Blowback:[part 1]

...

3rd Person POV:

The mark walked out of Far East Diamond Company, a small duffel bag on his shoulder. The man placed a coin in the newspaper stand and pulled one out. Across the street someone in a large black van lowered the window and snapped some photographs. As if sensing eyes on him, the man looked up curiously and glanced around. He noticed the large black van and was on edge instantly. Quickly turning away he started walking down the street in the opposite direction. The van started up, those inside gearing up for the chase. It pulled away from the curb and slowly began following the man, who increased his pace. Sliding through a crowd he ducked into a nearby alley, glancing around the gate to watch the van drive past. He smirked and turned to walk through the alley to where his car was parked. The sound of squealing tires caught his attention. As he looked back the large van had reversed and was spinning into the alley after him. He ran. Sprinting to the other side of the small lot he took a right, glancing behind him as the van continued its pursuit. Up ahead was a locked gate. As a last ditch effort the man leapt and began climbing it. Unfortunately, he was two slow. Two figures covered in black, a man and a woman, jumped out of the vehicle and yanked him down.

"No!" the man shouted in dismay. As he was pulled to the ground he struggled against his captors who slammed him against the door of the van. He was quickly cuffed, silenced by duct-tape, and had a hood thrown over his head before they began dragging him towards the back. Once inside he was held down while a syringe was plunged into his neck, delivering a fast acting sedative. As silence took over the van the two kidnappers made their way to the front seats, with the man's duffel in hand. Reaching up Claire yanked off her black ski mask with a grin.

"Whew, that went better than I thought it would. It was kinda fun too." She grinned, turning to look over at Tony who had taken his mask off as well. He chuckled, shifting the van into reverse.

"Sometimes your ideas of fun frighten me." he teased as they backed out of the alleyway. Claire grinned, turning to glance back at the silent man in the back.

...

...

Not too long after, in a private jet, Claire stares down at the paper in front of her with a frown.

"Okay. TV drama. Eight letters down." she inquires, looking down at the newspaper crossword in her hand. Out of the corner of her eye she watched their captive's hands twitch as he began coming back into consciousness. Meanwhile, Tony frowned in thought.

"Uh….St. Elsewhere." He answered. Claire grinned, filling it in.

"You're great at this." she praised with a chuckle. A louder moan catches their attention and they glance over at the man, code name: Goliath, waking up. He had rolled over from where his face was shoved into the back of the couch, hands still bound behind his back. Tony reached over to tap the man on the head with his own magazine.

"Oh, Good morning sunshine." He greets brightly.

"Where am I?" the man frowns in confusion, rolling around as best he could.

"Tenerife, which is the Canary Islands." Tony supplied as he stretched his arms upwards, yawning.

"We're almost there." He added, glancing down at his watch. Their captive narrows his eyes, glancing between the two of them anxiously.

"Where?"

"Hey, what kind of clubs do they have in Morocco?" Tony asked instead, ignoring the man and looking to Claire. She grinned deviously.

"Fun ones." She hummed, raising a brow. Tony grinned.

"So, you've been." Claire shrugged.

"I vacation extravagantly sometimes. But we're not going to Morocco." She pointed out. Tony pouted.

"Come on, on our way back?" he pleaded. Claire shook her head in amusement.

"On the way back from where?" Goliath asked in confusion.

"Oh, I'm sorry. They only gave you a one-way ticket." Claire pointed out, looking down at the man.

"Who are they?" Again, Goliath was ignored as Tony turned his gaze to the woman across from him.

"Here's the deal. We jump into Casablanca, hit Rick's Café for a little cocktail. I could tickle the ivories…" he rambled, beaming at the laugh he was getting out of Claire.

"How do you plan to get all of that done before we get back to DC?" she teased, amused at his antics. Tony pursed his lips in thought.

"I think we can make it work." He insisted.

"Who are you people?" Goliath questioned, staring at the two incredulously.

"Couriers. Delivering a package as a favor to our Israeli friends." Tony answered seriously.

"Package?" the man questioned, frowning.

