Countdown to Looking Glass (NCIS/DC Universe crossover)

Chapter 19

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

--ZNN's This Date in History: May 22, 2003. President Colin Powell and his party were attacked by the Fighters of God near Army Base Delta outside Kabul, Afghanistan. Five people, including ZNN correspondent Jasmine Carmine, were killed in the ambush. The President's vehicle was able to escape to safety at the base, and the insurgents were killed during the Army's counterattack.--



--The Communist bloc supported Islamist insurgents and terrorists for the same reasons the West supported anti-Communist insurgents: to disrupt enemy operations and ultimately to destabilize governments sympathetic to the other side. Since former President Reagan's death, this covert front of the Cold War is where the two power blocs have been playing their game of geopolitical chess. The alternative is nuclear. God help us if one side chooses the alternative thinking it can win.--



--"The Cold War's staying just cool enough to keep from going hot." -- President Broome, January 26, 2007, the day before his assassination--

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Navy Yard, NCIS headquarters

Forensics Lab

Ziva picked up an evidence bag and pulled out a shell casing, then looked at it from all angles. Her gut told her she had missed something the first time she went through evidence from the scene, and whatever it was had to be in plain sight.

"Kate," she whispered so the suits wouldn't easily overhear her. "Do you remember the Afghanistan case from your Secret Service days?"

Yeah, she thought. That's when I broke Tim's heart.

Marine Corps Major Timothy Kerry pursued Kate and told her how he felt about her after a razor-thin close call: both narrowly escaped being killed by Stasi-backed Islamists when President Powell's caravan was attacked near Kabul. She then told him her truth, and he was hurt but took it about as well as she hoped. Kate last saw Kerry at a Georgetown restaurant, where he told her about his fiancee.

Then Gibbs shook her up after informing her of Kerry's death and accusing her of the murder. The agent took her shock (and pallor) as evidence of her innocence; after he apprehended the killer, Gibbs offered her a job working for him at NCIS. Kate had no idea at the time exactly how he knew she wanted out of the Secret Service, but she trusted him enough to take him up on the offer.

NCIS had given her some of the best years of her life -- in spite of certain aggravations -- and the team was her second family. That included Ziva, who had become a close friend. A tiny part of Kate wondered what life would be if they were more than close friends.

Perhaps that's why Kate wasn't triggered by the reference to that incident, like she would've if someone else had brought it up.

"Of course. Not easy to forget finding yourself in the middle of an action movie," Kate joked.

"Look at this," Ziva replied, holding a magnifying glass up to the casing. "The inscription near the base." Kate took a closer look and saw just what had caught Ziva's eye: three Cyrillic letters and a line crossing through closely to the bottom of the lettering.

"His signature?" asked Kate; Ziva nodded. "If I remember my Russian alphabet that reads--"

"SDM. I've seen this, before."

"Is his where Afghanistan comes into the picture?"

"Yes," Ziva said. "Your President was there to visit one of your military facilities."

"Army Base Delta," Kate replied. "I was with the President in his vehicle when they ambushed us. We were lucky to be so close to the base; I don't think we would've made it otherwise...so what is it about Afghanistan?"

Ziva pointed to the letters on the casing. "This inscription was seen on casings at a sniper's nest near the caravan's route. The same--"

Kate put her hand on Ziva's arm, which surprised -- and silenced -- the Mossad officer. "How do you know about that?"

"Mossad knows many things," Ziva replied as she looked around at the suits, none of whom were looking back. Ziva double-checked on Abby's whereabouts -- the goth scientist was at her desk -- and turned back to Kate. "I need to speak with Gibbs. And the director."

Multiple Threat Assessment Center

Ziva held the bag with the casing as she stood in front of MTAC's main viewscreen, flanked by Gibbs and McCallister. On the screen was her father Eli, the director of Mossad.

"When my country's Prime Minister, Gadot, was assassinated, Mossad found these casings with this inscription at the sniper's nest," she said. "You have been read in on two assassinations in which I helped investigate. This inscription was found on the sniper's brass in both instances."

"Shooter didn't bother to police his brass," Gibbs said. "Wanted you to know he did it."

"That's not unusual," McCallister added, "If you're an elite Spetsnaz or Stasi sniper."

"We know in the past six years Soviet and Soviet-aligned special forces and intelligence have committed killings in a variety of ways, including the use of snipers," Director David said. "Many of them police their brass, including 'elite' operatives. Some do not."

"They're sending a message," Gibbs said. "Letting you know who they are."

"I've heard of these shooters," McCallister said. "They're not telling us that Spetsnaz, or Stasi or DGI or any other group, is killing our people. Individuals, working alone or with someone else, building themselves a reputation."

McCallister nodded to a technician, who put photos of murdered Western government, military and civilian personnel on the viewscreen. "What they're doing is telling us it's not just KGB or whatever killing you, it's me killing you."

The photos were replaced by mugshots of Communist-aligned operatives. "There's a bastard named Hang, works for the North Koreans. Killed a Japanese software executive and his family. That woman in the corner is known as Svetlana; she had several kills in the Baltic War. Denisov we know to be on loan from the KGB to the Luanda Pact; that bastard nearly got Mandela twice."

That left the head shot of the shooter from the teenager's camera.

Gibbs took the bag with the casing from Ziva and held it up to the viewscreen. "This and that" -- he gestured towards the screen -- "are related, aren't they, Director?"

Director David looked down and to his left; those in MTAC heard ruffling of papers. "I have some new information to share with you, Director McCallister. Agent Gibbs and Officer David should hear this as well."

McCallister stepped forward and, in Ziva's estimation, clearly reining in his temper. Ziva wasn't certain if the man was doing it for show, or if his rumored volcanic temper was about to manifest itself. "Director David. I suppose you're about to tell us you know who this man is."

"That is correct, Director McCallister."

"Alright." McCallister took a deep breath. "How long has Mossad had this information?"

"Since early March."

McCallister took two slow, deep breaths. "Tabling for the moment the question why Mossad waited so long to inform us about someone who tried to kill our President, just who is this man?"

Director David gave the camera a hard look. "He is like a son to me."

Chapter 21
Tuesday, May 22, 2007

--I'm Lois Lane, from ZNN headquarters here in New York. Welcome to ZNN's continuing coverage of two separate but intertwined events. One is the confinement of Western media and embassy personnel in Moscow, Havana and now other capitol cities in the Eastern Bloc. The second of course is the Geneva summit, scheduled to begin just under three hours from now at 8 a.m. Geneva time, 2 a.m. on the East Coast and 11 p.m. on the West Coast.

The British embassy in Moscow has been surrounded by Red Army forces for several hours now according to the BBC. ZNN has not been able to independently confirm this, as our reporters in Moscow are still confined to bureau headquarters. ZNN can report that our reporters in Havana, East Berlin, Luanda and Hanoi are under similar confinements from military forces. Other Western media outlets are reporting--

Gibbs went to McCallister's office and watched how the man conducted his business. The new director appeared quite competent at hiding his rage when contacting the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy about Eli David's revelations. After hanging up the phone, McCallister said he was heading to the White House to discuss Mishnev with the President, and that Gibbs and his team had done their jobs.

Gibbs begged to differ, although he kept that opinion to himself. He realized the task of finding Mishnev was now out of his hands; however, he didn't take that to mean the case was closed. Tonight and tomorrow, he'd have his team look for signs of Mishnev being in the area. After learning the Russian was Ari's half-brother, Gibbs thought he and his team might be next on the bastard's kill list.

When McCallister returned from the White House, he told Gibbs every federal agency had put Mishnev at the top of their most wanted lists. Britain, France, West Germany, Israel and China had pledged to help track down the Spetsnaz sniper.

Then, McCallister ordered Gibbs to send his team and himself home. And yes, the suits would be near their residences again to watch over them.

Gibbs's basement
8:36 p.m.

The front door to his house remained unlocked, but Gibbs almost changed his mind when he got home as to discourage the suits from walking right in. Instead, he figured they'd find their way in regardless, and he settled for the familarity of his basement and his ritual of building his boat.

