“Agent DiNozzo, it’s about time you called.”
Tony’s stomach began churning the moment that he heard the voice of Director Leon Vance. He had not planned on having to talk to the Director for a few more days, but the recent chain of events had forced him to do so. Gibbs had gone to confront Vance and now Tony’s hand had been forced. Why couldn’t the team leader trust him just this once to know what was best? Did Gibbs really have that little faith in him?
“I really didn’t have a choice, did I?” Tony coolly inquired.
“I’m glad you realize that, Agent DiNozzo. Do you realize how much trouble you are in?”
“I have a pretty good idea.”
“And yet, you chose to run away instead of come to me for help.”
Tony bristled. He pinched the bridge of his nose in an effort to keep his headache at bay. “You arrogant bastard,” the agent growled in frustration. “You’re the one who got me in this mess; why would I come to you for help?”
“I’m afraid you’re mistaken, Agent DiNozzo. You created this mess, as you like to call it, all on your own. You knew what your orders where and you blatantly disobeyed them.”
DiNozzo sat up in bed, doing his best to ignore the searing pain in his stomach. Damn ulcer! He waved away Abby as she stood over him, anxiously wanting to do something to alleviate his pain.
“I’m okay,” he silently mouthed to her.
He tamped down the pain and focused on the conversation that he was having with the Director. Tony was aware that he couldn’t let his guard down for a moment; Vance would take any opportunity he could to destroy him. “I had no choice but to disobey them, my cover had been blown and you wouldn’t pull me out. You were ready to sacrifice me in order to save the operation and I almost let you.”
“Don’t worry, Agent DiNozzo,” Vance said. “You’ll have ample opportunity to sacrifice yourself for the good of the agency.”
“I don’t give a damn about the agency any more,” Tony fumed. “You can take your undercover operations and shove them up your…”
“But you do care about the people in the agency, don’t you, Agent DiNozzo?” the Director inquired; his unspoken words intentionally placing a burden upon the young agent’s shoulders.
The fact that Tony did care about his co-workers and friends was his Achilles’ heel and Vance knew it. “You know I do,” he retorted. “Unlike you, Director Vance; the only person that you seem to care about is yourself.”
“It may seem that way to you, Agent DiNozzo, but once again, you don’t have the entire picture. You assume too much, just like your boss.”
“Gibbs? Have you talked to him?” Tony nervously asked.
“As a matter of fact, that’s what we were doing when you called,” Vance informed him. “We were having a lovely conversation, among other things,” the Director added. “You told him too much.”
“I didn’t tell him everything,” the weary agent shot back. “I left out a few important details.”
“I’m aware of that. However, I think that Agent Gibbs believes that you’ve told him everything. As a matter of fact, he was getting ready to arrest me when you called.”
“Let me talk to him,” DiNozzo insisted.
“I don’t think so, Agent DiNozzo. Like I said, you’ve already told him way too much.”
“If you make me hang up and call him, I’ll tell him the true nature of this last operation. I’ll spill my guts to him and I’ll bring you down so fast that you won’t know what hit you.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No, sir.”
Tony fought back the urge to throw up while he waited for Vance to respond. Simply talking with the Director was taking a lot out of him. If he didn’t end up killing himself from his stupidity, he was sure that there would be several people waiting for the opportunity, starting with Gibbs.
“Very well,” Vance finally grunted. “Answer this one question for me, Agent DiNozzo.”
“What?”
“Do you have the missing files?”
The agent weakly grinned. “What files would those be, Director Vance?”
“You know damn well which ones I’m talking about.”
“Oh, those files.” Tony scrubbed his face. “Let’s just say I’m hanging onto those for added security.”
“Now who’s the arrogant bastard?” Vance taunted.
Tony chose to ignore the barb and asked again to speak to the team leader. “Put Gibbs on the phone.”
It wasn’t but a second before he heard the ex-Marine saying, “DiNozzo, what the hell are you thinking?”
“Boss, you can’t arrest him,” Tony said. “At least not yet.”
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on? And how about trying the truth this time?”
“I told you the truth the last time,” DiNozzo tried to reason. “I just didn’t tell you everything. But right now, I just need you to trust me on this.”
“Tony, I’m not going to ask you again…”
“Then don’t!” the younger agent pleaded. “If you arrest Vance now, it’s not going to do anything but cause problems not only for NCIS, but for me as well. Please, just trust me.”
“I don’t…”
Tony figured that the next time Gibbs saw him, the team leader would owe the agent quite a few head slaps for constantly interrupting him. “I know that you’re finding it hard to, but please Boss, I’m begging you, let me handle this.
“I’ve already stood by too long and done nothing and because of that, you’ve gotten in way over your head.” Gibbs pointed out.
“It wasn’t my intention to end up in the hospital, Boss. The only thing I wanted to do was to get away and clear my head; but it just didn’t work out that way.”
He could almost see Gibbs clenching his jaw and the vein throbbing in his temple. Tony knew that the team leader was mad, but he’d rather have Gibbs mad at him than lose the older agent to Vance’s evil manipulations. “Please, Boss,” Tony rasped, his plea drowning in desperation.
“You come clean with me when I get back up there,” Gibbs ordered.
Tony nodded although Gibbs couldn’t see him. “All right,” he agreed. “Put Vance back on,” he requested.
“Tony?” the former Marine called out one last time.
“Yeah, Boss?”
“Take care of yourself.”
“Will do.”
With his free hand, he took a sip of water. His body felt heavy, screaming for him to lie down and rest. He was beyond tired and he had a feeling that both Gibbs and Vance could sense his weariness.
“Agent DiNozzo?”
