Chapter Two: Blood Pizza
Jethro lost himself in thought as he walked across the tarmac from the housing section of the base to the command post. He'd been on the ground in Afghanistan for nearly twenty four hours. It was time to check in with his boss. More than anything, he wanted to get his thoughts together and deliver a well put together presentation that earned him the man's respect and proved he was the right person for the job but the serious lack of information was making that tricky.
The case seemed to be getting more and more complicated by the minute, not to mention dangerous. He found himself dropped right in the middle of a winner take all game of cat and mouse. The loser would end up with jail time at best and six feet under at worst. With stakes that high, he had to tread lightly for the sake of everyone involved, especially his informant.
He was so consumed with rehearsing his speech to his boss and trying to figure out how to bullshit the man without him knowing he was being bullshitted that he didn't even notice Tony approaching from behind.
"Lookin' for me?" the corpsmen asked, falling into place next to Jethro.
"I dunno. Were you lost?" Jethro teased. He greeted the man with a friendly smile and a tilt of his chin. Despite their middle of the night adventure, Tony appeared bright eyed and ready to face the day. "Still on latrine duty?"
"Last day!" Tony replied happily.
"Until your next prank."
"You already know me so well."
Jethro subtly glanced around, making sure they were alone before lowering his voice enough that only Tony could hear him. "Come by my room tonight?"
Tony's face brightened up even more. "Why, Special Agent Gibbs, do you have something special planned for us? Sex in the desert is on my bucket list, you know. And there's just something about the threat of danger that makes everything feel so much more intense."
"I'll give you points for persistence. How about a nice… quiet…" Jethro drew out his words and paused for dramatic effect before adding, "conversation."
"Not as good as sex but it's a start."
"About the case," Jethro finished.
"I'm sensing that's gonna be a mood killer."
"With you? I doubt it."
"And again, you already know me so well," Tony replied, grinning from ear to ear. "I don't get off till midnight, maybe later if we get a last minute call out."
"I'll be up."
"See ya then," Tony replied, bumping fists with Jethro before cutting off in a different direction.
Jethro watched him go for a moment before calling after him. "Hey, Tony." He waited for the man to turn and look at him before continuing. "Watch your six out there."
Tony's smile was genuine and his salute playful before he disappeared into the mess hall to grab some chow before he got started on latrine duty.
Jethro looked in his direction one more time before opening the door to the command center and stepping inside. There were four neatly organized workstations in the open room with multiple functions at each one. Lining the walls were flat screen TVs, one of them silently playing the news with subtitles running across the bottom of the screen and the others with live drone footage, maps of their operating area and a list of the current cases they were working.
There was a constant dull thrum of alarms going off and phones ringing and at each work station there were men to answer the phones and man the radios that connected them with helicopters, hospitals, convoys and troops on the ground. Jethro watched the barely controlled chaos for a moment, taking it all in as everyone moved around the room doing their part to get medical aid to those in need and realized there was a part of him that missed being in the military. It had started out as a way to escape his troubled past in a tiny town in Pennsylvania but quickly became so much more than that as his DIs took an angry teenager and molded him into one of the few, the proud. The memory had him standing a little taller and made his insides swell with pride.
"Agent Gibbs?"
"That's me."
"Staff Sergeant Sullivan, Sir," the Marine said. There was a team of Marines sharing the base with the Navy corpsmen and as the communication hub, the command center was used by both Marines and Sailors. "We've got a room set up for you if you'll just follow me."
"Thank you," Jethro replied, following the young Marine.
Sullivan led the way to a small room just off the main room. There was a laptop set up on a table with a single chair. It offered a little privacy and was much quieter than the main room. The man connected him to the NCIS offices at Camp Pendleton and in no time at all Mike Franks was staring back at them from the other side of the world.
"If you have any questions, Sir."
Jethro nodded his thanks before Sullivan left then sat down in the chair in front of the laptop.
"What do you have for me, Probie?"
