"No don't answer," Anthony DiNozzo groaned as his wife of less than two weeks rolled away from him to answer a ringing phone. They'd arrived back in Washington from their honeymoon late the night before and had been up until the early hours of the morning enjoying what was left of their honeymoon. Kate had insisted they come back a few days before their leave was up so that they could unpack and readjust to no longer being on vacation.
"Yeah," Kate answered ignoring her husband's lips as they moved gently across her shoulder blade. "Yeah but—Gibbs? Gibbs?" She pulled the phone from her ear staring at it before snapping it closed, "he hung up on me."
"He does that to everyone," He murmured against her neck, "what'd he want?"
"Us, at head quarters in half an hour," she dropped back on the bed, before rolling onto her back and he hovered above her, "and for you not to shave."
"Half an hour, that's plenty of time," he murmured, trailing his lips down her neck, "one last newlywed celebration before we go back to work?"
"Umm, as wonderful as that sounds…" she trailed off when he hit a particularly sensitive spot, "we can't, we don't have quite enough time."
After two quick showers, they arrived at HQ with four cups of coffee, a caf-pow, and a box of donuts in hand. "We're supposed to be meeting everyone in the lab," she informed him as they entered the elevator.
"Why do I not like the looks of this?" Tony sighed as Abby's table was covered with what appeared to be all the makings of an undercover op.
"You guys are back," Abby squealed rushing over to hug them both, "and you're tan."
"Yes, a week in the Caribbean will do that to you," Kate nodded, "we brought coffee and breakfast."
"Thanks you guys," McGee answered already digging into the box of donuts.
"McGee," Gibbs called entering behind the couple, and trading his current cup of coffee for a new one from the tray, "Explain things to Kate and DiNozzo, then meet me up in the office," he ordered grabbing a donut before going back to the elevator.
"Yes, boss," he replied, before turning back to the newlyweds and leading them over to the plasma, "Eighty seven ancient Iraqi artifacts were stolen in a large conex container roughly… eighteen hours ago. One of the thieves, Jeffrey White, picked up on a traffic violation minutes after an APB went out. He is in custody now, but the other, Lane Harrison, is not, he is at large with the conex box--"
"Probie, how can he be at large with a conex box, those things are huge," Tony interrupted taking a donut for himself as well as one of the coffees.
"I'm aware of that Tony, what I'm saying is we don't know where the box is or who has it," he answered, "Gibbs wants you to be undercover in less than two hours, you and Jeffery White are going to escape during a transport and you're job is to find out where the box is."
"Hence the orange jumpsuit, chains and…hair grease?" he questioned.
"Yeah, we have to give you a tough look," Abby grinned clearly excited to dress him for the part.
"The reason for the no shaving too, I presume?" Kate questioned, picking up the locator chip, "this for GPS location?"
"Yes, you and Gibbs are going to be tailing him for the journey," Abby nodded, "the only question is where we are going to put it."
"Under the skin," McGee suggested.
"I'd prefer not to have my neck sliced open today, thanks," Tony shot down, "in the shoe?"
"I was thinking suppository," Abby supplied, with a wink, "I'll let Kate put it in for you."
"No," Tony immediately interrupted, "you know I love you but that's just a little too personal."
"Aw come on," Kate pouted placing her hand on his butt giving it a firm squeeze, "I promise I'll be gentle."
"Nope, sorry," he smirked placing a kiss on her forehead before turning back to Abby, "the shoe will do just fine, right Abs?"
"Yeah but you just ruined all my fun," she pouted, giving him a small puppy dog look.
"Sorry Abs," he shrugged, "alright give me the jumpsuit I'll see you up at the office in ten, dressed and ready."
"Kate you'll ride with me, we'll follow unseen," he handed her a laptop; "McGee will stay here."
"Alright," Tony announced stepping off the elevator, Kate had to smile seeing the slicked back hair and unshaven look. His hands were tucked in the large pockets of the orange jumpsuit, and he had a greasy smirk on his face.
"Can I please take a picture to send to your Mom?" Kate begged as soon as she realized he had the perfect look for his new role.
"Let's go Agent Todd, we have to have our prisoner at DCPD in an hour," Gibbs barked sending the team into gear, "oh and welcome back I hope you enjoyed the vacation."
"Up until you cut it two days short," Tony grumbled following Gibbs down to the car, with Kate at his side.
"Cuff him," Gibbs smiled at the pair, "we have to be in role when we get there."
