Chapter 1: News

Tony's POV


He closed his cell phone and put it back into his pocket but didn't move from where he stood behind the stairs leading up to MTAC. The first year into this mission he had hoped this phone call would come. Two years into the mission he thought he wouldn't mind the phone call to come, but wouldn't mind it either if it didn't. And now, five years into the mission, he had hoped this phone call would never come; but it did.

He took a few deep breaths. He had to regain his self-control. Now, more than ever, he had to do everything to remain his cover. He had a plan for that moment when the phone call came. Two years into the mission he had changed the plan. And now he couldn't think of anything that would explain the actions he surely had to take in the very near future.

It already had been difficult to find a good excuse when Director Sheppard had offered him his own team in Spain. Now he thought that might have been no coincidence. Actually, he was pretty sure it was no coincidence but working with Gibbs for five years he had been in too many unforeseeable situations to still believe everything that happened was planned out.

"DiNozzo?"

He looked up into blue eyes he never really managed to read. All his life he thought he was a good judge of character. That nobody could lie to him easily. Five years with Gibbs, he knew better. The older man had lied to him. The older man had withhold things. And still he would trust him with his life, if he could.

"Tony, what's going on?"

Gibbs asked again as Tony didn't answer. The younger man looked down and took a deep breath.

"I...I just a call from the latest wife of my father. He's in hospital and wants to see me."

He could feel Gibbs� gaze harden on him and prayed he'd believe him.

"You wanna go?"

"Not really. But who knows. Maybe he has something important to say and...I think I should go."

He looked up to wait for a reaction. Against his hopes Gibbs nodded.

"Give me a call, if anything turns up."

Tony raised his eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean...if you wanna talk, call me."

Tony opened his mouth to say something but Gibbs was already gone. Sighing heart deep Tony collected his coat and left the office. He couldn't help the sentimental gaze he gave the building as he sat in his car.

As he drove through the city he didn't took the quickest way to the place he's been told. Just this time it wasn't to make sure he wasn't followed. He passed all those sights of DC he'd never had the time or the energy to visit. He knew that it would be the same as in Paris, Barcelona or Berlin. He knew he would never see the Eiffel tower again, he would never go into Sanssoussi. He would never visit the opera in Barcelona, because he would never go into those cities again. And it was the same with Washington DC. He passed all those galeries and museums he never really took notice of, he drove by the white house and all those other great building you should have seen when you were there. He gave himself a week from now and then, Anthony Dinozzo would be gone, forever.





Gibbs� POV


He rubbed his eyes tiredly. The day was too long for his liking and the fact that Tony wasn't there only made it longer. Three hours had passed, no, snailed away, since Tony went to the hospital to visit his father. He didn't know if Mr. DiNozzo was going to die or if it just was one of his strange mind games he seemed to play with Tony all the younger man's life. Gibbs couldn't help but worry. He wanted to know that his second was alright and he really hoped Tony would call.

He looked up when he heard the �ding" from the elevator, half expecting Tony to come back, but a really bad feeling swelled in his gut when two Cops entered the squadroom and even made their way towards his desk.

"Special Agent Gibbs?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry to inform you, but Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo had a car accident."

From the corner of his eyes he saw Ziva and McGee stand up and approach the desk. Gibbs stayed focused on the young cop in front of him.

"Is he alright?"

"I'm afraid he isn't. He died instantly in the crash."

Ziva and McGee now stepped into the scene.

"Tony is dead?"

The young woman exclaimed. Gibbs sat back in his chair. This couldn't be. He'd know if Tony was dead. He knew he wasn't dead. But here stood two cops and told him that he was. And they couldn't be wrong, could they?

"How?"

His voice was nothing more than a hoarse whisper but he couldn't care less. If Tony was really dead it didn't matter.

"A truck got off its line and ran full speed and frontal into Agent DiNozzo."

"Are you sure it's Tony?"

McGee asked and Gibbs could easily relate to the question. Maybe, if the body was too desturbed, there was a tiny little chance that Tony was still alive.

"We are. We checked the plate of the mustang and we could identify him by his photo on his driver's license. And one of our collegues knew him...I'm really sorry."

With that they left the team alone and for a very long time none of them moved or spoke. More than twenty minutes later Gibbs finally worked himself up to go to Jen and report. It wasn't easy for him to retell what he had heard and he could see that Jen was just as shocked and sad as McGee and Ziva had been. He still didn't know fully what Tony had been doing for her but apparently they had grown close when he was in Mexico, not that he was surprised.

He was somehow relieved when McGee later told him that he would take over to tell Abby and Ziva volunteered to tell Ducky and Palmer. Jen had set them off duty, knowing full well that none of them could work concentrated at the very moment. Had Tony died in the line of duty Gibbs wouldn't have accepted, but now there was nothing to focus on. A case would only remind him that his second-in-command wasn't there. It would only encrease the pain of losing Tony. An Agent. A Friend. His stomach clenched and he knew the feeling too well. He had just made it to his house on autopilot and into the guest's bathroom on the first floor before he threw up everything he had eaten that day, which wasn't much. The three slices of pizza he had nicked from Tony. He knew that moment that he had lost more than a friend. He knew it the very moment the cops had stepped into the bullpen but now it was more than real. It was overwhelming and all he remembered later were tears swelling up in his eyes and then everything was black.

