Fic: Rock and a hard Place 6/10
<<--Chapter 5
.-#-.
Rule 6: Expect some road bumps
“Boss, I talked to the guards about any rumors concerning big black cats, and one
of them sent me an e-mail,” McGee told them over breakfast. “No actual sighting
of panthers but more than one person has seen a big, black-furred animal near the
Government Leased Housing Complex in Homestead around 132 Avenue. Always at
night but they just assumed it was a big dog. Animal control was called at one point to
catch the stray but they didn't find anything.”
Cait was still sleep tousled and cranky and more interested in drinking her tea than
forming complete sentences. “Big dog, small panther. Whatever.”
“Narrow down our list of teenagers to those living in that area,” Gibbs ordered.
McGee held up a printout. “Already done. Eight families with a male teenage child.”
“Good, we better find him soon,” was Tony's opinion and he mulishly stared back at Cait
when she raised an eyebrow at his declaration.
She put her teacup into the sink. “I thought we agreed that he didn't bite into that dead
body.”
“No, but that means whoever tried to set him up may try again, and this time use more
direct methods,” Gibbs spoke aloud what Tony was thinking but afraid to say.
Word must have gotten around about the grizzly find. About the outsiders investigating
what had happened, and that they were some kind of experts. People gossiped, so the
perp had to have heard about them already.
Tony didn't bother with his sunglasses today and had used some gel he had begged off
of McGee to style his hair into short spikes that accentuated the color without making
it look too wild. Gibbs watched him and nodded approvingly. Since their esteemed
leader was one of the most fashion blind individuals Tony had ever met, he could guess
that Gibbs’ thoughts had gone in the same direction as Tony's had. If they somehow
managed to find the young panther-Feline today, it couldn't hurt if Tony looked like
a self-confident Feline, and as far away from meek and downtrodden as possible, to
assure the poor kid that they would take him seriously. The style suited him, Tony
decided after a look in the mirror. Maybe he should buy some of that gel.
The NCIS team, Colonel Mann and one of her men who would drive the second car split
in two groups and hurried to visit the eight households before the kids left for school.
The first two families on Gibbs and Tony's list were a bust. None of the teenagers
showed any signs of having an activated Feline gene, but they got a confirmation of the
big black animal sighting from a very serious young Staff Sergeant.
At the third house, they were greeted by a familiar face. Captain Mayer, their driver
from the first day, opened the door. A little girl was sitting behind him on the floor,
trying, with high concentration on her face but little success, to tie her shoelaces on
her own, and a toddler was peeking at the visitors from behind a small wardrobe. Her
brown eyes got very round when she looked at Tony and she removed her thumb from
her mouth to point at him.
“Glowy kitty eyes!”
Tony grinned at her, making sure not to show too much of his slightly pointy teeth.
“You are very observant, little lady,” Gibbs praised her and then concentrated on the
Captain. “May we speak with you for a moment?”
“I was on my way to work.” The soldier hesitantly said and went over to his older
daughter, stroking over her head.
Colonel Mann shouldered past Tony. “Don't worry Jeffrey, I will talk with Major
McLaury. This is really important. Is Andrea around?”
“She's upstairs. It's my turn getting the little ones to Kindergarten.”
The small hallway got crowded with the Colonel, Gibbs and Tony standing inside the
doorframe. It was a nice house, not overly decorated, with good furniture and as clean
as a house with small children living in it could ever get - at least that's what Tony
assumed.
The older girl had managed to tangle her fingers up with the shoelaces. Gibbs
bent down and, after getting permission from the father, helped her tie them
correctly. “Quite the battle scar. You're going to be a Pirate?” he gently asked and Tony
followed his gaze. There was a red scar running down the girl's right forearm, just visible under the rolled up sleeve of her little pink pullover.
“I wanna be a princess, not a pirate!” she scowled up at him, and for one short second
an expression of pain Tony had never seen before appeared on Gibbs' face, just to
disappear again with the next blink as if it had never been there at all.
