Hi guys! this is the next chapter. Hope you like. Still don't own any of the characters or NCIS.
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Gibbs stopped abruptly when he reached the lobby. He stared at the man in front of him, and then looked at the white haired man standing near the bag screener. He strode directly towards him, avoiding the gaze of the other man.
"Cal!"
"Hello Agent Gibbs!" The white haired man took Gibbs' outstretched hand in a firm hand shake.
"This is the man?" Gibbs jilted his head in the direction of the man, who now leaned against one of the chairs.
"Yes. That's him." Cal nodded and glanced over Gibbs' shoulder at the man.
Gibbs nodded in reply and turned to face the man who stood upright when he caught Gibbs' gaze. Gibbs eyed him fiercely. The man was clean shaven, he had custom tailored clothes and looked a bit gaunt, as if he hadn't eaten in a couple of days. The man took a few steps so that he stood just in front of him, then extended his arm.
"Agent Gibbs! How good it is to see you!"
Gibbs stared straight into his eyes, ignoring his extended hand.
"Kort"
Gibbs addressed him sharply without breaking his gaze. The man pulled back his arm and slid his hand into the pocket of his black suit pants.
"Or should I call you Richard Kehlahli?"
Trent Kort smiled, causing the skin to wrinkle around his mouth.
"No, Agent Gibbs. I just knew it would get your attention."
"Well you've got it. What do you want?"
"Lucas Tope. He's being watched by the CIA."
"Being watched? Or under Protection?"
Kort shifted his weight onto one foot and leaned closer to Gibbs.
"Can we go upstairs? Somewhere more private?"
Gibbs looked around and then back at Kort.
"I think it's fine down here."
"Gibbs, I am on your side, I have information on Tope, do you want it or not?"
Gibbs bit his lip hard and then grabbed Kort's shoulder and guided him towards the elevator.
Cal quickly pressed the button for the elevator as he saw Gibbs and Kort approach.
The moment the doors slid closed in front of Gibbs and Kort, Gibbs flicked the emergency switch and turned to Kort.
"Information. Now."
Abby, McGee and Ziva were still reeling from Gibbs' abrupt departure. Abby was the first to speak.
"Did he just say 'Richard Kehlalhi'?
McGee nodded very slowly still watching the door. "I think he did."
McGee turned back to the computer.
"But, Abby, Richard Kehlalhi is making a call right now. In Arlington."
Abby's head whipped around to look at McGee.
"What?"
Ziva joined McGee at the computer.
"He's calling Gibbs!" McGee looked at Ziva and then to Abby.
"You two stay here. I'll warn Gibbs."
She made her way to the door but felt a hand grab her arm and pull her back.
"No Ziva."
She tried to struggle free from Abby's grip but McGee grabbed hold of her as well.
"Gibbs will be okay. It's you we have to protect."
"So you're saying that Tope pretended to be someone else so that he had the protection of the CIA."
"Yes."
"And you only just realised that?"
"About four months ago actually. I had my suspicions before that though." Kort leaned against the wall of the elevator and stroked his chin. Gibbs felt his phone buzz in his pocket, but ignored it.
"So Richard Kehlalhi is his alias?"
"More like 'one of' his aliases, Agent Gibbs"
Gibbs glared at Kort, who pretended not to notice.
"That is the one that he uses the most."
Gibbs shifted his gaze to the elevator doors.
"And he's after Ziva."
Gibbs' airy statement, confused Kort. It didn't really have anything to do with Lucas Tope's aliases, but he knew that this was Gibbs' way of getting to the point. He looked around the elevator – they had been in there for about 20 minutes. He looked at Gibbs. He and Gibbs had been involved in many of the same cases, whether they liked it or not. Kort was fond of Gibbs, in a working type of way. He was a man that was true to his word, he was honest and always knew what to do. If they had met under better circumstances, then maybe they would be friends. It was all because of Jenny Shepard that they had met. She had been so determined to bring La Grenouille down that she had mixed her agents with his associates. Kort was startled out of his thoughts when Gibbs turned to face him – his blue eyes piercing through him.
