To Die Standing
Chapter 3
" Should have known," Ducky was saying the next morning, " He has an artificial heart, which, so long as it has batteries, kept pumping and prevented the blood from clotting, as long as they haven't lysed."
" So why haven't they lysed?" Palmer asked.
" Too much oxygen." Ducky replied, falling into his philosophical modes again. " The Chinese have a saying, which basically sums up to everything must be balanced. Even William Shakespeare himself said something to that effect–'Less is more'. Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing; as you know, too much food leads to obesity and diabetes, too much water leads to hypertension and water poisoning, and too much oxygen, useful and vital as it were, can also lead to death."
" So this man was exposed to high levels of oxygen?" Palmer inquired.
" No, Mr. Palmer. If he were exposed to high levels of oxygen, there would be scarring of the lungs due to lysing of alveoli cells. His blood is carrying much more oxygen than normal, not because of external exposure, but because of a drug that allows more oxygen to dissolve in his bloodstream, which made his blood too basic and damaged his organs. His blood is, essentially, the only tissue in his body that remains alive, and only for a few more days at most, for he is no longer making new blood cells as, obviously, he is dead."
The elevator rang, and Gibbs walked in briskly, demanding, " What have you got for me Ducky?"
Ducky efficiently told Gibbs what he had just told Palmer.
" Why would a lieutenant have an artificial heart?"
" That, my friend, is not my field of expertise." Ducky told Gibbs. " I can only tell you the biological facts."
" How was the drug administered?"
" That remains to be scene. Abby is running tests." Ducky replied. " There are no puncture wounds I can see, save for the one made by the hook, which could not be the source because there are no signs of struggle. Abby is running the samples drawn from his blood and contents of his stomach to see if it might be ingested, but until she provides more data, I cannot tell you with certainty how our friend was drugged."
Back at the main desks Gibbs wasted no time giving orders for the investigation. As he came out of the elevators, he saw Ziva, carrying a stack of papers and then dropping them on the floor without any visible reason.
" Whoa, Ziva," Tony exclaimed, half in amusement and half in surprise, " Since when did you become Miss Butterfingers?"
" The lieutenant has an artificial heart." Gibbs called out before Ziva could reply. Feeling short, because the previous day had yielded no results, he snapped again, " DiNozzo! Figure out why we didn't know this earlier. "
" Yes boss!"
" Start with his home." Gibbs added.
" Er, Boss," Tony blinked Gibbs stepped over to Ziva's desk instead of to his own, as Tony had expected he would, " Are you coming or..."
" Do you need a babysitter, DiNozzo?"
" Ah, heading out now...Boss," Tony glanced at the scattered papers on the floor. All this time, Ziva had been looking at the papers but not making any move to pick them up. She had not even looked at Gibbs yet, nor listened to him.
" You, come with me." Gibbs woke Ziva out of her temporary stupor. " McGee, clean this up," He gestured at the papers.
" But Boss, I'm looking up the artificial heart–" McGee started, but Gibbs was walking briskly towards the elevator. He did not even bother glaring at McGee.
" I...guess I'll clean that up...and then start working." McGee felt a little stupid now, as he left his desk. Ziva took a step toward the elevator, and then glanced down at the mess, debating whether to help McGee first or follow Gibbs. Her decision was made when Gibbs abruptly turned around.
" Well?" He demanded. " Have all of you regressed to beginners or something?"
At this, Ziva hurried over to Gibbs, stumbling once on the way. No one commented on this.
When the two disappeared, Tony laughed once at the sight of McGee bending over to pick up the papers, before recalling exactly what it was that caused the scene. His smile felt a little uncomfortable on his face at that thought, and he decided to give up making fun of McGee and grab his keys. Once he finishes figuring out about the artificial heart, he can ask Ziva what exactly was wrong with her lately.
" Er, you could help, you know," McGee looked up at Tony.
" What, Probie, why would I do that?" Tony suddenly felt good again. He leaned against the desk. " If I help you I can't watch you, after all."
McGee sighed.
The elevator rang, signaling its arrival, and Gibbs headed in. Ziva followed warily. " Where are we going?"
Gibbs did not answer, waiting for the elevator to close. As it moved up he suddenly pulled the stop switch.
Ziva flinched in alarm.
Gibbs turned to her. " What's going on, David?"
Ziva was speechless. " I...I don't know what you mean–"
" One slip, I can take." Gibbs snapped. " You've been falling all over the place nonstop for the last three days. Are you sick?"
" Not that I know of...sir,"
" Whatever problems you're having," Gibbs pointed at her, " I want them solved. And don't set foot here until you resolve everything. Do you understand? I won't have you jeopardizing the team."
" I'm fine sir. I won't jeopardize the team."
" No, you are not fine, and if this goes on you're going to get someone killed." Gibbs glared at her. " Go see a doctor and figure out what is going on."
" It's just a passing thing, Gibbs–"
" Do you want me to take this to the director?"
Ziva was silent for a moment. " No sir."
Gibbs pressed the stop button to start the elevator again.
oO
" Okay, so the drug increases the blood's oxygen-carrying capacity. I did...analysis, and found that...had this structure," Some image of a molecule that was completely meaningless to Gibbs, " and this element right here, ...nium, which is very important because there are only two places in this country that is producing this element and one of them is this company." The company logo jumped on the screen.
Gibbs, who ignored all the technical and scientific jargon, snapped to attention at the logo on the screen. " Pfizer?"
" Correct." Abby grinned, taking a drink of her caf-pow. " One of their headquarters is located here. They are the ones dappling with it–hoping to use this radioactive element to cure cancer, though fat chance of that."
" Good work, Abby." Gibbs rapidly walked away, while Abby grinned to herself.
" My job is so cool."
Upstairs, Tony and McGee had just returned from the lieutenant's home.
" He kept it secret. Had a friend who kept it under wraps." Tony said. " He just wanted to stay a marine...I guess."
Gibbs, who already expected nothing worthwhile to come from any inquiry into the artificial heart, broke off whatever McGee was about to say by snapping, shortly, " We're heading out to Pfizer."
Distracted by the fact that Gibbs had come back without Ziva, Tony blurted out before he could think: " But Boss...we just got back, and it's lunchtime. Where's Ziva?"
" You want lunch?" Gibbs asked dangerously. How long have they worked for him again?
" Er, no, actually, not that hungry." Tony gulped.
Ignoring the question about Ziva, Gibbs went past back to the exit. Tony and McGee glanced at each other, then at Ziva's empty desk.
" Boss is in a bad mood." McGee observed.
" Ya think, Probie?"