Chapter Eleven – Jeopardy
"Ummm… Tony?" Abby began, scooting the toe of her shoe around on the floor absently like a 7 year old trying not to look her daddy in the eye.
"Yes?" he replied. He stood still, trying to be patient. But his patience was stretched to its limits. What he really wanted to do was yell and scream and hit someone. He had no idea what had happened, but it clearly had Abby very upset. He stared down at her, waiting for her to actually look at him.
"Do you remember when you and I had that conversation about big secrets, and I said that eventually they all come out, and you didn't want to tell me yours, although I'm pretty sure it was Jeanne, right?" she said very quickly, not exactly certain how to go about telling this story that was only partially hers.
"Yeah, I was sitting on my MOAS. As I recall, you weren't too eager to share your own."
"Correct. But that was then. Things have changed now," Abby said, finally raising her head to look at him. When she saw the concern in his eyes, she immediately dropped his gaze. Would he look at her the same way Gibbs did when he found out what she had done?
"Spill, Abby."
"Okay. I was in college and my brother was just finishing up his senior year of high school. He was dating Jenna Davis – pretty seriously, if I recall correctly. One of their fellow students, not a friend, had a thing for Jenna and kept getting in Ben's face. Not to mention how he would lurk around Jenna, trying to be charming. One night he took things too far, and Ben agreed to get into a car race with him. Jenna was there; she saw the whole thing. Apparently the guy was high, and ended up losing control of his vehicle. He was killed. Ben and Jenna didn't want to call the police. If you were from New Orleans, you would understand. This kid's last name spelled power, money and corruption. They knew if they called the cops, there were very literally dead. So Ben called me."
"What could you do that they couldn't?" Tony asked, already suspecting her answer.
"I covered up any evidence of their having been at the scene of the crime. I also covered evidence from the pay phone I used to report the incident. Since Mike was high, the police ruled it a tragic accident. But now, apparently, Lancaster has gotten wind of Jenna and my involvement and wants to know more about his son's death."
"Did you say Lancaster?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, Sterling Lancaster. He's this big bad…"
"Abby! Do you have any idea how many agencies want to take that man down?"
"Well, I'm not exactly surprised, Tony! Look, I wasn't with NCIS yet. I wasn't even officially a forensics professional – only a student. Yeah, I did have to lie on my application materials. But not really. It only asks if you've ever been convicted of a crime, not if you've…"
"Abby, calm down," Tony said. "The lady from interrogation; how does she fit into the picture?"
"Everything she said was true. She's CIA, working deep undercover. She infiltrated Lancaster's ranks long ago. She claims to have enough to destroy him."
"That's great news, Abby."
"Yeah, Tony; great. I just wish I could focus on that instead of the fact that he now knows my name and the fact that I'm somehow tied to his son's death!"
"You're my buddy, remember? I'm not leaving you," he pulled her close and planted a kiss on the top of her head.
"Fat lot of good that does me when you get knocked unconscious."
"Hey!" he protested, but smiled at the renewed joy in her voice.
---
After filling him in on the details, Brenna allowed McGee to lead her to the elevator, as they made their way back to the makeshift lab.
"Um… Brenna?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yeah?"
"You really didn't know any of this?"
"Not until we were on our way here," she answered honestly. "I'm amazed Jenna was able to keep a secret this big away from me for this long. I mean, we're more than sisters – we're best friends. We live together, work together…"
"I bet that would be difficult. I'm having a hard enough time wrapping my mind around the fact that Abby covered up a crime like that, and we're nowhere as close as you and your sister."
Brenna gave him a curious look. "What exactly is your relationship?"
"Besides complicated?" McGee scoffed. "We're friends. We had a little thing for awhile, but I wanted more than she did. She called me passive-aggressive. So we're friends again. Honestly, I don't know if what we had was ever more than friendship to Abby."
"But it was to you," Brenna acknowledged.
"Yep," he said, nodding his head.
"Still?" she asked.
"A little pining sometimes, I guess." McGee stopped in his tracks, causing Brenna to almost walk into him. "I can't believe I just told you that." McGee's face practically glowed with the intensity of his blush. "It just came out. I guess you're just easy to talk to."
"That's me. Good ol' girl next door. I'm always everyone's favorite person to talk to and no one's favorite person to talk about," she quipped, eyebrows raised.
"I doubt that," he said.
"You'd be surprised."
"Here we are," McGee said, opening the door for her. She smiled and stepped in before him.
Just as it dawned on McGee that he had locked the door of the lab when they left, Brenna let out a scream. He drew his weapon, and turned sharply in the direction from which her scream had originated. No one was there. He had only taken his eyes off her for a second. He stepped further into the room, turning attentively from one side to the next, still not seeing any sign of Brenna or anyone who could have attacked her.
"Brenna!" he called out. No response. Lowering his gun, he grabbed his cell phone to alert Gibbs. Before he could say a word, he felt cool air brush his ear and then nothing, as he slumped to the floor, unconscious.
---
"What is going on?" Ziva asked, the moment she and Jenna were alone.
"Would you prefer the short or long version?"
"Which gets me the truth faster?" Ziva parried back to her.
Jenna turned tired eyes to Ziva and said, "I dated Abby's brother in high school. The richest guy in school was always in his face and after graduation, goaded Ben into racing him. Mike wrecked when he lost control of his car trying to swerve into Ben. By the time we reached him, he was dead. We called Abby and she cleaned the scene. We left, she called 911 and reported it from a pay phone and made sure no evidence was left there either. Mike was high, his death ruled an accident and we kept quiet all these years."
