The vibration of his cell phone against his hip brought Gibbs out of the light doze he’d slipped into. Technically, his phone shouldn’t even be on, but his own rule about always being reachable made it impossible to simply turn it off.
He sat up, yawning and rubbed a hand over his face. He shook his head. He hadn’t intended to fall asleep at all, but sitting still in the quiet hospital room after not sleeping for nearly two days had gotten the better of him. At least his neck didn’t hurt and he didn’t feel too stiff so he figured he hadn’t been sleeping that long.
The phone buzzed again, sounding almost impatient with his delay in responding. Gibbs unclipped his phone, holding it out as far as he could to read the display. He grimaced when he realized it was Shepard calling. Damn. He knew she’d want an update at some point.
“You going to answer that?” LaFiamma asked from where he lounged on Lundy’s bed, as close to his sleeping partner as the narrow space and Lundy’s injuries would allow for. Gibbs was surprised to see LaFiamma hadn’t even opened his eyes. He wasn’t sure if the man had actually fallen asleep or not, but he certainly sounded awake and aware. And he had heard the phone vibrate. It wasn’t a noise loud enough to wake most people from a sound sleep.
It’s Shepard,” Gibbs told him by way of an explanation rather than answer LaFiamma’s question.
LaFiamma scowled, opening his eyes to glare at Gibbs’ phone. “She’ll want an update on the case.”
It wasn’t like Gibbs didn’t already know that. He resisted rolling his eyes. Gibbs settled for giving LaFiamma a sarcastic look knowing it would convey so much more of his feelings than anything else he might say or do.
LaFiamma didn’t appear affect by the look, turquoise eyes meeting Gibbs’ lighter blue counterparts without flinching. “What do you plan to tell her?”
Gibbs didn’t want to tell her anything, but that wasn’t really an option. Keeping her out of the loop, if she was as involved as he and LaFiamma suspected would raise too many questions and tip their hand too soon. Gibbs didn’t want to give Shepard any reason to think he was investigating more than what was on the surface. And if by the grace of God she wasn’t involved, he still needed to tell her something or she’d become more involved than he felt she should be. He didn’t want or need her looking over his shoulder. Damn meddlesome woman, Gibbs mentally cursed.
“Gibbs?”
“I’m going to tell her we found a legitimate reason for NCIS to be involved.”
Until Abby had identified the explosives as Marine Corps issue, all Beaumont had been able to offer the SecNav as justification for Gibbs and his team to be involved was Tony’s recognition of what was in the crates during the bust. Tony’s status as a former NCIS agent had been a tenuous link at best, but Beaumont had managed to make it sound like a viable reason for getting the agency involved. Gibbs had been impressed with not only the favors Beaumont could call on, but also her ability to make such a weak connection seem more substantial than it was. Even then, the SecNav wanted confirmation that NCIS should be involved, proof that he’d made the right decision to send in Gibbs’ team. They had that much now.
“I’ll tell her we’re investigating that connection.” Gibbs smirked. “But I’m not going to tell her anything more than that.”
LaFiamma arched an eyebrow. “You think she’ll accept that?”
“She won’t have a choice.” Gibbs stood up, stretching his arms over his head as he did so. The chair hadn’t been overly uncomfortable but he was still a little stiff. “That’s all I’m giving her.”
LaFiamma smirked. “Getting the last word is so much easier with a phone.”
“Yes it is.” Gibbs smiled. He’d perfected the art of doing that.
He reached out to touch Tony’s shoulder, patting it gently. “I’ve got to step out and make a phone call. I’ll be back.”
Gibbs decided he wasn’t going to feel embarrassed about wanting to reassure Tony even though the younger man likely wasn’t even aware he was there much less leaving. The doctors had started reducing the drugs keeping him in a coma but it would still be several hours, maybe even another day, before Tony woke up.
Gibbs stepped outside the room, eyes moving up and then down the hall looking for Ducky. The ME had said something about stretching his legs after he’d gotten food for LaFiamma and coffee for Gibbs. He couldn’t remember how long ago that had been, but he doubt the older man would have gone too far.
Gibbs nodded to Millard. The young cop nodded back but didn’t otherwise acknowledge him. Gibbs stifled a sigh. He shouldn’t care that this kid didn’t like him, that he might even be somewhat afraid of him, but Gibbs did care. He felt like he’d kicked a puppy, but he wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. He shook his head, heading for the small lounge he knew was down the hall.
