AN: Thanks to kubotr who wasn't logged in, for the kind review!
Cowboy Tony Rides Again
Chapter 4
Miss Campitelli of the Virginia Regional Land Authority held court at a fine modern office complex closer to Charlottesville than Richmond, which cut down the journey time somewhat. Nevertheless, by the time Simon had called in and described her fury with a tongue-in cheek taste for journalistic hyperbole, almost two hours had gone by.
"She was livid, Tony! She's... well, more obviously Italian than you... tempestuous, flashing eyes, spoke eloquently con le mani... well, she was grateful that we'd unearthed it. I told her a barefaced lie, that we'd found copies amongst the estate of someone in Appelt, didn't want to drop Tim in it. Ziva says she believed me. She's now after the blood of the poor official who was conned into it, and the fact that he retired over a year ago doesn't seem likely to save him. Anyway, she's clear. No dam in the gorge under any circumstances; again, Ziva says she's telling the truth. We're on our way back. Now we just need to let those jokers know."
There were guarded looks as Tony disconnected the speakerphone; Adam was beaming with pleasure at his Dad's success, and no-one wanted to voice the thought that it was probably already too late. Mary said teasingly, in an attempt to lighten the moment, "So, Tony... you're not tempestuous and flashing eyed?"
The tall agent struck a pose, just as Adam said "What's con lay marnee?"
Tony put on a thick Neapolitan accent, which was the one he considered he did best, and said "With-a da hendz..." and waved them accordingly. But as he made Adam laugh, he thought of Italian serenading Jeanne in the hospital parking lot; his stomach roiled and a fist of ice took hold of his heart and gripped it until it shattered yet again.
Both Gibbs and Tim saw the look that skidded across his face as he turned, ostensibly to look out of the window at the dam where it rose not twenty yards away. They glanced at each other, trying to come up with something quickly to distract him; blessed fate intervened as the younger agent's laptop beeped.
"Got something," Tim said, barely concealing his relief. He hated the look he was seeing in Tony's eyes lately, but didn't really know what he could do.
In the time since Simon and Ziva had set out, the three NCIS agents had familiarised themselves with all the information McGee had found on the businesses up up on the hill and their parsimonious owners, and set up co-ordination with the local and state police. Tony had mused on how would-be saboteurs would think they could get away with it, and Gibbs had suggested they'd bring in outside help. Mary had growled that yes, that would be Brew Eisley's style, and his friends, so a search was on for possible known undesirables appearing in the area.
They'd also had a crash course in the geography and history of the area, and the workings of the Four Dams system. They were impressed with how the FDA team had kept that system working, and Old Dam from failing, on a shoestring budget.
"The thing is," Mary had said ruefully, "even now, we could deal with things if the poor old thing went from natural causes. We'd know from the flow patterns when the base was being seriously undermined – which it is, but I mean seriously undermined... the other two dams can still hold more, and like I told Tony, we could drain the Old Lake before trouble struck and still have enough water for nobody to go short.
"But sabotage, that's different."
"How would you go about that?" Gibbs had asked, although he thought he could guess.
It was Ty Frodsham who'd grunted, thrown his pen down and pushed his chair back.
"If I'd been around at the time, I'd have told them to do it differently... that damn pipeline down from New Dam. All anyone but us knows is that it gets the water down here in a hurry if it's needed. What we know, not that the knowledge does us any good, is that one: there's no valve down here to open or close the conduit. Two: where the outflow's located, up at the top end of the lake here, when it's open, it pushes the water round like a giant coffee spoon. It only takes an hour for the whole lake to be flowing round in a giant circle, and that's what's undercut the dam in the first place."
They'd all looked astonished, as they put two and two together. "That's right," Mary had said. "Old Dam was doing just fine until they built its new cousin. Crazy, isn't it?"