"Aw, come on boss," Tony whined as his wife grabbed his left wrist spinning his body up against the side of the car cuffing first the left and then the right. "Get the chain from my neck," Tony requested bending his head for her to pull it off.
It held his wedding band, which if he hadn't removed from his person, would be taken as soon as he was in the presence of a fellow prisoner. Tony was easily inserted into his new role and before long he was on the run with Jeffery White. Kate and Gibbs both nearly had heart attacks when Tony's GPS didn't pop up on their screen, until half way through Gibbs phone conversation with Abby, when Kate realized he just hadn't turned on the machine.
Tony began to realize within the first few minutes of escaping why it was thought they could get answers from this guy. He was scrawny and weak looking but Tony was never one to underestimate a man so he continued to treat him as any undercover agent would.
"Wait. I can't… I can't keep going," Jeffery wheezed out trying to keep up with Tony.
"Get up and run! Let's go! Hey! I just killed a guy back there. I am not getting caught. Let's get up and run. Move it! Let's go!" Tony barked, thinking he made a fine imitation of Gibbs if he did say so himself.
Tony had to convince this guy to run, he was probably the worst criminal he'd ever come across. Most of these guys as soon as you got them half-way to freedom they were clawing and itching to get the rest of the way there. He'd ended up improvising and using his movie mumbo jumbo to get the guy to move.
"They did this in The Defiant Ones. The chain represents the unbreakable bond between all men. Every scene in that movie is a metaphor," Tony informed his chain buddy as he tried to break the chain with a rock; he knew it wouldn't work though.
"You don't talk like a criminal," Jeffery observed from the side, "What'd you do?"
"Okay, I didn't do anything. Let's get that crystal clear. I was landing my plane in Virginia Beach on my way back from the Dominican Republic," he sighed, remembering the story Gibbs had fed him on the drive to DCPD.
"You're a pilot?"
"Yeah, I was half way through my honeymoon when I had to fly back to the states for this rich couple. Customs found four keys of cocaine in the luggage. It was the rich couple's. I never saw it before," he sighed adding a touch of his own drama to the story. In his mind he should still be at home in bed with Kate, relishing in the last few hours they had till they really did have to be at work.
Coming upon the truck and trailer, Tony knew they'd headed in the right direction off the bus, he however wasn't expecting to take a tumble into a stream. He knew as soon as he hit the water that he was screwed on the GPS system, but the truck was low-jacked, so as long as he held onto that he would still have back up.
TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK
The sigh of relief Kate breathed, at seeing the signal for the truck moving, did not go unnoticed by Gibbs, "Cash, clothes, and a car. Everything that Tony loves," she smirked.
"Let's just hope he's not headed for Vegas," Gibbs quipped, impressed with his agent's ability to stay strong. He'd known they'd done well while dating and even while being engaged but he'd figured their marriage would add a lot more stress to any situation.
She was handling it pretty well for it being their first case back from their honeymoon; he could only hope that Tony was holding up just as well. Most people wouldn't think it but Gibbs had seen the change in his Senior Agent over the last six months as he became involved in a permanent adult relationship.
Tony had decided that this guy was the biggest pansy he'd ever been around. Hell he was worse than McGee and a lot more annoying. Gibbs genius had paid off and Tony quickly hit the onstar button, placing him in direct contact with his favorite goth.
"Onstar, how can we help you, Mister Reynolds?" Abby's fake computer voice floated through the truck.
"Hi. Yeah, we'd like to make a call," Tony smirked looking pointedly at Jeffery.
"I'd be happy to place that call for you. What is the number?" Abby recited, glad to hear Tony's voice.
"Let's get out of these cuffs, Jeffrey. What's the number? Come on," he encouraged spotting a dirt bike in front of them and easing off the accelerator so as not to rear end him.
"Watch out," Jeffery screamed reaching for the wheel and sending them into a ditch as Tony cursed at his dumb luck. Only he would get the world's most idiotic criminal as a chain member.
TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK
Kate had to take another quick breath when she heard Abby's words, "Gibbs, it sounds like Tony was in an accident!"
"Got it, Abby. We're on it," Gibbs canceled the call speeding up to get to what was hopefully a minor crash site.
"He's had enough Gibbs, this is getting ridiculous," Kate sighed grabbing onto the overhead bar.
"I agree, we'll get Tony and put Jeffery White back into custody," he sighed, "only Tony could turn a simple assignment into a wild goose chase."
