Title: Adaptation, a Torchwood/NCIS Crossover (17/?)

Author: Emma

Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Tim McGee, LJ Gibbs, Ducky Mallard, others

Rating: Starts PG, but hey, it’s got Jack and Ianto in it (not to mention Tim & Jethro!)

Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?

Summary: Tim McGee’s worlds collide as Torchwood is drawn into an NCIS case

Author's Note: This is part of an AU where Gwen and Owen were killed by Gray. So if you want to know why Martha is married to Rhys, why Jack and Ianto have a CP, two sons and two adopted daughters, and why Andy and Ianto are Kings of an alien race that settled on Earth millennia ago, you may want to read Evolution and Bred in the Bone first

Part One is here; Part Two is here; Part Three is here; Part Four is here; Part Five is here; Part Six is here; Part Seven is here; Interlude is here; Part Eight is here; Part Nine is here; Part Ten is here; Part Eleven is here; Part Twelve is here; Part Thirteen is here; Part Fourteen is here; Part Fifteen is here; Part Sixteen is here

Commander Zigler was a stocky man with the bad attitude that short men and officers that climbed their way from the enlisted ranks seem to carry about like an extra stripe on the shoulder boards. He stared at Gibbs almost daring him to do something.

“He's very certain that he will win,” Roberta whispered. “Or at least that Director Gibbs won't be able to charge him with anything.”

We were standing behind the one-way mirror in the observation room. Roberta had her hand on the glass. Her eyes were closed and she was frowning slightly as she concentrated.

“He knows where your people are. He hates knowing. He would much rather not be involved with this, but he likes the money.” She lifted her hand with a jerk as if she had been burned. “He has... unusual... sexual tastes. Expensive.”

Jack's smile sent a shiver down my back. “Men like that are brittle. They are very certain of their prerogatives, but also terrified of their secrets.” He looked at me. “How good is your Director at this?”

“Best I've ever seen.”

“Zigler will last about ten minutes, then.”

In the interrogation room, Gibbs stared silently at Zigler, and the Commander stared back. I had seen that before, and it always ended the same way. Sure enough, in a few minutes Zigler started to squirm.

“What the hell am I doing here, Gibbs?” He thrust his chin out belligerently. “Shouldn't you be looking for Ziva's killers?”

“That's why you're here, Commander.”

The vein on Zigler's temple throbbed. “You suspect me?”

“Of killing her? No. You couldn't have killed her, because that thing in my morgue isn't Ziva.” He opened the folder in front of him and lined up four photographs in front of Zigler. “The two on the left are of the Silurian your friends killed... Surprised that we know? The ones on the right are of the piece of offal they tried to pass off as Ziva David. Lousy job, Zigler. Even I can see the differences.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ve got nothing on me.”

“Maybe not. But I do have a whole team of very clever computer geeks and I turned them lose on you this morning. By dinner time they’re going to know you in ways even your dear sainted mother didn’t.” Gibbs picked up the photos. “Perhaps even in ways you’d rather she never found out about. You have secrets, Zigler, and by the time we get through with you, we’ll have you naked in front of the reflecting basin at lunch time. I wonder what your family will say.”

“He’s a touch psychic,” Ianto whispered in my ear. “Or a really excellent judge of character.”

“Both.”

I watched as Gibbs stood up and started to leave the room, only to turn back at the last minute. “What I don’t get is how you could get involved with this bunch of losers. Taking a little cash to look the other way when they brought in stuff, ok, I can see it. But getting involved in kidnapping and murdering federal agents on behalf of a bunch of lizards? Did you really think the U.S. government didn’t know about them?”

“Showtime,” I said to Roberta.

We went to stand by the door of the interrogation room to wait for our signal. We had discussed this until we were all sure of our roles. I waited for the knock, then opened the door and ushered Roberta in.

“This is Roberta Lehman.” He gestured towards Zigler. “Would you demonstrate for the Commander?”

She nodded. Bracing herself slightly, she faced Zigler. I could feel the energy flow between them as she reached into his mind. Zigler scrambled out of the chair, flinging himself backwards to crash against the far wall, hands pressing into the paint so hard I could see chips peeling off. Gibbs waited a few more minutes and then tapped Roberta on the shoulder gently.

She nodded shyly at him. “They're at the Drydock site. One level below ground.”

“She's one of them!” Zigler was choking on his own saliva. “What's she doing here? She's one of them!”

Gibbs grinned at him. “Nope. She's one of ours. Now that she's told me what I need to know, I can just throw your ass in jail for smuggling and aiding and abetting the kidnapping of NCIS agents. Forget the pension, the little condo in Fort Lauderdale, and the Kingfisher workboat, Zigler.”

We turned to go. Zigler came off the wall as if shot from a cannon. “Wait! Hold on!” He collapsed on the chair. “Can we make a deal?”

“What for? Roberta probably got everything she needed off your head.”

“No. No. There's something else.” His hands were shaking so badly that he had to grip his knees to make them still. “Something to trade.”

Gibbs sat back down. “All right. Tell me.”

“When they went to dump the body… the Ziva thing… they left a briefcase behind. I looked in it. There was this sheet of paper with a map, I couldn't tell what it was, but I made a copy and hid it.”

“Where?”

“Oh no, Gibbs.” Zigler was trying for an imitation of his usual cocky self and he was failing miserably. “I want my deal.”

“On the basis of what? One piece of paper that might have the GPS coordinates to the local alligator watering hole?” Gibbs picked up his folder. “Never mind. I'll just turn you over to Roberta. She'll take it from your mind.”

Zigler deflated completely. “All right, all right. It's in my brother in law's work trailer at Drydock Number One. I put it in his receipt file. He never looks at those until the job is over.”

“Is your brother in law in on this?”

“Naw. He's all business, that one.”

Gibbs stood up abruptly. “Maybe you should have learned something from him. All right Zigler. We're going to go get our people. If they're alive and if that piece of paper means something, you'll get your deal...”

He broke off as Jack and Ianto entered the room. Jack was carrying a glass of water. “I have a better idea.”

Gibbs stiffened, but then thought better of it. “Yes?”

Jack put a small pill in front of Zigler. “Drink this.”

“Are you crazy?”

Jack grinned. “Possibly. But not this time. You're in shit up to your hips, Commander. Neither one of our governments want people walking around with knowledge of the existence of Silurians, so you have two choices. One is to take that little pill and forget all you know. And the second... well, at our end of the pond we have this convenient way of handling people like you. You'll go to jail at His Majesty's pleasure, Zigler, and Charles is a tough old bastard. You might come out when you're ninety nine or so.”

Zigler stared at him, then nearly jumped at Gibbs. “You're going to let him do that?”

Gibbs shrugged. “Nothing I can do. There are all sorts of diplomatic agreements covering crimes of this sort, and we would never endanger our special relationship with the Brits. You're enough of a Navy man to know that.”

Zigler shook his head, but he knew it was hopeless. He picked up the pill and placed it in his mouth. Jack offered him the water. “Drink up, Zigler. When you next wake up, you'll be a whole new man.”

We watched as Zigler seemed to drop into a deep sleep almost immediately. Then Roberta turned to Gibbs, hands on hips. “Alligator watering hole?”