"Whats the game Crane?" Gibbs stopped the woman with a quick grab of her arm. She spun the anger in her brown eyes apparent, even behind the glasses.
"It's Colonel to you, and there is no game. I'm just not dealing with either of them. I know when I'm compromised. I can work with other things. In this case I can't interrogate." She said calmly, pulling her arm out of his hand. He watched her, worried. "I mean that Agent Gibbs. I'll work the intel. You work the interrogation. Your good at it. I'm compromised and you don't need to know why, you just need to know I am. I know when to take myself out of the situation. I'll be back later."
He'd have said something but her phone went off.
"Good Afternoon. Anderson? Really? On my way! Keep it closed! No one crosses that line Riley! I mean that." She said quickly into the phone. "Yes. Good Afternoon Airman Anderson." She said softly, flipping the phone closed and putting it back in her pocket. "I have to go. We have another Crime Scene, and it looks like the same MO." She said before bolting off. He stared at her.
"Boss?" That would be McGee.
"What?" he asked turning around.
"We talked to her. She's… Got nothing. Where did Col. Crane go?" McGee asked stepping up next to Gibbs.
"There's another Crime Scene. Tell DiNozzo to meet me at the car." With that the tall silver haired agent headed for his desk. He moved around for a bit then raced to his car. Tony was there. With out thinking they were on the road and before long they were at the crime scene. He came to a slow stop and watched. She was there, two tall men, both dark haired, blue eyes, a couple women, and a third man were all working. Everyone of them quick and precise. Two bodies, one man one woman, both air force this time. It was a gory sight, but the same way. Victoria was moving with what could be anger. The youngest of them all was following her around, and then suddenly stopped, went to attention and waited. She gave an order and he ran off. With that everyone moved just that much faster.
He watched her for a bit. "Boss? What are we doing here?" Tony was curious and wanted to get out of the car. He watched Gibbs, who had an odd look on his face.
"Helping her. Come on." He got out of the car and headed towards the tape.
"What happened to 'I'll see you later', Gibbs?" She was at the tape long before he got there, he started to go under it. "No. This has nothing to do with NCIS. It's Air Force. We'll take care of it." Her voice was calm, but he could hear the edge of anger. "Now go. Do your thing. We'll take care of our part. You have everything from the last bodies. I've got this. We'll find who killed them." She said softly, watching him. He frowned. He wanted to stop her from doing something stupid, which she was close to doing.
"Don't get hurt Col. Crane." He said calmly. Tony watched them, and sighed as his boss turned around.
"So we aren't helping her?" Tony didn't get an answer, and chose to not push it. His boss was not happy. They got back in the car, but Gibbs didn't start it. He sat there watching them. Soon the scene was all taken care of. The quickness made Tony jealous. Though the young man came back and he stayed with the Col. Tony could see that he was her DiNozzo. He reacted like a second, but he was the youngest. He had respect to. Tony analized the situation. There were two McGee's, a Ziva, a Kate, and there was other's. Ducky was even there. He had a feeling they had an 'Abby' in there too. Finally the scene was taken care of and the brunet was standing with her taller friend. They were talking, then Anderson noticed them. He pointed and she turned around, glared at the car, turned to look at them. Gibbs in particular.
She dismissed Anderson with a quick salute and walked over, more like prowled, like a tiger. Tony could see they were going to get chewed out by a female Air Force officer who was a very powerful person inside of herself. She stopped next to the door of the car and knocked on it. Gibbs rolled it down and looked up at her. "Can I help you officer?" he asked with a straight face.
"What are you still doing here Agent Gibbs?" She asked sharply, her arms crossed the uniform making her look a great deal more impressive.
"Wanted to see if you'd go to dinner with me tonight." Tony blinked. Did Gibbs just ask the woman on a DATE? Gibbs? Gibbs. Gibbs just asked a woman on a date, with him in the car.
"I don't let a case go until it's over. No." she snapped, the anger blazing up in her eyes. Gibbs nodded.
"Always worth the try. See ya 'round Col." He said as he started the car and backed it away from her, turning towards NCIS.
"Boss?" Tony asked watching his boss.
"What Tony?" Tony didn't answer and watched the profile of Gibbs. Scorned? Maybe, but there was a set to the jaw of his boss that told Tony that there was not going to be a giving up here. Of course Tony knew that. The Marine Sniper never gave up that easily. They arrived at NCIS in record time… for Gibbs. The tall men got out and were on the move quickly. "DiNozzo? Get a confession. Any kind. Ziva! What have we got on witnesses?" He snapped and went to his desk.
