FREEZE FRAME 4: Dead Man Talking

SUMMARY: A dead Marine, a burned out car, a poker chip, a trophy bullet, a cold case, a bunch of lies and a broken promise. What do these things have in common, and how will these threaten Marley's new life with Gibbs and Gill?

Fourth in the Freeze Frame series.

DISCLAIMERS: I do not own NCIS.

Previously:

Freeze Frame: Marley Rose Hanson is witness to the death of her mother. She works with the team to catch her mother's killer.

Freeze Frame 2: Room Service: Marley Rose, along with her counselor, Gillian Riggs, are kept in protective custody for fear they are in danger after Marley's uncle, an undercover agent, goes missing.

Freeze Frame 3: Six Degrees of Separation: The team move Marley and - Rye, another teenage girl, to Gibb's house while they plan Marley's uncle's rescue and thwart a sex slave ring. Gill and Gibbs develop feelings for each other. Marley is put into a pseudo protection program with Gill and Gibbs as her guardians.

Chapter 1- Prologue

SNAFU – Situation Normal, All Fouled Up.

FREEZE FRAME: Cut to a close – up of a twelve year old boy, a grimace and shocked expression as he holds up the detached human bones of an arm. Convert black and white. Cut.

Fade in to a national park on the outskirts of DC.

A group of six youngsters are huffing and puffing as they ride bikes through old over grown trails of the national park.

"I thought you said you knew where you were going, Ben," groused Tom.

A thicker set youngster looked at the sky as he pushed his bike further. "Yeah, we're going to have to turn back if we want get back home before dark."

"Chill out, Sam. It is here. Ben and I found it last summer," puffed Ethan.

"These trails don't look like they have been used in a hundred years," observed Jarrod.

Ethan stopped and stood astride his bike, causing the others to pull up behind him. "They're old fire access trails. The newer ones are bigger; see over to the right where that break is. My dad's been the fire chief for ten years now, and there hasn't been a fire up this way since we lived here."

"Yeah, this is no bum scoop guys, honest. Uncle David, Ethan, and I came up here last summer for a camp out; well, somewhere around here anyway," said Ben, now starting to wonder if he really was in the right place.

"Yeah, well it looks just a big boondoggle to me," insulted Sam.

Ben, puffing out his chest, walked up to Sam, "you wanna say that again, dog face?"

"Hey, you two, cut it out. No, here it is," yelled Ethan, "see we're headed in the right direction. I can see the north tower from here."

The boys walked their bikes into a large clearing. They surveyed an area the size of a city park. To the right was the fire trail that they should have taken, clearly cut between the man made fire breaks. Four large trees canopied the area to the left, leaving only a space of about six feet in front of it clear before coming to the over grown tracks the Semper Fi gang had come through. The rest of the area appeared to be lined with bushes and fallen logs that were overgrown with crawling vines and weeds.

"It's cool!" crooned Tom.

"Yeah, just like a real fort," agreed Jarrod.

"A fortress… four trees. Get it? Get it?" nudged Sam.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we get it. That's why we chose it."

"A second headquarters," admired Tom.

"A summer base; 29 Stumps."

"Yeah cool as Disneyland East," laughed Sam.

Jarrod laughed with them.

"Hey, Aussie Rat, do you know what we are talking about?" Asked Tom.

"Sure do, and the nickname's Jumbuck. Disneyland East, is Marine headquarters at Arlington, and 29 Stumps is the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, somewhere in the Never Never," gloated Jarrod.

"The Never Never?"

"Yeah, some isolated place, I can't remember," laughed Jarrod.

Ben was impressed. "Hey, how do you know that stuff anyway?"

"My dad's a RAN ; Australian Navel Officer, but he was stationed here years ago. That's when he met my mum. I now live with my dad in Australia for half of the year and the other half here with mum."

The boys all nodded and smiled at each other in silent approval.

"Semper Fi, bud. While you're here we got your six," said Ben as he slapped him on the back.

"Yeah, and maybe you can teach us some of those Aussie terms," suggested Sam.

"You're on," beamed Jarrod.

"Will you girls HURRY UP!" bellowed Ethan.

"Knew it was a mistake bringing the BAM's," scoffed Sam.

Jarrod looked confused, "Bam's?"

"Broad Ass Marines; girls!"

"I heard that, Ben. You're not allowed to call us that, Dad said so…" scowled Jessica as she appeared from the bushinto the clearing.

"What did he call us?" asked Marley, pushing an old bike through a rough piece of turf.

"Triple points; girls in the Australian navy are called triple points cause they are so good looking," covered Jarrod.

Ben slapped Jarrod on the shoulder. "Thanks dude."

"No worries, mate, got your six, too."

