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ncisficathon***Continuation of a Round 4 (2009) Ficathon story. Please check out the Round 5 stories.***
Title: Ligers and Tigons and Tony, Oh My (6/?)
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
justhuman
Written for:spoonyriffic
Prompt: Tony/Gibbs - Supernatural (the genre, not the show) - a series of strange killings in DC leave our favorite NCIS team puzzled, and soon it is revealed that there is something more nefarious behind it all. First Time fic. Rating between R or NC-17, whichever is best for the fic.
Archive: Please ask
Genre: teamfic, adventure, romance
Pairings: Gibbs/DiNozzo, mentions of canon pairings and maybe a surprise
Rating: NC-17 overall, PG this section
Disclaimer: CBS
Word Count: 11,730 this part
Summary: While working a case, Tony runs into a problem with potentially deadly consequences. Now it's up to the team to do what they do best and investigate until they find a solution.
A/N: Many thanks totejas for the beta assistance in this part. As always, all mistakes are mine.
Part 1 - Harvest Moon
Part 2 - After the Harvest Moon
Part 3 - Hunter's Moon
Part 4 - Hunter's Dawn
Part5 - Drag Hunt
Part 6a Hunter's Bloodhound
Part 6 - Hunter's Bloodhound
Hunter's Bloodhound
*** Monday, October 5, 2009 - Full Moon, Day 3 - Hunter's Moon ***
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs called. "Let's go into the paint shop while it's quiet."
Tony moved towards Gibbs, but called back to Johannson. "We're not done talking. I'll be back to get more details about the incident."
"You got something," Gibbs asked, as the moved towards the paint shop.
"Probably not. Johannson said that Lawson helped him out of a bar fight with locals in town. I don't see locals making it onto base and finding Lawson's quarters, and murdering him for revenge."
"Probably not."
After a few steps, Tony added. "I caught him lying with my nose."
Gibbs looked at him, but didn't say anything. It wasn't exactly positive reinforcement, but it wasn't anger or exasperation, so Tony was counting it as a victory.
Gibbs pulled out his badge again as he stepped between the strips of heavy plastic that segregated the paint shop. "NCIS - who's in charge?"
Three guys in special overalls just stared at them. Tony jumped in. "Hey, the man asked you who's in charge!"
The guy in the middle jumped to attention. "Petty Officer Second Class Ramirez, sir! I'm the ranking NCO in this area. We answer to Chief Petty Officer Gonzalez."
"I'm special Agent Gibbs. Petty Officer Lawson, one of the aircraft mechanics, was murdered this morning. We need to question everyone in his work area, including you three. Ramirez, get your Chief on the phone and Special Agent DiNozzo will explain the situation to him."
Tony wasn't expecting the last part. He was expecting Gibbs to let him dive right in and find his man. Although, smell alone wasn't going to lead him to the suspect, because the whole place reeked of the chemical in Lawson's carpet.
Why was the Boss making him call? He wanted to run in, pin these guys one by one against the wall ... Okay, maybe that's why Gibbs was slowing him down. Ramirez handed Tony the phone and he ran down the situation for the Chief Petty Officer on the other end of the line, who was on his way.
Ramirez was looking a little terrified. A probie would say he was looking guilty, but a seasoned law enforcement officer would see that it was an innocent guy panicking.
"Petty Officer, did you know Lawson?"
"No, I mean I knew who he was and that he worked out in the hanger with the plane mechanics, but we didn't hang out."
"What about the other guys that work in here? Did they hang out with the mechanics."
"Nah." Ramirez waved off Tony's question. "We come in through the back door, do our thing and then head back to the maintenance building. Sometimes Fredricks walks around out there with his coffee, because he says he wants to be a mechanic, but I don't think they talk to him."
Tony nodded, noticing that Ramirez's painting bunny suit didn't have a place for rank. It made sense; you wouldn't want guys running around in a paint stained uniform. "So you guys always go commando under the oh so fashionable paint suit?"
"Sir, I got my skivvies on. Technically we're supposed to be wearing our uniform under this, but it gets hot as hell in the summer and you just up your chances of spilling stuff on you. The paint is permanent and the clean-up solvents eat holes in the cloth."
"So what? You guys have a locker room?"
Ramirez shrugged. "There's some hooks on the other side of the bulk supplies. We change there."
"Show me," Tony said.
Ramirez froze. "Sir you're not going to write us up for being out of uniform are you?"
