Apologies for the slight delay in posting this. It took a little longer than usual to write. I could give you excuses, but they're pretty lame. So anyway, here's the next installment. Thank you for the awesome reviews, they definately liven up my day. Enjoy!

---Oh, I should mention that this chapter has a teensy bit of swearing in it. Blink and you'll miss it. I hope it doesn't offend anyone.

Chapter Eleven

"Could be a copycat," Tony said as they stood over the body of the latest victim. "But I don't think so."

"It's a day early," Gibbs said from beside him. They were standing out the back of Gerard's, a dimly lit area scattered with wooden and plastic crates, folded cardboard boxes and the cars of several employees. "I didn't see too many female cops when we were there, your guy usually takes someone from inside."

Tony squatted, flicking on his flashlight so he could see the face of the petite blonde lying on the concrete. "It's him. This is Mandy, she works here. She must've come on shift after we left."

"Still doesn't prove it's him," Gibbs said, knowing better than to make any assumptions.

"It's him," Tony said, eyes fixed on her face. "Female, mid twenties, just after midnight. We said his methods were evolving, escalating. Guess we were right."

"M.E says C.O.D is knife wound to the neck," Becker said, joining them from his conversation with the coroner. "Her throat was slashed," he added, even though it was obvious. Her blood had pooled, staining the concrete around her head. "The doc thinks it's pretty likely she was raped as well, although he's not sure until he gets her back to the morgue."

"Bastard's watching us. After last week with Abby at the club and now this, it's far beyond a coincidence. He's playing with us." Tony switched his torch off and walked away, watching as the crime scene investigators swarmed around the car park. About a dozen off-duty police officers from inside the bar were gathered at the edge of the newly-erected police tape, watching in almost horror. Most of them were uniforms and traffic cops, rarely viewing such a gruesome scene.

From a brief conversation with a mortified Gerard, Tony learnt that there were no CCTV cameras watching the back entrance of the bar. Mandy had started work at 10 o'clock and was rostered until 1:30 am, filling in the end half of a shift for another employee who'd become unwell. She'd gone outside for a cigarette at five to twelve and hadn't returned. When she didn't return after fifteen minutes, unusual for the never-tardy waitress, Gerard had ducked out to check on her. Only to find her sprawled in a pool of her own blood.

"Jesus," Tony muttered, patting the older man's hand. Years of police work had desensitized Gerard to a certain degree, but he looked upon all of his employees like family, Mandy especially as she was the youngest.

"DiNozzo!" It was James, a young cop standing in the crowd who Tony sometimes shot hoops with. "It's him, isn't it."

Tony didn't reply, but the look in his eyes was answer enough for James.

"You know the drill guys," Tony said to the group. "Let's keep this quiet for as long as possible."

He and Gibbs did a final scan of the scene, making sure no knives were hidden under any dumpsters, then headed back to the office. Gibbs called Abby from the road and they picked her up along the way. She'd be more useful in the forensics lab than any of the techs and assistants working the graveyard shift.

Becker was in the squad room by the time they arrived, coffee in hand. Gibbs sniffed the air appreciatively and departed to get his own. Since it was late, Tony escorted Abby down to the lab to make sure she wouldn't be alone. The lights were on and he could see Jake the lab assistant pottering around, so he signed off on the chain of evidence and left her to get to work.

"We're both thinking it so I'll just say it," Tony said, joining Becker back at his desk. "The guy's a psycho. And he's targeting us. Which means one of two things."

"He's tailing us," Becker began.

"Or it's an inside job," Tony said.

Becker snorted. "Are you suggesting that one of our people is behind this?"

"Or they could be passing on information," Tony said. "Think about it Dan, the first six attacks may have been random, but he's getting more violent and more personal. Only a cop could have known which club the two of us were watching last week, the information was never made public. And now a girl is attacked, killed outside of the most popular PD hangout in the area, hours after we eat there? A day early no less?"

"Jesus DiNozzo, you're accusing a cop of attacking eight women. Raping seven of them. Killing one of them." Becker retorted, quite loudly. "We put our lives on the line for the job! We stay up all night trying to catch the bad guys, enforce the law not break it – I can't believe you're even thinking this. Jesus Christ!"

"Dan, the Friday Rapist is mentally unstable. We've both seen it, sometimes you just can't tell. Some people are really good at hiding it."

"DiNozzo, stop. You're talking shit. Seriously, it's no wonder you've been bounced around from so many precincts, it's pretty obvious you have no sense of loyalty, honour, pride in the force."

Tony stared at Becker, a glare to rival one of Gibbs'. He shook his head, not bothering to reply.

A coffee in each hand, Gibbs returned from the 24hr café to be faced with stony silence in the squad room. Becker kept shooting snide angry looks at Tony, who had his eyes fixed on his computer screen. Gibbs waved the coffee in front of his face.

"Thanks," Tony smiled, pulling open his top drawer and grabbing a handful of sugar sachets. Gibbs watched and grimaced as Tony poured no less than six sachets into the coffee, stirring it with a pen.

"It's my weakness," Tony said unapologetically.

"Whatever works for you." Gibbs grabbed a file from the small mountain, continuing with their previous search for connections. There wasn't much else to do until they got some results from the lab. They worked in relative silence for some time, until Tony pushed the keyboard back and turned to look at Gibbs.

"Six attacks," he mused. "Why is he changing his methods? He was happy to rape woman after woman, but now he's driven to kill them. Why?"

"Because he can," Gibbs answered simply. "Six women and nothing happened, he hasn't been suspected yet. He's getting away with it, so now he's pushing the boundaries. And the more he does, the worse we look. It's an added bonus and now he's going out of his way to play with you. It's just going to increase until we kill him."

"Uh, you mean catch him, right Gibbs?" Tony interjected, looking a little nervous.

Gibbs stared at Tony. "Don't correct me." His fingers twitched and Tony felt a pressing need to step out of arms reach.

TBC