"Why are all these people still here?"
The officer in question turned, obviously very irritated by the rough speech, to his counterpart and looked at him appraisingly. There was an air of insignificance on his face, disfigured by large sunglasses, as he straightened to his full height and responded in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "Well, I guess that's what they call onlookers, sir. After all, it doesn't happen every day that a naval cruiser, believed to be lost, turns up in the fields of a small, nondescript village."
For a tiny moment the two dissimilar men looked at each other, then the opened ID of a federal agent pushed itself in front of the officer's eyes. "Gibbs, NCIS. You and your people will see to it that these onlookers get out of this place immediately. Everyone. I want at least a mile of the site to be cordoned off. Nobody enters or leaves this area without my knowledge.Have I made myself clear enough? "The agent's ice blue eyes flashed.
"Sir ..." The officer actually looked unsettled for the moment when his gaze slid over the steadily growing number of people who seemed to come like ants from all conceivable directions. In addition, the number of camera teams and amateur photographers increased by leaps and bounds. "Sir, with all due respect, but these people ... they keep their distance on their own. And I have far too few men to be able to carry out such a cordon."
A low growl came from his counterpart and the undisguised anger could clearly be heard in the voice of the federal agent as he grabbed the officer by the arm and pulled him closer. "Then hell, come up with something, man! This isn't a family sightseeing event. This is an American Navy cruiser. And these ships, as you should know, have guns, explosives, sensitive technology, and so on." God knows what highly dangerous substances are loaded.We don't know what happened to this ship in the weeks it was thought to be lost, and so we don't know whether the cargo was damaged in such a way that some of it could blow up in an uncontrolled manner! "
The officer’s horror that followed was proof enough for Gibbs that he hadn’t even thought about the danger.
“And you really want to leave all these people in close proximity to the cruiser?” He let go of the man and his gaze softened again. "Bring all the forces you can find here. You can turn to the military if you lack the men and equipment for the job."
With that he left the officer standing and walked past him towards the ship. His gaze slid over and over again over the battered torso and his heart grew heavy. How could such a thing happen? How could anyone have a ship this size, hundreds of miles from the nearest navigable body of water, appear in a cornfield overnight?And how could a ship that had been cared for and serviced for years and was in active use become an almost unrecognizable wreck within two months?
Gibbs couldn't deny that doubts as to the authenticity of this situation still haunted his mind. It was just impossible! Not doable without attracting a chain reaction of attention. But the whitewashed letters peeking out from under the thick rust crust undoubtedly marked the ship as the "SeaCrawler". He would scan the cruiser from top to bottom. Until then, the doubt remained.
The NCIS agent turned to hear the footsteps of his team behind him and the strained gasping of McGee as they struggled through the thick corn plants. They had all fixed their eyes on the imposing warship when they arrived next to him, and the same doubts were written on their faces that were arguing in Gibbs' chest.He didn't give them much time to hold the mouth of a mole.
"Kate, you take photos. Take the same for the pilot of this helicopter over there and ask him whether overview photos have already been taken from the air. If not ..."
"... I will enjoy a free flight with a helicopter and take a few photos on the side. Of course." The young agent grinned cheekily at him and turned the suitcase with the photo equipment out of the sweaty hand of McGee, who was still tied up in mute fascination . For the moment, he seemed to have forgotten how much he had cursed just moments before about the heat and the oh-so-unfair treatment of Tony and Kate.
A rough pat on the back of the head brought him abruptly back to the present.
"McGee, you take samples of anything you can get your hands on that could bring us to the fore in our investigation. From the skin, from the rust, from the floor. Contact Abby if necessary.She knows best what she needs. And she is probably the only one of us who has a fantasy that is active enough to understand THAT here. "
He paused and carefully reached out a hand to touch the ship's side. With a faint crackle, the rust crumbled to dust under his fingers. Gibbs shuddered. Nothing turned to dust that wasn't ancient.
“Boss?” Tony was still standing next to him and had watched with similar discomfort as the rust had dissolved into nothing. Serious concern was reflected on his face as he looked sideways at Gibbs. "What does that mean?"
