Gibbs jogged up the stairs to the roof, enjoying the chance to be physically active. It helped take the edge off the exhaustion that had been weighing him down, clearing his head a bit. He paused at the top of the stairs, taking a deep breath and exhaling forcefully. He took another deep breath, holding it before releasing slowly.
LaFiamma isn’t the enemy, Gibbs reminded himself. It would be easier if he could simply hate the man outright, but he didn’t and couldn’t. Gibbs chuckled, suddenly thinking that his relationship with Fornell had a lot in common with how he felt about LaFiamma.
He respected Fornell and understood his motives…at least most of the time. And they often agreed on the problem if not the solution. Gibbs didn’t genuinely like Fornell, but their shared history and similar views made it hard to hate him.
Gibbs shook his head. He knew LaFiamma was only doing what he thought was right. The younger man was doing his best to keep the people he cared about safe. Gibbs couldn’t fault him for that. But he couldn’t help wishing that they got along better given how much they both wanted the same thing.
Gibbs opened the door and stepped out onto the roof. Scattered puddles were all that was left from the earlier heavy rains of the morning. It had stopped raining sometime after noon, leaving behind mild temperatures and less humidity that Gibbs could readily appreciate. Gibbs smiled, taking another deep breath, realizing Lundy was right. The roof was probably the only place at the hospital that didn’t reek of antiseptic. The cool, damp air of early evening was as invigorating as jogging up the stairs had been.
Glancing around, Gibbs spotted LaFiamma at the far side of roof. He approached silently, not sure if the younger man had heard the door open or not. Given how close he was standing to the edge, Gibbs didn’t want to startle him.
“Levon tell you where to find me, Gibbs?” LaFiamma asked when he got within a few feet.
“Yeah.” Gibbs wondered how he knew it was him.
LaFiamma gave him a slanted-eyed glance as he moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. He smirked, clearly reading the question in Gibbs’ face that he hadn’t asked. “Anyone from my team would have just called my name. And no one else from your team would have come looking.”
“Ducky would have.” Ducky seemed to genuinely like Tony’s teammates and honestly care about them. He’d have gone in search of LaFiamma if Lundy asked him too.
LaFiamma shrugged. “True, but he would have probably started in immediately on how dangerous it was for me to be standing so close to the edge or telling me a story about someone he’d autopsied who fell from a similar height.”
“He does have a story for every occasion,” Gibbs admitted, not sure even after knowing Ducky for years if he admired that trait or found it annoying.
LaFiamma shrugged again. “Levon and Tony seem to like his stories.”
Gibbs nodded. He understood that for LaFiamma that it was enough for him to tolerate whatever stories Ducky had been sharing as long as the two wounded men didn’t have reason to object.
LaFiamma turned to look at him. “You come up here to talk about the case?”
“That and to make sure you don’t forget to bring dinner.” Gibbs eyed LaFiamma; he knew Tony and Lundy’s respective favorites. He couldn’t see Dr. Kline approving of either pizza or barbeque and he said as much.
LaFiamma laughed. “I said I’d bring them real food. I didn’t tell them I’d let them pick.”
“Doubt they heard that part,” Gibbs said with a smile.
“I’m sure they didn’t.” LaFiamma shook his head, blue eyes amused.
“They won’t be happy.”
“I’m okay with them being unhappy.”
Both Gibbs eyebrows rose. “Really?”
LaFiamma met his gaze easily. “As long as they are alive and healthy enough to bitch, I can pretty much be okay with anything.”
Gibbs nodded once. He looked away, uncomfortable, knowing he felt the same way but would never be able to verbalize the same sentiment with the ease and confidence LaFiamma had. He never talked about how he felt if he could help it.
Gibbs cleared his throat. He decided to move the conversation on to more neutral territory. “There anything about what we found out today you don’t already know?”
He was sure LaFiamma had already talked to his teammates and his boss. Gibbs doubted there were any details the younger man wasn’t already aware of, but he wasn’t going to assume.
“Dewing and Mendez brought me up to speed. So I got the details. But I wouldn’t mind hearing your take on how those fit together.”
