Hey readers - Here we are with another new chapter : )

I actually don't have very much to say today, so I think we're just gonna jump straight on into it. Thank you so, so much to everyone that has reviewed, favourited and followed this story. The support you guys have shown to it continuously blows me away, and I really appreciate it, so please keep it up : )

Finally, please remember that NCIS does not belong to me : )

I hope you enjoy this chapter : )

Mind Games - Part 3

Things were quiet without Gibbs and Kate in the squad room. McGee was sat at his desk, typing away on his keyboard as he worked through the mountain of paperwork that the senior field agent had just unceremoniously dumped on him. Meanwhile, said senior field agent was longing back in his chair, happily munching away on the extra large pizza he'd ordered and had delivered to the office for lunch. Double pepperoni, yum! All in all, it was a very relaxed atmosphere in the bullpen, despite the seriousness of the task that the other half of the team was currently undertaking. Or at least that was what Ducky thought, as he exited the elevator and crossed the office floor, heading in the direction of the two younger men.

"Where is he, Timothy?" the medical examiner demanded to know, without any preamble whatsoever.

McGee looked up from the report he was trying - and failing miserably - to complete to a deadline, a little flustered. He couldn't help but be taken aback by Ducky's sharp tone.

"U-Uh, who?" the distracted junior agent stammered out.

"Gibbs, damn it!" Ducky rolled his eyes in frustration, in no mood for any dithering today. It was then that he noticed what it was exactly that Tony was chowing down on, and scowling, Ducky marched over to his desk and gave him a look that spoke of his disapproval, "Hey! Do you even know the difference between good and bad cholesterol, Tony?"

Swallowing his mouthful of delicious pepperoni pizza, Tony looked up at Ducky in a rather innocent manner. It was an act that Ducky wasn't buying for a second.

"No" Tony shook his head, grabbing another slice of his pizza, "But I'm assuming it has something to do with taste".

Ducky threw him another hard look.

"Bad is what came back on your last blood test" the medical examiner informed him, shaking his head. He then turned his stern gaze back to McGee, who actually gulped nervously. Ducky's temper was as almost as infamous as Gibbs', or at least when he lost it that was. "Dispose of this".

And before Tony had a chance to stop him, Ducky had scooped up the pizza box, which still had a fair amount of pizza still inside it, and handed it off to McGee, who had stood up and joined them by Tony's desk at this point.

"Hey hey hey!" Tony immediately protested, making a grab for the box, but unfortunately McGee was stood beyond his reach, "That cost me sixteen bucks, that pizza!"

Ducky just shrugged nonchalantly at him. McGee on the other hand just seemed amused.

"You'll thank me when you're my age" the medical examiner informed the younger man in a tone that was meant to be reasonable, but came off slightly patronising.

"But you eat pizza all the time" McGee pointed out, still clutching the pizza box.

"Exactly" Ducky nodded, as if that made any kind of logical sense, which it did not.

"I don't really see the connection here" Tony retorted bitterly. He was still very indignant about his tasty lunch being snatched away from him after all.

"Well, of course you wouldn't. You're not a doctor" the medical examiner shook his head in exasperation, before he decided to get them back on track, "Where is Gibbs?"

Behind him, McGee moved off to get rid of Tony's pizza as instructed. He deposited the half-box box into the bin by his desk, but not before swiping a slice for himself. Thankfully neither Ducky nor Tony noticed his actions, or else there would be all hell to pay.

"Sussex State Prison" Tony answered the other man's inquiry, his tone still very sullen, "Interviewing Kyle Boone".

Ducky let out a low huff of annoyance.

"He said he wasn't going" the medical examiner sighed, suddenly feeling exhausted as he remembered the last time that that... vile excuse for a human being had crossed paths with his friend, and the terrible, terrible fallout of it.

"He wasn't" was the simple response that Tony gave.

"Until the SECNAV ordered him to" McGee helpfully chimed back into the conversation.

Well that certainly helped to clarify a few things. It explained why Jethro would go see that bastard in prison, when Ducky knew for a solid fact that his friend had no desire to see him ever again. Gibbs wouldn't refuse an order from SECNAV, regardless of how awkward a position it would put him in. That was when a new thought struck him, and the medical examiner turned back to the two federal agents with a concerned look in his eyes.

