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

Beta: Mike91848. So all mistakes are mine.

Warnings: same as Chapter One

A/N: Fred, you caught my mistake. Tim is working on it but he is still a little chubby in this AU.

DETERMINED TO HOLD

Chapter Twelve, The tongue, mightier than...most things

Previously on NCIS

"Yeah, I'll grant you a few more last words, Mr Smart guy," the hit-man snarled, as he cocked the gun and aimed. "So, what are they?"

"NCIS, FBI! Drop your weapons!"

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The professional killer turned swiftly at the raised voices behind and around him and for the first time in a long time was thoroughly caught by shocked surprise. Being the helpless, vulnerable victim on the bad end of a monumental amount of guns pointed at him was unfathomable.

This could not be! How...? How had they found them? He quickly turned back to face the man he knew had to be responsible for his plight and almost dropped his gun at what faced him. Tony DiNozzo stood with feet apart, a piece of rope on the ground at his feet. He held a gun in his right hand braced with his left and pointed at a spot right between the hit-man's blue eyes.

How...where had the gun come from?

"Surprised, Jackass?" Tony scoffed, gun never wavering. "Well, guess what? Your every move since you joined this fiasco has been observed and followed. So I guess you could say it's your turn for some last words and if you don't drop your gun, it will be your ultimate last words! Drop it, now! I won't tell you again!" Tony was completely focused on his target, anything else going on around him was secondary.

The hit-man knew by the determined glare in his former prisoner's eyes that if he made the wrong choice he was going to repay him in kind for what he had intended to do to him, kill him.

"Well?!" Said Tony, as the man didn't lower his gun and seemed to have lost the nature of speech as his mouth moved but no words came out.

There was still yelling, drop your weapons, but it was as though Tony and the killer were the only ones there as they stared each other down. There was too much at stake and neither willing to give up as they pointed their guns. Closely watching for a sign, Tony saw the subtle stiffening of the hit-man's shoulders and he knew exactly when the man decided he was not going to rot in a jail cell.

"Damn you!" Yelled the phony cab driver in hopeless fury, finally finding his voice. He knew his fate was sealed as he pulled the trigger one last time and he didn't hear, see or say anything else after that as bullets tore into his body and he was dead before he hit the ground.

When the shooting was over several men lay dead on the verdant forest floor; the assassin and one of his men. That man, a three-time looser, also preferred suicide by cop rather than life in prison without parole.

The other four men were on their knees with their hands cuffed behind their backs. One of the agents, dressed in a bullet-proof vest, broke away from the huddle and swarm of law enforcement and came storming over to Tony who was sitting on a log, his arm being attended to by a medic. This man was the same bedraggled-looking guy who had been begging Tony for a dollar for a cup of coffee, some many hours ago.

Gruffly, the man asked, "DiNozzo, you okay?"

Tony looked up at him and replied acidly, "Well if you're not talking about the gut-wrenching pain of having to wear this burlap blue shirt, then I'm fine, Boss, it's just a scratch. And by the way, what took you so long?"

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Hours ago

"Fornell!" Sacks had rushed into his boss' office urgently. "We've got something on DiNozzo, possibly who took him and why!"

Fornell reached for his phone. "Give me an address. I'll notify Gibbs we've got a lead then you can fill me in."

"Wait! We can't, not yet." And Ron rubbed at his face in obvious frustration.

Fornell hung up the phone in exasperation. "What's going on, Ron? You said you found DiNozzo, then where is he?"

"I said possibly who took him and why but not where he is, not yet."

"What the hell, Sacks!" Fornell's irritation was obvious, which only heightened Sacks feelings of ineptitude.

"Fornell, I just got this info a second ago!" Sacks snapped back before he could rein himself in. He took a deep inhale of breath to get his anger under control. The FBI agent wouldn't admit out loud to anyone but he was grateful for the anger management classes he had been mandated to take to keep his job.

His out-of-control temper had caused him problems before and almost cost him his marriage and his job. It had him accusing DiNozzo in the past of murder on what he thought was solid evidence. He had gone after the man with a vengeance under the mistaken belief that the NCIS agent was a serial killer mass murderer. His pursuit of DiNozzo was well documented in his personnel file including his conclusions that had been proven abysmally wrong, at least for him. Fortunately, the agency was able to overlook his bad judgment only because DiNozzo hadn't sued them for false arrest and harassment.

Now, after spending some time with the other agent from their sister agency, Sacks realized that they were more alike than not. He acted out by losing his temper and DiNozzo acted out by playing the fool, which seemed ironically to work better for Tony than blowing his top had ever worked for Sacks. He and DiNozzo had buried the hatchet and Sacks had nothing against the agent and wanted to help in getting him back. No need to get his ire up at Fornell because his boss was worried too.

