He awoke at 0530, "Damn! A whole hour and a half!" he growled as he dragged himself out of bed and headed for the bathroom. He emerged ten minutes later and dressed. Pulling on his jacket, he went down the stairs to see if Ducky was up and about yet.
He entered the kitchen and found Mrs. Mallard sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea.
"Good morning John, won't you join us for a cup of tea?" She asked brightly.
"Oh, is Donald up?" asked Drake looking around.
"No, silly boy I mean my new friend Harry," said Mrs. Mallard motioning for Drake to look behind him.
As he turned he felt something hit him and the room spun and went dark.
An undetermined amount of time had passed and consciousness came knocking at Drakes head; well pounding would be a better way of describing it. As he woke and tried to move, he rapidly found that he had been tied very securely to a chair. Looking up he saw Ari standing in front of him.
"John it's good to see you again." Ari smiled. "Sorry to have to do this but I thought it would be better if we could talk with out resorting to violence"
Drake struggled against his bonds. "It's all very well for you to say that after you have hit me on the head." growled Drake.
"I didn't expect you to allow me to tie you voluntarily." Ari oiled.
"What have you done with Ducky and Mrs. Mallard? Bastard!" Drake was struggling with his bonds and now fear for his friend and his friend's mother's safety.
"Now, now John. They are ok, asleep and locked in their rooms." Ari smiled. "I just wanted this opportunity to talk with you and bring you up to speed on few things."
"You know I can't, won't believe anything you say. Damn it you bastard, if you told me the sky was blue I'd seek a second opinion!"
Ari's smile faded for a moment and he shrugged slightly. "Ok, just consider that you have been set up. You were sent here to get in the way of ongoing investigations, not help." Sitting down and drinking some tea Ari continued, "Any information that you receive from your home sources will be unreliable."
"Oh come on you SOB, why would I believe any thing you tell me?"
"Well John Drake that is for you to work out my friend."
And with that Ari was gone.
Some time later Ducky appeared looking a little groggy and untied Drake whilst reassuring him that Mrs. Mallard was ok, rather annoyed about her new friend Harry.
Drake filled Ducky in on Harry actually being Ari and what he had told him. Ducky tried to reassure Drake that "the bastard was just playing mind games".
Some considerable time later after Drake had told his story to Gibbs at NCIS HQ he left the office and started to walk to NCTC office. He was not looking forward to telling Director Roberts (or her duck) that he had spent some time with Ari and not shot him. Perhaps picking up coffee on the way would be a good move….
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Drake was not a happy man. This was normal. Christmas was always a problem. In his line of work, friends were few and far between and after his recent experience with Ari he did not want to risk the life of the only friend he had here. He had located and rented an apartment close to the office and was expecting to spend the holiday season alone, probably working. The office was decorated, it depressed him.
He assumed that his background check had come back ok, since nobody had kicked him out. But he knew that somebody had not believed his account of his meeting with Ari. He was aware that somebody was following him. As his tail / new best friend seemed to be everywhere he went he thought he may as well introduce himself.
Drake drove his car into an underground car park, stopped in the first available space, and waited.
His tail pulled into the car park and stopped in a space on the other side of the basement lot.
Drake got out of his car and walked over to the elevator. The doors open, he stepped in and selected a floor.
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo stepped out of the stairway on the floor that the elevator had stopped at.
A voice behind him said.
"Hi, want a coffee?"
"Drake, what are you doing here?" asked DiNozzo covering his surprise very well.
"Mainly waiting for you. C'mon, there is a coffee shop over here." Drake pointed across the mall.
DiNozzo shrugged and said, "Ok why not?"
Sitting at a table towards the back of the coffee shop with a good view of the doors they order coffee and Drake stared at DiNozzo.
DiNozzo sat looking a little uncomfortable.
"If you are thinking of asking me out on a date forget it." said Tony trying to diffuse a worryingly familiar stare.
"I take it Agent Gibbs doesn't trust me."
"What makes you think that?" asked Tony, acting surprised.
"Well either he doesn't trust me, or you are planning on asking me for a date. Since you have been following me for the past couple of days."
