In a stage whisper Tony admitted, "I don't think Gibbs looked at this list before he handed it to me."

Tony stuffed the paper back in his pocket. "Let's get sandwiches and then we'll decide what to do."

They were in line before Ziva asked, "You are surprised by the names on that list, yes?"

"No, not surprised. Not after who we saw at the Wheelers."

Ziva didn't ask anything else so Tony talked about food. "I'm a carnivore. I'm going to eat like a carnivore. What are you getting?"

At the Navy Yard -

Abby had just completed another round of rests on the blood and tissue samples collected by Ducky and Jimmy when her phone rang. The call was coming from a line with a blocked ID and she almost didn't answer it.

"Miss Abigail Sciuto?"

Hesitantly, "Yes?"

"This is Clayton Jarvis, Secretary of the Navy."

She thought he sounded a little familiar, but how could she be certain? "I can't be sure you are who you say you are. What do you want?"

"I want you to meet me in the NCIS garage in 10 minutes. And you are not to tell anyone that I called or that you are meeting me. Do you understand?"

Abby was flabbergasted. "Uh... why?"

"Because I'm your boss, Miss Sciuto, and I'm giving you an order."

Wanting to keep her job, Abby agreed and spent the next few minutes confirming where everyone was, so they wouldn't come looking for her. It was only the primary team and ME staff who would question her being gone from her lab for a few minutes so she checked. Tony and Ziva were at the Pentagon, Ducky and Jimmy were in autopsy, McGee was in the bullpen and Gibbs...

"Hey Abs, you got anything yet?"

Her voice squeaked. "Gibbs! What are you doing here?"

He didn't seem surprised by her question. "Trying to put something together."

As sincerely as she could she told him, "I don't have anything. Maybe McGee does?"

"Abby, I need to know if there's anything to find in the death of General Wheeler."

"I understand and my babies are working as fast as they can, but science takes time, Gibbs."

Gibbs gave up, looked at her in a resigned way and headed out the door. Abby waited until she was sure the elevator had gone back up before she went to the stairs. She had only a minute to get to the garage.

In the squad room, McGee had just finished organizing part of what he'd found when Gibbs returned from wherever he'd been. He assumed his boss would want to know all about it right away so he went to stand in front of the plasma with the remote control in his hand. A little frustrated from his visits to autopsy and the lab, Gibbs approved of McGee's initiative and joined him.

"I'm still searching, but I have found a few things."

Gibbs' eyes asked the obvious question.

In a low voice Tim admitted, "I haven't hacked yet, but I've been able to find some things."

At a nod from Gibbs he continued. "We know a lot more about General Wheeler than we do about General O'Neill, so I concentrated on him.

Side by side on the plasma were newspaper announcements a year apart. One was for an engagement and the other was for a wedding. The wedding one had a picture of a much younger O'Neill with Sara, his new bride. McGee waited until he was sure Gibbs had gotten a good look and then he changed it to a newspaper birth announcement for a baby boy born to Major and Mrs. John J. (Jack) O'Neill. The paper was dated two years after the wedding announcement.

Using the remote he brought up a school picture of a young boy named Charlie O'Neill that he had found in the police file.

McGee spoke softly. "Charlie O'Neill, son of John and Sara O'Neill, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound when he was 8 years old."

McGee brought up a death certificate for Tyler Charles O'Neill.

Gibbs didn't say a word, but his eyes couldn't hide his anguish. His brain tried to get around the kid's name and why he was called Charlie and not Tyler, but his emotions wouldn't let him think clearly. It was only a few seconds though before he snapped to the fact that he used his middle name, or at least preferred to use it, but the kid had been pretty young to make that choice. And when he accidentally fired that gun he was left with no choices at all. The thought of a young boy dying like that brought him such sadness and thank goodness McGee pushed ahead right then.

"It was investigated by the Colorado State Police and ruled accidental. No charges were brought against the parents, even though the gun the boy used, O'Neill's personal weapon, had been left unsecured." McGee's tone didn't have a hint of sympathy.

Gibbs felt a little sick. It would have been a never-ending nightmare for the boy's parents. Sometimes charges were appropriate and sometimes they weren't and he was not going to judge either way.

McGee took a breath. "And then there's this."

The plasma changed to show a newsletter. The Air Force publication listed retirements and McGee enlarged the column he wanted to show to Gibbs. The date was just a few months after the boy died. Listed alphabetically under COLONEL were lots of names, but the one McGee highlighted was John J. O'Neill.

"Colonel O'Neill retired from the Air Force in 1995 after the death of his son."

Gibbs blinked. Okay, not the first time someone retired and was recalled. Before he could ask, McGee was ready with the next part of his little presentation. Click. It was a legal notice from a Colorado newspaper. Listed were divorces granted by the courts and McGee highlighted the part that stated - Sara O'Neill from John J. O'Neill.

Okay, son dies, parents can't make it together and get divorced. They had known O'Neill was divorced and now maybe they had a better picture as to why.