Chapter 2: Return and Run

Gibbs blinked his eyes open but squeezed them shut again as room was spinning. The cold of the tiles on his bathroom floor were freezing him and he slowly pushed himself up, leaning his back against the door. Finally he could open his eyes and glanced at his watch. It was after seven, he must have passed out after throwing up, at least if the taste in his mouth was anything to go by.

He wanted to rinse but couldn’t work up the strengh to take the cup on the sink and fill it with water. Everything seemed as dull as when he came home. He felt numb and overly filled with emotions at the same time. Tony’s death was the last drop to get the barrel of his emotion not only to overflow but to burst into tiny little pieces and left his mind dropping from memories and feelings he had hidden for too long, even from himself. Tears clung in the corners of his eyes, he wasn’t quite ready to let them fall just now.

It was dry cold and wet hot. It was too much. He couldn’t stand up, he couldn’t sit here. His body shook with tremors, his stomach clenched tightly as if he was going to vomit again but nothing was left. Nothing was left. He had nothing to live for anymore. He had nobody to blame. Maybe himself? Maybe Tony hadn’t been concentrated because he was worrying what his father had to say. Maybe he should have offered him to drive him there.

He ran his hand over his face. It wouldn’t have changed anything. Tony would have told him that he was fine. He would have driven just the same. If he himself had been driving they’d be both dead. But wouldn’t that be better? Wouldn’t it be better if he died with Tony instead of now dealing with it? Could he deal with it? He wasn’t so sure about that. If he could move he would most likely put a bullet in his head. If he could move.

Eventually he would stand up and go to his bed. He would fall asleep and wake up. He lost every feeling for time. He didn’t feel hungry or thirsty. He just lay on his bed. Some time his cell phone rang, and probably he would have found it if he went looking but he didn’t. A few minutes later his hard line rang and he didn’t answer that either. He closed his eyes again and took deep breaths, hoping he wouldn’t wake up again as he fell asleep.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and a soft voice saying his name. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter and savoured the sound of his mate’s voice. Tony’s hand gently shaking him.

„Tony...“

He murmered but then his eyes snapped open. It couldn’t be Tony. He turned slightly to see Ducky standing beside the bed. Tears swelled up again and he turned away, ashamed of himself.

„Jethro, we tried to reach you all day. Why didn’t you answer your phone?“

„It rang?“

Somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered the sound of it but he couldn’t tell how long it had been since.

„We were worried when you didn’t show up.“

„Jen gave us off.“

Gibbs defended himself.

„Jethro, that was two days ago.“

Slowly he sat up and frowned. Two days? He hadn’t been out for the count that long, has he?

„Jethro, I didn’t know that you and Tony have been that close.“

„We weren’t...that’s the problem...God, Ducky...I didn’t realize how much I loved him...“

The older man sat on the bed and rubbed soothing circles on Gibbs‘ back. It had been only a few months after Tony had joined NCIS that Ducky had noticed the obvious attraction between them but he knew that it never went beyond that, until now. A few minutes later Gibbs was once more asleep, the emotional exhaustion too much for the already strained body.

Ducky shook his head softly as he left the house to get some things. He took out his cell phone and informed the director that Gibbs was on medical leave until further notice. He was positive that Gibbs finally had the breakdown he was due to have.





Gibbs woke to the sound of footsteps. This time he was sure it was Ducky, coming back from where ever he’d gone. The door to the bedroom opened and didn’t even turn around. But then he felt the end of a gun at the back of his head.

„Stand.“

Ordered a dark male voice and slowly he obeyed. ‚Damn me for never locking my door‘, he thought but then wondered if he should just take his chance. It wasn’t as if he really cared about his life at the moment. Before he could decide or turn around he heard again footsteps, but this time fast as if somebody was running up the stairs and a moment later the man with the gun was thrown over the bed. Gibbs stared at the fight that happened in front of him. Two men were struggling on the floor of the other side of his bed. Who were they? What did they want?

He flinched at the familiar sound of a neck broken with bear hands and stared at the back of the head of the winner of the fight. As he stood, breathing heavily after the exhaustion and the adrenalin. Gibbs‘ stomach clenched as recognition slowly rose in his mind. The hair, the stature. The man turned and his mouth fell open. It was no coincidence...it was a dream. Yeah, sure. His mind was playing a trick on him. This couldn’t be him.

„We have to get away from here. There are more where this one came from...why are you looking at me as if I am a ghost?“

„Are you kidding? Maybe because you died two days ago?“

Tony sighed and looked down at the body Gibbs couldn’t see.

„Well, I’m not, obviously. And it’s not a dream, you can pinch yourself if you want to. Now get some cloths and let’s get out of here.“

As if that was enough to convince Gibbs he started to pack some cloths into his backpack.

„How did they tell you I died?“

Tony asked conversationally.