“A driver lost control of his car two months ago and collided with my wife's. He was
transporting some new windows. Nobody was seriously harmed but the glass shards
caused some damage. The scar will fade,” the father explained nervously, as if he feared
they would blame him for his daughter's injury.
“I haven't heard about that! Andrea must’ve been so frightened. The other kids are all
right too?” Mann had told them that she was friendly with the Captain's wife, as much
as that was possible with a subordinate's dependents.
“Andrea and Jessamine were on the other side of the car and Alec wasn't with them so
we got away with a blue eye. What can I help you with?” His eyes, just as brown as his
daughter's, kept coming back to stare at Tony again and again, so the Feline felt it was
all right to speak up and answer the question.
“We're searching for more information. You heard about what Mrs Greenham found?”
he asked, conscious of the curious little faces observing him.
Mayer shooed his two daughters, dirty street shoes on their feet or not, into the living
room and closed the door. “It's all over the base and the neighborhood. Wild animals
tore it apart.”
“No. Someone tried to make it look like a Feline was responsible. You know about that
human mutation?” Tony asked and kept a close eye on the man's reaction but he got
none. Not even a small trace of astonishment or curiosity.
“Not really, no. Would it make someone look like you do?” the officer boldly asked.
Tony smiled a little bit wider than he had for the toddler, aware that he wasn't the
only one being suspicious about this too tense man. “Depends, Felines are different in
appearance just like every other human, only with a little bit of extras thrown in. Tiger
for me, lion for most, can be lynx, leopard... or panther.”
The sound of footsteps on the stairs made all of them look up and they watched as Mrs.
Mayer came down.
“Andy, they are here about that dead man. Have you heard that someone tried to make
it look like a Feline did it?”
“Good morning. Lydia said something about it on the phone, but why are they here?”
Tony knew that Gibbs would most likely be angry at what he was about to say, but he
decided to take a risk, provoke more of a reaction from the pair. “We’re trying to find
the criminal before he or she has the opportunity to try again directly at killing the
young Feline.” Yep, Gibbs was glaring at him for giving away so much information.
Both parents had gone pale at that, and the Captain was resting his palm against the
closed door to the living room.
“Kill?” Andrea Mayer asked shrilly.
“Kill.” Gibbs answered firmly, playing the cards Tony had dealt him, and his eyes
promised a lecture as soon as they were out of here. “Murder attempt by proxy. Only
insane Felines would bite into a days-old corpse, and would need to be dealt with when
found. The polite expression is being put down instead of killed, but that's what would
have happened to the young Feline if we'd taken the bait.”
The woman wrung her hands and her gaze drifted to where her husband's hand was
pressing against the door.
“So, you see how important it is that we find that young Feline? Have you seen a
panther around or heard anything about one at all?”
“No, no I haven't.” she stuttered and went to stand beside the Captain. “Dear, I’ll drive
the little ones to school, so you can get to the office on time.”
“Alec isn't home today?” Mann asked after the son this family had according to her
knowledge of this family.
“He stayed with a friend overnight and won't be home until later. They are working on a
project for the science fair and have a free day. If we hear anything about a panther, we
will contact you, if you give us a number,” Jeffrey Mayer motioned them to step outside
his home but none of them budged.
If he had been in tiger form Tony would bet that he would be smelling the cold sweat
and another Feline's scent permeating the rooms right now. From the way Gibbs’ eyes
were glittering, he knew it too but what could they do? They had no hard evidence
pointing at this family. The youngest correctly labeling his eyes as 'kitty', not 'doggy'
or 'birdy, the tension in the air and his nose - none of those would get them a warrant to
search for more clues.
“Captain Mayer, we don't mean your son any harm, if he is indeed the Feline we are
searching for,” Tony tried again.
Andrea Mayer had tears in her eyes. “I researched it yesterday after Lydia called me, so
don't try to tell me lies! If he was one of these Felines, and I didn’t say my Alec is, you would take him away to become some sort of concubine and we would never see him
again!”
“Andy, shh,” her husband tried to calm her down while glaring at the now unwelcomed
visitors.
Gibbs pointed at Tony. “Does he look like a concubine to you? He's part of my team!”
