Chapter 8 – Decoy
Tony p.o.v
After the line goes dead we are all just stood there trying to make sense of what just happened none of us can process it, the voice the fact that Kate is alive and has been all this time. After about 30 seconds McGee cautiously speaks up "Sorry boss, couldn't get the trace whoever he is knows how to cover his tracks he was bouncing the signal all over the world, maybe with about 5 days and ten times the man power we might get a physical location but it's still no guarantee, sorry".
Gibbs takes a deep breath he is angry but he knows deep down its not McGee's fault and I can see he is trying not to take his anger out on him, he pauses and then starts to speak "So am I McGee". Again we all fall into silence none of us really knowing what our next move is the beep of Gibbs phone brings us all back to reality, McGee pulls the message Gibbs received up onto the big screen which also has a video attached, the message reads 'just in case you did not believe me that your precious agent is still alive...'
We all know this cannot be good and none of us what to see what sort of evidence this bastard has sent us in that video. McGee hesitantly looks to Gibbs and asks "shall I play it boss?" the selective mute also known a Gibbs nods with an almost venerable look in his eye, McGee clicks the link and just like that there she is, the room she is in looks small and padded like it has sound proofing, the camera is steady and looks like it could be on a tripod, there is only one figure on the screen; a figure so skinny it looks like a child; just hanging their hands bound above her head; so beat up, limp, lifeless, like she has gave up on living, on being found, on dying.
But there is no question it is her, its Kate and while part of me is relived, happy even that she is alive, I know how selfish I am being, here I am happy she is alive, without any consideration for the 5 years of hell she has been put through, and with a second horrible thought I actually wish Ari had killed her on that roof top, at least then it was a clean shot, she didn't feel it or see it coming, she died peacefully he last moments were spent laughing, with me and Gibbs the wind in her hair the sun on her face, I doubt she has even seen the sun in the last five years, whatever has gone on in that room is almost certain to have been worse than death.
The voice behind the camera starts to laugh "Agent Gibbs is this what you wanted, proof that Caitlin is still alive that I have kept her all this time for you, but where were you Gibbs, she called for you every day for almost four years, but now I think she has accepted that the only face she will see for the rest of her life is mine and that is on you old friend" after the screen goes blank Gibbs tells McGee to get the video down to Abs and see what information she can get from it. I know the voice was distorted but, the way he got some of the phrases wrong because he is not a native and the way he drops some of the letters, and then it all comes together in my mind it's the exact same speech pattern that Zi has I should know because I am always correcting her and making fun of her when she tries to correct herself and there is only other person who speaks like that. Ari. Also the way he called her Caitlin in all the time I knew Kate only one person ever said her name like that and that was Ari.
I walk over to Gibbs desk where he is just starting off into space clear my throat and begin to speak before he tells me to piss off "Gibbs, there is only one other place I have heard that speech pattern..." but before I can make my point Gibbs cuts in "Ari" Ziva's head shots up and she looks like she has seen a ghost, she walks over to the desk where I stand "But it can't be you know I shot him, you were there" she is getting upset and angry Gibbs stands from his desk and declares an elevator meeting away from the prying eyes and ears of the other agents, not McGee I am pretty sure he already knows Gibbs must have filled him in on the way back from the crime scene, but Ziva was the talk of much office gossip when she first arrived, after five years even the most old school agents have either accepted her or found a new topic of gossip.
We follow and once inside he turns out the power and begins to speak "You told him" I don't want Zi to get into trouble "I already had my suspicions after reading the report, I mean come on you wouldn't take me as back up and I knew you needed to know you could trust her" Ziva looks at me a bit pissed but she knows it's true. Gibbs runs his hand over his face a very un-Gibbs like action, showing just how much this case is getting to him before he speaks again "Okay, okay that is not important now the point is that was his voice he may have distorted the sound but I would know that speech pattern anywhere, and there is a chance it could be him the person you shot in my basement could have just been another decoy like the one he used when he infiltrated autopsy, just a better version, we need to dig up that body and compare DNA you okay with that Ziver". Zi nods her head this is taking its toll on her too, just as much if not more than the rest of us, she just looks so tired.
I hate her brother for what he is doing to her. When we get out of the elevator McGee is back at his desk he looks up with the report he has just received from Abby.