"I don't believe it!" exclaimed Special Agent McGee.

"What don't you believe?" asked Agent Gibbs.

"I just got a hit," said Tim.

"What sort of hit? Come on, we haven't got all day," came the biting reply.

Not for the first time, McGee wondered how Tony DiNozzo let this type of remark wash over him. The MCRT was reluctantly looking at cold cases. Nothing was so urgent that McGee taking a moment to draw breath was going to cause a disaster. Tim was excited, however, and decided to 'do a DiNozzo' and ignore Gibbs' tone of voice.

"A hit on Tony's health insurance," said Tim.

Ellie Bishop looked up, "Tony's health insurance?" she asked.

"That's what he said," said Gibbs crossly.

"Our Tony or undercover Tony?" asked Bishop, proving that she too had learned to tune out Gibbs' bad moods when needed.

"Undercover," said Tim, "Tony Stromboli."

"Why did he need to claim on his health insurance?" asked Ellie worriedly.

"When? Where?" demanded Gibbs.

"Uh, two hours ago," said Tim. "In Washington."

"Gear up!" ordered Gibbs, "Get the address. Move it!" he added when it seemed that his team were hesitating.

"Not Washington DC, Boss," said Tim, "Washington State."

"What?" asked Bishop. "How'd he get there?"

"That's what we're gonna find out," said Gibbs.

"But, Boss," said Tim, "That's nearly 3000 miles. That's a long way to drive. Even for you."

"Call Agent Borin," ordered Gibbs. He saw the blank looks on Bishop and McGee's faces. "There's a US Coastguard station at Port Angeles in Washington State. We can fly in there. Tell her to organise it."

As Gibbs swept out of the squad room he heard McGee asking Agent Borin, very politely, if she could possibly do NCIS a favour and arrange for the MCRT to be transported as quickly as she could. Gibbs smiled grimly: it might not be how he would have phrased it but he guessed it would be as effective. His smile faded as he remembered why they were flying to Washington.

FLASHBACK

"It's not like that, Boss," said Tony DiNozzo.

"Not like what, DiNozzo?" asked Gibbs.

"The Director asked me to go on this assignment. I didn't volunteer," said Tony.

"Didn't turn it down either," Gibbs pointed out.

"No," agreed Tony. Then in an undertone, he muttered, "Not like you want me around anyway."

"What was that, DiNozzo?" snapped Gibbs.

"Boss," said Tony trying to be reasonable, "Ever since the Calling … and you being shot … well, it seems you don't want me on the team. I'm supposed to be the most senior person – your go-to guy but it's like you don't even want to look at me."

"I don't coddle people," said Gibbs.

"I know that, Boss. And I don't expect that. It's just that …"

"What?"

"Might be nice not to be treated like something you found on the sole of your shoe."

"Nice?" asked Gibbs. "Seem to remember that you don't like me being 'nice'."

Tony stiffened. "OK. I don't know what's going on with you but I guess it's none of my business."

"Damn straight," said Gibbs.

"And I don't know why you care about me going off on assignment. Unless it's because the Director didn't ask your permission first."

Gibbs shrugged. "Director said it should take ten days. I expect you back in ten days. No taking extra days as vacation. Understand?"

"Perfectly, Boss."

Tony flashed a look which mingled pity, hurt and disdain and then retreated to his desk. He barely spoke to Gibbs again before leaving on the assignment.

Abby had worked up an ID for Tony as Anthony Stromboli who was a travelling representative for a pharmaceutical company. It was good cover for Tony to try and infiltrate a gang suspected of selling illicit drugs to the Navy. The Director had been impressed with Tony's work with Joanna Teague in tracking down Daniel Budd and also noted that he and Gibbs were butting heads. Vance hoped that sending Tony out of the office for a while might cool things down. Agent McGee and Dr Mallard might, had they been consulted, have pointed out that it seemed to be Tony's assignment with Teague, and absence from the office, which had led to the coolness between team lead and senior field agent and that another absence might add fuel to the fire.

Five days into the op, Tony had dropped off the grid. He stopped his regular contact with Director Vance and disappeared from the apartment rented under his assumed name. The Director closed down the operation and made several arrests but some of the gang got away and those who were captured claimed not to know anything about the rep who had been so helpful in establishing contacts with the Navy.

