The Negotiator
Ziva grabbed the computer screen and started to shaking it violently, yelling at it;
"Crappy piece of junk! McGee! Do something or I'm going to do what Gibbs would do: Throw this crap out the window!"
McGee looked up from his work and got up.
"You can try but that'll only give you a pay-cut for the next 2 years." He bent over to look at Ziva's screen. "Only Gibbs can get away with that."
"Get away with what, McGee?" Gibbs turned the corner and stopped in front of McGee, who stood tall, not quite knowing what to say or where to look. Ziva forgot about her computer for a minute and observed the interaction between the Boss and his, at this moment, very small team member.
"Uuuuh, nothing Boss. I was just… uh… Ziva was having problems…uh… with her…uh….computer…uh" McGee resembled a dear caught in the headlights of a car. Didn't quite know what to do, cause there was no easy way out of this on.
"What are you implying, McGee?" Gibbs stared at McGee
"Really nothing, Boss. Ziva just handles computer problems the same way you do…not that there is anything wrong with your…uh…methods… it's just…uh…"
By the time McGee had stuttered out the words, Gibbs decided the junior agent had been through enough torture, and he turned and walked over to his desk.
McGee let out a heavy sigh, and Gibbs turned around and gave him another stare.
"Sorry Boss!" McGee quickly turned his head and bent down to Ziva, who was trying very hard to look serious.
Tony walked in 10 minutes later. McGee had just finished fixing Ziva's computer.
"You're late" Ziva remarked.
"Yeah, I know, Ziva, and a good morning to you too. And that is why I brought him this" He held up one of the coffee mugs "Where is he?"
"Got called up to the Director's office 5 minutes ago for a status rapport" McGee remarked, as he was walking over to his own desk, his tone of voice a little different from this morning.
"What's up with him?" Tony asked Ziva as he took of his jacket.
"Poor McGee was interrogated this morning" Ziva said, this time she didn't try to hide the smile.
Tony laughed, "uh did he catch you doing something incriminating, Probie?"
Tony felt the familiar head slap. "Nope, but I caught you being late, DiNozzo" Gibbs walked in heading for his desk.
"Morning Boss!" Tony rubbed the back of his head.
"What's the excuse this time?"
"Well, it's actually kind of funny Boss. See, I've been brushing up on my unique talent of persuasion".
"Get to the point, DiNozzo!"
"Sorry Boss, I got pulled over on my way in"
"What did you do?" McGee asked
"Nothing Probie, or at least I didn't break any rules that weren't meant to be broken", Tony smiled at his own wise crack, but frowned when he saw Gibbs' stare.
"Anyway, I managed to talk my way out of a speeding ticket in a genius way, if I should say so my self".
"Was it a female officer?" Ziva asked, leaning forward behind her desk.
"Aha, for your information it was a male officer, but nice try."
"So how did you do it?" Ziva asked.
"Now see, I would like to tell you, but it's a DiNozzo secret. If I told you, I'd have to kill you" Tony smiled, enjoying the interaction between the two, as long as he knew something Ziva wanted to know. It wasn't so funny when it was the other way around.
"If you two don't start working soon, none of you'll be able to talk your way out of a firing", Gibbs remarked and grabbed his phone as it rang, "Yeah, Gibbs" .
Tony looked down from his staring contest with Ziva and started working through his ever-growing stack of paperwork. His work was cut short by Gibbs' voice.
"Grab your gear. We're going to the SEAL training area"
"What's up, Boss?" Tony stood up and grabbed his gun from his desk drawer.
"Dead drill sergeant found dead on the obstacle course" Gibbs holstered his gun and headed for the elevator, leaving his team, struggling to keep up with him and catch the elevator.
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Ducky and Palmer were already there, when the NCIS-team arrived. The area around the rappelling tower was sealed of, and there were a few basepersonal nearby.
"What've you got, Ducky?" Gibbs asked as he approached to the good Doctor kneeling by the body. He put on his gloves and kneeled by his side.
"Well, Jethro, it would seem our young sergeant here meet with an unfortunate accident while training for himself here on the course".
Gibbs frowned at the reply and started delegating.
"Tony shoot and sketch, McGee bag and tag, Ziva talk to the officer, who found the body". The agents started their work and Gibbs turned his attention back to Ducky and the body.
