"One way or the other I will be chairing that session in a few hours" Jen said as she paced round Gibbs in his quarters. "You can't keep me here against my will. I have a job to do and ..."
"We'll see" was all Gibbs said.
The sweep had been underway for several hours already.
"Sit-rep, Di Nozzo" he said into the two-way radio in his hand.
The radio crackled once and then Tony's voice came across loud and clear.
"Storage rooms, refrigerators, freezer, kitchen clear, Boss" he said. "Glad I didn't know what they were serving us these past few weeks. Called in the Agriculture Specialist's. He's ... having a cow. He's quarantined a shipment of grapefruit. There's suspicious-looking apples .."
"Di Nozzo!"
"Uh ... yeah. The incinerator room is clear. Fritz is on garbage trawl. Calhoun is heading up the inspection of the laundry .."
"The new batch of agents here yet?"
"They are. Up top with Perellos."
"Have Calhoun relieve me in five minutes" Gibbs said as a tap on the door was heard. "I wanna talk to them."
He took a step forward to anticipate, but Jen was ahead of him.
She took two cups of coffee from the petty officer standing in the corridor, and closed the door.
Gibbs looked at her.
"Did you ask if he made it himself?" he asked, a tad irritated.
Jen looked up at him with unbelieving eyes.
"Toss it" he said when no answer was forthcoming.
"I've been waiting for a cup of coffee for the past two and a half' hours. At least" she said irately.
Gibbs reached under his bunk and pulled out his kit bag. He rooted inside it and then tossed her a package.
"Knock yourself out" he said with a wry smile.
Jen looked at the package.
"You brought your own coffee?" she asked incredulously.
Gibbs inclined his head and smiled a little by way of answer.
Jen looked around the room.
"We're going to have to go to my quarters" she said, stepping towards the door. "At least there's hot water in there."
Gibbs nodded and cleared the passageway before letting her step into it.
Jen continued to turn the package over in her hands.
"Gotta be decaf" she said.
"What?"
"All that coffee you drink."
"Hi-test."
"Don't you twitch?" she said, looking over her shoulder at him.
The look on his face had her suppressing a laugh with difficulty.
"Forget I asked" she said, her voice low. "I know you twitch .."
"Jen ..." he growled. But the growl was good-natured, and they shared a smile as they entered her quarters.
"You having any?" she asked.
"If you have to ask .." he said, as he checked the bathroom and closet space.
Jen had just opened her mouth to say something else when Gibbs' radio crackled again.
"Agent Gibbs .."
"Perellos .."
"I think we've found something."
"On my way" Gibbs said before switching channel. "Calhoun ... you done inspecting underwear?"
"Yep" the man replied. "On my way down to you now."
"Okay. Have Di Nozzo meet me. Perellos has something."
"On it ..." Calhoun said.
"Gonna have to pass on that" Gibbs said, ruefully eyeing the coffee cup Jen was holding out to him.
"You have less than an hour and a half Jethro. I intend to chair that session. Lots of things hang in the balance."
"Your life hangs in the balance, Jen. And I'm not taking any risks with that – session or no session."
He looked up as Calhoun slipped into the room.
"You're up" he said, patting the man sympathetically on the shoulder as he left.
"What've we got?" Gibbs asked as Agent Perellos stood aside and let him into a small storage room few stories down.
Tony stepped in behind him.
"Looks like a sniper's nest" he said.
He watched Gibbs look round the room slowly – taking in the rifles and the gear.
"Perellos" he said, feeling somewhat crowded in the small room with the two other agents. "Get Harris down here."
Perellos nodded sharply and headed out.
Gibbs looked around some more.
"Something bothering you, Boss?" Tony asked after watching him pick up a rifle, put it down, and then move on to another one.
Gibbs turned the second rifle over in his hands.
"Sniping isn't just a form of shooting Di Nozzo; it's an art. The difference between a sniper and a designated marksman is that a sniper will utilise his surroundings to a greater degree of efficiency."
"So ... you want to ask Captain Harris if ... there's a sniper in his personnel?" Tony ventured, not sure where this was going.
Gibbs ignored the question and asked another one.
"This a restricted area?"
Tony checked his documents, and then shook his head.
"The ability to engage targets in complete safety and precision is what makes a sniper lethal" Gibbs said as he picked up a rifle and turned it round in his hands. "You don't move around. You set up base. You lie in wait."
He put the second rifle down and went back to the first one.
Tony drew closer as Gibbs lifted it up.
"91/30" Gibbs began as he inspected it. "Mosin Nagant sniper rifle."
He raised it to his shoulder and looked through the scope.
"Scope mount's height is far higher than the originals" he said when he brought it back down. "The original scope measures seven-eights of an inch from the top of the chamber to the bottom of the scope. This one measures about one and a half."
He peered down at the weapon in his hands.
"Recent welding under the bolt handle elbow" he pointed out.
"So it's what ... a fake?"
Gibbs scrunched up his face.
"More like a rebuild" he said, pulling the weapon up close again and looking intently at the scope mount.
Tony followed his finger.
"Electro-pencilled serial number" Gibbs said. "Here."
"Which means what?"
"Which means someone's leading us by the ..."
The crackling of the radio reverberated around the room.
