Resurrection: An NCIS Fanfiction [Book Two]

Chapter 40 - Resilient

Ding!

The elevator doors slid open. Gibbs and Carter walked off and over to the bull pen. "Can I ask what is going on, now?" Carter said as she stepped behind her desk.

"Not yet. We have to wait for Ducky to come up. He's the one who wants to talk to you all." Gibbs sat down and took a drink of his coffee.

"Did we do something wrong?" Tony looked up from his computer.

"I don't know, Tony. Like I said, we are waiting for Ducky. He needs to tell us something." Gibbs tossed his empty coffee cup into the trash can under his desk.

"That is odd. Ducky almost always tells you before he comes up." Ziva looked over.

"I have no idea why." Gibbs crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"That doesn't make me feel any better." Carter said, nervously, as Ducky walked over from the staircase.

"Why, hello." Ducky said walking in to the center of the bull pen, "What wonderful weather we are having today, now isn't it?"

"Get on with it, Duck." Gibbs sat up straight.

"Ah yes... We had a lot of work this morning, bringing all of the bodies in from the crime scene." Ducky started pacing, " So many bodies in fact, we had to keep some in body bags on the floor."

"And...?" Gibbs looked at him.

"And they are all retired sailors or marines, or so it would seem from the older appearance of their uniforms. They don't make them like that anymore... They were all killed anywhere from five years ago to just a few days ago." Ducky looked over.

"So what does that mean, Duck?" Tony asked.

"I did some research and found that there had been an increase in the number of military personnel disappearing after having troubles with their PTSD during this time... As much as I hate to say it... A ten fold increase." Ducky said.

"So are you saying that you think the disappearances of all these men were never reported?" Ziva asked.

"No, they were reported... Just never investigated carefully. After a few months they were all declared deceased... I think that these are those men." Ducky sighed.

"Alright. Tony, Ziva. Start pulling up the reports for all of the missing marine corps and navy veterans from the past five years. Carter, go work with Abby on identifying the bodies." Gibbs said, standing up.

"What about you, boss?" Tony asked.

"I am going to MTAC. I have to talk to the director and SecNav to figure out why these disappearances were not investigated more thoroughly." Gibbs walked to the stairs in the corner of the room. Carter stood up and made her way to the elevator.

Ding!

Carter stepped off of the elevator and walked into the lab. "You're back!" Abby turned around, "What was that all about?"

"Ducky thinks that the bodies might be those of veterans who went missing after struggling with their PTSD." Carter said, walking over to her computer.

"Oh really? That would be crazy." Abby said.

"Yeah... But also, it's not just the marines and the navy... Veterans going missing after PTSD flare ups has apparently increased ten fold across all the different branches of the military." Carter sat down.

"Oh my god... So my fear about the blood scrapings containing more than just the blood of those fifteen men is even more probable than I thought." Abby's eyes got wide.

"Exactly..." Carter said.

"Well... I guess we just have to be resilient..." Abby said, leaning forward to her computer.