Disclaimer: no legal rights to NCIS, no money being made.

Beta: Mike91848. So all mistakes are mine.

Warning: Same as chapter one

CHAPTER 28

I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE, I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE, I AM THE MASTER OF MY...I AM

Previously on NCIS

Excerpts from an interview at NCIS

"I was...unhinged. That person that had been following me around I found out through my own resources that he was hired by a woman, a young woman with long dark hair and dark eyes, maybe a Fed, I don't know. Therefore, I needed to get out of DC, disappear.

Anthony DiNozzo, Senior

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McGee's attention was again fixed on his taciturn partner Tony DiNozzo as they drove back to the navy yard. He cleared his throat feeling uncomfortable and trying to think of something to say to ease the tension generated by his stiff partner. Tim didn't think it was the shooting of his father that had the man so closed off.

"What do you think is going on, Tony? Attempted assassination, your father, a mysterious woman hiring tails, perps hired for distraction, make believe...who knows what to believe...and not only that, what're we going to tell Gibbs?"

"Stop it, McGee, you're prattling." The words were rough but underneath DiNozzo sounded amused, pure Tony, and his stiff posture had relaxed as he turned the last corner into the navy yard and found the assigned parking space. Tony observed almost idly as he turned the engine off, "Looks like Gibbs is back."

The bullpen appeared crowded. It was late and the lights were dimmed though the TV was on and the plasma screen blinked the late night news. Vance stood beside Tony's desk while Fornell sat in his chair. Ziva was perched on the edge of her desk and Gibbs stood behind his as they all watched the broadcast. And it wasn't the first time they'd seen it based on Gibbs' stormy face as he switched the TV off the minute the two agents appeared off the elevator.

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"What in blazes do you two think you were doing?" Gibbs started off softly but obviously furious to those in the know though the man hadn't raised his voice. Director Vance who was on his way up to MTAC glared in surly silence at the two delinquent agents but was letting Gibbs take the lead.

Tony had planned his strategy during the ride back. The boss and Vance didn't seem happy but what exactly had he and Tim done wrong here? What was Gibbs on a tear about? If Gibbs had been here, what would he have done differently? Okay, granted, he had acted on a hunch that Senior would be at the hotel and that Senior hadn't told all he knew but Gibbs acted on his gut's advice all the time.

Tony looked over at McGee and knew he wasn't going to get any help from that source as the man was biting his lip and looking nervous. Ziva's pretend sympathetic mien was evident because he was expecting it and the sly grin that came and went as he and McGee were getting reamed out made Tony all the more determined to gird himself for a fight and shore up his defenses. He was not giving up this case until Marcus Arroyo and his family were vindicated!

Gibbs and Vance could fire him after that and Fornell, whose body language was noncommittal and whose face gave nothing away as he sat talking quietly on his cell phone, could rescind his offer of a job, or he would just make it easy on everyone and quit, but not now, not yet.

Tony threw his bag behind his desk then turned to face Gibbs' steely, blue-eyed, piercing stare.

"Look, Gibbs, I know how my father's mind works. I took a chance that he would be at the hotel and thought I could get him to reveal what he really knew about the ex-senator that could help us find him. He..."

"I told you to stay here at your desk, DiNozzo and I thought I made myself clear. Instead, I find you and McGee clowning around on the eleven o'clock news.

Gibbs' glare switched to Tim as McGee opened his mouth to defend, "Gibbs, it wasn't like that, we..."

Gibbs wouldn't let him finish the sentence either, at this point not interested in hearing any excuses. He was ex-military marine and had given his orders.

"Can it, McGee unless you think DiNozzo's in charge now! Since when do you go off half-cocked leaving the rest of us chasing our tails trying to figure out what in the hell is going on? Now your father is shot up in the hospital and the undercover operator is locked up in NCIS' jail!"

"What?!" DiNozzo's open mouth astonishment would have been funny if circumstances had been different but no one was laughing.

"Did it ever occur to you that chain-of-command is in place for a reason, DiNozzo?"

"What are you saying, Gibbs? Of course I know what chain of..."

