A.N. I probably should have stated at the beginning of the story that this is likely to be a long one.

Also, thank you for those who have viewed and reviewed the story - it is greatly appreciated.

Chapter 2

Day 2

River Creek Country Club was situated on the border of the Potomac River. The exclusive male only club was frequented by politicians, high ranking military officials and affluent businessmen. It was a place where deals were done, behind the prying eyes of the media, the public and their own bosses.

The Secretary of the Navy sat in the lavish Lincoln Library Room with Conrad Kellock III, a Senator for Virginia. The room was full of large dark mahogany bookcases stretching from floor to ceiling, each filled with old tomes and modern classics. In between the bookcases were ornately framed paintings of the 29 past US Presidents. Kellock was hoping to add his portrait to the wall at some stage.

Kellock was in his late forties, tall, lean and tanned. He wore a tailored, bi-spoke charcoal three buttoned suit with a crisp, white Egyptian cotton shirt, azure coloured tie and platinum cufflinks. He looked at ease in his surroundings and his own skin.

He was currently the leading contender in the campaign to be the next President of the United States. It was a career trajectory he'd worked on his entire adult life, it felt natural, it felt right.

"You wanted to meet with me Senator." Davenport greeted.

"We've not worked together before Philip, but my father spoke highly of you."

Davenport didn't know whether to be complimented or offended by the endorsement.

"I hear he is not well at present."

"As you know he suffered a stroke a few months ago. He is still recovering, but it is hard at his age to come back from something like that."

"He must be proud of you, following in his footsteps."

"He is. He never quite made it beyond Senator. I hope to go further."

"Well I wish you luck." Davenport raised his glass to him.

"My father often talks of the work he did when he was the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. He talks far more than he should. The stroke seems to have loosened his tongue." Kellock looked around him, ensuring no one was in the vicinity.

"Senator, if you wish to discuss something with me, please be at ease to do so. The walls do not have ears and you can rely on my discretion."

Kellock turned his full attention to the man opposite him. He leant forward. "Project Sesen."

Davenport wasn't surprised by the words. Up until a week ago he'd happily not heard those words for thirty odd years. Now they seemed to be all he thought about. "What do you know of it?"

"Enough to know it wouldn't do my fathers reputation, or yours, any good if it got out. People are far more sensitive about these things these days. At the time, no one would have batted an eyelid."

"So you know of Project Sesen. What do you want me to say?"

"I understand there has been a symphony of mistakes leading to the erroneous release of one of the original 'trainee's' from a Mental Institution in Jefferson a week ago. I understand that he has made contact with the family of the Director of your agency, Leon Vance."

Davenport knew he needed to tread carefully to stop Kellock making things a hundred times worse than they already were.

"Yes, Director Vance informed me, although he has no idea who the man was who spoke to his wife. He followed protocol and immediately notified me. How did you know about it?"

"I have my sources." Kellock said, fidgeting with his cufflinks. "Carry on."

"The man was later sighted in Ivy City. I went personally to re-apprehend him." The conversation stopped as a waiter approached and asked if they required further drinks. Having dismissed him, Davenport continued. "I understand your concern Senator, but Fredrik Williams in now safely back in the Jefferson Mental Facility and no one knows anymore about Project Sesen than previously."

Kellock leaned back in his am chair and smiled. Davenport was far from convinced that it was anything close to a genuine one.

"In the recent speech I heard from our beloved President, he spoke of the past not dictating the future, that we alone are responsible for our achievements, and our sins."

"You don't believe that?"

"People will always think the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"You think your father's actions forty years ago will damage your reputation?"

"I do not question his actions. Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers seem simple."

"What do you want from me Senator? I've told you it has been dealt with and you know you have my discretion."

"I know I can rely on you Philip, my father said as much. It is the others I worry about."

"The others?"

"Fredrik Williams tried to contact your Director Vance. I understand your best team were assigned the case." Kellock leaned in again. "I need your assurances that this situation is well and truly closed, that they'll be no further enquiries by NCIS, and that you have not left any loose ends."