"Don't take it personal…..Goliath." Claire hummed, staring at the man pointedly. Goliath closed his eyes in realization, knowing he was screwed.

"Yeah, can I ask you about that? Every arms dealer I meet, they have the cheesiest code names. I mean Goliath? Did you choose that?" Tony inquired, rambling out his thoughts. He looked at the man in mock disappointment at the choice.

"You're CIA, yes?" Goliath suggested knowingly. Tony and Claire blinked at one another before bursting into laughter. Leaving the man even more confused.

"Ooh, well this should be interesting." Claire hummed, catching sight of Ziva walking through the door up front.

"Goliath, I'd like you to meet one of our Israeli friends." Tony gestured to the woman. Ziva reached out and slapped the man across the face before chewing him out in Hebrew. They exchanged a few short sentences before Ziva yanked him up by his lapels, glaring at him darkly.

"You sell to people who do." She snarled in English before dropping him back onto the couch.

"You're lucky she doesn't have her slingshot." Tony mused as Ziva took the seat behind him. Goliath followed her warily as she moved past them.

"Still waiting for clearance to take off. The pilot says we'll only be on the ground for a couple minutes when we reach Zaire. It's much too dangerous to stay there any longer." Ziva informed them, glancing out the window of the plane. The man on the couch froze.

"Zaire? You're taking me to Zaire?" Goliath asked anxiously.

"You sold a shipment of RPGs to their army. They were disappointed with the quality of merchandise." Ziva informed him icily.

"I believe the President of Zaire himself is very eager to discuss how you stiffed him." Tony added with a knowing grin. The man fidgeted on the couch anxiously, severely bothered by how casual they all were about this.

"He, in turn, has some information Mossad needs." Claire added.

"And we owe Mossad a little favor because they told us you were in DC, and so here we are. We deliver you to Zaire, the president gives the Israelis whatever information they want, and everyone is happy." Tony finished with his usual flare.

"Well, not everyone." Claire added with a chuckle, glancing down at their captive.

"We've been cleared for takeoff. Fasten your seatbelts." Came the instructions over the radio. The agents reached down to buckle in as direction while Goliath tensed up even more.

"Please, I am very wealthy. I have diamonds." Goliath insisted eagerly, Claire and Tony stared down at the man in amusement while Ziva rolled her eyes.

"Correction, you had diamonds." Claire countered smugly.

"This jet is very expensive and somebody had to pay for it." Tony added with a chuckle, Claire joining in. Goliath licked his lips in contemplation.

"I know things." He tried again.

"Yeah. How to trade weapons for diamonds. We got that." Tony deadpanned, staring down at his magazine.

"I'll trade information." Goliath pushed imploringly. Tony grinned wryly, leaning down towards the man.

"And what could you know that would interest the CIA?" he whispered curiously. Ziva chuckled.

"He thinks we're the CIA?" Claire and Tony joined in the laughter. Goliath's face scrunched up in anguish as their ambiguity.

"Well, CIA, FBI, NSA, what difference does it make?" he snapped.

"I have information to trade for my life." He insisted, further spooked by movement of the plane. After a few beats of silence, he gave in

"ARES."

"Cancer"

"Virgo."

"Scorpio." The three agents chimed in. Goliath rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"No, your Navy's encrypted satellite system." He corrected.

"Not my Navy." Ziva countered.

"The American use it to send target coordinates to cruise missiles." He explained. Tony rose his brow skeptically.

"Did you get that out of Jane's, Goliath?"

"What if Iran possessed it? Or North Korea? In a war, they could intercept and change cruise missile coordinates. Send them to Tel Aviv, or Seoul. Or even return to sender." Goliath pointed out.

"But they don't have ARES." Tony countered evenly.

"Sit back, relax, and try to enjoy the rest of your miserable life." Claire hissed. Goliath pursed his lips calmly.

"ARES is for sale…" This caught the agent's attention.

"…and I know who's selling it."

...

Claire's POV:

I had called up Abby and McGee who currently had Goliath's laptop. Once Goliath started spilling his guts, we were able to get most of the information we needed. He had turned out to be quite a well of information.

