Chapter II – Incident at Potomac Park
0845 Local_1345 Zulu
Potomac Park, near Great Falls
Washington, DC
Tony worked his way down the bridge railing at Potomac Park. The snow had stopped falling for now, but it was still bitterly cold. To keep his mind off his freezing hands, Tony focused on spraying the railing and the deck around it with luminol. After spraying the area, he put on his tinted goggles and looked where he had just sprayed.
Nothing.
Sighing, Tony pulled off the goggles and put the luminol back into his backpack. He picked up his duffle bag and walked down a little further toward the middle of the bridge. "C'mon now, the blood couldn't have just disappeared," he said to himself.
He stopped and sprayed again – it would have been easy if the actual scene of the crime had been all in one place, but where they found the footprints in the snow, the bridge railing had been smooth and only a little spatter of blood was found.
Still nothing. Tony pushed the goggles back up and re-shouldered his load.
In his mind he went over what they had found so far. Based on the fracture on the back of her head and the thin sliver of mental the doctors had removed from base of her skull, Gibbs had ordered him to look for any part of any bridge railing in the park that was damaged.
So now he had to go back and check all the bridges because the fight could have taken place on a totally different bridge in the park. "Things are never easy," he griped as he pulled his coat tighter.
1323 Local_1823 Zulu
NCIS Headquarters
Washington, DC
Former FBI Agent Vivienne Blackadder was sitting at her terminal looking at yet another picture of the damaged Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer, U.S.S. Cole. In her mind's eye she could see the motor launch with the two al Qaeda operatives come alongside the ship and then there's a massive explosion.
On a second floor apartment balcony near the wharves, she can see one of the architects of this terrorist act, Hassan Mohammad now acting head of Jama'at al Jihad al-Islami – al Jihad. Hassan took the lead of the terrorist organization after the deaths of the Atef brothers in the spring of 2002.
She opened another file on her computer and looked at Hassan's picture. Brooding dark eyes stared back at her from the screen.
"What did I tell you about Hassan Mohammed?"
Startled out of her reverie, she turned into Gibbs' piercing stare.
"I was on my lunch break," She said lamely.
Gibbs had lowered his voice but it was still firm. "I know your brother was on the Cole, Agent Blackadder, but I want your focus right now on the Singer case and nothing else."
She half turned in her chair and closed both files.
"Are we clear, Agent?"
"Yes sir," she replied sullenly like petulant child unable to get her way.
That made the Senior NCIS Agent even more annoyed. "Agent Blackadder, I've been cutting you slack up to now about your moonlighting on your brother's case, but I want it to stop. Now. No more. Do you read me?"
Vivienne kept her back to him, "Yes sir."
Annoyed with her insubordination, he spun her chair around to face him. "Do. You. Read. Me?" Gibbs said cuttingly as he emphasized each word.
Vivienne shrank back in her chair. "Yes sir, it won't happen again, sir." She said meekly. Though her voice was subdued, her cheeks burned with indignation.
Gibbs gave her, her marching orders. "You bet it won't. Now get your butt over to Bethesda. The doctor said she might regain consciousness soon and I want you there when she does to take her statement."
xxiixx
Tony took the luminol out of his pack and sprayed the section of railing "C'mon baby," he said as if rolling a pair of dice at Vegas gambling table. He pulled on his tinted goggles again and looked….
Jackpot!
Blood was smeared at this spot and had partially washed away, but luminol doesn't lie. That and what looked like a blemish on the metal railing. Tony pulled off his goggles and looked closer. The metal has been dented and there was small fracture in the surface indicating a small piece, a sliver, had broken off.
1401 Local_ 1901 Zulu
Bethesda Naval Hospital
Bethesda, Maryland
It took a moment for Loren's eyes to focus as she finally swam back to consciousness…
"Thirsty, m'dear?"
It was that dapper Brit doctor again. He was sitting with…a Marine Sergeant. Their names though, were not coming to her. But she knew them both from somewhere…the two were anxiously looking at her.
Where had she met them? A thousand questions were swimming around in her mind, all struggling for her attention. Who was she? Who were they? Where was she? How did she get here? How did she get hurt—
She opted to nod when a questioning look crossed the kindly man's bespectacled face. She had been so caught up in trying to figure out what was going on and who she was that she had almost not answered him.
