"All right, Agent Todd, let's get this show on the road." Webb gestured to the small economy class car.
Cate nodded nervously.
Lin pulled her cap low and was about to get into the car when Gibbs pulled her aside. "Nothing better happen to my agent."
Lin looked at him for a moment and silently touched the brim of her cap in acknowledgment. She slid down into the bottom of the car.
Webb shut the door to the driver's side. "We'll be watching, Agent Todd."
Cate nodded, started up the car, and drove off.
PHILADELPHIA
Tony listened on the intercom and squinted through the darkness. Far below his spot in the rafters, he could make out some movement, but it wasn't easy to see, even with his good eyesight. Luckily Cate was wearing a light colored shirt under the black jacket, so he could see locate her easily. Gibbs was on the floor, and Webb's agents were monitoring the area. Lin was somewhere, although Tony had no idea where.
"Do all of you really need to cop a feel?" came Cate's irritated voice over the line, and it set Tony's mouth into a hard line. "Who do you think I am, anyhow?"
"That's not Lin," leered one man. "Lin's got a smaller chest."
"Not that you'd ever know for sure," Cate replied sweetly.
Tony admired Cate's restraint. If he'd been in Cate's shoes, he most likely would've decked them all by now.
Cate was handed a large briefcase, and she popped it open. She flipped through the money, checking several packets to make sure it was all filled with real currency.
"It's real," the one said impatiently.
Cate just gave him a look and continued to flip through the decks, then took out a pen light to examine the cash. Her Secret Service training allowed her to recognize the bills quickly, and they looked pretty authentic to her.
She knew Tony and Gibbs were watching, and that Lin was somewhere nearby, and the thought was comforting.
Gibbs and Tony continued to scan the perimeter, the former down on the ground and the latter in the rafters, watching and waiting. Suddenly Tony noticed a tiny flash across the room from him. "Sniper. Sniper!"
Tony panicked, although he outwardly remained calm. Gibbs was already running towards where Cate was meeting with the insurgents, but Tony was sure he'd never make it before the sniper fired.
There was a shot, and Tony watched in horrified shock as Cate jerked backwards, most likely from the blow of the bullet. His heart sank as he watched her hit the wall and slide down to the floor bonelessly.
Gibbs appeared below him almost twenty feet away, having reached too late.
Tony continued to provide covering fire as Gibbs crossed the floor, but half-heartedly. Webb's men had already located and pulled the sniper down, anyhow.
Gibbs hit the wall and dropped down to where Cate was lying. There was blood under her head, and her small form was twisted into the corner. Some feet away lay Lin, but his concern was for his own agent first.
He quickly put two fingers to Cate's neck. A pulse, and a strong one...Gibbs admitted shock at finding her alive. The shot had looked to be pretty good. "Cate?" He slipped arm under her shoulders and gently lifted her up, supporting her head. He felt something warm trickling onto his hand, and noticed a slow seep of blood from her head. He pressed his hand hard against it as he fished out a handkerchief and folded it with his other hand, then pressed it against her head. "Cate."
The agent groaned and put a hand groggily to the back of her head. "What hit me?" she rasped, looking pained as she opened her eyes and tried to sit up. The world tilted wildly, and her eyes widened for a moment as she tried to regain her balance. "I feel like I got hit by a semi." She blinked. "My head is KILLING me," she mumbled as she clumsily pushed at the hand Gibbs was holding against the small wound. "What are you doing?"
"Your head's bleeding," Gibbs replied, seating her with her back firmly against the wall. "Hold still and stop trying to push my hand away."
Cate acquiesced without a fight, still a little woozy. Gibbs guessed she must have struck her head hard when she hit the wall. Suddenly Cate sat up a little straighter, as if thinking over something. "Hey, where's Lin?"
Gibbs heard some whispering a few feet away and turned to look over his left shoulder. He could see where the sniper's bullet had struck into the brick of the wall, tinged with blood. It had obviously gone through somebody, but it hadn't been Cate. He had a feeling he knew who the somebody was.
Even though the NCIS agent could only see the man's back, he saw that Webb had rolled the Marine major onto her back. The Company man was kneeling by the body, blocking most of her from view, but Gibbs could still see a dark reddish-purple pool spreading under the major's head. Wide, unblinking eyes stared straight up.
Gibbs pressed his lips together and turned back to Cate, but it was too late.
Cate was in shock, sitting up enough just to see over his shoulder. "Lin? Lin! Kate!" She tried to stand up, but Gibbs held her down with his free arm, struggling to keep his other hand over the bleeding. "Let me go," she insisted. When his grip tightened and he glared at her, she fought. "Let me go, you bastard!"