"Who's with him?" he wanted to know. He very much hoped that Jethro had more sense than to go by himself after all.

"Kate" McGee was the one to supply him with the answer this time.

"Although why Gibbs decided to take her along with him instead of me is anyone's guess" Tony complain, a hint of jealousy beginning to creep into his tone, "I am after all the senior field agent".

McGee and Ducky couldn't help but both roll their eyes at his rather childish outlook.

"But Kate's the trained profiler" McGee reminded him.

"Yeah, but you don't need to be able to profile someone like Kyle Boone to know that he's completely bonkers!" Tony retorted condescendingly.

"Talking to that sociopath is not a chore that you should be envious of, Anthony!" Ducky chastened him, his tone as hard as steel, "If anything, you should thankful that you've been spared it... and have pity for Jethro and young Caitlin. God knows they're doing a job I wouldn't want to do".

Tony and McGee couldn't help but exchange curious looks at that little declaration. They'd known that Ducky had worked on many cases with Gibbs, but they had no idea that he had been involved with the Kyle Boone case.

"This Kyle Boone guy is really that bad?" McGee asked, a little naively in the other men's' opinions.

Ducky answered McGee's question by asking one of his own.

"Have you any idea the effect that... monster had on Gibbs ten years ago?" the medical examiner asked stiffly. The question was aimed at McGee, but Tony was the one that answered it.

"Considering how open Gibbs is about his personal life, uh... no. Not a clue" was the sarcastic response the senior field agent gave. Ducky just rolled his eyes at him.

"Yeah, well..." the older man shook his head, "Let's just be glad that he didn't go there on his own".

"Well, Ducky, it's Gibbs" McGee interjected, drawing the medical examiner's gaze back over to him, "I'm sure that even if he hadn't taken Kate with him, he would have been fine".

"That's easy for you to say" Ducky fired back, a slight edge creeping into his tone, "You didn't have to live through this the last time".

McGee opened his mouth to reply, probably to politely concede Ducky's point, but sadly he never got the opportunity to. For at that exact moment, the telephone on Tony's desk began ringing, the noise of it drawing all three of the men out of their conversation. After staring at it for a moment, Tony hastened to answer his phone.

"DiNozzo" he greeted whoever was on the other end of the connection. A moment later, a serious look descended across his face, and he was suddenly all business, "Where? Yeah, I got it, Kate. Tell the boss we're on our way. Yeah... bye".

Tony hung up the telephone again, before he climbed to his feet and snatched up his badge and gun. It was only when he was ready to go did he address the other two people present.

"Saddle up, McGee" Tony ordered, and the junior agent rushed back to his desk to get his things. "Gibbs wants us in the field".

"Where're we going?" McGee asked as he strapped on his gun and grabbed his gear.

"Boone family farm. Let's roll!" Tony said to rally the younger agent into moving faster. It was only as both he and McGee were exiting the bullpen did Tony turn back to face Ducky again, "The difference between ten years ago and today, Ducky? We have Gibbs' back".

Ducky nodded, conceding that Tony might have a point about that, before the medical examiner did what he did best. He made another observation.

"There's another difference, Tony" Ducky remarked casually to the younger man before him, "Ten years ago, Gibbs was a very different man".

Tony couldn't help it when an amused chuckle slipped through his lips.

"You mean he was actually meaner?" the senior field agent said playfully. But to Tony's immense surprise, Ducky just smiled and shook his head.

"Oh, quite the opposite" the medical examiner paused to think about how best to word this, "He was... he was a lot like you".

If asked later, Ducky would neither confirm nor deny... that he immensely enjoyed the look of abject horror that appeared on Tony's face.

Kate could have been doing an impersonation of a statue, she was standing so rigidly as she and Gibbs waited for Tony and McGee to arrive in the NCIS investigations van. After speaking to Kyle Boone for much longer than either of them had cared to, the perverted monster had informed them that this was where they could find the necessary proof of his intentions to reveal his victims resting place, but also that he would only spill the beans on that subject once they had retrieved his so-called proof and brought it back to him. Naturally, neither Kate nor Gibbs were pleased with the situation, but not even the silver haired agent's best threats could make Boone talk, so they'd been left with little choice.