Davenport sat silently, contemplating his situation. He knew Kellock would soon find out, if he didn't already know, about Agent DiNozzo. Davenport thought that if it came from him, he might at least be able to control the fall-out from Kellock. "There is one outstanding issue which I am dealing with."

Kellock's granite features hardened. "What?"

"An NCIS agent was asked to speak to the witness in Ivy City about the alleged sighting of Williams. I met the agent outside the witnesses' apartment before he had the opportunity to call for back-up and inspect the building Williams had holed himself up in. My men cleared the storage facility of any evidence of William's being there."

"So what's the outstanding issue? It sounds like textbook stuff so far."

"The agent."

"You have bought his silence, yes? Or are you saying he wants more?"

Davenport's own silence spoke a thousand words.

"What's his name?" Kellock asked.

"I told you senator, I have dealt with it. He does not need to be 'bought'. He is loyal to this country and his agency. The agent has been ordered not to speak of the incident due to national security. He will not disobey such an order, I can promise you that."

"What's his name?" Kellock repeated.

Davenport pretended to finish off his merlot.

"It will be easy enough for me to find out Davenport." The previously calm manner had evaporated, replaced by jagged stone.

"Agent Anthony DiNozzo." Davenport disclosed. He was reluctant to say any more. DiNozzo had so far been loyal to him. He decided to change tack and try and throw Kellock another bone. "The FBI have been handed the case."

"I know, but I'm not interested in the FBI. They can be handled. What happened to this Agent DiNozzo?"

"Why should anything have happened to him Senator?"

"Because you told me you had a loose end to tie up. If this DiNozzo was as loyal to you as you stated, he wouldn't be a loose end. Now I'm asking one last time. What happened to Agent DiNozzo?"

Davenport knew Kellock would not let this go. He decided, at this stage, honesty might be the best policy. "Agent DiNozzo has been suspended and demoted."

Kellock slammed his glass on to the table, the contents spilling onto his hand. The room went silent as a dozen eyes turned to look at the two men. "Apologies gentlemen." Kellock smiled. "My hands are a little slippery from sliding up the greasy pole of politics." There was a ripple of laughter before they all turned back to their own conversations. "Demoted? So if he's an agent of any worth, he's not likely to just sit on his ass and accept that his career is all but over just because someone high up told him not to do his job. You were right Philip, he is indeed a loose end."

Davenport took another sip of his merlot. "He understands the reasons he has had to take one for the team, so to speak. You have my word Senator, the situation is closed; he will not pursue this matter in any way whatsoever."

"Maybe we should test your assertion Davenport. Maybe I'll set a little bait for Agent DiNozzo. If he doesn't take it, I'll know you'll have dealt with it as you say. If he does, then you and I will need to have another conversation."

Kellock stood up and left the room without waiting for a response.

Davenport sighed loudly and leaned back in the chair. He knew the moment he saw DiNozzo descend those stairs at Ms Grantham's apartment, that the only way the situation could be worse would be if it was Agent Gibbs coming towards him and his men.

After he'd commandeered DiNozzo's restaurant reservation the night of the incident and spoken to him in depth about their earlier meeting, he'd been confident of his silence. But his visit later in the week, once DiNozzo had been informed of the disciplinary hearing, had left him with less certainty. DiNozzo had started asking questions, questions he wasn't willing to answer. He'd let it go at the time, hoping the agent would calm down. But with Kellock now on the case, he wasn't sure he could leave the gagging of DiNozzo to chance.

It didn't take Davenport long to arrive his decision, he really had no choice; DiNozzo needed to be made aware, once and for all, that silence was mandatory.

OOO

Gibbs had gathered the whole team to the Bullpen. He'd decided not to tell them of Vance's ultimatum regarding Tony yesterday and had gone straight home instead. He'd needed some space to think through possible scenarios to account for his SFA's pig-headed refusal to co-operate with them.

