Fic: Turning the Tide 1/1
Title: Turning the Tide
Author: StarbucksSue
Author’s Notes: Originally written for the 2009 Ancient’s Gate gen NCIS Zine ‘Gear Up’
Warnings: Nothing explicit
Spoilers: Vague references to various Season 1 and 2 episodes
Characters: Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Anthony DiNozzo, Kate Todd, Timothy McGee
Rating: PG
Genre/Category: Gen, Team/Casefic, Hurt/Comfort
Disclaimer: I don’t own NCIS or any of its characters, I just like to play with them once in a while. So far, they haven’t complained.
Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs leaned on the railing outside MTAC overlooking the bullpen, silently observing his agents at work. He had high hopes for these people, this team. They were handpicked by him and had very diverse backgrounds and skills, they just needed to learn how to work together and trust each other so that they could operate as a cohesive unit in the field. It had been almost two weeks since Gibbs had transferred McGee permanently to the Major Case Response Team from the Norfolk Field Office, and although DiNozzo and Todd were familiar with him from the previous cases he had assisted them on, they had yet to settle down to the point where they were completely comfortable with one other.
Timothy McGee was the youngest member of the team. He was a fully trained agent. However, he had very little experience as a field agent so was on probationary status in his new role. McGee’s background was impressive; he had graduated from MIT with a Masters in computer forensics and Johns Hopkins with a BS in biomedical engineering. Where he lacked experience and confidence in the field he made up for it with his calm and placid nature and ordered thought processes. Regardless of how often he was teased Tim shrugged it off and sometimes even got the upper hand when his calm reasoning was able to quickly think up a smart response to the teasing and hazing, probably as a result of the stable and loving upbringing he and his younger sister had from their supportive and encouraging parents.
Caitlin Todd had been with Team Gibbs for a year and was the oldest of the three. The former Secret Service agent had jumped from her job before she was pushed and had been taken on by Gibbs on the same day after a joint investigation. Todd was a highly trained profiler and had really found her feet as an investigator over the past twelve months. It had taken her a while to settle in with her colleagues though. It both amused and annoyed Gibbs in turn that, despite the training she’d received as a profiler, she was slow to understand the people she worked with on a day to day basis. She had a mean streak too and had upset her partner several times over the first few months due to her inability to see past the front that he always showed the world. Kate saw herself as a woman in a man’s world who was determined to prove that she was just as good as them. Being brought up in a strict Catholic family with supportive parents and several brothers, both older and younger, had only strengthened that determination and sometimes Kate took it a little too far. She also found it hard to see past the doctrines of her religion when they clashed with the evidence in an investigation.
And that brought him to his wayward ‘middle child’, Anthony DiNozzo. He’d poached the young man from Baltimore PD just over three years ago. Shared jurisdiction in a case had meant that Gibbs had to work with the young detective after his partner, a former Naval Officer, became the fifth victim of a killer seeking revenge for his father’s death in Vietnam. DiNozzo had been thrown by his partner’s death and the hostile reaction he’d received from his colleagues in the PD, but Gibbs had been impressed with the young detective and had seen how his skills were being wasted. Tony had impressive street skills and was an excellent detective and investigator, he could charm the birds from the trees and had the ability to blend in, and to get on with adults on any level, although he found it difficult to relate to children. He also had the ability to switch from persona to persona making him a natural for undercover work. His father was a highly successful businessman, but Tony had decided at a young age that he was not going to follow his father’s footsteps into the family business. Always a cold and loveless man, as well as being an alcoholic, Tony’s father had little interest in his son for the most part, leaving the boy’s care initially to his wife and hired help, Tony was expected to report daily to his father just before the evening meal to keep the older man apprised of his school grades whilst the boy poured his father’s first drink of the evening. Apart from when his father took him along to his Civil War Re-enactments it was usually the only time Tony saw his father unless he was being disciplined. As Tony’s mother had been an alcoholic herself, most of the day to day care had come from the domestic staff and after her death, when Tony was eight, he was immediately shipped off to boarding school and summer camps. His father had taken no interest in the boy after that and, having disinherited him at the age of twelve, had disowned him completely when Tony went on to Ohio State to study for a sports degree. One of his mother’s relatives had helped pay his tuition fees, but a broken leg in his final year meant that he would never be able to play professionally, and when he finished college he joined the Police Academy, having always had an interest in law enforcement.
Tony was definitely Gibbs’ biggest challenge to date. The younger man warred constantly with the need to be taken seriously as Gibbs’ second in command as a competent and efficient investigator and the need for approval and affection that had always been lacking from his childhood. It was a fine balance but most of the time Gibbs prided himself on getting that balance just right.
As if he knew that his team leaders’ thoughts were on him, Tony looked up straight at Gibbs, an almost shy and self conscious grin on his face when he realized that he had been caught slacking. Rolling his eyes at his errant second, Gibbs pulled back from the railing and made his way down the stairs to the bullpen.
Returning to the bullpen after a visit to autopsy three hours later, Gibbs wondered what he’d walked in on. He was pretty sure Todd had PMT as she had been sniping irrationally at her colleagues for most of the day. It didn’t help that DiNozzo was still nursing occasional headaches after gaining a mild concussion from being knocked out by the victim in their previous case. The Petty Officer, who had been kept captive in an underground bunker, hadn’t been exactly grateful for the rescue and had hit Tony over the head after he opened the door to her prison and told her that the man who had been keeping her hostage was dead. Unfortunately the resultant headaches were making him somewhat short tempered. McGee, being the sensible one, was trying to fly under both their radars.
Gibbs left the bullpen with a sigh, heading for the coffee shop. They were only on the second day of the case and all were getting frustrated by the lack of information they could find on their victims. The bodies of two Petty Officers based at Norfolk had been found dumped separately in secluded woodland areas in Maryland and the whole team had been hard at work well into the night and then in again early that morning. The lack of sleep, coupled with frustration, meant that the three younger agents were definitely beginning to rub each other the wrong way.
McGee knew DiNozzo well enough to know that he would get teased by him and Tony had lived up to his expectations and taunted McGee at every opportunity. Initially Kate had joined in with gentle teasing of her own; however, the tide had gradually turned since the start of the case.
Since finding the second victim, the team had worked hard at trying to find a link between the two. Interviews with witnesses, colleagues, and relatives hadn’t turned up anything useful so they’d turned to cell phone records and email trails. The work was right up McGee’s street and the youngest agent had worked tirelessly at tracing all the information Gibbs had asked for. The more information Tim found the more confident the younger agent was getting which consequently made Tony more insecure. Unfortunately Kate was enjoying Tony’s discomfort way too much and was baiting him mercilessly. It was getting to the point where Gibbs wanted to bang all their heads together: Tim for being naïve to what was going on, Kate for being so clueless about her partner, despite her training as a profiler, and Tony for not having the confidence in his own abilities that he should have.
Gibbs sighed again as he stood outside the NCIS building staring out over the river to Anacostia Park. It had been three years since he’d rescued the grieving and insecure young agent from Baltimore PD after the death of his partner, and he’d put a lot of time and effort into building a sense of confidence and self worth into the younger man. It frustrated him to see Tony slipping back so easily.
McGee had watched Gibbs disappear for coffee with trepidation. Whilst the Senior Agent was in the bullpen his two colleagues at least reined in their current antagonism to each other but whenever Gibbs disappeared it was a different story. Not wanting to get caught in the crossfire, he was just trying to keep a low profile. Turning from the fax machine he groaned quietly to himself as he overheard Kate’s latest taunt.
“Geez, DiNozzo, no wonder your parents disowned you,” she hissed over the partition on the way to the restroom, missing the sharp flash of pain which passed over her partner’s face as the retort hit home.
Tim pretended to be engrossed in the papers he was holding as he sat back down at his desk. Kate’s insult was definitely below the belt as he knew, courtesy of Abby, that Tony’s mother had died shortly after his eighth birthday and he hadn’t missed the quickly masked pain on Tony’s face at the jibe.
Tim couldn’t imagine life without his mother, especially not losing her at such an early age and his sympathies were currently with Tony, who had immediately marched around his desk to rifle through Kate’s purse and grab her PDA while she was absent.
“Well, Katie, so who is it tonight?” he taunted, waving the PDA at her as she appeared in the bullpen, a brittle grin on his face. “You really think that Gibbs is going to let us out to play?” He swung away from her for a second and Tim saw his eyes glinting dangerously.
“Give me that back. Just knock it off, DiNozzo, and stop going through my purse,” Kate yelled as she stalked back towards her desk, snatching her PDA and headslapping Tony on the way past.
“Hey!” Tony snapped as he spun round in shock. “You don’t get to do that, only Gibbs can do that.”
They stood face to face. Tony glaring at Kate and Kate glaring back, neither willing to back down and neither noticing the stares from other agents in the bullpen at their raised voices.
Tim could only watch in horror at the standoff, not knowing which way it was going to go and not entirely certain that there wouldn’t be bloodshed. At the back of his mind he knew that if it came to it Gibbs would not be impressed if he just sat and watched. The least the team leader would expect from him would be to try and stop them from killing each other.
Just as he was desperately trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation, Kate finally took a step back, and he took a deep breath in relief.
Fortunately at that moment Tony’s phone rang and with a final glare at Kate, he turned to answer it.
“DiNozzo,” he snapped into the receiver. “Yeah, we are. Where? Okay, we’re on our way.” He cut the connection, quickly dialing the extension for autopsy.
“Hi Ducky, we’ve got another body, Dundawan Road, Perry Hall, Maryland, it’s just north of Baltimore, call me if you get lost. It’s part of a large estate.” He slammed the phone back down and made his way over to Gibbs’ desk, helping himself to the two sets of keys in the drawer. “You two take the truck. I’ll pick Gibbs up and meet you there.” He threw the truck keys at Tim before grabbing his backpack and heading for the elevator, Kate and Tim close on his tail.
Gibbs had just picked up another coffee to take back to the office when he saw the black NCIS Dodge Intrepid come screeching to a halt by the sidewalk with Tony behind the wheel. Knowing that it could only mean one thing he swung himself into the passenger side of the vehicle, buckling his seatbelt quickly. He usually preferred to drive but as Tony was already behind the wheel and he had fresh coffee he decided to let the younger man stay where he was. In truth he didn’t mind Tony driving as he drove almost as fast as Gibbs did.
