Tony was sitting on the couch with his hands casually resting in his lap. He studied every inch of the man in front of him, sitting with closed eyes about 7 feet away and with a gun in his lap. Tony didn't dare jump for the gun. Martinez was not some dumb drunk robbing the local drugstore. This was a guy who was halfway through the third phase of the Navy SEALs training, which says a lot about the guy. He had to be made of something special to go through the training with a sergeant like Keller. He just kept on fighting. And now he was sitting in front of Tony, and about 2 seconds away from a mental break-down. And what made him most dangerous of all; he didn't feel he had anything more to loose.
Martinez didn't look like a guy in his mid twenties. The intense SEAL training and the constant psychological pressure had made marks in the young face. He looked more like a man of 40 than anything else. There were tiny scars all the way down his arms and on his neck and cheeks. Tony could only speculate as to their origin. The hands were shaking slightly but Martinez still kept a firm grip on the gun. Tony was so occupied in his studies that he didn't notice that Martinez was staring at him.
"Why are you still here?" Martinez asked.
"To help you" Tony answered.
Martinez laughed scornfully, "Good luck with that! There nothing you can do. I'm screwed anyway you look at it." He buried his head in his hands, still keeping a grip on the gun.
Tony knew Martinez was right but didn't say it out loud. If he did, he'd never get out of here.
"Tell me what happened. With Keller" Tony tried, hoping the young man would open up to him.
Martinez shook his head,
"It was an accident" He looked up at Tony, "I swear to God, I never meant for it to happen."
Tony didn't answer but let Martinez talk.
"It was after training and I was looking for the sergeant to hand in my application for an extended leave. I was heading for his office, but then I saw him heading for his car, so I ran up to him."
Tony noticed that Martinez tightening and loosening his fist.
"When I handed him the papers, he just laughed. He laughed me right in the face and said that my kind shouldn't even be allowed to have kids. Told me to stick it so far up…" Martinez looked to the side, "Well let's just say he was very specific and colorful."
"Sounds like something I've heard before" Tony commented, reliving episodes from his own past. It send shivers down him spine knowing, that he could have been him in this situation, if he hadn't been the person he was. Racism was nothing new to Tony. There had been the usual name calling in the past. Names like pasta boy and others more colorful and cruel. But there had also been the more psychical episodes where Tony had had to fight and defend himself for being who he was. 10 years ago a night on the town almost cost Tony his life. A group of Nazis didn't like his friend, who was African American and when they found out Tony's name. Well that only made their night twice as much fun. Tony spent 2 weeks in the hospital after that encounter. His friend never walked again, and was going to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. What haunted Tony the most was, he didn't even know why. How can someone hate another person so much for something he has no control over? For something he can't do anything about and something he should be proved of?
"You have no idea what it's like! You can't even begin to understand what it's like to have people hate you for the color of your skin." Martinez almost yelled. Tony's temper flared but he managed to control himself,
"I have no idea?" Tony raised his eyebrows, "You think it's just a piece of cake being named Anthony DiNozzo? People like Keller hate Italians as much as Spanish people. I may not have a different skin color but once I say my name…" Tony lifted his shirt and revealed a surgical scar going all the way across his abdomen, "I have my scars to show for it, and they remind me every day, what kind of sick world we live in sometimes."
Martinez looked a bit embarrassed, realizing his mistake. He'd forgotten Tony's last name.
"Sorry, man. I just… it's gets to me. My wife's always telling me to turn away when people say something. She's got a heart of gold."
Tony nodded, "But you couldn't turn away from Keller?"
Martinez looked down again,
"It just… he never stops… the comments are always there… I didn't think that anybody, not even Keller would be so cruel to turn me down. I mean, how can he hate me so much? Why? What did I do?"
"That's the problem. You didn't do anything. Some people are just…" Tony said.
"I don't remember hitting him, and to be honest I don't even know what I hit him with. One minute he was yelling and laughing… the next he was on the ground, dead." Martinez got up and started pacing the room. "Then I panicked. I looked around but there were no witnesses, so I grabbed Keller by the feet and dragged him over to the obstacle course. I though I could make it look like an accident" He smiled to Tony, "Guess I was wrong, but then again I knew you NCIS guys were good."
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The local police sergeant was a short guy, packing too many pounds. His hairline was fading and he'd used some weird product to cover it up. The result was horrible. He was talking to two of his officers, pointing around the house and when Gibbs walked up, they turned to continue carry out their orders.
"Agent Gibbs, NCIS" Gibbs flashed his badge, trying his best not to stare at the sergeants head.
"Hello, I'm sergeant Turner, local PD" he put out his right hand to greet Gibbs, while the other pointed to the police badge on his chest. Gibbs smiled a little and shook the sergeant's hand.
"So, what have we got?" Sergeant Turner asked, lifting his pants a little to keep them in place.
"We came about 20 minutes ago to arrest a murder suspect. He pulled a gun and took a woman hostage. We managed to get the woman out, but my agent is still in there, and he's unarmed."
