******************************************8

"It was really good working with you, Will," McGee said, shaking his hand.

"And I echo that sentiment," Ziva said, smiling. "I only wish Tony were here to say goodbye."

Will Cahoon smiled, displaying his perfectly aligned white teeth. "I wish he were here, too. I'm afraid I didn't make that great of an impression on him."

"Wait! Wait!" Abby said, shuffling into the bullpen. "I just heard the news. You're going back to Hawaii?"

Will nodded, "Yep, got called back last night. After I sent the information to my office, they felt it would be best if I went back and ran the case from there. What Tony did, well, I wish I could thank him. I don't think I would have ever thought to run a numbers search like he did."

Abby looked around, noticing the senior agent conspicuously absent, but smiled again upon seeing Dr. Mallard and Jimmy enter the area.

"Special Agent Cahoon," Ducky said, "I understand you'll be leaving us?"

"News travels fast around here."

Palmer added, "I walked in this morning with Michelle in Accounting. She's making plans to visit you."

"I know. When I got the word, I called her. I tried to get my boss to let me stay another day so I could properly say goodbye to everyone, but he didn't go for it."

"Can't say I blame him," Gibbs said, rounding the corner to the group of people crowding his bullpen. Extending his hand, he said, "We're going to miss you around her, Will. Anytime you need our help, just ask."

"Thanks, that means a lot."

"Will you send me a postcard? I like to keep them on my wall," Abby said.

"Sure, no problem. I'll keep everyone posted on our progress and when we catch the Bali Killer, you'll be the first to know. And tell Tony, thanks."

Gibbs looked around Ducky to the empty chair. To anyone who didn't know him, he simply looked to be making an observation. But to those who did know him, the empty chair concerned him.

Will graced everyone with one final smile before he headed for the elevator and left. The squad room cleared out but Abby stood in front of Tony's empty desk, staring intently at it. She always felt like she was in sync with him and sort of had a sixth sense where he was concerned. She felt the same about Kate, and now she was having the same uneasy feelings that she had when Kate was killed. "Do you know where Tony is?"

Ziva shook her head, "No. But I would not worry. He is late a lot these days."

McGee chimed in, "Ever since Will joined us he's had his nose bent out of shape."

"Personally, I think he is jealous," Ziva stated.

Abby listened, but something just wasn't ringing true. "Have you tried to call him?"

Her concern got Gibbs's attention and he said, "Abs, what's wrong?"

"I don't know. I just have a bad feeling."

So did he. Gibbs picked up his desk phone and dialed. When he heard Tony's answering machine, he hung up.

"McGee."

McGee picked up his desk phone and dialed Tony's cell. "Boss, he must have turned it off."

Gibbs rubbed his chin. If he let himself, he too would be worried because even though Tony's behavior toward Cahoon was a bit off, he wouldn't have been late today, not after being the one to virtually crack the case wide open. And something in his gut wasn't settling right. "McGee, can you locate his cell?"

A few clicks later, Tim looked up surprised, "It's right here, Boss."

"Where?"

McGee walked over to Tony's desk and opened his top left drawer. Looking down, he saw not only his cell phone, but his badge and Sig as well.

***********************************8

Tony's body had greatly stiffened since his arrival at some unknown destination. He wasn't exactly sure where they had taken him, but judging by the distance they drove and the smell, he'd venture to guess that he was somewhere near the ocean, possibly Norfolk. And that made sense to him since the USS O'Kane was due to arrive sometime today. Looking across the floor, he watched two turban clad men playing cards. "Hey?" he yelled, getting their attention. "Do you think I can use the head?"

One of the gun toting goons looked up from his small table and grunted something to his colleague. The next thing Tony knew, he was being manhandled out of his chair and forced to walk towards a barrel. Standing over it, he regretted looking down. "Are you going to uncuff me or are you going to do this for me?"