Sure, I'll just do that and then get back to the murder, Tony thought. This guy wasn't Technicolor at all. He was a guy trying to protect his job. "Not part of my job description Petty Officer."
"Right," Ramierez said and led Tony to the storage area. The chemical smell was much fainter in the back room. Tony went up to the three uniforms on the wall, and pretended he was inspecting them with his eyes. Instead he was getting a good sniff with his nose. Nothing.
"Do you guys where the paint suits outside of the shop?" Tony said with a frown.
"Never! We'd get written up. Like I said, we're even supposed to have our uniforms under the suit. You sure you're not going to write us-"
"Look! I've got better things to do," Tony snapped and turned back towards the shop to see how Gibbs was doing.
The place was turning out to be a big haystack and maybe not even the one with their needle. Certainly it was completely devoid of food. Maybe it wasn't these three or if it was, maybe they changed uniforms before coming to work.
When Tony came back into the shop, Gibbs was interviewing one of the guys and the third one was cleaning some equipment. Everyone was black and white. He was feeling cheated because he just couldn't see the bad guy with his new found superwolf powers. "Which one's which?" Tony asked.
"You're agent is talking to Johnson and the other guy is Fredricks," Ramirez said.
Ramirez, Fredricks and Johnson - they were all keeping Tony from lunch. He eyed up Fredericks and than paused. "Fredricks seems to be wearing a uniform under his paint suit. Didn't we just look at his uniform hanging in the back?"
"Johnson and I never wears our uniforms in here. Fredericks thinks he'll get written up for being out of uniform, so he's got on an old, stained one that he puts on."
Tony wasn't even looking at Ramierez while the man spoke, because his attention was focused on Fredricks - the only one wearing a uniform that could smell like this place. Slowly the man was coming into full color.
Tony moved towards him. "Fredricks, you're up. Did you know Lawson?"
"I know he was a mechanic out there; we didn't socialize."
"But you talked with him right? Your buddy, Ramirez, says that you want to be a mechanic, only natural that you'd talk to them, right? Maybe even just to congratulate Lawson on his recent promotion?"
Fredrick's went completely still for a moment, but then smiled. "I did congratulate him on his promotion to first class, but mostly so I could grab a donut from their celebration."
"Did the mechanics mind that, you crashing their donut party?" Tony could use a donut, a box of them, but none that smelled like Abby, because that would be - He stopped himself, reminding himself to focus.
"Maybe they did, but it's hard to say no to a man that's standing right in front of you."
A cell phone rang and Tony watched Gibbs step away from everyone to take the call. Tony didn't like this guy one bit. "Where were you between six and eight this morning?"
"I reported for duty at oh-seven-hundred."
"And before that?" Tony asked.
"At my berth, Agent DiNozzo. You trying to accuse me of anything?"
Tony smiled. "I'm not ready to accuse anyone of anything." This guy did it; Tony felt it in his gut, but he wasn't going to get anywhere without more proof.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs said, from the other side of the workspace. Tony joined him as he closed his phone. When Tony got close, Gibbs said, "That was Cassie. They were able to find some cameras with footage of Lawson's building. It shows the North side of the building and the road that runs along it. They fast forwarded through the footage and only saw about twenty people between 6 and 7."
"They can get faces?" Tony asked.
"Maybe on the ones that walked towards the cameras - Abby will have to work on that. More than half of them in coveralls or winter working uniform, for all the good that's going to do us."
Tony nodded. "I know. The fiber's a long shot."
"Why, because it's a uniform that most people on base have in their lockers?"
"There's something with the coveralls that's bugging me. They're made out of a tough material, like jeans. No one's going to pull a fiber from a coverall even in a struggle. Well, at least not if there's not a weapon involved."
"So you think we're looking for damaged coveralls."
"Yeah, and since the fiber was under Lawson's nails it would have to be on the arms or chest, where it would be visible."
"Where your average petty officer would write you up for a sloppy uniform, depending on how bad it was," Gibbs said. "Okay, you're in charge of getting every daily inspection report from every squad leader on the base."
Tony's eyes flew open. Did Gibbs mean for him to get that before lunch. Thinking on his feet, he quickly said, "Unless..."
"I'm still listening," Gibbs said.
"Unless we had information that one of the guys in the paint shop typically wore a damaged uniform to paint things. A uniform that's probably had nasty chemicals spilled on it."
