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A/N. Here's the next chapter. It's a short one but there'll be more to follow very soon. :) Thanks for the continued feedback. I like to know that people other than me are enjoying this.

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'There's got to be something here that conclusively ties Vance to Kasparov,' Ziva thought out loud. The three agents had been poring over Director Shepard's surveillance photos, looking for that final clue that would provide enough evidence for them to obtain an arrest warrant. DiNozzo scrubbed a hand tiredly over his face.

'We know Vance worked on the Walker case and we know but can't prove that Kasparov was Walker's contact,' he began to summarise, 'We know now that Kasparov killed Assistant Director Jackson and that someone from NCIS was involved in getting Fitzgerald out of the picture. What we can't prove is that Vance was in contact with Kasparov or that he was the NCIS employee who sent that email. Until we do, we have absolutely no case.'

'So let's think about this logically,' McGee showed no sign of wanting to give up. It was two in the morning and everyone was tired but they couldn't afford to lose their focus now. 'Director Shepard had Vance under surveillance as early as eighteen months ago. If he had any contact with the Russians, it's bound to have been recorded somewhere.'

'McGee, there are hundreds of thousands of photographs,' Ziva pointed out, 'that's over five hundred days of surveillance photographs. Everyone he met, every time he bought coffee.'

'So we reduce the scope of our search,' he responded. 'Right now we're looking for a photograph that links him to Kasparov, so right away we can discount the last seven months' pictures. Contact is likely to have happened before a plan was put into place or when he had information to pass along. Since we don't know what kind of information he was handing over, we can't check that out right now. We know, however, that something must have been discussed before the murders of the Assistant Director and Fitzgerald's daughter, so we'll start on the day Jackson was killed and work backwards.'

'Sounds like a plan. McGee,' DiNozzo nodded approvingly. He glanced around at the spartan basement, to which they had relocated when Ducky had vetoed the eating of pizza in Gibbs' room, until his eyes came to rest on his colleagues, who were working relentlessly to find him the evidence he'd demanded. 'The best damn investigative team in NCIS,' he muttered to himself. No way Vance was going to win this one.

'I may have something,' Ziva announced after several minutes. 'Three days before Assistant Director Jackson was killed, Vance was photographed talking to this guy in a parking lot. The photographer wasn't able to get a picture of his face but I'd put money on that being Kasparov.' DiNozzo examined the photo closely and began to grin.

'You know what I like about this photo?' he asked. Before anyone could answer, he continued. 'Metallic paint and strip lighting.'

'Sounds like a college rock band,' McGee muttered under his breath.

'No, he's right,' Ziva, having the benefit of being able to look at the photo, was quicker to catch on. 'The strip lighting is causing the metallic paint on Vance's car to reflect light from their surroundings.'

'And unless I'm very much mistaken,' DiNozzo added, 'that,' he pointed at a particular spot on the photograph, 'is a reflection of the contact's face.' McGee peered over their shoulders at the image in question.

'And the software in Abby's lab should easily be able to clean up the image and confirm the man's identity,' he finished. 'It may not be conclusive but it's enough for a warrant.'

'It's more than enough to get Vance suspended,' Tony agreed gleefully. 'Mail it over to Abby and have her call us when she's got something.'

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Abby had spent a frustrating and completely unproductive few hours searching through evidence but even with her best efforts she hadn't been able to come up with anything further to link Vance to any criminal activity. She was considering heading out for another caffeine boost when she received McGee's email.

'Come on baby, you can do this,' she pleaded with her computer as she skilfully manipulated the imaging software. 'That's it,' she encouraged. 'Come on…yes!' She punched the air in triumph as the facial reflection came into sharp focus. 'And now for the facial recognition software….we have a winner!' she announced to her empty lab. She emailed the results to the team before grabbing her phone to call McGee with an update.

'Timmy, check your email,' she ordered the second he answered, 'the image cleaned up really well. I ran it against Kasparov's face and as you suspected, we have a match. The guy Vance met with in that parking lot was definitely Anton Kasparov.'

'Abbs, that's fantastic, that's all we needed,' McGee replied enthusiastically from the other end of the line.

'Yippee!' Abby yelled, virtually deafening McGee, 'I get to keep Tony and Ziva and Director Vance is…'

'Right here,' a voice sounded from behind her. She turned around, glancing first at the figure in the doorway and then at the large image of Anton Kasparov covering all her screens. She looked back in the direction of the director. The phone slid out of her hand and skidded across the floor.

'Oh crap,' she muttered.