„A truck ran frontal into your car...Tony, they’ve been sure it was you...and why didn’t you come into the office? Or over here?“

Tony took his backpack and made for the door.

„I promise, I’ll tell you everything, but now, we’ll have to get going!“

„Why? Where to?“

„We have to go because apparently somebody wants to kill or abduct you. We don’t have a real destination. I was planning on anything but here. Gibbs, I know you can’t understand it now but this is very important and no matter what happens, I want you to remember this. I’m the only one you can trust.“

Gibbs frowned but before he could ask Tony was already going downstairs and out of the house, obvioulsy checking the enviroment. Gibbs noticed that Tony’s mustang wasn’t in the drive way but a black crysler.

„You bought yourself a new car?“

„Em...yeah...kinda. Get in.“

As Tony turned on the engine he immidiatly switched off the automatic navi-system and then looked at Gibbs.

„You have your cell-phone on you?“

„Em...yeah...“

He pulled it out and Tony took it and threw it out of the window.

„HEY!“

„I have a safe line. Yours can be tracked.“

Gibbs looked at the younger man for a moment.

„I want answers, DiNozzo! And I want them now!“

„Fine, you can have answers. But don’t go all over me if you don’t like them.“

Tony’s eyes were fixed on the street but his voice was strained with anger.

„Who was that guy in my bedroom?“

„Don’t know.“

„Where are we going?“

„Not sure.“

„You’re right, DiNozzo, I don’t like your answers.“

Tony sighed and glanced at the older man.

„I don’t know who that guy was. I only know that he was trying to abduct you or kill you and for me that was enough reason to kill him. I also know that who ever send him will send others to finish his job and I’ll take care that that won’t happen. I didn’t have time to make a plan yet so I only know that we’re going to get some of my stuff and then we’re heading out of town.“

He looked over to see the other man frown at him.

„Tony, they told me you’re dead.“

Gibbs urged him to explain this matter.

„I know...I tend to forget how they cover their tracks cause I’m usually not involved anymore. Ducky called me a few hours ago and told me that you’re not well, so I went to check it out...was your luck I did.“

„Wait...Ducky knew that you’re not dead? And who are they?“

„Yeah, Ducky knew because he is one of us...“they“ are a super secret agency on international basis. It’s that secret that only the highest politicians of every country are informed...well, only those who are supposed to know that we exist. We have jurisdiction in every country but, and that’s the problem that goes along with it, we have to have good reasons for our actions. They have other penalties than prison.“

For a long moment there was absolute silence in the car.

„There is a top secret agency...and you’re an agent?“

Tony nodded.

„How come you never went away for a mission?“

„Because I was on a mission. I’m not Anthony DiNozzo. I wasn‘t born in Long Island, and actually, I never was a cop. I came here to protect you.“

„You? Were protecting me?“

„I know, it sounds unbelievable. Sure, you never noticed, but that was the plan. You weren’t supposed to know.“

Gibbs looked out of the window, trying to wrap his head around all of this. Tony wasn’t Tony, he was an Agent of an Agency he didn’t know exist, and he wasn’t dead...

„If I wasn’t supposed to know, how come you’re telling me this now?“

„Because the circumstances changed.“

„You mean because I saw you kill someone but you were supposed to be dead?“

„No. Because my CO took me off and two days later you get attacked. I don’t believe in coincidences.“

He took deep breaths to calm himself down. He knew he was getting emotional and right now that didn’t help.

„I don’t understand...“

„For more than five years I was here, by your side, always watching your back and then, exactly when I get pulled off something happens. And the way I got pulled off...it wasn’t after protocol. Usually I would have been picked up and brought to HQ, where they give me a new idendity and everything. This time my CO met me somewhere near Alexandria. This is not how the agency works...it’s how my CO works when he’s doing something on his own. I should have known it right away...“

Tony pulled into a garage and stopped the car.

„Why should I believe you?“

„Come and look.“

He said getting out of the car and starting towards a door. Gibbs followed him through several halls before Tony opened a door with a code and his fingerprint. Inside it looked like a doctor’s office. The walls were a light grey, just as the floor and the doors were a clinical green. In one of the rooms there were several wardrobes and Tony packed two suitcases of cloths. Then he walked into the next room and as Gibbs entered slightly later his mouth fell open.

All kind of fire arm were in this room. Well, not all kind, but everything you could carry. He watched in awe as Tony put several guns and munition on the table in the middle of the room. Then the younger man took off his jacket and pulled his sick out of the shoulder holster and replaced it with a half automatic magnum. In the end Gibbs had counted not less than 8 hand guns and four knives, the one in Tony’s belt out of count. Furthermore there were two sniper rifles and a shotgun on the table.

„You’re preparing for war?“

„If necessary.“

Tony pushed a shoulder holster and two guns towards Gibbs.

„Those are better than the sick. You know them, don’t you?“

„Yeah, I’m familiar with them.“

Tony smiled shortly.

„The answer I expected from a gunnery seargeant.“

„Where are we?“

„It’s the safe house. We’re lucky my CO operated alone. Otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten in here anymore.“

Tony put both hands on the table and took a deep breath.

