Hello folks,

Here' s the next chapter. I probably won't be able to post again until at least the weekend as I'm going to be busy on a project all week. Hope everyone is having a good Memorial Day.

-Moki

Chapter Seven

"Because it's your fault that I'm dead."

----

Next to Tony's office was another set of rooms Gibbs and his team were using as an interrogation space. They were two rooms connected by a window, allowing either McGee or Ziva to question one suspect while the other watched unobtrusively. It wasn't a two way mirror nor did they have recording equipment, but considering they were on an aircraft carrier it was a pretty good set up.

Once McGee and Ziva arrived, Gibbs had let them start questioning everyone they had come up with as a possible suspect. After they were done with each person, one or the other would come into Tony's office and debrief Gibbs on what happened. It allowed him to keep up on what was happening while still going over Tony's notes.

He was just as positive as ever that the murder case might be involved but he would never forgive himself if they didn't look under every stone. One of his own rules was never to assume so he let McGee and Ziva handle the questioning on the off chance that he was wrong.

In the more than likely chance that he wasn't, Gibbs kept reading the case notes.

*****FLASHBACK*****

Sticking close to the shadows in the small street, Tony silently followed behind his quarry.

Sam had left the bar and within a few minutes of fast walking they had left the hustle and bustle of the area by the docks. They were getting farther and farther into the heart of the city, the part that only the locals saw. An area for tourists, this was not.

Blessing all of his years in undercover work, Tony was able to follow the other man without being seen. Sam was moving quickly, obviously with a purpose and it took all of Tony's training just to keep up without the other man noticing he was being followed.

Sam stopped on a corner and Tony silently planted himself against the nearest wall, blending in to the darkness. The other man paused to look around for a brief moment as if deciding where to go, then was off again.

A few blocks later and they had apparently arrived at their destination. Sam stopped once again, nonchalantly leaning up against a wall. He seemed to be waiting for something and Tony settled back out of sight, also waiting.

Minutes later Tony heard a door open nearby and laughter. Looking on the street ahead, he saw light coming from an open doorway. A female voice spoke but Tony was too far away to make out the words. A couple different male voices answered, he heard a door close and the light disappeared.

Staying in his hiding place, Tony watched as the three sailors he had seen earlier walked past him. Obviously done with their business with the prostitute, all were happily regaling the evening's excitement. Sparing them only a glance, Tony put his attention back on Sam.

Much as he suspected, Sam wasn't watching the sailors either. He waited until they were well out of sight, then started heading towards the door where they had just exited.

Tony knew he had his man now but still had no proof. Knowing that it was risky but also there was no other way, he continued to cautiously follow the other man.

Sam looked up and down the street to make sure no one was coming before he pulled out what could only be a lock pick. He made quick work of the simple lock on the old door and before Tony knew it, the other man was heading inside.

Trotting up silently, Tony took a quick look around himself before following. When he got inside he found a lobby of sorts with a stairway leading to another floor. Sam was already heading up the stairs and not sure how the other man knew where to go, Tony followed.

A small hallway met them at the top of the stairs. Several doors were there but only one had a light coming from it. Without hesitating, Sam headed straight for it.

Tony took a deep breath, keeping his head down as he waited halfway up the stairs. Reaching down, he pulled out his backup from an ankle holster and held it ready. He hated doing nothing but he had to let Sam at least threaten the woman inside before he could stop him. Doing so beforehand would do him no good at all. Tony needed proof.

Once Sam was inside the room, Tony ran up the last few stairs and put his foot in the doorway before it could close completely. Hoping that the other man would be too busy to notice that the door hadn't closed all the way, Tony peeked into the room through the two inches of space.

What he saw made him grip his weapon tighter, but again he waited.

"Get up you bitch!" Sam yelled, pointing a knife at the woman on the bed. Too frightened to speak, she rose slowly, her eyes open wide as she stared at the weapon.

"Those are good boys. They don't need to be around filth like you. You tempt them. It's your fault. Why can't you just leave them alone?"

Sam slowly approached the now terrified woman, his face a mask of rage and disgust. He raised the weapon.

That was all Tony needed, kicking the door open the rest of the way, he burst into the room. Training his weapon on the other man, Tony called out.

"Federal agent! Don't move, Sam!"

The other man jumped when the door slammed back on it's hinges, pivoting away from the woman on the bed. With a look of shocked recognition, he turned to face Tony.

"You? What are you doing? Don't you want me to stop her? All of them deserved to be stopped, Tony. You know that, right? I'm helping our boys to stay clean. We don't need scum like this around." Sam pointed the knife back towards the woman now cowering on the bed.

"Not your decision to make, Sam. Drop the weapon….NOW!" Tony screamed.