He winced at the sound of the Director’s voice. Tony looked forward to the day that he wouldn’t have to speak to the man ever again.
“I’m here.”
“Where are you?” the Director wanted to know.
“Why?”
“I think we need to talk in person, don’t you?” Vance suggested.
“Why? Afraid I’ll say something condemning over the phone?”
Tony knew that Vance could simply have the call traced, but he was actually enjoying toying with the Director. What was the saying? You reap what you sow?
“The sensitivity of what we have to discuss should not be…”
Too tired to hear Vance’s explanation as to why they shouldn’t continue their phone conversation, Tony blurted out his location. “I’m in Stillwater.”
DiNozzo hung up the phone and handed it back to Abby. He buried his head in his hands. “God, Gibbs is going to kill me,” he muttered.
“Yep,” she agreed. “If your doctor doesn’t do it first.”
Tony looked up as Dr. Katherine Marshall stormed in his room. Hands on her hips, she stood at his bedside, silently demanding an explanation from him. He briefly wondered if he could simply pass out and avoid answering Kate’s questions. Unfortunately, he wasn’t even feeling the slightest bit faint. It seemed that fate was not smiling on him at all lately; why should things go his way now?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
DiNozzo had pleaded for Gibbs to trust him. Truth be told, he trusted Tony with his life; what he didn’t trust his senior agent to do was to take care of himself. Although, DiNozzo had technically been on his own since he was twelve, Tony had a habit of ignoring his own well-being. When someone reached out to the agent, his first instinct was to hide behind sarcasm, hoping that no one could see behind the mask that Tony wore so well.
“Well, it seems that your senior agent finally got his head out of his ass,” Vance said.
The ex-Marine glared at the Director. “Don’t think I’m letting you off the hook. I still have you on blackmail and conspiracy. Whatever DiNozzo has on you will be the nail in your coffin, Leon.”
“I will admit that DiNozzo’s a lot smarter than I gave him credit for, but like you said, he’s in over his head.”
“It’s a good thing that he’s a good swimmer then, isn’t Leon?” the team leader challenged.
“I guess you would know.”
“DiNozzo will not be caught in the fallout of whatever elaborate scheme that you’ve gotten him involved in. I’ll make sure of that,” Gibbs vowed.
The former sniper clenched his fist, wanting to wipe that irritating smile off the Director’s face. Tony was putting more than his career on the line by playing this cat and mouse game with Vance and Gibbs realized that at the moment, he was powerless to do anything. He made a mental note to make sure that McGee had recorded everything so at least Vance would have to answer for some of his actions.
He saw Vance looking at his watch. “Do you have somewhere to be, Director?” Gibbs inquired.
“I was just calculating how long it would take me to reach Stillwater. I’m assuming that would be Stillwater, Pennsylvania. Am I right?”
“What’s in Stillwater?”
“Not what, Agent Gibbs. It’s who’s in Stillwater that I’m interested in. So, do you want to drive up separate or do you want to carpool?” Vance asked.
DiNozzo must have told Vance where he was, so Gibbs had to assume that it was part of Tony’s plan. “If you think I’m going to let you out of my sight, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“Do you want to take my car or do you think Agent Fornell will mind if we borrow his again?”
“I have a car,” Gibbs growled. “Be ready to go in an hour and so help me Leon, you take off without me, facing DiNozzo will be the least of your problems.”
“Are you the one who taught Agent DiNozzo that he can threaten his superiors?” Vance wanted to know.
“No. I’m the one who taught him that he wasn’t expendable.”
“Too bad, I’ve had to undo all your teaching, Agent Gibbs. When it’s all said and done, we are all expendable.”
“Then why isn’t it your ass going undercover?” the team leader asked.
Vance glanced at his watch again and then placed another toothpick in his mouth. “I’ll be back in an hour. I’m going to pack a bag and say goodbye to my family.”
“Do they know what you’re involved in?”
“I don’t take my work home with me, Agent Gibbs.”
“Obviously.”
The door closed behind Vance and it was just a few seconds before McGee came charging in.
“What’s going on, Boss?” McGee inquired, confusion clouding his youthful features.
“Change of plans,” Gibbs replied.
“Why?”
“It’s Tony’s call.” He knew that his response wouldn’t satisfy McGee’s question, but it was the only one he could come up with at the moment.
“What do you mean?”
“Tony asked me to trust him. He didn’t want me to arrest Vance yet.”
“But we had a confession, Boss,” McGee reminded him.
“I know and we still do just in case something goes wrong, but like I said, Tony asked me to trust him on this and I’m going to.”
Gibbs could sense that McGee wanted to say something, but the younger agent simply stood there in silence.
“What, McGee?” Gibbs finally snapped.
“Nothing, Boss,” he quickly replied. “So what now?”
“Vance and I are going to Stillwater.”
“Do you want me and Ziva to go with you? I mean the Director is supposed to have a protection detail when he is out of D.C, right?”
“That would be me, McGee.”
“You, Boss?”
Gibbs sighed. “Yes, McGee. I’m as qualified as you to be on protection detail.”
“I know that, but there are supposed to be two agents,” Tim reluctantly pointed out.
“I’m aware of that, McGee!” Gibbs barked.
“I…I didn’t mean….well, I was just…yes, Boss,” McGee stammered.
“I’m planning on taking Ziva,” he announced. “I have something else for you to do.”
“What is it?” Tim nervously asked.
“While we’re gone, I want you to hack into Vance’s computer and the SecNav’s computer as well and see what you can find,” Gibbs instructed.
“Vance and the SecNav?”
The team leader grinned as he patted the young man on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, McGee, it’ll make a great chapter in your next book...”
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.