So, the story is quickly coming to a close. There's at least two more chapters after this, excluding the epilogue. This chapter is sadly short (6 pages), but I guarantee the next one is much longer. How much longer, I can't exactly say, I still have to finish typing it (It's all written, I just have to transfer it to my computer).
Twenty
It took Dennis twenty minutes to find a place to put John. He didn't know the layout of the building. His first thought was to put the kid in an interrogation room because he knew how to find them. But he didn't want John to think he was in trouble. The kid was a pain in the ass, but he didn't do anything wrong. This time. And if Dennis dropped him in an interrogation room, John would no doubt get skittish. That was the last thing Dennis wanted.
Eventually another agent, Chris Pacci, took pity on him and took John to the conference room. It was spacious and bright with a friendly atmosphere. John didn't like it. As the two men left the room and closed the door, they heard the kid scream out a string of profanities.
Dennis then spent another half an hour ranting about Gibbs with Pacci. Apparently, Pacci worked with Gibbs before, and he had a hard time with it too. Pacci almost wet himself when Gibbs roared at him for making a Probie mistake. Afterwards, the man literally got down on his knees and begged Director Morrow to put him on a different team.
Pacci was in the middle of a very convincing Gibbs impersonation when Dennis realized how long he'd been gone and made his way back to the bullpen. Pacci looked pretty upset to see him go. It left Dennis feeling confused about what exactly Pacci was looking for: a friend, an acquaintance to complain about Gibbs with, or something more. Dennis felt that he would give himself a headache if he thought about it too much.
When he turned the corner into the bullpen, Gibbs and Tony were gone and Stan stood in the middle of the room with his cell phone glued to his ear.
"What's up?" Dennis asked when he approached the older man.
Stan shook his head. "Gibbs and his new favorite pet—no offense—are missing and Gibbs isn't picking up his phone."
Dennis shook his head at the 'favorite pet' comment. He scanned the room when his eyes fell on something on Gibbs' desk. His phone, broken into pieces.
"Stan," he said, picking the contraption up and holding it for the other man to see. He had to hold his other hand to stop the pieces from falling to the floor.
Stan cursed under his breath, while slamming his phone shut. "Call your damn partner." He stalked over and plopped down at his desk.
Dennis was reminded of a child having a temper tantrum, but he refrained from voicing his thought out loud. Instead he pulled out his phone and hit speed dial number one.
It rang three times before Tony picked up with his usual greeting.
"Where the hell are you?" Dennis yelled.
"With Gibbs, on our way to Quantico. We know who did it."
Dennis's jaw dropped. Corporal Graham and PFC Huntington. He never met either of them, but from what he heard and read, Graham was Sergeant Taylor's best friend. He was one of the only people who believed Jamie was innocent outside of the team. And he killed Taylor's wife and kidnapped his son.
It made Dennis' fight with Tony seem so petty.
"Me and Stan will meet you up there." He started heading for the elevator when Tony's words stopped him.
"Don't. Gibbs wants you and Burley to wait there. We'll call when we know where's he's headed."
Dennis stared down at the phone, confused. "Tony—"
Tony cut him off. "We're gonna try to lure Graham to lead us to find Jamie, but chances are he's not at Quantico. You need to be the cavalry right now. Trust me, Den, this is the smarter choice."
Dennis still didn't like it, but eventually he agreed. He hung up the phone without so much as a goodbye.
This was half the reason Dennis hated working with Gibbs. Tony worked with the older agent more often than not and Dennis always felt out of the loop. Like right now. The two went off without telling him. Without even telling him who the perps were, leaving him feelings like a schmuck.
Maybe if Tony had been with Dennis back in February, he wouldn't have been tortured and raped.
"What's going on?" Stan asked, pulling Dennis out of his mental tirade. He stood up and stood beside Dennis.
"Corporal Graham and PFC Huntington were working together. They killed out hooker, kidnapped Jamie—"
"Hookers," Stan corrected automatically.
Dennis rolled his eyes. "I wasn't counting Julia Chike." She was killed for a different reason than Miranda Hack.
Neither was I. There were seven other victims with Hack."
Dennis stared open-mouthed as Stan told him everything he leaned in Dale City. Dennis felt even more anger brewing inside his chest. Tony left that little detail out.
He leaned against Gibbs' desk, which earned a shocked look from Stan. He ignored it. "Graham and Huntington did all of that. Why? Why go through all of the trouble?"
Stan folded his arms over his chest. "And why let Julia Chike stay on base? In Huntington's house?"
Dennis pondered that for a while. They figured out the who. Now they just needed the why.
"There's no way they came up with this on their own," Stan finally said after five minutes.
Dennis looked back at him. Stan was smiling, causing Dennis to grin. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" He asked.
Stan jumped up. "I think I am."
He started moving towards the interrogation rooms. Dennis jumped down from Gibbs' desk and followed quickly behind. A smug feeling replacing his anger.
He and Stan figured something out before Gibbs and Tony.
.
Tony didn't know how he refrained from pounding on Graham's door, but somehow he managed a gentle knock. He only had to wait a few moments before the door opened.
Graham looked less pleased to see him than he did the last time Tony was here. Not that Tony really cared. He didn't need a cold blooded serial killer to like him.
"Detective," Graham sneered. "What can I do for you?"
"Can I come in?"
The two glared at each other for a good minute or so before Graham stepped aside. Tony moved into the room and looked around. The place was quaint, and surprisingly clean for a bachelor pad.
