Gibbs drove his way back to Sussex Prison to once again speak with Kyle Boone, despite the fact that ten years ago he had vowed to never again indulge the serial killer he had brought to some kind of justice.
He had left the rest of his team when they all departed the Boone farm, them heading back to the Naval Yard to try and identify the women in the disturbing photos.
The quiet of the car allowed him to take stock of the latest developments in his team. Tony would be back, he'd made his position on the matter very clear to Jenny and had McGee look into anything that would aid the senior field agent in doing his job. He would prefer DiNozzo back and doing everything he did before but he knew that his agent now had more limitations than the rest of the team. Jethro had no clue how long his team would be minus the senior agent, by Ducky's estimations it would be months but Gibbs had no qualms about bringing him in if he was needed on a case.
The two new additions were interesting and Gibbs wondered why Jen had chosen to call on Puchalski. He had certainly matured in the two years he had been away from Washington, now entrusted with his own junior agent who reminded Gibbs of Tony on acid.
Luis could handle him though, Gibbs knew of their history. He'd met Luis while investigating the murder of Puchalski's commanding officer, the one who had caught he and Fletcher mid coitus. Puchalski had been a suspect, as had Fletcher but during an interrogation of Luis, Gibbs had found an irritated young man - screwed over my a rule that in his opinion had no relevance to his ability to do his job of serving his country, forced to take menial jobs as an electrician. Gibbs found the killer, a strung out addict who had thought he was being busted by the police and stabbed the officer.
Turning off the highway Gibbs once again followed signs for the prison.
It was mid afternoon and the sun was beating down when Gibbs reached the facility, the warden once again waiting for him. He was escorted to Boone's cell, another man sat where he had stood earlier in the day. Kyle noticed Gibbs approach and looked up from the man before him as Gibbs entered.
"Did you find it all right, Jethro? I guess you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t. I don’t believe you’ve met my biographer, John Briggs." Boone introduced the man who quickly rose form his seated position to shake hands with Gibbs.
"Special Agent Gibbs, it is a pleasure. I’ve been trying to schedule an interview with you for months."
"You’re going to have to leave now, Briggs." The warden's voice drifted in through the open door.
"I’ve been granted special permission by the State of Virginia to be here, Warden." The biographer pleaded.
"Not anymore." The warden said firmly.
"The next time you see Boone, he’ll have a thunderbolt shooting out of his ass." Gibbs smiled at the shorter man, who pushed up his glasses in return.
"You’ll have to excuse Agent Gibbs, John. He’s finally gotten a glimpse into the world I’ve been telling him about." Boone was deathly calm when he spoke.
"The scrap book? You found his scrapbook? When will it be released?" Briggs however sounded like he'd just been told he was getting a puppy.
"Son, if you want to walk out of here under your own power, I suggest you leave now." The warden sounded like he would be happy to take out the biographer himself. Unfortunately for the warden Briggs left the room himself, the warden shutting the door leaving Gibbs alone with Boone.
"John really is a wonderful writer. You know he spent years trying to understand me. Unfortunately, he just never seemed to measure up." Boone sat looking up at Jethro
"To who? Your prostitute mom? Or your father? Some hick john with a few extra bucks in his pocket?" Gibbs was condescending in his questions.
"Actually, I was referring to you, Jethro." Boone smiled.
"Where is the dumping ground?" Gibbs asked harshly.
"You show me my scrapbook one last time and I’ll draw you a map even a Marine can follow." Boone tried to bargain.
"They’ve suffered enough Boone." Jethro steadfastly refused.
"Well, we’re at an impasse." Kyle said with faux disappointment.
"Are you going to keep playing this game with me?" Gibbs asked getting more irritated.
"I’ve never considered any of this a game, Jethro. You know that." Boone said with conviction, at least as much as the serial killer could muster.
"Whatever. I’m changing the rules. I’ve seen your world. Now you’re going to spend what’s left of your miserable life in mine."
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Fletcher stood looking at the plasma screen showing Kyle Boone dressed in the standard orange prison jumpsuit, shackles on his wrists standing still in the interrogation room.
"The guy’s been impersonating a statue all night. According to the watch he hasn’t moved a muscle." Fletcher said not looking away from the screen. "When is Gibbs going to start his interrogation?" Seb asked turning to look at Luis who sat behind Tony's desk.
"When he’s ready." Puchalski answered looking at his fellow agent.
"He’s got less than forty-eight hours before Boone’s scheduled to be executed." Seb said sounding a little like his time was being wasted.
"Fletcher? Check Boone’s security detail." Gibbs snuck up once again, if Seb was embarrassed he sure didn't show it.