Gibbs interrupted again as though Tony hadn't spoken, "Because what I'm seeing here is that if you had followed the chain of command and contacted me before you took on this fool stunt you would have known that we had a man in place, an undercover agent who's now sitting in jail with his cover blown!" Gibbs' loud voice vibrated with fury as he got up in the younger agent's face.

Tony kept his gaze fixed on Gibbs' face without flinching and with some effort but much to his chagrin he felt a blush creeping up, talk about a sucker punch. In Gibbs' Invisible Book of Rules apologizing was a sign of weakness, an apology which Tony would have made for his apparent blunder if Gibbs had chipped in first with an, 'I'm sorry for leaving you, who obviously can not be trusted, out of the loop.' Since that wasn't going to happen until the pigs booked their own flight, Tony just got angry.

"Yeah, Gibbs, a fool stunt, alright, I can see that. A fool stunt you made easy, yeah, must be cause your pointy finger's out of whack since you couldn't pick up a phone to dial this fool that a sting was going on!"

Their argument had escalated and there were eyewitnesses a plenty. Tony's voice had risen 'til he was yelling and he and Gibbs were going at it toe to toe. Tim watched and had wished at times he had it in him to fight their way, loud and alpha for whatever was right at the moment and damn the consequences. It was something he could never do with his father in charge and wishful thinking aside it wasn't really his style, he who was more of a reason and compromise kind of guy. So he would do what he did better, stand by and wait for them to wind down and stand near in case things escalated to blows.

Ziva welcomed the argument in jubilant anticipation. If this had been Mossad, Tony would have been slapped down so hard by this time and not by a mere tap on the back of the head. The firing squad brigade would have been justifiable punishment for disrespecting his superior officer in such a manner in front of witnesses.

She waited, almost holding her breath, for Gibbs' next words of, 'you're fired!' or Tony's petulantly childish and defiant, 'I quit!'

"Gentlemen!" Surprisingly, it was Fornell's mild voice speaking, not Vance's. "If I may be so bold and now that you've got that out of your system, give me a call, Gibbs, when you figure out your next move." He knuckled DiNozzo's desk twice and gave him a wink before rising from his chair and strolling away to the elevator.

In the awkward tense silence that followed Gibbs turned away from DiNozzo shoulders straight and seething in stride back to his desk where he retrieved his lukewarm coffee with stiff fingers, leaving impressions in the cup as he drained the rest of the brew.

"Going for coffee," he stated then gathered his gun and badge and left after Fornell.

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I feel the accusing eyes of McGee and especially Ziva staring holes in my back as I turn to my desk now that it's free of FBI Agent Fornell. Shit! A sting on my father and no one thought I might be interested? Gibbs I get, he doesn't share free air, but Fornell? Thought he was a friend but he didn't give me a heads up, either?

McGee finally relaxes enough to sit down but he still gives me an, 'I told you,' beady-eyed stare that spoke volumes of his downward spiral opinion of me before turning to his best friend computer.

"I am sure that Gibbs will fill you in when he gets back, Tony. I would not take it personally if I were you."

Of course you wouldn't, Ziva! "So why don't you read us in so McGee and I can be on the same page when Gibbs does get back."

"Oh, I do not think that would be proper, you must realize the chain of command is there for a reason and as the lead investigator, it dictates that Gibbs briefs you..."

I tuned out to her lesson in protocol that she had the nerve to quote to me but never abided by herself and even McGee gave a snort of derision quickly covered by a phony cough at her two-facedness. Even so, she heard him and glared a ball of spitfire his way. She wasn't through with me yet though, either. Ignoring her was easy, I just turned to my computer and showed her my back but that isn't stopping her. She got up from her seat and leisurely strolled to my desk where I sat contemplating my future or lack of one as I pulled up the case and retrieved my notes.

"You know, Tony, in Mossad, one is given a warning once, then, Boom!" She raised her voice and slapped the desk purportedly to grind in her point but more than likely to force me to pay attention to her.

"Maybe I'll join Mossad, then. Think they'll have me?" It was lame but all I could come up with and she actually had the cojones to look insulted while laughing derisively.

