Chapter Nineteen
Not My Plan
Monday is long and painful for the Agents of Washington and New Orleans but most especially for Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Dwayne Cassius Pride, whose sessions with NCIS' Director and the MTAC Conference with the Assistant Director of the Department of Justice ultimately end after 1500. As the final step, to purge the marathon sessions, Gibbs seeks the advice of his second oldest friend in NCIS. Palmer has been sent on an errand, so for a short while they're alone.
"The easiest part of the day is that NCIS will pay for the damage to the Devlins' home so we can relieve those agents guarding the place, and we'll alert Metro to the real situation, and the Devlins will be more discreet." He dismisses the inconsequential because the real tragedy is so taxing.
"What did you learn from Mr. Saunders?"
"He told us a lot of detail that had come back over the past day, about how he found the room and it became his private retreat, how he kept it clean so dust wouldn't give him away, how he used his father's camping lamp for light and would return it to the closet when he was done, how he kept a string to pull the switch and brought it out on that last day because he never wanted to go back." He had had to reach for the switch and Sammy Sky, who had found the room, would never have been able to reach it any more than child Paul could have. "That's one reason I never considered Paul a suspect, because once I found the lock I knew that a nine year old could never have used it."
"A misapplication of Rule 8?"
"Damned right."
x
"Have you decided what to do?" Ducky asks, unable to find anything good about the entire weekend.
He shakes his head, not wanting to think of it any longer. This has been his longest case, twenty one years, and the solution is as unsatisfactory as the problem. "It should take ten minutes when they finally get to the Bench, but Justice, the DA, Defense, the Director and Legal debated until they were red, white and blue in the face. NCIS will drop the Fraud that kept NIS running in circles for weeks and kept this a Cold Case for so long. He'll plead guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter, an accident. The DA will move for five years. Defense will press the fact he was a child, nine years old and doing what he thought he knew to do to save her, and will push for a Suspended Sentence. Justice will accept that motion. He never intended to kill her, but for the rest of his life he'll punish himself more than the government can."
"Memory is a malleable thing and then a bitter penalizer," the physician agrees philosophically. "Given desire and extreme emotional turmoil, which young Master Saunders had in abundance, one can convince one's self of anything. He remembered his version of reality for so long that, for him, it became reality, and I believe he was truly shocked to be confronted with the truth after all these years."
x
"He did what he thought he'd been taught, one of the reasons I don't watch television. But did he kill her?"
Ducky wishes he were a drinking man, and that he had one at this desk. "The answer to that leads us to the tragedy we face today. As life saving devices when used properly, defibrillators are often depicted in movies, television, video games and other fictional media, ninety nine percent of the time incorrectly. Their function is universally exaggerated, with the defibrillator apparently inducing a sudden, violent jerk or convulsion by the patient. In reality, although the muscles in the torso contract, they do not do so so spectacularly. Any such dramatic patient reaction is exceedingly rare.
"Similarly, fictional medical providers are often depicted defibrillating patients with a flat-line ECG rhythm, also known as asystole. This is never done in real life, as the heart is not restarted by the defibrillator. Only cardiac arrest rhythms such as ventricular fibrillation and pulseless ventricular tachycardia can be defibrillated. This is because the purpose of the device is to shock the patient into asystole and then let the heart resume a normal rhythm after a few seconds.
"Someone who is already in asystole cannot be helped by electrical means, but needs urgent CPR and intravenous medication.
"There are several heart rhythms that can be 'shocked' when the patient is not in cardiac arrest, such as if he is in atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter or supraventricular tachycardia, which produce a erratic and ineffectual contractions, for which a specialized device is used; but this more complicated procedure is known as cardioversion, not defibrillation."
"Really."