“We’ve got another body, Boss.” Tony anticipated the question as he pulled away with a screech of tires. “Perry Hall, Maryland, just north of Baltimore. We should get there in about an hour depending on the traffic. Todd and McGee have the truck and Ducky’s on his way too.”
“On a housing estate? That doesn’t fit with the others,” Gibbs queried. He didn’t know the area in detail but he knew that Perry Hall was a large, sprawling housing estate.
“Well, the body’s actually in Gunpowder Falls State Park, close to the river. Dog walker found it about an hour ago, local police got there and saw the naval uniform and called us, he’s got no identification on him though, no dogtags. The closest we can get with the vehicles is Dundawan Road, so that’s where McGee and Ducky are heading.”
“You got McGee to drive?” Gibbs’ surprise was obvious.
“Yeah, thought they’d get there marginally quicker than if Kate did.” There was an edge to Tony’s voice as he mentioned Kate’s name which most people would have missed. Gibbs wasn’t most people though and he filed away the reaction to be addressed later. It was obvious to him though that Kate had upset her younger colleague somehow and Gibbs wondered yet again how she could be so clueless when it came to DiNozzo.
When Tony pulled the sedan to a halt, Gibbs wasn’t surprised to see that they were the first from NCIS on the scene. They’d made the journey in just over an hour which impressed Gibbs bearing in mind the traffic that they had encountered. They’d been held up getting through the Harbor Tunnel which wasn’t unusual for the route but Tony had made up the time easily.
By the time the others arrived on the scene Gibbs and DiNozzo had already been led to the site. Without the kit to start photographing and bagging the evidence Tony had started interviewing the dog walker and Gibbs was identifying potential evidence with the assistance of the local LEOs.
“Where the hell have you two been?” Gibbs grumbled to the other two members of his team. He didn’t wait for an answer. “McGee, photos, Todd, laser and sketch.”
They got down to business without a word and having finished with the witness, Tony started bagging and tagging once the photos had been taken. Neither Gibbs nor McGee missed DiNozzo’s quiet anger and Gibbs stared at Todd with exasperation at the jibes she kept throwing Tony’s way.
As the local LEOs filtered away, Gibbs collared McGee on the opposite side of the clearing, far enough away that their companions wouldn’t overhear the conversation.
“What happened between them?” he asked quietly.
Tim shook his head, unsure as to whether he should tell or not.
“McGee, I need to know.”
Tim looked straight at him, and seeing that the anger was gone and had been replaced by concern, decided that telling would be the better option.
“It wasn’t Tony’s fault, Boss, he was teasing Kate, but nothing more than their normal banter. She got up to use the restroom and out of the blue just said that she could see why his parents disowned him. She didn’t see the look on his face though. I think it really upset him.”
“Yeah, it would. I take it he did retaliate in some way.”
“Got her PDA out of her purse and started teasing her about what she was doing tonight. She headslapped him and he… Well, he told her she wasn’t allowed to do that.” Tim winced; it did kind of sound a little pathetic to him now he’d repeated it out loud.
“She really doesn’t understand her partner sometimes, just has to push too far.” Gibbs walked off and McGee stared at him amazed. It really wasn’t what he’d expected from Gibbs but he was impressed all the same, it showed that he knew his agents well enough to guess correctly who was in the wrong.
Tim watched from a distance as the victim was loaded into the ME’s van for its journey back to the Navy Yard, knowing it was going to be a while yet before the rest of them were able to leave the scene.
Gibbs came out of the Director’s office and stopped at the top of the stairs, looking down at his agents below in the bullpen before descending quietly. They were getting on with their work without a sound and that was a red flag in his book. A bullpen with DiNozzo in it was never routinely quiet, even when the younger man was working hard there were usually offhand comments or questions aimed at his teammates. Todd was sitting there with a stony look on her face, and McGee was obviously nervous, his gaze flitting anxiously between his computer screen and his two colleagues. Deciding that he needed to take some kind of action Gibbs made his way down the stairs.
“So what have we got so far?” he asked, stepping into their area.
“Still waiting on either the DNA or fingerprints, Boss. Ducky should be almost done with the autopsy though,” Tony reported. “Local LEOs have tracked down some other dog walkers and runners who use that track daily. I’ve got names and addresses.”
“Okay, Kate, take McGee and interview them. You know Ducky’s preliminary time of death but either Tony or I will contact you with an update by the time you get there if the time of death is any different. I want to know whether any of them saw anyone along that route, especially someone unfamiliar, any strange vehicles, any suspicious activity or whether anyone recognizes the victim. Have you got a picture of him?”
“Yes, Gibbs.” Kate stood without delay and grabbed her backback, closely followed by a surprised McGee who only just managed to catch the keys to the sedan as Gibbs threw them at him.
“Right, call me if you get anything we can use.”
They nodded and quickly made their way to the elevator.
Gibbs stood and watched them go before walking over to Tony and perching on the edge of his desk.
Tony looked up hesitantly. Despite three years of working for Gibbs he still wasn’t always one hundred per cent certain of some of the older man’s reactions and he knew that Gibbs had noticed his anger with Kate.
“I ordered McGee to tell me what happened. I’m sorry she’s giving you a hard time. Do you want me to speak to her?” It was a valid question; Gibbs preferred to let his workers sort out their own problems but didn’t hesitate if he overheard one of them crossing the line. He hadn’t witnessed this though and under those circumstances, didn’t want to intervene if Tony wanted to deal with it himself.
“No, Boss, it’s okay. I’ll deal with it. It’s just… He told you what she said? All I did was tease her about her shoes, surely that didn’t deserve the response she gave me?”
“No, it didn’t, Tony. She was in the wrong on that point. But you should know better than to go through her purse too. Two wrongs don’t make a right and she could drop you in it if she wanted to.”
“I know. It’s about the one thing I know that really winds her up though and I wanted to get personal with her, like she did with me.” He sighed. “I’m okay, Boss, or I will be by the time they get back.”
“That’s the spirit. Come on, let’s go and see if Ducky’s got anything for us yet.” He clapped Tony on the shoulder as he stood and led the way to the elevator.
“Hey, Duck, what’ve you got?” Gibbs asked the minute he walked through the doors.
“Ah, Jethro, I was wondering when you would grace us with your presence. Our victim presents the same injuries as the previous two. The Petty Officer was subdued by a blow to the head and then killed by having his wrists slit and being left to bleed out. Thankfully there is no evidence of a struggle of any sort or any attempt to stem the bleeding so it appears our killer was merciful enough to ensure that our victim did not regain consciousness before he expired. As I already mentioned, he was killed elsewhere as there was no blood at the scene to indicate he bled out there, and the time of death indicates that he was killed around the same time as our previous victims as I first thought. Prior to his death he was a healthy young male, aged around twenty five.” Ducky moved back from the x-rays to the body on the autopsy table. “You know this reminds me of-”
“Okay, thanks, Duck.” Gibbs interrupted with expert precision, not wanting the elderly ME to start on one of his long-winded tales. “Come on Tony, let’s go and see what Abby’s got. Later, Duck.”
From Ducky’s domain they made their way back up one floor to the forensics lab.
“What’ve you got for us, Abs?” Gibbs strode hopefully into the lab.
“Well, until about thirty seconds ago not much, but my babies knew you were on your way, Gibbs, and have come up with a positive fingerprint match. Our victim is Petty Officer Robert Grant, aged twenty four. I’ve pulled two partial prints from his belt buckle and one from his shoes, neither of which are his so I’m running those as well.” She turned back to him, a pleased smile on her face.
“Thanks, Abs, nice job. DiNozzo…”
“On it, Boss,” Tony replied, obviously anticipating the question as they made their way out of the lab, DiNozzo headed for the bullpen and Gibbs, once again, for coffee.
“Hi, Boss.” DiNozzo looked up as Gibbs returned to the bullpen. “Petty Officer Robert Grant was based at Norfolk; he’d been stationed there for three months. Was reported missing at 0700 this morning when he didn’t show for duty. He was last seen at 2000 hours three nights ago at chowtime by two buddies, both of them Petty Officers: Michael Andrews and Richard Sharp. He was supposedly off duty for the past two days. He hadn’t told anyone what he was doing on his days off and his family all live in Carolina so there’s no apparent reason for him to be in Maryland. He has a cell phone and I’ve asked for the records to be faxed over.” He stopped for breath, turning and picking up some papers. “I’ve already had his records faxed over from Norfolk and some statements that the Norfolk NCIS case agents had already taken from his CO and the Petty Officers who saw him last. According to the Norfolk case agent the three victims supposedly didn’t know each other or work together.”
“Good work, Tony.” Gibbs wasn’t one for praising his agents very often but he felt that Tony needed it today and the brilliant smile he got in return for the unexpected praise was well worth it. He took the Norfolk records and sat down to read them just as the fax whirred into life, spitting out the phone records that Tony had requested.
They worked in virtual silence for the remaining two hours of the afternoon, occasionally asking a question or for the other’s opinion or clarification on something they had discovered. It was a brief return to the earlier and simpler days, before McGee and before Kate. Much as he liked to have a larger team to share the load, there were days like today when Gibbs still wished it was just the two of them.
Everyone was in early again the following morning. Kate began by typing up her notes from the interviews they’d done the previous day, Tim compared the phone and bank records from all three of their victims and Tony started a deeper background check on the victims’ families and lifestyles. Relieved to have peace between his agents for once, Gibbs went for coffee. It wasn’t just for the sake of the caffeine; he had long ago discovered that the short walk to the coffee shop and back gave him time alone without interruptions to go over the information from his current case and give him some perspective on the evidence in front of him.
He didn’t stay out long but unfortunately it was long enough for his agents to get into another scrap.
“What the hell, Kate?” Tony shouted across at his partner, rising from his seat. “Why does it always come back to this? Don’t you ever give up?” He moved quickly around his desk, movements sharp with anger, disappearing in the direction of the restrooms.
Gibbs groaned silently to himself as he crossed from the elevator to his desk. He’d arrived in time to hear the tail end of the conversation and despite not hearing what had led to Tony’s answer he had a fairly good idea what had caused the younger man to storm off.
“One of you want to tell me what that was about?” It was an order phrased as a question and Gibbs stared at the remaining two agents expectantly.
