Lovers of the Abyss

Chapter 4: Hung out to Dry Pt 2

Belle and Gibbs were near the corporal as DiNozzo took pictures in the other room. "Why didn't you tell us you were a rigger, Corporal?" Gibbs questioned, Morgan, trying not to blush at the different connotations of the word. They just sounded all kinds of wrong coming from his mouth.

The Marine's hands work deftly at the pack, "Thought you knew, sir."

"Did you?" Belle asked, drawing his sights on her as her head inclined. "What's next?" She nudged her chin in the direction of his hands.

They all look down, "Sign the log and stick it in the chute pocket."

Gibbs grabs the freshly inscribed booklet and lifts it to Belle, "Same signature."

The man watches them, his jaw clicking. "That was the log from Thumper's chute,

wasn't it, sir?" Grief writes across his face, and Belle feels her stomach drop as it sets itself in stone as her boss confirms it. "Sir, I didn't know he'd get one that I packed." His voice was bitter, chasing after Gibbs as he began to walk away. "The chutes are handed out randomly,

even when we jump." When Gibbs asked if riggers usually jumped, Dafelmair nodded, "On training runs, yes, sir."

"How many riggers jumped last night?"

Corporal bounced his head up and down, "Corporal Ramsey, Brinkman, and Thumper, of course. He was senior rigger."

The irritation coming off of Gibbs was warm; it emanated a spicy scent, like gunpowder and oranges. "Figure we knew that, too?" Dafelmair stated defensively that they hadn't been trying to hide anything as Gibbs rounded on him. "Like hell, you weren't, Corporal."

He hopped up on the red counter as DiNozzo popped a chute, "You all knew Thumper was using painkillers for that dinged collarbone."

Belle leaned against the counter aside Gibbs, "He died 'cause he was too juiced to pull his reserve." She informs him as Tony comes closer to the three, eyes boring into the corporals.

"Sir, there is no way for anyone to sabotage a chute and count on it getting to a specific jumper."

"All those chutes packed here?"

The corporal nods, "We prepped them at 0900. Put 'em on the trucks for the jump at 1800."

"Nine hours unattended," Belle notes as she pulls her jacket sleeves down, an uncaring motion that causes him to tighten his mouth in anger.

He scoffs, arms crossing over his chest, "Under lock and key, Doctor."

"Who's got the key?" Gibbs asked.

"Captain Faul and Thumper, as senior rigger, both have keys."

Belle has to stop her mouth from frowning as the captain is mentioned. He had already made the hair on her arms stand up, the vibes she had procured from him making her jaw ache with wariness. Gibbs lifted himself off the counter before opening Dafelmair's file, said man placing his hands on his. "You had a criminal record before entering the Corps, Corporal."

A feeling reaches Belle's arms as she is reminded of her own very sealed, very secret past. Yes, the elder agent and NCIS as a whole had gotten the fabricated history of her comeuppance, a mention of her adoption and to whom, but most of her life was blacked out with top-top-secret clearance. Would Gibbs have the same distaste for finding out about her past? The same judgemental quiver in his icy eyes. Would he feel betrayed by her silence if someone had made the slip?

Would he hate her just as much as she herself?

The corporal is the one who pulls her from her own mind. "And I would never do anything to hurt it or one of my brother Marines. Never, sir."