SECONDS

By

Annie





"Gibbs." He barked out the automatic response even though it had been more than three months since he left.

"This is Ziva."

"Ziva?" He struggled up in the bed, flicked on the bedside light and squinted at the clock. "It's 0204, Officer Davide. I resigned, remember. There had better be a damned good explanation for this."

"Gibbs, you have to come back to Washington."

"I repeat, Davide, I resigned. I don't have to do anything anymore." He paused for a moment as he swung his legs out of bed and sat up on the side. "Have you been drinking?" he asked suspiciously. "Did DiNozzo put you up to this? Put him on."

"Gibbs, listen to me. Tony's been kidnapped. He's been gone for five days. We have no leads. Will you come?"

"What?" Gibbs felt as if his heart had rolled in upon itself and clamped down - hard. "What do you mean you have no leads? What was he working? You must have some ideas. Talk to me, Ziva."

"Nothing active. We were working a drug smuggling case but we got them. There's nothing else that could have anything to do with him being missing. Not even any red fish-"

"Herrings, Ziva, red herrings," he corrected automatically.

There was a long silence from the other end of the phone and Gibbs used the time to pull on his clothes one-handed.

"Gibbs, we need you back here. Will you come?"

"I'm already on my way, Ziva. Tell McGee I'll call him with my arrival time-"

"There's a plane waiting for you at the local airfield. A car will meet you when you arrive."

"I'm that easy to predict?" Gibbs asked sardonically as he scrawled a note on the pad next to the bed to leave for Francks.

He could almost hear the shrug in her voice as she replied, "Yes, when it comes to Tony."

He dropped the phone back into the cradle and packed. Then he left the note on the kitchen table and hurried outside. He managed to get the old jalopy started with minimal trouble and was grateful for that small mercy. He tried to call down a few more small mercies on his way to the airfield. It had been a long time since he'd prayed but he could call up a few… for Tony.

~oOo~

The office was quieter than Gibbs had ever known it. More than that, it seemed to be filled with an all-pervading sense of gloom. He glanced quickly over at Tony's desk then just as quickly away again. That desk had been empty for the wrong reasons too many times before. He was determined to make sure it didn't stay that way.

"Boss!"

He turned at the call and saw McGee and Ziva heading down the stairs. "Hi Tim." He stuck out his hand as they reached him and then pulled Tim in for a quick hug, patting his back as he released him, smiling despite his worry at the surprised look on Tim's face. "How ya doin'?"

"I'm okay… well, worried about Tony but otherwise I'm good, Boss."

Gibbs turned and gave Ziva a hug as well, not too surprised to feel her hug him back. "Keeping out of trouble, Davide?"

"Of course. Tony would say no but-" She broke off suddenly, biting down on her lip.

"It's okay," he said quietly. "We'll find him. Tell me what you know." He settled himself on the edge of what used to be his desk, wondering a little that Tony had taken it over. Then again, it had been a long time before he could let anyone use Cait's desk… He shoved that thought to the far reaches of his mind and concentrated on what Ziva was saying.

"We just finished up a case – drugs being smuggled in from Iraq. Tony had two days off. He said he was going to stay home, get some rest, watch movies. He didn't show up for work when he was due back. No calls to anyone, no emails either. McGee and I went to his apartment. He wasn't there. No sign of a struggle, neighbors said they hadn't seen him in a few days and none of them heard or saw anything out of the ordinary," Ziva told him succinctly.

McGee nodded his agreement. "It's like he vanished without a trace," he added quietly.

Gibbs stood up. "Nobody vanishes without a trace, especially not Tony. He would have found some way to leave a clue. All we have to do is work out what it is and where it is. I'm gonna go say hi to Abby and Ducky. You two re-check everything you've already checked."

"We've already checked everything a dozen times-"Ziva began, stopping as Gibbs'hand rose threateningly toward the back of her head. "Yes, we shall check them one dozen and one times then," she finished.

Gibbs nodded and turned to leave.

"Um, Boss, does this mean you're back for good?" McGee asked. "I mean, not that Tony hasn't been doing a great job because he has. It's just that we all sorta hoped-"

"Just till we find Tony," Gibbs said with finality. "I'll talk to the Director after I've seen Ducky and Abs. Have something for me by then. I don't care how unimportant it seems."

"On it, Boss."

SECONDS
part two
By
Annie

"Gibbs!"

Jethro stepped back a pace as he found himself with an armful of Abby. "It's good to see you too," he said against her hair.

She pushed herself away enough to look into his face. "You're going to find Tony," she said as if there was no doubt about it.

"Of course he is. That's why he's here."

"Hello, Ducky." Jethro turned and held out a hand to his old friend. He allowed himself to be pulled into a brief backslapping hug. "Tell me what you know," he said as he sat down in front of one of the computer desks.

"No more than you, probably," Ducky replied grimly. "Tony went home five days ago and nobody has seen him since. It rather reminds me of a story I heard when I was in the forces many years ago. You see, there was this young airman who left the barracks one night, supposedly to visit his family on leave. He never turned up at his family home and never returned to base. Of course, the talk was that he'd gone AWOL but I never believed it. He was much too-"

"Ducky!"

"Right, sorry, Jethro. You know I tend to ramble on when I'm worried," Ducky said apologetically.