She took a slow sip of the icy water as requested.
"Now if it's too frigid, just let me know," The NCIS Medical Examiner said to her, giving her a reassuring smile.
The cold reminded her of another cold. She suddenly saw a flash of herself falling into the water and ice cold water rushing into mouth, making her choke and gasp—
Loren sputtered and began coughing roughly, spewing water out onto her sheets.
Donald Mallard pulled the straw away from her lips, resisting the urge to get her up and pat her on the back. "Easy Lieutenant, just breathe; slow and steady breaths…" She noticed that the Marine Sergeant had also moved closer to her bed.
Loren nodded again as she coughed vigorously once more and then tried what he suggested.
"That's better," he said in a comforting manner. "Did you choke on the water?"
"I…I saw myself drowning…" she said hoarsely. And then coughed again. The Sergeant had grabbed some towels from the bathroom and was wiping up the spittle and water.
Ducky Mallard and Sergeant Garrel exchanged grim looks. The water had reminded her of what had happened to her. That was a start. Maybe there was more she could tell them about what had taken place.
"What else do you remember?" Ducky asked gently.
Loren thought about the question. Truthfully she remembered precious little else. "I-I was falling, and then I was wet and cold. Water was entering my mouth, I inhaled and began choking…."
The NCIS Medical Examiner nodded his understanding. "My apologies. I should not have given you water given what you have been through," he explained. "It triggered part of your memories of the incident."
"I'm sorry I spit it all over the bed," she said in an anguished voice.
"No problem, ma'am, we took care of it," the Sergeant said soothingly
She looked up into the Marine's face. Again there was a fleeting image - a hand reaching for her in the water, guiding her…and then his face was above her, asking her if she was all right….the images faded away.
She reached out and touched his arm. "Were you there…where I fell into the water?" The Sergeant exchanged a brief glance with the Doctor. He was unnerved by her touching him like that.
Ducky chuckled. "Sergeant Garrel here rescued you, m'dear, when you fell into the water at Potomac Park. Do you remember falling in?"
Garrel…she'd try to remember that name, and then she thought about the question the doctor had asked her.
"No…no, I don't," she said morosely as she pulled her hand away.
"But I remember you," she said looking at Sergeant Garrel. "You're the Marine who saved me and my baby from drowning, aren't you?"
James Garrel looked nervously at Dr. Mallard, who gave him a silent nod of approval. He looked back at her. "Yes ma'am, you fell into the water and I pulled you out."
She touched his arm again. "Thank you."
James smiled at her. She returned his smile. Sergeant Garrel knew they had to find out who did this to her and maybe his 'connection' with her could enable her to remember more.
"Ma'am, do you remember anything more about what happened to you?"
Loren closed her eyes. A thousand jumbled images flashed through her mind, but none of them made any sense. She tried to focus on finding just one image of her on the bridge, but there was nothing like that. Only strange faces and unknown places.
Loren opened her eyes again. "No," she said softly as a tear slid down her cheek.
1610 Local_ 2110 Zulu
NCIS Headquarters
Washington, DC
Gibbs looked at the area on the big screen monitor as he conferred with NCIS Special Agent Ken Dobbs. He pointed to section of the map near the pedestrian bridge.
"Lieutenant Singer was found here. I have DiNozzo doing a 100 meter perimeter preliminary search, but I want another search team sent over there first thing in the morning. Work both sides of the Potomac. Start at the falls and work your way both upstream and downstream."
Dobbs looked at the map and nodded. "How far?"
"All the way down to the tidal basin if you have to and up to just beyond the pedestrian bridge we're looking for any and all possible bridges and areas where the Lieutenant could have been thrown from and into the water. If you're lucky, her purse washed up somewhere. She didn't have it on her when she came in."
Ken looked at the map and sighed. "With this war going on, I can't get enough agents to cover that area."
Gibbs sat down and at his desk and looked up at the Agent. "You call Gunnery Sergeant Puller down at Quantico, and you tell him I need a few of his Marines for a little field exercise. Gunny Puller owes me."
"On it," Dobbs said as he walked over to his desk, sat down and began dialing. Gibbs took another strong pull from his coffee cup.
xxiixx
Ducky hated to do this, but they had to try something. "Lieutenant, take a small sip of the water, but don't swallow and you can even spit it back out if you want, but try and think hard about what you see when the water enters your mouth."
