Warnings: Spoilers for "Patriot Down", "Rule Fifty-One"
A/N: This story probably has about four chapters left. Yes, I plan on writing a sequel :)
NCIS Fan- You'll find out how Hart knew that Macy was in the States in this chapter.
"Drag her into NCIS if she doesn't answer your questions," Gibbs snapped on the phone to Natalie. "Tell her we're done playing her games." He snapped the phone shut and let out a frustrated sigh.
Jackson Gibbs sat patiently, quietly in the front seat next to his son while the Charger drove recklessly down the interstate towards Washington and noticed that the driving got worse after speaking to his agent on his phone. "Are you going to tell me why you came to Stillwater, demanding that I return to Washington with you?"
Gibbs shoved his phone into his pocket and let out a heavy sigh. "I'm dealing with a very serious problem right now, Dad. One that nearly cost me the lives of two of my agents. I need to make sure that the people I care about our safe."
His father scoffed. Jackson didn't need his son to take care of him. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. He had been doing it for a long time."I got the Winchester to take care of me."
Letting out a slight groan, Gibbs shook his head. "This isn't a problem that your Winchester can take care of, Dad. Drug cartels tend to use assault rifles… not shot guns."
"Drug cartels? What have you gotten yourself into Leroy?"
"Believe me, Dad, it wasn't my intention to drag my team into this—drag you into this."
Jackson could see the despair in his son's eyes. It had been a long time since he had seen anything but anger in Gibbs' expression that he was slightly startled. "You're really in some hot water, aren't you Leroy?"
Gibbs sighed, heavily and nodded. He pictured McGee hooked up on life support, Tony barely clinging to life when they found him dehydrated in that dingy barn and Natalie's tear filled eyes as she faced the reality that she might lose Tony forever. "I don't think hot water begins to describe the situation I'm in right now, Dad."
"Well, we have a long drive back to Washington," Jackson pointed out, "Why don't you describe it to me?"
Tony and Natalie were waiting for Hart when she left the courthouse.
Dressed in a fashionable suit and pumps, M. Allison Hart didn't look surprised to see them and gave them one of her smiles that oozed confidence, some malice, and secrecy all at the same time. "Special Agent DiNozzo, Callahan, what a pleasant surprise. Do you need legal counsel or is this a social call?"
Natalie held up Macy's photograph. She was wound so tight with tension from Reynosa that the NCIS agent wanted to punch the smug look right off the lawyer's face."Ms. Hart, did you speak to this woman at all in the last three weeks?" she asked, curtly.
"No. I don't think so. Why do you ask?" Hart tossed back, her cool composure not breaking.
"You don't think so?" Tony repeated, hotly. "This is a yes or no question, Ms. Hart. Did or did you not speak to this woman in the last three weeks?"
Hart shifted her ice blue eyes between the two agents and took a defensive stance. "Am I being accused of something here? If I am, please stop dancing around the issue and just be honest with me… I have a lot of work to do."
Natalie glared at her and put the photograph of Macy back into her trench coat pocket. "Like defending murderers and drug dealers? Some work you do, Ms. Hart. Actually, since you asked… yes you are being accused of something… what was it again, Tony?"
Tony grinned, boyishly. "Accessory to murder," he stated, continuing when he saw Hart's stunned look, "Yeah, we know about your visit to Petty Officer Burrows… you were checking in to see if Special Agent Macy was in the States for your boss, Merton Bell, who works for Paloma Reynosa… who had Special Agent Macy killed. See where we're going with this, Ms. Hart. You've been a naughty girl."
"So now, we're wondering, Ms. Hart… how did you know that Special Agent Macy was in the States?" Natalie questioned as Tony slipped his cuffs out.
"If you had bothered to check phone records you would have seen that Macy called me," Hart snapped, glaring at the handcuffs in Tony's hand.
"Why?" Tony snapped back.
"She thought that I was representing the Hammond boy," Hart answered.
Natalie shoved her hands into her pockets. "So you went to see Petty Officer Burrows because you felt bad for her?"
Hart shifted her glare towards the younger woman. "No. My colleague who is representing Hammond asked me to go. He wanted to see if Burrows' statement checked out, that she partied a little too much and did some stupid things. I couldn't tell Burrows who I was really there for. She wouldn't have answered my questions. As for Colonel Bell finding out about Special Agent Macy being in the States… he was recently here, he saw my appointment book. Macy wanted to speak to me about something, she said another matter that sounded more personal than the Burrows case."
Tony put his cuffs away and stepped closer to her. "You're a lucky little lawyer, Ms. Hart. It's too bad that all this is circumstantial evidence or I'd have you in cuffs right now… and there's nothing more that I like to see than an attractive woman in cuffs," he spat.
