Character spoiler for Broken Arrow/Need To Know in S9.

Chapter 9

They stared at the plasma in silence for a minute. Gibbs swallowed, unsure what to say for once. He took a deep breath and reached for his badge and weapon.

"Grab your gear."

Tony and Ziva reached for theirs, but McGee shook his head.

"Boss, you need one of us here trying to figure out who the common denominator is among all three victims, and I can probably do that the fastest." The junior agent paused. "This guy's only taken out three so far — me, Vance and Kate, if we're right about what's going on. The sooner we find a link among them, the sooner we can figure out who else this guy's targeting and protect them."

Gibbs growled. "Stay. But I need another agent in the field — we need to make sure we document everything." He looked around, but the only team he saw was Balboa's and he was just irked enough about that cold case Balboa had let slide that he didn't want to ask the agent for a favor.

"Take Dorneget," Vance said. "He needs more field experience if he's going to be a field agent one day."

Gibbs nodded. "Ziva, gas the truck. DiNozzo, get Dorneget, meet us downstairs." He turned to McGee. "Work in the lab. Nobody on the team goes solo until we catch this bastard."

He headed for the elevator, hoping Vance was right to assign them Dorneget. They couldn't afford any probie mistakes on this case.

~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~

Vance made two phone calls, then headed to the lab. He walked in to find Scuito and McGee standing over the lab table.

"You two need an extra pair of hands?" He joined them.

"You're offering to help, Director?" McGee arched an eyebrow.

"You were right upstairs, Agent McGee. We need to find this person quickly. I'm not a forensics wizard, but I can help with the computer end of things." Vance surveyed the evidence on the table. "What's the plan?"

"I'm pulling cell, email and landline logs for the newest victim," McGee said. "I need to crossreference those with the first two victims and find the common vectors."

"This one should narrow it down," Vance said. "The sub crews undergo more than a year of training, starting with six months in Goose Creek and ending with 10 weeks in New London. She's been in Goose Creek for the past four months, with only occasional weekend liberty."

"What was she doing up here?" Scuito looked at him. "I mean, South Carolina's a long way from here, Leon."

"Her father's an admiral at NAVFAC. She's a third-generation Academy graduate. From what SecNav said when he briefed me, she often would use her weekend liberty to come up here to visit her father. Her mother died four years ago, so it's just the two of them." Vance scanned the evidence. "Either of the others have a Navy Yard connection?"

"Andrews had a weekly meeting here, representing his Pentagon unit with SPAWAR." McGee turned and pulled something up on the computer. "He would have been here the afternoon he died."

Vance nodded. "I'll pull the base logs, see what I can find."

"I've got my babies running tests, Leon, and I'm going to try and trace purchases of those hearts."

The three settled into work, and Vance spared just a second to marvel again at the skill in this team.

~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~

Tony waited for Gibbs to give the orders when they reached the crime scene at the edge of Rock Creek Park.

"DiNozzo, Dorneget, bag, tag, sketch and shoot. David, interview the witnesses."

Tony nodded. "Come on, Dorneget." He looked over at the young agent. "You done this since FLETC?"

Dorney shook his head. "No, Agent DiNozzo."

Tony suppressed a sigh. "Just do what I tell you." He outlined what steps they needed to take. Dorneget started forward. "What's Rule 2?"

"McGee didn't mention that one."

"Always wear gloves at a crime scene." Tony pulled an extra pair from his pocket and handed them to the rookie.

"Right, sir." Dorneget pulled on the gloves. Tony handed him the camera. While Dorneget took the first several shots, Tony just looked at the body. She lay on her back, dark hair spread on the ground around her head. Even though she wore BDUs and dog tags, he couldn't help but picture a bulletproof vest and NCIS windbreaker. He reached up and rubbed his face, the metallic tang of blood as real as if it was actually on his lips.

"Agent DiNozzo?" Dorney's uncertain voice reminded him this was now, not seven years ago.

"Let me look, Dorneget." Tony took the camera and examined the photos. Not bad. "You keep shooting. I'm going to start bagging and tagging."

As Tony collected evidence, he kept an eye out for those damned metal hearts. A glint by the submariner's hair caught his eye. "Dorney, come here." Tony motioned to the spot on the ground. "Document this while I investigate." As Dorney photographed him, Tony moved aside strands of the sailor's hair to reveal a scattering of the hearts on the ground. He bagged them up and labeled them, then called McGee.

