Alice's story

Split Decision

"Odd coincidence how nature and circumstance have conspired to place you in this position, my friend. Though I imagine the irony isn't of much interest to you now," Ducky mumbles to the victim's poor body.

"What do you see, Duck?" Gibbs ask Ducky while looking over the poor victim.

"Well, some blood and tissue residue on the stump, though not nearly enough for this to be the impaling instrument of his demise."

"He had that hole in him before he landed there?" Kate asks Ducky.

"Precisely, yes."

"Plain old ring-toss doesn't cut it for some people," Tony jokes.

"What put the hell put that hole in him?" I question Ducky.

"Well, it's approximately eight inches in diameter, metallic shrapnel residue, organ and tissue damage consistent with a high velocity object. I've only seen this one time before – in a Somali village called M'butatu. A young sheepherder made the mistake of impregnating the daughter of a local warlord."

"And they cored him out like an apple?" Tony questions Ducky in confusion.

"I can assure you, Tony, they take such things very seriously in Somalia."

"What'd they do it?" Gibbs asks them.

"Good old fashioned Soviet technology. A shoulder-fired anti-tank missile at twenty paces."

"It's what they used to shoot our helicopters down in Iraq," Kate says.

"Red, white, and blue version's called the SMAW – shoulder-launched multi-purpose assault weapon," Tony adds on what he knows.

"The safety back-blast on that weapon is a hundred meters. Yeah. Yeah, they fired from right in here someplace. He was there. The warhead damage should be somewhere on this line," Gibbs utters.

"On it."

"What are you looking for?" Kate questions Gibbs and Tony as they look through the trees.

"This," Gibbs answers her while picking up a cap of something.

"What is it?"

"Igniter cap. When the SMAWs fired, this is ejected out the back. Get some scraping off the tree for Abby. Duck, what are you estimating on time of death?"

"That's tricky, Jethro. Given the massive and rapid loss of blood, the body temp, lividity and rigor aren't any much use in establishing P-M-I," Ducky answers him without answering the question presented to him.

"Yeah but?" I ask Ducky.

"What makes you think there's a 'but?'"

"With you there always is."

"Yes, that's right. Yeah well as they say in the high country markets of Sri Lanka, there's more than one way to skin a mongoose. Actually, there are three."

"Ducky," Gibbs cuts Ducky's rambling off.

"After death, the red blood cells in the eyes break down, forming potassium. Now this cloudiness is a by-products of that. Yes, I'll be able to get an accurate determination when I test it in the lab. Best I can do for now – past twenty four hours."

"I got something. H-E-D-P. Residue should confirm," Tony calls over to us.

"Take samples and measurements," Gibbs orders him.

"Yep."

"Subtitles?" Kate ask them in confusion.

"The SMAW fires two types of warheads: H-E-D-P, high-explosive dual purpose, and H-E-A-A, high explosive, anti-Armor. The D-P leaves a crater. A-A leaves a hole."