Finally. Wasn't sure I was ever going to get past this chapter. Many sincere hanks to everyone who has reviewed and cheered me on, both guests and signed in. I'm hoping to wrap up in a few more chapters and go back to some of my other stories I've left hanging.

Short...Read through, not beta'd.

Knowing that Tony was somewhere in the building, injured and bleeding, made Gibbs' usual fierce demeanor seem like that of a mellow 1960's flower child. He had suggested that everyone but the director and the teams searching for Tony be cleared from the building and infrared scanning be used to locate his missing agent, but he was gently reminded by his Director that there were teams working on important cases, and they would remain in their work areas unless there was an emergency evacuation.

Rene Benoit was still securely ensconced in MTAC, being brought a high-end dinner and drinks until security could figure out a way to safely move him to a safe house. He had asked to see DiNozzo, and seemed irritated when he was told the young man was unavailable.

"He is not hurt, I never laid a hand on him." the Frog defended. "He was angry with me, but why would he not want to visit with me for a while?"

"Something unexpected has come up," the Director explained cryptically, "and I'm sure he would rather be here than where he is now."

"What are you not telling me, To-mas?"

Morrow sighed lightly, trying to decide what and how much to tell the modern-day pirate.

"We're having problems getting you out of here because I can't even allow you outside of MTAC. Agent DiNozzo is missing, and it's our belief that Jenny Shepard is in the building and holding him hostage, presumably in exchange for you."

Benoit looked surprised, but not frightened and settled down in the chair a bit.

"Well, that does complicate matters, does it not? But you will apprehend her, before Anthony is injured?"

"He's already injured. There was blood in the elevator he was last seen walking into."

"And she knows every inch of her domain, and most likely has lackeys on the inside to do her bidding."

"If she does you can bet it's not their choice, no one would willingly take her side against Jethro Gibbs, especially where DiNozzo is concerned."

"Yes, I know about the relationship between the two of them. It is good that Anthony has a protector such as Gibbs, though he doesn't believe he is worthy of calling the man his papa."

"You know all this from a four hour ride with him? Because I can't imagine that he would have laid bare his soul to you of all people."

Benoit smiled benignly at the mild insult.

"He was very quiet and quite nervous for the entire drive. I have been investigating him just as his boss – his former boss – has been investigating me. I would not have paid him any mind, had I not found out that the next step in his journey was to seduce my daughter. I would have had to shoot him myself, but common sense won out that Shepard would stop at nothing to get to me, and just send another agent to do her bidding. I cannot have my daughter harmed in any way due to my business dealings. She knows nothing of what I do, and even worse than her finding out my actual activities would be to have someone pretend to be in love with her and then break her heart when he is forced to confess his identity. And she would fall for Anthony, he is charming and very smart; so better to end it now, before it actually begins."

"Well, Rene, no one is happier than I am about your decision, but until we get Shepard under control, you're stuck here. And I'm afraid our accommodations are hopelessly lacking from what you're used to."

"I have been caught in worse circumstances, believe me. Perhaps we can invent a ruse of some sort to lure Ms. Shepard out of hiding."

"I can't ask you to do that, Rene. I appreciate the offer, though. We have teams searching the building and the Yard, there's no evidence she's left the vicinity."

"Agent Gibbs will make sure of that. I would not want to be Ms. Shepard when he finds her."

"What makes you say that, Rene?"

"Because I not only thoroughly investigated Anthony, but his associates, as well. I know all there is to know about them, perhaps much more than what is in their personnel files."

'Of course you did', thought Morrow. Probably has contacts in NSA..

"It would seem that Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo are a perfect match. They both found in each other what they didn't even know they were looking for, and that bond is unbreakable, in spite of Agent Gibbs' temporary amnesia. He remembers it all now, how he left his son in the care of someone he thought could be trusted and she betrayed him the moment he turned his back on her by using Anthony as a sacrificial lamb. Now she has committed the ultimate sin, one he will not be able to forgive her for. It will not matter that she is a woman, nor an ex-lover. He is a man on as much of a mission as she is."

...

"Okay. You can do this, Anthony. It's not deep, just bleeding like a stuck pig. Whatever the hell that means. You're still in the building. At least I think you are. 'Cause you were gone somewhere else for a while...yeah..you were gone to Stillwater. I think you were having breakfast … Yup. Breakfast with Grandpa Jack. My new BFF...

He didn't know if he was talking out loud or to himself, but he could hear voices. It took him a while to decide that they weren't his. They were female voices. Two of them. Arguing. Great, that's all he needed, to lie bleeding to death listening to two women quarreling. He couldn't make out all of it, and wasn't sure if it was distance or the wavy, in and out feeling his head was making his ears do. Something about no one getting hurt...well, too late for that little concern. Calming his breathing, he strained to hear them, perhaps find out where he was.