"The guy we're after is Charles Harrow. There should be an email from him on Goliath's computer." I relayed.

"Charles Harrow. Right." McGee muttered. I could hear the sound of typing over the speakerphone they had me one. More than I thought was necessary.

"We have to tell her.." Abby whispered.

"Tell me what?" I frowned.

"Wow nothing wrong with your hearing." Abby chirped, making me grin fondly.

"Well I should hope not." I shot back.

"So what aren't you telling me?"

"This may take a while." McGee admitted.

"McGee, even Gibbs can download an email….I think….anyway there's no reason it should take any amount of time." I countered in confusion.

"Well, he knows his username and password." McGee retorted. Oh that was all?

"We haven't even penetrated Goliath's screen saver yet. Which is a bitchin picture of a Greek Island." Abby finally admitted.

"At least I think it's a Greek island."

"It's definitely the Aegean Sea, that blue is too..." I listened for a moment while they marveled at the island. With a sigh I quickly cut them off. It would go on forever if I let it.

"Well as much as I love hearing you two discuss geography, how about you try Paragon."

"Paragon?" McGee asked in confusion. I blinked at the sound of slapping, followed by McGee's shout of protest.

"Just doing what Gibbs would do." Abby muttered lowly. I smirked. She must have Gibbs slapped him.

"Paragon is Goliath's username." She explained on the other side.

"Okay….but you wouldn't happen to have.."

"Delta-seven-one, Zulu three-nine, Kilo five." I cut McGee off again with a knowing grin.

"Huh, we're in." He mused in surprise.

"Claire you just slayed Goliath!" Abby cheered.

"Well it was either him or us, knowing Gibbs." I joked before closing my cell. Now that the computer squad back at the office had things settled it was time to wrap this up. I walked back into the main area where Tony and Ziva were waiting with Goliath.

"It checks out. We're good to go." I informed them.

"Go where?" Goliath asked, trying to spin around and look at us. However, Ziva just pushed him along and out the door. Stepping down the ramp, Goliath frowned in confusion as he looked around as we exited the plane.

"This isn't Tenerife." He muttered. I gasped dramatically as the plane in front of us rolled away to reveal the White house. We had never left D.C.

"Oh my, we must have taken a wrong turn." I mused teasingly, slipping on my leather jacket as the wind whipped around us. Goliath closed his eyes in realization.

"Well, I told them to take a left at Bermuda." Tony hummed, grinning deviously at the man.

...

...

The three of us exited the elevator back at NCIS. Behind me I heard the sound of a cell ringing, before briefly spotting Tony break apart from our group. I watched him walk out of the room with a frown but couldn't dwell on it as McGee caught our attention.

"Boss, found that e-mail. Harrow has a villa for sale on Santorini. That's…" McGee explained as he came up from the other side of the room, handing the paper off to Gibbs who was at his desk.

"A Greek Island in the Aegean." I answered, placing my gun in my desk drawer.

"Right. He's asking 20 million, but Goliath doesn't want to pay more than…"

"Fifteen." I butted once more. McGee shot me an exasperated stare, which only spurred me to continue. Sometimes I understood why Tony got such a kick out of teasing Tim.

"But I don't think the villa…"

"Is what he's selling?" Gibbs cut off this time. McGee sucked in a breath, making sure to keep his composure. Picking up the remote he pulled up a photo of Harrow up on the big screen.

"So I have pulled everything that I can find on Charles Andrew Harrow. Age 68, Civilian encryption specialist employed by the DOD until he retired three years ago. His most notable project was…"

"ARES. A top secret Navy encrypted satellite targeting system named after…"

"Greed god of war." McGee quickly cut over me with a smug grin. I returned it in amusement. We both went silent as Gibbs turned to stare at us as if waiting for something. I didn't know about McGee but I had nothing else to add.

"That all?" he asked. McGee's grin faltered and he cleared his throat.

"No. No, I'm also running Harrow's phone and email records for the last 90 days against databases of known arms dealers. No hits yet, but I did just start." he explained.

