Chapter TextWhen Gibbs gives him the name Benoit, Fornell insists on meeting in person.
“How’s the boy toy?”
“Doing well but you didn’t demand we meet in person to discuss my love life Tobias.”
“You don’t know that. Maybe I didn’t want Shepard overhearing and shooting the messenger.”
“And she might. Yet I still don’t believe you asked for this meet to avoid the wrath of a woman scorned. Especially as you aren’t the one it’d be aimed at. What do you know about Benoit?”
“The CIA has a man inside his operation. Fairly high level from the tips they’ve been giving us. How did he cross your radar?”
“His daughter’s boyfriend was the victim of a car bomb. Turns out he’s one of ours.”
“Someone in Benoit’s camp make him?”
“We don’t think so. There’s no sign they knew he was anything other than what he said he was. It might have even been a message aimed at Benoit.”
“I’ll keep an ear to the ground and speak to my guy at the CIA.”
“Thanks Tobias. You’ve got two minutes if you have anything to say.”
“Boy waiting for you, is he?”
“In fact he is.”
“How’d that come to pass, it isn’t like you to pick up one of your own.”
“He was persistent and knew what he wanted.”
“You’re serious about all this, aren’t you?”
“You know I am.”
“Em called the pair of you adorable.”
“That does seem to be the female opinion on it.”
“You seem happier.”
“I am.”
“Want me to distract Shepard?”
“Forever? Seems impractical. Thanks though Tobias.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony’s still in the lab with Abby when a window opens on her computer, “You joining a debate team Abbs?”
“It’s a debate shorthand?” Abby asks without preamble.
“I’m feeling the love right now Abby.”
“Yes, hello, Stewart. You know you’re my favorite biochemical engineer. Now this is sort of urgent, you recognize the shorthand I sent you?”
“Yes and no. It’s similar to a debate shorthand that’s pretty widely used. There are two of three terms being used that are either wildly out of context or I’m misreading them though.”
“It’s probably a terminology issue. We often use words differently than the general public,” Tony responds, forgetting he’s out of frame and therefore a disembodied voice.
“Stewart, this is Tony. Don’t worry, I speak cop,” Abby assures them both. She then focuses solely on the monitor, “Have I brought you on as a consultant before Stewart? I can’t remember.”
“If you mean have I read the sixteen page confidentiality agree that explains exactly how long I could be imprisoned for keeping, copying, or distributing any information sent to me by NCIS and signed it, yes I have. I also know I will receive a mildly generous hundred dollar check for my efforts. Send me what you’ve got.”
“Don’t worry about context or anything just translate it into English for me and I’ll do the rest.”
“Will do Abbs. Want it as it’s done or all at once?”
“Bossman needs this as quick as possible so as you get it would be great.”
“The things I do for you.”
“I love you for it.” She shuts down the webcam and smiles at Tony.
“So who is Stewart?”
“An old friend from college. We were in all the same chemistry labs. Back then he wanted to teach so he took some speech classes and was on the debate team.”
“What does he do now?”
“He was head hunted by one of the Parkinson’s studies that’s been getting mad funding lately. So he tries to save the world and in the mean time he helps me with some of the trickier organic compounds that come through here.”
“Not a boyfriend?”
She laughs, “Not a boyfriend. Did Jack put you up to this?”
“Well he did seemed to think your father lacked a proper level of interest…”
“Finish scanning those pages and shoo you spy.”
“I am not a spy. I wasn’t planning on telling Jack anything. Just curious about the endless supply of ‘old friends’ all of them male.”
“I’m an interesting person,” Abby declares with just a hint of a huff.
“Fair enough Princess, that’s certainly true.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ziva waits expectantly as McGee retakes his seat. When it’s clear he isn’t going to speak unprompted she pushes, “Did you apologize?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Did he fire you?”
“No.”
“He should have.” That snaps McGee out of his stupor but Ziva doesn’t give him a chance to respond. “You were insubordinate, men have been fired for less.”
“Not anyone who works for Gibbs. He offered to transfer me.”
“Perhaps you should accept.”
“You seem awfully upset about this.”
“I am. I expected you to behave like an adult even if you have some deep dusty issue with what he’s doing.”
“Deep dark. I have an issue with Tony’s new attitude not… Well you know what it’s not about.”
“He can be whom ever he really is, so long as you do not have to take orders from him. Is that it?”
“Neither of you are listening. His behavior towards his work and the team has changed, that’s the part I’m having trouble with. He can go get his jollies in the elevator for all I care but I’m not used to him pulling his own weight, let alone controlling how I’m expected to pull mine.”
“You are truly a fool McGee.”
Gibbs enters the bullpen and oblivious to the tension in the room asks, “Any progress?”