Loren looked at both men. Nothing else seemed to be working. "Okay," she said tentatively as she took the straw between her lips and sucked.
As the cool water entered her mouth again, she saw herself struggling in the water.
"What do you see?" Ducky asked gently. He hoped this produced something useful. When Agent Blackadder came to take her statement earlier what the Lieutenant had given her was worse than useless.
She let the water fall back down the straw and into the cup. "I see myself in the water, there's all sorts of rubbish around me, twigs, leaves…some of it is entering my mouth…." She shuddered involuntarily.
The NCIS Medical Examiner nodded as he took in this information. "How about before that, can you see how you got into the water?"
She sucked the cold liquid back into her mouth. She suddenly felt an icy wet slap at her back which startled her and forcefully spit the water back into the cup.
Sergeant Garrel looked at her with concern. "What is it, Lieutenant, what happened?"
"I remember the shock of hitting the water, it was very cold," she reported.
Donald Mallard nodded again. "All right, so you fell into the water; do you remember how?"
Loren laid back again and closed her eyes. There was a flash of a man wearing a uniform like hers, she couldn't see his face…she turned away…she felt…anger.
She opened her eyes. "There was a man…a Navy man…dressed like me, I was angry at him…."
The Sergeant and Medical Examiner traded hopeful looks. "Do you remember why?" Ducky asked.
And then like a damaged film, the image petered out. "No," she said crestfallen.
0750 Local_1250 Zulu
Potomac Park, near Great Falls
Washington, DC
Special Agent Dobbs and Gunnery Sergeant Puller's platoon of stoic Marines stood on the banks of the semi-frozen, but still turbulent Potomac.
Ken Dobbs motioned to the men to get their attention. "We're searching for a Navy issue purse, but I want you to mark everything that's man made. If you find anything, flag it and call me. Do not touch it. I'll bag it."
The platoon answered as one. "Yes sir!" And began to fan out along the side of the icy embankment.
xxiixx
Tony looked at his PDA again. The number on the screen matched the license plate number. "Well, Lieutenant Loren Singer," he said to himself, "Looks like we found your car."
He stood in front of the vehicle, a blue late model Miata convertible. The blue paint job showed some signs of weathering, but overall the car looked to be in fairly decent shape. The NCIS Agent tried to look inside, but the windows were frosted over and when he was able to rub the frost off the driver side window, he discovered it was fogged over.
"Well, that's just great," Tony grumped. He tried the back passenger window, but like he figured, once he got enough of the frost off to see inside, the inside of the window was covered with condensation.
"Okay, that worked well," Tony said smiling wryly to himself. "Let's try this from the other side," But the result was the same. The NCIS Agent shook his head and let out a disgusted hiss.
"Just freakin' great, Tony," he said ruefully to himself. "Guess we'll just have to pop this sucker open to find out what's inside." He dug his metal slim-jim out his duffle bag.
0930 Local_1430 Zulu
JAG Liaison Office
NCIS Headquarters
Washington, DC
Marine Major John Michael 'Jack' McBurney sat at his desk, tapping his pencil against his desk pad. He looked up at the window next to the door where he had tacked up a dozen or so note cards. Each one had a different scribbled note on it 'Corporal Jones pulled over for DUI 0021 Hrs /0521 Zulu' 'Ofc. Cantrell initiated traffic stop and administered field sobriety test 0021-0030 Hrs' 'Cpl Jones stumbles into Ofc. Cantrell, knocking him to the ground' '0033? Ofc Riley handcuffs Cpl. Jones and informs him of his rights' -
He was about to look at the next card when he noticed a pair of eyes looking at him from between the cards. A pair of female eyes. From what he could see of her, she wasn't bad looking.
"Yes, may I help you?" he asked.
"Lieutenant Commander Faith Coleman," she said stiffly as she moved to the open doorway, "JAG Corps, North Island NAS."
Jack noted she was carrying a slim black leather attaché case. "What can I do for you, Commander?" She was indeed an attractive woman, but she held herself as if she was afraid something would escape.
She stepped into the tiny office and presented her paperwork in plain sea green folder. "I've been assigned by COM NAVDIST Washington to work with you on the JAGMan investigation into what happened to Lieutenant Loren Singer."
