Ahmad and Dukes watched the interrogation through the two-way mirror from the observation room with Tony and McGee as Gibbs sat across from his former bodyguard.
"How many children have you sold into slavery?" Gibbs asked.
"I am a diplomatic envoy of the Palestinian Government," Safir said. "I wish to speak with someone from my embassy."
Ahmad watched Gibbs's back stiffen slightly. It irritated him that Safir would likely get diplomatic immunity, which would allow him to evade prosecution for his crimes. "Is there anything that can be done?" he asked Tony.
"Not if the embassy gives him immunity," Tony answered.
They watched as Gibbs left the interrogation room. When the door opened to the observation room, they all turned. Gibbs leaned in, pointed to Ahmad and motioned for him to follow. Once they were in the hallway walking back towards the bullpen, he looked to Gibbs.
"Do you think the embassy knows you're defecting yet?" Gibbs asked him.
"If my mother is here, then yes," Ahmad answered. "Why?"
"I was hoping that you could use your influence to have them revoke his immunity."
Ahmad thought for a second. "I am willing to try," he said.
Gibbs pointed to DiNozzo's desk while he moved to his own. "Dial nine to get out," he said picking up his own phone.
_.-~=]})*({[=~-._
"So what do we do now?" Tony asked.
"Not much we can do until Gibbs gets back," McGee replied.
"We could shoot him," Dukes said. "Save the trouble."
Tony thought about that for a moment. "Better not," he said. "Gibbs might be upset."
At that moment, McGee's cellphone rang. "Yeah Abs," he answered. "Nothing, I'm just watching al-Ajami with Tony and Dukes. Why? I'm on my way."
"What's goin' on?" DiNozzo asked.
"Abby says she needs help with something." As he walked out, Tony and Dukes turned back to the window.
_.-~=]})*({[=~-._
Ahmad hung up the phone and put his head into his hands. He knew what he had to do, but how could he do it? He looked over at Gibbs's desk and saw it empty. He got up and moved to the elevator.
"If you're going," Gibbs said from behind him. "You might want to let Shawn know."
Ahmad looked down the hall before shaking his head. "He would just try to stop me."
"And he'd have a right to."
"No," Ahmad said. "He wouldn't. Safir has to pay for what he has done. This is the only way."
Gibbs nodded his head. "We better get going then."
_.-~=]})*({[=~-._
Crystal Hubert opened her eyes and glanced around. She saw a man standing outside her door and took a deep breath, feeling sharp pain in her back. She really should have worn a vest today. As she let it out slowly, she felt the pain in her back subsided slightly. She took another deep breath and slowly exhaled. She continued this exercise for five minutes until her mind cleared and she could focus on her surroundings and not her pain. She estimated that she would have about fifteen minutes to do what she needed before the pain returned to the center of her conscious.
She reached under her gown and pulled back the piece of latex under her breast and allowed the small piece of metal drop into her hand. She then took the key and unlocked the handcuff. Once free, she reached over and pried the back of the EKG monitor loose and slipped the key inside. Feeling around, she found the contact points and pressed the key onto them, receiving a small shock for her effort. The new tingling pain was worth it though. She smiled as the display shut off. She waited for the nurse to respond.
"Is there a problem?" she heard the man outside ask.
"I don't know, her monitor just stopped," a woman answered. The door swung open and the man leaned in with his weapon drawn. Seeing her still in the bed he secured the pistol and allowed the nurse to enter.
"Looks like her monitor just malfunctioned," the nurse said to him. The man nodded and backed out of the room. Once the door closed, she moved quickly. She snatched the pen out of the nurse's pocket and jammed it into her throat. She then jumped from the bed, bringing her pillow case up and placing it over the wound and wrapped it quickly. After tucking the makeshift bandage into place, Hubert slipped out of her gown as the nurse fell onto the bed. In a matter of moments, she had stripped the scrubs from the dead nurse and had them on. She put the nurse on the bed and placed the blanket over her before heading for the door. This was the risky part. She needed to get far enough from the agent as possible before he realized she was not the nurse. She opened the door and stepped out. "All fixed," she said as she walked down the hall. The agent at the door looked in and saw the bed occupied before returning to his vigil.
Once she rounded the corner, Hubert picked up the pace a bit and headed for the elevator. Two minutes later, she was in the basement and checking each door she passed until she found the nurses locker room. She didn't know which locker belonged to the nurse she just killed, but she didn't really need to know. After a quick search, she found an open locker with nothing more than a shoestring and a couple of paper clips. She grabbed the paper clips and turned to the first one with a padlock. After a moment, the lock sprang open and she grabbed the purse inside. A quick look brought her a set of keys and a wallet with twenty dollars inside. She took the keys out of the purse before slinging it onto her shoulder and left the locker room. Three minutes later, she entered the parking building and began pushing the lock button on the key ring. She had to walk down two levels before she heard the first telltale beep of the car alarm being engaged. She pressed it again, looking around and saw the headlights flash on a Nissan Maxima. Within two more minutes, Crystal Hubert was out of the hospital complex and headed for her hotel room, hoping NCIS hadn't yet figured out where it was.
_.-~=]})*({[=~-._
Ahmad and Gibbs walked down the hall of the Palestinian embassy escorted by a young man in a Tessori Uomo suit. When they reached the ambassador's office, the escort knocked and opened the door. When they entered, the ambassador thanked the escort, excusing him and looked at Ahmad.
"Special Agent Gibbs," the ambassador said. "Could you wait outside a moment?"
"I don't think so," Gibbs said.
"It's alright Gibbs," Ahmad said.
"You sure?"
"Yes," he said. "This conversation must happen, and I'm afraid you cannot be present for it."
"Alright," Gibbs said. "I'm outside if you need me."