"Why is he after Ziva?"
Kort considered this and looked at the ceiling.
"He was involved in Hamas, and in the- "
"Another thing you just found out?"
Kort smiled and scratched his neck before continuing.
"He was captured and tortured by Mossad"
Gibbs nodded.
"Ahh."
"One of Ari Haswari's associates, actually"
"And let me guess, he wants revenge for Ari's death?"
"Ah. Now you're thinking along the right lines."
"How do you know this?"
"He told me agent Gibbs"
Gibbs glared at Kort making him feel a little bit uncomfortable.
"You know where he is?"
"Not right now, no."
"But you can contact him?"
Kort hesitated.
"He's not under your protection anymore! He's threatened one of my agents and I sure as hell don't want to lose her! Tell me where he is, dammit!"
Gibbs banged his fist against the elevator wall and turned his back on Kort.
"I don't know where he is, Gibbs."
"Don't give me this b – " Kort glanced at his watch.
"But I know where he will be in 10 minutes"
Gibbs spun around.
"He is or, he will be camped in a building across the road."
The elevator sprung to life with the flick of the switch.
Tony woke once again to an empty room. He had been drifting in and out of sleep for a couple of hours and sometimes he didn't know which was real. He looked out his window, at the grey clouds rolling over, he watched as it started to rain, and the drops spattered onto his window. His shoulder started to ache and he tried to shift himself in to a more comfortable position. He realised that there was a TV mounted on the far wall and looked around for a remote until he spotted it on the arm of the chair next to him. He reached over, trying not to hurt himself too much but his arm didn't quite make it. He inched over a little bit and glanced up as one of the nurses walked in. She was tall and had long chocolate brown hair that was pulled into a loose pony tail. She smiled and reached over and grabbed the remote and passed it to Tony. Tony looked up at her and smiled back as he took the remote.
"Thanks"
"My pleasure. You're Tony DiNozzo, right?"
"Yeah." Tony smiled up at her.
"I'm Annie." Her dark blue eyes glittered as she shook his extended hand.
"Very nice to meet you, Annie."
Suddenly it hit DiNozzo. He realised that normally he would be chatting this girl up, using his injury and situation to his advantage, but he just wasn't interested. This caused a bit of a momentary panic but he knew that it was because he was looking for something different now and he had Ziva.
Annie smiled and twirled her pony tail around her finger.
"Did you want that on?" She pointed at the TV on the opposite wall.
"Ah yeah." Tony pressed the on button himself and switched the channel to the classic movies channel before he set the remote on the bed. As far as he was concerned, Nurse Annie could twirl her hair and bat her eyelids as much as she wanted so long as she didn't disturb him while he watched Gone with the Wind.
Abby paced backwards and forwards behind her desk.
"Why didn't he pick up, McGee?"
"Maybe because he thought it was us?" McGee started to smile but he glanced at Abby and judged by the look on her face, that it wasn't the right time to laugh.
"Abby I'm sure he is fine. He's probably in the elevator." Ziva was perched on the edge of the desk with Tony's personal effects, across from McGee. Abby bit her lip and looked at Ziva, with pleading eyes.
"Do you think so?"
"Yeah Abby, I'm sure he just didn't want to get interrupted." McGee and Ziva said in unison and then smiled.
"Damn Right," Gibbs grumbled as he appeared at the door. There was a blur of black and a jingle of chains and Gibbs was hit by the force of Abby's hug. He steadied himself and pushed Abby, who still clung to him, back towards her computer. McGee stiffened as Kort walked through the door and settled quietly behind Ziva.
"Abby, McGee, you need to watch Kehlalhi's phone and track him as best as you can. Keep us updated."
Gibbs extracted himself from Abby and strode over to Ziva and Kort.
"Ziva, you're with us"
Ziva nodded and looked behind her at Kort.
Gibbs turned to face Abby and McGee. He pointed at them.
