"I'm going to bring the coffee mugs down to Marcie," said Tony the next morning, "meet you down there."
McGee nodded. They had quickly fallen into a routine. Tony would get up first, go down for a shower and cajole mugs of freshly made coffee from Marcie while Tim would make breakfast for them both. Tony would then clear up while Tim used the facilities.
Today was no different except that today they were going to put their theory to the test and calculate where Sullivan would have hidden his loot rather than just drive to the co-ordinates supplied by Gibbs. They had noticed that the Petty Officer favoured clumps of trees or undergrowth near streams or ponds in which to hide his stashes so they were pretty confident they would be successful.
Tony wasn't waiting outside when Tim pulled up in the jeep outside the campsite reception building so he went to look for him. Tony was talking to Marcie about Sullivan.
"I don't know," she was saying, "I think Colin had one of those alphabet illnesses."
"A what?" asked Tony.
"You know, honey, ends with D."
"ADD?" suggested Tim helpfully, "or ADHD?"
"I don't know, Tim," said Marcie doubtfully.
"ADD," said Tim, "it's what Tony has."
"Do you, dear?" asked Marcie solicitously, "what's it like?"
"You know," said Tim, "can't concentrate, always changing the subject …"
"I do not have ADD," said Tony firmly and with dignity, "I just happen to have a lively mind which refuses to be trammelled by … well, by the things which trammel the minds of most people."
"Well," said Marcie thoughtfully, "I don't know about this ADE stuff but Colin wasn't anything like Tony."
Tony cast a triumphant look at McGee, "Perhaps you're thinking of OCD, Marcie. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder."
"Maybe. What are the symptoms of that?" asked Marcie.
"Let me see," mused Tony, "did Colin ever buy a donut and pick all the sprinkles off?"
"Not that I know of. Why would someone do that? Why not buy a plain donut in the first place?" said a puzzled Marcie.
"Hah," said Tony, "I've been asking myself that for years."
"The sprinkles add just the right amount of sweetness to the frosting," said Tim earnestly, "well, I mean, they do when they're taken off. They leave behind just a touch of extra taste."
"Really?" said Marcie, "I never knew that. I'll have to try it next time I have a donut," and she smiled sweetly at Tim leaving Tony to reflect that she was one of the kindest people he had ever met.
"I guess," she continued, "Colin might have had the O thing rather than the A thing but I don't think anything was ever diagnosed. But he was very precise, very ordered. A bit controlling, if you know what I mean. I think that's why he used to spend so much time in the woods, away from people."
"Thanks, Marcie," said Tony, "we'll see you later."
"Have a good day, boys. How much longer you going to be here?"
"We should finish today or tomorrow," said Tim, "be gone for the weekend."
"You're welcome to stay longer," said Marcie, "the coffee pot's always waiting for you."
Tony and Tim nodded their thanks and set off for the first location. As they hit what passed for the main road they drove past the Quiet Zone truck which was on constant patrol monitoring for rogue transmissions. The driver gave them a cheery wave as they went past.
"Imagine that as a job," observed Tim.
"What?"
"Driving round cracking down on people using forbidden electrical equipment," McGee shuddered at the thought.
"Gibbs'd love it," said Tony, "in fact he'd love this whole place. Perhaps we should suggest it as somewhere for him to retire to."
"The sooner the better," said McGee darkly. He hadn't forgiven Gibbs yet for nearly giving him a nervous breakdown by telling him he had given the Director a concussion.
"That's the spirit," said Tony cheerfully, "and remember, 'revenge is a dish best served cold'"
"You think we should plot revenge?" said Tim with sudden interest.
"It's tempting," agreed Tony.
"Any ideas?" asked Tim eagerly.
"Not really," said Tony, "my brain keeps freezing at the thought that Gibbs will always find out we're the culprits. And we all know how inventive his revenge can be even when he doesn't serve it cold."
McGee made a clucking sound.
Tony took his eyes off the road momentarily to deliver a glare at Tim, "seriously, Tim. You're accusing me of being chicken?"
"If the beak fits," said McGee loftily.
Tony laughed, "You really think Gibbs doesn't have an Arctic weather station waiting for you, McUnderestmateGibbsatyourperil?"
"No NCIS agents posted to weather stations," Tim pointed out.
"Yet," said Tony solemnly, "and do you really think that would stop Gibbs?"
"Hmm," said Tim who was clearly not yet ready to give up on the idea of revenge.