In a heavy Islamic accent, the man yelled back to his colleague. Tony didn't understand Urdu, but he did understand body language. After a short heated argument, the goon uncuffed Tony's hands and stood back two feet, aiming his gun directly at his back. Tony took care of business and then endured as his arms were roughly pulled back behind his back and cuffed again. He was then shoved back to his wooden chair.

Throwing caution to the wind, he decided to engage in a little conversation on the remote chance that one of them spoke English well enough to glean some information. "So, you're here waiting for the USS O'Kane to dock." When he got no reaction, he continued, "Yeah, we know all about the shipment that's on board. How much did you pay Cahoon to track it for you?"

That last statement got their attention and the larger of the two men approached him, spewing words that sounded like gibberish.

Tony furrowed his brow at the language, "I'm sorry, big guy, but I don't exactly speak your language."

For his troubles, he received the butt of the rifle across his cheek. He definitely didn't expect it and it took a full minute to rid the stars from his eyes. "That was uncalled for," he said. "I've been nothing but cooperative since I arrived—"

Another hit followed, only this one came across his jaw and blood splattered as the inside of his mouth split open. It took a little longer to recover from that one, and he thought better of saying anything more.

Satisfied, the goon returned to his chair and to his card game. Tony felt the swelling of his eye begin almost immediately, and the blood continued to trickle down his face and the corners of his mouth. He wondered how long it would take Gibbs to realize he wasn't coming into work today.

***********************************8

Ziva hung up the phone, stating, "The search of his apartment found nothing. No evidence of a break-in or struggle."

McGee added, "I'm looking through his computer files right now. Almost everything he's done the past week has been on the Bali Killer case. He did, however, run a search against a Navy Destroyer, the USS O'Kane; homeport: Hawaii."

"Why would he run that?" Gibbs wanted to know.

"I don't know. He was asking about Destroyers earlier. Wanted to know what I knew about them and how the Navy used them." McGee clicked some more keys and reported, "It also looks like he ran a report on all Navy personnel on the Destroyer. It looks like he was searching for the name Cahoon."

Gibbs looked even more puzzled than before, "He was looking for relatives of Cahoon? Why?"

"I think he was quite jealous of Will," Ziva said, "almost to the point of obsession."

Abby sheepishly added, "He did ask me to run Will's cell phone records. He wanted to see who he was calling."

Ducky disagreed, "I don't think what either of you were seeing was jealousy. Tony had come to me asking what I felt about Will Cahoon, but he wasn't interested in what I felt about him professionally. He wanted to know, and if I may use your words, Jethro, he wanted to know what my gut told me about him."

"Me, too!" Abby said. "He came to me wanting to know what I thought about him. He seemed frustrated that everyone was smitten with him. Called him a Boy Wonder even."

Gibbs was as confused as ever. "Of all the Navy Destroyers, why did he pick this one?"

"I can answer that," Director Vance said from the platform. He made his way to the bullpen and said, "I just got confirmation from the SECNAV that the USS O'Kane is the ship transporting the plutonium."

"Tony wasn't jealous of Cahoon; he was suspicious of him," Gibbs surmised. "Check Cahoon's computer."

McGee powered up the desktop and immediately saw a problem. It took him a minute to rethink his position on Cahoon, but when he did, he said, "It's been wiped clean, Boss. Will must have formatted the hard drive before he left."

"He couldn't have," Ziva said. "He got here the same time I did. In fact, we rode up on the elevator together."

"Can you get anything that was on it back?"

"We should be able to," Abby said. "NCIS runs nightly backups." She sat down at McGee's desk and logged in. "McGee, what's the IP address of that computer."

""

"If I can locate the server that this particular computer was backed up to, I may be able to pull it back."

"May be able to, Abby?" Gibbs asked, somewhat exasperated.

"It's just that the tapes that we use to back up our computers are recycled. The files get written over previous data and sometimes they get corrupted."

Gibbs gave Vance a look that conveyed his displeasure.

"We're hit with budget cuts just like everyone else."

"I got it!" she exclaimed. "Now, if I can just restore the data, we'll have the computer back just like it was before the backup, which occurred last night at exactly 10:06pm. This will take a minute because I'm doing a full system restore."

