Disclaimer: NCIS as well as the NCIS characters do not belong to me. This is just for fun.
A/N: Rated PG-13 for violence.
I would like to thank my betas, Rinne and Tweeter. Rinne not only gave me good comments on the story and corrected my grammar, but also taught me some useful rules that seem to have already improved the way I write dialogue. She also saved me from a rather significant plot hole. Tweeter helped me decide between two versions of one of the chapters and made very useful comments that improved the text.

Any mistakes made are my own.


Chapter 1

Jeff Wilson thought a camping trip would be a good way to get his kids and his new wife, Sarah, to interact more like a family. Instead, it was one long and tedious fight. After eight hours of hearing such clichéd sentences as, "You can't tell me what to do, you're not my mother!" and, "I don't care what your mother would say, she's not here, and what I say goes!" he realized he couldn't have been more wrong. At least they were finally at the campsite. He could now take out his fishing gear, head for the nearby river, and leave Sarah and the kids to fight among themselves.
As he arrived at the river, Jeff started preparing his fishing equipment. The sound of a bird made him look to his left. At first he didn't register what he was looking at, but after a few seconds he jumped and started running towards the campsite and his family. A man was hanging from a tree. He was wearing what was left of a Marine dress uniform and looked like he had been beaten to death. A few vultures were pecking away at his eyes.

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Tony had to know who the guy he saw Ziva with last night was. It wasn't a matter of wanting to know, but of needing to know. Ziva knew so much about his personal life. It was unfair that he knew so little about hers. He was the one that introduced Ziva to Philomena's ice cream, in Georgetown, after she had asked him and McGee where she could find good dark chocolate flavored gelato. It was the best ice-cream place in the DC area. He had a friend that swore that this was the best place to take a woman on a first date, and even though Tony believed that ice-cream was a serious matter, not to be mixed up with romance, he finally decided to try it.
After ordering and receiving his gelato (chocolate, pistachio and caramel) he turned around and bumped right into Ziva. Naturally, she managed to gracefully move in time to avoid the now airborne ice-cream cone, which fell directly onto his shoulder.
"Ah, poor Dinozzo," she said. She took a spoon from the counter and started eating the chocolate gelato from his shoulder. "Couldn't you order the dark chocolate? It's much better than the milk chocolate."
He mumbled something about doing better next time, while looking at the guy that stood with her. He was about six foot three, black, and had about him an air of confidence, not dissimilar to Ziva's. Tony couldn't help but notice that he was very handsome, at least if you liked the tall, dark and fit type. He also noticed, that like Ziva, he had no trouble avoiding the gelato projectile, and that he and Ziva did not seem to be on a first date. Ziva introduced Tony to the guy, as Tony Dinozzo, her partner. It seemed to Tony that the man had already heard all about him. She introduced the man to Tony as Paul, and gave no further information. Paul shook Tony's hand politely, and offered some polite chit chat in a British accent, which Monica, Tony's date, found to be extremely attractive. The rest of Tony's date didn't go very well. He wasn't at the top of his game and it didn't help that Monica kept talking about how much she loved British accents.

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Naturally, the next morning was spent trying to gather information. He was now engaging in his 12th unsuccessful attempt. "Come on, Ziva. Give me a clue. Who was he? Did you meet him here? Is he a spy? Are you sleeping with him? What am I saying? You're obviously sleeping with him."
"What makes you so sure of that, Tony?" asked McGee, who tried very hard to seem uninterested in the conversation, but was actually very curious to hear more about Ziva's mysterious friend.
"Well I saw him! That body! That face! And don't get me started on the accent! The guy is a chick magnet," said Tony.
Ziva, who agreed with Tony's assessment of Paul and was indeed sleeping with him, started asking Tony whether Paul was his type, but was interrupted by Gibbs who was approaching his desk.
"Load up, we have a case," Gibbs said, opening his desk drawer and removing his gun.
Ziva, Tony and McGee collected their equipment and rushed after their boss.
"What have we got, boss?" asked McGee.
"A marine was found in the Rappahannock River Campground, looks like it may have been a lynching. Ducky will meet us there."
"What makes you think it was a lynching, Gibbs?" asked Ziva.
"Black marine, found beaten to death, hanging from a tree with swastikas carved on its trunk. What does that sound like to you, Officer David?" barked Gibbs.
"I'd say that sounds like it might be a lynching," replied Ziva.
"Good thinking," Gibbs said sarcastically.
As the elevator doors were closing Tony turned to Ziva and started questioning her about Paul again, only to be slapped on the back of the head by Gibbs. "Keep your eye on the ball, Dinozzo."
"Sorry, Boss," Tony said, and glared at Ziva who was smiling at him innocently.

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They arrived at the campsite about an hour later. It would have been an hour and a halfs drive, if Gibbs hadn't been behind the wheel. McGee didn't really see the point of Gibbs driving so fast, considering they now had to wait for Ducky and Palmer to arrive, but he wasn't about to say anything like that to Gibbs. The scene did indeed look like the scene of a lynching. Faced with it, Tony seemed to forget all about Ziva and Paul, and put his work face on. Ziva was doing her job, processing the scene with the rest of them, but she seemed to be a bit shaken. If it was anyone else, McGee probably wouldn't have noticed the slight change in demeanor, but Ziva always seemed so confident that even the slightest bit of discomfort on her part tended to stand out.
"Ziva, you okay?" McGee asked. "You seem a little… tense."
Ziva looked at him. "I really don't like Nazis," she replied, her tone rejecting any further questions.
McGee knew better than to try and press the point.
After an initial sweep of the area, Gibbs sent Ziva and McGee to talk to Mr. Wilson, the man that found the body. He seemed very shaken, and didn't seem to have much information to give. They took his name and number and allowed him to leave with his bickering family.
After a short while, Ducky arrived with Palmer. They approached the hanging body carefully in order not to disturb the crime scene. After the body was photographed from all directions, they took it down gently. Ducky knelt beside the body and started examining it.
"I thought you said this poor man was beaten to death, Jethro," Ducky said.
"I take it he wasn't?" Gibbs asked.
"Well," said Ducky, "he was definitely beaten quite badly, but someone also shot him. I'll have to take the body back to the morgue to see which happened first. Oh dear, mother always said that lynching was the worst crime there is."
"I have to agree with your mother about that, Ducky," Tony said, who was taking photographs of the rope that was used to tie the Marine's hands and legs.
"Oh yes, indeed," replied Ducky. "I just hope she falls asleep before it comes on the news, otherwise she will be so very upset."
Just as they were speaking, they could see a number of news vans approaching.
"I guess Gibbs is going to have to speak to the reporters," observed Tony. "Good thing he doesn't have a cup of coffee for them to spill this time."
Ziva and McGee, who had finished talking to Mr. Wilson, joined Tony and Ducky and they all watched Gibbs as he approached the reporters.
"This is going to be a big story, you know," said Tony. "An African American marine dressed in his dress uniform, found beaten, shot and hanging from a tree…"
"Not to mention the swastikas," said Ziva.
"Yup," said Tony. "We had better wrap this up quickly."

TBC