Chapter 16
Tony was watching for the appearance of Sacks and Fornell, but he was also thinking about Tim's request.
"Do you think that Jorgenson could be responsible for this, Boss?"
"Depends," Gibbs said, shrugging.
"On what?"
"On whether or not McGee is right about how much Jorgenson hates Carew."
"I hate the guy, too, but I'm not about to hunt Carew down and kill the people around him."
"You also wouldn't try to imprison someone and make him into a slave," Gibbs said. "There they are."
"You want to take the lead?" Tony asked, with a grin. "Since you've ceded all control to McGee, I mean."
Gibbs just looked at him for a second and then walked over. Tony could see Fornell's resignation.
"What is it, Gibbs? Couldn't you just let me know you're coming?"
"Nope. Got a couple of questions to ask you."
"About what?" Sacks asked. "We haven't had anything to do with the Navy in months."
"And hasn't it been lovely," Tony said.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs said, warningly.
Tony knew this wasn't the time to antagonize Sacks. It was hard to resist, though.
"What is it, Gibbs?" Fornell asked with a warning look of his own at Sacks. This was not the time or place for it.
"Have you heard anything about Jorgenson, lately?" Gibbs asked.
"Jorgenson?" Fornell repeated. "Why? He's been out for a couple of blissful years."
"He was blackballed," Sacks said. "No one says so out loud, but everyone knows it. He could never get into federal politics again."
"So you haven't heard anything?" Tony asked.
"No one shed any tears when he left," Sacks said. "I doubt there are many trying to keep track of him at this point. I certainly am not."
"Fornell?" Gibbs asked.
Fornell was looking at them both very carefully. Tony could tell he was trying to figure out where this was going without asking where it was going.
"What if I had?"
"Then, we want to know," Tony said.
He looked at Gibbs, wondering how far he was willing to go in this. Would he tell Fornell about Carew?
"Why?"
"Because Carew is missing, his cabin destroyed and his wife nearly killed," Gibbs said, tersely.
"Wait a second," Fornell said. "That has nothing to do with the Navy. What in the world are you doing looking into it? You don't have even a smidgen of jurisdiction over something like that."
"Not my idea, Tobias," Gibbs said.
"Whose idea was it?" Sacks asked.
"McGee's," Tony said. "Tamara Carew came to him for help in finding him and McGee said yes. Got the rest of us involved."
"What's the justification?" Fornell asked.
"We don't have any. We're just doing it anyway, but we're trying to keep it quiet," Gibbs said.
"Well, I don't have a problem keeping that quiet, but you're not going to be able to do that forever."
"I know."
Then, Fornell smiled. "Just long enough for you to convince McGee to give it up?"
Gibbs said nothing for or against it. Tony knew he wouldn't. Nothing would make Tim give up anyway.
"Have you heard anything?"
"I've heard some rumors," Fornell said. "Nothing I could verify. I haven't tried to, either."
"What are they?" Tony asked.
"That Jorgenson isn't going to stay out. That he'll find a way back in. It's just a matter how and when. He wasn't going to accept what happened with any kind of grace. That not even the president could keep him out forever."
"How could he get back in if there's no one willing to take a chance on him?"
"You know what federal politics are like, DiNozzo," Fornell said. "If he can make a case for it, especially after the current president is out, he'll get back in. Will he be able to? Who knows? I hope not, but I'll be retired before he could make a real attempt, thank goodness."
"So are you saying you think that Jorgenson has something to do with Carew's disappearance?" Sacks asked, skeptically. "Come on."
Tony was skeptical, too, but he didn't like having someone else express doubt.
"Fornell just said that he wants back in. Carew is apparently who kept him out," Tony said. "He already has shown that he's willing to do illegal things."
"But this is going quite a ways beyond what he's done in the past. You're saying that Jorgenson was willing to kill someone who had nothing to do with it, just to get Carew," Sacks said.
Tony ignored Gibbs' expression at the fact that Sacks was saying almost exactly what he had said.
"We don't know if there's anything to it, but we've got to look into it," he said.
"And you'd like us to keep our mouths shut," Fornell said.
"Preferably," Gibbs said.
"Can do. Sacks is about the only person willing to talk to me anyway," Fornell said, smiling a little.
"Had you heard anything about Carew being missing?" Tony asked.
"Nope. Not even a whisper on my side," Fornell said. "Ron?"
Sacks shook his head. "No."
"Would you keep your ears open for someone talking about it?" Gibbs asked. "No one should know."
"And if someone does, there's the question of why," Fornell said. "Sure."
