Grounded In Truth
Chapter 8
by WCUGirl
Two Days Later…
Gibbs was in position. He spoke softly into the com-link on his wrist and made sure Tony and Vivian were in place as well. It had been two days since the blow up in the bullpen, and in that time, Tony and Vivian barely spoke to each other. Tony was friendly and nice as always, but he didn’t go out of his way to speak to Vivian.
“Sitrep Tony,” Gibbs said softly.
“In position, Boss. Waiting for your mark.”
“Blackadder?”
“Ready when you are.”
Gibbs set the plan into motion by getting out of the truck. He stepped over to Mohammed’s men and began speaking to them in the Spanish he’d heard them use moments before. They were talking about the order, the things coming in and going out and Gibbs asked them if they did any deals that weren’t reported. After all, he was interested in buying some guns. He was curious to see if these traders knew of anyone who sold guns.
The men smiled. Yes, yes they did know someone who could sell him some guns. One of the guys moved out of Gibbs’ line of sight and Jethro noticed that Tony shifted his position to keep an eye on the one Gibbs could not see.
“Who’s your friend,” the trader asked, eyeing Tony suspiciously.
“He works for me. He’s a little slow,” Gibbs replied with a smirk, tapping one finger to his temple. Tony fought down the indignant look and stayed in character.
The trader smiled. “We have some slow ones working for us. But lucky, they are more than made up for by the ones of us who can think on our feet.”
Gibbs smiled. “I like that. Being able to think on your feet will keep you alive.”
There was a rustle behind the trader and then Mohammed stepped out of the galley of the boat behind the trader and joined the two men on the doc. They spoke for a few minutes, Mohammed taking an instant liking to Gibbs. Gibbs explained his employee, Anthony, to the dealers, saying that he’d had the boy working for him since he was very young, and he could most definitely be trusted. He probably doesn’t even understand what we’re talking about.
Mohammed stepped right up to Tony and patted him gently on the cheeks. “You are good boy, Anthony,” Mohammed said, taking a step back. That was when he saw it. There was a woman, standing across the street by the truck parked there"Gibbs’ truck"and she was staring right at him.
“Who is the woman,” Mohammed asked Gibbs.
Gibbs turned and saw Blackadder staring at the arms dealer who had killed her brother. Stop staring Blackadder, Gibbs thought to himself, you’re going to blow the cover and ruin the op if he gets suspicious.
“I don’t know her,” Gibbs replied smoothly to the dealer, shrugging his shoulders. He turned his gaze on Blackadder, his back to Mohammed. The look was easy to read, STAND. DOWN.
Blackadder continued to stare at the man who had killed her brother. She remembered getting the phone call, remembered then seeing the police reports of what the man had done to her beloved Marcus. Images of her brother haunted her, and she took a step towards all of them.
“You son of a bitch,” she whispered, one hand automatically moving towards her gun. “You son of a bitch; I will kill you,” she couldn’t stop staring at this man.
Needless to say, that was the moment the op went straight to hell, and months of work went down the toilet.
Mohammed made a jump back on to the boat, moving to get away and Gibbs went after him. Tony was jumped from behind by two guys twice his size and suddenly he had a fight on his hands. A couple of guys moved toward Blackadder and she drew down on them, her gaze and gun hand steady. At the last second she turned her aim toward Mohammed. She pointed the gun and just as she fired someone slammed into her.
Furious, she looked up, ready to shoot whoever had gotten in her way. There was Tony, lying on the ground where he’d tackled her.
“You dumb shit what the hell is wrong with you,” Blackadder hissed. “I’m one of the good guys,” she continued.
“I’m not convinced you’re doing a good job of judging the situation Blackadder,” Tony snapped, pulling himself to his feet. He saw Gibbs on the boat, chasing right behind Mohammed.
“It’s not your job to determine that, DiNozzo,” Blackadder snapped raising her gun again. Tony stepped in front of her.
“If you kill anyone right now, you’re going to be reported to IA for use of excessive force. No one is struggling,” Tony growled.
His back was to the explosion that suddenly pushed him to his knees and threw Blackadder to the ground. He thankfully, didn’t see that it had knocked Gibbs fully off the ladder he’d been climbing, or he might have found himself acting like Vivian"ready to shoot anything breathing. Tony blinked, trying to clear his vision and peered through the smoke and the falling debris, and saw only the charred and jagged remains of Mohammed’s boat.
Oh God, Tony thought to himself, Dad was on the boat. Where’s Dad? Got to find Dad…
Tony began moving towards the edge of the dock. The guys working with Mohammed were ready to fight again, as their leader had just blown up and they were feeling a bit angry. Tony was dragged into the melee and despite his best efforts, eventually found himself being held on his knees, arms twisted up behind him, and a gun pointed at his forehead. He glanced around and saw Blackadder standing there, staring at the boat, and cleared his throat.
