They should've known something hinky was going on the moment they set foot in the house. The stale air and the dust covering the furniture should've warned them. But it was the middle of a sunny day, and the light shining through the windows made the house look almost friendly. There really wasn't anything to complain about, given the fact that there was another team of agents who had drawn the short straw and set up stakeout in a car, on the other side of the street.
Their suspect was a marine smuggling antiques from Iraq. They got an echo of a deal going down at this location, but no exact time. However, seeing as the marine was being deployed in three days, it had to happen soon.
While Tony mused about how sometimes Gibbs' being their boss came in their favour, McGee set up the surveillance, hooked up the notebooks and rolled his eyes at the other agent's words.
"I hope Gibbs brings enough coffee. I'd hate to be stuck on a stakeout with a decaffeinated Gibbs," Tony said and McGee shuddered at the thought.
„Scary, huh?" Tony grinned and grabbed the binoculars. Settling down behind the window, he started looking around the neighborhood, stopping to look at the cleavage of a passing woman. He barely had time to whistle when someone snatched the binoculars from him. The following headslap stopped any protests Tony might've had.
"Hey, boss, didn't hear you coming..." he said, rubbing his scalp and ignoring Ziva's amused snort.
"We're on a case DiNozzo, not a peep show. Now get the hell out of my seat and go do something useful, like checking if there's a coffeemaker. After all, you don't want me de-caffeinated, do you?" Gibbs raised eyebrow that was all the prompting Tony needed to clear the chair.
"On it, boss," Tony replied, cringing at the thought of Gibbs having heard his earlier comment. "Anything else? Ziva? Want me to draw you a hot bath? What about you McGee?"
"I wouldn't mind some doughnuts," McGee joked, but Tony was already out of the room, scampering away from Ziva's threatening glare.
Five minutes later, Tony concluded that his luck had run out rather quickly. The coffeemaker was broken and there was nothing else that could be used instead. [If one of them didn't make a food and coffee run, they would be stuck with a grumpy Gibbs for the rest of the day and the whole night. Sighing, Tony made his way back to the surveillance room upstairs. If he'd paid more attention, he might've spotted the fact the door beneath the stairs was now a little more open than it had been five minutes ago.
xxxxx
It wasn't until the sun set that things started to get weird. Gibbs had been without coffee for almost five hours now, and Tony was getting bored from teasing McGee. Even Ziva was getting restless. With the darkness settling in, she didn't have enough light to clean her knives, nevermind to brandish them threateningly at Tony when he started ribbing her. The house they were watching was empty and quiet.
"Okay. McGee, DiNozzo, get some shut eye. We'll wake you in four for an exchange. No sense in all of us staying awake," Gibbs conceded, after McGee tried to stiffle yet another yawn.
Tony wanted to protest, but then thought better. If he was offered a Gibbs' free card for the next four hours, he'd take it. That also meant Ziva would get the short straw. He sent her a pitying look which she answered with a roll of her eyes. McGee happily gave her the headphones and relinquished his seat at the computer. Tony was halfway out the door when Ziva suddenly yelped and whipped the headphones away from her head.
"What the hell?" Tony turned as Ziva cursed in Hebrewi, looking murderously at the computer.
"What's wrong?" McGee asked, taking the headphones.
"That thing screeched in my ears!" Ziva pointed an accusing finger at the headphones. „I almost went deaf!"
"What did you hear?" Gibbs asked , but he was already looking at the house on the other side of the street, checking for movement.
"Some kind of backstash?" Ziva shook her head, rubbing at her ears and frowning at McGee's back.
„You mean backlash," Tony corrected her automatically.
"Nothing at the house. McGee?"
"I'm checking the log, boss, but there's nothing. Could be it was just some crossed signals. It shouldn't happen but..." McGee paused, putting a hand on the headphones, listening.
"McGee?"
"Sh, I think I hear something."
"Pull out the headphones then," Gibbs growled. McGee did just that, but there was nothing but static.
"That's weird," he muttered.
"What did you hear?"
"...Breathing? Sorry boss, it's gone now. Maybe it was just my imagination."