"I can't tell, Tony. This ship holds a secret that we have to wrest from him first. And I hope we can really ..." He was surprised by his sudden uncertainty himself. It had never been his way of procrastinating. But something about this cruiser made him uncomfortable and stirred up his otherwise unshakable straightforwardness.It was scary.
With a jerk he tore his thoughts free and began to walk alongside the ship. As he did so, his eyes searched for a clue, even the smallest detail, to grab hold of and begin. "DiNozzo, get in touch with our headquarters and the navy and find out what kind of mission the SeaCrawler was involved in before it disappeared. I want to know everything. About the crew, the cargo, the route. Easy everything you can find. "
“Of course boss.” Tony turned away and theatrically flipped open his cell phone. "I will bring light into the mysterious darkness that surrounds you, my pretty. Whatever dark secrets may lie in your unfathomable existence, I will snatch them from you." A crooked grin crossed his face before he hastily moved away from the scowl that Gibbs sent after him.
"And no one enters the ship until we have further information!"Deep in thought, he continued his way along the hull of the ship.
"There is nothing left on this ship that could harm you or your people, Agent Gibbs."
The NCIS agent turned in surprise and met the awake gaze of a tall man. A red-haired woman was waiting a little behind him. The look on her face was far from happy and Gibbs got the impression that she was more than a little uncomfortable standing here and talking to him.
He turned back to the man and eyed him suspiciously. Jeans, shirt and tousled brown hair suggested an onlooker who had somehow managed to bypass the cordon.
"You are in a strictly cordoned-off security area, in which neither of you have any business. Go on the spot!" But the man pursed his lips, unimpressed, and threw a demonstrative look at the SeaCrawler."This cruiser is said to have had a considerable amount of highly radioactive material loaded when it left its home base in Georgia. In addition, weapons that can be equipped with this material and other additional ammunition. None of this is now on board." He made a calculating one Pause during which he studied the senior agent closely. As if he were looking for something specific. "We have a not to be despised problem here, which affects highly sensitive areas of our politics and government, Agent Gibbs."
The NCIS agent's eyes narrowed. Whoever that guy was, he knew way too much for his liking. Even more than he could say of himself right now. "What do you mean 'we' have a problem? Who are you to throw around such explosive information as if it were cheap market goods? If these claims get into the wrong ears, THEN we have a problem."
What this stranger said was outrageous and Gibbs could not recall having heard of such a highly dangerous project.However, the circumstances surrounding the SeaCrawler were still so inexplicable that he could not ignore the fear that his counterpart might be right.
Who knew how long the cruiser had been here since? It was possible that people had already penetrated the ship and stumbled upon this sensitive information. But he couldn't imagine, with the best of intentions, that such an operation would have been performed without the knowledge of NCIS.
His brooding came to an abrupt end when the man and the red-haired woman reached into their jackets and unfolded two ID cards before his eyes. Immediately thereafter, he snorted angrily. He should have guessed it.
"Fox Mulder, and this is my partner Dana Scully. FBI."
"Can you give me one reason why the FBI of all people should be interested in this case? The SeaCrawler is a marine warship that was lost on its way to the Middle East."Now it has surfaced again. This is originally the responsibility of the NCIS, not that of the FBI. "Annoyed, he stepped past the two agents to the hatch of the side entry. Due to the inclination of the SeaCrawler, it was now easy to reach and stood open." Has anyone entered the ship before you? "
"We don't know. But there was no evidence to suggest it. The hatch was locked before I opened it."
Gibbs gave Mulder a withering look. "I hope for you, Agent Mulder, that you and your partner in your over-zeal have not accidentally destroyed important traces. Otherwise there will be consequences!"
Before the argument could get serious, Scully decided to intervene. She was angry with her partner because he had woken her up in the middle of the night in order to take her once more on an incredibly unreasonable investigation that was expressly forbidden by her employer.Inwardly she had already been waiting for Mulder to lose patience and for him to resume his old job as a secret investigator with the X-Files. But it didn’t change the fact that he was repeatedly