Title: The Takers
Author: Jasmine
Date: 11/10/10
Universe: NCIS (6626 words)
Season: 3-4
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Tony is the target of a foreign government and it's what they want that could cost him his life.

Chapter 1

The bullpen was dark, save for a few lamps illuminating the desktops. Director Jenny Shepard leaned on the railing overlooking the cubicles. In relative obscurity, she was allowed to observe one of her teams; the one that had a knack for resurrecting latent feelings. Watching them work was relaxing, for each had a purpose and each worked with intent. The only problem was it was late and they shouldn't have been hovered over their desktops pushing papers around. They should have been home enjoying a late dinner, a date, a book, a movie, or just about anything except what they were doing. Sometimes when she looked down at them, her maternal instincts kicked in, and she wondered if her daughter, had she had one, would be like Ziva? She looked from DiNozzo to McGee and wondered if her son would be like either of them? And then there was Jethro. She almost snorted thinking about him, knowing what she knew.

But it was well after seven o'clock and it was time to go home. The nonsensical talking had ceased, even Tony was quiet. She heard the ding of the elevator and was instantly reminded of why she was still at the office. The burden of the next couple of hours slumped her shoulders, but, fortunately, she was pleasantly relieved when the visitors weren't whom she was expecting but rather two of the other members of the Team. She listened in on the conversation.

"Gibbs!" Abby stated, "I ran that fiber you wanted me to run and thought you might like to know what I found."

Before an answer could be formed, Dr. Mallard followed her sentence with, "And I have an extra ticket to the Bolshoi Ballet performing at the Kennedy Center tonight and I'm wondering if any of you might be interested?"

Ziva looked up and inquired, "Good seats?"

"Always. "

She smiled and ticked her head slightly, "I have always wanted to go to the Kennedy Center."

"Splendid! I can follow you to your place and we can drive over together."

Noticing Gibbs staring at her, Abby responded, "Oh, right. Well, I ran it through IMBS, TMBS, and CMBS databases and it matches—"

"—Croghan's suit."

"Yes!"

Jenny smiled at the exchange. The case had been wrapped up three hours earlier but it never ceased to amaze her how one conclusion could be discovered three different ways.

"How'd you know?" Abby asked, feigning disappointment.

Gibbs lulled his head, not bothering to answer the question, and returned to his keyboard. Shepard knew that he was intent on completing the paper work, dotting all the i's and crossing the t's. He never cut corners and he never allowed his people to either. But she could tell they were particularly spent, especially DiNozzo. He had somehow managed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time not just once, but twice, resulting in a mild concussion from being clocked over the head by a desk phone, and cuts and bruises from almost being mowed down by Croghan's armored-plated Escalade. Maybe that explained why he was uncharacteristically quiet tonight.

Tuning out the conversation below, her mind drifted to the agency's latest dilemma, which managed to fall squarely into her lap and which happened to be the reason for her still being here. A small entourage of Chinese military physicians was coming to the facility. They'd been in the country for five days and were managing to cause quite a stir with their disappearing acts and strange questions. As it happened, their travels brought them to DC where they specifically requested a tour of the Navy Yard. Of all the places to visit, she wondered why here, but SECNAV made it clear that they were to be afforded all the courtesies of visiting dignitaries, which is why instead of being home sipping on thirty year old Bourbon, she was leaning on the railing eavesdropping.

Dr. Mallard turned his attention to Tony, furrowing his brow. "Why are you still here? You should have left hours ago and you should be home and in bed resting."

Tony pecked away at his keyboard and shrugged, "I'm fine…, just a little headache."

"Well, if it gets worse, you make a trip to your doctor."

Tony looked up, still sporting a blood stained gauze bandage around his head. "That's why I got you, Ducky, so I don't have to pay those quacks money just to hear them tell me to take it easy. You can do that for free."

McGee interjected, "Tony's a little upset over the additional paperwork he has to fill out because Croghan decided to test the hood of his car against the density of Tony's head."

Ziva joked, "I think it was a valid test. We learned that Tony's head is as hard as ever, plus we now know that his reaction time is equally as good."

Flexing his sore shoulders, Tony mumbled, "Evidently, not that good."

"All the same," Ducky said, "you shouldn't fool around with a head wound." He was suddenly distracted by the noise at the elevator. "Ah, looks like my colleagues from across the world have arrived."

Jenny furrowed her brow, wondering how he knew about their visit; it was Top Secret, and only those with a need-to-know status knew, or so she thought. She descended the stairs and walked towards the Chinese men as they padded softly her way. They were following a young Asian man who identified himself as their guide and interpreter.

"Director Shepard," the guide began in perfect English, "I'd like to introduce you to the People's Republic of China's medical exchange doctors." The four men bowed courteously.