"It's messy and complicated," Jethro replied. "Looks like Magnus was right though. Kiplinger wasn't in the Humvee when it exploded. An informant took me to a fire pit where I suspect his body was burned."
"Was this informant able to tell you anything else?" Mike asked.
"He's hesitant but he's just protecting his ass. It appears at least one of the COs is dirty."
"I was afraid of that," Mike admitted. A lie that big from a war zone on the other side of the world almost definitely had to involve someone fairly high up in the chain of command. "Should I bring the team over?"
Jethro knew full well that the question was another test. "No," he answered confidently. "I'm walking on eggshells over here and I'm afraid if we bring in too many people too fast, everybody'll clam up and we won't get anything. Let me keep working my source, Boss."
"Good call, Probie," Mike stated proudly. "I'll have Vera look into the commanding officers and the lab's already started processing the evidence you sent back. Watch you six out there and keep me informed. Lemme know if you need anything else."
"Thank you, Boss."
Tony whistled as he stepped into the last bathroom on the list of bathrooms he was responsible for cleaning. Starting his morning off with a little banter between him and Jethro had made his good mood even better and the invitation to the man's room that night had pushed him over top.
He continued whistling as he made sure the stalls were fully stocked with toilet paper and filled the paper towel holders and soap dispensers. He cleaned the sinks before moving on to the urinals and finally the stalls. He was just finishing up in the last stall when he heard the door open and close.
Tony called out a cheerful greeting as he backed out of the stall but found himself backing into a large body. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said, attempting to turn around.
"Shut up," the irritated voice of the man behind him replied as he quickly immobilized Tony and wrapped an arm around his neck.
Tony resisted the urge to fight as he was shoved up against the wall. He tried to speak but the arm putting pressure on his windpipe prevented it.
"I know you've been talking to that investigator, DiNozzo," the voice said. It was muffled, as if something were covering the man's mouth, and Tony couldn't see who was standing behind him but he had a pretty good guess. "This is just a warning," the man continued, "a very nice warning."
Tony tried once again to speak but failed. All his effort earned him was less air as the man tightened his hold around Tony's neck.
A KA-BAR appeared in front of the corpsmen and before he even realized what was happening, there was a clean line drawn across his midsection and the knife came to rest firmly against his neck. Tony held his breath and lifted himself up on his tip-toes hoping his neck wouldn't meet the same fate his torso just had. The wince of pain on his face was the only thing that gave away his hurt and fear.
"If I catch you talking to him again, I won't be so nice."
The knife disappeared and the arm around Tony's neck tightened even more until the world faded and Tony's body dropped to the bathroom floor in a crumpled heap.
Jethro's foot wiggled back and forth uncontrollably as he checked his watch for the seventh time. It was almost 1:00 in the morning. Where was Tony? He reminded himself that the man might be late if he got a last minute call out and told himself not to worry but he knew it wasn't worry that had him so anxious.
"What the hell's gotten into you, gunny?" he muttered to himself. He hadn't been that giddy on his first date and he wasn't even going on a date with Tony.
It had probably been a bad idea to invite the guy to his room but he'd done it under the guise of needing a private place to discuss the case and that wasn't a total lie. He'd just have to use his willpower to ward off Tony's continuous advances. It wasn't like anything was going to happen anyways. They were in a warzone.
He rolled his eyes at his own foolishness as he got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Frequent trips to empty his bladder were an unfortunate side effect of his coffee addiction and he'd had more than usual that evening thanks to his nervousness about Tony's impending visit. He'd never admit it out loud but he'd been looking forward to it all day.
As soon as he lowered his zipper the door to his room opened and closed causing his heart to skip a beat. He suddenly wished he had more time to prepare. "Pull yourself together, Marine," he ordered under his breath.
"Gettin' all spiffed up for me in there, Agent Gibbs?" Tony called.
"Something like that," Jethro answered.
"Well don't do too much because I think you're handsome just the way you are."