Gibbs and Tony both turned at once to look at the three seamen. Ramierez was looking nervous, Fredricks defiant and Johnson looked blank.
"Fredricks, we need to see your coveralls." Gibbs said.
"Why the hell do you need to see that?" barked Fredricks.
"You heard the man!" Shouted a petty officer walking in from the mechanic's area. "These men are under my command..."
"Special Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo," Gibbs said.
"I'm Petty Officer Gonzalez. Now do you want to tell me why we're looking at this man's coveralls?
"We're looking for evidence of a murder," Gibbs said.
Before Gonzalez could say anything else, Gibbs and Tony both went over to Fredricks.
"Come on, paint suit off," Gibbs said.
With a defiant look in his eye, Fredrick's opened the snaps on his paint suit and pushed it to the ground, kicking it away from his feet.
"Arms out," Gibbs barked.
There were paint stains on the uniform as well as bleached out spots, but no obvious tears.
"Palms up, Gibbs said.
There was a jagged tear on the left sleeve where the coverall fabric was fraying.
"Roll up your left sleeve, seaman," Tony said.
Fredricks blinked and then rolled up the sleeve. Instead of angry, now he was looking confused. Something changed about his smell - he was afraid. He showed Gibbs and Tony his arm, both sides. There wasn't a mark on him.
"Freeze," Tony said. It was just a small glimmer on the edge of the torn cloth. He reached over and carefully latched on with his fingers and slowly pulled. Tony was holding a short, blond hair from the gashed cloth. "Doesn't seem to be your color, Fredricks." All three of the paint shop boys had dark brown to black hair.
"But it is Petty Officer Lawson's," Gibbs said.
"What the hell are you saying?" Fredricks demanded.
"I'm saying that when we run DNA analysis on that hair, we're expecting it to match Lawson. We're going to need that uniform." Gibbs said. While Gibbs spoke, Tony placed the hair in an evidence bag.
"I didn't kill anyone!"
Tony reached for his cuffs, but Gibbs put a hand on him to stop him.
"Tell me something," Gibbs said. "Do you wear that uniform around base?"
"Hell no," Fredricks said. "My uniform is hanging in the back right next to theirs," So and so used his thumb to indicate his co-workers.
No scratches on his arm to go with the fiber - they had found the uniform, but not the man. "Where do you keep this uniform when you're not in the paint shop," Tony demanded.
"In the back room, where we change."
Gibbs nodded and then looked at Johnson and Ramirez. "You, two, roll up your sleeves!"
Ramirez fumbled to push up the sleeves on his painting suit. Johnson remained completely still.
"Show me your arms, Ramirez, front and back," Tony said. He was clean
"Is there a problem Seaman Johnson?" Gibbs said.
"Don't you need some kind of warrant to be asking for this stuff?"
"If you refuse, I do -- that is unless I arrest you," Gibbs said.
"Of course, it makes you look guilty," Tony said. Somewhere in the conversation, Johnson had slid into full color and Fredrick's had faded into the background. Tony had been moving with the Boss, inching closer to Johnson as they spoke.
Johnson looked Gibbs right in the eye and slowly rolled up his sleeves. Just as deliberately, he showed the backs of his forearms and then flipped them over.
"Look at that," Tony said. "You've got a cut that matches up to the rip in Seaman Fredrick's coveralls."
"So what?" Johnson demanded. "People have accidents all the time."
"Yeah, what was your accident? How did you get that scratch?" Gibbs asked.
With a shrug, Johnson rolled down his sleeves. "Sharp edge on the tool box. I can show you the tool box."
"I bet you can," Gibbs said.
"We'd be much more interested in a DNA sample to see if you left that missing skin under Petty Officer Lawson's fingernails," Tony said. He could feel the others in the room shuffle uncomfortably at the reveal, but not Johnson, who was back to looking cool and collected.
"What about it, Seaman, are you going to let us take a cheek swab?" Gibbs asked.
"Sure, I ain't got nothin' to hide."
Tony bent down and opened his backpack to get the test kit. At the same time he heard Gibbs say, "Chief Gonzalez." That was when Johnson ran. He took off towards the back of the paint shop, knocking things over as he went. Before he could say anything - before Gibbs could say anything, Tony was on his tail, jumping over the obstacles that Johnson was knocking over in his path.
Behind him, he could hear Gibbs tell someone to call the gates and get a lockdown. Tony probably could have listened to more of the conversation, despite the growing distance, but instead he focused on his quarry.