"You don't sound convincing, Ducky"
Ducky looked at Gibbs and smiled "Well, you did make rule number 8, Jethro. Several things about our young fellow here does not add up to death due to an accidental fall from the tower", said Ducky and pointed up.
"What do you think happened?"
"The only apparent injury is this wound to the left side of the sergeant's temple. But his head is turned to the right" Ducky pointed to the body's head.
"Somebody touched the body and turned his head" Gibbs said.
"It's would seem so" Ducky looked up at his old friend.
"Or moved him…" Tony joined the conversation. Gibbs and Ducky looked over at Tony, who was squatting a few meters from the body. He pointed to the ground in front of him.
"Looks like someone tried to cover up some drag marks over here and all the way over there" He pointed in the opposite direction. "There are tiny traces of blood leading all the way up to the body". Tony looked up at Gibbs.
Gibbs gave him an acknowledging nod, "Good work, Tony" He turned his attention to McGee, "McGee, take samples".
"Thanks Boss" Tony was one big smile when he turned his attention back to the sketching pad.
Gibbs turned his attention back to Ducky.
"Yes, there are several facts, which indicate that the body of our unfortunate sergeant here has been moved. First of all there is no blood in the sand underneath his head. Head wounds tend to bleed quite a bit, and even if the sergeant had died immediately after the fall, there would still be more blood around the head." Ducky pointed to the area around the body's head. "it actually reminds me of a case back in England when I was…."
"And secondly?" Gibbs cut Ducky of, knowing how long this could take, if he allowed Ducky to tell one of his stories.
"Oh yes", Ducky turned his attention back to the case at hand. "Secondly, the only injury to the body seems to be the head trauma. I won't know for sure of course, until we get the body back to autopsy, but there are no bruises to his chest or back, and both his femurs seem to be in one piece."
"It's was murder" Gibbs summed up the fact, that Ducky was trying to get to in his own way.
"I would say so, but we'll know more when we get him home. But I will say this, someone definitely moved this body"
"Are you done here, Ducky?"
"Yes, we'll take him home now. Mr. Palmer, if you would…" Palmer walked up to Ducky and the two men started to move the body. Ducky leaned down to the body, "Don't you worry. We'll take care of you". Gibbs smiled, "You'll have a heart attack the day one of them answers you". He walked over to the rest of the team, who were all finishing up.
"Ducky thinks the sergeant was murdered somewhere else. What did you get from the guy who found him, Ziva?" Gibbs asked
"The drill sergeant's name is Joseph Keller. He was found at 0500 hours this morning by private Mills".
"What was he doing out here this early?" Gibbs asked while making notes.
"He wanted to try and improve his time on the course"
"Any luck with that?" Tony asked and smiled.
"He was up 3 seconds when he found the sergeant. He reported it to the watch command, and stayed here afterwards." Ziva looked up from her notes, "That's it"
"Okay, Ziva, McGee, see if you can trail the blood back to the original crime scene. Bag whatever you find. DiNozzo, you're with me. We're going to talk to the base commander". Gibbs turned around and started walking.
"How does he expect us to be able to find out where it happened?" Ziva lifted her hands up, "the sand stops here, and there's grass all around. The chances of finding microscopic traces of blood are less than zero!"
"When Gibbs says find the blood, we find the blood" McGee resigned, grabbing his gear.
"I wish you luck with that" Tony smiled, silently thanking God he didn't get the assignment.
"DINOZZO" Gibbs yelled from a distance.
"Coming, Boss"
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"Hell of a thing! And you're saying it was no accident, special agent Gibbs? That I might have a killer running around my base?" The base commander was sitting behind his desk. He was a slightly overweight man with very little hair. He'd tried to cover all of his head with what was left, but that only made it look worse.
"It would appear so, Commander. Nobody has left or entered the base since yesterday at 1400 hours" Gibbs answered the Commander, who was clearly mad as hell. How the hell could this happen on his base.
"Yeah, we had a training mission scheduled for today but I called it of due to the circumstances"
"Was it Sergeant Keller's team?" Tony asked making notes on his PDA. He knew how Gibbs hated the thing.
"Yes it was. He was currently training a team in the third phase. Good looking group. It's got a lot of potential". The Commander seemed pleased with himself. Gibbs looked down. He hated CO's who thought it was all there fault, when ever a marine or a SEAL-team performed outstanding. Like it was all their ‘hard work' behind the desk that made a difference.
