Disclaimer - I do not own NCIS.
A/N - Thanks for all of the reviews and feedback guys, you've really spurred me on to keep on writing!
In the early hours of the morning, Jethro Gibbs and Tobias Fornell continued to each nurse a glass of Jack Daniels in the lobby of the hotel. Abby and Ziva were seated out of their earshot and in complete silence, having been ordered to sit and wait for the boys.
"You really are a bastard Jethro," Fornell grinned.
Gibbs mocked a surprise look, "what gave you that idea?" he replied.
"That smirk on your face, after you'd dealt with Abby and Ziva."
Rolling his eyes in response Gibbs sighed,
"They both knew the consequences of my not being able to get hold of them on their cell phones. You know what they say, Tobias, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime!"
"I still say you're a bastard and anytime you want Sacks on your team for a short while you can have him. I think a couple of months with you might smarten up his attitude."
Gibbs scowled and as the silence lingered on he rechecked his watch. He then reached for his cell phone once more and dialled Tony's cell. There was no response. As he slid the cell back into his pocket, he heard the ringing tone and, realising it wasn't his, turned his head in the direction of the noise. He quickly stood up and walked over to Ziva as she flipped her cell open.
"Ziva! Thank God you're there! We need your help! We've been arrested and we need you to come get us out. They're not gonna press charges, but you need to get us out of here. If Gibbs finds out we are dead!"
Both Ziva and Abby paled instantly. Gibbs, having mouthed an order to Ziva to put her cell on speaker phone, and hand it over, bit his bottom lip with anger.
There were a few moments of silence before the exasperated voice of Tim McGee blasted through the hotel lobby.
"Can you hear me Ziva?"
"Oh, she can hear you McGee," the cold voice of Jethro Gibbs responded.
The whimper could be heard clearly through the speaker. In the corridor of New Scotland Yard, Tim McGee wiped the perspiration from his brow and tried to respond. His mouth flapped wordlessly.
"Uh...b..boss...it's McGee...we...uh...well...T..Tony and I…we..."
"Where the hell are you?" Gibbs snapped.
"Uh...w..we...are...uh..."
"Spit it out McGee!" he barked at Tim's inability to form a coherent sentence.
"Uh...New Scotland Yard...b..boss. It's just a few b..blocks from the...uh...hotel."
Gibbs closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. Tim felt the overly long moment of silence in the pit of his stomach. This was a sure sign, that not only was Gibbs angry, he was 'silent' angry, which didn't bode well for them.
"Are Tony and Sacks okay?"
"Yes boss. The three of us are here. If you ask for a Chief Inspector Taylor when you get in, he'll speak with you about getting us out of here."
Tim exhaled slowly as Gibbs hung up the phone. As he stepped back into the cell, to join Tony and Sacks, he again let out a slow drawn out breath. He placed his hand on his brow, trying to calm down.
"Our Mossad hero coming to our rescue Probie?"
Tony beamed a wide smile which quickly dissipated at the sight of Tim's worried face.
"You did get through to her right?" he probed.
Tim nodded and then gulped, "She...uh...p..put us on speaker phone."
Tony frowned with confusion and then his stomach lurched into his throat.
"NO! Probie! Tell me he wasn't!"
Tim nodded affirming his worse fear, "He's mad...he's 'silent' mad Tony."
Tony paled and swallowed hard, "Oh shit!"
Sacks rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, when Gibbs get's here, he can get me out too, that way I won't have to face Fornell."
"Oh, he did ask about you. I think Fornell already knows," Tim replied sympathetically.
Sacks held his head in his hands and simply groaned.
In the cold, London night air, Fornell trailed a half step behind Gibbs as he marched double time into New Scotland Yard. Directly behind him, Abby and Ziva followed at a similar pace, still under strict instructions to be within Gibbs' vision at all times.
"Special Agent Gibbs, US Naval Criminal Investigative Service," Gibbs said smartly as he flashed his badge at the policeman at the desk.
Fornell too waved his badge, "Special Agent Fornell, FBI."
Ziva eyed the young policeman, and gasped. She recognised him as the one who had given her with a warning, earlier on in the day, for harassing the Guard. Immediately she tried to hide behind Abby. He frowned curiously at her, as he strained his neck to look around Gibbs.
"Excuse me miss, what are you doing here? You're that young woman I gave a verbal warning to earlier aren't you? I hope that you haven't gotten yourself into trouble again!"
