AN: Huge thanks to everybody who's been reading and reviewing this case fic! As I've said in replies to some of you, the reviews have just made my day, as well as humbled me, and I very much appreciate them. Things have been unfolding at a pretty rapid pace, and there's more to come today. Also, belated nad equally huge thanks to Kyrie and choosing_sarah for comments, suggestions and general editing. This story would not be nearly as good without their help because I can never plot a case fic without leaving at least three plot holes big enough to drive Gibbs' Challenger through. After today, there are four chapters to go and more twists and turns than the whole rest of the story out together, so sit down and hang on!

Chapter 12

Gibbs was in Abby's lab pacing when Tony called down to say McGee and Ziva had returned and Pandi was in the interrogation room.

"I get first crack at him, DiNozzo," Gibbs replied. "You three watch from observation."

He didn't wait for a reply, just snapped his phone shut. "Abs, get a close look at that map McGee and Ziva came back with. If he has Brad's running route, he must have followed him. See if you can find cameras along the route and pick up him or his car on any of them."

She nodded. "Take him down, Gibbs. We need to get Brad back. He and Tony and Mr. McGee and the others in the study are depending on us."

Gibbs just nodded and left the lab.

The researcher was sitting in interrogation, his short body hunched over and his hands shaking.

"Dr. Pandi. We meet again." Gibbs dropped the files from the plague case and the one McGee had started for Brad's kidnapping onto the table. "I thought we'd seen enough of each other after your plague bug almost killed my best agent five years ago."

"I did not do that," Pandi said, his musical voice quavering. "I said that then. It was the brain tumor that made Mrs. Lowell do it. I know nothing about this missing navy captain. I told your agents, I will not say anything until I speak to my lawyer."

"He's on his way," Gibbs said. "You don't have to say anything. Just listen. This missing navy captain's name is Dr. Brad Pitt, the doctor who saved my agent from your plague. He's leading an NIH study that will scuttle the chances of your COPD drug at next week's FDA hearing. His report is due tomorrow. In six hours, a massive snowstorm is supposed to start rolling in." He forced himself to keep his tone even. "If we find him before then, the charge is only kidnapping. If he dies before we find him, you're looking at a murder charge."

The researcher's eyes widened, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he started trembling. Gibbs tried to wait him out, but the longer he stared, the more the doctor hunched over, withdrawing. Thinking for a second, he decided to change the plan.

When he moved from Interrogation to Observation, his agents watched Pandi level off. He didn't relax any more, but he stopped trying to shrink into himself.

"DiNozzo. Your turn. When I interrogated him five years ago, he called you 'the specimen.' Let's see if realizing you're a person helps him realize what's at stake."

Tony just nodded and walked out the door. When he entered the interrogation room, Gibbs saw Pandi stiffen, then relax. He nodded, knowing he had made the right decision to send the senior field agent in.

"Dr. Pandi?" Tony's voice was quiet.

"Yes," he said. "I am Dr. Pandi."

"Agent Anthony DiNozzo," Tony replied. "We didn't get a chance to meet the last time you were involved in an NCIS case, unfortunately."

"No," he said. "Special Agent Gibbs is the only one I met."

Tony nodded, sitting down across from the other man. "I understand he came across a bit strong back then. He does that sometimes, when he's particularly invested in a case."

Gibbs could see Pandi's shoulders soften a bit. "Yes. He was very concerned that his agent would die. I did not want to tell him about the survival rates, but he made me. I tried to explain things had changed since the Middle Ages, that people were in better health, but he was still upset."

Tony nodded, and Gibbs wished he could see the face of the man he considered a son. At least when Tony spoke, his voice sounded normal. "Yeah, Marines refuse to believe they can't save everyone. Must be that 'never leave a man behind' mentality. Never once gave me any reason to believe I wasn't going to recover. 'You. Will Not. Die.' That's what he said to me in the isolation ward when I was barely hanging on. And once he said it, I wasn't going to let him down. Not if it meant disobeying a direct order."

"You?" Pandi straightened up. "You are the agent who contracted the plague?"