“A handful of Reston’s surveillance photos match the dates and times of the CIA files I can’t get into, so it’s a safe bet he was indeed investigating Benoit. And if he’s sent anyone the photographs the CIA might be aware that he’s in undercover with Benoit’s family.”
“It is unlikely any of my contacts will be able to get back to me for a few hours.”
“Have you found Jeanne Benoit yet?”
“It seems as though her father has her hidden but I shall continue to do my best to locate her.”
“Go home. Get a few hours sleep. Be back at o eight hundred.” He glances at McGee, “Leave whatever this nonsense is at home.” He heads for the secure elevator without letting them respond.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abby and Tony are leaning on one another companionably when he enters the lab. They’re both focused on the computer monitor. And Tony looks like someone just slashed his tires.
“Tony?”
Tony startles and turns haunted eyes on him as Abby hugs harder, “The kid was falling for the girl. For real he says, and he went to Shepard about it. She was the only one who knew he wasn’t a junior partner at a law firm who met an interesting girl. Shepard told him it meant he was good at his job. That falling for her was what he was supposed to do. That if he didn’t really feel it the girl would know.”
He runs the hand not holding onto Abby through his hair, “He didn’t want to sleep with her under false pretenses. Shepard basically told him that if he didn’t seduce Jeanne he’d never work in law enforcement again. He began to question if he was cut out for undercover work.”
When the silence stretches long enough to be deliberate Gibbs decides he needs to be the boss first, “He kill himself?”
“No, no, no,” Abby cuts in. “It sounds more like he was going to quit, tell her he lost his job, and marry her. But we’ve only got about forty of sixty-three pages.”
Gibbs considers them both a moment and begins signing “She will pay. Soon. Not now.”
Tony nods sadly.
“Got someone else translating for you Abbs?”
“Stewart from college.”
“Can he send it to the secure email you get at the house?”
“Sure but why?”
“We could all use some sleep and at the house we could take shifts reading.” He also signs, “walls have ears.”
“Sure. I’ll let him know and meet you in the garage in fifteen.”
He decides to throw caution to the wind this once and wraps the pair of them in a quick hug. “Fifteen.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Despite the plan to all get at least a little sleep the three of them end up on the den sofa curled together taking turns reading aloud.
It’s clear to Gibbs after only a few pages that Reston was never taught how to make proper operational notes. A large portion of his notes are Jeanne’s childhood recollections of her father. Stories of a warm and loving father, while heartwarming, are hardly useful to either investigation.
The few truly useful notes are about assignments outside the general operation. Report notes about observing meetings from a distance and on one occasion bugging a limo. It clear Shepard direct both of these assignments personally.
It isn’t until the final page that anything truly useful comes of it. Reston notes having received two anonymous calls three days before the car bombing. One at his desk at the yard and the other on his undercover phone. Both said simply, “Stop trying to occupy some else’s place.”
While not a lot of information it’s enough to be going on with. Abby sets the computer to trace the calls and Gibbs stands up bringing both of them up with him. “Well get back on it in the morning. For now we all need sleep.”
“Tuck me in?” Abby mumbles tiredly.
“Sure thing Princess.”
Tony just yawns.
“You awake enough to brush your teeth Tony?”
“Sure thing. Just crashing. Couldn’t let myself be tired before so it’s hitting me pretty hard.”
Gibbs nods his understanding. It takes careful maneuvering but he manages to get them all upstairs without letting go of either of them. Tony stumbles a bit when Gibbs steps away at Abby’s door but regains his footing and dutifully continues down the hall.
Abby kicks off her boots and fumbles with her spiked belt and necklace for a moment before she’s able to take them off. She then sits heavily on the edge of the bed and pulls Gibbs down beside her. “He’s not going to tell you. He told me so. Thinks you’ll fly off the handle. But, Daddy, you need to know.”
“What is it Princess?”
“She approached him about this.”
He searches for a meaning in that and ‘this’ is just too vague to suggest the answer. “Who approached him about what?” He is at least confident that the ‘he’ is Tony.
“Madam Evil Stepmother approached him about this op. While you were… away. He didn’t take it ‘cause he was leading the team. He’s blaming himself for what she did to Reston. He was just a baby. Barely even an agent.”
“I’ll take care of him sweetheart. I promise.”
“Remind him” She yawns widely, “he’s a hero. My hero. Well you’re my hero. But Tony is too. You’re both my hero.”
“Sleep, Abbs. Let me worry about Tony.” He pulls the blanket up, kisses her forehead and leaves quietly.
Tony is leaning heavily on the bathroom counter brushing like it’s an after thought.
“You okay?”
“Abbs told you.”
