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Jen glanced out of the window as took her seat in the helicopter the next morning.
"Your ride leaving early this morning?" Gibbs asked as he opened the door and looked in. Politely, but with a hint of steel in his tone.
He relaxed a little as his eyes took in Melvin, sitting stock still beside her.
"No. I am on my way to chair my first session."
"We had an agreement."
"I wasn't aware that you had to know every detail of my working day" Jen replied, looking at her watch impatiently.
"It is my job to protect you."
"No, that's Melvin's job."
"I am under direct orders from SecNav, ma'am. So it looks like we're all going" he countered, climbing into the helicopter and settling down in the seat opposite her.
She put on her harness and stared out of the window, her hands clasped tightly together on her lap. He looked at them for a moment and his heart went out to her a little but there was nothing he could do. Not with Melvin present.
The man nodded at Gibbs. His eyes held none of the animosity they had last night. Apparently he had decided that maybe working together would be best for Jen. Gibbs nodded back in tacit agreement.
Gibbs watched Melvin's eyes dart over the room. They'd been stuck in conference for what seemed like hours, and the man hadn't let up for five minutes.
Over the past six months he'd thought about Jen. A lot. He'd been back to the bar two or three times – but she hadn't been there. He'd worried about her. Wondered how she was; if she'd made it a habit of picking up strange man in bars as she struggled to come to terms with the dissolution of her marriage; if anyone had watched out for her. Watching Melvin now he knew he'd worried in vain. This man wasn't about to let anything happen to her. For a moment he almost gave in to the temptation to wonder if there'd between anything between the two of them.
But Melvin drew him from that particular train of thought when he cast his eyes around the room again.
"Your gut tellin' you somethin'?" he asked the man.
"Something feels off" Melvin replied.
Gibbs looked round the room and was about to answer when his phone went off.
He rose from his seat and exited the room quickly when quite a few heads turned to look at him in unmasked disdain.
"What is it Di Nozzo?" he said, walking towards the deck.
"Boss ..."
Back on board the USS Reagan Tony struggled out of a biohazard suit.
"The letter Dr. Shepard got last night?"
"Yeah? You open it?"
Tony rubbed a hand across his face.
"Di Nozzo!" Gibbs snapped.
"One of the lab techs did."
"And?"
"It dispersed a fine white powder."
"Was he wearing a suit?"
"No" Tony said, standing aside as people pushed past him. "They've initiated bio-attack procedures. All that level has been evacuated. The tech's being airlifted right now."
"Where you in there when it happened?"
"No" Tony replied.
"Do they know what it is?"
"I recovered a bit of it. Got it off with the airlift guys. They'll see it gets to Abby."
"How long before we know?" Gibbs asked as he walked back to the conference room.
"Coupla hours. At least."
"I thought these tests were fast."
"It's not a pregnancy test, Boss."
Gibbs grunted and cut the connection as he entered the room.
He spotted Melvin standing at the top of the room not far from Jen. He had just signalled him to move down when movement caught his eye.
Various aides moved forward and started to place packets in front of the attendees. Jen said something to the effect that they should open them, and suddenly Gibbs' gut kicked in. Whoever had tried to get Jen last night knew they hadn't. This was the perfect opportunity to try again – and get more people at the same time.
"Don't ..."
He never got to finish his sentence.
Jen looked up at him - her fingers already skirting the flap.
Out of the corner of his eye Gibbs saw a blur of colour rise from the delegates' section, but it was Melvin who threw himself at Jen as the shot rang out.
It echoed around the room. People screamed and ducked, falling onto the floor. Gibbs pushed his way through the room as people streamed out - panic causing them not to care who or what they were stepping on. Jen had her small hands pressed into Melvin's back. His eyes were closed but he was breathing. She turned her face up to Gibbs as he reached her side.
"He's bleeding" she said in a small voice.
"He'll be fine, won't you Melvin?" Gibbs said, pressing a hand over hers in an attempt to keep pressure there.
But he wasn't so sure.
Melvin cracked an eye open.
"Nothing a few stitches … won't .. fix. You okay Dr. Shepard?"
His voice was strained and Jen's lower lip trembled.
"I'm fine, Melvin. Help is on the way" she said as she looked towards the door and saw the medics arrive.
Gibbs' cell phone rang again.
"Yeah ... Di Nozzo ..." Gibbs said as they got Melvin on a stretcher and wheeled him out.
"Boss ..." Di Nozzo again. "We got a body."
V and E