Tony was gone and it was decided that a nationwide alert would be too dangerous with some of the drugs crooks still being on the run. NCIS had to settle for looking out for activity in one of Tony's names.

Four weeks passed before McGee got the hit on the Stromboli health insurance …

END FLASHBACK

In less time than Bishop and McGee thought possible, and in too long a time as far as Gibbs was concerned, they were standing in the small community hospital at Cedaron.

Gibbs strode towards the reception desk. A determinedly cheerful looking woman looked up to greet them but she didn't get a chance to say anything.

"You have a patient called Tony Stromboli," said Gibbs. "I need to see him. Now!"

"Sir?" asked the nurse on reception.

Gibbs leaned forward menacingly and read her name tag, "Nurse Malcolm, I am a federal agent. I want to see your patient. Now. Don't make me ask again."

Nurse Malcolm might be smiley but she was tough. There was a reason she was put on the front desk.

"May I see your badge, please?" she asked.

Gibbs ground his teeth but showed his creds. Bishop and McGee followed suit.

"And why do you want to see Mr Stromboli?" she asked.

"I'm a federal agent," said Gibbs, "I don't have to explain why."

Nurse Malcolm smiled sweetly. "I'm not sure that's true. I'm going to phone up to our Legal Department to see what they say. We take our patient confidentiality very seriously, you know." She began to dial a number very slowly.

"Uh," said Tim, edging up to the desk, "Mr Stromboli is a … friend of ours. We're very worried about him. I'm sure he'd be pleased to see us."

Nurse Malcolm looked at him sceptically. She could hear the phone ringing but knew it wouldn't be answered. The hospital didn't have a legal department of its own although Cindy from Accounting had done a year at law school.

Ellie piped up, "I promise that we are his friends," she said earnestly.

Nurse Malcolm softened, as she had always planned to do. She looked through the list of patients.

"I'm afraid we don't have a patient of that name," she said.

"He's dead?" gasped Ellie.

Bishop's obvious distress finally melted the nurse's heart.

"I don't think so, honey. We haven't had any deaths this week. No, I can't see your friend's name on our list of patients. And he hasn't been discharged in the last few days either."

"Check again," demanded Gibbs.

Nurse Malcolm's stony look returned but she checked again.

"Er, could you check under the name of DiNozzo," suggested McGee.

"Big D, little I, Big N, little ozzo," said he and Bishop together.

Nurse Malcolm looked at them a little suspiciously but obliged. "No, nothing under that name. Are you sure you have the right hospital?"

Gibbs shot a glare at McGee whose heart quailed at the thought that he might have dragged them 3000 miles by mistake. He looked hastily at the printout he had made before leaving the office.

"No, ma'am," he said with some relief, "A claim was made against Tony Stromboli's medical insurance today. At this hospital. See …" he held out the printout for the nurse to see.

"Hmm. I'll call Esmerelda down. She does the claims. She'll know what's going on."

A few minutes later, Gibbs, McGee and Bishop were sitting in Esmerelda Jones' office. So far, Gibbs had remained silent with the result that Ms Jones was being co-operative.

"Ah," she said, "I see what happened. The claim was put in today but it relates to a hospital stay about a month ago. I'm afraid that we're short staffed at the moment and we're a little behind in some of our accounting. And this was only a small claim."

"A month?" said Gibbs.

"Yes. Mr Stromboli was brought here after being found wandering near the rail road depot."

"What had happened to him?" asked Ellie.

"I'm not entirely sure," admitted Ms Jones. "I think I'll call Dr Zib down. He's our Emergency doctor. He was on duty when your friend came in."

The doctor was dealing with a new admission so it was twenty minutes before he arrived to see the MCRT. It seemed likely that word had spread about the demanding NCIS agents as he had brought a medical file with him.

Gibbs peered at his name badge, "You're Dr Zsibiczowkyx …" he trailed off. The doctor's name was so long that it was in tiny letters on his badge.

"Zsibiczowkyxowskillymda," came the cheerful reply. "But you can call me Zib. Most people do."

"You had a patient, Tony Stromboli," said Gibbs.

"That's right," said Dr Zib.

"What can you tell us about him?" asked Gibbs.

"He was admitted after being found wandering near the rail road depot."

"I've told them that, Zib," said Esmerelda.

"Oh. Well, let me see," said the doctor as he looked at the file. "No broken bones. Which was something of a miracle."