“She did. Wants me to tell you we’re both her hero and that this is not your fault.” He takes the toothbrush away, rinses it, puts in the cup, and takes a firm hold of Tony’s chin. “You’re my hero too Tony. Every time you put the team, the civilians, the mark above your own safety. Because you don’t do it for glory, or pride, or because you’ve devalued yourself. You do it because you are the very definition of a good man Tony. You are a real hero, not those fool hardy bad asses in your movies, not some jackass who saves a life to say he did. You, who’d do it alone, in the dark, because it’s the right thing. And yes if you’d been the dumb puppy she thought you were and had taken on an undercover assignment while leading a team of rebellious teenagers Danny Reston would not be dead, but you might be. This is her fault.”
“And what would you have done if I’d told you I knew she was trying to start her own little private war?”
“I would have pestered her about it for about ten minutes. She’d have made a snide comment about your operational security, tried to hit on me, and I would have left her office.”
“You wouldn’t have somehow known that she’d flipped her lid?”
“I only know everything about the people I care about. Jenny’s issue is that she never qualified.” He lets his thumb drift back and forth over Tony’s late night stubble, “Come on, let’s get some sleep and in the morning I’ll remind you why I’m your hero in the shower.”
“I hope you mean the part where you love me for my body, not the bit where you love me for my mind.”
Gibbs chuckles and takes a clearly overtired Tony to bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Breakfast comes entirely too fast but none of them closely resemble the walking dead any more so the few hours they have managed to sleep have clearly done their job.
As Gibbs makes hash browns and bacon to go with the store bought bagels Tony watches the coffee pot longingly and Abby reads out the results of the phone traces.
“They’re both from the same burn phone. It’s part of a large bulk order shipment purchased through one of the CIA’s front companies, Ironclad Security Services. Which is supposedly one of those firms you call to hire some guy named Bruno who is built like a brick house to handcuff your briefcase to himself. The problem with the pretense being that Ironclad Security Services has neither clients nor employees. A little sloppy from the boys over at the company actually.”
“So somebody at the CIA warned Reston off of investigating Benoit.”
“Looks like it,” Abby confirms as she pours herself a juice, “But how did they know Reston was undercover?”
“That depends entirely on who had operational knowledge of this little farce,” Tony concludes warily.
“You didn’t find anything about it in the proper channels but Reston was writing eyes only emails, there’s a record of that isn’t there? Even if you can’t break the encryption on the actual data.” Gibbs questions as he serves breakfast.
“It’s possible to find out that they’re there, like I did. Sure. But there’s no way to know about what they’re actually about. We only know they’re about Benoit because we know Reston was purposefully getting close to Benoit’s daughter. Beyond all that, there’s the fact that they’d have to know that Ross was really Reston to even begin looking. If they knew that they probably found out about it the old fashion way, by tailing him. No way anyone could mistake the Yard for Fisk, Stoat and Gage.”
“I have to hope he was trained well enough to spot a tail. Most of the mail room guys can manage that.” There’s just a touch of distain in Tony’s voice.
“Anything we’ve seen about this kid make you think ‘well trained’ there Honey buns?”
“No, not really,” Tony concedes. “And I will start calling you sweet cheeks in the field.”
“Still your boss.”
“Not at the rate you two are going,” Abby laughs.
“Speaking of which, the peanut gallery is due in at 0800. I told them to leave whatever was going on last night at home. If you’re part of it, it might be best if you do the same,” His tone betrays the fact that for once he honestly doesn’t know what’s going on.
Tony kisses him, “Thanks for not pushing it.”
“You’ve got a handle on it though?”
“I’ve already let him know what’s going to happen professionally if he can’t keep the personal chap out of it, yeah. As I had to remind him, it is my job to keep the team working together smoothly.”
“Good thing too. If it was Pop’s job it’d still just be the two of you,” Abby teases.
That allows them all to laugh and drop the subject.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
McGee is unfailingly professional all morning and while it isn’t precisely annoying it has both Gibbs and Tony refraining from asking him questions unless he’s the only one able to answer them.
Ziva on the other hand points out almost immediately that Tony looks as if he hasn’t slept.
“I slept just fine Zee-va. But we were all up half the night deciphering Reston’s operational notes.”
“Was there anything useful in his notes?”
“He got two messages from a burn phone purchased by a CIA front company. They wanted him to stop taking someone else’s place.”
“And the fact that it was a burn phone makes it impossible to determine who exactly the message came from,” Ziva concludes.
Tony nods but then pauses thoughtfully, “We should check the message isn’t over the girl. It’s a long shot but it’s a possibility.”
“You got it, or did you have something else to check out?”
Tony smirks just a little, “I’m on it. Gonna let me expense it if I have to buy a gossipy nurse lunch?”