Gibbs had already showered and brought down a change of clothes, and he had the boat to keep him company while he thought things through. The rest of his team were split between Ducky's house (Ziva, Palmer) and Abby's (Kate, Toni the dog) and McGee's (Tony the agent) apartments.

His watch read 11 o'clock, prompting him to turn the TV in the basement on. The CBS affiliate's local newscast led with the Geneva summit, then addressed peaceful but tense protests outside the Soviet embassy here in Washington. Eli David's own bit of news wasn't remotely hinted at, although Gibbs suspected it'd be Topic One in Geneva.

As the sound from the newscast continued playing in the background, Gibbs walked over to his bench and emptied a nail jar. He reached for the bottle of bourbon when it hit him:

They're really gonna do it.

In his mind, Geneva failed on the first day. The military buildup escalated quickly worldwide and just as quickly led to missiles and bombs detonating all over the planet.

When that happens, there's no escape. Everyone's dead.

Gibbs grabbed the bottle and poured the bourbon to the rim of the jar. He took a drink, saw someone next to the stairwell, and turned.

"Things sure would be a hell of a lot easier right now if you hadn't gotten yourself shot," Gibbs said. Jenny stood at the foot of the stairs, dressed in the same outfit she was found dead in, and looking so real Gibbs almost could walk over and touch her.

Almost.

"I didn't exactly ask to be killed, Jethro," Head Jenny replied. "You need to thank Ziva's father for the tip."

"Don't I also need to 'thank Ziva's father' for the bastard who killed you?", Gibbs shot back.

Head Jenny walked over to the boat, causing Gibbs to sniff his jar and put it back down. "I'm really dead, Jethro."

"I know, Jen. Saw the body and worked the case."

"The case is done, Agent Gibbs. Now walk away and move on to the next one," she said, standing -- and sounding -- much like she did that one night in Paris.

His mind then flashed back to their missions in Moscow and Paris, and flew through her time as NCIS director before ending with her on a slab in Ducky's morgue. And then he looked back at the boat and still saw her standing there.

"I'm in your head, Jethro," Head Jenny said. "I don't think you're going to need to call Ducky...and I'm pretty sure no one's spiked your bourbon."

Gibbs chuckled. "Why are you here, Jen?"

Head Jenny folded her arms, now looking like she did when they learned Ari had come back to Washington. "Rule 11. It's too late for me, not too late for yourself and your team. And, if they'll listen, your team's families."

The TV set behind the frame of the boat got Gibbs's attention. He walked past Head Jenny, eyes fixed on the Special Report graphic on the screen.

--British and Omani fighter jets have engaged one another over the Arabian Sea. That's all we know right now and that information comes from the BBC via the British Ministry of Defence--

Gibbs turned around and found himself alone. Then he heard noises upstairs. He quickly went to his workbench, grabbed his handgun, and slowly moved towards the stairwell. The door shut and items dropped on the floor, and someone walked towards the basement.

"Where the hell are ya, Gibbs?"

Mike Franks walked through the doorway and made his way down the steps. "I need somewhere to stay till this mess with the Russians blows over."

"Should've called ahead, Mike," Gibbs replied, realizing he was grinning for the first time in days.

Chapter 23

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

1:12 a.m.

Gibbs sped out of his neighborhood faster than a bat out of hell. He had Tony on his cellphone's speakerphone, and picked the phone up while swerving around an oncoming truck.

"Call Mike's phone!" he yelled at Tony; eyes on the road, he dialed Ducky while Franks's phone rang. As the retired agent struggled to put the call on speaker, Gibbs weighed whether to send everyone to Ducky's house or not.

The drive up Georgia Avenue into Silver Spring, Maryland, was too damn slow for Gibbs's comfort. He hoped he'd arrive at McGee's building before things got out of hand.

God help Clair and her colleagues if he didn't.

At McGee's apartment, he kept an eye out the peephole while Tony and Kate looked out the windows. Abby stood guard in the kitchen with a rolling pin and Toni the dog at her feet.

"Take my backup, Abs," Tony said, his primary pistol in hand. "Crazy Clair's not gonna stand there waiting for you to flatten her to death."

Abby ran over and took the backup gun, then went back to the kitchen.

"Do you really think we'll need to..." Abby's voice trailed off.

"Need to do what, Abby?" McGee asked, as he looked through the peephole.

"Yeah Abs," Tony said. "Eat some of that frou-frou food in McJuliaChild's fridge?"

Kate poked her head out McGee's bedroom door. "We've got movement," she said. "That woman's talking to her buddies."

Tony peeked through the closed blinds behind McGee's writing desk. "I see her too Kate. I knew I should've stopped off for pizza."

"That woman might run in here and do God knows what and you're thinking about pizza, DiNozzo?" Kate said.

"I'm hungry, alright?" Tony protested. "I haven't been to the grocery since last Sunday."

He and Kate watched Clair argue with the suits in their parked Camry as Abby peeked in the fridge and the kitchen cupboards.

"Veggies. Fresh fruit. Lean meats. Yogurt. Wouldn't call that 'frou-frou food', Tony," McGee said. "Somebody let me know if that lady makes a run--"

Kate's eyes grew wide as Clair took off in a dead heat for the apartment building. "Okay. She's making a run. Right now!"

Nearby, Gibbs closed in on the complex. Less than a minute later his car skidded to a stop near the Camry.

"And that would be the boss," Tony said, standing between Kate and Tony in front of the door. All three, and Abby, had their weapons drawn.

"I don't think he's going to get to us in time," said McGee, standing in front of Abby. "We're not going to shoot her, right?...she is an NCIS agent."

"You weren't at Kate's apartment, McGee," Abby replied. "You didn't see that look in her eyes."

"I survived Ari; I can take this bitch down if I have to," Kate said.

"She will knock, right?" McGee said, as he and the others heard footsteps outside. "Right?"

McGee was wrong. Clair kicked his door down on her second try; she hurried in, saw Kate, and took a few steps in her direction before stopping. Clair noticed four guns aimed at her, then heard footsteps in the hallway. She turned around and saw the barrel of Gibbs's gun aimed at her forehead.

"Hands up!" Gibbs shouted as two wide-eyed suits ran in, trailed by Franks. Clair didn't resist as Gibbs removed her pistol from its holster and ordered McGee to take it. She did lock eyes with the senior agent, though, and met his angry glare with a half-smile.

When he gestured for her to turn around, she saw Kate, winked at her, and smiled.

"You worry about me!" Gibbs yelled after seeing the mixture of shock and disgust in Kate's face and roughly turning the suit around to face him. "DiNozzo. You and Mike keep an eye on those bastards behind me. Outside in the hallway."

"Sir. We're not going to do anything," said one of the suits, a very young blonde woman.

"What she said," said the other suit, a very young bald-headed man.

Tony guessed neither of them could've been more than weeks out of FLET-C. He kept his weapon drawn while pointing towards the hallway, where Franks was waiting. "Go on, probies," Tony said. "I have questions."

"Questions?" the bald suit asked. "Questions about wha--"

"Don't talk unless you're spoken to, Kojak," Tony said. "I ask the questions. You give the answers!"

As Tony shepherded the suits outside, McGee looked at Gibbs. "Boss, what do you want us to do?"

Gibbs nodded towards McGee's bedroom. "You keep working. Get Abby to help you. Kate's with me." He pointed to the room's doorway and leaned into Clair's ear. "We're going in there now to talk," he growled.

McGee and Abby watched as Clair stopped to lick her lips at Kate, then got shoved into the room by Gibbs, then saw Kate walk in before Gibbs slammed the door.

"Are you going to call the super? I'm sure the agency will reimburse them for the door," Abby said as McGee quickly made his way back to his laptop.

He wasn't paying attention to Abby, however. The program on the laptop screen had his complete attention.

Outside, Tony and Franks 'questioned' -- no, grilled -- the suits.

"You kids have names, right?" Franks asked; both nodded and said no more, irritating the older man. "Well? What are they?"

"Ashley Winter, sir." "Malik Hensley, sir."