"How so?" asked Ellie.

"He was a walking bruise. Or a graze. Combination of the two, I guess."

"What had happened?" asked McGee

"Don't know. He had a concussion. He was very confused and couldn't remember how he wound up here," said Dr Zib.

"How long was he here for?" asked Gibbs.

"Two/three days."

"Which?" asked Gibbs.

"We don't know."

"What you mean? You don't know?" hissed Gibbs.

"He discharged himself. Or to be more accurate, he walked out. Either sometime during the night or early in the morning. That's why we don't know exactly how long he was here for," said Zib.

"How could he just walk out?" asked Ellie.

"It's Tony," said McGee, "It's what he would do."

"And what was his condition. When you just let him walk out?" asked Gibbs frostily.

"He was responding to treatment. We had done a CAT scan which didn't reveal any bleeding in the brain or anything sinister. He was in some pain from his injuries. And …"

"And?" asked Gibbs.

"And he still couldn't remember very much."

"And you let him go?" asked Gibbs.

"This is a small hospital, Agent …?"

"Gibbs."

"Agent Gibbs. The day after Mr Stromboli was brought in we had a school bus crash. Twenty-three young children were admitted. Fortunately, none of them were seriously injured but we were swamped for the whole day. We were not in a position to give intensive attention to a patient who was not in a life threatening situation. The next day, when we were back to as normal as we ever get here, we were ready to focus on Mr Stromboli but we discovered that he had walked out. He had signed the hospital forms and left."

"I want a copy of that medical file sent to NCIS headquarters in DC," said Gibbs as he stood up. "McGee, Bishop, we need to get a BOLO out on DiNozzo. We can't take the risk that he's still wandering around with a concussion."

"What name?" asked McGee.

"What?" said Gibbs.

"DiNozzo or Stromboli? Which name do you want on the BOLO?"

Gibbs considered for a moment. "Stromboli. Seems that's what his paperwork says."

"On it, Boss," said Tim as he started tapping on his phone.

"Er …" said Esmerelda.

"What?" snapped Gibbs.

"Don't you want to know where he is?" she replied.

"You know where he is?" asked Ellie.

"Why sure. Dr Allard let us know that he'd shown up as a patient with him," said Esmerelda.

"Who's Dr Allard?" asked Tim.

"He runs a family practice the other side of Cedaron. Says he got called in by George."

"Who's George?" asked Ellie, somehow thinking that there must be a quicker way of getting to the truth.

"George Clarke. Runs a lumber store. Cedaron World of Wood. Seems that Mr Stromboli had walked into his shop."

"How did he get there?" asked McGee.

"Guess he walked," speculated Esmerelda, "Or he might have got into a cab. Or the bus runs right past the hospital. Or he …"

"Doesn't matter how he got there," interrupted Gibbs. "We'll head there now."

"Uh. Right. Yes, Boss," said McGee as he got up from his chair. "Thank you for your help, Ms Jones."

"It was nice to meet you, Dr Zsibiczowkyxowskillymda," said Ellie.

"I'm impressed," said the doctor, "People don't normally manage to pronounce my name."

Ellie smiled with pleasure, "I used to do a lot of foreign research work. I got used to different names and I've got a real good memory. I …"

"Bishop! McGee! Today!" called Gibbs from the door.

"Coming," they both said as they hastened to obey.

NCISNCIS

McGee had managed to look up the address and the route to the lumber store before they got to the car and was able to give directions to Gibbs. Unfortunately, other drivers dared to be on the road at the same time so Gibbs wasn't able to drive as fast as he wanted but they still pulled up in front of Cedaron World of Wood in an impressively short space of time.

Gibbs strode in the store with McGee and Bishop in his wake. He was slightly taken aback to find the place was deserted but then his nose picked up the aroma of coffee and he spotted that there was a small café area over to the left where there seemed to be some people. Gibbs marched in that direction and then stopped when he saw a very familiar figure.

"DiNozzo!" he called.

Tony stiffened as he heard his name called and turned around cautiously.

Gibbs could still remember a time when Kelly had gone missing on the beach. He had been almost frantic with worry and when his daughter had turned up, his anxiety had spilled over into anger. The same thing happened now.

"DiNozzo! What the hell are you playing at?" he demanded.

Tony frowned. "Who are you?" he asked.