“So, what? You use him to flush out other kids to take away? Congratulations. Now
leave my home, please. I don't want someone like you here,” Mayer pointed at the door
again and defiantly glared at them till they were all outside.
Tony turned around before the last step, heart pounding in his throat, his hands balled
to fists. “Sir, I know there are a lot of rumors and stupid myths going around. I won’t
say that all that goes on in the Feline Center is good and peachy, but there are dangers
out here for someone with that… ability, if he stays unsupervised. Not to mention that
someone is out there gunning for him. His nature is working against him. Morphing
illness, shifts gone wrong, slightly different physiology… and if he gets injured he can't
get the correct treatment at the hospital...”
The door closed in his face.
“Well, that didn't go well.” Mann drily commented.
Now he felt like the biggest heel on earth. Tony rubbed over his brows and let his head
hang. “At least we've got the right family. I bet he was in that car accident and morphed
for the first time then.”
Gibbs growled and the Colonel looked taken aback by his manners. “I made some phone
calls and talked with a Major Williams. He sounds like a decent man. But still, I can't
fault the couple for trying to protect their kid. Would you do any differently if you were
them, Agent Gibbs?”
The silver-haired man stonily stared at her until she couldn't stand the silence anymore
and started the car.
“Why didn't you tell the Mayers that the administration of SSFD has changed for the
better?” The Colonel asked Tony, likely in a calculated try to get them back on topic.
“Because I might do my best to find that kid but I don't want to give them false hope,
Ma'am. Heads of Center change, Presidents change. Who says the next won’t be worse
than the last?” Tony answered her but his eyes searched for the expression in Gibbs'
eyes via the rear view mirror, expecting to still read anger or disappointment there, but
all he saw was a pointed interest that made him squirm.
“I’ll call some of my people to shadow the family in case they try to run, or, if Alec
is indeed a Feline, to keep him safe from attackers,” Mann told them with a straight
face. “Do you want to visit the fourth on the list, just to be on the safe side?”
Gibbs nodded.
.-#-.
Chapter 7 -->>
.-#-.
Rule 6: Expect some road bumps
“Boss, I talked to the guards about any rumors concerning big black cats, and one
of them sent me an e-mail,” McGee told them over breakfast. “No actual sighting
of panthers but more than one person has seen a big, black-furred animal near the
Government Leased Housing Complex in Homestead around 132 Avenue. Always at
night but they just assumed it was a big dog. Animal control was called at one point to
catch the stray but they didn't find anything.”
Cait was still sleep tousled and cranky and more interested in drinking her tea than
forming complete sentences. “Big dog, small panther. Whatever.”
“Narrow down our list of teenagers to those living in that area,” Gibbs ordered.
McGee held up a printout. “Already done. Eight families with a male teenage child.”
“Good, we better find him soon,” was Tony's opinion and he mulishly stared back at Cait
when she raised an eyebrow at his declaration.
She put her teacup into the sink. “I thought we agreed that he didn't bite into that dead
body.”
“No, but that means whoever tried to set him up may try again, and this time use more
direct methods,” Gibbs spoke aloud what Tony was thinking but afraid to say.
Word must have gotten around about the grizzly find. About the outsiders investigating
what had happened, and that they were some kind of experts. People gossiped, so the
perp had to have heard about them already.
Tony didn't bother with his sunglasses today and had used some gel he had begged off
of McGee to style his hair into short spikes that accentuated the color without making
it look too wild. Gibbs watched him and nodded approvingly. Since their esteemed
leader was one of the most fashion blind individuals Tony had ever met, he could guess
that Gibbs’ thoughts had gone in the same direction as Tony's had. If they somehow
managed to find the young panther-Feline today, it couldn't hurt if Tony looked like
a self-confident Feline, and as far away from meek and downtrodden as possible, to
assure the poor kid that they would take him seriously. The style suited him, Tony
decided after a look in the mirror. Maybe he should buy some of that gel.
The NCIS team, Colonel Mann and one of her men who would drive the second car split
in two groups and hurried to visit the eight households before the kids left for school.