Anger management 101 now firmly under his belt, Sacks could give his report to Fornell that would not leave a bitter taste in either of their mouths. And Fornell could see the effort he was making to keep his cool so he sat back to listen.

"Okay. What we've got so far is Agents Boone and Fryer are following up on the lead right now. Boone's snitch came through and if it's true, well, we've been trying to get this guy for money laundering and murder, among other things for a long time. Samuel de Franco, ring a bell, also known as Big Sammy in his younger days? Now he's a suspected crime boss pretending to be a legitimate businessman."

"What the hell does he have to do with Tony DiNozzo?" Questioned Fornell as he belatedly indicated to Sacks to find a seat.

Sacks shoved some papers aside for the hidden chair, sat and leaned forward. "That's just it, Fornell. It's not Tony, it's Anthony DiNozzo, Senior. Fortunately, we still had Senior under surveillance when he tried to drink the local bar dry. He didn't mention names but bragged about getting back at his son and something jumbled about hoping he liked his warehouse, 5-star accommodations for the night. Said his two-bit son was in the money and he was going to pay off some debts he owed to de Franco for him then Senior would be leaving the Country for a warmer climate on Tony's nickel. This ties in nicely with this guy de Franco and Senior being business partners.

"They go way back as partners and most of their business is shoddy get-rich-quick schemes. But what ties it in right now is there's talk of a big real estate deal in Saint Martin involving a hotel and casino."

"Saint Martin? In the Caribbean?" Fornell didn't look surprised, he could picture the balmy breezes and sun-cooked sand.

"Yeah, warmer climate for sure. It's obvious Senior knows what's going on and knows that his son has been kidnapped. The guy creeps me out." Sacks spoke in utter contempt for a lousy father figure. "We need to pick him up, Fornell."

Fornell nodded in agreement, "Get a warrant, fast! I'll call Gibbs."

"Boone's standing by at the judge's chambers," said Sacks as he reached for his cell phone.

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McGee and Ziva sat in the bull pen waiting impatiently for Gibbs and Fornell to return from Vance's office.

"What is going on now that we will be the last to hear about it?" grumbled Ziva about not being in the know, again. "I am camping at the bites, McGee, and do not appreciate being left out. We are a team, no?"

"I know, Ziva." More than ever, what Tim knew was that he was tired of Ziva's complaints anytime she felt she was being excluded in something or another. This time was no different but why complain to him about it. He wasn't in the know, either, but he had the feeling she felt he was inferior in status to her job-wise and experience and lowest on the totem pole even though he had seniority. He, therefore, didn't need to know. Her skewed thinking had it that she on the other hand should be sitting at Gibbs' right hand.

Well, McGee had news for her and he thought this a little spitefully. She was right there on the same rung on that same pole as he and she'd have to step on Tony's head to get any higher and climb over Gibbs' dead body before that would happen. Too bad she couldn't figure that out for herself.

Ziva kept glaring up the stairs where Gibbs and Fornell had just disappeared. And although he had promised himself never to correct her misuse of idioms again after being threatened death with a paper clip once too often, he couldn't help himself this time, either.

"And it's 'chomping at the bits', Ziva, not camping at the bites."

As expected, she turned on him with a tight-lipped, unpleasant expression. His inference that she was again a misuser of their silly American hybrid English dialect was infuriating.

"McGee, I have told you before..."

McGee interrupted quickly before the threats started again. "From what the FBI got out of Senior, Tony's supposed to be dropped off some blocks south of the bank's location and then he's to walk the rest of the way to the bank."

"I know that, McGee, and our part in this operation? When will we be informed? Also, I do not mean to sound critical but surely Tony should have been more successful at finding a way of escaping his captors unless he is hurt, which seems unlikely if he is to walk several blocks to the bank.

Sure, you don't sound critical, Ziva. Tim thought almost pityingly. He tried to keep his expression neutral but he was puzzled at her caustic step backward into passive hostility that had been missing, and he had hoped gone, for a short time. What had set her off again, she was so angry all the time?

"Surely you agree, Tim, that Tony is again acting as dead weight needing rescue. Why do we not just locate this warehouse where he is reported to be kept and rescue him instead of..."

"Instead of what, David?" Gibbs had come down the stairs with Fornell and Ziva had to have seen him coming even though she did not try to censure her remarks. She wisely remained silent at the unspoken criticism from Gibbs. Nonetheless, she had gotten her point across.

