Disclaimer: I do not own the characters to NCIS. They are owned by CBS. It's been a long time since I've seen that season, please forgive me if I've overlooked anything and point them out in a review. I hope to make a few more chapters to make this feel like an entire episode. Enjoy.
With lights and sirens blaring, the NCIS team hurtled towards Frederick where State Police had surrounded the house-an old but well kept plantation style home well off the highway with flat green fields all around with shade being given by large oak trees with leaves still on them. It took over two hours going well over the speed limit, and during the ride Abby contacted the State Police and obtained a mugshot of the man from their records and sent it to her colleagues via cellphone.
Reading the file that was sent in the front seat, DiNozzo narrowed his eyes as he looked at the mug shot, "You are one ugly mother..." he began to say before Ziva exclaimed from the back, "Yeah, that matches what Daisy told us in the park. This man had everything, including the lazy eye." The man's name was Donald Younger, a native of Frederick, Virginia. Ziva went on, "Has a history with the police and the courts. Says here he was arrested four times for vagrancy, trespassing, defecating in the streets...charming, and one count of animal cruelty."
Sitting beside her McGee was horrified by what the animal cruelty charge was, "He hurled a kitten at a passing semi truck"
"That is one sick dude" Tony grimaced.
Ziva continued, "He was sent to prison for six months, released after three, and then confined to the State Hospital for a year after he was found running around in the streets in the nude claiming that the CIA had stolen his clothes."
Gibbs was listening to his team as they fed him the information, but as the driver his eyes were focused straight ahead and with the lights on the vehicle flashing, the people on the highway kindly gave way.
It took over two hours to reach Frederick even with them going over the speed limit. They figured out where their man was when they came upon a barricade of cruisers blocking a road off the highway. Pulling up and exiting the vehicle they were approached by the troopers to identify themselves.
"Agent Gibbs, NCIS. This is my team" showing his badge and ID.
"You're here for that Younger guy, right?" one of the troopers asked.
"I think so" Gibbs replied all the while walking up the path with his team following behind and the trooper trying to keep abreast, and making no effort to delay or stop him. Going up the well beaten path that was lined with large oak trees that continued to rain red and yellow leaves on their path, the team, for a moment, felt pulled to a different time and place. This area was isolated and beautiful looking and according to the sign it was open as a bed and breakfast.
"Son, what can you tell me about the suspect and this place?" Gibbs asked, wanting to gain as much information as possible for the situation changes.
"Well, my partner and I pulled him over for a broken tail light just up the highway. When we ran the plate, it came back as stolen and when we tried to handcuff him-he was able to break free and run and went inside Lady Valdez's plantation house here." Coming to a slight rise the team paused when they saw a large white painted old Victorian era plantation style home before them with tall windows, a first and second floor balcony going all around the house, and lush green grass all around the property.
"Wow" Tony replied pulling off his glasses, "This reminds me of the Twelve Oaks Plantation from Gone With The Wind"
"You're talking about movies right now, Tony?" Ziva balked.
"They stop me from going insane" he said almost to himself.
The trooper continued to talk to Gibbs, "Old Lady Valdez has lived in that home for ninety years, and it's been in her family for eight generations. She's never hurt anyone in her life. She's a kind, old woman. I hate to think what that nut is doing to her up there," letting out a long sigh of frustration feeling utterly helpless to do anything as they waited outside.
"You have a SWAT team?" Gibbs asked.
"Yeah," the trooper said, "But, they're waiting for the green light from our commander," pointing towards several men hiding out of sight behind some trees with their weapons all aimed at the house.
"Thank you, son. Go ahead and get back to your post" Gibbs said with a pat to the man's shoulder. Going ahead he wanted answers and needed to find the man in charge, and that one appeared before him with a radio in his hand, tall, lean and trim with his sidearm clasped in his right hand and the radio in the other calmly giving orders, "Derek, your team is in position in the rear?"
"Yes, captain" came the response on the radio.
"Aaron, keep me posted on any movement in the house"
"Yes, captain"
They were preparing to make their entrance. "Excuse me," Gibbs announced, "Agent Gibbs, NCIS. Who's in charge?"
"I am" the man with the radio turned towards him, "Captain Danny Rollo. What are you doing here, Agent Gibbs? Why are the Feds involved in this?"
Pocketing his badge Gibbs remained straight forward but not overbearing, "Sir, we believe that the man inside that house is responsible for the shooting of a sailor in D.C."
"A shooting?" Rollo replied confused, "I didn't hear anything about that. What I do know is, that man has a hostage in there and we're going to free her." The look on his smooth face was that he felt the Feds were going to take over this scene, and Gibbs caught that.
"Captain, rest assured, we're not going to interfere with this. But, we do need to take that man alive" Gibbs said.
"We'll try, Agent Gibbs," Rollo replied, then came a squawk from his radio from the sharpshooters posted in a concealed position 100 yards to their left, "Captain Rollo, we have movement in the master bedroom. It's the gunman."
"Understood, Aaron. Any sign of Lady Valdez?"
