Chapter Text“Sebastian Thorne. Employment with the CIA terminated in June of this year for ‘medical reasons.’ I’d bet he failed a required psych eval,” Abby declares handing the file folder to Tony as he arrives and stealing his desk chair in one efficient movement.
“Anything to back that guess up Princess?” Gibbs asks as Tony watches her pull something up on his computer.
“A medical termination without a proceeding trauma or subsequent disability claims tends to be a failed psych eval.”
“Too much caff-pow! Abbs?” Tony asks leaning over her shoulder as she brings up her findings to transfer them to the big screen.
“Just glad we’re making progress,” She gives him an obnoxiously loud kiss, deliberately leaving a lipstick mark on his cheek. “They have him listed as an analyst but he’s been out of the country for long periods of time that coincide with known, at least after the fact, undercover operations.”
A few records highlight and enlarge on the screen.
“But from what I’ve found it seems like he was working with a money laundering ring when he was seeing Jeanne Benoit. Very white collar, their front was a dry cleaner and the majority of the surveillance on the op was centered on a country club. The money was coming from weapons sales in some of the more unstable regions of northern African. Benoit doesn’t do business in the area and I doubt working for his competitors would have been an ideal cover to buddy up to him.”
“Then it is as Ms. Benoit told me.” Ziva confirms as she re-enters the bullpen. “They met in a supermarket near Ms. Benoit’s home in 2001. They dated for two and a half years before he proposed. They had been engaged for five months when he left town on an assignment that lasted five weeks. When he returned he broke the engagement, saying he could not endanger her anymore. Ms. Benoit seems to believe he was genuine in his concern for her well being out weighing their relationship and
informs me that they are on friendly terms even now.”
“And you asked her about Thorne’s relationship with Ross?”
“I am not, despite what you like to imply, new at this Tony. Of course I asked about Thorne’s reaction to Ross. According to Ms. Benoit he was very supportive until he met Ross in person. They spoke alone for a time and Thorne subsequently began objecting to the relationship. Ms. Benoit seemed to think it was belated jealousy.”
Tony leans against his filing cabinet, “Or Thorne recognized that Ross was an agent and figured that alone would put the girl in danger.”
McGee joins them as well, “Facial recognition gave us an 87% match on Thorne. None of the reflections were on a clear enough angle to give us better but given the connection to the victims I think it’s a reasonable assumption.”
“So the questions become: Where is Thorne, and was he concerned enough to kill to protect her.” He reaches around Abby’s shoulders and begins filling in a BOLO.
Which of course is just the moment Director Shepard descends into their midst.
Tony stiffens slightly, aware that now is not the time and this is not the place to confront her about what she’s done to Danny Reston. He can’t however stop himself from glaring at her.
Thankfully for Tony’s continued employment she is wholly focused on Gibbs once she arrives in the bullpen. “Making progress on the car bombing?”
“We’ve got a positive ID and a possible suspect. His real name was Danny Reston and he was one of ours on an unauthorized undercover assignment.” He watches for her reaction to that.
Her flinch is almost microscopic but he can see it all the same. "The name doesn’t ring a bell, whose team is Reston on?”
“He’s one of the legal department’s agents actually.”
“And there was an indication that he’d been undercover in Benoit’s operation?”
Gibbs casts a quick look over the team in warning before answering her, “His notes seem to indicate he’s been dating Benoit’s daughter Jeanne to gain access to Benoit.”
Tony meets’ Gibbs eyes before commenting, “His procedures are way off and his reporting style leaves something to be desired.”
“He has not gathered any intelligence of use either,” Ziva adds.
“Was he compromised?” Shepard asks warily.
“Not that we can find Ma’am.” McGee manages to hide his confusion at the attitude the others are giving the director.
“It seems, Ma’am, that Jeanne Benoit’s former boyfriend may have taken exception to him,” Tony’s tone is dry enough to use as sand paper.
“And he chose a car bomb as his means of self-expression?”
“It’s a possibility,” Gibbs purposefully doesn’t volunteer any details on their suspect.
“Keep me in the loop Jethro.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
She heads back up the stairs without another word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We don’t actually think he’s going to admit to anything do we?”
“You never know until you try,” Gibbs smirks.
