Hidden Enemy

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?

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9- One second late

A man dressed in a white suit walked down the hallway, trying not to draw much attention to his presence. The ID hanging on his shirt identified him as someone working in this ward of the hospital. Nobody seemed to take more than just the casual note of his presence. A little smile played on his lips as he remembered the body locked up in the morgue. They wouldn´t find him for a while, those drawers were rarely used at all. It had been so easy to talk him into coming down, so easy to make his head snap and dispose of the body.

He walked into the nurse´s room and took a glance at the floor plan. He had been waiting close to the apartment after setting up his trap. He had watched the man blanching after discovering the body in the car. Much to his surprise, she wasn´t dead though. This was not how he had planned it in the first place, but he would finish it now. In his pocket lay a syringe holding a small amount of a very deadly poison that was almost impossible to trace. They would find her passed away from a stroke, which was very unfortunate indeed.

"Oh, good to see you. Would you take this to the laboratory, please?" A nurse handed him a tray full of blood samples and motioned him to hurry. Sighing slightly, he walked out and towards the elevator. His cover would blow if he didn´t follow these orders and he couldn´t afford to fail. She knew what he really was and if she managed to tell anyone, he was in trouble. Dropping the samples off at the lab, he returned to the ward and walked down to the door with a large 364 on it. Nobody saw him slip in and he allowed himself a moment to take in his surroundings after the door clicked shut behind him.

The only occupied bed in the room stood close to the window. A spare bed was near the door, covered with a plastic sheet. Shades were drawn down enough to shield her face from the sun. There were IV lines and tubes running all over her body and he looked at her pale features for a few seconds. Humming a soft melody he had been taught by his father, he approached the bed. He pulled the syringe out and ran his finger over her face. "Too bad you had to find out, Katie...too bad you couldn´t just let me be." He whispered and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

The sound of the monitors filled his ears for a short moment. He noticed that the respirator was gone -another sign that he had to act quickly before she regained consciousness. "It´s goodbye now, Katie. It could have been different, you know, but..." He didn´t finish his sentences as something hit his head from behind all of the sudden. The syringe dropped to the ground and rolled under the bed, out of his immediate reach.

"You bastard!"A manstood behind him, an IV pole raised above his head. He was about to strike a second time when he was kicked back. He dropped the pole and fell over the spare bed. "Don´t you dare to touch her, Haswari." Gibbs growled as he pulled himself up again. The fall had left him in a considerable amount of pain, but he wasn´t going to give in.

"Special agent Gibbs, what a pleasure we meet again." Ari sneered and launched himself at the older man, trying to get a hold of his neck to snap it. He was surprised by the resistance he met. He had underestimated the agent -despite of his age, he could still put on a good fight. Ari wasn´t sure if it was really a fight or just the fear for his life that gave the older man such energy to deflect his hits.

Both rolled over the ground, knocking into the different pieces of furniture. Gibbs fought back hard, trying to keep Ari´s hands away from his neck. He knew that he was dead if the younger man got a hold of him. After almost pinning Haswari to the ground, he received a kick into the chest and slid back, his head and back making contact with the wall. Colors were dancing in front of his eyes and he couldn´t muster the strength to get up again. His vision was blurred for a moment. When it cleared again, he saw Haswari getting up with a wide grin on his face. "It´s even better like this, you know that, Gibbs? You get to watch how your precious agent will die from a terrible stroke." The younger man said as he wiped a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth.

Gibbs struggled to sit up, but his shoulder hurt badly and he could hardly breathe. He was forced to watch how Haswari retrieved the syringe from under the bed. The needle glistened in the sunlight. Only half a second later a shot rang out from the door and the surprised man dropped to his knees, syringe still in his hand. A second shot hit his back and he collapsed on the floor.

There were voices calling something at each other, but Gibbs didn´t really hear what they said. The pain in his chest was still requiring most of his attention. Someone kneeled down next to him, looking rather worried. "For once, not one second too late, Dinozzo." He managed through clenched teeth when he recognized the face hovering above him.

"That´s new..." A faint voice from the bed could be heard and everyone spun around. Kate smiled weakly at her colleagues, wondering what was going on. She had woken from the shots, but was still too dazed to realize what had just happened.

"I thought it was time for a change." Tony told her with a wide smile and watched how she slowly fell asleep again after a few seconds. She needed to rest now, but knowing that she would be okay made him forget everything that had happened during the last three days. Tony pulled the body out from under the bed and dragged him into the hallway for Ducky to pick up. Chaos had already broken loose when he and McGee had stormed into the hospital with their guns drawn, but both knew it could have ended differently if Gibbs hadn´t reacted so quickly.