Tony arrived then, running towards them at top speed, a look of sheer relief crossing his face as he saw Cate sitting up. He followed Gibbs' grim eyes to the scene several feet away, and the look of relief changed into one of shock. He looked from Lin's body back to Gibbs, who motioned him over. "Stay with Cate," he said shortly, "keep your hand on her head wound." Tony nodded.
Gibbs walked over just in time to see the the agents loading the body into a bag on the gurney. He pressed his lips together thinly, watching as the CIA agent slowly closed the Marine's wide, sightless eyes and zipped the body bag closed. At that point the agent turned around to face Gibbs. Webb's three-piece suit and his hands were splattered all over, and the man's face was drawn. "We'll clear out this place," he said. The two men stared at each other. "You were never here. Any of you."
Gibbs only nodded.
"Lin?" Cate could be heard asking from a distance.
Webb looked back at where DiNozzo was sitting with Todd, pressing a hand to her head, then turned back to Gibbs. "She OK?"
"Just a head wound," Gibbs replied. "Nothing major." The older man looked at the weary-looking agent and asked, "When's the funeral?"
"I'll let you know." Webb started to walk away, following the men pushing the gurney, but then turned around. "Things like this happen, all the time. That's the way it goes." He then headed out.
Gibbs stood alone, watching as sweepers cleaned up. Wherever they touched, it was as if it were new; there was not a trace of what had happened minutes before.
Cate was alive at the major's own expense; not that if he'd gotten there any earlier, it would've been different. There was a lot of blood the sweepers were cleaning up, and it looked to have been a good shot. The Marine had been good to her word that she would do her best to keep Cate alive, and it softened the major's parting image in his mind. Not that he liked the woman any more than before, but it wasn't right to speak ill of the dead.
He looked up to see Tony and Cate both watching him, Tony staying close to Cate as he'd been instructed. "Let's go."
ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE
From her seat way across the hangar at the base, Cate watched as the seven Marines stepped off the plane. They were thin and haggard but happy, and there was a lot of crying as their families rushed forward to greet them. She couldn't help a small smile. She knew that the same grin had to be on the faces of Gibbs and DiNozzo, sitting next to her.
She winced slightly. Her head still hurt once in awhile, but it was much better now. When the major had slammed into her, she'd been thrown straight back against the wall, hitting her head pretty hard against the bricks. She'd gotten a concussion and the bleeding needed some stitches, but otherwise she was right as rain.
Cate had gone to the funeral. This time, it was only Webb. No Colonel Weir. No Colonel MacKenzie. She suspected Webb hadn't told any of them the first funeral was a fake. Besides him, there was just the chaplain performing the ceremony.
She wondered briefly if Webb had made that phone call to Peter and Jaime Lin, letting them know that Kate had still been alive after the first funeral. Most likely not. Why make them just go through this twice?
After Webb, it was just the five of them: her, Gibbs, Tony, Abby, and Ducky. It surprised her some - Tony didn't like Lin, and Gibbs disliked her even more. Ducky hadn't had much contact with the major anyhow, and Abby nearly nothing. She suspected they were partly here for her. It was a pathetic group, just the six of them and the chaplain, with five having known her less than a week.
It was a wonder Lin hadn't been lost in the wilderness of mirrors.
As they watched the happy reunions some distance away, a familiar figure strode toward them, his long coat open to reveal his immaculate three-piece suit. As he neared, he looked over his shoulder at the Marines reuniting with their families. "Safe and sound."
"Yeah, but at what price," DiNozzo murmured.
"Seven for one. That's the kind of math you do," Webb replied. He finally turned back to them. "Thought you'd want to know how everything turned out." He paused and corrected himself. "How it turned out in general."
Despite himself, Gibbs couldn't help a small smile. "We're all ears."
"Did you catch the other guys you're still looking for?" Tony asked what they were all thinking.
Webb chuckled. "There were the three on the boat. Stockwell was swept two nights ago," he replied. "You know his accomplice Wittenstein is already dead. Scribner, your driver, is gone. We've only got one more, and we've gotten a lead on him, but he's been pretty slippery. We're pretty sure he was there that night." He stood up a little straighter. "Not that he'll be giving you any trouble; only Kate was in any danger from him, and that's been taken care of."
"You refer to her getting killed as 'been taken care of'?" Tony asked incredulously.
Webb rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored him. "We'll notify you if there is any possible complications from that night."
Gibbs watched the younger man for a moment, and a trace smirk crossed his face. "Did Major Lin make you promise that?"
Webb only raised an eyebrow, barely showing his surprise. Tony and Cate bought the act, but Gibbs' grin just grew a little wider at the Company man's silent acknowledgement of the truth of his question.
"Hey," Tony said, suddenly thinking of something. "Did you catch the creep who was mailing her those photos?"
"It was Stockwell," Webb replied. "We found copies of the photos in his house darkroom. It was a psychological thing, he was hoping to unsettle her enough to get her to screw up. There won't be any more of those photos, now that he's swept."