Now, the duo were standing on the outskirts of the Boone family farm, waiting for the other half of their team to arrive. Thankfully, they weren't kept waiting for very long, and soon enough Tony and McGee were coming up the driveway in the van. They moved over to join them as the two men disembarked.

"Boss. Kate" Tony greeted them as he hopped out from the driver's side door. He then caught sight of the indignant expression on Kate's face, "Yeesh! Which poor sucker made the mistake of pissing you off?"

Kate harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance.

"Boone" she replied sourly, her eyes flashing dangerously, "Told us he left proof of his crimes here in a... shall we say, confined space. So guess who gets the happy joy of retrieving said evidence? I'll give you a hint - you're looking at her!"

Tony couldn't help but grin like a Cheshire Cat. He did so love his co-workers' misfortunes at times.

Catching the smug look he was giving her, Kate scowled up at him. She opened her mouth to fire off a biting retort, but unfortunately for her she never got the chance to. Right at that moment, Gibbs came walking over to her from the back of the van. Whilst Kate had been filling Tony in on what had been happening on their end, the silver haired agent had moved away to retrieve something from the inventory stored in the rear of the van. Now, he was making his way back over to his agent, a tape measure in hand. Kate rolled her eyes upon noticing it.

"I already told you Gibbs..." the female federal agent said out of pure exasperation, "I'll fit!"

Gibbs ignored her frustrations entirely and continued to measure her with the measuring tape. It was only as the silver haired agent was checking how narrow her shoulders were when an increasingly smug Tony couldn't resist chipping back into the conversation as well.

"I can save you some time, Gibbs" he drawled mockingly, his face-splitting grin still very much in place, "Our dear Katie's measurements are..."

"Finish that sentence, and I will shoot you DiNozzo!" Kate threatened him, clearly nearing the end of her patience by this point.

Tony, seeing that Kate most definitely was not playing around, wisely shut his mouth. Gibbs meanwhile had finished taking his measurements of the female federal agent, and nodded his head in satisfaction.

"You'll do" the silver haired man said gruffly.

"You know Gibbs..." Kate began, her tone and expression both heavy with sarcasm, "I really do love the way that you manage to always make me feel so special".

Amused, Gibbs just smirked back at her in response.

"Glad to hear it Kate" he said, chuckling almost playfully at how his team member just glowered up at him, "Now go get suited up. Trust me, this next part is going to be messy".

"Really?" Tony practically crowed in delight, whilst at his side, Kate wrinkled her nose in distain just thinking about what was to come next, "And why is that?"

"You'll see DiNozzo" Gibbs smirked again as he walked off in the direction of the farmhouse, before he called over his shoulders, "Hey McGee!"

The junior agent, who had been busy unloading equipment from out of the back of the van, poked his head around the side of it upon hearing his name being called.

"Yeah, Boss?" he questioned.

"You might want to wear kneepads" the leader of the team said simply. The amusement in his voice could not have been more obvious.

As their boss continued on his way, eventually slipping into the farmhouse and disappearing out of sight, McGee turned his attention to Kate and Tony, a perplexed expression on his face.

"Do we even have kneepads?" he asked them both incredulously.

"Equipment inventory is Kate's job!" Tony exclaimed, pointing at the young woman in question, before he grabbed up his backpack and made to follow after Gibbs.

"Kate?" McGee turned to her instead. She smiled up at him kindly.

"Second drawer up from the bottom" she responded, before quickly adding, "You can get some of them after I finish getting changed".

McGee nodded his understanding, before throwing his co-worker a curious look.

"Wait - getting changed?" he repeated, confusion creeping into his tone and expression, "Do you know what we're doing out here?"

"Sure I do" Kate smiled at him in that teasingly sweet way of hers.

"Yeah?" McGee arched an eyebrow, clearly waiting for her to elaborate.

"Yeah..." Kate nodded faux-seriously, "We're following Gibbs' lead".

McGee scowled, put out by her teasing response, but Kate just chuckled to herself as she walked away from the junior agent. Instead, she made her way around the side of the NCIS investigations van and jumped into the back of it, before closing the doors behind her in order to change into something more suitable. A slight grimace worked its way onto her face as she thought about what she knew she was going to have to do next. It wasn't going to be a very pleasant experience. So taking a bracing deep breath, Kate decided to just bite the bullet.