Jack took the trifold folder and opened it up, scanning her orders. Sure enough Commander Coleman had been assigned TAD to NCIS Headquarters to work with him. "Looks like everything is in order here," he said looking at her over the top of the folder. "Welcome aboard," He stuck out his hand as he handed the folder back to her.
Faith regarded the outstretched hand for moment before giving it a firm shake. "I take it this will be my desk?" Her eyes cutting to the empty desk in the room, catty corner to his.
Jack chuckled. "Well, we're at a premium on space in here as you can see, so hopefully, that desk will do."
She turned and looked at it for long moment. Jack wondered what she could be thinking because
she stood looking at it for so long.
"It will do," she said as she got behind it and sat down. Immediately she began opening the drawers one by-one-one inspecting their contents.
"I can have the secretary down in the bullpen get you any supplies that you need," he offered.
She looked up at him. "Not necessary, thank you." She pulled empty 'in' and 'out' trays from behind the desk and set them on top.
"Do you, uh, need a desk pad, calendar, pencils?" He watched with fascination was she lined up the two trays with the edge of desktop.
She set her attaché case precisely in the center of the desktop and opened it. "Again, not necessary, but thank you," she said formally as she gave him a blank look and then busied herself with taking items out of her case, starting with her cell phone first which she placed to the left of her briefcase.
The Staff Judge Advocate (SJA) Major noted that the way her desk was angled in the tiny room allowed him to see that her attaché case was…well, well-organized was an understatement.
She had about half dozen pens, all perfectly aligned in a pocket inside her case, next to that was a green see through ruler, two mechanical pencils, and next to that was a pocket containing a small black binder.
She reached back into her case took out an office supply tray from lower part of her case and placed it next to her desk lamp, then two plastic cups, one labeled 'in' and one labeled 'out', a box of pencils, and a pencil sharpener.
The Major was mesmerized by this ritual. The Commander, seemingly oblivious to the Major watching her, proceeded to open the box of pencils and began sharpening them. When she was satisfied with first one, she put it in the cup labeled 'in' and started on the second pencil. This continued until she had a half dozen pencils sharpened and placed in the cup.
When she finished with the pencils, she pulled out a legal pad and set it on the desk next to her cell phone and then pulled out the black binder and opened it to today's date.
Noting today's date, she wrote that at the top of the legal pad. Finally, she produced a set of notecards held together by two rubber bands. Jack noted that there were white cards on top followed by a set of pink, green, orange, red, purple, and blue pastel cards
She placed them to the right of her briefcase. Satisfied that she had everything she needed, she closed her attaché case and set it to left of her legal pad. Having done that, she moved her legal pad and note cards to where the case had been.
Jack's phone rang and he picked it up, still distracted by the Commander's rituals. "Uh yeah, this is Jack, er, Major McBurney speaking…"
At that moment Faith looked over at him and noticed he was staring at her. Jack averted his eyes and continued his phone conversation. Faith sighed heavily, shaking her head as she took the rubber bands off the cards and separated the cards into color coded stacks.
"…Thank you, goodbye." The Major looked over at Commander Coleman.
"Anything I should be made aware of Major?" She asked innocently.
Jack was still thrown by her desk setup ritual. "Wha –the phone call? Oh no, that was for me. I have an appointment to practice on the firing range later this morning. Uh, would you like to go?"
"I need to phone my senior officer and let him know I have an office now and how to get in touch with me when necessary," she replied primly. "I also need to check with the secretary that you mentioned and get a password for this workstation and set up my phone."
"Yeah, sure, I understand," he said stumbling over his words.
She arched an eyebrow at him. "Major, are you all right?"
Jack picked up a folder in one hand and a coffee cup in another. "I'm fine, fine…just need to drop off this file with Special Agent Pacci down in the Major Case Response Team bullpen, excuse me."
Faith watched as he got up and left the room. A thin but noticeable smile crossed her features as she got out her ruler, picked a sharpened pencil out of her 'in' cup and began to create a chart on her legal pad.
xxiixx
Gibbs took another drink from his coffee cup. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his friend Ducky, aka Dr. Donald Mallard, enter the bullpen.
"Where are you headed, Duck?" Gibbs asked as he kept his focus on data on his monitor screen.