"Or maybe, it's haunted..." Tony said, and his eyes lit up, sleep no longer on his mind.
"Gimme the phones McGoo." The minute he put them on, he yelped and threw them off just like Ziva. „Damn thing screeched into my ears," he growled, throwing an accusing glare at McGee who just shrugged, looking puzzled.
It was Gibbs turn to try, but when he did, nothing happened. He listened for a good two minutes, then with a grunt, threw the phones at McGee.
"Fix it." He pulled out his phone and called the other surveillance team, only to get a report claiming no movement. Ziva picked up the binoculars, but didn't see anything strange either. They were about to call it a freaky computer bug and get back to work when the lights in the room turned on. The four agents froze, a look of surprise on all their faces before Ziva reacted and bumped the light switch. The light stayed on, but started flickering.
"Shut the damn thing off...!" Gibbs ordered, closing the curtains on the windows to minimize the risk of exposure. Ziva was still trying the light switch when Tony jumped, breaking the bulb with the butt of his gun, effectively turning the room dark, the only light coming from the blinking computer screen. McGee was already on his knees, pulling it's plug out of the socket.
"Good thinking DiNozzo," Gibbs muttered. Tony grinned at the compliment and brushed the glass shards off his shirt and hair.
"Thanks boss. Why are you hiding under the table, McScared?"
"I'm not hiding," McGee growled and crawled out. "The wiring in the house might be faulty and I don't want the computer getting fried, so from now on, we're running on batteries, at least until I figure out the problem."
"Does that explain why the light switch didn't work?" Ziva asked, eyeing the thing with suspicion.
"Not really," McGee admitted.
"Then find out what the problem is," Gibbs said gruffly.
"Shouldn't you check the fuses or something?" Tony tried to appear helpful, which only earned him a glare from McGee.
Tony's phone rang.
"Welcome to the crypt," he said cheerily as a greeting. "Oh hi Abbs...The stakeout? You know, same old. Oh, but maybe you can help McGeek figure out some problems. Yeah, I know," Tony laughed.'"We had some backlash on the phones, there's the flickering light that can't be turned off and weird breathing sounds...Sure," Tony said, and then put his phone on speaker.
"Gibbs? A haunted house, doesn't it sound cool? Can I come? Please? Do you know if anyone died there? Oh, it had to be a messy death too, to create a ghost-"
"Abbs!" Gibbs barked, stopping her. "There are no ghosts and no, you can't come. It's a stakeout, not a damn sleepover!"
"Ooh, someone's grumpy..." Abby commented. "The fact you don't believe in ghosts doesn't mean they're not real, Gibbs. Once you bust the bad guys, I wanna check that place...And Gibbs? Just do me one favor."
"Yes Abby?"
"Don't scare the ghost away, okay?" Not waiting for the reply, Abby hung up, missing the chuckles and the resulting headslaps.
"You think this is funny? Then get down to the cellar and check the damn fuses," Gibbs growled testily, while both McGee and DiNozzo rubbed their heads. "Whatever's messing with our equipment, I want it to end. What are you waiting for? Get moving!"
"On it boss," both McGee and DiNozzo scuttered away, and Ziva decided it was a good time to leave too. "I'll check the house, just to make sure we don't have any visitors." Getting a nod from Gibbs, she left the room.
"Ghosts my ass," Gibbs snorted and returned to the window.
The cellar didn't give them any clues. The fuses looked in good shape, and although it was cold and damp and hellishly scary, there were no lurking maniacs or buried skeletons, at least not that Tony or McGee saw. But they weren't looking as much as trying to get the job finished and return to the relative security of Gibbs' presence.
"I told you it weren't the fuses," McGee grumbled as they left the cellar.
"I didn't hear you saying anything, McGoo," Tony protested only halfheartedly. He wasn't paying attention to the ribbing, because there was something else nagging him. That familiar feeling of being watched, raised the small hairs on the back of his neck. Yet he was pretty sure that if he turned, there wouldn't be anything. Just that uneasy feeling. McGee was already by the staircase when Tony stopped and headed for the living room. He saw a flicker of light that wasn't there before. Pulling his gun, he was fully prepared to meet face to face with an adversary. What he saw scared him more.