"Ziva, get me Cahoon's boss' number in Hawaii."

A minute later, she handed him a piece of paper with a name and number scribbled on it. Gibbs sat down at his desk and picked up his phone and dialed. "Special Agent Troy Duncan?"

"Yes."

"This is Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS Headquarters, DC. Did you order Special Agent Will Cahoon back to Hawaii?" The pause was significant, but when Gibbs heard what he needed to hear, he said, "You've got a problem on your hands. I'll have my director fill you in," and he handed the phone to Vance. "Ziva, send Special Agent Duncan all that we know about Cahoon."

"It's done, Gibbs," Abby said, pleased that the restore occurred without any hiccups. She vacated the chair and McGee slid in and started digging around.

"It looks like Cahoon was tracking the USS O'Kane. Keeping tabs on it," he said.

Vance had already hung up the phone and asked, "How did Agent DiNozzo figure this out?"

Tim pushed the file to the plasma and said, "Because Tony was snooping around his computer the past several nights. You can see that he logged on at 2:43am three nights ago, and 2:28am two nights ago."

Abby raised her hand and sheepishly added, "Tony asked me to pull some video from the NCIS cameras."

"Of what?"

"I don't know. He said he wanted footage from 12:30 to 1:30 yesterday afternoon from all interior and exterior cameras."

"Go. Bring 'em up!" Gibbs said.

Abby had saved the downloaded files to her temporary folder and hadn't deleted it yet. "It's a lot of viewing time," she stated.

"Gibbs?" Ziva said. "Special Agent Duncan is calling for an all-out manhunt on Will Cahoon. We just received the BOLO. It looks like he sent it out to all agencies."

"Let's not jump ahead of ourselves," Director Vance cut in, thinking about the publicity this would get.

Gibbs didn't care about any publicity and stated, "He may have one of my agents!"

"And possibly enough plutonium to blow up the East Coast!" Vance retorted. "Keep it quiet and we stand a better chance of recovering both Agent DiNozzo AND the plutonium."

"I have the footage ready, Gibbs," Abby said.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs turned his anger back to doing something productive. "Divide it up. Give some to Ziva, McGee, you, and Ducky. If you find something, put it up."

But his words were wasted; they were already scouring the files for clues to Tony's whereabouts.

*************************************8

Tony tried to make out what they were saying, but it was impossible. Not only did he not speak their language, but he wasn't close enough to make out the words. His legs were cramping up and he needed to move around. The blood from his cheek and mouth had long ago dried up and he was pleasantly surprised when his eye didn't swell completely shut. He was in the middle of calculating the amount of time he had been held captive when he heard a large bay door open somewhere. He cocked his head in an attempt to hear the voices as they came nearer.

Unfortunately, he recognized one of them.

"Special Agent DiNozzo," Cahoon said. "Are my men not treating you well?"

"Just a little language barrier is all. Am I correct in assuming that you're planning on stealing the plutonium off the Destroyer?"

"I like you, Agent DiNozzo. You get right to the point and don't mince words. I guess there's no harm in telling you now. I'm not planning on stealing anything, but my associates are. All I had to do was give them the exact location of the ship and supply the manifest. Of course, I did some other things along the way, but mainly they needed me to keep them abreast of her progress as she floated here from Hawaii."

"I hope it was worth it?"

"More than you'll ever know. You see, I made some friends while I was in Afghanistan, not the most savory of friends, of course, but they came with deep pockets. And since I had grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle, you could say I was easily persuaded to work for them. Unfortunately, when my company fell onto hard times and Congress cut the funding to private security firms, I had to look elsewhere for my income and as you know, government jobs just don't pay as well as private ones."

"How did you manage to get transferred to DC?"

"That, my friend, was pure coincidence and quite serendipitous. I couldn't have planned it better if I had been the Bali Killer myself. I'm not, of course, but he afforded me the opportunity to come to DC. With my credentials, I can get on to any ship and any military base around."