"Agent Gibbs we have a situation here .."
Calhoun sounded as though he was at the end of his tether, and Gibbs was almost tempted to smile.
"Dr. Shepard is refusing to get on the helicopter. She says we have no right to .."
In the background Gibbs could hear the whirring blades - and raised voices. He was sure one was Jen's. She was arguing with someone he thought he recognised as Perellos.
"What helicopter?" Gibbs demanded, his eyes cutting to Di Nozzo who was already on his way out the door.
"You said to get Dr. Shepard off the ship pronto" Calhoun started.
And that's when it hit Gibbs. Perellos should have been seeking out Harris, not be on deck.
"Where's Perellos?" he shouted into the radio, jumping out into the passageway and heading for the surface.
"He's ..."
Calhoun panned the area and it felt to him as though he was seeing everything in slow motion. The pilot who had been there a few moments before was gone; Perellos was looking at his watch and sprinting away from the aircraft; He and Jen were standing alone at the edge of the carrier - just feet from the helicopter.
"Get her away from the aircraft now!" Gibbs shouted into the radio.
Jen was about to snatch the radio from the agent's hands and give Gibbs a piece of her mind when she felt a vice-like grip on her arm.
"Run!" Calhoun shouted as he propelled her forward.
Tony burst onto the deck as the helicopter was rent apart by what he could only assume was a bomb. He almost missed Perellos trying to disappear into the confusion that erupted.
Almost.
The other agent raised his sidearm faster than him.
"Come on Perellos…" Tony said. "Your goose is cooked. You really want it to end this way?"
Gibbs slowed as he approached from behind. He noticed the tiny almost imperceptible movement from Perellos that told him he did indeed want it to end this way. He paused for a second and then pulled. The round hit Perellos squarely in the shoulder. He clutched at it, falling to the ground and dropping his weapon. Gibbs was beside him in an instant. He kicked the weapon out of reach before training his own on Perellos's forehead, staring down the length of his body.
Perellos writhed on the floor, pain evident on his face.
He stared up at Gibbs.
"Do it" he taunted.
Gibbs shook his head slightly.
"Nope..."
"I'm not telling you anything" Perellos managed at say, gritting his teeth against the pain.
He opened his mouth to speak again and suddenly his whole body jerked to the side. Warm blood splattered against Gibbs's face and onto the deck. He whirled around, his weapon out in front of him - his eyes scanning the deck for any sign of the sniper that had just taken out Perellos. A quick assessment told him that the bullet had come from the top of the control room. He gestured in that direction, and Tony ran off – three other agents following closely behind him.
Gibbs inhaled deeply – preparing himself as best he could before turning towards the wreckage.
The sight of her hand, curled and bloody, lying against her head on the deck had him swallowing the rising panic down. He leant down and pressed his fingers into Calhoun's neck, closing his eyes and sighing when no pulse fluttered against his skin. He gently rolled him off Jen and checked her pulse, letting out the breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding when he felt it thump back at him.
His hands skimmed down her body, assessing damaged and then he heard her gasp and cough.
"Any excuse .." she murmured, her voice husky from the blast.
Gibbs smiled weakly at her. He cupped her face, his thumbs running back and forth over her cheek bones, his eyes searching hers. Whatever it was she saw in his eyes took her breath away, and her immediate reaction was to try and move – a desire to reassure him she was ok.
He held her down.
"Don't move. Help is coming" he said, his voice low and carefully guarded.
"Calhoun?"
She turned her head away from him when Gibbs shook his. She closed her eyes trying to draw strength from the hands holding her down by the shoulders.
The only thing she could think of was that everyone she came into contact with was in danger. Melvin had been shot, Calhoun had been killed, and God knows how many others had been hurt or worse when the helicopter had exploded.
She opened her eyes and met Calhoun's lifeless ones and for a moment the urge to throw up was overpowering. She choked back a sob as she felt Gibbs' hand creep into her hair and curl around her neck.
The medics swarmed round her suddenly, and let them check her out without protest.
"Patch job" she said when Gibbs came to sit next to her a while later. "I'll be good to go in a while."
"Session's been cancelled" he informed her.
"The hell it has."
The blanket she'd been in huddling fell to her feet as she rose to her feet.
Gibbs reached for her elbow as she swayed.
I'm fine" she assured him – shaking his hand off.
"You're not going anywhere" he said.
She closed her eyes briefly and then snapped them open.
"There isn't a choice here" she said, making to move past him. "I have a session to chair. And not you nor anyone else is going to stop me."
She felt the world spin before everything went dark.
Gibbs caught her around the waist just before she fell to the ground.
Tony found him a while later standing outside the infirmary.
Gibbs raised his eyebrows at him in question – not surprised when the younger agent shook his head.
"He could be anywhere by now" Tony said.
Gibbs nodded tightly. Angrily.
"How is she?" Tony asked carefully.
"They had to sedate her" Gibbs said "She wanted to swim to her session."
Tony smiled. And then his face grew serious.
"Uh ... Boss ... about before ..."
"What about it?"
"You weren't going to let him shoot me were you?"
"Nah."
"You had a plan, right?"
"Yeah."
"Because you seemed a little hesitant and ..."
But Gibbs had walked into the infirmary and was no longer paying attention.
V and E