Author's Note: This story is rated M for a reason. There will be graphic sexual content between two males. If that's not your thing or if you're not of legal age to read that sort of thing turn back now!

Red Tide

Chapter One: Bureau of Special Operations

NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs arrived at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in plenty of time for his 0800 meeting. He had no idea why he was there or what was going on. Director Tom Morrow had told him of the meeting and he'd obeyed without question.

He looked at the other man sitting in the small office as he walked over to sit next to him. No doubt they were there for the same meeting. The man was a little younger than him and judging by his posture, shorter spiky hair and the air of confidence surrounding him, Gibbs guessed he was former military. The guy was definitely handsome too. If Gibbs had found him in a bar he no doubt would've taken him home.

"You get summoned here too?" the younger man asked, looking Gibbs over the same way Gibbs had been analyzing him.

"Mm-hmm," Gibbs hummed sitting in the chair next to him. There were no other seats in the office except for a large unoccupied desk.

"Tony DiNozzo," Tony said by way of introduction.

"Gibbs."

"Any idea why we're here?" Tony asked. "I mean, I'm assuming we're here for the same reason. I doubt it's a coincidence."

"Rule 39," Gibbs said, "there's no such thing as a coincidence."

"Whose rule is that?" Tony asked.

"Mine," Gibbs said looking over at the man.

Before Tony could respond a door opened and both men were called into a conference room where several other people were seated around a large table.

"Special Agent Gibbs, Detective DiNozzo," the man said, "welcome. I'm Colby Bryce, Deputy Attorney General. Have a seat." He indicated the two empty chairs in the middle of one side of the table.

Gibbs and Tony sat and were introduced to the Attorney General, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, Acting Director of ATF, Chief of Operations of the DEA and the directors of the FBI and US Marshals. Whatever was happening was no small thing, not with that many bigwigs gathered in one room. They were asked to keep the topic of the meeting confidential and signed papers promising to do so before the meeting started.

"The group of us here today along with a few others not in attendance have been in talks about a new program we're very excited about," Bryce said. "The United States Department of Justice is looking at forming a new agency, the Bureau of Special Operations. The agency would primarily be responsible for the wellbeing of American citizens in other countries. The agents would be responsible for organizing hostage rescue ops, search and rescue missions, tracking down fugitives who flee to other countries; things along those lines. They'll have access to a wealth of information and the newest technology available, things no one else gets to use yet."

"These agents will work dangerous missions and top secret cases," Attorney General Joel Bates spoke up. "I'm talking the kinds of things you don't read about in the daily newspaper. Some don't think the agency is necessary. They don't understand why we can't continue operating as we've done before."

"Why is this agency necessary, Sir?" Gibbs asked respectfully.

"Instead of drawing on the resources of other agencies we'd like to have one agency dedicated to working the international cases," Bates explained. "We'd like to keep the FBI and the Marshals focused on what's going on in the homeland. We'd like to keep our military focused on their jobs. Instead of pulling from all these different agencies and weakening them to try to build a team of people who've never worked together before we want to have agents trained and ready to tackle anything that's thrown at them."

"This new agency will have parallels to the military," Bryce, the Deputy Attorney General added. "The way you operate will include aspects of military as well as civilian police work. Agent Gibbs, you were chosen because of your advanced training as a sniper with the Marine Corp Special Operation Command as well as your special reconnaissance training and your work with force recon. Detective DiNozzo, we picked you because of your hostage rescue training, special recon and unconventional warfare training with the Navy SEALs. You were both handpicked out of thousands of possibilities."

"Were' not just the first two suckers who are gonna agree to this craziness, are we?" Tony asked. "I mean, you're not just going down some list until you find somebody who's willing to do this."

"No, Detective," Bryce said with an amused grin. "You guys were at the top of our list and although we do have alternates, you're the first ones we've talked to."

"Where's the rest of the team, Sir?" Gibbs asked.

"That's where things get a little tricky," Attorney General Bates said. "Remember how we told you some didn't understand the need for this new agency? This is a trial run. For now you two are it. You guys will be a prototype team tasked with paving the way for a new, in our opinion, vital agency. If the program is successful, the Bureau of Spec Ops will get its own director and the agency will start functioning independently like the other agencies represented here."

"You guys won't be completely on your own though," the Secretary of Defense said. "You'll have the support the Armed Forces. I'll coordinate with any military in the area and you'll have backup, access to transportation, a home base, whatever you need."

"Until the agency can gain its independence we'll still have to draw on the other resources out there," Bryce said. "Our hope is that those opposed to this can see how beneficial it would be to have agents trained to work outside the borders of the US. You two have been around enough to understand how different the world is out there and you've been trained to adapt and work under any conditions. We need that."

"We'll reconvene in six months and either disband or make things official," Attorney General Bates said. "If you guys can hang in there and rough it for six months things will start improving. We've arranged for some perks to make it a little easier on you guys as well."

"What's the chain of command?" Gibbs asked.

"You'll be team leader, Gibbs," Bryce said. "DiNozzo, you'll be second. You'll report directly to me. I'll be acting as director until we can hopefully make things a little more permanent. The group of us here today will be overseeing things and making the bigger decisions together."

"Where's our home base?" Tony asked.

"Hawaii," Bryce answered. "There's an old camp on the western shore of Oahu. It's been abandoned for years. We had a house built for you guys. For now you'll have to share and unfortunately you'll be working out of the house as well but there's six square miles of land; plenty of room to expand. It's out of the way of the touristy areas and there's a small airfield right across the street. You guys'll have your own plane and pilot. His name's Ace. He can fly everything from a paper airplane to a 757. Both of you will have a new car waiting for you as well—one of the perks Joel was talking about."

"What do you say?" Bates asked. "Are you willing to give it a shot?"

"I want a Mustang," Tony said, "convertible, red with a white racing stripe."

"Is that your only condition?" Bryce asked more amused than annoyed. The former SEAL wasn't concerned with the life or death implications of the job. He just wanted a nice ride. That was one of the many reasons both he and Gibbs had been chosen. They were fearless.

Tony thought it over before giving a slight nod of his head. "Yeah," he said.

"Done," Bryce said. "It'll be waiting for you at the airport. What about you, Agent Gibbs?"

"We'll have everything we talked about here today in writing?" Gibbs asked.

The Deputy Attorney General nodded. "And if for some reason the program ends after the six months you'll have jobs to come back to."

"I'm in," Gibbs said.

"Great," Bryce said. "You guys fly out in ten days. I need you both to come back tomorrow and do some paperwork. Once you arrive in Hawaii, you'll have another ten days to settle in and get organized then the hard work starts. We look forward to working with you both."