THE RIGHT TURN
Gibbs gut was speaking volumes when Webb had willingly handed over Jason Pyke. That made him suspicious. That was put aside as he watched his Senior Field Agent animatedly talked with the CIA operative. The man returned in kind as they talked with intensity. Tony went to approach the team but suddenly turned around. It was impossible to tell whether they were talking or having a stare down. Gibbs hated the not knowing what was being discussed but not as much as the silence on the trip back to DC.
Xxxxxxx
Tony's Apartment
Tony sat on the couch alone and with a single light on. He wrapped his arms tightly around the cushion he was holding and squeezed it as tight as he could. Memories invaded his privacy. When he was awake he thought about Iran… Almost every time he closed his eyes he could see it.
Something felt wet and sticky beneath his feet. Without having to look at the substance, he could tell it was blood. Hell… He knew the feel of blood. It's sickly smell and the nauseating taste. He leaped off the couch and hopped on one foot to check the soul of the other. There was a dark, red stain on the carpet that wasn't there before.
"I'm going insane," Tony covered his eyes with his hands and slowly dragged them down over his face. He breathed a sigh of relief when the stain was no longer there.
He convinced him self that it had to be a dream. Sleep hadn't been easy to accomplish lately and sleep deprivation had a knack for messing with one's mind. Tony sat back on the couch and leaned backwards. At least things had calmed down a little.
A loud scream of anguish and pain coming from right next to him made him jump off the couch once more. Turning on his heels he saw the figure of the woman sitting there. Her long black hair was a matted mess of sweat and dirt. Her head snapped back, struck by an invisible object. Her face returned to its original position, blood began pouring out of a whole in her forehead.
"I'm sorry… What do you want?" Tony cried out. The woman jerked back again, disappearing as quickly as she had appeared.
Tony looked around at the floor than the couch, then back at the floor. He grabbed his cell from the coffee table and sat on the dining room table. As his shaky hand scrolled through the contacts in his cell, he covered his eyes with the free hand to protect him self from any more incidences. He fought hard to compose him self enough and thought perhaps just hearing a friendly voice would help.
"Oh? Oh… Hold it there. Tony?" Abby sounded a little surprised at the interruption and a little out of breath.
As with a lot of times when speaking with Abby at odd times, he felt like he was interrupting something. Unfortunately, Abby had the patience of a saint when it came to Tony… Sometimes he wondered if that was a good thing… or a curse.
"Tony," her voice was a little more forceful.
"You're busy… It's late… I think…" Tony began to say. There was a clunk sound on the other end.
"Get a better grip," Abby said after awhile.
Tony raised his eyebrow. "You've got company," he said with a silent shrug.
"You okay? You don't sound too good. Give me a sec so I can get untied," Abby said. Her voice became slightly muffled.
Tony shook his head slowly. What bothered him was something like this wasn't shocking. "No… Sorry I called. We'll talk tomorrow okay?" Tony fought against the urge to start talking. He was sure a babbling idiot was the last thing Abby needed or wanted in this point of time.
"It's okay," Abby insisted.
"We'll talk tomorrow," Tony responded, confident in ending the conversation there and then. He snapped the phone shut and pocketed the cell. Tony chuckled slightly, he had always thought he lived an exciting sex life but compared to Abby's his was extremely dull. Maybe he should pick up his game.
Tony slapped him self on the back of the head. It was exactly the behavior he was trying to change. Old habits were so easy to slip back into. Why was changing so difficult too complete.
Xxxxxxx
NCIS
If there was a wall of silence surrounding the event on the RAMAGE it seemed to have been broken through by a flood of information. Gibbs answered the phone once again. It seemed a few were willing to tell their full versions of the truth and a couple more were due in DC.
Gibbs was half listening and watched Tony walk passed, placing lunch orders on the appropriate desks before sitting on the edge of his own.
During a lull in the phone conversation with the man on the other end, Gibbs looked at Tony who was nibbling at his hotdog. "You do realize they have this new invention called a chair?" Gibbs asked. It felt like the receiver was sticking to his ear because it was that long.
Tony looked behind him at the chair and then watched McGee tentatively look in the white paper bag that contained his lunch.
"Thanks," McGee sounded surprised.
"Don't sound so surprised," Tony raised his voice as he jumped off the desk and walked around. He noticed that Ziva had the same initial reaction. The initial distrust. "Damn it! I'm trying to just do the right thing and all I get is distrust?" Tony threw his arms up.
