Mind Games 2 : Level Up

16. Deep Cold

|NCIS Office|

They spent the last 4 months trying to get him. Even after getting his real name, no one could track his movement.

"You're okay Al?"
"Yeah." Her forehead is covered in sweats and her eyes are twitching. "I know we all are frustrated. You feel like we're stuck."
"Stuck would be an understatement. I got his real name for god sake. But nothing I could find that would help us to track Peyton."
"You mean Holden?"
"Don't play smart ass on me Tony...yes I mean Holden." Tony then take a deep breath and walks to her desk, "You need some sleep."
"No, what I need is a lead."
"I know. But you're not getting it by avoid sleeping."

She's tired, extremely exhausted. Deep inside, she knows she has to take a rest. "Right...I'm gonna...go to autopsy. And probably have some sleep." Allison stands up and yawning as she takes the elevator. While Allison is taking the break, Tony continues to looking for leads. The guy is a definition of under the radar.

"Hey Ducky." She hop onto the slab and laying down. "Rough day Allison?"
"Yeah. It's just a very bad headache lately. Maybe I didn't get enough sleep."
"Try not to over thinking. And use this, it's getting cold this end of month." He gives her a fabric to be used as a blanket. "You used this to cover dead bodies."
"It's new."
"It's for dead body Duck." She giggles but put it on anyway. "Good night, and have a nice sleep Allison."

When Ducky is about to leave the autopsy, she gets up and shout, "Wait."
"Yes?"
"Can you keep a secret?"
"Well it depends. Does it concerned a case?"
"No...well not directly. But I'm having problems....this couple of weeks.."
"Health problems?"
"I'm not entirely sure but... I feel like I mixed things up lately. 3 days ago I almost call Gibbs 'dad'. Luckily I can put a break to my mouth."
"Well...is Gibbs a father figure to you?"
"Yeah...but no, I know I would never call him dad. Not consciously. Besides...I kind of having some memory lost yesterday. I can't recall what I was doing last night. Did....do you think I should be considering brain damage? From...you know all that twisted procedures?"
"To come to that conclusion....I think it would be better to do some tests...and scan. I mean if anything really happens, you cannot take it lightly." She sighs, and then lay down again, "Right....please keep this between us okay? I'm gonna...check myself at hospital this week. Until then...I don't want anyone to be worry."

Both Allison and Ducky both surprised by McGee who's running to the Autopsy, "What is it Timothy?"
"The director...I mean ex director Shepard....she died."
"How?" Allison get off from the slab and look at McGee.
"She was shot. Metro called us. Gibbs told us to get our gear."

|Jenny Shepard's Residence|

The silence fills the all over the house. Through the hallway and to each rooms. Gibbs looks at the study where her body was found this morning. "Time of death Duck?"
"Roughly 14 hours ago Jethro."
"So it was last night. Roughly 10 p.m. Cause of death?"
"From my preliminary findings, it appears to be blood loss. To be exact.. from these 2 gun shots. One to the chest, and one to the stomach. Both very clean...as you can see from the exit wounds."

Tony is starring at the body, still can't believe that she died. Although there are bumps and conflict between him and Jenny on her administration, but he's very fond of her. She trusted him as much as he trust her. "DiNozzo." He didn't even hear Gibbs as he calls for him. "Hey DiNozzo!"
"Yes boss...I'm sorry it's..."
"Shoot and sketch."
"On it."

McGee is crawling to every inch of the study and looking to every single place possible. And then he found the bullets, "Boss. Bullets. Still in good shape, minimal damage." He took pictures and then collects the evidence to be sent to Abby later. Gibbs carefully look at those bullets and he flinches, "Something wrong boss?"
"Don't you see it Tim? Look closer." McGee take one of them and then realize something, "Who uses this type of bullets, Tim?"
"Feds."
"Be specific."
"Us."
"Exactly. FBI would have a field trip today."