0658 Saturday, at 8th and I, inside the home of The Commandant of the Marine Corps. -

General Charles "Chuck" Ellison greeted Gibbs cordially before dismissing his aide with a look. The young Marine went to stand all the way across the big room.

"I'm sorry I couldn't see you before this morning."

"It's no problem, sir." He had seen the vehicles waiting outside and the aide was holding an overcoat. "I won't keep you long."

Ellison nodded, and then indicated for Gibbs to sit down.

"Sir, I need to know about General Ronald Wheeler."

The man looked at Gibbs for a few seconds. "Ron Wheeler, Major General, a good man, married, kids, grand kids. Why are you asking about him?"

"His death might not be from natural causes."

Ellison looked surprised. "Might not be? Don't you know?"

Gibbs knew he was stretching the truth when he said, "The autopsy was not conclusive. Waiting on some more tests. In the mean time, we investigate."

The General didn't look convinced. "Gibbs, I don't know what you want me to tell you."

Gibbs knew then that he'd need to ask direct questions like he'd done with O'Neill. "General, what was he doing with the Air Force?"

The man's face stayed neutral, but Gibbs thought there might be something there.

"Special Project."

Uh, huh.

"Who did he report to?"

"Gibbs... "

Debating how much to tell him, Gibbs made a quick decision. "I need to talk to his co-workers, sir. The only friend of his I've been able to talk to is an Air Force General." Gibbs saw the General's eyes and felt compelled to add, "O'Neill."

Ellison perked up. "O'Neill talked to you?"

Gibbs nodded and asked, "Do you know him?"

"Yes."

Gibbs wanted more. "Sir, I want to know more about O'Neill. I need to talk to more of Wheeler's friends. I need his CO."

The intense look between the two men became obvious to the aide who was standing 20-25 feet away. Ellison glanced at him to stop him from walking over.

"O'Neill didn't give you any names?"

The conversation wasn't going the way Gibbs hoped it would. "Yes, sir. He gave me three names, but I haven't spoken to them yet."

The General had a small frown. "Why not?"

"I'm not ready to try to talk to the Air Force Chief of Chaplains, the Chaplain of the Marine Corps or the Judge Advocate General of the Navy."

Ellison laughed and Gibbs didn't.

"You know The JAG. Why don't you want to talk to her?"

Gibbs shook his head in wonder and then decided to probe a little. "Sir, were you and General Wheeler friends?"

"I knew him. We talked every once in a while."

Gibbs decided to go for broke.

"We have him in Colorado Springs from 2002 to 2004. Do you know what he was doing there?"

Gibbs saw the man's eyes narrow just a little. He knew it was his mention of Colorado Springs.

"General O'Neill was there too." Gibbs knew from Ellison's body language that he'd pushed too far as soon as he got the statement out.

"Gibbs, I like you, I respect you and I value our friendship, and that's why I'm telling you to stop looking into Colorado Springs."

Before Gibbs could respond the General added, "I suggest you verify quickly what caused General Wheeler's death. You've strayed into an area where you do not belong." He looked right into Gibbs' eyes and said, "It was good to see you, Jethro," as he stood up, ending the meeting.

Gibbs stood, but couldn't let it go. Not yet. "General, Wheeler's CO?"

The General's aide walked over and handed over the coat.

Gibbs knew the General heard him and had chosen not to respond so he said, "Thank you for your time, sir. It was good to see you too."

Gibbs walked back to his car before pulling out his cell phone. Tobias had his daughter, Emily, for the weekend, but Gibbs would leave him a voice message so on Monday morning he could see about a file on O'Neill. He'd ask about Wheeler having a file too. When he got to the Navy Yard he would have the team look for whatever they could find on Kawalsky, Ferretti and Fraiser too.

As he drove, Gibbs thought about what Ellison had said. The man only suggested he not look further into Colorado Springs and that meant into O'Neill and Wheeler too. The case that didn't seem like a case was looking more and more like one. He didn't ask Ellison about a possible affair between O'Neill and the wife. Why didn't he? He didn't because he was 99% sure there hadn't been an affair and if he was wrong about that, then he was 99% sure that it had nothing to do with General Wheeler's death. The doubt about looking into Wheeler's death and the Air Force was creeping back in.

