking and he threw back, "Still have the guy that shot at McGee and the girl to talk to. You in?"

"Yeah. If I get to watch."

"Better get down there."

"Be right there." Ray watched Gibbs leave. He blinked a bit as he pursed his lips a little. If he were in court, he would be cited for perjury. He wasn't giving the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And then he had to go and use one of Gibbs' rules. He sighed as he turned to look back down at the bullpen.

McGee had thrown the kong he had given him to reward Callisto for a good job. It had landed near DiNozzo and it looked like he was attempting to play with her. Callisto wasn't having it and she was growling. He could tell from her posture that she was just stating she didn't like DiNozzo. It became evident when McGee told DiNozzo to give the kong to him and he caught it and the dog turned and looked at McGee expectantly.

Ray smirked when McGee tossed it to Callisto and she caught it and moved to lay down and start chewing it. He noticed that she was by McGee and shook his head. At least he didn't mind her. It was funny to see the pout on DiNozzo's face. His gaze shifted to Ziva at her desk and noted the smirk she had while she was working. He stared at her for a moment before a call came in and DiNozzo and Ziva were heading down to interrogation.

He hated the fact that he was still keeping secrets. In his line of work, secrets could be deadly. As much as he wanted to tell them about the last op he had done, it would require him to go into detail on things that could prove deadly. And he couldn't do that. Not to the team and not to her. He knew that there had to be more to it and his old sniper was involved. He just didn't want to go down that route, preferring that it be the suggestions he dropped.

The spray was like a fine mist. He knew that he was getting slow, but not too slow to react. Laurent was down, but they were still in the open. It was instinct as he pulled McGee down for cover. It was just in time since another shot hit the lip they were taking cover behind.

Taking a chance, he looked over the lip with his gun ready. It was silly since it was clear they were being shot at with a sniper's rifle. Protocol though dictated to clear the scene and to do that, you needed to have your weapon. At the risk of getting a bullet to the head, he peeked over. It was then that he saw him. He was looking at him, smirking, like he was mocking him.

Always got your back, boss.

Ray took in a breath and looked at the elevator and then at the bullpen. Swallowing, he took a breath and turned to head down the stairs. He was going to get flak for this, but he needed to be sure and if possible, end this before it escalated.

Gibbs was patient when he needed to be. As a Marine sniper, he had to be patient since there were all sorts of things that could affect how the shot was made and what it would do. Wind, speed, velocity… all those things. So, he was being patient with his old agent and friend throughout this case. He took what he was told with a grain of salt, hoping that his old friend would lose his reservations and tell him what he knew.

He knew that Ray hadn't told him everything and was fibbing on his memory. It was frustrating since libs and half truths led to mistrust and the backbone of being on a team was the trust that the team members had for one another. In this line of work, you needed to trust the man next to you to watch your back and you did the same. It felt like Ray couldn't trust them, but that didn't seem like his character at all. The man believed the same as he did.

Gibbs decided that he was going to put his faith in Ray despite the fact he was certain the man was keeping secrets. Even when they worked together in the past, he sensed there was a secrecy with the man. It was evident when he would disappear for days at a time and it had been cleared previously with the director then. Gibbs had a pretty good idea with what was going on then and he suspected that was what was going on now.

He looked at the file that he had grabbed and thumbed through the basic information that they had managed to get on the remaining suspect named Marshal Baker. The girlfriend to Laurent was Sissy Lyle and she was in holding for the moment. He was thinking of having Ziva interrogate her while he and Ray took on Baker. Or he could let Ray take on Baker solo.

Gibbs remembered when he let Ray interrogate a suspect back in the day. The man had a way of getting a suspect to confess and with all the legalities tied up in a bow. Nice and neat. He was thinking Ray could do the same with this guy. Still, it could be a bad idea since the man did assault his agent along with Laurent. The girlfriend did the same as well. Could be a conflict of interest on some level, but then again what they might need to break the case. He studied the file when a shuffle caught his attention and he looked up.

Ziva and DiNozzo had come up and were heading into the observation room, but there was no sign of Ray. Gibbs frowned at that. He had told his old friend to come down and he seemed willing to be a part of it. He waited until his other agents were in the room before he went in the direction of the elevator, thinking that maybe Ray was lingering near the elevator, but there was no sign of him anywhere. He knew the man wasn't one to chicken out, but disappearing altogether? There had to be a damn good reason for it.

Since there was no time to waste, he headed back to interrogation. He would deal with his disappearing agent later. He opened the door to see Baker sitting like he had been dealt a fatal blow. From the report, the guy would be sore and there were no puncture marks from the teeth. The dog held him just right and given encouragement could probably have crushed the limb with her jaws. It was because of her that his two agents weren't in the hospital getting treated for gunshot wounds.

"Hey, don't I get a doctor or something? That mutt tried to kill me," Baker sputtered angrily.

"That mutt, subdued you and you'll live," Gibbs replied in a nonchalant tone.

"But that's police brutality."

Gibbs made a slight face that almost betrayed the hint to laugh. In his book, brutality was beating the guy to within an inch of his life. Callisto was a trained K9 unit. He opened the file, "Well you did attack two of my agents after they identified themselves."

Baker was ready for a retort, "Didn't hear them say nothing."

Gibbs nodded at that. He had a methodical way of doing interrogations. While this one may not know everything, it was certain that he knew something. "Your buddy Laurent's fingerprints were found on a shell casing of a bullet that killed a naval officer. You know anything about that?"

