TWENTY FOUR | the wife

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"My God, he's done it." I wave a hand over Tony's face, receiving no form of movement whatsoever. "I am thoroughly impressed that you can sleep with your eyes open."

"Yeah. I'm meditating." He answers back, still staring up at the light.

Kate nods her head sarcastically. "Uh-huh. On how much you drank last night or trying to remember her name?"

"Not hard to remember her name when it only has three letters." Tony replies. "But I don't kiss and tell, Kate."

Yeah, right.

"Since when? I know more about your sex life than I do my own, Tony." McGee scoffs in retort.

The senior agent still refuses to sit back up. "Well, that's not hard to believe, Probie, considering you don't have one." He laughs to himself.

I situate myself in my chair, resuming my work. "We better get back to work."

"Gibbs wants us to find out everything there is to know about this package, and if I were you, I wouldn't let him catch you napping." Kate provides some genuine advice.

"Thanks for the advice, but I got it covered."

"Anybody." Gibbs enters the bullpen. "Talk to me."

Kate, McGee, and I line up in front of him, each holding files containing every piece of information we could find about the package of cobalt blue eyes.

Still in his meditative state, Tony shouts out his discoveries.

"Good to know somebody is working around here."

"How in hell did you find all of that without moving a muscle?"

Gibbs takes me and Tony to the address listed on the package. All the way there, the apartment building manager flirts with the boss.

She pulls me back before I can walk in. "Now, how does a fine man like that stay single?"

"Already been married three times." I hold up three fingers. "We'll be sure to let you know once we're done in here, Ms. Robinson." Before she can say another word, I shut the door.

Wow.

"Guess I've got the bedroom and bathroom." I inspect the closet and the dresser. "There's makeup items in the bathroom along with women's clothes in the bedroom."

From within the closet, I pull out a dress. "And boy, does she have a lack of taste." Something my grandmother would wear.

"Let's see if we can find out her name." Gibbs replies.

I put the dress back into the closet and return to see an another person standing at the door.

"Petty Officer Benjamin Horlacher?" Gibbs flashes the man his badge. "NCIS."

"What's going on, Sir?" He stands there dumbfoundedly.

"We're here to investigate a package delivered to you, opened by mistake by your neighbor. Sent from Ciudad del Este, Paraguay." The boss lets him know.

Tony speaks up. "It contained human organs. A pair of eyes." He points to his own.

"Eyes?" He sounds shocked. "You've got to be kidding me, sir."

"Where've you been the last couple of days, Petty Officer?"

"On a 72. Visiting my family in New Jersey."

"You're training to be an intelligence analyst at Dam Neck?"

"Yes, sir." Horlacher confirms with a nod.

"What area of the world do you cover there, Petty Officer?"

"Central and South America."

I rest my hands on my hips. "You ever visited Paraguay?"

"Never." He answers back rhythmically. "Look, I don't know what's going on here, but I'm sure —"

Gibbs, of course, doesn't let him answer. "Maybe your girlfriend does."

"I don't have a girlfriend." The petty officer shakes his head, his eyebrows contorted together in confusion.

"What about all the women's clothes in the bedroom closet?"

He nervously swallows back. "We broke up. . .a month ago. She hasn't come back yet to pick up her stuff."

Something tells me that isn't the truth, but I don't push it any further.

"I'm telling you I don't know anything about eyes." Horlacher spits out after looking at all of our faces. "Shouldn't you have a warrant or something to be in here?"

Gibbs avoids the question, as usual. "You keep yourself available, Petty Officer. We'll have more questions for you."

"Yes, sir."

The three of us take our leave.

I run a hand through my hair."He's lying about breaking up with his girlfriend. There was an uncapped lipstick sitting on the bathroom counter."

"Definitely hiding something." Tony supports my theory.

"Oh, yeah."

Gibbs' cellphone begins to ring.

"So, why are we letting him walk?"

"We're not. You two are staying here." Tony and I stop in our steps. "Watch him. I want to know what he does next."

And then he leaves. Tony and I sit through the night in the cold, cold atmosphere inside the sedan.

"Could you please turn on the heat, Tony? M-My lips are gonna be frozen shut by the end of this." I attempt to convince for the third time that night.

He shakes his head. "Can't. Smoke from the tailpipe will give away our position." Then, he sits upright in his seat. "Although, we could use some tactics to conserve body heat."

