Chapter 22: The Lab
- - - - -
Gibbs was on the phone to Jenny again. "Still haven't nailed down Ekerot yet, but there's a new urgency."
"McGee. Yes, I've just been to see Ducky. Do you need more people?"
"Wouldn't hurt, I suppose. It being Saturday, the traffic shouldn't be too bad so they should be here in a half hour if they leave now. Send 'em up in vans. We should be taking a number of people into custody." He ended the call. An idle thought had him consider going to the kitchen and making some coffee, but he shrugged that off.
Still, he was aware that his people were going on too little sleep, and that was not desirable for a mission like this. Should we wait until we have reinforcements? His gut told him no. There was a sense of urgency…in securing the weapon, and in finding Tim, if he was still alive.
"Boss…the lab?" Tony hinted, and Gibbs nodded. The first floor duo, having finished there, came up to join them.
The group of five crept down the hall in the other direction, opening doors along the way but finding no one. One large room appeared to be Ekerot's study. Since he wasn't in it, they let it go for now.
They could almost feel the lab before they entered it. Their skin started to tingle slightly. "Are they running a current through the air?" Gibbs asked no one in particular. "Is that possible?"
Team member Julie Heinz, who had been a physics major in college, shook her head slightly. "Doubtful, Gibbs. More than likely, we're passing by some heavily charged equipment. Try not to touch anything. It's all probably grounded and harmless, but why take a chance?"
The sounds of fighting came from the floor above. Gibbs winced and hoped that his people stayed safe.
Tony and Ziva thrust open the swinging doors to the outer lab area. "Federal agents! Freeze!"
Three women near the door did freeze, looking mildly concerned. As the five from NCIS swarmed in, they slowly raised their hands.
"No, you freeze," came a voice from behind. They'd fallen into a classic trap. Six women armed with various weapons came out from hidden niches invisible from the doorway.
- - - - -
Abby woke, feeling all kinds of muddled. A blink told her where she was: on her futon in her lab, with Bert gallantly serving as her pillow. "Huh," she said weakly, not having remembered lying down. She started to sit up.
"How are you feeling, Abigail?"
Her eyes swung toward Ducky as the memory hit her like a sledgehammer. "Ohhhh!!" Her hand went to her mouth as she turned green. Jimmy was at her side immediately with a wastebasket as she vomited.
"Abby, Abby; it's not what you think. That wasn't—"
She accepted Jimmy's offer of a damp cloth to clean up, and cool water to drink. "Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. , Tim, oh, Tim—" Her words dissolved in deep, heart-wrenching sobs; surely as great as any misery she had ever felt in her life.
"That wasn't Tim that you saw," Ducky pushed on.
"What?? It wasn't??"
"No, it was a clever double. An android."
She gaped, and then grabbed the doctor and hugged him tightly, crying again and saying softly, "It wasn't Tim! It wasn't Tim!"
Ducky held her at arm's length, and smiled at her. "No, dear girl, it wasn't. And we are ever so glad."
"Then—then, where is Tim?"
"Gibbs and the team are looking for him now. They won't stop until they find him. You know that."
"Yes—I know. Thank you." She hugged Ducky again, and then hugged Jimmy for good measure; startling him and making Ducky smile again.
- - - - -
Jenny had Marthe Lindholm brought into Interrogation again; determined to get some answers. "You've been a busy woman, Ms. Lindholm," she said without preamble. "You've shot a Navy commander, kidnapped him and one of my agents, held both of them hostage, and seriously wounded, or worse, my agent. I don't think your visa confers on you the privilege to do any of those things."
Lindholm merely glared at her.
"Your papers claim that you are a Swedish state agent. We've checked with Sweden; they've disavowed any knowledge of you and your actions. Now either you are working very deep undercover, or you're just the liar and crook you appear to be on the surface. Which is it?" Still, Lindholm remained silent.
"I have a theory," said Jenny. "So let's try it on for size. You have been working with this Ekerot/Johansson character all along. You may even be partners with him, though I suspect your talents differ. He is the mastermind behind this super-weapon. Your role in it is different.
"You're more of a people person. Agent McGee liked and trusted you. You have a way of winning people over to your side, and then you've got them trapped. Was that how it was with Lt. Peskarev? A busy, even harried woman who felt she was over-burdened? Did you offer a sympathetic ear to her, woman to woman? And thus it was that you and Ekerot made use of her in your strange…lab trials, perhaps?"
