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Standing in the center of the bar, a round from his SIG-Sauer permanently embedded in the forehead of Amanda Reed (formerly Hamilton Voss) who lies on the ground, dead, her features forever in an expression of shock, Gibbs knows that he should feel something.
Anything.
Like relief.
That Reed/Voss isn't alive anymore to keep on hurting others or even killing.
But...
But Gibbs still can't get over his guilt over the fact that he should have helped murdered NCIS agent Christopher Pacci, a man he considered an ally.
A friend.
If he hadn't been searching for Jack Curtin who'd escaped from prison, he could have helped Pacci.
Spared him from dying at the hands of Reed.
Yet..
Yet it wasn't to be.
Instead, the bar's a crime scene.
Gibbs will give his reports.
File all the necessary paperwork.
Everything.
He hopes this will be enough for Pacci's family.
Some kind of closure.
He's not going to make this mistake again, though.
The next time, someone, a friend of his wants help, he's giving it to them.
And that is a promise set in stone.
Fin