Tony listened to the way he answered every question that was thrown at him. He caught himself almost admiring the ease at which he spoke, but then quickly squelched those feelings in favor of the disdain he held for a fellow American betraying his country. "And you think I won't be missed at work?"

"By the time they figure it out, I'll be long gone. I'll have my payment and will have left the country."

"And what about me? I don't suppose you'd consider letting me go?"

He laughed, the kind of laughter that grates on your nerves, "You're right about that. I can't very well just let you walk out of here. I don't think I have to kill you, but that is entirely up to you. I like money, not murder. My acquaintances here… well, they may have a different agenda."

Their attention turned when two more men entered the warehouse and began speaking in a foreign language. Cahoon said a few foreign words and then abruptly left. Tony was now being guarded by four dark skinned men with long black beards. One of them approached him and from the look in his eye, it wasn't going to bode well for him. And he was right. The man sucker punched him in the face with the butt of his rifle and then came down hard on his abdomen. Tony heard the crack of a rib as he spit out more blood, and possibly a tooth.

***************************************8

"I think I found it," Ziva said. She pushed her file to the plasma and the team gathered around it. "You can make out Cahoon as he enters the smoking section of the yard. She zoomed in and highlighted his face. "He moves out of earshot range and makes a phone call."

"McGee, pull his phone records."

"I already did that," Abby said. "Tony had me do it yesterday." She displayed all his phone calls and she noted that none were made at the time they witnessed him making that call.

"He has another phone?"

"A burn phone, no doubt."

"McGee, can you pull the number from the cell towers?"

"I should be able to." He punched on his keys and asked, "What's the exact time of that call?"

"1:04:38," Abby said.

"Okay. There are three towers the signal could have jumped to."

"Can you pull up the numbers that were in use at that time?"

"It could be thousands, Boss." As Gibbs' glare bore a hole between his eyes, McGee followed with, "Yes, I can pull all the numbers that were actively being used."

"I'll take one tower, McGee," Abby said, sliding behind Tony's desk and clicking on his computer.

McGee said, "There are over five thousand conversations at this time on Tower one, and three thousand on tower two."

"And six thousand on tower three."

Gibbs said, "Pull out only those numbers with a Norfolk area code."

"That's good, Boss," McGee said, silently kicking himself for not thinking to do that. "That narrows it down to less than fifty."

Abby added, "And I don't have any on my tower."

"Put up those numbers and tell me where they go. Ziva, find out when the USS O'Kane is scheduled to dock."

"Thirty eight of the numbers go to private residences; four go to hotels, and two go to Oceana Naval Air Station; one goes to a warehouse in the shipyard."

"That's our number. Trace its exact location. Ziva?"

"The ship docks in three hours and forty six minutes, according the log the Captain submitted."

"C'mon. That's how much time we have to get to Tony! Leon, call the FBI. Get Fornell on this."

McGee, Ziva and Gibbs grabbed their weapons and backpacks and trotted off towards the elevators. After they disappeared, Vance asked, "Can they make it to Norfolk in three hours and forty six minutes?"

"If Ziva drives," Abby offered.

******************************************8

Tony had now withstood two more sessions with the one they called Ahmed. He was sadistic and hated Americans. He hated everything America stood for and he especially hated federal agents. Tony hung his head after the last beating. Blood had pooled next to his foot but he wasn't exactly sure where the blood was coming from. At one point, the goon had pulled a knife and had jammed it into his leg so Tony guessed the bulk of the blood had come from that wound though his thinking was being greatly impaired.

The one regret he had right now was listening to his gut. Sometimes he should just ignore it. If he had, he'd be back at his office, sitting at his desk, teasing Ziva or harassing McGee. Sure, he'd never be able to call himself a federal agent again if he had, but at least he wouldn't be watching blood drip from somewhere on his body and splat into a small round pool of blood on the cement floor.

"Get up!"

Tony lifted his head at the command. He wasn't even sure it was directed at him until someone roughly pulled him to his feet.

