Always a Hero

From all the places on the list Abby gave to me, I've found 3 Military Surplus stores that sell the kind of rope and I've bought a piece from them to have Abby compare. It sure hasn't been easy to get the information that I needed from the storekeepers but a little persuasion of possible jail time for obstructing a federal investigation got them talking. There's only one more place on my list before I can get these ropes back to Abby and run the names I got. I parked my car at the front before going inside to talk with whoever is in charge.

"Can I help you with something Miss?"

"I'm Special Agent Blayke Carrington NCIS. I'd like to ask you a few questions." I said showing him my badge.

"What would you like to know?"

"How many of your customers have come in the last 8 months and purchased this kind of rope?" I asked showing him a picture that Abby had also given.

"Not many I can tell you that now. From what I can tell from the photograph, that's a 1,000 pound test."

"What would that be used for?" I questioned.

"Mostly for repellong but it can have other uses."

"Which would be?" I asked writing everything down.

"Agent Carrington?" I turned at the sound of DiNozzo's voice to see him and Gibbs. Gibbs motioned for me to follow him.

"Excuse me a moment please." The old man nodded his head a d I left the store with Gibbs.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm following leads." I stated.

"I thought we made it very clear that you weren't to go out into the field."

"I thought I made it clear to you and Director Vance that I will not be stopped from finding my daughter's killers." I said crossing my arms over my chest.

"You have to let us handle this."

"You mean like I did when the FBI was investigating? I will not take the chance of this being pushed to the side again." I said angrily.

"You're just gonna have to trust me that it won't happen. Dinozzo, got back to headquarters with Agent Carrington." Gibbs stood there staring eye to eye with me before walking into the store.

"He's not putting me on the sidelines." I said getting into the driver's seat of my car.

"He's not doing that."

"Then what the fuck is he doing? Does he not think I'm good enough to handle this?" I questioned hatefully.

"He's protecting the members of his team. If it were me or McGee going through this right now, he would be acting the same way. You're gonna have to trust his instincts."

"Why should I?" I asked.

"Because he's the beat man I know that will never give up. He won't stop the investigation until the killers are brought to justice." Something deep down inside of me knew that DiNozzo spoke the truth. Maybe I should just back off a little bit and bring him what I find.

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Gibbs POV ~~~~~~~~~~~~
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I walked away from Blayke and back into the shop after having a short conversation with her. She's gonna have to start trusting me and the team before she can be fully accepted as a member of my team.

"What other things has the rope been used for?" I asked the store manager.

"I've seen hunters use them for deer. Um..I've even had a few construction workers buy it when they run out of cable for the pulley system."

"I need a list of everyone who came in here in the past 8 months and bought that ki d of rope." I said and he nodded. I watched him go through a filing cabinet before pulling out a folder.

"I hadn't had that many in the last 8 months like I told your other Agent." The mab said handing the file over. I nodded a thanks and left the shop.

I got into the Charger and opened up the folder. He was right about the few customers. At least he kept organized records of the purchases. Each person who had come to buy the thousand pound test rope had their names and dates beside the brand. I set the file down on the passenger seat and started the car. When I get back, I'll have McGee get to work on these names.

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~~~~~~~~~~~~The Killer's POV~~~~~~~~~~
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"What the hell are we going to do? Fucking NCIS and FBI Agents are going to find out about us in no time."

"Listen, they don't have shit that points directly to us so calm the fuck down man. If they somehow come here and question us then we'll go lay low for a while." I said putting my hands on my friend's shoulders to calm him down.

"We need to do something!"

"We are. We're going to stop by her house tonight and send her a little message." I said smiling evilly to him as I tossed the brick up and down in my hands.

"What if she ignores the message?"

"She won't like it." I states and he nodded his head and smiled.

"Yes sir boss." I patted his shoulder giving him another wicked grin. Blayke will know not to ever disobey me again.