Kate just looked pissed off and Tim had the look of a deer caught in the headlights.
“Just DiNozzo not being able to take a joke. He’s still sore about tonguing that guy Voss because he wasn’t thinking with his brains at the time,” Kate replied flippantly.
Tim looked over at her, a puzzled expression on his face. “I would have thought Tony would more likely be upset because Voss was the person who killed Pacci rather than because he tongued him. I mean, weren’t they pretty good friends?” he queried softly.
“Yeah, they were.” Gibbs looked straight at McGee as he answered him, ignoring Kate. “Went out for drinks every week unless we were tied up with a case, and they played softball together regularly. Pacci was on my team when Tony started so he showed him the ropes before Pacci took over as team leader of the newly created cold case team soon after.”
“You know I never thought of that,” Kate admitted quietly. “I didn’t realize they’d worked together so closely.”
Gibbs shook his head as he walked off in search of his errant second, wondering how the hell the former Secret Service Agent could be so clueless. She was a trained profiler and had been working with Tony for almost a year but hadn’t been able to see what a green rookie who had only just started working with Tony had already picked up.
Of course DiNozzo might have said something to McGee whilst they were on the stakeout investigating Pacci’s death, but Gibbs didn’t think so. Tony was not one to open up about his feelings and emotions, especially not to a younger agent whom he was trying to impress. Once again Gibbs felt annoyed with himself for not forcing the issue with his Senior Field Agent. Tony hadn’t been able to attend Pacci’s memorial service due to the investigation and being on stakeout. Pacci’s body had been removed for the burial before he’d had time to say goodbye to his friend, and even now Gibbs knew that the younger man hadn’t dealt with his friend’s death or visited his grave, even though Pacci had been buried locally near his family’s home in Maryland. Maybe if he’d pushed a little harder Tony would have talked things over and he wouldn’t still be so sensitive about the incident with Voss.
Gibbs knew he’d been warned. When Tony had first joined the Agency he’d had to undertake the mandatory psychological evaluation, and although the NCIS psychologist had passed him, the kindly man did have one concern which he had raised with Gibbs and Director Morrow after signing off on the evaluation, and that was about Tony’s lack of what he described as ‘emotional processing’, meaning that Tony appeared to repress emotional experiences and reactions instead of dealing with them.
Having spent a week living and working 24/7 with the former Baltimore detective Gibbs knew this to be true. Tony’s Baltimore partner had been the fifth victim of a serial killer Gibbs was chasing. Having just lost his probationary agent Brent Langer to the FBI and Stan Burley, one of his senior agents, to an Agent Afloat position he was working on his own as his final team member, Chris Pacci, was off with influenza, so when the Baltimore captain had offered his wayward young detective to assist with the investigation Gibbs had jumped at the opportunity. DiNozzo had been his ever since. Those seven long days, including several nights in shared motel rooms and staying at Gibbs’ house had given him a kind of insight into Tony DiNozzo, his childhood, and his demons, that none had been trusted with before and Tony had opened up about some of his issues for the first time in his thirty years. Even now, Tony still recoiled from talking honestly with the NCIS psychologist and still needed Gibbs’ support and encouragement to share and deal with issues that arose.
“Boss, I think I’ve got something here.” McGee piped up an hour later. He’d been going over all the bank and phone records from the three victims and had finally come up with a link between them. “All three of our victims have one cell phone number in common, it’s a number one of them has used each week and each call has coincided with the sum of $150.00 being withdrawn in cash from their bank accounts.”
“Drugs?” Tony queried as he made his way over to stand next to Gibbs in front of the plasma, where Tim had the cell number and withdrawals highlighted on the screen. “So who does that cell belong to, or is it a burn phone?”
“Not a burn phone,” McGee replied. “It’s registered to a Nathan Bellamy in Glen Burnie. That’s interesting; the address it’s registered to is a warehouse unit on a small industrial park close to the airport.”
“Let’s check it out. Grab your gear.” Gibbs quickly collected his badge and gun along with the keys to the sedan and was on his way to the elevator while his subordinates were still scrabbling to lock their screens and grab their guns and backpacks.
They made good time to Glen Burnie, reaching the industrial area on the outskirts of Baltimore Washington International Airport well within the hour thanks to Gibbs’ driving, despite the usual snarl up of traffic around the airport.
Gibbs parked the sedan on the edge of the site. There were several warehouses and other smaller outbuildings, and a vehicle which McGee had identified as Bellamy’s was parked off to one side of the warehouse in question, hopefully meaning that the man was somewhere within the complex.
“DiNozzo, McGee, you take the entrance on the far left, Kate and I will take this one.” He paired them up deliberately, not sure whether or not Kate and DiNozzo would play nicely after the earlier scene in the bullpen. Kate may have realized her mistake at last but that didn’t mean to say that Tony was alright with what happened, despite his earlier assurances to Gibbs when he’d found him in the head. Pacci’s death had cut him deeply and, as McGee had guessed, he was still sensitive about what had happened with Voss eight weeks later because of it.
DiNozzo and McGee made their way to the door farthest away from them, moving quietly between the buildings. There was no indication of where Bellamy had gone so they were on full alert as they approached the entrance.
Tony opened the door quietly and stepped inside, taking a quick look around before indicating to his younger partner to follow. They moved slowly and quietly. The building was dark and there were boxes piled on pallets to their right with a wall to their left, indicating smaller rooms to the side. They cleared each room quickly but as Tim stepped cautiously into the third room he was immediately attacked and thrown to the ground. Tony launched himself at Tim’s attacker, drawing the man’s attention to himself and away from his companion.
Things went to hell in a handbasket pretty quickly after that. Unbeknownst to them, Bellamy had an accomplice and the second man appeared from out of the shadows, whacking Tony on the head with a piece of metal piping. Tony dropped like a dead weight, lying so still and silent on the ground that Tim was seriously relieved when he saw Tony was still breathing.
Despite his fear, Tim made an attempt to escape, rolling over quickly and away from the men. Bellamy was too quick for him though and Tim was dragged to his feet with his arms twisted behind his back whilst the second man flung Tony easily over his shoulder. The two agents were taken down some steps into the basement and along a corridor before being locked in a small, concrete walled room. As the thick metal door was closed they were plunged into solid darkness, not that Tony would have known, he was still out cold. Their guns and radios had been taken but they’d been left with their cellphones. Tim pulled his out but as he’d feared, there was no signal.
Tim crawled over to where he remembered Tony being dropped unceremoniously to the floor, running his hands over his companion’s head to assess the damage. He wasn’t experienced in the field but knew enough to realize that Tony probably had yet another concussion so would need to be woken up as soon as possible. He’d seen the force with which Tony had been hit so he wasn’t surprised to feel blood on the back of his head where the pipe had landed.
“Tony. DiNozzo, you really need to wake up.” Tim shook Tony’s shoulder gently, mindful of any other injuries he may have gained. The thug hadn’t been too careful with the way he’d handled him. “Come on, Tony, don’t do this to me,” he pleaded.
He was rewarded with a groan as Tony tried to rouse himself and Tim quickly prevented him from trying to sit up.
“Don’t try to move, you’ll only regret it. I’m pretty sure you have a concussion.” Tim thought rapidly back to what he knew about concussions. “Can you tell me your name?”
“Anthony DiNozzo, I’m thirty three years old and I work for NCIS which stands for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. You are Timothy McGee, and our boss is the one and only Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Happy now, Probie?” Tony grumbled.
“I guess. I would have preferred it if you’d forgotten the Probie part though.”
Tony chuckled and then groaned as the movement obviously aggravated the pain in his head.
“You okay, Tony?”
“You mean apart from the mother of all headaches, yeah, Tim, I’m fine. Don’t think they were all that gentle with me but there’re no bones broken. How many of them were there, just the two? Are you okay?”
“Yes, two of them, and I’m okay. I’m not sure if we’re still in the same warehouse, we’re down in the basement but we walked quite a way when we came underground. It wouldn’t surprise me if we’re actually under a different building. Gibbs and Kate will never know where to look for us.”
“Gibbs will find us, he always does,” Tony replied confidently.
“Tony, they don’t even know where we are! Anyway I’ve never been lost and needed Gibbs to find me before,” Tim retorted.
“Yeah, well, he always finds me and you’re with me, right, Tim?” Tony pointed out.
Tim thought back, remembering Gibbs’ desperate race to find his second in command after he disappeared while searching for Atlas, the picture of an exhausted and jittery Tony coming clearly to mind. That had only been six weeks ago.
“I guess so, you’re obviously the expert at being lost but yeah, I remember, Gibbs was prepared to go to the ends of the earth to find you last time. I guess I’m lost with the right person,” Tim acceded.
“In the meantime, is there any way we can get out of here ourselves?” Tony asked.
Tim got to his feet. “I’m not even sure where the door is. I can’t see a thing. It’s way too dark.”
“Me neither,” Tony agreed with a sigh.
“The door’s metal and they locked it with a key and bolted it from the outside so I’m pretty sure it’s secure,” Tim recalled as he gingerly felt his way around the walls. “I’m at the door now.” He tapped on the metal. “Thick metal by the sound of it, there isn’t even a handle of any sort on the inside. I guess we’re going to have to wait until they come back and try and surprise them.”
“That’s the spirit. If we’re lucky one of them might come back alone but even if there’s two of them we should be able to take them out. They’ve taken our guns but I’ve still got my belt knife. Have you got a weapon of any sort?”
“Belt or shoelace is the best I can come up with; I guess I need to start carrying a knife,” Tim decided, half to himself.
“Always a good plan, Probie. I would never have got out of that sewer if it wasn’t for the knife hidden in my belt. Of course sometimes they even take your belt but most of the time they don’t think of it,” Tony told him.
“How many times has this happened to you?” Tim asked in amazement. “It sounds like it’s a regular occurrence. Do you manage to piss everyone off?”
He was relieved to hear Tony’s chuckle, both because it meant that Tony wasn’t mad at him and secondly because he thought hopefully that the older man’s concussion wasn’t as severe as he’d feared.
“Contrary to popular belief I do not get taken prisoner, hostage, or get kidnapped, or concussed on a weekly basis, although it might seem like it to you. It has happened enough times for me to be prepared though and carrying a belt knife is one of Gibbs’ rules. At least with NCIS I know that someone will be looking for me,” Tony finished quietly.