Both of them spoke over the other, causing Tony to order them to repeat themselves one at a time. Once they had done so, Tony ordered them to state how long they had been NCIS agents and why they joined the agency.

"Two months," they both said. Their stories were similar enough -- they wanted to work in law enforcement, and they had been recruited within the last year as college seniors earning their bachelor's degrees in criminal justice.

Franks walked up to Hensley, not believing what he had heard. "You mean to tell me you got your degree in December, went to FLET-C, got out in March and joined NCIS with zero experience, not even as a security guard?"

Hensley nodded, and Franks turned to Winter. "That's my story too, but I worked a semester for campus police."

"Who recruited you?" Tony asked. "C'mon, probies! Speak up!"

"The director," Hensley replied, and Tony and Franks gave each other a look. "You mean Director Shepard," Franks said.

Winter shook her head. "No, sir. Director McCallister."

Inside the apartment, McGee typed furiously while Abby looked over his shoulder. "Now that could get you sent to Guatanamo," she whispered. "That's what Gibbs is having you do? Break into FBI files?"

"A lot more than that."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning sit down and help me crack this," McGee said as Abby went over to one of McGee's PCs. "I'm this close to breaking the encryption...and don't worry. I've covered our tracks."

"I know you're good at this, McGee," Abby replied as her computer was patched into his laptop. "You do not want to...whoa. What is Gibbs having you work on?"

McGee turned around and gave her a hard look. "Make sure if anyone else comes in, give me a heads-up and for God's sake hit control-alt-delete quick."

Abby was about to ask McGee why when they heard a very loud noise coming from inside the bedroom. They looked at each other and turned as Tony ran in.

"What was that?" Abby asked.

McGee's mouth flew open. "Gibbs shot her?"

"Not a gunshot," Tony said. "Your TV set must've fell...holy crap! My DVD player!"

Inside the bedroom, the flat-screen set laid on top of the DVD player, having fallen off its mount. Gibbs could care less about that, although he grew even more angry when he saw Clair watch Kate's backside as she went to balance the set.

"Eyes on me," Gibbs said deliberately. When she refused to get her eyes off Kate, he got in Clair's face.

"EYES. ON. ME!"

Everyone in the apartment, the hallway and the adjacent apartment heard Gibbs. Clair smiled then after winking at Kate -- again -- and seeing the smirk on her face looked at Gibbs.

"We're very much alike, you and I," she said to Kate, her eyes focused on Gibbs.

"How is that?" Gibbs interjected.

"I'm not talking to you," she told him

"You should be," he said.

"Then you don't get a damn thing out of me, which is why she's here."

Kate fell back on everything Gibbs had taught her about controlling her emotions in interrogation when a suspect was openly trying to rile her. That was enough for Kate to keep her composure.

She also didn't want to disappoint Gibbs. She wouldn't.

"I don't think we're anything alike, lady," Kate coolly said. "I don't leer at other people at work. I don't hide in my coworkers' bathrooms. I do tend to go to HR when those things are done to me and if you're lucky, that's where it ends."

Kate leaned in and was literally eye-to-eye with Clair. "But you screwed yourself, because not only did you get his attention, you pissed me off."

"You got my attention and you pissed my entire team off," Gibbs added. "Here's where you get to explain your side of the story."

Clair glanced at Gibbs and then gave Kate a piercing stare.

"We're a lot alike," Clair said. "We're both women who fought for everything we've attained in this line of work. We're women who've fought to be ourselves in a culture that is just now starting to accept our kind. We're--"

"I'm nothing like you," Kate shot back.

"Oh yeah. You lived in the closet. I never denied who I am...so we're not totally alike."

While Kate gave Clair her best 'Gibbs glare', Gibbs himself moved to block Kate from Clair's view to where Clair could only see him.

Clair wasn't intimidated by Gibbs's stare and allowed him a smile that didn't match her stolid gaze. Then she told him about her supposed fixation on Kate and why she had been, in Kate's words, 'so creepy':

McCallister.

"You know why I'm not in the field," Clair said. "I'm functional enough to at least keep watch. Some days are better, some worse. Right now, I'm having a good night."

"That include kicking in my agent's door?"

"Yeah...sorry about that."

"Are you?"

"I've...put on a little bit of a performance to get here," Clair said. "To get to you."

"To me?"

"We're not supposed to approach you unless you're in danger. Going to your house to talk to you was out of the question; the director assigned me to watch over Agents Todd and DiNozzo. The director knows I'm lesbian, so he would've made me if I 'hit' on you or Agent DiNozzo. Hitting on your...more attractive agent over there wouldn't put me in as compromising of a spot."

Clair leaned her body right and left to address Kate, but Gibbs blocked her view. "Sorry, Kate, for the creepiness."

Kate didn't say a word.

"If you want me to hear you out instead of making a call that will make everyone -- including the director -- very unhappy, then you better be on the level," Gibbs said.

"I am," Clair replied. "Really!" she added, responding to Gibbs's raised eyebrow.

"Talk."

"When he was in charge of Special Operations, Director McCallister stayed on top of things pertaining to enemy activity including potential individual threats to American security."

"What were those threats?"

"Terrorists, Spetsnaz, Stasi, Communist-sponsored lone wolves out of anywhere from North Korea to Romania to Cuba. Killers, Agent Gibbs. Men and women who've murdered high-level Western government and military officials, even civilians."

"All that tells me is that the director was doing his job."

"Yes, and he did it well, and quietly. The very nature of his position demanded he -- and the department -- operate in the shadows. It also allowed him to learn things which he could keep to himself if he deemed it necessary without sharing that knowledge with others."

Gibbs's blank expression masked the sinking feeling in his gut on what McCallister had hid.

"He would've had to share information vital to national security with his superiors, right?"

"In theory," Clair replied.

She relaxed a bit when Gibbs sat down on the bed and gave her some breathing room, and glanced at Kate before turning her attention back to the senior agent. This time, Kate didn't get the creepy impression she previously had of Clair.

"So he could have hidden something he should've taken up the chain of command the moment he learned it," Gibbs said.

"Could...and did," Clair said.

"What did he hide?" Kate asked as she stepped forward to stand next to Gibbs. "Did it have anything to do with Director Sheppard or the President."

Clair didn't speak, but her pained look said it all.

"McCallister knew about Mishnev, including his assassination attempt on the President," Gibbs said; Clair nodded. "How do you know this?"

"I was there when he uncovered it," she replied. "He swore me to silence and promised me he would do his job and inform the President and everyone else. After my accident he put me through...some tests...to test my recollection of the incident."

Kate was the one this time to get in Clair's face and the younger agent was glowering at her.

"I was in the Secret Service then; in fact, I was with the President's party when Mishnev tried to kill him. Lady, I could've died that day," Kate said, her voice gradually raising from a whisper to a near-shout. "Three Marines, a civilian reporter and a good friend who worked on Powell's detail for three years died. He left behind a wife and two children. Now you're telling us McCallister hid the killer's identity from his, our, own government? Did--"

Gibbs gently but firmly grabbed Kate's arm; his look signalled to her she needed to stop and calm down. Reluctantly she complied, fixing her glare on the window.

"I led him to think what he wanted to think, that the accident that removed me from field work made me forget," Clair said. "I haven't told anyone else until now. Yes, I had second-hand knowledge of who tried to kill Powell. If I had gone forward, I suspect the director would've retired me permanently."

Gibbs shot Clair a hard look. "Define 'permanently'."

"He wouldn't have killed me. But I wouldn't be here, either."

Outside in the hallway, the building super arrived and found Tony, Franks and the two rookie suits standing near McGee's door. Then, he saw the kicked-in door, and screamed in frustration.

"Rough neighborhood," Tony joked.

"My ass," the super replied as he headed inside the apartment, stopping when Franks grabbed his arm. "Hey! What the hell you doing?"

Franks showed his badge with his other hand. "Let's wait out here sonny. Get some fresh air."