Back at the Pentagon the Air Force group was working quickly. They could feel the anger of their leader, and kept her 'happy'. Information came in and out. She was working quickly. Her computer had six things going at once, and she personally was away from it, doing other things. She was in the autopsy area, trying to figure out who'd killed them. Then it clicked. "Riley! Hey! Come on! We have to move. We have a criminal to catch. Mark call NCIS. I know who killed all of them." She said simply, leading the way to her car. "Meet us there." She called writing something out and tossing it off to one of her staff before grabbing her hat, gun, badge and afew other things, and raced outside. Her hat was on almost as soon as she was out the door, followed closely by Riley. Navy Blue car was already in place, and they were in it. She saw other Air Force agents coming out behind her. And she set a quick, but legal pace to a nice house. This was the connection. A good friend. A very good friend, of all four, plus Victoria herself. Dark eyes were closed and cold as NCIS arrived.
"What do we have?" Gibbs asked walking up to her.
"The couple who killed them. Riley? You take point. Gibbs follow him, Array your team how you like. I'll stay out here." She said calmly. The boy nodded and quickly moved into place, grabbing the three other AF agents to go in with him. She nodded as they entered and found the couple. An older couple, with one being Air Force Pilot, and the other being a Navy Captain. She closed her eyes as they walked out. She could see the harsh set of the twenty year old Riley Anderson's jaw. He knew them as well as she did. They were like… grandparents to the two of them. But from the look in his blue eyes they'd confessed. She lowered her head, her dark eyes closing. She looked up again after only a second and caught his eye. He nodded. She watched Tony come out with the woman. Gibbs followed, along with the rest of his and her teams. She sighed, turning away, leaning against the car. She closed her eyes.
"Crane?" her eyes opened to see Gibbs standing before her. "You alright?" he asked her softly.
"I"ll be fine. I and Anderson know them. Closely. Grandparents of sourts. Someone forced them to do it. This isn't the end of this case. They only killed because they were afraid. Deeply deeply afraid." She said lookin up at him.
"How'd you know that? They just said that to us." He asked putting a hand on her shoulder and actually glaring at her.
"Because I know who did it. It's a mind game. Trying to control me. Trying to prove something." She said softly. "Give me a day. NCIS will have all the information they'll need. I'm pulling my team out of this. I'm to close." She said softly.
"How do you know that?" he asked her looking her over.
"I'm introspective. Since I was little I've always known my feelings. Makes me good with Interrogations, at least the ones that don't scare me. Which only happens rarely, and those can be taken care of by others. I can't handle this case. Riley can't either. Without either of us my team doesn't function well. And I know this because we both got hurt at the same time, it was bad for the team. Nearly lost two of them. I can't let Riley help, at least not officially. He's as stupid as I am when upset. He will be to." She said softly looking up at him, her face setting. "You can take the case, or not, but technically you only found the murderer's not the actual master mind." She slipped past him as Riley came up. It was obvious they wanted to hug, but their uniform kept that from happening. "Riley." She said softly.
"How could Mary and Tim do that? Why? Why would he do that to them? I…" He was looking distraught.
"I know Riley. I know. You know what he's done. Not exactly my choice. You and I have to step away thought." She said softly and watched his face fall. "Offcially at the very least. I won't step into this. I can't. you know why. I… Have to go. I'll talk to you later. Call me Riley. Don't go running off with out telling me!" She said like a big sister to a younger brother. Gibbs watched confused as hell.
She turned and went straight to her car, got in and drove off. She was off. He stepped up to the taller brunet. "What is going on Airman Anderson?" he asked the man respectfully. The boy sighed.
"Someone from her past has come to push her buttons. Not someone she can face. She's tried. Everyone's got a weakness and even Victoria's got hers. She's smart thought. She knows when to pull out. Me now? I've got to much of my sister in me. I gotta see this to the end. See how this will end. She didn't order me off the case, We'll be helping." He said calmly. He looked over the smaller man. "She'll be fine, just off. She'll be in the air with in the hour. Probably buzz us. Knowing her." He said with a slight grin as he moved off. "If you take point Agent Gibbs I'll be sure to follow your lead. Tori need some sort of closure. I'll give it to her." He said simply before heading off. This left Gibbs totally confused.
He frowned as he followed, thinking. They had the two elderly in their custody, a 'mastermind' on the loose and he had to find this person. He caught up to Riley. "I need more information." He snapped. The boy looked at him carefully.
"And you'll get it. Once we are in a safer place. I will not put her at risk. I mean that." He snapped. Riley looked at him hard. "You are a Civilian, and while YOU may have the security clearance most of these people don't." he said softly. "I mean it, Agent Gibbs. There's some things I can't tell." He said softly as he moved off to help everyone. He was well trained, Gibbs could see. He was doing what Tony would be doing if Tony wasn't dealing with the old woman. He was quiet. What was he going to do?