"The coffee spoon phenomenon's almost irrelevant, though," Ty had added. "Everyone knows the dam's in danger, Mary's been vocal enough – they all trust us to keep them safe – so that lot -" he pointed derisively through the window, across the hollow where Appelt lay in the sunshine, to the buildings up on the high ground. "That lot know all they have to do is let a lot of water into Old Lake suddenly, and in very short time the dam would be beyond saving. Me, I'd open that valve, and all the sluices on the other two dams, all at once."
Tim had shaken his head. "You have remote control of all the machinery. They'd have to know you'd be aware immediately of what they were doing, and close them again."
"Oh, yeah. They could either jam the sluices, and that valve, or they could stop us."
Gibbs had nodded gravely. "You do realise that could put you in a certain amount of danger."
"The thought's occurred to us."
Now, Tim hoped that ding from his computer would give him something, anything, that could lessen the danger, and lighten his friend's mood.
Tony turned back from the window, forcing his attention back to the present. Focus, DiNozzo, we've got a job to do... his thoughts seemed to have Gibbs' voice.
"Well," Tim said in surprise, he's not the one I'd have expected. If I were asked to pick, that is."
"What's that?" Mary asked, coming over. "Well I'll be... hell, I'm not saying what I'll be, but I should have known."
"Known?" Joel stirred himself away from the monitors and gauges he'd been watching.
"Tim's found the owner of the holding company. Our land-grabber's Harvey Eames."
NCISNCISNCIS
Harvey Eames was a worried man. Seven years ago, he'd laid out a lot of money to take the wholesale franchise for the area, of one of the biggest suppliers of auto spare parts in the country. The business had made good returns, but had taken time to recoup the outlay, and in any case, Harvey always wanted more. So, for that matter, did Harvey's somewhat younger wife, who hadn't the faintest idea how to earn money, but sure knew how to spend it. (She didn't love him, he didn't love her... but he loved the looks on other guys' faces when he, forties, narrow shouldered and unprepossessing, walked into a room with her, so yeah, he was prepared to pay to keep her.)
The would-be magnate had begun buying land in a small way when the idea of a dam at Deepwood was first mooted. The high ground where his warehouse stood would be on a promontory above such a dam; the land around was rocky and unattractive, and would only be fit for expanding the operations of his business and the others that shared the plateau. If industrial use were confined to that area, where it would be practical and sensible from the point of view of water supply; and of benefit to employment in the region, he was certain that a very good case could be made (indeed, he'd already made it where it mattered,) for the new dam, if the old one were no longer of use.
The only fly in the ointment was the town of Appelt. Well, not the only one – there was also the matter of a tiny, killer dormouse of a woman who ran the dams authority, and wouldn't hear of it. Harvey Eames was beginning to hate Mary Lesniak.
Time was running out: she'd been understated in public, (he knew she and her crew were good enough to manage the situation, and they didn't want to alarm people,) but in spite of his best efforts to disparage her work, she was being listened to. And now that damn newspaperman – another fly – was starting to show an interest. Other than amongst the business community there'd been only opposition to the idea.
"What did you expect, Harvey?" Brew Eisley grumbled. "They like the area as it is, they don't want change, and there'd be nothing in it for them if change happened."
Even Eisley, who liked money as much as Eames did, was just a little chilled by his reply. "They don't matter. I've worked too hard for this to let it go now."
Oh, he had. If the auditors ever got wind of how much of the franchise's money he'd spent lately on buying more land, he'd lose more than his trophy wife. He was, however, a seriously creative accountant, and was (almost) quite certain that a slightly under-performing business could be explained by its location and limited size; by the time the new dam was approved, the parent company would be only too glad to help with his expansion. He turned sharply to face his co-conspiritors.
"Do you know how difficult it was to get that set of accords done? And then buried where no-one would notice until it was too late? But they're there. If Old Dam failed – when Old Dam fails, and the sweet little town of Appelt isn't there any more, we'll have our new dam. You want to be rich, don't you?"
Eisley nodded. "Oh, I'm with you, Harvey... tell me again how you plan to achieve it without being caught?"
