Bete Noire (Nightmare)

Chapter 1

Sorry Boss

Tony sat at his desk working on the search he had been conducting. They were currently trying to locate the whereabouts of a one Lt. James Thorrp. He was their only lead on the case they were working on. He had gone missing some time ago and while going through his credit card records, McGee had found that a purchase had been made after he was reported missing. Tony decided to work on the search, hoping that if he found him, Gibbs would take Ziva or McGee with him to bring the Lt. in.

Tony sighed. He wasn't actually mad at Gibbs anymore, he was just too stubborn to admit it, both to himself and Gibbs. So he still continued to have a cool attitude towards the ex-gunny, reffering to him as "Gibbs" rather than "Boss" or simply not responding at all. Abby had tried to guilt trip him into it by telling him that Gibbs thought that he hated, and even though Tony wasn't sure if it was true or not, he still didn't talk to him. Tony knew he would have to eventually, but right now he couldn't figure out how to start. Before he could think further on the subject, Gibbs came down the stairs from MTAC, and without looking at the others he went to his desk and grabbed his gun.

"Tony, grab your gear. Lt. Thorrp's body was found dumped at an abandoned warehouse."

Tony hesitated, about to say that he should bring McGee instead, but decided to keep the comment to himself and silently got his gun and bag before following Gibbs to the elevator. McGee waited until the elevator doors closed and turned to Ziva. "Well, at least he didn't object, so I guess that's a start."

The car ride there was silent, the only sound coming from the radio as Tony scanned though, looking for a decent station. Gibbs simply stared ahead, not taking his eyes off the road once. Tony looked at him out of the corner of his eye, but made no attempt to start a conversation. Finally they arrived at the deserted warehouse, getting out and cautiously walking up to the front of the warehouse, hands on their guns, just in case. Gibbs peered in through a crack in the door, spotting at least three gunman. He motioned over to Tony, holding up three fingures to let him know. Tony nodded and moved slightly to get a better look. Suddenly the whole place was alive with gun fire. Bullets flew in every direction, but the fire fight only lasted about 1 minute. Once they were sure the men were dead, they slowly made their way over to the nearest body, as Gibbs kicked the gun away, Tony went over to one of the other bodies to check for a pulse. Finding none, he straightened up and looked over at Gibbs who was checking the third body as well. Tony looked around, realizing that there was no Lt. Thorrp anywhere in the room. As Tony turned back to Gibbs to let him know there was one single gun shot that rang out through the warehouse, coming from behind Gibbs. Instinctively, Tony dropped and pulled out his gun just as Gibbs shot off three rounds, two of them hitting their mark as the man fell to the floor. Slowly Tony raised himself up to his feet as Gibbs went over to kick the gun away. And it was then that Tony realized too late that something was wrong.

"You get 'em?" Tony's voice shook as he forced the words through his lips. Gibbs immediately turned to look at Tony and what he saw made his blood run cold. Tony looked down at his fingers covered in his own blood as a bright red spot slowly formed on his chest. He looked back up at Gibbs, and he saw the fear clearly shown in his Boss' eyes.

"Sorry Boss" Suddenly Tony's legs gave out under his weight and he fell to the ground.

"TONY!!" Gibbs yelled his name as he ran over to him. Kneeling down he checked for a pulse and found none.

"Tony. Come on Tony, open your eyes." His voice slowly faded to a whisper as his plea fell on deaf ears. Gibbs fell back against one of the wooden beams that supported the building, trying desperatly to hold back the nausea that threatened to over take him. But no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't force his eyes to look away from Tony's still form. All he could do was sit in the silence that surrounded him. And as the truth made it's way to his conscince, so too did the guilt of knowing he had let Tony down.