Chapter Twenty-Eight
Gibbs arrived at NCIS HQ at ten pm. He’d stopped at home to have a shower and change his clothes, having left his bag at the hospital in the rush to get out of the place, but get back in time to see Tony after his surgery.
He was surprised to see McGee and Ziva still at their desks, working through information on the case and they were very surprised to see him.
“Boss, what? What are you doing here? Is Tony okay?” McGee asked, sounding and looking rather nervous.
“I came to work the case. Tony wants me to be the one to question the suspects since he knows I can do it better than the pair of you with my hands tied behind my back and I think he thinks that Ziva will slip back to her Mossad training and kill the guy before we can get any answers. In answer to your other question, no, Tony is not okay, he was rushed into emergency surgery about ninety minutes ago.”
“Emergency surgery? What for?” Ziva asked, lifting her head at the sound of news on Tony’s condition.
“His heart was having difficulties so they’ve decided to fit the pacemaker tonight. He should be out in the early hours on the morning, at which time I would like to be back there. So, tell me what we have,” Gibbs told them, before sitting down behind his desk.
McGee and Ziva looked at each other, trying to egg the other one on to be the first to speak. In the end, Ziva sighed and started to tell Gibbs what they had managed to do so far. “We got DNA samples from everyone bar the two Marines, they refused on the grounds that it was a violation of their privacy. So, we brought them in to talk to. I guess you will want to do that. Abby is processing the other samples right now and will call us when she has some news.”
“Okay, I’m going to go and deal with these two Marines, Ziva with me. McGee, go and see if Abby needs your help with anything, we need those DNA results faster than usual,” Gibbs told them, standing up and heading to the elevator which would take them to the interrogation rooms. McGee managed to squeeze in, just as the elevator doors were closing.
Ziva followed Gibbs as he weaved his way through the corridors to interrogation room one. He stopped at the door that led to the room behind the two-way mirror and looked at the first Marine he was to interview. He doubted that either one of these men were Tony’s attacker, based on the fact that Tony had described them as skinny, like a drug addict and the first Marine behind the glass looked nothing like that. Maybe though, he was guilty of something else that would be proven with a DNA sample and did not wish to get caught, well he’d be giving that sample at some point in the next half hour - whether he liked it or not.
Gibbs nodded at Ziva to take notes and left one room to enter the main interrogation area.
“Good evening, Gunny,” he said, setting the tone as one of nothing serious. “Do you wish to relent now and give us your sample, because I have a warrant and that means I can use any means necessary to get that swab of your cheek.”
“It feels like a violation of my rights, sir,” the Gunny replied.
“You want to know what this is about?” Gibbs asked him.
“Of course, sir.”
“One of my team was raped by someone. I want that person to suffer as much as they have, you’re a suspect and the only way to prove to me that you didn’t rape them is to give me a sample of your DNA. I can rule you out, you can go home before two in the morning. How does that sound?” Gibbs asked. “Oh, and did I mention that my team member was male? You like that, Gunny, that get you all hot and bothered at the thought of a man being raped? Having his body violated in the worst possible way?”
“No, sir.”
“’Cause the only reason I can think of that you wouldn’t want to comply with this warrant is that you’re covering for someone or you did it yourself. Which is it?”
The Marine stayed silent. Gibbs stood up and banged his hands on the table, shouting “WHICH IS IT?”
Startled by Gibbs’ reaction, the Marine answered. “Neither, sir. You can have the sample.”
Ziva came through from the other room and took the sample from the now quivering Marine. “Thank you, you’re free to go. You might want to rethink your stance on your rights next time something like this happens, don’tcha think?”
“Yes, sir.” He was lead out by Ziva and passed off to a guard who would escort him out of the building and off the Navy Yard. The second Marine crumbled quicker under Gibbs’ interrogation - admitting that he’d had a record when he was younger and hadn’t wanted the Marines to know about it, he knew that a cheek swab would bring up his priors because they’d taken DNA then and had asked his buddy to refuse with him so that it didn’t look as suspicious.
They got his check swab and Gibbs, along with Ziva took them down to Abby for her to run. Gibbs was pissed.
“That was a waste of time,” he said to Ziva as they rode the elevator to Abby’s lab.
“Yes, but hopefully these will help us eliminate them from our enquires,” Ziva said.
“It wasn’t either of them. They’re skinny, yeah and their faces matched the sketch, but neither of them looked like frequent drug users. Which is the image I got when Tony described his attacker,” Gibbs said.
“McGee wondered why he did not mug Tony, why he chose to rape him and leave the cash.”
“I guess the only person with that answer is the perp and I doubt he’ll tell us when we catch him.”
They got off at Abby’s lab and headed in to see what Abby and McGee had managed to do during their time in interrogation.
“What do you have for me, Abs?” Gibbs asked.
“Well, I can’t tell you much until I’ve run these two, but you can rule out the civilian - a Mr. James Peters - his DNA didn’t match.”
“Tony said it wouldn’t.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” Abby complained.
“I’m telling you now, aren’t I?” Gibbs replied, leaning forward and giving Abby a kiss on the forehead. “I need coffee, McGee can you get me a coffee, Abby a Caf-Pow and anything you want for yourself and Ziva of course.”
McGee nodded and said nothing. Gibbs was acting the same way he had when Kate had been killed - nice - and there was no Tony to goad him into being his usual self. It was weird to work with and he would never get used to it no matter how long it went on.
Abby sat at her computer watching as the DNA did its thing. Gibbs stood in the corner, waiting impatiently for results that Abby couldn’t possibly give in after such a short time. Ziva leant against the table behind Abby and waited. They were all waiting for the computer to either deny or confirm if they had a viable suspect. On the table now were the two Petty Officers - Petty Officer Michael Trent and Petty Officer James Woodman - and the two Marines - Gunny Sergeant Matthew Peters and Gunny Sergeant Ian Yates.
Gibbs’ gut told him it was one of the Petty Officers, looking at their photo’s they both looked skinny and wiry, the way Tony had described them, but neither one had any drug history - not that that meant anything these days, some drug addicts were good at hiding their habit, only showing their true colours when they were desperate for a fix.
The question McGee has raised came back to haunt him. Why had the attacker just raped Tony? Why hadn’t he just mugged him and taken the money if he was looking for a fix? Was this something personal? Had they been sent on a mission by someone unknown to them to rape and humiliate Tony and that was why they had known about his gun shot wound? Had this all been a set-up? Would they be able to find whoever set Tony up? Or would they only get the attacker? The person paid to rape him, but not the one with the hidden agenda? God, he had too many questions for a sane person - especially when there were so few answers.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Who will catch DiNozzo when he falls?