Phil Liddell murmured his agreement. "Can't get the nation drinking my beer if I'm in jail."
The fourth plotter said nothing, his face a mask of self-preserving calm, his thoughts maybe not so.
Harvey laughed. "I've got the manpower... all you need to do is stump up your share of their payoff. I'm not footing the entire bill myself – you'll all benefit just as much as me."
"Manpower?" Scott Milner spoke, warily, for the first time.
"Manpower, Milner." Eames rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You don't think we're going to get our own hands dirty, do you? All they need to do is open the sluices on all the dams when I tell them to – and that pipeline down from New Dam, that'll do the most damage..."
"But they... they'll know... and they can open and close them remotely from the control room at Old Dam," Milner protested feebly.
"Not if they're jammed," Eames said with exaggerated patience. "And before you ask, the guys I hired don't know who they're working for. Four of the six of them are of Asian descent – if the word 'terrorism' gets whispered in the aftermath I won't be surprised. It'll help, but I don't really care, they can't be traced to us. They've had half the money up front – and that can't be traced to me either – now they're just waiting for the word to earn the rest of it, and get the hell out of there." He flourished a phone.
"What..." this time it was Liddell looking as if he had a tiger by the tail. "They're up there now?"
"Keeping out of sight," Harvey Eames said cheerfully. He finally realised he was getting some dubious looks. "Look," he said patiently, "there's not enough water up there to actually hurt anyone... it'll just break the dam and cause enough flood damage in the town that it won't be worth rebuilding either."
"Oh," Liddell said, venal enough to believe what he wanted to believe. "Fair enough."
"When did you think we were going to make our move? After Townley's next bit of 'investigative journalism'?" Eames waved expansively at several sets of binoculars waiting on the conference room table, and gave a smile that anyone not blinded by dollar signs would have recognised as dangling far out over the edge of the cuckoo's nest, and moved to the window. "Should get a good view from here..."
NCISNCISNCIS
"It's not such a surprise," Mary said finally. "Eames is the richest, and the greediest -"
"And he has a very expensive wife to support," Joel added.
"You know, he never struck me as particularly stable, either," Ty chimed in. "Type who throws tantrums, you know?"
Mary and Joel both nodded; they did know. The agents took note, and Gibbs' phone buzzed. He listened, grunted his thanks, and put it away. "State police. Three known offenders from the Baltimore area -" Tony rolled his eyes - "seen driving this way yesterday. Pictures being supplied. It could be starting."
"We need to be out there, Boss," Tony said quietly. And if Gibbs hadn't been about to agree with him, a moment later he would have changed his mind – he didn't believe in coincidences... Mary's desk phone shrilled.
"Hey, Ross..." She listened for a while. "Really? Can you see anything? Ah. No! No, you shouldn't. Ross, wait -" She swore. "Ross Macklin – remember? Our fourth guy? Had the surveillance last night? A pal of his who's a hunter just let him know he spotted at least two guys up in the woods by Beaver, trying to look as if they weren't there. Ross put a camera up there..." Joel was already hitting buttons, "but he said it doesn't show anything."
"He's right," the young man confirmed.
"He's gone up there... I told him not to... said he's going to meet up with his pal – who's got a gun – and keep watch..."
"On my way," Gibbs growled.
"Boss," Tim said reprovingly, "One of us should go with you."
"I'll be fine, McGee. DiNozzo, you still here?" He swept out.
Tony grabbed his backpack. "I'll go check round the far side of New Lake, there's more cover there than where I met you this morning."
"Sure, Tony – but there's no road up there, only hunter trails and deer tracks," Mary protested.
"All Doris and I need," he told her with his first smile in quite some time.
He headed for the door, and Tim followed him out. As the SFA turned to ask what was up, he saw the younger man's eyes were hot. "This is getting tired, Tony. I get left behind again? Neither you nor Gibbs think you need me?" It was more disappointed than petulant, and hell, Tony knew all about feeling insecure, so he didn't let rip with his usual sarcasm.
