The NCIS team pulled up outside the still smouldering bungalow. A fire crew was damping down the remains of the house on a quiet residential street on the outskirts of Washington DC.
Gibbs prepared to lead his team into the property but found his way barred by a fireman.
"Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. We'll take over now," Gibbs said, gruffly.
"Afraid not, the building's not safe." The fireman replied. "No ones allowed in."
"On whose say-so?" Gibbs asked.
"On mine." a tall fireman, wearing a white helmet approached the NCIS field agent.
"Captain John Gage, Fire Investigation." he introduced himself, "I can't let you go in, the place could come down any moment."
"We'll take our chances," Gibbs replied.
"I don't play Russian Roulette with civilian lives." Gage replied, "It's my fire scene."
"And you've got a dead marine in it, so it makes it my crime scene." Gibbs replied, squaring his shoulders.
"When you two boys have quite finished." Ducky's polished Scottish tones cut through the atmosphere like a well honed scalpel. "May I suggest that Mr Palmer and I take care of the body, which I believe is in the least damaged part of the property and Captain Gage here imparts to you the forensic analysis of the seat of the fire."
"I don't do forensics Duck." Gibbs replied.
"Then I suggest you get your forensics guy down here." Gage said, crossing his arms, " I would welcome his opinion."
Gibbs strode away, and collared McGee.
"McGee, get Abby down here, I need her forensic expertise, these jokers won't talk to me."
"Right boss!" McGee said, nervously and ran for the car.
~~~~~~
Gingerly, Gibbs, Abby and Gage stepped into the blackened remains of the room, which had been the seat of the fire. After consulting with the fire crew, Captain Gage had grudgingly allowed the NCIS team access to the building, although McGee and DiNozzo had been sent round the neighbourhood to find out if anyone had seen anything strange before the fire had occurred.
"The burn patterns on the floor and walls suggest multiple points of origin" Gage said, pointing to the relevant areas of the room. Abby took careful aim with her camera and fired off a couple of shots.
"Meaning?" Gibbs asked.
"This suggests that there was an accelerant present."
"He was in the midst of decorating, could be turpentine and paint." Abby suggested.
Gage stroked his chin. "Well they would qualify as accelerants, they both burn at very high temperatures. However we need to consider the smoke and flames as well. The materials you mentioned produce a white flame and brown smoke, but an onlooker reported seeing something different, yellow flame and black smoke and that the classic combination which is produced when gasoline burns."
"A Molotov cocktail?" Abby asked.
Gage shook his head "Take a look at the windows, they weren't broken by an incoming missile."
"How can you be sure?" Gibbs asked crossing to the remains of the windowpanes.
"Look closely, there's no glass fragments on the inside, these windows were blown outwards by the force of the explosion." Gage said.
"Abbs, d'you wanna take shots of this?" Gibbs said.
"On it Bossman." Abby said, crossing to where the two men stood.
Gibbs' cell started to ring. He sighed pulling it from his pocket.
"Gibbs." he said tersely. "I'll come and see her." he flipped the phone shut. "Nervous neighbour, won't take anyone else's word that the area is safe. I'll leave you two to, whatever."
"Is he always that grouchy?" Gage asked Abby.
Abby grinned her trademark million watt smile, "Only when he's awake. So what else did you find mon Capitan?"
"I also found a small amount of melted rubber on the floor of the room, here."
Gage crossed over to the area and knelt down. "Protective cover in case the scene gets contaminated." he explained removing the covering. Abby dutifully snapped the area. "D'you want to play mother or shall I?" Gage asked, holding out an evidence bag. "I'd be interested to find out what it is, I'm guessing a balloon of some sort."
"Mmm" Abby said, non-committedly as she carefully deposited the remains in an evidence bag and labelled it.
"There is also a little wax on the floor just here" Gage pointed.
"From a candle?" Abby asked.
"Yep. My guess is that our fella lit a candle and then suspended the balloon filled with his accelerant of choice over it; the candle burns through the rubber and releases the liquid. A timer, a crude one but it can be extremely effective."
"Cool." Abby scooped up the remains into another bag. "I'm just going to get a sample of the burn residue on the wall." she said.
"Just go easy, this place could come down at any moment." Gage warned.
Abby crossed to the side wall and started to dig at it to get her sample. High above there was an ominous creak.
"Look out!" Gage cried, as he lunged forward and gathered Abby in his arms, just as the ceiling gave out and debris rained down on them. They fell to the floor; Gage shielding the young forensics expert with his own body as much as he could.
~~~~~~
Abby sat on the back of the fire truck, looking tired and bedraggled. Her face was covered in dirt and ash and she was being checked over by one of the fire-fighters. Gage stood nearby, equally dirty, blood from a cut on his temple mixing with the soot on his face.
Gibbs strode up and roughly grabbed him, slamming him against the side of the fire truck.
"What the hell happened?" he demanded.
"Well, wouldn't you know it? the roof came down." Gage replied, sarcastically.
"She could have been killed!"
"We both could have, but we weren't" Gage replied, pulling himself out of Gibbs grasp, "I told you the building was unsafe, you wouldn't listen. I don’t tell you how to do your job so don't try telling me how to do mine."
He crossed over to where Abby was sitting.
"How you doing?" he asked gently, ignoring the seething Gibbs behind him.
Abby sniffed, tears starting to wash clean tracks down her face.
"Hey why are you crying? We're okay, just a little dirty and bruised, nothing a shower and coffee won't solve."
"We lost the evidence" Abby sniffed. "The roof buried it."
"Don't worry I have it safe." Gage patted the pocket of his turnout coat.
"Abbs you okay?" Gibbs demanded.
"Yuck I'm all dirty Gibbs. Need a shower. "
"We'll go back to Headquarters, you can shower there."