„I can’t believe he’s doing this...all my life I looked up to him and now?“

„All your life?“

„I’m one of ten Agents that have been in the agency nearly all their life. We’re trained right from the beginning. Prototype Agents, so to say. I can’t even remember my name or my parents...I’ve been four, at least that’s what they told me and the found me in a child’s home. My IQ is 196, I speak 8 languages fluently, I can use every marshal art there is and I know how to use about every weapon. I have degrees in biology, chemistry, physics and math. I could hack into the pentagon within five minutes if I needed to, so, I could have done all the work on the team alone and had time to cook a meal for seven people. But I don’t know what it’s like to be hugged by your mother...or how it feels to come home to your partner...and probably I’ll never know... most of us die before they can retire...only a few of us have the opportunity to settle down, like Ducky.“

„Donald Mallard is one of those Agents?“

Gibbs got big eyes and finally had to sit on the chair at the table.

„Well, he’s as much Donald Mallard as I am Anthony DiNozzo. But he does have a past. The thing is once you joined you can’t go back. But Ducky got an identity he could live. And he’s happy, I know that.“

Tony checked his watch.

„C’mon, let’s go. I don’t know if anybody’s looking for me yet but I don’t want to take the risk.“

Gibbs nodded absently and followed because, as strangely as it sounds, he trusted Tony, or whatever his name was.

Out of the „apartment“ Tony headed another direction than they had come from. Gibbs didn’t even mention it. He knew the younger man probably had a plan, even though he didn’t know what it was or why they were running away in the first place. For once in his life his gut told him to follow instead to lead. But when Tony entered a car that wasn’t the one they had come in without any problem Gibbs stopped.

„Get in, Gibbs.“

Tony ordered softly and the older man obeyed relunctantly.

„How many laws do we break here?“

„You mean U.S. law? Or Agency law? Doesn’t really matter cause it’s definitely more than you wanna know.“

Tony answered with a grin as he started the car after little struggle with the electronic. Gibbs rubbed his hand over his face and sighed.

„You look exhausted.“

Tony noted and Gibbs gave him a look.

„Ducky told you how I was?“

„Yeah, he did...“

„Everything?“

Tony glanced over but then took a deep breath.

„You mean that you didn’t answer your phone and didn’t come in to work? That he found you on your bed oblivious to the fact that you missed out two days? Yep, he told me.“

For a moment they were silent. Tony drove down the highway, just as fast as allowed.

„He also told me what you said when he found you....that you thought it was me.“

„Great.“

„Hey, I’m here, am I not? I had that suspicion before. And so did Ducky. I just...I couldn’t act on it. And believe me, I was tempted.“

He threw him a look that told him that Tony was completely honest. He frowned.

„Why couldn’t you?“

„Jethro, you’ve been an Agent for more than 15 years now. Would you get involved with somebody you’re supposed to protect?“

Damn good point, he thought. But it provoke another question.

„What exactly were you protecting me from?“

Tony sighed heavily as he maneuvered through the busy streets of D.C.. Sometime Gibbs wondered if there ever was a time when the streets were not busy but now he didn’t notice a single car.

„Actually, I have no idea.“

The younger man shot Gibbs a look that told him that he was very annoyed about that.

„My mission was to protect you. Apparently there was no acute threat, or they would have stop that. That they send me means that they wanted to be on the save side. Which means they probably just wanted to get rid off me.“

„They wanted to get rid off you?“

Tony shrugged slightly and waved at a couple of cops he apparently knew. If Gibbs hadn’t witnessed him arming himself to the teeth and steeling a car he would think it was just an ordinary day.

„I messed up a mission in Europe. But they can’t fire me, right? So, it seems a good solution to send me on a protection mission although there is no real threat."

„What did you mess up?“

Tony glanced over and then sighed again.

„That’s need-to-know. And you don’t need to know.“

„You already told me a lot of thing I don’t need to know.“

„Yeah, I did. But to tell you about the mission could bring you in danger and I’m here to protect you, not to kill you!“

Gibbs raised his hands in a calming gesture of surrender. Tony took deep breaths.

„So, you think they send you to me without real reason?“

„Oh, I’m sure there is a reason. Whoever intruded your house today didn’t simply want to kill you. They wanted you alife, and that usually has a reason. Can’t you think of anything? Have you any information that could be useful for terrorists? What about your time in the service?“

„I was a Gunny, Tony, a sniper. I didn’t do anything highly sensible.“

Tony nodded as he drove onto the highway they had left only a few minutes earlier. Gibbs frowned slightly but then concluded that he was making sure they weren’t followed.

„It always could be that you know something but you don’t know that it is important. A lot of information that are highly important are transported as something trivial. Like, once they had covered up the code to a nuclear bomb with a birthday date. Can you imagine that? There was one guy telling the other guy when his daughter was born and in reality he told him the code to defuse a nuclear bomb.“

Tony felt Gibbs gaze on him and after a long moment he looked at him.