"You got it." Seb lazily wandered off in the direction of the interrogation rooms. Gibbs turned his attention to Luis, placing a Caff-Pow on the desk in front of him.
"It’s for Abby. Go find out how many victims she and McGee have ID’d from Boone’s scrapbook."
Luis shrugged and stood up, grabbing the Caff-Pow and heading for the elevator.
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"There were twenty nine women in the scrapbook. And as far as I can tell, they’re in the order that they were killed. Now, Boone has admitted to killing twenty two, which matches with the photos in the files at the FBI centre." Abby explained to the dead ears of her companion.
Luis wandered into the lab he hadn't seen in two years, the music hit him first as it always had.
"Which would make you think that we’d be left with five Jane Does, but you’d be wrong. Because I know who the first victim was." Abby continued almost to herself.
Seeing the back of Abby and McGee Luis walked over, placing the Caff-Pow in front of the forensic scientist.
Abby's head spun around quickly followed by the rest of her body and Luis found his arms full of the goth.
"Lulu!" Abby squealed, McGee looked over curiously.
"I thought you weren't going to call me that." Luis laughed into the shoulder of Abby as the life was squeezed from him.
"Once in two years doesn't count." Abby removed her hands from around Puchalski and pouted. Luis pulled one of her pigtails in response.
"Gibbs wants to know what you guys have."
McGee turned to look at Luis before spinning back to the computer screen. "I think that I know how we can find Boone’s victims without Gibbs having to talk to him. There are distinctive geographical and man-made features in several of these pictures." Tim brought up a variety of images on the large screen. "There’s a stream…and what may be a bridge. Up here…appears to be a power line."
"Or a smudge?" Luis said, his head turning to the side as he looked at the images.
"If I can make a land plot, create scale by computing the distances between these points, then we can-" McGee was interrupted as Abby butted in and stood right next to him ready to take over at the keyboard.
"Okay, streams and power lines? It would take years searching just one county, McGee. Never mind a state." Abby looked up at the agent.
"Yeah, for us, but not for a computer." Tim said almost as though speaking to a child, but Abby ignored it.
"Satellite imagery?" Abby turned to McGee looking excited.
"Exactly. I just need to figure out a way to calculate an accurate scale."
"Polaroid cameras have a fixed focal length."
"That’s a good start. I’m going to need one known measurement."
"Pick one body and I’ll pull her stats."
"Three known vectors should do it."
"Or…"
"Gibbs wants to know how many victims we’ve ID’d." Luis interrupted, the verbal tennis match making him dizzy.
"All except for the last four of his scrapbook. We’re running them against missing persons reports prior to Gibbs putting Boone behind bars. No matches yet. The one that stands out the most is the first victim. She disappeared in nineteen seventy four." Abby gave her findings.
"Are you sure about that, Abby? Boone was just a kid back then." Puchalski asked, a little unconvinced.
"I know, and it turns out his mother did not abandon him. She was his first kill." Abby looked very happy with herself.
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Gibbs stood in the control room, looking through to the interrogation room. Boone was continuing with his stoic statue impersonation. His quiet contemplation was interrupted when the control room door opened and Ducky entered, strolling over he stood next to Jethro.
"You don’t have to do this again, you know." Ducky stared along with Gibbs at the maniac in the next room.
"You’re wrong, Duck. I do." Gibbs looked down at the shorter man who turned to look him in the eyes.
"He’s never going to tell you where those poor girls are." Ducky looked pleadingly up at Jethro, he'd known Gibbs through the last time.
"I know that."
"Then why? You did what no one else could. You caught the son of a bitch." The medical examiner asked, frustrated at the man beside him.
"I should have killed him." Gibbs sounded more frustrated with himself.
"And in two days that will be rectified. I’m telling you as a friend. It’s time to let this one go. Focus on what is happening and not what has already been." Ducky tried to impart some wisdom, not for the first nor the last time.
"Not yet, Ducky." But Jethro was stubborn.
"Have you seen Anthony since the funeral?" Ducky asked, knowing the answer.
"He's fine." Gibbs knew the subject would not be dropped by the other man.
"He is doing well but he is not fine."
"What do you want me to do Duck?"
"Make sure you make time for him, it's bad enough having one absent father figure." Ducky knew this was a low blow, bringing up DiNozzo's father.
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"Special agent DiNozzo." Tony's doctor, Dr Mueller walked through the open door of the agent's room. He was tall, taller than Tony himself, with dark blond hair.
Tony's head snapped up from another celebrity filled magazine which one of the nurses had been kind enough give to him to keep him occupied. He'd read it eight times already.
"Tony." He said correcting the doctor who smiled warmly in response.
