pauli2014 aw, thanks! I'm so happy you like it! x
Esquinzo, glad I could help! I hope you like this one :) x
alix33- happy birthday for the other day! I have to say, i've always had long hair and went through a stage where I taught myself almost every kind of plait. I still use versions of most for work! x
Jenny liked watching the sunrise. She disliked being up early enough to do so, of course, of waking up and feeling as if she had barely been to bed. But sunrises themselves… she could appreciate the beauty of the colours, the light. The feeling of new beginnings.
Sunsets, however? Sunsets she loved. The kaleidoscope of colour that lit up the sky, like one final encore before they gave way for the stars to start their own show. It was peaceful and invigorating all at once, and if there was one thing she had learnt, it was that they looked different all over the world. The sand of the desert seemed to highlight the gold hues, the ocean reflected the colours and magnified them. In Paris, indigos and violets reigned while at home, in DC, Jenny found herself noticing the reds and oranges.
It was where she'd escaped to tonight. Sat watching the sun dip further and further into the ocean, listening to the sound of the waves and the birds. Refusing to think of a certain marine currently on surveillance duty. Somehow, even when miles away, he managed to make his presence felt.
Ziva's intrusion was most unwelcome. Especially when Jenny had looked up and noticed the expression on her face. "What?"
Ziva had been grim and serious as she took a seat next to her, pulling a laptop from her bag. "We have a problem."
They certainly did. Her explanation was succinct, plain to understand. Almost too plain, because Jenny had nowhere to hide. "The evidence is very clear." Ziva was gesturing to the screen in front of her, apparently obliviousness to Jenny's worsening headache. "They are preparing to sail. My orders from Mossad are not to let that happen."
Jenny's jaw tightened. "This op is hopelessly tangled with McKidd's case. There's no way that we can…" she trailed off, waiving a hand.
"Hence why I came to tell you out here, rather than wait for your return."
Jenny rubbed her hand across her forehead. "Damnit."
Ziva folded her hands on her lap, considering her words before she spoke. "I know he was your partner." Her voice was soft, more friend than colleague. "But Jenny, one murderer is not worth the risk of those weapons leaving port."
"I know." She sighed, and wished the sunset could make this better. "This isn't going to be pretty."
NCIS
Jenny was good at awkward silences. Sitting in an interrogation, waiting for the other person to break. Some man who thought he was better than her, trying to make her uncomfortable. Even Gibbs, once upon a time, who wielded silence as a weapon and a defence. So the silence that came down the phone line when she informed the director of their new issue was less intimidating and more… dull.
She swung on her chair as she waited for the director to process. "I take it you haven't told Gibbs yet?" He asked finally.
"Not yet, sir."
"Wise woman." He let out a sigh, before there was a noise that suggested he'd stood up from his chair. "You're right, however, the weapons take precedence. You have a plan, I presume?"
Jenny wet her lips nervously. "Actually sir... I do."
There was a pause, and when he spoke, his voice was wary. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"
She'd cultivated it on the walk back to the house. Ziva had left her, but the tranquillity was broken permanently and Jenny had abandoned the sunset, instead pondering how to approach this. It was, as plans went, the best she could do in the circumstances. A multi-pronged approach, coordinated by Jenny linked up with various cameras and microphones. One raid on the ship she and Ziva had been for weeks, everyone on board arrested before an incredibly large and complex search would begin. Ziva would be on the ground, along with Tony and Kate- they would be leading teams arresting the rest of the men and women who had been identified as potential suspects in the weapons smuggling. And finally Gibbs would be leading the raid on McKidd, NCIS claiming arrest rights on the man.
Multiple agencies, multiple risks. And, completely ridiculously, coordinated from the front room of a holiday home. Not that anyone else was going to find that out.
Jenny didn't much like the plan, and she had come up with it. There was far too much risk of someone slipping through the cracks, and it wasn't like that much manpower was going to be particularly discreet in getting to where they wanted to go. Still, they had little time and even littler leverage, so it was the plan they were going with.
Gibbs hadn't liked it either. The director had informed him of the change, much to Jenny's relief. That hadn't stopped her former partner from glaring furiously at her, under no illusion as to her part in all this. She had set her jaw and met his gaze head on, refusing to back down. She was not his probie anymore, she had nothing to explain to him.
So why was her stomach churning so uncomfortably?
Anybody else would say guilt, misplaced or not. She, however, had trained with Jethro Gibbs, and as such had become very in sync with her own gut. Which right now, was churning. "Ziva!" She grabbed her partner's wrist before she could leave the house, earning herself a surprised and very confused look. "Be careful. Something doesn't feel right."