Gibbs stepped back outside and closed the door. A moment later a side door opened and Magdala al-Zuhri entered the ambassador's office.
"Hello Mother," Ahmad said.
"Do not call me that," she spat. "I could never give birth to an abomination."
"I am sorry you feel that way," he said. He watched as his mother raised her weapon. He closed his eyes and offered a silent prayer before he heard three shots ring out.
Gibbs burst through the door and stopped short, remembering that the front desk required him to leave his weapon there. He looked down at al-Zuhri and saw the blood pooling under his body.
"You have your Almwt trtyb satisfied," he said looking up at Magdala. "Dukes doesn't have to die as well."
Magdala looked at the body on the floor then up to Gibbs. "If the whore stays away, he can live," she said as she and her bodyguards left the room.
Gibbs watched her leave then turned to the ambassador. "Ambassador," he said.
"Safir al-Ajami has no diplomatic immunity with Palestine," the man said, handing a document to Gibbs.
"One more thing," Gibbs said. "Ahmad was under my protection. I would like my people to claim the body."
"I cannot have it," the ambassador said.
"They'll be discreet," Gibbs promised. "The official word will be he was assassinated on the street." The ambassador thought for a moment before nodding his head. Gibbs dialed his phone and waited. "Ducky," he said when the call connected. "Bring an SUV to the Palestinian Embassy Garage. Yeah. Ahmad's been killed."
_.-~=]})*({[=~-._
Doctor Donald "Ducky" Mallard knelt beside the body and spread out the body bag. Such a terrible waste, he thought to himself. He motioned for his assistant, Jimmy Palmer to grab Ahmad's legs as he slipped his own hands under the shoulders. He started a bit and looked up to Gibbs.
"It's alright Duck," Gibbs said. "By dying, he helped get a monster off the streets."
Ducky nodded and strained as he and Jimmy shifted the body onto the bag. After closing the zipper most of the way, the two of them with the help of Gibbs lifted the bag onto the gurney for its journey to the garage and the waiting SUV. Gibbs and two embassy guards escorted the body and the medical examiners to the garage and helped slide the bag into the back of the SUV.
"Thank you gentlemen," Ducky said to the guards. "Your gurney made this task much easier."
"I'll meet you back at the office Duck," Gibbs said, returning upstairs with one of the guards. With the document in his pocket, Gibbs collected his weapon and left the embassy.
_.-~=]})*({[=~-._
Shawn Dukes read the headline again. "Son of Hamas Leader Slain in Street," it read. The report told of Ahmad al-Zuhri defecting to America and helping to heal the rift between Palestine and both America and Israel. It went on to claim that he was approached by a mugger in the middle of the night and shot to death prior to being robbed. DC Metro would be looking into the case, but no suspects were named. Dukes lowered the paper and looked across the table in shock and disbelief.
"How could you do this?" he asked.
"Safir needed to pay for his crimes," Gibbs said. "The embassy would not deny him immunity without Ahmad going there personally."
"You should have told me," Dukes said.
"Why?" Gibbs asked. "So you could try to talk him out of it?"
"Yes!"
"Wouldn't have worked. Safir betrayed Ahmad. He betrayed Islam, and he caused untold pain to those children."
"Well," Dukes said with tears rolling down his face. "Now you have him on his way to prison. I hope you are happy. When I heard Dr. Mallard tell Tony Ahmad was dead, I nearly died myself."
"I'm sorry," Ahmad said to him. "There really was no time."
"What if she had shot you in the head?"
"I broke her heart," Ahmad explained. "She wanted justice for that."
"If I had lost you," Dukes said. "I would have…"
"I think that's what Magdala is hoping for," Gibbs interjected.
"What do you mean?" Ahmad asked.
"Here's a copy of tomorrow's headline," Gibbs said sliding a piece of paper across to them.
"Celebrated Marine Commits Suicide," the headline read.
"What?" both Ahmad and Dukes asked simultaneously.
"The reasons won't be given," Gibbs said. "But Magdala will know. You're both dead and she won't have any reason to come look for you." The two men looked at each other, then back to Gibbs. "You'll finish giving your information to the State Department via a CIA handler. You'll be given new identities and placed in a secure location where you can live happily ever after."
Both men looked at Gibbs in wonder. Ahmad breathed a sigh of relief as he leaned back and contemplated the beauty of the situation. He swore before God that if he and Dukes ever adopted, it would be a boy they would name Jethro. Gibbs smiled at them as the news sank in and stood up to leave. On his way out, his cellphone rang.
"Gibbs," he said, answering the unknown number.
"You cost me a five million dollar bounty," the woman said to him with a German accent.
"Why don't you come by and I'll make good on it," he said.
"Don't worry," she said. "I'll see you some day." She disconnected the call and he continued his trip to the bullpen.
"I'll keep a light on for ya," he said. As he rounded the corner he saw Tony and McGee at work at their desks, putting the finishing touches on their reports. From the corner of his eye, he saw Abby coming down the hall and he turned to intercept her.
"Gibbs," she said, coming up short.
"Abs," he said.
"Am I about to get my first Gibbs slap?"
"Why? Do you deserve one?"
"I'm sorry I kept this a secret," she said. "I just, well, you guys were busy, and this was really important to me, and I had Ziva-"
"Abs," Gibbs said, stopping her before she got wound too tight. "I'm not mad." She smiled at him and he almost hated continuing. "I am hurt that you didn't at least let me know. You are too important to me to be taking those kinds of risks and nothing else is too important for me not to be concerned about you."
Gibbs hated seeing the tears falling from her eyes, more so because he had put them there. He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. "Don't ever scare me like that again." He whispered. He felt her nod and then smiled as he asked, "Did you at least get Tony a picture of Ziva in her habit?" Her muffled laugh heralded the arrival of the elevator and the two of them got on together.