"Negative, boss"
Shaking his head in frustration Captain Rollo looked at the agents before him, but Gibbs stood there and looked at the plantation house with his fellow agents behind him. "Captain, may my agents look at the gunman's vehicle?"
"Sure" Rollo nodded, "It's down the highway about a quarter of a mile" pointing to the north over Gibb's shoulder.
Turning at his waist Gibbs said, "DiNozzo. McGee"
Tony smiled, "On it, boss" and the two hustled off. Gibbs wanted Ziva by his side should they take the man alive and he become combative as Ziva had the best hand-to-hand experience of all of them.
"What do we do, Gibbs?" Ziva leaned in and whispered.
His blue eyes were fixated on the house, "We wait. We let the troopers do their job. If they take him alive then we go from there."
In dealing with a hostage situation they didn't have their bullet resistant vests, they didn't know the area, and they didn't know their suspect. Best leave it to those who have the right tools on hand.
POP!
There was a shot then a high pitched scream, "All units, Go! Go!" Rollo screamed into his radio.
The heavily armed teams charged in, bursting through the front and back doors. Sweeping the first floor rooms they went up the grand stair casing to the second floor. Heading for the master bedroom, the door was open and the point man found a body lying on the cold, polished oak floor. "Got a body on the ground" he called out as he entered sweeping left and his team swept right and then the last two entered and swept the center. Huddled under her covers was the elderly Lady Valdez, crying but unharmed.
One of the troopers pulled down the blankets, "Ma'am, are you hurt?" looking her thin, frail body in a nightgown.
"No!" the woman cried, "But, is that man still here?"
"He's gone, ma'am" he replied.
At the foot of her grand sized bed, sprawled out on the floor with a small pistol in his right hand. Securing the body and the weapon the all clear was given and Lady Valdez was carefully evacuated from the house. The NCIS team caught her as paramedics were carrying her out on a stretcher outside of the house, "Ma'am, we're with NCIS. Can you tell us what happened in there?"
Her bony hands over her pale face, Lady Valdez cried before slowly pulling her fingers down, "He was mad. Absolutely mad. He came in yelling that they were after him. He came into my room, crawled under my bed, then came out, ran into my closet, and then into my bathroom. The whole time he was screaming."
"Screaming what?" Ziva softly asked.
"Just screaming-let me out-let me out!" balling her right fist and pushing it into the air, "He was also holding onto his head and mashing his teeth. Before the police came in he said that the CIA wasn't going to take him alive, that he knew too much, and then he put the pistol under his chin and pulled" her face fell, pursing her lips she turned her head away from the agents, "Oh, the horror of it."
"Thank you for your help" Ziva said reaching out and touching Lady Valdez's hand with a kind smile to assure her she was safe.
"Agents" Captain Rollo appeared at the front door, "The place is secure. You can come on in" as the SWAT team exited.
Going inside they were amazed at the size of the place, over 5,000 square feet, well polished floors with throw rugs of velvet or Ottoman and furniture of the finest kind of hand made styled wood. Going up the stairs they entered the master bed room. There a trooper was searching the body with a pair of latex gloves for any weapons and personal possessions and securing them in evidence bags.
The man was lying on his stomach, he was overweight wearing a gray long sleeve shirt, a pair of sunglasses in the right pocket, the long blonde hair in a ponytail, and a pair of running pants, matching Daisy's description perfectly. Taking out her cellphone and pulling up the mugshot Ziva compared his bloodied face with that of the photo provided by Abby. They looked the same, but there was a lot of blood to contend with. When the bullet entered his head, it broke through his tongue, the roof of his mouth and shattered his nasal cavity and then entered the brain sending a lot of blood flowing out of his nose and from the top of the head.
Gibbs said nothing as he looked at the body. Such a waste of everything. Gibbs was given the evidence bag with the unloaded pistol and another with the magazine and unused rounds and the spent casing. Looking at it, it was a silver colored Jimenez JA-32 semi-automatic .32 caliber pistol. This would be work for Abby.
With their potential shooter dead, they couldn't get any information out of him, they were left with his description matching what an eyewitness saw and the pistol. Bagging and tagging the evidence in the house. "Captain Rollo, may we send the body to our people in D.C?"
"Be my guest" Captain Rollo replied, glad to be rid of this pest.
Calling Tony on his cellphone Gibbs asked, "What do you got at the vehicle?"
"Boss, we got a travel bag and that's it. Inside are brand new travel sized toothpaste, brush, razor, shaving creme, socks, and shampoo. They still have their tags on them.
"He just bought them" Gibbs tacked on.
"Yeah, and also a lot of money" Tony continued as McGee was trying to count it all. Turning his head towards his counterpart Tony whispered, "Hurry up, Probie, I got the boss on the line."
"I got it!" McGee announced, standing up, "I got $4,100"
"That's not the $5,000" Gibbs continued.
"Yeah. With the supplies in the bag, it's not even $60. So, where did the rest go?"
"We'll find out when we get everything back to the lab. Call Ducky"