He wasn’t entirely surprised to find Ducky sleeping on the small couch. No one had really gotten much rest since finding out about Tony’s injuries. Nor had there been a lot of down time since arriving in Houston. Gibbs rubbed a hand over his face. He wasn’t sure if the team even had hotel rooms. He hadn’t bothered to get one for himself. He was fine with catnapping in a chair, and could force his team to do likewise over a short haul, but this case was shaping up like it might take longer than a day or two. They would need a place to get some real rest. Gibbs made a mental note to ask Beaumont about accommodations. She would probably have somewhere in mind for them to stay.
Gibbs eyed the couch Ducky was sleeping on. It didn’t look particularly uncomfortable, but like him, Ducky could sleep anywhere. A man his age shouldn’t be expected to sack out on something that could double as a torture device. Gibbs pursed his lips, annoyed with himself for not looking out for his team better.
“I never realized before how loud guilt is,” Ducky commented quietly, startling Gibbs who hadn’t realized Ducky was even awake, much less aware of his presence.
“Didn’t mean to wake you, Ducky.”
“Then perhaps you should stop blaming yourself for things that aren’t your fault.” Ducky sat up. “I am an adult, you know. As are the other members of your team. We can, on occasion, be trusted look after ourselves.”
“It’s my responsibility to take care of my people.”
“Talking to you is rather like talking to the walls some days.”
Gibbs glared at him. “I’m not•“
Ducky held up a hand. “Please, let it go, my friend. Lord knows we’ve already covered this more than once. For now, I think we can agree to disagree.”
Gibbs sighed and nodded. Ducky was right. They didn’t have to rehash it now.
Ducky rubbed tiredly at his eyes. “Would you hand me my glasses, please?”
Seeing the requested item on the near by table, Gibbs picked them up and offered them to Ducky.
“Thank you.” Ducky put on his glasses, blinking owlishly at Gibbs. “Anthony is all right?”
“Still sleeping.” Sleeping wasn’t quite the truth, but Gibbs preferred that to saying Tony was still in a coma. It didn’t sound as bad. He held up his phone. “I need to make a call. Figure it was better to be out of the room while I did it.”
“Ah.” Ducky nodded. “Did Joseph eat everything I brought for him?”
“Most of it.” Gibbs shrugged. “What he didn’t eat, he fed to Lundy.” Evidently, Lundy was a huge fan of pineapples. So he got all of the small fruit cup Ducky had managed to secure and the pudding.
Sharp blue eyes studied Gibbs closely. “What did he eat?”
Gibbs shrugged. “He ate the bagel. And drank the orange juice.”
Ducky scowled. “That is hardly sufficient to sustain a young man of Joseph’s size, especially not if he has a metabolism like Tony’s.”
Gibbs was pretty sure the one with the rapid fire metabolism was Lundy. At least he seemed to eat more like Tony than LaFiamma did from what Gibbs remembered about him. The two of them ate a hell of a lot of junk at any rate and neither seemed to gain much weight.
“Think it mattered more to him, Duck, that Lundy ate,” Gibbs offered as an explanation. Not that LaFiamma couldn’t defend himself or justify his actions if he wanted, but Gibbs didn’t think the younger man would take well to Ducky grilling him about sharing his food with his lover.
Ducky sighed. “I know he was very concerned about how little Levon ate earlier. I tried to tell him the antibiotic Levon is taking will affect his appetite. It is not cause for worry, but I suppose it’s part of being Italian. They seem convinced that all ills are cured with food. I knew a lovely Italian woman who--”
“I need to make that call, Duck,” Gibbs said, cutting him off. He wouldn’t have minded letting Ducky ramble, just this once, but doing so would have been an excuse to not call Shepard. It wasn’t really something he should put off, no matter how much he wanted to.
“Ah, yes, I’d forgotten.” Ducky shook his head. “Forgive me.”
“Nothing to forgive, Duck,” Gibbs patted the older man’s shoulder. There was little between them any more that either took real offense to. “You can go back to sleep•“
“Thank you, but I think I’ll sit with Anthony for a bit.”
Gibbs smiled, not surprised that would be Ducky’s choice. He wasn’t the only one worried about Tony. Glancing at his watch, Gibbs realized Abby was due to arrive soon, and he was betting Ziva and McGee would be coming with her. He’d have to arrange for a few minutes alone with her to put Abby to work on hacking into Sheperd’s medical records, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find an excuse to get a private moment with her.
“Okay, Ducky. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Could you bring me back a cup of tea when you do?”
