Jacobs disconnected the call and readied for the firestorm. General Hoover, Air Force JAG, had called to say that Navy JAG, Vice Admiral Debolt, would talk to SecNav Jarvis and try to find out what was going on. He was her boss so she needed to step lightly. She knew about the Stargate Program and Jarvis didn't, and he wouldn't, especially not now. And if she had her way, not ever.

He grabbed his mug, opened the door to his office and headed for the coffee station. Barely 0730 and he'd already had three cups of coffee. It was that kind of morning. He needed some more caffeine and maybe a donut before he called General O'Neill.

NCIS~SG~NCIS

Gibbs came out of the elevator to find Tony and Ziva trading barbs. It wasn't until he heard, "We should have put a tracker on the car," that he had an inkling about what might be going on. He hoped he was wrong.

"Tracker for whose car?"

Surprised by his sudden appearance, Tony side-stepped. "Nobody's car, boss."

"Uh huh," he said. His brain added I don't believe you.

Ziva was quick to support Tony. "It is nothing, Gibbs."

He would let it go for the moment, but only the moment.

"What have you found out about Wheeler, O'Neill and Colorado Springs?"

"Not a whole lot, but we're still working on it."

"Did you find out anything about Kawalski or Ferretti?"

Tony looked panicked for a second before blurting, "Just saw your note a minute ago, boss."

Gibbs let it go. He mentally recalled his check list.

"Do you have a local address for O'Neill?"

Gibbs saw the same look on both their faces before they looked at each other.

"No Gibbs," Ziva said evenly.

Tony quickly suggested, "McGee may have more luck." He looked at the empty desk. "Where is McGee?"

Gibbs announced, "He's downstairs with Abby. Has been since before 0630."

Tony started in. "Of course he has. Always has to be teacher's pet."

"DiNozzo."

"Yes, boss. Sorry, boss."

All of a sudden Gibbs had a feeling of dread. Another feeling of dread. Tony and Ziva were both acting strange and the looks on their faces and the ones they were giving each other was too much.

"DiNozzo, Ziva, come here."

The two agents, looking sheepish and regretful, walked very slowly to stand in front of him.

"Whose car and why?"

When they finally confessed, it all came out like a tidal wave. They had staked out Elizabeth Wheeler's house and documented who went in and out and the time, along with photos.

Feeling the need to justify what they had done and why, Tony popped the camera memory card into the computer and put the pictures on the plasma.

Gibbs stood in shock. Okay, more surprise than shock. It wasn't only what they had done, but who had gone to the house.

NCIS~SG~NCIS

Jack O'Neill stood looking out the window of his office. He'd had a stressful week and full weekend and wanted nothing more than an ordinary Pentagon Monday. The SGC memorial for General Wheeler had gone as planned. His conversation with Jacobs on Saturday was okay too. NCIS had secured warrants for Ron and Elizabeth's finances, their kids also. A warrant for his records had been withdrawn. So far no warrants for phone records, but Jacobs reminded him that computer guys could easily get them, including text messages. Something about cloud memory that Jack didn't care about. NCIS tried to get service records, the versions not scrubbed, for Wheeler, O'Neill and Fraiser. Jack was still floored by that revelation. He told Jacobs about his second conversation with Gibbs and Jacobs insisted that someone from JAG be there on Tuesday when NCIS came back to the Pentagon to question people. Jack had told him he hoped the investigation would be over by then.

Sunday afternoon Jack went to Arlington to visit Elizabeth. She wanted to plan Ron's funeral and he went to explain why she couldn't confirm everything yet. Oh, some yes man from Veteran's Affairs or somewhere had told her why, but he wanted to tell her and he wanted to see her. They had talked on the phone, but he hadn't seen her since Tuesday evening. Turned out she had a plan to try to get Ron's body away from NCIS. Who was he to argue?

When they left the neighborhood the driver noticed the tail car. Jack had him change direction and head anywhere else because if they didn't already know where he lived, he wasn't going to help them figure it out. He practically seethed because them picking him up at Elizabeth's meant they were staking out her house, and her. Number one was protecting the Stargate Program. He wanted to say it was protecting Elizabeth, but that wasn't the truth. She knew Ron had been involved in secret projects and she accepted it. Until they actually took her in for questioning or charged her with something, he'd stay out of it. NCIS had not been back to her house and they had not called, like Gibbs had called him.

While his driver took them around Arlington, Jack called Jacobs to tell him about the tail. Jacobs was livid, wanted the license plate number and description of the car and driver. He couldn't contact Vance or SecNav, not when they thought the two of them were in on it so he said he'd get in touch with General Hoover who would contact The Navy JAG. The Air Force Judge Advocate General would not be a happy camper, but Jacobs said it had gone on far too long and it was time to end it.

Jack was a problem solver, but this mess was a bigger problem than he could deal with. Oh sure, he could shoot them or have someone else do it, or he could transport them up to The Hammond and take them somewhere where they couldn't cause anymore trouble, but those weren't options. And like Jacobs had said, they needed to put a stop to it in a way that would discourage them from attempting to do it again. At least for a while.

The problem, okay one of the problems, but it was a biggie, was the best way to go around SecNav and Vance. Their fingerprints were all over the investigation that shouldn't have been a MCRT investigation at all. Jack was glad he could let Jacobs deal with that. He told him about Elizabeth and her plan to push for the release of Ron's body and Jacobs had laughed and said it might work.

Jack smiled when he thought about losing the tail. Sergeant Brown took them into the parking structure for the Pentagon Mall at the 15th Street entrance. The tail car followed them in, followed them up and followed them down. At the toll booth there was a car between them because Brown had been able to get just past a car pulling out of a space. Jack's driver gave the girl two $1 bills for the parking ticket and two $10 bills to stall. She could keep it all or share with the driver who was going to have to wait. Jack expected the NCIS agents to flash their badges and go through with the car ahead of them. Things like that just ticked him off. By the time she'd lifted the gate, Sergeant Brown had easily moved through traffic and they were safely away.

Oh sure, he could have called his personal security guys. He'd begged off the protective detail claiming nobody would know to get him visiting Mrs. Wheeler, but the truth was they were probably in the area and available, just in case. He and the Sergeant could have parked, gone into the mall and one of them double back to take out a tire. Jack knew he would have gotten billed for it if that had happened.

Jack got home without a NCIS tail to report where he lived and go through his garbage so life was good.

He reached for his cup of coffee and waited for the phone to ring.

tbc

Thanks for reading.