Jethro stood up and gave the older man's shoulder a reassuring pat. "That's all right. I'm worried about him too. Abby, you've checked his phone records, his email-" He stopped at the look on her face. "Of course you have. Good. Check them again. I'm going to see the Director then I'm heading over to Tony's place with Ziva and McGee." He headed for the door of the lab then turned back suddenly as an idea struck him. "Abby, check Tony's old police cases. He was a cop before he came to us. Maybe there's something there that'll give us a clue."

"I'm sorry I can't be more help, Jethro," Ducky said quietly. "I'm not much use to anyone unless there's a body involved." Abby gasped and Ducky threw her a sorrowful look. "Sorry, Abby. I didn't mean that quite the way it came out."

"You can help, Duck. Stay here with Abby and give her a hand running those arrest records of Tony's. Two heads are better than one and Tony handled a lot of cases in his time with the PD."

~oOo~

"I know I should be surprised to see you here, but I'm not." The Director didn't even glance up from the file she was perusing.

"Why should you be surprised, Jen? One of my people's missing. Did you really think I'd stay away?"

She finally looked up at him, fixing him with that all-seeing look he knew so well. "Who called you?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter. *You* should have. You had to know I'd want in on this."

"Why do you, Jethro? Three months ago you resigned. Why do you suddenly want in on a case that has nothing to do with you any more?"

"Because Tony's missing. Because he is - was one of my team. Because I probably know him better than anyone else here. There, that's three reasons. Need more?" Gibbs leaned forward and planted his hands on the back of the chair, glaring into her eyes.

"I always wondered about that. About how well you know him. Was he one of your itch-cures, Jethro? One of the ones you went to when the urge for a man became too strong to ignore?" Her eyes were mocking now.

"That's none of your damn business, Jen. Even if he was, it has nothing to do with what's happening now. Tony's missing and you know that if anyone can find him, I can."

"I could never understand it," she said softly. "That other need of yours. Wasn't Paris enough for you, Jethro?"

He straightened up and laced his voice with as much scorn as he could. "Believe me, Jen, Paris was *more* than enough."

"I see." She stood, straightening her skirt. "You're not an agent anymore, Jethro. I've already decided to assign the case to another NCIS unit. Tony's team is too emotionally involved-"

"Of course they're emotionally involved. That's also why they're the best people to investigate this. They care more about finding him than anyone else will. And whether I'm still part of this unit or not, you can't do a damn thing to stop me investigating on my own. I'm a free agent, Jen."

"You're a loose cannon, Jethro. You won't have access to any of the data or resources you'll need to find him."

"Why are you doing this? Anybody'd think you don't want him found." Jethro snarled the words and took some pleasure at seeing a hint of hurt in her face.

"Of course I want him found. He's a damn good agent."

"Fine. I've got things to do." Gibbs spun on his heel and tore out of the office and back down the stairs.

"Well?" McGee looked up from his computer.

"She wants to hand the case over to another NCIS team and any investigating I do will be without the backing of Madam Director," Gibbs replied heatedly.

He saw Ziva look up and following her gaze, saw the Director poised on the top step, watching.

McGee stood up and slowly pulled his wallet from his pocket. He extracted his ID, undid his holster and laid the items on the desk. Ziva copied his actions.

Sheppard laughed. "Fine. Have it your way, *Acting* Special Agent Gibbs. I'll organize the paperwork. McGee, David, you'd better get moving if you're going to find DiNozzo. For his sake, he'd better be actually missing for real and not just holed up somewhere with his latest conquest." She looked piercingly into Gibbs' eyes as she spoke and he shook his head slowly. She always knew just where to stick the knife.

McGee and Ziva repacked their weapons and IDs and followed him to the elevator.

He stopped at the door and turned to face his team. "You two try anything like that again and I'll head slap you both so hard, you'll wake up in another zip code."

"I knew she'd fall in," Ziva said.

"Cave in, Ziva, that's cave in," McGee said. "Hey, it worked, Boss. That's all that matters, right?"

Gibbs smacked him anyway, just for old time's sake. "We're going to Tony's as soon as I pick up my ID and a weapon. I'll meet you in the garage."

~oOo~

Gibbs turned in a slow circle in the middle of Tony's living room. His eyes swept from the floor, up each wall in turn to the ceiling. Nothing looked out of place. The room was tidy and clean, maybe too tidy. He looked over at McGee. "How often does the cleaning woman come in?"

"Every couple of days, I think."

"You *think*. Find out, Probie. Call the woman. Ask her when she was last here. Oh and ask her what cleaning products she uses."

"Cleaning products?"

"You don't smell the disinfectant? I'm guessing it was a lot stronger a few days ago but it's still noticeable. I can't imagine Tony wanting her to use something so strong-smelling that the scent would hang around for days." He sniffed the air again. "It smells like strong bleach, ammonia maybe."

He watched as Tim went over to the desk in the corner of the room and picked up a small address book lying there then turned to Ziva. A book on the coffee table caught his eye and he walked over and picked it up in gloved hands.

"I thought you said there was nothing out of the ordinary when you were last here?" he asked Ziva.

"What? It's just a book. So Tony likes to read." She shrugged. "I find it surprising, perhaps but-"

Gibbs held the book up for her to see.

"It's about building boats," she said.

"Tony's not interested in building boats," Gibbs replied. He riffled through the pages but finding nothing, dropped the book back on the table. Then he headed for the door. "I am though. McGee, when you get through to the housekeeper, call me; let me know what she said."

"And you will be?" Mc Gee asked, tucking the phone under his chin.

"My place. David, you're with me."

End part two