"Maybe we do, McGee, but they need you more." Tim blinked. "They may be in danger if the bad guys come here – and anyway, what d'you think they'll do if the dam starts to go?"
"They'll stay and try to save it. Ah."
"Yeah. You have to convince them if the time comes to stop. Save them, and young Adam."
Tim nodded ruefully. "OK. You got it... sor-"
"Rule six. Take care of them." He hurried away to his car.
Tim stood looking back at the dam as Tony drove away. It was difficult to imagine something so large and solid being vulnerable... He wondered where the weakest point was, and tried to imagine where the water would flow, then shrugged and gave up what had to be a pretty pointless exercise. He was about to walk back inside, when he heard a vehicle approaching, and even as he wondered if Tony had forgotten something, he knew it wasn't the Mustang's engine. He turned, to see a white delivery truck approaching; 'Milner's Gourmet Meals' was the legend in classic script on its side. Milner... Tim uncovered his gun, but the frantic man who leapt from the cab was alone, unarmed, and didn't seem to be a threat to anyone.
"Is Mary here?" he gasped. "I've got to talk to her... or Ty... he's going to kill everyone..."
Tim drew his gun, and motioned the other man to be still and quiet, while he checked the truck. Never assume... that the back isn't full of armed men. It wasn't – Tim breathed again and ushered Milner into the building, almost being bowled over by young Adam, as he dashed out, crutches flailing.
"Sorry, Tim... going to wait for Dad," he said, and sat down on the same step he'd chosen earlier.
NCISNCISNCIS
Gibbs took the FWD that he'd 'borrowed' from Mary, (the keys were in it, and he was sure she'd have said yes if he'd stopped to ask... rule 18!) up as far as the turning for Beaver Dam, then pulled it off the road, and went the rest of the way on foot. Since he didn't want to be seen, he wasn't; but the men he was looking for, both lots, were also well concealed. And he really hoped to find the friendly ones first. He found himself wishing he had DiNozzo's hearing...
A moment later he found he didn't need it, as the heavy metal ring-tone of someone's cell was loud enough to startle a few birds and a squirrel into leaving the area. A moment later, three young men rose from their secluded resting place, and headed out towards the dam. One picked up a solid looking tree branch as he went.
Gibbs drew his Sig, and followed silently as the men walked out onto the dam and headed for the sluice, only to have two more men break cover between him and the first group. Not what he'd hoped for. The FDA man and the hunter... who held his gun like he knew how to use it, but how many guns did the opposition have?
One of the bad guys saw them and yelled a warning, just as Ross Macklin yelled at them to get away from the sluice. His friend raised his rifle uncertainly – shooting at deer was one thing...
The leader of the three simply laughed. He began to lift something that looked like a semi-automatic, and Gibbs thought enough was enough.
"Federal Agent! Freeze!"
The weapon began to swing towards him, so he just shot it out of the guy's hand. It flew over the parapet and disappeared into the dam for ever. "Every shot should be a kill shot," he heard his old instructor's voice, above the sound of the man's scream of pain. No, not any more... The second man half raised a handgun, but stopped when he found himself the centre of attention for a Sig and a Remington, this time aimed with real purpose. The third ducked behind him, ran along the dam and disappeared, blundering into the undergrowth.
"Thanks," Ross Macklin said, rather breathless now the adrenalin was subsiding a bit. "We were just going to watch... but hell, I couldn't let them do anything to the dam..."
"Yeah, nice shooting," the hunter acknowledge, keeping his gun on the injured man while Gibbs cuffed the other. "You the fed Mary was talking to this morning?"
Gibbs chuckled, and gestured down the narrow trail at the other side of the dam. "Nope," he said. "He is."
Doris came sloping down the track, all equine nonchalance, herding an angry but subdued young man before her. "Hi, Boss," Tony carolled cheerfully. "Found something of yours..."
TBC