Over the metallic noise of Gibbs reloading his gun, Kate barely heard the creak of the door.
Barely was enough. Her eyes flashed in the direction of the tiny sound, registered in an instant the man, the gun...and his target.
"Shooter!" she screamed, even as she tensed and dove. The move was as instinctive as breathing. Secret Service agents had to practice hitting things with bullets, but they also had to learn to hit bullets with themselves.
The shot slammed into Kate's padded ribs, knocking out her wind. The impact, combined with the force of her leap, flung her to the ground. Her shoulder took the brunt of the fall, and flared pain as it was thrust back in its socket. That was nothing, however, compared to the agony in her ribcage.
She winced at the harsh, throbbing ache that would doubtlessly get worse before it got better. Bullet-proof vests, as far as she was concerned, were sadistic - they saved your life, but almost made you wish you were dead.
It was a moment before she remembered that she was supposed to be breathing, another few before she felt like dragging air into her lungs. Distantly, she could hear more guns firing, a body falling to the ground, a voice calling her name...
And then there were hands on her, rolling her over, dragging her jacket open...and, apparently, revealing the slug imbedded in her vest. She almost wanted to smile when she heard both of them letting out sighs of relief...and then Tony had to open his mouth.
"You okay?"
I'm going to hit him, she thought with perfect clarity. As soon as every nerve in my body stops throbbing, I'm going to give him a whack in the head Gibbs would envy.
She settled for a moan of pain. "I just got shot at point-blank range, DiNozzo. What do you think?"
"You're not going to be going to Pilates class tomorrow?"
Maybe a whack in the head wasn't good enough. Maybe she'd throw him off the roof. And was that Gibbs smirking? Him, too. Over the edge with both of them.
Oblivious to her wrath, the other agents helped her to her feet. "Protection detail's over, Kate," Gibbs informed her.
She opened her mouth for a remark about not getting to order him around any longer, but Tony interrupted her. "You did good."
Kate grinned a little despite herself. One upside to working with a wisecracking smart-ass who rarely took anything seriously; when he said something like that, he meant it. And for all the juvenile behavior, his opinion as an agent was something she valued. Idly, she wondered if he knew that.
And for some reason, that trite old quote popped into her head. "If you knew you were going to die and could only make one phone call, who would you call? What would you say? And what are you waiting for?"
Like she'd said to McGee yesterday; all of them were at risk at every moment. This whole rotten case had - literally - pounded that home for her. Maybe someday she'd say something to him.
Someday.