Chapter Thirty Five

On the Big Fish: Friendly Fire

The three picked up their mattresses and returned them to their bunks then stopped and stared at each other. Tim spoke, "The only thing we haven't done is swab the deck. That will take a few minutes." The others nodded and finding their homemade mops, they took their metal buckets, filled them at the cistern and then cleaned the deck. The expressionless guards watched them, their weapons still trained on them. No one said a word.

XXX

When the launch reached the Sailfish, Gibbs was hustled off and up the ladder, guards in front and back of him. He saw Ducky and Ziva, on her crutches, from a distance and gave them a little wave. They looked at him in surprise and dismay, happy to see him but sorry that he too had been separated from the others and from the looks of it, forcibly separated.

Gibbs was escorted to the Captain's quarters where he saw that a video conference had been set up. He was offered a seat which he refused. He was boiling mad and wanted to hold onto his fury at their treatment. When the meeting started, one of the first persons he saw was Tobias Fornell and he blinked in relief. Tobias looked shell shocked and reached toward the screen. "Jethro, I…I'm happy to see you. Where are the others, I was told you were all alive."

"They were alive when I was forced from the ship, Tobias. They weren't invited here, Tobias, they're still being held prisoner on our ship."

"Forced from the ship...being held prisoner? That's not what we were told was happening!" Fornell turned to another familiar face, Tom Morrow. "Why are they being held prisoner? Why was Gibbs forced from his ship? They had nothing to do with being declared dead. Somebody at NCIS or the Navy obviously didn't know what the hell they were talking about, never bothered searching and then lied to us, to their families and friends. And now they're being held prisoner?"

Gibbs relaxed just a bit; it felt good to have someone on their side.

A voice spoke from the end of the table. "That was not our intent, gentlemen."

Gibbs recognized the voice, it was SecNav, but he couldn't actually see him. For the moment he decided to take advantage of that. "That's bullshit. We've been under armed guard at all times and when I say armed, I mean loaded weapons pointing in our faces; I was just ordered off my ship at gunpoint and my crew remaining on board were held back at gunpoint, again loaded weapons pointing in their faces, even though they hadn't done anything to resist. We have to ask permission to do anything, from fishing for our dinner to walking two feet to retrieve something from another person, to being allowed to pee in private. Last night we slept on deck because the officer in charge told us they would be patrolling our quarters the entire night. We didn't want to take the chance of one of us sneezing or snoring and being shot."

Burley glared at him but he ignored him, he didn't care, he wanted justice for his team. "We completed the original black op the Chimera crew was charged with and we're treated like we're the enemy. This is unacceptable. I have never been so disappointed in NCIS and the US Navy. Where's the Secretary, does he know what's going on?"

Davenport spoke, "I'm here Gibbs and you can stand down."

"I don't work for you anymore Admiral, I don't exist, I'm a dead man, how can I possibly stand down?"

Morrow spoke, "Jethro, if you'll give us a moment?" The screen went dark; Gibbs turned and faced away from Burley, so angry he was afraid if he looked at him he might raise a hand to him and he knew he wouldn't last more than a second before the bullets would fly.

Burley sighed and spoke. "Gibbs, I…"

Gibbs interrupted, "Spare me your bullshit too, I'm done listening. Give me David and Mallard and take us back to the Big Fish. Take the damn container and leave us alone. We'll get out of these waters and head back to our island. We're not putting up with this crap for another minute."

He spun on his heels and walked out the door, daring them to shoot him in the back. He found his two friends in the corridor, "Get your things, we're going back to the 'Fish and back to the island. We're not going to be prisoners here any longer."

Neither moved; looking down he saw that they already had their stuff with them. He reached out to take Ziva's bags but Ducky stopped him, "No, give them to me, I'll carry them, you carry Ziva, it'll be faster that way."

They walked through the corridor to the outer deck without being challenged. Reaching the launch he'd arrived in, the young crewmen took their bags and helped them in, obviously having received orders. They left the Sailfish and arrived at the Big Fish within three minutes. As they arrived, the guards and their officer were lining up to depart, carrying the container with the nuclear warhead with them. Tim, Mitas and Tony's eyes had nearly popped out of their heads when they saw the two officers carrying the Soviet weapon onto the deck but said nothing, just glad to be rid of the thing.

As the launch docked, Gibbs picked Ziva up and handed her up to Tim and Mitas. They brought her on board and then took the baggage and lastly Ziva's crutches. When they were all on board and the Sailfish launch was on its way with their former guards and the hated container, Gibbs finally spoke. "DiNozzo, you have the helm. Reverse course and get us back into international waters at our best speed. The rest of you, batten down the hatches, we're out of here."

"Boss, are we going back to the island?"

"Yes we are, unless anyone has any better ideas. We sure as hell are not staying here to be treated like convicted felons for one more minute."

DiNozzo was already in the tower and they heard the engine start.
"And take down the flag. I'm not even sure we're Americans anymore."

Mitas gulped, was this a ploy by Gibbs or were they really leaving?

Gibbs turned to him, "I'm sorry Cory. It seems I can't get us home after all. We'll get out of American waters and regroup."

Tim and Mitas took the flag down and folded it away. Tony reversed the engine and turned the ship around, heading east. The rest of them gathered at the railing, facing eastward and away from the treacheries and politics of their homeland or their former homeland. At their best speed, they had cleared American waters within just a few minutes and were still doing top speed when Mitas, on lookout in the tower, reported the Sailfish was on the border and hailing them.

Gibbs ordered an all stop and gathered everyone in the tower. "Last chance, is anyone interested in what they have to say or do we go for our island?"