Tony glanced over at Gibbs and saw his jaw clench. He knew what it meant to the old marine, and he turned his attention back to the Commander.
"We're gonna need to talk to the SEAL team under the sergeant's command".
"Not a problem, special agent DiNozzo. They're all over in their quarters. If there's anything else you need to know, just ask" The Commander stood up and extended his hand. Gibbs looked at it and for a second Tony didn't think Gibbs was going to return the greeting. But Gibbs got up and shook the Commander's hand. But he didn't say a word.
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Gibbs and Tony were appointed a very small office for their interviews, and the recruits came in one by one. All pretty much gave the same answers. They were all a sleep in their beds between 2200 hours and 0530, SIR. Nobody had seen the sergeant after they were dismissed at 1800 yesterday and he didn't show up for dinner, which they all agreed was unusual. All described the sergeant as tough but fair, but both Gibbs and Tony got the feeling that there was something nobody wanted to talk about. About halfway through the list they finally got some answers. The source was a young recruit from Nebraska named Jeremy Connors.
"Nobody wants to talk about it, because most of the men in this group feel the same way as he did" The recruit said, looking at Gibbs most of the time. He was a guy with respect for authority, always addressing the senior agent.
"About what, Connors?" Gibbs asked.
"The serge didn't like certain kind of people, if you know what I mean, sir" Connors replied.
"He was a racist?"
"Yes sir, the worst kind. He hated everyone with dark skin or a foreign name". Gibbs sensed Tony shifting his weight in the chair next to him. Connors continued, "He did believe that immigrants had the right to defend this country. Didn't think they were worthy of the honor, sir. He road their asses harder then any of the rest of us. He'd kick all of them when ever he got the chance to, always humiliating them in front of the rest of us. He did everything he could to make them give up, sir." Connors looked down. "Sadly he succeeded in most cases".
"Are there any left?" Gibbs asked.
"Yes, sir. 2 have made it so far despite everything. Martinez and Cruiz" Connors looked up at Gibbs.
"Was there anyone he was harder on than the other?"
"He's had it in for Martinez from the start. I think he saw him as a personal target, because Martinez is good at this job. Keller wanted him down more than any other".
"Okay, thank you, Connors. That'll be all for now." Gibbs got up and saluted the recruit. Connors left, and Gibbs looked at Tony.
"When's Martinez?"
Tony looked through his list, "He's up last, Boss"
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"Carlos Martinez, reporting as ordered, SIR" Martinez stood strait and stared into space.
"Have a seat, recruit" Gibbs pointed to the chair on the other side of the table.
"Thank you, sir" Martinez sat down.
"We need you to account for your whereabouts from 1800 last night and till now" Tony asked Martinez.
"Yes sir. We were dismissed at 1800 hours, and I went to call my wife. At 1900 I went to see the base commander. I was back around 1930, watch some TV, and I hit the sack around 2200, trying to catch some sleep before the training mission this morning.
"What did you watch?" Tony asked, mostly out of curiosity.
"A-team, sir. There was a rerun last night".
"Hey, I saw that too, it was awesome!" Tony said enthusiastically.
"Totally! I use to watch it when I was a kid." Martinez was just as excited as Tony.
Tony leaned across the table, "Me too! My friends and I use to pretend…"
"What did you go see the commander about?" Gibbs cut of Tony, giving him a annoyed glare for getting of track. He wanted to head slap him, but he would never do it in front of a suspect.
"Sorry Boss" Tony leaned back, his smile all gone from his face.
"Sorry, sir" Martinez turned his attention back to Gibbs, "I handed in a request for extended medical leave next week".
"Why's that?" Gibbs asked.
"My wife, sir. She's 8-months pregnant, and there've been some complications. The doctors are concerned about her health, so they want to perform a c-section next Thursday."
"A baby, in the middle of SEAL-training?"
"I know, sir, we didn't plan it that way. But it still happened, and we're very happy about it".
"Well, congratulations" Tony said, "You're a braver man than me".
"Excuse me, sir?"
"Having a kid. Scares the hell out of me"
"It does at first, sir, but you get use to the thought and then it's the most wonderful thing in the world", Martinez's face lid up, when he talked about his unborn baby.
Tony smiled, not believing that he would ever get use to the though of being a father. Not now anyway.