Tim wasn’t sure how to answer that so decided not to say anything for the time being, knowing that Tony would expand on it if he wanted to without him asking. He inched his way back to where he could hear Tony’s slight movements, easing himself down to sit beside him.
“Can you help me sit up, it’s pretty cold lying on the floor here,” Tony asked softly.
Tim moved back, taking his companion by the shoulders and easing him up slowly, careful not to aggravate any nausea that he might be experiencing. He could feel Tony shivering so he slid in behind him, allowing Tony to lean back against him and wrapped his arms self-consciously around Tony’s body, trying to warm him. Tim still felt warm himself, so he guessed the chill Tony was feeling must be to do with the concussion and having been laying on the cold concrete. “Is that better?” he asked, feeling Tony relax against him, dropping his head carefully back to rest on Tim’s shoulder.
“Yeah, thanks, Tim, could do with something thick and soft to sit on though but beggars can’t be choosers.”
Despite the circumstances, Tim laughed. If he was going to be stuck with anyone, he decided, DiNozzo was the right choice. Even concussed and stuck in a pitch black, damp cellar the man still retained his sense of humor and without that, Tim knew he would be starting to panic right about now.
Gibbs and Kate checked out the warehouse thoroughly. Finding nothing of interest in the offices located their end of the building they quickly moved on through the warehouse, finding they were unable to raise either DiNozzo or McGee on the radios. As they got to the far end of the building they found some smaller rooms off to the side. Checking each one quickly Gibbs was about to move on to the next when something caught his eye. Snapping on a glove, he bent down and retrieved a ballcap which was half hidden under the metal shelving, the familiar NCIS wording making his heart sink. Kate stared at him in horror.
“It’s Tony’s,” Gibbs said in an undertone in answer to her unspoken question, seeing the worn initials inside the cap. “Bellamy must be here somewhere and if he’s taken both of them he must have at least one accomplice. We need to call for backup.” He moved further away and pulled out his cell, quickly making a call.
They both drew their guns and moved silently through the remaining rooms at the back of the warehouse. Thirty minutes later they had thoroughly searched the smaller storerooms and the offices up on the higher level. Finding no sign of anyone in the building they were beginning to think that Bellamy and his accomplice were long gone.
Turning to go back to the main door to see if Bellamy’s vehicle was still outside, Kate caught sight of another doorway, half hidden in the shadows.
“Gibbs, over here.” Kate whispered, indicating the door she had just stuck her head around. “Stairs leading down, there must be a basement or cellars down there.”
“Okay, let’s go careful though. Hopefully Bellamy only has one accomplice but we don’t know that for sure.” Gibbs led the way down the narrow stairs, not wanting to switch on the small torch that Kate had dug out of her backpack for fear of alerting the men if they were anywhere near the foot of the stairs.
The steps took a turn near the bottom and as they rounded the corner they could see a faint light. Reaching the bottom they could hear talking and crept silently towards the room where they could hear the voices. Conversing by hand signals Gibbs and Kate waited but they could only hear two voices involved in what appeared to be an argument so they burst into the doorway, guns quickly locking onto the two men inside.
“Federal Agents, put your hands on your head and don’t make any sudden movements or we will shoot,” Gibbs demanded.
Bellamy and his accomplice were so surprised that they had no time to react and did exactly what they were told.
Gibbs quickly searched them, removing their weapons and handcuffing them efficiently to sturdy looking metal racking units along one wall. “Where are my men?” he barked angrily.
“L-locked in the room at the far end of the hallway,” Bellamy stuttered, completely intimidated by the silver-haired man glaring at him. “The key’s on the table.” He nodded towards the desk in the corner where Gibbs could clearly see a large key.
“Kate, stay here with them. Shoot them both if either of them moves.” He left the room in haste, wanting to check on his agents. He wasn’t sure how McGee would have reacted but he knew that DiNozzo wouldn’t have gone down without a fight, so there was a high probability that his second in command could be injured.
He found the room quickly, drawing back the bolts on the outside before sliding the key into the lock. “DiNozzo, McGee, I’m coming in,” he warned them, knowing that if Tony was in any condition to do so his first thought upon hearing the door opening would be to rush whoever was out there.
He opened the door carefully; not surprised at the pitch darkness his agents had been left in. There was no apparent light source so he removed the torch that he’d stowed away in his jacket pocket and shone the light towards the ceiling, not wanting to blind them with it. Tim stood and attempted to bring Tony up with him and Gibbs moved across to give him a hand.
“What’s the damage?” he asked quickly. He couldn’t see any obvious injuries on McGee but DiNozzo had obviously been roughed over.
“I think Tony’s got a concussion. He was hit over the head with a pipe and was out of it for at least five minutes. He’s admitted to a headache as well but he knows who he is. I did as much of the concussion check as I could in the dark and he’s been awake ever since and talking lucidly.”
“Good, how about now, Tony?” They’d got him to his feet and into the corridor. “Any nausea, dizziness, blurred vision?” Gibbs asked.
“A little nauseous and lightheaded, vision’s not too bad though, Boss. I don’t need to go to hospital.”
“Okay, we’ll let Ducky take a look at you but if he says you need to go, you will be going.”
“Fair enough, Boss,” Tony acquiesced, leaning heavily on Gibbs.
“Hey, Gibbs, everything okay?” Agent Balboa appeared suddenly beside him. “James and Standish are already on their way back to the Yard with your suspects. Miller and I can process the scene if you need to get DiNozzo and McGee medical attention,” the other team leader offered.
“Thanks, Balboa, McGee’s not too badly off so he can give you a hand but DiNozzo’s got a concussion so I’d like Ducky to have a look at him sooner rather than later.”
Balboa grinned. “I’ve had a quick look around but it appears they were just using the room at the end, apart from this room where our agents were held. There’s a pretty impressive stash of drugs here from what I can see. No way can they pass this off as for personal use!” Balboa ended with a chuckle as he returned to the room to continue processing the evidence.
Gibbs kept a careful hold on Tony as they climbed the stairs as he was still a little shaky. However, they made it back up the stairs and out of the warehouse without incident and Tim helped Gibbs get Tony into the car to take him back to the Navy Yard.
After dropping DiNozzo off in autopsy to be patched up, Gibbs made his way to the interrogation rooms where Agents Cara James and Paul Standish were babysitting the suspects. Starting with Bellamy’s co-conspirator, one Thomas Mitchell who lived in Laurel, Maryland, Gibbs started the questioning. Knowing that this was the man responsible for the bloody mess on the back of Tony’s head Gibbs didn’t hold back and soon had the whole sordid story very quickly as the man crumbled under the ice blue of Gibbs’ glare.
By the time he’d finished with Mitchell his agents had all arrived and watched with interest as Gibbs interrogated Bellamy.
Bellamy didn’t give in as easily as his hired help had, blustering through his excuses and denying all knowledge of the murders until Gibbs informed him that his partner in crime had already confessed and told them everything. At that point Bellamy gave in.
As it turned out their three dead Petty Officers had been supplying drugs to friends at Norfolk, taking it in turns to meet with Bellamy, their supplier, so as to arouse less suspicion on base. Bellamy had pushed the price of the drugs up so they had decided to face him together to try to force him into reducing his prices. What they hadn’t taken account of was that Bellamy and his partner, Mitchell, were not only semi professional boxers but were also judo experts as well. They had taken down the three men easily, killed them at the warehouse and dumped their bodies in separate areas of woodland.
Gibbs left the interrogation room shaking his head at the insanity of it all. His agents drifted out of the observation room and he could sense the tension between them. Now that the case was wrapped up it was time for them to settle their differences and he was determined they would do it before they all went home. He had a suspicion that the two younger men had already come to an unspoken mutual understanding. He’d sensed a new respect for each other at the warehouse. They hadn’t really said much about what had happened whilst they had been locked in their prison but it was clear to see that the events of the day would have a lasting effect. Not that it would stop Tony from teasing Tim but it had done a lot to cement the trust between the two younger members of his team.
Kate was another matter, she’d gone too far recently and although he knew that Tony would forgive her she would have to apologize. Kate had always had a sharp tongue but she’d improved a lot over the year she’d been at NCIS and it was a shame that she had chosen Tim’s arrival to revert to her old ways.
After their reports were completed, Gibbs sent Todd and McGee home before he went in search of his second in command. He knew DiNozzo was still at the Navy Yard as his backpack was on the floor behind his desk and his gun and keys were in the drawer. For once, Tony had been the first to finish his report and Kate had stopped him as he was walking away from Gibbs’ desk, offering an apology for her behavior. Tony had accepted, as Gibbs knew he would, but he had disappeared soon after and hadn’t been seen since.
Having first checked the restrooms, autopsy, and the forensics lab Gibbs was at a loss until he remembered something Director Morrow had mentioned to him in passing that morning. Nodding to himself, he collected his own belongings and then Tony’s and left the building by way of the rear entrance, which led to a small memorial garden.
As he’d thought, his missing Agent was standing silently in front of the memorial wall, where the names of all NCIS Agents lost in the line of duty were engraved on a slate plaque. Walking silently across the peaceful courtyard he stopped just behind Tony, scuffling his feet slightly to alert him to his presence before reaching up and squeezing Tony’s neck, rubbing his thumb gently over Tony’s skin in a gesture of silent support.
Tony sniffled, ducking his head and quickly running his fingers under his eyes.
“He was a good man, Tony, and a good friend, he deserves to be mourned. Don’t be ashamed of your grief, bud,” Gibbs counseled softly.
They stood there in silence for a few minutes more, but it was a comfortable silence. Two men united in their loss. Eventually Tony pulled out his handkerchief and ran it over his face before blowing his nose, seemingly no longer ashamed that Gibbs had seen his tears.
“Thanks, Boss,” he replied eventually, his voice low and rough with emotion.
“You ready to head out and get some food? How does take out from The Oriental Garden sound? I’ve got a bottle of good whiskey we can toast him with.” Gibbs’ suggestion was deliberate. The Oriental Garden had been Pacci’s favorite Chinese restaurant and they had often had takeout from there, it was also on the way to Gibbs’ house. It seemed a fitting way to remember their former teammate and it seemed to Gibbs that, with a little encouragement, Tony might finally be ready to do just that.