Gibbs saw the irritation boiling over. "Go… Take lunch. Come back in half an hour… Take your cells with you," Gibbs watched as they seemed to hurriedly grab the gear they needed and headed off in three separate directions. He pursed his lips tightly as he wondered how he could get the team working as a team.
Xxxxxxxx
Autopsy
Ducky had finished an autopsy and cleaned up before lunch. As far as he believed, the rest of the afternoon was relatively free. That always gave him the opportunity to organize any filing or even catch up with research on latest techniques. The lone figure standing in front of the Autopsy drawers startled him a bit.
The man's head was facing downwards as if in deep thought. The figure clearly belonged to Agent Tony DiNozzo.
"What brings you down here, Anthony?" Ducky asked. He wasn't aware of anything that the Lead Team needed from him. There had been no phone calls or visits from anyone.
"It's about the guy who threw the Petty Officer over the edge of the RAMAGE. I've known him," Tony eventually turned around and leaned up against the autopsy table closest to the drawers. It gave them a satisfied distance. "He actually recently returned from a tour… Easily irritated, uncontrollable anger and am sure he's suffering flashbacks… And you know has starting to see things, like hallucinations," Tony avoided using the phrase 'A friend of mine' since Ducky was too smart for that. Still… He had to be cautious.
"Sounds like Post Traumatic Stress," Ducky advised. "I'd actually recommend that he seek help since PTSD can be a debilitating and even deadly if left untreated," Ducky suggested without giving it a second thought.
"What if he can't really discuss what had happened? You know if it was secretive or something," Tony added and folded his arms.
"It doesn't matter what the circumstances are, Anthony… Doesn't matter how alone one feels, there's always somebody that would listen," Ducky advised seriously.
"Well it seems that he's not sure if his friends would listen or would even care. He sure as hell knows that they can't and won't understand," Tony bit his lip and waited for a response. It was too late to scrutinize exactly what he was saying. He was certain that he hadn't given too much away.
"Whether they understand or not is not really the issue. Just the lad has to talk about it before it eats him up and by the sounds of it, it already has," Ducky said.
"Thanks, Ducky," Tony nodded his thanks as well as he walked passed the ME.
"Is there anything else I can assist you lot with?" Ducky asked.
"We'll call on you if there is," Tony held one hand up and waved as he approached the elevator.
"I'll be here," Ducky responded. He knew he shouldn't be making judgments on people he hasn't seen. That would be considered unprofessional. His afternoon was clear so perhaps he could talk with Jason Pyke maybe that would help the others understand what happened.
Xxxxxxxxx
NORFOLK Naval Base
Gibbs navigated expertly through the crowd of people until he found a parking spot clear of everyone. Through the passenger side window, he could see part of the large Carrier ENTERPRISE was at port. He nodded, understanding the reason why things were so busy.
"There's a list of crew that are willing and able to talk," McGee said as he looked through the email on his laptop computer.
"Get it ready," Gibbs adjusted the rearview mirror. "Ziver and McGee go start organizing the people who are talking," Gibbs watched them leave almost as quickly as he gave the order. He turned around in his seat to see Tony asleep still and hadn't stirred when they arrived. Tony's cheek was pressed up against the glass.
Gibbs stepped out and opened the rear door. Fortunately for Tony he was wearing a seatbelt. He startled him self awake after feeling like he was falling. "Sorry, Boss," Tony yawned.
"You okay?" Gibbs sounded concerned as Tony unbuckled his seatbelt. Normally he would be annoyed at the young man for sleeping in the car. But he looked dog-tired and clearly not had a good night's sleep in quite awhile.
Tony pondered the question as he made sure he had everything and was ready to go. "Okay?" Tony asked as if confused by the question.
"Are you sick?" Gibbs glared him down, more than demanding a straightforward and honest answer.
"Sick, Boss? No," Tony leaned against the car. He felt like he was drugged in a way. Very sluggish and his eyes were physically fighting against his mind too close.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs admonished his second in command harshly.
"Am just a little tired that's all," that was the truth according to Tony. He was tired. At least with the constant traveling he was able to catch something that resembled a peaceful sleep. "Oh the ENTERPRISE is in port as well?" Tony looked up, easily changing the subject.
