Chasing Jack
Chapter Two
Jack Cutter peered up into the autumn morning. The cloudless sky overhead matched the color of his gaze, a crystal clear and striking blue. It was bright and crisp and endless.
He shifted his line of sight letting it drift downwards and out across the bay. The water laid out before his eyes was intensely dark and deep. It reminded him of another bay that lay hundreds of miles south of the spot where he now stood and from a whole other lifetime ago.
His body shivered in reaction to the memory. It was amazing how a familiar image could thrust your entirety right out back into a moment in time. Jack could feel himself free falling down through the open air. He could feel his body impacting the water below. The bite of its temperature had gripped his every muscle causing them to seize up so that he had to fight to remain in control.
Despite having only been semi conscious at the time the sensation would remain imprinted upon his body and mind until the day that he died.
As the thought floated through his mind it triggered another sensation. A deep ache radiated throughout his body. Until the day that he died. The sky and the bay and the physical memory had inevitably reminded him. He was already dead. Had been for quite some time now. It really had turned out differently than he thought. If he was going to be dead he preferred the walk into the light, pearly gates, welcome to the party version. This still stuck in real life, working to just earn a buck, constantly on the move, and endlessly alone version kind of sucked. Well, it had its moments but as an overall user review rating he would give it a D+ at best. Had it been a film he would have commented that the plotline was strong but the details definitely left something to be desired. He was sure Ebert would have agreed with him.
Had it really been four years? It felt more like fourteen!
Jack blew out a heavy breath in an attempt to keep himself in check. He simply couldn't let himself get tangled up in that web of reflection. He had to keep things in perspective. Perspective was what had gotten him this far without his next relocation being into the nearest looney bin. Or quite possibly a shallow and very real unmarked grave.
It had been the right thing. What was done was done. Like it or not he had to just keep moving onward.
His blue eyes trained on the road up ahead and his golden blonde hair dancing about in the October breeze he started running again. Arriving at the fork in the jogging path at the bottom of the bridge Jack Cutter chose to veer onto the trail to his right. Picking up the pace he left the bay at his back and the past tucked away in a place safely removed from his heart.
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As he entered through the doorway Gibbs' gaze landed briefly upon the array of plastic caps with letters printed on them that were spread out beside the skeleton of a computer keyboard. The collection of pieces covered the center table in the forensics lab. It looked like he felt – a bare bones framework whose pieces had been forcibly extracted one by one.
He looked away.
The scientist and his senior field agent were huddled together in front of one of the computers discussing something on the monitor he could not see from his position. The team leader could not help but notice one particular piece of Abby's attire. Set backwards atop of her head was a dark blue NCIS cap. He knew it was not just another one of the agency's hats. Scrawled in black marker on the inside of the cap were initials handwritten long ago by its owner. That hat had belonged to one agent in particular and had been in the care of the young forensics specialist for the last four years.
Abby even had rules to follow regarding the cap. It was absolutely not under any circumstances to leave the lab. Apparently the risk of loss or damage was too great. Also there was an exclusive list of individuals who were permitted to wear it while visiting the lab. It was to be returned promptly to its designated spot, a fireproof box in her office, before they departed.
At one time or another he had seen each member of his team sporting it around the lab as they visited with Abby. Even Ducky had slipped it on once or twice. Each and every one of them had at some point needed the connection it provided. That was with the exception of himself of course. He had been the one to relinquish the hat to her care. But Gibbs had been the only one unable to bring himself to wear it. He had held it in his hands a few times, run his fingertips over the faded initials on the inside, but had managed to go no further than that. He hadn't earned it. He hadn't been there when Tony needed him.
"Gibbs!" Abby's voice cried out and pulled him abruptly from his mental meanderings. It also prompted McGee to spin around towards him. The team lead let out a half chuckle. Then they both just looked at him, deer in the headlights expressions capturing their faces.
"Why do you two knuckleheads look so surprised? Unless McGee has a twin you called me down here."
"You don't do you?" Abby inquired in Tim's direction.
"I don't what?" he replied.
"Have a twin?"
"Last time I checked – no."
"How often do you check?" she responded back in less than a beat.
"It – I - it's just a saying Abby. I haven't actually checked."
"Wouldn't it be weird if you did check and discovered one."
"Yes. That would be weird."
"Maybe we should chec…." Abby began to suggest but Gibbs cut her off with a deliberately loud clearing of the throat. He followed it up with an expression that told them if they didn't steer this discussion back on track a pair of head slaps would be forthcoming.
"Yes. Right. We did. Didn't we?" McGee jumped in with after a beat.
"That's true. We did," the forensics expert agreed.
"And?" Gibbs snapped.