„What?“

„Could it be that you just told me the need-to-know?“

„Well...not the one I had messed up as you can see, since we’re still alive and not contaminated.“

Gibbs shook his head.

„That’s how you’re dealing with information in the agency?“

„Usually not. But we were running out of time and we knew that my phone was bugged. So, conveniently, my old buddy Markus called me to tell me when his daughter was born.“

„Spies.“

Tony heard him mutter next to him and somehow he could relate to him. Although he himself was a spy, more or less, he wasn’t very fond of all the other agencies around the world. They were just making his work a little harder, as if it wasn’t hard enough.

„So, you have no idea what, or who, we are running away from?“

„Actually, no. But I don’t really care. This is big, Gibbs. We can’t trust anybody, not even the agency...my boss is in it, we can’t know who else...“

Gibbs sighed deeply. After more time than actually needed they finally left D.C. and were driving down a road Gibbs had never been on before.

„Where are we going?“

„We go to an airport. I know somebody who owes me. He has nothing to do with the agency, and right now that makes him more trustable than anything else.“

For the rest of the ride Gibbs stayed silent. He had tried for some time to follow their way but even from inside the car he had lost track of the route because Tony changed the streets too often. They were still in D.C. and Gibbs had still no idea where exactly they were heading. Sometimes he thought south, then west, then south again. Right then they were driving north. He looked to his left when he saw from the corner of his eyes that Tony glanced repeatedly into the rear-view mirror.

„Watch out!“

Gibbs cried out as a black SUV pulled up right before them.

„Fuck!“

At Tony’s exclamation Gibbs noticed the same kind of SUV behind them and to their left. Without warning Tony made a U-turn, racing against trend down the access road of the high way. Wires squeeled as other drivers tried to avoid the black mercedes. Gibbs looked over his shoulder and saw that one of the SUVs had managed to follow them. The huge truck that was hunking at them was exactly what Tony needed. He pulled left behind it, crossed a small lawn and turned right onto a street. Gibbs didn’t dare to glance at the tachometer nor to check if they were still followed. He concluded that they weren’t when Tony pulled onto a parking lot.

„Let’s go.“

Tony hurried him, his voice strained, and got out of the car. Only a few meters away Tony had found a car that was good enough for his liking and again within seconds he had it open and started. This time he didn’t have to tell Gibbs to get in. Suddenly everthing Tony had told him seemed brutally real. There was someone who wanted him and that person, or those people were not afraid to risk their life in it.

„Calm down.“

Tony told him as he once more drove off in a stranger’s car. However, for the first time, Gibbs didn’t thought he could calm down. He hated it to not know something but this was worse than anything before. He wanted to know who was after him. He wanted to know why, what for and...

All thoughts left his mind when Tony took his hand.

„We’re going away. We’ll make it, Jethro, I promise.“

Strangely, Gibbs believed him.

When Tony stopped the car he looked to his right. Gibbs had his eyes closed and seemed to be asleep.

„Jethro?“

„Mhm?“

„You need to eat something. We’ll have to walk a bit.“

Gibbs opened one eye to look at Tony sceptically.

„If you don’t have an eatable gun I don’t think there is anything to eat.“

Tony rolled his eyes and got out of the car. He opened the back door and took out his bag. He kneeled next to the open passenger side door and started to go through his bag.

„Rule #1: Always have provisions with you, no matter how short the mission seems to be.“

„But rule #1...“

„Agency rules, Jethro. Ah huh!“

Finally he had found the chocolate bar.

„Chocolate?“

Gibbs frowned as Tony held out a piece to him.

„It will power up your energy reserves. At least until we’ll get something real to eat. I’m sure Lenny has something.“

„Lenny, sounds trustable.“

„Well, would you prefer if I lead you to Agent 4193 IL?“

Gibbs sighed and slowly got out of the car.

„Your name?“

„Nope, I’m Agent 0372F. Well, that’s the short version, my nickname, so to say...you’re fit enough to walk? We have to get into the middle of that wood.“

Tony pointed at the forest down the small hill.

„Lenny has an airport in the middle of a forest?“

„Nope, but there’s the cabin of a friend, who happens to be dead, therefore I’ll borrow his car. With that we’re going onto the landslight where Lenny lives. I really hope they haven’t gotten to him yet...oh! Maybe Al has something eatable in his house!“

Gibbs frowned a bit deeper as he followed Tony into the dark shadows of the huge trees.

„Is he dead like Kate, or is he dead like you?“

Tony stopped shortly and then turned to Jethro.

„Well, to be honest, that’s more or less the same.“

„What? NO! That can’t be true! I saw her body! I saw the blood. Ducky did the autopsy...“

„Yeah, very good effects. I thought it was cruel to confront you with her death like that. But if it's any help, I had no idea that she’s alive until Ducky told me that he’s doing the autopsy on a doll.“

Gibbs stared at him with his mouth hanging open.

„But I saw him doing it.“

„You did? He ever lifted that blanket in your presence? I mean, further than the face? Did you even want to take a look? It was convenient. They wanted Kate on another mission and they wanted Ari to be dead. That Ziva shot him was a surprise though. I thought I’d have to do it.“

„You weren’t there and I never told you that Ziva shot him.“

Tony shook his head.