McGee clicked the remote. It was the same Air Force publication for a month in 1996. Listed under the COLONEL retirees was the name John J. O'Neill. McGee highlighted it just like he had done the first time. "He retired from the Air Force again, boss."

Gibbs shook his head. It was kind of bizarre and he couldn't think of a thing to say or ask. Instead he looked at McGee who was ready with more. The kid had certainly been busy. McGee hesitated so Gibbs said, "Don't tell me he was recalled and then retired a third time."

McGee chuckled, but there wasn't much humor in it. "No, only those two times."

He put a couple more newspaper announcements up on the plasma. One was from the Minneapolis Star Tribune in a special section called Milestones that listed accomplishments for relatives to see. The second, from a Hometown section of a paper, listed graduations, promotions, deployments and homecomings and most entries also had pictures.

"Many newspapers have started scanning old copies from years ago and making them available to subscribers and others." McGee noticed Gibbs smiling slightly as he read them.

#1 - Air Force Airman John J. O'Neill graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. He is the son of Stuart and Jocelyn O'Neill of Roseville. John is a 1971 graduate of Alexander Ramsey High School.

#2 - Air Force Airman John J. (Jack) O'Neill graduated with honors from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. He was recognized as a BMT Honor Graduate and received a Warhawk Award for fitness excellence. Jack is a 1971 graduate of Alexander Ramsey High School.

Gibbs looked at the photo of fresh-faced 19-year-old John J. O'Neill and thought about the man, Lt. Gen Jack O'Neill. They were the same, but very different. And not because of time or accomplishments. The Jack O'Neill he met in person was forged by pain, just as he was.

McGee seemed to be waiting for him so he turned to the younger man and tipped his head indicating he should continue.

McGee was ready. "Using malware and a modified snooper program, I've been able to find bits and pieces all over the place. I'm still working on putting it together to get some context and I sent some photos to Abby."

Photos? Gibbs perked up. "Let's see 'em."

Tim went quickly back to his desk to get the flash drive with the photos. He hadn't expected the request, but he should have. The best thing would have been to not mention them at all.

Gibbs wanted McGee to access them faster, but he wasn't going to say anything. So far the kid had found out much more in a short time than even he had expected and without doing anything illegal. Because of that, Gibbs sat and waited. He checked his email, one of his least favorite things to do, and called a friend. Seeing that O'Neill went to BMT in 71 had made him think of another avenue for getting information.

The plasma was ready and Gibbs joined McGee once again. "These were posted on the internet in unprotected forums. Facebook, personal webpages, community photo albums, military history sites, veterans sites," and then McGee saw the look and wrapped it up with, "Things like that. I'm going through and collecting ones with dates from 1971 through 1994."

"Why that time period?" Gibbs asked about the time frame not the large number of photos.

"O'Neill graduated in 1971 and we know his son died in 1995 and that was the first time he retired. We don't know what's in-between so ..."

Gibbs was proud of the kid. He was showing some real initiative. He also seemed to work better without Tony and Ziva around. Fewer distractions and fewer insults were definitely beneficial to Tim's productivity.

"Good thinking, Tim. Let me see a few." The excited look on the younger agent's face reminded Gibbs to compliment him more often.

McGee grinned and clicked away.

A couple of minutes later Gibbs answered his cell phone.

"Hi boss."

Still looking at photos as they flashed on the screen, Gibbs asked, "How are you, DiNozzo?"

Tony was surprised he was in such a good mood, but played along. "I'm fine. Ziva's fine."

"Uh huh. What do you want, DiNozzo?"

"Have you had lunch yet, boss?" He didn't wait for a reply. "Because if you haven't we could bring you a sandwich from Togo's. Ziva had the veggie wrap thing, but I had pastrami and I think you'd really like it."

With a hand signal Gibbs told McGee to stop the photo presentation and he rested his backside against the front of his desk. "Have you found out anything about General Wheeler?"

"Not really. One person didn't even know he'd died."

"What about General O'Neill?"

"Him either." Tony sounded disappointed that he didn't have anything case shattering to report. "The people were all tight-lipped though Ziva did find out..."

"Put Ziva on."

"Gibbs, I don't know why Tony told you that. I have not found out anything either."

Gibbs wasn't surprised that they didn't have a thing and that they were bickering. "What about the names on the list?"

"Did you see the list, boss?"

Ziva had quickly given the phone back to DiNozzo.

"I only ask because if you had I don't think you'd be asking us that."

Gibbs sighed. He hadn't looked at the list and now he wondered who in the world could be on it. "Names," he demanded from Tony.

"Uh, there are three and they are all way up there."

Gibbs barked, "Names, DiNozzo."

tbc

Thanks for reading.

BMT - basic military training

***My reasoning for Jack's bio, at least part of it. More will be revealed in future chapters.
Oct 1952 Jack was born
Aug 1959 started first grade when he was 6 almost 7
May 1971 graduated from high school, he was 18
Sept-Oct 1971 went to BMT became Airman O'Neill just after he turned 19