Gibbs continued on to his desk and answered her unfinished question. "We're working in conjunction with the FBI's pursuit of Sam de Franco and his whole organization who has kidnapped a Federal Agent. DiNozzo's in the right place at the right time to take this scumbag down. That's why, Ziva, we're not going in with guns blazing." Gibbs voice indicated his irritation. Surely she should know this. Ziva was returning to her old ways again with sharp words and aggressiveness especially in DiNozzo's case but he didn't have time to address it now.

"This is the plan, listen up. First, we're keeping Senior under wraps so he can't talk to or warn anybody. Since he hinted at a robbery being held at the bank today, we're taking the threat seriously. Tim, you and I will be covering the five blocks south of the bank, which should be the logical route if Tony's being dropped off to walk. Fornell will have the area north covered as well. Fornell?"

"I'm going to bump into DiNozzo while crossing the street and place a GPS locator on him and if I have the time, slip a listening device on him too. A gun will be available to him also if he's quick enough on the uptake, which I'm counting on. We're replacing the bank staff and customers with FBI agents except for the senior exec Kravitch who'll be handling the money, and who the perps might get suspicious if he's not there. Sacks will be the armed guard inside the bank."

"And my duty, Gibbs?" questioned Ziva.

Gibbs turned to the Liaison officer. "You're the bank teller, Ziva. DiNozzo will have to sign forms before he can get the money, that's standard operating procedure in case anyone is looking."

"Yeah," Fornell jumped in. "And leave a couple of short messages on the signature lines, tell him we want him to go along with their demands. Nothing fancy, just 'stay with the program' kind of thing. You got it?"

When Ziva nodded she understood, Fornell went on. "In case you're wondering, we're hoping we'll finally get de Franco whose been on FBI's unofficial most wanted list for a decade; unofficial due to a lack of any concrete evidence of his criminal activities we could take to court, that is," clarified Fornell.

Gibbs got up from his desk to approach Ziva. "Find some place on those forms he has to sign to tell him to do what they say, we've got his six."

"Very well." Ziva replied without inflection.

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The plan went off as expected. Gibbs made first contact as a beggar and after scrutinizing DiNozzo closely and taking into account his bruised face, he concluded the agent appeared fit for duty. One nod of DiNozzo's head confirmed his assessment, Tony'd finished this to the bitter end, so Gibbs doubted he could have pulled him away, anyway.

Fornell bumped into Tony as planned and was able to plant the GPS, but the whole song and dance routine went down so fast that other than both of them falling down in the gutter to grapple for more time, Fornell didn't know if the listening device had been properly activated or not. Tony got the gun, though, smart guy.

It was decided to try and get a message to Tony regarding the people in the bank so that if anything went down he would know that he was surrounded by armed Federal agents who could take care of themselves; no hostage situation for him to worry about.

To that effect, McGee at the hotdog cart made up a sign that was so obvious, to him at least, that Tony would have to be an imbecile not to decipher it's meaning. As a matter of fact, Tony had spent a very long, tedious hour one evening after work over beer and burgers regaling this same idea to both him and Palmer.

An idea Tony had gotten from some movie or another about a code for trading hostages, one hostage for one agent. In this case it would be one bank employee for one agent, an even exchange hence the hotdog sign proclaimed proudly, 'bargain days, one fifty for one, two for three'. It made sense to Tim who thought the idea pretty clever on Tony's part though Gibbs looked at it blankly and Ziva didn't quite say 'idiot' in Hebrew out loud, though the word sounded a lot like idiot in English as well.

Sacks balked at being the undercover bank guard but he wanted in on the op and that was the only position not covered. He couldn't help fidgeting and adjusting the ill fitting uniform jacket over his bullet-proof vest until Fornell told him in no uncertain terms through the earbud to suck it up or ship out.

Tony read the message from Ziva, who had written it on the paperwork he was supposed to be signing to get his money, that he should continue the 'sting' operation the FBI was engaged in. 'We will try to follow your crumbs, please do not make your footsteps backwards.'

What the...that nonsensical message didn't offer him even a few crumbs of comfort since he couldn't figure out what exactly the hell it meant. Was it a code for backup, backslide, backtrack, back step? Tony was amazed that Gibbs would leave it up to Ziva to relay a message, one that even he couldn't figure out. Problem was, he didn't have ages to ponder on it for time was flying so he just took his money, looked at the message one last time in disgust, said goodbye to the ever irascible Ziva and left.

In the purloined taxicab he spoke out loud the name of the real cabdriver, the physical appearance of the phony cab driver, the name of the pastry truck, the briefcase full of marked money that was taken from him by two thugs and hoped sarcastically that the listening device Fornell had placed on his person was working and that that was enough crumbs for the agents to follow up on and not some backwards footsteps crapiola.