Could this day get any worse?

Evidently, it could.

Squinting through an inky blackness that would put even the darkest of winter nights to shame, Kate couldn't help it when a very dark frown grew across her face. She was currently in the most undesirable of places - namely, the inside of a chimney. Yeah, that was where Boone swore he'd hidden his so-called irrefutable evidence of his crimes, and despite the numerous searches of this whole property for the missing women's bodies, law enforcement had never uncovered it. So now Kate had been given the glamorous job of being the one shoved up there to try and find the damn thing, whatever it was. Bonne hadn't been all too clear on that part. But if that perverted lunatic had sent her up there just for kicks, Kate swore - he wouldn't live to see his execution.

She was carefully balanced on McGee's back, who was on all fours at the bottom. Kate was just in the middle of muttering a string of curses under her breath to herself after yet another huge pile of soot hit her square in the face, when the conversation that Tony and Gibbs were having echoed up through the fireplace to her. Again, Kate found herself rolling her eyes. Tony had gotten far too much pleasure out of her having to do this, jerk that he was.

"This place must have been gone over a dozen times, Boss" she heard the voice of the man in question saying to Gibbs, "There's no way there's any bodies in here".

"I'm not looking for bodies, Tony" she heard Gibbs reply. He sounded just as unhappy about being there as Tony did, "He was raised here by his uncle. His mother was a prostitute. She left town when he was twelve".

Any sympathy that might have been garnered by that fact of Boone's miserable life was quickly extinguished, when one considered his disgusting crimes against women.

"Then what are we looking for?" Kate heard Tony ask, his voice heavy with confusion as it echoed up the fireplace to her ears.

"Kate told you. Proof. Boone swears it's here" Gibbs' voice replied to the inquiry, "The only place we didn't look is inside this chimney".

"Which is why our very own Mary Poppins and Bert here are currently dancing their way up the chimney!" Tony's voice crowed in delight. Kate could practically hear the grin in his tone.

"Oh shut up Tony!" Kate yelled down the chimney to him. To the female federal agent's surprise, McGee shouted exactly the same thing at exactly the same time.

"What's the matter with you?" Kate called down to the junior agent that she was basically using as a stepping stool, her voice echoing, "I'm the one that's stuck up here, covered in soot and... oh my god - it's another dead bird!"

Just like Kate claimed, suddenly the prone figure of what looked like a magpie dropped down the chimney and landed on the ground just a couple of inches away from McGee's face. The bird's lifeless eyes stared up at him, causing the young man to wrinkle his nose in distain.

"Oh, that's disgusting" he moaned. Above him, Tony chuckled.

"I'll bet this wasn't in the brochure when you signed up for NCIS, Probie" the senior field agent cackled wickedly.

"I honestly don't know which is worse" McGee grunted as he struggled to continue holding Kate up on just his back, "How gross this is, or how heavy Kate is".

THUMP!

Kate, having heard that last remark and not appreciating it one bit, suddenly dropped the flashlight that she had been using to aid in her search of the darkened area. The heavy peace of equipment dropped straight down and collided with a sharp crack against the back of McGee's head. If he hadn't have had such a thick skull, the suspiciously timed 'accident' might have given him a concussion.

"Oh!" Kate's voice carried down the chimney, and the men couldn't help but notice that it was heavy with sarcasm, "I'm so sorry about that. Butterfingers or what?"

"Ow!" McGee whined in pain, before looking up at Gibbs and Tony with a pitiful whimper, "She did that on purpose!"

"Word to the wise McGee" Kate's voice drawled down the chimney to him, neither confirming not denying the accusation he'd just made, "Never make a comment about a woman's weight. It might just be the last thing you ever do".

McGee just groaned again, and Tony smirked. Gibbs, whilst also rather amused, decided that he needed to bring their attention back to the matter at hand.

"You find anything up there yet Kate?" he called up the fireplace to her.

"Other than dirt you mean? Err... let's see..." came Kate's response, "Oh! Yes! There it is, I see it. It's right here by the flue, just like Boone said it would be! Let me see if I can just... reach... it..."

