The door opened and she went out before one woman and four men came in. Vance looked surprised, but not shocked and Gibbs followed his lead by standing. Looking at four of the people he thought, oh yeah, we're in trouble.

The woman and three men sat down and then Vance and Gibbs sat down. The fourth man stood by the door, a briefcase gripped in his hand.

The most important man in the room nodded to the guy by the door who walked over to the smaller table and set down the briefcase. He opened it, took out two thick stapled documents and two pens and put them on the table in front of Gibbs and Vance. Then the aide returned to his place by the door.

"Director Leon James Vance, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, this private meeting is not being documented or recorded in any way. As far as everyone else is concerned, it never happened. In case you're confused, I'm the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Charles Hingle. On my right is Vice Admiral Debolt, Judge Advocate General of the Navy and Robert Job, Under Secretary of the Navy. On my left is the General Counsel Department of the Navy, Paul Santos."

Gibbs snuck a look at Vance who at the same moment looked at him. Secretary of Defense? No official record? They both knew that any disciplinary action could have been handled easily by the SecNav or in this case, the Under Secretary of the Navy. Clayton Jarvis was conspicuously absent and Gibbs believed SecDef was there to stress how seriously Jarvis and by extension, they, he and Vance, had messed up.

There was a lengthy pause as SecDef looked hard at Vance and Gibbs. When he was satisfied, he continued. "For the past seven days, you have investigated the death of Major General Ronald S. Wheeler. That investigation ends now." He looked long and hard at Vance and Gibbs and then turned his head to his left.

Santos understood and took the lead. "You have become aware of the existence of a unified project that is classified under section 11-C-9 of the National Security Act. I remind you of your oath and ask that you sign the non-disclosure agreement on the table in front of you."

Gibbs and Vance glanced at the first page of the document and then at each other. Holy cow.

"We'll wait while you read it," Admiral Debolt informed them.

Both men knew the Admiral and recognized her disapproval.

A few minutes later, they both signed the forms and the man from the door collected the papers. Both Debolt and Santos looked at the signature pages before letting the aide put them in the briefcase and leave the room.

SecDef reminded them, "You will not discuss the Wheeler case or talk about anything you learned during the investigation. If I find out you had a dream related to anything you think you found out this last week, I'll have your head."

His look meant he was dead serious and both men knew they better keep quiet.

"I understand, Mr. Secretary." Vance still couldn't believe SecDef was handling this personally.

Under Secretary Job spoke next. "You will delete all phone numbers, text messages, voice messages and call logs from your cell phones." His brown eyes bored into Gibbs' blue ones. "You will forget you made or received any phone calls in the last seven days."

Gibbs knew then that they knew everything. The phone call to O'Neill, the hidden lab work results, Tony and Ziva tailing O'Neill, etc. They knew it all.

"Your work computers, desks, book shelves, filing cabinets and lockers are being checked for any information you should not have and if you have anything at your home, I know you both take files home, you should tell us now."

Gibbs and Vance both said they didn't have anything at home. What Gibbs didn't reveal was that he had some things in his truck. He was going to take the file folder into the office, but they wouldn't let him in.

"You will write up by hand, a detailed list of everyone you spoke to in the last seven days. By phone or in person. I expect it on my desk by the end of the day. You will not keep a copy." Job wasn't finished. He was the Under Secretary and technically their boss when Jarvis wasn't around. "We understand that you were acting under orders from Secretary Jarvis, but that does not excuse the way the investigation was handled or your individual conduct."

Gibbs and Vance were glared at as they sat and waited. It was many seconds before Job continued.

"In your pursuit of a suspect for a murder that didn't happen, many people became aware of things they should not have."

Both men knew the unspoken words referred to the secret program or project and O'Neill. The man must really be untouchable.

"You did not properly supervise. You did not use sound judgement." He paused as if searching for the right words. The two men didn't need to be told they didn't keep control of their people. "You are both suspended for the rest of the week and will not be allowed into NCIS until after 0600 Monday."