"205 Rosewood Drive, Northwest D.C. Is this address still good?" Gibbs inquired, reading off the info on the screen.

"As far as I know." McGee nodded.

"DiNozzo, Ziva go get him." Ziva turned around and paused.

"Uh, Gibb?" she asked, getting our attention. We all turned around. Tony was no where to be seen…..again.

"You have got to be kidding me." I huffed in annoyance. This disappearing act was well past getting old. Gibbs frowned.

"McGee." He nodded towards Ziva, prompting the man to go with her. With a nod Tim and Ziva both left the building. Gibbs turned towards me.

"You take that direction; I'll go the other way. Find DiNozzo." He barked, stalking off to the right. I nodded silently before heading the opposite way. I wasn't sure which scenario would be better for Tony; being found by me or by Gibbs.

...

3rd Person POV:

DiNozzo was hiding behind the main stairs, facing the side wall with his back to the hallway.

"My pulse is racing, doctor. My heart is throbbing. I've don't a self-diagnosis here and it's not good. I need some relief from the good doctor." Tony crooned over the phone. What he didn't know was that Gibbs was standing by the wall just behind him, waiting for the man to shift around. As Tony turned to lean his back against that same wall his eyes widened at the sight of his boss standing there.

"I gotta go." He quickly hung up. Gibbs eyed him curiously while Tony stuttered.

"I was just…uh….I gotta get back to work." He quickly darted off, leaving Gibbs to watch him disappear with a thoughtful frown. A few minutes after he had returned to his desk Claire made her way back over, clearly upset.

"Gibb's I couldn't find him..." she paused, spotting the man in question staring up at her sheepishly. Claire glanced to the side and spotted Gibbs calmly sitting at his own desk, deep in thought. She pursed her lips.

"Well I guess you found him. Would have been nice to know." She muttered sourly, not sparing Tony another glance as she breezed past him. Tony sighed, hanging his head in frustration. The three remained in silence as they worked, Tony often looking over at Claire who was determined to ignore him. He glared down at his cell on the desk, the source of all his problems. Things had been going so well this morning and all it took was one phone call to knock them back a few more steps. Eventually Tony had finished what he could. He sat awkwardly for a moment before looking over at Gibbs, who also had been ignoring him.

"Uploading Goliath's file into the database, boss." He informed.

"Briefing paper?"

"Done."

"Audio of interrogation?"

"Being transcribed." Tony answered, making his way over to stand by Gibb's desk. The man never looked up.

"You know, Goliath's right boss. Iran, North Korea. Even some of our allies would pay a fortune to get their hands on ARES." He pointed out thoughtfully. His dropped as Gibbs stood and finally addressed him.

"Do you think, DiNozzo?" Tony remained silent until a beeping caught his attention.

"Look's like McGee's got a name match off of Harrow's e-mails." Claire pointed out, making no movement to go and look.

"Aren't you gonna…" Tony was cut off when she stared up at him, eyes narrowed. Tony nodded uncomfortably.

"I'll get it." He muttered, quickly scurrying over to look at McGee's computer. He ignored the stares from the other two in the office. Claire and Gibbs stood to look at the big screen while Tony sent the files over to the screen for them to look at.

"Trent Kort. He's on the FBI arm-dealer watch list." Tony frowned staring at the information on the screen.

"How old?" Gibbs asked.

"Five days." He answered, pushing on a few buttons.

"McGee's computer…" he grumbled unable to get the files to come up like he wanted. Finally after some more button pushing he got the FBI files up.

"Bio's thin. Trent Thomas Kort, 37 years old. British national. Believed to have recently joined….." Tony trailed off as he stared in bewilderment at the face on the screen. It was the same bald-headed man that he had seen with La Grenouille group. The group that he had been trailing for these past few months. The one he was positive had made him at the restaurant. This was not good. In the silence Claire and Gibbs both turned to stare at the man in confusion. Tony's face was scrunched up in thought as he continued staring at the photo.