At the top of his lungs Tony shouted, "NCIS!" as he ran after Johnson. People made way for him, but no one thought to grab the guy he was chasing. This wasn't unusual behavior, but somehow he hoped for better on a military base. He overshot the alley that Johnson turned down and had to back up to continue the chase.
Focus.
And Tony did, allowing his vision to narrow so that the only thing he was paying attention to was Johnson. His target moved from Technicolor to some word that Tony didn't know. Maybe psychedelic because chasing Johnson now felt like he was running down a rabbit hole. The background and every one in it was more black and white then before, but somehow distinct enough that Tony didn't trip or run into walls. It was about focus.
Just like Cassie in the park, he began to spot the tells for dodges and turns. He'd become a cornerback chasing the wide receiver down the field, and really, Johnson had to be hoping for a Hail Mary to escape on a military base. It didn't matter though because Tony was going to stop him long before the end zone.
From somewhere ahead, Tony heard shouts of NCIS. He widened his focus enough to see Cassie's bright lights running downfield straight at Johnson, playing chicken. She was ready to butt helmets like a linebacker. Full-color Tim with his weapon drawn, was playing strong safety, pushing the play to the inside.
Johnson had been losing ground with every step. Tony had the white hood of the paint suit in his hand and was about to plow him into the ground. When he heard, "DiNozzo, halt!" the last thing he wanted to do was stop, but it was Gibbs shouting, and Tony's instinct was to obey, just like it had been on the first day he met the man. It took everything Tony had to stop his momentum, but he didn't do it alone, because he got his arm over Johnson's shoulder and yanked him back.
He had back up, so sinking his teeth into Johnson's neck was completely unnecessary. It was probably bad too. Yeah, there was probably a rule about not biting suspects, so Tony didn't. Instead he smiled because his teeth needed something to do. Right, maybe he could keep that set of feeling to himself and not share with the co-workers.
The was the Boss in front of them; he was the one who told Tony to stop. Who else would have Tony instantly obeyed like that? "You're like a free safety, Boss, holding back, reading the play and being the last line of defense."
Oh shit, Tony thought. Gibbs knew. Gibbs knew everything. Was the violence so evident in his body language - was it in his eyes? Or was Gibbs even looking at him? The Boss was looking at Johnson.
Despite Tony's initial urge to bite, Johnson didn't smell like food. The biting must have been about defense and not eating, which Tony really thought he had earned. Focus. The Boss was going to want a report, and Tony didn't want to come off as a freak in front of the small crowd that was gathering around them.
Tony had Johnson's scent; he could have chased the man to the other end of Maryland, but he didn't know what he smelled like. Tony tried and it was confusing, because what he was getting was only on the surface. After he though about it a second, Tony thought that was good because it wasn't like he wanted to get to know Johnson any better. Johnson wasn't part of Tony's team.
Even though he didn't want to, Tony took another sniff. Johnson smelled like Tony imagined a bull in the arena would be like - angry, fearful, but somehow naively triumphant and superior. It was just the surface, a refection of the moment. Beyond that, it wasn't right; it was remorseless.
McGee came up next to Tony and put the cuffs on the perp. Instantly, Tony felt more grounded to have sweat socks in his nose. He really had to find a way to explain to McGee, that it wasn't an insult. Tony had another thought - this mean that Jimmy Palmer was a part of their team.
An SUV with MPs arrived. Four sailors jumped out, geared for trouble. The woman in charge sent her team out to control the crowd while she went up Gibbs.
"They're a little late to the party," Tim said.
Panting, Johnson twisted enough to look at Tony, "You're not even breathing hard, what the hell?"
He wasn't? Nope he wasn't. Should he be? Possibly. Tony grinned an evil grin. "Because I'm a Buckeye. Next time you're running out on murder charges, you shouldn't mess with athletes form Ohio State. Besides, chasing you is getting in the way of my lunch!"
"DiNozzo, McGee," the Boss gestured for them to hand the suspect over to the MPs. Almost reluctantly Tony let Johnson go - after all, he had caught him.
"Come on, DiNozzo," Gibbs said. "They're not stealing our collar; they're just going to lock him up for us."
While we have lunch, Tony thought.
Cassie joined them. "So that's our murderer?"
"It's looking that way," Gibbs said, "But we've got a lot more work to do before we can claim this one is tied up."
"Boss…" Tony said plaintively.
Gibbs brushed his hand lightly over Tony's hat. "Let's get our things and get lunch."
