In Abby's lab, they were met with a very confused lab-bat. "The substances in the dead dudes' blood are all very easy to get a hold of, and not toxic in the least. I don't get it!"
"Abby!" Rosa got the attention of her excitable friend. "Was there money in any of their belongings?"
"No, actually. This whole thing is hinky!"
Gibbs turned and gave her a questioning look. She had tilted her head, regarding the dead men's personal effects on the table absently. "They were never paid," she murmured, "they were bewitched. Sergeant Shoan was witched to…"
"Damn…" Gibbs murmured. If nothing else, this case would make him superstitious.
Rosalind's Government Issue cellphone rang. Flipping it open she greeted the caller with a down-to-business "White speaking." She murmured an affirmative then clicked the cell shut. "McGee found something interesting on the Latina Magia," she informed her boss.
He nodded and gave Abby quick peck on the cheek as a thank you. They hustled up to the bullpen, and they both looked at McGee expectantly. "Andrhriana Rodriguez, born Ana Rodriguez, was busted six years ago for grand theft auto. Few people in the government say she's boosting cars again."
Andrhriana's cool features stared out from the screen and Rosa stared icily back. Car stealing… that was why El Padre wanted to keep an eye on them in the first place, she now remembered.
"Sense this is pertaining to your case, I want you to go under cover." Director Jenny Shepard stalked into the bullpen. They all whirled around; surprised she was there and at her statement. "I want to you catch her, under cover as competing car thieves. Their intended target is the dealer on East and Weston, tomorrow night. Be ready." She stalked away.
"Well, that was sudden." Tony remarked. "Anyways, Boss, who am I going with?"
"Who says you're going anywhere? I will go." Ziva said with attitude.
"Neither of you are going." Gibbs' statement was met with sputtering protests. McGee and Rosa waited quietly. "I'll be going with Rosa." Dead silence.
"Why her?" Tony whined.
"Yeah, why me?" she repeated.
"You can actually drive."
"Well hello, Hans." She greeted him.
"'Lo Diana." He returned.
Rosa and Gibbs greeted each other by their aliases, much to the rest of the team's amusement. Rosa had temporarily dyed her hair pitch black and straightened it. Her kaleidoscope eyes where a cold light blue, eerily reminiscent of Gibbs's own eyes. Dramatic makeup, black, baggy kakis, and a skin tight, midnight-blue halter top made her look like she could be Abby's sister. Gibbs' hair was lightly powdered, so it was now pure white instead of silver-grey. Dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt that was tight around his biceps and upper chest drew looks from all the females in the building. Hans and Diana Anderson, an uncle-niece car-boosting team, were going to steal a 1969 Corvette from the Chevy dealer that was being targeted by the leader of the Latina Magia.
"Yikes, guys. The disguises are too good. You look like something out of a movie!" Tony said appreciatively.
"Rosa! You should totally where that more often!" Abby squealed.
Tim was silent. Rosa walked over to him while Gibbs was ironing out that night's excursion. "You're quiet."
"Just be careful, Ok?" Rosa gave McGee a one-armed hug, but before any comforting words left her blood-red lips, he said, "I like your hair better blond," and walked away.
Before Rosa could ask where the heck he was going, Gibbs said, "C'mon, Diana! We got a job to do!" She sighed and followed her "uncle".
In the van a block away from the target, Gibbs looked sideways at her. She didn't react at first, but when he kept glancing at her she said, "You know, it's a good thing that I don't hurt anyone that looks at me like that."
He chuckled against his will. "Yeah, you seem to get a lot of 'em."
"You give a lot of 'em."
Gibbs was silent for a moment. "Yeah. Just don't know what to think of you yet."
"I'm sort of case that needs solving to you, aren't I?"
"I hardly know anything about you. It bothers me."
She sighed. She shook her head and her dyed hair fell forward with a quiet swoosh and hid her face. Quietly, she began.
"When I was seventeen, my parents found out that I was a Christian Wiccan, only they focused on the Wiccan part of it. Them being the very religious Lutherans that they are, they gave me two choices. Leave, or renounce my religion. The way they stared at me, like I was something dead they found floating in their soup, I knew things would never be the same, even if I did give up Wicca. So I took the school vehicle and left. I eventually sold the truck for cash; I worked odd jobs, and eventually ran into El Padre Del Diablo. I knew a fair amount of Spanish, I was religious and mysterious he thought, and I could drive a getaway car. So he took me in. You know the rest of the story."
Gibbs sat still for a moment, digesting the information. Rosa's gaze stayed firmly out the window, watching for their que. Just as he was about to say something, Rosa hissed "That's her."
"Let's move," he replied, and handed her an earwig.
"Do these things work?" she asked no one in particular as she and Gibbs ghosted down the shadowy street towards the dealership.
"Yes it does, Rosie!" Tony's overly chipper voice sounded in her ear.
"Tony, I swear, if you call me that again, I will hang you from your tobillos from the flagpole in front of headquarters in nothing but your boxers!"
"Bondage and an excuse for getting me down to my skivvies, Rosie?"
"Sorry, Tony, but not only are you not my type, but you're too old for me. And I have too much respect for my country to do that to the flagpole." Muffled laughter at Tony's expense came through the earwig.
Suddenly, Rosa was pushed roughly to the side. Cars peeled out of the lot, and Rosa and Gibbs sprinted towards their corvette. "Well this is a fail. Someone tell me that we have permission to run this puta over!" She screeched into the hidden mike.
