Lumni Castirovic shifted uncomfortably on his chair. In the corner of the room he could see Ardien Dragan also handcuffed to a wooden chair. The erstwhile spy had headphones over his ears to prevent him hearing anything and had already been told, in no uncertain terms, what would happen to him if he spoke at all. Castirovic ignored the younger man – failures held no interest for him. All they had asked Ardien to do was date Edvina Yashi and get information from her. Hardly a difficult task, and yet here they both were.
Gibbs was watching both of them carefully. Castirovic, unless Gibbs was reading him wrong, looked like he might be willing to broker a deal. The top men in organisations were often more ready to deal than the others – they had become accustomed to an easy life and usually wanted to keep it. While he was often unwilling to make any sort of deal, Gibbs could see little way out of this one. Ardien clearly wasn't the only leak, and finding out who the other mole was could prove to be impossible. Cutting a deal with Castirovic might be distasteful, but it was better than never finding out the truth.
Talking through Isak, Gibbs told Castirovic of his employer's death. "So the good news is that you're now the head of a big criminal organisation. The bad news is that we're now going to hold you responsible for that organisation, and that includes the deaths of two American Marines."
"One was not a Marine." Castirovic smiled wolfishly. "I do not think people would be pleased to learn the CIA are here."
"Not my problem," Gibbs replied. "Your problem, however, is that you're going to jail for a long time. Oh, and the War Crimes people in the Hague called, said they wanted to talk to you."
Castirovic winced. American jail was not where he wanted to be. The Hague would not be too bad – he'd probably be able to bargain his way out of too much trouble. He sighed and switched to perfect, albeit accented English. "We both know where this is going Agent Gibbs. As you Americans say, cut to the chase." Gibbs simply raised an eyebrow. "I will tell you all I know about the identity of the person we have working for us, and you will not charge me with those murders."
"As long as I don't find out you actually committed them," Gibbs agreed.
"Then it is agreed."
"Yep. So talk."
Tony, Kate and McGee were sifting through the files that Abby had emailed over to them. Fifteen CIA operatives were involved in Operation Floogate, not counting the dead Jed Franklin, and one of them, at least, was a traitor. Tony leaned back in his chair and scrubbed a weary hand over his eyes.
"We're never going to figure this out by ourselves. There's no way of knowing if any of this lot are double-crossing the CIA, not without bringing them all in, and I doubt we'll be allowed to do that."
"When have rules ever stopped us before?" Kate asked, her voice as tired as Tony's.
"When breaking the rules could mean death for fourteen innocent people," Tony answered. "If we blow their cover, and they're legit, what do you think will happen Kate?" She winced as the realisation hit her. Tony shook his head, trying to clear the fluff from his tired brain. "I'm going for coffee, anyone else want some?"
Luckily for Tony, he thought far enough ahead to bring Gibbs coffee as well, as the ex-Marine had joined the group around the table by the time he returned. "Who's watching our prisoners?" Tony asked, eyebrows raised.
"KPS came for Ardien ten minutes ago," Gibbs growled, shooting a glare at McGee, "and Castirovic has agreed to deal. I left him secured and I've got the only key. He's not got any reason to try to escape."
"Castirovic is going to cut a deal?" Kate asked incredulously. "I thought we didn't deal."
"Are you getting anywhere with these files?" Gibbs snapped. When his team shook their heads, he continued, "Then we need to deal. Besides, it looks as though he's given us some good information. Is there anyone in the French army in those files?"
"Two boss," Tony replied, digging out the files. "We have Paul Howard, who's pretending to be Staff Sergeant Patrice, which sounds like a girl's name, Rocher, and Carlton Bell, who is now Corporal Alain Thomard."
"Check into them. Castirovic claims the mole is in the French army, but that only Mandic knew exactly who."
"How are we going to check into them?" McGee wondered. "They've got top secret security clearance."
Gibbs glared at him and left it to Tony to answer. "Probie," he sighed, putting an arm around McGee's shoulder, hurriedly shrugged away by the younger man. "Probie, you graduated MIT. Surely you can guess what we're going to do? Then again, maybe not. We're going to check out their bank accounts."
"We are?"
"Well, you are," Tony smirked. "You're the geek."
"Right, because money is the primary motive behind turning into a double-agent," Kate nodded.
"So what are you guys going to do?" McGee wanted to know.
"You know, sit back, relax, and watch you work," Tony grinned.
Gibbs whacked the back of his head. "No, you and Kate are going to search Castirovic's place and then Mandic's, see if we can find anything."
"Just what I was going to say boss." Tony smiled innocently. Gibbs rolled his eyes and hit him again.