"Okay Tony, from what I've heard all your incisions are healing up nicely." Mueller headed to the foot of Tony's bed, picking up the agent's chart and opening it. "The glue completely gone from your abdominal incisions and someone took the staples from your back earlier, correct?"
"Uh huh." DiNozzo nodded, shifting his weight slightly with his arms.
"How about the pain? You haven't had anything really strong today." Mueller looked up from the chart curiously.
"Yeah the morphine was killing me." Tony scratched at what was left of a scrape on his cheek. "A dull ache in my chest and back, every so often i'll get a sharp pain in my back but it's a hell of a lot better than a couple of days ago." Tony was thankful of that, the pain had been bad but the battle with the morphine which made him so ill made it all the worse.
"Well we are pretty happy with how you have progressed." The doctor smiled over at him. "And we are willing to let you move on to a rehab facility in a few days, there are a couple of local ones but it seems you have friends in high places because we have managed to get you in at the best place anywhere near here."
Tony was shocked, it had only been 12 days since he had been brought to the hospital but truth be told he really didn't know how this was going to work. He knew that he would be leaving for a more permanent facility in which to get physiotherapy and such sooner or later, it just seemed a lot sooner than expected.
"Where?"
"It's down in Virginia, about two hours from here."
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After letting Boone fester for an hour Gibbs finally entered the interrogation room. Boone still hadn't sat but Jethro did, sitting on the opposite side of the table to where Boone stood.
"Finally. So where should we start this time, Jethro? My childhood?" Kyle asked cheerfully, finally taking the chair before him and sitting.
"I didn’t bring you in here to talk, Boone." Gibbs was stoney faced.
"May I ask why I’m here then?" Boone asked, confused.
"The State is hoping that I’ll get the location of your victims." Jethro leaned back in his chair, one leg crossing over the other.
"I believe that requires some form of communication."
"I said the State. Me? I’m not even going to try. I’ve taken you out of the system, Boone. You’re going to sit here, alone, without any human contact until you fry. The game ends now." Gibbs looked pleased with himself. There was a knocking on the door before it swung open and Fletcher's disembodied head popped in.
"Boone’s attorney is here." Gibbs sent a death glare to the young agent whose head was already gone. Boone looked amused by Gibbs' irritation as the senior agent stood and stalked to the door, throwing it open and exiting the room. Fletcher stood in the hallway ignoring the seething agent. "The DA’s afraid if we deny him access to his client, he’ll find a sympathetic judge and have cause to have the execution delayed." Just then the aforementioned lawyer was escorted down the hall by Luis.
"Look, I need a privileged conversation with my client. Meaning, Agent Gibbs, I want your observation room cleared and all microphones turned off." O'Neill stood up to Gibbs.
"That’s it, Counsellor?" Gibbs asked.
"For now, Agent." Gibbs scoffed in response. Jethro walked to the control room, leaning in through the door and picking up an item.
"Search him first…thoroughly." Gibbs said throwing a pair of latex gloves to Fletcher.
"He's not really my type." Seb said catching the gloves.
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McGee and Abby had spent the better part of two hours working on a program that would do what they needed. McGee hit the enter key and image after image flashed by on the screen.
"I’m impressed. It’s actually working." Abby playfully punched Tim's arm.
"Now all we have to do is scan through eight hundred thousand miles of satellite imagery, and pray we get lucky." McGee looked over to Abby, he felt exhausted.
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Gibbs, Puchalski and Fletcher stood huddled in the control room, watching as O'Neill spoke with his client. Luis' phone started ringing from his jacket pocket, reaching in he fished it out and answered on the fifth ring.
"Abby? Awesome, yeah I'll let Gibbs know." Luis hung up turning to Jethro. "They've started the search for the dumping ground."
Gibbs' eyes were on the two in the next room, the lawyer patting the shoulder of the serial killer and heading for the door. Gibbs mirrored his move and met the attorney in the corridor.
"Agent Gibbs, if anything happens to my client while he’s here, I want you to know I am going to hold you personally responsible." O'Neill threatened as best he could.
"You have my word he will be in perfect health for his execution." Gibbs smiled, turning his head towards Fletcher. "Escort Mister O’Neill out of my building." Seb moved forward, grabbing O'Neill's arm and forcibly escorting him.
"You’ll be hearing from me." The attorney threw back before his arm was yanked by Fletcher.
"You going back in there?" Luis asked once the two were out of earshot.
"He's not going to give us anything." Gibbs sighed. "Let's just call it a night."
"I'll let Abby and McGee know." Puchalski said watching Gibbs make his way to the exit.
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The Return by tdawg
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony gets news. Gibbs' team continue with their battle with Boone.
Chapter End Notes:
Next chapt will have lots of Tony and Gibbs.