A Soldier's Love Never Dies

This case is just plain fucking weird. Since Major Flynn Oakes' body was found in that motel room, 4 more Marines have been brutally murdered. All of these men were active duty Marines and each one of them has an organ taken from their body. As Ducky had suspected Major Oakes' liver was taken. The second victim found, Captain Edmonds, had both kidneys missing. The third victim, Lieutenant Martin, was missing his spleen. Our fourth victim, Lieutenant Colonel Martin, had both lungs missing. Our fifth and final victim, Colonel Hollister, had his heart taken. During the autopsies of the men, he determined that each man was alive when the organs were taken from their bodies. The media has already started calling this killer The Organ Snatcher. At first we thought the soldiers were being killed for illegal organ harvesting but that was quickly ruled out due to the fact that each organ was ripped out instead of being surgically removed. Let's just hope we find this killer before another body shows up.

"Ducky did you find anything on our most recent victim?" I asked as I came into the morgue.

"I did find something peculiar on Major Oakes' body but I want to check the others out first just to make sure." Ducky went to each victim on the tables and looked at the back of the ribs.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yes. Each body has markings on the back of the ribs possibly made from the murder weapon. Abby can tell me for certain once I get casts made." Ducky said.

"I'll wait and take them to her myself." I said sitting down in one of the rolling stools as Ducky and Jimmy began making the plaster. I'm prepared to wait for as long as it takes. I have to find out who killed these men for the sake of their families.

I watched intently as Ducky and Jimmy slopped the dark grey substance onto the bone and smoothed it over the indented bone and left the set. Once the dark grey plaster turned a light grey color, Ducky and Jimmy carefully lifted the casts from the bone before placing them into large evidence bags.

"Thanks Ducky." I said taking the bags from him and leaving the morgue. I got onto the elevator and took it up to Abby's lab.

"Hey Abbs. I have some casts here for you sent by Ducky. He thinks the marks could've been made by the murder weapon."

"I'll get right on it. Major Mass Spec is still analyzing the substance found underneath each victim's fingernails and wounds along with the fibers. I did get back the toxicology reports and they came up clean. There was no traces of any kind of drugs in their systems." Abby explained.

"Nothing at all?"

"No I'm sorry Blayke. Maybe I can get something from these casts or when the mass spec is finished." She said.

"Let me know what you find Abbs." Abby nodded her head before I left her lab and got back on the elevator to go to the squad room. I slammed my closed fist into the metal side of the elevator out of frustration. This guy is not gonna get away with this shit. The metal doors opened up to the squad room and I went straight to my desk.

"Where have you been?"

"I went down to see Ducky and Abby." I said rubbing my forehead.

"Did they find anything?"

"Abby got the tox reports and there was absolutely no drugs in their systems that would render them unconscious so Ducky thinks that the blow to their heads were the only thing used to incapacitate them. Ducky also found markings on the back of the rib bones probably made by the murder weapon. We won't know anymore until Abby gets done with them. Did you find anything out with their call or credit card history?" I explained.

"Phone and text records were clean but the credit card history was a bit strange."

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"Each card was used several minutes after each murder to buy cigarettes, alcohol, gas, and other miscellaneous items."

"Is there any way you can put where the credit cards were used on a map?" I asked as I got up from my desk and stood in front of the big screened TV. McGee pinned the locations on a map and I began to notice something.

"Now put up where the murders occurred."

"Where are you going with this?" McGee asked.

"You'll see when you get those locations put up there." I watch the screen as each murder scene popped up close to each place where the credit cards were used.

"What have you found out?" Gibbs asked as he came into our little cluster of desks carrying his favorite brand of coffee.

"Abby found that the top reports were clean and Ducky found some marks on the back of the ribcages possibly made from the murderer's weapon. I looked at their credit card history and found out that they were used several minutes after the murders occurred. Blayke just found out where the cards were used."

"Where's DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked glancing over at the man's empty desk while sipping his hot beverage.

"I don't know Gibbs. I haven't seen him since we got back and he ain't answering his phone."

"I'm tracking his phone now boss." McGee said typing away at the keyboard. The dinging sound coming from the elevator caught our attention. DiNozzo stepped off the elevator with his backpack slung over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I didn't answer my phone. My father decided to make a surprise appearance. What did I miss?"

"DiNozzo get to work on the background checks of the victims while McGee and Blayke go to those store and check out the surveillance cameras." Gibbs ordered as he stared at the screen still sipping on his coffee. Tony sat down and began to work without another word.

Since Gibbs ain't in too good of mood from not catching the person or persons involved in this heinous crime, Tony kept his witty comments to himself. McGee sent the men's photos to his smartphone before joining my boys and I on the elevator.

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McGee and I arrived at our first location where Major Oakes' credit card was used. The man behind the counter was working the night the card was used but when I showed the clerk the photo of Major Oakes, the cardholder, he didn't recognize him.

"Do these surveillance cameras work sir?" I asked politely.

"Yes ma'am."