"Need a shower NOW" Abby said petulantly.
Gibbs sighed, he really didn't have time to deal with Abby in one of her mega-sulks.
"Hey Cap, any chance we could use your shower block?" Gage called across to the Captain of the fire crew still damping down the scene.
"As long as you clean up afterwards and put the coffee on." came the reply. A number of wolf whistles came from the rest of the crew.
"Sure thing!" Gage took Abby by the arm, "Come on little lady, let's get you cleaned up."
"Boss!" McGee called,
"What now Tim?" Gibbs demanded.
"Ducky needs to see you."
"I'll meet you at the firehouse." Gibbs said to Abby.
"Gibbs. Bring Caf-Pow!" Abby called as she followed Gage to his truck.
~~~~~~
"That better?" Gage asked, as he entered the firehouse kitchen.
"Oh yes much." Abby said, furiously drying her hair.
Gage crossed to the counter and busied himself making coffee ready for the return of the firecrew.
"Is Gibbs always that violent?" Gage asked, sitting down with a mug of coffee, massaging the back of his neck.
"Only when someone pisses him off by holding onto his crime scene" Abby said with a grin.
"It was mine first" Gage protested. "Possession is 9/10ths of the law."
"Gibbs was the one holding a gun." Abby pointed out.
"He's also the one without coffee." came a voice from behind. A large container of Caf-Pow was put in front of Abby, who sucked on the straw greedily.
Gage crossed to the counter and poured Gibbs a cup of coffee.
"Black, industrial strength I'm assuming" he said, placing it in front of the NCIS Special Agent.
"How d'you guess?"
"Ex-marine right?"
Gibbs nodded.
"Thought as much. If you'll excuse me I need to phone my boss."
~~~~~~~
The sound of a raised angry voice coming from the Captain's office drew Gibbs out of the kitchen.
"With all respect sir" Gages voice was laced with an undercurrent of sarcasm.
"If you'd just let me…" Gage slammed down the phone, as the other end of the line had evidently gone dead.
"Jackass!" he exclaimed, kicking the waste paper bin across the floor, it skittered to a halt at Gibbs' feet.
"Problems?" Gibbs enquired quietly, righting the bin.
"Just my idiot of a boss." Gage replied, "How many more have to die before he'll take this seriously."
"You've seen this before?" Gibbs asked.
Gage ran his hand through his hair and sighed.
"This is the seventh one, same MO. I've been after this guy for five years. At first I couldn't see the connection, but there are little things; wax residue, the timing of the blaze they make me know that I'm dealing with a serial arsonist, but that fool won't let me have the resources to investigate fully. I'm sure there's a connection between the victims, but I'm blocked from getting more that just the basic details on them."
"And you're sure this is the work of one man."
"As sure as I can be without a full forensic analysis of the evidence. I can't even get the authorisation to conduct that. Each fire was started using the same kind of timing device. It seems simple enough, just a candle and a balloon. But believe me it's not as easy as it looks, I've tried it, each time the flame goes out, if everything isn't exactly right it doesn't work. Whoever sets these fires is either extremely lucky or they've done it before."
"Have you got the evidence from the other fires?" Abbys voice came from the doorway.
"Bagged and tagged ma'am." Gage replied.
"Gibbs, pleeeeasssse." Abby whined, "you know how much I like a mystery, and well we're not busy at the moment and it is your case." she glanced over at Captain Gage who had started to bristle. "Well kind of, 50% is yours and the rest is yours Captain Gage. Oh come on, couldn't you two play nice?"
"I'm not allowed to play with the big boys, my momma won't allow it" Gage said, huffily. "So it's all yours." he pushed past Gibbs.
"Gibbs?" Abby implored, "Someone is killing people and you're just going to stand there and do nothing."
"Whoa Abby I didn't say that." Gibbs replied.
"Well I don't see much in the way of co-operation from where I'm standing Mr Bossman."
"I'll see what I can do." Gibbs promised her with a peck on her cheek.
~~~~~~
Captain Gage was loading his gear into his truck when Gibbs caught up with him.
"How can I get hold of you?" he asked.
"Federal Fire Investigation" Gage replied, frostily "We're in the book."
.
"Ultimately we're on the same side" Gibbs said, "My gut tells me there's more to this than a simple house fire. Abby's good, she'll analyse every last molecule of that evidence for a lead, but you've had the hands on experience. We need to work together on this."
"Like I said, my hands are tied, if I try to move on this I'll be busted back to god knows where giving fire prevention talks to kindergarten kids."
"And off the record?" Gibbs said softly.
Gage slammed the rear door of his truck and regarded him carefully.
Reaching into his pocket, he removed his billfold and took out a business card. Retrieving a pen from the door pocket of the truck, he scribbled a number on the back.
"My mobile." he said, handing Gibbs the card. "Oh and give Abby these, perhaps she'll have more luck than I have."
He handed over the evidence bags containing the rubber, wax and wall samples that they had collected earlier.
"I hope you get the bastard who's doing this before he strikes again."
Story Notes:
Crossover fiction with Emergency! 20 years on...
John Gage has now left the LA Fire Dept and works for the Fire Investigation Dept. In this story his path crosses that of NCIS with explosive results.
Usual disclaimer - don't own them only wish I did.
Author's Chapter Notes:
A serial arsonist is on the loose, can Gibbs and the team help to solve the case and stop the killings.
Chapter End Notes:
Crossover fiction with Emergency! 20 years on...
John Gage has now left the LA Fire Dept and works for the Fire Investigation Dept. In this story his path crosses that of NCIS with explosive results.
Usual disclaimer - don't own them only wish I did.
John Gage has now left the LA Fire Dept and works for the Fire Investigation Dept. In this story his path crosses that of NCIS with explosive results.
Usual disclaimer - don't own them only wish I did.