"Suicide?"

"Try not to sound so disappointed, Jethro." Ducky paused with his hands under the dead man's stomach, making the tactile judgment that the contents would be minimal. "At least he did not arrive on our doorstep armed with an explosive device or the like."

"Would have been hard to deliver a message that way," Gibbs muttered as circled the autopsy table, glaring at the body that had appeared outside NCIS a long hour before. He finally repeated, "Suicide?"

"Yes."

"You're sure?"

Ducky began to feel annoyed by Gibbs' insistence, though he understood its source. He made an effort to soften his tone. "As reasonably sure as I can be without confirmation from the toxicology, yes. My guess would be potassium cyanide, as I found a crushed ampoule in his esophagus. A bit cliché, but effective. Abigail claimed she could smell almonds on the body, though I've found I lack the particular genetic anomaly that allows olfactory detection of…"

"Duck…"

"I don't know what you want me to tell you! This man was sent to deliver a message without offering the possibility of our discovering anything beyond what he was specifically entrusted to tell us. A human memorandum!"

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Suicide memo?"

"I suppose that's one way of putting it. Is there any indication that…"

"No."

"You could at least let me finish the question."

"We can't trade and neither can Moussad."

Ducky gave no indication that he had not been planning to ask that particular question until further in the conversation. "It that was what in the note attached to this man's body?"

"Something like that."

Deciding that it would do no good to push, he returned to his task, wielding his scalpel with practiced skill while Gibbs brooded. The work was having a pleasant, distracting effect, an effect that was being diminished by Gibbs' presence. "If there is anything here that can assist you in finding Tony and Ziva…" He trailed off. Saying their names had shattered his illusion of composure. After a deep breath, he bent over his work once again.

Gibbs continued to stand at the table, watching the proceedings. "Where's Palmer?"

"Still cataloging tissue from our other guest. Perhaps you recall earlier this morning…"

"You saying I shouldn't have passed that one off to Cassidy's team?"

"Not at all." He gave a huff of annoyance as he discovered he had failed to sever the left gastric artery. "I was just trying to make conversation."

"I don't really have time for…"

"Perhaps not, but I do sense there's something you would like to say, if you would care for the opportunity." Ducky folded his hands and rested them on the table in front of him, not shying from Gibbs' glare. If he said his piece, perhaps he would be satisfied and leave him, Ducky, to his work.

Gibbs eventually looked down at the body. "This guy came with a note for a rendezvous is in the middle of the Caribbean, probably a boat drop. I don't think they believe we would actually bring their guy, but Jen's sending SEALs and our people and Moussad to meet them. Same people that were supposed to be tracking this guy for the past few months, not that it helped," he finished bitterly.

"You don't approve of her methods in this case?"

"Like I said."

"So…" he paused as he returned to his work, setting the stomach on the scale with a wet plop, "how do we proceed?"

"We?"

"I am simply…"

"I just meant the Director doesn't seem to have that part quite figured out yet, so who knows if we'll be involved."

"You can't possibly blame…"

"The hell I can't!" Gibbs slammed his fists against the table this time, causing instruments to clatter against the cold steel. "It's her bullshit vendetta that got Ziva and DiNozzo into this mess!"

"Vendetta? I wasn't aware of any personal…"

He interrupted with a dismissive wave of his hand, "These guys killed Jen's partner a few years back."

"Ah, I see." Ducky was less surprised by the news than he should have been. It certainly made things much clearer. "And you, Jethro, would never bend the rules to avenge…"

"Don't start."

He decided the subject was best dropped and recorded the mass of the stomach before moving back to the body. "You will find them, Jethro. In fact, would it surprise you if they managed their own escape? Why they could be here now, about to walk into…"

"Gibbs!" Abby's shouted greeting from the doorway interrupted Ducky's encouragement. "Gibbs, I found him!"

Ducky dropped the liver he had picked up back into the abdominal cavity. "You found Tony?"

