Title: Red Peril 03
Author: Ceindreadh
Email: Ceindreadh@eircom.net
Genre (general, hetero or slash) : slash/action
Rating: T
Disclaimer. I don't own the NCIS characters, I'm only borrowing them, and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.
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Previously on N.C.I.S.
A Private Detective was hired to beat up a member of Gibbs's team. Tony was attacked one evening after leaving McGee's apartment. McGee - who had followed Tony out - interrupted the attackers and managed to scare them off. But a few minutes later the police showed up and arrested *him* on suspicion of causing Tony's injuries.
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[3]
McGee sat in the back of the police car, watching the proceedings. In spite of his protests, or maybe even because of them, the cops had read him his rights and locked him in the car while they cleared the scene. McGee had been left to sit there worrying.
And he had a lot to be worried about. For starters, from what McGee had seen of him, Tony had looked to be in a bad way. Fortunately, a few minutes after the cops had locked him in the car, an ambulance had pulled up, and McGee had breathed a huge sigh of relief as he had watched the medic's load an unconscious Tony into the ambulance and drive off.
McGee was also worried about the real attackers. He knew that forensic analysis would be able to prove that he hadn't attacked Tony, but by then the trail to the people who *had* attacked him might have gone cold. McGee cursed himself again under his breath for not bringing his I.D. with him. If he'd been able to prove he was a Federal Agent, surely the cops would have listened to him. They'd certainly been interested enough when they'd found *Tony's* I.D.
And then of course there was the biggest worry on McGee's mind...what was Gibbs going to say when he found out that one of his agents had been injured and another arrested on suspicion of causing those injuries. McGee turned his head as he saw a familiar car pulling up. "Oh no," he groaned, sinking further down in his seat. "Gibbs is going to kill me!"
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Gibbs was certainly in a mood to kill somebody. Preferably whatever bastard had dared lay a hand on one of *his* team. But right now, his whole attention was focused on the police detective in front of him who was refusing him access to the crime scene.
"Sir, until I hear otherwise from my superior, this is a Washington P.D. investigation. Now you put in your calls and get this transferred over to N.C.S.I. if you want."
"N.C.I.S.," growled Gibbs.
"Whatever. This is my case and my crime scene, until I hear otherwise." Detective Norton managed to hold Gibbs's glare for only a few seconds before looking away. "Look, Agent Gibbs. One of your guys is hurt, and you want to catch the son of a bitch that did it. I can understand that, no problem. But there's procedures to be followed, and the last thing either of us wants is some dirtbag to go free because we didn't fill in the right papers. Now we got ourselves a suspect in custody," Norton waved towards the police cruiser. "Our guys are gonna bring him downtown and process him. As soon as I get the word, I'll turn him over to you and your team..." His voice trailed off, seeing the expression on Gibbs's face as he looked over at the police car. "Something wrong, Agent Gibbs?"
"Yeah...you just got one third of my team sitting in your police car."
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"I'm really sorry, Gibbs," said McGee for what seemed like the thousandth time. "I messed up...I should never have let that guy get away."
Gibbs was silent as they drove back to N.C.I.S. headquarters. It had taken some doing, but he had convinced Detective Norton that McGee was no threat and certainly no flight risk. Norton had taken McGee's statement and a description of the attackers and released him into Gibbs's custody. They'd stopped by McGee's apartment, accompanied by a C.S.I. tech who had collected McGee's clothing in order to examine it to confirm his story. Gibbs hadn't argued with the cops over that evidence, after all, he knew that McGee hadn't been the one to hurt Tony, so if the cops wanted to waste their time confirming it, that was their business. Gibbs had other plans. Plans which did not include listening to McGee beat himself up over what had happened.
"MCGEE!" Gibbs finally yelled in an effort to get through to him. "What have I told you about apologizing?"
"That it's a sign of weakness, Boss," replied McGee. "It won't happen again, I'm sor..." He cut his words short before Gibbs could glare at him again.
"Tell me what you did wrong."
"I should have followed those guys..." McGee started to process what had happened. "I should have taken them into custody."
"Both of them at once?"
"Well no, but one was injured...I could have caught up with him...stopped him..."
"And while you were busy catching up with *that* guy, the other one could have snuck back and finished what he started." Gibbs shook his head, "One of your team was down, there was nobody else to look out for him. You did what you had to do and don't let anybody tell you different."
"I...thanks Boss," said McGee. He buried his head in his hands and sighed, "I just keep thinking that maybe if I'd done something differently...if I'd followed after Tony a bit sooner, maybe I could have stopped him being hurt. If I'd been able to ID myself as N.C.I.S., then maybe the cops would have caught the other guys instead of arresting me."
"Rule number 22. Always carry ID. Especially if you're armed. And speaking of which, when exactly did *you* start carrying a backup gun?"
"Not long," said McGee. "Tony..." He swallowed hard, "When he found out I was carrying a spare, he...he said I needed to wear it 24/7 until I was used to it. He even said I should sleep wearing it..."
"Good for you, Tim," said Gibbs as they pulled into the NCIS parking lot. "Good for you."
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To be continued
Ceindreadh
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony's been injured and the police think McGee did it! Will Gibbs be able to sort things out?