Tony stood in the dark of the Observation room, watching the figure through the one-way mirror. Per Gibbs' orders, Ziva and the visibly terrified Keating had locked Staff Sergeant Adams in Interrogation, awaiting the Boss' arrival. Gibbs hadn't said where he was going when he sent them out to pick up Adams; nothing unusual in that. But it was unlike Gibbs to let a suspect stew for over 2 hours.
The time in Interrogation hadn't seemed to diminish their suspect's confidence one little bit. He was smiling slightly, totally at ease with his surroundings. Tony burned to watch Gibbs break this guy—if Abby was right, he'd damn near killed the man that was more brother than friend—but he was starting to doubt whether Gibbs would be able to. Even Gibbs wasn't perfect.
He turned as the door opened, seeing Ziva and Keating enter; Ziva obviously looking forward to the upcoming session, Keating just as obviously reluctant to be here. Tony felt his distaste for Keating growing. 'Whether he'd worked with McGee or not', Tony thought, 'he could at least show some interest in putting away someone that had maimed a fellow agent.'
"Gibbs?" Tony queried.
"Just got back" Ziva replied. Briefly she studied the lone occupant of the Interrogation room. "He still looks confident."
"Yeah. I don't like it." Tony stated flatly. "He's too confident."
Ziva started to reply, but was distracted by the door to Interrogation opening. Gibbs entered the room, his rigid posture announcing his state of mind.
"Gibbs is pissed" Tony observed. Ziva hushed him, her eyes intent on what was happening before them.
...
Gibbs laid a photograph of the storage facility on the table in front of Adams. "Recognise this?"
The sergeant picked up the photo, barely glancing at it before he carelessly dropped it onto the table.
"No."
Gibbs put down another photo, this time of one of the storage lockers. Adams gave it the same cursory glance before letting it slip back onto the table. "Not ringing any bells either, Agent Gibbs." His emphasis on the word 'Agent' made it sound like an insult. Gibbs carefully slid another photo across the table. This one was a crime scene photo, taken by one of Balboa's team after the blast. Adams awarded it the same fleeting look, but Gibbs caught the small flicker of triumph in his eyes. Controlling his rising anger, he methodically laid out photos of the reconstructed bomb. "This was recovered from the storage locker" he explained. "Recognise it at all?"
"Nope. Sorry."
"You should; we found your blood on it."
Adams leant back in his chair, looking bored. "So what?"
"So we can link you to a bomb that severely injured a federal agent."
Adams looked sceptical at that. "If you could prove that, I'd be under arrest. Looks to me like all you can prove is that I cut myself on something." He stood, pushing back his chair. "So unless you're going to arrest me, I'll be going now."
Knowing the evidence against him was slim and circumstantial, Gibbs merely replied "Don't leave town, Marine" as the sergeant exited the room.
...
Ziva, DiNozzo and Keating were waiting for him when he left the Interrogation room. "He's guilty, Boss" Tony stated.
"Well, yeah, DiNozzo, I know that" came the sarcastic reply.
"We're just gonna let him go?"
Gibbs turned, coming up so he was practically nose to nose with Tony. "You figured out how he made that call yet?"
"Not yet, Boss" he admitted.
"Well, what are you doing down here? Find out how he made that damned call!"
"On it, Boss."