The only thing he'd come up with was that this 'date' Tony asked to go on was more than a 'date' and had something to do with an investigation they'd been involve in. But the more he thought it through, the less sense it made to him. There were no outstanding cases and there was no reason DiNozzo wouldn't tell him if he'd found a lead on a cold case.

He hoped his team had had better luck than him, but with DiNozzo doing anything but help his own cause, he wasn't holding out much hope.

"Vance has allowed us a further week to come up with evidence to clear DiNozzo?" Gibbs stated to his team. "If we don't he's on his way to Montana."

"I've never been to Montana." Abby said, as she sat on the end of Tony's desk, her fingers twirling in her hair.

"Well if we don't find out why DiNozzo's got his head up his own backside, you can go visit him there every day of the week."

"What was he acting like day of the incident?" Ducky asked, standing between Gibb and McGee's desk. "Sometimes people display what's known as 'tells'; little signs that they are not their usual selves. Perhaps Anthony was demonstrating some that we all failed to notice at the time."

"He was acting normal to me." Ziva shrugged. "That day I would say his behaviour ranged from mildly objectionable to completely insufferable."

"Not helping Ziva." Abby said.

"Has anyone managed to track down the girl Anthony was having dinner with, and evidently sacrificed his career for?" Ducky asked.

"No." McGee said. "But I did hear back from the restaurant. They confirmed that someone matching Tony's description arrived shortly after eight and left at nine thirty. The bill was paid in cash, so no record of the transaction. The waiter said he remembered the table as they left a good tip."

"Well that doesn't sound like Tony." Ziva said hopefully. "Last time I went out with him for a meal, he barely put two dollars down on a sixty dollar bill."

"Ziva's right." Abby said.

"Tony's lousy tipping record is hardly going to cut it with Vance." Gibbs stated.

"Have you thought about the possibility that maybe Tony isn't talking to us for a reason?" Ziva asked the group.

Abby frowned at her friend. "Whose side are you on Ziva? You know Tony would never neglect his duties. He loves his job, and us, too much for that."

"I am just playing Devils Attorney." "Advocate Ziva. It's called Devil's Advocate." Abby replied.

"Ziva has a point." Gibbs said. He looked at Abby who was now staring at him in disbelief.

"You don't really mean that?" She said.

"If you're asking me if I think DiNozzo didn't do his job that night, then the answers no. If you're asking me if DiNozzo is telling us the truth then the answer is no too. Ziva's right, maybe we're looking at this the wrong way. We're trying to prove DiNozzo didn't screw up, by trying to disprove his motive for screwing up."

"I don't follow?" Ducky said.

"We're all making the assumption that DiNozzo didn't follow through the witness report because he had a date. So if we prove DiNozzo didn't go on his date, we disprove his motive for wanting to get out of Ivy City so quickly, right? But what if the dinner date had nothing to do with it? This goes back to his visit to Celina Grantham. That's where it all started. Makes no difference what he did afterwards. He's a free man, he can go date a hundred women if he wants to."

"I think he already has Gibbs." Abby said with a smile.

"We need to speak with Celina Grantham, find out exactly what happened and what she said."

"But Gibbs, you know they wont let us near her." Ziva said.

"Find a way. We've got less than a week before we lose DiNozzo."

OOO

Davenport swung his chair around and stared out of the window onto the internal courtyard, where staff were taking in the late autumnal sun.

Sometimes he loved his job, sometimes he hated it. There were always tough decisions to be made, decisions which could deny a parent their child or deny a child their parent. But he accepted this responsibility willingly, knowing he was doing it for the good of the country.

However, some decisions were not so black and white. He knew it did no good to second guess your own decisions and judgement, but on occasions, he couldn't stop the doubts entering his mind.

Was he doing this for the good of the country, or for his own good?

Was he doing it because it was the right thing to do, or because it was the least wrong thing to do?

Was the potential exposure of one error driving him to another?

"No good second guessing yourself Davenport." He said aloud.

He swung back around and picked up the phone, hitting speed dial 5.

A man picked up on the second ring. Davenport uttered two decisive words before hanging up:

"Do it."

End of Chapter 2