Tony nodded again. "I have to say, I'm glad you put a suicide gene in there, but some days I really wish you had skipped the whole resistant-to-antibiotics thing. I miss being able to run eight miles when a case gets to me. Four just isn't the same."

"You survived? And you are still healthy?" Pandi started to engage more in the discussion, and Gibbs let a small smile cross his face.

"We've got him, Boss," McGee said. "His curiosity just kicked in. That's the same look Abby and Ducky get when they're trying to figure out a puzzle."

Gibbs just nodded. "If Tony can keep the scientist overriding the fear, we might just get the information we need," he said. "He just has to forget this is an interrogation."

"What about his lawyer, Gibbs?" Ziva said. "Once he arrives, he will probably stop Pandi from talking, especially if he hasn't yet admitted anything."

"Go see Abby. Have her track the guy's cell phone. We'll at least get a warning he's coming." Gibbs never looked away from the scene unfolding in front of him where Tony was explaining that his definition of healthy had changed a lot in the past five years.

"Brad — Dr. Pitt — is the one who keeps me fit enough stay in the field," Tony said. "He's been using his new protocol on me, similar to the one he uses on the people in the NIH study."

"You are part of this study?" Pandi's voice held no fear now, just curiosity.

Tony shook his head. "No, Brad's study focuses on older sailors who were exposed to asbestos; my father-in-law is one of his patients, though. He's a leadership instructor at the Naval Academy now, but he joined the Navy back when asbestos was widespread on ships, so he's developed lung issues. We made him go see Brad, since he's about the best there is at dealing with this. That's why NIH has him running this study."

Pandi nodded. "I have read some of his work," he said. "I first became aware of him when I saw his article on treating your plague. I was on leave from work and was catching up on literature in my field. I knew the patient in the article had to be the specimen infected by Mrs. Lowell, and I was curious."

"Is that how you ended up working on this project?"

Pandi nodded. "I found Dr. Pitt's article to be most enlightening, and it suggested possibilities for other uses for my research. When we lost the military contract, I persuaded my superiors that we could follow this new research path, and they gave me a team."

"Did you ever contact Dr. Pitt about his research?" Tony slipped the question in, and Gibbs felt pride at his agent's skills wash over him.

"No, I- No." Pandi's shoulders slumped again.

"Why not?" Tony asked, his tone still light. "With your overlapping interests and being right in the same area, it seems natural."

"After... After the incident with Mrs. Lowell, I was not the same," Pandi said. "Agent Gibbs made me realize how much damage my work could do in the wrong hands, and I became reluctant to work on the project. The new Lowell CEO put me on leave until I could straighten my head out. When I came back, we had lost the military contract, and the head of my division blamed me. This new field of research took me away from the bioweapons division, which I needed, but they made sure I was handicapped." He dropped his eyes to the table. "I was able to hire a staff, but I had to take them on at lower salaries. We would only be rewarded if the research paid off. A few existing staff members were moved over as well, mostly people who wanted to get out of their existing positions and were willing to take a job in a department that was designed to fail. I thought Dr. Pitt might be interested in my research, but since a Navy R&D lab got the military contract on the plague vaccine, I could not risk it."

"So you didn't contact him?"

"No. And I am sorry to hear he has been kidnapped, but I did not have anything to do with it." Pandi looked up at Tony. "You have to believe me."

Tony nodded slowly. "I do. But that means somebody else did and is framing you. My teammates found a map of Dr. Pitt's running route in your coat pocket when they searched your house today."

"I did not put it there!" Pandi's voice started to rise, and Gibbs was afraid he was going to shut down again, but Tony had it well in hand.

"I didn't say you did," he said. "It was in a gray overcoat. When was the last time you wore it? Could someone else have planted the map in your pocket?"

Pandi frowned. "I wore it Monday," he said. "I had to get an envelope out of the pocket yesterday at work, and there was no map in there at that time."

"Yesterday?" Tony said. "Why was it at your office if you last wore it Monday?"

"I had worn my parka home Monday because I thought it might snow," Pandi said. "My overcoat remained in my car. It was only last night that I remembered to bring it in the house."