“Suddenly an optimist?”
“It’s all the steamy illicit sex. It messes with my ability to be a cynical bastard.”
“Illicit?”
“It could get us both fired.”
Tony smiles and shakes his head, “So we’re punching holes in his alibi then?”
“And trying to get an idea of where he built the bomb, yeah.”
On the short walk up the driveway Tony’s hand strays to his gun three times and his whole body clenches when Thorne opens the door. “What can I do for you gentlemen?”
“I’m special agent Gibbs, this is special agent DiNozzo. We’d like to speak to you about Danny Ross.”
“Which agency did you say you’re from?” Thorne’s wariness is almost a living thing.
Tony purposefully stiffens his demeanor to that of the proverbial stuffed shirt. “Naval Criminal Investigative Service, sir.”
“Danny was NCIS. Wouldn’t have guessed that one.” He shakes his head, “Look, I was onto Danny but I didn’t kill him. I just wanted him to leave Jeanne alone. She deserves better than some jerk, me or him, using her to get close to her dad.”
With a quick glance at Gibbs Tony drops the posturing entirely, “This might not be the best place to discuss this.”
“Fair enough, come in.”
They sit at Thorne’s kitchen table without the usual uncomfortable offer of drinks.
“You were the only one who knew Danny wasn’t who he said he was.” Gibbs is still doing that bland non-threatening thing.
“And I warned him away from Jeanne. But I didn’t kill him. Didn’t even threaten him. Well, not with bodily harm anyway.”
Tony raises a curious eyebrow at that, “What exactly did you threaten him with?”
“Jeanne knows her father isn’t what he claims to be. Don’t misunderstand, she has no clue who he really is but she knows he’s been hiding what he really does for a living her entire life. I threatened to tell Jeanne that he was only getting close to her to benefit his business interests in her father. It wouldn’t blow his cover in a manner to see him harmed but it would have crashed his relationship with Jeanne in a spectacular fashion. If there’s one thing she truly despises, thanks in no small part to her father no doubt, it’s liars.”
“And did you follow through on this threat?”
“It wasn’t time to yet. I gave him a month to let her down easy. I truly don’t want Jeanne hurt in all this.”
“Why break the engagement then?”
“I was one of the lying bastards.” He smirks at them, “Three years with Jeanne and I got two usable sentences out of Rene Benoit and a real good look at the kind of scum we are. It’s one thing when it’s another agent to maintain cover, or the target themselves. They know there’s a chance you’re lying to them about absolutely everything to gain some nebulous sort of knowledge. When it’s someone like Jeanne, someone innocent, they have no idea that we’re using them. That nothing we say or do can be trusted. I loved her. But how could she really love me? She never even knew me. And no matter what he said it was going to be exactly the same with Danny.”
Tony shakes his head, “Danny was going to quit NCIS for her.”
“And go on lying to her forever,” Throne sneers.
“Actually I doubt Danny told Jeanne very many lies. You see he wasn’t a trained undercover agent. Aside from who he practiced law for every thing Jeanne and her friends told us about Danny is true.”
“Jeanne did tell us most of the same things Danny’s co-workers in the legal department did,” Gibbs agrees evenly.
“It really doesn’t matter. Their whole relationship was built on a lie, but not just that. It was a lie that could get them both killed. I would never have let him risk Jeanne that way.”
“And if Jeanne didn’t care about the lie? If she loved Danny for who he was?” Tony seems just a touch wistful as he says it, earning him a discretely raised eyebrow from Gibbs.
“Like I said lying is a deal breaker for Jeanne. She takes it from her dad because he’s her dad. She wouldn’t let Danny get away with it.”
“People have overlooked a lot more than meeting under false pretenses when they’re in love,” Tony prods again.
“She wasn’t in love with Danny,” Thorne’s tone is final and his use of the past tense isn’t overlooked by either agent.
“If you were giving him ultimatums I take it you had some way of contacting Danny that didn’t involve Jeanne.”
“I followed him home the night she introduced us. It wasn’t hard. He just hopped the metro and never even really looked around.”
“Sounds a bit like stalking Mr. Thorne.”
“Seems to me in our line of work they tend to call it surveillance Agent Gibbs.”