"Why doesn't it surprise me that you have sexual fantasies about women in handcuffs, Special Agent DiNozzo?" Hart spat back at him.
"Actually, handcuffs isn't my top sexual fantasy," Tony pointed out drily.
"As insightful as this conversation has been, I have clients to see," Hart ground out, her eyes throwing daggers at both agents. "Are we done here?"
Natalie licked her lips. "Just one more thing. Can we have the name of the lawyer for Tyler Hammond? That way we can check your story that you went to see Kaylen for him."
Hart reluctantly wrote it down and shoved the business card into Natalie's hand. She looked at the agents, questionably, and they dismissed her. She quickly disappeared from the front of the courthouse, getting into her fancy car and speeding off.
Tony watched until the car had vanished and then turned to look at Natalie, eyeing him hotly. "What?"
She pursed her lips. "Sexual fantasies about women in handcuffs, huh?"
He paled, slightly, "Would it help to know that since we've been going out the only woman I've had those fantasies about has been you?"
"Nice save. As long as all those other women remain fantasies…" Natalie replied, playfully.
"You're the only one I want," Tony whispered, stepping closer to her. His lips brushed across hers, tenderly. "Now and here on out, Nat."
Natalie smiled, sweetly at him and grasped his hand. She slipped the card that Hart had written the other lawyer's name on into his palm. "We should probably go speak to the other lawyer now."
Tony grinned, kissed her one more time and found the keys to their car.
"I was finally able to match the fingerprint found underneath Tony's car," Abby said, smiling brightly. "When the accident first happened I only ran it through AFIS against known criminals in the system… not military personnel… or well in this case former military personnel."
"So, the person that cut Tony's brake lines used to serve in the military?" McGee inquired. They had only assumed that the hit man who had tried to kill Tony and McGee in the hospital had been the one to cut the lines. Apparently, they shouldn't have broken rule 8. "Who is it?"
Abby's fingers flew over her keyboard and a photograph came up on her computer screen. "Jason Paul Dean, former U.S Army Ranger. Coincidently, the knife used to cut the brake lines and the to kill Agent Macy is one that is standard issue to Army Rangers. He's your guy, Tim. Oh, and he works for none other than Colonel Merton Bell… the same mercenary group that works for Paloma Reynosa."
McGee smiled, faintly. It was the first big break they'd had in this case. He kissed her cheek. "That's great work, Abs."
"So, you're going to bring Dean in and this is all going to end right?" Abby asked, hopefully.
"It's not that simple, Abby," McGee replied.
"None of this would be happening if I hadn't gone to Mexico," Abby said, near tears.
McGee shook his head and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Abby, this isn't your fault. Paloma and Alejandro were operating on the belief that the report was going to condemn Gibbs, it didn't and they don't want to believe it. Trust me, all of this would still be happening even if you hadn't gone to Mexico."
Abby chewed on her lower lip. "Tony hates me. He hasn't been to see me since he came back to work."
"What? That's crazy. He doesn't hate you."
"Why not? I'm the reason that awful woman held him hostage! It's my fault she tortured and tormented him!"
McGee looked at her, sadly. He knew that Tony didn't blame her for what happened to him in Mexico—the SFA would have gladly turned himself over for any one of them in the same situation—it was just that Tony… well… had been busy and was probably leaning on Natalie as opposed to leaning on Abby like he would have in the past. "Abs, seriously, everything is fine between you and Tony… trust me."
Abby nodded and swallowed her tears. She still wasn't convinced that Tony was not mad at her… but for now, she was convinced enough to let things slid. She felt McGee squeeze her shoulder before he left the lab and she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. This awful case had the potential to bring the team closer or to tear them to shreds.
Tony pulled the Charger up to the front of a rather expensive looking home. They had tracked the other lawyer here, to the home of Randall Hammond. Shutting the car down he clicked his tongue, "No wonder Burrows has been quiet. If she accused the son of a billionaire of raping her… can you imagining the backlash?"
Natalie sighed and looked at her hands. Ever since talking to Kaylen on the Majestic she kept seeing Saleem and his men violating Ziva over and over again while she was forced to watch. It had been months since she had thought about her time in Somalia. "Which is a shame because really it should be about the victim… not about the person committing the crime."
"You okay do this, Natalie?" Tony asked her, gently. "I know what happened in Somalia. You don't have to go in there."
"No," Natalie stated, looking at him, firmly. "Shying away from it makes me weak. I can't change what happened to Ziva, or to Kaylen, but I can make sure the right people are brought to justice this time."
Tony reached over and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "If it gets to be too much… just tell me you need some air. Okay? That will be our code."