Tony wondered if his co-worker would display the same obsessive behaviour over this as he did over donuts and sprinkles. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to book a ringside seat or a week's vacation.
The question of retribution was shelved for the moment as they reached the first of what they had calculated to be Sullivan's hiding places. There was the usual two mile hike to a remote spot away from the road and there, close to a stream and in a clump of trees, they found the familiar box. They high fived each other in triumph and then prised the lid off.
"He didn't exactly steal top notch stuff, did he?" observed Tony.
Tim nodded his head in agreement. The crates were usually full but some of the equipment was old and out of date, some of it was broken and none of it especially hi-tech. The latest crate contained some tools and monitoring devices which were expensive but available at most hardware stores. Tim and Tony sighed and, in a well-practised manoeuvre, carried the crate back to the jeep.
By the end of the day, using their calculations, they had collected two crates in addition to those at the co-ordinates supplied by Gibbs.
"We might get home a day early at this rate," said Tony with satisfaction as they drove into the NIOC base.
"Yeah, guess so," said McGee.
"Thought you'd be pleased, Tim."
"I am," insisted Tim, "but it's been …"
"Fun?" suggested Tony.
"No."
"Exhilarating?"
"No."
"Educational?"
"Why would it have been educational?" asked Tim.
"Well, you know. Time spent with me is never wasted."
"In that case, no, it hasn't been educational."
"You disappoint me, Tim," said Tony mournfully, "so what has it been?"
"Not as bad as I thought it was going to be," said Tim.
"Ouch. Damned with faint praise," winced Tony, "still faint praise is better than none," he added with an attempt to look on the bright side.
Lieutenant Maye was waiting for them with a ready smile for Tim and a cooler nod to Tony. Philosophically admitting defeat, Tony made the call to Gibbs; he thought, in any case, that it might be better to keep Tim away from the Boss while his anger was still simmering.
"Hey, Boss," he said cheerfully.
"DiNozzo," came a rather unpromising response.
"You'd like it here, Boss," continued Tony doggedly,
A customary silence.
"No cell phones. It's real quiet," he pressed on.
"Hmm," this suggested a slight mellowing but Tony decided not to take any chances,
"We got the crates," he said neutrally, not letting on that they had retrieved more than that day's allocation.
"Get ready to take down the next set," said Gibbs.
"On it, Boss," said Tony obediently.
Gibbs read out three map references and Tony was pleased to see that two of them were of the places they had been today.
"That it?" he asked, they had become accustomed to Gibbs giving them three a day.
"There's another one," said Gibbs, "it's the last one, Sullivan gave it up today. Looks quite close to some of the others so you might as well fetch that one too."
Tony took down the details and waited to see if there were any other instructions. Before Gibbs could speak, however, Tony heard Abby's excited voice echo down the line.
"Is that Tim and Tony?" he heard, "Are they all right? They haven't got sick from sleeping in the damp, have they? It's not too cold for them, is it? Did they bring hot water bottles with them? Did …?"
"Abs," said Gibbs dampeningly, "they're NCIS federal agents not children in kindergarten. They'll be fine."
"Can I speak to them?" beseeched Abby, apparently undeterred by Gibbs' disapproval, "please?"
"They're working," said Gibbs, "no time to chat."
"Ohh," said Abby sadly, "but I miss them …"
"Abby!" said Gibbs brusquely.
"And so do you! The way you've been wandering around like a lost soul. You deny it, but you can't fool me, Mister …"
"DiNozzo!" said Gibbs, "finish the job," and he put the phone down so that Tony could hear no more. With a smile on his face and his heart strangely warmed, he went to find Tim.
"What are you so happy about?" asked Tim when he saw the senior field agent.
"Gibbs misses us," said Tony happily.
"Did he say so?" asked Tim in surprise.
"No … but Abby said so."
"You spoke to Abby?"
"Not directly. She was in the background. Well, as much as Abby is ever in the background."
"How many co-ordinates did Gibbs give us?"
"Four."
"Four?"
"Relax. We've been to two already. And it looks as if this is the last batch. Gibbs said our friend gave the last one up today."
"Great," said Tim, "we should be able to go home tomorrow then. Although …"
"Although what? Finding being with me educational after all?"
"No. No. No, I was thinking that if we'd been here a bit longer I might have tried making a stew in a hay box."
"Sounds great," said Tony trying to sound enthusiastic, "pity to miss out on that."
NCISNCIS
"You wrote the co-ordinates down wrong," said Tim as they sat in their accustomed place in the diner waiting for their meals with extra sides of fries to arrive.