"Okay" Sergeant Turner took notes, "so why is your agent still in there?"
Gibbs was already getting annoyed, "it was the only way to get the hostage out. My agent stayed as part of the deal."
Sergeant Turner stopped himself for a second, but asked anyway, "but why? Why jeopardize your agent?"
"Cause it's our job to protect innocent people!" Gibbs almost yelled, "My agent made a choice and stayed so the hostage was safe. Now we're gonna give him time to calm Martinez down."
"Hey, no arguments from me. We don't get many hostage situations in this neighborhood, so it's your lead. I've ordered my people to surround the house. There's no way he can sneak out. SWAT?"
Gibbs warmed up to the man standing in front of him, and felt a little bad about yelling at him. He didn't have his emotion under total control, and it annoyed the hell out of him.
"I already had my agent do that. We're also talking to the wife to see if she can help us."
"Okay, so we wait." Sergeant Turner put his notepad away, "Hate it went I can't help my men…"
"Yeah" Gibbs turned and walked to meet Ziva, who had finished talking to the wife. Her expression didn't give Gibbs much hope that something good had come from it.
"Anything?" Gibbs asked.
Ziva shook her head, "Nothing new. She doesn't understand why this is all happening. She never though Carlos would do anything like this, and has no idea what he'll do I called the paramedics to check up on her... and just in case…."
Gibbs nodded. He looked around, trying to thing of any other way they could help Tony, "Damn" he whispered to himself. McGee came over, pointing behind him.
"SWAT's here"
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Martinez put his hand on an old crib standing next to the couch, Tony was sitting in. It was made from bare wood and there was a small container standing next to it.
"I was going to paint it the day before the baby came. Have it all ready for the little one."
"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?" Tony didn't know much, if anything, about kids, but tried his best to relate to the young man.
"No, we want to be surprised. Lisa believes it is the only real surprise left in life." He rocked the cradle; "Guess I'm never going to get to finish it"
"Hey man, that can still happen. This doesn't have to end here. Your kid's still gonna need you to be there." Tony said, trying to convince the good side in Martinez to keep fighting. A few battles were lost, but not the war.
"But I'm never going to! I'll be locked up in Leavenworth for the rest of my life if I leave this house:"
"You don't know that. If you give yourself up, I'll do anything I can to help you. Nobody has been hurt yet"
"Those are just word. I appreciate it, man, but there nothing you can do."
Martinez sat down again, the gun resting in his lap. Then a smile appeared,
"You know what I keep thinking?" He looked up, "What would the A-team do in this situation?"
Tony smiled to, playing the show in his mind. The smile on Martinez's face disappeared. "Guess those guys were too smart to end up in a situation like this".
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The local police sergeant stood with his legs a little spread and hands on his hips, nodding every few seconds to let the others know he knew exactly what they were talking about. He was trying to look important, but it was clear to anyone that he was at the bottom of the food chain standing next to the SWAT-captain and the three NCIS-agents. He cleared his throat,
"Okay, here's the situation. We've got two men in there. One of them is a SEAL-trainee with a whole lot of screws loose, a gun in his hand and an itchy trigger finger. The other is special agent Anthony DiNozzo from the NCIS. He negotiated 5 other hostages out and is trying to reason with the guy. Yeah, like that's ever going to happen." The sergeant smiled and looked around the group but frowned, when there's was no responds. He put his weight on his toes and looked down.
"So… what are we waiting for?" the SWAT-captain looked around the group, "Give it full force and get this situation over with?"
"Cause I have an agent in there!" Gibbs yelled.
"Hey! Your guy chose to be there! Nobody forced him. Meanwhile we've got a guy in there with a gun who we don't know what might do. He could already have killed your agent and try to shoot his way out."
"With only a handgun?" Gibbs raised his eyebrows, surprised that the SWAT-captain would even consider going in at this point, without having tried all the other alternatives.
"Hey, I'm not taking any chances. If your boy's smart, he'll know how and when to get out of the way" the SWAT-captain said, pointing his finger at Gibbs, "cause we're coming in".
"The hell you are! This is still my arrest and my call, and I say we give Tony more time" Gibbs' eyes were flaring. The captain didn't give a damn about Tony, and just thought he was a hot-shot trying to show off. It might seem that way to a lot of people but Gibbs knew better. This had nothing to do with Tony's ego. To Tony this was about protecting lives. Both Susan's and Martinez's. He saw an opportunity to get Gibbs and the hostage out and he seized it. And now Gibbs would have to trust him to get himself out of harms way. And Gibbs knew he would. Gibbs thoughts were interrupted by the SWAT-captain.
"That where you're wrong. The hostage is one of your own agents and that disqualifies you from leading the operation. The moment this turned into a hostage situation, it became MY call, and I say we go" the captain said and started a staring contest with Gibbs.
"You're willing to risk a federal agent's life, just so that you can bust down a door and feel all macho?" Ziva exclaimed.