Gibbs raised his hand, "She's with me," he said calmly.
Continuing to frown, the policeman eyed Gibbs warily. "What is it with you lot? First of all, I nearly arrest these two for harassing the Queen's Guards and then your boys end up in a fist fight!"
Gibbs stared hard and he began to wilt. He shook his head with disdain and asked them to wait. A tall, plain clothes, officer approached the desk. Ziva, Abby and Fornell waited as he ushered Gibbs into an adjoining room and held out his hand.
"Welcome to New Scotland Yard, Special Agent Gibbs. I'm Chief Inspector Taylor, I do believe that you are responsible for the three men I currently have in a secure cell at the moment"
Gibbs inhaled and frowned, "Yes sir, that is correct."
"A drunken brawl that got out of hand I believe is how this all started. I think there was a crowd of young lads, one of whom seemed to have said something out of sorts to one of your chaps, and it all got rather ugly I'm afraid."
Gibbs scowled with confusion, "If they didn't start it, why are they locked up?"
"Protocol my good man, protocol. Our uniformed police officers were sure it was this group of younger men who started it. We did question your chaps, and they explained that there was some innocent bumping into this group of rowdy revellers, and then all hell broke loose."
Gibbs sighed impatiently, "Why the hell then, did you keep them locked up?"
"We need to issue them with a stern warning, and then, we can let them go!"
Gibbs rolled his eyes and huffed, "A warning! If they did nothing wrong, what in God's name are you warning them about?"
The Chief Inspector shuffled in his chair with frustration, "We all have our protocols, I'm sure back in America, you too have such things."
Gibbs took to his feet and began pacing around in frustration. He grit his teeth and eventually leaned over the table towards the Chief Inspector, with a steely stare.
"I want those men out here. NOW!"
"I'm afraid, I can not do that," Taylor responded sitting back in his chair and pouting.
"What?"
"There is a procedure to follow, and we, will follow it."
"If you give innocent men a warning for doing nothing, I'd hate to see what you're gonna do to the other guys."
The Chief Inspector rolled his eyes and smiled weakly, "Oh, we let them go."
Gibbs flew into a rage,
"Are you telling me, that you released the perpetrators, and locked up my men who are innocent in all this? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GOD DAMNED MIND?"
"One of the, perpetrators, as you call them, is the son of a very important Member of Parliament. I had a direct call from the powers at be, ordering me to keep this low key."
There was a few seconds of silence before Gibbs grabbed the collar of the Chief Inspectors jacket and forced him against the back of his chair.
"GET MY MEN OUT. NOW!" he yelled in fury.
The Chief Inspector, scared out of his wits, hit a small button below his desk. Within seconds, three uniformed policemen burst into the room, grabbed Gibbs and quickly cuffed him.
"Get him in a cell!" he squealed, "crazy, bloody Americans!"
Tony, Tim and Sacks were startled, from their worried reflections, at the noise of the key clanking in their cell door which swung open.
"Boss," Tony grimaced, "before you say anything it wasn't our fault!"
Gibbs scowled at him and the policeman banged the door loudly behind him as he was pushed inside.
Tony looked confused, "Boss?"
Director Jenny Shepherd was having a final check of her emails before attempting to leave the office early, for once, when a call came through. Having sent Cynthia home twenty minutes earlier, she lifted the receiver and sat back in her chair.
"Director Shepherd!"
"Good evening Director Shepherd, my name is Chief Inspector Taylor, New Scotland Yard. I'm afraid there's been a spot of bother, my dear. A chap called Fornell said that you would be the best person to speak to about your boys."
Jen closed her eyes and slowly pinched the bridge of her nose.
Ten minutes later, she placed the receiver down, closed her eyes and placed her head in her hands,
"I guess Mommy needs to make that call to SECNAV after all," she muttered before lifting her phone again and angrily pushing the buttons.
"There is no way in hell you are getting away with this Jethro!"
After a lengthy and difficult conversation with the SecNav, Jenny had made further, difficult calls to the American Embassy and arranged for the release of Gibbs, Tony, Tim and Sacks.
With her chance of an early night well and truly screwed, she decided to pour herself some bourbon and check the last of her emails. She looked with curiosity, at the latest one in her mail box and was puzzled with the subject line.
"Gross budget overspend warning," she whispered to herself as she double clicked to open the strange email.
The glass of bourbon was slammed hard on the desk, closely followed by her fist banging down hard in fury.
"ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!"
To be continued...