As for the "JAG" backstory: if I were going to bring Webb into the mix, I would have to use "JAG" episodes. I hope, however, that they were explained clearly enough for non-"JAG" fans (by way of the "NCIS" characters who wouldn't have known the backstories) and just a cute thing for "JAG" fans who remember the episodes.I will say that I like Webb, which is why he creeps in here. As for the Webb and Mac storyline, however - I haven't been watching "JAG" regularly anymore, although I once did - I'm not going to touch that storyline even with a hundred-foot pole. No comment.
Now that I've actually written out this part (saying anything any earlier would have given it away), I can say it - I got the name "Kate" from exactly that, the short phone call Webb makes on Rabb's phone near the end of "Webb of Lies." (At least, that's what I recall the name being.)
CIA HQ
"What does my office look like, the drive-through at the Dairy Queen?" Webb growled as Gibbs flung open the door and came in, Cate right on his heels.
Gibbs dropped the folder in front of him, an accusatory finger pointing down at the articles. "You lied to us. You faked her death, just like you faked yours five years ago," he hissed.
Webb rolled his eyes. "I didn't have to lie about anything," he replied. "I just didn't say she wasn't alive."
"So where is she now."
"Need to know."
"Has she called you?"
"Need to know."
"Is she safe?" Cate cut in.
"Need to know."
"Do you realize," Gibbs growled, "that right now the entire intelligence community thinks that she is a rogue agent and will most likely shoot her on sight? And all because she is supposedly dead with the money on some boat?"
"What's it to you?" Webb replied sourly. "It's not as though anyone's losing military benefits because her death most likely wouldn't count for an honorable discharge."
"Where. Is. She. NOW."
"You've gotten your answer, Gibbs," Webb retorted. "You stay out of this. She's still working an assignment for me."
Gibbs stared at him a moment, then straightened, a slow smirk crossing his face. "You have no idea where she is. You're as in the dark as we are."
"And if I am?"
"Then you wouldn't even be able to know if she went rogue or not," Gibbs replied. "For all you know, maybe she took the money and ran...maybe she's lying wounded in a ditch somewhere...maybe she's been captured and is being pressed for information...and that makes it our business."
NCIS HQ
Gibbs came into the lab where Tony was watching the computer as Abby worked. "Find anything?"
"Oh hey boss," Tony greeted and handed Gibbs a large manila envelope. "I found these in her safebox at the bank. They're photos of six military funerals in Arlington. They weren't there before."
"Different?"
"That's what the labels on the back say."
Gibbs furrowed his brow in confusion and quickly removed the photos. They were obviously taken from a distance, although most likely with some kind of zoom camera. The 8.5" by 11" panoramic photos took in a lot of area; each person on the photo was very small.
On the back of each was a typed label, naming the deceased being buried and the date. One Air Force pilot, one naval officer, and four Marines. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the last two. "These are two of the Marines who were being held by the rebels."
"Yeah. Apparently they already killed two of the nine they were holding." Tony's tone was one of frustration.
"Prints? Abs?"
"They're all Major Lin's," Abby replied, turning around. "Except this one." She hit a button on the keyboard, and a new picture popped up. "But there's barely enough there to identify it."
"How do you know it's not hers, then?"
"Well, she'd have to be holding the photo in a really weird way," Abby replied. "Plus, it's got a weird little hook right there" she pointed at it with her mouse "but none of Lin's prints have it."
"So somebody else has been handling these photos," Gibbs murmured.
"Oh, some psycho," Tony replied, holding up some large envelopes, the kind for holding 8.5" by 11". "These were in the safebox, too. It seems that somebody has been SENDING the photos to her."
"What?"
"No prints," Abby cut in. "I'm having a friend do a handwriting check, but it doesn't look like hers."
"Postmark?" Gibbs asked, squinting at the fading stamp.
"Same post office as she would use. It's the closest one to her apartment."