Gibbs was coming to appreciate the way the Houston team reviewed things they knew and refocused on what was still missing. It was a ‘campfire’, although they never called it that directly. New details were added to what they knew while old information was reviewed, new theories considered or old ones revised to fit what they now knew, alternative avenues for investigation were discussed and considered. It took surprisingly little time, and kept everyone in the loop. Gibbs could see why Tony had started doing the same thing when he was in charge of the team.
“You want to run the numbers?” Gibbs asked, having heard others on LaFiamma’s team use that same expression enough he knew what they meant by it.
“Let’s do it.”
Going over what they had learned from before the bust and during didn’t take much time. Neither man wanted to dwell much on what had happened. And both were more interested in what had happened since then.
Talking about what they’d learned since the bust and from Nunes took a little longer. A quick run down of facts and the people involved made Gibbs wish for the plasma screen in the squad room. He’d gotten used to having information presented in a visual format where it could be seen easily by everyone involved with the case.
It had been Tony who actually started him using the plasma screen. Not long after he was hired at NCIS Tony began displaying what he’d found. He said it made more sense to just show Gibbs where he could see for himself without having to look over his shoulder. Initially, Gibbs hated the damn thing because it was one more piece of technology he didn’t know how to operate; but as long as someone on his team could effectively wield the remote he liked what it added to the relay of information.
When they got to the alias Shepard had used in her contact with Nunes, Gibbs told LaFiamma he recognized the name and from where. He hadn’t mentioned it to Dewing because at the time he was still puzzling over how it fit, and because she was busy dealing with the impending arrival of the CIA. Now seemed like the ideal time to bring it up.
“I’ve got McGee working on getting the case file. There might be something in there that tells us how it fits, if it fits at all"“
“Oh it fits,” LaFiamma said quietly.
Gibbs looked askance at him.
“From the second I thought Shepard might be involved in all this, I started digging.”
Gibbs’ eyes narrowed. “That’s how you found about her dealings with the CIA?”
“Yeah.” LaFiamma nodded. “But this wasn’t the first time she’d played ball with them.”
Gibbs waited a beat, letting that sink in. “Go on.”
“The target on the case you worked together ten years ago…he was more than just a spy.”
Gibbs glared at him. “I know that. He funded his operation by selling weapons.”
“Did you know the intel you got was from the CIA?”
Gibbs frowned, and shook his head. He knew there was some cooperation at the international level but the only foreign operatives he’d met were from Interpol. The team lead on that case was William Decker. He took care of the arrangements, and controlled the flow of information to his team. As a covert operation, nearly everything seemed to be ‘need to know’. Gibbs, not long out of active duty, simply did his job and didn’t ask too many questions.
“The guy you were there to take out…he was doing business with La Grenouille.”
Gibbs cursed. Again with the damn Frog. “You’re sure?”
“Yes.” LaFiamma’s firm answer left no room for doubt. “He was supposed to be meeting La Grenouille in Paris.”
Gibbs ran a hand over his face tiredly. The connection was too damn obvious. “Shepard volunteered for that assignment.”
“I know.”
Gibbs stared at him. “You know?”
“It’s in her file.”
Gibbs wondered just how LaFiamma had gotten his hands on that before deciding he didn’t want to know. “Has she really been"“
“Trying to find a way to get close enough to bring Benoit down for the last decade, maybe longer? Sure looks that way.” LaFiamma shrugged one shoulder. “The assignment was a stepping stone…in more ways than one.”
“Meaning?”
“That case made it possible for her to make contacts in Europe. She’d have wanted those since La Grenouille went there to roost more often than not. It was his home turf.”
Gibbs considered LaFiamma’s point. In light of what he knew now, that definitely made sense. Shepard always seemed to care more about what was going on in Europe more than she did in the Middle East or any of the other hot spots around the world.
“She likely knew or found out later where the intel came from on your case.” LaFiamma held out his hands, palms up as though weighing something. “So while she might not have known until recently that Benoit was the CIA’s pet gun runner, she did know they were keeping tabs on him. It gave her somewhere to look whenever she wanted to know what he was up to.”