She looked at him. “What do you want me to do,” she snapped. “I’m being held at gunpoint too!” Tony couldn’t see anyone on her with a gun, but he didn’t question it. He closed his eyes and waited for the shot to ring out.
The shot did ring out, but it didn’t hit Tony. Instead the man with the gun went down, single gunshot wound to the forehead. All of Mohammed’s men turned around to see where the shot originated from. Tony couldn’t see him, but he knew then that Gibbs was at least alive. No one else was close, and Gibbs was the only one he knew, besides himself of course, who could have made a shot like that.
It all went pretty quickly after that. The rest of Mohammed’s men didn’t put up much of a struggle. They were taken into custody and secured before anyone spoke to each other. Finally, as the arms dealers were being driven away by the Rota NCIS agents, Gibbs turned to look at his team. Tony had some cuts and bruises, but looked alright other than being pissed. Blackadder…she didn’t have a mark on her.
Vivian didn’t make eye contact with her other two teammates. She’d screwed the pooch on this one. She, Gibbs and Burley had spent months getting this information together. Tony had stepped in and only added to what they had, making the case air tight and the mission an easy one. She’d blown it. Her brother wouldn’t be avenged because his killer had taken the coward’s way out and blown himself up. This a huge blunder. Finally, she looked up at Gibbs.
“What the hell happened, Blackadder,” Gibbs barked. He was pissed that she’d nearly gotten him and Tony killed.
“I-I don’t know Gibbs…I just froze up…I-I’m sorry, this is all my fault.”
“Damn right it’s your fault, Blackadder. You nearly got all of us killed! You were supposed to have our sixes!”
Gibbs stormed off, too angry to even form anymore words. He pulled out his phone and called up the base. After securing them a military flight home, he called Tom.
“Morrow,” Tom’s voice sounded distant over the phone and the miles.
“Tom it’s Gibbs. The op failed. We didn’t get Mohammed, but we got most of the accomplices.”
“What happened to Mohammed?”
“He triggered an explosion on his boat and died in the explosion.”
“Have you confirmed this?”
Gibbs looked at the medical examiners wheeling Mohammed’s charred body from the dock. “They are pulling the remains of one body off the dock now. Autopsy will determine for sure whether or not it’s Mohammed. We’d only counted six operatives. We have four of them in custody. One if confirmed dead and we believe Mohammed is dead also.”
“What the hell happened, Jethro? This op was supposed to be non-violent.”
“Well once they nearly blew me up and held a gun to Tony’s head, excuse me, but the op went violent without our consent.”
“Where was Blackadder?”
“She’s the one who triggered their suspicion and caused them to turn tail and run. She blew our cover, because she couldn’t stop watching Mohammed.”
“What was her big concern with Mohammed?”
“I found out just this morning doing some research that she is the sister of a deceased petty officer in the Navy. He was believed to have been working under the table with Mohammed, but once he got scared and tried to back out of whatever deal he was involved in, Mohammed and his men had him killed.”
“Vivian was working a revenge op,” Morrow concluded.
“Well if she was trying to get Mohammed to kill himself, then she succeeded. If she wanted him in custody, she screwed the pooch big time. I say she screwed the pooch anyway because all our months of work in bringing this arms ring down just went down the shitter, and she nearly got two agents killed in the process.”
“Bring them home, Gibbs. We’ll figure out what to do with her once you get back.”
“I’ll have her job if I have a say in it,” Gibbs said.
“We’ll discuss our options when you return. For now just focus on coming home and making sure everyone is alright.”
Blackadder’s eyes were wide as she listened to Gibbs’ half of the conversation with Morrow. No wonder he’d changed the layout of the op this morning at the last minute. She’d initially be assigned to a key role in the op, but this morning Tony’s role had been reassigned to take on more of the responsibilities she had initially assumed. Now she knew why. Gibbs knew the truth about her. He knew why she’d been so passionate about this op, and why it was so important to her. She could kick herself. She should have known Gibbs would figure it out. He was no idiot, that’s for sure.
It sounded like she was in big trouble though. She didn’t think her uncle would bail her out twice, not in the same week, and not over something as monumental as this.
Tony stepped to her side and clapped her heartily on the back. “Don’t worry,” he snarked, “I still like you.”
xxx
Twelve hours later, their military transport landed in Quantico and Tony breathed a sigh of relief. His body ached in places he didn’t realize could ache, and his left eye was swollen nearly shut. He figured it was a brilliant shade of either purple or black, based on how it was feeling.
The ride back to headquarters was silent. Gibbs drove like a maniac, as usual, and Tony gripped the oh-shit bar over the door and tried to keep his revolting stomach under control for the ride. Vivian sat in the back and stared out the window. Her brother was dead. His killer was dead, but not by her hands. She’d completely screwed the op. She should have shot the bastard when she had the chance.
Gibbs pulled into the Navy Yard and parked the car. Tony got out and moved to the nearest bush, throwing up what had barely passed earlier as food. Gibbs clapped him on the back as he walked past. “C’mon DiNozzo. Quit tossing your cookies, we have work to do.”