„Jethro, I was supposed to protect you. I was there, with a rifle aiming at Ari’s head even before you had entered the basement. She shot just the moment I wanted to pull the trigger. Gotta say, it served me pretty well. Would have been more difficult to cover it up if the shot had come from outside through a window.“

Tony started to continue their way but Gibbs remained nailed to the ground.

„Jethro, we’ve got to keep moving. You saw how quick they are in following our tracks. That’s a stolen car, it’s only a matter of minutes until they know which car we have. Every minute we wait we risk that they find us!“

The easy, humourful man was gone and Gibbs saw steely professionism, with a hint of fear.

„I wish I could just sit down with you and tell you everything, but I can’t. I have to make sure that you’re save and then, maybe, I can tell you everything I know. But for now you have to trust me and follow my orders without question.“

Gibbs nodded unwillingly and followed Tony into the heart of the forrest. The cabin of Tony’s friend didn’t seem as if someone had been there for ages. Tony, unimpressed by the state of the cabin went on towards it.

„How long is he dead?“

„A couple of days. Monday, I think.“

Gibbs gave the cabin another strange look.

„He was a bit paranoid...well, given that he was killed I don’t think paranoid is the right word. Anyway, he was very precautious.“

Inside the cabin was just as shabby as from the outside but Tony went straight to a torn easy chair and pushed it up, what reveilled a secret passage way into the ground.

„As I said, very precautious. Close the door behind you.“

Bewildered Gibbs followed down the ladder into a room which seemed to be build completely out of steel. Different types of equipment Gibbs had never seen before beeped or squeeled or blinked in their respective holds.

„What is all that?“

„Em...most of it I have no idea. Al always was a little strange when it came to electronics...I recomment to not touch anything.“

Gibbs pulled back his hand and put it into his pocket.

„He’s been in the agency?“

„Nooo, I met him some time ago in Germany. It was the first time he had visited his hometown since he had fleed the country in 1941. Hitler wanted him to build something, but Al wasn’t that kind of German so he went away. I think that’s why he thought he was followed. Although, Hitler’s dead for about sixty years...“

Tony went on around the room, taking one thing or another and placing it in his bag.

„I don’t think we’ll find something to eat in here, though.“

Gibbs stopped at a wardrobe. He tried to open it but it was locked.

„You don’t have to try. Al asked me to try and open it. Nothi...“

Tony’s mouth hung open as Gibbs opened the door and looked inside.

„How did you do that?“

Gibbs shrugged slightly and pointed at the lock.

„I picked it with my kit. Wasn’t very difficult.“

Tony stared at him and then grinned.

„Nasty bastard! Sure, if you look around the room you expect it to be locked with some techno-shit but no! A simple lock!“

Tony stepped next to Gibbs, their shoulders brushing. But Tony didn’t noticed because he had found a letter, which he took out.

„He left me a letter...“

Gibbs frowned.

„This says, Michael.“

„Yeah, he thought my name was Michael Müller...well, he knew it wasn’t my name, but that’s the name I used when I met him.“

Tony opened the letter and started to read out loud.

„Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Michael!

Du hast es endlich geschafft meinen Schrank zu öffnen. Leider bedeutet das auch, dass ich tot bin. Naja, wir wissen ja beide, dass ich damit gerechnet habe. Hier sind einige Gerätschaften die dir möglicherweise bei was-auch-immer behilflich sein könnten.

That’s great!“

Tony looked at Gibbs who had the ever present frown on his face.

„What’s great?“

„He left me some of his stuff, well, not that I couldn’t take what I want but apparently he had enough foresight to tell me what they are for.“

„So, what did he leave you?“

Tony took another look at the letter.

„It all sounds like stuff from a James Bond movie...A laserkugelschreiber...a pen with a laser...well, not the biggest of his inventions...Zahnmikrophone...mikrophones for teeth?...wireless earpieces...Wärmebrille, glasses reacting to body temperature...and a couple of other things...this says it’s all in a bag in the wardrobe?!“

Gibbs turned to the furnature and received a black backbag.

„Well, that’s that. You don’t mind taking it, do you? This bag and the sport bag with the rifles are quite enough already.“

Tony turned without waiting for an answer and strode to the other end of the room.

„Ah, yes, a real beauty!“

He announced before he pulled off blankets and reveilled a kind of car Gibbs had never seen before.

„It does have something of a batmobile.“

„A what?“

Tony threw Gibbs a look.

„Batmobile. Batman? I had some time for watching movies.“

He shrugged and got into the car.

„Em...Tony, I don’t wanna ruin your enthusiasm...“

‚Though that’s probably the wrong word‘ he added inwardly,

„but we’re at least eight feet under the ground. How do you wanna get the car up there?“

„How are you going to get your boat out of your basement?“

Tony chuckled at the dumbstruck expression of the older man.

