Tony sat in a chair that seemed designed to make its occupant feel distinctly uncomfortable after only three minutes. Trying not to fidget, he again glanced up at the blonde behind the desk. She flicked her eyes at him before going back to her rapid fire typing, seemingly dismissing his discomfort. His eyes roamed over her desk and landed on her nameplate, and he actually felt a stab of envy that Patty Lawson had something to occupy her time. All he could do was sit in this stupid, torturous chair and wait.
After a small eternity, the phone on the desk buzzed and an indecipherable conversation took place. Finally, the blonde spoke to him for the first time since he'd entered the director's outer office. "He'll see you now."
It wasn't the first time he'd been in to see Director Morrow. He was certain that it wouldn't be the last. But it was the first time he went in as a team leader bearing bad news. With the brake lines tampered with, the seat belt suspicious and his boss hospitalized, he dared not wait to see what would happen next before presenting his report.
Nodding as he stood, he crossed the short distance to the door and let himself into the Director's inner office. Then he presented himself to the gentleman in charge of the agency and waited until he was told he could sit and speak. Hell of a time to feel like a performing poodle, Anthony, he told himself.
"All right, Agent DiNozzo. You wanted to see me? Something about Agent Gibbs and his accident?"
"Yes Sir. By now I'm sure you know that Gibbs is in Loudon Hospital. He hit a tree chasing a suspect he believed to be Ari Haswari. I brought copies of all the pertinent data that we currently have. Patty said to leave the reports with her."
Morrow frowned and buzzed his assistant. A moment later the door opened and the blonde brought in the documents Tony had left on her desk, smiling widely at the now sweating agent. As she left, Morrow turned his attention to the papers and Tony felt compelled to regain some control of the situation.
"That's not the most significant thing, however." Tony inwardly cringed as he interrupted the director's perusal of the accident report and forensic findings. "Gibbs' car was tampered with; the brake lines damaged and most likely the seat belt mechanism as well. I don't know who he was chasing, but whoever it was, wanted him injured in that accident."
"You're absolutely certain of this? That the target was Gibbs?" Morrow regarded the younger man for a moment. "According to the glimpse I got of this first page, the car Gibbs was driving was a pool sedan. Any agent could have checked it out. How could our possible saboteur have been certain that Gibbs would have had that very car?"
Tony was nothing if not fast on his feet. "We're pulling the surveillance video to determine when and how the vehicle was tampered with, Sir. They should be on their way to Ms. Sciuto as we speak. But we suspect the modifications were made to the car after Gibbs had checked it out of Transport Services. He received a phone call luring him out while both Special Agent McGee and I were in court."
Morrow eyed DiNozzo steadily, impressed that the agent didn't flinch under the weight of the stare. "All right, just what is it you think I should do, Agent DiNozzo?"
"If someone is still targeting Gibbs, perhaps assigning a guard to his room would be a logical step, Sir?" It took everything Tony had to make it a question and not a demand. Then he nearly bit his tongue while he watched Morrow consider the request.
"But we don't know that someone is targeting Gibbs, do we? We do know that Gibbs has felt a great deal of, shall we say, personal pressure concerning Ari since Agent Todd's death." Morrow paused and glanced aside, unwilling to meet the sudden hardness in the other man's eyes. Clearing his throat, he continued, "Is there anything else I should know about this incident, Agent DiNozzo. Anything at all?"
Even as he felt a part of his mind shout at him not to betray his mentor, Tony knew he had to give Morrow the full story. "There is evidence that Agent Gibbs may have had quite a lot of coffee, perhaps enough to give himself a caffeine overdose. The test results weren't available before I left the hospital, Sir." Giving Morrow that information felt like giving ammunition to the enemy. He dreaded finding out where and when it might be used against his boss.
"I see. All right, I'll read over your reports and get back to you." With that, Morrow dropped his gaze to the files on his desk – a dismissal that Tony felt like a door slamming in his face.
"Thank you, Sir," he said and stepped out of the office. Gibbs would have handled it differently, better probably. But he didn't have the same kind of pull with the director that Gibbs did. Yet. It infuriated him, however, to have to waste precious time waiting when the evidence was shouting at him to take action now.
Angry and frustrated, he looked at his watch and decided that Abby had had enough time to play with the surveillance tapes. He strode toward her lab determined to make every minute count.