NCIS: The Veil of Darkness
Introductory Episode: Unveiled
Part 1
In the depths of his dream, he often encountered the recurrent image of the pale-faced woman in white. She seemed to have just emerged from a pool of black, slimy water which appeared to have a life of its own, a living power that had the indomitable will to drag her down while she managed to escape its downward pull with equally indomitable tenacity. He averted his eyes to avoid the final scene which always managed to disgust him, yet this time, it never came. However desperate he was to keep himself from witnessing the cruel moment the woman was ultimately dragged into the pool of black, slimy water, a bare whisper moved him. It was a woman’s voice, whispering Please… Just sneak a peek… Please…. Being the first time this occurred to him in this recurrent dream, he was astonished and finally turned reluctantly. Suddenly, the whole image came to a sharper focus. He could actually, for the very first time, recognize the unfortunate woman.
“Debra Hadley,” he gasped. “Oh no!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
“This is hilarious!” exclaimed Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo, or otherwise known as Tony, as he was sitting in the squadroom of NCIS headquarters and studying the case file on his hand. “So you’re telling me that a female lieutenant deployed in Turkey was found frozen in a lake near the Black Sea, and we’re going to investigate the possibility of murder in this case. Okay, that’s fine with me. But then you tell me that her fiancé dreamt of her drowning in some…” his sentence broke off as his lowered his head to check on his case file, then continued as he picked up his head, “…some black, slimy water? This is merely a coin-…”
“There are no coincidences, Dinozzo.” interrupted Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs as he walked into the squadroom. “Stop whining.”
“Sorry, boss. Yeah, it’s a rule of yours; yet you must agree that it’s absurd that the husband-to-be actually had a dream coinciding with his fiancée’s death. And you must know that mental links are unscientific, right? Even though the two might share a strong bond being the family-to-be, it is still……”
“Yeah, absurd, I heard that. Now, could you stop pestering and go check on the fiancé’s travel records?”
Dinozzo blinked, and answered: “On it, boss.” Then he scrambled to his seat to follow the orders.
Gibbs paused, then turned to the other side. “McGee?”
“Working on the pair’s credit card records and bank statements, boss.” answered Special Agent Timothy McGee as he tapped on his keyboard.
Gibbs nodded, then turned to the other agent. “And you, Ziva?”
“Just escorted Mr. Jenkins to the Polygraph for a test. And Tony… Sorry, but I’ve already done Mr. Jenkins’ travel records, so you don’t have to work on it now. Oh, and Ducky wants to see you, Gibbs.” said Special Agent Ziva David.
In response, Tony opened his arms wide in an annoyed fashion and lay back on his chair.
“Good.” And after giving Dinozzo a last meaningful stare, he walked out of the squadroom.
“Brilliant, now I’d better think of something to give boss when he comes back up, or I’ll have a nice slap on my head.” complained Tony. Then he stared at McGee and Ziva accusingly. “Don’t tell me I’m the only one thinking this investigation is strange.”
Ziva looked back at Tony funnily, but didn’t say anything.
Tony, slightly annoyed, barked: “Or is there something I don’t know? I swear I can smell something stealthy going on here.” And then he stared intently at Ziva.
Instead, it was McGee who answered: “Yup, it sure looks like a strange case in the beginning. A lieutenant died and her fiancé seems to have a mental connection to her, and dreams about the event in a hypothetical way.”
“Then,” Ziva picked up and Tony turned to her, “This lieutenant died in Turkey, which is really far and, well, not that much our jurisdiction, since it assumes a self-suicide.”
“Yup. Now, this is super weird, and might make people, like me, wonder if there are any strings pulled!” Tony stressed his point. “And would you two mind telling me why you are still working so hard on this case and not asking any questions?”
“Because she wasn’t supposed to be in Turkey the time her body was found, Agent Dinozzo.” added a voice from behind. “Anymore questions?”
Tony turned around rashly in an apologetically manner. “Oh, um, sorry, Director Vance! No, not anymore.”
However, the Director was not about to let Tony off this easily. “Then why is the Lieutenant not supposed to be in Turkey, Dinozzo?”
As seeing the usually childish and naughty agent looking stoned and stunned as if the Director’s sight was a Stunning Curse, Director Vance turned to McGee and Ziva. “McGee, David, fill Agent Dinozzo up on the case. And Dinozzo,” not missing the latter agent mentioned, who was, at that time, tiptoeing back to his seat, “stop slacking around if you detest being reassigned to being an Agent Afloat.” With that, the Director left the squadroom.
