Ducky left the den and found Gibbs making a groove in the floor out in the hallway. “He will be fine, Jethro. Anthony just needs a little time to rest and recuperate. He will be fine.” Ducky repeated reassuringly, misunderstanding the reason for Gibbs’ pacing.
Gibbs nodded. “I know, Duck. I know.” He ran his fingers through his hair.
Ducky watched his friend, unsure what was going on in Gibbs’ s mind.
“I can’t protect him, Duck, not if I don’t know who or what is after him. If I don’t know what is going on….”
“Does Tony?” Ducky asked.
“I don’t think so. I sent Ziva back so that she and Tim could check out Tony’s cases in Baltimore. If something happened while he was a detective there…. If not, I will move on to Peoria.”
“Aren’t you kind of ignoring the obvious?”
Gibbs shook his head. “It’s not NCIS related…” Gibbs paused. “…gut feeling.”
Ducky nodded, understanding slightly, the famous Gibbs gut-feeling.
“I have called to have agents stationed as lookouts. I will need you to stay here. I need to get back to the office and find this bastard.” Gibbs said, checking to make sure he had his weapon and grabbing his coat.
NCIS
Gibbs has just rounded the corner and entered the bullpen when McGee called out to him. “Gibbs, Boss?”
“Yeah, McGee.”
“Somebody just called for Tony, well, in regards to Tony. Ziva answered.” Tim replied.
Ziva finished her current call before she filled Gibbs in. “The man asked about Former Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. He said was sure Tony would be missed. He talked for a little while. He was under the impression Tony was dead, and I did not correct him. He was feeling cocky. He mentioned Baltimore. I do not even think he realized it, he was so snug.”
“It’s smug, Ziva.” McGee corrected.
Ziva nodded and continued. “He did not give me his name. But he talked a little about Tony becoming detective; you could tell he was very…sour about it.”
“Bitter.” Tim corrected again.
Gibbs turned his attention to Tim. “I tried to trace the call, Boss. But he used a burn phone. There was no way. But at least there is one good thing that came out of this…” Tim stated. “…as long as this guy thinks Tony’s dead, he’s safe.”
Gibbs nodded.
“I recorded the call, as much as I could. I didn’t get the first few seconds. I thought maybe Tony could listen to it and see if he recognizes the voice.”
Gibbs nodded and Tim got the pleasure of seeing one of his rare smiles. “Good job, Tim.”
“I do not understand…” Ziva said. “…Tony did something wrong in Baltimore?”
“Yeah, Ziva.” Gibbs said sounding a little sarcastic, but not meaning it. “He made detective in a year. It pissed a lot of the older cops off, especially those who had not made that ranking yet.”
Ziva just looked at Gibbs, not quite understanding.
“Usually it takes YEARS to make detective, making it in a year is practically unheard of. There are only so many open spots to move up, which is what happens when you achieve that ranking. If they are filled then your name goes on a list. You are listed according to the date you made detective. So not only did these people not make detective, when they did, they had to be behind him on the promotion list. Or, and this is much worse, this NEW detective could possibly supervise them on a case.” Gibbs explained. Ziva didn’t think he had said that much at one time since she had first met him. “Fertile breeding ground for a lot of contempt and resentment.”
Gibbs then lowered his voice. “It does not leave this building that Tony is alive. That is an order. You tell no one outside this place. We don’t know who this guy is or who he knows.” Gibbs paused, thinking maybe this guy knew people inside NCIS. “It may be to our benefit to declare him officially dead here too. If this guy knows someone here…we can’t chance it. Only Abby, Jimmy and the director, besides us, will know the truth.”
Tim and Ziva nodded and Gibbs headed up to the director’s office to inform Shepard of his plan.
Chapter End Notes:
I BS’ed my way through the detective ranking stuff, so please forgive me if it is wrong.