"Do you lock your car at work?" Tony's tone stayed casual, his manner easy, and Gibbs admired the skill the former cop brought to interrogation room scenes. He'd gotten his most memorable confessions by using his quirky brand of humor and stream-of-consciousness rambling, but he was also one of the best on the team at handling the terrified, second only to Tim.

"Yes. I always lock my car. The business park is very safe, but it also would be easy for somebody to come in and steal items out of many cars in just a short while." Pandi's lower lip started quivering. "I do not know who could have done this."

"Has anybody had access to your house? Anybody stop by last night?"

"No," Pandi said. "I did not get home from work until very late. We were working on a new treatment — the next generation of the drug going to the FDA next week. And then one of the research assistants had a flat tire, so I had to give him a ride home. It was almost 10 p.m. when I finally arrived at home."

"That was helpful of you," Tony said. "Your co-workers are lucky to work with somebody so considerate."

"Oh, I have done it before," Pandi said. "I do not have a family, so nobody is waiting for me when I go home. When Paige had a flat tire a month ago, I gave her a ride home, so it would have been rude not to do the same for him."

"Did you pick him up for work this morning?"

Pandi shook his head. "No, he said he'd take the Metro in."

"Then why..." Tony started to ask, but Pandi continued on.

"He does not live in the best neighborhood and was concerned about the lengthy walk from the station to his house so when he asked if I could give him a ride, I did not feel I could say no." Pandi looked down at his hands. "Housing is so expensive around here, and because the company would not pay good base salaries to the team members, it was the best he could do. Richard talked often about buying something better when we got FDA approval and he could cash in his stock options."

At a gasp from McGee, Gibbs turned to look at the junior agent.

"Boss, Richard Carlisle is one of the two other suspects we came up with when we were doing our searches earlier."

Gibbs cursed. "Get down to Abby's lab and find something, anything, to connect him to Brad. If he kidnapped him, he had to put him someplace, McGee."

"On it, Boss."

-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-

Abby and Ziva were hard at work when Tim walked into the lab.

"Timmy, you're here!" Abby said. "Tony needs to get Pandi to confess — his lawyer just turned into the Navy Yard."

"He didn't do it, Abs," Tim said. Both women stopped what they were doing and turned to face him.

"He did not?" Ziva said. "But I found the map myself."

"There's a good chance Carlisle planted the map in the overcoat when Pandi drove him home," Tim said. "He left his car at Lowell last night with a flat tire."

"Then how did he get to work this morning?" Ziva asked.

"Pandi said he took the Metro," Tim replied.

Abby pulled up his cell history. "No way, McGee. His cell signal doesn't follow the Metro lines." She pointed them out on a map on her computer. "He stayed on the streets to get to Lowell, and there's no bus route through there." She kept scrolling. "He left the office again late morning."

"To get the flat tire fixed?" Ziva asked.

Abby shook her head. "No, his car still hasn't moved. Based on his cell, it looks like he went home, then over to Chevy Chase."

"Where in Chevy Chase?" Tim asked.

Abby zoomed in on the map and clicked on the properties closest to the cell signal. "It's an office park," she said as she pulled up the data. "Ah-ha! Lowell Pharmaceuticals owns the property, probably a satellite office. I'll bet Brad's at his house, and he went to go check on him while Pandi and his other co-workers thought he was visiting the other office."

"But how could he get Brad from where we he was abducted to his house?" Ziva said. "They are several blocks apart, and his car was at Lowell."

"And how did he get into work in the morning?" Tim asked.

"Rental car?" Abby said.

"At 0500?" Tim frowned. "Not likely. Not unless he went to one of the airports."

"Taxi?" she replied.

Tim shrugged. "I can check," he said. He got into the cab company files and dumped the fare logs into a program that would let him search for drop-off points. "If I narrow the time frame down to right after Brad was taken..."

It seemed like it took forever, but Tim knew it was just a few minutes.

"Nothing," he said. "Which I guess makes sense. How would he explain Brad to the cabbie? Too early in the morning to pull the 'My friend had too much to drink and passed out' routine."

"So how else could he have done it?" Abby said. "He couldn't put Brad over his bicycle."

Tim tapped his fingers on the desk as he puzzled through it. "I've got it!"