"Found our guy's calling card," he said. "We've officially got a serial on our hands. You got anything to help us?" He listened. "Thanks, McGee." He disconnected and dropped his phone back in his pocket. "Keep shooting, Dorney."

Tony jogged over to where Gibbs was standing in the nearby parking lot. "This her car, Boss?"

Gibbs nodded and lifted a brow.

"Same guy. Found his calling card. McGee and Vance found Navy Yard connections to two of the three, so they're focusing on that since this guy's also after us."

"Ya think?" Gibbs looked over to the crime scene. "Dorney working out?"

"He can shoot. Not trusting him on anything else yet. Don't want this SOB to walk because we screw something up."

"He's not walking. Not on this." A muscle in Gibbs' jaw twitched. "Hope the bastard resists arrest."

"Might not be a he, Boss." Tony reviewed the three cases in his head. "None of these needed any special strength or height — no reason they couldn't be a woman."

"I'm not doing that him/her crap while we chase this bastard down," Gibbs said. "Whatever parts our killer has, we need to find and stop this before anybody else dies."

Before Tony could reply, Ducky and Palmer arrived, arguing about how they could have gotten lost when they'd averaged a trip a month to Rock Creek Park for the nine years Jimmy had been on the team.

~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~

Ziva finished interviewing the joggers who found the body and looked back toward the crime scene. She had never seen photos of Kate's death, but as Ari's handler, she had seen many of the agent alive. Since joining the team, she had seen Kate's photo in the apartments of each of the team members. Ari had gone after the team to get at Gibbs, had almost killed Abby and McGee. This was a different kind of killer, but still, it took a special kind of monster to take this approach. One warped beyond all recognition. Ari had been intent on bringing down Eli, ruining the man who had ruined him. What was this killer's goal? What did he or she hope to accomplish? And if Gibbs was the target, why not go after the team itself? Why lookalikes?

She forced the questions to the back of her mind and headed to join the others.

~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~

McGee frowned as yet another search came up empty. "This doesn't make sense."

Abby and Vance looked over at him.

"This whole case doesn't make sense, McGee," Abby said.

"I can't turn up a single common link between the three victims." McGee got up and started pacing. "No people, no contacts. And the Navy Yard theory doesn't work either. The only time I can find that the boxer was on the Yard was for an awards ceremony at the museum next door a year ago."

"That's not the only thing that doesn't make sense," Vance said. "How did our killer know that story about Agent Todd and the submarine?"

"Kate was pretty mad about it," Abby said. "Most of NCIS probably heard the story."

"Oh, shit." McGee stopped in his tracks. "A couple of times lately I've felt like I was being watched. Tony was with me the last time, and he had the same feeling."

"Where?" Vance looked right at him.

"The first time was outside, in the parking lot. I went to the coffee shop and had the same feeling." McGee thought back. "There were a few of the intel analysts in there, a couple of DOT workers. An admiral."

"We can probably rule out the DOT workers," Abby said. "They didn't move over here until a few years ago, so they wouldn't have been around when the sub story was making the rounds."

"But the intel analysts could have been." McGee pressed his lips together. "And they have enough clearance to access our old case files, not to mention our personnel files, or parts of them. They also could get on all three bases."

"Motive?" Vance looked at him, then Abby. "McGee, make a list of names. I'm going back to my office to pull those files and a few others, make it look like routine personnel actions. I'll also check time cards and other information, see if we can narrow it down by opportunity."

McGee nodded and sat back at his computer. "Director, I'm going to wait half an hour, then make a caffeine run. I'll bring a cup up to you. If anybody asks, I tell them I spilled yours this morning and after working for Gibbs, I know the only apology is a replacement cup." He smirked. "At least half the building still sees me as the goofy probie. They'll believe that I tripped over my own two feet."

Vance gave a nod and left. As soon as he did, Abby wrapped her arms around him and rested her chin on his shoulder. "Be careful, Timmy. This guy's playing for keeps."

"Don't worry, Abbs. We'll catch him."

~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~

I could not wait around the park until the great Leroy Jethro Gibbs and his team arrived to see my latest success. But I'm sure this case will be all I hear about tonight when I report to work. They must know they are under siege by now. The next body, they will realize I have powers they are not aware of. The one after that, I will give them the piece they need to connect some of the dots. Just enough to realize this is bigger than they think. Another body, another clue. And then my strike begins in earnest. I know the way his mind works. Leroy Jethro Gibbs is nothing if not driven. He will push them night and day until they find me. By doing so, he will deliver each of them into my hands. Only three will be left alive at the end of this, and all three will be broken beyond repair. I will have won.