"You can't prove that," Lindholm snapped.
"Not yet. But we will," Jenny said, unconcerned. Then her eyes grew dark. "What have you done with Agent McGee?"
Lindholm shut down again.
"We will find him, you know," Jenny said, her voice like ice water. "It'll go better on you if we find him sooner than later."
Again no answer. Jenny rose and signaled the guards to take Lindholm back to holding. She allowed herself a moment alone in the room when Lindholm was gone; tensing uncomfortably against the shakes. The woman was clearly tough. That she hadn't wavered under Jenny's threats worried Jenny—it implied that the woman felt she had nothing to lose. That may mean McGee is already dead…
She shook the thought from her mind. The NCIS Director could not wallow in what ifs. It was really all up to Jethro and his people now.
"Director?"
It was one of the guards. "Yes, Monson?"
"Ma'am, the suspect says she wants to talk with you. Should I bring her back?"
"All right." I should let her cool her heels for awhile, but I have other work to do, and she might change her mind about talking if I make her wait.
Once back in the interrogation room, Lindholm looked calm and even prim. "I have decided to help you out a little, in exchange for leniency."
"Go on…"
"There are not many people capable of operating the device. Even fewer are capable of stopping it. You need my help. Arrange for me to be taken back to the house, and I'll secure the weapon."
"Why the change of heart?"
Lindholm looked away. "Nels and I—had something of a falling out. He was keeping secrets from me, so I started keeping things from him. I suppose I would like a little revenge."
I must be insane to even consider this. Jenny studied Lindholm for a long minute. There's something back there that she really wants. Still…with her help we might solve this case sooner. "Very well. But you will be under our control the entire time, is that understood? You mess up, or put our people in a threatening position, and I won't blink if someone stops you with maximum force."
"I understand." Lindholm nodded, but Jenny caught the cool look in her eyes and was afraid she was taking a terrible risk.
- - - - -
Lindholm, handcuffed and heavily guarded, was driven to Silver Spring as part of the convoy of NCIS vans (nearly all of the ones left in the Yard). Jenny had called the Silver Spring police department and arranged for the blocks around Ekerot's house to be cordoned off.
"We've arrived, Director," the agent leading the convoy called in. "I haven't been able to reach Gibbs on the phone, though. It keeps going over to voice mail."
"So do my calls," Jenny sighed. "Go in with caution."
She felt fearful as she ended the call. Why wasn't Jethro answering?!
- - - - -
Slowly, the five NCIS agents in the outer lab dropped their sigs. The women all moved in closer to them, and the three women who had been cowering seized the dropped guns, looking subtly triumphant.
"Into the lab now," said one of the women. "That's where you wanted to go, right?"
"Well, I don't remember that we actually voted on it," said Tony. "If you'll give us a few minutes, we could talk it over, and—"
"No! No discussion," said the woman. "You go into the lab now." Weapons still aimed, the women herded the agents through the automatic door into the lab.
It was like something out of a science fiction movie: machines that glowed, whirred, chirped, rattled; machines of all shapes and sizes; machines little and cute and machines huge and menacing. In the center of it all was Ekerot.
"Special Agent Gibbs!" Ekerot crowed. "What a pleasure it is to have you in my lab. I'm sure you will enjoy it."
"And why is that?" asked Gibbs.
"Why, because of the greatness that is contained here! I have created a weapon that, once launched, will not be able to be stopped by your side. The host/operator can run it nearly indefinitely…hundreds of years, perhaps. Once life has been obliterated from one area, it simply picks up and moves on to the next. It is the ultimate destruction machine."
"And…why do you want to do that?"
Ekerot gave him a look of faint surprise. "I don't think I have to share that with you."
"Okay, foul!" Tony cried suddenly. "The evil overlord always has to tell the captive hero why he is bent on crime. It's in the evil overlord code!!"
Leaning into Tony's face, Ekerot said harshly, "It sounds like you watch too many films. What I choose to do is up to me, and me alone."
Ziva spoke up. "I do not have a big science background. Your equipment does not impress me, because I do not know what it does."
"Ah, the sorry state of education among the young today. I don't have the time or the patience to explain everything to you. How about this: You all can be my guests at my initial demonstration of the device. In Washington, this afternoon." He smiled then, unpleasantly. "It's unfortunate that none of you will live to tell others about it."