The Silent Agent

Chapter 11

'How old are you?' Sam asked.

'14.'

'Wait... what? That puts you in the 'at risk' zone! We think that this might be an bio attack.'

'At risk? I'm not. I've been breathing the air of this hospital and nothing else!'

'I'll go and ask Hetty, see if she lets you work on this. Haz-Mat suits on.'

'How do you expect me to run in that penguin outfit?'

'You don't. Office duty only. I just asked.' Callen, who had exited the room without me noticing, re-entered the room and said.

'Fine. How about Kens?'

'We'll put in Nell for a substitute field agent until she recovers.'

'Nell? Is she fine? At weapons training I meant.'

'She is. Wonders what a tight schedule of playing video games can do.'

'Tell her good luck for me.'

'Will do.' Then the group exited. Without me.

'What are you doing here? Go! You heard the G-Man!'

'Just wanna stay here to say thanks.'

'Accepted. Now go!'

I went out not without giving her a package.

'For you. Keep it safe.'

'Thanks. What's that?'

'Just a protection detail.'

'Thanks! Go! They need you!'

'I'm coming!' I yelled at the retreating silhouettes of the team.

'Took you long enough.' Sam said when he saw me.

'She needed something and I gave it to her.'

'How is she, really?' Deeks asked, concerned.

'She said that she's fine. But I don't think so.'

'Why?'

'She's troubled. Since she cares. About me. And she's afraid that I won't be able to protect myself and end up going to the other side because of her.'

'You can.' Sam said. 'You're even better than Callen.'

'Am not.' Callen argued back.

'All right. Brief me.'

'About a day ago, while you and Kens were still out, the first patient appeared. A girl, by the name of Mallory Larson. Twelve. From Oklahoma. CDC thought that it was just a couple of different viruses attempting to breach her system, but the second patient appeared. This time, male, 14, Don Smith. From DC. I just can't bear to say all of their names. It makes me so sad after reading their names. Here's a master spreadsheet on the names of the patients and their symptoms, plus personal information.' I didn't know that Eric was here too, and I knew that when he handed me a tablet.

'Thanks, Eric.'

'Sure.'

I stared at the iPad, startled. I didn't bother scrolling down. I just sorta lost it when I saw the first five patients.

I couldn't read down the list.

'I get it.' I turned off the iPad. And handed it to Eric.

'No, it's yours. Everyone has an office issued iPad, and here's yours, since Hetty forgot and haven't given yours out yet.'

'Thanks.' I gripped it.

'All the people are with different races, different ages, and different medical history. And some, don't have one. How can a whole lot of perfectly healthy children just get sick like that? Oh, and also, Hetty told you to sort through the names. See if you have anyone that you know. And she has spared you the sorrow. I've also made another list, consisting of only the names, but not the medical stuff. Go through that when we arrive. And I'm warning you, you won't wanna be in the office. I'll sent someone follow you to a cafe. That way you can work more efficiently.' Eric ranted on.

'Why? How come?'

'You'll see.' Deeks said. 'We're here.'

Sam pushed open the door, revealing chaos.

There were makeshift tables and chairs set up all over the place, and it was like a while battlefield of our own. The one closest to the door had a huge radio of pop blasting out of it, and it was nightmarish.

'Is there... uh... anywhere that we can have silence.'

'Yes. The only place. Ops.'

Eric used his retina scan and went into the room, and it was the rare silence, and it was accompanied by the presence of computers and the huge plasma.

The computers were quiet too, for some reason.

'Why...'

'Don't ask. We turned the notification alarm off. We've been bombarded with calls. Ranging from 10 to 36 in a day. It's killing me.' And he saw the computer screen.

'Ugh... not again. The CIA gave me a heart attack. I was at the toilet at that time, with my tablet finding inner peace and it rang. Scared the hell out of me.'

'Who's it this time?' Callen asked.

'Huh. NCIS. One of our own. DC. The last one. From statewide.'

He clicked 'accept'.

'Hello. How May I help you?' I saw four faces, one was African-American, one was a man, probably full American, one was Middle-Eastern, and the last one was Caucasian, female.

'Oh. Director. I didn't expect to see you.'

'Hello Eric. I heard that there's been a very mysterious thing going on there.'

'Yes. Something's fishy.' Sam answered.

'Did you hear that, Ziva? The idiom is Something's fishy, not I smell fish.'

'Thank you.' I heard the Middle-Eastern woman say, sarcastically to the full American man.

'Where're my manners? This, is Special Agent David, and she's... uh... returned from Israel from her holiday, persuaded by Tony DiNozzo here. And this is Tony DiNozzo.' The full American. 'Well, next to me, is the newbie, Special Agent Ellie Bishop. She was a replacement for David, and when she returned, we decided to keep both, as they're a hell of an asset.'