The first two families on Gibbs and Tony's list were a bust. None of the teenagers
showed any signs of having an activated Feline gene, but they got a confirmation of the
big black animal sighting from a very serious young Staff Sergeant.
At the third house, they were greeted by a familiar face. Captain Mayer, their driver
from the first day, opened the door. A little girl was sitting behind him on the floor,
trying, with high concentration on her face but little success, to tie her shoelaces on
her own, and a toddler was peeking at the visitors from behind a small wardrobe. Her
brown eyes got very round when she looked at Tony and she removed her thumb from
her mouth to point at him.
“Glowy kitty eyes!”
Tony grinned at her, making sure not to show too much of his slightly pointy teeth.
“You are very observant, little lady,” Gibbs praised her and then concentrated on the
Captain. “May we speak with you for a moment?”
“I was on my way to work.” The soldier hesitantly said and went over to his older
daughter, stroking over her head.
Colonel Mann shouldered past Tony. “Don't worry Jeffrey, I will talk with Major
McLaury. This is really important. Is Andrea around?”
“She's upstairs. It's my turn getting the little ones to Kindergarten.”
The small hallway got crowded with the Colonel, Gibbs and Tony standing inside the
doorframe. It was a nice house, not overly decorated, with good furniture and as clean
as a house with small children living in it could ever get - at least that's what Tony
assumed.
The older girl had managed to tangle her fingers up with the shoelaces. Gibbs
bent down and, after getting permission from the father, helped her tie them
correctly. “Quite the battle scar. You're going to be a Pirate?” he gently asked and Tony
followed his gaze. There was a red scar running down the girl's right forearm, just visible under the rolled up sleeve of her little pink pullover.
“I wanna be a princess, not a pirate!” she scowled up at him, and for one short second
an expression of pain Tony had never seen before appeared on Gibbs' face, just to
disappear again with the next blink as if it had never been there at all.
“A driver lost control of his car two months ago and collided with my wife's. He was
transporting some new windows. Nobody was seriously harmed but the glass shards
caused some damage. The scar will fade,” the father explained nervously, as if he feared
they would blame him for his daughter's injury.
“I haven't heard about that! Andrea must’ve been so frightened. The other kids are all
right too?” Mann had told them that she was friendly with the Captain's wife, as much
as that was possible with a subordinate's dependents.
“Andrea and Jessamine were on the other side of the car and Alec wasn't with them so
we got away with a blue eye. What can I help you with?” His eyes, just as brown as his
daughter's, kept coming back to stare at Tony again and again, so the Feline felt it was
all right to speak up and answer the question.
“We're searching for more information. You heard about what Mrs Greenham found?”
he asked, conscious of the curious little faces observing him.
Mayer shooed his two daughters, dirty street shoes on their feet or not, into the living
room and closed the door. “It's all over the base and the neighborhood. Wild animals
tore it apart.”
“No. Someone tried to make it look like a Feline was responsible. You know about that
human mutation?” Tony asked and kept a close eye on the man's reaction but he got
none. Not even a small trace of astonishment or curiosity.
“Not really, no. Would it make someone look like you do?” the officer boldly asked.
Tony smiled a little bit wider than he had for the toddler, aware that he wasn't the
only one being suspicious about this too tense man. “Depends, Felines are different in
appearance just like every other human, only with a little bit of extras thrown in. Tiger
for me, lion for most, can be lynx, leopard... or panther.”
The sound of footsteps on the stairs made all of them look up and they watched as Mrs.
Mayer came down.
“Andy, they are here about that dead man. Have you heard that someone tried to make
it look like a Feline did it?”
“Good morning. Lydia said something about it on the phone, but why are they here?”
Tony knew that Gibbs would most likely be angry at what he was about to say, but he
decided to take a risk, provoke more of a reaction from the pair. “We’re trying to find
the criminal before he or she has the opportunity to try again directly at killing the
young Feline.” Yep, Gibbs was glaring at him for giving away so much information.
Both parents had gone pale at that, and the Captain was resting his palm against the
closed door to the living room.