Sam seemed to think about it, looking at the woman on the bed and back to Tony again a few times.

Tony silently hoped the other man wouldn't try anything. Cleaning up a crime scene after he had to shoot a suspect would be so much harder than just dragging the guy back to the ship in cuffs.

"Don't do it, Sam. Just put it down and we'll talk about it," Tony said softly this time and as if he'd been waiting for just those words, Sam dropped the knife.

"I was only trying to help," Sam said as Tony kicked the blade away and got out his cuffs.

*****END FLASHBACK*****

Gibbs leaned back in his chair and reached a hand back to massage the back of his neck. Taking another drink of coffee, he heard a knock on the door.

"Enter."

It was McGee with another report. After a few minutes, Gibbs had all the info he needed and knew (much as McGee did) that the man in the next room had nothing to do with Tony's disappearance.

"Let him go," Gibbs ordered and McGee silently went to do as he was told.

Gibbs finished the last of Tony's report, putting down the file.

"Not bad, DiNozzo, not bad at all," Gibbs said.

"Thanks Boss," Phantom Tony replied. "You gonna come find me now?"

The other man looked normal as he leaned against the filing cabinet but Gibbs still heard the sense of urgency in his voice. It was the urgency that Gibbs himself felt.

"Working on it."

The rest of Tony's report showed that he had taken Sam back to the Seahawk and processed him. After getting the man in custody, Tony was able to "come out" to the rest of the crew on board as their new Agent Afloat. His continuing investigation came up with evidence so damning that even without the statement from a NCIS investigator, Sam would still have been in the brig.

In other words, it was a cut and dry case. There had never been evidence to show that the man had ever worked anything but alone. Maintaining that he had done everything to help the servicemen and women on board, Sam confessed to all of the murders. He had been taken off the ship and all had been well for the past couple months.

It didn't add up.

Gibbs had been so sure that case had to do with why his agent was missing but now that he'd read all the notes, he could find no holes in it. It left Gibbs asking himself if there was a connection, why had nothing happened until recently? Tony had been on board for months after that case without incident.

Why now?

"C'mon Boss," Phantom Tony said, tipping his head sideways at Gibbs and raising his eyebrows questioningly. "You telling me you really can't see it?"

Gibbs rubbed at his forehead, ignoring the other man once again.

"Why now?" Tony repeated Gibbs' question.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out, DiNozzo," Gibbs said with a sigh. Why indeed?....

Suddenly Gibbs looked up and crossed the room, opening the door to yell for McGee in the next room.

"You've got it, don't you Boss?" Tony asked with a smile.

McGee ran in. "Yeah Boss?"

"I want you to run a search for anyone who just transferred to the Seahawk in the past couple weeks. Cross check them with a serviceman named Samuel Wesson."

"You got it," McGee replied and ran off.

"Not bad, Gibbs, not bad at all," Tony said, repeating the praise Gibbs had given him earlier.

-----

Tony didn't think he could swim for one more minute.

He was nearing 45 hours at sea and it had drained him of every reserve in his well trained body. The exhaustion from swimming nonstop mixed with the nearly constant coughing had taken a horrible toll.

For a while he even tried making deals with himself. Just five more minutes became just three more minutes which then became two more minutes.

He counted out 120 seconds and told himself that then he could stop. He had done everything in his power to survive but no one was going to find him now. Continuing to swim was simply delaying the inevitable and prolonging his pain. Stopping would put him out of his misery. It would be a kindness really. Like putting down an old dog.

"I don't believe I gave you permission to quit, Tango Eight," A voice said fiercely and Tony looked up to find Jenny standing above him.

"I…can't," Tony begged. "Just let me die."

"Not gonna happen, DiNozzo. You keep swimming. That is an order!"

"Why?" Tony asked plaintively. "No one's….going….to find me…..might as well…..get it over with."

"Because you're not getting off that easily. If you had done your JOB like you were supposed to, you wouldn't even be in this mess. You would be home with your friends where you belong."

"I…..screwed up."

"You're damn right you screwed up. Look what happened because of it? I think a slow, agonizing death is exactly what you deserve, Special Agent DiNozzo. So you keep on swimming until I say so."

"Yes ma'am," Tony replied weakly.

Once again some part of him knew the words couldn't really be true. Jenny would never say such horrible things. Reality wasn't really a big part of his world anymore though. He didn't even realize that the cruelty was coming from himself. Not only that, it was keeping him alive.

He would follow Jenny's orders to keep swimming more than he would his own.

"I'm sorry, Jenny."

"Sorry doesn't fix it Tony."

"I know," he agreed sadly.

"Because it's your fault that I'm dead."