Ziva smiled and slipping her hand into her pocket; took out and waved an unfamiliar phone at him. "Gibbs, I was given this last night to contact my father. I did so and told him what was going on. He was not happy that an Israeli citizen, an ally of the US, has been treated this way and has made a formal complaint to both the US State Department and the United Nations. The Israeli Navy is sending a ship to rendezvous with us, you are all being granted immediate and permanent asylum in Israel."

Gibbs grinned at her, he'd always been wary of Director David, but this was the best news they'd had since they crossed into home waters yesterday.

Tim had a blank look on this face which Gibbs knew meant he was thinking. "Boss, we're in international waters now. If we listen to what Sailfish has to say, we're in no danger, they have no jurisdiction out here and we have a backup plan with the Israelis. Ziva, how far to the rendezvous? "

Ziva smiled again, "Perhaps two hours, maybe less. My father was able to divert one of our cruisers in the general vicinity."

Tim turned to Gibbs, "So we lose nothing by listening. What did they do to you over there, Boss?" Gibbs quickly filled them in, including the fact that Fornell had been in the meeting and had spoken up for them.

"Did anyone say why they were treating us like this?"

"In the meeting SecNav tried to deny treating us like prisoners. I recognized his voice but couldn't see him so decided to play dumb about who was speaking. I gave the Coast Guard hell for the way we've been treated and let them know about the guns in our faces and the way I was forced off the ship. But I believe I do know why, Tim. We know too much. I've been thinking about it, there's a lot involved and there's so much about Chimera that went wrong. It was a black op, it should have had the tightest security possible and we certainly went through tight security before we were flown out. But somebody got sloppy, their security measures weren't tight enough and they ended up with a traitor, Ferris, or maybe he was a mole, we may never know, and he inveigled Chief Rogers into doing treasonous work, now how embarrassing would that information be if it got out to the world? Talk about a major lapse in security, oops! Of course, no one but us knows about Rogers yet or the murders of Gellis and Wong. On top of that the ship was destroyed by friendly fire. The Secretary of the Navy and the Director of NCIS had every reason to believe four of their agents and their Medical Examiner were still on board that ship. Yes, as federal agents we knowingly put our lives on the line, but a Medical Examiner? I doubt "be prepared to be sacrificed by your boss to save face because said boss didn't have security quite tight enough." is in Ducky or Jimmy's job description, right Ducky?" Ducky shook his head. "Yeah, I thought not. And don't forget poor Mitas, a civilian and truly an innocent bystander. Another oops! Now who do you suppose ordered the destruction of the ship ...and take a moment to consider how reluctant that person might be to have witnesses to all of those mistakes? Talk about bad politics, might even cost him his job. Not to mention the additional embarrassment of having to admit to lying to the families and friends in both the US and Israel about these witnesses being dead and who knows what story they came up with to explain our deaths! It's obvious to me that no order was ever given to search for us. Yeah we don't know that for sure but Rogers found us in a lifeboat, the Navy sure as hell could have if they'd made any effort.

So, yes, we know too much. We know about the mission, hell, we completed it for them. We know whose warhead it was originally. We know that Ferris duped the captain and crew into panicking and abandoning ship without functional EPIRBs, putting their lives at risk. There had to be some questions when the crew was rescued, hopefully they were rescued, and those five – Mitas, Ferris, Rogers, Gellis and Wong were missing. However, I would say the most damning thing for us is that our being alive means we must know about the destruction of Chimera by the US Navy. In the time since the Sailfish crew found out who we are, someone must have figured out how much time there was between our last communications with NCIS and firing on the Chimera. They put two and two together and know we must have been in visual range."

There was silence for a couple of minutes while the others digested Gibbs' words. Mitas was relieved that Ziva's father was coming to their rescue and he wanted to tell Gibbs to just get going, not to waste any more time with their own country, obviously they were in danger from their own Navy.

Tony spoke this time. "So if they do offer us something like going home, can we trust them?"

"I don't. Of the group I saw, I would only trust Fornell and Morrow."

"Morrow is Deputy Director of DHS, right? So he's got clout and he always did good things for us, Boss. Maybe Tim's right and we should at least listen."

Ducky spoke up, "Or this is a delaying tactic until they can move a Navy ship in and take us prisoner, scuttle the Big Fish and we disappear again. I'm sorry to sound like an alarmist but I think with the facts as you've outlined them and the way we've been treated, we have to consider the possibility."

The others nodded and turned to Gibbs. "Let's go visit Israel."

He sighed, "Need a vote on this, not making this decision myself."

Tony called it out, "Those in favor of rendezvousing with the Israeli ship raise their hands."

When five hands were raised, Gibbs relaxed a little and raised his to make it unanimous. It was a drastic move and he didn't know where it would lead, but at this point it felt safer than dealing with their former employer. Mitas exhaled a deep sigh of relief.

Gibbs nodded, "All right, to the rendezvous we will go. Ziva, do we need to contact anyone?"

"Yes, the captain of the Dolphin, but it is too soon, we will not be in contact range for another hour. Here are the coordinates."

She showed them to Gibbs and he handed them to Tony. "Change course, DiNozzo, and head for the Israelis."

"Aye Aye Captain." The course needed a slightly southerly change but Tony didn't want to tip off the Sailfish in case SecNav was indeed sending a Navy ship to intercept them, so he deliberately kept the change to a minimum for the immediate future. As they continued to pull away, the Sailfish stopped. Looking back, they could see it sitting there in the water, no doubt awaiting further orders. Finally with their speed and distance, the ship disappeared from their sight. When Tim's calculations finally confirmed they would be beyond the Sailfish's radar and other sensors, Tony changed course to reach their new Israeli friends, their future countrymen.