Hung Out to Dry
Part 3:

Tony had just received his certificate of graduation from the online computer school he had signed up for to learn basic programming and copied it on the agency copy machine to send to Delores down in HR for his official files.

He was currently waiting on Todd to hand over the late reports she was missing on the last three cases they had and had five closed cold cases on Gibbs’ desk to sign off on as cleared and ready to go to trial in one case and just closed due to the death of the perps for two others. The last two were on their way back to DC from abroad via Interpol and thanks to his family connections in Britain. One of those was connected to arms dealing, so a coup for them.
Gibbs, of course, was off for coffee before heading up to MTAC to work on something.

That was when the call came in about the murdered marine recruiter at his station. That was also where they met the bastard FBI Agents trying to take over the case and Tony left Gibbs to bitch loudly in the lead Agent’s face about it while he just called his contact at the fibbies. Deputy Director of Violent Crimes Skinner whom he had met through his therapy bitch sessions with Rossi when they all bitched about the supernatural involved in their lives and the war.

Whenever Rossi was out on tour for a book signing as he was currently retired from the BAU, Skinner and Tony would sometimes get together for a bitch session about those they had under their command. For Skinner it was Agent Mulder and Mulder’s sidekick, Scully, who kept getting into the damndest things involving the supernatural, and for Tony it was Kate and his own superior, Gibbs, who he had his phone camera pointed to right after Skinner answered his phone and Tony had just said the case was a murdered MARINE.

To which a few seconds later the fibby had his own phone ring and Tony announced he had better answer it as it was his boss and pointed at his phone which was still pointed at him. Getting the fibby to answer yes sir several times then slink off with his tail between his legs. Tony thanking Skinner for his aid in keeping the heart health of his boss down to a simmer and hung up.

Gibbs and Kate just looked at him, and he shrugged as he put his phone away and got out his gloves and booties for the scene before them. Soon, sending Kate to the doll building behind the recruiters to find the bullet fired, while he bagged the white feather that was gently placed on the watercooler. Looking up at the camera across the street to remember to get a warrant for it and then began to fingerprint the cooler’s top and bottom as someone had to put the white feather symbolizing cowardess on the cooler. And a calmer Gibbs questions the witness.

Kate finds the bullet after a time, in a doll’s head, while Tony finds single prints on the bottom of the watercooler that match up to a young man that had been rejected from the marines for psychological reasons.
He was nowhere to be found and quickly, after the first shooting another followed with the same MO enough, a BOLO went out with added comments that he was armed and dangerous.
To bring him in, Gibbs disguised himself as a recruiter and Tony set himself up to tag the psycho sniper, while Kate liaised with the local LEOs.
Sniper entered with the watercooler and a bulge under his work jacket, Gibbs confronted him enough that he got shot while trying to take him down in his vest and Tony tagged the psycho in the back with the tazer set on high making the psycho lose his bladder and guts all over the place before he went down in disgrace. Tony hogtied him behind then turned him on his side so he wouldn’t choke to death on their watch while Kate and the paramedics checked out Gibbs and his broken ribs from the hit to the vest.

Gibbs would be on “light” duty until his ribs healed which gave enough time for the two of them to catch up their back paperwork and Tony to solve yet more cold cases and help other teams solve their cases.

Just another week working for the MCRT this year.

8/19/2026