"It is time to swim with the fishies as your Mafia likes to say," came the heavily accented voice. He laughed at his own joke and then toned, "Walk!"

Tony hobbled across the floor, not sure where they were taking him.

"What are you doing?" Cahoon yelled across the warehouse.

"The ship will be docking soon so we no longer need him."

"We never needed him to begin with, you idiot!" Cahoon sneered. "We don't get rid of him until I say so!"

Tony was roughly turned around and made to walk back to his chair. For whatever reason, Cahoon seemed to have some power over these terrorists. It didn't make sense to him, but William Cahoon didn't make sense to him.

Tony sat down hard, feeling the pain from his leg course through his body. Looking around, he croaked out, "I don't get you, Cahoon. A charismatic young man with everything to live for throws in with a bunch of homegrown terrorists. What's in it for you?"

"Lots and lots of money."

"I've had lots and lots of money and it doesn't buy happiness," Tony gurgled through the blood in his mouth.

"Well, I haven't. I grew up poor, never enough food to eat, not even my own bed to sleep in. My father beat my mother, and my mother beat us. When I got a chance to leave, I left and I never looked back. Now I'm going to be the richest Cahoon to have ever lived."

"You think your family is going to care about all your money? They won't even be able to visit you. The government will be watching them 24/7 for the rest of their natural born days."

"Shut up! I don't need any of this!"

"It's true. You'll be marked for death by your own government and hunted like a dog until the day you die. That is if your newly formed acquaintances don't kill you first."

"CAHOON!"

Heads snapped at the megaphoned voice.

"THIS IS NCIS. COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP. THE BUILDING IS SURROUNDED."

Stunned, Cahoon looked at the other men, who stared back at him in disbelief. "What the hell is going on?" he yelled at his men. They scrambled to the walls and crouched down, ready to open fire.

Ahmed pointed his gun at Tony and yelled, "He brought them here! Kill him now!"

"No!" Cahoon countered, running a hand through his hair, thinking. "He's our ticket out of here!" Turning to Tony, he ordered, "You're going to get us out of here in one piece, you hear me?"

"How do you expect me to do that?"

"Easy. You're going to go out first with me right behind you. You just do what I tell you to do and you might live through it. Got it?"

"What about us?" one of the turban clad men asked.

Cahoon shifted his eyes. "You're always itching for a firefight. They don't even know you're in here. They think it's just me and their precious agent. Surprise them when the time's right."

"Maybe we should kill you and take him hostage?" he sneered. "Then, he can be our ticket out of here."

Tony prepared himself. Four against one, and him in the middle, didn't exactly bode well for either of them.

Cahoon sneaked a peak at each man, who seemed eager to follow a new leader at the least bit of provocation. "I'll tell you what. I'll give you enough time to get you and your men on the roof," he said, possibly because he knew the odds as well as anyone. "Take the boat. They have limited manpower now and won't be able to follow you."

"How do you know that?"

"I just know, damnit! They couldn't have put anything together in the amount of time they had! It's that option, or you follow me out and let them pick you off one by one!"

Tony didn't have a chance to hear the goon's answer for Cahoon had pulled him to his feet and jammed his NCIS issued Sig to his back, "Now start walking. You do what I say, and nobody gets hurts. You try to be the hero, then you're going to end up with a bullet in your spine." He shoved him across the warehouse and towards the metal door. "And in case your life isn't enough, I swear I'll take out as many of them as I can, beginning with Gibbs. And I'm a damn good shot!"

He flung the door open and shoved Tony outside into the bright sunlight. With one hand clutching Tony's collar and the other wrapped firmly around his own gun, he pushed Tony forward.

"Gibbs!" Cahoon yelled. "I have your agent with me."

Gibbs held steady behind his car door. If he felt anything at seeing Tony, he kept it hidden.

"You hear me, Agent Gibbs? If we don't get out of here in one piece, I'm gonna put a bullet through his spine!"

Fornell yelled, "This is the FBI! This place is surrounded, Agent Cahoon! There's no place to go!"