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The present

'What took you so long, Boss?'

"What took us so long? We got here in plenty of time, DiNozzo, you're alive aren't you? And let the medic be the judge if that's just a scratch, then Ducky can take a look at it, too." Gibbs warned.

Gibbs studied his SFA closely for any signs of pending coma or death. The agent looked a little more rough around the edges than the last time he'd seen him and now sported a fresh wound to his left forearm but he looked like he'd survive this latest ordeal.

Tony gave Gibbs a sour look but didn't make any objections for the moment as he eyed the big needle ready to stitch up his flesh wound.

"Hey, just use a butterfly bandage on it, it doesn't need to be sewn up," Tony protested plaintively in a high, squeaky voice. The bullet had struck his left forearm at just the right angle causing a superficial furrowed wound and minimal blood loss.

"True, but this'll hold it closed better," the medic soothed after spraying the arm with anesthetic. "Four stitches and we're done," he droned on while still working.

"Do not be such a baby, Tony," Ziva scolded out of the blue. She had hustled one of the prisoner's off to the waiting FBI van and than slipped silently through the forest to stand beside Gibbs.

Tony just glared at her and the medic with his upbeat tone, gritted his teeth and waited for the ordeal to be over. Afterward, the medic warned Tony to see his own doctor for an antibiotic or if there was any sign of infection.

Just then, Tim trotted over loaded down with a box containing scene evidence; plastic and paper bags labeled and sealed, mostly knives and guns the perps had been carrying. Dexterously, he pulled two bottles of water from his jacket pockets and after twisting the cap off one bottle handed both over to Tony.

"Ziva said you signed your name, 'Water River Agua, Junior', so I figured that meant you were thirsty so...here you go."

"Ah, thank you, thank you. You're a life savior, man, thank you." Tony said in between gulps of water.

"You're welcome, Tony. There's more where..."

"Get back to work, McGee. You too, David. You can give him a fire hydrant when we're done here," ordered Gibbs.

"Right, Boss, fire hy...talk to you later, Tony." Tim headed for the jeep they had managed to get into the denseness of forest growth and placed his evidence in the trunk. Ziva slipped as silently away as she had come.

As Gibbs waited for the medic to finish up, he saw again in his mind's eye the moment when the gunman yelled a profanity then raised his weapon to shoot. He saw Tony fire just a second later and flinch as the perp's bullet struck him. He heard again the machine gun rat-a-tat-tat sound of many weapons, including his own, being fired at once into the gunman's body. Gibbs wondered about DiNozzo's nine cat lives and how many were left.

The takedown went as well as could be expected. Taking lives with two men dead was nothing to tell mother about but at least none of the good guys had been injured. Fornell wanted Sam de Franco, one of the FBI's most wanted, but the head honcho had other ideas. The slippery criminal sometimes did the grunge work of killing his enemies but only when it suited him and he had an airtight alibi given by a respectable flunky he had bought that he could call on.

"We got the small fish, let's see which one rolls over first on de Franco." Said Fornell who had joined them along with Sacks.

"What? Kidnapping a Federal Agent isn't enough for the FBI to hold him?" Accused DiNozzo.

"Yeah, we could but...wait, de Franco let you see him, you know he was there, DiNozzo?" Fornell couldn't believe their luck.

"Don't know what de Franco looks like but I could identify the mug of the guy who was in charge. No one called him by name but I could definitely identify him. Just show me a picture of de Franco."

"McGee, pull up de Franco's picture." Ordered Gibbs.

McGee quickly fiddled with his phone and thrust the mug shot of de Franco at Tony.

"Yeah, that's him, I'd recognized that fat face anywhere. The scar in the double chin, the eyes, it's him, the man who was in charge of having me kidnapped and holding me hostage."

"That's proof enough for me." Fornell turned to his subordinate. "Sacks, get a warrant for..."

"Hold on Fornell," said Tony. "You should get a warrant for my father...for Anthony DiNozzo, Senior also. He was there."

"Got it covered, DiNozzo. Gibbs can fill you in." Fornell walked away urgently with Sacks in tow to get started on that warrant.

"What happened, Boss?"

"FBI picked Senior up earlier today." Gibbs told his SFA and gave him all the sordid details of a man who would betray his own son out of hateful avarice.

Tony listened without comment to the bitter end. What no one was saying but it was pretty obvious that de Franco let him see his face because he had no intention of letting him live and...his old man, Senior, knew this. The old man would get what was coming to him this time, and there would be no tears shed on Tony's part.

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