Continued Here
Title: Ligers and Tigons and Tony, Oh My (6/?)
Author:
justhumanWritten for:
spoonyrifficPrompt: Tony/Gibbs - Supernatural (the genre, not the show) - a series of strange killings in DC leave our favorite NCIS team puzzled, and soon it is revealed that there is something more nefarious behind it all. First Time fic. Rating between R or NC-17, whichever is best for the fic.
Archive: Please ask
Genre: teamfic, adventure, romance
Pairings: Gibbs/DiNozzo, mentions of canon pairings and maybe a surprise
Rating: NC-17 overall, PG this section
Disclaimer: CBS
Word Count: 11,730 this part
Summary: While working a case, Tony runs into a problem with potentially deadly consequences. Now it's up to the team to do what they do best and investigate until they find a solution.
A/N: Many thanks to
tejas for the beta assistance in this part. As always, all mistakes are mine.Part 1 - Harvest Moon
Part 2 - After the Harvest Moon
Part 3 - Hunter's Moon
Part 4 - Hunter's Dawn
Part5 - Drag Hunt
Part 6a Hunter's Bloodhound
Part 6 - Hunter's Bloodhound
Hunter's Bloodhound
*** Monday, October 5, 2009 - Full Moon, Day 3 - Hunter's Moon ***
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs called. "Let's go into the paint shop while it's quiet."
Tony moved towards Gibbs, but called back to Johannson. "We're not done talking. I'll be back to get more details about the incident."
"You got something," Gibbs asked, as the moved towards the paint shop.
"Probably not. Johannson said that Lawson helped him out of a bar fight with locals in town. I don't see locals making it onto base and finding Lawson's quarters, and murdering him for revenge."
"Probably not."
After a few steps, Tony added. "I caught him lying with my nose."
Gibbs looked at him, but didn't say anything. It wasn't exactly positive reinforcement, but it wasn't anger or exasperation, so Tony was counting it as a victory.
Gibbs pulled out his badge again as he stepped between the strips of heavy plastic that segregated the paint shop. "NCIS - who's in charge?"
Three guys in special overalls just stared at them. Tony jumped in. "Hey, the man asked you who's in charge!"
The guy in the middle jumped to attention. "Petty Officer Second Class Ramirez, sir! I'm the ranking NCO in this area. We answer to Chief Petty Officer Gonzalez."
"I'm special Agent Gibbs. Petty Officer Lawson, one of the aircraft mechanics, was murdered this morning. We need to question everyone in his work area, including you three. Ramirez, get your Chief on the phone and Special Agent DiNozzo will explain the situation to him."
Tony wasn't expecting the last part. He was expecting Gibbs to let him dive right in and find his man. Although, smell alone wasn't going to lead him to the suspect, because the whole place reeked of the chemical in Lawson's carpet.
Why was the Boss making him call? He wanted to run in, pin these guys one by one against the wall ... Okay, maybe that's why Gibbs was slowing him down. Ramirez handed Tony the phone and he ran down the situation for the Chief Petty Officer on the other end of the line, who was on his way.
Ramirez was looking a little terrified. A probie would say he was looking guilty, but a seasoned law enforcement officer would see that it was an innocent guy panicking.
"Petty Officer, did you know Lawson?"
"No, I mean I knew who he was and that he worked out in the hanger with the plane mechanics, but we didn't hang out."
"What about the other guys that work in here? Did they hang out with the mechanics."
"Nah." Ramirez waved off Tony's question. "We come in through the back door, do our thing and then head back to the maintenance building. Sometimes Fredricks walks around out there with his coffee, because he says he wants to be a mechanic, but I don't think they talk to him."
Tony nodded, noticing that Ramirez's painting bunny suit didn't have a place for rank. It made sense; you wouldn't want guys running around in a paint stained uniform. "So you guys always go commando under the oh so fashionable paint suit?"
"Sir, I got my skivvies on. Technically we're supposed to be wearing our uniform under this, but it gets hot as hell in the summer and you just up your chances of spilling stuff on you. The paint is permanent and the clean-up solvents eat holes in the cloth."
"So what? You guys have a locker room?"
Ramirez shrugged. "There's some hooks on the other side of the bulk supplies. We change there."
"Show me," Tony said.
Ramirez froze. "Sir you're not going to write us up for being out of uniform are you?"