"In Mossad, you would be eliminated at the gate where the castrated male bulls are kept, Tony, before they even left the pen."

What! For the life of me, I can't decipher the idioms, and aren't all bulls male? But she had a point. I'm not worthy of Mossad, I got that. Fornell has probably written me off as a loser after this last fiasco, and Gibbs? Well, after that look he gave me, he wasn't keeping me around either. Oh, hell, who cares, I am what I am, take it or leave it.

I still had the money from the trust fund my father hadn't been able to get his hands on and some other savings. I'd get by until I found other work.

And speaking of my father, who wants him dead so badly, and why? There's something going on below the surface of what's going on. Some hidden factor I'm not assessing, some memory. And it has to do with Senior and Drury in some obscure way.

Hey, what is this? I found something in my notes that senior had said that warranted follow up...'his stalker was hired by a woman, a young woman with long dark hair and dark eyes, maybe a Fed. Therefore, I needed to get out of DC, disappear.'

I'd share this with Ziva, give her something else to focus on and maybe shut her up about my inadequacies.

"You know, Ziva, Senior mentioned the woman who hired someone to stalk him had long dark hair and dark eyes and maybe had an association with a Federal agency. Maybe Mossad. That could be you..."

Tony turned to a suddenly quiet Ziva and was surprised to face empty air. Ziva had dropped her pen and bent down to retrieve it and when she got up, her face was red from the exertion. She turned to go back to her desk, throwing over her shoulder, "That is nonsense, Tony, many woman look like that." And if Tony didn't know better, he could swear she sounded quite breathless.

"True, but you..."

"DiNozzo! Take David and go pick up your father, he's ready to be released. He'll be transferred from here to a safe house."

Tony figuratively banged his head against his desk. Was this punishment? First Ziva David now DiNozzo, Senior! And he had been so preoccupied he hadn't heard Gibbs storm back to his desk with his phone to his ear. Surprisingly, even Ziva jumped at his bark.

Tony briefly thought of telling Gibbs to send someone else to pick up the basta...Senior, and he'd prefer a trained monkey and its monkey noises as a partner rather than Ziva's ongoing litany of trash talk but the thought lasted as long as it took to blink twice. He grabbed his bag and a set of keys and started towards the elevator without comment.

Ziva, looking annoyed at having to practically trot after Tony to make the elevator, stared spitefully at his back as she caught up and entered the lift before him. The elevator door closed on the unhappy pair and the atmosphere remained stonily silent on Tony's part on the ride to the hospital although Ziva made a few quirky remarks she must have thought were entertaining but she seemed distracted too and Tony couldn't have been happier.

When they arrived at the hospital Tony stopped at the nurse's station for the release papers then growled under his breath when he entered Senior's room and heard the hated voice.

"And who is this lovely lady?" Senior sat on the hospital bed fully clothed with a sling around his left arm. A sack of what could only be medication was on the bed at his side.

"I am Officer Ziva David." She greeted warmly. "Tony and I work together at NCIS. It is good to meet you, Mr DiNozzo." She reached over to shake his hand, which he captured in both of his and patted intimately. "The pleasure, my dear, is all mine."

Tony grated out, "You ready? Oh, and by the way, there's still an assassin out there so don't give me reason to leave your sorry carcass in the street."

The older man's smarmy grin had left his face the minute Tony entered the room and now it was replaced with a sinister smile and his eyes narrowed to slits but his blue-veined, wrinkled hand still held onto Ziva's possessively. Without further comment, Senior gathered his paper bag and stood up as a nurse entered with a wheelchair. He held onto Ziva as he shakily made his way to the chair and sat down, which was surely a grand, pitiable performance Tony thought and Ziva fell for it hook, line and ball sinker as Ziva had once said.

Senior looked at Tony out of the corner of his eye as he leaned back in the chair and couldn't hold back the putdowns. "Baby sitter and taxi service, Anthony?" No one could possibly mistake the mockery and ill-will and Ziva's laugh confirmed she was in total agreement.