"Yes. In 1959 Bernard Lown commenced research in his animal laboratory in collaboration with engineer Barouh Berkovits into a technique which involved the charging of a bank of capacitors to approximately 1000 volts, then delivering the charge through an inductance to produce a heavily damped sinusoidal wave of finite duration such as 5 milliseconds to the heart by way of electrodes. This team developed an understanding of the optimal timing of shock delivery in the cardiac cycle, enabling the application of that device to deal with arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter and supraventricular tachycardias, which was a technique known as 'cardioversion'..." He's brought to a halt by Gibbs' stare.
"I understood 'in 1959'."
"Yes, well, suffice it to say that if not for the horrendous misrepresentations of AEDs over the past several decades, Paul Saunders' mistake might well never have happened. Household current, particularly because it is Alternating Current rather than Direct Current, is rarely fatal. From the description you gave me, it is very probable that Annette Saunders was only stunned, and when she collapsed she became a dead weight and broke the circuit. She would have been, however, only stunned, a condition that could last for several minutes."
"So my question: did he kill her?"
"I should very much like to disqualify myself as an Expert Witness in this case and leave it up to the interpretation of others, though I cannot." He meets Gibbs' eyes directly and the pedantic manner drops. "Young Paul, in his panic, very likely misinterpreted her condition. That is where the tragedy lies. Except for his actions, she would in due time have recovered consciousness."
xxx
Tim McGee is focused on his work, the records on his monitor requiring great attention if he's going to complete his Case File, when he becomes increasingly aware that something needs his attention. Thom E Gemcity takes this opportunity to whisper in his ear 'I feel a great disturbance in the Force', but when he looks up he jumps back not at the sight of Princess Leia but of his wife. "Shav?"
"Lord, I knew you were focused but I didn't expect to scare you."
"She has been standing there for a full minute," Ziva declares.
"I'm sorry. I'm actually unfocused. I'm split between my Report and 'The Other Locked Room'."
"Well, if you don't decide right," Gibbs says as he and Pride enter and their boss makes a bee line for his desk, "you had better pray that book sells."
"It will." He returns his attention to the Priest, for that is her persona, but he's amazed he hadn't seen her, especially when he belatedly realizes that everyone else has, for he doesn't believe anyone else could fail to lock their attention. His wife's normal Clerical summer attire is black skirt, light blue sleeveless back button blouse and inch and a half high wrap around collar.
This time she's wearing the so-rarely-indulged-in dress he'd bought her before the Pacific Princess cruise. It's a classic 'little black dress' that he notices now hugs her just a bit too affectionately for this bullpen, at least with Tony here. The distinction of this fingertip length dress is the white tab at the collar, inserted into slots or removed if she wants to be inconspicuous. But with that affectionate dress and her long legs above black high heeled slippers, she couldn't be inconspicuous.
"But what are you doing here?" It's Monday, and too far after 1600, not her usual Tuesday.
"Not my plan, achéadsearc, but Jennifer–" she glances over her shoulder to the unusually crowded bullpen, "that's Director Shepherd to you," she says with a sly smile before returning her attention to her husband, "called me in to consult on a special case. Not yours."
"One you can't tell me about."
"What other kind is there?"
"Everyone get out of here," Gibbs commands, "before Mollvaney calls with your next case."
x
"Well," Pride says, "that's our cue to leave too. Wheels up in less than two hours."
"Why not have Gibbs drive you?" DiNozzo suggests as the three Agents make their 'goodbyes'. "You can be at your HQ in two hours."
"Jet lag would be a killer," Chris LaSalle says.
"Do you get jet lag going south?"
"This is NCIS," Meredith Brody reminds them. "We do the impossible every day and twice on Fridays."
"Is yours NCIS' Annex or the Library's?" Tony asks.
"Let's get out of here," Pride urges firmly. He's seen 'The Librarians' and doesn't want to deal with anything they'd encounter.
"Not before you give me a proper Jefferson Parish goodbye," Abby declares as she and Sammy Sky step into the bullpen. Sammy has changed back into her normal clothes, light blue skirt and vest over white blouse, but that word can never be stretched to cover anything Abby might wear, in this case a long blue poodle skirt and white blouse with red shortie tie, which combination announces to those who know her that she's going bowling with her Nun friends.