"Who turned on the TV?" McGee asked and Tony jumped and then cursed, grabbing at his chest.
"What the hell probie? You want to get shot or just right out give me a heart attack?" he almost shouted, trying to get his breathing and heart beat under control. McGee looked sorry and confused.
"Why are you freaking out?" he asked once Tony put his gun away.
"That," DiNozzo pointed to the television. It was just static, but he could've sworn he saw some pictures before McGee scared him to hell. He threw a wary glance toward the phone, just in case it started ringing, but nothing happened.
"Didn't you watch Poltergeist? Or the Ring? Damn it probie, a TV that turns on by itself is never a good sign." Tony said, sounding a little hysterical. Still, he approached the television as if it was an armed psychopath, then with one leap he turned it off. The screen went dark and Tony froze.
"See? Nothing happened. Just a TV," McGee said, sounding placating. Tony wanted to cuss him out, because saying something like that in movies usually caused the characters to die horrible deaths, when they heard a yelp from upstairs.
Gibbs was already in the room, holding a shaking Ziva, while looking around in confusion. The light was on, but nobody cared.
"What happened?" Tony asked breathlessly as he burst into the room, McGee right behind him.
"Ziva? You okay?"
"I-I thought there was s-someone in the closet. I heard chanting... a child. I looked in and..." Unable to say more, she just pointed at the closet. Tony and McGee shared a look and on the nod, Tony kicked the door to the closet open, while McGee pointed his gun at... nothing.
"T-there was a c-creature," Ziva stuttered, her eyes wide and disbelieving. "I swear it was there!" she almost shouted and looked helplessly into Gibbs eyes. The ex-marine froze, and then with a gentle hand touched her cheek and turned her head up to take a better look. After a moment he released her and crossed the room to look into the puzzled faces of his other two agents, only to see the same dilated pupils. Cursing, he put his gun back into his holster and without explanation walked out of the room. A minute later, the three agents found him brushing a gloved finger over the kitchen counter, and then taking a look at it under a light.
"Boss?" Tony asked, unsure if Gibbs had lost his mind or found the cause of their plight. The twitchy feeling that they were being watched was growing stronger and he had to fight the urge to pull out his gun and aim at anything that moved.
"Drugs," Gibbs replied, showing them his gloved finger which was now dirty. "It isn't just dust. It has traces of drugs. This might've been a meth lab or just storage, but you're all showing signs of being drugged."
"So the creature-" Ziva started, the realization dawning slowly.
"-was just a hallucination. Anyone feels prickly? Too hot or too cold? Feeling like you're being watched?"
Tony nodded, throwing a look behind his back.
"But what about the lights? Or the headphones?"
Gibbs shrugged.
"Backlash, wrong wiring. I don't care. All I care is that this could've been a set up. The stakeout is over for us. I'll call the back up team. I want all of you checked out. Is that understood?" he added when Tony opened his mouth to protest.
"Uhm, what about you, boss? You were exposed too," the senior agent couldn't help but ask, ignoring the death glare.
"I wasn't the first one in the house, you touched most of the things before me. Must've smeared it off," Gibbs gave a half explanation. "Now move. I'll be right behind you DiNozzo. The last thing I need is for you to start shooting at imaginative beasts."
Gibbs was the last to leave the house. His team was heading to the car, where an agent was ready to drive them to the hospital. There was another team heading their way to continue the surveillance, this time staying in their car. Gibbs took one last look into the now quiet and empty looking house. He couldn't stop the shiver that ran down his spine. He still felt like he was being watched. Chalking up the reaction to the drugs, he closed the door and followed his team. Their car was barely down the end of the street when the television blinked on and the door to the cellar opened. The floor boards creaked, and if someone had been watching, they would have seen a dark shadow settle on the couch.
Author's Chapter Notes:
The team is out on stakeout. The only problem is, the house they're in might be haunted.