Sure, I'll just do that and then get back to the murder, Tony thought. This guy wasn't Technicolor at all. He was a guy trying to protect his job. "Not part of my job description Petty Officer."
"Right," Ramierez said and led Tony to the storage area. The chemical smell was much fainter in the back room. Tony went up to the three uniforms on the wall, and pretended he was inspecting them with his eyes. Instead he was getting a good sniff with his nose. Nothing.
"Do you guys where the paint suits outside of the shop?" Tony said with a frown.
"Never! We'd get written up. Like I said, we're even supposed to have our uniforms under the suit. You sure you're not going to write us-"
"Look! I've got better things to do," Tony snapped and turned back towards the shop to see how Gibbs was doing.
The place was turning out to be a big haystack and maybe not even the one with their needle. Certainly it was completely devoid of food. Maybe it wasn't these three or if it was, maybe they changed uniforms before coming to work.
When Tony came back into the shop, Gibbs was interviewing one of the guys and the third one was cleaning some equipment. Everyone was black and white. He was feeling cheated because he just couldn't see the bad guy with his new found superwolf powers. "Which one's which?" Tony asked.
"You're agent is talking to Johnson and the other guy is Fredricks," Ramirez said.
Ramirez, Fredricks and Johnson - they were all keeping Tony from lunch. He eyed up Fredericks and than paused. "Fredricks seems to be wearing a uniform under his paint suit. Didn't we just look at his uniform hanging in the back?"
"Johnson and I never wears our uniforms in here. Fredericks thinks he'll get written up for being out of uniform, so he's got on an old, stained one that he puts on."
Tony wasn't even looking at Ramierez while the man spoke, because his attention was focused on Fredricks - the only one wearing a uniform that could smell like this place. Slowly the man was coming into full color.
Tony moved towards him. "Fredricks, you're up. Did you know Lawson?"
"I know he was a mechanic out there; we didn't socialize."
"But you talked with him right? Your buddy, Ramirez, says that you want to be a mechanic, only natural that you'd talk to them, right? Maybe even just to congratulate Lawson on his recent promotion?"
Fredrick's went completely still for a moment, but then smiled. "I did congratulate him on his promotion to first class, but mostly so I could grab a donut from their celebration."
"Did the mechanics mind that, you crashing their donut party?" Tony could use a donut, a box of them, but none that smelled like Abby, because that would be - He stopped himself, reminding himself to focus.
"Maybe they did, but it's hard to say no to a man that's standing right in front of you."
A cell phone rang and Tony watched Gibbs step away from everyone to take the call. Tony didn't like this guy one bit. "Where were you between six and eight this morning?"
"I reported for duty at oh-seven-hundred."
"And before that?" Tony asked.
"At my berth, Agent DiNozzo. You trying to accuse me of anything?"
Tony smiled. "I'm not ready to accuse anyone of anything." This guy did it; Tony felt it in his gut, but he wasn't going to get anywhere without more proof.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs said, from the other side of the workspace. Tony joined him as he closed his phone. When Tony got close, Gibbs said, "That was Cassie. They were able to find some cameras with footage of Lawson's building. It shows the North side of the building and the road that runs along it. They fast forwarded through the footage and only saw about twenty people between 6 and 7."
"They can get faces?" Tony asked.
"Maybe on the ones that walked towards the cameras - Abby will have to work on that. More than half of them in coveralls or winter working uniform, for all the good that's going to do us."
Tony nodded. "I know. The fiber's a long shot."
"Why, because it's a uniform that most people on base have in their lockers?"
"There's something with the coveralls that's bugging me. They're made out of a tough material, like jeans. No one's going to pull a fiber from a coverall even in a struggle. Well, at least not if there's not a weapon involved."
"So you think we're looking for damaged coveralls."
"Yeah, and since the fiber was under Lawson's nails it would have to be on the arms or chest, where it would be visible."
"Where your average petty officer would write you up for a sloppy uniform, depending on how bad it was," Gibbs said. "Okay, you're in charge of getting every daily inspection report from every squad leader on the base."
Tony's eyes flew open. Did Gibbs mean for him to get that before lunch. Thinking on his feet, he quickly said, "Unless..."
"I'm still listening," Gibbs said.
"Unless we had information that one of the guys in the paint shop typically wore a damaged uniform to paint things. A uniform that's probably had nasty chemicals spilled on it."
Gibbs and Tony both turned at once to look at the three seamen. Ramierez was looking nervous, Fredricks defiant and Johnson looked blank.