„Well, Al thought a bit more about it than you did.“

He took the remote control that lay next to the driver’s seat and pressed a button. Immidiatly the car was moved upwards. Above them the ground opened and a moment later they were on ground level.

„Fucking unbelievable!“

Gibbs exclaimed and Tony grinned. He put on his sun glasses and accelerated.

Three hours later, Gibbs sat at the table of a man he didn’t know and ate that man’s food. It was long since he had felt weird in any way.

„Lenny, we need to get away from here.“

The argument heated up again as Tony and Lenny returned from somewhere else in the house.

„You know I can’t fly you out of the country without them knowing. They’re watching me.“

Tony rubbed his hand over his face.

„Florida? That you’ll manage, won’t you?“

Lenny gave him a look.

„Hey, you owe me! You forgot about two years ago? You wouldn’t be flying anywhere without me!“

„Yeah, and it gave me a whole lot of trouble. They were watching me all the time. If I come too close to the Mexican border, they’re waiting for me! As if one could run away from you guys. You know that as well as me. Why are you trying to anyway?“

Tony shook his head and sighed.

„Cause I have to. Because I have a mission and I won’t screw that one up. And if it means that I have to run away from my own people, so be it. Florida, Lenny. That’s all I’m asking from you.“

Lenny gave something between a grunt and a sigh, and went back out of the room. Tony sat at the table and rubbed over his face.

„It’s the only way to get us there. Driving’s too dangerous. There are too big distances in which we can’t change the car.“

„But if they’re watching Lenny they could simply shoot us up when we’re in the air.“

Tony gave him a long measuring look, but then shook his head.

„Whoever I killed in your house wanted you alive, so the Agency wants you alive as well. I guess it’s more important to them to get you than to kill me.“

Gibbs nodded slowly.

„You really have no idea why...why you protected me?“

Tony shook his head with a slightly raised eyebrow.

„I got an order and I followed it.“

„Yeah, and that’s why you don’t know what to do now.“

Tony frowned at him.

„You always followed orders and for the first time there is no one giving you orders and you have to make up a plan totally on your own. And that you never learned to do.“

Gibbs expected Tony to say something against his statement, but the critism went past Tony unnoticed.

„I guess you’re right. There are too many variables. I don’t know what the people want who tried to abduct you. Neither do I know what the Agency has planned to stop me. I don’t know if they still think of me as useful or just dangerous. I tend to the latter, though.“

Tony sighed slightly and stood up.

„Are you afraid?“

The younger man raised an eyebrow incomprehensively.

„Why should I be afraid?“

„We could die.“

Tony made a sound which Gibbs couldn’t quite place. It sounded as if Tony hadn’t thought about the possibility, but Gibbs thought that Tony probably hadn’t considered it as something to be feared.

„I’m not afraid of death...“

„Not even of mine?“

Gibbs stood up now.

„I won’t screw up this mission.“

„I’m not talking about the mission, Tony. Are you worried about me, or just the protection detail?“

Tony opened his mouth, but closed it again.

„I don’t know.“

Before Gibbs could say anything Lenny returned. He grunted again, nodding to the door.







The flight in the tiny plane was spent in silence. Gibbs didn’t want to risk a fight with Tony, at least not in front of Lenny. Once they were back on the ground, Lenny left the airport quickly again, and Tony didn’t linger long either.

„What do we do now?“

„Stanley...you don’t have a problem with uncomfortable flights, do you?“

Gibbs raised his eyebrow.

„Canvas seats?“

„Nope...“

Ducky tapped on McGee’s desk with his fingers. His usual Scottish patience was long gone and suddenly their working hours, or more precisely the time they started, seemed ridiculously late to him. It hadn’t been an easy decision to ask the young man for help. Of course, the first two obvious choices were both out, not only that, they were the reason he needed help. He knew how good McGee was, and although he had even slightly a bit more faith in Abby he knew he couldn’t ask her.

Finally, the elevator opened, and McGee entered the bullpen, to Ducky’s great relief, alone. He wasn’t even at his desk before he stopped and frowned at the elder man.

„Em...Ducky, what are you doing here?“

The last couple of days had been hard on them all. First Tony’s sudden death and then Gibbs being on sick leave. Agent Lee had once more joined the team, sitting at the desk next to McGee’s behind the wall because she didn’t want to sit at Tony’s. Ducky could more than relate to it that McGee was expecting more bad news.

„Timothy, I need to have a word with you.“

„Well, shoot.“

„Not here.“

Ducky shook his head and led the way to the elevator that brought them down into autopsy. He disabled the automatic doors and led McGee further into the dark morgue.

„Ducky, I’m worried here...“

„You’ll be more worried once I told you.“

„Oh, sounds great. What’s going on?“

Ducky took a deep breath and motioned McGee to sit on one of the slabs.

„This has to stay between the two of us. No one can know, Timothy, not Abby, not Ziva, not even the Director. If you’re asked, I never told you anything. This conversation never happened.“

A frown on the young man’s face increased almost comically, though there was nothing funny about it, but finally he nodded.

