Chapter 7

8:00 a.m. Fitzroy Island, Australia.

Neal in the accompaniment of Gibbs, Tony and Ziva boarded the flight was the first part of the journey that would take them home. Mozzie had come to tell Neal goodbye and that he would be following soon with all of their stuff before they left the resort.

2:00 p.m. Placencia, Belize

The Burkes and their constant companions, Kramer and his agents, were touring and hiking the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary and the Burkes were the only ones having a good time. "Do you think they are on their way home now," whispered El as they walked on.

Peter looked at his watch and did the math needed to calculate the time difference between Belize and Australia and nodded. "Yes, they are on their way home and should arrive in D.C. in the next twenty four hours. Shall we tire Philip and his agents out so we can leave while they are resting tonight?" Peter asked with a smile.

El nodded and suddenly the two of them darted to the side of the trail and hid while Kramer and his agents ran past. Peter and El waited until the agents could no longer be heard before they rejoined the trail and walked on. They were casually eating their lunch when Kramer and his agents rejoined them with their clothing torn and themselves covered in scratches and itching from insect bites.

"Did you find Neal in the jungle Philip?" asked Peter innocently.

Philip only glared at the agent before he and his agents sank wearily to the ground to rest and refresh for a few minutes. They quickly guzzled from their water bottles before they saw the rest of the group start back up the trail and groaned. By the time the tour was over they could barely walk, they were so tired.

Peter and El only smiled as they watched the DC Art Crime agents follow them into their hotel. Peter and El went up to their room and relaxed for a few minutes while they packed for an early departure. Peter had disabled all of the bugs so they could talk freely. "What shall we do while we wait to leave?"

"Why not take a walk on the beach while our luggage is being picked up? Philip won't be expecting us to leave so quickly, and seeing us walk casually along the beach will not arouse his suspicions that something is wrong until he sees us being picked up and driven away. I can just imagine his panic at his realization that we have pulled a fast one on him. He will not be able to catch us in time and will have to take a later flight," Peter explained before calling the front desk and arranging for their luggage to be picked up. "You will find us on the beach; just pick us up on the way to The Philip Goldson International Airport; our flight should be leaving within the hour."

Peter and El left their room only a few minutes ahead of the bellboy who came to pick up their luggage. Peter had paid for their stay the night before and had left a large tip before walking out of the room. They didn't even acknowledge Philip and his agents as they were in the hotel restaurant recuperating from the afternoon adventure. Philip watched them go, but since all they did was to walk along the beach he didn't follow. He saw the resort bus pass them by but didn't take any notice until he saw it stop alongside the Burkes. It was when the Burkes climbed aboard that he stood and started for the door only to watch them drive by with El waving goodbye. Philip hurried to the front desk and asked frantically,

"Where is your resort bus going?"

"To the airport, sir. Mr. and Mrs. Burke have an early flight out," the Hotel Manager said as he watched the agent run from the hotel.

10:00 p.m. Los Angeles International Airport

It was one weary Neal who departed from the Qantas Airways as it stopped for a refueling. He was in the accompaniment of Ziva and Tony while he was off the plane.

"I've got to walk around a bit," groaned Neal as he stiffly walked towards the men's room. Tony followed behind while Ziva made a quick pit stop of her own.

"Do you have to follow me everywhere I go?" asked Neal crossly.

Tony just looked at him and smiled, "Gibbs told me to watch out for you and that is what I'm going to do…get use to it because I'm not leaving."

"I don't know if I can take another ten hours or so before we land in New York City," moaned Neal. "Can't we rest and take the next flight?"

"No! You have ten minutes and then we have got to be back on that plane or it will be Gibbs you will have to answer to for making us late," Tony said quietly.

Neal nodded and thought quickly looking around for some sort of distraction that would delay their returning to the plane in the allotted time. As he looked around he suddenly yelled, "Kramer," pointing behind Tony and as Tony reacted by looking behind himself, Neal took off running in the opposite direction.

Sensing the movement Tony turned to see Neal take the corner and took off in pursuit.

"Neal…No…Caffrey," yelled Tony who took off after him, muttering to himself, "Gibbs is going to kill me!"

Neal ran dodging people along the way as he tried to lose Tony but Tony was more afraid of returning to Gibbs without Neal then Neal was of getting away and when he least expected it, found himself tackled from behind. Tony was breathing hard but he had Neal in his grip when he stood up.

"No, let me go," cried Neal as he struggled to get away.

"DiNozzo! Caffrey! What the hell are you two playing at?" roared Gibbs as he stalked up to the two taking in their disheveled condition.

"He ran and I caught him, boss," cried Tony as he handed Neal over to an irate Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

"Why did you run Neal?" asked Gibbs.

"Kramer…he's here," cried Neal.

"Impossible…you talked to Peter before you left the plane and he told you that they got away before Kramer…you know that he's at least six hours behind Peter…there is no way that Kramer is here. What's the real reason?"

Neal didn't say anything which only added to Gibbs anger and he took Neal and motioned for Tony to follow as they walked into a nearby men's room. It was miraculously empty and with Tony at the entrance keeping watch Gibbs pushed Neal up against a lavatory and gave him an impromptu spanking until Neal cried out, "I was tired and wanted to for us to take a later flight…was that so wrong?"

"And what did Tony tell you?"

"No…so I thought that if I made us late the plane would leave without us and we could catch a later flight…and it seemed to work," Neal added with a smile. "It's been over ten minutes."

Gibbs pulled Neal from the restroom and said, "We will be discussing this once we return home but for now we have a flight to catch. The plane won't be leaving for another ten minutes…we have plenty of time to get back, but I'm afraid that you won't be sitting comfortable for the return flight. Come on DiNozzo collect Ziva so we can get away," he ordered as he pulled Neal along.