"Tony has committed several mistakes today and our boss has placed him out in the hourglass," she felt obligated to admit.

Senior, looking confused, asked, "Out in the hourglass, my dear?"

"Yes, surely you must know. A rambunctious, disobedient child sitting in a chair in a corner facing the wall until the hourglass runs out as a punishment," she prompted, as she bent down to place one foot on the wheelchair footrest.

"Ah, how quaintly you express yourself, Officer David, although I found that a razor strop worked wonders and much faster to get one's point across," Senior stated, his voice going as frosty as his eyes were cold.

"But enough of that, Officer David, or may I call you Ziva? I'd much rather talk about your hourglass figure, certainly no punishment to the eye of any red-blooded, honest-to-goodness male." He eyed her backside appreciatively as she bent to place his other foot in the rest.

"Hasn't Junior here made a move on you yet?"

Ziva laughed and added a little extra wiggle to her hips as she stood. She patted Senior's shoulder coyly as they shared the joke. Ziva David wasn't fooled by the old coot, they played the same game, but here was a source of new fodder for her ambitions. Keeping a low profile at work was cumbersome and unfairly restrictive because in Mossad she was the privileged daughter and encouraged to not hold back by affection and indulgence from her father and the fear of retribution from her father caused pause to those who did not hold her on the same grand scale.

But she had another reason to keep an eye on him. The woman Tony mentioned, they were back on that again and if they kept digging they would eventually find out the truth. She had almost lost her lunch today and felt faint at Tony's so casual mention of the woman's appearance. How had she messed up so badly? She'd give Senior her number, perhaps cook a meal, offer a drink, then hopefully, he would pass out. He was probably too old for anything else but knowing his ego, he would have an abundant supply of male enhancement medication in his luggage. She could deal with that, too. Ziva's dire thoughts and plans were interrupted by Tony's impatient voice.

"If you're finished fussing with the chair then lets go," Tony said as he stood at the door holding it open. "And by the way, you have the right to remain silent. Feel free to use your right."

Senior ignored the advise and kept up an ongoing commentary as they made their way down to the first floor lobby where FBI men in black waited to escort them back to the navy yard. The pretty nurse who had pushed the wheelchair winked at Senior and wished him a speedy recovery and they were quickly out the door and in the NCIS sedan.

Tony drove and was extremely relieved that Ziva chose to sit in the back seat with Senior so the Frick and Frack team could keep each other company and out of his way. Ziva's motive for cozying up to Senior was unclear, pick Senior's brain about blackmail material she could plague Tony with? But Tony wasn't worried, there were no little tidbits Senior could possibly share with anyone about Tony growing up except those that could get him thrown in jail.

But lack of any relative information from Senior only left Ziva feeling frustrated and annoyed though her feelings were well-hidden under a coquettish smile and phony attentiveness to the old man that went right over the vile windbag's head. Anthony DiNozzo, Sr was not a nice man but she'd seen and played worse. She would make use of him yet.

They made it back to the navy yard where they lost the FBI escort with a quick goodbye wave as they sped away. Senior and Ziva's wordy seductive games in the back seat continued until Tony parked the car and opened his door.

"So, we're back at the Navy yard, I see. What's this about Anthony? You were pretty arrogant last time we met," and Senior chuckled confidently as he leaned back in his seat. "Obviously, you were overruled by your betters. Overstepped your authority? Figures. Tried doing things on your own and failed? Your bosses took offense at your high handed treatment of me? You still have a job, Anthony?" Senior's voice was rapid, staccato, in charge. But the man's cutting remarks were ignored and there were no signs that Tony even heard him as he opened the back door.

"Get out!" Tony ordered, but when it appeared Senior was going to play stubborn, Tony leaned in and warned, "You really don't want to make me help you get out, do you?"

Tony smiles but it's bitter and vindictive as though 'try me and see what happens' is at the forefront of it. They eye each other carefully and Senior suddenly realizes, here's a man with no fear and no reason to extend mercy. Tony knew all his tricks and his eyes could not be blinded.

