Chapter 5
When the suspect's portrait went up on the screen, Brenda instantly turned her attention to Kate, looking for her reaction.
Brenda recalled media reports of the mass shootings in Norfolk, Virginia, and the Navy Yard in Washington nine years ago, and the shooting death of the NCIS director and one of her senior agents two years later. Haswari's face was familiar, as it was plastered across the media on both occasions; inevitably, the media moved on to other stories and the public turned its attention to more timely matters.
Only those personally affected by the incidents remembered them, and the victims.
Obviously, Agent Todd was one of those people.
Through a former associate she met during her days in the CIA, Brenda knew a little more about the two incidents - codenamed 'Twilight' and 'Trojan Horse'. She also knew a little of Agent Todd's background, and found herself impressed with the agent's ascension from a junior-level agent to head of her agency's most elite investigative team.
Brenda wondered how much flack Agent Todd had taken during her rise up the ranks, and if the agent had been as misunderstood by others as Brenda herself was.
As Agent Fornell filled in the backstory of the NCIS team, and of Haswari, Brenda briefly looked over the other NCIS team members, and saw only one other person with any degree of anguish on her face: agent David.
The sister of the man who murdered Agent Todd's teammates.
How on earth is she even there, Brenda thought. She asked her source just that, and the source shrugged.
Brenda's source suggested Ziva's presence on the NCIS team was due to favoritism from a former NCIS director, but feigned ignorance when Brenda pressed for details.
She got as much out of her contact as possible within a 15-minute span, and determined to find out more information about the Washington team once she got a handle on the case.
"...the brass found in the shooter's nest in the building, even the nest itself, is consistent with what we and NCIS found in Norfolk and at Rock Creek Park in Washington," Brenda heard Fornell say. "And in other cases across the U.S. and Mexico the Bureau has been involved in during the past six years-"
Other cases? thought Brenda, and as she caught a glance at Agent Todd, Brenda could tell Kate was caught just as much by surprise.
"Excuse me Agent Fornell, excuse me," Brenda said. "You said other cases?"
"Yes," Fornell replied, looking as if he regretted making the reference.
"How many cases?" Kate interjected, her reaction showing that she may have flown in with Fornell, but she wasn't privy to that particular detail.
"Twenty-three," Fornell said, and Brenda noted that of all the people in the room, only Fritz looked unsurprised.
"Hold on, hold on; Agent Fornell, this guy's killed 23 other people besides the Admiral and those NCIS agents?" Taylor interjected. "I didn't see that little detail in my copy of your report."
"Neither did I," Kate said.
"That makes three of us," Brenda said, smiling with approval of the first good thing she thought Assistant Chief Taylor had said or done in months. "Why wasn't that mentioned in the report on this suspect?"
"Haswari has been confirmed only as the murderer of former Director Shepard, Special Agent Gibbs and his team," Fornell replied. "He is considered a potential suspect in the murder of the Admiral-"
"Our only suspect so far," Kate interjected.
"-our only potential suspect so far in the Admiral's death," Fornell continued. "The 23 shootings I referred to are parts of cases the Bureau is working jointly with other agencies, and for various reasons involving classified intelligence and getting permission from other agencies..."
Fornell gave his long-winded explanation as members of both teams were trying to figure out what he was really saying - or rolling their eyes at what they considered to be double talk - or both.
While he was referencing Mexican federales, Sykes crept over to Brenda, and handed her a post-it note with a single handwritten word:
GRACELAND
Brenda whispered to her 'get on it', and Sykes nodded, heading back to her desk, waiting until the meeting was finished to call her contact.
"How soon can you get background on these 23 shootings to us?" Kate asked, seemingly growing more annoyed at Fornell by the minute.
"I'd like to know that myself," Brenda interjected. "I'm sure Agent Todd wants her team out there finding the killer, and I know damn well I want my people out there with them, not waiting on your bosses to ask permission or give their thumbs up on giving us vital intelligence on our case. Now you said you could get us the information in a half-hour?"
Fornell looked at her in confusion. "What I said was I'd contact my superiors in Quantico, and that due to the nature of the cases we're working with these other agencies-"
"We're not asking who your people are playing James Bond with," Pope interjected. "The LAPD wants, and expects, the full cooperation of the FBI in this case. If this suspect is involved in these other killings, we want whatever information, within reason, that would help us and our NCIS partners solve this case."
