Title: The Ultimate Diversion
Author: Jasmine
Universe: NCIS, Season 9
Date: February, 2012
Rated: PG
Summary: Tony doesn't show up for work one day and ends up becoming the subject of a multi-agency manhunt.
Note: The problem with writing fanfic while the show is still on the air is that the writers of the show wrap up storylines before I've had a chance to finish my fic. So, this story occurs sometime within the first three or four episodes of season 9.
Warnings: TIVA. Like the tv show, I like to use TIVA to add another layer to my stories. This isn't a TIVA focused story, but don't read if you don't like TIVA. And gratuitous hurt/comfy (what can I say…sometimes I just feel like writing it that way).
Chapter 1
Gibbs looked over at the empty chair. Tony liked to push the envelope and show up to work on his own time, but at least he always showed up. He glanced at his watch; it was now well past any reasonable hour for making it into the office—on anyone's timetable.
Ziva noticed her boss looking at the empty desk and she exchanged a knowing glance with the only other agent in the bullpen. Neither of them knew where their colleague was, but they knew this much: Gibbs was going to be a bear to work with today. Their silver haired boss had already snarled at McGee for making a reference to a video game, and when Ziva had tried to change the topic, he had picked up his coffee and left the squad room a little more abruptly than usual, only to return ten minutes later, and in no better mood. Now, it was almost ten in the morning and Tony had not shown up for work and had not called in, and Gibbs looked pissed. She had to admit that this was unusual even for her partner's often unorthodox work habits.
Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs looked up to see the director standing on the mezzanine, staring down at him. In his gut, he felt that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
Chapter 2
Two hours had elapsed and it was now noon and still no DiNozzo.
Ziva tapped her pencil, playing scenario after scenario in her head as to where he might be. She watched the director walk across the mezzanine, descend the stairs, round the partition and stare at the empty desk. "Where is he?"
Gibbs shrugged, "He'll be here."
Ziva never liked these kinds of encounters because they never ended well.
"That's not what I asked."
Gibbs cocked his head at the terse response. "Ziva?"
"I have called his cell phone and home phone; he is not answering."
"McGee?"
Tim looked up, "Uhhh…" He hated when he couldn't figure out what his boss wanted. Tony and Ziva were much better at this than he was. "Umm."
"Did you locate his cell phone?"
"No, but I will. Right now." He punched his keyboard, feeling all eyes on him. "Sorry, Boss, no trace of it. He must have it turned off."
"I think we have a problem," Vance stated after hearing what he already knew.
Gibbs was not one to alarm easily and he wouldn't have been now except he looked over his boss' shoulder and watched as two of the FBI's finest approached.
"Gibbs," came the usual one word greeting.
"Fornell. What's brings you here?"
"One of your own. We were ordered to drop everything and locate an NCIS agent. I figured it would be too easy to show up and find him sitting at his desk, so now we have to go to plan B."
Gibbs was never one for games and now was not the time, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about DiNotzo. Where is he?"
"Why is the FBI looking for him?"
He shrugged, "I don't know. I don't question my orders, Gibbs, I just follow them."
Gibbs furrowed his brow at Vance, "What's going on?"
"I wish I knew, but you had better find your agent."
Ziva and McGee exchanged looks again, only this time it wasn't so knowing.
Fornell understood the dynamics of Gibbs' team. The Mossad officer turned NCIS agent looked worried while her male counterpart looked confused. He'd get nothing from them but he had yet to exhaust Gibbs. He continued, "You should be aware that this is a priority for the bureau. Whatever your boy has done, he's getting a lot of attention."
"What do you mean, 'done'? DiNozzo hasn't DONE anything except not show up for work today."
"Why's that?" Agent Sachs slipped in, hoping to glean some information about his nemesis' whereabouts.
Ziva was the first to notice the entrance of the CIA operative. "This can't be good," she muttered. When Gibbs looked up, it was hard to tell which emotion he possessed more: anger or disbelief.
Trent Kort looked around in his usual officious manner, focusing on the empty desk, "Where is he?"
Gibbs held out his arms and shook his head, "You mind telling me why YOU want to know?"
"Because I have orders, and I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing less than looking for your man. It'd make my life so much easier if he were sitting here right now."
