Chapter 8

Navy Yard
12:15am

Ziva opens her eyes and her ears. Her instincts are in full-swing.

Tony knocks back a few Milk Duds; his attention in limbo.

McGee pounds away on his cell phone. He covers the entire floor plan of the Navy Yard in hopes of finding a lead big enough to crack this case.

"If Justice was anything these days you would've been in prison by now." Tony begins his usual knack of annoyance.

"Shut up Tony." McGee is quick to answer. "If you could only understand the process and eliminations of firewall through the world wide web, you'd do the same thing."

Ziva begins to smile. She secretly enjoys these interactions with the two men.

"Right…well, I…" Tony is stumped. "It's illegal!"

"We're the Navy. We have the righter way over any other agency."

"Do we?"

"Well--it's too late to split hairs."

Tony's annoyance finally gets to McGee, while Tony uses his tongue to try and pry off the strings of caramel stuck to his teeth.

"Those are fattening aren't they, Tony?" Ziva questions.

"They could be for your average person, but I'm a Federal Agent."

"Do you not have fat cells?" She looks at him.

"Well…" He decides to change the game play a bit. "Would you like to find out?"

McGee shifts uncomfortably in the backseat.

"Yes."

The Milk Dud box slips from Tony's hands. When he reaches down to try and save its contents from spilling out, Ziva's hand grabs it for him.

"This is…" He is at a loss because of the location of her hand.

"Not what you expected?" Ziva waits; a hint of a smile on her lips.

"Not so soon." Tony's voice is smooth.

Ziva pulls her hand back into her personal space with his box of candy nestled in her fist.

"It was a joke." Tony feels unsure of how she processed his comment. "I mean it."

McGee's ears linger closer to the action that is taking place in front of him. He wonders why there is a slight shift in Tony's tone of voice.

"We're on a stakeout, Tony. No more candy."

He nods and focuses his attention out his own window.

McGee shifts uncomfortably again while looking back at his cell phone screen.


NCIS HQ
1:20am

"What have ya got, Abs?"

Gibbs glides through the opening of her lab with a tall, chilled cup of Caf-Pow. He places it on her lab table while she presents a crumpled shirt to him.

"What's this?"

"A shirt, come on Gibbs I know it's early and you're old…er…" She catches the offense in his eyes. "…Anyway, so it's a shirt."

"Why is this important?"

"It was found on the poor man in our elevator."

"…And…?"

"Boy, you don't waste time do you?"

"Abby!"

She salutes him before turning to her computer to present even more information to him.

"So we know Methanol was used to kill these two Officers, but we were at a loss as to 'Who Dun It'."

"Were?" He is near her computer desk now.

"I found cleaner traces on the man's shirt. A few drops here and there, but just enough to test them.

"Cleaner ?"

"Yeah. You know, Pinesol, Tilex, Lysol--"

"Why would he be using those in uniform?" He asks out loud.

Abby stands there and thinks. When she arrives to a conclusion, she notices he is gone.

"My he is spry." She grins.


Navy Yard
1:35a.m

Ziva pops the passenger door open while drawing her gun.

Tony and McGee exit the vehicle at the same time.

As McGee stuffs his cell phone in his pocket, Tony's cell rings.

"It's the janitor." Gibbs says into the phone.

"We just saw him enter the yard. We're on him." Tony reports.

"I'm on my way."

Gibbs shuts his phone while slamming shut the bottom drawer of his work desk.


1:42a.m.

Gibbs meets up with his three Agents. All four stand around with their guns in their hands.

"Where is he?!" Gibbs is somewhat rampant.

"We saw him go in, but once we were inside, we lost him." Tony explains.

"Did you ask personnel?" Gibbs asks.

"They say he's not the only janitor on duty."

Gibbs turns around, then spins around in the other direction.

"Is there a floor plan to this place?"

"Right here boss." McGee hands him the phone.

"What am I looking at?"

"Five departments. Shipyard, Historic Core, Corporate Center, Research Park, and an area for future developments."

"By the time we find him, he'll be gone."

"Assuming he is actually here--"

"Now's not the time, DiNozzo!" He shouts in his face.

"Five departments, four Agents." Ziva tries to steady the air around them. "We each take one. If we find nothing, we head in the direction of the new development area."

"Suppose we do find him?" Tony asks. "We lack ear-pieces."

"That's just the chance we'll have to take." Gibbs says. "Let's go, now!"

"Where to boss?" Tony waits for further instructions.

Gibbs sighs. "Ziva, Corporate Center, McGee, Historic Core, Tony, Research Park--and I'll take the Shipyard."

All for Agents split from each other; their guns in front of them.