"There's excess postage on this," Gibbs commented, eyeing the envelopes. The one had two 37 cent stamps, although it didn't seem that heavy. "All 37 cent stamps. They most likely put extra postage on it and just dropped it into the blue post office boxes so they wouldn't be seen with them."
Tony nodded.
"What about the photos? Anything common in them?"
"They all pertain to Major Lin's assignments. The people being buried were all coworkers who died on assignment with her. Plus." Tony leaned over his boss' desk, looking at the photos upside down. "Hm. I saw it the first time." He flipped the photos so they were right-side up for him, and Gibbs came around his desk and stood behind him. "Ah, here we go. Look."
He pointed out a tiny figure, dressed in black pants and a long, black coat. His short, dark hair was covered by a hat and he stood some distance away from the others at the funeral. Tony pulled out the second photo. "He's here." He picked up the next photo. "And here." Next one. "And here." Next one. "And here." Next one. "And here." He looked up at Gibbs with a satisfied, expectant look.
"Who's the mystery man?"
"Not a clue."
"Can you blow this up, Abs?" Gibbs looked at her.
"I can try, but I don't think it'll be much help. It's too small."
"Lin's apartment?" Gibbs turned to Tony.
"I'm headed there now."
"Be careful."
"That's kind of touching, Gibbs, looking out for my welfare." Tony grinned, then dropped his smile at Gibb's look.
"Hey, Duck," Gibbs greeted as he came into the examining room. "Who's that?" he pointed at the body the ME was working on.
"Oh, this is Chief Petty Officer Mary Bourbon," Ducky replied. "A pretty thing, she was. It's for Agent Tomlinson's murder case."
Gibbs nodded, then chuckled. "We haven't given you enough work, eh, Duck?"
"No." Ducky chuckled softly as he worked. "Gerald is still sorting, but it has reached the unenviable point where we can't be sure if certain things are body parts or boat parts or explosive parts. It appears I'll never meet the famous Major Lin, or even a section of her."
Gibbs chuckled. "Yeah."
Ducky looked up from the body. "Jethro, go home, get some sleep. You can't spend all day in the office."
Gibbs nodded.
LIN'S WASHINGTON APARTMENT
Tony looked around the darkened apartment, searching through with the things with his gloved hands. Nothing. Nothing that wasn't there from before.
He was about to turn around when he felt the cold barrel of a gun against the base of his neck, and a voice hissed, "Who are you?"
Tony gulped. "Uh, NCIS," he replied vaguely.
The hammer cocked. "Name!"
"Tony DiNozzo," he blurted, keeping his hands in the air. "Look, I'm not who you think - "
Suddenly there was a sound of glass shattering, and whoever it was that had put the gun to his head pushed him forward to the ground. A few more shots were fired into the darkened apartment. Tony began to scramble up and try to find a way out when he felt a hand yanking his collar. "This way!"
GIBBS' HOME
Gibbs blew the sawdust from the boat's rib and ran his hand over the edge. Satisfied, he was about to move on to the next one when his cell phone rang. "Gibbs."
"Uh...hey boss," Tony's voice came over the line. "I've got some stuff I want you to see."
Gibbs furrowed his brow in confusion. "So bring it in."
"It's, um...it's pretty big, actually. I think you ought to come have a look."
Gibbs frowned. "DiNozzo, you all right?"
"Yeah, fine. Just fine. I'm fine...just...come by, will ya?"
"Where?"
"The warehouse on Linden and Chestnut."
Gibbs was suspicious now. Something was up. The warehouse had been abandoned over three years ago when the company had closed, but he played along. "Sure. Give me a half hour."
"Oh, uh, boss, come alone, OK?" There was a small, indignant gasp on the other end, then a click to indicate Tony had hung up.
Some miles down the road, Gibbs looked to his passenger. "We're nearing the warehouse," he replied shortly as he continued to drive. "Get down under the seat."
Cate nodded and slid down the passenger's side, folding herself up under the dashboard until she couldn't be seen. The darker interior of the car and her own dark clothes made her blend in.