Fornell looked to Fritz for help and support, as he was the only one in the room who might give it.
"What Agent Fornell is saying, Chief, is he will fast-track your requests up the chain, to get that to you in an hour, or as soon as he possibly can," Fritz answered. "Remember, this murder took place just a few hours ago. We're doing a lot of this on the fly."
Kate, leaning against a desk, stepped forward, towards Fornell.
"I understand that, completely. But I expect that information to be sent to myself, and to my director, as soon as possible," she said.
Brenda looked at Taylor, who glanced at Pope, and then looked to Pope.
"I also expect that information sent to Chief Johnson, and Chief Raydor, and Chief Taylor and myself, as soon as possible," Pope said to Fornell. "And, having spoken to the Mayor just an hour ago, he would be most appreciative of any effort the FBI would make to assist the LAPD on this most important case."
"We want to be able to inform the large contingent of media downstairs that the FBI is doing everything in its power to assist us and another federal agency in their joint investigation, not impeding it," Taylor said.
After the meeting broke up, Brenda jumped out of her chair and went straight for Fritz, then nodded to Gabriel. She noticed Kate heading straight towards her; she nodded again to Gabriel, who moved to intercept the NCIS agent, only to be cut off by Kate's own second.
"Excuse me," Ziva said to Gabriel as she 'accidentially' bumped into him. "That was rude of me. I am sorry."
"That's alright," Gabriel said, seeing Kate tailing Brenda as she grabbed Fritz and dragged him towards her office. "Excuse me-"
"Are you the second in command here?" Ziva said, which got Provenza's attention. Gabriel's status within Priority Homicide was very much a sore spot with the older man, who technically outranked Gabriel. Provenza broke off from Flynn and Sykes to make sure Ziva knew who the second in the department was.
Brenda noticed Gabriel and Ziva in the corner of her eye, and thought she'd have to slam her door in Kate's face; she wanted to talk with her ex-husband one-on-one, and wasn't ready yet to coordinate with the NCIS team.
Of all people, Raydor 'bumped' into Kate, just long enough to allow Brenda and Fritz to get into her office and lock the door.
Brenda wasted no time.
"When in the hell was the FBI going to tell us about these 23 other people this Haswari man killed?" Brenda shouted. "Did you not think that might be relevant to our investigation?"
Fritz held up both hands in surrender. "We were going to tell you," he said. "Fornell did tell you. Just not everything at once."
"He better tell us everything relevant to the case," Brenda said. "That means which other agencies the FBI's working with, so we can contact them ourselves."
Brenda noticed Kate dragging Fornell out of the squadroom with Raydor following behind. "I mean it, Fritz. Remember that case you and Sykes and Raydor worked before Sykes got reassigned to my department?"
"Yep," Fritz said. "Five months. Not that long ago. Told you everything I could."
"I still don't know everything about 'Graceland', and I'm not talking about Elvis Presley's mansion," Brenda shot back. "You realize how much time we wasted investigating that Paul Briggs character before we found out he was one of you?"
Fritz looked to the side, seeing Tao, Flynn and two of the NCIS people trying to mediate between Ziva, Provenza and Gabriel. "Graceland is to a large degree classified and that's why you still don't know all the details," he told Brenda. "You, we, caught the killer, which satisfied Pope-"
"But it didn't satisfy me," Brenda said. "We found a Bravo 51 rifle in the man's garage - a 'Kate', ironically enough, considering our guests who flew in from Washington, D.C. - and that has me wondering if there's any connection to this case. And if the 'Bureau' will fess up to it if there is."
Fritz exhaled in frustration. "Of course the FBI will 'fess up'. We're not going to hide anything," he told her. "A member of the Joint Chiefs is dead. Nobody's hiding anything. Just some more red tape to cut through, that's all."
"Uh huh," Brenda replied, walking over to unlock her door. "I'll meet you down at the coroner's."
Leaving Fritz in her dust, Brenda walked out, looking for Agent Todd, asking Demming where she went; Demming pointed towards the elevators.
"She looks mad," Bishop said of Brenda.
"As mad as Kate is at Agent Fornell," Dorneget added.
"We all know how Kate can be when she's pissed," Demming said. "That Johnson woman has 'alpha female' written all over her. I'd hate to be Fornell right now."