The End
Author: StarbucksSue
Author’s Notes: Originally written for the 2009 Ancient’s Gate gen NCIS Zine ‘Gear Up’
Warnings: Nothing explicit
Spoilers: Vague references to various Season 1 and 2 episodes
Characters: Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Anthony DiNozzo, Kate Todd, Timothy McGee
Rating: PG
Genre/Category: Gen, Team/Casefic, Hurt/Comfort
Disclaimer: I don’t own NCIS or any of its characters, I just like to play with them once in a while. So far, they haven’t complained.
Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs leaned on the railing outside MTAC overlooking the bullpen, silently observing his agents at work. He had high hopes for these people, this team. They were handpicked by him and had very diverse backgrounds and skills, they just needed to learn how to work together and trust each other so that they could operate as a cohesive unit in the field. It had been almost two weeks since Gibbs had transferred McGee permanently to the Major Case Response Team from the Norfolk Field Office, and although DiNozzo and Todd were familiar with him from the previous cases he had assisted them on, they had yet to settle down to the point where they were completely comfortable with one other.
Timothy McGee was the youngest member of the team. He was a fully trained agent. However, he had very little experience as a field agent so was on probationary status in his new role. McGee’s background was impressive; he had graduated from MIT with a Masters in computer forensics and Johns Hopkins with a BS in biomedical engineering. Where he lacked experience and confidence in the field he made up for it with his calm and placid nature and ordered thought processes. Regardless of how often he was teased Tim shrugged it off and sometimes even got the upper hand when his calm reasoning was able to quickly think up a smart response to the teasing and hazing, probably as a result of the stable and loving upbringing he and his younger sister had from their supportive and encouraging parents.
Caitlin Todd had been with Team Gibbs for a year and was the oldest of the three. The former Secret Service agent had jumped from her job before she was pushed and had been taken on by Gibbs on the same day after a joint investigation. Todd was a highly trained profiler and had really found her feet as an investigator over the past twelve months. It had taken her a while to settle in with her colleagues though. It both amused and annoyed Gibbs in turn that, despite the training she’d received as a profiler, she was slow to understand the people she worked with on a day to day basis. She had a mean streak too and had upset her partner several times over the first few months due to her inability to see past the front that he always showed the world. Kate saw herself as a woman in a man’s world who was determined to prove that she was just as good as them. Being brought up in a strict Catholic family with supportive parents and several brothers, both older and younger, had only strengthened that determination and sometimes Kate took it a little too far. She also found it hard to see past the doctrines of her religion when they clashed with the evidence in an investigation.
And that brought him to his wayward ‘middle child’, Anthony DiNozzo. He’d poached the young man from Baltimore PD just over three years ago. Shared jurisdiction in a case had meant that Gibbs had to work with the young detective after his partner, a former Naval Officer, became the fifth victim of a killer seeking revenge for his father’s death in Vietnam. DiNozzo had been thrown by his partner’s death and the hostile reaction he’d received from his colleagues in the PD, but Gibbs had been impressed with the young detective and had seen how his skills were being wasted. Tony had impressive street skills and was an excellent detective and investigator, he could charm the birds from the trees and had the ability to blend in, and to get on with adults on any level, although he found it difficult to relate to children. He also had the ability to switch from persona to persona making him a natural for undercover work. His father was a highly successful businessman, but Tony had decided at a young age that he was not going to follow his father’s footsteps into the family business. Always a cold and loveless man, as well as being an alcoholic, Tony’s father had little interest in his son for the most part, leaving the boy’s care initially to his wife and hired help, Tony was expected to report daily to his father just before the evening meal to keep the older man apprised of his school grades whilst the boy poured his father’s first drink of the evening. Apart from when his father took him along to his Civil War Re-enactments it was usually the only time Tony saw his father unless he was being disciplined. As Tony’s mother had been an alcoholic herself, most of the day to day care had come from the domestic staff and after her death, when Tony was eight, he was immediately shipped off to boarding school and summer camps. His father had taken no interest in the boy after that and, having disinherited him at the age of twelve, had disowned him completely when Tony went on to Ohio State to study for a sports degree. One of his mother’s relatives had helped pay his tuition fees, but a broken leg in his final year meant that he would never be able to play professionally, and when he finished college he joined the Police Academy, having always had an interest in law enforcement.
Tony was definitely Gibbs’ biggest challenge to date. The younger man warred constantly with the need to be taken seriously as Gibbs’ second in command as a competent and efficient investigator and the need for approval and affection that had always been lacking from his childhood. It was a fine balance but most of the time Gibbs prided himself on getting that balance just right.
As if he knew that his team leaders’ thoughts were on him, Tony looked up straight at Gibbs, an almost shy and self conscious grin on his face when he realized that he had been caught slacking. Rolling his eyes at his errant second, Gibbs pulled back from the railing and made his way down the stairs to the bullpen.
Returning to the bullpen after a visit to autopsy three hours later, Gibbs wondered what he’d walked in on. He was pretty sure Todd had PMT as she had been sniping irrationally at her colleagues for most of the day. It didn’t help that DiNozzo was still nursing occasional headaches after gaining a mild concussion from being knocked out by the victim in their previous case. The Petty Officer, who had been kept captive in an underground bunker, hadn’t been exactly grateful for the rescue and had hit Tony over the head after he opened the door to her prison and told her that the man who had been keeping her hostage was dead. Unfortunately the resultant headaches were making him somewhat short tempered. McGee, being the sensible one, was trying to fly under both their radars.
Gibbs left the bullpen with a sigh, heading for the coffee shop. They were only on the second day of the case and all were getting frustrated by the lack of information they could find on their victims. The bodies of two Petty Officers based at Norfolk had been found dumped separately in secluded woodland areas in Maryland and the whole team had been hard at work well into the night and then in again early that morning. The lack of sleep, coupled with frustration, meant that the three younger agents were definitely beginning to rub each other the wrong way.
McGee knew DiNozzo well enough to know that he would get teased by him and Tony had lived up to his expectations and taunted McGee at every opportunity. Initially Kate had joined in with gentle teasing of her own; however, the tide had gradually turned since the start of the case.
Since finding the second victim, the team had worked hard at trying to find a link between the two. Interviews with witnesses, colleagues, and relatives hadn’t turned up anything useful so they’d turned to cell phone records and email trails. The work was right up McGee’s street and the youngest agent had worked tirelessly at tracing all the information Gibbs had asked for. The more information Tim found the more confident the younger agent was getting which consequently made Tony more insecure. Unfortunately Kate was enjoying Tony’s discomfort way too much and was baiting him mercilessly. It was getting to the point where Gibbs wanted to bang all their heads together: Tim for being naïve to what was going on, Kate for being so clueless about her partner, despite her training as a profiler, and Tony for not having the confidence in his own abilities that he should have.
Gibbs sighed again as he stood outside the NCIS building staring out over the river to Anacostia Park. It had been three years since he’d rescued the grieving and insecure young agent from Baltimore PD after the death of his partner, and he’d put a lot of time and effort into building a sense of confidence and self worth into the younger man. It frustrated him to see Tony slipping back so easily.
McGee had watched Gibbs disappear for coffee with trepidation. Whilst the Senior Agent was in the bullpen his two colleagues at least reined in their current antagonism to each other but whenever Gibbs disappeared it was a different story. Not wanting to get caught in the crossfire, he was just trying to keep a low profile. Turning from the fax machine he groaned quietly to himself as he overheard Kate’s latest taunt.
“Geez, DiNozzo, no wonder your parents disowned you,” she hissed over the partition on the way to the restroom, missing the sharp flash of pain which passed over her partner’s face as the retort hit home.
Tim pretended to be engrossed in the papers he was holding as he sat back down at his desk. Kate’s insult was definitely below the belt as he knew, courtesy of Abby, that Tony’s mother had died shortly after his eighth birthday and he hadn’t missed the quickly masked pain on Tony’s face at the jibe.
Tim couldn’t imagine life without his mother, especially not losing her at such an early age and his sympathies were currently with Tony, who had immediately marched around his desk to rifle through Kate’s purse and grab her PDA while she was absent.
“Well, Katie, so who is it tonight?” he taunted, waving the PDA at her as she appeared in the bullpen, a brittle grin on his face. “You really think that Gibbs is going to let us out to play?” He swung away from her for a second and Tim saw his eyes glinting dangerously.
“Give me that back. Just knock it off, DiNozzo, and stop going through my purse,” Kate yelled as she stalked back towards her desk, snatching her PDA and headslapping Tony on the way past.
“Hey!” Tony snapped as he spun round in shock. “You don’t get to do that, only Gibbs can do that.”
They stood face to face. Tony glaring at Kate and Kate glaring back, neither willing to back down and neither noticing the stares from other agents in the bullpen at their raised voices.
Tim could only watch in horror at the standoff, not knowing which way it was going to go and not entirely certain that there wouldn’t be bloodshed. At the back of his mind he knew that if it came to it Gibbs would not be impressed if he just sat and watched. The least the team leader would expect from him would be to try and stop them from killing each other.
Just as he was desperately trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation, Kate finally took a step back, and he took a deep breath in relief.
Fortunately at that moment Tony’s phone rang and with a final glare at Kate, he turned to answer it.
“DiNozzo,” he snapped into the receiver. “Yeah, we are. Where? Okay, we’re on our way.” He cut the connection, quickly dialing the extension for autopsy.
“Hi Ducky, we’ve got another body, Dundawan Road, Perry Hall, Maryland, it’s just north of Baltimore, call me if you get lost. It’s part of a large estate.” He slammed the phone back down and made his way over to Gibbs’ desk, helping himself to the two sets of keys in the drawer. “You two take the truck. I’ll pick Gibbs up and meet you there.” He threw the truck keys at Tim before grabbing his backpack and heading for the elevator, Kate and Tim close on his tail.
Gibbs had just picked up another coffee to take back to the office when he saw the black NCIS Dodge Intrepid come screeching to a halt by the sidewalk with Tony behind the wheel. Knowing that it could only mean one thing he swung himself into the passenger side of the vehicle, buckling his seatbelt quickly. He usually preferred to drive but as Tony was already behind the wheel and he had fresh coffee he decided to let the younger man stay where he was. In truth he didn’t mind Tony driving as he drove almost as fast as Gibbs did.