"Tony, if you're talking about. . .what I think you're talking about. . ." I can't find it in myself to say no. "No one can hear about this." I warn him, climbing over the gear shift before situating myself between his legs.

He looks up at me, his eyes meeting mine. "Can't exactly look into the apartment when you're facing me."

"It's your turn."

I bury my face into the side of his neck, my arms wrapping around his shoulders tightly. One arm circles my waist, holding me firmly against me, before he returns to watching the apartment.

"You know, this isn't what I had in —"

That's all ruined when we hear a gunshot come from Horlacher's apartment. Tony and I are out the door, guns already in hand as we break into the apartment.

"He had a secret, alright."

Dressed in women's clothes, Horlacher's body is splayed across the bed. The response team arrives to assess the crime scene, leading to another sleepless night.

"There was a time I would have killed for a pair of eyes like that."

"Wrong choice of words, but I have to agree."

Staring at the monitor, Tony tilts his head to the right. "Think she was a blonde or a brunette?"

"Don't think it matters anymore." I click my pen. "Unless you're gonna pull a Prince Charming and find out if the eyes fit." He laughs wryly in response.

"I just love brunettes."

"I wish you two a wonderful life."

When Gibbs returns from Abby's lab, the three of us relay information in terms of Horlacher, his family, and his faculty advisor. He takes Tony with him to one of the advisor's classes.

We educate ourselves on Lieutenant Commander Purcell, Horlacher's faculty advisor, when Abby reveals the identity of our eyes.

A woman who seems to have been involved with Purcell.

After it's revealed Horlacher was bearding for Purcell in a kidnapping ring, Kate and McGee leave to get him. Only to call back empty-handed.

So Gibbs orders me and Tony to board the next flight to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.

"You're enjoying this way too much." I lift my sunglasses up while looking over the map. "And turn right."

Tony drums his fingers against the dashboard. "I never told you what my favorite eye color is."

"I think you've made it pretty clear that it's blue." I roll my eyes.

"Brown." I glance up at him. "Turns golden in the sun, darkens in the night. Pairs gracefully with brunettes." His finger trails across my cheek.

Instinctively, I pull away. "We can't, Tony."

"You mean you can't." He drops his hand onto the steering wheel. "Why bother starting something if you won't even continue it?"

"I. . ."

The words just stop in my throat.

Joe Tabarez, the TAT contact, takes us to our quarters for the trip. He walks us through all kinds of illegal activities going on in the region. Joe also recognizes the woman in the picture to be Purcell's wife. Including that Purcell's been dating her for three years, married her last year.

Even though she's only seventeen.

"I've got some friends here who want to talk to you, Iggy." Joe introduces us to the street vendor.

"Oh, sure!" Iggy claps his hands together. "You like movies, eh? Movies?" He asks. "No habla Inglés?" The vendor whispers to Joe. "I have DVDs. Only five American each, huh?"

"Five dollars for a DVD?"

"You drive a hard bargain, man. Only four for you."

Tony instantly removes his sunglasses. "Any Hitchcock?"

"Anything for the wife?" He turns to me.

"Just information." I hold up the picture of Purcell and his wife. "Wait, hold on, you think I'm his wife?"

He merely shrugs his shoulders. "Two beautiful people. Am I wrong to assume?"

"Very wrong."

McGee calls with a hotel room set up for us. And Iggy looks very intrigued by the satellite phone in my purse.

So Tony offers it in return that Iggy tells us when Purcell contacts him.

What he doesn't know is that we'll know either way.

"And he is on the move." Tony and I follow Iggy, far enough where he can't see us

But close enough for us to see him having a private conversation with Purcell. The two of us follow them all the way to a hotel, specifically the third floor.

I step off the elevator, just in time to see Iggy. "Well, I didn't expect to see you here."

He attempts to run towards the stairwell, where Tony is conveniently waiting. "Going somewhere?"

Just before Purcell can kill his wife — the eyes belonging to her sister — we arrest him. Before we can officially do it, Joe comes in to free him.

"I can't believe he thought I was married." I pack up my suitcase. "To you, of all people."

"Hey, I'm not that bad. What makes you think I'm bad?" Tony defends himself.

I pretend to think. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's the way you treat girls like yesterday's news." I shoot back.

"I would treat you differently if you gave me a chance."

"I'm done playing around with your type."

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