Chapter 23
Gibbs slammed the phone down on the console between the car seats. "Damn it, Tobias!" he snarled. The phone bounced and landed in the foot well by Kate's feet. She bent hastily and picked it up, checking to see if it would still work.
"The judge would have given you the same order," Agent Fornell said.
"Yeah, well, I wouldn't have followed it," Gibbs snapped.
"Morrow would have," Fornell replied.
The engine roared louder as Gibbs floored the accelerator. Kate grabbed the handle above the door and held on for dear life, wishing Fornell wouldn't say things like that when Gibbs was driving. "Try his cell phone again, Kate," Gibbs ordered.
Kate did as he said even though she was pretty sure she'd just get the same result she'd gotten the last three times. She hung up when she got Tony's cheerful voice. "Voice mail again," she said.
Gibbs turned across three lanes of traffic. Their wheels screeched and so did those of all the people he forced to swerve and brake. Horns blared around them as he took two more corners with as little warning, and she heard Fornell let out a very rude word, leaning forward between the front seats. "Gibbs, where the hell are you going? Webber's place is the other way."
"I'm going to DiNozzo's," Gibbs replied.
"Why?"
Kate tightened her grip in anticipation. Gibbs floored the gas again, pressing her firmly back into her seat. Fornell exclaimed in surprise as he slammed into the back seat without warning. "My gut," Gibbs said grimly. Within five minutes, he pulled up to a screeching halt, double parked in front of Tony's building. He was out of the car almost before he'd turned it off, and Kate followed him inside. Fornell came after them, moving a little more sedately.
Gibbs punched the elevator button.
"Why not take the stairs if you're so worried, Gibbs?" Fornell asked.
"Because he's on the seventeenth floor," Gibbs replied, acerbically. "The stairs would not be faster."
Kate refrained from tapping her foot, knowing that it would irritate Gibbs beyond bearing, but she hated waiting. Maybe Gibbs' gut was infectious, but she was getting almost as anxious as he seemed to be.
"Gibbs, you're overreacting," Fornell muttered. "DiNutso's probably not even home."
"He's home," Gibbs said.
"You can't know that," Fornell replied.
"Yes, he can." Kate reached forward and pushed the button again.
"Pressing it again actually make it . . ." Fornell trailed off as they both turned to glare at him.
The doors opened and they moved forward as a unit. Gibbs hit the button for the seventeenth floor and Kate crossed her arms to avoid fidgeting. Tony would answer his phone. He had too healthy a fear of Gibbs not to.
"What exactly is it you're afraid of, Gibbs?" Fornell asked. "DiNutso is a grown man, a federal agent. He can protect himself." Gibbs didn't respond. "Jethro?"
"He's injured," Kate pointed out.
"Not seriously," Fornell protested. "Bruises, a couple of strained muscles."
"Could you shoot the father of your best friend from high school?" Gibbs asked rhetorically.
"If he was threatening to kill me, sure," Fornell said.
"I don't think he's threatening to kill DiNozzo," Gibbs said dryly.
"What do you think he's . . . wait, no! He's a child molester, Gibbs. DiNozzo is –"
"He hit on him, Tobias," Gibbs snapped, and Fornell broke off. "And his typical targets are between the ages of fifteen and thirty. His son called him a child molester and a rapist."
The elevator made a ping every time they passed a floor. When the sixteenth floor pinged, Gibbs reached up and unholstered his gun. Kate followed suit.
"Gibbs!" Fornell exclaimed.
"How often have you known my gut to be wrong, Fornell?" Gibbs asked.
Cursing under his breath, Fornell drew his own piece. When the doors opened, there were people in the hallway. Gibbs moved forward smoothly and Kate followed. Agent Fornell pulled out his badge and said, "FBI, clear the hall." That got people moving, though there was a young teenage boy that had to be dragged away by his mother. Gibbs passed Tony's door, then flattened himself against the wall beside it, reaching out to check the knob quietly. It was locked. "Now what?" Fornell asked. "We going to break down the door?"
Gibbs was already digging in his pocket. "I thought I'd just use the key." Fornell scowled, but he didn't say anything else.