“We’ve got another body, Boss.” Tony anticipated the question as he pulled away with a screech of tires. “Perry Hall, Maryland, just north of Baltimore. We should get there in about an hour depending on the traffic. Todd and McGee have the truck and Ducky’s on his way too.”
“On a housing estate? That doesn’t fit with the others,” Gibbs queried. He didn’t know the area in detail but he knew that Perry Hall was a large, sprawling housing estate.
“Well, the body’s actually in Gunpowder Falls State Park, close to the river. Dog walker found it about an hour ago, local police got there and saw the naval uniform and called us, he’s got no identification on him though, no dogtags. The closest we can get with the vehicles is Dundawan Road, so that’s where McGee and Ducky are heading.”
“You got McGee to drive?” Gibbs’ surprise was obvious.
“Yeah, thought they’d get there marginally quicker than if Kate did.” There was an edge to Tony’s voice as he mentioned Kate’s name which most people would have missed. Gibbs wasn’t most people though and he filed away the reaction to be addressed later. It was obvious to him though that Kate had upset her younger colleague somehow and Gibbs wondered yet again how she could be so clueless when it came to DiNozzo.
When Tony pulled the sedan to a halt, Gibbs wasn’t surprised to see that they were the first from NCIS on the scene. They’d made the journey in just over an hour which impressed Gibbs bearing in mind the traffic that they had encountered. They’d been held up getting through the Harbor Tunnel which wasn’t unusual for the route but Tony had made up the time easily.
By the time the others arrived on the scene Gibbs and DiNozzo had already been led to the site. Without the kit to start photographing and bagging the evidence Tony had started interviewing the dog walker and Gibbs was identifying potential evidence with the assistance of the local LEOs.
“Where the hell have you two been?” Gibbs grumbled to the other two members of his team. He didn’t wait for an answer. “McGee, photos, Todd, laser and sketch.”
They got down to business without a word and having finished with the witness, Tony started bagging and tagging once the photos had been taken. Neither Gibbs nor McGee missed DiNozzo’s quiet anger and Gibbs stared at Todd with exasperation at the jibes she kept throwing Tony’s way.
As the local LEOs filtered away, Gibbs collared McGee on the opposite side of the clearing, far enough away that their companions wouldn’t overhear the conversation.
“What happened between them?” he asked quietly.
Tim shook his head, unsure as to whether he should tell or not.
“McGee, I need to know.”
Tim looked straight at him, and seeing that the anger was gone and had been replaced by concern, decided that telling would be the better option.
“It wasn’t Tony’s fault, Boss, he was teasing Kate, but nothing more than their normal banter. She got up to use the restroom and out of the blue just said that she could see why his parents disowned him. She didn’t see the look on his face though. I think it really upset him.”
“Yeah, it would. I take it he did retaliate in some way.”
“Got her PDA out of her purse and started teasing her about what she was doing tonight. She headslapped him and he… Well, he told her she wasn’t allowed to do that.” Tim winced; it did kind of sound a little pathetic to him now he’d repeated it out loud.
“She really doesn’t understand her partner sometimes, just has to push too far.” Gibbs walked off and McGee stared at him amazed. It really wasn’t what he’d expected from Gibbs but he was impressed all the same, it showed that he knew his agents well enough to guess correctly who was in the wrong.
Tim watched from a distance as the victim was loaded into the ME’s van for its journey back to the Navy Yard, knowing it was going to be a while yet before the rest of them were able to leave the scene.
Gibbs came out of the Director’s office and stopped at the top of the stairs, looking down at his agents below in the bullpen before descending quietly. They were getting on with their work without a sound and that was a red flag in his book. A bullpen with DiNozzo in it was never routinely quiet, even when the younger man was working hard there were usually offhand comments or questions aimed at his teammates. Todd was sitting there with a stony look on her face, and McGee was obviously nervous, his gaze flitting anxiously between his computer screen and his two colleagues. Deciding that he needed to take some kind of action Gibbs made his way down the stairs.
“So what have we got so far?” he asked, stepping into their area.
“Still waiting on either the DNA or fingerprints, Boss. Ducky should be almost done with the autopsy though,” Tony reported. “Local LEOs have tracked down some other dog walkers and runners who use that track daily. I’ve got names and addresses.”
“Okay, Kate, take McGee and interview them. You know Ducky’s preliminary time of death but either Tony or I will contact you with an update by the time you get there if the time of death is any different. I want to know whether any of them saw anyone along that route, especially someone unfamiliar, any strange vehicles, any suspicious activity or whether anyone recognizes the victim. Have you got a picture of him?”
“Yes, Gibbs.” Kate stood without delay and grabbed her backback, closely followed by a surprised McGee who only just managed to catch the keys to the sedan as Gibbs threw them at him.
“Right, call me if you get anything we can use.”
They nodded and quickly made their way to the elevator.
Gibbs stood and watched them go before walking over to Tony and perching on the edge of his desk.
Tony looked up hesitantly. Despite three years of working for Gibbs he still wasn’t always one hundred per cent certain of some of the older man’s reactions and he knew that Gibbs had noticed his anger with Kate.
“I ordered McGee to tell me what happened. I’m sorry she’s giving you a hard time. Do you want me to speak to her?” It was a valid question; Gibbs preferred to let his workers sort out their own problems but didn’t hesitate if he overheard one of them crossing the line. He hadn’t witnessed this though and under those circumstances, didn’t want to intervene if Tony wanted to deal with it himself.
“No, Boss, it’s okay. I’ll deal with it. It’s just… He told you what she said? All I did was tease her about her shoes, surely that didn’t deserve the response she gave me?”
“No, it didn’t, Tony. She was in the wrong on that point. But you should know better than to go through her purse too. Two wrongs don’t make a right and she could drop you in it if she wanted to.”
“I know. It’s about the one thing I know that really winds her up though and I wanted to get personal with her, like she did with me.” He sighed. “I’m okay, Boss, or I will be by the time they get back.”
“That’s the spirit. Come on, let’s go and see if Ducky’s got anything for us yet.” He clapped Tony on the shoulder as he stood and led the way to the elevator.
“Hey, Duck, what’ve you got?” Gibbs asked the minute he walked through the doors.
“Ah, Jethro, I was wondering when you would grace us with your presence. Our victim presents the same injuries as the previous two. The Petty Officer was subdued by a blow to the head and then killed by having his wrists slit and being left to bleed out. Thankfully there is no evidence of a struggle of any sort or any attempt to stem the bleeding so it appears our killer was merciful enough to ensure that our victim did not regain consciousness before he expired. As I already mentioned, he was killed elsewhere as there was no blood at the scene to indicate he bled out there, and the time of death indicates that he was killed around the same time as our previous victims as I first thought. Prior to his death he was a healthy young male, aged around twenty five.” Ducky moved back from the x-rays to the body on the autopsy table. “You know this reminds me of-”
“Okay, thanks, Duck.” Gibbs interrupted with expert precision, not wanting the elderly ME to start on one of his long-winded tales. “Come on Tony, let’s go and see what Abby’s got. Later, Duck.”
From Ducky’s domain they made their way back up one floor to the forensics lab.
“What’ve you got for us, Abs?” Gibbs strode hopefully into the lab.
“Well, until about thirty seconds ago not much, but my babies knew you were on your way, Gibbs, and have come up with a positive fingerprint match. Our victim is Petty Officer Robert Grant, aged twenty four. I’ve pulled two partial prints from his belt buckle and one from his shoes, neither of which are his so I’m running those as well.” She turned back to him, a pleased smile on her face.
“Thanks, Abs, nice job. DiNozzo…”
“On it, Boss,” Tony replied, obviously anticipating the question as they made their way out of the lab, DiNozzo headed for the bullpen and Gibbs, once again, for coffee.
“Hi, Boss.” DiNozzo looked up as Gibbs returned to the bullpen. “Petty Officer Robert Grant was based at Norfolk; he’d been stationed there for three months. Was reported missing at 0700 this morning when he didn’t show for duty. He was last seen at 2000 hours three nights ago at chowtime by two buddies, both of them Petty Officers: Michael Andrews and Richard Sharp. He was supposedly off duty for the past two days. He hadn’t told anyone what he was doing on his days off and his family all live in Carolina so there’s no apparent reason for him to be in Maryland. He has a cell phone and I’ve asked for the records to be faxed over.” He stopped for breath, turning and picking up some papers. “I’ve already had his records faxed over from Norfolk and some statements that the Norfolk NCIS case agents had already taken from his CO and the Petty Officers who saw him last. According to the Norfolk case agent the three victims supposedly didn’t know each other or work together.”
“Good work, Tony.” Gibbs wasn’t one for praising his agents very often but he felt that Tony needed it today and the brilliant smile he got in return for the unexpected praise was well worth it. He took the Norfolk records and sat down to read them just as the fax whirred into life, spitting out the phone records that Tony had requested.
They worked in virtual silence for the remaining two hours of the afternoon, occasionally asking a question or for the other’s opinion or clarification on something they had discovered. It was a brief return to the earlier and simpler days, before McGee and before Kate. Much as he liked to have a larger team to share the load, there were days like today when Gibbs still wished it was just the two of them.
Everyone was in early again the following morning. Kate began by typing up her notes from the interviews they’d done the previous day, Tim compared the phone and bank records from all three of their victims and Tony started a deeper background check on the victims’ families and lifestyles. Relieved to have peace between his agents for once, Gibbs went for coffee. It wasn’t just for the sake of the caffeine; he had long ago discovered that the short walk to the coffee shop and back gave him time alone without interruptions to go over the information from his current case and give him some perspective on the evidence in front of him.
He didn’t stay out long but unfortunately it was long enough for his agents to get into another scrap.
“What the hell, Kate?” Tony shouted across at his partner, rising from his seat. “Why does it always come back to this? Don’t you ever give up?” He moved quickly around his desk, movements sharp with anger, disappearing in the direction of the restrooms.
Gibbs groaned silently to himself as he crossed from the elevator to his desk. He’d arrived in time to hear the tail end of the conversation and despite not hearing what had led to Tony’s answer he had a fairly good idea what had caused the younger man to storm off.
“One of you want to tell me what that was about?” It was an order phrased as a question and Gibbs stared at the remaining two agents expectantly.
