(keeping my) distance BEING REVISED!

32 I Driven

In the bullpen Ziva was clicking the remote for the plasma facing the center of the room, "Lieutenant Seabrook's Naval career was most unusual. No deployments and, as far as I can tell, she never set foot on a ship." Tony sat at his desk going through the security footage at the facility and McGee was at his own absorbing all the information he could. Beckett sat with her back to the team at her desk, meaning she didn't hear all that much, even though it wasn't her fault. "Well she was an egghead. They don't recruit them to fight war," Tony said without looking away from his screen. "No. Just to build the machines for fighting them. Maybe she had enough," Ziva shrugged. "Enough of what?" "You'd be surprised how many weapon designers take their own lives." McGee sat up straighter pointing to her, "I might have a better motive. Azeon had everything leveraged on Otto. It fails the drive-off, the company goes bankrupt." "Sabotage." "Someone wanted them to fail."

"No bad McGee," Ziva nodded her head impressed. Tony smiled to himself, "I got one better than better. Curious to know what follows red light behavior, Ziva?" "A... potential pregnancy?" "It's a good guess, but not in this case. Check this out," he got up and used the plasma above Beckett's desk gaining her attention, "ran the security footage taken from the lab. 0115. Last two people present were our lieutenant and this guy. Azeon's chief mechanic, Jamie Jones. Hold onto your socks. Gets a little steamy." He plays the video and the team watch as Jones walks up behind Seabrook, and grabs her butt, then forces her hands up and over her head holding her against Otto forcing a kiss before she is able to push him away with a well deserved slap. McGee raised his eyebrows, "What about the video from this morning, when she died?" "Oh yeah! Why didn't I think of that?" Tony slaps his forehead, before slapping McGee in the back of the head, "'cause someone erased it. The last image taken from any camera stops at 0537 this morning. And then nothing but snow." Beckett sighs deeply, "She was murdered."

Ducky confirmed Palmer was correct, Lieutenant Seabrook died of carbon monoxide poisoning. The levels of C.O. in her blood was five times the fatal does. She was most likely rendered unconscious in less than 30 seconds which was not possible unless she was breathing in the exhaust fumes directly from the tailpipe. Or someone pumped it into the vehicle, which could connect with what else Ducky found. Evidence of assualt. Her wrists were bruised meaning she was restrained, and there were bite marks on her inner thigh and back. After Ducky ran a rape kit, he found an intrauterine device, or an I.U.D., and fresh male genetic material from the night before or the morning of. Traces of engine oil and a particular kind of lotion was on her hair and skin, and since the main ingredient was pumice, it was Grease-Monkey soap. But Seabrook's hands were clean and free of calluses meaning it wasn't her soap.

Beckett reads from the report she found on Jones, "Jamie Jones was arrested in 1998 for assault and battery on his girlfriend and, she dropped the charges and married him six months later." Tony shrugged from his desk, "There's no accounting for taste. Look at Britney and K-Fed." Ziva pointed to him, "At least she was smart enough to ask for a divorce." Beckett held the file up quickly, "Ah, so was Jone's wife. They divorced three years ago and there's a restraining order." "Shocking." "Not on him Ziva. He got it against his ex-wife." As soon as Gibbs walks into the bullpen moments later, Tony jumps from his chair, "Lieutenant Seabrook wasn't alone at Azeon last night, boss." "She was with a mechanic." The team, minus Beckett, look between each other confused. Beckett wasn't since Gibbs had a way of finding things out before anyone else could. Tony nodded, "Yeah.... the Azeon security cameras caught it." "And there was evidence she was-" "Sexually assaulted. Ducky thinks she was raped." Tony nods and pulls up the footage of Jones and Seabrook again. Gibbs gets up from his desk focusing on the plasma, "You get a warrant yet?" Beckett hands him the paper as Tony states he was going to go pick him up with Ziva. But Gibbs shook his head, "Not anymore. You're processing the Lieutenant's apartment. You two," he points to McGee and Beckett, "get with Abby. The C.O. levels in that vehicle were off the charts. You find out how he did it." Beckett links her pinky with Tony before they separated, and she missed when Tony said he would meet Ziva at the apartment. Having to drop off a 'stool sample' at the hospital, leaving Ziva a little worried.

McGee and Beckett exit the elevator to the garage were Otto was parked, and Abby was somewhere dissecting it carefully. "Abby?" "Over here!" They circle but don't see her leaving Beckett confused until she rolls out on a creeper from under the Humvee. They look down at her together and McGee narrows his eyes, "I'm trying to decide if this is a yellow light or a red light situation." "Solid yellow," Beckett laughs helping her up. Abby smiles pointing to McGee, "You only wish I was still sexually harassing you." He shakes his head gesturing to Otto, "So, uh Gibbs wants us to figure out how so much C.O. got pumped into the vehicles cabin." "Okay, first of all McGee his name..... is Otto," Abby paused for dramatic effect, "it's a palindrome. And second... he is so much more than a vehicle. I've never seen programming like this." Beckett eyes the equipment, "It's complex." "Very, and elegant, visionary- it's way put of my league. You?" She eyes the laptop on the table connected to a large bundle of wires as McGee shakes his head, "I got lost about 50 lines in. Seabrook was operating at a whole different level." Beckett eyes the system, "If they used the A.I. to sabotage or redirect the exhaust into the ventilation system, it would take months to track." "How very right you are Becks," Abby smiles. McGee looks between them for a moment, "Make sure you both tell Gibbs that." "I already did," Abby sighed, "I told him we needed help from the Azeon people." "How? Right now they're all suspects." Beckett nodded to McGee, "Probably what Gibbs said too." Abby nods while McGee sighs deeply, "Great. Well, how long did he give us this time?" "Today." Beckett smiles, "We're screwed."