Kate stepped out into the hall, ready to go through the door and Fornell plastered himself against the wall. Gibbs turned the key in the deadbolt and then turned the knob, pushing the door open soundlessly. Kate ghosted forward, gun held in both hands in front of her. She turned left into the kitchen, aware that Gibbs would continue forward. The lights were on throughout the apartment, and there were a couple of bottle caps sitting on the counter next to the church key. She pushed open the swinging door that led into the dining area and saw Michael Webber leaning against the sideboard, his face bruised and bloody. She knelt beside him, checking his pulse. It was steady, but the man didn't stir. She rose and turned towards the front room. A thick, terry cloth robe lay on the floor, as if it had been abandoned, and she grit her teeth against a wave of rage.
Stepping over the robe, she continued through the dining area to the front room. In the front hall, past where she had turned off, a broken mirror hung above a small table where a gun box rested. Gibbs and Fornell were nowhere in sight, so she guessed they had cleared the living room and gone into the back hall. She was making her way across, keeping her eye out for any more signs of what had gone on in this apartment this evening.
As she approached the hallway that led to the bedrooms and the part of the apartment she hadn't seen on her previous visit, she heard a voice from her left, towards the outside of the building. "What's going on?" It was Tony's voice, muffled and slightly slurred.
"Hush, Tony," said another voice, and Kate stepped into the hall and started sidling that way. She saw Gibbs ahead of her, but she didn't know where Fornell was.
"Mr. Webber?" Tony said, and Kate could tell that there was something wrong with him. Not only was his voice still slurred, he sounded confused. "What . . . why . . ." Tony's voice sharpened suddenly. "No!"
Gibbs surged forward. "Freeze, NCIS!" Kate sped up. She could hear scrambling inside the room. "Freeze!" Gibbs shouted again, stepping forward.
"You freeze, or I'll shoot him!" Webber said.
"It's over, Webber!" Gibbs growled, but Kate could see that he'd stopped moving. "You can't get away with it now."
Kate entered the room, and the senator's eyes flicked to her. He sat on the bed in stocking feet, but he had managed to pull Tony across in front of him so that he blocked his whole body. She could see that Tony's right wrist was tied to the bed, and the senator had one arm across his chest and the gun pressed to his temple. It looked rather like he'd been in the process of tying Tony down when Gibbs came in and had simply rolled sideways, pulling Tony with him. Tony stared at them, his pupils enormous, and he didn't seem remotely capable of breaking away from Webber.
"Good, now we've got both of you," Webber said. "Put your weapons down, or I'll shoot him."
"Not happening," Gibbs said flatly. "However, you're going to let him go and step away, or I'm going to start shooting."
Webber shook his head. "You won't take the chance on –"
"Sniper," Tony said abruptly, blinking owlishly.
"What?" Webber asked.
"Gibbs . . . sniper . . . in marines," Tony replied jerkily. His eyes closed and he seemed briefly to lose consciousness. Before anyone could speak, though, he stirred and muttered, "PDA." Then he zoned out again.
Kate compressed her lips, but she didn't speak.
"Let him go and step away," Gibbs ordered.
"I don't think so," Webber said. The hand on Tony's chest spread and stroked. "He's mine in this moment, and I'd rather that didn't end." He pressed his lips to Tony's neck and Kate had a sudden realization of what his intentions must be. She took careful aim, but Tony's reminder had not enhanced her confidence in her ability to miss him while hitting Webber.
She was about to glance towards Gibbs for guidance when two gunshots sounded in almost the same moment. Blood hit the wall in two arcs and both Tony and Webber slumped to the mattress. Kate stared in horrified shock. In the enclosed space, she couldn't be sure where the shots had come from and for long seconds, neither man moved.
Gibbs rushed forward and thrust the lifeless body of the senator away. A movement to Kate's right made her turn, and she lowered her weapon sheepishly when she saw Fornell emerging from what had to be the bathroom, holstering his own gun.
"Boss?" Tony murmured, and Kate turned back to see that Gibbs had got her partner sitting up. Relief made her weak, and she holstered her Sig.
"You're going to be okay, Tony," Gibbs said. "Kate, get him untied."
She did so as Fornell dialed 911. "I found Michael in the dining room," she said. "He was unconscious but alive."