The captain didn't take his eyes off Gibbs, "We're go in 5 minutes". He turned to join his team, but stopped and looked at Gibbs, who was fuming. "I suggest you let your boy know to keep his head down".
Gibbs took a step towards the captain but restrained himself.
"Damn it!" he whispered and grabbed the phone from McGee.
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Martinez jumped as the phone next to Tony rang. He pointed his gun at Tony again, and said, "Answer it"
Tony slowly moved his hand to the phone, trying not to make any sudden moves.
"Yeah" he answered.
"Tony, it's Gibbs" Gibbs stopped. He didn't know what to say. "Listen, things are not looking good from the outside".
Tony instantly knew what Gibbs was saying, "How much time have we got?"
Gibbs looked down, scraping his food on the ground, "They have a go in 5 minutes, and they are looking very trigger-happy". When Tony didn't answer, Gibbs got worried.
"Tony…"
"Yeah I'm still here"
"I'll see what I can do to delay them, but I can't give you more than 10 minutes tops."
"Guess that'll have to do then" Tony looked at Martinez who was sitting on the edge of the chair.
"Tony…. Take care of yourself. That's an order"
"Gotcha Boss" and the line went dead.
Gibbs almost hauled the phone across the lawn, but instead he passed it to McGee. He felt his gut tighten. He felt as if he was letting his senior field agent down. There was no way in hell that was going to happen.
"McGee, I need your help. I need you to delay them anyway you can. Screw with their com or something. Anything!"
McGee nodded a hint of a smile on his face. This was his home turf.
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Martinez looked at Tony, as Tony hung up the phone. The two men just stared at each other until Martinez broke the silence.
"They're coming in, aren't they?"
Tony didn't try to lie, and he actually didn't want to. Martinez was a smart guy, and a good guy in spite of this whole mess. Martinez knew the procedure for hostage situation, and knew what was going to happen.
"Yeah" Tony answered, trying not to break the stare. He had to come up with something fast ‘cause time was running out. Something that would convince Martinez, that life was worth living and made him give up the gun.
"What's their ETA?" Martinez asked.
"About 10 minutes" Tony answered.
"Oh shit!" Martinez leaped to his feet and started to pace the room, "shit shit shit!"
Tony watched with anxiety. He didn't know what would happen if Martinez was put under time pressure. All he knew was that the man could fall apart any minute.
"Look, Carlos" Tony started, hoping Martinez would listen to him, "It doesn't have to end that way. You can still give me your gun, and we can walk out of here together. Nobody has to get hurt".
Martinez stopped pacing and walked over and stood in front of Tony.
"Do you know what's going to happen if I go out there?" He pointed the gun all over the room and at Tony, "do you?! They're gonna be all over me, putting me in cuffs and dragging my ass out of here. My career is over! If I walk out of here, I have nothing. Nothing, you hear me?! I'm going strait to Leavenworth"
Tony felt a deja-wu coming on; he'd heard this before.
"That's no true. You have a loving wife who is carrying your baby, and right now she's sitting out there, scared to death that something's gonna happen to you"
Martinez fell back in the chair and tears started rolling down his cheeks. Tony quickly continued,
"You have a kid coming. A kid who's gonna need its father." Tony looked down, knowing it might not have been the right thing to say. He tried to explain, "I'm not gonna lie to you; you're gonna do some time for this. But if you give yourself up, we can work on getting you a good deal. You didn't hurt anybody in here. The judge's gonna know you didn't mean to hurt Keller. You didn't mean to. You don't even remember killing him".
Martinez didn't look up while Tony spoke. He just sat still crying, looking down in the floor, elbows resting on the knees.
I can't walk out of here. Lisa is never going to be able to look me in the eyes again. She'll never understand why I did it. She's always telling me to look the other way when I meet people like Keller. But I can't… I can't…" Martinez looked up at Tony and for a second Tony saw something different in his eyes. The war within was over but the good side did not prevail.
"Tell Lisa that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry"
Tony straitened up, "Carlos….."
"Just tell her that and I love her more than anything else. I never meant to hurt anybody…never… just tell her that."
"Carlos, don't" Tony's gut tightened.
Martinez took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then he pointed the gun at his temple…
"Carlos!" Tony yelled and leaped towards Martinez, his right arm reaching for the gun. He managed to grab the gun and they both tumbled to the floor… Then a gunshot echoed through the house….
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"Sir, we found the problem. Somebody managed to jam the frequencies, but we're good to go again. I don't know how, sir" the SWAT-officer reported to the captain.
The captain shot a glare at Gibbs, and then turned to his team, "Ok, this is what we're gonna do. Two are going in from…" the captain stopped as a loud gunshot tore through the air.
Gibbs spun around and his heart stopped for a second. The shot came from within the house.
Author's Chapter Notes:
A routine arrest goes wrong...
Chapter End Notes:
Sorry for the wait. Here are my 2 final chapters. Happy New Year to everybody:-)
Hope you like it:-) Sorry for any funny sentences or misspellings.
Hope you like it:-) Sorry for any funny sentences or misspellings.