Jethro finished up then rinsed his hands and stepped out just in time to see Tony closing his uniform jacket over a bloody undershirt. "What happened?" The question came out panicked, angry, curious and upset all at the same time.
"Nothing," Tony answered nonchalantly.
He offered one of his patented award winning smiles, hoping to distract the investigator but Jethro ignored the man's charm, opened his uniform jacket and realized there was a clean slash through the middle of the blood stain.
"Oh that? That's not my blood," Tony lied. "One of the patients we picked up today squirted all over me. It doesn't look good for him."
"There's no blood on the outside of your uniform," Jethro said. "How do you explain that?" He already knew the man was lying—it was against regulations to remove any part of your uniform in the field, but he'd play along for a minute.
When Tony couldn't come up with an answer, Jethro lifted the man's undershirt and found what appeared to be an entire box of Band-Aids adhered to his abdomen, most of them covered in bloody fingerprints and smudges.
"I have a dangerous job," Tony explained weakly.
"This didn't happen on the job," Jethro replied. Game over. He didn't want to play anymore.
"You don't know that," Tony countered with an awkward chuckle.
"Tony, you're a corpsmen and you work with corpsmen, the best over here. If this had happened on the job, you wouldn't be taped up like a kindergartner. Take your shirt off."
Tony's narrow eyed expression relaxed back into the happy go lucky smile that was usually on his face at that suggestion. "Gladly! But I think I might need a little help. Every time I move I pull the cut open again."
Getting Tony's uniform jacket off was fairly easy but his shirt proved to be a little trickier. Jethro helped Tony ease one of his arms out then carefully tugged it over his head and off the other arm. Once the man was bare chested, he noticed the cut extended beneath the hem of his pants.
"So I had a little accident," Tony said, growing slightly uncomfortable under Jethro's studious gaze. He was still trying to blow the whole situation off and Jethro still wasn't letting him.
"The hell it was. Lie down." The investigator indicated the bed with a tilt of his head as he rolled his sleeves up.
"Okay, but only because it's you, Agent Gibbs. I usually don't crawl into bed with people until at least the third date."
Jethro rolled his eyes and did his best to hide his smirk by turning to grab the trash can from the corner of the small room. He sat down next to Tony on the bed and looked the man's upper half over. There was so much blood it was hard to see what was what and the Band-Aids were covering what he really needed to see. There was a telling bruise across Tony's neck but Jethro decided not to call him on it yet. Instead he tucked a single finger beneath the hem of Tony's desert camo pants and the band of his underwear and nudged them down far enough he could find the end of the Band-Aid trail.
Tony's breath caught as Jethro's fingers found their way closer and closer to his interested dick. He undid his fly with one hand and pushed the left side of his pants and underwear out of the way, giving Jethro more room to work.
"Anybody else know about this?" Jethro asked as he started peeling away the endless number of Band-Aids.
"You're not even supposed to know about it, Agent Gibbs. A guy can't even get a little privacy around here," Tony joked with a sly smile on his face.
Jethro smiled openly. "This is gonna hurt," he said when he'd made it down to the Band-Aids that were adhered directly to Tony's skin.
"There's nothing wrong with a little pain. It's actually kind of a turn on. Or maybe that's just your hands on me. Whatever it is, I'm getting hard." Tony's jovial attitude may have been an attempt to hide his discomfort but the sweat pouring off his forehead was giving him away.
"Keep it in your pants, Tony," Jethro replied distractedly as he continued peeling Band-Aids off sensitive areas of Tony's body but he couldn't stop his eyes from wandering towards the growing bulge in the man's underwear. "Why didn't you have one of your buddies patch you up?"
"Are you getting turned on too, Agent Gibbs?" Tony asked, ignoring the man's question. "Your pants look like they're getting tight."