“Everything leaves a trail,” Gibbs murmured. It wasn’t a rule of his, but it was something that held true throughout his entire career. No matter how covert, every operation kept a record of some kind. The only way three people can keep a secret is if two are dead, Gibbs thought to himself.
LaFiamma folded his arms across his chest. “Shepard knew who to talk to in the CIA, and they knew about her interest in Benoit. So when it came time to finish off Kort, there was a ready made conduit for them to use. She might have seen it as poetic justice to use the same alias she used during her first shot at La Grenouille to fire her last.”
Gibbs’ jaw clenched. He’d felt like an ass for not seeing what she’d been doing before, but to even think she’d been scheming the entire time he’d known her was so much worse. Had Decker known? Had he shared details with her that he’d not told Gibbs? Was it possible he’d been blind to her ambition, as ignorant of her reasons for being on the case as Gibbs had been?
The only way to know would be to ask him. The last Gibbs knew Decker had retired and moved to California. Maybe McGee could track him down.
“That case…It got her points as a field agent.” LaFiamma said grimly.
“It advanced her career, yeah, I know.” Her desire to be more was one of the reasons their relationship didn’t work. She was moving on to bigger and better the moment they left France.
“Thinking she wasn’t just looking to climb the ladder for recognition or more pay.”
Gibbs snorted. He figured that out for himself.
LaFiamma raised hand to rub tired eyes. “As a position for someone as ambitious as she comes across being, Director of NCIS isn’t exactly a recognizable status symbol. It’s got nothing on the FBI or NSA or even Homeland Security.”
Morrow had jumped ship for Homeland Security. Gibbs knew the man hadn’t been politically ambitious but there was no denying he could do more there than at NCIS.
“But in terms of resources and access, we already know she could fly under the radar and get what she wanted easily enough by being in charge of NCIS. Probably with greater ease than if she were was in a more noticeable agency.”
Gibbs swallowed hard. “You really think she was that motivated by hate?”
LaFiamma looked at him. “I’ve read her file, but we both know what’s on paper doesn’t mean much. I’ve only met her once. You know her better than I do. What do you think?”
Gibbs sighed. “I think you’re right.”
LaFiamma gave him a sympathetic glance. “Might not have been just hate, or even all hate. She clearly thought the world of her father. Might have been some love in the mix.”
Gibbs had killed the man who killed his family. He wasn’t exactly in a position to point fingers at Shepard. But at least he’d done the dirty work himself and hadn’t dragged any one else into his vendetta. No one else had to pay the price for his actions. Shepard didn’t seem to care who got hurt along the way, as long as she got what she wanted.
“Reason she did doesn’t really matter much any more does it?” Gibbs asked softly. It was her actions he judged not her motives.
“Not really, no.” LaFiamma agreed. He patted Gibbs’ shoulder, squeezing once in a simple gesture of understanding and support that surprised Gibbs.
“C’mon. Levon will be getting restless and we still have to get them fed or they’ll stage some sort of coup.” LaFiamma headed for the stairwell door, yawning widely. “There isn’t much we can do right now anyway. Might as well relax for a bit before we get back at it.”
Gibbs thought about arguing for a second before realizing LaFiamma was right. He’d been going non stop since getting that first call. Slacking off for a few hours wouldn’t make much difference one way or another.
Ziva, Ducky and Abby were at the hotel, hopefully getting some much needed rest. He’d send McGee there too after he’d had a chance to talk to Tony. Gibbs thought about joining them, but he’d rest better in Tony’s room, if he was allowed to spend the night again.
“Room still has the comfy chair,” LaFiamma said, tossing the comment over his shoulder.
Gibbs shot him a dirty look, annoyed that the younger man seemed to read him so easily. LaFiamma just laughed. “It’s not that hard to do when I know you’re thinking the same thing I am.”
“Asshole,” Gibbs muttered under his breath, but he was smiling.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Gibbs and LaFiamma talk. More revelations about the case.