"Fredricks, we need to see your coveralls." Gibbs said.
"Why the hell do you need to see that?" barked Fredricks.
"You heard the man!" Shouted a petty officer walking in from the mechanic's area. "These men are under my command..."
"Special Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo," Gibbs said.
"I'm Petty Officer Gonzalez. Now do you want to tell me why we're looking at this man's coveralls?
"We're looking for evidence of a murder," Gibbs said.
Before Gonzalez could say anything else, Gibbs and Tony both went over to Fredricks.
"Come on, paint suit off," Gibbs said.
With a defiant look in his eye, Fredrick's opened the snaps on his paint suit and pushed it to the ground, kicking it away from his feet.
"Arms out," Gibbs barked.
There were paint stains on the uniform as well as bleached out spots, but no obvious tears.
"Palms up, Gibbs said.
There was a jagged tear on the left sleeve where the coverall fabric was fraying.
"Roll up your left sleeve, seaman," Tony said.
Fredricks blinked and then rolled up the sleeve. Instead of angry, now he was looking confused. Something changed about his smell - he was afraid. He showed Gibbs and Tony his arm, both sides. There wasn't a mark on him.
"Freeze," Tony said. It was just a small glimmer on the edge of the torn cloth. He reached over and carefully latched on with his fingers and slowly pulled. Tony was holding a short, blond hair from the gashed cloth. "Doesn't seem to be your color, Fredricks." All three of the paint shop boys had dark brown to black hair.
"But it is Petty Officer Lawson's," Gibbs said.
"What the hell are you saying?" Fredricks demanded.
"I'm saying that when we run DNA analysis on that hair, we're expecting it to match Lawson. We're going to need that uniform." Gibbs said. While Gibbs spoke, Tony placed the hair in an evidence bag.
"I didn't kill anyone!"
Tony reached for his cuffs, but Gibbs put a hand on him to stop him.
"Tell me something," Gibbs said. "Do you wear that uniform around base?"
"Hell no," Fredricks said. "My uniform is hanging in the back right next to theirs," So and so used his thumb to indicate his co-workers.
No scratches on his arm to go with the fiber - they had found the uniform, but not the man. "Where do you keep this uniform when you're not in the paint shop," Tony demanded.
"In the back room, where we change."
Gibbs nodded and then looked at Johnson and Ramirez. "You, two, roll up your sleeves!"
Ramirez fumbled to push up the sleeves on his painting suit. Johnson remained completely still.
"Show me your arms, Ramirez, front and back," Tony said. He was clean
"Is there a problem Seaman Johnson?" Gibbs said.
"Don't you need some kind of warrant to be asking for this stuff?"
"If you refuse, I do -- that is unless I arrest you," Gibbs said.
"Of course, it makes you look guilty," Tony said. Somewhere in the conversation, Johnson had slid into full color and Fredrick's had faded into the background. Tony had been moving with the Boss, inching closer to Johnson as they spoke.
Johnson looked Gibbs right in the eye and slowly rolled up his sleeves. Just as deliberately, he showed the backs of his forearms and then flipped them over.
"Look at that," Tony said. "You've got a cut that matches up to the rip in Seaman Fredrick's coveralls."
"So what?" Johnson demanded. "People have accidents all the time."
"Yeah, what was your accident? How did you get that scratch?" Gibbs asked.
With a shrug, Johnson rolled down his sleeves. "Sharp edge on the tool box. I can show you the tool box."
"I bet you can," Gibbs said.
"We'd be much more interested in a DNA sample to see if you left that missing skin under Petty Officer Lawson's fingernails," Tony said. He could feel the others in the room shuffle uncomfortably at the reveal, but not Johnson, who was back to looking cool and collected.
"What about it, Seaman, are you going to let us take a cheek swab?" Gibbs asked.
"Sure, I ain't got nothin' to hide."
Tony bent down and opened his backpack to get the test kit. At the same time he heard Gibbs say, "Chief Gonzalez." That was when Johnson ran. He took off towards the back of the paint shop, knocking things over as he went. Before he could say anything - before Gibbs could say anything, Tony was on his tail, jumping over the obstacles that Johnson was knocking over in his path.
Behind him, he could hear Gibbs tell someone to call the gates and get a lockdown. Tony probably could have listened to more of the conversation, despite the growing distance, but instead he focused on his quarry.