It was just after 0900 when DiNozzo and David came out of the elevator. McGee had arrived about five minutes before that and Abby had called to say she was in and working on photos. The coats were hung, the backpacks stored and the three agents looked ready so Gibbs forged ahead before any of them could start in on what they had or hadn't done with their Friday evening.

"Let's go," he commanded, moving over to stand in front of the plasma. "You can work on your reports from yesterday after we finish here."

Tim went first and covered the son's death, O'Neill's divorce, BMT, retirements, etc. He reminded them about the photos and that he and Abby were still working on and when he finished he stepped back to let the others have their turn.

"Ziva" A long pause. She wasn't ready so, "DiNozzo, go."

"I talked to many, many people at the Pentagon. No one would tell me anything about Wheeler or O'Neill."

Ziva had woken up and continued their woeful tale. "I also spoke to many people and learned nothing."

Gibbs wanted more information. "We need to find out where Wheeler worked and who he reported to."

McGee agreed. "We have to talk to his co-workers. We don't even know where his office is."

DiNozzo insisted, "They're all hiding something."

Gibbs was the only one who had put it together. "No, they're protecting something."

The three other agents didn't respond to his conclusion.

Instead, DiNozzo ran with, "After we struck out at the Pentagon, we went to talk to the neighbor. Lance Corporal Damon Fallan, was at his parent's home when Mrs. Wheeler called. He ran next door and found the husband unresponsive."

Ziva jumped in when Tony took a breath. "He checked for a pulse and then performed CPR with Mrs. Wheeler helping. Emergency Services arrived and took over."

"Ah yes, but what Ms. David has not told you," and he looked at McGee because Gibbs already knew, "is that we know something else. Something big." Tony looked pleased with himself and half smirked, waiting for McGee to ask him what it was that only he and Ziva had learned.

Gibbs glared as Tony told them, "General O'Neill picked up Mrs. Wheeler from the hospital and took her home."

Tony grinned and Ziva told Tim, "The neighbor drove Mrs. Wheeler to the hospital because she couldn't go in the ambulance. She used his cell phone to make a call to O'Neill and then send a text message."

"DiNozzo?"

"I'm sorry, Gibbs. We did not mention the two calls."

"Her first call was not to her sons or her daughters. Her first call was to General Jack O'Neill," Tony finished with a gleeful flourish.

Not to be outdone and recovered from her confession to Gibbs, Ziva almost cackled, "The neighbor said they arrived back at the house more than two hours before the secret service showed up."

McGee, who hadn't heard any of it before, sounded outraged when he said, "He lied." Then he knocked his hand against the keyboard and growled, "He said the last time he was alone with her was before dinner a month ago."

Tony cried, "I knew it. The zoomies at the Pentagon are protecting O'Neill. They know about him and the wife." And then he demanded, "I say we bring him in."

Ziva and Tim both looked like they agreed with him.

Gibbs didn't agree, but asked, "For what, DiNozzo?"

With eyes blazing, Tony exclaimed, "Lying to a federal agent... and obstruction!"

"This isn't about an affair, if there even was one. We need to know more about Colorado and why General Wheeler was working with the Air Force. Concentrate on that." He looked at McGee and said, "Work with Abby, go through those photos."

Ziva was following Tony more and more and pleaded, "Gibbs, we have not looked at phone records for anyone."

"Hey, that's right. You told us not to." Tony turned to the younger agent and ordered, "McGee, do your thing."

Gibbs was adamant. "No. Not yet." He looked at each of them, right in their eyes, and they got the message. "O'Neill, Wheeler and Colorado. Use your intuition. Use your contacts. Use your imagination. Find something." Grabbing his coat he left the three to hash out whatever and then work on gathering more information. Before the elevator door slid closed, he heard McGee tell DiNozzo to shut up and that he was going to work with Abby.

The walk around the perimeter of the building, courtyard and parking area wasn't long enough so Gibbs took another lap. He tried to remember the questions and answers from the interview with O'Neill and kept coming up short. Oh, he had most of it in his memory, but some of the exchange when O'Neill got defensive about Mrs. Wheeler was a little hazy. They needed to get past the affair implication and get to what was really going on. His team wasn't listening to his gut so he needed to get something else to convince them. He needed to talk to O'Neill again. What the heck? He had a phone number. He'd just call him.

tbc

Thanks very much for reading.