"If the Director asks, tell him. Otherwise, keep it quiet."
Gibbs made it to the door with Ziva and Kort a step behind him. McGee quickly pulled up the phone records.
Gibbs, Ziva and Kort were out the front of the NCIS Building in less than two minutes. Kort pointed silently towards a building across the car park. Gibbs nodded and pointed towards the entrance to the base. He looked at Ziva and they both ran towards it, while Kort ran towards the building, his hand on his holster. Gibbs and Ziva crouched behind the small security hut at the entranced.
"Gibbs, what is happening?"
"We're taking this bastard down"
He focused on the building that Kort had just entered, waiting for the signal. Gibbs watched carefully and saw Kort push the door open a fraction and nod.
"On the count of three" He held three fingers up to Ziva. He grabbed his gun out of his holster with his other hand and dropped a finger, so that he only held two up. Ziva pulled her gun out as well and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes preparing for the attack. Her eyes fluttered open as she heard Gibbs whisper.
"One"
He looked into Ziva's eyes and nodded, pointing with two fingers the direction they were about to run. Suddenly Gibbs was up, he was hurtling across the car park towards the building. Ziva sprinted to catch up, cursing under her breath in Hebrew, annoyed that she had lagged behind. They reached the door to the building safely and Ziva went to push the door open but it sprung open before she touched it allowing them to go through. Kort was crouched behind the doors and quickly shut it when the two agents had squeezed inside.
"Status?" Gibbs breathed, watching the elevator doors carefully.
"He's up there" Kort looked up at the ceiling.
"Does he know?"
"I don't think so"
"What are we waiting for?"
Kort smiled and let out a few silent chuckles. Then he nodded, his face went dead serious and he took a few steps towards the emergency stairs doors. Gibbs shuffled over and crouched near the elevator.
"He will know we are taking the stairs, we should get as close as we can before we have to take them"
Kort shrugged and moved so that he was crouched next to Gibbs, he pressed the button. Ziva positioned herself so that she had clear shot of the elevator when it opened. Kort winced when the bell signalling the arrival of the lift sounded. The doors slid open. Four shots rang out around the Navy base.
Abby grabbed McGee's arm.
"McGee!" She looked up at him.
McGee bit his lip and typed something into the computer.
"There's nothing different. Why didn't Gibbs tell someone? The director…"
"McGee we have to see if they're okay!" McGee looked at Abby he could see her eyes starting to well up with tears.
"I, I can't Abby"
Director Vance ran to the building where the gunshots had been fired, his gun at the ready. Behind him, a team of agents secured the area. He rushed to the door and heaved it open.
"Vance"
Vance sighed and looked down at Gibbs who smiled up at him.
"Clear" He yelled to the team outside. Vance looked around, the scene was surprisingly normal except for the man who lay dead, wedged between the elevator doors. He holstered his gun and strode over to Gibbs.
"What happened?"
"He was in the elevator" Gibbs pointed to the dead man.
"David, was there" He pointed to the place where Ziva had been standing, in front of the elevator.
"He got one shot off. Missed. Hit that wall." He pointed to the wall opposite the elevator.
"Ziva fired three rounds into his chest" Gibbs nodded towards the dead man.
"So it was Kehlalhi?"
"Think so. Looks like him" Gibbs stood up and walked towards Kort who stood over the dead man.
"Yes. It is definitely him, Director Vance" Kort looked up.
The director looked around.
"And where is Officer David?"
Both Gibbs and Kort looked over to the emergency stairs door, which burst open.
"Nothing up there Gibbs"
Gibbs looked from Ziva to Vance.
Ziva spun around to see what Gibbs was looking up.
"Director" She looked down at her hands.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes I am fine Director"
Vance nodded.
"Good Job, David"
He turned on his heel and walked out.
"I'll have Ducky, collect the body. You will take the evidence and personal effects to Abby?"
Vance looked over his shoulder at Gibbs who nodded and then he pushed the door open and walked out.