"Gibbs it's not his fault," she sighed, as they peeled around a dirt road.
"I know that Agent Todd," he hissed and she took that as her cue to close her mouth and wait until they got to the crash site.
"Gibbs slow down," she shrieked when she saw the biker standing in the road.
"Hey! Hey, hey! My bike was stolen. You've got to help me," he spoke before they could barely get out of the car. She was cursing her husband in the back of her mind, yeah they wanted to get this guy, but now he was out there with no back up.
"How much gas did you have left?" Gibbs asked heading back to the drivers seat when he didn't find anything in the front seat of the truck.
"Next to nothing," the driver replied, and Gibbs peeled off down the dirt road hoping to catch up with them at a gas station.
TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK
Tony's patience was quickly running thin with Jeffery, so he'd set the bike up at the gas pump and then they'd ventured over to the pay phone. He was inwardly rejoicing when he heard Jeffery talking to Lane, which meant he was one step closer to getting out of this alive.
He hoped that Kate and Gibbs were still close behind, meeting up with a new person without any real information about him, did not leave him with a good feeling in his gut. Without backup he couldn't guarantee that he would make it out of the entire situation alive.
"I haven't seen him," the gas station attendant answered looking at the photos of Jeffery White and Tony.
"Well, here's our number if they come in," she sighed rather heavily, but pulled out a business card to hand to him.
"What?" Gibbs asked seeing an interesting look on Kate's face.
"You're worried," she noted; it wasn't a comforting thing, Gibbs being worried, that meant that things really had gone wrong and gotten out of hand. Gibbs was never worried and if he was than something was definitely wrong.
"About what?" He asked afraid that if Kate knew his true feelings she would become an emotional wife instead of his strict by the book agent.
"Tony," she stated, positive about that fact. "You are, I can tell," she decided.
"I'm worried about the job, Kate. Don't confuse the two."
TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK
He was obnoxious, much like he imagined he himself had acted when he was younger and tagging along with his brothers. He was thinking about how he was soon going to have to call his own brothers and apologize.
"Hey Lane," Jeffery White called as they arrived in front of an old wooden cabin.
"Hey," the gruff older man grunted, seeing the two, clearly displeased with Tony's presence.
"How you doing?" Tony asked after Jeffery had introduced him, and assured the man that the bike wasn't as comfortable as it looked as Lane checked it over carefully.
Lane was quick to lead them over to the log splitting stump setting up the chain for him to break apart allowing the two men to finally be separated. "Did Jeffrey tell you what we had going on?" he asked as the chains finally split.
"Ah, he just said that he wanted me to fly you out of the country," Tony offered, treading the waters lightly.
"That's all?" Lane asked, and Tony nodded, "Well, Jeffrey manipulates easy," he sighed, and Tony guessed that this wasn't the first time that Jeffery had gotten the two into what Lane considered trouble.
"I'm not manipulating--"
"No?" Lane asked.
"No, you want me out of here. I am gone," he announced motioning to get back on the bike, ready to get on the road and find a phone to call for backup.
"No you don't have to leave, we do need someone to fly us out of the country, take the bed, get some sleep," Lane led Tony into the house.
"Thanks."
TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK
Hearing that Lane or Billy Collins, as his identity became known, was connected to three murders set Kate at even more unease. They came upon another gas station, within the range that Tony could have traveled on the bike. The attendant hadn't seen them but they found a keychain in the coin return for the payphone.
"He's leaving bread crumbs," she was hopeful he kept up they wouldn't be able to get to him without a trail.
Gibbs quickly set McGee and Abby on finding phone numbers and records. They were back on the road quickly hoping to be headed in the same direction Tony and Jeffery White had.
"Let's break the pattern," Kate sighed as they rode down the street.
"What pattern?" Gibbs questioned.
"Dishonest silence pattern," she sighed, "I'll start; I'm worried for Tony, there, I said it. I dropped my guard for two seconds, I got it out."
"Well yeah, he is your husband," he retorted, "you can't honestly tell me you aren't worried about him every time we step out of that office."
"Yes, but normally all I have to do is look over and see him, and know that he's fine," she sighed, "I can't do that right now, now can I?"
"Kate you are a field agent, you and Tony both promised me that you would remain field agents," he barked, "don't break that promise now."
"I'm not Gibbs," she returned, "I promise it will make you feel better if you just admit that you're worried about Tony."
"I am happy," he sent her a rather fake smirk.