Tony produced his badge to the fuming super. "We're having a debate," he said, grinning. "Would Tom Cruise have become one of the greatest actors of our time? I say yes. Mike doesn't say anything because he doesn't watch movies and the probies, uh, are too probie to have a differing opinion from my own. So, I'm hoping you disagree, because I've been out here quite a while and I'm itching for a good debate. Comprehende?"

The super looked at Tony incredulously.

A half-hour later, Gibbs led Clair and Kate out the bedroom, and the super's eyes bugged out of his head. "What the hell?"

"Not what you think," Tony said. "He's too pissed off, the brunette in the rear is too prudish, and Brigitte Nielsen in the middle is crazy."

"I'll say," Mike added. "She's the one who kicked down the door."

"But the one you need to worry about is Gibbs," Tony said with a grin. "I wouldn't piss him off."

Gibbs spotted the stranger in the hallway, and ordered him to fix the door after learning who he was. After the super returned to repair the damage, Gibbs sent Clair outside and had Kate watch the super; Gibbs watched McGee and Abby crack the flash drives.

After the door was fixed, Gibbs told everyone to head for his house.

Chapter 25

--the Pentagon has said nothing further about the incident in the Arabian Sea--

--security remains airtight around the Palais des Nations where the summit continues--

--scattered reports throughout the U.K. of runs on petrol stations and supermarkets after the inadvertent brief snippet of the Protect and Survive programme aired--

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Washington

Navy Yard, NCIS headquarters

1:54 p.m. EDT

Gibbs stifled a yawn.

All the caffeine in the world couldn't make up for lack of sleep forever, and Gibbs saw it more in his team than in himself.

They all could use some extra rest and a day off, but the job wouldn't allow for it. Even with the Cold War having turned extremely warm, there were still crimes to investigate and murders to solve.

Mysteries, too.

Not just the one involving McCallister, but the big one Hollis sprang on him that he ended up breaking Rule Four over:

If you have a secret, the best thing is to keep it to yourself. The second-best is to tell one other person if you must. There is no third best.

Abby and McGee weren't about to tell anyone what they had learned from the thumb drives. Gibbs didn't want to burden them with that knowledge, as he had in the back of his mind the worst-case scenario:

The people involved with this ring discovering and silencing Hollis and her allies, then coming to silence Gibbs through his team and associates.

Gibbs wondered if that was his paranoia or the lack of sleep talking. He ordered his team to put in a full day before retiring to Gibbs's house through at least the weekend. He still didn't trust McCallister nor the suits.

The special agent-in-charge stifled another yawn, leaning back in his chair as he turned to watch ZNN on the big monitor nearest his desk.


--The first day of the Geneva Summit has ended. President Boehner and General Secretary Khalinin reportedly will meet privately tomorrow around noon Geneva time--


Gibbs hit mute on the remote, then tossed it onto the floor. He stifled yet another yawn as his eyes grew heavy. His head slowly dropped and he was about to fall asleep.

That's when he felt the scalding-hot cup along his cheek, which snapped him from his near-slumber. Gibbs's eyes popped wide, as he saw Kate pull a steaming cup of coffee from his cheek.

"I thought you liked hot coffee?" she joked.

Gibbs pointed at his desk where Kate put the cup while trying to hold back a chuckle. "You working on your Spetsnaz defense training, Agent Todd?"

Kate gave up trying to keep a straight face, and Gibbs smiled as he took a sip of the very hot java.

Gibbs decided then it had been too long since a little levity lightened up the bullpen.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Washington

Navy Yard, NCIS hedquarters

2:40 p.m. EDT

"Stay safe, Stan...Stan, I knew your name all along," Gibbs said with a chuckle. "When you get back, stop by the office...McGee needs some advice. Seriously, friend, stay safe."

Gibbs hung up the phone to see Tony looking at him and chuckling. "Talkin' with Stan Burley, Boss? How's he doing?"

"Got switched over to the USS Sequoyah," Gibbs said of his former probationary agent, now Agent Afloat on board one of the Navy ships in the Persian Gulf/Arabian Sea region. "The former agent went home."

"I thought leave was cancelled indefinitely," Tony replied.

"The agent's brother was an Air Force pilot."

"Was?"

"The brother died a week ago when his plane was shot down near the Canal Zone by insurgents. The agent is the last surviving son."

"Last?"

"Middle brother died in a wreck four years ago."

"Geez," Tony said as he stood up from his chair. "I talked with Paula Cassidy. She's at the Canal Zone office. Says it's kind of a weird place. Sort of like home, and a world all its own. Paula made it sound like she was gonna be there quite a while."

"Helluva lot going on down there," Gibbs said as Tony stood in front of his desk. "You need somethin', DiNozzo?"

"Yeah. I need to talk about a case." Gibbs picked up on Tony's tell and got up to walk to the elevator, Tony following him.

In the elevator, Gibbs flipped the switch stopping it, and the lights darkened. "DiNozzo."

"Jenny had me working undercover as part of this case--"

"La Grenouille," Gibbs interjected. "McCallister read me in yesterday. He said he talked to you."

"He called me in yesterday morning, told me I'm done," Tony replied. After several moments of silence -- and an impatient look by Gibbs -- Tony resumed speaking. "I got too close."

"The daughter."

"I fell in love with her, Boss. Jeanne. Ziva saw something was going on and so did Kate, and I couldn't say a thing. Not to you or anyone else."

"You were under orders from Director Shepard, Tony. You had to follow them."

"McCallister ordered me to break it off with Jeanne."

"You didn't."

"I didn't have to," Tony replied. "I went to her house last night to talk -- that's why I didn't get back to Ducky's house until after midnight."

"She wasn't there," Gibbs guessed.

"I went to the hospital she worked at. The head nurse told me Jeanne's father -- La Grenouille -- bought her a ticket for France. When I asked when she was going to come back from vacation, the nurse said Jeanne had resigned."

"You think she made you?"

"Doesn't matter now, does it?" Tony reached over and flipped the switch causing the elevator to move.

Gibbs flipped the switch again, and the lights darkened as the elevator stopped. "You got too close, Tony."

"Yeah, Boss. I screwed up, got too damn close, pissed off the director--"

--SLAP!--

Gibbs looked hard at Tony after slapping him on the back of his head. "Tony. You got too close. You're not the first agent to do that and you won't be the last."

"Okay," Tony replied as Gibbs flipped the switch, the lights turned back on and the elevator resumed. "Boss, I would have told you--"

"If you could've. Don't apologize for following orders, DiNozzo. That op's over for you. Now move on."

The elevator opened onto the ground floor. Gibbs stepped out, leaving Tony inside. "What's that crap you get from the cafe?"

"...Oh! It's a latte, Boss, black coffee with cream and sugar."

The door shut, and Tony realized the La Grenouille op really was over, and there was plenty to do as part of Gibbs's team.

6:30 p.m. EDT

Mrs. Victoria Mallard's residence, also known as 'Ducky's house'

Everyone but Gibbs were staying with Dr. Mallard, his mother and her dozen corgi dogs at their mansion. Ducky was happy for the company, as was his mother, Victoria.

"Mother! These people aren't our servants. They're our guests," Ducky said after she grabbed Ziva's wrist.

"I know that, Donald," Victoria replied. "You know, you're not getting any younger--"

"Mother."

"--and this delightful young lady would make a good wife for you."

Ducky gave Ziva an apologetic look; Ziva chuckled. "Mother, let go of Miss David's wrist, and come with me to the kitchen. Mr. Palmer is helping me make dinner."

"Listen to your mother, Donald," Victoria whispered, loud enough for Ziva to hear. "Check her knickers."

A mortified Ducky gently pulled his mother towards the kitchen. Moments later, Ziva heard Victoria's voice from the hallway. "Oh, Matthew, you're here! I thought you were dead."

Ziva smiled hearing Victoria, Ducky and Palmer in the kitchen. She continued walking and made her way to the living room, where Tony, Kate, Abby and McGee were trying to round up the corgis.

"Get in here, Ziva!" Kate said, handing over one of the dogs to the Mossad officer.

"What are we doing?" Ziva asked as Kate chased after another corgi.

"Herding cats!" Tony shouted, holding dogs in both arms.