Alright seeing that everybody's here, let's get this place mapped out. Work out where we can set the parameter boundaries," ordered Ben.

The group moved over to the four large trees, and then spread out in different directions.

"Hey, there's an old car over here. Check this out," called Ethan.

"Cool , looks like it's an old Ford Maverick," drooled Tom;, the gang's specialist car buff. "Wow, this is like an antique practically. Looks like it was once green, my guess, around 1976."

Jessica screwed up her face and pulled at the weeds that covered it. "Gee, it must be that old. It's completely covered in vines."

"Hey, this will make a great artillery tank…" Tom scaled up on the roof of the old Ford. "Look, we'll shape the top to look like a cannon."

"Yeah, keep all the outside stuff. It looks like real camouflage," suggested Marley.

"Okay, leave the top, but let's hallow out the insides," recommended Jarrod.

The children started pulling at the weeds and thin green vines that had completely overtaken the abandoned vehicle. Tom worked on the roof, cutting and shaping the hedge like vines into the shape of cannon. He searched the area for a log to create the illusion of a barrel. Spotting one over by the four trees, he jumped down and went to retrieve it.

The rest of the gang worked on the interior, but the density of the over grown weeds made it almost a solid mass of foliage. As they pulled out each long stringy vine, another seemed to take its place. Ben pulled out his pocket knife and started hacking at the now moist and sticky plants, cutting as many of the stubborn knots as he could.

"This is going to take ages, it's like they are growing back," complained Jessica.

"Yeah, like that old scary movie, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. Be careful, they may be alive and embed themselves in our brains and take over…"

Marley stopped and smirked when she saw Jessica step back a little, spooked by her animated reference. "What we need is another knife."

"Hey, I've got a lighter, maybe we could burn a few at the joins. It's green, it should be alright," offered Sam.

"How come you got a lighter? you been nicking your dad's darts?" asked Jarrod.

"Darts?"

"Yeah, cigarettes."

"That's a stupid name."

"You're right, the old diggers call them durry's but we kids call them cancer sticks. That any better?" laughed Jarrod.

"Okay, Sam, try it but be careful. It's pretty dry round here, work close to the center just in case," Ethan said, pointing out the dry bushes that surrounded the vehicle.

Sam started burning a few of the vines where they overlapped or knotted. Before long, they were able to pull away quite a large clump from the back seat. "Okay, one more should pretty much do it for the back, then we can start on the front."

Sam started burning vines again. But this time, the free space they had created moments before added some oxygen to the dense matter and the flames took off, making the boys all jumped back.

"Ohh oh, all hands on deck. We need to get this out., Girls, get some dirt. Anyone got water bottles?"

"I have," said Marley, and she ran off towards her bike.

The boys took off their sweaters and started hitting the vines that were still miraculously contained in the vehicle. They were all thrown back as the back seat suddenly combusted and sent a grey cloud of smoke up into the sky.

"Shit, there must have been some gas still in the tank," panicked Ethan.

"Jeeze, you should have thought of that," chastised Sam.

"Don't blame him, we all should have thought of that…" yelled Jarrod as he slapped at the flames.

"Shut up the lot of you, and put the fire out. Someone call 911," directed Ben.

"No need," claimed Ethan when they all heard the siren sound from the north tower.

"I'm outta here…" panicked Tom.

"No, you're not," yelled Ben, "this place could go up…"

"Yeah, we're in enough trouble. It will be worse if this fire catches on and we are caught in a bush fire," shouted Jarrod.

"Yeah, now stamp out the spot fires in the scrub," yelled Ben.

"Marley, hand me that water." Jarrod doused his pullover in the water. He and Ben started hitting at the fire licking the windows of the abandoned ford, while Sam, Jessica, Marley, and Tom managed to kick out the smaller spot fires that had started appearing at the edges of the clearing no more than two feet from the car.

What felt like hours, but was actually only minutes, had passed when they heard the fire trucks approaching from the new trails to the right of the four trees. Ben started on the flames that had reached the front seats while Jarrod finished off the smoldering vines in the back.

Ben pulled hard on a rather stubborn bunch, clearing it from the driver's seat before it caught fire. He landed with a thud on his rump, then screamed in horror and froze on the spot when he saw what he now held in his hands, a tangled mess of vines and the skeletal remains of a human forearm.

FREEZE FRAME: Cut to a close – up of a twelve year old boy, a grimace and shocked expression as he holds up the detached human bones of an arm. Convert black and white. Cut.

TBC

Chapter 2: Cold Case.

A.N. Ah so here it is; the start of a new adventure with Marley. A bigggg thank you to Harliquinn for coming along for another ride, as we sort this mess out. Please review, let me know what you think, you may just have the answers I seek. LOL.