Tony gives up on being even the least bit circumspect, “You wouldn’t happen to have a ready source of military grade explosive would you?”
“In this country? No. If however you need to lay hands on a half a pound of Sematex in Dubai I could get you to the right men.” Thorne stands, “I didn’t kill Danny Ross, or whatever his real name was, and I’d appreciate it if you gentlemen left my house. Unless of course you intend to arrest me for bad intentions.”
Tony doesn’t even bother to move the car as Gibbs calls in to assign a surveillance team. Despite the fact that they’re both fairly convinced Thorne is their killer they can’t chance it on so little evidence, not when the victim is an NCIS agent. Nor are they sure enough to stay themselves.
“Nells and Maiko will be here in thirty-five to take first shift on the surveillance detail.” Tony drums his fingers on the steering wheel, “He’s not really trying to hide it, is he?”
“No, he’s not. He’s either sure we can’t pin it on him or he honestly thinks we’re dumb enough to fall for the ‘I’m too obvious to be the killer’ routine.”
“We do seem to give the impression that they might be able to sell us a nice bridge in Brooklyn given the number of them that lie to us,” Tony offers contemplatively.
“You do have a very trusting face.”
“You’re not funny Jethro.” He glances in the rearview as an agency sedan parks behind them. “Does Tobias know anybody at the CIA?”
“Has an old task force buddy there, yeah.”
“Maybe he could get us the details on Thorne’s separation from the company.”
Gibbs smiles at him winningly, “You going to call him?”
“Why would I call him? He’s your friend.”
“But he thinks you’re pretty. It might work to our advantage.”
“Smug may in fact be a good look on you but it doesn’t make you funny.”
“You love me.”
“Just call him.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ziva smiles triumphantly and hits Tony’s speed dial. “I have found it.”
There’s a bit of a lengthy pause, “The source of the accelerant?”
“Nine months ago an arms dealer out of Kiev hired some men to raid a United Nations peacekeeping force’s supply depot in hopes of stealing guns and ammunition. Or so my contact assumes as there just is not a vast market for military grade accelerant. But being an enterprising man he decided once he had the accelerant he might as well sell it. She tells me there were two sales made to American buyers. One to a militia group in Wyoming and one to a former CIA agent out of Charleston, South Carolina.”
“Was she able to give you any details on the Charleston sale?”
Ziva consults her notes, “Just that the deal took place in the French Quarter of Charleston on September 19th.”
“Have McGee look into Sebastian Thorne’s travel records for September. Gibbs and I are on our way in now.”
She relays the request to McGee and is surprised at his quiet acquiesces. She allows herself a moment of satisfied reflection before deciding they need answers before they can continue on. “I am going to pick up dinner, would you like anything in particular?”
The consideration seems to surprise him in turn. “I could do with some food, sure. Where are you going?”
“I thought I might try that new deli over at eighth and L.”
“Sounds good, thanks. Want me to come with you?”
“I shall manage on my own. Just let Tony and Gibbs know I am on my way with food when they arrive. Would you like a Rueben or your usual?”
“My usual would be great, thanks.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gibbs is still bantering with Fornell when Tony hangs up with Ziva. He glances over to make sure he has Gibbs’ attention before speaking, “See what he knows about Charleston, SC too.”
Gibbs nods an acknowledgement before returning his attention to his phone.
“What does the boy toy need?” Tobias asks with a chuckle.
Gibbs puts it on speaker, “Business Tobias. DiNozzo wants me to ask if you know anything about an ex-company man operating out of South Carolina. Charleston specifically. And anything you can get us on a Sebastian Thorne’s medical discharge would be helpful as well.”
“You want the English crown jewels while I’m at it Jethro?”
“You owe us Tobias. And we don’t need you to actually get us anything actionable, just some intel.”
“I haven’t heard anything about Charleston. I’ll get back to you about Thorne. For Emily.”
“Thanks Toby. Get back to me when you can. The Boyfriend and I’ll take you to dinner when we’ve got this one sorted.”
“Not into that kinky shit, Jethro. No need to wine and dine me.”
“I wasn’t offering that Tobias and you know it. Besides he’s expressed distress at the thought that you might be interested, I think you’re safe from each other. Just a meal.”