Gibbs though about his daughter for a second but quickly focused on Martinez instead, the memories hurt too much.
"Why did you hand it to the commander? Requests for leave are usually handed in to the sergeant."
Martinez looked down. It was clear he was thinking hard about what to say. Then he looked up.
"I was not on the best terms with the sergeant, and I was afraid he would through it away without looking at it, sir".
"What do you mean ‘not on the best terms'" Gibbs asked even though he already knew the answer.
"Keller had a problem with me being on his team" Martinez looked at Tony, "he had a problem with anybody, who didn't come from this country at least 10 generations back." He turned to Gibbs again.
"What did you do about it?" Gibbs asked.
"Nothing, sir. I just worked harder, trying not to give him any reason to hassle me. Frankly I worked my ass off, sir, but it was never good enough for him!" Martinez took a deep breath. He was starting to loose his temper, but tried to stay calm. "He's not gonna get me to quit. Ever!" Martinez slammed his first in the table, but neither of the two NCIS agents flinched.
"We'll need to see your uniform from yesterday" Gibbs said, unaffected by Martinez's outburst.
"Why?...sir" Martinez struggled to regain control over himself.
"It's standard OP in murder cases. Everyone else already handed over theirs" Tony answered, trying to calm the recruit down.
"Sorry, sir. I didn't mean to…" Martinez looked down, "all the rascism… it just gets to me sometimes".
"You're dismissed. An officer will escort you to your quarters and retrieve your uniform" Gibbs said, closing the file in front of him.
"Yes sir" Martinez got up, saluted the men and left.
Tony finished his notes and look at Gibbs, "Man's got a bit of a temper"
"That doesn't make him a murderer, Tony" Gibbs said, and got up to leave the room.
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McGee and Ziva practically threw their bags down on the ground when they finally made it back to the office; 3 hours after Tony and Gibbs. Their pants were green around the knees. Both looked beyond tired, and something in Ziva's eyes told Tony, she was ready to commit murder. He stopped the joke before it came out over his lips and reminded himself to get out of the way, if Ziva ever got that look again. Instead he just said hey, and turned his attention back to the computer and the search for Sergeant Keller's personal file. He would let it be up to Gibbs to defuse the two agents.
"What've you got?" Gibbs asked walking up behind then with a fresh cup of coffee. Ziva smelled
the coffee before she saw Gibbs. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Tony wondered just how far she was willing to go to get some of that coffee and he smiled. Ziva didn't look so tough now. She opened her eyes and she and McGee followed Gibbs to his desk.
"Well right now, I haven't got any clean pants to wear for the rest of the day" she pointed to her knees. "We have been spending the last 4 hours crawling around a lawn looking for any trace of evidence".
"Yeah, and?" Gibbs rose is eyebrows.
"And? No good work? ‘Glad to see someone doing their job thoroughly'?" Ziva was disappointed, but McGee just continued, knowing Gibbs wasn't going to say anything.
"We finally managed to find a tiny blood trail, and followed it to a parking lot about a mile fro where the body was found".
"You crawled a mile?" Tony was trying really hard not to laugh. Both Ziva and McGee turned around in a second and their stare would have put Tony six feet under if possible.
McGee turned around and faced Gibbs again;
"We found a larger pool of blood by a car. Checked the licence plate; the car was owned by Keller".
"Looks like he was heading home" Ziva said, trying really hard to suppress a desire to smack Tony.
Gibbs got up and walked over to Tony.
"What'd you find in the sergeant's file?" He bent down to look at the screen.
"Not much. He's got 3 complaints filed against him for racial discrimination. He got a slap on the wrist for it last year."
Gibbs straitened up, "Let's see what Abby's got"
Before walking he gave Tony the familiar head slap, "Good job, you two"
Ziva and McGee smiled and followed Gibbs to the elevator, while Tony was rubbing the back of his head.
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"Do you have something for us, Abs?" Gibbs walked in first and handed the Goth her daily supply of Caff-Pow. Abby turned down the blaring music and took the canister with a big smile on her face. She took a big sip and answered;
"Things done work at warp-speed just because you want ‘em to, Gibbs" Abby walked over to her microscope and looked into it.
"Is that a yes or a no?" Gibbs asked.
Abby straitened up; "I, however, do work at warp-speed, so of course that is a yes" Abby smiled and raised her finger up as if to ask a question, "with a ‘but' attached".
