Jethro Gibbs strode into the bullpen, coffee cup in one hand, file in the other. He threw it down on the desk of one nervous-looking Anthony DiNozzo, who flinched at the loud intrusion into his otherwise peaceful morning nap.

"Read it. Now. Tell me what we've been missing."

"On it, boss!" Tony yelped, and got to work; it was never a good idea to irritate his boss, even on a good day. He started to read as Ziva and McGee were given their orders, and then became aware of some sort of presence. He looked up to see the green eyes of the Director staring down on the team, seeking someone, or something.

"Creepy," he muttered, and got back to work.

Where was she? There was no way Jenny was going to let her hours of research be wasted, just because Mann had decided not to show. She was going to cut the brake cables, and she was going to do it today. Then, Mann would speed along the freeway, try to brake, fail, and bam! No more Hollis Mann, no more getting in the way, and Jethro would be free.

"Director?"

Jenny turned, grinning, to face her assistant.

"There's a call from SecNav coming through in MTAC in 20 minutes," Cynthia informed her.

"Fine, I'll be there."

"Thank you, Director," she replied, and left.

What is up with her? Cynthia mused as she went back to her office. She's acting really strange…I'll ask her about it later.

"Colonel Mann, so nice of you to join us."

"Can it, Jethro, I got stuck in traffic. What have I missed?"

Gibbs flashed her a slightly naughty smile, then instantly went back to business mode, and told her about the suspect, his connections, and everything they had managed to dig up on him in the last hour.

"Right," Hollis said, nodding. "When are we going to pick him up?"

"We should have a warrant coming through in a couple of hours, and out intel shows that he won't be there until eleven hundred hours, so we'll be there before. In the meantime, we're going through phone records, witness statements, and any other bits of useful-looking paper we can find. Get started, you can sit over there," Gibbs finished, gesturing to a desk.

"Director, SecNav has cancelled the call, he won't be available until 4 p.m. Is that alright?"

"Yes, Cynthia, that's fine, thanks."

"OK. And, Director?"

"Yes?"

"Are you alright? You've been acting a little strange the last couple of days, is everything OK?"

Jenny felt her pulse quicken; what if Cynthia knew?

"Just…ummm…nothing, I'm fine, Cynthia."

Her assistant nodded, and left.

Phew, Jenny thought. That was close, I have got to stop plotting when…hang on…no call from SecNav…Mann just arrived…I can fix her car now!

As this realisation dawned on her, she leaped up from her desk, darted down the steps and shot into the elevator, pressing the button for the ground floor before anyone could stop her.

"Uhhh…was that blur the Director?" McGee asked his fellow agents as they stared in the direction of the elevator.

"I think so, yes. I wonder who told her to get a groove on?"

"Move, Ziva, groove would be dancing."

"Never mind. Anyway, what was she-"

Ziva never got to finish her sentence, as Gibbs decided he would shatter their eardrums instead.

"Why don't you three shut up, and get a move on yourselves!"

The agents obeyed, and went back to their desks, leaving the mystery of the speeding Director to be solved another time.

Jenny strode swiftly to the NCIS visitor parking area, which was, as usual, deserted at this time of day, She had managed to disable the security camera here – the perks of being Director when planning such a thing – so she was unwatched, and free to solve her little problem for once and for all.

"Whew…that's a low car," Jenny mumbled to herself. It hadn't looked that low in the photos…and she had been expecting something a little less sporty for Mann, but there you go. Still, Jenny was a slender woman, and she knew she could fit under there.

Taking the wire cutters and torch she had found in the garage out of her bag, she pulled her skirt up a little, carefully lowered herself down to the ground, and started to squirm under the car. She had spent hours last night making sure she knew exactly where the brake cable was on Mann's particular model of car, and then searching out the right tools for the job; Jenny was confident that she could, this time, take out her rival.

"Ah, damn, I need to be a little more to the right…" she muttered, and started to pull herself out. She had moved maybe half an inch, when realisation dawned on her.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh, no. No, think, Jenny, think, you can get out. You can…ouch, hot!" Jenny rubbed at the sore spot on her hand where she had touched the exhaust, and tried once again to wriggle free, to no avail. At least she could drop the wire cutters and torch, if she could just – done it! With the incriminating tools out of harms way, all she had to do now was get out from under the damn car.

Easier said than done, Jenny soon discovered. Five minutes had passed, and she was still stuck, just a pair of high-heeled legs sticking out from Mann's car. And she was definitely, completely, irreparably stuck. To make matters worse, she hadn't even cut the brake cable, so there was absolutely no upside to the current situation. Except, of course, the fact that she did at least have time to get out.

"Boss, warrant just came through, do we move?"

"Yes McGee, we do. Grab your gear, we're going to meet him! Tony, take Ziva and McGee in the Sedan, Colonel Mann – what?"

He turned to face Hollis, who was trying to interrupt him.

"Why don't we take my car, it's light, quick, and would be less suspicious than two of your company cars rolling up."

"Good point, get your keys. DiNozzo, McGee, David, we'll meet you there."

And with that, the four agents and the colonel split off into their two groups and raced for their cars.

"So what do you think we'll find?" Hollis asked Gibbs as they hurried to the visitors' parking lot.

"Hopefully, the stash, and a dirtbag that's willing to talk." He replied as they reached the entrance. "Where's your car?"

"It's right…what's that?" Hollis said, stopping dead and pointing to her car.

"Hol, is this like the tree thing? You should really – wait – no, I can see something too."

"See, I'm not crazy! What the hell is it, it's under my car!"

"Stay here," Gibbs instructed. "I'll go check it out."

"The hell you will," she replied, and followed him to her car.

What they found there was most certainly not what Gibbs, or Hollis, for the matter, was expecting. A pair of legs – female legs, and quite nice really – were sticking out, squirming. They stopped moving, however, when they approached.

"Jen?"

Dammit, Jen cursed, if they could have just gone for back-up instead of coming over here, I could of got free, damn!

"Uh, Jen? What the hell are you doing?"

"Oh, I, uh, ummm, I…I…I," she stuttered, fishing for a reason for being jammed underneath Hollis Mann's car. "I, uh, I…I dropped my earring! Yes, I dropped my earring, and it fell under here, and then, well, you can see…"

"Uh-huh."

"And I found it! But, well…I'm kinda stuck, could you give me a hand?"

Gibbs raised one questioning eyebrow at Hollis, who stared back at him.

"Okay…Hol…you get the left…"

"What? No…owwww!" Jen exclaimed as the pair pulled on her legs; it wasn't so much Mann as Gibbs' considerable strength that was painful, especially when he was concentrating all of it on pulling her leg off.

"Great, Jethro, just great, at least my leg will be free. And separate from the rest of my body! This is clearly not the way to go!"

"Yeah," Gibbs replied, "I can see that."

"My car is pretty light," Mann interjected, clearly still confused. "So maybe if we…?"

"Worth a shot," Gibbs said, and crossed to the other side of the car. "One, two, three, lift!"

As the agent and colonel lifted as high as they could, Jenny just about managed to wriggle free of her metal prison, and very gratefully stretched out on the concrete.

"Better, Jen?"

"Yes, I, uhhh, I'm late…I have to go…thanks…I'll…"

Jenny didn't even bother to finish her sentence as she scurried off, embarrassed and frustrated that she hasn't been able to cut the brakes. So, the car plan clearly wasn't going to work; Jenny decided that she still had some work to do on the subject of Colonel Mann.