Fornell, phone to his ear, left to go check on him.
Gibbs shifted on the bed to let DiNozzo lean against him. He was worried. The younger man kept going in and out of consciousness, suggesting a severe head trauma. He was also shivering. "Find something I can wrap around him, would you, Kate?" Gibbs asked. She disappeared for a moment, and returned with a quilt which Gibbs drew around DiNozzo's shoulders.
"Michael?" Tony asked.
"He'll be fine, Tony," Kate said, but Gibbs shook his head. Tony hadn't been conscious long enough to hear the answer.
The front door crashed open, and they heard voices. "Police! Hands in the air!"
Gibbs looked at Kate. She pulled her ID out and went to deal with it. Gibbs just held Tony close and waited for the paramedics to come. When they arrived, he left Kate and Fornell to explain the situation without a backward glance and went with DiNozzo to the hospital. He wasn't leaving the younger man alone anytime in the near future. Every time he'd left DiNozzo alone outside the office in the last week, something dreadful had happened. It was enough to make him superstitious.
Once they reached the hospital, they whisked DiNozzo into the emergency room, and several of the staff tried to peel Gibbs away from him, but he flashed his badge and simply refused to leave. Gibbs watched them probe DiNozzo's skull and a doctor looked over at him. "Agent Gibbs?" she said.
"Yeah?"
"We need to do a CAT scan."
"Lead on."
"Sir, you really don't need –"
"I'm staying with him," Gibbs said.
"You can't be in the room while the scan is being run, sir," she said.
"I can be outside the room," Gibbs said. "Why are we wasting time?"
She shook her head and gave the orders. Gibbs accompanied the technicians and waited inside the room with them while they prepped Tony for the test. He was remaining conscious for longer periods now, but he still seemed very confused. Mild panic would come over his features every so often, his eyes would flick around the room until they landed on Gibbs, and then he would relax. Finally, they were all prepped, one of the technicians told Tony to stay still and they all cleared the room. There was a window, and Gibbs claimed a good spot to kept an eye on DiNozzo.
There was something claustrophobic about having a portion of the body stuck inside the CT scanner. It was particularly bad when it was your head. Gibbs remembered suffering through a number of CAT scans following his head injury in the Gulf. With DiNozzo so vague and easily disoriented, Gibbs was worried about his reactions.
The scan was pretty far along when DiNozzo started showing signs of distress. Gibbs watched uneasily, hoping he was just uncomfortable, not on the verge of panic. Abruptly, DiNozzo shoved himself off the platform and fell to the floor, looking around in alarm. Gibbs was through the door before any of the techs could react. "Tony?" he said, and DiNozzo looked up at him, his breath coming in harsh gasps engendered by fear. "You're okay, Tony. Let's get you back on the table."
"Boss! What happened? Where . . ." DiNozzo shook his head, putting his hand up in his hair and wincing.
"You need a CAT scan, DiNozzo. Get up on the table."
Tony let him get him back into position, and Gibbs left the room, hoping it would all be over soon. The doctor showed up again and scrutinized the results that were coming up. Gibbs noticed an increase in tension and walked over to look at the scans. He gazed at the crescent shape on the screen and clenched his jaw. "Subdural hematoma?" he asked.
The doctor turned towards him, her lips pursed. "Yes. What exactly is your relationship to the patient?"
Gibbs walked back over to the window, and she followed him. "He's one of the agents under my supervision at NCIS."
"Do you anticipate –" she started, but DiNozzo began to panic again. Gibbs pushed her aside and ran into the room.
"Tony, hush," he said, putting his hands on Tony's shoulders to keep him from sitting up too sharply and smashing his head into the top of the scanner. "Are we done here?" he asked.
"Yes," the doctor said.
"Then can we get him someplace a little more relaxing?" Gibbs suggested.
The doctor nodded, her lips tight. "Agent Gibbs, we are going to have to keep Agent DiNozzo as calm as possible." She started moving aside, and Gibbs assumed that she wanted to tell him something that would not help keep DiNozzo calm. "Work has no place in that equation, so I'm going to have –"
"Boss?" Tony said. A nurse and a technician were working together to get him from the table into a wheelchair. The doctor blocked his easy view of Gibbs, so the former marine leaned around her.