Suspended? At least not fired. Gibbs wasn't sure the punishment was fair since they were following orders, but then he wanted to smack himself because that's exactly when good men need to stand up and refuse the order they know to be wrong.

"You may not appeal this action."

Can't appeal something that never officially happened. Vance and Gibbs glanced at each other wondering how they would explain being gone at the same time. And not just them, probably the whole team and Abby too. A seminar? A class somewhere they all needed to attend? Yeah, that could work. NOT. the NCIS grapevine and rumor mill probably had them all fired by now or abducted by aliens.

"Director Vance, Deputy Director Craig returned last night and will stay through the weekend. I trust if he needs any guidance that you can help him by phone."

"Yes, sir, I will," Vance promised. He knew Jerome would be ticked off at being called to Washington on such short notice. Oh well, nothing he could do about it. He was a little angry, but knew he should have done something about Jarvis. At least he wasn't fired. Not yet anyway. It was Tuesday and his kids were on spring break, so he'd get to spend some extra time with them. Jarvis wasn't at the meeting and he couldn't help but wonder where he was. Probably suspended too.

"Special Agent Gibbs, are there any cases another team leader needs to know about in order to properly cover the work load for the next six days?"

Gibbs thought for a few seconds. They'd been doing cold cases. Then the Wheeler case. The others during the last week were wrapped up, reports written and submitted. One case had nothing but dead ends and would become a cold case. Nobody was scheduled for a court appearance. JAG would know for sure.

"No, sir. There shouldn't be any problems." He wondered if the suspension was without pay. The meeting never happened so maybe the suspension never happened? His team and Abby were having their own meeting so he knew they were in trouble too. Loss of pay wouldn't hurt him too much, but it would his team. Tony and Ziva especially since they seemed to live paycheck to paycheck most of the time.

SecDef glanced at the others at his table. He seemed ready to close out the meeting. "Leadership and integrity were missing from NCIS this last week. We trust you will keep that from happening in the future."

Gibbs and Vance didn't want to argue about that and he didn't give them a chance to reply.

"Questions?"

Vance and Gibbs both had questions, but they didn't ask them. Instead they replied "No, sir."

Then a surprise. "Comments?"

Gibbs had a few, but he bit his tongue. Vance swallowed to keep from talking. They both replied, "No, Mr. Secretary," and the meeting that never happened was over. They stood up as the others left and the woman from earlier came back in and opened the outside door for them to leave.

The bench outside was empty and Gibbs looked at his watch. It was barely 0825.

"My team and Abby should be here soon. I'm gonna wait for them."

Vance nodded and started walking away. Then he stopped.

"Gibbs, we need to talk before Monday morning."

The senior agent tensed. The last thing he wanted to do was talk. He hated screw-ups, but he agreed. "Sunday? My basement?"

The Director nodded. "I'll call you first."

0825 in Autopsy at NCIS -

Ducky and Jimmy were going through paper files, trying to get them rounded up and organized. It was time to get the documents scanned and put into electronic form and the paper put into evidence boxes. They both hated the kind of work, it was a necessary evil, but the good news was they had no new bodies. When the autopsy doors swished open, they both expected it to be Gibbs or someone coming in to say hi, or tell them about a case. Instead it was Deputy Director Jerome Craig, a special agent from the bull pen, two NCIS security people and two Air Force officers.

Ten minutes later their computers and printer had been examined; files removed, cookies, temporary files and browser history and download history deleted. Their digital cameras were missing memory cards, their shredder was empty, their phones had been checked. Ducky signed the death certificate and everyone left, taking General Wheeler's body with them. Everyone except Craig.

Ducky was irritated. He hated to be out of the loop. Jimmy was confused and a little scared, but mostly curious about what had happened, why it happened and how come Gibbs or Abby or Tony or somebody hadn't warned them. It only took another minute for the ME team to understand a little better about what was going on and that they better keep quiet about it. They had received a stern lecture to not talk about a case that wasn't ever a case.

With some of their paperwork now taken care of for them, Ducky asked Jimmy, "How 'bout a nice soothing cup of tea, Mr. Palmer?"

tbc

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