"I'm going to park with the passenger's side near the side of the road, in the dark. It should be less obvious if you open the door. Watch your step."
A couple of minutes later, Cate felt the car stop. She looked up briefly to see Gibbs looking down at her, his face drawn. He snapped a new magazine into this Sig Sauer. "Give me five minutes, then get out, and do it quietly."
Cate nodded, and then she heard the door open and then shut. She checked her watch.
Inside the warehouse, DiNozzo sighed. He was pretty sure now his hostage-taker wasn't going to shoot him, but the cold barrel of the sidearm stuck against his back wasn't very comforting. Well, it wasn't THAT cold anymore, having been so deeply burrowed in his back for the last hour. Where the heck was Gibbs?
He heard a tiny squeak of a door, and he hoped that the guy with the gun hadn't heard it; no such luck. The weapon dug deeper into his back.
Gibbs came in, alone. DiNozzo was surprised, then curious. Maybe Cate was lurking in the background because no one would expect her. Or maybe Gibbs wanted to protect Cate and hadn't called her to come with him - Gibbs came alone. He'd done stupid things like that before - leave them out of the loop to "protect" them.
Gibbs' eyes scanned the quiet building, taking in the stacks of abandoned crates in some corners. He didn't see Tony, and he wasn't about to shout out and give himself away - although the door squeak most likely already had.
He noticed a movement in the a far corner, and he settled himself in to point his weapon at it.
Tony came out, with what was only a hand holding a gun on him. It wasn't a clean enough shot for Gibbs to take; all he'd be doing was shooting the hostage-taker's hand off, and who knows what he - or she - would do to Tony in that time.
Tony gave him a sheepish smile. "Hey boss."
"Gibbs," came a harsh voice from behind his junior agent, "put the gun down." When Gibbs hesitated, the voice rose. "Now!"
Cate slowly pulled on the handle to the car door, opening it ever so slightly and slipping her lithe frame through the open door. She shut it just enough to get the lock to click but not loud enough to attract attention, and sneaked around the back, her weapon drawn. As she neared, she noticed Gibbs had conveniently left the warehouse door open just enough for her to get through, so she did just that.
In the middle of the room, she saw what looked like just Tony and Gibbs; it was obvious, though, that there was somebody behind Tony. And that somebody was using Tony as a shield so well she could only really see a dirty hand holding a sidearm to his head.
"Where's your backup?" Cate, as she crouched behind a pillar, noted the speaker was a woman.
Gibbs shrugged, his hands up in the air, his weapon having been slid across the floor to Tony - and the hostage-taker's - feet.
"Blackadder!" the woman shouted. "Get out here now!"
Cate flinched. Obviously the woman wanted her to come out...but who was 'Blackadder'?
"Agent Blackadder went back to the FBI," came Gibbs' voice, low and calm. "She left almost a year ago."
"Smart woman," snapped the hostage-taker. "Call your backup out here. Now."
"I came in here alone."
"Don't play games with me, Gibbs." The woman decided to change tack again. "GET OUT HERE, NOW! Before I pop LoverBoy, here!"
Cate stepped out, letting her weapon swing down her fingers and holding her hands up. "I'm here, I'm here."
"Slide your weapon over here and shut the door."
Cate obliged, all the while keeping a wary eye out for Tony.
When the door was shut, the smaller woman wrestled DiNozzo to a vacant crate and sat him down hard, continuing to hold the gun against his back, and thus revealing her face for the first time. Even with the grime, the oversized, torn clothes, and the generally messy appearance, it was obvious who she was.
Gibbs and Cate just stared.
"I told you I got a big break," Tony replied, slightly smug and more annoyed when the woman dug her weapon deeper into his back. Was all this manhandling necessary?
After a long, shocked pause, Gibbs finally commented to Major Lin, "You're a hard woman to find."
Chapter End Notes:
Part One is a crossover between "NCIS" and "Without a Trace." ("Nine Lives, Part I") Originally posted to FF.net 3/21-4/2/04