Without another word Senior climbs out of the car and steps away from Tony. "Ziva, my lovely," Senior effused as she came around the car. "Perhaps when this travesty is over, you and I might dine together some evening..."

Tony walked a few steps behind them and called McGee. "Let the boss know we're on our way up, McGee, thanks," and he hung up and followed the other two into the elevator.

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"Um, Boss, Gibbs? Tony's on his way up with Senior." McGee cleared his throat then got up from his desk and approached Gibbs who was sitting at his desk sifting through some files that looked suspiciously like the files of NCIS agents and didn't look up.

"What'd ya want, McGee?"

"Boss, I did tell Tony several times to call you and see what you wanted us to do but he wouldn't listen."

"Yeah, so what are you saying, McGee, that exonerates you for disobeying orders?"

"No!" McGee gulped, "Of course not, Boss. I just wanted to say that I'm as much to blame as Tony and any reprimand you see fit to discipline him with should also go in my permanent record, if I still have a job, that is?" And he glances suspiciously at the files Gibbs is going through so diligently.

When Gibbs didn't respond and still hadn't lifted his head McGee finished what he wanted to say anyway. "I could have picked up the phone but I made the decision to follow him and...so, I'm just as responsible as he is. You..."

"You've made your point, McGee, get back to work."

"On it, Boss." But before McGee could take a step, Gibbs finally lifted his head and looked him directly in the eye. Apparently, he had something to say himself.

"Rule number one, McGee, good rule to follow."

"Uh, rule number one, uh, of course, Boss." And McGee hastily sought his desk to check his rule book. Number One, he read, never leave suspects together or the other number one, never screw over your partner. Okay, that was obvious and when he looked back at Gibbs was there a glimmer of approval in his eyes before he looked back down at his files?

A commotion at the elevator doors drew Tim's attention away from his moment of euphoria at Gibbs sort of praise and revealed Senior and Ziva walking out of the elevator together and laughing. Tony followed behind blandly, too bland. Under that insipid non-expression, McGee could almost sense his partner's disgust and extreme annoyance. Tony reached the bullpen and placed Senior's hospital release papers on his desk before turning to Gibbs.

"Here's your prisoner with release papers, Gibbs, safe and sound. Where do you want him?"

"Fornell's men will be here shortly to take him to a safe house, DiNozzo. In the meantime he can sit in one of the unoccupied conference rooms."

"Right," said Tony. "Fornell using him as bait again? Ha, hope it works better than the last time."

Tony turned to Senior and pointed to the right with his thumb. "Follow me, please, we'll try and get you comfortable. Not of the Adams House caliber but you'll be comfortable enough on the lumpy cot provided." Tony smirked as he made a shooing motion but Senior was having none of it.

"Hold on, just hold on! No one is taking me anywhere until I know what's going on!" Senior said indignantly.

"You didn't tell him, DiNozzo?"

"Nah, didn't see the need."

"This all a joke to you, Tony? Why don't you share the humor with the rest of us."

"No, no joke, Gibbs, just following orders to bring him in," Tony said politely. "Not my job to inform or interrogate or even have a thought of my own but did read him his rights to remain silent."

Gibbs' eyes narrowed as he watched Tony herd Senior under verbal protest to one of the conference rooms. 'Have a thought of his own?'...was that Tony's way of bawling him out for their earlier confrontation? He'd seen the look the agent had given him when he ordered him to take Ziva and go pick up Senior. If looks could kill, but he hadn't said anything just grabbed his bag and left.

Gibbs couldn't figure the guy out. He thought for sure DiNozzo would bail and Ziva would come back with Senior alone but here he was still running off at the mouth, unrepentant. DiNozzo couldn't be that complicated. He hated his father, no one could miss that, and his father hated him. He disobeyed an order to stay put at his desk and an operation was compromised. Granted, that assassin's bullet with Senior's name on it couldn't be blamed on Tony, it was set in motion way before Tony came into the picture.

Gibbs' main issue was the chain of command, either you had it with your men or you didn't. There could be only one leader and on his team, he was it. If the man couldn't accept that then good riddance. Let him run to Fornell and be his pain in the ass.

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