"I swear I'll but a bullet in him if I don't get safe passage out of here! Is it worth it to you Gibbs? His life for mine?"

Ziva took careful aim at Cahoon's head, but he was too close behind her partner to get a clear shot off.

"Give it up, Cahoon. We know about your plans to steal the plutonium. The USS O'Kane isn't docking in Norfolk anymore."

Cahoon hesitated, his mind racing now with thoughts of what was going to happen to him if that Destroyer didn't dock. If those men inside were still in listening range, they could have a thing or two to say about it as well.

"Screw up your plans?" Tony gurgled.

"Shut up!" he hissed at his prisoner. Yelling across the pavement, he said, "Maybe we can work a deal."

"No deal. Put down your weapon. NOW!"

Cahoon heard the shrieks of his own men as they rushed from the warehouse, spraying their AK-47s and yelling, "Death to America! Death to America!"

Gibbs opened fire as did Ziva and McGee. Fornell and his men engaged the terrorist from the sides. Gibbs realized that Tony was caught in the crossfire and watched him and Cahoon go down.

The shootout lasted all of thirty seconds, but to Tony, it felt like thirty hours. Cahoon forcefully fell into him, knocking him to the ground as the terrorists and federal agents razed the area. He heard bullets whizzing by him and felt the warm blood as it seeped out of the many holes of the now very dead William Cahoon.

And then there was silence.

Gibbs raised himself from behind the car door and shuffled carefully across the open lot amidst bloody bodies. Ziva and McGee were behind him, taking aim at every body in case one wasn't quite dead. They fast approached Tony, sprawled out on the pavement. Fornell arrived at the same time and he and Gibbs pulled Cahoon's body off him. Then Gibbs felt for a pulse. "He's alive. Get an ambulance."

Tony's eyes fluttered at the sound of his Gibbs' voice. "Boss?"

"Yeah, Tony, take it easy."

"Am I still alive?"

He smiled, "Yeah, you're still alive."

"What…What took you so long?" he gurgled through blood and saliva.

"You didn't exactly leave us a path of bread crumbs," McGee said, having found the key to his cuffs and was unlocking them, careful not to jar his body too much.

They rolled him over on his back, doing a quick survey of his body. While Gibbs probed for wounds, Ziva used her sleeve to wipe away some of the blood around his eyes, "Why didn't you tell us?"

He chortled, but it only served to produce more pain than amusement. "I tried, but you thought I was jealous."

Ziva imperceptibly dropped her head, ashamed at herself for accusing him of such emotions. "You shouldn't try to talk right now. We've got an ambulance coming."

Tony didn't want to argue with that. Talking hurt, opening his eyes hurt, hell, just breathing hurt. He heard someone say something about his leg and then felt pressure on it as it was tied off. Evidently, he took a bullet in his thigh, another in his shoulder, and someone was applying pressure to his abdomen. He heard Fornell's voice, and the sirens, but he soon let himself be taken by fatigue, and he drifted off, unaware of his colleagues' worried faces.

*************************************8

When he woke up, he was strangely confined. He wasn't sure if he was dead or just in a nice comfortable place where he felt like he was floating. He could hear voices, but they were too far away to try and make out what was being said, and besides, he was way too comfortable to care. He closed his eyes again and drifted back off into a blissful slumber.

***************************************8

Tony's eyes fluttered.

"I think he's waking up," Abby said. She was still holding his hand and had been for the past two hours, ever since the doctor had given them the green light to see him.

Ziva was on the other side of him, catching herself at times stroking his arm and willing him to wake up. "You have been saying that for the past hour, Abby."

"I know, but I think this is different."

Tony opened his eyes, wearily, and closed them again.

"It's okay, Tony. You can wake up now."

He opened his eyes again and focused on Abby. She was beautiful in her black pigtails and red lipstick.

"How are you feeling?"

He ran his tongue over his teeth and then responded, "Like shit."

She smiled, "That's about right."