"I am confused," Ziva replied as Kate ran back into the living room and nearly tripped over a dog McGee had let go of. "I see no cats around, only dogs. Dogs whose hair you three are combing. Israel has many sheep herders--"

"It's a figure of speech, Ziva!" Kate said after picking up the dog. "Why don't you help us?"

Ziva's corgi squirmed in her arms. She enjoyed caring for the animals the brief time she had stayed at Ducky's and it looked like everyone could use her help.

Less than ten minutes later, Ziva's phone rang. She excused herself and took it on the porch.

"This is Officer David."

"Ziva. This is Officer Michael Rivkin."

"Michael?...how are you--"

"We need to meet. Immediately."

She looked out at the three SUVs on the street, each containing two or three suits assigned to watch Ducky's house.

"Michael, can this wait until the morning?"

"No. It cannot. This is about preparation for war."

Ziva nearly dropped her phone in shock.

Chapter 27

Background

The United States and the United Kingdom joined forces with the Soviet Union to end World War II with the knowledge that they potentially may have to prepare for a post-war confrontation with the USSR.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's post-war ambitions were no secret: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan, along with the countries they had conquered, would be liberated by Communism, and Stalin himself would lead the way. The West wasn't about to tolerate Stalin's vision, especially since bringing revolution to their borders was part of his long-term plan.

The Soviet Union could have eastern Europe and its portion of Nazi Germany and no more, in the view of the West. Stalin disagreed and nearly went to war with the West in 1948 over Berlin. In 1951 he threatened a full invasion of western Europe and use of his nation's nuclear weapons. Tensions were eased after a coup led by two of Stalin's closest associates, Laverntiy Beria and Georgy Malenkov, deposed Stalin.

Beria's moves to liberalize the Soviet economy and open relations with the West backfired. In 1953 he was deposed himself, charged with treason; terrorism (during World War II); counter-revolutionary activities; and dozens of sexual assaults on women. Beria's replacement, former KGB head Ivan Serov, reversed Beria's policies and turned the USSR into a police state while increasing both its military and its nuclear arsenal. Under Serov, the USSR supported Communist insurgencies in Cuba, Angola and Vietnam and ensured cooperative governments among the nations in its sphere of influence (including Yugoslavia, which joined the Pact in 1958 after Marshal Tito died in a mysterious train accident).

The West would not allow Serov's aggressiveness to go unchallenged, especially after the death of American pilot Gary Powers, shot down during a U.S. Air Force spy mission in 1960. A year later, the Cuban Missile Crisis put East and West on the brink of war. When Serov became convinced the Soviets would handily lose in a nuclear exchange with the West -- the Allies still had a 4-1 advantage in nukes -- the crisis de-escalated.

America and her British and French allies had quietly built up their own nuclear arsenal since the Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Kyoto bombs drove Japan to surrender in 1945. American, British and French foreign policy mandated they oppose Soviet aggression anywhere in the world and beyond; that led not just to the race to establish a presence in orbit and the moon, but also to covert and overt funding of anti-Soviet forces in countries the USSR had targeted for "liberation". U.S. domestic policy led to the banning of the American Communist Party and of extreme crackdowns on anti-government and anti-military movements on university campuses in the '60s and '70s (President Terry Sanford and a Democrat-controlled Congress undid many of the laws allowing for such drastic measures in 1978; the Patriot Act of 2002 restored them in the event of war).

The 1970s, however, saw a series of diplomatic and military defeats by the West that set the stage for future regional and global conflicts.

1970 saw the establishment of the African Confederation of Nations, obstensibly neutral, with some members eagerly participating and others "recently liberated from aggressive Western powers"; by the mid-1980s, the Confederation considered itself a "dear friend of the workers and peasants of the world". Centered in Angola, the 19-nation confederation was complicit in the series of assassinations that led to Israel's diplomatic split from the U.S. in 1979. With American withdrawal from Vietnam in 1976 and British/South African withdrawal from Rhodesia in 1978, the Soviets stepped in and entrenched themselves, doing the same in Cambodia (1977) and Nicaragua (1979). In 1982, Israel and Soviet ally Egypt signed a 50-year peace treaty in Moscow, and a year later coups in Yemen and Oman led to the establishment of the Arabian People's Republic. The establishment of the World Pact in 1984 between the USSR and its various allies put the West on edge; the Soviets' actions in 1986 put the world teetering on the edge of Armageddon.

In late September, pro-Moscow governments were installed in 15 nations including Venezuela; Iran; Thailand; Guatemala; and Nepal. On October 4, India declared itself neutral, while sending aid to pro-Moscow governments across the world. Soviet military buildups began that day worldwide from the Persian Gulf to the Caribbean to the border between East and West Germany. Soviet leader Grigory Romanov decried "American aggression" in an October 22 radio address, which was followed by the detonation of a 100-megaton nuclear bomb in Siberia. The USSR's first naval supercarrier, the Leningrad, made port at the P.A.R. naval base outside Aden hours later.

After tensions along the Korean demilitarized zone and the Austrian-Chechoslovakian border nearly led to armed conflict, United Nations Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar called for an emergency meeting October 22. China seconded Cuellar's call for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and offered its capital Beijing as a site for a summit between Romanov and U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Instead -- at Moscow's insistence -- every Soviet-allied nation withdrew from the U.N. that afternoon.

However, five Yugoslavian delegates remained, and declared themselves as representative of the "free peoples of Bosnia, Croatia, Herzegovina, Macedonia and Slovenia". Within the hour armed uprisings had began in those Yugoslavian socialist republics, and also in Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo. Moscow's response was intensive conventional bombing of the entire country plus an ultimatum to Reagan and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that was immediately rejected.

The list of demands signed by Romanov included Allied withdrawal from Germany, South Korea and complete U.S. withdrawal from Guatanamo Bay in Cuba, Subic Bay in the Philippines, Okinawa in Japan and the Panama Canal Zone. The Allies were also to allow for "complete African and Middle Eastern neutrality...shared usage of Saudi Arabian oil fields...and a 25 percent reduction in strategic nuclear weapons within 12 months". The Soviets, in turn, offered to not build bombs of 25 megatons and more and joint jurisdiction of a future moon base with the U.S.

The offer was said to have been turned down by Reagan on Air Force One as it landed at Joint Base Knox in Kentucky. He then took a phone call from Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, offering his nation's assistance to the West "against Soviet aggression".

Washington, London and the rest of the world prepared for war.

On October 26, the U.S. detonated a 100-megaton bomb ("Fat Albert") two-and-a-half miles above the Arctic Ocean. Simultaneously the British detonated a 100-megaton device over the Pitcairn Islands, its last Pacific Ocean-based territory. And China detonated its own 100 MT weapon over sparsely-populated Xinjiang Province. The triple explosions were followed by the unveiling of America's sub-orbital missile defense system, the product of 35 years of research.

That got Moscow's attention, but Romanov and much of the core group around him were not deterred; to them, conflict with the West was not only inevitable but winnable.

Mikhail Gorbachev, one of Romanov's core advisors, had a very different point of view.

With the help of sympathizers in the Kremlin, the military and the KGB, Gorbachev saw for himself Romanov dragged out of his office. Gorbachev walked inside and, upon getting confirmation from co-conspirators that all important military, government and intelligence centers were secured, ordered an emergency meeting of the Politburo. With himself and two other members in the room and the others under arrest, Gorbachev was selected General Secretary. He then contacted Reagan, informed him of the coup, and offered to pull his forces "back into sanity". Reagan and Gorbachev agreed on terms; Gorbachev explained November 1 in a TV and radio address that "because the Soviet Union brought us all to the edge of annihilation, it is incumbent upon the Soviet Union to show the rest of the world it is serious about seeking peace". All World Pact members followed Gorbachev's lead, despite their own misgivings.

