| by Appreciator
There sat Tony and Ziva, both typing on their computers...naturally, Tony was actually watching Ziva more than working.... McGee was late, and McGee was never late. They had both called his home and kept trying on his cell. Tony said to Ziva, "What if Gibbs asks, what do we...." Gibbs walked in briskly as he usually does said, "What if Gibbs asks what?" Tony stuttered saying, "Boss, we have both been trying to get hold of McGee and there's no answer, he did not call in and...." Gibbs: "Check with Abby and see if she knows something and if not go over to McGee's and see what's going on." Tony, "What do you want me to do?" Gibbs replied, "We have a sailor dead in town, looks like a hit and run...let's go." Out the door Gibbs went with Tony right behind. Abby, wondering what happened to McGee, calls Ducky for someone just to talk to, because she was worried. Ducky trying to get bad thoughts out of Abby's fast working brain said, "Abby, maybe Timothy just overslept." "Ducky!!! McGee has three back-up alarms, especially if he is working on a book!" Palmer, going about his business, knew enough to just let Abby talk it out.
Gibbs and Tony arrived on the scene, the ambulance there. Ducky wasn't needed and Gibbs was confused as to why he was called....He turned and looked at the man on the gurney. Gibbs musing, "We found McGee." Gibbs said to Tony, "I'm going with McGee, you follow me in the car, we'll meet up at the hospital." Ziva reached McGee's apartment. Everything was topsy-turvey. The closet was tossed and the clothes lay across the floor. McGee's desk was empty of paper since every single sheet had ended up on the floor. McGee's bookshelf was thoroughly searched. Ziva realized that they would not know if a book was missing or not. Tony got a hold of Ziva while she was still at the apartment. She told Tony the condition of McGee's orderly writing room and slapping her hand down, said to Tony, "I can not tell if anything is missing." Tony calmed her down and Ziva was told McGee's condition. The only thing Ziva said was, "Be right there." The phone call to Abby would have to take on a different tone. Ducky and Abby started to ask a million questions all at once. Tony said, "Ducky! Abby! You have to take turns, I can't hear either one of you!" Abby said, "You go first Ducky." "Oh, I'm sorry Abby, you ask." Tony didn't want to wait for the debate to end and said, "McGee was found face down in the middle of the street dressed in a sailor's uniform." Now both Ducky and Abby were speechless. A few seconds passed then Abby said in haste, "Everything here can wait, I'm coming down!" Ducky responded with the same statement and told Palmer he was in charge.
There sat the five of them, waiting impatiently for the E.R. doctor to arrive. After two rounds of coffee, the doctor finally peeked into the E.R. waiting room. One could tell by the look on the doctor's face that he would be confronted with many questions. Surprisingly the only one that spoke was Gibbs. "McGee is an NCIS agent and I want to make it perfectly clear he gets the best there is. Now, what's his condition?" The doctor took on a very professional tone and said, "The patient has a broken leg, shoulder and he has minor internal injuries. How, I don't know, he came out with so few fractures and minor injuries...the agent had someone upstairs looking out for him."
Naturally, the patient was heavily sedated and the doctor said, "One of you can see him, please do not stay long." Gibbs started walking, taking the route the doctor was showing him. As Gibbs went in, McGee a little groggy and speaking very softly, "Boss, I'm sorry." Thinking of his rules, Gibbs thought that it was not the moment to give the number. Gibbs responded "McGee, do you have any idea who might want to do this, is there a connection to one of our cases we worked on, anything?" McGee looking like Oh God, this is going to sound stupid.... "Gibbs, I started writing this book and it consisted of a sailor getting away with a mobster's cash...a great amount of cash, maybe this struck a chord...that is the only way I can explain the Navy uniform. I do remember one thing, before I was struck on the head the man asked me, "Where is this sailor, I want his name." Gibbs looked at him in astonishment. "You mean this is over one of your books? It isn't even finished and this happens? Who has access to your books besides your publisher?" "I don't know Boss, no one." Gibbs, "OK, you get some rest, we'll handle it." Gibbs got back to the waiting room, and started out by saying, "McGee is going to be fine. Ziva and Tony I want you to go to McGee's apartment, process it. I'm going to the publisher's office." Ducky and Abby stood and awaited their orders. Gibbs glanced their way and remarked, "What Tony and Ziva hand over to you, Abby, I want the results immediately. Ducky, if Abby needs any help can I count on you? I know there is no dead body, but you know Abby when it involves one of our own." Ducky gently smiled and just said, "Understood Gibbs, when I was working on a case.... " "Ducky!!!" Gibbs knew when talking to the publisher he had to emphasize the importance of who's "eyes" are involved in reading the copies sent to him. Gibbs walked into the office, the secretary yelling.... "You can't go in...." Gibbs opend the publisher's door and showed him the badge. "Now, I do not get involved with my team's hobbies, but this time one of them is seriously injured. The copy McGee sends you, who sees it first and what happens to it after your flunky reads the pages?" The publisher looked at him, "McGee, is McGee hurt? We make sure only the best people check the on-going works of our writers." Gibbs replied, "Well someone in your company is connected to a local mobster...and they assumed McGee's work is real. McGee takes his writing seriously, but he would never write directly about a real sailor skimming money off the top." Little did McGee know that his book was a true story and the mobster thought the sailor went to McGee to write about what he did. Why...why would a sailor come out and tell a novelist his life's story?