"Hey, do you know this guy?" Gibbs asked, getting his attention. Tony blinked and stared at the two of them owlishly, taking note of the matching expressions of concern.

"No, never seem him before. Those Hawaiian shirts…" he quickly dismissed, gesturing to the shirt Kort was wearing in the photograph. They both eyed him skeptically but kept silent as Tony continued the rundown of information on the man.

"Believed to have recently joined La Grenouille, an international arms dealer. Fronting corporations in Paris, Nairobi, and Cape Town." He summarized, fidgeting anxiously in his seat. Gibbs and Claire remained silent, only sharing a curious glance with one another. Something was definitely up with him. Tony cleared his throat before standing up. Muttering an 'excuse me' he quickly left the room and climbed up the stairs to the director's office. Gibbs turned towards Claire.

"Any idea what that was about?" he asked. She shook her head with a frown, still staring at where he had taken off to.

"I wish I did. But something tells me this is part of the disappearing act and errands he's been running for the director." She muttered quietly. Her stomach churned at the thought. But this is what she had wanted to know right? Except instead of relief, there was a feeling of betrayal and dread.

...

Upstairs, Tony stormed into the Director's office.

"I know…" he stopped short seeing his boss with her shirt up. Glancing around he fully realized the situation….sorta. Cynthia, her assistant, was helping Director Shepherd with the back of her bra, thus requiring her shirt to be lifted up to her neck. The two women glanced at him before going back to work. Tony shifted on his feet sheepishly.

"Sorry. Cynthia wasn't at her desk so.."

"So you barged in, DiNozzo?" Jenny pointed out, staring at him over her shoulder.

"That should do you until you get home, Director." Cynthia quietly informed her boss, letting her slide her blouse back down.

"Thank you, Cynthia." Tony remained silent as the assistant walked out and shut the door behind her. He walked over towards Jenny's desk while the woman tucked her blouse back into her skirt.

"I broke a bra strap and I had Cynthia get me a safety pin…..I don't know why I'm telling you this." she trailed off awkwardly. His lips thinned as he walked over to stand behind her desk with her.

"To ease the awkwardness of the moment." Tony suggested knowingly. She hummed, turning to look up at him.

"We know each other so well Tony, there are no awkward moments." Director Shepherd countered. Tony bit the inside of his lip, unsure of how he felt about that statement. He glanced away, bothered by the reminder of what he had been hiding from two of the most important people in his life who were just downstairs.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing to her computer. Director Shepherd slid back to allow him room. Tony quickly pulled up their case files.

"Charles Harrow. Retired puzzle maker." He introduced.

"For who?"

"Us. Literally us, he designed ARES. t's the Navy's cruise…"

"….missile targeting system. He come out of retirement?" She inquired, glancing back up at him curiously before looking back at the screen. Tony leaned on the edge of her desk, arms crossed.

"In a way. He's offering ARES in a one-off to the highest bidder." Her head whipped back around, eyes wide with interest.

"La Grenouille?" she asked eagerly. Tony nodded.

"He's one of the bidders."

"How did we come by this?"

"Mossad passed intel onto Ziva about an international arms dealer, code name Goliath." Jenny blinked as she processed the name.

"I've heard of him. He's Israeli."

"And Ziva didn't take too kindly to that." Tony pointed out with a smirk.

"He's rumored to be bidding on a stolen Navy weapons system. We snatched him this morning. Got him downstairs on a visa violation. His computer's in Abby's lab." He leaned forward to pull up the next little tidbit up onto her screen.

"And we were running Harrow's cell calls and e-mails for known arms dealers when this guy popped off an FBI watch list." The picture of the familiar face came up on both her computer and plasma screen. The director's eyes widened in surprise. She stood and slowly made her way over to the larger screen, eyeing the man eagerly. Tony watched from behind her as her whole body posture tightened up as if she was ready to attack.

"His name is Trent Kort."

"You took that picture eight weeks ago. Why are we just getting a name now?" she snapped, her eyes never leaving the screen.

"I have no idea. I ran that photo against all agency watch lists, including the FBI and I got nothing." He explained evenly.

