Chapter 6
An hour later, Gibbs walked into Autopsy to find Ducky bent over the body, examining the wounds on his chest.
"What ya got, Duck?"
"Ah, Jethro. Fragments of metal, nails, other shrapnel designed to cause maximum damage, as you might expect. I imagine Abigail can calculate the trajectory and so forth. A great deal of bruising on the torso, likely attributable to his avocation as a pugilist."
"Got something I don't know?" Gibbs scanned the body.
"Patience, Jethro. There is no mystery about how this man died, and I have not yet found any mysteries in his life. However, the composition of the debris we picked from his body was regularly irregular."
Gibbs stared, waiting for the explanation.
"Well, I suppose I should say that several of the fragments were similar shapes, though I have not been able to figure out what that shape looked like before the mine detonated. Abby might have better luck. Mr. Palmer is just bringing the shrapnel to her now."
Gibbs nodded, then left. Stepping in the elevator, he checked his watch. Leon hadn't asked for a progress report yet, but he would soon — SecNav would be breathing down his neck.
He skipped the lab, wanting to give Abby more time with the shrapnel before asking her for answers. The bullpen was quiet as he approached.
"Sitrep?" As he walked into the team's space, Tony stood.
"Talked to Officer Kelly in Baltimore," the senior field agent said. "He remembers our dead Marine, apparently one of the most promising of the kids he was able to get off the streets and into the boxing ring. He would have liked the kid to go to college, but money's always the issue, so the kid chose the Corps, according to the guy who runs the boxing ring. I also ran the backgrounds of the other marines running the course at the time — none of them appeared to have a grudge against our dead marine, and none of them were absent from the group long enough to trigger the mine."
"Ziva?"
"Gibbs, there was a golf tournament on base, so there were a number of civilians present." Ziva consulted a list in her hand. "So far, I have not found any names with connections to Baltimore or to our Marine. I also have not picked up any increase in chatter in the intelligence community about this, which lessens the possibility this was an act of terrorism."
Gibbs growled. "Why this guy?"
Ziva stepped out from behind her desk. "Gibbs, perhaps it is just because I was more aware of it, but does this not strike you as similar to the attack on the director and Eli when my father was in town?"
"Boss, she's right," Tony said. "If you're trying to take somebody out, especially somebody on a military base, there are lots of bombs that are easier to build and can be triggered remotely. Why pick the kind where you need to be there?"
"Better question." Gibbs looked at each of them. "Why do something like this without making the message clear?"
"That's a good question." Vance stood on the landing above the bullpen. "Gibbs, my office."
He followed Vance up the stairs. Once they were in the director's office, Vance turned to face Gibbs. "You think David and DiNozzo are right?"
Gibbs paused. "I think it's an odd coincidence that a boxer with a background like yours would be killed with an unusual bomb in an attack that mirrors one you suffered." He shrugged one shoulder. "But sending a message to the head of an armed federal agency usually requires a message-" He broke off.
"Gibbs?"
"Duck said the shrapnel was an unusual shape, sent it to Abby to analyze." Gibbs headed for the door as he spoke, not surprised when Vance followed him.
Abby and McGee were hard at work when they walked in.
"What ya got, Abbs?" Gibbs walked behind the desk and looked through at his two geniuses.
"This is hinky, Gibbs." Abby tapped on her keyboard, then motioned to the plasma. "The pieces of shrapnel Ducky flagged for me are mostly pewter, which is a weird type of metal to use in a bomb. It's a softer metal, and has a low melting point, which explains why the pieces are so misshapen. The good news is it's not as common a metal, and it has a lot of different formulations, so once Major Mass Spec finishes analyzing this pewter, I'll be able to trace it and hopefully figure out where it came from."
"Maybe that's the message, Gibbs." Vance walked over and stood beside him. "He did everything else right on this case, including doing this on our biggest base. Doesn't seem likely he'd make a mistake here."
"You got some special pewter connection, Leon?" Gibbs didn't wait for an answer before turning to McGee.
"Boss, the mine explosive was a homemade mixture, and the ingredients are pretty common. If we had somebody to look for, we could probably trace the purchases back as evidence, but trying to trace the materials to somebody will take a lot longer. I also cross-referenced the gate logs to the terror watchlist and came up empty. I'm running them through the more thorough check that Eric in LA developed in case it was a deep sleeper, but nothing so far."
Before Gibbs could respond, Vance spoke. "Good work Agent McGee. Gibbs, I'm going to inform SecNav that NCIS has turned up no evidence that this is the work of terrorists and we are continuing to investigate it as a personal attack."
"On you?" Gibbs lifted an eyebrow.
"On the Marine who was killed today." Vance paused. "Let me know once you find out what those pewter pieces are." He walked off, leaving Gibbs with the others in the lab.
"Boss, while the computers were running, I pulled some more information on that MP case we found earlier." McGee sent the information to the plasma. "The first sergeant was shot in Virginia Beach, out clubbing. The local LEO's caught the case and had it for 24 hours before calling NCIS."
"Navy town, McGee. Marine haircut. They had to know."
McGee nodded. "The first sergeant wore his hair as long as regulations allowed, and he was shot in the head. He was in jeans and a T-shirt, no ID. Just a Polaroid in the back pocket of his jeans. LEO's didn't know he might be one of ours until the ME found a Semper Fi tat above his heart."
"What did Ducky have when they turned over the body."
McGee paled. "Um, they didn't, Boss." He straightened up. "The body was found the day after Pin-Pin Pula blew you up. Director Shepard told the case agents in Norfolk to let the LEOs finish the forensics since they had started because our ME and lab were busy tracking a case of national security."
Gibbs cursed under his breath. "Get any reports from that case Norfolk still has, either our office or the local police, evidence too." He turned to Abby. "When you get the ballistics, run the gun, see if we can link this case to others through the gun."
He stalked out, into the elevator. Once inside, he slammed his hand against the wall. "Dammit, I do not like losing." He cursed again, knowing the one he really wanted to curse at was Jenny for not making sure the MP's killer was found. This was too many unsolved cases — four murders, two of them ice-cold and none of them closed.
He walked through the squad room, then into the main elevator. It was definitely time for coffee, and that girl who screwed up the order earlier today had better either have learned or quit.
~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~
And so it begins. They have started to notice that they are not as smart as they think. The unflappable Leroy Jethro Gibbs might even begin to worry once he starts to put together the pieces. They have five pieces so far, though they do not realize all five are part of the same puzzle. I designed it that way. Soon, Leroy Jethro Gibbs will realize what I have accomplished. But he can't take his famous gut into court, and I was careful. It was my sacrifice. The last person who tried this, he chose fame and Leroy Jethro Gibbs refused to give it to him. He set himself up to get caught. That was his goal. It isn't mine. I want to break Gibbs. I want him to know that he wasn't good enough. He ruined my peace. For that, I will return the favor. When this ends, I will be free. And he will be haunted by the agonies of his failures until they drive him into insanity.