"I was on my way down to see you," he says, hugging her.
"In that case I'll go downstairs and wait for you where there are no prying eyes." But it's a moment longer before she lets go.
x
In the meantime, Sammy has stepped over to McGee's desk, a thick sheaf of papers in her hand.
"I'm glad I caught you before you left," she tells him, her voice penetrating enough to attract attention and halt departures. "I finished reading your draft of 'The Other Locked Room'."
He doesn't appreciate seeing the first and last papers marked with red remains that look like smears of strawberries and others that could be cream, but he's less interested in that than in knowing "What did you think?"
"Well," her tone is unusually firm, "I didn't realize you'd put so much of me in there."
He's surprised by her manner, nothing like her normal élan. Her tone has locked both team's attentions, and since his book is long ahead of publication he doesn't want any. "It wasn't you."
"No," she grants with evident reluctance. "Not Samantha Sky but Sabrina Shore. No one would make the connection." But then she drops the pretense. "But I didn't realize you thought of me quite like that."
"I changed a lot." Yes, too many people are interested in this conversation.
"True," she admits. "Long blonde hair instead of short, five eight instead of five two - thank you very much but I like my height. Lesbian instead of Bi. Flutist instead of violinist." She puts the papers on his desk. "You still kept me in Autopsy, thank you, but Richard Dodgers, what's with that?"
DiNozzo is faster. "Dick Dodgers in the 21st and a 6th Century."
"I thought that was it." For Daffy it had been 'Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a half'. She leans onto the desk."But if you think the opposite of a B&D Bisexual Sub is an S&M Lesbian Domme we really have to talk."
She straightens at his look to the team, but "And the Sex Scenes, especially the one where I - Sabrina rather - seduce an unsuspecting Amy Sutton, tie her up on the floor of her Lab and do such terrible S&M things to her, things I'd never do or ever want to do - that was over the top."
He winces and wishes for less attention, that the men and women gathered near Ziva's desk wouldn't hear because a lot of the material is being revealed before publication. There's also a woman peering over the partition beyond Ziva's desk. "That's just 'Literary License'."
"Oh, so that's what it's called. You know, there were some things in other sections I might try, but you had me in Scenes I've never done in real life and have absolutely no intention of doing."
"Like what?" Tony asks.
She only glances at him. "Never you mind. But for the record, Tim, I do not start anything with Abby. She's Straight and I don't cross lines."
No one other than Ruby Rae will ever find out what had happened the other evening.
x
"All right. But what did you think of the story itself?" is all Tim wants to know.
"Good story, but I've lived it. I think you captured how it was driving me crazy, though; finding Karen dead and then being busted and scared out of my mind to be tried for her murder plus a stranger's."
"So you did like it?"
She visibly considers the point before deciding that "I have only one question."
He's not sure he should say it but "Shoot."
She smiles quite sweetly, her voice filled with invitation. "Do you want to see me topless?"
x
It's incredible how seven simple words, spoken in such enticing tones, can bring so large a room to a halt. Now too many people peer over the partition beyond Gibbs' desk and two agents have paused in passing the bullpen entrance.
"What?" He looks to Siobhan who appears to be very interested in his answer. He returns to Sammy and can see she was very serious about the offer. "Why would you ask me that? And in front of my wife?"
She places both hands upon his desk, upon the strawberry and cream marked manuscript, and leans in intimately with a most inviting smile, her tone sweeter. "Well, I figure it's only fair that you should see me topless. After all, I'm going to see you bottomless."
Tim looks about, gets no help from anyone. "Why?"
"Because, Tim E. Gemcity, if you publish that book," she leans closer for added emphasis and the smile vanishes, leaving her eyes stony, "I'll sue your pants off."
Fin
Next Episode: The Phobos Affair: All my Affairs are homages to David McCallum, and in a very chilling Pauley Perrette video we learn from her that 'the only fear is fear itself'. Thank you, Pauley.