"Let's start with the ‘yes'" Gibbs walked around to the screen.
"On with the show then" Abby clicked her mouse; "I analyzed the blood McGee and Ziva gave me. All samples are the same blood type, A-positive".
"According to his medical file, Keller was A-positive, Boss" Tony said looking through the files in his hand.
"DNA-confirmation?" Gibbs looked at Abby.
"That's the ‘but'. It's gonna take a least 12 hour before we know for sure".
"What about the uniforms?"
"Do you realize how many uniforms you gave me, Gibbs?" Abby raised her brows; "25! I've only gotten through 9, so far nothing. But I'm working on it".
"Take Martinez's uniform next, and call me if you find anything" Gibbs said and started to walk out.
"You got it"
The call from Abby came 10 minutes later and they all headed for the lab again. When tey came in, Abby was standing by the table and was giving Gibbs a hurtful look.
"You couldn't have told me to take his uniform first if you already knew that I'd find something?"
"Sorry, Abs." Gibbs put his arm around her and squeezed her gently.
"You could've saved me sooo much time. Anyway, I found small traces of blood on the uniform and checked it" She looked up, "It's A-positive"
"What's Martinez' blood type?"
"I checked. He's O-negative"
"Okay, time to bring him in for interrogation. McGee, get me a warrant. Ziva, check and see if Martinez has left the base" Gibbs walked over to Abby and kissed her on the head. "Thanks, Abs"
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The Sedan pulled up in front of a nice suburban house and 4 special agents got out. Ziva's call showed that Martinez had left the base to be with his wife. Gibbs walked up followed by the rest.
"McGee, Ziva, you take the back. Let's do this nice and easy"
McGee nodded and he and Ziva ran around the house.
"You expecting problems, Boss?" Tony asked. To him it was just an ordinary arrest.
"Weren't you a boy scout, DiNozzo? Always be prepared" Gibbs answered and unbuttoned his holster.
They rang the door bell, and a very pregnant woman answered it.
"Yes?" she asked.
Gibbs and Tony both showed their badges. "Mrs. Martinez?" she nodded.
"NCIS, I'm special agent Gibbs and this is special agent DiNozzo. Is your husband here? We'd like to talk to him"
Mrs- Martinez looked a little puzzled. "Yes, Carlos just came home. Oh, is this about his sergeant? He just told me about it" she opened the door wider; "come on in". If she had known what was going to happen, she probably never would have let the two gentlemen in. She pointed them into the living room.
Martinez was sitting on the couch when they walked in. Next to him was a young woman with a cup of tea in her hand. Martinez was smiling at her but his smile froze when he saw Tony and Gibbs. He locked eyes with Gibbs, and he didn't take his eyes of him as he got up.
Mrs. Martinez didn't notice anything and gladly introduced the young woman. "This is our neighbour, Susan. She just came over to check up on me"
The young woman smiled at Tony, but for once Tony didn't notice the attracting woman smiling at him. His eyes were focused on Gibbs and Martinez. The tension between the two was raising, and Tony moved his hand closer to his gun.
Then everything happened within nanoseconds. Suddenly Martinez reached down behind the couch and pulled out his gun. Tony and Gibbs both went for theirs, but not before Martinez had grabbed Susan by the throat and pulled her close, pointing his gun against her temple. She dropped her cup and it shattered against the wooden floor. Mrs. Martinez was startled and screamed, and Tony pulled her behind him, out of harms way. Both he and Gibbs had their guns pointed at Martinez.
Mrs. Martinez started to cry, "What are you doing, Carlos?"
To add to the tension the door to the kitchen was suddenly kicked in, and McGee and Ziva came in, guns raised. Martinez stepped back a few steps, and his grip on the gun tightened, making Susan scream. Gibbs put up his hand to stop them, but he never took his eyes of Martinez.
"Everybody calm down!" Gibbs' voice echoed out in the small living room. "Martinez! Put the gun down and nobody gets hurt"
"SHUT UP!" Martinez pointed the gun at Gibbs and held the hostage in front of him. He was sweating and his whole body was shaking.
Story Notes:
Hope you like it:-) Sorry for any funny sentences or misspellings
Author's Chapter Notes:
When a routine arrest goes wrong, the team ends up in a hostage situation...
Chapter End Notes:
Hope you like it:-) Sorry for any funny sentences or misspellings