"Why did you run?"
"Because his father would have had us killed. Mike was his only son and while he never showed for school events, he always cleared up Mike's messes."
"So is that all?"
Jenna looked shocked. "What do you mean, is that all? That's enough right there. We not only left the scene of an accident, we erased any evidence we'd been there."
"You didn't kill him. You didn't force him into the car. Yes, you left the scene which was wrong, but he was dead. If he hadn't died then it probably would have happened sooner rather than later, possibly even later that night. You feared for your life. The 'fight or flight' instinct is strong in everyone. Trust me, I know."
Looking at the foreign officer, Jenna felt strangely as if the other woman understood what had happened. Remembering that she was Mossad, she realized that she probably understood much more than that.
---
Gibbs cleared the observation room of the techs then entered interrogation and sat across from Steph. "You aren't taking either of them."
Steph perked up at that. "Jenna Davis is here?"
"Yes, she and her sister are helping us with an investigation. Once the investigation is over, you can speak with Abby and Jenna about what happened…" he looked down at his cell phone and saw that McGee was calling him. "What McGee? … McGee?"
Hearing nothing, he stood. "You're coming with me."
As they ran, Gibbs contacted Ziva and Tony and they met up outside the lab Brenna had been using to formulate her antidote. Abby and Jenna stayed back, behind the agents and the spook.
Entering the lab, Gibbs saw McGee propped up against the work table, phone lying on the floor beside his body. Clearing the lab, Gibbs ran to him, checking his pulse while calling for Ducky. As he rushed into the lab, he frowned. "Two people knocked unconscious in one day?"
Steph shrugged. "I didn't do it this time. I was locked in the interrogation room."
"Where's Brenna?" Jenna asked, looking around the lab.
"Maybe she's hiding somewhere?" Tony suggested.
Jenna looked at him. "What reason would she have to hide now, Agent DiNozzo?"
"She's got a point," Steph said. "She would have come out when she saw her sister here."
"Exactly," Jenna agreed. "So where is she?"
"Her purse is still here," Ziva said and peered into it.
"What are you looking for?" Jenna asked.
"Cell phone," Ziva told her.
"She'd have it on her, at least, she normally does." Jenna pulled out her cell phone to call, but Gibbs closed it.
"Don't, not until we figure out who has her." He told her.
Jenna wanted to scream. "Isn't it obvious? It's got to be Franklin!"
"Could be Lancaster," Tony said then closed his mouth from the double glare of Gibbs and Jenna.
Gibbs looked back at Jenna, "Why does it have to be Franklin?"
Jenna pointed to Steph. "She's been here this entire time with no way to contact Lancaster. Did you have a check in time with him?"
Steph nodded and said, "I was to call him tonight at 8 o'clock to share what I'd found."
"See? She hasn't contacted him, he's not expecting her too yet, so why would he think we were here and why grab Brenna?"
"To make you talk," Abby suggested.
Jenna asked Steph, "You didn't tell him we were here, did you?"
Steph shook her head. "I didn't know you were here until right before the rush to get here."
"The door was unlocked," came McGee's voice and Abby rushed to hug him.
"Tim, how are you?" she asked.
"Not good, Abs. Brenna's missing, isn't she?" He looked up and across at Gibbs, seeing the answer there. "It's my fault boss. The door was unlocked and it wasn't until she walked in ahead of me that I realized it."
"What were you doing right before that, McGee?" Gibbs asked.
"Talking about," he motioned his hand towards Jenna and Abby. "Then I opened the door, realized it had been locked and Brenna screamed. I came in, pulled my weapon, and called you when I realized she wasn't here. That's when someone knocked me out."
Steph's eyes widened as his gaze found hers. "Hey! It wasn't me this time!"
"How did they get in here?" Abby asked.
"Well this part of the building isn't as secure as the rest," Steph said. "If I hadn't been able to fake my credentials, I'd have chosen this way to get in."
"We've upped security over here," Tony told her.
"Yes, of course, as evidenced by all the security guards that came running when Brenna Davis screamed." Steph said dryly. "I studied this building from top to bottom and the weakest points were this area and autopsy. All you have to do to get in there would be to fake being dead." Seeing everyone's reactions to that, she continued. "Now this area of the building has several accesses that make a snatch and grab easy and get-away concealed. The best is a small hallway off that door over there that leads directly to on outside exit at the back of the building. From there, it would be a small walk to the parking lot and from there, off the Navy Yard. All you have to do is play tourist. And I agree with Jenna, Sterling wouldn't have done this. One, he knows I get the job done. Two, he will wait until 8 PM before he acts. Three, he has no clue where Jenna is, so he would keep coming after Abby until he gets his answers."
McGee was standing by this time and moved to the laptop he had set up for his work. "I'll check flights and see if Adam Franklin was on any of them, boss."
Jenna walked over to him, "Maybe this would help?" She gave him Franklin's bank account number.
The team stared at her and Jenna shrugged, "I remember numbers easily, I told you that, and Franklin was writing a check one day when I delivered some documents to him."
McGee accessed the bank account and he looked sick. "He used his bank card to book a flight to DC, boss." Checking the flight in question, McGee's eyes looked haunted. "It landed several hours ago."