"It doesn't matter. This is good." She whispered, turning to face him with a new excitement in her eyes. Tony frowned.

"And it's bad. I had to lie to Gibbs." He pointed out, glancing down at his hands. No need to add in the other person he was lying too. She already knew about that. Gibbs seemed like a safe option to talk about.

"You were on an undercover mission." Jenny quickly dismissed, staring at him pointedly. She could see his hesitation and would have none of it.

"He's my boss." He countered just as pointedly.

"And I'm his boss. You leave him to me. Your ass is covered."

"I'm not worried about my ass, Jenny." Tony retorted, his voice raising. Jenny rose a brow, pursing her lips. Ignoring his outburst for now she stalked back over to her desk, glancing at the other files that were behind the large photo.

"Gibbs put Harrow under surveillance?" she asked.

"No." Director Shepherd glanced over at him in surprise.

"No?" she asked curiously, as if worried of what the other option was.

"He sent Ziva and McGee to pick him up." At the answer the woman quickly leaned forward to press on the intercom.

"Cynthia, get Agent Gibbs in here ASAP." Before she could finish, the door opened up to reveal the man himself. Tony practically jumped up from where he was sitting on her desk. The two men eyed one another, Gibbs asking for answers that Tony wasn't able to give just yet. The younger man glanced down at the floor, not wanting to look at his disappointed expression any longer.

"You sent for me director?" Gibbs causally asked, turning away from Tony and making himself comfortable at in one of her office chairs.

"Call Ziva and McGee off." She ordered sternly. Gibbs blinked.

"Off?" he asked in mock confusion. His nonchalance began to wear on her nerves.

"They are not to pick up…." Jenny sputtered and looked towards Tony for the name. Tony, who had moved closer to the doors answered for her.

"Harrow." Jenny reiterated the name to finish her sentence. Gibbs glanced between the two of them warily, trying to piece together just what was going on. He was starting to see why Claire was so bothered by the setup. He sent Tony a meaningful look, giving him an out. While he turned to continue this conversation with the director, Tony quickly slipped out the door.

...

...

Downstairs Claire was sitting by Tony's desk, arms crossed as she waited for his return. Her head jerked up as she heard footsteps heading towards her. Tony swallowed and silently sat down at his desk.

"So what happened?" she inquired, standing up to better face him. He stared down at the desk, in a subdued manner. Very un-Tony-like.

"Gibbs is still meeting with the director." Claire huffed, rolling her eyes.

"That's not what I meant. What the hell is up with you?" she pushed, leaning down to talk to him without prying ears. Tony slowly lifted his head to look at her. Her eyes narrowed in concern at the look in his eyes.

"I think you already know what this is about." He explained quietly. Her shoulders dropped minutely as her ire lessened. She was preparing for him to fight back about it like usual. But instead he looked like he was just tired and ready to give up whatever she asked of him. It set her on edge.

"So does Trent Kort tie into the extra missions the director has been having you do for her these past few months?" she asked. Tony nodded.

"Yup. He's one of the men known to associate with an even bigger arms dealer, La Granouille. I've been following them around for her." he explained. He was positive that Gibbs was getting the rundown with Jenny right now so there was no point in hiding it anymore…at least part of it. This mission ran a whole lot deeper than this but for now he was relieved to let even the slightest bit of information off his chest. Claire nodded thoughtfully.

"She called off Ziva and McGee. Want's to let Harrow lead us to the buyers instead." He added. Claire jolted up in surprise.

"What? That makes no sense. Wouldn't it be better to stop him first and then just let his emails lead us to the buyers? We already have the names." She countered. Tony shrugged.

"Not my call. But Gibbs is pissed." As if on que the door to the director's office opened. Gibbs and Jenny stormed out, having a seemingly heated discussion as they made their way down the steps. Tony and Claire straightened up, putting their conversation on hold as they watched the duo make their way towards them. To their surprise the director pulled Gibbs away from their course and pushed him into the wall, giving him a heated glare and what they would assume was a few choice words. Pissed didn't even begin to cover how Gibbs felt about this situation.