"I'm here, Tony," Gibbs said. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."
"Agent Gibbs, perhaps you should send for Agent DiNozzo's family," the doctor said firmly.
Gibbs squinted at her badge. "Dr. Bettencourt, I –"
"Boss?" Tony said, and Gibbs walked around Bettencourt to squat beside DiNozzo.
"Yeah, Tony?"
"If you let her call my father, I'll shoot you," he said in a rare moment of lucidity.
"Don't worry, Tony, I'll take care of things."
"Michael?"
"I don't know, but I left Kate with him," Gibbs said.
Tony nodded, winced and leaned back in the chair.
Gibbs rose and turned towards Dr. Bettencourt. "I'm not leaving my man, and his family would not be calm-inducing. You'll have to accept that I know his situation better than you do."
She eyed him dubiously, but nodded. Shortly, DiNozzo was established in an room in the ICU, and Gibbs sat down beside him. Dr. Bettencourt disappeared after DiNozzo was settled, and Gibbs used the bedside telephone to call Ducky first, and then Kate. She reported that Michael Webber had also been admitted, but his condition seemed to be less serious than DiNozzo's.
He looked over at his second in command. DiNozzo'd been through hell in the last few days, and given all that had happened, he suspected that the director was going to feel duty bound to require some kind of psychological exam. He just hoped Morrow could find someone a little more on the ball than Commander Stevens.
The door opened, and Gibbs sat sharply upright, realizing suddenly that he had drifted off sitting up. Ducky raised an eyebrow as he pushed the door shut behind him. "How are you feeling Jethro?" he asked.
"I'm fine, Duck," Gibbs said, resisting the urge to rub his eyes. He couldn't have slept long, but it had been either a long enough or short enough nap to make his eyes feel gritty. "I'm more worried about DiNozzo."
"I've spoken to his doctor. Our primary concern in the next few days is to keep Anthony calm and quiet. The hematoma isn't acute, so it should heal on its own so long as he isn't too active."
"That could be somewhat challenging," Gibbs remarked.
"How so?"
"This is DiNozzo, Ducky. He's not good at quiet." Ducky's brow furrowed, and Gibbs gazed thoughtfully at his second. "Here in the hospital, it shouldn't be difficult to keep him quiet, and when he's released, he can come home with me."
"Well, why don't you go get some rest, Jethro? I can sit with him."
"I said I was fine, Duck."
"You're exhausted, you all are, and small wonder," Ducky replied. "Go, get some sleep. I'll make it a medical order if I have to."
"Make it whatever you want, Ducky," Gibbs said. "I'm not going anywhere. Every time DiNozzo has been out of my company for five minutes together lately, something has happened that wound up with him bruised, battered or bloody. I'm not leaving." Ducky stared at him for a moment longer, clearly irritated, but then he just left the room. Gibbs contemplated how readily he could get the medical examiner to get him some coffee. Somehow he doubted Ducky would go for it.
Tony was still resting quietly, and Gibbs found himself drifting. If he fell asleep again, Ducky would find people to carry him out to the car. He sat up straight and picked up a magazine. Better Homes & Gardens. Not designed to keep a man like him awake. Before he had time to fall asleep, Ducky re-entered the room, holding the door open. Behind him came an orderly pushing what looked like a recliner on wheels. "If you won't go to your bed, Jethro, then I'll bring a bed to you," Ducky said. "You can't argue with this, Jethro."
It was on the tip of his tongue to say 'wanna bet?' but he decided to give in to Ducky's efforts. The orderly positioned the chair and set the brake.
"I'll stay, too, if you don't mind," Ducky said, and Gibbs shrugged. He got into the recliner and before he could even think about how much he still had to do what with reports and accident reports and all the other minutiae involved in having shot a sitting U.S. senator, he fell asleep again.
Author's note: Only one chapter left. A sequel is started, barely, but it won't be finished for a long, long time. It will, however, be set post Jenny, during Vance's tenure as director. It will involve a number of unlikely characters, such as Jeanne Benoit and Kate Todd. You can thank S4xE19 Grace Period for Kate, and I'll just let you mull that over.