The men listened intently for a moment, and the noise of something scraping against the stonework met their ears. Seconds later, another large pile of soot and ash came pouring down from the chimney.

"I've got it!" Kate's voice echoed down to them, a triumphant edge in her tone, "I'm coming down now!"

Beneath her, McGee let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Oh finally" he breathed out as Kate began descending back down the chimney, "You could have taken your boots - oh, geez!"

Kate, evidently still hacked off about poor McGee's earlier comment, decided to vent her displeasure a little further. Apparently the flashlight hadn't been enough. Now, as she shuffled back down to the the ground, she deliberately positioned her knee so that it rested on the junior agent's neck, forcing his head down towards the mound of soot.

"Stop whining" Kate advised him as she climbed off of him and straightened up. As she began brushing herself off, McGee grumbled as he got to his feet, massaging his neck. They all gathered around as Kate handed the mysterious object over to Gibbs, who had already donned a pair of latex gloves.

"It looks like a book" Kate noted aloud, "Perhaps a diary or journal of some sort. Maybe it's even Boone's manuscript of his crimes".

But it wasn't a diary. It wasn't a journal. It wasn't even a manuscript either. Hell, Kate almost wished that it was, disgusting though it would be, and not just to prove her own theories right. Because the book... what it actually was... it was so much worse than anything that Kate ever could have imagined.

The book... was a photo album.

That much became clear when Gibbs wiped off some of the dirt from the front cover. Taking a brief moment to gather his nerves, the silver haired man then bravely opened the battered old book to the first page. All four of the federal agents immediately reared back in utter horror. Not even the seemingly unshakeable Gibbs could have possibly been mentally prepared for the... abominable sight that met their eyes. Oh it was repulsive. It honestly made Kate feel physically ill.

He had photographed them!

Kate knew the stories of the atrocities that Kyle Boone had committed. Every young woman in America did. But never in a million years would Kate have imagined that he could be so... cruel, as to take the pictures that she was now looking down at in unadulterated disgust. Because that's what these photographs were. That's what they showed. The final moments of those poor, poor women, before they were brutally slain by that depraved... animal. And oh, they looked so terrified. It really did send a cold shiver through Kate, one that chilled her right down to the bone. Of all the terrible things that she had seen since joining NCIS, this might just be up there with the worst of them.

It was... horrific.

"Oh god... there must be thirty pages there" Kate whispered faintly, her voice stricken with horror.

"More" Tony agreed, his expression set in a grim frown.

"And each page is dedicated to a different woman" McGee remarked, looking a slight shade of green as he looked down at the nauseating photographs, "W-W-What's that carved into their backs?"

"That's his calling card" Gibbs replied, shaking his head in disgust. Just when he thought he'd seen it all, Kyle Boone of all people had to go and prove him wrong.

Kate just wordlessly shook her head. It wasn't so much the blood that oozed out of the identical insignia that Boone had carved into the flesh of each of his victims that bothered her. It was more the shape itself, and of course the dark irony that went with it.

It was a heart.

Boone's mark... was a heart.

After making the gruesome discovery at the farmhouse that would probably give Kate and the others nightmares for weeks to come, the team had come to the decision that it was time to change tactics. Gibbs had decided that he wanted Tony and McGee back at headquarters. He needed them to identify not only Kyle Boone's known victims from the photo album, but he also wanted to know exactly who else was in there. There was more than twenty-two pages worth of photographs of different women after all, a lot more. Just like Boone had promised them. And that meant that there were victims that were unaccounted for. If Boone was going to fry on Saturday, Gibbs wanted him to go to hell knowing that all of his victims had been given the dignity of a name if nothing else, that he hadn't been able to take those secrets to the grave.

To Kate's surprise, their silver haired leader also decided that she should go back to headquarters with Tony and McGee as well. Whilst he acknowledged that her presence in the previous interrogation had rattled Boone to a degree, it also hadn't had the effect he'd been hoping for. At this point, he thought it would be counterproductive to tie her up there if it wasn't going to work out the way he wanted it to. It made more sense to send Kate back to headquarters, so that she could help the others to identify the unknown women as quickly as possible.