"Why?" Gibbs asked.
Webb got a look of exasperation on his face, although it was obvious the annoyance was with Lin and not Gibbs. "Kate...has a reputation...for taking failure very personally, especially when it involves sending bodies back to parents, spouses, children." He rolled his eyes. "She views her coworkers' safety as her personal job, even though it's not."
Gibbs nodded. That he could see - he'd seen her do it with Cate - and understand personally. It was akin to what he had said back in New York about Lin's taking responsibility for her brother and his family.
Webb continued, "She and Stockwell have never gotten along; she was always sure that he wasn't clean. She's very thorough in her work, and Stockwell knew if she were ever assigned to research him he'd be dead."
Cate smiled. "You mean like how you assigned her to watch Stockwell on this case?"
Webb nodded. "He didn't know why I really assigned her. He thought she was there to do the pickup, but I'll bet he knew that she would be suspcious of him regardless. It's all about mind games, and Stockwell knew where to hit to distract her. That's really the only thing that ever bothers her." He shook his head, rolling his eyes. "She doesn't belong in this business," he muttered, obviously still annoyed. "She gets too attached to her coworkers."
Gibbs smirked. "And you don't?" His smirk grew wider as Webb glared at him. "What about the man who was at all the funerals?" Gibbs asked, crossing his arms. Tony nodded, also eager to know.
"It's covert ops, who knows." Webb shook his head and shrugged. "Thank you to you all." He turned to Cate. "May I have a word with you in private?"
Cate pretended to think, tilting her head from one side to another, much as she had when Gibbs had first asked her if he could tag along on the President's return trip from Los Angeles.
Webb nearly laughed out loud. "NCIS landed a real gem," he commented. "Don't worry. I'm not trying to recruit you."
At that, Cate looked up with amusement. "Did Major Lin make you promise that?" she asked with a cheeky grin, then left, following him some distance away.
Tony sat in his seat. He was glad it had turned out all right in the end, but much as he thought the major was crazy, he was a little sorry she was dead. He knew Cate was, anyhow; she was perhaps the only one, besides Ducky, who remembered the major with any fondness. Suddenly a thought occurred to him; his brow furrowed and he leaned over to Gibbs. "Boss," he said in a hushed voice. "Why did Webb refer to Lin in the present tense?"
Gibbs slowly turned to look at his junior agent, slowly realizing what Tony was hinting at.
Cate turned to Webb. "Please don't tell me the money I picked up was fake."
"This has nothing to do with the case," Webb replied. He sighed, then shifted a little, hedging.
Cate was totally puzzled now. "What?" She shrugged.
Webb sighed. "I know you talked to Kate that night. She mentioned it before the pickup. She didn't tell me what you talked about, but whatever it was - " he twitched and hesitated, as if he didn't know how to put it or he had never said it before " - thank you. From me...personally." He shrugged and crossed his arms, avoiding her gaze.
A dimpled smile crossed Cate's face, and she almost chuckled at how uncomfortable the CIA agent looked. She bet he had real issues apologizing, too. It had most likely taken a lot for him actually to say this to somebody. "You're welcome, although, I'm not sure what for and I'm not sure it does her much good now."
Webb shrugged in contradiction. "If anyone asks, I'll deny I ever said anything." At that, Cate laughed. Webb shook her hand and, gracing the woman with a rare smile, said, "if you ever find yourself in need of a job."
Cate's smile grew wider. "I thought you weren't going to recruit me."
"I'm not. I'm saying that in case you need a job, you know where to go." Webb flashed a smile as a goodbye and then headed for the doorway.
Cate chuckled to herself.
Gibbs didn't seem to notice when she had returned; his eyes were sweeping the room. Tony looked from Webb's retreating back to Cate. He waited for her to say something, but she didn't, and he looked back towards Webb.
Suddenly Tony sat up. "Gibbs. It's the man in the photos." Gibbs and Cate turned to look where he was looking, and the three watched suspiciously as Webb approached the person in question.
The man was in a dark suit and dark coat, with a dark hat pulled low over his face, just as in the photos. They could only tell that he was turned towards the Marines, watching them with their families. Otherwise, none of them could see anything clearly because Webb, who was talking to him, stood partially blocking their view.
Gibbs was just about to pull his weapon and go over when the CIA agent moved away, allowing them a perfect view of the man.
From underneath the hat, a familiar pair of eyes sparkled laughingly, and Major Lin turned from watching the Marines and gave them a small wave and a smirk. Webb, with his characteristic smile, looked briefly over his shoulder to check to make sure they'd seen her.
One of the Marine families passed in between the three NCIS agents and the two intelligence agents; when the family had passed, both Webb and Lin were gone.
After a moment of stunned silence, Tony snorted in relieved and surprised laughter. "THAT is nuts. That's crazy!"