“If he promises to keep his hands to himself, I’ll even cook,” Tony offers brightly.
“There you go, a warning to keep your hands to yourself and an offer of some damn fine cooking.”
“Maybe I’ll bring Emily. She seemed… amused by your partnership.”
“We’d like that.”
Tony shoots Gibbs an unhappy look, “She’s a good kid.”
“I’ll call you back if I find something for you.”
“Thanks Tobias.”
“Yeah, thanks Toby,” Tony adds with only a touch of sarcasm. When Gibbs has hung up Tony sighs, “What the hell are we going to do if Thorne isn’t our guy?”
“Throw Jenny in interrogation until she gives up the details on Reston’s operation.”
“Somehow I wish that was a bad joke.”
“Me too,” Gibbs admits quietly.
“Still have Sec Nav’s number?”
“Let’s hope we don’t need it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Ziva arrives back in the bullpen Tony is at his computer reading and McGee is typing and clicking as he usually does. Gibbs is no where to be seen. Tony seems to notice her attention and looks up. She looks curiously at Gibbs’ empty desk in question, hoping the continuing silence will maintain the cease fire with McGee.
Tony indicates the director’s office with a tilt of his head, also recognizing the novel lack of tension.
Ziva distributes the sandwiches and various drinks before finally speaking, choosing to address McGee directly, “You should take a moment to eat McGee. The information will still be there to find when you are finished and you skipped lunch today.”
McGee stops, thinks for a moment and then reaches for the food, “You’re right I did.”
It’s not the comfortable banter of a week ago but it’s not a biting comment or cold professionalism either so both Tony and Ziva are willing to count it as a win.
Gibbs returns from what he’d call briefing the director if asked, though he’d held back more information than he’d imparted by far, to the relative piece and rather than barking for results or a status update he simply joins the others in eating their meal. The uncharacteristic tolerance does seem to startle Ziva and McGee but Tony smirks at him. He shrugs slightly and signs “my mask is slipping. Your fault.”
Tony shakes his head and responds in kind “all you.”
The others are either unaware or willfully blind to the byplay and Gibbs demands an update as soon as he’s finished eating.
Much to everyone’s relief McGee answers with his old distracted enthusiasm, “Despite his separation from the CIA Thorne has retained the papers and accounts of one of his cover aliases, Gordie Howard. I’ve found a Swiss account and should have the domestic account soon. I’ve also got a search running through the FAA database for both names in September and can expand that into August and October if we don’t get any results. That search should be almost complete without me.”
“Tony, run property records on Gordie Howard. We still need to find where he built the bomb. Ziva, look into any connections to Howard in Charleston. I’m going see if Abby has anything we forgot when we found Reston’s journals.”
Tony glances up and comments, “There was something about a chemical residue on the badge. And Rennie’s team had her working on the trace from a body dump in a dumpster so you might want to make sure she’s not trying to subsist on Caff-Pow! alone while you’re down there.”
Before McGee can look at Tony in wide-eyed confusion Ziva comments, “I would have been happy to bring her dinner.”
“I didn’t know you were going out or I would have asked you to.”
Gibbs shakes his head and leaves without a word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Gibbs arrives in Abby’s lab with soup and a sandwich from a diner nearby she is indeed scowling at the sheer number of evidence bags on her table. He puts the food down on the counter, pulls a bottle of water from his pocket and then turns her chair toward it, “Breath and eat Princess.”
“There’s just so much clearly useless nonsense here Pop. None of Rennie’s team are baby agents, they should have better judgment than this.”
“Get Colson down here to sort it out for you Baby girl.”
She glances back at him before turning her attention to the food, “Maybe when I’ve finished eating.”
“I won’t do it for you,” The admonishment is fond, as is the kiss on her cheek. He pulls the other chair over and asks the questions he’d normal ask her over a Saturday lunch as she eats. In the time it takes her to eat and unwind from the stress wrecked creature he walked in on she is able to update him on the habitat for humanity house’s progress, the bowling team’s standings and her not-a-date with a carbon dating tech at the Smithsonian.
Deciding she needs another minute or two of calm he teases her, “And if I were to ask him about it he’d tell me it was ‘not-a-date’ too?”