"Thanks."
"How long will this go on?"
"Until we find him."
"Alive or dead?"
"Whatever is best," Tony said, neutrally.
"What does McGee want?" Fornell asked.
"Alive," Gibbs said.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Huh. Well, we'll keep our mouths shut and our ears open. Anything else?"
"Not at the moment."
"Was that worth driving out to Quantico?" Fornell asked.
"Maybe," Gibbs said.
"All right, well, we have work to do that is actually in our jurisdiction, so if you don't mind, we'll get back to it."
"Feel free," Tony said.
Fornell and Sacks got into their car and drove away, leaving Gibbs and Tony to walk back to their own car.
"Jorgenson wants back into federal politics," Tony said.
"Yeah."
"Isn't willing to take no for an answer."
"Yeah."
"I don't want to admit it, but there might be something to this."
Gibbs smiled slightly.
"Yeah."
Tony rolled his eyes.
"If Tim is right about all this and he manages track down Carew, he's going to be insufferable."
"Because he'll be right?" Gibbs asked.
"Exactly!"
As they got in the car, Tony couldn't help thinking that, in spite of the fact that they were looking for Carew and that they didn't really have the authority to be doing it, this felt incredibly normal. They had a case. They were investigating it. It was just normal.
And that made it good, even in the midst of the complicated details.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Tim would like to have put off seeing what Abby and Ziva had found, but he knew he couldn't do that. Abby wouldn't accept it. So he went back to her lab.
"Abbs?"
"You're back!" Abby said, happily.
"I was just by the Metro station, Abby," Tim said, as she pulled him gleefully over to her computer. He saw Ziva rolling her eyes slightly at Abby's antics and smiled.
"But you're back and now, we can show you what we found!"
"Someone was looking at the record of the house being sold?" Tim asked.
"Yes!"
"Who?"
"His name is Zeke Balogh."
"That's a different name," Tim said.
"Hungarian," Ziva said, "but he was born here. His parents immigrated."
"And he was looking at the record of sale? Who is he?"
"No one who has connections to pretty much anything. He's a mechanic out in Gaithersburg," Abby said.
"Wealthy? Maybe wanting to buy land for himself?"
"I doubt it."
"And he was looking?"
"He put in the request."
Tim looked at information. It made sense, really. This guy probably had nothing to do with Carew's disappearance. He was probably paid to get into the records. It was possible, even likely, that he didn't even know why he had done it.
"I was thinking that we could go out and talk to him," Ziva said.
Suddenly, there was a leaden weight in Tim's stomach. He tried to ignore it, but he couldn't. He shook his head.
"No. Tony and Gibbs will probably be back soon. When they get back, you and Tony can go and talk to him."
"Are you sure you wish to delay?" Ziva asked.
"I should be getting the file from the CIA soon and I want to get going on that." Tim forced a smile. "You and Tony can handle it, can't you?"
Ziva smiled a little, but Tim could tell he hadn't quite pulled off the nonchalance.
"Tim, are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Tim looked at Abby. "See what else you can find out about this guy, okay?"
"Sure thing, Tim."
Tim nodded once and then left the lab, taking a deep breath to try and dislodge the weight.
"Tim?"
Ziva. She was clearly not fooled at all. He turned back.
"Yeah?"
"Are you sure you're all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"You do not seem fine."
"I am," Tim said. "Why don't you call Tony and see where they are? I'll start prodding about Logan's file, if I have to."
Ziva still didn't look convinced, but she nodded and went up to the bullpen with him. He listened with half an ear as she called Tony. He was focused on his computer. The file from the CIA had arrived and he wanted to see what Logan looked like, what he was like as an agent.
"They will be back here in a few minutes," Ziva said.
"Good. Do you want to see Logan?"
"Yes. It is always good to know the enemy."
Tim smiled at that and put up the image. Logan looked extremely normal in his official photo. Ziva got up and walked over to the TV. She stared at him for a while in silence. Tim joined her. He had a young look to him, or rather, an ageless look. The kind of person you looked at and assumed he was young, but then, looked again and saw something else. He had rigid lines in his face that bespoke experience. His eyes were a pale, pale blue, while his hair and skin tone were strangely darker. He was someone who would be noticed but not suspected.
Ziva said nothing as she looked at him.
"What do you think?" Tim asked.
"I think...that I am glad you are not doing this on your own," she said.
"Why?"
"This is a man who is very skilled. You can see it in his face, in his eyes. If he has truly become one willing to kill, he would very likely succeed at what he wanted to do. I would not want you to face him alone."