Kate just looked pissed off and Tim had the look of a deer caught in the headlights.
“Just DiNozzo not being able to take a joke. He’s still sore about tonguing that guy Voss because he wasn’t thinking with his brains at the time,” Kate replied flippantly.
Tim looked over at her, a puzzled expression on his face. “I would have thought Tony would more likely be upset because Voss was the person who killed Pacci rather than because he tongued him. I mean, weren’t they pretty good friends?” he queried softly.
“Yeah, they were.” Gibbs looked straight at McGee as he answered him, ignoring Kate. “Went out for drinks every week unless we were tied up with a case, and they played softball together regularly. Pacci was on my team when Tony started so he showed him the ropes before Pacci took over as team leader of the newly created cold case team soon after.”
“You know I never thought of that,” Kate admitted quietly. “I didn’t realize they’d worked together so closely.”
Gibbs shook his head as he walked off in search of his errant second, wondering how the hell the former Secret Service Agent could be so clueless. She was a trained profiler and had been working with Tony for almost a year but hadn’t been able to see what a green rookie who had only just started working with Tony had already picked up.
Of course DiNozzo might have said something to McGee whilst they were on the stakeout investigating Pacci’s death, but Gibbs didn’t think so. Tony was not one to open up about his feelings and emotions, especially not to a younger agent whom he was trying to impress. Once again Gibbs felt annoyed with himself for not forcing the issue with his Senior Field Agent. Tony hadn’t been able to attend Pacci’s memorial service due to the investigation and being on stakeout. Pacci’s body had been removed for the burial before he’d had time to say goodbye to his friend, and even now Gibbs knew that the younger man hadn’t dealt with his friend’s death or visited his grave, even though Pacci had been buried locally near his family’s home in Maryland. Maybe if he’d pushed a little harder Tony would have talked things over and he wouldn’t still be so sensitive about the incident with Voss.
Gibbs knew he’d been warned. When Tony had first joined the Agency he’d had to undertake the mandatory psychological evaluation, and although the NCIS psychologist had passed him, the kindly man did have one concern which he had raised with Gibbs and Director Morrow after signing off on the evaluation, and that was about Tony’s lack of what he described as ‘emotional processing’, meaning that Tony appeared to repress emotional experiences and reactions instead of dealing with them.
Having spent a week living and working 24/7 with the former Baltimore detective Gibbs knew this to be true. Tony’s Baltimore partner had been the fifth victim of a serial killer Gibbs was chasing. Having just lost his probationary agent Brent Langer to the FBI and Stan Burley, one of his senior agents, to an Agent Afloat position he was working on his own as his final team member, Chris Pacci, was off with influenza, so when the Baltimore captain had offered his wayward young detective to assist with the investigation Gibbs had jumped at the opportunity. DiNozzo had been his ever since. Those seven long days, including several nights in shared motel rooms and staying at Gibbs’ house had given him a kind of insight into Tony DiNozzo, his childhood, and his demons, that none had been trusted with before and Tony had opened up about some of his issues for the first time in his thirty years. Even now, Tony still recoiled from talking honestly with the NCIS psychologist and still needed Gibbs’ support and encouragement to share and deal with issues that arose.
“Boss, I think I’ve got something here.” McGee piped up an hour later. He’d been going over all the bank and phone records from the three victims and had finally come up with a link between them. “All three of our victims have one cell phone number in common, it’s a number one of them has used each week and each call has coincided with the sum of $150.00 being withdrawn in cash from their bank accounts.”
“Drugs?” Tony queried as he made his way over to stand next to Gibbs in front of the plasma, where Tim had the cell number and withdrawals highlighted on the screen. “So who does that cell belong to, or is it a burn phone?”
“Not a burn phone,” McGee replied. “It’s registered to a Nathan Bellamy in Glen Burnie. That’s interesting; the address it’s registered to is a warehouse unit on a small industrial park close to the airport.”
“Let’s check it out. Grab your gear.” Gibbs quickly collected his badge and gun along with the keys to the sedan and was on his way to the elevator while his subordinates were still scrabbling to lock their screens and grab their guns and backpacks.
They made good time to Glen Burnie, reaching the industrial area on the outskirts of Baltimore Washington International Airport well within the hour thanks to Gibbs’ driving, despite the usual snarl up of traffic around the airport.
Gibbs parked the sedan on the edge of the site. There were several warehouses and other smaller outbuildings, and a vehicle which McGee had identified as Bellamy’s was parked off to one side of the warehouse in question, hopefully meaning that the man was somewhere within the complex.
“DiNozzo, McGee, you take the entrance on the far left, Kate and I will take this one.” He paired them up deliberately, not sure whether or not Kate and DiNozzo would play nicely after the earlier scene in the bullpen. Kate may have realized her mistake at last but that didn’t mean to say that Tony was alright with what happened, despite his earlier assurances to Gibbs when he’d found him in the head. Pacci’s death had cut him deeply and, as McGee had guessed, he was still sensitive about what had happened with Voss eight weeks later because of it.
DiNozzo and McGee made their way to the door farthest away from them, moving quietly between the buildings. There was no indication of where Bellamy had gone so they were on full alert as they approached the entrance.
Tony opened the door quietly and stepped inside, taking a quick look around before indicating to his younger partner to follow. They moved slowly and quietly. The building was dark and there were boxes piled on pallets to their right with a wall to their left, indicating smaller rooms to the side. They cleared each room quickly but as Tim stepped cautiously into the third room he was immediately attacked and thrown to the ground. Tony launched himself at Tim’s attacker, drawing the man’s attention to himself and away from his companion.
Things went to hell in a handbasket pretty quickly after that. Unbeknownst to them, Bellamy had an accomplice and the second man appeared from out of the shadows, whacking Tony on the head with a piece of metal piping. Tony dropped like a dead weight, lying so still and silent on the ground that Tim was seriously relieved when he saw Tony was still breathing.
Despite his fear, Tim made an attempt to escape, rolling over quickly and away from the men. Bellamy was too quick for him though and Tim was dragged to his feet with his arms twisted behind his back whilst the second man flung Tony easily over his shoulder. The two agents were taken down some steps into the basement and along a corridor before being locked in a small, concrete walled room. As the thick metal door was closed they were plunged into solid darkness, not that Tony would have known, he was still out cold. Their guns and radios had been taken but they’d been left with their cellphones. Tim pulled his out but as he’d feared, there was no signal.
Tim crawled over to where he remembered Tony being dropped unceremoniously to the floor, running his hands over his companion’s head to assess the damage. He wasn’t experienced in the field but knew enough to realize that Tony probably had yet another concussion so would need to be woken up as soon as possible. He’d seen the force with which Tony had been hit so he wasn’t surprised to feel blood on the back of his head where the pipe had landed.
“Tony. DiNozzo, you really need to wake up.” Tim shook Tony’s shoulder gently, mindful of any other injuries he may have gained. The thug hadn’t been too careful with the way he’d handled him. “Come on, Tony, don’t do this to me,” he pleaded.
He was rewarded with a groan as Tony tried to rouse himself and Tim quickly prevented him from trying to sit up.
“Don’t try to move, you’ll only regret it. I’m pretty sure you have a concussion.” Tim thought rapidly back to what he knew about concussions. “Can you tell me your name?”
“Anthony DiNozzo, I’m thirty three years old and I work for NCIS which stands for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. You are Timothy McGee, and our boss is the one and only Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Happy now, Probie?” Tony grumbled.
“I guess. I would have preferred it if you’d forgotten the Probie part though.”
Tony chuckled and then groaned as the movement obviously aggravated the pain in his head.
“You okay, Tony?”
“You mean apart from the mother of all headaches, yeah, Tim, I’m fine. Don’t think they were all that gentle with me but there’re no bones broken. How many of them were there, just the two? Are you okay?”
“Yes, two of them, and I’m okay. I’m not sure if we’re still in the same warehouse, we’re down in the basement but we walked quite a way when we came underground. It wouldn’t surprise me if we’re actually under a different building. Gibbs and Kate will never know where to look for us.”
“Gibbs will find us, he always does,” Tony replied confidently.
“Tony, they don’t even know where we are! Anyway I’ve never been lost and needed Gibbs to find me before,” Tim retorted.
“Yeah, well, he always finds me and you’re with me, right, Tim?” Tony pointed out.
Tim thought back, remembering Gibbs’ desperate race to find his second in command after he disappeared while searching for Atlas, the picture of an exhausted and jittery Tony coming clearly to mind. That had only been six weeks ago.
“I guess so, you’re obviously the expert at being lost but yeah, I remember, Gibbs was prepared to go to the ends of the earth to find you last time. I guess I’m lost with the right person,” Tim acceded.
“In the meantime, is there any way we can get out of here ourselves?” Tony asked.
Tim got to his feet. “I’m not even sure where the door is. I can’t see a thing. It’s way too dark.”
“Me neither,” Tony agreed with a sigh.
“The door’s metal and they locked it with a key and bolted it from the outside so I’m pretty sure it’s secure,” Tim recalled as he gingerly felt his way around the walls. “I’m at the door now.” He tapped on the metal. “Thick metal by the sound of it, there isn’t even a handle of any sort on the inside. I guess we’re going to have to wait until they come back and try and surprise them.”
“That’s the spirit. If we’re lucky one of them might come back alone but even if there’s two of them we should be able to take them out. They’ve taken our guns but I’ve still got my belt knife. Have you got a weapon of any sort?”
“Belt or shoelace is the best I can come up with; I guess I need to start carrying a knife,” Tim decided, half to himself.
“Always a good plan, Probie. I would never have got out of that sewer if it wasn’t for the knife hidden in my belt. Of course sometimes they even take your belt but most of the time they don’t think of it,” Tony told him.
“How many times has this happened to you?” Tim asked in amazement. “It sounds like it’s a regular occurrence. Do you manage to piss everyone off?”
He was relieved to hear Tony’s chuckle, both because it meant that Tony wasn’t mad at him and secondly because he thought hopefully that the older man’s concussion wasn’t as severe as he’d feared.
“Contrary to popular belief I do not get taken prisoner, hostage, or get kidnapped, or concussed on a weekly basis, although it might seem like it to you. It has happened enough times for me to be prepared though and carrying a belt knife is one of Gibbs’ rules. At least with NCIS I know that someone will be looking for me,” Tony finished quietly.
