At What Price

Chapter 4

After the necessarily quick review of the case file, Tony and Ziva split up the work. Tony would contact the retired NIS agent whose name was on the file, one Walter Richards. At that point, Ziva gave Tim his 30 minute warning and he left to meet with Atty. Newell. Once McGee departed, they outlined the rest of the tasks.

Ziva would contact the hospital where the paramedics had taken Tim and see if the autopsies were also done there. She would also contact Commander McGee's former Commanding Officer, Admiral David Crane, and interview him. Additionally, one of them would dig into what happened to the remains of the car, see if by any chance it still existed somewhere in an evidence lockup.

At that point, Gibbs, listening to his gut, told Tony and Ziva not to reveal anything to any of their interviewees or other contacts about Tim's status or whereabouts. They needed unbiased information gathering at this point. Gibbs then also left that conference room and joined Tim and his attorney in the upstairs conference room.

As they settled, the two FBI agents entered, followed by Director Vance, who closed the door after them. As they sat, Agent Fornell cleared his throat and facing McGee, said,

"Special Agent McGee, we have reviewed your journals and while they have provided more background information, they have not given us what we needed."

Fornell held his hand up to forestall McGee, Director Vance and Gibbs' almost spitting anger. Ms. Newell ignored the hand,

"What do you want, Agent Fornell? You haven't given us any idea of what you're looking for nor how my client is allegedly involved!"

Fornell sat up straight and addressed Tim and the lawyer.

"Special Agent McGee, a substantive claim has been made that you are not in fact Timothy McGee. That the real Timothy McGee died as a result of the injuries suffered in the crash that also took the lives of Cmdr. McGee and Patrick McGee. That you are a 'sleeper agent' or mole, if you will, slipped into place for use at some point in your life. Unfortunately we have found nothing to disprove these claims, nothing that you've told us, not your memories or in your journal. I've been instructed to take you into custody."

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Ziva quickly tracked down Admiral Crane, Cmdr. McGee's former CO. When she told his aide her reason for calling, that the McGee case had been reopened, the Admiral immediately agreed to conference via MTAC. As he appeared online, the Admiral told Ziva he was both surprised and pleased that the McGees' case had been reopened. Ziva's first request was for the Admiral to tell her about the Commander, what kind of officer and man he was.

"He was an excellent officer and very much respected, Officer David. I'm sure Daniel would have made Admiral if he had lived, his late father and grandfather were admirals, you know. He was a wonderful father; although the Navy life is tough on families, he just loved his boys and his baby daughter, Sarah. You know, he lost his wife, the boys' mother, shortly after Patrick, the younger son, was born. He was devastated, he was wildly in love with Lily and they only had a short time together, not nearly enough. "

"Admiral, what can you tell me about his second wife, Natalie?"

The Admiral's mouth twisted in a grimace. "That one! I never cared for her and I'll tell you what, I've never been sure Daniel wasn't tricked into that marriage, if there was even a marriage! I think he was so desperate to have another child of Lily's, he would have agreed to anything." At the look on Ziva's face, the Admiral paused. "You didn't know that Sarah was also Lily's child? When Lily's illness was diagnosed, before she started treatment she had her eggs frozen and years later Natalie was the gestational surrogate for Lily and Daniel's baby girl." He sighed. "I don't know why and I never did anything about it, but I've always wondered whether that woman was ever vetted by the Navy. My wife never liked her, thought there always something "off" about her but couldn't put her finger on it. " The Admiral stopped, cleared his throat and then continued.