"Man, I don't know shit," Baker sputtered with a glare since it was clear that he wasn't going to gain any sympathy from anyone. "And I didn't do anything."

Gibbs looked at the man pointedly, "Did you supply the weapons and ammunition?"

"I told you…"

Gibbs pulled out a report. "Got evidence that says you were involved." It was crime scene photos of the apartment. They showed weapons and ammunition and a bunch of other things that looked questionable. "Yours and your partner's prints over everything. Enough to link you to two homicides."

"I didn't shoot nobody."

"Still going down for it." Gibbs leaned forward and stared at Baker. "And it won't be nice since you may be looking at the death penalty."

In the observation room, it was much like any interrogation and having watched dozens of them over the years, it never failed to provide valuable insight and on occasion, entertainment since Gibbs had a way with interrogation. Ziva studied the man and thought him to be pretty much a coward and not much use to them except for the fact that he supplied the means that killed Rawlings and Caldwell. She was upset at the events that transpired.

It hadn't been easy to hear that McGee and Ray had been shot at when they went to pick up the girlfriend. And it had been doubly hard to hear that they had been in a sniper's sights. She probably shouldn't feel that way since she knew Ray had been on dozens of missions over the past few years that put him in a sniper's crosshairs more than once literally and figuratively. Yet, she did. It was the risk she took when she went out to LA to find Ray and talk to him after the team brought her back stateside, and she didn't regret it even though they still had a lot to work out.

Not thinking, she said, "McGee and Salazaar should be here."

DiNozzo had his arms crossed over his chest, observing the interrogation. "McGee is working on that demo tape we brought in and Salazaar… probably spending time with that mutt."

Ziva smirked slightly at DiNozzo's petulant tone at the mention of the dog. Callisto was pretty friendly and she recognized the dog was teasing DiNozzo. If she really didn't like him, she would have reacted a whole lot different. It would take DiNozzo awhile to figure that one out unless Ray told him. She wasn't counting on the latter since Ray had a strange sense of humor at times. She sobered though and replied, "Still, at least Salazaar would be able to get something."

"And how do you know that?"

Ziva didn't break as she turned her gaze to find DiNozzo looking at her suspiciously. She replied, "He looks like he could." She shrugged like it was inconsequential when it really hid the fact that she had seen Ray 'interrogate' and it wasn't a pretty sight. If she didn't know better, she would have thought he worked for Mossad like she did. "And I'm sure he's had his fair share since he was a SEAL," she added to thwart suspicion.

DiNozzo eyed Ziva as she continued to watch the interrogation. He suspected that there was something up since she had acted a little strange since their newest agent arrived. It was like she knew him though it could be just attraction. It certainly was something worth teasing over if he had more tangible evidence about that even though he saw the way Ray looked at her.

DiNozzo turned to focus on the suspect Gibbs was questioning. He frowned slightly, "You know… I'm surprised the… new guy didn't go chasing off after the guy that shot at them." He waited until Ziva was looking at him to add, "I mean he did guess the distance from where Caldwell was shot."

"He's good at math," Ziva offered with a shrug.

"Yeah… genius like McGee." DiNozzo frowned in a knowing fashion. "Not bad for a frogman."

Ziva schooled herself not to react to that. It was common knowledge that Ray was a SEAL. A sort of service record would be in his file. At least what would have been allowed. She knew Ray loved being a SEAL and he respected Marines and could tell how much he disliked the position he was in. He disliked putting people in the position she was in.

When she looked for him after getting back from Somalia, he accepted her apology, but he said that he was going to cut her loose, meaning that he wasn't going to continue what they had started. It hurt, yes, but she saw it for what it was, that he was doing it to protect her from his life and secrets. It was what he was at his core. He was a protector and it seemed that people he worked for and with knew it and exploited it. She knew that and it was why she refused to cut ties. It surprised him, but he didn't fight her on it. She did have to lay it out on him when he held back, but it got them to where they were now as she shrugged, "He mentioned it was his specialty."

"When was that?"

"Yesterday. And he mentioned it to McGee."

DiNozzo eyed Ziva with a raised brow. "Yeah, about that. How is it that he was able to figure out the decryption before McGee?"

Ziva shrugged, "I don't know. They went with obvious and then had to think outside the square."

"Box."

Ziva knew what the phrase was. She was just using it to throw DiNozzo off just a little. "Anyway, that's how you investigate. Look at obvious and then not so obvious. I'm sure there was a lot of back and forth and in a language that only McGee and Ray could understand. What matters is that they found more on why a Navy man and a Marine were killed and they worked for the same company."

DiNozzo knew when to back off and he did in this case. Everything Ziva said was right. Yet, there was something that he couldn't put his finger on and it had ties to their newest agent. It felt familiar, but off and it had him trying to find what he could on Ray Salazaar despite the fact that Vance and Gibbs had vetted him.

He trusted Gibbs. No doubts there, but then again there was always that one that could betray you. DiNozzo wasn't saying that Ray would do that, but that off feeling seemed connected to that. He just wasn't going to be the one to accept it and leave it at that. And it bothered him that Ziva wasn't in the same mindset. He turned to watch Gibbs finish the interrogation. "Well, hopefully, either one of them find something cause it looks like we might have struck out."

A/N: They still have one suspect but Ray still isn't giving more details and DiNozzo is suspicious about the newest agent. Stay tuned for next time.