Caught before he could sneak out, Dr. Mallard made his way over to Gibbs' desk. "Back to Bethesda, Jethro," he said simply, as if a direct answer might deflect any further questions.
It didn't. The gray haired NCIS Agent stopped looking at his monitor and up at his old friend. "What's your interest in this case, Ducky?"
The NCIS Medical Examiner looked Gibbs and shrugged. "I can't quite put my finger on what my interest is, Jethro."
Gibbs pushed back from his desk and monitor and focused his gaze on his friend. "Try me, Doctor."
Ducky shrugged and sighed. "I'm not sure Jethro, I just know that she is there all by herself and she needs to know someone cares about her. Besides, technically, she is my patient."
Gibbs shook his head slightly. "Duck, you don't have any patients that aren't on those tables down there," he said referring to Autopsy.
Donald Mallard pinched his face up in irritation. "True Jethro, but there's something about her and something about this case…besides, you know people from that office, I thought you'd take a special interest in her."
"Never worked with her, Duck," he said flatly. They stared at each other for a few minutes.
Then Gibbs nodded. He understood that feeling about a 'particular case' quite well. He had felt it before many times himself.
"Go on," he waved toward the elevator as he started looking at his monitor again. "I'll cover for you."
Ducky smiled. "Thank you Jethro. Tell Gerald and Abby I'll return in about an hour or so."
xxiixx
Tony walked into the darkened NCIS Lab Technician area and was immediately assaulted by frenetic music which barely covered the discharge of a twelve gauge shotgun into a dummy in the ballistics testing lab next to the office. Sitting in front of dual monitors which were flashing all sorts of graphs and charts was the Head NCIS Forensic Specialist, Abigail 'Abby' Sciuto.
Abby, as she watched the two screens, sipped tentatively from her straw which was attached to a large cup that had the logo 'Caf-Pow!' emblazoned on the side.
"Is that number two or three today?" Tony asked jocularly as eyed the king-sized drink.
Abby turned on her stool and smirked at Tony who was still rubbing his hands together trying to warm them up.
"If you must know," the Goth Forensic Specialist replied drolly, "it's number four."
Tony held up two sealed evidence baggies. "I brought you some presents…"
Abby made a face. "Ooh, and you wonder why you are still single," she kidded.
Tony chuckled at her good natured ribbing.
"Is this blood from the crime scene?" the pig-tailed tattooed NCIS Forensic Specialist asked as she took the bags from him.
Tony nodded. "Yep and blood from the victim at Bethesda."
Abby took the baggies and looked at them. "So you want to see if they match, right?"
Tony looked thoughtful. "That would be helpful to our case, yeah."
Abby smirked at his request and removed the samples from the baggies. "Have to type them first," she warned him.
Tony meanwhile had put on his wire rimmed glasses and was looking at the pictures on the wall. "You redecorating?" he asked.
Abby was preparing the samples for examination. "Uhm hmm, I just thought I'd brighten up the place a bit, you know…"
Tony looked closer at the multicolored photos. "Did you take these?"
Abby looked up at where Tony was standing. "Yeah. That's a cross section of what a twelve gauge did to an L3 to L5."
"Shotgun shattered backbone…?" Tony said in partial recognition of what he was looking at. Now he had turned his head sideways while looking at the second photo.
Abby grinned as she got up and walked over to him. She always loved it when others took an interest in her 'art'. "Yeah. The middle one there is a cross section of an ice pick to a cerebellum."
Tony nodded and looked around at the other grotesquely beautiful photos. He pointed to the second one.
"Duodenum?" He ventured.
Abby nodded with a shy grin on her face. "Yeah, I like to call it Duodenum with a lye chaser. It's a sad end of a Drano drinker."
Tony looked back at her and shook his head. "You need to get out more, Abby," he said simply.
"Is that an invite?" Abby asked in coy manner.
Tony gave her his winning smile.
xxiixx
Dobbs and the Marines walked along the riverbank and had been looking through the slush, mud, and tall winter grass for about three hours for anything out of the ordinary.
Ken Dobbs was getting impatient. It was really cold out here today and he wanted to get back inside. He shouted in frustration. "Anybody who finds that purse gets a steak dinner on me!"
The Marines intensified their search.
Special Agent Dobbs pointed to the water swirling in an eddy by the riverbank. "Check there by the water."
-TBC…