Jethro looked down at the front of his pants and noticed Tony was right. He readjusted slightly, hoping to hide his obvious interest then continued peeling away the last few Band-Aids. "Who did this to you?" he asked. The question made him sick to his stomach. Had he caused this? Was Tony being threatened because he'd helped him? Did somebody find out Tony had taken him to the fire pit? Maybe he didn't want to know the answer after all but it was his job to know.
"I don't know," Tony answered.
"Tony—"
"I don't know!" Tony insisted.
Jethro removed the last Band-Aid, revealing a five inch gash caked in blood that was in various stages of congealing. A little prodding revealed it wasn't life threateningly deep but it definitely needed more than a box of Band-Aids if it was ever going to heal.
"There's a medical kit in my pocket," Tony said, pointing towards the cargo pocket on the pant leg next to Jethro.
Jethro retrieved the small medical kit and set it aside on top of the casefiles on his nightstand. "Any more boo-boos I should know about?" he asked, looking Tony's body over.
"No," Tony answered, "but you can strip me naked and have a look anyways, if you want."
"I think you'd enjoy that a little too much." Jethro's soft smile faded as his eyes once again landed on the bruises on Tony's neck. "He had you in a headlock," he said, gently running his fingers across the marks. "What did he say to you?"
"You know, same ole, same ole. All the normal stuff. Where's the rest of your team?"
"Camp Pendleton. Did this happen because you talked to me?"
"I can take care of myself," Tony said firmly.
"Looks like someone got the better of you today," Jethro replied gently. "Those bruises weren't on your neck this morning and that cut wasn't on your abdomen yesterday." He waited for an explanation but got no response from Tony. "Go take a shower," he said, nodding towards the bathroom. "I'll patch you up when you get out."
"My very own doctor," Tony said happily.
"I'm no doctor but I've superglued a cut or two before," Jethro replied. "It's either that or I take you to base medical."
Tony quickly shook his head. "Can't go to base medical."
"That's what I thought," Jethro said with a worried sigh before motioning towards the bathroom once again. "Go on."
Twenty minutes later, Tony was lying on Jethro's bed once again with a towel draped over his uninjured leg and groin while Jethro cleaned his wound with the supplies Tony had brought along with him.
"What was the threat?" Jethro prodded gently. "Someone obviously threatened you." It didn't take a trained investigator to know that was the reason for the bruises on Tony's neck.
"I'm supposed to stop talking to you," Tony answered reluctantly.
Jethro's body tensed at the confirmation of his earlier fears. "Yet here you are again," he ground out, more angry at himself for not protecting Tony than anyone else. He had been the cause of Tony's injuries. He should've known the man would be in danger after all he'd done to help him.
"Nothing can come between true love, Agent Gibbs."
"Damn it, Tony, this isn't a game. I can help you but you have to trust me."
"I do trust you," Tony replied, taken aback by the angry accusation.
"Then tell me who did this to you!"
"I don't know. I didn't see him."
"But you heard him."
"His voice was muffled. I think there was something covering his mouth."
Jethro sighed in frustration, angrily throwing the wipe he'd used to clean Tony's cut into the trash can before grabbing another. "Let's try it this way instead," he said, forcing himself to calm down enough he could finish patching Tony up without causing him any further discomfort. Whoever had attacked Tony was probably involved in the case he was working. If he solved that, he could keep Tony safe. "It seems reasonable to assume Kiplinger made it back to his bunk at some point on the night he died. Otherwise, why would his bedding and mattress be missing? Did you see or hear anything?"
"I never sleep well on deployment," Tony admitted, watching as Jethro skillfully glued the cut on his abdomen closed after he'd finished cleaning it. "I never wanted to keep Kip up so I usually went for a run or laid out under the stars or played cards with the night guards or whatever."
"You weren't in your room that night."
"Sorry," Tony replied apologetically.
"Rule six," Jethro grumped. "Don't apologize. It's a sign of weakness."
"Whose rule is that?"
"Mine."
"Cool! Got any more?"
"Yeah. Lots." Tony's excitement was met by Jethro's muttering.