"Ha! Four days actually." said Tony and regretted it instantly as he had just confirmed what he now realised Drake knew all the time.
"Ok, ok. So Gibbs told me to keep an eye on you, after all you are in contact with Ari."
"Oh, give me a break! He came looking for me and you are playing right into his hands. He wants to sow suspicion, in order to destroy interagency cooperation. Not that he needs to. Even you most closely connected agencies don't trust each other. Gods you people are doing his work for him half the time!"
Drake realised this was the most he had said to anybody for nearly a week. Most of his communication was by e-mail, and out of habit he avoided talking too much with people at work. He still felt like the new boy that nobody knew what to do with. And most of his enquiries had gone absolutely nowhere.
"I'm still going to be following you, until Gibbs tells me not to." said Tony. "And maybe after that. Because I think you're trouble."
"Ok whatever you say. With any luck you might learn something. Probably not surveillance techniques. You're not difficult to spot." said Drake, deliberately baiting Tony.
Despite the situation he thought that this guy was ok. "Anyway, I'm going back to the office now. If I go out later do you want me to phone you so we can carpool? After all there is no need to be environmentally unfriendly is there?"
Tony looked a little perplexed by the suggestion but said nothing.
-------
Some time later Drake walked into the NCTC office. Joy & Director Roberts were leaning on a desk deep in conversation; they stopped as soon as he walked in.
"Hi," he said. "Am I interrupting something? Should I go out and come back in, or possibly go out and stay out?" He saw their puzzled expressions. "Sorry, I'm not having a good day. Been followed everywhere by Gibbs' hound dog DiNozzo. You know I don't think Gibbs trusts me."
Joy looked at Gillian, and Gillian just looked a little uncomfortable.
Drake sighed, "Ok is it something I said or don't you guys trust me either? Ok ok stupid question. Ari didn't shoot me and I didn't shoot him. I mean, I didn't have a gun at the time and I was tied to a chair, but that's not the point is it? Nobody trusts the new guy. Can't blame you. Nobody trusts anybody here. It's worse than home."
Drake turned on his heel and left. He needed time to think. He needed somebody to talk to that didn't look at him like he was about to shoot them. He wondered if he was being paranoid. After all it was an occupational hazard.
Drake decided to try to be a nice guy, hard work for a spy. Drake felt bad about going off at his co-workers. He wasn't even used to having co-workers, it showed and he knew it.
He was scared of making friends. The last time was still raw. "I so want Ari dead!" he said to himself, sitting in his apartment.
He was startled when a voice behind him said "Take a number, there are quite a few people in front of you."
It was Gillian.
"It's quite a talent to sneak up on me. It can also be dangerous. Do you want a coffee?" asked Drake.
"Yes please. I would also like an improvement in your attitude."
"Cream & sugar? With the coffee I mean." Drake went on.
"Yes to one, no to the other. My agents find you disturbing & they don't want to work with you."
"I'm not surprised, I'm not an easy person to like."
"No kidding…" She looked at him like she was trying to read him.
"Look I'm sorry. I understand if you want me to leave. I know you didn't want me in the first place. That I'm used to, nobody wants a spook working for them."
Gillian shook her head "Your background in Intelligence could be very useful to us, if you would just show some."
Drake laughed for the first time since he had gotten off the plane. "Yes I guess I've been dumb."
"Yes, and then some." said Gillian managing to smile. Perhaps he was human.
Drake was standing by the window looking out. "I think special agent DiNozzo might be getting a little upset. Do you think we should invite him up?"
"No. He is a big boy, he will cope."
"So there is something between you two then?" He looked her in the eye.
Gillian looked straight back and said, "None of your business. Are you coming back to work or what?"
"Yes but on one condition, let me take you and your team out for dinner, by way of an apology. You can bring DiNozzo if you like." He grinned, he was enjoying this.
"I'll talk to them and see if they can put up with you." She was smiling now. There was hope she could turn them into a team.
He was in a better mood now.
Annoyed that he was so distracted that Gillian had walked into his apartment and crept up behind him without him being aware.
Perhaps he was loosing his edge. Time to find out.....
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