Abby instantly deflated. "No." Her enthusiasm was tempered when she continued, "But I found what's-his-name. Noodle-barf. He got in a cab!" She propped a laptop on the leg of the corpse, much to Ducky's chagrin. "Look, here he is getting into it outside Nationals Park. I was looking through all the traffic and security cameras around the Navy Yard, just in case I could see something and then, in this lovely still of a Corvette running a red light, I found him. He just walked a couple blocks and hailed a cab."

Ducky squinted at the grainy image, but, not having seen the man in question was unable to recognize him. Gibbs, however, demanded, "Where'd he go?"

"Okay, I enhanced the plate and called the cab company. I told them I was Director Shepard, so they didn't give me any trouble."

"Abby…"

"Kidding, they were actually very helpful." She flipped through a series of time-lapse stills from the cab's internal camera as she spoke. "So he's so convinced that he's gotten away that he actually gives the cabbie an address in Georgetown, and he…"

"Address."

"N Street, between 33rd and…"

"Goddamn it," Gibbs shouted as he sprinted toward the door, startling both Abby and Ducky, though Ducky noted that she seemed more concerned with the lack of affection after her revelation. She likely didn't recognize the address.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Not at all, my dear." Ducky snapped a glove off in order to lay a hand on Abby's shoulder. "I believe he is just angry that this turn of events seems to have led us directly to Director Shepard's home."

"Well what do we have in the area?" Jenny demanded of the third admiral she'd consulted in the past ten minutes. "I need something fast that can support my team when they arrive in…"

"Cancel the op!"

She turned to face Gibbs, thinking better of a biting retort when she saw his expression. "Agent Gibbs, I'm in the middle of…"

He made a slashing motion across his throat, which the tech inexplicably obeyed, removing the admiral's image from the screens in MTAC. "Abby found Nozdryov."

Jenny immediately lost the urge to tear into him. "Where?"

"Got into a taxi a few blocks from here. Took it to your house."

"That's not…they couldn't…"

"Probably just trying to screw with us, but…"

Jenny whipped her head around. "Cynthia! Get my weapon! Top…"

"Top left-hand drawer of your desk. Yes, Ma'am." Her assistant was out the door in a flash, followed by the tech. The whole agency would know about this in a matter of minutes.

Gibbs remained where he was, arms folded across his chest, blocking her exit. "Save the 'I-told-you-so' for later, Jethro. I hardly think this is the time for…"

"These guys don't care who they kill, Jen."

"I can take care of myself."

"Don't you have a maid? Wouldn't we have heard something from her if she…"

"Noemi is off this week, taking care of her…"

"All right. Let's go."

"Just like that?"

"Don't act so suspicious, Jen." His tone was oddly rigid in spite of his words as they walked downstairs to the bullpen. "It's your house, you know the layout and which boards creak."

"Still, you… "

"Like you said, later. We've got stuff to do now. McGee?"

McGee paused in trying to put on his bulletproof vest. "Sampson is getting the car, backup units will meet us at the Director's house."

"Didn't waste any time, did you?" Jenny accepted the vest McGee offered her and strapped it on after dropping her blazer on his desk. "Have you considered that this could be a trap or another wild-goose chase?"

"It's not."

"Jethro, you can't possibly…" She was suddenly confronted with Ziva and Tony on every plasma screen in the bullpen.

Gibbs snapped the remote a second time and the paused image came to life. "Go home, Jen."

The screens reverted to ZNN. He was suddenly whispering in her ear. "Figures Ziva would pull that."

"I…" Jenny mechanically reached for her holstered weapon as Cynthia arrived. She felt as if the nonstop supply of anger and adrenalin that had been fueling her all day was suddenly gone. Maybe she could relight the fire if only Gibbs would accuse her of making it personal, of screwing up, of killing her partner, of killing two more colleagues… No. She shook her head and moved toward the elevator, where Gibbs and McGee were waiting. This was all going to be over soon.