"You don't look happy," she retorted just as the phone rang. It was McGee with the address of the house that the pay phone had called.
TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK
"Good morning. What's the matter?" Jeffery greeted very early the next morning as soon as Tony's eyes opened.
"I'm not used to waking up this close to a man's face, Jeffrey," he sighed. In fact he was used to waking up with a beautiful pair of brown eyes watching him. She was often awake before him, and would watch him sleep, the look of pure love in her eyes.
"We've got to get out of here. Lane took off," Jeffery changed the subject quickly, obviously ready for them to get back on the road.
"Where'd he go?" Tony questioned suspiciously, he was beginning to get the feeling there was more going on then anyone knew.
"Last night we fought…over you," he informed, as they began to gather their stuff.
"Really don't like the way that sounds, Jeffrey," Tony shuddered; Jeffery made it sound like he was the other woman…or man, in this case.
"He wanted to get rid of you. I wouldn't let him," Jeffery sighed and finally gave in and told Tony about the stolen artifacts from Iraq, but he wouldn't go so far as to say where the artifacts currently were. "How soon can you get the plane?" he asked as Tony swiped a cell phone off the end table.
"Well, I know a guy that can arrange a charter to Key West. From there we can get a King Air Three fifty, twin engine. That'll get us to Mexico," he bluffed, ready to make the call to Gibbs, and get the hell out of there. The bike was missing from in front of the house, and Jeffery said that Lane must have taken it, pushing it down the road so that he could get away without waking them.
Coming upon the cabin, Kate could tell that no one was there, but she and Gibbs entered the house with weapons drawn, clearing the scene before realizing they were too late, "Gibbs!" she called finding the dead body, of who she assumed was Billy Collins. "Lane Harrison didn't kill those two guys in Seattle," she sighed remembering the info McGee and Abby had passed along.
"Jeffrey White did," Gibbs nearly exploded, ripping his hat from his head and running his hand through his hair.
"Tony has no idea who he's with, Gibbs," she sighed. She was almost positive she'd never been more scared in her life; even being held in autopsy by a terrorist didn't scare her as much as this did.
"Wasn't much of a struggle, only these abrasions on his cheek. The head was grabbed from behind and immobilized. And with the other hand…" Ducky trailed off almost an hour later.
"Came around and cut across the throat," Gibbs finished the scenario for him.
"From the look of things he was experienced in this manner of execution, Jethro," Ducky sighed carefully looking over the body again.
"We think he's responsible for three of the murders. Same M.O." Kate offered.
"And Tony's with the bastard? Is he aware?" Ducky asked now afraid for the young agent.
"Probably not. We have to think Tony didn't know anything about this, he would have never allowed it to happen," Kate assured, knowing what thoughts would soon be brought up.
"Unless…" Ducky trailed off, realizing he was in the presence of this agent's wife.
"We checked the rest of the area, Duck. No other bodies, Tony's still alive," Gibbs promised, casting a cautious glance at Kate as well.
Finding the address for a Wal-mart in Lynchburg meant that they would soon be on their way there as soon as McGee got them address for Wal-marts. McGee had quickly found them a Wal-mart with conex boxes in the parking lot across the street. After arranging for the local LEOs to meet them there, Gibbs sped up to hopefully get there around the same time as Tony and Jeffery White.
When they found out that the boxes were empty Gibbs realized they'd been set up, and that Jeffery had probably realized that Tony was a cop.
TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK
"What are we doing?" Tony asked as Jeffery slowed the car and pulled over to the side of the road. "Do you want me to drive while you sleep?" he questioned when Jeffery explained he needed to sleep.
"You think we ought to keep moving?" Jeffery asked seriously, Tony hoped he was beginning to trust him.
"I do," Tony promised and also promised to have Jeffery's back before Jeffery climbed into the back seat to take a nap, and Tony took over the driver's seat. Once he was sure that Jeffery was unaware of his motions he glanced down at the phone and dialed Gibbs' number, he waited for it to connect gave it a few seconds for Gibbs to answer and then hung up.
He only hoped that Gibbs realized who it was.
He waited almost half an hour and then made the call again, hoping that one of them would realize it was him. Hopefully Abby was already on to him and tracking his GPS location through the cell phone's chip.
TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK
Kate had never been surer in her life that Gibbs never should have been given a driver's license as they sped off to the location Abby had traced from the hang-up on Gibbs's phone.
TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK
"How are we doing?" Jeffery asked scaring Tony have to death, as he popped up from behind the front seat.
"Take a right," Jeffery ordered as Tony continued to drive. A loud beep startled Tony as he realized he was screwed if Jeffery began to suspect that he'd allowed NCIS to trace them.
"What the hell is that?" he asked playing it off as something he had nothing to do with.
"It's in my bag, I thought I turned it off," Jeffery sighed and Tony discreetly pulled the phone from his own pocket.
"Battery's dead," Tony sighed holding the phone up for Jeffery to see the blinking battery display.
"Well turn it off they can trace a cell phone," Jeffery ordered.
And Tony reluctantly hit the power button, "Off."
"Nine three oh six eight five seven…that's her…history of the world in a box," Jeffery looked out the front windshield over Tony's shoulder.
"I don't see Lane," Tony did a quick sweep with his eyes, not aware that Jeffery seemed to be in his own world.
"I always wanted to scuba dive. I'm going to scuba dive. What do you think of that?" he questioned, ignoring Tony's observation.
"Well, you can't swim, Jeffrey," Tony smarts, remembering falling down the hill and into the stream and how he'd freaked when they'd hit the water.
"There's that, yeah, but you can teach me," he smiled over at him. "That's him. Now you're going to watch my back. I'm going to go get the cash. Then we're going to get out of here. You ready?"
"I want you to listen to me, Jeffrey," Tony knew it was time to break the cover he could only hope that Gibbs and Kate weren't too far behind him.
"Okay," Jeffery smiled.
"I'm a federal agent," he spoke softly, knowing that this could make or break it all.
"Good one, Tony," Jeffery laughed, but both men knew that it wasn't a joke.
"Naval Criminal Investigative Service," Tony nodded.
"Don't say that," Jeffery almost pleaded.
"I wish I didn't have to," Tony promised, and at this point he was beginning to regret saying anything. He could've waited and gained Jeffery's full trust and then taken him down, knowing that Gibbs and Kate would be right around the corner. "Everyone's going to know you wanted to turn yourself in, that you drove me here voluntarily. You testify against Lane, they're going to cut you a deal," he was making promises he wasn't sure he'd be able to keep, but he had to get out of there alive.
"What do I do?" Jeffery asked, and Tony hoped he was ready to give in and not playing him.
"Okay, you sit tight. I'll arrest the buyer. Then we call my boss and he'll pick us up," he laid out the plan, before gaining an eerie feeling that things already weren't going his way.
"Okay," he spoke softly.
TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK
"Step away from your car! Hands in the air!" Kate called stepping out of the car as Gibbs came to a squealing stop.
Gibbs had ordered Kate to take care of the buyer once they got there, both afraid of how they would find Tony once they arrived. Once the local LEOs had arrived, Kate handed the Japanese doctor over for the FBI to pick up.
Tony's quick reflexes were the only thing that had saved him; once he'd caught a flash of light off the knife he's fired the gun Jeffery had handed him, "You did good Tony," Gibbs nodded, opening the door for him to step out of the car, "bag your clothes and have Kate tag them."
"Boss?" he questioned confused, he didn't think he'd have to strip in the parking lot.
"There'll be an investigation, we need to prove it was self-defense," he nodded again, pulling out his cell phone, "Yeah, got a body…bring Ducky."
"Go DiNozzo," he barked, rather annoyed, "then I want Kate to take you to the local PD."
Kate waited for Tony to change and helped him bag his clothes before hugging him tightly, "are you okay?"
"Yeah, come on, Gibbs wants us at the local PD," he broke the hug, ushering her to the driver's side door; he took a deep breath before settling in on the passenger side.
TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK
Once Tony had been cleared of any wrong doing, Gibbs had sent them home with the rest of the weekend off, like they'd originally planned. "Umm," Kate moaned, she was lying on her stomach, her cheek pressed against the mattress, and her husband's lips moved quickly over her back.
"I love you," he murmured bringing his lips moved quickly over her back.
"I love you, too," she ran her hand over his cheek, still rough with stubble, "and your hairy face," she shrieked, when he flipped her over.
He loomed above her with a growl, "I gathered from your response that it was quiet enjoyable for you," he wiggled his eyebrows playfully.
"Oh it was," she giggled, "but it's going to take some heavy concealer to hide the rug burn that's going to cover my entire neck."
"Sorry," he grinned placing kisses along her neck, "you're already using concealer, we might as well make it worth your while."