Disclaimer: See chp. 1
A/N: Lt., thanks for the reviews, sir! Barbarina, Mc7ism, readergirl99 and yathink1123, thanks for the story alerts. Mike's daughter-in-law and granddaughter are mentioned in this chapter.
Chp. 3
Charlie's Bar
September 8, 2010
1930 hours
Jake sat in rear booth, facing the door and nursing a Heineken as he waited for Mike to show. Max was down the street, in full homeless man getup, Travis was in a utility truck and Dave was dressed in a suit, currently making his way slowly down Market street, Charlie's being his ultimate destination.
Suddenly, Jake heard a voice over the earpiece he was wearing. "Head's up, Jake. Franks' coming your way." Travis said.
Jake didn't respond, and focused on the door more intently. Sure enough, Mike walked in a minute later. He made eye contact with Jake, then went to the bar and ordered a drink before coming to the booth. The two men shook hands guardedly.
"Jake, how ya been son?"
"Good, Mike. You?"
"Amira run's this old man ragged, but she keeps me young." Mike said with a smile.
Jake smiled as well. He was happy that his friend found a new lease on life. "So, I noticed your boys outside. Lot of muscle for a meet."
Jake shrugged. "I had to be certain, Mike. You know that."
Mike shook his head. "You know, that's what pisses me off. You're worse than probie."
Jake glared. "Your precious probie tossed me away like I was old news. Blamed me for something I had no control over." Jake said, looking away.
"Yeah, well, for the record, your mother decided she didn't want to come."
"There you go." Jake said, taking a swig from the bottle.
"Jake, come on, it's been almost twenty years since you saw or for all I know, even contacted your parents. Don't you think that's punishment enough?"
"Mike, I didn't come here to discuss my life choices. I came here for intel." Jake said, icily.
"Fine, junior." Mike said, removing an envelope from his jacket and passing it across the table.
Jake took the envelope and got up from the table. As he was walking away, Mike grabbed his arm. For a second, the two men stared at each other. "I had a son that I didn't meet him 'til he was already grown. Then he was killed in Iraq. Amira's father. But my point is, at least I knew what happened. If you die on one of these ops, you think the agency's gonna call your parents and say, 'oh, by the way, your son was killed while working for us.'
"I'm surprised you think they'd care. See ya around, Mike." Jake said. Mike didn't try to stop him, because he knew there was nothing he could do.
000
Jake walked quickly back to his truck, parked two blocks away. Once he reached it, he radioed his team to pull out. Then he headed south on I-95, toward Fayetteville. Try as he might, Jake couldn't get the meet out of his mind. By the time he was driving through Richmond, he knew he'd screwed the pooch. That he should've listened to Mike. But he couldn't go back now. Or could he? He pushed the past from his mind and forced himself to focus on the present and who his target might be.
000
Gibbs Residence
Same Day
2110 hours
"Thanks for coming, Mike. I'm sorry about earlier. I just…" Shannon didn't say anything else, placing a coffee cup in front of Franks.
"You're welcome, Shannon; and don't worry about it. Where's probie? Oh, wait, work."
Shannon grinned and sat across from him. "You guessed it. How is he?"
"Jake's," Mike tried to come up with the right word, but couldn't think of anything.
"A younger version of Jethro." Shannon supplied.
Mike nodded. "Yeah, that's about it. Come on, let's take a drive."
Shannon looked surprised. "Where are we going?"
"I'll tell you in the car."
000
They took her car and Mike instructed her to drive north. "Alright, Mike, why the cloak and dagger?"
"'Cause your house might be bugged and…" he trailed off.
"And I figured you deserved to know what Jake's into."
"Into?" Shannon asked, worry in her voice.
Mike sighed. This hadn't been one of his better idea's, but she was probie's wife and that made her family. 'nough said.
"Jake left the army two years ago. The CIA recruited him to form Section Eight." Mike held up a hand to forestall any questions. "They'll a kill squad. No ties to the agency."
"That's where you come in. You're a go between."
Mike sighed. "Yeah, Jake said the only way he'd do it is if they gave him a handler that he trusted implicitly. I agreed. Figured I owed you and Jethro that much."
Shannon was silent for a minute, then she smiled. "Thanks, Mike."
000
Sitting on his couch in the relative safety of his apartment, Jake removed the photo and dossier of section eight's next target. What he saw surprised him. He'd never expected to have this man in his cross hairs, but he supposed the powers that be were done with him. The photograph and dossier were for one Anthony Dinozzo, Sr., billionaire defense contract.
000
A/N: How's that for a plot twist? By the way, Lt. I hope you don't mind me borrowing Charlies'. Shoulda asked first, sorry.