So that was how Gibbs came to arrive alone back at Sussex State Prison. As he was escorted to the room that the prison was keeping Boone in, the silver haired federal agent was surprised to see that the maniac in question actually had a visitor. Boone was sitting at a table, reviewing some papers and making heavy alterations with a pen also conversing with his visitor, who was kept at a safe distance from Boone by a heavily barred wall. One that still allowed them to talk freely though. Said visitor was a young, rather short man with long greasy hair, a chin that was in dire need of a shave, wearing a horrible mustard-esque coloured suit that screamed of cheapness. All in all, he gave off the impression of being a little bit too scruffy for Gibbs' taste. As he approached up the corridor, the silver haired federal agent caught part of Boone's and his visitor's conversation.

"Is something wrong?" the scruffy man asked, watching in apparent annoyance as Boone crossed out several lines of writing on the papers that he was reviewing.

"This section on my mother, John, is better" Boone complimented the other man, who couldn't help but preen slightly, but that was quickly dashed when Boone spoke again, "But it still needs work".

The man in the awful suit let out a long-suffering sigh. This was clearly a conversation that they'd had many times before.

"I was trying to humanize her, Kyle" the scruffy man replied, his tone starting to sound a little defensive. Boone looked up from the papers with a very dark look on his face.

"Don't" the man growled.

With that one simple word, it wasn't hard to see the monster behind the man, the animal that had killed all those innocent women.

Any further conversation between the two men was cut short as Gibbs and his escort finally arrived outside of the prison interrogation room. Both Boone and the mystery man caught fight of the newcomers immediately, and whilst the scruffy man looked confused by their presence, Boone looked simply delighted. His face split into that god awful grin of his, the one Gibbs longed to smack clean off his face. The silver haired agent bit down the urge. Well... for now, at least.

"Did you find it all right, Jethro?" the lunatic said as a way of greeting, before he shrugged and answered his own question, "I guess you wouldn't be here if you didn't. I don't believe you've met my biographer, John Briggs".

He gestured towards the scruffy man in the cheap suit, who stepped forwards with an excited gleam in his eye.

"Special Agent Gibbs, it is a pleasure" the man, John Briggs, said earnestly. It was a sentiment that Gibbs did not share with him, "I've been trying to schedule an interview with you for months".

Gibbs gave Briggs a withering look, but sadly he never got the chance to tell him exactly what he thought of that. His escort, who happened to be Kelleher again, seemed to sense the federal agent's foul mood, and wisely intervened.

"You're going to have to leave now, Briggs" the warden said in a voice that brooked no argument. Sadly, the author didn't adhere to that.

"I've been granted special permission by the State of Virginia to be here, Warden" Briggs replied in an almost patronising manner, as if his word was the end of any discussion on the subject. It wasn't.

"Not anymore" Kelleher told him bluntly.

"The next time you see Boone..." Gibbs backed the warden up, determined to show the foolish little man just who was in charge around here, "He'll have a thunderbolt shooting out of his ass".

A very ugly look indeed appeared on Briggs' face.

"Hey!" the aspiring author protested, true anger now creeping into both his tone and expression, "I was... I was guaranteed full access for the next three days!"

Two exceptionally condescending looks were the response that met his heated declaration.

"The warden asked you to leave" Gibbs stated in a tone that didn't even attempt to mask the fact that he was running out of patience, "Don't make him ask you again".

Briggs opened his mouth to fire off an angry retort, but he was interrupted once again. Surprisingly, this time it was Boone of all people that spoke over him, and he was attempting to break up the... disagreement.

"You'll have to excuse Agent Gibbs, John" Boone interjected, in a tone that was somehow both reasonable to his biographer, yet also patronising to Gibbs at the same time, "He's finally gotten a glimpse into the world I've been telling him about".

Confusion passed across Briggs' face for a brief moment, before realisation dawned on him. The man let out a gasp, looking very excited again.

"The scrapbook?" the author breathed in astonishment, sounding utterly enthralled, "You found his scrapbook? When will it be released?"

Gibbs was about two seconds away for forcibly expelling the annoying little pest from the room himself. Again though, he was unfortunately denied the chance.

"Son, if you want to walk out of here under your own power, I suggest you leave now!" Kelleher barked at him, his own frustrations at having to repeat himself multiple times now obvious.

