RULE ZERO

Chapter 1 - Prologue

"All I'm saying," Anthony DiNozzo said as he and McGee exited the elevator, "is that it's not natural."

"It's perfectly natural," Timothy McGee countered, as he pulled his gun out to put in his desk drawer.

"What is unnatural?" Ziva David asked, looking up from her computer.

"McRomeo here," Tony said, pointing a thumb at McGee before opening his desk drawer and dropping in his own gun, "has been on three dates with Elaine from down in accounting and they haven't kissed yet."

"Elaine," Ziva said. "The one with the really firm buttocks?"

"Yes," McGee said. Then quickly, "No! I mean… Yes, Elaine the blonde from accounting. She, ah, teaches aerobics in her spare time."

"I dated an aerobics instructor once," Tony said, his voice low and smooth. "Very flexible." He flopped into his desk chair and pulled out his keyboard to type in his password.

Ziva smirked.

"She's a really nice girl and we're taking it slow," McGee said, sitting.

"Glaciers are slow, McLiplock," Tony said. "You're slower than… Well, a glacier."

"As slow as you typing a report?" came the familiar voice of Leroy Jethro Gibbs a moment before he came striding around the corner of DiNizzo's desk. "Grab your gear. We've got a dead petty officer."

"Where?" DiNizzo asked.

"The loading dock downstairs," Gibbs said, already striding toward the elevator.

The rest of the team exchanged a confused look before scrambling to grab their gear and hurry toward the elevators.

The elevator doors opened and the team filed out to find Doctor Donald "Ducky" Mallard and his assistant Jimmy Palmer already standing on the loading dock, looking down at something. The loading dock at the NCIS building was seldom used. Most deliveries pulled into the large garage where technicians processed the larger evidence. As such, it was empty and not a little dusty. McGee sneezed.

"What have you got, Duck?" Gibbs asked, ignoring McGee as he strode toward the pair.

"Ah, good morning, Jethro," Ducky said. "I must say, I'm not used to having my corpses gift wrapped and delivered."

Gibbs walked up next to Ducky and looked down. A body in the uniform of a Navy petty officer was lying face-down on the loading dock, wrapped in clear plastic stretch wrap of the kind used to wrap pallets for shipping. The plastic glinted and shown in the early morning light, making it hard to discern details on the body.

"Yeah," Gibbs agreed. "That's a new one, Duck." He turned to his team. "DiNizzo…"

"Photos and measurements. On it, boss," DiNozzo said, pulling the camera out of his bag.

"McGee."

"I'll access the security cameras and see if we've got a visual on whoever dropped off the body," McGee said, hurrying back toward the elevator and letting out another sneeze.

"David."

"Checking with security for a list of all vehicles entering or leaving the facility in the last twenty-four hours," Ziva said.

As the team hurried away, Gibbs turned back to Ducky. "So you specifically requested me to investigate this one," he said.

"Indeed I did, Jethro. And thank you for not simply barking my name and assuming I will go off to do whatever it is that you want me to do."

Gibbs shrugged. "My people know their jobs, Duck."

"Yes, although I am reminded of a lion tamer I knew in London who…"

"Duck," Gibbs cut him off. "Dead petty officer?"

"Oh. Yes. Right," Ducky said. "I called you because of this." He knelt down next to the body and looked up at his assistant. "If you would, Mr. Palmer."

Jimmy knelt down on the other side of the body and, at a nod from Ducky, helped him roll the body on to its side. The plastic gave a little crinkling sound as the raised the body.

Ducky nodded at the corpse's chest. The petty officer's uniform was pulled back to reveal his bare chest. Carved into the chest, in block letters large enough to read through the diffusion of the plastic wrapping, was 'RULE 40.'

"I didn't think it was a coincidence," Ducky said. "Isn't that your Rule 38? 'There is no such thing as coincidence'."

"Rule 39," Gibbs corrected him.

"So what's Rule 40?" Ducky asked.

Gibbs squatted by the corpse and stared at the words carved in the flesh. His voice was low, so Ducky had to lean a little closer to catch the words. "If it seems like someone is out to get you, they are."