„Timothy, Tony is not dead. He’s a top secret agent of an international agency. You might have thought Ziva was the spy on the team, but actually Tony was. Well, actually, he’s not Tony DiNozzo, and don’t ask me for his name, I don’t know.“

„Is this supposed to be a joke? Cause it’s not funny.“

„Do you see me laughing, Timothy?“

For a long moment Tim only stared at Ducky. Tony a top secret spy?

„If Tony is a spy, how come you know about it?“

Ducky nodded shortly.

„Because I once was an agent. I retired about fifteen years ago and they gave me this identity. They required one last service from me a couple of years ago; to help Tony to get in here. It wasn’t that difficult, as Jethro trusted me as a friend and consult. Abby wasn’t difficult to get on board, as if she said no to a good looking young man who actually knows what he’s doing. Tony’s mission, as I’m sure that would be your next question, was to protect Jethro. I can’t tell you why, I could say because it’s need to know and you don’t, but actually I can’t tell you because I don’t know myself.“

„Ok...and why are you telling me all this?“

Ducky stood up from his chair and sat next to McGee on the slab.

„When Tony supposely died, Jethro had a breakdown. His feelings for Tony were much deeper than he himself knew. That is why I set him on leave. When I went to his house last night, he wasn’t there but there was blood on his bedroom carpet, not enough blood to be fatal, but still I think that whosever blood it was is no longer among us.“

„You think ...Gibbs is dead?“

Tim’s voice was hoarse; wasn’t it enough to lose one friend?

„Actually, I don’t think so. I talked to my agency contact, and apparently they knew more. The man who died in Gibbs‘ bedroom was a terrorist.“

„But then where’s Gibbs?“

„Now we’re getting to the part I need your help with. That Tony’s dead, or rather that his fake identity was claimed to be dead, indicates that he was pulled off the mission. But my contact told me that Tony wasn’t officially pulled off. Apparently, his CO vanished the same time Tony was announced dead.“

Ducky could almost see Tim’s mind working.

„You’re saying his CO works on his own, and not after order by the agency?“

„Exactly. When I found Jethro all broken I called Tony on his secured cell phone. I think Tony went to check on him and surprised the terrorist and killed him before he had the chance to kill Gibbs.“

„Well, that’s good, isn’t it?“

Ducky sighed.

„Well, it is good that Tony was faster than the terrorist. It isn’t good though that Tony is on the run and Gibbs is with him. You see, his CO, he was like a father to Tony. He has never known anything outside the agency. You can’t compare him to you. You can’t even compare him to me. He has no family, no home, no real identity somewhere out there. When his CO betrayed the agency, Tony lost all of his faith in the system, and now he’s not only running away from the terrorists, but also from the agency. He doesn’t trust anyone there anymore. I need you to find him before they both get killed. and believe me, no one chasing them will ask a lot of questions, at least concerning Tony.“

„Ducky, what do you think I could do? If Tony is a spy, and he doesn’t want to be found, I don’t think that I could find him.“

„Timothy, you have one major advantage; he’s not running away from you. Even Tony needs people, and since he doesn’t trust the agency, he will look for people who have been loyal to him, and before you say it, he did always think of you as loyal, otherwise he wouldn’t have accepted you to be that close to Jethro.“

McGee slid off the slab, and paced the small space between Ducky’s desk and the first slab, the eyes of the ME never leaving him.

„Ok, let’s say this is all true. Tony’s a top secret agent on the run with Gibbs...even if he thinks of me as loyal, what am I supposed to do? I don’t suppose he has his cell phone with him?!“

„Well, I didn’t find Jethro’s cell, but I think that’s because someone was there before me to take the body, and I can’t think Tony would have let him take it. Tony does have a cell, which is most likely turned off, but to check messages, if that.“

Tim shook his head.

„So what? Call him and say, ‚Hey, Tony, Ducky gave me your number. We’re worried, give me a call.’ I don’t really think that’s going to work!“

Even while he spoke, Ducky’s cell phone rang.

„Yes?...Ah, that’s good, Jethro....“

Tim’s eyes went wide.

„Well, of course I was worried...could I talk to Tony?...Whatever name he uses at the moment!...Where are you?...Anthony...Damnit!“

It was the first time McGee saw the elder Scot seriously angry.

„The boy hung up on me! Said my phone could be bugged. As if I didn’t check for that!“

„You see? How should I find him?“

Ducky sighed exasperated, finally losing his patience.

„What do you think Tony’s doing, apart from running away? He’s trying to find out why he has to protect Gibbs. So, if we can’t find him, we have to find out where he’s going to be and be a step ahead.“

„So, a backgrund check on Gibbs?“

„A very thourough background check.“

Tim nodded, and went to the door, but then stopped.

„This should be high priority, right, Ducky? Director Sheppard offered us all two weeks vacation. None of us accepted. It’s easier to forget here, but maybe we should take them now. I mean, it can’t hurt to have Ziva and Abby in on it?!“

„Timothy...“

„They’re grieving, they’re worried. They deserve to help. They’ve been Tony’s friends, too.“

For a moment Ducky didn’t answer, but then the passion of the younger man took over on him.