"Lay 'em on me!" Tony said.
"Later," Jethro replied, deep in thought. How in the hell was he supposed to solve this seemingly unsolvable case with such little information and so much danger? He was tempted to put his fist through the wall but that would only make things worse.
"What do you know so far?" Tony asked cautious of Jethro's anger over the lack of details.
Jethro looked at Tony for a long moment before deciding it would be nice to have someone to talk the case over with. Tony seemed like a safe bet and he was already knee deep in it. "Kip wasn't in the Humvee like it was reported," he said, securing steri-strips over the cut to hold it together. "He was murdered; maybe accidentally but probably on purpose. Based on what you've told me, at least one of your COs are dirty."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tony interrupted. "I never said that."
"Not in so many words," Jethro said. "I'll keep your name out of it."
"What else do you know?" Tony asked.
"Hammond's Daddy got him this promotion," Jethro answered, "and guys who don't earn their place in leadership are usually shitty leaders."
"That's a good start," Tony said. "When's the last time someone told you a bedtime story, Agent Gibbs?"
Jethro narrowed his eyes and cocked his head in confusion, prompting Tony to scoot over and pat the bed next to him.
"Sit with me. I know one that I think you'll like."
Jethro settled in the bed next to Tony with his back against the headboard and waited as patiently as he could while Tony made a show of fluffing the single pillow on the bed and making himself comfortable.
"Once upon a time, about five weeks ago, I was walking back to my room early in the morning, like two o'clock or something," Tony said, doing his best to recall the memory. "I happened to run into," he paused, thinking hard before finally continuing, "someone and there was no hiding the fact that this person was high as a kite and I'm not talking about smoking a joint to take the edge off. They were high. High high. At first I thought it was a gag or something but this was no gag."
"Who, Tony?" Jethro prompted. "I can't do anything with partial details."
Tony sighed dramatically but he was obviously conflicted about how much to tell the investigator. He glanced over towards the other man, their eyes meeting briefly but long enough that Tony knew he could trust Jethro with his secrets. "Biggs," he replied, "JD Biggs."
Jethro nodded, tucking the information away. "Keep going."
"Biggs didn't say anything about it or bring it up at all but the next night, after Kip and I got off duty, Biggs showed up at our door with pizza and beer. I don't know how he got beer in a dry country but I didn't complain. Pizza and beer is one of my weaknesses." He paused and let his eyes very obviously rake over Jethro's body. "You're one of my weaknesses too, Agent Gibbs."
"Focus, Tony," Jethro coaxed.
"Right," Tony said. "After Biggs left our room, I of course, was ready to dug in but Kip was cautious. I told him about catching Biggs the previous night and how the treat was probably a bribe to keep quiet about it but that didn't ease Kip's nerves any. He called it blood pizza and didn't want anything to do with it so we ended up throwing it away."
"You didn't eat the pizza?"
Tony shrugged. "Kip had a point. At first I was blinded by my stomach but it was a bribe and I won't let myself be bought so easily."
"What'd you guys do with the pizza and beer?"
"Threw it away. We were gonna take it back to Biggs but it was late and we were both tired and kinda afraid of what condition we might find the dude in. Why?"
"I was just wondering if Biggs knew that you guys didn't accept his bribe. If you'd taken the pizza back to him—"
"He might take it as an insult," Tony guessed.
"Or consider you guys a threat," Jethro said. "Maybe Kip ended up doing something that Biggs found threatening to whatever he's got going on over here and he was killed over it."
"You think Biggs woulda come after Kip and I if we'd given the pizza and beer back?" Tony asked.
"I think it's definitely a possibility," Jethro replied.
"Suddenly I feel very lucky to be alive," Tony said, trying to keep his tone light and playful although the look in his eyes hid none of the horror he felt as the reality of the situation hit him. "Maybe we should have life affirming sex right here, right now."
"Not gonna happen," Jethro replied, though he was clearly amused.