"That's what I said," Fornell stated.
"Why is the CIA looking for DiNozzo?"
Kort looked at the circle of specialized agents and responded, "I don't know how NCIS works, but the CIA doesn't always give me explanations when I get my orders, Gibbs. All I know is that I'm to find him and bring him in."
Ziva and McGee kept sharing glances, dying to talk to each other. All eyes seemed to be expectantly staring at Gibbs, and they knew him well enough to know that he'd already put up a wall and there was no way Vance, the FBI, or even the CIA was going to penetrate it.
"I'll tell you what," Gibbs started. "When he comes in, I'll have him call you."
"No deal," Fornell said. "I got orders that say we don't wait for him to show. We do whatever it takes to find him and bring him in. And according to the bureau chief, we're working together on this."
"Like Hell we are—"
"—Gibbs," Vance said, "we are. This is coming directly from the SECNAV himself. All three agencies are working together to locate Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo."
Gibbs stared at his director, clearly not seeing him; instead, he was trying to process this latest development to his morning. Earlier, he was just plain pissed at his senior field agent for not coming into work, no doubt a victim of a late night of shooters and ladies. But as the morning turned into the afternoon, the anger gave way to worry. Now, Tony was part of an all out manhunt and he had no idea why. "Would someone mind telling me what he did?"
Thirty seconds later, when no would, or could, answer the question, Vance broke the silence and offered, "How about we find him and ask him that question."
Fornell turned serious, and before leaving, he said, "Don't forget, Gibbs. Anything you learn, you make sure you share with us."
Kort also was turning to leave when he said, "Oh, you should probably know. We have orders to shoot to kill. So if you learn anything, you'd better let us in on it if you want keep your agent alive."
The Director of NCIS and Gibbs stood in the bullpen staring after them. Vance pursed his lips and said, "Find him, Special Agent Gibbs. Cause if you don't, they will, and I don't want the paperwork associated with that."
Chapter 3
Ziva and McGee sat frozen in their chairs, not sure where to begin. Unlike their boss, they were too stunned to speak. Gibbs, on the other hand, was focused and determined; the way he usually gets when things don't make sense and he wants answers. They had better be prepared. McGee started punching keys in anticipation.
"Grab your gear; we're going to his apartment."
By the time they'd arrived at the complex, the FBI had already sealed off the area. Sachs met them in the hallway and reported, "There's no sign of your agent, and no sign of any struggle. We're dusting the place for prints and taking samples. Be careful if you go in."
Gibbs made his way through the forensics personnel and crime scene investigators and looked around. There was nothing here, he felt it. He spied Fornell taking notes off in the corner but he wasn't interested in getting an update when he knew they had nothing. He went back into the hallway and asked Sachs, "Have you located his car?"
"Yeah, it's down in the parking garage. Nothing out of the ordinary there either." Sachs wasn't accustomed to the NCIS way of doing things and thought that Gibbs' sudden departure held meaning. In the spirit of teamwork, he called out, "If you have something, Agent Gibbs, you're under orders to share it!"
McGee felt obligated to respond, "He probably doesn't have anything, Agent Sachs. It's just his way…. when he's done, he leaves. I wouldn't read anything into it."
Sachs watched him leave, wondering if there was any truth to what he'd said. Shrugging, he turned and went back to the apartment.
********************************8
Ziva tried at conversation in the car ride back to the Navy Yard, "What I do not understand is why three federal agencies are looking for him? I mean, it is not like he has done anything wrong, right?"
"It's Tony we're talking about, Ziva," McGee said from the back seat. "He might be on another assignment that we don't know about."
"He has hardly had time to recover from the last one. You don't think the Secretary of the Navy would really have him working another case, do you? I have not noticed him acting strangely lately—I take that back—I have not noticed Tony acting any stranger than normal lately."
"Boss, I put a BOLO out on him and will pull his financial records when we get back."
Gibbs didn't respond. He was lost in thought, and worry. It was not good that so many well trained law enforcement agents were after one man, no matter how skilled he was. Whatever he had done, or hadn't done, was enough to get the attention of all the wrong people. "Ziva, I want you to talk to Tony's father. See if he's heard from him."
"On it."
TBC