"Could we view them so you can point out which person it was that used the card?" McGee asked. The clerk nodded his head and led us to the back of the store where the other employees took their breaks. He took us into a small office where the surveillance system was set up. The clerk rewound the tape to the time of the murder. The clerk then stopped the video 5 minutes into our viewing.

"This is the guy." He said. I pushed play again but this man knew exactly where each camera was positioned.

"Is it okay if we take the tape?"

"Yes of course but I think you should know that this man had all the right credentials." He said handing over the tape to McGee.

"What do you mean?"

"When someone comes in here to purchase anything in the store with a credit card, they're required to present photo ID. The owner started that policy right after and incident that happened here a couple of years ago." He explained.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was the incident?"

"A woman came in here claiming that she had purchased a winning lotto ticket worth 10 grand. We all thought that it was legitimate until he went to verify the numbers and it turned out to be fake. That's why he had to make that a store policy." He informed us.

"Well thank you sir. If you remember anything else about this man please contact us immediately."

"We may need you to come to the NCIS building at the Navy Yard in Washington DC once we find the identity of the man. That way you can make a positive ID." McGee said giving him one of his cards. I gave him one as well.

"Yes of course. Anything I can do to help with your investigation."

"Thanks again sir." McGee and I left the store and got back into my car.

"The way that guy didn't show his face to any of the cameras, he had to have staked out the store."

"I agree." McGee said as I started up the engine and pulled away from the store. On to the next location.

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The next 4 places we visited had the same story. We showed the clerks a photo belonging to the cardholder and each person said that those men were never in the store. We looked at the tapes and it was the same story there as well. The man kept his face away from the cameras but all the clerks gave the same description as the first. McGee and I collected each tape and went back to DC. Tony had finished with the background checks and found nothing out of the ordinary so we sat together in front of the big screened TV and watched the tapes. McGee and I made sure to point out the man each clerk had identified. We watched every day or every hour of every minute of every second of video footage looking for the mystery man's face but we couldn't spot anyone meeting that description. Maybe Abby can help in some way.

"I think I'm gonna take the disks down to Abby. We could use a fresh pair of eyes." I said stacking the disk's cases and getting up from my seat. I pushed my chair back behind my desk. At the mere mention of going to Abby's lab, Tsunami and Jethro stood and barked while wagging their tails.

"Well come on." I said walking towards the elevator. We got on and I pushed the down button. The doors opened in front of the entrance to Abby's lab and the music blasted in my ears.

"Abbs I hate to disturb you again buy there's something I'd like you to look at for me."

"That's alright. I was fixing to call you anyways." Abby said petting my boys.

"What did you find?"

"Major Mass Spec just finished analyzing the materials under the nails and in the wounds. It's organic dirt. Like something you would find in someone's compost garden." She said showing me the results of the test on her computer screen.

"Compost dirt?"

"Yeah. Whoever killed these guys didn't wash their hands after tending the garden. Abby said with a look of disgust.

"What about the casts?"

"That was a bit easier. The guy used a dull box cutter. That's why these edges are ragged and a bit torn." She said showing me the casts.

"Well now we know the murder weapon."

"What did you want me to look at?" She asked.

"These surveillance camera videos. There's one particular individual that comes up in all the videos that has been identified by the clerks but he never shows his face."

"Good I get to use my new software! I just need to download the videos and get the description of the man you're looking for." She said and I handed her the cases with the disks.

"What all does this new software do?"

"I put in the height and weight of the man and it matches each specs of that individual. Then if there's a reflection in something the computer alerts me to it." She explained. Abby downloaded the disks one by one and I gave her the description of the man the clerks gave me before running her special software.

The video feed ran quickly as the software scanned each body. Boxes popped up and then went away. Soon the computer bleeped detecting a matching reflection to the description of the man. Abby blew up and sharpened the reflection of the man's face in the cooler's glass. He matched the description the clerks gave McGee and I perfectly.

"That's as good as I can get the image but I think we'll still be able to get a match through the NCIC database." Abby said running the face through the system. It didn't take long for the computer to find a match.

"Wow that was fast."

"Can you get this to McGee?" I asked and she nodded.

"Thanks so much Abbs." I gave her a quick hug before leaving her lab with my boys and getting back on the elevator. The doors opened up to the squad room and I went right over to McGee.

"Abby sent you some information on our guy from the video." I said and McGee checked his e-mail and was about to put the information up on the big screen when Gibbs walked towards us.

"Gibbs Abby sent us some info about the man the clerks identified from the surveillance videos."

"His name is Jeremy Sparks. Former USMC. Dishonorably discharged for the rape of several Iraqi women and murdering 5 Iraqi men. Oh damn." McGee said as he stopped reading the information.

"What?"

"He murdered the men in the same fashion as the ones here." He said.

"DiNozzo, take Blayke and pick up that man. McGee you're with me."

"Where are we going boss?" McGee asked.

"This information didn't come in time. We got another body in Norfolk."