“Kill?” Andrea Mayer asked shrilly.
“Kill.” Gibbs answered firmly, playing the cards Tony had dealt him, and his eyes
promised a lecture as soon as they were out of here. “Murder attempt by proxy. Only
insane Felines would bite into a days-old corpse, and would need to be dealt with when
found. The polite expression is being put down instead of killed, but that's what would
have happened to the young Feline if we'd taken the bait.”
The woman wrung her hands and her gaze drifted to where her husband's hand was
pressing against the door.
“So, you see how important it is that we find that young Feline? Have you seen a
panther around or heard anything about one at all?”
“No, no I haven't.” she stuttered and went to stand beside the Captain. “Dear, I’ll drive
the little ones to school, so you can get to the office on time.”
“Alec isn't home today?” Mann asked after the son this family had according to her
knowledge of this family.
“He stayed with a friend overnight and won't be home until later. They are working on a
project for the science fair and have a free day. If we hear anything about a panther, we
will contact you, if you give us a number,” Jeffrey Mayer motioned them to step outside
his home but none of them budged.
If he had been in tiger form Tony would bet that he would be smelling the cold sweat
and another Feline's scent permeating the rooms right now. From the way Gibbs’ eyes
were glittering, he knew it too but what could they do? They had no hard evidence
pointing at this family. The youngest correctly labeling his eyes as 'kitty', not 'doggy'
or 'birdy, the tension in the air and his nose - none of those would get them a warrant to
search for more clues.
“Captain Mayer, we don't mean your son any harm, if he is indeed the Feline we are
searching for,” Tony tried again.
Andrea Mayer had tears in her eyes. “I researched it yesterday after Lydia called me, so
don't try to tell me lies! If he was one of these Felines, and I didn’t say my Alec is, you would take him away to become some sort of concubine and we would never see him
again!”
“Andy, shh,” her husband tried to calm her down while glaring at the now unwelcomed
visitors.
Gibbs pointed at Tony. “Does he look like a concubine to you? He's part of my team!”
“So, what? You use him to flush out other kids to take away? Congratulations. Now
leave my home, please. I don't want someone like you here,” Mayer pointed at the door
again and defiantly glared at them till they were all outside.
Tony turned around before the last step, heart pounding in his throat, his hands balled
to fists. “Sir, I know there are a lot of rumors and stupid myths going around. I won’t
say that all that goes on in the Feline Center is good and peachy, but there are dangers
out here for someone with that… ability, if he stays unsupervised. Not to mention that
someone is out there gunning for him. His nature is working against him. Morphing
illness, shifts gone wrong, slightly different physiology… and if he gets injured he can't
get the correct treatment at the hospital...”
The door closed in his face.
“Well, that didn't go well.” Mann drily commented.
Now he felt like the biggest heel on earth. Tony rubbed over his brows and let his head
hang. “At least we've got the right family. I bet he was in that car accident and morphed
for the first time then.”
Gibbs growled and the Colonel looked taken aback by his manners. “I made some phone
calls and talked with a Major Williams. He sounds like a decent man. But still, I can't
fault the couple for trying to protect their kid. Would you do any differently if you were
them, Agent Gibbs?”
The silver-haired man stonily stared at her until she couldn't stand the silence anymore
and started the car.
“Why didn't you tell the Mayers that the administration of SSFD has changed for the
better?” The Colonel asked Tony, likely in a calculated try to get them back on topic.
“Because I might do my best to find that kid but I don't want to give them false hope,
Ma'am. Heads of Center change, Presidents change. Who says the next won’t be worse
than the last?” Tony answered her but his eyes searched for the expression in Gibbs'
eyes via the rear view mirror, expecting to still read anger or disappointment there, but
all he saw was a pointed interest that made him squirm.
“I’ll call some of my people to shadow the family in case they try to run, or, if Alec
is indeed a Feline, to keep him safe from attackers,” Mann told them with a straight
face. “Do you want to visit the fourth on the list, just to be on the safe side?”
Gibbs nodded.
.-#-.
Chapter 7 -->>