Gibbs snapped and just said, "Get the **** book, I need to see what's in those pages. That is the only way McGee's attacker is going to be located." The publisher gave the book to Gibbs and in his fast-pace walking, like only Gibbs can, strolled out of the office. Meanwhile, back at McGee's office Tony receives a call from Gibbs... "It's about a book McGee is working on, if you find anything that reads about a sailor skimming from a mobster... get it down to Abby!!, I'm taking the copy McGee sent to the publisher to Abby.. meet me in the squad room." Gibbs finally reached Abby and handed her the book... see if you can get anything out of this.. and don't read it for pleasure or to see who matches who, just see if anything clicks."
Gibbs gets a call while in the lab. Gibbs, "Oh, you gotta be joking!!" Turns to Ducky, "Well, looks like you're going to have a sailor on the slab after all." Gibbs contacts Tony and Ziva, "Anything" Tony: "No!" "Well get down to the "Sailing Ship".. name of the local hang-out, they found a sailor, dressed like McGee, this might be connected to McGee's book, I'll meet you there and Ducky is on his way."
There they were again, looking at a sailor, face-down, this time shot in the back of the head. Gibbs: "Well, if anyone knows about a personal grudge killing, this is a perfect example." Ducky, time of death? Ducky, "Well, he bled out quickly, and what did they use on him, a cannon?", Gibbs "Ducky???" "Well, it looks like he was killed between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m." Tony, "That was after they got "McGee, did McGeek really get lucky on this story, or did he really meet this sailor?" Gibbs, "I don't know, I'm going to have a talk with McGee when he is able to say a full sentence without repeating one phrase over and over again, that phrase 'I am sorry'!!"
Gibbs calls Abby, "I'm on my way in and I have the manuscript McGee was working on, I'll be there in five minutes". Gibbs walking through the Squad Room was astonished to see McGee, but there he sat. "Boss, I had to come help, I'm fine... it looks works than I feel." Gibbs to McGee, "I'm only letting you back on this case because you wrote this book." Gibbs throws the manuscript on McGee's desk and orders him to get down and help Abby go through it.."McGee, see if you can match your story to any local mob, they must be still looking for the money. That sailor, did you have contact with him AND I WANT THE TRUTH McGee."
McGee, who is the only one who comtemplates what he is about to say, "Boss I was approached by a sailor in the book store, but it was not a male boss, it was a female sailor." Gibbs: "Just get down there and help Abby".
Tony and Ziva enter the Squad Room Tony to Gibbs: "Boss, we couldn't find any clues to give us a lead, the only thing is McGee really needs to buy some new clothes, his taste is.." "Tony, not now." Ziva laughed her tiny low voice, saying "Ha". Gibbs: "Ziva, if you don't have anything to add, this is not the time to play, gotcha ya." Gibbs goes down to the morgue.. walking swiftly through the door, "Ducky, what do you have for me?" "Jethro, I have a couple of things, first this sailor was wearing the wrong size uniform, second, all the hairs found on his clothes were of a dyed blonde, and yes he did drown in a pool of water." Gibbs thinking to himself, "He must have been covering up for a woman, has to be." On his way up Gibbs stops in the lab, "Anything Abby, there is only one thing I found, the hair that Ducky gave me is female and she uses a cheap dye, she doesn't have it done professionally. It's beige blonde #2 and her hair is very dry."
"That's not all, the uniform was bought at a local Army Navy store, she's not really a sailor boss, did she buy it for Halloween?" Gibbs to McGee: "Well, does that fit the description of your sailor in the bookstore?" Abby to McGee, "McGee, did you hook up with a fake blonde at a book store and what did she have to offer?" McGee looked like a light bulb came on over his head, "Boss that's it, she offered me money to write the story, she wanted me to write this story making the sailor a man, I remember she specifically said that." Gibbs to Abby, check all the Army Navy stores for what size she was, check the computer if you can." Abby, "Gibbs, getting into their computer is easy, I'll have that info in a second." While Gibbs waited he paced and looked at Abby and McGee, made one statement: "I want this woman for murder, she implicated that sailor while she planned on skipping away with the money." Abby jumped up and down, "Oh Gibbs, she's dumber than I thought, Army Navy Store on Walnut St. and she paid with a credit card... name: Jane Holt, 102 Mulberry St.." McGee said, "That's around the block from the book store".
Gibbs took the elevator to the Squad Room, "Tony, Ziva, it seems we don't need the name of the mobster, we have the address of the blonde, let's roll"
Approaching the building "Gibbs, how do you want to play this?" Gibbs, "Ziva, around back, Tony with me". Ziva got into position while Tony and Gibbs went straight up to the front door. Gibbs noticed a wire around the door knob, following Gibbs, Tony and Gibbs walked to the window, checked for wires, nothing there. Gibbs picked up a potted plant and threw it at the window, completing his wish to make the biggest hole as possible. Gibbs and Tony entered through the window, both taking precautions... Meanwhile, this poor Jane went the wrong way, she ran to the back; the worse thing she could do for Ziva was in waiting. While Gibbs and Tony were checking all the rooms Ziva was out back and in, the only way to describe it is Ziva's best moves, tackles Jane done, announced "NCIS, this was a mistake, you should have gone through the front door. Now, about my friend McGee!!!" Gibbs and Tony listening to Ziva just smiled and said, "Our little girl is growing up."
When they were all in the Squad Room having a tête a tête over the evils of picking up blondes with McGee, the only remark Tony had to offer was: "McGee, you should have known something was wrong when a good looking blonde approached YOU.!!! As bad as it hurt even McGee had to laugh.
Morale, when something looks too good to be true, it probably isn't.
Gibbs to McGee: "You need time off to heal that bump on your head,
Now go home and write children's books. Not one word about
sailors, the navy and don't even mention Popeye, do you
get my drift!!!"
the end.
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