“Sure, Duck.” Gibbs wasn’t sure where the hell he’d find tea, but he was sure someone on staff would know. If nothing else, he could always ask Millard if there was a place nearby. It might help smooth things over with him if Gibbs could have a conversation that didn’t make him seem like an ass.
Gibbs looked at his phone again. The message screen informed him he had one missed call. He didn’t bother checking his voice mail to see if Shepard left a message. He took a breath, and hit the speed dial number for her office that Abby had programmed in for him.
“Hello, Jethro.”
Gibbs grimaced. Some days he hated caller ID. “Jenny.”
“The SecNave wants a sit-rep.”
Really, Gibbs thought sarcastically, and you don’t? He took a breath and forced himself to not snap at her.
“We’ve confirmed the explosives were Marine Corps issue.”
There was a pause. Gibbs wished he could see her face. There was little he could tell from her silence.
“Have you been able to trace them to the source?”
“Not yet. There have been no reported thefts. Nothing listed as lost. And nothing used at the site was scheduled for disposal.”
“An inside job, then?”
“It is the most likely scenario.”
“I hate thinking that.” Shepard sighed, sounding genuinely remorseful.
Gibbs wasn’t fond of the idea either. He didn’t like thinking there were men and women in uniform looking for a quick buck and not worried about how they got it. But he’d long ago realized the uniform didn’t make people better or less inclined to be tempted. They were human•good, bad and indifferent.
“There are at least half a dozen military bases where the ordinance could have come from.” Shepard noted.
“Or they could have been lifted from a contracted supplier.” Gibbs countered. The military outsourced the production of a lot of things.
He considered his options for a moment, debating what else to add. He wasn’t sure what the SecNave might have told Shepard or not. He made a calculated decision to mention Kort’s name and see if it garnered any sort of reaction from her.
“And there is Kort’s connection with the CIA . They might have secured the explosives for him through channels we wouldn’t otherwise know about.”
There was a moment of silence from Shepard. Gibbs couldn’t read any more from it than he had from the previous one.
“The SecNav mentioned his being there.”
Gibbs couldn’t read her voice well enough to gauge the emotion in that statement. He frowned. He’d been hoping for more.
“Do you know what the hell he was doing in Houston?”
She didn’t sound as curious or surprised by Kort’s presence in Houston as Gibbs would have expected. It made sense she wouldn’t be shocked. LaFiamma said she had people keeping an eye on Kort. So why not just admit it? Why bother trying to sound surprised at all? Why would she hide her interest in Kort? More damn secrets and lies.
“So far, all we know is he was selling Marine Corps weapons,” Gibbs said, dryly stating the obvious.
“You haven’t interrogated him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“He’s dead.”
Shepard sighed. “Shame about that. He could have cleared up some things, I’m sure.”
Gibbs’ jaw clenched. She didn’t sound the least bit sorry. If anything she sounded relieved and a little smug.
“In his line of work, dying in an explosion is hardly unexpect•“
“The explosion didn’t kill him.”
“Really?”
Gibbs could picture her fake expression of surprise. “The buyer he was meeting with did.”
“Given his not so charming personality, it was inevitable Kort would upset someone bad enough they’d want to kill him. Have you interrogated the buyer?”
“We haven’t been able to locate him yet.”
“Drug dealers are usually slippery sorts.” There was a wry, understanding humor in her voice.
Gibbs stiffened. He’d never said anything about Nunes being involved with drugs. Hell until a few hours ago, no one had known who he was or what he was involved in. The Houston team was expecting to see a drug deal go down, but given how things went there was no good reason for her to have assumed Nunes was a drug dealer. He could have just as easily have been a terrorist, gang banger, or some cult leader bracing for Armageddon.
“Tracking down the buyer should not be our main focus.” Shepard made that sound like a reasonable suggestion rather than a directive. And it sounded all wrong to Gibbs. She wanted him to drop it---the real question was why.
“Our responsibility is to find how Kort got the explosives in the first place, not trying to halt international weapons trade.” Shepard’s tone had grown firm, authoritative. “You should leave that to the people better equipped to deal with him.”
On the surface that explanation worked, but Gibbs gut told him to ignore what she wanted him to see and look deeper. Several months ago Shepard had been happy to send them to Canada, involving the agency in things that were well outside their prevue. She’d misused agency personnel and resources…hell, according to LaFiamma she was still doing it. Nunes had potential to hurt a lot of people, more than he already had. And he was a possible key to preventing more people from being hurt. How could she in good conscience expect him to ignore that? The only solid reason Gibbs could think of was Shepard had something to hide.