"Did you find Jamie yet?" Graham asked.
Tony took a step closer to the Marine. He wasn't as big as McCane, but he was still pretty damn big. "Sergeant Taylor woke up," he said quietly. "Have you visited him yet?"
Graham tilted his head in confusion. "I just saw him a couple hours ago. Why? Does he remember something about that night?"
Tony had to hand it to him. He didn't sound afraid. He actually sounded like a concerned friend.
He shook his head. "No, I just wanted to make sure you knew he was awake. I wasn't sure if anybody told you yet."
Graham rolled his eyes. "Unless you have something useful to say, I have things to do." He made to move around Tony back towards the door.
"We know that PFC Huntington was involved that night."
Graham stopped, his shoulders tensing.
He swivelled back around and gaped at the cop. "What?"
Tony nodded. "Somebody saw him in Baltimore two nights ago outside of my apartment. But he's supposed to be taking care of his sick grandmother." He rambled on for a while, telling Graham about the theory he and Gibbs had worked out on the drive over. According to this theory, Huntington was in love with Julia Chike, and wanted to scare her out of the game by killing prostitutes that she worked with. She eventually came to a Marine base for help, and Huntington graciously offered to let her stay with him. But Jamie screwed the plan up when he witnessed one of the murders. So Huntington and his partner, McCane, tried to kidnap him. Jamie fought with his father and ran before the two killers could show up. Karen must have recognized their voices, so they killed her to protect their secret.
Graham listened to Tony intently, always keeping his face decidedly neutral. It was a good mask. Never once did he let it falter.
Tony eyed the man sharply. "I know you don't like me because I let Jamie get away. But Huntington is your friend. If I'm gonna make this right, I need to know how to find him."
"What do you need from me?"
"Have you been in contact with Huntington since he took leave?"
He shook his head. "No."
"Did you call him? Did he call you?"
"No. I haven't heard a word from him since he left the base."
Tony cursed under his breath. He rubbed his eyes and sighed heavily.
When he looked back up, he was the perfect picture of professionalism. "Can I get your phone number?"
Graham's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Why?" He drew the word out for ten seconds.
Tony had a hard time hiding his smile. It did sort of sound like a pick-up line. "If he calls, we'll be able to track it."
Graham was about to speak when Tony's cell phone rang. "DiNozzo," he said after he picked up.
And his jaw dropped.
"Yeah, I'm on my way." He hung up.
"Something good?" Graham asked. Again, he sounded more curious than anything.
Tony nodded. "Somebody spotted Jamie and Huntington in Dale City this morning."
That got a reaction. Graham's face paled dramatically. Tony headed for the door in a hurry.
At the door he turned back and stared straight into Graham's eyes. "We're gonna find them." He made sure to show how serious his words were.
Graham nodded.
Tony stormed out the door.
When he clamored back in the car, Gibbs was frowning, unsurprisingly. "He buy anything you just told him?"
Tony shrugged. "I guess we'll find out." He buckled his seatbelt as Gibbs pulled away from the curb.
They pulled out of the main gate and parked to the side, hidden among trees.
Gibbs pulled out his new cell phone. It was a disposable. Tony sill had no idea why they had to stop off and pick up that stupid thing, and Gibbs wasn't sharing.
The older man frowned at the contraption. "I'm almost out of minutes."
"You only bought ten bucks worth." Most of his minutes had been used up calling Tony and telling him they "found" Huntington and Jamie in Dale City.
Gibbs tossed the phone in the backseat with a grunt.
"How do you know he'll leave through this gate?" Tony asked after another few seconds of silence. He desperately wanted to ask about Gibbs' old phone, and he figured talking about the case would stave off that urge. At least temporarily.
"I don't."
"Well, it's the closest one to his house, but if it was me, I'd go to the gate farthest from my house."
"So would I."
Tony's eyebrows scrunched together. "Ok, I'm confused."
Gibbs barely spared him a glance before he reached over and pulled something out of the glove compartment. It was one of those GPS devices used for directions.
Tony was still confused. "So this is so we don't get lost when we lose him?"
This time he expected the smack to the back of his head. He even managed not to groan in pain.
"Give me your cell phone," Gibbs demanded.
Tony handed it over in confusion. It took Gibbs only a second to remember the number he had to dial. Tony almost broke and asked what happened to his cell phone, but Gibbs started talking.
"Abby, he start moving yet?" Tony watched as a little blue dot appeared on the GPS. Realization hit him.
That son of a bitch.
"Thanks Abs," Gibbs said as he hung up.
Tony grinned like the Cheshire Cat again. He knew there was a reason he liked the agent. "You bastard, you planted a GPS tracker in Graham's car, didn't you?"
Gibbs smirked. "Anticipate DiNozzo. You should never waste any time deciding what to do next."
"What rule number is that?"
"Unwritten."
"Shame. Sounds like a good one."
Gibbs started the car and started heading in the direction that the blue dot was going.
Tony watched the device, trying to figure out which way Graham was headed. After a few seconds, his breath hitched. He recognized that route.
"Son of a bitch," he breathed.
"Yeah."
"Jamie's still in Baltimore."
Dun dun dun! Sorry, I have been dying to say that for a while now. Well, like I said before, the next chapter is going to be a lot longer, and a lot of cool stuff happens. Ladies and gentlemen I do believe we have entered the climax of the story. Who else is excited?
Bob