Chapter Ten
The ring of the phone tore Tony away from his computer. Why the heck wouldn't she answer it?
His eyes wandered over to her desk. Empty and untouched. It was hard to believe she wasn't there.
He glanced up at Gibbs, who nodded to him.
Tony sprang up, and picked up the phone.
"Hello, this is Special Agent Dinozzo."
"Uh, is Agent Todd there?"
Tony's mouth went dry. Yeah, it kept happening—less frequently, as time went on, but still it happened. Someone calling for Kate. And he had to explain that she was gone.
………………….
Again the phone rang. This time, Tony did not even look at Gibbs for confirmation. He scooped up the phone and greeted unenthusiastically into the receiver.
A sudden crash on the other end of the line startled him. He sat up straight, listening intently as heavy breathing followed a muffled scream. Then the line went dead.
………………..
Agent Gibbs waited, fingers tapping on the small table in the farthest corner of the well-hidden DC café.
He had chosen this café for a meeting place for that reason. Washington, D.C was a busy, always-something-going-on kind of city. It was difficult to find a place people avoided—unless it be the run down, poverty-stricken and violent parts of town.
Yeah, to remain unnoticed, but not to get gunned down by a local drug dealer. That was the ultimate goal. Of course, there was probably a reason a true District citizen avoided this café. Gibbs glanced down into his coffee, suspiciously glaring at the unidentifiable specks in it. He pushed the cup away, and turned his attention towards the door.
The young waiter came by. "Waiting for someone, sir?"
Gibbs merely nodded, and with a shrug, the boy continued on.
The jingle of the door was heard. In the dim light, Gibbs saw a figure approach him.
Special Agent Tobias Fornell took the seat opposite him, and glanced around the dreary room.
"I think the elevator is a more cheerful place of business, Gibbs," he remarked lightly.
Gibbs was in no mood for Fornell's attempt at humor.
"This is more than business, Tobias. These are lives hanging the balance, here."
"Gibbs, sometimes I'd swear you are developing a heart. Not good in our…..business, if you pardon the use of the word.
The two men remained silent for a time. Gibbs knew sometime he would have to speak. To swallow his pride. Admit he might not be able to do this one alone.
"Tobias, I need your help."
"We aren't helping you if this is what I think it is."
"We may have information on Ari's plan and location," Gibbs replied evasively, deciding it best not to reveal the said terrorist's remarks on Kate.
Fornell raised an eyebrow. He shouldn't be surprised, he thought to himself. Gibbs always did work fast.
"I guess…."Fornell slowly " ……we could….work something out." He spoke slowly.
Gibbs eyes seemed to gleam with….well, with something.
"You are giving your word on that?"
"Absolutely."
………………………….
"What do you mean it can't be traced!" Tony demanded of McGee.
"We can't trace it; simple."
"We have, like all this technology and you can't trace a phone call? It should be simple!"
"I dunno, Tony, maybe they were using a phone card."
The agent sighed. "Okay, well, I recorded the call. Want to get it up to Abbs for a complete audio analysis?"
"Yep, you comin'?"
"Mmm, I'll be up later."
He watched McGee disappear as the elevator doors closed, then he relaxed in the chair. Tony was still seated at Kate's desk. McGee had offered to call Kate's family about picking up a few things of hers that weren't government issued, but Gibbs said they could wait.
Without thinking, Tony opened and shut a few drawers. His eyes lighted on a small book. Gingerly, although he did not know why he did so, he picked it up.
"The Applause of Heaven," he read the title aloud to himself, then flipped the book open.
"To Caitlyn Todd—congratulations on your graduation. We wish you the very best! From Sister Anne, Sister Marie, and Sister Rachel."
Tony smiled inwardly. Must be a good book—that Kate would have kept it all these years at work! He skipped to a later part of the book, his eyes falling on some highlighted words.
"Resentment is the cocaine of our emotions. It causes our blood to pump and our energy level to rise. But, also like cocaine, it demands increasingly large and more frequent dosages. There is a dangerous point at which anger ceases to be an emotion and becomes a driving force. A person bent on revenge moves unknowingly further and further away from being able to forgive, for to be without the anger is to be without a source of energy.
Hatred is the rabid dog that turns on its owner.
Revenge is the raging fire that consumes the arsonist.
Bitterness is the trap that snares the hunter.
And mercy is the choice that can set them all free."
He finished reading, his heart beating fast as if the book was a favorite horror flick of his. Those few words on revenge struck his heart deep. Like a message from Kate herself.
It was hard not to have those feelings with a job like their own. Once you thought the worst of people for so long, it took a while to get over it. It was hard to remind yourself to remain neutral. It was easy to believe evil existed, and that anyone was capable of anything. It was hard to take that resentment away and replace it with mercy.
Law enforcement could really harden your heart. They all struggled with it. And sometimes, it was unavoidable. Justice should be different than revenge. But the two became so intertwined.
He had reached the point where it was no longer emotion. It was the driving force of his life.