Yugoslavia's nine nations were allowed to begin a five-year transition to independence upon confirmation by popular vote: the Markovia, Kosovo, Serbia and Macedonia governments, riding on the coattails of Gorbachev's immense popularity, chose to remain in the Soviet bloc. The other five republics chose complete independence. Gorbachev also denounced "the forces of evil" that, along with bringing the world to the brink of extinction, "had overthrown the peaceful, lawfully-established governments of Venezuela, Israel, Egypt and Yemen". The leaders of the governments-in-exile -- all hosted within the U.S. -- returned to their homelands to rebuild their Western-friendly countries.

Gorbachev also encouraged the "evolution" of the African Confederation into the African Community of Nations, and assented to the dismantling of the hegemony's limited nuclear arsenal. Oman, the remaining nation of the Arabian People's Republic, also had its nuclear weapons removed. In return, Israel and South Africa were to officially be free of nuclear weapons

By 1988 Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost had been implemented within the USSR and many of its allied nations. He talked openly of joint, peaceful interactions between Communist and capitalist nations and became the first Soviet leader to visit New York, Washington, London, Paris, Bonn, Beijing and Tokyo. His visit to West Berlin gave hope to those who wanted the Berlin Wall torn down and free movement allowed once more between both halves of the city. He spoke of joint exploration of the solar system with the Americans and Chinese.

Behind the scenes, however, political opposition slowly built and, in 1991, Radio Moscow announced the death of Gorbachev and the ascension of his replacement, hard-liner Gennady Yanayev. Almost overnight, the Berlin Wall -- which had come down four months earlier -- arose again, initially as a line of barbed-wire and trigger-happy East German guards, by year's end as a literal wall with East German guards patrolling on top, separated every four meters.

Yanayev's first actions were to send Soviet military into the former Yugoslavia, which had been split into eight separate republics with Gorbachev's approval. While the Soviets were able to hold Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia, the presence of NATO troops in the other five Baltic republics prevented Moscow from reunifying the Baltic nations. While the other five republics strengthened ties with the West, the three Communist republics joined the Warsaw Pact. In 1997, the USSR announced it had willingly accepted invitations from the member countries of the recently-established Hanoi, Havana and Luanda Pacts. The West responded with the expansion of the NATO and ANZUS treaties plus the establishment of Western-friendly alliances in the Americas, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia.

By 2002, Syria and Iran were in the Warsaw Pact. The Havana Pact established a foothold in central America, threatening Belize, Costa Rica and Panama. The Hanoi Pact ruled over much of southeast Asia. The Luanda Pact -- which professed itself to be the ideological successor to the African Confederation -- threatened not just the Western-friendly governments of South Africa and the Boer Republic but the neutrally-aligned regional powers, including Kenya and Nigeria.

Largely to dispel international tensions and stave off potential Soviet incursions, a sizeable group of countries make up the Non-Aligned Movement. Each associated nation is neutral in the dispute between East and West, and their neutrality is backed by the military and economic power of China. Since the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s and China's last-minute support of the U.S. in 1986, the Chinese had thrown its support behind the neutral countries, strengthening India's position in Asia (and replacing the USSR as its primary trading partner), "Free Africa"'s economic standing and Saudi Arabia's ability to freely sell oil to all comers.

As a result, China is seen almost as another Western power by those in charge in Moscow. Vladimir Putin was the last Soviet leader to advocate closer ties with China, and was likely deposed for it. The current General Secretary, Red Army Marshal Mikhail Khalinin, sees the Chinese to be as much of a threat as the Americans. Under Putin and his predecessors, Khalinin oversaw the rebuilding of the Soviet military into a force that could fight, and win, a global, multi-front conventional war.

In 2007, the Soviet Union has built up its forces in several key areas -- Cuba, Nicaragua and Honduras and off the coasts of Columbia and Venezuela; within and offshore of Omani territory, as well as within Syria and Iran; within easy striking distance of northern, western and southern Africa; along the Hanoi Pact nations' borders with China; in the north Pacific near Japan and Alaska; and near the West German, Austrian, Croatian and Turkish borders in Europe. Khalinin would not have signed off on this unless he and his compatriots were confident that the Soviet military and those of her allies together were now the better of the Western nations and of the Chinese. The Red Rain orbital missile system, hiding in plain sight as oversized telecommunications satellites, went online in 2006 and, say its designers, negates the West's Star Wars system.

The West, in turn, has continued to build up its military since Gorbachev's death. There's at least one Western ship, troop, tank and plane for every Communist ship, troop, tank and plane near Western territory. If the Communists can fight and win a global war, so can the Allies (even without China's help). And both sides have an equal number of nuclear weapons, including the 100-megaton "province killers". Then there's China's smaller, but significant arsenal, as well as the nukes unofficially kept by the Israelis, Boers, South Africans, North and South Koreans, Saudis, Cubans, Croats, and 23 other countries.

The USSR is confident it can win the war should it go nuclear, but many within the Kremlin and military privately acknowledge an all-out exchange would spell the end of civilization. While there is said to be a city-sized complex somewhere in Siberia as a safe zone for Soviet officials, Britain and France are resigned to complete destruction. China is said to have a retreat complex somewhere in its mountains. The U.S. is rumored to have "doomsday vaults" in the Rocky Mountains, upstate New York, the caves of Kentucky and even under the New America theme park/entertainment complex in southern Illinois.

While conventional forces prepare for conflict, the Soviets and the Allies are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, in one last attempt to resolve their differences. The Allies, particularly the British, are all but convinced Khalinin wants war, not to be destroyed but to, at the least, force a ceasefire with terms very agreeable to his side.

Many people around the world, expect that conventional fighting will not spill over into all-out atomic war because the effects of such a war itself serves as a deterrent to the rational person. What they don't know is the confidence among leaders on both sides of surviving such a war -- and why.

In 1999, farmers in Soviet Georgia, and a hunter in U.S. Wyoming, came across what can best be described as a local wormhole. Government and military investigators soon discovered one could step through the circular phenomenon into a parallel universe. Similar wormholes appeared in China, and scientists in all three countries discovered how to safely replicate the phenomena and control it. In a top-secret, high-level summit in Beijing, Chinese Premier Li convinced President Powell and General Secretary Putin to use the technology for peaceful purposes -- or, at least, to allow for the survival of some people in the event of a total atomic exchange. The existence of the wormholes, the technology that opens them, and the parallel realities on the other side of them are known only to top government and military officials and certain economic and business leaders in all major countries. Disclosure to the general public is punishable by anywhere from life imprisonment to the death penalty, although word is beginning to leak out.

No one hopes things will get to the point where an all-out nuclear exchange is necessary (as are the use of the wormholes). Everyone is preparing as if it will.

Chapter 28

Saturday, May 26, 2007

This is the BBC World Service. Time for the news.

British Prime Minister Powers is in Geneva at this hour speaking with U.S. President Boehner, Soviet General Secretary Khalinin, French President Malveaux and Chinese General Secretary Lee, as the world leaders attempt to resolve the--

(four seconds of silence)

--The booklet contains the same information provided on the television and radio broadcasts. If you find yourself without access to a working television or radio, you can consult the booklet and all of the necessary information will be there for you to read at any time. This booklet should arrive at your home no later than today. If you still do not have a book--

(six seconds of silence)

The BBC World Service has been suspended. All news and information programmes for the time being have been suspended. The BBC's domestic service will continue. Listeners outside the U.K. should monitor stations in their region for the latest news and information. The BBC World Service has been suspended. All news--

(two seconds of someone adjusting a microphone)

This is Virginia Public Radio broadcasting from Richmond. We'll replay the 11 a.m. news from National Public Radio, then join NPR for its ongoing news coverage of the international summit in Geneva...ah, contrary to what you may have just heard, relations between the Allies and Pact powers remain, ah, no worse than before--

as heard over Virginia Public Radio, 11:01 a.m. EDT/4:01 p.m. GMT

Navy Yard, NCIS headquarters

Bullpen

Tony laid back in his desk chair, losing the battle to stay awake that he wasn't really bothering to fight. Just a cat nap, he told himself.

In seconds his snoring caught the tired ears of his teammates, who looked over at him almost simultaneously.

"Not fair Tony gets to sleep while we don't," a drowsy McGee said.

"I agree," Kate added, stifling a yawn. "He knows he's not allowed to do that at work. We should wake him up."