“Houston PD insisted on handling tracking down the buyer. It is their turf and they feel they have a better chance of locating him,” Gibbs said making sure to sound dismissive of the local cops’ ability to track Nunes down and insulted by being excluded from the hunt. He didn’t want her to know he actually thought they were right about having a better chance of finding Nunes in their own backyard than he had or that he considered them competent. It would be out of character for him.
“And you playing nice with them, I trust?” There was a definite note of reprimand in her voice along with a hint of humor.
“Absolutely.” Gibbs made sure his tone implied otherwise. It was expected of him. He didn’t want her to think he was doing anything different.
“Jethro, the SecNav will not appreciate it if you start an incident. Neither will I.”
Gibbs could read between the lines on that one easily enough. If he got out of line, he’d be off the case. Of course, Beaumont had already said as much directly. Gibbs found himself appreciating her straightforward approach anew.
“I don’t plan to cause any trouble.” At least not with anyone in Houston, Gibbs amended silently.
“No you never do, and yet somehow there is always a mess to clean up whenever you deal with another agency.”
Gibbs'jaw clenched hard enough this time to make his teeth hurt, angry at the critism regardless of how true it might be. “I’m doing my job, Jen.”
“And I would appreciate it if you would let them do theirs. Nunes is their problem, not yours.”
Gibbs froze. He never said Nunes name. There was only one way she could know it. He closed his eyes. He’d hoped to be wrong.
“I mean it Gibbs. Let Houston PD•“
“I heard you, Director.”
“And?“
“I’ll let them do their jobs. I’ll do mine.” Gibbs tried to let some respect bleed into his voice and not give away his awareness of her mistake.
He hadn’t bucked her orders directly since Tony left. But then, she hadn’t given him an order he felt any need to defy since then either. He was hoping she hadn’t noticed his cooperation recently was simply a matter of convenience rather than honest regard. Her curt ‘good’ made him think she accepted his seeming acquiescence at face value. He shook his head. Never assume was in the top ten of his rules. She should know better.
Shepard cleared her throat. “How’s Tony?”
Gibbs bit back a snarl. That should have been her first question. Even when Tony’s car had been blown up and they all thought he was dead, Shepard had been more focused on her revenge than on what had happened to him.
He couldn’t help wondering if she’d wanted to hurt Tony too. He knew something had happened between them when Tony had come back to DC but he wasn’t sure exactly what. Could it have been enough to make her want to even the score?
Gibbs didn’t know how much the SecNav told her about Tony’s injuries. Beaumont hadn’t said much to him when she’d requested Gibbs’ teem to help on the case. She’d only told him two of her people had been critically injured, naming them but not going into great detail. And Gibbs knew no one on his team had spoken to Shepard since arriving in Houston.
“He’s still in a coma.” Gibbs didn’t have to work hard at making that sound worse than it was.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
He couldn’t hear any genuine sympathy in her voice. She sounded flat, disinterested. Gibbs knew that her attitude toward Tony had been the final straw for him leaving NCIS. He was beginning to better understand why.
“What are his chances?”
“He’s not going to die.” Gibbs got out between clenched teeth, angry at her sounding no more concerned than if she’d asked about the weather. He might have been a bastard about focusing on the job but he never sounded that cold when it came to asking about his people.
“What does his doctor have to say?”
Gibbs couldn’t believe she asked him that. “He will be fine.” Tony had beaten the plague. This was nothing compared to that.
“Jethro, I know you care about him, but you should be prepared•“
“No.” Gibbs knew his protest only served to confirm what she was already thinking•that Tony was at death’s door---and while he could make that faulty assumption work in his favor, encouraging it wasn’t why Gibbs wanted to shut her down. He would not, could not, listen to anything negative.
Dr. Kline and Ducky were agreement. It would take time but Tony would eventually be okay.
“Gibbs, everyone dies.” There was a catch in her voice. “It’s a question of when, not if.”
She could have sounded philosophical, consoling or pragmatic, but what Gibbs heard was sorrow and self-pity. Her comment wasn’t about Tony and that’s when he knew whatever she was seeing a specialist for, it wasn’t good. LaFiamma might have been right when he surmised she didn’t have much time and that was why she’d used someone like Nunes to take out Kort. He should have felt something for her, they’d been lovers once, but all he could think was that her having little time meant he had even less. He had to know and prove beyond any doubt that she killed Rene Benoit, set up Trent Kort and got Tony hurt before she was too far gone to actually pay for it.
“I’ll call when we’ve got something.” Gibbs hung up. He had work to do.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Gibbs gets confirmation of Shepard's involvement.