“Yes, sir!” replied Tony with a reluctant salute, then added with a whisper sourly: “And thanks for the memory.”
“And that’s what you get for being late and getting snacks while Gibbs isn’t around.” gloated McGee.
“Yeah, got that, McGloat.” giving McGee a detesting look, “Now, fill me up before I earn a head-slap from Gibbs.”
“You’ve already earned one, Dinozzo.” shocking Tony as Gibbs voice came from the phone on McGee’s table. Then he noticed the light on the phone indicating the voice came from Autopsy, while McGee and Ziva were smirking mischievously at the corner of his eye.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Down at the Autopsy, Gibbs and the Medical Examiner Donald Mallard, a.k.a. Ducky, were smiling besides the phone.
“You two knew that boss was eavesdropping on us? Why didn’t you tell me?” complained Tony as his voice came through the speaker.
“It wasn’t eavesdropping, Dinozzo. Get working.” demanded Gibbs, and then he hanged up the phone.
“Interesting case isn’t it, Jethro?” said Ducky as the two walked towards the autopsy tables. “It isn’t everyday you have a lieutenant die overseas while she should have already returned to the US, huh?”
“Nope, but it isn’t the first time we had an AFE (Armed Force Entertainment) officer involved in the case. Hopefully it doesn’t end up with the National Security Agency again. I’m tired of those ops the government does in secret.” chuckled Gibbs.
“Yeah, well, you can’t do anything about them, can you?” replied Ducky. “Anyways, it is that Lieutenant Hadley’s fiancé dreamed of her dying being the intriguing part in this whole mystery. By the way, when’ll the polygraph results come up?”
“Anytime, Duck, so why don’t you tell me what you’ve found?”
“Nothing much, I’m afraid. Given the fact that this young lady’s body was soaked in the water for weeks, liver puncture is definitely out of the question; heck, the body was only identifiable owing to her dental records. That really doesn’t leave much to examine.”
“Then, what’s with the sushi bar?” asked Gibbs as he pointed to the shrimps and fish lying on the other autopsy table.
“Oh, I was wondering when you’re going to ask about that! Luckily, Lieutenant Hadley wasn’t quite alone on its considerable time adrift. Much like insects on land, creatures of the sea have a cyclical feeding pattern, which, fortunately, can help confirm how long a body has been dead. In this case, approximately 4 weeks.”
“Hm, fits around the time she should have returned from Turkey. How about the cause of death?”
“Well, not drowning I’m sure. See that gunshot wound entering from the right temple and exiting at the left upper side of the head? That’s the killshot. However, as I’ve mentioned earlier, the body has been so deformed from the time it has been in the water, I couldn’t determined whether there were any defensive wounds. Nevertheless, due to the trajectory angle and the fact the wound size matches the lieutenant’s weapon, which is a 4.5 mm, the coroners at Turkey have already deemed it as a self-suicide.”
“Hm. Yup. Anything else, Duck?” agreed Gibbs as he was examining the skull on the end of the autopsy table.
“No, nothing more. Oh, hold it,” added Ducky as Gibbs was about to sprint out of the autopsy. “I haven’t yet been able to collect any samples for Abigail to examine, so I could imagine her to be fairly bored. By the way, this case reminds me of a part of my life…” yet the chatty medical examiner paused at seeing Gibbs stare, “…which I can tell you at a later time.”
“Sup, Duck.” said Gibbs as he left the Autopsy.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Somewhere rear from the NCIS headquarters, there were two unidentifiable figures watching surveillance camera feeds which are apparently from NCIS, where one of them shows Gibbs just leaving the Autopsy, and another screen revealing Mr. Jenkins, Lieutenant Hadley’s fiancé, being questioned at the Polygraph Department.
“What a fool he is to have himself polygraph-ed when those feds lied to him that it’ll explain his dream.” voiced Figure No.1.
“Nah, don’t worry, I’m sure our little trick is sufficient enough for him believe every syllable he pronounces.” said Figure No.2. “Yet for precautions… Amos! Go and have an eye on asset, if he comes close to revealing too much, you are permitted to destroy him.”
A gruff voice came from the radio which obviously belongs to the previously mentioned Amos. “Copy. On it, sir.” Then the red light indicating the transmission went out, and the figures grinned.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
(To Part 2.....)
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