"Or let Gibbs do it for us," McGee said.

"I have an idea," Ziva chimed in, putting a finger to her lips. She strode over to his desk and quietly opened a drawer from his desk. As Kate and McGee looked on from their desks, Ziva gingerly went through the drawer until she found what she was looking for: a hand-held air horn.

Ziva pulled the air horn out of the desk and held it until it was barely touching Tony's ear. From the corner of her eye she saw Kate frantically waving her arms and shaking her head, mouthing "NO NO NO NO NO!" Ziva then glanced back at McGee, also shaking his head, and appearing as if his eyes were about to fall out of their sockets.

Hmph. Why not throw a candle to the wind? THIS will be worth censure from Gibbs, she thought.

When she pushed the button, a frighteningly loud shriek came from the row behind Kate and Gibbs' desk. Kate covered her ears, as Ziva barely heard the horn above the woman screaming from about 40 feet away.

Neither Ziva nor Kate nor McGee failed to notice Tony's shooting up from his chair, and the half-full bottled water that tipped over and spilled some of its contents onto his crotch. No one, including himself, noticed his mishap; everyone's eyes, and ears, were on the woman screaming her head off.

Kate rushed over and, with the help of two other coworkers, calmed her down as a bewildered Tony stared at the scene. Ziva held the air horn behind her back as she crept backwards towards McGee's desk.

"Oh God, they've done it! THEY'VE DONE IT!" cried the hysterical woman. The website on her computer screen caught Kate's eye, and after scanning the headline atop the browser she turned back towards Tony, Ziva and McGee with a look of fear.

McGee stood up to see if he could help. One moment he saw Ziva reaching behind herself to put the air horn on the corner of his desk; the next moment he saw Abby blocking his view of Kate and the woman.

"Is this about the announcement?" Abby said with a slight tremble. "One of the nuns I bowl with just called me. She listens to NPR. She said the BBC suspended broadcasting. She asked me if that's what happens when they declare war."

McGee didn't have an answer for the Goth-garbed forensic scientist.

Morgue

"Mother! Mother! Please, listen to me!" Ducky said emphatically to his frantic mother on the other end of the phone line.

The British-born medical examiner had the BBC's website up on his computer monitor at his desk, attempting to calm her down enough to read the website's brief note to her. "Mother! Please! Pay no mind--"

Palmer, standing several feet away near one of the autopsy tables, heard the barely audible prattle from the earpiece on Ducky's desk phone. He left the tools he had been told to clean on the table and walked over towards the desk to see what was on the monitor.

"Mother, I am confident there has been a mistake," Ducky said. "I have the BBC's website on -- I have information from the BBC that indicates they erred -- Mother, I can read it to you if you will only let me."

With the help of Mrs. Mallard's caretaker (who had taken the phone from the older woman), Ducky calmed his mother enough for him to read aloud the note on his monitor. Palmer looked over Ducky's shoulder as he spoke.

At 4:01 p.m. Greenwich time across the BBC's domestic and world services, a brief portion of a British government programme, Protect and Survive, aired, followed by an announcement that the BBC was suspending all normal programming. This was the result of a technical error. The U.K. government has not declared war on any other nation. The BBC apologises to its listeners for the error. We take our responsibility to accurately inform our audience of current events seriously, and regret the confusion this mishap has brought to our listeners.

"Mother, the BBC has admitted they made an error," Ducky said calmly. "Don't worry. If the global situation worsens, the first you hear of it will be from me. When I get home this evening, I will tell you everything I know."

After he calmed down Mrs. Mallard, Ducky ended the call. He opened the briefcase on his desk, pulled out a cellphone, and got up to leave. "Mr. Palmer, if anyone asks, I am going for a...stroll."

"How long will you be gone, Dr. Mallard?"

"As long as necessary."

Director McCallister's Office

"This is a snafu that's gone fubar," McCallister said to Gibbs while picking up a styrofoam cup next to his coffee maker at the bar in the office. "Our people are talking with the British now."

"Saying what?"

"'Get your act together', would be my guess. Someone in London's trigger-happy. Last damn thing we need now is someone going off-script."

"There's at least five places on Earth you could start a world war with a single shot."

"And you don't fire a shot on your own damn initiative, especially not now," McCallister said as he poured Gibbs a cup of coffee. "I don't suppose you're here to talk about the British screwing things up."

"No, Director," Gibbs said, taking the cup, and a drink from it. "I want to know about Amsterdam, 1991. And Leon Vance."

McCallister forgot about the cup in his hand, and he didn't notice that he had dropped it nor that his right shoe was drenched in coffee.

The Yards Park

East of the Navy Yard

In another time, this modest park may have been surrounded by office buildings and retail establishments. Perhaps the Redskins or Nationals would play in a stadium nearby instead of decrepit Robert F. Kennedy Stadium on the east side of the District of Columbia.

Perhaps, thought Ducky as he sat on a bench overlooking the Anacostia River, this block and the next 20 blocks west wouldn't be all government and military buildings that you need high-level clearance to get into. At least you have a nice view of the river...and of the Marine installation taking up most of Anacostia Park.

After taking another moment to look at the blue sky reflecting off the river, Ducky reached into his jacket and flipped open the cell phone he took with him from the Navy Yard. He put a hand over the keypad, dialed a number, and cupped his hand over his mouth as he leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees.

"It's me, 'Quacky'," Ducky said after the man in Edinburgh that he called picked up. "I need to know what the issue is with those biscuits. The queen is quite upset about them."

"Ah, I'm quite sorry about all that, chap," said the man. "As they say in the States, 'too many cooks in the kitchen', all vying to be the head chef."

"One would think what the chef desires would suffice."

"One would think that, wouldn't they? But no, someone had to throw a spanner in the works...quite a few someones, as a matter of fact."

"The important thing is if the chef has control of the kitchen. As you well know, whether you're preparing biscuits, rice pudding or fish and chips, even the novice knows that if there are too many cooks arguing pretending they're the chef, there's going to be a cock-up."

"Bob's your uncle, old chap. Tell the queen there's nothing to worry about. The head chef has things under control. A couple of the lesser cooks had to be made redundant, unfortunately. When you run a kitchen, you can't have your cooks disobeying your orders."

"Of course not. Is the old chap at the bar still putting the telly on what he wants?"

"Chef made him redundant, too. Telly's playing what it's supposed to and when, and the radio's playing that wonderful music it always is supposed to play. Anyhow, neither you nor the queen have anything more to be concerned about regarding the biscuits."

"I hope that's true."

"It's as true as can be right now. If you'll excuse me, I have the rubbish to take out...if we don't speak again, my friend, good luck."

Ducky heard the line go dead. So, thought Ducky, someone in the cabinet or military went over the Prime Minister's head, forcing him to relieve them of their duties. Powers has fought his way up the political ladder into 10 Downing Street and is known not to tolerate dissent from his underlings. Hopefully that will be enough to keep everyone else in London in line.

God only knows what Washington will do if it isn't.

Chapter 30

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Washington, D.C.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs's basement

As Mike Franks studied his protege's reaction, the retired NIS agent realized that Gibbs wasn't joking. He asked anyway: "You're not screwing with me, are you?"

"No, Mike. This is on the level. Saw it myself."

Mike silently read through the folder mainly out of respect for Gibbs the man, agent and friend. "Let's put this aside for the time being," he said to Gibbs after finishing. "You changed your mind about Riley?"

Gibbs took a drink of beer. "Nope."

"From what I remember of him, I'm surprised he didn't get there sooner. Director seemed like the level he was aiming for. If they had something on him regarding Shepard, he'd be in a cell now. The question that you need to ask isn't do you trust him like you trusted Morrow and like you trusted her? It's knowing what you know about the man, can you work for him?"

Silence filled the basement as both men left the other to his thoughts. Mike soon got up from his chair, quietly, to head upstairs and outside for a late smoke break.

"Got no choice," Gibbs said as Mike ascended the stairs.

"You always have a choice," Mike replied, stopping and turning towards the NCIS agent.

