I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or NCIS. They belong to Joss Whedon and Donald Bellisario respectively. I also don't own James Bond. He belongs to Ian Fleming

Always Number Two

Jenny Shepherd is a woman with a vendetta. She'll do just about anything to get to La Grenouille. And she'll go through Jeanne Benoit, Trent Kort and a man known as Number Two to do so...

July 30th 2006

NCIS Headquarters

Washington DC

Jenny Shepherd was sitting in the dark, staring at a picture of the man she hated above all others. Things had changed recently and she would have to change with them.

Gibbs had retired. Not that she could blame him under the circumstances, but his absence left his team one short and headless. She would have to deal with that.

First she had to rebuild her MCRT from the ground up. Paula Cassidy would do for a leader, she expected. She'd back Cassidy up with Rick Hall, Jim Nelson and Michelle Lee. They ought to be able to handle the job more than adequately. Granted that Abby Sciuto and Ducky Mallard would likely be angry, but she would handle that as it came. Jenny had something else in mind for Gibbs' former team. She smirked at the picture on the screen.

The door to MTAC opened, but Jenny didn't even look up. She knew who had entered her sanctuary. She had called them in herself after all. "Sit down people."

Tony DiNozzo, Ziva David and Tim McGee sat themselves around her comfortably, waiting for their briefing to begin.

Jenny smirked. It was good to be the queen. "Does any of you recognise the man on the screen?"

Unsurprisingly none but Ziva did. "La Grenouille. He is an arms dealer, yes?"

Jenny nodded with satisfaction. "Yes he is. He is also the eventual target of the operation you three are going to be working. La Grenouille is a French national by the name of René Benoit. He is, as Ziva stated, a high level arms dealer. What Ziva may not know is that La Grenouille is one of the world's most successful arms dealers. I want him out of commission permanently. To that end, you three will be going on assignment on a deep cover op.

Here DiNozzo began to look a touch uneasy. "Ummm… Ma'am, what about our regular jobs? This op sounds pretty time consuming. We can't possibly act as you Major Case Response Team and conduct a deep cover op at the same time…"

"I'm well aware of the DiNozzo. That's why I'm putting Cassidy in charge of a new MCRT whilst your team is on extended assignment. Your jobs at NCIS are intact. You've just been reassigned for the time being."

Jenny waited a long moment, watching as the team chewed on that. They weren't happy with it, especially DiNozzo and McGee, but they seemed to accept it. Finally DiNozzo nodded slightly. "Okay, Ma'am. What are the specifics?"

Jenny smiled broadly. She'd known she could count on Gibbs' team, even without Gibbs to guide them anymore. She snapped the controller and the display shifted to display a beautiful woman. "This is Dr. Jeanne Benoit. She's twenty-four and has recently graduated Harvard Med. She currently works at Monroe University Hospital, right here in DC. Most importantly, she is La Grenouille's daughter. She recently broke up with a police officer that cheated on her…

"McGee, she's your assignment. Your official identity will be Timothy McMurphy, a computer systems technician. Benoit has been looking to get her computer systems completely redone. It'll take time. Use it wisely, McGee. Get into her confidence, make her your friend at the very least. Do what you have to. If you can get close to her then you can get close to her father through her."

McGee looked decidedly nervous at the assignment. Everyone in the room knew he was essentially being asked to seduce the woman. "Err, Ma'am, wouldn't Tony be the better choice for this assignment."

"I've got to agree with the Probie on this one. I mean…"

"It's you, McGee. DiNozzo is too similar to the metro cop she just dumped. I don't want to use someone she's likely to paint with the same brush. Just be as genuine as you can be. She'll respond to that."

McGee nodded uncertainly. "All right."

Jenny tapped the controller again and a man appeared on screen. "This man is called Trent Kort. It's an alias. I'm not sure what his real name is. He's one of La Grenouille's big players. DiNozzo, he's your assignment."

"I don't know how to tell you this, Boss, but he's very much not my type."

Jenny shot him a glare. "I doubt very much if you're his either, DiNozzo. Your job is to look like a lowlife sleaze that's looking to get into the arms dealing trade big time. We're resurrecting your Gus Bricker identity for this op and fleshing it out some. Gibbs tells me you are very convincing lowlife thug."

DiNozzo nodded faintly, slightly disappointed that he didn't have McGee's assignment. He did, however, enjoy playing the thug. "On it, Boss."

Again Jenny tapped the control. The picture that appeared on screen was of a distinguished looking man in a grey suit. The black eye-patch really made him stick out. "This one's yours, Ziva. Meet Alexander Harris. In the arms community he's known as Number Two and in La Grenouille's organisation that is his function."

"Very James Bond." Was DiNozzo's response in a Connery-esque accent.

"Laugh all you want, Agent DiNozzo. I'm told that eye-patch is real enough. Harris apparently had his eye gouged out at the age of twenty-two. Suspicion is that it was an arms deal gone bad. Harris has a long and checkered history:

"He did his first arms deal at age sixteen, acquiring a rocket launcher from a military base that was used to shoot up a local mall."

Tony and the team stiffened in shock.

"It gets better. The next year this youth upgraded to explosives. He was involved in acquiring explosives that were involved in two separate attempts to blow up the local high school. One of these attempts was successful and killed the local mayor, numerous school officials and several graduating students.

"He kept a low profile for the next few years, but we have confirmation that he was involved in a break-in at a covert military installation. It's unknown what, if anything, Harris took away from there, but there is some speculation that it was used to turn Sunnydale into a hole in the ground. Certainly Harris was one of the last ones out when it went down.

"Harris has since joined La Grenouille and moved rapidly to the position of being second in command of this arms dealing empire. He currently focuses on smuggling arms to certain local militia groups across the planet. He has an office in DC at the moment."

Jenny turned back to Ziva. "Your assignment is similar to McGee's. Become close to Harris. Become his friend, his confidant and even his lover if you think you can handle it. Get close to Number Two and he shall lead us to Number One."

DiNozzo's smirking voice broke in again. "I don't suppose that La Grenouille has a white cat?" DiNozzo's smirk melted under Jenny's hot glare. "Sorry Boss. Shutting up."

Ziva nodded slightly, staring at the pictured man and committing his face to her memory. "I'll do it, Director…"

Jenny smiled. "Your alias will be Sarah Davidson. Good luck, Officer David."

A rather different look at Xander Harris through the eyes of an obsessed woman... ;)

Anyone who'd like to pick up this plot, just drop me a line via the reviews and it'll be yours.

Jasper