"I wouldn't, either," Tim said.
Ziva turned back to him and smiled.
"I am glad that you admitted it."
"You really think I'm stupid enough to go off on my own after this guy?" Tim asked. "I might have done it if it was necessary, but I'm not that crazy."
"You are not crazy, but you might decide it was necessary when it was not. We will not leave you to do it alone."
"I know," Tim said. "Why do you think I asked for help? I wouldn't have bothered if I didn't think you'd do it."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now, I'm going to print this off and take it down to Ducky. I'd like him to analyze this guy, tell us what the file doesn't."
"Very well. I will force Tony to do more work."
"Maybe he'll make you drive, too," Tim said.
"He is not that desperate."
Tim grinned and then, printed off the file from the CIA. Ziva made copies of the photo so that Gibbs and Tony knew what he looked like, and Tim headed down to Autopsy, grateful to be away from the scrutiny.
In fact, he stopped just shy of the doors and sighed. He hadn't felt that unsafe feeling for a long time. Years. The feeling that only NCIS was safe, that there was nowhere else he could really be safe. He probably shouldn't have given in to that feeling and just gone with Ziva to talk to the mechanic, but he felt that he had to.
Just this once.
Then, he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and walked into Autopsy, hoping that Ducky and Jimmy wouldn't notice his fear.
"Hey, Tim," Jimmy said, barely looking up. "Got something for us?"
"Well, I have a file, not a body," Tim said. "What are you doing?"
Jimmy and Ducky were both staring hard at a cadaver.
"Practicing," Ducky said, looking up. "Nothing that can't wait. You have a file? A file for whom?"
"A rogue CIA agent who is apparently a part of Levi's abduction. I was hoping that you could do some analysis, Ducky," Tim said.
"Analysis that is better than what the CIA analysts would have done?" Ducky asked. "I'm flattered, Timothy, but not even I would claim to exceed their skills."
"I know, but I don't really want just a regular psych analysis. I want to know who this guy is. I know some extra information from someone who was there when he went rogue."
"A personal account would certainly help," Ducky said. "Dr. Palmer, you may as well assist."
Jimmy's eyes widened. "I don't really have any psych training," he said. "I wouldn't know..."
"Another mind bent to the same problem is another mind bent to the same problem," Ducky said. "You could be useful even if all you do is ask questions."
"Okay."
"So, Timothy, tell us what you can and then, we shall do our level best."
"Okay," Tim said. He began to describe what Daniel had told him.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
"Who is that?" Tamara asked.
Darla followed her gaze and smiled.
"His name is Levi. Nice guy."
"Did you date him?"
"No, but I've talked to him. He was in one of my classes. He hasn't really dated anyone...but I think he'd date you."
"Me?" Tamara asked, blushing. "Why?"
"Haven't you noticed him looking at you?" Darla asked, grinning.
Tamara looked over at Levi who looked at her and then away to talk to his friends. She was startled.
"His eyes are so strange," she said.
"Yeah, but he's really nice. Don't let his eyes fool you. Go on! Talk to him! He's looking at you again."
Tamara blushed again. Darla gave her a little push toward him.
"Darla! Stop it!"
"Go!"
Tamara walked over and suddenly, Levi's friends left him and they were standing awkwardly alone. Tamara tried not to stare at his eyes. They were so dark, basically black. It made it disconcerting to look at him.
"Hi," she said.
"Hi. I'm Levi."
"Tamara."
An awkward pause.
"Darla said you're a nice guy."
Levi smiled and that gave a twinkle to his black eyes that made them less disturbing.
"She did? That was nice of her."
"She also said that you'd been staring at me."
"I had been," he said. "You're nice to look at."
Tamara blushed again.
"What's your major?" she asked, grasping for something to say.
"Secondary Ed. You?"
"Communication."
"Great! I'm not very good at communicating. You can give me pointers," he said, smiling.
Tamara laughed and then, they started talking more normally. By the time Darla came over to get her, Tamara was interested in seeing Levi again. He hadn't asked her on a date, though. So she smiled and started to walk away, ready to tell Darla she'd been wrong.
"Hey, Tamara."
She stopped and looked back.
"Yes?"
He looked nervous but he was still smiling.
"I'd like to see you again. Would you like to go on a date?"
"With you?"
"Well, I'm definitely not asking you for Jason's sake," he said, gesturing to one of his friends.
"Then, I'll say yes."
His smile widened.
"Tomorrow? Seven?"
"Sure."
"Great!"
Then, Tamara left with Darla, unable to stop smiling.
