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.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Suddenly everthing Tony had told him seemed brutally real.
Chapter End Notes:
Not betaed. If it annoys you too much tell me a good beta.