Xxxxxxxxx
Gibbs shook his head. He and Tony had been sitting through five long-winded testimonials. If he didn't know better he would've said their time was deliberately being wasted. It was four days until the RAMAGE was due to set sail again… That meant there was way too much time to swamp an investigation.
Gibbs gave a scornful look at Tony who made no attempt at hiding a yawn.
"Well there was also this area down below that was used for gambling," the young man told him.
Gibbs looked back from Tony at the woman who seemed barely out of school.
"What has that got to do with Petty Officer Noel Young going overboard?" Tony asked before Gibbs managed to ask that very question.
"What? Someone went overboard?" The young woman asked in complete surprise.
Gibbs shifted impatiently in his seat before standing up. "What are you doing here?" Gibbs asked as he went to open the door.
"When I heard an investigation was going on… I immediately thought you were investigating the gambling culture aboard this ship," she told them to apologize for her mistake.
"It's okay… You were doing the right thing," Tony said in a flat tone.
"It's just. Oh God… There's not going to be a black mark on my record is there. It's just…" she began babbling. "What about if they're connected? Sometimes the games can get very personal," she said to them.
Gibbs pinched the bridge of his nose. "DiNozzo… I want you to go up top, get access to the bank records of Pyke as well as Young's bank records since they were aboard the ship up 'til now," Gibbs ordered.
"On it, Boss," Tony responded and turned to the woman who was walking out the door. "Don't worry. You did the right thing," he reiterated to her.
"Thank you," she responded before leaving their site.
Gibbs pursed his lips as he left to talk with the Captain. More than anything he wanted this run around to stop. He had enough witness statements and some statements that had no bearing on why he was there.
"Enough," Gibbs snapped at the people waiting just outside.
Xxxxxxxxx
Gibbs nodded in Tony's direction as he, McGee and Ziva walked up to the ENTERPRISE. Captain Rayson was aboard the other ship going over some thing with the other Captain. Tony was too busy talking on the cell and taking notes to even look in the direction.
The sound of three Blackhawk Helicopters leaving the Carrier Deck, flying in precision formation caused only a handful of people to look up. Some that weren't used to seeing such action, shielded their eyes from the sun and watched the helicopters fly over the base and banked around and headed north, following the coastline. They soon disappeared out of sight.
Tony snapped the phone shut and finished writing down the notes. He walked back to the RAMAGE. Gibbs would probably still be interviewing people and he wondered if McGee and Ziva should have finished up checking the sleeping quarters of Petty Officer Noel Young and Jason Pyke.
Tony heard some loud sirens coming from the Carrier's direction. The ear piercing screech told people around that there was a sudden emergency. Tony was thankful that they were on the other ship.
Tony's mind yelled at him when he couldn't find Gibbs. His heart almost began beating out of his chest when he heard the others had gone onto the Carrier to speak with the Captain and there was an explosion.
"You okay, Agent?" The older man asked.
"Agent DiNozzo," Tony responded. He fumbled for his badge to show ID.
"Sit down," The man said firmly.
Tony suddenly felt sick. He doubled over and rested the palms of his hands on his thighs and breathed deeply to try and get rid of the nausea. The helpless feeling came flooding back. He could almost see his colleagues dead and bloodied on the floor.
"Oh God," Tony slumped to his knees.
Instead of seeing the metallic floor he was kneeling on, he was back on the gravel and dirt ground. The half-buried body was barely recognizable as human. It was bloodied and bruised and left out for the elements. The woman sounded inhuman and now looked inhuman and the locals were treating her as such.
"I'm so sorry," Tony let out.
He felt someone lift him to his feet by a hand under the armpit.
"Why?" He asked.
Tony asked the question. It was asking more than he was saying. Why didn't they do anything? Why did they do what they did? And why the hell didn't they stop it? So many whys and no suitable answers.
"Why are we here?" Tony asked. Weren't they there to make a difference?
"We're escorting you to investigate the case," one of the others answered.
"You okay?" The voice almost sounded like a ghost to Tony.
"Why are we here?" Tony asked again.
"Hey!" The voice was louder.
"I could've done something," Tony said angrily. He had the chance but was stopped. There was no other way to look at events. It was his fault.
"Come this way," the distant voice said.
Xxxxxxxxxx
A/N: I know that this chapter maybe a little confusing but hopefully not too confusing. LOL. But things in here is setting up for the near future. This chapter would've been done earlier but had a darn blackout and had to start again. Reviews and Criticism is always welcomed.