"And have we ever got something you are going to want to see!" Abby answered him. She swiveled her chair back towards the computer monitor and began to type furiously away on the keyboard.
"You are not going to believe this Boss!" McGee added.
"Spit out already!" the team lead reacted. His impatience surfaced more in the tone than the chose of words.
"We got a monitoring hit on a case."
"Any possibility you could narrow it down a bit there Abs? Which one of a dozen or so are we talking about?"
"The Wheel," McGee answered before Abby could even open her mouth to reply.
Those two simple words grabbed the team leader's undivided attention. In the next breath he had pushed between the scientist and his agent and was studying the image on the monitor that they had been discussing a few minutes before. Both Tim and Abby's gazes were now trained upon the older man, expectant that his expression would reveal the depth of the impact the news had delivered. The case, which focused upon an expansive network of people known as The Wheel, had been the one which had gotten Tony killed.
When no immediate reaction arrived on Gibbs' face and he just continued to stare at the information in front of him without so much as blinking Abby piped up.
"Recognize him?"
"Oh yeah. I recognize him all right," Gibbs stated with near hatred lacing his tone.
"Hard to believe after all this time we finally got a hit on one of the key members of The Wheel. And Devon Davis no less," Tim commented quietly.
"Where did this come from?" Gibbs asked, glancing over to Abby's then back to the monitor.
"You remember how I had set up monitors on a whole list of names and even keywords and other little tidbits relating to the case? Ya know in hopes we would get a hit at some point. Well I kept those trackers running this whole time…"
"Abby!" the team lead stated firmly in an attempt to reel her in a little. She got the message and explained with the specifics he was urging her to reveal.
"Arlington, Virginia police department. I checked all my trackers – I do that every day – usually in the morning and just before I leave – and when I just checked them now – bham! there it was. I have a contact over there at the PD so I got her to send over this photo. Since the hit was just on the name alone. I wanted to make sure it was really him – just in case there was some kind of mistake – before I called you down here. Well, okay, that part was McGee's idea, but turns out it really is him Gibbs. Unfortunately, as you can see from this photo Devon Davis is no longer with us. He was found dead yesterday afternoon."
"Doesn't mean he can't still tell us what we want to know," Gibbs replied. His voice was different this time, determined yet not so sharply edged. McGee took the opening to break the news.
"Boss, I took the liberty of contacting Arlington PD about it and they are dragging their feet on transferring the case."
"I don't give a damn what they had to say! He's UA from the Navy. He's involved with the murder of an NCIS agent! My agent! He's ours!"
"Right – on it – I guess I could call Van…" McGee began to think out loud but a glare from the older man told him all he needed to know. Gibbs would resolve that little issue. After that communication was delivered the team lead offered further instruction. This time verbally.
"You get the gear so we can go over to the scene. Have Ducky and Palmer go get the body."
"Arlington PD already has all the evidence at their lab," Abby interjected.
"Not for long!" Gibbs called over his shoulder as he briskly departed the lab. Quiet fell back over the room for a long moment after he had exited. A heavy static was palpable in the air. Both Abby and Tim could feel it but the agent was the one who braved to address it.
"You ready for this?" he asked.
"I don't know, Tim. Don't get me wrong when we first got the hit I was super excited but now it's kind of sinking in ya know?"
"Tell me about it!"
"You too?"
"Yeah. I mean this could be the break we need. I want to latch on to it. Go after it with everything we've got. But what if it's just another dead end? Then…"
"Then we will have failed all over again," Abby sadly completed his sentence for him when he seemed stalled in the ability to do so. Abby hung her head a little and Tim leaned back against the edge of the table and let his gaze drift out across the room towards the doorway. Both were still and silent for a few moments. It was an unsettling thought at best. Having been forced to move on after the case had run into one dead end after another they had felt that somehow by doing so they had failed their friend and teammate. The idea of having to live through that all over again was by no means a comforting thought.
Finally Abby shifted and it drew McGee to look back towards her. Their eyes met and she offered him a hint of smile. Then reaching up to her head she slipped off the cap she had been wearing for the better part of the day. She ran her fingertips gently along the line of its brim before slowly turning it over so that the inside faced upward. Both she and Tim peered down into it. The black ink there was badly faded and beginning to blend together into the dark shade of the fabric underneath it. But the initials that had been written in marker years earlier were still readable – VSAAD – Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.
The reminder of Tony's unique take on self description made them both smile faintly this time. It also brought something else, strength and determination. The change came through in his voice when Tim finally spoke up.
"I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to let him down again."
"I'm with you McGee. Nothing is getting in the way this time! Nothing will stop us!" Abby declared. Her voice was now more fiery than sad. She slipped the baseball cap back onto her head, this time with the brim faced forwards, and then offered what they both had been thinking.
"For Tony."
To Be Continued…