"I never planned on him being an idiot!" Jenny Shepard's voice hissed back to Michelle Lee's unhappy complaint. "It wasn't like I could let him take it away from me!"

Oh yeah. Jenny. Her silencer. Sweet little piece of weaponry for a woman who was supposedly rabid about bringing in an arms dealer. He had made a dumb move to get it away from her before things went way too sideways for all of them, and she had jerked back the trigger with barely a touch and shot him.

By the shocked look in her eyes, he could tell that it had been totally unplanned and unintentional. A flash of regret rippled through them, but he couldn't tell if it was for hurting him, or what Gibbs was going to do to her when he found out what she'd done.

"Why do you have him the first place, isn't my sister enough for you, aren't I enough leverage for you?"

Sister? Michelle has a sister? She had been TAD on his team for a while, but like the other temps, had been run off by the terrible twosome that was his team. What had ever made him think he could be their team leader, or make them listen to him? He should have taken Fornell's offer and run like Forrest Gump to the Hoover Building. So what happened to Lee's sister? And why was timid, nervous, by the law-book Lee caught up in this mayhem?

"Leverage? You really think they'd trade the Frog for you? What sort of crap did DiNozzo feed you when you were on his team?"

"He's not any more important than I am, you know how many people here think he's a royal ass?"

Well, that wasn't pleasant to hear. But at least I have an idea of where I am now.

"It doesn't matter if the entire agency and the FBI think he's an ass, he's Jethro's ass, and Jethro will make sure he gets him back, even if it means grabbing Benoit himself and bringing him to me!"

WTF?

"Are you completely nuts? He doesn't have any power to get Benoit, the man's probably not even in the building anymore!" Lee's voice was rising to a desperate shriek. "Like, on his way to Barbados or something! And if he is still here, he's got so many MP s and bodyguards around him there's no getting to him!"

"Enough! You're not part of this operation, Lee, you're here to help me, not argue the logistics of it!"

Tony wasn't sure if he was hearing things correctly, or perhaps just not understanding them right. Or maybe he was dreaming them. He had no way of really knowing, except his side felt like it was on fire, so he kind of thought he was mostly awake. Not only did his ex-director think Gibbs could get to Benoit and drag the man to his doom at her hands, she thought his boss thought enough of him to do something that wild and crazy to rescue him. No man left behind didn't count in this situation, Tony was pretty sure of that. Jen would be considered a terrorist at this point, and no government agency legitimately made deals with them. Besides, it didn't matter what Gibbs thought of Tony, Lee was right, the man had no possible way to access the arms dealer. Benoit was either still safely tucked away up in MTAC, or like Lee said, on his way to a balmy isle under another identity and the protection of NCIS and probably half a dozen other alphabet agencies. Lucky man..Tony sighed to himself. Either place he's probably being served expensive scotch and big, juicy steaks.

"What difference does it make, it's all pointless, and he's going to die for nothing!" Lee had started to pace with her ranting, her arms flailing out from her sides in her frustration and fear. "You want that on your head on top of everything else? You won't get to walk away from that like you did from the shit you pulled while Gibbs was gone!"

Tony let them argue and lost track of what they were saying. He really didn't care, none of it was applicable to getting himself out of wherever he was and away from the whack job of an ex-director. And something was wrong with Lee's sister, too, the red head was using her to get Lee to do her bidding, Tony was certain of it. Lee could be sassy, and a little bid odd, but so could three-quarters of the employees there, and that didn't make them willing accessories to criminal acts. Gathering his wits a bit more, and clearing his head from the sniping going on beyond him, he breathed in a familiar smell. He realized he'd been breathing it in the entire time, he just hadn't been with it enough to think about it. Medicinal on top of strong cleansers on top of that all too familiar smell of death that lingered there no matter what was scrubbed and sterilized. Autopsy. Where the hell was Ducky, if that crazy bitch laid a finger on him, Tony would gladly shoot her himself.

Think..what time is it? When did you get back from Stillwater and how long were you in the Director's personal lounge with Gibbs? Think! It was morning, around 10:00 hours when you left the store with Benoit, then it took you, what, four and a half, maybe five hours to...Geezus, DiNozzo, why in hell don't you look at your damned phone and find out? Or your antique clock, the one on your wrist? He felt around in his pockets; they were all empty. Phone's gone. Okay. Wrist, then. Jeeze, how can anyone be expected to read those tiny numbers when you were half-conscious? 18:40 something. Ducky would have gone home if there were no pending cases for him to work on.

And there was no mention of him in the argument between Jenny and Lee. Jenny had made sure Ducky would be gone before breaking in there to use the place as her personal fortress. It was a big room. And they wouldn't have turned anything else on for worry of attracting attention to themselves, but even so, it would be dimly lit with the usual small back lights that Ducky always left on. So why was it so damned dark? And come to think of it, the air was getting pretty stale besides.

Crap. They stuffed me in one of Ducky's drawers.