Tim wasn’t sure how to answer that so decided not to say anything for the time being, knowing that Tony would expand on it if he wanted to without him asking. He inched his way back to where he could hear Tony’s slight movements, easing himself down to sit beside him.
“Can you help me sit up, it’s pretty cold lying on the floor here,” Tony asked softly.
Tim moved back, taking his companion by the shoulders and easing him up slowly, careful not to aggravate any nausea that he might be experiencing. He could feel Tony shivering so he slid in behind him, allowing Tony to lean back against him and wrapped his arms self-consciously around Tony’s body, trying to warm him. Tim still felt warm himself, so he guessed the chill Tony was feeling must be to do with the concussion and having been laying on the cold concrete. “Is that better?” he asked, feeling Tony relax against him, dropping his head carefully back to rest on Tim’s shoulder.
“Yeah, thanks, Tim, could do with something thick and soft to sit on though but beggars can’t be choosers.”
Despite the circumstances, Tim laughed. If he was going to be stuck with anyone, he decided, DiNozzo was the right choice. Even concussed and stuck in a pitch black, damp cellar the man still retained his sense of humor and without that, Tim knew he would be starting to panic right about now.
Gibbs and Kate checked out the warehouse thoroughly. Finding nothing of interest in the offices located their end of the building they quickly moved on through the warehouse, finding they were unable to raise either DiNozzo or McGee on the radios. As they got to the far end of the building they found some smaller rooms off to the side. Checking each one quickly Gibbs was about to move on to the next when something caught his eye. Snapping on a glove, he bent down and retrieved a ballcap which was half hidden under the metal shelving, the familiar NCIS wording making his heart sink. Kate stared at him in horror.
“It’s Tony’s,” Gibbs said in an undertone in answer to her unspoken question, seeing the worn initials inside the cap. “Bellamy must be here somewhere and if he’s taken both of them he must have at least one accomplice. We need to call for backup.” He moved further away and pulled out his cell, quickly making a call.
They both drew their guns and moved silently through the remaining rooms at the back of the warehouse. Thirty minutes later they had thoroughly searched the smaller storerooms and the offices up on the higher level. Finding no sign of anyone in the building they were beginning to think that Bellamy and his accomplice were long gone.
Turning to go back to the main door to see if Bellamy’s vehicle was still outside, Kate caught sight of another doorway, half hidden in the shadows.
“Gibbs, over here.” Kate whispered, indicating the door she had just stuck her head around. “Stairs leading down, there must be a basement or cellars down there.”
“Okay, let’s go careful though. Hopefully Bellamy only has one accomplice but we don’t know that for sure.” Gibbs led the way down the narrow stairs, not wanting to switch on the small torch that Kate had dug out of her backpack for fear of alerting the men if they were anywhere near the foot of the stairs.
The steps took a turn near the bottom and as they rounded the corner they could see a faint light. Reaching the bottom they could hear talking and crept silently towards the room where they could hear the voices. Conversing by hand signals Gibbs and Kate waited but they could only hear two voices involved in what appeared to be an argument so they burst into the doorway, guns quickly locking onto the two men inside.
“Federal Agents, put your hands on your head and don’t make any sudden movements or we will shoot,” Gibbs demanded.
Bellamy and his accomplice were so surprised that they had no time to react and did exactly what they were told.
Gibbs quickly searched them, removing their weapons and handcuffing them efficiently to sturdy looking metal racking units along one wall. “Where are my men?” he barked angrily.
“L-locked in the room at the far end of the hallway,” Bellamy stuttered, completely intimidated by the silver-haired man glaring at him. “The key’s on the table.” He nodded towards the desk in the corner where Gibbs could clearly see a large key.
“Kate, stay here with them. Shoot them both if either of them moves.” He left the room in haste, wanting to check on his agents. He wasn’t sure how McGee would have reacted but he knew that DiNozzo wouldn’t have gone down without a fight, so there was a high probability that his second in command could be injured.
He found the room quickly, drawing back the bolts on the outside before sliding the key into the lock. “DiNozzo, McGee, I’m coming in,” he warned them, knowing that if Tony was in any condition to do so his first thought upon hearing the door opening would be to rush whoever was out there.
He opened the door carefully; not surprised at the pitch darkness his agents had been left in. There was no apparent light source so he removed the torch that he’d stowed away in his jacket pocket and shone the light towards the ceiling, not wanting to blind them with it. Tim stood and attempted to bring Tony up with him and Gibbs moved across to give him a hand.
“What’s the damage?” he asked quickly. He couldn’t see any obvious injuries on McGee but DiNozzo had obviously been roughed over.
“I think Tony’s got a concussion. He was hit over the head with a pipe and was out of it for at least five minutes. He’s admitted to a headache as well but he knows who he is. I did as much of the concussion check as I could in the dark and he’s been awake ever since and talking lucidly.”
“Good, how about now, Tony?” They’d got him to his feet and into the corridor. “Any nausea, dizziness, blurred vision?” Gibbs asked.
“A little nauseous and lightheaded, vision’s not too bad though, Boss. I don’t need to go to hospital.”
“Okay, we’ll let Ducky take a look at you but if he says you need to go, you will be going.”
“Fair enough, Boss,” Tony acquiesced, leaning heavily on Gibbs.
“Hey, Gibbs, everything okay?” Agent Balboa appeared suddenly beside him. “James and Standish are already on their way back to the Yard with your suspects. Miller and I can process the scene if you need to get DiNozzo and McGee medical attention,” the other team leader offered.
“Thanks, Balboa, McGee’s not too badly off so he can give you a hand but DiNozzo’s got a concussion so I’d like Ducky to have a look at him sooner rather than later.”
Balboa grinned. “I’ve had a quick look around but it appears they were just using the room at the end, apart from this room where our agents were held. There’s a pretty impressive stash of drugs here from what I can see. No way can they pass this off as for personal use!” Balboa ended with a chuckle as he returned to the room to continue processing the evidence.
Gibbs kept a careful hold on Tony as they climbed the stairs as he was still a little shaky. However, they made it back up the stairs and out of the warehouse without incident and Tim helped Gibbs get Tony into the car to take him back to the Navy Yard.
After dropping DiNozzo off in autopsy to be patched up, Gibbs made his way to the interrogation rooms where Agents Cara James and Paul Standish were babysitting the suspects. Starting with Bellamy’s co-conspirator, one Thomas Mitchell who lived in Laurel, Maryland, Gibbs started the questioning. Knowing that this was the man responsible for the bloody mess on the back of Tony’s head Gibbs didn’t hold back and soon had the whole sordid story very quickly as the man crumbled under the ice blue of Gibbs’ glare.
By the time he’d finished with Mitchell his agents had all arrived and watched with interest as Gibbs interrogated Bellamy.
Bellamy didn’t give in as easily as his hired help had, blustering through his excuses and denying all knowledge of the murders until Gibbs informed him that his partner in crime had already confessed and told them everything. At that point Bellamy gave in.
As it turned out their three dead Petty Officers had been supplying drugs to friends at Norfolk, taking it in turns to meet with Bellamy, their supplier, so as to arouse less suspicion on base. Bellamy had pushed the price of the drugs up so they had decided to face him together to try to force him into reducing his prices. What they hadn’t taken account of was that Bellamy and his partner, Mitchell, were not only semi professional boxers but were also judo experts as well. They had taken down the three men easily, killed them at the warehouse and dumped their bodies in separate areas of woodland.
Gibbs left the interrogation room shaking his head at the insanity of it all. His agents drifted out of the observation room and he could sense the tension between them. Now that the case was wrapped up it was time for them to settle their differences and he was determined they would do it before they all went home. He had a suspicion that the two younger men had already come to an unspoken mutual understanding. He’d sensed a new respect for each other at the warehouse. They hadn’t really said much about what had happened whilst they had been locked in their prison but it was clear to see that the events of the day would have a lasting effect. Not that it would stop Tony from teasing Tim but it had done a lot to cement the trust between the two younger members of his team.
Kate was another matter, she’d gone too far recently and although he knew that Tony would forgive her she would have to apologize. Kate had always had a sharp tongue but she’d improved a lot over the year she’d been at NCIS and it was a shame that she had chosen Tim’s arrival to revert to her old ways.
After their reports were completed, Gibbs sent Todd and McGee home before he went in search of his second in command. He knew DiNozzo was still at the Navy Yard as his backpack was on the floor behind his desk and his gun and keys were in the drawer. For once, Tony had been the first to finish his report and Kate had stopped him as he was walking away from Gibbs’ desk, offering an apology for her behavior. Tony had accepted, as Gibbs knew he would, but he had disappeared soon after and hadn’t been seen since.
Having first checked the restrooms, autopsy, and the forensics lab Gibbs was at a loss until he remembered something Director Morrow had mentioned to him in passing that morning. Nodding to himself, he collected his own belongings and then Tony’s and left the building by way of the rear entrance, which led to a small memorial garden.
As he’d thought, his missing Agent was standing silently in front of the memorial wall, where the names of all NCIS Agents lost in the line of duty were engraved on a slate plaque. Walking silently across the peaceful courtyard he stopped just behind Tony, scuffling his feet slightly to alert him to his presence before reaching up and squeezing Tony’s neck, rubbing his thumb gently over Tony’s skin in a gesture of silent support.
Tony sniffled, ducking his head and quickly running his fingers under his eyes.
“He was a good man, Tony, and a good friend, he deserves to be mourned. Don’t be ashamed of your grief, bud,” Gibbs counseled softly.
They stood there in silence for a few minutes more, but it was a comfortable silence. Two men united in their loss. Eventually Tony pulled out his handkerchief and ran it over his face before blowing his nose, seemingly no longer ashamed that Gibbs had seen his tears.
“Thanks, Boss,” he replied eventually, his voice low and rough with emotion.
“You ready to head out and get some food? How does take out from The Oriental Garden sound? I’ve got a bottle of good whiskey we can toast him with.” Gibbs’ suggestion was deliberate. The Oriental Garden had been Pacci’s favorite Chinese restaurant and they had often had takeout from there, it was also on the way to Gibbs’ house. It seemed a fitting way to remember their former teammate and it seemed to Gibbs that, with a little encouragement, Tony might finally be ready to do just that.
The End