“If you get me the information I’m looking for, why not?” A quick glance tells him they are alone enough, the four of them, “Just give her Ziva’s extension when she asks for your number.”
“Could give her your cell number, Boss.”
“Then I’d be getting a string of nonsense calls. The last time you did that it took me far too long to figure it out.”
“Up close and personal with a psychopath was not exactly my ideal assignment thanks.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s almost noon when McGee escapes from the silently hostile territory upstairs to the relatively neutral ground of Abby’s lab. Abby eyes him a bit distrustfully, and it stings. “Could use your help with some photos,” He explains into the silence that greets him.
“What type of help, Agent McGee?” She notes his stricken look, “You honestly thought I wouldn’t side with him? He’s my family. If he and Pop were a little less emotionally stunted they’d have run off to Niagara Falls for horribly cliché Canadian wedding by now.”
“So I’m not allowed to be pissed about being kept in the dark about the capabilities and knowledge of a team member because he’s your new step-dad?”
“You’re claiming you’re mad because they didn’t feel the need to correct your laughably naive assumptions about Tony?”
“Because that’s why I’m mad.”
“Were they supposed to teach you to turn on your computer and load your gun too?”
“Well no-”
“Did Ziva tell you she wouldn’t actually kill you? That she had emotions?”
“Of course not.”
“Did Pop tell you he wasn’t going to throw you out of the building for missing something, or breaking one of his rules?” He doesn’t answer her but she doesn’t seem to mind. “You didn’t take them at face value. But you did it to Tony. You don’t get to blame him for that.” She shakes her head and turns back to her screen, “What did you need done to your photos?”
He stands, still, silent, and aggravated for a moment before stepping up beside her and pulling up the three photos in question. “I was going over Reston’s photos again and looked at the ones we’d deemed irrelevant- the photos of Jeanne that seemed more like snapshots. In these three there are reflective surfaces in which it appears we can see the same man at each location. And earlier Tony reminded us of the possibility that this might be about his relationship with Jeanne, not La Grenouille. I thought if you could help me confirm that it is indeed the same man we might have a lead.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ziva has finally gotten Jeanne Benoit in for questioning when Tony leaves to meet with one of the nurses at Monroe. He notes idly as they pass one another that she is indeed cute, but the look she gives him is wholly unattractive, not that it would be worth the headache to mention it to Gibbs. And it is in that spirit that he slips on the wedding band he bored from Ops management after sliding in behind the wheel a boring motor pool sedan. Generally speaking nurses liked a cop as a prospect, lord only knew why, and a little protective coloration can go a long way.
They meet, at her suggestion, at a café half a block from the hospital. He smiles blandly, “Thank you for meeting with me Ms. Rodgers.”
“I’m not sure why you wanted to speak with me but I’m always happy to help law enforcement.”
“Dr. Benoit was involves in an incident last night. She’s fine, no need to worry, but we need to know if any one would have had reason to want to hurt her.”
“Hurt Jeanne? No, everyone loves Jeanne.”
“Anyone who might want to hurt her boyfriend that you know of?”
“I dunno if he’d hurt him but Jeanne’s ex, Sebastian, didn’t seem to like Danny very much.”
“You expected him to?” Tony is clearly more than a little skeptical.
“When I say ex… Three years ago Sebastian and Jeanne were engaged. Sebastian is some sort of federal agent, I’m not sure what agency, but he went away on a mission for more than a month. When he got back he broke off the engagement but he and Jeanne stayed friends. He seemed to be fine with it when Jeanne started dating again. Until she started seeing Danny.”
“Did they get to know each other first or did Sebastian dislike Danny right away?”
“From what I understand they had one private conversation before Sebastian informed Jeanne that Danny was wrong for her.”
“Did anyone besides Sebastian dislike Danny?”
“No, the rest of us really liked Danny. He was sweet, very attentive. Like I’ll bet you are with your wife.”
A split second decision has him smiling warmly, “My husband is the attentive one actually.”
She looks him over again and smiles, “I can understand that.”
The rest of the meal is full of mostly meaningless chatter. He does end up giving her Ziva’s extension, but mostly as that’s the card that he encounters first in his pocket. He orders a milkshake to go and learns against the side of the sedan as he calls Gibbs. “Got a name for you, Sweetcheeks.”
“That so Honey buns?”
“Seems Jeanne Benoit used to date a federal agent, might even have been CIA, who mysteriously broke off their engagement three years ago. They were still friends and after a private discussion with Ross he decided he that Ross was no good for Jeanne.”
“I’ll have to tell Bethany how it was your gut that saved the day this time.”
“We don’t know that yet.”
“Get back here.”
“On my way. Need coffee?”
“No, just did a run because Abbs needed Caff-Pow.”
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