Natalie nodded, let go of his hand and got out of the car. She followed closely behind him as they approached the ornate doors and he knocked. A mousy looking housekeeper answered and both agents held their badges out. After Tony had identified them, there was a clattering in the house and an angry looking man appeared, his eyes narrowing in on the pair of agents.
Randall Hammond was furious, which was probably the understatement of the year given how he squared his shoulders at Tony and snarled, "Where the hell were you people while your sailors were beating up my son!"
"Pardon?" Tony asked, blinking. He peered into the house and saw Tyler Hammond holding an ice pack to his swollen and bruised face. "Sure they were sailors?"
"They drove away in a car with Navy base permits in the window!" Randall shouted. "If you people don't do something about this I'm going to sue the Navy!" He yelled, jabbing a finger into Tony's chest.
Tony calmly pushed his hand aside. "Mr. Hammond, I can assure you that we're going to look into it. Can you identify the attackers?"
Randall glared at Tony. "They were ski masks. They're only doing this because they don't want my son to come forward and report them for rape!"
Natalie looked between Tony and Randall, confused. "I'm sorry, sir, but we were under the impression that Tyler was the suspect."
"He was trying to help that girl! Not rape her!"
"Sir, do you mind if we speak to Tyler ourselves?"
Randall let them into the house, slamming the door shut behind the two agents. Tyler looked up at them and then at his father, uncertainly. "Just answer their questions," the father told his son, sternly.
Tony glanced at Natalie for a moment, checking to see how she was handling this and asked, "You were in France when Petty Officer Burrows was there?" Tyler nodded, slowly. "And you witnessed her being raped… by sailors?" Tyler nodded again, his eyes darting towards his father and his lawyer standing next to Randall. "You… tried to stop it?"
Tyler pulled the ice pack away from his cheek a little. "Yeah. I tried to stop it. But… you know… one guy against that many… I'm sorry I couldn't help her. Guess they think I'm going to talk, squeal on them."
"Why would you say that?" Natalie asked, a slight edge to her voice.
"Why else would they drive all the way out here to beat me up?" Tyler threw back at her.
"Maybe because you were the one that raped her," Natalie snapped.
"Tyler, you don't have to tell them anything else," the lawyer warned him.
Tony could see Natalie's shoulders stiffen, she was trying to repress those memories of being helpless in Somalia, of watching Saleem's men rape Ziva. He almost suggested that she go get some air, that she back out of this room before things got worse…
Natalie took a deep breath and looked Tyler directly in the eye. "Did she say anything?"
Tyler was confused. "What?"
"Did Petty Officer Burrows say anything when you tried to help her?"
"Oh… I don't know… I can't remember."
"Did the sailors say anything? Do you remember any smells? Landmarks? What they were wearing?"
"I… I can't remember."
"Funny, most people when they witness a violent crime… remember some details."
Randall was shoving himself between the two agents and his son. "Are you accusing him of lying, Agent Callahan? My son is not a liar!"
Tony put his hands on Natalie's shoulders and moved her away. "We're just trying to cover all the bases, to get to the bottom of this, Mr. Hammond."
"Well, if you're done covering the bases… I'm going to ask you to leave my property."
"Fair enough. We do have one question for your lawyer."
The lawyer glanced up at the two agents, puzzled. "A question for me, Agent DiNozzo?"
Tony nodded his head. "Did you send Ms. Hart to the Majestic to interview Kaylen Burrows about three weeks ago?"
"I did, why?"
"Did you mention Special Agent Macy?"
"I told her that Special Agent Macy was reopening the case and would be traveling to Washington to conduct interviews with Burrows and Tyler."
Tony looked at Natalie. Hart had lied to them. Guess we should go back and look at those phone records after all, he thought as he thanked the Hammonds and their lawyer for their time. Getting back into the car, he noticed that his partner was silent. "Nat?"
Natalie wiped some tears from the corners of her eyes. "Sorry. I… I lost my cool in there, Tony."
He reached over the back of her seat and rubbed the back of her head gently while he drove. "It's okay, Natalie."
She shook her head fiercely and let her tears fly. "It's not okay, Tony! It's been almost a year and I'm… I'm not over it! I can't move past it!"
"No one is asking you to move past it," Tony assured her. "Maybe… maybe it's not something you move past. Just something you learn to deal with."
"I saw Saleem in his eyes, Tony," Natalie whimpered, looking at him, "I saw Saleem belittling and violating a woman…"
"If Tyler Hammond is guilty… we'll get him," Tony promised her. "Okay?"
"Okay," Natalie repeated, taking a deep breath.
Tony continued to rub the back of her head, lovingly. "Let's focus on getting Macy's killer… and finding out if Miss Hart lied to us about how Colonel Bell found out Macy was going to be here, in the States… because I don't know about you… it sure felt like she was putting on a show for us."