Ziva frowned. "You think we have been compromised?"
"No." She shook her head, then hesitated. "Maybe. I don't know. Just… watch your back."
Ziva squeezed her hand. "We will be fine, Jenny. It is just nerves."
Jenny hoped so. She turned back, cast her gaze over the computer set up which had become infinitely more complicated over the past few hours. Multiple feeds, multiple cameras. Her very own field MTAC, she thought, somewhat hysterically.
"Jen?"
Jethro was frowning at her, his gaze searching her expression. She rubbed a hand over her arm. "I have the same feeling as I did before that op in the former Czech Republic."
He blinked. "You took a round to the thigh."
"Exactly."
He was silent for a long moment, contemplative. Until he stepped forward, picking up the earpiece from the table and pressing it into her hand. He was standing close, too close, and Jenny fought to hide her shiver when he bent his head to speak directly into her ear, his breath raising goosebumps against her skin. "You watch our backs, Jen."
Her breath caught in her throat. She nodded, a silent promise, and felt as much as heard him as he straightened up and strode out after his team, the door closing behind him with a loud, final-sounding bang. He hadn't just charged her with his safety- he'd entrusted her with his agents' too, and the gravity of that was not lost on her. Now she just had to hope she didn't fail.
She put the earpiece in, sat at her desk. Took a deep breath. And noticed the bag propped against her mouse- filled with lemon sherbets. For a moment, she was baffled, until she picked it up and found the piece of paper underneath.
Jenny- Enjoy! Kate
She smiled weakly to herself. She'd use the sweets as mini rewards, she decided, and flicked the earpiece on. "Test call. All units please respond."
Half an hour later, she had her first sweet. All units in place and all tech fully operational.
Fifteen minutes later, her second sweet- multiple targets confirmed, all units green lighted. Successful simultaneous raids.
Her third sweet, initial breaches made, occupants subdued, warrants served. No casualties.
Sweet number four, confirmation that against the odds, every name on her and Ziva's list had been checked off. Multiple successful arrests across different locations. All targets acquired.
Sweet five took a bit longer. McKidd was supposed to be in his villa. He was there every day, there had been a heat signature through the window. No one had seen him leave. And yet, somehow, when Gibbs burst through the door, he wasn't there. There was a woman, bewildered and frightened to find the date she'd picked up at a club the night before was missing and there were now American federal agents standing over her. But no McKidd.
Jenny cursed. So did Jethro, and if she hadn't previously become very used to his mouth she would have blushed at his language.
Still, sweet five came in the form of Ziva's report that in the car of one of her arrestees, they found three cases of automatic weapons.
The confession of one man arrested at the port had Jenny reaching for her sixth sweet. It was a good thing she was used to these, or she would be feeling very sick right about now, she thought.
Gibbs' interrogation of McKidd's overnight guest wielded no information, and Jenny cursed again. A few clicks of her mouse and a harried phone call had the Cypriot equivalent of a BOLO being released, all airports and harbours had his picture and with a bit of luck, he would be stupid enough to try and escape through one. They knew the name he was using on the island, thanks to the deed to his house, but there was no telling how many other fake identities he had ready to go.
Jenny's bad feeling hadn't lessened any.
Her seventh sweet was enjoyed with the viewing of Kate wheedling out the address of where more weapons were being kept in a storage facility from one of the woman they had just taken into custody, and Jenny had made a decision even before Tony's voice even sounded over the airwaves. "If we don't move now, anyone left will have been tipped off by all the activity."
"Leave the suspects with the local LEOs, take Ziva and Kate with you," she instructed. "And be careful. We have no idea what you're walking into."
She tapped her fingers as she watched them move to the car, Ziva hurtling down the roads at breakneck speeds. On another screen, Gibbs was tearing McKidd's house apart, searching for clues on where he had gone. On another, storage containers were being methodically searched. That was going to take a while- there were hundreds, and each one needed to be examined. Jenny didn't envy whoever had that job.
Jenny's entire world had narrowed to the pictures flicking across her screens, and the voices chattering in her ear. She was constantly flicking between different channels on her earpiece, entirely focused on trying to manage multiple ops at once. Which was probably why she only realised something was wrong when she felt the faint breeze against the nape of her neck.
She had purposefully closed all the windows to avoid being overheard by anyone outside. She had heard the door close behind Gibbs when he left. And he had been the last one to leave the house.
Her hand was already sliding towards her knife when she felt the cool metal press against her skull. "I really wouldn't do that if I were you."
Jenny took a deep, steadying breath, and wished she'd listened more closely to her gut. "Hello, Michael."