"Got people depending on me. I won't leave them behind."

"Then you've made your choice."

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Noon EDT

--You're watching ZNN's live coverage of the Geneva Summit. I'm John Kirby. It's 6 p.m. here in Geneva, Noon in Washington and 8 p.m. in Moscow. World leaders from the A-7 nations, the Soviet Union and the non-aligned movement still are in session here in Geneva. U.N. Secretary-General Rajapaksa seeks to broker a peace agreement that would deescalate tensions between the Allies and the World Pact--

>click<

--Baltimore police broke up a skirmish between Army veterans and a group of pro-peace college students this morning, even as much of Baltimore's police force and the Maryland National Guard are shadowing protestors downtown and in several city neighborhoods. The Orioles game will start at 11 a.m. at Camden Yards, and the NCAA lacrosse final is still scheduled for Monday, otherwise, downtown is restricted only to 'essential' traffic--

>click<

--can't tell you exactly where we are for security reasons. What we can tell you is that the men and women aboard the Philadelphia are performing their duties in a manner its skipper says should make their country proud--

>click<

--Texas A&M students and other civilians are locking arms this hour with military veterans in an impromptu march from the university's football stadium to the--

>click<

--overflowing crowds at many churches here in Los Angeles County and, we understand, across the nation--

>click<

--demonstrators marching in support of French and NATO military coexist peacefully with peace demonstrators in Paris just four blocks away from the famed Roland Garros complex, where spectators are watching the first round matches of the French Open--

>click<

--increased security at all sporting venues, including today's 15 scheduled Major League Baseball games, plus the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 races, the NBA playoff game in Cleveland--

>click<

--an overwhelmingly patriotic crowd here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to watch the Indianapolis 500--

Ducky's house

While appreciative of her host's hospitality and happy to be there with her NCIS family, Kate wanted to be somewhere besides Dr. Mallard's spacious home.

As the clock in the great room neared noon, Kate's thoughts turned towards her own family in Indiana. The Todds had planned a family reunion this Memorial Day weekend for months; everyone who was able to attend had arrived in the Indianapolis area by the morning.

Kate herself hadn't even been able to attend Mass, thanks to the de facto house arrest she, like the rest of her teammates, had been under for the past several days.

As Kate passed the kitchen, she saw Ziva and Ducky putting the finishing touches on Ziva's sumac-spiced eggplant schnitzel dish. Ziva shared Kate's love of healthy food and, as Kate and everyone else on the team would attest, was an excellent cook. Through the bullet-resistant window over the dishwasher, Kate saw Abby walking Mrs. Mallard and her corgis under the watch of two of the six suits in and around the backyard.

Kate heard the gong of the grandfather clock in the great room, which reminded her of a certain automobile race. The Todds would by now be inside the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- Kate's father's job as attorney had its perks -- to watch the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500.

She made her way to the recreation room, where Tony -- flanked by McGee and a suit named Curtis -- was flipping through the channels on the 40-inch high-definition flatscreen television set. Kate sat down on the opposite edge of the couch next to McGee; Tony laid back from his edge of the couch, with Curtis standing to his side.

"Hey Kate," Tony said while he lazily pressed the remote's channel button every few seconds. "Tryin' to find a movie this time of day I haven't seen a dozen times."

"No matter whether or not Curtis and I have seen it once," McGee quipped.

"What have I told you, Prob-prentice, many times before including the day we got here?" Tony replied. "Trust me to show you which movies are worth your while and a waste of your time."

"We passed 2010. A movie I've never seen in its entirety in one sitting--"

"But you've seen parts of it four times, enough that you've seen the whole movie which doesn't hold a candle to the Kubrick classic 2001. Besides, you have too much McGeekery in your life. You need more culture."

"If that's what you really want to show him, DiNozzo, you could start with the art here in this house...or join us whenever McGee, Abby, Ziva and I visit a museum," Kate said kiddingly; her jabs to Tony were more friendly now, and no longer had the biting edge as in her first two years with the team.

"When all this blows over, I'll take you and McGee and Curtis here to a real bastion of culture," Tony said. "Next time WWE's in town, we're there."

Kate rolled her eyes in mock exasperation while the others chuckled with her. "Is that what you're looking for on TV, DiNozzo?", she answered with a chuckle of her own.

"All I've found other than news are infomercials, TV preachers and reruns," Tony said. "Ducky really needs to get HBO."

"Hey," McGee said, "isn't the Indy 500 today?"

"Yes," Kate interjected before Tony could answer. "For the thousandth time, I haven't been to it since my senior year in high school. Probably would've been there this year, except for our present circumstances...no offense."

"None taken, Miss Todd," replied Curtis with a smile. His good-natured and sympathetic disposition quickly endeared the tall, beefy suit to the NCIS team, and his broad grin raised the Hoosier native's spirits.

McGee tapped Kate's arm as Tony turned the channel to the one carrying the race, which hadn't started yet. "Why don't you call home and talk to them?" McGee said. "Show them you're there in spirit."

"They already know that," she said.

"Then tell them," Tony said, pointing towards the doorway. "When you get back, you can watch the race with us...go. Go." Kate didn't argue the point; she was going to call home later that afternoon but knew her family wouldn't turn down a call.

Kate went to the house study, which was in clear view of one of the suits in the backyard. Looking over Ducky's bookshelves she called her parents, only to get a busy signal. She next called her three brothers, her sister, an aunt, an uncle, and a few cousins, getting busy signals each and every time.

Her next call, to her cousin Maureen Ingalls, went through.

"Finally," Kate said after Ingalls picked up. "I can't get ahold of anyone up there."

"Me neither," said the woman Tony compared to Tina Fey when Kate's family visited Washington the year before. "Last one I talked to was Aunt Melissa just over an hour ago...she said she wished you were here with us."

"That's Mom for you. Why aren't you there with them?"

"Oh, I'm in Bloomington. Hailey's starting at IU this summer, so Alec and his brothers and I are down here helping her move in. We're going to head to your mom and dad's house afterwards for the picnic. We may have to have it inside; it's supposed to rain."

"If it's going to rain, why are they racing?"

"Too big of a party at the Speedway," Ingalls said with a laugh that Kate joined in on. "I'm sure they're all fine. I heard something on the radio about problems with some of the cell phone towers in town; maybe it's 200,000 people using the phone at once."

"Hope that's all it is," Kate replied. "If...when you reach one of them, ask them to give me a call."

"I will, cuz--OMIGOD."

Kate heard the screeching of car brakes and what she thought was a car colliding with something in the background from Ingalls' end. She screamed her cousin's name and stopped after she noticed a very concerned group of people inside the study, speaking when hearing Ingalls call her name.

"Maureen. I'm here. What happened?" Kate said in a shaky voice.

"Oh my God, oh my God...a truck ran into a minivan...oh my God."

"Are you--"

"I saw it."

"Sounds like an accident," Kate told the others. "Maureen, you weren't involved?"

"I saw the flash."

"You saw the wreck."

"I saw the flash, Kate! The flash...oh God, it's in the direction of, the direction..." Ingalls' voice trailed off as Kate heard sirens in the background.

"Maureen! Maureen! Talk to me, please!" Abby grabbed the phone out of Kate's hand, and put the call on speaker. Everyone heard a loud police siren and someone ask Ingalls if she was alright.

Kate repeated Maureen's name until she answered. "Maureen, what did you see?"

"Oh God, Kate. A flash from...from the north...that truck hit...oh no, no no no NO NO--"

"What, Maureen? What is it?"

"A...a mushroom cloud..."

Tony turned and ran back into the rec room; he saw the Technical Difficulties graphic on the TV and grabbed the remote off the couch to turn to a news channel. As Ziva entered the room, and before Tony could switch channels, the on-screen graphic was replaced by another, foreboding graphic.

--This is a special report from ABC News.

I'm Charles Gibson from ABC News headquarters here in New York. We're on the air because we're learning of a massive explosion in the Indianapolis area, possibly centered at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This information is coming to us from our local affiliate WRTV via email and via a short, one-sentence release from the Associated Press's Indianapolis bureau--