Scowling, Briggs glowered at them both. It was perfectly clear that the man was utterly incensed by this point, but thankfully, he also seemed to comprehend at long last that he was not going to get his own way in this situation. So with one last dark look at them for good measure, Briggs at last turned on his heel, and prowled out of the room.

Rolling his eyes at the impertinence of the younger man, Kelleher then followed him out the door. This left Gibbs alone with Boone, and he gave the insane criminal a cold glare. Boone just smiled back at him in response.

"John really is a wonderful writer" Boone praised, ignoring the way that Gibbs rolled his eyes at the remark, "You know he spent years trying to understand me. Unfortunately, he just never seemed to measure up".

Upon hearing that comment, Gibbs couldn't even attempt to hold back a contemptuous scoff. As if Kyle Boone had any right to put anyone on a pedestal after the... the atrocities that he had committed.

"To who?" the silver haired federal agent spat harshly, "Your prostitute mom? Or your father? Some hick john with a few extra bucks in his pocket?"

A look of... something, flashed across Boone's face so fast that Gibbs couldn't be sure he'd really seen it. But if he had managed to create a chink in his armour, it didn't last for long. Boone soon had his inane grin firmly back in place.

"Actually, I was referring to you, Jethro" he said with a twisted smile.

It took every ounce of self-restraint that Gibbs possessed not to cross the room and batter him black and blue. Instead, just barely managing to keep his temper in check, the silver haired federal agent settled for giving the sociopath the meanest of glares imaginable.

"The show's over" Gibbs told him bluntly, in no mood to continue this conversation any longer, "Where is the dumping ground?"

Boone just gave him a patient look. It was like Gibbs was a child, and Boone was his father trying to impart an important lesson. It wasn't a look that Gibbs much cared for.

"You show me my scrapbook one last time, and I'll draw you a map even a Marine can follow" the monster bargained.

But Gibbs wasn't prepared to allow that. No way. He might not have been able to save the poor innocent women featured in the photographs from Boone in life, but he could make sure they got some dignity in death.

"No" the silver haired man immediately turned the offer down, a harsh scowl on his face, "They've suffered enough".

A casually blank look that gave no thoughts away crossed over Boone's features. He let out a thoughtful hum of contemplation.

"Well, we're at an impasse" the serial killer eventually replied evenly.

White hot rage bubbled in the pit of Gibbs' stomach again. Thankfully, by some miracle, he managed to rein in his anger. That was quickly becoming more of a challenge with each passing minute though.

"Are you going to keep playing this game with me, Boone?" he asked in blatant annoyance.

Boone actually had the gall to look affronted by that question.

"I've never considered any of this a game, Jethro" the lunatic countered, though the mockery of a smile that was lining his face told a different story, "You know that".

The look Gibbs gave him should have encased him in ice.

"Whatever" the silver haired agent dismissively waved his words aside, "I'm changing the rules".

"How so?" Boone arched an eyebrow, seeming genuinely curious.

"I've seen your world" Gibbs said coldly, throwing the lunatic's earlier words right back at him, "Now you're going to spend what's left of your miserable life in mine".

And without even bothering to wait for whatever mocking response that the maniac would come up with this time, Gibbs whirled on his heel and marched straight out of the room to go and make the necessary transfer arrangements. He had every intention of following through with his dark promise to the insane criminal after all. If there was one thing that he could do for all those poor women that he had not been able to save, it was to make sure that Boone suffered in his last few days of life. That he be kept as lonely and as isolated as possible. Only one thing was certain in that moment however.

This would all be over soon, one way or the other...

And that's another chapter done : )

Like I said before, I don't have an awful lot to say today, but I did want to ask you guys to keep submitting your ideas and suggestions for the upcoming episodes. If you guys have any ideas for what you'd like to see in Silver War in particular, I'd really appreciate any suggestions, since I'm currently struggling to figure out what I want to do with that specific episode, aside from re-introducing Kate and Ziva to each other of course : )

Aside from that, I just want to thank you for reading this chapter and my story in general, and I really hope you're enjoying it. Please also consider leaving a review as I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback on how I'm doing so far, and like I said before, please also keep those suggestions coming in as well, because some of them have been incredibly helpful : )

Until the next time, keep on reading : )