Note: Thank you Zivacentric and iyimgrace for you wonderful reviews! Again they made my day!

All I could manage now was a shorter chapter, but I'll post it anyway. Things got a little busy (both in real life and in the story…)

Chapter 7

"What've you got?" Gibbs stormed into the squad-room, Sam right behind him.

"The phone is active, boss. Here" McGee pointed to the green cross visible on the plasma screen "And it's moving at a rather slow pace"

"However" Ziva took over "we have no way on knowing if it is actually Bitner using it"

"Well, not from here anyway" Gibbs turned to the colonel "He doesn't know us, we'll go check if it's him"

"Fine. Carter, give them the photo. Just stay low; if he gets spooked he'll never lead us to his hiding place"

"Right. Ziva, grab your gear, you're with me. DiNozzo, McGee, see what you can find about the sister's disappearance. If these people know Kent is dead, and we can safely assume they do, they have no reason to keep her alive. That's our priority now"

"We'll keep looking into Bitner, see if anything pops out" Sam suggested.

"Good. Get Abby to help. Ziva, get the car" Gibbs threw her the keys as he headed for the elevator.

….

Countless phone calls and a fast-food dinner later, things didn't look too promising. Gibbs' scowl as he and Ziva entered the squad-room said it all, in fact. She summarized the last hour and a half, although she was pretty sure everyone knew the facts by now "So, it was a homeless man using the phone, he said someone gave it to him, no doubt to throw us off their track. He gave us a description of the man, but was too stoned to remember much. And Gibbs drove like a maniac". Gibbs just growled.

"What did you find?" he addressed no one in particular. Four people started speaking at the same time.

"Stop! DiNozzo?"

"We talked to the LEOs on campus, where Susie Kent went missing. They didn't bother to start any search until very recently because her roommate and another colleague stated she left willingly with a man; they all assumed she knew him. We got a sketch just now – here"

"Matches the description we have from the homeless guy" Ziva noticed.

"We gave it to Abby to search the databases, Doctor Jackson is helping her" McGee supplied.

"That's not enough! DiNozzo, call the roommate, see why she thought Susie knew the man she left with"

"Now, boss? It's the middle of the night in…" Tony swallowed the rest of the sentence, faced with a particularly nasty Gibbs-glare. "Yes boss"

O'Neill was impressed. If he could use that glare on Daniel sometimes, life would be so much simpler.

"OK, what else?"

Sam took the stage. "We've been looking some more into Bitner's history and his properties. He must have felt really threatened after we pulled the plug on the Trust; he transferred most of his assets to other people before he left, particularly a cousin, a Kenneth Wade"

McGee interrupted, something bothering him ever since he heard about Bitner evading capture. "Where did he go to after you shut them down? How come you, or the cops, never arrested him if he's involved in something this big?"

O'Neill face darkened, their failures not something he liked being reminded of. "Our best guess was he went somewhere…inaccessible to us. And in any case, he is, or at least was, a legit businessman - it's not like we could present any evidence of what he was involved into. But if he's back now, chances are more of his associates are also back. And we'll get them"

Gibbs wondered what the colonel meant by "get them". An arrest by NCIS or any other government agency meant paperwork, and he doubted these people were willing to leave a paper-trail behind. Well, one more reason not to have his team involved when the shit will hit the fan.

Sam went on. "Several houses, apartments, warehouses and factories formerly belonging to Bitner or his company are thus managed or even owned by this Kenneth Wade now. Some appear to have been sold to other companies, but they're most likely bogus sales, made to cover something. We looked more closely into these properties. One of the warehouses seems to have been unused until a couple of weeks ago, very small electricity bills and such. Satellite images show activity now and there's a lot of power usage. I think we should check it out"

"Boss, I have something" Tony put his phone down. He really hoped all the lovely wishes he got from people woken up in the middle on the night were not in vain. "Susie did know the man she left with, cops ID's him. He's been hanging out in the pub she frequented, busy wooing her. She called him 'Jerry', wasn't particularly interested, but… They lifted prints from a pair of sun-glasses he forgot in the pub. Lucky for us the bad guys can be idiots, right, boss? Anyway, his name is Jeremy Hanson, they don't have anything else on him yet"

"I'll look him up, boss" McGee was already inputting the name into his computer, Sam leaning over his shoulder. "Here, Jeremy Hanson, aged 31, some speeding tickets, nothing serious…"

Sam butted in "He's listed as the assistant manager to one of the bogus companies that bought properties form Bitner/Wade. Owns an apartment in New York and a house just outside Washington DC. The house is more isolated… what do you think?" looking at Gibbs.

"That's our best bet. Gear up"

"Wait a second" O'Neill hadn't moved from his spot but got his phone out. "Let me check"

"Walter, O'Neill here. Check the activity at a place at…" he gave the coordinates. "Right now, I'll hold" Then to Gibbs "10 more minutes won't make much of a difference, at least you'll know what you're up against". "Yeah, OK, thanks Walter" he hung up.

"OK, three people present at the moment, one's probably the girl, two vehicles. Should be a piece of cake"

"How on Earth did you get that so fast?" Tony was speechless.

O'Neill just shrugged. "We're just that good…"

Gibbs scowled. "Why are you not geared up yet? DiNozzo, you have the lead. Go get the girl"

"You're not coming boss?" McGee was confused. Ziva just threw him a long look.

Truth was Gibbs wasn't totally comfortable letting them go without him, but he wasn't going to let the Air Force complete his case without him, and taking down Bitner was still part of the case. Also, having his team away on another assignment when things started was a definite plus.

"I have something else to do. You'll manage"

"It is not us I'm worried about" Ziva muttered, grudgingly following Tony and McGee to the elevator.

…..

"So, about the warehouse" Gibbs didn't waste any time once his people were out the door.

O'Neill looked questioningly towards Sam. She shrugged "He wants in"

Gibbs felt his hackles rising at the colonel's appraising gaze. Fortunately, just as he opened his mouth to say something O'Neill beat him to it.

"Fine. You're a Marine sniper, right?" Gibbs nodded. "Glad to have you on board then"

He bit back a grin at the agent's raised eyebrows. "I did read your file, Gunny. I expected nothing less"