"It was worth a shot." Tony was quiet for a brief moment before looking over at Jethro. "Um, Agent Gibbs?"
"You can call me Jethro." Jethro didn't like the disturbed version of Tony that seemed to be surfacing one bit and he hated even more that it was his own commanding officer who'd struck fear in the man. Wanting to counteract that, he brought his hand up and began combing his fingers through Tony's still damp hair, hoping to soothe and comfort the man.
"Jethro."
"Hmm?"
"Do you think Biggs was in it alone?"
"Not likely," Jethro answered. "I'd put money on Hammond being in this up to his eyeballs. He wouldn't let you go to the bonfire and Biggs had to have help moving Kip's body. Hammond's the most likely accomplice."
"Um... in that case, maybe I should tell you another bedtime story."
"Okay," Jethro replied patiently.
"Once upon a time," Tony started again, though the playfulness was long gone from his voice, "sometime last week, we picked up this woman, an Afghan woman. She'd taken some shrapnel to the head so she was in and out of consciousness, dazed and confused and just, not all there mentally." He paused for a long time, making Jethro wonder if he was going to continue.
"Keep going," Jethro coaxed gently.
"She was moaning and groaning," Tony continued as he stared blankly at the wall in front of him. "They were these loud, pained, horrible noises that grate on your nerves even over the noise from the chopper. It was bad. When she quieted down, I looked over and one of the medics had his hand over her mouth and nose, cutting off her air supply. He was yelling at her to shut up. Just shut up. He couldn't take it anymore."
Tony broke from his daze and his eyes found Jethro's. "I've seen brutal retaliation over a lot less. If that happens again, on a patient who's aware of what's going on or if it gets reported or if anybody finds out about it, we're in deep shit. I don't even wanna think about what would happen. Everything's gone to shit around here."
"I thought women and children had to fly with an escort," Jethro said.
"They do and she was but things can get pretty chaotic in the back of a chopper," Tony said, "especially when you have more than one patient, like we did on that call."
"Did you report it?"
"I did," Tony answered. "After the whole pizza bribe thing I went over Biggs' head and reported it to Hammond."
"Who was it, Tony? Which medic?"
Tony broke eye contact and once again focused on an invisible spot on the wall. "Tristan. Tristan Bowles. I thought he'd be pulled, at least for a few shifts but he's flown with us every night since. Hammond mighta talked to him or something though. I don't know."
"Are you safe out there?" Jethro asked.
"Of course. Well, as safe as you can be when you've got the Taliban on your ass, trying to blow your head off with RPGs."
"I don't want anyone retaliating on you, especially if they know you're not gonna fall in line with the rest of 'em, like a good little soldier."
"Every day I get on a helicopter that dodges RPGs while it flies into the middle of battles zones to pick up, more often than not, women and children whose bodies have been blown apart by IEDs and when it's not innocent Afghanis in the back of the chopper, it's my fellow brothers and sisters hanging on for dear life, hoping they'll be able to make it home to hug their parents, their spouses, their kids just one more time. Fuck Biggs! And fuck Hammond! Nothing they can do to me is worse than that."
Jethro was slightly taken aback by heartfelt speech Tony had just given. His surprise eased into a grin as he looked at the man. "You're one of a kind, Tony," he said with the utmost respect. Tony saw things every day that no one in the world should ever have to see or deal with yet he maintained a positive attitude and kept morale around the base up. It took a special individual to do that but Jethro didn't need to know all that to know Tony was special.
Tony slid down in the bed and rested his head on Jethro's thigh then closed his eyes. He hadn't been that comfortable or felt that at peace since he'd arrived eight months earlier. He was usually the one being strong and holding everyone else together and that made it difficult for him to let his guard down. On top of that, the only person he felt safe opening up to was Kip and now he was gone. Tony was glad Jethro had ignored his initial advice about heading back to the states, especially if shit was going to hit the fan, like he was suspecting.