"No, I didn't," said Tony, "I have excellent skills of recall. That's what the Boss said."
"It doesn't make sense," protested Tim, "look. This last one is just random. It doesn't form part of the pattern."
"You're right," agreed Tony, "looks as if it's in a sports stadium or something. Maybe the Boss has got it wrong."
"What shall we do?"
"We'll go there and check," decided Tony, "There's probably a pay phone nearby so if we don't find a crate there, we'll call Gibbs and ask for the details again. Sullivan probably just made a mistake."
Tim opened his mouth to discuss this more but closed it again as his chilli arrived and he had to prepare his defences in case Tony took a fancy to it.
It came on to rain as they drove to the campsite and Tim sighed discontentedly.
"It's cloudy," he said.
"Good observation skills," said Tony preparing to run to the tent, "hope you got the badge for that."
"We won't be able to watch the stars," said Tim.
"Shame," said Tony insincerely, "we'll have to miss out on those divine bodies."
"Still," said Tim brightly, "it will give us more time to watch the 'Mysteries of Binary' DVD."
"There's always a bright side," said Tony bravely and then, under his breath, "allegedly."
NCISNCIS
The rain continued during the night and Tim and Tony awoke feeling damp and miserable. They didn't light a fire so just had bread and cold beans for breakfast before making an early start on what they hoped would be the last day's work.
They went first to the set of co-ordinates they trusted and found the box as they expected before driving to the sports stadium which served the small town.
"No trees or anything here," said Tim, "and no water either. I'm telling you this is the wrong place."
"I heard you the first fifty three times," said Tony, "come on. We have to check."
The stadium was deserted so they didn't have to show their badges.
"I can't see anything," said Tony as they gazed across the baseball field.
"There's a hut over there," said Tim, "would be about the right place."
"OK, let's look there," said Tony, "then you can phone Gibbs."
"Why me?"
"You're the one who's good at writing down map references," said Tony, "you can do it."
Tim grumbled but, as it turned out, there was no need to call Gibbs. When they pulled open the door of the tumbledown hut, they saw the usual crate.
"Told you I wrote it down right," said Tony virtuously.
"OK, OK," said Tim, "but it doesn't make sense."
"Shall we leave it here then?" said Tony sarcastically, "and tell the Boss that we didn't come here because 'it didn't make sense'?"
McGee huffed in annoyance.
"You're mad at our thief for not being logical?" asked Tony.
"No," said Tim unconvincingly, "but it …"
"I know, it doesn't make sense," Tony completed Tim's sentence. "Perhaps he got tired of perfection?"
"Guess so," muttered Tim, "or perhaps this place has some other significance for him?"
"From what Marcie said, I don't think it's the sort of place he'd have happy memories of," said Tony, "she said he was bad at sports and got teased a lot."
"Let's get this one in the jeep," said Tim, and he and Tony braced themselves to pick up the crate.
The box lifted easily and the two looked at each other in surprise.
"Hey, he made the last one easy for us," said Tony, "thanks, Caspar."
They put the last box into the jeep and started driving towards Sugar Grove to hand everything in. After a couple of miles they passed the tracker van and received another happy wave from its driver.
"It's a nice place," said Tim, "friendly people, beautiful scenery, peaceful."
"You thinking of moving here?" asked Tony a bit absently.
"Good heavens, no," shuddered Tim, "at least not until they shut down the Observatory and let technology in."
Tony laughed and then froze into silence. Tim looked at him in a puzzlement which increased when Tony stopped the jeep and got out.
"Tony? What's the matter?" asked Tim following him to the back of the vehicle.
"We didn't look inside," said Tony.
"So what? It'll just be the usual stuff."
"Nothing else has been 'usual' about this box," said Tony.
"Like you said, it was the last one. Perhaps he didn't have so much stuff to hide. Perhaps the hut was just meant to be a temporary hiding place."
"I've got a bad feeling about this, Probie," said Tony.
Tony pulled the last crate forwards and they lifted the lid and peered in.
"Nothing wrong here," said McGee in relief, "in fact this looks better than the usual stuff we've been finding" as he pointed to what looked like transmitters or receivers of some type. He turned to go back to the front of the car. He had gone a few paces when he heard Tony say in an oddly calm voice,
"Tim, what does this look like to you?"
McGee turned back and saw Tony pointing inside the box from which he had removed a piece of equipment. Tim looked where Tony was pointing,
"Er … it looks like a bomb to me."
"That's what it looks like to me as well, Tim. And I think it's counting down!"