Tony staggered to his feet and followed Gibbs. Blackadder made a bee-line for the Forensic Lab. She needed to talk to her friend. She needed to talk to someone who would be supportive.
Down in the lab the music was blaring. Abby was hard at work on god-knows-what, and didn’t notice when Vivian arrived. Vivian turned off the music and flopped down on a stool. When the music stopped, Abby turned around.
“Oh. Vivian. Hey.”
“Abs you got a minute?”
“Actually I am kind of busy, running all of these samples. Did you need something?”
“I just needed someone to talk to for a minute.”
Abby stopped and looked at her friend. “Are you ok?”
“The op went bad.”
“What happened?”
“I kind of blew our cover.”
“What happened?! Is Gibbs ok?! Is Tony ok?!”
“They’re both fine and so am I, thanks for asking,” Vivian snarked.
“Well sorry, but they’re my friends and I don’t like it when my friends are in danger like that,” Abby retorted.
“Wait, when did you and DiNozzo bond and become BFFs,” Vivian asked.
“We aren’t BFFs but we are coworkers and we’re getting to know each other. You know he’s really not all that bad. I think we were wrong about him, Viv.” Abby turned back to her sample.
“Yeah well if you’d seen all the shit about him I’ve seen you wouldn’t think he’s ‘not all that bad.’ The guy is a complete kook! He used to let his mother"”
Abby swung around on her, one finger pointed right into Vivian’s face. “Don’t. Don’t finish that sentence.”
“What? You afraid Gibbs is going to write you up again? Come on Abs, the guy loves you, thinks you’re the best thing since coffee and would never fire you.”
“No I know Gibbs would fire me. I also know what is in Tony’s file Vivian. I read through it the other night because Gibbs made me after what you did. Did you happen to notice the fact that all of that stuff that happened to Tony, happened mostly before he was twelve years old? Did you even consider the fact that he didn’t choose any of that"that he’d been molested and abused since before he could walk? NO! So until you’re willing to look at the facts like a human being and quit acting like some kind of macho queen of the world who thinks she knows what is best for everyone, I suggest you keep your mouth shut when it comes to Tony! I will report you to Gibbs! We clear?”
Vivian blinked, completely shocked. “You’re in love with him,” she said in disbelief.
“No! I am most definitely NOT in love with DiNozzo. I told you Blackadder, we’re just getting to know each other. I’m doing what Gibbs told me to do"get to know the new guy on the team the right way"by talking to him and asking questions. It makes a difference. You should try it.”
Vivian shook her head. “Listen to yourself, Abs! You’re talking out of two sides of your mouth here! Just what, three days ago, you couldn’t even stand the guy? Now you’re barking up my tree to defend him? What gives? We’ve been friends a long time!”
“Obviously that is because I had no idea what sort of person you really were,” Abby snapped. “Now if you don’t need anything, Ms. Blackadder, I suggest you get out of my lab before I have you removed.”
“You’re as big of a drama queen as DiNozzo is, Abby. Go ahead, turn your back on your friends. But mark my words, first time you need something, who are you going to have to turn to? Make sure someone’s got your six because it certainly will not be me.”
Vivian turned and stormed out of the lab, doors sliding shut behind her. Abby screamed in frustration and threw a glass beaker at the nearest wall. She was so angry, that she didn’t hear the doors slide open again.
“Abby?”
She whipped around, ready to kill whoever was behind her. She hates being snuck up on! Her hand connected with his face before she realized who it was, and Tony grunted in pain and staggered back, one hand covering his now bleeding nose.
“TONY! Ohmygod I’m so sorry! Ohhh…oh Jesus you’re bleeding, oh shit, ok come here, let me help you. I’m so sorry but you have got to quit sneaking up on me like that!”
“Mmk Abs,” Tony grunted as she pressed an ice pack to his face. “Whatever y’say…ow…”
“It’ll stop bleeding in just a second. Just hold that there. Oh I am so sorry! Does it hurt very bad?”
“No worse than any of the other knocks I took in the last couple of days,” Tony said, wincing as he pressed the ice more firmly against his face. They were quiet for a moment. Finally Tony spoke. “Did you mean it?”
“Did I mean what,” Abby asked as she turned back to her sample. Major Mass Spec was getting lots of business these days.
“What you said to Blackadder,” Tony said softly. He didn’t meet Abby’s gaze.
She grimaced and fidgeted nervously with her fingers. “You heard that conversation, huh?”
Tony nodded. “Unintentionally, but yes, I heard most of it.”
“Yeah Tony. I meant every word I said. She has no right to treat you that way.”
Tony smiled slightly, then winced as he reopened the lip that had split in the fight with Mohammed’s men. “Thanks Abby.”
She smiled slightly. “Call me Abs. All my friends do.”
TBC…
Chapter End Notes:
Some violence, but not really too graphic