Jenny greeted them warmly, "Welcome. We are very pleased to have you visit our facility. I'm not sure if we can offer the kind of tour that you're accustomed to, but we do have an excellent autopsy lab and a state-of-the-art forensics lab that are worth seeing."

The guide translated, and the men bowed again and whispered amongst themselves.

She politely waited for them to finish talking before motioning with her hands towards the elevator. "If you'll follow me," she said, but she suddenly felt the strange sensation that something wasn't quite right, and she found herself again waiting politely for their conversation to conclude.

"Excuse me, Director," the translator said, "but the doctors would like to be introduced to these people."

Jenny exchanged a glance with Gibbs, knowing this would only serve to annoy him, before nodding, "Of course. Where are my manners? This is Dr. Mallard, our Medical Examiner." She paused a moment while the guide translated and bows were initiated. "This is Ms. Sciuto, our forensic scientist," pausing again for translation, "… and this is Ms. Ziva David, Mossad liaison to NCIS." The Chinese doctors bowed after each introduction and moved further into the room. "This gentleman is Special Agent Gibbs, he's the team leader." Jethro nodded to their bow. Jenny turned and continued, "This is Special Agent Tim McGee, one of our field agents and seated beside you is Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, senior field agent." Both McGee and DiNozzo mumbled salutations.

Jenny took a deep breath, wondering if they could see through her façade and know that she would rather be anywhere but here giving a tour to this group of men. Clasping her hands together, she plastered on her most pleasant smile and said, "Gentlemen… shall we being? I think you might like to start down in autopsy."

Dr. Mallard recognized an opportunity to exchange some interesting conversation and said, "Yes! I'd like to show you our facility and ask you some questions about how things are done in your country." Turning to Ziva, he pointed out, "This will only take a moment, my dear. We'll still have plenty of time before the show begins."

Ziva knew how excited he was to be sharing his area of expertise with fellow doctors and didn't begrudge him that for one moment. Smiling, she replied, "Not a problem; I will be waiting whenever you are ready."

But the Chinese men didn't appear interested. They had begun mumbling to each other and looking at Tony.

Jenny leaned forward, "Ahhh, excuse me, gentlemen. If you would follow Dr. Mallard…"

The guide translated, but the four men seemed uninterested and ignored him, choosing instead to speak quietly among themselves. Eventually, it became silent and when Tony looked up, he was met with four sets of eyes studying him. "This is interesting," he drawled. Only his eyes moved from man to man. "Is there something I can do for you gentlemen?"

The guide translated, but the men didn't respond. Tony's gut churned minutely at the impasse. It was impossible to ignore the four Asian men lined up in front of his desk staring at him, and impossible to complete his paperwork under such scrutiny, although it was a toss-up as to the actual reason: the scrutiny or the throbbing headache.

McGee offered, "Maybe they're wondering why you're wearing a bloody bandage around your head?"

Pointing to the white gauze, Tony said, "I sort of bounced off a car this afternoon. Nothing to worry about, the car's fine, and so am I."

The young man translated and Tony expected some sort of acknowledgement, but the four men just continued to stare.

Ziva offered another explanation, "You are a big guy, Tony. Maybe they are not accustomed to seeing such a man."

"I'm sitting down, Ziva, how can they tell?" he replied through gritted teeth.

Director Shepard masked her annoyance through a somewhat condescending tone and said, "Gentlemen, my people are working on closing a case and they're trying to finish up so they can go home. It's been a long day for them, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist that you follow Dr. Mallard and me and we'll take you down to autopsy."

The guide translated, but the men ignored him, yet again. Instead, they whispered to each other and appeared to be nodding in some sort of agreement.

Their movements were swift and imperceptible until Tony suddenly found himself staring down the barrels of four separately held handguns. "Ahhh, fellows," he nervously said, "I don't know what I did to piss you off, but I'm sorry, whatever it was." He was so focused on the guns, he didn't notice his co-workers.

In perfect English, the man standing directly in front of Tony and who had the best between-the-eyes shot of his head, stated, "Agent Gibbs, unless you want us to pump Special Agent DiNozzo full of bullets, you will put your gun down and order Officer David and Agent McGee to do the same."

Jenny, Ducky, and Abby looked from the Asians to their colleagues, who had their weapons aimed at three of the men, but that left one to unleash a hail of gunfire into Tony.

Again, in perfect English, the man stated, "You might kill me and two other men, but you will not get us all before your agent is dead. Is that a risk you want to take?"

Confused, the translator nervously began speaking in Chinese, waving his arms about genuinely trying to understand what was happening. In the universal language of body-speak, it was evident that he had passed the stage of stunned disbelief and moved right into a full blown panic attack. Unfortunately for him, the Asian man who spoke perfect English turned and shot him squarely between the eyes.

End of chapter 1

Any reviews or words of encouragement are greatly appreciated. It helps me stay motivated to keep writing. I'm almost finished with the next chapter and hope to post this weekend.