“We talked shop,” She defends, blushing. Abby has no shame about boy toys and exes, but prospective boyfriends make her flush like a naïve schoolgirl.
“The whole night?”
“No.”
“Having a real relationship wouldn’t kill you Princess.”
“I’m still not ready Pop.”
“Okay. Fair enough. Now, no need to jump up and start demonstrating or explaining but did you ever figure out what was on Reston’s badge?”
“It was a little odd, but not helpful, sorry. It’s the melted remains of double sided tape. I think he had the badge taped into the well of the spare tire and it melted.”
“You’re right, not all that helpful, but it does tell me Reston was at least minimally aware of the need for operational security. It tells me he was under trained, not completely clueless about what he was doing.”
“And we all know whose fault that is.”
“Yes we do. I mean it about Colson, you shouldn’t have to do this alone. If I sent you this much evidence you’d demand McGee or Tony come down.”
“I know. But they’re family. Colson always looks like he thinks I’m going to drain his blood and drink it out of Caff-Pow! cups.”
He shakes his head and kisses her cheek, “He can deal with it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Gibbs returns to the bullpen McGee immediately gets to his feet bringing up some documents on the big screen, “Gordie Howard flew down to Charleston on September 9th and returned on the 25th. The account that paid for the tickets makes several prearranged transfers each month including the utilities on a house but not mortgage or rent payments. The activity is what you’d expect to see in someone who is away from a given address for long periods. It really does seem to be Thorne’s back up identity.”
As McGee finishes Tony gets to feet and grabs his back pack, “Got an address Boss. There’s a house in Howard’s name in McLean, he bought it outright six years ago and according to the real estate listing from the purchase the property includes a detached two car garage.”
Gibbs eyes both McGee and Ziva for a second before prodding, “What are you two waiting for? Let’s go. This could be our secondary scene.”
During the drive Tony sets legal on getting them a search authorization.
When they arrive the house is very clearly deserted, the lawn is over grown, the mailbox full to bursting. Tony is quick to point out that the side door to the garage is both clean and clear of debris. Together he and Ziva check the door over for obvious triggers before opening it. Inside is a bomber’s paradise.
“It’s looks like a Radio Shack in the early nineties in here,” McGee comments as he moves among the bins of wires, circuits, receivers and batteries.
“Photograph and bag everything. If anyone finds something that looks even remotely assembled we fall back and call in the bomb squad,” Gibbs instructs before calling in to have the surveillance team Thorne picked up.
“Gotta admit the guy had a pretty good poker face,” Tony comments as he bags tools from the work bench.
“Or he knew by the time we had enough to bring him in for this he’d be gone,” Gibbs growls hanging up his phone.
“He got past Maiko and Nells?”
“Extraction team got him out ten minutes ago. Nells gave them a good chase but they had a secondary team and boxed them in. I doubt we’ll find Thorne again,” Gibbs growls.
“He murdered a kid for falling for his mark and the CIA is covering for him,” Tony is clearly incredulous.
“That is… screwed up,” To the amazement of all it’s McGee that speaks up.
“They’re both going to get away with it.” Tony doesn’t bother explaining who or what, Gibbs knows what he means and he’s not feeling friendly enough toward McGee to care if he’s confused anymore.
“Not if I can help it,” Gibbs vows quietly.
Chapter End Notes:
It was recently called to my attention while playing comment tag with a new fan (and I love new fans) that I have neglected up to now to mention my gratitude to one of the most long-standing fans for this story. Marianne has been commenting on this story since July of ’09 which is pretty much from the beginning. And I’ve loved her from that first email. It was several paragraphs covering everything from writing style and characterizations to plot and voice. Over the subsequent two and a half years she has been a cheerleader, a sounding board, a cannon reference, and a friend. She steered me (at my request, she didn’t want to influence me) away from at least one major mistake and gently corrects my typos and slip ups. (She caught Ziva using a contraction so quickly I don’t think it was there long enough for anyone else to see my shame.)
I guess what I’m saying is Thank you Marianne for all that you’ve done. Prince wouldn’t be what it is without you.
I guess what I’m saying is Thank you Marianne for all that you’ve done. Prince wouldn’t be what it is without you.