At the top of his lungs Tony shouted, "NCIS!" as he ran after Johnson. People made way for him, but no one thought to grab the guy he was chasing. This wasn't unusual behavior, but somehow he hoped for better on a military base. He overshot the alley that Johnson turned down and had to back up to continue the chase.
Focus.
And Tony did, allowing his vision to narrow so that the only thing he was paying attention to was Johnson. His target moved from Technicolor to some word that Tony didn't know. Maybe psychedelic because chasing Johnson now felt like he was running down a rabbit hole. The background and every one in it was more black and white then before, but somehow distinct enough that Tony didn't trip or run into walls. It was about focus.
Just like Cassie in the park, he began to spot the tells for dodges and turns. He'd become a cornerback chasing the wide receiver down the field, and really, Johnson had to be hoping for a Hail Mary to escape on a military base. It didn't matter though because Tony was going to stop him long before the end zone.
From somewhere ahead, Tony heard shouts of NCIS. He widened his focus enough to see Cassie's bright lights running downfield straight at Johnson, playing chicken. She was ready to butt helmets like a linebacker. Full-color Tim with his weapon drawn, was playing strong safety, pushing the play to the inside.
Johnson had been losing ground with every step. Tony had the white hood of the paint suit in his hand and was about to plow him into the ground. When he heard, "DiNozzo, halt!" the last thing he wanted to do was stop, but it was Gibbs shouting, and Tony's instinct was to obey, just like it had been on the first day he met the man. It took everything Tony had to stop his momentum, but he didn't do it alone, because he got his arm over Johnson's shoulder and yanked him back.
He had back up, so sinking his teeth into Johnson's neck was completely unnecessary. It was probably bad too. Yeah, there was probably a rule about not biting suspects, so Tony didn't. Instead he smiled because his teeth needed something to do. Right, maybe he could keep that set of feeling to himself and not share with the co-workers.
The was the Boss in front of them; he was the one who told Tony to stop. Who else would have Tony instantly obeyed like that? "You're like a free safety, Boss, holding back, reading the play and being the last line of defense."
Oh shit, Tony thought. Gibbs knew. Gibbs knew everything. Was the violence so evident in his body language - was it in his eyes? Or was Gibbs even looking at him? The Boss was looking at Johnson.
Despite Tony's initial urge to bite, Johnson didn't smell like food. The biting must have been about defense and not eating, which Tony really thought he had earned. Focus. The Boss was going to want a report, and Tony didn't want to come off as a freak in front of the small crowd that was gathering around them.
Tony had Johnson's scent; he could have chased the man to the other end of Maryland, but he didn't know what he smelled like. Tony tried and it was confusing, because what he was getting was only on the surface. After he though about it a second, Tony thought that was good because it wasn't like he wanted to get to know Johnson any better. Johnson wasn't part of Tony's team.
Even though he didn't want to, Tony took another sniff. Johnson smelled like Tony imagined a bull in the arena would be like - angry, fearful, but somehow naively triumphant and superior. It was just the surface, a refection of the moment. Beyond that, it wasn't right; it was remorseless.
McGee came up next to Tony and put the cuffs on the perp. Instantly, Tony felt more grounded to have sweat socks in his nose. He really had to find a way to explain to McGee, that it wasn't an insult. Tony had another thought - this mean that Jimmy Palmer was a part of their team.
An SUV with MPs arrived. Four sailors jumped out, geared for trouble. The woman in charge sent her team out to control the crowd while she went up Gibbs.
"They're a little late to the party," Tim said.
Panting, Johnson twisted enough to look at Tony, "You're not even breathing hard, what the hell?"
He wasn't? Nope he wasn't. Should he be? Possibly. Tony grinned an evil grin. "Because I'm a Buckeye. Next time you're running out on murder charges, you shouldn't mess with athletes form Ohio State. Besides, chasing you is getting in the way of my lunch!"
"DiNozzo, McGee," the Boss gestured for them to hand the suspect over to the MPs. Almost reluctantly Tony let Johnson go - after all, he had caught him.
"Come on, DiNozzo," Gibbs said. "They're not stealing our collar; they're just going to lock him up for us."
While we have lunch, Tony thought.
Cassie joined them. "So that's our murderer?"
"It's looking that way," Gibbs said, "But we've got a lot more work to do before we can claim this one is tied up."
"Boss…" Tony said plaintively.
Gibbs brushed his hand lightly over Tony's hat. "Let's get our things and get lunch."
Continued Here
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