Chapter 6: Airplanes and ghosts
They reached the landing strip and found one of the Bureau Lear Jets being prepped to take off. They left the car to get their go bags which they packed in haste, just waiting for the jet to stop in position so they could hop in.
"Oh, Boss, why don't we have one of these?" Tony could barely contain his enthusiasm at the chance of flying in a jet.
"Would you like it if the Director took from your pay the money for fuel, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked with a smirk on his face, which wiped Tony's smile in seconds.
He took the opportunity to glance towards McGee and Buchanan and what he saw worried him. The young woman was staring at the jet with tears in her eyes, her gaze lost in some image that only she could see.
"Buchanan?"
She blinked trying to dispel the tears, glancing at Gibbs with sad eyes for a long minute, before replying "That's the LA BAU's plane, Boss. Once... ahh... after the team died, Faith put down a request to have the plane assigned to her division, just so she could keep an eye on it and because her division really needed one. It seemed unjust to let anyone else have it."
She glances at Tony, "It's just a work tool, nothing more, Tony. Bigger and more expensive than the NCIS issued Dodge Chargers, but still, it's just a work tool."
Having said that, she starts walking towards the lowering door of the jet and she grinned when she saw the person coming down the stairs, "What a pleasant surprise, Max."
The old black man in pilot's uniform smiled brightly at her, showing perfect white teeth which made a sharp contrast against his dark lips.
"It's good to see you again, Miss Joy. Everything is as you requested," Max, the Bureau pilot since Joy's time at the BAU, offered his hand to help her up the steps. He did the same to the others until all of them were comfortably inside.
Once inside Joy immediately went to the seats flanking the table, where a top of the line laptop and several boxes with evidence were piled up.
The agents entered the jet and start putting their carry on bags on the sofas, and Joy handed out the folders of the cases for each as they sat, "This is the first profile from when we arrested Lizzie Boyd the first time around. Just take a look at it while we takeoff, if you have any doubts, ask me."
Joy sat in one of comfortable seats with a folder in her hands and fastened her seatbelt and the others followed her cue as the airplane started moving towards the tarmac.
McGee sat beside her and noticed how she seemed to zone out, staring fixatedly at an empty seat in the back of the airplane.
"Buchanan?"
She didn't move a muscle, not acknowledging his call. Tony and Ziva sat side by side, looking at each other before glancing at the profiler again, who is not even aware she is crying silently.
Gibbs sat in the chair facing Joy, noticing how she doesn't take note of him in front of her, "Buchanan."
This time she turned tearfilled eyes to him, "There are too many ghosts in here." She closed her eyes, leaning back as the plane engines start roaring louder. "Too many ghosts."
Nobody dared to make any comment, preferring instead to open their files as the plane reached the assigned tarmac waiting for the okay to take off.
Just four minutes later, they felt the vibration of the engines going full charge and the jet speeding down the tarmac towards the heavens.
Next stop, Lafayette, Louisiana.