Gibbs chuckled. "Nine lives."
Cate just couldn't stop smiling.
NCIS HQ, NEXT MORNING
Tony grinned in anticipation as the mail was dropped on his desk, which included a letter that reeked so heavily of perfume Cate could smell it from her desk. She just rolled her eyes, waiting for another story about his weekend activities - stories that really no one wanted to hear, but he told anyhow. Maybe he was picking it up from Ducky, but at least Ducky's stories were informative.
The carrier handed her a package. "Agent Todd."
"Oh." Cate was surprised. "Thanks."
Tony was immediately curious, his own mail entirely forgotten. Cate looked at the package...there was no return address. She was dying of curiosity, but with Tony watching, there was no way she was going to open it. Just to torture him, she set it aside and was immediately rewarded with a noise of impatient indignance coming from Tony's desk.
"What?" she asked innocently.
"Oh, c'mon Cate."
"I don't want to open it now. I have to work to do."
"You want me to open it for you?" Tony asked hopefully, coming around to her desk.
"Ha. Funny."
"DiNozzo!" At the sound of Gibbs' voice, Tony scrambled for his desk. "You done with the report yet?"
"Uh...no."
Gibbs just gave him a 'what are you waiting for' look. "Mail?"
"Nothing today, but Cate got something," Tony said brightly.
Gibbs looked wholly uninterested.
"She's not going to open it, though," Tony continued, hoping to egg Cate on enough for her to open it.
Gibbs just looked at him. "That's her choice," he said pointedly as he sat down in his chair with his coffee.
"Thank you," Cate replied from her desk as Tony finally accepted defeat and moved on to his report.
When he finally decided to go out and stretch his legs, Cate quickly tore open the box. Inside was a smaller box, almost like a jewelry box. She carefully lifted the lid.
On the inside of the lid was printed in silver script letters, "Nascentes morimur." Inside was a long bullet which had obviously already been fired. Her breath caught. It was obviously from a sniper's rifle, and she was guessing this was the bullet that had, God willing, missed both her and the major.
Underneath the jewelry box was a plain white card, with a simple sunset. Inside it was blank except for Lin's scrawl, so familiar from the team's having searched through her things: "Sto mozes danas ne ostavljaj za sutra. KJL" Cate smiled for a moment, remembering.
She could feel Gibbs' eyes on her, watching her concernedly. "Oh, uh, I was sent...a gift." When he frowned, she clarified. "It's not a bad thing. Not like those creepy photos Lin was getting," she said as she handed him the small box. "It's from a...new friend." Gibbs' nod showed he understood who it was from.
The older agent opened the box and saw the bullet. "Kind of morbid sense of humor."
"What's morbid about it?" Cate asked. It all made sense to her, given the conversation they had had about 'betting big' on the right hand, and given the card.
"Do you generally give people bullets and then write 'to born is to die' on the box?"
Cate acknowledged the truth of the statement but was more surprised about the fact that Gibbs had understood the silver lettering. "You can read Latin?" she asked in surprise.
"Are you saying I'm some kind of barbarian, Cate?" Gibbs asked with a teasing smile as he handed back the box.
"That's not what I meant," Cate replied, and Gibbs just chuckled.
She was ready to throw out the packaging when she noticed a regular brown envelope in the bottom. All it had written on it was 'Gibbs.' She slowly got up and moved around to her boss' desk. "This is for you." Although she desperately wanted to know what Lin had put in there for Gibbs, given their hate-hate relationship, she retreated to her seat. Gibbs had given her her privacy, and she would likewise.
Gibbs looked as puzzled as she had felt as he slit open the envelope. He looked inside and scowled.
Inside was a full-body picture of Morrow, such as would be taken for an official NCIS photo. A mini Snickers bar was taped to his hand, and somebody had used big black marker to draw a comical look of shock over the director's face in the photo - Morrow's eyes were popping out of his head and his mouth was in a big O. Also inside was a copy of the National Enquirer with two large Chinese characters in black: "yao yan," and a huge smiley face.
The NCIS agent could almost see the major's characteristic smirk, and he suddenly had the urge to shoot something. Repeatedly.
Gibbs growled something incoherently and threw the envelope into a desk drawer irritably. Tony was just returning, and both he and Cate were staring at their boss in complete confusion as he shoved his chair back and got up to go.
"I need coffee," Gibbs grumbled as he stalked out of the bullpen.
x x x x x
Nascentes morimur: To be born is to die. (LIT: Being born, we die. Latin)
Sto mozes danas ne ostavljaj za sutra.: What you can do today do not leave off for tomorrow. (Serbian)
yao yan: rumor (Mandarin)
x x x x x
END
Chapter End Notes:
Part One is a crossover between "NCIS" and "Without a Trace." ("Nine Lives, Part I") Originally posted to FF.net 3/21-4/2/04