Got Your Number--a Person of Interest/NCIS crossover

Double Dealing

The NCIS team had been working nearly non-stop since the hotel incident, and it was a very tired team that gathered in front of Gibb's desk. For his part, Gibbs looked more grim than tired. "Abby's been missing over 72 hours." He snapped. "Give me some good news."

"IA says police corruption has been down across the board since the FBI probe," responded Tony. "HR's probably not all gone, but if they're still around, they're too weak to be much of a threat. When I asked about their association with our mystery man, the guy laughed. He said apparently that man was a consistent thorn in their side—messed up a lot of their operations. They don't know, but they think he was the one who put the FBI on their trail."

"Makes sense why they'd want him dead then." Gibbs nodded.

"As for what they'd want with Abby..." Tony shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "Sorry, boss. Apparently HR has plenty of forensic experts in their pocket already. The only answer is that they might be in the kidnap-for-hire business."

Gibbs shook his head. "They're down and licking their wounds, the last thing they'd want would be to draw attention by kidnapping a federal agent, whatever the money involved. Still, they could be paid to turn a blind eye. Ziva!"

"I could glean little from your official CIA documents." Ziva let the folder fall to the desk in disgust. "Anything important has been redacted. I did learn he is a sniper of considerable skill, but that had already been deduced from Donnelly's information. The only really new information was that he was presumed dead after a recovery mission in China went awry. Until his prints turned up in New York, the file was considered closed."

Gibbs' eyes narrowed. "Was there any follow-up of his mission? An investigation team, an internal probe, anything?"

"I really cannot say." Ziva shook her head. "There is incredibly little detail about the recovery mission, in fact that particular file is missing from the ones supplied by Kort. It is only mentioned in passing on the agent's profile."

"Do we at least know his name?"

"Not from these files." Ziva shook her head.

Gibbs heaved a sigh and looked away. "Wonderful."

"Fortunately..." there was a small twist to Ziva's mouth. "I was able to use the CIA files to dig up some more... unofficial information." She smirked as the others' eyes turned to her. "Several of the missions in the files were in the Middle East, or in situations that my people were involved in. I called some friends in MOSSAD to ask about what they remembered."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "You still have friends there?"

"They were unwilling to share details about the missions themselves," continued Ziva, fixing Tony with a glare. "But when asked about a tall American sniper with silver hair, they were slightly more forthcoming. Apparently our man goes by the name of 'John Reese.' Almost definitely a pseudonym, and probably not the name he uses now, but..."

"But it's a start." Gibbs smiled. "Excellent work, Ziva. Anything else?"

Ziva nodded. "Mr. Reese isn't the type to go rogue. He's much too by-the-book. While overseas, he reportedly followed the orders of a woman known only as Stanton." Ziva passed a new picture, a slightly grainy image of a brunette woman on a Moscow street, around the circle. "My sources indicated that Reese is not one to act on his own initiative... without a handler or employer of some kind, he is, for lack of a better word, lost."

"You think he was framed?" Gibbs lifted an eyebrow.

Apparently caught by surprise, Ziva blinked for a bit before she came up with an answer. "It is definitely possible. I.... was more interested in the fact that his involvement here implies that there is another 'cat in the bag.'"