He tried to shrug, but it didn't work. "Where am I?"

"You're in Norfolk General Hospital," Ziva answered. "Do you remember what happened?"

Tony thought back to the last thing he remembered and said, "I remember Cahoon wanting to make a deal. You didn't make one, did you?"

"No," she answered. "But I think I owe you an apology."

He narrowed his eyes and tried to look at her more squarely. "Did you shoot me?"

"I might have; there was a lot going on. But that is not why I owe you an apology."

Tony eye's felt heavy but he tried to keep them open because he wanted to hear this.

"I accused you of being jealous, and for that, I am sorry."

McGee chimed in, "I, too, owe you an apology."

"Did you shoot me?" Tony mumbled through swollen lips and bandages.

"Absolutely not," McGee added with confidence.

Abby interrupted, "I think we all owe you an apology. We were all taken in by Cahoon's good looks and charisma. Well, all of us except for you."

Tony tried to acknowledge their apologies, but all his energy was being used to keep his eyes open. Finally, he asked, "What happened to me?"

"The doctor said you have a cracked rib, twenty-eight stitches, a mild concussion, and too many cuts and bruises to count," Gibbs said. "And you took two bullets—one in your shoulder and one in your leg."

Tony couldn't see his boss, just hear him, but it was the voice that made him relax and both Ziva and Abby felt it. Tony knew now that he was going to be okay. But with all that was wrong with him, he wondered why he didn't hurt more. "Did you shoot me?"

Gibbs chuckled and shook his head, "Nope. If I had, you'd be dead."

Tony bobbled his head, knowing Gibbs was speaking the truth.

"You can thank Cahoon for you being alive," McGee said. "When his buddies opened fire on everybody, Cahoon actually shielded you from the bulk of the gunfire. I doubt he knew he was doing it at the time, but he fell on top of you and basically took any bullets that came your way."

Tony thought back and remembered the gun blasts and the screaming. "He was killed by his own goons?"

Gibbs asked, "Looks that way. Did he tell you why he did it?"

Tony looked around, like he was searching his brain for an answer. "Money. He wanted money." His eyelids grew heavier and he half closed them. He heard his colleagues talking, and then he heard them leaving, but he sensed a presence in the room. When he turned his head and opened his eyes again, he saw Gibbs for the first time.

His boss patted his shoulder and then gave it a gentle squeeze. "You did good, Tony. Real good. But the next time your gut's telling you something, share it with someone."

"I tried, Boss."

Gibbs actually sighed because he knew he had. Even he had been caught up in Cahoon's likeability factor and it almost cost him his best agent's life. "I know you did. But next time, make us listen to you."

Gibbs wasn't sure if Tony even heard that last statement for his eyes were now completely closed and he looked as though he'd drifted off to sleep. He pulled up a chair and forced himself to think back to the firefight, something he'd not done until now for reasons he didn't want to think about. But he had to face his own feelings and figure out what they meant.

There was a moment during the gunfight when he saw Tony get hit by a bullet and go down. In that split second, he thought the worst, something he'd been trained not to do. For whatever reason, his mind went where it shouldn't have gone, and the worst possible feeling washed over him. In the dead heat of the gun battle, he felt the same way he felt when he'd learnt about his wife and daughter being murdered. It was a feeling that he promised himself he'd never experience again; he took precautions against it. He was determined to never feel that kind of hurt ever again because he had sworn off the possibility of letting anyone ever get that close to him again. He wouldn't allow it.

But it happened. Surreptitiously, it would appear that his agent had gone and done just that. He had let his senior agent fill that void in his life. Staring down on him, he inhaled slowly. Tony had no idea the role he played in his life, and Gibbs shuddered at the thought of him knowing. He reached over and carefully placed his hand on Tony's arm. It felt good; it made him feel good knowing he was here and okay. Tony stirred slightly, but never woke. "Next time, Tony," he spoke softly, "I'll be there for you. I promise."

~~Fini

Thanks for reading and commenting. Off to finish another dust bunny. ~Jasmine